TATTOOED CHAPTER 1

"If you want to know what it's like to survive hell and still come out shining brighter than the sun, just look into the eyes of a woman who has survived intense damage and refused to allow it to destroy her softness."

JACE'S POV

MONDAY

"Again Herondale!" Coach Hodge yells at me, throwing another football at me and I groan. He hates me, I swear. He claims he loves me, but I think it's because I'm one of his best players. I take off in a sprint, running straight through another teammate knocking him to the ground hard, and I bolt to the end zone, turning to look at coach.

"Happy?" I ask him, dropping the ball to the ground by my feet.

"Yes, but for that attitude Jace, I want five laps." He orders me and I huff, biting my tongue so I don't catch anymore laps and begin running, "everyone else inside." Coach yells.

Alec, my best friend, comes walking over to me, "I'll wait for you, hurry up." He tells me and I nod, breathing heavily. I can hear my heart beating in rhythm with my footsteps, and when I finally finish, I feel like dropping to my knees.

"Jace." Coach says to me; I thought he went inside, "yes sir." I respond

"You know you are like a son to me, and that's why I push you so hard." Coach Hodge says to me and I nod slowly. Where is he going with this?

"That being said, you need to step it up. You are talented, but you can do yards better." He claps me on the back, "step it up. And take a shower kid, you smell." He says and I smile at him, jogging off towards the school, grabbing the last of my things. I enter the dark locker room, looking around. It is empty and silent; Alec must have gone to the car.

I grab a towel and a change of clothes, locking my gear up in my locker. I go to the shower room, stripping it down, turning the water on as hot as possible, before stepping in and letting the steam swallow me. I just begin to get lost in thought when there is a loud bang and shatter-like sound that snaps me to attention. I turn off the shower, drying myself off and changing.

"Alec? Hello?" I yell out and I receive no respond.

"Alexander!" I yell out his full name, but I still get no response as I round the corner of the shower room, entering the main locker room. I need to flip the lights on.

"This isn't funny Alec, come—," I round another corner, trying to search through the black, as I get smacked in the chest by darkness. I stumble backwards over one of the benches onto the floor, crawling backwards so I am pressed against the cool metal of the lockers, breathing heavily.

I hear footsteps, but I cannot see anything. I go to rise back to my feet, just to get slammed back down to the tile. A hoodie figure comes down on my chest, using its knees to keep my arms down. I feel cool metal press against my bicep, and I begin to thrash, slamming my body into the lockers, but not knocking the figure loose.

I begin to feel a burning sensation, starting in my bicep and spreading through my entire body; I scream. I muster up as much strength as possible, throwing myself forward, using all my weight to throw my attacker off of me, and I jump to my feet.

I stagger for a moment, regaining my balance and leaning against the locker, "who are you?" I breathe heavily as it rises to its feet, looking at the hooded figure in front of me. It makes a growl-like noise as it's eyes meet mine. They're black.

"Who are you?" I roar, gripping at me bleeding bicep. It turns around, taking off in a sprint and launching itself out of the open locker room window, just as Alec walks in, looking at me.

"Are you ok?" He asks me and I shrug, shaking my head clear as Alec flicks the light on, and I pull my sleeve down. That had to be a dream.

"Uh, yeah, lets get out of here." I say, grabbing my backpack and following Alec out of the locker room, heading out to the parking lot, "are you sure that you ok?" He asks as we step onto our bikes.

"Yeah, let's just get out of here. I need to get home, I have a shit ton of homework." I say and he nods, starting his bike and speeding off. I take a deep breath, kick-starting my bike and racing off after him. I follow him through the small city streets, already buzzing with New York City parties, until we reach the suburbs. We reach our neighborhood, heading our separate ways down the street, heading towards my house.

I turn my bike off about 100 feet from my house so I don't wake Stephan and Mom. I walk the bike to my driveway, taking my bag and keys, and walking inside, attempting to be quiet, bee lining towards the stairs so I can reach my bedroom.

"You're late." Stephan says as my foot reaches the first stair.

"And you're drunk." I say back, beginning to walk up the stairs again.

"Look at me when you are being disrespectful, boy." Stephan says and I flinch, turning to face him. He strikes his hand across my face once, saying, "you will continue to learn the hard way. Go to bed." He orders me and I clench my fist and unclench them, turning around on my heels to head back up the stairs. I should have hit him back. I huff as I reach the bedroom, throwing my stuff on the bed, turning and punching the punching bag that hangs from my ceiling.

"Jace, honey." Mom says, opening my bedroom door and I stop punching, taking a deep breath and I look down at her. She purses her lips when she sees the look on my face.

"He only does it because he loves you." I dig my nails into the palms of my hand. I will control my temper better than Stephan does.

"If you are going to stand here and defend him, you need to get out." I tell her, "I didn't mean it—," I cut her off.

"Get out." I say dangerously and she nods, leaving my room, shutting the door. I turn on my light, looking in the mirror at the red mark on my face and I pull of my shirt, taking a look at my upper arm. It is blood and burned, as well as swelling beyond belief. I reach into my desk, pulling out bandages and gauze, wrapping it. I change into pajama pants, jumping into bed.

TUESDAY

I wake up in the morning covered in sweat. I spend the night dreaming of my attacker and Stephan. I jump out of bed; my clock reads 5am. Perfect. I get dressed in athletic clothes, packing my bags and climbing out the window. I slide down the roof, using the trees to jump myself to the ground. Having an abusive father has made me an expert at sneaking out.

I walk my bike down the street, starting it up, hopping on, and speeding off into the city. After about twenty minutes of driving, puling up to a stop, walking into my favorite diner. I go here almost every morning. I walk up the counter and waiting for a waitress to come help me.

"Hey, what can I get you?" A short girl with chestnut colored hair, who I haven't met yet, says, looking down at her notebook.

"Can I please get a black coffee and a plain bagel please?" I ask her and she looks up at me with a smile. Her smile quickly fades and her green eyes slowly narrow at me. Her eyes make her way to my bandage, which is just peaking out of the hem of my sleeve.

"Yes." I swear her eyes darken a few shades as she turns on her heels and walks off.

"Hey Kaelie!" I call to my blonde friend, who looks up from the counter with a smile on her face.

"What's up?"

"Who is the new girl?" I ask out of curiosity as I see her red hair bounce from behind the bar.

"Her name is Clary. She goes to the high school, really sweet, works hard, but is just a little weird, and super quiet." Kaelie gives me the rundown and I nod, "she didn't seem to like me very much."

"She probably was just shy because you are cute." She winks at me, walking off and getting back to work. Kaelie has been trying to get me into bed since we met, but now she has given up and just amuses me with her shameless flirting. The redhead, or Clary, I guess, returns, holding a paper bag and a large coffee, setting it down on the counter. Her eyes never leave me; they are set narrow, as if she is trying to kill me with her looks as I reach for my goodies. What is her problem?

"Keep the change." I tell her with a wink, handing her a twenty and her cheeks heat up, but her body language still reads ready to pounce.

"Have a good day." She says through gritted teeth, shoving my receipt at me and racing away from me without another word, rushing through the kitchen's double doors. I must have really pissed her off in my past life. I take my food, putting the bagel in my backpack and my coffee in a cup holder, hopping back on my bike and heading off towards school

End of Chapter

AN: That's all! I hope you enjoyed chapter one. Your comments and votes are always appreciated. Please let me know what you think, and if you liked the chapter leave a star. Thanks!