Novel Snippet 1: Sailing Ships (working title)

Here's a small snippet of my young adult novel, with the working title of "Sailing Ships."

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     I woke up on the first morning of summer vacation absolutely bored, as per usual. Not having many friends to hang out with, I just lazed around in my pajamas all day until my parents forced me to go to our large backyard, with the dogs-a greyhound, Lucy, and a German Shepherd, called Joe. I have always hated the outdoors, especially the small flying stinging inhabitants of that world, so I begrudgingly went out with a book. I sat under the shade of a tree, with a hat, sunglasses, and copious amounts of sunscreen to avoid heat-induced nausea when a rogue lime-green Frisbee hit me square between the eyes.

     “Augh!” I cried.

     “Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry!! Are you ok?? My dumb brother has terrible aim,” said a young man’s voice with an audible “HEY!” in the background, which I assumed was his dumb brother.

     “Yeah, yeah I’m ok,” waving off the boy, eyes still squinting from the throbbing pain. “I do feel a bit like Marcia-“

     “-of the Brady bunch! Oh my gosh don’t tell me I broke your nose!!” The boy laughed at my joke, but suddenly his voice changed to one of alarm at the possibility calamity.

     “No, no, it’s alright,” I said, finally being able to look into the concerned face of a boy with ruddy brown hair and faint freckles, no more than 6 inches away from mine. God, he has the deepest green eyes I’ve ever seen, I caught myself thinking. Blushing, I turn away.

     “So, Marcia, what’s your real name? Or is it really Marcia, because that would be a crazy coinci-“

     “It’s Emily. Emily Claire Fraser…What’s yours?”

     “Well, it’s a pleasure to meet you Emily Claire Fraser!” The easily 6 foot 2” tall boy in the Green Bay Packers football jersey and cargo shorts bowed dramatically, looking up with a grin and introduced himself as Joshua. Joshua Turner or Josh, if I liked. I liked Joshua.

     “Bro! Is she okay??” cried the dumb brother from the yard next door.

     “Oh! I almost forgot about him!” Joshua said with a wink and turned to reply to his brother, “Yeah, she’s fine, I think! No lawsuits today!” The realization that he had never asked me whether or not I wanted to pursue charges flashed across his face, and as he glanced down at me, I laughed and shook my head no.

     “That’s my little brother, Noah. Don’t mind him, he’s just a knucklehead,” Joshua said, gesturing towards the yard.

     “I heard that!” cried Noah as he walked back to the Turner house. Noah didn’t seem to be too perturbed by the comment, as he had a smile on his face.

     My parents arrived then, and, by some small feat, had already met Mr. and Mrs. Turner, both lawyers, respectively. Mom and Dad were thrilled that I had made the acquaintance of Joshua and Noah already. “Someone you can play with, dear!” Dad said in a typical goofy dad tone. I blushed with embarrassment when Joshua came to save the day. “Oh yes, I’m sure we’ll have lovely tea parties and play ‘house’ all the time, won’t we, Em?”

     “Uhh, it’s Emily, and sure, we can even play cowboys and Indians with your brother,” sarcastically raising an eyebrow at my dad. I normally didn’t like it when people called me Em, but when Joshua said it, it sounded…better somehow. I kind of liked it, but I would never admit it.

     My parents then left “us kids” to our own, but Joshua had to go back home. They had just moved in, and Joshua needed to help his dad with some lifting, as his mom had a back problem or something.

     “I’ll see you later?” Joshua said, a question hanging in the air, waiting for an invitation.

     “Yeah, sure,” I said, trying to sound cool, but I’m sure it sounded awkward.

     I watched him walk away, and I saw that Joshua had broad shoulders, a small mole behind his right ear, just visible underneath his brown hair which had touches of sun-bleached gold, naturally tanned skin, and a fairly nice butt. I tried to wave away that last thought as I turned away towards my own house. I glanced back at him, and caught him looking at me too. I blushed and looked away, though I could distinctly feel the beginnings of butterfly larvae in the pit of my stomach, I willed them behave as I closed the back door behind me.

     I went to the bathroom and looked myself in the mirror. I had shoulder length, dirty blond hair, with terrible freckles all across my round face. Any amount of makeup wouldn’t cover them up, believe me, I’ve tried. I wore thick black-rimmed glasses, and my old and faded University of Wisconsin baseball cap, which was my dad’s from his college days. Did I really catch him looking at ME? I thought. I snapped out of my thought by my mom calling me to help with dinner. I hadn’t even realized that it was dinner time until I saw the golden rays of sunset pouring in through the window. “Coming!” I cried, as the thought entered my mind, this is going to be an interesting summer, isn’t it?