I made sure to leave for my 4th period class way earlier than needed. The day went fairly well, mostly consisting of me introducing myself to the school. According to my trusty, now worn-out school map, my science class was in the opposite corner of the campus. As I hastily put in the combination code for the lock, I was greeted with a rush of papers falling out everywhere. I panicked; I couldn't risk being late. Then I noticed the mess of papers wasn't mine. Screw you, Jace.

I was actually considering leaving it, but before I could abandon the mess, a tall, dark-haired girl swooped by to help pick up the jumble. I was immediately envious of her beauty. She had lustrous, raven-black hair, designer clothes, high cheekbones, large, dark, eyes, and full lips. And she was tall.

"Hey, I'm Isabelle," she said, smiling. Reaching down to pick up a magenta syllabus, she saw his name scrawled in black ink. Jace. "Whoa, why do you have Jace's papers?"

Great. Now she probably thought I was a stalker.

"Unfortunately, I have to share a locker with him," I sighed.

"Aw, I pity you. He's my step-brother, and I have to survive with him living in the same house as I do." She laughed lightly, a gentle tinkling sound. Isabelle didn't seem to be snobby, but rather sincere. I liked her, but was intimidated by her grandeur.

Isabelle pushed the neat pile of paper back into the locker. "So, are you new here?"

I nodded.

"That's cool. Well, do you need any help navigating to your classes?"

I nodded again. "Sure. I have science next."

I managed to arrive with the help of Isabelle just before the bell rang. The teacher had piercing gray eyes, and he motioned for me to come over. I walked to the front of the classroom by his desk.

"Class, this is Clarissa Fray. Please be kind to her. Why don't you go ahead and introduce yourself, Clarissa?"

I sighed exasperatedly. I didn't know how many times I had said this. "Hey, I'm Clarissa, but I prefer to be called—"

"Clary. She prefers to be called Clary." Jace grinned, and did that nod-of-the-chin that guys do to acknowledge a person's presence. He was lounging in the chair with his arms crossed over his chest.

I eyed him warily. "Yes, I prefer to be called Clary. I just moved here. So…yeah." I turned to Mr. Starkweather, who gazed at me expectantly. When he realized that I was finished, he said, "You can go sit over there in the empty seat."

Instead of talking about something that was actually useful, like chemistry in an AP Chemistry class, he ranted on about the syllabus and expected behavior and classroom rules and criteria and…

I ripped out a sheet from my spiral notebook and began to draw the classroom, portraying the sunlight filtering in through the windows, and the portraits of the students' backs were fairly accurate, as well. I admired my work. Except for the blue lines crossing through it, it was very realistic.

"I'm insulted. You would rather look at your drawing than my face?"

I looked up, to find myself dangerously close to Jace's face. He was leaning over my desk—my desk, even though his own desk was far, far, away—and was frowning in fake-hurt. God, everything about him was perfect.

What.

I leapt back and yelped, "What are you doing?" My momentum brought me farther than I expected, and my chair tilted back with such a force I knew I would crash onto the ground and humiliate myself in front of everyone.

I braced myself for the impact.

There was none.

I pried my eyes open, which had previously been squeezed shut. The scent of pine and winter-mint and cinnamon wood washed over me. The golden angel was kneeling next to me and had his arms underneath my chair, approximately a foot above the ground, with his fingers tangled in my hair.

The entire classroom had gone silent. Everyone was facing us.

I gazed into his dreamy, tawny, eyes. Jace smirked at me, his full, yet masculine, lips curved into a lopsided smile. "Didn't expect you to be so excited from my presence."

And just when I thought maybe he wasn't so bad, you know, saving me from falling on the floor, and all. I harrumphed and leaned forward, getting out of his grasp. And the chair would've righted itself, except for his fingers were still in my hair.

"Oh, sorry," he grinned sheepishly, unraveling his long, slender, and calloused fingers from my hair. I shivered, but not because it was cold. He seemed to take a deliberately long time, stroking a particular strand of hair. I scrutinized his face, and unable to determine whether or not if the apology was genuine.

"It's fine," I mumbled. I stood up, and glanced around the room. Most of the girls were glaring at me with jealousy blatantly etched upon their faces. I remained stoic, determined not to let him get to me. He was too arrogant, and abused his godly good looks and charm—and I needed to stop thinking about him like that.

A loud throat-clearing was heard. Mr. Starkweather. "Thank you, Jace, for helping…Clary. Now, everyone, please get back to work with your partners."

"Partners?" I said, bewildered.

"Yes, Clary. Partners," Jace said slowly, as if I were a 5-year-old.

"So…We're partners?"

"Gee, you're slow. Did you not notice Mr. Starkweather pulling our names out from the red cup?"

"Red cup?"

"Do you pay the slightest bit of attention in class? Even I was watching that. And yes, a red cup. It's red. Or do you need me to explain that to you too, dumba—"

Don't slap him, don't slap him, don't slap him.

I sniffed, a tendency I had when trying to overcome emotions, even if I didn't have a runny nose. "Alright, so what is the thing we're partnering for?" I said, before I could stop myself. I had just added another reason as to how clueless I was of the situation. I mentally scolded myself.

He closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance. "We're doing a long-term research paper on chapter five. You are the most ignorant person I have met, redhead."

"Well, I guess we best get started," I said through gritted teeth.

"Yep. You really need the extra time, since you're so slow."

My hands balled up into fists, and it took all of my self-control to not smack him upside the head.

The day passed without much event, except for my science class (word spread around quickly). I unlocked the apartment, where I waited for Jocelyn to come back home. The apartment was small, and quite cheap, but it was cozy.

I walked into the living room, threw my backpack onto the beaten couch, and headed over to the pantry. Snagging a box of goldfish, I plopped down and began to sketch. The lines eventually formed into a face. Blond hair, slim, muscular figure, stunning eyes… Was I drawing Jace?

No, I'm not—I'm just drawing a male that has strikingly similar features to the gorgeous guy in my science class… My thoughts roamed free in my mind, but were interrupted by a ring.

I scrambled over to the phone on the counter.

"Hello? Clary?"

"Hi, Joce—Mom."

"Well, I was just letting you know that there's a cold pizza in the fridge. I'm not going to be home for dinner."

"Ok. Why aren't you going to be here?"

"I have…" she paused. "some things to take care of. Bye, darling."

She hung up.

What things? Sighing, I retreated back to the couch, stuffing some more goldfish into my mouth. I still couldn't get the eyes right…

The phone rang again. Annoyed, I yelled, "What do you want, Mom?!"

Silence.

"Hello?" I said.

"Um…hey."

"Who is this?"

"It's the sexiest guy you know."

Okay…? "Who is this?" I repeated.

A short chuckle. "It's Jace."

The first thing that came up in my mind: "How did you get my number?"

Silence again. "Isabelle gave it to me…" Jace sounded so awkward over the phone. Or maybe he just felt uncomfortable.

Oh yeah, I had given Isabelle my phone number during lunch period. "Ok, I'll ignore the creepiness of that and ask you. What do you want?"

"Well, I can't find my notes for science. Do you possibly have it?"

"Um, let me check." I walked over quickly to my backpack, pulling out my blue science folder, the contents of it spilling out onto the coffee table. I spotted a paper that had unfamiliar handwriting. Elegant and tall, like him. The t's were crossed very high up, and the g's and y's were swooped over each other.

"I found it. I'll bring it to you tomorrow."

"Well, actually, I'm at Panera. Can you bring it to me there? I could really use your pretty face right now." Blood rushed up into my face, and I was glad that he couldn't see me. He gave me the address, and somehow, through his charm (as hard as I tried to resist it), was able to convince me to meet up with him there.

Looking through my science folder, I searched for the sketch I had made earlier in class.

It wasn't there. Strange.

Hm.

Author's Notes: Early chapter, for such quick response! Thanks! I mean, 16 followers, 9 favorites, and 5 reviews for ONE DAY for ONE CHAPTER?! Awesome. I love the favorites and follows. ^_^ Every review is greatly appreciated. Reviews really make my day. I'm open for all suggestions to the story.

Anyway, as to address the whole Jamie/Alex/Jace thing in the previous chapter: I got a lot of backlash about this. Sorry if I seemed offensive, I have no doubt that Jamie Campbell Bower will portray Jace well in the film. I saw his acting in Harry Potter and Twilight, and it was fantastic. I simply meant, appearance-wise (how I envisioned Jace when reading the series) that Alex suited the role more than Jamie. Sorry again.

Enjoy! :)