Chapter 1- The Plastic Soldiers

I came up with this story this morning after I went to a concert last night. The Plastic Soldiers will be based off of a real band I went and saw and some of the story will be real and the others plain fantasy.

Also, please read my other story, Gifts and Curses.

R&R?

Clary

The day Jace and I met, Isabelle had dragged me to go see a band she'd discovered a week earlier. They were a local band, famous in the area but I had never heard of them. Apparently they were really good and Isabelle found the lead singer cute so she convinced me to go with her. That was the night I saw him. Not the lead singer, no, even though everyone went for him. Who would catch my eye but the keyboardist, Jace Wayland?

This is a story of romance, music, self-discovery and… forget that crap. This is the story of how Jace and I met, fell in love, but were torn apart. Mainly because I was a fool and Jace was too old for me.

You see, I never pictured myself as a band groupie. I was never one of those girls who followed a band wherever they went and stood at the front, dancing suggestively, hoping to catch the eye of the musicians. I was a stay-at-home girl myself, but I enjoyed dancing now and then when I had the chance.

The week before, Isabelle (my best friend) was telling me all about a concert she went to that her church held. Her sister discovered it before her and she was gushing about the lead singer, Simon. I searched him up online. He was okay, I guess, but she said that he was so much cuter in person. Out of curiosity, I went.

It was freezing when we arrived, dressed in jeans and a t-shirt. She told me it was a church thing so I wasn't sure how to dress. I settled for skinny jeans, a camisole and a black lace shirt over it. My red curls brushed and tied back, gold thong sandals on my feet. Simple enough. And Isabelle insisted on doing my make-up so my green eyes were outlined with thick black kohl, making them seem huge.

When we walked in, they were playing the song Raise Your Glass- by P!nk. Isabelle said that they did mostly modern stuff or classic songs that everyone knew of so people could sing and dance along. But wrote a few songs by themselves too.

If it was really a church concert, no one in there acted like it, except maybe the adults. Isabelle dragged me up to the front where her friends were. They were dressed in low-cut tank tops and push-up bras, tight jeans and flip-flops standing right up to the line where we couldn't go any further. One of the girls (I would later know her name was Kaelie) launched herself at Isabelle the minute we appeared. Isabelle warned me she was wild.

At the beginning, the concert was a little slow, there weren't many people. Isabelle told me that everyone came after the intermission when it got dark. Isabelle was dancing to the music so I followed suit, my hands thrown up into the air, bouncing lightly on my feet, my hair swishing. After a while, my hairband threatened to fall out so I just let it down, red curls falling down my back. It was exhausting. Kaelie and her friends Seelie and Tasmania (Taz) were doing pop-lock-and drop it which was completely inappropriate for the song but they were showing off. They also had a bottle of blue Gatorade which I suspected had some sort of high alcohol content inside.

I saw Simon, of course everyone saw him. He was stationed dead center of the stage, singing his soul out to Fun.'s We Are Young.

Then I saw him. Jace. He had blonde hair, gold eyes, and he wore a nice button-down gray shirt and fitted jeans-not too skinny like Simon's-. He was probably the cutest out of all of them, but of course everyone goes for the lead singer, not the rest of the band. He looked up a couple of times and his face took my breath away.

Of course, Isabelle noticed. She was teasing me about it.

Then it was intermission. After their last song, a white curtain fell dramatically in front the stage, stained Technicolor by the lights behind it. Isabelle grabbed my hand, "Come on! Let's go back stage."

We stepped out from under the tent and realized we were close to deaf. It felt like there was cotton in my ears and my voice came out soft and quiet. We never did make it back stage because of security but when we were heading back to the stage, I saw him walking my way. My breath hitched. I paused as he was in front of me and said a shy, "Hi."

"Hi," he said back, grinning. He was really tall and I had to stare up at him. Isabelle pushed me forward muttering in my ear, "Leave a little bit of mystery."

I regretted not introducing myself then, but all's well that ends well but that's for later.

For now, the song Teach me how to dougie came on and because Kaelie, Seelie and Taz didn't know how to dougie or dance anything out of grinding and pop-lock-and-drop-it, they were grinding on each other, showing off to a group of cute boys next to us. Seriously. There had to be something in the Gatorade because Kaelie gets really affectionate. She started kissing everyone all over except the lips.

I guess the energy got to me, like the energy of dances and nightclubs and concerts always got to me, and I was dancing as crazy as all of them, grinding in a line with the boys and girls. And from the moment I saw Jace Wayland, I became a Plastic Soldiersgroupie.

Simon was walking around the crowd, ever the player. He was taking pictures, kissing girls, and giving hugs. Jace was somewhere in the back doing the same I guess. Kaelie insisted on taking a picture with Simon. I still have it on my phone to prove it.

I was off dancing and when I looked back, Simon had kissed Isabelle on the cheek. Now Isabelle was a natural-born temptress but even so, she was blushing profusely. We were both 15, but Isabelle was used to men much older. But Simon announced he turned 30 the day before. He was twice our age!

The DJ had played the Cupid Shuffle and a couple of other dancing songs during intermission and before we knew it, it was over.

The crowd had shifted, pushing me right up to the rope so my belly rubbed against it. The curtain dropped without a warning, sending a wind right up to my face. Kaelie was gone by then, taking Seelie and Taz with her to do who-knows-what. Oh right, Taz had split her pants "dropping" it. She deserved it, I guess.

Feeling bold, I blew a kiss to Jace. He looked surprise but withdrew a hand from the keyboard with a wave and a point to me as if to say "back at you". And proceeded into a long solo, everyone falling silent. It was a mournful piece, with a soft high trill and passionate chords. It didn't fit in the pop and rock theme of the night. It was moody, dark, and emotional. I didn't pin him for that kind of guy. But then it picked up the pace, his fingers flying across the keys and cheers rose up and he finished. The rest of the band picked up again but I was still breathless from his piece, staring.

That was when I decided that I was absolutely in love with Jace.

Of course I couldn't admit it.

When Isabelle asked on the car ride home, I replied "Of course I like him. He's really talented and he's cute so that helps too."

She rolled her eyes, "That's not what I meant."

I knew it, but I wouldn't show it until next week when I saw Jace again and my story continued.

So, love? Hate? I don't know about this story. It was on a whim. There will be Clace later I promise.

Allace