CLARY'S POV
"Hey," Maia said suddenly and softly. Clary glanced sideways over at her. Mr. Blackthorn had given them the last 10 minutes of class to relax and talk to the people around them. Clary had pulled out her phone and had been scrolling through social media until the girl spoke.
"Hi," she replied shortly.
"How have you been?" She wondered and Clary had to keep herself from making a face.
"Fine, I guess." Clary didn't know why Maia was talking to her now. She thought that on the first day she had made it pretty clear things weren't changing. "Is there a particular reason you're talking to me right now?" She turned to the girl fully and she shrugged.
"Just making conversation. I've been wondering..." She paused. "Have you talked with the others much? You know Magnus, Alec, Isabelle? Jace?"
It had been only yesterday that Magnus and Isabelle sat down at Clary's table during lunch. She wondered if they would do so again today. It was certainly something she had been wondering about for the rest of the day. "A bit, I'm not friends with them though." Her tone was harsh when she spoke and Clary turned back to her phone. She had seen the look on Maia's face though and felt a little bad, the girl was trying. Trying to do what exactly, Clary didn't know. She sighed and turned back to her. "How about you?"
Maia seemed to not have expected that question, but she answered. "I've spoken with Jace on several occasions. Haven't seen much of the others though." The golden boy's name stung to hear. Clary gritted her teeth and nodded. She was about to turn away again when she wondered something.
"Do you know why..." She faltered. "Jace and Alec aren't friends anymore?" Maia pursed her lips and after a moment shook her head. The shake slowed down though and she seemed to change her mind as she nodded instead.
"Yeah, I know." She admitted and Clary furrowed her eyebrows. "It was a pretty messed up fight. You should talk to them, ask about it."
Clary rolled her eyes. "I'm good. I'd honestly rather avoid anything that has to do with Jace. Or any of them."
"Why?"
Clary stayed silent for a moment. When she said 'any of them' that had been including Maia. Personally, she felt like her life was just fine without her old group of friends. She had Simon, he was all she needed. Not to mention the dozens of other good friends she had made over the years. So, instead of answering, Clary glanced down at the time. She began collecting her things and when she was done she looked up at Maia. "Three, two-" And the bell rang.
SIMON'S POV
As Simon entered his second-period science class his gaze immediately landed on Isabelle. He hadn't actually spoken to her in this class since the first day of school since his friend Eric was also in the class. He wanted to talk to her, he just didn't know how. Not only that but every time any of them were brought up Clary would start acting weird. Simon thought that she had a different view on re-befriending the others than he did. He took his seat beside Eric and the bell rang for class to start.
"Today is going to be our first day working in the lab," the teacher, Mr. Pangborn, spoke. "So, I will be assigning your lab groups. These will be the people you are going to be working with for the rest of the year at any time we have to work in the labs. I might make some adjustments but for now, just go to the station when you hear your name." Simon spun his pencil around his fingers as Pangborn assigned people to their groups. Simon ended up being in the last one. "-Eric Hillchurch, and Simon Lewis at lab number seven." Simon only tuned in at the last two names. When he and Eric grinned over at each other as they headed back, Pangborn grimaced. "Actually no, Eric I want you to switch places with... Isabelle Lightwood."
Eric rolled his eyes but obeyed and joined group five. Simon unintentionally held his breath as Isabelle dropped her stuff beside him and sat down. He wondered why the universe hated him so much because this wasn't simple luck, no this was karma. What Simon had done that was so bad he deserved the karma he had no idea.
"There are packets at each station so read over the instructions and you may begin. If you have questions feel free to ask." Pangborn sat at his desk and the room broke out into various discussions as people started their work. Simon looked up at the other two people in his group to realize he didn't know them very well. They were people originally from Idris High, of that he knew, but he couldn't recall their names.
"So," Isabelle started clearly also aware of how awkward this situation was. "I guess we should start." One of the other people reached out and grabbed the paper. She began reading and Simon completely tuned out.
Several minutes later Simon felt Isabelle nudge his arm. He saw that the other two were discussing the project now. He looked over at Isabelle. "Hey."
"Hey," he responded feeling a little uneasy.
"So yesterday at lunch Magnus sort of made me come over to you guys," she admitted and Simon furrowed his eyebrows confused. "And now I don't know if we should sit with you guys again."
He chuckled a little realizing that Izzy clearly really wanted to be friends again. She was just scared. "You can if you want to, we have plenty of room."
"But what about Clary?"
"What do you mean?"
"Would Clary be okay with us sitting with you guys?" She was fiddling with her own fingers. "So far I've sort of gotten the feeling that she isn't too open to the idea of becoming friends again... or even acquaintances." Simon sighed.
"I honestly don't know what she's thinking right now," he said. "But I want you guys to sit there."
Isabelle smiled softly. "Thanks, Si."
He felt a pang of nostalgia. She had called him 'Si'. No one but Clary had called him that in such a long time that it felt strange. Strange, yet refreshing. Was this the restart of their friendship? A friendship that had been so tight Simon thought it would never break. And then it did.
"Of course." He mirrored her smile. "I've missed you guys, Iz."
Her smile widened when he called her that. Likely the same thoughts going through her mind as when she called him Si. "I've missed you too."
ALEC'S POV
On the first day of school, Alec had discovered that Jordan Kyle and Jace Herondale were in his second-period math class. Oh, the joy he got in seeing Jace. He had ignored him completely so far every single day and Jace had made no attempt to speak to Alec either. Alec had greeted Jordan on the first day but they had very seldom talked since. He had also noticed that Jordan and Jace hadn't really talked at all either. That is, until today when it seemed like all they were doing was talking to one another.
When the bell rang Jace left immediately thankfully but Jordan seemed to hang behind until Alec was leaving and he rushed out to leave at the same time as him. Alec glanced sideways at the boy as he walked beside him.
"Hey man," he greeted him. "How've you been? We haven't talked much."
"I've been doing fine," Alec said ignoring the last part. "How about you?"
"Pretty good," Jordan said nodding his head. "Actually, I was wondering if you'd want to hang out sometime. There's this coffee place that everyone at Idris goes to called Java Jones." Alec was slightly taken aback by the sudden suggestion. "Invite Magnus and Isabelle along. Maia'd be there too. It'd be fun, like old times."
Alec almost scoffed. "That's not like old times."
Jordan shrugged. "We can ask Clary and Simon then too." Alec noticed how Jordan was deliberately not including Jace.
"Listen." Alec stopped walking and turned to Jordan. "I don't know what you're trying to do here, Kyle, but it's not working. Things are different, sorry to break it to you. I've got to get to class." With that, he turned away and continued towards his next class.
JACE'S POV
Jordan had texted Jace telling him the plan hadn't worked. Looks like they'd be going to plan B... once they come up with a plan B that is. Jace entered his third-period class and took his seat beside Sebastian Verlac. Ever since he found out that Seb and Clary were such good friends he had found that he did not like the guy. He didn't even know why it was just that every time he saw him he got a pinching feeling in his chest.
"I don't know but ever since the consolidation, she's been acting weird." Raphael was saying. "That much I agree with."
"Who are you guys talking about?" Jace wondered and Sebastian glanced at him for a moment.
"Fairchild." He said and it took Jace a moment to remember that was Clary's last name now.
"Oh," he said suddenly interested in their conversation. "Why's she been acting weird?"
Sebastian shrugged. "I don't know but she hardly spoke to anyone yesterday and even at the very beginning of the year, she was not her normal self. Always on edge."
"Huh." Jace turned away from the group as they continued talking. He desperately wanted to talk to Clary again because yesterday he had gotten the feeling that he said something wrong. Or maybe what was wrong was how long he waited to say something.
After his talk with Will and later Jordan the other evening Jace had become set on getting his old friends back. Jordan and Maia were going to help with that, so basically it was two down and five to go. He had a feeling that four of those five would be hard to get back... Simon had always been the forgiving type.
"I'll try to talk to her at lunch," Seb said. "She'll tell me what's going on. She trusts me." At that Jace clenched his jaw. He used to be the person that Clary trusted, the person she'd tell everything to even if she couldn't tell Simon.
Jace wondered if it was because of him that she was acting strangely yesterday. He guessed it probably was and it made his heart leap to think that he still had any effect on Clary's emotions whatsoever, even if it did appear to be negatively. The rest of the class Jace thought about Clary, and every time Sebastian opened his mouth to speak he thought about stabbing the boy.
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