Alright, here goes the next chapter! Though I received no reviews for the last chapter, I was watching the stats on the views and I noticed quite the uptick in people reading! So, a hello and very warm welcome to everyone who have started reading my story and even to those who possibly got a notification that I posted and came back to keep reading. Thank you all for your support, it means a lot!

Disclaimer: I still don't own anything other than bits and pieces of the plot and some of the dialogue, thanks plenty to Cassandra Clare.

Simon POV

Simon jingled the keys to his house in his hands nervously. He stood mostly motionless before the front door of his home, knowing that when he walked inside he was likely to be met by a very angry version of his mother. She had messaged him a couple of hours previous to come home right away and that they "had to talk." Simon figured the most likely reason for her anger and insistence was that she had finally found out that Simon had gotten into the Shadow Nyx High. Not long after Clary got in, Simon did everything he could to convince her that it was the right choice, even going as far as asking his big sister Rebecca to go ahead and sign the papers for him and not telling his mother that he had applied. He figured that by the time he got in he might have already convinced her that it was a good plan and she would forgive him for having already done it. That was not seeming to be the case. Not long ago he got a letter stating that he had gotten in and giving him his team color, red, and providing him with a schedule to start on Monday morning. Rebecca and Simon had gone up to Springbrook together and withdrew him from his classes and gathered all of his things from his locker.

"You know you're going to have to tell her now," Rebecca had told him sympathetically.

"I know, I just don't get why she's so against it." He shook his head sadly, reaching up to ruffle his unruly hair.

Rebecca was only a couple of inches shorter than Simon, with dark brown hair, her eyes the color of cinnamon, and a fair splaying of freckles across her nose. They looked similar in the way siblings did, but you could tell that she was older and wiser than he simply by the way she held herself. She was always the type to adore a vintage style, choosing to wear clothing from the 70's or 60's, with big flopping hats and long dangly necklaces. "I don't know, I think she's just worried that you're going to be out of your element there, maybe she thinks you'll become someone she won't recognize? But I know you better than that, little bro. I'll always be able to recognize you, even if your eyes turned red, or you got face tattoos, or grew fangs or something. You can count on me, dummy." She smiled at him lovingly, and then reached up and ruffled his hair. "I have to catch the train if I want to make it back to the dorm before curfew, call me if you need anything, ok?" And with that she turned on her heel and ran off.

Simon wished she had come home with him, sometimes when Rebecca was around his mom softened herself a little bit, might be a little more prone to reason. Without her, Simon was stuck defending himself, which was hard to do when you stumbled over your words constantly. Simon took a deep breath and balled his fists a little bit tighter. He could do this, he had to, eventually his mom would notice that he was taking too long to come inside and she'd be even more upset. With a swift movement, Simon shoved the house key into the lock, turned it, and opened the door. "Mom?" He called. "I'm home! You said you wanted to talk?" He looked around the room, stepping inside a little farther and seeing that the room was decorated a little bit more religiously than he was used to. Was there a Jewish holiday coming up that Simon had forgotten about? He didn't think so. He started mentally counting the days and trying to tell what was next when his mother walked in and stopped abruptly. Elaine Lewis was a small woman, even shorter than Rebecca was. Her hair used to be black and full bodied, but now it was streaked with grey. She wore reading classes now, they sat on the tip of her nose, as if she had just been reading a book.

"You lied to me." Elaine said matter-of-factly. In her hand she clutched the acceptance letter to Shadow Lyn, it was wrinkled and tear stained, as if She had been staring at it and angrily crying over it for several hours.

"No, no I didn't lie," Simon admitted, holding his hands up as if to not scare an angry bear. "I simply omitted that I had already applied when we last talked."

Her face twisted in anger; she shook the paper at him. "How? How did you even apply? I didn't sign anything." She accused.

Simon sulked his head in embarrassment, he couldn't meet her eyes. He now had to throw his older sister under the bus as he was asked a direct question. No, he couldn't do it, "I forged it." He lied.

Elaine took a deep gasp, "That is a sin!" She looked directly at the star of David sitting over the mantlepiece and then back at Simon. "You are a sinner!"

Simon didn't remember his mother ever being this religious. She had always celebrated all of the major holidays and had read the scripture, the kids had had Bat and Bar Mitzvahs respectively, but beyond that, there wasn't usually any punishment over sins. "I… mom it was just a white lie… I had to do it, you wouldn't listen to reason." Her attitude reminded him strongly of how she acted after his dad died. She was regressing again for some reason and he didn't know why.

"I want you out, out!" She suddenly yelled at him. She wouldn't go near him, as if he were some sort of monster, but she shook her hand angrily and pointed at the door.

"Oh-okay mom, I'll just go to Clary's for a couple of hours and then I'll come back and we can talk about this." He told her, he still held his hands up, but now he backed away toward the door, still facing her all the while.

"No, I want you out permanently, you are a liar and a sinner and you clearly have no respect for me, so I want you out. Pack your things and go." With that she turned away from him, stomped up the stairs and into her room. He heard the click of her lock and then there was silence. Simon was stunned. Both Jace and Simon had been thrown from their homes in the same day by their mothers. Simon didn't understand how wanting to go to an objectively better school somehow made him a sinner and a disgrace to the family, and yet, here he was, homeless.

Simon forced himself into action and shuffled toward his bedroom. He pushed the already mostly ajar door open and grabbed a duffle bag. In it he shoved 2 weeks worth of clothing, an extra pair of shoes, and a pillow. He grabbed his backpack as well and shoved a small blanket to the bottom and then piled in his computer, his PSP, and his Nintendo switch. All of this fit rather snugly next to his school work books and some pens and pencils. He looked around his room, trying to decide if anything else within it had any real value to him, and when he decided that it didn't, he walked out of his bedroom, through the door of his house, and sat down on the front steps. Now what? He pulled out his cell phone and stared at the screen blankly. He wouldn't call Clary, she'd had enough stress today and had already found a place for Jace to stay with Magnus. Simon shuddered at the idea of boarding with the two of them, probably not the best of plans. He couldn't stay at the hotel, he rather doubted that Maryse would let a random boy stay there for free when she wouldn't even allow her own son to do so.

Mechanically, he began to dial one of the few memorized numbers he knew at this point. "Hey Si, how'd it go?" His sister picked up on the second ring and answered in a cheery tone. It made him feel bad that he'd have to bring her mood down.

"She kicked me out Rebecca." He told her with a sigh. He stared out to the bustling street in front of his former home, New Yorkers headed into the city with great speed. "I'm officially homeless."

"Oh my god." She whispered. "I didn't know… I didn't know she would go that far."

"Rebecca, she looked like she did after dad… I haven't seen her so ghostly in so long. There were stars of David all over the place, she made the whole living room look like a freaking shrine." He explained to her worried.

His sister's voice began to twist in anger toward their mother. "I can't believe her. She promised me, she promised me that you would be ok if I left and now, she freaking lost it!" He could hear her pacing the length of her dorm room. "Si, I can't even take you in right now, my dorm is girls only and they check rooms. I'm so sorry. Can you stay with Clary?" She sounded hopeless. Simon felt awful for being disappointed, he was really hoping staying with his sister would be an option, but clearly it wasn't. He wouldn't let her come home right now, he was so proud of her for going to a great college and being happy. He wouldn't let her ruin that for him, especially not when she had given up so much for him to begin with already.

"Uh… no, I can't, she kind of has a full house right now, but don't worry about it, I'll figure it out." He tried to sound cheery, but even he could hear that it wasn't working. "I love you sis, I'll talk to you later." He hung up the phone before she could respond. Hopefully she wouldn't stress too much about him.

"Ok… next option." He sighed to himself. He wasn't happy about this choice but, it was the best he had. "Hey Eric, so, I've gotten myself into a situation… my mom kicked me out. Is there any way I can stay with you for a bit?" He called Eric as a last resort, the best he could hope for was that he would say yes, if not he had no clue what he would do.

"Hey man, uhh, I think you could probably crash in the garage, it's not like my parents really look down here much anyways. As long as you're cool with it not having any air conditioning or heat… probably not a good idea the closer it gets to winter. Here, we're about to have practice in about an hour, why don't you come down here and we'll talk about alright? Matt don't touch that!" The line cut off before Simon could respond that he was on his way. With a deep sigh he stood and then called a cab.

Alec POV

Alec slammed into his mother's office in the penthouse of the hotel. He had clearly startled her as she jolted upward from her bent over position. She had been working studiously at her desk.

"Alec, what on Earth are you doing slamming in here like that!" She gasped in shock. "You can't just-"

"You kicked Jace out?" Alec interrupted her incredulously.

"I…" She stammered, "This really isn't the time, Alec." She informed him with a subtle shake of her head.

"No this is the right time, you will tell me right this instant why you kicked out Jace when you know full well that he is a good person and a good son." Alec demanded this time, restraining himself from stomping on the floor with his foot. He was 18 years old, he would not act like a child when trying to debate a matter so important.

"Alec, I am serio-" she began again, but before she could finish her sentence, she was interrupted by someone clearing their throat, a sound that came from the screen of her computer. Alec looked down and realized finally why his mother was probably bent over her computer when he first came in.

"Maryse, is there a problem?" The voice was low and gravely, but still feminine. It was the voice of an older woman, one who seemed quite irritated to have been interrupted.

"No, Imogen, absolutely not, give me just one moment!" Imogen, Alec knew that name. Imogen was the Secretary of Defense. Alec had met her a handful of times through the various occasions he had traveled with her parents to the white house. She was a scary woman, truly. She was in charge of the military and was very good at interrogation. If his mother was talking to her right now, something very serious was going on, and Alec could see why Maryse would be reluctant to interrupt her.

Maryse put a large but clearly fake smile on her face as she seemed to hit a button on her computer. She then walked around from behind her desk to stand directly in front of her eldest son. She wore a suit jacket and skirt with a very nice lavender blouse underneath. The whole outfit was very complimenting to her color.

Jeesh, just a couple of weeks of dating Magnus and he's already rubbing off on me, Alec thought with an internal smile. This is the first Alec had seen of his mother in over a month. Both she and his father had taken his little brother along to a business trip in D.C. and hadn't been back until now. Under normal circumstances it probably would have been a pleasant reunion, but now, what with Jace being banished from the premises, Alec was fuming. His mother on the other hand, did not look much better.

"Alec, I need you to understand that there is more going on than you can fully understand and I can't explain things right now. Jace had to go and that is all you need to know." She told him with a serious look on his face. She searched his eyes for understanding.

"I can't believe you, you're supposed to be his mother, He is as much one of us as Max is, you can't just decide you don't want him anymore. That is neglect." He gritted his teeth and met her eyes full force, he would not back down from this.

"I'm not… I have to do this Alec, I have no choice." Any vulnerability that might have been in her voice was now gone, she steeled herself and started to turn back to her desk. Alec shook his head in disbelief and began walking to the door again. He stopped only when the door was half open and then turned back toward his mother.

"Clary found him you know, not until after he had already gotten himself beaten and bloodied doing god knows what, but she brought him to… she brought him somewhere safe. No thanks to you." He saw her shoulders tense and was proud of himself for carefully avoiding telling her where exactly Jace was staying, that was a fine line that could have been damaged very quickly. With that he turned and slammed the door behind him.

Simon POV

Simon pulled open the garage door of Eric's home, for years Eric's parents had allowed the band to practice in the space as long as they weren't too ridiculously loud for too long. Simon wasn't even fully certain what their current band name was, he thought it might be Dichotomous Lemur at the moment.

Simon's respective band mates were crowded around the room, sitting on various squashy chairs and couches, all except Jordan who seemed to be running even later than he was. Eric was closest to him, he had known Eric the longest, he had shaggy brown hair with a single pink streak in it (his girlfriend Sheila had dyed it a week ago out of boredom with the left over dye she had from dying her own hair. They matched, Eric thought it was adorable, the rest of the band thought it was gag-worthy.) He wore a holey t-shirt and ripped jeans, even his sneakers were pretty torn up. The man looked like he'd been attacked by a cheese grater. Kirk sat not too far away in a chair with his leg thrown over the arm, he was strumming a guitar. Kirk had amber eyes and swiss chocolate skin, he probably would be extremely attractive to girls if it weren't for the fact that he hung out with the rest of them. Finally, there was Matt, the punk-stoner of the band. He had hair that was half dyed red and half dyed green. He probably didn't realize that he was doing Christmas colors until after it had been done, and it was mid-November at the time he did it, so probably not the best choice. He had a scruffy but short beard, probably growing longer because he was too lazy to shave it, but it was patchy and under grown. Matt was seated on the floor pretending that Eric's drumsticks were actually walrus teeth.

"Hey guys, where's Jordan?" The singer was a bit later than usual, but seeing as he was the biggest talent of their band, they really couldn't do much without him.

"He's grabbing some pizza for us; he shouldn't be much longer." Eric piped up with a cheesy smile.

"Pizza…heh heh, yum." Matt's head lolled back as he chuckled slowly.

"How much have you smoked today, man?" Simon asked as he plopped down onto the couch with an eyebrow raised toward his still chuckling friend. He threw his duffle to the side along with his backpack and then leaned against the back of the couch, glad to be somewhere comfortable.

Matt turned his face toward Simon and with a faux serious face said, "Hey man, smoking is bad for your health, I had three pot brownies." He then threw a large grin on his face and held up the number three with his fingers.

"Jeesh, that much could knock out a horse." Simon said with a slight amount of concern.

"Nah man, I'm cool, straight chillin'." Matt told him.

"Well he isn't going to be much use to us today, is he?" Simon thought aloud.

"Probably not, it's fine." Kirk joked with a smile.

Suddenly the sweet and delicious smell of cheese pizza wafted through the room as Jordan walked into the garage with several boxes in tow. "It is I, Jordan, with grub, and my gorgeous self." Jordan said with a wink as he set the boxes on a coffee table and held his arms out. Jordan wasn't kidding, from everything he knew from what Clary had said, Jordan was definitely considered gorgeous by the ladies. He had deeply tanned skin, dark and somewhat long curly hair that tumbled down the nape of his neck. He also had several tattoos that were visible on his muscular arms, some tribal tattoos and a beautiful portrait of a wolf. Jordan was the oldest of the group, being a solid 19 years old. They were still confused why he had chosen to join a band full of a bunch of high schoolers. Sure they were all between 16 and 18 years old, but they were grateful. Their following since he had joined had definitely risen since he had come around, before it was restricted to mostly family and friends and a couple of friends of friends, including Kirk's cousins friend Maureen, who was a sort of stalker-ish 13 year old that was in love with Simon.

"What's up guys? What have I missed lately?" Jordan asked as he settled down with his slice.

Simon reached forward, grabbed a slice for himself and took a small bite before speaking with his mouth full, "well, as of…" he looked down at his watch, "48 minutes ago, I became homeless." The three boys in the room who had not yet learned of this fact looked up at him in surprise.

"What the fuck happened?" Kirk asked in alarm.

"Well, I finally got into Shadow Nyx and apparently that makes me a sinner in the eyes of God and now, according to my mother, I don't deserve to be her son." Simon tried to shrug nonchalantly, but he couldn't lie, he wasn't pleased at what had transpired, and the more time that passed the more real the whole thing became to him. Simon Lewis at the ripe age of 17, was homeless.

Suddenly a pillow smashed into his thoughtful face. "You're leaving us? You asshole!" Eric cried angrily. Eric, Kirk, Matt, and Simon had all attended school together since elementary school, so Simon could understand why he was upset.

"It's not like I will stop being in the band just because I got into Shadow Nyx, chill out guys." Simon said with a soft laugh as he took another bite of his pizza.

"Shadow Nyx, huh? That's where I actually graduated from." Jordan said with a reminiscing smile. "What team are you a part of?"

"Uh, red I think, what where you?" Simon replied.

"Well, according to the school I guess we should be mortal enemies, I was part of team white." Jordan said with a chuckle. "Anyways, since you're out a place to stay, you could actually come live with me if you want, I live on my own and I actually have a spare room."

Simon was surprised, he hadn't even considered asking Jordan, but now that he had said something it was a super smart idea. He had known for a while that Jordan was on his own, he worked constantly to pay his rent and the band was mostly for fun but was also a little extra cash in his pocket. "Well that's certainly a better idea than living in this garage with absolutely no heating during winter. But, you do know that I can't pay rent, I don't have a job or anything."

"That's fine, I get it, I'll give you some time to find a part time job so you can maybe at least pitch in for groceries and maybe the utilities or something. I was thinking of finding a roommate anyways, so you're actually kind of helping me out." Jordan considered.

Simon couldn't help but smile at him, "You don't even know how much of a big help this is to me, man. I really don't know what I would have done if you hadn't offered."

"Hey, what am I, chopped liver?" Eric said with fake incredulity. Simon threw the pillow back in his direction with a chuckle.

"Shut up Eric, even you don't like sleeping here." He laughed.

"Fair enough, on that note, should we get started practicing? I have a lead on a possible gig at The Iron Works next weekend if we get our shit together." Eric roused the four of them to stand and go to their respective spots, all of them swallowing the last bits of their pizza.

Eric began clacking his drumsticks together as they all gripped their instruments, "And a ONE… TWO… THREE…"

Alright everyone, two chapters in two days. Feel free to review, it does make this more worthwhile for me. How about I start up the questions again, that was always fun :)

1. Is it ok that I'm not necessarily sticking to only Clary and Jace's POV?

2. Which couple would you like to see more intimate moments from?

Alright everyone, given the time allowances I have during Saturday and Sunday this might be the last update for this week, so if that is the case, I hope you all have an amazing weekend! Please leave a review with any comments and complaints, and as always, I love you all.

Lilly