OUTLINE (working outline — might change)
I. INTRO — Quote from my mom criticizing my friends
II. Describe my friend group
III. Scene of school day when Maryam took pills ending in hospital and police call to Mom
IV. My relationship with Mom
V. Arabic club: I turned to my culture and found a different way to be at school.
VI. Marriage and baby
VI. Can I get back to my education?
VII. ENDING: Mom is my real hero
“Meryam,اذا لم تغيري عاداتك السيئة وإذا وصلتي اتباع اصدقائك،فسوف تصبح مثلهم”
My mom said these words to me in Arabic, which means, “If you don’t change your bad habits and if you continue to follow your friends, you will become like them.”
We Were Five Girls.
I was a junior in high school, and my mom told me that she did not like my girlfriends. She called them “haribi” and “mathalat,” which means “snakes” and “actors.” I had started to hang out with the wrong group of girls. We were five girls. Maryam was depressed and taking drugs. Then there was Sarah, a drama queen. Safa was all about dating and nothing else. The last one was Reem, the right person with a soft heart. I was a follower of the group.
On a rainy day, Maryam, my friend, took a whole bottle of “drugs” because her dad told her he wished she was not his daughter. She was crying. When she came to school, she was shaking, and her eyes were very red. Based on her symptoms, we knew that she needed to go to the hospital, but she refused. Then we skipped school. We took her to Wendy’s fast-food restaurant. We tried to convince her to go to the hospital, but she refused. Suddenly, she fainted, so we called the ambulance, and she was taken to the hospital. We did not want to leave her alone, so we followed in a taxi.
The next thing that happened was that the police called my mom. They said, “Hello, are you the parents of Meryam Abdulla? Your daughter is skipping school, and she is hanging out with her friends. One of the girls is now in the emergency room. Your daughter is at the hospital too, and now we will take her back to school.”
My mom got mad at me. I was ashamed of myself that I disappointed her.
