Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot.

The bus hiccups along the road and trees that I rarely get to see zoom past the open, broken coach bus window. The seat next to me is empty, so I've placed my bag on it and my suitcase right below the seat in front of me. The storage department below the bus is completely full, anyway.

This is the second time on this exact bus that I'm heading to Toronto in a thirteen-hour long drive from NYC. The last time, I'd been called back home two hours after I got there and was exempted from camp for the rest of the summer. This year, though, there was nothing to keep me from making a fool of myself in front of every single teen in America. Because I'd missed the entire course last year and there was no grade set-back or fast-forward system in Canada (which is pretty stupid in my opinion - they're taking this 'equality' thing way to far), I'll have to do my best to catch up. How am I supposed to 'catch up' three months of information with three more months of information already ahead of me? Catch up my ass.

And then there's the fact that the person in front of me is blasting music from a speaker and the person behind me is yelling at the person in front of me to lower the volume. What an enjoyable bus ride. Finally I can't take it anymore. I stand up, steadying myself on the headrest and look at the bobbing high ponytail below, then tap the girl's shoulder lightly. Her head whips around, lashing my with her hair, and smiles, pulling out one of her earbuds. My breath catches horribly as I see Dream Clary right then and there, with curled dark hair, large dark eyes, and thick red lips. Dammit. I steel myself and say, "The wire isn't connected to your speaker."

Her eyebrows rise and her mouth forms an 'o.' She looks down at her lap and shakes her head. "No wonder the sound wasn't coming out right. Sorry about that."

"You should be," a voice comes from behind me, and I turn to see a tall, lanky boy with chocolate-colored hair and luminous blue eyes. His expression is something between annoyed and bored. "I've been hollering for you to turn the thing down for the past half-hour."

"Fuck off, Alec. I couldn't hear you." The girl turns her head again, whip-lashing me once more. I purse my lips but don't say anything.

"Yeah, but the entire bus could hear you. Your playlist sucks, you know that?" The cat-eyed boy beside him pats Alec's forearm calmly, and then looks out the window as if nothing happened. The girl in front of me pulls out the wire again and cranks up the sound to its fullest. Heads turn and people wake up.

Someone pokes my shoulder and I almost jump. Alec has his hand out and he has to shout to be heard over the music. "Thanks for trying. I'm Alec."

I take his hand, still aware of the dozens of eyes on us. He doesn't let go, and instead looks at me expectantly. That's when I realize I'm supposed to exchange my name for his. I flush slightly. "Oh, right. I'm Clarissa, but you can call me Clary."

"Clary." Somehow he makes my name sound appealing. "You headed to camp too?"

"Where else?" I take my seat again but keep myself twisted in spot so I can still see Alec.

He looks me up and down, but there's nothing uncomfortable in his gaze. Then he says, "You don't look sixteen yet. Fake ID?"

I blink in surprise and shake my head. "No, I'm actually seventeen."

It's his turn to be shocked. No doubt I look thirteen to him, especially with his height. I wouldn't be surprised if he told me he was in late college. "Sorry, you just look..."

"Tiny?" I smile. "Yeah, I get that a lot."

"How come I didn't see you last year, then? This should be your second year, right?" Alec seems genuinely curious, so I say, "Just some family issues. Do you think you could show me around?"

"Tough, considering I'm a male," he says and grins, but seeing the confused look on my face, explains, "There're crazy-strict gender rules there, practically prohibiting any opposite sex interaction outside of training time. It sucks, but is kinda smart, especially after Maia got raped. But hey, chill. Isabelle there can be the tour guide."

At the sound of her name, Isabelle whips around and smacks me in the face for a third time. I take a deep breath. In an exasperated voice, she says, "What do you want, Alec?"

"Clary here skipped last year and wants someone to help her out. You up for it or are you finally deciding to change your playlist while you still have WiFi?" he teases, and I smile involuntarily, but then frown. No WiFi there? Three months? Jesus, is this jail or camp?

"Only if you don't tell anyone I've got my phone," Isabelle says and looks at Clary pointedly. Great, the letter she'd received a week ago telling her that no electronic devices were allowed wasn't kidding. "Maybe I'll even let you use it to call mommy."

"Iz, was that really necessary?" Alec huffs, and then slumps back into his seat to begin a one-way conversation with the boy beside him.

Isabelle grins and waves his comment off. "I'm only kidding, Clary. And yeah, I guess I can show you some stuff. There're a bunch of rules you absolutely need to follow in order to survive. Here," she says and shuffles around her purse until she brings out a thick wad of paper. "I prepared this just for newbies so I can get some cash out of this, but you look broke so I'm lending this to you for free. Be grateful."

"Um, thank you," I manage and accept the paper. My eyes run down the list, and then squint. "Uh, Isabelle, why are all the regulations something along the lines of, 'Leave the cranberry juice for Simon because he likes to think that he's a vampire and can drink blood'?"

"You'll thank me later," is all she says and then plugs her earbuds back into her speaker, allowing the bus to return to its silence.

I count the number of pages there are and groan.

Review if you enjoyed.

-RtMiP