5/6/21
4
Clary's POV
I wake up startled, shooting upright at the sound of my alarm. I let out a groan, before stretching my arms and legs out underneath me. Monday has rolled around a lot quicker than I was expecting; I have gone the whole weekend ignoring Isabelle, her brother, and the rest of their clique. She has been relentlessly messaging me, attempting to apologize to me for ditching me, even sending her brother, and her other friends after me when she realized I wasn't interested in talking to her. I'm not even mad at her anymore, but it's easier to ignore her and everyone else, rather than face the obnoxious fact that she hurt my feelings. I can't remember letting something this miniscule get to me, all she did was ditch me, but it admittedly upset me. Just to add insult to injury, Jace drove me up a wall at the party as well.
I get dressed for the day, pulling on jeans and a t-shirt, putting my shoes on. I duck into the bathroom, washing up, brushing my teeth, and grabbing my backpack. I move quickly down the stairs, surprised when my mother is still sitting at the dining room table. Usually she would be long gone by now.
As she noticed my presence in the room, she seemed to scramble a bit, slamming a file that was open in front of her closed, and pulling it into her lap, "Morning." She greets me.
"Spill." I eye the file in her lap, and she frowns, "It's nothing, don't worry about it. It's just some adult matters I need to take care of."
"So you're the adult now?" My voice comes off a little harsher than I intend, but I don't regret my words. I've been playing the adult for the last year, she doesn't get to use that excuse with me.
"I am getting a divorce with your father, I am starting to lose hope that he'll ever come back, so, I'm cutting ties with him." She tells me, avoiding my eyes like she is ashamed, "I just didn't want to tell you because I didn't think you would understand, hate me even." She says and I scoff. I may be easy to rile up, but I don't think I could ever hate my mother, as much as I dislike her. She may have made my life a living hell this past year, and our relationship might've gotten strained for that, but I don't think I could ever bring myself to hate her. Not like I hate my dad and my brother.
"Don't worry, dad has been dead to me for years, make yourself happy." Is all I can muster up as a response, "I need to get to school." I pick my keys up off the counter, readying myself to leave for school.
"Clarissa, don't you ever say something like that! Ever! Just because I am divorcing him doesn't mean that he is not your father!" Mom yells and I just scoff, throwing my hands up in the air, "He's not my father anymore," my voice no longer remaining calm, "He disowned me, called me a disgrace, took my brother, and left us. He and his perfect piece of shit son are no longer family to me." Tears start falling down her face slowly, "Clary," she goes to start, but I put my hand up, stopping her, "I need to leave." I go to walk away, out the door, and I hear her call after me, "Be back early for dinner, we have a PTO meeting dinner to go to." I give her one quick nod, before heading out to my bike. My phone dings a few times, and I see that I have received a few messages from Isabelle, asking me to meet up with her before first period, Jace telling me to suck it up and answer Isabelle, and Alec telling me that I am worrying all of them. I sigh, burying my phone in my pocket, and pulling off towards the school.
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I successfully avoid Jace, Isabelle, and everyone else until lunchtime, even though I am in the same classes as them. I sit on the opposite side of the classroom, ignoring them when they speak to me, I stare at the floor when they pass me; it has been going pretty well for me. Until lunchtime.
I have very limited options the moment I enter the cafeteria; I could sit alone, sit with my friends and face the fact that they upset me, or I could attempt to ignore them. I sigh, caving in and walking over to my usual lunch table, and dropping down loudly next to Maia. Everyone's heads snap up, and the table falls silent as they all stare at me, "Well?" Magnus asks me, breaking the silence, "Well what?"
"Are you just going to pretend like you haven't been ignoring every single one of us this weekend?" Magnus says, his eyes bouncing around the table, "Well, some of you deserved it." My eyes shift between Isabelle and Jace.
"I have been trying to apologize all weekend, but you didn't answer me," Isabelle exclaims, "I fucked up, I shouldn't have left you, I'm sorry." I glance down at my hands, sighing, before looking back at her, "It's fine, I was being immature. I was just upset." I tell her, not in the mood to have any more drama in my day than I already have.
"Ok, your turn Jace, make nice with the ginger so we can all move on." Magnus says, gesturing to me, and Jace sighs, running a hand through his hair, "I already apologized once, I'm not doing it again." Jace tells me, "Ok come on, lose the pride a little bit." Maia exclaims from next to me, and I crack a smile, "Clary," he takes my hand in his, gripping it hard so I can't yank it away; the rest of the group is watching with intense curiosity. He lifts my hand, grazing it lightly with his lips, "I am so very sorry. Please forgive me." Blush creeps up my neck, rising to my cheeks as embarrassment floods my body. I yank my hand out of his grasp, "Do you not value your life?" I seethe at him as the group begins to laugh loudly. For the rest of lunch, we seem to be getting along nicely, our disagreement from the weekend quickly put behind us.
When we get released from lunch, the rest of the day tumbles by. I spend my last period with Isabelle, listening to a lady with a ridiculous southern accent groan on and on about figurative language. When the last bell of the day releases us, Isabelle and I walk happily out to the parking lot where we part ways. She has made it very clear that she isn't interested in fighting - and I mean, not in the slightest -not really enjoying watching Jace or her brother do it.
I am the first to the gym, taking the threat from my mom to be home on time quite seriously. I figured that the earlier I get to the gym, the more time I will have to fight before I am forced to head home for the PTO meeting tonight.
By the time I'm dressed and stretching, the boys have just arrived. I get a chain of 'hi's' from Jace, Alec, and Sebastian as they walk past me towards the locker room. My eyes light up as I notice Simon behind the front desk, and I quickly make my way over to him, "Hey." I greet him with a smile.
"Hey!" He tells me back, looking up from the computer with a smile on his face. He is wearing a ridiculous shirt that has a drawing of a game controller that reads, "Game On!" I can't help but smile. I enjoy being around Simon quite a bit, he's safe, kind, and truthfully a little odd, but it's refreshing to be around someone who's so uniquely himself.
We chat for quite a bit until the three boys resurface from the locker room, ready to fight, "Hey, I got a random question," I ask Simon before I am inevitably sucked away to go to Luke.
"What's up?" He responds, "What are the odds your mom is in the PTO and you're going to the dinner tonight?" A smile grows on his face, "Yes I will definitely be there, and you being there will make it a bit more enjoyable."
"Clary!" I hear Luke call to me, "Ok cool, I'll see you there." I flash him a small smile, before turning my back to Simon and walking quickly over Luke and the group of boys. We are standing in a ring in the middle of a packed gym, "Alright. Jace and Clary, you two aren't allowed within five feet of each other after the way you fought one another last time." I smirk at the memory.
"Alec and Jace, you two on weights. Sebastian, Clary, you two are in the ring, actually fighting today." Luke explains to us our plan for today and a smile comes to my face. Call me sadistic, but I've been waiting to kick his ass.
"No way Luke, I'm not fighting a girl, especially not one Clary's size." My smile turns into a scowl at Sebastian's words, "I could kick your ass with a hand tied behind my back." I tell him, and Luke shoots me a look that reads, 'Shut up'.
"Come on Clary, in no way is that a fair fight, I can fight Alec." Sebastian points at Alec and I mumble something that sounds quite a bit like "Bussy" under my breath. Once that word slips past my lips, Jace breaks out into a fit of laughter, and Alec stifles a snort.
"Alright, enough. Alec and Jace, go do weights, Sebastian, I'm not telling you again." Luke's stern words cut through the laughter, and everyone falls serious. Jace and Alec are sent on their way, and Sebastian and I go to our respective corners of the ring. I doubt Sebastian can even last a round with me.
Turns out I was quite wrong; he lasted a round and a half before Luke had to step in because Sebastian was refusing to tap out, but could hardly stay on his feet.
"Once again Clary, I said fight, not attempted murder." Luke tells me, putting his hand on my shoulder and lightly guiding me back to my side.
"It's not my fault Sebastian doesn't know how to block a punch." I respond, making Luke smile.
"Bitch." Sebastian sneers at me, and my face goes stern, "You wanna go again?" I snap, "Go to the showers, you're done for the day. Good job." He tells me with a nod, and I do my best to unclench my jaw. I take one more glance at a pitiful, bruised, Sebastian, before I walk off to the locker room to take a shower. I need to hurry out of here so my mom doesn't get pissed at me for making her late to her meeting; considering now she has decided she wants to be an active member of society.
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We arrive at a large house in the same neighborhood as Isabelle and Alec's. I believe we passed their house on the way here. My mom demanded we take her car, so if I decided I wanted to leave, I couldn't. We park in a large driveway, where there are already plenty of cars. I really don't want to be here, I don't understand why my mother all of a sudden wants to be involved in my life again, she was distant for a year and now everything has changed.
We exit her car, walking to the front door; I am glaring holes at her head the entire time as we walk there. She knocks lightly on the door, and it swings open almost immediately, showing me a familiar blond headed boy, "Red?" He asks, glancing at me over my mom's shoulder, "Jace." I say coolly back, "I thought I'd reached my Jace-limit for today."
"A shame isn't it?" He responds, stepping aside, and allowing both my mother and I to enter the house.
"Do you two know each other?" My mom asks.
"Friend from school." I respond.
"Oh, so we are friends?" Jace cuts in and I roll my eyes at him. My mom quickly gets sucked away by other parents, leaving Jace and I standing alone. My eyes scan the room; I can't see to find another person around our age; a huff escapes my lips.
"You want a drink?" Jace asks me quietly, and I glance up at him, "A fun drink, or just a drink?" I ask back, which brings a smile to Jace's face, "Follow me." Blindly, I listen, following him down the hall, and down a set of stairs. As we move down the stairwell, it becomes a lot more evident where the rest of the teenagers are, "Getting wasted on a school night? Jace Wayland, you are trouble." A teasing tone follows the words as they slip past my lips. A group of about ten or so teenagers is sitting around the large basement, passing around a couple of bottles and engaging in conversation.
"I love it when you tease me." Jace responds, walking over to a fridge, and pulling out two beers, handing me one, and cracking the other one open for him, "Clary!" I hear Maia exclaim from across the room, and I wave at her. Jace and I move to our small group of friends; Alec, Isabelle, Maia, and even Simon are all sitting across a long brown couch. Simon looks like he is ready to jump out of his skin.
"If I knew PTO meetings were always like this, I would have started coming freshman year." Maia says, taking a swig of whatever was just passed to her, "Oh whatever, you and I both know all of us were saints freshman year." Isabelle responds, gaining a laugh from the group, "Oh yeah? What changed?" I ask, curiosity getting the best of me.
"You know how it goes, peer pressure and all that jazz." Jace tells me with a wink, and I scoff. I definitely could not imagine Jace, or anyone else sitting with me for that matter, being one to cave to pressure.
"What about you Red, what's your story? I know you didn't come out of the womb this ice cold." I laugh bitterly, looking down at the bottle in my hand, before taking a long swig of the bitter tasting liquid, "Jace, if you want to know about me, I'm gonna need a few more of these." I motion to the beer in front of me.
And so he gets me more. The group drinks, and chats, and drinks some more. It seems we have all forgotten that: a) our parents will see us in this slightly drunken state, and b) we have school tomorrow, and we are all going to be dealing with a wicked hangover. Well, all of us but Simon, he hasn't touched a drink since I've gotten here.
"Listen," Jace tells me over the chatter going on around me. Sebastian has now joined the group; a bruise has formed strikingly around his eye and jaw, and he is deep in conversation with Isabelle. Maybe he would underestimate me again, "All I'm saying is that boxing and wrestling are two different things; it wouldn't even be close if you and I wrestled." Jace tells me, leaning back against the couch.
"That sounds like he's challenging you." Isabelle says, putting her head on my shoulder, "Can you please kick his ass so he will maybe pipe down a few pegs?" The rational side of me is telling me that this is a stupidly embarrassing idea, and that it'll just end with one of us seriously hurt, but the alcohol driven side of me tells that side of my brain to shut up, "Fine." I stand up, cracking my neck and wiggling out my arms, "How do you wrestle again?" I ask Jace with a lopsided grin.
He accepts my challenge, standing up as well, catching the attention of the rest of the chattering group.
"No kicking, no punching," Jace starts, "So basically no fun?" I cut in, causing Jace to roll his eyes, "No, the first person to pin the other and cause a tap out wins." I grin, crouching slightly, admittedly losing my balance a bit. Jace readies himself to lunge at me, when a loud voice of authority cuts into the room, "Jonathan!" Jace's back arches straight upwards instinctively at the name, while I feel like all the air gets sucked out of my lungs at the name that I haven't heard in a long time.
I feel my heart hammering at the name and I take a seat down on the floor slowly, trying to blink the confusion away from my face. How pitiful that the name of one boy can affect me so much.
"Earth to Clary?" Alec says, waving his hand in front of my face, "Are you alright? I know you aren't passing out after three beers," maybe I would have laughed if my ears weren't ringing. When I don't stand up from my place on the ground, Alec knits his brows together in concern, wrapping his hand lightly around my bicep and hauling to my feet.
"Clary?" I take my hands and rub them over my face, "Who's Jonathan?" I ask, my voice betraying me, "Oh, that's Jace's real name." Alec tells me, still looking oddly worried for me.
"Come on, there's food upstairs." He lets go of my arm and I nod, "Sorry, I'll meet you up there." I notice Jace and Isabelle staring at me from across the room, everyone else long gone.
"Clary," Isabelle tells me, approaching me, "You alright?" I let out a humorless laugh, "Oh yeah, sorry, just got dizzy." I follow behind her sloppily up the stairs, Jace following behind me.
"Better sober up before your mom catches you." Jace says behind me as we reach the rest of the dinner party.
"She wouldn't care," I tell him, glancing over my shoulder at him, "She's not really a parent." I tell him, ignoring the look that passes his face as we approach the dinner table.
"Careful Clary," Jace tells me, putting his hand on the small of my back as he passes behind me, "If you keep slipping up, I may end up actually learning about you.'
