I was running. I couldn't get away fast enough. I heard the steps coming closer and I sped up, I've never run this fast before. I turn down a street hoping to run into somebody. Instead it's a dead end in an alley. There's a wall in front of me. I turn around to face the front of the alleyway. The figure shown by light is obviously a man. He starts coming closer.

Just as he gets within 5 feet of me something, a man, drops from the sky to a crouch in front of me. Even in the dark light of the alley, the golden wings are unmistakable. As the man (Angel) stands, his wings spread as if he was shielding me from the attacker. The Angel in front of me is a good foot taller than my 5'2" self, so I hear rather than see the attacker run away.

I let out a large breath I didn't know I was holding and that seems to get the Angels' attention. He slowly turns and I see that the man, or boy now that I see his face a little better, is golden. Golden hair, golden body, golden eyes… Wait, those eyes seem familiar. I take a better look at my avenging Angel and pay attention to his face. NO! It couldn't be-

"Clary!" I was awoken by a shout and a pillow in the face. I sit bolt upright in bed. Isabelle. I should have known. I spent the night here.

"Really, Izzy…really?" I ask her as I get out of a tangle of sheets and head towards my hairbrush. I've come over so much in the past 4 years of high school that Izzy and I both have stuff at each other's house. Well, I can call my house a 'house' because it 's a one story brick house from the 60s while Izzy's house should be called a 'deluxe-mansion' because it could house a small army. Of course, because of my brother and Izzy's step-brother, we have to hide the stuff in our 'Lady Drawer' so the boys won't mess with it.

"I get that you're my best friend and all, but why hit me in the face with a pillow, Izzy?" I look at her disapprovingly as I say this.

"Well, Clary dear," she says with a mockingly innocent tone to her voice, "you were dreaming and I tried to wake you earlier but you wouldn't wake up so I left you while I had breakfast. After breakfast, I thought you'd be awake and you weren't so I had to hit you with a pillow and scream your name because nothing else worked." As she finishes explaining her story, I notice that she's dressed in her uniform.

"Oh," she adds while inspecting her clear nail polish, "and we're going to be late."

"WHAT?!" I screech and go into lightning mode as I get dressed.

~.o.O.o.~

10 minutes later, with my Jack Spade (inherited) messenger bag, I stand ready for school in my knee length pleated navy blue, teal, grey, and gold skirt, navy blue short sleeved polo shirt, and over the ankle white socks with my navy vans. My curly crimson hair is in a low messy bun and I have no makeup surrounding my dark green eyes or anywhere on my alabaster skin, despite Izzy's best attempts. Speaking of Izzy, I look nothing like the beauty standing next to me in her mirror.

Her ink black hair has been left long and straight, unlike my curly crimson hair that only Izzy possesses the magical ability to tame. She has dark brown eyes and has brown eye shadow, ruby red lipstick, a hint of foundation for her fair skin, and mascara on.

"Alright, ready to go to the top all-girls school in the country?" Izzy asks in a mockingly stuck up nasally voice mimicking Kaelie Whitewillow, the school slut.

"Of course your royal bitchiness," I respond and we both laugh as we leave her room and head down the stairs.

~.o.O.o~

As we get into her car I realize that I forgot my phone inside. "I'll be right back, I forgot my phone!"I shout at her and run inside. Inside Alec is in the kitchen eating a bowl of cereal while sitting at the counter. Lucky boys get to start 20 minutes later than girls at their all-boys school and we get out at the same time! So unfair!

"Hey Alec," I call to him as I race up the stairs. Alec is Izzy's 19 year old brother. He has black hair like Izzy's, but instead of dark brown eyes, he has light blue eyes, and instead of being 5'9" like Izzy, he is 6' tall. He's currently a freshman at NYU and is studying to be a sports manager. And apparently Jace wants to be the same thing.

Jace. Jace Herondale. Izzy's adoptive brother. He's the golden boy. And I'm not talking about his personality or actions because he is horrible, but his skin, eyes, and hair because they are all gold… Gold sounds vaguely familiar. Like it's from a dream or something.

He is also 6'2". I happen to be the shortest wherever I go. We're all 18 and seniors but they are old for their grade because their parents held them back purposefully. He's younger than her by 3 months, being born in January. And I'm younger than him by 8 months taking the month of August.

I get to Izzy's room and grab my phone, stuff it in my bra, and turn towards the door. Crap! It's 7:20! I'm going to be so late! I think to myself as I run out the door. Wham! I collide with something hard and am knocked on my ass as I leave Izzy's room. The person I ran into is on the floor as well and he stands up first and dusts himself off while I try to regain my sense. That knocked a lot out of me! I look at the person I ran into and…it's Jace. Of all the people I could have run into on this fine morning, it had to be Jace.

Wait a minute. Jace. JACE! It can't be true. He couldn't have- What?! "Listen, Red, I know I'm handsome and all but you really need to stop staring," he says with that damned smirk on his face. It appears my brain isn't working so I just sit on the floor with a shocked look on my face. The infamous smirk widens as he helps me up off of the floor. I still don't say anything and just stare at him. Apparently my newfound muteness has some affect on him and the smirk disappears, replaced with a concerned look.

"Are you okay, Red?" he asks me.

"I- I have to go," I stutter and start to move around him when he catches my arm. He holds onto my arm with enough force to turn my face to his, but not enough force to hurt me.

"Are you okay," he asks again looking into my eyes.

My brain clears from the cloud of shock long enough so I can nod mutely at him. He releases my arm and I flee down the stairs as if my life depended on it and jumped in Izzy's car. She puts the radio on high and pulls out of the driveway singing along to "Howl" by Florence + The Machine at the top of her lungs. Her singing isn't that good.

That run in with Jace cost us 5 minutes, but the drive to school is only 15 minutes so we still have 10 minutes to get ready for our first class of the day.

15 minutes is all the time I need to mull over the fact that Jace was my avenging Angel.