Hey you guys! I'm back!

The people have spoken and the results are in!

You want more to this story and I will give you more.

Enjoy, my angels!


2 days.

48 hours.

2880 minutes.

172800 seconds.

That was how long it had been since Jace Herondale had kissed Clarissa Morgenstern.

2 whole days filled with hand holding and snuggling and all the things Jace used to make fun of tied down men about. 2 days of wishing he could show her exactly how he felt without words and how much he knew he valued her.

And now those two blissful days were over. And he was staring up at his school with distaste. He was back to reality. Back to being so many different people all at once he worried he might have some sort of complex.

His 2 days of freedom with the fearless redhead, of both his nightmares and dreams, was over and he found himself back in the spot he felt he stepped in too many times before. In a body and a role he didn't want but was too afraid to say no to.

He hadn't gone home since he'd run out on his parents. He didn't think his father would care much but his mother was sure to blow up his phone. With all her sweet coos and too many compliments he didn't deserve. He never quite understood the pedestal his mother always put him on. As if his love for her could somehow make her loveless marriage seem worth it.

As if his love meant that his father could love her too.

The thought made Jace crinkle his nose, his phone hadn't been turned on since he'd stormed out of his house and found refuge with the family that truly cared for him. The family he had treated like dirt and found the will to forgive him anyway, even though he had not and would never forgive himself.

He remembered the feeling of Isabelle's hair falling in front of his face and tickling his nose as he brushed it away, her body was curled in to his side. Her forehead rammed into his ribs making them slightly ache. The awkward way they laid together showed that they clearly didn't fit right but Jace had made no move to move her. Alec lay sprawled on his other side, and while it might have been strange for two men to share a bed, with Alec it didn't feel odd at all. It felt like when they were younger and had stayed up late telling ghost stories to scary Isabelle but only resulted in frightening Alec. How they would sneak downstairs together and make cookie dough from scratch just to eat the uncooked dough and be sick for hours. Or when they shoved pillows and blankets together to make the ultimate fortress, strong enough to fight all evil, especially cooties, Isabelle had been the only girl allowed in mostly because she was Alec's sister and Jace had, had a raging crush on her.

Now his crush was another girl. Only this one was a fiery redhead with a knack for adventure and a heart of gold. Now it wasn't a simple crush, it was more than that. So much more that Jace couldn't put it into words and didn't want to. He wouldn't be able to do the feelings justice. He'd never even felt it before.

"Hey, Football Star!"

"Hey, Jace!"

"Ugh! He is so cute!"

Usually the chattered around him fluffed his ego and made him feel more of that King status he liked to flaunt. But now it made him feel foolish as if the whole idea of needing the people around him, most of which he didn't even knows, approval was extremely overrated and stupid.

He half-heartedly waved and smiled to some of the passerby's as they gushed over him as if he were some celebrity that everyone read about.

By the time Jace even got to his locker he was completely exhausted. He had no idea how he was supposed to last throughout the whole day with the amount of pressure weighing on his shoulders. They expected him to act a certain way, be a certain way, play a certain way. It was becoming too much. Especially since they had won their homecoming game and scouts would be coming to his final game of the year. The game that he had been preparing for his whole life. The game his father had been preparing for.

The game that was his sure way shot to get out of this dead end town.

Jace blinked a moment before lifting his head from his cold locker. He shifted his leather jacket from his body and stuffed it into the slim metal slot in a huff. His brain was running a mile a minute and it felt like there wasn't enough air entering his lungs.

And where the hell was Clary?

She was the only person he wanted with him right now. Not the random girl who had been brushing her breast against his elbow and pretending to apologize while talking to her friend at her locker. Not the stranger who high fived him for another great play on the field. Not Sebastian who whistled at him from across the hallway and pointed at him in a manner that was supposed to show all the ill placed pride he had for him.

"Hey."

Jace felt more air escape his chest as he turned to his friend's face. His chest still felt stuck but at least he felt a tad bit more relief now.

"Thank God." Jace said slinging an arm around Jordan's shoulders. His mop of brown hair fell into his eyes and he swung it back with a laugh and clapped a hand to Jace's back. "If one more person says another false compliment, I think I might go insane."

"Wow, Jace Herondale is upset with his fan club?" Jordan made a shocked expression as Jace rolled his eyes and grabbed his Physics book from his locker. Clary had said he needed to have more academic based classes on his resume for colleges; not all of them just looked for sports contrary to popular belief so he had taken up Physics which he immediately regretted. "Someone alert the press! We have the makings of a scandal on our hands!"

Jace swallowed a moment as the lump took refuge in the back of his throat. If only Jordan knew just how much of a scandal he was involved in. Having fallen in lov—like with the Outcast was pretty high on the list of talk for a Golden Boy like him.

"I mean it." Jace grumbled, in a poor mood already without Jordan's constant teasing. "Half, if not all, of them don't even know me."

Jordan laughed again as he pulled Jace's backpack strap and guided him into their shared Physics class. They took their usual seats, Jordan with his clumsy grace and Jace in a pouting huff.

"I know," He smiled again as he turned his book to the proper page and took out last Friday's homework. "But they think they do." He gave an indifferent shrug. The comment had meant nothing to Jordan but it meant everything to Jace.

He truly was Gatsby from The Great Gatsby, surrounded by people who adored him and thought him to be some God but at the end of the day don't truly know or care for him. He dropped his head into his hands at the thought.

He was surrounded by ghosts.


By the time lunch rolled around Jace truly thought Clary had to be avoiding him. He had art class with her but she had been in a tutoring session with some confused freshmen and hadn't talked to him much aside from the smile and wink she sent his direction when he smiled at her. He also shared his A.P English class with her but he had gotten to class late and the seats around her in the back had already been taken so he took a seat two places away next to Alec, who nodded and fist bumped him when he sat down. And he hadn't been able to catch her when they were leaving because he had to stay behind and talk to Miss. McGarrison about his last essay grade.

When he told his suspicions to Jordan, Alec, and Isabelle as they crowed around Alec's locker waiting as the blue eyed boy swapped books, they had brushed him off saying it was coincidental. Jordan had joked that someone keeping him on his toes is exactly what he needed anyway and Isabelle had agreed saying it was "poetic justice" for all the girls he had strung along through the years. Both comments had only increased his insecurity. Alec had laid a comforting had to his shoulder and reassured him everything would be fine and they all had lunch together anyway so he would surely see her then.

Lunch had not come quick enough as they exited their third to last class of the day. Jace tried not to show he was in a rush but Alec seemed to notice and took pity on him as he told Jordan, Isabelle, and Maia who had appeared almost out of thin air that they would meet them at their usual spot in the back on the cafeteria.

For a moment that was all Jace could focus on, the fact that he was a part of the "usual". He was now included in the "gang" of sorts. Not that it had been an easy ride and he knew Alec and Isabelle were still slightly weary of him. Not to mention, that rat faced dweeb Salomon still hated him. And from the looks of it, he was Clary's best friend so their off putting and ignored relationship would have to end soon. That is if Jace were to pursue anything with Clary.

And he was definitely gonna pursue something with Clary.

As they strode into the cafeteria, people turned their heads in interest. Much of the surprise to see Jace, the Golden God of their small run down town, with the Outcasts had subsided. Most thought it was a passing fling, his own form of rebellion that would soon pass with time. But it had been going on a couple months strong now and Jace could see Sebasatian and the rest of his mediocre friend group starting to get worried.

Well, perhaps worried wasn't the correct word for it, as Jace felt Sebastian's cold black eyes dig into his back. Maybe the proper words were disgust and suspicion.

Their looks however rolled off his back, as most of what they thought of him did. He was slowly transforming. Nothing monumental or earth shattering but sitting and chatting and, god forbid, enjoying the company of such exiled people made for a big leap for Jace. The eyes of his peers felt less important to him and the eyes of his friends felt more imperative. If he was going to make anyone happy, he would rather it be from people who all weren't secretly hopping he'd fall face first off his entitled pedestal.

"Hey," Alec said with a quick smack of hands with Samson, who smiled and adjusted his glasses from the movement. Jace nodded his head at him in acknowledgment but the boy simply crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes before shifting to focus on Clary, who still hadn't looked up from the sketch she was vigorously working on.

Watching her, soft tumbleweeds of curls falling from the bun loosely formed on her head, tongue slightly peeking through rose-bud lips, large green eyes framed by thick lashes focused entirely on the task at hand made Jace's heart do odd things. Nothing existed to her in that moment and Jace envied her ability to tune out the world around her. As if it suddenly didn't exist. And all that was present were wolves with human eyes racing through a damp forest under a full moonlit sky.

"You're not eating." Alec's voice broke through the mossy floored and chill breezed day dream Jace and Clary seemed to both be having because they both turned to him and blinked for a moment. As if their minds were running to catch up with the words that danced in the open space between them. "Your fruit. . ." His crystal blue eyes glanced down a moment before Clary registered what he said with a soft smile and wave of her hand.

"I've been eating—"

"Clary, you have a full sandwich right in front of you and you haven't even touched your lemonade." Alec said in a warning tone as Clary grinned and jokingly rolled her eyes before taking a large bite of her sandwich.

"Sorry, Dad." Clary said through full cheeks and Jace smiled at her foolish behavior. She winked before ducking her head back down and continuing with her drawing as Alec narrowed his eyes.

Simon opened his mouth as if to speak but Jace found himself beating him to the punch. The words seemed to tumble from his mouth with no control. As if he was too excited to see her, and there was no time to catch them before they fell completely out. "Alec's right," His hand reached out and swiped the sketch book from under her nimble fingers and closed it with the same motion. He placed it gingerly on the seat between himself and Alec as both boys looked at him with wide eyes.

Later, he would learn their astonishment was from the fact that Clary hadn't ripped his arm off with that fateful grab, seeing as no one was allowed to ever touch her precious sketchbook. Clary often referred to it as her diary of sorts. Although, Jace hadn't known this at the time and she had already showed him tons of her artwork. He would later find out how special he truly was for the experience.

"You need to eat," Jace took a bite from his own sandwich before speaking again. "Your creative energy and sketchbook will still be here when you're done."

There was a silence that took over the lunch table as the chatter from the surrounding students fell over them. Jace pulled out his Physics book to get a jump start on his homework before noticing that no one had spoken a word for a few moments prior to his stealing of Clary's sketchbook. He nervously looked up to notice the two boys wide mouths.

"What?" He said after a moment of continued silence. "What's wrong with you two? Are you becoming overwhelmed with my attractiveness?" He smirked as Alec broke his trance and rolled his eyes with a scoff.

"It couldn't possibly be that." Clary said with a smirk of her own as Jace's heart skipped a beat. He realized in that moment that the lump that had taken refuge in his chest was gone now. Being around Clary had that effect on him, like she made it so he could breathe again. "Haven't you ever heard that modesty is an attractive trait?"

"Only from unprepossessing people." Jace said with a wink before addressing the table as a whole and locking eyes with Clary's dear rat faced friend. "For all of you who don't know what that means, it means extremely ugly people. Kind of like you, Simmons."

"My name is Simon!"

"Tomato, Tomahto." Jace shrugged as Alec let out a laugh and Clary placed a soft hand to Simon's shoulder before playfully narrowing her eyes at Jace.

"Leave Simon alone, Jace."

"I was just expressing an opinion. And isn't that what this great country is about?" Jace said in a righteous tone as Isabelle gracefully sat in the seat beside him with a seductive flip of her long flowing black hair.

"Oh, God Jace is spouting off political speech catch phrases. I don't even want to know what I missed." She said with a roll of her eyes as she stole one of Clary's grapes and popped it into her mouth. Jace smirked as Simon followed the movement with his eyes before noticing him and blushing a deep red, narrowing his eyes at the attractive blonde. Jace simply raised his hands up in silent surrender as Jordan took a seat beside Simon and Maia on the opposite of Clary.

"I kind of want to know what I missed." Jordan said with his usual happy-go-lucky smile. Jace blinked for a moment as he finally put his finger on what his brown eyed friend finally reminded him of: a happy, floppy eared dog who was grateful to see his owner after a long day.

"Trust me you really don't." Isabelle rolled her coated black lashes again, before leaning over and stealing a piece of Jace's peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

"Get your own food you she devil." Jace said with a good natured smile as Isabelle gave him a mocking grin in return, his smashed up sandwich lodged in her cheek before sticking her tongue out at him. "Simon was simply getting down on himself about his looks and I was trying to cheer him up by reminding him that modesty is also an attractive trait." Alec let out a bellowing laugh as Clary covered her giggle up with her hand as Simon slammed his hands against the table.

"That's not what happened at all! You're the one who called me ugly!"

Jace blinked a moment before shrugging. "Tomato, Tomahto."

"Ugh," Simon dropped his head in his hands in an uncharacteristic surrender. "I give up."

"Now don't say that, Steven, there's still hope for you yet. Some women go for personality over looks anyway." Jace patted a soft hand to the boy's shoulder who quickly brushed it off with a roll of his eyes. He pushed his glasses into place before address the blonde from across the table.

"That's not even close to my name."

"What's your name again?"

"SIMON!"

"Oh, that's right."

The table laughed again as Isabelle put her hand on Simon's causing the boy to break into a soft smile and letting himself chuckle with the rest of them. Conversation flowed like it usually did as the group broke off in to a ton of different discussions.

Jordan was still trying to get Maia to date him and he had recruited the help of Isabelle to make him seem better than he was. Though if Jace was being honest, Jordan was a great guy. The only mistake the boy had ever made was becoming Jace's close friend. Alec was having a shushed conversation with Clary, who still hadn't taken another bite of her sandwich, about Magnus. Or at least that's what Jace thought it had to be about judging from the blushed expression on Alec's cheeks. But the conversation ended abruptly as Simon cut into to speak to Alec about their Chemistry project for next week.

Jace jumped on the opportunity to steal Clary's attention as he pulled at her fingers and nudged his head to the cafeteria door. She smiled, her hand intertwined with his as they stood and walked through the doors together, their friends paid them no mind as the disappeared from view.

"Finally, I thought I wasn't going to have a second alone with you at all today." Jace said as Clary's back hit the wall and his arms swung around her waist.

Clary frowned for a moment before looking up at him. Her red hair tumbling down her back now and her green eyes wide with worry. "Jace—"

"I mean you are one busy woman. You might just have to pen me in some time in your tight schedule." He smirked as he bet down to place his lips against hers. It was just like everything he had ever thought it would be. Every time he kissed her, it was like the first time all over again. They were soft and plump as he pushed his mouth against hers, her small hands curled fists into his shirt as she pulled him closer. Jace always loved the sound she made as he kissed her, the small gasp she let out before his lips touched hers as if she were surprised he wanted to kiss her at all. That sound did things to him he wasn't proud of, and made him feel as if he were in Junior High all over again. With hormones you couldn't control and urges you always felt—

Clary pushed him away as she dropped her head. Jace having been taken by surprise from the change in pace simply stared at her for a moment before placing a hand to her cheek gingerly. "Clary, what's wrong?"

She shook her head and dislodged his hand before she stared up at him biting her lip. If only she knew what that did to him, he wasn't going to be able to focus if she kept doing that. "Nothing, it's just that. . ."

"Just that what, Clary?"

"I don't know about this—"

Jace put a soft finger to her bottom lip as he gently pulled it from its captured placement under her teeth, Clary paused a moment with a gasp at the movement. "This?"

"You know. . ." For someone who always knew exactly what she wanted to say, she seemed to be struggling with the words right now and Jace's stomach dropped at the tension. "Us."

There was a pause between the two of them as they stared at each other before Jace spoke.

"I knew it! You were avoiding me today!" Jace said with a righteous point of his finger as Clary, taken aback by the change of tune in their conversation, blinked in surprise before smirking. He had told Jordan, Alec, and Isabelle and they had simply just brushed off his suspicions. But he had been right and they had been wrong! He frowned a moment later as his victory didn't feel so victorious.

"I'm not avoiding you per say." Clary shrugged with a soft movement of her slim shoulders. "But I'm not pursuing you either."

Jace shook his head, he wouldn't say her nonchalance wasn't hurtful but he tried not to let it show as he squared his face in his trademark smirk as superior crossing of his arms. It didn't seem to faze Clary as she raised her eyebrows at him. "Last weekend meant nothing to you?"

He tried to keep the emotion from his voice but he knew his eyes gave him away. Clary could always tell what he was feeling anyway, even before he knew what it was.

She closed her eyes slowly before sighing and dropping her arms as if the weight of the world had officially crushed her under its load. She looked up at him with conflicted eyes and a hard swallow of her throat. "No that's not it at all."

Jace felt himself shift too, he knew he was showing exactly what he was feeling. He knew he was being vulnerable, something he had been taught to never do but he couldn't seem to help it around Clary. "Then I'm kind of confused because I thought we—"

"Thought we had what, Jace?" Clary cut him off with a cross of her little freckled arms.

"I don't know." Jace tugged at his hair, it was sure to fall in an awkward angle now but he would worry about that later. "I thought we had something."

Clary stared at him for a moment glancing between his eyes as if waiting and Jace was brought back to another time that seemed years ago rather than just months now. When he had pulled over to the side of the rode in the pouring rain to pick up a lone, fragile hitchhiker. The moment that had changed his life forever. She had waited for him then, waited for him to simply tell her he wanted to help. Not the excuses he used or the false reasons he hid behind but because he genuinely cared and wanted to help.

But this time he was waiting for her as he stared at her with perhaps too much hope in his eyes.

"We do have something, Jace." Clary said as she placed a soft hand to his cheek, he grabbed it immediately seeking anything she was willing to give him. "But what we don't have is enough time."

"What?"

She sighed before stepping back and stealing her warmth with her. "Jace, I'm dying." He flinched at the way she spoke as if she were simply telling him the weather. He hated when she brought it up. A part of his mind was still in denial about the whole thing and he wasn't about to reopen that nest of problems. "I don't expect anything from you. We had fun with our time together but that's all it was." She said with a clap of her hands and another shrug. Her green eyes were guarded and showed nothing to him.

Jace blinked a moment in pure confusion. "What?!"

Clary smiled. "You couldn't even admit we were friends, how are you going to tell them about," She paused for a moment to take breath before gesturing to the open space between them, which in his opinion there was too much of. "Well, whatever this is between us?" Jace didn't say anything, as if too frozen by the shock. "I don't even know what this is Jace. Do you?"

Silence was all Jace could conjure up, because again Clary Morgenstern had stumped him. She was nothing he had ever expected. She leaned forward and kissed his cheek softly before patting him in that same place her lips had once been before walking back the way they had come, back when Jace had been hopeful and not as confused.

"What?" He whispered as the bell rang and people began to scatter to get books and return to classes. People bumped into him before apologizing and scurrying off and Jace could do nothing but stand frozen in confusion and wonder just what the hell even happened.


So this is more of a filler chapter but how was it to see the change in roles? To see Jace get pushed away by Clary?

What will he do to win her back?

We'll just have to wait and see.

Love, Whisper.