Wow, you actually have NO idea how much reviews mean to me. Like seriously, I'm not very confident with my writing but to hear you all say such lovely things makes me start to believe in myself more so hopefully my writing will start getting better as I get more confident :D

Oh and just so you all know, I plan for a lot of Malec hurting and drama in this fanfic (there will be happy times as well of course, but to get there they have to go through LOADS of drama). Anyway, I'll shut up now and let you read the chapter!


Magnus ran his fingers gently over the spines of a row of books as if they would crumble under his touch; he was looking at the books in the library and thought it rather sad that they were left here to get dusty until the Lightwood family came to spend time here. The house had originally belonged to Alec's great grandfather and had remained in the family ever since - a fact Robert liked to tell people whenever he got the chance. Magnus didn't read books but he understood that people get lost in another world in them and he thought all books deserved to be treated with care and actually be read. Why have all these books if there were only people there to read them a few times a year? It just made no sense.

Maia's words still rang in his mind and he kept speculating what she had been apologizing for. If anything, he should be the one apologizing for acting like a dick the majority of the time; she had left him more confused than he had been in a long time. He wanted to go and find Alec and have that kiss Maia had caused him to miss out on, but just as he was about to leave the library, Alec walked in with his head down and his shoulders drooped, closing the door behind him.

"Alexander," Magnus smiled at the sight of the other boy being close to him again. He walked over to Alec and put his fingers under his chin, lifting his head so he could look into those baby blue eyes that he loved so much. His smile faded when he saw that they were brimming with tears; Magnus' heart lurched at the sight; he didn't like seeing such gorgeous eyes looking so sad. "What's the matter, baby?"

Alec looked Magnus straight in the eyes as he spoke, his words coming out pained and quiet. "Maia told me. About the bet. She told me everything, Magnus."

Magnus dropped his hand, his mouth dropping open in shock. She was apologizing for the fact she was going to tell Alec, he thought. If it was anybody else, Magnus would have been furious, but Maia was his little sister and he knew everything about her so he knew that she never would have told Alec without good intentions. Besides, it wasn't her fault that Magnus' best friend brought out the worst side in him.

"Oh, look at that. Magnus Bane; finally speechless," Alec laughed bitterly, his eyes looking wild now. Magnus vaguely remembered that he always used to be scared of Alec when he got angry because it was like he became a completely different person: he changed from a cute adorable little kitten, to a fierce loud lion. "How could you do that, Magnus? How could you agree to do such a horrid thing to me?"

"I'm sorry," Magnus mumbled, his own eyes now filling with tears, his breathing now shaky. He felt like he was detached from his own body, watching the scene play out before him.

"YOU'RE SORRY?" Alec shouted, shoving Magnus away from him. "That's all you have to say? It was bad enough that you did it to that Sebastian guy but everybody could see how much you regretted it afterwards, even I could although I hated you at the time. I thought that maybe, maybe you would have changed. And you were planning on doing that all over again, to me this time?"

"Alec, please. Just listen-"

"No, you listen, Magnus! Do you know how hard it has been for me to be with you?" His voice lowered to his normal volume, his chest breathing heavily and endless tears streaking his face. "I've never been with a guy before, I've never even told anybody that I'm gay. Being with you was a big step for me, do you any idea how much I had to battle with my shyness to be able to kiss you and not feel bad about it? Magnus, I forgot about everything you did at school - how you bullied other people, used them, never defended me when your friends said shit to me - and I believed that you were a better person. I thought that you could change, be nicer… But this whole time you've been faking your feelings for me so you could win a fucking bet! I have never, in my entire life, felt so betrayed. I'm just… So disappointed in you."

Magnus let out a strangled, emotional gasp and moved forward, clutching Alec's face in both of his hands. He planted a kiss on Alec's forehead, giving him the strength to speak. "No, Alec. No. Please don't say that. Don't let this destroy what we have - I know our relationship is only just barely starting out but I love what we have, you're so special to me. Yes, I'll admit that I agreed to go through with the bet, mainly just because I didn't want Ragnor to think any less of me and I wanted to stay popular. And at first, I was only trying to get close to you because of the bet. But then… Then I realised how perfect you are to me, even with all your fears and flaws. And you accepted me for who I truly am… I decided not to go through with the bet. Everything between us has been genuine, Alexander. I wouldn't dare do anything like that to you. Never. Just give me another chance, okay? I'll make it up to you, I swear. I won't keep anything from you ever again."

Alec stepped back and shook his head defiantly, looking at Magnus with a hateful expression that made Magnus feel even more depressed than seconds before. "I told you," Alec said, "that I was only going to give you one chance. I just didn't expect you to ruin it so quickly. Whatever we had between us, it's over. I trusted you with the biggest secret of my life, I let you see past the walls I always keep up around me."

"Alec, I wasn't going to go through with it!" Magnus persisted, grabbing hold of Alec's arm.

"I don't know if I can trust you!" Alec pulled out of Magnus' grip and moved towards the door. "You've hurt me at school all these years… So how do I know if you actually have changed or not? You haven't done anything to show me I can trust you, so just leave me alone. I don't want to talk to you the rest time of we're here. And when we go back to school, let's just pretend none of this ever happened. Just go back to how we used to be."

And for the second time that day, a person walked out of the library, leaving Magnus alone. The only difference was that this time it was Alec and instead of only feeling confused, his emotions were flying around everywhere and he couldn't even describe how bad he felt.