Chapter 6
Clary watched her father as he took a stop out of the living room and took an unconscious step back. "I'm sorry, I fell asleep while-" Clary didn't get to finish as her father's hand hit her face and cause her head to snap to the side. She had to bite her lip to keep from yelping, more in surprise than in pain; she known he would hit it but she still hadn't seen it coming.
Clary had just turn her head to look back at her father as he suddenly grabbed a fist full of Magnus's hoody that she had put on before getting out of his car. Valentine pulled her closer to him with her feet barely touching the ground. This close, Clary could smell the alcohol on his breath and see that his eyes were bloodshot and there was sweat forming on his brow; it made her stomach roll. Then, just as suddenly as she had been grabbed he threw her across the hall and her body hit the wall. Pain shot up through her hip and shoulder, which had taken the bruit force of the collision.
"You stupid, ungrateful child!" Valentine bellowed as Clary tried to sit up, ignoring the pain. "How dare you go out looking like a slut and try to lie!"
Clary opened her mouth to speak but suddenly she saw her father grab an empty beer bottle and fling it at her. There was a crash and then pieces of glass started to rain down as Clary ducked her head and covered her face with the hands. More bottles were thrown at the wall and Clary just sat there as broken glass continued to fall down on her. Then there was a loud crash right above her head and this time Clary could feel liquid spilling over her head and down her back. The entire time Clary was vaguely aware of her father yelling and cursing at her but each crash of glass seemed like an explosion going off and Clary couldn't hear a word he said.
After countless bottles everything became silent and Clary dared to look up hesitantly as her father who held the neck of a broken bottle in his hand as he glared down at her. Clary just sat where she was in the sea of glass as he father walked towards her. She had just barely pushed up the sleeves of Magnus's hoody when Valentine stopped in front of her, a murderous rage in his eyes, and grabbed her arm and yanked her up off the floor. Clary's heart was still beating fast in her chest as she tried to pull away from her father. She knew it was the wrong thing to do but his grip felt as if it would crush her bone, in the back of her mind Clary noted that there would be a bruise there in the morning. Valentine gripped her harder just to slam her against the other wall, causing the air to leave Clary's lungs.
Clary saw her father raise the hand that wasn't holding her and saw that he still held the broken bottle in it. What would have been a gasp had there been air in her lungs left Clary as she raise her other arm in time to block the blow from glass bottle. She felt the jagged glass cut into her arm and pain shout through her body once again. Her father's hold on her arm disappeared and she sank to the ground, her legs failing to hold up her body. Just as Clary hit the ground she felt her father's boot slam into her side. Clary curled up on herself trying to protect herself from the blows. Valentine's boot collided into her body a few more times and then stopped. Clary managed to get air into her lungs and was relieved that her father hadn't kicked her hard enough to break anything, only bruise.
Tentatively, she pushed herself up and looked at her father, his eyes had lost some of their edge and though he was breathing heavy he seemed to calm down. Without a word he turned around and walked out of the house. Clary leaned against the wall until her heart rate and breathing was back to normal. Forcing herself to get up, she let go of her cut arm and looked at it. It was still bleeding and nearly the full length of her forearm, but it wasn't bad enough to need stitches. Looking around Clary grabbed an old hand towel and tied it around the wound to help stop the bleeding. She then started cleaning up her father's mess. After she had swept up all the glass shards and vacuumed for any she had missed, Clary mopped the floor and made sure she got all of the blood up. That done, she threw away the bottles left intact and the random cans littering the house. Once she was satisfied that she had cleaned everything that needed to be cleaned, Clary forced her stiff and aching body up the stairs and into her room. She made a beeline to her bathroom and untied the hand towel from around her arm. The bleeding had stopped, thankfully.
After finding her peroxide and rubbing alcohol Clary bit her lip as she poured peroxide on her cut. After letting what germs there were boil out she rinsed off her arm and then repeated the process one more time. That done she poured some alcohol over the cut and grabbed the counter top of her sink as it burned. Content that the wound was now clean Clary stripped out of her clothes and got into the shower. The warm water felt amazing as it pelted down onto her sore muscles, washing away the blood and the grime with it. Clary didn't get out until the water was cold.
Looking at Magnus's hoody she sighed. If she couldn't get the blood out she wouldn't be able to give it back to him, it was lucky she had pushed her sleeves up in the first place. Clary dressed her new wound with some of the left over bandages from her burn and got dressed in sweats, a t-shirt, and a baddy hoody of her own. She then spent the rest of the morning in the laundry room as she washed her and her father's clothes, reading her book on the floor in between loads. Once that was done Clary made her way back upstairs and after putting away all the clean laundry she stayed in her room for the rest of the day. Thankfully, she had been able to get all of the blood out of Magnus's hoody. She really hadn't wanted to have to come up with a lie about why she couldn't give it back or keep acting like she forgot.
It wasn't until eight that night that Clary heard the front door slam shut and she was suddenly very grateful that on Saturday nights they usually had either leftovers night for supper or a tv dinner. When Clary woke up Sunday and went down stairs she noticed that her dad's truck was gone. At first Clary was relieved to not have to deal with him after what had happened the day before but as the day continued and her father still hadn't come home she began to wonder if it really was a blessing or not. Hoping to help make up for it, Clary put a roast in the crock pot along with potatoes, carrots, and celery. It was a rarity in her household and she could only wish that it might help her father's melancholy mood dissipate.
Valentine didn't pull into the drive until it was almost seven o'clock. Clary was careful to make sure she had on long sleeves and enough makeup to cover the bruise on her cheek. The front door opened right as Clary was finishing cutting up the roast. Clary's heart skipped when she saw Valentine tense up a little as he took off his shoes and put his coat, but she relaxed when he did.
"Mmm, that smells good." Valentines said with a smile. Clary couldn't help but smile at her father. It always amazed her how drastically different her father was when he was drunk compared to when he was sober. When her father had his wits about him he was a pleasant man with so much charisma that it seemed to seep of him in waves. His dark eyes lit up as he smiled and Clary noted that it looked like he had had his pale blonde hair trimmed since Thursday.
"I made a roast; I thought it would be nice since we hadn't had one for a while." Clary said, still smiling as her father grabbed a plate off the counter and started to fill his plate up.
"This is good." Valentine managed in between bites. Cautiously, Clary put some on a plate for herself and joined her father at the table.
"I'm glad you like it."
After her father had finished his plate and even gone back for seconds Clary managed to get the nerve up to attempt to ask her father something she was curious of and had been bothered by all weekend.
"Dad." Her voice was weak even to her own ears. Valentine looked up at her as he finished chewing his food.
"Yes," he said, looking at her with questioning eyes.
"How much troub… That is how… I was just wondering how much trouble I'm in for missing curfew." Clary finally said in a rush.
Valentine placed his fork down on the table and narrowed his eyes a little, not in the way he did when he was angry but when he was thinking about something.
"I mean, I know I'm probably grounded and I understand why. You gave me a privilege and I wasn't responsible enough to handle it and I really am sorry. I'd just like to know what my punishment is." Clary added quickly then more hesitantly. "If that is alright, sir."
Valentine continued to study her and just when Clary didn't think she was going to be able to handle it anymore he started to laugh. Clary had to fight hard to keep her face neutral and to not gawk at her father's reaction.
"Considering you are responsible to know you made a mistake and you are willing to own up to it I think that a week's grounding is far enough."
"Thank you." Clary said as she got up and started to clean up and do the dishes.
"So, for this entire week when you are done at school I want you to come straight home, understand? I will let you keep all of you other privileges, but I will be taking your keys." Valentine's voice was stern but not harsh.
"I understand." Clary nodded as her father got up and went into the living room. The sound of the tv drifted into the kitchen as Clary continued to wash the dishes.
When she was done she went upstairs to her room. A part of Clary knew she should probably be angry that she was being grounded after Saturday, but another part of her couldn't help but see the fairness. Clary knew that if her father didn't drink he wouldn't act the way he did, but there was no way to prevent him from drinking. Plus Clary knew that that was how he dealt with things. Yes it was unhealthy and yes he should find another way to cope but Clary couldn't help but defend her father, even when there were times she wish she didn't.
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Clary pulled down her sleeve again as she walked to her locker. She had had to walk to school and hadn't given herself enough time, so she had managed to get to her first class just as the late bell rang. Alec had given her a questioning look but thankfully Mr. Kent had jumped right into the lesson and didn't stop before the bell rang, meaning Alec didn't have the chance to talk to her. Clary felt a little bad when she rushed out of class but it didn't last long because she had to hurry so she could get to her locker and then to chem without being late.
Reaching her locker she quickly grabbed what she need for the rest of her morning classes and shut her locker.
"Clary."
Clary jumped at the sound of her name and nearly dropped her back pack, which she had been in the process of putting on her shoulder. Turning to see who had stopped her Clary didn't know rather to be relieved or not.
"Magnus," Clary said, repositioning her back pack. "What are you doing here?"
Magnus fell into step beside Clary as she headed to Mr. Banner's class. "I was just wondering how you were doing."
"You mean you want to know how much trouble I got in." Clary glanced over at Magnus who shrugged.
"Yes, that is what I mean."
"I'm grounded to the house for the entire week, which doesn't really mean much. That and my dad took my keys for the week as well."
Magnus let out a sigh. "That's not too bad. I'm glad you didn't get into more trouble and I'm sorry."
"It's not your fault, Magnus." Clary said as she laid a hand on his shoulder. "I'm the one who should have told you to drop me off at home in the first place."
"Yeah right, like Isabelle would have let you." Magnus remarked.
Clary smiled at her friend. "Oh! I have your hoody in my locker; I'll give it to you at lunch."
"Thanks, doll." Magnus winked as he walked into his physics class.
Clary shook her head as she walked into chemistry. The minute she walked in she froze as she saw Mr. Banner finish writing the new seating chart on the board. She had to do a double take to make sure she had read the right name.
You have got to be kidding me! Clary screamed in her head. Suppressing the groan that was in her throat she made her way to her new seat and sat down. Not looking forward to the rest of the semester, Clary dropped her heads in her hands.
She heard a person to her right sit down beside her and Clary had to use every fiber of her being to not tense up. A moment later the bell rang and Clary knew she wouldn't be able to get away with having her head buried in her hands. Clary shouldn't have looked up, because when her eyes saw the board she saw that Mr. Banner had replaced the new seating chart with a lab.
Kill me now.
After glaring at the marker board for a few more seconds Clary turned her head just enough to look at the blond headed boy beside her. It was almost as if he could feel her eyes on him because the moment her eyes settled on him those golden eyes met hers. Clary couldn't tell if he was having a similar reaction to this new arrangement as she was because his eyes weren't giving away anything.
"Clary."
"Jace."
They sat in silence for a few minutes, just looking at each other.
"About Friday," Jace said earning him a hard look from Clary. "I'm sorry for yelling at you."
Clary continued to just look at Jace for a while and took pleasure that she had him basically squirming in his seat. "I'm sorry for yelling as well." Jace seemed to be a little relieved by this. "But, I am not sorry for slapping you."
Jace gave her a puzzled look. He opened his mouth and then shut it again.
"You were a jerk. I may forgive you, for the most part, but I don't take back the slap. That you earned." Clary explained.
After a few more moments of silence Jace nodded. "Fair enough."
"Good, now let's get to work." Clary started flipping through the book to find the lab page she needed.
Clary put her book back in her bag when they had finished finding the equations and the amounts of everything they would need tomorrow. Once the tension between the two of them had been cleared up, for the most part, Jace and Clary had worked quickly and finished with a good ten minutes of class left.
"Clary."
"Yes," Clary said as she turned to look at Jace.
"Why did Magnus have to take you home Saturday?"
"What do you mean?" Clary asked confused by why he was asking.
"Well, when we all woke up you were gone and Magnus explained he had taken you home and I was just curious why you couldn't wait for the others to wake up." Jace shrugged.
"Oh, that." Clary laughed a little without any humor and Jace gave her a curious look. "I was supposed to be home by three. I woke up around seven and had Magnus take me home."
"Oh." Jace said then a moment later, "Did you get in trouble?"
"Yes I did. My dad was furious when I got home." Clary said matter-of-factly.
"Must have been an awkward weekend." Jace said, with a half smirk.
"Actually we didn't talk to each other all weekend until Sunday night." It wasn't necessarily a lie, she just didn't mention the part where her father had yelled at her and threw her around some.
"How did you manage that?" Jace furrowed his brow a little.
Thankfully the bell rang before Clary could answer.
"See you in precalc." Clary said as she grabbed her bag and headed to English.
Clary was oddly glad that Jace and her and cleared the air, but she wasn't entirely comfortable with all his inquiries. She didn't know why but she felt like she had to be more cautious when talking about her home life with him. Only two people knew the truth about what her life has been like for the past three years and she wasn't about to frag someone from the outside into her mess.
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It was lunch time and Clary didn't know for sure if she wanted to eat with her friends or not. Yes, she had told Magnus she would give him his hoody at lunch but she could do that in art. After making a trip to the bathroom to clean her cut and re-bandage it, she went to the cafeteria, tugged on her right sleeve self-consciously as she made her way to her friends. Sitting down with her lunch, which consisted of a banana and some pretzels, Clary handed Magnus his hoody.
"Thanks, love, you're the best." Magnus said as he took the article of clothing from Clary.
"I better be, I even washed it for you." Clary smiled. Magnus smelled his hoody and smiled.
"Indeed you did. You even got rid of the dust smell." Magnus continued to inspect his hoody.
"Don't worry; I didn't ruin it or anything."
"I'm just surprised you got the stains that were in it out." Magnus's voice was full of awe. Typical teenage boy.
Magnus kept studying his hoody and Clary was about to turn to the others when her eyes spotted a stain she had somehow managed to miss. It was on the right sleeve in the area where she had been cut. Clary wanted to kick herself for missing it. She had been so thorough, how could she have missed it! Her heart started to beat faster as Magnus's line of site drew closer to the stain, suddenly Magnus's eyes narrowed a little as he spotted the stain and tried to get a better look at it. Clary wanted to say something to draw his attention away from it, but she didn't know what. Not being able to take her eyes off him, Clary saw something like understanding or realization flash through his eyes for a second before he raised them to meet hers. Magnus opened his mouth to say something but something in Clary's face must have prevented him from saying anything because he closed him mouth and just gave her an odd look.
"Clary!"
"What?" Clary said, pulling her eyes off of Magnus and turning her attention to Simon.
"I asked how much trouble did you get in Saturday." Simon said giving her a lazy smile. "Was Valentine angry?"
"That has to be the understatement of the year, he wasn't just angry he was strait up irate when I got home. I'm surprised the whole neighborhood didn't hear him." Clary tried to joke, hoping it sounded easier going than she felt.
"You didn't tell me that." Magnus said, hoody forgotten.
"I figured it was implied; besides I already told you it wasn't your fault, if anything you helped it to not be even worse." Clary replied, trying to ease her friend. Magnus held a somewhat doubtful look but she didn't completely care, she was just glad he wasn't still looking at the blood stain.
"So how much trouble did you get in?" Simon again.
"I'm on house arrest and don't have a car for the entire week."
"How did you get to school?" Isabelle looked concerned. Clary suppressed a sigh, hopefully Isabelle wouldn't add herself to the list of people who thought they had to contribute to Clary's misfortune.
"I walked."
The others just looked at her.
"You walked. All the way from your house." Maia said looking at Jordan.
Clary shrugged. "It wasn't that bad."
"How far away does Clary live?" Isabelle asked.
"About thirteen blocks." Magnus answered. This was even enough for Clary to be rewarded with a look from Jace and Alec.
"It's not that bad." Clary repeated.
"Why didn't you call me, Clary? I could have picked you up." Simon almost looked hurt.
"I'm sorry, Si, I didn't think of it. If you want you can pick me up the rest of the week." That seemed to appease him because Simon simply nodded.
After that the conversation managed to get off Clary and onto a much safer subject. Clary attempted to add to the conversation but didn't try too hard because she was too preoccupied with glancing at Magnus every once in a while. Hopefully he forgot all about the stain and Clary wouldn't have to come up with a cover story. When there were only a few more minutes to lunch Clary got up and started to head towards the doors. Maia, Jordan, and Isabelle had already left, so Clary waited until Magnus seemed absorbed in his conversation with Alec just to be safe.
Clary was just outside the doors when she felt a hand catch her shoulder, it took all of her will power to not flinch away as pain shot through her arm from the bruise. Clary said as she turned to look to see who had grabbed her. Disappointment ebbed through her.
"Yes, Magnus."
Magnus gave her an almost careful look. "I just wanted to thank you one more time for getting the stains out of my hoody."
"No problem, Mags." Clary replied lightly with as much of a smile as she could muster at that moment. Magnus kept looking at her as if he expected her to continue.
Realizing she wasn't going to say anything else Magnus held up his hoody that Clary hadn't noticed he had been holding. "I was just wondering- Well, where did this stain come from?"
Magnus showed her the stain and looked at her with curious eyes. Clary wasn't sure what he was thinking, if it was good or bad for her, she only hoped it wasn't too close to the truth.
"I can't believe I missed a spot!" Clary said without missing a beat as she feigned giving the sleeve a better look. "Maybe it's from art or something."
Clary looked up and shrugged at Magnus, who was still watching her but had his eyes scrunched a little as if he was trying to remember if he had been in art class wearing the hoody.
"Maybe," Magnus said hesitantly, not entire sure of Clary's lie. Thankfully the bell rang before he could question her even more. Clary suddenly loved the timing of all her conversations today.
"Sorry, Mags, gotta get to class. See you in art!" Clary said before scampering off. When Clary got to her locker she breathed a sigh of relief.
Only three more classes. Clary reminded herself as she got her stuff for world history.
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Jace couldn't believe how relieved he was that Clary had accepted his apology. He also couldn't believe how surprised he'd been when she herself had apologized for Friday night but not the slap. It almost amused him that the slap was the one thing she wasn't sorry for. But talking to Clary during chemistry he couldn't help but feel like she wasn't telling him something when he asked about her weekend and about her dad. She had almost seemed as if she was trying to downplay her weekend, if that was even possible. Something just didn't set right with him after their conversation in Mr. Banner's class. Clary had seemed a little anxious as she talked and her eyes almost seemed to be analyzing his response. He couldn't help but wonder why.
At lunch Jace had decided to watch her more carefully. He caught sight of her before she even stepped into the lunch room and she seemed to almost hesitate before she continued to walk in and towards the table they were sitting at. Clary gave Magnus what looked like a hoody and smiled. The two talked for a little while and Jace was just about to turn away when he saw Clary almost stiffen as Magnus's hands came to a pause. Magnus looked up at her but Jace couldn't see his expression. For a split second Clary seemed to have a look of panic in her eyes but that was quickly replaced by a look that was supposed to seem neutral but almost had a since of urgency and pleading in them. Magnus didn't say anything this seemed to her.
A moment later Clary's attention was drawn to Simon who had been saying her name for the past couple minutes, seeming oblivious to her sudden tension. She seemed to almost relax at the distraction from Magnus until Simon asked how much trouble she had gotten in and I saw her pull at her sleeve a little. Her answer was light but her voice almost seemed strained, as if she was trying to come across as easy going. Jace couldn't help but feel like she was hiding something. Jace had to turn his attention to Alec for a while so he didn't catch the next couple seconds of the conversation. Then Isabelle's voice and Magnus and Simon's disapproval he turned to see what they were talking about now.
"How far away does Clary live?" Isabelle glanced between Clary's friends seeming confused.
"About thirteen blocks." Magnus said, his voice a little more than disapproving.
"It's not that bad." Clary said, seeming frustrated and wanting nothing more than for the conversation to be over. Jace gave her a curious look.
"Why didn't you call me, Clary? I could have picked you up." Simon said seeming hurt. Finally all the pieces clicked in Jace's mind. She had walked to school. Clary made apologized to Simon and suggested he pick her up for the rest of the week and that seemed to help. Then Jordan brought up something about a video game and Simon turned his attention to his other friend. Jace kept his eyes trained on Clary. She seemed too relieved at the end of the conversation.
Clary didn't participate much in the rest of the conversation and she even slipped away at one point. Magnus noticed and excused himself from Alec, who seemed almost disappointed. Jace watched Magnus go after Clary and catch up to her. When Clary turned around she had a smile on her face but even from where he sat Jace could tell that is was forced. Eventually the bell rang and she dashed off, leaving Magnus where he was standing as he waited for Alec.
In gym Clary was still wearing long sleeves. Jace heard Isabelle ask why she was wearing long sleeves and Clary responded with that it was chilly in the school. At one point when he was sitting by her in the bleachers in between pickle ball games he noticed there were little cuts on her hands and a small scratch on her forehead. Jace was about to ask about them when he was called to play a game against one of the newest winners. When he was done, with a victory for him, he back down on the bleachers. Throughout the rest of class and the rest of the day he saw her keeping pulling down her right sleeve. Curiosity and suspicion flowed through Jace.
Jace had a feeling that there was something Clary wasn't telling the others, that she had a secret that she wasn't willing to share, and he was set on finding out what it was.