Jace P.O.V

I drive, anxiously waiting for Clary to break the awkward tension between us. Trees and road sign whizz past us as we draw closer and closer to her house and our chances of having a conversation plummet by the second.

Clary sits uncomfortably in the front passenger seat restlessly playing with those long strands of fiery hair. A part of me feels like just pulling over and forcing her to confront what happened between us last night but the bigger part of me can't do that to her.

Instead, I opt for music and turn on the radio and flick through the stations until I find something decent. She visibly relaxes and I focus my attention back on the road.

"Thanks…For the ride."

For a moment, I'm so shocked at the sound of her voice I almost stall the jeep. Luckily, I recover quickly and fumble to keep my surprise out of my expression, "Anytime."

Clary bites her bottom lip as she considers whether to continue talking and I can't even describe how such a small action looks so sexy on her.

Her mind made up she looks over at me, "So, that biology test. I take it you'll be resitting it?"

What? Biology test? Of all the subject changer's she could've used to divert conversation from turning to last night's events, why that?

"Um…Yeah. I guess so."

"Really?" She raises a challenging eyebrow.

"Well, that's usually what you do when you fail a test."

"But you didn't fail."

Shit – She knows I lied. I panic and grasp at the unravelling threads of that lie and attempt to appear clueless, "Yeah, I did."

"Jace, cut the shit. I saw your paper and the last time I checked, a big fat A isn't a fail."

My brow knits together as I turn wide eyed, "You looked at my paper?"

Her face turns to one of guilt now, "I knew you were lying. You're really smart, Jace. Why hide that?"

I release a breath as I try to come up with an answer but find myself without one, "I dunno. I guess I just never thought people would expect me to be so why bother mentioning it?"

She bites her bottom lip again and I try my best to keep my attention on the road, "So, what about college then?"

College was a safer topic I approved of, "If the team performs well this year, I'm in with a good chance of a scholarship."

"Football huh? Is that the big dream?" She smiles lightly at me and I can't help but do the same.

"I guess so. I mean, this plans been in the works since I was old enough to hold a ball. My dad wants me to go pro."

"Is that what you want?"

I give her an amused look, "Have I stepped into my guidance councillor's office or something? Why so many questions about my future?"

Clary shrugs and rests back against the chair, "Just curious."

"Trying to get to know me, Fairchild?" I give her a devilish smile and a wink.

She snorts, "In your dreams, Wayland."

We pull up beside her house and she leaps from the car, snatching up her bag and turning to peek in the open door, "Thanks again."

"Like I said, anytime." I give her a wolfish grin and she disappears into the house.

I watch her go, wishing I'd taken a longer route here so I could have her to myself for longer. Sighing, I reverse out of her street and head home.

Clary P.O.V

When I step through the front door, I can see my mom standing at the window peeking through the blinds as Jace takes off in his jeep.

"Ooh, who's he? Boyfriend?"

I give her a long and suffering sigh, "Mom, you're not the CIA. Please remove yourself from your lookout point."

She pouts and withdraws from her vantage point of where Jace dropped me off, "Can I not just peek out the window to see who the young man dropping my daughter off is without being accused of spying?"

"Try stalking."

"Honey, that's my job. I'm here to obsess over your life and help pick a worthy guy to be the father of my grandchildren."

My hands fly to my ears, "Ew, mom please stop. I'm eighteen, my biological clock hasn't gone bust on me yet." I take the stairs to at a time and make a good start on my homework.

When I wake up the next morning covered in a pile of revision notes, the alarm clock glares at me from my bedside table – I'm running late.

I dive in and out of a shower, slap on some make up and hurry to throw my books into my bag whilst failing to calm the frizz in my hair with a quick finger-comb. Taking a brush through my hair, I stop at the mirror in the hallway and deem myself presentable.

"Bye, mom."

I'm out the front door and hurrying down the sidewalk at a fast pace and only slow down when I reach the front doors of the school. Discovering I've made it with five minutes to spare, I head to my locker to dump some of the book deadweight out of my bag.

"Hey, Clary. Hello? Redhead?"

I turn and come face to face with Jared Porter who looms over me with a self-assured smirk plastered on his overrated face.

"Oh um, hi."

"So, listen," he moves closer, "You bailed on me the other night and I'm really not used to that. I thought things were going well."

I'm frozen against my locker. As big of a prick as the guy is, I still don't want to hurt his feelings. I fumble for the politest rejection I can muster, "Look, Jared. You're great but…I'm just not interested." I was an awful person but it was the truth and did give me back my personal space when Jared backed up as if he'd been slapped.

He huffs a humourless laugh and his face contorts into a glare, "When I go to a party and talk to a good-looking girl, I expect results. I mean, it's not as if I'm looking for a girlfriend. But talking to me, getting my hopes up for getting some action and then telling me you're not interested? You, Clary Fairchild, are a tease. But that doesn't matter, at the end of the day everyone will think you and I hooked up and you won't be the new girl anymore – You'll be the little bitch who was so happy wrapping her lips around my dick." His twisted smirk is victorious and I know I have to shut that shit down now. I was wrong – he was a prick whose feelings I really didn't give a fuck about.

At first, I'm too stunned by how big of a dick this guy is but that soon turns to anger as I square my shoulders and stand straighter, "You honestly think that if a girl talks to you then automatically you're going to get lucky with her? First, congratulations for being a first-class asshole and second, being rejected is not an excuse to throw a tantrum. Now get out of my way." My words are forceful, perhaps even venomous, as I go to move past him but he doesn't budge.

"You listen to me you little bitch. You don't get to speak to me like that – No one speaks to me like that."

I lean in a little closer to his face and smirk before whispering, "I just did."

Jared looks as if he's about to generate steam from his ears as his face turns red with embarrassment and his chest puffs up like he's trying to recover what's left of his wounded man pride. I hate how proud I am of putting this jackass in his place but it had to be done.

I push past him and begin walking down the corridor but a large hand wraps around my wrist painfully and yanks me back, "Do not walk away from me. I'm not finished talking…"

Suddenly, he was. A fist flies out of nowhere and gets Jared square on the nose. Jared falls hard against the lockers and clutches his nose which already has a steady flow of blood pissing out of it. He looks up at his attacker and his eyes widen, "Jace, man. What the fuck?"

Jace is a vision of barely contained fury as his breaths leave him in rags and his eyes bulge with contempt and rage towards Jared. He walks towards Jared, who sits slumped like a rag doll against the lockers, and pulls him up by the collar of his jacket. Jared's feet don't touch the ground as Jace's entire body shakes with the adrenaline pumping through him, "You will never approach Clary again. You will not think about her. Talk to her. Talk about her. Touch her. Or so much as breathe on or near her. Otherwise, I will find you and I will break you. Are we clear, Porter?"

Jared nods profusely, "I'm sorry, man. I didn't know she was your girl."

Jace turns to look over at me and his expression softens. Turning back to Jared, he slams his back into the lockers and a little squeak escapes Jared, "Well she is."

With that, Jace drops Jared and is beside me. He evaluates my entire body, placing his hands on my cheeks as he searches my eyes with his concerned blue and brown ones, "Are you ok? Did he hurt you?"

His girl is still swirling around my stunned brain. I shake my head vehemently but feel a slight ache in my wrist and glance down. Jace's eye's follow mine and widen with protective rage as he takes in the red hand print wrapping around my wrist.

"I'm going to kill him."

"Jace, I'm ok. It's seriously nothing."

"It's not nothing." He spits as he tries to reign in his anger and releases my face from his soft and delicate hold.

"Jace," I take his swollen hand in mine, "You're the one we need to be worrying about. Why did you do that?"

Jace almost appears bewildered by my question, "No one speaks to you like that. I won't let them. Why wouldn't I have hit him? I heard what he was going to tell people to ruin your reputation."

Pulling my eyes from his, I can see our little spectacle has drawn quite a crowd. I bite my bottom lip and begin pulling Jace in the direction of an empty classroom, "Come on." I drag him inside and towards the back where no one can see us.

Luckily, it's a home economics classroom and I find ice in one of the freezer's. Wrapping a handful of ice cubes up into a kitchen towel, I hand it to Jace who gratefully presses it down on his swelling knuckles. He takes a seat and I pull a chair up to face him. He won't look at me. Instead, his eyes are fixed to the very interesting imaginary object he seems to have found on the floor.

"Thank-you, Jace."

His head snaps up at my words and he gives me a wry smile, "Anytime."

I breathe a giggle and he gives me a questioning look, "What?"

I shrug my shoulders and smile up at him, "I guess you were my knight in shining armour today."

He laughs lightly, "Well, get used to it."

Once again, we've found ourselves so close to each other that his minty breath caresses my cheek as his eyes once again search mine as if I'm a puzzle he can't quite figure out - I know I should pull away and break the moment but I can't. His eyes pull me in like a vortex, drawing me to the centre that is Jace. I feel my body subconsciously lean towards him and his uninjured hand reaches up to push wayward strands of my hair back behind my ear before trailing my jawline and stopping only to cup my cheek. I lean into his touch and feel the world around about us fade away – There is only Jace and I and the sound of our rapid intakes and outtakes of air. The pull between us is taut as those god-like eyes float downwards towards my lips, "Clary." He utters my name like it's something you worship, his husky voice causing a rush of heat to my cheeks and further down towards my core. Butterflies erupt in the pit of my stomach and it's taking all I have in me not to melt into his touch.

His thumb lightly traces the length of my cheekbone as I press the makeshift ice pack onto his knuckles and stroke the inside of his wrist. He glances down at my tender touch and smiles before returning his gaze to mine. Slowly, as if approaching an animal ready to make a dash for escape, he touches my forehead with his and hums happily when I don't pull away. It's all too much but not enough at the same time with all the tension and the butterflies.

I can't help it - My eyes flutter closed in anticipation for Jace's lips to find mine. There's a heartbeat of time where I'm left wondering if he'll make his move and almost reopen my eyes to see if I'd misinterpreted his signals. However, all panic is quickly shut down by the warmth of a pair of tender lips pressing against mine.

It's short and sweet and my eyelids open to see Jace's hooded one's – The want in his eye's matching mine. A small kiss suddenly is nowhere near enough as he presses his lips back to mine – consuming me with the heat of his need. His arms encircle my waist and the forgotten ice pack slips onto the floor as he lifts me onto his lap. I straddle him as his hands find my hair and plunge themselves into its length and mine find his, pulling at his blonde locks.

An appreciative growl escapes him as he presses harder against my lips, his kisses becoming more forceful and desperate as if he was drowning and I was the air he so desperately needed.

His hands leave my waist and move to cup my ass. He squeezes and I moan into his mouth, only encouraging his passionate ferocity. His lips leave mine and kiss down my jawline slowly and I arch to allow him access to the rest of my neck. He trails hot kisses downwards until he reaches the exposed skin of the top of my chest and kisses that too before returning his attention to my face, "Clary, we need to stop. We should stop before we can't…"

But I'm having none of it as I recapture his lips and feel him almost instantly give into my want for him. I explore the broad expanse of his chest with my hands and move downwards towards his washboard abs. I stop briefly before allowing my fingers to slip under his t-shirt and meet the small patch of hair that leads downwards. He hisses his approval and shock as I trail my fingernails upwards and then around to his back where I dig my fingernails lightly into his warm flesh.

It's too much for Jace as he stands with me still attached to him by the lips and by my legs encircling his waist. He carries me over towards the classroom wall and presses my back up against its cold surface – a shocking change from his warmth that I was becoming accustomed to. Every part of his body presses against mine as he takes the skin of my throat and nibbles lightly causing light and airy moans to escape my parted lips.

It's only when I feel the impressive hardness of what's growing in the front of his jeans that I realise how heated and entangled we've become.

"Clary," he whispers like a prayer against my neck as I feel the headiness of his touch trying to consume me all over again. He pulls away when my lips suddenly stop moving against his and looks up at me. His eyes hold confusion, wonder and want and I know mine are the same as I attempt to pull myself away from the fuzziness of our sexual tension and ground myself back into reality.

I drop my legs from around his waist and slide down the length of him, supressing a moan when my core briefly meets his hardness. He hisses at the contact as he pushes a nervous hand through his hair but stays with his body glued to mine, his hands on my ass travel upwards towards my hips as his eyes search mine. He opens his mouth and looks as if he's about to speak but then closes it again, opting for burying his face in the side of my neck and sighing – His hot breath tickling my shoulder. We just stand there, holding each other, trying to come to terms with what's just happened between us.

It's in that moment that I see Izzy in my mind's eye and realise what I've just done with her brother could potentially ruin our friendship. It's like a bucket of freezing cold water being thrown over me as I straighten and feel my cheeks heat up with the force of my blush. Jace feel's my body harden as he brings his face up from where it was hidden in the crook between my neck and shoulder and shakes his head, "No, Clary. I know what you're doing – Don't shut me out. Please." His voice is desperate and I can see the vulnerability in his eyes. He's still shaking his head as he puts one hand into my hair and another against my cheek, "We can figure this out, Clary. Just please, don't shut me out."

His lips find mine and steal a kiss from them which I can't help but return. However, I make sure it's short and pull away when all I want to do is remain in the little bubble that is Jace and I.

"I'm sorry, Jace… I have to go." The pained look of rejection that fills Jace's expression and eyes cuts through me like a knife but I know I need to get out of there before I change my mind. I break away from his hold and race for the door, turning only as I open it. He's still standing exactly where I left him, his hurt eyes following me but his body remaining motionless as his shock and confusion keeps him rooted to the spot. His easy smile is gone and in its place, is the vulnerable part of Jace Wayland that I'm sure I just hurt – Badly.

Almost every part of me tells me to go back, to hold him and tell him I'm sorry. Tell him that I'm falling for him. But the part of me that remembers the pain of the last time I wound up feeling this way cuts off any chance of acting on those feelings.

I go through the door and don't look back – Every footstep that carried me away from him carrying me away from the weight of my fear.

But I already know it's too late - I've fallen for him.