"IMPASSIVE LOVE"
Impassive Love follows the lives of several teenagers from New York City that live on the Upper East Side and deal with everyday feelings such as anger, happiness, despair, joy, heartbreak and lust due to romance, relationship problems and much more.
Some random facts:
* It is set in Manhattan, New York City, like the Gossip Girl series (10021).
* Jenny and Nate go to prestigious schools which many wealthy teenagers attend.
* The Constance Billard School for Girls = The Royal Queen's Ladies' College.
* St Jude's School for Boys = The Aristocrat's School for Boys.
* Jenny and Will's family isn't poor but definitely not as rich as all of my other characters.
* Basically all of the characters come from wealthy families, Toby's family being the wealthiest.
* The novel (except for the prologue) is set from late November 2005.
* The school year runs from 2 September to 29 June, so the novel starts after the school year has begun.
* Jenny and her friends are in freshman year (Year 9), Nate and Will are seniors (Year 12), Victoria is in Year 11
* Sorry if I get some geographical stuff wrong, I'm from Australia, not New York, so I might make up some street names and everything which might be wrong (I don't understand the whole thing about the streets being numbered eg East 12th Street)
ANY OTHER RANDOM QUESTIONS OR CONFUSING THINGS? -- JUST LET ME KNOW VIA REVIEWING OR ANY OTHER WAY YOU CAN CONTACT ME :)
Please note that in some chapters there may be some confusion:
Jenny is Jennifer (Jenny) Tallulah Humphrey/Jenavive Rochelle Davis (known as Jenny)
Nate is Nathaniel (Nate) Fitzwilliam Archibald/Nathaniel Jude Greyling (known as Nate)
Dan is Dan Jonah Humphrey/Zachary Will Davis (known as Will)
Blair is Blair Cornelia Waldorf/Victoria Therese Baldacci (known as Victoria)
The reason why the characters may appear as Cecily von Ziegesar's names in the first chapters is because when I started writing this I used the character names directly. Now to make Impassive Love more of my original work I have changed the personalities of Jenny, Nate and Dan and renamed them a little, as shown above. I have also renamed Blair but her character's personality is pretty much the same. The names underlined are the ones of the original characters created by Cecily von Ziegesar; the ones that are not are the changed names I have come up with. Sorry if this doesn't make sense! I started using the new character names from about Jenny&Nate's second meeting onwards.
*The rest of my characters are completely original and in no way affiliated with Gossip Girl or any other published works*
Some info about the characters:
Jenny is 14 turning 15, a freshman at Royal Queens; Nate is 17 turning 18, a senior at Aristocrats; Will is 17 turning 18, a senior at Aristocrats; Victoria is 16 turning 17, a junior at Aristocrats; Maya is 14 turning 15, a freshman at Royal Queens; Michael has turned 16 this year, he is going to start attending Aristocrats; Toby has turned 16 this year, he is a sophomore at Aristocrats.
I don't have the time to write a detailed description about all of them, but any questions, just ask!
PROLOGUE
Setting: Nobility Elementary School, Manhattan, NY
Nine-year-old Jenny Humphrey sat on the ground in the school playground, biting an apple. She was alone; her friends were playing on the monkey bars, and she didn't feel like joining in. She had other interests besides having fun like children should; she had developed an attraction to the opposite sex.
Jenny looked at her twelve-year-old brother, Dan, over by the tables. He was alone too; reading dark poems and never looking up. He was deeply absorbed into the book, his concentration amazing for someone his age. If he was ever hit across the head with a football, he wasn't one to laugh and join in. Instead, he'd look up reluctantly, throw the ball back hard and grimace or shake his head in disapproval. It wasn't that Jenny and Dan were loners – they interacted well enough with the other kids – but they were just different to everyone else their age. They had different interests.
Jenny noticed a guy from Dan's year with his straight dark honey-gold hair shining in the sunlight. His emerald green eyes glistened as he smiled. He was holding a football and playing with his friends. Now, in primary school there isn't a great emphasis on popular kids and loners, but anyone could see that he was well-liked by everyone, and had many friends. His name was Nathaniel Archibald, Nate for short – and everyone knew him. He was twelve, like Dan, but they had never really talked to each other, unless you count an occasional 'May I borrow a pen?' as talking.
Jenny sat, observing Nate. She was attracted to him; that much she knew. She had never talked to him, and she didn't really plan to. She was too shy. Besides, he was three years older than her, so she knew he would never have a second glance at her. Bear in mind that Jenny was only nine, but she already knew that one day, she'd have the courage to talk to him, and maybe he'd like what he saw. Jenny bit into her apple again, and doodled on her scrapbook she carried around with her everywhere. In big, bold letters she wrote:
Nate Archibald LOVES Jenny Humphrey
Jenny Archibald
Jenny Tallulah Archibald
Jenny Tallulah Humphrey-Archibald
Jenny Tallulah Archibald-Humphrey
Jennifer Archibald
Jennifer Tallulah Archibald
Jennifer Tallulah Humphrey-Archibald
Jennifer Tallulah Archibald-Humphrey
Jenny was a real dreamer, but also a pessimist. She thought about how she'd marry someone who she didn't love, and how she'd lust for Nate throughout her entire lifelong marriage with that person who wasn't her true love. Jenny sighed. That person would probably be called Michael or something. It was such a common name; she knew there was a real chance of her marrying a Michael.
As she thought about the name Michael, her mind began to wonder and she thought about a boy in her class with light brown hair and blue eyes. Indeed, he was a Michael. Jenny wondered if she'd marry him. As she continued to eat her apple in the biggest bites possible, a boy came up to her. Coincidentally enough, it was Michael.
Jenny knew that he had a crush on her. Now, they were just kids and hardly knew their feelings, but Michael loved the way Jenny's sandy blonde hair touched her back; how her blue eyes sparkled as she talked; and how cute her laugh sounded.
Jenny was still staring into space when Michael stood in front of her. It was only when he said, "Hey sugar," that she was aware of his presence and dropped what was left of her apple in shock. It rolled down the playground, coming to a halt next to a drain.
Jenny looked annoyed. That had been her only recess, and talking to Michael wasn't exactly the reason why she got up every morning. "What do you want, Michael?" she asked bitterly.
"Mind the attitude," Michael said, offended by her unfriendly greeting. "Anyway, I was just wondering if you'd like to marry me."
Michael held out a plastic ring. It was one of those cheap kinds that came out of a vending machine after two dollars was inserted. But what else could you expect from a nine-year-old boy?
"May I?" Michael said, smiling as he tried to put the ring on Jenny's tiny finger.
"No!" Jenny backed away, disgusted. "Go away, Michael!"
Michael looked hurt. "Fine then," he said, disappointed. "But if you change your mind… let me know. George has agreed to be the celebrant." He pointed out George, who was chasing pigeons down the netball court.
George was Michael's best friend. He was nine as well. He smiled and waved at Jenny as he ran after his favourite species of bird.
Michael winked at Jenny and held out the ring once more as if it had beautiful diamonds on it, and tried to tempt her again. Jenny shook her head stubbornly. "I don't like you, Michael. I don't want to marry you and end up sad and bitter."
Michael scoffed and walked off. Jenny heard him say to George, "She doesn't know what she's talking about."
Jenny sighed. If only Nate could propose to her. She'd say yes in a heartbeat, even if the ring was one of those vending machine types.