A/N: Ok, so this is my first TMI fic, and of course, it's a Clace oneshot! They are just soooo cute together! So anyway, I usually save my high school fics for Percy Jackson, but I thought Clace deserved one too! They. Are. Awesome. Anyway, I always wanted to see a 'Mundie-Friends-Meet-Jace' kind of fic...
Disclaimer: I own nothing but the storyline and the OCs! Everything else belongs to Cassandra Clare!
A cute redhead leaned coolly against her locker, chatting animatedly yet in hushed tones to a dark-haired, dark-eyed boy. The boy's startlingly dark hair and eye colour contrasted heavily with his skin, so pale that it was practically the colour of fresh snow. The boy was about five inches taller than the girl, standing at five feet ten, as compared to the girl's slight stature of a mere five feet five.
Despite her slightness, the girl always had an aura of calm around her, like she had seen the worse and was ready for anything you threw at her. Also, the various thin white scars that marked her palms, arms and legs added to the tone of mystery surrounding her.
Those who had made the mistake of trying to mess with her always learned their lessons quick enough. Nobody messed with her unless they had a death wish; or unless they were flat-out insane. Besides, her best friend had crazy endurance. He, too, could beat someone up easily, or scare them away with a single glare, although both refrained from doing the former.
Speaking about messing with her, Daniel Jacobs, the school's resident playboy, materialised.
"Hey, babe. Whaddya say to a movie tonight, eh?"
"By the Angel, Daniel! I've turned you down two hundred and one times and counting, I'm not going to suddenly change my mind!"
There was no doubt about it. Daniel Jacobs was insane.
But, he was the school's most popular guy, and the idea that there was a girl that he couldn't get was too much for him.
"Oh, I like feisty girls. Playing hard to get, eh, Clarissa? Come on, you know you want to."
Clary's lips thinned, glaring at the boy in front of her, invading her personal space.
"Leave. Now."
Daniel tried for an unconcerned look, but anybody could read the fear in his eyes. He turned swaggered away. After all, the time Clary spent Shadowhunting had ensured that her glare could scare almost anyone that wasn't used to death on a daily basis. Her eyes held a sort of sorrow beyond her years, and they burned when she got angry, and anyone who didn't know her well enough would feel as if those eyes were offering them a spontaneous death.
Simon rolled his eyes. "Honestly, you would think the guys in school would get that you don't want them sooner."
Clary nodded, grabbing her bag and heading towards the front doors. "Come on, Si. Let's get you ready for your date with Izzy."
Simon blushed, the red in stark contrast with his pale skin. [A/N: I know some people think that Simon can't blush, but the book said he could. X) ]
"How'd you know about that?" He raised an eyebrow in disbelief. He hadn't gotten around to telling anyone that he and Isabelle were dating exclusively yet.
Clary groaned. "Why can everyone raise their eyebrow? Everyone but me!"
Simon stuck his tongue out at her, earning a swat.
"But seriously, how do you know?"
"Oh, please. You may not have told anyone, but Iz has been publicising her relationship to the whole Institute!"
All of a sudden, Jessica Johnson, the reigning gossip girl, burst in the doors, rushing to Clary's side.
"Oh. Em. Gee! Clares, there is, like, a total hottie outside the doors, like, right now! You've got to go, like, totally check him out!"
Clary groaned. "One, Jessica, don't call me 'Clares'. Two, stop trying to set me up with guys."
Jessica pouted. "Fine, fine. But you still have to like, totally check him out! The guy's so hot, I'm totally betting his picture's in the dictionary next to the word!"
Clary sighed. Well, since Jessica tried to set her up with a guy practically every day, she decided that there was no harm done just humouring the girl anyway. After all, she had the perfect boyfriend already, although his personality got on her nerves. But, then again, if he wasn't who he was, she probably wouldn't be in love with him.
Simon shot her a look, catching her resigned expression.
They dragged themselves out of the doors before their better judgement caught up with them.
The first thing that occurred to her the moment she stepped out of the school building was the crowd. What in the world was happening out here that would cause such a crowd? A moment later, the answer hit her. Of course. The 'hot' guy. After all, most of the crowd were obsessed queen bee wannabes.
Jessica tugged on her hand impatiently, successfully pushing her way through the crowd to centre of the throng, pulling Clary roughly by the wrist after her.
Standing in the middle of the crowd, like being the centre of attention didn't bother him in the least, was a boy who brought a new definition to the phrase 'Golden Boy'. His hair was a wavy dark gold, shimmering in the afternoon sun, his skin tanned, almost golden. Even his eyes, looking down at an oblong black tablet in his hands and shaded by a pair of sunglasses, were glinting gold.
Clary grinned wildly, staring at the boy not very discreetly.
Jace grinned back in reply, flashing a set of pearly white teeth, with that trademark chipped incisor that she had come to find endearing. The girls in the crowd swooned, while the boys shot venomous, jealous glares in Jace's direction.
He was wearing a plain white shirt under a black leather jacket, with fashionably worn jeans. The Marks around his neck were peeking out from under his collar, the Voyance rune on the back of his right hand in plain sight. Other than the runes circling his throat and those on his hands, every other one was shielded from view by his choice of clothing. A sheathed dagger and a Seraph Blade gleamed at his side, heavily glamoured so no Mundane could see them. Clary had no doubt that he had a dozen more weapons on his person. After all, Simon didn't call him a walking attillery for nothing.
Simon stared at Jace in shock. He shook himself out of his trance, the first sentence out of his mouth being, "Jace? What're you doing here?"
Jace shrugged. "Just hanging around. I've nothing better to do anyway. Izzy's being all boring prepping for her date and Alec's out. I think he's trying to get through to Magnus. Maryse is handling Council stuff. So I came here."
"Oh."
All of a sudden, as soon as the girls registered that Simon and Jace knew each other, they were swarmed both boys.
Jace was smirking, used to the attention. "Whoa, ladies, ladies. I know everyone wants a piece of me here. Join the queue, grab a number."
Clary mock glared at her boyfriend, knowing that he was just joking around, being conceited as usual. She knew he would never leave her. After all, that had been proved time and time again through all the dangers they faced on a daily basis.
Still, it was a little disconcerting to see the love of her life, as hot as he was, being swarmed by a crowd of artificial yet beautiful girls. She glanced in the direction of the mob, registering Simon's stricken face, clearly calling '911' in his head, his features screaming 'Clary! Help me!'.
She smiled at the typical Simon reaction and pushed her way through the clamour, ignoring shouts of "Hey! I was here first!", "He is so mine! Move it! He'll never like you!" and "Don't you dare touch my guy, Fray!"
She maneuvered her way through the crowd with difficulty, if the fading of the dexteritas rune on her shoulder was any proof.
She pulled out her stele, heavily glamoured, and started a boundary rune around them. The mob was becoming suffocating.
The rune completed, Simon, Clary and Jace finally had space to breathe.
Clary turned to Jace. "You'd better not make a joke about women stampeding at the sight of your bare chest." (A/N: Remember that part in CoLS where he jokes about women stampeding to him? XD)
Jace smirked. "Wow, Fray. I wasn't even thinking about that, although I don't blame you for your thoughts. I know that my bare chest must hold so much fascination for you. Honestly though, I'm not even in a tight shirt and this already happened. I know, I'm stunningly attractive."
Simon was gagging in the furthest corner of the boundary protecting them. "You know what, guys? I think I'll just get out of here. Almost anything's better than listening to this."
He scrambled over the rune and, with his vampire speed, barely made it through the crowd, running out of sight to hide.
Clary laughed. "Typical Simon. You know, he probably could've escaped this crowd long before."
"Yeah, but he obviously wanted to share in my glory for a while."
Clary whacked Jace on the arm while the jealous girls on the other side of the boundary rune pounded on the invisible wall, raging at the sight of Clary's and Jace's obvious good natured interaction.
"Hey Fray! Don't you dare touch him! He is mine, get it? Nobody's but mine! You're just a stupid ugly nerd who knows a hottie through her hot best friend! You're nothing, get it? Nothing!"
Jace's eyes flashed, his fury building. No one insulted Clary in front of him. His eyes had turned from warm, shimmering gold to hard and steely, the gold fading out slightly, forming a hard, cold metallic shield.
Simon peeked out from his hiding spot, mouthing 'Man, she did not just say that. Oh, she is so dead.'
The look on Jace's face was murderous, his hands clenched so tightly that tiny rivulets of blood trickled down from where his nails pierced his skin, his knuckles bone-white. His fingers were twitching, his left hand inching towards the Herondale dagger sheathed in his weapons belt.
Clary's hand flashed out to restrain Jace, noticing his movement. She definitely didn't want the death of a mundane, no matter how annoying she was, on hers and Jace's conscience.
Jace, unable to take physical action on the girl, went with verbal action instead. "You think Simon was the one who introduced me to Clary? Hell, no! Try the other way around. And nobody, I repeat, nobody, calls Clary ugly or insults her in front of me. She's an infinite amount of times the person you are, and her beauty outweighs yours by infinity."
The girl, Sarah, Clary remembered, sneered. "Why would a hottie like you care about what I think about nerd girl over there? Especially when you can get someone like me?"
Jace's eyes narrowed, and anyone who knew him well enough could read his expression just fine. You mess with my girl, you die. You die a horrible, torturous death.
Clary grabbed Jace's hands in her own, turning his burning gaze towards her.
She's not worth it. Clary's eyes read.
Jace's golden orbs softened and a small smirk pulled at his lips. In a smooth, unpredictable motion, he scooped Clary into his arms and angled his lips expertly over hers.
Supporting Clary's entire weight on one arm, Jace's other hand carded through her mass of curls, tangling there.
Clary's arms slung over his shoulders and circled his neck, her hands playing with the fine strands at the nape of his neck.
Unbeknownst to the couple, the throng around them had dispersed at the sight of the hottie being taken, although the few that remained were either burning with jealousy, or had just flat out fainted - or at least, faking a faint - from the quote 'Impossible happenings of the day.' unquote.
When the two finally broke away, gasping for air, the only people left were Simon, who had finally left his hiding place, Jessica, who was standing rooted to the ground in shock, and Sarah, who stormed off in a huff the moment the two looked in her direction.
Simon was standing there with his arms crossed, rolling his eyes. After all, Clary and Jace kissing wasn't a rare sight to him. In fact, it was a sight that he could do without seeing for the rest of his life, as long as it was going to be.
Jessica, on the other hand, was gaping, her jaw hanging and eyes wide. She seemed to have frozen in place.
Stepping out of the perimeter where the boundary rune had been - it had worn off due to too much stress caused by obsessed teens - Clary pulled Jace by the wrist after her.
Reaching Jessica, she waved a hand in front of her eyes to get her attention. "Jessica? Meet Jace Lightwood. He's my boyfriend. Get why I don't like the guys you try and set me up with now?"
Jessica nodded dumbly before turning heading off campus.
A lopsided grin crossed Jace's face. "You have the weirdest Mundie friends, Clary."
Clary shrugged. "Well, she's not really a friend... More of an acquaintance leaning towards the friend zone. Let's go back to the Institute, shall we?"
Turning to Simon, she asked, "Si, you have your own ride back to your place, right? Meet you at around 3 to prep you for your date, okay?"
Simon nodded, turning towards Eric's van that he drove to and from school daily.
Just as Jace hopped on his motorbike and was holding out a hand to Clary, an obnoxious, nasally voice rang out from the school entrance.
"So you're the reason why Clarissa here won't go out with me. Ha, not much of a challenge. I don't see why she would want someone like you when she could have me."
Clary spun on her heel, her eyes meeting the watery pale blue ones of one Daniel Jacobs. "Oh, get a life, Daniel! Even if you were the last male in the universe I wouldn't even entertain the thought of going out with you! Jace or no Jace! You're a repulsive slimeball who shouldn't be touched with a ten-foot pole!"
Jace, despite his anger, - and jealousy, although he would never admit that - was smirking at Clary's insults.
He strode forward confidently, intimidating Daniel easily. After all, he was four and a half inches taller than the other boy.
Jace's eyes glinted. "Huh. You're shorter than I thought you would be."
Daniel gritted his teeth and swung his fist forward sloppily towards Jace's face. But Jace wasn't there.
He had seen the blow coming ages ago and had long stepped out of target.
Daniel swung fist after sloppy fist at Jace, and even added in some kicks, forceful yet low and weak. Jace simply twisted lightly on his feet, with all of his usual grace. In fact, he wasn't even relying on a rune to move that fluidly, just more proof that Daniel, despite all his boasting, was a pretty lame fighter.
Clary knew that when Jace finally threw a punch, it would have quite a prodigal effect.
Then, out of the blue, Jace stopped his movements, and caught one of Daniel's punches with his hand. Locking his hands over Daniel's forearm, he judo-flipped the other boy over his head, coming to land with a satisfying thump. Kneeling down with one knee pressing against Daniel's chest, Jace pushed his forearm up against the other boy's chin, effectively holding him in a headlock.
A grim look passed over Jace's face. "You will not bother Clary again, do you understand? If you ever mess with her again, I swear, I will know, and I will hunt you down and kill you where you stand. Get it?"
Daniel nodded silently, fear obvious in his eyes. When Jace finally let him up, he turned tail and ran. Clary could swear that he wet his pants too.
Clary walked up to Jace and hugged him from behind. "You know, it's nice to have such a protective boyfriend. Also, your protective side is kinda hot."
Jace grinned and turned in Clary's embrace. He tilted her chin up while she stood on her tiptoes to reach his lips.
They broke away after a while and hopped onto Jace's motorbike, flying back to the Institute.