Chapter 12

Clary felt guilty almost immediately after she yelled at Jace. She was preoccupied all throughout lunch, but fortunately Sebastian didn't notice. She didn't want him to ask her what was wrong, because she was a terrible liar and she didn't want to give up Aline's secret.

At home, she went over her words to Jace a thousand times, trying to see how it could be construed-angry, bitchy, annoyed-there was no good way to take what she had said.

He deserved it. Why is he so bipolar, anyway? At first all concerned, then closed off! According to Aline, he's been like this all year towards me.

The stupid voice that was always trying to be nice reminded her, You've got a boyfriend. He doesn't want to make a move on his best friend's girl.

Yes, but what about before? And it's not making a move to be nice to people.

He has a reason for his actions. You shouldn't judge without knowing the full situation.

Clary sighed. Stop obsessing about Jace. If you need to obsess about a boy, obsess about your boyfriend. Your sweet, handsome, reliable boyfriend.

Sebastian was perfect. A dream come true. Why did Jace always interrupt her harmony with Sebastian?

Clary's phone beeped. Picking it up, she rolled over onto her back on her bed to read the text.

I'm coming over now. Be ready to spill. ~Izzy

Clary sat up quickly. Why is Izzy so observant? She hadn't expected to be able to unload some of the burden so quickly. But now that the moment was coming, she felt nervous. It felt like a violation of her promise to Aline, despite the other girl's permission for Clary to tell Isabelle.

Isabelle waited as long as it took for Clary to lead Isabelle back to her room to pounce on Clary.

"Where were you all of lunch? You were fifteen minutes late. Sebastian was fidgeting so bad, Simon and I nearly tied his hands to the bench."

"Aline wanted to talk to me."

"Aline? Aline Penhallow?"

"Yes. Do you know any other Aline?"

"None of your smart-ass comments now, Fray. What did you guys talk about?"

"Well...it's kind of a long story."

"We have time. I didn't come over to do homework, no matter what I told my mom."

Clary sighed and sat on her bed. Might as well get comfortable.

Isabelle was relatively quiet, for her. She only made three outbursts, yelling "What!" when Clary mentioned that Aline was lesbian, laughing and saying "I knew it!" when Clary told her that Aline said that Jace liked Clary, and saying "Go, Clary!" while smiling appreciatively when Clary told Isabelle about snapping at Jace. She spent the rest of the time in a shocked silence.

"And she told you this?" Isabelle questioned in astonishment.

"Yeah, apparently. She said it was to help me."

"Well, it does help your self esteem. You have two hot guys after you now! Lucky girl."

Clary snorted. "Only you, Izzy."

"What? I'm not jealous or anything."

"Simon is awesome enough for both of them," Clary teased.

Isabelle actually blushed. "Never mind about that. I can't believe you told off Jace. You're more awesome than I thought you were. And I've always thought you were pretty awesome."

"Thanks, Izzy. But I felt really bad afterward."

"He's an idiot. Don't worry about it. Why would he want to hold himself back from you? I mean, he better stay away now, since you've got a boyfriend, but he had two whole months of holding himself back? Who does that?"

"Maybe he knew Sebastian liked me?" Clary offered weakly. Why am I defending him?

"Why are you defending him?" Isabelle demanded in an uncanny echo of her thoughts.

"I don't know, I just- I don't even believe it. Why would he like me? Aline was probably wrong."

"Okay, I admit I've been unappreciative of her before, but Aline's not always that bad. She can be right, and she's a pretty honest judge of character. Like, in seventh grade, she told me that that one guy was stupid and I could do better, and I thought she was just being critical, but he really was stupid."

Clary stared at Isabelle. "I can't believe it."

"Believe what? I've said more than that in one breath before, really. It's nothing to be impressed about."

"No. You actually said something nice about Aline Penhallow."

Isabelle rolled her eyes. "Well, I have known her most of my life. I do know some good things about her. But I can't believe I never knew."

"Maybe she didn't even know till recently."

"Maybe. But I didn't know she felt so insecure. She seems so sure of herself."

"She's a good actress."

"Yeah. She's basically the complete opposite of Alec. Alec is too scared to even talk about it, let alone take steps to hide it. I'm actually kind of proud of her."

"She's still causing problems, though. What am I supposed to do with Jace?"

"Nothing. If he keeps acting the way he has, you won't even have to talk to him."

Clary sighed. "That's going to be awkward."

"Just stick with Sebastian. He's your boyfriend. You're supposed to spend time with him anyway. More time than you have lately," Isabelle added with a pointed glance.

"I do spend time with him!"

"Not enough, though. He's going to feel neglected if you don't spend more time with him."

"Sebastian's not like that."

"Nobody's perfect, Clary. You depend too much on Sebastian's mellow personality. Even the most easygoing people can get angry if they think that their best friend likes their girlfriend."

"That's not my problem! Anyway, Jace isn't so obvious. I never noticed."

"Only you didn't. And Sebastian. I noticed, and so did Aline."

"Aline was watching him!"

"Whatever, Clary. As long as he doesn't affect you and Sebastian. If he does, I'll have to kick his ass."

Clary laughed. "Thanks, Izzy, but that won't be necessary. Sebastian and I are fine. Amazing."

"You guys are cute. I'm glad Jace's stupid behavior didn't mess you up, Clary."

"I'm happy too. Let's forget about Jace now, ok?"

"Yeah." Isabelle hugged Clary. "He's not worth thinking about, honey. Now, since I'm here, let's pick out your clothes for tomorrow!"

Clary groaned, but flopped back on her bed and laughed as she watched Isabelle look with distaste through her wardrobe.

"I forgot how bad your taste was, Clary. Let's go shopping!"

"Oh, no."

Isabelle came alone in the morning to walk with Clary.

"Where's Alec?" Clary asked.

"Magnus picked him up earlier. I think they're helping the junior class decorate for the Winter Wonder Rally."

"Another one?" Clary groaned.

"It's the last one before break!"

"It's also the last one before finals, if you've forgotten."

"Don't remind me," Isabelle retorted. "Studying makes my head hurt."

Clary smiled. Isabelle always did well on tests. Clary suspected that Isabelle studied more than she let on.

They walked into the school ten minutes later. The quad had transformed over the weekend. The walls were painted white with pale blue snowflakes scattered across them, and the tile was covered in white foam packing peanuts under a plastic white blanket. Clary and Isabelle crunched their way to their table and sat gingerly.

"I like the snowman." Isabelle pointed at the huge blow-up snowman leaning against the tree in the center of the quad. Clary gestured to the miniature decorative angel that was the new centerpiece to the table.

"Nice touch."

"Thank you," a voice said from behind her. Clary jumped.

"Alec! What are you doing here? Where's Magnus? I thought you guys came together," Isabelle said.

Alec grinned and sat next to Clary. "He's over there, arguing with the seniors about the amount of twinkle lights we're allowed to put on the tree without it being a fire hazard."

Clary snickered. "Sounds like him."

Alec laughed with her, drawing suspicious glances from both girls.

"What's got you so chipper today, sunshine?" Isabelle asked.

"Oh, nothing. Quad decorating is pretty liberating, that's all," Alec said quickly.

"Uh huh. Sure." Isabelle looked at Alec searchingly, making him squirm.

"Well, anyway, I should get back to Magnus-" Alec made to leave, but Isabelle's hand shot out and grabbed him.

"You aren't leaving till you tell us what's wrong. Or, really, really, right." Isabelle went still. "No way. Did you and Magnus- ew, that's disgusting!" Isabelle let go of Alec's arm quickly.

Alec was bright red. "No, we didn't, if you're thinking what I think you're thinking. And why Magnus? Of all people?"

Isabelle's mouth opened, then closed. "Uh-well, I just-I mean-I was kidding, but-"

Alec interrupted. "Magnus is a guy!"

Isabelle glared back at him. "Yes, I noticed, thank you very much. And that's why I thought it was him."

"What do you mean?" Alec said defensively. "That makes no sense."

"It does if you're gay." Isabelle said quietly.

"If I'm- what? I don't know what you're talking about," Alec said unconvincingly. Clary felt extremely uncomfortable, and tried to get up.

"I'm just going to leave you to it, Izzy. I shouldn't be here."

"No!" both Isabelle and Alec said. Clary sat down slowly.

"Stay. I have no idea what Isabelle's talking about, but it's nothing you can't hear," Alec said with sudden confidence.

"Oh, stop bluffing, Alec. You've been such a wimp this entire year. If you like Magnus, tell him! He likes you."

"None of this applies to me, because I'm not gay!" Alec said emphatically. "Why would I like Magnus like that? He's just my friend."

"No one believes you, Alec!" Isabelle cried. "We all know, even if you don't!"

"Know what?" Magnus asked brightly from behind Alec. At the sight of Isabelle's face, near tears, and Clary's uncomfortable expression, his face sobered.

"Isabelle? Are you alright?"

"No, I'm not!"

"Why, what happened?" Magnus asked concernedly.

"What happened? Well, my idiot brother is in complete denial, and he won't admit that he likes you, a lot, and he's being so, insufferably, stubborn and stupid!" Isabelle stood up abruptly and stormed off.

Magnus's mouth was open in surprise, as was Alec's. Clary stood.

"I'll take care of her," she said quietly. Magnus's head swiveled slowly to look at her, and he nodded.

Clary turned to leave, but something made her stop. "You know, this is probably none of my business, but Alec, there's nothing to be ashamed of. And Isabelle loves you, and you're hurting her by being scared. So if you want to fix this, just admit it to her at least. At least tell her. You know she won't judge you, so who better to tell?"

Alec was silent, jaw still slightly dropped in shock. Then: "It is none of your business. But you're right. I'm sorry, Clary."

"Don't apologize to me. Apologize to her." Clary left the two boys, one sitting and one standing, and went off to find Isabelle.

Isabelle had stopped crying and returned herself to her normal standard of appearance by the time the bell rang. While Clary walked to class, she wondered how she had gotten involved in so much drama. On top of that, finals week was coming up, and every class was filled with assignments for study guides and final projects.

At least all of this will keep my mind off of Jace. Or Isabelle's drama with Alec.

She was relieved that Monday had short classes, which meant only forty minutes of awkward silence with Jace during Art. When she walked into the class, she sat quietly and tried not to make eye contact with Jace and Aline.

Why do they have to be on either side of me? I can't look anywhere now.

The first few minutes of class passed with Clary managing to make herself inconspicuous. She paid close attention to the teacher's introduction of a new project, and began looking forward to it.

Then the teacher announced with a smile: "It'll be done in pairs."

Clary sighed unhappily to herself. She didn't like working with other people in art projects; usually, she liked doing things by herself. She didn't trust anyone else to complete her vision of the piece.

"I'm going to assign the pairs now." Ms. Colin walked over to the right side of the classroom and gestured to Aline and the girl to her left. "All of you in these two rows, you'll be working with the person next to you."

Clary quickly calculated what pairs of rows would be partnering, and her heart dropped.

Oh no, oh no. She and Jace were going to be paired. Please change your mind, Ms. Colin. Please, please, please.

But when Ms. Colin came over to Clary's row, she smiled unknowingly and paired Jace's and Clary's rows.

Clary involuntarily looked over at Jace. He had glanced over as well, and they made eye contact before quickly facing forward.

Why is this happening to me?

Thank you for reading and please review!

~Sami