"Being average is boring"

-Maya Cooper

••••

Aliah's POV
(A/N I miss writing her name 😭)

I was making breakfast when Saïd rang me, completely out of nowhere.

"Calm down." I interupted him after he was rambling on about some things that had happened.

We were at his place yesterday, for diner. It was the first time I saw my brother since we moved to Chicago. He moved to Chicago way before we did so we never had the time to catch up.

"Aliah you don't understand!" Saïd replied annoyed, annoyed because I didn't understand what he was trying to tell me.

"Then make me understand and stop rambling." I said changing the phone from ear.

"Natasha" He started. His voice was shaking, he didn't know how to bring out the words and took a break every two seconds.

"What Natasha?" I asked, thinking of a person called Natasha Saïd must've known.

"Natasha from 18 years ago Aliah."

Of course, how could I forget about her?

The girl that my brother was with, 18 years ago.

The girl that was pregnant with my brother's child.

The girl that lost her child and blamed my brother for everything.

"Yeah okay what about her?" I asked confused, not sure what he was trying to tell me.

I sat down on the couch with a sandwich I made for myself and Harris. The kids were at school, so we had some quality time.

"Who is it?" Harris whispered, sitting down besides me.

The maids that came every morning interrupted us. Harris jumped up when he saw the shocked expression on my face and told the maids to start upstairs.

He told me everything.. What happened before diner yesterday.

Harris sat back down again as I slowly moved the phone away from my ear and pressed the red button.

I threw the phone on the table and leaned back.

"I can't believe it." I whispered in total denial.

"Honey what is it?" Harris asked, cupping my cheek with his hand.

I brushed my hair back with my fingers and took a deep breath.

"My nephew." I started.

"Is Adam okay?" Harris asked, grabbing my hand.

"Oh yeah Adam is fine." I replied.

"So what nephew are you talking about? You only have-" Harris stopped talking and narrowed his eyes. Probably realising what Saïd had told me.

He released my hand and ran his fingers through his hair himself. The lines on his forehead softened as he placed his hand on his mouth.

"His name is Max." I said making eye contact with Harris. "Natasha never lost her child 18 years ago, she lied." I added.

..

Maya's POV

"So you thought about it?" Sameed whispered in my ear as he sneaked up to me from behind.

"Yes." I replied, raising my eyebrows.

I turned around and looked into his deep blue eyes. His eyes got me everytime, whenever I looked into them, I wasn't able to look away.

"Maya?" He smirked, waving his hand in front of me face.

"Oh right." I said lowering my gaze. I could just feel that my cheeks where turning slightly pink out of shame.

"Did no one ever tell you how weird you actually are?" Sameed said as I still hadn't responded to his question.

"All the time." I chuckled. "But no." I quickly added.

I turned around and continued my way to the library.

"No what?" He asked walking behind me.

"No as in I'm not joining any sport teams." I replied.

"Oh c'mon!" Sameed huffed.

"Not gonna happen Jones." I responded. I quickly turned around and faced him, walking backwards. "Why do you want me to join so bad actually?" I asked. I wasn't looking where I was going, so the chance of me bumping into someone was pretty high.

"You're good that's why." He shrugged.

I narrowed my eyes. "Sure." I smirked.

"In coming!" He suddenly warned.

"What?"

"Watch out for-"

There wasn't enough time for him to warn me for the girl standing in front of her locker. I accidentally bumped into her, making her drop everything she was holding.

"I'm so sorry." I said, immediately crouching down and picking up everything she had dropped. Including her phone that without a doubt broke because of the fall.

She picked it up, cursing quietly.

"I'm sorry I'll pay for it" I quickly said before she would beat the shit out of me.

Sameed, in the meanwhile, was walking away, laughing about my clumsiness.

"No it's fine." She sighed.

I faced her and watched her try to turn her phone on.

I also noticed that she was shy, shyer than I ever was. Probably thinking I was one of those low-life bitches who would kill her for only talking to me.

"I insist." I said determined. Well actually I don't have money to replace her iphone 7 plus, but my father definitely has.

She smiled and nodded, throwing her broken phone into her locker.

I also noticed that she was holding a small Quran*, also placing that into her locker.

"You're Muslim?" I asked pointing at the Quran.

"Yeah Alhamdulillah*." She smiled. "I'm Daniya".

"Maya." I replied.

"Yeah I know, people are talking." She said, closing her locker.

She made eyecontact letting me examine her face.

She's beautiful, Allahumma Barik laha*..

light brown eyes that almost looked gray-greenish, long dark brown hair and subtle dimples that appeared whenever she smiled.

"Oh yeah?" I replied.

"Yeah you being Sameed's friend and all." She said.

"Seriously?" I sighed.

I actually thought that people were talking about me because of my father. My father has a quite big reputation, if I say so myself.

"Don't sweat it, I have male friends myself."

"Speaking of them, here they are." She said pointing at 2 guys that were approaching us.

The one middle eastern guy had his arm around the obviously American guy and were play fighting but quickly stopped when they saw me.

"Who's your friend?" One of them asked.

"Maya, this is Jake and Yaseen."

I smiled at both of them.

"Nice to meet you." Jake said offering his hand to shake. I grabbed his hand, "You too" I replied.

Yaseen lowered his gaze and turned to face Daniya instead. "See you after school." He said. Daniya slightly blushed and nodded at his request.

Jake on the other hand was looking at me in a weird way. His eyes spoke so many words, but I, for the first time, couldn't figure out what they were saying. I had already lowered my gaze obviously, but you just feel it when someone is staring at you.

All these guys. There are just too many.

Yaseen swung his arm around Jake's neck again, pulling him away from us. "Bye girls!" Yaseen said.

We both laughed at their weird behaviour until I realized I could maybe spend the next hour with another female person. I was going to do some homework at first as I had first period free but I, in some detached way, needed to get answers to very important questions.

Questions about Sameed.

"Hey do you also have first period free?" I asked.

"Yeah." She replied.

"I was about to do some homework but I actually have some questions."

"Questions about who?" She smirked.

"Sameed." I said gritting my teeth slightly.

The corner of her lips lifted up to each side, showing her straight white teeth.

"Of course." She smiled.

"But one hour isn't enough, that guy is complicated." She added, raising her eyebrows making small lines appear on her forehead.

Seriously?

I just knew that this guy was everything but average, everything but boring.

••••

*

AlHamdulillah ; Thank God.

Quran ; Muslims holy book.

Allahumma Barik laha ; May God bless her

Who is a new reader and who has read TCUL? Let me know. 💯

Also let me know who's Muslim and who's not. Everyone is welcome.♡

~Edited by R3Hijabi ~