A/N: Sorry for not updating. Was busy for the past few days. I have another test on Friday..

Anyway, this is the longest chapter in this story. I think. This will be the talent show. :D

See you at the bottom y'all!

I got dressed in the green dress nervously that night. I had decided to meet Isabelle, Jace and Alec at their house.

We arrived in the Lightwoods' home again, butterflies dancing around in my stomach. I couldn't believe that this very day was already here, and I had completed 3 weeks of my junior year.

And Jace and Isabelle would be singing on stage. Our favorite song.

I tugged self-consciously on my green dress as the door opened to their house, and out came Isabelle.

"Clary! You look great! Like always!"

I grinned. Isabelle's never seen me in a dress before. She was wearing the silver dress we bought, and as usual, she looked amazing.

"Let's come in!"

The boys were nowhere to be found. Jonathan had probably went to join them. Isabelle slathered on some eyeshadow, mascara and blush and a lot of unnecessary makeup products. But when I looked in the mirror, I had to say I looked pretty… striking. Well, noticeable, I guess.

I gave Isabelle a smile for thanks and started brushing some blush off of my face, which came off onto my fingers.

"Stop, Clare. You'll ruin it." Ordered Isabelle.

I gave a frown and stopped brushing on my face, although I felt slightly uncomfortable with makeup on. My eyelashes felt as if they were wearing little, liquid, black sweaters.

And then she started working on my hair. Using sparkly hairpins, she pinned my hair up into an elegant swirl, the pins holding it in place. A few loose curls spilled out from the back.

I looked great, I had to admit. Isabelle was amazing and so skilled in this area. Making people look great.

"Oh my god, Clary. You look fabulous." She smiled mischieviously. "Do you want some glitter?"

I shook my head vigorously before giving her a hug for thanks. Izzy returned the hug.

"Let's go down. The boys are probably waiting for us."

I nodded and followed Isabelle down the stairs into the living room. Jace, Alec and Jonathan gawked at us as we sat down onto the couch.

"Nice dress, sis. I haven't seen you wear one for a very long time. Until now. And nice makeup."

Jace's eyes followed me. Finally, he stood up, sauntered over to me and whispered in my ear.

"You look beautiful, Clary."

I felt my face turn red, and I tried to ignore the giggling that was pretty much coming from Isabelle.

I wished that I could immediately say something, like "You look amazing too, like you were an angel from above" but instead I sucked in a breath and gave him a smile. He actually did, with a white dress button-down shirt and a gold tie the same color as his eyes.

Why did he have to look so hot? I literally had to tear my eyes away from him every 10 seconds, like what happened on the first day I saw him. Well. He seemed to notice and grinned.

I kept on staring at him, even in the car. It was getting dark, so when nobody was watching, Jace decided to pull the pins out of my hair so the red curls cascaded down my back. I fluffed it up and glanced at Jace.

I look better this way?

"No, you look great either way, just that I like it down better."

I flushed and went back to looking at my own lap.

o~O~o

I watched happily as the next act finished. Isabelle and Jace would be up after this next performance. For some reason, they were performing right at the end. Probably Ms. Belcourt.

Aline and her gang had started "Cool dancing" (That was what I called when girls wore LA caps, plaid shirts and skinny jeans and started doing those break-dance like dancing) a while ago, and in that performance, I had to tear my eyes away from them 10 seconds into the dance and focus on something else.

Like a pimple on my brother's cheek.

I was sitting right in the front row of the hall with Jonathan, Alec, my mom and Luke. I couldn't wait to see Isabelle and Jace. I knew they would win.

I did.

Halfway through some seniors' breakdancing (What was up with people and dancing these days?) , I heard a loud cough from the backstage, even through the loud music.

After a few minutes, I saw someone emerge from the hallway that led to the backstage and run up to me. Jace?

Yes, it was Jace. What was he doing here?

He had a panicked expression on his face. "Clary, Isabelle has a problem with her throat. She was eating just now and then she just started choking halfway through. She can't sing. Her voice is messed up, croaky and it cracks. She's coughing hard now. Please, can you please take her place?!"

What? He knew I wouldn't talk, let alone sing. Jonathan stared wide eyed at him, then at me. Then he nudged my arm.

"Come on, Clary. You'll do it. You can sing, can you?"

I turned to him, a horrified expression on my face. No! I could barely speak, and now he actually asked me to do it? And sing? I couldn't sing. Were they out of their minds?

And the nightmare. The nightmare a week ago, about my voice, about the flowers…

But I knew that wasn't true. The roses- Isabelle had it sorted out with Magnus. My voice- My voice wasn't really like that, was it…?

It was a nightmare. It wasn't true. And the bet… We had to win it.

Why can't someone else sing it with you? Why can't you do a solo? I can't speak, let alone sing!

And then Isabelle came running out of the door leading to the backstage, almost tripping on her silvery dress. She came towards me, a same panicked expression on her face. "Clary! Clar- Cough! Please help!" Her voice really was messed up. Her cheeks were bright red. "Please, Cla-" Her voice cracked mid-word

I looked around helplessly at Jonathan. He nodded, urging me on. He probably knew about my stupid singing-in-the-shower hobby.

I wanted to help Izzy. So I did.

I let Jace drag me into the backstage, meeting the shocked faces of the competitors.

"Listen I'm sorry Clary about this, I never wanted Isabelle to mess her voice up. I told her not to eat that freaking danish and when she laughed those bits and pieces just flew into her windpipe. I'm sorry about this-"

I held up a hand mid-sentence to stop him from saying any more, and he obeyed.

The performance was going to end really soon, I could hear, and then the music stopped outside.

I heard the announcer announce Isabelle and Jace's names, and I had floated out of the backstage and into the shining lights in a daze.

"Ahem. This isn't Isabelle Lightwood. She is Clary Fray. My sister Isabelle there got a little sick so Clary is willing to take her place." Jace stuttered nervously. Stutter? He never stuttered.

"Okay, then." One of the judges, which, unsurprisingingly, was Ms. Belcourt, said. "You may begin whenever you are ready."

Well, they surely didn't know that I never talked. Paradise started to blare through the speakers, and I looked around, pretty much panicking my heart out. I looked for Jonathan, Alec, my mother and Luke in the audience. I spotted them, and they were grinning and giving me thumbs ups.

Encouragement. I felt it again. From the sign-up sheet, from the Fruity Tutti fight, from the rock climbing. I gave people encouragement and they gave it back to me.

Were they going to be afraid of my voice?

The tune started and Jace decided to help me sing the pre-chorus. I knew that I couldn't stand there like an idiot without singing. I would be the laughingstock for a few weeks. And I wasn't about to let that happen.

Well, nobody knew I had this one secret, this one deep, dark secret, that I have never told a single breathing soul about. I guess. Did Jonathan actually hear me?

The pre-chorus was ending soon, and the chorus was going to start.

I turned back to Jace and his eyes were urging me on. The fascinating shade of gold, glimmering under the silver lights, outshone the stars.

So I sang.

"And dreams of Para-Para-Paradise, Para-para-paradise, Para-Para-Paradise…."

My voice came out the way I expected it to be.

Honeyed and breathy. It came out weak at first, but it gradually became stronger.

Jace was smiling as he immediately joined in.

"And dreams of Para-Para-Paradise, Para-para-paradise, Para-Para-Paradise…."

I sang my favorite part. "And so lying underneath those stormy skies

She'd say, "Oh, I know the sun must set to rise..."

This song actually could relate to me. Really relate to me. That was why I loved it so much. Being the girl from this song, I sang it with passion and faith in myself.

The audience, the judges, the flashing camera and stage lights and the heat melted away from me, until it was only me, Jace and our voices.

The song came to an end. Way too quickly. Before I knew it, the roses rained down on me. I smiled. so Magnus and Isabelle made it work.

I stared up into the ceiling, the cascade of roses falling down onto me. They immediately filled the hall with its sweet scent.

"Clary?" Jace was next to me now, and he held out 3 roses to me.

3 roses. Did I know what that meant?

I took them, just as he placed both his hands onto my cheeks and lifted my face, up, making me stare into his eyes.

"Do you know what that meant?" He asked me breathlessly.

I stared at the roses in awe, and then I nodded, looking back up at his face. And I nodded. 3 roses. They meant..

And then he kissed me.

His hands went down from my face to my waist. My eyes went wide in shock at first, but I gradually relaxed and slowly tangled my hands into his hair.

It wasn't too long, but it was able to make my body shiver and my face burn, as if it was on fire.

All I can say was: Wow.

Well, all I could hear as the audience applauded was the rapid thudding of my heart. The judges made a few compliments on my voice as I clutched the roses in my hand, Jace's arm around my shoulders.

"Amazing voice, Clary." Ms. Belcourt smiled warmly at me.

Well, I said something just now. And to be honest, I couldn't really resist the temptation to speak a few words now.

"Um, thanks!" Were the first words I had uttered since eight years ago.

I had to admit, waiting in the backstage for the judges to make up their mind was quite uninteresting, so I decided to spend the whole time talking to Jace, fiddling with the roses. Aline kept on shooting me killer glares.

Yeah. She could be jealous all she wanted. I have decided to speak. Jace decided to kiss me. Did she have a problem with that? Yes? Then she better go cry a river, build a bridge and get over it.

"Thanks for having faith in me, Jace."

He whispered sweet nothings into my ear, and I was pretty sure that I was in love with him when he pecked my lips.

And then I started thinking about the kiss on the stage, staring dreamily at Jace. It was quick, yet so perfect and soft, like a light brush of dragonfly wings on water.

And then came the announcer.

"Ladies and gentlemen and students, we are pleased to announce the winner of Alicante's Got Talent this year. It is…"

I let out a squeak of surprise, and Jace's arm went tighter around me. I squeezed on the stems of the roses.

"Drumroll please."

Drumroll started around the hall.

"It is…."

"Aline Penhallow and her friends!"

"Aline and her friends". Sorry I couldn't think of anything else, and frankly, "Aline and her group" or "Aline and her dance group" or "Aline and the Princesses" would sound stupid. lol

The kiss will probably be described in detail soon, and it will probably be in a Jace POV I could be doing afterwards.

Anyway, "Everything will me OK in the end. If it's not OK, it isn't the end." Quote for this chapter. :D

My next update will me soon, maybe during the weekend or sooner. Thank you for all the positive feedback I got!

And yeah, I'm working on a new story (Just the first chapter) for an all-shadowhunter story, and it would be posted after this story is finished, which probably would be... I don't really know.

Hope you liked it. Thanks!

-Nicole