The Secret I Tried to Keep

Prologue

(Chandria in media.)

Chandria's POV:

"Chandria! Dinner!" My mother called up in her thick Indian accent. I sighed and looked away from my notebook. I pushed my thick black hair behind my ear and shut my notebook, hiding it back in my underwear drawer. It's stupid really, but if my parents ever found out I was writing music, I would be grounded until I graduated with my doctrine in some sort of medical field.

"Coming!" I yelled back. I took my glasses off and made the short trip down the stairs to the kitchen table. My whole family was already there waiting on me. My parents believed in eating together every night. There was my mother, Behti, my father, Shangesh, my 16 year old sister, Daari, my 14 year old brother, Raj, and my 8 year old sister, Dali. And I was stuck as the second oldest at 18 years old. I had an older sister named Fehtra, but she moved out years ago. She actually was a doctor now, and married to a really nice guy named Ben. She was 28 years old.

"How was school?" My father asked after we began eating.

"I got an A on my spelling test," Dali chimed in.

"My science teacher said I would be a shoe-in for the internship at Terlup Hospital next semester," Daari said.

"I joined the decathlon today, so I'm going to have to start going to practices after school," Raj said with a mouth full of food. I stayed silent as my family's eyes turned to me.

"I got an A in History on a test," I offered. It seemed good enough, but only for now.

See, when my parents ask 'how was your day', they really mean 'how are your grades'. It was always the same. Get good grades, make good friends, go to a good school. Everything in the Shandi household was just...

Good.