Ok, so this is my first one-shot. Here goes nothin'.

In we go...

I had heard of him a few times before. The guy could do everything. He was an athlete, he could play the piano, the guitar and who knew what else. He had top grades too, apparently. He used to come round to our classroom every evening to get his best friend, Sebastian Verlac, who was one of my friends and was part of the little book club I had.

I never really noticed him then, too wrapped up in the little novels I used to read.

/.../

That year, there was a fair, where they had a stall full of books. What more did I need?

"Clarissa.." I heard, looking up to see him. Jace Herondale.

"You know, the Artemis Fowl books are right there."

"Yeah, I know." I replied.

Those books were my favourite and it was common knowledge among my friends that I was obsessed. But how the hell did he know? I wondered as he walked away.

But catching sight of Wuthering Heights, which I had simply been dying to read, I shook off my thoughts.

/.../

The next year, my friend came up running to me. "Hey, did I tell you? Jace's in almost all my classes this year!"

I was confused as to why that would be cause for such excitement.

"ok?..."

She just grinned widely and ran off.

/.../

That entire year, I would be forced to listen to Aline tell me how she caught him looking at her all the time.

I definitely wasn't surprised. Aline was beautiful, with her porcelain skin and the almond eyes.

But whenever I was in their classes, I would see him stealing glances in my direction.

He probably was looking at her though, after all, I was sitting right next to her.

/.../

We had an extempore in our school the next year. I was definitely jittery. While I was waiting for my turn, he stood next to me and whispered, "Nervous?".

And then he walked away. Weird guy.

After mine was over, he told me I did well and that my nerves didn't show at all.

That gave me a fluttery feeling in my stomach, setting my nerves off all over again.

They announced the winners a few days later, he was placed first, I came second. He was smiling as I got onto the stage and I could feel his eyes on me as I got my medal. And he was smiling. Which was weird, because everyone knew he was a stoic person, not smiling for cameras. Like, ever.

Like I said, weird guy.

I wish I got a copy of that photo though.

/.../

I never saw much of him in the next two years, except when we took a few medals onstage together. Until final year.

He was five of my classes.

It was a whole year of stolen glances at each other, And then those golden eyes would set me, the bookish no-nonsense girl with freckles and hair like fire, blushing like nobody's business. I'm serious. My cheeks would flame. Funny how I'd never noticed how good-looking he was before. Not that that concerned me in any way.

We were placed next to each other in almost all our classes, and my heart would flutter the whole time. I'd all but dash out of the room as soon as the bell rung. This feeling was entirely new to me and I took every opportunity to be as far away from him as possible. Clary Morgenstern did not get crushes. That was girly girl stuff.

Jace was smart, extremely smart. His hand would be up in the air before the teacher even finished asking a question and every teacher fawned over him, though it never seemed like he let any of that go to his head. Most kids in the school would call him a nerd,but he never let any of that touch him either. I both admired and hated him for it. Hated, because that was something I wished I could do.

But I was very competitive, and I didn't like losing to him, which I did, all the time, too much for my liking. So I set myself on studying, pushing any feelings back, determined to beat him, because this was the last chance I'd get.

It didn't work. I lost. Very badly, too.

We last saw each other on graduation day. One last glance before I hopped onto Jon's bike, jubilant to be leaving school, but nostalgic for all the days I'd spent hidden under a desk, reading novels without my teachers noticing.

I was really gonna miss that desk.

Later, I realized, that was the last I'd ever see of Golden boy.

I wasn't sad about that. Of course I wasn't. Why would I be? That didn't make any sense at all. We'd barely exchanged a word. I didn't even know him, like, at all.

/.../

THE END.

Kidding. We did see each other again. At college. My dream university and apparently it was his too.

We definitely did talk this time. A lot. We found out we had a lot in common. And for once, I found someone, who would not only listen to my long ramblings about literature, science, humanities and economics and life in general, but understand, instead of nodding off and sometimes even debate my ideas.

We became pretty close. Friends, Best friends, even. I still definitely had a crush on him, but I tried my best to not let it show.

We were friends, and that was all we would be.

/.../

We were watching a documentary together, when he blurted it out. I really like you. I have since we were in school.

I was shocked into silence.

After, I recovered, well...with my huge,huge crush, you can guess.

He told me that Sebastian had indeed told him about my obsession with Artemis Fowl, after much pestering from him. I was definitely surprised.

And, yeah, like you've inferred from the previous sentence, we're at the annoying nicknames stage. He calls me shortie, sometimes Red, sometimes, love, sometimes, babe.

And I did beat him, by graduating top of the class this time. He came a close second though. Sorry, not sorry, Goldilocks.

/.../

And now..THE END

As in really, the end.

Tell me what you think please!

Let me know, guys. Please. This is something I've definitely never done before, so , I want to know how it was.

And, yes, In Another World, will be updated soon. I'm hoping, by Monday.

Until Monday, Ametista Jager