My Choice

Chapter 1

Chapter 1:

         I considered myself completely normal, perfectly ordinary. Just a normal girl attending an ordinary public school in a suburban community with a conventional family of two parents and a younger brother. And as I gazed myself in the mirror that morning, nothing was different. Black hair, brown eyes, and naturally tanned skin that left no doubt as to my Indian background. Stretching my sweater to make sure it covered my elbows, I opened the bathroom door, which my ten-year old brother, Akash, had been banging on for the last ten minutes.

            “Finally!” he exclaimed, “You take so damn long in the bathroom Ang.”

            Not bothering to answer his daily complaint, I went towards my room to grab my shoes and backpack. My dad only had a couple rules when it came to my appearance, and I thought them reasonable enough to follow. My upper body always had to be covered from my neck to my elbows, and my legs had to be covered almost completely, till a little above my ankle. I couldn’t dye or cut my hair in any way besides a trim, and I was allowed no tattoos or body piercings besides my ears. And I had to wear proper shoes to school; heels were only for special occasions like wedding or parties.

            I had no problem with any of these rules. I had no desire to display more skin than necessary at school; I was a bit traditional in the fact that I agreed with my dad’s opinion that my body should be shown to no other male than my husband. I loved my dark and wavy hair that fell to a little past my waist; I felt no inclination to change it in any way. Tattoos, oh no, definitely not for me. I preferred my pain-free, temporary henna tattoos, thank you very much. I had no idea why anyone would decide to permanently ink their body with something. Nor did I understand the purpose of wearing heels to school. I mean, we’re there to learn, not to parade around in a mini skirt and heels. I was perfectly fine with wearing those death traps only when necessary at parties. I was clumsy enough as it is, and –

            “Anjali Sharma! You’re going to miss the bus again, and I am not driving you to school thirty minutes away today! I have a meeting with your brother’s teacher,” shouted my mom, pulling me out of my reverie.

            “Coming mom!” I replied, grabbing my bag and running out of my room. I grabbed an apple from the table and bolted out the front door. I could see my bus pulling up to the stop at the end of the street, and I began sprinting towards it. Making it just as the last student in line was entering, I gasped in and out, trying to steady my breathing, which was uneven just from that short run. It was sad; I was relatively normal in terms of weight, 5’7’’ and 140 pounds, but I was hopeless when it came to endurance. I had speed, which came in handy when I was late for the bus every day, but unfortunately, I could only keep up my pace for like thirty seconds. I would be the first to die if I was running from a kidnapper…

            Anyways…I boarded my ugly yellow school bus and took one of the last empty seats, putting my head phones in in preparation for the forty-minute bus ride. I loved high school because of the new challenge in brought in learning, my AP classes being hugely different from middle school, but I hated that it was so far from my house. It was the only high school in my city though, so I really had no choice. The combined elementary and middle school was only ten minutes from my house, making my earlier years much easier.

            I pulled last night’s pre-calculus homework problems from my backpack, checking them over one more time for errors. I had only turned fifteen a couple of months ago, but I was taking pre-calculus as a sophomore because I had chosen to take both geometry and algebra II together as a freshman. I was the only sophomore in my classes; the others were at least a year older if not two, but that was how I liked it. Not having anyone from my grade level in the class ensured that I knew practically no one in that class, increasing my ability to focus on the teacher. I firmly believed that school was for learning only and not for socializing with friends like it had become in this generation.