A/N Hello again beautiful people! I am back with a new chapter, (THE TENTH CHAPTER WOW I ACTUALLY FOLLOWED THROUGH WITH THIS) trying to keep up with my two week schedule plan! Obviously, or else this wouldn't be named Chapter 10 and it would be named AN AUTHOR'S NOTE FOR YOU PERFECT PEOPLE.

Yeah so anyways thank you all for reviewing/following/favoriting/being awesome etc.

Eh does anyone even read these author notes? Or do you all just skip it to the story? Basically I could put anything in here. I LOOOOOOOOOOVE TMIIIIIIIII! Not too crazy, just in case anyone reads this.

DISCLAIMER:ALL RIGHTS TO THE MORTAL INSTRUMENTS BELONG TO THE TREMENDOUS MISS CASSANDRA CLARE

~~~~~~~~~~STORY TIME~~~~~~~~~~

For the next few days, Clary and Jace just laid low and didn't see much of each other. Jace was in and out, hanging out with Alec or helping his old roommate settle in with his girlfriend. Admittedly, the only reason he was doing it was because Jordan was paying him hourly and not because he wanted to see him and Maia make out every couple of minutes.

Clary, on the other hand, went to school early to avoid any situation that would end up with her bumping into Simon. She worked at the library an extra day because her co worker had gotten food poisoning and there wasn't many people willing to work there. Some people didn't even know that there was one there. Cough Jace Cough. When Clary got home, she would normally eat a quick dinner before studying for the huge midterm she has in Art History. Clary was so stressed out about it as it is worth a forth of her grade.

Finally, the test was over after Wednesday's class and she felt she did pretty good on it.

Thursday rolled around just quickly enough. Clary woke up and got ready, putting her last outfit on, which happened to be the one that she had been saving because it looked the nicest. As she floated around her room, Clary couldn't help but notice the stupid fluttering in her stomach again. Getting upset with herself, she decided to open the window for some fresh air.

A little while later, there was a knock on her door and Jace's voice came through asking if she was ready to go to breakfast. Clary looked at the digital clock on her dresser, not realizing it was almost eight. She ran a brush through her coppery red hair and opened the door to meet Jace's smiling face.

Jace made a motion with his arm outwards away from her. "Lady's first."

"Morning," Clary breathed, looking at the ground to avoid staring at Jace's trim hair that looked better than it normally did, which was saying something big considering he looked perfect everyday.

"Alright, I'll drive and then I can just drop you off at school. Is that okay? What time do you need to be picked up?"

"Um...I'm not sure. Seriously, though, you don't need to do waste gas on me." Clary and Jace started walking to the front door. Clary went to pick up her bag, but Jace beat her to it and slung it over his bag with a smirk on his face. She just rolled her eyes, letting her hair fall in front of her face to shield her smile.

"Tis not a problem. And it wouldn't be wasting gas. It would be putting my car to good use. Poor Fernando doesn't get around much and he is feeling tragically, heartbreakingly sorrowful!" Jace put the back of his hand on his forehead to increase the dramatic role he was playing.

Clary laughed, "Fine. Only for the sake of Fernando. I'll text you when I get off."

"Great! Let's go."

Java Jones was only 10 minutes away from the apartment which was very convenient for the kids near the college and the Cafe because they get all of the people who need the coffee to survive the day.

Jace held the door open for her as the two got there. Clary was starting to get a little worried. Isn't this what men do for girls on dates to try to impress them with their politeness? Not that she would know a great deal of romance, only the stories that she read on the less busy days of work. Simon was sort of a gentleman in a nerdy kind of way in the beginning. There was so many messed up things in that relationship that Clary couldn't believe she had let slip by.

If someone doesn't treat you right, don't let them into your heart. Don't let them get away with dictating your life.

Clary hadn't realized she was zoning out until a golden tan skinned hand waved in front of her face and felt the high chair hit her butt underneath her.

"...want to drink? Clary? Claaaaaaaary. Earth to Fray! What do you want? I'm about to go order."

"Don't call me that," she snapped without thinking. "I...Sorry it's just...nevermind. Anyways I'll just take a coffee."

"How many sugars?"

Clary's expression turned playfully grim. "Black. Like my soul."

Jace's eyes widened fractionally, then nodded and went to go put in the orders.

A quiet laugh shook the frail girl as she watched him get undressed by girls' stares.

The girl at the counter had blonde hair that had obviously been dyed. Makeup was caked on her face and her shirt was so small it could hardly contain her breast. She was chewing on gum, slouched over the counter, but when her eyes caught Jace coming towards her, she straightened up and pulled her poor shirt down even more. A hand went to a lock of hair to twirl it as she took his order (read;flirted with him).

Clary couldn't see his expression, but the barista's face was priceless when Jace handed back the paper she just scribbled on and gave him which probably contained her number.

When he came back, she looked at him questionably, "So why didn't you take blonde's crumpled napkin over there? Fake people aren't really your style, eh?"

"I'm interested in someone else." Clary was surprised at the quietness of his voice.

"Ohhhhhhh Jacey Wacey has a little crush? Who is she? Does she go to our school?" Even though she playfully nudged him with her elbow, she found herself genuinely wanting to know.

"Yeah she's just some girl I know. Doesn't matter." He was avoiding her gaze.

"Yes it does! If my friend likes someone, then he should definitely ask her out. What is she like?"

Jace took a breath before saying anything. "She's beautiful, kind, smart, talented, and so strong. She really is quite remarkable.

Clary's heart sank to the bottom of the ocean floor. Well that ruled her out as she wasn't any of those things. Wait, why would she even put herself into the pool when it was clear that they were just friends? "I'm sure she is," she murmured.

An awkward silence filled the air, only for a moment as someone from the back dropped a bunch of pans, which brought them to both talk at once.

"So tell me about-"

"How is school-"

They both stopped and laughed at each other, breaking the heavy tension.

"You go first," Jace said.

"Well I was going to ask about you. Tell me about yourself."

He shrugged. "There isn't much. What do you want to know?"

Clary looked thoughtful for a moment, "Tell me about your family. About your likes and dislikes. We came here to get to know each other didn't we?" She took a sip of her coffee and pretended that she hadn't just burned her mouth as she set the mug down.

"Hmm. I guess you are right."

"Always am."

"So my family," he ignored her. "When I was ten my parents, Celine and Stephen Herondale, were murdered in front of me while I hid under the bed like a coward."

She gasped and put her hand on his arm gently. "You are not a coward. You were a kid. You can't blame yourself for protecting yourself. Had you gone out to fight you would have been killed too. I'm glad that you are here right now. I'm sorry for your loss."

"Yeah well that was years ago. I'm over it." But by the look on his face, he wasn't. "Anyways I moved in with the Lightwoods because they were apparently my godparents-at least that was what was written in their will. Once I got into their mansion of a house, Isabelle immediately had a hatred for me. She thought I was taking over her life." Cue the eye roll. "Alec and I became great friends. Maryse and Robert didn't talk much, they ended up divorcing. Robert moved across the country and took Max with him. I haven't seen my little brother in years."

"Jace…" She could feel every emotion pouring out of him.

"Don't. I'm fine. I don't know why I said all of that. I haven't really talked about it to anyone. We write letters to each other in case you wanted to know. I really miss him. That's why I wanted to stay in this apartment, Max knows the address by heart and it would be a hassle to get a new one. Anyways, tell me about you."

Clary could tell he was done talking about it, so she returned the favor in telling him her life story. About how Valentine and Jocelyn fell in love and then out of it. How Jonathan abandoned her. How she took comfort in art and Simon. How wrong she had been.

After life stories, came the fun stuff. By the time it was time for school, they both had tears in their eyes from laughing so hard and it felt like they knew one another like the back of their hand. Not that close, but it was nice to finally get to know the other.

Jace dropped Clary off by her classroom and they had a quick farewell. On the way to his class, Jace kept trying to think of a person he had opened up to so quickly like he had Clary.

But he couldn't think of a single one.

In fact, he couldn't think of anyone he had bared his soul to like that.

Okay, I'm super surprised I got this done on time. School is kicking my butt.

Anywho I hope you guys liked it!

Sorry if it was a tad boring and/or a disaster

Until next time you freaking great people

Keep being the amazing person you are!

~ALB