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Chapter 3. TESSA POV

An unhappy rumble alerted Tessa to the fact that she was starving. Tessa had been stuck on the same algebra question for ages and it was really frustrating her. She had began to multitask, by bringing her study to the book store for when it wasn't busy. It was only a few weeks into the school year, but Tessa was already stressed and had too much school work and other commitments to juggle. The homework was beginning to pile up, and not only did she have the lead in the production, Tessa was also in extra groups at school and had work at Luke's bookstore, so that she could save for collage. All this meant Tessa forgot, or didn't have time to eat.

Grabing her phone from her pocket, Tessa texted Clary and asked her to bring Chinese. Apart from an old lady looking through the shelves at the front of the store, the book shop was empty.

Tessa had been growing hungrier for – she glanced at her watch - forty-three minutes, when the bell on the door finally rung and she shoved her algebra to the side.

"I was beginning to loose hope, Clary."

"Ah, I think you may have me confused with the short redhead Jace goes on about?"

The blue eyed boy held the door open for the old lady as she exited graciously and then made his way towards Tessa, carrying a brown paper bag.

"Will? What are you doing here?" Tessa asked, surprised but giddy with nervous excitment.

"I am here to deliver you food," he said, dumping the bag on the counter, its smell wofted around Tessa and enveloped her in a Chinese eromaed hug. "I ran into Clary

and offered to deliver." Will smiled a lopsided grin and seated himself on a stool on the other side of the till so they sat opposite.

"Thanks." Tessa smiled as she ripped open the food bag and shoved hot deliciousness into her mouth, attempting to be as lady-like as possible in front of Will.

"Why do you close your eyes when you eat?"

Tessa opened one eye and paused chewing, to look at Will who casually sat with his chin on his arms leaning against the till, raven curls tumbling over his forehead. Oh boy, he was cute. "I sometimes do. Did you know if you block out one sense the others should work better, so I can enjoy the taste. Why are you watching me? It's quite unnerving."

His blue eyes blinked at her a few times before he grinned, "No, I didn't know that." Blink, blink. "And, I'm studying you."

Tessa almost spat out her rice.

"If we're going to be playing Romeo and Juliet we need to study up." Will mused, still watching her, a smile playing on his lips.

"I guess we do." Tessa agreed, amused. "Okay then, I should probably know what your favourite colour is." Tessa already knew, but he wasn't to know that.

"Black."

"Why?"

"It symbolises the secretive and the unknown and creates an air of mystery." Will Herondale certainly was a mystery."What's your favourite colour then?" He asked.

"Blue," like the colour of your eyes.

Will looked up at her with a look of surprise which quickly turned into amsument. "My eyes?"

"Did I say that aloud?" Tessa asked agast, her cheeks most likely as red as Clary's hair. Will laughed, his boy-ish laugh echoing through the store.

"Fear?" She asked, quickly changing the subject.

"Ducks." Tessa looked at him to see if he was joking but he looked truly haunted.

"Ducks?" she asked, "please explain."

"They're nasty little beasts, they are. You can't trust them, Tessa." Tessa burst out laughing, that fact was new to her despite all of her facebook stalking.

"It's not funny!" He cried and went on to tell Tessa a story about canabilstic ducks.

They ended up talking for about an hour about everything and nothing, untill it was the end of Tessa's shift and she was so giddy she felt she could float up on a cloud of happiness and hit her head on the cathedrial-like ceiling of the bookstore.

"Well thank you for bringing me food and coming for Romeo and Juliet studying." Tessa said sheepishly, gathering everything into her bag and clearing the till of any trace of Chinese.

"You're welcome, Tess."

"Tessa."

"Sure."

"Bye Will."

"Bye Tess. By the way, x equals seven."

"Excuse me?" But Will was already gone, before she realised he was talking about her algebra homework.

Tessa

Tessa walked beside Clary down the corridor to English the next day. They rounded the corner and Tessa followed Clary as she pushed the door open. He wasn't there. Her heart sunk. Stop being so pathetic Tessa! He's just a boy! There is no way he would like someone like you anyway.

They fell into their usual seats. And then the classroom door burst opened and he walked in. Tessa's breath hitched and the world faded around her, leaving him in sharp focus. Will's sweatshirt was casually array, a grey undershirt peaking out from the hem and collar. Dark hair flopped in wavy locks over his forehead and one side of his face. Dreamy blue eyes lazily scanned the room. He looked at her and she froze, but the glance was so brief Tessa wondered if she had imagined it. She looked away as he took his seat on the opposite side of the classroom.

As the teacher droned on, Tessa was aware of Will the whole time. She occasionally glanced in his direction before averting her eyes back to the board and scribbling meaningless notes down.

Will had his phone on his lap, his head titled over it and raven curls hung disheveled around his head like a halo. The light from the window shone down upon him and turned the strands into dark chocolate ribbons. He would smile at something Jem would mutter to him every now and then, a smile that lit up his features and made her heart flutter involuntarily. Tessa wished it were her he was smiling at.

Will raked the disheveled curls with his fingers and tilted his head to the side, exposing the vulnerable, creamy skin of his neck, kissed with a singular mole. Suddenly Will looked up in her direction and Tessa flicked her eyes away quickly, silently cursing herself for being so easily distracted.

The bell rang and Tessa hurriedly packed up her things, leading Clary out the door.

"Thank you, Sir." Will called over his shoulder as he slung his black bag over his shoulder and shuffled out the door after Jem. He held the door open behind him and Tessa caught it from him, her fingers merely inches from his. She noticed that his nails were short, possibly bitten down. She wanted more than anything to reach her fingers out, to brush his. He briefly turned around. Did he see her? But her opportunity was gone as Will disappeared down the corridor and out of view.

Why was he always disappearing from her? What was he doing to her?

CLARY POV:

"Pleassssseeeeeee come to Sebastian's party with us, Tessa!" Clary begged. "If I have to go, you have to as well."

"Fine, as long as I don't have any homework that night." She gave in, she was such a sucker but Clary loved her. Clary lay sprawled out on her bed, scrolling through her facebook feed as Tessa sat at her desk, gazing out the window.

"What did Will want the other night, by the way? He insisted on delivering your Chinese food." She asked and Tessa put her pen down to face her.

"Romeo and Juliet stuff…" Tessa said with a dreamy look. "What do you think of Will?"

"Well, he's Jace's cousin." She said as if that was supposed to answer Tessa's question. "He's probably just like him."

"He doesn't seem that way." Tessa continued to look dreamly out the window. When had Tessa ever looked dreamy?

"Oh, no. You don't still like him, do you?"

Tessa spun back around to face her. "No."

"Good. He doesn't deserve you anyway, Tessa."

The door to Clary's bedroom swung open and Izzy walked in. Clary made room for her on the bed as she sat down.

"Guys, I think Jace is planning Jace pranks." Izzy sighed

"What?"

"All I know is that he has recently collected a lot of spaghetti. I saw at least twenty packets lying on his desk and his 'Ultimate Pranking' book next to them."

What could he do with spaghetti?

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