Chapter 4

Hello beautiful people, I just wanted to thank everyone for their shoutouts, compliments and support! 121 followers in 4 days!! I appreciate it xx. Plus I just wanted to say that I'm really sorry for my short chapters, I've been writing them on my iPad since I broke my laptop, w marra marra y3alig el ipad, ill get a new laptop shortly..

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Previously on chapter 3:


I overheard my mom and my aunt talking about what hospital is best for her, I could barely hear them over the tv and my other aunts talking with their loud voices.

I got closer to my mom and aunt without them noticing...

I. Could. Not. Believe. What. I'm. Hearing.


Please let this be a dream ya rabbi pleaaasee...

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Mama: ee we might go to the US I heard they have the best hospitals there.

5alty: ee I heard too... So 5ala9 akeed? Mafy 3ilaj fls3odya?

Mama: yser 5air...

I was shocked, but i expected for mom to travel for medication since saudi arabia isn't quite the best..

5alty: bta54en 3yalk?

Mama: ee magdar a'3eeb 3anhum akthar mn shahar!

I don't want this to happen again, NO NOT AGAIN.

Leaving my friends behind, my family, my school, my home. Everything.

But we had to. There's nothing we could do about it. I'm 100% sure that we wont stay in saudi for more than a month..

I excused myself and went upstairs to my room. I sat there silently. Stuck in my daydream i was. Thinking about my life there, without dana, without sara. Without deema and juju. 9a7 i didn't see them that much but i'll miss them, and sul6ana. Omggg sul6anaaa. She's in makkah! since ramadhan is right around the corner. I'm afraid I'll travel without seeing her.

(Deema and juju are my cousins, they don't live in riyadh. They live in jeddah. I don't see them a lot but were very very close. Deema is 16 she's very thin and tall, she has big brown eyes which i adore, and she's hilarious and caring and i love her so much :c. Juju is my age. Which is 14, she's funny but very moody she's kind of short and chubby, she has curly long hair.)

(Sul6ana is also my bestfriend, were so very close! Me, dana, sara and sul6ana Just us four. Sul6ana is short with straight thick brown hair. Kind of chubby, she's literally the FUNNIEST person eveerrrr she's nice also and adorable. I miss her :c. )

Soooo 5ala9? That's it? Were leaving?. I thought to myself.
Yes i tend to talk to myself a lot.

I quickly grabbed my phone and dialed sara's number.....
6ooo6........ 6ooo6..... 6ooo6

Sara said with a very sleepy voice: aa.. aloo?
Me: Nayma?
Sara: Laa i just woke up.
Me: Eish tsawen?
Sara: Nothing really..
Me: I'm picking you up ente w dana w i'm bringing juju w w deema
Sara: JUJU W DEEMA JAW MN JEDDAH? YAAY YALLA I'LL GET READY
She quickly hung up.

I changed into my favorite dress that i waited all year long to wear it. I was saving it for summer since it was a sumer dress. It was a yellow strapless dress 6oula kan 3ady till my knees. And wore my Hermes sandals.

I didn't exactly know where we were going. I just want to spend time with my cousins and friends since were leaving..

I let my curly hair down, i never really tie it in a bun or a pony tail a lot, unless if i'm in a bad mood.

I put very light makeup. Mascara some lip-gloss and blusher.

I went downstairs and remembered that I didn't ask my mom's permission. Oops =))

I kissed her forehead. And asked her, she accepted. Yes B)

I went to juju and deema and told them to get ready. And they did in a matter of seconds. I quickly grabbed my miu miu bag and head out in the garden.

I called bu zaid. Man oh man i just hope he answers his phone.

Bu zaid: salam 3alekum nora
Me: wa 3alekom salam.. Bu zaid enta fa'6y?
Bu zaid: Ma a3rf wallahi
Me: Okay ma3lesh twadena bait dana?
Bu zaid: ba3du 7anrou7 makan?
Me: ymkn..
Bu zaid: laaa elaha ella allah... Mashy yalla ya nora 7awadekum
Me: jeeb elescalade please.. 7asait a lot of girls are coming.

He agreed. Everytime he spoke in 7ijazi i laughed i don't know why =))

While we were in the car i played 'Don't wake me up - Chris brown' It was our summer song. We started singing along.

Bu zaid starbuuucks pleease :c..... said juju while waiting for response...
Okay he said. She jumped out of seat from excitement.

Me and juju got out while deema waited in the car.
We ordered 4 caramel frappuccinos  for me deema, sara and juju. And a Double chocolaty chip frappuccino for dana. And freshly squeezed orange juice for bu zaid. I know he likes it =))

We chatted while waiting for the drinks to come.

..: 7lwa rukabk elsoud.

We heard a guy shout while laughing. Rukab? Rukab men -_-?

My abaya was closed. So was juju's.

..: KUL ZAG YA 7AYWAN YA YAA O9 BAS KUL ZAG

I heard a girl shout back.. Oh no her voice sounds sooo familiar

..: NOORRAAA. She hugged me from the back.

It was majd, a girl from my school she was annoying but she's nice.

Me: Heeey maajd kaifkk?
Majd: Im good w enty?
Me: el7amdilla
Majd: I heard about your mother, kl el3ayla td3elha I really hope she gets better. She said while giving me a tight hug.
Me: Mashkoren 7abebty salmely 3alaihum klhum. I said hugging back


Filippino guy: Joha johaar joharraa? Johara?.... He said trying to pronounce juju's name.

We both laughed at him and took our drinks and said goodbye to majd.

Bu zaid: el3a9eer 7ag menu?
Me: Ent marra ttkalam 7ijazi marra kuwaity? bu zaid ethbit 3ala accent wa7d ya5i =))
We all laughed.
A5eeran we arrived. I  thanked bu zaid and gave him his drink while getting out i found sara peeking from their big metal door. She was obviously waiting for us =))
Juju and deema ran to hug sara while i was holding their drink.

Sara side hugged me and we went inside.

Juju sara deema and dana chatted for a while. Y'know the 'Hows jeddah and everything' chat.

Soooooo wain taboun nrou7. I asked

Umm madry ana jo3ana. la mu jo3anen naby n6la3. wain n6la3 mn kther elamakn. bs ma nby ma63am. ella walla jo3ana 5air. 5an ntmashaaaa. bs waaain. ufff mafy amakn. tara i'll invite the girls. maly da5aaal im so hungry aby take away at least :c

They argued.
I just sat there laughing at them.
But then i remembred that were gonna leave.
I just sat there looking at them with a blank expression.. Knowing that i'll miss them terribly
Knowing that i wont see their pretty faces in a long time..
Knowing that i wont be hearing their laughs in a long time..
I knew we were going to stay AT LEAST a year in the USA.
Maby, i'll miss them so much :(. 5ala9 3ady 3ady just have fun today. I thought to myself.

My eyes watered a bit while i was watching them laughing and arguing.
I joined their argument.

We decided to pick up the girls. Shahad, rahaf, amani, sama, reem.
Amani and reem are sisters. Amani is 17 and reem is 13. They're both shahad's cousins
Shahad is sara's friend. She's 16
Sama is also shahad's cousin shes 15

We picked them up and then decided to eat at lenotre.

Table for 10 please. I said politely to the waiter.

They seated us behind a table full of boys.

They were 10 boys also. I saw a face in that table.. A very familiar face.

But who is he? I had no idea. I feel like i know him.
I asked deema juju sara and dana. But no, no one know's him.



And then a flashback hit me!

الحمدالله على كل حال

Chapter 3

Summer, July 7
.. :"Yaalla yallaa gooom Nora its 9:00 am and guests are coming" shouted dede our housekeeper.

Guests? 9:00? She must be kidding -_-

She was obviously trying to clean the living room but I was sleeping on the couch.

I miss those days when you sleep on The couch and magically end up on your bed :')

Me: okay dede I'm up. I said in an annoyed tone.

I woke up hoping that yesterday was a dream, that my mom didn't have cancer, that everything and everyone was alright. But too bad it wasn't...

I took a quick shower. I knew that my relatives are coming since its 9:00 in the morning so I wore something casual, jeans and a t-shirt will do.

I checked my blackberry. 37 chats! Whaaattt :o

I remembered that before I sleep I wrote a pm that said "اللهم أني أسالك ان تأخذ بيد أمي وتشفيها وكل مسلم"

Everyone was asking what's wrong and praying for her to get better. Cute :c

After I replied to all 37 people, i decided to go to m7amad's rooms. I miss him so much :(.

M7amad is my best friend/brother I can tell him any problem in the world and he could find a solution to it. I never trusted anyone as much as I trusted my brother

I knocked the door, 1 knock.. 2 knocks.. 3 knocks.. He's such a heavy sleeper -_-

I decided to let him rest for a bit. Everyone was sleeping, I hated that I'm the only morning person in this family.

I opened my twitter to kill time. Her username caught my attention.. KuwaityBlogger (I don't remember her username, I don't know if it's a real account or not I just remember a blogger following me)


A kuwaiti girl who's sharing her love story with the world. Hmm interesting bio.

I was trying to convince myself to read it, since there wasnt a single soul awake in this house except for dede. A chapter won't hurt, right?



I found myself reading 20 chapters from her story!

That was the first blog I've ever read! It was amazing I loved it. I followed her back and followed a thousand more bloggers and reading their stories!

CR*P

It's 2:00 pm I bet my aunts are all downstairs in the living room!!

I ran down the stairs and found every single one of my family members down there.

Oh god I miss them :').

You see, since summer started I didn't spend much time with my family. I spent every minute of it with my friends. They're not in the same school as I am so I didn't see them that much..


Salamt 3ala my aunts and kissed my grandmothers forehead.

I chatted with my aunts and cousins and everyone. I was trying to keep up with them, but they talk so fast plus they keep changing the subject every minute =)) I couldn't comment on any thing they were just toooo fast!

I overheard my mom and my aunt talking about what hospital is best for her, I could barely hear them over the tv and my other aunts talking with their loud voices.

I got closer to my mom and aunt without them noticing...

I. Could. Not. Believe. What. I'm. Hearing.


Please let this be a dream ya rabbi pleaaasee...


الحمدالله على كل حال

Chapter 2

Here I am standing in front of my house for 5 minutes which felt like 5 hours waiting for someone to open the door.

I couldn't ring the doorbell more than 2 times since it was almost 1 am.
Bu zaid opened it for us.

I walked into the house and found Mama in the living room I was walking towards her.

Everything was normal, except that i had a feeling everything wasn't.

Whenever i have this 'something is wrong' feeling SOMETHING IS REALLY WRONG and that made me even more nervous.

Suddenly madawi popped out of nowhere wrecking my train of thoughts.

She quickly grabbed my hand and pushed me to the other living room 'mul7ag' and shut the door.

Madawi looked like a mess. Literally! her hair was a mess, her eyes were all red and puffy and had some dry tears on them.

Madawi: Nora listen... Theres no easy way of telling you this but mom found a lump under her breast.. Its obviously cancer but its either 7ameed or 5abeth... She started tearing up again.

Cancer. Cancer. Cancer. Those words echoed through my mind. They were new to me, so fresh to my mind that I barely even remembered what it means, I never really knew anyone who has\had cancer. Not until now.

Stay strong Nora. I remembered sara's words to me.

I started to laugh. I laughed so hard that i teared up a bit. I was so happy and sad, I cant explain the feeling. So happy to hear it was cancer, not death.

Everyone was crying. Our relationship with our mother was very very strong el7amdilla.

Madawi: MN JDIK? I JUST TOLD YOU OUR MOTHER HAS CANCER AND YOU LAUGH? WOW VERY MATURE NORA. I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT TO SAY TO YOU. She was furious.

After explaining my situation to madawi I wanted to see mama, I haven't seen her since yesterday, I miss her.


I thought i handled that situation very well.
I thought i was emotionally strong after hearing that my mother had cancer and not shed a single tear.
I thought i grew up, mentally & emotionally.

Until i saw my mom, those thoughts quickly faded away.

I couldn't
I couldn't see her like this
I couldn't see her suffer

A tear escaped my eye. Madawi noticed.

Madawi Al-X: PING!!!
Madawi Al-X: Dont let her see you cry she'll get sad
Madawi Al-X: Cancer is all about elnafsya, nafsyatha kwaysa then btt3afa enshalla.
Nora: Okay..

Mama: Ya halaa bnooora wa7ashteenaa

Me: Mamaaaaaa. I kissed her forehead and hugged her very very tight.

I felt like a 4-year old screaming maaamaaa and running in for a hug, but who cares she is my mother after all.

Her warm long hugs were the best. She made me forget all my worries. All my tears climbed back up into my eyes.

We chatted all night long, me, madawi, haifa and mama. Till the sun rise. We didn't really talk about her cancer, we wanted her to forget about it since her happiness kind of depends on it. All night long i was in her arms I couldn't let go of her. 

 أحب أمي ، وصوت أمي ، وحضن أمي ، وكل أمي

الحمدالله على كل حال

Chapter 1

July 6, summer.

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*annoying blackberry ringtone*
Me: ommmgggg Dana answerr the phone it woke me up
Dana: haw it's not even my phone asasn you have to wake up it's 11pm

We searched for the very annoying phone and we found it, yes it was mine. There was 7 missed calls from madawi. I wasn't surprised she usually calls whenever i slept over at my friends house, making sure I return home.

Dana: men dag?
Me: madawi
Dana: oh

Dana is my best friend she's like a sister to me she's 14 chubby, tanned with very curly brown hair that was longer than mine.

Sara walked In with a very tired face.

Me: 9abaaa7 el5aaair sara8enoo shfek?


Sara is 16, she's danas older sister. I also consider her as my sister she has curly short hair she's not so thin but not so fat either, we joke a lot together I feel like I'm closer to Sara than to Dana, either way I love them both.

Sara: um shsma la wala shay

Me: ouch cold reply, maku good morning :(?

Sara: Nora kalamtk madawi?

Me: ee bs ma rdait laish?

Sara: let's go eat I'm hungry

Wow moody. Something is up and I can feel it.

Dana: shfej m3a9ba 7ail mu laygltch

Dana Sara and I always talk in random accents sometimes Kuwaiti sometimes Bidwn sometimes 7jazi and sometimes fo97a. It was our thing.

Sara: I just woke up Dana maly 5lgk

My phone rang and it was madawi
Me: aloo

Madawi: uffff finally you answered tara 6am6am w bu zaid are coming to pick you up

6am6am is my nanny/BFF I love her she cracks me up =)) bu zaid is my driver. I give everyone a weird nickname.

Me: mn jdiikkkk laaish I just woke up 7tta Salam ma salamta 3al banat

Madawi: Nora please come I need to talk to you

Me: ugghhh okay

I hung up and we went downstairs looking for some food.
I hated Dana and Sara's house for one reason: NO FOOD
Literally there was no food. their refrigerator had Laban, yogurt, and fruit. THATS IT.

So we just sat there in the kitchen knowing that there wasn't any food and that my 6am6am and driver will be here any second.
They were on their blackberrys so I decided to check mine.

After replying to everyone, I noticed that hajar, madawi and Haifa (hajar's close friend) had the same personal message (اللهم اجعله خير)

Now I know for a fact that something is wrong.

I pinged all 3 of them and asked them what's wrong. No one answered me.

A few seconds later Sara changed her pm (personal message) to (اللهم اجعله خير)

I looked at her face once again it was pale

Me: SARAAAA SH9AAYYEERRRR?

*ding dong*

Saved by the bell.

Merry dana's housekeeper opened the door. It was 6am6am. Surprise surprise..

6am6am: nooorraa hurry up we have to go home nooooww

Me: shaku 6am6am chill

I quickly wore my abaya and shoes. I hugged the girls but I noticed that Sara was hugging me so tight that I couldn't breath and she whispered: stay stronggg a7bk

Shda3wa stay strong I'm going home mu 7arb..

On our way back home I was thinking a lot. What the hell was going on? Sara wouldn't respond to our 'jokes', none of the girls are answering my question, 6am6am looks dead tired and the streets of Riyadh were depressing and empty.
Riyadh's city lights shine so bright and colorful. But not today.
The car was so silent. Bil3ada 6am6am w bu zaid y7arshoun ba3a'6 with music blasting in the background. But no, it was dead silent.
I kept thinking and thinking and thinking, I had to stop. So i checked my bbm and remembered that Sara knew what was wrong. PING!!! PING!!! PING!!!
I was too busy pinging Sara to notice that we arrived home. Oh god I was too scared to enter my own house. I knew something was wrong... Terribly wrong.

الحمدالله على كل حال

Chapter 0 -

Since that day my life completely changed.
Since that day I found out who were my real friends were.
Since that day I now have a different way of viewing things.

Hello, I hope everyone is doing great and enjoying their 1 week holiday.
My name is Nora.. No not my real name just a nickname. I will be writing my true story, everything that I will write is 100% true. Well except for the names.
I've been reading A LOT of blog mn this summer and I've been wanting to write one since!
"omg Nora 7ayatk marra k2anaha blog lazm tktben wa7d" -Every single one of my friends Told me:p. So bismilla nbda..
My name is nora and I'm Saudi.
I'm 14 (you might be thinking that I'm too young to write a blog but everyone says that 3agle Akbar mn 3umre)
Not so tanned, curly light brown with messed up pink dip dye hair that reaches my elbows.
I have a twin brother called m7amad
He doesnt look like his 14 AT ALL he looks like he's 12 which made him very mad =)) he has curly short very very light hair.
A 21 year old sister who I rarely ever see, madawi is her name.
And last but not least hajar, she's 18.
Madawi and hajar's personalities are nothing alike.
Madawi is very very social and likes to party she sometimes acts like she's the 18 year old one while hajar acts like she's 21.
Hajar isn't very social but she has some friends, she's the calm mature one that makes the right decisions.

I haven't really described ALL the characters I'll describe them when they appear.

الحمدالله على كل حال