"No place like London," thought Jared sarcastically. "What's so good about moving here?'' London was just a dirty city with rats, beggars, and smelly sewers. How could anyone live here? "My life was already boring enough," he thought. Him and his parents had lived in a nice, small house in Sussex, but now they moved into a large, dirty house in London.

His family is expecting a new baby, so they needed a bigger place to live. Ever since they got there, his mother has been decorating the baby's room, and his father has been working the delivery service. They asked him if he could get his own job so they coul have some extra money. Since they needed all the extra help they could get, Jared decided to search for a job. So far, nothing suited him. "Bloody waste of time," he mumbled under his breath. He searched a couple shops that might of sparked some interests. Although he wasn't interested in being a butcher, a tailor, or even a bus boy. Jared almost gave up completely, untill he found an old knick-knack shop.

Looking up at the sign, it read, "Valiant's Valuables: The Perfect Prizes for the Perfect Prices." Jared shrugged. "Seems simple enough," he thought. He opened the door and stepped inside, only to find the largest amount of trinkets and baubles he had ever seen. On tons of shelves were figurines, picture frames, paintings, clocks, plates, bowls, jewlery boxes, mirrors, dolls, fabrics, books, purses, glasses, and vases of all kinds. Many of them looked like they were from different countries judging by their style and architexture. Jared noticed by taking a closer look, some of the hand carved features and sculpting of the figurines and vases, how so authentic they looked.

Taken up in all of the treasures, he didn't notice that the shopkeeper han entered the room. "Good day, lad. Need help looking for something?'' , he said. Jared gave him a confused look but then remembered his reason for coming into the store. "Um, hi," he replied. "I was sort of wondering if you had a job opening here at your store." The shopkeeper smiled. "I think I could use another member to my little crew. Have you ever worked in a shop before?'' "Not really," said Jared, "But I am a real quick learner."

"Well working here is easy," stated the shopkeeper. "Most of the work is just helping customers and keeping the shop clean. You look like you could do a fine job, lad. What's your name?'' "Jared Rayford, sir," answered Jared. "It's very nice to meet you, Jared. I'm Valiant Hamilton. But you can call me Val for short. I'd be very happy if you'd apply here." Jared smiled at him. "That means a lot Val, thank you." "Don't mention it," said Val.

At that moment, the bell rung, signifing a customer coming in. A middle-aged women quickley paced up to the counter to talk to Val. "Val, please tell me you have the new Edgar Allen Poe book in today," she exclaimed. "Hang on , Mrs. Mooney, I'll see if we have it in the back," said Val. Just as he was about open the back door, a girl came through it carrying a heavy looking brown box. She was shorter than Jared and she had straight brown hair that touched her shoulders. "Oh, hi Mrs. Mooney. Do you need something?," she asked. "I was wondering if you had the new Edgar Allen Poe book Stella," replied Mrs. Mooney. "Oh sure, a whole bunch of copies are in here. I'll get one out for you," said Stella. Just as she went back through the door, another employee came out. This time it was a boy with dark black hair who might have looked a year or two older than Jared.

He was carring two small clocks to put on the shelves when he noticed Jared and Mrs. Mooney. "You need some help with the customers Val," he asked. "Oh, no Mick. Mrs. Mooney's just waiting to get her book. This is Jared," Val mentioned as he nodded towards Jared. "He's our new employee." "Oh, really?'' replied Mick. He walked over to shake Jared's hand. "You new to London?"

"Yeah," said Jared, "My family needs some extra money so I was lucky to find a job here." "I think you'll like it here," said Mick, " It's a decent job and you get good money. You made a smart choice to pick here." At that moment Stella came through the back door again with Mrs. Mooney's book. "Here you go . Hope you enjoy it." " Finally, thank you Stella," answered . She put her money on the counter and strode towards the front door when it opened to reveil another girl who was carrying a basket. "Oh, hello Madeline," said Mrs. Mooney with a frown. "You look well." "As do you ." said the girl with the same unhappy tone. She walked up to the counter as walked out of the shop. She set her basket down and took out three small pies. "Here's today's lunch Val," she stated. "Everyone having a good day?"

"Sure is now that your here, I'm starving!" said Stella as she reached for one of the pies. "Can you stay a little longer today Maddie or is it another busy day at the shop?" "Another busy day unfortunetly," said Maddie. " Hopefully tomorrow will be better." As they talked, Jared looked at Maddie with a most unusual intrest in his case. She had a creamy pale face with dark, sunken brown eyes. Her long, night black hair fell halfway down her back and she wore a dusty looking dress with a white top and black bottom. She also wore an old red tie losely around her neck. She looked very grim, but at the same time very beautiful. Jared kept gazing in wonder untill she turned took face him and then quickley looked down. "Well, I have to go. Don't want to keep Mum waiting." Maddie picked up her basket and headed for the door. "Maddie, make sure you bring four pies tomorrow," said Val quickley. "Jared's going to start working with us."

Maddie put her hand on the doorknob and then looked back at Jared. She had a straight face so Jared couldn't really tell what she was thinking. "Alright then, bye everyone," she stated and then went out the door. "Maddie works at her mother's pie shop, Jared. She stops by everyday to bring us some lunch. Her mum's one good baker." said Val happily. "Be right back to get us some drinks." He headed towards a side door and went up some stairs.

"I'll go help Val," replied Stella as she walked to the stairs. "By the way, it's great to have you here Jared. I think you'll make good friends with everybody." After that she disapeared up the stairs. "Looks like you really fancy Maddie," said Mick with a smirk as went to put his clocks down on a shelf. "What do you mean, I just met her," asked Jared. " I saw the way you stared at her. Do you think she's pretty?" Mick asked back. Jared didn't know how to answer. He really did think Maddie was pretty, but how was he suppost to say it to Mick? "Relax, I'm just wondering. I won't judge you," Mick said calmly. "Well, mabye I guess," said Jared shyly. "Thought so. Not a single other person looks at her like that besides her parents. All the other boys in town ignore her."

"Why?" asked Jared. "They probably just think she's too strange. She really is a nice person once you get to know her though," explained Mick. By then, Val and Stella came back down with the drinks and plates. For the rest of the day all Jared could think about was Maddie. Did people really think that she was strange or not that good of a person? He would just have to try and talk to her tomorrow and see if Mick was right. On the way home Jared smiled to himself secretly. He couldn't wait to see her again.


Alright people, what do you think? Is this good enough? Please leave a comment and tell me what you think. I'm gonna start working on chapter two so please let me know if you like it!