Disclaimer: I do not own anything pertaining to The Mortal Instruments or any of its associations.
The day passed without further incident, despite Clary having several classes with Isabelle Lightwood. The wickedly beautiful girl left her alone, though it might have been unintentionally, as the boys were taken with her immediately and refused to give her a moment alone. The only indication that Isabelle was aware at all of her presence was when her eyes sought out the scar on her hand after Clary raised it to answer a question.
Clary sighed in relief when the last bell rang for the day, and she gathered her books into her bag. She waited until almost everyone else had left before she made her way to the door. She had to wait until Jonathon was finished with practice before she could go home, and though she was excited to go to the art room to pass the time, she wasn't in a rush.
Just before Clary passed through, a dark figure emerged into the doorway and collided with her.
Her bag clattered noisily to the floor, and she dropped immediately to gather up her stuff as she muttered a quick apology. The person slowly knelt down beside her to help her, and she looked up to meet a set of cold blue eyes.
Clary's mouth went dry as she stared at Isabelle's brother, and though she was quick to recover from her surprise, she found she could not look away from him. He was watching her with an odd expression, like he was unsure of what to feel when he looked at her and each emotion was fighting for a spot on his face.
''Alec,'' she heard Isabelle greet like a slap, and with her attention returned to the present, Clary quickly finished gathering the rest of her stuff. She muttered a quick thank you to Alec before standing and exiting the room.
In her hurry, she nearly collided with another student, but she looked up just in time to catch herself.
When it was a familiar set of golden eyes looking back at her, she jerked away in surprise and her back slammed against the frame of the door. She hit the bruise that had formed earlier that morning after Jonathon had shoved her into the wall, and winced as a ripple of pain ran through her.
Jace was watching her with a blank expression, and she saw his eyes move over the mark her father had left on her cheek. She felt her face flush in embarrassment, and she quickly ducked her head and brushed past him.
She cried out in surprise when she felt his hand close over her wrist, but his grip with gentle and broke easily when she pulled it away, spinning to face him. She raised her hand, as if it would ward him off, and her racing heart choked in her throat.
Jace was staring at her raised hand, his eyes sweeping over the scar, and though his expression remained blank, he swallowed hard and did not try to stop her again.
She let her hand fall back down and gave him her back, and it took everything in her power not to run as she walked away.
Clary was halfway through a painting when it came time to leave, and she stored it in one of the cubbies that lined the back wall of the room where it would be safe from her father. She thanked the teacher for letting her stay and exited the art room.
As Clary walked through the empty halls toward the exit, she expected to be alone. When she passed by the music room and heard the tinkling of a few piano keys, she realized that she wasn't.
She checked her watch, not wanting to be late to meet Jonathon, but decided to stop into the room anyway and see who her after school companion was. When she stepped into the doorway, her hand poised to knock on the wood to announce her presence, her breath caught in her throat when she saw who was seated behind the grand piano.
Jace was sitting on the bench with his hands poised over the keys, but his fingers were still against the ivory. Even from across the room, she could see the way his hands trembled violently and the mesh of healed scars that ran over his knuckles.
She watched as he took a deep, calming breath, and his hands tensed to move. He managed to play a good portion of Bach before he missed one too many notes and his face contorted in anger. He slammed his hands down on the keys, the sound violent to Clary's ears, and a small frightened sound forced its way from her throat.
Jace's gaze snapped over to where she had been standing, seeking out the source of the noise, but she was already gone.
When Clary reached the field, where practice was just finishing up, she sat down on the bleachers to wait it out. She watched as the players all rushed to the edge of the field and took a knee as their coach gave a small speech, and they broke away with a big cheer once he finished.
The coach pulled Jonathon aside as the others headed toward Clary and the equipment that was spread out on the grass in front of the bleachers.
As the players shed their helmets, she was surprised to see Alec Lightwood among them. He met her gaze evenly, giving her the same look as before, and he started to say something when someone stepped in between them.
A familiar set of dark eyes met hers, and she smiled politely as her brother's friend, Sebastian Verlac, picked up his bag and sat down beside her on the bleachers. She cast a glance back in Alec's direction, but she found he had already gone.
''Hey,'' Sebastian said, giving her a brilliant smile. ''How was your summer?''
''It was fine,'' she replied lightly, though she had spent it alone, apart from her father and brother.
It was her own fault. She'd been caught texting Simon two days after school had ended and her father took her phone away and grounded her. Much like Jonathon, he didn't like her having a boy for a friend, or any friend at all. Clary got the feeling it had something to do with her mother, but she didn't know what her mother had done to destroy his trust so much in people outside of their immediate family.
Besides a few trips to the grocery store a month she had been nearly completely isolated. She kept in contact with Simon through messages she would leave with the owner of the used bookstore that was just down the street from the market, Luke, and would occasionally make away with a few books as well. He had been a friend of her mother, when she was alive, and Clary wished she was able to spend more time with him to learn more about her, since Jocelyn had died before she had hardly even gotten to know her.
''Jonathon mentioned that you were in Europe this summer, visiting family,'' she remarked. ''How was that? Beautiful, I'm sure.'' She glanced toward her brother and the coach, who were still talking and walking slowly in their direction from across the field, wishing they would finish soon.
Sebastian shrugged. ''I can think of something that is more beautiful,'' he said lowly, his eyes lighting as he looked down at her, and Clary started slightly, her cheek's blossoming red.
''Sebastian...''
Clary didn't know what to say. Sebastian and Jonathon had been friends for a long time, and he had been around more than any other person outside of their family. She had definitely noticed how attractive he was before, from the silky black locks of his hair to the fine sculpture of his body, but something about him had always put her off. She always blamed it on the fact that he was her brother's friend and it would be weird, but she knew she was only grasping for a reason and she couldn't quite put her finger on the real one.
''I thought about you all summer, Clary,'' he told her, casting a quick glance around to make she sure they were out of ear shot of any of the others around. ''I have been thinking about you for years. I know Jonathon is difficult-''
''How am I difficult?'' Jonathon asked, startling Sebastian so thoroughly that he nearly fell completely off of the bleachers. Clary let out the breath she didn't know she'd been holding, and for the first time was grateful for her brother's presence. ''Anyone care to tell me?''
''No reason,'' Sebastian replied brusquely. He gathered up his stuff, hit fists with Jonathon, and with a final glance at Clary walked off of the field.
Jonathon gathered up his stuff in silence, too distracted to even bother to ask her what she had been talking about with Sebastian, and there was a tension in his shoulders that had not been there when Clary had seen him earlier.
''What did your coach say?'' Clary asked him.
Jonathon grimaced. He slung his bag over his shoulder and motioned wordlessly for her to get up so that they could go.
It was only once they were halfway back to the car that he answered her.
''Dad called him and asked him to let me run through the practice as quarterback to see if I was up to par. He just told me that he thought I would still be better off starting defense,'' Jonathon told her solemnly. He ran a hand down his face. ''Dad's going to kill me.''
Clary opened her mouth to reassure him, but she knew it would be a waste of her breath. They both knew how Valentine would react to the news, and anything she told him otherwise would be a lie.
Clary fell asleep to the sounds of her father's belt cracking across Jonathon's back, and woke to the feel of her bed moving as her brother slipped under the covers beside her. He moved close, until she could feel the heat of him along the length of her body, and he wrapped an arm around her waist.
Despite her less than affectionate feelings for her brother, she did not ask him to leave. She had spent more than her fair share of nights in his room after an especially brutal beating from their father, and she owed him to let him stay.
When she did not push him away, he let his body relax against her and buried his face in the red hair that was spilled across her pillow.
They both fell asleep together a few short moments later, but in the morning when Clary woke, he was gone. The only evidence that he had been there at all was the slight spotting of blood on her sheets from his brutalized back.
Author's Note: I wanted a sweet moment between Clary and Jonathon, even though he is a bad person, like she had with Valentine in the prologue. My favorite part about Valentine in the books is how Jace felt about him, even after everything came to light, and I wanted to try to capture that in my own story as well, and give Jonathon that same courtesy. I know these chapters have probably been less than exciting, but they will pick up soon, I promise. Keep reading. PLEASE REVIEW!