Chapter 1

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A/N: Lucy Queen is above!

Lucy ran as fast as her heels would let her as they clicked on the soggy sidewalk, using her notebook as a shelter against the pounding October rain. Her blonde hair was sticking to her cheeks and her blouse and skirt were slightly damp, 'Ugh, some way to start my first day...' She pouted, finally reaching the skyscraper where she was starting her dream job as a journalist for the New York Times. Sighing with relief, she ducked into the building and headed straight to the women's bathroom to try and make herself look presentable.
Lucy cringed when she saw herself in the mirror, her shoulders were almost visible thanks to her wet top and her hair was complete drippy mess. She looked to the left at the electric hand dryer and looked around the bathroom to make sure no one was there with her. Seeing the coast was clear, she stripping her shirt off and held it under the dryer, blowing away the damp with one hand while she used the other to splash her face clean of the tiny trails of running eyeshadow. Her shirt was dry when she was done and shrugged it back on, sticking her head under the dryer this time to dry her hair, running her fingers through her honey locks, 'Good thing I didn't style it.'
Standing up straight she shook her hair down, it being almost dry and looked at herself in the mirror again. Her skirt was still a little damp but it wasn't visible so she nodded, reaching into her bag and pulling out some grey eyeshadow, she had to make herself presentable somehow.
She jogged through the 13th floor of the building and knocked on her mentor's door. Her sharp voice called her in and Lucy stepping into the room. The beautiful brunette was sat at her desk and green eyes glared at her, "You're late 2 minutes Queen."
"But it's only 2-"
"I don't want to hear it Lucy, just get your ass moving and give these to Mr Hodge, I don't have time to deal with your shitty excuses." She tutted, tossing Lucy a brown envelope before turning back to her iMac. Lucy nodded and stepped back out of the room, mimicking her as she went, 'Bitch.' She thought, though she was too soft to say it to her face. Her mentor's name was Melissa and she was one of the best journalists in the building. But she was extremely bitchy and was also quiet the slut. Lucy cringed, why she was stuck with her she had no idea, but she couldn't wait until she could show her skills to get out of her blood red nails' painful clutches. Huffing a strand of hair from her eye she pressed the evaluator button and stepped in, wishing she had more of a spine.

***

That afternoon, Lucy sat bored at her desk, swivelling a pencil between her fingers fluently while she stared at the iMac screen in front of her. She had finished what Melissa had asked her to do hours ago, but the woman who had left ten minutes before she had started and hadn't come back. Lucy sighed and looked to the large, floor to ceiling windows over looking the dreary city still being showered with thin, freezing droplets of rain. She leant her head on her desk and hummed softly, one day she wasn't just going to be Melissa Warren's apprentice. One day she was going to be one of the best journalists out there and prove her bitchy mentor wrong...
The door clicked open and Lucy shot up, tapping on the keyboard softly to look busy while she peeked behind her hair and scrunched her nose up. Melissa's skirt was bunched up, her blouse was crooked and her lipstick was smudged slightly. Not to mention her just-fucked-hair. She had been on one of her conquests again. Lucy kept her mouth shut while Melissa fixed herself with a satisfied smirk to herself in her hand mirror. Blowing herself a kiss, she clapped it shut and flipped her hair as she turned to Lucy, "Get a move on already jeez. We have a job tonight so you better look a hell of a lot better than you do now." She cringed at her, grabbing her bag and slinging it over her shoulder, "I'm leaving now. Meet me at South Street's boxing ring at 7:30 pm. If you're late again I'll tell Mr Hodge and screw you over." With that, she swept from the room, slamming the door shut. Lucy glared back at the door, pointing her fingers at it like a gun and pretending to shoot, "Don't give into the temptation Lu." She muttered to herself. Instead she turned back to the Mac and hit print, grabbing her own bag and leaving the room, her shift ended over 20 minutes ago but Melissa wouldn't let her leave until she had come back. Lucy sighed and looked out the windows, it was still raining, 'Rather not try and run in these shoes again.' She thought, wriggling her sore toes. She exited the building and flagged a cab down, giving the driver her address before sitting back and kicking her shoes off for a while, closing her eyes, 'South Street's boxing ring... Who'd have thought I'd have to go back there one day...' She felt her heart sinking as memories of kind brown eyes and a big smile played behind her eyes like a movie. A five year old version of herself running around a large backyard holding a pair of heavy boxing gloves while a tall man with dirty blonde hair and brown eyes like hers chased after her, laughing. Lucy opened her eyes and smiled sadly out the window, 'I miss you Daddy.'

Lucy finished curling her hair and fluffed it with a sigh. She glanced at the clock through the mirror, 7:00 pm. She had half an hour before she went back to a place that held many memories for her, and to make it worse, she had to deal with Melissa. Groaning, she pulled herself up from her dresser and grabbed her jacket, slipping on her black heels again. Picking up her bag, she jogged down the stairs, "Ri! I'm leaving." She called. Her bright red headed roommate, Riley, poked her head around the living room doorway and waved, "Have fun with the bitch."
Lucy laughed softly, Riley hated Melissa with a passion. They had only met once when they had all bumped into each other a few days ago. Melissa gave her a few extremely spiteful comments about her, causing Riley to nearly lunge at her if Lucy had not pulled her back. Lucy plucked a set of keys from the hook, "I'm borrowing your car too."
"Rude!" Riley called, "Scratch it and I'll kill you!"
Lucy giggled louder, "Yes ma'am." And with that, she shut the door behind her and jumped into the sleek red Audi, rechecking her smokey eyeshadow was fine before staring the car and pulling out of the drive. She swallowed the uneasy feeling in her throat as she drove, one memory in particular was the worst one that she wished she had never witnessed. If she had never gone to that match... Lucy shook her head, 'Don't think about that now Luce, you're going on your first job.' She though to herself firmly. With renewed vigour, she pressed down on the gas and speed down the winding roads of New York.

A/N: A pretty short chapter to begin with but I just wanted to give you guys and idea of Lucy's life :3 the next chapter will be where it all starts ;) see ya then, peace!

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