Barakah Beats

Our class files out for lunch and I scan the cafeteria for Jenna. I’m filled with relief when I find her sitting at one of the long tables with other girls in our grade in what looks like their usual spot. Clutching my lunch box, I go over and poke her in the shoulder with a huge smile on my face.
Jenna looks surprised to see me there. “Oh, hey Nimra. You’re in this lunch too?”
“Yup. I just got out of algebra. Scootch?”
Jenna hesitates for a second, then makes room for me on the bench. She introduces me to the girls sitting closest to us. “It sounds like you’ve already met Julie.” Julie nods but doesn’t smile or say anything. Jenna waves her hand to a brown-haired girl at the table. “This is Val Lopez. And that’s Evelyn Carr.”
“We have social studies together,” Evelyn says to me, tying her golden-blonde hair back with a ribbon. “I told them how Mr. Myer was a big jerk to you.”
They were talking about me? I look over to Julie. She probably thinks I deserved it. I was a little harsh in homeroom.
“So, how’s your first day been?” Jenna asks. Her butt’s almost hanging off the bench from the way she’s sitting so that she’s facing the other girls more than she’s facing me. I wish we were eating alone so that I could be more open with her. I’m not used to having other kids around when I’m with Jenna. It’s always just been the two of us wherever we went – the movies, the mall, and even the Afghan restaurant we go to for my birthday every year. Mama and Baba always take me and Jenna for cheesecake afterward.
I unwrap my sandwich, suddenly not hungry. I’m not even excited about eating the peanut butter Oreos Mama packed. “It’s okay. Different.”
“How big was your old school?” Evelyn asks, loudly breaking a pretzel between her teeth.
“Well, the boys and girls were separate. There were way more boys. But in my class, there were three girls including me.”
“Only three?” Val cries. “This place must seem giant to you! I can’t imagine going to a school with the same three people every day. Didn’t you get bored?”
I shrug. “I was used to it.” But they’ve already moved on. Evelyn brings up the topic of volleyball with Jenna. They’re on a youth team Julie plays softball and Val is a cheerleader. The more they talk, the further I get pushed out of the circle – if I was even in it to begin with. Jenna’s not making any effort to include me, but it’s probably because she knows I understand sports about as well as I get astrophysics. At one point, Jenna looks over at me when the other three are talking and smiles. She offers me her bag of chips, but when I decline, she just shrugs and goes back to listening to her friends’ conversation instead of striking one up with me.