Chapter 2: Him

x HIRA x

It had been exactly three weeks since my dad had mentioned his friend and his friend's son to me. After that night, the topic didn't open at all and it was as if it had never happened...until today, that is.

"Hira, we need to go shopping for you." My mum said as she placed a plate of scrambled eggs in front of Hassan who was seated across me.

"For what?" I asked her, raising an eyebrow as I halted my movements, my half-eaten toast left mid air as I looked at her.

"For Friday." She said as if it was the most obvious answer in the world.

Friday?

"I didn't know something was happening on Friday..." I trailed off as I hit into my toast, chewing it slowly as she smiled.

"Well, its a curriculum day, so Amir and his family are going to come over. We're going to be having breakfast altogether inshaaAllah and then the men will go to Jumu'ah. Afterwards, we'll go out and have lunch somewhere and get to know each other." She explained, making my eyes instantly widen.

I almost choked on my toast.

"What?! No way! Mum, why don't I know about this? I need at least a week to mentally prepare myself." I told her, feeling my heart race in my chest.

"It was planned yesterday, honey." She frowned. "There's no use delaying it. If you're so sure you're going to say no, then they'll come and it'll be over with in a few hours."

Waleed, who had been silent this whole time, finally spoke. "Why does she have to go shopping though?" He asked, getting up and putting his plate and cup in the sink.

He always ate so damn fast.

"To find a presentable outfit." My mum replied in a duh- tone, sitting in her seat and putting a slice of toast into Hassan's hands, taking away his iPad.

"So she has to dress up to impress this guy, huh?" He said, looking back at her and seeming very annoyed.

"Astagfirullah, Waleed." My mum chastised with slightly narrowed eyes. "She needs to dress nicely and since a situation like this has never happened before, she doesn't have a suitable outfit." She stated her opinion.

I thought I had multiple outfits I could wear. Maybe my cringe-worthy unicorn onesie that I had purchased two years ago would be enough to scare them away.

Waleed nodded his head although he didn't seem very convinced that the idea was necessary. He walked to the dining table and kissed my mum on the cheek then moved on to kiss Hassan's head before walking past me and squeezing my shoulder with a small smile. "I'm off to work. I'll see you guys tonight inshaaAllah."

"Drive safely, sweetheart." My mum called after him.

"I will, mama." He replied, the front door closing shortly after.

After finishing my breakfast, I thanked my mum and helped her clean up the table before going up the stairs to get ready for school.

I wore a washed out pair of blue skinny jeans with a white T-shirt, wearing a long black coat over it. After doing my scarf and taking my bag with my books in it as well as putting my phone in the pocket of my jacket, I walked down the stairs and took my puma shoes out of the shoe cupboard, putting them on and leaving the house to go to school.

I saw Hawwa taking books out of her locker once I eventually walked into the school building.

Hawwa was my best friend and she was also a family friend of ours. Our families had known each other from the Jamiya for years and we just so happened to go to the same school, alhamdulillah.

"Assalamu alaykum." I greeted her, smiling as I gave her a quick hug.

"Wa alaykum salam." She replied, looking fairly excited.

What the hell?

"What's up with the outfit?" I asked her as I eyed her black scarf that seemed to have not gotten much attention this morning along with her black cuffed tracksuit pants and, again, black, old Everlast jumper that was way too big for her, almost reaching her knees.

"Just couldn't be bothered." She shrugged and I shook my head, smiling as I took out my own books from my locker.

"As always." We said at the same time then began laughing.

"Typical." I muttered.

"Shut up." She said, slapping my shoulder lightly. "I'm normally a little more decent, but today I really couldn't be bothered." She laughed, making me shake my head yet again. I chose not to comment, not wanting to argue with her. "Also, you should actually be at the office right now." She said, causing me to raise my eyebrows.

"Apparently there's a new kid and Lucille's away."

I groaned, banging my head on my locker. I was second in line for the welcoming committee and since Lucille was absent, that meant that I needed to take the new student around the school and show him or her their classes and the school facilities.

I didn't want to be apart of it, but it was mandatory for us to join some sort of group. When I heard that a second-in-line was needed, I took the opportunity, knowing that it'd be very rare for Lucille to be MIA on a day where we coincidentally had a new student. Clearly, my plan had failed.

"Girl?" I asked and she smirked, shaking her head, making me groan even louder.

"That's nothing." She said, looking at me with an even wider smirk as she wiggled her brows.

I raised my own in return, waiting to hear the shockwave she would send through me. "He's a fellow Muslim brother, MashaAllah, tabarakAllah all the way from....you guessed it! Misr al Arabiyyah." She laughed loudly, her voice echoing in the vacant halls and making me laugh uncontrollably with her even though I wasn't laughing internally.

Once we calmed down, I wiped under my eyes.

"You ain't gonna be laughing much longer when you find out what his name is..." She trailed off.

No way.

Surely not.

My heart pounded and I felt a buzzing sound at the top of my head.

"Please tell me it's just a scary coincidence." I chuckled akwardly, my face showing pure horror.

"Coincidence? I think not!!" She laughed, making me groan and throw my hands over my face.

When I had told Hawwa about this situation, she seemed overly excited about it, almost like my mother.

I knew that it'd have to be one hell of a miracle for this to be some crazy coincidence and I also knew that this boy, was in fact the Amir.

How was I going to go in there and welcome him to our school knowing that he was the guy who was to be introduced to me as a potential spouse on Friday?

Oh no.

What if he knew about me!? What if he knew that the girl his dad wanted to arrange him with was named Hira Hamid and now our principle told him that a girl named Hira Hamid was going to be showing him around?

What was his reaction going to be?

No. I couldn't.

"Hawwa, you need to go instead!" I said to her quickly, completely panicked as I clutched her forearms. "You have to!"

"What? No way! I'm not even in the welcoming committee." She pulled away from me, basically trying to run away.

"Hawwa, please! Fi sabilillah." I said to her, giving her puppy dog eyes and holding her hands in mine, preventing her from getting away.

She couldn't even say another word as the speakers echoed my name throughout the school. "Hira Hamid, make your way to the principal's office, immediately!" The voice boomed, echoing in my head over and over, much longer than it echoed the school hallways.

Hawwa used my one moment of carelessness to quickly break away from my hold and she literally bolted down the hallway and away from me, leaving me to wallow in my self pity.

Ya Allah, help me.

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