As far as Clary Fray was concerned, she had 99 problems and Jace Wayland was probably about seven of them, maybe only three on a good day. The reason for this was her contradicting feelings for him. On one hand, she often felt the urge to choke him till his face turned purple when he opened his big dumb mouth. On the other hand, every time he sat close enough to her that their legs brushed, her mind went blank and into full panic mode, sirens and all.
Jace on the other hand seemed incredibly, cool, calm and collected at all times of the day, which was one of her main issues with the boy. He was the adopted older brother of her best friend, Isabelle Lightwood and liked to bug her just about every chance he got. He was always there on the sidelines, pulling her hair and tripping her "by accident", but also defending her to the point of injury when someone else dared to do the same thing. They were polar opposites as people, Jace was energetic, social, excited and a risk taker. Clary was there with him as a voice of reason and to make sure that he didn't hurt himself in the process when he came up with some stupid idea.
They were two very different people. But that never seemed to bother him at least.
"Listen though, you're so lame you're like cool you know? Like sure no one strikes up a conversation with you but like, it's because they can only admire you from afar and they're afraid of how little they'll seem compared to you."
"Jace I love you but every word you just said was utter bullshit and both of us know it."
"Cross my heart, and I mean if you hang out with me, you have to be at least moderately interesting, right?" At this, Clary rolled her eyes.
He bumped her shoulder as they walked home from school, and kicked a stone further down the sidewalk, adjusting his bad as he went.
"Well anyways what more do you need than me right?"
"Well I have Izzy, who's about eighty times better than you. But the traitor had practice so now I'm stuck with you, which I mean is okay I guess."
He scoffed, "Really? But I'm the mature, older, more popular sibling and you like her better?"
At this she rolled her eyes again.
"Well you know what, one day you'll see Clary Fray. You'll realize just how much of a jem I really am."
"Don't you have like, I don't know, other people your age that you can bother instead of preying on the young and innocent?"
"You'll miss me when I'm off at college."
"I'll breathe a sigh of relief." She looked up at him with a smile.
"Okay I get it, I get it, you're too cool and gotta act tough. I'll see you later angel." He replied, parting from her as he walked down his driveway to his door.
"You know that's not my name!" She shouted after him, and felt slightly annoyed at the laugh it earned from him.
Clary sighed and slumped against her door as soon as she made it inside, dropping her bag and slipping to the floor. She smiled and felt light butterflies in her stomach as she thought about their banter. Sure, it wasn't like she didn't seem him almost everyday, but at any given moment she was prepared for him to lose interest in her and only interact when she went over to their house and it couldn't be avoided.
Making her way upstairs she shot a quick text to Izzy letting her know that the front door was unlocked and to just come in whenever she was done practise. As she trudged her way up the stairs, she considered the amount of homework she had for the weekend and thought about whether or not she should start it now and have a clear conscience the rest of the weekend. The latter won over and she pulled out her sketchbook, flipping through the pages for a clean one to kill some time.
An incessant buzz killed her concentration and interrupted Kavinsky's "Nightcall" pulling her away from what she was doing. 'Izzy' flashed on screen and she tapped to answer.
"Hello hello where are you? The sun's already going down."
"Cheer went on for considerably longer than expected. Mom texted saying she's bringing home Chinese so just come over to mine instead, I'll be there in a sec."
"Mmmkay."
With that, her phone beeped signalling the end of the call. Clary made her was back downstairs and slipped on her shoes, leaving a note for her mom and Luke so that they wouldn't make any rash decisions and call a search party without even texting her first.
She made her way across the lawn onto the Lightwood property, gently knocking on the door. Before she got the last tap in, it quickly opened.
"Carrot! I knew you couldn't stay away. Finally reconsidered how desperate you are for my affection?"
"No, I'm here to leech off the food your mom's bring home."
"Oh okay, I mean that works too." He replied, not looking the least bit offended or deterred.
She kicked off her sneakers and made her way across the hall to the living room where the youngest Lightwood sat, intently staring into his phone.
"Woah kid, watch how close you keep that thing to your face or you'll need even stronger glasses than you have now."
Jace huffed, sitting down next to her on the couch she was occupying, and put his arm on the back behind her casually. "Our little Maxy boy has a crush and 's been glued to his screen for like a week now."
At this, Max's ears turned a bright shade of pink and he attempted to look like he hadn't heard the exchange, ducking his head further. Clary leaned her head back into the couch and closed her eyes, yawing.
"Lemme know when Izzy gets here will you? I'm just gonna close my eyes. Two seconds, not even." And with that she sunk into a half conscious nap.