Clary p.o.v.

"Jace babe we really need to be studying," I said. "No we don't," he said then went back to trailing kisses along the side of my neck. I sighed, "Yes, we do. Finals for all our classes are in a week." He pulled back and looked at me and smirked before opening his mouth to respond, "Can we at least take a break then?"

"Jace we've been studying for thirty minutes."

"That's longer that I've ever studied in my entire life," he said. I rolled my eyes but, put my hand against his cheek. Jace leaned into my hand almost instinctively and a ghost of a smile appeared on his face. He took my hand and traced the lines on my palm then kissed the center of my palm. I smiled then leaned over and pressed my lips against his. Jace grabbed my waist with both hands and pulled me closer to him. I rested my hands on his shoulders as he kissed me forcefully but gently at the same time. Before I knew it he pulled away and rested his forehead against mine. "Now," he said, "Are you sure you want to study?"

"Yes," I said immediately. "Are," he kissed my cheek, "You," he kissed the hallow of my throat, "Positive?" he kissed my lips lightly. I laughed slightly and pulled away from Jace. He pouted, his lower lip sticking out. I smoothed my thumb over his lips then kissed his cheek. "Ok, tell you what," I said, "If you study with me for atleast an hour and a half each night this week, then we can go to the movies this weekend and do this," I said and leaned over to press my lips against his briefly. "What movie?" he breathed.

"Does it really matter?"

Jace pretended to look thoughtful for a moment before replying, "No, not really."

"Well ok then. Now, can you please cooperate with me and study?"

"Only because I wanna be able to makeout with you for two and a half hours straight."

"Nice, that's just wonderful," I said sarcastically. "Aw, c'mon you know you love my skillfull lips," he said while puckering them. "...Just open up your math book and lets get started." Jace laughed but opened his booklet.

"Jace you speak like six different languages, how can math be so hard to you?"

"I don't know, it just is, and its not like I remember every little math thing I've learned over the years."

"No one expected you to Jace, but...you know what nevermind." He looked at me steadily then pulled me onto his lap and wrapped his arms around me. "Are you upset with me?" I sighed before replying, "No, I'm just...stressed is all."

"About what?" he asked while trailing his fingers up and down my right arm. "Just school, my job, college...my parents."

"What's wrong with your parents?"

"I don't know, but my mom just looks like...like she's half dead, half alive. Ever since my dad moved in with us again she's been distant. Like she's in some far off world that only she can live in, and its scaring the hell out of me," I said my voice cracking towards the end of my sentence. Jace kissed the side of my head and entwined my hands with his. "I'm sorry Clary," he whispered. Slightly I smiled but then it faded. I hated thinking about how my mom looked. Dark circles rimmed her green eyes, her hair was like straw, and her face held absolutely no emotion. Just a blank, vacant look. "Look Clary I'm sorry, I didn't mean to cross a boundary or anything," Jace said quickly. "No, its fine. I just wish my mom wasn't so afraid of my dad, and that he wasn't a complete and total asshole."

"Do you have a single memory of you and your family acting like, well a family?"

"Yeah," I said quietly, "I was seven years old and it was the Forth of July. We had gone to Madison Square Garden for a fire works show, and my dad had tried his best to pack food for all four of us. He had made a homemade pizza that tasted awful...but we ate every last piece of it. Then afterwards we turned on the portable radio and Johnathan and my dad danced to all the songs I had been singing to while my mom just sat there smiling. After that the fireworks started and we sat on the ground watching them, me in Johnathan's lap and my dad's arm around my mom." Jace's hand came up to wipe away tears that had been falling from my eyes. Why is it that every time I cry, I don't even realize it? Slowly Jace laid down, with me on top of his chest. Fully laid down, I curled up on Jace's chest as he played with various strands of my hair. My fingers traced irregular shapes on his chest before I started to write our names. Jace Lightwood. Clarissa Fray. I wonder what it would be like if I were to write our names together? My hands paused for a moment, then I started to write my name and his last name. Clarissa Lightwood. Then it was both our names put together with his last name. Jace and Clary Lightwood. And then it was just his full name with a Mr. and Mrs. in front of it. Mr. and Mrs. Jace Lightwood. My hand froze. Why all of the sudden am I putting our names together? I mean we're only going to be boyfriend and girlfriend for a couple of months right? Right? I looked up at Jace to find him looking down at me, with a curious look in his eyes. "What's wrong?" he asked. "Why would you assume something's wrong?" I said answering his question with a question.

"Nothing, its just that you seemed so relaxed and then not even a minute ago you tensed."

"Oh well I'm fine so there's no need to worry," I paused for a moment, "Jace?"

"Hm?" he murmured. "I have to go, its getting late," I said and looked up at him. He nodded reluctantly, but uncoiled his arms so that I could sit up and get my things together. After grabbing my things and saying good bye to Jace I drove home in a sort of daze. Seriously why was I putting our names together? Its not like we're going to be together forever. Right?

Aline and I had been walking towards the lunch room when she said the same thing she always did. "I swear you two are so cute together!" Aline squealed. "Why do I get the feeling that you've been saying that, ever since I became Jace's girlfriend three weeks ago? Oh wait, maybe because you have been saying that for the past three weeks," I said. "Well you can't just expect me not to be excited for you. Its about time that you and Jace got together."

"What do you mean its about time?"

"Well because when Jace and I were together, even though he cared about me, he always seemed to be looking at you. Which is actually one of the reasons why I hated you all the more."

"Just because he looked at me?" I asked. "Its not because he looked at you Clary, it was the way he looked at you. It was like he was silently saying that he would do anything for you, no matter how complicated or dangerous," Aline said as a matter of factly.

"And that's a bad thing?"

"Well, its an intense thing. Look Clary, there was a reason why I said that he cared about me and not loved me."

I turned to look at Aline, "Seriously? I thought you were just blowing off your whole relationship with him entirely."

"I'm not even sure if you would have called it a relationship at all," she said softly. "Ok what is up with you and your indirect statements today? Its driving me insane."

Aline smiled, "Sorry, but anyway what I mean is that Jace was never fully dedicated to our relationship. He wanted me sure, but I always got the feeling that he never really truely had feelings for me. At least not the same feelings I had for him."

"Oh..." I said quietly trying to hide my worried feeling, even though Aline seemed to catch it anyway. "Don't worry Clary, like I said before Jace would do anything for you. He loves you."

"Are you positive about that? Because sometimes he can seem sort of distant."

"Oh, he's always like that. That's nothing unusal. Honest. Now let me finish my story," she said hastily, "Anyway, I'm sure you've heard how Jace has been with a ton of girls right?" I had, but they were all so brief I couldn't bring myself to dwell on them. "Ok so I'm going to take that as a yes," she said and continued, "Jace has never been the open book type as you probably already know. And any time I asked about his family, he would get kind of defensive and a little angery. So from experience hun don't ask him anything he doesn't want to talk about. Let him come to you."

"Thank you, Aline but me and Jace are doing just fine," I said remotely. We had arrived at the caffeteria some time ago, and my hands had balled up into fists and my teeth were clenched together, but there was no way I was going to let anyone know that I was worried about my relationship with Jace. But the thing is that I don't even know why I am. We've been fine I think emotionally, and physically...well I'm pretty sure you all know that that situation is perfectly fine. I took in slow and steady deep breaths before asking my next qustion, "Aline when you said that Jace wanted you but never actually cared...what did you mean by that?" She looked at me sort of perplexed then she came to and answered me, "Oh well um, nevermind it doesn't really matter anyway," she studdered. She turned away to walk towards the tree where Simon, Maia, and Jace were located, but I caught her arm just in time. "Aline, please...I really need to know."

"Clary, I already told you that you have absolutely nothing to worry about. Jace loves you." I sighed a little exasperated, "Honestly why do you, Maia, Simon, and Izzy all say that? We've only been together for three weeks. I highly doubt that he loves me."

"Clary he's been in love with you for the past year and a half!" Aline shouted. Everyone stopped talking long enough to turn and look at us, including our friends. Both me and Aline smiled lamely before I gripped her wrist and pulled her into a corner. "What on earth are you talking about?" I asked in a low voice.

She sighed tiredly, "At the end of last year, I had really like Jace as you already know, but he loved you. Although you were with Sebastian, so I figured that if I were to show Jace that I was here and available he would get over you and move on. But as we all know that didn't work, so when you started tutoring him I got really worried- for him not for me- that you would break his heart. Which, and this may surprise you, is really very fragile. Jace has never cared for any one, besides the Lightwoods, and yes there was a little part of me that wanted you to break his heart so that he would figure out that I was here standing right in front of him, but Jace is beautiful and beautiful things are easily broken by the world, so I decided that if he didn't care about me the way I cared about him then I'd rather not have him at all. So I came up with a plan to break us up. I was going to "cheat" on him."

My jaw dropped, "So you never really cheated on him?" Aline shook her head, "Nope."

"So your still a virgin?"

"Yup, I'm a complete and total nun," she grinned. I smiled at her too, but the smile faulterd a little as I asked wonderingly, "But, who was that guy you were making out with?"

"Oh, that was Collin. He works at the mall in Sam Goodies. His dad works with my dad so we're friends," she said plainly. "So he just agreed to spontaneouly make out with you at an icecream shop?"

"No, silly I asked him, and he was cool with it. Plus his ex-girlfrined was going to be there."

"Well, ok but you started crying, and so did he!" I said still some what confused. "Well duh I had to make it look believable. Though why Jace started crying was probably just to get you to get close to him in some way. Which I'm pretty sure worked considering you two got together."

"So the whole time, you were just faking it?"

Aline nodded her head before answering, "Yup, now can we go eat, I'm hungry?"

"You actually eat the food here?" I asked with a disgusted look on my face. "Clary, I eat the fruit from the vending machines," she said like it was an obvious fact. "Well ok then lets go sit down." Aline nodded then took me by the wrist and walked me over to the shady oak tree where Simon, Jace, and Maia sat. Maia and Simon seemed to be in deep conversation while Jace just sat there with his legs pulled up, hands dangling between his legs. Mine and Aline's figures casted shadows and Jace looked up squinting. Once he saw us he smiled and reached up to grab my waist. Jace pulled me down to sit on his lap and I let him. After sitting down and leaning up against Jace's chest Maia jumped into conversation.

"So, how is living with your dad again going?" she asked lightly. My expression darkened before I ansewred, "It's hell. My mom is back to her old ghostly self. I hate it." I crossed my arms over my chest and Jace used both his hands to brush hair away from my face and put it behind my ears. He kissed my left cheek softly and I smiled. Jace took both my hands in his and laced our fingers together. He used his thumb to rub the back of my hand and rested his chin on my shoulder. I moved my gaze from Jace, to Maia and Aline who were grinning, to Simon who looked mildly grossed out. Slightly I shook my head at him and he shrugged.

"Soooo...this is awkward," Maia said. "Well then say something," I inquiered.

"If I had something to say then this awkward silence wouldn't be a problem," she said exasperated. "Well geez Miss. Snappy Pants. Calm yourself." I said.

"I am calm!" she said her voice rising .

"Because that yell was totally calm. Maybe you should cut down on the meditating Maia," I said, eyebrows raised. Maia frowned and she fell back against the tree looking out over the entire court yard examining everyone. She cocked her head to the side before speaking, "Its funny, back in the third grade all this picking a group didn't matter. All that mattered was if you had the best pokemon play cards."

"Or if you had the longest record at jumping rope," Aline added. "Well, I don't know about you four but I had both of those things," I said while messing with the sleeve of my sweater. Jace turned his head to look at me and narrowed his eyes, just as the rest of my friends did. "What? You can't deny the truth forever you guys," I said. Aline smiled then threw her empty water bottle at me, as did Maia and Simon. Jace just messed up my hair completely. Meanie!

"Abuse!" I yelled teasingly. Aline threw her apple core at me, "Ok, ok I take that back! Just whatever stops the tears," I said defensively. Simon looked at me for a second before slapping my arm as hard as he could. Pain shot my my arm and I yelped before hitting him back just as hard. Like always he slapped me back and so did I until we were having a slap fight. Jace had pulled back a long time ago so he wouldn't get hit, but I didn't really care, it just gave me more room to go slap crazy on Simon. "Simon, you started this I can just as easily finish it!" I shouted. Both of us stopped for a second examining the other then Simon slowly lowered his hands and so did I. Simon held out his hand, "Truce?"

I grinned and took his hand, "Truce," I turned my head to look back at the school, "Looks like its time to go peoples." I stood up and dusted myself off while the others did the same as well. After he was finished readjusting his clothing, Jace took my hand in his again and laced our fingers together. I smiled up at him, and he bent down to kiss me lightly. "Yech!"

My head turned and I saw Simon making a grossed out face at us. I stuck my tongue out at him and waved at Maia and Aline then left, pulling Jace by the hand. I looked up at Jace and he was smiling at me. He moved closer towards me until his arm was wrapped around my waist, making my heart beat faster.

"What were you and Aline talking about when she yelled?" he murmured. I pressed my lips together, a slight blush appearing on my cheeks. Jace nudged me, "Well, are you going to tell me?"

"Mmm...no." I tilted my head back to look at Jace and he had a smirk plastered on his face. He pulled me into a corner behind a wall and some lockers and pulled me close. His warm breath fanned across my face as he spoke, "Please, tell me Clary...please."

"Not a chance," I whispered, placing my hands on his chest. Teasingly, Jace kissed the corner of my mouth, "How about now, will you tell me now?"

"We need to get to class," I said hastily, pulling back. But Jace tightened his hold on me and pulled me back to him again, "Clary, baby we still have fifteen minutes to get to class. I'm pretty sure you have more than enough time to tell me what exactly you and Aline were discussing back in the court yard."

"Jace it hardly matters, it was just girl talk."

"Well then if it hardly matters then you shouldn't have a problem telling me," Jace inquired. I slid my hands further up his chest until they rested on his shoulders. Sighing, I laid my head against his chest and closed my eyes, "Is it really going to kill you if I don't tell you?"

"No, but it will drive me crazy." Again I sighed before answering. "You," I stated simply.

Jace blinked in confusion, "Pardon me?"

"We were talking about you."

"What about me in particular?"

"Just you, mostly about your personality though," I said. "Ok but what were you saying when Aline yelled?" Jace asked. "Oh well by that point we were taking about us," I said trying to sound nonchalant but failed miserably. Jace raised an eyebrow, something he knew I hated since I wasn't able to do it. He took his right hand and grabbed my chin forcing me to look him in the eye. "There's something you're not telling me Clary," he said quietly.

"Wh-why would you say that?" I studdered trying to avoid his gaze. "Because I can see it in your eyes," Jace said studying my face. Sighing, I took hold of Jace's hand and put it back next to his side. "Everyone keeps saying that you've been in love with me for the past year and a half," I said with a small voice. Jace looked taken aback. "You know what nevermind I never should have said anything. I...I have to get to class. See you later Jace."

I detached myself from Jace and turned to walk away, but he grabbed my hand and brought me to him once again. "Jace," I said in a tired tone, "Just forget everything I said, it doesn't matter." Then his mouth came down on mine in a passionate, sweet kiss. His hands cradled my face gently, our lips moving in perfect sync. Jace pulled away all to soon and rested his forehead against mine. Our breaths were coming out in short pants, but Jace calmed his breathing down first.

"I do," he said in a low voice. I blinked in confusion, "What?"

"I love you."

My eyes widened and my voice came out hoarsely, "You do?"

A small smile appeared on Jace's face, "What, does that surprise you?" Not knowing what to say I nodded, swallowing hard. Say that you love him back Clary. Go on say it! I can't. I'm too afraid. Why not? Because everytime I love something it ends up disappointing me. How do you know Jace is going to do that to you though? He seems to love you more than anything in the world. He would never do anything to hurt you. C'mon Clary, you know you love him just say it.

I came out of my reverie and saw Jace looking at me. His face looked like it had lost its dream-like state and had found a hurt look. "Look Clary, if you don't feel the same way...that's quite all right. I'm not going to pressure the issue. I just...I needed you to know how I feel."

"...Jace-" but he had interrupted me. "I guess I'll see you later." He stepped around me and started down the hall way toward his next class when I called out to him.

"I love you too!" Jace stopped dead in his tracks and turned around slowly. His eyes were wide, and his jaw was dropped to the point where he could fit basicaly anything in there. My whole body was shaking violently, with every step he took as he made his way back towards me.

"What did you say?" he asked incredulously. I took a deep breath before answering, "I love you too..."

"You really truely mean that? I mean you're not just saying that because I said it?" Jace asked hopefully.

"Jace I mean it with all my heart, its just...I'm scared. I mean everything I ever loved has left me. Everything just seems to disappoint me in the end. I can't take anymore heartbreak Jace, I think I've had enough of that for an entire life time."

Jace took my face in his hands, "And you think I'm not scared? I've never loved anyone the way I love you, and I don't want to. Clary, please don't ever think that I would hurt you in anyway. I would never do anything to jepordize what we have, which to me is the most precious thing in the entire world. I love you baby."

"I love you too Jace," I whispered. Jace bent down to brush my lips against his before he kissed my forehead. "Oh and Clary, one more thing," Jace said.

"What?"

"We have three minutes to get to class."

"OH MY GOD! My class is upstairs. I'll see you later Jace." I said giving him a small kiss on the lips before racing up the stairs, taking two at a time.