Ananya's POV :

"Janvi, this is not an dish. It's an experience", Arjun declared like a Masterchef Australia judge on Monday morning as he helped himself to the Ravioli Bolognese that Janvi had taken the trouble to make.

Janvi was in my opinion - the perfect woman. She was beautiful, fit, intelligent, skilled, cool and very adept at her work.

My dad and Janvi had a huge age gap in between them and after both my paternal grandparents had died, Janvi had permanently moved in with us.

But a lot of people didn't really concur with my idea that Janvi was perfect. They had lot of problems with her.

Firstly, she was not a doctor like my parents, secondly she worked in a photography studio and most people didn't believe that it was even a real job, and finally she was almost twenty nine and still a spinster. And my parents who literally considered Janvi as their first child were desperately trying to get her married.

"Have some more then", Janvi said happily as she moved forward to place another helping of the pasta on Arjun's plate.

"No, don't fill their stomachs too much. They won't be able to walk to school after that", mom said.

"Why can't we drop them before going to the hospital?" dad asked.

"Because we are also late today", mom said stiffly.

"Because you overslept" I grinned.

"Because the alarm wasn't working" came the reply.

"I think you should seriously consider getting a driver to drive these three to school", Janvi said.

"No no, we can't have Pani Puri whenever we want if we get a driver", I protested.

"Mom, put Ananya on a diet" said Arjun "She's getting too big".

Mom ignored him and turned to Janvi "Having a driver is too pampery. I need my kids to know what the hard way is. Plus the school is hardly five minutes away from here."

"Absolutely. Why should they get used to unnecessary spoiling?" dad added.

This was the deal. Both mom and dad were strongly of the opinion, that there had to be discipline in the house and never endorsed spoiling.

"Janvi, next time you should experiment in the kitchen on a Sunday", said Arjun finishing up his pasta.

"Yes you do that" mom agreed, "I only let you cook today since Radhika ghosted me again and didn't turn up", Radhika was our househelp, "And I have these two Mars bars with me since yesterday", mom continued "Please finish them up before it melts completely and ruins my handbag. A patient gave it to me. Lot of them seem to forget that we have three children. Now who will eat these two?" she said her hand outstretched with two chocolatey Mars bars in them.

"I need one" Arjun said decidedly "Come on, I have a test in school in today".

In our house, the rule is simple : whoever has a test gets the best. It's quite stupid but very convenient when you're in twelfth grade.

"I have a test too" I argued.

Arav frowned "I don't".

So me and Arjun got the bars while Arav had to settle for Kellogg's Chocos Moons and Stars. He was not happy. Okay, Arav is a very obedient kid and stuff but still which eleven year old would not be pissed to see his two older siblings munch on chocolate bars while he was given a bowl of cornflakes?

He responded by shouting that his ID card was missing.

It took another fifteen minutes of search by six of us in the house, to find it. The heavy breakfast didn't help as we walked to school and reached late.

We had to run upto our class as our games teacher went on madly hooting his whistle in the background, indicating that the morning assembly bell was less than a minute away and we had to run.

"Jesus! My ears are bleeding. You'd think we were deaf!" I panted to Arjun as we hurried up the stairs "That guy drives me mad. I get the Olympics feel every morning."

We parted ways with Arav in the first floor corridor. Fortunately, our first period was Maths and our maths teacher, Rekha mam was always super sweet. She didn't berate us for being late. But she did give us an imposition

I spent the whole day clinging to the corner of my bench, trying to hide the bruise on my forehead which had turned a glorious yellow now. It was really difficult especially at the lab class. But somehow I managed to avoid too much embarassment.

Twelfth graders usually had an extra hour of special class after school. But today, we were given off. Arav had basketball practice, so me and Arjun chose to stay back and wait in our classroom as we wrote our Maths imposition, while Pooja hung with us. Pooja or 'Poo' was our best friend.

"Babe are you still watching Real Housewives of Beverly Hills?" Pooja asked me.

"Oh no! Please!" said Arjun "Don't talk about that right now. I don't understand why you girls are interested in those stupid shows".

"Sexist comment dude. Not appreciated," Pooja said.

"Come on, it actually aired a long time ago! It's no longer even famous. Plus you two are not housewives and you two are not in Beverly Hills. Why do you want to watch it?"

"Because it gives us an insight to the possible future lives that we may end up leading", I replied.

"Are you serious?" Arjun scoffed, "Who are you going to marry who'll live in Beverly Hills? Nick Jonas?"

"I'd love to but Priyanka Chopra won't allow it".

"You know, even guys should watch these shows. It might come in helpful at some point", Pooja said wisely.

"Speaking of helpful, I just remember I haven't completed my physics record yet. Poo, can I borrow your record to copy your readings?"

"I'm your friend Arjun", said Pooja, "And as your friend, I've got to be honest with you. I don't care about you or your problems. But still, I have an innocent little crush on you. So I'll give you my readings", she said.

"Ah!" Arjun sighed in relief "Thank God, I'm handsome".

I rolled my eyes.

"So I'll take your record from the class cupboard?" he asked.

Pooja nodded and Arjun went to take it.

"When will he learn to take his own readings if you give him yours now?" I shot at Pooja, "We have a lab class next week. He'll come there and fumble with the apparatus and then everybody will know he didn't take his own readings last time".

"Cut your brother, some slack" said Pooja "I'm sure he'll think of something. He's the king of wriggling out of trouble. How shall we go home?".

"I can't leave without finishing this imposition", I said "Rekha mam will kill me".

"Rekha mam will never kill anyone. She's super sweet. Come do it tomorrow", Pooja said, "Now let's go".

"No, Arav will be in the ground till five thirty, anyway. I'll have to wait", I said.

"Oh is it?" asked Pooja, slightly sadly "I was looking forward to see Arav today. I haven't seen him for a while now. You think I can go watch his practice?"

"Is there a member of my family you don't have a crush on?" I asked her.

"Yes, you" she said wryly.

"Okay but sometimes you have to help people even if you don't have a crush on them", I said matter-of-factly.

"What? You also want my readings?"

"Not readings. I want something else".

"What?" she asked.

"Listen" I said carefully "You know my brother is still having issues with that Farah girl".

"What?" asked Pooja looking confused at this sudden change of topic, "But I thought he had sorted that out?"

"When has my brother done anything, right?"

"What are you trying to say?".

"What I'm trying to say is this : why don't you start dating Arjun?" I asked Pooja.

"Oh no", said Pooja immediately, her expression changing "Don't even think about it."

"Why not?" I asked "See. The three of us are already friends. Wouldn't it be perfect if you two started dating as well? Plus you already know and like my parents and Arav. Plus, they like you too. Plus it'll stop Arjun from running after a new girl every other week. Plus, you'll have someone to look out for you. Plus, you'll have your best friend as your future sister-in-law".

"Ananya stop it! Have you gone crazy?"

"What? At least give it a thought. You two would be perfect!" I said desperately.

"No way! I've already spent half my life in your house and I really don't want to spend the rest of it playing mediator in your family squabbles."

"Family squabbles? That's dramatic" I argued.

"It's not" she said airily, "Sorry if I sound offensive babe but your household has so much drama. You people could start your own reality show - Keeping Up With The Viraj Family. You'll become more famous than the Kardashians".

"Then don't you want to be a part of it?" I pulled her leg.

"No".

"Come on Poo", I cooed.

"Don't Poo me now!" she fumed, getting up and taking her bag.

"Where are you going?" I asked.

"I'm going home", she replied "And you go to the mental hospital!".

"Really? What an idiot you are! No wonder she got pissed" Arjun laughed at me a couple of hours later at home, when I told him I had tried to set up Pooja with him.

Tomorrow was the Parent Teacher meeting at school. This was the last parent teacher meeting in my life and Arjun's. I had never really had freak out at any point about PTA's since I was the good girl.

But my brother was a completely different case and every time after our report cards were collected, the ride back home would be filled with long lectures for Arjun from both my parents while I and Arav would be sitting next to him in the backseat, trying our hardest not to crack up.

And I was looking forward to the fun this time too.

A/N : Hope you liked the story so far guys. Do tell me what you think.

If you liked this chapter please give your vote before you leave. I'll be updating very soon. See you in the next chapter!