“Sure you may, young lady. What size? GM, MM or PM?”

“PM, please,” Taryn responded.

The man pulled open a sliding drawer underneath a glass case full of wallets, belts, sunglasses and other LV accessories. He unwrapped the tan dust bag and handed her the canvas-monogrammed bag.

“OMG! Is this not the most amazing bag you’ve ever seen?” Taryn said, looking at the girls.

“Love that bag!” Jen said with a smile. “I want the Speedy 35 though.”

“I think I’m going to get it!” Taryn said whimsically to the girls, then looked back at the salesman. “How much is it again?”

“The PM bag sells for $770,” he replied.

Rachel watched as Taryn looked at the girls for encouragement.

“Get it— you’ve been wanting it for a while,” Emily said.

“If you love it buy it. It’s a classic!” Jen said.

“You’re right guys,” Taryn said.

“OK, I’ll take it,” Taryn said to the salesman, as she handed him back the bag to wrap.

Rachel couldn’t believe her eyes. Taryn was taking out her parent’s credit card to charge seven hundred and seventy dollars. This was insane. She thought for a moment about what would happen if she’d spent that kind of money on her parent’s credit card. She would be punished for life and cut off forever. She had not been brought up to spend frivolously, and she respected that. Rachel was in shock that none of the girls even thought twice about the amount of that bag or the amount of money being charged on the credit card.

“That will be $850 with tax,” the sales man said as he reached for her card. Taryn looked at the girls and giggled! “I’m so excited! I finally have my LV!”

Taryn signed for her purchase and they all left the store, excited and happy.

Rachel spotted the Gap and said, “Hey guys, can we pop into the Gap for a minute?”

The girls looked at Rachel, “The Gap?”

Rachel instantly felt ashamed. Was the Gap not cool in Westchester?

“I don’t want to go into the Gap, but I’ll be next door in Victoria Secret,” Emily said.

“OK,” Rachel said with a smile. “I’ll just meet you guys there then.”

As Rachel entered the Gap, she suddenly felt a sense of calm rush over her body. She quickly reached for a sweater to check the price tag. She wondered if the Gap in the Westchester Mall had the same prices as in Pennsylvania, and to her luck they were the exact same. Phew, she thought to herself.

She browsed the button-down shirts and t-shirts, but didn’t find anything that jumped out to her. Then she spotted the cutest scarf and hat set. They were red and had a woven thread of silver sparkly material intertwined in them. They were on the sale rack for eight dollars, so she couldn’t let this deal pass. She picked up the hat and scarf, tried them on and walked over to the mirror to see how she looked.

Perfect! She thought. She got on line to buy the hat and scarf, and was surprised to see how busy the Gap was. The line to pay was rather long and she’d been standing there five minutes already. She looked up ahead of her to see why the line was taking so long. Then, all of a sudden she heard a familiar voice.

“I thought this was on sale?” Rachel heard the woman say.

“No, this item is not on sale ma’am. I told you already, if you want this blouse, it is full price.”

“But look, it says sale,” the woman answered.

Rachel couldn’t believe her eyes. Was her mother really in front of her, arguing with the cashier at the Gap? What were the chances? How unlucky could she possibly be?

Rachel didn’t know whether to hide, or run from the store. For a moment, she just stood there, frozen in fear, hoping her Mom would leave. But she didn’t. Her Mom stood there, arguing for what felt like another hour. Rachel was panicked and didn’t know what to do. She finally decided to hide.

She dropped her hat, and ran to the back of the store.

As she did, all of a sudden she heard her mom’s voice coming closer and closer to the back of the store, in search of the manager. Rachel was stuck. There was nowhere for her to go except to hide. She jumped behind a rack of hanging men’s sweaters and sat there, peeking out of the clothes.

“Excuse me, this shirt is supposed to be on sale. I took it off the sale rack, and the cashier won’t give me the sale price.”

“I’m sorry for the confusion ma’am, we will get this all sorted out.”

Rachel held her breath, trying not to move. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, she watched her mom pay and exit the store.

Rachel exhaled, relieved. That was way too close of a call.

Now she had to figure out her exit plan: she was still worried that her mom could catch her in the mall. This reminded her that it was almost time to leave. She pressed the Indiglo button on her watch and it lit up 4:05PM. If she didn’t leave soon, she was going to be late.

As she sat there behind all the sweaters, her cell phone began to ring. She quickly pulled it out of her pocket to turn off the volume and looked down at the caller ID.

MOM CALLING

She hoped her mom wasn’t still in the Gap. She couldn’t see or hear her, so she figured the coast was clear. She climbed out from behind the sweater rack, stood up and brushed herself off. She gave a quick look around the store and realized her mother had gone.

“Hi Mom, What’s up?”

“Hi Sweetie, you ready to get picked up now?”

“Um, almost, I need about twenty more minutes.”

“Ok, I’m just leaving the mall, I should be there shortly.”

“See ya soon!”

Rachel was now screwed. How was she ever going to beat her mom back to AHS and make it into the building before she arrived?

Chapter Eleven

Rachel scurried out of the Gap, and ran into Victoria’s Secret. She grabbed Taryn by the arm and said, “Hurry, I need to go— my mom’s on her way to get me from school. I told her I was staying for extra help because I’m grounded, so I need to get back there before she does.”

“Whoa!” said Taryn. “What are you talking about?”

“I’m grounded. I had to lie to get out of the house. My mom doesn’t know I’m here,” Rachel said, out of breath. “We have to go now!”

“OK! Girls, let’s go, quickly!” Taryn said. “We have to get Rachel back to school.”

The six girls rushed out of the mall quicker than ever and jumped into the car. Taryn backed out of the parking space quickly, almost hitting a white Range Rover parked behind her. Rachel sat in the back, and kept a look out for her mom’s station wagon.

“Why are you grounded, Rach?” asked Liv.

“Because of the newspaper article, and the fight. My parents just don’t trust me anymore.”

“Wow,” Liv said. “They’re tough.”

“You have no idea!” Rachel said.

“So does this mean you can’t come to the movies later?” asked Jen.

“I’m going to try. I need to see how the night goes. If I can sneak out, I will!”

“You’re so cool,” said Taryn, as she sped down the highway and on to Route 22.

As they headed off the exit, Rachel spotted her mom’s station wagon cruising along.

“That’s my mom, hurry!” shouted Rachel, pointing to her mom’s car.

“Don’t worry, I have an eight cylinder engine—, I’ll beat her before it turns into a one lane road.”

Rachel sat in the back seat and watched as Taryn weaved in and out of cars. Her mom’s car was two cars ahead, and the road narrowed in approximately one mile. Rachel knew if they didn’t make the stoplight, she would surely get caught.

The light turned green in the distance and Rachel held her breath and closed her eyes. She couldn’t watch anymore, she was getting too anxious. She felt the car accelerate and the girls all screamed “Wahoo!”

Rachel was so nervous, she began to sweat. She couldn’t bear to think about what would happen to her if she pulled up at the same time as her mother, or right after her, for that matter. She tried to devise a plan for what to do if that happened. Even if she did beat her mom, she would only beat her by a minute, and she would have to quickly run into the building and then walk out again so her mom would think she was just leaving.

“We did it!” Taryn said as she passed Rachel’s mom on the left. Rachel opened her eyes and looked out the rear windshield. Much to her surprise, Taryn had managed to get five cars ahead of her mom.

“OMG, you’re amazing Taryn,” Rachel said. “You saved my life!”

As the car pulled into the driveway of the school, Taryn sped down and dropped Rachel at the side entrance. “Go in that way, and then come out the front,” Taryn said. “Your mom will never suspect anything.”

As Rachel jumped out and shut the car door behind her, her friends yelled, “Hope to see you tonight Rach! That was so fun!”

She didn’t look back. She ran quicker than she thought was physically possible in the side door of the school and through the hallways. Her cell phone was ringing with her mom’s name flashing on the screen. She knew her mom was out front waiting.

Rachel swung open the front door of the school, practically out of breath and walked out into the main parking lot where her mom was patiently waiting. Rachel took her time walking so she could catch her breath before getting in the car. She didn’t want to be suspicious.

As she walked up to her mom’s car, she could feel her mom staring at her. She hoped her mom didn’t suspect anything. As she entered the car, her mom said, “Hi Rachel, glad to see you being such a good student.”

Rachel couldn’t tell if she was being sarcastic or serious, but didn’t bother to question her. She sat silently in the car on the way home to avoid any conversation about her punishment, math help or anything else that her mom might bring up.

*

When Rachel walked into her house, she went right upstairs and into Sarah’s room. She knew she had to talk to her about tonight. As she climbed upstairs to her bedroom, she could hear Sarah singing Selena Gomez & The Scene’s Love You Like a Love Song. Surprisingly, Rachel liked that song and when she walked into her room she broke out into song with Sarah. The two smiled at each other and then finished the song singing loudly and dancing. They both laughed hysterically when it was over, and greeted each other with a hug.