I know, I know, I know. I'm seriously behind on updates. I haven't forgotten, I promise. Life is just really crazy, still, and add in having problems with either my internet, fanfic itself, or my computer - which one, I don't know - I haven't been able to get anything posted when I wanted. UGh! I have had this chapter in my Doc Manager at least five times now, but that was as far as I could get. After that, I was unable to pull up Manage Stories, and do all that good stuff. I have also had this chapter, as well as others, on my computer since my last post. Crazy, right?. Anyhow, I am sorry. Forgive me? Those of you that followed me while I did High School Sweethearts (HHS) 1 & 2, you know that I would post a new chapter everyday, it just hasn't been allowed with this one, or HHS 3, and it really irks me. That's putting it nicely, lol.

One last thing before I let you get to reading this chapter. I'm not sure when I'm going to be able to get the next chapter posted. Soon I hope. I seriously think this is a miracle that I've gotten this far today. This chapter has 4 days left until it is cleared away, from a 90 day grace period; that's how long it has been on here, this time. So, fingers crossed.

"Hey," Izzy chuckles lowly from where she stands; she's leaned back against the locker to my left, and has her right knee bent, with the heel of her right boot against one of the bottom lockers. I pull my attention away from the inside of my locker to look over at her, and she tilts her head to her right. "I guess you did more damage to him than you thought."

I glance over in the direction that she has indicated, and see Sebastian coming down the hallway, - probably heading to his locker, which is just six down and to the right of mine - staring at me, a smirk on his face, with a cup of coffee from Java Jones' in his right hand and a book in his left. He's wearing a black denim jacket over a charcoal gray shirt, black jeans, and black work boots; both of his eyes look swollen and blackish, and the closer he gets, I can tell that the right side of his bottom lip has been split and his nose looks a little swollen, too.

"I guess he did that when he hit the wall," I say with a shrug, turning back to my locker. "But that was his own fault," I grab my calculus book, then shut the locker door. "Let's get to class."

And with that, we start heading in the direction that Sebastian is coming from. As we go to pass by him, he winks and makes a kissing noise as he pushes his lips out at me.

"Mm," I groan unenthused as I roll my eyes and Izzy makes a gagging noise; neither of which seem to affect him, because he reaches for my left arm anyway. "Don't even," I say, pulling it out of his reach, and continue walking.

"I swear, he is still obsessed with you," Izzy says. "Do you think it could've been him that called you?"

"I don't know," I shrug. "But, I intend to find out."

Izzy and I separate to take our seats; her on the left side of the classroom, and me on the right side. - We were separated for talking during class at the beginning of the school year. - I sit down in my seat and look up at the board to find that there is no lesson written on it yet; so I look down at my notebook, flip it over, and start doodling on the back of it while I wait for class to start.

Not even five minutes later the bell rings, and I hear people quickly taking their seats.

"Good morning, class," Mr. Scott's voice booms, and I look up. The middle-aged man is walking into the classroom as his greenish-gray eyes scan the student body, his blond hair that is streaked with gray is parted on the left and combed neatly to the right, - The same way as every other day. - and I swear on the angel, that this man does not know how to dress casual. Because once again, he is dressed in a business suit, and today's color is brown.

In return he is greeted with a few mumbled hello's.

He shuts the door and begins making his way to his desk, as he says, "I trust that everybody is well rested, and ready to start class."

"No," the whole class grumbles, including myself.

"Well, that's too bad, because we have a lot we need to cover today." He sits down and starts to call the roll.

"Present," I answer when he calls out my name.

"Okay," he says once he is finished, and stands up. "Now let's put everything else under our seats, except for a pencil; it's pop quiz time." We all moan and groan as we start putting our things under our chairs. "Don't worry. If you were paying attention in class yesterday," he starts passing out the quiz, "you have nothing to worry about."

After he hands me mine, I look down at it; there are problems for differentiating the chain rule, the product rule, and the quotient rule. Thankfully there are only thirty problems, - ten for each - so I should be able to get through this rather quickly; however, I groan inwardly anyway. I really don't want to do this, I was hoping for an assignment that I could just zone out on and do later; the good news is though, I shouldn't have any homework for this class.

Jace

"I know you have a record from your previous school, but your grades were still phenomenal." Principal Penhallow says from behind her large wooden desk, looking over my transcript with her dark brown, round almond-shaped eyes. "So, I'm going to let you keep the classes you've chosen for yourself."

"Thank you," I say politely, sliding forward in the chair I'm sitting in across from her. She looks up at me, her straight, somewhat short, dark black hair framing her face.

"I wasn't finished just yet, Mr. Herondale," she says firmly with her right eyebrow raised.

"I'm sorry for interrupting you, Mrs. Penhallow." You better watch it, I tell myself. You don't know this woman, and you don't want to be kicked out of school; especially, before you even get to start your first class.

"You are forgiven," she says with a small nod of her head. She places her hands on her desk, neatly folding them together, before continuing. "I am placing you on a probationary period. You are to maintain no grade lower than a B, in any of your classes, for the rest of this semester; if you would like to get the credit for them.

"You will also attend all of your classes unless you have proof that you were not there for a good reason. Examples would be... Doctors, in which you can request a note, proving you were there. If you are to stay home sick and choose not to go to a doctor, a letter from your parent, or legal guardian, will suffice. If you go to court for some reason, the judge's secretary can give you a note stating that you were there from blank time to blank time; you do not have to specify why, as that is your personal business. We have had some students spend the night in jail before, if that is to happen to you, a letter from a staff member at the police department, or even your parent, or guardian, will work.

"Starting fights will not be tolerated. Although, if you can prove that you did not start the altercation and that you were just defending yourself, you will not suffer any disciplinary actions here at school. However, what happens at home may be a different story.

"Do you understand and accept all of these terms?" She asks, looking at me expectantly.

"Yes, ma'am, I do."

"Good," she simply states as she stands. "Now let's get you to class."

Mrs. Penhallow peeks through the small window of the classroom door that we have stopped in front of, then quietly opens it and motions for me to follow her as she starts to make her way inside.

As I make my way into the room, I glance around. Everybody is quiet with their heads down, as they concentrate on the work in front of them. Even the teacher has his head down.

"This is your new student, Jace Herondale," Mrs. Penhallow whispers to the teacher behind the desk, as we come to a stop beside it; and I glance down to see what he's working on.

"Thank you, Jia," he quietly says, looking up from the papers he was grading. - Wow! His eyebrows look like big caterpillars! But I suppose everybody can't look as good as me. Oh who am I kidding, I laugh inwardly. Nobody can look this good.

"I can see you're busy, so I'll leave you two to it," she says, then turns around on her heel. She puts her right hand on my right shoulder, and with a small smile says, "If you have any problems finding your classes today, just come by my office, and I'll have somebody take you." She turns her head away from me, removing her hand as she does, and takes a step towards the door, before stopping and looking back to me. "And welcome to the Alicante Institute." Then she walks off.

The teacher, - that I still don't knows name, and there's no sign of it anywhere in the classroom - pulls out the shelf on the top, left side of his desk, scans a piece of paper taped on it with his left index finger before stopping in one spot, then turns to me. "We'll have formal introductions later, but for now," he stands up and points towards the class, "take a seat there."

I follow his finger to the seat he was talking about; it's at the last table, at the back, right corner of the room, by the door. - Alright! I'll be able to make a quick exit when class lets out, and hopefully, bump into Clary! - I'm nearly to the table when I can finally see between the tall, dirty blond headed guy, and the tall, dark brown-headed guy, that are both wearing letterman jackets, and I blink in shock. I've got the whole table to myself! I take my seat, then look up at the clock; forty-five minutes down, only forty-five minutes to go.

Clary

I walk back into class from using the restroom, - with all the coffee I've drunk this morning, I had to piss like a racehorse - and immediately feel eyes on me. I turn in my hall pass to Mr. Scott and make my way back to my seat, only to find Jace, of all people, sitting in the chair next to mine. He's looking at me with a giant ear to ear grin, as he runs his left hand through his golden blond hair. And all I can think as I take my seat is.. You have got to be kidding me! This has got to be some kind of joke, right?

I quickly look over in Izzy's direction, and luckily she's looking at me, too. Without turning my head, I move my eyes in the direction of where Jace sits; mentally asking her if she knew about this, and she shakes her head no. I roll my eyes, and she pulls her right shoulder up to her ear and gives me an apologetic look.

I huff and sit back in my seat. Folding my arms across my chest and crossing my right ankle over my left, I look straight ahead. - Which just so happens to be the back of Edward Longford's letterman jacket, that has a couple of his dark brown strands of hair that he has lost on the Alicante part of it.

"You look beautiful," Jace whispers, breaking the silence between us.

"Thank you," I say quietly, refusing to look over at him. "But, I know you're lying."

I'm wearing a no-yank, black tank top that has purple flowers on it, with my unzipped, black leather jacket over it, blue jeans, and a pair of black, four-inch heeled boots to give me a little height. I have my hair pulled back in a low ponytail with a simple, black ponytail holder, and my make-up is more of a natural look; consisting of a light brown eyeshadow, with a little bit of black eyeliner and mascara, a small touch of pink blush, and peach colored lipstick. Nothing special, and none of which really shows off the little curves that I do have. So I know that it is not anything that would warrant anybody's real attention, and that's just the way I like it these days. - Not that I ever really dressed to impress anybody before, but still. - And I know that I am far from beautiful, I use to think I was, but now I just consider myself as decent. Because unspeakable things don't happen to beautiful people.

"No, I'm not," he says, his voice full of certainty, and I can feel the heat starting to rise in my face. By the angel, please don't let him notice! "You are beautiful."

Using my right hand, I pull my hair down, and fan it out on the right side of my face; trying to use it as a curtain to hide the blush that I know has become visible now. "Thanks. But you better be quiet before Mr. Scott gives us detention since he, unfortunately, can't separate us; like he did Izzy and me."

"Where is Izzy?" he asks. "Maryse said that she was in this class first period, that's why I took it so early."

"She's over there," I say agitated, fiercely pointing my right index finger in her direction. I really don't want to spend an extra hour of my time at school this afternoon, not to mention with him. "Now, shh."

The two of us fall into silence, and I can feel Jace's eyes on me still, so after a few minutes pass of him staring at me, - I swear, it feels like holes are being burnt into the side of my head. - I reach under my chair and pull my notebook back out; hoping that, that will be enough to make him look away, but it doesn't. He continues to watch me as I slide the pencil out of the metal spiral binding, flip it open, and begin doodling again; this time using the inside of its cardboard backing.

Only a few seconds after that, I feel, which I can safely assume is Jace, brush up against my right shoulder.

"You know," he says softly through my hair into my ear, and I quiver; my entire body getting a warm, tingling sensation and goosebumps, that I can feel but not see. What is wrong with me?! Hold it together, damn, girl! "I like it when you wear your hair down, way better than when you have it pulled back."

The bell finally rings, signaling the end of the first period, and I quickly gather up my things, then bolt out the classroom and down the hall like lightning; not even waiting for Izzy, like I usually do. All the while thinking about how this has got to be some cruel joke from the universe. I mean, why else would Jace, the guy I want so badly to avoid, just so happen to be in my first class of the day, after coming into my life so abruptly. And not only be in my class, but be assigned the seat right next to mine.

Yeah, sure, all the other spots have already been assigned. - Thanks to Mr. Scott saying on the first day of the school year, that where you sat at on that day would be your seat until the term was over. And Izzy was already moved into the only empty chair. - But, I don't want to be stuck next to Jace until Christmas.

"This isn't funny," I mumble under my breath, opening my locker.

I shove my book and notebook for calculus into my locker, the two making a thud against the back of it, then snatch my books for my next class out before slamming the door shut and quickly making my way to second period. As much as I'm not ready to be in that class just yet, I don't want to take any chances of running into Jace in the halls.

Jace

"Where was Clary off to in such a rush?" I ask Izzy as the two of us make our way out of the classroom and into the hall, heading right; my new book in my left hand, that hangs carelessly down to my side, and she holds hers in her right hand, her wrist bent so that her book is tucked in towards her body.

"She was probably trying to get away from you," she laughs, and I look over to my left at her with my eyebrows raised; completely unamused. "What?" she asks with a smile and lifting her shoulders slightly. "You know I'm probably right."

"It still wasn't funny," I say, looking back in front of me at the mass of bodies that are crashing against each other as they scramble to make their way to their lockers and next class.

"I know," she sighs. "I'm sorry. But I did tell you last night that Clary wasn't going to be an easy person to get to know, so did Alec," she says sadly, then sighs, again. "She's got a wall up, and refuses to take it down."

"Yeah, I know," I say somberly. "Alec told me that, too." Then I smirk as I remember my plan. "But, I've got my ways around that."

"Oh, really," she says, and I can hear the amusement in her voice. "By all means, do tell."

"It's a secret," I laugh. "But you'll find out," I shrug, "eventually."

"Whatever," she snorts. Then suddenly she hits me in my arm. "By the way, I thought you hated taking classes that made you think so early in the day."

"I do."

"So what on earth made you take calculus as your first class?"

"You're mom told me you were in there, so I thought I'd be able to cheat off you," I say, chuckling at the end. I glance over at her, and she's looking at me with a half smile and her eyebrows raised; her dark brown eyes asking a sarcastic 'oh really,' and causing me to laugh shortly. "No seriously, though, I thought it'd be fun to take a class with you. And at least I'd have somebody to help keep me awake if I started falling asleep."

"Well, I hope you know, that you got me blamed for a minute."

"Blamed for what?" I ask as she comes to a stop by what I guess is her locker, so I stop as well. "And by who?"

I guess it's not hers because she turns her body to look at me, instead of opening it up. "By a pretty little redhead. She thought that I knew about it but didn't tell her. I know she thought I had set the whole thing up, just like last night."

"But you did set last night up," I chuckle.

"Shhh," she says, putting her left index finger up to her lips that are pushed out as she makes the noise. She looks around as if she's looking for Clary, or somebody that might tell her, then rest her eyes back on me. "She doesn't exactly know that."

"What do you mean, exactly?" I ask cautiously.

"Come on, walk with me," she says, grabbing ahold to my right arm, spinning me around as she walks around me, and starts heading back in the direction we were going just a moment ago. "She thinks that I only had an idea that it would happen, which I did at first, but she doesn't know that I promised Max five dollars to do it."

"Why did you pay him to ask anyway?" I ask incredulously, as I continue to let her drag me down the long corridor; even though she doesn't really have to since I'm actually trying to keep a slow pace so that she can keep up with me.

"He didn't think that you'd want to come with us, that you'd say that you were too old to go. And I couldn't very well tell him that I already knew that you wanted to go, he would've asked why, and I'd have had to tell him. - I couldn't have lied to him about it, especially after all the other lies I've already told him. - Then he would've run to Clary and told her that you wanted to go because of her, and it would've been a disaster. She would have wanted to go home, but Max would've asked her to go so she would've gone anyway, but she wouldn't have said a single word to you all night long," she sighs, "and I just want-" She stops everything abruptly; her talking and her walking. Oh, come on! You just want what?! "Where's your locker at anyway?"

"I don't know," I admit with a shrug. Honestly, I'm not even worried about where it is, I just want her to finish what she was saying.

"Give me your schedule," she demands. I reach into my jacket pocket, pulling it out, and she snatches it from me, giving it a once over, then laughs. "Oh, this is good."

I look at her confused, my eyebrows pinched together, and ask, "What is?"

"Oh, nothing," she replies, a smile on her face. "It's just that your locker is next to mine.." she pauses, and her smile becomes a grin, "and Clary's."

"Really?" I ask ecstatically.

"Yes," she says, her grin never fading. "A matter of fact, it's right in-between them. You've got me directly on your left, and her directly on your right." Hearing that makes me smile like a fool. I'll get to see her before, and after, each class. "Now come on, we've got to hurry before your late for your next class."

"What about you?" I curiously ask as we start walking again, this time without her gripping my arm with her long, perfectly manicured fingers. "Won't you be late for class?"

"No," she says, and I can see out the corner of my eye that she is shaking her head no too. "I'm an office aide this period so I can show you to your next class, and it still be all good."

Using my right hand, I swiftly motion from my left to out in front of me as I say, "Then lead the way, my liege."

Clary

Since I got to class earlier then everybody else, I was able to choose whichever seat I wanted, so I took the spot in the far back left corner. I figured this way that I would be able to see if somebody was watching me; because I still think that whoever it is that made that phone call, and followed me around last night, has got to be around this campus somewhere. Plus, I'll be less likely to be called on during class from way back here.

So now as my classmates come straggling in, I'm sitting here at my desk watching them; analyzing whether or not it could be them, and if so, why.

The ever so handsome, Malik Safar comes in with a dashing smile on his face. I don't know what could be so great to be that happy about, but I quickly rule him out. He's never done anything cross towards me, and our freshman year, he took watch while I left school property; skipping school for the first time ever. In fact, we both played lookout for the other until I was emancipated; but I still do it for him, when he needs me to.

Then 'The Giant,' also known as Bat Velasquez. - He stands six foot six, so come on, it's no wonder he got that nickname. - He has this way about him that makes you think that he will squash you with one foot, then again, that could just be because I'm so tiny compared to him; but I rule him out as well. He has never been anything but sweet to me, and we still talk to each other all the time.

Now walks in Sebastian, the real reason that I don't like this class. His eyes, that don't look as swollen as earlier, lock with mine, and he smiles. I follow him with my eyes as he makes his way towards me. He could be behind it, I think for a second before coming to the conclusion that it isn't possible. Whoever was watching me last night, was on the opposite side of the road, and when we happened to come upon each other, he was on the same side as myself and was coming from the direction we were going.

Then again, when I got that phone call, there was at least three people; two females and a male. So could he of had one of the females following me? That's crazy, right? I mean, he was with Aline and Helen so it couldn't have been them. But that does add up with the number of voices I heard on the other side of the call. I growl inwardly. This is so frustrating! I don't know which way to rule.

I don't even know if those females are actually involved, or if they were just keeping the male company. Surely they are, right? I mean, he did say, "When we're ready." So, obviously, there is more than just him. Then again, that could have only been a metaphorical 'we' though. He could've been talking about himself in the third person, or have multiple personalities. Ugh!

"Hey," Sebastian says with a smile still on his face. He is acting as if nothing happened between us last night, or within the previous year for that matter, and that everything is just peachy keen between us. He takes his seat at the desk in front of me, and I roll my eyes as I sarcastically think... Oh, just fucking great! He turns sideways in his chair, putting his back against the bar of the desk to his right, and looks at me expectantly with his hands on the back of his seat.

"What do you want?" I ask, unamused and snarky.

"You," he says matter-of-factly with his right eyebrow raised and a smirk.

I close my eyes, shaking my head, and take a deep breath before opening them back up and saying, "You had me, but you screwed that up, not me."

"I know, and I'm-"

"You're sorry, yeah I know," I snap at him, cutting him off. "In more ways than one," I say with my lips pooched out, my eyebrows raised, and crossing my arms over my chest.

He laughs humorlessly. "Very funny."

The two of us sit here staring at each other, and about ten seconds into it, he reaches toward me with his right hand, moving it to touch my left cheek. I pull my head back and to the left before he can while moving my left leg out from under my desk like I'm about to get up; and he pulls his hand back, then places it on my desk.

"Clary," he says sadly. "What do I have to do to prove to you how sorry I am, and that I'll never hurt you ever again?"

I scoff. "There isn't anything you can do."

"I know you don't mean that."

"Oh, but I do."

"What we had was real, and that doesn't just go away."

"What we had," I lean forward slightly and stare into his eyes, again; hoping that I'll finally get my point across that thick skull of his, "couldn't have been to real, if you could cheat on me so easily, and for as long as you did." I glance around us to make sure that no one is in hearing distance before I continue. "Not to mention, hit and choke me when I refused to take you back. Then threaten me that if you couldn't have me, you'd make sure that no one else could either."

"Okay, first off, that wasn't a threat, that was a promise. Haven't you noticed that no guy," he motions around the room with his left hand, "that goes to this school, has dated you? That's because of me," he points at his chest, looking pleased with himself. I open my mouth to protest, but I don't get the chance. "Second, I cheated on you, because I wanted to know if what I was feeling for you was real, and it was." Hell of a bullshit reason to cheat on somebody, huh? "Third, I-"

I put my hand up, stopping him from saying another lie, when I hear a voice that is as familiar as my own say, "Good Morning, Mr. Starkweather."

I look away from him and in the direction the voice is coming from. Sure enough, it's Izzy standing at the door. Oh, thank the angel, she's come to save me again! I wonder which excuse she is going to use this time.

I look over at Mr. Starkweather, who stands at the transparent podium next to his desk; his thin body looks even smaller behind it from here, and today's neat tweed suit is black. He pushes his glasses up on the bridge of his long beaky nose, and motions for her to come in. "Miss Lightwood, to what do we owe the pleasure?" He looks at me, a strand of his gray-streaked black hair falling in his face, he pushes it back, then winks as he asks, "Come to collect Miss Morgenstern, again?"

I laugh inwardly. He may be Mr. Starkweather at school, - and can seem cryptic at times during lessons and lectures, - but outside of school, he's Uncle Hodge. - The man that has watched us grow up and taught us so much that we can't learn in books. - And even though we all try to keep it professional here, so that nobody can say that he's showing favoritism, sometimes that uncle part of him creeps into the classroom.

"No," Izzy laughs as she walks up to him and gives him a side hug. She looks at me and mouths 'I'm sorry,' then looks back to him. She stretches her left arm out beside her, "I've actually brought you a student."

No fucking way!

"Yes, I heard we were getting a new pupil," he says, as I look back to the door. Sure enough, there stands Jace, running his long fingers through his curly, golden hair.

Oh, no! This isn't good on a couple of different levels. It's not good because I'm trying to avoid him, and this makes two classes back to back with him; calculus and now, history. But what makes it even worse is that I now have the ex-boyfriend that is trying to get back with me, again, and the new guy that is trying to make his way into my life, - The one that says he's going to win me over. The one that seems to think that he needs to protect me, for whatever reason, and has flat out stated that he wants to get to know me better. - in the same class. So I can see this collision of the egos, and the who's dick is bigger contest, coming already. And what's sad about it is, I don't want either of them. I'm quite content with my life just the way it is.

"Mr. Herondale, I presume," Mr. Starkweather says, and Jace nods his head yes. "Take a seat wherever you'd like."

Jace looks directly at me and smiles, and I hear Sebastian groan in annoyance and disgust, which causes me to chuckle quietly. He's jealous of somebody I'm... OH SHIT! I completely forgot that Jace told him last night that he's my boyfriend, and I didn't object to it because I was enjoying the pain it caused him. This is so going to be worse than what I initially thought. There's no denying that I'm really going to be caught in the crossfire now.

"Miss Lightwood, please give him this textbook on your way out."

She does as Mr. Starkweather has instructed. Please take me with you, Izzy! I silently plead with her as she leaves in a hurry.

Jace starts walking towards me, still smiling, and I give him a once over; something I didn't even take the time bothering to do in first hour. He's wearing black combat boots, a pair of blue jeans that seem to hug him just right and in all the right spots, and a white shirt that fits a little loosely, but definitely not so loose that I can't make out his muscles. The shirt also has buttons starting right between the top of his pectorals with the very top button left undone, which allows all of his neck to be exposed. And the black leather jacket he let me wear last night over it. I move my eyes further up, over his Adam's apple, his chin, his narrow mouth, and angular face, and when I get to his eyes, mine lock with his; and for some reason, unbeknownst to myself, I find myself smiling.

Jace comes to a stop directly to my right, and I think to myself... It wasn't just the light last night and contacts, his skin and eyes really are gold colored.

"He said I could take a seat wherever I liked," he says, looking down at me. "So I want to sit in your lap."

I just can't help it, I bust out laughing. And it's not a fake, or a quiet, laugh either. No, it's a real, hear it through the whole room, laugh; which in turn causes Jace to grin and chuckle.

"Is everything alright, Miss Morgenstern?" Mr. Starkweather asks, and I can hear Sebastian grumbling something about being corny.

"Yes, Mr. Starkweather," I say through my laughter. Then I take a deep breath trying to tone down my laugh to at least a chuckle. Jace leans down, putting his hands on either side of me, - his right on the desk and his left on the back of the chair - and bringing his face close to mine. That causes my laughter to stop.

"I love your laugh," he whispers into my right ear, his warm breath moving my hair back as he does, and I feel the warm tingling sensation that I felt earlier, again, as I blush. "You should let me make you laugh more often."

"Sit down," I say smiling foolishly, and putting my right hand against his left thigh, - which just so happens to be hard as a rock - playfully trying to push him away.

"Anything you want," he says endearingly without hesitation as he leans backward; his hands still on either side of me, and his arms stretched out in front of him. He looks me straight in the eyes, and repeats himself, "Anything you want."

Do I say thank you? Do I ask what anything entails? What do I say?

I'm not sure how to reply to that, nobody has ever said that to me before. So instead, I just sit here, staring into his gold eyes; amazed, shocked, maybe even both, or something else entirely, I don't know. He winks at me with his left eye, and takes the seat right beside me; the two of us never breaking eye contact.

"Alright, my circle of minions," Mr. Starkweather says, breaking our little, whatever it is; a staring contest maybe. But it didn't really feel like one, and I don't exactly know how to describe it. I mean, it was like there was something in his eyes that was pulling me to him, making me feel lost in them, and I didn't want to look away. By the angel, what is wrong with me?! I've got to stop this, and I've got to stop it now! "Let's open our books to page three ninety-seven."

I flip my book open and start flipping through the pages until I find the correct one, and I hear the same thing going on throughout the class.

"Today we are going to be discussing World War II in more detail," Mr. Starkweather announces and is greeted by some moans and groans. "Now that is no way to act when it comes to our history, as it tends to repeat itself."

Just then Jace tosses a folded up piece of paper on my desk. I open it up, and it reads...

Why do you think I was lying when I said, you look beautiful? Don't you know that you are?

I groan and write down my answer...

Because it's probably something you say to all the girls. You know, to get them to sleep with you. And I'm average, at best.

I glance up, making sure that Mr. Starkweather isn't paying attention, and toss the note back. A few seconds later, the letter reappears in front of me...

Yes, I have used that line before, and yes, for the reason you think. However, I meant it when I said it to you. You ARE beautiful!

I feel my heart sink as I read his last two lines, then I stiffen up and write...

Thank you.

Then pass it back. A short moment later it returns...

You're very welcome, beautiful! Can I talk to you after class? It's about last night.

The first thing that pops into my head is... Oh, Izzy had better not have told him! She swore she wouldn't. The second is the ride home he gave me, and the things I let slip to him. I did tell him entirely way too much, I should have just stuck with the simple, 'I'm emancipated' bit I tell everybody else, and I don't know why I didn't. As these things run through my head, I stare at his reason, then I look at his question before writing my reply...

There's nothing to talk about.

Ok, so what did you think? Oh, I hope you enjoyed it.

Again, I'm sorry for it taking so long to be posted. I hope I'll be able to get the next chapter up asap. Cross your fingers for me.

Also, I have a secret. It's in the works still, so I don't want to say anything. But after I finally decide whether or not I'm going to do it, and all that good stuff, you guys will be the first to know. Until then, I don't want to jinks myself. But, I will tell you this much... It's exciting, and a little scary. Lol.

Don't forget to leave me a review letting me know what you thought about this chapter. Also, don't forget to follow, and even favorite.

MWAH! My lovely people, until next time.

For those that follow HHS 3: Family, Wedding Bells, And Pranks

Even though I have it, chapter 6 of HHS 3 will not be posted. I can't get it to load for some freaking reason. Sorry. I'm going to keep trying to get it to upload.

Also, if you noticed, I don't have a title for this chapter. I thought about 'Nothing to Talk About' but I'm not entirely convinced that it fits this chapter. So, what do you think? Suggestions are welcomed.