Ninety Nine

As narrated by Amz:

I watch as Zee stands out of sight next to the door frame, a mischievous grin on his face.

“Cough when they’re close,” he whispers.

I nod, grinning back.

I shift a little on Zee’s bed, so that I can see down the passageway.

Usually we hear them before we see them, but this time it’s the other way around.

And when I see Meez, walking in the lead, his eyes twinkling with mischief, I immediately know something is up!

Not wanting to give away Zee, who plans to jump out in front of them, but equally curious as to what they got up their sleeves, I keep my expression neutral.

I cough slightly, indicating to Zee that they’re close.

And then I see Sumayya… with Tybalt!

My fake coughing turns real, as I try to keep in my laughter, and Dee whacks my back looking at me weirdly.

Now, picture this…

Zee standing next to the door frame, grinning to himself, eager to give his friends a scare of their lives, totally unaware of their intentions.

On the flip side, Sumayya, Hamza, and Meez, mischievous smirks on their face, ready to scare the crap out of Zee, totally unaware of his intentions.

I glance quickly in Dee’s direction. She’s laying against Zee’s pillows, phone at her ear, talking to Daanyaal.

Maybe I should warn her..

But, it’s too late!

3 seconds later all hell breaks loose.

“BOO!” yells Zee, jumping into the doorway in front of Meez.

They startle, jumping slightly, but quickly regaining their composure.

Not Ty though!

Zee’s scream scared the living daylights out of him!

Crying out, he jumps out of Sumayya’s arms…

Zee’s initial playful yell, turns into one of pure terror, as he tries jumping out of the way, but Tybalt lands directly onto his shoulder!

I laugh as I watch Zee bend over trying to make Ty fall off without having to touch him, but Ty’s his claws hold on firmly to Zee’s T-shirt.

The moment Dee notices Ty, she’s off the bed faster than a flash of lightning.

Bolting to Zee’s bathroom, she slams the door, locking it.

She’s safe, but Zee isn’t.

When the door slammed, Ty snarled, scared again.

He jumps off Zee and dives under the bed.

Zee rushes for the bathroom, wanting to get as far away from Ty as possible, but Dee has already claimed the safety spot.

“OPEN THE DOOR!!” yells Zee.

“No, you mad, I know you got the cat!” Dee’s voice comes from inside.

Sumayya is rolling on the floor clutching her stomach, as Zee and Dee argue.

Dee insists that she’s positive Zee got the cat, while Zee, just as scared as her, glances nervously under the bed, banging on the door.

Zee cautiously creeps over to his desk, and sits on the table, every so often glancing towards the bed.

“Idiot,” he says to Sumayya, an annoyed expression on his flushed face.

The whole scenario is just too funny!

“Can I stop recording now, or is there going to be more drama?” Hamza asks with a grin.

“Oh my God, did you get it on cam?” squeals Sumayya.

“Of course,” laughs Hamza.

Meez slaps Hamza a high five.

Sumayya staggers towards the bed, still laughing hysterically.

I shake my head at them. This bunch!

Getting up, I walk over to a visibly shaken and extremely annoyed Zee.

“You alright?” I ask with a half grin, hugging him.

“Were you in it too?” he asks sulkily.

“Swear I wasn’t,” I say. “But I’m not going to deny that it was hilarious.”

He pushes me away.

“Invite my friends over like a kind soul and this is what I get in return!” he mutters.

“Aww, we love you bro,” Hamza says, patting him on the back.

Zee rolls his eyes at him.

“Please get that thing out of my house!” Zee orders Sumayya.

“Okay,” she says, laughing.

“But first, we have to get Dee,” she adds quietly.

“No, just leave her alone,” says Zee.

“Oh don’t be a spoilsport, Zee!” teases Sumayya.

“Hauh, guys, it’s not funny!” Zee says seriously. “You’ll can prank her some other way, I’ll even do it myself, but not like this! You’ll making our fear worse!”

“And anyway, your cat got more scared than I did!” Zee says to Sumayya.

Hamza, who is watching the video of the whole scene again, bursts out laughing next to us.

We all gather around the screen, and soon we’re laughing crazily again. And the best is when Hamza plays it in slow motion!

“Okay, can you get your cat out of my house now!” Zee says, poking Sumayya’s shoulder.

Sumayya bends down, looking under Zee’s bed.

“Ty,” she calls. “Here baby.”

A soft meow sounds from under the bed.

“That sound,” Zee says, dramatically shivering.

“You’re ridiculous!” I say to him, laughing.

“Make sure he doesn’t come near me!” Zee yells at Sumayya, holding one of his books in front of himself.

“Okay, okay, don’t scream but, or he’ll freak,” Sumayya replies.

Sumayya tries several times to get Tybalt out from under the bed, but he refuses to come out.

“Don’t worry about him, he won’t come out,” Sumayya says.

“No ways!” says Zee. “He’s just as stubborn as you!”

“And annoying. And lazy. And fat,”  Hamza adds, with a grin.

“Excuse me!” exclaims Sumayya. “You guys are just rude!”

“Seriously Zee, if he isn’t coming out now, he won’t come out for a while. Don’t worry about him,” she says to Zee seriously.

“Who the hell is Dee talking to?” Meez asks, hearing Dee’s voice inside the bathroom.

“To herself probably,” laughs Sumayya.

“She’s talking to Daanyaal, mahn!” I say with a laugh.

“Yo, Dee!” Zee yells to her.

“Yeah? Is the cat gone?”

“He’s under -” Sumayya starts saying, but Meez cuts her off.

“Yeah, Sumi took him away,” says Meez.

“You guys are lying!” she says, after a moment of silence.

“We’re not, just come out,” says Meez. “Zee wants to tell us his plan.”

“Zee, is the cat there?” Dee asks from inside the bathroom.

Knowing Zee won’t lie to her about this, Meez dives towards him, quickly placing a hand over his mouth.

“Zee’s gone to get us drinks,” says Hamza, playing along.

“They’re lying!” Zee says, fighting with Meez to get his mouth uncovered.

“I knew it!” exclaims Dee.

“No really, Dee,” Sumayya says, knocking on the bathroom door. “He’s gone under the bed, and he won’t come out now, because Zee scared the crap out of him. It’s safe, promise.”

“He scared the crap out of me, idiot!” says Zee.

We laugh.

“Okay but really now, I need to tell you guys about my plan,” Zee adds.

Eventually, after many promises of no harm from Ty, we all head to the lounge, both Zee and Dee insisting that they’re not sitting in the same room as Tybalt, even if he is under the bed!

“Ooookaaaayy! So, firstly, my idea isn’t actually super genius or anything, but after being such meanies, it will only be fair of you’ll to just pretend like I’m the man of the century. Right, now that we have that and the cat out of the way, let’s purrceed! Haha get it?”

Sumayya giggles, and the boys grin.

Dee and I laugh sarcastically, rolling eyes at each other.

Zee notices, and glares at us.

“I will just pawse until you two acknowledge my furbulous sense of humour,” he says with an air of sophistication.

We laugh legitimately, and he continues.

“Okay, enough puns now. The other night, I was having trouble sleeping, so I called Meez, the one and only, sitting right there,” he starts, gesturing towards Meez.

“And, he too couldn’t sleep that night. Anyway, we chatted for a while, but that’s beside the point. Once I’d cut the call, not only were my ears relieved of a great annoyance -”

“Hey!” Meez butts in.

“Just kidding, sorry bro,” Zee says quickly, grinning.

“Now, as I was saying, as soon as I switched off my light, and put my head onto my pillow, my mind wandered off…”

“Oh quit the unnecessary talk, Zee! Just get to the point!” Sumayya says, cutting him off.

“Alright, alright, sorry,” he apologizes. “So the plan is, we’re having a sleepover!”

He stops, eyes shining with excitement as he watches apprehensively for our reactions.

Everyone looks confused with a tinge of amusement.

“Urrrm,” Meez and Sumayya say at the same time.

“Sooo, is this the ‘best idea’ you couldn’t tell us on WhatsApp?” I ask, not knowing if I should laugh or not.

“Yeah!”

“Act really excited!” he adds in a whisper.

Sumayya screeches, clapping her hands.

“YAAAS! OH EM GEEE, YOU’RE A GENIUS MY FRIEND!!” she screams, jumping up and down.

“Say whaaaaa? This is the best idea of the century, oh my goodness!” I say, trying my best not to laugh.

“Zeeee! So you do have a brain! This is absolute, utter, pure, erudition! What a great display of adroitness! Such a remarkable show of magnificence! My oh my!” exclaims Dee.

“Urm, Dee, don’t use such big words, I don’t know what they mean,” he whispers, covering the side of his mouth with his hand.

“Oh sorry,” she whispers back. “Take two.”

“Zeeee! So clever! My oh my!”

“Wait, you do know what clever means, don’t you?” Dee whispers.

We all burst out laughing.

Zee throws a cushion at her which she catches with a grin.

“Okay, no really, is that the plan? A sleepover?” I ask once the laughter subsides.

“Yeah. A sleepover…. but,” he pauses dramatically, his signature smirk on his happy face.

Dee puts her head in the cushion.

“Why do I have a bad feeling about this?” she groans.

“Maybe because it’s Zee’s idea,” says Hamza winking at her.

“Yeah probably!” laughs Dee.

Zee glares at them before saying, “It’s just a sleepover…. but, with a twist!”

---

Hey. Hi. Hello. Salaam. Bonjour. Salut. Ciao. Ahoj. Bog. Marhaba. Ola.

Woooow, I’m feeling generous today! That’s a wayyy too long post, don’tcha think? 😉

Hope everyone is doing well, and if you’re writing exams it’s going stress free. Can exams even ever go stress free tho’?! For me, LOL NO! So obviously I just procrastinate and write longer posts. Lucky you’ll!!

What do you’ll think is the twist? 

Please don’t forget to make lots of Duaa for me!

Much Love,

Troubled Illusioner. ❤