Long Night

"You watch out for her Taaliyah, she is a vicious lady, she should not be teacher, she does not deserve this good profession, she is all about holding grudges based on her favoritism, just have neutral relationship with her," Nara Malik advised her baby sister who was bullied by Miss Molly.

Taaliyah kept it in her mind. She warned Derek about it. The final exams were fast approaching. The subjects were completed one by one. Home room teacher Dalia wished the students good luch and kept giving them practice sheets to study well before the exams. Rest of the subject teachers did the same too. Especially math.

Taaliyah was exhausted. Her father has been being very strict with her ever since after the half yearly progress report signing. She was reminded of the chilling experience.

"Taaliyah is a cheerful and playful child, but the grade card is not upto the exceptions. She has no interest in studies or getting into good college its looks like. Why? Are you going to marry her off after school?" Teacher asked Zahir.

"No, no, we give education to girls, marriage comes only later," Zahir cleared the family image.

"You are lucky Taaliyah make use of the attitude and study well next time, you went out of top 15 this time," Yes her rank dropped down to 19. And it was insulting to her father.

"How dare you? Is going to a top school fun? Are you going to play, have fun and come back home everybody, I an working like hell to feed you, dress you and send you to good school because I want to see the results, not turn into disappointment like Nara, go to a university, take a good course, graduate and get a good job, is it that hard for you girls to do. Your cousin quit after school and help their family, marry and build the family, what the hell do you want to do? Become like them?" Zahir blasted Taaliyah throwing the report card away the moment he got back home.

Taaliyah shook herself out of the nasty memory and opened her science textbooks. Everything looked familiar but not good. She cried over it and turned ths study lamp off. She lost the mood instantly. She looked at her bed, and racks in the room. Teddy bears, soft toys, her wardrobe, the book shelf, everything looked good. She slowly slid under the blanket and maid down. It was 10 pm, she decided to sleep and skip studying. Then she looked at the chemistry practice worksheet again. Taaliyah rolled her eyes and sat back on the chair again. she turned the lights on began to work them out. And that's when she saw a message beep in the cellphone. She took them and looked back at the door. It looked like her parents are already asleep. Taaliyah flashed a smile and replied to the blank text.

"Hey Derek. Still not asleep?"

"No,"

"Me too,"

"I figured it. What are you doing?" he asked.

"Chemistry practice sheet,"

"I finished it, it was easy,"

"Hmm its not bad, just a little confusing," she sent.

"I will help you," sent he. He was alone sitting outside in the car porch, to get some fresh air after an argument with his mother before she drifted off to sleep. He closed the door slowly without making noise and walked back to the room, he locked the door and felt excited. he turned the bedside lamp on and took out his chemistry practice sheet. He taught them difficult one slowly. But the smiles were pasted on the face from the beginning to end. "Call?" he asked.

"No, just text," she said.

"Audio?" he asked.

"Yes," he began to send voice messages. 10 pm turned 11 pm but the two had no track of time. He texted about silly stuff happened among the boys how they are going to split into teams during the game times and physical education period while Taaliyah talked to him about her family and sister.

"Grand mother is so obsessed with patriarchal rules," Derek sent her.

"She is. Always saying don't do this, don't do that, keep the legs down, wear lengthy lose clothes, put on veils, cover your head, treat men good, respect elders blah blah, am bored," she texted.

Derek laughed. "Be good at home, be whatever at school, I will be there to cover you,"

"Oh yeah! Lol! Thanks,"

"I am thinking of taking the class Min Ah suggested," Taaliyah suddenly felt her heart drop.

"Oh, it's good, you should try," she convinced herself and wanted good things for him.

"Is it okay?" he asked her permission. She went shocked.

'Is he really asking me whether he should go or not?' she got up from the chair. She fell on the bed and giggled and buried her head in the pillow.

She got up and replied him. "Of course you should go, music is what you love the most, if you wish to become an idol trainee you should have advantage and get selected faster, you always told me that,"

"Hmm.. yes," He replied. "Thank you,"

"Thank you?" she asked him.

"You know, just," he said. "For everything," Taaliyah felt warm and smiled.

"Then I should thank you too,"

"For what?" he asked back.

"For everything, and being there," she kept the phone away and laid back down. Taaliyah slowly drifted off to sleep. She kept deleting the messages instantly but she forgot to delete the last few messages. Hers and his. Derek had the same smile and and he messaged her one more time before he melt the phone away. "Goodnight, TC,"

She was asleep already and it was 12 at night. This was the first time they had stayed up talking to each other. A memorable one, nothing much, all silly but memorable enough since it was the first. Taaliyah slept well that night. Knowing that he is the same and has nit changed much.

Taaliyah dressed up the next day. She put on the eye liner and tinted lip balm. A Strawberry flavoured one. When she finished dressing up, she went to get Nihala to tie her hair. Breakfast was ready. Vermicelli and chicken. Taaliyah's favourite. "Keep alot for lunch or I will starve," she said to her mother.

"I know I know, there are two tiffin box," Nihala said to her daughter and fed her.

Around 9 am Taaliyah reached the school dropped off by her father and she ran to class. Suddenly she stopped running and her eyes grew wide. "Holyshit," she said. She remembered then. "The phone," she recalled. "I did not delete the chat,"

At the same time, Nihala walked into Taaliyah's room and took the phone. There were many message notifications. She opened them and walked back to kitchen to turn the pressure cooker off.

Taaliyah walked into the class. "Dereeeek," she called him.