4/21/21: Sorry for the long overdue rewrite of this story. To be frank, I'm actually quite embarrassed this story has more than 100k views with how poorly it's written. I have some new ideas, and way better writing skills and I can't wait to take the shell of this story and make it even better,

1

Clary's POV

My mother referred to our move to New York City as a chance for me to start over - have a new life as she put it. She can pin the move on me for all she wants, but truly, I think the move was more for her benefit than mine. When my father walked out and took my brother along with him, it's like my mom's world stopped spinning. Sadly, mine didn't, so as my mom fell into a depressive spiral, I was left alone to fend for myself. My dad and his son are out living their life, exploring the world, while I was left, picking up the pieces they left behind.

I have become withdrawn and cold. My mother was the driving force behind my joy, and now she's the driving force behind my sadness. I didn't want to leave Florida, I was content, even after my father left. I struggled enough making friends there, and now I am going to have to start all over again. I have a short temper, and struggle to keep my cool when people step out of line with me. At my old school, I think I basically scared everyone away from me. It is pretty much inevitable that the same is going to happen at this school.

I put my backpack over my shoulder, bounding out of my New York City townhouse, with my mother nowhere to be seen. I slide onto my sleek, black motorcycle, and pull my helmet over my messy red curls. My mother threw a fit when I decided on buying the motorcycle. At first, I thought her fits were over the safety of the bike, but once I discovered the old photos of my parents sitting on my dad's beat up Harley twenty years ago, it all finally made sense.

It turns out the bike is perfect for breaking street laws and dodging traffic. I don't know why anyone would own a car in this city, it seems that every road is filled up with bumper–to-bumper traffic. A five mile drive to school took me about thirty minutes, even with all the weaving in and out traffic.

I reach my new high school, pulling into the parking lot, and earning a few looks from students as I find a parking spot in the crowded lot. It seems everywhere I go in New York is busy. Once I take my helmet off and shake my hair out, I feel as if the looks on me seem to multiply. My hair and my short stature have always made me stand out from other people. Regardless of my best efforts to always blend in by dressing the same as everyone else and keeping quiet, I still always seem to stick out.

I don't think I made it more than fifteen feet towards the school before I heard a male's deep voice call out behind me, "hey new girl!" I do my best to ignore the black-haired teenager as he comes jogging towards me, but he quickly maneuvers himself in front of me, so I slide to a halt. My eyes narrow at him, and my hands crawl to my hips, turning my posture defensive.

"I'm Sebastian," he says, outstretching his hand towards me to shake. I glance at it, before glancing back at him; my body stays immobile.

"Ok?" I respond, my tone laced with annoyance.

"I'm trying to have a conversation with you," he says with the stupid smile on his stupid tanned face never faltering, "maybe try giving me your name?" He says, to which I scoff. I do my best to scoot around him, making a dash towards the school. I am almost home free, but Sebastian is able to step his body in front of me, pressing his hand against the brick wall next to my head, using his arm to block my way, "I'm really not in the mood for this, so why don't you just get out of my way," I tell him, going to duck under his arm, but he lightly grasps my bicep, stopping me, "come on, I just want to know your name," He tells me. I rip my arm from his grasp, taking both my hands and shoving him roughly away from me. As he stumbles back four or five steps, a look of shock crosses his face.

"Don't you ever, ever, lay a finger on me." I say through clenched teeth.

"Look," he starts, but my sharp voice roughly cuts him off, "look, I wouldn't mind blowing off some steam by putting you in the hospital. Stay away from me." I snap, stalking off to the inside of the school. Eyes are once again on me as I make my way to my locker, whispering quietly about what went on outside with Sebastian. I grind my teeth as I swing my locker open, filing through it and digging out my needed textbooks. Once I have what I need, I slam my locker door shut. "Hi, I'm Isabelle," I jump at the sudden voice to my right side, and my head snaps in its direction. A tall, black haired girl has her hand extended to me with a passive look sitting on her face.

"Look, you're new here, but I've been around long enough to know that new girls always need a friend. Plus, I saw what you did to Sebastian out there and I thought it was pretty badass," her lips turn upright into a small smile, "I just think we could be pretty good friends," I appreciate her boldness. "I think I would like that." I let a smile slip that doesn't quite reach my eyes and I take her hand in mine giving it a light shake.

"Can I see your schedule?" She asks, and I nod, reaching into my backpack and digging through it. I hand her my sheet of yellow paper that has my classes written down on it.

"Lovely!" She exclaims, catching me off guard, "You have three classes with me, and the first two are with my brother and his best friends! We have the first period together, I can totally walk you if you'd like. That way I can introduce you to some people." Her attitude changes a bit, her excitement about our friendship shining through. I shove my schedule back into my backpack, and she leads me off down the hallway, leading the way to our first period. As we walk over, talking about basic things, she asks me where I came from so I tell her Florida, and when she asks me why, I just tell her it was because of my mom's job. We don't talk about much more until we reach the class. Once there, two boys wave at us, along with a girl with brown curly hair.

"Ah, the girl who got into it with Sebastian, just who I wanted to see." A dark skinned girl with curly brown hair greets me, extending her hand towards me. "Clary," I say, "Maia," she answers. We shake hands and turn to the boys.

"Clary, this is my brother Alec, and his best friend, Jace." Alec, the boy with black hair waves while the other lets his eyes roam around my face, before letting out a, "hey." A smirk travels to the blond boy's face as he speaks to me. I can feel Isabelle glaring at him, while Maia just throws her head back with a loud laugh, "Jace, I thought we were out of that 'flirting with everything that has boobs and two legs' stage." She says as I sit down in a chair between her and Isabelle. Believe it or not, I'm actually finding these two ladies to be quite enjoyable.

We chat a bit more, mostly the four friends bantering back and forth, discussing the newest gossip, making fun of each other, while I sit in the middle and listen - it was actually slightly enjoyable. When the teacher enters the room, our conversation is quickly shut down, and our financial algebra class begins. I lose interest almost immediately, and get lost in thought.

That's how the next few periods went by for me. Especially those I didn't have with any of my new acquaintances, considering that I didn't bother mingling with anyone else, and even more so with how they were still talking about my interaction with Sebastian. When I finally reach lunch, I'm just about sick and tired of these obnoxious students.

"Clary! Come sit with us! Isabelle yells over the loud chatter of the students, approaching me with a large smile on her face. She grabs onto my wrist and forces me to come with her over to her table. Shocked at first, I pull away trying to get my hands out of her grasp, but when she sends me an odd glance over her shoulder, and her hand softens around my wrist, I follow behind her and sit down in between her and another boy whose name I don't know.

"Jordan," he greets me, nodding his head towards me as a welcome.

"Clary," I respond, my voice still carrying a slight edge to it. My eyes slide past him to Maia who's sitting next to him, and then around the rest of the table, giving everyone else sitting with me a once over.

"So Red, what's your story?" Jace asks me and I narrow my eyes, my teeth chomping down on the inside of my lip.

"Don't call me Red." The words slip past my lips bitterly and he looks at me for a second, tilting his head slightly." Jace; stop looking at her like she's an alien. Just because your dumbass charm didn't work on her, doesn't mean she's weird." Jordan says and the corner of my lips tilts up at the boys comment. The rest of lunch goes smoothly, and I got to know everyone else a bit more. The bell releases us out of lunch and back to class, and I fall back into the toxic class schedule.

When the rest of the day finishes up, I hop on my bike and attempt to leave with no interruptions, but Maia, Alec, Jace, and Isabelle stop me.

"Whoa Red, sweet ride you got there." Jace says and I pull my helmet off so my eyes meet his, "No pet names, what do you guys want?" I say and Isabelle steps forward.

"We are going bowling and we want you to come, we can even pick you up if you'd like." She says and I shrug.

"Give me your phone and I'll text you where to pick me up." I say and she smiles. I put her number in my phone, and mine in hers. I give one final wave of my hand and start off down the road, doing my best to avoid the New York traffic and navigating towards my next destination. When things first got bad with my mom I frantically looked for things to keep myself occupied with, and luckily for me, I found just the thing. I pull up to a beaten up concrete building and park my bike in the lot. Grabbing a small duffle bag and hanging my helmet on the front of it, I enter the building and the smell of rubber mats and sweat hits my nostrils pulling the first real smile from my body.

"Name?" The man at the front desk asks, not looking up at me, "Clary Fray, I'm here for training." I tell him, which causes the older, dark skinned man to stop typing and glance up at me, a smiling breaking through his slightly icy exterior.

"I'm Luke, I will be your trainer today. The changing room is in the back, so go get changed and come out when you are ready." He says and I walk into the old back room. The gym isn't empty per se, but I'm used to a livelier atmosphere. Before I change, I send Isabelle a time and a place so they know where to pick me up.

I throw on a tank top and athletic shorts, wrap my ankles and wrists, and slide my boxing gloves over my shoulder so I don't lose them. I jog out to the ring and the man smiles, "I have heard a lot about you. Are you as good as they say you are?" He asks and I smirk.

"Trust me Mr. Luke, I'm even better." I say, cracking my knuckles at the energy bubbling up in me. Ever since I've started boxing, a different type of passion has been found in me. I can forget about all the bullshit with every punch, get out my anger with every kick, and heal myself piece by piece with every knockout.

"Then what are you waiting for, knock me on my ass." He says and I charge at him.

I think we fight for over an hour, taking turns in landing punches, trading words, and I'll even admit Luke humbles me a bit - the old man still has it, even though he doesn't admit it.

"Last round ok?" Luke says and I nod. Eventually, I take him to the floor, and I stand up with a proud smile on my face. That was my first pin of the day. I help Luke up off the floor, and he gives me a small pat on the back before wiping his face off with a towel and tossing it to me.

"So, this is why you are so badass." I hear a voice come from behind me as I start to unwrap my wrists and ankles. My eyes find Alec standing outside of the ring with his arms crossed, and a neutral expression sitting across his face. I respond with a nod, climbing in between the ropes of the ring and throwing a towel over my shoulder

"Give me five minutes." I say jogging back into the locker room to meet my school acquaintances for a night of bowling.