A/N: So this chapter is quite long, so I'm going to keep this short

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Chapter 36: Some day we'll overcome the pain and we'll have precious memories

A few minutes later Cris had calmed down considerably but she still clung on to Jem as if he were the only thing able to get her out of hell. She pulled back and looked at Jem; his silvery hair and eyes shining out like beacons of light in the darkness that had shrouded Cris.

Cris looked at his pale face as he stared across the classroom. As if noticing she was looking up at him, he turned his head to look down at her tear-stained face. Jem gave her a small sweet smile and tightened his arm around her waist bringing her closer, if that was possible.

"I know this is a stupid question but are you alright?" Jem asked his voice slightly hushed in the silence of the empty classroom. Cris smiled slightly as his knowledge of her, before saying, "I am now,"

She caught a glimpse of Jem's smile widening considerably before it turned back into the small smile as if he didn't want her to see it.

Jem glanced over at the opposite wall and sighed saying, "Form's about to start, do you want to go?" Cris smiled before giving off a small laugh saying, "James Carstairs! Are you suggesting we bunk form?"

Jem smiled, still looking at the wall as he gave a small laugh that makes his body shake slightly; causing Cris to shake as well, next to him. Cris gave a small smile at this which shocked Jem but she didn't seem to notice this as she said, "But its fine, I might as well get it over with,"

Her face fell a bit and Jem looked sadly down at her. "Are you sure?" He asked worry lacing his silky voice. Cris didn't say anything, just nodded instead as she buried her head against Jem's chest.

"Just give me a minute," She says sighing against him. Jem doesn't say anything but she can feel his accelerated heart rate beating through his chest. Cris couldn't put her finger on what was causing it but she liked it's steady, if slightly fast, rhythm.

The bell rang through the classroom causing tremors to go through Cris like a devastating earthquake had shook through the school. Jem leant his cheek against Cris head before letting her go and allowing her to stand up.

When it looked like she wasn't going to, he got up and offered her a gentlemanly hand. She looked up to him, her wide eyes glimmering with the left over tears that still were residing it her bright teal eyes. Jem fought the urge to take her into his arms and take her for his own (A/N: not in the way you dirty people may be thinking ;)) but he gathered what little self-control he still had, since she arrived, as she took his hand allowing for him to pull her up to her feat.

She gathered her hair up and tied it into a messy bun leaving a long strand framing her face as Jem went to the wall and reached her crutches from where she had thrown them on the floor. "Do I look alright?" She asks which makes Jem chuckle slightly.

"nǐ yǒng yuǎn shì měi lì" He said which made Cris give a mock scowl not needing to say that she didn't understand what he said. He couldn't help but smile slightly at the sight of this.

"Okay, I won't ask that question again but is my face all blotchy and red?" She says with a little humour in her voice. Before Jem can speak again, Cris almost blurts out, "And no mandarin, otherwise I'll start speaking Welsh,"

Cris' smile now had a slight evil glint to it. But Will knows Welsh, he stops thinking that then realising that was the point and that Cris could very well say what she wanted to without Jem knowing. Jem shivered slightly but smiled widely.

"You look fine," Jem said silently adding, and by fine I mean beautiful. "Some people may mistake it for a blush or a fever but most won't notice," He continued.

Cris shook her head slightly, smiling as Jem passed her the crutches. "Thank you, James," Cris said smiling.

"For what?" Jem askes, taken aback by the statement. "Everything: for you not questioning me or even bringing up what happened, for you just being there for me, the way I needed someone to be and for you not believing what that person said on the whiteboard," She smiled sadly, looking down at her feet.

Jem walked over to her and brought two finger under her chin, bringing her face up so their gazes could meet. "Cris, I hope you know that'll I'll always be there for you, and I could never think so less of you,"

He looked into her eyes seeing them glimmer with fresh tears. His heart clenched as Cris looked back at his silver orbs finding so many emotions spilling through Cris couldn't define which was which. She was slightly confused as he inched in, slightly. What confused Cris more, was that she found herself moving in too.

Suddenly the door flew open to reveal a black figure encompassing the doorway. Cris looked at the figure and jumped, inching, unconsciously away. Something faltered in Cris, the guy was tall and well-built, as a memory resurfaced causing Cris to stumble back hitting the table behind her.

She stared at the guy wide eyed, i-is it him? Is it the guy who tried to get me? Her mind raced with thoughts which all got stuck in her throat.

The guy goes on to turn on the light as Cris freezes. The light flickers on and Cris sighs with relief, slumping against the desk. "By the angel, you scared me to death," Cris breathes, trying to get her heart rate to a normal rate.

The boy stood at the door looking to Cris in confusion and wonderment. "Cris, are you alright?" Jem said standing right next to her. Cris nodded and turned her head slightly so that their eyes met and Jem gave a small blush at how close they were; so close in fact their noses were almost touching.

Cris turned away from Jem and looked to Jamie who was staring at Cris with slight shock. "Look Jamie, whatever it is you want, can we talk about it later, we've got to get to form," Cris said getting up from the table and walking towards the door.

She noticed Jamie watching her every move which made her shiver slightly under his gaze. When she got to the door, Jamie was just looking down at her and Cris felt like he was the bodyguard stopping her from getting into a club.

"Jamie, I can guess how you are feeling but can you please move?" She almost demanded in a faintly exasperated voice. Almost immediately, surprisingly to Cris, he moved out of the doorway; allowing her through.

"Cris I'll meet you outside the form room, I just need to talk with Jamie," She heard Jem say behind her to which she nodded and continued to walk down the hall.

Jem's POV

Jem watched her leave before turning to Jamie who looked pained. "Why, how, when?" Jamie asked quickly getting the three words out in seconds.

Jem put his hands on Jamie's shoulder and looked straight into his hurt filled eyes. "She only came to school this morning. I swear I didn't even know she was awake, never mind out of hospital," Jem said, a frantic tone laced his words.

"W-wh-what does she remember?" Jamie stuttered, in a small voice, out looking down at the floor.

"Will told me that the last thing she remembers was getting knocked out at school," Jem says quietly as if not to cause too much shock.

Jem watched Jamie turn pale as he looked up at Jem with wild eyes, no doubt to see if he was lying. "WHAT?!" Jamie shouted which made Jem squeeze his shoulders lightly as if to say to quieten down.

Before Jem could say anything to help the matter, Jamie said, disbelieving, "No, no she can't. She's forgot EVERYTHING!" Jamie's face conveyed pure pain as he continued to rant, "I can't do that again. Jem, what am I going to do?" He asked desperately, almost pleading. Jem was slightly confused with what he meant but Jem wasn't going to dive into that matter know.

Once again, before Jem could say anything he noticed the anger flicker in Jamie's eyes and knowing exactly what he was going to do; Jem grabbed his wrist with a white knuckle force.

"Jamie, punching the wall or anything or anybody, for that matter, will not change anything. She doesn't remember and we can't push it," Jem said, taking a breath before continuing, "If we force any memories on her, it could harm her. I am NOT having her go back in hospital because of someone's stupidity," Jem said, surprising even himself with the raised tone he used.

Jamie nodded conveying a sulking feeling. Jem sighed and brought him into a short hug before pulling away and saying, "Come on, you've got form to go to. You don't want to be late," As he said this he began to walk after Cris leaving a depressed Jamie in his wake.

Cris' POV

Cris stood by the door waiting for Jem to arrive. She had no clue what Jem was talking to Jamie about but it seemed urgent so she didn't disrupt it.

By now she had a little crowd around her asking her questions. Cris didn't necessarily mind this; she just answered what she could and smiled sweetly. Cris couldn't have got angry at her classmates asking the questions as it was nice that they held concern for her and it generally seemed like they cared.

But something was off about it; it seemed although they were asking her loads of questions that they were holding back on something.

"Anyway enough about me, anything interesting happen while I was away?" Cris asked trying to get away from the dreary subject but then wanting to face palm as she just walked into another one.

"It isn't true, is it?" One boy with straight black hair asked, sadness tinged his voice slightly.

Cris smiled, how can he know me better than my friends do?! "Of course not," Cris answered noticing her friends walk into the form. "I mean who would believe something that is very obviously a cruel lie," Cris said loud enough so that her friends could hear her. She smiled and anyone who knew her well would see the evil glint that transpired across her features.

The evil glint being because she happened to say that just her friends walked in to the class, maybe a meter from Cris and the group. She knew they heard and widened her evil smile at that. Wait, when I said friends, I mean class mates, but not 'mates'; friends wouldn't think so badly of another.

A few laughs came from the group around her and if Cris wasn't wrong she also heard some sighs of relief. The guy who asked her smiled widely, his dark grey eyes glinting slightly.

The guy looked like he was about to speak when another boy pushed him slightly, that boy emerging from the group. Cris noticed the guy that just came was considerably handsome; his tamed dark brown hair complementing perfectly his bright blue eyes, Cris noticed he was tall; even so he was only an inch or two above her.

Cris pouted slightly at the guy pushing forward, to which he gave an amused smirk, that Cris couldn't help but think made him even sexier. "So, does that mean you're single?" The guy asked, his deep voice washing over Cris like a tidal wave.

Cris laughed slightly at this, shaking her head slightly. She looked at the boy and winked, causing shock to pass across the guy's face for only a matter of seconds. Her smile grew and she said, "Well, that would be telling," She said suggestively and before anyone could ask anything else, she heard Jem call her name.

The crowd looked to Jem then back at Cris, she noticed some of the girls were trying, rather unsuccessfully, to suppress blushes. Cris fought back the urge to roll her eyes at this, as Jem said, looking directly at her as if the other people weren't there at all, "Thanks for waiting for me,"

His sweet smile radiated out of him which nearly made it impossible to remember who she was going to face. But not enough.

"What else would I have done?" Cris asked, smiling back at him. The crowd around them had noticed they were going into class, so they all dispersed to go to their respective forms.

Jem gestured for her to go into the form room, being the polite gentleman he is, and even held the door open for her; all while smirking and saying, "You could've had a life,"

Cris laughed shaking her head slightly at his joking tone. Cris gestured around the school before retorting dismissively, "Here! In school! Please,"

She walked into the room and tried to hide her gasp; it had been a long time since she'd been in the room, and as stupid as it sounded she missed it. It wasn't that she missed the work but she missed the normality of everything.

She walked towards the only free full desk and tried her best to ignore the stares that bore into her. Although, thank the Angel, the room was not silent; it was filled with the normal mindless chatter as it normally was but Cris could tell most of them had their eyes on her.

Cris reached the seat and dragged it out only for the actual seat to be pulled apart from the legs. Cris pulled the seat part up to her eye level, while scrutinising it.

"What the fuck?!" Cris exclaimed as the legs of the chair lay on the ground in a small heap. Everyone turned to see what was going on: a few gasped, some laughed, while the others said nothing.

She felt Jem stand beside her, he knelt down to look at the chair legs. Jem picked one of the legs up and simply twirled it round his long fingers. No one said anything as Cris turned over the seat to look at the bottom of it, to try and work out what happened.

Cris noticed that the screws had been taken out but that was seemingly normal compared to the post-it note that was attached to the bottom.

The note read: 'Lilies that fester smell far worse than worse than weeds… One will not give up until the lily is taken,'

It took Cris quite a while to understand the meaning, it being only half eight in the morning. The first sentence was a quote from one of Shakespeare's sonnet (which is a bit like a poem); it meant that lilies, or beautiful things, do not get away with bad deeds, just because they are beautiful; that the bad deeds committed will make them worse that weeds, or unwanted, normal things.

Cris stood in shock; she didn't see the people that crowded around her, she didn't hear the people calling her name, she didn't feel Jem's hand shaking her shoulder, trying to snap her out of the daze.

Am I the lily? Have I performed such bad deeds to which I am unredeemable? Am I far worse than those who are considered weeds? Is he the one to not give up taking the lily?

Am I the one to be taken?

Simon's POV

Simon walked into his form room rather unwillingly. He so badly wanted to see Cris that whenever he thought of her a sharp pain went through his chest like one hundred blunt objects were stabbed into him until he bled.

Jace basically threatened Simon to stay away from Cris for a while but Simon wasn't going to listen to him so only when Clary put a hand on his shoulder telling him he'll only make it worse, did he stay put; no matter how strong the urge was to sprint after her retreating figure.

Although Simon didn't really know how he could make things worse, since Simon thought that the situation was at the epitome of bad, but he didn't go. Maybe it was because Clary asked him to or that even when he would be able to speak to her, he would have no clue what to say, but nevertheless he didn't run after her.

Maybe he should have. Maybe he should have comforted her and told her it was a misunderstanding but that was all they were 'maybe's.

They were only choices that could have been made in the past; he tried not to think what would've happened if he had chosen differently because there was no way you could change the past to make the future different.

Simon didn't even realise that he had kept on walking until he bumped into his desk, nearly making him topple over it. Simon regained whatever composure he had and sat down before realising a piece of paper was stuck onto his desk.

It was not a piece of paper but a photo.

Simon pulled the photo off the table before realising what it really was. It was the photo of all of them at Comic Con, all donned in different cosplays. This was the photo that was stolen from his locker. (Remember the one from a while ago, in chapter 23)

But it was different. This photo had red 'x's drawn on. Not randomly though, each person in the picture had the mark drawn across their faces. Every person apart from Cris.

Simon turned the picture to find writing, wrote in the same red colour as the x's, it said 'Next time try and make it a little harder, that was too easy'

Translations:

nǐ yǒng yuǎn shì měi lì – you'll always be beautiful (你永远是美丽)