Distractions

Twenty-Six: The Other Side of the Past

This chapter was a spur of the moment decision brought to you by math class musings. It took a lot for me to not whip out my phone or school laptop and write the idea down in the middle of taking notes. Luckily for me, I remembered it when I had a break and was able to write it down. No idea how or why I thought of the premise for this chapter in math class of all classes, but I'm not mad at it. 

It's fairly short, but I feel like it's the perfect length for this sort of chapter. You'll see why in a moment.

What do you think of these little interlude chapters? I did one for Alec a while back in Season One (the one titled 'Who is She?') and now I've got one for Izzy. Should I keep doing them or not? If yes, who should I do next?

Izzy's P.O.V.:

Isabelle Lightwood's life had always been a web of half-truths, training, and her brothers. For seven years it was just Izzy, her brothers—Alec, Jace, and Max—and their parents. For seven years, all she could do to pass time was train, study, pester her brothers, and train some more. And then when she was seven, she was sitting under a tree in Central Park while Jace and Alec trained. She had been sketching dress designs when something above her went snap.

She glanced up, only to see a blur of pink and lavender falling from the sky. Izzy grunted when a body landed on her. There was a loud thud and the raven haired girl squeezed her eyes against the onslaught of splinters.

"Sorry," a chipper, if slightly strained, voice said.

The weight pinning Izzy to the ground disappeared and the dark haired girl opened one eye cautiously.

"The branch decided that it wanted to give way when I stepped on it," a girl about Izzy's age said. Izzy opened her other eye.

The girl's strawberry hair had bright pink tips, as if it had been dipped in the paint that covered Izzy's walls. Her bright green eyes sparkled with happiness tinged with annoyance and her lips were twitching slightly as she gazed up into the tree. The girl gasped and she spun on her heel, leaning down and offering her hand to Izzy. Izzy glanced at her hand, which was covered in colorful paint and ink, then at the girl's face.

"Sorry for knocking you down, I didn't think the branch was going to snap," the girl said in apology. Izzy accepted her hand and they both nearly fell to the ground again, but the girl braced herself on the tree she had just fallen out of. They dissolved into giggles.

"It's alright," Izzy assured her once she had contained her laughter. "I'm Izzy."

"I'm Everest." Everest glanced at someone to her left, waved, and then grinned at Izzy. "Want to explore the park with me? My sister's still drawing and my mom just said I could keep playing."

Izzy glanced around, looking for the person who could be Everest's mom. The only people she saw nearby were her brothers sparring just behind the trees, a group of teenagers laughing together, a few joggers, and a woman with deep red hair reading with a young girl about Izzy's age with the same red hair as the woman drawing beside her.

"The lady with red hair? That's your mom?"

"Yeah."

Izzy hummed, blinking away the familiarity that rose upon seeing the woman with red hair, and followed Everest deeper into the park with a smile.

And thus was the start of a precious friendship that would last a lifetime, even if the girls didn't know it just then.

For years, the two girls met up at Central Park, playing and laughing and just existing with each other. They were each other's rock, always ready to disappear to Central Park at a moment's notice to be there for the other. Once they each got a phone, the first number they saved was each other's.