5/2/21
3
CLARY'S POV

Moving to a new school is hard enough, but coming in late to my junior year seems to have added so many unneeded challenges. I'm lucky to have at least made a few friends, which seems to have made life a little easier, but after a week, I feel like I'm falling behind in classes and struggling to get with the status quo. Everyone seems to know their place in the school and has found where they fit in, yet here I am, still trying to get the hang of it all. There is a common expectation that everyone finds a group and fits, but I've never been one to stay in a group. I don't understand why I can't be friendly with different types of people.

When my dad and brother disappeared last year, it seemed like my friends did too. The story of what happened was passed through the rumor-mill and horrible things were made up about my family. Some said my dad killed someone and had to flee to Mexico, others said he was a drug lord, some even went far enough to say he sexually assaulted me. None of these things are true, but the idea of them was just enough to make me the freak of the school. The only positive thing about my dad and brother skipping town was that I threw myself into boxing and started to make enough money to pay the bills.

"Red? Wake up," a voice says, shaking me. I jump up in alarm, the hairs on my neck standing up and my eyes wide like a mad person's as I slip off the cafeteria bench onto the cold floor.

"What the hell?" I grumble, glaring up at Jace, the obvious culprit. He is the only one out of my group of "friends" that actually calls me Red. I stiffly shove myself off of the floor, dropping back on the bench in my original spot.

"You fell asleep, and you haven't eaten at all. Plus I wanted to save you the embarrassment of falling asleep on me." He says, and even though I would never admit it to him, I am grateful he woke me up. I have training the moment I leave school, so if I don't eat now, I won't eat until I'm done. And by then, I'll be a hungry, sluggish monster. I enjoy the rest of my lunch with my table and when we get released off to our next class, I walk with Maia and Alec.

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The rest of the day moves extremely quickly. Classes seem to have sped up the longer I've been attending this school. When the final bell releases the students, I shoot up out of my chair and I make a beeline out of the classroom towards the parking lot, ready to get the hell out of here. I work around the parking lot traffic and feel like I make it to West Point gym, which I've learned is fondly referred to as 'The Institute", in record time.

"Hey guys," I greet Luke and Simon with a wide smile that reaches my eyes, before moving into the locker room. I do my normal routine of wrapping my ankles and wrists, slinking into black athletic shorts and throwing a black and white sports bra on over my head. I throw my gym back over my shoulder and meet Luke in the middle of the gym, "You're early," he glances down at his watch and then back at me, "Maybe you can instill some of your punctuality into the boys." I grin slyly at him.

"I'm going to have you start with weights while we are waiting on the boys." Luke leads me to a machine, sitting me down and situating me with something he calls a "leg press." He gives me simple instructions before leaving me on my own to work in silence.

I work peacefully, the only thing to be heard is soft grunting as I strain against the weights, enjoying the time to myself.

After another five minutes or so, I feel a pair of rough hands grip me tightly and push down on my shoulders, forcing me backwards so as to lay my back flat against the chair. I look up quickly in between reps, expecting to see Luke, but end up seeing Jace's honey colored eyes looking back at me and making me purse my lips, "Why are you touching me?" I ask him and he smiles. I roll my eyes, and stare up at him, expecting an answer.

"You are arching your back. Keep your shoulders down and back straight, it's a lame attempt at making your job easier. You know how Luke feels about slackers." A smile is still playing on his face as he watches me move the weights with my legs, "Thanks," I tell him lamely, trying to pay more attention on the pain radiating through my legs and less on his hands resting on my body. Eventually, I feel like I'm going to explode, so I clear my throat loudly.

It seems that Jace gets the hint and lifts his hands off my shoulder quickly, "Sorry," He tells me with an innocent stare, "You look good, keep doing that." I crinkle my nose at his words, but nonetheless, I do take his advice and keep working with my shoulder blades pressed stiffly to the seat.

I feel like my legs are going to fall off when Luke finally calls me back to him. I slide off the machine, feeling slightly like Jell-O, "Ok, Clary and Jace, I want you two in here sparing. Alec and Sebastian, I want you two to come over with me, we need to work on your attack and punching technique." He says and we nod.

Jace and I step into the ring, and slide our gloves on. I crack my neck and arms, and square my body up, "You feeling alright, Red? You seem a little woozy, that leg feeling ok?" He asks me, eyes roaming over me, "They feel ok enough to kick your ass." I shoot back.

"Hey now, this is just sparing, there doesn't need to be any ass kicking." He tells me and I let out a small laugh, "Sounds like you're scared."

"You know Clary, it's a nice attempt to distract me by being three fourths naked." He responds, hoping to get a rise out of me, but my smirk stays unmoving, "Oh boy, I had a feeling you would make a comment about that." He can hit me with all the comments he wants, but he is not snapping me out of my zone, "It seemed to have kept your attention on me when I was lifting early," I say, "It sure did." He tells me back, and I can't help the stupid blush that comes up my neck to my cheeks. He uses my slight wavering as a chance to smack me roughly under the jaw, causing my head to snap swiftly up towards the ceiling. I counter his hit swinging back at him, he seems to block it pretty effortlessly to the right, but I manage to get him in the ribs to the left. I swing again, he blocks it, he swings at me; I block it.

We go back and forth like this for a bit, swings getting blocked, kicks getting dodged. I feel the muscle fatigue in my legs begin to set in, but I refuse to let myself wobble under the gaze of Jace Wayland. We trade blow after blow, my lungs burning and sweat dripping off both of our bodies. Jace throws all of his weight towards me, clambering hard on top of my body and driving me into the ground. I move just in time to escape a knockout blow to the skull. My knee flies up to his stomach - dirty, but effective - and I'm able to jump up to my feet. Jace is quick to follow suit, and I go to strike at him again, but Luke comes running towards the ring, "I said sparing, not attempted murder!"

Jace begins to laugh, "Sorry Luke, Clary just takes things a bit too seriously." I narrow my eyes at him, "Oh fuck you, you started it." Luke is now laughing along with Jace, "Ok, seriously, who won?" Luke asks, and I share a glance with Jace, "I did." We both say at once, causing Luke to laugh even more.

"Bullshit, I beat your ass." I tell Jace crossing my arms, "I tackled you," he points out, "Ok, enough is enough." Luke says, putting his hand on Jace's shoulder, "You two hit the showers and get out of here, you guys did great." We both thank Luke, and I make my way quickly to the locker room so I can take a hot shower and attempt to get rid of the burning sensation in my body.

After a shower, I dry my hair and body, glancing at myself in the mirror. I already have some soft bruises forming on my chest from Jace and I smile, I can only imagine what his body looks like right now. My smile quickly becomes a grimace as I begin to imagine Jace in a towel. I put on leggings and a red hoodie. I tie my boots back on and head out of the locker room making a break for my bike. I bid goodbye to Luke and Simon, ignoring Sebastian as I walk past him.

Once I reach the parking lot, Jace grabs me by the arm pulling me to a stop. I yank my arm away from him, and he laughs, "Come on Clary, aren't we past this hostility?" Jace asks me, but when my face remains cold and unchanging, his goes serious as well. "You should come over to the Lightwood's place tonight, we are having a party and I'm sure it would make Izzy's day if you came," Jace says and I sigh. I hate parties, I have never had a reason to go to one, but Iz is my friend and I guess you do this type of stuff for friends. I nod my head slowly, causing Jace and even Alec to smile as he appears, "I don't exactly have party clothes." I point out, glancing down at myself, "Don't worry about it, Isabelle has plenty." Alec tells me and I chomp down on my lip, before nodding in agreement.

"Ok, follow us there." He says and I start up my bike. Jace climbs into the car with Alec, and I follow them out of the parking lot and down the street. We leave downtown Brooklyn and drive in more of the suburban areas. There is less traffic out here; I like it.

We finally pulled into the front yard of a massive marble house - it was a pretty big yard for being just outside the city. I raise my eyebrows but park my bike anyway - over by a tree, far from anyone else. I don't feel like any drunken teenagers running over my bike.

"Follow me," Jace says, grabbing me by my hand. I yank it back, but he doesn't budge, so I sigh, and let him lead me into the house behind Alec. He gives me a strange look, but continues to lead me to the last room on the second floor. If I thought the house was big on the outside, it was huge on the inside, not to mention extremely nice. I walk into Isabelle's room and she smiles, waving at Jace and I, but I just stand there. She rolls her eyes and drags me out of the doorway, "I'm so glad Jace talked you into coming!" She exclaims, pulling me into a quick hug.

"I'm going to make you look great!" She says and I roll my eyes. "Iz, this really isn't my type of scene. I have never been to an actual party," I say and she frowns.

"Well that's an even bigger reason for me to make you look amazing. Sit down and let me do your hair and make up," she says and I groan. I may not be happy about it, but I sit down and let her do whatever the hell she wants to do.

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"All right, beautiful," Isabelle fluffs my hair for me as we stand in front of her floor-length bedroom mirror. Admittedly, I look pretty damn good in a small black dress that hugs my curves and minimal makeup to accentuate my green eyes and high cheekbones. I'm not sure if I'll be trading my daily jeans and t-shirts for her tight dresses and skirts, but maybe for a night it won't be so bad. I must say, it's quite nice to have the scars and bruises that line my body and face covered with concealer; I smile at her through my reflection, "I look good." I tell her and she laughs loudly, throwing her head back and playing with my hair a little bit more.

"Alright, lets get your cute ass downstairs." She links her arm with mine, and I fight the urge to jump away from her, "You have an attractive blonde downstairs who's going to pass out at the sight of you," I scoff at the comment, a small scowl slipping onto my face, "Jace? Whatever. He's too self absorbed to notice anyone else but himself." I tell her. "You still can't stand him?" She asks me and I shrug, "I won't be going out of my way to hang out with him anytime soon, that's for sure."

By the time we get down stairs, the party seems to be in full swing. Isabelle is quickly gone from my side, off greeting others. My eyes jump around the room wildly, desperately looking for someone that I know. I don't see Magnus, or Simon, and Jordan and Maia seem too absorbed with each other to want me hanging around. My eyes eventually land on Sebastian and Alec, and Sebastian waves at me. I gulp; hanging out with Sebastian isn't exactly how I wanted to spend my night, but having Alec there as a buffer may not be too bad. I sigh, beginning to cut my way across the dance floor towards the two boys.

I glide through dancing bodies, feeling people brush against me as they sway to the music, "Hey." A guy with long hair greets me as he cuts off my path, offering me a red cup, "Wanna dance?" he winks, "No." I respond, going to walk around him, "I'm Meliorn," he reaches out and catches me lightly by the wrist, just enough to stop me from walking."

"And I," I yank my arm from his grasp, "don't care."

"Ah, I definitely see that attitude Sebastian was telling me about." I roll my eyes, "You know Sebastian? Surprising." My tone is dripping with sarcasm, "Clary!" I hear from behind me, so I glance away from my very important conversation with Meliorn to the voice behind me. An overly excited Jace comes running my way with his arms in the air.

His smile drops, "Meliorn." Jace's voice goes flat. He smells like beer. "Wayland, what are you doing here?" Jace scoffs at Meliorn's comment, "I basically live here; you on the other hand shouldn't have come, seeing as you used to hookup with the girl who lives in this place." Jace gets closer to Meliorn's face.

"Boys," I put my hand on Jace's chest as the tension rises and other partygoers start to pay attention, "Not that I'm not loving this display of toxic masculinity, but shut up." I smile bitterly at them and Jace smiles, "Of course." His voice is very falsely sweet as he throws his arm around me, but as I go to move out from underneath him, it feels like his grip is only getting tighter, "Take your arm off of me before you lose it." I tell him through my teeth.

"If I see you anymore tonight Meliorn, I'll kick your ass." Jace still has a tight smile on his lips as he threatens Meliorn. As he stalks off away from us, the party seems to go back to normal. I throw an elbow at Jace's side and don't stop until he lets go of me, "Ouch, what the hell." He grumbles, backing a step away from me.

"Listen, I was just trying to do you a favor." Jace tells me, his eyebrows rose in surprise.

"I don't want any favors from you, I can handle myself."

"Come on Clary, I am just looking out for you, doing what any friend should do. I know Meliorn is a bad guy, I'm just trying to help you avoid him." Jace tells me, his voice stern, "We aren't friends." I tell him plainly, biting down on the inside of my lip. I'm not sure if I really meant what I said to him; I don't really trust him, but I did have decent time boxing with him today. His lips twist downwards slightly, almost like I have upset him.

"Alright." That's all he says before brushing past me and walking towards Sebastian and Alec. I sigh, putting a hand to my forehead with defeat - there goes my plan of going to them. I glance down at myself once, looking at my pale legs that are overly exposed and strapped into black heels that are too big for my feet - I look ridiculous. I glance around the room once more, looking for Isabelle and coming up short.

An irritable sigh escapes my lips as I stomp up the stairwell towards Isabelle's room, no longer feeling the desire to be here. Slipping into her room and going unnoticed by the people loitering in the hallway, I change back into my street clothes, pulling my shoes back on and grabbing my keys. I exit her room again, trotting down the stairs and weaving through the crowd, not seeing any of my friends in the sea of bodies.

I leave out the front door, kicking it shut behind me. I let out a loud groan of frustration; mad at Isabelle for ditching me, mad at my interaction with Jace; I just feel mad. Moving quickly towards my bike and gritting my teeth as I walk, I begrudgingly pull my helmet over my head, plopping down on my seat with a loud grunt.

"You shouldn't drive like this." I feel a hand come down on my bike handle and I glance up, seeing Jace through my tinted helmet. I yank it off of my head, letting out another grunt, "What?"

"You shouldn't drive this upset," Jace repeats to me, "I'm not upset." I lie to him, and he moves to stand right in front of me so I can't drive off.

"You are, it's all over your face, that's why you're leaving." Jace tells me.

"I'm not upset, I'm mad. And now I'm going home." I respond, "Get out of my way," I turn the key over, start my engine and go to pull my helmet back on. Jace's hand flies down to my own, stopping my motion, and my eyes jump up to his.

"Look," he says over the engine, pulling his hand off of mine, "I'm sorry for crossing a line with you." This causes a small content sigh to escape my lips, "It's fine, I just want to go home. I'll see you at school." I tell him; finally he nods, stepping out of my way. I offer him a small smile before pulling my engine and driving off down the street heading back towards my house, more than ready for this awful night to end.