Happy birthday to the guest who commented recently...Sorry, I couldn't update sooner x

"What the fuck are you doing?" Lydia snapped at Aline Penhallow. Clary's head twisted to look down from where she was balanced with one foot on Kaelie's thigh and one foot on Helen Blackthorn's thigh. The sun was hot and they had been practicing for over an hour already. Usually they would be leaving the field by now, heading inside to shower and go home, but for some reason, Lydia was pushing all of them.

Actually, not just for some reason.

Lydia had confronted Kaelie at lunch that day, asking why her and Clary were avoiding her. Clary had found it amusing, because Lydia hadn't acted at all interested in either of them for the past few weeks—actually, pretty much since the two girls had seen her with Jordan at the beach club, which was just over a month ago—and now she was acting as though it had been Clary and Kaelie who had been ignoring her.

They had, but she had been doing it right back.

Kaelie had called her a whore and said that she wasn't interested in whatever it was Lydia had to say, and had then stalked off to find Clary. Lydia had apparently tried calling out after her, but Kaelie had just kept on walking. Lydia had also text Clary, for the first time in a long time, and asked what was going on, but Clary hadn't responded.

Maybe she had figured out what was going on, what they knew.

Maybe she hadn't.

Either way, now they were here, and Lydia's bad attitude was showing.

"Your arch is shit," Lydia dropped to one knee beside where Aline was arching her back, legs straight out in front of her and arms braced underneath her. "Get your back up further," she stuck her arm underneath Aline and started pushing upwards. "Fucking hell, did you have a big lunch or something? Is that's what's fucking weighing you down?" Aline made a whining noise at the back of her throat, and the strain was obvious in the way her arms wobbled a bit. "Because I swear to god, I—"

"Oh, fuck off, Lydia," Clary snapped out, easily stepping down from the position that she was in, glad that they hadn't continued the routine anymore or else she would be higher, on Kaelie and Helen's shoulders, and it would be a lot more difficult to get down. "Leave her alone."

"What?" Lydia snapped out, her eyes wide, looking completely horrified that someone was talking back to her. Clary could feel the eyes of the cheerleading squad on them, because no one spoke back to Lydia, even though she could be a raging bitch at times. "What did you say?"

"I'm pretty fucking sure you heard," Clary stalked over to Lydia, who clambered ungracefully to her feet, up from where she had been crouching next to Aline. Aline let herself fall from the position she was in, landing on her butt, staring up at the two girls. There was a grateful look on her face, although her eyes were widened in surprise. "Aline was fine. Her arch was fine. You're just being a bitch."

"No, I'm being the captain," Lydia snapped back. "It's my job to tell you lot when you're not doing your best. Just because you're hardly ever here and you're barely good enough when you are, doesn't mean the rest of us can just slack off. Some of us have responsibilities!"

"Oh, for fucks sakes," Clary snorted and rolled her eyes. It was true, she hadn't been coming to every practice, although she still came to most, and she wasn't trying as much as she used to. But it really spoke more to the fact that Lydia was distracted that she hadn't pulled Clary up on it earlier. "This is high school cheerleading. Stop acting as though I'm shitting on your actual career. Let's face it, all you're gonna do is grow up to be a bigger slut than you are now, and drain some old ass guy of everything he has. They're not going to care that you were the captain of your cheerleading squad." Lydia's cheeks were reddening the more Clary spoke, her lips draining off blood as she pursed them together.

"Stop acting as if you're any fucking better!" Lydia spat out. "I—I wasn't looking at getting into some—some bitch fight with you!" Lydia was angry, and it was showing in the way that she was stumbling over her words, clutching at things to say. If Clary wasn't so pissed so right now, she would be amused. "You just need to get your head back in this game, and stop fucking worrying about what I'm doing." It wasn't just the cheerleading squad watching now, they had caught the attention of some of the other school athletes who were working out on the field, glancing in their direction.

"Actually," Clary hummed thoughtfully, looking around at the small crowd, locking eyes with Kaelie who gave her an encouraging smirk. "It's kind of funny you mention that."

"Funny I mention what?" Lydia snipped, her nose wrinkled in disgust.

"That I need to get my head in the game and not worry about what you're doing," Clary responded, her tone icy. "Because I was playing along with all of this," she waved her finger around at the cheerleaders. "Throwing my ponytail around and listening as you gave stupid ass instructions. And, I'll be honest, it wasn't anything amazing, but I liked some of these girls. It's fun. And then..." she took a step closer to Lydia, and it was obvious in the glint of her eyes, that there was something was coming that the blonde wasn't prepared for. Clary was small, she was shorter than Lydia and probably not as muscular as the other girl either, but she was fiery and she was determined and she was stubborn, and Lydia involuntarily took a step backwards. "I found out who you were doing." Lydia's eyes were so wide now, her eyebrows were reaching for her hairline. "Yeah," Clary smirked at her, although there was no humor in her eyes. "I saw you with Jordan."

"What the fuck?" Came an audible whisper from behind Clary. It sounded like Helen, but it could have been one of the other girls, honestly, Clary didn't care who heard.

"How long were you fucking him?" Clary asked, the smirk dropping from her face as she stepped forward again, eyebrows pulled together angrily. The bright white of her sneakers scuffed at the grass, almost toe-to-toe with Lydia. "Was it the whole time we were together or did it happen sometime in the middle?"

"I don't know what you heard..."

"I didn't say I heard anything," Clary rolled eyes impatiently. "I didn't say someone told me. I saw." Lydia pressed her lips together again, and she swallowed hard, her throat contracting. "I fucking saw you with him, me and Kaelie both did." Lydia's eyes flicked over Clary's shoulder, probably to where Kaelie was standing. Clary could smell her perfume and a warmth close to her back, so she was guessing that Kaelie had moved forward to stand directly behind her. "I broke up with him because I was done. And I knew that he was a prick when we were together. But with you...With you, I actually thought you were my friend," Clary hated that her voice quietened a little at that.

Because it actually did hurt.

Despite the way she was trying to steel herself, it did hurt that Lydia had betrayed her.

A lot more than Jordan's betrayal hurt.

"Your friend?" Lydia seemed to have found her backbone and she sneered at Clary. "This isn't kindergarten, Clary. You should know there isn't friends in this shit."

That hit a bit too close to home.

Clary's mum didn't have any friends.

Clary hadn't realized that for a long time, but she did now.

Maybe it twisted its way into her stomach more since she had started hanging out with Maia and Magnus, people who barely knew her but acted as though they did, and acted as though they wanted to be around her.

It was something that she had only truly had with Simon, and Kaelie.

Clary took in a deep breath through her nose, staring at Lydia and the smug expression on her face and her perfect little ponytail.

Then her hand lashed forward, slapping Lydia across the face, the sound cracking through the air.

"You whore!" Lydia cried out in shock, her hand going to her face, cradling her cheek, which was rapidly turning red. Her eyes were wide as she gingerly touched her fingers along her cheekbone, where Clary's fingers had curled a little.

"No, babe. You're the whore." Clary barely got the words out before Lydia was lunging toward her. There was a loud squeak from Clary as she was shoved to the ground, the two girls both falling into the grass. There were yells from the other cheerleaders, but none of them really stepped into do something, especially when Kaelie shoved at Aline's hands when she tried to stop Clary from slapping Lydia again.

"Bitch!"

"Slut!"

Lydia managed to get a few good hits in, and Clary's lip was bleeding. Lydia's thighs were clamped at Clary's hips, firmly holding her on top, and so instead of trying to dislodge her, Clary just threw all her body weight to the side and twisted them around, so Lydia was trapped underneath. There were squeals and pulled hair and more blood and then the track coach was running over and shouting at them, ordering the girls to pull them apart. Kaelie was the one that grabbed Clary, and with some help from Helen, they managed to get her away from Lydia.

Lydia was squawking about how her outfit was ruined and her hair and her make up and Clary couldn't help but smirk as she wiped a hand over her face, smearing the blood that was dripping from her lips and mouth across her cheek, as Lydia was pulled to her feet by Aline and one of the other girls. No one seemed to look particularly sympathetic toward Lydia, a few of them were actually grinning, glancing over at Clary with satisfied looks on their faces.

All of them had wanted to slap the bitch at some point or another.

"Come on, Rocky," Kaelie said, looping her arm through Clary's and giving it a tug. "Let's go and see if the nurses office is still open." Clary was a little surprised that Kaelie even knew who Rocky was, the only reason she knew was because of her brother, but she just grinned.

Twenty minutes later, Clary was driving home, her right eye and her lips numb from the icepack that she had had pressed on them since Kaelie had gotten her to the nurses office. Kaelie had looked at her lip, at the split, and had started talking about how her plastic surgeon would be able to get that fixed right up, but Clary had tuned it out.

She looked in the rear view mirror of her car.

A scar would actually be kind of hot, even though she was pretty sure she wasn't going to get one.

Clary looked back at the road, hoping that her father wasn't going to be home that evening, and her mother was still away. It wasn't as though they ever paid much attention to her anyway, but a bloody mouth and a black eye would probably draw some attention. Maybe.

I hope you guys are all staying safe and well. Let me know what you thought of the chapter, and if you've got any recomendations for movies, TV shows or music, then let me know! My latest comfort watch movie wise was When Marnie Was Here...This made me really happy, although I definitely cried. I've recently started watching the original version of Charmed and also Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir, which are on completely opposite ends of the spectrum but hey. Lol. My top songs at the moment are;

1) like crazy - Aidan, Thomas Reid and cozyboy. 2) Middle of the Night - Amy Shark. 3) I Need U - BTS. 4) Must Have Been The Wind - Alec Benjamin. 5) Too Sad To Cry - Sasha Sloan. 6) Cypher Pt 4 - BTS. 7) Wish I Was Better - Kina and yaeow. 8) Never Had A Dream Come True - S Club 7 (lol, clearly feeling some old vibes in here). 9) Womans World - Little Mix. 10) What Do You Think? - Agust D

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