A/N Geez, that took a lot longer than I anticipated. I am SOOOOO sorry. It's just that I've been super busy. Anyways, I hope you forgive me :)

Later that evening, I got a text from Jace.

Hey Clary. I got ur numba today from tht guy Simon u were having tht argument with the other day. When I asked him he told me u had a bf. Is tht true or was he just being an over-protective jack-ass about it? I mean, don't get me wrong, I wasn't gonna ask u out or anything but u no…. Anyways….. catch ya l8er. Jace :)

I couldn't help but wonder what the point to the text was but it was cute regardless.

I knew he meant well by the whole 'I wasn't gonna ask you out or anything' but to be honest it stung a little.

I had to continuously remind myself that he had a girlfriend and I had a boyfriend and that we were both happy. Well, I assumed at least he was happy.

As for me, I wasn't so sure.

The next morning I decided that I had given Sebastian the cold shoulder for long enough. As I was walking to school, I planned what I was going to say to him.

I came up with something like: Look Sebastian. You tell me every day you love me and I believe you, I really do. But you never show it, and I'm starting to get sick of it. If you don't pull your act together, I'm not going to stand here and just take it.

What I really wanted to say was something like this: Sebastian, you're a massive dick, jerk and bastard and I know you don't love me at all and I don't love you either so there is really no point in continuing on with this relationship because it is going to go NO WHERE.

But I knew I would never have the guts to say anything like that to him. I was a giant wimp, to be honest.

When I arrived at the school gates I noticed Sebastian hanging around the front door to the office with about three of his friends. I tried to walk past them without them seeing me but my bright red hair stood out like a beacon saying 'I'm here, come and get me!'

One of them, a beefy, brown-headed boy, broke away from the rest of them and started to make his way over to me. I started to walk faster, but I knew my childish strides were no match for his elephant sized ones. Before I managed to get through the gates, he grabbed the back of my bag and brought me to a halt.

"Where do you think you're going, Fray?" He asked, sneering.

I didn't say anything.

This was part of the routine: they'd grab me when no one was looking, drag me off to some secluded area (usually the guy's toilets where they could lock the doors), and then they'd beat the shit out of me for a few minutes. Then I'd get up and move on. I was used to it.

But this time was different.

The boy dragged me over to where Sebastian stood and, after checking no one was looking, Sebastian smacked me across the face, hard. I knew what it was for. But it surprised me; usually Sebastian just stood by and watched while the other boys attacked me. He must have been angrier about me ignoring him than I'd thought.

I then realised that my knees had buckled under the force of his blow and I struggled back up to my feet. If I didn't get up, they would start kicking me, and I was still tender from the last time.

Sebastian brought his arm back, preparing for another smack, when a voice I would've recognised anywhere piped up.

"Oi!"

Holy shit.

Just that one word made me panic. I didn't want him to get involved in my problems and get hurt.

I stood up straight, trying to make it look like I was just talking to Sebastian and his mates. I mustn't have been convincing enough because Jace continued to make his way over to us.

"What the hell are you doing to her?" He asked, his voice menacing.

Jace was a tiny bit shorter that Sebastian; he came up to about the start of Sebastian's hair line, but he was much more muscled than Sebastian, who was also hot but resembled in some ways a stick.

But then again, if Jace were to take on all of Sebastian's friends as well, he would undoubtedly lose.

The thought made me cringe internally.

"Nothing," I said hastily. "We were just… talking?" It came out sounding more like a question.

"You paused." Jace said, moving his glare from Sebastian (who looked vaguely amused by the whole situation) to me.

"Huh?"

"You paused." He repeated. "You had to think about your answer." He looked back to Sebastian, his glare looking murderous now. "Which makes me wonder."

"Wonder what?" Sebastian asked, with a bone-chilling, plain evil smile. "Whether you're as much of an idiot as you look right now?"

His group, who had moved back to stand at Sebastian's shoulders, laughed. Jace ignored them and turned to me. He put a hand on the small of my back and started to walk me through the gates.

"C'mon, Clary. I think we should-"

"Where do you think you're taking her?" Sebastian started to follow us. "We're not done here."

"Oh, but I think we are." Jace moved his hand and brought it down into mine. My breath hitched. But he didn't hold it there. He simply pulled me through the gates the rest of the way, whispered in my ear: "Go to your next class," and then he walked back to face Sebastian.

My heart was pounding in my chest.

I all of a sudden wanted a weapon in my hands.

To have at least something that I could use to gouge Sebastian's eye out if he so much as laid a finger on Jace.

I couldn't hear what either of them were saying to each other, but key words stood out. I heard my name said more than twice.

Sebastian took a step forward and pushed Jace on the shoulder. Jace didn't budge, which put a very shocked look on Sebastian's face.

Damn, I thought, how the hell does he stay upright? One tiny push from Sebastian and I'm rolling around on the floor.

Sebastian looked Jace up and down, sizing him up.

Then he lunged.

He went for Jace's torso, trying to knock him to the ground. Jace simply stepped to the left, avoiding him entirely, leaving Sebastian grabbing at the air.

"You know," Jace said, looking thoughtful, "You really shouldn't make it so obvious when you're about to make a move."

Sebastian looked at him as though he was mentally challenged. Jace stuck out a finger and pointed it at Sebastian's feet.

"You step," he said, looking at Sebastian's shoes with a mixture of amusement and mocking on his face. "You step before you move. Which, might I add, is one of the most stupid things to do in a fight."

Sebastian's face had turned a bright red during Jace's little speech. He went for Jace again.

Jace dodged him as easily as he had the first time.

"You are an arrogant bastard, aren't you?" Jace smirked.

Sebastian moved again.

But Jace had moved out of his reach already.

"I try to give you advice," He went on, "And you completely ignore me."

I half expected Sebastian to give up, but he kept trying and trying, and Jace kept dodging and dodging.

Sebastian was usually so careful to make sure that no one ever saw him do anything violent, but he was in such a rage that he didn't even notice that a small crowd had started to form.

Among them I noticed the boy and the girl from the park the other day. Both of them had the smallest of smiles playing on their lips.

Simon was also there. I hadn't seen him in ages, and the sight of him made me want to run over to him and apologize and apologize. He looked just about as gob-smacked as everyone else in the crowd.

Sebastian was tiring. It was obvious by the way her moved; sluggish and slow.

Jace on the other hand, was full of beans, jumping and even skipping out of the way, which made Sebastian even madder.

Sebastian jumped at Jace and managed to catch Jace's sleeve just before he could get away. He gave it a tug and pulled Jace's body to him. He got Jace in a headlock and said in Jace's ear: "I'm the boss of this school, you little bitch."

Jace just laughed which made Sebastian tighten his grip around his throat, causing Jace to gasp.

"What did you say?" Sebastian said, bringing his ear down to Jace's mouth. "I could've sworn you said something."

"I… did," Jace gasped.

Sebastian smirked. "And what was that?"He asked.

"I said," Jace paused.

"Screw you."

He brought his shoe down hard on Sebastian's foot, digging the heal of his boot into Sebastian's toes and at the same time, digging his elbow deep into Sebastian's ribs.

"Argh!" Sebastian screamed, letting go of Jace and trying to clutch his foot and ribs at the same time.

Jace spun around and shoved Sebastian in the chest, which made Sebastian fall to the ground.

Jace put his foot over Sebastian's throat, making Sebastian freeze.

Jace looked down on him calmly.

"Next time," he said in a very civilized tone, "try to control your anger issue. I don't want to have to kick your sorry ass again."

And with that, he withdrew his foot from Sebastian's throat and walked inside the school, the dark haired boy and girl following after him, leaving everybody, including Sebastian, staring after them.

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