Chapter 6

I sat down on one of the swings of the rusty, old swing set and kicked off, swinging as high as I can, the feeling of the fresh air blowing my hair into disarray was beautiful-but probably didn’t look so beautiful.

 I felt 10 years younger. 

Flashbacks rushed through my head, from when Shoug and I used to sit here and would compete over who could swing the highest, she always won, until one day I did and she smiled and said “I let you win” I laughed and said “Don’t be a sore loser”

Mom would call us back into the house as soon as the sun starts to set down and would make us lemonade, dad would tell us stories about his childhood while we waited for the lemonade to finish. 

But these days are over, there are no stories left to tell, Dad is barely around and Shoug thinks she’s too old for the swing set but I still swing here every once in a while.

I closed my eye, taking in the feeling, wishing that I could go back in time and re-live these amazing moments,
When I opened my eyes I was taken back by Fahad’s presence, he was leaning against the skeleton of the swing set and smiling at me.
“I didn't know you were here” I said
“Hello to you, too” he said laughing
“Hi” I said blushing
“Hi” he said
“Hi” I said, then realized that I’ve already said that, I hope he didn’t notice
“You already said that” well I guess he did
“I know” I said blushing again. God Im embarrassing!
“I haven’t seen you in a while, where have you been?” he asked sitting on the swing next to the one I was sitting on
“Locked in there,” I said pointing at the house “I was grounded, actually I still am”
“Typical” he said laughing
“Don’t laugh at my misery” I playfully glared at him
“Please accept my apologies,” he said and bowed
“I’ll think about it”

The sound of the music that was blaring through my iPhone was the only thing you can hear.

Neither one of us said anything for a minute, and it was getting awkward, i was trying to squeeze out something to say to fill the silence when Fahad spoke
“So you’re off to collage in 3 months” he said

Really? thats what we're going to talk about?
“Please don’t remind me, I’m already so nervous but very excited, is that weird?” I said
“Not at all, but you don’t have anything to be nervous about, which collage are you going to?”
“Some collage around here” I said
“Oh! I thought you were going to study in Kuwait,” He said
“You thought wrong” I said
“Why?” he said
“I don’t know, I like being here and I just want to get away from everyone back in Kuwait for a while.” I said looking down.
“Is everything okay?” he asked
“Sure” I said and we both looked up as we heard a car pull up. Shoug made her way out of the taxi and immediately lit up when she saw Fahad.
“Fahad! Hi!” she said making her way to where we were sitting after paying the taxi driver and pulling out a lot of bags out from the car.
“Hey” Fahad said, and suddenly I felt like I third wheel.
I was standing up to make my way back into the house when I heard her ask “What were you guys doing”
Fahad said “Nothing, where were you?” and she went on about her wonderful day in the mall with her wonderful friends and the wonderful clothes she bought from the wonderful stores she went into.But all I heard was nothing, because that’s what we are, we are nothing, and that’s what I mean to him nothingIt’s a mixture of stupid and awful how much little words can hurt.

I walked back to the house without looking back, scared of what I'd see if I did.


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