TATTOOED CHAPTER 4
I may have trust issues, but some people seem to have an issue with the responsibility of being trusted." ― Melchor Lim
WEDNESDAY
Jace's POV
I left my house a little early, heading down the dark street, down towards Taki's, and walking down towards the diner.
I enter the ghostly empty diner and seeing Clary behind the counter, reading a book and taking notes, and Kaelie off in the far side of the restaurant, talking quietly with the only costumer in the restaurant. I walk up quietly to the counter, "did somebody forget to do their homework?" I say lowly next to Clary, attempting to scare her, but she doesn't even flinch, she probably heard me down the street, "actually no Jace," she doesn't even pause, continuing to write, "I'm doing some research about why you are so drawn to me." She says, removing the books from her stand, and tucking them away, "and I did hear you down the street." She says, and I jump back, my brows raised. It takes her a moment to realize that I didn't say my down the street comment out loud, and she begins to stutter.
"Um," she clears her throat, "you're here really early." She quickly changes the subject and I respond with a shrug, "yeah, I wanted to get out of my house as soon as possible, do you mind getting me the same thing as yesterday?" I ask her and she nods, disappearing for a moment.
"Are you guys friends now?" Kaelie asks me, walking over and I shrug, "she's friends with Isabelle."
"Oh," she pauses, reaching for my arm, pulling up my sleeve a little bit, "did you get a tattoo?" She asks as Clary comes into the room.
"Uh yeah." I say as she flips my arm so she can look at it, and she tilts her head in confusion, "what is it?"
"It means strength." I say, pulling my arm from her grasp.
"Thank you Clary." I take my coffee and hand her a twenty, "keep the change." I wink at her like I did yesterday.
I grab my bagel, heading outside, making my way to my bike. I feel as if the air is cooler and the sky is darker, and my heart begins to race. My arm blows like a fuse, burning racking up my arm, and I freeze. Someone has to be following me. I take a deep breath, walking quickly, glancing over my shoulder. What I see makes me skid to a stop. I turn around, facing my stalker head on, as they head towards me.
"Stop!" I say loudly, but they don't. The tall figure continues to stalk towards me, so I huff, gripping the bag tightly in my hand, and start walking quickly towards the figure.
"Stupid boy." The figure clocked in a black hoodie with a hidden face says to me. This has to be the same guy that marked me originally. It is my only shot of some decent answers.
"Who are you?" I say, but it doesn't respond, it just pulls out a long blade from underneath his shirt, whispering something under his breath, making the blade glow. Yep, this was a bad idea. I wind up, throwing my coffee as hard as possible, smacking the figure in the face, making burning hot liquid drip everywhere. It screens in pain, so I hightail it down the street, reaching my motorcycle, and hopping on. I kick star it, racing down the street as fast as possible like a bat out of hell.
Clary's POV
"We need to talk." Jace says to me and I turn around to look at him, "lunch is in three minutes, can you wait a couple minutes?" The bell releasing us to lunch rings out and the entire class jumps up to their feet. I lead him out the back double doors and into the courtyard, making sure that we are out of earshot from everyone.
"I had to throw a coffee at someone this morning." He says and I roll my eyes, crossing my arms, preparing to walk away.
"And why do I care?" I respond, turning around, beginning to walk off, but he catches me by the arm, stopping me. I should punch him in the face. He flinches at the thought, letting go of me, "sorry. I need to do some research on the whole 'hearing each others thoughts' thing.
"I think it was the same thing who runed me in the first place. I threw coffee hitting him in the face, and took off running like a bat out of hell." He tells me and I can't help but snort at the image of him throwing his coffee at someone and running like a chicken with its head cut off.
"Not funny." He says, which makes me double over, sending me over the edge, and I bust out laughing. Eventually he joins in, making my laugh become uncontrollable.
"Ok, maybe it's just a little funny." He says as I sober up.
"I've yet to see you laugh." He says, looking down at me with a small smile, and I shrug.
"The mental hospital will do that to you." I say, my face going hard as his smile falls from his face. I really need to learn some personal boundaries, but I don't really have a sense of what isn't appropriate to say, and what isn't.
"What happened?" HE asks me and I cross my arms, shivering, even though it's late September and 70 degrees.
"It doesn't matter. I'm hungry." I say, walking off away from him, but he follows, quickly catching up to me with his long stride. We make our way back to his friends and sit down in our usual spots, "hey." Sebastian says to me as I sit down across from him.
"Hi." I respond, pulling out a small back of snacks.
"I missed you at the party last night." He says to me and I shrug, "it was ok that you weren't there." Sebastian says to Jace, who flips him the bird. Are these to friends or not?
"Sorry, I had other plans." Jace says and Sebastian rolls his eyes.
"Doing what?" Isabelle asks him, interrogating him.
"Uh, I was at Clary's." He says and everyone turns to me.
"We had a project." I lie and Magnus chuckles.
"Babe, it's only the third day of school." Magnus says and Isabelle adds on, "what kind of teacher assigns work on the third day?"
"Uh," I stutter, my wheels start to turn so I announce the first thing that comes to mind, "anatomy."
"I bet you were studying anatomy." Magnus says with a wink and Jace rolls his eyes, while everyone else breaks out laughing. I don't get it.
"Out of every class, you had to choose anatomy." Jace hisses at me and I shrug, "why is it—," I cut myself off, realization sets in.
"Wait!" I yell and everyone shuts up, "we didn't have sex." I say and Isabelle snorts.
"We know Clary. We are just messing with you." Isabelle says and I force a smile.
"Anyways, there is another game, and afterwards we are having a party at Alec and I's house. All of you have to come, no exceptions." Isabelle shoots me the side eye.
"Maybe." I tell her and she huffs, pointing her phone threateningly at me.
"Missy, you already skipped out on the last party to hang out with Jace for God knows what, you cannot miss this one." She exclaims and Jace slings his arm around me, "I'll make sure she comes." He says and I drop my voice to a low, dangerous tone, "get off me before you loose an arm." I say, looking up at him, making my eyes flicker, and he jumps backwards, flinching, not saying another word. Good. I'm glad he is fearful of me. He should be.
"I'll try my best." I say and she nods, smiling proudly that she believes she's convinced me, but I have other motives.
End of Chapter