****These characters are not mine. They belong to lovely miss Cassandra Clare. Only this crazy, twisted plot is my demon spawn. Mwahahahahaha. Thanks for reading!******
~Remember…this shit is rated M for a reason~
A/N: Don't Forget to Review!
*Chapter Music*
*Mischief Brew - Roll Me Through The Gates of Hell*
*Sean Paul - Gimme The Light*
*Face to Face - Struggle*
*The Independents - Red Hot Moon (C's Anthem)*
C POV
The first thing I heard when I came back to consciousness was an incessant pounding. I winced as I noticed the pain in my head. It sounded like a jackhammer and I just wanted it to stop. I came to realize that the pounding was coming from the door. I had actually remembered to lock it last night, hoping that if Jon couldn't get into my room that maybe I'd get away with skipping school. Not that I never skipped but not without Jon getting pissed. Skipping never effected my grades because participation wasn't a big thing and I made up for it in work and extra credit but Jon didn't care. He was determined to do a good job with me and I loved him for it but I wasn't in the mood to deal with that today. I should have known better than to believe he'd let me stay home, especially when we had something to make the 'I got ran over by a freight train' feeling disappear in about fifteen minutes.
I tried to ignore the knocking but after what I was probably imagining to be about five minutes, I just couldn't take it anymore. I hesitantly glanced at my clock and realized we still had like an hour and a half before we had to be at school. It only took me about forty-five minutes to get ready on a bad day so I didn't understand why he was waking me up so early. In that moment, I was feeling murderous. Getting up slowly, I made my way over and unlocked the door to find my brother standing there, smiling with a tray that held four cups and two spoons.
"Jon, I am having extremely mixed feelings right now. I can't decide whether I want to kick your ass or kiss your face." I reached for the cups but he pulled back.
"I think if I had to choose, I'd go with the kiss to the face but I'd prefer if you stayed over there. You smell like you crawled out of a bottle of Whiskey and as you can see, I've already showered." He ruffled his wet hair, spraying me in the process and then moved the tray back over, allowing me to grab two of the cups and my spoons. I downed the first cup, seeing the familiar fizzy liquid and then took a more careful sip of the second. "I made your coffee exactly how you like it."
"Black like my soul." I grinned. "Thanks for being chill about last night and then taking care of me this morning." I tried not to spill my coffee and wrapped my arms around his middle while he put his over my shoulders. We released each other a few seconds later. "Now that we've got the mushy shit out of the way, why the fuck are you waking me up so early? I know I take longer than you to get ready; I am a girl after all but it doesn't take me this long." I was trying not to raise my voice, if only to spare myself the pain.
"We're going to Taki's for breakfast. Go shower and meet me downstairs. Hurry up. He began walking back down the stairs but turned back around after only a few steps. "And for the Angel's sake, wear something that covers some skin," he pleaded.
I had started to shut the door but paused when I heard him speak again. "We are not having this conversation today, Jon. I am still too hungover and the breakfast of champions awaits which means we do not have time for this argument." I closed the door and headed for the bathroom.
I held the backs of the frozen spoons over my eyes for about five minutes, trying to reduce the size of the bags I knew would be there before heading off to the shower. I emerged around fifteen minutes later smelling amazing and with my hair hanging straight to the middle of my back and my side swept bangs. I pulled out a black lace bra and thong set and put them on. Then I walked into my closet and pulled out a cropped, long sleeved crimson/charcoal plaid shirt that showed off my stomach and a pleated charcoal skirt that hit three quarters of the way down my thigh with thick, black leather trim all around the bottom. I paired it with knee high, 3 inch, black platform leather boots that had straps going all the way up and down. I put on my wristbands even though I was wearing a long sleeve shirt, just in case I needed to roll up my sleeves. I used some concealer to cover the dark circles under my eyes and decided to stick with eyeliner that I smudged into a thick line all around my eye and a few coats of mascara with blood red lipstick. When I looked in the mirror, I decided I liked what I saw. I had some height so once again, my ass looked great. I grabbed a cream, short peacoat style twill jacket, a bag, the empty cups and the now warm spoons before I headed downstairs. Jon was sitting on the couch when I made it to the living room. He stood up and looked at me, tilting his head to the side.
"Well, that's a little better. At least it covers more."
"I'm glad you approve but let me make it clear that I didn't do this for you. This just so happens to be what I wanted to wear today," I informed him before walking into the kitchen. I put my cups and spoons in the dishwasher before sticking 2 new spoons in the freezer. I wanted to take some water with me to school so I opened the fridge to grab a bottle but as I shut the the door and turned around, I was met with a pair of wide golden eyes.
Jace POV
I woke up with light streaming from the window onto my face. When I cracked an eyelid, I instantly cringed at the pain radiating through my skull, which only made it worse. I decided it was best to keep my eyes closed for the time being. I tried to remember something, anything but everything from the previous night was a blur. I buried my head with the pillow, trying desperately to hide from the day. I groaned, loudly. After I covered my head, I took a deep breath, inhaling through my nose and exhaling through my mouth, hoping to stifle the waves in my stomach. The realization then came that I was not in my bed. I began to freak out for a moment wondering what the hell happened and how I ended up in someone else's bed without knowing how I got there. I groaned again, wondering how I got myself into these messes. I was perfectly fine with going home with someone else but I preferred to actually remember the experience. I went as far as checking to see whether I was wearing any clothes-
Boxers, check
to feeling whether there was someone next to me-
I'm alone. Interesting
-before realizing that I knew that smell. I slowly took the pillow off my face and peeled my eyelids open. The room around me was painted blue and gray with a little bit of white here and there for accent. This was a room that I knew well. It had been my home away from home since I was twelve and didn't want to sleep on Jon's floor anymore. I slowly crawled out of bed, made my way to the door and opened it. I was met with Jon's grinning face staring back at me, holding a tray with two cups on it.
"Ahhhhh!" I yelled, exacerbating the throbbing in my dome. I put my hand up to rub my forehead. "What the fuck are you doing outside the door, creeper? And what happened last night?" I whispered, attempting to have mercy on myself.
"I was just about to knock and see if you were up but-
"Please, Jon. For the love of the Angel, quietly." He laughed but it did sound like he tried to do so lightly, even if it didn't make much difference.
"I was saying I was going to knock and wake you up for school but then you opened the door before I could." He first handed me the famous Morgenstern hangover cure that C had invented at thirteen. We christened it The Light and it consisted of some secret ingredients that only the two Morgensterns knew. It literally made you capable of once again, seeing the light of day and it only took about fifteen minutes to work. It was because of this epic hangover cure that even though we had tons of parties over the years and generally got pretty shitfaced, the next morning's pain never lasted long.
The second thing Jon handed me was a cup of black coffee with just the right amount of sugar. They were both just what the doctor ordered "And what happened is you tried to go head to head with my sister in a battle of 'who can drink the most'. I told you it was a bad idea but you wouldn't listen. You're lucky I'm a good friend and brought you The Light and coffee anyway. I should've made you go get them yourself." He flashed me a toothy grin and I gave him the finger. He was right about one thing though. Obviously, I had made a severe mistake. I was only trying to lower her inhibitions a little bit but I had no idea how much alcohol she was capable of consuming. Who knew it would've been enough to make someone a foot taller than her and two times her weight black out while she was fine.
"Yeah. That's the first and only time I try that. The last thing I remember is talking about playing Rock Band. How did I even get to bed?"
"Seriously? Well, I guess it makes sense. You guys went through another bottle and a half after she finished off the first one. I stopped drinking halfway through the second bottle." I cringed at his words. I couldn't believe we drank that much. But considering the way I was feeling, it figured.
"And C was the one who dragged your ass up the stairs. With very little help from you might I add. I was gonna just let you sleep there. I was way too obliterated to do anything with you. I know better than to try and best my sister at some things despite her being smaller and younger."
She put me to bed?
"I'm surprised she didn't just leave me there. Since when is she nice to me?"
"I don't know but take it as a win. It may never happen again." He began laughing again as he walked away from my door and headed downstairs. "Get ready for school. We have an hour and a half before we have to be there," he shouted back at me.
"Why the fuck did you wake me up so early? It doesn't take me that long to get ready. I just naturally look this good," I hollered in response. I figured I must have gotten to bed sometime around two-thirty or three and even though our miracle cure was starting to kick in, my pillow was calling me.
"We're going to Taki's for breakfast. We don't have anything to cook since we haven't had groceries delivered yet and you know that The Light always works best with greasy breakfast food to accompany it." He made a very good point. Nothing like pancakes, sausage, hash browns and eggs to complete the magic, unless Roy had something better on the menu.
"Fine. I'm in. Give me twenty."
I picked out some clothes and made my way to the shower. It took me nearly twenty-five minutes just to finish because I couldn't make myself move out from underneath the hot water. After putting on black boxers and dressing in dark wash jeans, a black t-shirt and my black Adidas, I ended up downstairs close to forty minutes later. I was not prepared for what I saw in front of me when I made it to the kitchen to dispose of my cups. I seemed to be having a hard time swallowing. She looked sexy as hell but also extremely badass in her boots and short skirt. I lost the power of speech for a moment. I just managed to keep my mouth closed this time. C cleared her throat and pulled me out of the trance I seemed to be in. A few seconds later, I apparently regained the power of speech because I was able to talk.
"You put me to bed this morning? I woke up not remembering much but Jon filled me in on the basics. Why didn't you just leave me on the couch?" I wasn't sure what I was hoping to hear but what came next certainly wasn't it.
"Let's chalk it up to clouded, drunken judgement and never mention it again, Jacie. Now come on. I need food to function." She smirked and made to walk around me but was blocked by my hulking figure as I moved in front of her. My enthusiasm was immediately stifled.
"Fuck! You're not gonna start calling me that are you? How the fuck did you even hear about it?"
"Let's just say that the sluts you surround yourself with don't know how to keep secrets. It's like a constant stream about how your dick is this magical scepter that spews out cotton candy flavored rainbows or some shit." She laughed deeply and I couldn't help but grin.
"Oh come on, sex kitten. You know you want to hear about how special my rather large package is." She walked up and grabbed my face with her hands, squishing my cheeks so my lips puckered. She began shaking my head back and forth gently.
"Oh Jacie, you were doing so well. Why'd you have to go and call me that name of all things? After last night, I finally thought we were beginning to understand each other." She said with sarcasm as she let go of my face. "Guess not."
"So you can call me Jacie but I'm not allowed to call you sex kitten?" She seemed to think about it for a moment.
"You've been calling me sex kitten for years. I've got some catching up to do."
"I'll give you that but I still fuckin hate it."
"Uh huh. And that's why I love it." The smirk never left her face as she walked around me and out of the room.
"You know you could have joined me in bed last night," I shouted after her. "I wouldn't have minded."
"In your dreams, Herondale. Did you suddenly forget that you happen to be my least favorite person on the planet?" That left me feeling something I couldn't quite identify but before I could decide whether I wanted to analyze it or not, my thoughts were interrupted by my best friend.
"Come on you two, let's head to Taki's," Jon said as we transferred from the kitchen to the living room, obviously not hearing our previous conversation.
"Fine but I'm texting Alec and telling him to bring Mags and meet us there. I need some intellectual stimulation and I'm certainly not gonna get it from hanging out with you two."
"Hardy-Har-Har," Jon mocked. C stuck her tongue out at him and made her way to the front door. "I'm gonna text Izzy too. Jace and I will meet you there, Clare Bear."
"Fine by me." C grabbed her aviators from the cabinet by the door and we all exited the house and shuffled out to our cars.
When we got to Taki's, Alec and Magnus were just pulling up in Alec's BMW X5 SUV. Izzy's Audi S3 was parked next to it but she wasn't in it. We gathered together and all headed inside. It wasn't crowded at all which I supposed was to be expected for it being breakfast time in the middle of the week. We saw Iz sitting at a circular booth in the back corner, in front of the windows and joined her. It was only a couple of minutes before one of our favorite people showed up.
"Well, good morning ladies and gents." She had a coffee pot in her hand and began filling the mugs on the table.
"Hey, Phyl!" we all welcomed, nearly in unison.
"What can I get you all to eat today? The basics? Or…the breakfast special this week is biscuits & meat lover's gravy. Sausage, Bacon and Ham in that," she sang, excitedly. "Growing boys need their meat, Not that any of you boys need to grow anymore. Actually, maybe Clarissa is the one who would benefit most from all that protein since Izzy is already an Amazon," Phyl stated in her warm voice. She chuckled and removed the pencil from her graying hair that was always up in a messy bun, getting ready to fill out a slip for our order.
"Nothing is gonna help me at this point but I'll take some anyway," C grinned at her.
Phyllis and her husband Roy had owned Taki's since the seventies. They completely remodeled the inside of the place when they bought it and gave it the look of a retro diner but they left the outside mostly how it was, boarded up and dusty. The fact that it looked like an abandoned building only helped to make it the best kept secret in the world, let alone New York, as far as we were concerned.
Phyl and Roy were like the cool older people that everyone wanted for grandparents. They used to be like hippies or something. He worked in the kitchen, making his amazing creations and she hosted and took care of everything else. Phyl was a blunt woman who was sweet as hell but would also give it to you straight. She always asked, 'Are we taking a spoon full of sugar today or a spoon full of salt, kid?' and then she'd either coddle you and tell you exactly what you wanted to hear or give you 'real talk' and tell you exactly what you needed to hear; sometimes both if it was called for. Roy was generally a quiet guy who stuck mostly to the kitchen but he loved to tell stories about back in the day. He enjoyed showing off his cooking skills and spent hours each weekend coming up with the specials for breakfast, lunch and dinner for the week. He always appreciated company though and never hesitated to provide a hair net if you wanted to join him for taste testing in the kitchen.
All of us, with the exception of Magnus, had been going to Taki's since we were kids so our families knew each other well. They came to our birthday parties and we hung out with their grandkids when they came to visit from the France. I lost my virginity to one of the twins, Arianna, when I was thirteen.
"Sounds great Phyl, tell Roy I'm in," I replied handing her my menu.
"Me too, Phyl. Sounds amazing," Jon agreed.
"I'm down," Alec chimed in.
"Hmmm….Yeah, I think we're all gonna have some of that," Magnus said while looking around the table to make sure everyone was in agreement.
"You're gonna love it. Best biscuits & gravy I've ever had. So what's new with you fine, upstanding examples of good teenage behavior." We all had a laugh at that. "I normally don't get this many of you at the same time so this is a treat."
"As you know, school is back in session. My grades are stellar as usual but for some reason, it already sucks." C turned her head to me and glared.
"Here's your spoonful of sugar for the day, kid. Chin up, everything gets better with time."
"Make way for Phyl, the fortune teller," C said, with as much mockery as she could muster on one cup of coffee.
"That's Madame Phyl to you. Call me now for your free reading," Phyl responded in her best Jamaican accent, which made us all laugh.
"Jon and I are trying to get our campaigns together for student council," offered Izzy.
"That's excellent. That makes this, what? The third year in a row? I'm sure you can make it happen again Isabelle. You and Jonathan certainly know what you're doing by now."
"We're having our annual BTS party this weekend," Jon explained.
"Ahhh, yes. Well, you know what I say about parties. Have fun, be safe and I won't have to kick your asses as long as you make sure you all follow my rules. Let's review. What are my rules again?" She asked as she tapped her chin.
"No one drives home. No one gets arrested. No one gets pregnant," Jon recited. "We've got this, Phyl. Don't worry."
"You better have it, Jonathan. It's your house, your responsibility." She pointed at each one of us and said, "that doesn't mean the rest of you can slack off. You're gonna be held accountable too. You're all almost adults so you make sure you help Jonathan out."
"We promise we'll be safe," I said.
"Alright then, that's all I ask. I'll go put in your orders. Jen will bring it out to you in about ten minutes. A fresh batch of biscuits is about to come out of the oven." She winked at us and walked back to the counter to give Roy our order.
Jon and Izzy were having what looked to be a private conversation so I tuned into the one C was having with Alec, hoping to gather some intel.
"Soooo, Bad Religion is coming in a couple months. Tickets go on sale next Saturday. I'm gonna pick mine up before my opening. Simon already said he was coming but do you want to go, Alec?" C asked.
"Count me in," Alec said. "You know how I feel about Greg Graffin's voice and it's kinda like tradition now. Who's opening?"
"They are coming with four bands. Millencollin, Authority Zero, Pat the Bunny and Defiance, Ohio. I've got their discographies on my Macbook. They've already been uploaded to my music cloud so all you have to do is log on to stream or download."
"I already love Millencollin and Authority Zero but I'll check it out after school today so I can see about the other two."
"I'm coming too," Magnus interjected. "I've never been to a punk show and I wanna see what it's like." I was curious what it was like as well. The closest thing I'd seen to a punk show was Good Charlotte at fifteen.
Just then, Jen came up and placed our food on the table. We all dug in, not making any effort toward conversation. We finished quickly.
"I think I can handle the world now," Jon said with the last drink of his coffee. "Breakfast is on me guys. Let's get out of here." We left the money on the table with a generous tip and said goodbye to Phyl and Roy before walking out the door.
Time to face school.
C POV
When we arrived at school, I made a quick stop at my locker and I immediately made my way to my first class. I wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone, especially Aline. I didn't want to have to explain why I didn't call or text last night or about getting cross-faded with our least favorite person. Honestly, I just needed to relax and I didn't care who it was with. Since I knew Alec and Mags were together, Simon was working like he did on all week nights except Wednesdays due to band practice and that Aline wasn't allowed to spend the night on the weekdays, I didn't have many options. Jon is my brother and Jace just so happened to be hanging out with him so I had nothing to feel guilty for but I knew she'd be mad. I had to admit though, having Jace check me out in my pajamas and then again this morning was just another sign I was succeeding at my mission.
A few minutes after I sat down and opened my notebook, Jace sauntered in with his signature smirk, winking at one of the girls that sat at the front of the class as he passed. She looked like she was about to faint. It was sickening.
He sat down next to me and I could tell he was trying not to look but his eyes roamed up my legs and rested briefly on my face before he looked away.
"Is there something that I can help you with?" I asked, making sure to sound like as much of a smartass as possible.
"Just admiring the view." I rolled my eyes. I was honestly surprised he hadn't figured out what I was doing yet…or maybe he had and was just playing along. Well, whatever was going on, I knew I was having an effect on him which meant that I would continue. He could want me until hell froze over but he would never have me.
I turned my eyes back to the front of the class where Mr Gray had just walked in and provided the assignment which would turn into homework.
"Alright class, I didn't want to do this the first couple days because I wanted to get you started on your first book and give you a little taste of what the reading part of this class was going to be like but now we are going to test out your skills while having a bit of fun. I'm sure you've realized by now that this is not only a class focused on reading skill but also advancing your capabilities as writers." These sheets are for you to go through with your partner to find out as much as you can about them. The questions are random facts. The information you gather will be turned into an essay that will be due this Friday. I want to judge your capability to take a bunch of random information and turn it into a paper worth reading. You will have the rest of class to do your worksheets and if you finish early, you can either start working on the essay part or continue reading Pride and Prejudice for the essay due next week, your choice. You may begin."
I don't think I could have rolled my eyes any more intensely. The last thing I wanted to do was spend an hour and a half learning about Jace. Maybe at one time, this would have been fun but frankly, I didn't give a fuck anymore. What I knew from when we were kids together probably wasn't relevant anymore and what I knew about him now was that he was an egotistical manwhore who believed he was God's gift to the opposite sex. There was nothing in the middle. As far as I was concerned, that's all I needed to know to understand that I still needed to stay as far away from him as possible. My revenge was the only exception to that rule.
"Alright asshole, let's get this over with."
"Asshole? And here I thought I was starting to grow on you."
"Yeah, like a fungus." I snickered. "But fortunately for you, alcohol knows no enemies."
He placed his hand on his chest covering his heart. "How quickly you dismiss our love," he said in mock hurt.
"Riiiight. We should probably get started."
"Yep. So first question. What's your favorite color? It used to be red, didn't it?"
"Yeah, well a lot of shit's changed since I was thirteen," I retorted.
His eyes slowly slid back down from my face to my legs as slow as honey.
"That's for sure."
"You're a pig…and my favorite color is black, although black is really the absence of all color."
"I have a weakness for pretty things, what can I say?" He wrote down my answer.
I glared at him and then said, "Whatever, Jace. What's your favorite color?" I didn't have the time or the energy to play games at the moment. I just wanted to get the questions over with and get back to more important things, like finishing yesterday's math homework that I was too drunk to do last night.
He looked at me really intensely and then said, "emerald green." I gave him an intense look back but one of confusion, wondering if his brain was starting to malfunction. I really didn't know what to make of his words. I decided to ignore them and get back to the assignment after writing his answer in my notebook.
"Okay, what's your favorite movie?"
Just as Jace opened his mouth to answer me, Layla, one of the office aids appeared at the door.
"Clarissa Morgenstern?" I put my hand up so she would see me. Her eyes finally fell on me. "Principal Aldertree and Ms Bellcourt would like to see you in the office. You probably won't be coming back to class so gather your things."
Jace peered at me with a what-the-fuck-is-going-on look, expecting me to know or tell him why I was being called to the office. I shot him a mind-your-own-fucking-business glare in response. I picked up my bag and walked out of the room, unsure if I was walking toward a reward or a punishment. I knew I'd find out soon whether I was ready to or not.
A/N: Hey Readers/Followers. Sorry it took so long to get this chapter up. I've turned into a bit of a perfectionist and edited this probably close to 20 times before I was happy with it. I also apologize for my overuse of commas but I feel like having too many pauses is better than too little. I'd appreciate it if you'd drop me a review. Constructive criticism only please.
What do you think of Phyl?
Why do you think C got called into the office?
Do any of my readers listen to punk music? And if so, do you have a favorite band? As you can tell, mine is Bad Religion.
Please take the time to check out some of my favorite fanfiction authors: Mina Lisly, SereneCalamity, JMDeaton, eleonorejune, Yuki Kamea, OurFeistyRedhead, Adele18, Ilovesandwichs and BallinBlonde21. I feel like I might be forgetting some but if so, you'll get a shoutout later. These writers are all amazing and have awesome stories to share.
Also thanks to AFourAddict, lunatic-blondie and all my other reviewers. You are part of what inspires me to keep writing. A special shoutout to SereneCalamity just for being you.