Chapter 4
Clary POV
Wow.
I don't think I've ever been so embarrassed in my life, to make it worse in front of my boyfriend. I didn't dare look up at Jace throughout our entire period of History no matter how hard he tried to talk and dashed out of the classroom to meet Aiden when class ended.
"Everything okay?" he asks me when we reach to Spanish classroom.
I nod, noticing I haven't said a word to him the entire time we've walked.
"Stop," he says, preventing me from entering the classroom, "I know you, and something is bothering you."
I look at him knowing I won't get through the door until I tell him what's on my mind.
"It'll sound lame." I mutter.
" Try me." He says encouragingly
I don't make eye contact with him while I tell my story.
"Charlotte." I spit out, " She's just so beautiful with her blonde and…. And perfect body and she knows it and chooses me, me to pick on. I mean I already know I'm never going to look like her, I'm pale, and short and-"
"And beautiful." He finishes, I look up at him and blush. "You're right, you'll never be like her, she's a slut and your not. In fact I hope you never look like her. I'll miss you're beautiful red hair and your smile that would and will always make my day… and those gorgeous green eyes."
I look down at my feet as my blush gets even redder as his stare intensifies. Somehow Aiden always knows the right thing to say.
"Thank you." I say honestly, going on my tiptoes to give him a hug that he happily accepts.
"It's true." He replies, "Now come on, I have to catch you up on Español."
I smile as we walk into the room right as the bell rings.
Jace POV
"Jace if you hold your pencil any tighter it'll fly everywhere." Izzy says next me.
I look at Izzy and then my poor pencil that looks close to snapping.
"What's up?" She asks me when the teacher, Madame something, starts a video in French for us to watch the remainder of the period.
I don't answer.
"Come on, stop being stubborn and just tell me. Maybe I can help." She offers
I sigh.
"It's Clary, this brat decided to pick a fight with her before history, she got upset and hasn't even looked at me since that moment." I blurt out.
"What did she say?" Izzy asks, going into protective best friend mode.
"Just some crap about her hair and pale skin and 'plain body', she was bitter." I say, getting irritated just thinking about that Charlotte girl.
" She's probably jealous." Izzy says thoughtfully.
I look up at her "Who? Clary or Charlotte?"
"Both." She says simply.
I think about this for a second. Why? Clary is so beautiful and perfect, why would she ever be jealous of someone like that.
" That's impossible." I say, defending Clary.
"Think about it Jace." Izzy says "Charlotte is a blonde haired beauty correct?"
I nod hesitantly, not sure where she's going with this.
"But Clary is different, she has gorgeous red hair right?"
I nod again.
" With girls, there's always something we don't like about ourselves, something we want to change. Charlotte is just some insecure bitch who wants something she can't have."
I look at Izzy realizing what she means, I still can't wrap my head around how Clary doesn't see what I see in her.
"How do you know about all this stuff?" I ask her.
She gives me a look "Oh you know, I've just been a girl for the past 17 years."
"Really?" I joke
She gives me a glare before a raise my hands in surrender.
" Thanks." I say genuinely
"Anytime bro."
Clary POV
I leave Spanish feeling a lot better than I had walking into the class.
"So, off to lunch?" Aiden asks, walking next to me.
I nod my head as we walk through the crowded hallways.
"Maybe I could take you out to lunch today? You know, catch up a little?"
I look at him considering this, I mean he's gotten me in a way better mood and I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss him.
"Maybe not today, I need to meet up with Jace and everyone else, but maybe I'll take you up on that offer." I say.
He seems unsatisfied with my answer but accepts it.
When we reach the cafeteria it's already bustling with life, hundreds of kids eating, talking, laughing and walking around for no apparent reason. I'm looking for Jace, Izzy, Alec, and Simon when Aiden gently grabs my wrist.
"Come on." He says, guiding us through the crowded cafeteria until we reach a table close to the center of the room where I see Jace and everyone else already sitting, I even recognize some old friends from last year.
I walk up behind Jace who's talking to Sean and Alec and place my hands over his eyes.
"Guess who?" I say
"Simon I know you sucked my blood once but we're not that close." He says jokingly.
"Know it's me!" I say, slapping his arm.
"Oh! That was going to be my second guess!" I laugh and he takes his backpack off the seat he was saving me.
"Wait a second." Sean chimes in looking from Simon to Jace "You sucked his blood?"
Jace and Simon look at each other for a dangerous second.
"I was dared!" Simon says the same time Jace blurts out "I guess he's just into that."
Sean looks even more confused and a little concerned at that moment.
"It's an inside joke." I laugh nervously, he stares at me "Halloween last year?" I elaborate.
"Oh!" He says accepting my answer. I slump in my chair.
"Be more careful." I mutter to Jace who nods.
The conversation turns more casual after that as the guys talk about football season.
"Are you cheering this year?" Aiden asks after a while.
Alec, Izzy, and Jace all give me surprised looks and I look down at the table.
"You're a cheerleader?" Izzy asks me seeming happily surprised.
I nod shyly.
"Are you?" Sean questions again.
"Well probably not, I mean, no." I say to him.
"Well think about it." Sean says ending the conversation.
"I'm going to get lunch." I say getting out of my seat.
"I'll go with you." I hear Aiden and Jace say at the same time before glaring at each other.
Oh boy.
Jace POV
Finally, last period of the day. I can get through this, I mean its just Football, and I'm great at sports.
"So here's the locker room." I hear Sean tell me when I enter a room with lockers lining every wall and then some benches taking up the center.
"And here," he says, handing me a pile of clothes "Is your uniform, at least for training days like these. Coach will give you your actual football uniform."
I nod taking in all the information.
"We have… 6 minutes until we meet on the football field. Change and we meet on the football field outside that door." He points at a door on the far side of the locker room.
"Sounds good." I say before he turns to his own locker to change.
When I reach the football field everyone is wearing a uniform identical to mine, black t shirt with the St. Xavier Lion in gold and gold basketball shorts. I see Alec talking with a group of guys and join him there
"Hey! You're the other new kid!" A kid says as I walk up.
"Yeah. What's it to you?" I ask with slight hostility in my voice.
"Nothing man. It's just I couldn't get through the halls today without hearing a girl talk about you. You may need to give me some pointers." He says and the other guys laugh.
Huh, I guess I'm more popular than I originally thought I was here.
"Anytime man. Jace by the way." I say holding out my hand.
"Henry." He says, giving me a bro hug.
"Alright everyone! Line up!" The coach yells and everyone immediately runs to the sideline, I look at Alec and we both follow suit.
"We're going to have a little fun today." The coach says in an assertive voice, a small smirk on his face, "Capture the flag, and the winning team won't have to run four miles after school."
Everyone seems to get pumped to win after the coach's incentive.
"Let's have our quarterback split up teams, Henry."
The boy I met just minutes ago steps out of the line towards the coach.
"Alright two teams, black and gold, Aiden." He calls toward him "Gold team leader, you pick first."
"Let's see." He says rubbing his hands together. God anything he does pisses me off.
"Sean." He says
"I think I'll go with Herondale." I hear Henry say; I look up and run to his team.
"Okay then I'll go for Lightwood." Alec runs to the opposing team.
Other names are called until we are split up 9 and 9 to two teams.
"Alright. You're flags are set up, if you get tackled you're out and the flag must reach the other side. Ready. Set –"
Before coach blows his whistle two girls come running onto the field holding boxes. One with black hair and another with fiery red locks.
Wait why is Clary here?
At the last minute as they reach the sidelines where we're separated into teams Clary trips dropping the box she was holding.
Of course though, before I can make it to my own girlfriend Aiden is there to catch her, he whispers something in her ear that makes her laugh. I'm about ready to punch this guy.
"What is it girls?" The coach asks.
"Oh!" Says the black haired girl and runs up to the coach with a clipboard.
"Very well. Pass them out." He says
Clary and the other girl come to the front and open the boxes, inside are football jerseys.
"Denton!" the girl yells as Henry comes to the front to get his jersey.
"Jackson." Clary says and Aiden runs up to take the jersey, but not without giving her a hug. This guy.
"Banks." The other girl yells, Sean runs up.
"Herondale." Clary says with a small smile, I run up to get my jersey and plant a quick kiss on her lips.
I turn around to go back to my team and spare a look at Aiden who's already glaring daggers at me.
You're here for a mission Herondale. You're hunting demons. I keep chanting to myself.
"Thanks Coach Tucker, we're done." Clary says
"Anytime girls." He says
They run off the field talking and laughing and each other as quickly as they came on.
"No time for capture the flag today. Run a mile and you're all done for today."
Some guys groan but Alec and I look at each other. I remember Robert's favorite thing to have us gain endurance, have us race.
" Push each other and stay together. You're parabatai so act like it." He would always say.
"Run at a comfortable pace, but remember, last person to finish cleans the locker room."
I look at Alec who gives me smirk he probably learned from me.
"Ready. Go!"
Alec gives me a shove at that moment throwing me off my balance before taking off, I could swear he was laughing.
However it doesn't take long for me to catch up with him, within seconds I'm neck in neck with him and we finish the first lap in less than 30 seconds. I start use my momentum to pick up my speed but he keeps up with me. By the third lap we've only ran for about a minute; I push harder halfway through the fourth starting to make the distance between Alec and I greater, when I'm almost to the finish line he's right on my heels. We both cross at the same time but I could swear I finished first.
"Lightwood! Herondale!" The coach says patting us on the back "I'm very impressed, I see you both as key players on our team this season. Everyone else that's another 6 miles you slow pokes!" he yells at the rest of the team as they groan.
Alec and I are panting hard but it's not like it's the first time we've ran this hard.
"Now hit the showers, football practice same time tomorrow."
After showering quickly and changing back into my jeans and shirt, the rest of the team still isn't finished running, I chuckle to myself, Alec looks at me.
"Mundanes." Is all I say, he smiles knowing exactly what I mean.
He looks like he's about to say something else when both of our trackers go haywire, we look at each other and run to our backpacks, I immediately let go of mine when it almost burns my hand.
I look at Alec again knowing there's trouble really close by, just from one look we have a plan, I take out a seraph blade and hand one to him before scoping out the room.
I cautiously got toward the door, Alec watching my back. Right as I open the door a fiery ball of red hair crashes into me.
"Clary?" I say, slightly concerned on if she's okay.
She looks up at me with wild, disoriented eyes that confirm my fears. She looks around frantically before running to the opposite side of the locker room, locks the door to the field and quickly scribble a rune on the door.
I notice the back of her shirt is torn and there are three gashes bleeding on her arm. While she's holding a seraph blade, there's a second one peeking out of the waistband of her leggings.
I grab her by the waist as she dashes to the open door.
"Clary look at me." I say frantically, she looks up, her eyes wide. "What's out there, are you okay?"
Her eyes keep going to the door and desperately wiggles out of my arms before running to the door again, Alec tries to grab her arm but immediately lets go when she lets out a cry in pain.
"Stay here! Oh god please stay here." She yells
I walk over to her "Clary tell me what's going on. I'm coming with you." I say, wanting desperately to help
"No! I've got it covered. Demon." Her voice is skipping octaves with each sentence.
I hear an inhuman screech from the hallway and race toward the door. Not before she exits the room, slamming the door behind her and locking it with a rune.
"Damn it! Clary open the door!" I yell.
There's a muffled scream right outside of the door followed by nothing.
I don't think I've ever been so scared in my life when I see the blood slowly flow under the door.
Clary POV
It was nice getting to see Jace, especially in work out clothes during football practice.
"Come on let's throw away these boxes in the girls locker room and then we can get back to Art." Lanie says cheerfully, her sleek black hair bouncing every time her head moved.
"Sounds good!" I say as we enter the locker room.
"Okay so if you can break down those two boxes I'll just set the document Coach Tucker signed on his desk."
I nod and begin to tear the boxes down.
That is...until my tracker goes haywire.
Not good.
Immediately I hide behind a row of lockers and draw runes on myself hastily.
This time I smell Lanie before I see her, she reeks of demon ichor and sweat. Definitely an Eidolon if she can shape shift.
My heart beat picks up with the thought of an upcoming fight. I grab three seraph blades putting two into the waistband of my leggings.
"Raziel." I whisper and the first blade comes to life.
"Clary?" Lanie asks, her voice already sounding raspier.
Blindly I jump up and throw my first blade with all of my might at the demon, which hits point blank in her leg. A screech rips from her body as her eyes get narrower, her teeth and nails get longer and sharper and her skin seems to grow dark green boils until she resembles nothing like the girl she was a couple of seconds ago.
I waste no time dashing to the open door where she just barely grabs onto the back of my shirt with one claw. I writhe in her grip until her other claw rips three gashes into my right arm, I almost faint from the pain and adrenaline coursing through me.
"Do whatever it takes, bite, scratch, hit. It's their life or yours. It's your choice who survives." I remember Jace telling me what seems like a long time ago right now.
I catch my second wind and throw my hand around her…it's neck and slam the demons head into the wall.
I rip myself out of it's grasp, my shirt ripping.
I run down the hall looking for an exit when I see the boys exit.
No. no Mundanes can see what's happening right now. As I sprint to the door, the demon still slumped to the ground the door opens and I run into a hard wall of muscle.
"Clary?" I barely hear, I don't process who just said my name when I see the door on the opposite side of the boy's locker room. I slam it closed and scribble a locking rune on it.
I run to the door I came through, planning on finishing off the incredible strong demon until someone grabs my waist.
"Clary look at me." I look up at Jace, feeling frantic "What's out there? Are you okay?"
His words go through one ear and out the other as I wildly wriggle out of his arms running to the door once again when Alec catches me by my arm just mauled by the crazy demon, a scream escapes me that I bite down on and pray I didn't wake up the dazed Eidolon. He lets go of me.
"Clary what's going on? I'm coming with you." Jace says, walking cautiously toward me.
I snap my head toward him "Stay here! Oh god please stay here." I desperately say, not wanting him to get hurt. Part of me knew he would probably be better off defeating the demon but I'm currently not in the right mindset.
Another screech comes from the hallway. I silently curse before sprinting to the door and locking it with a rune.
I say a quick prayer as I turn around and see the demon lurking right over me.
"Nakir!" I practically scream before plunging the seraph blade point plank into the demons heart. Ichor burns every exposed section of my skin. The demon doesn't have time to scream before it's body double over, folding in on itself too many times for me to count until it's gone, back to whatever section of hell it came from.
I slump against the locker room door, until I can't support my own weight and fall down on the cool linoleum floor. All the adrenaline has left me leaving me exhausted.
Jace and Alec are still in there. You need to go, hide whatever just happened.
With the last of my strength I find my stele somewhere in my own blood pooling around me and begin to unlock the door.
In the end my stele slips through my hand when the door lightly clicks open.
I don't know who swings the door open but my upper body falls to the ground when the support of the door is taken from me.
With a small whimper, my tired eyes finally close.
"Clary!" I hear someone yelling, slapping my face.
How rude.
AN: OOOOOOH Cliff hanger! Yay Clary you've defeated your first high school demon but there are plenty to come. I hope you guys liked this chapter I had a ton of fun writing the last scene! Comment what you think about this fanfic/ suggestions, I love hearing your feedback!
Peace Out
XOXO
Erin