The Magical Reality of Nadia

by Bassem Youssef

  In silence, the group picked everything up off the table and trudged to the garbage bin, then headed downstairs to wait for their ride.

  “Hey, everyone!” said Mrs. Choi cheerfully once everyone was buckled in. “That was quick. Are you all done with the project?”

  Silence.

  “Someone trashed our costumes and props,” Vikram finally said.

  “Oh, that’s terrible,” said Mrs. Choi. “I’m so sorry. The museum doesn’t know who did it?”

  More silence.

  “I know,” Mrs. Choi suddenly said. “I’m taking you to Ice Scream for a treat.”

  “Mom,” Sarah started. “I don’t think ice cream is going to fix—”

  “No arguing,” Mrs. Choi said. “Ice cream never hurts.”

  Nadia frowned. Ice cream was definitely not going to fix this. Could they fix this?

  Mrs. Choi handed Sarah some cash for everyone’s ice cream and dropped them off. Inside, they ordered their ice cream one by one. Nadia considered getting the same sundae she’d had with Adam a couple weeks ago, but in her current mood, such a big treat seemed overwhelming. She ordered a scoop of strawberry.

  Vikram, on the other hand, seemed to want to drown his feelings in sugar. He ordered something called death by chocolate, a giant hot-fudge-covered concoction.

  They picked a table in the corner and sat down. After a few more minutes of silence, Vikram spoke up.

  “So what do we do from here? Do we turn Jason in? He shouldn’t be able to get away with this.”

  Chloe shrugged. “Can we even prove it was him?”

  “Even if it was Jason,” Adam said quickly, “can you blame him after how Nadia embarrassed him at the carnival?”

  Nadia froze with her spoon halfway to her mouth. “Adam, are you seriously on the side of that … bully, rather than your BFF?”

  Adam squirmed in his seat, then looked Nadia in the eyes. “It’s just … I know he singles you out, but it’s not like he’s ever called you a racist name or anything. What’s the big deal?”

  “What’s the big deal?” Nadia said. “He constantly makes fun of me for my background. That is NOT okay.” She dropped her spoon. “Not that you would understand that.”

  Adam flinched. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  Nadia paused, surprised that comment had even come out of her mouth. Adam was white and she wasn’t, but that fact had never come up before. Not once.

  Vikram, Sarah, and Chloe had stopped eating and were staring at Adam and Nadia.

  “It doesn’t matter why Jason did it,” Nadia said. “He destroyed our project. Our project. Or don’t you even care about that anymore?”

  “Maybe I don’t,” Adam said, shrugging. “But maybe I would have cared about the project more if you had actually listened to anyone else’s ideas. You got up and left when I was talking on Saturday, Nadia. Do you know how rude that was?”

  Nadia frowned again, trying to figure out what Adam was talking about. Then she remembered Titi’s interruption at the museum. “It’s … That was complicated.”

  “Whatever,” Adam said. “You’re just a big—”

  “Hey, guys,” Sarah said. “Maybe we should finish our ice cream and go home. Cool off, regroup tomorrow.”

  Nadia stabbed her ice cream with her spoon, not looking at anyone. Her eyes were starting to fill with tears. She stared hard at her ice cream, willing the tears to go away. When did things get so messed up with Adam?

  The bell above the door jangled, jostling Nadia from her thoughts. A noisy group of boys staggered inside.

  Perfect, Nadia thought. As if this afternoon could get any worse.

  “Hey, Jason,” Adam called out.

  Jason glanced over and took in the scene, then sauntered over to their table. “Well, if it isn’t the Egyptian Dancing Queen and her minions. Is this a group meeting for your project? How’s it coming along anyway?” He smirked.

  Nadia narrowed her eyes. That was as good as an admission of guilt as anything. She turned to Adam as if to say “See?”Adam looked from Nadia to Jason. “Jason,” Adam said. “Did you … I mean, you weren’t at the museum earlier this afternoon, were you?”

  “Maybe I was, maybe I wasn’t,” Jason said with a shrug.

  Adam’s face fell.

  “Why would you do that?” Vikram said to Jason, putting his sundae down on the table. “We worked hard on our project just like you guys.”

  “Jason, you want me to order you something?” Mike called out from over by the counter.

  Jason shrugged again, in answer to both Vikram and Mike. “How about a big scoop of She Got What She Deserved?” he said, staring at Nadia.

  Nadia fumed, her heart beating hard.

  “Um, I don’t think they have that flavor,” Mike called back.

  “Idiot,” Jason said. “It’s a— Never mind. Just get me a scoop of chocolate chip. Or is there another exotic flavor I should try?” He looked around at everyone in the group (except Adam) as he said it.

  Nadia knew she should hold it together, take Jason’s power away and all that, but it was like all of Jason’s comments over the last few weeks had slowly been building up inside her, getting higher and higher, and were now pushing against the top of her skull. It felt like her brain was about to explode. She had to let it out.

  “What is wrong with you?” Nadia spat. She stood up. “How can you think it’s okay to make fun of me because of where I come from? What century were you born in?”

  “This one,” Jason said, “unlike your people, who are ancient history. When are you going to get it? This is America. Nobody cares about stuff like that.”

  Nadia scowled. “Oh, because your project is so important. Football—it’s just a game. You think the Museum of American History is going to do a whole exhibit about a stupid game?”

  A look of hurt crossed Jason’s face, but a moment later he laughed. “Ooooohhh, I’ve angered the Egyptian goddess. What are you going to do, use your weirdo necklace to cast a magic hex on me?”

  “Something like that,” Nadia heard herself say, her hands balling into fists. She’d never hit anyone before, but there was a first time for everything. She lunged at Jason … and tripped over her backpack.

  Jason laughed, but as Nadia fell, she knocked into him and he lost his balance, falling backward onto the table.

  SQUASH. Jason landed on Vikram’s death-by-chocolate sundae. Everybody froze for a moment, then Jason jumped back off the table and took a look at his backside. So did everyone else.

  “Oh man!” Mike said. “It looks like you pooped your pants!”

  Nadia burst out laughing. So did all her friends.

  “Shut up!” Jason said to Mike. “Get me some napkins. Now!”

  Mike scrambled as everyone stared at Jason. Jason turned to Nadia, his eyes narrowed into slits of pure anger. “You,” he said. “This is all your fault. Everywhere you go you mess everything up. You don’t even belong here. Why don’t you just go back where you came from?!”

  Her friends gasped. Nadia just stood there. She was, for the first time she could remember, completely speechless.

  “Hey!” Adam’s voice broke the silence as he stepped up to Jason. “That’s enough,” he said. “You don’t talk to my friend—or anyone—that way. Get out of here.”

  Nadia’s face softened. That was the BFF she knew.

  Jason opened his mouth to reply but then seemed to think better of it. He jerked his head toward Mike and Aiden. “Let’s go.” He pushed past Adam and started for the door. On the way, he kicked Nadia’s backpack, sending the contents flying across the floor. The bells above the door jangled violently as the boys left.

  Nadia let out a breath she didn’t know she’d been holding. She felt an odd combination of emotions: furious with Jason and grateful to Adam for standing up for her.

  “Thank you,” she said to Adam, who was on the floor picking up her things.

  Adam looked back over his shoulder, his brow furrow
ed. “Don’t you mean to say I’m sorry?”

  “What?” Nadia said, but froze when she saw what he was holding.

  The comic.

  “You lied to me. You had my present all along,” Adam said. He thrust the comic in Nadia’s face. “You’re so … selfish. You kept this for yourself. You elected yourself project group leader. You made your immigrant the focus without asking any of us what we wanted to do. You picked your way to do the presentation.” He threw the comic at her. “You’re just a big know-it-all who does whatever you want.”

  Nadia stared at her best friend. Was that really what he thought?

  But then a ball of anger grew in her chest.

  “You’re one to talk,” she shot back. “You’ve had the worst attitude about the project almost from the start. Right, guys?”

  She turned to her other friends, but they were silent.

  Nadia quickly gathered up the comic and her backpack. “Fine. You all don’t like my ideas for the project? Do whatever you want,” she said. She marched toward the door. “Because I quit.”

  The lump in Nadia’s throat grew larger as she strode toward home.

  How did everything get so messed up? Her best friend thought she was selfish. Her other friends didn’t stand up for her. Their project was ruined. And Jason …

  This was all Jason’s fault. Everything was fine until he came along. She could hardly bear to think about what he’d said to her. Telling me to go back to Egypt …

  As she turned down her block, a new thought crossed her mind: I wish I could go back to Egypt. Or better yet, I wish we never left in the first place. None of this would have happened if my family had never left Egypt. I’d be in sixth grade in Cairo right now. Everyone would bring Egyptian food for lunch …

  She paused for a moment. Actually, if I lived in Egypt, it would just be called “food.” And I’d probably have an awesome best friend, or at least one who didn’t call me names …

  Nadia pushed open the front door to her house and stomped inside. She paused briefly to take—or more like rip—off her shoes. She threw the right one down in a huff.

  Her father looked up from the couch, where he was reading the Egyptian news on his iPad, like every evening. “Nadia? What’s the matter, habibti?” he asked.

  Nadia pulled her left shoe but it wouldn’t come off. “What’s the matter? Everything! Everything is the matter. I wish we never left Egypt! Why did we have to leave Egypt?!” She gave her shoe one last yank.

  Mama entered the room as Nadia threw that shoe down, too.

  “Come here, my love,” said her mother. “We can—”

  But Nadia stormed past them and up the stairs. She slammed her bedroom door shut behind her, collapsed on her bed, and cried.

  She cried long and hard, great gasping breaths. It felt good and bad in equal amounts. Nadia had needed to cry like that for some time, she realized.

  Her parents knocked on her door, but she told them to go away.

  A while later, when her tears finally dried up, a small voice sounded in her ear. Her puffy eyes popped open.

  “Nadia?” Titi was staring at her from the comic book, which, she discovered, she was still clutching in her hand. His face was sad, like he was genuinely concerned for her. “Is there anything I can do? Can I offer any solutions?”

  “Not now, Titi,” Nadia said. “Leave me alone.”

  Wait. Nadia sat up.

  It was Titi’s idea to do the project on Egypt. It was his lesson in the comic book that led to the carnival incident. And it was his fault she hadn’t given Adam the comic book in the first place.

  Her parents had brought the family to America years ago. But none of the stuff over the last couple of weeks would have happened if it weren’t for Titi. Nadia turned to her bobbleheads.

  “I should have stuck with you guys,” she said. “At least you never give me bad advice.”

  On the comic, Titi looked crushed. Nadia’s heart tugged, but she knew deep down she should have stuck with facts instead of magic; facts never let her down.

  “I hate to say it, Titi,” Nadia said, “but you’re one of my problems. The solution is for you to go away.”

  Titi froze, shocked by Nadia’s words. Then he nodded. “If it will help you, then I will get lost,” he said. “But you’re sure you want to use your fifth solution for that?”

  Nadia nodded. She needed all this to just … disappear. “I’m sure.”

  Titi sighed. “If you change your mind, hold the amulet and say the magic word, okay? Like old times? Goodbye, Nadia.” And with a POOF, Titi was gone.

  Nadia shoved the comic under her bed, then took off her hippo amulet and placed it on her nightstand.

  She laid her head down on her pillow and fell fast asleep.

  Hey, what happened to your hippo necklace?” Oona asked Nadia at lunch. It was Wednesday afternoon, and Nadia had eaten lunch with Oona and her friends Andrew, Abby, and Ella yesterday, too. In fact, she hadn’t spoken to anyone in the Nerd Patrol since she stormed out of Ice Scream on Monday.

  “And you haven’t been wearing any of your cool Egyptian stuff this week, either,” Oona added, her pink curls piled on top of her head. “What’s up with that?”

  Nadia shrugged. She’d decided that it was best to not give Jason more opportunities to make fun of her than necessary, so she’d shoved all her Egyptian-inspired clothing to the back of her closet. Of course, she still looked “exotic” with her dark hair and skin, but there wasn’t anything she could do about that. “I decided to save that stuff for special occasions,” she told Oona.

  “Is it true that Jason ruined your project?” Andrew asked.

  Nadia sighed. “Yeah. He pretty much admitted to it.”

  “That’s terrible,” said Abby.

  “After all your hard work,” added Ella.

  “It doesn’t matter,” said Nadia. “I’m not doing the project anymore.”

  “Oh. That’s too bad,” said Oona, looking sad. “I mean, there’s less competition for us now. You always have such great ideas—we know your project was going to be awesome.”

  Yes, Nadia thought. Exactly. My ideas are good. Her friends had agreed, even. So why were they—Adam especially—so mad at her?

  She wondered if she would ever talk to the Nerd Patrol again. Just yesterday, when Adam had turned around in class, she had been expecting an apology. But he was just passing her a handout, stony-faced.

  “Did you hear that Jason’s group changed their presentation?” said Ella. “I overheard Mike saying that they are totally freaking out about getting it done. It’s not just football anymore.”

  Yippee, thought Nadia. Just what everyone needs. More sports.

  * * *

  Later that afternoon, Nadia sat down in Mr. Decker’s social studies class and took out her notebook. She opened it to the last page she had written on.

  Huh. That’s weird, she thought. It was her handwriting, but the notes weren’t organized the way she usually wrote them, with neat headers and bullet points and sub-bullet points. (Fact: Proper note-taking is key to acing Mr. Decker’s tests.) Maybe all this friend stuff was throwing her off her game more than she thought. She looked closer … and realized these weren’t her notes at all! It was a letter from Titi!

  Nadia sat back in her chair. Traveling to anywhere in history was seriously cool. But then she shook her head. Magic had brought her nothing but trouble. And now, thanks to magic, she was missing a page of her social studies notes. She tore the page out and crumpled it into a ball.

  “So, class,” Mr. Decker started. “Today we begin our unit on ancient Egypt. Egypt is considered a cradle of civilization because so many inventions from ancient Egypt shaped the world as it is today.”

  Nadia looked up. She knew they would be studying her home country’s history at some point during the year, but she had no idea they would start today.

  “Nadia, do you have anything to share about Egypt with the class before I start the lesson?”
Mr. Decker looked at her eagerly.

  “Oh,” Nadia said. “Um …”

  Mr. Decker grew flustered. “I—I—I’m sorry,” he stammered. “I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable. And I’m just now realizing I assumed you were Egyptian based on your name and those awesome outfits you wear. But I shouldn’t have assumed. Are you Egyptian? You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.”

  Nadia stared back at her anxious teacher. She was Egyptian, of course, and certainly felt it these days, too much so, thanks to Jason. How ironic that in Egypt I’m always “the American cousin,” but here I seem to be “the Egyptian girl …” she thought.

  Nadia sat up straighter. Jason wasn’t in this class, and she had a million and one facts she could share. She took a deep breath.

  “Did you know that ancient Egyptians were probably the first conservationists?” She went on to explain about the Book of the Dead and how it said that when a person died and was judged by the ancient gods, they had to swear to two things: that they had not lied, or cheated, or killed, or harmed others; and that they preserved the Nile River and kept it pure and never deprived animals from their grass or birds from their fish and didn’t interfere in how the water ran its paths.

  Mr. Decker smiled. “The ancient Egyptians truly were ahead of their time,” he said. “What a fascinating culture. You must be really proud of where you come from. And we’re grateful to have you here to share your culture with us. I’m sure it wasn’t an easy choice for your family to leave everything behind and come here.”

  Nadia nodded, mostly to get Mr. Decker to stop talking, but as he began his lesson, she realized something: She had no idea why her parents left Egypt. Was it a hard choice? They both came from large families, but none of their relatives had come to the United States. Why had her parents come to a country where they didn’t know anyone?

  Ever since Nadia had come home upset on Monday, her parents had been trying to find out what was wrong. But she told them she didn’t want to talk about it. She’d been so busy being mad at them for bringing her here, she’d never thought about why they’d come. Maybe it was time to find out.