CHAPTER 2

Today is another bright day, I did my morning routine, and I am on my way to class when the almighty annoying Ethan stops me on the way.

“Thank God I caught you before class. I want to talk to you.”

“What do you want this early morning,” I say and take a bite of my doughnut and sip a little of my coffee

“You know Mr Jacob made us partners for the assignment. And you also know that there is no where on this earth, you and I can work together. I rather eat shit than work together with you” Ethan says with a lot of disgust on his face

“The same goes here; I rather work with a mad man than work with you,” I say with the same disgust all over my face. I know I hit a nerve by comparing him to a mad man, which was what I was aiming for.

“I will pretend I did not hear you compare me to a mad man and say what I came here to say. We both need to meet Mr. Jacob after class and convince him to change us as partners.”

“As much as I don’t like to agree to anything you say, I can agree with you this time. Maybe if Mr. Jacob sees how we both don’t want to work together, he might agree to change us as partners.”

“Yes, so after class stay behind so we could talk to him.”

“Sure, no problem,” I am about to take a bite of my doughnut when Ethan roughly walks past me, causing it to fall

 “ETHAN!!!!” I say, screaming his name while he walks away chuckling. I can’t believe Mr. Jacob thinks someone like him and I can work together, It’s impossible.

“If I did not know better, I would think you are screaming his name because you love him,” Khloe says, walking towards me with her boyfriend’s arms around her waist.

“We both know that is impossible,” I say looking at my poor doughnut on the floor while I plan Ethan’s death in my head

“Hi, Adina” Khloe’s boyfriend’s Marcus says. Marcus is 6 feet tall, has a lean build, deep sea blue eyes and brown hair.

Marcus is someone I don’t fancy too well. I believe he is cheating on my friend, but she does not believe me because she thinks he is faithful to her. And I am not just assuming he is, I almost caught him one time, but he lied the lady was his cousin. But I know that lady could not have been his cousin with the way he was all over her. I told Khloe about it as every good friend should, but because of the way she is in love with him, she did not believe my words over his. But I also don’t blame her for not believing me, because who knows, I might have been lying to her. I might be jealous and want to steal him from her or ruin her happiness, but unfortunately, that is not the case here. I just pray with time she will catch him one day and leave him

“Hello Marcus,” I say trying my best to hide my irritation towards him

“How are you doing?” He says

“I am doing fine and you.”

“I am doing great also.”

“Yep, I know that, but I have to say whatever you guys were talking about, it seemed like you guys spoke to each other for the first time like normal human beings,” Khloe says

“Funny enough I think you are right,” I say recalling Ethan, and I just agreed to something for the first time, which seems weird now that I think of it.

“Yeah you guys did, and I think you guys as partners for your assignment might bring an end to you guys’ feud.” 

“I don’t think so and In Shaa Allah hopefully by the end of today we won’t be partners again.” 

“Really, that’s good then.”

“I pray so.”

“Alright then I wish you all the best in your classes, see you when you get back,” Khloe says hugging me

“Bye see you later,” I say hugging her back before she walks away

I walk to class and have a good day because I was not sitting close to someone, Alhamdulillah. But unfortunately, I have to meet up with that annoying person after lectures. We both wait for class to be over before walking over to the professors’ table.

“Good day, sir, please, we would like to speak to you,” Ethan and I say at the same time.

“Why are you repeating what I am saying,” We both say at the same time again while glaring at one another.

“You should stop,” We both say,

“No, you should stop,” We say,

“Both of you shut it,” Mr. Jacob says,

“I know both of you are here to tell me how both of you can’t work together, but I don’t care. All I know is I expect an assignment from Mr Mantone and Miss Ibrahim by the end of next month.”

“Mr. Jacob there is no way Adina and I can work together. It’s like asking a predator and prey to work together” Ethan says

“That is not true because, in Zootopia, the predator and prey did work together. So leave, the both of you” Mr. Jacob says stunting us with his reply

“Please, sir, we need you to reconsider. You are practically asking for the impossible,” I say pleading with him to change Ethan as my partner 

“No, I am not, and if both of you want me to subtract five marks from the assignment that has not even started. Keep standing in front of me when I am done speaking” Mr Jacob says. I am about to open my mouth, but I see him carry his pen, and I close my mouth back.

Ethan and I walk out of the classroom, both thinking in God’s name how we are going to work together.

“Fine, since we have to work together to get this assignment done, we will.”

“Yeah, and we could talk about what we are going to do later today after school,” I say agreeing with him, which is something I don’t do regularly, but what can I do when I don’t want to fail my final assignment.

“Today can’t do, I am throwing a party tonight.”

“What about tomorrow?”

“Recovering from a hangover.”

“What about on Sunday,” I say starting to get irritated with his excuses

“Sunday could work, what time?” 

“2 is fine with me, how about you.”

“It’s fine with me also.”

“Alright,” I say feeling a bit awkward to have a civil conversation with Ethan

“Yeah,” Ethan says 

“Bye,” We both say and quickly walk away. I can’t believe having a normal conversation made both of us feel awkward. What a weird conversation that was?

I spend the rest of my day attending classes. It’s basically what I do every weekday of the week. I walk out of my department building, and into my car and drive home. 

I got back home a few hours ago. I prayed, ate and was sleeping before the cries of my roommate woke me up. I walk out of my bedroom to find out what’s wrong.

“Khloe what’s the problem, why are you crying?” I say rubbing her back in a smooth motion to calm her down

“It’s Marcus; we fought,” Khloe says in between tears

“Oh, dear, what happened,” I say, turning her around to face me, but she quickly turns away. I notice she is hiding something from me

“Khloe lift your hair,” I say with a lot of anger building up, because if it’s what I suspect I don’t know what I will do to Marcus. 

“There is nothing on my face,” Khloe says standing up and walks a few feet’s away from me

“I never said there was anything, show me your face,” I say standing up myself while crossing my hands over my chest and tapping my feet vigorously. Khloe hesitates for a while but slowly lifts her hair. I don’t even know when the tears start falling, but I feel them rolling down my face.

“Oh my God, look at what he did to you. Please tell me you are never going to see him again” I say looking at the big bruise on her face

“I don’t know Adina, I love him, but I can’t just overlook this.”

“You can never go back to him after this; he hurt you.” 

“I don’t know Adina.” 

“I won’t allow you to ever go back to him, and come here let me see your face properly.” 

“Please be careful, it still hurts,” Khloe says, sitting down on the couch, while I take a good look at her face. There is a big purple bruise forming on her right cheek.

“Oh my God, this is bad. Sorry, I am sure it hurts. Just sit down while I get you some ice” I say, and walk to the kitchen.

I come back from the kitchen with ice and try to touch Khloe’s face, but she runs away

“Why are you running?” I say laughing at her behaviour 

“It’s going to hurt me.”

“If I don’t put ice on it today, it would look worst tomorrow.”

“But……” Khloe says trying to come up with an excuse but fails

“Come and sit down. I promise to be gentle.”

“Really,?” Khloe says finally walking back to the couch

“Yes, I promise.”

“Please be careful,” Khloe says bringing her face forward

“I will,” I say, and gently place the ice on her face. 

Khloe screams in pain and tries to run away, but I hold her in place and reduce the bruise on her face. I just pray she never goes back to Marcus, because it might only be a small bruise on her face today, but tomorrow it might be more.

Sunday came faster than I wanted it to, because of two reasons. One, my weekend is over, and secondly, because I am meeting up with Ethan later today. I can’t picture us working together in any way; It just seems impossible.

I am currently getting ready to meet up with him at the school library. I leave the house a bit earlier than 2:00 p.m. because I want to get some work done before he comes. While studying, out of nowhere someone comes and pulls the chair in front of me and takes a seat.

“Good day to you too,” I say, lifting my head from my book. I knew it was Ethan the minute his lovely intoxicating perfume filled my nostrils. I actually like the fragrance he uses.

“I didn’t say hi,” Ethan says in an irritated tone 

“Whatever, the sooner we begin, the better for both of us,” I say closing my book and open the notepad I would be using to write down essential things for our assignment.

“The same goes here, let’s begin,” Ethan says, rubbing his palms together while he gets ready for us to start.

“So, I thought since it’s our final assignment we could make an app or website for children,” I say stating out my idea 

“What I have in mind is different. I want us to make our own search engine” Ethan says totally not on the same ground as I.

“We shouldn’t make a search engine. They are so many in the world” I say not liking his idea

“And they are so many children’s apps and websites out there too”

“That’s also true, but we both know that almost every app, website or type of search engine has been created out there. So if we are going to make anything, it has to be unique in its own way.”

“I agree with you, but I am not doing an app or website because you said so. We are going to do something I say we will.”

“And why would I do something just because you say so. If I remember correctly, it’s called a joined assignment. Nobody is the leader here, so we are going to pick something both of us agree on” I say getting annoyed with his reasoning  

“Fine and I don’t like the fact that you are always right.”

“Deal with it,” I say smirking

For the past four hours, Ethan and I have gone back and forth on what to do for our assignment. We have not decided on what we are going to do, and I am already tired of fighting him about everything he says. He is making the assignment all about him, and I can’t allow that. I know there are a few times I also did that, but I had to because he was being self-centred. He practically did not agree with anything I said because I said it out of my mouth. I am so frustrated right now. I don’t even know how I am going to cope working on this assignment when we can’t even decide on a single thing for it.