Love Like Winter Chapter 1

Chapter 1
Josselyn stared absentmindedly out of the window of the plane as it began to descend from the air. It was becoming more and more difficult for her to clear the confusion in her mind. She turned and leaned back in her seat and turned up the volume in her Ipod. She closed her eyes as Christina Aguilera's voice filled her ears.

I never wanna dwell on my pain again
There's no use in reliving how I hurt back then
Remembering all of the hell I felt when I was running out of faith
Every step I vowed to take was towards a better day…

Josselyn's eyes shot open. This song was not helping her emotions…

Cos I'm about toSay goodbye to every single lie
& All the fears I've held too long inside
Everytime I felt I could try
All the negativity I had inside
For too long I've been struggling. I couldn't go on
But now I've found I'm feeling strong and moving on
I believe they can take anything from me
But they can't succeed in taking my inner peace
They can say all they wanna say about me
But I'm gonna carry on
I'm gonna keep on singing my song

Josselyn rolled her eyes and fiercely ripped the blue Skullcandy headphones out of her ears. She tucked her similarly colored Ipod and the headphones inside her maroon American Eagle hoodie. In no way did she want to be reminded of the conversation that took place five hours earlier. The last thing Nick said to her was still resounding in her mind, and with each time, the phrase seemed to stab her heart like ginzu knives:"Don't expect me to ever forgive you for this…"

"We will be landing shortly and the captain has turned the seatbelt sign on. Please secure all loose items and as always, thank you for flying with American Airlines and welcome to Philadelphia." The gloomy voice snapped Josselyn out of her stupor. She quickly fastened her seatbelt and pulled her bag onto her lap. Seconds later, the plane touched down to the surface of the runway. Josselyn never dreaded coming home as much as she did at that moment. She knew that the decision she would make in the next few weeks, be it positive or negative, would affect her for the rest of her life…

2 years earlier

"You're not going Joss," said Josselyn's mother in a stern voice. It was that time of year again, the time when that familiar conversation between Josselyn and her mother came up.

"But mooommmmmmmmmyy," She whined, "the auditions are in two weeks and you have to be interviewed before you can go to the auditions. Please Mom, this is one of the best dance schools in the country." After receiving no response from her mother, Josselyn hastily threw the handful of clothing she was holding into the shopping cart. They were shopping in the Old Navy in their local mall. Josselyn sulked as she and her mother made their way to the checkout line.

"Listen, this isn't some random dance academy we're talking about, this is the Alvin Ailey School, one of the most prestigious dance schools in New York," exclaimed Josselyn, crossing her arms and pouting. Her mother turned on her heels and gave her daughter a menacingly hard stare. Joss stared back, her gaze equally menacing. Josselyn was average height, with golden brown skin she had inherited from her mother, who was of African American descent, and long raven hair and caramel brown eyes she got from her father, who was of Native American descent."I though you wanted to go to Rutgers, you said you had your heart set on it. they've already accepted you and everything," her mother said in a quiet voice.

"I only said that because I thought you wanted me to go there," replied Josselyn, who was now fidgeting with the sleeve of her forest green cardigan. She crossed her arms again and stared at he mother once more. "This might be a once in a lifetime opportunity, and I don't want it to pass me by. I wanna take advantage of this before its too late," she said quietly. Her mother softened her gaze, and, for the first time, she saw that her daughter was serious.

"I'll think about it Josselyn. You have a week until graduation, which will give me and your father enough time to talk about it." Josselyn's eyes lit up as she began to jump up and down like an overexcited three year old. She wrapped her arms around her mother and pulled her into a suffocating hug.A week had passed, and Josselyn's high school graduation came and went. She had still not heard an answer from her parents. Three nights later, Josselyn returned home from her friend Amanda's house to find her parents sitting at the dining room table, speaking in hushed voices. They stopped and looked in her direction as she entered the dining room. Josselyn's mother rose from the table."You have an interview with a representative from the Alvin Ailey School Friday afternoon. We'll leave early and maybe you can bring a friend since we'll be spending the weekend up there." Josselyn stood glued in her tracks. She spread her lips and gave her parents the hugest smile she could manage…

"Gosh, the traffic here is worst than it is in Jersey," said Josselyn from the passenger's seat of her mom's Jeep Liberty."I still say that Pennsylvanians are the worst drivers. Talk about reckless," exclaimed Josselyn's best friend Amanda, from the back seat."We're almost to the hotel girls," said Josselyn's mother. A few minutes later, they pulled up in front of the Hyatt Regency Hotel. As soon as they were checked in, the headed out again. The school was only a block away from the hotel, so they walked. Josselyn's interview went on for an hour. Amanda and Josselyn's mother waited patiently until she came out of the small office on the second level of the building. She was grinning from ear to ear."How did it go?" her mother asked. Josselyn looked up, her eyes twinkling."They want me to audition," she said. Unable to contain their excitement, all three women jumped up and down, hugging each other, attracting some strange looks from terrified onlookers."Hey, you know what? We should go to Starbucks to celebrate," said Amanda."Great idea," replied Josselyn. The three of them headed back outside into the scorching New York heat and walked the four blocks to Starbucks.

"So there's a round of dancing for each day?""Yeah. They'll send a handful of people home after each round.""So hopefully we'll be here for an extra three days?""Yup.""Sweet." Josselyn and Amanda were standing at the table where the sugar and other condiments were."Dude, there is already sugar in that," said Amanda, as she watched Josselyn pop the top off her caramel latte."Yeah, but it's not enough sugar for me." All of a sudden, Josselyn felt someone push her from the side. The blow caused her to lose a quarter of her drink, which splashed onto her powder pink tank top, staining the fabric a light brown. Just as she was about to turn around and ask the person what the hell their problem was, she froze as she heard the person speak in a familiar voice.

"Oh, I am so sorry! See what you made me do Joe? You'll have to excuse my brother, he's sort of a retard. Here let, me help you with that." Josselyn looked up and realized that she was face to face with Nick Jonas. The Jonas Brothers were her most favorite band in the entire world. She totally obsessed over them, so it came as shock to be standing in close proximity to them."It-it's ok," Josselyn stuttered, "it was an accident," she muttered as Nick helped her wipe the excess of the drink off of her shirt."Joe, I think you owe her an apology too," said Kevin Jonas, as he walked up behind his brothers."I'm sorry," said Joe, "it really wasn't his fault. But I could understand if you wanted to take your frustration out on him," he added with a wink."Shut up Joe. I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name," said Nick."It's Josselyn""Josselyn…that's a beautiful name.""Thanks," she said shyly. Someone from behind Josselyn cleared their throat."Oh, this is my friend Amanda.""Hey, nice to meet you.""Ok, well we better get going before we’re late guys," said Kevin, "it was nice meeting you girls.""Nice meeting you too," said Josselyn quietly, caught in a never-ending stare with Nick. Their eyes stayed locked until Nick disappeared around the corner.

Josselyn sat cross-legged on the dusty floor of the main studio. She watched as other dancers warmed up their muscles inside the crowded room. She pulled her knees into her chest as she shook apprehensively."Are you nervous too?" said the girl sitting next to her. She had long dirty blonde hair and piercing blue eyes."A little," replied Josselyn."Me too. I've never been to one of these before.""Me neither.""My name's Mandy," said the girl, extending her hand towards Josselyn."I'm Josselyn," she said, taking Mandy's hand into her own. Josselyn couldn't put her finger on it, but this girl looked vaguely familiarly. Mandy must have felt her shaking."It's ok. I'm sure you'll make it." Mandy glanced toward the door and waved to a group of people who were walking towards her. As the small group came into view, Josselyn saw a familiar boy with brown curly locks walking towards them. Nick stopped dead in his tracks. He couldn't believe his eyes…