At home, I dropped my bag and flopped onto my bed. Out of habit, I opened Stargram.
Coincidentally enough, Tanisha's profile popped up first. I clicked on her profile. There were beautiful photos. A photo of her laughing in a mustard-yellow dress in Morocco and another photo of her wearing a baby blue dress in Italy. I scroll down her page to find photos of paintings. The next photo was a painting clearly inspired by her trip in Morocco. It was beautiful. There were bold brushstrokes of cobalt and white, a figure mid‑stride. Her caption read: Couldn't get these colours out of my head.
She didn't have many photos of her paintings, there were few. But, the few were incredible. She was beautiful and incredibly talented.
I liked the paintings and the gorgeous photos of her, then paused and commented "Beauty and talents for real!"
A few minutes pass, until I get a notification.
Tanisha: "You found me, Sabah!"
Me: "Luckily, it is a privilege to see the gorgeous photos of you and your paintings!"
Tanisha: "Thank you for the compliment, the paintings aren't that good!"
Me: "Don't be modest now!"
Our conversation flowed easily, we spoke about paintings, Harry Potter, Hunger Games, favourite food. Somehow, the conversation drifted onto fears.
Tanisha: "Don't laugh but… clowns. Full on terrified."
Me: "That's fair. I can't handle spiders. Like at all."
Tanisha: "Okay, note to self: no circus sleepovers and I'll kill spiders for you."
I laughed out loud at that.
Later, curiosity made me search Amir's account. I found it with relative ease. There were lots of football clips, holiday photos and silly selfies. In one photo, Amir had his arm slung over Hamza's shoulder, both laughing. Hamza was tagged in the post, so I clicked on his account.
Private account.
I hesitated, then hit Request.
The next morning, I walked into the school library. It was quieter than I expected. But, then again, it was very early in the morning. I arrived at school earlier than usual. I caught the early bus for once.
I wandered in, not sure where to sit. A guy with headphones looked up from his laptop and smiled.
"You new?" he asked curiously, taking his headphones off.
"Is it that obvious?" I asked, a little embarrassed as I sat in the chair across him.
"Just a little." He said with a laugh.
"I'm Asif," he offered.
"Nusaybah," I responded with a smile.