YOU’RE THE TERRORIST

BY SIDDIQA FARUKI

ZARA AND SYD were neighbors and had spent most of their childhood together. Even though the girls were both 15, Zara always seemed like the mature older sister. The girls loved spending time together and had a lot in common. However, there was one thing that they did not share: religion.

Syd’s parents traveled a lot for work so Syd would often stay over at Zara’s place. The first time Syd spent the night, Zara’s mother had made something Syd had never seen before. Zara was so excited to eat it, but Syd was confused. The food was oily and the rice was an orange color. Syd didn’t want to be rude, but she had no interest in putting it on her plate. As she watched Zara’s family fill her plate, she leaned in towards Zara and asked, “What is this?”

“It’s biriyani, a South Asian rice dish.” Syd looked at Zara and frowned, so Zara said, “Trust me, it’s really good.” Syd decided to give it a try. Syd waved her hands, “Water. I need water!” As Zara handed the water to Syd, she asked, “Syd, did you eat a chili pepper?”

“No, this stuff is just really spicy.” Both Zara and her parents started laughing. Then Syd started laughing, too. She tried making light of her embarrassing moment. “Sorry, honey. This is how we always eat,” Zara’s mom said.

As time went by, Syd started feeling like she was a part of the family and got really used to Zara’s family and their cooking. Still, Syd had difficulty adjusting to their religion. Zara came from a Muslim family, so every time Zara had to go to the mosque or take Arabic classes, Syd went back home. She felt so lonely stuck in that big, empty house alone, so she would wait desperately for Zara’s return. Syd also grew frustrated with Zara’s frequent praying and would wait impatiently in Zara’s room. One day, while Zara was in the middle of a prayer known as Maghrib Namaz, Syd decided to interrupt Zara. She yelled from the hallway, “Hurry up! You’re taking such a long time.” Syd walked in front of Zara’s janamaz, the prayer rug. That was amajor taboo, but Syd didn’t know that.

“What are you doing?” said Zara. Syd raised her eyebrows and said in a confused tone, “Umm. Nothing.” “You realize I’ll have to pray all over again. I need to start from the beginning because you distracted me.” “What do you mean by ‘I distracted you’?” asked Syd. “You just walked in front of my janamaz and were yelling at me to ‘hurry up.’ That’s pretty distracting, so I messed up the prayer,” replied Zara. Syd was embarrassed. She put her head down and said, “I’m sorry and it won’t happen again.” Syd went back home and saw Zara the next day at school.

After an awkward math and English class together, the two girls sat at the cafeteria of their school. Syd wore a sweatshirt with shorts, while Zara wore a hijab and a pair of jeans with a shirt that went all the way below her butt. Syd hated it when Zara wore the hijab. She respected Muslims and was okay with the idea of the hijab, but she never cared for it when Zara wore it. She thought the hijab hid all of her beauty. She never told Zara though and kept it to herself. She knew how important religion was to Zara, so she didn’t want to disrespect her or her religion. However, Zara was the only one in the school who was Muslim, so sometimes Syd was embarrassed to be around her.

Zara was still a little upset with Syd because of the whole prayer situation when Syd suddenly whispered, “Look at three o’clock!” “What?” Zara yelled. “The eagle has landed. The eagle has landed,” Syd declared. Zara turned around and saw Jay. Then she gave Syd a look and said, “Okay, okay. I got it now.” For the last three months, Jay had been all Syd talked about. Zara thought it was pretty weird.

Ever since Zara was a little girl, she was taught to never like boys. Her father and mother would constantly remind her that men are horrible creatures. Unless the boy was her husband, there was no chance of a relationship. “No boys,” her father would always say when the subject would come up. The only guys she ever liked were not in her life. Usually, they were famous actors or singers. Still, even those crushes would make her parents mad and they’d start yelling at her.

“Hey, Zara,” Jay said. Zara froze. Everyone in the cafeteria became quiet. The whole student body was staring at them, so Zara started to freak out. Most of the kids had known Jay since kindergarten and several students viewed him as the hot jock. Zara looked at Syd. Syd was confused. Jay hardly ever spoke to Syd, but suddenly he wanted to talk with Zara?! After a minute of not saying anything and trying to hide under her hijab, Zara finally said, “Umm. Hi.”

Even though the girls had known each other for a long time, they had just recently started going to the same school. Zara was the new girl and hardly anybody knew her. She was just as confused as Syd. Why is Jay speaking to me and not Syd? What did I do this time? she thought.

“How are you, Zara?” Jay said. “I’m okay. I guess.” Along with what felt like the whole student body, Syd listened in, but Jay angrily asked everyone to leave him alone. The cafeteria was no longer silent. Everyone had started discussing what would happen between Jay and Zara. The only one who stayed nearby, unable to not listen, was Syd, so Jay asked Syd, “Hey, would you mind giving us some privacy?” Syd gave Zara an angry look. She walked away to another table but kept looking over to them every five seconds.

As soon as their conversation was over, Jay left the cafeteria. Immediately, a bunch of girls came up to Zara to interrogate her about what had happened. Zara didn’t pay attention to them; instead she looked for Syd. All of a sudden, Syd appeared in front of her. Syd was walking towards Zara with a smiling face to hide her anger. She said, “So… what happened? Were you being a great wingman or what?” The group of girls who were surrounding Zara still hadn’t left, so Zara asked Syd, “Can we talk about this later? Away from everyone.”

“No!” yelled Syd. “Answer the question!”

“Fine, if you want, but I’m warning ya.”

“So what were y’all talking about?”

“You know, geometry and stuff.”

“What kind of stuff? And did you even mention me?”

“You know, not everything is about you, Syd. And you don’t need to know everything.”

“I know, but I want to. C’mon, girl, you know he’s all I’ve been talking about for the last three months.”

“That’s exactly why I don’t want you to know.”

“I promise I won’t get mad.” Syd had her fingers crossed. She never made a promise she couldn’t keep.

“I don’t think you should ever ask Jay out,” Zara finally said.

“What the hell? Why? You can’t just tell me to not do something! Who are you? My mom?”

“What happened to ‘I promise I won’t get mad’?” Zara asked.

“I had my fingers crossed, but that is beside the point. What happened?”

“So… he asked me out. But don’t worry; I said ‘no.’” Syd started crying and the girls around them gasped very loudly.

“I don’t get it.” Syd studied Zara. Then Syd said, “Now I get it,” and reached for Zara’s head. “What are you doing?” Zara asked. “Take the goddamn thing off!” yelled Syd. Zara was shocked. She couldn’t believe that Syd could do this to her. Immediately, the girls who were following Syd and Zara around took out their phones and started recording.

“Excuse me. What has gotten into you?” asked Zara.

“How do you not get it?!?!” yelled Syd.

“What am I not getting?”

“Jay has a hijab fetish. Why else would he ask you out?!”

“Maybe it’s because I’m nice or something. I don’t know.”

“Isn’t that hijab of yours supposed to keep guys away from you?”

“What?!?”

“Yeah, it’s supposed to purify you and stuff. Make you a nun. KEEP GUYS AWAY!”

“That’s not what it’s for. I thought you already knew that.”

“Don’t lie to me. You wear it to ‘save yourself’ or whatever. You don’t want anybody touching any part of you.”

“I wear it for the sake of Allah, not so boys can stay away from me. How dare you offend me like that?!”

“What’s wrong with offending you? You and your kind always offend everyone. I just thought you guys only bomb places, I didn’t think that you also hurt your best friends.”

“Are you calling me a terrorist? Is that what you think of me?”

“No, Zara. You know that’s not what I mean.”

“It sure seemed that way. I can’t believe you’re actually being such a bitch!”

By then the live video had already spread all over the school. “Well, you know, it’s hard. Everyone thinks I’m friends with a terrorist,” Syd said. Zara couldn’t believe this. She was embarrassed to know Syd. “Okay, this is so random. I’m sorry that Jay likes me, but don’t ever accuse me of being something I’m not. My hijab and my religion are my everything. I thought you were a part of my life, but I guess not.”

The news of the fight had reached the administration and the dean of the school walked up to separate the girls. As he took Syd with him, Zara started making her way out of the cafeteria. Before she reached the door, she turned around to face Syd and the crowd and said, “My name is Zara Laila Amin and I am not a terrorist.”