[ 35 ] 2013

Paúl led his younger brother into the house. 

He was a tall young man with jet black hair styled into a quiff and fair skin color. He wore all black and stopped in the livingroom just as his older brother was about to lead him upstairs. "Wait, Pol. Lets not be rude to the ladies. Introduce me to them." He said with a grin. In his Mexican accent, and his attempt to say his brother's name in its Americanized form, it turned out sounding butchered.

The hunter rolled his eyes. He was already halfway up the steps and had to return to the bottom. "Brother, they are Arlequin, Fénix, Azel, and you already know Demsy. Girls, this is my younger brother. His name is Jóhn-Jairo and he studies music and spanish literature at Universidad de Guadalajara. But you can call him pendejo." Dumbass, Paúl said, stifling a laugh. Of the people in the room, only he and his brother seemed to understand he was trying to make  a joke. To the girls, he was only laughing for no reason, and it was a strange thing to see the always serious Paúl smiling.

"Oye," Jóhn-Jairo complained, elbowing his brother in the stomach. "Don't tell them that!"

"We don't even know what that means." Harley shrugged her shoulders.

"Oh, I remember!" Dempsey laughed.

"Don't even say it, tacos." Jóhn-Jairo warned Dempsey. Back when she had been in Mexico, one of the few words she knew how to say was tacos, and from them on, it stuck as her nickname whenever Paúl's brother saw her.

But Dempsey looked at him with a smirk, challenging him. "It means du-" She began to say, but he cut the distance between them in a second and clamped a hand over her mouth while she laughed all the while. 

"Callate, tacos." Be quiet, tacos, he said to her, laughing along.

"Jairo, ya." Enough, Jairo, his older brother said firmly. And grabbed him by the arm, pulling him away from Dempsey.

"Oh, sorry, Pol. I forgot she's your girl." Jóhn-Jairo winked. Waving goodbye at the group of girls sat in front of the television, he said, "You can call me Jóhn, you can call me Jairo, you can call me Jóhn-Jairo. Or you can call me John, without the accent if its easier to pronounce for you beautiful ladies." He winked at them. "I'm not picky like the grammar police over here." He gestured to his brother who was standing beside him, trying to drag him away.

Phoenix leaned into whisper into Harley's ear. "He's so cheeky and Paul is so serious. How is it that those two are brothers?"

Harley shrugged. "I don't know. Billy and I are nothing alike either."

-

Over the next few days in which Phoenix was visiting Sydney, Luke spent most of his time away from Hazel, but with the other new girl at school. Harley and Calum had gone to the fourth floor again, both agreed it was rather sickening to see Luke trying so hard to win over a girl. And the way Phoenix was leading him along was not fun to watch either. 

Today, Harley had her college physics, advanced placement art history, and twelfth year english.

During her art history class, she couldn't leave the room for long because her babysitter Paúl, as she liked to call him, was always watching her. It was his job after all, not that he had chosen it or was thrilled to have it. Had it been his own choice, he would have been back in Mexico, hunting shifters at night.

But he hadn't killed anyone in weeks.

That had to be a new record.

With a special permission from the school, they had skipped all the security and background checks because of Paúl, his younger brother was given a temporary job at the school for the month. He would be running errands for the front office. 

The young man with a foreign accent was thrilled about his temporary job. He got paid, did little work, and got to look at all the pretty girls in skirts. 

He almost reminded Harley of Calum, only John was smiling and always in a good mood.

That was something that Calum was not.

The lesson plan for the day stated that the students were to pair up into groups of two. And they would be assigned a painting. From that painting, they would analyze and then present it to the whole class. It was a given that Calum and Harley were on the same team, and they had been assigned a painting called The Arnolfini Portrait. 

Calum stared at the painting for a minute before giving up. He pushed his textbook forward and groaned. "Can't we just mind control the teacher into giving us a good grade on this? I don't know what the painter was trying to say with this."

Having overheard him, Paúl walked over. He observed the painting from over their shoulders and quickly began to explain, "Its supposed to be like a wedding portrait. The mirror in the back, behind them, is supposed to make you feel like you're a guest at their marriage ceremony." Pointing at the mirror on the wall behind the couple, he added,  "You can tell many things about them just by the clues in this painting."

Harley sighed. "We are not Art History people. We know nothing."

"And in the back," He continued without paying attention to her words, "The artist left his signature: Jan van Eyck was here."

-

Harley and Calum couldn't find Phoenix during lunch hour, not that Calum minded her absence. Her blue eyes scanned over the people in the foyer, looking for her friend. She looked to the popular students' table where Luke was also nowhere to be found.

And then she spotted Hazel by herself. 

Her brother Jack no longer attended St. Genevieve's Academy and she only sat with the populars because of Luke. Without him, she had no desire to sit at their table. She couldn't consider any of them her friends. Hazel knew the only reason they cared about her was because she was a new student, and because she was dating Luke. And it seemed Luke was losing interest in her, as well as the rest of the fourth year students.

All were kissing up to Phoebe Nixon, who was a regular nobody at her high school in Perth. But in Sydney she was somebody and was willing to capitalize on it. 

She had them all wrapped around her finger, especially Luke. He seemed to be the most interested in her, though he tried to hide it from Hazel and thought she didn't notice when he would send and recieve messages from her. Hazel could feel her relationship with Luke coming to an end.

Erika spotted the Canadian student and went to tell her the bit of information she had on Luke. "Hey, Hazel."

Hazel looked up from her tray without much enthusiasm. "Hey Erika."

"I just came to tell you," Erika began, not even taking the time to beat around the bush. "That I saw Luke leaving the school with Phoenix."

"Okay, whatever." Hazel shrugged. She honestly wasn't even surprised. But then she felt it in her heart, the same feeling she thought Kylie had felt. She never met Kylie, but she had heard the stories from other students. Luke had stopped at nothing to get Kylie and when he had her, he got bored and moved on. Hazel felt the anger, the betrayal. And she wanted to see him suffer. It wasn't that she had loved him all that much, if anything at all, but it was the fact that she felt humiliated by Luke Hemmings.

Erika just stormed off without another word, leaving Hazel alone. But it wasn't long before someone else approached her. This time it was a person she was actually glad to see. 

"Why are you here all by yourself?" Michael asked her.

"Luke didn't show up for lunch." She replied, "And I don't really like sitting with his friends."

She hated being at school and being able to hear their thoughts. His friends, they all knew Luke was trying to win over Phoenix. And many of them even hoped that they would score with Hazel after Luke left her. She was disgusted by that.

Hazel grabbed her phone and sent Luke a text message. 

We're over, Luke. That was what her message for him.

She never got a reply.

Instead she got a picture message of Phoenix and Luke, eating out from a fast food place. There were bright smiles on both their faces. But Hazel knew it wouldn't last long, not with Luke's strange obsession for new girls.

As she got up from her seat, her hand grabber her phone off the lunch table and she slipped it into her pocket. She headed for the exit, where the football field was and Michael followed closely behind her.

Hazel Quimby was feeling vengeful.

And her wrath had two targets.

-

ayeee an update for ya! i told you it was going to get dramatic. but it will continue to get dramatic in the next few chapters. so stay tuned for them. 

question of the day: what kind of phone do you have? i have a lame ass android. but i really want an iphone. i might get one though, i've been thinking about it because they just look so cool. i had the opportunity to get one when i was sixteen. but i pissed it away and chose a fucking blackberry instead. those are the negative effects of having a bf. he had one, so i got one. and we only lasted like six months. lol

another side question of the day: do you think hazel is right to be angry? i think fuck yeah. if a hoe comes in and takes my man (which i have no man, but still), i would slap a hoe. and slap him too.

anyway, comment below!

thank you for reading.

-clary xx