Okay, so I'm going to start to answer reviews by writing the answer in the A/N, so I'll start now. Here comes my answers:

SilverCarstairs: Thank you! Here is chapter 4, and I hope you'll enjoy this chapter as well.

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, they belong to Cassandra Clare, but I do own the plot.

Enjoy!

Chapter 4

Living with Will and Jem and Charlotte and Henry was not like anything I'd ever had before. I could never have imagined it.

Firstly, Jem and Will acted like they were actually brothers – though I knew for a fact they weren't – but without the fighting that siblings always did.

Secondly, there was something about the odd family, the way they acted and talked to each other and treated each other. It was so different from the way it had been in my family, I was left shocked.

Thirdly, they actually treated me like part of the family. Charlotte acted almost like a mother. It made me miss my own mother terribly sometimes, but in the same time, it was nice.

Will and Jem didn't particularly treat me any different, and I was starting to get rather distressed by Will's … by the way he acted around me. It was confusing.

And all this, I noticed at breakfast.

After showering and dressing quickly, I met Will in the corridor on my way to breakfast. He grinned at me. "Feeling better today?"

I knew it was yet another of his attempts to get me to tell him what'd been wrong the day before, but I didn't fall for it. "Oh, I'm feeling well", I said calmly. "And you?"

Clearly annoyed, he'd muttered "Fine", and disappeared downstairs.

I followed him, and there, already at the breakfast table, was Jem and Henry, waiting.

Jem smiled at me. "Good morning, Tessa", he said. "Did you sleep well?"

The question made me blush, for some reason, and I looked down at my plate. "Great", I mumbled to my plate.

The breakfast went on a lot like that, and I was quiet most of the time. I had a lot of things to think about.

After breakfast, Will, Jem and I walked to school. Jem tried to small talk with me, and I tried to talk back lightly, though I still had I lot on my mind. They both seemed to notice, but thankfully, none of them mentioned it.

Then we arrived at school. "Tessa!" yelled Sophie. "Over here!"

I walked up to them. "Hi guys", I said and smiled.

"Are you making it habit to go with Jem and Will to school?" asked Clary. "Because that would be … I don't even know! It would be so weird, but cool at the same time, and …"

"Well, it would be very awkward if I didn't", I interrupted. "I live with them." Then I regretted it. Now they'll ask me about it.

As predicted, Magnus, Clary, Sophie and Simon's eyes went very wide. Magnus was the first to recover from the shock. "You live with them? I thought you lived next door to them." There was confusion in his voice, as well as his eyes.

"Until yesterday", I admitted, unwillingly. "But … It's complicated."

Sophie almost looked a little hurt. "You can trust us, Tessa", she said gravelly. "You know we wouldn't tell anyone."

I sighed, and thought of it for a moment. I didn't want to hurt Sophie – she'd been nothing but kind to me since I came to the Institute. Lying to her seemed like a bad way of repaying her. Still, I didn't want them to know about my brother – I was ashamed, and I didn't want them to pity me.

"Alright", I said, after a moment's hesitation. "I'll tell you. But not here, and certainly not now."

"Lunch?" Clary suggested.

I shook my head violently. "No, not a chance", I said. "Not in front of the Shadowhunters." I thought about it for a moment. "I'll tell you after school. We'll go home to Magnus – if that's okay for you, Magnus – and I'll tell you then. But you must promise not to tell a soul about it."

"Of course", said Simon. "We won't tell anyone."

"Okay", I said. "I'll see you guys later." I walked with Sophie to the class.

"Is it the reason why you were so sad yesterday?" she inquired when we were alone.

"Yes", I said. "It … It is quite complicated, and if you don't mind waiting till this afternoon, and I'll tell you everything."

"Yes, of course", she said. "I'm sorry." Even though she had no idea what to be sorry about.

I had to blink away a few tears. I was touched that Sophie, someone whom I'd known for only a few days, was honestly sorry about something that hurt me – and something she didn't even know what it was, at that.

"Thank you, Sophie", I said. "It means a lot to me."

XXX

After school, we went to Magnus's place.

"Okay, what is going on?" Clary asked me when we were all in the living room.

"What do you want to know?" I said, with a quiet sigh.

"Why do you live with Will and Jem?" Sophie said.

"Well, that is the end of the story", I said. "Can I tell it from the beginning?" Everyone nodded, so I started telling. "Okay, so my parents died in a car accident a little while ago, and my older brother Nate reacted, um, badly, to it. He changed, did stupid things, you know, that kind of stuff. Then he moved to London to get a job a house for us to live in, and met bad people, and … Now he's barely home anymore. That's why I was in a bad mood yesterday. Then when I went to town yesterday, I met one of his friends, and he recognized me, and …" I paused, trying to figure out how to put it without making it sound crazy. "He was … violent." I raised my broken wrist, and knew they understood. They'd been almost dying of curiosity of what had happened to my wrist. "Jem saw what happened, and he took me to the hospital, and I had to tell him about Nate. He didn't think I should live alone since I'm not eighteen yet, so he offered me to borrow their guestroom until things get better at home, and … Well, I don't enjoy living basically alone and having to act an adult and take care of my brother when he even shows up at home, so I said yes."

It was quiet for a few moments, and I realized it was a lot to take in.

"I'm sorry", Sophie said finally in a soft voice.

"Thanks", I murmured. "So, that's why my wrist is broken, and that's why I live with Will and Jem."

"Well, how is it living with them?" asked Clary.

"Well, horrible", I said. "But at least Jace isn't there anymore, so it's quieter than it was before, now that there isn't any screaming and yelling and stuff. But Jem's actually nice to me. Oh, and they have a library, and you should see the guest room. I mean, the bed's bigger and softer than my bed is, and it's not a bed in a guest room. It's weird, but I don't mind, and I love the library! They have Dickens!" I trailed off when I realized how bad that sounded. Very nerdy. Then again, everyone here was kind of nerdy, except maybe Magnus, and that stopped me from blushing.

"Sounds great", said Sophie, a little sarcastically, and we burst out laughing.

"I don't get how you can get so thrilled by books", said Simon. "It's … odd."

"Yeah", agreed Magnus. "Very."

We fell silent.

"We should do something", said Clary. "Something fun. Not sit around here in silence."

"I know!" Magnus jumped up from the floor, where he'd been sitting. "I can give you all make-up!" We groaned in unison. "I'll even do it for free!"

We tried to convince him it wasn't necessary – we didn't love glitter as much as he did, and really didn't need glittery make-up – but it was impossible. He had decided. Even Simon, poor Simon, couldn't do anything to scape make-up.

He started with me, since I was new and had never had make-up by Magnus before.

"Magnus, it really isn't necessary", I said for the thousandth time. "I have my own make-up, and I'm already wearing make-up today."

"Oh, no", said Magnus. "Don't think I don't know what you're all trying to do. You don't want to be glittery. It won't help, I've decided. We're doing this. Oh, and I mean you, too, Stephan."

"Simon!" spluttered Simon. "It's Simon, not Stephan!"

Magnus just waved it off. "Whatever."

I had no other choice than to let Magnus do it.

He was finished in record-time, and I asked him if he hadn't used magic to fix it. He just laughed it off.

"There", he said. "Not so bad. A little more glitter, maybe, but I need to save my glitter. Can't waste it on anyone – no pun intended."

"None taken", I mutter. I was busy staring at my own reflection. I didn't even look slightly like myself. I looked like a glittery cupcake with the face of a young girl. Seriously. There was glitter everywhere, even in my hair. It was either a cupcake, or a very starry, colorful night sky.

Sophie and Clary wasn't better. They looked like me, but Clary with red hair, which just added to the colorful effect.

Simon was lucky. At least a little. He didn't glitter quite as much as us, but he did glitter. He barely looked recognizable.

"See", said Magnus when he was finished. "It's not that bad."

I looked wistfully at myself in the mirror again. "I would hardly say that", I said. "I don't look like myself anymore."

"Oh, shut up", said Magnus. "Here, give me your phone. I have to photo you and put it on Facebook, oh, and text your friends."

I shook my head. "Not a chance", I said, but when Magnus started attacking me to get my phone, I lost pretty soon, and he took photos of us all and posted on Facebook, and then sent the pictures of me to everyone on my contact-list.

"I'm going to kill you later", I announced when I got a text from Lucas wondering who had possessed his friend.

"I'll help you with that", said Clary. "When is later?"

"If I say that, Magnus can be prepared, and then it's never going to work. We have to wait until he's unprepared."

Clary smiled, but Magnus seemed unfazed by the threat. "Oh, yeah, you'll strangle me slowly in my sleep et cetera, et cetera. Save your breath."

XXX

A little while later, I had to get back to my now-home – it felt weird calling Will and Jem's home "home". Since I really had a terrible sense of direction, Magnus gave me a ride, while the others walked home. It was very embarrassing, but what could I do? I couldn't even find a bookstore.

It was almost 6 o'clock when I arrived, and I barely had time to go up to the guest room and drop off my bag and books before dinner.

This dinner, people talked more to me. Especially Jem and Will.

"So, where have you been all day?" Will asked, and I nearly choked on my water. What did he care what I did, I wondered, but I didn't say that aloud. It didn't seem smart.

"Oh, just with a few friends", I said.

Jem raised his eyebrows. "Did those friends include Magnus?" he asked, and looked pretty amused. I guessed everyone knew of Magnus's liking for glitter.

"Yeah", I muttered, cursing Magnus and his glitter quietly. "I don't look like me anymore."

"That's to expect of Magnus", Will said, and he had this particular tone when he said it, that made me angry.

"Everyone's different", I muttered. "If he wants to like glitter, he can like glitter." Will looked shocked, and opened his mouth to say something, but changed his mind and shut it again. Jem just looked amused.

"I'm starting to like you more and more, Tessa", he said, and I blushed and stared at my plate. I don't know why I reacted so weird; it was obvious it was meant as a joke, possibly to annoy Will a bit. So why did I act as if it meant something?

After dinner, I decided to do some homework, and when I was finished, I grabbed A Tale of Two Cities and went to the library. I always liked being in a library, it gave me some sort of confusing peace. It always helped me think.

I was half through the sixth chapter when someone put his hand on my shoulder. I jumped – I hadn't even heard the door open and close – and nearly dropped the book.

Jem smiled at me. "Sorry", he said. "I didn't mean to scare you."

I took a deep breath to calm my raising heart down, and then I smiled back at him. "It's fine, really", I said. "I'm just so concentrated when I read."

"Yeah, I noticed", said Jem. "It was like you were in a whole different world."

"Well, I was", I said. "I mean, when you read, you're in a completely different world. That's the best thing about reading. You can just disappear into the world in the book, forget about the real world for a moment." I broke off, realizing that I sounded really nerdy.

Jem smiled, that brilliant smile that almost forced you to smile back. It was infectious. "It sounds amazing", he said. "I guess I've never really thought of it like that."

I blushed.

"Anyway", he said. "I wondered if you would like to get to town tomorrow. You said you wanted to get it over with soon, so I thought …"

"That sounds great", I said, calmly, but inside, I was yelling happily. I was happy that he'd remembered, and that we'd have the whole afternoon tomorrow by ourselves. Well, in town, but still. It made my insides feel warm and weird.

And that was chapter 4! Things are starting to get complicated.

Okay, I have two questions for you. Firstly, do you think I should start with Jessa or Wessa. I've decided I will have a little of both in this, and I want your opinions as of which should be first.

Secondly, should Tessa go to New York to meet with her "old" friends?

That was that for today. Hope you enjoyed this chapter.

MHC