Right, I already posted a few chapters ages ago, but i've gone over them and edditted them. Here's the first chapter for you:
Chapter 1
“Hey Alba, how does this look?” shouted Emily over the racks of the busy clothes shop.
It always amazed me how, whatever time of year it was, Emily and Astrid were always on the lookout for new clothes. It was about a week into December; we were watching the snow fall heavily over the busy streets of the city; I was up to my nose in thick scarves; and my friends expected me to react positively when Emily came out of a changing room wearing a particularly short skirt and a strictly-too-thin halter-neck top. I glanced at Jennifer who was also wrapped up tight in warm thick clothing, and we both shuddered at the thought of how cold Emily must have been at that precise moment.
“Very sexy,” I replied. Emily grinned at us, flicking her long blond hair away from her face, seeming pleased with this answer. Jennifer and I watched her head back to the changing room to change back into her winter gear. I nudged Jennifer in the ribs and asked:
“How can she go shopping for summer clothes at this time of year? I would freeze to death if I put those things on! Even at the height of summer!”
We laughed, imagining the scene. Astrid suddenly appeared out of the changing room she had vanished into a few minutes ago, dressed as if we were in July. Black high healed boots clip-clopped over the grey linoleum as she made her way towards us, modelling a fitting black skirt and a frilly white blouse.
“How do I look?” she asked while miming a kiss and blowing it in our direction. She started to strike poses, showing off her slim figure and batting her eyelids.
“Cold,” replied Jennifer after a few seconds of intense search for a word that would not be too insulting towards our friend.
“Good but … yeah, cold,” I added.
Astrid rolled her eyes at us ironically, awkwardly walking towards a clothes rack. She rummaged around for a bit, then threw a few pairs of trousers over her left arm and grabbed a couple more tops, disappearing back into her changing room to try it all on.
“How can she get round in those boots?” asked Jennifer, a sarcastic smile playing on her lips.
“Not a clue,” I answered, “they look so uncomfortable!”
“Tell me about it.”
After what seemed like hours of watching Emily and Astrid trying to fit into outfits that looked like ribbons stitched together, we exited the shop, back into the bitter wind of December.
*****
We got back to Astrid’s in late afternoon after having spent practically all day shopping round town. Stuffing our bags of purchased items into the lift, we piled in and Jennifer jabbed a button on the silver panel by her left hand. The doors slid closed and the unbearably strong smell of cleaning product engulfed us. The elevator climbed at a steady speed, and it was a great relief to us all when the doors slid open again and we all managed to escape the stench, piling out onto the landing on the fifth floor. Astrid produced a key from her hand bag and inserted it into the lock, twisting it and letting the door swing open soundlessly on its well oiled hinges.
Astrid’s mum stepped out of the kitchen as we entered the apartment. As always, she welcomed us with a warm smile and a hug, and asked how the shopping had been. “Good” was the only word we could find to sum it all up, as we produced several purchased items from quite a few different plastic bags, as if to prove our point.
After a while, we retreated into Astrid’s bedroom, dumping our stuff on her bed, desk and any free surface in view. Having done this, we started the laborious task of unwrapping the multitude of scarves from around out heads, necks and shoulders, and freeing ourselves from the layers of woolly jumpers.
“Right, what d’you want to talk about?” asked Emily in her spirited voice.
“Anything you like,” replied Jennifer, sounding like she couldn’t care less what our topic of conversation would be. We all sat in a circle on the red carpet in the middle of the wooden floor and Astrid said:
“Right, what about boyfriends? Any luck yet? Emily?”
“If only.”
“Jennifer?”
The blond girl gave Astrid a blank stare, raising one eyebrow.
“Ok...” continued Astrid, used to her friend’s sarcastic whims, “Alba?”
“No luck so far I’m afraid.”
“What about you?” asked Emily, leaning forwards eagerly as if Astrid was about to hand her a bar of chocolate.
Astrid opened her mouth to answer, but at the same moment we all heard a noise from behind her bedroom door. She stood up and crept over to it quietly, suddenly flinging it open and watching Albert stumble in.
“Albert!” cried Astrid angrily, although you could here the amusement in her voice.
“Aw…,” moaned her older brother, sounding slightly disappointed but making no attempt to hiding the enormous grin on his face.
“What d’you mean “aw”? Don’t tell me you thought you’d find anything out?” cried Astrid incredulously.
The grin on Albert’s face widened (if that’s even possible without breaking the laws of physics) and he said:
“What? What is there to hide anyway, I’m your brother.”
“Out!” shouted Astrid, “Get out and stay out!”
She slammed the door and came back to sit down with the rest of us.
“Don’t worry,” said Emily, “my brother’s exactly the same.”
“So, going back to our previous conversation, anyone in your life?” I asked.
Astrid hesitated for a moment, then a smile spread across her face and she said softly:
“James.”
“Oh my God!” shouted Emily an enormous grin expanding across her face.
“Cute,” said Jennifer.
“I do have to admit, he has gorgeous eyes. So have you been out together yet?” I asked Astrid.
“We fixed a date for next Wednesday,” she replied with a smile.
“That is so sweet!” cried Emily cheerfully.
“And just before Christmas too,” I pointed out.
“Yeah, no idea what I’m gonna get him though,” said Astrid, sighing as if it was the end of the world.
“CD? DVD?” suggested Jennifer.
“Is he that type of guy though?” asked Emily, “Maybe he’s more romantic.”
“Donno, I’ll ask him on Monday,” replied Astrid.
I smiled at Astrid, but deep down, I felt a slight pang of jealousy. I’d never been the type to be jealous of this kind of thing, but now that one of my best friends had a relationship, I felt... well, alone. I had never approached the boys I knew in that way. For the fifteen years of my life, I had never really thought about it seriously before. But now I did, it made me realise how much better life might be with someone by your side...
By bubble burst when I heard Jennifer ask:
“What do you want for Christmas?”
“I don’t know actually,” said Astrid, evidently having to think about the sudden question, “Anything I suppose. Euh... laptop? Or something along those lines...”
“Ooh, I wouldn’t mind one of them either,” said Emily, suddenly interested again, “And the odd bit of cash.”
She grinned again, her blue eyes sparkling as she did so.
“I wouldn’t mind a guitar actually. I’m thinking of taking lessons,” I said, “Though I’d love this Christmas to be a white one. Last year was rubbish without any snow!”
“Yeah, I’d like that too,” said Jennifer.
“I know a song about that actually,” I said without thinking, and then quickly closed my mouth, wishing I’d never said anything.
“Go on then, sing,” Astrid gave me a nudge in the ribs.
“Oh shhh...ugar...”
I lowered my head and muttered something incomprehensible about having a sore throat and not knowing all the words. Why did I even mention singing? I hated singing in public. According to nearly everyone I knew, I had a talent. My voice was tuned to perfection and I could reproduce a melody perfectly without even thinking about it. I had never been trained or taken singing lessons, it was just a natural gift, but stage fright was a big problem and took over every time I was asked to sing for someone. It was just the feeling of being watched. I couldn’t stand it!
“Go on,” encouraged Emily, giving me a friendly punch in the arm, “you’ve got a great voice.”
“Do I have to?” I asked, feeling a cold lump forming in my throat and a fluttery feeling start in my stomach. I glanced at my friend, and judging by the looks on their faces, the answer was ‘yes’.
Trying to clear my head, I took a deep breath and squared my shoulders, straitening my back. Parting my lips, I contracted my diaphragm and pushed the air out from my lungs, feeling my vocal cords vibrating within my throat. The song was “White Christmas” by Bing Crosby. A few lines in, I felt my fear ease a bit, like a height had been lifted from my shoulders.
See Alba, I told myself, It’s not that hard after all...
I had barely finished the first chorus when I saw Emily’s eyes widened in surprise. She was staring at something behind me, and for a moment, I wasn’t sure whether to turn round and look or to ignore her and finish my song. Emily seemed to find her voice again and cried out:
“Oh my God! Look! Snow!”
I spun round in disbelief to see white snow drifting silently towards the cold ground outside. Millions of snow flakes spiralled past the window, settling on the balcony railings and the folding chair outside. We all fell as silent as the grave, staring in utter disbelief.
“That is so weird!” murmured an astounded Jennifer.
“How did you do that?!” asked Emily, obviously joking, but the surprise had left her sounding pretty serious.
“It’s not like I did it,” I replied, but for some reason a feeling inside me made me doubt my own words.
“This is mad!” exclaimed Astrid, “What a coincidence!”
“I know,” I replied. And it was. One minute I was singing about a white Christmas, the next, it was actually snowing! This was bizarre alright!
Mesmerised by the continuous fall of snow flakes, I crawled over to the window from my previous sitting position and absentmindedly touched the pain of glass in front of me. A sudden cold seared through my finger and up my arm, startling me out of my day dream. I gasped and recoiled sharply. Examining my unharmed finger, I glanced over at the sliding glass door and the place my finger had been. I froze, staring at the frost crystals that had formed in the exact place my finger had been.
“My God,” I whispered to myself. Whatever had happened, my thoughts automatically jumped to the conclusion that I had done it. That I had just made frost form on the inside of a double glazed sliding door!
I looked through the glass into the blizzard outside. In just a few moments, what had been a few snow flakes has turned into a raging inferno of what looked like snow white feathers. The flurries and swirls seemed to form shapes and figures. Strange figures. Almost like... people...
Just then, the door swung open, making us all jump. Astrid’s mum stood in the doorway and, commenting on how wild the snow was, told us that dinner was ready. We wrenched ourselves away from the bedroom window to go and sit round the table in the living room. We ate and chatted about everything and anything, but I hardly spoke throughout dinner. I couldn’t stop thinking of the frost on the window, and how my singing seemed to have triggered the snowfall.
After finishing off the desert which consisted of ice-cream and apple crumble, the four of us cleared away our plates and started getting ready for bed. The snow was falling thickly outside as we lay down the mattresses, and got under the thick winter duvets. We talked for a bit, but I lay there, staring out the window at the snow, thinking of the evening’s unusual events. Why had the frost formed after I had touched the window? I didn’t understand, and frankly, it was starting to scare me.
What was happening to me?
Leave your comments so I know what you think of it. I'm open to everything so don't be afraid to speak out and tell me what's wrong with it. I'll add the rest once I'm happy with it.
Alba xx
