Thanks for all nice reviews. In answer to whether dialogue will be added or not, the answer is no. That's not really what I wanted to do with this story but it will get more detailed, I was still kind of laying out a bit of the ground work in the previous chapters.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters. All rights belong to Cassandra Clare.
The Tuesday following the first week of school was our first volleyball game. We all dressed up in nice clothes and made each other cookies. Jace showed up to school wearing all red from head to toe along with the rest of the football team. There was an unspoken agreement, we go to their games, they come to ours. It was the first game for any sport all year and the school was hyped. Everybody was wearing red and wishing us luck. This was an important day for more than just the volleyball game, this was the day Jace and Clary became official.
All throughout the day he kept sending her messages about how beautiful she looked dressed up and he brought her Potbellys from his free period for lunch. She had shared a few bites with him because he was a teenage boy and despite the fact that he had already had one, he was still starving. When the school day ended they all headed straight to practice and we all went home. We had a couple of hours to get something in our stomachs before we had to head back up to the gym.
Clary and I drove back up to the school together dressed in yoga pants and t-shirts to watch the JV game. Some of the team was already there sitting behind the bench in the stands waiting for the game to start. We watched the first set before we left to go get changed. All of us pulled on our white uniforms on except Clary, whose was black. Music was blasting and we were dancing, getting our blood pumping and our adrenaline flowing to beat the other team.
Warms up had just started when the mass of student in red came in. Jace for the first time was among them, sprouting number 11, Clary's number. He was cheering loud and proud for the both of us, along with Alec (who wore number 15, which was me) and Jon who also wore number 11. Clary and I were peppering and stretching together before the first horn blew.
By the time we stood in line for the National Anthem we had warmed up passing, hitting, and serving. As the official went down the line announcing the starters the student section was going wild, none more than Jace, Alec, and Jon when Clary and I were called.
From the moment the other team served the ball and Clary passed it perfectly to Kaelie our setter, the game was in the bag. I killed it. And we went on to win the first three sets by at least ten each. We were playing with better chemistry as a team in our first game than we did in our last game. And the student section had a better time than they did all last year. They made fun of the other team and invented new cheers for us. And Jace. Jace was being rowdy in public for the first time in his whole high school career. Normally he was just a loud cheerer, but today he was standing and starting cheers and having fun.
After we shook hands we headed back to the locker room, a fresh win on our shoulders and a big smile on our face. Clary was our answer. She never missed a dig or a pass and all of her serves were like dynamite. And yet. She acted like all they did was beat a team in rec league. And that's the reason everyone loved her. She was so humble which was a nice change from every athlete at our school. She was also an amazing artist. Like that's what she wanted to do with the rest of her life. Paint and ignite emotion in people. And she had already accomplished that with Jace.
He was different now. He no longer spent countless hours alone watching football film or working out all day long. His life had new meaning. Football had loved him back in some ways, like blessing him with talent, but with one injury and he's be done. All that hard work would be spit right back up in his face. Clary though, she loved encouraging him. Win or lose she was there for him. She was the first person he wanted to see and I could tell he was the only person she wanted to see right now.
In the midst of changing and talking she slipped out of the room. Exiting the locker room myself I found them with his arms around her and her head buried in his chest. He was smiling and running his hands through her hair as he praised her.
That was the moment their relationship changed. He never asked her to be his girlfriend, it just kind of happened. One moment it was Clary and the next it was my girlfriend. Went from hand holding to kissing. From hanging out to going out. Went from a happy Jace to an ecstatic Jace. He was always smiling, walking her to every class, even if it made him late to his. Going to her house everyday after practice even if they ended up falling asleep most nights within five minutes of settling down for a movie. Football was no longer his favorite part of his day. He spent all football practice wanting to go home so he could go to Clary's. And when it came to his first game, she was the one he wanted wearing his jersey.