Prologue

Clarissa Morgenstern. There wasn't a single person in Eastwood High who didn't know her name. There also wasn't a single person in Eastwoord High who really knew her, or her secrets. Still, everyone adored her; everyone was in love with the concept of Clarissa Morgenstern. There was something about her. Maybe it was the sadness that always accompanied her, although she never talked about it. Or maybe it was the way that she didn't seem to be afraid of anything, like detention. This caused her to be in detention almost every week, because she couldn't keep her mouth shut when she disagreed with something a teacher had said, or because she had skipped to many classes. But, beside her rebelliousness, there was also something about her that screamed 'broken'. Maybe her brokenness caused the sadness that went with her. But when you talked with her she was -most of the time- a nice, friendly person, a typical popular high school-girl.

These different sides of Clarissa made her seem to be an unreadable person, a mystery. This was what made her so interesting, who doesn't love a good mystery? Everyone, right? Well, there was one exception, someone who didn't love her. That 'someone' was Clary herself.


The first sign that made Clary know that she was going to be too late at school, was the light filtering through the windows of her bedroom. Fall was already in full swing in London, so the sun rose around 8. Her first class started at 8:15. The second sign was the melody of the wakeup call that her mobile phone blared. It was the 'there is no possible way you'll ever be on time' -melody, as she had named it.

Her relaxed sleeping mood went straight over into a very stressed one as she scrambled out of her bed and ran to the bathroom. She was pretty sure she broke some records for fast-showering or something. Since she had decided that this day was already forfeited to hell, she didn't bother brushing her hair or applying makeup. Instead, she threw on a black beanie and the first clothes she could find in her messy room, which happened to be a pair of black skinny jeans and a black t-shirt. She spilled a few seconds hesitating if she should try to find a less black outfit, but she didn't have the time for that. Black fitted her mood right now anyway.

Clary ran down the stairs, grabbed an apple from the kitchen as breakfast and ran out of the door. Once in her car, she drove to school, trying to break as little traffic rules as possible while also driving as fast as she could. She even managed to step out of her car two minutes before class started –she couldn't quite believe it. Just as the school bell rang, she stepped into her first class, Math.

'Ah, Miss Morgenstern, just in time,' her maths teacher, Mr. Penhallow said. Clary muttered a vague response and took her seat next to her best friend, Isabelle. Isabelle narrowed her eyes as Clary took out her books.

'Well, doesn't someone look like shit?' she said. 'What the hell have you done?'

Clary glared at her. 'Not funny, Iz. I only woke up fifteen minutes ago; I had to hurry like hell to get here in time. I'm still surprised I made it.'

Izzy applauded softly. 'Well, that must be a new record, I'm so proud of you!' she said while bending towards Clary to pinch her cheeks.

Clary glared at Izzy. 'Don't you dare to... Don't! Stop it right –Izzy stop it right now!' she whispered-yelled, apparently a little too loud, because Mr. Penhallow stopped talking about math and glared at them.

'Miss Morgenstern and Miss Lightwood, got something you'd like to share?'

Clary opened her mouth to answer but Isabelle quickly cut her off. 'No sir, we're sorry,' she excused.

After the teacher started speaking again, Clary nudged Isabelle. 'I was going to make an awesome comeback,' she whispered, this time soft enough. 'Why'd you cut me off?'

'Because,' Isabelle whispered, 'I can't let you get detention for this Friday.'

'Why not?' Clary asked confused. 'I get detention all the time, I don't care.'

'Because I do care, for this Friday at least. We've got a birthday party to go to, after all!' Isabelle answered excitedly, her eyes lighting up.

It made Clary even more confused. 'Whose birthday? It isn't one of our friends, is it?' she asked.

'You're joking, right?' Isabelle studied her.

'What?' Clary asked.

'Oh my god, you're serious aren't you?' Isabelle said. 'It's your birthday, Clary, remember? Your birthday party has been the conversation for weeks now!'

Clary's eyes widened and she stared at Izzy in shock. 'Is it already the 6th in four days? I totally forgot about it!' How typical of her to forget her own birthday. She blamed her obliviousness to a lot of stress and lack of sleep.

Isabelle voiced Clary's thoughts as she said, 'Well, this shouldn't surprise me. If there was one person who could forget their own birthday, it'd be you.'

Clary smiled sheepishly. 'What can I say? Turning 17 isn't that special.' After having her 'sweet sixteen' last year, seventeen felt rather dull.


'... and she just stared at me, like, she was so confused. She really just forgot her birthday,' Isabelle laughed, as she finished telling what happened during maths. Izzy, Simon, Maia, Aline, Jordan, Helen and Clary herself were currently seated at their usual table they sat at during breaks. They were Clary's real friends, her 'friends' who were currently laughing at her. What are friends for, right? She tried to shut them up with a glare that would sent most people running, but it only made them laugh harder.

'You know that that shit doesn't work on us,' Simon said. 'We can see right through it.' Clary rolled her eyes, pretending to be annoyed, but she was actually glad that they could see through the false person everyone thought her to be.

Deciding that her friends had laughed at her for long enough she changed the subject. 'Where is the party going to be?' she asked. The laughter died suddenly away, her friends looking uneasy all of a sudden.

Maia spoke up. 'Well... ehh we thought, at your house maybe? Since, you know, your parents aren't...'

'Since my parents never seem to be home, you meant?' Clary asked bitterly.

Maia gave a small nod, looking even more uncomfortable.

Clary decided to let it go. 'Well, sounds like a plan!' she said, maybe a little too enthusiastically.

The others smiled, relief visible on their faces, and went on about the party. Clary wasn't really paying attention anymore, her enthusiasm about the party washed away by the touchy subject of her parents. She never talked about her parents to her friends, about why they were almost never home, but she knew they were curious about it. The few times one of them had asked about it, she had put up her walls and cut them off rather rudely. By now, they all knew not to ask about her life, or her problems. They had learned to accept the person she could be for her friends and she loved them for that. She really did. But sometimes she wished that she could just be a normal person, without problems, so she wouldn't have to keep her walls up with her friends. Sometimes she wished for a life like that, so much that it hurt.

But she wasn't a normal girl with a normal life, she would never be.

AN: Hey guys! Thanks for checking out my story! I've had some parts of this story already on my computer and decided that it was time to publish it. I hope you like it. Please leave a review and tell me if I should continue it or not:)