The walk to the gym was the same as it was everyday, except when the group of girls a year above Jace giggled as he walked by, he didn't see their blond hair bouncing, he didn't see their lips pouting or their eyes looking up through their eyelashes at him, he didn't notice anything. He went into the change room, acknowledging some of the other guys he had pretended to befriend as a means to blend in. He changed quickly, walking out into the gymnasium.

"Clary Fray" he heard a teacher call out, causing him to spin around in the direction of the voice, it was his gym teacher, looking down at the sheet for role call. Jace was still in the back corner of the gym, and didn't see the girl, but he was still able to hear a small "here" from somewhere near the teacher. He held back a grin. The teacher continued on through the list, when his name was called he looked directly at Clary, "here." He watched her blush and suddenly become obsessed with her nails. Out of the corner of his eye he saw another student looking at Clary, a disgusting look on his face, Jace didn't need to be a mind reader to know what the boy was thinking. Jace stepped closer to the boy, to block his view of Clary, suddenly feeling protective of her.

Their teacher explained to the class that today they would be beginning the dance unit, a mixture of groans and moans came from the students. Clary closed her eyes, mentally reminding herself to breath. She looked up to see a group of girls all suddenly look over at Jace, smiling profusely. She felt her body tense.

"Instead of letting you pick your partners, I've decided to pull names from my list, to partner people up," the teacher explained.

It seemed as if it took the whole class for Clary's name to finally get called, there was only three boys left, Jace, a quiet looking boy with brown hair and glasses, and a short, round boy with red curly hair and more freckles than she had ever seen before. She stared at the boy with brown hair, deciding he would be a safer partner than Jace.

"Clary, you will be partnered with…."he closed his eyes and pointed to a name, "Simon."

She breathed a sigh of relief, walking over to the brown haired boy with glasses who had looked up at the sound of his name. She introduced herself. She looked over in time to see a girl with long blond hair, curled perfectly, reapply her lipgloss, shove it into her bra and walk up confidently to Jace. He looked at the girl and smiled, taking her into his arms to start dancing.

"Um…" Simon started, clearing his throat; he awkwardly grabbed Clary's hand and placed his other hand on her shoulder blade, obviously unsure of where to touch her. She pulled her eyes away from Jace and his partner and laughed awkwardly with Simon, they shuffled back and forth, craning their necks to see what the other students were doing.

"Ouch!" Clary cried looking down at her foot that Simon had just stepped on, the couples around them looked over, Clary saw Jace's shoulder shudder as if he was laughing. Clary and her partner continued to shuffle in circles, both focusing intensely on their feet. When class ended Simon apologized profusely for stepping on her feet several more times.

"It's okay, Simon, I'm fine" Clary said politely, meaning what she was saying. He seemed to finally realize that she wasn't just being nice and his shoulders relaxed. They talked for a few moments about their schedules, Clary relaxed. She found out that they had first period math together, she admitted that she didn't know where that class was and Simon offered to meet her in front of the school in the morning to show her.

Clary walked into the change room, at first not noticing the stares that the girls gave her, giggling to themselves. It wasn't until she heard one girl whisper to her friend something nasty about Simon. She closed her eyes and bent her head down. She grabbed her clothes and went into a bathroom stall to change.

"Cool tattoo" a girl said from the stall beside her, "is it tribal?"

Clary hesitated a moment before realizing the girl was talking to her about the ink on her ankle.

"Um, yeah, thanks,"

Both girls emerged from their stalls at the same time, smiling awkwardly. The girls introduced herself as Maia, confidently putting her hand out to shake Clary's. Clary smiled and introduced herself. She walked back to her locker and pulled out her combat boots, tying them tightly. She walked out of the change room and to the front of the school, waiting for the bus to come.

While waiting, Clary realized that her toes were extremely cold, and going numb. She bent down to loosen her boots. When she did, a boy walked by bumping Clary's back with his leg. Clary fell forward onto the road. A car honked and swerved around her, not coming close enough for it to be considered a "close call" but enough to leave her shaking. She felt someone grab her arm and pull her back onto the sidewalk. She closed her eyes, hoping it wouldn't be Jace, she opened them and relaxed. She paused a moment, looking at his bright blue eyes and dark hair.

"Alec," she breathed. He looked at her with concern in his eyes, asking if she was alright, she nodded yes and stood up, brushing dirt off her knees. The boy laughed to himself at Clary, the same boy who had pushed her. Clary stood up, glaring, when she noticed something black flash over the boy's shoulder. Before she could figure out what it was her bus pulled up, Clary thanked Alec again and stepped on to the bus, pushing her way to the back. She saw Alec get on the bus but wasn't sure where he had ended up.

The next morning Clary woke up feeling well rested, it was the first night in weeks that she slept peacefully, uninterrupted by night terrors. She got ready quickly, pulling on her favorite jeans and top. She threw her hair up into a ponytail and wrapped a thin scarf around her neck. She ran downstairs grabbing her bag and plugged her earphones into her phone. Before she left the house she looked in the front mirror, she grabbed her aviators and put them on, smiling at her reflection. Clary walked to her bus stop feeling slightly less nervous now that she knew a few people.

Jace woke up groggily and peered out his window, trying to get a glimpse of the room in the house next to his, the blinds were still closed. He pulled on his jeans, a black t-shirt and his lucky leather jacket. Checking his pockets to make sure he had everything he walked out the door, headed to school. Izzy and Alec were both still asleep, they had free period first thing everyday. Jace was used to waking up at the crack of dawn so he didn't mind having to wake up while they continued to drool all over their pillows.

Clary got off the bus, immediately looking for Simon, she saw him standing near the flag pole and waved. He gave her a cup of something steaming when she reached him, she smelled it; mint tea. She smiled and thanked him shyly as they walked to class. They were the first to arrive in the class; they picked two seats side by side, Clary next to the window. She began opening her books and students slowly started to fill the remaining seats while she pushed her earphones into her ears again. Moments before the bell rang Jace walked in. At first Clary didn't notice him, she was too focused on her drawing. Someone tapped her on the shoulder and she looked up pulling her earphone out and slapping her book shut quickly. Jace looked down at her.

"Is this seat taken?" he asked gesturing to the desk in front of her where her bag was sitting. She reached for it quickly nodding no.

The class went by slow, but Clary didn't mind, in fact she enjoyed math, even though she didn't technically need to take it, or any class for that matter. She spent the class drawing and listening to her music through the earphone she had left in. She drew a pair of eyes, large, detailed and in the center of the page. They seemed to stare back at her, portraying so many different emotions and feelings, and yet remained distant. She had drawn the same eyes the night before, she wasn't completely sure of whose they were, but at the same time they seemed incredibly familiar.

The bell rang and Simon waved goodbye as he walked to his next class, Clary slowly closed her books and put everything into her bag, completely aware of the person that was focused on her, studying her. She looked up to face Jace, her skin heating up and betraying her, she had promised herself she would not blush around him anymore. They walked to their lockers in silence, her hands clutched tightly around the straps of her bags, his resting in his jacket pockets. She looked up and saw the eyes of many girls staring at her, some just staring, others even glaring at her. She looked back down and walked into Jace's shoulder, he had turned and stopped at his lock without her realizing, she quickly walked to hers and pulled open the door, her heart pounding from her clumsiness.

Jace looked over at the girl from the corner of his eye, he took in as much as he could, her dark red hair, her jacket and the way it sat on her, her jeans riding her hips, revealing the same black lines he had seen the day before, he swallowed the lump that had appeared in his throat. She closed her locker, pulling his eyes away from her hips and back to her face. She looked at him curiously before walking by him, close enough for her arm to brush against his back, heat shot up from where she had touched him, causing him to take a deep breath. He heard her do the same. Clary rushed off to their next class and he slowly turned to follow.

As Clary walked to her next class she couldn't focus on anything that was happening around her, only the heat that had shot up her arm engulfing her entire body after touching Jace slightly. So focused on her thoughts, Clary didn't notice the same boy who had pushed her onto he road the day before, staring at her. She was walking at a fast pace when suddenly the boy turned and stopped in front of her, aiming his right shoulder forward slightly.

As Clary looked up she collided with the boy, his shoulder hitting her nose first, hearing a crack. His elbow followed to her chest. She gasped and fell down, her eyes watering and nose aching, her chest pounding from the pain and shock, she fell onto her tailbone, another sharp pain shooting up her back. She touched her nose quickly and saw a trail of blood run down her hand and wrist. She looked up in time to see Jace step over her and punch the boy in the face. The boy stumbled back slightly but the impact hardly seemed to affect him.

By now a crowd had begun to form, trying to see what was happening. Jace grabbed the boy by his collar and pressed him up against the wall. Clary tried to hear what Jace had said but her head was pounding. Jace threw the boy to the ground after saying something through clenched teeth and spun around quickly to lift Clary up. He grabbed her bag for her while she held her face, rushing her to a bathroom. They turned a corner and he pulled her into a bathroom. A girl looked up from the mirror, first at Jace and then at Clary, she grabbed her belongings and left. Jace locked the bathroom door and led Clary over to the sink. She leaned against the counters while Jace grabbed a handful of paper towels from the dispenser, he put them against her nose gently. She still gasped from the pain.

"You…you shouldn't be here" Clary slurred, her head spinning. Jace leaned back slightly. "This is a bathroom for girls only,"

Jace laughed, tilting her head back to try and stop the bleeding. They stood there quietly, Clary holding herself up with her hands on the counter. After a while her wrists became soar. She lifted one off the counter to move it around and give it a break. She fell to the side, losing her balance. Before she could hit the ground Jace grabbed her waist and steadied her, he lifted her onto the counter and placed his hands on either side of her hips. She closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the mirror. Jace looked at her face, the blood flow was slowing finally, his eyes trailed down her cheek and to her neck, he saw a pale white scar the stretch down her neck, beside her throat. His eyes continued down, stopping to see her chest, which had now turned purple and green from the boy's shoulder.

"Wait here," Jace said suddenly, her eyes fluttering open, "Don't. Move. Okay? I'll be right back."

Clary nodded and leaned her head against the mirror again. He left the bathroom for a few minutes. When he came back he locked the door again and showed her two ice packs, she looked at him confused, taking one and holding it lightly against her nose. He took the second one and held it to her chest, carefully touching the bruise, which had already gotten worse. She shivered and he looked at her, she smiled weakly. They stayed like that for a long time until the bleeding had stopped. Clary finally took the ice and paper towels from her face, Jace gasped as he noticed her perfect nose was now slightly bent; broken. She ushered him out of the washroom saying she needed a few minutes to herself, ignoring his pleas to let him bring her to the nurse. She closed the door and leaned against it, locking it once more.

Jace paced back and forth outside the washroom for what seemed like an eternity, he pressed his ear to the door and heard a soft whimper coming from the other side. He knocked on the door softly, the whimpering stopped. A moment later Clary came out, smiling. Her eyes were red and puffy from crying, Jace looked at her nose seeing that, other than a bit of swelling, it looked the same as it had early, perfectly straight. He shook his head, telling himself he had only imagined the crookedness before. She had put make up on, covering the bruising on her nose, under her eyes and on her chest.

It took Clary a while to register everything that had happened in the last hour. She looked up and stared at Jace's face for a moment before everything finally hit her. Her face reddened and she rushed off, not even saying good-bye to Jace. He stepped forward as if to stop her but instead he only lowered his hand to his side, walking in the other direction to their class. He would only be there for the remaining fifteen minutes but he didn't care, he needed an excuse to stop him from finding the boy that had hurt Clary.