When Clary came to school the next day she was surprisingly disappointed when she walked into her math class and didn't see Jace. She scolded herself for being so selfish, she had, after all, been the one to run off without saying anything. She had run home, her chest heaving; she immediately regretted not taking the bus, her eyes stung from tears, and all though she had healed her nose and chest they still throbbed, especially with the blood pumping through at an even faster than usual pace. She stormed into her room slamming the door shut, she paused a moment to look into the window across from hers, the curtains and blinds were open, but she had yet to see someone in the room, it was either uninhibited or who ever lived there had a very different schedule than her. She closed her eyes, a thousand different emotions running through her. She was mad, at the boy who had hurt her; mad at herself for running away from Jace after he had been kind enough to help her. She was giddy, she could still feel his hands around her, guiding her to a washroom and easily lifting her onto the counter. She felt embarrassed as well, recounting everything that had happened, she wasn't usually this clumsy, she had been before all of her training but now, it took a lot for Clary to waiver; until Jace. She walked into her second period class, smiling when she saw Alec and Isabelle. They both looked up, relief washing over their faces.

"Clary! Oh my gosh, Jace told us what happened! Are you alright?" Isabelle asked grabbing both of Clary's arms tightly.

"Yeah, Isabelle I'm fine, it was just a bloody nose and some bruising," This time it was Alec's turn to talk.

"Just a bloody nose and bruising?! Did you not see yourself? Everyone's been talking about what happened, Jace looked like he was going to pass out just telling us about it! He was so worried, especially when you ran off!" Clary smiled knowing that Jace was so worried about her.

"Where is he?" Isabelle and Alec looked at each other quickly and back to Clary. Before they could come up with an answer the teacher cleared his throat and everyone sat down.

The class went by quickly, Clary caught in her thoughts, she was imagining her next drawing, it was going to be of Jace, holding her up in the bathroom, his forehead only inches from hers, she smiled.

Both Isabelle and Alec had a project to do during lunch, although they wouldn't say what, so Clary sat at a table in the far corner and pulled out her sketchbook. She had only just touched her pencil to the paper when Maia sat down beside her and Simon slid in front of them quietly, looking green. She reluctantly put her drawing supplies away and talked with them. Every once in a while Simon would groan in pain, interrupting them. Suddenly he stood up and ran out of the cafeteria, his hand pressed tightly against his mouth.

Her heart seemed to stop beating for a moment. Her stomach made its way to her throat and her hands were suddenly damp and clammy. Jace walked up to her smiling.

"You alright?" he asked, looking down at her questioningly, "you look like you just got punched in the stomach repeatedly, I promise I'm a good dancer"

"I- it's not that, I um, I just, can't really dance" she lied.

The music began and Jace stepped closer to her, placing one hand in the middle of her back and taking her hand with the other.

"A little hot?" he asked feeling the heat from her back, she turned red again, he smiled, he could watch her blush all day long. "you know they sell t-shirts for gym? You don't need to wear a sweater…or long pants"

"It's cold out," she stammered.

"No it's not? It's eighty-five degrees out!" she ignored his comment, looking down, focusing on what his feet were doing, she hadn't realized that the music had started and they were now stepping in time with each other, moving around in the shape of a box.

"Where did you learn to dance?" Jace asked out of nowhere.

"Back in Id-Idaho." She said catching herself at the end. He didn't seem to notice her slip up. They swayed around together, staring at each other silently, to both of their surprise, it didn't feel awkward at all; it was a comfortable silence.

"You're quite good," Jace said finally, "at dancing, I mean, I can't imagine why your partner would ditch you."

"He didn't ditch me!" Clary said quickly, defending herself and Simon, "he was sick, he ran off to the bathroom at lunch"

At that Jace smirked, as if he knew something she didn't. His face softened, taking in her features again, his eyes glazed over slightly as he inspected her face, mouth, her nose. He saw what looked like a pale white swirl on the left side of her nose. She cleared her throat, completely aware of his eyes judging her. He looked up at her and smiled in apology.

Clary floated to the change room when class ended, changing absent mindedly, she pulled on her black jeans and dark red top, she quickly pulled on her leather jacket, immediately becoming sweaty, she rolled her eyes remembering when Jace had pointed out the temperature earlier. She took her time putting her combat boots back on, carefully lacing them up, and wrapping the extra string around her ankle twice before tying the bows. Satisfied, she walked into the gym where she was suddenly pitched into darkness. She panicked for a moment, when she smelled mint, her mind relaxing at the familiar scent.

"You're supposed to leave through the other doors after, now we're locked in here." Jace said in a low voice, so low that she wouldn't normally have heard, if he hadn't been standing inches from her.

"What?" she asked confused.

"The doors lock from the inside of the change room, we can't go through them to get out, and all the other doors are locked." She felt her pulse quicken.

She felt hands on her hips, he held her gently, but at the same time, firmly, as if he was afraid to let go of her, he softly pressed her back until she felt the cold of the wall against the back of her head. He walked closer to her, so that she could feel his chest against hers, she felt his heart hammering against his chest. She tried to get her eyes to focus, but the gym was so dark she couldn't see a thing. He leaned down so his forehead touched hers, she gasped quietly.

They stood there for a moment, breathing heavily, her body shaking. And then he kissed her, or she kissed him, neither knew who it was that had moved first but they didn't care either, the kiss started soft, their lips closed but pressed against each other's, her hands went to his wrists, he pushed his mouth against hers more forcefully, and she dragged her hands along his arms, and wrapped them around his neck. She parted her lips slightly, allowing him to bite her lip gently. She pulled away from him, gasping for air, he did the same, they moved back in together to kiss again but they were still trying to wrap their minds around what was happening, they stood with their mouths opened and touching slightly, as they breathed heavily.

Jace lifted his head slightly, rubbing his bottom lip against hers, she moaned quietly before pressing her mouth against his. His hands tightened around her hips, and then wrapped around her back, he held her against him, his fingers pressing against her back tightly. His tongue touched her lip softly, as he checked to see her reaction, she breathed in deeply, he smiled.

Suddenly a door near the end of the gym opened, allowing a crack of light to seep into the room. They stopped and turned, seeing their gym teacher at the door, scanning the room. "Hello?" he said, it echoed through the gym. Clary felt Jace shake against him when she realized she was also shaking. He put his hand against her mouth and she did the same, in an attempt to stop each other from laughing out loud. The door closed, followed by a click that bounced off the four walls of the gym. The removed their hands and laughed quietly, still in each other's arms. After a moment Clary stopped, "shit" she muttered.

Jace pulled away as if asking what was wrong.

"I left my bag in my gym locker, it has my drawings in it.." she said leaning her head back against the brick wall. It was cool against her head; she was able to hear her blood pounding in her ears loudly. Jace laughed, pulling something out of his pocket and walked over to the door. She still couldn't see much still, but she caught his outline, fiddling with the lock, she heard a scrape and then a click, the door opened.

She walked through the door, suddenly too shy to look at the boy who had caused pins and needles throughout her entire body only moments before. She opened her locker and pulled out her bag roughly, thankfully nothing fell out this time. She pulled the bag over her shoulder and followed Jace through the door into the now empty halls.

"I thought you said we were locked in there?" Clary asked suddenly.

"Hm?"

"You said we were locked in there, but obviously you knew we weren't you picked the lock so easily, as if you had a key." Jace smiled.

"Sorry, I didn't realize how badly you wanted to be locked in a room with me." Clary laughed, rolling her eyes. She lightly pressed her arm against his as if to shove him. Heat spread through their arms again.

They walked to the front of the school in silence, when Clary remembered that she had missed her bus and would have to wait another thirty-five minutes.

"I can give you a ride home," Jace said, as if he could read her mind, before she could decline he stopped in front of a motorcycle, lifting the helmet off the handle. She looked at the bike and a tear ran down her cheek. She wiped it quickly, hoping he didn't notice. He did. She looked up through her eyelashes, her vision blurred.

"My brother had the same bike." She said quietly. Jace opened his mouth to ask if he had sold it before realizing what she was actually saying.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know, when did he die?" He asked before he could stop himself. He silently scolded himself for asking such an intimate question.

"I don't know," she started, tears forming in her eyes again, "we don't actually know if he's…he disappeared about six months ago. We've been looking for him since then, we heard from the Cl- from the police that someone said he was here, so we moved three days later, and here we are." Jace stood quietly, looking at his hands, unsure of what to say.

"It's okay, you don't have to console me, or try make me feel better, I mean, we just met. Besides, we're going to find Jonathan, I know it. I can feel it." Clary said quickly. Hoping to avoid bursting into tears, she took the helmet he had been holding towards her and pulled it over her head. Jace bent down to do up the straps, his fingers lingered around her throat for a moment, and he brushed his fingers along a thick black line that slightly showed on the top of her shoulder, he felt her tense slightly so he reached for her jacket and zipped it up all the way. He kicked his leg over the Ducati and she climbed on after, reflexively wrapping her arms around his stomach and squeezing her legs against his. He started the engine and they sped down the road.

After about half an hour they pulled up in front of her house, the garage was open, revealing stacks of boxes. She climbed off, her legs slightly shaky, from a combination of sitting so close to the vibrating exhaust pipe as well as how close she had been to Jace.

"I'm sorry it took so long for us to get here, I'm still learning the area," she apologized, embarrassed.

"It's okay, all you really had to tell me was to go home," Jace said laughing.

Before Clary could ask what he meant her mother came out the front door holding what looked like a pie, followed by Isabelle.

"Clary! I was beginning to worry! Have you met our new nei-" she looked up, her sentence ending abruptly. Isabelle almost ran into Jocelyn and she screamed in excitement.

"Oh Clary! We're neighbors! What are the odds! I mean really of all the houses, you moved into the one right next to us! Oh this is fantastic! We can go to school together! And come home…well, unless Jace will be giving you rides home.." Isabelle said, suddenly realizing who was on the front of the motorbike.

"No, I, he just, I missed my bus, so he, and um, yeah." Clary stammered, her face feeling as if it was on fire. It was Jocelyn who spoke next, not taking her eyes off the boy her daughter had been wrapped around only moments before.

"Clary, dear, I was just going to introduce you to our new neighbors, but I guess you already know them. I've invited them for dinner."

After Clary had said goodbye to everyone and rushed off to her room she slammed her door shut and dropped onto her bed, closing her eyes, running over everything that had happened. It had been an overwhelming day to say the least. The Lightwoods were coming over in three hours, Clary rolled on to her side, facing the window, she looked out it, seeing the window in the house next door, she tried to guess whose room it was, could it be Isabelle's? Or perhaps Alec's, there's no way it could have been Jace's, that just seemed all too coincidental. She closed her eyes again, drifting off to sleep.