A/N: I did some proof reading and realized that some of my grammar was really bad. :S I changed it a bit, nothing major :D

OoOoO

I just got City of Fallen Angels today… I'm not going to read it until I've finished this fic in case it puts me off :' (I'm like that…) It's going to be terrible… O_O torture, having the book but being unable to read it! XD

Sorry I updated later today… Yesterday, I was at the beach! I gained a few stones from when I last went TxT It was kind of depressing to say the least... –weeping-

Also, I know I wrote 'ClaryxJace' for my characters, and before anyone complains that there is not any actual ClaryxJace in this story, I am getting to it! Let me establish my plot first! Plot first, romance second. I'm trying to weave it in anyway… The love competition has not arrived! How can we have a decent fanfic without love competition (the book wasn't all about romance either so NERN.)?

ANYWAY, here is my latest Chapter~! :D I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it! (I've been non-committed for these few days. =_= I'm getting a new guitar and I'm really excited. I hope it hasn't affected my writing.)

Chapter 2: My Love is Ugly

"Simon, did you do something to your hair today? It looks great!"

"Yeah, it looks amazing! You're soo lucky to have skin like that… How jealous am I?"

I don't know. How should we find out? Clary gave a sigh and stared daggers at the group of giggling girls and admiring boys – mostly girls – surrounding Simon as they finally entered the school grounds. The conversation between her and Simon had gradually died out after the whole 'exchange student' thing and when she had tried to press onto the subject, he had simply cut her off with a strange defiant stare and the words, "I don't know. He's weird."

He's not the only weird one here. She thought coldly and sat on one of the school benches a distance away from the crowd, waiting for Simon, as they had first lessons together. Ever since they had arrived back last week, after the immediate shock everyone had experienced in seeing such a change in Simon, some of the popular girls had started treating him different - much like they treated their head jock boy, the infamous Scott Preston in the year above (who also used to trip her up in primary for laughs); and now it looked like he had his own unofficial fan group.

"… And I'm going to make Simon some chocolates for his birthday! Does that sound good?" A couple of chattering girls walked past where Clary was sitting. Her ears pricked up at Simon's name for a split second from reflex, but realization soon dawned and she looked away again, annoyed at herself. Of course they're talking about Simon now. He's their new… I don't know, Justin Bieber. She paused for a second after making the assumption, and realized that Justin Bieber probably wasn't the best example. But the reminder that it was soon to be Simon's birthday worried her a bit. She had thought about it earlier, but she hadn't even come up with a decent present yet.

"No way! That was so my idea! I'm the only one making chocolates for Simon! You can make the banners."

"I'm not making the banners! You know I can't draw... I'll just end up sticking Simon's face on."

"Why not? That's not that bad of an idea, actually, if you cut it well, I don't see why you shouldn't…"

Oops, make that official fan group. Clary stared after the girls in slight disbelief as they walked further away out of hearing distance. Officially crazy.

And he even seemed to be enjoying it. He was smiling (albeit nervously) at the girls and laughing with the boys and… Clary fought the urge to look away angrily. She settled with a cool stare.

It wasn't that she didn't want him to be happy, but… It was just… It's because I'm a bit jealous, she admitted silently. The only person Simon's really been that happy with before is me… We had that… and now we're losing it…

I'll also have no one to eat lunch with. She added as an afterthought, and I'll have to withstand the torture of P.E alone! All because he looks a little different… Seriously, I don't understand them anymore.

"Clary?" Simon had turned away from the crowd and had a pained look on his face. "You're still here? You didn't have to wait. You can go if you want! I'll see you there; I've got stuff to do first." Simon smiled at her apologetically and gave a small wave. Sorry he mouthed.

She gave a small forced grin in return and went back to retrieve her bag. She couldn't help a glance back and saw the girl who was complimenting Simon earlier on his skin suddenly tilt up on her tiptoes and kiss him on the mouth. His eyes widened, and he looked taken aback, but much to Clary's extreme shock and disgust, stood still and didn't pull away. The crowd around them 'aww'ed.

'Stuff to do'? What am I even-?

The sound of the school bell ringing for lessons broke her away from her thoughts. Without a backwards look, she picked up her bag and stormed off alone to her first lesson.

XxXxX

The rest of the day flashed past. The past week had gone in a daze of sleepless nights, and today hadn't been much better.

Actually, she thought, it's been worse. She had tried to hide it, but Simon had gotten so many admirers and was so constantly surrounded that he just doesn't seem to have time for her anymore. She felt an angry flush creep into her cheeks. What was it that he said before? 'Any girl I'm with has to take my best friend as well'? What was that about being a package deal? She didn't mind him getting a girlfriend at all, she had distinctly remembered telling him that when they were still in Idris, but he had also promised in return that she'd still be as equally important to him as she always was.

It seemed to her that he wasn't keeping his promises.

She swerved madly to avoid a pole that she had failed to notice as she was walking. Hell, she even forgot that she was walking. Not wanting to look completely retarded, she continued walking and tried to rack her brains, trying to recall why she was even here. She suppressed a yawn. The lack of sleep was really getting to her.

Oh… It was dinner with Simon wasn't it? At Mr J Diner. She hoped she wasn't turning prematurely old. Her memory sure gave it away if she was… She wondered why she was even going after today. He's still my friend, she thought, whatever he does, he's still my best friend. Maybe we can talk everything over dinner. She couldn't walk with him, although that had been the initial plan because he had said that he had Band practise… or something. She frowned. She couldn't recall.

But what she could recall suddenly made her current situation sound sunny. Her earlier conversation with Jace hit her like a ton of bricks. It was their phone conversation, and as ugly as it was she could not help but remember it.

She remembered getting home and feeling so sick. Knowing that she had to call someone; to tell them everything, to confess and remove the huge weight from her shoulders.

There was only one person she could really tell. And he was a thousand miles away at that point.

The phone had given two long rings before he picked up. "Hello?"

"Jace," She had breathed into the phone, relieved. She had been so scared that he wouldn't pick up, and if it wasn't now, she didn't know when she could muster up the courage to tell anyone again.

"Clary? What's wrong?"

"I've got something to tell you."

"What's up? Make it quick please? I'm kind of in the middle of something…" He had said, not unkindly.

"Jace… I've been having this thing…"

"Yeah?"

"It's a recurring dream, every night and I-"

"Look, you called me up to tell me your dream? Clary, I was in a middle of a Clave meeting. Oh, and the weird guy in the funny hat is giving me the evils. Call me back some other time okay?"

"Jace-"

And he had hung up. And that was it. He had dismissed everything he had held up inside of her for the past what seemed like decade.

Biting back the urge to cry again, she shook the thought from her head angrily. Fine. If he didn't want to know, she wouldn't trouble him with it. She wouldn't trouble anyone anymore. It was stupid anyway. She realized a little sadly, calling him up to tell him a dream. And- She stopped herself. She realized she was even more lost than before, during that loss of concentration.

Back to the current situation, Clary, she thought to herself determinedly.

She looked around at the view around her. It just looked like any other street. A petrol station was at her right, with a couple of drunk looking biker looking men sitting on top of a parked car, a couple of randomly littered council houses and scattered trees planted here and there. Apart from the men, it seemed positively empty.

The familiarity scared her as much as the unfamiliarity.

She wondered if she should ask for directions, but decided against it. The men looked formidable and besides, she told herself, I can get myself there. I've been there before.

She had been to the restaurant before, a few times when she was out with Simon. It wasn't too expensive or posh and the food was great, so she liked it; and so did he. I think. But it looked like she had walked past a turn in the road this time. She looked hard around her again. It didn't look familiar at all, now she thought about it; so she definitely over walked.

She began to turn back, when she heard slurred voices calling out from behind her. It was those biker men. They must have caught sight of her. This is like that scene from Twilight. She thought, unamused. The person writing this plot must really have no more ideas.

She stared forwards, walking faster determinedly. There was a loud crunch of gravel and then footsteps and she realized that they must be following her. Her heart missed a beat but she forced herself not to run. Sweat started prickling at the back of her neck.

"Hey!" One of the men shouted; she had worked out that there must have been at least four of them, "Wait up, we won't hurt you!" The other men dissolved into fits of drunk laughter, and a sick feeling rose up in her throat as she remembered the news reports she had watched in what seemed like a century ago about girls being attacked, raped and killed while they were out on their own. It seemed like a horrible mistake to have left alone on such a late night.

What was she thinking? Then again, she probably wasn't…

"Come have a drink with us, lady. It won't hurt you." They laughed again. One man had a racking cough that sounded for ages until it finally died down.

The men behind her started running. She could tell from the more regular crunch of gravel, and it sounded closer. They were drunk, but they were bigger and taller than her, and even if she ran, they would still catch up to her and then they would-

God, don't even think about it. She winced, scrunching up her face. Her nerves got the better of her, and she started running too.

It was no good. The men just ran quicker, and she could hear the soft pounding against the gravel and the panting coming closer all the time- Wait, panting? Her nose caught whiff of a husky smell that reminded her strongly of what Luke smelt like when he had just changed back from werewolf form. Something clicked in her brain and a faint feeling of dread overwhelmed her. It can't be, could it? Werewolves?

She let out a scream, she couldn't help it. It came of its own accord, and before she knew it, she felt the lace of her shoe catch onto something in the ground. She was running too fast to stop and she could feel herself loosing balance, and gravity pushed her forwards and-

Something soft brushed past her cheek.

The flapping of wings held her world in suspense. It was like all time had stopped. It sounded all too familiar, the same dry flutter that sounded all night, every night and then all she could see was black and white and the lights and shadows started loosing their edge and-

She fell hard head first onto the cold pavement and lay still. She was aware of the warmth of the blood trickling down her forehead. She could see crimson dripping onto her nose from the corners of her eyes, but strangely enough, it didn't hurt. Nothing hurt.

Maybe she was dead. She wanted to close her eyes on instinct. She didn't exactly rejoice to see the sight of her own blood, but strangely enough, she didn't mind this. It was actually quite nice. She didn't feel so tired anymore. There was warmth everywhere. Jace's voice was calling her name. The way he said it was amazing. She could visualize his smile, the indents in his cheeks when he smiled. It was flawless. If only he wouldn't call so loudly. It was really ruining the serenity.

Wait, Jace was calling her name? She blinked, plummeting back to reality.

She struggled to get up, which was hard because she was lying on her front and every bone in her body ached like she'd fallen off a cliff. It felt as if all the air had gone from her lungs, and she struggled to intake a breath. It hurt so much tears started to sting her eyes.

"Clary," The voice repeated. It didn't belong to Jace, she realized, disappointed. It had a similar pitch, and it was a boy's voice, but it definitely wasn't him. "Don't move. I think your rib's kinda broken."

The owner of the voice was leaning over her. She could see the outline of the top of his shadow in front of her.

She struggled to get words out and although the pain was so intense she thought she'd pass out, but she needed to ask. Maybe something like, where did those men go? Or how do you know my name? Or who are you? Would have been good, but she found herself speaking before actually processing it with her head.

"Why were those men werewolves?" She managed, and immediately regretted it. This was probably a mundane, and they'd think she was crazy now.

"Hey… You hit your head pretty hard, right?" She was right. The boy sat forwards and lifted up the hair on her forehead, his hand brushing past her cut.

"Ow."

His hand dropped her hair immediately. "Sorry, Fray. Your foreheads kinda messed up. It's not cool. Don't worry, I called the cops and they'll be here soon. It was crazy, I'm telling you! I just came out of the restaurant thing there because I heard this scream, and no one else seemed to hear it, you know? And I walk out and I see these men running at your like, dead body on the floor. It was sick, man. I'm serious."

Her stomach dropped in sudden painful realization, if it could have dropped any further as she recognised the voice. If only God had mercy.

But she couldn't be totally sure. If she ever wanted to be proved wrong, this was the day.

The sound of sirens came quicker than she had hoped and she breathed out a sigh of relief. It was still painful, but relaxing. They screeched to a stop close to where her head was and she winced in reflex. Heavy thumping of feet against the rungs of the van sounded, it seemed everywhere, and hands gently held her around the waist and her wrists and propelled her onto a stretcher, there was an undertone of chaos and talking that she simply could not comprehend. It was slow and painful and she wanted it to stop.

And then she was hoisted up onto a strange platform that allowed her to look down onto the ground below. She caught sight of the Mr J Diner (So I got here after all...) and the uniformed men and women milling around before her. She felt so high up. She wondered if this was what God felt like.

Someone was pressing something cold onto her arm, and then there was a pleasant feeling of light-headedness.

Clary began to loose consciousness, but not before she caught sight of the boy. He was shouting something at her, but she just couldn't hear. The boy? No, not just any boy. A weird sense of worry crept up onto her as she remembered his name. Scott? Scott. Scott Preston. The one guy in her school that deserved the title 'Preppy Jock' the most.

Oh dear God.

Somehow she managed to catch the last of his words as the back of the van shut the dizzy swirling sensation of people outside. You were epic! I'll tell everyone at school what happened. You're going to become some kickass star.

Oh no you don't, she replied but somehow, somehow, she didn't think he heard her. Her ability to rational thought dissolved.

The last thing she consciously saw were black feathers falling out of the sky like rain.

Clary, said Jace's voice.

XxXxX

Jace dialled her number for the twentieth time that hour.

No avail. It ended like the others.

The person you called is not available. Please leave your message after the beep-

He threw the phone as hard as he could at the wall. It hit with a satisfying crunch.

"Jace," Isabelle stepped in the half open door and stared around at his room. Everything that was breakable was broken and clothes and paper lay strewn on the floor of his room. She bit her lip nervously; "It's no use getting angry. It's not going to help. Alec is already out looking for her! We're just going to have to wait-"

"I can't wait! She's in danger! And it was me that put her in danger with my stupid ignorance and selfish, self-important thoughts. She called me about it! She called me about her damned, cursed dreams! And I dismissed it! We could have saved her! She could have been safe right now! What do you want me to do? I can't take this." He advanced at Isabelle who shrunk back, eyes wide with fear. He regretted it, but he just couldn't stop. "I can't just stand here." His shouting faded into a whisper and he stood back and leant against the wall of his room, sliding down until he was sitting on the floor, his head in his hands. "I can't just stand here." He repeated.

Isabelle chewed her lip, seemingly unsure of what to do. Then she carefully picked her way across the floor and knelt down beside him. "If it's any help…" She thought hard, not knowing what to say, "You're not standing," She said finally, "You're sitting now, so it's a positive change!" She smiled vibrantly.

If looks could kill, Isabelle was dead ten times over. Jace stared daggers at her.

Her smile faded. "I'm worried too Jace - just as much as you, even if you believe it or not. But it's not any of our faults. Neither of us knew. And there's nothing we can do. I want to do something too. But sometimes, the only thing we can do is sit here. And wait."

She sat next to Jace, with her back against the wall. She stared at the mess on the floor, which was so unlike the usual state of his room.

"You know, Jace, at least you love her. Your love is beautiful." She managed finally. These kind soppy things were so unlike her, but it was one of those times that it just had to be said.

"No." He didn't seem fazed by her change of character. He didn't look at her and instead stared gloomily at the opposing wall. It was ruined. "My love hurts people more than you can imagine. My love; is completely, and undeniably ugly."

Please forgive my rubbish explanation of the scenery. I've never seen any city like NYC (is it like Shanghai or Beijing?) So I don't know what the housing and main streets look like. I live in a town in England so I'm just using my town and making it more city-like? I'm not sure. Please feel free to correct me, and I'll change it if it suits right. Thank you

(I'm sure there was a description somewhere in the first book, but I don't have it anymore T T)

Also, I just had to put some of my fan girl craze somewhere in here. :D Mr J Diner