JPOV

I dialled her number, pacing my room, and running a hand aggressively through my hair. How could I have been so stupid?

"Hello?" The voice on the other end, said.

"Aline! We have a problem." I rushed to get the words out.

"What happened?"

"Clary thinks we're dating – naturally, like everyone else does. It's not like we denied it…"

"Crap." She groaned.

"I tried to tell her that we weren't in a relationship, but she didn't bite."

"Alright, let me go talk to her. Where is she now?"

"Well, we have class in a few minutes. So it would have to wait til afterwards." I said, not really wanting to go.

"Okay. I'll wait outside and clear everything up with her when your class is over. Now get your butt moving!" She laughed half-heartedly.

"Alright. See you soon."

I rushed to the dance studio, most of the other students already there, but the only person I was looking for hadn't arrived yet. My eyes were trained on the door, when I saw Clary walk in with Sebastian. His arm was looped around her waist, and I quickly diverted my gaze elsewhere, only to let my eyes fall back onto her. She looked a little haggard as she made her way through, not even bothering to see if I was present. She set her things down and went straight to one of the barres with Sebastian. I balled my hands up, annoyed and frustrated at the turn of events.

We were all warming up on the barres, when we were called to join our partners. I noticed the way Clary hesitated, looking as though she was thinking about doing a runner. She decided against it, and cautiously made her way over to me. I cursed under my breath for being too hasty in my proposal for a date. We spun and twirled around each other, devoid of the spark and emotion we had worked up to during our private dance session in the wee hours yesterday.

"Where's the emotion, Clary? Where's the passion?" Ms. Kate critiqued. I heard Clary give a groan, and noticed how she tried to create the feelings required. It felt forced, and told her so.

"Just relax. Don't think about anything else but the steps and the music." I whispered in her ear when we sashayed together from side-to-side, with her in my arms. She tensed for a fraction, loosening up under my hold a moment later. We fluidly moved together, more in synch now, but still unable to fully grasp the feeling.

Class ended a while afterwards, and Clary still hadn't spoken a single word to me. She quickly went to grab her things, and exchanged a few words with Sebastian, before darting out of the room. I looked past outside, noting that Aline was already in position to talk to Clary.

"I see you've got Aline back in the game. Eliminated a while ago, you know. Don't know how great of a contender she'd be this time." Someone chuckled next to me.

"You're starting to really get on my nerves, Sebastian." I said through gritted teeth, my eyes glued to where Clary and Aline stood. Suddenly Clary glanced through one of the windows and gave me a hard look, before turning back to Aline. They were walking away, when Sebastian started again.

"This really is too amusing." He smirked, eyes excited. My hand curled into a fist instinctively by my side. "Not looking for a fight today, Jace." He gestured towards my stance, before raising both of his hands in surrender.

I shot him a baleful look, as he retreated for the door. I was just about to go grab my own belongings, when Ms. Kate stopped me.

"Jace, can I speak to you for a moment?" She asked, walking up to me slowly.

"Sure." I replied.

"I've been observing you and Clary for the past few weeks. I've noticed little improvement in your performance, and I was wondering whether it was because of the partnering. If that's the reason why you're not performing your best, you have to let me know, so then I can arrange you with someone else," she said, as she eyed me carefully.

Someone else? Well maybe it would be best for both of us, since I didn't really want to pull Clary down with me due to my stupid mistakes.

"Who did you have in mind?" I questioned.

"Possibly with Ella?"

"Ella?" I repeated, slightly dubious, "isn't her partner – "

"Sebastian, yes. So you'd be doing a swap over, where Clary would be partnered up with Sebastian instead."

"No." I said abruptly. She seemed slightly taken aback. "I mean, I don't want to change partners now. It might seem like we're not getting along great, or that we just can't work together, but I really feel like we're improving," I attempted to convince her. "I don't want to give up on this yet."

"Very well. Just make sure I see greater improvements between the two of you." She smiled.

I returned her smile, before quickly leaving the room. I could feel Ms. Kate's eyes boring into the back of my head, as I hastily shot out the door. I wondered how Aline was going with Clary, my fingers itching to pull out my phone to dial her number. I thought otherwise, as I moved across the hallway to my room, desperate to have a shower. And desperate for news from Aline.

First of all, I want to say how sorry I am for the delay of this chapter. I've just been really out of sorts, thanks to school, and having to choose what Uni and, I guess, career I would like to do for the rest of my life… you know, big business stuff. ): I've been stressed out of my brain with everything, which I guess led me to neglecting my stories on here…

So I'm really sorry again! I probably would've delayed my return even longer, if it weren't for the reviews I was receiving; which leads me to my next note!

THE BIGGEST THANK-YOU TO EVERYONE WHO REVIEWED, ADDED THIS STORY TO THEIR FAVOURITES ETC.! IT MEANS A LOT TO ME!

I'll be working on this over the next few days, to hopefully make up for lost time. My other stories aren't of great priority as this one, so if you follow those, they would probably be updated after I'm satisfied with the amount of chapters I will put up for this one here. (I hope that made sense lol)

Well thanks again for sticking with me.

Will be giving you more soon!

justlikepapercuts.

xo.