Twin Ambitions - My Autobiography Read Online Free PDF Page B

hand, I had my heart set on living with Grandma. She was a big part of my life and suddenly she wasn’t there. Hassan too. I kept believing it wouldn’t be long before I saw them both again. In the meantime, we moved out of the rented flat in Shepherd’s Bush and into a house in Hounslow, close to Aunt Kinsi’s home in Hanworth.
    I joined the Year Five intake at Chatsworth. Although I was only at the school for a few months, I remember it being quite small. All the other kids had been going there for years and knew each other, and I couldn’t speak any English. I struggled to make friends at the school. Mostly, I just kept to myself. In the summer I left Chatsworth, and that autumn I started at Oriel Primary School. My little brother Mahad was born the same year at West Middlesex University Hospital.
    In the meantime Dad had returned to Djibouti to bring back Hassan and reunite the family. But after a fortnight he returned home empty handed. I was devastated. This also put a big strain on my parents’ marriage. I was only eight years old at the time but even then I noticed my mum and dad growing apart and becoming more distant from one another. At the time I didn’t know why Dad had come back without Hassan. He wouldn’t say much about it. Many years later, I discovered that when Dad had arrived in Djibouti, Hassan was nowhere to be found. The extended family he’d been staying with had left the city. Dad tried his hardest to look for Hassan but just wasn’t able to locate him. Two weeks passed. Still no sign of Hassan. Dad couldn’t put off coming back to the UK any longer. He had a job and a family to support. So he reluctantly gave up the search and flew back to London without Hassan. As a young kid, and not understanding the situation fully, I blamed my dad for not bringing Hassan back with him. In my mind, he was responsible for why I wasn’t reunited with my brother. Added to the fact that we never had a strong bond to begin with, those deep-rooted feelings grew stronger and I began to resent my dad. I missed Hassan daily.
    I tried to focus on school. Oriel was a much better environment for me than Chatsworth. I was joining at the start of the year, so I’d have a better chance of making friends. And I had a cousin at Oriel – my wingman. His name was also Mahad, and he was our Aunt Kinsi’s son. Mahad was my age and we enjoyed the same things, shared a lot of the same interests and spent a lot of time hanging out together.
    Hanworth has a reputation for being a bit rough. Most of that reputation is because of the Young Offenders Institution in neighbouring Feltham. On a Friday or Saturday night, there’s usually a fight kicking off somewhere in town, with the police getting involved. It’s also fair to say that, generally speaking, there’s an element of troubled youth in the area. There were a few kids at Oriel who liked to go around picking on others. Anyway, thanks to Mahad, I had memorized a few phrases in English ahead of my first day at school. Simple things, really, to help me get by: ‘Excuse me’, ‘Where’s the toilet, please?’ and ‘Thank you’. I also picked up another phrase: ‘C’mon then!’
    When the bell rang for break-time, all of us kids charged outside to the playground. A group of kids started playing football, kicking a ball around. My eyes lit up. Of course, I immediately joined in and began tearing up and down the field, chasing after the ball. Halfway through the game, this huge kid marched over and kicked our ball away. I recognized him because Mahad had pointed him out as the hardest kid in school. He was literally twice my size. I didn’t like the fact that he’d interrupted our game, so I marched up to him and said, ‘C’mon, then!’
    The kid just stood there for a moment, looking at me funny. Then he threw a punch and clocked me clean on the face. I saw red. I hit him back. Now all the other kids in the playground gathered round in a circle, cheering and