AMINA, 16

Dear Me,

Your college teacher, Matt, set this as homework. As far as homework goes, this one isn’t the worst. You are currently in your frst year at college, doing a multimedia journalism course. You’re liking it so far. Your teachers are good, your classmates are nice, and you’re not overworking yourself to the point of extreme fatigue. Your brother is getting married. You’re happy for him, even though he annoys the hell out of you sometimes. You like his fancée; she’s nice and it’s easy to talk to her. It’s still weird that anyone would want to marry your mess of a brother. Oh, and, you’re also in the middle of a global pandemic. You were upstairs fnishing your notes on a physics practical when your phone blew up with messages. You skimmed them all. Exams are cancelled. You think it’s probably a hoax or something. You check everyone’s Snapchat stories. Tey’re all the same. Te Education Secretary ofcially announces that GCSEs and A-levels are cancelled.

Everyone walks into school the next day, confused as the head teacher guides everyone into the assembly. Your last day is tomorrow, you don’t have to work anymore, and you have to end an iconic period of your life. Questions are asked regarding the trips we all paid for, shirt signings

and our fnal assembly. Te day fies by. You and your close friend sit on a bench beneath a tree at break. You used to sit there every day for lunch, until a bird pooped on your friends. Te last day passes, flled with banter, positive vibes and loads of photos. Everyone is given the letters their Year 9 selves wrote about the future. Of course, yours isn’t accurate at all.

Ten you go home, scrolling through everyone’s Instagram posts and stories. You don’t cry; you just sit in your stinky school uniform, reminiscing about the past and the future. Te laughs, the late homework, the cuts and bruises in technology, and the new and scary changes you’re about to face. Only a few days later, the country went into lockdown. You loved the majority of lockdown. Especially Ramadan. It was simple and quiet. You’d wake up late in the afernoon, pray all your Salah (prayer), cook new food and stay up until Suhoor, watching random shows on Netfix. When Ramadan was over, you also did loads to keep occupied. You re-read Harry Potter, deep cleaned your room, watched various nostalgic flms with your brother, and improved your clothing choices. Seriously, never let Ami (mum) buy your clothes again. But then there was the other side of lockdown. Te constant checking of the news to see how many lives had been taken that day. Te Black Lives Matter protests afer the death of George Floyd, which brought to light the

discrimination against black people all over the world. Te last-minute announcement that Muslims couldn’t celebrate Eid, even though Johnson is considering letting the British public celebrate Christmas. So, I think you’ll agree with me when I say 2020 is the worst. I also think you’ll agree with me that 2021 won’t magically become better. I believe change will come, but we’re going to have to wait a while for that to happen. Anyway, how am I doing in the future?

From,

Amina