I put on a white shirt with a grey cardigan and a pair of jeans, I choose a pink chiffon scarf to put on my head, during all this, I tried to keep my mind off school.

My mum promised to take shahd to the kindergarten because she also had some shopping to do.

I kissed them goodbuy and they kept making dua' for me.

" Ya Allah, help me " I kept making dua' for myself.

I've always believed that a good beginning meant a good school year, what proof do I have... Well.. My very own experience!!!

When I arrived at the school, I identified some familiar faces and some new faces but I didn't greet anybody, nor anybody greeted me. As I said I became invisible. Of coarse I could hear them sometimes mumble " terrorist, freak, loser, loner .... " And all these types of hideous descriptions but I didn't care.

See.. the problem was that I was a very sensitive person, one glare from any person was enough for me to cry, I always waited for other people's opinion of me, I always sought approval from others, I had always had low self-esteem and that attracted bullies, like a predator to a prey.

So I decided to stop caring, or at least pretend to, I stopped waiting for other people's approval of my personality, I only cared about God, and then my family.

I started to do what I thought was right, and what I thought was right, was sometimes against what the main stream students were accoustemed to.

I was different, I knew it, and I embraced it.

After all I was the only student walking around with a hijab over my head.

My classes went smoothly, they were the best part of my day, as I said studying was my escape.

I had algebra and biology classes.

Biology is my favourite, I always like to find more about the wonders of creation and think about the power of Allah.

Then came the lunch time, it was supposed to go smoothly too if it wasn't for the bullies, it is their favourite time of the day to operate, isn't it?!

I entered the cafeteria, with zero eye contact with any body, and walked to my " losers Table" as they called it, if you sit their, you are either a nerd, an outcast or a muslim.

And I checked all the boxes.

They should actually start calling it " Jannah' s Table" because it seemed like I was the only person who gets the unhonorable privilage of sitting to it.

I sat alone, I still could hear them mumble islamophobic words under their breath but I had to ignore them,

Because what else could I do??

I had pizza and an apple, I said Bismillah and started to dig in, that's when I saw everybody leaving their chairs and gathering in a circle around something or someone, I couldn't see it from my place because I'm short sighted, I can't see far things vivdly, and I stopped putting on my glasses outside the class to avoid the harrasment and being called a nerd.

So I had to get up, approach the circle and extend my neck a little bit to see what was happening.

" Oh, ya Allah " I said to myself.

It was Richard Atkins one of the schools biggest bullies, grabbing Artemis, one of the schools biggest nerds by the collar of his shirt.

Who is Richard Atkins you may ask ?

Well, in one word, scum.

He is a filthy rich, popular supposedly handsome boy, one of the royals of this school, as they called them, together with James Wayne and Nathan Owens. They joined our school 2 years ago, Alhamdulilah, they seem to never notice me or they would have turned my life into hell.

Who is Artemis ?

Well, in one word, nerd.

He is one of my greatest adversaries in this school when it comes to grades of course, he is a genius, but the problem is that he is really clumsy, he steps on people's feet when he walks, he drops his food over people, and to add insult to injury he has a stuttering problem, I always had sympathy for him in my heart, but not a crush, I swear not a crush.

" Well, that's none of my business " I said to myself.

I went back to sit on my table, I seemed to be the only one sitting down and eating, but my head couldn't leave me alone to enjoy my meal in peace.

My caring side said " Come on as a muslim you should help the oppressed!! ".

My indifferent side said " But you don't want these bullies to come after you, do you!!?"

" Oh Allah, I'm torn now " I said to myself.

As I was thinking I heard them say " fight, fight, fight ".

Poor Artemis, he won't even survive for a minute, he'll pass out with the first punch that lands on his face.

Richard is so well built, but poor Artemis, he is fragile.

I closed my eyes and let my body act instinctively, I ran out of the cafeteria and hoped nobody would notice.

I grabbed the hands of the first adult I could find on my way.

" You need to come to the cafeteria.. now... there is a fight " damn, I sounded like an idiot.

I looked at her face and it was Mrs. Dawson, she is a really good person, she happened to be our chemistry teacher.

Together we hurried back to the cafeteria.

When Mrs. Dawson saw what was going on, she said " Ok stop whatever you're doing now, both of you to the princible's office ".

I hoped that I didn't get Artemis into trouble, he didn't deserve it, he was the victim here.

" They didn't notice me " I said to myself. I let out a sigh of relief that's when ....

Mrs. Dawson looked at me and said " Thank you Miss Mohamed for letting me know, you know you're one of our best students "

" Yeah suuure " I mumbeled, oh thank you now they would probably poison my food.

I looked around and everybody were giving me death glares, sure I made them miss a free one sided boxing match.

But then I looked at Richard as he was leaving to the princible's office he gave me a dreadful look, it made my heart skip a beat.

" Whatever he is planning in his head for me, it doesn't look good " I said to myself.