Chloe and Aria made their way across the packed café. As they neared, Aria sensed the tension between Jace and the pretty girl in front of him but Chloe seemed clueless.

"Hi! Hi! Hi! Is this our table? We are not late are we?" Chloe waved as she chattered. "Hi Jace. Hi Rose. This is Aria. We are in some of the same classes." Chloe introduced them as she knew everyone there. "Are you joining us Rose? Where is Ash? He must be here somewhere. He said he had already arrived, right Jace?" she craned her neck distractedly, busy looking for the handsome blond youth.

Jace had fallen silent.

Rose and Aria took an instant dislike to each other.

Rose's eyes narrowed as she took in the petite yet ruggedly dressed girl who had come with Chloe. Her jet black hair with blue highlights fell in perfect symmetry past her shoulders in soft waves. Black eyeliner enhanced her attractive dark brown eyes, highlighting them in a flawless pale face. Aria was clad in ripped jeans and a black oversized T-shirt that did nothing to hide her figure. Leather and paracord bracelets worked with metal beads flashed on her wrists. Rose noticed Aria had her eyes on Jace. Same classes? That meant that the goth girl was older than her.

"Hello, Rose." Aria smiled faintly extending her hand politely towards the younger girl, reacting to Chloe's bubbly introductions. Her hand stayed in the air for a few awkward seconds before she withdrew it. Her friendly expression faded turning to confusion then understanding. Her smile disappeared completely as her eyes hardened to match Rose's sour expression. Something clicked in her. Silent alarms blared in her head. If that was how she wanted to play it? No problem. Game on, Rose.

In that split second, Aria understood several things simultaneously. Call it a girl's intuition but she knew without a doubt that, one, Rose and Jace were in the middle of an argument. They had arrived at an inappropriate moment. Two, by the expressions on their faces, Rose and Jace had romantic history together but not anymore. And three, the carefully controlled blank mask on Jace's face told her that Rose had somehow hurt him.

The last fact triggered something in Aria bringing forth her maternal instinct forcefully. How dare anyone hurt Jace? How dare she? The sudden intense desire to protect him startled her momentarily. She had never felt like this before, ridiculously protective yet aggressive at the same time. She took a silent calming breath and sneaked a look at Jace her heart still beating wildly. What was he doing to her?

Aria mentally shifted to survival mode. This was going to be an all-out no holds barred girl fight. She knew girls like Rose, sweet pretty girls with a superiority complex who look down on 'weird unorthodox' girls like her. They evaluated people based on their physical appearance, dressing and style judging blindly before getting to know the person. She lifted her kohl-lined dark brown eyes to meet Rose's perfectly made-up hazel ones, She didn't like the way Rose had upset Jace. He had frozen in a tense posture. She didn't like the way Rose was eying her, assessing her like a piece of trash. She didn't like Rose, period.

"No, Chloe, Rose will not be joining us," Aria said firmly in a clear voice.

The two girls glared at each other defiantly until Jace stepped in between them cutting short their staring contest.

"Hey, cut it out you two," he said firmly.

Jace pulled out a chair and ushered Aria to it. "You can sit here Aria, Ash and Lorenzo will be back soon with the food." Jace turned back to Rose. She was glaring at Aria. That was supposed to be her chair.

"I think we are done here, Rose. Please go."

"We are not done ..." she said petulantly turning her attention back to Jace. Rose had noticed Aria had moved very close to Jace but was not actually touching him. So she knew him that well did she? That fact immediately increased Rose's dislike for the dark haired girl. The goth girl did not sit. Her aggressive stance made it very clear that she had no intention on backing down ... or listening to Jace.

"Yes, we are. You should go back to your friends," Jace indicated three giggling girls craning their necks, holding up their phones in their direction. They obviously thought their friend was going to reconcile with that gorgeous guy. Rose had told them that he still loved her and was still waiting for her. He would jump at the chance of getting back together. They didn't want to miss a moment of their sweet reconciliation. It was so romantic.

"... and tell them to stop recording. There is nothing to see."

Rose turned to glance at her friends before returning her attention to Jace. "Is it because of her? Are you with her?" she hissed and jerked her head aggressively at Aria. "What? Are you into useless tacky goth girls now? She is obviously needy and is just leeching on you cos she knows who you are. She is only with you cos you are rich and famous."

"Who I am? How did you know ..." he asked startled. Did Rose know who he was as well? The next moment, he shook himself, "Never mind."

Aria's lips thinned as she watched the two arguing but she held her peace for Jace's sake. She knew him well enough to know that he would handle Rose in his own way. He needed to settle this mess himself, if only to final reach some kind of closure. If it was up to her, she would cheerfully put this little upstart in her place.

"Rose," Jace's voice took on an authoritative edge she had never heard before, "Aria is not useless or needy and even if she is, so was I a few weeks back. I don't care how she dresses or what her background is. It doesn't matter if I am with her or not. Furthermore, you are dead wrong, Aria does not know who I am ... yet," he glanced fugitively at the angry goth girl. Gods, he had to come clean with her soon.

"She doesn't?" Rose's voice rose an octave of two in disbelief.

She had learnt of Jace's real identity recently. The internet had gone wild when his whole family had been assaulted by the crazy lady. His picture had caught her eye. Rose had finally understood his awkward phobias, subtle depression and that his 'issues' were very real and serious. He had kept to himself as he tried dealing with his inner demons privately. He had not made them up to come off as 'emo' or mysterious as she had thought. She was genuinely glad that he was getting better, the internet said so. Rose could also not believe that he was filthy rich or that he had not told her either.

"Just go, Rose, while I'm asking you nicely. Don't embarrass yourself in front of everyone."

"Or what? What are you going to do?" she challenged him.

Aria made a rude noise next to him. She planted her feet and folded her arms aggressively.

Jace gritted his teeth. Seriously, why did Rose have to keep pushing him? Why was she so stubborn? Fine. He mentally steeled himself for close contact. He held Aria's shoulders steering her to the chair before pushing her gently into it. "Save a seat for me, o'kay? I'll be right back," he said in a low voice.

He had to separate the two before a cat fight exploded.

Rose stared at Jace in shock. He had voluntarily touched Aria! And what was he whispering so intimately to her?

He straightened up. "Come with me." Before Rose could react, Jace had taken hold of her hand and pulled her along without a backward glance. Oh! Now he was touching her! Was he over his paranoia? Rose followed him into the crowd before she realised he was heading toward her friends.

As they neared, she was aware that all her friends were staring open mouthed at the handsome youth in front of her. They couldn't believe that he was going over to them. Jace stopped and ran one hand through his dark hair nervously. He took a deep calming breath and gave an apologetic half-smile. All eyes were on him.

"Hey, I was wondering if you could all do me a favour?" Jace asked the three girls directly.

They had to lean forward to catch what he said. One blinked, another flushed at his tone. His voice was deep and sexy. Oh my God, if he was good-looking across the café, he was absolutely gorgeous up front. He wore a dark coloured shirt over a simple white T-shirt that was tucked snugly into fitting black jeans. He was even more appealing because of his unconscious cute mannerisms.

"Sure. Anything," the last answered breathlessly. "What do you want us to do?"

"Ummm, I would be in your debt if you could delete what you just recorded. There really was nothing to see, right?"

The handsome youth gave a grateful smile as they scrambled to press buttons their phones.

"Thanks so much, I really appreciate it." Jace nodded to all three who were smiling dreamily at him. "Oh, and I've returned Rose to you." He stepped aside to reveal Rose. He let go of her but did not look at her.

"I'll be going now. Thanks again."

He gave a friendly wave before retreating back to his table.

"B-b-but ..." Rose turned to see him already halfway across the crowded room.

"Oh wow, just wow."

"I thought he was angry and came over to shout at us or something, but he was really cool, wasn't he? I mean, he didn't even raise his voice or anything."

"Yes, he was quite reasonable and even smiled at us. You know, I don't think he was mad at all."

"I know right?"

"He seemed quite nice actually."

"I think I just died and went to Heaven. Rose, you are so lucky."

"Hey, does he have any single friends? Or a brother?"

"Yes, a twin brother!" someone giggled.

Rose ignored her friends' excited chatter and looked down in chagrin at the cooling cup of mocha latte in her hands. Only then did she realise that she was still holding the drink she had bought for Jace, her peace offering.

Jace had not taken it.

Chloe had missed the intense byplay. After saying her greetings, she had sat down and scanned the place for Ash. She had only eyes for him. It had taken her a few minute to find the handsome blond in the crowd, wave to get his attention and smile at him. By the time she had done all that, Jace had returned and had sat down quietly next to Aria.