The Business Trip

Chapter 2

"Jace," Alec attempted to wake his brother up. It was 6 AM and Alec had just gotten out of the shower, expecting Jace to be woken up by the sound of running water.

After several frivolous attempts to wake Jace up, he decided to get some ice water.

"Ahugh," Jace made an indigent sound as he shot up and grabbed the seraph blade that was on the bedside table. Jace shook off the water and looked up at a snickering Alec, "By the angel, Alec!" He exclaimed when he saw the empty bucket in his parabatai's hand.

Alec shrugged, "You wouldn't get up," he said simply.

After many glares, exchanging of wrong clothes, and a flying dagger, they were both dressed in their usual black clothing and ready, well ready as they could be, for-

Well they didn't want to speak of it.

"Clary thinks we're insane," Jace broke the silence on their walk to school, "She said than she would never go back there if she had a choice."

"Yeah, well what choice do we have?" Alec asked making Jace go quiet because he knew he was right.

"Is that it?" Jace asked, pointing to a large building where many teenagers were congregating.

"Yeah, it doesn't look so bad," Alec said flatly.

"Yeah, maybe," Jace responded, though he sounded unsure.

As they crossed the street and got closer, they could hear singing.

"Is this normal for high school?" Jace asked.

"Uhhhh," Alec said as a singing guy slid down the railing right next to him, "I don't even think this normal for mundane romance movies," Jace gave him a questioning look, "Magnus." At that, Jace dropped the subject.

Alec went in the door first and stopped abruptly, narrowly missing getting hit in the head by a football. Jace sent a glare down the hallway where the ball had come from. "Remind me again why we can't use a glamor?"

"Because even a brand new warlock could spot a glamor from a mile away." Alec replied, they were walking to the front office. Clary had given them instruction on how to act, where to go, and what to do in a high school.

"Well what do you expect new kids 1 and 2, an invitation?! Ugh is this school a freak magnet, You both look like you were trapped in a children's coloring book in black and white." a mean looking woman yelled at them.

"Uhh," Alec was trying to think of what to say.

"What are, stupid too?"

"My names Jace, this is my brother Alec, and I guess we are new here," Jace said, quoting what Clary had told him.

"Like I care, I'm not going to bother remembering your names. Here are your schedules, now," She pulled out a bullhorn, "GET TO CLASS!"

The two shadowhunters were shocked at the way that a teacher was acting, Clary had said that they were understanding adults meant to help an guide you and that you could always count on them to help you, but unfazed. They swiftly walked out of her office.

"Still think that this was a good idea?" Jace asked Alec as he walked past him into the abyss of teenagers.

"I never said that," Alec called, following after him.

They waded through the sea of people, all of whom were very diverse. Not that they were strangers to diversity or mundanes, but seeing all of the different people being confident, open, and colorful was a bit overwhelming. At the institute, everybody pretty much looked alike: dark clothing, runes, scars, and somber faces. Here, there were people laughing, smiling, frowning, wearing all different colors, tall or short, brawny or lithe, boy or girl. The two shadowhunters stuck out like a sore thumb. Alec was wearing a black shirt, some black pants, black combat boots, and his black jacket, while Jace was only slightly less depressing sporting a dark blue shirt, black pants and combat boots.

After asking four different people for directions, they finally found their first class, Math, which was basically another word for hell. Neither of them understood a word their teacher said, or why there would be letters in place of numbers. They spent the whole time in a staring contest, much to the dismay of their teacher who was already in over his head with two boys who didn't know what long division was.

Both boys were nervous, but would never let the other know that, about not having the same next class. Alec had English, and Jace had Physics. Alec made it to his class and sat in the back listening to the teacher tell them all about Shakespeare and finding himself wondering whether Magnus knew him or not.

Jace was not so lucky, he had to ask 5 people for directions and ended up being 7 minutes late. "Mike, this is not up for discussion, go to the nurse!" He heard a woman yell as he entered the classroom. It was a big class with long lab tables that seated 2 people. It also apparently had two doors, and as he was coming in one, a boy was leaving the other.

"Ahh you must be our new student, come in, have a seat right here, you can be partners with Mike since he will need to be re-seated after that incident," She glared at a boy in a wheelchair.

The next class Jace had was Gym. He was relieved because he actually knew where this class was. He was also very delighted to see Alec enter the gym with an athletic looking guy. Jace waved trying to catch his brothers attention.

Alec walked into the gym with his... friend? He had asked the guy for directions and it turned out he had gym as well, so they walked together. In the 5 minute that it took to get to to the gym Alec had learned that this guy was the quarterback, though he didn't really know what that meant aside from that they always got the nerdy girl who turned into a princess at the end of every high school rom-com he had watched with Magnus, he was in glee club, he didn't know what that was either, and that he was in love with a girl named Rachel. Needless to say he way happy to see his blonde counterpart waving at him from across the room.

"Hey," he said when he got close enough. Jace nodded at him with an expectant look, "Oh, uh, this is-"

"Finn," Finn supplied, "Well I'm going to go get ready for football practice, but feel free to come up to me anytime if you need anything."