Simon had always relished in the fact that he was neither popular nor unpopular in the terrifying world of torture that was high school. He was fairly normal; though his best friend Clary would try to disagree- "No one likes Thor more than Iron Man, seriously dude you are crazy". He and Clary, a short girl with hair as red as fire, had been best friends since they were children, their parents meeting each other at a nearby park nearly 12 years ago.

Now they were both 17, and still stuck together like glue. Well, that is until this new guy Jace arrived at school. Jace was a chiselled blond sex god who looked like he had walked out of an Abercrombie and Fitch advert. Clary had gone completely crazy. It wasn't long before this Jace was dominating most of their conversations, Clary daydreaming about his abs or his cute smile or whatever it was that she found so wonderful about him. Meanwhile Simon felt a little neglected, though he felt guilty about it. He shouldn't feel alone, I mean Clary had never had as much as a crush on a guy in years and now Jace comes around and she seemed happier than she had been in months. Simon was sort of thankful that Jace had showed up, because Clary's happiness was so important to him. But he still felt a twinge of jealousy when Clary informed him that she couldn't come to Simon's bands practice that day, when she had always been at every practice for years.

"I'm sorry Simon but Jace invited me to have coffee with him and you know how much I like him and this could be it Simon, this could be the guy, you know, so yeah I'm going to go now but have fun and I promise I'll try to come next time!"

A loud bleep indicated the end of the message. Clary had left Simon a voice mail while he had chemistry class. She knew he had chemistry, he thought. She hadn't wanted to face Simon and had taken the easy way out. He couldn't blame her though; Simon did have amazing puppy dog eyes that always persuaded Clary.

Simon wandered out of the school and started walking to his friend Eric's house. Him, Eric and a couple of other friends of theirs had been playing in a band for years now, and did pathetic little gigs at a few coffee shops in town. They constantly changed their name, but it had been "Insecure Winters" for the past week. Simon felt slightly tired, mostly due to the fact that he had stayed up a good part of the previous night reading.

A cup of coffee would be great, he thought and turned left at the traffic lights, sauntering towards Java Jones', his usual coffee place. He got as far as the front of the door when he noticed who was inside. Jace and Clary. Damnit, he cursed in his mind, he couldn't go here now without Clary thinking he was stalking her. He was going to have to find another place. Defeated, he started walking along the street of shops, hoping to find a place to get a decent cup of coffee. It wasn't long before he spotted a cute- though very hipster- looking café on the other side of the road. Large white letters saying "Jet Black" covered the small window beside the door. Oh the irony, Simon thought. It seemed like just the place for him.

He walked in and looked around. It was quiet enough, a few students wearing printed jumpers and black rimmed glasses looked at him walking in but soon returned to their conversations about escapist literature or whatever it is English students do in café's. The light inside was dim but not dark enough to prevent him from seeing where he was going, as well as the person at the register, clearly waiting for him to place his order. He was only going to get a normal cup of coffee, like he always did, but he took his time pretending to choose something from the list at the back of the wall so he could catch a better look at the girl behind the counter.

She had short brown hair and a pretty face, but was clearly not Simon's type. The way she looked at his shirt quizzically tipped him off as to why it would never ever happen. He was wearing a black shirt with a Spanish version of Obi Wan Kenobi on it, under his picture the text: "Obi-Juan Kenobi". Simon took his eyes off the board and turned to the girl behind the counter.

"Just one coffee thanks, and I'll take it to go" He smiled, placing the exact amount of money into her hand.

"That'll be just one minute" She said and smiled sheepishly as their hands touched. She gestured for him to wait on the side as the next customer placed their order. Only then did Simon realize that there had been someone standing behind him. And not only someone, but an incredibly hot girl-woman- he didn't even know anymore. She had long black hair that cascaded past her shoulders down to the middle of her back, and piercing dark brown eyes framed with long eyelashes. She looked up at Simon and he backed away nervously. God, he could never act right around girls could he.

While the girl placed her order Simon looked her over again. She was wearing tight black pants, a black top and a form fitting leather jacket, complete with gold bangles accessorizing her right hand. He could see a glimpse of a black tattoo from under the sleeve of the jacket, but didn't have a chance to look closer as his phone suddenly started ringing. He snapped back to reality. He fished his phone out of his pocket-by now everyone in the café was looking at him, apparently the star wars tune wasn't 'in' anymore- and answered it hastily.

"Clary?" He asked as her familiar voice spilled through the speaker in his phone.

"Yes, I realize that he is extremely attractive, and no he is not out of your league. Wait, where are you?"

"In the alley behind the café? Seriously?" He paused.

"Okay, well first of all you better get back inside and use the bathroom or whatever you said you were going to do before you snuck out because you don't want him thinking you ditched him. Second of all- are you listening to me?" Simon asked, slight annoyance visible in his voice.

"I said go back inside. And if you want to kiss him and he wants to kiss you then I think everything is okay. Clary, this Jace guy looks like a model, I'm pretty sure that you should count yourself extremely lucky if you're the one he wants to snog. Okay? Now calm down and get back in there, or I'll come over and kiss him myself" Simon instructed and smirked.

"Okay, bye Clary" He said and ended the call. It was only when he looked up that he realized the girl he'd been looking at before was staring at him. He looked around, as if to make sure that it was actually him she was looking at, not some hot dude behind him. Unsure of what was going on he asked: "Is there chocolate on my face or something, because you're looking at me like there is something wrong with me."

The girl smiled and handed Simon his coffee, which she had apparently taken the liberty of adding milk and sugar to.

"I thought I'd give you this as the girl behind the counter was getting pissed at you for not taking it. I imagine you didn't notice though, not with the way you were talking on the phone." She stated, her mouth curving in to a small smile.

"Well, thanks I guess. And yeah sorry about that, it was a 'life or death situation' or something, at least that's how she described it" He said referencing to the conversation he had had with Clary minutes before.

"I couldn't help but hearing you mention someone called Jace. Tall, muscular, looks like an angel but smiles like he's got some dirty secret?" She asked, seemingly quite amused.

"Oh please don't tell me you're dating him? Because that would destroy Clary. And yeah, that sounds like him. Though you might want to add 'obnoxiously arrogant' to the list." He stated, looking at the girl like he had already given up the thought of her being single.

She looked at him for a few seconds and then broke into laughter. It was a genuine laugh, and Simon could see her eyes light up.

"Oh my god that is hilarious" she panted, still giggling at what Simon had said. "He is most definitely not my boyfriend. He is my brother-adopted though-so you can't blame me for the arrogant part of his personality."

Simon sighed visibly, comically wiping his forehead with the back of his hand in a gesture of relief. "Good, because that means I would've had to beat him up for hurting Clary's feelings" He added, now relaxed enough in the company of this girl to crack a joke.

She looked at him, smiling, and then lifted her free hand toward Simon.

"Isabelle Lightwood, please to meet you"

"Hi Isabelle, I'm Simon, nice to meet you too" He said and took her hand, shaking it with probably more force than was needed.

"You want to drink any of that coffee before it gets cold?" She asked and gestured towards the cup still in his hand.

"Oh, right yeah that'd probably be a good idea" He said and took a sip. "So yeah it was great to meet you but I have a band practice to go to, so I can't stay" He apologized, hoping to leave before he embarrassed himself.

"Well, that's a shame but take this, and call me if you want to meet again, I like your sense of humour." She smiled and handed over a card with her number scribbled on it.

Simon couldn't believe it. How was this smoking hot girl giving him her number? Was this his lucky day? He shook off his dazed expression and reached for the card.

"Okay, well I'll be sure to call you, thanks, bye" He said and rushed to the door. This couldn't be happening this couldn't be happening, he thought as he walked to Eric's house. He tucked the card he was still holding into his back pocket and drank the rest of his coffee in long gulps. This was going to be an interesting week.