A/N: Thank you all for reviewing. And I know Jace is supposed to play the piano, but the piano can be kind of loud and space absorbing. Plus its kind of hard to hide a piano. The Lightwoods don't know that he plays. Uhm… there will be Alec, Magus, Izzy, and Simon in the next chapter… I think. Either that or Chapter Eight.

Chapter Six

~Clary~

I quickly left Mr. Morgenstern's class and headed to my locker, cheeks burning in embarrassment. Oh my god, I can't believe I had drawn that.

"Clary!" Seb called behind me. Sighing, I stopped and Seb caught up to me. "I'm going to sit with Raphael and Jonathon for lunch. Are you gonna sit with us or are you gonna sit somewhere else?" Past Seb, I saw Jace come out of his class talking with a blonde haired girl. He probably had forgotten about me. So I really didn't have someone to sit with… but Seb, despite how much he loved me, wouldn't want his little sister following him around.

"Uhm… yeah, I'm good," I told him.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah." Not. I gave Seb a quick hug and walked away to my locker. Quickly, I put my stuff away and grabbed my sketchbook and pencils. Despite myself, I looked to Jace and saw him still talking with the blonde. With a sigh, I headed towards a wall and hopped up. I looked at Jace again and sunlight caught his hair. He was so beautiful. But he's not for you, I told myself. You have all your scars. Jace deserves someone as perfect as him.

Flipping my sketchbook to a clean page, I picked up my pencil and started drawing random things.

After a second, I realized I was drawing Jace. I looked back at him and sighed. A minute later, after staring at Jace and memorizing his every feature, I decided there was no good word to describe him. Perfect, an angel. That's why I couldn't be with him. Compared to him, I was ugly and broken. If I told myself this repeatedly, I'd remember so I wouldn't be hurt. Then, why did I feel hurt when I saw Jace talking to the blonde?

I turned back to my sketchbook and continued sketching. His chin, strong and stubborn, his mouth, sensual and smiling, his nose, regular and adorable, his hair, messy and wild, and the rest of him. I paused at his eyes, not sure how to draw them.

Suddenly, a throat cleared above me. I looked up and saw Jace. His golden eyes caught mine. They were beautiful, full of emotion and I could feel myself falling into their depths. I jerked myself out and said,

"Don't move." Quickly, I drew his eyes with the same expression on my sketch. I looked at the sketch and smiled. It captured Jace's essence almost perfectly. The sketch was abruptly taken out of my hands. Jace had taken it.

"Give it back," I snapped and grabbed at it.

"I don't think so, Ginger," he smirked. The smiled slowly faded. "You did a really good job."

"Thanks." I felt a blush spread across my cheeks.

"That's a good color for you, Ginger. It matches your hair." My blush deepened.

"Is that all you can say?" Jace sat down next to me and I brought my knees up against my chest.

"No… but it's hard to think around you," I admitted. My eyes widened in horror. Had I really just said that out loud? Jace laughed and I thought my cheeks would burst, I was so embarrassed.

"Thank you," he said gallantly. "Coming from such a beautiful girl, that's quite a compliment." He thought I was beautiful? Was he blind? I cleared my throat uncomfortably. He had to be lying.

"What about your blonde friend?" I asked, changing the subject.

"Kaelie?" he grimaced. I laughed at his expression.

"Don't you like her?"

"As a friend, maybe. She wants to be more but I don't see us going anywhere. And she's a whore. Despite what Izzy says, I do have standards."

"Why does Izzy think you're a jerk?"

"Because I am. Most of the time I don't like people getting close."

"Oh. Well… warn me before you go jerk on me."

"I'll try to contain my jerkiness around you."

"I appreciate that," I laughed dryly. Slowly, I was beginning to relax. Let down my guard. It was impossible not to. Jace was making me feel comfortable and welcome. Suddenly, my stomach growled. Jace snorted lightly. He hopped down from the wall and held out his hand to help me down. Against my better judgment, I took his hand and jumped down. It was hard to ignore the tingle that went through my body at out contact.

""Come on," he said, dropping my hand, 3 seconds later. "Let's get some food."

~Jace~

I dropped her hand slowly, reluctant to lose contact with her.

"Come on," I told her. "Let get some food."

"Good, I'm starving," she confessed.

"Well, we have pizza and mozzarella sticks today."

"What are you getting?"

"It doesn't matter; I'll get whatever you get," I said. Her cheeks turned light pink. I noticed she blushed or looked away whenever I complimented her. Did she not think she deserved them or was she just being modest? I wondered.

"Let's get pizza," she decided.

"Okay." I laid my hand on her shoulder and steered her to the line. It didn't escape my notice that Sebastian looked at me coldly. If Clary didn't mind me touching her, it was none of his business.

We quickly went through the line, and then went back to the wall. She seemed surprised that I came with her.

"Aren't you going to sit with your other friends?" she asked as we sat back on the wall.

"Nah," I shrugged. "You're more interesting and Izzy wouldn't forgive me for letting you sit alone." She raised her eyebrows. "Okay, okay. I have an ulterior motive or two." Clary smiled.

"What are they?"

"After lunch. Now let's see your schedule." Clary pulled out her schedule and I took it.

"Any classes together?"

"Yeah. Most of them. We have different history and science classes."

"Good. It'll be nice to have a familiar face around." Eventually, we finished lunch and Clary looked at me expectantly.

"There's no getting out of it, is there?" I asked.

"No. I'll just bug you until you tell me," she told me a half-smile. As usual, it was stunning and took my breath away.

"Fine," I huffed, and then smiled to show I was joking. "Just don't say anything until I'm finished, okay?" Clary nodded and I continued, "First, I wanted to know if you'd like to come to a club- Pandemonium- with me. Or rather with the Lightwoods and I? No. Silence until I finish." She had started to say something when I shushed her. "If your mom is worried, tell her we'll all protect you." At that, Clary gave a little eye roll, which I ignored and continued. "Second, there's an English project due in a month. You were busy talking to Izzy when the teacher talked about it. I hoped you would do it with me." At my monologue, she looked a bit overwhelmed and I wondered if I had pressed her too hard.

"What time?" she finally asked.

"If you want to do the project with me, we can go to my house right after school and then we'll go to Pandemonium after. Izzy has clothes you can borrow, if you want." She looked hesitant and was about to refuse, when I added, "Please?" Clary sighed. I didn't know why I cared so much, but I wanted to be by her and get to know her.

"Sure," she said. "I'll go to the Pandemonium and do the project with you."

"Okay. Meet me here after last period." I hoped I didn't sound to angry but I was angry at her but at myself. This was not me. I wasn't the "make new friends" type or even nice. So why was I acting so? Clary was different and beautiful. So beautiful it almost hurt. And she blushed wonderfully. She seemed to be hiding something though. I wanted to find out what her secret was- and find out more about her.

And now, for the first time in a long time, I felt inspired. Inspired to play. Since my parents died, I haven't played. There was no reason too. My life was not very inspirational… Until now. Until Clary.

To love is to destroy, to be weak, I suddenly told myself. My father had often told me that. He could be right. My adopted siblings, Isabelle, Alec, and Max loved each other. If something happened to one of them, the other two would be devastated. They might be able to live, but they'd have a hard time with it. See, love destroys. And how would love strengthen someone anyways? You're giving a part of yourself away. If you lost that person, you'd be less than yourself.

So maybe, just once, my father was right about something.

~Valentine~

I examined my daughter from the shadow. She was talking to a blonde haired boy that looked vaguely familiar. Then recognition hit me.

He looked just like Michael Wayland. So this must be his son.

That put an interesting twist on this.

Michael Wayland had been one of my best people. Unfortunately, Michael had murdered his wife and then killed himself.

Maybe I could recruit the boy- Jace was his name, I remembered- also. Judging from the way Clarissa blushed when they talking, she might be developing feelings for him. When all went according to plan, maybe they would end up together. That may help with my plans. I watched Jace walk away from Clarissa.

After I was sure that he was gone, I stepped out of the shadows and headed over to Clarissa. It was time that she knew that I was her father.

~Luke~

I listened to Jocelyn banging around in the apartment next door and sighed. At this rate, I'd never be able to sleep.

Groaning, I got out of bed and headed over to her apartment. After a second of standing in front of her door tiredly, I knocked. Jocelyn opened the door and snapped,

"What do you want?" I opened my mouth to answer and ended up yawning instead. Suddenly, my appearance registered with her. "Why are you in pajamas?" she asked. "It's only one o'clock."

"Late night," I told her and yawned again. Jocelyn wouldn't want to know more than that. She looked at me hesitantly and then stood back.

"Come on in. I have coffee brewing in the kitchen."

"Thanks." I walked inside and saw several boxes piled everywhere. Jocelyn led me into the kitchen and poured me a cup of coffee with some milk in it. Just the way I liked it. In surprise, I looked at her but she avoided looking at me.

"Sorry if I was keeping you awake," she apologized, after a while and breaking the silence.

"I didn't know you cared," I said in mock surprised. Jocelyn scowled at me. I gave her a grin to show that I was just kidding around and then turned serious.

"I'll help you unpack," I offered gently. "It looks like you have a lot of stuff." With an unreadable expression on her face, Jocelyn looked at me.

"Alright." I set down my cup as she continued, "Let's get started."