So by the time that Izzy and I make it into the office to sign in, the bell signaling the end of first period rings. The sound of hundreds of students' feet thudding against the floor is audible through the walls of the office. I know that I have to go to French next, which I am completely okay with…it's Chemistry that I'm uneasy about. I smile weakly at the secretary, who I never bothered to remember the name of…I think her first name is Imogen, and tell Izzy goodbye before I walk out of the class and up the stairs.

"Herondale looked pretty rough coming into school today," I hear a nasally voice say behind me as I try fight my way through the crowd of students. They seemed thicker than usual today and I was making absolutely no progress toward the end of the second floor hallway that my class was on. With how crummy I was expecting my day to be, I wasn't exactly surprised, but I was annoyed. Of course, when I hear that voice my progress stops completely because I freeze. When I turn around, I see that none other than Katie Whitewillow is obstructing my view of the rest of the hallway. She is leaning against the wall, holding only her purse. Why bring a book-bag to school? "Did you two have a lovers' spat last night?"

"Is he all you ever think about?" I ask impatiently. "I mean honestly, I know that you screw maybe ten guys a week. You probably go out with half as many every month. Why do you only think about Jace?"

She scowls at me for a moment, and I feel a surge of satisfaction run through me. I hate Kaelie, and at the moment Jace because he was the reason that she was even talking to me. After a second, her face smoothens out to the normal snobby mask that she normally has and she looks as though she's looking at a rodent instead of a person…. It's nice to know that some things never really change. Her eyes run over my entire body, starting at my hair and ending at my feet.

"You look half as hideous as you usually do," she says. I blink, wondering if she was giving me a compliment. "Are you hoping that you're going to get lucky with him tonight, or something?" Surprise is officially gone and annoyance is left behind. "If you were trying for that, you'd have better luck with a paper bag over your head."

This is the moment were I snap and turn from that resigned calm that I had been feeling before to the insane kind of anger that I am feeling now. I feel myself actually flare up as though I am catching fire. "You'd have better luck in a state where whore houses were legal!" I snap at her, finally fed up with her trash talk. The hallway is still reasonably busy, and the people around me pause to look at us. I'm nowhere near finished. If Kaelie wants to be like this, two can play at this game. "I'll get you the next best thing though," I assured her. I turned and cupped my hands around my mouth and shouted, "HEY!" my voice reached across the entire noisy hallway, causing almost everyone within about thirty feet of me to stop talking and pay attention. "If you need someone to show you a good time, meet Kaelie Whitewillow by her car in the back parking lot! She doesn't care if you have a girlfriend, or if she's dating someone! She's the ideal whore for anyone! Please, someone try and satisfy her needs, so she can quit harassing me about getting with guys!"

Without another word, I turn and leave a stunned Kaelie and crowd behind, feeling a little better than I had before. The entire hallway is shrouded in a deathly silence and people part a way for me as I stop toward my French class in a huff. I look up at the word arched over the doorway and never had I felt so many mixed emotions about the meaning of bienvenue! I am about to walk inside, but before I can, I hear one person behind be start clapping, and then another, and then another, by then most of the hallway was clapping and shouting woots of approval to me as I walk into Madame Gray's class.

I notice that Simon is already sitting in his seat when I look over. He smiles sadly at me, and I return the gesture before turning and greeting Madame Gray. A few more of the students have already gotten in and were getting their books out. I am sickened slightly by how normal the day seems. Everything should be falling apart because I'm inwardly miserable.

At least Simon seems unhappy with me. I sit down beside him, and he pats my back in that awkward way that I've come to notice that all of the guys that I hang around with do. "Why is everyone clapping?" Simon asks me curiously.

"They just got to watch someone Kaelie what she deserved," I say after a moment, not really wanting to talk about it. I am unsure of how Simon will handle what I said…even if it was to Kaelie of all people.

Simon simply shrugs. I love how oblivious and uncurious he is.

I look up to see Sebastian rushing into the room hurriedly, a grin on his handsome face and his dark eyes lit up in obvious laughter. "That was excellent, Clary," he said just as the bell rang. He smiles at Madame Gray and nods at her as she requests that he take his seat. "I really am so intrigued by the color of Kaelie's face. Can someone turn green and red at the same time?"

I find myself snorting at the mental image. I'm beginning to regret not staying long enough to watch the effects of my handy work. Sebastian laughs and walks to the seat behind me, finally sitting down. He is still chuckling lightly and as I listen to the deep sound, I feel his hand pat my shoulder, as if saying Great job!

"What exactly did you say to her?" Simon asks me, his curiosity spiked now that he knew of my involvement.

I was silent for a moment, unsure of what exactly I was supposed to say to him.

"She informed the school that Kaelie was a whore and that she was starting to run her services in her car," Sebastian says happily. I find myself snorting again at this. Had I really said that?

"You're serious?" Simon asks, awestruck. I wasn't sure whether he was talking to me or Sebastian, but I nodded anyway.

"Yeah!" Sebastian says. I can't see him, but I can imagine that he is nodding his head rapidly. His tone is almost reverent as he says, "She was amazing!"

"Settle down, class," Madame Gray says calmly just after Sebastian finishes. "We have plenty to cover today, though from the looks of it, you all had eventful weekends." She gives our group a meaningful look before turning and addressing everyone else again. "I want you to break up into groups of three and work on a list of phrases that you would use to describe them."

When the random junior girl that normal sits beside me moves, Sebastian promptly takes her spot. "Hey partners!" he says smoothly.

Simon grins at him and I say, "Hey, Seb, ready to work?"

Sebastian and I are walking down the hallway after French class with our arms slung around each other's shoulders. He's such a nice guy, but the more I talked to him in the class the more I didn't like him…well, the more I didn't like him in that way. He's cool. Very cool. I can't see myself really ever taking to him for more than just a good friend. I can see why Jace was on such good terms with him. The guy was just so likeable!

"You're sure that I told Simon I like your fish?" Sebastian asks me as we make it downstairs. I nod biting my bottom lip as I try and contain my laughter.

"What were you trying to say?" I ask raising my eyebrow as he holds the door for me that opens to the rest of the school.

"I don't know," he admitted. "I was panicking because Madame Gray was right behind me and I didn't want to sound stupid."

I snickered and patted him on the top of the head. "You only sounded like an idiot," I assure him jokingly.

Sebastian snorts and ruffles my hair. I shriek in protest and try to bat his hand away. I hear him chuckle as he relents and lets me go as I try to rearrange my hair with a falsely annoyed huff. "You're so short," he says teasingly. "It's just too easy!"

I glare at him and he holds his hands up in mock surrender. "I didn't mean anything by it, Little Red!"

I feel a slight pang in my chest, but I don't know why. I push it away and look up at him as we walk into the science department of the school. "So what are you? The Big Bad Wolf?"

"Me?" Sebastian says with his hand over his heart. "I'm harmless! I think that I'd be the grandmother."

We are coming close to the chemistry classroom now and I am feeling more nervousness trembling in my gut than I ever have. My breathing quickens and my heart begins to pound as we come closer to the room. "Is there something wrong, Clare?"

I find myself shaking my head as Sebastian. I am trembling slightly, but it isn't anything compared to what I envisioned myself doing.

"Are you sure?" he asks me. I don't have to look at him to know that he is looking at me worriedly.

I nod, and he has no idea how grateful I am when he doesn't leave when we approach the room. I see Jace and Jonathan standing by the doorway, talking quietly as if everything was completely normal with them. Was it still? I had never thought of what would happen between the two if something happened between us. I don't know what I want to happen. Would it be selfish of me to want Jon to be angry with Jace? There is another side of me that doesn't want Jon angry with him because I don't want Jace hurting more than he already is, also he would be a connection to the Herondale that I've lost.

Both Jon and Jace look over and see us approaching. Jon's face seems to pale slightly. He mutters something to Jace and he just rolls his eyes at him. I look a bit more closely at the both of them and see that they look a bit worse for wear. "What are you doing over here, Sebastian?" Jace asks. His tone isn't hostile, but it isn't friendly either. I don't miss the way that he doesn't acknowledge me, and as much as I tell myself that it doesn't matter, it still hurts.

"Walking Clare over here," Sebastian shrugs. His eyes flicker between Jace and Jon a few times before he looks down at me and smiles. "We've got French together and we were talking about a project we—"

"Don't lie," Jace snapped at him. "You know why you came over here and it needs to stop. I don't know why you're being so pushy with this when it isn't wanted—"

"You are such an ass!" I snap at Jace, pushing Sebastian, who's cheeks were starting to flush, to the side. "What the hell's your problem? I don't know why you're so pissy when you're the one that broke up with me! Don't take it out with Sebastian! He was walking over here with me trying to make me feel better because he knew that I was sad! I don't know who you think you are," I seethe, poking him roughly in the chest, he is looking at me with widened eyes and actually takes a step back like I hit him, "but you're not anyone who is in a position to be talking to my friends like that!"

"I think I'm going to go," Sebastian says quietly, looking down at his feet.

"No, Sebastian," I say. "You don't have to go any—"

"I'm kind of far away from here," he says. "I still have to get to class," he says, casting me a sad smile before his eyes flickered past me quickly. "Don't worry though, Clare. I'm not upset."

He walks forward and gives me a quick one-armed hug before running off quickly.

I turn back around to look between Jace and Jon. Both boys were looking at me with varying degrees of weariness. "Are you going to listen to reason?" Jon asks me, raising an eyebrow.

"Are you sticking up for him?" I demand, my voice coming out in almost a shriek as I point at Jace. The Golden Boy winces at me like I have struck him. "After all that he's done, I don't want to hear it! He thinks the world revolves around him and he can walk around and hurt who he wants to, even when they haven't done anything to them!"

"I'm not standing up for him," Jon says, rolling his eyes at me. "It's not that simple. Just listen to me already!" He looks at me with deathly serious green eyes as he says, "It's not about Herondale, it's about your friend, Verlac."

Hello! How much do you hate me for the cliffy? A lot? A little? Too much to go on? Or just enough to want to murder me, but won't because you know I have to live to update?

What did you think about this chapter? Did you like Clary's fire in this one? Did she go overboard with Kaelie? What do you think about Sebastian? What do you think Jon is going to say about Sebastian? Is Clary going to be able to survive through Chemistry?

Oh! Book recommendations, if anyone cares at all: Fallen series by Lauren Kate! If you're in to the Nephilim/angel themes!