"I can't believe I'm stuck here!" Nate Gray growled.

"It's only for the summer," Tessa Gray reminded him.

"And then another year stuck in The London Institute," her brother retorted.

Tessa said, "Well, it's your own fault you failed senior year."

Nate growled again, but this time at her. "Shut up," he threatened her. Tessa decided to obey since Nate had been drinking a lot lately since he failed senior year. The London Institute was a boarding school in the London country side. The headmistress was Charlotte Fairchild who was kind enough to let students who couldn't go back home for the summer stay. Nate was mad that their parents were about to tour the world because of their dad's business trip while they were stuck at school for the summer. Tessa didn't mind. It would be like an interesting adventure with the school empty with the exception of the headmistress and a popular teacher among the students named Henry Branwell and a few other students who couldn't go home for the summer like she and Nate. Plus, The London Institute had a very large library.

Nate left her room, angrily. He had come here in hope that his sister would be a good listener, but all she had done was nag and lecture him. Tessa shrugged and continued reading her book.

Jessamine Lovelace turned to Will Herondale, "Thanks for getting me to relax. Fighting with Charlotte is so annoying."

Will's eyes were closed as he muttered a your welcome.

"Now get out of my bed," she snapped, "asshole."

"It's comfy!" Will argued, "oops that was your boobs."

"Out of my bed!" She snapped and pushed him off the bed. "I swear if you weren't so good in bed, I'd have murdered you a long time ago."

Will winked, lying on the floor. "That's the whole point of being Enemies with Benefits."

Jessamine just rolled her eyes at the nickname Will gave them and got out of bed. She and Will got dressed.

"When can I come again?" he asked his blonde enemy.

"When you're feeling horny. I'll come over if I feel horny," she replied. Will nodded and -without a goodbye- he walked out of her room.

As Jessamine began removing her bed sheets to take to the washing room to wash, she noticed Will's hoodie on the floor. Cursing and muttering about Will's lack of memory, she picked up the blue hoodie. It smelled of Will's cologne and a hint of cinnamon.

"Wow," Jessamine commented outloud," something Will leaves in my room doesn't smell of sex. A first for Will." She smelled Will's hoodie again and smiled.

"You don't have to stay here," Gabriel Lightwood told his brother, Gideon, again as they sat in the school's empty lounging room.

"I wouldn't leave you so you can go back to father when you finish school," he told Gabriel.

Gabriel raised his chin. "I could just go live by myself," he stated.

"With no money? And I'd doubt father would lend you his money," Gideon reasoned, "anyway I need the money and it wouldn't be bad to be a teacher. Once I have enough money, we can leave and get our own place."

"But-"

"I finished university and I need a job, okay? So if it makes you feel better, I came here for the job. Not you," he joked.

Gabriel sighed. "Okay."

"Plus you just need to work hard again for one more year and you'd defiantly get a scholarship to at least one university," Gideon encouraged.

"Yeah," he smiled at his brother.

"Have you decided what you want your career to be?"

"No," Gabriel confessed.

"It's okay. You can ask Charlotte or Henry for advice. They've been here for a few years, I bet they've helped students before. They would help you," Gabriel's brother reassured him.

Gabriel smiled. "Yeah I will. And Gideon?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for staying."

"Hello Mr. Branwell," Cecily Herondale chirped as she entered Henry Branwell's office.

"Miss Cecily, please call me Henry. We are in the holidays," he told her. He gestured to the chair infront of his desk. "Please sit. Is there anything wrong?"

"Nothing. Well, sort of," Cecily said, "you see I need your help Mr. Br- Henry."

"What's wrong?" Henry inquired.

"See I'm sick of living in my brother's shadow and I wanted to get some spotlight so I was wondering whether you know a way I could be more independent," she asked nervously. Cecily never turned to teachers for help, but Mr. Branwell was no ordinary teacher.

"Ah, that is easy. When you want to get more independent, you need is a job," he told her.

Cecily shook her head. "Will won't let me," she explained, "he's really worried that I might get hurt especially after our sister's death."

"Ah. Is that the reason you and Will aren't going back home this summer?"

Cecily nodded. "Yeah. It's gonna be horrible if we go back. Mam will be crying and Dad will be gambling again and we don't want that."

"I see," Henry said. She was relieved he was looking at her without pity. "I have an idea. Do you know Sophia Collins?"

Cecily nodded again. Who didn't know her? She was the student who has a nasty scar on her face and works as maid in the London Institute to be able to study here. Many bullied her because she was a maid or because of her scar or both. Cecily always wanted to defend Sophie, but Will always held her back. He said they'd hurt her and plus Sophie never appreciated pity. Cecily liked that about Sophie. They both didn't like pity. They would be good friends if Sophie knew she existed.

"Well, Sophia goes to town on the weekends during day because she works in a cafe. What from Sophie told me, I understood they needed another waitress to help out Sophie on Saturdays and Sundays noon. I could talk to Sophie for you. Would you like that?" Henry inquired, looking so hopeful.

And he had every right to be hopeful, Cecily thought as she jumped from her chair excitedly. "Yes!" she squealed, "that would be perfect!" then she remembered Will "But Will won't let me."

Henry smiled. "I'll ask Sophie to keep our secret," he winked fatherly.

"Oh thank you Mr. Branwell! Thank you!" she squealed before leaving Henry's office excitedly.

"Are you sure you don't want help Sophie?" Charlotte Fairchild asked Sophia Collins, a student at her school and now a maid. She was busy cleaning the tea cup Jessamine broke during the fight with her adopted mother, Charlotte.

"I'm sure Charlotte," Sophie assured her boss. Charlotte always insisted that Sophie call her by her first name. "Anyway, you should rest. You know how Jessamine is when she fights with you."

"I know too well," Charlotte said as she buried her face into her hands. "What am I gonna do with her, Sophie? She hates me. She wants her real parents and they're dead."

"She does not hate you," Sophie insisted to Charlotte, throwing away the broken tea cup into the bin. "She loves you, but it's hard to deal with the fact her parents are dead. Even if they've been dead for years."

"I know, I know, but I wish I could be the mother she wants," she whispered.

"Oh Charlotte," Sophie began.

"And this does not help I am in love with Henry," Charlotte added. This was old news to Sophie. Sophie and Charlotte were like sisters to each other (especially since there was just a few years difference between them) and Charlotte had long ago confessed that she was in love with Henry Branwell, the school's most popular teacher among the students.

"Oh you know Henry," Sophie said resting a hand on Charlotte's shoulder, "his head his always in the clouds and he's not good at reading people. He just needs time."

"Time isn't the problem here," Charlotte said, "it's the fact he does not love me back." Sophie, despite the fact she hated anyone pitying her, pitied Charlotte that minute. She loved her adopted daughter even though Jessamine acted like Charlotte was an annoying fly. She ran a school where most students didn't like her because she was strict -despite being gentle and kind- though her strictness was nothing compared to Charlotte's dead father who use to be the headmaster. She was in love with a man who was too oblivious to see that.

Love is a pain.

I hope you liked this so far. Jem is gonna be introduced soon. I hope you liked this chapter! Please review!