Chapter 6

September 4, 2000

The next morning, both kids dressed in jeans and a shirt and looked like everyday American teenagers off to school, except Josh thought Narisa looked hot! After the teens left for school, Marie started making phone calls. Neither of the adults had any classes until eleven, so she felt she might have enough time to begin executing her planned surprise.

"What are you in a tizzy about with all the phone calls?" Steve asked.

"I'm going to blow that little girl away. Our son and daughter think that they'll just have a civil ceremony and then it's all over, but when we get home they'll be coming home to a small Persian wedding and reception with the Khalids! Mehar and I cooked up this little plan."

"You're more hyped up about this than the kids, aren't you? How are you ever going to plan a Persian reception in six days? What's the cost?"

"I don't care about the cost. I'll cash in one of my mutual funds if I have to. Steve, let me do this, please? Narisa is the daughter I could never have. Let me do this for her ... and for me. She's in a new country, different customs and culture. Let me bring a little bit of Persia into her life on her special day. This way, her wedding day will be like she's imagined growing up."

"You don't have to cash in a mutual fund; we'll just sell off some of our Exxon stock, that should cover everything." Steve snickered as he had another thought. "Hell, if I didn't know any better, you'd think you were Persian!"

"I am, in my heart ... Hello, Mehar?"

The ride into school was okay, but Narisa was a little frightened. Josh chuckled inside when he thought about his first day at school. He guessed she was feeling something like that.

Narisa was thinking along the same lines. Allah, please give me strength. I feel like this is my very first day at school! This new life will really be hard for me even though I now have a friend to help me, but I know I'll have to do the work. Even with Zaara and Josh I feel so out of place. I'm still not used to dressing like this; I hope I don't get a lot of looks from boys. I don't want or need that now. Please, Allah, help me get through this!

The two lovebirds walked into school hand-in-hand and headed to their lockers. From about thirty feet away, they saw Zaara waving to them with a wide smile. Narisa shuffled ahead and the two hugged like sisters when they met. Still gun-shy from the other night, Josh approached with some skepticism.

"Good morning, Sister!" Zaara exclaimed and followed by kissing Narisa on the cheek. "I'm so excited! It'll be really cool to be together, don't you think? Just imagine! We can talk in Farsi and the teachers won't know what we're talking about. They'll think we're talking about class work. Cool hey?"

"Hi, Sister," Narisa answered while returning the kiss. "I'm glad one of us is excited; I'm kind of scared at the moment. I've just got to do well in school. I need to prove to Josh and my family that I can do this."

"Hey, Narisa, don't make the mistake of stressing out about this. You'll be fine, you'll see. I'll help you. You won't have to do this alone. You've done okay so far with Josh's parents translating for you, right?"

"Uh huh."

"So, don't sweat it. It's just that now, I'll be the one translating. You'll pick it up soon enough. Just don't go getting all upset and start thinking about how hard it is. Just follow my lead and do it, right?"

"Right! I can ... I mean we can do this together!

"Now you're talking!"

"Hi, Josh. Glad to see you! Don't worry about Narisa, I'll take good care of her and hook her up with a really hunky guy. Is that okay with you?"

"Hi, Zaara. Very funny. Since when are you the queen of matchmaking, seeing this is your first week at school? Following your mother's lead?"

"Nah, just kidding, you old fuddy duddy. Seriously, don't worry about her. I'll take good care of her and I'll even make sure she doesn't flirt with any cute guys, okay?"

"You do that. Just try to start teaching her some English a little at a time so she can become independent and do things for herself."

"My gosh! Both of you are a couple of worry-warts! Take it easy on her; it's her first day, for crying out loud. Just chill! If she sees you all stressed out she will be too. Is everything okay? You seem preoccupied with something."

She noticed my apprehension: she's a smart one all right. "You're right, Zaara. A husband's worry I guess. Don't pay me any mind."

"Well shape up, Buster. Let's get something straight, Josh. The two of you have been through a lot, but I've lived through a war and survived. I'm tougher than you think and I won't let anything happen to her. Trust me, please?"

"I'm sorry. You're right. I trust you, but please understand just how much she means to me and I can't help but worry."

"Being concerned is okay. Worry? It just muddles things up. She'll be okay, I promise."

"Thanks, Zaara for being our friend. You don't know how much it means to Narisa ... and me."

"Now you're talking! See you later, Josh."

Narisa got Zaara's translation about their conversation and putting up a brave front said to her husband through Zaara, "Josh, don't worry, I'll be fine, honest. Zaara will help me and we can do this together, right?"

"You've got it, Princess. Now we'd better get going or we'll be late for homeroom. Just remember that I love you with all my heart."

"I love you too, Husband."

After closing his locker, Josh, wanting to deeply kiss her goodbye, was afraid of being spotted by a teacher so gave his pixie a quick, chaste kiss goodbye and left the two giggling girls to get to homeroom. He looked back when he heard an "Eeeek!" and Zaara was scoping out Narisa's engagement ring. Josh just shook my head, chuckled and continued on my way.

"Eeeek! Oh — my — god! It's beautiful! When did you get it?"

"Yesterday. Our rings are a wedding present from Mom and Dad."

"I think its sooo romantic! I'm so happy for you, but you know someone's going to notice that that's an engagement ring, don't you?"

"Well, Sister, I'm not going to hide what I am: a married woman."

"You got guts, kiddo. Whatever happens, I'll be there right beside you."

"Thanks, Zaara. That means a lot to me."

"Come on you old married hag. Let's get to homeroom before we get detention. You wouldn't want that your first day of school in America would you?"

"Old hag? Remember girl, you're older than me."

"Shut up you young hussy, or I'll send you to your room without any sex."

"Oh no!" Narisa whined in mock disappointment. "Not that!"

Being a married man, the first day of school proved to be a trying one for the young groom. First, his fears of starting off in the hole came to fruition when he found out he had homework to make up in all his classes. He asked his teachers if he could do it this weekend and turn it in on Monday and they agreed although they didn't look too happy about it. After making all those arrangements, He suddenly remembered he was getting married again on Monday. Oops! He resigned himself to turn it in on Friday. On top of that, he worried about Narisa and how she was doing. It was hard to keep his mind on his work. One thing all that worrying did do was relieve him of the usual jitters one has when starting at a new school: being new, no friends and not familiar with the surroundings. All that seemed so unimportant now.

When lunch came around, Josh hustled to his locker, threw his books inside and hoped that Narisa would show up. After a few minutes, she and Zaara came scampering down the hall. As she passed a group of guys, one of them grabbed Narisa's butt and she turned and slapped him right across the face. Josh smiled and said to myself, That's my girl! Don't take any shit from those butt-heads!

"Hey, you jerk!" Zaara scolded after Narisa slapped the boy's face. "Grow up and get a life. How about she kicks you in the balls next time, huh?" Turning to her friend she said, "You go girl! You're learning fast!"

"I didn't even think. When he grabbed my butt I just reacted, but I'm glad I hit him. It felt good!"

"You done good, Sister. Jerks like that only understand one thing and you gave him a good reminder to put him in him place. Oh, look. There's Josh."

When she saw her hubby, Narisa scooted down the hall ahead of Zaara and gave him a quick hug and a kiss and a teacher saw them. "Hey, you two!" he hollered. "No PDA 's!"

"PDA?" Zaara said with an unknowing shrug.

"Yeah, public displays of affection. Take it off campus after school."

"Yes, sir." Josh replied.

Zaara explained to Narisa what the exchange was all about and she blushed saying "I sorry."

"Don't be sorry." Josh told her. "Have I told you 'I love you' in the past thirty minutes? Well, I do. I love you, Narisa Williams with all my heart!"

"Aw, that's so sweet." Zaara said.

"Come on, let's get lunch." Josh quickly added.

Narisa got a salad while Zaara and Josh had a hamburger and fries. With one ear tuned to Zaara and listening to Narisa talk about her day with the other, she seemed to be doing okay although she said it was still pretty hard even with Zaara's help.

"How's your day going so far, Sweetheart?"

Swiveling her hand as if to say "so-so" Narisa replied, "Okay, but its still frustrating. I'd be totally lost if Zaara wasn't translating for me. It's okay, I guess. It's not all work though. Zaara and I do chat once in a while and it helps relieve the tension. I'm pretty good at math and numbers are the same the world over so that's my easiest class to understand. English and History are harder than I thought."

"Don't worry, Josh. She's doing fine. I remember when I started first grade here and it was sooo frustrating! I couldn't talk to any of the kids or understand what the teacher was saying. ESOL classes helped but I really learned to speak English by watching TV."

After they finished eating, the kids dumped their trays and went outside for a stroll. The girls chatted and Josh just walked along listening to the girls prattle on. I'm so proud of her. Even with this new environment, she still manages to laugh. Thank God for Zaara. We'd be lost without her.

Sadly, lunch period was over and he watched with a little less worry as his wife walked the opposite way to her next class. They met again at their lockers at the end of the day and the three of them walked out of school together. Zaara said she only lived about ten blocks from school and would wait for Kamya then they'd walk home together. Narisa and Josh headed towards the bus after the two "sisters" said goodbye.

Josh and Narisa arrived home about four-thirty and he began his homework. He really couldn't help Narisa with hers because he didn't speak Farsi and really felt bad about it. Narisa just cheerfully started getting things out of the fridge and started to fix dinner. Their parents arrived home about six. Josh finished up his homework while Marie and Narisa put the finishing touches on dinner. He'd even got a head start on completing a couple of his of make-up assignments.

After dinner was finished and the dishes sorted out, Josh sat down with his mom to help Narisa. He learned that she was pretty quick at remembering data like with history and biology and she was telling the truth: she was as good as he was at math. English was a struggle and he could see that he was going to have to help her write all her reports. All in all, it only took them about an hour and a half to finish Narisa's first night of homework. They completed her make-up assignments in math and English. After that first night of schoolwork, Josh vowed to learn Farsi.

Marie went into the study and joined her husband to prepare for the next day's classes and check with Mehar about her little surprise after the teens headed upstairs for a shower and bed. Narisa was about halfway through her period and they didn't fool around any, just some serious kissing. The lovebirds then snuggled up and were soon fast asleep.

The rest of the school week went pretty much the same except that Josh's teachers were pleased when he handed in his back assignments on Friday. Josh found out from Zaara when he spotted Kamya sitting with what looked like a rough crowd that she had the same lunch period that they had on Tuesdays and Fridays. He studied Kamya as he ate for a few moments and she appeared to be feigning interest in those at her table. It struck him as odd that although she came on pretty aggressively the other night, she now somehow seemed to be in some internal turmoil. She noticed Josh and gave him a quick, forced smile as if suddenly being polite and went back to pretending she was involved at the table.

My life sucks! Kamya muttered to herself. I shouldn't have treated Josh that way. Anyone can see he's undeniably in love with her and my gosh, she's so pretty even though she looks like a little girl. I remember when I was like her...

Narisa was involved in a conversation with Zaara and she had her hand on Josh's thigh and was subconsciously rubbing her hand up and down - not in a sexual way, but one of closeness and affection. Josh asked Zaara about Kamya and she brushed it off commenting, "Oh, she's like that all the time. Sometimes she's okay; other times, she's either mean and nasty or depressed." She then went back to her conversation with Narisa

When they'd finished lunch, they dumped their trays and left for their daily walk. When the three passed Kamya's table, she smiled and said hi to Josh. He smiled and said hi back.

Zaara remarked, "What's up with her? Did she take a 'nice' pill or something?"

"I don't know. She's your sister." Josh replied with a shrug.