The sun burned brightly, and unrelentingly on the windows of the classroom It was mid October, and this weather was not normal for Brooklyn, Jace stared off into the distance, watching what looked like a plastic bag get ripped around the school's field. His teacher was lecturing about God knows what and Jace had no interest. Why would he? He only came to school to fit in and seem normal. He glanced across the room and saw his parabotai, Alec, who was pretending to actively listen to their teacher; at least he thought he was pretending. Sitting two seats in front of him was Alec's sister, Isabelle mindlessly twirling her hair in her fingers and tapping her pen against the desk.
Jace looked up at the clock and groaned quietly, realizing he still had an hour in this room. He closed his eyes and imagined he was back in Idris, walking through a field. It was warm and sunny in Idris, at least it was in his mind; the sun beat down creating a thin layer of sweat on the back of his neck. Suddenly he felt a gust of cold hair rush around him and he opened his eyes quickly, coming back to reality. He looked in the direction of where the wind had come and saw her.
Her cheeks burned, sending heat all the way across her face, and trailing onto her ears as well. The whole class stared at her, not in shock, or surprise, just out of curiosity. She sucked in a breath and quickly walked over to her teacher, handing him and small bundle of papers. The teacher glanced at them quickly and reached for a textbook sitting on his desk. As he shuffled things around on his desk, looking for something else he wanted to give her, she finally looked up, seeing the blond haired boy. Something flashed across his face, too quickly for her to register what it had been. She brushed her hair behind her ear uncomfortably, and looked down at her hands.
Her teacher looked around the room, scanning for an empty seat; the girl did the same, her brow furrowed. He gestured towards a seat near the window, she slowly released the breath she had been holding. She took the book, offering a faint smile and carefully walked over to the empty desk. She dropped her bag and sat down quickly, still waiting for the dozens of eyes to stop boring into her. The girl directly in front of her turned around and gave her a sweet smile and whispered hello, her long dark hair spilling onto her desk. "Hi," the new girl replied shyly, "I'm Clary."
"Isabelle," the dark haired girl said still whispering, "Isabelle Lightwood."
The teacher cleared his throat causing both girls to look up quickly. Jace chuckled, Clary, he thought to himself, smiling. He relaxed again, still smiling as he looked at the back of the girl who had now sat in front of him, her wavy red hair gently moving as she breathed. She reached up and pulled her hair over her shoulder, revealing a black line that trailed up her shoulder and neck, Jace's breath hitched and her shoulders stiffened, she quickly moved her hair back to where it was, and adjusted the collar of her jacket.
When the bell finally rang the girl in front of him jumped up, grabbing her books and shoved them into her bag. She pulled the bag over her shoulder quickly, not realizing it had not been shut completely. Her sketchbook fell out, along with some pencils, she whimpered quietly, Jace reached down to pick up the pencils for her and they reached for her sketchbook at the same time, which had opened to a blank page, Clary sighed in relief. He handed her the book and pencils, smirking at her. She looked down, as if closing her bag took all the concentration in the world. "Thanks," she muttered, embarrassed. He nodded in acknowledgment. She stood up abruptly and turned around, seeing Isabelle.
"Clary," she started, looking over her shoulder to stare at Jace instead, "would you want to join my brother and cousin and I for lunch?"
"Umm-"
"Unless you have other plans, I just assumed that you didn't know anyone here, seeing as you're new and all" she apologized quickly.
"Well, you assumed right," Clary said with a smile that showed embarrassment more than anything else, "are you sure they won't mind?"
"Not at all," Jace answered, smirking again, his accent making her heart speed up slightly.
Great, Clary thought to her self, horrified of what he might already think of her.
They walked down the hall, stopping off at Clary's locker quickly, which was only two down from Jace's. She deposited her books into it and pulled out a paper bag. When she reached up on her toes for her lunch her leather jacket rode up her back, revealing another black swirling piece of ink that seamed to wrap around its self on her hip. Jace cleared his throat, unable to pull his eyes away from her small hips and flat stomach. She pulled her jacket down and silently cursed herself for being so short.
They walked down the hall again, at first in silence. Sensing how uncomfortable everyone was, Isabelle wrapped her arm through Clary's.
"So is that your natural hair color or is it box died?" Isabelle asked cheerfully.
"Um…it's natural, my mom's is the same color" Clary instinctively reached for her hair, as if making sure it was still there.
"Wow, it's so pretty! I wish my hair was that color, it's so bright! And your green eyes just seem to pop because of it! And I bet with a bit of eye shadow and eye liner you would be even more of a show stopper!"
Clary laughed, her smile actually reaching up to her eyes this time, she glanced over at Jace and saw him staring at her intensely. Her face immediately turned bright red and she looked away. Her reaction made him smile to himself, his eyes trailing down to her hips swaying. Suddenly he felt someone elbow him in the ribs; he looked up to see Alec looking at him.
"Keep it in your pants" Alec said looking at Clary's waist and back at Jace, this time it was his turn to blush.
Half way through their hour-long lunch break, Clary was feeling much more relaxed, she had even exchanged cell phone numbers with her new girl friend. Some time during the break Jace and Alec had gotten up, giving Isabelle a stern nod and left the two girls. Alec had said a polite good bye to Clary but Jace was already half way across the cafeteria. Clary wasn't sure why, but that had slightly stung her.
"So I'm going to assume that you and Alec are siblings and Jace is your cousin?" Clary asked, trying to get over the odd feeling she had in the pit of her stomach.
"Yeah, Jace's mom died when he was born and his dad died when he was about nine. He's lived with us since then." Isabelle answered nonchalantly.
"Oh, is that why he's so quiet?"
"I don't know why he was so quiet today, he's usually more talkative, and especially when he meets girls"
This statement wasn't supposed to mean anything but it made the feeling in Clary's stomach tighten even more. Before she could say anything in response Isabelle had grabbed Clary's schedule, pointing out that the only class they had together was history. Clary's shoulder's slumped, realizing she would either have to meet even more new people or sit alone for the remainder of the semester.
"You and Jace have the exact same schedule!" Isabelle said excitedly, Clary immediately sat up, feeling both excited and nervous. "At least you'll have him to hang out with. I know he's going to need a partner for the dance part of gym"
Clary cringed, the bell rang, ending lunch.
They said their goodbyes, Isabelle heading to her science, and Clary in search of a place to spend her free period.
Jace and Alec were at Jace's locker talking quietly when Clary walked up to hers, she smiled at them briefly, Alec saying something that only Jace was able to hear, he clenched his jaw, and nodded for Alec to leave. Clary slammed her locker shut and walked away, in hopes of avoiding any more embarrassing events with this blond haired boy. She rushed off to find a quiet area to draw.
When she found a table outside in a vacant courtyard and sat down quietly, pulling out her sketchpad and pencils, she immediately relaxed. She closed her eyes for a moment, thinking. She took in the sounds, smells, tastes, trying to pull them all together in order to create an image, she felt her pencil touch the pad lightly and began moving her hand, eyes still closed. It was a talent that had constantly impressed people, being able to draw a perfect picture entirely blind. Most of the times she knew what she was drawing, but every once in a while what she surprised herself with what she produced. She drew the air around her, the smell of grass and flowers, maybe daisies in the background; she drew the earth crunching beneath her feet, the sun, beaming down. She drew the smell of mint, and freshness. She breathed in deeply as if it was the most amazing thing she had smelled, masculine, yet gentle. Brave, yet safe.
She heard someone breathe behind her and turned around quickly, slapping her book closed. She looked up to see him, taking in his face first, the sharp angles of his jaw, cheek bones, nose and eyebrows. Her eyes shifted to his, looking dangerous and yet safe at the same time, she imagined drawing him, and his hair, the different shades of gold, and the small curls at the ends of it, she looked at every detail, even his earrings. Her eyes stopped for a moment on his throat, watching him swallow. He cleared his throat, bringing her back.
"Oh… I um, I'm, I," she turned a bright red, hearing her voice crack until she couldn't produce another sound.
"Don't worry, you're not the only girl whose found herself speechless after seeing me" Jace said grinning. She looked down, embarrassed and annoyed at his arrogance. His eyes softened. "I'm sorry, I guess I haven't really been helping the whole first-day-jitters thing, hey?"
"No, not really" Clary managed tightly.
"Mayve we could start over? My names Jace, Jace Wayland." He said, offering his hand to her, she took it. Introducing herself. "So, Clary Fray, what brings you to this fantastic school?"
"Um, work. I mean, my mom's work, well, my mom's boyfriend's work I guess" she sputtered, unable to take her eyes off his.
"You seem a little confused," he joked.
"No, I just, It's been sort of a rough couple of days, I haven't slept very much, I have nightmares almost every night and I can't seem to get rid of them, and i…don't really know why I'm telling you this, I hardy know you, but-"
"But yet it feels like you do know me, doesn't it?" he offered, intrigued.
She bit her lip, fighting the urge to agree; instead she only nodded vehemently, turning crimson right after. He smiled, looking away as if ducking from her. She gasped, seeing a long cut, reaching from in front of his earlobe all the way down his neck and under his shirt.
"You're hurt!" she exclaimed, instinctively reaching for her pocket, stopping herself abruptly.
"Oh, it's nothing, don't worry, I got into a bit of a tiff with my cousin, a joke really, I'll be fine" he said easily. Clary cursed herself for not being able to control her voice like his, where he sounded confident and proud, she was only able to sputter and mix her words together.
"You should go see the nurse, it could get infected," she said, suddenly concerned about him. He smiled at her, her skin heating.
"What are you drawing? You seemed very focused on it, and I just didn't have the heart to interrupt you earlier" he said, changing the subject.
"Oh, I don't really know, it was probably nothing,"
"Probably? You don't even know what you drew?" She breathed out heavily, suddenly defensive.
"I have to go," she muttered before turning to retrieve her things, only to knock them onto the ground, "Fuck."
Jace laughed quietly, bending to pick them up for her, she crouched down, panicking to get her book, he leaned forward, putting her pencils into her bag, and she smelled mint. A small noise escaped her throat causing them to both look up, inches from each others faces. She jumped up mumbling something about being late for class and ran off.