I had to restrain myself from telling Valentino about this all day. Especially since he couldn't stop talking about the video he'd sent me that morning—it made Salah and Ameena roll their eyes. Valentino even dragged me out of the library during lunchtime so I could watch him play on his laptop in the cafeteria despite the slow Wi-Fi!

I held back a smile at the recent memory just as the bus threw its exhaust into my face. Thank God Mama gave me lunch that used a fork. I had to eat it during math.

I swiped my metro card and rushed for a seat by the window. The rest of the way home, I wondered which side Annok chose and what class—probably a Templar Battle-Mage.

After thanking the bus driver, I practically ran into the house. I kicked off my shoes, left foot first, and listened to the silence. It was the first thing that greeted me.

I then heard my mom tell me to wash my face and hands before having lunch.

"Okay!" I shouted and headed to my room.

I slapped Annok's note to my computer desk and then unpinned my hijab to change into a T-shirt and black capris. I entered the kitchen and stopped at the doorway to take a deep, satisfying breath.

This.

I smiled briefly, eyes closed, seeing yellows and reds instead of the house's monotonous grey.

"It smells good, Mama," I said as I washed up in the sink. My stomach grumbled in agreement.

"Had a slow workday, so I had the time." My mom smiled back and pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose.

"Thanks!" I took the offered plate of biryani and sat on the stool. Mama was definitely over her bad mood from the other day to be cooking cultural food. "You gonna eat, too?"

"Nah, I'm not feeling it," Mama leaned onto the kitchen island to rest on her forearms. The dark braid that reached her waist slapped the edge of the counter. Like me, Mama only wore regular t-shirts and leggings at home, and outside of the house, she wore a hijab, although with the addition of an abaya. "I made hootkee for me."

That's dried fish curry. I think. I hate that I don't know these things for sure.

"If you have the time," I started. Mama worked part-time for an architectural firm. "Can you look over my pre-calculus homework?" I put a handful of biryani into my mouth. The burst of flavor instantly made me feel better.

"Okay, just tell me when you've done it." Mama leaned away and went to fill up a glass of water for me. "I'll be in the living room working on a new puzzle your baba got me."

After lunch, I went to complete my homework. I started with English, reading a few chapters of Othello, and finished by writing down notes in the book in case the teacher asked anyone about passage meanings or questions. Then came Spanish homework. This one was more difficult, asking for a two-paragraph entry about a time in my childhood.

I got up and went to my shelf of scrapbooks. An entire row was dedicated to travel scrapbooks; my childhood was one big adventure spanning the globe, from the beaches of Brunei to the prairies of Pakistan.

I chose a random spine and flipped through the early pages, seeing the snapshots of my purple elephant plush as I backpacked with it through Albania, Montenegro, and Bosnia the summer before middle school. One of the captions inside read,

Are the mountains and forests of a Muslim country Muslim, too?

"Huh, I was so poetic at nine," I said, then returned to the book to complete my Spanish homework about my European visit.

Soon after, I tucked the notebooks away and turned on my computer. I still had math and art homework but reserved it for later in the day as it wasn't too late in the afternoon to squeeze a gaming break in.

I clicked open the CrusadEon Online homepage, and the sound of my heartbeat drumming nearly overwhelmed me at the possibility of Valentino being online at the same time. I bit my bottom lip and carefully typed in Annok's account information. Maybe he would be online if he didn't have soccer practice.

The loading page appeared on my screen, and the words WELCOME BACK were written in big cursive. The loading screen disappeared, and I clasped her hands together. The black screen faded to show the main menu, and Annok's character gave me a peace sign in greeting.

I stared at the character for several moments, looking at the red-headed warrior from every angle. My heart fell.

Tireya didn't look all that much like Annok. She had no dash of freckles, and her hair was more scarlet than Annok's coppery red. More importantly, her character Tireya was an Ottoman—an Exemplar Valiant, to be exact.

I felt something break a little inside me when I realized that Valentino and I were on opposing sides. That meant the only way to add Valentino in-game would be to challenge him at a Battle Zone.

After a few minutes to overcome the class difference, I settled on the idea that I liked being an Ottoman character who would have a storyline defending the Sacred Lands. Annok was right to say she didn't know much about the game; the character was only at level eight out of the maximum possible level of fifty, and her gear was as basic-looking as possible for a newbie. A brown cape, belt, and curved sword were all she had.

I shook my head. I had a lot of work to do.

* * *

"Inaya! Did you hear me? Inaya! Go and pray!"

At the sound of my mom's voice, I looked over my shoulder at my open bedroom door before flipping up her phone to check the time. It was 6:03 p.m. I'd been playing for over two hours straight! But it felt as if only half an hour had gone by. Maybe I was being a little harsh on Valentino when he said he forgets to do homework because of this game.

Hitting the log-out button, I scrambled off my computer chair to grab my prayer hijab from the closet and then rushed to the bathroom to perform wudu. I calculated that I had about an hour to finish the afternoon prayer. Out of the bathroom, I retrieved my folded prayer rug from atop my dresser and shook it out to place it on the floor facing east. A few minutes later, I took off the hijab and returned it and the rug to their places.

I wanted to go back to CrusadEon but decided to start on my math homework instead. I sat on my bed with the textbook open when Mama walked in. A plate of cut pears and half of a PB&J sandwich were in her hands. The other half of the sandwich was in her hand. My face lit up at the snack, and I pushed myself off the bed.

Mama glanced at the textbook. "That's the precalculus you were talking about?"

"Yeah. I just started, though," I added, reaching for the sandwich.

"Wash your hands first." Mama pushed the food away from my grasp. "We should talk about your college applications, too. I know some old professors who'd love to have you in their class."

"Right."

With my hands washed and munching on my evening snack, I returned to my math homework. The numbers fell into place like sentences. Going to college for engineering was likely what my parents wanted. I still wasn't sure.

My phone buzzed a few times, but I forced myself not to check the notifications; I had to stay concentrated if I wanted to log in again.

The house had become silent again as I stepped outside the living room on my way to return my plate. My mom was staring hard at a pile of puzzle pieces on the coffee table. I didn't know if I should tell her about CrusadEon Online. Having Annok's account seemed like a good enough sidestep to all of the concerns about the game.

I opened my mouth to speak when her cell phone rang. She stood and walked to her room to answer it.

Flopping back onto my bed, I glanced at my phone's lock screen. There were two messages from Ameena about the Spanish homework, and the most recent one was from Valentino. Curious excitement rushed through my chest at the sight of his name on the screen.

I quickly responded to Ameena's questions and then tapped to open Valentino's message. It was a picture of his character in the latest gear—Armor of the Sapphire Phoenix. You could purchase it for twenty dollars or fight a mysterious boss enemy for a chance of getting the armor as a reward.

Biting my lower lip, I decided to type a short reply: Looking good!

Valentino replied just as quickly: The stats are unbelievable

No one can stand a chance against this guy

I replied with a laughing emoji and then hauled myself back to my desk to log into the game. A few minutes in, I glanced back at my phone, toes curling in frustration. I really wanted to send a picture of my computer screen to Valentino to show off that I'd been sucked into the world of CrusadEon Online too, but I thought better of it.

"Not yet," I muttered to myself. Plus, I knew I couldn't let myself go down the rabbit hole of causally texting him when I was crushing hard for him already. Mama once said it wasn't right to be so accessible to guys since we were Muslim.

I called it quits after an hour. I still had to finish homework, do the after-sunset prayer, and then study.

While I mulled over my textbook, pressing the end of my pencil against my forehead in deep thought, my mind was distracted. I kept imagining all the different scenarios to make my character interact with Valentino without him knowing. We'd have to be on the same server and in the same place, at the least. I flopped over and kicked my feet in frustration.

I managed to get Tireya to level fourteen, but Valentino was at level forty-five. There was no way I would reach a Battle Zone anytime soon, even if I spent all weekend on the game! Maybe I could throw some money into the game? But then I'd need Baba's credit card. And what would I tell him when he saw the receipt? Oh yeah, I'm just buying my way to get closer to the coolest, nicest, most hottest guy in my class. Like that would ever fly.

"Inaya! Come quick!"

The sound of my dad's voice echoed. I shuffled to the door and poked my head out of my room. Baba was down the short hall, towering over Mama as she took the brown paper bag from a dessert spot from his hands.

"You're a little late," I said, glancing at the clock shaped like the Ka'aba. It was almost ten.

"But just in time for dinner," he said, shrugging off his navy blue blazer embroidered with the patchwork logo of the city government. "Let's eat!"

"I'll be right there!"

I rushed to log out and went to my bed, grabbing my math homework so I could show it to my parents. My phone screen brightened just then. Beneath a new text from Valentino, my lock screen showed a picture of myself, Mama, and Baba with the Rocky Mountains behind our grinning faces.

Bengali mom, white dad, somewhere in-between daughter. I was sure the strength of Baba's love and Mama's faith created our family. However empty it felt sometimes.