Number 8, an installment of a new story.

APUSH is annoying me, so I will write.

This is brand new.

     Cecilia sighed as she sunk into an overstuffed leather chair next to the fireplace.  She was on vacation in the mountains in Canada with her family, who were in their hotel room upstairs.  She felt they were being a bit to loud, with her sister talking on the phone without seeming to take a single breath and each television in the two bedroom suite blaring on a different channel.  Even a comfortable bed, headphones playing classical music, and a good book could not keep all the obnoxiously loud noises from her head, so she made her way downstairs to the ski lodge with her book and found this comfortable chair. 
     Cecilia sighed again after staring into the glowing fire and opened her book.  She had not been reading for five minutes when she felt someone else approach and heard them sit in the chair across from her.  She did not look up completely, but angled her eyes upward, so that the person sitting across from her would not know that she was looking at them. 
     It turned out to be a young boy, about her age, whom she had seen on the slopes while skiing the day before.  He wasn't looking at her, but staring into the fire just as she had been staring a moment ago.  He did not have anything with him, such as a book or a laptop computer; he was just staring.  Perhaps he had just sit across from her to talk to her-- but she knew not to make assumptions like that, so she darted her eyes back to her book and tried to continue reading.  But she could not concentrate.  She looked at him again.  He was still staring into the fire, evidently deep in thought.  She lifted her head. 
     Without snow and ski gear on, he looked a little different.  He was tall and slim, with light brown hair that reached his eyebrows then swooped to the left.  He had a slim face, and almond shaped eyes that were a beautiful emerald green.  As if he suddenly sensed someone looking at him, he whipped his head around to face her.  She didn't react fast enough.  She picked up her book and pretended to be reading again, feeling the heat that meant her face was six shades of red and hiding her face from him with her book.  He began laughing.  She dropped her book into her lap and dropped her head into her hands, laughing with him. 
      "I'm sorry," she said through her laughter.  "I couldn't help it.  You have beautiful eyes.  I was simply riveted."
     "That's alright," he said, quieting his laughter.  "Thank you.  What are you reading?"  She lifted the book from her lap.
     "It's a collection of Shakespeare.  I'm reading Julius Caesar," she said with a smile.
     "Neat," he replied, using a word Cecilia had only ever heard herself use.  She laughed.
     "Thank you.  I'm Cecilia, by the way.  I saw you skiing yesterday."
     "Pleasure to meet you, Cecilia.  I'm Ethan.  You have a beautiful name."
     "Thanks," she said, smiling.  "My friends call me Cee."
     "Well, Cee, I saw you sitting here, reading, and decided that I would come over and ask you if you would like to get some hot chocolate or coffee with me?  I saw you on the slopes yesterday, too, but before I could ask you to get coffee, you had gone inside."  Cecilia was speechless.
     "Yes, of course," she said, recovering just in time.  Ethan smiled and stood, sticking his out elbow so as to escort her.  Cecilia stood, placed her arm through his, and smiled up at him, nearly a foot taller than her five foot six inches.  Ethan led her to the lodge coffee shoppe and they spent an entire hour talking before Cecilia's little sister discovered her, informing her that it was time for supper.  Cecilia said goodbye to her new friend and followed her sister toward the stairs. 
      "Cee," Ethan called.  Cecilia turned.  "May I see you tomorrow?" he asked.  Cecilia just smiled, took her sister's hand, and turned around again.  "I'm going to take that as a yes!" he called after her.  "By the fire at six?"  Cecilia turned back to him, smiling, and simply waved.  Her sister giggled, and Cecilia winked and smiled at her.  She knew this way of flirting just as she knew the back of her hand.  Of course she would be by the fire place at six tomorrow evening to see Ethan again.  She had smiled and laughed more today than she had in the last three months combined. 
     Now that was happiness.

Constructive criticism would be nice.  Tell me your honest opinion.  =]

As always,
Jules, the High School Nomad.