Chapter Five – Very first love
It was the first week of September and the first day of school for 10 year old Alaya who had just moved to Egypt from New York. She had grunted at every step she took away from New York towards her home town but had no choice because her father was apparently going through a financial crisis. Her father had lost his job during the downsizing of the company he was working in. Since they used to live in a rented apartment in New York for which they could not pay anymore, Mahmood decided to come back to Egypt where he could shelter his family in his father’s house. Everyone in the family including Mahmood was saddened by the decision. Except for Waleeda.
“This is the best decision you could make! I mean…..look at what New York has done to these two stubborn heads. Living with their grandparents should teach them something. If you asked me I’d tell you to keep us in Egypt till they get married.” Waleeda had said during the last dinner they had in New York. Asma and Alaya had shouted out ‘NO!’ the moment she ended the last sentence.
Asma and Alaya’s angry faces remained the same until the very first day of school. Asma was lucky to be older at the time and to be able to have her hair styled and do make-up for school as she wished on her own despite all the mumbo jumbo that their mother and grandmother were saying. Alaya on the hand, was all out of luck. She was forcefully showered and groomed by her not so graceful grandmother who called Alaya her ‘baby girl’ and was obviously considering her a baby who did not know how to do anything. When she was in her white uniform with a black skirt and a small black tie around her neck, her hair braided to two sides and her face looking almost white due to the powder, Alaya looked at her reflection in the mirror, wanting to explode. She had never gone out of home like this, let alone go to school.
Nonetheless Alaya was relieved when her mother stopped her grandmother from walking her to school since the school was just a few blocks away. With a huge sigh of relief, Alaya started walking, fully aware that her mother and grandmother were watching her from a distance. And knowing that they would be looking until she entered the gates of her school. Alaya liked it that way because she would not want to be alone on a road that appeared so strange to her except for some students in uniforms walking in the same direction as hers.
The area was a poor street that was made by not so attractive houses on either side. Most houses were either poorly built or half way done. Every other house had sheep, hen or other domesticated animal that could earn the family an income. Having lived her whole life in luxury, Alaya felt sorry for all the families that lived in those houses. She particularly felt sad as she came across a short two story building, with its light yellow paint peeled off a great deal. An old man sat on a wheelchair feeding some chickens in front of him. There was a cow on the side that was tied to a wooden pole nearby. The cow was feeding on a bunch of green vegetation kept in front of it.
Terrified when the cow mooed all of a sudden, Alaya started to walk faster. But just then, she heard the voice of a young boy from near that house.
“I’m going Baba….just gave medicine to Mama.” the boy said, walking out of the house and speaking in the kind of pure Egyptian Arabic Alaya rarely hears. The boy wore a white uniform with trousers. The badge of the uniform and the black tie gave away that he is going to the same school as Alaya. But unlike Alaya’s off-white uniform, his uniform had a dull colour. As though the uniform is a few years old and the family could not afford a new one. He wore a black side bag on one shoulder that looked heavy and only looked suited for luggage.
“Take care son, study well. What about Mariyam?” the man on the wheelchair asked.
“Didn’t get the time to milk her as Mama wanted me to stay with her today. Will milk her when I get back In Sha Allah.” the boy said, bidding goodbye to his father. Just then, a group of young boys almost the age of that boy walked by him laughing out loud.
“Aww…..Mama’s boy does not get the time to give his love.” one of the boys said in an insultingly mocking voice. The boy looked back once but kept walking.
“No you silly! He must have spent last night with Mariyam!” another boy in the group said.
“No wonder he smells like her too. They’d have a baby pretty soon. The name would be something like, Moomoo Raphael Hamidh.” the third boy continued the joke and just then, the cow mooed from behind them and they all burst out in laughter.
Alaya looked from the boys back at Raphael who was still walking way ahead of them. Alaya was sure that Raphael would hear them yet he did not look back. This made Alaya stare at him with awe. She never saw anyone being made fun of without them answering back or taking revenge. Alaya almost stopped walking and kept looking at Raphael awaiting his response. But he didn’t. He did not look back and quietly walked through the gates of the school.
From that first day, Alaya uncontrollably kept a close eye on Raphael. It was easy for her as she goes in the afternoon session, same as Raphael. It didn’t take long for Alaya to realize that he was in 7th grade and neither to know that he was one lonely boy. Alaya never saw him talking to anyone. Nor did she see anyone trying to talk to him. He’d usually be found in class, or on an empty bench of the corridor, reading a book. The hearsay around the school made Alaya realize that no one ever wanted to be associated with him, because of how much he was made fun of. Everyone, including the friends Alaya made looked down upon him because of how he could not afford what everyone else could.
But Alaya saw him in a completely different light. The day she heard that his father lost the ability to walk and his mother got paralyzed due to an accident broke her heart. He was working with the animals at home and in a garage a few kilometers away from home just to buy medicines for his parents and sustain his family. All of it, while attending school and its workload. Alaya was sure that the ones making fun of Raphael would not be able to do a fraction of work he was doing day in and day out. That made Alaya see Raphael in a high regard.
The high regard did not take long to turn into an infatuation. Alaya had just started having those feelings towards the opposite gender and Raphael’s looks were heightenedly attractive to Alaya. His green eyes, dark brown hair, artistic eyebrows and manly physique made Alaya seriously wonder why he never had a girlfriend. Was it only her who could see the beauty in him?
Alaya was not sure. But she knew she wanted to talk to him. That she needed to find a way. To conquer her very ‘first love’.
