Hi, guys! Here's the next update, which almost didn't go up today because I'm so, so tired. But here you go. The next chapter, by the way, will be the last one. I hope you enjoy this update. Any and all mistakes are mine, 'cause it's unbeta'd. Thank you guys so much for reading!

It's not a walk in the park
To love each other
But when our fingers interlock,
Can't deny, can't deny you're worth it
'Cause after all this time I'm still into you

I should be over all the butterflies
But I'm into you
And baby even on our worst nights
I'm into you

("Still Into You" by Paramore)

She wore a lacy white dress underneath her wine-colored robe, choosing to wear black high heels because it looked better in pictures, and she would look taller. She'd curled her hair so it would be tame and actually pretty.

"I still suck at these," Jace said from behind her, struggling with his tie.

Clary smiled and walked over to him, fixing it. "I'll teach you someday."

"Thanks," he murmured. "You look beautiful."

"You don't look too bad yourself." She placed her hand on his chest when she was done. "Now hurry up, or we're gonna be late."

He rolled his eyes. "Bossy."

Jocelyn appeared at the doorway. "You look beautiful," she said to Clary. "Can we take a picture yet?"

Clary shook her head. "Princess Jace here still has to do his makeup."

He glared at her playfully as she smirked at him. Jocelyn smiled at the two of them. "Pick up the pace, kids."

"Yeah, yeah," said Clary, sitting on her bed.

She got a text from Isabelle just then, asking her if she was ready.

Yes! Jace is actually taking forever to get ready, and Mom and I are getting desperate. He's sooooo slow.

Isabelle replied quickly after. You two are adorbs. Simon's already there.

Geek,

Clary replied with a smile, setting her phone aside. "You done yet?" she asked her boyfriend.

"Yeah," he said, grabbing his phone from her bed. "Let's get going."

"Picture time," she replied, rolling her eyes. "Yay."

They took their pictures relatively fast, especially since Jocelyn and Luke kept asking Clary and Jace to pose a thousand different ways, and they would sometimes ask for pictures of Clary alone and with him and they even took a family photo, setting the camera down on top of a bunch of books and setting the timer so they could all appear.

When they arrived at the school, Clary spotted Simon immediately. His mom was with him; his dad was never really in the picture. "Hey, Clary," he said to her with a smile. "You look great."

"Thanks." She smiled. "You too."

"Clarissa!" Simon's mother turned to greet her. "You look wonderful!"

"Thank you," she replied with a genuine smile.

Everyone began talking about graduation and college and a bunch of crap that she hated to hear, even though she was excited about college. About being close to Jace for more than a couple of weeks. About there being no months of waiting to see each other's faces. It was finally going to be okay between them. They'd get their happy ending, just like they'd always known they would.

She'd gotten into college in California, so the choice was clear. Celine was still in rehab, but she'd said that she wanted to stay in California when she got out, so Jace was stuck there, and Clary wanted to be where Jace was. There were plenty of art schools in California, too, so the choice was obvious, even though it sucked that her parents were so far away.

The ceremony began just like Jace's when he graduated, and just like she'd rehearsed with her class in school many, many times. She walked to get her diploma when it was time for her to and she sat back down, and that was all she could register, because the rest of it seemed like a dream. It was all hazy and she didn't really remember the details. She only remembered the one important thing: she graduated. The in-between bits didn't matter.

She met her family and Jace afterward. They were smiling at her, and she smiled back, unbelievably contempt and proud of herself. She did it. She graduated high school and got into a good college with financial aid and she'd be going to college near her boyfriend, and everything she could've possibly wanted was finally happening.

Her mother hugged her first, whispering that she was proud of her over and over again, and saying that she loved her. Then came Luke, who gave her a pat in the head and a hug, saying the same thing Jocelyn did.

Jace gave her a kiss on the lips and asked, "Feels good, doesn't it?"

She rolled her eyes at him. "Shut up."

"How does it feel like, being done with high school?"

"You know." She smiled. "I'm just glad it's over."

"Congrats, baby." He draped an arm over her shoulder and pulled her close. "I love you."

"I love you too," she said, burying her face on his chest. "Hey, I kind of wanna go find Izzy."

"Let's go, then," Jace replied. Jocelyn and Luke followed them as they tried to find Isabelle, who was probably somewhere with Simon. They spotted her pretty quickly considering the gym was insanely full. She was with her brother and her parents, Simon and his mom standing beside them.

"Hey," Clary said.

"Clary!" Isabelle wrapped her arms around her best friend. "I can't believe we're done!"

She let out a laugh. "I know!"

"Congratulations, Clarissa." Maryse, Isabelle's mother, smiled at her.

She heard Jace talking to Alec, but it was a background noise. She was talking to her friends, still not believing that she was done with high school. Done. Forever. No more high school.

It was a lot to take in.

Clary shouldn't have been this nervous.

Jace was already long gone, since he had summer classes, and she was left to pack her bags alone, with Jocelyn's occasional help. She didn't really want her mother's help, though. She wanted Jace to be there, to tell her that college wasn't nearly as scary as she was making it out to be in her mind. The truth was, she was nervous.

Really nervous.

She had mental breakdowns every two seconds, which was ridiculous. She'd been looking forward to going to college in California for a whole year, and she'd been looking forward to going to college for a long, long time. She had a big chance now, one that most people would kill for—she had the chance to go to college near her boyfriend, and she'd be going to a really good school.

So, if she had all of the things she could've ever asked for, why was she so scared?

She didn't really know why she felt like everything was going to go to shit, but she did. She should've felt safe, should've been falling in love with the idea of being in California in just a matter of days, but she felt like she was falling out of love with it as time passed by. She was excited to spend time with Jace, to rediscover their relationship and what it was like before, but she was also scared of what that'd mean for them, especially with her life just starting, with her jut discovering what being on her own was really like.

California was always this big, scary place, the sort of place she knew she hated because it represented the thing standing between her and Jace, the one that really fired up conflict, the spark that caused them to be at each other's throats so frequently. And now she was moving towards it, begging California to take her in, and she felt like an idiot for having succumbed to going. Sure, she had no other choice, but it felt stupid that she was the one who ended up having to sacrifice everything despite Jace's promises that he was the one who'd be there for her.

It was like they'd switched roles. It scared her to think that he might have changed to the point of being a completely different kind of person with different values and a different mindset. He was allowed to change—that was part of growing up—but she didn't know if he'd changed for better or for worse. Everything that'd happened with them over the past year, especially the whole "we should date other people" thing he'd proposed, led her to believe that he'd changed his mind about what he used to believe was the most important thing.

Loyalty.

He'd never fallen out of love with her, and that was reciprocated. And yet…he'd proposed this deal to her that he'd found irresistible and she found horrible, and she played along because she wanted him to love her and still be happy and not feel like she was trapping him someplace horrible. So she gave up everything for him, and he'd changed, and she didn't know whether or not she'd want to be with him after a while.

She was sure she would, though. Clary thought about it for a few more seconds and came to the same conclusion she always came to: Jace was her everything. He'd been so from the moment he said her name, from the moment something inside of him had begun liking her in a way that suggested romance, that suggested something more than a casual greeting as they passed each other in the hallways.

She shoved down her feelings and kept packing, knowing that time was running out, and that she'd be okay—and so would they.

Let me know what you think! xo