She surveyed the four with a sigh.

"This a chance for a new start." She said, brushing a hand across her dark hair, as if to ensure herself that it was still pulled back into its impossibly tight bun. "You should be more excited."

"Excited?" He repeated, disbelief dripping from his tone. "To be moving halfway across the country right before my senior year? Yeah, mom, I'm thrilled."

Jace and Isabelle shared a look.

Usually, Alec was the most reserved out of all of them.

They had all been thinking it, really, with maybe the exception of Max, who was only eight, and still young enough to not understand the meaning of the word divorce, Alec had just beaten them to the punch.

Max was currently standing beside him, backpack resting against his shoulders, and a grin on his face, the only one even remotely excited about the new start.

"Can I ride with Jace?" He asked.

Jace nearly smiled, raking his hand through the kid's hair.

Maryse's lips formed a thin line.

"You can ride with Alec." She said, after a moment.

Isabelle scoffed. Alec drove so slowly, a snail had once passed him. Once, Cla-

No. Jace thought. He couldn't go there anymore. He refused to.

"I'll go with you." She offered, tossing her hair.

"Thanks Iz."

"Sure." Isabelle replied. "Besides, there's only so much NPR I can take."

Alec glared at her. "Excuse me for wanting to know what's going on in the world."

She shrugged. "Just go on Twitter."

"Shut up, Izzy."

"You shut up, Alec."

"Izzy..."

"Alec-"

"Isabelle." Maryse warned.

Jace moved to rest a hand on her shoulder as she rolled her eyes. Maryse had neglected to scold Alec, placing all the blame on her daughter. Typical.

Alec's gaze softened.

He opened his mouth, as if to speak, but Jace shook his head.

It wasn't the time for a heart-to-heart.

Jace gripped his keys in his fist, pulling Isabelle along behind him towards his new jeep, a guilt gift from Robert, for, despite his repeated declarations that he would be coming to visit them soon, he knew they were all just empty promises.

Isabelle frowned as she slid in beside him.

She was still pouting over her own going away present, the glittering diamond bracelet currently fastened around her wrist. A car was out of the question until she passed her road test, though he was beginning to suspect she never would; she had already taken it eleven times to no avail.

The sunlight reflecting against her shimmering bracelet nearly blinded him before he could reach for his sunglasses, but

it wasn't what had caught his attention.

It was the braided band, strings frayed and colors faded, tied tightly around her opposite wrist.

His eyes narrowed, and she moved to cover it with her hand, as if she could feel him staring at it.

"Jace..." She began.

"Grow up, Iz." He spat.

It took everything in him to ignore her hurt expression.

He hadn't meant to snap at her, he was just angry, so furious. so resentful towards everything, and everyone; his father for tearing apart the family, his mother for moving him halfway across the country, and at Minnesota for not being New York.

His life was back in the city, as were his friends, and his piano, though Maryse had promised to get him a new one.

Robert had made no moves to contact any of them since their awkward goodbye lunch two days earlier.

He wished that his parents would have gone to therapy instead of separating in three days flat. Robert and Maryse weren't the type of people to stay together just because they had four children, three biological, one adopted. He couldn't recall a time they had actually liked one another, why they had gotten married in the first place was still a mystery, so the pending divorce wasn't a huge shock to him.

Isabelle's voice brought him back to reality.

"I just..."

"Yeah." Jace mumbled, shooting her a rare, very rare apologetic look. "Trust me, Iz, I get it."

He patted the front pocket of his jeans, just to ensure himself that his own bracelet was still there.