Hurting and Afraid

Secrets And Lies

    "Clary!?" He shouted excitedly "I didn't know you lived around here its mostly been boring old people" at that the older woman, clary assumed was his mother, smacked the back of his head "ouch! Sorry."
   Clary laughed "So YOU live around here then?" She asked.
  "Yeah! we just moved in down the street!" This time it was the smallest of the black haired children "I'm Max" he said with a smile "my mom made you cookies!" He pointed to the dark haired lady who held out the tray with a smile
  Clary took it gently and said "Thankyou. Would you like to come in?" She knew her father wouldn't like this but she knew he wouldn't harm her of there were extra people near.
   "Why that's so sweet" the mom said "thankyou dear" and everyone walked inside to the living room where her father was watching sports.
   Clary turned the tv off "dad we have some new neighbors. They brought cookies" she held the plate up so he could see "this is Jace and Max... I'm sorry I don't know the rest of your names" she said blushing.
   "Oh dear!" Said the woman "I'm Maryse Lightwood, this is my husband Robert" she point to the gray haired man "of course you know our son Jace, then there's Max, our youngest. Isabelle" she pointed to the tall dark haired girl " and Alec" now she gestured to a rather awkward looking boy with the same hair and eyes as his siblings and mother. Clary wondered why Jace's features were so different from his families.
   "Well please sit and make yourselves comfortable oh and I'm Clary Fray and that's my father, Valentine Morgenstern, I'm going to go put these cookies in the kitchen"
   Everyone sat except for Jace who quietly followed clary. He wasn't spying exactly but Clary was very interesting to him. It was quite obvious Clary didn't know how truly beautiful she was but Jace however couldn't stop staring at that beauty. She was amazing in his eyes and he couldn't understand why she was getting to him so badly. He had been with plenty of other girls. why was she so different? He didn't know but he was determined to find out.
   Clary walked over and put the cookies on the counter. Then she remember the toilet paper wrapped around her arm and went to the closet for the first aid kit she found some gauze and looked around. She jumped when she saw Jace watching her and leaning against the wall.
   "I'm sorry" he said "I didn't mean to startle you"
   "Yeah? Well you did" she said annoyed.
   Jace seemed to miss her tone completely and walked over to her
  "What's that for?" He pointed to the gauze and open first aid kit.
  "It's a first aid kit, stupid for when you get a boo boo"
   "Sarcasm. Well played. I meant the gauze. Why do you need it?"
   "School project" she lied and she grabbed it and walked upstairs knowing Jace was following. They walked through her bedroom and to her bathroom door.
   "What do you want Jace!?" She yelled at him
   "I want to know what you need first aid gauze for." He stated
  "I told you. A school project."
  "Well I don't believe you. What class assigns a project to be made with gauze?"
   Clary was at a loss for words now so she quickly entered the bathroom and locked the door. She pulled her sleeve up and unwrapped the bloody toilet paper to exchange it with the gauze. She finished quickly flushed the toil, to make jace think she was simply using the bathroom, and washed her hands. She stepped out and found jace sitting on her bed looking at a book. No, not a book, a journal, her art journal.
   "What the hell are you doing!?" She snatched the book from his hands "That's private you assh-!"
   Just then Isabelle the tall dark haired girl burst through the door
  "What the hell do you want?" Jace asked annoyed
  "I heard yelling and-" she looked over and saw Clary who was close to tears. She couldn't help it. She was frustrated and it turned out Jace was no more than someone that wanted to harass her. "Are you okay?..." Isabelle asked
  "I-Im fine" Clary answered angrily
  "Okay, gosh" Isabelle said and stormed out
  Jace seemed to just now notice she was crying and he became panicky "woah, Clary I'm sorry" he got up off the bed and walked over to her "please don't cry" he wiped away a tear and felt the same spark he thought was static earlier that day and he wanted so bad to kiss her right then and there
  Then she looked up at him with those big eyes that were shining with held back tears and for a moment he saw something bigger. She looked so broken for that one second that he wanted to curl up and cry as well, but maybe he had just imagined that because now she just stared at him angrily.
  "Get out." She said "just get out of my room and leave me alone."
  He took his hand away but as he did he smeared her makeup, now wet with tears, and she could tell he saw one. A purplish yellow bruise on her cheek. She threw her hand up to cover it as his eyes grew big
  "Clary what happened to your face?" He asked quietly
  "Don't be so dramatic" she said "I was playing soccer with my friend the other day and he kicked the ball too hard"
   Jace just stood there and the silence was getting more and more awkward with every second until they heard Mr. and Mrs. Lightwood call up that it was time to go.
  Jace didn't know what to do. He didn't want to leave her alone. That bruise wasn't from a soccer ball but maybe he was over reacting. It could have been anything. Still he needed her to know the he cared so he walked over to her and pulled her hand away from her face. Then he kissed her cheek so gently she barely felt it. He pressed his forehead to hers.
   "You're important to me and I care when you get hurt." He didn't know what else to say and he figured maybe that was a bit creepy but she needed to know.
   Clary was important to Jace even if he didn't know why... he sometimes thought he could be in love with her but that was crazy.
   "A girl like Clary could never love someone like me" he thought. And with that he walked away.