Chapter 11

"Are you okay, Clary?" he asked.

Clary desperately wanted to point out the fact that her foot was severely burned and that, no, she definitely was notokay, but all she could manage was a pitiful whimper and what she hoped was a look that clearly said what she could not.

Apparently, it did, because Jace said with a grimace, "Eh, right, that's a no."

Then, Jace looked up at something above him and said, "It looks like she spilled the bacon grease on her foot."

Again, Clary wanted to speak, to say, "Look who's stating the obvious now," but she couldn't. Instead, she glanced at whoever Jace had been talking to. It turned out to be both Luke and Jocelyn. The looks on their face were distressed and worried.

Luke turned to Clary's mom and said, "I'll take her to the hospital, you focus on getting Jace to school."

Then he turned to Clary and started to help her up, but Jace interrupted his movements by saying, "I want to go, too."

For a second Luke looked puzzled, but then he turned to Clary's mom and the two shared a look. Clary wasn't sure what it meant, and made a mental note to ask later.

Apparently, it made Luke decide to let Jace come with them, because the next thing Clary heard was, "All right. Jace you can come along. Though it's probably not a good idea to have you be late to school on your first day."

Clary thought to herself that Jace probably just wanted to get out of school. At least, that's what she thought until she saw the look of pure worry on Jace's face. Just knowing that Jace actually cared for her made her feel infinitely better and allowed her to stand up, with the help of Luke, of course. Clary remembered what her mother had said, that Jace actually did like her, and realized for the first time without a doubt, that Jace did indeed like her.

Clary, Luke, Jace, and Jocelyn were currently sitting in a hospital waiting room. Clary figured they must have been quite the sight to see. What, with one of Clary's feet marred with burns and blisters and the other three in various states of disarray. Jocelyn and Luke were wearing their pajamas. The formers consisting of a ratty t-shirt with unorganized designs of holes and sweatpants covered in paint stains. The latter's was another hole-worn t-shirt as well as pants that were covered in Scooby-Doo pictures. Jace was the only one who looked halfway normal, though his hair was noticeably unbrushed. Not that it seemed to deter the giggling nurses.

Jace seemed to take their attention in with amused delight, though there was no surprise in his attitude. Clary wanted to snap, to both Jace and the nurses, that there was a considerable age difference, but didn't want to cause any awkwardness. Plus, she still wasn't sure she would even be able to say anything. The pain had decreased considerably, but it was still lingering, and to say the least, it was more pain than she had ever been in before.

They had been waiting for a doctor for a painfully soporific amount of time and Clary desperately wished she had her phone. She watched as Jace handed out his phone number to the bunch of shyly smiling nurses.

'That's just gross,'Clary thought.

When Jace came back over, she decided to try out her voice, "You do realize they're about 20 years older than you, don't you?"

Though her voice was gravelly from all the crying and grated on her ears, she managed to get the sentence out. She hadn't even cried for that long really, she thought proudly, it was more the rate at which the tears fell that caused her voice to crack.

Jace, being his usual infuriating self, smirked at her while simultaneously putting his phone, now filled with old lady numbers, back into his jacket.

"Of course I realize. Though I made sure to tell them that I didn't," Jace said, clearly amused.

Clary gave him a look that portrayed everything she was feeling: disgust, horror, and the overwhelming feeling to throw up. Though, she supposed that was most likely from the pain, rather than Jace's impertinent ways. Clary was about to respond to him, but was interrupted when a doctor finally came to see her.

Looking at the clock, she saw that they had been waiting for over an hour. She would have said something about the extremely slow service, but earlier she had seen a little boy with an arrow going in one side of his arm and coming out the other. The doctors had quickly taken him back and she realized that there were more serious cases that needed to be put before her, and she certainly wasn't going to complain. Sure the burn looked and hurt like hell, it wasn't life threatening. An arrow through your arm, she figured, was not only extremely painful, but was certainly life threatening. The amount of blood on the little boy when he walked in had already been enough to cover his entire arm, and she couldn't imagine how much there would be once the arrow was removed.

As she got up, she turned to look at the three people with her, questioning with her eyes whether they were going to come or not, whether they were even allowed to go.

Jace seemed to understand her because he said, "Are we allowed to go back with you?"

The doctor's eyes swept across the three people sitting anxiously in the gray plastic chairs. To Clary they looked more like they were on the verge of death from lack of entertainment, but there was also definitely an eagerness to see what was going to happen, as well as worry for her. Even Jace looked that way, though Clary could tell he was trying to hide his emotions.

With a sigh he said, "All of you can come, but if it gets too crowded one of you will have to go."

Jocelyn and Luke smiled gratefully, while Jace merely nodded his head in acknowledgement.

By the time everything had been sorted out, it was nearly 12 o'clock. They had gotten there at 7. The doctor had examined her foot, wrapped it in bandages, explained to her the proper method of cleaning and care, given her ointment for it, and told her about long-term effects. Clary had tried to take everything in, but honestly she was worn out and frustrated and bored and she just couldn't comprehend what he was saying, so she decided she would rely on the other three to remember everything the doctor, who's name she'd discovered was Dr. Warzinski, had said.

One thing she could clearly remember from his spiel was that he recommended she take the rest of the day off from school. Her parents decided to include Jace in that as well. Getting to stay home from school was a relief to Clary because her foot still hurt, and the bandage rubbing and pushing against it wasn't helping, plus she felt like she was just about ready to collapse. In fact, as soon as she sat down in the car, she fell asleep. When they had arrived back at their house, Luke had tried carrying her in, but had accidentally bumped her burned foot against the door, and hence woke Clary up. Though, he had still carried her in.

When Luke laid her down on the couch, she called out, "Can you get me my phone?"

He bent down, kissed her forehead, and replied, "Sure thing sweetie."

When he brought it back to her, she saw that she had 6 missed calls, and 20 text messages.

She smiled to herself, grateful of her caring friends. When she opened the first text, from Simon, it said everything she expected: 'Where are you?' 'Did something happen?' But when she got to the end she saw something she never would have expected.

Hey guys! Thanks for the reviews :) I hope you are still enjoying this story... :D Anyway this time I want ten reviews please! And also! I was asked what grade jace is in, and I've decided to put Jace in 11th grade. :) Also I changed the rating to T because there was a swear word and it's not going to be the last... sooo you are warned! xx