A cold gust of autumn wind blew the crumpled golden, brown leaves towards Clary's feet as she walked down the footpath.

She kicked aimlessly at the leaves, wrapped her scarf closer to her neck and buried her hands deeper into the pockets of her jeans.
Her footsteps echoed down the street and through the town she had grown to know so well.

The old lady who lives down the road from her with 5 cats, the busy businessman across the road from her always dashing around in his silver Prius; talking loudly on his cell phone.

Clary's next door neighbour, a rather large lady with even larger lungs; you could hear her singing in the shower from miles away, and then there was Jace.

Jace lived with his parents two houses down from her, he was the perfect guy. With his mop of blonde hair, each strand curly and falling perfectly in place, his molten gold eyes and his breathtaking grin.

Clary sighed, dwelling on the unfairness of the world. She stopped at a small playground, one of her favourite places ever since she had been a kid. She sat down on the too small swing and swiped her sketchbook out from her bag and a pencil.

She twirled the pencil between her finger and thumb before capturing the autumn scene of a playground using just a pencil; but Clary was a talented artist, she had her mom's creative genes.

Her mother was an artist, working in her studio day and night on masterpieces and earning her money by selling them and taking shifts at a local bookshop.

Clary drew every stroke carefully making sure all the angles where right, the shading was right; not too dark and not too light.

Her mind eventually wandered to Jace; they had been friends since diapers. They were two different universes; two different stars, Clary was artistic, quiet and he was athletic, loud. Clary smiled at herself and stared off into space.

A pair of warm hands came up behind her and covered her eyes.
"Guess who..." a familiar voice whispered near her ears, Clary couldn't help grinning.
"Hey Jace," Clary replied loudly.

Jace uncovered her eyes and sat down in the swing next to her; he spotted the sketchbook and snatched it off Clary's hands. Raising his eyebrows at the page he handed it back to Clary.

"Amazing; as always," He praised. Clary smiled at him and blush slightly. She closed the sketchbook and jammed it back into her backpack.

Jace took hold of Clary's hand gently beside her; Clary felt the blood rush to her head, even though they have held hands before, it still made her feel giddy.

"Hey, how about we go to our secret spot?" He grinned at her, Clary returned his grin and swung her backpack over her shoulder and squeezed his hand, 'he sounds like his seven year old self again ' she thought.

They dashed off inside the forest nearby; they ran through bushes, trees and brambles all brushing against their clothes and hair; but they stayed connected.

They collapsed on a small patch of lush grass with mushrooms blooming around, tall towering trees creating a cool shade across the area; laughing.

Clary took a moment to catch her breath and lay side by side to Jace, their fingers still entwined and their bodies' inches away from each other.

Clary smiled to herself, and closed her eyes; breathing in the musky smell of the forest. It was quiet except for the sound of the autumn wind and Jace's even breathing. Clary broke the silence with her voice,

"So what are you doing in the holidays?" Clary asked facing Jace. She saw Jace wince slightly at her question.

"Kaelie's family has invited my family down to their vacation home." Jace replied still looking ahead. Clary felt her heart being swallowed by a big black wave of disappointment; she had looked forward to spending her break with Jace.

"That's great then, you'll love spending more time with Kaelie," Clary responded with fake enthusiasm. Jace faced her making eye contact with her.

"Yeah... but," he hesitated.
"Girlfriend advice? I'm always here to help." Clary squeezed his hand to comfort him.

He sighed, "I don't know, Kaelie seems too clingy for my taste, but I do like her a lot." Jace shrugged.
"She's only seems clingy because she loves you to." Clary said nonchalantly, knowing full well that Kaelie was a bitch and a major slut at school.

"I guess, thanks Clare. You're the best friend ever." Jace replied, sitting up. Clary mimicked him and sat up as well and smiled at him. Jace flipped open his phone to check the time.

"Got to dash, see you at school tomorrow." He said, giving Clary a hasty goodbye hug before running off.

"Love you..." Clary whispered into the empty space in front of her.

Clary stared at her reflection in her bathroom mirror. Tomorrow was the last day of her freshman year and she had been looking forward to spending the break with Jace.

She knew Jace would never fall for her, and he would only ever love her as a friend.

She stared back at herself with her piercing green eyes; her hair had refused to grow and was a little orange afro upon her head. Red pimples were splattered around her forehead and nose; she averted her eyes in shame from the mirror. No wonder no guys fall for me, I'm downright ugly she thought to herself.

She headed for the shower hanging the towel over the top of the shower glass. Salty tears mixed in with the hot water as they dripped down her cheeks, her heart was torn and shattered. She pinched the fat around her tummy in dismay.

She turned off the hot water, and wrapped the towel around her. She slipped on a pair of pyjamas and climbed into bed.

Clary lay in the dark listening to Jocelyn's soft music playing from the room beside her. Her self-esteem lowering with every thought that passed through her mind.

Her mind cried out for Jace: why can't you see that I love you more than a friend?

A/N: So this is my FIRST Mortal Instruments fanfiction. I really hope you enjoyed the first chapter. (:

The rest of the crew will be introduced further through the story; and just to clear some things up, Jace and Clary are both in freshman year, all human and AU. I'm definitely not

American, so I'm not too sure on how your school's worand when they start or end school so just bear with me on this one!So R & R! (: Message me if you have any questions or

suggestions or anything! (:

Ciao! ~ B.