Dumpster Diving, Chapter Twenty-Six: Office Hours

Clary POV

Almost an entire week had passed since my memory lapse from alcohol poisoning. Nearly everything had changed since that day.

I was treated as if I was fragile by almost everyone from the group at the table the entirety of the week. Both Sebastian and Jonathan had taken to watching over me throughout the week, and it was hard to not be creeped out by their nice gesture. Sebastian would hold my lunch and dinner plates as I piled food onto it, and Jonathan would carry my books between my classes when he wasn't necessarily even in my classes. I appreciated the gestures, but it was hard to adjust to.

Even Isabelle had been changed by the experience. She said insulting things less often. She didn't stop saying them all together, since it was in her personality to be a diva, but she tried really hard to give me an easy week. I wondered if it was Simon's doing; he seemed to be taking well to my relationship with Isabelle improving.

Aside from that, Simon was there for me as much as he always was. It was like our friendship had never faltered at all because of college – as if nothing changed. He would invite me over to watch Star Wars and have debates with me about whether Star Trek was better. I wondered if it would stop at any point – if there was some sort of catch – but he was my Simon all week, and I felt good about that.

Even so, Simon still babied me throughout the week. Yes, he was real with me like he always was, but I felt like at points he did somewhat cushion a lot of blows in a way he normally wouldn't.

It was as if everyone was walking on egg shells around me. Everyone but Jace.

Jace hasn't said much about the incident, hadn't treated me much different than he had any other time. He just treated me like he normally did – like I was his girlfriend and like we were still getting to know each other. It wasn't like I was fragile and broken, like he had found me last Sunday in the hospital, I was just his girlfriend.

He hadn't been treating me different because Jace always treated me like that, I realized. He always treated me like a princess and he always made sure I was comfortable and safe. It didn't change after my near-death experience. It stayed the same. And that was comforting to know that he had been doing that all along and I hadn't even noticed.

I wasn't able to express my appreciation for the way Jace was treating me, though. I hadn't seen him since class ended and the weekend began. Jace and the guys all had a big football scrimmage for family night, where the parents of football players got to see them playing.

As far as I knew, the Lightwoods couldn't come see Jace and Alec and they had been bummed about it. I wasn't sure what that was like, especially for Jace because for most of his life his parents weren't even blood related. I also could never understand what it was like for his parents to not even come see Jace for important events like family day.

Isabelle assured me that Jace really didn't mind – all of them were apparently used to it. We walked home from class in silence to our room after that.

"So did you start your English paper for Morgenstern yet?" she asked, out of nowhere. Isabelle wasn't one to talk about school much, so I furrowed my brow in surprise. "I was wondering if you could help me with mine," she finally said.

"Sure," I agreed with a shrug. "I'm going to office hours to ask a few questions about it later – how about after?"

Isabelle nodded and it went silent again. We reached the room and went our separate ways. Isabelle's door shut and I heard music begin to play behind her doors – a fast-beat pop song she had been obsessed with. Her inexperienced singing voice was shrill as she attempted to maintain the tune.

I laughed and went into my room, alarmed to find Simon on my bed. "What are you doing?" I asked, unsure how on Earth he had gotten inside.

"It's called a lock – neither of you seem to use them." He shrugged and sat up. "Want to go see the new Marvel movie?"

"Uh…" I pursed my lips. It was tempting, but I needed to talk to Morgenstern about my paper. "Yeah, how about after I go to office hours for English?"

Simon laughed at that. "If you had a band name, you would be Miss Studious."

I rolled my eyes and swat at him. "At least I would be able to stick with one name."

"Touché," Simon gritted.

We talked for a while longer before I had to leave for Morgenstern's office hours. Simon left my room and knocked on Isabelle's door to hang with her. I waved goodbye and went on my way.

In the hallway I passed by Maia, who I hadn't seen since the night we went out. It had been Isabelle, Aline, myself and Maia – Isabelle had been nice enough to let me invite a friend of my own so I wouldn't suffer with Aline all night.

"How are you feeling, Clary?" Maia asked, her soft voice like velvet. Why was she blessed to be so smooth while I was as raggedy as carpet burn? I envied her sometimes.

"I'm doing better," I sighed. I hated this question all week. People I didn't know had apparently talked to me that night and were worried about me, constantly stopping me to ask how I was. I felt embarrassed every time, but by now I was numb to the question.

Maia looked at my arms, touching it softly and frowning. "Look at those bruises on the inside of your elbows! Your nurse really messed up your IV I guess."

I shrugged, looking at the inside of my elbows, where on each side were big purple bruises. "Yeah, I guess."

We made small talk for another few minutes before I finally had to excuse myself to make Morgenstern's office hours. It seemed like I would never make it there with all the distractions.

Thankfully, no one else bothered me on my way to Morgenstern's office. I approached his doorway and knocked quietly, though somehow he heard me coming and looked up. He waved me inside.

It had been a long time since I had been alone with Morgenstern to talk to him. Ever since he had given me the creeps when I found my father's ring in his desk drawer, I hadn't been able to look him in the eye, let alone don the necklace around my neck. I carried it in my pocket most days, sometimes forgetting it in my room. It had the same significance as before – it was the only thing I had left from my father.

I had always felt conflicted about my father's ring, but Morgenstern had creeped me out so much about it that it became downright weird interacting with him. He still hadn't told me anything more about my father since, but that was also because I had been dreading visiting his office hours ever since the incidence.

Now, here I was standing in front of his office. Jace couldn't be here to hold my hand in support because he was at football practice. I wished he could have been here – at least he knew how to handle Morgenstern because they had been forming a relationship.

I sighed, gathered my strength, and entered Morgenstern's office.

"Clary, how nice to see you outside of class. Have you come to discuss your paper?"

I nodded meekly and took a seat in the chair across from his desk. I attempted to avoid eye contact as long as humanly possible, but it because difficult when Morgenstern began prodding me with questions about my paper in an attempt to focus my writing.

"I think if you follow your instincts about this one, your paper will turn out just fine," he finally said, after about 15 minutes of discussion. It had been the longest 15 minutes in my life.

Just when I thought I had been able to escape, I was pulled back to reality with whip-lash, a side-effect of my failure to have a hopeful escape.

"I am surprised you haven't been more concerned with your other recent papers, Miss Fray," Morgenstern said, directing the conversation to somewhere I dreaded. Our last discussion together would soon be the topic of this conversation. I willed myself to escape, but my feet felt glued to the floor, out of my stupid curiosity. It would be the death of me.

"I've just been busy," I said, trying to avoid the direction we were headed in. I did not want to discuss anything non-school related with Morgenstern. Though, he always seemed to be curious to the point of creepy. I couldn't say it enough – he was creepy and nothing would change my mind about it.

"I was beginning to wonder if bringing up your father was the wrong thing to do," Morgenstern said, with a hint of guilt in his voice. I stared at him, unable to say anything in response. He continued, regardless. "Shortly after our last conversation about your academics, I had noticed the ring you always wore around your neck had been left on your desk. I placed it safely in my desk to return to you, but it seems like either you or my curious son Jace had snooped within my office to retrieve it. I don't blame you."

I gulped nervously. I didn't know how to respond. He knew. "Oh, yes, Jace got it for me. Thank you."

"I see that you no longer wear it," he noted.

I frowned and retrieved the necklace from my pocket, showing it to Morgenstern. "I'm keeping it safe."

He nodded. "Well, I have to depart to watch Jace play football within the hour. You are welcome to join me, Clary. It is for family, but I know your company would be fitting."

I furrowed my brows, confused. "What do you mean?"

"While we watch Jace play, we could discuss your father. I know you are very curious to know more about it."

As strange as his offer was, I did sort of want to know why Jace's biological father knew my biological father. I hated that I was curious, but he was blood related, and if it was Morgenstern that knew about him, then it was Morgenstern I would have to talk to.

"Okay, thanks," I accepted, with some hesitation. I braced myself for the weirdly eventful night I knew was to come.

I was about to find out more about my father. I clutched his ring tightly, before pursing my lips and deciding to slip the necklace around my neck. It felt so natural that it was almost as if I had never stopped wearing it.

…

It was awkward to say the least. Morgenstern and I walked into the practice arena where we saw families lining up to get the best seats to watch their sons scrimmage. When we got to the bleachers, I sat with as much distance between myself and Morgenstern as I could. He hardly seemed to notice.

Jace, from the middle of the field, caught my eye. I watched him as he scanned the crowd, looking for Morgenstern, who had told me Jace would be expecting him. The look of surprise when Jace's eyes landed on me was a look of wonder-struck glee. I was probably the last person he expected to see sitting next to Morgenstern, though.

He wasn't able to look long, because the coach blew his whistle and the guys started to line up on opposing sides to scrimmage. Jace hesitated a moment too long, staring up at me, before one of his teammates had to bop him on the head to re-focus his attention.

Morgenstern leaned over to me and explained that Jace was a wide-receiver and would be the one to score the touchdowns. I nodded my head, understanding, but shivered at how awkward it was being schooled on football by him of all people.

The scrimmage started and I tried to remember everything Jace had taught me about football. The big boys verses girls game was not too far off and I was dreading it. Only a couple of weeks and I would have to participate in something I'd like to refer to as Hell Week, also known as Homecoming Spirit Week – the boys verses the girls. I cringed at the thought.

I was brought out of my reverie by Morgenstern, who was staring at me as if I had lost my mind. I must have looked deep in thought.

"What did you say?" I asked, unable to remember if he had been talking to me this whole time or not. I looked at the scoreboard for the scrimmage and it looked like we were almost to the first half. I instantly felt guilty, hoping I hadn't missed anything of importance, but it looked like no one had scored yet.

Morgenstern nodded. "I was just about to tell you about your father."

The words sent shivers down my spine in shockwaves. I jolted upwards in my seat, the shock of the words from his mouth still too alarming. I could hardly believe I was actually going to learn about my biological father.

"What did he look like?" I asked.

"He was tall, about 6', with very short hair, blonde in color. His eyes were often described as black, but in all likelihood they were probably grey."

I squinted my eyes, unsure if everything he was saying was a load of crap or if he was telling the truth. So far, all he seemed to be describing was himself. I shook my head. "What was he like?"

Morgenstern smiled and I cringed. "He was far too power-hungry for his own good. Your mother began to notice and she one day up and left him. No one has seen him since then."

"But he's dead," I added. The hint of mystery to his tale was starting to irk me. "Obviously that's why no one has seen him."

"Curious," Morgenstern said, almost to himself.

I stared at him, hard. He was not allowed to toy with my emotions. "He's dead. That's why I asked what he was like, not what he is like."

Morgenstern shrugged his shoulders. "Aside from his hunger for control, he was very loyal to your mother. They went through a stage of rebellion together, but neither of them left the other's side."

I thought about my mother and tried to apply the word rebellious to her petite frame, however I was unable to believe that even a bone in her body had ever been rebellious. "Right," I rolled my eyes. "That's why she freaks out if she paints outside the line." I laughed a little, to myself, but he wasn't laughing.

"Do you know the significance of that ring you carry with you?" Morgenstern asked, out of nowhere.

Curious, I pulled the ring strung on the necklace out of my pocket and touched it with my thumbs, caressing it between my fingers. "No, does it have any significance?"

"Look at it. What do you see?" he asked mysteriously.

I gazed at the ring. It was large with rounded edges around the top, where the letter M or W was engraved in elegant script. Around the letter was what looked like diamonds – lots of them – in the shape of a star. I had never looked so closely at it before to notice the star, just that it had been bedazzled to the point of gaudy.

"What does the letter stand for?"

"It is an M," he explained, as if I was supposed to know what that meant.

"You're supposed to do the explaining. I can't really read between the lines about someone I had never really known."

"HEADS UP!" someone shouted, before a football came flying out of nowhere and gouged me in my eye.

I shrieked in pain and cupped my eye, which felt sore and bruised. Before I knew it, Jace had run up into the bleachers and was holding onto my body, rocking me.

They postponed the rest of the game and suspended whoever had purposely thrown the football in my direction – there was no reason a football should have gone into the crowd.

Morgenstern sat still next to me as Jace rocked me back and forth.

The bleachers began to empty until it was only a few people left around us.

"I should get back home," Morgenstern announced, before standing and departing without a goodbye to either myself or Jace.

I didn't let my thoughts linger too much on his strange exit or the cryptic tale he told me about my father, because I could only think about my eye and how it felt like I'd never see out of it again. Jace assured me that I would be okay, but he said that we needed to get ice on it immediately.

The rest of the night I was unable to think of anything but the picture Morgenstern had so carefully painted about my father. Everything he had said reminded me of Morgenstern himself, which gave me the chills. Jace tried to ask me a few times what we talked about, but I wasn't ready to ponder the mystery I had been left with.

What was Morgenstern hiding?