Six Truths and a Lie by Ream Shukairy

Author:Ream Shukairy [SHUKAIRY, REAM]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Published: 2024-03-12T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 23

ABDULLAHI

ABDULLAHI HAD THOUGHT HIS SISTER MARYAM’S REASSURING words would cure him. But even now that he was out on bail and could seek the comfort of his siblings, who were doing all they could, his brain was heavy with fog. His insomnia sapped all the energy it took to be himself.

He had to do something. It broke him to see Maryam fight with Zamzam’s mother and the other parents. If anything was going to give him a sense of purpose instead of endless dread, it might just be bringing them together.

He started with Zamzam.

Valley High School was in a part of Los Angeles that breathed. Its lungs were the street art and mismatched mom and pops and dank cuisine. Its counterpart was the LA in a girdle, with its primped and preened landscaping, gentrified shopping strips, and fusion cuisine that never drizzled more than a teaspoon of sauce.

The city was masterfully constructed, a Van Gogh painting of color pockets if the palette were made up of ethnicities and social classes. Years of experience of redlining on the East Coast and in the Midwest made it so the West Coast could be Van Gogh when the East was more of a Picasso. Online, he could probably find a school-district website with the image of the district borders, a jagged, Greece-shaped appendage. Monarch Beach had been completely eaten out of it, and the northern side, where Huntington’s district resided, was also chewed out as if by worms.

Abdullahi found Zamzam easily. He knew exactly where to look and whom to ask because the LA landscape was predictable. Abdullahi attended the masjid a lot of Valley High School students went to because, in a county this large and with so many mosques to choose from, people could be picky. And sure enough, when he pulled up to it, a group of people were fundraising for the Six out front. Abdullahi wore sunglasses and a baseball cap to hide his hair and wasn’t recognized. He didn’t stick around once he got the information he needed to find Zamzam. He jumped back into the car, grateful the judge hadn’t imposed restrictions on driving within the county, though the early curfews imposed on them made it hard to meet in secret after dark.

Abdullahi politely requested a meeting at the least conspicuous time of day, when it was too hot in July and the entire LA population had to be submerged in a body of water.

Zamzam shielded her face from the glare bouncing off the hood of Abdullahi’s car as he rounded into a parking lot.

“This better be good.” Zamzam turned on him as he bounced out of his car.

“Thanks for coming,” he replied. Zamzam really was too enigmatic for Abdullahi’s own good. She had a pull to her, a Look at me, but don’t look too hard, because you can’t handle my shine kind of vibe.

“It’s just the two of us?”

“No.” Abdullahi’s eyes searched the streets. “The others should be here.”

Samia’s Taycan peeled into the lot

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