CLARY

That night my parents were different. Mum was struggling to keep her eyes open yet she was moving around slightly frantically. Dad wouldn't stop checking his phone. He would sit there staring at his phone then two seconds after putting it down, pick it up and restart the process. I could tell John was worried about them, his green eyes a window to his thoughts.

I tried to relax the tension in the room as I asked John, "So where were you at lunch today? Those friends of yours, Alec and Jace were sitting at our table. Alec's sister Izzy was there too," I flopped onto the couch letting out an exasperated sigh.

"Oh yeah, I had a detent-" he looked over at our parents who were still acting strange, "I mean I stayed in the classroom so I could try get extra work done. You and Izzy friends or something?" John said, a strange trace of hope in his voice.

I snorted, "Hardly. But Simon was falling over her and was being pathetic. They all want to have some stupid Star Wars Pizza Party here on Friday night."

"Aww, are you getting jealous that Simon likes someone besides you. Missing him falling over you?" John said, knowing he was pushing boundaries.

I kicked him from the couch, "You're a real douche bag, I hope you know that Jonathan Morgen. Simon's my best friend, you know that, and at no point will I ever be jealous of him liking another girl." I tried to kick John again but he dodged my foot, laughing. "We have bigger problems on hand, your weirdo friends want to invade the house on Friday and watch Star Wars!" I half shouted as John started tickling me, giving me more reasons to kick him.

"Well I've already invited Jace and Alec over that night so it's hardly going to make much of a difference."

I sat up on the couch and looked behind the couch where John was now sitting, smiling to himself. I poked my tongue out at John before flopping in an angle which led me to fall off the couch, backwards.

JACE

"Isabelle! The bus is going to be here in five minutes," I called into the bathroom. I leant against the door, "How long does it take you to put on some makeup anyway? I would be in and out in half the time you take!"

Izzy opened up the door. "Oh please, you take as long as I do and you spend it looking at yourself in the mirror," she remarked as she walked down the hall, her long black hair bouncing as she strode down the stairs.

.

I followed her down the stairs into the kitchen where I stole a piece of Alec's toast and ruffled Max's hair. "Hurry up, hurry up, we've got a bus to catch and a damsel to protect," I stole another piece of Alec's toast as I threw his bag at him, "Come on you lesser looking mortals. Faster!"

I had a surprisingly large amount of energy, no thanks to the three cups of coffee I'd had that morning, and jumped out the front door, followed by a half awake Alec and a surprisingly perky Izzy. I entered the bus and slid into my usual seat, Alec sitting next to me and Izzy in front. Izzy was unusually quiet and I kept seeing her look out the window.

"Iz, who are you waiting for?" Alec asked as she looked out the window again.

Izzy's turned around suddenly looking at us and whispered snidely, "I am not waiting for anyone." She paused and looked out the window as the bus pulled over at the next stop, suddenly half shouting, "Simon! Hey Simon, do you want to come sit with me?"

Alec and I exchanged a look that we had shared all too often, as Simon sat down next to Izzy. We had seen her fawn over bad boys, jocks, drama kids, and now we were witnessing the beginning of the Nerd Boy era, beginning with our red haired damsel's bestie.

Right on que Clary and John walked on the bus. I could see her looking in her normal seat, her big green eyes wandering the bus, then narrowing when she saw Simon with Izzy. She sat down in a seat, nowhere near us and stared ahead. John looked towards us apologetically before sitting in the seat in front of her.

"I'm going to go sit with John," Alec mumbled as Izzy let out a girly laugh. I took one look at the Izzy and Simon and decided it would be safer to follow in Alec's pursuit. Alec slid into the seat next to John and I next to Clary, who shuffled closer to the window.

John and Alec where already busy planning and thinking about Friday night. At these moments I joked that they were absurdly like teenage girls, but today I didn't interrupt them. Instead I turned to Clary.

CLARY

"So are you going to be joining us on Friday night or will you be occupied with those two?" Jace jerked his head towards Simon and Izzy.

I looked at them out of the corner of my eye. I wasn't jealous of Simon liking Izzy, I was just annoyed that he would throw our friendship around for some girl. Simon looked over and for a moment our eyes met and an almost apologetic look crossed his face, before Izzy started talking in his ear. I turned my head and looked at Jace, "Well I hardly want to invade, but if it's to escape them…"

I studied Jace out of the corner of my eye. He was tall, far taller than me, he had golden hair that swept back out of his face into what almost seemed a short mane, and his eyes were golden, something I had noticed before but never fully taken in. He was also powerfully built, with broad shoulders and muscly arms. I wasn't surprised that he'd gone through so many girlfriends. Not that I cared. Not that anything like that particularly mattered. At least I didn't think so.

Simon found me at lunch, sitting in the art room at eating. I had planned to continue on our mythical themed project but my plans were disturbed when Simon walked in.

"Thank god I found you Clary. I've barely seen you today, where have you been," he asked sincerely.

I scowled slightly, "I didn't think you'd be worrying about me. I thought you'd be too busy wrapped up with Izzy." Simon covered his face with his hands and mumbled something to himself. I started up at him, "Look Simon, I don't give a shit whether or not you like Izzy but that doesn't mean I'm going to be okay if you cut me out completely," I didn't mean to sound so annoyed but…

"I'm sorry Clary," he walked over and stood a meter away, arms slightly open for a hug. I fell into his arms. I'd been best friends with him since forever and being annoyed with him had never been something I was good at. "So am I still okay to come over tomorrow night?" Simon said nudging me.

I pushed him lightly, "You just want to score a free meal but whatever. I'm going to need you with John's friends coming over too." I paused for a moment then added, "I won't kill you if you want to bring Izzy along, either." I was wondering if I had been too quick to judge Isabelle Wood.