Hello! Welcome to the first chapter of my short story Daughter of the Sea! I wrote this for one of my college courses. Since I haven't been able to write any new stories and since I rather like this story, I decided I would post it. I hope you give it a read and like it! Please let me know what you think, tell me if you have any advice, and hit that vote button if you liked it! Enjoy~

The lake was beautiful. It was surrounded by trees of all colors. The leaves were bright yellows, vibrant reds, and dashes of orange. Trees still rich with green needles dotted the area as well, enough to make the air smell like pine. The water was rather clean, a deep blue rather than the dirty brown that most lakes were. The sun directly overhead reflected off the surface. Dotted around were benches and picnic tables for people to enjoy their lunch. I could smell someone's barbeque from the other side of the lake. A gentle breeze blew across my face. I hated it.

As we waited for lunch to be set out, everyone enjoyed the park. The boys ran around chasing each other. The girls sat on the dying grass and gossiped. My friends weren't much for drama. We all hated it. They sat at the edge of the lake laughing and skipping rocks. I kept my distance. The food would be done soon anyway.

It was funny watching everyone though and I wondered what the other people here were thinking. A bunch of high school students running around in weird outfits. The boys were dressed in suits from the 1930s and 1940s, half the girls were wearing dresses from the same time, and the other half, like me, were dressed like female missionaries. We had to look ridiculous.

We were heading toward the Totem Pole Awards. An award show made for high school musicals in the area. It was held in Pittsburgh every year and this was the fifth year in a row that my school was participating. This year we performed Guys and Dolls. We had several nominations for different categories. This year we were pretty hopeful to win some awards.

The show didn't start until seven o'clock so we always stopped at this park to eat a quick lunch. Of course, this park had to have a small lake in the center. I used to love swimming and I miss it. But I can't get close to any body of water without freaking out.

"Food's out! Seniors first!" said one of our chaperones, the backstage manager.

I was still a junior, so I had to wait until all of the seniors had gotten their food. Luckily, there was only a handful of them, so I didn't have to wait for too long. I got in line with my friends, who were also all juniors and we grabbed what we wanted. Everything was all laid out on a picnic table. It was filled with hotdogs, hamburgers, buns, condiments, chips, pretzels, and all kinds of desserts. These included cookies, brownies, and cupcakes.

I piled my plate high. I grabbed hotdogs, chips, and at least one of each dessert. If there was one thing I loved, it was food. My friends and I sat our plates down on the table and headed back to grab a drink. The choices were water, soda, or juice. I grabbed a can of Mountain Dew.

After eating, my friends headed back down to the lake. We still had about half an hour until we had to leave for the show. While they headed down, I decided to just read a book.

"Cordelia! Come join us!"

It was one of my friends, Alexis. Lost in my book, I hadn't realized that they were ankle-deep into the water. Their shoes and socks were lined up along the shore. My heart skipped a beat just looking at them.

"The water's great!" Faith said. None of my friends knew how I felt about the water. It was never something that came up in regular conversation. We never really hung out during the summer, so it's not like I had never been asked to go swimming or anything.

I stayed where I was, sitting on the picnic table, and shook my head.

"No, thanks! It's probably really cold. I don't feel like freezing."

"You'll get used to it," Leah laughed. But she didn't say anymore and turned around, talking to Alexis and Faith.

I looked down at the ground. The grass was just barely starting to turn yellow at the tips. The rest was still vibrant green. There were spots underneath the table where there was no grass at all. Dark brown soil poked out from those spots as well as some dull grey rocks. I pictured my friends skipping those rocks earlier.

I pulled my leg up to rest on the bench and fidgeted with my shoelace. I was dragged back in time to when I was fourteen. My family and I were at a park just like this one, with a river instead of a lake. The river was huge, so huge that it was beautiful and intimidating at the same time. The water was very dirty and dark brown. You couldn't see through it at all. A river where you can't help but imagine just how deep it went.

There was always a company there that owned a small boat and would take people up and down the river for a few bucks. It was a very popular thing to do. I'm sure the people who ran it actually made a lot of money, even if it was so cheap.

That day, it was beautiful. The sun was shining brightly, the sky was bright blue and clear. It was the first day after winter that the temperature was over seventy degrees. The grass was beginning to get its color back and ducks were swimming in the river. My parents thought it would be a great idea to ride the boat and so did I.

Someone ran up behind me and poked my back, drawing me out of the memory. Alexis, Faith, and Leah were standing behind me. They pointed to the bus and I saw that everyone had gathered and was getting on. I grabbed my bag and we all headed to the bus. Time for the show.

To be continued...