Chapter 13
"Isabelle, how am I supposed to ignore him if I have to work with him?" Clary complained.
Isabelle sighed. "You're being too dramatic, Clary. It's just a project. Or are you afraid to be alone with him?"
"No! Well, maybe a little worried. But not afraid."
"Just think of Sebastian the entire time. In fact, you can talk about Sebastian with him. That'll give him a hint, don't you think?"
"I wouldn't have anything to say to Jace about my boyfriend!"
"Fine, then just get through it. It'll be really awkward, but it's not like he's tempting you to run off with him, considering his behavior for the past few months."
"Now who's being dramatic?"
"Shut up, I'm allowed to be dramatic right now. You, on the other hand, are not."
"I'm sorry, Izzy. Here I am, complaining about trivial things, while you actually have something worth worrying about," Clary said guiltily.
Isabelle smiled in an effort to look cheerful. "It's true, but don't worry. I'm not broken up about it. I could never be."
Clary let Isabelle's weak attempt at keeping up her facade of complete strength slide. "You know what, I'll just get it over with."
"Good idea."
"Sebastian is my boyfriend. I have him. Jace is just an annoyingly bipolar guy. Sebastian is amazing."
"Yup."
"Nothing will happen, anyway. Jace is holding himself back, according to Aline. That means he won't be doing anything bad."
"Sure."
Clary glanced at Isabelle. "I appreciate your support, Izzy."
"You should. I'm a great, supportive friend."
Clary rolled her eyes. "Fine, you can rant now."
"Thank you for your permission," Isabelle said sarcastically.
"You're welcome," Clary muttered. About five seconds passed before Isabelle took a breath.
"Okay. What is wrong with my brother? Did my parents drop him on the head when he was born? He acts like a five year old scared of a spider. I understand that he doesn't want to tell everyone, but I'm his sister. I've known him all my life! How could he think that I would judge him? He's seriously that scared?"
Clary smiled in spite of herself. "I knew you would take me up on my offer."
"Seriously, though."
"Alright. Seriously? I think he is that scared. Society really has not been accepting about this, and you never know who in the school might try to hurt him just because."
"He won't even tell me, though."
"But you know," Clary pointed out. "He probably thought he didn't have to, but is still uncomfortable admitting it."
"Ugh. What is wrong with him? Boys are so stupid," Isabelle exclaimed.
"They are, aren't they?" Clary said quietly.
Jace didn't try to talk to Clary about the project. On Friday, Clary finally summoned her courage and talked to him herself.
"When are we going to work on the project?" she asked him during class.
Jace turned to her slowly, which unreasonably irritated her. "Um, I don't care when. I guess I'm free most weekends."
"Okay, well, pick one," Clary said brusquely.
Jace cocked an eyebrow. "Are you going to be bitchy all the time?"
Clary scowled. "I'm not. Being bitchy, I mean."
"You didn't answer my question," Jace said, looking through his backpack. Clary's annoyance merely escalated.
"I don't have to answer your question. I just need to get this project over with, so the soonest possible day would be great."
Jace's head was down as he rifled through his bag, but Clary saw his shoulders tense and felt a surge of vindictive pleasure that she had affected him.
"We can do Saturday," he muttered, pulling out a folder and placing it on his desk.
"Thank you. That wasn't so hard, was it?" Clary said.
"Don't talk down to me," Jace said, his tone sharp.
"Oh, sorry," Clary said with as much attitude as she could muster.
Jace didn't respond, and silence engulfed them.
Clary left the class feeling somewhat unsatisfied with the conversation.
"Why does Jace want your address?" Sebastian asked later.
Clary looked up in surprise. "He does?"
"Yeah. He was really weird about it too. Like he was embarrassed to ask or something," Sebastian said with a laugh.
"Oh, right. We have to work on this art project together. Stupid, I guess I forgot to tell him," Clary said with inexplicable relief that she could explain Jace's odd behavior.
Sebastian smiled. "I'll give it to him next period, then."
"Thanks, Sebastian." Clary wrote her address on a piece of paper, then ripped it out of her binder. "Here you go."
"I already know your address, Clary," Sebastian said with a laugh.
"Oh, right," Clary laughed with him. "Silly me."
"You are adorable," Sebastian replied. He bent his head toward her.
"Oh god, I'm going to go blind," Isabelle said, walking toward them. "You two, keep it down on the lovey-dovey expressions, would you?"
Sebastian glared playfully at Isabelle. "You know you love them, Izzy."
"I don't, actually. They make me want to puke." Isabelle sat with a huff. "Thank god you guys stopped. You would have been arrested for extreme PDA."
"God, Izzy. You are so-" Clary thought for a moment. "So- theatrical."
"Should I try out for the spring play?" Isabelle asked excitedly. "I was thinking about it, but you've just confirmed my suspicions that I am theatrically talented."
Clary stared at her. "We weren't talking about that two seconds ago."
"I know. Now answer my question."
"Um, sure. If it's what you really want," Clary said, still a little thrown by the change of topic. "Have you ever acted before?"
"No. But I love talking."
Sebastian coughed. "We know that, Izzy."
"Shut up. Anyway, guess what the play is going to be?" Isabelle paused. "West Side Story!"
"Isn't that really cliche?" Sebastian asked.
"So? It's only cause it's so amazing that everyone wants to do it. It's a classic!"
Sebastian opened his mouth to respond, but Clary stopped him. "At this point, it's best to just let her go."
"Thank you for your support, Clary," Isabelle said, slightly sarcastically.
"Isabelle, do you ever eat during lunch?" Sebastian asked, gesturing at the unopened meal in front of Isabelle.
"She can't stand to eat her own food," Clary said with a snicker.
"My food is delicious, thank you very much." Isabelle opened the box to reveal an assortment of sushi rolls. She popped one into her mouth ostentatiously.
"Delicious," she pronounced.
"What is in that thing?" Sebastian asked curiously.
"Seaweed, bamboo, carrots, potato strips, and kimchi," Isabelle responded proudly. "I made them myself."
"Oh, god," Clary groaned. "That's disgusting."
"No, it's not. It's healthy. And amazing for you. You should try some."
"No! Get that away from me," Clary said, scooting away from Isabelle's outstretched hand.
The bell rang, startling them all.
"Saved by the bell," Clary breathed in happiness. "Thank you, God."
"Shut up, Clary." Isabelle packed her lunch back in her bag. "I'll eat that at home. Maybe Alec will want some."
"Don't be too devastated if he declines, Izzy," Clary called behind her as she left, Sebastian at her side.
"He won't! You'll see," Isabelle yelled back.
Saturday afternoon, Clary lay on her bed nervously. She was listening to her favorite playlist, but it did nothing to calm her. She fidgeted with the iPod, then finally tore the headphones from her head and grabbed her phone.
"Hello?" Isabelle's bright voice said on the other end.
"Isabelle, I'm worried."
"Why would you be? You have Sebastian. No one can distract you from him," Isabelle pointed out.
"Well, if anyone could, it would be Jace," Clary admitted in a whisper.
"I knew it!" Isabelle suddenly squealed. "Ever since the beginning of the year. You totally had a crush on him."
"Shut up! What if Alec hears?" Clary hissed.
"Oh, don't be so fussy. I didn't even say anything."
"Anyway. I can't let him get to me. I'm pretty sure that Sebastian would not appreciate me checking out his best friend."
"How would he know?"
"Izzy! It doesn't matter if he knows, I'd feel so guilty if I did it."
"Then don't do it."
"That's harder than you'd think."
Isabelle giggled.
"Don't be immature," Clary said accusingly.
"You said harder. And do it."
"You said do it too!"
Isabelle's laughter echoed over the phone. Clary started to laugh along with her.
The doorbell rang.
Clary's laughter choked off. On the other end, Isabelle's giggles faded away. "Was that-"
"Oh, god," Clary said under her breath.
"Get off the phone and open the door already!"
"No, Izzy-"
"Bye, Clary. My advice? Just get it over with." Isabelle hung up, leaving Clary holding the phone uselessly to her ear.
The doorbell rang again. Clary jumped off her bed and ran to the door. She undid the bolt and unlocked the doorknob, her fingers fumbling, and finally pulled the door open.
Jace stood in the tiny shadow of the porch, his golden hair glinting in the sunlight. Clary blinked at the brightness that flooded her eyes.
Of the sun. Not him.
"Hey," Jace said. His hands were in his pockets.
Clary swallowed. "Hi. Come on in."
She led him into the house.
"Did you bring anything?" she asked quickly. Jace turned back to her.
"No, sorry. I don't really have any art stuff."
Clary was about to ask how he had done the assignments all year, but held her tongue. I'll just talk to him as little as possible. That's the easiest way.
"Well, come this way," she said abruptly. He followed her into her mom's studio. Jocelyn was out shopping, and wouldn't mind if Clary used some of her supplies.
"Wow." Jace's voice came from behind her. Clary turned, ready to defend the studio, but when she saw his face, it wasn't sarcastic at all. It was genuinely impressed.
"I didn't know you could be excited about these things," Clary said without thinking.
Jace looked at her. "You don't really know me."
Clary looked down. "That's true."
Both of them were quiet for a moment, until Clary broke the silence. "We should get started."
"Right," Jace said.
"I'll get the assignment sheet. Wait here." Clary dashed to her room and pulled the paper out of her backpack.
Back at the studio, she handed the sheet to Jace, who automatically smoothed it out. Clary laughed at his expression.
"What?" Jace said, looking at her in surprise.
"You were frowning at the wrinkles," Clary explained through giggles.
Jace smiled.
Oh God. I knew this would happen. But she couldn't help it. Jace's smile transformed his already handsome face into perfection. Clary would have been happy to look at that image for the rest of her life.
She was ashamed to admit it, but she felt weak whenever she was with Jace. Just by being there, he broke into her and made her forget about Sebastian and lose rational thought. She needed to snap out of it.
"Clary?"
"What?" Clary looked at Jace in shock.
"Do you know what we need to do?" he asked.
"Oh, yeah. Let me just get supplies." She took the sheet from him and read down the instructions. "We'll need a canvas, paints..." she mumbled under her breath while opening cabinets and grabbing the necessary items.
Clary laid everything on the floor and sat down. Jace sat with her.
"Okay, so we're supposed to paint something out of our imagination. 'It can be abstract, or one of your childhood memories, but ideas from both members must be incorporated,'" Clary read from the paper. She looked at Jace. "So, any ideas?"
Jace looked uncomfortable. "Um, I don't really have that many childhood memories that you'd want to paint."
"It can just be something simple. Like, have you ever gone to see the Golden Gate? That's easy to paint."
"No."
"Um, okay. Ever seen the Empire State?"
"No."
"Uh...what about the ocean?"
"No, I haven't seen the ocean," Jace said impatiently.
"Well, have you seen anything?"
Jace's expression darkened, like he had thought of something unpleasant.
Clary looked away. "Well, I'll start. And if you think of something, I'll just put it in, okay?"
Jace didn't respond, just watched her sketch a scene with a pencil on the canvas. Clary drew on instinct, falling into the oblivion she always did while drawing. After a few minutes, she was interrupted by Jace's quiet voice.
"Is that Central Park?"
Clary didn't look up. "Yeah. So you have seen something."
"Only from pictures," Jace muttered.
Clary expanded the sketch, the scene flowing smoothly to an outline of a farmhouse bordering the woods. She drew the tiny figures of four children, one smaller than the rest.
"I have seen the ocean," Jace said suddenly. Clary stopped drawing.
"Oh, yeah? You want to describe it for me?"
"Well, I only saw it for a second from a car."
"I can do that. What did it look like?"
"Um, it was gray and choppy, like on a stormy day, but it wasn't raining. Just cloudy. And the car window sort of reflected me, so it wasn't very clear. Plus I was really small, and my head barely cleared the bottom of the window." Jace laughed shortly.
Though Clary was engrossed in depicting the scene, a spark of curiosity spurred her to ask, "Where were you going?"
Her question was met with silence.
Clary cursed herself. I wasn't supposed to talk to him so I could avoid these awkward silences!
She backtracked. "Never mind, you don't have to tell me if you don't remember."
"No, I remember," Jace said quickly. "It's just- I mean, I think I was going to my new home."
"Oh, you moved here when you were young?" Crap, I forgot again. Don't encourage conversation, Clary.
"Not here," Jace replied. Clary thought she heard him add in a whisper, "And not exactly moved."
She decided not to question him, following her new resolution to talk to him as little as possible.
After a few more minutes, she sat back on her heels. The canvas was covered with a sketch of three scenes: Central Park, the farmhouse with the Lightwoods and Jace's ocean.
"I'll finish painting it tomorrow. You don't have to come, if you don't want to," Clary told Jace.
"No, I'll come over. I mean, I don't want to make you do all the work," Jace replied.
"Alright, if you really want to," Clary said calmly. Inside, though, she was surprised that he would want to put in the effort.
"I guess I'll go now," Jace said, getting up. Clary stood as well, her legs tingling from the blood rushing back.
"Are your parents going to pick you up?" Clary asked as they walked to the door.
"No, I'll walk. Bye, Clary," Jace said, opening the door.
Clary held open the door and watched him leave. "Bye, Jace."
She closed the door with a thump and walked slowly back to her room.
A/N: My updates are getting farther apart...Sorry! As usual, school is the excuse.
Thank you for reading and please review!
~Sami