In The Deep

Chapter 4

Somehow Clary couldn't get the conversation out of her mind the whole day. The boy with his golden eyes and annoying grin refused to leave her head. She wasn't used to talking to anyone friendly really and she couldn't say he had been even friendly, but it had been nice to talk someone who didn't think she was a total loser. Or at least didn't say it outloud.

After school Clary walked to her locker and saw that he was already there, putting some books into his locker that was right next to hers. Clary couldn't help herself as her lips curled into a small smile as she saw him, but she wiped it away immediately and just walked to her locker without paying any attention to him.

"Well, hello there. Locker-buddy." He said with that grin on his face that Clary was already familiar with and she glared at him.

"I thought you said that was a horrible choice of words." She said briefly and turned back to her locker, opening the lock.

"Yeah and it really is, it just sounds funny." He said shrugging, obviously amused. Clary put her books into her locker and turned to the small clock on her wrist. It was already 4:30 and she should've been at the bookstore by now, but she had miscounted the time.

"Crap.." She mumbled letting her arm fall on her side and started picking up more books from her bag, putting them on their places faster.

"What is it?" The boy asked and Clary bent down to her bag on the floor and reached for her biology and english books.

"Nothing."

"Doesn't sound like nothing."

"Why do you care? You don't even know my name."

"What is your name?"

Clary groaned and got up from the floor, glaring at him with a frustrated expression. He was annoying and curious in a weird way, but she had to admit that it was kind of nice that someone actually cared for a change.

"Clary. What does it matter?" She asked putting her books into her locker and quickly picking up her math book that was the last one.

"You brought it up, I was intrested to know." He said shrugging and Clary slammed her locker shut and picked up her bag from the floor. It felt so light after a day of carrying it around with about ten books inside it.

"Great, but I'm late from work so I gotta go." She said simply and gave him a small sarcastic smile. He seemed amused as he closed his locker.

"You want a ride?" He asked and Clary was suprised how straight forward he was.

"Why would you offer to give me a ride?" She asked and he laughed, rolling his eyes.

"Where I'm from, it's a nice thing to do. You're so suspicious." He said and Clary crossed her arms over her chest, defensive.

"Suspicious? You do realize that the most used sentence kids hear, especially girls, is 'don't go anywhere with strangers'. You know it's common sense to know that you shouldn't go if a stranger asks you to come with them. That's the whole 'stranger danger' thing." She said and the whole time she was speaking, he seemed to be holding back laughter.

"Thank you, that was a great lecture of common sense. I'll use that knowledge. Anyway, I'm not a forty-year-old pervert." He said and Clary tried to hold back a small laugh that she felt coming out, she wouldn't give him the pleasure to know that it had amused her.

"I still don't know you." She said knowing that the clock was still ticking and she would be even more late soon, but somehow she just kept talking and knew that Jocelyn would understand that she had miscounted the time.

"Not knowing me is not the same as being a stranger." He said with a crooked smile and Clary rolled her eyes.

"I still don't know your name." She said observating and he grinned.

"Jace." He said briefly. Clary had never heard of someone named 'Jace' before, but she had to admit that she liked it. It worked on him.

"Jace!" They heard someone yelling behind them in the hall and Clary turned to see a tall girl walking towards them. She recognized her as the girl she had seen this morning. Following her was a boy with as black hair as hers and bright blue eyes. They looked like each other a lot, but at the same time not at all.

"What brings me the pleasure?" He asked in a sarcastic tone and the girl rolled her eyes and turned to Clary.

"Is he bothering you?" She asked like she was sure Clary would say yes and start to beg for them to take Jace away.

"Of course not, why are you always so suspicious of me? I'm just taking Clary to work, right?" Jace asked turning to her before she had the time to say anything.

"Uhm, sure..." She said slowly and kept her eyes on Jace who grinned.

"Okay... Have fun." The girl said snorting and gave Clary a small smile before walking past them and the boy followed, making a quick eye contact with Jace.

"Ready?" He asked turning to Clary and she nodded slowly. They walked outside and Clary saw the others get into a car, the girl still gazing at them.

"Are they your siblings?" Clary asked since she had seen the girl earlier at Jace's house and she recognized the way they acted around it each other. She used to have those moments too...

"Yeah, Alec and Isabelle." He said, his voice sounding a little distant.

"So, where's your car?" Clary asked looking around and turned to look at him. Jace had a smirk on his face and Clary's smile fell off.

"I don't have a car." He said walking down the stairs quickly and for a second Clary thought that he was crazy and was gonna take her there on his back or something, but then he walked to a motorcycle that was parked next to the school and Clary stood there.

"Are you asking me to get on that?" She asked slowly stepping to the next stair and Jace grinned up at her.

"Scared?" He asked with a teasing tone and Clary narrowed her eyes at him.

"No way." She said walking down the stairs and Jace smiled before opening the small trunk under the seat and handed a helmet to her. Clary took it and looked down at it for a while.

"Is there some specific way to put it on?" She asked looking at the big helmet and Jace laughed.

"Just put it on." He said grabbing another helmet for himself that had been hanging from the handle. Clary looked down at the helmet before putting it on her head, she felt like her head was three times bigger than usually and wrinkled her nose, making Jace laugh. He stepped closer to her and Clary looked up at him, feeling a bit surprised. Jace took the straps under her chin and clicked them together. She let out a short laugh, feeling completely stupid and Jace grinned before stepping away and sitting on the bike.

"Hop on." He said smirking and Clary looked around before sitting down behind him. She saw that few people were staring at them and it didn't really surprise her since she hadn't even talked to anyone in school in a long time. Plus, people like her didn't usually hang out with people like Jace. She was quiet, freak and a total loser who liked books and was interested in art, while Jace was confident, funny and the kind of guy who all the girls stared at as he walked by. Clary looked down quickly and Jace turned to look at her.

"Everything alright?" He asked and Clary nodded quickly.

"Yeah, let's go." She said smiling and Jace returned it. He turned to face the parking lot in front of them and after few seconds turned back, looking at her with an amused expression.

"You need to put your arms around me." He said and Clary felt blood rushing to her cheeks and hoped he didn't notice.

"Oh." She just said and slowly put her arms around his waist, clasping her hands in front of him. She felt him stiffen for a while and take in a small breath, feeling his hard abdomen against her hands. Then he smiled at her quickly over his shoulder, before starting to drive. Clary felt the wind as they gained speed and closed her eyes, taking in deep breaths of the fresh air.