Chapter 3: Fuck The System
Alec woke with a start, gasping for air. He looked around blindly until he realized he was in his new room and that he was having nightmares. His cheek was bleeding from where he bit it and he winced , probing the ragged flesh with his tongue. He sighed, rubbing the sleep from his eyes and looking at the clock on his nightstand. It was 6:30, he had to wake up everyone and get them ready.
He woke Izzy first so that she would be able to shower without Jace trying to kill her. Alec cooked everyone breakfast after getting dressed himself, and after eating they piled up into Alec's blue Camry.
After a few hectic attempts to find the school, he finally pulled into the cracked asphalt of the school parking lot. The red brick building stood out against the small green field. Alec's eyes rolled involuntarily; of course his parents chose a private school. If they had to wear uniforms, Izzy would probably go into a coma. Alec couldn't care less. Jace looked over at Alec smiling his lion like smile. "Can you imagine all the girls that are in there? American girls," he said. Alec just slid a tight smile at Jace. If only he knew that girls in any country didn't appeal to him.
They walked into the main office. It smelled like paper and it was so cold that Alec was shivering while trying to explain who they were. Jace just sauntered up to the blonde receptionist and Alec blushed. Jace was so confident and beautiful; Alec wanted to be like him so badly that it hurt.
After working out their schedules, they went off to their respective classes once the shrill bell rung. Alec's first class was AP Literature, and to say he was nervous was an understatement. He didn't want to draw any attention, but he was new and from a different country. The paper of his schedule was sticking to the palm of his sweaty hands. He reached the classroom, practically hyperventilating and he reached for the handle, taking a huge breath to calm his nerves. He walked straight to the teacher and quietly announced his presence with a small cough. The teacher turned around with a piece of chalk in between his fingers and his yellow mustache moved like a caterpillar when he talked. "Ah, you must be the new student. Why don't you introduce yourself to the class," he said, unknowing that he just made the small, unreasonable, part of Alec's brain want to stab him in the face with his chalk. He turned around and looked at the large class. His vision blurred a little bit and he mumbled,"I'm Alec Lightwood." A group of girls were giggling and twirling their hair and Alec had to fight down the urge to recreate the vomiting scene from The Exorcist. He blushed and walked to the desk he was assigned to, next to a boy with short green hair and snakebites. As soon as he sat down, the boy reached over and grabbed Alec's hand, moving his own so that Alec had no other choice than to shake it. "Ragnor Fell's the name, who are you?" "Alec." Ragnor smiled at him and they finished the lesson helping one another with their work; Ragnor was good but Alec loved Literature, he was the better of the two at it.
When the bell rung, Ragnor stopped Alec. "There's going to be a party at my house tonight, you should come." Alec blushed, "Uh, parties aren't my thing really." Ragnor just shrugged and let Alec go to his next class. The next few hours were stressful until he reached his 4th hour Calculus class. He walked in and sat down in the very back, pushing in his headphones and blaring System Of A Down. He sighed, remembering talking to the soccer coach. When he ran drills to try out for the team, Coach Shawn immediately moved a scary looking boy with white hair and black eyes down a spot so that Alec could fill it. The boy had been giving Alec threatening looks for the rest of the practice.
Suddenly, a ring laden hand tapped the desk in front of him, bringing him out of his reverie. He pulled out his headphones in confusion. Slowly, he looked up to meet the eyes of the most beautiful human being he had ever seen. His skin was the color of caramel and his lithe form was panther-like. His ebony hair was spiked into a tasteful disarray of spikes that glittered around his head, framing his elegant face. The clothes he was wearing were scandalously tight, showing off his lean body. When their eyes finally met Alec's mouth dropped. They were slightly slanted, showing he had at least partial Asian heritage, and were the most beautiful mixture of gold and green that swirled together into a complicated pattern. Behind his eyes was an emotion that Alec had seen in his own: suffering.
He finally realized that he had been staring unceremoniously at the boy when he quirked a pierced eyebrow at Alec. Alec sputtered a sentence that was a mixture of a compliment and an apology. The boy laughed, "Sorry if you're flustered by the glitter but you're kind of in my seat," "Sorry," he whispered, jumping up and away from him before Alec could say anything else unintelligent.
He felt like he was going to die if he stayed in the room with this beautiful human being. When the bell finally rung, he ran off to the cafeteria, trying to find Izzy and Jace. Izzy was sitting in the middle of the crowded dining hall. She was chatting animatedly with a boy with brown hair and glasses. Alec skipped over buying food, still feeling a little nauseous after his encounter with the boy in his class.
Isabelle squealed when she saw Alec, hugging him when he came within reach of her. He hugged her back, feeling a little better at his sister's touch. She started talking so fast about her classes and the people that she's met that he couldn't hold on to every word. She gestured around the table, introducing him to the people at the little table. The brown haired boy's name was Simon. There was a redheaded girl named Clary who was in the middle of a heated argument with Jace. A pretty girl with long brown hair and kind eyes named Tessa sat next to a boy with silver hair, who everyone called Jem, and a boy with tanned skin and black hair named Will. Alec mumbled a hello to everyone and tried not to cringe away from all the human contact.
Izzy looked at Alec intensely and he realized he had been zoning out. "Earth to Alec. We're going to a party tonight." Alec halfheartedly tried to fight with her about it, but finally agreed so that he could watch over Jace and Izzy. He would have to leave Max alone, but he was 12 now and was probably the most responsible out of Alec's siblings.
The rest of the day was a blur to Alec- He just wanted to not feel everything he was feeling. All of the new things being pushed onto him at once was really weighing on him and he had to dig his nails into the palms of his hands to keep himself from screaming. He was in a new place, but he told himself everything would always be the same. As soon as the thought entered his mind, he saw a pair of gold and green eyes lined expertly with kohl and he thought to himself that maybe something would change.