Ok guys, as promised, new chapter :D Hope its ok!

ENJOY! :D

The next day was Friday. It had almost been a full week since the incident with Sebastian had occurred. Oh, how much had changed in one week. To count it out:

1) I had found myself a girlfriend, who was supportive and as fond of me as I was for her.

2) I had made the football team.

3) I now had a loose band of friends, mostly from the football team, who were slowly but surely accepting me into their close-knit circle.

4) I could feel my confident – and maybe a tad cocky and arrogant – old self shining through the drab and insecure new Jace's old skin.

5) I was acing biology.

I don't know if the curriculum here was just far easier, if I had gotten smarter, or – as the most likely option – Clary being my partner had raised the grade of the latest assignment dramatically. I was marvelling at how quickly everything had turned around for me as soon as Seb was out of the picture.

But what's going to happen when he slides back into the picture?

I shrunk back into my shell at the mere thought. I hand slid over my shoulder, lifting me out of my dubious thoughts. Clary stood above me, looking down at me with a smile stretching her face. I smiled back and took her hand in mine. Without invitation, she plonked down on my lap. I was sitting with the jocks, so naturally they all cheered at this public display of affection. I faltered, a little bit confused. I examined her face, and I saw a strange redness around her eyes. Then I noticed that her usually carefree grin looked more like a forced split of the lips. Her hand trembled slightly in mine.

I opened my mouth to ask her what was wrong, but a squeak of a familiar voice interrupted me. "Jace?" Simon said. I raised my head to look at him. He was standing at the edge of the jock table, looking too scared to inch any closer. "Can I please have a word?"

"Yeah," I replied, hinting for Clary to get off my lap.

Clary was looking at Simon before, but she turned back to face me. "But Jace," she cooed, "I was hoping the two of us could go somewhere and… talk."

I swallowed hard, feeling my Adams apple bob.

"Jace," Simon repeated, a little stronger this time, "Please. It's really important."

"Ok man," I said with a little force, "I'll be there in two secs."

I looked at Clary pointedly, and she pouted at me, but stood to let me go. I heard a hush sweep of the table and looked back, confused. Everyone was looking at me with a strange expression. Suddenly, all of their eyes shifted. I turned to follow their gaze and saw Seelie approaching the table with a purposeful strut. Her arm was looped through Alec's, who just gazed off at something in the distance that no one else could see.

"Jace," she almost sung the name, "What a surprise! I heard you made the football team."

She untangled her arm from Alec's, who just plodded over to his untouched spot at the table to watch the scene with uninterested eyes.

Before I could blink, Seelie was by my side, draping her perfectly manicured hand over my shoulder, almost identically to the gesture she pulled on my first day. "Aren't you quite the star? Alec has told me about how you performed. I hear it's something every girl wants a glimpse at. On the field, that is."

Simon was nervously moving about, fiddling with his glasses and shuffling his feet awkwardly. I looked back at Clary for some help, who was also looking a little flabbergasted. She seemed to shake her stupor and stepped forward, wedging herself between myself and Seelie. "Seelie," she said softly, masking the anger I had seen flash over her face a moment before so well that I wondered if I had imagined it, "Jace is my boyfriend now, as you know. What are you doing?"

Seelie regarded Clary with a strange expression. "My, my," she clucked, "I've never seen you so protective. Of course, Seb told me off this little…" she waved between Clary and myself, "Arrangement. But I didn't expect you to care about him that much."

Some cold dropped in my stomach. Arrangement? What was that meant to mean? Maybe that's just how Seelie regarded relationships. But something about this whole scenario felt off.

"Jace," Simon hissed behind me. I turned and saw him trying to wave me over to him. I took a step towards him when a screech ripped through my ears.

I turned and my jaw dropped. Clary had her stand raised and she stood in perfect bitch slap form. Seelie had cowered away from her and had her mouth open in a high-pitched squeal of fear. It was almost comical, until I saw the fire of rage in Clary's eyes. What had Seelie said to her?

I rushed to Clary and pulled her away from Seelie, who was slowly beginning to regain her composure. "Clary," I hissed, "What are you doing?"

The anger seemed to melt off of her face and she looked up at me. For a moment, her lip trembled and her eyes turned glassy. My stomach dropped and before I could say anything, she ran away, making a bee-line for the exit. I watched her go, as did the entire cafeteria. I looked back at Simon, whose eyes were wide, but stilling commanding me over to him. I looked back in time to see Clary disappear behind the door, and I made a decision. I bolted after her, leaving Simon behind. "Jace!" he yelled after me, but I kept on running after Clary.

I sat on the living room couch, watching the blank TV with uninterested eyes. After I had run after Clary, I hadn't been able to find her. It was a waste of time. And in the end, I regretted not going back to talk to Simon. It seemed important, and I completely brushed him off. But then again, what did he want me to do? I don't know if there's a rule or anything, but it was pretty much common sense to follow your crying girlfriend if she bolts out of the room.

"What happened at school today?" Came the sing-song voice of my mum. I looked up at her, standing in the hallway. I hadn't even realised that she was home. What kind of a son was I?

I opened my mouth to reply, but I couldn't wrap my head around the words. In the end, I just shrugged and sunk further into the couch.

My mum walked over to me, her high-heels clicking against the tiles. She sat down beside me with an exaggerated smile and put her aged hand over my knee. "Not good?"

I shrugged again.

"Did it have to do with that Seb guy again?"

I shook my head. But even that felt wrong. Weren't all my problems attached to Seb?

"Clary, then?"

I didn't reply at all. I looked down at my hands, which were clenched together in my lap. It wasn't really Clary's fault, was it? But why was I so upset? So what if she had a fight with another girl? It didn't seem that irregular at this school. Really, I thought, I'm upset about what Seelie had said.

Of course, Seb told me off this little… Arrangement. But I didn't expect you to care about him that much."

The words bounced around in my head, confusing me to a point of distress. "I just," I said, my voice sounding quiet and shy, "I don't know what to do. I feel like I'm still the odd one out, even now that I'm fitting in. It's like they're all part of some elaborate scheme that I can't know about."

My mum sighed sunk into the couch, just as I had done moments before. "Of course it's going to feel like that, sweetie," she said in a matter-o-factly tone, "Like it or not, you're the new kid. It's going to take time for the other kids to warm up to you. It's great that you're starting to make friends, but think about it. If, say, Simon was new at your old school, how long would it take you, John, Jordan and Magnus to fully accept him into your circle."

At that, I had to chuckle. "Like hell he would be able to join our circle. I've known those guys since grade two!"

My mum looked at me smugly. "Exactly."

The smile faded from my face. I tossed my mum's words around in my head, and I thanked her, but something still felt off. It was a whole lot more than your everyday new-kid-syndrome that I was going through. I felt like there really was something going on behind my back.

My mum hugged me one last time and disappeared out the front door to go to work. I sat in the lounge rom and listened to the hum of the engine as she started her car. I listened to it fade until I couldn't hear it anymore. Once she was well and truly gone, I stared at the blank TV once again, as if I could find all the solutions to my problems in the depths of the plasma's technology. I stared until the sun had almost completely sunk below the horizon and its rays hardly reached through the window to offer the lounge room any light.

After maybe an hour after my mum left, the doorbell rang, sending a shock through my body and causing me to jump out of my own skin. I got up grudgingly to answer the door, trying to recover from the shock. As I swung the heavy oak door open, my eyes locked with a pair of stunning emerald green ones, framed by a tangle of fiery red hair.

Thanks for reading guys! Thanks for the support so far! I'm going to try and get back into my regular updates now, and very sorry about going like a month without a chapter :/ Once a week from now on! And if I don't uphold that, I'll try and make up for it with double chapters. Thanks again for everyone who sent the understanding messages! Love you guys!