Ember ↠ Paul Lahote ✓

07

𝐒𝐔𝐒𝐏𝐈𝐂𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒
lion-hearted girl.

THE STUDENTS IN the cafeteria, no matter how hard they try, can't move their eyes away from the one and only Clary Saltzman.

She's a fiery redhead who seems small and innocent, but when you look into her eyes, you can see something dark—something angry.

"Why the hell is everyone looking at me?" Clary snaps, sitting down in a seat beside Bella, her eyes narrowing as she looks around the cafeteria.

"Because you're new and cool, m'am," Jasper answers, shocking his siblings. Clary gives him a look, pursing her lips. "Sorry... I mean Clary."

Clary nods before digging through her backpack and bringing out the lunch she prepared for herself. A turkey sandwich with lettuce, a bag of Cheetos, a handful of grapes, and a bottle of Mountain Dew.

It's not much, but she prefers this over disgusting school food.

"You usually eat a lot more food than that," Bella says, staring at her sister with worry when she just shrugs and bites into her sandwich. "Clary?"

"What?" Clary turns to her, allowing Bella to see the dark bags under her eyes and how dull her hazel-green eyes are.

"Did you not get any sleep?" Bella questions, more than worried now.

Clary shrugs. "Nah." She sees the worried looks she's receiving from the Cullen siblings sitting at the table. "I've had worse sleepless nights before." Like when Hayley died, and when Klaus and Elijah sacrificed themselves, she thinks. "It's nothing new."

She only stayed up all night last night because she was researching, trying to find out what's up with the Cullens.

For as long as she's known them—which isn't very long—she's never seen them take a bite of their food.

Not to mention that even though they're adopted, all of them look scarily alike in a way, and it sets Clary's brain on overdrive.

"So what's wrong with you guys?" Clary gestures to the Cullen siblings. "You haven't touched your food." She takes a bite of her sandwich, watching as the siblings hesitate and look at each other, making her smirk.

"We're not that hungry. We had a big breakfast this morning," Edward speaks, his voice velvety smooth. His eyes never leave hers, a concentrating look appearing on his face before it changes to annoyance.

Clary tilts her head. "Even if I had a big breakfast, I'd still be hungry, especially four hours later. If you're not hungry, you're not human." She notices how they tense in their seats, making her sit straighter. "I'm just playing."

She goes back to eating her sandwich, stealing glances at each sibling, noting that even Bella is sharing looks with them.

She nods to herself, narrowing her eyes. She now knows Bella's in on their little secret, making Clary want to know even more than she already does.

The school bell rings, alerting the students to the end of lunch.

Clary quickly gathers up her belongings before leaving the cafeteria, Bella and the Cullen siblings silently staring at her retreating figure.

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AFTER SCHOOL, CLARY promptly leaves Bella in the dust and goes straight up to her room. She plops down onto her bed, grabbing and opening her laptop.

Knowing Lizzie is surely out of class by now, Clary FaceTimes her. The girl is most likely moping around her and Josie's shared room.

Lizzie answers with a big smile on her face. "I had a feeling you'd call today! I'm so happy I was right!"

"Is that Clary?" Josie suddenly appears in front of the camera, smiling. "It's so good to see your face!"

"Yours too, babes," Clary replies, her big smile warming up the room. "Where's Hope?"

"She's with Landon," Lizzie says, rolling her eyes.

Clary smirks. "The cutie with the beautiful eyes?"

"He is not cute," Lizzie denies, scoffing. "Anyway, why did you call?"

Clary sighs, opening her mouth, but stops short when she hears Bella moving around in the hall. "Hold on." She holds up a finger, listening to Bella make her way to her own room. "Okay. So Bella has a boyfriend, and he and his family are super weird. They're really pale—paler than I've seen any human. They all have golden eyes, and I've never once seen them eat, even when they invited me over for dinner yesterday. And they're all adopted and yet weirdly look alike. Explain that."

"So you're saying they're supernatural," Josie speaks, a thoughtful look on her adorable face. "Do you know what kind?"

"No," Clary admits. "If I did, I would've said so."

"You want us to do some research like the good ol' days, huh?" Lizzie smirks, mischief appearing in her eyes.

Clary smiles. "I do."

"The three musketeers at it again," Lizzie says, giggling along with Josie.

"You mean four," a voice interrupts them, and a figure appears in front of the camera before a face does. Hope.

"Sure, whatever, Satan." Lizzie rolls her eyes, making Hope nudge her.

"Come on, guys," Clary whines, pouting. "Work together. For me?"

"Okay," Lizzie agrees, groaning as Josie and Hope smile at her.

"Thanks." Clary beams at her best friends—her family—before yawning. "I gotta go to bed. I'm tired as fuck."

Josie nods. "Of course. Bye!"

The three girls wave before the screen goes black.

Clary shuts her laptop, sighing. She isn't really going to sleep, but they don't need to know that.

Glancing at her window, Clary smiles and gets off her bed. She walks towards the window, opening it before leaping out, swiftly transforming into her wolf form.