Author's Note: Hey guys here's chapter 25! Will Clary and Jace finally make up? Or will Clary realize that she had been played? and who are the two people that Rachel called? Well, going to find out! Also thanks to burning x impossibly x bright for beting this!

Disclamer: I not own the Mortal Instrument series

The cool breeze blew against Clary's exposed face. Her hair kept falling into her eyes, making it hard for her to see. She wished now that she had put her hair into a bun or a ponytail for that matter, she was surprised that she had made it this far without tripping on the sidewalk. She couldn't understand why Rachel wanted to meet her out here in the cold.

The fresh, pure, white snow that had fallen last night covered the ground leaving nothing green and alive showing. It would have been a nice day, if it wasn't for that icy wind, Clary thought as she hugged her blue parka closer to her chest. In the distance, Clary could see Rachel leaning against her car, her hair slightly blowing, now that the wind had started to die down. Clary noticed that Rachel was lost in her thoughts for her head was tilted towards the ground. She was curious as to why Rachel wanted to meet her here of all places. Sure the park was a nice place to visit, but there wasn't much to do in there in the winter time.

"Rachel?"

Clary watched as Rachel looked up in surprise. Clary wondered if Rachel wasn't expecting her to show up so soon. Clary watched as Rachel's surprised expression turned into a gentle smile as she pushed herself off of her car and opened the driver's side. Swiftly she pulled out Clary's black winter jacket and her present, which Clary had left at her house the other night.

"Here, you left these." Rachel said as she handed them to Clary.

"Thanks." Clary whispered. It had been two whole days since she had talked to Rachel last. Clary had been so upset at Jace that she had forgotten to call her best friend to explain why she took off without saying good-bye, but knowing Rachel, she probably already knew what happened. However, as Clary studied her friend she could sense that there was another reason why Rachel had called her.

"There's another reason why you called me." Clary stated, after a couple of minutes had passed.

Rachel was hesitant before she answered. "Yes."

"It's about Jace?"

"Yes."

"Well, there's nothing to talk about then." Clary replied bitterly. Just the mention of his name broke her heart. Clary had never fallen so hard for a guy until she met Jace. There was just something about him that made her feel special inside, that made her feel like nothing else mattered anymore, unless she had him by her side. He was her rock in times of trouble; he was her knight in shining armour. But everything she thought about him shattered when she saw him with Aline. Everything he had said to her was a lie. But what she couldn't understand the most was, why her best friend was defending him, Rachel was her best friend, not his.

Rachel felt her mouth open slightly; it was like Clary had slapped her across the face. She had never heard so much bitterness in Clary's voice before. Sure she had heard it come from Jazz, Maia, or Blake if you got them angry enough, but never from Clary. Rachel could see that Clary was about to walk away. So in one quick moment she swiftly and firmly grabbed Clary's wrist. Clary stopped in her tracks and looked up at her with confusion.

"Clary, why won't you believe him?" Rachel questioned.

"Because."

Rachel raised her eyebrow. "Sorry hun, but that's not a good enough answer."

"Rach, just leave me alone!" Clary shouted as she ripped her wrist away from Rachel's grasp. "For a best friend, you're doing an awful job. You're supposed to be on my side, not his!"

Rachel just stared at Clary in shock; this was the first time she had seen Clary act this way before. Aline must have been a convincing actress, if she had made Clary feel so hurt, and betrayed by Jace. Rachel felt her hands tighten at her side as she stared at Clary. Clary had been played, and it hurt her to see that. But she had to push Clary until she could get her to see that this was all Aline's doing and not Jace's.

"Clary, you're a fool." Rachel replied with a hint of anger in her voice. Clary felt her mouth slightly open in disbelief of what she just heard. Rachel had never used this kind of tone with her before, but before she could respond Rachel continued, "I am on your side and I will always be, but Jace would never do such a thing. Clary, why haven't you seen it? Why haven't you seen the way Jace looks at you with love in his eyes? You're his light Clary, you mean everything to him. Everyone can see the way he looks at you with love. He only wants you, not Aline." Rachel took a step towards Clary, who had frozen in place. "Clary, I know I haven't known Jace that long, but what I do know is that he is in love with you….and if you can't see that then you are fool, Clary. For the past couple of days he locked himself in his room and wouldn't even bother coming out until today," Rachel took in a deep relaxing breath to calm herself down, and then continued. "Clary, his family has never seen him so down before. Alec even called Magnus to get him out, but that only resulted in Jace having to watch the first whole season of Gillian's Island and the Golden Girls."

The last bit of Rachel's speech caught Clary's attention. She looked up to see if Rachel was serious and she was. Rachel's eyes were locked onto hers; she didn't look away or flinch, but just stared at her hoping that what she had said reached Clary. Clary bit her bottom lip, she wondered if she jumped to her conclusions too fast. She had thought about the last two days without Jace by her side and they had been torture without him.

"Are you serious?" Clary whispered as she tried to process everything that Rachel had said. Rachel nodded.

"And I can prove it to you and all you have to do is hide."

"What?" Clary replied bewildered.

"I called someone else here too, they should be here in a few minutes. I don't want you to say anything until the conversation is done. By the end of it, you will know the truth." Rachel replied. Her tone was firm, but deadly. Suddenly in the distance Rachel could hear a vehicle coming. "Clary hide." She ordered.

Clary frowned, but did what she was told. Quickly she ran to the other side of Rachel's car and crouched down. She listened carefully as the car's engine shut off. Then what she guessed was the driver's side door opening then shutting with a loud bang.

"I'm glad to see you could make it." Clary could hear Rachel say to the person, but she wondered who the other person that Rachel had called was.

"Well, I was surprised that you of all people would call me, after what happened the other day." Clary felt her body stiffen, her blood turned cold. Clary could recognize that voice anywhere….Aline. Clary felt her anger flowing into her body like a disease, all she wanted to do now, was to stand up and slap Aline across her smug face with every fiber in her body. Nevertheless Rachel's words came back to her, so she kept quiet and listened to their conversation. She wondered what Rachel was up to though.

"I'm just going to cut to the chase Aline, I'm not going to play any mind games with you today. I'm not in the mood. I just want to know, why you did it? Why you set Jace up and made Clary think that Jace was cheating on her?" Rachel replied coolly.

"Did what?" Aline replied naively.

"Aline," Rachel's voice went tense as she stared at Aline. Aline started to smile sweetly, but that soon turned wicked within seconds.

"Well, if really want to know why…then….it was…because he's mine." Aline replied nonchalant.

"Your's?"

"Yes. Once he stepped foot onto this school's ground, he was mine."

"Wow, your making him sound like he's property." Rachel replied sarcastically. "Aline, you had Sebastian, why did you need Jace? It doesn't make since."

"Because, I need to be on top and Jace was perfect for what I needed." Aline stated as if it was a fact.

"Need to be on top of what?"

"I need to be popular Rachel. But you of course would never understand, because you are the girl next door who everyone loves. And the same thing with Clary, both of you were always popular and you didn't even care that you were. You just live each day like none of that matters." Aline's voice had to begun rise. "You and Clary had everything I wanted in life. Good friends, good family that loves you, and if you haven't noticed boys worship you two. It wasn't fair." Aline then took a step towards Rachel as she continued, "Sebastian was the most popular boy in school, but once Jace stepped inside the school, he was the next big thing, so I started to pursue him and Sebastian knew it, it wasn't like I kept it hidden from him and honestly, I don't think he really cared either."

"So you did all this to stay popular?"

"Yes. And I would do it all over again." Aline replied strongly. Rachel shook her head disapprovingly at Aline. Staring at her, she could see Aline had been corrupted by the power of popularity. It wasn't that being popular bothered Rachel, it was just how people used it. In Aline's case she had used her popularity poorly over the last couple of years and had hurt a lot people because of it, mainly she her friends the most. The person in front of her was definitely not the Aline she once knew, whoever it was standing in front of her was another popular crazed person, who seriously needed help.

Clary felt her blood boil; so Aline was the one who kissed Jace and she did it so she could stay popular. Clary's hands tightened. She felt like an idiot now for not believing Jace. She should have known that Aline was the culprit. Rachel was right, it was Aline's doing, not Jace's. How could she face him and ask forgiveness after what she had done. She had accused him of lying and cheating behind her back. Jace would never forgive her, and if he did, it would be a miracle. Clary couldn't hear anything now, she guessed the conversation was over. Carefully Clary peeked through Rachel's tinted windows to see that Aline and Rachel were having a death staring contest. Clary knew exactly what to do; Aline had played her like a fool just as Rachel had said, so now, it was time for payback.

"Why you little!" Clary screamed as she stood up from her spot and headed towards Aline. Aline's eyes flickered quickly from Rachel to another redhead that was coming towards her, like a storm.

"How long have you been here?" Aline shrieked in surprise.

"Long enough to know, that you were the one who kissed Jace." Clary replied angrily.

"So what? It's too late to get him back now. You're the one who left him." Aline shot back.

Rachel groaned silently as she listened to both of them bicker back and forth. She felt like she was back in fourth grade all over again. She knew that they would probably yell at each other, but not like this. She wasn't sure what would happen now. Suddenly a quiet gasp slipped from her lips as she stood in shock. It was last thing that she thought Clary would ever do.

Clary couldn't take anymore, she had to let go of her anger and get her frustration out. So with one quick movement her right hand tightened into fist, she felt Aline's cool skin make contact with hers. Aline let out a shriek as she landed on the hard, cold ground. Slowly she touched her mouth and felt a cool, red liquid dripping from it. In one swift moment Aline was back on her feet, like a savage beast. Her eyes locked onto Clary's, full of pure cold hatred shining in them.

"You punched me!" Aline screamed.

"Yeah, and it felt good too." Clary replied irately.

"Clary, you're going to pay for this! Mark my words you're going to pay." Aline replied crossly as she opened the driver's door then slammed it shut.

"Don't worry, I already did." Clary whispered to herself as she heard Aline's car drive away in the distance. Suddenly she felt a gentle hand rest on her shoulder; she turned around to see Rachel smiling.

"That was incredible." Rachel beamed. Clary stared at Rachel in shock. She was sure that Rachel would yell at her, but instead she was smiling like she was proud of her. Soon Rachel's proud smile softened. "You know you still can make things right don't you?"

"Rach, I'm not sure. I'm sure Jace hates me." Clary replied not looking at Rachel, she couldn't bear to look at her after how she acted, so instead she stared at the ground watching the sunlight dance across the snow making it sparkle.

Rachel bit her bottom lip trying her best not laugh, but she couldn't help it. She loved Clary like a sister, but sometimes she could be so clueless when it came to Jace. Rachel's laugh made Clary look up at her with curiosity. Clary felt Rachel's warmth as Rachel wrapped her arms around her, giving her a light hug. Clary felt like a little child again whenever Rachel held her close, ever since she could remember Rachel had always had this big sister vibe to her. She always knew what to say, whether you liked it or not and she was always by your side when you needed it the most and Clary never wanted that to change between her and Rachel.

"Clary, Jace doesn't hate you. He feels heartbroken, if there was anyone he would hate at the moment, it would be me and Magnus." Rachel replied after she stopped laughing. Clary shot her a questioning look.

"Magnus threatened Jace if he didn't come out of his room that he would make him watch the first whole season of Gillian's Island and Golden Girls as punishment." Rachel explained. This time it was Clary's turn to burst out laughing. Clary was having a hard time picturing Jace sitting on the couch with Magnus and watching hour after hour of each episode, of each season.

"Clary, you can't avoid Jace forever. Go to Magnus's and work it out. Don't lose him." Rachel spoke softly.

"I know…. I was a fool and I don't want to lose him. Can you take me to Magnus's?"

Rachel nodded with a gentle smile.

Rachel parked outside of a redbrick apartment building that was about four stories high. The neighbourhood was quiet and peaceful, just the way Magnus liked it, as he had told Rachel when he moved back into town and decided to catch up with her back in October. Magnus was old enough now to live on his own, he really didn't get along with his parents, so it was kind of obvious that he would move out when he was of age. But Rachel was surprised that he didn't move out right away when he turned eighteen last year, but oh well that was Magnus' call. Rachel cut off the engine and stared at Clary.

Clary gave a heavy sigh as she looked out the passenger window and stared at the apartment building, her mind was racing, and her heartbeat and pulse had started racing as well. She wasn't sure if she could face him now. Suddenly she felt Rachel patting her shoulder tenderly for support.

"Whenever you're ready?" Rachel said.

Clary took in a deep breath then let it out as she grabbed the handle to open the door. "I'm ready."

Rachel nodded her head as they both opened their doors and made their way towards the front door. Once there Clary stood still, it was like her body just froze, so Rachel looked for Magnus's last name, Bane, against the row of apartment buzzers. Once she found it, she pushed the buzzer and now all they had to do was wait.

Well there you go, Clary's back to fight for her man. But Aline's going to be out for revange. But the question is, will Jace forgive? or not? Please review and tell me what you guys think. You guys rock :P

P.S if go to my homepage, you can see extra stuff for the story!