My alarm blared through my thick duvet cover, interrupting one of the most peaceful sleeps I've had in a long time. Worst of all, it was interrupting it because I had to go to school. Groaning, I rolled over, pushing a tangle of red curly hair out of my face and slapped the top of the clock enjoying a moment of silence to gather myself. With all of the strength I could muster, I pulled myself out of my bed that was looking more and more tempting as the cold air enveloped my body. I only leave myself about half an hour every morning to get ready, so quickly, I stepped into a steamy shower. I then did some light and natural makeup, slid into some boyfriend jeans, a pair of ankle boots I had recently gotten as a present and crème knit top. In an attempt to tame my hair, I twirled it around my finer and into a bun with some loose strands to frame my face before snatching my shoulder bag off of my desk and heading downstairs. Jonathan, my brother, was already sitting at the kitchen counter eating a large bowl of cereal. He saw me and grunted in greeting.

"Mom and Luke already at work?" I questioned, picking up a banana from the fruit basket and unpeeling it.

Grunt.

"Ugh, how can you eat that stuff like that?" I look at him, shovelling it ungracefully into his mouth, "it looks as if you haven't eaten in months."

Grunt.

I sighed. He was always like this in the mornings.

"Hey, can I get a lift with you to school?" I leant across the counter doing my best puppy dog eyes. He glanced unconcernedly up at me from his cereal and swallowed.

"Fine," he said, "but we have to pick up Jace-"

"On second thought, I don't mind walking." Retracting myself from the counter, I hurried towards the door.

"What's your problem with him?" I hear Jonathan call from behind me. I scoffed in response before shutting the door behind me. What kind of a question is that? I plug my headphones into my phone. Jace Herondale. I don't know him all that well, but I don't have to. Just because I don't associate myself with him doesn't mean he doesn't make it his business to associate himself with the whole school. He thinks that everything is always about him, and if it isn't, it should be. He doesn't even have to say it out loud, either, you can just tell it from the way he walks around school. Flipping his golden hair. His amber eyes looking down on everyone, or scoping out slutty girls. I don't know why, it just pissed me off. He was friends with Jonathon because they're on the same football team. I don't normally judge people like this, I'm normally actually quite accepting, but I felt that he wasn't one that deserved it. I'd heard about the things he'd done- how he treats girls. Not every single detail might be true, but the gist of each story gets across. He flirts with girl, girl falls for him, he uses girl and then throws girl away. It wasn't a pattern that I wanted to be a part of, so to avoid ever being in a situation like that I just decided to avoid him. Not that he would ever be interested in me. I mean, we were in completely different social circles. As cliché as it sounded, he hung out with the "jocks" and the "populars", while I was just middle class. I wasn't a nerd. I was actually liked by a majority of my class. But there was also the fact that I wasn't what most people considered "hot" or even "pretty". For starters, I was short. Like, really short. I had fiery red frizzy hair, green eyes and freckles. A whole heap of freckles. It wasn't exactly the best combination to have. The Coldplay I was blasting through my headphones was invaded by a beeping noise. I turned my head in confusion to see my brother's jeep driving slowly next to me. Jonathan at the wheel, and Jace in the seat next to him, smirking. Grudgingly, I took one of my earbuds out.

"You really shouldn't listen to your music that loud, you're going to go deaf." My brother chastised.

"It's Coldplay, it's allowed." I grimaced, preparing to put it back in and continue walking, but Jace spoke up.

"Hey, Red." He smirked. Jace's arm was propped up lazily on the sill of the car window. He looked so effortlessly cool it somehow made me hate him more.

"How original." I replied sarcastically, rolling my eyes. Red was a nickname, whether was used in a manner to make fun of me or not was unknown, that was used every so often for me. I hated it.

"Thanks," he said, "I've been working on it for a while." The car continued to roll slowly while I continued to walk down the block.

"I was being sarcastic." I said in bored tone, looking straight ahead, swinging my headphone in circles.

"Really?" the mock hurt in his voice was clear, "Well, you should probably get better at that seeing as I did not get that at all."

"Really?" I mimicked his tone, "It could be just because you're stupid. Yeah. I think that's it."

"Tut tut tut, Fray, your kind brother and I were going to offer you a lift to school, but after that I don't think we will." I could hear the joy he was getting out of taunting me. But it didn't intimidate me. It only made me more determined to crush that extra large ego of his. It was about time.

"Oh my god, I think I'm about to cry. I won't be able to live. I'm going to have to walk a whole 5 blocks all by myself!" I brought my hands up to my heart and turned to look him straight in the eye. "Was that sarcasm clear enough for you? Or would you like some more?"

Jace snorted but didn't say anything. Putting my headphone back in, I watched as the back of the Jeep rolled away.

I sat down in my usual seat in homeroom, between Simon and Maia.

"Hey kids." I said as I slung my bag over the back of my chair. They both smiled up at me and replied in response.

"Saw your brother drove to school this morning, as if you didn't get a ride." whispered Maia, her dark chocolate eyes surveying my face, as if I was crazy to want to walk to school by myself. I liked to walk to school alone. It was nice to listen to music and not to have to pretend like I was interested in holding a conversation.

"Yes, well, that was because Jon was giving Jace a lift as well." I replied firmly, pursing my lips sourly.

"Oh, right," growled Maia. Maia and I, including Isabelle which didn't really count seeing as Jace was her brother (adopted, but still.), were probably the only two girls in the school who were able to see past Herondale's façade.

"I totally understand now." She nodded. I made a "humph" sound in approval.

"Speak of the devil." Muttered Simon, who at some point must have tuned in to the conversation without either of us noticing. Maia and I made a point to ignore Jace's entrance- it would only fuel his ego if he thought that everyone in the room was just waiting for his arrival. Simon, however, was not on the same page as us. He stared at Jace, open mouthed, as he waltzed into the classroom followed by his lackeys, Sebastian and Alec. I pretended to be engaged in a very interesting conversation with Maia as I felt Jace's gaze slide over us, and land on the person next to me.

"Morning Stuart, you know I never really picked you for the gay type, but I guess you learn something new every day." He flashed a quick cheeky smile and a wink at Simon, who had snapped out of his gaze. He started to turn a light shade of pink and began clearing his throat awkwardly.

"M'name's not Stuart…" he mumbled, pushing his glasses further up his nose, but Jace didn't seem to hear, or care. He was sitting in the row diagonally across from us, talking to his friends. This was when I finally allowed myself to look. I mean, Jace was good looking, that much was clear what with his golden hair and chiselled bone structure, but I felt that because he knew it so god damn well, it detracted from his attractiveness (u feel?) There was such a thing as too much confidence, and Jace Herondale was the definition. I let my eyes wander over to Sebastian. He, too, was very fortunate looking. Black hair, kind black eyes matched with a muscular body. Now, I hadn't really ever spoken to him or heard of anything he'd done. He seemed like the quiet one of the "jocks", the more reserved one. Occasionally, we would have awkward eye contact, but whenever I looked at him there wasn't anything sarcastic or cocky about him, which I liked. I then turned my focus to Alec. He was Isabelle's real brother, which was obvious; black hair, piercing blue eyes. He was quite the jokester, if I recall correctly. However, there was something about him that made me feel like he was hiding something. I could tell that he felt a little uncomfortable where he was, but why? I thought he fit in perfectly fine.

"Earth to Clary!" Simon's voice sung irritatingly in my ear. I swatted him away.

"Ugh, don't do that, it's so annoying!" I whined. I cupped my chin with my hands and watched the front of the classroom as our first teacher of the day walked in, Mr. Starkweather.

"You weren't listening. You were off in your own little world again." He said quietly, sounding a little hurt by my reaction. Swallowing down the irritation that was rising up in my throat, which I was sure wasn't from Simon but from someone else; I turned to him with a reproachful smile.

"Sorry, Si, you know how I get sometimes." I rubbed his shoulder, and batted my eyelashes slightly. Simon smiled and shook his head, brushing my hand off of him.

"Shut up, Fray, you're such a tease!" he chuckled. I laughed along with him, pushing my hair out of my face.

"Excuse me, am I interrupting something?" Mr. Skarkweather was at the whiteboard at the front of the classroom, eyeing us heavily. Our laughter died off, and I was pretty sure I heard Simon trying to disguise his as a cough. It wasn't very convincing.

"Um, no sir, sorry." I said, licking my lips.

"And Mr. Lewis? Are you done…flirting with Miss Fray?" It was as if he hadn't realised he had said anything wrong, but as soon as he said it my eyes snapped shut, resisting the urge to punch him in the face. A hum of laughter fell on the classroom.

"You see, sir," drawled a newcomer to the conversation, "I don't think that's accurate seeing as Sam-"

A guttural noise sounded from the back of Simon's throat.

"-has…homosexual tendencies."

Giggles erupted in the room. My eyes flickered open to see Jace, throwing his head back in laughter. I expected both Sebastian and Alec to be approving of their leader, but Sebastian just rolled his eyes while Alec looked pained- as if he was constipated…Or just really, really uncomfortable. I hoped the situation at hand was the latter.

I felt Simon tense next to me, and an intake of breath on Maia's part. A large smirk was plastered across Jace's face, eyes glinting with malice. I glared at him as hard as I could.

"Don't", I said underneath my breath "Don't, it's what he wants. Don't say anything."

"I see…" trailed off Mr. Starkweather, "Well, in any case, please don't let it happen again."

The rest of the class went by in a blur and by the time the bell rang to signify the conclusion of first period, I felt more than obliged to leave. Simon and Maia were at my side as we strode down the hallway, making sure to steer clear of "populars", as we made our way to the art classroom. Simon was silent, but I sensed that it was pent up aggression and as soon as he found the right person to-

"You know what your brother did to me?" spat Simon as Isabelle caught up to us.

"Um, no?" she said, looking bemused. She cast a look in me and Maia's direction, silently asking for a clue as to what Simon was so upset about, but Maia just grabbed my hand and pulled me ahead of the two.

"Let him vent to Izzy, come on." She murmured. I laughed lightly and shook my head, a silver glint catching my eye on the wall to my left. It was a poster for the Prom in two months, telling us to "vote for Prom King and Queen!"

"Ugh." I groaned, reaching over Maia and snatching the poster off the wall, "Please, we all know who's going to win. Bloody, Jace Herondale and Aline Penhallow. It's rigged and everybody knows it, it's just a popularity contest." I crumbled up the glossy paper and threw it in the nearest trash can.

Maia nodded in agreement, "Plus, it's guaranteed to be shit. Nobody can be bothered to organise it properly. I mean we have Claudia and Janette, but what do they honestly know about having a good time? Their weekends are spent indoors…playing Dungeons and Dragons… and stuff."

I smirked. It was true, none of the populars wanted to organise it because they thought that because they were popular, it was some sort of birth rite of theirs to not contribute to it; even though they're the only ones who want to go. Their excuses always go along the lines of, it's their special night so why should they be organising it. It was ridiculous, but it got them off the hook. Our group wasn't going so we weren't held responsible, something that I thanked the Lord for on a daily basis.

"Preach it, sister." We giggled as we walked into the art rooms, able to hear the conversation between Isabelle and Simon.

"You know it's not true right?" Simon's desperate voice questioned harshly.

"Yes, Simon, calm down! Jace was just being an ass, that's just how he is." I turned around to see Isabelle peck Simon on the cheek, causing a red flush to spread up his face and down his neck. My stomach squirmed. It wasn't jealousy, I didn't think. It was just that Simon and I had always been best friends, and it had always been my responsibility to look after him, but High School had pulled us apart. Though we were still incredibly close, the introduction of Isabelle had definitely distracted him from his best friend duties. There was a part of him that had feelings for Isabelle. And while this wasn't the part that bothered me, I knew that if somehow he did get Isabelle it would stretch our relationship further apart. It also didn't help that she was extremely beautiful, making me constantly feel self-conscious and like I had competition. However, Izzy and I had become such great friends that I honestly did my best to not let these factors interfere with our relationship. I just told myself that growing apart was natural and healthy, and that change shouldn't scare me as much as it did; that I should just learn to accept it. By nature, that wasn't something that I did, I was very stubborn, even when it came to issues that concerned my mentality, I couldn't help it.

This was where art came in. Art was like my release from the physical world, from the real world. Where I could create anything that I wanted, manifest any dream or piece of imagination that I wanted. It was my escape. Those worlds were so much better than this one. There, I had control. There, I was anyone that I had decided I would be in that instant and it wouldn't matter because people wouldn't be there to judge me. It put me into a state of mind that subconsciously blocked all ties from the real world. So for those few minutes in which I drew, all of my problems were non-existent, which was nice.