Left Out

Heba went to Sharm El Sheikh to get away from it all. She was still
convincing herself of that. She wasn't there to meet up with friends at
the beach, just relaxing with her family.

The boat trip on board the Zohra wasn't so bad. She was reading an
English version of a Naguib Mahfouz book, which made her feel very
sophisticated, and she was trying to get a tan.

Heba sighed, she wasn't really getting into the book, and it was too
hot to sunbath. She picked up her cell phone, going through the phone
book. She'd already called Farah, and May; and she was starting to get
bored in her mid-term break.

She put the phone back down, determined to read a couple of chapters.
Her unruly hair kept blowing in her face and entering her mouth, there
was the faintest taste of salt in it. She was starting to enjoy herself
and her book and the whole relaxing vacation thing.

Sporadically, the Zohra would tilt, splashing cold drops of white water
on her; and she felt the cold little dots on her head and arms sooth
her from the heat of the sun.

But then her phone started to ring. Excited, she picked up it up. It
was her mom. Not Mina. Not Andrew. Mina and Andrew had found a way to
become friends again, while she had found a way to lose both their
friendship once more. Heba sighed again. Maybe it was seeing them both
together at school that bothered her the most. After all, she did have
more than just them. But when she saw the two of them together, it made
her uneasy that they were probably talking about her and laughing about
some flaw; the way she did with Mina about Andrew sometimes, the way
she did with Andrew about Mina.

Heba mentally shook her head of those two guys, but they seemed to
cling. She tried to focus on the beautiful waves in front of her that
broke into jagged white lines of foam.

She didn't really miss them, she was just taking a break from all their
lies. That was the reason Heba wanted to break it off with them. She
didn't want to listen to Mina tell her wild fancies of his night out
with some hot older girls.

And she just had to free herself from Andrew's hold on her. For too
long she had felt captive in his web of lust and she just had to get
over him.

Heba stretched on the white cushions in the Zohra and looked out.
Beyond the sifting blue sea she could see little white blocks that were
hotels, and to her side were mountains of every size and color.

Mesmerized by the sight on Nature, Heba felt a little better and tried
to console herself. Pretty soon she'll start to think up ways to talk
to them again. Even she knew that. Because she loved them both on so
many levels to ever stay away for too long. They all just had too much
history to throw away.

She'd get bored during her two weeks off, no matter how hard she tried
to concentrate on relaxing. And the two of them would spend some time
together. For an insane second, Heba wanted to go back to the way
things were when they were freshmen: three best friends going to the
movies and picking on each other.

The thought made her laugh because it was too impossible now. Too much
had happened since then and they just couldn't go back.