My Handsome Cousin

No Interaction with boys

I'm about to apologise. But when I realise it's Youness, I refrain and growls at him.

- And you, don't you have any eyes? Why don't you look where you're going?

I forgot to mention that I can't stand that boy. He shows off too much because he's intelligent. But at the same time, I tell myself that he has reason to be, because generally, boys are just stupid. But he's still intelligent enough to make me want to get better than him. Although I think he's still just as stupid as the rest of them. In fact, he never misses an opportunity to make me want to wipe him off the face of the earth.

After retorting my answer, I walk past him and join Nachma. We talk a bit about the book she's reading, Seekers: The quest Begins! It's the first book in the Erin Hunter series, the first three of which arrived in the library last week.

Nachma is a book fan like me and my three other friends. It has to be said that reading is a passion that I share with all my friends. That's not really the case with my family.

In fact, I'm often alone at home because no one else shares my passion for reading. Well, when I say 'alone', I mean figuratively. Because I live in a large family, with my aunt. But the problem is that everyone has their own passion.

My sister, Mira, loves everything to do with religion. She and her friends are always boring about it. She thinks she's so pious that she can't help putting me down and making me feel like a miscreant.

Sûmaya, my cousin, is the person I'm closest to at home. Yet we don't have much in common. Apart from being the two 'miscreants' in the house. The difference between her and me is that she doesn't care, whereas I'd like to be closer to religion, but I'm unable to because I have the impression that it's going to limit me in my delirium with my friends. Sûmaya is two years younger than me.

Faourha, my cousin, is two years older than me. She has a very special personality and a deadly look in her eyes. I never dare look her in the eye and I don't know much about her apart from the fact that she likes listening to music and spends a lot of time on her phone. I don't have many opportunities to interact with her.

There's Laeticia, another cousin, who I never communicate with because she's just moved into the house. She used to live with one of her half-sisters, but she came home after the move.

Finally there are Samir, Samuel and Sonya, my aunt's youngest children aged seven, four and three respectively. All three are my uncle's children. And given their age I don't have much interaction with them either.

Apart from that, I've made a friend who's actually my uncle's grandson, Damir. He's three years younger than me and I like him because he loves reading and learning too. But as his grandfather doesn't like to see him and his brothers and sisters at home, I often find myself alone there.

What's more, as Damir is a boy, I often wonder how I managed to make friends with him. You have to realise that I have a lot of girlfriends, and that I'm very wary of boys.

I don't accept any interaction with men, especially when they're the smooth-talking type. And frankly, I don't understand how a girl could be stupid enough to trust them. In any case, I'm sure no guy will ever get me. I'll have to be crazy if that ever happens.

I think maybe it's because he doesn't look much like a boy and, compared to the others, he's the most innocent boy I know...

Or he was. Until he joked that he loved me. I mean...

We keep talking to Nachma until we get to the front of the classroom. She often talks to me about Younes, but never in a nice way, because he's clever and doesn't have to work hard to get good marks at school, so he can't help taunting the others. She doesn't like him much and neither do I.

We finally went into the classroom.

As it was the afternoon class, I was very tired and hadn't stopped dozing off in class. I don't even know how we finished French. After all, it's nothing new, I always end up falling asleep in French lessons, it's not as if I really enjoy them. I much prefer science subjects, which are a bigger challenge for me.

In fact, as it's Friday, we end the day with two hours of maths where we look at the concept of the greatest common denominator of numbers. The chapter is particularly complicated to understand, but it doesn't take me long to grasp it with the teacher's explanations.

At the end of the lesson I walk Nachma home and then hurry to catch the bus home.

Since we moved house, I've had to take the bus to and from school.

Outside school I go to a cultural club where they teach us about the culture of my country of origin. And given my intelligence I've already assimilated a lot of things, I've even been given the right to teach the new arrivals and the younger ones.

And I'm very proud of that, because I've only been here a year, whereas some people have been here since they were very young and I'm the one who teaches them.

What's more, I've made a new friend there, called Louna. And we're the quietest girls in the club. There's just one little thing, Lou is going out with my uncle Raxami's grandson, Damir's brother. But I've sworn to myself that no guy will ever get me.

The club official is very proud of me, because I'm a quick learner and everyone knows that dating and I are dead. In her eyes, I'm an image of virtue, because in our culture it's frowned upon to associate with men outside marriage.