Chapter 1

Freshman year of high school: A step up. Status upgrade-all grown up. The home stretch. Only four more years of mandatory education.

Or, as Clary thought, the reinstatement of the underdog. Freshmen were notoriously picked on by the upperclassmen, and she was not looking forward to the step down she was taking by walking in as the youngest of the thousand students in the school.

Oh, and the worst part about being a freshman? Being lost on the first day of school.

Clary looked down at her schedule. C102. Well, she was at the C building. But as far as she could see, there was no 102. For that matter, there was no 101 or 103 either. She sighed loudly, looking around for the tenth time that minute.

"Hey, Clary. Do you need help?" Alec Lightwood asked, walking up behind her. Clary's best friend, Isabelle, was Alec's younger sister, and Clary had known the family for most of her life. She smiled gratefully up at the deep blue eyes of the older boy.

"Yeah, do you know where this class is?" She showed him her schedule.

"It's right around here, Clary," Alec replied laughingly, leading her around the corner and showing her the line of doors, the second of which was labeled C102. Clary laughed herself, mentally smacking herself for not looking properly.

"Thank you so much Alec!"

"No problem, Clary. See you later, and tell Izzy that Mom's going to pick us up today."

"Yeah I will. Bye!" Clary responded as she hurried into the class. Taking her seat, she looked at the whiteboard as the teacher wrote: "Ms. Deane, Biology. Take your seats and no talking."

This was going to be a long, slow, year.

Clary's face brightened for the first time that day when she entered the classroom. Fourth period Art was a class she was sure to enjoy. She loved to draw or sketch anything and everything. As a plus, the teacher smiled kindly at her as Clary took her seat. Clary smiled back, excited for the class to begin. The seats slowly filled with kids she knew from middle school, who chattered animatedly among themselves, some greeting Clary with a quick smile or wave. Finally, there was only one seat left, and it was next to Clary. She happily anticipated the privacy she would enjoy without people surrounding her in class. She hated people bothering her while she drew.

Just as she was thinking that, another student strolled in. He moved slowly, with a swagger that showed his arrogance and awareness of his own attraction. And yes, Clary thought, you are very attractive. Golden, slightly too long curls framed a face with wide golden eyes and golden skin. He walked up to the seat next to Clary, raised an eyebrow at her backpack sitting on the chair, and turned his gaze on her.

Clary blushed angrily at his condescending gaze, grabbing the backpack and dropping it on the floor, looking away. She fixed her gaze on the teacher as she introduced herself as Ms. Colin and explained the curriculum for the rest of the year. She could hear the boy shifting in his seat next to her, evidently bored, and felt another flash of annoyance. Who did he think he was, coming in late, then acting rudely to the teacher and to her? Clary glared sideways. The boy looked back, eyes widening innocently. She softened her glare at this sight, right as he narrowed his eyes right back in an annoyed expression.

"Do you have a problem, little girl?"

Clary bristled. "Yes, I do actually. I'm not a little girl, and you are a rude jackass."

The boy looked startled, then laughed under his breath. "That's true. The second thing you said, I mean. Lots of people have said that about me. But I have to disagree with the first thing. All freshmen are little to me, and you're even smaller than most."

Surprised and a little offended, Clary replied, "Aren't you a freshman? And it's rude to call people short, you know."

"I'm a sophomore. And I didn't call you short, I said you were small. There's a difference."

"You're impossible," Clary huffed, returning her gaze to the front of the room.

The boy laughed again. "Yes, I've heard that too. You're not very original, are you?"

Clary didn't reply, but glanced over again. The boy was studying her with dark golden eyes that somehow managed to be clear and amused while maintaining an expression of thoughtfulness. She felt her heart pound a little faster when she met his gaze, and quickly broke eye contact. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him look at his hands, then face the front of the room in a blank stare.

He didn't make a sound for the rest of the period, and jumped out of his seat smoothly when the bell rang.

Clary moved more slowly, checking with others to find out that it was lunch, and packing her bag neatly. She reflected on the enigmatic boy, flippant and dark all at once. And she especially thought of his golden eyes.

Clary sat with a thump on the brick wall bordering the quad. Opening her lunch on her lap, she sighed as Isabelle flopped down next to her. "I hate sitting here. I can't believe those stupid kids took our table."

"Yeah, well, they didn't know, Izzy. Don't be mad, they're nice kids-for freshmen," Clary replied, laughing a little.

Isabelle laughed in return. "I know, Clary. Don't I get to be a little dramatic sometimes?" she retorted playfully.

"Sometimes?"

"Oh, shut up," Isabelle pushed Clary's shoulder, causing her to almost fall off the wall.

"Hey!"

"You started it."

"If you keep arguing with me I won't tell you about the cute guy I saw."

Isabelle sat up. "Wait, where?" She craned her neck, looking around the quad.

"Wow, obvious much Izzy?"

"Shut up, Clary."

"Fine. I guess you really don't want to hear about him."

"I do want to hear! I promise I'll be good now," Izzy pouted.

Clary laughed. "Okay, so he sits next to me in art." She paused to take a bite of her lunch.

"That's all you're going to say? Give me more, girl!"

"All right, all right! He's, um, tall, and I think he's a sophomore and he has blond hair and…what?" Clary stopped, feeling Isabelle's glare.

"Wow, Clary, you've really got a way with words. If that's how you're going to describe him, I'm just going to have to see this cute guy for myself."

"Shhh! He's right there!" Clary hissed, feeling her face heat.

"Where?" Isabelle squealed. Clary pointed in front of them.

"Right there-" Clary broke off as the boy in question turned around, Clary's hand still outstretched towards him.

Clary's ears burned in mortification as golden eyes made contact with hers. She dropped her hand quickly and looked down at her lap, Isabelle's wild laughter pealing through the air. Peeking up through her lashes, she saw the boy's mouth quirk up in amusement, and then watched him turn around and walk toward his friends, all of whom, including Alec Lightwood, were now staring back at the two girls. Isabelle waved at her brother, who rolled his eyes before leaving with the other guys.

Clary pushed Isabelle hard. "Why did you laugh? He obviously knew something was up when you laughed!"

"I think he knew before that, Clary. You were pointing right at him!"

"Shut up, Izzy, you're the one who didn't see him right in front of you!"

"What's going on?" Maia asked, hopping up on the wall beside the girls. Simon followed, smiling faintly at Isabelle, who blushed lightly in response. Clary raised an eyebrow, shaking her head slightly, which caused Simon to quickly break eye contact and push his way onto the wall next to Clary.

"Clary just embarrassed herself. Again," explained Isabelle.

"Izzy…" Clary quickly explained what happened, wincing at the memory.

Simon laughed outright, while Maia smiled widely and offered, "You know, if you hadn't dropped your hand so quickly, you could have passed it off as pointing to something behind him. You know, just casually swing your arm a little more and pretend to be looking at something else."

"Like what? The only thing behind him was that scrawny little tree in its plot of thriving weeds!"

Simon snorted. "At this rate, he probably thinks you like him."

Isabelle giggled. "Oh, she so likes him. You should've seen the way she looked at him. She looked like she was going to lick him."

"I did not want to lick him!" Clary objected.

"Yeah, you did. You were this close to jumping him and ripping his clothes off."

Simon and Maia were laughing uncontrollably by now, while Clary's face reddened steadily. Isabelle's face was smug, though she held back a grin of her own.

"You guys are horrible," Clary scolded, though she was giggling herself. "Why are we friends again?"

"Because of my sharp wit and rapier tongue," replied Simon, waggling his eyebrows.

Maia snickered. "In your dreams, Lewis."

"I do have quite realistic dreams, actually. Once I had a dream that Mrs. Smith was running after me with her ruler, screaming 'Mr. Lewis, get back here this instant and draw that carrot properly!' The next day, she asked us to draw pictures next to our vocabulary words. When I got to 'zanahoria', I was so freaked out I took an extra five minutes drawing that carrot."

Simon finished his monologue just as the bell rang, the other three girls laughing at his anecdote about the ancient Spanish teacher. The group parted for their respective classes, Clary pushing her way through the tide of people.

As she walked, Clary thought about the golden haired boy again, how he had looked at her in class, eyes laughing and bright. She didn't even know his name, and she had already been pissed off by him, humiliated herself in front of him, and made him laugh, twice. Entering the classroom, she looked around for her friends, but saw only Kaelie Meadows, a blond haired, blue eyed girl who flirted with everybody, even the gay guys. However, she was too stupid to be mean, so Clary figured that Kaelie was the best chance she'd get at some peace and quiet that year.

Sitting next to Kaelie, Clary propped her chin on her hand and sighed. Kaelie turned to her and smiled, waving enthusiastically. "Hey Clary!"

"Hi, Kaelie," Clary replied unenthusiastically. Kaelie, however, continued to talk brightly at Clary, having found her favorite topic-boys.

"I just had math, and I'm sitting behind this total hottie. His name's Sebastian, I think, or is it Sam? No, I think it's Sebastian. Anyway, he's got black hair, but he's super pale. And his eyes are, like, black. I mean black black. And don't even get me started on his friend. He met this guy outside class, and I think he's even hotter. He's blond, and his face is to die for. I heard Sebastian call him Jace. That's such a cool name!"

Clary had tuned Kaelie out until hearing her description of the boy. Jace, she thought. Secretly, she agreed with Kaelie. It was a very nice name. Short and sweet, but completely unique-like him.

What am I thinking? I don't know anything about this guy. And I'm thinking about how unique he is? For all I know he's another asshat jock whose type is blond bimbos like Kaelie.

By the end of the class period, Clary had nearly convinced herself of her indifference towards Jace.

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