Chapter Song(s):

I Miss The Misery~Halestorm

Remember When~Avril Lavinge

Fearless~Taylor Swift

You And Me~Lifehouse

I Just Wanna Live~Good Charlotte

My phone rang suddenly, blaring out like a really annoying siren. Groaning, I dug through my landfill of empty food containers, drink bottles, and electronics, strewn across my bed. Finally finding the phone in the folds of my comforter, I hit answer. "Hello?" I groaned.

"Hey." My brother responded, his tone clipped.

Sitting up, I cleared my throat. "Everything okay?"

"No."

My brows scrunched together wordily. "Well...what's wrong?"

"The cheer coach called, saying that she was severely sorry for the incident at the state game, and that Camille would be punished severely for it."

My stomach dropped. Oh no.

"So, then dad was like 'what incident?'." Jon continued.

There was a tense silence on his end.

"So, we got the fill from the teachers, the players, the other cheerleaders. Everybody. Dad then called the hospital. You know, the one that charged your emergency credit card $400 dollars. And then I called Jace."

I sincerely hoped Jace was good at lying his ass off.

"He explained how everything went down."

I hoped he had left out certain things at least.

"I'm sorry." I said, my voice small.

"Sorry?!" My brothers voice burst from the phone. I winced.

"I had to find out that my baby sister almost died from a bunch of people that weren't her."

"I'm sorry." I said again, squeezing my eyes shut.

"God, Clary...stop apologizing! Am I mad that you didn't tell me? Hells yeah. But...you almost died, and I wasn't there to protect you. You don't even know how much I hate myself for not being there. I'm sorry. You had to go through all of that shit alone."

"I wasn't alone." I said, finding myself smiling despite how tight my chest felt.

Staring at myself in the mirror, I adjusted my hem nervously, blowing out a shaky breath. To everybody else, today was just the day we came back to school from break. To me, it's was that, as well as giving to face the questioning stares and the pitiful glances. I prayed I wouldn't run into Camille. A normal dad would've been outraged, threatening to sue the people who had hurt his daughter. My dad? He told me to be more careful and to never use my emergency credit card again unless it was a real emergency. Part of me wondered what did constitute an emergency in his book. Pushing the though away, I resisted the urge to cake more concealer onto the already covered bruises and cuts. My shoulder was okay enough that I didn't have to wear the sling anymore, but I still couldn't move it much. The big scratch on my arm was covered my my sleeves. Hating the fact that my sleeves only covered the top part of my pink cast, I turned away from the mirror, shoving my feet into my nude flats and headed downstairs.

When Jon picked up Jace, he slid into the back with me. When Jon gave him a questioning look, Jace shrugged. "What? Didn't want Clary here to accidentally fall in the back or something." He gently nudged my shoulder, grinning.

"Your an asshole." Jon said, shaking his head as he turned his attention to the road and started driving again. Once Jon's eyes were off of us, Jace threaded his fingers through mine. Moving closer to Jace, I made absolutely sure my brother wasn't looking. When I was certain, I leaned my head against Jace's shoulder. When his free arm circled around my side to hold me to him, I smiled, feeling my fears of today's future ease away.

Aside from the expected stares, the day went smoothly. That was until I walked into 6th period. As I set my bookbag down on my desk, planning on sitting in my seat, I was blocked. Camille stood in front, her two followers chilling behind her. I suddenly felt like I was in a cheesy movie. "You got me expelled from the rest of the season." Camille said, her glare sharp enough to cut diamonds. "Yeah, well that's what happens when you try to kill your flyer."

She leaned closer to me. "To bad it didn't work."

Shaking my head as she leaned away from me, I clenched my fists so hard they bleached white. Enough was enough. She didn't even see it coming. As she turned back towards me after talking to her little fan club, I reared my fist back. The blow clipped her jaw, throwing her backwards. My hand exploded with pain. I clutched my fist to my chest as she fell on her ass. "Well fuck you too." I said as the teacher dragged me away.

Looking back, the decision to punch Camille had been a bit rash, but if given the chance, I would do it all over again. I now sat in the chairs outside the principals office, waiting for them to let me go. Jace sat beside me, pinning me with a look. "Please tell me your phone autocorrected the hell out of that text and you didn't really punch Camille in the face."

I gave him an innocent shrug & smile. "Sorry?"

He shook his head, settling back into the chair and putting his arm around my shoulders. "At least she deserved it."

I gave him a wry smile. "She kind of did, didn't she?"