Chapter 9

Clary was lying in the grass outside her house. There were a million thoughts running through the back of her mind, but rather than pressing against her like a dog looking for a good rub, she had forced them to sit, to stay, and leave her alone. So, she was spread all over the rippling green sea and looking up into the endless sky and everything around her, with what she hoped could be considered an artist's eye.

She certainly thought it could. She noticed things most people probably wouldn't, like the way that as the leaves on the trees crinkled in the wind, their appearance could only be described by the way they sounded. And it was a delicious sound, almost like tinkling chimes, but so much more beautiful because it never sounded the same.

Clary went around her yard and every time she found something that struck her, whether it be by beauty or strangeness, she then matched it with a star. There were so many stars, a myriad of them, and when a surprising amount were matched Clary was content to believe that though her life might be pretty confusing, there were plenty of things to make up for it, and it certainly wasn't the worst.

But thinking about that made her think of the dinner she had just been a part of nearly an hour ago. As Clary had predicted it had been a disaster. Between the venomous words and fiery glares, she wasn't sure how it didn't completely fall apart. Simon and Jace spat insult after insult at each other and they both made it clear that any interventions, whether they be from Clary, Maia, Luke, or Jocelyn, were not welcome, and it was a conversation just between the two.

Clary wasn't sure why they had taken such a strong disliking to each other. The first time they ever saw each other, when Jace had first arrived, what was very clear was each boys strong distaste for the other. You could see it in their glances; disgust, hate, and a million more emotions, all bad, were laced in every deadly look. It was the same with their words. Even seemingly nice ones were heavily burdened with the weight of disguised loathing.

The dinner, for Jace and Simon, had been one massive argument, but for the rest of them it was a disaster filled with awkwardness. Even when Maia had tried to distract Clary, she could hear Simon and Jace, like a pounding in her head. And like a headache, it made Clary want to curl up and sleep.

That's what she had been planning to do, but even after dinner ended, the two boys carried their verbal fight into the living room and no room in the house could provide the sanctuary Clary needed. Luke had tried to get them to calm down, even to ask for Simon to leave, but he quickly claimed the house was more of his home then it would ever be Jace's and insisted Jace be the one to leave. Clary had expected Jace to leave, to take it as an invitation, but it was clear Jace was a stubborn person and the fact that he was told to leave made him more than determined to stay.

So, Clary went outside, and forced her mind to relax, and every time thoughts of the dinner came up, she squeezed her eyes shut and focused on the patterns on the insides of her eyelids. It worked every time, until Maia came out to talk to her mid-eye squeeze.

"Hey Clary," she whispered softly so as not to disturb the gentle calm that washed over the star streaked evening.

Clary opened her eyes and found that the swirling designs she had just seen were printed everywhere she looked. When she looked over to Maia she saw a soothing understanding and as much as it meant to Clary that Maia came to talk to her, to comfort her, Clary wasn't really in the mood for a heart-to-heart. However, she couldn't turn away someone who so clearly cared.

She spoke quietly to Maia, more faint and gentle than the sweet, caressing wind, "Hey."

Maia took this as an invitation to lay beside her and promptly did just that. For a while neither said anything more, basking in the peaceful silence. Clary knew that Maia had come out to talk, but Maia in turn knew that Clary wouldn't talk until she was ready. Clary wasn't sure when she would be ready; so many things were running through her mind. Besides the obvious dinner situation, she was beginning to wonder if she had over-reacted, a thought that had been running through her head quite often recently.

Sure, it was pretty stressful to have Jace, a person determined to frustrate, confuse, and annoy Clary more than she ever had been, but why was it bothering her so much? Why did she want to figure him out so badly and why did the thought of not doing so haunt her like a demented spirit? Clary supposed it could have been his bad-boy attitude, or obvious good-looks, but Clary had a feeling it was something she hadn't even discovered yet.

'Maybe that's why this is making me react so... so... badly,'she thought to herself.

She also thought that maybe the fact that everything that Jace did was so extreme led to her reactions being just as intense. It made sense. She thought of a random teenager she had seen at a club she liked to go to, Pandemonium. He and another boy had been having a dance-off, though Clary supposed it might have been more of a who-can-flip-their-head-faster-off than actual dancing. The other boy went first and he had done a decent enough job, but nothing surprising or spectacular had happened. When it was the boy's turn to go, he added moves that inspired gasps from the onlookers. Then, he had ended with a backwards flip off of one of the tables. Needless to say the applause for him had drowned the entire club and the other boy was soon forgotten.

She was remembering that night fondly when Maia asked, "Why are you smiling?"

For a second Clary was surprised, but it was a good surprise because she had been having one of those subconsciously happy moments where afterwards you're even happier than you were before because you never realized in the first place.

"Thinking of a dance-off at Pandemoniuma while back."

Clary sent a quick glance over in Maia's direction and saw the confused set of her eyebrows. It only made Clary smile bigger realizing that she would never to be able to connect the night to a dance-off.

Clary could tell Maia was waiting for her to explain, but Clary wasn't going to so instead she said to Maia, "We've got school tomorrow."

Maia sent her another confused look, but instead of asking about the random statement she said, "Yeah, I know. Weekends are great but it feels like you're a bunny chasing after a carrot and then suddenly the carrot just disappears."

"And we have that giant test tomorrow in History."

Conversation carried on like that until Maia's parents called her to go home. Even though Clary hadn't originally wanted to talk to Maia she was certainly a better distraction then eyelid patterns. Before Maia left she went inside to get her shoes and when she came back out she reported to Clary that the boys had stopped fighting. She said she wasn't sure where Jace had gone, but Simon was watching T.V. with her parents.

So Clary got up, dusted off her pants, and walked back into her house. She was prepared for her parents and Simon's sympathetic and sorry glances, but what she wasn't prepared for was to see Jace sitting on the chair adjacent to the sofa where the other three sat.

Her brows dipped in confusion walked into the room, waiting for them to notice her. When they did they shot her the expected looks, but kindly left it alone. Except for Jace, of course. Jace smirked at her with a smugness radiating off him, and it made Clary wonder if he had initially started the fight because he wanted to anger Clary. It wouldn't have surprised her.

"Did you have a nice time Clary?" Jace asked, with a tone that was clearly meant to annoy.

As much as she wanted to just ignore him, she wanted even more to tell him, "Yes, actually, considering you weren't there."

So that's exactly what she did. It took her a while to realize that Jace being Jace, it had probably been the exact kind of response he wanted. The significant growth of his grin proved her right.

She noticed her mom shoot her a look that asked, no demanded, she not get him going again, so Clary didn't wait for a response and instead went into the kitchen to poor herself a glass of milk. She wondered to herself why Jace found so much satisfaction in negatively affecting other people.

She had just finished putting the milk back in the refrigerator when she turned and saw her mom leaning against the counter.

"What were you thinking about out there?" her mom asked.

Clary didn't reply, simply sighed and looked at her mom in a way she hoped would explain well enough. Apparently she did because Jocelyn sighed as well before sinking into one of the kitchen table chairs. Clary was soon to follow and sat across from her.

"Look honey, I know Jace is a bit rough to handle, they certainly weren't joking when they told us, but I can see, and I know you can too, that there's a genuinely good kid somewhere inside him. Besides, he likes you Clary, of everyone here, he likes you the most," Clary started to disagree but Jocelyn stopped her, "and don't say that's not true, I'm a mother and I can see it is," she said with a smile.

Clary smiled too.

"Anyway my point is that if any of us can get him to come out of his shell it's going to be you. That doesn't mean I'm not going to help, but don't you give up on him Clary, because when you finally find Jaceyou'll be so glad you didn't."

With that, Clary's mom stood up, walked over to Clary, smoothed her hair back, and gently kissed her forehead, wiping away all the worry in her head. Then, Clary finished her milk and set off to her comfy, beckoning bed. It had been a long, day after all.


Hey guys! So sorry it took so long to update, but I just haven't been able to find the time. I'll try to update tomorrow too, but unfortunately after that, I probably won't be able to for a while again. Anyway, hope you enjoy! xx