Clary sat drawing in her bedroom, her cell phone next to her as her speakerphone blared.
"So that's why you can't wear that shirt anymore." Sebastian told her.
"Since when do you get to tell me what to wear?" Clary demanded. Her pencil had stopped moving in her hand, irritation breaking the tip as she pressed back down.
"Well, I'm your boyfriend." Sebastian laughed a cold laugh that sounded through the phone.
"That gives you, what? Parental control over my clothing choices?" Clary was sick of these fights with Sebastian. Her best friend Simon told her that it was abusive, but she had just thought it was Sebastian being overprotective.
"Well you shouldn't look like a whore, especially when you're dating me. I know you're my good girl." Anger boiled inside of Clary then and she bit her lip so hard she tasted blood.
"You know what Sebastian? You're right. I am a good girl, but I'm not yours. I'm so over this and you and your superiority complex. You don't get to tell me what to do or who I can be with. We are over." She hung up the phone and tears of anger spilt down her face. "ARGH!" She threw a pillow and it fell limply against her wall, sliding down onto her wood paneled floors.
"Clary?" she heard a voice ask from her doorway. She looked up, startled.
"Oh, hi Jon." She tried to wipe away her tears but she could tell he already noticed her puffy eyes.
"What happened?" her brother had taken a few strides and then sat down on her bed, trying to be comforting to her but unsure how.
"Sebastian! Look I know you're friends with him but he's a real dick. He's trying to tell me I can't hang out with you because you're always with other guys. He also said I can't wear my Nirvana tee anymore because it makes me look like a whore. So I dumped him."
"You dumped him?" Jon whistled. The doorbell rang suddenly and Jon looked at Clary. "Look, give him time to cool off. Maybe he'll come around and you guys can get back together. He's just overprotective after what Maia did to him." Clary looked appalled at her brother but couldn't be truly surprised that he was sticking up for his friend instead of her. "Look, Jace is here. Why don't you come hang out with us?" Clary looked doubtfully at her brother. He returned a pleading look of his own.
"Fine. But you owe me in food." She wiped her eyes again before following her brother down the stairs. While Jon answered the door to let Jace in, Clary made herself comfortable on the couch where they would most likely end up anyway. She had brought down her drawing pad and was sharpening her pencils over the trash in the kitchen when she heard Jace's voice. As far as her brother's friends went, Jace was probably her favorite, despite his annoying personality. At least he wasn't toxic.
"What's Clary up to today?" Jace asked from a different room.
"She and Sebastian are fighting so I told her to hang with us." Jon told Jace. Clary walked in to see Jace frowning, wrinkles lined on his forehead.
"It's more than a fight, Jon." She commented, sitting on the couch with her drawing pad on her lap.
"What happened?" Jace asked. Clary opened her mouth to respond before Jon waved his hand.
"He's just being overprotective."
"Are you sure? I've heard something's about him…" Jace stopped talking when Jon gave him a look.
"Like what?" Clary asked. Jon's eyes widened.
"That was Sebastian?!"
"Yea. He beat up some girl's brother last year because he didn't know it was her brother and she hugged him."
"Ugh I never should have dated him." Clary groaned. "I never even really liked him, he just kept taking me on dates."
"Well…I know what will cheer you up." Jon wiggled his eyebrows at his sister.
"Incest? Gross Jon." Clary shot him a look, but broke down in giggles when he looked panicked back at her.
"No! I was going to say that Magnus is having a party tonight, we should go." Clary looked horrified at her brother.
"A party? Why would I want to go to a party?"
"Izzy said she'll be over to help you get ready at 7." Jace looked up from his phone, a smile on his face. His sister loved a good makeover.
"Ugh." Clary let out a long groan. "Who gets you guys ready?" Jace barked out a laugh.
"We don't need as much help. I'm gorgeous on my own." Jace told her, his golden eyes twinkling. Clary grumbled about how unfair it was and that maybe she should just cut her hair.
"You'd look like an elf." Jon told her. "If you cut your hair. You're too short."
"Pixie. It's called a pixie cut, Jon." Clary spat back.
"My hair is so boring." Clary ran a hand over her red locks. She had spent most of her afternoon arguing with Jon and Jace about some mindless movie they were watching, and then chastising them as they died over and over in their favorite video game.
"Well first of all, it's bright red so the color isn't boring, just how you wear it is." Izzy was trying on outfits in the corner of Clary's room.
"Getting dressed up for Simon?" Clary wagged her eyebrows at Izzy.
"I didn't even think he'd be there." Izzy said, but she refused to look Clary in the eyes as she shimmied on a pair of tight black pants.
"Ahh, right…" Clary smiled to herself, looking back in her closet.
"CLARY!" Jon called up the stairs. Clary, though only in a short robe, went to the top of the stairs to talk to her brother.
"WHAT?" She yelled back.
"It's a blackout tonight." Jon's dark eyes glimmered at her.
"Well that makes getting dressed easier." Clary sighed. Jon walked away and Clary turned to walk back into her room. She was picking at a piece of skin on her finger when she ran into a wall and tumbled to the ground, the wall falling on top of her.
"Jace." Clary breathed. His golden hair was lighter close up, she noticed, and his eyes looked like melted metal. His breath was sweet on her face and she couldn't bring herself to blink.
"Oh, uh sorry Clary." He stood up, untangling his body from hers. She crawled to her feet a moment after and stared at him for a moment before moving to go to her door. She felt his eyes burning into her back and so Clary turned her head over her shoulder, her hair falling in wet waves down the back of her robe.
"Yeah, um, it's okay." She swallowed, entering her room and closing the door behind her. Izzy did a double take when she saw Clary's face.
"What just happened?" Izzy demanded suspiciously.
"Nothing. I mean well something happened but it was nothing. I ran into Jace and we fell, that's all." Clary felt her face burning.
"So are you finally admitting it then? Now that the fiasco with Sebastian is over with?"
"What in the world would I have to admit, Izzy?" Clary rolled her eyes, turning back to her closet. She started to rummage around for anything that was black. "Jon said tonight's a blackout by the way."
"Oh, just that you have feelings for a certain…golden haired boy…named Jace?"
"I JUST broke up with Sebastian, Izzy. I can't move on that fast." Clary was about to settle on a black t-shirt and boyfriend jeans when Izzy spun her around.
"You and I both know it's not moving on if Jace was there first. You've always had a thing for him, ever since we were in elementary school." Clary scoffed.
"I have not."
"Oh really? Well then you should wear something sexy tonight and dance with some guys now that you're single."
"No way, if Sebastian is there he'll be furious."
"Who cares? Do something for yourself for once, Fray." Clary bit her lip but turned to her closet once more, this time pulling out a dress. It had a black skirt that while tight, was stretchy on her body, and went down to the middle of her thighs. The top of the dress was an emerald green corset with lace short sleeves and fit very closely to her body.
"I think our blackout needs a little color, how about you?" Clary smirked.
"Clary, you look like a goddess." Izzy gushed. Clary had yet to look in the mirror and had only been staring at Izzy's tall form as she did her makeup. The tall girl was wearing a black long sleeve dress with an open back and black combat boots with a chunky heal. Her long, dark hair was up in a ponytail that would rival that of Ariana Grande, and she had a smoky eye and neutral lip.
"Honestly I can't look better than you do." Clary wanted to look away, but Izzy was working on her eye makeup and Clary knew she had to stay still. "I probably will look like a little girl playing in her mother's makeup.
"Shut up, I'm done. Look at yourself. You're lucky your parents are out of town because I'm sure your mom would not let you leave looking this good." Clary rolled her eyes but turned around and let her mouth drop. The green of the dress made the green in her eyes pop, and Izzy had given her a hazy emerald smoky eye and bright, glossy red lips. Her hair fell in soft curls past her shoulders, and she actually looked like she had both boobs and a waist.
"Wow." Clary breathed. "I don't even look like me."
"Just wait until Jace sees you. He'll lose it."