A/N: I'm really sorry about how long it took me to update this. I've been having a lot of tests lately so it was difficult. Anyway, I hope you like it.

These chapters were more of the prologue, at the end of this one the story is kind of really beggining.

Review, follow, enjoy :)


Chapter 2

Will had woken up with the memory of being at that party again. He felt really bad, mostly because of the girl, who probably had the best night of her life and he couldn't even remember her properly. But this was just his ego talking. He actually felt bad with himself too, this wasn't his usual behavior at all: he'd slept with girls before, but he had known them from school, he wasn't always such a manwhore.

They had moved from London to the suburbs of New York just a few weeks ago, because of his father's job. Until that day, the day of the moving, they had been living in Will's cousin house. Will got along with Jace really well, they were actually very alike. Cecily, on the other hand, couldn't stand them when they were together, since "it was like having two Will's and one was enough already".

He was laying on his bed now, in his new bedroom, of his new house: one of the many he'd had all over the years. Thanks to his dad's job, they had moved a few times, and he couldn't remember any calm period in his life except from his childhood.

He was born in Wales, and grew there until Ella, his older sister, died. He was only twelve years old when it happened, and Cecily nine. The images of the accident still haunted him, but compared to those first months in which he couldn't even sleep without waking up in the middle of the night screaming, it was nothing. Nevertheless, the nightmares had never fully stopped, and were never going to. Will knew that very well.

After Ella died, they lived in different places all over England, but finally they established themselves in London. Will was used to his life there: he had friends, girls, he knew the city and knew exactly where to go whenever he was having a good or bad day. He would even dare to say he was happy there. But then his dad had to ruin it all by announcing they were moving to New York. And not even to Manhattan! Their new house was in the suburbs, forty-five minutes away from the big city. Great. His life was just so fun in those moments.

"Will!" he heard his sister call. "Come help, you asshole! I'm not getting your stuff out of the truck!"

He sighed. He wasn't feeling like getting off his bed, and certainly not for unpacking, but this was probably the fourth time Cecily had called him and he had to bring his stuff to his room. On second thoughts, he had to bring his stuff to his room before Cecily started digging up through his things and…

"…he's my brother, and he's really lazy, so…" he heard her sister say. Who the hell was she talking with? And why was she always saying shit about him? Ugh. Was it so hard to understand that he just wasn't in the mood to unpack?

"Oh, would you shut up, Cecy? I'm already here" he groaned. He would have never expected to find Cecily with two other girls though. Who were them?

One had brown hair and dark hazel eyes, and was looking at him strangely. But he was far more intrigued about the other girl: she was tall (taller than the other one, at least) and had dark brown hair. He couldn't see her eyes because she was looking to the floor, apparently embarrassed of something, her face red.

"I know I may be too good looking for your eyes, but it's not like you will die if you let yourself enjoy the view, you know?" he joked. He knew he was being an asshole but he wasn't in the friendly mood. At all.

She looked up then, and a couple of beautiful gray eyes dedicated him an angry, expectant and still embarrassed gaze. But the only thing he could think of was that she seemed terribly familiar to him. And then it hit him.


One week ago..

"Come on William, you have to go!" Jace begged for the millionth time. He couldn't even understand why Jace wanted so badly for him to go to some stupid party. It wasn't like Jace would be alone there: he had his girlfriend and plenty of friends that were going. He was the one who was going to be alone.

"I don't even know anyone. And I'm not in the mood."

"Yeah, cause you're never in the mood. Or at least you haven't been since you came to my house." He was right though. They had been living in Jace's house for about two weeks and he wasn't feeling like doing anything but read, sleep or eat. "You'll be moving next week, so you won't have to deal with me anymore then! But you should come today and I'm not stopping until you do."

"Leave me alone, Jace. Why do you want so badly for me to go?"

"Because," he said, "school starts next week and this is our last free weekend. Free from all of our responsibilities and homeworks and all that school crap. And, your mother may or may have not told me to take you, you know, since you've been locked in here since you came from London."

"Great argument, very convincing. I'm just gonna go because my mother wants me to. Now I sound like an emo."

"To be honest, you kind of do." Jace shrugged. "Look, you don't have to go if you don't want to. I'm not forcing you. But there'll probably even be some people from your new school, and, to be honest, you could use some friends."

Was he also a pain in the ass like Jace?

He sighed in defeat, knowing Jace actually had some points, and said: "At least tell me there's gonna be alcohol."

Jace smiled. "Of course, man. And who knows. You might even get lucky today."


He found his gaze traveling everywhere she went. Every single thing she did, he couldn't stop staring.

They had been kissing for a few minutes and now they were inside some messy bedroom, full of bottles and clothes all over the floor. There was a bed unmade, and the walls were filled with posters of naked women. "How classy," Will thought. Although he wasn't very classy himself.

"So," he heard himself saying, "which school do you go to?"

"Er… I go to the New York Institute. What about you?"

He didn't know why, but he felt kind of disappointed. That was Jace's school, not the one he was going to go. It would've been nice to know someone there. Scratch that, it would've been nice to have her in his school. But what was he thinking? He really didn't know anything about this girl, other than her name was Tessa and she went to the New York Institute. And that she was really beautiful.

"Idris School. Have you heard of it?"

"Right. Yeah, I have." She gave him a mischievous and tempting look. "But let's stop talking now."

He felt his hands placed on the sides of her waist while he pulled her towards the bed. It was almost as if he weren't controlling his own moves. He shouldn't be doing this. He shouldn't be doing this. He shouldn't be… Oh. What was he thinking? All he knew now was that his mouth was on hers and their tongues were touching and that she tasted like alcohol but smelled like lavender. Which was really really nice.

All of sudden, he wasn't wearing his shirt anymore and neither was she. A black laced bra and her jeans were all she had on and he didn't think he could handle the temptation anymore. This girl was going to be the death of him.


She was the girl from the party. The girl from the party. In his house.

"You're an idiot, William," Cecily said. But he couldn't stop staring at the girl (Tessa) and she seemed like she couldn't stop staring at him either. "This is our neighbor, Tessa Gray. She lives across the street. And this is her friend Sophie Collins. Um, Tessa, Sophie, this is my brother, Will Herondale."

Tessa was red from head to toes, and he probably was too. He'd just made a stupid joke to the girl he'd slept with without even knowing her. He just found out the girl was his neighbor from across the street. How embarrassing, for Christ sake. But the most important thing, he was speechless because this girl was even more beautiful than he remembered. Of course, the alcohol wasn't affecting them now, or at least not to him. But she actually was pretty.

She no longer smelled like alcohol, but the lavender smell remained intact. It was really nice. Bleh. She was really nice.

"Wait, Herondale?" Sophie asked. "Do you happen to know a Jace Herondale?"

"Yes!" Cecily responded enthusiastic. "Yeah, he's our cousin. Do you know him?"

"Of course. He goes to our school."

"Oh! So you go to the New York Institute. Will and I go to Idris School."

Sophie gave her a polite smile and he knew he should say something. He was standing there like an idiot. And so was Tessa, who was now avoiding his gaze. But the whole situation was beyond weird for Will to make some stupid comment about schools or something. He was still processing the fact that the mysterious girl from the party was his neighbor.

"Cecy, where did you leave your…" his mother was asking while she traveled down the stairs, but she stopped when she saw them. "Oh! I didn't know you guys had company."

"Um, mom, this is Tessa Gray from that white house across the street. And this is her friend Sophie Collins," Cecily gave the introductions once again.

"Nice to meet you, girls," his mom smiled. "Are you the daughter of Richard and Elizabeth?" she asked Tessa.

"Um, yeah…" she said shyly, her cheeks still flushed. How the hell did his mom know her?!

Linette just kept smiling and said, "You look just like your mother! I met her and your dad a few hours ago and they were really nice, they even invited us to dinner tomorrow night. I hope you don't mind, of course. I was hoping you and my kids could get along."

Tessa just nodded slowly, clearly uncomfortable with the whole situation, and she wasn't the only one.

Dinner at her house?! Things were going to get bad.