You Wouldn't Dare

Chapter Four

"Hello," he said, grinning like a madman. "I'm Will Herondale, Jace's cousin. You must be Clarissa Fray. Although Jace mentioned that you go by Clary and so did-"

Jace clamped a hand over Wills mouth, and some kind of exchange passed between them as they engaged in some sort of staring contest.

Needless to say, it was a pretty awkward situation to just... watch.

Will, who I was beginning to learn hardly took anything seriously, wiggled his fingers at me.

"I'm here quite a bit, you see." His voice carried some kind of accent, something that sounded quite British.

"Poor little Jacey gets lonely without me. Don't you?" Will cooed, grabbing his cousin and putting him into a headlock.

Jace managed to wiggle out of his hold, batting Will away.

I decided that I liked him. Anyone who could make Jace feel miserable was definitely going to be a good friend of mine.

"Shut up." Jace said with a scowl that I learned was a part of his natural facial expression.

Will smirked. "Fat chance of that happening."

I could tell the boys were going to start bickering all over again, but someone interrupted them.

"Going at it again?"

Will spun around and and his face broke out into a true, genuine smile that lit up his whole face. I turned to see what made him so happy.

A girl, probably a few years older than I was, stood there in the doorway.

She had long, brown cascading hair and smooth grey eyes. I would have felt intimidated around her, but when her eyes landed on me, she smiled and stuck out her hand.

"Tessa Gray." She introduced herself. "Will's soon-to-be wife."

Speaking of the devil, Will got up and walked over to where we stood, wrapping an arm around Tessa's waist and pulled her close, kissing the top of her head.

"Clary Fray." I replied, shaking her outstretched hand. "Although everyone seems to already know that already."

"Only because some people are incredibly nosy." Jace said, his voice coming from right behind where I stood. I jumped a little.

Will snorted. "I could hardly be called nosy. Observant, perhaps."

Jace muttered something under his breath which I didn't catch, but Will did.

"If you'll excuse me," Will said, unwinding his arm from Tessa's waist. "I have to go and beat the stuffing out of that fine gentleman over there."

Tessa rolled her eyes as Will quickly kissed her cheek before the two boys went at it again.

"Come on, Clary." She said, "We should go raid Jace's kitchen."

                         *               *               *

Jace, I soon found out, was a total neat freak.