Ah ha ha...hey guys! Lemon Berry here. Um, here's the second chapter I promised you guys a while ago. I hope you enjoy it!

Forever

Part 2

Jace's POV

It was such a normal day. Not incredibly sunny, not freezing cold. I didn't have extremely bad luck, nor did I have everything I wanted. What I'm trying to say is...I'm a typical person and it was a typical day. Everything seemed normal, so normal I never expected what had happened.

I was simply walking through the hallways with my buddy Alec and my books in my hands when I encountered Clary. She had cautiously tapped my shoulder lightly, despite her height, and stood behind me. Her mouth was set in a straight, stubborn line and her eyes were hidden by her hair especially since she kept her head down. Clary didn't look me in the eyes but I could tell by her lack of movement that she meant to talk to me. A serious talk.

"Hey..." she says.
I turn around, slightly worried because of her depressing tone, but masked that with a comforting smile to let her know I was ready to offer my help to whatever problem she had. "Hey, Clary." I turn to my left to ask Alec if he could give us some alone time, but there was no need. He had already left.
Clary returned my smile with a small one of her own, "I need to talk to you..." I unconsciously suck in a breath because when someone starts a conversation with those words, it's never good.
"Yeah?" I say reluctantly. I have no idea what is being thrown at me right now, but one thing I do know is that I do not want to know whatever she's going to tell me.
Her next words come out in a rapid blur; she seems a little shocked to hear them come out herself. "We need to stop."
I was scared that this was where the conversation was heading. I feel like I'm driving a car with broken brakes. I want and need to stop so badly, but I can't. I wish for a miracle. A nearly impossible miracle. "What's that suppose to mean?"
"I can't do this with you anymore. We need to stop. End it."
A childish part of me wants to think "End what?" I tell myself she's probably joking. I mean, I joke around with her all the time so it'd make sense for her to want to get revenge on me for making a fool out of her. Still, isn't this a bit too cruel? "Come on, Clary…You're just kidding, right? Don't joke around about this stuff…" I trail off as I see her dead serious expression. This was truly happening. She turns her head away from me, "No joke."

I take back my words. This is a serious problem, alright, but it's not one I can help with. Because I am the problem. I just stand there, dumbfounded. I quickly run through our recent texts and encounters. Nothing out of ordinary had happened. Nothing could prove to be a reason of Clary's outburst. I don't get it. Nothing made sense. My world was crumbling right in front of my eyes, yet my feet wouldn't move. I just stood. Stood and watched helplessly.

"Hold on, Clary-"

She cuts me off and keeps talking, "I need to stop, this isn't working." She opens her mouth as if to say more but decides against it. Then her mouth reopens, "I should have known this was never going to work out in the first place, I was stupid."

I stare at her, stunned. I could not understand. Just yesterday, if any stranger saw us, they'd be able to tell all we needed were each other. No one would have thought the loving couple swinging on the swings would break up the next day.

Still, there was one thing I didn't get. Though her eyes were set and determined, there was a certain sadness that lingered, as if my own eyes were being reflected into hers. What if she doesn't actually want this? What if there was a secret purpose behind this that I didn't know of?

I bite my lip, knowing there's no way out of this. It doesn't matter what Clary's true intentions are, we're still going to break up. And knowing that, I whisper what I knew would be my last words to her, "I…just…I don't understand. How did this happen? I thought…I thought everything was fine." I can hear my voice trembling, which shocked me. But the shock was barely a tickle compared to the punch that was given by Clary's words. I finally look into her eyes and say what I need to say because I know her mouth won't give me an honest reply – if any reply at all – but her eyes will. She flinches a little at the sudden eye contact but looks back at me, bold as always. "Are you sure…? You're sure there's no chance?" She doesn't open her mouth to speak, so I go on. "But just tell me one thing, do you still love me?" She sucks in a breath when I say that. Those words contradicted all that she said. It was as if she just realized that she gave it all away. Clary looks away, before turning away completely and walking away. I watch as her small figure disappears into the crowd of loud teenage idiots. I watch as the love of my life walks away from me.

Being I, the great and mighty Jace Lightwood, our breakup didn't go unnoticed. The girls obviously took it as a gift from above, those idiots never consider me. They never consider that they're treating me like an object; as if I have no feelings. As for the friends of Clary and I, they were utterly shocked. And they looked so devastated. I mean, what are we? Their OTP? I bet they told (begged, more likely) our teacher to assign us as partners for a project. I don't know what they did, but it happened. Clary and I had to work together. And we somehow did. To be honest, the few words we exchanged during that project probably wouldn't add up to the amount of words we'd say to each only on a daily basis when we were dating. The project basically put us into a room where we'd ignore each other and just work silently. I kind of enjoyed being near Clary's presence like this again, despite the obvious awkwardness. Though I didn't let that show. If she asked me a question, I'd reply with a few words as possible. If we actually had to collaborate on something, I'd make it quick. If she got too close to me, I'd move away a little. And most importantly, I'd keep my face clear of any emotion: betrayal, sadness, happiness, anger, frustration, whatever it was, you wouldn't find it on my face. I would try to act oblivious to the quick flashes of pain that came and left her face. But really, who can ignore them? I definitely can't.

My group of idiotic selfish fangirls have started following me again. It's annoying, really. And that's all girls are gonna be from now on. Once you've experienced the best, you want it. You know something that grand exists so you won't be satisfied with anything else but the best. It's like Clary's the sun to my world – there's only one that shines so brightly. None of the stars can outshine the sun – the difference is just too great. However…the sun of my world has burned out.

I burned myself once by accident. It was purely accidental. The day of our breakup, Izzy asked me to help take her cookies out of the oven. At the moment, my brain was dead – I didn't want to do anything, must less help Izzy take out her inedible cookies. I reached my hand directly into the oven without mitts or anything. Just my bare hand reaching in to grab the cookie tray. When the pain registered, I heard Izzy's scream just as I retracted my hand – that being the fastest and most active movement I had made that day. I stared at the red spot on my fingertips and palm. It hurt so much, yet felt surprisingly good. For a second, I was distracted from my romantic issues and became more alert. I kind of just stood there staring at my hand – even as Izzy frantically pulled me to the sink. From then on, the burns became an escape. They were short and temporary and easy to mask as accidents. For most people at least. I could feel the burning questions in my parents' eyes. I could sense the pleading in my siblings' eyes every time I burned myself. I could see Clary's eyes catching quick glances at my hand in between classes.

Speaking of Clary (aren't I always speaking of Clary?), she seemed to be doing alright. No major changes, but there were a few minor ones. She would often show up later to school than usual and barely eat anything during lunch. But they were minor. Maybe she just wanted to get more sleep. And maybe she just wanted to become skinnier. Not that I see any reason why she would want to or need to. But I keep thinking that, to prevent my mind from exploding.

All my questions were answered the day Clary disappeared. I walked into history class and didn't see her at her usual seat. I dismissed my own worries thinking that Clary was probably just sick. But then what happened next had told me otherwise.

Simon came up to me at lunch hissing the words, "We need to talk." I knew this dude didn't like me, but the feeling was quite mutual so I didn't care. My point is he wouldn't talk to me like this without a serious, important reason. What could that reason possibly be?

Flashback:

"Well?" I say, clear impatient, "What do you want? I'm pretty sure you're not here just to experience the glorious Jace."

Simon glares at me, but it quickly leaves his face. "I'm serious. This is important."

There's only one thing Simon would come up to be to talk about, "Important? What is it? You want me to help you pass some level on your stupid game? Come on-"

"It's about Clary."

Those words effectively shut my mouth. I told myself I would not pull my hair out for this girl. I told myself I would stop caring. I told myself there was no love between us. But who am I kidding?

"Yeah?" I feign nonchalance, but even after years of hiding my true emotions, I couldn't stop my voice from giving away my agitation and curiosity.

"She's gone." I suck in a breath. Simon seems to realize his mistake as he quickly adds, "She moved. She's no longer in New York."

I had so many questions to shoot at Simon, each as important as the other, making me want to combine them into one big blob and hope Simon can decipher it; but I keep my questions to myself for a little bit as I slowly begin to connect the dots.

Clary never wanted to end anything.

I repeated those words in my mind, making sure I didn't add or leave out any important words. No. It made sense. I should have known. What kind of girl just randomly comes up to you and requests a breakup after showing no symptoms beforehand? Definitely not Clary. She knew she was moving all along. She broke up with me so we wouldn't have to be like those cliché dramas where the couple tries to keep their long distance relationship going, yet just end up breaking up.

I exhale and close my eyes for a second, trying to process all the information.

"Why? She could have just told me she was going to move. I would have saved both us so much pain and me so much confusion."

Simon shrugged, averting eye contact, "Maybe she thought this way you would stop feeling attached to her."

I look at him in shock, "I have never stopped feeling attached to her. She is on my mind pretty much every second of the day." My voice cracks, "I can't stop thinking about her, Simon. I kept wondering why she broke up with me and I couldn't think of a reason."

Simon just sighed in reply, "Look, she didn't tell me much, okay? But she told me her mom suddenly told her they were moving to Los Angeles. I'm sure you know her mom didn't like you much, and Clary concluded that you were the reason her mom made them move. And I guess…Clary…just…thought it would be better to break up with you in person than try the long distance relationship." Simon looks down, "I miss her, man…"

I close my eyes and run my fingers through my hair as I heave a sigh, "So do I."

After school that day, I sat at my desk scrolling through the contacts on my phone. Clary Fairchild. It's still there, after all this time. I stared at the contact, unsure what I should do now that I've found it. Do I call her? Do I text her? Does she even want to hear from me after all this time? Maybe I should just continue this silence between us, I mean, Simon kind of lightened the pain.

I shook my head. It's been long enough. I can't keep hiding from this.

With shaky hands, I pressed her name and then sent her a quick text.

Hey Clary, remember me?

How was it? Hope you liked it, because this is the end of Forever. I will not be writing anymore.

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-Lemon Berry