Clary.

I could do nothing but stare at him. And not stare as in, 'with longing,' stare as in disbelief. There was just no stopping him, was there? I mean, I can almost understand why Jace played these games with me. It was simple; really, he wanted to sleep his way through the entire campus to set some sort of world record for not getting any kind of disease or infection. I have to say, he was progressing nicely. I mean, as nice as someone who's making a professional whore of himself. Not my problem, but I'm not going to be used for his 'pleasure.' But for him to use a kid like that… that was breaching all kinds of low.

"Um… Max," I said, hesitantly as I crouched down to his size, "do you know this guy?" Instead of him looking at him like he was some kind of predator, he looked at him with nothing but admiration.

"That's my brother." He said simply, looking at me with wide blue eyes. My brows furrowed as I looked back and forth between the two. There were absolutely no similarities with these so called, 'brothers.' Where Max was wide eyed with crystal blue orbs and black hair, Jace was a completely other story entirely. Jace was… for a lack of a better word—golden. Not to quote Trinidad James, but he was all gold everything. His skin was a pure gold tan, his curly hair was white gold, and his eyes were two orbs dipped in gold. What was the Angel thinking when he created this sinful man? It was probably the prospect of making him so good looking, only to give him a crappy attitude sounded appealing. Believe me, no matter how good looking you are, a foul attitude can change that in the matter of moments. And now the bane of my existence was here.

Looking between the two boys—yes, Jace is most definitely a boy—with a slight frown on my face.

"How much did you pay him to say that," I directed the question at Jace.

"Nothing." He said quickly, "He really is my brother." I raised my brow as I looked at him. A slight tug on my pant leg, alerting me that Max was still there. I bent down to his level with a tight smile on my face. Without preamble, Max cupped his hand around his ear, and none to quietly whispered to me.

"Jace is adopted."

Oh.

Instead of replying with a traditional, 'I didn't know,' I replied with: "That explains so much." I said with a roll of my eyes. "Max, go over there with the rest of the group and I'll be there in a minute."

"Oh I get it," the younger boy started, "you guys are going to have a, 'talk.' Don't hurt him too bad."

"No promises." I replied. Max just shrugged his shoulders in return.

"I tried." And with that, he scampered off leaving me with Jace. I stared him down, unflinchingly. I was still angry about how he treated me.

"What brings you here?"

"I'm a volunteer chaperone."

"Cut the crap Jace, I know that you have no idea what art really is, and I don't think you're here out of the goodness of your heart."

"And how would you know that?"

"Because, you never do anything without an ulterior motive."

"Look, I'm here to apologize for the way I treated you at the party. There was no right for me to be such a dick to you, but I was so wrapped up in everything that I forgot the important things… meaning you."

"Sometimes I'm sorry doesn't mean anything, Jace."

"I know that, which is why I'm here… to earn your trust again."

"As if you had it in the first place."

"Okay… I deserved that."

"Yeah, you did." And with that, I walked away from him and to the bus.

Jace

Okay, I really deserved that, and I knew that I had to do a lot more than just show up unexpectedly at an event expecting Clary to forgive me for being an ass that night and waiting over a month to apologize to her for my past indiscretions, but come on what more am I supposed to do? I'm Jace Wayland, the fact that I'm even taking this step says a lot. Sighing, I rubbed my hand over my face and stifled a groan. As I made a move to walk towards the bus, I heard footsteps come up behind me.

"So you're actually going through with this, huh?" Alec. Of course, that condescending voice sounds like nails on a chalkboard.

"Yeah, you'd be surprised to know that I actually like this girl."

"But why? She's rejected you time and time again. She's not worth your time, man."

"But what if she is… worth my time? Clary hasn't tripped over her own two feet to try to get my attention. She hasn't responded to my asshole attitude with promises of being a better girl to keep my attention."

"She's changing you man… and I'm not sure I like it."

"You don't have to."

A/N: I know this is a totally short chapter and I haven't updated in forever! It's my third year of college, so I have to study first! Reviews and Ideas are always welcomed!