*All the characters from The Mortal Instruments belong to Cassandra Clare and her incredible mind. Nothing will ever be owned by the author of this story. ;)*

Musical Preference:

If I Ever Feel Better- Phoenix

Post Modern Girls- The Strokes [Feat. Regina Spektor]

Dani California- Red Hot Chilli Peppers

;) Enjoy.

Chapter Three

"Bane?" Jace asked in a commanding voice as he opened the door to the sale's representative's office. He was going personally since they hadn't hired a new secretary since he had fired the Rae girl.

Sitting behind a good looking old-fashioned desk was a man in a stylish violet suit. His hair was spiked to perfection and his green eyes were looking up at him under glasses. He stopped typing once he saw who it was and took off his glasses.

"Yes, Mr. Wayland?" he drawled in a bored tone. Jace's eyebrow rose. He walked to the center of the office.

"I filed a request for a new secretary a few days ago. I still don't see someone sitting outside my office answering my calls. Would you mind telling me what the problem is?" Magnus placed his glasses back on and began typing once again on his computer.

"Well, it seems there has been a shortage of efficient secretaries. I got an email a few hours ago on it. They said they would bring in an employee as soon as possible." Magnus stopped typing and looked back at his boss. "They apologize for the inconvenience."

Jace detected something in his voice but didn't say anything. Mr. Bane was one of his few loyal employees who actually did his work right.

"Good," he began turning around to go back to his office when he remembered something. "Oh, and Ban—"

"Hey, Maggie!" Jace frowned as he turned around. Standing on the door was Camille. Her eyes widened when they saw him, but she quickly smiled. "Hey, Jace! I didn't know you were here." Jace was about to snort but reminded himself he was in front of an employee.

"Miss Belcourt." He nodded. Camille rolled her eyes while laughing.

"Oh, God! Now, that was precious! Did you get it Magnus?" Jace turned to look at Magnus as he shook his head with a smile.

"I was too impressed to do much, actually." He chuckled to himself and, from behind Jace, Camille joined in. Jace turned around completely to look at Camille. He rolled his eyes at her.

"Did you just come in?" he asked her. Camille nodded and held up her phone.

"I called your secretary to in—Oh, wait!" She grinned. "You ain't got a secretary!" She walked up to Jace with a smile before taking a seat on one of Magnus's chairs. Jace put one of his hands on the backrest of the chair.

"The difference between you and the others is that you actually have my phone number," he told her

"Not only me," she said while playing round with her phone. "Maggie has it too."

Jace frowned down at her before his eyes widened. He looked up at Magnus who was busy on his computer but Jace could see the suppressed smile on his lips.

"You gave him," he gestured at him in a harsh whisper, "My phone number?" Camille looked up at him and smiled with a nod. Jace rolled his eyes.

"I hope," spoke up Magnus, "That it's not a problem, of course."

Jace began walking to the door, his earlier question completely forgotten. Opening the door, he turned around and looked Magnus square in the eye.

"Put that number to good use."

"Sir?" Jace turned back to Magnus who was looking at him questioningly. Camille was grinning at him.

"Call me when you throw another party."

w.^.w

"Miss?" Clary turned around. Big brown eyes were staring at her with a toothless smile. Clary smiled and kneeled down.

"Yes, sweetie?" she asked with a smile. The girl beamed and showed Clary the paper in her hands.

"I'm done with my drawing!" Clary nodded and took it from her. It was a tree with big red apples and flowers on a grassy plain. Clary grinned.

"Wow, Sophie! This is really good!" Sophie's smile widened.

"You think so, Miss?" Clary nodded. "It's the tree on my backyard."

"In your backyard, you mean." Sophie nodded with a smile. "That's a huge tree! Do you eat the apples from there?" Sophie nodded again.

"Yes, ma'am. Mom picks them up and then cuts them up to make apple pie!" Clary beamed at the little girl.

"Mm, I bet it's very yummy, huh?" Sophie nodded. "Well, since you're done you can just go back to your desk and do whatever you like."

"Okay, Miss Fray!" Sophie turned around and skipped to her desk. Clary shook her head as she went back to grading some spelling tests.

The bell rang signaling the end of the day for the kids. Clary stood up from her desk and walked towards the door to open it. Parents were walking towards the room to pick up the kids. They smiled kindly at her. Smiling back she turned back to the class who was in a line with their backpacks.

"Ronnie, Kelsie, Adriana, and Rebecca. They're here for you all." Smiling, they went to the front and out the door to greet their parents.

In almost ten minutes, all of the class was gone but by three kids. One of them, the smallest one went up to Clary.

"Miss Fray?"

Clary looked down to see David. "Yes?"

"Where is that dark man that would stand on that corner," he pointed, "And smile when you looked at him?" He asked sweetly. Clary's eyes widened. She kneeled down.

"David," she began with a sigh, "I'm sorry to say he won't be coming anytime soon. You may never see him again. People come and go all the time."

David frowned. "Did he not want to be friends with you anymore?"

Clary laughed. "It was the other way around, actually."

David gasped. "But, Miss! That's not nice! Everyone should have friends!"

"Yes," she said, "But people are sometimes mean. And no one likes mean people, right?" David shook his head.

"No. I don't like mean people." Clary smiled at him.

"Exactly. But just because they are mean means that you can be mean to them, okay? You have to be the better person." David nodded and smiled.

"David?" Clary looked up to see David's mom in the doorway. Clary smiled at her and she did the same.

"Have a nice weekend, David," she told him. He began walking towards his mom. She took his hand and kissed his cheek. He wiped it off with disgust on his face. Clary grinned and got up to go sit with the two other girls who were left.

"Miss Fray?" Clary turned to see David on the doorway with a goofy grin. "Try making new friends!" With that, he took off running after his mom.

Clary tilted her head to the side as she stared at the place were David had just been. She felt a smile creep onto her mouth.

Sometimes, she learned more from them than them learning from her.

w.^.w

"Clarissa Morgenstern Fray," she said. He cracked a smile.

"Oh, fancy!" She laughed because she knew very well that it was true.

"Yes, I know. Yours?" She asked as she took a drink of her coke.

"Jordan Hugh Kyle," he said. Her eyes widened.

"Hugh?" He laughed and Clary liked the way his hazel eyes twinkled.

"Yup. Like the Hugh Hefner," he said with a shrug. Clary, though, started laughing.

"Playboy's Hugh Hefner?" She asked after recovering.

"The one and only." He grinned at her.

Simon and Isabelle had the great idea of fixing up a blind date for Clary with a friend of theirs. Clary hadn't been too fond of the idea when it was presented to her, but David's words made her at least give it a try.

Try making new friends!

They still made her smile.

Besides, Jordan was looking to be a pretty decent guy. He hadn't done anything inappropriate. Yet. He was a piece of man, alright. Brown skin, longish black curls, tall, broad, and hazel eyes.

Okay . . . So he is pretty hot, she thought.

He smiled at her. "So tell me about yourself Clarissa."

"Oh, please," she smiled, "Call me Clary."

He nodded. "Will do." He motioned with his eyes for her to answer his question.

"Well," she began, "I'm a teacher at Polk Elementary, but am taking night school to master in art. My favorite color is red. I can't raise just a single eyebrow and I like raspberries." She smiled as he shook his head with a laugh. "You?"

"I am an architect at the moment. Excelled in design at high school. Favorite color is blue. I can make my tongue into a taco and I like bananas." Clary couldn't help it; she laughed.

"Let's just hope that sentence doesn't have double meaning," she told him quietly. His eyes widened and he howled in laughter.

"Oh—no!" And he started laughing again. Clary laughed along.

His laugh is contagious, she thought.

"Good!" She said.

Their food came to the table and they resumed the small talk.

"So what grade do you teach?" He asked her as he cut a piece of his steak.

"First. Honestly, I wanted Pre-K, but it seems they put all the new teachers in first grade." Jordan raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, really? Why Pre-K?"

"They idolize you more if you're nice to them. They're less trouble. But I'm not complaining. I have great kids. They're so small I wish I could put them in my pocket and take them home!"

Jordan laughed. "That didn't sound creepy at all." Clary grinned.

"Nope. It didn't." She told him. "So, architect? You must be really good at math, I suppose." He shrugged.

"Eh, I'm average, if you get me." Clary nodded.

"Yeah, I wasn—" Clary and Jordan both frowned as they heard the clatter of plates crashing to the floor followed closely after cursing. They turned to look at a waitress apologizing to someone on a booth. The person was hidden behind the tall upholstery. Clary recognized the voice, she just didn't know from where.

"—ur fucking shoelaces untied or something? Can't you do your fuckin—"

The girl flinched as the person—clearly a man by the voice—scolded, yelled, at the girl for her foolishness. Clary's lips tightened. The girl looked no older than eighteen and was, obviously, new at her job. Clary had been there and done that. She had gotten scolded plenty of times, and she knew how it felt. Suddenly—feeling very bold—she stood up, excusing herself from Jordan, and made her way to the booth.

w.^.w

Ah, great, he thought.

He glared up at the girl. She should've been more careful. Jace didn't know how she managed to trip, but she did. And what did that mean? It meant spaghetti and ice cream all over his suit. Jace didn't like it one bit.

With disgust clear on his face, he began cursing her. "What the fuck is your problem? Are your fucking shoelaces untied or something? Can't you do your fucking job right? Ah, fuck!" The girl looked bad and Jace knew why. Someone like him could get her fired just like that. And he would if he wanted to.

He started getting out of the booth, napkin in hand in order to take off the strands of flour off him. Standing up, the girl backed away, tears and fear in her eyes. He didn't care. All he cared about was the way his dress shirt was sticking to his skin.

"Do you see what you did?" He yelled at her. "I hope you ar—"

"I think that is enough!" A familiar female voice broke into his scolding. Just then did Jace notice how quiet the restaurant had gotten. He turned around to look at the woman behind him.

Her eyes widened and darkened instantly. As her mouth turned to a scowl, she crossed her arms over her chest. "I should've known."

He cocked his head with a smirk. "Well, this is quite interesting." She rolled her eyes and walked up to the girl who was still cowering under her tray.

"What the hell is your problem? She made one mistake and you blow up on her. Get off her case!" Clary put her arm around the girl, even when the girl was taller than her.

"Did you not see what she did?" Jace scowled at the girl. She flinched. Clary scoffed.

"Yes, as a matter of fact. I did. And you are being a complete ass over it. It's just a shirt, you idiot." Anger overwhelmed Jace. He couldn't understand why it was so important for her to protect the other girl.

"I suggest you stop, Ginger." Clary barred her teeth and glared at him. She left the girl and started walking up to him until they were just inches apart.

"What are you going to do if I don't, Blondie, huh? Call daddy?" She taunted, narrowing her green eyes. Jace glared right back at her. Suddenly, Clary wasn't on his face anymore.

"Guys, let's cool out, yeah?" Jace saw a guy about his own stature with hazel eyes grabbing Clary by the shoulders.

"Yeah, Clary. Cool out." Jace taunted. Clary looked about to growl. The guy behind her looked confused.

"You know him, Clary?" She shrugged him off, never taking her eyes off Jace.

"Unfortunately," she replied stepping closer to him.

"You say that like if meeting me was a bad thing, Clary." He knew she was getting pissed. Beyond pissed.

"Because it was a bad thing, damn it! It was the worst mistake I've ever made, Jace," she hissed. He stepped closer to her with a smirk.

"That's not what you were saying the other night," he whispered harshly to her. Her eyes widened in anger.

Suddenly he felt a blinding pain on his left cheek as his head jerked to the side. He brought his hand up to where Clary had just slapped him.

"The fuck?" He yelled, mad.

"Call me, okay? I'm so sorry, Jordan." He heard her tell the other guy. He opened his eyes to see her walking towards him with a glare. She turned abruptly to her right and went directly to the door. The little bell chimed announcing her departure. The manager came out of nowhere, finally noticing the disruption.

Jace looked back at the guy. He looked uncomfortable. He turned back to the poor girl and talked to her. She nodded and walked quickly away from them. Jace rolled his eyes.

"Ah, fuck it," Jace muttered to himself. With the napkin, he got all the spaghetti off and most of the ice cream. Fishing out fifty dollars out of his wallet, he left it on the table, and went out the front door as well.

w.^.w

She couldn't believe how easily she lost control of herself. At one moment she was laughing happily with Jordan, the next slapping Jace in front of everyone at the restaurant. Jace just really knew how to push her buttons, and she didn't like it.

Huffing, she walked into an alley that would get her home faster. She hadn't wanted to hail a cab.

"Stupid asshole and his stupid words and his stupid manners and his stupidly good-looking hair an—" she droned on and on, insulting Jace in any way possible.

She jumped a puddle, not wanting to dirty the shoes that Isabelle had let her borrow just for the occasion. She had her bag on her hand which only contained her phone, lipstick, and a few bucks. Basically useless.

A hand closed around her forearm. Clary's eyes widened as she turned around, her fist ready to connect with the hobo that wanted to smuggle her. The alley was dark, but she expected to hear the sickening crunch of his nose breaking under her knuckles . . .

That never came because a hand closed around her hand.

Okay, then, she thought, panicking slightly. Plan B.

She stepped on the man's foot and heard a satisfying groan come from the taller man. She prepared her other leg, ready to kick him where it would hurt him the most, but she never had the chance to because the man spun her around and pressed her whole body against his chest. Her breath left her lungs instantly.

She struggled and felt as the man chuckled. Clary was becoming more scared as every second passed.

"Nice moves, Ginger," the man told her, and she felt her blood boiling. He let her go and she didn't spend more than just one second to turn to look at him. He was smirking at her as he passed a hand through his hair.

"What the fuck do you want?" she asked him bitterly, getting defensive.

"I wanted to apologize," he told her. Clary could have laughed if he had not been too damned serious.

"For what, you dickhead?" He chuckled.

"For everything. Or, if you want me to be more specific, for pissing you off so much. One day you'll get sick from your outbursts and then the bill would be on me." He shrugged.

"Well," she began, "I don't forgive you." She smiled at him and turned on her heel to keep walking down the alley. She heard the resounding steps of his feet hitting the cement as he followed her.

"Come on, Clary! I'll try to be nice."

She looked over her shoulder. "You are not capable of doing that."

Before she knew it, she was pinned against the wall completely immobilized by his body. She looked up at his golden eyes that seemed to glow in the dark. "Try me."

"I don't want to," she whispered. He looked from one of her eyes to the other. After a few seconds he sighed.

"Let me make it up to you."

"And if I don't want you to make it up to me?"

He got closer to her face until his breath was hitting her cheeks. "I won't let you go." She narrowed her eyes.

"You wouldn't dare . . ." Her thought trailed away as his lips began tracing her jaw bone.

"I just want to get to know you, Clary." Her breath left her as his lips reached just below her earlobe. She felt something hard against her stomach but didn't say anything knowing what it was.

"Why would you want to do that?" She asked quietly. He flicked out his tongue, licking her earlobe before biting it. She gasped and squirmed, but didn't move away.

"I want to be your friend," he whispered harshly.

Try making new friends!

The phrase resounded through her head over and over again. It seemed to melt just like her common sense. She wasn't thinking straight. She couldn't. Not with his bulge pressed against her and his lips teasing her.

"O—okay," she heard herself saying. She felt his lips against her cheek smiling.

"Great."

:D I had this schedule done by camibandlover which was basically updating this on Sunday and Remembering Sunday on Wednesday of this week (which will happen. I will make it happen) and I updated this early because tomorrow I will be going to ComicCon like every nerd out there. :D

I hope this satisfied you guys. I want to get an update out every week (either RS or BA. I really don't mind the order. Not anymore).

Thanks to camibandlover for the schedule. ;) BlondeHairBlueEyes14 because she says I want to murder her. And 07XReflectional who will be going to ComicCon with me like a total geek! :DD (I apologize to you MDDness in advance. ;)) [PS: Next year I'm dressing as a Pokeball, girl. Got it? xD]

Now, :D Jace is so sexy. And mean. And such an ass! xD Would you mind leaving a small (or big. I like long reviews) . . .

Review? :D