EDITED

Over the next two weeks at school, Clary only went to one of the cheerleading practices, and she missed one of the games in the weekend, the away game and only telling Kaelie at the last minute, which meant that Lydia would need to bring in their back up, Maureen Brown, who wasn't particularly good. Or at least, not up to Lydia's definition of good. Lydia fixed her with a glare pretty much every time she was around, and especially on the days after she missed cheerleading practice, but Clary just ignored her. She didn't have the energy to glare back or snap at her when she stalked past her a little too close, because she felt as though she was walking around on auto-pilot.

There was the strange little cheerleader posse that surrounded her and Kaelie on breaks and lunch, and even though Clary didn't really understand why they were flocking to her when they had really never paid much attention to each other, she didn't care. Kaelie seemed to like it, and they were a distraction when Clary clearly didn't want to talk and carry on a conversation about herself.

"I'm sorry that Lydia is a bitch," Aline said quietly one afternoon when they were walking to the carpark. Clary had been coming in with Simon most days, but he had chess club after school—the only 'team sport' that he would join—and so she had driven in by herself that morning. She had been walking to the student parking lot when Aline had skipped up to her. "And I'm sorry that she moved in on Jordan." Clary's eyebrows lifted, because even though they had all sort of been hanging out recently, they definitely hadn't discussed Jordan.

"Uh, thanks," Clary narrowed her eyes for a moment, tightening her grip around the strap of her oversized Louis Vuitton bag, trying to figure out how she was meant to respond to that.

"And sorry for saying that, I know that's probably not something that you want to talk about," Aline continued and Clary pressed her lips together in a thin line, glad that at least Aline knew that this was awkward for her. "I just wanted to say it, because we all like you better than Lydia." Clary let out a laugh and shook her head.

"Thanks," she repeated. "Although you probably shouldn't let her hear you say that, because she'll be even harder on you in practice." Aline nodded, gave her a wave and then headed down the path toward where her car was parked. Clary watched the younger girl go, and she was a little sad that she hadn't gotten to know her better. To be fair, there was a year between them in school, and she had only moved to the school last year, so she had never really registered on Clary's radar, even when she was part of the cheerleading squad, but still, she was glad that she was getting to know her now, even if the school year was reaching its end.

Clary went to her car, taking her keys out of her bag and pressing the button on her fob. The lights flashed and there were two loud beeps as the doors unlocked. She reached out for the handle when she heard the clicks of high heels approaching her and she looked over her shoulder to see Lydia standing on the path in front of where her car was parked.

With Jordan.

Granted, Jordan looked very uncomfortable and he refused to meet Clary's eyes, looking to the side as Lydia stared right at the redhead. The bruises and scratches on her face were all healed now, just like Clary's which was disappointing, because Clary quite liked that smug feeling when she would catch a glimpse of the blonde and see the marks from their fight.

"Are you going to bless us with your presence tonight?" Lydia asked haughtily. Clary regarded her for a moment, flipping the keys in her fingers before scrunching up her nose, as though considering the decision, making a humming noise. Honestly, she had actually planned on going to the game tonight, it was a basketball one at the school, so it wasn't as though they needed to travel very far, but now that Lydia was here, acting all high and mighty, there was no way that she was going to show up.

Besides, Lydia was probably going to kick her off the squad, given if it had been anyone else, she would have told them to piss off after the second consecutive missed practice. Maybe she was scared that Clary would lash out and hit her again, which she wouldn't do, Clary wasn't a violent person in general, she had just been pushed over a line that time.

"No," she finally said, flashing Lydia an extremely insincere smile before opening the door to her car. "And I wouldn't count on me being at any others...Bitch," she added with a smirk before getting inside.

Quitting felt good, and it felt even better since Lydia couldn't kick her off.

Lydia looked as though she had something else that she wanted to say, her face turning into a thundercloud at Clary's utterance, but Clary slammed the door shut behind her and turned on the engine, before purposefully turning on her radio up loud so that even if Lydia tried to talk to her, there was no way she would be able to hear.

It was immature of her, but what was more immature was the way Lydia stomped her foot as though she was a toddler. Clary rolled her eyes as she reversed out of her parking spot and then straightened her car up, waiting for one of her classmates in front of her to drive forward. As her car moved, she looked in her rearview mirror, and she saw Jordan trying to calm Lydia down, hands on her shoulders. She rolled her eyes again, because whatever he was saying, it was undoubtedly pathetic, and she was glad that she was done with him.

She was going to be done with all of this, with just a month and a half left of school, this was all going to be behind her soon.

Clary pursed her lips in annoyance at the traffic on the road that was due to all the students and the busses that were leaving after school finishing, but her mind was elsewhere as she waited in line. All thoughts of Lydia and Jordan completely vanished, going back to the same things that had been running through her head since everything had gone down—Jace. Jace and her dad and her brother and Magnus and Maia and Isabelle and Alec. It was all a messy jumble that she was still trying to untangle and make sense of, and she really didn't feel as though she was anywhere better than she was to begin with.

At least she wasn't crying as much.

Her upper lip curled, because she hated to admit how much she had cried because of him.

The front door was open when Clary drove up the driveway, and Essex was out the front, sprawled out on the cobbles with her head between her legs. Her eyes opened when Clary drove up and parked in her usual spot, and her ears twitched in her direction, but obviously, she was enjoying the sun and the heat from the cobbles, because she didn't move. Clary grabbed her bag from where she had dropped it on the passenger seat and got out of her car, noting that her fathers car was parked to the side of the house with its boot open. Just as she was about to walk in the front door, Valentine came out, an overnight bag in one hand and his briefcase in the other.

"Clarissa," he greeted her with a warm smile, but Clary just blinked at him, completely unsure of how to act. She hadn't seen him since finding out everything she had from Jace and his parents, and she hadn't been expecting to see him, even though she was obviously going to have to face him at some stage. Her mother had been around quite a bit, which Clary thought was uneseccary because it was obvious that she was only around because she suddenly seemed to care about Clary, even though there was no way her daughter was going to open up to her. But her father hadn't been by, and Jocelyn had mentioned something about Chicago, so she had honestly just been putting off thinking about him.

"Hi," she finally mumbled, which was weird, because she didn't usually mumble, she usually kept her head up and voice clear when she had something to say. She leaned down and ruffled her fingers through Essex's fur, betweeen her ears, before heading into the house. She undid the laced-up shoes she was wearing, that tied around her ankles, and then walked toward the kitchen, her bag still over her shoulder.

"I'm heading back into the city tonight," Valentine followed after her into the kitchen, although he was heading toward where his laptop bag was on the counter. "We've got an event we're hosting at one of our hotels—your mother is coming as well, and then I'm flying out to Boston for a conference," he picked up his laptop bag, pulling the strap over his shoulder. "I don't know where Jocelyn is going from there." Clary just nodded before opening up the fridge and looking inside.

The housekeeper also did grocery shopping and so they always had food in the fridge and the cupboard, although a lot of it went to waste, given it was usually only Clary home. She pursed her lips together and then reached in to pick up a pottle of yoghurt. She walked over to the bench, putting down her bag and opening one of the drawers to take out a teaspoon, and then turned around to look over to where Valentine was standing in the doorway, looking as though he was waiting for her to say something. She raised her eyebrows at him as she took the cover off the yoghurt and dunked the teaspoon inside.

"Sounds fun," she offered to him, not sure what he was expecting her to say.

"Is everything alright, Clarissa?" Valentine asked her, his eyebrows pulling together as he examined her. "Jocelyn said that you had been a bit...Different lately." He clearly didn't know what to say, because it wasn't as though he knew what her normal was. And neither would Jocelyn.

"I'm fine," Clary responded. "Just...Exams coming up, and stuff," she shrugged as she shoved the teaspoon into her mouth. Valentine nodded, as though that explained everything, even though Clary had barely been studying and really should since academics wasn't something that she just flourished at, unlike Simon.

"Okay," Valentine nodded and then came over. He put his arm half around her shoulders and kissed her on top of her head, giving her shoulders a squeeze. Clary didn't respond, completely still in his grasp. He didn't comment on it before he pulled back, giving her a smile before he was heading out the front door.

Clary couldn't explain the weird twisting in her stomach, the feeling as though it was literally rolling over, but she knew that she couldn't finish the rest of the yoghurt, and she dumped it into the rubbish bin, grabbing her bag to go up to her room.