Hello to all my beautiful readers! :D And the best ones too, I've never seen people so understanding about me having a life and not stressing my brains out for a post, I'm forever grateful to all of you, thank you so much for everything and I hope you enjoy this post! x
I also get this question a lot: did you base Layal (appearance wise) on yourself?
No I didn't, she's a lot lighter than me (skin wise) and she has coloured eyes, her fashion style is also different, she's shorter too, the only common thing we have is the 7jab thing. :p
Chapter 20 is available, but the order of the chapters were messed up. Chapter 20 is here:
http://v-ie.blogspot.com/2012/09/le-chase-chapter-20.html
-
Previously in Chapter 18:
At the same exact moment, Layal turned her head to face me. She looked tanned today, was she wearing different kind of make up? Her large eyes gaped at me for a few seconds, in a disapproving way, she must have heard Bdour. She didn't look happy at all.
Wait wait wait.
Rewind please.
Can't wait to see you?
Layal heard it.
Oh no she heard it.
-
"Dude, the professor's staring." A male's voice that was poured with an American accent forced my awake. It was probably the half Lebanese, half American guy sitting next to me. My head was dug deep into the warmth comfort of my arms, my beanie probably threatening to fall off my head but my eyes felt so sticky, unable to open.
I fell asleep in class. Again.
This has been the second time I fell asleep in a lecture, I was grateful that the professors didn't nag at me or embarrass me in front of the other students but I knew for a act that the sight of me, my head down on my desk and my eyes peacefully closed, annoyed the heck out of them.
I finally forced myself up as I rubbed my eyes lazily, peeking at the bright view of the professor's circle shaped glasses and his oily hair that clung to his head. He had an amused smile on his face when he caught me waking up.
"Thari, is the class too boring for you?" His eyes stared right at me, he was definitely not one of those professors that tended to ignore my presence or not bother me about my sleeping class habits.
"N-no sir." I quickly answered.
"Good, pay attention." He kept his tone light but his words were sharped with anger.
And I did.
The day was slow, terribly slow. I even wrote a few chapters for my blog while I was in my boring classes, just to keep myself awake. I ended up writing my true story, the part with Dad marrying a second wife, the part where my ex lied to my sister so she'd make a fake blog about me, pretty much everything but I made sure to change a few things to keep people from finding out who I was.
I was ecstatic once the lecture was over with and I was heading over to my last class, passing the bleak hallways of AUM (American university of the Middle East). Before I could enter the class, I was faced by a short Bdour, stopping me out of the blue.
"Thari!" She exclaimed, her eyes lighting up at the sight of me. My insides twisted around a bit, she was becoming more annoying by the second. She talked to me only a few hours ago, and she made it look like it's been months or something.
"Ahlain." I mumbled, I was still sleepy. Screw you 3abbas for waking me up so early.
"Bitiyee wela la2?" Bdour wrapped a strand of her long hair around one of her fingers, she tilted her head a bit and peaked up at me, as if a doll would.
"Ayee wein?" My memory was horrible, I couldn't even remember what the professor said ten minutes ago and exhaustion didn't help me the case.
"Starbucks Jabriya, neseit?" Bdour's left arched eyebrow shot up in disappointment.
"Oh uhm, eee 9a7." I scratched the side of my ear, eager to leave this conversation.
"Bitiyee!? I can't wait!" Bdour quickly whipped around, the ends of her hair softly hitting my chest before she walked off, leaving me standing alone in the middle of the hallways with a blank expression on my face.
Did I say yes? I didn't think I did? That girl's messed up, I didn't mean saying yes to the outing, I meant yes to remembering it.
Great, I'm in a bigger mess now.
I turned around and I found the door to my class open, everyone was seated inside and who else was there? Layal.
And her eyes were on me, she quickly looked away when she saw me notice her gaze. Why did she have to pay attention to me when everything was going wrong? I heaved a sigh and walked into the mixed class, it wasn't a big class and there wasn't more than one professor for it so the class wasn't segregated.
I sat on the opposite end, to where the guys sat and the girls sat next to us. I guessed Layal was in the same class as I was, this gave me staring privileges but I was still bothered by the fact that she could have misunderstood the whole situation with Bdour.
"Okay class, we're doing something different today. Who's up for some essay writing?" The professor gave us a little bleak smile, he was probably the oldest professor that taught me, he had greying hair and grey ash coloured hair that surrounded his light British skin.
Every person in the class groaned in annoyance when he mentioned "essay".
"Well well, such a lazy bunch. Here's the thing, I've put every one of you with a female partner-" Before he could continue, every guy next to me suddenly stood up straight and looked excited.
"-Well, that's much better now, I should have mentioned the female partner part from the start." The professor snickered. "You're going to have to write an essay on how one can easily stereotype a person, and why they do it in the first place. Discuss it with your partner, try to find ways on why people stereotype a person as a, for an example, a goth. And your reason would be, for an example, they way they dress or the way they communicate with others. Your partner will be your example and use Kuwait to your own disadvantage, use the stereotypes you see in your own life being used."
The professor held up a sheet full of names, he started off with random people, pairing them up with another person, the guys shyly looked over at each girl when their names were called. Each girl/guy had to raise a hand when their names were called, so their partners knew which one was which.
"Thari Al-X." My name slipped out of his sandy coloured lips. I raised my hand, every female head whipped around to stare at me,
"And Ghaneema Al-X." He continued. Disappointment filled me when the name wasn't Layal's, I turned around and looked for a girl with her hand raised, but there was no one.
"Oh, well looks like Ghaneema isn't in class today. You'll be paired off with our new student Layal then." The professor shrugged and changed the name on his list. Layal hesitantly raised her hand, her eyes meeting mine and her expression didn't hold any kind of emotion. I gave her a half smile but she looked away after I did, ignoring me.
After he was done with the names, he ordered us to change seats and join our partners. I took a seat next to Layal, I got a closer look at her and this time, her eyes looked more hazel in the dark class room.
"NO Arabic allowed students, this is an English class, so keep your conversations in that language." The professor ordered, a few students laughed once he continued. "I'll be listening, no slacking off or flirting, e7m."
"So what do you think we should write exactly?" I started the conversation, my fingers gripping my notebook which was open on a blank page.
"Women stereotypes." Layal bluntly said.
"A feminist, ahhh." The professor suddenly crept next to us, hearing us. His eyes were ogling at us, interested in our conversation.
"Well, uh." It was a bit awkward when the professor was standing over us, just watching.
"Thari give Layal the stereotype you thought of when you first saw her." The professor noticed my rigidness and tried helping me out, but all his question did was make it even more awkward.
What did I think of Layal when I first saw her?
A Kuwaiti working in a cafe? A Kuwaiti WOMAN? That's what I first thought, but then I noticed her beauty and her fluent English, I wouldn't have thought she'd be a rich one, one with a good education, I guess having a job changed my mind a lot. I sound so sexist.
"I thought she wouldn't be Kuwaiti because I wasn't used to seeing Kuwaiti girls at cafes, working there." I forced the words out but Layal looked offended.
"Layal, your turn." The professor looked eager to hear her answer.
"A player." Layal didn't even sugar coat it or provide me a reason on why she thought about that.
"Ooooo, why?" The professor cooed, his eyes widening.
"The way he acts." Layal shrugged but her words actually pissed me off. She didn't even know me one bit, why would she even assume such a thing? Because I talked to a girl? So what? I talked to her, I didn't freaking hug her or kiss her.
"Stuck up." I replied just as bluntly, her eyes widened in horror after I said such a thing.
"Good good! This is going great you two, keep it up!" The professor looked proud as he left our conversation to monitor another group's.
"Stuck up!?" Layal snapped at me.
"You wear too many brands." I shrugged, acting the way she did when she insulted me. Yes I took her stupid stereotype as an insult. No I didn't care.
You're so stubborn Thari.
I ignored the little voice.
"Emo and you look like a slack-off too." Layal sounded angry.
"Shaku emo!?" I nearly shouted at her.
"ENGLISH!" The professor snapped once he heard my speak Arabic.
"You're always pissed off at work." Layal snapped back.
"Maghroura." I ignored the professor and whispered my words so he wouldn't hear.
"You have no reason to back up that stereotype." Layal looked a bit hurt but she covered it up pretty well.
"People usually judge or stereotype you without a reason anyway." My argument was weak but it was definitely true.
"You don't know me." Layal's eyes pierced through mine.
"Neither do you." I nearly exclaimed. Why did this girl anger me so much?
"Okay class, enough with the stereotypes, now you'll have to get to know your partners and see if your stereotype about them was either wrong or right." The professor said to the class.
"Prove me wrong." Layal challenged me, she looked so confident about her judgement of me.
"Do you really want me to prove you wrong Layal?" I looked into her eyes, searching for the Layal I saw with her friends, the one with the smile, the one who didn't sound so cruel because the anger she had about me talking to Bdour.
I was pretty sure she was angry because of that, was it jealousy? Could Layal really be jealous though?
"Yeah, go on." Layal drummed her fingers over her desk, anxious for an answer.
"Do you know the blogger ********?" I asked her, her mouth formed a little 'o' but she nodded for a 'yes'.
"I'm him."
-
**Chapter 20(the order of the chapters are messed up): http://v-ie.blogspot.com/2012/09/le-chase-chapter-20.html
I also get this question a lot: did you base Layal (appearance wise) on yourself?
No I didn't, she's a lot lighter than me (skin wise) and she has coloured eyes, her fashion style is also different, she's shorter too, the only common thing we have is the 7jab thing. :p
Chapter 20 is available, but the order of the chapters were messed up. Chapter 20 is here:
http://v-ie.blogspot.com/2012/09/le-chase-chapter-20.html
-
Previously in Chapter 18:
At the same exact moment, Layal turned her head to face me. She looked tanned today, was she wearing different kind of make up? Her large eyes gaped at me for a few seconds, in a disapproving way, she must have heard Bdour. She didn't look happy at all.
Wait wait wait.
Rewind please.
Can't wait to see you?
Layal heard it.
Oh no she heard it.
-
"Dude, the professor's staring." A male's voice that was poured with an American accent forced my awake. It was probably the half Lebanese, half American guy sitting next to me. My head was dug deep into the warmth comfort of my arms, my beanie probably threatening to fall off my head but my eyes felt so sticky, unable to open.
I fell asleep in class. Again.
This has been the second time I fell asleep in a lecture, I was grateful that the professors didn't nag at me or embarrass me in front of the other students but I knew for a act that the sight of me, my head down on my desk and my eyes peacefully closed, annoyed the heck out of them.
I finally forced myself up as I rubbed my eyes lazily, peeking at the bright view of the professor's circle shaped glasses and his oily hair that clung to his head. He had an amused smile on his face when he caught me waking up.
"Thari, is the class too boring for you?" His eyes stared right at me, he was definitely not one of those professors that tended to ignore my presence or not bother me about my sleeping class habits.
"N-no sir." I quickly answered.
"Good, pay attention." He kept his tone light but his words were sharped with anger.
And I did.
The day was slow, terribly slow. I even wrote a few chapters for my blog while I was in my boring classes, just to keep myself awake. I ended up writing my true story, the part with Dad marrying a second wife, the part where my ex lied to my sister so she'd make a fake blog about me, pretty much everything but I made sure to change a few things to keep people from finding out who I was.
I was ecstatic once the lecture was over with and I was heading over to my last class, passing the bleak hallways of AUM (American university of the Middle East). Before I could enter the class, I was faced by a short Bdour, stopping me out of the blue.
"Thari!" She exclaimed, her eyes lighting up at the sight of me. My insides twisted around a bit, she was becoming more annoying by the second. She talked to me only a few hours ago, and she made it look like it's been months or something.
"Ahlain." I mumbled, I was still sleepy. Screw you 3abbas for waking me up so early.
"Bitiyee wela la2?" Bdour wrapped a strand of her long hair around one of her fingers, she tilted her head a bit and peaked up at me, as if a doll would.
"Ayee wein?" My memory was horrible, I couldn't even remember what the professor said ten minutes ago and exhaustion didn't help me the case.
"Starbucks Jabriya, neseit?" Bdour's left arched eyebrow shot up in disappointment.
"Oh uhm, eee 9a7." I scratched the side of my ear, eager to leave this conversation.
"Bitiyee!? I can't wait!" Bdour quickly whipped around, the ends of her hair softly hitting my chest before she walked off, leaving me standing alone in the middle of the hallways with a blank expression on my face.
Did I say yes? I didn't think I did? That girl's messed up, I didn't mean saying yes to the outing, I meant yes to remembering it.
Great, I'm in a bigger mess now.
I turned around and I found the door to my class open, everyone was seated inside and who else was there? Layal.
And her eyes were on me, she quickly looked away when she saw me notice her gaze. Why did she have to pay attention to me when everything was going wrong? I heaved a sigh and walked into the mixed class, it wasn't a big class and there wasn't more than one professor for it so the class wasn't segregated.
I sat on the opposite end, to where the guys sat and the girls sat next to us. I guessed Layal was in the same class as I was, this gave me staring privileges but I was still bothered by the fact that she could have misunderstood the whole situation with Bdour.
"Okay class, we're doing something different today. Who's up for some essay writing?" The professor gave us a little bleak smile, he was probably the oldest professor that taught me, he had greying hair and grey ash coloured hair that surrounded his light British skin.
Every person in the class groaned in annoyance when he mentioned "essay".
"Well well, such a lazy bunch. Here's the thing, I've put every one of you with a female partner-" Before he could continue, every guy next to me suddenly stood up straight and looked excited.
"-Well, that's much better now, I should have mentioned the female partner part from the start." The professor snickered. "You're going to have to write an essay on how one can easily stereotype a person, and why they do it in the first place. Discuss it with your partner, try to find ways on why people stereotype a person as a, for an example, a goth. And your reason would be, for an example, they way they dress or the way they communicate with others. Your partner will be your example and use Kuwait to your own disadvantage, use the stereotypes you see in your own life being used."
The professor held up a sheet full of names, he started off with random people, pairing them up with another person, the guys shyly looked over at each girl when their names were called. Each girl/guy had to raise a hand when their names were called, so their partners knew which one was which.
"Thari Al-X." My name slipped out of his sandy coloured lips. I raised my hand, every female head whipped around to stare at me,
"And Ghaneema Al-X." He continued. Disappointment filled me when the name wasn't Layal's, I turned around and looked for a girl with her hand raised, but there was no one.
"Oh, well looks like Ghaneema isn't in class today. You'll be paired off with our new student Layal then." The professor shrugged and changed the name on his list. Layal hesitantly raised her hand, her eyes meeting mine and her expression didn't hold any kind of emotion. I gave her a half smile but she looked away after I did, ignoring me.
After he was done with the names, he ordered us to change seats and join our partners. I took a seat next to Layal, I got a closer look at her and this time, her eyes looked more hazel in the dark class room.
"NO Arabic allowed students, this is an English class, so keep your conversations in that language." The professor ordered, a few students laughed once he continued. "I'll be listening, no slacking off or flirting, e7m."
"So what do you think we should write exactly?" I started the conversation, my fingers gripping my notebook which was open on a blank page.
"Women stereotypes." Layal bluntly said.
"A feminist, ahhh." The professor suddenly crept next to us, hearing us. His eyes were ogling at us, interested in our conversation.
"Well, uh." It was a bit awkward when the professor was standing over us, just watching.
"Thari give Layal the stereotype you thought of when you first saw her." The professor noticed my rigidness and tried helping me out, but all his question did was make it even more awkward.
What did I think of Layal when I first saw her?
A Kuwaiti working in a cafe? A Kuwaiti WOMAN? That's what I first thought, but then I noticed her beauty and her fluent English, I wouldn't have thought she'd be a rich one, one with a good education, I guess having a job changed my mind a lot. I sound so sexist.
"I thought she wouldn't be Kuwaiti because I wasn't used to seeing Kuwaiti girls at cafes, working there." I forced the words out but Layal looked offended.
"Layal, your turn." The professor looked eager to hear her answer.
"A player." Layal didn't even sugar coat it or provide me a reason on why she thought about that.
"Ooooo, why?" The professor cooed, his eyes widening.
"The way he acts." Layal shrugged but her words actually pissed me off. She didn't even know me one bit, why would she even assume such a thing? Because I talked to a girl? So what? I talked to her, I didn't freaking hug her or kiss her.
"Stuck up." I replied just as bluntly, her eyes widened in horror after I said such a thing.
"Good good! This is going great you two, keep it up!" The professor looked proud as he left our conversation to monitor another group's.
"Stuck up!?" Layal snapped at me.
"You wear too many brands." I shrugged, acting the way she did when she insulted me. Yes I took her stupid stereotype as an insult. No I didn't care.
You're so stubborn Thari.
I ignored the little voice.
"Emo and you look like a slack-off too." Layal sounded angry.
"Shaku emo!?" I nearly shouted at her.
"ENGLISH!" The professor snapped once he heard my speak Arabic.
"You're always pissed off at work." Layal snapped back.
"Maghroura." I ignored the professor and whispered my words so he wouldn't hear.
"You have no reason to back up that stereotype." Layal looked a bit hurt but she covered it up pretty well.
"People usually judge or stereotype you without a reason anyway." My argument was weak but it was definitely true.
"You don't know me." Layal's eyes pierced through mine.
"Neither do you." I nearly exclaimed. Why did this girl anger me so much?
"Okay class, enough with the stereotypes, now you'll have to get to know your partners and see if your stereotype about them was either wrong or right." The professor said to the class.
"Prove me wrong." Layal challenged me, she looked so confident about her judgement of me.
"Do you really want me to prove you wrong Layal?" I looked into her eyes, searching for the Layal I saw with her friends, the one with the smile, the one who didn't sound so cruel because the anger she had about me talking to Bdour.
I was pretty sure she was angry because of that, was it jealousy? Could Layal really be jealous though?
"Yeah, go on." Layal drummed her fingers over her desk, anxious for an answer.
"Do you know the blogger ********?" I asked her, her mouth formed a little 'o' but she nodded for a 'yes'.
"I'm him."
-
**Chapter 20(the order of the chapters are messed up): http://v-ie.blogspot.com/2012/09/le-chase-chapter-20.html
No comments:
Post a Comment