Hello everyone! I am going to keep posting every couple days (if I don't post in five days MAX there is absolutely not excuse)
Thank y'all for reading, please review!
Clary POV
"Nervous?" I asked Simon.
"How could you tell?"
"Simon," I said turning towards him in the elevator. "We've been best friends since birth, practically. I know you."
The elevator stopped and two people with raven black hair stepped on. The tall boy had deep sapphire blue eyes, wore all black, and crossed his arms as we began to ride down.
"Hello," the girl said. She wore all black too, but her outfit was a little bit more revealing with tight leather pants and a small deep-necked shirt.
"Hi," I replied. Simon was twiddling with his thumbs, a nervous habit he had whenever he saw a girl he thought was cute.
"I'm Isabelle," she held out her hand for me to shake.
"Clary."
I shook her hand and she added, "That's my big brother, Alec." He gave somewhat of a half smile and went back to staring in front of him at the door.
"You came together?" I asked, even though they obviously did.
"Yeah," she looked sad for a moment but went back to being chipper. "And who might you be?" She looked at Simon when she said it.
"Simon," he said looking up at her.
"So what district are you guys from?"
"Twelve," Simon said, yet another one word answer.
"Where are you two from?" I asked trying to be polite.
"We're from six."
The elevator opened up as Isabelle finished answering.
We all walked out to find a huge training room full of all kinds of equipment. There was everything from knives and targets to fire-building and survival skills. Only a few people were there. There was a tall blonde boy alone by the sword fighting simulation. A girl with big brown eyes was trying to climb a man-made tree in the corner of the large room. Her hair was down to her waist in a french braid. Two other boys were racing up a rock wall. One had white-blonde hair and charcoal eyes. The other boy who was considerably shorter and losing, had curly dark hair that looked wet.
Simon looked quite overwhelmed by it all. He just stood there staring at it all.
"Remember what haymitch said. We have to make alliances. Go try to get Isabelle to like you. Then maybe we'd have both her and her brother, if you can talk her into aligning with us," I said. "I'll try to find someone else. Okay?"
"Got it," he said as he started walking towards the area of the training room that looked like some sort of an obstacle course.
I walked towards the blonde girl climbing the tree. There were four other artificial trees nearby. They were each a different type.
I climbed up the oak tree with some grace. I jumped over to the evergreen the girl was in. From the height, I looked down on the rest of the room. There was much more attendance than before.
The blonde boy caught my eye, and I couldn't help but notice his beautiful golden eyes. Even from halfway across the room you could tell he was strong. He'd be next on my alliance hit list.
"How do you climb the tree so well?" she asked, slowly trying to get a little closer to me.
"It's easy if you get the right footholds." she gave me a look of slight disbelief, probably thinking how it could possibly be so easy. "Hi," I said realizing I hadn't introduced myself. "I'm Clary; district twelve."
"Maureen; district ten." She seemed to be thinking for a short minute. "If you help me learn to climb trees, I can teach you something. I know how to build fires, make traps, and…" Maureen thought for a moment. I felt bad; I knew how to do both of those things. "And throw knives." That, I couldn't do.
"I can't throw knives," I said to her.
For the next few hours, Maureen and I switched off teaching each other in those skills. By lunchtime, I had become nearly as good at throwing knives as she was, and Maureen had learned to climb trees like a master.
Isabelle POV
"Hello," someone said from behind me.
It was Simon from earlier.
"Hi," I said as I continued to climb up the cargo net. Once I reached the top I gripped the monkey bars with my already calloused hand. I swung over to grip the next one. My sweaty palm slipped from the bar once the distance between each became too much. I landed hard on the concrete floor with a wince.
Simon asked, "Are you alright."
"Just perfect." I got up and walked over to him. "Do you want to train with me or did you just come over to stare at me?"
"The first option."
Simon walked over to the obstacle where you had to jump from one angled platform to the next. I had tried it before, but I went very slow and only completed it after trying three times.
He jumped from the start to each platform, only landing for a second before he jumped to the next one. The boy from 12 seemed to finish in almost no time.
"Nice," I said trying not to show how impressed I was.
"Thanks," he shyly replied. Simon decided to go climb the rope while I watched him. He could barely get up eight feet.
After he fell to the ground, he said, "Do you want to train with me or did you just come over to stare at me?"
"Your form is terrible."
"What?" He seemed very surprised at my comment.
"Wrap your feet around the rope and hold it between them. Loosen your grip on the rope when you pull up with your arms." He waited until I didn't speak anymore to go and try it.
He gained a considerable length since the first time but eventually started to slide down, and he let go. Simon checked his hands for rope burn. There appeared to be nothing on his hands.
"Don't let go of the rope between your feet until you start pulling up with your arms. Also, you have to kind of step on one of your feet with the other to hold the rope stronger in the middle," I said and gestured for him to try again. This time he succeeded in getting to the top, but just barely.
"Thanks," he said when he got back down.
"No problem. I mean," I said beginning to walk away from him, "If we are going to be allies, you have to at least know how to climb the stupid rope."
He stood there, dumbfounded, at the bottom of the rope.
