Clary:

"CLARY CLARY CLARY," Isabelle called to her.

Another month had gone by. Kaelie and her crew hadn't made any more snarky comments at her about her dad and brother and stuck to their usual crap.

"What?" Clary asked exasperatedly. She was studying during study hall, cramming information for her ACTs, which she took the next week and she was not ready for it. At all.

"You don't sound excited," Izzy frowned.

Clary sighed. "What?" she asked in a fake, high pitched voice.

"That's more like it!" Izzy exclaimed, not picking up on Clary's sarcasm. "Anyway, my mom is throwing a HUGE birthday party for me."

Clary waited for Izzy to continue explaining but she didn't.

"Uh, okay? I don't get the point. Your mom does that every year.

"Well, it's special to me because Alec is going to be there," she huffed.

Clary couldn't help but smile. Alec hadn't been able to visit at Christmas, so the last time they had seen him was in October.

"That's wonderful! Is he bringing Magnus?"

"Yes! Magnus has already promised he'd go shopping with me!" she squealed.

"I'm sure he'll be a better help than me," Clary laughed.

"Yeah, no offense to you, my friend, but you have a terrible sense of style."

Clary glanced down at her sweater, skirt, and tights.

"It's not that bad," she muttered. Izzy laughed.

"No, it's not. I was just screwing with you."

"Go away, I have to study!" Clary said, shooing her best friend away.

"You and Jace really are perfect for each other. He said the same exact thing to me." She huffed and walked away. Probably to find Simon.

Clary laughed lightly and shook her head.

Jace:

"NO NO NO, the streamers go OVER THERE!"

Decorating for Isabelle's birthday had been hell. She wanted it to be perfect and was freaking out about color schemes and crap. Honestly, who cares?

"I DO!" Izzy exclaimed.

Oh crap, Jace thought. Did I seriously say the last part out loud?

Jace sighed and took down the streamers to reposition them for the millionth time. He was losing his patience very quickly. If Clary was there, she probably would be able to calm him down. But she wasn't, she was taking her ACT. She had been gone for hours. Jace felt for her. He remembered the ACT from last year. It hadn't been fun.

Jace's ears perked up when he heard the door open. He heard chatter in the hall, though it didn't sound like Clary's voice. Darn.

"Is anyone home I'm—holy shit," Alec said, his blue eyes wide. He had seen the crazy and gaudy decorations. "Is Mardi Gras early this year?"

"No, it's in a couple weeks," Magnus corrected him. "You celebrate Mardi Gras?" he asked, sounding excited.

"No, we don't. That's the point," Alec said slowly.

The house did look like a huge Mardi Gras celebration. LOTS of sparkles and bright colors and sparkles and beads and more sparkles. Jace could tell that Magnus loved it.

Jace heard the door open again. "Oh thank GOD," he called, sprinting towards it. He vaguely heard Alec ask, "Is he expecting someone? Is it the pizza man?" and then Isabelle's response, "No, he's expecting his giiiiiiirrrllllfrrriieeennnddd."

Jace practically tackled Clary giving her a hug.

"Okay, what?" she asked against his chest. "I get it that you missed me, but I can't breathe." Jace reluctantly let go of her and drank in her appearance. He hadn't been able to see her much outside of school between her studying for her ACT, him filling out college applications, and him having basketball practices preparing for the nearing playoffs. Her hair was slightly damp and she was holding a wet umbrella, which made sense since it was raining outside. She looked beautiful, like always.

"Help me, Isabelle has been going crazy over decorations," he said exasperatedly.

Clary laughed. "I don't think I can help you with that much, I'm exhausted." She did sound tired. "But I wanted to hang out with you so I came anyway."

Jace put his arm around Clary and guided her to the living room where the decorating was taking place.

"Clary, darling, how are you?" Magnus called and gave her a hug.

"I'm good, thanks for asking," she smiled. Clary hugged Alec and said hello to him as well. Jace saw Izzy frown.

"Clary, are you okay?" she asked.

"Tired," she shrugged.

"Was it hard?" Izzy asked. She would be taking her ACT in April.

Clary shrugged again. "Well, yeah. I feel like I was as prepared as I could've been."

"Of course you were, you didn't do anything but study. It was so lame," Izzy teased.

Clary rolled her eyes. "I'm taking a nap," she muttered and walked to the guest room that she had used when she lived at the Lightwood house.

Jace went to check on her a few hours later. He went into her room and found her sleeping peacefully. He gently stroked her hair and leaned forward to kiss her forehead. He suddenly noticed her tear stained cheeks. He glanced at the dresser and found an object that usually wasn't there. A razor. It had blood on it. Panicked, he gently turned her arm over and was horrified at the sight.

There was at least 15 new angry red marks to add to her faded scars from so many years ago, when she used to self harm. He felt a tear run down his cheek. It upset him knowing that she was so upset that she would do such a thing. He didn't even know what had happened. Why would she suddenly start cutting again? He didn't wake her. Instead he lied down next to her and put his arms around her, in an attempt to comfort her. He would talk to her about this after.

Isabelle:

Jace had gone to check on Clary more than 20 minutes ago and still hadn't come back.

"What's taking Jace so long?" she asked to the group.

"Either he's staring at Clary's sleeping face, or they are doing on unspeakable things to each other," Magnus said casually. Alec looked slightly horrified. Simon looked like he was going to be sick.

Magnus saw everyone's horrified expressions. "What? I'm just listing the possibilities."

"You know what, I'm going to check on them."

"Are you sure you want to do that?" Magnus asked raising his eyebrows. Izzy couldn't help but laugh.

"I think I'm going to be sick," Simon muttered.

Izzy rolled her eyes and walked up the stairs to Clary's room. She burst into the room saying, "I swear to all that is holy if you are having sex in here I will—." She stopped talking because she was so shocked at the sight.

Clary was sleeping, oblivious to everything around her. She's always been a heavy sleeper. And Jace was lying to her, his arms around her loosely. The scariest part though, was that Jace was crying.

"Jace?" Izzy gently asked.

"She did it again," he whispered.

"Oops, she did it again?" she asked. He gave her a look. She sighed exasperatedly. "WHAT did she do again?"

"She cut herself."

Izzy froze. Clary used to do it all the time, Clary had told her, when Valentine had custody . Izzy remembered the first she had seen Clary's self harm scars.

Clary had finally forgiven Izzy for giving her hell at the beginning of the year and they were hanging out at Izzy's. They hadn't bumped into Jace shirtless again, but Izzy was worried that they would. Clary was wearing a sweatshirt.

"Why do you always wear long sleeves?" Izzy had asked. "I've never seen you wear a short sleeve shirt."

Clary shrugged and adjusted her glasses. She had worn them back then, but got contacts freshman year. "I'm always cold, I guess."

Izzy frowned. "Are you cold? I could adjust the thermostat."

Clary shook her head. "No, it's okay." She then reached forward to grab a Hershey Kiss from the bowl on the kitchen table. The sleeve to her sweatshirt pulled up slightly and Izzy saw dozens of red scars that were fading to white.

"What the hell are those?!" she exclaimed, pointing to Clary's arm. Clary's eyes widened and she covered her arm again quickly.

"You can't tell ANYONE," she said, sounding panicked.

"You have to promise you'll stop first," Izzy said firmly.

"I already did," Clary sighed. "These are mostly old. I stopped once I moved here."

"Stopped what?" a small voice had asked. A 7 year old Max walked in.

"Is this your little brother?" Clary asked, looking happy to change the subject. Izzy nodded and Clary walked over to him and even looked at his comic.

Izzy had promised she wouldn't tell. And she never did.

Feeling a pang in her chest at the memory with Max in it, she nervously asked, "Why?"

"I don't know, I haven't asked. I've let her sleep."

Izzy took a deep breath. "One problem at a time, right?" And then she left Clary's room and ran down the stairs. She ran straight into Simon's arms, needing a hug.

Clary:

Clary groggily woke up and found Jace lying down next to her.

"Hi," she said sleepily.

"Hi," he said frowning slightly.

"What's wrong?" Clary asked. Jace sighed and got up. He came back with an object. When he held it up, Clary realized what it was. A razor. Suddenly, Clary remembered everything that had happened; taking the ACT, coming to Izzy's, going upstairs to take a nap, getting the text, panicking, the need to let it out, finding a razor in the bathroom, cutting, and then crying herself to sleep.

"What happened? " he asked gently.

Silently, Clary found her phone on the dresser. She unlocked it and found the message and handed it to Jace.

She saw his eyes widen at the message. She still clearly remembered what it said.

Unknown Number: Don't ever think that you're safe. We're watching you.

*laughs nervously*

It's really cold and I don't have school. Am I going to write? Naw son. Just kidding but I'm having trouble encouraging myself to write so yeah. I'll probably end up reading lemons or something.

Either that or cry because Sherlock.

Or watch Sweeney Todd again.

ANYWAY, I hope y'all have had a swagtastic today (WHY AM I EVEN BOTHERING)

Please review because whenever someone reviews a bunny gets a carrot and it smiles :D

Till next time,

-hufflepuffamity