I want to start by saying I'm really sorry about how long this has taken:( I'm sort of bad with time and I have the same excuse as everyone else with school and all. Hopefully I can get the next chapter up a lot quicker than this one:')

So, I don't really know how good I feel about this chapter but I couldn't keep you guys waiting any longer. So sorry if it's not the best thing, the next chapter, I promise will be better and probably longer too since I think this one is pretty short.

Anyway, enough rambling, hope you guys enjoy! Thanks for all the reviews so far, I love hearing what you guys think!

Alec.

"You want to kiss me, huh?"

He sounded so calm and that made me substantially more nervous than I was before, when I was still quite hugely nervous. It had been such a terrifying move to make, saying I wanted to kiss him, but I reasoned with myself until I built up the nerves to do so. Not only did I want Sebastian to win his bet with Jordan (just because he was my best friend and it was a nice thing to do for him, simple as that) but also, I genuinely did want to kiss Magnus Bane. That was an extremely odd thought. I wondered for a moment if it was just that the party had gone to my head, or if it was the alcohol talking, but quickly came to the conclusion that I had hardly been here long enough and I'd had barely anything to drink. So the fact of the matter was, I just wanted to kiss this guy who was sat beside me. It made sense I supposed, he was beautiful. I didn't even think he was hot like I had decided I did with Sebastian. Magnus Bane was quite genuinely beautiful.

"Yeah. I uh...I wanna kiss you."

"Well, in that case," Magnus got up of off the table we were both sat on and stood in front of me, in between my legs. He rested his forehead against mine and I could feel his breath on my lips. It was painfully difficult to not close the space between us straight away when he was teasing me like this, but I managed to compose myself enough; probably because I was so scared to do it anyway. Carefully and almost cautiously, he started to place gentle kisses on my cheek leading down to my neck. My eyes were fluttering and I could feel how red in the face I was. The air suddenly became thick and my breathing quickened significantly. I could feel his hand in my hair. It was all a blur of movement when his lips touched mine so quickly and so briefly, and I wondered why he'd stopped himself so fast. When I brought myself back to reality enough to examine my surroundings, I was shocked to realise I was alone. There was no one. For a second, I paused to think about whether I had imagined the whole things, but I could still feel the ghost his lips on mine (as quick as the contact was, it was still there). It had definitely happened. It was real. I had kissed Magnus Bane. Or he had kissed me rather, and then ran off, which I assumed was a rather bad sign, but I'd have to question Sebastian about that.

Magnus.

His taste stayed on my lips as I furiously shoved my way through the crowd towards the door. Something in me clicked when I felt his lips on mine, and I realised exactly what I was doing and decided I was completely against it. I was more or less taking advantage of him, though he didn't seem that drunk, I could not fathom him asking me to kiss him when he was one hundred percent sober. Finally, I got to the front door, but, as the luck was mine, Sebastian and Jordan just so happened to be standing directly in front of it. Maia was also with them, but I still considered her a minor; she was only there to be Jordan's trophy. She was clinging on to his arm and scowling at me, as was he, but Sebastian simply stared. My breathing was heavy and I was still blushing about the earlier situation with Alec but I was desperately trying to take my mind off of the whole thing as Sebastian took a step towards me.

"Where are you going, pretty boy?" I smirked at the nickname, having heard him call Alec the same thing on numerous occasions. Sebastian's intoxication was clear on his breath.

"That doesn't concern you," I replied calmly and went to walk past him but was stopped by his outstretched arm. I groaned in response. "What do you want you uneducated swine!?" Losing my patience with this boy was quite a terrible and almost unavoidable habit of mine, as it goes. Coldly, he glared at me and shoved me lightly backwards.

"When I ask you a question, you answer it. Where are you going?"

"Home, if you must know."

"Why?"

"It's a school night. Some of us give a shit. Besides, there's nothing here I'm interested in," I lied, feeling Alec's touch on my mouth as I spoke. Sebastian regarded me with a confused expression for a moment, but this time he allowed me to pass and I walked out the front door. I slammed it behind me, trying to make a point though I didn't really know how that would help in any way. My thoughts were going crazy in my head and it was difficult to be sarcastic with Sebastian even, something that usually came naturally to me. All I could think about was how desperately I wanted to go back and kiss him again; REALLY kiss him. I craved his lips on mine and missed the way his hair felt, so soft and perfect. And God those eyes. So far in my life, Alec had been nothing but another popular that I wanted to avoid at all costs. Never before had I had the chance to observe his true beauty up close, and maybe if I had gotten this opportunity earlier, I would have started to like him sooner. It was hard not too really, once you had really looked at him. He had such a captivating look about him; his beauty was admirable and different. It was a definite now that I definitely liked Alec. How much so, I hadn't yet decided. But I definitely liked him.

It was raining out, and my hair was falling flat, down onto my forehead, some of it covering my eyes as I made the short trek home. I figured I probably should have told someone I was going, but all I could think about when I was making my get away dash was leaving before Alec came looking for me. It was quite immature really, running and hiding from him like that just because we had kissed, but I was a little concerned about how drunk he was. I had no idea how much he alcohol he'd had that night, and it's not fair to just take advantage of him like that. In my own mind, I had made the right decision. However, as I walked through the door of my small one bedroom apartment, I realised I'd need to come up with a good reason for having run off. Something that wouldn't sound so pathetic and lame.

I fell lazily onto the couch and my cat instantly joined me by my side. Thinking about it, I guessed the best and most believable reason for me taking off like that would be I was trying to tease him. Sounded enough like me. So that would be my excuse, simply that I wanted him to crave me, to miss me and to beg me for more. I nearly laughed at myself, because I was getting all hot on the idea of him wanting me. He probably didn't, I was blaming tonight's events on the heavy amount of alcohol I assumed both of us had consumed. I knew for a fact it was going to my head, and guessed for an assumption that it was going to his too. Why else would someone like him have even been vaguely interested in me? He had his people and I had mine and we stayed as far away from each other as possible. To be involved with one of them was nothing but an inconvenience to us, and that probably worked vise versa too.

When my phone buzzed, I fished it out of my pocket, almost certain it was Clary. So when I saw Alec's name on the screen, my heart skipped a bit and I nearly threw my phone away. I vaguely remembered exchanging numbers with him in English so we could discuss our project together, but I was definitely not expecting to hear anything from him tonight. I wasn't feeling very up to talking to him at the moment, but I opened the text regardless.

'Goodnight Magnus. X'

I shook my head, smiling like an idiot at the screen before locking my phone and heading off to my room to get some sleep.

Alec.

The next day at lunch, I could still feel my head pounding. I was resting my head on Sebastian's shoulder, looking miserable because I felt so disgustingly ill. After Magnus had left the party, I'd had so much more to drink I didn't even remember half of what had happened, and once again began questioning whether or not the little scene between me and him had even happened. It was all so fast and confusing and right now I could very barely even remember it. I shut my eyes tightly, trying to expel the head ache that was only getting worse the more I thought about last night's craziness. I felt Sebastian's hand ruffle my hair lightly, a comforting gesture. It was oblivious to me how he was so composed when he had surely had more to drink than even I had. He seemed absolutely fine.

I was at least ninety percent certain Sebastian and I had kissed for real last night. That part, my brain seem convinced was very real, and the knowing looks Camille Belcourt kept on giving me from her table were a pretty good sign that I was right. She and another boy, who I could not put a name to the face of, still, had seen the whole thing, which was somewhat terrifying. Camille held mine and Sebastian's reputations in her hands and she could let go at any moment if I did not comply with her wishes. More thoughts to add to my headache. I groaned out loud and Sebastian put his arm around me and 'shushed'. Jordan's laughter angered me slightly, but only as much as I'd ever been angered before which wasn't a lot at all.

"I am getting absolutely nowhere with her!" Jace hollered, making me cringe and rub my temple to ease the pain.

"Clary?" Jordan asked lamely.

"Yes, Clary. Moron."

"I'm not surprised. She cannot stand to even be in your presence," Sebastian said without looking up from his phone or having his expression waver even slightly. Jace glared at him from across the table but he didn't even seem to notice. I took his water bottle out of his bag where it was poking out and drank some. There was not much left and he hadn't had any, which made me feel sort of awful but he'd more or less assigned it to me because I was sick. "Alexander, go and talk to Magnus. Arrange for him to go over to your house tonight, for your assignment."

I complied without a word. Getting up as slowly as I could as not to increase the pain in my head or the dizziness of my vision, I paced over to Magnus' table. All of them looked up at me in unison and I could feel the burning hatred in their eyes, boring into my skin and making me feel a lot more self-conscious than was necessary. Suddenly, Simon, who I'd never really paid much attention to before, stood up and signaled towards his seat with an open palm.

"A seat for you, your highness?" he said in a mocking tone, which his friends all laughed at, including Magnus. I just stared at him blankly, wondering if I looked as offended as I felt before I sat down muttering an insincere 'thanks'. I also began to wonder if I looked as sick as I felt. I had barely even glanced at myself in the mirror this morning, scared of how horrifying what stared back at me would actually be. I figured though, that if I really looked that terrible or lifeless, Sebastian would have pointed it out by now.

"So," Magnus started, a smirk playing on his lips. "About that kiss.." And he paused right there. My throat tightened. Was it real then? Why would he bring that up in front of all of his friends? Was he trying to make a fool of me? "The one you put at the end of your text. Really adorable."

I nearly released my sigh of relief before I saw the way he was looking at me. He was smirking and had his eyebrows raised, rather suggestively meaning that was not what he was talking about. It was then that I noticed this was just a game for him and felt the nervousness rise up in me.

"Uh, yeah." I said, willing myself not to blush but obviously, as I did at everything Magnus said, I just had to let my face get all rosy red. Something Sebastian would call adorable then Jordan, Maia and Jace would laugh and I'd blush a little more and they'd laugh a little harder. But here, they all just stared at me. Pairs of judging eyes were all over the place, increasing my headache, so I did have to try to ignore them. "Anyway, about the English assignment. I was thinking you could come over to my place tonight and we'll start working on it. If that's okay with you obviously?" I wondered if I sounded too hopeful or too desperate, but thought that was immature so stopped doing it. Sort of.

"Magnus can't go to your house." The voice was blatantly Camille's and I was surprised to see I wasn't the only one looking confused when I turned to face her.

"Well, why not?"

"He's gay," she said, as if it was supposed to be obvious, then sighed. "You live in the Christian neighbourhood dear. It's weird for him to go there."

"Oh, that's actually a good point," Magnus nodded in thought, agreeing with Camille and looking back at me with a nearly apoplectic look, but it was so barely there, that I was almost offended. Being here was difficult. It was like they were all laughing at me, but not in the way my friends would. They were doing it in a much more sinister, horrible way. Even Magnus, and for some reason that sort of hurt. Not that he had any obligation to be nice to me, he barely even knew me anyway. It just hurt.

"Alright well...Okay, can I...go to yours? I just really wanna make a start on this and I don't want to put it off-"

"Of course darling," Magnus interrupted, changing his smirk to a comforting smile. I thought that maybe he had noticed the hurt on my face and decided to change his tone a little, because obviously the others weren't planning on it anytime soon. They didn't care and fair enough to them. All they saw when they looked at me was another popular. Another bitchy boy who just wants to humiliate everyone who he sees as inferior to him. So why was I expecting Magnus to be so different to them anyway? Well, whatever the reasoning behind thinking that way about him, I was right. He was different. He cared, at least a little about how comfortable I felt in his and his friends' company. "I'll see you tonight."

I nodded, almost happily and got up to return to my table when Camille caught my wrist.

"A word please Alec?" she said in an almost sing-song voice, and I could feel the negative direction this was going in. As much as I wanted to say no, I just nodded and let her lead me away from the crowds of people into an isolated corner of the room where she stared at me for a while. It was pretty creepy, but I wasn't going to stop or interrupt her. She had stared for long enough that it became disturbing when she finally let out a little giggle before speaking. I gulped back my fear.

"Clary needs a model for her art project. I want you to volunteer for her," she said with a polite smile. So, as it turned out, I had gotten all worked up for nothing. Though I wasn't exactly comfortable putting myself forward as a model, it wasn't the end of the world. Then the thought crossed my mind that perhaps Camille was simply testing out her power over me, as of course, she was not asking me to do this but rather telling me to. Perhaps she was just beginning to toy with the knowledge that I was under her complete control. Anything she wanted me to do I would do and anything she wanted me to say I would say. In all honesty, I was much more concerned for Sebastian's sake than I was my own.

I was left feeling sicker than I had before and very confused as we walked back over to the table.

"Anyway," Camille stated, taking her seat and pushing a pale blond curl behind her ear. "Clary, how's your search for a male model going?"

"Badly." The redhead exhaled loudly. She was resting her elbows on the table and her head in her hands and there were clear signs of fatigue about her face, though I assumed she did not look half as bad as I probably did. I suddenly became self-conscious again when I felt Magnus's eyes on me. Not even knowing what I looked like, I didn't want him seeing me like this.

"I'll do it. If you want me too, that is." I blurted out after a long glare from Camille, finally realizing it was blatantly my turn to speak. My voice sounded shaky, and clearly it wasn't as inconspicuous as I had hoped as I heard the humiliating muffled laughter of the group. Instinctively, I looked down and started to fidget in my seat. I heard Clary giggle before she replied.

"That'd be great Alec. Thank you. Hey, how about this, you and Magnus should both come over to my place tonight! That way, we can start on your English assignment and my art project all together!"

"Sounds good to me, as long as you keep that vile brother of yours at a distance," Magnus said pointedly, but he was not looking at Clary. Instead, he was staring straight at me, as if Sebastian was my responsibility. I couldn't blame him. Sebastian was difficult, and he didn't very often listen to his little sister anyway. Realistically, I was probably the only one capable of keeping him under control.

The plan was settled. We would be heading back to the Morgenstern's house that night to make a start on both projects. I was responsible for giving Clary a good model, getting Magnus to like me and keeping Sebastian from being too nasty and vicious. To sum it all up, it was going to be a very difficult and unfortunate day to have a hangover.

Magnus.

His eyes were not as blue today. They were a dull grey, like they had lost their life and spark of electric blue. It was a shame.