I lied.

We lost our first two games, and I had a feeling the guys were blaming it on us. I was pissed.

With two more games left to go, I was a sweaty mess. Sweaty out of place baby hairs were plastered to my face, making me look probably a little bit dead inside.

Our coach was also pissed, and was currently yelling at us. Jace's dad was in the corner of the room, listening and watching the coach scream at us.

"You're not boxing out," she yelled. "How many times do I have to tell you to get this across? Just because you're playing against a different sex doesn't mean you can't box them out. . ."

Coach lowered her voice, her tone turning into disappointment. The team lowered their heads, avoiding eye contact.

"You can't just rely on Jace to score all of the points. And Simon, you're a wing, not a forward. Act like it."

Simon fixed his glasses, nodding slightly.

"Clary you need to work harder. You only had ten points the last game. You got called to play for a reason, show it."

I nodded at her. Eyes falling down, as I tried to ignore the pit of pain and nervousness in my stomach.

Deep breaths Clary. You have one more game. One more game and you can go home.

And probably think about everything you did wrong…

"This games going to be rough. It determines our seating for our games tomorrow. If we want a chance at first place, we need to win this game and every single one tomorrow." She paused. "And if not, it's a suicide for every point we lose by."

I held in the urge to groan. A suicide for every single point?

"Double suicides if we lose by more than ten for any of the games. . . alright. Grab your bags. We play in ten minutes."

We all grabbed our bags in silence as the coach left with her clipboard. Meliorn looked miserable. Simon looked disappointed. Izzy looked annoyed. And Jace looked. . . pissed.

His dad was mouthing words at him, as we headed towards the gym. I caught, "Work harder, or you're grounded."

Jace walkes past him, but his father made sure to bump into his shoulder. Jace angrily bit his lip as he stalked forward.

"Let's come out with a win on this one guys," Izzy said. "Make sure to get back on transitions."

Meliorn muttered something under his breath and rolled his eyes.

I held in the urge to bitch slap him across the face.

"Start with layups for warm ups," Jace said. "We only have five minutes to get ready."

I pulled a basketball from my bag, amd our team started to warm up. Within the next five minutes we were ready to play, and so was the other team.

Jace, Alec, Simon, Izzy, and I were the starters. Again. The game started out slowly, Alec losing the jump ball to a 6'7 player. My 5'3 stance wouldn't be able to get past that. Luckily, he played on Jace the whole game.

My the third quarter we were down by eleven points. Jace had twenty-one, followed by Alec with seventeen. I only had thirteen points, followed by Izzy who had eight.

The rest of our team averaged around five points, yet it still wasn't enough to beat the other team.

Eventually we lost, and headed to the lockeroom in another silence. After one final lecture from our coach, she left, and the girls went to one side, while the boys stayed seated on the bench.

The scene was depressing really. A bunch of sweaty teenagers too gassed to talk, sitting in silence. Cheering could be heard from the hallway, Emil Pangborn's obnoxious laugh echoing throughout the lockeroom.

As I was waiting for Jace and his father to bring me back to their house, so I could get Luke's pickup truck, I heard two familar voices around the corner arguing.

"She sucks. Your whole team is shit." It was Jace's dad. "But you, you're a disgrace to this family's name."

"Dad-"

"And that Clary girl. . . I don't want to see you with her again."

"But-"

"No," he yelled. "And that's final. Listen close boy. If you don't get your field goal percentage up soon-"

His voice cut off.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

My heart was beating erratically. I covered my hand over my heart as if they could hear it.

"Your mother would be so disappointed in you. She didn't deserve you as a son. No wonder she left."

"I'm sorry."

"Sorry isn't good enough. Go get that red headed bitch from the gym and Meliorn."

My hand was now over my mouth, and I quickly, yet quietly backed away from the corner. A tap to my shoulder sent me jumping into the air.

"Meliorn? What are you doing? Are you trying to scare me to death?"

"Are you trying to get caught eavesdropping? By Jace's dad?"

"Oh hey Jace," I said, as he rounded the corner, shooting Meliorn a glare.

"Hi?" he questioned, his eyebrow raised. "My dad's waiting in the car-"

"Yo Jacey!"

My eyes widened at the sight of Emil Pangborn, heading straight towards Jace, a group of guys following after him like a pack of dogs.

"I heard you lost all three games?"

"Let's get out of here," Jace mumbled, grabbing my hand and pulling me towards the exit. Meliorn tried to keep up in his crutches.

"Where you going Jacey? Leaving so soon? Haven't you heard?"

"Heard what Pangborn?" Jace was still holding onto my hand.

"Well Wayland. It's just that. . . Will Herondale."

Jace sucked a breath in.

"He's hurt, and he lost his scholarship to Notre Dame to Stephen Pangborn. Just thought you might you know, want to give Will a call. Check to see how that whore of his, Tessa, is doing."

"Jace," I whispered urgently. His grip on my hand increased.

"One more word Pangborn."

"Or what Wayland?" He smirked. "What could you possibly do?"

"Don't-" I was now pulling on Jace's hand, trying to keep him back.

"Your father has you tied to a leash. Nothing more than a piece of -"

Pangborn never got to finish his sentence. Instead, Jace violently punched his face, and they both went flying to the ground with a thud.

AN: Yo yo yo yo. What's up readers? It's been awhile. . . But guess what? I MADE MY SCHOOL'S VARSITY BASKETBALL TEAM!! As a sophomore! which is one of the reasons I havent been able to post in awhile. And I also have final exams this Wednesday. hopefully I don't fail. But IM GONNA TRY TO BE POSITIVE ABOUT IT. . .

"believing in negative thoughts is the single greatest obstruction to success."