This was my favorite place in the world. Just laying on my stomach, on my surfboard, out past the line up, letting the current take me wherever it wanted. The sun heated my skin as I rested my head on my crossed arms. I had been surfing since I was old enough to stand up on a board. Living in Hawaii, surfing is a way of life. My mom plopped me on the front of her board every morning until I was old enough to ride my own board.

My mom and I definitely didn't look like two women who had lived in Hawaii their whole lives with our bright red hair, green eyes and pasty skin, but my mom's parents moved here just before they had her so this was our home. She worked three jobs to support us while I was growing up and I sometimes didn't see her until late at night, but there wasn't one morning that we missed hitting the waves. We would go early, just before the sun came up and beat all the surf schools and tourists that would crowd the water later in the morning. I lived for mornings on the water with my mom.

Now that I had moved out and was working two different jobs of my own, our morning surf trips were few and far between. Every once in a while, we would meet at our favorite surf spot, early in the morning when we both needed to relax.

Today was one of those days, but I was lying on my board without my mom next to me. It was mid afternoon and the swell had died down, so the waves were inconsistent and not too big. Every once in a while, I would ride a wave in, just to paddle back out again. Most of the surf schools had cleared the water and it was mostly locals in the line up. I opened my eyes and noticed there were only a few other people in the line up and they were at least a hundred yards away. Looking back to where the waves were forming, I saw a good-sized wave forming on the outside and decided to paddle in a little ways so I could catch this wave.

I sat up on my board, straddling it and sitting back so the nose of the board was raised up out of the water. When the wave came closer, I sat back further on my board and whipped it around so I could start paddling. Glancing back over my shoulder, I started paddling harder. When I felt the wave forming underneath me, I grabbed the rails of my board pushing up onto my toes and hopped to my feet. After I gained my balance, I started carving the wave. I turned so I was facing the wave and rode down the line. When I got about halfway down the beach, someone dropped in on me and I had to bail out. The wave crashed on top of me, holding me under for a second. I felt my leash tug before I swam back to the surface and pulled my board back to me.

I climbed back on my board and searched the water for whoever dropped in on me. I was pissed. It was the number one rule of surfing. You just don't drop in on another surfer, especially when I was having a ride as good as that one. I paddled into shore and noticed a man pulling his board out of the water. I immediately knew this was the culprit, but was stopped in my tracks when I got a good look at him.

He was straight out of a surf magazine. His tan skin glowed in the afternoon sun and a tribal tattoo covered his left bicep. With his golden, shaggy hair that fell just above his shoulders, he looked like he grew up on the beaches of California. His board shorts rode low on his hips and revealed that V-shape that was just about making me drool.

Before he turned and saw me ogling his gorgeous body, I yanked off my leash, stuck my board in the sand and stomped over to him. He had just plopped down in the sand and was starting to apply wax to his board when I stood in front of him, blocking his view of the waves.

"Who the hell do you think you are," I asked as I crossed my arms in front of my chest and popped a hip in a defensive stance. "I don't know where you're from, Cali, but around here we don't drop in on other people. You could have killed me." Cali stared at me with a smirk and I noticed his piercing gold eyes. I wasn't backing down. "Do you speak?"

"Wow," he said shaking his head and looking away for a moment. "You really don't like people messing with your wave, do you?"

"Of course, I don't." I threw my hands up in exasperation. "It's common sense. I don't know the rules where you're from, but I would never drop in on someone. It's not safe and there's just a certain way things are done in the water."

"Okay, I'm sorry. It won't happen again."

"You're right. It won't happen again because if it does, I won't think twice about breaking your board."

He let that sink in before flashing me the most beautiful smile I had ever seen. This guy was trouble if he could make my temper go down with just a smile. I nodded, signaling that I was done talking and turned to leave.

"I'm Jace, by the way," he yelled after me.

"So," I said over my shoulder. "See you later, Cali. Don't forget what I said and be safe out there."

I made my way to my board and decided it was time to head in. My shift at the bar was starting soon and I wanted to get the salt off of me before I had to deal with drunk tourists all night. I worked at one of the hotels downtown during the day as a bell girl. I was the only bell girl on the island, but I could keep up with the boys any day. I had to work even harder to prove myself, but I loved that job. At night, I worked at a bar on the beach. It was popular among the locals, but the occasional group of tourists stumbled in. It sucked having to work two jobs, but in Hawaii, it was common. I still had my mornings and afternoons to surf and do what I love.

I was yanking my board out of the sand when Jace came running up to me.

"Hey," he shouted as he skidded to a stop, spraying sand all over my legs. Now that we were standing, I could appreciate how tall he was. He stood at least six feet tall, which made me, at five-three, very short. I had to lean my head back to see his face. "You didn't tell me your name."

"Yeah, and I'm not planning on it either," I said as I put my board under my arm and headed to my Jeep.

"At least let me buy you a drink to make up for the whole drop in incident."

"Um, no thanks." I tossed my board in the back of my Jeep so it hung out the back window. I took the back seats out of my Jeep the day after I bought it when I was sixteen. There was no need for them and I needed room for my board. My board trumped people every time. "Look, I'm sorry for blowing up on you. I seriously doubt we'll see each other again, so let's just agree to leave it alone and separate amicably."

"All right, fine, but I guarantee we'll see each other again."

"Well, that doesn't sound creepy at all." He shook his head and his hair shook with it sending droplets of water everywhere before settling back above his shoulders. I got in the driver's seat and started the car. Jace stood next to my open window smiling at me. It was infectious and I couldn't help but smile back. "Aloha, Cali."

I backed up out of my space and headed down the road to my house that I shared with my best friend, Isabelle and her brother Alec. Isabelle and Alec moved to Maui in high school and I instantly befriended Isabelle. Being the obviously Irish girl in a mostly Hawaiian high school, I knew how hard it could be for a new kid in school. I taught her how to surf once, but she didn't have the heart for it that I did. Isabelle and Alec were from California, but not the beaches. They were from the valley, in Northern California where there were farms on top of farms on top of farms. Their dad moved out here to work with the pineapple plantations to improve their irrigation systems. They were really the best friends I could ask for and more like siblings than friends. Alec owned the beach shack on the beach where I usually surfed and Isabelle worked at the hotel with me.

I pulled into our driveway and unloaded my board, dropping it on the front lawn so I could hose it off. Once all of the sand was off of my board, I leaned it up against the side of the house and made my way inside. Isabelle was standing at the stove cooking something that looked relative to mush and I tried to sneak past her before she saw me.

"Clary," she shouted and I froze. "Come try my pasta."

I groaned and turned around to see my best friend holding up a fork with what I assumed was the pasta she was talking about. I loved that girl but she couldn't cook for shit. I grimaced before taking a bite and trying to pretend that it didn't taste like death.

"Okay, I have to go get ready for work," I said as I gulped the mush down.

"Fine, I know you don't like it. Alec had he same reaction." She turned the burner off and tossed the pot in the sink. "How were the waves?"

"Great, until some asshole dropped in on me." I said as I made my way down the hall to my room with Isabelle on my heels.

"Was he hot?"

"God, Isabelle, I don't know." She raised an eyebrow at me and I conceded. "Okay, fine, he was hot, but I'm never going to see him again, so it doesn't matter."

"Fine, don't acknowledge the fact that you're hot yourself and he probably asked you out, but you said no."

I grimaced and changed the subject. "Are you guys coming to the bar tonight?" Isabelle ignored the fact that I changed the subject and I appreciated it.

"Yeah, our cousin from Santa Cruz is in town so we're bringing him."

"Cool." Isabelle left me to get ready and I hopped in the shower.

After I showered and dressed, I walked to work since the bar was just down the street from our house. The bar was already packed and I could tell it was going to be a busy night. I got right to work behind the bar mixing drinks and pouring beers. The crowd was mostly locals and most of them were regulars, so I already knew their orders. I performed the normal bartender duties, listening to the heartaches and troubles of my customers trying to give solace where I could.

Isabelle and Alec finally made their way to the bar a couple of hours into my shift. I started pouring their regular drinks before they even made it to the bar.

"Hey, girly," Isabelle said as she leaned against the bar. "Looks pretty busy tonight."

"Yeah, it's a little crazy," I said before I walked to the other side of the bar to drop off some drinks. "Where's this cousin of yours?"

"Alec is introducing him to someone in the band." She waved me off. Across the bar I could see Alec talking to Jordan, who played the ukulele in the band, but I couldn't see whom he was with.

I got a bunch of new orders and went to work mixing those drinks. When I was finished, I spotted a new customer sitting at the bar and made my way over to him. It wasn't until I looked up that I recognized who he was.

"Hey," he said with a bright smile.

"Hey, Cali."

Thanks for reading! I hope you liked this chapter and are looking forward to the rest of this fic. I'm actually really excited about this story and I hope you are too! So tell me what you think and leave a review! :)

Disclaimer: I do not own The Mortal Instruments or any of it's characters.