CPOV
I gathered all my watercolour pencils into my backpack, shrugging it onto my shoulders and heading to the front door. I remembered Mrs Blackwell insisting I sketch out the football pitches of the school.
"It would be a wonderful masterpiece for the office," she gushed, brown eyes warm and friendly like a mother bear, "A real, well, tribute, to Idris Academy's sports team, after winning the Cup." I'd nodded eagerly at the time, excited at the prospect of drawing something that people would admire. But now I grimaced, looking out at the window and peering at the dreary skies, the grey clouds circling on the horizon.
It looked like it was going to rain any minute now and I thought about not bothering. But I'd promised Mrs Blackwell... In the end, I decided to wing it, grabbing my coat and heading out the front door.
Wincing as I looked up at the sky, I prayed as hard as I could before walking to the football pitches, holding my breath.
…
JPOV
"Do you really need to go out?" Alec complained, craning his neck to look at me in a pitiful way, his black hair falling in front of his eyes.
"You know me, Alec." I scoffed, sliding on my trainers, "Besides, perfect weather for jogging."
He frowned, blue eyes narrowing, "It's going to rain soon." I rolled my eyes.
"That's besides the point. Coach said I need to 'up my game', whatever that means. Having to drop out of two weeks of Phys. Ed because of tonsillitis is not good for the star striker of Idris Acadamy." I shrugged, and Alec slumped, disappearing behind the cushion.
"Whatever." I heard him mumble, and I smiled grudgingly.
"I'll be back soon, then we'll do some Fifa. 'Kay?" Alec was odd. He hated football in real life but lived to play it on the screen. Well, I guess some people were less physical than others.
"Okay, Jace." I chuckled before heading out of the door, putting in my earbuds and putting on some Hozier. Time to get started.
I jogged up the pavement, crossing roads and sidewalks to get to the pitches, sensing the rain was going to fall any minute now.
…
CPOV
I sat myself on a bench, getting out my sketchpad and balancing it on my knees, peering at the football pitch. I drew the basic shape of the area, a few trees in the background, and the odd jogger I saw running past.
I noticed a particular stubborn one that kept running around the pitch, blonde head disappearing through the bushes then reappearing round the other end. I stopped drawing to admire him for a second, noticing the resilience he carried and the earbuds he was wearing. I wondered for an idle moment what song he was listening to, and then huffed in frustration when I felt rain start to descend.
"Shit..." I swore under my breath, praying for it to stay a light drizzle and not turn into a full-on flood. God help me if that happened. Trying to cover up the drawing from the sky as much as possible, I sketched out each blade of grass, the random daisy in the mix, until I drifted into my "drawing mode".
Into a world I felt comfortable and content in, where I could let everything go and just breathe... it felt wonderful in that single moment and I loved it.
…
JPOV
The rain was getting worse, I could feel it, the horrible feeling of my hair being plastered to my head. Suddenly the idea of just going home and getting on Fifa with Alec was terribly tempting. No, I would not!
Shaking my head to pull myself out of my reverie, I ran on, losing myself in the current song: The Lazy Song by Bruno Mars, ironically enough. The chorus was especially upbeat and my footfalls matched the beat, pounding against the damp grass with each note.
Letting myself gaze off into the distance, my eyes found a small, red-headed girl sitting on a bench not too far away from here, bright green eyes fixed on her pad of sorts. I felt a sudden longing to see what she was drawing, to sit next to her as she drew. Jesus, where had that come from? I'd never even seen her before. But I couldn't tear my gaze away from her, there was just a... look about her that intrigued me.
Intrigued me enough to walk over to her.
CPOV
I was officially pissed off. It was pouring now, and my paper was nearly soaked through, regardless of my arm acting as a shield or not. My previous football pitch sketch was ruined, a blurry mess of charcoal lines and green scribbles. Angrily, I crumpled into a ball, smaller and smaller, and threw it into the bin next to the bench.
"That's a shame. I was just going to ask if I could look at that." I jumped, startled, looking up to see the blonde-haired jogger I'd been admiring earlier. He winked at me, causing me to blush, pointing to the space next to me on the bench, "May I?"
I nodded, hopefully not too eagerly, and he sat. "Why'd you throw it out then?"
"The rain messed it up," I explained, trying to comb out my hair. The good side of the rain meant my usually frizzy hair had been flattened which was helpful, "It looked like shit." He smirked.
"It can't have been that bad." He grinned and I couldn't resist cracking a smile back, "I'm Jace by the way."
"Clary." I accepted his proffered hand, shaking it. "Why are you jogging out in this weather then?"
…
JPOV
"A teacher. What about you then? This isn't exactly the perfect time to come out and draw." She blushed again, and my grin grew wider. Clary looked pretty when she did that, not that she didn't look pretty anyway...
"Same, actually."
We both lapsed into silence until I said, "This rain, huh?" Way to go, Jace! I rolled my eyes at my amazing conversation-starter until Clary spoke again.
"I know right? It comes at the worst times..." Well, maybe not so bad after all! Her green eyes looked skyward where the rain fell, heavier and heavier. A few drops landed on her face and she wiped them away impatiently.
"So, your an artist, then?" Clary snorted.
"Well, that's what I hope to be when I'm older. Why?" I shrugged.
"I just want to get to know the cute girl I'm talking to, that's all." There goes that blush. Clary giggled, tucking a strand of fire-red hair behind her ear.
"Okay then," she winked and it didn't half turn me on.
…
CPOV
I barely knew what had happened. One minute I'm swearing at a piece of a paper like some kind of lunatic and the next a hoy guy sits next to me on the bench and starts flirting. This was the best kind of karma!
Jace was still looking at me intently with those mesmerising, golden eyes, as if I were a puzzle he was trying to figure out.
"How old are you?"
"15." My heart was pounding against my ribcage, so much so that I thought it would burst out of my chest altogether. "You?"
"16." He smirked and my pulse skipped a beat. Jace cocked his head to the side like a bird, "I'm taking it you don't this rain much?" I shook my head, taking my hair and wringing it. Sure enough, a waterfall sprung.
"Let's get out of here." He chuckled, holding out his hand and without hesitation, I took it.
…
JPOV
Maybe rainy days weren't so bad after all, I reasoned. With me and Clary's hands linked together, swinging between us, I felt on top of the world. She looked at me from time to time, and her cheeks flared pink when I caught her staring.
"Don't worry," I assured, "I've been told from time to time I'm stunningly attractive. Feel free to stare." Clary rolled her eyes, punching me half-heartedly in the arm. I just grinned, liking the warmth of her hand in mine, in comparison to the wet, cold drabness of our surroundings.
"You know," She smiled to herself, "I almost didn't come out today."
"Me neither. The weather was bringing me down." She nodded as if she understood.
"You glad you did?" I didn't even have to think.
"'Course I am." I said without missing a beat, not breaking my gaze from hers. "What about you?"
"Absolutely." She winked and in that moment all I could think about was I was definitely not going to be in time to go on Fifa with Alec.
But regret was the last thing I was feeling.