My memories didn't all come back, or at least that's what I think! I'm still unable to make sense of the situation enough to rest easy just yet. All the time I've spent here as Jaden was way too real to ignore. But how did I end up being Jaden in the first place? I just can't seem to remember anything beyond that day. That day when everything was just going as usual.
"Mado!" my mother called for me "Breakfast is ready, get out of the bed!".
With every strength I had at that moment, I pulled myself off of the bed and walked to the sitting room where my family usually have their breakfast. Although my legs were moving, my eyes were still half open, if they weren't yet shut.
"You like it when you get late, don't you?" Mom was scolding me as I sat down at the table. "You stay up all night walking around with that phone of yours, and then end up sleepy and late!".
"Nuh, I'm wide awake" I replied. "I got 7 hours of sleep last night! That's only an hour short from the optimum.".
"And here's another one who stays up till after midnight!" Mom was targeting my younger brother.
"Shush! Don't say another word!" My brother said angrily.
"You can't just let anyone let you know what you're doing is wrong?!" My younger sister tried to reason with him.
"You can't just shut the fuck up?!" He replied with a threatening voice.
"You shut the fuck up, mothafucker!"
They kept on throwing curses and arguing till we finished our breakfast, and then changed in day outfits.
"C'mon you two!" My sister was calling for both of us. "Our Uber is here, you better hurry!"
When we're already on our way, my sister got a call from one of her besties, a guy named Soony. He was telling her that she's been signed up to help in for the preparation of homecoming dance. Pretty slick, huh?!
But hey, my Sister was always the social butterfly. Unlike my brother and I, she gets involved in whatever happens on campus, she's present at almost all social events, got more than a thousand followers on Instagram, and people think that she's an inspiration. She and her two best friends are considered an icon that every student in our university acknowledges. While my brother is the exact opposite. A complete antisocial who hates anything school related! He's not a bad person by any standard, but he's not a very friendly one, too.
And that leaves me, the confusing guy sitting awkwardly in the front passenger seat. My social life game is no way near my sister, and yet, I'm not a committed people hater like my brother. I know some people, I got few I called friends, but I usually end up by myself most of the time.
The car finally parked, and the three of us got into campus grounds.
"Hey Alex!" A girl called for my sister and she went along with her. That was Noor, her bestie.
My brother and I were walking together looking at the banners on the walls obviously yelling about the upcoming homecoming dance. But there were other banners that says it's only five days left for students to revise their final grades of the previous semester. My brother got few flunks, and I thought he might need to go do something about them.
"You could use this chance!" I said pointing out at the banners. "They could pull your grades up a little. How about we both go give it a try?"
"Stop prying into my life mind your own business" he replied in cold demeanor and started to walk away. "And stop walking with me! You're embarrassing".
As I was on my way to class, a guy just jumped on me from behind. It was very disturbing!
"Where have you been last night?!" he wrapped his right arm around my neck.
"G'morning to you too, Omar" I said to Omar, one of my classmates, the clingy type.
"What's the use of that Telegram app on your phone if you don't open it?!" he muttered sarcastically.
"Did anybody required my urgent assistance or something?" I said in the most indifferent tone.
"Well hot damn yeah, you dirty dog! I needed you!" he replied as he looked nervous and concerned. "Ekram and the other girls have turned all out on me, and we had a fight!" he said as he grabbed his phone and showed me the last Telegram conversation.
"This seems bad.." I muttered.
"Hell yeah, it is!" he said in fear. "And it's near the homecoming dance! I was planning on asking her out!".
"Why didn't you just apologize at that moment instead of turning it into a major problem?" I asked him.
"It turned out to guys vs girls thing. It got outta my control." he replied in sorrow. "So, I really need your help.."
"Oh boy!..."
We continued talking about his problem till we reached the classroom that was full of students walking around and talking to each other. Out of no where, a classmate of mine called Malak approached us. Omar couldn't bear her presence, so he fled to the background.
"Mado! You've seen your grades, right?" Malak asked
"Uh, not yet really." I replied reluctantly although I was telling the truth.
"Hmmm, you don't look happy to hear that question." She teased me.
I wanted to tell her that I actually don't look happy at all as long as I'm stuck in this school with a bunch of morons, but I only managed to sigh. "See ya, Malak.."
I walked into the classroom, and put my backpack on my seat, and all of the sudden someone covered my eyes from behind. Seriously, what the heck?!
But then I started to sniff something. "Oh wait, I smell a cheap cologne!"
The person who was covering my eyes a second ago started to chock my throat. "Who do you call cheap?!"
"Ugh, that's really hard! Stop it!!" I tried to resist his awfully tight grip. Then I turned my head upwards to look at his face; even though I already have an idea on who he is.
"Waleed, why you little?! Lemme go!"
That guy was Waleed, an engineering student, and one of my closest friends.
"It's payback time!" he said as another person approached us.
"Cut it out Waleed!" she insisted.
"Uhh, Safi!" I managed to mutter.
Safi was my first friend since I got into that university, and she's been by my side ever since. She's truly reliable especially in suppressing Waleed who let go of me in a bit.
"Only 'cause Safi said so.."
"Ughh, talk about some grip you got!" I said as I was coughing.
"What are you doing here anyway?" Safi asked Waleed who for some reason was disappointed to hear it.
"Oh, Waleed!" another person just came around. It was Majd, another dear friend of mine. "Why are you in our class?"
"None' your stupid business.." Waleed replied in anger while trying to act cool.
"So, you're all here!" said a girl who sat down in front of me. It was my last close friend Ekram.
I noticed as Omar was staring at us from the distance as she was speaking. "I asked Waleed to come over by the way."
"Thanks for the hospitality, doctors" said Waleed as he was taking a seat.
Then Ekram started explaining with an unusually energetic tone. "I want us to participate in the set up committee."
"Set up?!" Majd asked. "For the homecoming dance?"
"Aren't you a candidate?" I asked.
"Yeah, but the already enlisted staff is very small to keep things together." Ekram explained.
"Weren't most of our classmates already helping?" Asked Safi in disinterest.
"Guess Miss. Soon To Be Homecoming Queen is just trying to swing too hard." Waleed said sarcastically.
"No no, Waleed" replied Ekram "The dance profits are all going to charity. So, we need to make sure that it raises enough money to aid as much as possible."
"We?!" Majd exclaimed.
"Yup! I've assigned the five of us to participate." Ekram replied.
"WHAT!!" the rest of us exclaimed.
"You can't just drag us with you like that, y'know?" I sighed.
"Now that you mentioned it" Waleed said. "I don't mind doing it, since its for charity after all."
"Glad to hear that someone is cool enough to realize it." Ekram smiled. "What about you, Mado?"
"Like I have a choice! My name is already in there. " I sarcastically replied.
Safi was looking at her phone before she said "The list of students already assigned on the website is very short. I guess we'll need to offer a helping hand."
"In that case" Majd punched his palm in excitement. "Let's show 'em how things are done!"
Another girl sat a little distant from us was curious about what we're discussing. "What's all this noise about?" she asked Ekram.
"Oh, Aya! Didn't see you coming!" Ekram replied. "We were talking about the dance preparations. Care to join?"
"I'm still reluctant about going to the dance, let alone preparing it." Aya replied in a flat tone. She probably didn't want to be seen after that massive break up all by herself.
"But you said 'it'll be fun going to the dance', didn't you?" Said one of two girls that were standing near Aya. Her name was Salsabeel.
"A girl can change her mind." Said Affaf, the second of the two girls, and also Aya's cousin.
I turned my head to look at the other side of the room, There, my eyes caught my other classmates, such as Suhail: the good looking guy, Rayman: the guy everybody thinks is funny, Naief: the guy that I'm the only one who thinks is funny, Wessi'e: the dude with the beard. Sitting with him are Ryan and Kamal. I could also see Tiger and Abass there in the backround talking to that little guy Abdo. But then, I noticed somebody getting closer. He was tall and mascular with a short haircut, and made both Abass and tiger jump off. His name was Ahmed.
"What up my nigga!" he said to me as he took a seat in the back. I only shot back with mere facial expression.
Then I heard Waleed saying "Damn, Ahmed Baghais is a tough deal! I can't imagine any of you poking fun with him."
Seconds after he had said that, Wessi'e and Kamal were fighting with Ahmed. I guess they made fun of his haircut.
Sadeq, our Class President, approached us to talk to Ekram, and get a final word about joining the dance committee.
"So, it's offical! Soon to be queen wants it her way!" Sadeq teased Ekram.
The classroom noises became louder as everyone were talking at the same time, Ahmed and the others were fighting like stray dogs, even Waleed and Majd were wrestling over my shoulders. I put on my earphones and got up to look from the window. I don't know what I was thinking about, but I remember that I was thinking about something particularly special.
Few minutes later, I felt something poking my back. When I turned around and looked, it was Safi.
"What's up?!" I asked.
Safi streched her hands and gave me a bar of chocolate. "Here, take it!" She said nervously.
"Uhh, thanks!" I accepted her sudden gift which made her face turned red.
"Gee, get a room you two!" Omar teased us out of no where.
"Get lost!" both Safi and I replied at the same time.
"Safi, you're blushing though " said Majd.
"No I'm not!" Safi shouted.
Both of Safi's closest friends Hadeel and Hanan were giggling at the corner.
"Not you too!" Safi covered her face with her palms.
"Thank you, Safi." I said. "Lemme return the favor! Is there anything you'd like?"
"I don't need you to thank me.." Safi mumbled and then looked at Ekram, who is smiling ear to ear. "What's that face for?!"
"I wish we can always stay together like this." Ekram replied happily.
"Sure, we can." I said.
"Yeah!" Safi agreed.
"Although I'm the only one who's from a different major " Waleed said.
"Doesn't matter what major you are. I can't imagine us being apart." Majd said.
"Hey everyone, those who are in the dance committee will have to start working on it today after class!" Sadeq announced.
After hearing what he said, we rounded up. "Looks like everyone's ready." I said.
"Yeah! It's time!" Majd replied as the five of us streched our arms and put our fists in a circle.
"This is our oath!" Ekram uttered.
"We'll always be honest!" I said.
"And trust in our friends!" Safi said.
"We'll hone our skills!" Waleed said.
"We'll become prodigies!" Majd said.
"And be the best group this university has ever seen!" Ekram said.
After classes have finished, Majd, Ekram, Safi, and I, along with the rest of the committee headed to the Unicorn Hall, where the d ance will take place. Waleed was already waiting for us in the yard when we came out.
"Finally!" Waleed said in relief. "Come one Ekram, I'm sitting in front!"
"No way! I'm not leting anybody ride with me!" Ekram shot back.
"Oh.." muttered Safi.
Then Majd suggested we go with the rest of the staff. He went with Hebshi and Husain, two of our classmates. Safi took a ride with Maria and Zara and her two besties. Ekram took her two besties in her car. And Waleed tagged along with his classmates. And I— had no other choice except for Omar and Suhail.
While on our way, Omar was fillings me in with his problem with the girls on rewind! And surprisingly, Suhail was indulging him on what to do. I was sitting in the front seat, so I had to pretend that I was listening at least.
"But why— why in the actual mother of earth would she respond like that?!" Omar was almost weeping.
It turned out that he was trying to banter with Ekram on a group chat at the wrong time and Zara stood up and bashed against what he did. And the guys felt awful about it.
"You should've listened to me." Suhail said. "The girls of our class are pure bitches! That's why I never try to be friendly with 'em."
"Well sure thing, Zara is a real nutcase devil, but Ekram isn't that kind of person!" Omar was definitely weeping this time.
"Oh, you noob!" Suhail laughed out loud. "You really think Ekram is this nice person she shows?!"
When Suhail said that, all my attention were shifted towards his words.
"I know that girl's true metal." Suhail continued. "I discovered it when we were in Sophomore year. These girls were about to meddle in my affair, and go as farther as hurting my fiancé! And Ekram was the mastermind behind it."
"For real? Ekram?! The little girl who can barely speak to anyone?!" I said in the most sleepy voice I got.
"Whaddya know you sad outsider?!" Suhail replied. "If you think these girls are just this earnest and this caring out of no where, then you're just being used, my friend."
"I can't believe Ekram is like that..." Omar muttered. I could see the disappointment on his face. But truth be told, I was way too shocked from Suhail's point of view to even try hiding it.
"Ekram or Zara, or whoever... we're nothing to them but tools they manipulate to achieve what they want." Suhail said. "And now, they're using us for the dance, so one of their gang gets to be the queen, and the rest get the attention."
"I bet they are.." Omar apparently started to give in.
"Which is why we're gonna put an end to this." explained Suhail as I was attentively listening. "We came up with a plan that will make sure none of their plans succeeds!"
"I'm in!" Omar said in anger. "I'm sick of being used and ridiculed like that!"
Suhail smiled, like he scored a goal. But then his eyes were on me. "What about you?" he asked.
I looked in front for seconds, and said "Don't think betraying a friend is easy, so lemme see it through."
That was all I could say. The guys wanna avenge their dignity that the girls were drawing around.
Once we at last reached the hall, I met with Ekram and Zara. As we were discussing the overal theme, three girls came into the echoy empty hall. They were Malak, and her two friends Ahlam, and Marrwa.
"Oh look, they're preparing our coronation!" Malak said out loud.
"I'm flattered!" Marrwa said.
"Just make sure the theme will match our outfits." Ahlam said in a sarcastic tone.
It appeard that both Marrwa and Malak were also candidates.
"Just ignore them!" Zara told me. "It's obvious that we'll win."
"By 'we' you mean y—" I tried to asked.
"I will win!" Ekram said.
"That's why we brought most of our classmates around. Their presence will boast our chances. Plus, they can't criticize their own work." Zara explained.
"And we'll get honors!" Ekram smirked.
I was sitting there next to her in confusion. What happened to fund-raising?!
Later after that, I texted Suhail and Omar to meet 'em near the back door. When I went there, they weren't the only ones standing, but Ryan, Kamal, Ahmed, Wassi'e, and even Osama
"Didn't expect all of you to be this sensitive!" I said.
"I can't believe you didn't find anybody else except Mado!" Kamal complained to Suhail. "He's gonna rat on us!"
Ryan then stepped up closer to my face. I still remember the smell of tobacco reeking of him.
"This is a serious business. One wrong move, and we'll make sure you'll be sorry, got it?" Ryan tried to threaten me.
"It's not like we hate them, but they went out too far this time!" Wessi'e muttered.
"They wanna get all the honors to themselves!" Osama was saying from the corner.
Then Ahmed squeezed my right shoulder. "Mado, you're one of us" He whispered. "I know that you've seen what they're tricking everybody else to do."
"Mado, what is it gonna be?" said Suhail as he stretched his hand out.
I waited a second before I said "Let's teach 'em a lesson." and shook his hand while Omar smiled as I did.
"Humph!" Kamal smirked.
"Ekram and Zara will get what they deserve.." said Ryan.
After they got that confirmation, Ryan and Suhail gave me the insight to their mind-blowing plan. It revolved around making everything either burn, blow up, or melt. They brought Sodium powder which is basically explosive the moment it makes contact with water. They also brought easily flammable paper for decoration, and I honestly don't how did they get their hands on that! Ryan as well informed me about how to time the AC to steam the hall at midnight, so all the still not dried paint melts down.
"You see?! All the toys are already here. Your job is to put them in place." Ryan explained to me.
"Kamal and I will take care of the AC!" Osama yelled.
"And I'll fill the sprinklers with gasoline." Said Suhail. "Omar, spread the powder around!"
"Leave it to me!" Omar replied with a thumbs up.
"Ryan, Ahmed, and I will be the look out." Said Wessi'e.
"Great!" Ahmed finally said. "Now, let's scatter! We're drawin' attention.."
All of went in different direction, except for Omar who chased after me, and grabbed my shoulder.
"Hey man!" he said. "You're seriously doing this?!"
"I just said I will couple of seconds ago! We both did!" I said in confusion.
Omar started to fidget. "Look man, I know you're a good guy. You can't be hurting other people!" he said. "Especially your friends!"
"What are you saying?.." I asked
"See! I wanna sabbotage their plan, and then expose it!" Omar answered.
"You wanna double-cross the guys who stood beside you against the girls?!" I asked him.
"It's gonna be the golden moment!" Said Omar before I started to get a bad vibe coming from him. "If Ekram saw this, she'll think I stood by her like a hero, and agrees to go out with me."
"You're that desperate?!" I said.
"Come-on man, do me a solid!" Plead Omar. "I really like her...you know? I don't wanna hurt her...or anyone."
Hate to admit it, but hearing him, it would've been impossible to refuse.
"Fine.." I sighed.
"Yes!" he cried. "I'll do my part then— winky, wink!"
"Hey—Mado!" Someone holard from a distance. It was Majd, holding bunch of boxes. "C'mon! We've got lots to do!"
I walked towards him, we did our signiture handshake, and went on our way to start unpacking with the others.
Suhail, and his gang were carrying out their plan, while watching me helping my friends fixing various things. Every now and then, Ahmed or Osama bring a peice of their heavy prank for me to put in place. On the other side was Omar, who was supposed to spread Sodium powder in every corner, signaling that he swaped it with plain sugar. He was serious about selling out the rest.
I finished setting up the lights with Majd, and went to help Waleed with fixing the stage. I glimpsed Suhail as he gave me the easily flammable paper while me and Kamal were hung with climbing ropes to decorate the upper walls. It was fun; especially when the person you're working with is a grumpy soul like Kamal.
"You know that your head shaped weird when it's upside-down?!" I told Kamal.
"The only weird thing here is you..." he replied in cold tone. "And why the hell are you upside down?!"
"Duh, 'cause it's funny!" I laughed as my head was hanging in thin air.
"You're making a scene! They'll get suspecious of you!" Kamal whispered.
"There's no harm in having fun!" I playfully replied.
"And you'd complain that people think you're still a child for some reason." he sighed.
"No grandma, it's for a lotta reasons!" I shot back, and then swang away from him towards the other side where Ekram was working. I went right next to her.
"It seems like you're enjoying it!" Ekram giggled.
"Not as much as you Miss. Upcoming Queen!" I replied.
"Come on, I don't care about becoming the queen." She said with a calm tone.
"Really?! So you're here, working your butt of for—"
"Cause I want to make a difference, even a small one!" She interjected. "If this dance will be grand, tons of students will pay to come, and look forward for the coming ones!"
"And that would raise more money!" I said. "You were thinking about momentum."
"Not sure if I'd get another chance, so I took my chance and brought the best people I can trust." Ekram said. "My friends!"
"You mean like Zara and Maria, and Ray—" I was pointing out at people below us.
"No!" She laughed. "I meant like you, silly!"
People like me she said. She has no idea what it's about to happen to those high hopes for trusting me this much.
I smilled back at her. "Just don't mess this up."
Three hours have passed, and most of our work was about to finish. The Unicorn Hall was offically Homecoming ready. And we stood looking at it from the ground up. It was at that moment that Ryan walked up towards Zara. He apparently wanted to provoke her into burstimg at him, so he take the previlage, and make it look like karma's doing.
"Well, look how amazing this hall looks now!" Ryan said as he was holding a ciggarette.
"Yeah, far away from what it looked like few hours ago." Zara replied.
"We did a great job, don't you think?" Ryan envoked.
"We all did!"
"All?! As you girls' all, or everyb—"
"The girls did a fabulous job!" Zara took the bait, and her tone changed.
"You're saying if you girls took care of it by yourselves, things were to look this good?"
"We girls can do anything we put our minds to. Pluse, it'd be with less trouble or mess!" Zara teased.
"What mess?!" Ryan asked.
"There're a pile of unwanted garbage near the exit that you'll be taking care of!"
"Don't be such a mean person, Zara." Ryan replied. "Bad omen always happens to ungrateful people!"
Ryan, then dropped few of his ciggarette ash to the paper near him. He smirked as he anticipated the flames to burn all the flashy decoration around him, but nothing happened. He tried to get the ciggarette closer to the paper, yet there were no fire.
"Shit!" he muttered.
"We girls have done absolutely nothing wrong." replied Zara. "And I already talked to Suhail about that fight online."
The moment Zara turned around for few seconds, Ryan exhaled upward directing the smoke to the sensitizers. The fire alarm went on and few sprinklers were showering us.
"Oh, lets hide in here!" Said Marrwa.
"What's going on with the firealarm?!" Hadeel complained
"Stay here." Safi told Hadeel, and then took Hanan and headed towards us.
I looked towards Ryan who was completely dazed and confused.
"But how?!" he yelled.
Suhail, Ahmed, and the rest were all in a shock. The Sudiom powder should've blew everything around up in the air. But then Wessi'e arrived holding a sack. "Look what I found near the garbage!"
"I saw that with Omar!" Kamal exclaimed.
"There were sugar inside it instead of Sodium.." said Wessi'e.
"What Sodium?! Why would he do that?!" Zara yelled. Her voice brought everybody's attention.
"What's the matter?!" Waleed and Majd asked.
"Zara, what's wrong?!" Maria and the rest of the girls got closer, too.
"Omar wanted to blow us up with Sodium!" Zara replied.
"Hey! Don't point at me! I'm not the alone in this." Omar shouted.
"There's something Hadeel and I saw.." said Khalida, one of Ekram's besties. She showed Zara a selfie of her and Hadeel, and in the backround, Osama and Kamal cracked the AC machine open.
"So it was a conspiracy?!" Zara exclaimed. "Rigging the air condition, and explosive powder, that's how you wanna go?!"
"We brought you guys here so you can help us do goo—" Maria couldn't finish when Ryan said "You only wanted free help!"
"We can get professional help if we want to!" Ekram said.
"That's enough!" I yelled. "Zara, the guys are pissed about how you girls treated them online last night. They wanted to pull a small prank. That's it! Nobody was intending to hurt anyone."
"Well, nobody got hurt anyways, so lets get celebrating!" Majd said happily.
"Yeah, no need for tension, Zara!" Safi also supported us.
"I think you're right.." Zara took a deep breath. "Thanks Mado! If only the other guys could learn a little from you.."
"Yeah, he's absolutely the best!" Ekram said.
I felt a little overwhelmed by all that flattery. But then Omar snaped.
"He's a liar!"
Everyone shifted their attention onto him.
"Mado is one of them! He put all the tricky things in place!" Omar shouted in anger.
"He's right!" Ryan said.
"He said he'll teach Zara and Ekram a lesson!" Omar added.
"Huh?!" Zara gasped.
"It's not true, right Mado?" Ekram yelled. "You'd never do this! Tell them that they're lying!"
I couldn't say anything. My body froze in place.
"Mado, you wouldn't do such a thing!" Waleed said.
"Mado, say something!" Majd yelled.
"It's true!" I uttered.
I wasn't sure it was Safi, but I heard a gasp coming from behind. Before my dry eyes was Ekram with wet and teary eyes.
"Get outta here.." she said quietly. "Please leave.."
I tried to look around me, but it got more painful the more I tried to move my head around. I thought no better, and got myself out.
A little while afterwards, I was sitting all by myself on the roof. I was absent-minded to notice the sky got starry. And I remeber that It was cold and windy. I may have sneezed couple of times.
"There you are!" A familiar voice said from behind.
When I turned to see, it was Waleed. He probably heard me sneezing.
"What're you doing here?" I asked him.
"Same question.." he shot back as he sat next to me. "Everyone else left already."
"The weather is good!" I answered.
"I can see that.." Waleed laughed.
"So—" I muttered.
"They figured it out!" said Waleed. "Ekram and the others— they realized that you did nothing."
Just hearing that made me feel like flying. Waleed than elaborated further. He told me that Ekram and Safi went around and checked everything I worked on. It was all intact and well adjusted.
"But I still don't get it!" he said. "If you didn't do anything, why did those guys accused you?"
"Because— I agreed to help them. They were really mad at Ekram and the girls—"
"And you went with it to sabbotage them from the inside!" Waleed interjected. "You wanted to protect Ekram!"
"I wanted to protect my friends..." I muttered. "Suhail and the others were gonna do it without me anyway. It was better to let 'em try and fail, so they lose hope in ever trying again."
"Man!" Waleed exclaimed. "You're officially the biggest bitch!"
"Yeah, fair enough.." I sighed.
"Seriously, fuck you!" he laughed.
Waleed then, went quiet a little before saying "But I'm glad— that I got a friend like you. You surrounded me with great people.."
"Yeah, you welcome." I replied. "And thanks for standing by me down there!"
"You should thank Safi." he said. "She never gave up on you! If only—"
He whispered it quietly, but I heard it.
"..If only she sees me the way she sees you.."
I stared at him for few seconds before he said "Oh give her little credit! She was eying you while you were working with Ekram!"
"You're seriously thinking like that?!"
We started arguing about it, and our voices must have gotten loud because Majd found us!
"Oh look what I found!" he shouted. "Our lost monkeys!"
"Not funny.." Waleed said.
"That's a bad dad joke!" I might've lauged a bit. Then, two more people came up to us. They were Safi and Ekram.
"We wanna see how're you doing!" Majd explained. "And Ekram wanted to talk to you, right Ekram?"
Ekram then walked closer. "Uhh, I wanted to tell you.. that I'm sorry I doubted you.."
"It's fine.." I replied.
"No it's not!" she said. "We have an oath! We trust in our friends! I'm sorry I broke that.."
"We made sure of everything and proved to Zara that the guys were lying." Safi said happily.
"Thanks Safi! Now I owe you twice!" I told her.
Safi smiled at me as Waleed was watching.
"Okay doctors, 'guess I'm gonna go!" he said.
"You can stay with us!" Ekram said to him. "I'll give you all a ride!"
"Yeah, but I think I'm clashing the vibe here a bit, so—"
"Since when you think like this, you idiot?!" Majd shot back. Then he grabbed Waleed from behind and restrined him.
"Let go of me!" Waleed fought back.
"Come on Ekram, get your marker out!" Majd said.
"Yeah, let's color his nose!" Ekram laughed in excitement and took out her water proof marker.
Meanwhile, Safi and I were talking, I noticed something unusual in the sky.
"No seriously, guys, that'd need alcohol to be rainsed and—" Waleed stuttered as he noticed it as well. "Huh! Shooting stars! It was tonight!"
"For real?!" Majd exclaimed.
"Look at 'em!" Safi cried.
"It's beautiful!" Ekram said.
"Didn't know it was tonight though!" I wondered.
"Of course you wouldn't! You're medical students, you got no lives!" Waleed replied sarcastically.
"Wow! Was that a sense of humor you got down there, Wal?!" Ekram shot back.
"Safi, stand aside a little! I'm trying to get a perfect shot!" Majd said.
"Try to stand on your feet first!" She replied.
And I... was just looking at the endless wide sky and it's shooting stars. And wondering if that person, a person I can't remember now, but I did remember them back on that day. I was hoping they were watching it, too.
But right now—
Right now, I'm watching the stars by myself, on a spaceship.
"Got bored, handsome?!" Herc said. "I bet you can see it right now. It's that gray thing in the corner!" he pointed twards a mass in the horizon. "Welcome kid, to planetoid Seventy Seven !"