Hey guys :D

Sorry for the slight delay~ I'd say this chapter was worth the wait ;)

Don't hate me by the end of this pls.

Anyways! On with the story?

Disclaimer: I own nothing


Clary stood outside the door to her English class, one hand poised on the door knob. She couldn't get up the nerve to actually go inside though, and simply stared at the blue painted door in front of her face. Clary closed her eyes, taking deep, slow breaths.

I can do this, she tried to convince herself. Mustering all her courage, Clary opened the door to step inside. She scanned the room, her gaze sliding over the faces of her classmates. Finally, she let out a sigh of relief; her dear blonde friend wasn't here yet, and Clary could snatch a few moments of peaceful drawing before he arrived. She wandered over to her seat in the back and sat down, not looking forward to the appearance of Jace. Clary quickly pulled out her sketchbook and a pencil and began her usual pre-class drawing.

Just as Clary was starting to sink into the quiet oblivion of drawing, a familiar voice spoke right next to her ear. "What are you drawing?"

Startled, Clary dropped her pencil, snapping her head up to meet Jace's amused golden eyes. She blushed, looking quickly back down at her sketchbook again. Clary realized with a flood of embarrassment that she had begun unconsciously drawing Jace again, and quickly flipped the page to a more harmless sketch of a fairy surrounded by oak trees. Jace definitely didn't need his ego inflated any more than it already was.

"Nothing of your interest," Clary snapped at him, carefully smoothing the pages of her sketchbook. Jace eyed her curiously before shrugging and sitting down in his seat. Clary gave him one more annoyed look, huffing and holding the sketchbook closer to her as she turned to face the front of the room.

"Clary, explain to me something?" Jace asked, his voice tinged with a note of skepticism. "Why do you automatically dislike me so much?"

Clary sighed, keeping her gaze towards the front of the room. "You're arrogant and insufferable. That's why," she informed him matter-of-factly.

Jace scoffed, and out of the corner of her eye Clary could see him turn to raise an eyebrow at her. "I'm sorry, but you're the first girl that's ever told me that," he replied condescendingly.

Clary let out a humorless laugh, still keeping her eyes towards the front. "I doubt I'll be the last Jace," she muttered back.

"Quiet down, class," Ms. Jacobs called out. The low buzz of conversation ceased, and Clary took this opportunity to ignore the strange, penetrating look she had glimpsed in Jace's eyes.

Throughout the rest of the class, Clary could feel Jace's gaze on her. It was making her feel vastly uncomfortable, but there wasn't much she could do to stop him. Whenever she turned to look at him, he quickly averted his gaze back towards the front, puzzling her even further. Clary couldn't understand what he was thinking. It was obvious to her that no girl had ever been unsusceptible to his charms before, but why did he care so much?

Clary's foot tapped anxiously as she waited for the class to end. Ms. Jacobs was an interesting teacher, but she could barely wait to get away from Jace and his strange stares. As the bell rang, signaling that the class was over, Clary sprang out of her chair and tried to escape. Unfortunately for her though, Jace caught her arm before she could hurry away.

"Clary…" Jace started, tightening his grip on her arm as she attempted to squirm away.

With much effort, Clary looked up into his face, calming her own into what she hoped was a neutral expression. Jace stared right back, and sighed once before continuing. "I don't know how I'll do it since you seem to hate me so much, but I'll win your approval," he promised, his voice oddly serious. Jace looked into her eyes with a strong, determined expression for a brief moment, before his usual smirk took over his face. "Jace Lightwood can charm any girl," he informed her cockily. Then he released her arm, winked once, and strode away.

Clary stood there, astonished into immobility for a second, before she could move her legs again. She didn't know what Jace meant by that, but she definitely wasn't sure if she would like it. Clary didn't like the way he made her feel. Jace's attitude made her want to throw her fist into a wall, yet at the same time she couldn't stop her eyes from wandering over to him whenever they could.

That boy would be the death of her.

After only one class, art was already Clary's favorite class of the day. She clutched her sketchbook tightly as she walked inside, brimming with excitement. Clary hadn't been able to take an actual art class in years. If she strained her memory, she could vaguely remembered taking some when she was 10, but this was still almost a completely new experience for Clary.

Clary set down her books on an empty desk and stepped into the supply closet. She stood there for a moment, searching for the paints, but was eventually able to locate the right box among the overflowing shelves of pastels, clays, colored papers, and more. Clary pulled out the box and rifled through it, searching for the colors she wanted. Finally, she squeezed a few different paints onto a pallet and turned to exit the closet. When she tried to take a step out though, someone else rushed in, colliding with both Clary and her pallet.

"Oh my God, I'm so sorry!" Clary apologized quickly, looking up at who it was that had crashed into her. Her gaze fell on a guy with mousy brown hair and glasses that were slightly askew on his nose. He tried to rub off the paint Clary had splattered on his black gamer shirt, smiling genially at Clary.

"It's fine," the boy assured her, "I didn't like this shirt much anyways."

Nonetheless, Clary ran over to the teacher to ask for some napkins for the boy, and hurried back to help him clean his shirt. Clary believed his name to be Simon, from what she remembered from yesterday's class at least.

"Here let me help you," Clary insisted, holding out the napkins, "Simon, right?"

Simon nodded and grinned as he let Clary gently wipe the excess paint off of his shirt. "It's really fine," he repeated. Clary nodded and walked back over to her seat. Simon came over to set up an easel next to her. He groaned as he plopped down in his seat.

"I greatly dislike painting," Simon sighed, poking moodily at his canvas with the tip of a paintbrush. "I can't paint to save my life."

Clary couldn't help but laugh, grinning at the boy next to her. "Why did you choose art then?" she asked curiously. "Art tends to have a bit of painting."

Simon sighed again, making a face at Clary. "My mom made me," he explained. "She said I should learn to do something creative aside from sitting in my room playing video games all day. If you ask me, saving the supernatural world from treacherous demons is quite a creative pastime."

"I can imagine," Clary answered solemnly, hiding another grin as she turned back to her painting.

The theme of today's class was to paint a portrait of someone related to the students. Clary had decided to paint the image of her mother, turned towards a window. The back of her head was turned towards the viewer, her long red hair covering almost all of her face. Only a portion of her cheek was visible. Halfway through the class, Clary paused mid-stroke to stare at the half finished face. She could feel a tell-tale prickle of tears in her eyes; Clary hadn't ever painted her mother before, even with the numerous photographs she was in possession of. But for whatever reason, today she felt the need to do so.

"Clary? Hellooo?" Simon waved his hand in front of her face- Clary snapped to attention, focusing back on him. The expression on Simon's face, combined with the awry state of his hair and glasses looked too comical for Clary to withhold a giggle. Before she could stop herself, though, an image of Jace popped into her head. Simon was so much different from Jace, from the way he talked to the way he looked. She felt much more comfortable around Simon, while Jace just succeeded in flustering her.

"I don't know how I'll do it, but I'll win your approval." Jace's words flashed through Clary's head, and shivers ran down her spine. She put a smile on her face to mask her thoughts, and answered Simon instead.

"I'm sorry. I do that sometimes," Clary apologized quietly. She did do that a lot -sometimes she found herself staring off into space, lost in her own thoughts. She figured it was an after effect of living in the orphanage so long. Most of the time there it was better not to remember where she was.

Simon shrugged it off and continued attempting to paint, chatting with Clary the entire time. Clary only had to insert a comment here and there to keep the conversation going, but she enjoyed listening to him. It was a nice change from solitude.

At the end of the day, Clary wasn't surprised to see Isabelle and Jace waiting by her locker. Isabelle was bouncing on her toes, while Jace just leaned against the lockers and watched Clary's approach out of those dark golden eyes.

"Well hello there Shorty," Isabelle greeted her, while Jace just smirked. Clary opened the locker with much more ease than yesterday and was pulling out her things when she heard a new voice sound behind her.

"Hey baby," a girl squealed. Her voice was high and nasally, and somehow, Clary felt a spark of recognition at the sound. She turned around, her hands poised sliding a book into her backpack, only to see that the newcomer was wrapped all over Jace, her lips firmly attached to his. Clary swallowed her disgust with some difficulty, zipping up her backpack and shutting her locker as she waited for the girl to face her.

When the girl was finally done with Jace and had removed her lips from his, she turned to appraise Clary. The girl's blue eyes flashed with sudden recognition and hatred as she met Clary's eyes, and Clary's mouth dropped open in shock.

Jace looked between the two of them, apparently slightly confused by the dumbfounded expression on Clary's face.

"Clary, this is my girlfriend Aline," Jace introduced, touching the girl's shoulder and gesturing to Clary. "Aline, this is Clary,"

That's not Aline, Clary thought, That's Kaelie.

Clary almost unconsciously raised a hand to her shoulder, lightly fingering the scars at the top of her back. Kaelie's eyes sparkled as she saw this, and she smiled a predator's smile. It was obvious that Kaelie remembered just as well.

"Hello Clary," Kaelie simpered, her smile growing wickedly as Clary backed away slightly. "It's so nice to meet you!"

Clary didn't spare a glance towards Jace or even Isabelle as she turned and bolted. "Clary!" Isabelle called after her, her voice tinged with shock at Clary's strange behavior. "Clary, come back! Where are you going?"

Clary couldn't bear to reply, sprinting as fast as she could away from Kaelie –the girl who had scarred her so badly.

Clary's past had already caught up to her.


:o

I bet you didn't see that coming now, did you?

Thanks again TMI~

Review condemning Kaelie to the depths of hell ;)

Yours,

~A.W.W