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Of course, I called Marla and told her all about it the minute I got home. Unfortunately, it was an awkward conversation. There were a lot of uncomfortable pauses on her end of the line when I described our date. And when she did finally speak, I could hear her voice straining to be nice.

“Okay … Uh-huh … That’s nice, Mack.”

For the first time since our move to Israel, I found myself missing my old Toronto friends. They would have been happy for me, I was sure of it!

The next day at school, Marla outed my relationship to her lunchtime buddies.

“Guess what, guys?” she announced in a tone that sounded like a big sister tattling on a younger one. “Mackenzie has a boyfriend!”

My face grew bright red as every eye at the table turned to look at me in shock.

“Wow! Why didn’t you tell us?” asked Ronit accusingly.

“Yeah!” Yael chimed in, swatting me on the arm. “Who is it?”

Before I could answer, Noa jumped in with a guess. “I know! It’s Ari from your math class, right?”

“Um … no, it’s not Ari,” I mumbled.

“Shut up! Then who?” demanded Yael.

“Well, you don’t know him,” I stalled. “He doesn’t go to this school.”

“Ooh … Does that mean he’s a college guy?” guessed Ronit, bouncing up and down with glee. “Oh my gosh! One of your dad’s students?”

I looked over to Marla for help, but she just smiled smugly and shrugged. I was on my own.

“Um, his name is Nasir Hadad,” I said. “And no, he’s not in college. He goes to high school in East Jerusalem.”

The entire table suddenly turned quiet. Within seconds, their looks of excitement began simultaneously melting into frowns of disapproval.

“So, he’s Muslim?” asked Noa, whispering like it was some kind of curse word.

I couldn’t believe these people! How could they object to someone they didn’t even know?

“Yes, he is,” I replied, feeling very defensive, “and if any of you have a problem with it, tough!”

And then I did something the old me never would have done: I jumped to my feet and stormed out of the cafeteria. God, was I furious at Marla! I knew she was trying to sabotage my feelings for Nasir. But to tell you the truth, I didn’t care if she or her friends approved of him or not. All that mattered was how we felt about each other.

Despite all the negativity surrounding us, Nasir and I continued to meet on the sly. I was pretty daring, meeting him after school or sometimes in the evenings if I knew that Dad was working late. It was tricky, but totally worth it. He was like no other guy I’d ever met before.

I know what you’re thinking: he’s my first boyfriend, so how would I know, right? But he treated me with such respect and he always listened so attentively to everything I had to say. And he told me how beautiful I was every time we were together — even on the days when I felt plain and pale and awkward. He was almost too wonderful to be true — like my own Prince Charming out of my very own fairy tale. By the time winter arrived my fingernails had grown so long I had to invest in a nail file.

I was falling in love.