Chapter One: Cordelia Grace

This is the first chapter of a story I've been working on. The main character's name is Cordelia Grace, if you were wondering. I've never shared this with the public so I'm counting on your reviews!

Chapter One

 

* Cordelia Grace *

 

         The winter break was finally settling in my mind, the idea of being out of school for a few weeks. I have decided to take it easy over the break, no extra work for Tribeca Windchester Prep. That’s my school. It’s a private school in Austria. I suppose you could say I’m a bit of a rich kid.

         The only thing I had ever wanted was a place where it snowed, a place that I could call home. Fortunately my dad’s job allows us to move around a lot. I suppose that’s how I ended up here; my father calls it a coincidence. I call it, pulling strings.

         Anyways, here I was in my cabin, or my parent’s cabin in the Alps of Austria. Sounds like the most breath taking moment right? Not right. I was alone in this deathly silence. My parents had gone to work this morning, me not having school I was bored out of my mind. I did have a book I needed to read for school.

I curled up by the fire with my class assigned book. The snowy outside had seemed to chill me from the inside out. My family usually didn’t stay in the cabin during the winter; my mother claimed it was too cold for her taste. Though my parents went their separate ways, I always stayed for winter break. My father was often on business somewhere warm, and my mother; well no one exactly knew where she went on her vacation time.

I needed to be back at school, let me rephrase that; I wanted to be back at school. Being home alone was normal, but today was different. Today on the morning of my fifteenth birthday, I was different. I thought about how I should feel turning fifteen. Shivers ran down my back as I sipped the hot tea I had just brewed.

     As a cold draft came in, I gripped the blanket tighter around my shoulders and buried my nose into her book, but I tried my hardest not to think about Dylan. The words in the books started to mix with the thoughts I was thinking. It all became one big jumble of ideas. I dozed off just as the fire began to die out. My dreams drifted back to the pool and Dylan, as they always did.

              “You swim like you’ve never left the water.” Dylan said shyly as I pulled myself out of the pool and positioned myself next to Dylan.

“You aren’t too bad yourself.” I reply as I dip my toes into the pool. Dylan dropped off the edge and into the water.

He popped his head up, and said with a smile, “Now let me show you how it’s done.” Pushing off the side he glided through the water, each stroke powerful, parting the water with his hands. He reached the other side; he flipped his body and pushed off the wall. He took a breath and a couple more strokes before he was back at the other side chatting away the hours with me.

We talked about nothing, and at the same time, we talked about everything. I was so comfortable around Dylan. I felt like I could be my true self around him, like I didn’t need to keep secrets. It had been a long time since we knew had first met, but I wanted more then just the 'close friend' relationship I had with Dylan now.

I awoke to bright shining sunshine. “What a dream.” I thought as I stretched and began to prepare for my morning jog. For the past couple of weeks I couldn’t stop dreaming about Dylan. I wondered if he thought about me as much as I thought about him. I tied up my trainers, put my IPod on full blast, grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and opened the front door. The crisp morning air overtook me as I began to run, fast.

When I run, the outside world disappears to me. Nothing but the wide-open trails drift through my thoughts, well not everything disappeared. Dylan would always be on my mind. The way I knew exactly which trails to take that would lead me right to his doorstep. The way I stopped to “stretch” though I knew very well that Dylan woke up when I was in front of his house. How I only thought about how I would look when I turned around to face Dylan’s bedroom window, and “accidently” see him.

I had always wondered if he noticed these little things. Everyday I went for a run, if he had noticed, would he have said something? Or maybe he just wanted to keep it to himself and not ask me.

Seeing Dylan every morning was the one thing that made me want to get up at six for my jog. He stood there, at his bedroom window, shirtless. His curtains drawn while he stretched his arms high above his head, and yawned in slow motion. He had a swimmers body, toned and beautiful. If you could see this, I bet you would want to run over there as fast as you could too.

* Dylan James *

 

The bright morning light shone in my eyes as I awoke from a deep sleep. I stood by the window and watched the people go by, as I did every morning. Now fully awake I waited for her to pass on her morning jog. Lost in thought, I didn’t notice as my mother entered and said, “Honey, Cordelia Grace says to meet her at the pool in fifteen minutes.” She repeated it once more after tapping me lightly. “Fifteen minutes!” My brain shouted at me.

     I scrambled to find his swim stuff; I knew I couldn’t forget her birthday present. I shoved it all into my empty backpack and ran down the stairs, as I swallowed the toast whole, and gulped down my juice, I calculated if I would be late or not. “If it is seven o’clock now and she called at six fifty, then I have five minutes to get to the pool from my cabin. Then I still have to get changed.” I thought to myself as I rushed out the door and down my drive way. I checked my watch as I reached the doors, which lead to the pool, two minutes until I would officially be late. I stripped off my winter clothes and threw on my swim shorts. As I entered the pool area I looked for Cordelia.

     She was already waiting for me on the other side of the pool. Her body shimmered with fresh water droplets as she calmly sat by the edge and kicked her feet softly in the water. I walked over to her, dropping my towel beside her before gracefully diving into the water. There was no one at the private pool this early. It was only Cordelia and I. I began doing the butterfly stroke, using my strong legs and powerful arms to get me to the other side of the pool. I swam two laps before exiting the water and seating myself beside Cordelia. The cold water still glistened against the morning sun, which shone bright through the windows.

     “Wow, butterfly? Really? I didn’t master that stroke for almost a year… That may just be your stroke Dylan.” Cordelia said, still staring deep into the water, but glancing up to look at me out of the corner of her eye. Cordelia and I both were on our school swim teams and were both excellent swimmers. Both Cordelia and my families paid a lot of money to get their children a private lane at swimming practice and private lessons. We were the best in the state.

     I pondered Cordelia’s words, then thought what to say next. “My swim coach said the same thing when he first told me to try it. I feel like it comes so naturally to me.” I replyed to Cordelia’s thoughts, I looked at Cordelia, and Cordelia looked in the water. We had only met a few years back. My family had just bought a cabin on the mountain, while Cordelia’s family had been staying there every winter break for the past ten years. The families had become fast friends, but had never really socialized with each other. Cordelia’s parents both were hard workers, they were gone most of the break on business in the state. My parents were more laid back; my mom was a stay at home mom with my five-year-old sister Sara. My dad works for a major company in up state New York, he isn’t around much. He tries to take off as much time as he can during the break, but that maybe makes a week or two. 

     I had always known there was something special about Cordelia, but a few years ago I was young and didn’t realize it. Now we were both in high school and I didn’t know what to do about my bottled up feelings. Some days I felt as though I had known her my whole life. We had been hanging out a lot during the break, we both needed to get back to our high schools.

     “Only three days left.” I thought to myself. With only three days until break ended and we did have to get back to school. I had to tell Cordelia about what my parents had decided to do once winter break was over. Cordelia had invited me over to her cabin for a snack before I had to head home for lunch. “Already two o’clock, this is my chance.” I thought.

Author's Note

Should I keep going with this story line? Or should I abandon it?

Reviews

[masheila21]

It is good but it just needs to be cleaned up. Great story though!