Majestica; First Glimpse

By Rebecca Mize

Teenage girls and romance lovers of all ages will fall in love with this book. Every girl longs to find her one true love, her prince charming, her knight in shining armor, and Lacey Grayson was no exception. Lacey found her true love when she least expected it - hanging off the side of a cliff, about to fall to her death. When she looked up into those dark eyes of her savior, Jace, she knew that he was "the one". The one that she would love unconditionally for the rest of her life. And as fate would have it, he loved her too. Their love was unbreakable and everlasting. Whenever Lacey found herself in a bad situation, Jace was always there, to protect her and comfort her.

But no love story is that simple. The secret Jace had been hiding would greatly affect both of their lives forever.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Rebecca Mize
• Release date: Jan 30, 2012
• ISBN: 9781466108868

Rebecca Mize

Rebecca Mize was born and raised in the great state of Michigan. She's always had a love for nature and the outdoors, and is always up for playing any kind of sport, her favorite being softball, having played it for 13 years. After high school, and after graduating from Eastern Michigan University with a Bachelor’s degree in elementary education, and not finding much luck in the job market, Rebecca decided to pursue her dream of writing. She has written many stories throughout the years, but this is her first published novel. Majestica; First Glimpse is the first book in the Majestica trilogy. In the year ahead, be sure to look for the next book in this exciting series.

Book preview

Majestica;

First Glimpse

by

Rebecca Mize

Published by Rebecca Mize.at Smashwords

Copyright 2012 Rebecca Mize

All rights reserved

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Dedication

To my mom and dad, for always supporting me and encouraging me to write. I love you both. Thank you for always being there for me.

*******

Chapter 1

My life had always been normal. Nothing really exhilarating or dangerous had ever happened to me. I had the typical life of a 17 year old girl. My world revolved around school, boys, and friends. The most I ever had to worry about was finishing a paper for English class, or whether or not I was going to get asked to the school dance. I was living a simple, ordinary life. That is, until I met Jace, and my world was changed forever.

Growing up in the small town of Bolder, Alaska had its ups and downs. My dad worked for an oil company that transferred him to this town ten years ago. He moved my mom, me, and my little brother, Kyle, to Alaska when I was seven years old.

Bolder is an absolutely beautiful place to live. The town sits by the sea and is surrounded by mountains in every direction. I’ve always loved waking up smelling the fresh sea air and taking in the view of the vast mountain range. The people in this town were all welcoming and friendly, and after ten years of living here, I got to know the majority of people in the town.

I knew everyone at my school, and was able to make some really great friends throughout the years. But knowing everyone meant that everyone knew me. And that meant that everyone knew every little insignificant thing that happened in my life, which could get pretty annoying at times.

The boys at my school were still pretty immature. I only had two boyfriends in high school so far, and even though they were nice and we had fun together, I never really felt a strong connection to them. I only went out with them because I felt I had to. I didn’t want to hurt them by saying no, and I kind of just wanted to see what it was like to have a boyfriend. I had never fallen in love, and I wanted to experience that feeling. I wanted the kind of love that my parents had for each other. They loved one another with their whole hearts and would do anything for each other. I couldn’t wait to have that. Waiting for a new boy to move to this small town (and hoping that he would be the one and we would fall madly in love) was a long shot, but I could still dream.

The summer before my junior year of high school was a warm Alaskan summer. I had just turned 17 and wanted to plan a fun trip with my friends. My parents were sort of strict and protective, so they had never let me go on a vacation with just friends before. There always had to be adult supervision. But this summer, for some reason, (maybe they were tired of listening to me beg and plead with them), they let me go on a trip with my friends. It was just a weekend camping trip, but I was super excited.

I met my four other friends that were going on the trip at Megan’s house a few days before, to plan for the trip.

Hey Lacey, Megan greeted me as she opened the door. We’re all upstairs in my room. Come on up.

I followed her up to her room and sat on the bed next to the other girls and tried to get caught up with the conversation. Nikki, Katie, and Brooke were already there gossiping about boys.

So me and Katie went out to lunch yesterday and we were talking about our camping trip, Nikki began, and guess who was there? Adam and Troy! They over heard us talking about it, like where we were going and who all was coming, and then they said maybe they’d take a camping trip there at the same time as us. And when they were leaving Adam said, ’Maybe we’ll see you this weekend’ and he gave me his cute smile. He is so cute!

But Nikki, I protested, This was supposed to be a girls only trip. I told my parents there wouldn’t be any boys there.

Yeah Nik, Brooke agreed. That’s what I told my parents too.

I know, Nikki said as she rolled her eyes. I don’t know for sure that they’re coming. But even if they do, you don’t have to tell your parents that boys were there. Plus, they said Steven and Mark were probably coming too, and you know that Mark really likes you Lacey.

Yeah, but I don’t really like Mark.

Why not? He’s cute.

Yeah, but I just have never felt any strong feelings towards him.

You don’t have to have feelings for every guy you go out with, ya know.

I don’t know about the rest of you, Katie chimed in, but I’ve got dibs on Troy. He’s hot! And I think he likes me too.

Katie and Nikki started going on and on about the boys, while I started thinking about how different I was from Nikki. She had had a ton of boyfriends. She had kissed and made out with a lot of different guys. She didn’t care about having a connection with them. She didn’t care about finding love like I did. She just liked having attention from guys, any guy. I’ve known for awhile that Mark liked me. He’s a nice enough guy, but I just didn’t have the feelings like, ’Oh I can’t wait to see him again’ or ’I want to know more about him.’ I always thought that when I found ’the one’ that I would know instantly. That feeling would just be there, and I would have that strong connection with him right away, and I hadn’t felt like that with anyone yet. So I didn’t want to lead Mark on by going out with him when I knew things wouldn’t work out in the long run.

I guess I was different from most girls my age. Most of the girls I knew just dated a bunch of different guys for the fun of it. They liked the attention that guys gave them. But I was looking for a meaningful relationship. I wanted someone that really loved me for who I was. And I didn’t know any guys my age looking for that kind of a love.

Okay, Megan interrupted my thinking and Nikki and Katie’s conversation. Let’s start talking about our trip. Let’s forget about boys for a minute and start deciding who’s bringing what.

We sat there talking about the trip for another hour. Megan’s mom brought us up some snacks while we planned. I ended up being responsible for bringing half of the food. The more we talked about the trip, the more excited I got. It would be fun to get away for a weekend with just my friends.

On the way back to my house, Brooke walked with me. Out of all my friends, I felt the closest to Brooke. She was always so nice and caring and was one of those people that truly wanted everyone to be happy. She was more like me with the whole boy thing. She hadn’t had many boyfriends either, and would rather find someone she could connect with and fall in love with rather than date a bunch of different, random guys that she had no feelings for.

Sorry Nikki invited Adam and his friends to our camping trip, Brooke said to me. She really shouldn’t have done that. And please don‘t feel pressured to talk to or go out with Mark because I know you‘re not interested in him. I know you just went out with your first two boyfriends because you felt pressured to, like you had to just because they asked you. Just wait for a person that you really feel something for.

Thanks Brooke, I replied, gazing at the mountains as we walked. I’m not going to go out with Mark. I’m not going to go out with anyone I’m not interested in. I’m going to wait for the right guy. I think you’re the only person who really understands what I’m looking for. I’ll just wait for my knight in shining armor to find me.

I smiled at that thought. I think that’s what every girl wants deep down. A knight in shining armor. A prince to come rescue her and fall in love with her so they can live happily ever after. I knew those were just fairytales, but I still believed in them. I believed in finding true love.

As we approached Brooke’s house, I hugged her goodbye and continued down the road to my house. My home was a little farther from town but I loved its location. It was a quaint little home up on a hill overlooking the sea on one side and protected by the mountains on the other side.

As I walked up the driveway, I noticed my little brother, Kyle, sitting on the front porch steps with his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands.

Hey little man, I said, ruffling his hair as I sat down on the steps next to him. What’s wrong? I thought you were going to play baseball today.

Billy’s a jerk, Kyle grumbled.

Uh oh. What’d he do now? I see your elbow is scraped up, I replied pointing to his bleeding elbow.

He wouldn’t let me play. He said I wasn’t good enough. And he pushed me down and I came home. I hate him.

Billy Randolph was twelve years old, the same age as my brother, but Billy was big for his age. I think he thought that because of his size, he could push other kids around. He was always bullying my brother, and I didn’t like it. I’ve always wanted to go say something to him, to make him stop being mean to my brother, but Kyle never let me do it.

That’s it Kyle, I said as I stood up. I’m going to talk to him. He cannot push you around like that. He needs to be stopped.

No Lacey, Kyle begged, as he reached out and grabbed my arm to stop me. Please don’t go down there. Please don’t say anything to him. That will just make things worse. He’ll never stop teasing me if I have my sister go down there and talk to him for me. Just please don’t Lace.

I knew he was right. If I went and talked to him, it would do no good. Kyle would just be laughed at and made fun of even more.

Fine, I said. But one of these days, somebody’s going to have to do something to stop him from picking on you.

I didn’t like seeing my little brother sad, so I changed the subject. I picked up his baseball mitt and grabbed another from the garage, and started playing catch with him. Kyle was such a sweet kid. He didn’t deserve to be picked on. I just wished there was a way I could help him. I wanted him to be happy. He deserved happiness. I would have to find a way to stop Billy from being mean to him.

I hung out with my brother the rest of the day, making sure to make him laugh, and keep a smile on his face.

Over the next few days, I gathered the things I would need to take on my camping trip, and bought some food for the trip, and organized everything so I would be all ready to go Friday morning.

Megan picked me up in her truck at 9am. The rest of the girls were already in the truck ready to go. On the way up the mountain, we gabbed about all the things we were going to do this weekend and how much fun we were going to have.

It didn’t take too long to get to our campsite. As I stepped out of the truck onto the soft grass, I took in a deep breath of the clean mountain air and looked around at the beautiful scenery surrounding me. The tall green trees, the rolling hills of long green grass as far as my eyes could see. I’d been here many times before on camping trips with my family, but it was still a breathtaking view.

We should set the tent up first, Megan said, taking charge. Let’s put the tent here. She pointed to a clearing in between the trees.

Megan was a take charge kind of girl. She knew what she wanted, and made sure to get it done. She was the practical one, the organized one, the one who ordered everyone else around, although not in a mean way, and made sure everything was planned out. While I was the one who got out of the truck and looked around, taking in my surroundings, Megan was the one that wanted to get to work right away, setting things up. It was good to have an organizer in our group.

We all got to work right away, setting up our tent, gathering wood for a fire for later, and organizing our campsite.

By the time we got done trying to figure out how to put the tent up, we were ready for a break.

Let’s go down to the lake, Katie suggested.

We gathered up some towels and some snacks, and headed down to the lake.

The lake was beautiful, with its crystal clear blue water. And the surrounding mountains that reflected off the rippling water was breathtaking. This was a popular lake for the teenagers of Bolder to hang out at on a Friday or Saturday night. My friends and I had been to many bonfire parties by this lake.

Right now, there was no one at the lake. We splashed around in the water for a while, but the water was a little too cold to stay in for very long. Me, Brooke, and Megan threw a Frisbee around, while Nikki and Katie laid out in the sun on their towels. We enjoyed the rest of the day by the lake, just running around, laying out, gabbing, and eating. It was a fun, relaxing day.

Later at night, we made a fire by our campsite and sat around it, roasting marshmallows and having a nice conversation until Nikki ruined it.

So Lacey, Nikki started slowly. I really think you and Mark would make a cute couple.

I rolled my eyes. How many times do I have to tell you Nikki, I’m not interested in Mark, I shot back at her.

But you haven’t even given him a chance. You won’t know if you have a connection with him unless you hang out with him more. Kiss him. See if there’s any sparks.

I’m not going to kiss him. I’ve talked to him plenty of times. There’s no connection there, no spark, nothing. So just drop it. Why do you keep pushing it anyway?

Well, now don’t get mad, but Adam and Troy weren’t going to come here this weekend if Mark and Steven weren’t coming, and I really wanted Adam here, and the only way Mark would come is if he thought he would have a chance to be alone with you, so I kind of told Adam that you would spend some alone time with Mark.

You what?! I was so mad I could feel my face getting red. Nikki how could you! What do you think alone time means to a guy? I’m not doing anything with him! I can’t believe you would put me in that situation! You are unbelievable!

I stood up then, and walked away. I didn’t go very far since it was dark and I couldn’t really see where I was going, so I sat down against a tree and put my head in my arms. I could still hear the girls behind me, arguing.

Nikki was really selfish. She cared about boys more than her own friends. This was supposed to be a girls weekend, and she just had to invite boys. And now Mark was expecting to be alone with me. To do what? Talk? Kiss? Make out? More? I had never done anything more than that. And I didn’t want to right now. Especially not with a guy that I didn’t have any feelings for. Nikki really put me in a bad situation. And then when I turn him down, I’m going to look like a stuck up person who thinks she’s too good for everyone, and I’m really not like that at all. I just don’t want to be with a person that I don’t love and who doesn’t love me.

Brooke found me then, and came over and sat down beside me.

That was really stupid of Nikki, Brooke said softly. I can’t believe she did that. Maybe the boys won’t even come tomorrow. And even if they do, we can all stay together as a group. You don’t have to go off by yourself with Mark just because that’s what Nikki promised them. Just don‘t worry about it. You don‘t have to do anything you don‘t want to do.

Thanks Brooke, I said, leaning my head against her shoulder. You’re a good friend.

We sat there for a while in silence. Then, since I was getting sleepy, we decided to go back to the tent. The other girls were already in the tent, and nothing else was said that night as I climbed into my sleeping bag. Luckily, everything we did earlier in the day had worn me out, so I didn’t have the energy to lay there and think about what Nikki had done before I fell fast asleep.

When we woke up the next morning, nobody really said anything to each other as we each got our own breakfast of granola bars and Pop-Tarts to eat.

I was sitting alone on an old log, when Nikki came to sit by me.

Look Lace, Nikki said, with a ’please-forgive-me’ look on her face, I’m really sorry for saying that to Adam and for pushing Mark on you. I know me and you are different when it comes to boys, and I should have respected that. That was really wrong of me to put you into a situation like that. I’ll explain things to Mark and Adam when they get here. I’m sorry.

I looked at her and gave her a little smile.

Thank you for your apology, I said, since she looked like she really was sorry. I forgive you.

Thanks. She smiled back and gave me a hug.

Yay! You guys made up! Katie exclaimed, as she ran over to us and hugged us both. Now let’s go to the lake!

The five of us headed to the lake again. It was a little cooler out today, so I wore jeans and a t-shirt, instead of shorts and a tank top. We took a walk along the lakeshore, played a game of volleyball, ate lunch, and sat around a fire we made, and talked. We were all having a great time.

It was late afternoon, and I was beginning to feel relieved because the boys hadn’t shown up yet. I was hoping they had found something else to do. But I had hoped too soon.

All of a sudden, Adam and Steven came jumping out of the trees behind us, trying to scare us. We all jumped, and Katie and Nikki screamed.

You scared us! Nikki exclaimed, walking over to Adam and hitting him in a playful manner on the arm.

That was the plan, Adam said, as he grinned back at Nikki.

I noticed Mark and Troy walk through the trees next, each carrying a pack of beer.

What’s up ladies, Troy shouted as he walked towards us.

Great, I thought to myself, they’re going to get drunk, and try to get us to drink. Alcohol is just going to make things so much worse.

Nikki came back and sat down, with Adam next to her. Troy sat next to Katie, Steven between Brooke and Megan, and of course, Mark came and sat