The Crimson Scarf

(1) The Scarf

The Crimson Scarf

Chapter One... The Scarf



The wind blew strongly. Icy cold and bitter, it was clearly winter.

Snow was coming, I could tell. It had been three years since I last lived in America, and I'd forgotten how cold this country was compared to Australia. Winter there was like Fall in the United States... cold, but not with the frosty chill that winter usually presents.

My long, dark hair flew aimlessly in the wind, occasionally blowing over my face. I found it annoying.

I was sixteen, and back when I was thirteen my parents decided to make a life-changing move to Australia's sunny shores. There we lived in Brisbane, the capital city of the state Queensland. Winters there were anything but normal; mini skirts and singlet tops whilst strolling on the beach... or swimming! Yes, Australians went swimming in the dead of winter!  

But after three years and nothing but homesickness, my parents both ultimately decided to move back to the States. If they had've decided to move back to the US back when I was thirteen,

I detested their decision with bitterness and hate. I loved Seattle... when I lived here three years ago.

We had been back for just a day. My mother, Kathleen, was a stubborn woman who decided she needed to socialise rather than looking after my little rat of a brother, Kayden. He was two, a product of my parents' adventures in Australia. Other than me and Kayden, there was Shellie, who was a year older than me. Shellie and I never got along, and she decided to stay in Australia. I was glad; I couldn't live with her again. She moved out with her boyfriend Sam when she was sixteen, and it was peace, apart from Kayden. I had fought with my mother earlier on this day, as she wanted me to babysit Kayden. I shouted, threw a childish tantrum, then left in a fit of anger.

I had made my way down to the docks, where the ferries were coming in throughout the day. It was half an hour from my house. I watched a departing ferry, then decided I had calmed enough to return home to my furious mother. I walked toward the closest park, and accidentally bumped into a man there. I barely glanced at him as I continued on the path. Suddenly, a big gust of wind took my beautiful, expensive crimson scarf from around my neck into the breeze. I quickly chased it through the park, finding myself in front of a tall, dark haired man. Actually, it was the man I bumped into just a few minutes before. He handed me my scarf, and I blushed the same colour as it. He chuckled.

"So you embarass easily, huh?" the man laughed. I realised he wasn't that old. Twenty, at most. 

"Umm... sometimes," I said shyly. He grinned, then held his hand out to me. 

"Joseph Cambridge," he introduced himself. I hesitated, then quickly took his hand. 

"I'm Emily Harper," I announced softly. He kept smiling at me. 

"Do you go to school, Emily?" he asked. I scowled. 

"Unfortunately," I groaned. "Do you?" 

"Haha, yeah," he chuckled. "Senior year, though." 

"Senior year?" I frowned. I'd clearly forgotten the wording around here. 

"Er, Twelfth Grade," he said quickly. I nodded, smiling. 

"Well, I just moved here from Australia," I explained. "I was in Year 10 over there, which is umm... sophomore year?"  

Joseph nodded. "Yep, that's it."  

I smiled again. He was breathtakingly handsome. My straight hair flapped in the wind again, and I wrapped my scarf back around my neck. 

"What school are you going to, Emily?" Joseph asked suddenly. I cursed in my head; my parents were sending me to Forest Grove School, an elite private school that they believed would fix what they called 'behavioural problems'. Yeah, right. 

"Forest Grove," I scowled. He laughed, but then hung his head shamelessly. 

"Yeah? I go there too," Joseph said cursingly. I laughed, but at least we would suffer together. 

"My parents suck," I groaned. "They let my sister Shellie get away with anything, but not me. I have attitude, so what? They had another kid two years ago, and I'm their in-house babysitter. I don't really have any form of a social life anymore; it sucks!" 

Joseph looked like he understood. 

"My parents expect the best from me, because my sister Alison is a Law student," he complained. "They want me to go to Law School too, but I think I want med school. More interesting. Legal crap... how boring." I giggled. 

"Shellie has a full time job as a teacher's aide..." I laughed. "Stuff that! I wanna go to med school too, but I don't know. I want a life first." 

"I hear ya!" Joseph announced loudly.

I was having quite a great time with Joseph, though I barely knew him. Suddenly, my cell phone was going off, and I almost cringed to look at it. I pulled it from my pocket and read "Mum". Crap.

"Great, it's my mother," I moaned. Joseph took my phone out of my hands and began typing numbers.  

"What are you doing?" I frowned. 

"My number..." Joseph said sweetly, smiling. He then rang the number he entered into the phone, and he had my number. 

"I'll text you when I'm bored, Joey," I giggled. 

"My friends call me Jay," he warned. 

"Yeah?" I questioned. "I'm still gonna call you Joey."

Joseph giggled as I waved him goodbye and walked through the park. I opted to take a train back to my house, given that I was tired of walking. To think I owed it to my scarf, now flapping in the icy breeze, to meeting a guy I could see myself marrying. Woah... marrying. I looked out at the windy, darkening misery to see the first few snowflakes gently floating toward the ground below...