A New Beginning

Chapter 15 Past

Jia appreciated our cooperation and let us go have lunch to settle our nerves. Robert didn't even glance at Isabelle as he walked out, deep in conversation with one of the council members.

We sat around the dining table in the Blackthorn home in Idris, eating our turkey and ham sandwiches. We were mostly quiet, except for Helen comforting Dru, Julian feeding and cooing at Tavvy, and Livvy and Ty quietly talking together. Emma, Iz, and I were silent.

Someone knocked on the door and I volunteered to answer it. The continuous knocking became more impatient as I passed through the living room toward the front door.

"I'm coming! By the angel!" I shouted as I entered the front hall.

The knocking paused as I unlatched the lock and flung open the door. My eyes widened and I gaped at the people who stood at the door.

Jace. Alec.

My heart fluttered at the sight of him. The sunlight glittered in his hair and bathed his skin in a warm glow. Stop. He is a dirty, cheating asshole. You hate him.

"Hey, guys," I greeted awkwardly. "Long time, no see."

Jace rolled his eyes, his hands in his pockets. "That's an understatement." That's it? No 'I'm sorry I cheated on you, please take me back'? I expected a little more emotion. But that was my own fault. Clearly, I didn't know him as well as I thought I did.

Alec interrupted my mind rant and asked, "Is Isabelle here, too?"

"Oh, yeah. I'll get her," I offered. I left the door open for them to decide whether or not to come in.

I opened the dining room door and said, "Isabelle, Alec and Jace are here. Your dad must have said something."

Isabelle sighed, "Damn my family. Let's go." She stood up and followed me back to the front door.

We found Alec and Jace awkwardly leaning against the doorway in the front hall. Alec straightened up and wrapped Isabelle in a bear hug. She lightly hugged him back, her tense shoulders relaxing and a smile spreading across her face. "Hey," she said softly.

"So where'd you guys go?" Jace asked.

"Los Angeles," I answered tersely.

He then gestured to the Blackwell house. "And the Blackwells?"

I sighed, "They ran the Institute there."

"And it got attacked." He rudely stated the obvious, arms crossed across his chest. "Sebastian?"

Isabelle pulled away from Alec and said, "Who else would it be, idiot?"

Jace rolled his eyes at her. "I didn't know we were name-calling."

Isabelle scoffed, "Whatever, just leave."

Jace ignored the last part and asked, "So why'd you guys leave, anyway?" He was completely serious. Are you kidding me?!

Izzy put a hand on her hip and leaned menacingly toward Jace. "I think you know exactly why we left." She glared at Jace, laser eyes boring into him.

"Yeah? Well I don't know. So if you want to explian, feel free to enlighten me," Jace retorted, but shifted his eyes away from Izzy.

Why was he being such a jerk about this? Did he honestly forget that he cheated on me? Did he seriously just happen to erase that fact from his mind? He was probably just playing dumb. He wanted to annoy me or something. To make me mad.

My thoughts were cut short by his next comment. "If you're referring to my supposed 'cheating'," he used his fingers to exaggerate quote marks, "the night you two left, then you're stupid idiots. I was just in the training room that night. I wasn't with anyone besides Alec."

I quickly glanced over to Alec, whose eyebrows were furrowed in confusion. He tried to change his expression to cover it up, but it was too late.

I knew Jace was lying to me. What was his goal? To get back together with me? Why would he even want to?

I cooly said, "I know what I saw. I don't know why you're lying about it. But I don't believe in second chances. You blew your chance; you don't get another one. And I honestly don't care about it anymore, so stop lying."

Jace wordlessly turned away, stormed out the door and slammed it shut behind him.

Alec cleared his throat uncomfortably. "Well that was... um... uncalled for.

Isabelle snorted, "You think?"

Alec rolled his eyes and continued, "Anyway, Jace actually wasn't training with me, but I guess you knew that. Uh, well do you guys want to get some food or something?"

"Actually, we just had lunch."

"Oh. See you at home, then?"

"Oh, we were planning on staying here," Iz said.

"Oh. Alright, goodbye, then," Alec said and then left, probably going off to find Jace.

After he left, we turned around to go back to lunch, but found the others eavesdropping in the Living Room. Helen stood up, coming over to us, and said gently, "Hey, if you guys want to stay with your family, you certainly can."

Isabelle vigorously shook her head. "Theres no way I can stand to spend a night with my parents arguing nonstop, and Jace being an idiot, and Alec being all adult-y. I'd much rather be here, if that's fine with you."

"Yeah," I agreed. "Same here."

Helen smiled warmly. "Of course you can stay here. You're part of the family."

Isabelle and I grabbed our plates and sat down with the others to finish our sandwiches.

(A/N: Comment, vote, follow! I love your feedback guys!)