Tried my hand at writing in the third person for this chapter. So sorry in advance if it's not very good. Just experimenting anyway. Do correct me on any errors as this isn't edited. 

Enjoy :)

****

Yunus had just stepped foot into the school hallway, when suddenly, he was being attacked from all sides.

"Duddeee!" Mostafa flung himself onto Yunus and he actually had to pry the annoying shit from his body.

"Look who it is!" Ibrahim whistled lowly.

"Rocking up half way through the school day huh? What would your dear mother say about this Yunus?" Wissam uttered the last part mockingly and Yunus simply rolled his eyes at him.

"What she doesn't know won't hurt her." He shouldered past his three friends and walked further down the hallways, heading straight for the lousy food court they had here. He was starving and the only thing that had kept him from blowing his money on food was the two cigarettes he had dragged before.

"So, where you been all this time?" Mostafa asked as he began to skip after Yunus.

"None of your business."

"You know that whole mysterious persona doesn't make you cool. You just sound like an asshole," Ibrahim said, ever the blunt one.

"And I care...why?"

"Whatever dude."

Yunus exhaled loudly and turned around to face his friends. "If you all must know, I was working down at the garage today. Someone brought in an old rusted motorbike and I had it up and working again within two hours."

Yunus had always loved to work with his hands. Since he was a child, he would constantly experiment with all and any objects around him to see how he could fix, alternate or upgrade it. Mum had always said he was a born and bred engineer but...he didn't always agree with that. He liked other things too. He contemplated doing law or forensics. But he always knew his future in these two areas were very bleak.

"That's cool man. Maybe we can come down and see it this weekend?" Mostafa said and Yunus simply nodded.

After he was served his falafel roll, he perched himself on a round table and his friends followed suit.

"So guess what?" Ibrahim spoke up.

"What?"

"I heard Mr Jasim speaking to his wife on loud speaker the other...and I think I've just about mastered her voice."

They all snickered, knowing exactly where this conversation was headed.

Ibrahim was absolutely amazing at not only accents, but imitating the voices of other people. It was his special and hidden talent that only his close friends knew of and they always used it to their advantage. The funniest was when he imitated a woman...his voice still hadn't cracked so it was easy for him to pull it off.

"How should we prank him?" Yunus asked, finishing off the last bite of his roll. He had always been a quick eater.

"He only got married two weeks ago right?" Wissam asked.

"Yup."

Ibrahim smirked. "I know just the thing. Let's find Mr Jasim so we can watch his reaction."

They all emerged from the table, like an excited pack of wolves and made their way out of the food court and back into the school hallways. It was lunch time now so the building was pretty empty as students preferred to sit outside in the sunlight. His office was the first stop and luckily for them, the door was wide open. Mr Jasim could be seen sitting behind his desk, eyes twinkling from the light of the computer.

"In here," Yunus instructed. They entered a medium sized classroom right across from his office and closed the door, locking it just in case.

"Wait, do you even have his number?" Mostafa asked.

Ibrahim rolled his eyes. "Of course I do. You know I'm always prepared for this stuff."

"Where'd you even get it?" Yunus grabbed a chair and turned it around so he could lean his arms on the back.

"School website. It's not very hard."

After Ibrahim had punched in his digits, we all surrounded the little window on the door to observe his reaction. He put the phone on loudspeaker.

They had no idea what Ibrahim had planned but it was always, always good.

Yunus watched in anticipation as Mr Jasim picked up his ringing phone.

"Asalamu alaikum."

With the best girlish tone he could muster, Ibrahim began sobbing into the phone.

"Who is this?"

"D-darling it's me," Ibrahim choked out and they all instantly covered their mouths to stop them from laughing out loud.

It was scary how good he was.

Yunus watched as Mr Jasim's face scrunched into a frown. "Darling what's wrong?!"

He had to stop another bout of laughter. He had actually believed it was his wife!

"Oh, this is all so horrible. You'll never believe it!" Ibrahim continued on.

"Tell me habibti!"

"I'm...I'm pregnant!"

A squeak of a laugh left Yunus' lips and he had to physically muffle the sound with his hooded jumper. Poor Mr Jasim...his face had turned as white as a sheet of paper.

"W-what..."

"This is all your fault!" Ibrahim screeched, again pulling it off so well that Yunus couldn't help but be impressed. "Two weeks! Two weeks we've been married and you got me pregnant already!"

Mr Jasim was now pacing up and down his office and running a hand through his hair in panic.

"Habibti...I'm sorry, I mean...but this is good news isn't it?!" he responded with an awkward laugh.

"No!" Ibrahim yelled. He was so focused on the task at hand. "What if something happens in the future and I realise that I don't want to be with you anymore? What if you turn out to be abusive? What if I fall in love with someone else? Huh? Then what...we have a baby in our hands!"

Yunus could've sworn that at this point, Mr Jasim was going to pass out.

The bell for fourth period rung and so Ibrahim wrapped it up before anyone entered the room.

"We're OVER!" he yelled one more time, before hanging up.

Yunus burst out laughing and immediately slapped a hand on his back. "Man that was hilarious. I wish I had your talent, I'd never be bored."

"Guys I swear Mr Jasim is crying right now," Mostafa said as he continued to watch him through the window.

Yunus waved a hand. "He'll get over it..."

After that, the boys all went their separate ways, except for Yunus and Wissam who shared Religion together. He had only been sitting in class for two minutes when the school's loud speaker crackled to life and the principal's voice came through.

"Attention students and teachers. I apologise for the inconvenience, but can Yunus Salem please make his way to my office. I repeat, Yunus Salem to come to my office. JazakAllahu khair."

Yunus exhaled, more so from boredom than anything else and picked up his bag to make his way out. He took his time as he walked back down the hallways, kicking at some lockers and denting them deeply just for fun. After five minutes of screwing around, he arrived at the principal's office.

He knocked once and walked in when she called out to him.

"Hello Mr Salem..." Miss Yousef said, gesturing for him to sit down.

"Hi Miss." He didn't sit but remained standing by the chair.

She sent him a glare. "Take a seat," she ordered, her tone leaving no room for argumentation.

He huffed and sat down.

"Where were you this morning Yunus?" she asked, getting straight to the point.

Rana, or Miss Yousef as the students called her, was very aware of Yunus' troublesome nature. His posse who seemed to follow him around everywhere he went were no help and only fuelled on his rebellious side. Although she had only been in this position for only two months now, she was going to make sure that no student was skipping school on her watch.

"Here, where else," Yunus replied, not even flinching at the lie.

"Don't lie to me Mr Salem. Our records show that you were not signed in this morning. But I, of course, didn't miss your entrance twenty minutes ago."

He simply blinked at her. "If you already know that I wasn't at school then why did you ask me?"

Miss Yousef was fuming at this point. He had a smart mouth on him and she didn't appreciate it at all. It was disrespect on a whole other level. "Mr Salem!" she yelled, putting as much authority into her voice as she could, "I do not like being mocked and I do not like being treated like a fool. I am giving you one warning Yunus. One. If you skip classes one more time I will not hesitate to expel you from this school. I also do not find it so funny, like you and your friends did, to put Mr Jasim in a most unbearable situation! You and your friends will pay a hefty price for that little stunt you pulled and don't think I won't phone your parents right after this; because I will."

The 'I'm going to phone your parents' threat had been used on Yunus one too many times and it never scared him. The 'expel you' part however was another story. It was true that he just liked to have fun but he did always care about his education too. He just never understood why people made such a big deal out of everything.

"Do you understand me?"

"Yes," he responded automatically.

"Good. Return to class now Yunus. And remember my warning."

She gave him one last look before he turned around and left.

****

Four o'clock rolled around and Yunus finally made it home. He had prepared himself instantly for a verbal lashing but once he realised that both his parents were still at work, he sighed in relief and made his way to his room.

He knew it was only a matter of time.

After he prayed asr, he strolled into Dalia's room to find her studying at her desk.

"Hey nerd." He flopped down onto her bed.

Dalia swivelled around and scowled at the sight of her slob of a younger brother sprawled across her bed. "Ew can you get off?"

"Can you not be annoying for once and just let me be?"

"Your presence in my room is suffocating. It gives me anxiety. I feel like you're going to destroy something anytime now," Dalia retorted in her usual exaggerative method.

"Don't worry, no destroying today. I have to retain my energy."

"Why?"

"Because I got into trouble at school and I know mum and dad are going to slam me when I get home."

"What'd you do this time?"

"Skipped school and the principal threatened to expel me."

"I'm not even surprised," she said.

"I'm going to rest my eyeballs now."

"You do that."

One hour later, Yunus heard his mother enter the house. He hesitated only a second before emerging off Dalia's bed with a plan in mind.

Sucking up.

"Asalamu alaikum mum!" he said cheerily, moving in to give her a kiss on the cheek.

She instantly put her hand up and pushed him away. With an icy look, she threw her bag down onto the counter and walked into the kitchen. "I am not even going to bother dealing with you until your father comes home."

"I'll make you a coffee in the meantime?"

Needless to say, his mother wasn't amused.

"Just...move," she said, pushing him in the direction of his room. "I can't even think about what you've done today without it making my headache worse."

And so Yunus ended up waiting another full hour for his father to arrive home and once he did, shit hit the fan.

Not literally, but y'know.

"What exactly am I going to do about you Yunus?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "Perhaps not treat me like an object that needs to be fixed?" he offered with a small grin.

His parents stared at him like they were ready to commit murder.

Dalia however, could be seen peeking her head through the living room doorway, chuckling at her brother's stupidity.

"I swear he gets his smart mouth from you Yasmine."

"Hey don't start laying blame! This is about our son, not me!"

Yunus cleared his throat to gain their attention. "How about this...you ban me from the xbox and force feed me capsicum as punishment for one week and then all is good."

Zach blinked down at his son, wondering where on Earth his quirky humour came from. He had hoped that once he hit the teenage years he might settle down a tad, but unfortunately for him, it was the opposite. Yunus was currently at the peak of his rebellious streak and these kinds of family meetings were being held minimum, once a week.

"You were threatened with expulsion today Yunus. Don't take this lightly!"

"I'm not mum."

"And that prank you pulled could have seriously ended someone's relationship. I just don't understand...do you not think before you act?" She sighed and shook her head. "I'm seriously disappointed in you Yunus. I don't want you talking to me until you think about what you've done and how you're going to improve yourself. I'm sick of receiving phone calls every second day from one of your teachers and I'm sick of punishing you as if you're a child."

For the first time in a long while, Yunus straightened up and took his mother's words seriously. Maybe it was because instead of lecturing him and then laughing at his stupid stunts, she actually looked truly upset and was going as far as ignoring him.

He felt guilt churning within him and he bit his lip in thought.

"Sorry mum." He tried to look her in the eyes but she wasn't having it.

His father spoke up this time. "Sorry isn't going to cut it son. And I've decided; no more work at the garage until I say otherwise."

Yunus jumped to his feet. "What?! Isn't that a little extreme?"

"Nope. You're going to pay the price Yunus. If you act like a child, you'll be treated like a child."

"But...but..."

"And don't even think you can do it behind my back. I'll be speaking with the owner to make sure he doesn't let you in."

"Baba-,"

"Just go to your room Yunus."

Shocked and slightly angered, Yunus stormed off to his room and slammed the door shut. He can't believe it! They were actually going to stop him from working at the garage. They knew how much it meant to him, how much he enjoyed it.

Then again, that's probably why his father had banned him from going there.

He lay on his bed and closed his eyes as he too, felt a pounding beginning to form on the side of his head.

He searched for his phone so he could message Ibrahim to see what kind of beating he had gotten. After two minutes he realised he had left it on the couch in the living room. With a lazy sigh, he got up and exited his room to retrieve it but stopped short at the entrance as the voice's of his parents drifted towards him.

****

Yasmine rubbed at her temples in an effort to soothe the pain but it was pointless. Today had been a tiring day at the clinic and she couldn't wait to come home, change into her comfortable pyjamas and sip her cup of tea. As she was entering her car however, the call from Yunus' principal only dampened her mood.

"You OK habibti?"

She sensed Zach come up behind her, before she felt two large palms rest themselves on her shoulders. He began to massage softly, attempting to push out all of the tension and stiffness from her back.

"I'm just so exhausted from this Zach. Honestly, when is he going to grow up?"

"I wish I could say this was just a phase honey, but you know he's been like this since he was a child."

"I know, I just didn't think it would last this long!" Knowing full well how easily his wife stressed when it came to Yunus, Zach stopped massaging and wrapped his arms around her instead. "I feel like he doesn't take anything seriously...everything is a joke, everything is supposed to be funny!"

"I have a feeling he'll come around soon in shaa Allah."

Yasmine sighed tiredly. "Perhaps this is all my fault. Maybe I was too lenient on him as a child."

Zach turned her around so they were face to face. "Our son is good at heart Yasmine, he just needs to be tamed and unfortunately for us, we haven't figured out how to do that just yet."

She raised her hands in the air. "Please ya Allah teach us how to tame our son!"

Zach chuckled.

"Anyway onto more important topics. You still haven't given me a kiss hello."

"That's because I was too grumpy and intent on yelling at Yunus."

"Well now that that's over..." He raised an expectant eyebrow.

Yasmine smiled and kissed her very impatient husband. She always thought it adorable, admirable even, that he couldn't go a day without kissing her in the morning before he left for work and doing the same on his return. Even when they would fight and fall asleep on bad terms with each other, Zach would still always kiss her despite any tension.

And one day, Yasmine would truly remember these kisses as the shortest and sweetest moments of her life.