ZAYNWhile the guy—Mr. Mohsin—delivered his talk, I searched for Leia. Everyone was sat in rows and there were almost two hundred students with around fifty or so parents. Zeeshan, Anas and I stood to the extreme right whereas two of the professors stood to the left to monitor the kids.
"I swear every time the guy speaks, I hear a giggle," Anas whispered in my ear.
Zeeshan noticed him talking and stepped down from his position till the three of us were joined shoulder-to-shoulder, me unwillingly sandwiched between them.
"We"re supposed to make sure others don"t speak, Anas," Zeesh grunted. "Keep your mouth sealed, please."
"Oh," Anas dramatically clutched his chest, fluttering his eyelashes at me. "He said please, Zayn. Did you hear it?"
I shook my head with a sigh, knocking both their shoulders away and stepping forward.
"Leave him be," I heard Zeesh say.
"Don"t pretend to care about him more than me."
"I don"t care. He just doesn"t need s.h.i.t from you."
Reluctantly, I wedged myself between them again. It was nice that they cared for me. Even if they would never admit it.
After a few beats of silence, Anas declared, "I allow it,"
Zeesh and I silently glared at him. "What, now?"
"You guys have my permission to talk to your girls."
If possible, I got angrier. Apparently so did Zeeshan because I had to push him back before he attacked Anas.
"Tell him to shut up, Zayn," Zeesh gritted out.
Without looking at either of them, I said, "Shut up, Anas."
"All right, dude. Why are you guys getting so riled up? I was just saying because . . ." he trailed off.
Got us a tad curious.
But us stubborn boys would never ask him anything.
"Fine. I won"t tell you where they are, then. Your loss."
That caught our attention.
"Where?" we both said at the same time. I grimaced.
"Wow," Anas shook his head in wonder. "Well, what will I get in return?"
I leaned against the wall again. "Never mind. We can look for them ourselves."
Although I had no idea what I"d say to her once I found her.
"They aren"t here, are they?" Zeesh demanded.
Anas shrugged.
Zeesh glared at him before he too leaned back against the wall.
Five minutes no one spoke.
Then, "d.a.m.n it all. I can"t keep this important information inside me any longer. They are in the third-last lane."
We looked up so fast I was surprised we didn"t snap our necks. I understood why we couldn"t see them. They were sitting on the floor in some girls" feet, chatting and catching up by the looks of it.
Zeeshan slapped Anas"s head. "Why didn"t you tell me before?" Then he took off.
I wish I could go to Leia the way he went to Hoor. But things were too complicated for that.
"Ow," Anas was still rubbing his head, muttering curses.
Our Urdu professor gawped at us from across the room, shaking his head in warning.
I"d give the guy some respect. He"d taught us till we took our Urdu CIE exam last year. I didn"t particularly like him but whatever. He was old and I still had some humanity left in me.
I elbowed Anas away. He almost fell on a girl.
"Sorry, hon," He gave her his usual shark grin and she melted on spot. I rolled my eyes.
Anas grinned at me. "Thanks for that, bro."