Hello all! I know no one likes lengthy author notes but I'm going to do this one because this is my first ever fanfiction. Please enjoy and please review. Comments and criticism accepted - just don't be horribly mean. This is my first story and I know there will be issues, just as there is with anything that anyone tries for the first time. I will update at least once a week. There might be a few times where I will do two in a week if I get extra reviews but I will NEVER withhold a chapter for reviews.

Unfortunately I do not own anything related to the Mortal Instruments - Cassandra Clare has rights to all of that beautifulness - I just get to borrow the characters for fanfiction purposes.


"I got lost in him. And it's exactly the kind of lost that is like being found."

- Claire LaZebnik


Jace walked into the house just as Clary came down the stairs. Her red hair was bouncing up and down on her shoulders, outlining her porcelain skin perfectly. Jace thought he was probably the only one who noticed though. He had had a crush on Clary for years. He had thought about acting on it once or twice but had always been deterred by the fact that he had been her brothers best friend since the age of seven.

"Hey Red!" He called as she turned the stairs to go toward the lowest level of the house. He hadn't called her by her given name since he was in the seventh grade. She was in sixth.

"Hey Blondie, what's up?"

"Not much just looking for Jonathan. Is he around?"

"He should be back any time. He just dropped Luke and my mom off at the airport with their twenty gazillion bags!" Clary finished with a flip of her hair as she turned to go downstairs.

Their stepfather was an owner of one of the smaller bookstores in town and had been offered a full expense paid trip for seven months to rural areas of Mexico and South America to teach children to read. Clary and Jonathan were staying by themselves for the duration because the Lightwoods lived right across the street.

Just as Jace was about to follow Clary down the stairs, Jonathan walked through the door. Jonathan walked with horrible posture, his white hair flopping over when he looked down to put the keys in the bowl by the door.

"Hey bro what's up?" Jon called without looking up the bowl. He walked toward the kitchen and beckoned to Jace to follow. By the time Jace caught up to his long strides, Jon already had sandwich fix-ins splayed on the counter.

"So this is what it's gonna be like for the next seven months?" Jace chuckled. He walked over and grabbed a few slices of salami before hopping up on the counter to observe Jon's meticulous sandwich making.

"Yup! I'm not going to go crazy or anything but I was thinking of having the gang over after homecoming. Maybe we can throw a big party once, as long as we keep it in the basement and clean up really well. We obviously don't have to worry about them coming home early because they have no way of getting to any big city until at least November."

"Sure dude! Let's do it. Who are you thinking of asking?"

"Eh, probably Aline. She's hot and not relationship material. I'm really just looking for a date for that one night and then I'm good."

"Real mature Jon" Clary stated as she entered the room. Jace choked on the water he had been in the process of swallowing.

"Aw come on Clary. You know I'm not a relationship guy."

"That doesn't mean you can't be nice to girls" Clary chastised as she reached into the fridge to pull out a box of cold pizza. Jace watched her walk around the kitchen, glancing over at Jon every few seconds to make sure he hadn't noticed his best friend checking out his younger sister. Just another reason to add to the list of reasons Jace could never have Clary. Jon knew how much of a player he was and would never approve, no matter how much Jace would try to convince him otherwise.

Once they had all gotten food, they headed upstairs to the TV room to watch a movie, taking their normal positions on the L shaped couch – Jace's back against the corner of the couch, stretching his legs along the smaller end toward the armrest. Jonathan would put his back against the other armrest. When they were younger, Clary would take her place on the floor on a small pile of pillows. As the three had grown older and Jace had become more of a permanent fixture in their house, Clary had taken to leaning on Jace's chest and twining her legs in Jon's. Every time they sat like that, Jace desperately hoped she didn't hear his heartbeat speeding up.


Back to school, Jace groaned internally. The only thing he was excited about was soccer practice after school.

As he walked into first period, he was quickly reminded that Clary had skipped a year in school. She was now going to be a senior just like Jace and her brother. And she would also have some of the same classes, starting with Jace's first period history class. She sat in the back of the classroom nearest the window. Jace was about to walk to his normal seat on the other side of the classroom when he heard the high pitched squeal of Aline Penhallow and her bitch of a best friend Kaelie. They walked over to Clary and began harassing her immediately.

"Honey, you really should shave your head. If you sat in the front of the class, no one would be able to see around your clown hair" Kaelie taunted.

"Then again, you'd probably have to burn all of your clothes because you wouldn't have your clown hair to match your outfits anymore." Aline added.

Clary had told Jace and Jon that these girls teased her but neither of them had never witnessed it. Jace moved to get up and intervene but Clary caught his eye and gave the slightest shake of her head. Jace knew she wanted to fight her own battles but he couldn't just let them treat her like that.

Jace grabbed his bag from beside the desk and walked over as though he had never been sitting down. He slid into the seat next to Clary, ignoring the two bullies and going on as though he hadn't seen or heard anything they had said.

"Hey Clary! Thanks for saving me a seat." A thrill rushed through Jace's core as he realized he called her Clary, her given name, for the first time in years. Aline and Kaelie glanced at each other and walked to their seats just as the teacher entered the room. As the lecture began, Clary turned to Jace and mouthed a small thank you before focusing on her textbook for the remainder of the period.


Jace entered the cafeteria with his head held high. There weren't enough sporty guys at Alicante High to have an entire football team so the soccer team ruled the school. He waltzed right past his sister Isabelle, who was also Clary's best friend. Simon, Isabelle's boyfriend, sat to her left and Clary sat across from the two of them. Jace took up his usual seat on the end of the soccer team's lunch table, next to Jon. His seat gave him a perfect view of Clary, laughing at whatever had just been said. He mentally scolded himself for thinking of her like that but found himself unable to look away. He stared at her in awe for so long that she looked up and made eye contact. His heart skipped a beat as she gave him a small smile and turned back to her previous conversation.


Hurrying into the locker room, Jace realized that he was the last one there. He had been talking to Clary about their biology project they had been assigned. Luckily for him, it was a year long study on a specific biome that would turn into their final, meaning Clary was his partner for the whole year. As he was daydreaming about how they would grow closer throughout the extensive process that the project would require, he heard Jonathan talking to one of the new guys on the team. His name was Sebastian and he was a transfer student from a larger town whose school funding went mainly to their football team. Sebastian transferred so he could play soccer on a team that was actually good.

"Honestly I think it would be so much fun to go to homecoming but I have no idea who to ask. I feel like no one would say yes because no one knows me." Sebastian stated factually, no emotion behind his words.

"Dude, you're on the freaking soccer team. You're basically royalty. You could have any chick in the school!" Jon encouraged.

"The problem is, I don't know who I want because I don't know anyone."

" I have a fantastic idea. My little sister wasn't going to go to homecoming this year because all of her friends have dates but she didn't. Why don't you ask her?"

Jace had to use all of his energy to prevent his jaw from dropping to the floor at Jon's offer. He barely eve knew this kid and he was already setting him up. With his sister no less. Jace angrily slammed his locker and headed toward the door leading to the fields. A few heads turned at his outburst but most figured it was just him getting psyched up. He tied his shoe laces while sitting on the bleachers still seething. How could Jon just go and offer up his Clary to some other dude. Wait, HIS Clary?

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