Chapter Six: The 'Calm' Before the Storm

I wake up to the sound of running water. Still tired from the day before I barely open my eyes to see it's still pretty dark outside. I open my eyes fully now taking in my surroundings. I'm in Jace's room, in his bed. The water is probably coming from Jace taking a shower in the bathroom connected to his room. I lay back down taking a couple more precious seconds to sleep until the shower turns off. Jace comes out with his still damp hair hair sticking to his face and a pair of dark wash jeans. He walks over to his closet to get a shirt when he sees me practically gawking.

"Like what you see?" He says, smirking at me.

"eh." I say back looking uninterested.

"Just 'eh'?," He says walking over to the bed and lying on top of me. He props himself on his elbows so he's hovering over me. "Most girls would die to have all of this."

"Well I wouldn't want to inflate your ego even more." I say back

"So you do think I'm hot." He says smiling down at me.

"I never said that." I protest

"But you were insinuating it." He says back, not accepting to be wrong.

"Sure, Whatever helps you sleep at night." I say

"Good, we both agree then."

I roll my eyes and smile back at him. Jace decides to go in for a kiss at the moment. I, however, slip from under him right as our lips are centimeters apart leaving him a daze.

"I guess I better get ready." I say teasingly, walking out of his room with Jace still on his bed…shirtless, might I add.

"I'll get you back for that." He says as I walk out, proud of what I do to him.

Needing clothes I decide to wake up Isabelle. What other way to wake up your best friend than jumping on top of her. As soon as I collide with a sound asleep Izzy she immediately wakes up with a soft 'oof'. After the initial scare, she glares at me through tired eyes.

"What the hell Clary? It's like 4 in the morning." She says annoyed, starting to go back to sleep.

"Izzy I need clothes." I say

Her eyes immediately shoot open looking at me like I'm her personal life-size Barbie doll.

"Why didn't you just say so?!" she says, no longer tired.

She runs into her walk in closet and comes out with a pile of clothes.

"Ready?" she asks smiling from ear to ear.

After an hour and a half of talking, laughing, and getting ready we're both done and looking quite amazing.

Izzy looked beautiful as usual wearing a black skater skirt and a tribal patterned skintight shirt that shows her stomach if she raises her arms.

I'm wearing a pair of high waisted shorts making my short legs look even longer. I have on a short, skintight black bustier with a grey cardigan. The black beanie I'm wearing helps to tame my wild curls while also making me feel a little badass. Isabelle put on a shimmery silver eye shadow making my green eyes sparkle. I look at Izzy and smile.

"Izzy you're a miracle worker!"

"Stop, it doesn't take much at all to make you look amazing." She says, clearly proud of her work.

At that moment Jace knocks on Izzy's door.

"Clary, Izzy are you guys ready?" He asks through the door.

"Yeah, one second." Izzy replies grabbing her backpack and homework from her desk and we walk out.

"Hurry up I have practice in like 20 minutes were going to b-"

Jace stops talking right as he sees me walk out the door. I notice his eyes get wider as he soaks in the sight of me and what I'm wearing.

"Is it too much?" I ask a little self-conscious.

"You look amazing." He says coming towards me to give me a deep kiss on the lips making my knees weak.

"EW!" Isabelle says, shielding her eyes " No PDA in the hallway!"

I blush a little, Jace though, just smiles down at me like Izzy had never said anything.

"Come on, you're going to be late." This seems to break him out of his reverie when I say it. He looks at his watch. It's 5:15 and football practice starts at 5:30 until 7:15, school doesn't start until 7:40.

"Oh! Yeah! Come on guys." He says walking down the stairs toward the front door.

"Ooo! I have to get my English homework one sec." Izzy says walking back into her room. "I have to print it off, you know what Jace, just go without us, I'll just drive us to school."

Jace seems disappointed that I'm not driving with him but he knows he can't be late.

"Fine, I'll see you guys at school." He walks outside after that.

While Izzy goes to print off the homework, I lounge on her bed waiting. When I look up at myself in full size mirror, I gasp loudly. Too loud because Izzy runs in.

"Clary? Oh, shit." When she sees my face she knows exactly what I'm talking about.

Crimson red blood is pouring out of my nose and onto my hand to prevent it from getting it on Izzy's bed or carpet.

"Come on Clary." She says gently taking my arm and bringing me to her bathroom littered with makeup, towels, and hair products… the usual. I put my head over the sink right as the blood starts to spill over my fingers.

Izzy gets busy taking a towel and wetting it with water. She hands it to me which I gladly accept plugging my nose with it. As the nosebleed stops we sit on the bathroom floor together in silence. We both know what this means, I mean she is my doctor's daughter.

"Is the first time this has happened?" She asks, totally serious.

I just nod, knowing that if I talk I might burst into tears.

"It could just be a false alarm, I mean, you don't show any other symptoms." She says full of hope.

I can feel us both holding on to that hope when I look her in the eyes, I almost believe her. I think she believes it so why shouldn't I?

"Thank god you're makeup isn't that ruined!" she says full of enthusiasm, clearly trying to distract me. Izzy stands up to get some stuff from her messy counter and begins to touch up my makeup quickly.

"Hey," She says, getting me out of my muddled thoughts "You're gonna be fine." Her face is full of so much hope and love I can't help but return her smile.

"There." She says finishing "That wasn't so hard."

"Izzy what if-"

"Stop." She says forcefully, and a little angry "We're not going to think about that, okay?" she says the last part a little bit softer

"okay."

" Besides, we need to be pumped for tonight." She says happily.

I smile a little at this, I had totally forgotten that the party was tonight. I can survive until then I say to myself.

"Yeah." I say trying to sound excited, but there's a familiar weight on my shoulders.

"Come on," she says, pulling me up with her "seeing your boyfriend might cheer you up. Oh yeah can I ask you for a favor?"

"Of course Iz." I say

"Can I copy your math homework I forgot to do mine?"

"Yeah, sure. I don't care." I say back

"Really? Clary you are seriously the bestest best friend ever!" she says, still probably trying to cheer me up.

I'm not sure if I'm even sad though. I'm not scared if it has come back. I just don't want to hurt Izzy or Jon or Jace or anyone else I love. And being quiet to Izzy is probably hurting her more which I definitely do not want to do. So I better cheer up fast.

When we get into her car the song 'Holy Grail' is on which I turn up louder and attempt to rap with Jay Z causing Izzy to burst out into laughter and join in on the singing causing us to forget about the events of this morning, the music drowning out all of our worries.

As we reach our school we're laughing so hard after attempting to sing along to 'Fancy'. We park the car and head off to the field to watch the rest of the football practice. When we sit on the bleachers the guys are having a water break. Sebastian is the first to notice our presence. Izzy's too busy copying my homework to notice him approaching.

"Hey Clary." He says giving me hug where his hand goes a little too low.

"Hey Seb." I say simply, not really wanting to talk to him

"So are you coming to the party tonight?" He says, looking me up and down at my bare legs and then lazily wandering up. I cross my arms bringing his attention back to my face.

"Yes I am, I've heard you can throw a hell of a party." I say back

"So I'm told." He says sounding pretty proud to hear. " I'd be happy to give you a personal tour around my house tonight." He gives me a wink.

I guess more guys notice our presence as I hear wolf whistles being directed toward me from some other guys on the football team. I look down from the bleachers to see some of the team members staring at me and whispering to each other. Jon finally looks up when Jordan hits him in the ribs with his elbow.

When he sees me I swear his eyes grow 10 times their normal size. He begins to run past the field toward the bleachers. Jace notices me soon after and starts running after my brother, slapping a kid in the back of the head for giving another wolf whistle.

"Clary what the hell are you wearing?" He asks, looking pretty irritated

"It's called fashion." Izzy decides to finally chime in.

"I call it cheap." Jon says back to Izzy, causing her to gasp and give him a loathing look since they are her clothes.

"I call it sexy." Sebastian says, causing all four of us to glare at him. Jace takes it a step further and pushes him, causing him to trip and fall a couple of levels down the bleachers.

"Here." Jon says taking off his football shirt and handing it to me.

"Ew, I'm not wearing you sweaty shirt."

"Well you're sure as hell not wearing that to school." He says back.

"I think it's nice." Jace says, giving me a smile "Jon, she's fine, I mean look at Kaelie and Seelie."

My brother thinks over this for a second and then sighs giving into Jace's reasoning.

"Fine, but next time you wear… this." He says pointing at my outfit " I will buy a pair of short shorts and go to all of your classes wearing them."

"Oh god the images." Jace says behind him shaking his head.

" Blackmail huh?" I say back playfully. He gives me a half smile taking his shirt from the two finger I was holding it by and runs back onto the field.

"The nerve!" Izzy says still glaring at my brother

"What else would you expect from him in overprotective brother mode?" Jace replies back to her.

She doesn't have an answer for that, she just sits back down on the bleachers examining her nails with a look of anger still on her face.

" How's practice going?" I ask him, not wanting him to leave

" The usual, A bunch of sweaty guys throwing around a ball and tackling each other."

" Sounds like fun."

" a boatload." He says with a slight sarcasm in his voice.

"LIGHTWOOD GET YOUR ASS DOWN HERE!" We both flinch when we hear Coach Carstairs scream that across the field.

"That's my cue." He says, bending down to give me a kiss on the lips but turns to run down the bleachers before our lips meet.

"Asshat." I mutter. He hears me and chuckles

"I told you I'd get you back." He says halfway the bleachers down, smirking.

I turn around to sit next to Isabelle, she lays her head on my shoulder and I lay mine on top of her head.

" My clothes aren't cheap." She says half to herself.

" Yes they are actually." I say honestly, her head shoots up her face is a mmix of hurt and anger "But the way you wear them makes them look like something a model would wear because anything looks absolutely gorgeous on you." I finish

She looks at me with blue eyes so full of happiness and awe I feel my cheeks heat up. Then she hugs me, a very un-Isabelle thing to do.

"This is why you're my best friend." She says when she lets go of me.

"Why?" I ask.

"You always know the right thing to say. There are so many reasons but that's one of my favorite."

"Hey, every tall black haired girl needs a short red head best friend." I say and we both smile at this.

Izzy lays her head back on my shoulder and we resume our initial position.

"Are you excited for tonight?" She asks me, breaking our comfortable silence.

"It should be interesting." I say back with the most honest response I could think of.

AN: I finally know where I'm thinking of taking this story and let me tell you it's about to get INTERESTING. Comment how you guys feel about creeper Sebastian if I should bring it up a notch next chapter or tone it down or whatever! Also, tell me what you guys thought about this chapter I love to hear what you guys think! You're all amazing!

R & R

XOXO

Erin

P.S.

If you like this story check out 'Move Along' by (a.k.a my bestie3) it's pretty amazing.!

Love ya'll and I'll try to get out he next chapter soon! It's probably going to be the longest one yet!

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