First Fanfiction! I hope you enjoy it! (No copyright intended, all characters belong to Cassandra Clare)
CASTLES MADE OF SAND, CHAPTER TEN
I Want to tell You
"I want to tell you, My head is filled with things to say, When you're here
All those words, they seem to slip away, When I get near you,
The games begin to drag me down, It's all right,
I'll make you, maybe next time around."
Dull grey light streamed into Alec's room, encasing him in a blanket of soberness, and dread. The sound of puttering rain vibrated throughout the space in uneven rhythms. Alec rolled himself over, so he lay flat on his back. He sighed before opening his eyes to gaze at the stark white recessed ceiling. Another day, he began to repeat over and over again under his breath -a silent mantra, that brought him both scarce hope, and looming fear.
He dragged himself out of bed, not at all looking forward to what the day may entail -but knew being late, meant a guarantee of having to sit at the back of the English class. And that was not an option. Alec walked over to his dresser, pulled out another set of dark wash jeans, black underwear, and surprisingly this time a white t-shirt. He usually stuck to dark colors, mainly so he could fit into the shadows of the halls, and make himself less noticeable by others. But today, he just felt like a white t-shirt would do justice.
After he was done rifling through his drawers, he made his way to the bathroom across the hall, and thankfully he got there mere seconds before Izzy could claim the space to herself for a long period of time. He quickly shut the door in her face as she tried to inch past him. "Alec Gideon Lightwood! You better not take a long time!" She pounded on the dark wood frame of the door. Alec rolled his eyes at that, and set his clothes upon the white and black glass tiled mosaic counter top.
"Iz, I'm not a girl, I don't spend hours in the bathroom, in front of the mirror gazing at myself." Alec replied back before turning the water on to a scalding heat: Just the way he liked it. As he stripped out of his pajama pants, and stood under the flowing stream of water, he thought back to how well things had gone last night.
That is, if you looked past the menacing glares Maryse continued to give Robert over the dinner table, and the ominous way Robert disregarded them. And if you looked past the way Isabelle completely ignored Alec for a good portion of the day and night -finally coming around, when he offered her his piece of cherry pie. She was always a sucker for cherry pie, and Alec knew that -using his knowledge to help him. He didn't like Isabelle to be mad at him, she was quite possibly the person he was the closest with, they had a bond even stronger than the one Alec and Jace had.
But then again, maybe it was because they were blood related, that made them have this deeper inner connection that he couldn't even began to explain. They knew one another inside and out, whenever one was mutely sad or depressed about something, the other could sense it. It was scary how it worked, but Alec was thankful he had someone to confide in. Jace on the other hand was his best friend, and had been since they were nine. That year, when both of them turned nine, Jace's parents Stephen, and Celine were killed in a car accident -and Maryse having known their family for a long time took Jace in and adopted him as her own.
Alec jumped out of the shower when the heat began to dilate and turn briskly cold. He dressed hastily, and quickly towel dried his hair. Gazing at his reflection in the mirror, he found himself looking decent enough -Alec had always been told that he had angelic looks, with high apple cheekbones, soft but angular jaw line, dark thick curved lashes that off-set the bright blue tinge to his eyes, light smooth ivory skin and charcoal black hair, which rested straight around the base of his head, slightly curling at the ends. He personally couldn't see what others did, all he saw was a normal guy, with freakishly blue eyes, starring back at him.
Alec made his way into the kitchen, to find Robert sitting on one of the high chairs situated around the island counter top, reading a news paper with a large cup of black coffee in one hand. Jace was rifling through the fridge, his back arched downwards, as his hips swayed subtly in the air -his blue jeans hung dangerously low on his hips. Alec looked away hastily, he hated that he was cursed with this attraction towards Jace -it wasn't fair really. Alec had enough to deal with: how shy he was, how subjective he was to those around him -this just seemed to add to the burden.
"Where's mom?" Alec regarded Robert.
"She left early for her new job, at the Bane manor." Robert answered, not once taking his eyes off of the newspaper in front of him. That was another thing Alec felt uneasy about: His mother working at Magnus' house. And consequently enough, the entire family was going over there tonight for dinner. Some type of 'getting to know your new coworker' thing. Alec was less than pleased by this -wondering what could possibly happen at dinner, sitting across from Magnus and all his glory. He couldn't hide his sheer curiosity however. He sort of wanted to see were Magnus lived, and see if he could compare the look of Magnus to his surroundings.
"Hey," Isabelle sauntered her way up to the counter, twenty minutes later, wearing a short black dress, that brushed against the tops of her thighs, and dark brown leather boots which reached the tops of her knees. Alec shook his head. "Are we going now, or what?" She asked, glancing at the old fashioned clock past Alec's shoulder.
"Mhm," Alec replied, and licked his lips, "Jace, c'mon." He said, tossing him the keys to the Jeep.
It hadn't taken them long to get to school, in fact they had been ten minutes early for the warning bell. They all parted ways once they glided up to the front doors -Jace running off to gym, Izzy swaying her way to home economics, and Alec blankly huddling in with the crowd of students, pushing his way along to English class.
He was met by the all to familiar bright orange door, a couple of minutes later. Alec gulped loudly, and raised his black bag higher on his left shoulder -feeling more than insecure. On a scale of one to ten, Alec was a definite ten in the passing out due to shyness and insecurities, section. He opened the door with ease, and walked into the room. The class was nearly two thirds full, and to Alec's disappointment, the whole first row, second, third, and forth were filled. The only spots left really, were at the extreme back of the room, behind Johnathan's desk, who was absent, and the desk Alec had the day before.
Upon taking a lingering glance to that faithed spot at the back of the room, that he now began to march over to, not wanting to show fear or intimidation -he was met by a piercing glow of yellow-green eyes, which held a fair bit of weird uncertainty within them. Magnus gave Alec a weak smile, which was very opposite from what Alec had at least expected. Maybe the things he had said to Magnus in Biology, had actually gotten to him -making Alec feel completely and utterly terrible. Or possibly it was a charade? And in that case, Alec kept his mouth shut.
Clary sat beside Magnus, sketching wildly in her notebook -her small freckled hands moving in graceful rhythms over the white page. William was absent; thank god, Alec breathed a sigh of relief, and settled into the desk in front of Magnus.
Ms. Graymark started to explain their assignment, after the first bell chimmed, of researching worldly literature from the stacks of textbooks at the back of the room. It didn't take her all that long, until she excused herself from the classroom, leaving her students to the task at hand -which no one complied to, and went on turning in their seats to talk. Johnathan and Sebastian walked into class, not too long after -both draped in long black Armani and Fendi coats. Behind them followed a girl, who might have been the exact replica of a Barbie, in Alec's opinion. She had bleach blonde hair, which was harshly curled down to her waist, a tight pink dress that conformed to her voluptuous curves, and a face packed with shiny bronzer, and ruby red lipstick.
Sebastian had said something to the blonde, as they snaked their way past Alec's desk, and up the aisle, flanking around Magnus desk. She instantly giggled, an annoyingly fake laugh, and swatted at his shoulder. "Seb, you know I'm not like that," she pestered him. Her voice was just an octave too high, for Alec's likings.
"Oh, Camille, I think we all know that you are." Sebastian said, before ducking out of the way, avoiding another hit from Camille. After a couple of minutes, Alec felt a light tap to his shoulder; sending a chill throughout him -goosebumps sprung freely across the expanse of his arms. He slowly turned in his seat to the side, to see the blonde, Camille, had vied for his attention -and for some reason, Alec was instantly let down that it hadn't been Magnus. A small part of Alec wanted to engage in casual conversation with Magnus -somehow make amends with him, after their spat in Biology class the previous day. But he knew himself well, and knew that, that would never happen. He would never be the first person to speak up; if Magnus had wanted to talk to him, he would have by now.
"Ooo," she said in a sing-song voice, "you are absolutely delicious. Black hair, blue eyes. My boy heres," she thrusted her thumb to Magnus spot, "favourite combination. Although you're a guy..." Alec cut a quick glance to Magnus, catching those eyes almost instantly, which seemed to be watching him like a hawk. Alec quickly looked away, dipping his head down to hide the sailors blush that took place across his cheeks. Damnit Alec, get a hold of yourself, he scalded himself, wondering when and why he seemed to become so embarrassed and flustered in the presence of Magnus.
"Camille's right. I'm a sucker for blue eyes," Magnus shrugged and leaned back in his chair, a small smile plastered on his tawny face.
"And I'm just a sucker for anything that's tall, dark, and handsome." Camille flashed Alec a wink, which Alec returned with a nervous smile. "What's your name, blue?" She asked haughtily. Camille seemed to be one of those girls, that all the guys flocked to like moths attracted to light, because of her flirty nature and, well, 'put on display' assets -but on the flip side, probably the greater part of the female population in the school hated her; it wouldn't be hard to imagine. She was almost too confident and forward in the way she spoke, and acted. A quality Alec wished he could more or less possess.
He cleared his throat before answering, "Alec Lightwood,"
"Oh! I've met your brother, a charmer that one is. Jace right?" Alec nodded. "Let me ask you this," Camille scooted forward in her desk, rested her elbows on the bare expanse of her thighs, locking her pianist thin fingers together, and finally laying her round chin upon her interlocked hands. "How come you two look nothing alike, but are brothers?" Is she being serious? Alec thought, giving her a dubious look, as to say 'you should already be able to guess the answer'. Again from the corner of his eye he could see Magnus stifle back a small chuckle. Was he thinking the exact same thing as Alec?
"Jace isn't actually my brother by blood. His parent's died when he was younger, and my family took him in." Alec replied, and bit his bottom lip. He had to stifle back his irritation at how dim-witted a question she could ask.
"Unfortunate, but it does add to his, angle. Beautiful but forever heartbroken guy -that's swoon worthy material to work with." Camille replied, honestly -swinging around in her seat to talk to Sebastian who was behind her. Alec just looked at her, as if she were some foreign being, his mouth hanging open. Jace's parents dying, was a tragedy, not a blessing to get girls. There was definitely something wrong with Camille... Something very wrong for her to think that. Alec was actually astounded, starring at the back of her head, and then was snapped back to reality by long lotioned tan fingers.
Alec shifted his head to Magnus, who had a lazy smirk on his face. Oh, that face, caused Alec's heart tempo to increase tenfold. "Don't worry about her," Magnus leaned in close, almost too close to Alec's face, to whisper, "she tends to say things like that a lot." Alec had no idea what he should say, he already felt himself clamming up -and he could definitely feel a light flush crawl its way up his neck. Why, why, why? Alec wanted to bang his head on the expanse of Magnus desk, but thought better of it. That would only create a substantial amount of embarrassment for Alec.
And he did not want to give Magnus the upper hand, of catching onto his weakness. Magnus turned his head to the side, squinting his eyes, that were again rimmed with a flawless line of black on the top lid, and dusted with gold glitter along his water line. Somehow the green in his eyes was darkened a few shades by the black eyeliner, and the yellow gleamed in specks around his cat eyes, highlighted greatly by the gold underneath. Alec couldn't help his eyes wondering around Magnus in that moment -it was almost as if he did it absently.
Magnus' hair was done up in the same fashion it was the day previous: a thick faux hawk with a few sweeping bangs left to lay across the top of his tan forehead. However the only difference this time, was the slight tinge of silver glitter that laced the tips of his dark black hair. He was wearing a tight electric indigo t-shirt, with a plunging v-neckline, which showed off the expanse of the top of his hairless slightly muscled chest. His nails were bright purple, and sparkly, how coincidental, Alec thought, seeing as Magnus seemed full of sparkles and glitter today.
He was also wearing light brown pants, which were rolled up past his ankles, revealing slips of black leg hair. Alec returned his eyes to Magnus', which were now adorned with a faint trace of speculation, and worry. Quickly though, the questioning in his eyes clouded over, and returned to their normal gleaming nature.
Alec froze, realizing he took a substantially long, and obvious time to look over Magnus. "Oh god," he sighed loudly, before clapping his hand across his mouth. Had he just said that out loud? Magnus quirked his left eyebrow high on his forehead, as his smirk grew. "I mean, oh god, like, uhh, if she says things like that a lot, then oh god, I have to try to stay away from conversations that could entail that, yenno?" Alec stuttered at the beginning, rambling quickly, so he could turn his head, and hide his blush.
Why had he been cursed with smooth ivory skin, where everyone and anyone from a short distance could see the faintest red that usually settled on the apples of his cheeks. He heard Magnus chuckle from behind him, and then heard the squeak of Magnus' desk shifting behind him. Hot breath washed over the back of Alec's neck, "You get flustered very easily," Magnus whispered in a sultry voice. The hairs on Alec's neck stood attentively, at the proximity of Magnus behind him. He swore he could almost feel the ghost of Magnus' lips at his ear -causing him to suck in a sharp breath, to settle himself down.
"How could you tell?" Alec gingerly asked rhetorically, laughing for a brief moment. He could feel Magnus smile, right before the bell chimed above them. Rather quickly, Alec shoved his textbooks into his bags, and stalked his way out into the hall. Before he could get any further than two feet from the bright orange door, he felt a cold hand encircle his wrist, lightly pulling him backwards.
"Hey, sorry I didn't say anything to you in class. I was just really into what I was drawing," Clary beamed brightly, her hair pulled into two thick red braids, and a light brown fedora hat on top of her head. She was wearing a long flowing faded light brown and blue skirt that reached the ground, with feather designs splashed across it, and a baggy grey v-neck shirt. When Alec looked at Clary, he saw someone who was a natural hipster, who was also an artist, and someone who was determined and thoughtful.
How the hell was she Jace's type. Quite possibly, she was the exact opposite of what Jace looked for in girls. Alec was astonished, trying to wrap his head around how Jace could have even been Clary's type. They seemed to be the most opposing people he had ever met. Well that is, if he didn't count Magnus and himself.
"Oh, no it's fine. Drawing would be much more interesting, than talking to me," he shrugged in all honesty. He wasn't that unique; there was nothing quite special about him in his mind -besides the fact he could play soccer, surf and the guitar -that is, when he felt like it. Other than that, he would never be able to compare himself with Isabelle and Jace. Jace being naturally good at everything, surfing, soccer, and every sport imaginable included. And Isabelle, a dancer, with years of training and an expert at jutes and pirouettes -even if she couldn't cook, Alec knew that one day she would get there, with her sheer determination. That was the whole point of enrolling herself in Home Economics in the first place.
"C'mon don't think like that," Clary latched her arm around his, looping them together. "After one day, you've seemed to catch the interest of some of my friends actually. And that's hard to do." She said, dragging Alec along the halls through the swarm of people, to history.
A/N: Told you it was a monster of a chapter. I just realized that I write so much more, when Alec and Magnus are interacting... hmm...
Oh yeah, it will be explained I guess why Camille was not present in English the first day, and why William wasn't there (But those don't really matter all to much, do they?)
I will be on a sort of hiatus for three days... so there should be an update in four days. I apologize now, in advance for the terrible wait. Stay strong, pony boy (:
As a side note, do any of you read Hush, Hush? I am planning to make a one-shot of Patch and Nora, and I hope some of you consider to read it (: !
Review, rhymes with view, and rhymes with mew... and I'm not neccessarily sure where I am going with this. (But review anyways [;)
Let's get it to 75! (and maybe, just maybe, I might push to update sooner...tehe)
Amber,