Here I'm, back in my hometown after spending all these years away, and the first place I find myself going to, is the grave of the only person that changed my life by his life and..... his death.

Who?? you maybe wondering!!!

Oh believe me, you don't want me to spoil it for you, it's a long long story.

So Let me tell you how it all began.

Time : The first day of my senior year.

Place : My home, my room to be accurate.

Characters : Me, Myself, And my family.

The alarm went off, announcing out loud the official beginning of a new school year with the same battles to be fought, the same small time victories I get to have, the same tough face to be worn daily in front of the bullies, every same thing, except for the fact that it was my senior year, and that was the first day. And I didn't know that this year would change what I've always taken for granted and would pretty much shape the rest of my life.

But in fact, I didn't need the alarm to wake me up, I was already awake, staring at the ceiling with my worst school memories flashing in front of my eyes.

I wasn't a very welcomed type of person at school, Well, I was kinda different, very different actually, I was the only muslim at school.

The only muslim and the only hijabi too.

Adding insult to injury, I was what is considered a nerd, yeah, your typical type of nerd, glasses, books, everything, I was one without even noticing it.

I occupied the highest spot on the bullies' favourite list of victims.

They would be like.. Hey Veronica.. We are bored, what should we do for today??... Let's turn the muslim's life into hell, Maggie!!!

I was considered an alien with green skin and eyes on my forehead amongst them. And guess what?? People hate what they don't understand!! I learnt that the hard way.

I had my hijab taken off my head and torn, I was spat at, shoved into lockers, beaten mercilessly multiple times that I had a black eye not once but twice.

Telling the teachers and the principles didn't help, it only made it get worse.

"

Oh God " I said to myself, taking a deep breath, as these memories took their toll on my heart.

After a deep dive into the past, I found that it was unhealthy to begin a school year with such negative thoughts so I tried to shake these thoughts off my head and left the bed to go and pray Fajr in it's time.

Speaking to God was the only way to alleviate my worries.

At the end of the prayer I asked Allah to make this year a happy blessed school year so that I can graduate as a valedictorian, which would help me find a better University, that was all I cared about, that was all I wanted from that year, but I got more, I got more than I could ever imagine... SubhanAllah....

After finishing my dua', I went to my little sister's room to wake her up to prepare her for kindergarten, she is five and she is absolutely the life of the house, she is the only one who puts smiles on our faces.

Eversince my father's death in a car crash years ago, our house became a dull non vivid place to live in, but Alhamdulilah, my sister shahd keeps the house alive.

She woke up after multiple peaceful trials that ended up with me pouring cold water on her face, and ended up with her swearing to eat my little toe when I'm asleep!!!!

After being rendered victorious in that battle, I left her room thanking Allah that I got out alive, then I went to my mother's room to check on her.

My mum was already awake reading the holy Quran, I didn't want to interrupt her so I went to prepare the breakfast myself, I heated some milk, made some tea, boiled some eggs, toasted some bread, got some cheese and Jam out of the fridge, in other words the best american version I could make of a typical Egyptian breakfast.

My parents are originally from Egypt, but they moved to America at the beginning of their marriage life, they choose LA to settle in.

Me, my sister, and my brother were born here.

And yes, I have a brother, Hassan, he is 23, he left us after our father's death, it affected him deeply, we don't know much about him except that he is still alive somewhere in the world, because nobody said otherwise.

After preparing the table, I called mum and shahd, but I had to go and bring my grandmother down the stairs myself, she lives with us and mum takes care of her as one of her children. However, unfortunately her legs became very weak lately, she can't walk without help now and she prays sitting on a chair.

We sat down to have some food to help us get through this big fat day especially for me.

But I couldn't help but dive again into some of my old memories about school, Also, It was a new school year without my father.

Before, My father was my best friend, he was the the only reason I could bear the bullying at first, he would tell me stories about how the prophet pubh was patient with the kaffirs attacks on him and his followers until Allah gave him the upper hand when he conquered Mecca and even then, he forgave them.

This gave me patience, I would come home rushing into his arms crying of what happened to me that day and he would magically calm me down with his words and take the load off my chest instantly.

But this changed after his death I couldn't do it anymore, so I had to stand up for myself, how you may ask? I definitely didn't have the physical power to beat them but I tried to come up with new ideas, if they throw paper with curses written all over it at me, I wouldn't pick it up, I would even step on it to show them that I didn't care because, simply, bullies thrive on attention, take this away and their ego will crumble.

I also became somekinda aggressive, when they would try to beat me I would kick and scream like crazy, and to save themselves from the embarrassment, they would leave me alone. In other words, I wasn't fun anymore for them to bully.

Also my luck changed for the better when a group of rich kids joined the school two years ago, their only interset was getting the hot girls and Alhamdulilah, I wasn't considered one. So they just forgot about my existence, I was only visible in class and studying became my passion and my escape.

With all these thoughts going through my head, I frowened, and my mum noticed.

" Don't worry in shaa Allah it's gonna be a blessed year, just tell Allah about your worries and they'll go away " mum said smiling at me.

My Grandma joined in

" Darling you are the pride of this house you know if your father were alive today he would have been very proud of you " she said smiling kindly at me.

We finished our meal, I was about to take care of the dishes but mum said she doesn't want me to be late on my first day.

I guess I had no more excuses, I had to prepare myself to face my worst fears.