Hello, my faithful followers. First of all, I want to thank those of you who told me who your inspiration is. It meant a lot that you guys went through that, and I hope it made you and whoever you told feel amazing. It sure did for me. You all have earned your fair share of Jace POV chapters, which will come as the story progresses. I want to say again that you all inspire me to write every chapter, and I hope you enjoy FanFiction as much as I do. Let's be honest; it's pretty great. Be sure to check out "Live Again" by imfihlelo-which is an account and story I co-own with the wonderful S1E12!
"Clarissa Adele Fray!" The yell didn't even faze me as I buried my face deeper into my pillow, "Get your ass up." A string of noises that sounded somewhat like a refusal drifted from my mouth, "We have to be at school in a half hour." Another slew of sounds, "Jace will drive off without us." Still, I made no move to get out of my comfortable burrow of sheets and blankets, "That's it." The person growled, and suddenly, everything was ripped away from me. Then-probably because I was hit by the freezing cold air-all of Isabelle's words processed in my brain.
"What?!" I screamed, sitting up straight. Izzy gestured wildly with her arms, which was something that symbolized a 'Hurry up'. After hurling myself out of bed-and almost falling in the process-I ran wildly around the room. There was no thought put into my outfit as I threw on the first things I found, then ran into the bathroom to tame the wild nest that was my hair. Surprisingly, the brush didn't get stuck as I yanked it through my locks, paying no heed to the pain in my scalp.
The last thing I had to do was put on shoes, and I did so while simultaneously trying to hop toward the front. Isabelle hadn't waited for me, a bad sign, seeing as they could be leaving any second. I called a hasty 'Bye' to my mother, grabbing my backpack and stumbling down the stairs of the apartment complex. Finally, I reached the car, sliding into the back. I panted from the hurrying, a sign that I really needed to hit the gym.
"Pretty good time." Isabelle complemented from the front, "Ten minutes. Not too shabby." All I could do was nod, still trying to catch my breath. Jace snorted, most likely at my lack of fitness, and I flipped him off in the rearview mirror. That only made him laugh, causing me to frown deeply, "Jace, be nice." Iz scolded her brother, rolling her eyes when he stuck his tongue out at her.
"So mature." I taunted from where I was sitting, finally able to talk. Needless to say, Golden Boy mimicked me in a high pitched voice. A sigh escaped me, but I just shook my head, not about to let him worsen the already bad start to my day. It took me that long to realize I hadn't eaten breakfast, and I groaned. As if reading my mind, Izzy threw a granola bar at me. I caught it with a grateful smile, ripping off the wrapping and chowing down. The moment the flavor hit my tastebuds, I moaned. I realized my mistake a second too late as Jace opened his mouth, but Isabelle slapped a hand over it before he could speak, "My savior." I cried dramatically, and I didn't even have to see Jace's face to know that he was pouting.
It was a fairly normal ride from there on out, with Jace being particularly annoying today and me not taking his crap. It was progressively getting more and more childish though, to the point of where Jace was about to actually turn around and slap me, with me more than willing to return the favor.
By the grace of the gods, we pulled up into a parking space before anyone was murdered. I jumped out of the car before another comment could come out of his mouth, Izzy following behind me. Luckily, when I turned around, I saw that Jace had run into some of the guys from the football team and was distracted with talking. I didn't waste a second in hurrying toward the building, and Isabelle caught up without really even trying. We rushed through the doors and to our lockers, which were right next to each other-Simon's being on my other side.
One of the only blessings this school had given was that the principal had let us choose our own lockers freshman year. These lockers would be ours for the rest of our "high school career," so it was pretty great to be next to my two best friends. Sadly, this meant that I was stuck being five lockers down from the Golden Boy himself. He and his football buddies had claimed theirs way too close for comfort, but it wasn't like Jace or his team really cared about us. The fact that we were distracted by our own friends was probably the only thing that kept us from killing each other on a daily basis.
Just as I got the right books, the warning bell rang, and I let out a deep sigh. Simon ran up at that moment, frantically trying to get his stuff, and I couldn't help but stand and laugh at his panic. He took a moment to glare at me before going back to pulling out what he needed. We didn't even really have time to talk before exchanging quick 'Goodbye's and running off in separate directions.
I slid into my seat in Psych just in time, turning to Maia, one of the other girls in our group, with a halfhearted smile. She grinned back, about to start talking when a voice caught our attention.
"Hello, class!" Mr. Starkweather clapped his hands, and we offered back various forms of tired greetings. He really was a good teacher, but it was 7:50 in the morning, so our hearts weren't exactly in it, "We have a new project that we're beginning today." All of us perked up a fraction at that, because Starkweather's projects were always pretty awesome. Then, the look on his face changed, and that was when I had the feeling I needed to brace myself for the worst, "You guys will be taking care of newborns." Whispers flew around the class at his words, "Not actual newborns." He rolled his eyes, and the room seemed to relax a bit, "But they're pretty realistic. You won't be alone though. You'll have a partner." Maia and I immediately shared an excited look, because if we were going to suffer through this, at least we would be doing it together.
"Which I have chosen." A collective groan sounded, but who could be blamed? When teachers chose partners, nothing good ever came from it. Ninety percent of the time, it was like they wanted us to suffer for their own personal amusement, "Well, let's begin, shall we?" To Starkweather's credit, he at least looked a little guilty, "Now, I want everyone to stand up and move to the back of the room. You will be sitting with your partner for the entirety of the assignment." This was officially the worst day known to man. That is, unless our teacher took pity on me and Maia and let us work together, but that wasn't about to happen.
"Let's start with..." Starkweather trailed off when we were all leaning against the wall, "Clary and Jace."
"What?!" I screeched, and the aforementioned blonde made an equal noise of surprise. This was the only class I shared with Jace Lightwood, so statistically, this type of situation never should've arisen. Not once had we been partners before, so I assumed it would always be that way. Clearly I was wrong. Murmurs rose up between students, because it was extremely common knowledge that Jace Lightwood and Clary Fray did not get along on any level. I may not have been popular, but Jace was, so our rivalry was pretty well known.
"I can't be partners with her." Jace growled, and I frowned, whipping my gaze from Starkweather to him.
"And you think I can be partners with you?!" I snarled, and his eyes switched to bore into mine. That started the most intense staredown ever. Neither of us were about to back down, so we probably would've spent all day there had Starkweather not cleared his throat. That made him the target of our anger yet again, and I probably would've lunged had Maia not grabbed my arm. I took a deep breath, composing myself, but my eyes were cold as I stared into his soul, "Mr. Starkweather," My fake smile was deadly, "I have the strongest feeling that Jace and I will not be compatible for this—well, any—project, so I think it would be beneficial to reassign us."
"I'm sorry, Miss Fray." He pinched the bridge of his nose, most likely having expected this reaction, "But I will not be swayed. You and Mr. Lightwood will be doing this project together. That is final." Jace opened his mouth, and I had a feeling he would've cussed the man out had common sense not leaked in at the last second. Instead, Golden Boy muttered something under his breath that sounded shockingly similar to 'Bloodthirsty little beast' while stalking over to a pair of desks and plopping down in one of the chairs. I mocked him softly in a high pitched voice, but followed nonetheless.
"So we're having a baby together?" Was how Jace broke the awkward silence between us. Normal people would've probably started choking at that point, but I'd known Jace for almost our entire lives, so it didn't exactly faze me. I just turned to him with a blank expression, and his lips tipped down at the corners when he realized that was the only reaction he was getting. I couldn't help but smirk, because the pout forming on his face was frankly rewarding. Then, I was suddenly reminded of our situation, and I wasn't so happy anymore.
"Well, class." My attention snapped to the front, Mr. Starkweather's voice making me realize that he'd finished pairing people up. He was holding a large box in his arms that no doubt held the 'newborns', "I will be handing out your children. Feel free to name them or do whatever you like." And with that, plastic dolls were being passed out to each pair of students. When he got to me and Jace, setting the baby on the desk in front of us, I stopped him.
"Why, exactly, are we doing this in a Psychology class?" I questioned. He sighed, running a hand through his thinning hair.
"To be honest, it was the school that mandated this." He admitted, and I tilted my head in curiosity, "They wanted to ward off the chance of teen parenting, and they decided that this would be the perfect class for it. Their justification was something along the lines of 'It changes the mindset of teens.'" I frowned, mentally cursing Idris High for its stupidity. They could've gone with the more logical route of Health, but no. They just had to choose Psych. I didn't say anything more, so he took that as a sign to leave. As soon as I turned back to Jace, I noticed that he was holding the baby upside down by its foot with a look of disdain on his face.
"Jace!" I snapped, snatching it from his grip. It promptly began to cry, as did most of the other babies in the class. He snickered, and I trained a glare on him that could freeze over hell. Rather than recoiling under its intensity, he simply raised an eyebrow, and I resisted the urge to knock another chip out of his tooth. I probably would've done it had Mr. Starkweather not yelled over the sobbing.
"These babies will need to be rocked, fed, changed, and burped." He announced loudly, giving out a bottle for each baby, "You will have to determine which it is. They are normally set to be deactivated during school hours, but I thought that your first moments should be in class." Now came diapers. I was immensely annoyed that this was what the school funds went toward, and I could already tell that this little machine would be a demon sent from the ninth circle of hell, "Good luck!"
All of us stared at Starkweather with varying degrees of shock.
Good luck?! I shrieked in my head You just handed us replicas of tiny human beings, and all you can say is 'Good luck'?! Then, he had the freaking audacity to walk over to his desk, sit down, and get on his laptop to do who knows what. The steadily increasing volume of wails drew my attention to the thing in my hands, and I looked up to Jace, who had similar panic in his gaze. Automatically, I held the baby out to him, but he shook his head vigorously, even going as far as scooting back a fraction. This was probably the most terrified I'd seen Jace in a long time, and if the situation were different, I would've laughed my ass off. Sadly, I was pretty preoccupied by the little horror I was currently holding.
"What do I do?!" I asked Jace frantically.
"You're the girl here!" He exclaimed, like that was supposed to solve everything.
"Thank you, Jace, for the helpful genetics lesson." I snarked, and he flapped his arms in frustration. A noise of exasperation escaped me. My brain was chaotic as I tried to think of something, anything to do, but I couldn't seem to remember how to function at this point. Finally, it occurred to me to rock it, so I did just that, and like magic, the cries died off. I let out a breath of relief, a strange sense of accomplishment bubbling up in me, "So how are we gonna do this? Because I'm not taking care of this hellion alone."
"Well neither am I!" Jace threw up his hands.
"How about this..." I trailed off, knowing I would regret the words that were about to come out of my mouth, "I'll see if I can stay over at yours for the rest of however long this torture session lasts." He nodded tentatively. At least I wouldn't have to deal with it by myself. Maybe I could even make Jace take all the late night calls, "Don't even think about it." He growled, and I, being the sophisticated and mature seventeen year old I am, stuck my tongue out at him. He gladly returned the gesture, and for some reason, a grin tugged at the corners of my lips. It was wiped off pretty fast when I was hit with the harsh reality of the fact that I would be playing house with Jace Lightwood for the next who knows how many days.
Well, shit.
"I'm having a baby with Jace." Was what I greeted the group with as I plopped down in the circle. That was met with a chorus of surprised choking, and I smirked at the desired effect, my spirits lifting a little. Simon, Isabelle, Jordan, and Magnus stared at me with identical looks of shock while Maia wore a knowing smile.
"What?!" Isabelle was the first to shriek, and she marched over to me, gripping my shoulders and shaking me like a rag doll, "Have you lost your mind?!" It took her about ten seconds to realize that I wasn't actually serious, and she stepped back with a frown. I shot her a cheesy smile, and she crossed her arms over her chest, unamused. The giggle that escaped me was unapologetic, causing her to roll her eyes and stalk back to where she had been sitting across from me, "Would you mind telling me why you gave me a heart attack?" That was when I burst out laughing, half from her expression and half because I would cry if I didn't.
"She's not lying." Maia piped up, and Izzy turned her scalding glare on the other girl, "It's a Psych project. We have to take care of dolls that are basically fully terrifying newborn babies." Maia shivered, and I couldn't blame her. She'd been paired with Will Herondale, who was also on the football team and just so happened to be one of Jace's right hand men. I took pity on her, but we all knew that I'd drawn the short straw. Will was cocky as hell, but not enough to be considered Jace-level. Then again, no one could be considered Jace-level.
"I bet it'll be ten times more awkward after the..." Magnus trailed off, wiggling his eyebrows, "Experiment."
"What experiment?" Simon asked warily, and I glared at Magnus. I'd thought that we could keep it between me, Iz, and him, but clearly, I was wrong. Everyone looked to me for an answer that I didn't want to give. I sighed, not knowing exactly how to explain, and all of them staring at me in wait wasn't exactly helping. That was when Isabelle decided to pitch in.
"Jace wanted to see if he could get Clary to fall into his trap with a dance." There was a dark note in her voice that almost gave me chills. I couldn't imagine the hell Jace had gone through during their little chat, but if her tone was any indication, it was bad.
"But I didn't." I felt the need to add immediately, "Thank you very much." The rest of the group was completely and utterly silent. It seemed like no one knew what to say. They looked like they were in between laughing and total shock, because Jace Lightwood didn't like me on any level, much less want to get me in bed. It was a surprising turn of events that I hadn't exactly wanted getting out and around. Then, something that we'd forgotten to mention occurred to me, "He was drunk." Everyone seemed to relax at that, including myself, because it was like a cure-all. At least if he was drunk, his judgement was impaired, because if a sober Jace Lightwood did that... Well, I think the flying pigs would tip everyone off.
"So, what was it like?" Surprisingly, it was Jordan leaning forward with interest. I gestured for him to explain, "The full out Jace Lightwood charm." He elaborated, and I couldn't hold back my groan.
"It was more annoying than anything." I shrugged, telling the wholehearted truth, "It's Jace, so I wasn't attracted per say." Isabelle shoulders seemed to sag in relief, and I narrowed my eyes at her, wondering why she'd been scared of anything else. It was honestly baffling how, after everything she'd seen between us, she could even suspect that something would happen, especially on my side. It wasn't like Jace was in a sane state of mind, and he had said many, many times that he was out of my league. Still, I guess you could never be too careful.
"So you haven't fallen for him yet?" Simon wanted to clarify. I rolled my eyes, nodding. What did they think I was going to do? Jump Jace's-
"Wait what do you mean 'Yet'?" I growled, the final word getting through my thick skull. Did they all have this picture in their heads that I would run off with Jace and elope? Aside from that reluctantly admitted weeklong crush, there was nothing between us. Even that was unrequited, so there was no need to freak out. They seriously needed to calm themselves. Simon was silent as we all waited for him to answer my question, and there was a heavy tension in the air. Everyone but me was sharing weird glances, and I didn't like it one bit, "Guys, is there something you're not telling me?"
"No." They all replied in unison, and I narrowed my eyes, scanning each of them until my gaze came to rest on Simon. He was always the one who would break first, so when he began to squirm, I smirked, knowing my plan was working. It would only take a little longer. The tiniest bit more time. A few seconds and...
"We all knew when you had that crush on Jace." The words came out of his mouth in a rush, and the rest of the group made exasperated noises. My eyes were about to bug out of my head, and my mouth bobbed open and closed. I should've denied it right away, because the longer I sat there gaping, the more sure they were going to get. I needed to snap out of it. Fast.
"Why in the hell would you guys think I had a crush on Jace?" I hissed, my tone warning them that they were treading on thin ice. None of them wanted to speak, instead settling for glancing at each other in silence. I crossed my arms and clenched my jaw, my entire demeanor on guard, "Say something!" I shouted, way too defensive to be normal. In hindsight, I could've gone with the calmer, more collected option, but in the moment, that option didn't exist. I just needed to know how they knew.
"You know that look his fangirls get on their faces when he passes that we always make fun of?" Jordan asked tentatively, and my heart stopped. No. Just no. I couldn't have that expression in a million years. If that was true, then Jace knew. There was no doubt about it. Granted, it was only for one week, but it was still there. I shivered, because it just wasn't possible. I couldn't have sunk that low.
"He's exaggerating." Magnus assured me, and I let out a breath of relief, "But you haven't denied it yet, Darling."
"One week." I grumbled, pouting indignantly, "It was one week." I was careful to enunciate the last two words to make sure it would get into their heads that it was no longer true, "And it was purely physical." Then, I pointed an accusing finger at Maia, who was currently curled into Jordan's side, "You did too." Was all I said, and she huffed out a sigh, but she didn't refute it, "As much as I hate to say it..." I did not like what was about to come out of my mouth next, but it had to be said in my defense, "Every girl has had a crush on Jace. He's like the Zac Efron of Idris High." There was a reluctant chorus of agreements, and my muscles loosened. At least I couldn't necessarily be faulted.
"Can we all just forget this entire conversation ever happened?" My cheeks were officially flaming hot.
"Nope." All of them said at once.
I think I died a little inside
So Clace takes on the wonders of parenting. Let's see how this pans out ;) Thank you all for reading, and please continue to do the inspiration thingy ma bob. (To be honest, I have no idea how to spell that, so I'm just winging it). Anyways, I've been watching the Harry Potter marathon on Freeform, and endless "Shadowhunters" commercials keep coming on. I refuse to watch the show, yet I still continue to yell incessantly at the television (much to the annoyance of those around me). Happy New Year to all of you, and wherever you are... You are AWESOME and start out the year knowing how absolutely, spectacularly, brilliantly AMAZING you are.
With love to my faithfuls,
Shadowhunter5801
PS: As a reward for FINISHING WRITING MY BOOK I might get a really expensive pen... I mean it's $395, but it's pretty freaking awesome!
PPS: Yeah... I'm a writer nerd to the core...