Chapter 17: School Daze
CLARY POV
I feel worse the next morning if that's even possible. I've never been a morning person, especially when someone's violently shaking you awake.
I turn on my mattress, groaning while keeping my eyes closed.
"Clary." I hear a familiar rushed whisper say to me.
I open an eye to see Simon there his face over me trying to wake me up. I see his goofy, lovable smile light up his face when I open my eyes. For a second we just sit there looking at each other until I reach up to pull him into a hug.
"Simon." I say quietly. He hugs me back until I flinch a little under his tight grip.
He looks at me worriedly before looking me up and down to see the cuts on my hand. I don't make contact with him but I can tell he's pissed.
"Get dressed, we're getting out of here." He says, going out of my 'room' and turning around so I can change quickly. I put on the first thing I see which is a pair of blue jeans and a cream colored tee shirt. I grab my backpack and go to the small hallway bathroom to do my best to brush my teeth and wrap my injuries.
When I walk out of the bathroom Simon puts a finger to his lips to tell me to be quiet. We silently walk downstairs praying that the floorboards don't creak. As we get downstairs I see Valentine knocked out on the couch snoring. As we're about to walk out the door I decide to leave a note for him saying that Simon picked me up to go to school.
When we walk out the door to Simon's car I finally get the chance to really hug him. I missed him so much, and it also feels good to see a familiar face after two weeks of nothingness.
"I missed you Simon." I say into his chest.
"I missed you too Clary." He says back.
I look up at him to see his goofy smile.
"Hey." He says, wiping a tear off my face " You don't need to cry."
We walk to his car and start to drive to school.
" I don't want to go back there." I say finally after a couple of minutes of silence.
"I don't want you to either. Stay with me." He says, trying not to take his eyes off of the road.
"I can only dream." I say.
We're silent for a couple more minutes until Simon speaks up.
"Clary what did he do to you?" He says in the most serious voice I think I've ever heard from him.
I don't say anything and he seems to drop the topic.
"Remember that time when we were 6 and you came to my house unexpectedly, so you saw Valentine hit me with a frying pan and then beat me up?" I ask him.
His hands tighten on the steering wheel. "I could never forget."
"Kind of like that I guess. It's pretty bad. But I only stay with him for around a month." I say, trying to look on the bright side.
"Why?" He asks
"I go back to the hospital for my stem cell." I say.
" Well until then, we could do like when we were younger, have a sleepover everyday. I mean my mom adores you so I don't think she would mind." He says hopefully, parking the car by the football field.
I smile at all those days in a row I would spend at Simon's house.
" I'll try." I say honestly "but no promises."
He smiles at this "that's all I could ever hope for." He says as he gets out of the car.
"I guess I'll see you on the field." I say, meeting him at the trunk of his car. "Go kill 'em." I say, giving him a light punch to the shoulder.
He chuckles as he walks away. "Whatever you say Morgenstern."
My smile washes away completely when I realize what I'm going to face today.
Starting with Jace and Jon.
As I walk to the bleachers I'm not noticed by any of the team member as they are warming up. I ley out a sigh of relief to see that Jace and Jon are not yet here. I'm not sure whether to be excited or scared. I know for sure I'm not ready for the bombardment of questions from my brother.
But I missed them SO much.
I taken from my thoughts when I see them walk out of the locker room. They aren't talking to each other and I can't see their expressions while they're running toward the huddle in the middle of the field. I see Simon pop his head up giving me a worried look, which I return with a nod.
I hear Jon's powerful voice yell for everyone to break and they get into position.
The ball, surprisingly is passed to Jace who begins to run in an attempt to score a touchdown, that is, until he stops in his tracks when he catches sight of me. He looks confused at first but then his expression changes to surprise and happiness. I flinch a little when a kid from the other team tackles him, he doesn't seem that fazed though he's still staring at me and I'm still staring at him.
I'm sucked out of my gaze when I feel myself being pulled off of the bleachers by Simon. By this time, Jon has noticed my presence and has started running toward the two of us. Simon being a wide receiver is a faster runner. He half pulls, half carries me into the locker room and locking it just as Jon gets to the door.
"LEWIS! I swear to god if you don't open this door right now." He yells at him through the door.
I'm out of breath and need to sit down after that running, I may be discharged from the hospital but I'm not near 100%..
"Sorry Jon! I can't just yet." Simon says simply.
"Simon! That's my sister you have in there. You have to let me see her." He says so desperately it breaks my heart.
Simon doesn't answer, Just turns to me making sure I'm ok.
"Are you ready for this?" He asks me, holding my shoulders, "If I know Jon he's going to bombard you with questions, they're going to be worried."
I think about this for a second, I haven't really planned for how I was going to talk to my brother. I miss him and I love him but I know he's going to be over concerned.
I take a deep breath and as I'm about to tell Simon to let him in we both hear the door on the other side of the locker room open. I hear a gasp before I turn around and I immediately know who it is.
Jace.
I turn around slowly to see him looking back at me. I take in every inch of him like it's the last time I'll ever see him.
Before I know it his walking up to me and takes me into a hug while spinning me around. I snake my arms around his neck as he's holding me to try to keep some of the tension off of my sides.
"I can't believe it." He says finally " I can't wrap my head around that you're here." He finishes looking amazed.
"Will this help you?" I ask right before I kiss him square on the lips.
He seems surprised at first but then kisses me back with more passion then I think I've ever felt him kiss me. My hands wander up to his hair that I start to run my hands through which seems to make him deepen the kiss. I feel my legs turn to jelly, the only thing hold me up is Jace. His hands start to wander down my back to my hips. I feel a stab of pain when he squeezes my sides that causes me to break the kiss.
At first as I break the kiss he looks slightly dazed but immediately shakes it off his face turning concerned. He looks me up and down for a second until he notices my wrapped hand. He gently lifts it up to examine it looking more and more angry.
"Clary, who did this to you." He asks me quietly.
" It doesn't matter, Jace." I say going to hug him when he grabs my waist making me flinch and whimper a little.
Before I can even step back Jace is there pulling up my shirt a little to see the dark purple bruises and red scratches all over my waist and stomach. I hear gasp come from the door once again to see my brother having all the color drained from his face.
I immediately pull down the my shirt that Jace was holding. Jon looks shocked and speechless. I feel locked in place not sure if I should run away or cry right there from my boyfriend and brother seeing new ugly scars.
The bell rings right then… thank god. I run out of the locker room to avoid being questioned any further onto my first period class with Simon.
Throughout all of first period I contemplated in my head what I was going to do. I definitely don't want to go 'home' but I also don't want to have to answer Jon or Jace's questions. I guess I could go to Simon's house but really, what are the odds of Valentine letting me sleepover?
The bell shocks me out of my thoughts, everybody is filing out as I'm putting my notebook and science book in my backpack, Simon is there waiting patiently for me as I finish packing up. As I'm about to walk out I see Jace walk in, he locks eyes with me for a second, I'm not entirely sure if he's angry or sad or whatever the hell he's feeling which is slowly driving me crazy.
I walk out of the room as quickly as I can avoiding the bodies entering the classroom. As I get through the door into the hallway I feel like I'm able to breathe again after that… awkward situation.
I make it through 2nd period feeling a little better thanks to Simon trying his best to distract me and it also helps that Maia is there too who seems to have missed me as much as I'd missed her. When the bell rings though, I'm not sure if I'm ready to be confronted by Jace in history, Simon seems to notice my anxiousness and gives my hand a quick squeeze.
This time, Simon and I are the first to make it into the classroom, which gives the teacher a chance to speak to me.
"Hey Clary, how are you feeling?" He asks me.
"Umm, fine I guess." I say, feeling awkward.
"Well although you've been gone for around a month you really haven't missed much, we've mostly been reviewing and getting ready for our chapter test, these are the notes and should help you." He says, handing me a thick packet of paper. "I don't expect you to finish reviewing all of that by next week's test, but if you fill them out and take a couple of side notes I would be willing to take it as your test grade."
Total cancer perk. I think as I nod and walk back to my seat. The classroom is starting to fill up now and I see Jace sitting a space away from Simon… leaving me to sit in between them.
Oh goody.
I walk slowly, knowing that there's no way to delay the inevitable. I take my seat, sitting stiffly, trying not to look at Jace, whose eyes are boring into the side of my face. I finally decide to spare a look over at him, we immediately lock eyes, as he opens his mouth to say something the bell rings cutting him off from whatever it was, I turn back to the teacher writing things on the board and try my best to focus for the next hour.
Halfway through his god awful lecture I feel Simon lightly pass a note to me.
Jesus this man can talk. I smile at this and write back,
How much longer?
I wait a second as he reads it and responds
About another 35 minutes.
I inwardly groan and look at him. He shrugs his shoulders as if saying there's nothing he can do.
I try to drown out the teacher's voice by laying my forehead on the table. My eyes wander around the ground where I see two kids in front of us playing footsie under the table and another secretly checking his phone on his lap. Jace's leg next to mine is bouncing up and down on the ground.
I groan… probably a little too loudly because the class is suddenly silent and all the attention is turned toward me, I slowly bring my head up felling my cheeks turn redder and redder with every passing second.
"Clary are you okay?" The teacher asks.
This could be my only chance to get out of this class.
"Can… Can I get some water." I say as innocently as I possibly can.
The teacher looks taken aback for a second and then finally answers.
"Of course Clary. Take all the time you need."
I rush out of the room as fast as I can with all of the staring eyes following me.
When I reach the water fountain I take a long drink, when I turn around I almost jump out of my skin to see Jace standing behind me.
"Jesus Jace." I say putting my hand on my beating heart.
"We need to talk." He says taking my hand and walking.
"Well I don't want to talk." I say, defiantly pulling my hand from his.
Jace runs his hand through his hair a couple of times while pacing back and forth in front of me. He finally stops and turns in my direction.
"Clary, I worried about you." He says finally.
"Well don't be, I'm doing fine at Valentines house." I say, not looking him in the eyes when I say it.
"Clary I know when you're lying." He says brushing some stray hairs from my face. "Please, I need to know whose doing this to you."
I contemplate telling him for a second, his eyes look hopeful, until I look away biting my lower lip.
"I can't Jace… not yet." I say honestly " I know you're worried but I'm okay, I'm alive."
He seems to think about my answer until he reluctantly nods, I know he isn't going to drop the topic but I'm glad he did for now. All of a sudden he grabs me by the waist and gently pulls me to him.
"I missed you Clary, I missed you so so much." He says into my hair.
I take in his scent before speaking, I missed his usual lemony, woodsy scent.
"I missed you too Jace." I say melting into his chest.
We stand there for I don't know how long enjoying each other's company for the time being.
"We should probably go back to class." I say after a while
"Can't we just stand here for like… ever?" He says
"Unless you want to get run over by a horde of high schoolers."
" Nobody would dare run over all of this." He says in his usually cocky voice.
I offer a small laugh before pulling him down the empty hallway with me.
"Come on."
When we reach the door to our classroom right as the bell's about to ring Jace stops me. We move to the side so no one can see us through the window.
" I love you. You know that right?" He says to me simply and slightly desperate.
I only nod and give him a kiss on the lips before walking back into the classroom with him behind me.
The teacher doesn't question either of us just nods and continues on with his lecture.
As we get back to our seat the bell rings seconds later letting all of the kids flood out of the classroom to lunch. I take my time loading everything into my backpack before walking out of the door. Jace is there taking my hand and the door and walking with me down the busy halls.
"This is going to be interesting." I say, over the banging of lockers and yelling voices.
Jace's face turns into a half smile as he looks down at me.
"That's an understatement, especially with Jon there."
I stop in my tracks at the lunchroom entrance. I anxiously look around the already full room second guessing if I really need lunch.
"Hey." Jace says, breaking me out of my reverie. "It's okay, I'm right here with you."
I look up at him swallowing hard, before we go in.
We don't sit at the table immediately because we both have to buy lunch. Luckily Valentine didn't mess with the emergency money in my backpack. I go through the line grabbing a sandwich and a bottle of water and then pay and wait for Jace.
I take in a deep breath when I reach the lunch table to see that Jon hasn't made it yet. I sit next to Izzy who is determined to tell me about everything I've missed in my month of absence. I can't really focus on what she's saying because my anxiety over seeing my brother again.
An hand suddenly seizes my arm from behind pulling me from Izzy and everyone else at our lunch table. I turn around to see Jon pulling me from out of the lunchroom, I look back to see Jace contemplating on whether to follow or not.
We make it out of the lunchroom and we keep walking until we reach a hallway of lockers nobody uses.
I go into to hug my brother until he stops me in my tracks.
"Who did this to you?" He asks me totally serious.
"Jon it's not-"
"Don't." He starts "tell me it's not important."
I really don't want to have to tell my brother… especially now or his temper will just fly through the roof.
"Who did this to you." He asks me slower.
I cross my arms boldly "Did what?"
"Oh cut the bullshit Clary." He says borderline aggressively, scaring me. "You know exactly what I'm talking about."
He goes over to me and pulls my shirt up so we both see the scars and bruises decorating my abdomen.
"Jon!" I yell, my voice cracking from surprise.
" Bro leave her alone." I hear a voice say from down the hall, Jace.
"Jace I have to know." Jon says through his teeth. "This isn't your problem so stay out of it."
"It is my problem if you're treating my girlfriend and your sister like that. When she wants to tell us she will."
Jon turns to Jace looking incredibly pissed off. "You don't get it? Do you?"
When Jace doesn't say anything he continues. "I already know who did this, I just need her to say it."
I look down at the ground trying hard not look at either of them. Jon grabs my chin so I'm looking at him.
"Clary just say it, it's not like he can hear us, why are you so against it?!"
My mind keeps flashing back to every horrible word, every punch every cut inflicted on me from him, all the terrible things and I feel hot tears form behind my eyes.
"Valentine." I whisper so softly I can barely hear myself.
"Who?" He says forcefully.
"Valentine!" I half scream before I break apart into sobs.
"Ugh goddammit!" Jon says punching the locker behind me hard.
I think back to how Valentine would do that to me and feel myself fall to the ground hiding myself.
"Jon!" Jace says coming closer toward us. "Cut it out."
"I'll kill him." He says half to himself. He turns back around toward us.
"Where is he?" he asks me
"What?" I say.
"Where are you two living, and I'm sure as hell your not going back there after school."
"I… I don't-"
"Clary I know you know, so why won't you just tell me." He says pulling me up from the ground.
I try to think through how we got to the house but I really wasn't paying a lot of attention.
"I don't know." I say softly and sadly.
He pushes me a little too hard into the lockers making me fall to the ground once again. I don't even try to get up this time I just sit there and watch Jace try to calm him down.
"Jon, not cool." He says, sounding slightly pissed.
" Oh shut up, you barely even know what's going on."
"I know how out of line your acting. And I know I would never treat my sister like shit the way you just did."
He turns around on his heel leaving a guilty looking Jon to help me up. There are silent tears falling down my face. I get up with the help of Jace and we walk back through the hallways.
"Wait here." He says when we get close to the cafeteria.
He walks into the lunchroom and after about a minute comes back with his and my backpack, he hands me my backpack and then he takes my hand.
"Where are we going?" I ask.
"Home." He says simply, still looking pretty mad.
" Where's that?" I ask, not sure where home is anymore.
Jace gives me a sad look as we walk toward his car.
God I'm going to be in so much trouble when I get back to Valentine's house.
AN: Sorry that chapter took so long to post! But I hope you guys liked it!
Also I probably won't be posting as often, maybe a chapter every 3- 5 days if I'm lucky since school starts on Wednesday… ew. And then after school activities take up the majority of my time but I'm going to try my best because I really love writing for you guys because ya'll are awesome! I love you all!
R & R
XOXO
Erin