Chapter 1:
Please don't see me. For the love of all that is good and holy-PLEASE don't see me. Crap. Whoever said that please is the magic word is a filthy liar. No matter how many times I begged and pleaded with God, the universe, anyone who was listening, the stupid bastard Sebastian still saw me. I turn to walk away trying to seem casual, but it isn't even 5 minutes before the jerk is grabbing my arm, forcing me to turn around. I refuse to look into his eyes for I'm afraid to look at the horrifying emptiness behind the cold black shade of his unnerving irises. I instead opt to look at his shoes, a much safer and less deadly sight.
"Awww, am I making you nervous Fray? Don't worry, just say the word and I can make you feel all better." He whispers in my ear. He's bigger than me, and his grip is like a vice. I can't break free, and the hallway is a ghost town. In this impossible situation, words are my only refuge.
"Get off me you creep." I hiss. His expression becomes angry, his grip tightens and he begins twisting my arm in his painful, iron grip. I hold back a cry of pain and start smacking his arms and trying to claw his face, all feeble attempts to break free. He pulls me close and whispers in my ear,
"Start cooperating you little bitch, you're gonna-" but I'll never find out what he was gonna make me do. He's interrupted mid-sentence by a pair of tan, long-fingered pianist's hands. With no visible effort they rip his body off of mine, throwing him into the metal lockers that lined the concrete walls of the hall. The loud crashing is bound to cause a commotion, and I'm too horrified to react. The doors start to open and the space is closing in. Before I know what's happening I'm being lead through the crowd away from the traumatizing scene.
We turn a corner into an empty classroom and I hear the tumblers of the lock click. As soon as I recognize this small speck of solidarity, I let myself crumble. My knees fail and I prepare myself for the blow waiting on the linoleum floor, but it never comes. A pair of strong arms catch me. They turn me into a rock hard chest covered in a soft fabric and I sob. My shoulders shake, my body quivers, and the only reason I'm not on the floor is the mystery boy keeping me steady. I've never met him, I don't even know his name, and yet I find a strange but safe comfort in his embrace. I pull myself together and take a step back from the body that held me when I cried.
The first thing I realize is the distance from where I had been standing and the door. It would have taken impossible speed to get to me before I fell. Then I remember how him pulling that creep Sebastian off of me was seemingly effortless. The boys were almost evenly matched height and weight wise, he would have to incredibly strong as well. I had no problem believing that of course, seeing as I could feel every inch of the perfectly sculpted muscles that made up his body. I silently scold myself for focusing on his body instead of questioning why he, a boy I've never seen before in my life, helped me with no questions asked. I'm about to question him, interrogate this nameless boy for answers, but all of my suspicions slip away with the three words that flow from his mouth.
"Are you ok?" He asks reaching for something in his back pocket. I'm taken aback by the tone of of his voice. It's smooth as silk and sounds like music weaving around the room reverberating back to my disbelieving ears. How could a person be as perfect as him? His eyes are full of anticipation and I realize I haven't given him an answer.
"I'm fine" I croak. My voice is hoarse from my swollen throat. I've always hated crying, and to cry in front of a stranger, to completely break down and look to someone I don't even know for comfort. It wasn't me and he needed to know that. I cough away the scratches in my voice and speak again, regaining my composure. "I don't normally cry, but he caught me off guard." As I talk I can't seem to take my eyes off of his burning gold irises. His hand moves back in front of him and he lifts it to my face. I'm frozen in place until I feel the soft cotton texture of the tissue he's using to wipe the remaining tears from my face. I was expecting him to feel forceful and overbearing like Sebastian because of their similar body shape, but his touch didn't make me cringe the way Sebastian's does. His is gentle and feels the way I imagine a loving touch to feel. Though his exterior screamed strength, he handled me with a level of care and softness that gave me an unfamiliar feeling in my stomach. His hand fell and his musical voice swept through the air into my attentive ears.
"You don't look like the type of girl who cries." He mused. "You look strong, like you've been through more than you let on." I look into his eyes and silently nod to tell him he's right. Why am I telling him this? I think. "I'm sorry I'm being so rude, I haven't even introduced myself. My name is Jace Wayland." He extended his right hand waiting for me to tell him my name. I start to extend my right arm and cry out in pain. My left arm immediately moves to cradle my right and suddenly he's in front of me. I didn't even see him move. "May I?" he asks waiting for permission. I nod and he begins to slowly roll up my I see the dark purple bruise spreading from my elbow to the space just below my shoulder. I wince as his gentle touch brushes against my injury. I hear his breath suck in and he begins to half guide and half cradle me towards the door. I give him a questioning look and he replies with a knowingly calm voice. "Your arm looks pretty bad, we need to get some ice on it." He says in such a soothing tone that I don't even try to argue.
"Thank you, for helping me and-and everything else you did. I don't really know what to say." I say shyly.
"I would settle for you telling me your name." He says with a little bit of arrogance in his tone that I didn't notice before. I look up at his face and he has a maddening smirk creeping across his mouth, causing me to laugh and look away.
"My name is Clary Fray, I would shake your hand but it didn't go over so well the first time I tried." I make a sad attempt at a joke seeing as I'm still in a good amount of pain. At the mention of my injury his face darkens and his footfalls pause.
"He shouldn't be allowed to get away with hurting you. He deserves to pay." He says angrily.
"I don't want anyone to find out about what he did." I whisper. "I know he deserves a lot worse than what he's getting, but-" Now that I'm thinking clearly, I can't bring myself to tell him why I don't want to tell the truth about Sebastian. The truth being that I'm completely terrified of what he'll do to me outside of the public atmosphere of the school hallway. He still seems to notice the reason for my hesitation towards talking about the incident and forces his facial features to smooth back to a calming smile.
"I know we just met and you probably are wondering why I'm helping you so much, but I can promise you, I will never let him hurt you ever again." He whispers in my ear. I don't know why, my head is saying no. He's just another untrustworthy guy playing with your mind, but I know in my body and in my heart that my gut feeling is saying to trust him.
We arrive at the nurse's office and he eases me into one of the uncomfortable plastic chairs before speaking with the woman behind the desk. I listen to his silky voice describe my injury and I look up when it suddenly stops. He meets my gaze and the nurse repeats the question she asked that I didn't pay attention to.
"Cause of injury Mr….Wayland?" Her snippy voice sighed, dripping with annoyance at the people who interrupted her crossword puzzle. He looks to me for an answer and I nod reluctantly.
"A muscular, pale, blonde haired asshole that goes by the name Sebastian mercilessly crushed her arm in the middle of the hallway" he says dryly. "Now if you could look up from your non-work-related game for two seconds and help the girl who was just attacked for no reason and is sitting in pain that would be great." He growls. Her look of shock and shame was so satisfying that I stopped noticing the pain. She hops out of her seat and rushes towards me analyzing my bruise with calculating eyes. She starts groping my arm uncomfortably causing pulses of pain wherever her shriveled fingers poked my skin. Jace was suddenly right next to me putting a comforting hand on my back, tracing circles down my spine. I look up to him gratefully as the nurse gets an ice pack and tapes it around my injury.
Once she did all she could do she gave both of us passes to go home. There was only ten minutes left in the day and I'm sure she could tell we were both a little too distraught to pay attention in class anyway. She spoke with us for a moment before we left.
"I'll let headmaster Herondale know about Sebastian and I'll let him decide how to handle the situation." We gave her a quick thanks and were about to turn to leave when she added, "Miss Fray...take care in the coming days, Sebastian Morgenstern is not the type of boy to let this go, and he's not the kind of person to pick a fight with either." She said looking at Jace. He glared at her and hooked his arm under mine to cushion my wound. We left without another word and never looked back.