I had forgotten how tedious going to an airport and waiting in the departure lounge was, but I was too excited to notice the boring bits. Unfortunately, I wasn't excited enough not to notice how embarrassing my parents were.

"Habibti, please don't forget to put on sunscreen, and wear sunglasses, and make sure you eat enough, but not too much. I don't want you getting fat," Mum pinched my cheek, and I groaned. Thank God she was speaking in Arabic so no one could understand her. Except my brother, of course.

"Too late," he taunted, and I shot him a glare.

"Haydar, be nice to your sister, you won't be seeing her in a week," Mum scolded.

"And that makes me so happy!" Haydar whooped, pumping his fist.

"Aw, come on, you're gonna miss me," I teased.

Haydar tapped his chin in thought. "I might miss annoying you all the time. But I definitely won't miss you."

"Aw, habibi, come here," I pulled him into a hug, savouring the fact that I was pissing him off as he squirmed in my arms. Eventually he relaxed, and I patted his head. "Good boy."

"I'm not a dog!" he cried.

"Yeah, you're right. A dog is so much better than you," I retorted, earning a raspberry from his side.

"Huda, our flight's boarding! Our flight's boarding!" Talia squealed, her mahogany hair bouncing and brown eyes twinkling.

"OMG, OMG!" her excitement was contagious, mainly because I was already diagnosed with it. I hugged my parents one last time and kissed my brother on the cheek, laughing when he made a big show of wiping it off. Goodbyes were in the air as we all grabbed our stuff and prepared ourselves for the trip of a lifetime.

"Thanks again for inviting me on this trip, Elif. You have no idea how awesome you are," I squeezed Elif into another hug, and she laughed in my hijab.

"I might have a little bit of an idea how awesome I am. But you know I love you, babe, so of course I'd invite you!"

"Aw, love you too!" it was weird how airports made you feel all mushy, but I just went with it.

"Ugh, stop with the declarations of love, will ya? It's making me sick," Amir pulled a face, and I shot him a look. Did he forget out deal about pretending not to know each other? Elif, however, just planted a hand on her hip and gave him her sassiest look.

"Your face is making me sick," she countered, high-fiving me.

"Ouch, that stung. But I'll live," Amir laughed. Of course Amir could never take an insult seriously.

"Guys, we gotta go!" Sofia, my only hijabi friend, snapped us back to reality, and suddenly I got a burst of adrenaline.

"Whoo! Fiji here we come!" I hollered, and it seemed like my cry made everyone else around me just as excited as I was. I guess I had that effect on people.

"That girl is so f***ing loud," I heard someone say, and I whirled around to face whoever it was, but all I saw was Ilyas, followed by Amir and their two other friends, Daniel and Jason. As soon as I made eye contact with Ilyas I had a feeling it was him who had said it.

"Yeah, I'm loud, so what? I'm just excited," I snapped.

"Wow, I didn't think you would hear me over all that noise," Ilyas smirked, and I was about to say something back when I felt a hand on my arm.

"Don't bother," Elif rolled her eyes.

"I won't," I replied. I didn't need to waste my energy on a rich, moody snob.

Despite Elif being really rich and all, we still had to fly economy class, since there were so many of us. Sofia got the window seat, followed by Elif and Talia, meaning I had to sit beside one of the guys. And not just any guy. Ilyas.

"Can we swap?" I nudged Talia, who already had earphones on and a neck pillow.

"No, babe, I'm already comfy," she replied sleepily.

"Elif, can we swap seats?" I leaned over Talia and poked my friend's arm, and for a second she looked like she was about to agree when she saw who it was.

"Uh-uh. No way am I sitting next to my brother for five hours," Elif refused, and I sighed, sinking back in my seat until I was disturbed by a voice to my right.

"Are you going to be loud on this flight too?" Ilyas asked, cocking an eyebrow at me.

"No," I responded meekly.

"Good," Ilyas slipped on his headphones and closed his eyes, taking up both armrests. I scoffed, shooting him an annoyed look, which was pointless since he couldn't see me.

An hour later, I got bored with the movie I was watching and decided to wake Talia up.

"Taaaliiiiaaaa," I stretched out the syllables of her name, something I did to get her attention, and it worked.

"Whaddaya want?" she mumbled.

"Talk to me. I'm bored," I whined.

Talia sighed, unplugging her earphones. "Fine. What do you wanna talk about?"

I shrugged. "I dunno. Tell me about your life."

Talia gave me a blank look. "You know my life, babe."

"Then tell me something I don't know!"

"Didn't you say you wouldn't be loud?" Ilyas said from my right, and I turned my head to face him.

"I'm just trying to have a conversation with my friend."

"Can you do it less loudly?"

"You have earphones on, for God's sake! How can you hear me?" my hands waved around furiously whenever I was indignant, and they did exactly that now.

"Because you're that loud!" Ilyas shot back.

"Maybe if I'm so loud, you should sit somewhere else," I suggested briskly.

"Hey, I'm not moving. You move!" Ilyas argued.

"No, you move!"

Suddenly, a flight attendant appeared at our aisle and gave us a reprimanding look. "I'm going to have to ask you to keep it down here, folks."

"Yeah, shut up, you two! I'm trying to catch some z's," Amir complained from the other end.

Ilyas shot me a dirty look and made a show of turning up the volume of his iPod, closing his eyes once again. I just poked my tongue at him, knowing I was being immature, but could you blame me when this guy had been nothing but mean to me?

"Are you seriously sticking your tongue at me?" Ilyas still had his eyes closed, and I quickly shut my mouth sheepishly with wide eyes. Did this guy have super sight as well as super hearing?

"No," I shifted in my seat, turning away from him. Suddenly, the movie I was watching didn't seem so boring after all.

The first thing we heard as we entered the Nadi International Airport was the jubilant tune of a Fijian band of musicians singing some sort of welcome song.

"I love this place already!" Sofia clapped her hands happily. Amir and Jason started doing some sort of hula dance to the music and I filmed the whole thing because who wouldn't, right? After getting through security and all that jazz, we were finally able to catch a taxi to our hotel. The boys were staying in a different resort to us, since rooms weren't available in the same one, but according to Elif, they weren't too far away from our hotel.

"Will we be seeing them at all?" I inquired once we were in the taxi.

"Let's hope not, ladies. I want this week to be just the four of us, having fun!" Elif replied from the front seat.

"Aw, I thought we were going to travel as a whole big group," Talia sounded disappointed.

"No, me and Ilyas agreed to do our own thing with our friends so we'd have more freedom," Elif answered. 

"Well, that's convenient," I commented. For a second, we were all silent, until Sofia burst the silence by gushing, "Oh, it's like a dream come true!"

"This whole trip feels like a dream, and it hasn't even started!" Talia exclaimed happily, squeezing Sofia and I to her side.

"Well, ladies, looks like it's about to start. We're here!" Elif announced as the taxi driver came to a stop in front of our resort. After she paid him a certain amount of money we got out, retrieving our luggage from the boot with some help from the driver. I inhaled the Fijian breeze, wishing I could store it in a jar or something. I loved the smell of a new place, because it just filled you from the inside, and it felt like your soul was being dosed with the new scent. And right now, my soul felt very alive.

"This is huge!" I exclaimed once I saw our room.

"You never said we had to share two beds," Talia pouted.

"They're queen beds! There's plenty of space for two people," Elif reasoned.

"Plus, it's bouncy," Sofia grinned, testing out the buoyancy of one of them.

"Wow, check out this bathroom!" I walked into the spacious bathing area with a slackened jaw.

"Okay, girls, change into your swimsuits because we are going swimming!" Elif announced.

The resort had a massive pool, and we were in it twenty minutes later, after we had all changed into our bathers.Sofia and I wore the Islamic swimsuit that covered us from head to toe but still allowed us to participate in aquatic activities, while Talia wore a bikini and Elif wore a one piece with some shorts. If I was supposed to feel jetlag, I didn't as we swam about in the pool. In fact, I never felt more awake.

"Girls, this is the life," I exhaled, floating on my back and staring up at the cloudless sky.

"And it's a beautiful life," Talia added.

"I'm gonna go get us some drinks," Elif said, hauling herself out of the pool.

"I'll go with," Talia said, leaving me and Sofia in the cool bliss of the pool.

"I still can't believe we're here - in Fiji!" Sofia exclaimed, shaking my shoulders.

"Me neither," I replied. "And I'm so glad I can spend it with you guys, and not my stupid family. I mean, I love them and all, but travelling with friends is so much better."

"True that," Sofia agreed. "And apparently there is a population of muslims who live in FIji."

"Really? I didn't know that," for some reason, that piece of information made me feel at ease. Though of course, Muslims basically lived on every corner of the globe now.

"Your drinks, ladies," Elif and Talia returned holding two glasses each, and I noticed they looked like those cocktail glasses that would usually contain alcohol.

"Where'd you get them from?" I inquired.

"The bar, duh," Talia replied as Sofia and I sat on the edge of the pool.

"Bar?" I raised my eyebrows sceptically, and Elif released a tinkling laugh.

"Relax, Huda, there's no alcohol in these drinks," she assured us, handing me a glass of pink and gold liquid before scrunching up her face in thought. "At least, I think that's what the guy said...."

"Elif!" I cried, but Elif just laughed.

"I'm kidding, seriously! Lighten up, darling," she pinched my cheek, and I scowled at her, before sniffing my drink.

"Trust us. We're your friends, Huda," Talia said, sipping her drink. "Plus, this iced tea is pretty good."

"Iced tea?" I took a tester sip, and burst out laughing. "You're right, it's just iced tea."

"And it's delish," Sofia licked her lips and grinned at me. 

"It is," I nodded, gazing up at the sunshine that bathed our faces. Elif was right - I needed to relax. And in that moment, I decided that I would, because that was why we were here - in one of the most beautiful islands in the world.

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That's right - I'm back! To be honest, this chapter was already mostly written four months ago, but I had given up on this story by then. Now, I thought I'd give this story another chance, especially since it's summer and I need an escape - even if it's fictional. So I hope you guys enjoyed because there will be more to come, I promise!

Peace out, 

Aishabella xoxo