This chapter's a bit longer than the others. Tell me what you think. Thanks to everybody who reviewed and added me to their story and author alerts.

Disclaimer: I actually own something this chapter! Kaelie's last name! God, I'm so freakin' creative!

Chapter 3

Jace sat in the back-row desk his math teacher, Ms. Lillith, had assigned him, twiddling his thumbs absently under the heavily-graffitied piece of furniture. Someone had carved a picture of a rather sensitive male part underneath the desk which Jace had noticed when he'd dropped his pencil at the beginning of class. That had been the highlight of his day so far, besides getting escorted around the school by Clary. Though she seemed slightly annoying at times, he knew he would enjoy her company more than he would enjoy the other girls' presence. Except maybe for Aline Penhallow and Kaelie Jamieson's. Aline had shown some interest in him, and they'd both seemed like party girls. And when Jace was feeling awful, he partied. It took his mind off of things. Beer helped, too.

"Mr. Wayland. Are you even paying attention to what I'm saying?"

"Absolutely, Ms. Lillith."

"Then I know you wouldn't mind paraphrasing my last statement."

"No, I wouldn't mind. But it seems as if that would take up precious time in which you could continue to enlighten us with your plentiful knowledge."

Jace heard a few people suppress laughs and knew that Ms. Lillith's was not among them. She walked out from behind her neatly-organized desk and strode down the center aisle towards Jace. He noticed there was a pad of blue slips in her hand. He sighed, knowing where this was going.

"Detention, Mr. Wayland. Thursday, after school, in here. Let's not make a habit of this, shall we?"

Jace merely shrugged and took the blue slip she held out to him. He jammed it into his jeans' pocket.

This was going to be a long year.

Clary stood at her locker, rummaging through the jumble of books and sketches for her lunch. Her morning hadn't been too bad. She'd breezed through her classes, but it wasn't that hard considering all the teachers were doing was giving the standard respect-is-crucial-in-a-classroom lecture. She'd shown Jace where all his classes were, trying to find more out about him. She had a feeling there was more than met the eye when it came to him, as cliché as it sounded.

Have I been thrown into a romance novel? God, I don't need any drama since the whole break-up-with-Sebastian fiasco, Clary thought, finally locating her lunch and slamming her locker door. She pushed through the crowd—not an easy feat for someone her size—and scanned the hall for Jace. She'd told him to meet her by his math class, which was conveniently in the same hall as her locker.

She spotted him, talking to none-other that Aline Penhallow, the daughter of the man who had made building Penhallow possible, George Penhallow. Aline acted like she owned the school, which she almost did, Clary supposed. But that didn't mean she could walk all over everyone in her four-inch Louis Vuitton heels and sleep with her ex-boyfriend!

Clary walked over to them, in time to see Aline lean in and whisper something to Jace, running her hand up and down his chest. Clary's slut radar zeroed in on her, and she tried to burn holes in the back of Aline's perfect head, telling her to back off.

But she stopped mid-death-glare. Why should she give a damn if Jace went out with Aline? She wasn't even dating Jace. She barely knew him.

She walked past them toward the cafeteria, not giving either of them another look.

When she reached the cafeteria, she saw that almost all of the tables were full. There were a few seats open at the table where the cheerleaders were sitting, but Clary would shove a pom-pom up her ass before she sat there. There was a spot open at the "jock" table, but her ex, Sebastian Verlac, was a football player, and she couldn't stand to sit near him. The only table left that had available seats contained three couples: Maia Roberts and Jordan Kyle, Alec Lightwood with Magnus Bane, and Simon with Alec's sister Isabelle, the girl who had taken her only friend away.

With a cloud of trepidation hanging over her and a considerably darkened expression on her normally happy face, Clary walked to the table and sat on the end of one of the benches, as far away from the cozy couples as she could get without slipping onto the floor. She opened her lunch and attacked the king-sized Snickers bar her stepfather Luke had smuggled in for her. (Her mother didn't approve of junk food.)

"Hey, Clary," said Maia, turning to look at her. Clary wasn't really friends with her, but Maia had always been nice to her.

"Hey, Maia. Hey, everyone." Clary determinedly avoided looking at Simon and Isabelle when she spoke. She could tell they were avoiding her gaze as well. Ever since she'd screamed at Simon about ditching her last year in front of Isabelle because she felt like he'd ditched her, things between them had been as strained as chewing gum stretched out flat.

"Good summer?" asked Magnus, idly flicking a crumb from his glittery shirt. He and Alec were probably the coolest gay guys Clary knew.

"Yeah, it was okay," she said with a shrug, turning back to her lunch. She knew they all felt the tension between her and the couple sitting at the end of the table.

But who should show up at that moment to break the tension but Jace. He walked over to the table—without Aline in tow, thank God—and waved casually at the others. Clary remembered that he'd said he was staying with the Lightwoods.

Jace sat down across from her and gave her a crooked grin. "If you were a tour guide at a historical monument, and you behaved in this way, you would be fire. What if you just ditched your group on a nature trail so you could grab some lunch?"

"If my group was arrogant as you, it would be worth losing a job."

Isabelle suppressed a snort, and Clary stared at her. Had Isabelle Lightwood laughed at her joke? Or was she laughing at Clary in general? She gave Isabelle a filthy look and turned back to Jace.

"But seriously," he was saying. "I thought you were going to show me where the caf was."

"It looked like Aline was doing a fine job of doing just that."

"Awww! You're jealous? I knew I was irresistible, but you seem to have fallen head-over-heels for me, and it's been half a day."

"Don't flatter yourself, jackass. I just have better things to do than watch you try to get into Aline's pants."

"Whatever you say, ginger. So, how's it going, Izzy? Did you convince the gym teacher not to make you run laps?"

She scowled. "No. My flash-him-when-no-one's-looking plan didn't work. Don't worry, Si. I don't really flash in. I just pull my shirt down a little."

"Well. Isn't that reassuring," said Simon dryly.

Maia laughed. "For God's sake, Iz. You go running every morning. Why should gym be any different?"

"Because it melts my makeup and makes my hair frizzy. Hello, Maia. Have you ever read a Vogue magazine? Running in gym is fashion suicide."

Clary sighed internally. If this was how lunch would be every day, she'd sooner eat in the bathroom. She'd have to find a better table tomorrow.