I Am Thunder
Page 26
‘Excuse me,’ said a woman queuing behind me. ‘Are you the girl from the telly, the one what stopped the Shard bombing?’
I bit my lip. I could’ve lied. She would never have known.
But then I wouldn’t be Muzna. ‘Guilty,’ I said.
‘Cor! Can I get a selfie?’
Five minutes later, the rain had stopped, and the sun was playing peek-a-boo with the clouds. The smell of old pennies grew stronger as I strode towards the park.
It was empty apart from a couple of mothers pushing kids on swings, and an old man taking an Irish setter for a walk. Using my sleeve as a squeegee, I scraped the water off the bench and sat down. The wind rifled through the edge of my newspaper, giving me previews of celebrities who were too fat, or too thin, had too much sex, or hadn’t worn enough make-up.
As I adjusted my hijab, a rainbow leaped across the sky. It should have made me smile. But lately my Should Do list had got longer than a loo roll. I stared at the bloated rain clouds teetering at the edge of the sky, wondering why my parents had named me after them.
The afternoon sun shifted, plating everything in 24-carat gold. My heart started to beat faster, every sense was suddenly tingling. His silhouette appeared in the ethereal golden light, and I knew it was him. As Arif’s terrified face appeared and he opened his arms wide, I leaped up before shyness and fear rooted me to the spot.
I am thunder, the cloud that brings the rain.
I lifted my chin and walked slowly towards him.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thank you, Pan Macmillan, for welcoming me into your family and caring so passionately about inclusive representation. You guys are WOKE!
To my incredible editor, Lucy Pearse, who championed Muzna’s story from first draft to published article. You brought the thunder and the lightning. I can’t thank you enough.
Massive props to Kat McKenna and Beatrice Cross who got my book out into the world and shouted about it. I love you guys!
Thanks to Venetia Gosling, Alyx Price, Rachel Vale, Sarah Blackie, Catherine Alport, Kris Doyle, Rory O’Brien, and everyone else at Pan Macmillan.
Special thanks to Penny Holroyde, who rescued me from the Slush Monster, stuck me in a rocket and launched me at the stars. I am honoured to have you as my agent and friend.
Thanks to Yasmin Rahman for her sensitivity reading and very helpful suggestions. And to Fiona Noble and Darren Chetty for being so passionate about BAME stories and authors.
To Bryony Pearce for your help and advice.
To Chris Mould for thrilling my students with your amazing skulls.
To Sabah Mehmood, Carrie Goodgame, José Alvarez, Sophia Daire and Andrew Hall – teachers of the highest order, all.
To Jonathan Gibbs and the gang at St Mary’s Uni: thanks for everything!
To the hundreds of teenagers I’ve had the pleasure of teaching and knowing. This book is totally your fault!
To the sassy South London slang-checkers. I see you.
To the librarians, reviewers and bloggers who embraced this tale.
And lastly to YOU dear reader. Your imagination transformed a stack of pages into a full-blown quest for identity and more. From the bottom of my heart: thank you. Hope you’ll join me for the next one – coming 2019!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Muhammad Khan is an engineer, a secondary-school maths teacher, and now a YA author! He takes his inspiration from the children he teaches, as well as his own upbringing as a British-born Pakistani. He lives in South London and is studying for an MA in Creative Writing at St Mary’s University. He is working on Kick the Moon, his second novel for Macmillan Children’s Books.
‘Muzna’s warmth and heart transform what could have been a gritty “issues” book into a powerful call for hope and standing up for your beliefs’ Bookseller
‘Buy it, read it, devour it . . . A powerful story with a voice that was needed. YA world, you don’t know the thunder that is coming your way!’ Samia Sharif, ssharifbooks.wordpress.com
‘Funny, gripping, and brilliantly handles difficult topics with an amazing main character. A must-read!’ Sophie Cameron, author of Out of the Blue
‘We need more people like Muhammad Khan to craft stories like this to not only show that we are not alone, but also so people understand’ Humaira Kauser, aged 19, a lovereading4kids.co.uk Reader Review Panel member
‘This funny, gritty coming-of-age novel could not be more needed’ Izzy Read, aged 16, a lovereading4kids.co.uk Reader Review Panel member
First published 2018 by Macmillan Children’s Books
This electronic edition published 2018 by Macmillan Children’s Books
an imprint of Pan Macmillan
20 New Wharf Road, London N1 9RR
Associated companies throughout the world
www.panmacmillan.com
ISBN 978-1-5098-7406-4
Copyright © Muhammad Khan 2018
The right of Muhammad Khan to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
Pan Macmillan does not have any control over, or any responsibility for, any author or third-party websites referred to in or on this book.
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A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
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