Free I Love I Hate I Miss My Sister by Amelie Sarn Page B

scarf in class, and they want you to convince me to take it off.”
    “Do you want to take it off?”
    “No, Dad. I told them I don’t intend to remove it.”
    “Then don’t.”
    His support surprised me, but I tried not to show it.
    “Is this what you want us to tell them tomorrow?” he asks me.
    “Yes.”
    “Good.”
    Dad sat down. “Is dinner ready? I’m hungry.”
    That night, Djelila and I could hear our parents talking from our room. We could make out only snippets of conversation, but it was clear that Mom was trying to sway Dad. “If you tell her … you, she’ll obey … the school … important … don’t want to know … old enough to decide … they’re not going to impose … if she wants to wear the head scarf, what right …”
    We laughed and fell asleep.
    The next morning, I got up at the same time as you, Djelila. I got dressed and you asked me why. “I’m going to study,” I answered.
    “If I were you I’d take a break.”
    I shook my head. “No, I’m going to register for correspondence classes today.”
    And that’s what I did.
    Dad came home earlier than usual to pick up Mom and they headed to Racine. He even changed into a suit, which made him look dapper and serious. When I told him what correspondence courses would cost, he took out his checkbook, filled in a check, and handed it to me.
    Djelila came home shortly after that, looking flushed,her hair all tangled. She threw her schoolbag down in the hall.
    “What happened to you?” I asked.
    “Guess!”
    Seeing my astonishment, she filled me in.
    “Majid and his lovely pals.”
    With everything going on, I had almost forgotten them.
    “They hassled me again,” Djelila said. “I’m fed up with those stupid punks. I’d like to slap their faces and send them crying to their mothers.”
    “I hope you didn’t talk back to them,” I said, suddenly worried by Djelila’s anger.
    “You bet I did! They called me a dirty slut and I don’t know what else. I told them they were a bunch of impotent losers and they chased me until I reached our tower.”
    I must have looked pale as a ghost, because Djelila started laughing madly.
    “Don’t make such a face, Sohane. It’s not true. I’m too scared of those guys to do that!”
    “Stupid!”
    “You got scared for me, So. Is that it?”
    “Idiot. No, I got scared for them!”
    “You know what’s so stupid? Those guys bother me because I don’t cover my hair and you’re expelled from school because you want to cover yours. Isn’t it ironic? By the way, I’ve got the latest gossip.”
    “What is it?”
    “You have a support committee!”
    “What?”
    “Karine had the idea. We hatched a plan in the cafeteria during lunch. Everything is ready.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “We wrote a petition demanding your unconditional readmission to school. We photocopied it and passed it around during recess.”
    “Karine?”
    “Yes, and Estelle, Sylvan, Jerome, Basil, and some others. Here it is.”
    Djelila opened her bag and took out a sheet of paper with a paragraph scribbled in pen, complete with cuts, corrections, and additions in the margin. I was touched that they would do this for me even though I hardly knew them. They were Djelila’s friends, not mine. We had never talked. Obviously, they knew I was Djelila’s sister.
    And they hadn’t stopped at that.
    Mom and Dad came back late from school. Djelila and I were feeding Taïeb and Idriss, who had become unruly. When I heard the key turn in the lock, my heart jumped hard and fast. Why? I wasn’t expecting anything. No news they brought was going to change the decision I had made.
    I had already decided that I would not go back to school, in spite of the petition and what followed later. I wasn’t trying to draw attention to myself. I wasn’t trying to provoke anyone. I simply was trying to find out who I was, not start a fight.
    Actually, Dad and Mom didn’t make any extraordinaryannouncement. Dad sat and