Sorry for the delay on getting this out! My Internet connection is bipolar and never lets me on when I want... well, that's what I get for cheaping out and using linksys for free, positioning my computer at just the right angle on a specific spot on my bed to get Internet. So at 5:21 in the morning, I'm finally updating :) 'cause, seriously, who needs sleep?!

Chapter two: Distrust and Repressed Lust

Clary was walking down the halls of the institute, wondering if anyone was even home. She knew Jace and Alec went to do something, and Simon was at band practice, but where was everyone else?

She was about to give up and go somewhere else—anywhere else—when she heard a distinct evil laugh coming from the kitchen.

"Isabelle?" Clary asked walking into the kitchen, which turned out to be a big mistake.

Isabelle pounced on Clary with the precision of a jungle cat, knocking her to the floor and pinning her to the ground.

"Hi?" Clary said, almost in an inquisitive form. She was in fact inquisitive to why Isabelle had her pinned to the floor.

Isabelle threw her head back and laughed. "I'm a genius. Just admit it, I'm a genius!"

"If to helps me get up faster, then yes, Isabelle, you are a genius."

"I'm dating Freaky Pete," Isabelle said, a little too excited to be dating someone whose name began with the word "freaky".

"Okay...?" Clary said, before realization finally struck her. "Oh my God, Freaky Pete!"

"I know!" Isabelle said, proud of herself.

Clary finally realized why the name sounded familiar. Freaky Pete was the big guy from the werewolf bar that Maia used to date. Not only would that make Maia jealous, but Simon, too. Plus, it would really bother her parents that not only was she dating a downworlder, but a downworlder named "Freaky Pete" who ran a werewolf bar. "You're a genius, but this may come back and bite you in the ass."

"Oh, I know. And I'm prepared for anything that will be thrown at me," Isabelle said proudly, standing up, offering a hand out to Clary, pulling her up like she weighed nothing.

"Okay..." Clary said, unsure weather that was true or not. Did Isabelle really think everything through? "I just don't want to see you getting hurt."

"I'll be fine. He may be like, three times my size, but I think I can handle him if he gets too rough," Isabelle said, her smile lighting up her face.

"You know I wasn't talking about that!" Clary shouted with a laugh.

"Yeah. I know."

"So Freaky Pete..."

"I know! I bet my Heels Rule applies to him."

"No less than nine inches?" Clary asked.

"That's the one!"

"You're outrageous, Izzy," Clary said, rolling my eyes.

"Hey, here's an outrageous idea, let's go to Pandemonium!" Isabelle shouted out of the blue.

"Okay," Clary agreed. She had a feeling Isabelle was up to something, but she was bored, so she was going with it... for now. Once whatever Isabelle had in mind got Simon and Maia involved, which Clary was sure it would, Clary would be out of it. Staying neutral. Magnus was repeatedly pulled into the drama, and by default, Alec was, too. Poor Alec. He of all people wanted to stay neutral, but what with Magnus as his boyfriend and Isabelle as his sister, that was near impossible. Even for him. Jace, however, loved watching from the sidelines. This was like an episode of The Real World for him. Of course, he never watched The Real World because it was far too Mundane and their petty dramas, sloppy affairs, and drunken escapades bored him. Clary loved The Real World. And Real World/Road Rules Challenges. But they were absolutely Impossible to watch with Jace, who could win every challenge easily with a smug smile and an insult for every player. He was the Simon Cowell of MTV reality shows.

"Let's go pick out our outfits!" Isabelle exclaimed, nearly pulling Clary's arm off in the process of dragging her along. She was practically jumping up and down in the elevator.

Clary endured seven outfit changes, trying on four different pairs of shoes, merciless tugging, brushing, blow-drying, and curling of her hair, and Isabelle attacking her face with makeup. All the while, Isabelle was still in a silky black robe, sans makeup, and her hair wild and out of control. Of course, she still looked stunning.

"Now that I'm completely ready, are you going to get dressed?" Clary asked, wondering how much longer she would have to wait.

"You just wait right there," Isabelle said, disappearing into the bathroom.

Clary sighed, getting up to look around the room. If it took Isabelle that long to get Clary ready, she wondered how long Isabelle would take on herself.

"Done," Clary heard Isabelle say.

"No way in hell you're," Clary said, turning around to face a dressed, perfectly made-up, Isabelle. "Done..."

"Yeah," Isabelle said, running her fingers through her hair once, shaking it out a little.

"It took you an hour to get me ready, and barely a minute to get ready yourself?" Clary asked incredulously and slightly upset that she needed so much more time to be not even half as pretty as Isabelle is 24/7.

"No, I was already dressed under my robe, my hair was done from earlier, and I did my makeup exceptionally quick."

It looked like Isabelle took hours to do her makeup. It was perfect. She had soft, ebony waves framing her face, smoky, perfectly blended eye-makeup, and smooth, pouty, pink lips that looked naturally that way, no slimy gloss that gets in your hair or unnaturally bright lip stick.

Clary didn't think she looked half bad either. Her fiery red curls looked wild and beachy, but in a sexy way, not a messy, knotted way. Her lips had dark lip stain on them, which Clary personally thought just looked like she went a little too crazy with a Popsicle, but Isabelle assured was sexy, and her eye makeup was shimmery and light, making her eyelashes look thinker and darker, and her green eyes pop.

As for their outfits, Clary was a little embarrassed to be showing as much skin as she was. Isabelle was wearing a dress with a plunging V-neck, it's material almost the color of her skin, only a few shades darker, overlaid with black lace, and Clary was wearing a strapless, silky, emerald green dress with black lace bordering around the bust and hemlines. Isabelle got to wear classic, freakishly tall, black pumps, and Clary wore black death traps with straps wrapping all the way up her calves.

She never dressed this way when she used to go with Simon, but things had surely changed since then. A lot.

They hailed a cab down to the club and Isabelle grabbed her arm, dragging her to the front of the line the second they got out. A few flirty words from Isabelle, and they were in.

No runes showed on their skin, they were there to have fun, not hunt demons. Just in case, Isabelle kept her whip coiled tightly around one leg, showing itself occasionally, and a seraph blade on the other and Clary kept a stele strapped to her right leg and a smaller seraph blade strapped to her left, hidden somehow under their her short dress. This Clary had already gotten used to. She felt like a part of her was missing when she didn't have her stele with her nowadays.

"Looking for someone?" Clary asked, noticing Isabelle scanning the crowd.

"Nope!" Isabelle said, focusing her attention back on Clary. "Just sizing up the competition!"

Clary opened her mouth to respond, but was cut off before she could even speak.

"Let's dance!"

With that, Clary was pulled to the dance floor and back against Isabelle. She was kind of frozen, even if Isabelle had made her endure this before.

"Move, Clary!" Isabelle yelled, and Clary began to walk away, only to be pulled back by an amused Isabelle. "Not like that, I mean dance!"

Clary swallowed her pride, common sense, and self consciousness, and began to slowly move her hips to the beat of the song.

"You're still too stiff," Isabelle stated, backing away for a second. "This should loosen you up."

A silver flask was opened and handed to Clary. She sniffed it and handed it back. Was Isabelle crazy? Not that Clary had much experience, but she was pretty sure that was vodka in there.

"Drink it, Clarissa Fray Morgenstern Fairchild Graymark!" That was a little joke between the kids at the institute, since her and Jace grew up with names that weren't theirs.

Jace Wayland Morgenstern Harondale Lightwood!" Clary called, angry at Jace for not turning off the water in the shower all the way, resulting in a cold shower for Clary.

"Yes, Clarissa Fray Morgenstern Fairchild Graymark?" Jace replied sweetly, a smug smile most likely on his soft lips.

Clary rolled her eyes. Since she wasn't "Fray" anymore, and she would never be "Morgenstern", not in a lifetime, and since her mom married Luke, she wasn't sure weather "Fairchild" or "Graymark" would be appropriate, since she was probably going to change her name, and Luke was already like her father.

"That's what I thought!" Jace called from their room.

"Shut up, loser!" Clary yelled, turning off the water.

"Since we're apparently in the second grade now, I am so telling!"

"Missin' anyone, much?" Isabelle asked, snapping Clary out of her Jace-oriented thoughts.

"Just thinking about Jace," Clary answered truthfully. Thank God he wasn't her brother. Even though they still couldn't touch each other.

Isabelle said nothing, only handed the flask back to Clary.

Clary sighed and took a burning sip. Then another. Then a gulp, feeling the warmth spread throughout her body.

"There we go!"

Soon, both girls were tipsy, borderline pretty drunk, actually. But Clary had forgotten all about Jace and their sexual tension. All she could think about was dancing with Isabelle and not throwing up.

"So is Simon here?" she asked, throwing her body around like any loosened teenager would

"No, but Maia was," Isabelle shouted over the music. "She's gone, though."

Clary looked around. Jeez, almost everyone was gone. What time was it, anyway? She glanced down at the sliver watch on her wrist, not able to make out the time due to the flashing lights glinting off the small surface.

"I'm hungry, let's go," Clary said, pulling Isabelle out instead of vice versa for once.

Once they were outside in the semi-fresh New York air, they turned separate ways, still holding onto each other.

"Where are you going?" Isabelle asked, "I thought you were hungry. Let's go to Taki's."

"Oh no. We're tipsy, hungry teenagers coming back from a club. We're doing this the right way and going to Waffle House."

Isabelle whipped out her phone and stared at the screen intently. "At three in the morning?"

"Of course."

The two girls made their way to the Waffle House, conveniently only a block away. All the while, Clary was listening to tales of Isabelle killing countless demons countless ways.

"...so then I used my scarf to make a noose, I fastened it around my waist and slipped it off, which was a little complicated, but I'm good at knots, so it worked. I slipped it over a couple demon's heads, yanked it up, and they just poofed right out of the scarf!"

The thought about demons and their "poofing" sobered Clary up almost instantly. As of late, she'd been wondering where exactly they went.

"So demons... they go back to their dimensions when they die? And there's no way of getting to where they go? And they have to die to go to their world? If they die in their world to they die for good? And if—"

"Clary?" Isabelle asked, cutting her off mid-rant. "Shut up. Please."

"Sorry," Clary apologized, knowing Isabelle wouldn't be able to answer any of her questions.

They got to the Waffle House, Clary ordered chocolate chip pancakes, drenching them with syrup. Isabelle opted with waffles, picking at them in a slightly stuck up manor.

"Something wrong with your waffles, Isabelle?"Clary asked, taking a swig of chocolate milk,

"No, no," Isabelle said, taking a meager bite. "They're great."

They soon finished up and Clary paid, walking outside into the fresh New York morning. It was still dark out, but the sky was a pretty indigo, as clean as it would get.

They linked arms and took their time walking back to the Institute, preparing themselves for whatever they had in store.

About an hour later, Clary was in her and Jace's room, listening to a lecture from Jace, one much worse than the one from Marys and Robert.

"...Do you even know how worried I was about you? And for fuck's sake, Waffle House?! That's the absolute last place I would check. I swear, Clary, I'm getting you a cell phone and you're going to take it with you everywhere you go and it will always be on high. Weather you like it or not. Jesus, do you even know how long you were gone for? How worried Alec and I were? What if something bad had happened to you? You didn't even leave a damn note! And the fact that you've been losing sleep and you're not even on your guard, and I swear, I smell alcohol! You can't even try to hide that one! Seriously, Clary, to think—"

"STOP!!!" Clary yelled, cutting Jace off before he could continue. "I'm sorry you were worried, and I'm sorry I was gone so long, but do you really have such little faith in me? Such little trust?" Clary asked, raising her voice a little. She knew Jace was protective and she knew he worried, but it was pissing her off.

"It's not that I don't trust you, or that I don't have faith in you, it's just that I worry. I fucking love you, Clary, and this is all fairly new to me, okay?" Jace said sharply, but with a hint of emotion in his voice.

"You 'fucking love me'?" Clary asked, dragging on the dreaded argument even further out. She didn't mean to, she didn't want to, she just did. "That's so romantic and justified, Jace!"

"All I want is for you to maybe tell me where you're going so I don't have to pull my hair out wondering if you're okay or not and who the hell you're with."

"Who I'm with? Did you think I would be with someone other than Isabelle? And if I was would that be such a problem? Do I need your permission to go out with anyone other than you now? Do you just want to piss a damn circle around me, marking your territory?"

Clary didn't give him a chance to respond, instead, she ran to him, throwing her arms around him defined, muscular body, letting her tears fall freely. She hated arguing with Jace. She hated it. She loved him and she knew he meant well, she knew he was new to relationships, and she knew he loved her. Clary didn't know why she had to be so difficult with him sometimes. She was sure Jace was wondering the same thing, too.

He leaned his head down to rest it on top of Clary's, stroking her hair, comforting her.

And all the regretful words shared between the two were silently forgiven.

AN: I can't believe people actually like this story! The response for my last chapter made me so happy :P And please try to put up with me while I get the hang of third-person point of view. I'll be switching it up from Clary to Jace to some of the other characters from here on out, but I've always felt more comfortable with first person. Actually I like writing in second person POV, too, but I try to stick with whatever the original book is written on when I'm on FF ;) lol. Review?