5 AM, it should be illegal to wake up that early in the morning. After a good 10 minutes of yawning and stretching my sleepy body, I finally got out of bed and went to the bathroom to take a quick shower.
“Good morning Maggie.” Waliyha Yawned and rubbed her sleepy eyes.
“Morning Wali.” I smiled tightening the towel around my wet hair as I got out of the bathroom and she went in.
Going to my room, I dried my hair then stood in front of my clothes. I didn’t bring many clothes anyways as I didn’t even have a dresser yet but I was still trying to make up my mind on what to wear to my first day at university.
It took me 5 minutes to decide it was better to go with pants and not a skirt as it would be more comfortable to walk in, then I concentrated my attention on what to wear with my basic dark blue jeans. I found one of my new tops, it was a long dark blue top with a pattern of white dots on it; its back was shaped as a half circle that covers my bum perfectly while its front was shorter and just reached my hip bone.
The outfit looked too dark, so I put on my pink scarf and pink flat shoes that had a cute little bow on top.
Hearing my tummy growl, I decided to make some breakfast. The kitchen was empty and clean, meaning Waliyha was still getting ready. So I decided to boil a couple more eggs for her.
After the eggs boiled, I got out two trays, one for me and the other for Waliyha. I put on each one 2 boiled eggs, some jam, toast and a nice hot cup of tea
I wish I could enjoy my breakfast in my beautiful balcony but I had nothing to set on in it. I should really go shopping for some furniture.
“I made you some breakfast.” I told Waliyha when she got out of her room.
She was wearing black jeans, white shirt and a black leather jacket with black biker’s boots. She looked amazing.
“Thank you very much. I’m starving.” She sat and we began to talk about how nervous we were while eating breakfast.
*Ding Dong*
“I’ll get it” I offered as I already finished my breakfast while Waliyha was still eating.
“Hey.” I greeted Aaroosa and let her inside.
“Hey, how are you college girls?” She asked excitingly.
“Nervous as hell.” Waliyha said while putting her dishes in the sink.
“Forget nervous, let’s think excited, happy, can’t wait… and nervous to be honest.” Waliyha and I chuckled at Aaroosa’s face which turned pale when she started getting as nervous as us.
“It’s almost 6:35 A.M and our first lecture is 7 A.M.”I said.
“Okay, let’s get going then” Waliyha took her purse then we locked the apartment and went down.
“Aaroosa, where is your roommate? Isn’t she going to come with us?” I asked while we walked to campus, it was only 10 to 15 minutes away from our place.
“I think she is sleeping, I knocked on her door to wake her up but she didn’t answer.” She stopped waiting for the green light to come on.
“Why didn’t you go inside her room then? She is going to miss her first day of school.” Waliyha asked while crossing the street as the green light was on.
“She locks her room, don’t know why.” Aaroosa shrugged.
“Oh oh, this shop is so cool, can we go in?” I put on my best puppy face hoping they would spare a few minutes to go inside this amazing antiques shop.
“And be late for our first lecture on our first day?” Waliyha asked surprised of my weird request.
“Please, Please. I really want to buy some furniture and antiques for my room.” I begged. I was desperate to go in as I spotted this amazing antique table inside that I wanted to look at.
“After the day is over we can come hang here.” Aaroosa said and I sighed 'fine', then we continued walking to school.
“My lecture’s building is supposed to be in this street, so I’ll see you after I’m done with my day.” Aaroosa pointed to the right street after we entered campus then left waving at us.
Our building was supposed to be at the end of the street straight ahead. We walked for 2 minutes till we found a huge white building with blue windows that had a big sign over it that says ‘business and administration’.
“I guess this is us for the next 4 years.” I sighed looking at the building and taking in the view of the beautiful garden in front of it.
Walking inside, we checked our schedule and noticed that our first lecture was ‘Accounting 101’ in room 29, third floor. We walked upstairs and asked some girls for directions then went to room 29, it was almost full already but thankfully the professor wasn’t here yet.
Walking to the end of the class to find seats, I felt so weird and self-conscious. I was in a room filled with strangers who stared at me so rudely and they didn’t even care to try to hide it. I knew it was because I was the only one wearing the hijab but that didn’t make me any less uncomfortable.
“This room is so big.” Waliyha whispered. I nodded and smiled at her. Mentally thanking god that I wasn’t here alone today.
A few seconds later we heard a bell ring and an old professor of about 50 some years in a dark grey suit entered the room and started the lecture.
Unlike high school, the professor didn’t get to know us and didn’t even ask us what our names were. He started explaining our course and what accounting meant. The lecture was boring and when the bell rang for the second time announcing the end of the lecture I let out a huge breath of relief.
“I can’t believe he said he’s going to quiz us next lecture.” Waliyha frowned as we walked out of the room and headed for our next lecture 'Organization Behavior' or ‘O.B’ for short, in room 12, floor 2.
“I know right. He seems so serious. This course is going to be hard.” I pouted.
The course after that was a lot easier and a lot more fun. The professor was about the same age as the one before but he was nicer. He told us a few jokes to break the ice and we played a little game called ’what would you do if’. It was fun and the whole group became friends after that lecture. I felt more comfortable in that group than the other one.
Waliyha and I even managed to make a few friends who were with us in the next 2 lectures.
**
“Our first day was a success, way to go guys.” Isabella Olson high fived each one of us. She was a medium height girl with black straight hair and narrow lined eyes that fitted her perfectly, her mother was Indonesian while her father was British. Yes another mixed race girl in the group. To be fair, most of us came from mixed races, maybe that’s why we all bonded so fast.
“I texted Aaroosa to come meet us here.” Waliyha told me and I nodded excited.
“Hey guys, this is my cousin Aaroosa. She goes here too but she is studying medicine.” Waliyha introduced her to the group.
“A smarty pants then.” Kaliq teased her. He was the joker of us, he wasn’t the cutest guy. He had a normal look. He was tall, tanned, and very slim with black hair and black eyes.
“No, I’m just smarter than you.” Aaroosa fired back and a lot of ‘Oh’ were heard.
“We’ll have to see about that. Smarty pants.” He said in a challenging way, “I’m Kaliq” He smiled and extended his hand.
“Aaroosa” She shook his hand and they smiled.
Everyone else introduced themselves and I tried to take mental notes for the second time to remember their names. I was horrible at memorizing names. We all hanged for about 2 hours then everyone went home as it was about to get dark.
“I can’t believe how lucky it is that we all live so close to each other. I was afraid I’d walk everyday alone” Isabella said. Mandy, Bella and Layla lived across the street from us.
Mandy and Layla were Aaroosa’s friends. She met them in an ‘anatomy’ lecture and they agreed to meet up at the end of the day to walk home together.
“Guys let’s go in here please. I still want to check out the table I told you about earlier.” I told them when we passed by the little antique shop from earlier today.
They all agreed and we entered. The shop was beautiful, filled with old tables, chairs, vases, paintings and other stuff. I went straight to the old wooden table I noticed this morning. It was a very simple wooden table with roses carved in on the edges.
“Excuse me, how much is this table?” I asked the old lady that worked there.
“120 pounds.” She smiled at me. The price was too much for that table but I was in love with it.
“And what about those 2 chairs?” I was poker faced now pointing at chairs of the same wood color.
“30 pound each.” 30 pounds wasn’t too much for chairs right? But like auntie Shereen thought me, I had to make a bargain at anything I was going to buy.
“How much for the set?” I knew she wasn’t going to decrease the price but they can’t be for more than 170 pounds.
“200 pounds.” She smiled.
“160.” I offered in a challenging way.
“190.”
“170.”
“180.”
“170” I repeated.
“175 is my last deal.” She crossed her arms.
“Done.” I shook her hands and paid her with my dad’s credit card. We agreed on the moving arrangements. She was going to send them to me later tonight.
“That was one hell of a deal.” Mandy said to me.
“Believe it or not that was the first time I ever done that.” I was so excited. I did it. I made my first deal.
“You did it like a true Egyptian.” Layla winked at me. She was half Egyptian, like me.
“Proud Egyptian moment.” I joked and they all chuckled at the stupid pride that took over me.
10 minutes later we arrived at our street. We said goodbye to the girls and went to our apartment. Aaroosa stayed with us for dinner as she didn’t feel like going to her apartment just yet.
Aaroosa hated her roommate so much, but non of us knew why. Aaroosa herself didn't even know why, she said they never had a full conversation before, but for some unknown reason, Aaroosa just don't feel she is a good person to hang around so she hangs with us instead.
*Ding Dong*
I ran to put my scarf on then opened the door. 2 tall middle aged men stood in front of me. I noticed my chairs and table behind them.
“Miss Saeed?” One of them asked. And I nodded.
“We are from the antique shop.” The other man said.
“Okay, come on in” I led them to my room.
They hold the table together and followed me to my balcony where they placed the table in the middle, then they got the 2 chairs inside and I paid them then they left.
“Finally, I have my perfect balcony setting.” I sighed in happiness.
“It’s beautiful. Congrats Maggie.” Waliyha gave me a quick hug then went to continue her dinner.
“The second chair is mine.” Aaroosa joked.
“Of course Roosa, you are always welcome here.” I smiled at her.
“Welcome here? Pffft, it’s my room. You are just a guest.” She joked and rolled her eyes.
“Oh really now? Get out brat.” I teased and pushed her slightly.
“You can never kick me out, I'm queen of the room” She pushed back.We joked around for a while then she went back to chill with Waliyha while I cleaned the balcony and my new settings.
By the time I finished, I was worn out and cold. I took a quick shower and went to sleep.
**
The next day, I woke up at 5AM excited to eat my breakfast on the balcony. I placed some toast and jam with my warm cup of tea on my tray then went onto the balcony.
Enjoying my jam and tea, I started watching the few people who were up this early. The waiter of the coffee shop that was across the street was preparing to open. There were a few middle aged women running around the block and a few cars passing by. It wasn’t much but it was peaceful and soothing for me.
A few minutes later I heard the door of the balcony in front of us open. What was Aaroosa doing, waking up at 5:20 AM?
I turned my head to see what Aaroosa was going to do but to my surprise, it wasn’t Aaroosa.
My mouth dropped to the floor and my eyes shot open.
“Hello Maggie.”
This can’t be true? What was she doing here?
***
A/N
Hello guys.
Hope you like this chapter
Again, so sorry for the many characters and places just jumping in, but promise I’m almost done with all of that confusing stuff.
Btw thank you so much for reading/voting/commenting it really did put a smile on my face.
and PROMISE ZAYN IS COMING NEXT CHAPTER!!!! so just be patient, it'll be worth it PROMISE
So I’m thinking of putting a question at the end of every chapter and you guys try to guess what the upcoming event related to it ids.
What do you think?