Most of my ANs will be at the end of the chapters but this one will be at the beginning because I have a favour to ask.
IF YOU'RE AMERICAN PLEASE READ: So most of this will be set in England because it just makes it easier for me. Despite that Jace is American so if I write something (words or phrases) that Americans don't use please let me know so I can change it: I still want him to sound American. This goes for all future chapters.
So all of the places I'm going to describe are pretty accurate because its set where I grew up, it's also a brand new story so please give me lots of love! :P
We stepped off the plane after what felt like an eternity of sitting still. Remind me never to fly anywhere again; it was so mind numbingly boring. It was overcast, grey clouds covering every inch of the sky and it was raining- not enough to warrant an umbrella without looking like an idiot, but enough that I was getting wet. Fantastic, only been in this country for two minutes and it's already pissing me off, and from what Kaelie had told me about the climate in England, this was pretty much it: Grey and drizzly. Well this would be a fun two months. God I missed New York already.
"Come on Jace! If we don't hurry we'll have to wait ages for a taxi!" My reason for being in this God forsaken country was pulling me impatiently towards the airport doors. Kaelie Andrews was my girlfriend of six months. We met at NYU, her being a student from England studying for a year abroad, and when the term ended she begged me to come home with her for the summer.
To be honest I wasn't really the boyfriend type. Until Kaelie I was never monogamous. She wasn't my one true love or anything, I definitely wasn't the mushy, soul mate kind of guy, and despite being with her for six months I wasn't in love with Kaelie but I'd just grown tired of the chase.
During my first year of University, well actually ever since I was sixteen, I had the same pattern to satisfy myself. I would go out, find a girl, flash her my winning smile and she was mine. After a short period of time I'd grow tired of her, and often become irritated with her and so I'd swap her for someone new.
By the time I met Kaelie I knew most of the girls in the university. I just decided to settle with someone that I could get along with, someone who didn't irritate me even after all this time- well most of the time anyway.
The only problem was that she didn't feel the same way about me, which was why I was currently on my way to meet her parents.
"Don't worry Jacey, they're gonna love you."
*.O.*
As if the plane journey wasn't enough, we had to get a taxi for bloody miles as well. Why couldn't Kaelie be from London, or Liverpool or Manchester or another big city that had an airport in it? But no, she had to be from the middle of friggin nowhere, miles away from an airport. She told me she was from a sea side village in Devon but our plane didn't even land in the same county! We landed in Bristol and then had to drive for two hours to get there.
What really drove me mental though was the fact that we drove past another airport on our way there which was much closer to our destination.
"Exeter airport is too small." Kaelie told me when I asked. "Not much lands there, and what does is always more expensive. I scowled out the window at the little airport. Kaelie knew that money was no issue with me and I would have much preferred to pay more and land closer.
"Oooh we're here Jacey!" Kaelie exclaimed. We were driving over a bridge when I saw the sign: 'Welcome to Shaldon'. We drove through a small village and turned right at the end of the road. We climbed up the hill before turning right onto a road with a row of unremarkable houses. We drove up a lane that lead behind them up a steep hill before turning left to a solitary house surrounded by fields. The house was ordinary, smaller than the houses we were behind but large enough for a small family and with a much larger garden. "Welcome home!"
There were sheep in the fields in front of us. Coming from New York I'd never actually seen sheep in real life, in fact the only wildlife I'd really seen were pigeons and the occasional rat. The house was simple and white, probably only two stories high and had an amazing view. I could see the sea and the river that ran up between this village and the town just across from it as well as miles of just green. It was the most green I'd seen anywhere! In New York everything was manmade, concrete, glass, tarmac and the likes, here nature was everywhere. I could see woods bordering the property to the right and high hedges surrounding the grounds. It was certainly, different.
"You must be Jace!" A tall man with greying brown hair emerged from the house followed by a slight woman with auburn locks. Kaelie had told me about her family before we left. Her mother died when she was only ten and after a short period of time her father married again. She also mentioned she had a step sister from hell but she was nowhere to be seen.
"I'm Richard Andrews and this is my darling wife Jocelyn. You are very welcome here at our home, Kaelie has told us so much about you I feel as if we're already acquainted!" He smiled and reached for my hand. I shook it and then his wife's. "Please come in." He motioned towards the door. I grabbed mine and Kaelie's bags and paid the taxi driver before following.
"We're so excited about having you here with us Jace, Kaelie talks so highly of you." The hallway wasn't lavishly decorated like Jace's parents house had been, nor was it cluttered. It was simple and had a large staircase in the centre that presumably led to the second floor and had doors leading off to either side. There were some works of art on the walls as well as a few potted plants and many pictures around the room too. Some of Kaelie and her parents and even more of Kaelie and her father and Jocelyn and there was one, tucked in the corner on a side table, partially covered by flowers of a small girl standing next to a young boy. Her hair was red and she was pale and covered in freckles but I couldn't make out the boy from there.
"Clarissa!" The woman called up the stairs before smiling back at me. Her smile slipped slightly when she heard a loud bang followed by even louder stomps but she managed to maintain her composure.
The stomping rounded the corner and came into view at the top of the staircase. It was a girl, she looked about fifteen but I knew from Kaelie that she was older but she was so very small. Barely five foot and slim. She had fiery red hair and her bright green eyes met mine in confusion.
"What's this?" She asked inquisitively, and then her face formed a mocking smirk. "Oh, you must be Jace, I'm surprise Kay hasn't stuck her poison in yet and scared you off; she's awfully good at that."
"Clary!"
"What? Are you afraid I'll spill all your secrets Andrews? Bit of advice for you, if you're going to have torrid love affairs, don't have them in the room next door to someone who hates your guts, especially in a house with walls as thin as these." Kaelie's face was brighter than the girl's hair and she turned to her father.
"Dad!" She whined emphasising the vowel.
"Clarissa that's enough. Jace this is Kaelie's sister Clar-"
"She's not my sister." Clary mumbled in response.
"Sorry?" Jocelyn asked.
"She's not my sister." Clary repeated louder so everyone could hear her. "And I have no interest in meeting whatever diseased, deluded asswipe of a boyfriend she's brought home this time. I can't be bothered to get to know him and remember his name because we all know in a matter of months she'll be with someone else because of her inability to keep her legs shut." She turned to face me. "Nice meeting you Jace." She flashed a grin before tuning on her heel and stomping out of the house.
"Clarissa Morgenstern, get in here now!" Jocelyn hurried after her daughter but not before giving me a fleeting look.
"Sorry about that." Richard apologised with a wry smile, "Clary's, well she can be a little difficult sometimes. I'll let Kaelie show you around then shall I?" He followed his wife out of the door leaving Kaelie and I alone.
"Morgenstern? As in-"
"Valentine Morgenstern? Yes. Daughter of a rich American, she could have gone to New York with him and her brother when he divorced her mum but she chose to stay here. I wish she had gone, it would make my life easier; I'm pretty sure she's just like her father, born with money so she thinks she's above everyone else, but like always powerful men have a way of getting their way, and he managed to succeed in getting everything in the divorce and so Jocelyn, and because of her choice Clary, has nothing. Bet she regrets it now, but there are no second chances with her father."
I took a deep breath taking in the information Kaelie had just spilled to me. I was very familiar with the name Morgenstern. I didn't know an awful lot about Valentine; only that he had been a business associate of my fathers, but I had grown up with Jonathon Morgenstern so I could only imagine why Kaelie disliked Clarissa.
We were often forced together when we were young boys, our fathers thinking that we could become friends, and in the future business partners but Jonathon had a streak of malice in him even from a young age that Jace could never befriend.
"I remember her."
"Sorry what?" Kaelie asked. She had already begun climbing the stairs and was surprised to see that I, who had been too absorbed in my own thoughts, wasn't following her. "What did you say?"
"Nothing, just, um that you should be careful." I stammered out, cursing myself for thinking aloud. It wasn't that Jace wanted to keep things from Kaelie; it was just that he didn't like talking about his past. Not to anyone.
"Careful?" She raised he eyebrow in confusion as I tried to cover my blunder. I gave her my winning smirk, making it clear that I was teasing her.
"Yes, about how you talk about rich Americans. I think you might be forgetting that I'm one also." She smiled warmly and took my hand beckoning me to follow her, which I did, relieved.
*.O.*
Dinner that evening was an uncomfortable experience. Jocelyn had finally dragged her daughter inside the house and had confined her to her room for an hour. When she came out for dinner she addressed me:
"I'm very sorry for speaking out of turn earlier. I don't know you and I'm sure you're very nice, I was just having a bad day and I took my anger out on you." She didn't sound the slightest bit sorry and the whole thing sounded much rehearsed but I smiled and nodded anyway.
It didn't matter to me; my thoughts were elsewhere. I was thinking about the first time this redhead and I met.
I was eight and my father had brought me to play with Morgenstern again. He had some business to discuss with Jonathon's father and so I was forced to spend time with the demon spawn. It was before my mother died and I thought this would always be my life.
I thought I was going to grow up fighting with Jonathon and then inherit my father's business and fight with him as a business associate. I was dead wrong about that. None of that had happened.
I didn't even know Jonathon had a sister. I'd never seen her and no one ever talked about her, nobody even told me then that she was his sister she was just a girl.
Jon and I had got into another fight, this time a physical one. He was two years my senior therefore he had a very distinct advantage. I hadn't had much of a growth spurt yet so as well as being older he was much stronger and as a consequence Jace hadn't come off too well. Jonathon had wondered off to his own room after hitting me hard enough that I stayed down leaving me alone in the living room.
A short time after the door opened again and short, freckled, red headed girl came in. She saw me lying on the sofa and gasped.
"Oh my God, are you okay?" She ran over to me her face full of concern. "Did you have an argument with Jon?" She asked. I merely nodded and then groaned as that slight movement worsened my headache. "Yeah, it can get pretty bad." She gave me an understanding smile before pulling back her hair to show a small scar on the side of her head. "Don't worry, I'll patch you up."
She ran off but quickly returned with a small first aid kit. "My mum got me this but I'll share my Winnie-the-Pooh plasters with you."
She patched me up, just like she said she would but she never told me who she was.
"I'm Clary. Who are you?" She asked whilst cleaning the blood off of my forehead.
"Jonathon Christopher Herondale. My dad wants me to be friends with the Morgenstern kid, is that why you're here too?" He hoped that she'd be around next time his father made him come over, maybe they could be friends.
"It'll get a little confusing with two Jonathon's around so I'll just call you Patch." I hadn't noticed her avoiding the question back then, I'd just assumed that that was a conformation. I was too happy that there might be someone other than Jonathon around next time I was forced over to realise it wasn't.
"What does that make you? Nurse Clary? Or maybe something more endearing; Gingerbread." In response Clary hit my shoulder, quite hard for such a tiny thing, applied one of her special plasters to the final cut on his head before dropping a peck onto the injury.
"All better Patch."
"I guess what they say about redheads and their temperamental temper is true then Gingerbread."
"Shut up!" She hit me on the shoulder in the same spot but she was grinning nonetheless.
Father came and collected him about an hour later, I thought it was strange that when she heard the door open she dived behind the sofa but I didn't question it, I just followed father, turning to give Clary a smirk on the way out.
In the car father had questioned me about my injuries. I shrugged and said that Jon and I got a bit rough with each other, no big deal but I smiled at the thought of one bruise; the one forming on my upper arm due to multiple thumps from a fiery little girl.
"So it's Lightwood right? Kaelie's told me that you have two brothers and a sister and your fathers a banker right." Clary let out a little snort in response to this and I found myself wanting to know what she was thinking.
"Err, yeah. I mean there my adoptive siblings. My real parents died when I was young. My real father was head of a big corporation; Herondale industries." Clary, who had just taken a large gulp from her cup, began to choke on it and spewed water all over the table in front of her.
"Ewwww Clary! That's so gross what's wrong with you?" Kaelie jumped up from the table and away from the water like it would infect her with some deadly disease. Clary's eyes were wide and watery with shock and she stood abruptly.
"Clary what is the matter now?" Her mother asked flippantly. She didn't take her eyes off of me despite the fact that her mother had asked her a question, in fact I wasn't sure she'd heard at all.
"Excuse me- I- you- I have to go." She hurried from the room. I heard a slam shortly after which suggested she'd left the house.
"Sorry dear." Jocelyn said to me. "I don't know what is wrong with that girl sometimes. What were you saying?"
So there is the first proper chapter. I hoped you liked it! Please let me know what you thought it was a lot of effort for me to write- ooh that sounds kind of whiny- I didn't mean it like that. I just meant that I worked hard on it. So I can't promise when the next chapter will be up but I'll probably start writing it tomorrow and I'll tell you this, it'll have a cute little scene between Patch and Gingerbread but all in good time.
The prologue will be explained in due course so please come along for the ride, I'm hoping all of my chapters will be this sort of length; I'm trying to slowly lengthen my writing over time.
So part of this will be set in England- which I am an expert on (kind of) and part back in America. That's when it might start to get a bit vaguer in terms of description of location. It can't be helped, I've never been there.
So despite the fact when describing England I may whine and grown, it's actually a pretty epic place and can't imagine living anywhere else (I actually love it here). I got into university though so in a couple of weeks I'm moving to Wales, I mean it's not exactly moving abroad but they do speak another language!
A few of the characters will be OOC. Especially Jocelyn, she's going to be a bit of an ass so don't be surprised.
Anyway, let me know what you thing, good, bad, improvements, ideas for the future all welcome. I try to respond to all comment but of course if you review as a guest I can't PM you.
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