A/N: I own nothing; all these awesome characters are Cassandra Clare's. But the idea is mine. So HA!
I wanted to do a modern version of a Jace and Clary love story, and what better way… then with a play? (insert winky face here because fanfiction won't let me do it myself.)
(P.S. that rhymed…)
Warning, there is going to be swearing in this story (like all my others..) not a lot, but still. Just a heads up. Also, another warning, this is probably going to be a very fluffy story for Clary and Jace. What do I mean by that? Well, you'll see… =]
Hope you enjoy! =]
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CLARY
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I shut my locker with a bang which barely made a noise compared to the babble of voices that echoed in the crowded hallway. Teenagers pushed by me and I struggled against the flow of people. I pressed my huge history textbook and binder to my chest and nudged my way into the path of people moving the same way I am. I was just about to step into my history classroom when I felt a hand wrap around my upper arm. I glanced up and met the eyes of my friend Isabelle Lightwood.
"Clary!" she hissed in my ear, a look of excitement shining in her striking face. Her dark hair spilled over the shoulders of her tight dark green tank top. "I need to tell you something. Big news!" she waggled her eyebrows up and down and giggled.
"Um, okay?" I allowed her to pull me inside. She yanked me to the back of the classroom, expertly and gracefully avoiding gangly legs sticking out in the aisle. I didn't fare as well. My foot caught on the shoe of a fellow classmate and I stumbled forward. I apologized rapidly and unconsciously touch the messy bun at the back of my head that held my red hair. Isabelle rolled her eyes at my clumsiness. She plopped me down in my seat and proceeded to tell me about her steamy night with Meliorn, a new foreign exchange student, as more kids came into the room.
"And then he grabbed my face and –" Isabelle was whispering with wide eyes when I heard a soft chuckle in my ear. I stiffened as a deeper voice interrupted,
"He grabbed my face and planted sweet, soft kisses along my neck and then his hands slid under my shirt and slowly made their way up to my – "
"Jace!" Isabelle yelled and reached over to slam her palm into his shoulder. I turned quickly and saw him laughing as he leaned against a nearby desk. I scoffed and rolled my eyes.
Jace Herondale has a reputation. Actually, a few reputations. Only one of them is good; the fact that he is the star player and captain on the soccer team, and the quarterback for our football team. He's one of the most popular guys in the school and, this is where the bad rep comes in, is a total man-whore. He drinks, parties, goes to clubs and is probably one of the most sexually active guys my age. And everyone knows about it. It's not like he does anything to quell the rumours.
He and Isabelle have been friends for a long time, so she puts up with his shit when I wouldn't. Then again, I don't usually have to put up with his shit unless I'm hanging out with Isabelle. Jace and I aren't friends. We know each other, sure. But we don't hang out. I don't usually go to parties or anything, which is his scene. On the weekends, I help out at the local art studio or volunteer with kids in a drama club near my house and help make costumes for performances. Meanwhile, Jace gets stupid drunk, says stupid things, makes out with stupid people and overall is just very stupid. And then we all hear about it on Monday morning.
"Well hey there, Clare Bear!" Jace leaned forward on my desk with a grin. I locked eyes with him and settled back into my seat, away from him. "How are you this lovely day?" he asked while allowing his eyes to leisurely drift down from my face to my chest, his eyes lingering there. Inside, I do everything I can not to reach over and slap him.
I know he's doing it to get a rise out of me, so I just smile and reply, "You know it's impolite for you not to look at a person's face when they're talking to you. I swear, Jace, you have about as much manners as a rabid animal," I put a finger on my chin and looked up thoughtfully. "Which, come to think of it, you are."
"Oh!" Jace gasped as clasped his heart and fell back into the seat in front of me. "So harsh, Clary. Why must you hurt me like you do?"
"Knock it off, Jace. Go somewhere else. Clary and I are talking." Isabelle waved him away.
"About your hot hot night with the new exchange kid?" Jace quipped with a smirk.
Isabelle's cheeks flushed. "Leave, Jace."
"Okay, okay, I give up!" he put his hands in the air, surrendering with a laugh. Suddenly he sobered up. "Just saying. A lot of people already know. So I'd be careful about who you're telling, Isabelle." He said seriously. Isabelle pressed her lips together in a thin line and nodded. Jace got up and moved a couple rows over to sit with Alec, Isabelle's brother, and his friend Magnus Bane. Not long after, the bell rang overhead.
"Just tell me later, okay, Iz?" I put a hand on Isabelle's shoulder. She shrugged me off and silently got out her binder and pencil case.
I sighed quietly and dug out my own things. Our teacher walked in and clapped his hands a few times to get our attention.
"All right, all right, settle down. It's time for some more history on Cambodia and East Timor."
Groans sounded through the room. I stayed silent and watched intently as Hodges (that's what we all call him. No 'Mr', it's just 'Hodges') pulled down the screen in front of the blackboard and swung the projector in front of it. As he set up the machine and booted up the slideshow he was going to show us, I tapped my pencil against my notebook and gazed absentmindedly around the room. My eyes landed on Jace. He was pointing out something in Alec's notebook and laughing. Then he met my stare and I flicked my eyes to the front of the room, feeling my cheeks start to burn.
Okay, yes, I admit, Jace Herondale is hot. He has the body of a god, hair that would make Justin Bieber cry and the prettiest eyes I have ever seen on a guy. I'm sure that I could be one of many girls in the school drooling over him, but the thing I can't stand is how cocky he is about himself. So I do my best to put him in his place, which never works. But a girl can try.
I can feel him watching me but I keep my gaze at the front of the room, determined to not look at him again.
History passes by quickly, which is a relief. Especially because my next class is Drama, one of my favourite classes this semester. Unfortunately, Jace is also in that class. He never took Art or Drama in grade 9 or 10, so he has to take it this year. But I am a proud drama/art geek. Bring on the Shakespeare, I say.
When the bell rang, I quickly gathered my stuff and shoved it into my black messenger bag in hopes of making it out of the room before Jace could catch up and walk me to class, as he did every day.
"See you at lunch, Iz." I called over my shoulder as I made my way to the door.
"Bye!" she replied. I glanced around the room. No sign of Mr. Hottie Patottie.
I had just cleared the doorframe when I heard "Clare Bear!" and Jace appeared at my side like a towering body guard. I hate his stupid nickname for me. It makes me feel like I'm 3 when I'm actually 17. I also hate that he's easily a foot and a half taller than me.
"Jace." I said blankly as I merged with the flow of students down the hall. He was persistent, as usual, and stayed close to my side.
"You know, if you want to ogle me from across the room, it takes a lot longer than a few seconds to take in this hunk of love." Jace wiggled his eyebrows and gestured at himself.
I barked out a laugh. "There was no ogling going on there, Jace. That's just your sick little mind going into overdrive."
"Oh, really?" Jace grinned, strolling beside me. "Would you, wise Clary, please enlighten me unto why my 'sick little mind' was going into overdrive?" We finally arrived in the drama room and both removed our shoes at the doorway, like Mr. Miller asked us to. I dropped my bag, turned to face him and put my hands on my hips.
"Your ego that is as big as the Great Wall of China realized that there was one person in the room who doesn't want to jump your bones. So you say to me that I'm ogling you to make yourself feel better, because you know that I was simply scanning the room and our eyes happened to meet. It's because you can't stand the fact that someone isn't attracted to you, you make it seem like I am, and that I actually want to 'take in that hunk of love'." At this point I gestured to all of him, like he had before, but with disdain. "And that is why your sick little mind went into overdrive." I stated evenly before turning on my heel and walking to my friend Simon. I sat down next to him on the carpet and let out a whoosh of breath. Other students moved around a stock-still Jace as they entered the room and sat in the form of a big circle.
I smiled and kept my eyes on Simon as my best guy friend laughed at me.
"While that was an impressive speech, I don't think it made a dent in his very large ego." Simon commented while pushing his glasses up his nose. I glanced over and noticed the same thing. Jace just had a sly smile on his face and was staring at me. I shifted uncomfortably and looked away. I did my best to ignore him and I talked with Simon.
Just before the bell rang for the start of class, I felt someone behind me. I turned my face to look over my shoulder and saw Jace squatting behind me. He leaned forward, his face inches from mine.
"If you were simply scanning the room, why did you blush and look away when I caught you staring at me?"
And with that, he got up, practically strutted across the room and sat down, legs splayed, smirking. I cursed myself as my face heated up. He saw me turning red and let out a laugh that made several girls flick their eyes between us. When they saw it was me that he seemed to be having a staring contest with, they began whispering furiously with each other. All the while, they shot me resentful and jealous glares, to which Jace was completely oblivious.
Mr. Miller came into the centre of our circle and asked us to move in. Everyone scooted closer, and one of the girls who'd glared at me, Aline Penhallow, used this to be able to press the entire right side of her body against Jace. She let out a high-pitched giggle, swept her dark hair over her shoulder and whispered something in his ear. He smirked and his eyelids dropped slightly and his mouth curved up as he appraised Aline's figure. I felt a welling anger in my chest. He was looking at her like a piece of meat. Then again, she was presenting herself like that. I tore my gaze away, silently fuming.
"Clary, you alright?" Simon muttered.
"Fantastic." I hissed through gritted teeth.
"Oh, yeah. You sound just fuckin' dandy. In fact, I can just see the brilliant light beams of glee shooting from your every orifice because you're just so damn happy." Simon remarked sarcastically. I gave him one of my death glares. He responded with one of his own.
"Forget it, Simon." I grumbled.
"Whatever you say, Happy Clary." He shrugged.
"Shut up."
"Shutting up."
I giggled. Simon smiled.
"Alright everyone, I don't know if any of you have heard, but our drama class and Mrs. Lee's drama class are going to be doing a play this year. Would anyone like to guess which one we're doing?" Mr. Miller called out.
"Is it Shakespeare?" someone asked.
"Yes." Mr. Miller grinned.
"Hamlet!"
"No."
"Merchant of Venice?"
"No."
"Macbeth?"
"That would be fun, but no."
I racked my brains and thought of my all-time favourite Shakespeare play. I shot my hand into the air and yelled,
"Romeo and Juliet?"
Mr. Miller's eyes landed on me and a slow smile spread across his face.
"Yes. Thank you, Clary."
I felt a smile stretch my cheeks and I looked at Simon and clapped my hands in excitement.
"Okay, now you look like a ginormous bundle of sunshine. That's my Clary." Simon laughed before elbowing me.
"I can't believe we're doing Romeo and Juliet!" I squealed amidst the chatter of my peers. "Ohmigod, I'm so trying out for Juliet. I know all her lines by heart."
"You are cuh-razy."
"No, just a hopeless romantic." I sighed as I clasped my hands together and let out a breathy sigh. I could imagine it now, me on the balcony, calling into the dark for my Romeo. Simon just shook his head at me and chuckled.
"Auditions for the play will be at lunch for the next three days. I'll be handing out copies of the play later this class, because every person will be in this play." I heard a few protests and Mr. Miller held up his hand for them to stop. His face was serious. "No exceptions, no excuses. This is drama class. There is going to be acting involved. This play will be part of your summative." More cries of despair.
"Oh, stop whining." I growled under my breath. But even with my classmates being tools, nothing could bring me down from Cloud Nine.
I am going to be Juliet! I promised myself with a smile.