I had to remind myself to actually knock on the door to my Mother's house. I didn't live there anymore, which felt kind of weird. I looked awkwardly around the porch for the few seconds I had to wait for an answer. The wood needed painting over; I'd have to remember to come do that for her on a dry day.

"Alexander!" Mother greeted happily when she opened the door. She pulled me over the threshold and into a short hug, which was more of a pat on the back than anything. She had a pair of scissors in her hand, and tape stuck to one of her trouser legs. "Happy birthday."

"Thank you." I smiled. Meanwhile Max was just poking his head out of the living room and darting back in again.

"Hey Alec!" He called back out. "Don't come in yet!"

I hung my coat up on the stand by the door; the inside of the house was nice after the chill air of evening in autumn time. And the hall smelled like polish. It had been recently cleaned.

"We weren't finished wrapping." Mother explained, finally noticing the tape on her leg and picking it off. She looked as unimpressed as somebody can be by an adhesive strip of plastic.

I frowned. Presents always did make me a little uncomfortable. I always felt like I should be giving something back; like at Christmas.

When I told Mother she shouldn't have got me anything, she made a tutting noise and hit me lightly on the arm.

I was just thinking how alike she and Izzy were when my sister headed down the stairs, as if to prove me wrong. She was wearing glitter eye shadow, killer heals and a slip of a black dress which wasn't in any way appropriate for a family party. By my big brother standards, it should have been burned.

"You look like you're heading to Pandemonium." I commented when she did a twirl. Sparkly pins were holding red colour extensions in an among the curly mass on the back of Izzy's head. The short dress laced up at the back.

"I am heading to Pandemonium." She said.

Mother looked like she wanted to say a lot more than: "Don't let your Father see you in that." But she kept quiet.

To be honest, I was kind of surprised that Izzy was skipping out on a family thing. Sure, there were more fun things to do on a Friday night than kick back with the Parents, but wasn't she the one who'd arranged it anyway?

It wasn't until she'd declared I was going with her that I realised she'd been planning something entirely different all along.

Isabelle had made me change my shirt before we left. The change wasn't too drastic, it just happened that this shirt was V-necked and hadn't faded into an entirely different colour since it was purchased. She also fastened a couple belts I didn't need around my waist and re-did my hair. Because apparently the 'messy-look' only 'works' if it's intentional, and not just me failing to comb properly.

This is where I'd usually make a comment about the crazy things girls do, but I got the feeling Magnus would have said something similar. And he definitely wasn't female.

"You could have given me some warning." I chided Izzy for what felt like the millionth time. I could tell that she was tuning me out. Her mind was already being sucked towards the flashing lights and pounding beat.

I made my way over to the long line which always formed outside of the place. Pandemonium didn't so much restrict you based on ID as they did check for weapons and awkward-looking people who didn't really belong in there. People like me, usually.

But Isabelle steered me away from the line and right up to the door, flashed some kind of card and we strode right in. I was about to ask what that was all about before I was hit by the heat of the place and the sight of the dancing - if you can call it that - teens.

Seriously. Sometimes I felt like I was walking a tightrope between adult and kid life. And the people I knew were throwing things my way hoping I'd fall down on either side. Izzy, for example, wasn't done dragging me on her wild excursions just yet. And honestly? I kind of liked that.

On the other hand, I could think of a certain somebody who might be less than impressed.

"Wait, didn't you tell my boss to go to Mother's house?" I found myself calling over the music, even with my sister stood right next to me. It wasn't deafening noise; loud enough that you couldn't really overhear much from other people, soft enough that you could have a conversation without screaming bloody murder.

"Yeah." Izzy replied as she dragged me over to the stairwell. The tables here were on a raised platform on one side of the room. "But I when you two left told Cute-Desk-Guy-"

"Imasu." I interjected.

Isabelle rolled her kohl-rimmed eyes. "I told him the real plan. He's bringing Dr-Hottie-"

"Dr Za-"

"Shut up!" Izzy snapped with a laugh. I don't know what the girl had against names all of a sudden. And if I couldn't correct people on my birthday I wasn't quite sure when I could.

Though that wasn't really a priority knowing the Doctor was probably about to get a pretty misleading idea about the kind of thing I did in my free time. It was going to be hard to explain this wasn't my usual scene when so many of my friends fit in seamlessly.

Jace was heading over to the table with a round of drinks on a dented metal tray. Clary giggled while she picked up something bubbly, her freckled cheeks already turning a brighter shade of pink. Yup. The ID checks here were lax as ever.

It was Kyle who noticed me first. Yeah, Izzy had invited my roommate, too. He raised a glass in my direction, and Maia followed the movement to spot me second. That's Maia Roberts - the girl from Lit class. Were they dating now? Small world. I wondered what happened to the other guy she always went to JJ's with.

Next I looked; Izzy was sauntering over to sit with Simon. He was wearing contacts that night - something Max would have looked at with jealousy - and was looking pretty good, actually. I figured the surge of style had come from letting his girlfriend pick his outfit.

At least said girlfriend was sticking by him and not going off to flirt with some weird goth-guy in the corner, or gyrate against some player in the middle of the dance floor. The night may have been young, but I had a good feeling about the two of them staying together.

Izzy had taken some kind of ultra-faithfulness vow to herself, it seemed, rather than getting sucked into the kind of messes her family were always stumbling into. I smiled, even taking one of Jace's ill-gotten beverages. Something brown which didn't taste all that great for all that teens obsessed over it.

"Be honest, how mad are you at Izzy right now?" Jace smirked at me.

"I'm okay, actually." I considered. "But she's still got the whole night to wind me up."

Chapter up! A bit of friends/family. I hope it doesn't seem too filler-y. It was getting long quite long so I split it into two. So, on the plus side, another chapter is coming soon, it even has a title: "Oblivious".

Anyway, a big thank you to everybody still reading and following!