Heyooo guys! I'm back and better than ever! Can you believe it? It's getting down to the last few weeks of school and I really just want to leave. I'm honestly getting senioritis as a sophomore! xD Here's the chapter I know you all wanted, and now I'll leave! (P.S. i worked very hard on this so i hope you enjoy reading it as much as i did making it)

A couple days passed and I still couldn't get the conversation with Jace out of my head. And the worst part was I had every single class with him. Every time I'd look in his direction, I'd get hit with memoires of that day. And as much as I hate to admit it, I wanted to take him up on his offer.

Flashback

As soon as I closed the car door behind me and sat down in the driver's seat, his golden eyes locked onto mine. I felt trapped under their gaze.

"What is it?" I snapped.

"We need to stop being like this. We used to be such good friends," he paused. I wasn't the least bit interested, but he continued. "You don't have to head-over-heels in love with me, although I wouldn't blame you if you are, but I would like to at least be friends. I hate the way we treat each other."

I blanched slightly and worried on my bottom lip. I was silent for a few seconds, "Why the sudden change of heart, Herondale? You were the one who knocked over Izzy and I's sandcastle in the first place."

He ignored my question and looked straight into my eyes. His hand reached to touch my knee but stopped himself.

"Just- just think about it," he looked like he wanted to say more but thought better of it. He turned his back to me and opened the passenger-side door, letting in a gust of cold wind into the car.

After he closed it, I shivered. From the wind or from the conversation, I didn't know.

"What the fuck was that?" I said aloud.

End Flashback

Whenever he'd pass by my locker, I'd get the strangest feeling as though he was looking at me, but he never was. We didn't banter in our Romeo and Juliet debates. It was oddly eerie.

That's what brings me to today. All through lunch, Jace kept glancing my way, a line appeared between his brows. I tried not to notice it and nibbled on my PB&J sandwich.

"So," Izzy broke the silence in our little group. Simon, Jace, Jordan, Aline, Helen, Maia, and I all turned to look at her. Maia had just moved into this school district this year and Si had taken a liking to her, much to Isabelle's dismay.

"Clary, I was wondering if you wanted to come over to my house and work on our Shakespeare project after school?" Her face impassive but her voice wavered a bit.

I blinked, "Sure, as long as there are no strings attached." That meant no impromptu makeovers.

She rolled her eyes, "Of course Clare."

Aline snorted, "That's an absolute lie and you know it." During freshman Homecoming, Izzy made us come to her house under the guise of working on our chemistry project, we should've seen it from the beginning. By the end of the night we had enough makeup products on our faces to fill a whole Sephora store.

The taller girl kicked her 6-inch stiletto into Aline's shin, the Asian girl's grunt of pain concealed with a cough. Izzy's brown eyes blazed with frustration.

I tried to ignore their silent conversation and turned to Simon, hoping to strike up a conversation. I opened my mouth only to be stopped by Izzy's foot, and was grateful she didn't kick me as hard as she did Aline. I saw her expression, her eyes pleading with me to come over.

I sighed, "Fine."

She flashed me a wide smile, her pearly-whites gleaming. "Great."

She regained her bubbly attitude, chatting with Helen about makeup. I resumed my talk with Simon. "So Si," I lowered my voice. "You need to make a move with Izzy."

Upon saying her name, he swallowed audibly and looked almost green.

"Can we not talk about this when she's right there," he said through gritted teeth. His eyes darted around the table, making sure no one was listening in on our conversation. Izzy and Helen were absorbed in conversation, Maia was chatting with Jordan, and both Aline and Jace were on their phones.

I raised my eyebrows, since I was incapable of separating their movements. Simon knew how much it annoyed me- that everyone else in the entire world was able to do it except me- and he took pride in doing it around me whenever he got the chance. But, now, he didn't seem to have the energy.

Honestly, he needed to tell her. His "not-so-secret" love for Isabelle Sophia Lightwood wasn't that secret. Everyone knew it, including Izzy. I'd reminded her thousands of times to take advantage of the situation, but she insisted on him making the first move. At this rate, they wouldn't move from friends to something more until they were both dead.

The bell ended my train of thought and I scooped up what was left of my lunch, putting it back in my backpack. I slung it over my right shoulder and caught the reproachful glance Jace shot me, a muscle in his jaw twitching.

He left before I could give him a piece of mind, making my thoughts a jumbled mess. The only coherent thought in my mind was that I had to follow him. Since we had APUSH together, I knew sooner or later he'd have to talk to me (whether he liked it or not).

"Jace!" I called, sprinting after him. Goddamn his blasted long legs! Every stride he took, I had to take 3 more just to keep up with him.

He didn't turn around.

By the time I made it up to him, I was completely out of breath. I pulled hard on his jacket. "Jace, god fucking damnit, look at me!"

He turned to look me in the eyes, his face blank. "If you wanted to chase after me, Cherry, all you had to do was ask."

"Jace," I all but growled, my lips pulling back in a sneer. "Don't fucking play any games with me. Just because I don't give you the time of day like all the other bimbos at this godforsaken school, doesn't mean you need to give me the cold shoulder."

I don't even know why I was so mad, Izzy always told me not to let what he said get to me. Maybe it was because he assumed I wanted him...I don't know.

At this point, I knew I was attracting an audience, but I honestly didn't care. If he had something to say to me, he could say it in front of the whole senior class.

He let out an impatient breath, running his hand through his hair. "I'm only talking to you if you're gonna give me an answer to the question I asked you in the car. Until then, we're not enemies, but we're not friends either. If you don't want to put any effort into this, then I won't either."

And with that, he turned and walked into the classroom, with me close behind. I was speechless, did he really want to be friends that badly?

~.o.0.o.~

"He said that?" Izzy asked, painting her left pinky toe a dark red. She was so surprised, she almost knocked over the whole bottle on her bedsheets. Her eyes narrowed in concentration.

My hair dripped down my back in wet ringlets when I stepped out of her ensuite bathroom.

I flopped onto the king bed in my towel next to her, "Yeah, and get this, it sounds like he actually wants to be friends." She let out a squeal, telling me not to get any nail polish on her bed.

I glanced over to see her fanning her left foot. Feeling my gaze on her, she turned her dark brown gaze onto me, her lips turned into a frown, "That doesn't sound like the Jace I've grown up with for the past 10 years."

I wrinkled my nose, "I know. That's what makes this so much worse."

"You know what this means don't you," Izzy didn't look at me, but I could see the evil glint her eyes held in my mind's eye.

"Iz. No!"

She didn't respond, only turned her menacing grin towards me. I had only one thought in my mind, Run!

I immediately jumped from her bed, sending most of her pillows flying. One landed on her face and I heard her let out a shrill yell. "Clarissa!"

She leaped off her bed and followed me. I ran around her room and flung open her door, speeding down the carpeted hallway. The bottoms of my feet slapped on the ground beneath me and I just knew they'd be red after this.

I looked back to see her gaining on me, a curling iron in hand. "Clarissa, if you stop now, I'll put less makeup on you." She and I both knew that was false. I clutched my towel tighter and kept on running.

I turned around a corner and came in contact with a body. A hard, warm body. The force of me running away from Izzy sent both of us down onto the ground.

I looked down to see just who I was on top of and was met with a pair of aureate eyes. They widened. Wait, who has golden eyes?

Fuck! Fuckity fucking fuck! My eyes widened as well as I realized just what kind of a compromising situation I was in. Holy fucking shit! I was on top of Jace Herondale in nothing but a towel! How stupid do I have to be to run around in Izzy's house in just a towel and not think I was going to run into him?

Stupid, stupid, stupid!

I wanted to smack myself across the face.

"Well Cherry, look what we have here. If you wanted to become more than friends, you should've just said so." He smirked, all traces of surprise gone. "You know you don't have to get my attention in just a towel, although I'm not saying I don't mind."

I tried to get up when I realized that his arms and become wrapped around my waist, securing me on top of him. I tried to wriggle out of his grasp, making him let out a strangled groan.

Jace opened his mouth, his voice breathy, "Ya know, Cherry-"

I put my finger to his lips, "Ya know, shhhh. Jace shut up!" That one action brought my head down closer to his, my scarlet hair creating a curtain over the both of us. His eyes flicked to my lips, and I bit mine.

Subconsciously, my head got even closer to his, to the point that our breaths began to mix. I could feel the front of my towel begin to loosen, but I honestly didn't care. All I cared about was Jace and his lips in that moment.

Was this how girls at school felt when they were around him? Ugh, why am I thinking about them right now?

His calloused hands traveled their way up my arms until they rested on my thin shoulders. Once our noses almost touched, my eyes flicked down to his lips, making mine part. His head craned up to meet mine, and our lips brushed, a spark of electricity coursing through us.

"Clarissa Adele Fray, what do you think you're doing?" Oh, shit!

I turned around to see Izzy looking completely livid, the curling wand still in her hand.

Wow! What'aya think Izzy's gonna do? Castrate Jace? Murder Clary? Both? I guess you'll have to see, wont'ya? Please leave a review, I love reading each and every one of of them. I would also like to give a personal shoutout to RumplestiltskinWantsMySanity for giving me such good feedback and always up for a good talk in my PM's.