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

It's Good to be Home

Chapter 2 : First Day

- Jace's POV -

Once I was in the parking lot the nerves hit me again. No matter what happened I would definitely be seeing her face today and not knowing how she was going to react worried me. I took a deep breath and got out of my car.

The reaction of the girls around me made me smirk. They were all staring; some with their mouths wide open, some were giggling and whispering with their friends and some were trying to get my attention. It was nothing new; my looks always got me attention and why not? I was gorgeous with my blonde hair, amber eyes and of course my well toned and muscular body. I was hot and the girls always wanted me, but at the moment I didn't really care, I wanted to find my friends.

Once inside the building it didn't take me long to find the guys. They were all standing together talking by some lockers, Magnus noticed me first and smirked when he said "My, my, my. Look what the cat dragged in."

All the others turned just as I reached them and the shock was evident on their faces I just smiled and said, "I know I'm hot as hell and everything but could you stop with the staring, I just don't swing that way."

They all smiled and Simon said, "Damn, when did you get back?"

"Last night, my dad got another promotion and they let him choose which office he wanted to work out of and he chose here. Mom missed New York and all of her friends so, here I am."

Alec finally snapped out of his shock and asked, "Why didn't you tell me you were coming back?"

I shrugged my shoulders and said "Thought it'd be more fun if it was a surprise."

Sebastian and Jon's eyes went wide and Sebastian said, "You probably should have given us some warning."

I didn't understand their reaction, I turned to see what they were staring at and that's when I saw the girls standing in the doorway and Clary was frozen in the middle of the group just staring at me. God, she was absolutely beautiful and at the moment her piercing green eyes were staring at me in shock.

The girls noticed her reaction and looked to see what she was staring at and that's when they saw me. They kept looking back and forth between me and Clary, in any other situation I would have laughed my ass off but I couldn't, I was way too tense. The look in her eyes kept changing as they flashed with anger, hurt and confusion. I tried to look away from the pain in her eyes but I couldn't, her eyes had me trapped. Finally she said something but it was too low for any of us to hear and she spun on her heels and ran out the door. The girls ran after her and I was about to follow them when Jon and Simon stopped me.

I looked at them and Sebastian said "Not a good idea."

"I just need to see if she's ok."

"Well duh cupcake, of course she's not ok."

Alec sighed and said "Magnus,"

"Oh come on, we all know she's not and we all know why. You left and didn't even say goodbye to her. You said goodbye to everyone else and made us all swear not to tell her because you wanted to be the one to do it and then you didn't. She was a complete wreak, not to mention pissy with all of us when she found out we knew you were leaving and didn't tell her. And you know damn well what redheads are like when they get pissy, especially our little ClareBear. Oh, and lets not forget, even though we were all your friends the only person you deigned to grace your correspondence with was Alec."

Well, Magnus certainly hadn't changed. He never pulled any punches and had no problem telling you exactly what he thought, consequences be damned. I just looked and him and said "Sorry."

Jon snorted and said "Sorry? That's all you got? You and my little sister were practically attached at the hip before you moved and she was destroyed when you left. She couldn't understand why you would leave without saying goodbye to her."

"Because I just couldn't do it. I was beyond pissed that we were moving and the thought of saying goodbye to her was unbearable." I paused for a moment and then asked "So, what, do you guys hate me now?"

They all took a few minutes, acting like they were thinking about it, which drove me up the wall. Then Magnus said, "Naw, we don't hate you. We think you're an ass, but we don't hate you."

We all laughed and I said "Well, thanks." I turned to look at the door Clary had run out of and said "But she does."

Simon said "Well, she's has every right to. Give her time; eventually she'll get over it. She'll just vent to all of us and Kyle and things will be good."

My head snapped to Simon and I asked "Kyle?"

They all looked wary from my expression and Sebastian said "Yeah, Kyle. Clary's boyfriend."

I nearly growled when I said "Boyfriend?" Then I glared at Alec and said, "You never told me Clary had a boyfriend."

He shrunk back and said, "You never asked."

Before I could say anything Magnus was smirking and said "Why do you care? Hmmmmmm?"

I looked at him and said "Oh shut up."

They all laughed and Magnus said "Well, looks like someone has a crush on our little redhead."

Everyone laughed again and Jon said "Stand in line, my little sister gets far too much attention from the boys in this school."

Sebastian and Simon both snorted and then Sebastian said, "That's because she's hot."

"Not really something I want to hear when discussing my little sister."

"You always say that, but it doesn't change the fact that she is. Just face it; she's a hoty, just like Izzy, Aline and Maia. Would it make life easier if we didn't have to worry about the attention they get from the opposite sex? Yes. Is it going to happen? No."

"Simon's right. At least you don't have to worry about your little sister being as boy crazy as mine is."

Jon laughed and said, "That's true."

They still hadn't answered my question completely and I was getting rather impatient so I asked "So, who's Kyle?"

They all exchanged looks and then Jon said "Since we only have a few minutes, you'll have to settle for the short version."

I glared at him and said "To be followed by the complete story later."

Jon just rolled his eyes and said "He's a Junior and he's on the football team with us. They started dating about a week before summer started."

Well this just sucked. Though I shouldn't really be surprised that she was seeing someone. She's beautiful, smart and has attitude to spare. There was no way guys wouldn't notice that and it was only a matter of time before she found someone she wanted to be with. God, I was so pissed with my father. If it weren't for him we would have stayed in New York and Clary would be mine, not Kyle's!

The look on my face must have been something to see because the guys looked worried, well, everyone but Magnus. He just had a smirk on his face. They probably knew what I was thinking and how I was feeling but Magnus was the only one who seemed to be enjoying the whole damn thing, typical.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Then I heard Alec ask "Are you ok?"

Magnus snickered and I said "I'll be fine. I just, I don't know, for some reason I didn't expect her to be seeing someone." I opened my eyes and looked at all of them and said "Yeah, I know. That was a very stupid assumption to make."

They all laughed and I joined in then Simon said "Yeah, a very, very, very –"

I cut him off and said "I get it."

"All right, we only have a few minutes before the bell rings and I'm guessing you still need to check in at the office. We can finish this little reunion at lunch. You know Jace; you shouldn't really be all that upset."

I looked at Sebastian in shock and asked "Oh yeah? And why's that?"

"Well, with all the attention you're getting from the opposite sex, I'm guessing that you'll have plenty of volunteers to help take your mind off of Clary."

I groaned and said "Normally I would be all over that, but that doesn't really make me happy right now."

Magnus snickered again and said "Wow, you've got it really bad for our little redhead. Don't ya?"

The others laughed and I said "Thanks. It's nice to see you're enjoying my misery."

That only made them laugh harder and Jon finally grabbed my arm and started pulling me away "Come on, I have to go by the office so I'll walk you there."

As he pulled me away I looked back at the others and said "You guys suck!"

Magnus yelled back "Yep, we do!"

Then I heard Alec "Magnus!"

- Clary's POV -

My alarm went off and I groaned. I hated the first day of school; I could never understand why Izzy, Aline and Magnus always get so excited. While I was contemplating going back to sleep I heard someone pounding on my door. I yelled "Go away!"

The door opened and Jon came walking in "No chance, Mom told me to make sure you got up so that's what I'm doing. Don't make me throw water on you."

I opened my eyes and glared at him "That's not a very nice thing for a brother to do to his little sister."

"Hey, I haven't done anything . . . yet. If you don't get out of bed it'll be your fault because you didn't listen to my warning."

I threw my pillow at his head and said "Get out, I have to change."

He laughed and said "Fine, do you need a ride to school?"

"No, I'm getting a ride with the girls."

"All right, I'll see you at school."

"Wait. You're leaving all ready?"

"Yeah, I have to talk to coach before school starts."

"Oh."

"Hey, don't you dare go back to sleep. Besides, you know what'll happen if you're not dressed and ready to go when Izzy and Aline get here."

He laughed at the look on my face "God, you're right. They'll try to use my as their Barbie."

"Yep, they would. See you later."

I was dressed and ready to go by the time the girls got to the house. When I walked out to the car both Aline and Izzy were glaring at my jeans and t-shirt. I just smirked and got into the car. The ride to school was short and filled with Izzy and Aline talking about all the new dating prospects, I just tuned them out. It wasn't really something I wanted to talk about, or listen to.

When we got to school Izzy asked "So, how are things with you and Kyle?"

"Fine."

"Fine, just fine. Come on Clary, give us some more details." By the end Aline was almost whining.

"I don't know. It just seems like he wants more than I can give him."

Izzy stopped and looked pissed "Is he pressuring you Clary? Cause if he is I'll kick his ass!"

"Izzy, calm down." I hissed "Watch what you say, if that crap got back to my brother and the guys all hell would break loose."

She hadn't calmed down; she just looked at me and demanded "Is he?"

"No, he's not. I'm well aware that he wants more, but he would never actually pressure me into doing anything."

She finally calmed down and looked confused "What's wrong then? Why don't you want more with him? I mean, he's absolutely gorgeous! And that body of his."

"Izzy, please remember this is Clary's boyfriend we're talking about."

"Maia's right Izzy, stop drooling over the boy. He's taken."

"Whatever. Clary, you still didn't answer my question. What's wrong with Kyle?"

"Nothing is wrong with Kyle. Kyle's great. I just don't feel like we're all that connected. I mean he's a nice guy and when he asked me out I figured why not, but I just don't know. We've been going out all summer, I should be excited to see him and spend time with him, but I'm not."

Maia put her arm around my shoulder and said "You're obviously not interested in Kyle as anything more than a friend and there's nothing wrong with that."

"Maia's right Clary. If you're not sure about Kyle that's fine, but you should probably talk to him and explain what's going on in your head and what you're feeling."

Izzy was right; Kyle deserved to know I just wanted to be friends. Of course, telling him that another guy was constantly on my mind and the reason I didn't want to be with him probably wouldn't go over too well. How exactly would I explain it to him without hurting him? He's a good guy and doesn't deserve to be hurt because I can't stop thinking about the past.

We were walking through the doors when Aline said "Just talk to him Clary. Get it over with and you'll feel better."

I saw the boys and a very familiar blond head was with them. I stopped cold. I couldn't believe it, was it really him? Was he back for good? Was he just visiting? What the hell was he doing here! Maybe I was imagining him. The girls noticed I had stopped at the same time Jon and Sebastian saw me. Sebastian said something and he turned around to look at me.

Everyone else in the hall just disappeared; all I could see was him. So many emotions rippled through me but pain and anger were the strongest. I just couldn't believe he was here. "Crap!" I spun on my heels and flew through the doors. I just couldn't look at him anymore; I had to get away from him.

I heard the girls behind me and they caught up to me when I stopped at the huge tree in front of the school. I spun around and yelled "Did you know? Did any of you know that he was coming back?"

Izzy was the first to speak "No Clary. None of us knew he was coming back. I don't think Alec even knew. If he did, this is definitely something he would have shared with us."

I sank to the ground and sat against the tree "Why is he here?"

They exchanged glances and then Aline said "It looks like he's back."

"Oh God, he can't be back. I don't want him to be back." Was that true? Did I really want him gone or was I just lying to myself? I looked at the girls and it seemed like they were thinking the same thing.

Izzy and Aline pulled me up and Maia said "Come on, school's about to start." I just glared at her and before I could say anything she said "Clary, I know what seeing him is doing to you, we all do, but this could be a good thing. You finally have a chance to talk to him about what happened. Maybe once you do and things are settled you can finally move on."

"You're right, of course you're right. I'm not going to let myself fall apart or be affected by Jace Herondale! And until I'm ready to deal with him I'm just going to pretend like he doesn't exist."

I saw the looks they exchanged. They were wondering if I could actually pull it off, hell, so was I. The two of us were so close before he left, he could read me like a book. But he left and he didn't say goodbye, I didn't even know he was moving until after he was gone. To say I was destroyed was an understatement; it was like I couldn't breathe anymore. After a while I perfected the art of convincing my friends and brother that I was over it, that I was fine, but I've never truly gotten over what he did to me. Now he's back and I don't know if I want to run into his arms and tell him to never leave me again or if I want to knock him on his ass and tell him to stay the hell away from me. Both options seem to have a pretty fair shot at the moment and until I decide what I want to do I need to stay away from him.

We walked back into the school and I assured them I was fine for the moment so we all went our separate ways. Then I started thinking about my schedule and began to worry, some of my classes were A.P. courses and there was a chance that we could be sharing those classes. Oh hell! Sitting in the same room with him day after day would make it that much harder to avoid him. He never was one to let something go and it doesn't matter if the other person wants him to or not. Oh hell!

A/N: Okay here's the next chapter, let me know what you think!