Choosing The Right Path

3) Pizza It Is

I shielded my eyes from the sun that just had to blaze in mine and Raeesa's direction. I was excited to be coming to Midlands mall, the biggest mall in the area, with my best friend, after such a long time. Mid-year exams had us all studying really hard with not a moment to spare. Now that they were over, I could finally take a break. Getting out of the house to do something fun after two months was a fresh breath of air that I was going to savour. I was dreading the upcoming school term, though. Now that there was no studying to be done, Rubina would be going to parties and being the irresponsible older cousin that she unfortunately was.

That's right; Rubina Omar is older than me by 9 months.

Just because I tend to be way more responsible than my cousin, people would immediately assume that I was older. I didn't look older, though. With all her make-up, tight clothes and super high-heels, you could say that she was twice her actual age. One thing I could not understand, was why some young people tried to look older. Enjoying your youth is a once-off thing. Your youth is something that you can't get back and that's why it should be spent wisely.

"Hungry?" I grinned at Raeesa. I knew she wouldn't have had breakfast, as usual. I didn't have breakfast either. In my rush to get out of the house, food was forgotten. But not for long.

"Very! I vote... Pizza?"

"For breakfast? Are you sure?" Although I really loved pizza, I had my doubts. There were some foods I just could not eat in the morning.

"Yeah... Well, do you want something else? We could always get our own food and meet up at the food court, if you like."

"Nope, I'm coming with you. Pizza it is."

"Pizza it is."

》》》

The food court was crawling with people. From the table on the second floor that Raeesa and I had chosen, the main floor of the food court looked like a sea of moving bodies. I glanced at our buzzer. The ladies at the pizza place gave us a buzzer that would go off, signalling that our pizza was ready to collect. It hadn't gone off yet and Raeesa was getting a bit impatient. "How long more?" She whined, "I'm starving Aamirah." My bestie sounded as if she was dying. I struggled to supress a laugh before checking my phone.

"Mrs. Abdul said it would take about 15 minutes. Just chill." I smirked and put my phone back into my satchel. Raeesa was clearly annoyed. She tended to get like this when she was hungry, especially when pizza was on the way.

"So... Aamirah, what was it that was on your mind yesterday? You seemed very tensed up for after school and especially for after mid-year exams." Raeesa leaned closer to me and reminded me of a therapist: always ready to listen and give good advice.

"If you must know," I began, only a little reluctantly, "Rubina stopped me to talk about-"

"Rubina? Stopped you? Wow..." I paused for Raeesa to take this tiny bit of "shocking" information.

That's exactly why I was reluctant to talk.

"Yes, Rubina Omar. Anyway, she told me that Aunty and Uncle-"

"Oh, how are Husna and Ismail?" Raeesa squealed in delight at the mention of my awesome aunt and uncle. I rested my head on my arms and waited, once again. "Oh, yeah, sorry, go on..." After giving me a sheepish glance, Raeesa Moolla finally shut up.

"Are you done?" My face was as straight as a pin.

"Yeah. I'm done." I rolled my eyes. Best friends could really be a pain in the ass but you had to love 'em anyway. I told Raeesa the whole story about how Rubina was planning to throw a house party when her parents leave for Everson and how Aunt Husna and Uncle Ismail are putting me incharge of the house till they get back. Raeesa's eyes widened and she looked as if she wanted to give her input at the mention of Rubina's house party but let me finish speaking anyway, for once. "O. M. G... How on earth are you gonna control that house party? And if you try and stop Rubina she will-"

*beep beep*

The buzzer went off. After an earlier game of ching chong cha, it was decided that I was going to be collecting the pizza. I arrived at the landing of the stairs and paced towards The Halal Pizza Place. Mrs. Abdul was a tall lady with tiny black eyes and wrinkles that showed a lifetime's worth of smiling. A plain black hijab covered Mrs. Abdul's hair. Her uniform of loose pants and a long-sleeved top was stark white and immaculate. I gave her mine and Raeesa's receipt and buzzer before thanking her for our pizza before saying goodbye and making my way back to our table. The pizza box was warm against the palms of my hands. Thai chicken was my favourite flavour. It was sweet and sour and not over spicy.

"Bismillah..." Raeesa and I began to eat our pizza and continued our talk about Rubina.

"So, let me get this straight..." I waited as Raeesa paused to chew her food, "How on earth are you gonna keep the peace and the house in one piece, see what I just did there? When... Rubina will throw that party and probably ruin everything to make you look bad..." I rolled my eyes at Raeesa's pun and took a moment to digest what my best friend just told me. I honestly had no idea what to do besides tell Aunty and Uncle about their daughter's plans.

"I know this is probably going to make Rubina hate me even more than she already does... But I'm doing to tell Aunty and Uncle about her plans to have a party. I can't let her ruin the house and everything that her parents worked so hard for, Raeesa. I'm just worried about that. Besides, I don't want to get into trouble for Rubina being irresponsible."

"Hmmm... Yeah, I think that's the best thing to do. Show your aunt and uncle that you're responsible from now. At least they'll be able to stop a distaster from happening."

"You're right. Thanks Raeesa." I smiled and continued to eat my pizza. I felt nervous about having to sell Rubina out...

But it had to be done.

🔴🔵🔴🔵🔴🔵🔴🔵🔴🔵🔴🔵🔴

●DEFINITIONS●

-Bismillah/bɪsˈmɪlə/exclamation
In the name of God (an invocation used by Muslims at the beginning of an undertaking.