Golden herondale: I'm going to try to be faithful to the book so there will certainly be Will/Tessa, Jem/Tessa and Will/Tessa/Jem. I just love these three together too much. Thank you so reviewing and I hope you like the new chapter. :)

Disclamer: I don't own these characters. They all belong to Cassandra Clare.

New Beginnings

Her mind was still a chaos, nothing made sense. She'd lost her parents and now her brother. She was left in a boarding school full of strangers and her heart tightened at the thought of never seeing her brother again.

"Miss Gray?" The Headmistress seemed worried, honestly Tessa couldn't blame her, she could feel her body trembling and something told her she was paler than usual.

"Mrs Branwell, I think she had no idea she was coming to the Institute."

"Miss Gray, are you feeling alright?" She eyed the american girl with concern. Her brother had already left without a word, her bag was perfectly still where Nate had left it, waiting for someone to pick it up. Tessa finally moved slowly for the bag, her muscles had been frozen for what felt eternity, her fingers curled up around the handle and she blindly started to walk towards the door, silent and heartbroken. The two other women followed her, Tessa hadn't noticed any of them until the girl, who looked like she was maybe two years older than her, spoke again.

"Theresa, I can take the bag. You don't look too good." Her lips were pressed together and Tessa could see the pity in Sophia's eyes.

"I'm fine, thank you." She swallowed, her gaze was still empty. "And please, call me Tessa."

"Very well Tessa. Sophia will help you with your belongings and maybe show you the Institute later." The older woman glanced at the other girl, who nodded respectfully. "And I'd like to see you after lunch, after you rest of course."

Nodding, Tessa followed the other student. Sophia had taken her bigger bag and explained that this boarding school was slightly different, students stayed until they are nineteen, an additional year of pre-training for college. Tessa thought it was strange, but maybe that's why her brother put her there, he knew she'd look for him right after leaving. Sophia also introduced herself, next year would be her last, and apparently she hoped Mrs Branwell would give her a place as her secretary in the school.

"So this is your room. You won't share the room with anyone since your brother requested it." Sophia informed her.

"Oh right," Tessa tried to force a smile but failed miserably. "Thank you for helping me."

"My pleasure." The girl smiled widely, Tessa only now noticed the long scar on the right side of her face. The american thought Sophia was definitely beautiful, there was something natural and genuine about her, the scar could bother some people but not Tessa. She couldn't think any less of people based on their looks, her mother always made sure of that. "Would you like help to unpack?"

"Oh no," Tessa was sure the girl noticed her looking at her scar, her face flushed bright pick and she adverted her eyes. "I can do it. I'd like to ask you if you could take me to the Headmaster later though. I'm not sure I remember the way back…"

"No problem!" Sophia didn't seem to bother when people stared at her scar, maybe she was already used to it, but Tessa thought it wasn't any less rude to do it. "I can pick you up at two?"

"That'd be lovely, thank you."

"Great then." Sophia smiled, her eyes widening as she remembered something. "I almost forgot. I got you something to eat, I wasn't sure if you'd be hungry after the flight so here. It's a tuna sandwich."

"Thank you, I really appreciate it." At the sight of food her stomach groaned, Tessa had skipped so many meals she was sure she'd faint soon. She gratefully took the sandwich and smiled as the other girl waved goodbye and left.

Looking around, the room was rather large compared to hers back in New York, the furniture was antique, much like what she read in her novels, there was a bed, a majestic chair, a wardrobe, three shelves, a door to the individual bathroom and a window. Tessa glanced outside, it was the view of the front of the Institute, the memories of what had happened just moments ago floated in her mind and she could feel a dagger on her back, she felt betrayed but she couldn't stop wondering why her brother had left her here.

Tessa shook the thoughts away and reached for the bed. Her handbag was still on top of it, together with her book and the sandwich, she place the first two on the chair across from it and lied on the bed, eating. She wanted to rest, yet her mind wondered back to the moment when Nate left America until she finally fell asleep. Tessa had been wondering a lot lately.

"Tessa?" Someone was knocking on the door for her. Slowly her eyelid opened and she realized she was not in her room, reality hitting her hard. "Tessa, are you alright?"

"I'm coming." She said, clearly still sleepy. "Give me a minute."

Quickly she glanced at the phone and realized it was almost 2:15pm already, Sophia must have been knocking for quite a while and Tessa couldn't help but curse under her breath, she hated to make people wait for her.

"Sorry, I was sleeping." Tessa had only time to grab her phone and a grey cardigan before she opened the door. "Should we go?"

"Don't forget your keys." Sophia said amusingly.

"Oh right…" Tessa mumbled, reaching for them and stuffing them in her pocket after closing the door.

"So are you feeling better?"

Tessa looked puzzled at the girl. Did she know about her parents? "Sorry?"

"You looked surprised," Sophia recalled. "And rather shocked too…"

"Oh that, yeah… I'm better." She glanced down, gripping her hold on the keys at the memory. "Thank you, for showing me the way. I'm not sure I'd find the room on my own."

"My pleasure. I have no classes in the afternoon so it's refreshing to do anything other than studying." Sophia's smile was sincere, Tessa could tell she could trust her and rely on her. Much like one would rely on an older siblings, although Tessa never really relied on Nate but otherwise.

As they walked to the Headmistress' office, Tessa looked around her. There weren't a lot of students, not like in her old school, but she could tell that much like in every school, there were groups, groups she'd have to get familiarized with before she got in trouble. And when Tessa decided to look down instead, she saw a blonde girl eyeing her curiously, although her mouth disclosed her annoyance at the american girl.

"Wait here." Sophia smiled before knocking on a door and vanishing inside the room.

Tessa's first instinct was to hug herself against the nearest wall, she felt awkward and misplaced. She could feel someone's eyes on her and before she could think it over, she glanced sidewards to find a raven haired boy on the bench opposite where she was standing. His eyes were so bright, Tessa wasn't sure exactly what color they were, a mix of violet and blue, they were definitely special. Tessa and the boy had been staring into each other's eyes intensely for quite some time, snapping out of it when she heard the door opening.

"Tessa, Headmistress Branwell is waiting for you." Sophia said, before noticing what distracted the american girl.

Blinking quickly after breaking eye contact with the mysterious boy, Tessa moved to walk inside the room, but not without glancing back one more time to find an empty bench.

"Miss Gray, please seat."

Tessa sat across the woman, clasping her hands together and taking a deep breath, she only hoped Mrs Branwell would give her some answers.

"Your brother payed for your stay here until you're ready to go to college. He made sure you'd be looked after and despite his persistence we can't keep you here every weekend." Mrs Branwell was so professional, Tessa couldn't bring herself to interrupt her and make her questions, she just stared at her and listened. "You're allowed to leave the Institute twice a month, but never during week day, obviously.

"Here you have your schedule." The Headmistress slid the paper toward Tessa. "I've asked Sophia to help you these first few days, she's in the room just down your corridor. It'd be good for you to exchange numbers." She suggested, her hands clasped on top of the some paper work. Her brown hair was up in a bun and her equally brown eyes were understanding, she was quite elegant, Tessa thought. Her posture was admirable despite her young appearance, it made the american wonder how someone so young could be the face of a boarding school. Whenever Tessa heard boarding school she imagined a jail with an old, strict and frowning woman as Headmistress, and here in front of her was a woman quite the opposite. "Any question?"

Shaking her head, Tessa finally looked down at her hands, she'd been peeling off the cuticle skin around her fingernails and was bleeding from two of them. Curling her hands into fists to cover it, she glanced back at Mrs Branwell.

"You're free to go then." And at that Tessa quickly reached for her schedule and stood up to leave. "And Miss Gray. I'm sorry for your loss."

A/N: Yes I ended up posting it today, I was so excited that I wrote the second chapter shortly after finishing the first.

Thank you for the reviews and enjoy!