Omar Rising by Aisha Saeed

Author:Aisha Saeed [Saeed, Aisha]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group
Published: 2022-02-02T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 21

Come on, guys, how can you say no to soccer again?” Humza’s standing with Marwan at the entrance of my dorm room. A soccer ball’s tucked under his arm.

“Yeah, it’s Friday!” Marwan exclaims. “And this week’s movie night.”

I glance at Kareem; I see the longing on his face.

“Sorry. But . . . we have to catch up,” I tell them. As much as I hate not being able to play soccer, I hate disappointing them even more.

“You know some of us manage to study and have a life, right?” Marwan says. “It’s not like the rest of us don’t have the same classes you do.”

“Exactly. You’re not robots,” Humza adds.

“I wish we were robots,” Kareem says. “Then we could code everything we need into our brain.”

“Next week,” I tell them. “Maybe we’ll be caught up by then.”

“Forget the number one nerds club.” Marwan huffs. “They’re no fun anymore.”

I watch them walk away. Marwan acts like we think being stuck in a room on a Friday night instead of having fun is what we want to do. He doesn’t get it. Because he can’t.

An hour later, the sounds from the movie playing outside echoes into our room. It vibrates the window.

“I definitely need to get earplugs,” Kareem says glumly.

Our door creaks open, and Naveed steps inside with the biology textbook tucked under his arm. He sits on my bed and props it open. We get to work, dividing the vocabulary words into thirds and writing up flash cards to quiz each other with after.

“Is that your art project?” Naveed points to the collage resting on top of my dresser.

“Yeah, thought I’d get an early start.”

“You used newspaper on it?” He squints.

“Yep,” I tell him. “I’m making a collage. It’ll be part of the solar system eventually.”

I’ve been reading more about Shehzil Malik. Her art’s been on posters, murals, and even clothing. In one article, she said when things are hard, that’s when you have to be stubbornly optimistic. I look at the three of us right now: pens in hands, jotting down the definitions of larvae and pupae. That’s us right now. Stubborn. And hoping as hard as we can that we’ll make it through.

Music starts blaring from Aiden’s room next door.

“Great. Concert time.” Kareem flings his flash cards onto the floor. “Anyone want to peek over to see if he’s break-dancing in there?”

“I’ll leave that to you, little turnip,” I retort.

“Hey!” Kareem tosses a pillow at my head. “Only my mom’s allowed to call me that!”

“What do you think the headmaster will say when our grades suddenly improve? Think he’ll get suspicious that something is up?” Naveed asks nervously.

“He’ll probably launch a full investigation complete with undercover detectives and everything. Declare it a big conspiracy,” Kareem says.

“It is a conspiracy,” I say. “We’re studying more than anyone in the history of the universe.”

“Well, the number one nerds club’s gotta live up to its reputation, after all!” Kareem says.

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