Tessa slaved away that night to make the place and meal presentable for Nate's return. However, she needn't have bothered. After two hours sitting at the table watching what had been a decent meal go cold, she gave up and went to read in her room. Another hour went by and she couldn't stop herself eating a small portion of the dish. Without anything to preoccupy her mind she opted for an early night, knowing fully that she wouldn't be able to sleep until Nate was safely home. The hours ticked by, and Tessa became more and more anxious. At around three in the morning, a loud crash startled her from a half-slumber, and she peeked out of her door to see Nate stumbling around the kitchen. The light flickered on and her brother noticed the sliver of fretful expression peering at him.

"What are you still doing up, Tessie?! You have class in like six hours or whatever. Go sleep. Get to your fucking bed right now." He shepherded Tessa back into her room and she lay down in her bed, allowing herself to be drunkenly tucked into the covers.

"Where were you Nate? I- was worried."

"Oh Tessie, you're always fussing. I was just with some mates, is that okay?! You don't have to make such a big deal about everything. Christ I earn the ONLY money here, I should be allowed to piss away a few fucking quid of it." He was yelling now, saliva flying into Tessa's face. "Don't have to be so overprotective of me Tessie, I'm all grown up now."

She nodded furiously, and then lay still and did her best to steady her breathing. Nate sat down on the edge of her bed and began stroking her hair, like he used to when they were kids. "I'll look after you Tessie. I'll look after US. We'll make it work, you'll see. I'll support you if you want to spend your days talking about stories." He gave an awful laugh with no humour in it, and Tessa felt obligated to say something, anything to calm him down again. "I know Nate; I really do appreciate everything you do. I'm sorry if it doesn't seem that way sometimes, I just wanted to make some friends, I didn't want to make you angry-" Nate tensed at the memory of the previous night, hand tightening unconsciously on her neck.

"Ow – Nate, you're hurting me. Nate!" He leaned his face towards hers. Somehow she had done the opposite in her intentions to mollify his rage. "Who were you with, huh? What gives you the right to criticise me for staying out when you did it FUCKING YESTERDAY?! Jesus, sometimes I forget how fucking self-centred you are." Tessa was thoroughly wracked with sobs now, because of his words but mainly because of the way he was contorting her neck. She gratefully gulped in the sudden air as he let her go and stormed out of her room.

"Maybe you ought to think about your actions and their implications on others before the next time you go off whoring at night." He hissed before slamming the door. Tessa hardly slept that night. She went from being upset at Nate for blaming her; hurting her, to simply feeling a guilt so complete there was room for nothing else inside her.

The next morning Tessa had to apply double the amount of makeup, part on her neck and the fresh bruising there, and some onto the already yellowing mark on her cheek. On the way to college, she bumped into Jem again, who surprised her with his friendliness. She'd all but forgotten him in her infatuation with Will.

"Tessa! Hi – let me walk you to uni again." She smiled at him and they fell into easy chat as they wandered the streets. Tessa liked how effortless it was to talk to him; nothing like the fluster she got herself into around Will. Thinking about him brought a smile to her face, and she steered the conversation towards him, desperate for more information.

"So what's with Will and Jessamine, I mean – did they used to go out or something?" Jem paled. "Oh, um. When we first met Jessamine, she had this insane crush on Will. He didn't catch on for ages, and then eventually they dated, but it, er, didn't end well." He looked at his feet, and Tessa got the feeling that wasn't the whole story. Tessa didn't know how to respond to that, and Jem jumped on the opportunity to hastily move on to another topic. "So – er, how are you enjoying the course so far?" he asked.

"Oh it's actually great. Not really what I thought it would be, but I'm loving it. And the syllabus texts are nearly all something I would never read on my own, but am so glad I did." Conversation passed comfortably between them until they reached the campus, and Tessa again remembered her enthusiasm for seeing Will, and began to excuse herself, but Jem, seeing she was still early for class, offered to come with her to see his friend. So they headed off together towards the square in the centre of the main buildings, Jem sure that would be where Will killed time before lectures. Sure enough, he was there, spread out atop a picnic table, book in hand. As they approached, Will bounced up eagerly, silencing their attempts at a greeting and clearing his throat.

"Sssshh, listen to this. 'Everything is at an end, and that's all,' said Dolly. 'And the worst of it is, you understand, that I can't leave him: there are the children, and I am bound. Yet I can't live with him; it is torture for me to see him '"

There was a pause before Tessa murmured "Anna Karenina" Will looked up in surprise, his features spreading into a grin. Then he turned to Jem, and his face dropped.

"Oh" he said. "Er, I'm-" "Don't." Cut in Jem firmly. Tessa was bewildered. Did Jem have something against the novel? Before she knew what was happening, the two boys were striding off to some secret chat just inside the nearest building, apparently having decided by a kind of telepathy, as neither had uttered a word. At that, the bell for class rang, and as the door which the boys had disappeared to opened again, Will emerged, without Jem this time, and brushed off her insistent questions by reiterating that they needed to get across campus or Mrs Rogers would strangle her with that staple paisley scarf of hers for being late the second time in a week.