"This way, children, this way!" Aldertree chirped, with a stiff gesture of his hands - very reminiscent of a flight attendant. Without the friendly smile.

"No one stands within one hundred feet of the building or you'll spend the next period running laps!" Ms. Graymark barked, blowing her whistle. She was already sweating - and it wasn't even 9 am.

"Free period. Total win!" Two blonde boys high-fived, crossing in front of a visibly agitated Mr. Hugo, who had his lecture notes in his hand - eager to get back to his class room.

"Is there a real fire, or is this just a drill?" Aline asked Mr. Church - since he was the only one not likely to bite her head off for asking, and tell her to take a seat in the grass.

"I'm not sure yet," he replied, biting his lip. He was concerned for his computer equipment, if the former was true. Hopefully the lab wasn't anywhere near the fire.

Not having anything to report, Aline returned to her girlfriends, who were all texting other friends, and searching the yard for Jace.

Alec was also looking for Jace, not having seen him since the fight. He worried on his lower lip, shading his eyes from the sun and kicking rocks as he went.

Magnus hid under his hoodie, leaning heavily into the first tree he came across. Turned out, he suffered nothing more than the a busted lip, a bruised jaw, a few contusions along his torso (but not a broken or bruised rib), and the embarrassment of being beaten in front of the entire student body. Other than that, he was just peachy.

That is, until Paul rushed over, blasting music from his IPOD and calling his name loud enough for everyone in the quad to realize yes, the gay glitter-freak is hiding right there under his hoodie.

Magnus sighed.

"Are you OK?" Paul asked with serious concern, which threw Magnus. Paul was never serious.

"I'm fine." Another sigh. "You can say it."

"Say what?"

"I told you so?"

"What kind of an asshole would I be if I said that?" Paul chided. "I'm not happy you got hurt, and if I wasn't such a girl when it came to fistfights, I'd hunt that chode down and kick him in the family jewels."

"Thanks..."

"Let me see."

Magnus shook his head, turning away. But Paul reached out anyway and shoved his hood back.

"Jesus H. Christ, honey."

Magnus breathed in sharply, trying to flick the hood back up, but Paul framed his face with clammy hands, holding him still.

"You washed off the glitter," Paul noted, trying not to fixate on his bruises and scabs.

"The Nurse helped. She helped me wash my hair too."

"What a shame. All that time and hard work, down the drain."

Magnus tried to wrinkle his nose, even though it was throbbing. "It was stupid."

"Don't say that. Don't let that douchebag break your spirit, baby. You looked great in glitter. Some people are just too low rent to appreciate it."

Magnus grimaced, but didn't reply. Paul lowered his hands and Magnus flicked the hood back up.

"Magnus?"

Damnit. Alec Lightwood was staring at him, trying to peek under the comforting shadow of his hood.

"Hi," he greeted. Lame, lame, lame.

Paul was astounded, round eyes darting between the God-boy and his best friend.

"How are you feeling?"

"Sore. But I'm OK. No broken anything."

"That's really good," Alec said, and God-love him, the boy actually looked genuinely relieved to hear it, smiling tentatively. If Paul wasn't staring at him so intently, he probably would have hung around a bit longer.

Instead, he shuffled uncomfortably between feet, then caught sight of Jace Herondale and excused himself.

"Thanks so much, Ragnor. You frightened away my savior."

"I can't believe he punched Bat. He looks so...mousy."

"He's very protective of the people he cares about," Magnus defended, hiking up his chin.

Paul had the good grace to chuckle. "Uh huh. So you've got an in now?"

"I'm closer, at any rate," Magnus sniffed.

"Well, good showing for one day. The glitter attracted the great A.L. after all."

Magnus backhanded his arm, then sagged back against his tree, needing to rest.

"Jace!" Alec called, jogging over to him.

"What's up?"

"How'd you make out in the Office?"

"Got off light. One after school, and a stern talking to about keeping peace in the hallway. Blah, blah, blah, you've got a duty as an athlete to set an example...blah blah blah, try not to pick on brain-damaged boys twice your size."

"He did not say that."

"I tuned most of it out, anyway. Do you know the Principle has a false front tooth?"

"How do you know?"

"Never damage. His gum is black over the one tooth, and it's a different color from the rest."

"So he was trying to get through to you, and you stared at his teeth?"

"Yep. Good talk."

Alec shook his head, runnning a hand back through his mussed hair.

"What about you? Got off for services rendered?"

"What?"

"For helping that scrawny kid out?"

"His name is Magnus. And he's taller than you are."

"And he's built like a scarecrow."

"And your point is?"

Jace shrugged, wondering why Alec was getting so touchy about it. "No point. Just...I could see why Bat went at him."

"If this is going to turn into some kind homophobic joke, then screw you, Jace!" Alec seethed, looking like he was going to shove him.

"Calm down, man. I was talking about it being a win-win situation, because the guy's so small. I don't care that he's gay."

"Oh."

"Lighten up, Lightwood."

"Shut up," Alec said without a bite, glancing briefly back at where Magnus stood with his friend, who was talking animatedly. Magnus looked like he just wanted to lay down and pass out for a few hours.

Isabelle stood uncomfortably in the grass, arms crossed over her chest, tapping her toe. She didn't enjoy outdoor pursuits anymore, and having to wait outside the building was a nuissance. The grass was going to leave stains on her shoes, and the bugs were bothersome.

The only plus was the possibility that she might be able to spot Meliorn in the crowd. But even with his strange dye-job, it was near-impossible to pick one foreign exchange student out in the sea of heads and shoulders swarming together.

Clary was walking around aimlessly, saying excuse me to every person she passed too-close to, not wanting to piss anyone off. She was still jumpy.

When someone reached out and touched her shoulder on purpose, she screamed.

"I'm sorry," A low voice drawled. She panned up to see that dark-eyed, fair-haired boy - Sebastian, smiling down at her. "I didn't mean to scare you."

"It's...OK. I'm OK."

"You sure?"

"Yeah. I'm fine now. So...what's going on? Does this happen often?"

"Not really. We usually have a fire drill every couple months, but I don't think this was planned. My guess is someone pulled the alarm."

"Isn't that illegal?"

"Maybe. Definitely land you in detention," Sebastian said, looking somber. He didn't seem like the type who would be sent to after-school. Clary liked that about him. Even if she did feel a little weird when he was around.

"All right, children!" Aldertree called. "Back inside!"

"Single file, straight lines, stragglers will be spending their afternoons with me!" Valentine warned.

Ms. Graymark blew her whistle several times - that was her contribution to the cause.

"So what was it?" Aline returned to Mr. Church. The girls wanted to know why they'd spent fifteen minutes baking in the sun instead of relaxing in the air conditioned classroom.

"Someone set lost and found on fire." It was a small closet, just inside the office.

Word spread through fast texting fingers. By the time the second bell rang, the amateur arsonist had been unearthed: Freaky Pete was bragging about it to his friends, how he'd tried to set the office on fire after he heard his friend, Bat, had been suspended. A pack of cigarettes, a lighter, and several staplers were found in his pockets and confiscated, before he was given a week's worth of pink slips and the usual speech in the Principal's Office. He was lucky they weren't pressing charges.