Chapter 9

*Ducks thrown objects* I am sooooo sorry for not updating in so long!I know this is absolutely nooooo excuse for being MIA for so long (I feel so bad about that), but I got a new job and my group of friends had a major falling out (they still are) and I got about 6 different assignments and 2 exams piled on me, so my updates will probably be a bit less frequent. I will try to update again as soon as I can. I love all you reviewers and reader, please forgive me! I wuv you guys! P.S. Sorry for all the POV changes in this chapter… xx I hope I make up for my tardiness with this extraaaa long chapter.

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Clary POV
KnockKnockKnock
Clary looked up from her book she was reading. Clary untangled herself from the light blanket she was under, lying curled up on the sofa, lost in the fictional world. She walked down the hallway her feet slapping against the cool, pale tiles. Looking through the peephole she recognised the honey tan skin and dark curly hair.
"Raphael?!"
She yanked the door open, and standing there was indeed, Raphael. As he looked down and saw her she watched as a nervous smile adorned his gorgeous features.
"Hey, Clary..."
Clary almost awed he was so adorable, his smile was timid and his eyes curious, but Clary couldn't tell if he was blushing,
His skin must be to dark, she thought.
"I, uhh, got these for you." He thrust out a small bouquet of flowers. "A, uhh, get well soon present."
Clary smiled and felt herself flush a light pink.
"Thank you, Raphael!" She gushed. She realised they were still standing in the doorway.
"Oh, do you want to come in?" She asked quickly, Raphael's smile grew and he nodded quickly.
She led him through to the living room she was in before the knock on the front door. "You're welcome to sit down while I go put these in a glass of water…"

She walked through into the kitchen, looking back she saw Raphael strolling along behind her, following her into the kitchen. She looked back and blushed when he looked up to see her staring. Giggling quietly, moved around the kitchen trying to not be her clumsy self.

Probably because of that she began to do the total opposite. Just like she had in the supermarket she had to jump for the vase at the top of the pantry. Huffing she stepped away, clearly annoyed. She heard Raphael's quiet chuckling behind her, spinning around she was surprised to see that Raphael was only 2 feet away from her.

"Do you need help getting the vase down?" he mumbled quietly, his soft Latin accent pulling words up in an extremely sexy yet innocent manner.

Clary nodded her head and allowed Raphael to step around her, easily reaching up and grasping a firm hold on the vase. Clary, in the seconds Raphael was distracted allowed herself to ogle at him. His honey tinted skin, dark curly hair. His build was slight but muscled, and as he reached up part of his ribs and toned stomach was shown from his grey t-shirt riding up. His toned legs were swathed in dark jeans, a leather jacket the same colour of his jeans in his other hand. The only thing that drew from his appearance was his eyebrows, they were so thin and light Clary wondered how they had gotten that way.

After Clary finished her staring she lowered head and remained so until she saw Raphael return from the pantry with the vase. Smiling softly, she reached to take the vase from him, stepping forward she tripped over her own feet, like the klutz she was.

Letting out a small shriek she fell forward into Raphael, who just like in the cafeteria managed to catch her, again. His arms wrapped around her, one grabbing lightly at her waist, supporting her as her back was parallel to the ground.

Raphael let out a small chuckle yet again and leaned down to whisper in her ear,

"As much as I love catching you, you have to start not tripping over every-time we meet." He leaned back again and met her eyes, their dark brown mellowing as they took in her face. His gaze finally landed on her lips, her eyes went to his.

"I really want to kiss you," he whispered.

"Then kiss me…" purred Clary softly. Her words surprised herself, and Raphael especially. His eyes had flashed back to Clary's and as he began to lean in, Clary's eyes fluttered shut.

She felt a light, flickering touch of his lips to hers, his lips barely making contact to hers before a gasp and a bang echoed throughout the kitchen. Clary's eyes snapped open and found her sister standing in the hallway her mouth hanging open and her small handbag on the ground next to her, the source of the brash noise. Oh this should be fun, thought Clary.

Izzy POV

Izzy stood there in a perpetual state of shock, unable to take her eyes off the scene in front of her. What the hell is going on in here? was the only thought that managed to run through her head. She comes in from a day of planning to get her and Jace together, with Tessa, Maia and Magnus (whom she had become good friends with), to find her sister about to kiss another guy, whom Izzy had never met before.

"And who the bloody fuck are you?!", she managed to force out in a hiss.

"Izzy!" Clary intoned nervously.

"No Clary, who is this guy, I have never seen him before in my life; who the flying fahoodles is he?!"

Raphael POV

Damn, who is this girl, she's fucking smoking hot! Raphael's thought process had stopped working, now he wished that he didn't have this red-head in his arms. Pulling Clary upright, he stepped around her quickly to introduce himself to the tall raven-haired girl.

"I'm Raphael, and who my darling, are you?" he purred seductively, putting on all his charm.

The girl's face remained impassive, "I am pissed."

Raphael smirked, she was feisty, and he liked that. He heard Clary clear her throat nervously behind him, he winked quickly at the girl in front of him, before turning back to Clary. "Hey, I better be off…" he faked a shy smile.

Turning back to the still clearly fuming girl, he said one last thing.

"Well Pissed, it was nice meeting you." He winked again and mouthed quickly, 'call me'

Her mouth pulled together into a sharp sneer, and she spun on her heel, "Clary, show your friend to the door; I need to talk to you, now." Damn, she's hot when she is angry!

Clary cleared her throat quietly and began to lead Raphael out

"…Umm… Sorry about that, umm, that was my sister—I don't know why she was acting like that though…"

Raphael hid a smirk that threatened to grace his face. Ohh this girl was going to be all too easy to take advantage of, and then it would be her sister's turn.

Clary POV

They finally reached the door and Clary spun around only to bump into a toned and muscled chest. She let out a slight 'oof' sound and quickly apologised. She didn't think he was that close behind her…

Raphael had a timid smile on his face, and he had his bottom lip between his teeth looking slightly nervous… It made him look innocent yet sexy all at the same time—Wait, what?! Since when did she think guys were sexy?

Clary let an equally awkward smile work her way up to her face. She giggled as Raphael opened his mouth and closed it again, rubbing the back of his neck vigorously, trying to expel nerves.

"Umm, Clary, d-do you maybe uhh- wanttogotohomecomingwithme" he quickly rushed out, Clary barely catching the words.

Clary felt her draw drop, and she stood staring at Raphael mutely for a couple of seconds, Raphael's features turned from embarrassment to worry.

"Clary? You okay there?" he insinuated.

Clary quickly snapped her jaw shut with a snap, and she quickly turned a light red colour.

She answered quickly, stuttering almost as Raphael had.

"Y-yes R-Raphael, of course I'll go to h-homecoming with you." She managed to finally get out.

His face seemed to light up and he seemed to stand up a little straighter.

"Well then, I guess I'll see you at school then?" he asked, his eyes seemed to be glowing- with happiness? Clary couldn't tell…

"Yeah, I plan to go back the week of homecoming. You know give me time to settle back in before homecoming." Clary babbled on, feeling herself getting hotter around the collar of her black and white polka-dot button up blouse, every second.

Raphael just seemed to smile more and more as she rambled on.

"I'll just shut up now.." she mumbled quietly.

Raphael let out a chuckle, and said something that made Clary's heart melt.

"I don't mind, just listening to you talk makes my day…" he said with an every-reddening face.

"Clary!" She heard Izzy half-shout from her room- they had decided to move Izzy into one of the other one's since Clary usually woke up screaming from nightmare's, making Izzy in the process.

"Coming, Izzy!" Clary fumbled around behind her for the door handle and felt her hand come in contact with the cool metal. She yanked it down and opened it without looking away from the gorgeous boy's face.

Raphael stepped around Clary to stand in the door-way. His perfect smile taking away Clary's breath once again.

"I'll see you at school, then." He turned to leave and then hesitated- and then he bent down a long way and planted a small kiss on Clary's pale cheek.

Clary felt herself going red as Raphael gave her one last smile and turned away from her. Clary shut the door and turned around to lean against it. She felt her hand make its way along her burning cheek to press against the spot where Raphael kissed it, moments ago. Clary let out a tiny squeal and jumped up and down on the spot for a second.

She couldn't believe it—she was going to homecoming! With a boy! Her mother would have been so proud of her. Clary's heart sunk when she remembered her mother, she had been found on the floor of their Tampa Bay house. With a knife with Valentine's prints all over it buried to the hilt inside her chest. The bastard had murdered her. She was dead. Dead

Clary let out a long sigh, and trudged along to Izzy's room with dark thoughts swirling around her head. Her mood had switched so quickly from happy to dark in a matter of seconds- maybe she was bipolar? Who knows…?

"CLARY-GET YOUR PALE LITTLE ARSE IN HERE!" she heard Izzy screech impatiently, the sound ripping at her eardrums.

"Chill Izzy, I amcoming- god, calm your tits!"

She finally stepped into her sister's room, and let out a gasp when she saw the room. It was like a bomb had hit it. There were clothes, everywhere. And make-up products, hair straightener- when did Izzy even get a hair straightener?

"Izzy, what the bloody hell have you done to your room?!" she half-shouted, walking further into Izzy's room and let out a scream when the door slammed behind her. Her sister appearing suddenly behind her.

"Who was that?!" she accused pointing her finger in the general direction of the kitchen. Clary gave a giggle and a small smile at the memory of Raphael and her almost kissing. They were so close, practically touching; his breath fanning across her face, the smell of his cologne making her head spin. The feeling of his hard biceps beneath her small hands, making her feel small yet safe at the same time.

Izzy snapped her fingers in Clary's face, snapping her back to reality.

"Oh- uh-um he is a friend from school?" she said her voice unintentionally turning the simple phrase into a question. She saw Izzy raise an eyebrow pointedly at her.

"Oh yeah, you two looked absolutely chummy when you were hooking-up in the middle of the kitchen!" Izzy almost yelled again. Clary turned red at the mention of the word hooking-up. Damn her stupid blush for giving her away again.

"We were not hooking up, he was about to kiss me! And you had to just fucking walk in and ruin didn't you! How could you, t-that would have been my first actual kiss!" Clary yelled back, her temper flaring suddenly. She was right, how dare her sister just waltz on in on her, didn't she know.

Izzy just looked shocked back at her sister, her eyes seemed to get glassy and her lip began to tremble. Suddenly she was on the ground her arms flung around her legs in a ball, sobs wracking her perfect body.

Clary looked down at her sister, wondering what she had done to make her so upset.

Izzy looked up at Clary, tear streams marking her face. "Clary don't you see! Your my sister, I have to protect you, you have always protected me and I was never able to do the same. If you were in my position you would be doing the exact same, so don't tell me that I ruined it. Quite frankly, I think the guy you almost kissed is a player is only using you." Izzy drew in a sharp breath and steam-rolled on. "He turned round to me several times and each time he did something provocative. He winked at me and said call me! I mean who does that to the sister of the girl he is supposedly into!"

Clary just stood there mutely at Izzy's long outburst. She had not expected that. Clary began shaking her head at the comment of Raphael.

"Raphael wouldn't do that, he is so nice, and I think he might actually like me." Clary's voice got softer and more mumbled towards the end, she didn't like yelling at her sister and her temper never lasted long anyway; it tended to flair and then rapidly decline.

Izzy shook her head. "I don't get you Clary, it's like you have bipolar or something, you are incredibly mad or something and then like thirty seconds later you are all quiet again. I just don't know what to do anymore, but whatever it is I will stand by you, even if it is the littlest thing in the world. I love you."

Clary felt herself walking forward and her body slammed into Isabelle's, wrapping her arms tightly around her sister she whispered four words.

"I Love You More."

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Clary slammed into the couch with an a huff and pulled off her new converses, rubbing the soles of her feet and groaning, "Izzy, why did you buy me these new converses?! They are absolutely killing my feet!"

Izzy sat down with a graceful plop next to her and gave a small peal of laughter. "Clary, your old converses were trashed and they were wrecked beyond repair!" and not to mention the memories tied to them… Clary muttered darkly in her head.

Izzy's phone buzzed and she whipped it out of her pocket, typing in her password with a flourishing gesture. Reading the text quickly she let out a squeal, bounced on the lounge and typed a reply, all within 5 seconds.

Clary rolled her eyes at her eccentric sister. "What's going on Izzy?"

Izzy looked at her sister, her eyes widening, she let out a half-squeal-bellow kind of thing. "What do you mean?!" She shook her head vigorously, making her hair flick around her face. Her hair today sat on top of her head, in an extremely high pony-tail.

Izzy continued to look at Clary with an incredulous look, until Clary asked her again.

"Clary, its homecoming tonight! How could you forget!"

Clary felt herself gulp and take a shallow breath. Shit, she actually had forgotten that it was indeed homecoming. She had been so stressed going back to school that she hadn't had time to think of homecoming, or the dress that hung in the back of her closet. With that thought came Raphael, who was still taking her to homecoming.

She blushed at the thought of Raphael, and imagined his reaction to seeing her in her dress. She shook her head mentally and scolded herself, as if anyone would believe she would look beautiful, or gorgeous or even pretty for that matter.

Expelling that thought at Izzy's next words. The girls would be here any minute, and they planned on helping Izzy get Clary ready.

Dread coursed through Clary's veins,

Oh god, here we go. And with that thought the doors of the apartment burst open and Clary's torture began.

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Clary felt herself leaving her sub-conscious by the sounds of small whispers of 'ohmygod'. Clary's eyes snapped open to see the gaggle of girls standing in front of her with glazed eyes and expressions of pure pride and joy. What the hell was going on?

Oh right, homecoming… Clary guessed they were finished with whatever they were going to her and slowly rose from her seated position in front of the mirror of Izzy's vast bathroom.

Looking back towards the girls, she attempted to raise an eyebrow questioningly, but failed miserably so she finally spoke,

"What are you all staring at?"

The girls shook their heads, and Ellen finally spoke up in her usual verve,

"If you turn around and look at your fucking self in the mirror you'll see exactly what we're amazed at."

Clary shrugged and slowly turned around to face her reflection. What she saw gobsmacked her. Never before had she looked so good coming out of a nap, never before had she looked so…beautiful ever.

She looked back towards her sister and her best friends. She felt her eyes pricking at the emotion, quickly the girls rushed over and began clucking around her saying things like;

"Don't cry your make up will run-"

"You look amazing-"

"That's my sister-"

"If I wasn't straight I would be all over you like a rash!"

Everyone turned back towards Ellen, who shrugged her shoulders and said quite nonchalantly, "What she looks good! I would say that Jace wou—arghh!"

Izzy had slammed a hand over Ellen's mouth and glared at her before whispering mutedly in her ear. Clary didn't quite catch what her sister was saying to her recently acquired friend but she managed to catch a few words like 'doesn't know' or 'Jace' or 'so shut up'. What was going on?

Clary turned slowly back round to her reflection and smiled once again.

She spoke to her friends, still staring at her new reflection-

"Let's go have fun!"

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Jace POV (*SQUEALLLLLLLLLSSSSSSS*)

Jace looked at his watch once more, everytime he checked it, it hadn't moved as much as he'd hoped. What was taking them so long? He never understood why girls always took so long to get ready. Jace just pulled on his dark shirt, and dark jacket and trousers and his dress shoes and he was done. He'd also shaved but that was irrelevant.

He heard squeals from Izzy's room, he looked up in the general direction of her room. He was sitting in Luke's living room with a small glass of water in front of him. He was waiting for his date to finish getting ready along with her friends. He'd ended asking Ellen to homecoming, as Clary had announced to the rest of her friend group that she was going with Raphael. Jace had thought that maybe if he went with one of her friends, he might be able to hang with her for the majority of the evening.

The door opened and Tessa and Ellen appeared, all dressed up and giggling together. Ellen was in a one shouldered black and white number and Tessa was in a white dress that had no straps; Jace had never understood how those dresses stayed up. Jace stood politely and approached the two girls with a genuine smile he complimented them.

"You both look absolutely stunning!" he spoke looking at them both in the eyes. Ellen and Tessa giggled and said something to each other along the lines of-

"You haven't seen nothing, yet!" They gushed. Ellen spoke up again and said,
"I was serious before, I would go lesbian for her, she looked drop-dead sexy!"

Tessa giggled and attempted to correct her friend, "Ellen it's 'drop-dead gorgeous' you numb nuts!"

Ellen shook her head and replied shortly with: "I know what I said, and I stand by that."

Jace shook his head jokingly at the two girls friendly banter, he was quite puzzled by their conversation. Who were they talking about?

"Umm, anyway, how long till the other girls are ready?"Jace questioned
The girls let out another round of shrill giggling.
"What the hell is going on with you two-oh!"
The door had opened in the middle of Jace's half-shouted question. And out stepped Izzy, Maia and Clary.

Jace couldn't look away from Clary at all, not even to notice Izzy in her long black dress with the major slit up the side. Or Maia in a lovely blue and purple number. He only had eyes for the gorgeous red-head in front of him.
Clary stood around five inches taller than before because of the sparkling gold platform stilettos placed on her small delicate feet.

His eyes travelled slowly from her feet up her long exposed legs to the edge of the dress that began high up on her thighs. His eyes travelled past the pale gold fabric to the corset of the body. It was covered in rhinestones and beads, giving the dress a reflective sense, and was strapless, giving her curves where there normally wouldn't be.

The dress was strapless! Jace realised with a start. His eyes travelled from her newly discovered curves up the graceful curve of her throat and travelled to her face. Jace felt his jaw drop further, if that were even possible.

Her face was basking in its glory, she looked stunning. Her face was covered in a light foundation, barely there at all. Her lips were coated in a light shiny substance and her eyes. Jace could feel himself melting at the sight of them. They were dark and shaped, her eyelashes brushing her pink cheeks as she looked down bashfully. When she looked up again, Jace got lost in the deep green of her eyes, they were even more beautiful; and they seemed a darker shade of evergreen than ever.

Jace was lost for words and finally Izzy stepped forward, snapping him back to reality; realising that he wasn't alone in the room with Clary at all, that they were surrounded by her friends. Jace coughed lightly and spoke at last, managing to finally come up with;

"You all look absolutely stunning." His words were mainly directed at Clary, though he hoped nobody would notice. Ellen tapped Jace's arm and gestured for him to lower himself, so she could whisper in his ear. Her lips brushing his ear, he finally understood the babble from before.

"I told you she looked gorgeous…"

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Clary POV

"I feel stupid." Clary mumbled, tugging at the hem of her dress. Izzy loomed over Clary suddenly, lightly smacking her hands away from her dress. "Clary, you look beautiful, stop feeling stupid."

Clary heard a light chuckle behind her, she spun swiftly around and was faced with Jace again, they were walking through the lobby of the hotel on their way to Homecoming which would be held in the gym at school.

Clary pouted and scowled at Jace, and then attempted to stride away from him; but stumbled and she felt arms wrap around her waist, steadying her.

She huffed and stood upright again, not responding. She tried not to look at Jace to much as he looked downright yummy in that all black suit. His golden hair flopped around his face and he continually had to flick it back; making Clary flustered by his gorgeousness.

His eyes continued to pierce hers and she felt her cheeks going 50 shades darker red than normal. Izzy had continued walking by this stage, attempting ti catch up with Maia, subtly giving them privacy.

"Izzy was right, you do look beautiful." Jace stated.

"Thank you, and you don't scrub up to bad yourself…" Clary replied awkwardly, not knowing how to accept the compliment. Jace smiled and was about to say something more when she heard her name being called. The voice was familiar and like molten honey in her veins. Raphael had arrived.

"Clary—I just wanted to say that, I think I love-"

Clary turned away from Jace, not giving him time to speak, to look at her date for the evening. Raphael looked professional and clean cut in his dark grey suit, with a black tie.

Clary turned her head to look over her shoulder at Jace again,

"Sorry, Jace. Can I talk to you later about this?" she apologized.

Jace hung his head in defeat, muttering a small,

"Yeah, whatever…"

Clary beamed at him and turned to peck him on the cheek,

"Thanks again, Jace!"

Raphael, by that stage had walked to Clary and wrapped his arm around her waist, slyly shunning Jace out of the way as he moved to speak to Clary.

"Darling, you look perfect." His voice made Clary's insides liquefy, that accent just made her want to sigh out loud.

She blushed and looked down, twisting the ball of her foot on the ground like the girls do in the movies. She didn't twirl her hair around her finger though, that would be going overboard, she had thought. Her hair had been styled in large curls that reached the middle of her back.

"Thank you Raphael, you look as handsome as ever." She replied quietly back, reddening slightly at her words. Damn her awkward social skills.

Raphael chuckled lightly, obviously sensing her embarrassment.

"Shall we go?" he asked

"Oh- I didn't know you were picking me up, I was going to ride with my sister and friends… You're welcome to ride with us!" she offered on the spot.

Raphael smirked lightly and graciously accepted. Clary clapped and told the two boys to hurry up or they would be late, wobbling off.

She turned back to see Raphael standing there looking the picture of ease, while Jace looked tense and stiff, what was that about? she wondered.

Exiting the doors of the lobbies she was met by the now familiar smell of New York. Breathing in deeply she felt herself smiling wider. Tonight was going to be amazing

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Whewwww, 4,492 words! Just to put that in perspective that is 13 word pages! I hoped you liked this chapter, I really hope to update sooner than I did last time (still really sorry about that). I decided to split Homecoming into two chapters, drag it out because I always love reading and writing those types of chapters. Here's the chapter's playlist:

Chapter 9 Playlist:

Lego House- Luke Hemming Cover

Chasing Cars- Snow Patrol

Life's for the Living- Passenger

Change My Mind- One Direction

Live While We're Young- One Direction

Something I Need- One Republic

Best Day of My Life- American Author

Hope you enjoyed the chapter! Love you all! Xx Stealy10