Chapter 3

Neha

@SurrealFantasy

"You have to meet him at least."

Not again. I groaned internally and externally as these words left her mouth. "I already told you I wasn't interested," I replied, ignoring the look of displeasure appearing on her usually calm face. "This is the third time I'm negating Mom." I continued.

My mother puffed up and went red in the face, all the while muttering something incomprehensible under her breath. Now for those who are wondering let me enlighten you about this conversation. This scene has been happening for almost once every three days since I turned fifteen and just for your knowledge, I turned fifteen a few months ago. And each time it is about the same old topic with the same results – She would lecture me about how I was a "growing woman" who needed to "see the world" and by that she means find a pretty boy and hook up, okay not exactly that but, to find a guy for myself; then she would suggest a guy and try to get me to meet him, I would refuse and she would burst. Now it was so habitual, that everyone around me knows how this cycle works. I think my mother does too, but is far too much in denial to accept that one of her only daughters is not at all interested in dating anyone. No I am not lesbian or anything, I am simply not interested in "hooking up" with anyone right now. Not that it matters, because even if the case was not the same as now, I really don't think anyone in their sane senses would date me.

Why? That's another story.

My mother's car came to a halt and I looked around to see that we were home. My mother usually picks me up from school while coming back from work for three days every week when I stay at school for the extra clubs and sports. And on every such occasion we have this awkward conversation.

"Payton, you know I just want the best for you, don't you?," my mother asked quietly and sighed for like the thousandth time that day. As I looked up at her face, I noticed that she had the same defeated look on her face as always. I nodded and kissed her cheek after giving her small smile, and got off the car. Walking up the porch stairs, I rang the doorbell only to find the door already open and as I went in, I heard my mother shout at everyone inside for being careless enough the leave the front door open for burglars and murderers. When her rant subsided, I heard grunts of "Yeah Mom," come from all the directions but saw no one out front. I made my way upstairs to my room, bouncing basketballs, flying clothes and pencils and closed the door. The house was noisy as usual, even when I came out of my room after a shower. It wasn't for long though, 'cause as I made my way to the kitchen, my mother's voice rang around the house "Dinner's ready." Her normally loud voice, magnified by decibels by the speakers around the house – yes, we have speakers- pierced through my ears and shielding my ears with my hands to avoid permanent deafness, I made my way to the kitchen counter and started placing the dishes on the table. Soon, my mother and I were placing the dishes while my family members started arriving from the various spots in the house. Philip began helping us not before messing up my hair and asking me "Howdayya do lil sis?" He's all for "cool dude" language these days. I gave him a mock smile, elbowed him in the ribs and placed the dish I had in my hand in his free one before making my way to mu usual chair. In about two minutes all the chairs at the dining table filled in with noise all the way which subsided once my mother coughed loud enough for everyone to look at her.

"It's your turn to do the dishes today Tyler" she announced looking at him while he sighed and retaliated.

"But Mom, I did it like four days ago" he said, "Colin is yet to do it this week" he added whining.

"Heyy! I did the laundry last week. I'm done" was Colin's quick reply.

"Yeah. That's the reason my varsity basketball t-shirt is pink now" Aaron said while Tyler and I sniggered. We had actually seen him wearing the t-shirt which is supposed to be white, black and red but was now a weird shade of pink to practice today and his team-mates had ragged him about it and his girlfriend had actually asked him if he was still interested in her or needed another 'guy.' I'm going to ask Aaron to dump that sorry-excuse-for-a-human as soon as possible, even if I know that he would tell me to chuck out of his business. I want him to dump her because anyone who thinks that gay people walk and talk pink is an airhead but seeing that they are always snogging each other in the corridors, it is highly unlikely. My mother raised her voice again, once everyone was out of control and as surprising as it may seem to a stranger, everyone settled down.

"Tyler, you will do the dishes tonight" she said again with a sense of finality in her voice and while Tyler looked pissed, he quietly looked towards his plate and started eating. I feel sorry for him. Not only because he is closest sibling, but also because it's exhausting to clear off dishes of ten people.

Yes. Ten people.

As odd as it may sound, I have ten siblings. And if it wasn't enough to have ten siblings, nine of them are boys. And as a cherry on the top, I am the youngest. Yeah, bless my soul.

Let me introduce you to my crazy humongous family. My parents own a diner near the town hall and several cafes around the state. The business is good and although we aren't really "rich" I think if my parents would have actually counted the number of kids they have and adopted some kind of planning system, they would have been quite rich. Anyhow, moving along, the eldest one in the family is Hallie, the only sister I have. She's twenty-five and currently lives with her fiance of six months Oliver. A journalist by profession, she went to college as an average girl, only to finish with a boyfriend, red hair and a poodle as a pet. Yep, none of the changes go together but well, that's what Hallie is. Loud, boisterous with a huge friendly smile and a soothing aura around her, despite of her personality, I am not really close to her, but sometimes, she's just what I need to gang up against the nine brothers I have. I still miss her around the house, but as selfish as it may sound, one less person, means a little more space in the house.

The second one is Kyle. He's the responsible, serious and mature twenty-three year old who like my mother says, "needs to calm down" or like Colin says, "needs to get a life." It's the perspective really. My mother says that after our father dies, being the oldest guy of the family, Kyle took it hard upon himself and feels that we are all his responsibility, although we all know that my mom is the backbone and the one to rely on. Anyway, he is one of the only one except me, who my mother is trying to "foster into a relationship." And oh yeah, he is interning at a law firm here, he's a lawyer.

Then come Michael or and Dylan, the first pair of twins. They're twenty-one and the real-life tale of Fred and George Weasley. They're extremely close, complete each others' sentences and have a knack for mischief. According to my mother they were the most difficult to bring up and coming from someone who brought up eleven kids, that's saying something. They are both currently studying at UCLA and have steady girlfriends, both of whom 'I approve'.

The fifth kid in the house is Colin pr Cole who is twenty and goes to UCLA too. He is the flirt with no tendency whatsoever to do anything which doesn't include the work "girl" in it. Pun intended. For those who got it, thumbs up, for those who didn't well, you're still a kid then. Anyway, he intends on becoming a musician and I think he'll do well because well, I'm his sister and I've heard him play in the next room for several years. And his looks don't hurt him either, and with his personality being thoroughly charming and flirtatious, I guess he's the next star on the block. I get along with him, though we are usually on loggerheads because of his stupid womanizing ways!

Next are the threesome. Yeah, we have triplets in the family too. Nathan, Ethan and Philip. They are all nineteen and as different as my mother's cookies and Colin's. Nathan or Nate is the official nerd of the family, being the valedictorian in his grade and getting into Princeton and Harvard with scholarships and he ended up going to Harvard. My mother's extremely proud needless to say, but each of us was indefinably sad too. Nate was the first one to actually leave LA and home to go off to college and I still remember the day at the airport. The airport officials were baffled to see such a huge procession to drop off a single person. Ethan, on the other hand, ended up going to a community college and dropping out midway through the first year, must to my mother's shock, and auditioning for a play. Surprisingly for all of us, he got selected and it turned out that none of us had realized that Ethan was the next big actor! Until now, he has done several plays and stuff, and plans on becoming a Broadway artist. Philip or Phil is another story altogether. He's the basketball guy of the family and for me a dolt. Mom says it's just one of his phases, this "I-am-too-cool-for-the-world" thing he has going on, but according to me, he is simply and eternally in the "My-ego-is-bigger-than-my-ass" phase. Well, we are on permanent teasing and fighting modes.

Then in line is another pair of twins, Tyler and Aaron. Aaron is the jock, while Tyler is the nerd, though not as big as Nate. Aaron is loud while Tyler is sober. Aaron dates every other girl in school, left, right and center while Tyler has had only three girlfriends in high-school. In other words, they are chalk and cheese but extremely close. Call them telepathic and their friendship the weirdest thing on earth, but these two brothers of mine, both two years older than me and in their senior year at school, are extremely close to each other. And to me. Probably because of the less age-gap or something, they are my closest siblings and the only ones I can share stuff with. The others – erm..NO.

Oh, all of them have great genes to go with their personalities, giving them exceptionally good looks. People we know call our family the kind which can appear on the front cover of some family magazine. And we all know that's true. My family is almost the same in looks - blonde hair, except for Hallie who now has red hair, blue or green eyes like my mother and father respectively, a perfect body and figure.

All except for me.

Riddhima Payton Sanders.

From my name to my looks, I'm nothing like the entire Sanders family. I have black hair, brown eyes, a petite figure and a crazy name. As you may have guessed until now, I've been adopted. My mother adopted me after the death of her husband, or my father now. All her kids were growing up, with the youngest being two years old, and when the loneliness of the house began to scare her, what with kids hollering day in and day out before, she decided to adopt a child. The fortunate child being me. What everyone tells me is that I was merely two weeks when I was brought into the house and with me being having Asian features; my mother had named me Riddhima, a name someone Indian at the diner that day had suggested. But having Riddhima as my name meant that pronouncing it was almost impossible for my larger than imaginable family, and so I everyone including my family and people from school call me Payton, my middle name. Being adopted doesn't change anything though – I have the same rotating house duties, same curfew and the usual siblings are a pain in the butt drama.

Being the youngest and that too a girl does have its implications though. If you haven't noticed, I have ten brothers, almost all of them popular and built to take on every guy in school. That is the problem I mentioned in the beginning. My brothers, being the "sweet and protective" people they are, have threatened the entire school, if not the entire city, that coming near their baby sister means going back home without a single good bone in your body. So even if I do listen to my mother and find a guy to date, either of the two following options would occur – one, the guy would never have the guts to actually ask me out or two, if he does ask me out, he wouldn't see to see the next day. To keep both my brothers' anger and my heart in line, the best option I could find is – Stop looking around for guys and ignore Mom. She has no idea how it feels to have ten older brothers, all having graduated or studying at the same school with each being extremely popular and almost ruling the school.

After dinner, Aaron, Philip and Ethan went outside to play basketball in our court, Michael and Dylan went up to their shared bedroom, probably to cook up something to trouble someone they hate or talk to their 'dearest girlfriends.' Kyle got a call and went to his room to talk to perhaps one of his work-clients and Colin started playing the huge piano near the fireplace on the top floor while Mom skyped with Nate. I on the other hand made my way to the kitchen and lent a hand to Tyler in doing the dishes, whose expression told me that he couldn't be more thankful.

I woke up the next morning around noon – I am not a morning person – and after a shower went down for brunch only to meet three of my ruckus making brothers already fighting over the waffles Mom was making.

"Good Morning Doll" Colin greeted and I replied with "Good Morning Jerk" to which he scowled and Aaron and Dylan sniggered. My mother simply rolled her eyes. I mean she has eleven kids, if she keeps telling us to behave with each other; she would have nothing else to do.

"I heard some guy called Lucas asked you out" he said as I took a seat near the kitchen counter and started on my breakfast and that was all was needed to straighten up the other two sitting there. "Who is he? The weird soccer player?" Aaron asked narrowing his eyes; "Is he seriously new in town?" Dylan wondered questioning his senses on asking me out; the final question was "Really? Is he a good guy?"- This was my mother who was the only one who looked pleased with this piece of information. Four pairs of eyes looked at her menacingly to which she narrowed her own eyes and began muttering like she usually does, going back to her cooking.

"I heard Amelia now has a new boyfriend" I replied cheerfully and Colin's mouth opened in shock. Amelia was one of his "friends with benefits" until a few weeks ago and one of the few I actually liked. But being the moron Cole is, he ended the "relationship" with her although we all know they harbored something more than a physical relationship between them. Anyway, Amelia now has a new guy and to make Colin see sense that his womanizing ways are useless, the green monster of jealousy is the best way.

After that, breakfast the usual mayhem where I had to dodge my brothers' questions about the new guy who had accidentally asked me the way to the boys' bathroom in school and ended up becoming a victim to my brothers' endless questions! I guess you can understand how powerful my older brothers are to have known about some random guy talking to me at school while they don't even go there. Again – Oh! My good Luck!

"Mum, I don't wanna!" I whined for the umpteenth while my mother simply nodded and went back to her folders.

"Seriously Ma, even I don't want to" Tyler said behind me. My mother looked pointedly at both of us and pointed towards the entrance of the house quietly.

"Maaa!" I whined yet again while Tyler huffed. "I don't want to drop Miss. Too Small to Drive and miss the NBA game" he offered while I shot daggers at him. Hey! It's not my fault that I am yet to turn sixteen.

"Pay and Ty – Shut up and leave now" Mom said and then looked at me – "Pay, I know you think it's a waste of time, but I just want you to feel close to who really are" she continued looking at me with a small smile. Before I could respond a voice cut through us, "She's a Sanders' girl Mom. That's it" Dylan said wrapping his arms around my shoulder. Aww. Sometimes my brothers are adorable. I wrapped my arms around his midsection with great difficulty being really small and him being tall and stuff and looked up to me and offered him a sweet smile which takes ages to appear between my brothers, all of them being morons at that.

My mother looked pleased and smiled, "I know she is, Dylan. But Pay, I want you to accept where you come from and this is good way." Before I could retaliate, this time I was cut off by my mother herself, "If you go today I'll extend your curfew by an hour this weekend" she offered.

I thought for a second and finally agreed, unwrapping my arms from around Dylan and pulling Tyler with the collar of his shirt, made my way towards the door, with Tyler falling behind me.

"What do I get for taking this trouble there?" he questioned grudgingly straightening his collar and looking at me angrily. I simply shrugged and replied nonchalantly, "I have no problem whatsoever in asking Julian for a ride" waiting for his outburst. Soon enough Tyler looked suddenly awake and said, "Oh no. You don't. Sit down in the car already," and took the driver's seat. I smiled inwardly, 'Ah! The benefits of knowing your brothers' weaknesses.'

And for those who haven't quite had an idea about what this fuss is all about, let me explain. Today, that is the first day of summer break is also the first day of my 'culture classes.' My mother has this persistent need to make me feel closer to the roots I really have – she made me join Indian Classical Dance classes, Kathak, when I was six, I also took ballet classes though; every Saturday she cooks Indian food, and because it's a treat for my brothers, so they never complain; and takes me to a nearby temple once every two weeks, though no one knows if my birth parents were Hindu or not, but she likes to believe so. If all of this wasn't enough, she's now enrolled me into 'Know your Culture' classes for the summer. I seriously don't get her – I tried to understand her as a kid, fought with her, but after a scrumptious Chicken curry on fine day, my brothers begged me to shut my mouth and go with the flow. So yeah, my brothers pay me ten bucks each to keep my mouth closed and honestly, now I'm rich and get to eat delicious food, "I'm THE shit!"

This is my life. The brainiac, probably another Nate of the family, the outlier with nothing similar to my family, the chirpy blabbermouth who is afraid of love, the average girl from a huge family, overprotected by brothers who were more in number than an entire army – that WAS my life.

I was simple average Riddhima Payton Sanders, the only girl in a madhouse of young guys, with insanity all around her. Until he showed up. I was craving for sanity in the crazy large family of mine and suddenly he came as a reply to all my questions, taking me nearer to the sanity I always desired.