Isabelle was laying in her bed staring at the ceiling after listening to Jia lecturing her. She was angry, angry at the clave and angry at herself. She couldn't deny that she screwed up and she was hoping that it wouldn't make her parents situation worse.

All of this would be so much easier if Valentine wouldn't have stolen the mortal sword.

But he did so quit whining about it.

A knock on the door interrupted her thoughts. "Come in."She said while sitting up. Alec entered and walked over to Izzys bed. "Are you okay?" he asked tentatively. "Yeah you know just realizing what a bitch I've been these past few days." She heard her brother chuckle and then they sat in silence for a moment. "How do you do it?" she finally asked."They're just people Izzy, it certainly isn't their fault that we have to go there. And you like Clary and Simon right? They're basically mundanes too." "Yes but they are just..different.""Well maybe you'll find that there are other 'different' mundanes as well." Izzy couldn't really argue with that. "Just try Izzy. That's all they're expecting."

Izzy nodded slowly and laid back down. Alec squeezed her hand lightly before leaving her to her thoughts.

The next morning Isabelle Lightwood entered the high school wearing plain jeans, sneakers, a grey tank top and a dark blue cardigan. But that was not the only thing that was changed. There was no scowl on her face. She still looked straight ahead and avoided eye contact. But something was definitely different about her and the other students seemed to notice it.

During class she let her eyes wander. She realized she knew nothing about her classmates. Not even their names. If she had met anyone of them in the hallway she wouldn't even have been able to recognize them. Well except the clumsy redhead. But she didn't know her name either.

During lunch break she sat with her brothers and 2 of their classmates. She didn't actively take part in the conversation but she answered when someone asked her a question. Alec seemed to be content with that. Meanwhile she observed the dynamic between the other students. It was pretty easy to spot the 'Queen B' and her minions. Apparently the redhead was one of them. At that Izzy made a face. Somehow it didn't feel like someone like that would belong in such a group. How would you know? It's not like you've had a conversation with her.

When she let her eyes wander again they came to a halt at a table where said redhead sat alone. Wait what? She looked back to the group of girls. Now that's interesting. So the redhead has a twin, with a questionable taste in fashion..

She spent the rest of the break watching the girl sitting alone at the table, apparently waiting for someone. Sometimes she glanced at her sister and made a face. Not a big fan huh?

Suddenly the girl looked directly at her and caught Izzy staring. Izzy bit her lip and looked back at her for a few seconds before she turned her head back to the guys at her table,acting as if she was actually listening to the conversation. Her thoughts were still on the clumsy girl when one of the guys asked her a question and looked at her expectantly. Unsure about what he had said she just nodded and gave a small smile. "Really? Awesome! The Party starts around 9 at Pete's place, but you and your brothers can come over anytime you want!" Wait what? Did I just agree to go to a party this weekend? Suddenly she felt the need to bang her head against something hard. Several times.

During PE they did some track and field which didn't even make her sweat the slightest bit and the teacher basically begged her to join the school's team. After considering it for a moment she agreed. It wasn't a team sport so she didn't need to befriend the rest of the team and it wasn't as if it was actually exhausting her. Also she promised to try to fit in. That was a good start wasn't it?

After the lesson she had to stay for a bit longer to talk about the training times and the upcoming competitions.

So when she finally entered the changing room she was surprised that someone was still in the shower. After changing into the bikini she brought with her she walked in the shower room to find no one else than the red-haired girl in there. The girl hadn't noticed Izzy yet, so she let her eyes travel down her body. She was certainly beautiful and Izzy kind of envied her tiny frame. It wasn't like Isabelle wasn't confident with her looks, just the opposite actually. She knew she was pretty, but she couldn't help being a bit self-conscious about her height. There were not many boys who were taller than her and she hated that fact.

Her thoughts were interrupted when the girl turned the water off and when Izzy looked back up she saw her staring at her. Caught again.. Izzy turned and walked to one of the showers on the opposite wall without looking back at her. "It suits you, you know." She heard her saying and shot her a questioning look. "When you leave your hair down." she explained and turned to leave. Before she entered the changing room she turned her head again and smiled shyly "I'm Emily by the way." Isabelle didn't have time to respond before Emily left. Emily huh? Cute. Isabelles Interest was peaked.

That evening when the three Lightwoods came home Jia Penhallow was more than pleased to hear about Izzy joining the track and field team as well as her agreeing to go to a party. Not voluntarily, but as long as she's happy about it.

After training for hours with her brothers she sat alone in her room. The Penhallows were out hunting. I should be out there too. It bothered her a lot that other shadowhunters were out in that particular minute, risking their lives while she sat in her room, supposedly doing homework. It just wasn't right, it wasn't what she was meant to do. But it couldn't be helped. Absent-mindedly she played around with her family ring and wondering how her parents were doing.