Zafir groaned. With eyes closed, he fumbled for the trilling alarm clock. He pushed the button and everything went quiet. Still half asleep, he stared at the face of the clock. Seven a.m. Beneath the time was the Islamic calendar date written in Arabic: Muharram 1432, Shafar 24 yawm al Juma. And below this, in English: Friday, 28 January 2011. This was the day Zafir had been looking forward to: the end of being twelve forever. Even better, it was Friday, the first day of the weekend so he didn’t have to go to school. The only thing that could have made his day better was if he’d been back in Dubai with his friends. He remembered now he’d set his alarm clock early so he could check his Facebook page to see if they’d sent him any messages. He had to do it before Pops woke up.

Zafir couldn’t believe it when he’d found out that Facebook was banned in Syria. What was wrong with keeping in touch with friends? Luckily, Uncle Ghazi had set Zafir’s computer up on a virtual private network where all the traffic went through a series of servers outside Syria. He’d said it was like a tunnel through the internet and no one could trace the user. Mum had said they shouldn’t tell Pops because he wouldn’t let them use it if he knew. Every time Zafir logged on he felt guilty, but it was the easiest way to keep up with what his friends were doing in Dubai.

Zafir slipped out of bed. He pulled on the socks that he had kicked under the bed last night, padded across to the desk and turned on the computer. The screen filled with a photo of him and his friends that Mum had taken in the Snowdome where they’d gone on his birthday last year. Looking at the photo of them holding up snowballs made him think about how much fun life was then. It hadn’t been long after that when everything had changed.

Zafir logged on to his Facebook page. He quickly scanned the messages from Jules, Callum, Ollie, Majid and Hugh and others from his old international school in Dubai. A couple of the girls had sent him sad faces and said they missed him. He missed them too.

As he trawled through his friends’ Facebook pages he realised that lots of things had happened since he’d last checked it. He found out that Jules now liked Eminem and the Storm Football Club and Hugh had been made captain of their soccer team. The biggest news was that Majid and Sara were going out. Six months ago Sara had been really upset at Zafir’s going-away party. Everyone used to tease them and say they liked each other, even though they’d never said anything more than ‘hi’.

Zafir tried to write a few replies but all he could think to say was ‘thanks’ and ‘how’s it going over there?’ and stuff like that. Nothing important. If only he was in Dubai. He wouldn’t be checking his friends’ Facebook pages. He’d be with them.

He wondered what he’d be doing today if he were in Dubai. He probably could have talked Mum into letting him have a party at his favourite burger place. Then they would have rented a movie and everyone could have come back to his place to watch it. He might have invited Sara, along with Niamph, Rose and Alice. But then again, probably not – Zafir remembered how annoying a group of girls could be. As he read through the messages for a second time he realised that although everyone in Dubai remembered it was his birthday, thanks to the Facebook reminder, no one had asked him about his life in Homs. He felt like he was slowly becoming invisible to everyone.

‘Mabrouk, congratulations, Zaffie,’ Mum called out from behind the door. ‘May we come in?’

‘Yeah, of course.’ He quickly switched off the monitor before Mum and Pops entered the room.

‘Happy birthday!’ Pops was carrying a present.

Zafir held his breath. It looked about the right size. He’d dropped enough hints but Mum kept saying she was worried about him breaking his arm or leg or neck. Had she given in?

Pops passed the box to Zafir. It seemed heavy enough. Zafir wanted to rip away the paper and find out for sure but he also liked the sense of anticipation so he took his time, pulling back the sticky tape bit by bit.

‘Oh, can’t you hurry up?’ asked Mum impatiently.

‘Mum’s friend Aunty Maryam sent it from Dubai,’ Pops said.

What if it wasn’t what he was hoping?

Zafir ripped the last of the paper off to reveal a box. Yes! It was a Blind skateboard. It was even the one that he’d really wanted: a Jake Brown Eternal Life.

As he turned it over and checked the wheels, the grim reaper’s face leered up at him. He put the skateboard on the floor, jumped on it and wobbled out into the hallway, waving his arms to keep balance. Suddenly, the skateboard tipped up on its tail and he had to leap off to stop himself from tumbling. The skateboard righted itself, rolled across the room and banged into the door.

‘I don’t know if this was such a good idea,’ Mum said.

‘It will be good for him,’ Pops replied. ‘He’ll have something to do other than sit inside and play those online war games with Rami.’

Zafir skated back into his room, already feeling more confident. He didn’t think the day could get any better. But it did.