Read Online Saving Kabul Corner by N. H. Senzai - Free Book Online

back. Laila and I have a lot of work to do. Noor got me a bunch of beetles.”
    â€œWhere did your sister get these?” asked Laila, looking nervously into the box.
    â€œFrom a pet store near her university,” said Mariam.
    Ariana stood, stony-faced, as Laila gave Mariam an excited grin.
    â€œDon’t worry,” Mariam told Laila. “The beetles are already dead. Noor said they use them to feed the frogs or something gross like that. It’s going to be so cool to mummify them.”
    â€œOh,” said Ariana. “I guess you won’t need me, then, so I’ll be in my room.” My stinky, crowded room that’s not really mine .
    â€œNo, silly,” said Mariam. “I haven’t seen you in, like, forever. Sit with us, please. I want us to hang out while we work.”
    â€œOkay,” said Ariana, feeling a bit better.
    As Laila disappeared into the hall to get her books, Mariam grabbed Ariana’s arm, pausing to check for nosey ears, and whispered, “We have to talk.”
    Ariana tensed. “Okay,” she mumbled. “Let me get some juice first.”
    As she grabbed two apple juice cartons from the pantry, she dawdled, thinking back to the day she’d first met Mariam, nearly six years before. Her parents had invited Mariam’s family over for dinner, since their fathers had recently become friends. At first ­Ariana hadn’t even noticed the silent, skinny little girl shadowing her older brother, Fadi. From the grown-ups’ whispers Ariana had learned that Mariam had accidently been left behind in ­Afghanistan when her family had fled to escape the ­Taliban. Somehow the gutsy little girl had ended up in a refugee camp in Pakistan and had eventually been reunited with her family. It had been Fadi who’d found Mariam in a photograph of a refugee camp, clinging to Gulmina, her Barbie doll wearing a bright pink burka.
    Amazed by her story, Ariana had tentatively approached Mariam, sensing that behind the fear lurked a spunky girl who needed time to come out of her shell. At first Mariam had resisted, but when ­Ariana had showed her a bag of chocolate-dipped Oreos, Mariam had given her a shy smile. The two girls had spent the rest of the evening watching A Charlie Brown Christmas, with Mariam glued to the screen, Gulmina by her side. Ariana had later found out that after arriving in America, Mariam had suffered from an anxiety disorder because of her horrific experience of being left behind in Afghanistan, and the only thing that had calmed her down had been watching television. So for the first few months, her parents had let her watch endless hours of black-and-white movies, cartoons, game shows, and old sitcoms. As she’d reverted back to her old self, Mariam had picked up a dramatic flair and a love for the performing arts. Ariana and Mariam had been inseparable since that day and had even begun first grade together, because even though Mariam was a year older, she had missed a year of school. When Mariam said, “We have to talk,” it was something serious.
    Maybe she doesn’t want to be friends anymore. Maybe she likes Laila better . Who wouldn’t? Laila was fun, pretty, and perfect. I’m grumpy, uninteresting, and totally awkward. Her stomach sank to her ankles as she walked back into the dining room.
    â€œI was in the bathroom stall the other day, and I overheard Patty, Yoojin, and their posse talking,” said Mariam, her hazel eyes stern.
    â€œHuh?” mumbled Ariana. This isn’t about us?
    â€œYou won’t believe what they were saying,” said Mariam, leaning forward.
    â€œWhat?” The fear of losing Mariam’s friendship morphed into an unknown anxiety.
    â€œThey said you were a bully —and mean —that you had something against Wali, who they think is really nice and supercute, by the way.”
    â€œOh, crud,” said Ariana. It wasn’t like she was ever