A/N -This is also on my wattpad account so if you see the same story twice, it's because it's published on both accounts. Also, this is strictly Wessa. Sorry Jessa shippers, I just personally ship Wessa. I am a hardcore wessa shipper.
P.S if you want to see a picture of Tessa's dress, you can go to my wattpad account. My username is Flyinger and it's called the same thing.
Disclaimer: I do not own any characters
Chapter 1- Tessa
"Look, I'm sorry. I can't," Tessa Gray hugged the phone to her ear as she spoke, both hands on the heavy piece of machinery, "I have work today and you know how my boss gets when I don't show up. Not to mention my evil step-monster and step-sisters."
"Argh, but this is the one night you can dress up as anyone you want Tessa. A masquerade ball. Can't you get someone to switch places with you? Like that dorky kid, what's his name?" Sophie Collins, Tessa's best friend, tried to convince her, her voice lilting out into Tessa's ear.
"His name is Jem, and he's not dorky. I know you think he's hot. Besides, he has a girlfriend and he's already taking her. Face it Sophie, I can't go. I wasn't planning on it anyway. My step mom is going to Brooklyn for the weekend and someone has to take care of the house and clean up from the huge major party you know Jessamine and Rani are gonna have."
Sophie groaned over the phone,"What time does your shift even end? And if your step-mamma's in Brooklyn, then why are you even worried? "
"Because, my sisters are going and if they see me there I'll be dead before I even make it to the dance floor. And my shift ends around 9:15."
"Honey, this is a masquerade ball. No one's even gonna see your face. Think about it. For this one night, We aren't losers. Nobody knows who's popular and who's not. The whole social ladder doesn't exist. Plus, don't you wanna wear a formal gown. You'll be gorgeous, I promise."
"But I don't have anything to wear. And I have a date." Tessa could almost imagine the look on Sophie's face as she said this. She held the phone back for the explosion she knew was coming.
"WHAT! NO WITH WHO? WHERE? WHAT IS THIS LIFE? YOU DIDN'T TELL ME? WHAT THE HELL? WHAT THE F-"
"With Fitzwilliam Darcy."
Tessa waited through the silence on the other end of the phone before Sophie said, " Damn. You had me excited there."
"So...you're not disappointed?"
" Nope, cuz I'll be at your house at 9:30, helping you get ready for this dance. And I'll even lend ya a costume."
"What! No, Sophie-"
Tessa was cut off as Sophie hung up. She sighed, rubbing her tired eyes.
I guess I am going to this thing after all. (italics means thoughts and stuff...if you haven't guessed)
Work went by almost too slowly. By the time 9:15 rolled around, Tessa was tired as hell and her eyes were drooping. Still, she worked hard to make all those frappuccinos and iced-coffees. Getting a job at Starbucks was probablyy the best thing to happen to Tessa. She liked the way the coffee smelled and how her shift was at night, so when there were no customers she could make herself a drink and sit and read a book.
Tonight however, was so busy that Tessa almost fell asleep from pure exhaustion when she finally got in her car. When she arrived home, her heart fell when she realized that she still had to go to the stupid dance.
"Damn stupid high school. Why does it make everything so hard?" Tessa cursed under her breath as she made her way to the house and unlocked the door.
She had just made it past the foyer when, "TESSA, I NEED HELP WITH MY HAIR. COME HELP ME NOW!" Rani's voice rang down the huge spiral staircase to where Tessa was standing.
Tessa sighed and climbed the stairs two at a time. some
"Alright, alright Jessie. I'm coming."
Tessa entered Jessamine's room to see Rani and Jessamine getting ready for the dance. Jessamine was wearing a full floor length gown, it was very sparkly and had gold every where to highlight her blonde hair. It also had a very deep v-neck. She was sporting a gold mask.
Rainee, on the other hand, looked the opposite. She was wearing a blue very short, tight slinky dress that barely covered her chest and butt. She had a black mask.
Tessa looked skeptically at Rani's dress, "Ummm, Rani. You do know this is supposed to be a ball, right?
Rani just laughed and shook out her mud brown, stringy hair, "Exactly. While every single girl is going to have on modest ballgowns, I'm going to be the only one showing any leg and skin. That's going to attract Will's attention and by the end of the night, we'll be in a motel, doing you know what."
Jessie snorted, "Please, you're so ugly, Will wouldn't even look twice at you." She said this softly though, as to not attract Rani's attention. Will Herondale was the most popular guy at Tessa's high school. He was also very very single. He and his friends basically ruled Infernal high and every single girl had a crush on him excluding the ones with boyfriends and Tessa ad Sophie.
"Are you going Tessa?" Jessamine said this louder and Tessa shrugged.
"May-"
Rani cut Tessa off, "Puh-lease. Tessa's much too ugly to fit in a dress. I bet she couldn't even fit into something my size without making it look like it went through a shredder. She can't go."
Tessa looked down, while Jessie looked sympathetically at her.
Here was the thing about Jessamine. She wasn't mean, just self-absorbed. There were times when Tessa could see little tiny bits of the old Jessamine. The Jessamine that she used to play with when they were little. The one she could tell secrets to and confide in. But then middle-school hit and Jessie started to wear different things and get new and improved friends. Gone was the Jessie that Tessa had grown up to know and love, and here was the new, selfish Jessie. Still, there were tiny pieces of her that would shine through from time to time.
Tessa nodded her head, "You're right. I'd probably just trip and fall on my face anyway."
"That's right. Anyway, I've changed my mind. I don't want my hair done by you. I think I'll wear it straight tonight. Besides Will likes girls with straight hair. Not your curly icky mess. You should cut it off. It's much too long. All the way down to your butt. You probably sit on it during class. I bet that looks real pretty when you do that, " Rani sneered, brushed her dress and stood up, wobbling towards the door in her huge heels. She dropped her purse and bent down to pick it up. Tessa and Jessie both made disgusted faces before they looked away, saving their eyes from any more vulgar images.
"I'm taking the Volvo, you can have the Volkswagen," She directed this comment to Jessie
" I can't believe she's actually wearing that," Jessie said in a disgusted voice as she watched her sister go out the front door.
"What, the dress or the scandalous undies?" Tessa raised an eyebrow at Jessie, who replied. "Both."
Tessa turned to look at Jessie, "You look really pretty tonight."
Jessie smiled, "Thanks. But this mask makes my nose look bigger than it already is."
Tessa laughed, "No it doesn't. Besides I bet Will is going to freak when he sees you in that dress."
Jessie sighed, "I don't really like Will in that way. Besides, no matter how popular he is, he'll never like someone like me. I'm not his type."
Tessa giggled, "Will has a type?"
Jessie smiled, "He likes books, did you know that? He's really smart. He always tries to hide it, but you can kind of tell. He's helping me apply to Stanford for next year."
Tessa felt her mouth drop. Stanford was her dream college. She and Jessie had made plans to go there ever since they were 8 years old. She had thought Jessie had forgotten all about it. Tessa had even forgotten about it. She had given up that dream in 6th grade when she walked to school for the first time without Jessie by her side.
"Oh, so you are applying...to Stanford," Tessa could hardly get the words out without choking.
"Yes. So is Will actually," there was a long pause before Jessie continued in a smaller voice, "I also asked him to help me with yours. If you're willing I mean."
Jessie was playing with her fingers, knotting them, something Tessa knew she did when she was nervous.
Tessa cleared her throat, "No, no. I would love to apply. I just haven't really thought about...college."
This was a lie. Tessa thought about college constantly. She just never filled out any applications because she didn't want to face the reality that there was a very good chance she would be rejected.
"Well, I've seen your grades. I know you're in a bunch of AP classes, you scored a 2300 on the SAT, you have an internship at the hospital on the weekends and you have a perfect GPA. It shouldn't be too hard for you to get in."
Tessa felt her jaw drop. Again.
"Jessie," She said slowly, "Why are you doing this?"
"Because. Because I feel like I owe it to you and I want to be friends again."
Tessa shook her head, "It doesn't work that way Jessie. You don't just ignore me for 7 years and suddenly when you want to be friends, it's like boom. You expect me to forgive you."
Jessie bit her lip, "I'm sorry I ditched you. It's just. I was jealous of you. You were always smarter and prettier and everyone liked you better than me and I was so jealous so when I saw a way that for once, I could be better, I just took it. I didn't mean to leave you like that. I'm asking you to forgive me because even though I've done so many horrible things to you and talked about you behind your back, thinking about college just made me realize that these friends I have aren't even my real friends. You were a real friend. I'm just asking that maybe we can start clean."
Tessa had been listening to this whole monologue, her eyebrows raised. After a while, she sighed, "Fine," She said. Jessie squealed.
"But, let me just ask. How many times did you rehearse that speech?"
Jessie frowned, "Uh, I repeated it a good three times in my head before I really got it."
Tessa laughed, "Oh and by the way, I'm not prettier than you so don't even."
Jessie rolled her eyes, "Yes you are, you just don't see it."
At that precise moment, the door opened and Sophie's excited voice echoed up, "Oh, Tessa, are you ready to get ready for the ball?"
Jessie looked at Tessa, "You're going?"
Tessa sighed nodded.
"OHMYGOSH! I'll help you. EEEKK!"
Jessie squealed.
"What's she doing here?"
Sophie had climbed the stairs and she stood looking at Jessie, her hands lugging two huge dress bags.
Tessa connected with Sophie through her eyes. They had a conversation through facial expressions, the ones that best friends always have in when they can't talk aloud.
Sophie looked Jessie up and down, "Well," She said finally, "What are you waiting for? Tessa get in the shower. I'm going to get dressed. Jessamine, start picking out accessories. Lets get moving people."
Jessie grinned before shoving a towel at Tessa, who ran to the bathroom to take a quick shower.
When she came out, Jessie put her in a blue dress robe. Sophie was in the process of changing in the closet.
She burst out, her hands over her head.
"How do I look?" She asked,
Jessie whistled, "You look stunning."
It was true too. Sophie had a black strapless corset gown that was cinched at the waist and flowed into black silk tiered with fit nicely to her petite frame and made her skin look a milky pearly pale color Tessa knew girls would kill for.
"I even found a mask that hides my scar!"
It was true. Sophie had a huge scar on her left cheek from when she was almost taken advantage of at a party. She had a black lace mask that went low and covered her cheekbones but stopped before her mouth.
Jessie pulled out a pearl necklace and black ribbon heels. Since Sophie's hair already grew in ringlets up to her shoulders, she didn't have to do her hair. Add some black nail polish and Sophie was ready to go.
Jessie then got to work dry Tessa's hair with a blown dryer. Tessa made sure to put in heat protectant. She always took extra precaution with her hair, it was her most treasured feature. She was proud to say that she (And Sophie too since she made Sophie take care of her hair as well) had never seen a split end on her head before.
After drying her hair, Jessie did Tessa's make-up. Nothing really big since they were going to be wearing masks. Just some light blue eye shadow, eyeliner, and some blush. Tessa had never worn make-up before, but she was happy she didn't have to wear anything heavy. She had heard horrible stories of people's foundation running down their faces when they sweated and mascara smudging when eyes were blinked. Jessie had taken one look at Tessa's eyelashes before saying, "Wow, those are some long eyelashes. You don't need anything there, do you?" to which Tessa just shrugged.
Jessie then helped Tessa into the dress that Sophie had brought. It was very poofy, but suited Tessa really well. I made her look shorter than she actually was, which was good when you are 5 foot 9 inches. It also brought out the blue in her blue gray eyes. Tessa didn't put on any big jewelry, she just kept on her Clockwork Angel necklace that was her mothers. It was a bronze-ish color so Jessie lent her these little pearls of bronze for earrings. She had black velvet slippers on and her hair was left tumbling down her back in loose waves.
Tessa felt her eyes tear up as she looked in the mirror. She looked like her mother. Her mother that had died when she was 7.
Tessa shook her head. She couldn't cry. Not now after Jessie had been so kind to do her make-up.
She and Jessie had started down the stairs when Sophie called, "Wait, you're forgetting this."
She handed Tessa a blue and black lace mask that looked so delicate, Tessa was afraid to touch it.
Sophie put the mask on Tessa, tying the straps under a layer of her hair, "There all set. Who's ready to go to that dance?"