A/N : First off, thank you so much for all the reviews, follows and favourites guys! I know it's not a lot, but nothing was what I was expecting for my first story published here so I'm still pretty taken aback! Heheh. :) Also, to those of you wondering, this will probably be a five-shot (?) depending on how long the subsequent chapters will be. Just a rough estimate.
Anyway, hope you guys enjoy this one! :) x
Take me back to the house in the backyard tree
Said you'd beat me up, you were bigger than me
You never did,
You never did
Take me back when our world was one block wide
I dared you to kiss me and ran when you tried
Just two kids,
You and I…
Oh, my, my, my, my
Six years later
He held a picture between his fingertips, tracing the outline of a girl's face. Leaning against the tree, he heaved a sigh and inched his hand towards a lighter and flicked it open, idly watching the tiny flame dance. He brought the picture from his other hand closer, allowing the flame to tickle its corners.
"Playing with fire, Wayland? What are you, the Human Torch?"
Snapped out of his daze, his vision landed on a girl whose red curls stood out in stark contrast against her pale skin. He felt his lips curl up into a smile as he took in her appearance. A graphic tee paired with denim jeans and a pair of high tops. Classic.
"Who says I need flames? It's clearly evident I'm blessed in the looks category, thank you very much Miss Smile-It-Looks-Good-On-You," he raised an eyebrow, eyeing the t-shirt's words splayed out against her chest. "What are you, a Colgate ad?"
Rolling her eyes, she collapsed onto the grass right next to him. "Well aren't you just a ray of sunshine?" "I've been told I burn brighter than the sun by many, sorry to disappoint. What are you doing here anyway? You interrupted my me-time."
Glowering at him, she replied "Nice to know my presence here is welcomed. Well,someone ditched me at school, leaving me to walk home alone because obviously, quality time spent with himself is far more important than spending it with his best friend to get coffee at Starbucks like what he does every other Tuesday. Thanks for that by the way, jackass. Eric insisted on walking me home so I was stuck listening to the rise and fall of skateboarding and his epiphany of how it makes the world go round-"
"Knowledge makes the world go round, Morgenstern. Learnt anything worth sharing throughout your little journey?"
Stopping mid-rant, she peered over at him. "And here I was thinking you'd apologise. No, I was too busy keeping track of how many times he used the word 'dope' in his speech which by the way, was an average of seven times per minute incase you were wondering."
Heaving a sigh, he slouched further against the tree. "I'm sorry Clary, I really am. After what happened in school today I just – I just didn't want to hang around any longer…" he drifted off as his gaze once again landed on the picture in his hand.
Concern washed over her features as she edged closer to him. "What happened?" There was no reply, "Jace? Talk to me, is everything alright? You're freaking me – oh," she trailed off as she finally took notice of the person's face in the photograph he was gripping.
Gesturing towards it, he muttered, "Camille. Locker room. Sonofabitch Sebastian. Making Out. Half naked. Moaning. Grinding. Grop-" "OKAY I GET IT."
His mouth curling up into a tiny smirk he looked at her. "Should've expected it huh? You were right, can't believe I even expected whatever we had to last. No wonder you hated her so much."
"Hate doesn't even begin to cover it. Try abhor." Sighing, she placed a reassuring hand on his back. "I'm really sorry Jace. If anything, she's the one who should be feeling sorry for herself, not you. A two-timing bitch like her sure as hell doesn't deserve any of your tears or attention so she can bloody well just fuck off like the rest of them skan- "
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," he exclaimed, laughing. "Damn girl, who taught you to curse like that? Goody-two-shoes Clarissa Morgenstern actually swearing? Now that's something you don't see every day, should I alert TMZ? The public ought to know that the end is nigh."
"I'm thirteen, go figure. You amuse me, Wayland. I'm trying to help here," she tried her best to muster up what was supposed to be an intimidating glare but the smile itching its way around the corners of her mouth gave it away. He continued laughing, and she grinned in accomplishment. That's all she had wanted, to see him laugh. His laughter and smile were infectious, and she hated seeing him hurt.
Reaching over, she snatched the photo and lighter from him. "Time to set this on fire, I think flames would look good on Camille's hair, don't you? She should try it out sometime and ditch the bleach for a change."
"Hey, hey, hey. Give it back to me, let me do the honours," he tried to snatch it back. "Are you kidding? After two months of having to watch her drag you around like a lost puppy in a frilly tutu costume because someone was being a total idiot by not listening to me, I think I have enough pent up anger to do a better job than you." Leaning further away, she tried her best to keep the photograph out of his reach.
"Anger? Sounds more like jealousy to me," he winked, leaving her momentarily distracted. Snapping out of it, she watched him curse as he nearly got a hold on it. "We can do this the easy way or the hard way, Morgenstern. You can either chivalrously pass it back to me, or we can engage in hand-to-hand combat which I'll obviously win because I'm bigger," he said.
"Chivalry my ass, you're one to talk. How about we do it my way? You get the picture if you dare to do what I'm about to ask you to do." "You know I love dares, bring it on baby." "Kiss me."
His eyes widened in shock as incoherent words spluttered out of his mouth. With a shake of his head, he recovered almost instantly. Against his own will, he felt his heart race a little and his palms start to sweat. "Not the first time a girl has asked. Now normally I'd ask you to get in line with the rest of em' but…" he trailed off as he leaned in towards her.
Holy shit he thought she was serious.
Unable to process what was about to happen, she immediately leapt onto her feet and dropped the picture. "Uhm you know what? It's all good, just take the picture. I uh – uhm, just remembered that Isabelle was coming over around now and wow, look at the time. I'll uh see you tomorrow," she rambled off and without casting a second glance at him, reached down to grab her backpack and ran off.
Blinking, his gaze shifted from her retreating figure to the photograph, to her again, to the photograph again, and finally settled on her for the third time. "Well that was easy," he muttered silently to himself, his heart still racing.
He'd never admit it but he wouldn't have cared if she still hadn't returned the picture to him if he had really kissed her. Hell, he didn't give a damn about the picture anymore after what just happened.
Shakily, he reached for the lighter.
Burn baby burn.