Thanks for your patience :) Enjoy!
Clary's POV:
There are no bruises on his face. There is no blood. There is only dark, blue circles underneath his eyes. He looks completely exhausted. His body is practically slumping over in the chair, and his pen balances on the edge of the seat. Without even mentioning anything to Simon, I practically run over to his chair.
"Clary," he mutters. Jace's voice sounds out of breath and different. Not lively as it was a couple days ago.
"What happened to you?" I ask, even though I'm almost positive I won't get a definite answer. I'm not leaving this spot until I at least get something out of him. I don't care how vague the statement.
"Nothing happened," he replies. I roll my eyes theatrically.
"You look like you just got ran over by a bus, Jace. Where have you been? What happened with your dad?" I almost feel bad for pestering him so much, but then I remember that he hurt me as well. He left me without any sort of explanation.
"I'm too tired to think. Ask me later," he almost grins.
"I might not know you that well but I'm still insanely curious. Tell me," I demand. Crossing my arms, I try my hardest to make my expression look stern. His smile only grows wider, and a chuckle escapes his lips. I wish I could appear much more threatening- but my strange figure and red hair makes me look like a small child.
"Half the reason I left the house was because I didn't want to get you involved." He is suddenly serious, "You're better off not knowing. I promise,"
I want to question him about a dozen times more- but Simon calls my name from the other side of the room. His expression is quizzical. However, I don't want to cause confusion, and the group is about to start- so I head back towards my seat. I can feel Jace's eyes on my back the entire way.
"What were you two talking about?" Simon asks, although I can hear a hint of something unreadable in his voice.
"Nothing much," I hastily reply.
"He looked kind of concerned, Clary. I didn't even know that you knew him."
"I don't. I need to draw," I say with a sigh. I had almost forgotten about the assignment. There are about a million other things that I would rather be doing right now than drawing a portrait of myself, but the art-loving part of me takes over. My pen ghosts over the page like it is meant to be there, and I draw intricate details. The freckles under my eyes- the flaming red hair, the blue jacket that I am wearing. It all comes together into a picture of me- well, as far as I'm concerned, how I see myself.
"You all must be wondering what the point of this assignment was," Mrs. Greene announces. Isabelle murmurs something which causes Magnus to laugh, but Mrs. Greene pretends to not notice. If that clique wasn't so exclusive, I would almost try to get in on their jokes. "This is a self confidence exercise and a group bonding activity. I want each of you to stand up."
I do as follows, keeping my eyes down and away from Jace. I know that if I look at him, my curiosity will begin to get the best of me.
"The person directly across from you will be your partner," she says.
Across from me, of course, is Jace.
"You will give your drawing to your partner, and your partner will give their drawing to you. You need to examine their drawing and correct anything that looks wrong. For example- if Alec made a big deal of a tiny flaw, correct it so that it appears how it does to you."
Alec rolls his eyes at Mrs. Greene but I am too focused on the golden boy in front of me. He stares at me with an eyebrow lifted.
We are released to begin the project, but with each forward step, my stomach begins to drop.
"I guess this is fate," Jace jokes. I sigh and hold my ground.
"You know, most girls would be celebrating that they were paired with me" he remarks. I choose not to reply, and instead snatch his drawing right out of his hands. There are too many questions I would rather be asking right now but I know that I'm not going to get any answers.
Looking at the page, I notice immediately that he has drawn himself exactly as others see him. There are no bad features highlighted, just plain and simple Jace.
"You didn't even do this right," I mutter.
"I did it right. I'm completely flawless," he snickers. I stare back at the drawing. The details are better than I expected. He has drawn the laces on his shoes, and the dark specks of color in his eyes. However, the one thing that I do notice is the facial expression. Instead of a wild grin, he has drawn a deep frown. There are creases between his eyebrows, with a different colored pen, and dark circles under his eyes.
Trying not to look up at him, I pull out my own pen and begin the corrections. I circle the frown and draw in his goofy smile- almost exactly as it looks in reality. In addition, I make sure to put emphasis on his eyes.
He returns my paper with a bit of a scowl. My eyes wander immediately to the page. He has drawn over practically everything- turning my eyes brighter, my body slimmer, my smile wider, my hair neater.
"You're terrible at self portraits, Clary. This drawing was not you at all- it was fake and twisted," he says, then shakes his head and starts over, "Looking at you, the only thing I can think of is beautiful."
I can already feel the blush spreading to my cheeks. Nobody has ever complimented me like that before- nobody has called me beautiful, except for my mom or Luke. The air between us feels a bit awkward, but I don't mind.
"I don't smile very often," Jace adds, pointing at the correction on his paper.
"I know. I just wanted you to look happier. It suits you."
"Hm." His expression suddenly gets very serious, "Clary?"
"Yes?"
"I'll answer your questions tonight. I promise."
A/N: The infernal devices series is amazing! Are you guys team Will or Jem?