The awkward guy conversation and the weight lifting invitation in this chapter were the idea of ThatHippieChick. If you have any ideas you want to see in this, just hit me up with a PM. C:

PoV Clary

I made my way down the hall to English when I bumped into someone. It was Jace. He smiled and steadied me with a hand on my shoulder.

"Hey," he said. I noticed a chipped tooth, making his smile seem imperfect, which just made him more perfect. "Where are you going, Cain?"

"English," I said. I yawned and placed a hand over my mouth. "Sorry…"

"It's okay," he said. "I know you stayed up late, Alec told me about meeting you in the hall." He took my arm. "Come on, I'll take you to your class."

He led me to class, his hand a warm presence, holding my arm just above my elbow. His fingers were warm and dry. He was talking, but I had drifted off, concentrating on the tingling feeling that was slowly drifting up my arm.

At the door of my class, Jace pulled me aside.

"Come join me and some guys in the gym, yeah? We're all going tomorrow, me, Alec, Jordan, Magnus, some other guys. You can bring the nerdy one, if you want." His smile was contagious, and I accepted his offer, knowing full well that I don't know anything about lifting weights or sports.

Class went by in a haze of mockingbirds and Boo's, but I kept thinking about the tingling feeling in my arm. It was gone now, and it made me sad, but I knew it was for the best. I mean, that'd be the worst thing I could do. Developing feelings for him would be like murder.

At lunch, I sat with Simon and his friends. It was fine until they started talking about their girlfriends.

"Man, is she great in bed," said Eric, one of Simon's closer friends. He was sat across from me, his massive shoulders nearly pushing his friends out of their sets. "She just goes crazy, man. It feels great when she's sucking me off, dude, and fucking her is so awesome. She's always willing to do it."

"Hey, Eric," it was Matt, another friend of Simon, "gimme her number, would ya'?"

"Fuck off, man," Eric said with a laugh.

"That's all bitches are good for; fucking." It was one of Matt's friends, Jonathan Morgenstern. His eyes were like obsidian, his hair so blond it was almost white. My stomach churned at his comment, but I kept my mouth closed.

The conversation went on like that for a while, stuck on how good their girl friends/ ex girlfriends were in bed.

"What was your first time like, Cain?" Matt asked.

All the eyes were on me.

"Um… Well…" Quick, Clary, say something! "It was great."

"What was it like?" Eric asked.

"…Great?" I said. "Normal. I mean, we kissed a lot before, and stuff. And we used protection…"

"That's all good and all, but what was she like?" Jonathan asked.

I looked at him sidelong, his black eyes glistening.

"Yeah, Cain, what was she like?" Simon asked, a smile on his voice.

"My first time having sex?" I asked.

"Yeah," they all said.

"Oh, it was great…" I smiled. "It felt so awesome, having the guy I loved inside me."

There was an appalled silence, in which Simon covered his laughter with his hand. Eric's eyes were wide with disgust.

"I didn't need to know that," Matt said.

Several guys shook their heads.

"You mean you don't want to hear all about it?" I asked. I put my arm around Simon's shoulders. "Simon was very interested last night, weren't you?" I leaned over and kissed his cheek, causing him to flinch. I stood and picked up my lunch tray. "See ya laterz, babe."

I walked away, listening to the roar of accusations and questions fired at Simon.

"That's just wrong, dude!"

"Did you sleep with him?"

"Dude, that's so gross!"

I laughed as I walked out to the outside lunch benches. Magnus was sat there, a cigarette in his fingers.

"You'll get lung cancer, you know." I sat next to him.

He took a long drag from the offending cigarette, and blew a perfect circle of smoke.

"I know," he sighed. "I only do it when I'm stressed."

"What's stressing you?"

"Alec," Magnus said. "I talked to him in the bath room today, and he agreed to a date, but he won't go anywhere near here, and if there's any mention of Jace, his eyes go all gooey, and he smiles this big goofy smile."

"It's puppy love, don't worry," I said. "And Jace isn't even gay."

"I know." Magnus sighed, and decided to lie down on the table. "I just wish that guys weren't so complicated…"

"Please, you aren't a girl pretending to be one," I said, lying down next to him.

"No, but I am one," he said, smiling softly.

"Don't worry, Magnus, he'll get over Jace, and he'll see that he's madly in love with you, and willing to do anything for you."

"And Jace will fall in love with you. But the real you."

"Yeah right."

"No, really. I can feel it."