"I…I don't understand." I said softly, growing more and more upset. "Clary, now!" he shouted. It was loud enough to scare me but quiet enough to not alarm other teachers.

I grabbed my bag and stalked out of the room, tears streaming down my face. I walked out of school, trying to wipe the tears with my sleeve. "Clary! Oh my god, what happened? Are you okay?" It was Isabelle, sitting on a bench beside the car park.

"Why are you still here?" I completely ignored her questions and tried to steady my voice. "I thought you might need a lift." I started to refuse and then realised that I wanted to get as far from Jace as possible and it was faster than walking. "Sure." I put my head down and walked to her car.

We drove in silence, Isabelle sneaking glances at me as if she thought I might fall apart. I stared out of the window the whole time, replaying what just happened in my head. On the one hand, Jace kissed me - I should be on top of the world! But, he also banished me from his room. How was I supposed to feel about that?

I tried to push all thoughts of him out of my head and just focus on the scenery outside of the car. I was succeeding actually, until I realised something and turned my head back around to face Isabelle. "Hey, Izzy, this isn't the way to my house." "I know," she said staring straight ahead. It was then I realised what she was doing. "Isabelle, I'm not in the mood to hang out with you tonight." "And that's precisely why you should," she told me.

As soon as I walked through her front door, scowling, I had to attempt to look happy. "Clary!" Maryse, Isabelle's mom, shouted from the kitchen. "I didn't know you were coming! Will you be staying for dinner?" I didn't know I was coming either, I replied in my head. I started to say, "No, that's okay, I'm not staying long," but Izzy's loud voice overpowered mine. "Yeah, she is."

Isabelle brought us up to her room and put on a chick flick for us to watch. I've no idea what it was about; my mind was somewhere else. Izzy didn't try to make me talk, which I was grateful for.

"Dinner!" Maryse shouted from downstairs. We made our way downstairs and walked with Izzy's older brother, Alec. I didn't know Alec that well as he largely kept to himself but he's been nothing but nice to me over the years.

I was hit with the smell of Spaghetti Bolognese as soon as I walked through the door and Max, Isabelle's younger brother, shouted my name. "Hi, Max," I spoke for the first time in a while.

I didn't really say much throughout the meal, just ate and stared at my plate. "You're awfully quiet today, Clary," Maryse remarked. I looked up, unsure of how to respond, and noticed Isabelle give her mom a look that said 'Mom! She's emotionally unstable, don't bring it up.'

After dinner, I attempted to leave but Isabelle dragged me upstairs. She put another movie on in the background and decided to give me a makeover.

Half an hour after dinner, Isabelle was over at her dressing table, digging through the drawers for a specific lipstick, and I was sitting on her bed. My phone, which was charging beside her, suddenly began to ring. I figured it must be Jonathan, calling to ask if I needed a lift home.

"Who's Jace?" Isabelle asked me. I froze. Why was he calling me? After he shouted at me like that? "Oh, uh, nobody. A friend," I told her, trying to sound convincing. She raised her eyebrows, still holding my ringing phone. Should I answer it?

Alec, who must have been walking past, stuck his head through the door. "Jace who?" he asked. Both siblings stared at me. I looked down at my hands in my lap and played with my fingers. The phone stopped ringing. Would he leave a message? "Clary, I'm your best friend, you can tell me." Isabelle told me, stroking my arm.

"Herondale," I whispered.

"What?" Isabelle asked, not understanding. "Jace Herondale, that's who it is," I explained. "Jace Herondale? No way, we used to be best friends!" Alec said amazed. Isabelle just stared at me. "Herondale? As in Mr Herondale?" I nodded, staring at the floor.

Isabelle looked shocked. "Why does he have your number? And why the hell do you call him by his first name?" she asked me loudly. I said nothing so she turned to Alec. "You know our English teacher?" "We met in Kindergarten and were friends all through school. We kind of fell out of touch though," he explained. They both turned to look at me. It was my turn.

"Yes. But it's not like that, we're just…" I trailed off, what were we? "Is he the reason you were upset?" Iz asked, putting the pieces together. "No!" I tried to deny it but then soon realised that there was no point in lying now. "Yes," I confessed.

"He upset you? You need me to beat him up?" Alec asked, holding his hands up in fists in front of him. Despite my sadness, I laughed. "Wait a minute, I'm lost. Can you start from the beginning?" Isabelle asked gently.

"Okay." I looked up at her. "That first day in class was the first time I met him. I was instantly attracted to him. I mean who wasn't?" I smiled sadly and Isabelle and Alec both nodded. "Me too," they said in unison.

"I wrote an essay for him and he told me that he was entering it in an essay competition and I should come by after school to work on it. It was innocent. Afterwards, my mom never picked me up. That's a different story. Jace offered to drive me home. I refused at first, but he grabbed my hand and took me to his car. We talked a lot in the car, we had tons in common, including what we were doing at the weekend. I told him that Simon and I were going to the cinema on the Friday and he suggested that I go see 'Wonder Woman' at seven because he'd be there."

"So, because I liked Jace and wanted to see him, I brought Simon to that showing. I didn't tell him why we were going at that particular time, of course. But Simon got stuck in traffic and couldn't make it. Jace let me sit with him and sent his friends somewhere else. It was good and he was kind of…flirty. Afterwards, we went to McDonald's and I told him the whole story about my parents." They both looked at me sympathetically. I wasn't aware Alec knew the whole story, Izzy must have told him. They share everything. "He gave me his number and I text him later that night, thanking him. We got to talking and were asking each other random questions."

"One of the questions was, 'If we only had twenty-four hours together, what do you think we'd do?" "What did he say?" Izzy asked, seeming very invested in the story. "That he would kiss me," I told them, smiling. Isabelle said, "awwww" but Alec looked a bit weirded out.

"He told me to forget it, but I couldn't. So, the next time I saw him, today, I told him to kiss me." "And he refused? Aww Clary!" Isabelle moved to hug me. "No, uh, he did. We kissed." They both sucked in a breath. "Well then what's wrong? That's what you wanted right?" Alec asked, looking puzzled. "Yeah it was, it is, but afterwards, he pushed away from me and screamed at me to leave." I felt tears well up in my eyes again but I blinked them away.

Isabelle wrapped her arms around me while Alec stood there awkwardly. I smiled at him and then did the same to Isabelle when we pulled away from each other. "It's okay, honestly. It was inappropriate, obviously. It's just seeing him every day. It's going to be more than a little awkward."

We sat for a moment before the silence was broken by my phone ringing. It was Jace.

I'm sorry guys, I feel like I always leave you on a bit of a cliff-hanger! I'm evil.

Shoutout to Mayahk1 who reminded me to add this scene to the story because I'd forgotten what I was going to do with Clary telling Izzy.

Also, I'm super proud of myself for updating three days in a row! I hope to continue.

Keep reviewing, favouriting and following! I love waking up and reading the reviews!