Cold. That seemed to be the perfect word to describe the white, winter climate of the small little town just outside of Quebec City. The trees were bare of their luminous colors of golden yellow, fiery orange, earthy brown and luxurious reds. I huddled deeper into my winter coat as a chilling wind whistled by as the snow crunched under my boots. Snow was everywhere... the trees now white where they proudly stood, holding branches of snow that continued to fall from the slowly darkening sky.
It wasn't hard to tell that winter was indeed here. Not compared to my home of Newfoundland, where it still appeared to be late fall instead of the middle of winter. I had come here as part of an exchange program where we would be matched up with other students from other provinces in Canada as and do activities together in both of the provinces. Most of the students within my class enjoyed being with their exchange partners. Me... Not so much.
My partner was a girl who was really into sports, exercise and hanging with her exclusive group of friends. She ditched me countless times already, even though I've only been here for three days, but I can't say much either. I also hung out with the small little group of friends I had that came on this exchange program as well during our stay here. I smiled to myself as I remembered the previous day in Montreal when the four of us went shopping in the shops before a hockey game.
I looked down from the tree tops above me, to the sidewalk ahead. My partner was now a burly blob from where I stood as she chatted with one of her friends; we had decided to go on a walk together before it got too dark around the block, her friend had showed up a little after we left my partner's house and when I stopped to re-tie my boots, they left me behind. Not that I mind, I enjoyed being alone with my thoughts from time to time. But it was rather frustrating when my partner would ditch me every chance she got.
I glared at the sidewalk, thinking about why my partner would avoid me so much. I guess I was thinking about it so much that I didn't see where I was going and bumped into someone walking in the opposite direction; I fell on my butt from the force of it.
I looked at him – he had fallen like I had – and was now picking up some of the supplies that he had dropped; flour, butter, baking powder and other ingredients that were used in pancakes. He had wavy pale, blonde hair with one single strand of hair that was looped into a curl, slightly tanned colored skin and violet eyes.
Unlike me however, he wore glasses, a red and black checkered scarf and a red winter hat with "Canada" written in white lettering. He was also wearing a red winter coat, black pants and brown winter boots. He noticed me looking at him and his cheeks turned a slight shade of red that was darker than they already were.
"Je suis désolé manquer. Vous allez bien?" He asked, in French; his voice just above a whisper. I stayed silent, not fully understanding what he had asked. Realizing my confusion, he spoke again in English, "Are you alright, miss?" He had a slight accent, the same one as my partner had when she spoke English instead of French.
"Yeah." I said, rubbing my numb hands together before fixing my mouse brown hair so it was out of my brown eyes. "How 'bout you?" I asked him, picking up a bottle of maple syrup and holding it out for him to take.
He slightly nodded and took the bottle of maple syrup and placed it with the rest of his things in a large paper bag. "Thank you." He said again in his soft voice; it made me wonder why he spoke so softly as if telling someone a big secret.
"May I ask," I started, hesitating a bit. "Why do you speak so quietly?" Looked at me for a moment, stood and offered me his hand. I silently took it, pulling myself up with his help. He then proceeded to look at his boots.
"I speak quietly because no one notices me..." He said, looking depressed. "They don't even realize that I'm there." It was still for a moment, and then a small smile came upon my face.
"Well, I noticed you." His head perked up. "Aren't I considered as someone?" I beamed up at him; his face turned a darker shade of red again as he blushed. He nodded again and my smile grew.
"Being noticed may have it perks, but so does being un-noticed." I said, looking back up to the trees. "For example; in the spring, the trees start to blossom and in the summer they are in full bloom. In the fall, the leaves on the trees turn into vibrant colors and stand out more." I looked back at the young man in front of me.
"However, in the winter the trees have no leaves at all and no one appears to notice them; but they hold the most beauty. They help the snow appear pure and magical by having the snow fall onto their bare branches." He stared at me in awe; I guess he didn't expect a "life lesson" from some random person he met on the street. He smiled – it was small, but still enough to be called one – and (surprisingly) gave me a hug.
"Merci. Merci tellement." He said close to my ear, making me blush a lot. Hesitating, I returned the hug.
"Vous êtes les bienvenus." I said, remembering that from one French class from home; my French teacher would be so proud of me right now. Then hug ended, and after a short goodbye went our own ways.
I was able to catch up to where my partner and her friend were and returned to my partner's home. As I was taking my winter coat off, I noticed something sticking out from the left, outside pocket. I reached inside and pulled out a small, red maple leaf. And despite not knowing how it got there, I smiled. Knowing it was from that quiet, young man on the street.
Sometimes it nice to be un-noticed...
The End
AN: I'M NOT DEAD! Sorry for those who are waiting for my other story (Demigod at the DWMA) to update, I've been so lazy! And since I just started college a little while ago, I doubt that I'll have a lot of time for it. TT_TT *Starts to sob in her emo corner*
*Clears throat* Anyway, this was originally an assignment for my narrative and production desgin class but since it was too long (two pages of microsoft word!) I had to shorten it. The assginment was to write a one page story about an event that happened to us but you may altered it be nearly all fiction, as long as it can relate to real life, aka: no alien's coming from space to take over the world XD So this is the long, two page version of it. ENJOY!
TRANSLATIONS~:
Je suis désolé manquer. Vous allez bien? - I'm sorry miss. Are you alright?
Merci. Merci tellement. - Thank-you. Thank-you so much.
Vous êtes les bienvenus - You're welcome.
Half of this story is based of ture events that really did happen to me; I did go to Quebec as part of an exchange program. But I didn't meet Canada though... Y-Y I wish I did.
Anyways, REVIEW and tell me what you think :)
'Till next time,
~BlueRoses02