Under the Magnolia Tree

Life is a whirlwind.

But sometimes it feels like paradise.

Of course, it wasn't always like that.

Life is always filled with ups and downs.

Clary POV:

It was my last year of university. My first last day. I was ready for the next step; I've been setting myself up since second year. Nothing was going to stop me from claiming what was mine. Of course, Jace Herondale was far from nothing. I definitely wasn't ready for Jace Herondale. He was hot and young and filming a movie on my campus.

7am

*Ring Ring*…

I yawned as I slowly peeled my eyes open. Taking a moment to bask in the warmth that is my bed I nuzzled into my pillows for one more minute. My alarm rang for a second time and this time I opened my eyes and rolled over to the edge of my bed. My alarm was ringing signaling me to wake up and start my day. Putting on my fluffy house slippers I walked over to my alarm and turned it off.

Yawning I gazed at myself while I stretched in the mirror.

"Good Morning Myself" I said with a laugh. It was a morning ritual I always did to help my day start off with a smile. Almost a pep talk, plus a moment of thankfulness for moment.

Today is the last first day of classes forever, unless I decide to attend graduate school of course, which I am not too sure about just yet.

I thought this day would never come.

But alas here we are.

I smiled into the reflection as I went to my bathroom to get ready the day.

After finishing up showering I wrapped a towel around my body as I combed through my thick red curls. I did my usual skincare routine and brushed my teeth and flossed.

Finishing up the bathroom activities I walked over to my closet to pick out what I was going to wear today.

The app on my phone said that today was going to be another beautiful day in Malibu.

I decided on wearing a black corduroy skirt with a white blouse crop top that had a low V-neckline with frills and a cute wrap around material that I tied in the front right under my ribcage. I layered my favorite necklaces and put on my favorite rings.

Looking into the mirror I brushed out my waist length fiery red hair again. To my pleasure my hair was actually cooperating today, so I just lathered some leave in condition throughout the curls. My curls were sure to stay in place today.

I grabbed a pair of hoops and put those through my ears.

The last thing to do was put in my nose stud and my put on my silver bangles.

Throwing on some mascara and applying some Chapstick I was ready to seize the day.

I only had two classes on Monday so I didn't need to bring any text messages since the material needed would only be online for the classes. I put my laptop, my pencil case and my sketch book into my tote bag that had a beautiful magnolia flower that I had painted on it. Magnolias were my favorite flowers and luckily right by the art building there was a whole secret area full of them.

I loved going there early in the mornings to just sit underneath and draw. It was like a calm and peaceful moment for myself before I went and interacted with the rest of the world, it was my safe space of Zen.

Grabbing my overnight oats in a mason jar, a banana, and my hydro flask I started out the door of my studio.

I didn't need to technically need to drive to campus since I lived close to campus so I tended to walk. The art building, however, was clear across the other side of campus. As much as I complain about the distance, I've been thinking about how soon I won't be walking this path anymore since I'll be graduating soon. I've been learning to appreciate moment like more because I know soon everything is going to change.

Jace POV:

"Can we run that one again, thanks" Simon, the director yelled through the megaphone.

I let out a sigh, no matter what I was going to say we would run it again. That's the thing about being an actor, you always have to do what you're told. Usually, I don't mind it at all, it's just I've been so exhausted these past few months.

My career was skyrocketing which I am so grateful and thankful for, it's just I feel like everything is happening so fast I can't catch up yet, I can't tell what's real anymore. People seem to be nice to be because of exterior motives. I never knew being famous would be like this.

I often wondered if this is what all celebrities feel like or if it is something that I just experience because I am new to being this famous.

I climbed back on to the top of the watcher tower of the jail yard scene they had built for the set. The idea was I was on top shooting at the oncoming hoard of zombies. The team set up green screens surrounding the jail yard set so they could add all that movie magic into it to make it seem really realistic.

We are currently filming on a campus for the next few months for the next season of our series. This change of scenery has been really refreshing from the huge warehouses we usually work out of. They built everything at the warehouses, just not a jail yard I guess and this big open area was a perfect location for the shot.

The location is a big open field area in between the campus, there was one brick pathway that lead to another set of buildings. The building were architecturally beautiful and enormous. You could feel how old this university was.

Their security had to block of that path for security purposes and to not have loud noises in the background as they film so every hour or so there would be a huge crowd of people watching me act. Some were waiting for them to break so they could walk to the other buildings, most however where there because they were interested in their filming. Some even had signs with his character's name for the series.

"And action", those words brought me back to what I was supposed to be doing.

Hoisting up the fake gun I shot at the actors dressed as zombies.

This scene was where I would climb down to the next step of the watch tower and grab the rope from the helicopter and swing over the big hoard of zombies to the next building.

I jumped from the top tower and using my left hand grabbed the rope and swung. Using my right hand I continued to take out the hoard of zombies.

A flash of red caught my attention over the green wall.

My gaze shifted from the cameras to the commotion by the brick path.

"BY THE ANGEL, CUT" Simon yelled out behind me.

Landing on the next tower I saw what the commotion was about.

There was what looked like a woman flipping of the security guards that were blocking off the path.

I couldn't help but grin and laugh a bit.

From this angle she looked so tiny, she had the fieriest red hair I have ever seen. She was wearing a black skirt and a white crop top. She had on a pair of headphones on as she walked carelessly past the security guards.

I could tell how frustrated they were but for some reason it looked like they couldn't bring themselves to stop her or if they did, they knew as well as he knew that she would just walk past them and brush them off anyway.

How intriguing.

"Let's just call it a wrap today" Simon voiced out.

I silently thanked that woman for throwing me off.

We have been filming for at least 8 hours or so and I was in desperate need of a good shower, some food, and some much-needed alone time with my guitar preferably. Get back to the roots of all of this.

"Thanks for today Jace" Simon said patting me on the back.

"No problem man" I said grinning at him.

Simon had curly brown hair, and glasses. He honestly looked like any other regular sci-fi lover.

Simon and I went way back, he and my sister have been dating ever since we were all in middle school. It just so happened around the time my acting career went off after high-school his directing of sci-fi fantasy films went off. So naturally we were bound to make a film series together.

"I'll catch you later" I said as I walked towards my trailer dreaming about that shower and relaxation time. I enjoyed my time alone.

Clary POV:

I was absolutely fuming.

Today was supposed to be an amazing last first day of school. I was going to all the things that I normally do and go to my usual places.

But, ever since there was that announcement that they were going to film that new zombie film series with that 'hot new actor' here everyone on campus has been going wild. There are even people here who don't go to this school. Fans of said celebrity I guess.

This campus is huge and usually I have no problem running into people because I just spend my time by the art department way in the back corner by itself away from the main parts of campus. The only thing nearby was the campus greenhouse.

But that movie filming thing is right on the field walkway to the art buildings. So, naturally everyone was crawling around the art buildings and hanging out everywhere on the path towards the art building. I was just so overwhelmed.

I don't know what's wrong with me. I feel so jumpy with all these people here.

I just have to ground myself and sit alone and meditate for a while. I think that would really help me.

That filming on campus was finally done for the day.

I passed by earlier this morning and was irritated to see that they had the brick pathway blocked. That was not going to fly with me. I paid tuition so this pathway is mine. (That college mentality lol)

So, naturally I walked right pass the security flipping them off because really, I was not going to be late to class because of some filming. This is my campus. Did they pay tuition every year for five years? No they did not. I was definitely not in the mood for this today.

Let's just say it was that time of the month. I rolled my eyes as the I neared the art buildings.

First all these extra people and now blocking the path? Seriously, what was next?

I walked to the center of the buildings and headed deeper towards the back where the brick changes from brick to grass.

I took off my shoes and left them by the change in terrain and walked deeper into the garden.

It always smelled so so rich and fresh here. It always felt like a secret garden.

The way that it was built you couldn't see it from outside because of the bricks and trees and foliage surrounding the garden, it was too hidden for the other hordes of new people to notice unless they were looking for a specific place for solitude.

There were three main sections. One area had a koi pond with lotus blossoms and was surrounded by cherry blossoms in the spring. The other area had so much luscious green plants and so many wildflowers. It felt like a you were in a field of flowers when you laid next to them. The final section was my a bunch of my favorite trees. Magnolias. There were a bunch of little ones planted all around and a few fully-grown trees that bloomed. My favorite tree was the thicker one in the middle. It was on a slight incline hill so whenever you sat under it facing away from the entrance of the garden you felt like you weren't on earth.

Like you were in someplace so ethereal.

Letting go of a breath I wasn't aware that I had been holding I walked around to the other side of the tree exciting to release all this anger and tension I had built up today. All these different energies of people usually rile me up a bit but it's said that trees help take away negative energies. I've been coming here ever since I heard about it my first year. This space has comforted me ever since.

Walking around the tree I felt my world shatter in an instant.

There was someone sitting under the tree. My tree. My safe place. What has this world come to.

Thanks for reading! Comment your thoughts on the new story, who do you think is sitting under her special tree? Perhaps Mister Jace Herondale himself... Who knows? Next chapter coming out soon.

Also looking into updating one of my older stories. Which one do you guys think i should work on?

*:)