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Narisa 2
By C Stanton Leman
Chapter 3
Mr. Henry, Marie and Steve began to make idle conversation about
their trip to Iran to fill the time waiting for Zaara to arrive while Josh
encouraged Narisa with a gentle hug and a kiss. A few minutes later,
Betty called on the intercom saying that Zaara was in the outer
office. Mr. Henry said to send her in.
There was a timid knock on the door and it opened slowly to reveal
a
young girl about five-foot one, large brown eyes, dark brown wavy
shoulder-length hair and a honey-colored complexion. She was
surprisingly pretty - almost as pretty as Narisa - and she reminded
Josh of Doe Eyes. She had a slender figure with smallish breasts a
little larger than Narisa's and was wearing a pair of jeans with a
white blouse. The fact the she had a nice cute, small butt didn’t go unnoticed by Josh either.
This being her first day at school, she was somewhat frightened to
be
called to the principal's office and also at seeing a group of people
waiting for her. Timidly stepping inside and closing the door Zaara
thought, Oh my god! What are all these people here for? My parents
are gonna flip! Being called to the principal's office the first week of
high school.
Mr. Henry smiled and said, "Please come in, Zaara."
She entered the office with some trepidation and stood next to the
desk facing so that she could see everyone in the room. Betty brought
in another chair and she smiled and thanking Betty sat down. As she
sat, she silently surveyed the room's occupants. The girl looks like
she's Middle Eastern, and she's very pretty. Hmmm, he's pretty
darn cute! Zaara was lifted from her mental assessment when the
principal spoke.
"Zaara," Mr. Henry began, "first of all, let me say
that you're not in
any trouble." She let out an audible Whew! "I need to ask
you a favor
and it will probably mean some extra work for you, but you're the
only one who can help a fellow new student. Your file reads that you
speak fluent Farsi, is this true?"
"Yes sir, we speak it at home."
"Well," he began. "I'd like you to meet Mr. and
Mrs. Williams and
their son Josh. He will be a sophomore here with us and this young
lady is Narisa Williams. She's just arrived here from Iran a few days
ago and doesn't speak any English yet."
Narisa and Zaara appeared to seemingly click instantly and smiled
at
each other and began to speak in Farsi for a minute.
Narisa smiled and thought to herself, She's awfully pretty and
she
sure noticed Josh. I hope she doesn't have her eye on him or I might
have to claw her eyes out.
"Hi!" Zaara said to Narisa, "How old are you? What
grade are you
in?"
"Hi!" Narisa replied. "I'm thirteen and starting
the ninth grade, just
like you. You don't know how relieved I am to meet another girl that
speaks Farsi. I think we'll be taking all the same classes and I hope
we can be good friends!"
"Me too! I think we're alike in too many ways. I think we can
become very good friends. I just have a
feeling. I'm so happy to have a Farsi
speaking friend. English is okay, but it's more natural to speak our
native tongue, don't you think?"
"Praise Allah! Finally, someone who understands
completely. I can't
tell you how happy I am to meet you!"
Zaara thought, She reminds me of myself when I first came here
–
scared to death. then she said, "We'll have soooo much fun this
year,
I can tell all ready."
As Marie translated what they were talking about to Josh, Zaara
turned
surprised and asked her if she spoke Farsi also. Marie revealed that
both she and Steve were fluent, but that Josh wasn't. Marie then took
over the conversation by asking Zaara, "What sect if Islam does your
family practice?"
"We are Shi'ite Muslims like Narisa I presume?" Narisa
beamed a
bright smile and nodded vigorously.
"Yes she is. How old are you?"
"Fourteen. My birthday is in January so I had to wait a year
to start
school."
When she said "birthday", Josh suddenly remembered that his
birthday was the following week. With all that had happened during
the past month he'd completely forgotten about it.
"Zaara," Mr. Henry cut in, "what I'd like you to do
is to be a mentor
to Narisa. You and she would attend the same classes and you would
translate and help her get familiar with school and life here in
America. Is this something that you might be interested in doing? I
must warn you that this will require more work from you because
you'd not only have to do your own work, but you'd also have to help
Narisa with hers. Do you think you're up to the challenge?"
"Oh yes sir! I'd love a girlfriend I can speak Farsi with! I
can tell
we're going to be very good friends already! My parents would be
overjoyed that I had such a friend. We are kind of isolated in that we
generally only get to speak our native tongue with other Muslims at
Mosque."
"Zaara," Marie interrupted, "now that you have said
that you'd like to
help Narisa and it appears that the two of you seem to have hit it off,
there's something you need to know. This is private and you cannot
reveal this to anyone at school. This is very personal and could
cause Narisa, Josh, and the school serious problems if it ever got out
- not to mention our family - so this is very serious. Can you keep a
secret?"
"Yes ma'am, but I cannot hide the truth from my
parents."
"We completely understand this and you won't have to."
Marie
reassured. "In fact, we'd like to invite your family to dinner this
evening and discuss your new friendship with Narisa and Josh. Can
you call them and see if it's possible?'
"Yes ma'am. My parents gave me a cell phone as a present for
entering high school. I can call them on my lunch break."
"Good. Do you have any siblings?"
"Yes, ma’am. A sister, Kamya. She's a sophomore here."
"She was the sophomore girl I had in the one folder; I didn't
know
you two were related." Mr. Henry put in.
"There's no other way to say this except to come right out
with it.
Zaara -"
Zaara cut Marie off saying, "I think I already know what
you're going
to say, Mrs. Williams. Narisa and Josh are married. Am I right?"
"How'd you guess that?" Josh asked surprised.
Alternating looks between Narisa and Josh with a knowing smile she
answered, "Because you both have the same last names and she's
sitting rather close to you to be an adopted sister."
"You, my dear," Marie countered, "are a very
observant girl. Narisa
and Josh were married in Tehran about a month ago. They are
husband and wife, have a real marriage and live as a married
couple."
Zaara's eyes got a sparkle in them and she smiled widely as she
looked at Narisa then Josh and giggled with a hand-covered mouth.
She turned to Narisa and they began chattering a mile a minute in
Farsi while Zaara was giving Narisa an astonished and excited look.
"Insha Allah!" Zaara exclaimed. "You're really
married? I mean, oh
my gosh, you two actually sleep together and do all that married
stuff. You know… sex stuff?"
"Uh huh." Narisa answered with a proud smiling nod.
"We haven't
done it all the way yet because of my stupid period, but yeah, we've
done a few things. We really shouldn't be talking about this stuff
now."
"Oh yeah, right." Zaara agreed. "Sorry if I got too
personal. It's just
that it's hard to believe your parents allowed you to marry so young,
that's all. If some boy asked my father for my hand today, he'd be run
out of the neighborhood with a shotgun, I'd be grounded for life and
probably be spanked black and blue to boot!"
"It's a long story. I'll tell you later, okay?"
"Okay, I can't wait to hear your story."
Narisa thought, She may be okay after all. She identifies with
me,
didn't look at Josh while we spoke and seemed genuinely interested
in me. Maybe I can trust her after all.
Marie and Steve started chuckling and when Josh asked what was
going on, his mother just replied, "Girl talk."
When the girls had finished their little chat, Zaara turned and
said, "I
can fully understand how this could cause problems. The other kids
wouldn't understand some of our customs and Narisa and Josh
might become the subject of terrible gossip and teasing. I will keep
this between my family and myself. They won't reveal your secret."
Marie pulled out a pad and wrote her name and cell number on it
and gave it to Zaara saying, "When you talk to your parents about
dinner tonight, please have one of them call me so we can finalize the
details."
"Okay not a problem, Mrs. Williams. Mr. Henry, would I start
tomorrow with Narisa?"
"No." Marie interjected." We have an appointment at
court
tomorrow. Josh and Narisa will start classes on Wednesday."
"Thank you for your help, Zaara. You can return to class
now," Mr.
Henry said. "I will have someone show you where Narisa's locker is
so that you two can meet before homeroom on Wednesday. Is that
okay with you?"
"Thank you, sir," she replied. Switching to Farsi she
said, "I'm so
happy to be your friend and mentor Narisa. I hope to see you at
dinner tonight, okay? I hope Mom and Dad will say yes. Bye,
Narisa." Zaara said with a cute smile. Switching to English, she said,
"Bye Josh. Maybe I'll see you again at dinner tonight."
"Bye, Zaara," he answered. "That would be really
cool."
Narisa nodded and the two girls, Josh's parents and he exchanged
salaams, then she departed for class with sparkling eyes and an
infectious smile. Mr. Henry then stood up and offered to take the
Williams family for a tour of the campus. He took his master book
with him and during the tour, directed Narisa and Josh to several
empty lockers midway between the two buildings that were side-by-
side and wrote them in his book as being assigned. With class
schedules and locker locations in hand, the Williams said their
goodbyes to Mr. Henry and thanked him for all his help.
All of the Williams felt a sense of relief that Narisa wouldn't
have to
struggle through her first school year alone and the fact that she and
Zaara seemed to have clicked as friends right away was a definite
plus. That relief wasn't more evident than the look on Narisa's face
and the sparkle in her eyes.
God, I could get lost in those eyes!
Josh thought with pride.
There was also that unspoken relief between the two teen spouses
that they didn't have to hide their true relationship from their new
friend. They now had one new friend in a fledgling, very small circle
that they could, for the time being, be completely open with.
Edited by Morgan
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