A/N: THIS CHAPTER HAS BEEN UPDATED. I accidentally replaced it with a copy of Chapter 8 when I uploaded it, because I'm stupid and I didn't have any copy of the original chapter. I tried emailing FanFic to see if they could give me the old copy to post again and they never replied (they are also stupid).
So for everyone who has not been able to read the original and was super confused, I am really sorry and here is my attempt at recreating it. If anyone is rereading this that has read it before, and you remember something I left out, then please PM or review me and I will add it in.
Love you all! Enjoy!
Clary's POV
I hadn't seen Jace since we ate dinner three days ago. He wasn't at breakfast and so far no one had spotted him. It made me really worried. Even though he was mean to me sometimes, he was my friend and I didn't understand why he would leave and not tell me or anyone where he was going.
I was really scared that he escaped from the institute in the middle of the night. I have searched this entire building from top to bottom with no sign of him or his whereabouts. Magnus tried to reassure me that this was normal and sometimes Jace just disappears for a while claiming he need some alone time. I just don't get why we can't have alone time with me.
Since I didn't have the golden boy to entertain me all day, I had tagged along with Mia everywhere she went. Right now we were sitting in the rec room. I was cuddling a pillow and watching Pokémon with Simon while Mia flipped through a fashion magazine as she gossiped with Magnus who was painting her toenails a sparkly red.
"Admit it, Clary. " Mia startled me from out of nowhere and I jumped a little, looking at the tan girl with wide eyes.
"Admit what?"
"You like Jace." Mia accused and I tried to raise one eyebrow, failing miserably.
"Of course I do," I agreed, "Jace is my friend."
Why would Mia ask me if I liked Jace when she saw us hanging out all the time? It seemed like a silly question to me. Maybe she was still tired.
"What I think Mia is trying to say, darling," Magnus drawled as he finished up on her pinky toe and sealed the bottle, "Is that you like like Jace."
"You mean like a best friend?" I didn't know if I would call Jace my best friend. Sure he was really cool sometimes and he made me feel silly inside, but Simon and I had been spending a lot of time with Simon. He liked to watch cartoons, too, and he showed me how to play videogames and read his comic books. Between him and Max, I had spent most of this week drawing and painting fandom requests as they called them. I had done everyone from Donkey Kong to Mario to Pikachu to Goku to Cloud.
"No, you dork. I mean like as a boyfriend or FWB." Mia clarified, sitting her magazine down and giving me her full attention, causing me to blush.
Thinking of Jace as my boyfriend made me want to giggle, but I wasn't sure what a FWB was exactly. "What does FWB mean?"
"It stands for Friends with Benefits," Magnus explained. "It basically means someone who you are not dating, but you still do all the fun stuff with."
I looked at him even more lost. "What fun stuff?"
"You know, the usual stuff. Like kissing and cuddling or-" Mia glanced at Magnus who shook his head to cut her off, "Or other stuff."
"Is that something you want with Jace, sweetie?" Magnus sked me softly.
"I don't know," I blushed again and thought about it for a minute. "I don't know if I want to kiss him, but he is a really good cuddler."
"Wait, back the fuck up. When did you cuddle with Jace?" Mia practically screamed.
"Remember when you attacked me?" I asked her gently and the duo nodded. "Well he waited in my bed to make sure I was okay and I was laying on his arm and he held me sometimes. Then I couldn't find Theo and is made me really sad and scared, but Jace found him and tucked me in to go to sleep."
I left out the part where Jace nuzzled my neck and placed his hand under my shirt. Something told me he would be even madder if I shared everything.
"Ohmyangel. You two are totally getting married!" Mia squealed and clapped her hands excitedly.
"And I am designing the dress." Magnus chipped in.
"Wait, who is Theo?" Mia questioned.
Before I could answer, Simon interjected, "That is her stuffed blue elephant she sleeps with every night."
I smiled over at him, but he didn't smile back. Now that I thought about it, he hadn't talked in a while and I wondered if I was the reason he was mad. I sure hope not. I didn't want to lose another friend.
"I don't get why you guys are encouraging Clary doing anything with that maniac. One of these days he is going to kill her or worse and you are going to feel miserable." Simon chided them and I frowned.
It was not nice of him to call Jace a maniac, but then again, Jace was not very nice either. I also didn't think Jace would actually hurt me, but I wasn't sure sometimes. He could be really scary.
Before any of us could reply, the door swung open and Alec skipped in. The mere sight of Alec prancing around alone was shocking, since it was pretty much the most emotion I had ever seen him show, but on top of that, he didn't look like his normal self. Rather than his worn comfy clothes he usually chose, Alec was wearing a rose pink fluffy dress that had lots of layers and bows. He even had a bow in his hair and makeup was haphazardly draw on his face.
"Maggie! There you are! I've been looking for you everywhere!" He flounced over to Magnus and sat down on his lap, wrapping his long arms around his neck as he kissed him on the cheek.
"Are you feeling okay, Alec?" I asked the boy warily.
"My name isn't Alec. It's Allie." Alec stuck his tongue out at me and pouted his lip at Magnus. "Maggie, who is she?"
"I don't believe I've introduced you two before. Allie, darling, this is my friend Clary. She is new here." Magnus spoke gently smiling at me with bog eyes and only confusing me more. As I looked around, the others were giving me the same look and nodding heavily.
"We've met before," I told him, really confused about what was going on, "And your name is Alec not Allie."
"I don't like you. You're a big fat menial head." Alec declared and jumped up, stomping his feet like a toddler. "Maggie can we go play dress up?"
"Of course," Magnus stood up as well and gave me an apologetic look, "I'll see you guys around."
We all watched silently as Alec hummed a nursery rhyme and practically dragged his boyfriend out of the room.
I looked round at everyone, wondering if that had just actually happened. "What was that?"
"Hasn't Jace told you about Alec's condition before?" Mia asked and I shook my head.
"Alec suffers from Dissociative Identity Disorder. That means that sometimes he is Alec and sometimes he is Allie or one of his other personalities." Simon tried to explain.
"How many does he have?"
"Just five." Simon clarified.
I felt like five was a lot of people to be, but they both acted as if he was lucky.
"Alec is his main persona," Mia added, "Just hope you never meet Aaron."
I was going to ask who Aaron was and wondered if he was even worse than Allie, but Simon jumped up suddenly. "Lunch is getting ready to start, we better get going."
Clary's POV
"Have you seen Jace yet?" Max asked hopefully as he pushed around his dinner.
All eyes at our table looked at me expectantly and I realized he was talking to me. "Why does everyone always act like I spend every moment with Jace?"
"You do." They unanimously agreed and I scowled. All of this talk about Jace made me miss him even more.
"Well I still haven't seen him or Izzy." I thought about the dark haired girl and wondered why no one asked where she was either. I certainly missed her purring and cuddling my feet at night, even if she bit my toes on occasion.
"I really miss him." Max confessed as he stared at his plate. "I hardly got to see him at all in the past week."
"Why is that?" I asked politely as I stabbed my meatball. I knew I should eat all of my food and I could just imagine Jace lecturing me, but with nearly half of my friends gone, I didn't feel like eating much.
"Ever since you got here, he spends all of his time with you." Max replied glumly, making me feel really guilty.
I decided that as soon as I found Jace, the first thing I would do is tell him to spend time with Max, even if all I wanted to do was keep him for myself.
Clary's POV
The sun shone brightly above us, the heat radiating off of it, signaling it was around midsummer. Mommy and I were jumping on the trampoline. She was chasing me as giggled and screamed, trying to escape her outstretched arms.
Finally she caught me and tickled me, lifting me into the air higher. I laughed loudly and squeezed my eyes shut. When I finally opened them, I spotted Jayden playing a similar game next door as he pursued Alyssa, Ashlynn and Brooklynn.
Mommy must have realized I had seen him, because she lowered me back onto the trampoline so I couldn't see over the giant brown fence. "Come on sweetie, let's go make spaghetti before Luke gets home.
"Okay!" I beamed up at her. I loved making spaghetti. I leaped off the edge and ran inside, all the way upstairs where my room was. I looked around the dirty room and found my apron hanging off of the fridge to my play kitchen. I threw it over my head and tried to tie it on my own, knowing Mommy would have to help me with it like always.
As I turned to speed downstairs and wash my hands, something caught my eye again. This time it was my night light. Rather than my usual Hello Kitty design, the cover was a solid blue. I stared at in confused until finally I recognized it.
Simon. Izzy. Max. "Jace."
"Jace isn't real, sweetie." My mother suddenly appeared in the doorway, her apron already tied neatly around her thin waist.
"Yes, he is." I insisted, staring at her horrified.
"No, baby. Jace isn't real." The look on her face was a combination of anger and pity.
"Yes, he is! He's my friend!" I shouted, stomping my foot. Suddenly the room started collapsing around me.
I woke up with a start, tears streaming down my face and sweat gathering on my clammy skin.
"Red?" A voice called out from the cracked door and I immediately recognized it.
"Jace!" I cried and flew out of bed, jumping on him and wrapping my arms around his neck.
"Are you okay? Did you have a nightmare?" He questioned bewildered.
I nodded and sobbed into his shoulder as he carried me to the bed and sat me down gently. "Do you want to tell me about it?"
"She kept saying you weren't real." My entire body shook as I tried to calm myself down enough to talk. "I told her you were real, that you were my friend."
"Shhh. It's okay, baby. I'm real. I promise." Jace tried to sooth me and it worked slowly. Once I had stopped crying, he carefully pushed me back so I would land on my pillow. He repositioned Theodore and pulled the blanket over me. "Good night."
"No, no, no. Please stay." I begged and sat back up, smashing my head against his chest. "I missed you."
He was quiet for a moment before finally laying me back down. "Okay. Just until you fall asleep."
I smiled giddily, wiping away the last of my tears, and waited until he crawled underneath the blankets before latching my arms on to him with no intent of ever letting go. He laughed quietly and got settled in, wiggling around before putting one arm around me.
I closed my eyes and smiled to myself. I was so happy he was back.
"Goodnight, Red."
"Goodnight, Goldie."
There you guys go! Sorry again that it was down for so long, but I FINALLY replaced it and that is all that matters. Have an awesome day!
