Around Every Corner

Chapter 1

Taking one last gulp of fresh air, I followed my father into the grimy building. I sighed as I looked around. Everyone here was crowded around a small blue fighting ring that was placed in the middle of the room. Although, I'm here for the same reason, so I can't really judge. All of them were male and held bets in their hands like it was their life line. However, if they're here, it most probably is.

Inside the ring, there were two kids about my age, one with sleek black hair and the other had brown hair and glasses. I knew him from school, his name was Simon Lewis.

The black haired kid swung his fist out towards Simon's face and it connected with a sickening crack. Simon flew across the ring landing heavily on his back. He didn't make a move to stand back up.

A bell went off and a referee came into the ring and walked up to where the black haired kid was standing. He took him by the wrist and swung his arm in the air to indicate that he was the winner. The crowd went crazy, some of them cheering, some booing. The ref then slipped some money into the boys hand and they left the ring with Simon struggling to get back onto his feet.

I looked away and started to push through the crowds to find my father.

"Jace!" I heard from behind me. "Come over here, I've got someone who wants to meet you!"

I sighed and made my way back through the crowd again. After pushing past what felt like a thousand people, I arrived at where my dad was standing, with him were two guys.

One of them looked to be about my age with blonde, almost silver hair, and pitch black eyes. He had a tall and muscular frame and stood confidently, like he knew that he was better than everyone her. I scoffed under my breath.

The other one was older, around mid thirties, and also hand the silvery hair and strong frame. I guessed it was a family trait and they were father and son or something.

There was something about the two that made me feel uneasy...

"Jace," my father, Will, says, snapping me out of my inspection of the two. "This is Valentine Morgenstern," he says stretching his hand out to indicate the older guy. "And this is Sebastian Morgenstern, Valentine's son."

So I was right, as always, they are father and son.

Valentine reached out his hand to clasp one of mine in a firm grip. He shook it whist saying, "Nice to finally meet you, Jace. I've heard a lot of good thing about you from my... well, let's call them acquaintances."

"Of course you have." I replied, a smirk making its way onto my lips. "I am amazing. You know, I've never lost a fight. Some call me famous, but whatever." This only brought on a questioning look from Valentine and an irritated look from my father, telling me to cut the crap.

"Egotistical much," I heard someone scoff from beside me. I dropped my smirk and turned my head to the side to stare at Sebastian.

"Obviously, who wouldn't be if they looked like this?" I asked, indicating my face with a flick of my wrist, my smirk coming back into play. I knew I was attractive, golden hair, golden skin and tawny almost golden eyes. I had a lean and muscular frame, but that was to be suspected, considering I have to come here and fight every two weeks. Plus, there's the training I do every night after school form three hours straight. I am also 6ft 2. All these factors put together have left me very attractive, indeed. And I know it too.

I heard Sebastian mumble something under his breath in reply and watched as Valentine dug his elbow into his son's ribs. Sebastian groaned but didn't say anything.

"Anyway, we must get going. Looking forward to seeing you fight tonight, Jace." Valentine says, cutting through the silence that was starting to consume us all. "It was a pleasure to meet you," he added, almost as an afterthought. Although, there was something in his eyes that led me to believe that there was no pleasure involved.

I forced a smile onto my lips, hoping to seem sincere since these two were really putting me on edge now. "The pleasure was all mine, Mr Morgenstern."

My dad glanced at me from where he was standing at my side, seeing straight through my sincere act. I'm not surprised really; he knows me better than anyone and can tell when I'm acting. There's that and the fact that I never, never, speak to anyone so formally, under any circumstance.

"Sebastian." I say, inclining my head towards the boy at my other side.

He just huffs and storms off, seeing straight through my sincere act as well. Damn, I thought. Am I really that bad of an actor? Although who am I kidding, I know I'm acting badly. I want them to see how much I really don't like them.

There's something about these two that has me constantly on edge and I can't quite seem to put my finger on it and its driving me crazy. Usually, I'm very good at picking out what I don't like about people. There's always something. Take my dad for instance. What I don't like about him is that he forces me to come and fight in these illegal fights just so he can win some cash. But, I put up with him because he took me in all those years ago when my real 'family' deserted me when I needed them the most.

Anyway, no need to get too sucked into the past right now, that's a story for another time and another place. Back to the present.

I watch as Sebastian walks away from us, silver hair bobbing in the distance, until he turns a corner and disappears completely.

Valentine sighs and then turns his head so he can look over his shoulder.

"Clarissa!" he barks. "Get over here now and stop wasting my time!"

A small red headed girl about my age, maybe a year or two younger, pops her head out from behind her father's back. My eyebrows shoot up to my hairline. Girls are not allowed into these places. Never. Valentine must know the owner.

Clarissa walks over to us wearily and stops next to Valentine. He looks at her with something like disgust in his eyes, but I can't tell why he would be disgusted. She's beautiful. Bright green emerald eyes, fire truck red hair that falls in waves down her back and freckles peppering over her nose. Her skin I very pale, almost porcelain, making her hair and eyes stand out even more. Her frame is small and delicate and she can't be much taller that 5ft 2.

Although when I look closer, I can see that her clothes are very dirty and ripped in places and she has very pronounced bags under her eyes. I can also see that she has little cuts, scrapes and bruises all the way down her body, or what I can see of it. Her arms are covered three quarters of the way down and her legs are covered by the jeans she wears. On her feet are a pair of green converse that look like they need to be thrown in the trash. I wonder what happened to her. I let my eyes wander back to her face and she that she is staring right at me, her mouth open a little.

Usually, I would plaster a smirk on my face and say something to make her blush, but there is something about this girl that makes her seem different to all of the others that have had the pleasure to be in my company over the years. I just stare back at her, an actual smile on my lips. Where the hell did that come from? I wonder to myself. No one has made me smile truthfully in years, no one except my real family could do that, but they crushed that when they abandoned me. My smile grows wider and I decide that I like her.

Valentine looks briefly back at me and my father again before following his son into the crowd, Clarissa in his wake. She looks like she's limping a bit.

I look back at my father.

"Better go and get ready, Jace. You're on any minute now." He says.

I nod and turn towards to changing rooms at the back of the room, a certain red head on my mind the whole time.

AN: Thank you so much for reading the first chapter of my first story on FanFiction, it would mean so much to me if you took out a few minutes of your day to review my story so I can see what you guys think. I'm not sure if I should continue so it would really be based on if anyone reads this. Constructive criticism is welcome but not stupid comments. I already have a plot line set up for this story and I should be updating every week, but I'm not promising anything. I'm not sure if I should continue. Anyway, I will leave you to it. Thanks again for reading!

~Mockingjay1011