Chapter 10- Queen of the First Dance

   "Can I come over to your house?" I asked Dida the following day. She was at her locker.

   "Sure."

   "Someone asked me to the dance."

   "Who?"

   "Bashar."

   "Yay! Now for sure you're going. You'll have fun!"

   "Yeah, but I hope Majd won't be there."

   "What are you gonna do about the English program?" I never thought about that.

   "I'll still do it. If me and him get accepted, then I'll try to avoid him as much as I can. It won't stop me from learning English. Besides, you're my best friend. I wouldn't leave you alone."

   "If you don't wanna do it, it's fine."

   "No, it's ok. I'm still doing it."

   "Alright. I got a notice in the mail that interview dates are moving up. Did you?"

   "No. It'll probably come when I get home. What dates are they moving it up to?"

   "Next week. They said that the application has been out there for quite awhile. It's funny that my teacher handed the brochure out a week ago."

   "Strange too."

   "Yeah. I got my interview assigned on Monday. Probably it's the same for you."

   "Yeah probably. I have to get to my first class early."

   "Ok bye Lina."

   "Bye." I wanted to get to my first class before I could see Majd walking. I was over my crying already. I realized that he was the stupid one. Hamada was right.

   The bell suddently rang as I ran to the classroom door. I thought that I must focus on school. I had to get good grades for college. I already did, but it had to stay that way.

 

 

   "No, wear a white one." Dida said to me as she handed me a white hijab from her dresser.

   "Isn't it too schoolish? I mean we wear white ones everyday."

   "True. What about a blue one?"

   "Yeah. It'll be good." I was already wearing a blue outfit. I took off the green hijab I was wearing. I tried on a green outfit before the blue one. I let my brown hair be free. This was one of the only times I've ever tooken my hijab off. Women must wear hijabs.

   "Wear this. The whole outfit. It looks awesome on you." Dida said smiling.

   "Yeah. I should. Are you still gonna wear purple?"

   "Yes."

   "What's your plan with Ahmed?"

   "He's picking me up here."

   "Bashar's picking me up at my house."

   "Cool. I forgot to tell you that my interview is on Monday too."

   "Did Hamada apply?"

   "I don't know. I hope he did."

   "Yeah. We should go out to check to see if dinner's done."

   "Sure." We changed back into our regular clothes and went in the kitchen.

 

   "Bashar's here!" Mama called from the living room.

   "Coming!" I yelled from my room.

   "The last time I did this, Majd was here." I thought.

   I opened the door quickly and walked out to the living room quickly.

   "Hi Bashar." I said politely.

   "Hi Lina. Should we be going now?"

   "Sure. Bye mom."

   "Bye you two." she said as we went out the door. I started to feel depressed. I felt awful. I felt lifeless. I didn't even wanna go to the dance anymore.

   "Why did I put myself up to this?" I thought. "If I say I wanna go home, it'll be mean."

   "Do you wanna walk or take a taxi to the dance?" he asked.

   "It depends on how much time we have." He then looked at his watch.

   "We should walk. We're very early."

   "Alright." The walk was horrible. We were struggling to make conversation. The whole thing just wasn't right.

   "I really hope Dida will have fun." I thought.

   After what felt like hours, we finally reached the school. We got there just in time.

   "Hi Dida." I said as I saw her walk by us. Everyone was heading to the gym.

   "Hi Lina. Have fun!" I knew I wasn't going to.

   The gym was dark with different colored lights going off.

   "Are we all ready to dance?" a voice asked in a microphone.

   "Yeah!" everyone screamed.

   "I can't hear you." the voice replied.

   "Yeah!" everyone screamed louder.

   "Let's get it started!" One of my favorite songs came on. The song was Sana Wara Sana by Nancy Ajram. It made me feel a lot better once we danced.

   A few fast songs came on after. Then, the slow song came. The song was Bateref by Amr Diab. It was one of my favorites also.

   As I was dancing, I saw Majd sitting at a table looking at me. I could tell what he felt. Pain. Misery. Depressed.

   After the song ended, another fast song came on. I didn't feel like dancing at all. I had to stay though. I had to find out who was going to be the King and Queen of the First Dance. Anyone could've gotten picked.

   "Now, it's time to announce the King and Queen of the First Dance!" the principal yelled in the microphone after the song was over. A guy handed him a black envelope.

   "The King of the First Dance is....." he opened the envelope. "Majd Rahal! Come on up Majd!"

   I saw him get out of his seat and walk up to the stage. He got a sash* that said "King of the First Dance."

   "And the Queen of the First Dance is...." the guy handed him another envelope.

   "Please don't be me. Please Allah." I thought.

   "Lina Nazari!"

   "Oh no!" I thought as I walked up the stage. I got the same sash* as Majd did, but it said "Queen of the First Dance."

   "Now, here's your dance!" Everyone cleared to make room for us. The song came on. It was Zeghir El Deni by Assi El Hellani.

   The dance was amazing with him. It felt unlike with Bashar. Too bad Majd cheated on me.

  

  

  

Author's Note

ignore spelling mistakes if any
* not sure if spelled right

Reviews

[Coyote Poetry]

The story is very good. I like how you took us step by step to the dance. The conversation was enough. A very good chapter. Left the reader with a open ending.
Coyote