Not in the mind-set to write a big author's note, so the gist is, I really appreciate you guys for following me and this fanfic and as usual please review!

-H

Hush

Isabelle didn't reappear after lunch. Since she was normally Clary's lab partner, Calculus study partner and runner in the same re-lay team, it was a quiet afternoon and when the final bell rang she stomped to the student car park before realising that she had in fact no truck waiting for her. She swore loudly and a few freshman backed off in fright at the small, agitated red-haired girl muttering about her brother's return and need for her truck to cart about his new girlfriend. Jonathan had said to text him when she needed a lift home but Clary was dreading the moment she had to get into the backseat of her own car and make small talk with Camille.
She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but something about the cold and proud set of her shoulders made Camille seem a lot older and almost… cruel. Isabelle and Clary had started calling her Cruella behind her back.
Just as she was pulling her phone from her pocket and cursing herself for not remembering her headphones which would have made an acceptable reason for her not to have to talk on the ride home a familiar bike skidded up to the kerb and a shiny helmet was in her hands, "Need a lift Fray?" Jace smiled when he saw her look of hesitation. "I wouldn't ask if I didn't think it was safe enough."
"I suppose it's not going to do anything crazy like fly," she mused, weighing the helmet experimentally. After a second of thinking she put it on and Jace did up the chin strap. "Cute," he commented and she swung on behind him. "And where is your chariot taking you this fine afternoon."
"It's about to rain, I wouldn't call it fine," Clary argued and then bit her lip. She didn't want to go home though she had a ton of homework to do. And this close to Jace she could smell the leather of his jacket and the tang of motor oil. She wanted to get him alone to ask him about Saturday night, but there was no way to phrase it right…
Jace took her silence to mean she was unsure and glanced over his shoulder, "If home isn't an attractive option right now, I know a place."
Clary smiled and said, "With your reputation Jace I'm sure you know many places that I'm certain I'm not dressed correctly for."
He cringed but laughed anyway, "Touche, Fray but I promise you this is a highly respectable and well kept secret kind of place. You'll like it, trust me."
She wrapped her arms around his waist as he kicked the bike into starting and took off down the street. It was only as they were rounding the corner that Clary saw a glimpse of a girl with long ink black hair and a leather backpack. Where had Isabelle been all afternoon?

It had started to pour by the time Isabelle was halfway home. She could have gone earlier, when she'd stormed out at lunch, but once she'd hit the cool air outside the cafeteria her temper had vanished and she didn't fancy being home alone with a mound of school work to do. Her house still reminded her of the disastrous party of he weekend despite the fact she'd cleaned it from top to bottom, twice.
Instead she'd wandered to the bleachers and lit herself a cigarette that she normally despised and bumped into one of the last people she'd wanted to see. "You know Clary and I call them cancer sticks," Simon had said sitting down beside her and pointing at the cigarette.
"You won't want one then," she retorted and with a grin Simon accepted her lighter and brought out a packet of his own.
"Don't tell Clary."
"You seem to be keeping a lot of things from her these days, you'll hurt her if you're not careful."
Simon paled, "What do you mean?"
Isabelle snorted angrily, "We all saw Simon, you and Clove tearing at each other like you hadn't had a decent one night stand in years. You two have your big date coming up."
"She told you?"
"It was a secret?"
"No!" Simon shook his head, "No really it wasn't, I wanted to tell Clary but Clove… I guess she felt a bit weird considering that they're friends. You don't think Clary will mind do you?"
Clary doesn't but I do, Isabelle thought. Instead she flicked her hair and said, "No I doubt she does but then again you're the one in love with her, not the other way around." Simon blushed and Isabelle felt a little bad, but her own hurt outweighed the guilt and she said, "Another secret Lewis… I thought best friends trusted each other."
"We do!"
Now Isabelle was just in the mood for being cruel. She hated seeing Simon so devoted to Clary and lip-locking with Clove. "Oh yeah, then what was her and Jonathan's big to-do about?"
She could tell she'd hit a nerve and that Clary hadn't mentioned her fight with her brother to him at all. "She'll tell me when she's ready," Simon said defensively.
Isabelle shrugged, "Or she'll continue to confide in Jace, since it was him she ran to when you were… otherwise occupied at the weekend."
There hadn't been much else to say and now that she was heading home all of her frustration and hurt had built into a kind of stony misery that she couldn't shake. And then she heard Gale's voice behind her, "Would you wait up! I've been trying to talk to you all day!"
"Take the hint Hawthorne, and fuck off I'm not in the mood."
He fell into step beside her and snorted, "Oh that's nice, piss off the one guy who actually understands how you feel."
Isabelle rounded on him, shoving him hard so that he hit the wall, "You have no idea how I feel," she said quietly.
"You feel used and dirty, just like I do," he argued back, as equally quiet. Isabelle flinched, mainly because she hadn't expected him to actually say what she was thinking. "There's nothing wrong with what we did Izzy. I tried to talk to you about it but you ran off so quickly downstairs."
"It was just sex Gale, there was nothing to talk about. We were both drunk and lonely-"
"And how is that different to any other day?" he demanded. "Drunk on sadness because we're constantly after someone who doesn't want us back, why bother to pretend that there isn't at least a physical attraction between us? It's mutually beneficial-"
Isabelle laughed, "Why Gale are you proposing we continue to hook up? I don't think so."
He put a hand on her arm, "I'm asking you to go out with me Isabelle Lightwood. I'm not that much of an ass that I'm just going to have you when I want you and then throw you away like trash." The rain was coming down fast and heavy and the two of them were soaked to the skin.
Isabelle blinked up in surprise at him, "If we both like other people-"
"It doesn't mean there aren't feelings between us too," he argued. "It won't be that teenage true love shit that everyone is chasing. I'm asking you to be my girlfriend Izzy, not just for sex whenever I'm done moping over Katniss. If I can't have her I want to move on and so should you."
Isabelle thought about her conversation with Simon and bowed her head, "Feelings don't just vanish, I've tried."
"They can be replaced with others," Gale grinned, "You saying you don't have feelings for me Lightwood?"
She stared him down, "I'm saying that I'm not sure I want to place myself in the category of girls pathetic enough to date Gale Hawthorne."
"They make a cute club," he pointed out and then he got serious, "I mean it Izzy, what's the harm in giving a relationship a go? It's not like either of us will end up heartbroken."
And heartbroken was exactly what Isabelle was desperate to avoid. "I've been told I'm high maintenance," she said slowly.
"And I've been told I make a hell of lackey," he finished with a grin.
"I can't believe I'm agreeing to this," Isabelle said with a returning smile and the next second he had turned her shoulders so she was against the wall. Gale looked down at her, water dripping from his hair, "I figured I had a hell of a shot at persuading you" and then he kissed her.