Hey everyone! I hope you're all having a nice day! :) Thank you guys so much for the reviews, follows and favorites! So, a little background in this chapter for those of you who don't live in New York state. I have no idea how this stuff works in other states, let alone other countries, but in NY the regents are the state mandated tests at the end of the year. I don't know how to explain it any better than that, so if it's still not clear, I'm really sorry!

Disclaimer: I do not own The Mortal Instrumetnts.

Chapter 13:

Jace is standing at my locker Monday morning. A smile tugs at his lips when he sees me walking toward him. "Morning, Clary," he calls once I'm in earshot. A few people around us turn and stare. I think they're shocked because it's the first time they've heard Jace's voice.

I walk up to Jace and spin in my combination. "Morning, Jace."

I watch from the corner of my eye as he looks me up and down. "No Isabelle outfit today?"

I laugh and start pulling out books. "Nope. Those require work and energy, which I am severely lacking this morning."

Jace laughs. "Between you and me, I kind of like this better."

I roll my eyes. "That's only because you don't have to punch anyone when I wear sweatpants."

Jace shrugs and I shut my locker. We walk down the hallway to my homeroom and I notice a few people staring at us. I don't mind and I don't think Jace even notices. Or maybe he's used to it. I would prefer the former.

I spin around at the door to my homeroom and smile at Jace. "Seriously, I appreciate your kindness, but you don't need to walk me to class every day. I think Sebastian learned his lesson."

Jace puts a hand over his heart in mock hurt. "Clarissa Fray, are you trying to get rid of me?"

I roll my eyes and slap his arm lightly. "Bye, Jace."

He winks and says, "See you at lunch."

I turn and walk into my classroom just as the bell rings. Oops. Guess I made Jace late-again. I take my usual seat and tap Izzy on the shoulder. The announcements haven't started playing yet so people are still talking. Izzy turns around and smiles at me.

She opens her mouth-no doubt to ask me about what Jace and I did Saturday-but I start talking before she can. "Does Jace get in trouble for being late to homeroom?"

She shakes her head. "No, he has gym so he just sneaks in the back door of the locker room and changes super fast." She lets her words sink in for a moment and then says, "I only know that because I asked him. Why are you asking?"

I shrug. "I would feel really bad if I was getting him into trouble all the time."

Izzy rolls her eyes. "I don't think he minds." The announcements come on and Izzy turns back around to face forward, promptly ending that conversation.

Simon stretches his arms over his head and something lands on my desk. It's a folded up piece of paper. I unfold it and scan what it says. 'How was your date Saturday? ;)'

I roll my eyes and scribble a response below it. 'Seriously, Simon? Passing notes? What is this, fourth grade?' I refold the piece of paper and slip it onto Simon's desk.

A minute later I hear him snort. Luckily, he takes the hint that I don't want to talk about the so-called "date" with him and he doesn't respond.

I sit down across from Jace at lunch and throw my head down on the table. "Clary?" Jace says tentatively. "Are you alright?"

I groan in response. Jace is silent for a moment, then I hear shifting and footsteps. I hear the legs of the chair beside me scrape across the floor as Jace pulls it out. He sits down and places a hand on my back. "Clary, what's wrong?"

I mumble something that sounds like 'myantealipain'.

Jace laughs softly. "Care to repeat that in English?"

I groan and lift up my head. "I said, I can't feel my brain."

Jace tries to hide his smile, but fails. "Well, it's a good thing you had a defective one to begin with."

I smile and roll my eyes. "Shut up. I just took this trig test that was beyond hard. I seriously think it was it's own level of Hell."

Jace's smile drops and he takes on a serious expression. "Do you have Imogen Herondale?"

I nod. "Yup."

He makes a sympathetic noise. "She's a real bitch. I remember last year, she told me I was failing even though I wasn't just to make me work harder."

I laugh. "What? I feel like teachers aren't allowed to do that."

Jace shrugs. "I would say the same thing if it didn't work, but it did."

"She just makes her tests ridiculously hard!"

Jace nods. "Yeah, but they make the regents seem super easy."

I shake my head. "No way. There is no way the trig regents can seem easy! I saw a girl last year come out of it crying!"

Jace smirks. "That's because her teacher wasn't Imogen Herondale."

I roll my eyes. "Whatever. If you say her torment is worth it, then I trust you."

Jace's face pales. "You," he swallows. "You trust me?"

I give him a sideways look. "Um, yeah. Why wouldn't I? You're not some ex-criminal or something, right?" I try to make a joke to lighten the tension, but it doesn't really work.

He smiles a little, but it's obviously forced. "No, I'm not an ex-criminal."

I nod. "That's good. You wouldn't make it in prison." I look him up and down. "You're too pretty."

Jace's smile turns genuine. He bats his eyelashes. "Oh my gosh, you think I'm pretty?!"

We both laugh and the earlier tension is gone. I make a mental note to bring up trust as little as possible.

The rest of the week goes by without incident. Jace walks me to homeroom everyday, and he's only late half of the time. At lunch we sit together and we joke and laugh. I've come to realize, that once you break down his walls, he is actually kind of arrogant. He teases a lot at the expense of others, but I think that most of his arrogance is teasing as well. I think the arrogance is just a second set of walls he has built up to hide how he really feels. That doesn't mean I'm not seeing the real Jace, because I am, I'm just not seeing how the real Jace really feels.

At lunch on Friday Jace seems nervous. He's barely eating and keeps running his hands through his hair.

Probably the twentieth time he reaches up to tousle his messy hair, I reach out and grab his wrist. He locks eyes with me. "Alright, Jace. You're nervous and starting to make me nervous. Spit it out."

Jace takes a deep breath and I let go of his wrist. "Well, it's just that Max misses you."

I laugh. "I miss Max too. Why is that making you nervous?"

He clears his throat. "I'm not finished. Max misses you and tomorrow is family game night. Simon is coming and so is Magnus, so I thought, maybe, you would like to come?"

I smile. "That sounds fun. I'll be there."

Jace sighs in relief. "Great! We play after dinner, so be at my house by seven."

I nod. "Sounds good."

I'm in art, trying to sculpt a vase that doesn't look terrible. I work better in two dimensions than three. I jump out of my skin when someone throws down a slab of clay beside me. Alec plops down in the chair next to me and smiles. "Having trouble, Clary?"

I grumble incoherently. I glance at him out of the corner of my eye. "Hey! You haven't even started yet!"

Magnus shrugs. He's the opposite of me-he's an amazing sculptor but only decent at drawing and painting. "It won't take me long."

I try my best to smooth out all the rough places, but it isn't working well. "What are you going to make?" I ask.

Magnus looks pensive for a moment. "I'm thinking about sculpting a cat in honor of my favorite feline, Chairman Meow."

I roll my eyes. Magnus and his freaking cat.

We both work in silence for a few minutes before Magnus decides to speak up. "I hear your going to family game night tomorrow."

I turn toward him. "How did you hear that?! Jace just asked me last period!"

Magnus laughs. "Seriously? He just asked you? Stupid procrastinator."

My eyebrows furrow in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

Magnus rolls his eyes. "He's been talking about asking you since Monday. He even made Izzy invite Simon and Alec drag me along so you wouldn't feel uncomfortable."

Now I'm more confused. "What?"

"Yeah, he asked his parents on Monday if you could come. When they said yes, he forced me and Simon to come. I can't believe he waited until now to ask you. He's such a procrastinator."

Huh. I smile to myself and continue to work on my vase in silence. Suddenly it's looking a lot smoother.

So, I hope the part about the regents made sense. The NY state trig regents is actually super hard. This year, I really did see a girl come out crying. Anyway, I'll update tomorrow if I get some time, but I can't make any promises. Sorry! Please review and make me smile!

Love always,

YesIWriteForFun