By the time he was a senior in high school, Alexander Lightwood should have been used to being the new kid. By that point, he had moved at least once a school year, if not twice, since the time he was in kindergarten. He hated it. It was always the same stares and questions from those students already in the school. None of his siblings seemed to mind it. Alec, as he was better known, did not adapt to new situations as easily as they did. He was not all that fond of change. Yet, it was all he really knew.
His parents insisted that that time, they were staying for good. That never turned out to be the truth any other time that he had heard it, so Alec stopped listening. He refused to unpack his boxes. There was no point if they were leaving in two months, anyway.
"Alec?" came a hesitant voice from the doorway of his room, and he turned to see Isabelle standing there, ready to head out to the school. "You ready?"
He wished she would stop treating him like glass, but he guessed he understood. Still, he was the eldest and it was his job to look after them, not the other way around. He would not fail them again. Alec took a deep breath and nodded with a forced smile. "Let's get this over with," he said as he walked toward the door, grabbing his backpack as he passed it.
The halls were noisy when the Lightwood siblings entered The Institute, or Private School #12 in Alec's head. The conversation did not die out as they walked in, though several teens looked their way with either curious expressions or ones of distaste, their whispers changing from everyday gossip to inquiries on who the new students were. Alec walked between his siblings, his eyes mostly trained on the ground. He did not want to see the looks in their direction.
They were almost to the office when Alec came stumbling to a stop to avoid walking into someone who stepped out into their way. He looked up to see a frighteningly beautiful girl, whose hair fell in graceful curls around her face. "And who are you?" she demanded more than asked.
"The Lightwoods," Jace (the eldest of the Lightwood twins, born ten minutes before Isabelle) answered, lifting his chin defiantly. He did not know who the girl was, but he did not like her attitude already.
She pursed her lips, giving each of them a once over before she said, "Camille. We're not scheduled for new students."
"Obviously, you're wrong," replied Isabelle, arching an eyebrow smoothly. "Now, get out of our way." When Alec gently nudged her with his elbow, she sighed and rolled her eyes as she added, "Please."
Camille narrowed her eyes and almost started to say something else, but she was quietened by someone coming sweeping up next to her, linking arms with her as he said, "Come on, Cam, it's too early in the day to be picking on the new kids." The boy smiled charmingly, though Isabelle was more distracted by the glitter on his face, and the fact that his gaze did not seem to falter from Alec, who was still focusing more on the ground than anything.
Isabelle grabbed Alec's wrist then and tugged gently as she said, "C'mon, let's go to the office." The Lightwood siblings side-stepped the small group of people standing before them in the hall and continued toward the office; Jace glared over his shoulder at them as they went.
"I don't like them," Jace commented when they turned the corner, crossing his arms over his chest with a scowl on his face.
None of the Lightwood siblings said anything else as they made their way into the office, stopping once in there. Sitting behind the counter on a tall stool was a teen with glasses whose attention was on the phone in his hands. Sitting farther behind the counter and behind a desk was a woman who was obviously the school secretary. The woman looked up at the three of them, pushed her glasses back up her nose, and then looked back to the computer as she said, "Simon, let Hodge know that the new students are here."
The boy, who was obviously Simon sighed and lowered his phone as he looked over at the other three. His brow rose behind his glasses as he watched them and stood up, shoving his phone into the pocket of his green hoodie worn over his uniform. Simon said nothing as he walked over to the door behind the counter that divided the front of the room from the back, and disappeared behind it.
A few moments later, Simon returned to his stool and a man with grayed hair came out with a smile on his face. "Ah, the Lightwoods!" the man exclaimed with a grin as he walked over to the counter and opened the swinging door that allowed access to the back of the room. "Come in, come in. Let's talk in my office, shall we?"
The siblings did not say anything as they followed the headmaster of The Institute into his office. There were three chairs situated in front of the desk, and they each sat down on one. Jace kept his arms crossed over his chest, Isabelle crossed her legs at the ankles, and Alec kept his gaze on his backpack, which he kept in his lap. "So, what do you think of The Institute so far?" questioned Hodge as he took his seat back behind the desk.
"It's... big?" Isabelle replied, glancing over at Jace whose incredulous expression matched her own.
"Yes, well, I'm sure you will fit in in no time." Hodge nodded a little as he glanced over the three files before him before handing each of the three a packet of papers. "There's your class assignments, as well as your locker numbers. Your uniforms won't be ready until the end of the week, so until then you may wear what you wish. Just make sure it follows the guidelines on that second paper. There's also a map of the school for your use. Lunch will take place at 12:15 this afternoon; you can eat in the cafeteria or outside on nice days such as today.
"I am sure your parents went over the rules with you already. That information was given to them when they enrolled you." Hodge nodded a little, smiling even as he was met with unimpressed and bored expressions from the two Lightwoods whose faces he could see. Alec's hair made it difficult to see his face with the way his head was tilted down. "Simon will show you around before classes start. Simon!"
That was how several minutes later, the Lightwoods were following Simon around as he showed him to different parts of the school. "What is the point of this if we were given maps?" questioned Jace, grumbling as he readjusted his backpack on his shoulder.
"I don't know," Simon replied, sighing in irritation. "I just do as I'm told, okay? This is where I leave you; grand tour is over. Welcome to The Institute."
Alec did not have any classes with his siblings, though the two of them had most of their classes together. He did not mind too much, though. It was good to have a break from Isabelle worrying over him and Jace trying too hard to make him laugh. Alec was glad for the breather. His third class was a study hall, but being so new to the school, he had no homework to work on just yet. So, he simply sat at one of the back tables by himself with his sketchbook, listening to some music on his iPod. Alec smiled a little to himself as he idly drew in the sketchbook.
He was so focused on his sketchbook and the music that he almost did not notice someone sitting down in the chair next to him at the table. Alec tensed a little as he stilled his hand and looked over to see the boy from earlier in the hall smiling at him. The boy tapped the side of his head near his ear, and Alec realized that the boy had been talking to him, but the music had drowned out the voice. Alec then removed one of the earbuds, though he did not stop his music from playing. "Uh, hi?" Alec said hesitantly, smiling smally when the short words caused the other teen to smile once again.
"Hi, Blue Eyes," replied the tall teen, crossing his arms as he leaned forward to rest them on top of the table. "I'm Magnus." He held out a hand toward Alec, his nails painted a deep purple that was almost black. Alec was sure there were a few specks of glitter on his skin, too.
Alec looked between Magnus' hand and the boy's eyes several times before almost hesitantly reaching out to take the hand in his own. "Alexander... Alec."
Magnus grinned at that, slowly releasing Alec's hand after shaking it once. "Alexander, huh? Well, Alexander, welcome to The Institute."
"Uhm... thank you?" Alec shifted uncomfortably in his chair, well aware of others in the room glancing over at the two of them. Camille did not seem to happy where she sat near the front of the classroom.
"You're new to town, yeah? I think you moved into my neighborhood."
Alec shrugged a little, idly rolling his pencil back and forth on top of the sketchbook. "Yeah, we're new; but, I don't know. I mean... we've moved a lot, so. Everything seems the same."
Magnus rose a brow slightly at the sound of the song lyrics coming from the other teen's earphones changing from the upbeat song before to something a little darker. He did not comment on it, however, as Alec's gaze remained on the sketchbook in front of him. "Well, I, for one, am glad that you moved here," Magnus stated after a moment, making Alec's gaze quickly return to him. "Those beautiful blue eyes of yours are something I needed in my life."
Alec's face flushed a bright red at Magnus' statement, causing the taller teen to smile brightly with a soft chuckle. "Uh..." Whatever Alec was going to attempt to say in response was drowned out by the sound of the bell ringing, signaling that it was time to head to lunch.
"Sit with me?" questioned Magnus, tilting his head to one side slightly. He wanted a chance to get to know the other teen more than his name and the fact that he apparently moved around a lot.
The blue-eyed boy opened his mouth to respond, but he snapped it shut when Camille came over to the table and placed her purse on top of it as she said, "Come on, Magnus, we've got a school dance to plan."
Alec took that as his cue to leave, and he quickly gathered his things, silently leaving the classroom without so much as looking in Magnus' direction. Magnus narrowed his eyes at Camille, who gave her best impression of being shocked and confused at Alec's abrupt departure; not that Alec was aware of anything going on behind him. He was focused on finding his siblings, and quietly weaved in and out between the bodies in the hallway, somehow managing not to trip over his own feet or to bump into someone. It was a miracle, he thought to himself, when he finally sat at an otherwise empty table with his siblings and he had avoided any accidents.
The rest of the school day passed rather uneventfully, and Alec had spent most of the day dodging and avoiding both Magnus and Camille. By the end of the day, Alec was tired and ready to just go home, to crawl into his bed and avoid the rest of the world. He said nothing on the drive to the house, even though both Jace and Isabelle tried several times to get him included in the conversation. The twins shared matching frowns in each others' direction, but eventually gave up in trying to get Alec to talk to them.
Once at the house, Alec wasted no time in getting out of the car and heading into the house, upstairs to his bedroom. There were boxes piled everywhere, and the only ones open were ones his clothes, bedding, and other necessary items were stored. There was a blackout curtain in his window, and the dark bedding only seemed to add to the cold feel of the room. Alec did not seem to mind it in the slightest as he wasted no time in dropping his backpack before all but collapsing onto the top of the bed. He was just so exhausted that he barely lay there for five minutes before he fell asleep.
When he finally woke up, it was to the sound of two hushed voices attempting to remain quiet. His brow furrowed a little as he shifted and turned to see Jace and Isabelle sitting near the end of his bed with a box of pizza in front of them. Isabelle grinned when Alec looked to them and said, "See, I knew food would wake him up."
"Yeah, yeah," grumbled Jace with a roll of his eyes, though there was a faint smile tugging on his lips. "C'mon, Alec, we got your favorite."
Alec opened his mouth to argue that he was not hungry, but the glare from Izzy had him sitting up with a soft sigh as he rubbed his eyes. He smiled a little after a moment, where he took a chance to wake up a little more as he said, "Thanks."
Izzy and Jace led the conversation as they sat there, eating their pizza and drinking out of small bottles of soda (Coke for Izzy, Mtn. Dew for Jace, and Pepsi for Alec), though Alec did input some to the conversation every so often. It was enough to make the youngest of the three smile brightly as she looked between her brothers. Maybe the move would turn out for the best; she could only hope so.
A/N: So, introduction chapter. Fun times, fun times. There's obviously something hanging over the Lightwoods' heads, which you'll all find out details later. Will add warnings as needed.
The first song Alec was listening to was "Good to Be Alive" by Skillet, the second was "Not Gonna Die", also by Skillet.