Warning for drug manipulation and crime.
[name_f]Hafsah[/name_f] [name_f]Zeynep[/name_f] [name_u]Ali[/name_u] (23) is Nikki’s best friend and the girl that [name_f]Freya[/name_f] is falling for. [name_f]Hafsah[/name_f] is from Jordanian and Turkish descent. She and [name_f]Freya[/name_f] are co-workers at the same restaurant and she too wants to pursue other job opportunities but feels like she can’t. When she was 17, she stole from a street vendor’s kiosk during a street fair and ran away with her loot, but was caught by police. The police wondered why she would steal out in the open in broad daylight with several witnesses, but it turns out she was on drugs at the time. Although Hafsah’s parents were poor and could somewhat see why she would steal, they questioned why [name_f]Hafsah[/name_f] would be on drugs because she was never the type to do that and wouldn’t waste her money on it. It gets deeper — she bought lemonade at another kiosk that ended up being spiked with drugs and she didn’t actually consent to taking them. It actually wasn’t from anyone at the kiosk who did it, it was from another person at the street fair who did it while she accidentally left her drink behind while looking at the kiosks. While [name_f]Hafsah[/name_f] ended up serving 53 days in juvenile hall (it was 60 days but she got out a week earlier for good behaviour) and the stolen items were returned, there wasn’t any solid evidence that [name_f]Hafsah[/name_f] was manipulated. However only recently, they caught the perpetrator who spiked her drink to begin with when he confessed it to some friends, not realising they’d turn him in.
[name_f]Hafsah[/name_f] has been very careful and feared no one would hire her due to her criminal past even if she was a juvenile while doing it. People ask her why she’d be so “careless and foolish” to leave her drink behind and [name_f]Hafsah[/name_f] wants nothing to do with those type of people. [name_u]Nikki[/name_u] always knew [name_f]Hafsah[/name_f] wasn’t at fault and never considered her the type to do such things on her own will and comforts her just like [name_f]Hafsah[/name_f] has comforted [name_u]Nikki[/name_u]. [name_f]Hafsah[/name_f] has been turned down from job opportunities because of the incident so as much as she doesn’t care for her job, she’s happy simply to be accepted. [name_f]Hafsah[/name_f] considers herself “lucky“ that she didn’t go through what [name_u]Nikki[/name_u] has gone though but both relate to being cruelly manipulated and then victim-blamed. While [name_f]Hafsah[/name_f] would never steal while sober, she understands why people wouldn’t like her and went through counselling herself after being released from juvenile hall. She was stereotyped a lot as the poor kid turned criminal but she’s done her best to ignore that. She loves swimming and hockey, she’s always missed that the most when she was in juvenile hall and enjoys nothing more than being active. [name_f]Hafsah[/name_f] has taken [name_f]Freya[/name_f] along but doesn’t know [name_f]Freya[/name_f] is falling for her, but would definitely love [name_f]Freya[/name_f] as a girlfriend. [name_f]Freya[/name_f] has also supported [name_m]Seb[/name_m] being there doing the activities with them, saying “Bring [name_m]Seb[/name_m]! It will be just like a double—“ and was about to say “date” before realising she and [name_f]Hafsah[/name_f] aren’t a couple yet. She covered it up by saying, “We can play doubles in hockey.” [name_f]Hafsah[/name_f] laughed but she wasn’t laughing at [name_f]Freya[/name_f], she was laughing with her and found it “cute”, which [name_f]Freya[/name_f] beamed at. [name_f]Hafsah[/name_f] likes to be lighthearted but respects that it is a touchy topic for [name_u]Nikki[/name_u]. [name_f]Hafsah[/name_f] has been more vocal about her bad experience since it was in public and she was nicknamed “Crazy [name_f]Street[/name_f] Fair Girl” whereas Nikki’s experience was more personal and not something people know about. [name_f]Hafsah[/name_f] supports [name_m]Seb[/name_m] a lot and knows he’s a wonderful boyfriend for [name_u]Nikki[/name_u] but wants to explore possible feelings she has for [name_f]Freya[/name_f] in her own relationship. Also she doesn’t want to intrude on anyone’s business but knows deep down, [name_u]Nikki[/name_u] and [name_m]Seb[/name_m] are right for each other.