Rose knocked gently on the door of Kyra and Clary`s room, "Clary, may we come in?"
"Sure," Clary replied but Jia could tell that her friend was not in her usual cheery mood. When Rose opened the door and entered, their blonde friend was sitting on her bed. She was holding her camera orb and leaning back against a green quilt that was bunched up behind her, creating a sort of cocoon illusion.
On the right side of the room, Kyra`s bed was unmade and the shadow sorceress was missing. Both girls quickly took their seats on her bed in front of her.
"So, what`s up?"
Jia smiled at her," Who was the blonde Knight at the entrance earlier?"
"An old friend of my family," Clary answered curtly. She then picked up her camera and put it on her night stand before tucking a curl behind her ear She did however refuse to make eye contact with her friends.
Jia taking notice of that, reached out and titled her friend's chin up. Clary`s eyes were red and she was blinking rapidly as if trying to ward off tears, an action that Jia was familiar with, "Looks like he was definitely older and it looks like the visit really bothered you."
The petrifying sorceress shrugged and licked her lips before moving her chin away from Jia. She then twiddled with her thumbs, "He`s three years older than me."
"So why was he here?" Rose asked gently.
"Nothing," Clary answered.
Jia huffed, "Come on girl, you can`t pull that me especially after what you all did for me and my situation."
Clary covered her face with her hands, "It`s too embarrassing and humiliating and…"
"It can`t be worse then what I did," Jia insisted.
Clary slowly removed her hands and sighed," He…he`s sort of my first crush."
"Okay," Rose said as Jia shook her head," You know what? Maybe we shouldn`t push."
Clary tilted her head back and tried to blink away the tears, "No , it`s fine, it`s just…"She then drew in a sharp breath before rushing out an explanation, "I`m kind of embarrassed because it`s like Kyra and Mike only Reed won`t like me because I`m too young for him."
Rose frowned, "Have you told him?"
"Yes and I told him that I didn`t mind waiting for him but he wants me to move on," Clary explained. She then shrugged as if it wasn`t a big deal," So… I…. said that I would."
"Oh, Clary," Jia said as she moved to pull the sorceress in a hug to which Clary returned and burst into tears, "I`m so sorry."
Clary cried as Rose shuffled over to sit behind her and rubbed her shoulder sympathetically.
"I should have paid a little more attention to you, I would have known that you were going through something like this," Jia admitted.
Clary shook her head against her friend`s shoulder," I …I saw him at the Mixers but he never said anything but he always…. always got in between my dance partners…whenever I…whenever I was dancing too close."
Clary then leaned back and moved to wipe her tears but they just kept coming down," I...I don`t get it…He said he doesn't like...like me …like that so why...why get in between guys who are trying to get together with me?"
"Are they his Year mates?" Rose asked," Maybe he was just being overprotective because he knew the boys would play with you or hurt you?"
Clary shook her head as she tried to rein in her sobs and hiccupping," I... No, I never liked anyone in his year…Just, just boys from our year…like…like he said."
"Hey, what`s going on in here?" Kyra asked from the door way.
The three turned to see Kyra, Fiona and Zoey at the door way. Kyra looked like she had just come back from training and Zoey was still dressed the same from Jia left her in her room. They all joined the other three girls near Clary`s bed as Rose filled them in on everything that happened. When she was finished, Kyra and Fiona exchanged glances before asking their friend one by one what she wanted.
"Do you want me to roast him?" Fiona asked with a serious face. Clary`s jaw dropped. By then her tears had stopped but she still had red, puffy eyes and a red nose. Zoey just shook her head before going over to sit behind Jia on the bed. Violence really wasn`t the answer right now. They needed to advice their friend and not plot murders.
"What? "Clary whispered in shock.
"I could suck him into the shadow realm," Kyra suggested. Clary`s eyes shot to her roommate as if she couldn`t believe that she had just suggested that. She looked over her shoulder at Rose who cleared her throat, "I could trap him in his computer with no way out?"
"What? No! Are you all insane?!" Clary asked again just to make sure that she hadn`t heard right. Her head swung from left to right to the point where Jia was afraid that her friend would accidently snap her head.
"He made you cry," Kyra pointed out as if that was that was all the reason they needed to be violent.
Clary held up her hands to stop them from continuing, "I`m just being a child that`s all. There is no need to go after Reed."
"Gosh, just hearing his name makes me want to hurt something," Jia muttered before Zoey reached out to pat her roommate`s back," Simmer down, sister."
Jia slummed with a pout.
"No way, Clary. If he really wasn't interested in you then he would let you move on with someone by now, "Fiona pointed out, "I mean, you`re a catch."
"Yeah!" Both Rose and Kyra agreed. Clary tried very hard not to give her friends a watery smile but she couldn't help it. When the girls were riled up on behalf of their friend, it was truly sight to see.
"You danced with a lot of guys at the Mixers who wanted to date you but suddenly they get scared and don`t call you the next day."
Clary bit her lower lip "Maybe they thought I wasn`t interested?"
"Or someone warned them off you," Kyra suggested. Jia and Rose nodded seriously in agreement.
"He wouldn`t do that," Clary protested weakly. She then asked Jia," Would he? I mean, he`s a Knight."
Before Jia could form a response, Fiona put in, "He's also a teenage guy who`s in love with a minor he can`t touch."
"Fiona!" All the girls excluding Clary yelled. In fact, the sorceress just turned bright red with embarrassment.
Fiona jumped and held up her hands in mock surrender, "Sorry, fine."
"It definitely wouldn`t be the first time a guy would do that," Zoey pointed out. The other girls nodded while Clary bit her lower lip again before mentally scolding herself. . Looks like her old habit was starting again and she was going to have to break herself from it.
"How about we test that theory?" Rose asked out loud.
Jia frowned the techno sorceress, "How?"
"This weekend at Twin Peaks," Rose explained," We could have a guy make a move on Clary and see how he reacts."
Kyra folder her arms and cocked out her hip, "Define the word, 'Move'?"
"Like how Dylan and Jia danced at the second Mixer," Rose answered with a smile.
Jia glared at Rose who smiled innocently at her lightning wielding friend.
"What exactly did they do?" Clary asked.
"Think, pressed up dirty dancing," Rose answered. That`s when Jia moved to jumped over Clary to strangle her friend but was quickly pushed back by Clary and held back by Zoey.
"Only if you`re comfortable with it," Kyra said to Zoey directly.
"I….I guess so," Clary said after she successfully pushed Jia away.
"Two problems, though," Kyra pointed out as she held up her pointer and thumb," How do we get Reed to the club and who do we ask to put the 'move' on Clary?"
"I can get Reed there," Jia said as she aimed another glare at Rose who poked her tongue at her. Jia repeated the action before turning to Kyra," It's the least I can do since I won`t be there."
"And I can get a boy," Zoey added. The girls all shot her surprised glances to which she rolled her eyes," Cole will help me."
Rose and Fiona nodded as if they had just remembered who Zoey`s boyfriend was.
"Girls, I don`t know, I mean what will this accomplish?" Clary asked.
"That he either likes you and is trying to protect you or he's just being a jerk," Zoey outlined.
"What she said," Fiona said as she pointed at the kind blonde.
"Oh."
"Hey, I just realized something," Jia spoke up with a frown," You all didn`t threaten to deal with Tristan yourselves when it was me. You wanted to call the guys but for Clary, we`re doing this ourselves. How come?"
Fiona rolled her eyes, "Because genius, we know Tristan that well and so we can`t do the beating up but for Clary, Reed is a stranger to us. We can do the torturing ourselves."
"That makes no sense at all to me," Jia pointed out.
Kyra and other shook their heads at their friend and shared a laugh. Later that night, Jia paid a visit to the Student Leaders rooms and spoke to Gillian about getting Ash and his roommates to go to Twin Peaks on Saturday night during the weekend. Gillian was more than happy to oblige and asked if she would be joining them.
"No," Jia replied.
"Really beauty? I was hoping to see you dance with that turquoise eyed Knight again," Martha, a fellow Student Leader and Gillian`s roommate said from her bed. She would be going with Gillian because her boyfriend was also in Ash`s squad.
Jia looked away as her cheeks turned hot and she reached up to caress her dragon charm," He`ll be there but he`ll be dancing with other girls."
Martha made a tutting sound as she smiled at Gillian," Too bad, they looked great together that night."
"I know right, he also made the charm she`s been wearing these days," Gillian informed her friend," He gave it to her on her birthday."
"Oh, definitely boyfriend material," Martha said with a serious nod before she and Gillian giggled at the embarrassed looking Jia.
The lightning sorceress simply muttered a quick good bye before she ran out of their room. Dylan wasn`t her boyfriend or boyfriend material! Right?