Alec hated the idea of a high school, the concept of it just seemed to aggravate him. At the Institute, families were assigned a tutor so that each child could learn and grow to play their strengths and to avoid weaknesses. Class sizes tended to range no more than ten people so that they could maximize the precision in each student's form, discipline, and success. High school was, from what he learned about it, the exact opposite. Class sizes were outrageously huge and everyone learned the exact same thing, never specializing any of their strengths. High school, in his opinion, is one of the worst things ever created by mundanes.

He just hoped that his first day would prove him wrong. The car ride there was nearly a repeat of the day before, thankfully though Isabelle kept talking to him and having him drink the digusting water bottle (mundane's water is so polluted, how do they all not have weird radiation mutations) in his hands. And when he arrived he learned that Isabelle and Jace weren't going to be in the same classes as him because they were a year younger, which was preposterous because they are just as smart as he is, if not more but at least he shared classes with Eliza. Juniors. That's what she had called them, he and Eliza were juniors. He didn't bother to learn what Isabelle and Jace were called, he had more important stuff to learn today.

As soon as he had stepped in the door he could feel all those beating little eyes staring him down, judging him inside and out. They had glamoured all their runes except for the Mark, that one took a lot of energy to cover up and they all agreed that it was best if they didn't use it all up glamour. Eliza left a couple of hers unglamoured just because she didn't have many, the Cleveland Institute wasn't focused as much as masking their Shadowhunters the best, they were more liberal, they wanted them to know the Accords more than they could know their own name they were a very political branch of Shadowhunter.

"Okay, so first period Alec and I have English, you two have Geometry. So second, Alec has Spanish, and I have French so we'll be in the Foreign Language hall which is right down the hall from your History class that mod. Then we switch halls, we'll be in US Gov, and you'll be in English. After that we'll all be in the Science wing for Chemistry and Biology. Gym is 4th mod so we;ll be there together, and then lunch is fifth. After lunch, Alec and I have Algebra 2 you guys will be in study hall. Sophomore Spanish is seventh for you guys, we have Economics that period Alec. Eighth for you guys is Home Ec, Alec and I have a study hall. And ninth mod is your arts class and you'll pick those when you get there. Got it?" Eliza asked handing them all a sheet of paper.

"No." They all said in unison as a bell rang.

"Crap, that's the warning bell. Okay, um." She looked around a minute before spotting someone in the crowd and walking in that direction. The three of them followed her like a pack of sheep lost in the village without their owner. The girl she met up to had long black air, and wore a red Victorian style dress with black lace over the shoulders. The two talked for a moment before Eliza sprouted a smile and turned back to them.

"Jace, Isabelle this is Tina. She's going to show you guys to your classes when I'm not with you, okay?" Eliza asked, and the two nodded. Jace and Isabelle said their greetings and Alec barely caught the last bits of their conversation as Eliza pulled him towards a classroom.

"Don't you think that dress is a little too revealing?" Tina asked.

"No, they call it the Cleveland neckline." Isabelle said, pointing to the serious amount of cleavage that she was showing.

First period wasn't so bad, Alec had Eliza to crutch on through the awkward introduction but other than that it went okay. Surprisingly they did more reading of English than they did talking or learning about it. The 45 minutes flew by and before he knew it Alec was meeting with Isabelle and Jace who both had very confused and very frustrated looks on their faces.

"I just don't get it." Isabelle shrugged her shoulders, pushing aside the math class from her mind but Jace was harping on it.

"It's shapes! There shouldn't be any math in it." As they approached the History room Eliza smiled at the pair of them and put a comforting hand on Jace's shoulder and told him to breathe. He waited a moment, Isabelle already walking into the room to take her seat before turning to Alec.

"You good?" Jace asked.

"Yeah." Alec nodded.

"Just remember, it's history. The answer is probably either racism or money." Eliza said, pushing Jace into the room giving him no time to come back out and complain. She walked Alec to the door of the Spanish room and paused taking a moment to scan his face for any sign of panic. Alec was sure he was hiding the sweaty palms and the irregular heartbeat pretty well, but then again you could never tell with her she always seemed to know what was going on with other people.

"Don't be nervous. It's just Spanish, the Lightwoods are Hispanic." She said, patting his shoulder before walking into the classroom. At the desk was a short, curly haired man in an awful grey vest that reminded Alec of the 90 year old representative from the German Institute.

"Mr. Schue!" Eliza said catching the man's attention.

"Hola, Eliza. What can I do for you today?" His voice was calm, and his smile seemed nice. Alec was quiet, he wasn't planning on talking very much but it was a little comforting to know that his teacher seemed mellow enough. Last thing he needed was another Mom riding his back, although he couldn't quite imagine this Mr. Schue in one of his mother's council dresses.

"This is my cousin, Alec. His brother and sister are going to be in your Sophomore class later and I was wondering if you could do me a favor and look out for them. Their family is actually a bit Hispanic so the class shouldn't be a problem, just makes sure nobody gives them a rough time." Eliza said, looking back and forth to Alec who awkwardly stood behind the two, towering over them both as Schue looked to be no more than 5'7.

"Will do, Eliza. It's nice to meet you Alec." Schue said, holding out his hand. Alec reached over, squeezed, and shook firmly just like his father had taught him too. "Strong grip."

"Thanks." Alec mumbled, pulling his hand away.

"Bye Alec." Eliza said, turning to give Alec a peck on the cheek. "Relax."

The bell rang just as she stepped out the door and Alec could hear her frantic footsteps as she hurried to her French class three doors down. He imagined her sassing the teacher when they asked why she was late. Schue's voice brought him out of his thoughts as he coughed and got the class's attention.

"Class we have a new student today. Alec, why don't you introduce yourself?" Schue asked.

"I'm Alec Lightwood, and I moved here from New York." Alec said, barely audible among the students turning their heads to whisper about him, more than likely.

"Great to have you here. Why don't you take any open seat you'd like and we'll get started on future tense." Schue said. Alec nodded, keeping his head down as he walked through the rows intending on taking the farthest seat back from the front as possible. But, as he got to the middle of the room he felt someone tug on his sleeve causing him to very ungracefully fall into a seat beside whoever it was.

He turned to look at the culprit and staring back at him were a pair of a big brown eyes and the biggest nose he had ever seen. He focused away from their face and turned to look the girl up and down, she had long brown hair and she dressed like a girl from the Belgium Institute that bit him once when he was nine. He listened as she began to speak, but instead of staring at her face like a weirdo he focused on her words, which wasn't hard considering she only said three.

"I'm Rachel Berry." She said, holding out her hand. Alec repeated the handshake he had done with Schue but this time she too in return gave a firm grip. Alec smiled, a firm handshake said a lot about a person, his Dad used to say, now only if he could remember what.

"Alec Lightwood." He said.

"I saw you in the hallways this morning with Eliza Roseblood. I was going to introduce myself, because it's always refreshing to see a new face around here, but I didn't want you to feel overwhelmed." Rachel said.

"How considerate." Alec said, attempting to focus his attention back on Schue. He listened for a moment or two before Rachel tapped his shoulder and began to speak again.

"What's New York like?" Rachel asked.

"Hm?" He asked, still focusing his eyes on Schue's tapping the board and having the class mumble in repetition as he spouted out conjugations.

"New York, that's where you're from. Did you live in the city? It's always been my dream to go to New York City." She asked, eyes lighting up as she turned them up a little bit as if lost in her daydream of it. He didn't dare tell her that wasn't all what his New York City was like, full of demons and sometimes meaningless violence, because that look in her eyes was so intoxicating. Was there anything he talked about that gave that look? Had no one mentioned it before? Maybe archery.

"I like it, it's nice." Alec said, watching as she was clearly dissatisfied with his answer. "Sometimes, in such a big city, when I take long walks I think about how lonely it is. All those people and it's just so easy to get lost in the crowd. And once you get sucked in, that's how the demons get you."

"That's morbid." She said.

"S'how I see the city I guess." Alec shrugged.

"Well maybe you've been on the wrong side of town." Rachel said, turning her attention finally back to Schue just as he finished.

"Tell me about it." He said, subconsciously rubbing the scar from where that low level just scraped him last week.

The bell rang, and he practically ran towards the door and still somehow Rachel caught him just as Eliza was coming down the hallway. Rachel turned towards him. "I think Lima will be good for you. The less crowded streets. Maybe you won't be so lonely."

Rachel patted his shoulder as she walked past him and Eliza came up to him with a smirk on her face. Alec blinked at the retreating girl a couple times as if processing what the heck just happened. Eliza giggled. "What was that?"

"I'm not sure." He said, and the two headed towards their next class.