Routine

A Chapter by Sharmina

Chapter 3, Will

Routine

That day after the bus stop when I first saw Priya lay with me for a long time, I didn't see her again for a while. After that, my life pretty much fell into a routine: Wake up, go sixth form, get tortured, come home, eat, sleep and all over again. Parties were still held on and I was still forced to go. It's not that I didn't enjoy going but I didn't see the satisfaction in getting hopelessly drunk EVERY WEEKEND. I mean, once in a while sure why not but every week? You're just asking for liver failure really. And besides, mum wasn't too thrilled about it either, her being the single parent meant she didn't have enough time to spend with me because she was too busy making sure I had a roof over my head. I took it upon myself to teach myself the basic rules. When there wasn't parties being held, I made sure I kept up with my studies. I was too determined to make sure my life didn't fall apart like my parents: They met early and married young, no further education past 16 and this is their life. If that wasn't enough to motivate me, nothing would. My hopes weren't too high, I wasn't wanting to do Medicine or Law but Economics, if A level was anything to go by maybe I'd stand a chance. Focusing in class was difficult, all my friends had coincidentally chose the same subject and they messed around. It all comes back to reputation, if I didn't join in with them then I'd be mocked even more than I am now. It sounds stupid and childish but it had to be done, I got the consequences at home though: I was forced to make up for it later. I had all resources, what I needed though was the concentration and pure dedication.

A week before my Economics test, my best mate Ali phoned me begging me to accompany him to his Uncle's wedding. I knew a little about his family, enough to make me stay away from them. They were crazy big, they were one extended family living in the same house: Uncles, aunts, nephews, nieces all of them. I went once, and I was stared at like I was from another planet and I just couldn't understand their way of living. Whatever job the oldest uncle has, your fate was essentially sealed. It didn't matter about what you wanted or what you were good at. Nada. And one time I brought up the subject of a girl. That was probably the wrong move. I didn't think they'd have such a problem with it, here's how it went anyways:

"Oh Ali, did you see that lass, Monica? Her legs just go on and on!" Needless to say he turned bright red (well as red as Asians go) and started crazily shaking his head giving me all these weird signals we had never used before. I scrunched my face trying to make sense of what he was trying to say but to no avail.

"Ali does not free mix with the opposite gender. Unmarried girls are not spoken about in this house, especially in such a crude manner." That was the eldest granddad. He had eyes of flaming fire and I had enough common sense to not respond back. It was my turn to go tomato red. Except a few seconds later, I began to snort heavily because of what he said. Not free mixing with the opposite gender? Has he met Ali? All he does is practice bad pick up lines on girls and never succeed.

Well one major benefit of being friends with Ali is the food. Asian food is like a firework being set alight. It's explosive and hot. But also very delicious. I had my first pakoda at the age of 15 and I loved it. Ok, I admit I did a Usain Bolt and zoomed to the kitchen for water but it was exhilarating. A party in your mouth. I got laughed at by his family members because for them it was like saltwater, nothing. They were eating them, two even three at a time with no water needed. They were nice enough to let me take extra food home and me and mum feasted that night.

Anyways, that's Ali and his life. So he rang me and asked, and I groaned because I hated weddings in general. They were too long and you had to wait absolutely ages for the food and even the the bride and groom had to have them first. But they always take the mick because they start crying and it's just irritating. From past conversations, I knew Asian weddings were 10x bigger, but then he started to bribe me with free food and unlimited portions. I grudgingly accepted and told him that if people kept staring at me for him to allow me to stick my finger up at them.

That was the second time I saw Priya.

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