Jace Herondale didn't think he had ever been so bored in his life. He heaved a massive sigh as he watched the identical looking shops that lined both sides of the street go by in a blur. "You keep frowning, your face will get stuck like that." Jace turned to glare at his adoptive brother, Alec Lightwood, who sat in the driver's seat, grinning. The dark-haired boys smile dropped as soon as he saw that Jace wasn't laughing."Look, Jace, I know you didn't want to come here but this could be fun." He gave the blonde a pointed look. "You need to at least try. You promised…" "I know!" Jace cut Alec off, annoyed. "But this isn't fun Alec. Far from it." Alec scoffed, and when he spoke, he sounded angry. "Really? So what you were doing back in New York was 'fun'? Drinking with your 'friends' every night, failing classes, sleeping with every girl you can get your hands on, getting suspended for smoking on school property. That was fun for you?" "No! Look… it's just been hard." "Yeah, well it's been hard for all of us! The only difference is we aren't doing everything we can to make everyone else miserable." Alec stopped, glaring at the road as he continued to drive. After what seemed like an eternity, he turned into the driveway of an old Victorian home, partially hidden in the woods at the edge of town. It was nice, Jace wasn't going to lie, but it was nothing like their place in New York. That was home. It wasn't until the car was parked that Alec spoke again."Look, I know it sucks that Ma… that he's gone. I know you miss him. We all do." Alec didn't sound angry anymore, just sad. "But its been a year. You can't use him as an excuse anymore." Then Alec got out of the car, and marched towards the house before Jace could say another word.
"Clary? You need to get up or you're going to be late." Clarys stepfather, Luke, said from the other side of her bedroom door. He paused, waiting for an 'okay' or even a grunt of response from the redhead. What came back was silence."I made coffee." That got Clary's attention. She rushed to get dressed and to the kitchen before her mother stole the rest of the caffeine she needed to survive. However, when Clary padded into the kitchen with her messenger bag slung over her shoulder, her mother was nowhere to be seen. Luke sat at the table by himself, reading the paper and sipping coffee that was nearly white with the amount of creamer in it. "Where's mom?" Clary asked, taking a seat across from her stepfather and sipping from the cup of black coffee in front of her. "Upstairs." Luke set his paper down with a sigh. Clary fought to repress a sigh of her own. Ever since her older brother, Jonathan, had died last June, her mother had all but become a ghost. She didn't sleep or eat, and even when she left the house, which was rare, Jocelyn didn't speak to anyone. Clary took another sip of her coffee and stared at the linoleum tiles on the floor. She wished she could be like her mom, hiding upstairs with an excuse not to go to school today. It felt wrong, walking through the hallways of a school that had once been her brothers kingdom alone, having to see his friends, and trying to deal with the same 'How are yous?' and 'Are you okays?' she had been dealing with the past three months. There would be a memorial for Jon at school, but it wasn't the same. She wanted the real him there, not just a picture. The sound of a horn honking outside broke Clary out of her thoughts and she almost laughed at how grateful she was to have an excuse to leave. "Thats Simon, I gotta run." She downed the last of her coffee, then ran for the door, calling "Bye Luke!" over her shoulder as she went. "What, no hug?" With a laugh, Clary backtracked and wrapped her arms around him, breathing in the scent of his well-worn flannel. Clary knew the hug was more for her than it was for him, but she felt better all the same. Luke pulled away after a minute, his blue eyes meeting her green ones. "You'll be okay kiddo. I know it doesn't feel like it, but you'll have Simon and Magnus…" Luke sighed. "You'll be just fine. Now go. You don't want to keep Simon waiting. He gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze and watched as she bolted out the front door, before settling back down to finish his coffee. As he listened to the sound of Simon Lewis' van pulling out of their driveway, he couldn't help but wonder if he had just lied to her.
