A knife flashes in someone’s hand, brightening in the sun, which is beating down and turning the snow even whiter. It’s the kind of knife Scouts use at summer camps, and Ghady goes cold from their threats and intimidation. The beast lets him go, and Ghady hears Michael say:
“Someone told the administration. The principal sent a message that she wants to talk to each of us individually. So who ratted us out?”
“Who do you think?” Thomas says. “Of course it was Ghady.”
“I didn’t tell her everything,” Ghady says, hoping the boy who grabbed his hand will ease his grip.
“A rat and a liar too? Bravo!” the beast shouts. “That is a shame.” He raises his hand and gives Ghady’s cheek a stinging smack.
“Get out of here now, snitch, with your dirty teeth and your Arab nose.”
Ghady runs as fast as he can to get away. He goes right into the principal’s office and pushes the door shut behind him with all of his strength. The principal leaps up off her chair.
“What’s going on? What’s wrong?”
Ghady wheezes. He can’t speak.
“Come and sit.” The principal gets him a glass of water. Ghady drinks. He heaves a sigh before he starts to speak. After he’s reeled off the details, the principal sends her assistant to get Matthias, in fear of the boys and their knife. Ghady is afraid for Matthias too, not only because of Michael and his group, but also because of the principal. After all, Matthias bought weed from Michael, and he smoked it on school property.
“I want the names of all those students, Ghady,” the principal says, interrupting his thoughts.
“I don’t know the names of all the ones in the older grades,” Ghady says, as Matthias steps into the office with the assistant. The principal turns on her computer and asks Ghady and Matthias to pick out photos of the boys who were there. Ghady points to some of the photos, and his friend backs him up, adding the names of two students Ghady didn’t know were involved. And so they get to a list of fifteen.
The principal lifts the receiver and asks for Ghady’s home number.
“Manal? I’m going to need you to come to school immediately for a very serious matter.”
After that, she calls Matthias’s house.
“Phyllis? Please come immediately to the school. It’s a very serious matter.”
Less than fifteen minutes later, Ghady’s mom is there, hair uncombed, still wearing her paint-spattered clothes, a coat thrown over them and buttoned up in a hurry. The principal tells her what has been going on, concluding: “It’s better if your son stays at home for a while—he’s not safe here right now.”
After they talk for about a half an hour, the principal sends her assistant to get Ghady’s things from his classroom. They decide he should go straight home with his mom. He’ll stay away from school, as she suggested, and the principal will call them when they find a solution to the serious problems unfolding on school grounds.
Now that Ghady’s mom has found out all the details about the bullying and the pressure he’s been under, he’s shocked by her reaction. He didn’t expect her to be calm. He thought she’d lose it when she heard the word “drugs” and shout, “How could this happen at one of the best schools in Brussels!” But here she is, dealing with it rationally, not forgetting to thank the principal for protecting Ghady, and for letting her know what was going on. She doesn’t blame him for not telling her everything, either. She says she’s just happy he is safe.
At home, after this packed day, Ghady has to rest. His head aches, and his thoughts are muddled. He goes to his room and shuts the door behind him. He lays down on his bed, closes his eyes, and tries to sleep. But he fails. How can he sleep when his mind is churning with all these stories from school? He decides to send an email to Rawan. He really needs her gentle and encouraging words.
Thursday, March 11, 2009
My dear friend Rawan,
I don’t know if you read yesterday’s message. I’m your friend Ghady, who lives in a faraway country across the sea, remember me? ☺ . . . I haven’t gotten a note from you. Is there a problem with your computer, or, I don’t know, maybe you haven’t checked your email? Honestly, I’ve started to hate this place for so many reasons, and the biggest is the atmosphere at school. It really scares me, and anyway I told you about it in the last message.
I really miss Lebanon, and I’m counting down the days until our next visit. My dad booked our tickets for June 30! It’s so long to wait, I know. But the time will go fast, my friend.
I’m okay. Tell Jad I have a lot of news for him the next time we meet. These are secrets that stay between the three of us. Promise?
Best wishes,
Ghady
MOUNTAIN HOME
HOW WONDERFUL it is for things at home to go back to how they were! Even Kumari seems happier. Rawan once again enjoys chatting with her parents and Rani over lunch. She puts a mouthful of rice and spinach in her mouth, nibbles at a tasty radish, and laughs, remembering what her P.E. teacher had said. What are these coincidences? First the peas, and now the spinach!
Rani tells them that he will work as a part-time receptionist in the gym where he trains in the evenings, so that he can go to classes in the daytime. His work will be answering the phones and responding to customers’ questions about the sports programs at the gym.
“There’s no need to work, Rani. I’m sorry that I told you to find a job in a moment of anger,” their dad says. “The last thing I want is for you to fall behind in your classes. Yes, it’s true that I’m unemployed for now, but I’ll find something soon. I’ve put in job applications with several companies. The problem is time. Rest assured, we’ll figure it out.”
“Darling, there’s no need to worry if Rani takes on some responsibility. It will do him good. He has a lot of free time this year, and he can make better use of it.”
“Yes, Baba, I think it will be good for me. And I’m thinking about putting in an application to work somewhere on campus next semester. Whatever I earn will be deducted from my fees. My friend Tariq does it—he works a few hours a day in the college library.”
“That makes me really happy. Here I thought you were spoiled, but today you proved that you can rely on yourself and shoulder responsibilities,” their father says. Rani smiles, proud of the compliment their father has paid him. “In any case, we’ve decided to sell the mountain house if we have to. We’ll get a good chunk of cash from that.”
“What?” Rawan shouts. “Our beautiful cabin in the mountains? No Baba, I beg you. Our best summer memories are up there. Please don’t sell it.” Rawan’s parents exchange looks. They hadn’t expected her to react like this.
“We’ll do anything to save money. We’ll cut down on phone calls, we’ll keep an eye on how much electricity we use, and we’ll cut down on unnecessary purchases. Rani and I will both help you with anything and everything, but we don’t want to lose the vacation house. Right, Rani?”
Rani nods slowly, staring at his sister’s face in astonishment. He didn’t know his little sister could think like this. All this time, he’d underestimated and made fun of her. He looks at the phone in the corner, wondering if he can really cut down on calls to friends as Rawan has suggested. He thinks, This is going to be hard, but at least I’ve got to try.
Rawan’s father gets up, steps towards her, and hugs her. “Don’t worry, sweetie. Don’t be sad. We won’t think about selling it anymore. I didn’t know it meant this much to you, especially since we only spend a short time there every year.”
“That’s true, but the short time with our neighbors and friends up there is special, especially with Ghady and Jad,” Rawan says, smiling.
Rawan is relieved that her parents agreed not to consider getting rid of their summer getaway. She decides to write to Ghady. She wants to check up on him and see what’s going on with him and that gang of troublemakers at school. She also wants to give him all her updates. She can’t just tell him all her problems and then not share once
they’ve been resolved. And she still wants his advice about Husam. Should she ask him about the gifts or not? Ghady will definitely give her the best advice.
Rawan boots up her computer. She logs onto her email and starts to read Ghady’s message, but then hears the phone ringing. She picks up the receiver, “Hello . . . ?” A woman’s voice responds, “Hello, can I speak to your father please?” Rawan falls silent for a moment, then asks, “May I ask who’s calling?”
“It’s Siham, a colleague from work.” Rawan realizes that she recognizes the voice. It’s the voice of the woman her dad was talking to that day! She sets down the receiver and makes her way to her parents’ bedroom. She finds her father lying down with his eyes closed. He’s sleeping, but I’ve got to wake him up. I’ve got to know right now why that woman is calling him.
Rawan coughs lightly. Her father opens his eyes, which are still clearly heavy with sleep. Before he can say a word, she picks up the receiver from his bedside and holds it out to him. “Phone call for you, Baba,” she says. Rawan makes it seems as though she’s preoccupied with fixing the alignment of three small pictures hanging on the wall when she’s actually hanging on every word her father says.
“Yes . . . Hi Siham, how are you? Fine thanks, I was just lying down. No, I hadn’t drifted off completely just yet. How’s everyone? No . . . No, I’ve told them . . . The opposite actually, I wish I would’ve done it from the start, because things are so much better now, and I’m more at ease . . . Thanks for checking up on me . . . How’s your family? Yes, we’ve definitely got to meet up soon, so we can introduce our families to each other. Tell everyone I say hi. I’ll come drop by the office soon . . . Bye then, thanks for calling.”
Rawan’s dad tries to put the receiver back in place with his eyes half-closed, heavy with sleep. Rawan rushes to him, helps him put it back, and then plants a big kiss on his cheek. His eyes flutter back open, surprise written on his face.
“Baba, I love you so much, and I’m so sorry because . . . because I . . . uh . . . woke you up. Go back to sleep and I won’t bother you again.” Rawan leaves the room dancing with joy. How dumb can I be? I made a snap judgment, tortured myself for weeks, and was unfair to Baba because of a misunderstanding . . . And I also destroyed my favorite sweater! Really stupid.
She sits at her desk reading her email. “Two emails from Ghady at once? Wow!” She reads them eagerly, and then starts her response.
March 18, 2009
Dear Ghady,
This time, I’m the one who’s taken so long to respond, although still not as long as you.
What’s this you’re telling me? I’m worried now, because it seems like things have gotten worse. You’re fighting? Like, hitting others and being hit? They’re putting pressure on you to buy weed? I can’t believe stuff like that happens in your school. What you’re telling me sounds like the stuff from gang movies. I hear about things like that happening in a few schools here, but it doesn’t sound nearly as dangerous. Stay away from them, Ghady, and tell me you’re okay. Try not to hang out with them or get into another fight. Remember what happened last time?
I’m much better now after I found out why Baba was acting different. He told us he lost his job, and everyone felt so much better once he admitted it. The crazy, worrying ideas I had in my head disappeared, since there wasn’t an ounce of truth to them. Think about it, Ghady. So I thought he didn’t care about us anymore because of his supposed relationship with a woman who wasn’t my mom? I discovered today that she’s his colleague from work. She was just calling to check up on him.
I thought I might work to earn some money. What do you think?
Unfortunately, my secret admirer is still unknown, even though I’m pretty sure it’s Husam, this ninth grader. I always bump into him, but so far he hasn’t said anything about the gifts. I still want to know what you think. Should I ask him or wait it out? Won’t you tell me what you think? ☺
Hurry up and write back.
Your friend,
Rawan
P.S. I’m happy that you guys have already bought your tickets for the summer!
IN THE HOUSE
GHADY IS HAPPY with the principal’s decision—it’s sweet to stay safe at home! But this feeling doesn’t last long. Soon, he starts getting calls from Michael and his group. Each time one of them calls, Ghady answers. Then they say a few quick things to scare him before he hangs up.
“Are you hiding like a mouse, coward?”
“We’ll get our revenge.”
“Your teeth aren’t going to last very long.”
That isn’t all—Ghady also gets nasty email messages full of ugly ideas. When Ghady’s parents find out about the threatening phone calls, they tell him to stop answering the phone, period. And when he tells them about the emails, his dad prints out copies and keeps them, just in case things get to the point where they need to bring these letters to the police.
“The police?” Ghady asks, when he hears about his father’s decision.
In fact, the principal soon calls, asking Ghady’s mom and dad to bring him to her office along with any evidence that the boys intend to harm him. The police are already there, writing a report. Ghady and his parents take the threatening messages straight to the school.
In the office, the police ask Ghady a hundred and one questions. He tells them everything he knows and everything he’s heard on the playground, then points to pictures of the eleventh-grade boy who threatened to break his teeth and nose. They ask what he knows about Matthias.
“Matthias was really afraid when they threatened him, so he bought marijuana from them once, for twenty euros.”
“We’ll talk to him, too,” one of the officers says.
“He will have to take responsibility for his actions, Ghady,” the principal says. “Even if he did it because he was afraid of them. But his punishment will be light, because he came with you and told us what was going on.”
All of this has gotten really serious. The police? There are three of them: muscular, with big boots, and guns strapped to their sides. Ghady isn’t exactly worried about them, but it feels like he’s in a movie. Of course, he’s one of the good guys.
How did things go so far? Michael is seriously crazy. And the boys who follow his every command . . . the older boys who follow him! As Ghady thinks about them, he also thinks about Matthias. He’s worried about Matthias—he definitely doesn’t deserve to be punished.
After another week at home, Ghady’s mom gets a call from the principal. It’s a long call, and Ghady can see anxiety twitching across his mom’s face. When she finally puts down the phone, Ghady asks: “What is it? Why are you so pale?”
“That was just your principal, telling me about how the investigations are going. Don’t worry about it.”
“Is it going to be over soon?”
“I don’t think so, sweetie. It seems like this is bigger than we’d imagined. The boys you told us about are backed by a dangerous gang of older guys outside the school. They were using the boys to lure students into experimenting with drugs, then buying.”
“And once they got used to it, they couldn’t stop,” Ghady says.
“Exactly. They’d get addicted. I’m so proud of you.”
“Why? I mean, I made a lot of problems for myself when I got involved and told the principal.”
“No, the opposite. You did the right thing, sweetheart.”
Ghady understands his mom’s point of view, but he still wishes he hadn’t gotten involved.
“You stopped these guys from getting hold of kids, and not just in your school. I’m sure they were trying to find more stupid boys like Michael to do their business.”
Ghady finally feels the seriousness of it all. “When am I going back to school?”
“That’s what the principal and I were talking about. We’re going to wait a little longer. It might be a month, or it might be more. I suggested you do your schoolwork at home until things are clear. Your teachers will email you
the lessons, and then they’ll expect you to do the assigned readings and complete any homework they send you.”
Once Ghady is back in his room, he thinks about everything that’s going on. For sure Michael—plus the dealers who backed him up—will want to get their revenge on him for exposing them. Even if he doesn’t go back to school, he still can’t leave the house. He’ll be too afraid of meeting someone who wants to hurt him.
Then a brilliant idea flashes into Ghady’s head. Why not go to Lebanon now instead of waiting till summer? Since I’m going to school over email, I could do it anywhere. Plus, I would get to see my friends there. Rawan . . . and Jad! I’ve missed them so much! And Rawan’s birthday is soon. April 16. She’ll be so happy if I come and celebrate with her.
Ghady runs to share this amazing idea with his mom.
“It’s a good idea, Ghady. Let me talk to your dad when he gets home tonight, and then we’ll decide.”
SPECIAL DRAWINGS
SEVERAL DAYS go by, and Rawan doesn’t get a gift from her secret admirer. Every day, she searches her jacket pockets, her bag, and her desk. She tries not to be affected by it, since she doesn’t want to be dragged down or worried about anything from now on. Maybe her secret admirer is trying to save money, just like her.
Rawan devotes herself to her studies, paying particular attention to her art classes. Since the beginning of the year, she has been practicing how to draw on glass, small mirrors, fabric, and wood. She prefers coloring in figures instead of drawing with a pencil or a piece of charcoal. With each passing day, she discovers how much of a master she is at mixing colors.
One day, while supervising her work, the art teacher says, “Your paintings are beautiful, Rawan. You’re really good at choosing colors and coordinating them. Your work is thoughtful and exact. There’s no doubt you have a bright future as an artist! I’ve chosen a number of your pieces to be in the end-of-year exhibition. Usually, I choose only one piece per student, but you deserve to have more than one of your works on display.”
Ghady & Rawan Page 10