ii. Mi Amor {2}

_________

Omniscient.

Next Monday,

January, 2015.

School 📍

Soulswin, Laanville.

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Sahari walked into her first class of the day which was her 2nd period. AP Chemistry. The teacher looked at her to take off her headphones, but she waited until she was seated to slowly slide them down. She scanned the board then opened her backpack to pull out her composition notebook and her highlighters to take notes.

"I hope you all had a blessed weekend. Today we'll be taking a few notes then we'll start putting together one of our last experiments of the year. I've mentioned it before..." like most of the students in the room Sahari zones out, but instead of organizing her highlighters like she was pretending to... She was eavesdropping.

"She was walking out of the deans office with her parents" "were they wearing the scarf thingy?" "Yes, the mom too. It was so scary" the teen girls, white and asian had a look of disgust on their faces. Sahari was confused, but didn't let it show on her face. "I can't believe they would allow one to come to our school" the asian student said and the white one nodded.

"What if she gets a bad grade and decides she wants to bom- Kim and Beth would you like to tell the class what you're talking about since it's so important" The teacher, turned her body towards them making all the students do the same. Kim quickly shook her head, but Beth smirked and nodded. "Yes, actually I would. My dear classmates I think you should know that a Muslim is going to be coming to our school"

The class goes dead silent and everyone stared at the two in shock and disbelief, even the teacher whose mouth kinda dropped. When she remembered she's the teacher she stands straight and cleared her throat. "Students-" the students immediately grabbed their phones and start sending the message around the school.

Sahari cringed at the loudness and covered her ears while slightly putting her head down. That didn't mean she wasn't internally freaking out like everyone else. She was just more so shocked and curious while the others were worried and in disbelief.

After a few minutes the teacher was able to calm down everyone and force them to start taking notes. You could tell everyone mind was elsewhere though.

After her first class Sahari had a free period, what she did during that time usually depended on the type of day it was, but today all she wanted to do was run. Her run this morning didn't clear her head like she hoped it would, especially since she woke up late.

Each sports team had their own locker room so she went to the track one. This run was premeditated so her gym clothes were in her usually deserted locker. She put on her school's zip up jacket and track sweats.

The song 'I need your glory' played loudly in her ears as she stretched in the field, near the track. She had listened to the song a thousand before, but today her mind and heart felt heavy. She had gotten a text last night from an unknown number and she knew it wasn't anyone else, but Gail, her birthmother.

When she started to get lost in emotion she knew it was time to get up and run, and that's exactly what she did.

She ran for 20 minutes straight before something told her to look at the bleachers and when she did, she saw a figure. They were kind of high up so she couldn't see anything, but their brown skin. Because she couldn't see anything she continued to jog, trying to ignore them. What kept her looking back was when she realized that no one is usually out there during that time of day nor time of the season.

She jogged for a few more minutes and looked back again, and they were gone. Sahari felt a chill and took a deep breath. Instead of dwelling on it she just ran faster and focused on the song playing in her ears.

In the last 20 minutes of the period, she went back to the locker room and showered, lightly reapplied her deodorant and redid her edges. She put her duffle bag back into her locker and put a reminder in her phone to make sure she came back to get it after school.

When she walked down the hall she slid back on her headphones because she knew the bell would ring any minute and she didn't want to hear the echo of different voices and footsteps. What she didn't expect was to already hear footsteps from behind her. She knew she wasn't the only one who had a free period so she didn't pay it any mind until it sounded like they were walking faster and faster and she jumps when they tap her shoulder.

"I'm so sorry. This place is just deserted and I need helping finding the lunch room" the person then walked in front of Sahari and basically stopped her from walking away.

Sahari doesn't reply and just eyed the tall girl in front of her. She couldn't see her shoes because her skirt was touching the ground, uniform shirt wasn't tucked in, the school's zipup jacket was slightly zipped, a navy blue turtleneck, and lastly her black hijab.

'The Muslim' Sahari thought, curiously looking over her again. "I'm Amara. Are you just going to keep staring or show me where the lunch room is?" Amara asked, feeling a little insecure under Sahari's gaze. Sahari doesn't vocally acknowledge her and swiftly walked around the tall girl.

Amara chuckled in disbelief, before sighing and continued to follow Sahari which became difficult after the bell rang. Sahari was so short she basically melted into the crowd and Amara could only keep up because of the headphones. When they were close in proximity again Amara was glaring at the back of Sahari's head until she realized they were in the cafeteria.'Oh' she thought and immediately stopped walking.

Sahari didn't purposely bring the girl to the lunch room, it was just her purely coincidental that it was also her lunch period.

Sahari went the cold food area and grabbed a chicken salad burrito from the fridge and put it on her tray and got in line. As the line moved she also put cranberry juice, salt n vinegar chips and an orange all on her tray. She put in her number and the lunch lady flashed her smiled and Sahari gave her a closed one back.

She walked up to the track table and was immediately greeted by the few girls already seated. She replied with a wave and a low hi which the girls were used to after the many years they had known her. She walked further down and sat down next to her closet associate on the team. Celeste.

Celeste was a biracial girl who could pass for white so she never really told anyone about her black father unless she had to. But it was just her defense mechanism, just like straightening her relaxed hair every morning. She didn't want any problems with the girls in her school so she played her part until she was around Rayven and Sahari. She was a shy, nerdy, sweetheart who ran track solely to get her parents off her back about staying in her room and reading all day.

Celeste was one of Rayven's closest friends so Sahari and her were around each other a lot, but they were both on the quieter side compared to Rayven. When Rayven graduated last year, Sahari thought she would be a loner at school, but while she was getting dressed on the first day back she got a 'I'll see you at our usual spot' from Celeste. Sahari didn't show her appreciation vocally, but she was grateful she wouldn't be alone her last year of high school.

They smiled and waved at each other and Celeste gave her some hand sanitizer. "You know everyone is staring at you right" Celeste made known and Sahari tried to look around without looking too obvious. "Because of the mu-" "mhm" Celeste quickly nodded. "Did you have to show her around?" She asked and Sahari took a bite of her burrito and shook her head. "She tried to force me" she replied and Celeste snickered, and slowly eyed Amara who was walking back out of the cafeteria with her tray.

"What did she say?" She asked and Sahari shrugged "I kinda tuned her out" she replied, making the two of them giggle quietly. It wasn't a thing she did purposely, it was just something she did constantly.

She had gotten into trouble by her teachers and guardians for it many times.

Sahari stopped giggling when she smelled a familiar fragrance, strawberries and a hint of vanilla.

"Hi Sail" Sahari heard making her look up from her tray and quickly chew the food in her mouth. In front of her were Maribel and Alison, also known as Falcon and Cheetah. They were teammates of hers and because Maribel was mexican they went to the same church. "Mind if we sit here?" Alison asked as they were 2 seconds away from putting their butts down. Celeste answered for them and shook her head no. Sahari was grateful because she always seemed to have her words stuck when Maribel was in her presence.

'Hi' Maribel mouthed as the two made eye contact, Sahari quickly looked back down, taking another bite of her food. "So we seen you walk in with the... Muslim" Alison brought up, moving her straw around in her lemonade. "I didn't, she was following me" Sahari quickly corrected. The last thing she wanted to be was the black girl hanging around a Muslim.

She got enough stares because of the way she dressed and styled her hair. Her freshman year was hell, especially when she wasn't around Rayven. It only got better once they saw how fast she ran and administration put a stop to it.

"Really? Oh that's so pathetic" Alison replied then both her and Maribel snickered. Alison kept talking, but Sahari immediately tuned her out when she felt Maribel's knee touching hers.

She ignored the goosebumps she felt as she tried not to stare too hard at Maribel. She analyzed the side of her face where the gold and sparking highlighter sat. Her eyes moved to her face and the first thing she noticed was the caked up mascara and bold liner. Sahari felt herself fidgeting with her hands under the table as her eyes went to Maribel's medium sized lips, the sparkly gloss always seemed to catch Sahari's attention.

Maribel laughed at something being said and her hair came into view. Sahari felt herself swallow nothing and she bit the inside of her cheek. Maribel's single fishnet braid was her favorite part, she would leave her sideburns out and curl them.

Sahari would tell herself she only liked it because it reminded her of the two fishnet braids Cateleya used to wear before she started wearing straight backs. But Sahari knew deep down it wasn't about that, but she couldn't admit that because...

What would that make her?

Someone tapping on table made Sahari stop fidgeting and slid off her left headphone. "So just to be clear, not friends?" Alison asked and Sahari slowly shook her head. "Great. I knew you would understand. You can enjoy your lunch now" Allison smiled and started to get up.

Sahari wanted to ask when was she ever not going to enjoy her lunch, but she just left it alone and slid her headphone back on. She was overwhelmed from the all the talking she did. She found a movie on YouTube and ate the rest of her food. She was trying to enjoy it, but she kept getting distracted because she felt Maribel repeatedly taking glances at her.

When it was close to the end of the lunch period, Allison came back to get Maribel and Allison said bye to Celeste then Sahari. Maribel said bye to Celeste, but when she was getting up Sahari felt her slightly touch and rub on her knee making her eyes go wide as she felt a tingling feeling.

"Bye Sahari, see you at the meeting later" Maribel quickly winked then walked away, joining arms with Allison. "Did you see that?" Sahari lowly asked Celeste who was all in her book. "See that Alison has a wedge? Mhm" she replied, without looking up and Sahari hid her smile as she laughed.

What Celeste said had taken Sahari's mind off of what Maribel had done and she liked that. She also stopped thinking so hard about it because she knew that they only had 2 minutes left of lunch and she was going to be able to pray about whatever just happened with her and Maribel in her next class. Bible.

🌊🌊🌊🌊

End of school day, 3:28. Track Meeting 📍

"I know you all are wondering why I have you out here and it's 40 degrees" "my hands freezing coach" a girl playfully said and a few others nodded in agreement. Sahari was chilling with her hands in her navy blue bomber jacket. "Anyway" the coach playfully replied, making a few chuckle. "I know we don't usually let seniors join the team this late, but we've made a gracious decision to change it up this year" he announced. None of the girl were in a playful mood anymore.

"I want you all to be open minded and behave like the blessed christians you all are. I want you guys to be helpful, show her the ropes and why it was a good idea to come and join us" he took a deep breath.

All of their heads turn around when the female assistant coach walked out, but she was alone. Then a couple of seconds later Amara comes strutting out with a navy blue puffer jacket on. "There's no way I'm awake right now" Sahari heard from behind her and licked her lips to stop herself from smiling.

"Girls meet Amara Noor, she used to go to Grape Highschool in Philadelphia. She will be on our team for the rest of the year. Does anyone have any questions for her?" He asked and hands immediately went up.

"Go on" "isn't this like illegal in your religion?" A girl asked, some girls snickered while others rolled their eyes at the ignorance. "Don't answer that" coach told Amara then called on someone else. "Has your scarf ever came off while running?" One asked and Sahari was actually curious about that too. "It used to when I was in elementary, but my mom works her magic now" Amara casually explained. Other girls asked simple questions, but then Coach called on Alison.

"Coach does she not have to try out? Or does she get special treatment?" Alison asked, making majority girls nod. Sahari was just tuning them out, looking at the ground for bugs. "Alison" he sighed and Amara smirked, "who's the fastest girl on the team?" Amara asked and everyone looked around for a few seconds before Celeste was the only one to say Sahari's name and no one could rebuttal so they stayed silent.

Amara stared at Sahari who kept her gaze on the floor. She heard her name, but she didn't want to be involved with anything Amara had planned.

"Do you wanna race?" Amara asked bodly and everyone's mouth dropped, even the couches slightly did. "I don't think it's necessary" the coach stepped up, shaking his head. He didn't think she should set herself up like that. "Why not? She wants to embarrass herself, let her" Alison smirked, ready to record. "Yeah" the other girls agreed, while Sahari was sitting there in shock and annoyance because she didn't know why she was put in this position.

"Are you scared?" Amara asked Sahari, slightly walking up to her and Sahari slowly scanned Amara who was a couple inches taller than her. Her shock vanished and now she was just annoyed, she didn't know why Amara was coming at her like she was the one talking to her crazy. 'She should be Allison's face like this, but okay' Sahari thought and sighed.

She stood up and handed her headphones and phone to Celeste, the two then did their handshake that was their ritual before every race.

Sahari then made contact with Amara who was sliding off her skirt. There were leggings underneath. Sahari walked to the 2nd lane then slide off her slides, she was now extremely grateful she changed into her sweats before coming to the meeting.

"Sorry I'm about to embarrass you infront of your racist clique like this" Amara told her as the both of them did light stretches. It was all a waste of breath though because Sahari didn't hear a word she said. She was too busy thinking about the food she was planning to buy on her drive home.

"100 meter. Straight and through. Ready?" The coach asked, looking very unsupportive and both of them nodded. Sahari did a crouch stance while Amara did a standing.

When he blew the whistle the two took off. Sahari in the lead but she purposely slowed down, but stayed steady. Amara took that as her chance to put her all into it and she smiled when they were coming to the finish and she still didn't feel Sahari comping up. That was until she was a few feet away and she smelled Sahari's perfume, but Sahari passed her so quickly that the smell went away just as fast as her victory.

She tried to catch up, but Sahari had already passed the line. Amara bent over and tried to catch her breath as she heard claps. When Sahari was about to walk past her, she turned around and Amara was prepared to physically defend herself.

"You're fast, but next time just stick to watching me from the bleachers" Amara dropped her shoulders and watched Sahari walk away. She sighed, feeling shocked and embarrassed, but also for some reason... Amazement.

"That was so good" Celeste told Sahari as she sat back down and Sahari shrugged. It wasn't anything serious to her, she didn't put her all in it and only did enough to make sure she wouldn't be embarrassed on the track she's been running for years now.

She could feel her muscles slowing tightening and all she wanted to do was eat and take a long bath.

Hii. I made this so dramatic bc I feel like 2015

was dramatic asf 😭 Anyways, y'all have a wonderful weekend 🤭💟

05/10/2024