**PLEASE READ AUTHOR'S NOTE. BELOW FOR SNEAK PEEKS FROM FOLLOWING CHAPTERS, IMPORTANT NEWS AND INFO ON MY UPCOMING ONE-SHOTS! ALSO, I MAY INCLUDE SNEAK PEEKS FROM THE NEXT CHAPTERS SOMETIMES!**
By my seraphic pen,
Marie E. Brooke
~A Reddish Shade of Gold~
A TMI fanfic by
Marie E. Brooke
Kaelie and Seelie stood, arms on their cocked hips, sneering. The two had long fair hair that reached their hips and were decked out in the latest fashions. They sauntered toward them, heels clicking against the linoleum floor.
Seelie, who looked exactly like Kaelie save her icy blue eyes, glared at them, but when she spoke, her voice was surprisingly light, "I'm signed up too!" She grinned at them, flashing her sharp white teeth. Behind her, Kaelie tossed her hair and crossed her legs, causing her short skirt to hike up her thighs and reveal her pink thong. She smirked as several nearby guys fainted, hearts floating in their eyes. Seelie shot her a patronizing look, causing Kaelie to immediately straighten, her expression sheepish.
"Oh, that's great," said Aline dully, looking uninterested. Isabelle looked wary and Clary innocently confused.
"I know, right?" Seelie was still talking in that ridiculously cheerful tone. Suddenly, she looked nervous. She beckoned for the three to come closer, and they obliged, huddling together in a tight little knot. "Truth to be told, it's my sister who's entering that competition," she said in a hushed tone, her expression solemn. "But she's really not that good at drawing. Pretty horrible at it. But she does like to win. Loves to, in fact. And if she doesn't...well, that's never happened before, so I don't know. But well, she has to be the queen of the show. She's like that." Her voice was careful. Cautious. Her words were being carefully chosen. "She simply will not be able to win out against you. She's a bit spoiled, and..." She trailed off, glancing towards Kaelie, who was flirting with a random boy. "I should go. Remember what I said, okay?" She patted them each on the head and sashayed off, leaving the three of them frozen with shock.
Finally, Aline spoke. "That...was weird," she said.
"Way to state the obvious, Aline," said Clary. "Seelie was way out of character. I never knew she could actually take anything seriously."
"She sounded pretty certain, though. Maybe we should listen to her," said Aline thoughtfully.
"No." It was the first time Isabelle had spoken then. She had remained silent for most of the time. "I used to be friends with Seelie and Kaelie. This may surprise you, but we weren't exactly goody two-shoes." Behind her, Aline rolled her eyes.
"No kidding," muttered Clary, thinking of the time when Isabelle had a rather...notorious reputation for being both a heartbreaker and a troublemaker, along with Seelie and Kaelie. The three had broken laws, wrecked classrooms, spread nasty rumors about faculty affairs, threw large house parties, and several other naughty things.
Isabelle ignored her. "Anyways, I know how Seelie really is. She's malicious and very cunning. She's a good actor, and she's even had formal drama classes and has an acting agent. Don't believe her facade." Isabelle glared darkly at Seelie's retreating back. "I did, and regretted it."
There was silence. 1, 2, 3... "Well, at least you didn't get called out by the police anymore after you left her," piped up Aline.
Clary snickered. "Oh, yeah. Remember when she caught the neighbor's cat on fire? 'Oh, it wasn't our fault she walked into our open bonfire!' Like, really?" said Clary, doing a high-pitched imitation of Isabelle's voice.
"What?! I do not sound like that! I am graceful, more smooth and lithe.."
"Says the girl who microwaved her pillow," Aline stage-whispered to Clary. They started to giggle softly.
"It was an accident!" cried Isabelle at the snickering pair.
"Like the time you set off the smoke alarm in the kitchen for burning scrambled eggs?" snorted Clary. She and Aline started to chatter eagerly about Isabelle's previous mishaps, which were, unfortunately, a lot.
"I thought that we agreed not to talk about that," gritted Isabelle through her teeth just as the bell rung. Saved by the bell, she thought as she tipped the contents of her lunch tray into the trash. "See ya, Clary, Aline." She nodded her head, looking all cool-like.
"Yeah. See you at class and at my house," said Clary briefly before turning to Aline to excitedly discuss Isabelle's blunders as they walked to their lockers. Isabelle simply sighed, facepalming, and quickly walked to her lockers, deciding that she would spare Clary and Aline for the school day. When they went to Clary's house...oh, was she going to make that redhead suffer. Isabelle smiled evilly as she thought of the many punishments she would inflict on her, like filling her bed with spiders (Clary hated spiders), ripping up her homework or playing Justin Bieber music. Isabelle, sadistic grin still plastered on her face, shouldered her bag and headed off to her locker.
Clary kicked open the front door, lugging her backpack that was laden with homework. She let out a loud groan. Jocelyn, who had already had too much experience with the dramatics of caring for a high school boy, ignored this and continued to read her People magazine. Clary trudged up the stairs, too tired to register that Sebastian was not at home (something that was very strange indeed). She tramped into her room, relieved at the prospect of peace and quiet...
Justin Bieber music blasted through the room at max volume. Isabelle lay sprawled on her bed, eating from a box of Junior Mints not unlike the ones Clary had bought the other day. Aline was nowhere in sight. "What the hell?" yelled Clary over the horrible music.
"What?" Isabelle had finished the box of Junior Mints and was now chomping on some Bazooka Bubble Gum that Clary was willing to bet wasn't Isabelle's. "Yeah, I understand. Totally. You want me to help you finish Sourpatch, right?"
"No! Not that! I mean, I never wanted you to mooch off my candy...ugh!" Clary was not in the mood to deal with Isabelle. Red-faced and furious, she swiped her candy out of Isabelle's hands and flicked off the pink beats pill that held Isabelle's sparkly iPhone. "Get out," she growled, picking up a random ruler from her desk.
"Wait!" Isabelle cried. "Don't kick me out!"
"Give me one good reason why," said Clary, stick still in hand.
"I-don't-want-to-go-home-because-I'll-have-to-babysit-Max-and-you-know-how-I-am-with-babysitting-and-Alec-is-coming-here-to-support-Jace-and-Sebastian-for-the-art-thing-they're-doing-so-they-can't-babysit-and-Aline-will-just-hand-off-the-" she said in a rush.
"Wait...slow down." Clary held up a hand, signaling her to stop. "What 'art thingy' are you talking about? Jace and Alec are coming over? Why? Start over." Clary tried not to sound hurt, but almost failed. After all, she knew about every single 'art thingy' that happened around the neighborhood. She prided herself on being the master of art. And now Isabelle, who couldn't even draw a straight line, knew about another 'art thingy?'
"It's going to be a long story..." Isabelle warned.
Clary folded her arms. She was desperate to know what 'art thingy' she was talking about, but was trying to act more interested in the general case itself rather than this single (and rather important, she thought) aspect.
Isabelle sighed, defeated. "Well, it happened last night..."
"OK, let me get this straight." Clary put her palms face-down on her desk. "After I excused myself at dinner," she started.
"Rudely walked off in the middle of the conversation," interjected Isabelle.
"Shut up! It's politely excused!" yelled Clary. Dark bags hung from her sunken, bloodshot eyes. The fact that she was still holding the ruler didn't help. Isabelle stayed silent, too horrified at this violation against fashion to speak.
"Anyways," continued Clary, "When I left, you guys were still in the middle of a conversation, that quickly escalated into an argument. Jace and Sebastian started to bicker so much that at some point, it turned into a full-out shouting match. Mom got really mad and grounded Sebastian for a week, then called your mom, who grounded Jace for a month."
Isabelle nodded, not bothering to elaborate (it had been a food fight) for the fear of being smacked in the head by a green plastic ruler.
"So Jace and Sebastian came up with this plan where they would sign up for the art competition and go over to Sebastian's house to pretend to work on their art project so they could hang out and play video games and stuff. And my mom believed it, being the art geek she was, so they're coming over in about..." Clary checked her watch, "Five minutes. Oh, and Alec is coming too to support them."
Isabelle nodded. "Oh, and also, they might try to bribe you to do all the work for them," she supplied.
Clary, who wasn't finished talking yet, ignored this. "And...you except me to believe that?" she finished incredulously, glaring at her. "Who do you think I am, an idiot?"
That's exactly what I think, Isabelle wanted to say. Instead, she said, "Well, it's the truth. What else could it be?"
"A lie?" suggested Clary. Isabelle rolled her eyes. "I'm going to Starbucks with Simon," she declared flatly. "I'm going to be late if I don't leave now," she added, not bothering to look at her watch. She quickly exited the room and started to descend the stairs before Isabelle could block the door in some way.
"Wait, what about me?" called Isabelle, starting to follow Clary down the hall.
"Deal with it," Clary called back, flipping her phone open and calling Simon. "Hello? Yeah, that's the place. Meet you there. So what if I just called to tell you? Just come." Clary snapped her phone shut and started towards the door. Her mother gave her a questioning look, to which Clary responded to by mouthing Simon at her and walking out the door.
Navigating the busy streets of Manhattan was no easy feat. There were masses of people bustling to get to whatever, and most people, having to work for hours on the clock, weren't in the best mood, which usually resulted in much shoving and cussing. Clary ducked her head, expertly maneuvering her way around the crowd and only getting shoved one or two times, which was pretty good for five blocks. She finally stopped in front of what looked like a very generic Starbucks (to those many idiots in the world, thought Clary) but what was actually a step below heaven.
She opened the door, causing a small bell to ring. The heat engulfed her, soothing her shivering body. She hadn't realized how numb her hands were without gloves, and having them being hit by a heater definitely helped. She inhaled the heavenly smell of freshly brewed coffee and baked goods, a faint smile on her face. Better than heaven, no matter how much a dusty old book claims otherwise.
She spotted Simon before he saw her, his hands tucked into pockets and sitting at a love seat in a dark shadowed corner of the shop, drumming his fingers against the plastic table. People gave him several odd glances, to which he blushed brightly. His expression turned into one of immense relief as she approached him.
"Took you long enough," he said as she sat down in the seat in front of him. "And especially when you called on such a short notice," he added pointedly. When Clary made no response, he gave her a look of disapproval. "You have no shame," he said to her.
"Can I have a coffee?" she asked him. "Black, preferably."
"Yup," he muttered, shaking his head. "No shame." He still stood up and went over to the massive line to order them coffee, though.
Clary was sitting with her cheek against the cool plastic of the table when the rich, bitter scent of black coffee entered her nose. Her head shot up and she saw Simon coming towards their table with full hands. Clary licked her lips at the sight of her black coffee.
"Careful," Simon warned her as he handed her a steaming paper cup of coffee. "It's hot."
"Duh," said Clary, sipping her hot drink. "That's why it says, 'Caution: Very hot' on the cup."
Simon rolled his eyes at her sarcasm and started to cautiously nip at his own lemon tea. They sat in silence for a few moments before the silence was broken. "So, what's up?" said Simon. "Besides the ceiling, of course. Or the lights, or sky, or-"
"Well, I signed up for the art competition."
Simon rolled her eyes again. "Finally, Fray. You were talking about it for weeks."
"It's a big thing!" protested Clary. "It's the annual art competition. There are going to be prizes and thousands of people will be competing"
"I'm pretty sure we only have a few hundred people in our school," said Simon.
Clary glared at him. "There are going to be cash prizes. The grand prize alone is rumored to be a hundred thousand dollars!" Clary's eyes had grown as wide as quarters (no pun intended). She grabbed Simon by the shoulders, shaking him. "Thousands!" she yelled. "THOUSANDS UPON THOUSANDS UPON-" Several people started to stare, but since it was New York, constipated red-heads weren't worth their attention. Or, for the obsessed YouTubers, their memory.
Simon decided not to tell her that there wasn't enough money in the school budget for a cash prize, and instead settled for rolling his eyes for the umpteenth time and drinking his cooled-off coffee.
"Anyways," Clary had stopped shaking him and was acting normal again, "it's a lot of money. And a lot of people are entering. I know that Jaida is, I'm definitely sure that Kaelie is. Ugh, what a bitch. I'm pretty sure Kaelie can't draw, so she can't be much competition. I'm not completely sure if Jace is, since I got it from Isabelle, and you and I know how Isabelle is, but-"
Simon choked on his tea. "Wait, Jace is in it?" he asked, completely ignoring what she said earlier.
"Um, yeah," said Clary, giving him an odd look. "Anyways-"
"Jace is in it?" Simon repeated dubiously. "Why? He can't even draw a straight line!"
"How should I know?" Clary shrugged. "Besides, why would I care?" she added.
Simon looked like he wanted to protest, but rolled his eyes instead. (Clary was really starting to get annoyed with the eye-rolling)
"Will you stop rolling your eyes?" she demanded. "It's getting annoying."
"I thought you liked it when I was sarcastic and witty," said Simon, feigning confusion.
"You aren't being witty, you're being lame," said Clary angrily. "Wit requires...wit. It needs to have a sharp edge to it, yet it must include humor." Clary snapped her fingers for emphasis. "You can't just say, "You're ugly" or roll your eyes. You have to twist the words. Remember, wit doesn't outright throw an insult out there. It is full of clever implications. You can use similes as long as you're discreet, but mostly, it's all implications. Never use metaphors. They are lame." She continued to yak on about being witty. She's almost as passionate about sarcasm as she is art, thought Simon as he made his escape from the ranting redhead, slipping unnoticed out the door. He took out his phone and sent her a quick text to inform her about his exit. Hopefully, she wouldn't get it soon.
Ten minutes later...
"SIMON!"
A/N: Finally finished, and over 3,000 words! (That's a big achievement for me, btw) I had this itch to end it on a cliffhanger again, but I'm not that evil. Anyways, I've finally introduced the main plot finally, thank god. Watch out for my [very] subtle foreshadowing. Drama is stirring up and so will the Clace. (if enough of you review *winkwink*) I hope I did justice when writing Seelie. Believe it or not, more than a quarter of my energy went into writing out Seelie's dialogue. I actually wrote out several different scenarios, but obviously I scraped them, because there's only two faeries here, not three, like one of my drafts suggested. And also, I included a few quotes from TMI. See if you can catch them!
Sorry for the late update. I've been working on a couple of one-shots. One is a TID humor one-shot, and another is a TMI tragedy one-shot. I'm also drafting out a tribute fic to Jessamine (inspired by Smoochie Pooh) and a brand new TID story.
On a more related note, updates will probably be more infrequent. School is closing in, and I'm stuck in the middle of it. I probably would've published this on Halloween if not for your infinite support. Remember, reviews, favs and follows make me update faster! Also, if you're itching to see something happen in this story, such as Simon and Clary watching anime, Isabelle, Clary and Aline doing something, etc. you can request that in the reviews.
Also, ATTENTION: I AM GOING TO START RESPONDING TO REVIEWS BY PM. IF YOU ARE REVIEWING AS A GUEST, I WILL INCLUDE REVIEW RESPONSES IN THE A/N NEXT CHAPTER!
REVIEW!
By my seraphic pen,
Marie E. Brooke