Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters; they all belong to the wonderful Cassandra Clare.
"How did Mom do this every year? It's so frustrating!" I huffed as the sewing machine sewed the sleeve up. I stopped the machine and grabbed the scissors to open the sleeve, again. "I'm taking a break."
"Okay." Max turned to go to the kitchen to grab a snack. "You know, Mom got frustrated every year, too."
"Really? I don't remember that," I said, as I followed Max to the kitchen. "She was always excited when she was making the costumes."
"Remember last year? She couldn't get this little piece of cloth on and she started crying," said Max, while pouring some chocolate milk for himself. "And she was almost done, too, just like you." I sat on a stool and took a bite out of my apple, trying to remember.
"I think I had tests the next day and I was in my room for the whole day," I said, remembering bites and pieces from that day. It was a Sunday, there was two weeks before the end of the term, and I had two tests the next day.
"Oh right," Max said, recalling the memory. "You yelled at me a million times to be quiet." I laughed then turned back to the living room where Max's clown costume was. I suddenly remember I hadn't checked the mail yet. I looked around the room to see where it was.
"Max," I said, while picking up and flipping through the piles of papers on the coffee table.
"Yeah."
"Do you remember where I put the mail before we went to the park?" I started looking through another pile of papers by the TV.
"I think you put it in your bag," yelled Max from the other room. I picked up my bag by the front door and saw the mail crumbled up inside the small space. Oops, I should have put them in more gently. I tried to bend the already bent envelopes of paper to straighten it out. Electricity…advertising…another advertising…another bill, a small purple envelope dropped to the floor.
"What's that?" asked Max, while eating popcorn. He jumped onto the couch. I picked it up and gently opened it with my nail. The envelope was too pretty to be torn. I wondered if the person got it from Papyrus. That place was ridiculously expensive. The envelope finally opened and I began to read the letter.
You are invited to Isabelle's eighteenth birthday party!
There will be three psychics to tell your fortune, food, and music.
RSVP to the email on the back.
I turned the letter and on the back the when, where, and email were on it. The party was on the week after Halloween. At least it isn't on Halloween, I thought.
"What is that?" asked Max as I was trying to understand why Isabelle would invite me. We weren't really that close.
"One of friends invited me to a psychic party," I replied.
"Cool. What's that?"
"It's someone who tells you your fortune or about your future," I explained. The added, "It's not exactly real."
"But that's really cool." Max looked at me encouragingly. "You should go." I smiled at him.
"We'll see. I have to make sure if it works with our schedule, and if I go someone has to babysit you."
"I can sleep at Teddy's house," said Max. I smirked and put my hands on my hips.
"You can't invite yourself to your friend's house," I said, rolling my eyes at him playfully.
"Hey, Clary? If you do go to the psychic, will you ask her what I'm going to be for Halloween next year? I don't know if I'll have any good ideas by then." I laughed.
"We'll see."
OoOoOoOoO
"So did you finish Max's costume?" asked Simon. The spaghetti in his mouth muffled his voice. I grimaced. It didn't even look that appetizing.
"Simon, close your mouth." I squinted my eyes in disgust.
"Sorry," he said while taking another bite. I laughed.
"And yes, I did finish his costume and it looks awesome, if I do say so myself." After learning a few tricks on the sewing machine and a few YouTube videos, I finally finished Max's clown costume.
"That's great! Now you can make me a costume next year."
"I'm not that good." I took a bite out of my sandwich. A lunch tray slid next to me, and Isabelle climbed onto the bench table.
"Hey guys," she said smiling. I turned to look at Simon. He had a ridiculous smile on his face. "Did you guys get the invitations to my party, yet?"
"Yeah, I did. I send an email to the address on the back of your card," said Simon, too excitedly. I laughed. Then he added. "Thanks for inviting me, by the way."
"You're welcome," said Isabelle, and then turned her head to me. "What about you, Clary?"
"I don't know yet… I mean I have to check with my boss and I have to find a babysitter-"
"My mom can babysit," suggested Simon. "And you can always come later if you have a shift. The party is till midnight, right?" Simon looked at Isabelle for affirmation. Isabelle nodded. "And I know that on Saturday's the store closes at eight, so you can go home, get ready, drop off Max at my house, and be at Isabelle's house by nine-ish." I smiled at his plan.
"Simon, some things are easier said then done," I said.
"Well this is easier done then said." Now he was just being a smartass. I arched my eyebrow at him. His face changed into a puppy-dog face. "Come on, Clary, it'll be fun!" I huffed.
"Fine, but you have to ask your Mom if she can babysit Max first."
"I can't believe that worked." He looked proud of himself. Both Isabelle and I laughed.
"So… can I put you down as coming?" asked Isabelle, after a few minutes.
"Hmm, not yet. I'm not one-hundred percent sure Simon's plan will work." Simon glared at me.
"Put her down as coming," he told Isabelle.
"Simon!"
"You are coming." I sighed. There was no changing Simon's mind now.
"Hey, Clary?" I turned around to see Jace standing behind me. I looked at him with surprise.
"Yeah?" I asked, uncertain. I knew we were being nicer to each other, but I thought things at school would stay pretty much the same.
"I was wondering when and where you guys are going to start trick or treating," he said kind of uncomfortable. Jace Wayland, uncomfortable, who would have thought?
"Around five is good. Do you know where I live?" I asked.
"No." I bent down to my backpack and ripped a page from my notebook and dug in the pockets for a pen. When I found it, I quickly wrote down the address and handed it to him.
"Thanks," he said, unmoving. "Can you write your phone number, too?" I looked at his gold eyes, suspiciously.
"Why?" God knows what kind of pranks his friends might do if they got my number.
"Incase I get lost," explained Jace. I looked at him again, and sighed.
"Okay." I took the piece of paper back and added my phone number. "Here you go."
"Thanks, bye," he said.
"Bye." I watched him as him walked back to his usual table. Why was he acting so strange? I turned back to Isabelle and Simon whose mouths were wide open.
"Please tell me you don't have a date with Wayland," demanded Simon. I laughed at his assumption.
"Like I would go on a date with Jace. It just happens to be that Max invited Jace to go treat or tricking with him," I explained.
"What!" yelled Simon, standing up a little. "I am offended. Max never invited me to go treat or tricking with him."
"Calm down, Simon. It's not a big deal. Max can ask you next year."
"Fine," he said, dragging the word out. Sometimes I wondered how old Simon really was. The bell rang, ending lunch. We said goodbye and went to our next classes.
OoOoOoOoO
I painted Max's face carefully with my steady hand while he sat on the toilet seat. The bathroom always had the best light. I tried to smudge away the mistakes and covered it with the white face paint.
"Hold still, Max. There is a last spot near your eye that I need to paint." He closed his eyes so that he wouldn't flinch. I gently brushed the area with white.
"You're done," I said, smiling. I washed my hands as Max got to look at his face.
"This is awesome, Clary. Thanks." Max smiled with his black painted lips. He came near me to hug me, but I stopped him before he did.
"Hey, as much as I would love a hug, the paint is still drying and it can smug. How about you go down and get your shoes and bucket. Jace should be here any minute."
"Okay," said Max as he started to race down the steps. How has he not fallen down the stairs, yet? I cleaned the paint off the bathroom sink and put everything away. I went into my room and got my coat, then went to Max's room and grabbed his coat. I knew he would resist wearing it, but once he starts freezing his butt off, he would ask me for his coat. It was sad to think that winter was coming full steam ahead. Soon it would be winter, and I would be shoveling. I sighed at the thought. I finished turning off the lights upstairs when the doorbell rang.
"Hey, Clary?" yelled Max as I came down the stairs.
"Yeah," I asked. He was hiding behind the couch.
"I want to scare Jace. Can you dim the lights, so I can scare him."
"Sure." I laughed. "Just don't get paint on the couch." I dimmed the living room to an amber glow and opened the door. Jace entered in with a cape and a hammer.
"Nice costume," I said, uncertainly. "What are you exactly?" He gasped offended.
"I'm Thor," he said in his normal arrogant voice, while flexing his muscles.
"Isn't he really bulky?" Jace was fit, but wasn't exactly muscular.
"What is that suppose to mean?" he challenged.
"Your just…" Clary tired to think of the word, "lean." All of a sudden Max screamed on the top on his lungs and jumped out of his hiding spot. And a good time, too, I thought. It was starting to get a little awkward.
"Wow Max, you have an awesome costume. You'll be scaring a lot of people tonight," said Jace.
"Thanks, now let's go get some candy," he said as he and Jace went to stand outside. I closed all the lights, got my stuff, and locked the door. I put a bowl of candy outside full of Hersey Kisses with a 'Take one' sign on it. Probably though, at some point of the night, some random teenager would dump the whole bucket into his sack of candies. But sometimes you just have to have a little faith in humanity.
OoOoOoOoO
The sky started to turn dark and the streets started to flicker with flashlights. There were some clouds in the sky, so the moon didn't glow too bright. Every other minute I yelled at Max to slow down and to be carefully, as we zigzagged house to house. Somehow Jace managed to keep up.
"Look at that costume," said Jace, pointing to a little boy in a skunk costume.
"Aw, that's so cute," I said, smiling at the boy. "You have to admit as weird of a holiday Halloween is, it is the most amusing." Jace nodded in agreement. I suddenly slipped on the edge of the pavement, but before I fell, Jace grabbed my arm.
"Thanks," I said as I got my footing. He let go of his hand.
"No problem." Max then appeared out of nowhere.
"Max, you have to slow down buddy!" He rolled his eyes. "Have you been asking money for Unicef and thanking people after you take candy?"
"Yes, and yes," said Max, a little irritated.
"Good. After this block, we are going home," I added. Max's eyes grew wide.
"But Clary! It's a Saturday," exasperated Max. I gave him a look.
"It's late, and besides your bucket is getting full."
"Fine," he huffed and ran to the next house. I turned my attention back to Jace.
"Thanks for coming, by the way. You really made Max happy." He smiled at that. I never really noticed his smile before. His eyes lit up and his skin glowed more. And his lips looked so warm and inviting.
"Clary?" I looked away from his lips to his eyes.
"Yeah?" I asked, still looking at him.
"Even with all the shit you've been through, you still put up with me. Then you-" He took a breath "I don't know what you're doing to me." His eyes never left my face as he spoke to me. "Give me a chance." I felt myself nodded, then stopped when I realized what I was doing.
"We can start with being friends," I said after his words started catching up with my brain. He smiled again.
"Okay."
A/N: Told you this will be longer. I would have updated this earlier, but the Internet wasn't working. Technology is so nice until it stops working. Next chapter will be the psychic party and some interesting things will be revealed. This story is going so slow and steady, but after the next update, it will start to speed up a little. Until next time.
If you see any mistakes, don't be afraid to tell me.
Review! :)