Love from a to Z

literally buried, in the case of those criminals who keep their victims in
cellars or dungeons to prey on them.”
“Ugh.”
“Like in the movie The Lovely Bones, which was based on a book, which
was loosely based on true events. And that Austrian man who kept his
daughter in a dungeon, raping her, for over twenty years.”
I closed my eyes.
I opened them because there was silence.
“I’m sorry,” Noemi said, wiping away tears. She took a breath. “So, I’m
working on this project, and, in the midst of me doing a painting of the
entrance to the Austrian girl’s prison, built by her father, I remind you,
Fencer gives us the handout about the buried Turkish girl. And while I was
reading it, I thought, yeah, I could use this in my project. And then Fencer
goes and makes it a Muslim problem. I just lost it inside. How the fuck are
you saying this is a Muslim problem, to be cruel to girls, when I’ve just
literally spent hours amassing evidence that it’s a world problem, Fencer?
Then you spoke up in class and confirmed what I’d been thinking, that it’s
not a part of being Muslim. At that point, I knew that Fencer was an
asshole, a racist, a . . . a . . .”
“Islamophobe,” Kavi helped.
“An Islamophobe.” Noemi dropped her legs from the table and crossed
her arms. “And then I realized I’d drunk the Kool-Aid, thinking that
somehow some women were more oppressed than others due to their
background.”
“She came running to me. To apologize.” Kavi laughed. “Because, you
know, I’m a brown woman, and I stand for all brown women?”
“Well, I gotta start somewhere!” Noemi laughed too, though her eyes
were still glistening from tears. “Apologies to you, too, Zayneb. Because
the first time I saw you in class, I did feel sorry for you. Because of your
scarf.”
“Fencer? It was Fencer?” I shook my head, a smile breaking out on my
face. “I can’t believe Fencer woke you. All this time I’m burning up in
class, thinking he’s using his own hatred to make more Islamophobes out of
the other students, get them riled up against Muslims, and then this
happens?”

---

“Zayneb, hate to break it to you, but Noemi is a special case,” Kavi
pointed out. “Most of the other people in class just sit there like sponges.
Best-case scenario is if they’re tuned out, so then they’re sitting there like
rocks. The stuff Fencer spews just circulates around them. They don’t
question it.”
“True.” Noemi nodded. “Really true. The only reason I didn’t fall for it is
because I’m doing this art project.”
“I don’t know how I’m going to survive two and a half more months of
Fencer.” I drew my legs up and wrapped my arms around them. I couldn’t
even think of seeing his face again.
But I’m supposed to change myself. Like, learn to process things without
overheating.
“Anyway, I just need to chill. That’s why I’m here.” I let go of my legs
and crossed them. “I’m on my suspension vacation.”
“I get you, Zayneb. You taking Fencer on like that,” Noemi said. “Every
time he talks in class now, it grates on my nerves. I feel like a wrecking
ball, ready to smash his lesson plans.”
“Wreck-it-Noemi,” Kavi deadpanned.
“Well, children, don’t be like me. Give peace a chance. Kumbaya and so
forth,” I reminded them.
“Yeah, that’s not happening,” Noemi said. “EatThemAlive version two is
going live soon.”
Kavi looked at Noemi pointedly, then witheringly, but Noemi didn’t see
it. Or pretended not to.
When Kavi turned to me, I gave her the same look she’d given Noemi.
“I told her about it. Because I want to keep it going,” Kavi said firmly.
“We need to help Ayaan. Prove that she was doing something right.”
“But that’ll just get everyone in more trouble!” I stared at Kavi. “One
suspension, one removal from student council . . . do you want an expulsion
next?”
“Zayneb, we’re not involving you, so don’t worry about it!” Kavi said.
“Just enjoy your vacay.”
She tilted her head and stuck her jaw out.
That meant not to mess with her. Kavi is the kindest friend in my life, but
she can also be extremely steely.
But you only see that when you come close to her sacred truths. Like
justice.

---

She isn’t loud about it like me, but she’s consistent.
Like a determined beaver chipping away at a tree, I don’t doubt her
ability to fell Fencer.