A World Reversed

Part 3

For a week, I watched Alec grab an apple and leave the lunchroom. I never understood why he secluded himself from everyone. He was an odd being. I tried talking to him in math, but he gave me a once over and rolled his eyes, laughing at me in my face. After that, Simon and I decided we experienced enough of his self-riotousness.

"He's always looking at Jace in science, Clary," Simon said on Sunday as we sat on the porch outside my house. Alec and Max were outside. The elder was teaching the junior how to do a back handspring. I remembered as child, begging my father to let me accompany Simon to gymnastics for a month. It took no time out of studies, church, or football practice that I had been forced to play. Simon always complained about gymnastics, but it seemed so delightful to me to be flying through the air flipping and jumping and swinging. Now I knew I would have broken at least both my legs and a hip, but I wished I tried. "Clary – they are siblings."

"First you try to avoid them because they are straight, now because Jace and Alec look at each other like any lab partner would," I rolled my eyes. Simon wouldn't do anything without my help. I knew he wanted me to find out what was going on.

"They don't even look alike," Simon continued. "I have a theory." This would be good. His theories ranged from ants could speak to each other to God meant for heterosexuals to breed year round. Why else would women be able to become pregnant in the off months, he'd claim. That one was easy to answer seeing as we had covered it in sixth grade. Their bodies prepared for the busy months, and the few random pregnancies were because in rare cases the woman's heterosexual body had conformed to the pressure of getting pregnant in only two or three tries.

"Let Eric listen to your theories, Simon," I groaned. I was positive Eric liked Simon. In some scenarios, it almost seemed reciprocated. Simon always attended his awful poetry readings and Eric would 'brainstorm' science ideas with Simon considering his number one best friend didn't know a lick and didn't intend on learning.

"Jace is his step brother," he said. At least it wasn't long.

"You have a point there," I shrugged. "Jace talks about Isabelle like a sister, though, so I wouldn't see how this adds onto your incest story."

He was jumping up and down with excitement. "Because Isabelle is gay. Jace wouldn't think of her like that-,"

"On the contrary, he had a threesome. I'd bet the girls were at the least bisexual." I had no opinion on the matter. Sometimes, I just liked seeing Simon blow his gasket. I wasn't let down. He jumped off the table and screamed, pulling at his hair. I giggled as he stormed away, saying he'd see me tomorrow.

Monday during lunch surprised me. It was the first day Jace and Isabelle were allowed to go to their regularly scheduled classes. I was expecting Alec to be courteous and sit with them, but he proved me wrong. He did do something of interest. Jason Johnson, a preppy boy who I went to elementary school with, walked to him giggling and looking over his shoulder at his friends for encouragement. I knew what happened next. Jason had always been a loud kid, but only when his friends were around. For the last year, he'd go up to every new cute guy and grab his butt. Normally, they laughed it off or blushed because, yes, he was quite an adorable boy. Alec saw this coming, grabbed his wrist, and flipped him on his back. His foot stepped up to Jason's throat as he growled, "Keep your hands out of my way."

Jace and Isabelle walked in together. Isabelle had a tray of food while Jace looked at it in disgust, grabbing a random fruit off her tray. I discreetly watched them scan the room for seats, but everyone struggled to fill their tables to the maximum. A few people shouted for them to get out of our cafeteria. I enjoyed seeing the way Jace watched an apple fly past his head. He looked at the throwing as if he were a species lower than human. And by the way Jace walked and talked, he though himself to be one higher. Eventually, they sat at a table in the back of the cafeteria that was normally left alone. There weren't many kids in our school. This town seemed small on a map, but I would guarantee if you spent one week here, it'd be ten times smaller.