Chapter 14

Sunday came, but Jace didn't appear. Clary waited through the morning, but by lunch she decided to go ahead without him. The painting went smoothly, Clary falling into the peaceful bliss she always did while doing what she loved.

She began with her image of Central Park. The background of the park bloomed into color, the fallen leaves brightened into red and orange, the bench warmed to a deep brown. The rosy trees of the park flowed into the deep green of the trees that edged the farmhouse property. She painted the tiny figures of her, Isabelle, Alec, and Max playing in the fields in the distance, the farmhouse itself rising in the foreground. The dirt road that passed in front of the house morphed into gray pavement, the yellow line of the divide snaking along with the highway. Beyond the road, a sliver of gray ocean rippled between a rock outcropping and a tall building. The top of a golden head was dimly reflected in a slightly spotted car window over the view.

Clary struggled with the last part. Somehow, it just wasn't perfect, and she wanted it to be. Finally, she carefully painted the last stroke and sat back.

She wasn't usually vain about her work, but she had to admit that it was a beautiful painting.

She wished Jace was there to see it.

"Clary?"

Clary looked up from her textbook, laid open on the table in front of her. "Sebastian, hey."

"Can I talk to you?" Sebastian said quietly.

"Sure, what's up?"

Sebastian sat next to Clary, but didn't touch her. "I-" He looked away. "Never mind, this is stupid."

"No, tell me what's wrong. Are you alright?" Clary looked at him with concern.

"Yeah, I'm fine. It's just-" Sebastian looked down, then continued. "I'm worried about Jace."

"What, why? Is he okay? What happened?"

"No, I don't know-I shouldn't have said anything." Sebastian glanced at Clary.

"Well, you have to tell me now," Clary said with a wry laugh.

Sebastian's expression was blank. "He went to your house on Saturday, right?"

"Yeah, we were working on our art project."

"When did he leave?"

Clary stared. "Um, I guess around two? Three? Why?"

"Did he seem-okay, when he left?"

"Yeah, I guess. Sebastian, what's wrong?" Clary reached out and grabbed his hand, and Sebastian squeezed hers in return.

"Did you say anything to him that might have made him upset?"

"No!" Clary thought for a bit. "Wait. I didn't say anything on purpose, but I asked him why he was in some car driving past the ocean and he got all tense. Is Jace alright? He didn't show up on Sunday."

"I went to his house this morning and he wasn't there. Some dude opened the door and told me he wasn't. So I left, cause I thought maybe he already left without me. But he didn't show up for first period and I just saw him coming into the school."

"So, he ditched?"

"It's just- Jace would never ditch. He actually likes his first period, his history class."

"Okay, so what do you think happened?"

Sebastian opened his mouth, then closed it. "I shouldn't have said anything," he muttered.

Clary patted his shoulder. "Hey, it's okay. You don't have to tell me if you don't want to-or can't."

Sebastian smiled at Clary. "You're the best, Clary." He put his arm around her for the first time that day. Clary had been feeling something missing all morning, but surprisingly, Sebastian's proximity didn't fix it. She shivered.

"Are you cold?" Sebastian asked. He pulled her closer. Clary still felt cold, but not from the chilly air. She was worried about Jace now, too.

Where did he go? Clary wondered. She pulled the textbook back towards her, but couldn't concentrate.

Sebastian put his chin on Clary's head. "Hey, don't tell anyone about what I said, okay?"

"I won't."

Later that day, Clary walked into art class apprehensively. She saw Jace already there, and her chest warmed in relief. He looked fine, a little sleepless, but fine.

"Hey, I finished painting our project," Clary said to him with a smile.

Jace looked up. "Oh, cool. Sorry I didn't do much."

"No, it's fine. I'm happier painting alone, anyway. I thought you would come over Sunday, though."

Jace's face tensed. "Oh yeah, that. Uh, sorry, I had-I mean, I couldn't."

"Don't worry about it. I understand. Something came up?"

"Yeah, sure."

"Alright. Well, if you want to see it, you can come over any time. I'm bringing it in on Friday to turn it in."

"I'll probably just see it Friday. Thanks, though."

Clary smiled again. "No problem, Jace."

See, I can deal with this. I can talk to Jace without becoming defensive or awkward. It'll be fine.

And he's not being an asshole, for once.

Her day had just become significantly better.

Sebastian didn't bring up Jace's strange behavior again, and neither did Clary. In fact, she didn't see her boyfriend much that week, but she chalked it up to the business of finals week. She herself was frantically flipping through notebooks and binders to complete study guides and review for all her classes. The only class she was sure of was art, the painting propped against her bedroom wall and waiting for Friday to come. Sebastian had it worse than her as a sophomore, with more advanced classes and infinitely more notes to sort through.

Finally the week was over, and the only finals she had left were in physical education and art, neither of which were really finals. On her way to school on Friday, she carried the painting carefully in front of her. At the corner, she didn't see Jace, and felt slightly disappointed. She wanted to show him the painting before class.

During PE, she stowed the painting in the office and scrambled to check on it after her mile. Thankfully, it was still intact. She went out for break in relief, holding the canvas to her chest.

Isabelle laughed at her when she arrived at the table. "You hold that thing like it's your baby, Clary."

"She should. Her final grade and sanity depends on its perfection," Simon teased.

Clary glared playfully at her friends. "Yes, they do. And it's pretty awesome, if I do say so myself."

"Can I see?" Isabelle said excitedly.

"Sure," Clary said. She began to unwrap the cloth around the canvas, but Isabelle grabbed her arm.

"Wait."

"Why?" Clary said in surprise, hand still on the cloth.

"Jace is coming over here."

Clary turned in surprise. Sure enough, Jace was walking towards them. Aline and her friends crowded around a table near the tree in the center of the quad, and all the girls at that table watched Jace in admiration. Giggles erupted as he passed.

Clary could almost feel Isabelle rolling her eyes next to her.

Jace walked up to them with his usual languid pace. "Hey, Izzy. Clary." He ignored Simon, which irked Clary immensely.

"Hello to you too," Simon muttered. Clary smiled at that, while Jace frowned in Simon's direction. Simon scowled right back.

Clary interrupted the boys' glare-off. "So, Jace, why are you here?"

Jace turned to her. "I thought you wanted to show me the painting. You know, before we turn it in?"

"Oh yeah, I was just about to show Isabelle and Simon here."

"You would show them before me?" Jace said lightly. Isabelle, Clary, and Simon all turned to him in surprise.

"Joking, guys. Lighten up, will you?" Jace said with slight irritation.

"He can joke?" Simon stage whispered to Isabelle. Isabelle laughed as Clary rolled her eyes and smiled.

Clary unwrapped the cloth completely and lifted the canvas out of the pile. The colors had not faded since she last saw the painting, and she smiled fondly at it. She was truly proud of her work.

Jace reached out and touched the canvas, trailing his fingers across the brilliant red of the maple leaves and coming to rest on the slice of gray ocean.

"You added it," he said quietly.

"Of course I did," Clary said with a strained laugh. "We needed one of your ideas."

"It looks amazing. Better than I remember it," Jace said, almost to himself.

"Hey, that's us!" Isabelle said suddenly, pointing at the four tiny figures near the farmhouse. Her voice seemed to knock Jace out of his trance, and he snatched his hand back from the painting suddenly.

"Yeah, well, great job Clary. I'm sure we'll get an A," Jace said hurriedly. He walked off abruptly, leaving the other three to stare at his retreating back.

At the start of Art, everyone turned in their projects. Afterwards, the teacher turned off the lights and put on a movie, leaving the students to their own devices. Which meant that everyone crowded in groups and talked, completely ignoring the movie.

Clary sat awkwardly in her seat at first, not knowing anyone well enough to join their group. Jace didn't move either; as a sophomore, he didn't know any of the freshmen. After a minute, however, Clary noticed Aline motioning for her to come over. Clary slipped out of her seat and crept to Aline's desk.

"What do you want?" Clary hissed.

Aline smirked. "Still antagonistic, Clary? I thought you'd be nicer to me, seeing as I spilled my heart to you and told you about Jace."

"Not so loudly!" Clary said in a loud whisper. "He might hear!"

"What do you care? I thought you didn't believe me. You should, you know. It's obvious, even right now."

"I didn't say I didn't believe you. But I don't think I do. He's done nothing but ignore me ever since you talked to me."

"Well, that's not my fault, is it? I heard you snapped at him right after. No guy wants to talk to a bitchy girl, no matter how much they love them."

"Stop saying he loves me! It's not true. I have a boyfriend, you know."

"Yeah, Sebastian Verlac, right? That boy is cute. I had such a crush on him in 7th grade."

"You went to the same school as him?" Clary asked in surprise.

"Yeah, I went to a private school in middle school."

"He went to a private school? He never told me that," Clary said thoughtfully.

"It was this French International school or something. His mom moved here from Paris-didn't you know that?" When Clary shook her head, Aline shrugged. "Some boyfriend. It's not even that big of a secret. I mean, no one in America is that gentleman-like. He's got the French manners, all right."

"Okay, enough creeping on my boyfriend. Why did you call me over?"

"You looked lonely. And I don't like anyone enough in this class to sit with them."

"Except me?" Clary said skeptically.

"Not even you. But I might as well keep an eye on you. Don't need anyone else knowing, do we?"

"Jace knows," Clary pointed out. Aline shrugged.

"He's a guy. And not a very talkative one, at that. He won't tell anyone."

"Neither will I, you know."

"I suppose I know that. Or else, why would I have told you?"

"Good question. Why did you tell me, anyway? It's just a burden for me now, too."

Aline glared at Clary in the dim light from the projector. "And I didn't deserve to let go of my burden? I already told you, anyway. I let you know about what I know about Jace, but I couldn't tell you without you being curious about what I had to hide. Do I need to explain this again?"

"No, no. Don't exert yourself, your Highness," Clary muttered.

Aline's scowl deepened. "Don't patronize me."

"Fine. But what possessed you to ask for my company if you're going to just argue with me every few seconds?"

"I don't know. Maybe you're the only person who doesn't act fake all the time. I can't stand the people in this school, with their fake niceness because I'm popular. You're the only one who doesn't suck up to me."

"That's the nicest thing anyone's ever said to me in an angry voice," Clary said, but she was shocked and touched by Aline's outburst.

Strange that this girl I hated for her shallowness is the one who can recognize reality.

Aline rolled her eyes at Clary's tone. "I know you think I'm a hypocrite, but my image is for the good of the school."

"Of the school? Or for you?"

"Both. But, really. Imagine if I-told my secret. The society of the school would be in an uproar. I'm part of their image, of who they all want to be. It would shatter their vision if I told the truth."

Clary lapsed into thoughtful silence. "I guess I see what you mean. That doesn't mean I agree with you."

Aline smiled widely. "You don't have to agree. You just have to leave me and my secret alone. Everything will be fine."

A/N: So I told some people "weekend update"...technically, it's 11 pm. Still Sunday? Don't kill me...

Anyway...

Thank you for reading and please review!

~Sami