"Should I answer it?" I asked, looking around at Izzy and Alec. "I think you should hear him out," Isabelle told me. Alec nodded in agreement.

I swiped the screen to answer the call and walked out into the hall for some privacy.

"Clary?" Jace asked in a husky voice. "What do you want, Jace?" I snapped, pacing back and forth in the corridor as I talked. "I just…are you okay?" he asked me. "Am I okay? No, Jace! You're the reason why I'm not okay!" I cried into the phone.

"I know. I'm sorry." he replied. "Sorry isn't going to cut it! Why? Why did you do that? Was I not good enough for you?" I prayed that Jace had the words to make this all okay.

"No, no, no. Not at all. It was amazing. You were amazing." I smiled at the memory, and then remembered what came afterwards and turned the smile into a frown.

"Then what could have possibly compelled you to shout at me like that? To kick me out?" The entire house could probably hear me. I didn't care. "Clary, calm down. Let me explain." He paused. "I shouldn't have kissed you. I could lose my job and I'd never get to be a teacher again. I love it, Clary, I really do." "Always thinking about yourself," I remarked under my breath.

"I'm not finished," he told me. "You, you could get expelled. It would go on your record. Clary, you wouldn't be able to go to university and I know that's your dream." "So, you did this for me? Did you have to scream at me?" I asked, attempting to calm myself down.

"I wanted you to hate me because I couldn't possibly hate you. So, no matter what my feelings for you are, I care about you and I want you to succeed. I'm bad for you, I don't want to ruin your life," he said sadly.

I felt tears run down my face again. He had feelings for me? "Jace, calling and explaining isn't helping me hate you." "I know. My plan was to avoid you. I'd see you in class but strictly on a professional basis. But then you were crying and I couldn't bring myself to leave you so upset," he attempted to explain.

"You were just going to ignore me? Is that still happening? Why did you kiss me in the first place?" I asked, sinking to the floor with my back against the wall. "I was. I don't know, Clary. I don't know how to act around you. And I kissed you because I couldn't help myself. I wanted you so badly. Want."

"Jace, please don't shut me out," I begged, sadness evident in my voice. "Goodnight, Clary," he said before hanging up. I stayed on the floor for a minute, processing everything that had been said.

"Clary? Is everything okay? What happened?" Izzy asked. I hadn't noticed her come out of her room. I explained the whole situation to her while she comforted me. "I should probably go," I told her. "I'll drive you," she offered.

My mom was home when I got in. We watched the television together but didn't really say much. "I'm going to go to bed. Night," I announced and walked up the stairs towards Jonathan's room.

His door was open so I just walked in. "Hey, Clare," Jon said. "Hey." As I've mentioned before, Jon always noticed when I was upset. "What's wrong?" he said and gestured for me to sit next to him. "It's nothing," I told him. "Boy drama." "Do I know them? Need me to set 'em straight?" Jonathan asked. "No, you don't. It's fine, it's over," I confessed. I was reassuring Jonathan that it was over but I wanted Jace to reassure me that it wasn't.

The Next Day

Isabelle and I stood outside of Jace's class as we had English first period. "It's going to be okay. You don't have to speak to him. Don't even look at him," Isabelle attempted to convince me. The bell rang and I looked at Izzy nervously. She nodded and we entered the room.

I tried not to look at him and walked straight to my seat, though out of the corner of my eye I saw his eyes on me and Isabelle glaring at him. I kept my head either down or facing Izzy, and eventually Simon, until everybody came in. Once the lesson had started, I faced the front but avoided looking directly into Jace's golden eyes. He'd broken my heart. I was falling in love with him but he clearly didn't want me. The easiest thing would be pretending it didn't happen.

"So, today we're going to be starting 'Romeo and Juliet,' sometimes referred to as one of the greatest love stories ever told," Jace told the class. Isabelle scoffed. "What would you know about love?" she remarked under her breath. "Isabelle!" I hissed.

I couldn't help but notice that Jace looked less put-together today than he normally did. Was that because of our phone call?

Jace set us to work answering questions on the play and walked around the class. I completely ignored him as we walked by my desk. After what felt like forever, the bell rang and I practically sprinted out of the room to avoid him. "You can't avoid him forever, Clary," Isabelle said sadly behind me. "I can try," I replied, sassily. "Ooh! I know! You need to find a boyfriend! That way you can move on and won't be so sad!" Isabelle told me, proud of her 'genius' plan. "I'm not sad!" I retorted. She raised an eyebrow at me. "Fine, whatever," I reluctantly agreed.

Later, Simon, Isabelle and I were standing by the lockers at lunch when Sebastian Verlac approached us. I didn't know Sebastian that well but of that I did know, I didn't like. "Ladies!" he said, dragging out the 's'. Simon turned to stare at him. "What am I? Invisible?" he asked, exasperated. Sebastian ignored him and turned to Izzy and I. Simon, clearly done with the conversation, wandered away god knows where. "So, which one of you beautiful girls would like to go on a date with me this weekend?" I think he expected us to break out into a fight in the middle of the hall over who would get to go out without him, but instead, Izzy pushed me forward and said, "Clary would love to!"

He smirked at me, asked for my phone and put his number into it. He saved it under 'Sebastian' with a heart-eyed emoji. "Text me later, babe," he said before sauntering away. "Really, Isabelle? Sebastian?" I asked with a disgusted look on my face. "You know I can't stand him. He's so full of himself. And I know you wanted me to go on a date, but you didn't have to chuck me at the first guy we saw!" "Clary, just give it a go. If it's not great then fine. At least your mind will be taken off Jace for a bit," Isabelle tried to convince me. "Fine," I grumbled.

Hey! Hope you enjoyed that chapter!

Sorry for not uploading yesterday! I wrote most of this chapter and though I know you guys would rather have a short chapter than none at all, it didn't feel right to end the chapter where it was.

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