Summary : So all the kids grew up together; Alec and Izzy Lightwood, Sebastian Verlac and his cousin Aline Penhallow, Simon Lewis, Jonathon and Clary Morgenstern, Magnus Bane, Jace Herondale and Maia Sanchez (Can't remember if her last name was ever mentioned in the book or not). They're all normal kids in high school and they're really close. Clary and Jon's dad died when they were little and their mother married Luke. Jace is forced to move away because his father gets a promotion. While he's gone he only keeps in touch with Alec, after a few years he comes home and everything has changed, but it's still the same too. The girls are all grown up and gorgeous, Alec and Magnus are dating, Simon's in love with Izzy and Clary has a boyfriend. Their group are the popular ones, the people everyone loves and wants to be around or be with.

Disclaimer : I don't own anything - except the plot line, that's all me ;)

It's Good to be Home

Chapter 1 : He's Back

- Jace's POV -

Jace was in his room lying on his bed just staring at the ceiling thinking about tomorrow. Would she be happy to see him? Would she yell and scream at him, or would she just ignore him and pretend he didn't exist. He wouldn't really be able to blame her if her reaction was one of the latter. Just thinking about seeing her again after all this time had him feeling excited, anxious, happy and terrified all at once.

A knock at his door brought him out of his reverie, it was his mother "Sweetie, are you all unpacked?"

"Yeah, I finished a while ago."

She walked into the room and sat beside him on the bed, she smiled and asked, "Are you excited about tomorrow?"

A quick flare of worry flashed in his eyes before he said, "Yeah, it'll be nice seeing everyone again."

His mother had seen his worry and said "Don't worry, they're still your friends. I'm sorry that we couldn't get here sooner so you could've had some time to get reacquainted with everyone before school started. At least we got here in time so you wouldn't miss the first day."

That was definitely true, although why he and his mother couldn't come early and set things up while his father closed up the house he wasn't sure. Seeing her anywhere other than the hallways of the high school for the first time would have been preferable. He just smiled at his mother and said "Don't worry about it Mom, it'll all be fine."

She stood up, gave him a kiss on the forehead and said, "All right sweetheart, get some sleep. I'll see you in the morning."

"Night."

"Goodnight, I love you."

"Yeah me too."

She just smiled at him and closed the door. Once he was alone again he began to worry about everyone else's reactions to seeing him again. Sure they had all grown up together and were a tight little group, but he had been forced to move away three years ago when his father got a promotion. The only person he really spoke to while he was gone was Alec. He didn't know why he lost touch with everyone else; it just seemed easier to talk to one person instead of nine. He knew if they wanted to know anything they could just ask Alec and he could too. Which is exactly what he did.

Izzy, Alec's little sister was still Izzy. Although, not long after he left she filled out and became completely boy crazy, which drives Alec nuts. Alec finally told his parents he was gay and was dating Magnus, no surprise there. He was finally happy in his own skin, not having to carry that secret around and hide from his parents made life easier for him. Sebastian, Jon and Simon were all sports gods along with Alec, which made them popular with the opposite sex. Aline, Sebastian's cousin had filled out just like Izzy and had caused a little uproar when she told her parents that she was bi-sexual the year after he left. She had been going back and forth, first dating a guy, then when she got bored she'd find a girl she liked. The gang totally accepted her, no surprise, but it was driving her parents insane. Maia had grown up quite a bit too, she was the only one among the girls that played sports, but that didn't stop the guys from wanting her. According to Alec, all of the girls in their group had grown up quite nicely, major hotties, keeping all of the guys on their toes making sure no one tried to take advantage of them. After all, the guys had grown up with all of them, so it didn't matter if they were actually related or not, they were all seen as little sisters.

One subject I rarely asked him about was her. Hearing that she was happy and didn't miss me wasn't something that I wanted to hear. Of course, hearing that she was miserable without me wasn't something I wanted to hear either. So the safest course was simply not to ask. Of course, since we were all so close, when he would be telling me about someone else she would be involved in the story too, so the subject wasn't completely avoidable.

Even though I was anxious about their reactions, I had to admit it was good to be home and it would definitely be interesting going to school with all of them again. Alec, Jon and Magnus were going to be Seniors, lucky bastards. Sebastian and Maia were going to be Juniors just like me. Izzy, Aline, Simon and her were all going to be Sophomores. I hoped it would be easy to slide back into my old life with my friends, but I doubted it would.

My father spoke with the football coach and got me a tryout with the team tomorrow after school, one thing I wasn't nervous about. The thought of not making the team was absolutely idiotic, I mean, come on, I'm a god. Absolute perfection. The coach would be an idiot not to give me the starting QB slot. It'd be nice to be on a team with the guys again and the tryout would definitely give me something to look forward to and help me get through the day.

After a few more hours of my mind racing about what was going to happen tomorrow sleep finally came to me. As I found oblivion I saw her face and once again she starred in my dreams.

- Clary's POV -

After dinner I went to my room to draw for a while, it usually calmed me down and helped all the craziness in my head stop. The first day of school was tomorrow, I didn't really see the big deal. Izzy and the girls were excited to be going back to school because they would be surround by boys and in Aline's case girls too. Summer was fun but Izzy complained because she didn't have enough of a variety of boys to choose from. I was just waiting for the day when Izzy realized Simon was in love with her.

Maybe the only reason it was so completely obvious to me is because he's my best guy friend. I had noticed it and decided to ask him about it one day. He tried to deny it, but I wouldn't let him. He finally came clean and swore me to secrecy, reluctantly I agreed. Although, this summer things seemed to change, Izzy was more aware of Simon and whenever we were together as a group she was always close by him. Maybe she was finally realizing what a great guy he was. I mean, all of the guys in our group are hot and the amount of attention my brother gets from the stupid girls at school has forced me to admit that he is too. But, they're all good guys too. They're smart, funny and not total asses like some of the guys at our school.

Maia and Sebastian have been acting cozy with each other too and it would be great if they got together. But if Aline and my brother decided to get together too that would leave me surround by couples. I suppose that wouldn't be so bad if they were all happy together and since Kyle is kinda technically my boyfriend, as Izzy continually tells me, all of them being together shouldn't bother me.

Kyle and I have been seeing each other since the end of my freshman year, he's in the same grade as Sebastian and Maia. He's also on the football team with the guys. The relationship isn't really that serious, we've hung out, held hands and kissed but that's about it. I know he wants more but I'm just not sure and I'm definitely not ready to go any farther with him then we already have. Whenever I actually stop to think about it and why I stop myself from getting serious with anyone I always see his face. I haven't really dated much, sure guys are interested but they just aren't him. I suppose I could follow Izzy and Aline's example and simple choose a guy because he's hot, but that's just not me.

When I heard a knock on my door I jumped and looked down at my sketchpad and realized I had drawn his face again. All I could think was 'Dammit, not again!' I hurried to close it and push the pad under my pillow when Jon came in.

He was smiling and had his phone in his hand "Alec just called. Apparently Magnus, Izzy and Aline are far too excited about school starting and have decided we need to have a party Friday night to celebrate."

I started laughing and said, "What a surprise, and I bet Alec is just thrilled with the idea of a party."

He sat down on the bed next to me and said, "I've never heard him so excited."

Poor Alec, he would much rather prefer a quite night, but that would never happen. Not with Magnus as his boyfriend and Izzy as his sister. I smiled and asked "So where's the party going to be?"

"At Magnus' his parents are out of town and won't be back for a week. Some business trip for his father and his mother went along to keep him company. So, yet again, he has the house all to himself and you know how much he likes the quite and the solitude."

We both laughed, Magnus loved being surrounded by people and being the center of attention. The exact opposite of Alec, but that's what made them work so well together. Magnus helped bring Alec out of his shell and Alec helped tame Magnus. "What time is the party going to start?"

"Around 9 and once its over the gang is just gonna stay the night there and use the pool on Saturday."

"Sounds good, although I don't think they're gonna give any of us a choice about going."

Jon laughed and said, "True, our presence is mandatory. So . . . are you gonna bring Kyle?"

Jon was never comfortable talking to me about boys. He would prefer me to stay his sweet, naïve and innocent little sister and never show an interest in the opposite sex. Of course that didn't stop him from asking for advice about his relationships, which I always thought was kinda funny. I just smiled at him and said, "I don't know."

"Oh, so . . . um, does that, I mean, um, are you guys doing ok?"

I tried to hold back a laugh and stared at the floor because I knew if I looked at his face I would loose it "We're fine."

He hesitated for a minute, probably trying to decide if he should push it or not. I heard him stand up and he kissed me on my head and said, "All right, it's getting late, I'm going to bed. I'll see you in the morning."

I looked up at him and said "Night."

Once he was gone I pulled my sketchpad out and looked at the picture. Why had I drawn his face again? It had been so long since the last time, why now? I threw my sketchpad on the floor, shut off my light and laid down trying to go to sleep, but sleep didn't come easily. My mind kept going back to him and when sleep finally did come he starred in my dreams.

A/N: Let me know what you think!