Disclaimer: I don't own Cassandra Clare or any of the characters except for Lydia, Emily and Julie:)
It was the first day of school and Tessa was scared. Ever since her mother and father had died, she had lived alone with her aunt. Although her aunt was related to her, Tessa felt no mother-daughter relationship. It was almost like living in an orphanage, like in her books, there was someone who took care of you, but they didn't care.
Tessa took a deep breath and timidly walked in through the gilded doors of the school. The Institute was a prestigious school that only accepted certain students. Tessa was on the waiting list until a student dropped out due to "family issues". Well, that was in the past and this was the present. At all of Tessa's previous schools, she had made little to no friends and she was always the last person picked to do anything. Even though Tessa was slightly a loner, she didn't care… she just put her nose back into her books and let her mind drift away with Darcy, Elizabeth, and Jane…
As she walked inside, she felt self-conscious. All of the students inside had a friend, someone who they could talk to, a confident. Tessa was alone. As she bent over to find her schedule in her scuffed-up school bag, someone bumped into her from behind.
"Get out of my way, you loser." A sharp, high-pitched voice rang out from behind Tessa. Tessa turned around and saw a beautiful girl with glamorous blond hair and sparkling eyes that shimmered like jewels. Even though her facial features were pretty, her attitude and scowl weren't.
"Excuse me. We have to add more lip-gloss. Move out." The girl spoke again, and Tessa could vaguely see a group of 5 girls behind her, all pretty, but none more beautiful than the main girl. Tessa knew that she should move, but she couldn't.
"Is she like dumb or something?" the beautiful girl said to her posse, as they all pushed past Tessa and, in the process, knocked Tessa to the ground. Tessa was speechless, she didn't know that bullying could happen at this elite school… it was a regular thing at the other, less elite schools that she had attended, but this was… just a shock.
"Are you OK?" A delicate, strong voice came from behind her. Not like the previous girl's snobby voice, this voice sounded genuine and kind. Tessa turned around and faced a boy, around her age, with light blond hair and pale blue eyes that glimmered like pieces of the sky. He was cute.
He helped her up and Tessa realized that he was uncannily strong when he pulled her up just with his own strength.
"Thank you, oh so much." Tessa gratefully babbled, unaware that she was saying more than she should have uttered.
"It's nothing… Jessamine is always bullying students… Oh…. By the way, my name is James Carstairs, but everyone just calls me Jem." The boy was acting so modest and acted so welcoming, that contrary to her first thought, Tessa thought that there was actually a chance that she would like this new school.
"Hi, Jem… My name is Tessa and I am new here…" Tessa had to stammer out the words. She wasn't a flirter and had actually had little contact with boys. All of her previous schools had been all girl schools and the girls at those schools weren't allowed to even TALK to boys.
"So… Tessa… can I see your schedule… I can help you around your classes if you want…" Jem blushed as he said this, making his pale cheeks flare out in color. Before this, Tessa thought that he had a darker tone of flesh, but his true paleness was revealed when he flushed. Tessa shrugged and then handed the cream colored paper to Jem's outstretched hand. After a moment's silence, and Jem scanning the paper quickly, his eyes made contact with her.
"You have all the same classes as me, so I can show you where they are, if you want, sort of like a guide to the school." Jem staged the statement like a question, inquiring if she'd actually want a boy to walk her to all of her classes, to take her everywhere in the school… to hang out with her. Tessa thought over everything for a second, and then looked into Jem's blue eyes.
"Of course, I'd like you to be my guide… where do we start?" Tessa was trusting in Jem, since he was the first person who was actually nice. It was extremely rare for Tessa to be this trusting in someone… and that someone was a boy!
Jem smiled and flushed once more as he guided Tessa down the spacious hallway and into a large classroom. Inside the room were about 10 desks.
"Why are there so little desks in the classroom?" Tessa shyly inquired, terrified to have actually uttered something. Jem smiled kindly.
"Well, since this school is exclusive, we only let 10 kids in… I think that the people we let in this year, if I'm not mistaken, are you, me, Cecily, Jessamine, Gideon, Gabriel, Lydia, Emily, Julie, and Will." Jem spoke the last name with such love and humor that Tessa just HAD to inquire after it.
"Err… Jem… who in the world is Will… I mean you spoke his name with such love and reverence…" Tessa felt so awkward saying it, and the entire time she said it, Jem was staring at her whether with shock, repulsiveness… or… Tessa's thoughts were cut off by Jem's words.
"Will? Oh, Will is my best friend. We've been best friends since we were 12 and still, we are as thick as thieves." Jem gave an unconscious smile at the thought of Will. Then, his thoughts drifted back to the current present.
"We should find a seat… this class will start in approximately 2 minutes." Jem checked his watch for reassurance and then gave a sturdy, curt nod. The only thing that was even slightly wrong with the picture was that there was no one else in the classroom.
"Err…" Tessa started to ask a question about the lack of students, but Jem, for some reason, knew what she was going to utter.
"They are coming… It is just the horrible first day of school throws everyone off…" Jem seemed to know everything. As soon as Tessa sat down in the empty desk to the right of Jem, a horde of kids poured in. She recognized Jessamine with her posse, there also was a pair of blonde boys with piercing green eyes that seemed to bore into her skin, and finally there was a pair of siblings. A boy and a girl, both with ebony hair and electric blue eyes. The boy sat to the left of Jem, and the girl sat directly behind the boy… They looked beautiful and perfect… perhaps more than Jessamine and her posse's beauty added up together.
Just as everyone was getting situated, a pretty lady walked in the room… no older than 25 with flaming red hair and two beautiful hazel eyes. Her figure was slim, but she had an obvious cording muscle that all of the students in the academy seemed to have.
She stood up straight in front of a beautiful mahogany desk, situated in the front of the classroom and cleared her throat to show the kids that she was ready to talk.
"Welcome, students… to the first day of your training."
