PoV Clary

The first day of classes was pretty cool. The teachers were a lot more laid back than I thought they'd be, and the students weren't as stood up as I expected. I had the normal classes (English, history, science and math), but I also had Artist's Eye, an amazing art class, with almost every single colouring utensil under the sun, Computer Animation (which I have with Simon), in which we made cartoons and commercials. I also had Glee class. Yes, not club, CLASS. A whole class that was just Glee club. I mean, it was awesome! We sang little songs, just randomly and in strangely perfect harmony. I loved it! (I have that class with Magnus and Jace).

I did have a general music class, where I met some of Simon's friends (I had that class with him, too). They were kind of weird, and dumb, but they were funny. They sang a Voltaire song, "Brains", from The Grimm Adventures of Billy and Mandy. They were really good. I was introduced to Jordan. Magnus's roommate. He's a junior as well, with Alec and Jace, but he acts more like us sophomores. I don't have any classes with Alec, but I had lunch with him, and I got the feeling he didn't really like me. He seemed to be, I don't know, protective, sort of, of Jace. He didn't want Jace to talk to me. Jace probably didn't notice.

It was that afternoon when I came upon my first snag.

Showering.

The showers were open, like the ones in a locker room, and there were naked guys everywhere. I blushed profusely, until I backed out of there. I bumped into Magnus on the way out.

"Are there-" I cleared my throat. "Are there any, um, other bathrooms? With, like, shower curtains?"

"You gay?" Magnus asked. "Don't want to throw a bone?"

"Um…" Eh, what the hell? "Yeah."

He smiled. "Come with me, young grass hopper."

He led me downstairs, into another set of showers.

"It was the girls' room," Magnus explained. "When the school board decided to split the schools up, they didn't bother changing the arrangement. Not many people come down here."

"Why did they split the schools?" I asked.

"They didn't want any more teen pregnancies. Trust me, it happened a lot."

I giggled and turned on the water. I started to undress when I felt Magnus's eyes on me.

"Can you, um… turn around?" I asked.

He smiled and complied. I kept my eyes on him as I stripped, and only when I was in the shower with the curtain closed did I say he could turn. I was starting to rub shampoo in my hair when he spoke up again.

"Cain, what do you think of Alec?" he asked, strangely somber.

"I think he's an arrogant prick who needs to sort out his feelings," I said.

"Really?" he asked.

"Yeah."

There was a silence. After a few minutes, he asked softly, "Do you think I have a chance with him?"

"Sure, if he gets over Jace."

I didn't have time to prepare. I heard his feet slap again the wet tile, but he was too fast. He wrenched open the curtain, shouting, "Really?" with a goofy grin on his face.

I screamed and covered myself, falling onto the tiles.

"I knew it!" he yelled in delight. "I knew you were a girl!"

"Magnus!" I screamed.

He grinned broadly, jumping up on one foot. "I knew it!"

"Would you please close the curtain!?"

"Oh, sorry." He complied with my demand, his feet padding over to the toilet, where he sat down. "I'm actually quite impressed. No one else seems to see the truth."

"How did you?" I asked, turning off the water.

"I know a girl when I see one, my dear." He sighed. "I grew up with so many."

"You have a big family?" I asked, getting out of the shower, wrapping a towel around me.

"I…" he seemed to be debating. "I grew up in an orphanage."

He paused, as if waiting for my reaction. I sat down on the counter in front of him.

"When I was born, my dad really didn't want a baby, so he kept beating my mom, as if it was somehow her fault. He figured that if he beat her, the problem would go away. When it didn't, he turned on me…" he voice had lost its perkiness. He was hunched over on the seat, his hands clasped together between his knees. "He couldn't deal with the hospital bills. My mom kept taking me, so I could get looked after, and it was bad yeah, but at least, to her, I was getting the care I needed. Then we found out my mom had cancer. And the hospital bills just kept building up, and my mom became depressed. She did the only thing that seemed logical. She killed herself. That was when I was eight." He was silent for a moment, collecting his thoughts. He flicked away a tear that was trickling down his cheek. "My dad got compensation money, and instead of paying off the bills, he spent it all on booze. My dad was an angry drunk, and he took his anger out on me, now that my mom was gone. He finally decided to get rid of me when I was ten."

"Magnus," I said. "Please, if you don't want to…"

"No, it's okay. I haven't told anyone here, and it feels really nice to finally be open with someone."

"Okay. But not here. Someone could walk in on us."

We ended up moving to Magnus's room. It was a little bigger than mine, and more extravagantly decorated. But more on that later.

"As I was saying, when I was ten, my dad thought it would be a good idea to get more compensation money. He took me to the river behind our house, and held my head under the surface. If it weren't for our OCD neighbour, who had to water his plants at 8:06 pm on the dot, I'd be dead."

There was a stunned silence between us, Magnus sat, hanging his head and hunching over, and me, sat on Jordan's bed, silently wiping the snot on my sleeve.

"I didn't mean to make you cry," he said. "I just thought I'd tell you a little back story to growing up with a lot of girls. I was sent to an orphanage, where it was mostly girls. It was fun, but I felt really lonely."

"Hey," I said, trying to cheer him up. "Do you think they're the reason you're gay?"

He looked at me, his golden green eyes wide.

"I'm… I'm sorr-" I started.

He burst out laughing. He shook with laughter, tears streaming from the corners of his eyes.

"Okay, I've told two people that story, and both of them were like, 'Oh, Magnus, I'm so sorry,' but you, no, you asked if they made me gay!" He continued to laugh. His laugh was great, it filled the room with happiness and life. His smile lit up his whole face, his eyes glowing with mirth.

I spent a few more hours with Magnus, sitting on his bed and leaning against each other, listening to random Disney songs and searching the web. He showed me the orphanage he lived in, way back in Indonesia. It was a ramshackle little place, but the care taker looked happy, and so did the children. He found the picture of when he was there. He looked so cute, his hair fluffy, his front teeth missing. He was the only boy.

I wandered back to my room near midnight, and bumped into Alec.

"Sorry," I mumbled.

"Aren't you supposed to be in bed?" he grumbled, not meanly, but tiredly.

"Yeah, I was, uh, hanging with Magnus."

"Hanging?"

"Yeah. You know, chilling. Hanging out."

"Do you…" He looked at me straight on, the light from the open window caught in his eyes, making them glow. "Do you think he likes me?"

"Yeah," I said, punching him lightly in the arm. "He likes you. A lot."

Alec smiled, and I thought he should do that more often.

"Do you think Jace likes me?" I asked.

"Sorry, but Jace isn't gay." He patted my shoulder and proceeded to the bathroom.

When I got back to the room, Simon was asleep. I stripped down to the ace bandages, the gingerly started to unravel them. I heard Simon shift in his bed. I reached under my pillow and pulled out my sports bra. What can I say? I hate sleeping without a bra. I stretched my arms over my head and reached to close the blinds.

"You're a girl?!"