Chapter 1 London Weather

A/N: Hey everyone,

For the people who know this fanfic: here is the rewritten version of chapter 1. I like it so much more than the original one, so I hope you guys like it too.

For the people who don't know me: have you lived under a ro… okay that was a little too arrogant. Try again. Hello, I really hope you will enjoy this fanfic! English isn't my first language, so forgive me if I make any mistakes; you're allowed to correct me ;). Enjoy!

Summary:

Tessa Gray is sent to a prestigious boarding school in London. She has negative thoughts about this, but that changes when she is introduced to a group of students who will influence her life. Apart from all the drama she faces when falling in love with two best friends at the time, she also has to confront the disadvantages of being rich… JESSA, WESSA, AU, ALL HUMAN

TESSA'S POV

'Great weather.' was the first thought that popped up in Tessa's head when she arrived in London, looking through the big glass walls of London Heathrow. The airport was thickly crowded, but she managed to get outside swiftly. She raised her hand when a taxi approached her, and had the luck of the driver noticing her. He had a greying beard and half long hair, which had streaks of grey too. His eyes were dark and didn't show any emotion at all. This all combined made him look like Tessa's imagination of Halt from the Ranger's Apprentice series. Tessa grinned to herself and hoped he wasn't as sarcastic as Halt. He helped her with her heavy trunk, which was barely filled with clothes, but packed with all the books Tessa had chosen to take with her. She stepped in and told the driver the address of the London Institute, the prestigious school her parents had ordered her to go to. The driver gave her a look and Tessa sighed: she knew that look. It was a judgemental look most people gave to rich persons.

The Institute was -from what Tessa had heard from her parents- 'a school acceptable enough for people like us.' Tessa rolled her eyes at the memory and then sighed. That had been two weeks before her parents had died in a car crash. Her aunt had short after that become very ill and was in bad condition right now. It had all happened so fast, and to make it even worse: her brother had been missing for two years and had been declared dead. Tessa hated the idea of leaving her aunt behind to go to this boarding school, but her parents had wanted her to go. She had eventually, out of curiosity, typed in 'The London Institute' in the Google search bar on her laptop. This had resulted into a little bit negative judgement of the school. Sure, it was a really educational school, had many outdoor activities and -most importantly- had an enormous library. But it was a very expensive school too, increasing the chance of students being rather arrogant or unthankful, which were two traits of personality Tessa didn't like about people. She really didn't want to go; even the library hadn't convinced her. And she had to leave all of her friends behind. She was quite sure about her imaginations of the behaviour of the students and that had lead to her childhood memories of her primary school in New York. She had been bullied for her love of books and had changed into a bit of a self-conscious person.

The voice of the driver disturbed her thoughts and Tessa gave him an apologising look.

"I'm sorry, what did you say?" She asked awkwardly, brushing her grown-out bangs to the side of her face, out of her eyes. The taxi chauffeur cleared his throat and coughed.

"68 pounds and 90 pence, please.*" He told Tessa, and she pulled out her purse, giving the driver the money and stepping out of the car. The Halt-like man got out too and helped her with her trunk. Tessa mumbled a quick 'thank you' and began pulling her trunk with her towards the iron gate. She struggled with opening it while holding her trunk, but someone's hands opened it for her. When Tessa entered the campus, she gazed at the person who had helped her.

A very tall, slender boy with an almost white skin, silver blond hair and silver-coloured eyes was gazing at her with slight amusement. His hair was plastered to his forehead by the rain and looked like threads of silver. He was really thin and seemed fragile, partly because of his colouring. Tessa frowned at the silver, her curiosity burning to ask the boy about it, but she swiftly pushed away the thought, not wanting to create a prejudice.

"Do you need help with your trunk?" The silver boy asked politely. Tessa was surprised for a moment; maybe she had been wrong about the attitude of the students at this school. She quickly waved away his offer, her cheeks reddening at his gaze, and dragged her trunk with her. Lost in thought, she did not notice the step up and fell, but she did not hit the wet pavement. Instead, two strong arms caught her, pulling her up again. Tessa was now furiously blushing and the boy gave her gentle smile, making her cheeks flush an even deeper shade of red, and picked up her trunk. Tessa was about to protest, but the silver boy waved it away.

"I insist." He said and he began walking towards the door of the Institute, Tessa following him. They half ran half walked towards the door, the rain now drenching both of them.

Even with a heavy trunk in one hand, he managed to open the door for her and waited till she was inside before entering. Tessa was greeted by welcoming warmth and shivered, realising how cold she actually was. The boy put her trunk against the wall and turned toward Tessa.

"I'm sorry for not presenting myself any earlier, but the rain was quite… wet." The boy said and Tessa laughed, becoming serious again when he took her hand and shook it. Wow, this guy really knew what manners were.

"I'm James Carstairs, but everyone calls me Jem. It's a pleasure to meet you. You must be Theresa Gray, am I right?" The boy, Jem, told her. Tessa blinked in astonishment.

"You-you know who I am?" She stuttered. Jem gave her his smile again.

"Well, they were two new students coming to this school, apart from the first formers, and one of them has already arrived yesterday. So it would be logical if you were Theresa Gray." Jem spoke and Tessa blushed when she heard him pronounce her name in his British accent.

"Well, yes I am, I'm sorry, I was… not thinking logical." Because of you. A tiny voice in the back of her mind added, Tessa ignored this.

"But please, call me Tessa, everyone does." She told Jem and he gave his smile as response.

"Well I should probably lead you to the principle, you can leave your trunk in the hall, it will be brought upstairs. The principle is very kind, so… I'm rambling, aren't I?" Jem said. Tessa nodded, a grin spreading on her face. Jem blushed, which was easy to tell because of his pale, silvery skin. Suddenly he was pushed a bit to the side by a girl with dark, midnight hair and piercing blue eyes, contrasting with her pale, perfect skin. She was wearing a pair of neon green shorts and a white top, making Tessa wonder if she wasn't cold.

"Jem tends to ramble whenever he meets a girl he thinks is pretty. Though that's not very often." She told Tessa, giving her a brilliant smile, showing her perfect teeth.

"Oh and hi, I'm Cecily, you must be Theresa." Tessa smiled.

"Why does it seem like everyone in this school knows me? And call me Tessa." Tessa said, not unkindly. Cecily grinned, a wicked gleam starting to shimmer in her blue eyes.

"Well, you have made Mr. Carstairs over here blush, which is something that doesn't happen very much. Except for when girls are dressed rather improper. Or that time during summer when we went to the beach with each other. Isn't it, Jem?" Cecily explained enthusiastically, shooting Jem a teasing look. Jem stood there in silence, looking as if he felt a little awkward.

"Anyways, that's not the real reason, it's because a lot of people knew an American girl was coming to our school, and your accent might have spoiled it. Unless you're pretending to be American." The girl's enthusiasm was quite entertaining and Tessa found herself once again surprised by the attitude of the two students she had just met. Though Cecily seemed the popular-type of girl, she was very kind. Tessa laughed and shook her head.

"No, I'm quite sure that I'm American." She responded happily, Cecily's enthusiasm being infecting.

"Come on, let's get you to Mr. Starkweather." Cecily said, pulling Tessa with her. Tessa waved Jem a goodbye, who was looking amused at the scene that was playing in front of him.

-x0O0x-

"Oh, you're in my Drama class!" Cecily exclaimed while pointing at the schedule Tessa had just gotten. They were on their way to Tessa's dorm, which she shared with a girl called Sophia. Cecily had told Tessa Sophie was a kind girl, but sometimes a bit shy. Tessa was curious and excited for meeting her dorm mate, hoping they would become good friends.

"And in my Calculus, Science and Maths!" Tessa smiled at the girl next to her; she had already find one friend.

"Who is your dorm mate?" She asked curiously, Cecily's lip curled in disgust.

"Jessamine Lovelace. Complete slut." Cecily told her, Tessa raised one of her eyebrows at the description of Jessamine, but kept her mouth shut. They stopped in front of a door with the number 7 on it in gold-coloured metal after passing several corridors and walking many stairs. Cecily knocked.

"Sophie, are you in there? It's me, Cecily. I have brought your dorm mate with me." She said against the door and the door opened, showing a beautiful girl with extremely long, dark brown hair that hung in natural curls, a flawless, smooth skin and big, dark hazel eyes. She had a grace in her steps as she opened the door further to let Tessa in.

"Do you want to come in too?" She suggested to Cecily, who shook her head.

"Really, thanks, but I should check out on my brother. Making sure he won't" Cecily cleared her throat after bringing her hand to her mouth.

"Make a fool of himself." Sophie's features twisted into a look of loathing at the mention of Cecily's brother, which made Tessa curious. She nodded and waved a goodbye to Cecily. She then closed the door. After a few seconds of silence, Sophie looked up.

"Hi, I'm Sophie, I guess were dorm mates." She said awkwardly while smiling prettily and Tessa smiled back, the glint of excitement and happiness in her dorm mate's eyes being contagious.

"I guess so." Tessa said, her face splitting into a grin.

"Both our trunks are already here. I guess we should unpack them." Sophie said, her pearl-white teeth glinting in the light as she smiled and beamed at Tessa.

"I guess so." Tessa repeated, now beaming and grinning.

-x0O0x-

"So, what did you do this summer?" Sophie asked Tessa as the girls sat down on the floor, having everything unpacked and put away. Tessa sighed. She knew she could trust Sophie, so why not tell her everything. It had been a long time since she had actually talked, like serious talking, with someone.

"Well," Tessa began.

*Yes, I did actually calculate the exact price from London Heathrow (the airport) to Fleet Street (the site of the burned-down Church All-Hallows-The-Less, which is the actual place of the London Institute according to Cassandra Clare). Yeah, I'm a kind of perfectionist :/. That's why I rewrote this story in the first place ;).

So, do you think that's a good start? Oh my god, I'm smiling like crazy, I'm so happy and cheerful right now. Anyway, I really enjoyed writing this and I think it was a good decision to rewrite this story. I have everything planned out for this fanfic and I'm extraordinary excited to write this. I'll see y'all next chapter (of one of the two fanfics I'm writing ;) -Jill