I Hate You (IN EDITING)

Chapter 17

No memories came back to Clary that night. None at all, and she was left to wonder why-she had gotten a good amount of memories the night before. There was another question, though-why was she only now remembering fragments, why not before this trip? What was oh-so-special about this trip?

Isabelle was still sleeping-snoring loudly, that is-so Clary rolled over, scooting closer to the left side of her bed. And before she could make even a squeak, she was falling to the floor, her head connecting with the corner of the table that sat beside her bed, the sharp, wooden corner scraping down the back of her head, as she fell to the floor. Her head then proceeded to connect with the hard wood, causing Clary to wince in pain. Dark spots danced in front of her eyes, like being temporarily blinded by the bright flash of a camera. Only, this wasn't a camera flash, considering her vision just kept turning black, darker and darker, until there was nothing left to see, and her eyes fell shut.

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Like hazy-yet somehow unbelievably clear, dreams, memories, images, small clips of things here and there, were coming back. Everything flooding Clary's brain, overwhelming her.

Jace walked, out to the woods behind his house, Clary could see him, his head turning back and forth, looking for her. She was sitting on a thick branch of a tall-enough-tree. The bark was digging into her skin, even through the denim of her jeans. It was definitely harder than she thought it would have been to climb a tree in skinny jeans. So much harder.

"Clary!" Jace called into the abyss of trees. She snickered into her hand, as he walked into the woods. She could see the golden hair, through the changing leafs on the trees, see him drifting further away from the tree she sat in. This was going to be entertaining. Clary sat back, watching, waiting. She had made sure to choose a tree with enough coverage so that Jace wouldn't see her. It was easier to camouflage her hair in the fall, what with all the red and orange leafs on the trees.

It was a good twenty minutes, before Clary caught a glimpse of golden hair wandering through the forest. She could hear twigs snapping, and leafs crunching under his shoes, as he called out, "Clary!"

She was going to scare him.

She wasn't the most graceful person ever, so she had had to practice the trick she was going to do, in order to scare him. There was still the chance that she would just fall, and break every bone in her body, but she was more than willing to take that chance-if it meant getting the reaction she wanted out of Jace.

Finally, he was just a little ways away from the branch she'd situated herself in. Clary got into position, so that she would be able to hang upside down from the branch. She gripped the bark as hard as she could, with her legs and hands, before she let go of the branch with her hands, and fell backwards. Jace turned around, and jumped back, letting out a noise of surprise. "Jesus, Clary," he said, holding a hand to his chest, looking her up and down. She probably looked ridiculous, with her hair hanging down and an amused grin plastered on her face. But it was so worth it.

"Hey," she waved, although she was upside down. "How's it going?" Jace laughed at this, and walked closer to her. "You can climb trees?" He asked, raising a skeptical eyebrow at her. "No," Clary deadpanned. "I used a ladder-it's right on the other side of the tree," she pointed to the tree. "Go check."

"I still don't believe you," Jace said, stepping back from her once again. "Alright," Clary said, and prepared to do the trick she'd been practicing. She grabbed the branch with her hands, momentarily disappearing from view. She removed her legs from the branch, and using momentum, swung down, until she was holding onto the branch as if she were about to do pull-ups. Clary wanted to close her eyes for the drop, just in case she did happen to break some bones, but she kept them open.