"How was school today?" asked Jocelyn Fairchild. Clary shrugged and dropped her backpack onto the floor, letting out a sigh. She lowered herself into a chair, watching her mother rub spices onto a chicken breast.

"It was alright, I guess," Clary answered, waiting for the inevitable question.

She didn't have to wait long. "And the play?" Jocelyn asked, a nervous expression on her face. This was the part where Clary would burst into sobs, if an audition had gone particularly badly.

Clary smiled a small smile. "It went okay," she admitted. "No throwing up, no fainting, and I only stumbled on my lines a couple times."

"That's great, honey!" Jocelyn grinned, laugh lines crinkling her eyes. She swooped over Clary and hugged her, leaving specks of thyme on her shoulder, which Clary brushed off.

"Yeah, I was relieved," Clary said. She leaned back in her chair. "I thought for sure I was gonna faint, but I just managed to stay sane, somehow." She laughed a little.

"I'm so proud," Jocelyn said lovingly. "My little superstar."

Clary rolled her eyes. "I didn't even audition for Cinderella," she pointed out. "I'm not going to be the star of the show."

Jocelyn waved a hand carelessly. "You're a star in my eyes."

Clary groaned at the cheesy line, but smiled nonetheless. Jocelyn more than made up the role of parent, despite the absence of her father. Clary knew she was lucky; her mother didn't try to control her the way Simon's mother did, but never neglected her.

"So, anything else interesting happen?" her mother asked, smiling. Clary hesitated for a split second before she returned the smile.

"No, not really," she answered, shrugging. "Same old, same old. Mr. Garroway passed back our English tests. I got a 95."

Jocelyn froze momentarily at the name, then carried the chicken to the oven. "Oh, that's great, honey," she said, her easy smile returning. Clary pretended not to notice her mother's reaction, but it had been kind of obvious since forever that her mother liked her teacher. And Clary had a feeling it was mutual. She wasn't sure what to think of it (her single mom, who'd never dated anyone, with her English teacher?) but she decided to put it out of her mind for now. She had homework to worry about.

That homework was quickly forgotten, however, when text messages from two different unknown numbers appeared on her phone. Clary frowned at the screen, because she didn't remember giving her phone number to anyone. Not many people really knew her number, anyways, since she mostly just hung out with Simon. She breathed a mini sigh of relief when she read the messages, though. No stalkers were coming after her today-it was just Jace and Isabelle.

How'd you get my number? she texted back to Jace.

Izzy, he replied. I think she got it from Simon. Clary grinned to herself.

Can you come help me w history? Isabelle texted. This class is rly diff from my old one.

Clary paused. Was she asking her over to her house? True, she lived literally right next door, but still. She'd never gone to anyone's house except Simon, minus a few disastrous playdates when she was younger. Definitely not to someone she'd just met a few days before.

Izzy's cooking. Come save me, Jace texted. Clary wondered if they both agreed to invite her over.

Clary laughed to herself. Are your parents okay w that? she typed, replying to Isabelle.

It's fine. They're not here rn, Alec is taking care of us.

Okay, she replied. Just a few min, I need to get my stuff.

A smiley face popped up in response to that.

"I'm heading next door," Clary yelled to her mother, hoping that Jocelyn wouldn't mind or stop her. Unfortunately, just as she was stepping out, her mother came hurrying down the stairs.

"You just reminded me, I haven't met the new neighbors yet," Jocelyn said, slipping her sandals on. Clary groaned internally. "Are they nice? Anyone your age?"

Clary pasted on a weak smile. "You don't have to go over now. I mean, we just got back from school. And yes, two of them are my age. Isabelle and Jace."

Her mother raised an eyebrow. "Is Jace the one who visited our porch the other day?"

Clary blushed. So her mother had noticed. "Yeah," she said, trying to will her face back into a normal color. "They're nice, I guess. They invited me over to work on homework." She left out the part about how it was really only Jace who had invited her.

"Well, then I should go over with you and see who they are, at least," Jocelyn said. "Who knows if they're serial killers or something?" She grinned, eyeing Clary carefully. "You don't mind, right?"

"Of course not," Clary lied, biting her lip. She prayed that her mother wouldn't say or do anything to embarrass her, and the two walked over the house next door.

The door was opened by a young boy who looked around 9. Clary hadn't seen him before. "Hi," she said nervously. "I'm Clary."

"I'm Jocelyn," her mother added, smiling warmly at the boy. "We're your new neighbors."

"I'm Max," said the boy, ducking his head shyly. He turned around. "Clary's here," he yelled into the house.

"Hey, Clary," Isabelle shouted back faintly from somewhere in the house. "Jace, leave me alone and go!"

Jace came striding through the hallway, smiling. Clary's heart skipped a beat, and she prayed that her fair skin wouldn't give away to her mother. "Come in," he said easily. "Sorry, I don't think we've met." He turned to Clary's mother, holding a hand.

Jocelyn shook his head. "I'm Jocelyn, Clary's mother. Just wanted to introduce myself and make sure my daughter was okay. Are your parents home?"

Clary grimaced. She wasn't ten years old anymore. Catching Clary's expression, Jace grinned. "No, my parents aren't home right now. They went out shopping. Izzy and Alec are in charge. Do you want to meet them right now?"

Jocelyn waved a hand. "That's okay. I need to get back to my painting anyways. I'm sure you're all very capable." She gave Clary a stern look as she stepped down the porch stairs and turned towards back toward their house. "No funny business, alright?"

Clary groaned. "Uh-huh."

When she turned back to Jace's house, he was looking after Jocelyn with a faint smile. Then he glanced down at Clary. "Your mom is nice."

Clary knew she must be bright red. "She's embarrassing," she grumbled. "Never trusts anyone."

"Well, come in," Jace said, placing a hand on her back. "Come have some of Izzy's delicious noodles."

The door swung shut and Clary dropped her bag on the floor. Jace turned and headed back into the hallway he'd first come through, beckoning her with a hand. Clary hesitated momentarily, then followed him through.

Their house had a similar structure to her own (probably built by the same architects and blueprint). Clary padded through, noting the adorable baby pictures and family pictures hung on the wall. She paused near the entrance to the kitchen, gazing at a picture of a gap-toothed younger Jace, who was glaring at Isabelle. Isabelle was smiling at the camera (she looked like a born model), hugging Max. Another boy whom Clary assumed was Alec stood behind all of them.

"Aw, you guys look so cute," Clary said, pointing at the picture.

"Yeah, what happened, right?" Isabelle said, walking past wielding a large spatula. Clary laughed, then smelled smoke.

"Is something burning?" she asked, eyeing Isabelle uncertainly.

Jace chuckled. "See, even Clary can see that you're a terrible cook," he said, rolling his eyes.

"Shut up," Isabelle retorted, waving the spatula threateningly. "I just forgot to turn off the oven, is all."

"You'd think that with this happening four times before, you'd eventually remember," teased an older guy, entering the kitchen and opening the fridge. He paused when he saw Clary. "Who's this?"

"Clary," answered Isabelle. "She's one of our new neighbors. And in some of my classes."

"Hey," Clary said, smiling uncertainly.

Alec grabbed a soda. "Nice to meet you," he said, nodding. Then he escaped out to the dining room.

Isabelle rolled her eyes. "He's not very sociable or good at talking to people," she confided to Clary.

"I heard that," Alec called over his shoulder. "Aren't you supposed to be doing homework or something, instead of poisoning our new neighbor?"

Isabelle let out an audible sigh. "I'll get to that...eventually."

Eventually she did get bored of stirring overcooked noodles around, so Isabelle told Clary to get her books and the two girls spread out on the kitchen table. A few minutes later, Jace joined them as well. It turned out that their old school had taught history pretty differently, so Clary had to spend an hour giving them a brief recap of the stuff they needed to know.

"You're so smart," Isabelle said admiringly. "How do you remember all of this?"

"I've already forgot most of it," Jace agreed, popping a grape in his mouth. Isabelle hit him on the shoulder with a pencil. "Ow! What was that for?" he asked, looking wounded. She shrugged.

When the homework session ended, punctuated by frequent breaks and snacks, Clary was surprised to find that she'd enjoyed it, and gotten all of her work done. She couldn't remember the last time she'd actually had fun doing homework, but the Herondales made her laugh with their sibling rivalries and silly acronyms to help memorization. Not for the first time, Clary envied their relationship and wished for a sister or brother.

It didn't hurt that she'd gotten to sneak plenty glances at Jace. She'd noticed that sometimes at school, his face would close down or look guarded. But here in his kitchen, he looked perfectly happy and at ease. She liked that she seemed to fit in with this other family. It was funny, that she'd just met them but somehow felt comfortable. Clary had always been pretty shy, but some of that seemed to disappear around Isabelle and Jace. Clary bent to pick up her books reluctantly at 6:30, knowing her mom was probably expecting her for dinner.

The siblings walked her to the door. "We should do this again," Isabelle said, smiling.

"You got Isabelle to stop cooking and to focus on the Cold War," added Jace. "That's the kind of miracle I need to stay sane."

Clary giggled while Isabelle smacked him. "Like you were sane to start with," she mocked.

"This was really fun," Clary agreed. "And I did actually get my work done."

"Again tomorrow, then?" Isabelle asked. There was a hint of nervousness in her eyes, something that surprised Clary. Clary hadn't thought that Isabelle would be nervous about anything, but she suddenly realized that Isabelle was still a new kid in school, who didn't have any friends yet. That thought was strange-someone so put together as Isabelle shouldn't have been put in the same category as Clary in anything, least of all social anxiety. Clary grinned. It felt nice to be wanted. "Definitely," she said. "See ya tomorrow."