Huda Was Here by H. Hayek

Author:H. Hayek [H. Hayek]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Published: 2023-02-27T00:00:00+00:00

Sibling Crime

I slipped on my school T-shirt and grabbed my trackies off the bed. As I leaned over to put them on, the bedroom door swung open.

Huda shut one eye and pretended to gag.

‘Ugh, gross! Get your pants on, man,’ she spluttered.

‘Could you please knock before you come in?’ I managed to pull them on in record time.

‘Spiderman daks, hey? Fancy. Well, Mum says there are no secrets in this house.’

I tightened the drawstring around my waist and turned to face my sister.

‘Secrets? Let’s not talk about all your little secrets. And besides, you know this is called privacy.’

‘Privacy shmivacy. Don’t know the meaning of the word.’ She held out her hand. ‘Anyway, gimmie.’

‘Give you what?’ I said, buttoning up my school polo shirt.

‘Don’t play dumb. I want what Uncle Ahmed gave you last night. Don’t think I didn’t see that little exchange. I can spot a dollar from a mile away.’

I thought back to the money he’d stuffed into my jacket pocket, which I’d forgotten about after the exploding shoe drama. Huda read my mind and her eyes scanned my bedroom, landing on my black hoodie hanging over my desk chair. She lunged at it.

‘Never mind,’ she said, tearing open the pocket. My sister pulled out the two fresh hundred-dollar notes. They’d been crumpled overnight in my pocket but were still crisp.

‘We should return that money. I don’t feel right about it,’ I whispered, knowing my bedroom door was still wide open.

Huda gasped and her little body shook, but no noise came out. She shoved one of the notes back into my hoodie pocket and flung it onto my chair. Then she quickly tucked the other note up her school jumper sleeve, like she’d done this a million times before.

‘You can return yours, if you want.’ She paused and scrunched up her nose at me, almost like I smelled. ‘I’m spending up big today. First, I’m paying back all the kids in my class who I’ve borrowed money from for icy poles. Then I’m going to buy five hotdogs at the sausage sizzle. Extra mustard!’ She took a step forward so we were almost face to face. ‘And I might even buy some fizzy drink. You know, if I feel like it.’

I opened my mouth to speak, but it just hung there. By the time any words formed, Huda had flicked her ponytail and left the room. I lifted both hands to my head. As I rubbed my hands down across my face, Suha walked into my room. She stopped inside the door and leaned on its frame.

‘You stressed, Shaq?’ She’d started to call me Shaq after she saw me play basketball last year. She nibbled on a sugar-free nut bar that might as well have been made from cardboard.

I shook my head, trying to forget the conversation I’d just had with Huda.

‘Nope. I’m good.’ I exhaled.

‘Where did you go last night?’ She took another little bite and chewed slowly.

‘Nowhere.’

‘You sure?’ I heard her swallow from across the room.

‘Yup,’ I said, grabbing my schoolbag and flinging it onto my shoulder.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.