Summary

Samra reflects on how her parents' marriage provided a model for relationships that she did not want to emulate. Though Samra is married, she still lives at home with her parents and she and Nasir have not consummated their relationship. The plan is that they will wait to live as a married couple until she is older. At school, Samra is intrigued by her classmates in the change room before gym class. She begins to explore the power of being desired when she and Nasir make out but she is not really attracted to him and is not interested in sex. While Samra's parents are more lenient now that she is married, Nasir begins to police her behavior. For example, he tries to limit the books she reads. When Nasir's views on domestic violence become clear, "I can see it being necessary on some...