Chapter 2

Dorms and Genes:

Friday

"Hey pouty face," Jon whined as he nudged my hip with his, "You should be more excited, its your first day! And you'll be in a dorm so you don't have to worry about Mom and Luke smoochies." Jon made a gaging noise, and I couldn't really blame him. After the accident Luke and Mom must have had some sort of epiphany or something, because a month later they were like magnets. That was the first time I was glad I couldn't see.

"Yeah, yeah," I sighed as I leaned into his side. Jon was walking me through the school's campus. It seemed nice enough from how he's described it. He said it was built sorta like a gigantic church. The building was tall with soaring turrets and narrow stain glass artworks. Jon said that some of the stain glass was crafted to create angels, and others were twisty swoops and curves. Those same odd shapes decorated various parts of the school grounds, like the edges of the sidewalk. The grounds were fairly large, at least it seems like it with all this walking, and the smell of flowers still permeated the air, giving the false sense of spring.

"And now a right," Jon said as he quickly shifted our direction, "Almost took you to the boys dorm, which you are never allowed to go to. Not even if they offer you candy, you got that?" Jon ruffled my hair as he wrapped a free arm around my shoulder. Jon and I still had one more bag to carry up, even against all of my complaints Jonathan had insisted on bringing my art bag. I hadn't touched it since the accident, and I've sworn to myself that I won't, but it just "mysteriously" appeared in the mix of bags. It was just too hard to even attempt it. I used to spend hours a day just drawing, and now it was impossible. Mom says I just lost my muse, and that it'll come back to me with time, but I find that extremely hard to believe.

"Pinky swear," I laughed as I lifted up my hand and within seconds Jon had wrapped and shook it. "Now its an unbreakable vow," Jon laughed as he veered me off in another direction. I couldn't help but laugh as we continued down the hallway, it was only ever with Jon that I could completely forget about everything that had happened. Mom and Luke tried, but every now and then I catch a hint of sadness in their voices. Its in those moments where I find myself torn with who has it worse. Me coming out broken, or Mom coming out practically unscathed and having to see her daughter like this?

"Hey the room is..." I had started to say when a flash of light caught my eyes. I whipped my head around, trying to catch it again, but it was gone. The first couple of days after I had lost my vision blots of sharp lights would flash before my eyes, but no real shapes had formed. The doctors had been optimistic about this, said it was a good sign even, but it hadn't happened again in over ten months. I know I'm a lost cause in this department and I absolutely cannot get my hopes up again, its just to painful a crash to fall from that high. I shook my head as I focussed back in in the topic, I must be tired, that's it. "Number 14b," Jon supplied, "and we're here now, and by the looks of it your roomie is here too." I felt a flutter of butterflies in my stomach, I didn't know much about my roommate, just that her name is Isabell and that she is color blind and slowly losing her vision, I guess we're kinda the same.

I pulled the key out of my pocket and reached for the door, feeling around for the slot and then unlocked it. I could hear a little squeal as I opened the door, and then a weight was thrown into my arms. "Oh, I'm so excited you're here! I'm Isabell, you must be Clarissa," the weight said before shifting. I caught the scent of vanilla and heard a jangling of some sort of jewelry.

My nose scrunched up when her words finally processed, and the shock of her greeting settled in, "Please, call me Clary, Clarissa is just..." I shook my head as a burst of nervous laughter left me, "Oh and this is my older brother Jon." I felt behind me until I felt Jon's hand brush against mine. "Nice to meet you," Jon said as he moved around, probably placing my bag on my desk top.

Jon and Luke came a couple of days ago to set everything up, the only thing that was left was me. As soon as Jon got home from setting everything up I had bombarded him with questions. The dorm rooms were a fairly decent size. The school allowed everyone enough room for a twin size bed, a desk, a dresser, and a small chest. The rest of the space was left for us to decide, and from what I've been told its still a good piece of space. The walls in my room are a light blue, like cotton candy as Jon described, and the floors are simple hard wood.

"Hi," Isabell said before she grabbed my wrists and led across the room. She sat me down on the bed on the right side of the room, her side. "I hope I don't sound too stalkerish, but I already checked your schedule, and we have all the same classes!" I could hear her let out a sigh of relief and then the bed dipped more, she had flopped down next to me, "I was so nervous that I would get stuck in a class full of strangers, Its my first year here, how about you?" Isabell asked, her sentences were starting to slow down to an almost normal pace now.

"Me too," I said with a nod of my head, "You're pretty much the only person I know here." "Really!? I thought I was going to be the only one. The only students I know here are you and my cousin Jace," Isabell laughed as she moved in the bed. I couldn't help the smile that crossed my face. I had been so nervous about making friends, of being able to connect at all, and all it took was a couple of minutes. Isabell is the first girl my age that I've really talked to since the accident, I almost feel like running a mile for this little piece of normalcy. Its nice to be treated like a regular sixteen year old, and talk about regular sixteen year old stuff like school.

"Hey, Claire-bear," Jon said and then I felt his hands on my shoulders, "I've got to head back now, so remember if you need anything, absolutely anything just call and I'll be here in an hour." Jon scooped me up in a big bear hug as if I weighed nothing, his arms wrapping around me so tight that I couldn't breathe, but it was a nice hurt. Jon had graduated highschool last year, though he was close to being held back a year. He had missed so many days from school so that he could stay with me, we just got lucky that his school was understanding, it also didn't hurt that Jon was the top of his class. Okay, okay, I'll say it. My brother is practically a genius, and he is good at sport, captain of the soccer team to be precise, he is nice, and he is a little tensy bit good looking. Okay let's face it, he got all of the good genes. Its completely unfair if you ask me. Jon has our Dad's tall muscular build, white-blond hair, straight nose, and sharp jaw line, and Mom's full lips and green eyes. I got a warped version of Mom. I have my Mom's red hair, but my crazy, raggled mess of curls ruined it. I have her fair skin, though I have freckles all over. They cover the tops of my cheeks, my shoulders, and are precariousness placed all over the rest of my body, they're quite a bit of a mess. Thankfully one of my traits turned out pretty nice, if I do say so myself. I got my Mother's bright green eyes, though mine have a darker hue and small gold flecks thanks to Dad.

"I love you Jon," I whispered before pulling back. "I have deep regards for you as well," Jon laughed before placing a kiss on my forehead. "I'll see you for fall break," Jon said as he ruffled my hair, then a few seconds later I heard the door gently click shut behind him. Tears formed in my eyes, but I quickly dried them before turning back to Isabell, "So what's our schedule?"

Author's Note:

So what do you guys think so far? Does it flow, is it choppy, are Clary's emotions coming through alright? Oh also how do the scenes seem to you guys? This is the first time I've written where the character can't see what's around them, I hope it doesn't seem so weird. The next update should be some time next week, at least I plan on updating weekly, wish me luck guys! Thank you for reading!l

-Haybell