Chapter 34

                                    

                                          
Super short update for you lovely people! Oh, and there's a cliffhanger too heehee couldn't help myself 😈
Hope you are all having a great weekend! Maybe this chapter will make it even greater 😉
Shoutout to Irwin_Lova_18 because she's been here since the beginning and she's also my sister both in family and Islam! Love you sweetie 😍😚😘❤
^Video above made me cry at the end Subhanallah we should all cling to our faith because it's all we have in the end. Love the poetry and emotion. Muslim or non-Muslim, this video will definitely speak to you on a spiritual level!
^Pic of Tracey
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Damian's POV
"What are your thoughts on Islam?"
Tracey probably wasn't expecting me to ask that as we ate our muffins we bought from the hospital café in the courtyard, the clouds above threatening to rain later. She looked up at me with a shrug. "I don't have any," she replied, but her tone said otherwise.
I leaned my elbows on the cold metal table and pinched a chocolate chip off the top of my muffin, popping it into my mouth. "I'm sure you do," I pressed.
Tracey scrutinized me behind her glasses, a stray wisp of blonde hair blowing across her cheek. "Why are you asking? Is it for school or something?"
"No," I responded with a shake of my head, tearing off chunks of my muffin because I knew if I bit into it with my mouth I'd get chocolate everywhere and Tracey would spend the rest of the afternoon fussing over me like a little kid. "Nothing like that."
"Then why the sudden interest?" Tracey inquired, gracefully nibbling into her blueberry muffin. How were girls able to eat so neatly? Or maybe they only did that in front of other people.
"There's no interest," I shot back in a slightly indignant tone. Tracey cocked an eyebrow. "Okay, fine, I'll tell you why," I caved in so easily. Tracey had that effect on me so that I wanted to tell her everything. She was after all the sister I never had. And it was about time I told someone about this...bet.
"I never pegged you for the type of guy to be interested in religion, but I guess I was wrong," Tracey remarked after I finished briefly recounting what I had been doing for the past three months. "However, has your interest in Islam got anything to do with the girl you betted with?"
"What do you mean?" I asked suspiciously. She had a sly look on her face and I didn't want to think it was because she thought something was going on, since there wasn't. 
"Oh, come on, is she pretty? I'm sure that's why you're so keen, Damian, because you would never do something for another girl unless she was a babe," The more Tracey spoke, the more I started to realize she was right, in a way. I never took interest in anything other than the girls' looks, so the fact that I was talking about religion and deeper concepts other than what parties we had gone to was the complete opposite of what I used to do.
"I'm not doing it because she's pretty, Tracey, it's more to do with...with Mum," I choked the last word out, and the mischievous gleam in Tracey's eyes faded, as did her smile.
"Oh."
"When I found out about Mum, I just kept blaming God and how unfair He was being, you know? And Mariam – the Muslim girl – she's really religious and stuff, so I wanted to challenge her religion, and see what it's about, and if it's even worth it," I explained.