Title:Ordinary Day
Rated: T
Summary: AU, Ian Kabra is a supermodel adored by many. He meets Amelia, a shy, new model with reddish brown hair. Hamilton Holt has had a crush on sports star Jade Pierce since her debut. He finally gets the chance tell her with the help of Sinead Starling. Dan Cahill is part of the famous boy band Kaleidoscope. He finds out rival band Clairvoyance is closer to them than they first thought.
Disclaimer: I don't own the 39 Clues…in this world…
A/N: Hello! This is my new story (=^_^=) and I'm very excited at the prospect of it. I've wanted to do this for a long time and have now finally gathered the courage to do so! Yeah!
An important thing to point out, this is completely and utterly AU (like most of my stories). The Cahills are normal, so are the Kabras and everyone else. No secrets, Vespers or branches or spoilers! I tell you now, if you notice this AUness then don't go badgering me about it in a review, okay? Thank you, here's the story!
Dan Cahill finished off the donut with a gulp. He licked his fingers and stood up, opening the door from his bedroom to the corridor and looked at the hall clock. 3:30 PM. Time for band practice. The 14-year old grabbed his skateboard and yelled his farewells to his older sister and their au pair. He slid down the banister of the stairs and rushed out though the front door.
The teenager took great joy in the wind rushing past him as he rode his skateboard on the sidewalk. He arrived at his destination in minutes.
The grey building stood tall, taking up the whole street block. Dan felt the rush of dread that he always did when approaching said building. After all, who likes going to school?
But of course Dan didn't have a choice in this. There wasn't anywhere else available. The band wasn't allowed to practice in his own home without Uncle Fiske being there to supervise. And it just so happened that said man was away in Fiji on some overseas business. The other members of the band were unavailable as well.
Ned and Ted Starling had too many irreplaceable and ancient family heirlooms lying around in their estate. Last time they practiced there, a huge vase/jug was broken, the brothers' were still in trouble to this present day.
Harley Drews, Dan's best friend and one of the main singers of the band wasn't allowed to bring them to his manor either. They only had one soundproof room in the house and his twin sister, who had her own band as well, had booked it for the whole week.
Ryden Lee, Dan's other best friend had five younger siblings at home and as big as his house was, they always thought it to be fun to be in the same room as the band. This proved to be a great distraction and did not let the band do any practicing at all.
All that left was the music room at school which was available if you booked it already. Ned, being the teachers' assistant had taken the trouble to do so already earlier in the week.
Dan walked briskly across the huge oval and opened the big gate before squeezing himself through. He opened the outside door to the music room and walked inside.
The 14-year old found all the other band members there already. The white-blonde head in the corner checking his hair in the mirror could only be Harley, pretty boy that he was. The brunette who was busy spinning discs on his deck was none other than Ryden, live-mixing DJ of the band. Ned with his auburn hair was easy to spot as he practiced his vocals near the window. His brother, Ted was stroking chords on his guitar. The only spot empty was the chair in the middle of the drum set. Dan smiled and set his skateboard against the wall.
"Hey guys!"
A series of "Finally Dan took your own sweet time" and one dryly said "Oh yay!" from Ryden was thrown back at him. The 14-year old smiled before stepping over one of the drums and taking the drumsticks.
Ned cleared his throat.
"For Pete's sake Harley, stop styling your hair in the mirror like the girl you are and come over here" He gestured to the empty stool next to him before adjusting the mic in front of his own chair.
Harley threw him a glare for the girly comment before grudgingly grabbing his guitar and sitting on the stool.
"Right everyone ready?"
Nods and "Get on with it" comments were thrown at him.
"Awesome, remember Ted, you start. Let's go!"
Ted started with his guitar intro, with backing from Ned and Harley and the beat from Dan. It all blended well into Ryden's mix and the song started. Ned pulled the mic closer.
You looked at me with those true
Innocently shining eyes of blue
And that curtain of hair
Shining with sign of care
Harley signalled and everyone else joined in for the chorus.
And I realised
I'm hypnotised!
Woah!
Woah!
Woa-oh-oh!
Because suddenly
I see you truly-yyy
Hyp-no-tised
Everyone else let out a breath and Dan's drum beat was left as the intro for Harley's verse. The change in volume let them hear the heart-stopping sound of footsteps. Ned had booked the music room and since they weren't known as a band to the school, he was the only one truly meant to be there. That was the bad thing about Misselthwaite Academy. They didn't allow students to audition for anything or form any bands. It was one of the confusing but imposing rules assistant principal Ms. Rogers had laid out.
The boys looked at each other in panic. There was nowhere to hide! Before they could react or come up with any ideas the door slammed open.
Dan groaned.
Natalie Kabra, a fellow student in Dan's grade, stood through the doorway glaring with her arms folded. She saw their faces and glared harder.
"Well, what have we here?" her annoying voice questioned.
"None of your business Cobra" Dan replied defensively.
She ignored him and slithered in front of Harley. Like the snake she is, Dan thought. Natalie clutched Harley's uniform collar and brushed her thumb over the pin there.
"Kaleidoscope?" she read out before turning to them all. "Isn't that the stupidly famous boy band that play peasant music? Now why would Harley own a pin like that?"
Said boy opened his mouth, probably to come up with some smooth lie.
"No wait-let me guess, you have a secret love for them?"
"It's no secret, all of us here idolise Kaleidoscope" Harley told her.
"Just goes to show how stupid you all are then, doesn't it?" She continued. Dan clenched his fists and stood up.
"Leave Natalie, you're not welcome here" He ground out, gesturing to the door.
Natalie, infuriating girl she was, wasn't paying attention to him. Her gaze was fixed on something on the ground. Natalie walked over and picked it up. Dan realized with panic, what it was. It must have fallen out of his pocket when he stood up!
The girl studied the scrunched up cap and straightened it.
"This looks to me like it's one of those exclusive Kaleidoscope caps that the members wear. You know one of those really rare ones that are only available to the band members themselves?" Natalie looked at Dan with piercing eyes. He averted her gaze. Everyone else was panicking.
"Look Natalie, it's not what you think-"Ryden started but Natalie waved him off. Strange thing was, he quietened. She looked around at them all.
"I knew it! Kaleidoscope, world-famous boy band are actually students at Misselthwaite Academy. One of the only schools that actually, you know prohibits such things" She smirked "Well, you're in trouble now aren't you?"
Dan was about to retort something rude when Natalie and his surroundings faded.
His eyes flew open. It was all a dream. No wonder all those strange things started happening. Term didn't start until January. Besides Dan went to a boarding school that was three hours away from the manor, definitely not a destination to be reached easy with a skateboard.
Amy Cahill scanned the letter again. It was too good to be true. A huge grin spread across her face.
"YESSS!"
The scream must've been heard all over the manor but the 17-year old didn't care. She got in! She actually got in! The girl jumped around joyfully, clutching the letter to her chest.
"Amy, what's going on kiddo?" Nellie Gomez, au pair extraordinaire walked in from the direction of the kitchen. Amy looked up and ran towards Nellie, throwing her arms around the older girl and squeezing tight.
"I got in Nellie! I got in!"
"Got…into…what…ki…ddo?" Nellie asked, turning into a slight shade of blue. Amy pulled back and the older girl was finally able to breathe. The 17-year old's smile didn't falter.
"I got into Yorkshire Moor's!"
"Yorkshire- hey! That's great Amy!" The au pair realised what Amy was talking about and smiled for the girl.
After all, she had worked hard for it. All summer long, Amy had worked hard to get past the entrance exams and everything else that was required for her to be able to get into the prestigious high school known as Yorkshire Moor's.
When she was younger Amy's parents had died in a plane crash. She and Dan had been sent to live with their Aunt Beatrice where they met Nellie and after a tough fight at court they had all been taken in by Grace. Nellie remembered Grace with fondness, the blessed old lady had died peacefully of old age and Fiske had taken over caring for them before Beatrice could once again.
Nellie had never seen Amy work for something so hard before, and she knew why. Arthur and Hope, Amy's parents, had gone to Yorkshire Moor's and Nellie knew the feeling of trying to find a scrap of remembrance for someone you loved.
Amy, still smiling, folded up the letter.
"I'm gonna go up and tell Dan, it's 10:00 AM anyways, he needs to wake up already" she said energetically still on the high of achieving something. The girl ran up the stairs and Nellie smiled fondly. She loved that kid.
Amy arrived at the second floor and headed for Dan's room, practically skipping. She arrived at his door and opened it, walked across the room and opened the curtains without hesitation.
"Argh! I'm blinded!" A yell of surprise sounded from Dan's bed. His older sister looked at him and smiled wryly.
"Well thank goodness you're awake. Guess what! I got accepted into Yorkshire Moor's!" She exclaimed in one breath.
"Woah, calm down Ames. And that's great!" Dan replied, sitting up in his bed.
"I know! I was so happy!"
"Was? Seems like it hasn't worn off yet"
"Yeah!" Amy said before looking at her brother closer "Hey, what happened? You look like you woke up unexpectedly"
"Yeah, I think I heard your scream of happiness and nearly jumped out of my skin, asleep"
"Oh sorry"
"Don't be, I was having a nightmare" Dan groaned at the remembrance of it and buried his head in his hands. Amy nodded in understanding.
"Was Natalie in it?"
"Yeah" Dan replied from his cocoon of hands.
"I honestly don't know what you have against the girl, she seemed nice enough a few years ago when Uncle Fiske made you invite her to your birthday party" His sister commented.
The 14-year old looked up at her with fake wide eyes.
"She's evil and manipulative!"
"What did she do in your dream?"
"Nightmare, and she found out about Kaleidoscope" Dan replied.
Amy frowned.
"That one again?"
Being his sister, Amy knew about Dan's secret boy band ever since he formed it with the others when he was 13 years old. She was bewildered when they became world-famous.
"Yeah, it's really haunting me"
"Well, come on, I think I can smell some pancakes, Nellie probably cooked them and you know hers are heavenly, let's go eat" Amy said standing up. She didn't even have to wait three seconds before Dan jumped out of his bed and barrelled down to the kitchen yelling,
"Nellie, I'll have Amy's share, she doesn't want it!"
The girl ran after him in desperation.
"No! He's lying!"
A yellow taxi pulled up in front of the gates of a huge mansion. The passenger in the backseat smiled easily at the driver.
"Thank you young man, you can drop me off here. How much will this cost?"
"Uh..$39:90 sir"
The man handed him a fifty dollar note with the same kind smile on his face.
"Keep the change. Have a good day"
The bewildered taxi driver watched as his passenger got out of the yellow vehicle and slowly looked down at the note in his hand. When he looked back up, the man in black was gone.
The taxi sped away and Fiske watched it go before knocking on the gate. A man dressed in a casual t-shirt and overalls opened it and his eyes widened.
"Master Fiske! Welcome back! I have tried my best to keep the grounds to your absolute taste"
"Thank you Solem, and please, call me Fiske"
The gardener nodded, obeying easily, before going back to work and tending to the white lilies near the entrance.
Fiske walked up easily to the front door and the bell. He had keys in his pocket but sometimes he just loved surprising the kids like this.
There was a couple of yells and a few whines before finally a firm set of footsteps were heard from inside. The old man guessed they were all probably arguing about who was going to get up and answer the door.
Sure enough, a few minutes later, the door opened and Nellie appeared. Her eyes widened at the sight of him,
"Fiske!"
She ran forward and hugged him tightly. Not a minute passed and Amy and Dan came rushing forward and a chorus of "Uncle Fiske! You're back!" was heard and both teens joined in hugging the man tightly. Fiske chuckled and melted into the group hug. He had missed them too.
A moment later everyone pulled back and they led him to the kitchen, where Nellie loaded up another plate with flapjacks and set it on the table for him. Dan was sitting down already, practically inhaling the pancakes in his haste.
"Slow down Dan, there are more in the kitchen" Nellie said dryly. The boy pouted before taking in his pancakes at a slower notch.
"Uncle Fiske, guess what?" Amy beamed at him "I got into Yorkshire Moor's!"
"Oh? That's wonderful Amy!" The girl's cheeks turned pink at the praise. Fiske turned to Dan.
"Dan, I heard Kaleidoscope's newest album went platinum, congratulations!"
The boy smiled through a mouthful of pancakes,
"Thanks Uncle Fiske" he replied though it more or less came out as: "Fanks Funcke Fiske"
"And Nellie! You're graduating college in January! That's a cause for celebration in itself already"
The au pair grinned,
"Let's hope I actually do graduate"
"I'm sure you will"
Fiske smiled back before tucking into his meal heartily.
A/N: So there it is, hope you all liked it! And please tell me what you thought about it in a review! Now that I've finished, in the words of my hero, I'm so tired I could just melt into this chai- *melts*
I'm a particularly good finder- Kanastasia
P.S: If you could which 39 Clues character would you want to switch lives with? Personally, I'd go with Reagan Holt. She just seems like my type of personality!