Hi guys. Welcome back to Idris Academy. Thanks so much for all the positive response you have given this story, it provides me with a lot of excitement reading all your comments. Here is the next instalment of the story; the competition begins :) I acknowledge that all rights belong to Cassandra Clare and Yoko Kamio. Also thank you Maya Angelou for the quote at the end.
Chapter Twenty: Let The Competition Begin
TEENS OF NEW YORK
By Maia Roberts.
With commentary by Bartholomew Velasquez, DJ To The Stars
(you can call me Bat=seriously call me)
For most teenage girls, Friday night marks the end of a long and busy week and all they are ready to do is sit back and relax. However for a select few, tonight is the beginning of a three day marathon with some of America's elite heading to Manhattan to compete in the much hailed, acclaimed and exhilarating pageant; Teen Of New York (I feel you were paid to say that). For those of you who don't know, Teen Of New York began in the late 1920's as part of the American debutantee season (nobody cares-really). The wealthy teenage girls competed to show their prestige and beauty to the young men of society and this was actually a significant meeting point for many couples (Turn to Page 4 to read I Am Celebrating My Golden Anniversary) (Actually turn to the back page for the sport. There is also a coupon in the back page, 20% of entry for my next DJ gig). Today however, this competition is not so much a showcase of appearance but a showcase of intelligence and skill. Plenty of today's leading CEO's, politicians, lawyers, models, editors, executives and more were given a foot up by this competition and there is no doubt today, more young, exciting talent will shine through (it is still a pretty elitist competition, nobody who is poverty striken can enter-despite the prize money ranging from 50,000 into the millions). What is most exciting, is the entrance of a mysterious young female who apparently has the backing of some of Manhattan's most eligible bachelors. Our sources claim that this girl (pictured below) has been seen in the company of none other than Simon Lewis, Alec Lightwood, Sebastian Verlac and Jace Wayland (whose mother and sister have both won the competition and has significant influence over the judging panel). When queried, Imogen Herondale declined to comment but her son said that neither himself or his family would have any influence over the panel this year. Stay in tuned for live commentary on our website . (or contact me on my email bat ), where we will bring you much more of the action (debatable).
Clary stared up at the towering auditorium and towards the doorways, where literally thousands of girls seemed to be pouring in and out of the doors. She turned around but instead of seeing familiar faces, all she could see where the steely, determined expressions she normally associated with herself. There was a cold wrench of fear and panic settled in on her gut. Girls of all shapes, sizes, nationalities and looks were heading through those doors, determined to win no matter what.
In fact, the one thing they seemed to share in common, was their wealth and prestige. They had been trained for this competition since practically birth and they were more than ready to do whatever it took to bring honour to their families and cement themselves into the eye of the nation and possibly potential clients and employers. Clary could almost see the irony; the rich and wealthy wanted recognition, she, who had been recognised several times in the paper as "the mysterious young female, the Shadowhunters had taken under their wing", wanted money.
However before she could scare herself out of jumping into a taxi and hiding underneath the seat, she took a long deep breath and said
"One step at a time. Step one, get inside without being squashed by a rabid crowd of overexcited people".
"Talking to yourself...again?' said Jace, as he came up behind her, 'seriously. You have an abundance of motivational talks stacked up, don't you? You have been doing it all week and I can already count six billion times today when you've done it. At home, at breakfast, at training, in the car, at my house, in the car again, at school, in the car again. My god. You are going to be fine".
"And if you aren't' said Sebastian, following behind with Simon and Alec, 'I will invest in you to become a motivational speaker. You seem to have quite a lot of practice".
Clary rolled her eyes and said
"You know what you should also invest in, a book of jokes".
"Now you are being snappy" said Sebastian and Simon smiled at her.
"Keep up that attitude, Fray and you will go a long way".
Clary smiled back at him, Jace rolled his eyes and said
"Okay, now Clary has vented, let's go in before something else happens like a hurricane or death by motivation".
He turned and started marching toward the doors, Clary staring after him.
"Don't worry' said Alec, 'he get's like that when he is nervous. On the inside, he is probably more wound up than a..."
"SM victim" crowed Sebastian and Alec sighed.
"Why did I know that was coming?"
Clary headed after them and they caught up with Jace at the doors, where they were all pushed in by the crowd, as eager as they were. She saw plenty of parents, friends and younger siblings giving last minute advice to their sisters but Clary was glad she had said her goodbyes at home. She probably would have started crying otherwise.
Magnus and Camille had made her a banner that read: Fray For First,which they planned to wave wildly when it was her turn on stage whilst her brother and father had told her that if she got stage fright, Jonathan would read out all of the criticism he had got in his last assignment and by the time, he had finished, Clary would have recovered. But it had been her mother that really caused her eyes to tear up. She had simply hugged Clary and said
"No matter what happens, no matter if you win or lose, I will always be proud of you, Clarissa. For all your achievements. And for all of the times, you have tried, failed and got back up again".
"Are you crying? I thought you were motivated" said Jace suspiciously and she gave a derisive snort.
"I don't think you understand the first thing about human sorrow".
"I can think of another person who is wound up" muttered Sebastian and Alec and Simon almost choked holding back laughter. They were directed up the stairs by personnel and Clary could barely keep up with the amount of times, Jace held up a card and they were buzzed through another door. When they got to security scans, Sebastian made the machine go off with the amount of metal he had concealed on himself and when the girl went to check him, he grinned wolfishly and said
"Check all you want".
That definitely got a lot of stares but most of them were in admiration. Clary had noticed the way most people were staring at the four guys, their faces were plastered over plenty of newspapers and blogs but it made her jolt when she realised exactly how well they were known. Everybody seemed to stare at them and then at her, making connections between her and the "mysterious young female". Clary wasn't sure if she liked this or not. Wouldn't that raise expectations? Didn't she want to be the element of surprise?
Her suitcase went through fine and just as she went in, she heard a voice call out
"Jace".
She turned as did the rest of the boys and they saw a blond haired girl, walking towards them, a smile on her face. When she finally reached them, she moved towards Jace first, but instead of throwing her arms around him, she stuck out her hand and said
"Long time, no see".
Jace slowly took her hand and then she turned towards Clary. She was tall and slim, a luminous smile showing off perfect teeth and bright blue eyes. She had quite a bit of acne of the right side of her face but the way she walked, her graceful style, her elegant clothing and her charming smile all drew their attention to her face.
"Good luck' she said, 'if you have these guys on your side, then you are gonna be some tough competition".
Jace was still staring at her and Clary took it upon herself to introduce herself.
"I'm Clary. Nice to meet you".
The girl smiled but before she could say anything else, Jace said
"What are you doing here, Kaelie?"
Kaelie turned towards him and said
"Your mother called me. She told me I had her endorsement to enter Teen Of New York. She said she really felt I had the right skills to win this competition. I thought, why not? I'm always up for a little competition".
All of them stared at her but the look in Kaelie's eyes didn't seem devious, it just seemed to be friendly. After a long silence, she said
"Well, I'll see you later. Jace, Clary. You guys".
She waved as she walked past them into the dressing room she had been allocated and they all stared after her. Then Alec said
"That was expected of your mother, Jace. But a totally unexpected surprise".
"More like an unexpected bomb' said Sebastian, 'which just blew up in our faces".
Clary looked from face to face and said
"Who is that? What am I missing?"
Obviously if Imogen was involved, something had to be wrong but she couldn't connect how it affected them. Simon said
"That's Kaelie Whitewillow. She is Congressman Whitewillow's daughter. And Jace's former girlfriend".
"Huh?" said Clary, looking at Jace, who was staring after Kaelie. He had a mix of disgust and surprise on his face and Clary could see a muscle in his cheek twitching. There was another long silence before he said
"You had better go, Clary. They will start calling people soon"
Clary was surprised at his abrupt dismissal but his face softened when he looked at her.
"Good luck, Fray. I know you will do well for the introductions. We will come see you after that".
He gave her a brief hug and pride flickered through his eyes.
"Go get them, tiger" said Sebastian and Alec, just rolled his eyes before saying,
"Don't let Imogen bring you down. You are worth more than she ever could contemplate being".
She nodded and then slowly made her way towards the door Kaelie and a lot of other girls were entering.
"Clary" Simon called and she stopped, a rather large girl crashing into her. She apologised vaguely and saw Simon coming towards her. He stopped and said
"I just wanted to ask you something".
Clary nodded, wondering why his tone was so grave. Was it about Isabelle or Imogen? He said
"Do you remember the day Jace beat up Hodge Starkweather?"
Clary frowned, nodding again and tried to get the picture out of her mind, of the looks of glee on the other threes face's. They were changed now and whilst she couldn't forgive them for what they had done, they were moving on, becoming better people. Simon nodded and said
"You said something out on that fire exit that really got to me".
"Oh well' said Clary hurriedly, 'I was angry and flustered. I probably didn't make a lot of sense and I..."
"No Clary' he said, 'do you remember what you said?"
She scrolled back through her mind, trying to remember what had happened. She had been angry about the beating, she had..tossed her blazer on the floor, screaming that Idris was the school for Satan's spawn but somehow she felt that Simon didn't mean that. When she shrugged, he said
"You said if you didn't have money, who would you be? Nothing".
Clary stared at him and he smiled.
"None of these girls are better than you because they have money. You only can rely on intelligence and skill in this competition. All bets are off. Nobody can bribe the judges because they aren't announced until the day before the competition and the people who pick them are of the highest integrity. What I am saying is...you have an even playing field. You are just as good as anyone here".
For one moment, all Clary could do was look at him. Then she hugged him briefly and said
"Thank you".
Clary opened the door to the dressing room and gazed around the room. It looked like a bomb had gone off in it, clothes were strewn everywhere, powder and perfume was being thrown around, paper was scattered across the floor, somebody had plugged in their Ipod and music was blasting around, one girl was practicing pushups and another was singing loudly. Clary moved into the large dressing room and managed to wedge half a mirror space, sharing with another girl. In this dressing room alone, there was about 100 people and Clary didn't want to even venture out into the other dressing rooms to eye up the competition.
She opened up her suitcase and pulled out the makeup, which Magnus and Camille had bought for her. They had devoted a day to teach her how to expertly apply makeup, do her hair and mix and match outfits. Around her, girls were already doing final touch ups and choosing between the right outfits. Clary got to work straight away, lipstick, blush, eyebrow pencil and mascara, before placing one gold stud in each ear and re-tying her hair into a slick ponytail. She had opted for a smart-casual style, which had ended up being jeans, wedge boots and a smart, black blazer.
Someone moved out of the corner of her eye and she turned, wondering if she had got it wrong. But no, it was Cecilia Queen, reapplying her bright red lipstick and puckering up in front of her mirror. She was wearing tight, skinny jeans and a long, khaki thin sleeved top, which of course looked like it was worth more than Clary's house. She caught sight of Clary and raised her eyebrows before turning back to the mirror. Clary considered going over there to say hi or smack her, she didn't know which but decided against it. Nerves were already at breaking point, she would probably start a massacre.
Kaelie waved from where she was surrounded by other girls but aside from this, nobody else responded to her for the entire 45 minute warm up period. Clary rehearsed everything mentally that she and the boys had gone over and wondered if it would be enough. Every time the door opened, she would look up, eyes peering for the backstage crew but it was either a girl or family member. Each time, Clary felt her heart jump and then slowly decline again. She didn't know whether she wanted it to be over or never begin. Then suddenly the door swung open and someone called.
"Everybody, group 1 needs to form a line at the side of the stage in ascending numerical order. That is group 1. You have five minutes before you are due on stage. Good luck".
There was a long hushed silence after they left before suddenly noise was everywhere, people talking, screeching, chairs being pushed back. Clary got up and checked her number, she was number 385. This meant that she would go on the stage in the third group. She had exactly ten minutes before her group went on and introduced themselves to the audience. The clock just ticked by and as people in her room vanished, she grew more and more apprehensive. She noticed that she was in the same group as Cecilia and Kaelie and she wanted to bury her head in her hands. This was the most nerve-wracking experience of her life.
"Everybody, group 3 needs to form a line at the side of the stage in ascending numerical order. That is group 1. You have five minutes before you are due on stage. Good luck".
Jace couldn't sit still. He kept fidgeting and running his hands through his head and adjusting his elbows on the armrests and checking his phone. He was worried about Clary but finally after the sixth time of standing up and looking around, Sebastian said
"We are not in the middle of World War 1. It is a competition. Calm your farm".
Jace jumped up so suddenly that Sebastian had to turn his head to avoid his nose getting sliced off.
"I'm going to the bathroom".
"Fascinating' said Sebastian, 'maybe on the way back, you'll get a snack as well".
Jace ignored him and headed out of the bustling auditorium. He caught sight of Clary's family and Magnus and Camille sitting towards the side and the large banner they were holding up. They weren't looking at him, they were in deep and seemingly heated conversation and Jace felt a sharp pang in his chest as he stared at them. They fought and argued all the time but they all loved each other at the end of the day and supported one another. Nothing like his mother.
He turned away, heading towards the bathroom. He kept seeing familiar faces, all the girls his mother had vested interest in because of their company and he hoped that Kaelie didn't have ulterior motives. His mother had a way with manipulation and persuasion and if she had convinced Kaelie to ruin Clary's chances, then it was going to make the competition even harder for Clary.
As he washed his hands, he caught sight of himself in the mirror and he grimaced. He looked pale and drawn and his hair was a mess. He would be thankful when this competition was over and he and Clary could go back to normality. She's going to be fine, he told himself, always is, always will be.
And they were the last things he thought of because the next thing he knew, someone had smashed something heavy into the back of his head and he was falling into blackness. His head screamed with pain and there was nobody to catch him. He fell and fell until there was nothing.
"And announcing Group 3, here are the next 100 girls. Please give them your applause, ladies and gentlemen".
The spotlight was hot and made the makeup feel wet against her face. At the same time, Clary also felt cold as hundreds of eyes zoned in onto the group. She was towards the back and at the front, Kaelie was standing in spotlight, her blonde hair shimmering. She couldn't see anyone's faces, they were all shadowy and mask like. She swallowed, a lump in her throat suddenly huge and her fists clenched. As the girls moved through their introductions, talking to the host, there were some muck-ups and mistakes, tears and tantrums but also some genuinely graceful, eloquent speakers who captivated the audience with their charm.
Kaelie told a blonde joke, making fun of herself and this got the audience in stitches. Cecilia was poised and stiff but her speech was interesting enough. Then slowly the girls in front started to dwindle and it was Clary moving towards the front. Then
"And next up, we have contestant number 385. Please give her a hand".
There was some polite applause but she wasn't instantly recognisable. Before she had longed for anonymity, now she just wanted to appear as normal as possible, she wanted at least one person to find her charming or hilarious or amusing. Her legs felt stiff as she moved towards the podium and took her place and she stared out towards the judging panel, where she could vaguely make out five people. Everybody else was in the gloom and Clary could barely find her voice.
"Um.." she said, panic overriding her. She couldn't breath, it was like a weight pulling down on her. She looked down at her hands, her heart beating so fast and hard she could barely breath. Why had she agreed to come on this show? She was going to be humiliated beyond her wildest imaginations.
"Hi" she said in a whisper and the compare said
"You are going to have to speak up".
"GO CLARY" someone suddenly cheered and there was a burst of wolf-whistling and cheering from one corner as well as the middle section in front of the judges. Clary's heart missed a beat and she looked up slowly. Was that...
"YOU CAN DO IT" shouted her mother and all of her friends echoed their assent.
Clary swallowed, her mouth making a funny noise and slowly she focused on the place where the noise had come from. You can do it. The words rang through her head. She could do it. Come on, she begged herself. Say something. Can you, said a voice in her head, can you really? It sounded a lot like Imogen's. Are you really good enough for us? Good enough for my son? Good enough for what society has to offer? Clary gritted her teeth. And then finally she spoke.
"My...'she stuttered it out and then started again, 'my name is Clarissa Fray. Most people call me Clary".
She made a snap decision to add in a joke and said
"My enemies have less polite names for me".
There were hints of laughter throughout the crowd and Clary felt her nervousness dissipate slightly. Imogen will be watching this, said a voice in her head and suddenly she found herself looking at the television camera. She said clearly and calmly
"However someone once said this about enemies, a wise woman wishes to be no one's enemy; but a wise woman refuses to be anyone's victim".