Chapter Three: No Seatbelt Required

Jace POV

Perfect.

The only way I could describe this moment. I've never felt this feeling bubbling up inside of me with any other girl I've dated, and we're not even dating! And with her brother being my best friend, we might never.

Clary looked so peaceful laying on my chest. She'd been through so much already and then Simon had to come along and make everything worse. I skipped football practice this morning because I just couldn't stand to even look at him. I don't know how I'm going to get through today… or the rest of the year.

I feel Clary begin stir after about an hour until her eyes open looking directly at me. Those beautiful green eyes…

"Morning," I say a little cockily. Damn. I'm usually irresistible when it comes to flirting, and all I can think of is Morning?!

Her eyes get wider when she notices that she's laying down on me and quickly gets off of me into a sitting position. She cringes at the pain from her side laying her head on the window closing her eyes tightly. She looks pale. All I want to do is gather her in my arms and take away her pain. I know better though, If I try to touch her again she'll just swat me away. We aren't exactly the best of friends…

"You okay there, gingy?" I say knowing she hates that nickname.

She doesn't say anything, just opens one of her eyes to glare at me then flips me off. I know I shouldn't be picking fun at her, especially when she's this hurt. But I can't let her know how I feel about her.

" Wow, someone's grouchy."

"Shut up, asshole." She returns with as much venom she can put into her voice. It hurts hearing it from her even though I know I deserve it.

I put on my regular smirk to hide it and retort back

" Wow, I thought you'd be more grateful after what happened this morning."

"Like what?" she hisses back

"I don't know? Getting you away from that ratface creep, letting you sleep in MY car."

" Wow Jace," she says, her voice dripping with sarcasm. " Thank you SO much for saving me, it really means a lot. Now don't you have some slut to make out with in the janitor's closet? Is it Kaelie this week? Or are you starting the year off with Seelie?" She said progressively getting more irritated.

This pisses me off a little. Sure I've dated some sluts but who could resist all this?

I let my temper get to me. The next thing say will haunt me for the rest of my life.

" At least I can get people to genuinely like me, even before you having cancer you weren't much of a looker." I say looking her at her scars just to make my point.

Her eyes are still closed as I said those terrible words. We were both perfectly still for a second before Clary reaches for the car door attempting to open it, which turned out being locked.

"Let me out." I hear her whisper, her face turned toward the car door.

"Clary-" I say feeling terribly guilty for the words that just came out of my mouth.

" LET ME OUT JACE!" she yells, turning her face to me. Her pale face is streaked with tears that keep falling out of her puffy, red-rimmed eyes.

I start to move toward her before I can even think about my actions. My hand moves toward her tear streaked face, trying to wipe away her tears. Clary reacts quickly once she realizes what I'm trying to do by swatting away my hand with her good hand.

"Get. Away. From. Me." She says slowly, perfectly enunciating every word.

"Clary, I am so sorry." I say desperately, deeply regretting letting my anger get to me

The door is still locked but she keeps trying to open it, she eventually gives up, slamming her hand into the window and curling in on herself. All I can see is her back heaving up and down and her shoulders raking with sobs.

Her crying slows down and she eventually looks up at me her green eyes filled with an undying sadness that breaks my heart in half.

"I guess you pretty much hit it on the mark." She says looking away from me.

Oh no. No no no. she can't be agreeing with me. There is no way she can't see what I see whenever I look at her.

"Clary you know that's not true." I say pleadingly.

" You just said it yourself." She says firmly. " before I was and awkward 12 year old going through puberty. Now I'm just an ugly 16 year old time bomb with the scars to prove it." She says matter of factly. She looks back out the window when she finishes talking; her mouth is in a tight line and her eyes keep fluttering like she trying hard to keep her sobs from escaping her.

Before I know what I'm doing I scoop her up into my arms, ignoring what she had said to me earlier, and let her sobs escape her onto my shirt.

I've always had a place in my heart for Clary since I met her when Jon let me come with him to the hospital. Usually it's the patients who need cheering up, but she was a ray of fiery red light from the moment I came into her hospital room. I remember how her beauty struck me even with all her hair gone, hair or no hair she was gorgeous. Her large green eyes were what struck me first anyways, and the way her freckles would, and still do, frame her face perfectly whenever that breathtaking smile would bless any room she was in. I remember her recognizing me from all the stories Jon would tell her about me. And how her face would morph into a look of annoyance whenever I would poke fun at her or irritate her. Then I remember how her angelic glow would shine duller whenever my adoptive father would come in to give her, her chemotherapy, how she would always reassure US not to worry when she was probably scared to death. I remember how Jon and I would distract her from the pain by telling her about the embarrassing events that had happened to people at school until she would fall into a fitful sleep.

I remember telling myself to always protect her from the pain she couldn't avoid.

But here I am, falling for the girl who is now ashamed of herself from the pain that I brought to her.

" Hey." I say getting her to look me in the eyes "You're beautiful. There is no way to say how sorry I am for the disgusting, terrible, awful words I said just because I let my temper get to me."

" I don't need your pity," she says dryly, "I already get enough from my teachers every year."

"I'm serious," I say firmly " I don't know how else to put it, you were beautiful the first day I met you and you're beautiful now. My heart skips a beat whenever I see you and I can't help but get into a good mood whenever I see you smile." I say quickly, not being able to control the words coming out of my mouth now, "It breaks my heart to see you in pain and I feel absolutely terrible knowing that I've caused it to you. You think your ugly but your absolutely not, you have the scars to prove how strong you are and you don't need anyone's pity, I've seen what you can do to people even when you just smile at them, how you can just tell a story with just a pencil and a paper. Clary, since the first time I saw you, I have belonged to you completely. I still do. If you want me."

By the end of my little speech there is a light blush at Clary's cheeks and she's looking down at her hands. When she finally looks up again there are still some tears on her face that I wipe away as gently as I can.

"I don't think I'll ever forgive you for what you said earlier." She says not looking up at me.

I feel my heart sink. After spilling my guts to her I still don't have a chance with her. While there are hundreds of girls I go to school with who would kill to have me date them, the only one I truly want is inches away yet still out of my reach.

She looks up at me, "But I can still forget. It takes too much energy to hate someone, especially when you see them everyday. There's no way in hell, Jace Lightwood, that I wouldn't want you." She says, smiling a little to herself.

I look at her astonished, I don't think I've ever met a girl in my life who could forgive so easily, which I definitely didn't deserve at that moment, or who I felt I could trust more than anyone in the world. She seemed to blush even more under my elated stare so I did what any other guy would do.

I kissed her.

Clary POV

Sweet Jesus. That was the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me not out of pity. I could feel my tears running freely down my face as Jace said his beautiful speech to me. I looked down at my hands to keep him from seeing me crying again.

When he's done I look up to see his hopeful eyes looking into mine, gently wiping away the stray tears that still lingered on my face. I have no idea what to say so I just decide to say what I feel should be said.

"I don't think I'll ever forgive you for what you said earlier."

I see his face turn from hopeful to ashamed in that moment. He looked like he would do anything to get me to forgive him at that moment so before he could say anything I add…

"But I can still forget. It takes too much energy to hate someone, especially when you see them everyday. And there is no way in hell ,Jace Lightwood, that I wouldn't want you. "

He then looks up at me again staring at me with such an elated, astonished gaze I feel myself blushing a little from it.

And then he kisses me.

Not a passionate one, but a kiss so tender and loving I feel my bones turn to water with every gently stroke he gives my cheek. I feel like I might melt if I don't hold onto him for dear life so I begin to run my hands through his soft golden hair causing him to give a short moan and deepening the kiss. I don't know how long we're in this position until I just about jump out of my skin when I here the front passenger side door open and see Jon jump back too looking just as surprised as I do. Jace however, looks slightly flustered but for the most part calm and collected; he even has the nerve to put his arm around my waist and pull me closer to him.

Jon looks at us for another second before pinching the bridge of his nose. His hair is still wet most likely from taking a shower after practice.

"My sister Jace?" He asks trying hard to keep his composure.

"Jon." I say trying to keep him calm " We were just kissing."

"Just kissing?" I hear Jace say next to me " How quickly you dismiss our love."

I elbow him in ribs as hard as I can.

"Kissing!?" Jon says a little too loudly, bringing attention to some kids who were loitering around the parking lot waiting for school to start.

"Kissing?" he says, quieter this time " You two were basically making babies back there!"

This makes me blush harder. I can't even look at my brother right now from the embarrassment of being caught making out with his best friend. Right then the school bell rings signaling the first day of junior year for me. I hear Jon sigh exchanging his football bag for his school backpack.

"Come on, we'll talk about this after school." He says, catching up with some friends of his waiting by another car.

I look for my backpack to find it halfway under one of the seats and then pick it up from the ground unzipping it to stuff my cardigan into it. I reach for the door handle to see Jace one step ahead of me already outside of the car holding the door for me with his other hand outstretched. I take it gratefully still sore from this mornings' ordeal. As I get out of the car I see Simon a couple of rows over his hair still slightly wet from his after practice shower. He catches eye contact with me and begins to walk over to us. Jace seems to notice who I'm staring at and looks in Simon's direction. His glare seems to stop Simon in his tracks. When Jace puts his arm around my waist, which I don't object to, Simon's face goes from desperate to slightly shocked and jealous. Jace pulls me out of my reverie when we start walking toward the school building. I spare one last look at Simon in the parking lot his eyes trying to plead with me. I turn my head around before he can say anything to me.

As we enter the school building, there's a chorus of 'Hey's and 'Jace haven't seen you in a while man' where he either says hey back to them if it's one of his closer friends or just nods if it's someone he barely knows. When some notice his arm around my waist some girls stare with jealousy while others might give me a smile or wink or just gawk in awe. As we reach the orientation tables in the gym, we go into the line with the sign marked 'JUNIORS L – P' . I get my schedule first under Clarissa Morgenstern then Jace receives his under Jace Lightwood. We quickly compare our schedules to find we have four classes together. After exiting the chaos of the gym he insists on walking me to my first class, Science. As we reach it we both notice Simon walking into the same science class as my own. We talk for a second outside of class before he reluctantly lets me go.

"Are you sure you'll be okay? I swear, if ratface pulls anything…" he says, trailing off glaring into the back of Simon's head.

"I'll be fine, It's only first period, I think I can survive one hour of him staring at me with his pity filled eyes."

"Okay, but.."

" I'll be fine." I insist, " now run along, you don't want to be late on your first day of school." I say playfully, giving him a quick peck on the check then turning on my heel to enter science. As soon as I walk in Simon notices me, taking his backpack off of the vacant seat next to him. I choose a seat in front of him next to one of my good friends, Maia Roberts. We exchange quick hellos and strike a conversation about randomness until the second bell rings signaling the beginning of the school day. As our teacher, Mr. Park, begins telling us about he exciting world of chemistry we'll experience I can't help but think about how this is going to be a long school year.

AN: I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! I wanted to move this story along a little faster, therefore CLACE HAS BEEN BORN. Once again I can't tell you how much I appreciate the support I get from you guys and the super nice/ constructive comments you give me each chapter I love you all! 3 3 3

R & R

XOXO

Erin