Chapter 9

A/N: I am so freaking sorry! I know I took FOREVER to update, and I am so terribly sorry. I promise that this week I will be updating a lot more, because I am now on break! Yay!

On with the story...


Clary POV

I walked into Spanish and went over to, who I'm guessing to be, Mr. Starkweather's desk.

"How may I help you?" he asked.

"Uh, hi, I'm Clarissa. I'm the new student," I say.

"Right, well..." he started searching through some paperwork. "Here's some information about what we will be learning this year, and what you need to catch up on," he said, handing me a small stack of papers. By now everyone was already in class and seated, talking among themselves. "You will be sitting in the back corner next to Jace," he said. Why god, do you hate me? I thought. I was pretty sure there was only one "Jace" in this entire school. And sure enough, when I turned around, there he was, smirking at me. What an ass.

I slowly make my way over to him, and sit down in the seat next to his. Why do all these desks have to fit two people?! I ask. I quickly glance over to him, to find him still smirking at me. I instantly look away, and decide to look at the papers I was given. There was a few worksheets I needed to complete, and then there was a worksheet stating the grading process for this class. I look it over, but really I'm kinda just staring at the paper. I'm too focused on Jace's gaze, which by the way, is still on me. The bell rings and Starkweather starts teaching.

We are in the middle of class, when Starkweather decides to give us a pop quiz. Great. He hands out all the quizzes, and I take a look at the questions. Awesome. I know none of this. We were given the rest of class to complete the quiz, but it still isn't enough. The bell rings and I only have two questions done. And I'm positive they are both wrong. I pack up my stuff, and make my way to Starkweather's desk to hand him my paper. I hand it to him, a second later he looks back at me, disappointment clear on his face.

"Clarissa, what is this?" he asked. I looked around and saw almost everyone was gone, except Jace of course.

"It's a quiz," I say sarcastically.

"Do not get smart with me," he said, obviously angry. I rolled my eyes.

"You asked a stupid question, of course I'm going to give you a sarcastic answer," I said. I knew I shouldn't be pushing it, but couldn't help it.

"Do not talk back to me. And stop rolling your eyes!" he said, a little too loud for my liking.

"What do you want me to tell you?" I asked, my anger getting the best of me. "I don't know any of this shit."

"Watch your language. I'm going to give you a warning, because you're new," he said, but before I could sigh in relief, he continued. "But, I will be assigning you a tutor."

"Who?" I asked, no longer in the mood to argue.

"Jace," he said, looking behind me. I didn't have to turn around to know he was right there.

"Can you get someone else to do it?" I asked, desperation clear in my voice.

"No," was all he said. I sighed loudly, just to show my irritation. "I suggest you two start soon." I nodded and walked out the door. Before I could escape, Jace came out of the classroom too. When I tried to quickly walk away, he grabbed my arm, holding me back.

"Clary, wait," he said. I slowly turned to him.

"What?" I asked.

"Did you tell Jon?" he asked. He didn't have to tell me what he meant, I already knew immediately. I shook my head. "Why not?" he asked.

"I don't know. How am I supposed to tell my very protective brother that some creep is staking me?" I asked exasperatingly.

"How about, 'Hey Jon, just letting you know, some creep is stalking me. So what do you want for dinner?'" he said sarcastically.

"No, I can't tell I'm like that. He would never let me leave the house again," I said.

"Maybe that's a good thing. You'll be safe that way," he said.

"Okay first of all, this stalker person could easily break into my house when I'm sleeping and kill me, and second of all, I don't need you to worry. It's not your job to keep me safe," I said, trying to make him understand. "I don't want to be treated like some child that can't fend for herself."

"I know you don't want any pity, and I get that, but sometimes you just need a little help," he said in a soft voice. I contemplated my options for a second, then after realizing I didn't have any options, I agreed.

"Fine, I'll tell him," I said. He visibly relaxed.

"Thank you," he said. After that were a few minutes of awkward silence. I looked back up to Jace to find him smirking at me. Oh god, what now? I thought, but then realized I had said that out loud. Oops. He was full out grinning now.

"So when should we meet up?" he asked. I had to do a double-take.

"W-what?" I asked.

"You know... for tutoring," he said. He smirked again when he realized what I thought he meant.

"Oh, um... I don't care. Anytime is fine for me," I said, embarrassed that I have basically no life.

"Okay, well... give me your phone," he said. I gave it to him, and he started typing something. He gave me back my phone, which was now at the home screen. I raised both of my eyebrows questioningly, and he decided to actually clue me in on what he did, 'cause apparently that was so hard to do without my hinting.

"I put my number in there. I already sent a message to my phone from yours, so I knew it was you," he said. I just said "okay."

"I have to go to my locker. I'll see you in detention," he said with a smirk, before walking away. Oh yeah, detention. I sighed, and took out my phone. I went to go look to see what Jace's number was, but his name wasn't there. I looked a few more times, when finally I saw what he put his name as. Hot piece of ass...

o.O.o.O.o

I walked into the detention room, and saw that Jace wasn't there. I went to go sit all the way in the back of the room, and unfortunately all the desks were facing away from the windows, so I wouldn't be able to look outside unless I turned all the way around. Oh well. I was only sitting for about two minutes when I heard someone sit next to me, and I didn't have to look to know it was Jace. I decided to look anyway. When I turned to him, he was looking at me already. I looked down instantly, a small blush crawling onto my cheeks. I tried to make it go away, and when I wasn't sure if it worked or not, I took out my phone and switched to the front-viewing camera. After I was sure my annoying blush was gone, I turned my phone off. I was about ot put it down, when I saw something in the reflection on my phone. I looked closer, not sure what I was seeing behind me, but when I figured out what it was, I dropped my phone and jumped out of my seat. Thankfully Jace and I were the only ones in the class at the time. I slowly went over to the windows, looking for any sign of the hooded figure I saw in the reflection, but I couldn't see anything. It was then that I realized Jace was calling my name. I turned to him and saw a concerned expression on his face.

"I just thought I saw something," I said lamely, my face becoming hot. I tried to shield my red face from him, but he took my chin into his hands and turned my head to him.

"What did you see?" he asked softly, but there was something else there, it almost sounded like... protectiveness. I shrugged it off.

"Nothing, I was probably just imagining it," I said, trying to turn away. He wouldn't let me go.

"Come on, Clary. You can tell me," he said.

I hesitated before speaking. "I just thought I saw that person from yesterday," I said.

"What did they look like?" he asked.

"I don't know. All I know is that they were wearing a black hoodie with black jeans. I'm almost positive it's a guy," I said. By now he has let go of my chin and I turned away, looking down at my hands which were in my lap. "I'm probably just paranoid."

"I don't think so," he said. When I looked him with a confused face, he explained further. "I think someone really is stalking you. Do you have any idea who it could be?" I shook my head no. "You have to tell Jon."

"I know, I just don't know how," I said. "But I'll figure it out," I added on when he gave me that face. He nodded as if saying "good."

"Make sure to tell him as soon as possible though. We need to act quick, before this person tries something else," he said.

"Okay," I say, trying to ignore the butterflies I got in my stomach when he said "we." God, I'm turning into a girl. At that moment, the teacher walks back in and dismisses us. Apparently she wanted to be here about as much as we did.

We were walking out the front of the building, when Jace spoke up. "I don't suppose you would like to give me a ride, would you?" he asked, acting all innocent and shit. I sighed. "Fine," I answered, after pretending to think about it for moment. I was going to anyway. He smiled a small smile, then followed me to my car. We got in and I started it up, then we made our way to our houses.

o.O.o.O.o

We got there shortly after, and we got out. I was going to ask Jace is he was going to go back to is house, or come to mine, but I didn't bother, seeing as he was already heading towards my front door. He opened it, and I followed, closing the door behind me. I walked into the living room and found all the guys playing video games. I looked around and saw Jon, Sebastian, Jordan, Alec, and now Jace, sitting on the couches. I didn't even bother saying hi, as I made my way up the stairs and into my room. I put my bag on my floor, and went over to my desk. It took a few minutes of searching, but eventually I found what I was looking for. I stuffed it in my purse and walked out of my room, into the living room. When I came down the stairs, I went to the door as fast as I could. I was already opening the door when Jon said, "hey, where are you going?" I just responded with a quick "out," then closed the door a little too loudly. I shrugged and went to my car, getting in the driver's seat and trowing my purse in the passenger seat. I took no time as I buckled my seat and turned my car on. I sped down the road, getting excited. It only took a few minutes to get there, and when I did, I was practically jumping up and down with excitement. I pulled over to the curb, jumped out, and hurried into the tattoo shop, standing before me

o.O.o.O.o

it has been three hours, and my tattoo is finally done. I looked down and was very happy with what I saw. It was a golden pocket watch, with a gold chain. It looked old, and I liked that. Obviously, considering I'm the one that drew it. I got it as a reminder that life is short, and that I should use my time wisely. I paid the artist, and left the building, a white bandage wrapped around my arm. The tattoo was on the inside of my forearm. I got in my car and went home. I knew my parents wouldn't be disappointed if they saw my tattoo, because it isn't my first. I have three other tattoos, four total now. I have one on my right wrist, that says "Si vis pacem, para bellum." it's a Latin quote that translates to "If you wish for peace, prepare for war." I also have another tattoo on my left wrist that says "fly free," and it has a bunch of birds surrounding it. I also have a dream catcher on my ribs, down my side. I definitely plan on getting more tattoos in the future. I would take the pain any day, just to have beautiful artwork on my body forever.

I make it home in about five minutes, then head inside. In the living room, only Jace sits at one of the couches. He looks at me when I come in, and looks at my bandaged arm. "Where have you been?" he asked. I walked over to the couch and sat down next to him. He raised his eyebrow in question, damn him, and I decide to show him instead of explain. I take off the bandage and hold my arm out to him. He looks down at it, and surprise and fascination mask his features. He grabs a old of my wrist gently, then examined it further. "This is so cool, he says after a moment of admiring. "Why did you get it. Like, what does it mean?" he asked, as if testing me.

"I got it as a reminder that life is short, and that I should use my time wisely," I said, surprisingly my voice didn't shake, as it always does when I'm around him.

"I like it," he said, smiling at me. I smiled back.

"What do you like?" The sound made me jump. I turned to find Jon and the rest of his friends filing into the living room. I dragged my arm away from Jace, and showed Jon my tattoo. He stepped closer to me, getting a better view of it. "Cool. You should have waited to go with me. I'm going to get another one soon," he said.

"Well then I guess I will just have to get another one," I said, as if I wasn't going to anyway. He just smiled the sat down next to me. All his other friends, still stood behind me, examining my ink. After about a couple more minutes of this, I was starting to get annoyed. "Okay, I get it, it's cool, but I still need personal space," I said, trying not to sound mean. I didn't want them to think I was a bitch. I mean, I am, but they don't have to think so.

A few of them said "sorry," some said nothing at all, but Jace had that annoying smirk on his face. Asshole. I scowled at him, and his smirk widened into a full blown grin. I shook my head, exasperated, and looked to Jon. He was watching the scene play out with a raised eyebrow—god dammit—and looked at me knowingly. Was I that obvious? I looked back at him, put my best what the hell are you talking about? Face, and looked to the other guys, and was thankful that they weren't paying attention to us.

"So, where were you guys?" Jon asked, drawing the attention of the others. They looked at the two of us, waiting for an answer. I looked to Jace, hoping he was better at lying than I was. I really didn't want them to know we were in detention together. But, clearly, he didn't care.

"We had detention," he said, examining his nails. I looked over to Jon, and I would've laughed at his face, if I wasn't so scared. His eyes were practically popping out of his head, and he looked confused, mostly, but not angry, thankfully.

"Why were you in detention," he said, looking at me. "Together," he added, switching his gaze to Jace. This time, Jace looked at Jon, a look of fear crossing his features, but then he put his wall back up, blocking out all of his emotions.

"Clary got detention for punching Kaelie yesterday, and I got detention, because me and Aline got caught in the janitor's closet," he lied smoothly. As glad as I was that he didn't tell Jon the truth, I couldn't help the burning rage while picturing Aline and Jace in the closet. I made sure not to show it though. There is no way I'm feeding his giant ass ego.

Jon visibly relaxed at hearing this new information. I shrugged, acting like I didn't care, and I didn't give myself time to think about why I cared.

"I'm gonna go do some homework," I said, making my way towards the stairs.

"Is it okay of the guys spend the night?" he asked.

I tried not to sound annoyed, but I couldn't help the snappiness that seeped into t my voice when I said, "Sure, why not? Why don't they just move in while they're at it!" I said, not slowing down the entire time. By the time I finished my sentence, I had just reached the top of the stairs, but I knew they heard me, and I honestly couldn't bring myself to care. I went into my room and slammed my door for dramatics.

I went through my bag, and fished out my agenda, but then realized I didn't have any; I had already finished it all. I got up from my desk chair, which I dramatically threw myself into a few minutes before, and I collapsed onto my back, facing the ceiling. I sighed and found myself getting more and more tired. I knew I should stay awake, but I couldn't fight the darkness, and it quickly consumed me.


A/N: please review! the more reviews, the more motivated I get!