We Are So Similar

Tessa's P.O.V.

After stopping by the dorm room to grab my book bag and violin, Jem and I make our way across campus to the band room. "How long have you played violin for?"

"I've played since I was very little," he says, looking at me out of the corner of his eye, "My father taught me, as he played himself."

I'm not that much shorter than him, possibly only a few inches, so I don't have to really look up at him that much. "Was he good? I pretty much taught myself, for none of my relatives played."

"He was very good, but he simply didn't have time to play often," Jem explained. "I learned much by myself, but he taught me all the basics."

As we approach the band room, there are a lot of other students entering. He grips his violin nervously, and takes a deep breath. "I'm not...good around crowds. They just...kind of freak me out a little."

Laughing softly, I wait for most of the group to go in, then I take his hand, pulling him through the doorway. "Come on, Jem."

He follows me, and I stop by the table that has the seating list. "Jem! You're concert master!" I exclaim, pointing to his name on the list. "and I'm second first violin! We sit next to each other!"

"Really? That's awesome!" We go and sit down in our spots, and take out our instruments. The teacher, who is also the conductor, goes around, passing out sheet music.

Taking one of the papers, I examine it, reading the title and over the notes. "Hey, I've actually played this before! I think...last year?"

Jem, on the other hand, raises an eyebrow when he sees it. "This is pretty hard. I'm not great at sightreading. You are probably going to have to take the lead, on this piece, since you already know how to play it."

I wave his concerns away, while tightening and rosining my bow. "Don't worry about it. I'm sure you will do absolutely fine."

He laughs softly again, setting the music up on the stand so we both can see it. "Can you see it okay?"

"Yeah. It's perfectly fine." I reply, looking around the room.

We're ready to play, but the rest of the class isn't, and I turn back to Jem. "So, about Will. He's a close friend, right?" I ask him, "He seems to have a lot in common with Tess, don't you think?"

"Will's a great guy, and he seemed to really have taken a liking to her. He's usually more...well, to be completely honest...he's usually more rude to others."

Widening my eyes, I say with surprise, "No way! He seems like such a nice person! I can't believe that he would be rude on purpose."

"Oh, I sometimes can't believe it, either. He's really moody, too, so try not to get on his bad side." He looks down a bit, at the violin in his hands, and takes a tuner from his case. Offering it to me, I turn him down, since I'm already in tune. "But he's not...bad. That's a common misunderstanding."

I guess I should better warn Tess about Will later, but as I'm about to say something else to Jem, the conductor steps onto the podium, and orders silence. He's a rather tall, yet broad shouldered man.

Starting to conduct immediately, he doesn't give much room for error, and I do the best I can. Making some mistakes, even though I know this piece well, I try to stay in time, and during the piece, I see how Jem is doing. he's doing well, and I can tell that he's making more mistakes than I, but for reading for the first time, it's very impressive.

As we near the middle of the song, the conductor, cuts us off, and the whole group stops playing. He begins to lecture us to put more emotion into the music, and that right now, our music sounds like "something dead".

Jem gives me a look, and rolls his eyes pointedly at the conductor, when he isn't looking. Smiling, I'm glad that the stand pretty much conceals us, and he doesn't see that we are talking about.

After class, while packing up our instruments, Jem turns to me, a shy smile on his face. "We have music appreciation next, right?"

Nodding, I hand him the sheet music from the stand, and he places it into his folder, and tucks that into his case. Slinging the case over his shoulder, he offers to carry my violin for me, but I turn him down.

"Don't worry about it. I'm fine. By the way, you're really really good at playing," I compliment him, then I make a face, changing the subject all of a sudden. "And the teacher...I can't stand him."

"He's a...strict teacher," Jem replies sourly. "But still...he could be nicer."

The music appreciation class is interesting, but taking all the notes doesn't give me any time to talk to Jem, or get to know anyone else in the class. Finally, it's over, and I head to stats, forgetting that he's also I'm that class of mine.

Walking out of the room, I hear him call me name, and turn around, seeing him dash to catch up to me. "You have statistics next, right? With Will and Tess? I think I rememeber you saying that earlier."

"Yeah, I do. Are you in my class?" I ask, and he nods as he follows me on my way to the class, which is in a building at the side of campus.

In the class, I take a seat next to Tess, and Will and Jem sit near us, as well as a brown haired girl, with a deep scar across one cheek, and a black haired, blue eyed girl, who looks like the female version of Will.


Will's P.O.V.

Walking to literature with Tess, I honestly can't remember the last time I've been so instantly attracted to someone. Not since...I can't even bear to think about it now. There's something about her, that just makes me want to...tell her everything about me. It doesn't hurt that she's extremely pretty, either.

In class, we take seats next to each other, and the teacher introduces himself. After talking about his life for a few minutes, he assigns us the book A Tale Of Two Cities, to read, and do a partner book analysis on.

Tess nudges me. "You want to be partners? I've already read the book before, and have loved it. It will be easy."

This is the time when I would usually turn a girl down, saying that I don't need a partner, and they would only bring my grade down, but there's something about her, that makes me want to show her who I really am.

That I'm not what everyone thinks of me.

"Sure," I reply, and turn to face her. "But how were you able to love the book? I found it boring. And silly. No one chops of their head for love."

She raises an eyebrow, and I wonder if I've struck a nerve. "To each and every one their own opinion, Will Herondale."

No one has ever talked to me like that. Talked to me like they aren't afraid of making me angry. It's refreshing, to be honest.

"Well...' I stutter, blinking at her, and she looks at me expectantly. "Whose opinion do we go with?"

"Mine, of course," she declares, taking the copy of the boom, and pushing it into my hands. "Read it again. I'm sure there was something wrong with you when you read it for the first time. It is not silly. Not at all."

I stare at her in shock. Then, Tatiana's face appears in my mind. The lies, the yelling and screaming. The accusations. None of them were true.

The fact that she had accused me of getting her pregnant.

Taking the book from Tess, I give her a small smile. "Fine. I'll read it again. But only because you told me to."

She grins, and takes another copy of the book, turning to the first page, and begins to start reading. I watch as her eyes scan the lines, and suddenly, she looks up at me, catching me in the act.

"Aren't you going to read?' she asks, pushing a lock of hair behind her ear. "Don't you dare make me get a bad grade on this book analysis."

Laughing, I open the book to the first page, and start to read, but my thoughts start to swirl away. Eventually, they land on Tessa. The way she smiles as she's reading, how even though I just met her, I feel like I can trust her.

The Tatiana shows up. The manipulation. The way she used me. They way she tricked everyone into making them believe she was pregnant, and I was the father of the baby, just for attention and popularity.

"Will. Will." I hear someone call my name, and I look up from the book, realizing I'm still on the first page. It's Tess, and she is looking at me over the top of her book. "The bell rang."

She places her book away into her book bag, and I do the same. Standing up, we head to our next class, creative writing. Once again, the teacher introduces herself, and tells us to get into partners.

Immediately, I look at Tess, silently asking her to be mine. She nods, and the teacher tells us to write what we know about the person , no matter if we've know them for awhile, or just met them.

"What do I know about you, Will?" she asks, scooting over next t me in her desk. "Because I literally met you less than three hours ago."

I laugh. "You know...that my best friend is Jem. And that I have three classes with you?"

She writes this down, and looks at me. "I also know that you consider A Tale Of Two Cities silly, and you have a sister."

Grinning, I give her a thumbs up. "That's all correct. Let's se. What you I know about you? Oh. You have a twin sister, who plays violin, and you had crazy parents that named you basically the same thing."

"What's your sisters name?" she asks, looking up from the paper where she had been writing notes down, in her neat handwriting. Mine, on the other hand, is like doctor handwriting.

"It's Cecily." I tell her, and she writes that down to. "And I know that you probably want to make out with me right now."

She makes a face. "Eww. Why would you think that? I just met you."

"Because that's what any sane girl would think," I joke, playfully slapping her on the arm. "Don't take it seriously. I'm just kidding."

She raises am eyebrow, and writes something down on her paper. "You are very sarcastic," she obseves. "That's something I know about you."

All too soon, the class ends, and we make our way to stats, the class we have with Tessa and Jem, and Sophie and Cecily.

Taking a seat, Sophie and Cecily join us, and finally, Jem and Tessa come into the room together, and sit down next to us.