AN:

Hi guys! With Possessions wrapping up, I am ready to start something new!
So, I bring you, princess Clary and Cowboy Jace.

This is a Aussie fic about a place that I am very passionate about. I come from a cattle station, six hours from nowhere, so this, this is stuff I know and stuff I hope you will enjoy. If you will stick with me, I will try and share a little slice of life in the Aussie outback with you all.

Major thanks to Feralness-is-me, my fellow Aussie, and squishy les who beta's this fic. xx

~prologue~

I sat staring at the chips in the beige linoleum. Behind the large pseudo-wooden door, my parents were being briefed on the latest in a long list of my transgressions. This one was possibly worse than any of the others; it had cost a man his career—a career that he'd worked hard for. Sebastian was my teacher, emphasis on was.

Now he was just another guy in his mid-twenties who was unemployed.

Don't get me wrong, I didn't feel too bad for him. As they say, it takes two to tango, and tango we did.
It started a month ago; we bumped into each other at my cousin, Angela's, twenty first birthday. Apparently, they went to uni together – who knew. What started out as an innocent dance, soon led to a not so innocent grope, and a definitely not so innocent romp in his car. We'd been fucking ever since. It was fine, we had an agreement; no strings, just fun, but then we fell in love, and now we had been caught.

"Miss Fray, you may come in now," the nasally voice of my principal drew me out of my revere. Slowly I rose, made my way into the overcrowded office and folded myself into the crappy piece of plastic, that passed for a chair, to await a verdict on my fate.

"Clarissa, I need to ask you this once more, are you certain that you consented to this? If Mr. Verlac pressured you, made unwelcome advances, please tell us; you have nothing to fear from the truth."

I snorted softly. Yes pass me off as the innocent victim. I am just a girl; in some countries that translates to animal with no brain of my own.

"No, Dr Emmanuel, our relationship was completely consensual. I am just as much to blame as Sebastian is."

My mother gasped, and from the corner of my eye I saw her dab at her own with the little scrap of lace fabric she always seemed to carry.

I rolled my eyes. God she is pathetic.

"Ok, well events as they are, I'm afraid that I have no choice in this matter. Clarissa, I have to expel you from the school. Perhaps had this been with another student I may have been able to overlook it, but having intercourse on school property with a teacher. I'm sorry, Clary, but it's unacceptable."

What was there to say? He was right, that's why I'd done it.

My mother stood with Luke at her side—yeah, I still called him Luke; he would never be my father, despite what that shitty piece of paper said. They both shook hands with the principal I was escorted to my locker to clean out my shit and go.

It didn't take long and all too soon we were passing the familiar bend in the street and the gravel was crunching on our driveway.

"Clarissa, I think its best that you go to your room for now. Your mother and I have a lot to discuss." Luke couldn't even look me in the eye.

I didn't answer, just trudged to the room I'd been given when we moved in with him. I threw my bag on the floor and swiftly tucked my headphones in my ears. Cranking the iPod up to full, I flopped on my bed to stare at the roof.

I hated this house; I hated everything about it, and mostly, I hated that it was Luke's.

It was a slow day, but at some point I must have drifted off, because one minute I was listening to Eminem and the next thing I was aware of was my phone buzzing in my pocket, telling me I had a text message waiting.

We need to talk, can you get out?

I glanced out of the window and sure enough, the blue Chevy that he so loved was parked three houses down.

Give me a bit, I will see what I can do. They're pretty pissed at me right now, I tapped out the reply, stashed the phone in my pocket, and quietly made my way to the living room.

"It's time, Jocelyn. How many more chances are we going to give her? She won't see the psychiatrist, she won't take her meds. There isn't a school within an hour's drive that will take her. It's time to go; we can start over. Who knows, maybe this is just what she needs."

I pulled up short.

My mother sighed, and I only wish that I could have seen her face in that moment—to know what she was truly thinking.

"You're right, Luke. Make the calls. It's now or never."

I stepped out and into the living room. "What's now or never?" I demanded, placing my hands on my hips.

"Clarissa, we can't find a school that will take you. We've rang every school in the area and not one is willing to take you on. Luke and I, we've been thinking… you remember the property that his parents left all of us? Well, we are going to move there; a fresh start. What do you think, sweetheart?"

"You mean that shit hole, in Timbuktu?" I asked incredulous, that my mother—a woman who loved her conveniences—would even consider this crap.

"Sweet heart, you know it's not Timbuktu, and Australia is a very pretty country…" she trailed off.

At first, I could only glare, and then my wits returned. "You're kidding right? You can't seriously expect me to pick up and move, not to just another state, but an entire country—in my senior year. On top of that, you wouldn't have a clue what Australia is like, mom! You've never been there! No, I'm sorry, but if you want to go ahead and do this stupid 'sea change' or whatever, you can do it without me. I'll move in with dad," I spat, turning on my heel and running out the front door. I was sure to slam it as hard as I could on my way out.

I was reasonably sure my name was shouted out as I ran the short distance to the sleek car, but I never paused, I just ran to my last refuge and let him wrap me in his arms.

With a flick to the ignition, the car roared to life once again and Sebastian and I sped off into the late afternoon sun.

The log crackled, a spark shot into the air and I snuggled deeper into the leather jacket Sebastian had draped around me. The night air was becoming chilly.

"So when is this move happening?" he asked, his hand sliding slowly back and forth on my thigh.

"I don't know, I kinda just stormed out. I guess soon, most likely. It's not like we have anything tying us here. Mom can write anywhere." I could feel the tears threatening to spill. "Anyway, it's only twelve months. As soon as I turn eighteen they won't be able to keep me there."

"A year, huh? I guess we should make the most of the time we have left then. Don't you think?"