"...no way for a lady to act. Think about how old you are! I can't believe my child was the one to do this! Even Adam and Aqsa act better than you! And they're so much younger!"

      My mother stopped and glared at me. I pressed myself further down into the couch and tried to make myself look sad. Or guilty. Or anything remotely like that, really. I bit my lip and looked down, trying to think of sad moments in my life. Like when my pet rock escaped out my window. By itself.

"...an embarrassment to the family. How do you think your cousin feels? Why can't you be like your siblings?"
Oh yeah. Compare me to my siblings. Add in the next door neighbor's dog too while you're at it. And why not? I suck.

      The other adults had taken the kids out into the backyard to help break up the food fight. Yunus was crying over his ruined cake. I felt bad for him, I really did. And now I was getting yelled at for it. It's not my fault they started a flipping food fight. All I did was swat a paper plate to keep it from hitting a poor little toddler on the head. A paper plate full of cake. That landed on someone else's head.

Not like I did that on purpose.

"Are you even listening to me?"

I glanced back up at my mom before staring at my fidgeting fingers. "Yes, ma'am."

"You should be ashamed of yourself!"

I nodded.

"I want you to sit here and think about what you've done!"

I nodded. "Yes'm."

I dared to look back up at her. Her eyes were flaming, cheeks flushed as she loomed over me. Darn it.

"What are you doing, just sitting there? Go in the kitchen and clean it up!"

I furrowed my brow. "I thought--"

"Don't you dare talk back to me!"

I ducked my head. "Yes, ma'am."

My mother stormed off, presumably to cool off and help the other adults instead. I slid myself off the couch and onto my knees. Ick. I have to clean up someone else's mess. I hobbled over to the kitchen on my knees and stared at the warzone from twenty minutes ago. Those kids really knew how to throw.

There were outlines of bodies against the walls, and chairs overthrown. There was a potted plant overturned and leaking in the corner. Must be broken.

I sighed and got up to find the paper towels. Great. Yesterday I had to clean my house, and today I get to clean someone else's. Wonderful.

I got back down on my hands and knees and started wiping the floor, my lip curling as the wet, squishy cake bits smeared across the tiles and the wetness seeped through the napkin onto my hand.

I wouldn't even have to do this if...had I really even seen him? In the last hour or so since the food fight had started, I had seen neither hide nor hair of Yousuf. It was as if he'd never even been here. Maybe he hadn't. Maybe I'm going crazy and it was all just in my head.

I fisted my hands around another napkin. Oh, what I'd do to have his hide! I'd kill it, and roast it, and, and--

"Ew."

I whipped around, standing up as I dropped the napkin onto the growing pile of paper towels on the floor beside me. Yousuf.

He gave me a lopsided grin as he leaned against the doorsill, arms crossed. "Ew. What'd you screw up this time, Iqra?"

I made a face at him and hissed. "It's all your fault, you big dummy!"

He gave me an exaggerated look of surprise, his eyebrows going up into the fringe of his hair, mouth dropping open. "Me? What'd I do, Iqra? You're the one who tried to throw a cake at me."

I started walking forward but my foot slipped on the pile of paper towels. I flailed, squealing as I hit the floor hard on my bottom. My hand landed on a stray piece of cake, the icing squishing through my fingers. I cringed. Ew. Ew. Crap tons of ew.

Darn kids.

I looked back up at him. "Go away. I need to clean up this shh..." I trailed off.

       Yousuf walked over and crouched down in front of me. "Fine. Since you asked ever so nicely, I'll help you." He leaned forward and reached over my head towards the roll of paper towels sitting on the counter. I moved back to keep from having a faceful of his T-shirt until my head bumped against the cupboard handle. I hissed again.

He looked down at me under his arm before he pulled the roll off the counter and stood up, pulling off a few sheets as he surveyed the room. "This place..."

"Is terrible." I sighed, pushing my hair back under my scarf. My hand still had cake smeared on it.

I frowned, bringing my hand down to look at it. "Aw shitzle."

Yousuf looked at me and chuckled. "Need help?"

I glared at him. "No."

I got up and went to the sink, washing my hands and trying to wipe the junk off my face. Yousuf picked up an overturned chair and placed it back at the table, its legs screeching against the floor.

"You know what I think?"

I wiped my face and turned off the tap. "Hmm."

"I think you secretly like me and you don't know how to deal with your feelings so you're hiding them behind this..this guise of hate so I can never find out." He turned towards me, resting his arm on the back of the chair. "You can just tell me, you know."

I pretended to think about it. "Well..."

His eyes widened slightly and he froze.

"Well, if that involves wanting to stick your head in the oven and see how long it takes to explode, then sure." I tilted my head, batting my eyelashes at him.

He pushed himself away from the table. "You haven't changed a bit."

I snorted. "Don't worry. You're the same annoying little devil you were four years ago as well." I smiled at him.

He looked taken aback. "I'm--"

"Yousuf honey! What're you doing here?"

I rolled my eyes as my mother came into the kitchen. She likes him better than me. Figures.

Yousuf smiled at her. "I'm just helping Iqra clean up."

"Oh, you don't have to do that! You'll get your clothes dirty."

I glanced down at my cake-smeared dress.

Yousuf chuckled. "No, no. It's fine. It was my fault too. I should be helping clean up the mess."

I turned to look at him as he charmed his way through the conversation and my mother went back outside with a glass of water and a smile on her face. Mr. Polite.

"So it was your fault. You said it yourself."

He stuck his tongue out at me. "Yeah right. It wasn't. But I'm this thing you've never heard of. Let me see...It's called charming."

I rolled my eyes again and went back to dabbing at the walls. It was pointless, really. This whole thing. "You could've just stopped at 'I'm this thing' and you would've hit the nail on the head."

Yousuf huffed and went back to cleaning. I smiled. I win.

Again.

      After we'd cleaned up, I turned around to wash my hands at the kitchen sink. The walls didn't look so terrible, and we did a pretty good job, if I do say so myself. The floor was clean, the chairs were clean....everything except me and my dress was spick and span. I was a different ordeal all together. Everything was sparkly...including Yousuf's eyes.

"What?"

He smiled at me. "Nothing. I just...I forgot for a while."

I frowned. "Forgot what?"

"Nothing." He pursed his lips and smiled at me again before turning away.

Wait. I'm supposed to be saying something. There's...

"Wait!"

He turned, raising his eyebrows. "Yes?"

THe words stuck in my throat and I swallowed, trying to dislodge them. Euh... I curled my fingers into fists, biting my lip. "Err..."

There was a racket by the backdoor, and any second now all those people would come back in the house. "Th..."

Yousuf laughed and walked closer, tilting his head. I looked down.

"You're welcome."

Huh?

      I raised my head just in time to see his retreating back just as all the back door slammed open and all the little kids swarmed back into the kitchen, shrieking as they went off to play in the living room, leaving the adults to close doors and straighten mats.

Shitzle cupcakes.

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Sorry. I usually update earlier on Fridays, and I realize that Friday is almost over, but I wasn't feeling well. I hope you enjoyed the update. Please consider giving it a vote/comment and tell me how I'm doing! ^O^/ 

And so it starts. There will be weekly FRIDAY updates, at least until my life settles down and we can go to Tuesday/Friday (bi-weekly) updates. :) 

~Cheers, 

October