I rolled my eyes. Mom had just arrived where I had been two hours ago. “Mom, no! I need those for myself. You’ve seen how small my stash is. It’s not like I can walk into a convenience store and buy–,” An idea burst into my head. “Wait! What if I buy a pack of Ti-Tap cakes from Habib? His deli is right there, and always has some on his counter.”
Mom dropped the ladle into the pot and turned toward me. “Absolutely not. I can’t go shopping with you this close to the end of the day.”
“Why not? It’s right across the street.”
She waved her hands above the stove. “Because it’s almost dinner time. I can’t leave the kitchen to go buy snacks with you.”
“Then let me go. I’ll only be a minute, and you can watch me from the kitchen window if you’re worried something might happen to me.”
“I said NO!” She said, stomping her foot. Her plastic slipper made a loud clapping sound on the kitchen floor tiles. “You absolutely can’t go without me. There are cars out there racing down that street, driving like madmen. What if one of them hits you? What if a sleazy guy follows you into the store and tries to grab you? How am I going to stop that from over here? It’s not like you yourself have a sense of self preservation.”
It was the tone she used before she gave me a smack and told me to go to my room. The battle was already lost and there was no point in me standing there, so I turned around and prepared to run out.
“And weren’t you supposed to check your veil and uniform and tell me if there was anything wrong with them? Did you do that?”
I took off so fast I nearly stumbled on the family room rug when I burst out of the kitchen hallway. Mom couldn’t chase me there, I knew. She had a pot simmering on the stove. It did mean though that my plan was in the can, and with the evening fast approaching, the chances of me coming up with a new one was paper thin.
I was smoothing the rug I had disturbed when my eye fell on the headscarf on the hanger by the front door. It was the nice one I wore whenever I went out of the house, light and airy unlike the drab veil I wore to school. An insane thought manifested itself in my mind and crashed against the walls of my cranium. What if I wore it and ran outside? Mom was busy in the kitchen, and Habib’s Deli was only a hop from our house. I could run there, snag a few Ti-Tap cakes, pay, and run back. No one would know, and my worries about tomorrow would disappear. I could pack my bag and snack for tomorrow, and check my veil and uniform to make Mom happy.
Mom would kill me if she found out, but my rebel side had reared its shaggy head and wouldn’t calm down. This was the side I showed my friends, the part of me that loved jumping into danger and bragging about it later on. Maybe it was fate that things had ended up this way. I imagined sitting with my new friends at school, munching on mini Ti-Tap cakes and recounting how I risked life and limb to get them. I imagined her thinking I was gutsy and bold and so dedicated to our friendship that I was willing to go that far just to prove myself to her. I dashed toward the door and pulled the scarf over my head before reaching into Mom’s purse and grabbing some money. I was full of adrenaline and ready to go, no thoughts about Mom, or the dangers outside, or the consequences of my actions should the mission go belly up. This was my moment, my first act of rebellion against being labeled uncool. I was more than just a rich kid with a silver spoon in her mouth, more than a book-guzzling top scorer in a classroom. I was brave and smart and a shit-stirrer too, and I’d definitely tell that to anyone who needed to hear it, especially the lucky girl who’d get to taste one of those hard-earned Ti-Tap cakes I was risking so much for.