I woke up with a beautiful sun this morning. birds chirping and flowers blumming. But with May fumming. She wa knocking hard on my door and I just wanted to ignore her. "I know you're in there, Mariam. Open up!" She yelled at me. "Nobody's in here." I told her. I could tell she was fumming mad. "I know you took my lipstick Mariam!" I sighed and opened my door. I stared at her, not caring one little bit about her lipstick because I didn't take it. She, on the other hand was raving mad. "Turn around." I told her. As she turned around, we both saw Tala dressed up in a pink dress up gown with a pink plastic tiara and a sash. And to top it all off, she had May's Very Pink Berry lipstick. Tala turned to face May and I. "What? I just wanted to play dress up." May was now at the last point. She charged at Tala and picked her off the ground, screaming at her. I chuckled. Alhamdulallah, Baba came at the right time to stop them. I headed downstairs to see Mama cooking eggs for us. Poor Mama! She was always in the kitchen. Either cooking or cleaning. I thought. I headed over to help her clean dishes. "Sabah el ful! How is your morning?" She asked me. Sabah el ful means 'Morning of Sampaguita and Jasmin' and is a phrase many Arab countries use. "Great, Alhamdulallah. I thought I'd come and help you out. You look so tired." I told her. She carassed my hair, slowly and gave me a kiss on the cheek. I was so lucky to have this amazing women as my Mama. What a gift from Allah! "Hey Mama! Hey Mariam. Let me help get the bread out and plates. I'll also take the salad out from last night." Mohamed said as he dashed past us. Mama and I looked at eachother in confusion and then laughed it off. "Hey what's the rush?" I asked him. "I'm going to my friend Kareem's house. He lives in the neighborhood. And it's his birthday today so I wanna hangout with him today. Is that okay Mama?" He asked nervously. After he said Kareem's name I instantly started to blush. "Ok just don't be back late." Mama started. "Mariam are you ok? You look a little sick. Do you need to go to the doctor?" She asked me. "No! I mean no thank you I feel great Mama. Just excited to go to Kareema's house." I told my mom. Mohamed smirked at me. I gulped down hard, I couldn't take the lump in my throught. "Hey Mariam?" He started. I nodded. "Isn't Kareem Kareema's big brother?" I nodded again. He stopped smirking. "Well Mohamed if you could, can you please drive Mariam to their house with you?" Mama asked. He nodded and even added a, "With pleasure." I headed upstairs to get dressed. Yesterday, Kareema texted us and said to come to her house tomorrow. She had a secret to tell us. But only Dalia and I could make it because Raya had Quran reading lessons. Baba's trying to sign us up for it. As I was about to step into my room, May stopped me. "Hey Mariam. I'm sorry that I blamed you for taking my lipstick. And don't worry, Baba didn't tell me to come tell you this...I decided to tell you myself because it was wrong of my to blame you. Sorry it's a habit. Can we just please start over Mariam?" May asked me. Wow that hit me big. I didn't know she'd actually appologize herself. She must really mean it if she's saying it without Baba or Mama having to tell her. "It's ok May. And I'm sorry too if I was ever rude or mean to you." I told her and nodded. "Yea you should be." She said, rudly and cackeled off. What?! I thought she actually meant it! I went to my room and slammed the door shut. I didn't want to have to worry about May. I was so upset and hurt. I thought she meant it! I put my purple hoodie and black jeans on. "Mariam! You forgot your Hijab." Tala told me as I was about to head out. Thank God I didn't go outside yet. "I picked it out for you to match your hoodie." She added. I smiled at her and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "I love you Tala. See you soon." I told her. "Hurry up! We'll be late." Mohamed screamed to me from the car window. I rolled my eyes and hopped into shotgun, the front seat beside the driver's seat.

Knock knock knock!

After three knocks, Kareem opened the door. He was dressed in a navy blue wind breaker, white jeans and Nike Air Force 1 shoes. "Alsalamualakum." He greeted us. "Waalakumalsalaam." Mohamed and I greeted back. "Is Kareema here?" I added. Kareem nodded. "Yes. She's in her room. First door to the right." Kareem answered. Very casual conversation but that's all I should have excpected. I just want to make sure I keep it Halal 'allowed in Islam' so that nothing Haram 'forbidden in Islam' goes on. Kareem told me he'd come back and pick me up in about an hour. I walked into the house and saw Khalid, Kanz and their mother. She looked at me, brightly. "Alsalamualakum! You must be Kareema's friend. Oh and please, call me Khalty Jameela." Khalty means 'Auntie' in Arabic. We use that word a lot in Sudanese and Egyptian Arabic dialect. "Salam Khalty Jameela. My name is Mariam. And Salam to you too Kanz and Khalid." Kanz and Khalid came and gave me a hug so I hugged them back. I knew this day was going to be very fun, Inshallah.

After twenty minutes of talking about our plans for March break with Dalia and Kareema, Kareema had to tell us a secret. "So um...You guys won't tell anyone will you?" She asked us.