I walk down the hall and knock on the wooden door. I fiddle with my hands and try my best to ignore the queasiness going on in my stomach. The door opens and I smile pathetically. "Sorry if I woke you," I say.

He smiles at me and says, "You didn't wake me Clary, what's on your mind?"

"Um, I have to ask you a big favor Aaron…" I say as I look back down at the floor.

"Anything… what is it?" he asks while pinching his eyebrows together.

"Um, perhaps I should talk about this alone?" He nods and I walk into his room and tell him everything.

JPOV:

I've been looking around for Clary everywhere and I still can't find her! I told her earlier that I would meet her for lunch but she never showed up. I walk into the library and see Alec, Magus, Simon, and Isabelle all together and looking unhappy. "What happened?" I asked as I walked into the room.

"Jace! Uh, what are you doing in here?" asks Isabelle nervously.

"Looking for Clary… what's going on?" I ask timidly.

"Jace," begins Alec, "We need to go back to New York… if we don't they will take our marks and we won't be shadowhunters anymore. The clave claimed that we betrayed them by abandoning our place at the institute and if we didn't return immediately, they would take all of our marks and take the Institute."

The news both shocks and infuriates me. I know Clary more than anyone and I know that she wouldn't leave her family here, but if it was for him… certainly she would reconsider? "That's bullshit!" I yell out in anger.

Before anyone can say anything else, I am out the door looking for Clary so we can talk.

CPOV:

"So that's what I need you to do… and after that, we forget everything- like everything goes back to normal and no one else has to find out."

He looks at his hands and asks, "Are you sure you want to do this? You could go back with them you know… we would understand. I mean, I like you Clary, a lot- you probably figured that out a long time ago whenever I would glare at Drake whenever he kissed you or…"

I fall into silence and shock. I had no idea that Aaron liked me like that and I felt bad that I couldn't say the same for him. "Aaron… I'm sorry… maybe I shouldn't have asked you," I begin to walk to the door again but he catches my wrist.

"No, Clary I understand. You don't like me like that… it hurts but, I get it. I'll still help you, as long as you are sure that you can go through with it."

I nod my head and say quietly, "Thank you."

He nods and says, "So… what? Do you want to just get this over with? Or do you want to wait till tomorrow?"

I shake my head and say, "It has to be today, if they wait any longer then they will be stripped of their runes. I can't be responsible for them becoming mundane."

He nods again and says, "Alright, take my hand… let's go find your prince charming." He has a shallow smirk on his face but I can see past it and tell that it hurts him that after this he is nothing more to me than a friend again.

I take his hand with my clammy ones and we walk out of the room. We walk along the corridors a little while until I hear his charming voice ask, "Have you seen Clary?"

I smile at him and then feel the hot tears in my eyes as I think of what I have to do. I hear his footsteps come our way and I whisper, "Now!" to Aaron.

He turns to face me and I walk backwards so that my back is against the concrete. He walks towards me and looks at me as if asking if I wanted to change my mind quickly. I shake my head and just as I see Jace's golden hair whip around the corner, Aaron gently presses his lips to mine. Kissing Aaron is strange and uncomfortable but I stick with it.

"What the hell?!" I hear Jace yell and Aaron and I separate immediately. I hate the look on Jace's face- the look of betrayal and hurt.

Before I can say anything, Jace throws a punch at Aaron, effectively hitting him in the jaw. Aaron stumbles backwards but doesn't do anything. Jace hits him again in the ribs- hard. I finally come to my senses and pull Jace off of Aaron. "How could you?!" he yells in my face.

Tears rim my eyes and I try to speak but he cuts me off again. "I thought we were done with this?! You know, I was going to come talk to you about coming with us, but now I know I don't need to! You have clearly changed too much for me to stick around or for you to come with me so do us all a favor and stay here- in your perfect world with your perfect boy toys! Congratulations, you finally got what you wanted Clare Bear!" he stomps off the other way and I can't help the strangled sobs that come out.

"It's going to be okay Clary…" starts Aaron but I pay no attention and walk away to the training room. I needed to take my stress out on something and a punching bag sounded so good right now.

I begin to jab and hit the bag with all my might until it's all out of me. I stop the bag from swinging and cry into the rough material. "Oh Clary… you really did it this time, didn't you?" asks a soft voice behind me.

"I had to do it Elle… I had to make him go… he couldn't become a mundane for me and I couldn't leave you all… you are my family as much as they are."

"Sit down… tell me what happened." I sit down next to her and try to wipe away the hairs sticking to my forehead with sweat.

"I had to Elle… I made Aaron p-promise me that he would help me. W-we kissed in front o-of Jace so he would see and w-want to leave… and I didn't realize how heartbroken he would be."

I can feel her laugh beside of me and she says, "of course he would be upset Clary! I see the way he looks at you- you are his world. And, don't worry about us! We can come see you and you can make portals anytime you want to come see us…"

"Well it doesn't matter anymore does it?" I say while sniffing and drying my eyes. "He's going and he doesn't want me to follow… and I don't blame him. I stabbed him in the back only a day after we made up."

"Of course it matters," says another voice from the door. I look up and see Isabelle looking at me sympathetically.

"So you heard?" I ask pathetically. She nods and says,

"Yeah Clare, I heard. I also heard how heartbroken Jace was… he is heartbroken because of you and the only way he can ever be better again is if you help him. He may say he is angry and you may think he hates you, but I have known my brother a lot longer than you have and I know that even though he may be angry now, all he really wants is you… all he's ever wanted was you Clary."

Another strangled sob comes out and I say, "Not anymore… he hates me Izzy!"

She rolls her eyes and says, "He couldn't hate you if he tried."

"Come on," says Elle. "We've got to fix this mess." She gets up and offers her hand which I gladly take and we walk down the halls. We walk past Aaron whose jaw is now swollen and bruised and there is a little blood on his chin.

He smiles at me but I don't return it and neither of us say anything. I walk past my room and see a familiar golden boy with a bag, packing his clothes. He turns around but his face is at the ground so he doesn't see me and I can only the hint of a tear drop from his face. I can't do it… I can't go in there. I walk past the room and round the corner before Elle and Izzy stop me.

"What's going on?!" they asks in unison.

"I can't do it! He won't forgive me! I have never seen him like that before!" I lean against the cold brick and sink down to the ground.

"I just… I wanted him to be happy… I wanted him to live his life like he's always wanted to. I knew that he wouldn't be able to do that if was stripped of his runes. He's always wanted to be a shadowhunter! That's who he is… if he stayed here because of me… I would never forgive myself." I look at my feet but my head snaps back up when I hear a strangled voice ask,

"That's what you thought?" I look up and see Jace starring down at me with an unreadable expression on his face.

"Clary, there is more to me than just being a shadowhunter. I thought you knew that?" he asks with hurt coating his words.

I don't say anything because I'm afraid that if I do, I will just start crying all over again. "Perhaps we don't know each other like we used to… maybe I should leave."

I look up at him with fresh tears in his eyes but still, no words come out. He pinches his eyebrows together and gets back up before hesitantly walking away.

A/N: it kind of hurt writing this chapter guys.

Anyways- I have good news and bad news. Good news- At regional's I got 2nd over all with a time of 16:02 for running a 5K and I get to go to State!

Bad news- because I am going to state, that means a little more time away from the computer but NOT FOR LONG! Soon State will be over and the season will be done!

Thanks for reading! REVIEW!