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Storm weather was not Isabelle’s favourite, it meant her hair would be ruined, even if she tries to make it perfect. Tying it up would be the only answer, only issue she had sacrificed her last hairband, at her mother’s request, to her brother’s stupid attempting at seeing how far they could slingshot a grape, across the back garden. Turns out it’s only a metre. Finally deciding on her classic white t-shirt and baby pink sweatshirt, with a pair of blue mom jeans and some all-white Converse. That were stained with mud from the horse pen. But Isabelle didn’t mind, she loved her horse and would do anything for her, even ruin her brand-new Converse.“Alec! Jace!” Isabelle called back up the stairs, as she made it to the bottom, to look out the window for their lift to school. However, there seemed to be no signs of movement “Magnus is here!”. Peering back out the window, the rain was coming down harder than it had been 5 minutes ago, and she could see Magnus in the driver’s seat of the car, trying to tame his hair.“What are you looking at?” Alec had come up behind her, already with his dark blue windbreaker on and the hood over his head, “Oh I see...” he trailed off “Do you have a thing for Magnus?” That pulled Isabelle out of her thoughts, while also giving her the fright of her life,“What? No what the hell Alec?!” Turning on the spot slightly to playfully punch her eldest brother in the arm“Good”“Good? Why good?” Raising an eyebrow at Alec’s comment,“Well I was going to ask him to prom, but if you think it’s a stupid idea then I-” Cut off by Jace thundering down the stairs towards the front entryway“What do we think is stupid?” He asked out of curiosity for what he had missed, while he was grabbing his anorak from the cupboard upstairs“Alec wants to ask Magnus to the prom” Isabelle let slip, before covering her mouth and pretending to be shocked, as she backed away from the pair to go to the kitchen to grab something for lunch, mouthing an oops at Alec.“Why didn’t you tell me?” Isabelle heard Jace shout and smiled to herself, everyone was happy, the person she wanted to ask to the prom would never say yes. Clary Morgenstern, the girl who everyone feared, for her dark all black clothed exterior. But Isabelle had become friends with her over the last year, learning more than the exterior was just a front and Clary was a giant soft on the inside, enjoying all the things Isabelle does. Pulled out of her thoughts by Alec shouting that Magnus had text him to hurry up, she grabbed the sandwiches their mother had prepared before she left for work, off the counter, draping her bright yellow coat over her forearm and moving towards the front door.As Isabelle opened the door, they all stepped out of the door, so that Alec could lock it behind them, luckily, they had a porch out the front of their house, so they were sheltered, until Magnus beeped the car horn and threw his arms up in the air from the driver’s seat. Isabelle sent an apologetic smile, as Alec turned back around to face where they would all be running. Now. They all leaped out of the porch cover towards Magnus’ car, a too small Toyota Yaris, that was on the other side of the street.Inside the car, Magnus was laughing at them all“Did you get wet by any chance?” Earning him a pair of evils from Isabelle and Jace from the backseat. “Sorry” He swallowed and gave a side wards glance to Alec, who was sat next to him. It wasn’t news that they both had a not so secret crush on each other but we’re both too afraid to say anything. With that they set off on their 30-minute drive to school.—•—Alicante High School, the place where dreams go to die, well that’s what Isabelle always thought. As they pulled up into the car park at the front of the huge building, the rain seemed to subside and the sun came out, great news for Izzy’s hair.“You guys can go in, I want to talk to Magnus” Alec finally chirped up as Magnus knocked the car into park and stopped the engine “Only if it’s alright with you” A worried look on his face as he looked in Magnus’ direction, Magnus only nodded as Isabelle and Jace climbed out of the car.“What was that all about?” Jace asked confused as always“I think he’s asking now” Turning slightly to look over her shoulder in the direction of the car, “Not how I would’ve done it but this is Alec we’re talking about” She smiled as she saw her brother envelope Magnus in an awkward hug in the confides of the front two seats “Looks like he said yes” She exclaimed as she turned back around, but this only caused Jace to look back and smile as well at the scene that had unfolded. Chuckling at the sight of his too tall older brother, climbing out of the micro car, phone in hand looking like he was texting. Both Isabelle and Jace’s phones buzzed,“He said yes!” The text from none other than Alec read. They both smiled at each other, before Jace saw his friends from the football team and they went their separate ways.Izzy kept her phone in hand as she checked the time, on her digital watch. “8:52” she was going to be early if she went now, so she stopped at her locker even though she didn’t really need to. If anything, she would get to see Clary, at her locker, three down on the other side of the corridor from Isabelle’s. As if like clockwork, as Izzy reached her locker at 8:54, there she was, like always even though it had been raining, her hair didn’t faulter and she looked as put together as she always did, with her crew of minions following closely behind. Izzy watched her as she swept out of the side corridor and walked all the way down to her locker, Isabelle thought to herself that she would never have a chance with this girl it was too good to be true.—•—Clary Morgenstern, strawberry blonde hair that rested pasted her shoulders, green eyes that Isabelle swore were actual emeralds. Today, she was sporting it in a bun, with a black and white stripped high neck long sleeve, with her usual pair of mom jeans and black doc martin’s. Isabelle shook her head, realising she had been staring when a hand rested on her shoulder.“Earth to Isabelle” She recognised the voice it was one her best friend’s Simon Lewis, turning she saw that he, Alec and Magnus were all stood beside her, just staring at her. “You were staring again” Simon pointed out“I wasn’t staring” Tutted she turned back to look inside her locker, signing slightly and grabbing her Math book from the back.“If you say so” Simon had a smirk on his face because he knew better than to believe Isabelle. The bell rang then, Simon and Magnus walked towards their class, but not before Magnus kissed Alec on the cheek.“Iz” Alec slapped his sister in the arm, making her turn to look at him as she put the padlock back on her locker.“Ouch what?!” Rubbing her arm, looking unamused at Alec“I asked Magnus now you have to ask Clary” Alec had that smile on his face, it didn’t appear often, but it was authentic and personal, and Isabelle knew she was one of the only people on the planet to see him like this, smiling to his ears. But she also knew he was being mischievous.“I’m not asking Clary to prom, now I have to get to class I’ll see you later” Waving her brother off as she strode in the direction of the science labs.—•—Third period was the next time Isabelle saw Clary, they had English together for at last year, and they always ended up next to each other, because this teacher insisted on double desks, so that the class could do pair work easily. Today was no different there was always going to be at least one pair activity, today it was an activity which was really glorified cut and stick. Clary assigned to cutting the paper up and Isabelle, finding the quotes in the book they were reading, to find out who said what and why. It was easier this way because they always did work like this, Isabelle doing the more work taxing side of it, but she didn’t mind she liked English and she liked Clary not to make her do it.Clary offered to stick the quotes into Isabelle’s exercise book, while she struggled to find one of the quotes, Isabelle could’ve sworn she saw a faint smile on the other’s face, and she replied with a ‘yes please’ and a smile. Clary never smiled at anyone, the main reason why everyone was so scared of her, but Isabelle knew better, what others didn’t see was the girl underneath, who had cried in the bathroom at school when her dad left that morning and never came back, the girl who held back tears whenever someone walked in the opposite direction to her. It was hard on her and Isabelle knew that because she had been the one to comfort her that day in the toilets and had been the one person who never walked the other way, because in all honestly she liked Clary a whole lot more than she let on to her brothers- and that’s putting it lightly.They spent the next hour, not really talking but making sideways eye contact with each other, while Isabelle explained what Clary had to write in her book. She liked it like this, secretly shared looks that no one else would see, it made her feel like there was something between the two of them but that was just a fleeting dream. Nearing the end of the lesson, Ms Penhallow asked the class to pack up their things and started talking about the project that they would be assigned for homework, the class had to deliver an in depth presentation of one of the significant scenes from the book, working in pairs to do this so it wasn’t so daunting to stand in front of the class. This was another thing that Isabelle liked about this lesson was she never made her do anything alone if it would give people anxiety, which it never gave Isabelle, she was a great public speaker and she enjoyed it.“You’ll pick your own partners” Ms Penhallow announced to the class, there were a lot of groans radiated throughout the classroom.Great Isabelle thought to herself, she didn’t have any friends in this class, the likelihood she would be stuck with someone awful was something she got used to at this point. That was until she felt someone tap her on the shoulder as she got up to leave, when the class was dismissed. Turning she didn’t expect to see Clary stood there, looking like she’d seen a ghost, she said something Isabelle saw her month move but didn’t really gage what it was because she was still in shock. Shaking her head,“Sorry what did you say?”“Did you want to be my partner for the homework, you can totally say no, I get it if you want to work with- “Being cut off abruptly as Isabelle cut into her rambling“No, I want, I mean I’d like to work with you” Tripping over her words was not the best way to say what she wanted but it was out there.“You do?”“Yeah of course, why wouldn’t I?” Isabelle was confused by the intonation that she wouldn’t want to work with Clary, it meant she finally had an excuse to see her outside of school.“Okay great, uh we should exchange numbers and organise something?” It was more of a question than a statement“Yeah, yes” Exchanging phones, Isabelle typed in her number saving it under “Isabelle Lightwood” she gave back the phone and smiled when she looked at her own and what Clary had saved her own number under, “Clary <3”. She liked it then it wouldn’t be weird if she did it herself. —•—It was now the end of the school day, Isabelle was waiting by Magnus’ car in the empty carpark, for her brothers to appear- one of them hopefully with Magnus so she could get in the car, because it looked like the heavens were about to open and she wasn’t in the mood to get wet. As if on cue with her thoughts, Magnus came running from the side of the building, looking red and flustered, which confused Isabelle, then she saw Alec behind him.“ISABELLE GET IN THE CAR” Magnus shouted, still running as he pressed the unlock button on his car keys. Confused Isabelle pushed off the car and climbed in the backseat, chucking her backpack in the back too. Magnus was at the car by this point and was trying to get in himself, basically jumping into the seat, he slammed the door shut, Isabelle assumed he had pressed the lock button on the keys, because the car made a noise and all four indicator lights flashed. Magnus was slumped in his seat trying to catch his breath while laughing,“What was that all about?” Isabelle asked leaning forward to the driver’s seat“I was” Magnus breathed in deeply still catching his breath then Alec reached the car and he looked at the passenger side, where Alec was stood, unamused arms crossed in front of his chest “He didn’t agree that Todd in the best character from The Rising”The Rising was a show that Isabelle had started watching a few months back, one day when she was sick, she started watching in the living room. That got Alec watching it and then he recommended it to Magnus one morning on the way to school, because he had stayed up all night binge watching it. But Isabelle did agree with Magnus that Todd was the best.“And then we may have got in a heated argument about it, I challenged him to a race to the car, if I won, he has to admit that I’m right” Magnus continued, they both looked at Alec, who was glaring at them through the window. “I didn’t think I’d beat him, he is a football player after all” Magnus stuck his tongue out at Alec, who was now trying to seek shelter under his coat, due to the heavy rain. “Shall we let him in?” Magnus questioned, Isabelle just laughed at her brother who was quickly turning into a drowned rat.“Let’s be nice, and he does have to admit that Todd is the best” Magnus unlocked the car at that, and Alec moved quickly and opened the door climbing into his seat. Magnus was quick to shout to not sit on his seat, with a wet ass, to which Alec lifted himself off as Magnus put the blanket on the seat. “Jace isn’t coming home until later, he just text me” Isabelle explained, giving Magnus the cue to pull out of the carpark and onto the main road.About 10 minutes into the journey home, after Alec had finally admitted that he did like Todd even if he was a bit of a maniac and never thought anything through. Alec turned in his seat to face his sister, “So how did it go?”“How did what go?” Magnus chimed in“Isabelle, was going to ask Clary to the dance”“Clary? As in Morgenstern?”“The very one”“I never said I was going to ask her, you said I should, but I didn’t” Isabelle interjected into the conversation“You didn’t ask? You’ve been infatuated with this girl for ages, ask her out already” Throwing his arms up in the air Alec turned back to face the road, sitting in the seat properly“I did get her number” Isabelle said sounding smugger that she was supposed to, but this caught her brother’s attention as he turned back around and practically shouting“TELL ME EVERYTHING”—•—On Wednesday night Isabelle had text Clary asking when she wanted to meet up for the English project, and they arranged to meet the next day after school, Isabelle offering her house and a ride home with Magnus. To say Isabelle was worried what her brothers would say to Clary, was an understatement, she was terrified they didn’t have a filter half the time and that wasn’t going to change just because Clary was there.Now she was sandwiched between Jace and Clary in the back seat of the car, the topic of conversation had shifted to The Rising and Alec and Magnus once again battling about who the best character was and who would die at the end of the season because they had seen teasers online.“What are they talking about?” Clary whispered in Isabelle, leaning into her space a little more“The Rising, it’s a Netflix- “Isabelle was cut off Clary’s enthusiastic“You watch that show too” If Clary had an adorable smile on her face when she started joining in the conversation, Isabelle didn’t notice. Yet she did, its all she thought about for the rest of the car ride, zoning out all the noise around her and focusing on how animated Clary looked, hands flying about as she spoke. It was only when Clary turned to her and Isabelle saw her mouth forming her name, she zoned back in.“Sorry, what did you say?” Isabelle heard Jace snort next to her, she quickly jabbed him when her elbow“I was just wondering if you agree that Todd is the best character and your brother here is very wrong when he says its Helen” Isabelle nodded before she spoke“I have to agree, sorry Alec its 3 against 1, and before you say anything Jace you don’t even watch it” Holding her hand to stop Jace from talking, Alec admitted defeat waving his arms up in the air and slumping in his seat.“Its fine dear, I still like you” Magnus said resting his hand on Alec’s thigh, making Alec smile slightly and resting in hand on top of Magnus’.—•—Pulling up outside their home, Isabelle, Jace and Clary climbed out of the car, Alec stayed in the car, Isabelle knew what that meant but Jace had no idea that Alec wanted to say goodbye properly, without his siblings watching.“Is Alec not coming?” Clary questioned, she too not knowing“He will in about 5 minutes when he’s done making out with Magnus” Isabelle replied as she crossed the threshold of the front door.“Who’s making out with Magnus?” Maryse’s voice radiated through the whole of the kitchen, as the three of them stepped in, the smell of homemade salsa, Isabelle loved when her mum came home early from work and made them dinner, it happened often but it never got old.“Alec” Isabelle said as she stuck her index finger in the steaming pot“Oi out” Maryse slapped Izzy’s hand away from the pot “You must be Clary” She said looking straight at- or through Izzy couldn’t decide- her mother outstretching her hand towards Clary.“Yes, that’s me, thank you for having me Mrs Lightwood”“Nonsense it’s no trouble and please call me Maryse, Mrs Lightwood is my mother-in-law” Turning on her heel, Maryse was back to stirring the pot before it boiled over “Dinner will be done in about 5 minutes, Isabelle can you set the table and Jace you keep an eye on this and I’ll go invite Magnus in” Realising she hadn’t assigned Clary a job she turned to her “Clary you just stand there and look your glamourous self” Isabelle let a small smile creep on her face as she reached above her head to get the plates and her mother disappeared to the front door.“I actually need the bathroom, where is it?” Clary sparked up asking Isabelle. Directing her to the one under the stairs or the one upstairs to the left, Izzy went back to setting the table, grabbing cutlery as she exited the kitchen and went towards the dining room.Robert walked in the middle of their meal, when Maryse insisted that he sit at the table and join them he excused himself to the greenhouse. Everyone- including Magnus after he and Alec had been ‘caught’ in Magnus’ front passenger seat too close to the unthinkable (as Maryse had so embarrassingly put it)- was engaging in conversation, Maryse and Clary talking about her family, as it turned it out Maryse and Valentine, Clary’s dad, worked in the same company and had crossed paths a couple times.“Thank you for the meal, Maryse” Clary said as they all stacked their plates in the middle of the table making it easier to carry to the kitchen“No need to thank me dear, it was a pleasure” Sending a soft smile in Clary’s direction, as she left the dining room, with all the plates. Maryse caught Izzy in the kitchen grabbing her by the arm and whispered “I approve, and before you say anything you’re allowed to date, your brother does and didn’t tell me” Izzy snorted slightly and mouthed and ‘okay’ at her mother before going to find Clary.“Shall we?” Izzy said to Clary and gesturing with her arm, in the direction of the hallway towards the stairs. In Izzy room, she realised she had left loads of clothes around the place, from her mini freak out that morning about what she should wear. “Sorry for the mess” Embarrassed slightly she grabbed everything and shoved it on the chair in the corner of her room.“Don’t apologise mine is much worse” A joking tone in her voice, putting Isabelle at ease slightly. “Are you cool if I put some music on?” Izzy just nodded, as she grabs her books and some note paper and climbing onto her bed, where she sat cross legged to the side so Clary could also sit down. The music that Clary had started playing radiated throughout the whole room, what Izzy had expected was some rock music, even alternative seemed to Clary’s listening parameters but what was playing was a soft acoustic guitar. It didn’t surprise Izzy like it should have, this girl really did have a soft core, even if her exterior gave another impression.After 3 hours of talking through the scene, Isabelle grabbing her laptop and opening a PowerPoint presentation but not filling it because she had been too distracted by the knee- belonging to Clary- that was slightly touching her own. Somewhere around the 1-hour mark, they had a fit of the giggles, because they could here Magnus and Alec in the room over, “getting it on” as Clary had put it. Meaning they didn’t get anything done for a while, because they went downstairs to escape, ending up sitting in the large greenhouse the Lightwoods had at the back of their house, with a few blankets and hot cups of tea, until Magnus came down the stairs too and they just laughed together and he shot them a look of confusion, with his hair sticking up in every direction.It was about 9pm when they decided that they had had enough and were going to leave it until tomorrow, because Magnus didn’t mind giving Clary a ride again tomorrow. They both left at about 10, not before Magnus pulled Alec into a kiss and Clary leaned forward and gave Izzy a hug and a kiss on the cheek“Thank you, I’ll see you tomorrow” Smiling right at Izzy, as she whispered the words when she pulled away and went to walk out the door, walking passed Magnus and Alec, who were still saying their goodbyes with their mouths. Clary grabbed Magnus’ sleeve and dragged him out of the door too. He made grabby hands at Alec like a baby with candy as he was dragged backwards.—•—It had been a month since that project, Clary had become part of their friendship group, naturally. She met Simon and they instantly became friends, it had taken her a while to warm up to Jace, they had nothing in common after all. They had become a family when they added Maia to the group, she had been Magnus’ friend for a long time but had been hanging out with the girls she knew from middle school, that changed when they turned out to be toxic. Maia was introduced to the friend dynamic about 3 weeks ago and she had fit right in. All in all, there were 8 of them, they had spent almost everyday after school together, mostly spending days on the track field, waiting for Alec and Jace to finish football practice. They always ended up at the diner down the road, always splitting and piling into Magnus and Maia’s cars, to go to the diner drive through or taking the 40-minute drive to the beach and spending one of the summer evenings there.It was an average after school, they had watched Jace and Alec and were waiting for them to come back from the locker room. Simon and Maia were engaging in some heated discussion about the new film they had seen in the cinema, Maia sat in between Magnus’ legs as he gave her a small braid in the back of her hair, as he told her to sit still as her arms were expressing how wrong she thought Simon was. While Simon sat pooled in between Raphael’s legs, while Raph ran his hands subconsciously through Simon’s hair. Clary and Isabelle on the other hand had moved to the opposite end of the bleachers, enjoying each other’s company.Over the last month, while spending a lot of time with the group, they had spent a lot of time together. Alone. Isabelle was trying to send Clary signals- per Magnus’ suggestion- but she didn’t seem to be picking up on them. Like at all. It was frustrating, the prom was in a month’s time and she still hadn’t asked her to it yet, maybe Clary was picking up on the signals and did nothing about it because she wasn’t interested.Alec and Jace came out from the locker rooms, joining the six of them on the bleachers,“You guys ready?” Magnus shouted towards Isabelle and Clary, clearly giving up on Maia’s hair as the back sat in a half-undone braid. Izzy nodded and went to stand but Clary caught her hand stopping her before turning to face Magnus and the others“We’ll be there in a minute” Everyone looked confused, but they all nodded and headed towards the carpark, leaving Clary and Izzy sitting on the bleachers alone. “There’s something I want to talk to you about” Izzy’s mind went into hyperdrive, thinking of all the possible things Clary would want to talk about. Her breathing quickens as all the gears in her brain moved and worked together to think of what it could be. “Hey hey it’s nothing bad, its great actually, unless you say no and then its bad” Clary grabbed Izzy’s hands in her own “Please look at me” Izzy looked up at that, unsure of what Clary was going to say but then she saw the look in her eyes and believed that it truly couldn’t be that bad. She just nodded in response, to try and prompt Clary to start talking and ask the question.“Uh, well, this is a lot harder now I’m here. Uh well Isabelle Lightwood, I like you, a lot actually, as a- more than a-a friend. I was wondering if you uh wanted to go to the prom with me as- as a couple?” Still looking Izzy square in the face Clary was worried what she was going to reply with, it wasn’t everyday that you tell someone you have feelings for them. She continued “You can totally say no don’t feel like you have to say yes, I just wanted you know that you mean a whole lot more to me than I think you realise and I’ve known for a while what I feel for you- actually like- like a whole month we’ve been friends but I-I’ve- “ she was cut off by Izzy’s fingers coming to rest on her cheek, making Clary’s flicker up to look at Isabelle again.“Clary, shut up” Clary was about to laugh but her breathe was stolen when Isabelle leaned in to kiss her full on the lips, breathes mingling into one, and then Isabelle pulled away- Clary thought it was too soon- looking g at each other again, Izzy’s hand still on Clary’s cheek, lightly rubbing it with her thumb “I would like that a lot. And for the record I like you too”They stayed like that for a while, just smiling at each other, they must have been there for longer than they thought as Jace came around the corner and asked what was taking so long, they both laughed and walked to join their friends, holding hands. Jace slapped Isabelle on the shoulder as she walked passed and whispered ‘well done sis’ in her ear, which made her smile from ear to ear, if she wasn’t already (which she totally was)They spent that evening at the beach that was a little further out of town, all eight off them taking a dip in the ocean laughing and just enjoying their time together.