Chapter 3: Her

x AMIR x

"Hira Hamid, make your way to the principal's office, immediately!" The man said into the microphone, his eyes slightly narrowed. He pulled away and clicked the microphone off as he gave me an apologetic look, but I couldn't care less about what he had just said.

Hira bloody Hamid. Is that what he had just said?

No.

No way. Please, ya Allah, let this be some scary coincidence.

"Who?" I asked the African American man sitting in the big leather chair across me, my eyes as wide as saucers as I felt my jaw grow slack.

"Hira Hamid." He said, smiling at me, his bald forehead shining under the light. "She's a lovely girl. One of the highest achievers of our school. I believe she's Egyptian as well actually. You two will get along perfectly, I hope."

I hope the hell not!

I clenched my fists in my lap and breathed in and out deeply, trying to control the rapid beating of my heart.

She was definitely the girl that my dad was trying to make me marry. There's no way I was lucky enough for this to be a coincidence.

I had told him countless times that I did not want her, or anyone for that matter.

Every time I told him I wasn't ready to get married, he'd say something along the lines of 'you'll never know you're ready until you go ahead and do it' which was one of the stupidest things I've ever heard in my life.

I wonder if she knows that I'm the guy that she's being arranged with.

God, what if she acts all desperate now...I really couldn't deal with some girl swooning at my feet.

Three delicate knocks were heard on the dark mahogany door before the principal called for the person to come in. It was almost as if the knocks had instantly stopped the beating of my heart.

I almost felt like I was suffocating.

Forcing myself to take a deep breath, I looked to the door as it opened, my pupils dilating on their own accord at the girl who stood in the doorway.

She was nothing like what I had imagined her to be.

The girl standing in the doorway right now was tiny. A petite, slim girl clad in a pair of tight jeans, most of her legs covered with a black jacket and Puma runners on her feet. I was sure they were children's sized shoes.

Her complexion was fairly tan, with doe-like brown eyes and perfectly shaped lips, her naturally long eyelashes letting off a small shadow on her smooth cheeks.

She didn't even look at me, instead, she stared directly at Mr Tyson, her gaze unwavering.

Was she avoiding me on purpose?

This was new.

"Morning, Sir." She said. Her voice matched her petite form. It was smooth and soft, sounding delicate and feminine. "I'm sorry for the delay." She apologised shortly, although it didn't sound heartfelt.

"Good morning, Hira." The principle replied simply, disregarding her apology.

Hira.

The name sounded nice in my head. I was yet to test it on my tongue, knowingly refusing to call her anything except for 'the girl' whenever my father had spoke about her to me.

Hira was a beautiful name regardless though.

I knew the meaning to it.

I mean, I wasn't completely religious in the sense that I was never able to wake up for Fajr except for during Ramadan and sometimes if I was too tired after soccer practice I'd knowingly miss 'Isha just to go to bed a little earlier. It was a terrible habit.

I knew I was sinning for doing so, but I couldn't change my habits no matter how many times I tried.

I was far from being the 'perfect Muslim,' not that such a thing existed besides the Prophet pbuh.

Despite my shortcomings though, I knew most of the stories of the Prophets and would go to Qur'an lessons at the mosque when I had free time even though I was already good at reading Qur'an. I only attended so that I had an excuse to recite more often and I increased in attending them whenever I felt like I was starting to fall behind and decrease in reading.

It helped me keep my imaan in check, alhamdulillah.

"I'd like for you to show Amir around for today, please? You know what to do." The principal said, cutting me out of my thoughts and snapping me back to reality.

"Sure." She smiled, her lips pulling up at the sides, her eyes crinkling in the most adorable w...

What the hell? Shut up!

I couldn't control my thoughts even if I tried. I was shocked beyond belief.

Out of all the pictures I'd had of what she might have looked like, I never could have even imagined that she'd be as beautiful as she is. Allahumma barik.

I looked to the ground, realising that I had been staring at her way longer than I should've been.

She still hadn't looked at me, not even a tiny glance and I felt myself grow curious to seeing her reaction once she did finally look at me. Maybe then I'll be able to tell if she knew about me.

"Amir, I'll let you go on with Hira then. I hope you have a good time at our school." The principal said.

I thanked him and shook his extended hand as Hira opened the door wider and gestured for me to go, still not looking at my face.

Once the principal's door was closed behind us, her smile wiped off and her lips pursed instead.

She had an expert poker face and if she actually did know me, then she was doing a damn good job at hiding it.

Lowkey, it was starting to annoy me. I honestly felt like asking her if she knew of me.

"Do you have your schedule?" She asked casually while we walked through the hallway.

I took it out of my pocket and held the crumpled piece of paper towards her.

"So, I heard you came from Egypt, right?" She asked me, looking up at me for a split second with raised eyebrows before looking back down at my schedule immediately after.

Well, that was disappointing.

Maybe her dad hadn't told her about it yet?

Now I felt like telling her myself. Of course, I would only say it to make sure that she knew I wasn't the one who wanted to marry her and that I was being forced by my parents to go along with this meeting thing.

Eventually I decided that I'd only tell her that if she started showing signs of desperation which she wasn't doing just yet.

x HIRA x

My aim of not looking at him had completely failed.

I was restraining myself so hard and trying to force my eyes to solely look at the principal earlier, but I had slipped.

As soon as he was shaking Mr. Tyson's hand I had sneaked a quick glance at him, frowning when I realised I only saw half of his profile and not his entire face.

I needed to get at least a small view of his full face, otherwise the curiosity was going to literally kill me.

From what I was able to see in the principal's room, he had long eyelashes and was slightly darker than me with a very defined, sharp jawline and light stubble. He was also very tall and well-built.

He was clad in a simple red hood and had a pair of black jeans covering his legs with Adidas Original Superstars on his feet.

Currently, we were walking through the hall while I looked at his schedule. The only way in which I could look at his face without being too obvious was to talk to him.

What better way to get to know your potential than starting a conversation, right? The sarcastic thought made me scoff and shiver internally. Even joking about it made me feel odd.

"So, I heard you're from Egypt." I said slowly as I glanced up at him, anticipation flooding my veins. As soon as I made eye contact with his bright eyes that literally pierced through my soul, I immediately averted my gaze, looking straight back down at his schedule.

Wow. His eyes were a gorgeous, vibrant shade of blue with grey lining the outer edges, highlighting and making them even more captivating than normal blue eyes already were.

Allahumma barik.

All this from just one glance.

Hira, you better keep your gaze lowered, girl.

One more glance and I was sure to fall in love. I had never seen such a vibrant pair of blue eyes on a tanned guy like him.

Judging from his silence and his burning gaze, which I had felt from the first moment that I had walked into the principal's office, he definitely knew who I was.

His stare was burning me and that fact alone was making my heart was beat loudly against my ribcage. Given the extreme tornado that was wracking through every part of my body right now, I felt like I was hiding my emotions very well by staring at his schedule with complete interest.

A schedule had never been so fascinating before.

I definitely didn't want him to know that I knew about the arrangement, so I was trying to act as normal as possible, however normal I could have acted in a situation like this.

So far, so good.

"Yeah, used to live here then we moved to Egypt 5 years ago. Just landed last Friday." He finally said after clearing his throat, his voice deep and raspy.

God, help me.

"Why'd you come back?" I asked him, only now realising that all the female students were staring at him while we walked, not even trying to hide the fact that they thought he was insanely attractive.

Truthfully, anyone with a working pair of eyes would think the same.

Oh, for God's sake, shut up, Hira.

My stomach churned for some reason and I could almost taste the breakfast I had eaten this morning at the back of my throat.

"Couldn't adjust to the lifestyle." He shrugged. "And it was way too hot." He added, trying to contribute some lightness to the conversation.

I chuckled softly. I knew that Egypt had desert climate so I could imagine how hard it would be for someone to get used to there when the absolute hottest day we ever got in summer was 30 degrees Celsius.

It didn't seem like he was very keen on speaking to me at that point so I decided not to say anything else and at that moment, Polly and Elena, two girls who were in the cheerleading squad walked up to us.

"Hey, Hira." Polly, the head cheerleader said, smiling at me warmly.

"Hey, Polly. How are you?" I asked her, smiling back.

Polly was an exception to all the cliche cheer leaders you would read about in books and see in movies. She was lovey and very down to earth.

"Not too bad. What about you?" She grinned, the dimple in her cheeks making an appearance.

I shrugged. "Yeah, alright. Just performing committee duties."

"Indeed. Speaking of, are you going to introduce me to our new friend?" She asked, giggling softly as she looked at Amir.

Wow, okay. Subtle much?

"I'm Amir." He said with complete confidence, not giving any opportunity for me to introduce him.

I didn't know him enough to judge him completely, but it seemed like he was good at talking to girls which was fairly unnerving. It only made my decision to say no all the more easy.

Polly smiled widely at him and told him her name in response. "It's very nice to meet you." She said, extending her hand to shake.

He glanced at it before smiling politely at her and raising his palm. "Sorry, I don't shake hands with girls, but it's nice to meet you, too."

I smiled sub-consciously as I looked down and balanced on the heels of my feet.

Well, that was a little more comforting at least.

Still saying no though.

Her eyes grew a little. "Oh, you're Muslim?" She assumed. "Hira doesn't shake hands with guys, either." She said, bringing her hand back down as she gestured towards me.

My cheeks reddened as I felt Amir's burning gaze on the side of my face.

I looked up at him when he didn't look away only to regret my decision when I saw a darker look in his eyes as he smirked slightly.

Ya Rabb.

He was the first one to break eye contact as he turned back to look downward at Polly, nodding to confirm that he was a Muslim.

"You've got the body of....a football player?" She guessed after tapping her finger on her chin and he chuckled, shaking his head no.

"Soccer actually, but I'll give it to you."

She laughed. "I was close enough." She said and I cleared my throat, all of a sudden feeling like the extra in the group. I didn't want to be here in the first place, so thank God that Polly had showed up.

"Polly, do you mind showing Amir his classes? I'm sure he would prefer it too." I said, holding his schedule to her with a smile.

Her eyes widened as she held the schedule and took it from my hands immediately as if she thought I would change my mind.

"Sure." She chirped, sounding overly ecstatic. "I'll see you around." She said to me and I nodded with a smile before turning around, not looking at Amir or even saying bye for that matter as I walked away, releasing breath after breath as I tried regulating my heart beat.

"You should join the soccer team. I cheer so we'll see..." Polly's voice faded and I shook my head, walking to my first class and trying to forget about Amir as a whole.

Impossible.

I felt weird. I didn't know what it was. I thought that after I spoke to him I would be in a position where I could say, 'yep, I was right, this guy is not for me', but if that was the case, then why did I get annoyed by Polly when she was blatantly flirting with him. I didn't even know him! All I knew was his name, yet here I was getting triggered by the head cheerleader introducing herself to him.

Get a grip, Hira.

I found myself in a completely grey area. It wasn't black, nor white and I had absolutely no clue how or why I felt this way about him.

Perhaps the fact that he blatantly told Polly that he doesn't shake hands was the reason I had gotten an inkling of a good feeling about him.

Maybe he entertained her to show me that he didn't actually want to get married?

News flash, I didn't either.

This initial meeting had gone by very differently to what I could have ever imagined. I wasn't expecting him to be this good looking for one. I thought he would be lanky and not confident. Perhaps dressed like the men in Egypt since he had spent 5 years there.

I wasn't expecting him to be extremely good looking, well-built, confident and dressed nicely.

This was all a surprise. If I had actually wanted to marry him, these would have all been good surprises, but I didn't want to marry him, so all these 'good' surprises did nothing for me except for play with my mind. Something that I really didn't need right now.

:::::