Chapter 1

"Can I please get a-" I'm about to ask for an expresso in Starbucks when the barista cuts me off.

"I know" she replies with a smile. Of course she knows my order off by heart. I come here almost every day.

She hands me the coffee. "That would be $8." I hand her the money and thank her.

On my way out, I'm thinking about calling Simon to ask him to meet me so we can go shopping. I've been dying to get new set of paints for my new art project. I'm so lost in my thoughts of what I should paint that I don't realize I ran into something very tough. Not something, someone.

"Sorry, didn't see you there", I heard a very familiar voice say but I don't look up to see who it is, I don't have time for this. So I mutter a sorry and move along.

When I heard the same familiar voice say, "Clary, is that you?"

I look up and to see beautiful golden eyes. I'm shocked. It's him. The player, the heartbreaker. And there goes my mood.

"Jace" I try to mask my surprise. "What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same". There it is. His smirk.

"Well I happen to live here." Saying it like it's the most obvious thing. "Why are you here?"

"Now red, don't be so disappointed to meet me. I got a full scholarship in that college so here I am." He points to the college right across the street.

"No. No. No. Please tell me you didn't." This day couldn't get worse.

"Okay I didn't" He says while chuckling.

"Are you serious, did you really get in?" I ask with all hope that he didn't.

"Well of course short stuff. Why would I lie to you? And why does it bother you anyways?"

I groan and mutter quietly hoping he doesn't hear me. "Because I'm going to that college too."

"JACEYYYYYYYYYYY." I hear someone yell, and I turn around to see a tall blond running towards Jace. I'm on the verge of laughing my head off.

"Kaelie." He responds.

And I see this as an opportunity to get away from this situation so I say, "Well Jacey, have fun with your new slut." He looks at me with anger and I run off laughing.

So I should explain, my name is Clarissa Adele Morgenstern. Jace was my first boyfriend which was in 8th grade, and being the player he is, I fell for him really hard. Being a player, he doesn't care about my feelings or at least he always acted like that. He just breaks hearts and he broke mine too. BUT I've moved on, I'm not crying myself to sleep every night because of him. In fact when he broke my heart, I've gotten stronger. I'm not the same sensitive person as I was before. At least I hope I'm not. I've learnt to defend myself and no one can break me again. I won't let them. All my thoughts go down the drain when I hear my phone ringing. It's Simon.

"Hey Si, I was just about to call you."

"Clary, you won't believe who I met." His voice overflowing with happiness.

"Who?"

"Guess! You know them really well."

"SIMON TELL ME WHO IT IS NOW OR I WILL TEAR YOUR NEW COMICS" Simon has never been excited to meet people so I'm very curious. Too curious.

"Isabelle! And Alec! They are going to same college as us." Ahh Isabelle, his crush since 6th grade. No wonder he is so happy.

"That's great, hey how about we all meet up."

"Yep. Let's meet at our usual spot, you know which one" I her Izzy in the background, and I'm too excited to meet my best friends.

"Okay bring Isabelle and if Alec is with you bring him too"

"See you in ten."

As I reach our secret hidden spot, I see them talking. Alec notices me but I put a finger to my mouth to tell him to be quiet as I run towards Isabelle and squish her in my hug.

"Claryyyy!" She screams. "I've missed you sooo much, we've got so much to catch on. Like the fact that you turned pretty to extremely gorgeous. Oh my god, we need to go shopping to rule college."

I laugh, this is soo Isabelle. The last time I saw her, I had braces and my hair was crazy. Oh, how much I've changed.

I then turn to Alec and give him a hug telling him how much I missed them. Even though we are not blood related, we're practically a family. They always look out for me.

"You guys didn't tell me you were coming here." I say in fake anger.

"Well… uh we lost contact when you changed schools in 9th grade." Izzy says sadly.

That's right. My father got a new job offer so we moved to Chicago. I was very upset that we had to leave so when we moved I got a pleasant surprise of having Simon as my neighbor, my father chose the house right next to Simon's so I'll have a friend. Simon and I have been best friends since like birth. But unfortunately in 7th grade he left to Chicago because his father died and his mother couldn't afford to stay in New York so they moved in with their grandparents. So when we met up again, it was like we never stop being friends.

"BUT that's okay cause now I'm never leaving you alone Clarissa Adele Morgenstern" Izzy giggles. She GIGGLES?

"That sounds like a death trap, good luck Clary."

"Oh it is! Trust me Si when you left for 2 years, it was like hell.

"Oh and the food, I vomited 3 days straight." Alec cries. It's true, Izzy isn't allowed in the kitchen anymore.

"Hey! I'm not that bad." Izzy tries to say as a joke but I can hear a bit of sadness and suspicion.

"We're joking Iz, you know we love you." Simon states and hugs her in a friendly way. OH THEY ARE SO PERFECT TOGETHER.