The dark corridors seemed to stretch on forever like a never ending maze. An all encompassing silence filled the air and made it seem as though the slightest inhale of breath where a gust of wind storming through the hall. Every footstep echoed through the empty space bouncing backwards and forwards unable to escape. The eerie atmosphere chilled her to the bone, every hair on her body standing on end. She could feel the adrenaline pumping through her veins, her body was getting ready. To fight. To run. A split second decision that would determine so much.
Straining her ears she could vaguely hear the creaking of doors from far away. Her own footsteps halted and she was standing there alone in the dark. Another creak, her head whipped to the side trying to find the source of the sound. As much as she tried it was impossible to see much in the dark. Steeling herself she carried on cautiously, afraid to even breathe too loud. She walked towards where she thought the sound had come from, trying to push past the voice in her head telling her turn around and run. She could do this.
Her hand shook as it reached up towards the doorway looming in front of her. As gently as she could she pushed open the large door. She almost jumped out of her skin when she heard the harsh snapping sounds. Her arm shot up, reaching for the light switch she knew was there. The room was instantly filled with a blinding light revealing her surroundings. She was in a large classroom with mouse traps covering almost every inch of the floor.
"Damn it Clary, do you know how long it took us to set that all up?" exclaimed Isabelle.
Clary's whole body seemed to relax at the sight of her friends. "Sorry." she squeaked, still a little shaken.
"Now we'll have to reset them all." Everyone seemed to groan at this, but started to reset the traps anyway. Clary didn't particularly want to be there, it wasn't that she didn't want to take part in senior prank night, it was just that she had more important things that she had to do. She went to go help out her friends when she realised that not everyone was present.
"Hey, where are Jonathan and Jace?" she asked, nervousness tinging her voice. If Jace and Jon were together it couldn't be good. The two had never really liked each other to begin with and things only seemed to get worse once Jace and Clary had started dating in freshman year.
"They're setting up another prank somewhere." Simon said nonchalantly as if it were the most normal thing in the world.
"You left those two together in a room alone?" Clary asked mortified. "They'll kill each other."
"Relax, nothing's gonna happen." Jordan chimed in as he skilfully prevented Maia from getting her fingers stuck in the trap. Just then a loud bang resonated from somewhere in the school. The five teenagers rushed out into the hallway in search of the cause of the noise. It didn't take them long to find it. Jace was inside a classroom, a lot like the one they had just been in, standing on top of a pile of tables, chairs and anything else they had found in the classroom, lazily thrown into one big pile in the middle of the room. Upon closer inspection, Clary realised that her brother was concealed behind a large table that had been tipped on it's side as he began wrapping clean film around the pile.
"What's going on in here?" Clary asked. At the sound of her voice both males turned around to look at her.
"Hey babe." Jace drawled casually before turning to face Jonathan. "Do you mind finishing up here?" Much to Clary's surprise her brother gladly agreed without another word. Jace hopped down from his position, threw Jonathan a roll of toilet paper and strolled towards Clary. He gave her a small peck on the lips before taking her hand in his own and leading her out the room. As Clary made her way outside she noticed that everyone else had disappeared once realising that everyone still had all of their appendages attached to their bodies.
Once they'd reached a deserted hallway Jace abruptly turned Clary and leaned her against the lockers while his lips met hers. Shocked by the sudden movement, it took her a few seconds to respond. Clary sank into the kiss, revelling in the feeling it gave her. Whenever Jace kissed her she felt her insides melt and shocks sparked wherever he touched her. His hands moved to cup her face while hers travelled to his torso. Only once she could no longer hold her breath any longer did she break the kiss. When she pulled away she was panting from lack of breath, and much to her delight so was Jace.
"As much as I enjoyed that," she began breathily, "could you please tell me what you did to my brother?"
"I'm not sure I know what you mean." he replied smoothly as a smirk formed on his perfect lips.
"I have a feeling you do, but I'll clarify anyway." She told him, trying to hold back a smile, "You and my brother never get along, so what happened between now and a few hours ago when he was just about ready to punch you in front of the entire school."
Jace placed his hands on the lockers on either side of Clary's head before leaning in so that when he spoke she could feel his breath tickle her face. "Lets just say… we came to an understanding." Clary raised her eyebrows in a look she hoped said 'I'm not buying it'. He just chuckled at her before leaning in and lightly touching his lips to hers.
Instead of letting him kiss her though she lightly pushed against his chest and whispered "We should probably go help the others before they send a search party." With that she ducked under one of his arms and began walking away. She didn't get very far before she felt an arm snake around her waist and lift her off the ground. A light squeal escaped her lips and she felt Jace's body vibrate against her own as he laughed at her reaction. He swung her around before gently putting her down in front of him and taking her lips between his own. Once satisfied they broke apart and began walking back to their friends hand in hand.
They ran into the rest of their friends as they finished blocking a set of stairs with clean film, toilet paper, tape and a few chairs, successfully making it impossible to get up or down. Clary wondered what people would think of the school when they arrived the next morning, it's not like they weren't used to it though. It was a tradition for the seniors to prank the school on senior prank night. The only difference this year was that Isabelle, Jace and Jonathan were involved meaning that they were going to the extremes. Over the past few weeks they'd formulated a diabolical plan as to how they could best prank the school as Jace had stated that he wanted this to me a 'legacy' that no other year group could live up to. One thing was for sure, this was a senior prank night that no one would ever forget.
Once happily satisfied with the stairs Isabelle declared that they move on to the next part of the plan. The group then spent the next hour filling up cups of water and placing them strategically all over the hallway floor so that no one could pass without knocking over a cup of water. That prank had been Simon's idea, apparently he'd seen it online somewhere. The only problem with this though was the fact that they hadn't really planned out a very good strategy for setting the cups down which meant that by the time they finished everyone had ended up in a different part of the hallway, completely surrounded by plastic cups of water. Clary stood frozen as she looked at her friends and watched as they all seemed to realise the predicament they were in.
"Who's great idea was this again?" Jordan spoke as he tried to take a step before changing his mind and staying put.
"There was nothing wrong with the idea, it was the execution that was flawed." Simon defended. It was times like these that Clary was thankful for being small because it meant that it was easier for her to manoeuvre around the cups with less of a chance of knocking any over. When she finally reached the end she looked up to see eight astonished faces staring at her. Clary felt as a blush make it's way to her face. She looked down, hoping that her hair would cover her red cheeks. After about fifteen minutes of watching everyone struggle, some curse words from certain individuals and a little giggling on Clary's part, everyone had finally made it into the safe zone of the hallway.
"What's next?" Magnus asked no one in particular.
"I've been looking forwards to this part all night." Jace replied mysteriously.
When Isabelle had first bought up prank night a few weeks back Clary remembered dreading the idea. She didn't want to spend an evening pulling pranks on the school, she'd much rather be in bed asleep where it was comfortable. But now that she was here with her friends she was glad they'd forced her to do it. Looking into each one of their happy faces she felt her heart contract as she knew they were going their separate ways soon. Of course she was stuck with Jonathan for life because he was her brother and luckily Jace and her had gotten into the same university, but apart from that Clary wasn't sure when the next time they'd all be together again after graduation would be. The thought left a bitter taste in her mouth as she thought about all the time she could have spent with her friends if only they'd all met a little sooner. It was just her luck to meet some of the best people she could ever imagine just a few months before they would graduate. Where were they when she'd been here freshman year. Luckily she'd met a few people back them. Jace being one of them, but she hadn't had the pleasure of knowing Maia, Jordan or Magnus until just recently. In those few months though they had joined their group of friends and completed it, but soon they'd have to leave and everyone would go on with their individual lives, pursuing different careers in different places around the world.
Clary knew that Simon was interested in game design at MIT while Isabelle and Magnus wanted to pursue fashion in Paris. Maia was pursuing a degree in literature while Jordan wanted to join law enforcement. Alec and Jonathan would be studying sports science at different universities while Jace and Clary would go to Princeton. Jace wanted to study criminology while Clary wanted an art degree. Each of them had a plan, it just so happened that those plans included moving far away from each other for the next few years at least. But Clary had faith that they would one day end up together again, maybe they'd go and live in New York or somewhere similar where each of them could pursue their desired careers. She sure hoped so.
"Done!" Jon announced as he finished hanging the banner above their masterpiece. They had filled the entrance hall to the school with as much toilet paper as they possibly could, throwing it in all directions creating the biggest mess they could. Somehow someone had gotten ahold of coloured toilet paper as well which made the place look like a rainbow had exploded all over the room. On the balcony on the second floor hung the large piece of material with the words "For all the crap you've put us through. Love, the senior class." printed on it. Everyone gathered around where Clary was standing so that they could admire their work.
No one said anything for a while, everyone was too caught up in their own thoughts. Clary felt as a small tear escaped her eye. She didn't get a chance to wipe it away because Jace had turned to her in that exact moment, the smile on his face immediately dropping as he saw her tear.
"Hey, what's wrong?" he spoke softly as he cupped her face with his hands and swiped the tear away with his thumb. "Please don't cry baby." Everyone else turned to the couple, concern etched on their faces.
"I'm sorry." Clary sniffled, "It's just… I'm gonna miss this." she told them, looking at each person's face for a few seconds before moving on to look at the next. "I'm gonna miss it so much." A few more tears escaped and Jace gently wiped them away before giving her a small peck on the lips.
"I know." he told her gently and enveloped her in a tight hug. There was a short silence before Simon finally spoke.
"I'm never gonna forget the look on the principle's face when the mariachi band wouldn't leave him alone." Everyone laughed at the memory from earlier that day. It was just like Simon to know when everyone needed a good laugh.
"I can't believe you paid the band to follow him around for the entire day!" Jordan exclaimed to Alec.
"What can I say, it was worth every penny."
"Do you guys remember how the vein on his forehead looked like it was gonna burst when he found those chickens running around?" Maia gasped between giggles.
"The best part was when you suggested we get two chickens and label them one and three." Magnus told Jace. "He spent forever looking for number two." Everyone fell into a fit of laughter, some clutching their stomachs while others wiped tears of joy from their eyes.
"One of my better ideas." Jace commented. He'd let go of Clary, only to wrap his arm around her waist and pull her into his side.
"I still can't believe John got away with using clean film to tie a kid to a pillar." Isabelle told them.
"It wasn't me." John replied sincerely.
"Give it up John, we all know it was you." she scolded.
"It wasn't though. It was Clary." Everyone turned to stare at the redhead with astonished expressions.
"You're saying that our Clary, small, innocent Clary, did that?" Magnus asked incredulously.
"With a little help." Jace replied smugly. "All she had to do was distract him long enough for me to work my magic. Next thing you know he's tied to a pillar just as the bell rings for lunch."
"How did you not get caught?" Jordan asked.
"Simple," Clary replied, "we blended into the crowd before any teachers could see us. That, and the fact that Jace may have threatened the kid not to tell anyone it was us."
"You guys are unbelievable." Maia told them cheerfully.
"One thing's for sure," stated Clary, gaining everyone's attention, "this is a day I will remember for the rest of my life. And I wouldn't have it any other way."