Page - 8 - in Tina and Amir & Ella - English

5 10 15 20 25 30 8 Then our teacher said: “Now we can start to talk and have a dialogue about one of the articles of children’s rights –what do you think “All children have a right to play” means?” Episode 2: Secret (told by Tina) A group of girls formed a little circle. I stood next to them. I clearly heard them whispering my name as they giggled. I could not understand what was going on. I went to sit on a bench waiting for the bus. Manar, who saw the tears on my face, came to sit next to me. “Don’t be sad, I think I know why you are crying - the girls are cruel.” she said. Manar played the flute and I knew her from music class. Her parents came from Egypt, but she, together with her sis- ters and brothers, were born here. She had dark skin and dark brown eyes. Manar went on to tell me that she’d heard the girls say that I was the only girl who was not allowed to join the adventure school sports week. “They said that you are not allowed to join because you are Muslim and your parents would never let you go.” she said. I stared at Manar. “It is not only my parent’s decision; I also don’t want to go to the school sports week, not with all those idi- ots”, I said. I could not stop my tears. If I had the choice I would really have loved to go with them, but I didn’t tell anyone. “Nothing is wrong”, said Manar. “I’ve also never been to the school sports week, but for a different reason.”