Bittersweet 16

"YALLAH YALLAH BT6EER 3ANNA EL 6AYARA!" I shrieked, as I picked up my duffle bag, 
and iPod.

My mom, dad, 79a and Mayed picked up their stuff as slow as possible, and followed me to the 
gate.

We've been in the airport for 3 hours, sitting in Starbucks and shopping fil Duty Free.

I LOVE airports! They're so exciting!

So we g6a3na our tickets at the gate, got into the plane, escorted to our seats, and sat down.

"Ufff a5eeran!" 79a said, closing the overhead locker. I however, couldn't sit still. I was jumping up
and down in my seat and looking out the window and pushing buttons on the screen in front of me.

"YALLAH when is this stupid thing going to move?!" I whined. 79a already had on her eye mask 
thingie that you wear when you sleep. She put on her socks, and wrapped herself in her blanket. 
3anaboo the plane didn’t even move yet!

We were finally airborne. Then I realized. We were going to be stuck here for 16 hours!!! The 
plane was direct so we weren’t going to stop in London.

I lost all my excitement, and got terribly BORED.

I watched a couple of movies, ate food, the works.

"Excuse me?" A high pitched voice from behind me said. I turned around to find a little blonde girl
that looked about 14 years old squeezing her head between our seats.

"Yeah?" I answered her.

"I think I dropped my book under your seat. Do you mind grabbing it for me please?"

She was so cute! I could tell from her accent that she was American. I smiled and reached under 
my seat and grabbed the book. I looked at the cover and chuckled.

"Twilight?" I read the title out loud handing it to her.

"Yeah! Have you read it?" She asked.

"No, I haven't but I've seen the movie."

"The book is way better! There's so many details!" She beamed. She was so adorable! Like 
those American girls on TV with the braces and the shorts!

I noticed the seat next to her was empty. Immediately she asked;

"Come here! I'll tell you all about it!" And she smiled the biggest smile I've ever seen. I couldn’t 
resist so I got up, squeezed through 79a and sat next to her. Mashallah 3alaiha ejtema3ya.

"I'm Jill by the way!" She stuck out her hand and I shook it.

"I'm Noora. Nice too meet you."

"Noora! That’s such a pretty name! You're like, really pretty!" She couldn’t stop smiling. CUTE! 
I just wanted to squeeze her freckled cheeks.

"How sweet of you! You're pretty cute yourself! How old are you?"

"I just turned 14 last month!" She exclaimed. "I'm travelling alone for the first time to visit my 
grandparents in California! It's really exciting! I've lived in Dubai for a couple of years now! It's 
really great!" She babbled and babbled and I just nodded and smiled. She must've had a lot of 
sugar. She seemed really hyper.

"Who're you travelling with?" She asked.

"My parents, my best friend, and her brother, who is also my fiancé, are going to visit my brother 
who goes to University in Long Beach."  I explained.

She widened her big blue eyes.

"FIANCE?!" She exclaimed. "You're like sooooo young! Where is he? Is here?" She looked 
around. Wallah enha t'6a7k. I giggled and pointed at his seat.

"OMG that is SO cute! Are you in love?" She asked fluttering her eyelashes.

"Well, not exactly." I smiled. "That's not how it works where we're from."

Jill's smile faded.

"But it's okay." I tried changing the subject. "I don’t mind. So…"

"Have you EVER been in love?" She asked with her eyes wide open. Bsmlah! I looked at her 
trying not to laugh.

"Not exactly." I shrugged.

"So like, just a little crush, ha?" She smiled devilishly. "Ooooh you're bad!" She laughed loudly. I 
laughed with her. Maynoona wallah. I was hoping she would change the subject now. She didn’t.

"So is he cute?" She raised her eyebrows curiously. I felt like a little girl wyaha wallah! Who else 
am I going to talk to about this?

"Very!" I answered intensely. I described to her every feature in Rashid's face, and his firmly 
sculpted body. We giggled for what seemed like hours about him.

"So what are you going to do?" She asked seriously. Strangely it was the same question I ask 
myself sometimes.

"Marry Mayed I guess. I'm probably not even going to see Rashid ever again."

"But he likes you! It's SO obvious! He'll do anything to run into you again! Trust me! You're 
gorgeous! He won't be able to stay away!" Jill said excitedly.

Jill's opinions made me happy for some reason. For a 14 year old, she makes a lot of sense!

As hard to believe as it may seem, Jill eventually fell asleep. Wallah hal bnt '3areeba. I got bored, 
so I woke up 79a.

"UFF mat5ali el wa7d ystamta3 fii rgada! She's always more important! Wallah! Nooo… the fact
that I'm completely tired didn’t even cross her mind…"

79a tamat tet7ar6am.

Great! Entertainment.

Soon, the cabin crew came around with dinner. I LOVE airplane food. You never know what it is, 
but it tastes good. 79a on the other hand, ate nothing but the little chocolate bar they put on the 
side. She gets completely disgusted and threatens to throw up if they made her eat it.

Rgadna ow nashaina ow chfna movies ow took walks around the plane, ow read magazines ow 
circled all the places 79a and I wanted to go to,

and finally…

"Passengers please remain seated with your seatbelts fastened, cabin crew take your seats and prepare for landing."