Ghady & Rawan by Fatima Sharafeddine

Author:Fatima Sharafeddine [Sharafeddine, Fatima]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Center for Middle Eastern Studies, The University of Texas at Austin
Published: 2019-09-04T16:00:00+00:00

NOTHING MATTERS

THE NEXT MORNING, Rawan crawls out of bed, tired. She looks at her face in the mirror. Her eyes are puffy, ringed by dark circles. Some new pimples have popped up on her forehead. She doesn’t care about washing her face with her special soap like she usually would. She touches her skin and thinks, Let the pimples camp out and fill my entire face. Nothing matters anymore. I won’t even brush my hair today. I’ll leave it bushy, sticking out in all directions, scattered like my thoughts. What’s going to happen? Who’s going to care?

At school, Rawan’s friends pick up on this change. In Chemistry, the teacher reprimands her for not finishing the homework exercises. Rawan responds with a disregard that shocks everyone in her class. “I don’t even like Chemistry. I mean, what’s the point of learning it? I’m not going to be a doctor or a pharmacist or a chemistry teacher when I’m older.”

“I want to see you at the end of class, Rawan,” the teacher says curtly.

In the schoolyard, after her meeting with the teacher, Raed asks her, out of concern, “What happened? What did she say to you?”

“She gave me a verbal warning,” Rawan says with a strange, sarcastic grin. “She said she’ll call my parents if I act out like that again.” She falls silent for a moment, then adds, “As if what I’ve got going on at home isn’t enough!”

“Did something else happen, Rawan? We all feel like there’s something dragging you down. Chérie, tell me, maybe we can help,” Karen suggests. “The problem is too big,” Rawan declares, her voice wavering between frustration and despair. “I don’t think anyone can help me.”

All her friends stay silent for a while, watching their downcast friend. Trying to change the atmosphere, Noor says, “Come on now, we miss the fun and funny Rawan, where is she? Being sad won’t change a thing. I know! Why don’t you focus on your campaign? People won’t vote for someone who’s down in the dumps. You’d better watch it, because if you keep on acting like this, you’re going to boost my chances of winning. Giving up so soon, huh? Don’t you want to take me on? I’m trying to be humble—we all know I’m going to win anyway, but I just don’t want it to be this easy.” She smiles. “Where’s the fun if there’s no competition?”

“Honestly, the class elections don’t matter to me anymore. Nothing matters. Not even drawing.”

At this, Raed interjects, “Not even delicious food? Let me tell you about the kishk my mom made yesterday, and on top of that there were potato cubes and qawarma . . . Mmm.”

Maya cuts him off. “Who can say no to qawarma? Welcome back to Chef Raed’s show that always makes our tongues tingle. If only one day you’d invite us over to taste all these dishes that you keep telling us about, instead of forcing us to imagine them. We also want to eat, Raed. Stop

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