I know, week number two with a late update. It's not my fault though. I actually had this chapter finished on time but my parents never left EVER until today. Next chapter I'll update early, or at least I'll try my best.

Anyway, I would like to acknowledge Ceruleancat for being pure awesomeness and reviewing and everything else and just being awesome. So yeah, I love you Ceruleancat your like my new most favoritest person in the WHOLE WIDE WORLD!

I feel like I have more important things I need to say up here but I really cant remember anything.

Chapter 4

She saw him again at the end of school. She was walking to her car when he ran to catch up with her. His legs were much longer than hers so it didn't take long before he was walking in turn with her. She was half way across the parking lot and he was just leaving the gates when he saw her. He got to her a lot faster than she could have, even with his advantage of leg length, but she pushed the thought away, not thinking much of it.

"Adalyn, wait," he said when he got to her, not even short of breath. She stopped and turned to face him. He pulled out a black ball point pen out of his pocket and reached out for her hand. She was mildly confused but gave it to him and he scribbled something on her hand. "I have something I have to be to after school so I don't have much time but I was a little confused about the science homework. Can you text me the details?"

She looked down and saw he had written a phone number on her hand in neat hand writing. She nodded before he thanked her and ran off.

Adalyn glanced down at his phone number again.

666-1155

(Writers note: I made this number up. If it happens to be yours, I am so incredibly jealous. The last four numbers is the ultimate number of all numbers, 420 + 69 + 666. Yes I stole that from tumblr.)

Sebastian was so glad Lilith demanded that he got a phone before he started school.

He pulled it out of him pocket now to look at it. It was a sleek black rectangle thing. There was a circle button on the bottom that when he pushed, the screen would light up. If he remember correctly, the people at the phone store called it an iPhone 5S.

The name had no meaning to him, although he assumed it was a pretty popular kind because Cameron and his friends had the same kind or something very similar to it.

It was expensive. He never had money issues so it didn't matter to him, but he wondered why other people would buy it. The only spectacular thing about it to him was that it was untraceable, and that only applied to his.

That, and he could contact Adalyn with it.

What he said hadn't completely been a lie. He did have something urgent he had to get to after school. He was starving and there was a taco bell less than a mile away.

His stomach wasn't sure it could last another minute. Of course, if he was in survival mode, he could comfortably last another day. Valentine had near starved him plenty of times when he was younger.

But that taco bell was so close, and he was seriously craving some Nachos.

Adalyn was sitting at the dinner table eating an afternoon snack which consisted of and apple and leftover lasagna when the eruptions started.

The garage door hummed open as her mom's car pulled in. Her mom was back home from work early. She was a nurse at the local doctor's office and usually wasn't back until around six. Her dad, however, normally was back from selling whatever it was he sold around that time. Shortly after her mom walked in, said hello, and plopped down on the sofa to watch her hospital dramas, the lock on the front door clicked, signaling that her dad was about to walk in.

Uh oh. Adalyn couldnt remember a time when her parents could have a civil conversation and didn't understand why they hadn't gotten a divorce yet. She overheard some tense conversations about filing for one about a week ago and assumed it wouldnt be long now. She hoped it would all be over with soon. She wasn't sure how much longer her sanity could take this constant yelling before it shattered to bits like glass.

Older relatives spoke of a time when her parents actually loved each other. They could stand being in the same room with each other, in fact, they enjoyed it. She didn't believe it. Anyone who had such a deep hate for another person could never have once loved them, but the older relatives said it was true. She had never seen it. According to the older relatives, the scream-battles started a little bit before she was born

Her younger sister, Brook, never knew of it either. Adalyn felt bad for her. Adalyn felt bad for herself.

Maybe that's the reason Brook turned into the slutty piece of human waste she was now. Brook was only 13 but went to school dressed like she was about to strut into a strip club, had more major boyfriends than Adalyn even had friends, and every day before school painted on about three tons of makeup.

But then again, Adalyn wasn't like that.

She blamed her sister's screw up on her parents. Maybe if they were around more, or didn't spend so much time trying to make each other's life miserable, or even paid attention to their two teenage daughters, Adalyn wouldn't have this monster that tormented her mind day in and day out, whispering in her ear how hard life was and how easy it would be to just end it. Maybe Brook wouldn't be having sex with every guy, and girl now too, at her school.

Maybe things would be better.

"Kathy! I didn't expect you to be home so early," her dad exclaimed. Adalyn could tell from his voice it wasn't a pleasant surprise.

Her mother didn't say anything, but merely gave her husband a nasty look and continued watching her show.

"Hey Adalyn, is the lasagna still good?" Her dad asked her as he passed by to the kitchen. Adalyn nodded. She didn't want to say anything that would get her in the discussion. It was bad enough hearing it. She didn't want to have any part of the eruptions. Having a part in it made quick, unnoticed escape ten times harder.

"So Kathy, did you just decide to take the rest of the day off on a whim," her dad called to her mom from the kitchen, and none to politely.

Her mother didn't look up from the TV when she blandly responded, "I lost my job."

A dish shattered in the kitchen, her father must have dropped it.

"Kathy," he said, his voice cool and collected, but Adalyn could tell that underneath he was a boiling pit of rage. "You know that we can't afford our house without you helping bring in money."

Adalyn's mother huffed testily. Adalyn knew that her mother knew that, and she also knew that her dad knew that her mom knew. She wished he wouldnt bring it up.

"Of course I know that, Steve! You think I lost my job because I wanted to?" Kathy's voice slowly grew louder the longer she spoke.

The eruptions began.

Steam hissed out of Dad the Volcano. "Well you obviously did something!"

Mom the Volcano's eruption was more sudden. Her top blew off and ash gushed out into the sky, causing everyone to choke. "NO, STEVE! IT'S NOT MY FAULT! YOU KNOW THAT IVE ALWAYS HAD A PROBLEM WITH MY BOSS! I WAS DOING EVERYTHING TO THE BEST OF MY ABILITY, BUT IT JUST WASNT GOOD ENOUGH."

Lava streamed out of the sides of Mount Dad, just a portion of what was really in the boiling furnace inside. "Don't be immature and blame it on someone else, Kathy. You always do that don't you? You can't stand to admit you messed up so you push the weight of the blame on someone else's shoulders."

Adalyn wanted it to stop. She wanted to go to her room, but she wasn't done with her lasagna.

"I DO NOT! I TRY THE BEST I CAN FOR EVERYTHING BUT IT'S JUST NEVER GOOD ENOUGH, NOT FOR MY BOSS, NOT FOR YOU!" Volcano Mom began spewing out ash at a faster speed. Adalyn could tell Brook was affected by the bad air from her sour face. Adalyn was too, but she didn't show it. She was more used to tormenting feelings.

Some toxic air was flowing out of Mount Dad too. "No, Kathy, I know what your best is, and what you give isn't it. I wouldn't have married a woman who wasn't strong enough to even resist the pull of another man WHEN SHE'S MARRIED!"

Adalyn knew this eruption was going to be bad. Dad had brought up it. It was how she was born. Brook was only her half sister, but the family usually pretended that it had never happened. It was the dark family secret that haunted Adalyn and her parents.

Dad did the taboo.

"STEVE, IS THIS STILL AN ISSUE? I THOUGHT WE SOLVED THIS A LONG TIME AGO?!"

Adalyn still wasnt done with her lasagna, but she left anyway. There wasn't a food in the world that could keep her down there, choking on the bad air the eruptions caused for the innocent villagers. She escaped to her room.

She curled up in a ball in her closet. Dad had brought up it. That she wasn't an actual member of the family. She was a mistake her mom made. She was the start of all of this arguing.

Adalyn could feel her inner demons begin to tear at her heart. She tried to keep in the overwhelming hurt in her chest, but she couldn't. Not while she could hear the eruptions going on downstairs. Each scream affected her like a shot to the chest and assisted her demons in tearing her apart. She closed her eyes and rested her face on the floor but the hot tears still slipped through her eyelids. The tears were proof.

Deep down, she was bleeding. If nothing was done, eventually the pain would become too much.

The tears were physical signs that the demons were having a good claw-down in her chest. She needed it to stop.

Sometime during her pity party her sister came down the hall to her room, following Adalyn's lead.

It was almost eight now. The eruptions hadn't stopped. If anything, they only got worse.

I was the start of all of this, Adalyn thought. Maybe if I left and the only people left in this family were those all actually related, everything would go back to before.

Adalyn had tried running away many times before. She had never gotten farther than the closest grocery store, and her parents never even realized she was gone. But this time she would leave for good. Then everything would be better for them. She stuffed a wad of cash she had saved up into her bra and climbed out her window, thanking God she had a one story house.

She made it past the nearest gas station and checked her phone. It was 8:30.

She walked until she reached her local grocery store. She checker her phone again. 8:45. She had never gotten past this before. But she was leaving for real this time, so she had to be brave. She would pass a lot of grocery stores. She continued on.

She got to a normally busy intersection, but it was nine now so it wasn't so crowded. She still pressed the walk button and waited until the little person appeared. She wasn't sure if she was just being cautious or was just stalling.

Her parents still hadn't noticed she'd left. She felt a twinge of disappointment. It only made sense though. They were probably still arguing.

She was walking past a dark strip of sidewalk. The next shop was quite a bit a walk. She suddenly felt very vulnerable. She had never been this far away on her own before. She wished she had brought her car, but her keys were in the living room and she didn't want to have to deal with The Eruptions.

She glanced around herself continually. She didn't want to be taken by surprise. A few cars passed by but none of them stopped. It was 9:20 now.

She got passed the dark strip and was at a small shopping center. She didnt get raped, or mugged, or abducted. That was good.

She felt in her pocket to check the time on her phone, and felt a sinking feeling in her gut.

It was dead. If something happened, she couldn't call anybody. Even if she borrowed a phone from somebody, she didn't know anyone's numbers but her own and her mom's, but her mom had a flip phone and kept it off except at work.

She pushed her bad feelings about her little adventure out of her mind and continued past the shopping center to the street, leaving the comforting lights behind.

She passed under an overhead bridge and was walking through a park. She kept on getting the feeling someone was watching her, but didn't see anyone. She blamed it on nerves.

Toward the end of the park she heard some guys around her age messing around. When she passed by she saw that there was about seven of them, and they were passing around a bottle of something.

They were drunk. Wonderful.

Adalyn began to feel that maybe running away wasn't the best idea. Too late now.

She left the park behind and began walking down the sidewalk. The next marking point was a super market and it was pretty far away.

For some reason the guys voices didn't fade in the distance. They stayed the same volume. She glanced back but couldn't see them. It could have been that there was a bend in the sidewalk, but she hoped they were still in the park.

Someone driving in a car rolled down their window and asked if she needed help.

Her first immediate reaction was no, but she could still hear the drunken voices of the guys behind her.

"Um, yeah, actually. I'm lost," she lied. "Could I borrow your phone and call someone?" She could try calling her mom. Her parents must have realized she was gone by now, maybe her mom turned her phone on to call her.

The person pulled over next to her. The guys voices were faint now and didn't seem to be getting closer. That was good.

A middle aged woman in a skirt suit stepped out. She pulled out a shiny new android and typed in the password and pulled up the phone app before handing it to Adalyn.

Adalyn bit her lip as she recalled her mother number. She cautiously put the phone up to her ear.

It rang, once, twice, three times, and went to her mother's voice mail.

You called Kathy, I'm sorry I couldn't get to you. Leave a message and I'll call you back.

Adalyn hung up. Her mom wouldnt get the message until the next morning and by then it wouldn't matter.

Suddenly she remembered Sebastian hurrying after her after school. Oops, I forgot to help him on the science homework. Good thing it's not due until the end of this week, she thought.

Adalyn went back to the screen with the keyboard, glanced at her hand, and typed in his number, 666-1155. She once again lifted the phone to her ear.

He picked up on the second ring and she breathed out a sigh of relief.

"Hello," he called into the phone.

"Hi Sebastian, its Adalyn, from school. Sorry, I forgot to text you about the science homework, and um, this is a little embarrassing, but can you pick me up?" She felt herself blush a little when she asked him. She would have to explain the whole shenanigan to him, something she was not looking forward to.

His voice seemed hesitant. "Uh, sure. Where are you?"

She mentally kicked herself for having to rely on him. "Um, I'm on the sidewalk, in between the park and the shopping center with the Walmart. I'm wearing blue," she added.

"Okay. I'll be there in a few." His voiced seemed to question why she was there, of all places, especially at this time. The lady's phone told her it was past ten now. She was glad he didn't ask for an explanation. She didn't want to have to explain it in front of the lady whose phone she borrowed.

"Here." Adalyn handed the phone back to the nice lady, her voice heavy with gratitude.

The lady wrinkled her brow. "Do you want me to stay here until your friend picks you up?" She asked.

Adalyn shook her head. She didn't want to become more of a burden to her more than she already was.

"Are you sure?"

Adalyn nodded.

She wasn't sure, though. She could still faintly here the guys behind her, and she knew the lady could too. She didn't want to wait alone, but at the same time she didn't want to interfere with anyone's lives more than she had too.

The lady didnt seem convinced, but said, "Okay, be safe, sweetie," before climbing back into her shiny sports car and driving away.

Once the lady left, the guy's voices seemed to be coming closer. Adalyn shifted from foot to foot. She glanced at her phone out of habit, but it was dead. She crossed one foot over the other, and then hopped to regain balance.

The voices were louder.

She glanced nervously the way she had come, and saw the group of guys, they're loud, drunken voices carrying across the space between them, which suddenly seemed much too small.

"Hey, cutie! It's a little late to be wandering out alone," one called to her, earning laughs and shoves from his friends. She ignored them.

They're not talking to me, they're not talking to me, they're not talking to me, she repeated in her head, trying to convince herself everything was going to be okay.

Sebastian, where are you?

"Hey, I'm talking to you!" The same one called to her again. She didn't even give them a glance, but simply closed her eyes and pretended they were there.

"Hey!" She ignored them.

But she couldn't do that for long. A rough hand grabbed her shoulder and spun her around to face the person who the hand belonged to.

"Im talking to you. It's impolite not to reply." His hot breathe hit her face, making her want to flinch away. It smelled strongly of alcohol. One of his goons yanked on a strand of her hair.

She shoved both of them away. "Because you care deeply about social etiquette, don't you." She vainly attempted to use sarcasm to cover up her discomfort.

The goons laughed loudly, and the first one that grabbed her shoved her back. "Looks like she figured me out!" He called to his friends. Adalyn balled up her fists.

One appeared behind her, and ran his thumb down her cheek. "Don't touch me!" She shoved his hand away, causing them all to laugh again.

"She's a feisty one," someone called from the back. Adalyn glanced behind her, preparing to run. "That's okay, I like 'em feisty."

Someone grabbed her wrists, and they all laughed when she attempted to lash out at him. "Stop it!" She called.

To her surprise, he dropped her hands. They all backed away from her.

"Humph," she said, and brought her hands up in fists, as if preparing for a fight. "Yeah, leave!"

She heard a deep voice call from behind her. "If you value your lives, I'd take her advice."

Adalyn spun around, and came face to face with her gentlemanly English partner. He radiated malice, his dark eyes chips if obsidian.

If looks could kill, she thought to herself. He was twirling a knife between his fingers, and despite his menacing look, she didn't think she had ever been so glad so see someone in her life.

Why? The voice of sense and logic called from the back of her head. You heard before that most girls are sexually harassed by people they know.

He wouldn't do that, the naive voice of hope disputed.

You can't know that. You only met him today, and anyone could tell there's something off about him; something in your head that tells you to stay away from him.

Well what else and I supposed to do? Face the drunken gang of highschool guys by myself, or go with him and hope he doesnt try anything.

Naive voice of hope won this round.

Adalyn was snapped out of her inner quarrel when one of the drunken guys gained courage from who knows where and stepped up to face Sebastian. Adalyn had to give him some credit. If it were her Sebastian was glaring at, as if planning the best way to gut her, she would want to crawl in a hole and stay there for the rest of her now probably short life.

"Look," he began, stumbling, his voice slurred, "you put that knife down and stop looking at us like that, and we'll give you a turn."

Adalyn wanted to throw up, preferably on his shoes.

Sebastian's eyes flashed. With a quick smooth movement, he brought the knife up and threw it at the little piece of shit who had spoke. It impaled his hand straight through. He screamed and clutched it, blood trickling down from the wound.

Sebastian flexed his hands. "Anyone else up for negotiating?" He asked, eyes raking over the group.

The rest backed off until they felt it was safe to turn they're back on him and then sprinted back to the park.

Sebastian laid a hand on Adalyn's shoulder. He could tell from the tense way she held herself she was shaken up, but, who wouldn't be?

"You okay?" He asked. Adalyn nodded, but she wouldn't look at him and he didn't believe her.

"Sorry about the knife thing." He could imagine that would also be disturbing for someone not used to the kind of life of a shadowhunter.

Adalyn nodded again. "It's okay. Thanks."

He helped her into his car, a shiny black Lamborghini. Once they were both settled in the leather front seats and the engine was on, he asked, "Where do you want to go?"

Adalyn shrugged. "Not home, but I don't know where else I could go."

"Yeah, why are you out here so late in the first place?"

The moment she was dreading was upon her now. "Um." She didn't want to have to explain everything to him; she didn't want to explain it to anyone, because if she said it out loud it would become true. She knew she wouldn't be able to get it all out without crying, just thinking about it made tears prick at the back of her eyes. "Its a long story," she finally settled on. She hoped it would stop the conversation.

"Family issues?" He guessed. She nodded, quickly brushing away a stray tear which had escaped.

She thought she heard him mutter, "tell me about it," be she wasn't sure. It seemed like now of days everyone had family problems, and she wasn't the only one going through this, and everyone else seemed able to handle it, so why shouldn't she? She felt another hot tear escape, and she angrily pushed it away, and found her face was wet. She already was crying. Well, no use trying to stop it now.

She dug little half moons into the palms of her hands and just let the tears fall.

Sebastian looked over and saw her tear-streaked face. "Hey," he whispered softly. She didn't look at him, just kept staring out the windshield. He pulled the car over to the side of the road and attempted to stem the flow.

He brushed tear after tear away. Adalyn closed her eyes and let him. She felt his callused thumb rub over her cheekbones.

"Hey," he said again, softly, cupping her face in one hand. She looked over at him this time. He still had the same aura around him as earlier that day, but his dark eyes seemed softer, his pale chiseled face open and full of concern.

She pushed stringy wet strands of hair away from her face. "I'm sorry," she whispered out. She hated letting people see her like this, even her family, and especially strange guys who stared at her at lunch and shook her hand in English with sophisticated grace that didn't belong in a high school classroom. Yet here she was, in Sebastian's car, with his hand cupped tenderly around her cheek, bawling her eyes out.

Some unknown force urged her to lean over the stick shift in between them and close the gap between their lips, and she relented. Maybe it was because it was late and she was scared and just wanted to do something reckless. Maybe it was because Sebastian wasn't the only one who felt that they had some sort of supernatural attraction for each other.

Her right hand found the side of his neck, her left tangled around the fine white strands of his hair. She felt a tingling sensation where ever they're skin touched.

His hand not on her face moved to her waist, pulling her closer. Her lips tasted like salt. This is what he was waiting for, and it was better than he could have ever possibly imagined. It was better than with Clary, and felt more sincere and serene than what he had with the girls he brought home sometimes. This brought on a sort warmth and tenderness. He tilted his head, deepening the kiss.

Adalyn slid closer to him, her right hand moved down to gather his T-shirt in her fist. His left hand moved back to the small of her back, pulling her toward him and closing the gaps between them completely. She fell on his lap, abandoning the passenger seat completely.

Sebastian would have been completely content if they could stay like that forever. He leaned forward, pressed himself even closer. He could feel her erratic heartbeat against his chest. One hand moved to brace himself against the steering wheel.

At last they broke apart, breathing heavily. Adalyn felt a blush creep into her cheeks under his hand. She looked to the side away from him, shame crawling into her brain and nestling in next to her voices of hope and logic for a lengthy stay, but it wasn't quite strong enough to have her push herself away. She still sat nestled in his lap, her chest pressed against his. His breath stirred the fly away hairs that floated around her face.

He watched her face as he brushed away a lock of hair behind her ear. Shame wasn't a resident in him, it only felt natural. Even though he had only just met her, it just seemed like they were meant for each other. She fit into his lap to well for their meeting to just be pure coincidence. If they were puzzle pieces to an old jigsaw puzzle, he would be a bent corner piece with not many places for other pieces to fit with to begin with, and now that he was a little broken, she was the only piece that actually fit perfectly with him and not just okay with a few gaps where his cardboard had been pulled back a bit too much.

She felt her pull toward him awaken, and wanted to fling herself back against him, but she didn't because she had acted without thinking enough for one night and didn't know anything of his world to understand why she felt this way. It was dismissed it for foolhardy love that could only bloom late at night when feelings and thoughts ran wild.

"I should be getting home," she said, breaking the silence saturated with words of compassion that didnt need to be spoken aloud.

Sebastian nodded, and lifted her over the center of the car back into her seat. "Do you know your way home?" He wished she could stay with him all night, but didn't want to push her. He was plenty satisfied with their interaction that night, and the memory of their kiss kept replaying through his mind, causing a little sweet smile to play at the corners of his mouth.

Adalyn nodded, and directed him to her home, also the memory of their kiss playing over and over in her mind. Except, the fact that she enjoyed it didn't cause her to smile, and instead made the shame which had crawled in her brain to spike up, almost covering everything else in there.

Almost, it couldn't conceal that feeling of rightness she felt when their lips connected. She didn't think anything could.

Yayyyyy! Also, I was looking through my fic on the actual site instead of Word and Google Drive and my notepad because I'm still grounded, and I realized for some reason my line breaks mysteriously disappeared. Im thinking maybe I should use something else that doesn't disappear. It would help everything make more sense. If they actually are gone and it all looks like one huge section with no setting changes or anything and that just wasn't my phone and it wasn't one of those dreams I have where im going through normal life but something is off like the one I had last night where this guy in my math class who I used to have a crush on had a twin brother who was fifty thousand times nicer and then the next day in math class I was about to ask him about his twin brother and then I realized he doesn't actually have a twin brother, and that other dream I had where I found my lost PE sock and I was so happy but then the next day in PE I couldn't find it so either that was a dream or I lost it again.

Wow, that was long.

Anyway, REVIEW PLZ PLZ PLZ PLZ AND BECAUSE READING THEM IS MY MOST FAVORITE THING IN THE WORLD AND IT MAKES ME FEEL ALL WARM AND FUZZY AND GIGGLY AND HAPPY SO YEAH REVIEW. AND I WILL WORK ON SAVING UP MONEY TO FIX MY COMPUTER OR BUY A NEW ONE INSTEAD OF SPENDING IT ALL AT HOT TOPIC!