Hello :)

I'm sorry that this took so long, seriously. I made it super long to make up for it. 10,000 words are a lot of words, especially when they have to work together to make sentences and paragraphs and then scenes and ugh. It'd be so much easier if I just had to list 10,000 random words. If only.

Here you go-

'

Jace and I were halfway through history when the teacher's phone rang. Curious mutters rose up around the room, and Jace took the opportunity to toss the folded up paper we'd been passing back and forth onto my desk.

I took it and was about to unfold it when I heard my name called. I looked up with raised brows, hoping I wasn't caught and subtly flicking the note into my lap. The last thing I wanted was for our conversation to be read out loud. 'd been I could just imagine my father's reaction if he heard that Jace and I had been passing notes containing the details of the case.

"They want you in the office."

I took a deep breath and nodded. I gathered my stuff together, shoving the note into my pocket.

"I'll walk her there," Jace offered, helping to collect my things, since it was near the end of the period.

Starkweather didn't even bother to argue, like he normally would have. All of the teachers had been tip-toeing around me today and I was pretty sure I knew why. I sighed as we stepped out of the room, Jace holding the door for me.

"I think my parents told the teachers."

Jace nodded thoughtfully. "Probably. Or they just heard from the rumors. Jon and Sebastian's fight was pretty vocal. He was pretty obvious about what was going on. Probably the entire school knows."

I looked down, feeling my cheeks flush with shame, even though the halls were empty. "I wish he'd shut his mouth every now and then," I muttered.

I saw Jace look at me out of the corner of my eye.

"You have no reason to be embarrassed. Sebastian is the one who should be ashamed to walk down the hall. You didn't do a thing wrong, Clary," he said, his voice serious.

I felt his hand go to rest on my back and smiled a bit at him as he ran his fingers up and down my spine soothingly.

It hadn't taken him long to figure out how to keep contact with me, even with my crutches, which made any movement the absolute opposite of graceful. I don't think he'd left my side once during the day except for when classes separated us.

"This is a bit of deja vu," Jace said, his lips quirking up in the slightest smile.

I nodded. I remembered well, the first day I had met Jace. Looking back now, it was a bittersweet memory. It infuriated me, too, that it was that way. It shouldn't have been. I shouldn't be looking back on the day I met Jace only to remember this crippling fear of Sebastian and what he would do in retaliation to my association with someone he didn't even really know. It shouldn't be a painful memory. None of it should be. But everything up until recently was covered with a shroud of fear, whether I'd realized it at the time or not.

How had I wasted so much of my life with him? How had I allowed him to take me over as completely as he had?

I tried to break out of those thoughts and just focus on now. I thought of Jace's hand on my back, the way he smiled at me when I agreed with him.

"I feel stupid for even questioning this, but I wonder why I'm being called down."

Jace raised a brow at me, his eyes twinkling with humor. "I wonder. It couldn't be that you're going on trial with another student for all kinds of nasty stuff."

I raised my brows at him. He just chuckled.

"I just meant that my father already talked to them. He called yesterday to make sure everything was set for me to be here. There should be no reason for me to be called down to the office."

Jace didn't say anything, his lips twisting downwards a bit. "You said something happened in art, though," he reminded me. "In our notes."

I groaned. "I don't want to talk to them about it."

Jace sighed, his fingers trailing up my back to slip into my hair absentmindedly.

"You know they're going to want you too. Especially if the dickhead is pitching a fit about it," he said irritably.

"I should be the one pitching a fit," I snapped, my fingers tightening on the handles of my crutches. "The stupid teacher is still making me do the portrait project with him as my subject."

Jace's eyes swung around to me, widening slightly. "You can't be serious," he said disbelievingly. "What the hell is she thinking?"

I shrugged. "She said there would be a lot of true emotion in it when it was finished," I said, a bit mockingly.

Jace scoffed. "Yeah, emotion. It's called fucking terror after what the fuckwad has done."

I stayed quiet as Jace fumed, not wanting to say something to anger him more. After a moment of silence, Jace stopped walking, stopping me gently with a hand on my shoulder.

"Please don't do that," he said softly, resting a hand on my cheek. His palm was warm, and I tipped my head into it instinctually. He smiled slightly, circling his thumb over my cheekbone soothingly.

"You mean the project?" I asked, barely remembering what we'd been talking about.

Jace shook his head, his eyes sad. "No. When I was upset, you got all quiet, like you were afraid of me," he said, sounding hurt. His eyes were swirling as they met mine, and I could see the pain in them.

My eyes widened slightly. I had to think back to the conversation to remember what I had even gone quiet for. Then I dropped my eyes to the ground.

"I'm sorry," I said. Jace sighed, sounding conflicted.

"I don't want you to apologize," he said. "I just want you to know that you don't have to be afraid of me. You don't have to be afraid of saying or doing something I might not like. I might get angry about things, but I would never be like him."

His eyes stayed locked on mine as he talked, and I could hear the seriousness in his tone.

I just nodded, not sure what to say in response. Jace's lips quirked up at the sides as his hand slipped from my cheek and down to my back again, just between my shoulder blades.

"Sorry. You know I like speeches." I chuckled.

"I know. I don't think it's even possible for you to express your emotions in less than sixty words. You'd never survive on twitter."

His resulting laugh was a short bark of amusement. I smiled, knowing I'd managed to surprise the reaction from him.

My smile slipped as Luke turned the corner, dressed as stiffly as always. His blue eyes landed on Jace and I and I saw a flicker of panic fading from his eyes.

"Oh good. You took longer than expected to get to my office, so I decided to come make sure Starkweather wasn't holding you up." He raised a brow at Jace, who held up my things with the slightest smirk.

I jabbed an elbow into his side, knowing he enjoyed the excuse of my crutches too much. Like held his hands out, smiling at me reassuringly.

"I can take her things from here," he offered. Jace shrugged and handed them to him.

I frowned, thinking Jace was leaving me here. Then, as I started to follow Luke back the way he'd come, Jace remained by my side. Luke paused as I began to chuckle, trying and failing to hold it in. He looked back and shook his head with a sigh. He muttered something under his breath before continuing down the hall.

I frowned, but didn't bother asking him to repeat himself, even as Jace laughed under his breath. I could ask him later.

As soon as the office door opened, a groan slipped from my lips.

"Jonathan," I groaned. "What the hell did you do this time?"

My brother turned to look at me in the chair, grinning. I sucked in a breath when I saw the black eye he was currently sporting.

"Jon!" I rushed over as fast as my crutches allowed before hovering awkwardly as I tried to situate myself to free a hand.

"Clare, calm down," Jon said, reaching up and placing his hands on my shoulders. "Just sit down and I'll stand next to you. I promise you can hover from there."

I scowled at him, wishing I had proper balance so I could slap him upside the head. Instead, I just turned and sat in the chair beside Jon, simply ignoring him now.

Jace walked up behind my chair, greeting my brother with a nod of the head. Jon grinned, nodding back.

"You look like you're half raccoon."

I couldn't help a short laugh, and covered my mouth as everyone turned to look at me. Jace's eyes were twinkling mischievously as he grinned, clearly proud of the reaction I had to his joke.

He placed himself carefully on the arm of my chair, kissing my cheek before leaning against my shoulder.

Jon made a gagging noise. "Can you not? You know, you can survive without flirting for three seconds. I shit you not. It is scientifically proven." He dropped his head back onto the chair cushion, his eyes going up to the ceiling tiles.

I rolled my own eyes and Jace let out a little huff.

"You two are so different, but you seem identical at the same time."

I raised my brows at him. "We are siblings," I pointed out. Jace rolled his eyes.

"Really, I didn't notice," he said, his tone dripping with sarcasm.

I narrowed my eyes at him and contemplated shoving him off of the chair.

Before I could decide, Luke was walking past us and taking a seat behind his desk. Jace rested his cheek on the top of my head, and I came to the decision to let him stay, more for my own gain than his. I liked having him by my side, even if he was an idiot sometimes.

"So," Luke started, rubbing his hands together as he leaned his elbows onto the desk. "Jonathan wouldn't tell me anything. All we know is that he got in a fight last period with a classmate-"

"Which classmate?" Jon's eyes narrowed as he glared at the floor. I honestly wasn't as surprised as I should have been. "Why did you get in a fight?" I asked when he didn't respond to my other question. I gritted my teeth together when he continued to ignore me.

"Jonathan Christo-"

"Don't pull my full name," he snapped, finally looking up at me. I felt a little pang in my chest when I saw how angry he looked. "You're not my mother."

There was a short silence, and I could feel Jace's muscles tense up. "I'm sorry," I said quietly, looking away from Jon and shrinking back into Jace slightly. He tightened his arm around me, pressing a kiss to the top of my head.

I heard Jon sigh, but didn't look at him. It may have been pathetic, but I felt better hiding behind Jace.

"Clare," I heard Jon start gently. "I'm sorry. I'm not mad at you. I'm just...mad in general. I didn't mean to snap at you."

I just nodded, still hurt over his reaction. Jon hardly ever snapped at me. All I'd even done was try to get him to talk to me.

"So," Luke started, clearing his throat awkwardly. "There is the matter of your punishment, Jonathan. If you won't tell me anything, then I'll just have to go with what Zeke told me."

Jon's jaw clenched and my eyes widened. "Zeke? The asshole who made me sprain my wrist?"

I heard Jace growl lowly. "That was Sebastian's fault more than Zeke's. You should've been fine to hit him without any injuries. It's Sebastian's fault you were hurt instead of Zeke." I shrugged.

"You know what I meant. I meant the kid that I punched. I was just trying to say it creatively."

I looked at Jon just in time I see his lips quirk up in a smile. "'Kid'? He's in my grade,

Clary."

I raised my brows. "Really? I thought he was a sophomore. He acts like one."

Luke made a noise of agreement in the back of his throat, nodding slowly. I grinned, knowing how much the whole school disliked our current sophomore class-my class.

It wasn't that they were all horrible or anything. They were just the loudest, most self-centered class in the school. Last year, it had been Jon's class everyone hated. I think it's more of a sophomore thing, actually.

But the kids in my class in particular were pretty bad, even compared to normal sophomores.

"I don't even like the sophomores," Jace said, shaking his head. "And I'm new here."

I heard Jon snort quietly. "Hey, Jace, you know what grade Clary's in?"

Jace frowned, thinking for a moment before his eyes widened. "Shit-I didn't mean it like th-"

"It's fine," I said, chuckling lightly. "I hate my class too, half of the time."

Jace's relief was obvious. His shoulders slumped slightly and he let out a soft breath. He gave me one last sheepish look and I just shook my head with a smile. "Jon's just trying to make you feel bad," I said, poking him in the ribs. "Don't let him."

Jon made an undignified sound from where he sat. I scowled at him.

"Shut it, Rocket," I snapped when he opened his mouth, probably to tell Jace that he wasn't joking, even though he definitely was.

Jon looked a bit shocked and Jace started laughing immediately. We'd all watched Guardians of the Galaxy together last night.

Rocket was the name of the raccoon.

"Okay, children," Mr. Garroway cut in. "We need to have a conversation." He leaned forward, folding his hands together on top of his desk. "Jon, you need to talk about this, okay? If you don't, we can't help you."

I turned to see Jon's reaction and he looked irritated, his nose wrinkling.

"I helped myself just fine."

Luke sighed, dropping his head forward slightly. "You know what I meant. This is your second fight in just a few weeks. If you don't have a justified reason for it then our only option is suspension, possibally expulsion if it happens again. But, if we can prove it was provoked-"

"Defending my little sister should be reason enough. And if it's not, then I don't care what happens to me," Jon snapped, his jaw clenching and hands tightening into fists.

My eyes widened and I looked more closely at my brother, seeing the rage that was still simmering, although buried.

"What happened?" I asked, my voice softer now. I felt bad for snapping at him now that I knew he only looked like a raccoon because of me.

Jon sighed. "People are being idiots. They've heard stuff now, about what happened. And some people are siding with Verlac." It didn't get past me that Jonathan nearly refused to say his old best friend's first name now.

I shrugged. "I already knew that. You know Mortmain, from the team? He was starting stuff in art." I tried to act nonchalant about it, trying to make him see that I was okay with it, like I had accepted it.

Jace's hand slipped to mine, tangling his fingers into mine and squeezing gently. I'd told Jace everything that had happened in art.

Jon suddenly spun, nearly throwing himself out of his chair, to look at me. "Speaking of art, what the fuck happened in art?"

"Jonathan, language!" Jon ignored Mr. Garroway, looking at me expectantly.

I smiled sheepishly. "How much have you heard?" Jon frowned.

"I heard that you sat next to Verlac today, and that you were taunting him." His eyes narrowed. "I'm pretty sure that's not true, though."

I bit my lip. "Well, not really. The teacher told me I had to sit next to him today until she could change my seat. So I did. I ignored him when he tried to talk to me and started sketching. To be honest, I knew sketching what I did would piss him off but he deserved it," I defended quickly.

Jon looked conflicted. "I'm torn between telling you good job for standing up to him and yelling at you for antagonizing him."

I smiled at him, a bit cheekily. He rolled his eyes. "You know what Dad will say, though."

I sighed, my head dropping slightly. He was right. I knew exactly what my father, my lawyer, would say.

"'You shouldn't have responded. You should have ignored him or even recorded what he said.'" I rolled my eyes. "I don't care what he would say. Or what's best for the case. I just care about what felt right. And it felt right to tell him off."

Jace made a quiet sound of disagreement. "Clary, I'm all for you doing what you need to feel better about this, but I don't think starting stuff with him will solve anything. Not with his mentality. I don't want him to hurt you again."

Jon scoffed. "That coward wouldn't dare touch her again. Not with the charges against him. He won't do anything that could give him a larger risk of going to jail."

Luke cleared his throat, gaining our attention back. "As much as I think it is important you all have this conversation, there is something we're here to discuss." He turned to my brother once more. "Jon, can you be a bit more specific?"

Jon looked at the ground, shaking his head.

"Jon, please," I said, leaning forward to look him in the eyes. Jace made an annoyed noise when my movement caused him to slump into the seat. I ignored him. "if it was about me then I deserve to know what happened."

He continued to look at the ground for a moment before looking up with a sigh. he shoved his hand through his pale hair, tugging on it slightly. His eyes met mine carefully.

"Zeke found me in the hallway after last period, between classes. He was hanging around a bunch of his friends. I was walking by and he called out 'how's your sister?'." Jon sighed.

"I've already gotten used to answering questions like that, so I didn't even stop to think before turning to him and saying that you were doing a lot better now. Then he smirked and said 'too bad. It would do the lying slut some good to be injured a bit worse.'" Jon's hands were clenched tightly on the arms of the chair now.

The words stung, of course, but knowing that it was coming from a scumbag like Zeke made it so that I barely even cared. I was more concerned with exactly how much trouble my brother was in now.

"I told him to shut up," Jon continued. "That he didn't know shit. And he just laughed. He said that you were just a cheating skank trying to cover her tracks."

I scoffed. "So Sebastian is telling everyone that I cheated on him to make himself look better. Leaving out the fact that he cheated on me for months, of course."

Jon looked at me sympathetically, his eyes uncharacteristically helpless. "Sorry, Clare. I want to help so bad, but there's nothing I can do." His eyes were shining a bit and he turned away from me. "All I can do is beat him up, and if I do that you and Dad could lose your case against him. I just don't know what to do."

I looked at my older brother as his jaw clenched and unclenched. I stood up, carefully shifting Jace off of me. He moved to stand up with me and I waved him off.

I hopped carefully to my brother's side, resting a hand on his shoulder. He didn't react at all, just dropping his head a bit more and allowing his hands to fall loosely into his lap. I looked up at Luke with pleading eyes.

"He was just protecting me," I said softly. "You know Jon. he wouldn't hit somebody without a reason to. Zeke provoked him-"

"But Zeke says differently, Clary," Luke said gently, shaking his head. "I can't take one student's word over another, no matter how much more trustworthy one is."

I frowned. "There's got to be something. It's not fair that he gets in trouble for this."

Before Luke could respond, there was a loud knock on the office door. After three resounding thuds, it was quiet.

"Come in," Luke called, his brows drawing together in the center.

I turned to look at the doorway as the heavy door creaked open. Then I scowled.

"What are you doing here?" I snapped, before Luke could say anything. He cleared his throat admonishingly. I just continued to glare at Raphael as he bowed his head.

"The lady at the desk said that I could tell you about a fight I witnessed," he said, his voice sounding hollow.

Jace scoffed.

"What, are you here to report what happened to your poor little boyfriend?" I looked at Jace with raised brows. His golden eyes were burning as he looked at the boy shifting nervously in the doorway.

"I'm here to talk about what I saw."

Jon's shoulder was tense under my hand and I squeezed it comfortingly. I looked to Luke, who nodded.

"You three, wait outside in the chairs while I talk to Raphael."

I felt oddly betrayed as we shuffled out into the receptionist's area, taking a seat around the circular table. I sat between Jon and Jace, keeping my hand on Jon's shoulder while my other hand was held in Jace's.

I could just imagine the slanted tale Raphael was weaving right now. I could just see how it would portray Jon as the antagonist, walking up to Zeke and punching him for no reason.

It felt like a fire was burning a hole in my chest. I was just so angry. Jon protected me from this stuff all the time. But when I tried to protect him, I was completely useless. I couldn't even convince a family friend to take our side in a situation that was entirely the other person's fault. What a sister I was.

The three of us remained silent, all quietly stewing about what had happened.

"This is ridiculous," I finally grumbled. "This is all Zeke's fault, again. And you're getting blamed again."

Jon shrugged, not responding. I frowned at him.

"Jon? Are you okay?" He nodded, eyes focused on the table his hands rested on, palm down. I narrowed my eyes, tired of his third degree.

"You're lying," I snapped. "Would somebody just be honest with me? For once," I hissed, removing my hand from his shoulder.

He finally looked at me, his eyes widened a little. Jace shifted in his chair next to me, his knee bumping mine. "Clary?" he asked warily. I ignored him.

I could pay attention to him later. Right now, it was the brother-sister show. "You've been so trapped up in your own little pity party that you can't even be bothered to talk to me. I always tell you what's wrong, but you can't even take a minute to confide in me!"

Jon finally looked back at me, his eyes flaring. "Really? Then why didn't I know what was going on with Sebastian until lately? You didn't say a word about how he treated you! I found out from Jace!" He spat his name, but my boyfriend was wise enough not to comment on it.

"I did tell you there were things wrong, Jon. It's not my fault if you were too oblivious to take notice of it," I fired back, my temper rising in me to match his.

Before he could say anything in return, there was a low chuckle from the entrance to the room we were in. My head snapped up to see the blonde asshole that had started all this. I felt satisfaction and pride in my brother sure in me when I saw that Jon had managed to give Zeke much worse than the black eye he'd received. There was a cut on his cheekbone, a seriously swollen nose, and a darkened eye like my brother's. He had one of the school's crappy ice packs-a plastic baggie with ice cubes in it-clenched in his fist, which was clear of any cuts. I flashed a look to Jon's hands, seeing split knuckles and bruises. It was clear who had won the fight.

Zeke raised a brow at me, grinning cockily when he saw me looking him over.

"Like what you see, sweetheart?" I made a show of looking at him more closely, curling my lip up a bit.

"Definitely not. Especially that hair. Yeesh. I like blonde," I raised a hand to Jace's hair, squeezing his hand subtly. "But not ashy, grayish-brown blonde like yours. I think the term is 'dirty' blonde for a reason. It's gross." I raised my brows now. "And besides, I really do prefer a man who has a body like one. You have the body of a fourteen year old girl who's developing late. And I like one who can hold their own in a fight." I said the last part pointedly, turning away from him and catching Jace's quicksilver grin. "Run along now, little girl. The adults need to have a conversation."

Zeke made a noise of outrage. "Excuse me? You're the youngest in the room, you filthy ho!"

"Do not," Jace was snapping before I could react. "Talk to my girlfriend like that."

"Or my sister," Jon hissed.

I blinked, feeling odd about how I had two guys jumping so quickly to defend me, even when I had actually started the fight.

I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy it just a little bit. It felt nice to have people willing to protect me. I'd always had Jon there, but sometimes he was such an idiot himself that it was hard to remember that he was pretty awesome when he wanted to be.

Zeke simply sneered at us, crossing his arms over his chest and turning towards the door to Luke's office.

I raised my brows when he made no move to enter the room with them.

"Are you waiting for a formal invitation?" I asked, annoyed just by being in the same room as him. We couldn't talk how we wanted to with this idiot in hearing range.

Zeke huffed, turning to me just to give me a brief glare. "Just wait, Morgenstern. You won't be singing such a smug song after Raphael tells Mr. Garroway what really happened."

I rolled my eyes. Jon made a show of looking directly at Zeke.

"Because you two are so trustworthy."

Zeke stuck one finger up in the air, but didn't respond in any other way.

I sighed, dropping my forehead to the table.

Jace's arm went around my waist, and I felt his chin rest on top of my head. I let out a contented sigh, closing my eyes as I soaked up the heat from Jace's body. He always seemed so much warmer than I was-not that I was complaining. That meant I had more of an excuse to be close to him.

Definitely nothing to complain about.

I fished around on the table for a minute, looking for Jace's hand. Finally, I sighed deeply, letting my hand fall to the cool table top limply. I felt Jace's laughter rumble through his chest.

"What are you doing?" He asked. I felt his breath tickle my hair, and smiled a bit, despite how cold my hand remained.

"Nothing," I grumbled, feeling weird to vocalize that I wanted to hold his hand. It sounded so needy, even in my head.

I felt Jace shift around me, his chin leaving my head. I was confused for a second, about to lift my head to see where he'd gone. Before I could, his breath was stirring the hair by my ear, his lips brushing against it warmly.

A shiver ran down my spine as he spoke in a soft whisper. "Would you like something from me?"

I lifted my head up to look at him. His eyes were shimmering with mischief, and something a bit darker, something less innocent. I blinked slowly. "I was going to ask for your hand, but if you're offering a different body part, I wouldn't be opposed to it," I said back, trying to speak as softly as he had.

Apparently, I failed.

"Clarissa Morgenstern," my brother cried, aghast. "What the hell did you just say?"

I jumped, turning away from where my face was maybe a bit too close to Jace's. I looked at Jon with wide eyes. "Nothing. I just said I wanted to hold his hand."

Well, that sounded even needier out loud.

Jon raised a pale brow, his eyes narrowing. "Really? Because that is definitely not what I heard."

"Well that's what I said," I defended, blinking as innocently as I could manage. Jon scoffed, rolling his eyes.

"Next time the two of you want to escalate the already smothering sexual tension between you, you should make sure nobody you're related to is in the room."

I turned, along with all the other people in the room, to see Isabelle standing in the doorway to the office, one hand placed on her hip carelessly. Her eyes were narrowed, and I couldn't help but wonder how long she'd been standing there, or exactly how loud my words had come out, if she'd managed to hear them.

Her red lips were twisted into a smirk, and I just turned around and put my head back on the table.

Jace was moving beside me, and I scrunched my face up, not liking that he was getting further from me. And I still hadn't held his hand.

"Izzy, you have no idea what we were saying. You're just talking because of how Jon reacted," Jace said surely. I heard Isabelle crack up and lifted my head off the table, opening my eyes accusingly.

"You don't even know what we said?" Oh thank god.

He shook her head, flipping her hair over her shoulder, "Do you realize how awkward that just was for me?" I gave her an annoyed look.

"I still heard," Jon pointed out. "And you deserve to feel awkward."

I raised my brows at him. "Do I even need to point out how many times I heard you say things about a girl that I never wanted to hear my brother say? Just think of this as payback." His face paled.

"Oh god. Does that mean you're going to say stuff like that more often? I won't survive it." He threw his hand up in the air before falling back onto the table with an over dramatic flourish. I chuckled.

"Calm down. I'll try and keep it to a minimum when you and Dad are around. Mom's just gonna have to suck it up. She promoted this relationship," I pointed out, running my fingers over the smooth heart hanging from my neck. Jon rolled his eyes, but I could see the slight smile on his lips and behind his eyes.

"How adorable," Zeke sneered, just before the door to Luke's actual office swung open.

Raphael stepped out first, a bitter and annoyed look on his face. Luke followed, looking concerned. I frowned. Jon was going to get in trouble because of me again.

I saw Raphael look over at us, his face blank. That was a shock all on its own. I don't think Raphael had ever looked at me with anything but hatred. Then, the boy looked to his friend, and his face went pale. He said something to Mr. Garroway , who nodded, before stepping out of the room, his head down and his eyes on the floor.

Zeke looked after him in confusion before turning to Luke.

"Raphael was just telling me his side of things. And, surprisingly enough, it matched Jonathan's story."

My eyes widened. Jace let out a little huff, clearly shocked as well.

"Seriously?" Jon sputtered. "He didn't take Zeke's side?"

Zeke was scowling, his messy hair falling onto his forehead in stringy clumps.

"Bull," he snapped. "He's lying. He's lying as much as those three!" He stabbed a finger in our direction.

I didn't say anything, just watching the fit he was throwing with slight amusement. Jon may get into trouble still, but not as much if it was agreed that Zeke had started it.

Zeke was spluttering, his face turning a bright shade of red and his eyes narrowed as he told Mr. Garrroway yet again that he had done nothing to deserve the punches he'd received.

Jon just leaned back in his chair, watching with crossed arms and raised brows. He, apparently, had realized the same thing I had. He wasn't in trouble. Or, at least, not as much as we thought he would be.

My attention was focused solely on the hissy fit Zeke was throwing as soon as my name came into it.

"It's all because of her!" He jabbed a finger at me and I raised my brows, having not really focused on what he was saying before that. "She's causing all the problems in this school! The bitch is lying about another student! Saying he raped her! Bullshit! Sebastian is a great guy. Ask anyone, he's never shown any signs of being anything but that. So where the hell does this whore get off by spreading this shit about him? And why is all of the administration believing her-the only one of the two to have actually acquired a disciplinary problem over the last year-over Sebastian?"

I scoffed, noticing how careful he was to say 'over the last year'. Sebastian had definitely got into his fair share of fights in this school. Just not in this school year quite yet.

"What about the time he bashed a kid's head into the wall?" I asked, suddenly remembering the scene he'd created last year. It may not have been this year, but it was probably the most violent thing Sebastian had done on school grounds. It had shocked even Jon and I to see.

It was about six months before Sebastian and I started dating. All three of us were close, even then. We'd been walking down the hall and I was wearing Sebastian's soccer jersey. I always alternated between the two boys' jerseys on game day. I'd worn Jon's last game, so now I was wearing one with VERLAC stretched proudly across the back, a big number three under it. I had it tied with a hair tie at the back since it reached my knees otherwise. As it was, the sleeves went almost to my elbows.

I was standing by Seb's side and Jon was next to him. I was listening raptly to what my brother was saying. When he finished his joke, we were all laughing. I was actually leaning against Sebastian a bit as my body shook with laughter. They ended up laughing at my reaction more than the original joke as Sebastian put his hands on my shoulders to steady me.

"Easy, Clary," he laughed.

I grinned at him, still shaking slightly. Before I could recover completely, the smile was ripped from my face as a hand made contact with my ass. At first, I thought it was Seb, but then I realized that Sebastian not only respected me more than that, but would never do a thing like that in front of my brother. And his smile was completely gone, slipped away like mine had. Before I knew it, his hands had left my shoulders and he'd lunged to my side, reaching for the boy passing by, a smirk falling from his lips as Sebastian grabbed his shirt collar. Jon grabbed my arm, pulling me to the side and away from the two boys who were surely about to go at it.

Nobody predicted that Seb wasn't going to punch the kid-Nathaniel Gray, as I found out later-but grab him by his hair and slam his head back into the wall he was pinned against. Jon was just a second too late as he spun me around and pulled me into him. I'd just seen his head connect with the wall with an audible thump before my head was buried in my brother's chest.

Thankfully, Sebastian had stopped there and Nathaniel had gotten away with just a mild concussion. He did, however, transfer schools a couple days later.

Sebastian had apologized repeatedly, and we'd eventually forgotten about it. But it wasn't really something that could stay buried forever.

Zeke looked at me blankly, but his eyes were burning in anger. "You do remember that he was defending you when he did that, right?" I narrowed my eyes.

"You do remember I never asked for him to try and crack somebody's skull, right?" I snapped back, leaning forward on the table, resting my palms on it challengingly. "And it's not like it was exactly reasonable now was it?"

"What's unreasonable is what you're doing to him. All he's ever done is protected and cared about you, and you're ruining his life. You know, he's never going to be able to get a decent job, or even move houses without having to alert all his neighbors that he's a sex offender because of this, if it all goes through."

It wasn't the first time I'd thought about all that. If I was telling the truth, I felt guilty about the sexual assault charges my father was throwing at him. I mean, he had never straight up raped me. But everyone insisted that coerced sex was just as bad, and I was convinced that he would have raped me on some occasions if I had refused him, or if the circumstances were different.

"Maybe he should have thought about that before he did the things he did," Jon snapped. Jace put his arm around my waist, holding me to his side.

"Enough," Luke cut in as Zeke began to start up again. "You provoked this," he said, looking at the dirty blonde sharply. Then he pointed to me, his expression softening. "And she has every right to press charges and do whatever else she feels she needs to do. You know why? Because we live in a country where that's her right. And you throwing your little fit, claiming that your friend could do no wrong, won't change a damn thing. And if you, or Sebastian, or anyone, for that matter, has a problem with that, they are free to keep it to themselves because you will not be putting another weight onto the shoulders of people who could really do without it. Not while you're in my school. Do you understand me?"

Zeke's eyes were wide enough to be mistaken for dinner plates as he stared at our principal in shock. A short giggle managed to escape my lips, and I clapped a hand over my mouth, my own eyes widening at the sound. I saw Luke's lips quirk up for a split second before he returned to giving Zeke the most stern glare I'd ever seen from him.

I felt Jon's knee collide with mine under the table as I struggled to contain myself and I folded my arms on the tabletop, hiding my face in them. It was just a natural reaction for me to laugh. Luke was the least threatening person I'd ever met. But if I were honestly looking at him from Zeke's point of view, I would probably be terrified.

I picked my head back up once I was under control again.

"I said, 'do you understand me?'" Luke snapped. Zeke nodded quickly, his muddy brown eyes widening even more. "Then leave. Be sure to let your friends know that I will not tolerate any more harassment in this school." Zeke nodded once more, frantically, before stumbling his way out of the room.

I broke out into laughter once he was gone. Everyone else gave me an odd look, but I just grinned.

"Tell me nobody else got any satisfaction from that tool get the crap scared out of him," I said in disbelief.

Then, I heard Jon snort ineloquently before beginning to laugh himself. "Okay, that was pretty awesome. Especially since it was Luke scaring him." Even Jace was chuckling.

Luke just straightened his tie, smiling a bit at us. "I don't doubt that there will still be some problems, but I do believe it will be more minor than what happened earlier."

I didn't have the heart to tell him that the principal standing up for us probably wouldn't help much, even if the students were being threatened. We'd still be the kids who ran to the principal for help, whether that was what actually happened or not.

Luke gave us a firm nod. "None of you are in trouble. Feel free to go back to your class now," he said, smiling slightly. I smiled back, remembering that the bell had rung during Zeke's hissy fit.

"Lunch," I told Jace, grinning at him.

He chuckled, his eyes shining. "Since when are you so excited for lunch?"

I scoffed, pretending to be insulted.

"You should be excited too, jerk," I said, seeing him grin as he saw straight through my faux disapproval. "Seriously, we finally get to sit with each other at lunch without Sebastian throwing a fit."

His grin widened. "I hadn't thought about it," he said, standing up and holding a hand out to me.

I took it as I stood. Jon handed me my crutches and I stuck them under my arms as he took both of our books, saying he could drop them off at my locker, since he'd known my combination since the first day of school. Thankfully, he didn't have to carry much since Jace only ever brought a pen to history. Then, whenever we took notes, he would ask around for a piece of paper since he didn't have a notebook like the rest of us did.

I'd come to class today with paper already at hand for him so that he didn't have to keep bugging the people sitting around us. Not that any of the girls minded Jace bothering them. Since I didn't appreciate the way they acted like him asking for paper was the equivalent to asking for sex in the janitor's closet, I made a mental note to always have paper handy for him.

When we walked into the cafeteria, I could immediately see the way people blatantly gawked at us. Apparently, some people hadn't gotten a chance to see us earlier and had to make up for it now. There were others who tried to pretend like they weren't staring, but they weren't very good at it and I could see the way their eyes flickered to us. Jace chuckled as we stepped up to the back of the lunch line.

"You know, I'm used to turning some heads when I step into a room but this is ridiculous."

I grinned at him. "What, are you uncomfortable with people staring at you? Welcome to a small school. People talk and stare because they have nothing more important going on in their own lives." I made sure to say it loud enough that the whispering girls in front of us, flashing us looks and giggling by the fruit bowl, could hear. They quickly turned and left the line as I hobbled up beside Jace, who gathered food for both of us. I grimaced at it. I hadn't eaten school food in a long time, and it definitely hadn't gotten any more appealing in that time.

"That looks disgusting," I said, as Jace put his pin into the machine. I followed after and the lady waved us off, barely even skimming her eyes over our trays to mark off the water bottle I'd asked Jace to grab instead of milk. Jace grinned.

"It's school food. It's not supposed to be tasteful."

He carried both of the trays out of the serving area and I followed him, feeling slightly proud when I saw the girls who had been giggling give me a dirty look. I stayed beside Jace, who was walking slower than usual to allow me to keep up, until we reached the table that Isabelle was seated at, Simon beside her. She was seriously focused on whatever he was saying, but he cut himself off as I leant my crutches against the side of the table with a slight clatter. He smiled at me and I smiled back, immensely thankful to Isabelle and Jon for getting me to talk to him again.

I was still furious with myself for letting Sebastian's control over me be enough to split Simon and I's friendship up.

I sat down carefully on the bench, and Jace sat next to me, setting my tray in front of me. I looked down at it with a grimace. "I do not want to eat this."

Jace picked my plastic fork up off my tray and put it into my hand. "Oh well. Bring your lunch tomorrow then. But you're going to eat today." I frowned at him.

"This isn't even food," I argued, poking the brown sludge on my tray and wrinkling my nose as it simply wiggled. "This is...I don't even know what this is, but I know it isn't food."

"You need to eat," Jace said sternly. I sighed.

"What is this even supposed to be, anyway?" I asked, narrowing my eyes as I noticed Isabelle and Simon whispering back and forth, identical grins on their faces as they looked between Jace and I. "What? You two are as bad as everyone else," I complained as they continued to whisper only seconds later. "You suck," I groaned, dropping my head onto Jace's shoulder. I felt someone slide onto the bench beside me, an arm going around my shoulders. I raised my head just enough to see Jon's green eyes before letting my head fall back onto Jace.

"So, you'll be glad to know that you don't have to eat that horseshit on a plate," Jon said, wrinkling his nose at our trays. He shoved them to the side and set a plastic bag on top of the table. "I got you lunch today, and I even have enough to share with your boytoy."

I scowled at him, despite the offer of real food. Jon had taken to calling Jace 'boytoy' lately, and I wasn't too pleased. Jace never said anything about it, but I hated it. He wasn't my toy, and I didn't like people calling him that. If anybody else picked that up because of Jon, I would dump his head into a bucket of acid.

I grabbed the bag anyway, finding three subs wrapped up from Subway. "Yes," I groaned, reaching in and pulling one out, seeing it marked turkey.

"I didn't know what you'd want, so I just got you what Clary gets. I figured it'd be better than that...sludge no matter what."

I turned to Jace with a triumphant look. "I told you it was sludge."

He just rolled his eyes, a small smile on his lips. I frowned. "Why are you smiling? I just proved you wrong."

His grin widened. "Because you're the most adorable person I've ever met, and I love seeing you get all riled up." My cheeks heated up and I made a small, noncommittal noise before turning down to the table to unwrap my food. There was laughter around the table and I scowled around in everyone's general direction.

"I hate you guys," I muttered. They continued to laugh.

"Oh, you know you love us," Jon said, squeezing my side. I jumped immediately, almost landing in Jace's lap as I tried to get away from my brother as he began to press his fingers into my side. I yelped as he laughed even harder, still tickling me as I scrambled to get away, stuck between the two boys. Jace was laughing just as hard.

"Help!" I cried, grabbing Jace's arm with the hand that wasn't trying to fend Jon off. "Help me!"

Instead, I felt his fingers on my side as well. "No," I cried, struggling to get away for a moment longer before falling into laughter, my eyes tearing up.

The whole table was laughing, and finally, my brother and Jace left me alone. I slumped down onto the table, groaning. "Now I really hate you guys."

I felt a hand rest on my back. "No you don't. You love me," Jace said, lowering his head to kiss my cheek as I raised my head to glare at him.

"And you're lucky I do, or I would make Jon drive me to your house at midnight to kill you in your sleep. And then I would kill him and make it look like you killed each other before getting Isabelle to drive me home, swearing her to secrecy for the rest of her life."

It was hard to make a decent threat while keeping in mind that I wasn't allowed to drive myself anywhere anymore. My father and brother had ordered it. Jon had offered to drive me wherever I needed to go, whenever, as long as I didn't drive myself.

Jace and Jon were silent for probably a full minute, their faces identical masks of shock. Meanwhile, Isabelle was squealing from the other side of the table.

"Oh my god, you just said you loved him!" I sighed.

"Isabelle, I've told him I love him several times already."

"And I've nearly gagged each time," Jon added helpfully.

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, sure."

Isabelle looked completely betrayed. "And you didn't tell me? Neither of you told me?"

I saw Jace huff out in annoyance. "Suck it up, Isabelle. I haven't even heard what's going on between you two," he said, pointing to Simon and Isabelle and back. "So I don't want to hear it."

Isabelle waved him off while Simon's cheeks flared. He looked down awkwardly, pushing his glasses up on his nose. She looked at me then, and I nearly shrunk away from her at the glint in her eyes.

"How did he tell you? Did he get you flowers? Or did he get down on one knee and tell you after he rescued you from Sebastian?" I didn't even have a response. I just blinked at her. Jace, Jon, and Simon all seemed to have similar reactions.

"I wasn't aware you needed rescuing."

I jumped, feeling Jon spin around on the bench while Jace pulled me close to him, turning halfway so that we could both see who stood behind us. I shrunk back into Jace's chest, seeing Sebastian's dark, too familiar eyes rest on my face angrily. Nobody said anything for a long second. Then Jon seemed to gain control back.

"You better get the hell away from her before I make you," he hissed, standing up with clenched fists.

Sebastian held his hands up in the air, his eye widening innocently. But past the bruising that still lingered on his cheek, nearly matching mine from days ago, past the way he manipulated his features into the innocent mask he wore, I could see the menace in the dark pits of his eyes.

Then, to my shock, Sebastian turned on his heel and walked out of the cafeteria, his posture completely relaxed. I looked after him in confusion.

"What the hell was that?" Simon asked, voicing my exact thoughts. I shook my head, looking after Sebastian until Jon put a hand on my shoulder, sitting back down beside me.

Sebastian didn't show up to gym class the next period. And, thankfully, nobody was suicidal enough to say anything while both my brother and Jace were both around me.

It was science class when someone finally approached me. Raphael walked up to our lab station, earlier than usual and looking a bit more subdued. He was completely silent as he set his things down, nodding briefly at me before picking up the lab paper and beginning to read it. I saw the stares lingering on him, the whispers as he sat down, and felt instantly sympathetic, knowing what it was like to have all eyes on you, all the whispers about you.

"Thank you," I finally said quietly, as I picked up a beaker to begin the experiment. "For standing up for Jon. If he'd gotten suspended again, I don't know what I would've done."

Raphael's muddy eyes looked up at me and he smiled weakly. "No problem. It was the least I could do. After how I acted with you and Jon before all this...well, it wasn't right. And now, with what you guys are going through," he paused and shook his head. "it wasn't fair of me to lie about this. Especially knowing what Zeke was trying to do." He met my eyes then, his expression serious.

I was still slightly in shock over hearing Raphael, of all people, apologizing to me. "Zeke is closer with Verlac than you think. He picked the fight with Jon to get him out of the school. Sebastian wants him gone, and Zeke was trying to make it happen. Warn your brother. He can't play into what they want. He'll just be screwing you over."

I looked at him with parted lips, nearly dropping the vial in my hand. "You can't be serious," I protested. "Why would they want Jon out of the school?"

Raphael sighed, sounding aggravated as he looked around quickly, leaning towards me.

"You don't understand, Clary. The school body has always worshipped your brother and Verlac. They're the school's golden boys. And now, they're split up. People have to pick now, which one they like better. Some like Jon, and some like Sebastian. The ones who like Verlac are going to give you hell like nothing you've seen. They aren't going to believe you and they're going to torment you because they believe Sebastian couldn't do what you say he did. And the ones who like your brother will protect you because of him. Sebastian knows that, and I'm sure Jon does too. But I don't think he's realized the game Verlac is pulling him into. This is more than just some freaking soap opera where everyone has to choose. If he can get your brother away, even for a few days, people will jump onto Sebastian's fan bandwagon." He took a breath, closing his eyes wearily.

"High schoolers are like sheep. They need a leader, and they'll pick Sebastian if Jon's not here. And that would not end well for you, Clary. You think you're getting hell now? What do you think it would be like if your brother wasn't there to help you? They'll rip your case apart. They'll rip you apart." His sharp accent, usually not even detectable, was thick by the time he was done talking.

I looked down, seeing the clear liquid in the beaker I held slosh against the glass as my hand shook. I swallowed thickly, thinking for the first time what it would be like without Jon. Even with Jace by my side, it would be too much. Too much taunting, tormenting, hatred. I couldn't bear the looks of disgust if I didn't have my brother. I'd relied on him my whole life, even if he'd never known it. I couldn't do this without him.

"Why are you helping me?" I asked, my voice a near whisper. "Why are you on our side?" I looked back at Raphael, and he just smiled a sad smile.

"That's a story for another time, hermanita." Then he turned to his worksheet. As I tried to puzzle out the Spanish word in my head-Cut me some slack, tenth grade Spanish isn't exactly extensive-the bell rang.

And, like the bell was a light bulb flashing above my head, the translation clicked.

Little sister.

I frowned and turned to ask Raphael why he'd call me that. Instead, I was faced with empty space. I blinked before setting the beaker down into the sink and closing my binder up. I shook off the fog that had wrapped around my mind to smile at Jace as he stepped up to my lab table, reaching for my things.

"Running a little slow are you?"

I smiled, shaking my head as I moved around the table, my crutches tapping against the tiles. When I reached Jace's side, I reached out and wrapped my arms around him, resting my cheek on his chest, making sure my crutches were stable against my sides. Jace's arms slipped around my waist immediately.

"Are you okay?" he asked after a moment. I nodded.

"Just tired," I said, resting my chin on his chest and looking up at him. His eyes swirled with concern.

"There's only a little bit left in the school day. Then we can both go to your house and take a nap."

I sighed, smiling. "That sounds amazing."

I heard a throat clear from behind Jace and blushed when I saw the teacher, who had stepped out of the room earlier, watching us from the doorway. "If you don't mind, I believe you both have a class to get to."

We left quickly after that, and Jace poked a bit of fun at how red my cheeks had gotten from doing just about nothing. He chuckled when I pointed out that I'd only blushed at all because the teacher had walked in on us.

The rest of the day was slow, until the drive home. Jon was driving while Jace was sitting passenger and I was in the backseat. I think I'll be confined to the back seat for the rest of my life, if Jon has his way.

On the way home, I hesitantly brought up what Raphael had told me. Both of the boys seemed irate when I brought him up, but calmed down when I repeated what he'd told me-paraphrasing, of course. He'd been very long-winded about what he'd said, and I didn't feel like repeating it word for word. Jon looked grim, but not surprised.

"I had an idea that something like this was going to happen. Sebastian isn't used to being seen as anything but perfect. But he's not dumb, either. He understands that there are people who don't like him now. He also knows he's got a chance to lose this case. He's going to do whatever he can to get out of this, and if scaring you away from pressing charges against him is the only way to do it...well, you can be sure that's what he's going to try." His eyes met mine in the mirror. "You can't let him scare you, you understand me? He's getting exactly what he deserves. There's no way in hell he should be free. Even if he can't hurt you again, you can be damn sure he'll hurt someone in the future. There's nothing, nothing, he can do to you now. So don't let him scare you. Even if the whole student body turns against us, the worst they can do is hurl insults. They wouldn't dare lay a hand on us, I promise." I nodded, smiling.

The reassurance in Jon's eyes was comforting to me, and I felt like I could think better after talking to him.

"And besides, if anyone would be stupid enough to try something against you, I'm perfectly capable of throwing them out a window." I grinned at Jace as he turned to look at me.

"Our school only has one floor, Jace." He raised a golden brow.

"Okay. I would throw them out the window then stab them with a pencil. Better?"

I chuckled, nodding. "Perfect."

He twisted more in his seat, reaching an arm back to grab my hand. Jon's eyes met mine in the mirror once more before he looked back at the road, a small, sincere smile on his lips.

Suddenly, Jon cursed. I looked at him in surprise, and he cursed again. "The tire pressure is down." His brows were furrowed. "We're going to have to stop at a gas station and get it fixed."

I groaned. "Jon, I want a nap."

My brother raised a brow at me as he turned into the Mobile station that was just down the road from our house. "Then walk. Or sleep in the car. Those are your options. And I'm not letting you walk."

I groaned again as Jon stepped out of the car, shutting the door behind him. I looked at Jace helplessly. He just raised a brow.

"What do you expect me to do?" he asked, shrugging. "If the tire needs air, it needs air."

I sighed, unbuckling my seat belt and throwing myself onto the seats, my feet just reaching far enough to brace against the door opposite my head. "I'm going to sleep," I muttered, dropping my head to the seat below me. Jace twisted in his seat, unbuckling his belt to lean down and kiss my temple.

"Night," he said, grinning at me. I closed my eyes, sighing and wishing that Jon would just put the stupid air in the tire more quickly.

Woah, that was a lot of writing. I know that it's probably ridiculously ooc, but I haven't written in quite a while. I've been so busy with stuff that I didn't even know was on my schedule until the day of, and before I knew it break was over and now school's back, and so is indoor soccer.

Anyway, things are starting to pick back up in this story. Be ready ;)

-Cassidy