Chapter 1

Meet Anju.
She enjoys singing, exercising, and helping her parents.

Both her mother and father are immigrants from India, and run a strict, orderly household. They expect a lot out of Anju; she maintains a 4.0 GPA and is also responsible for most of the household chores. While Anju knows they have her best interest at heart, what she wants most is to be like the other teenagers at school. She has no time for friends, has never been on a date, or any of the typical teenager things. It's pointless anyway. It has already been decided that once Anju graduates, they will return to India, where Anju had an arranged marriage to someone she hadn't ever met. She thought it was unfair, everyone in America got to fall in love and choose whom they married, why shouldn't she?

Anju sighed as she prepared dinner for her family. Her mother was resting and, as usual, her father was busy with paperwork from the lab. She had already cleaned the house for the week, on top of her honors homework from school. 'This is so stupid! I should be out with friends on a Saturday afternoon, not being responsible for my family.' It wasn't that she took her family for granted, or even slightly disrespected her parents, they had worked hard to come to America and to support her. The lived a relatively simple life as well, Anju wasn't spoiled. 'I mustn't think badly of them, they know what's best for me...' However, she felt she deserved a break. She hadn't left the house except for school in at least a month.


Anju's parents were getting older. Anju was the second child of theirs, but her older brother had died when he was young. Heartbroken, they had waited several years to have another child. Anju's mother had become brittle and sickly, and usually lied around the house instructing Anju what to do. One of the fews times she left the bed was for her daughter's weekly bridal lessons. After dinner that night, Anju asked why she had to take the horrible lessons. "Mother, they aren't even helpful!"

"It's customary for brides to know how to best please their husbands! After all, you wouldn't want to disappoint him in your cooking or cleaning." Her mother insisted.

"Mother, that's in India! We're in America, why can't we remain here?" Anju almost never argued, she learned her lesson as a child. Her parents weren't abusive, they did firmly believe in hitting children to knock sense into them though. Perhaps it was because she had been cooped up for several weeks that Anju had decided to pick this fight.

"Anju! You should be grateful that you are already arranged in a fine marriage! Balan has grown up to be a fine upstanding boy!"


"Mother, we've been over this! I dont' want to marry him! I want to choose who I marry." Anju groaned in frustration.Why couldn't her mother see it as she did?

"That's it. You've gone and filled your head with these silly American ideas! Anjali, you are not American. You are Indian and as such you have a duty to your heritage and family! Girls over here can run around with whomever they want, but you are to respect our wishes. Perhaps we should return to India sooner than expected. You have become ungrateful." Ginga, Anju's mother, slapped her daughter, causing Anju to stumble backwards. Her mother took a deep breath before making her way back to her bedroom to lie back down.


Anju slunk to the floor, fighting back tears. 'I should have kept my mouth shut...Now look what I've done.'

I got this up sooner than expected as my computer cooperated with me today :] That's it for chapter one!

-Olivia