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Hi, I'm so sorry I temporarily abandoned this, but I had exams and just stuff going on,
but anyway, here's the new chapter, I hope you like it, please let me know what you think
and whether or not you enjoyed hearing from Will's POV so I can either do that again in future, or not.
Thanks, you're all wonderful! :)
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Over the next few days, Tessa began to get the feeling that Will was avoiding her, and the few times she did manage to corner him, he was distant and sarcastic, hiding away the friendly, intelligent version of himself she knew she had glimpsed. Jem didn't turn up at the campus either, and since it was through those two she had been forming the beginning of a friend group, Tessa found herself rather back at square one. She'd met a kind girl named Sophie who was studying Sociology, with whom Tessa had sat with for lunch that week. Her friends included brothers Gideon and Gabriel, Bridget, Thomas and Cecily – Will's twin. They were a welcoming group, and although she wasn't invited to see them out of college, Tessa was glad to have someone to talk to, and besides, thought it was probably better to get home early after college to stay on Nate's good side. He had been coming home from work, angrier every day recently. She did her best to keep him appeased and spent all her time off cooking, cleaning or studying. He was still subject to some violent rages but Tessa had managed to water down her make up to keep it lasting, so that nothing of her slight injuries showed. She had been running late this morning, however, and since she had the notorious Mrs Rogers first thing, she hadn't had the time to slap any on, and opted instead to wear her hair down – despite its frizz – to cover her neck and face. She was snapped out of her reverie by the bell ringing, marking the start of lunch break and pulling her thoughts away from a certain someone sitting the row in front of her looking like some kind of angel. As she was swept up in the crowd headed for the cafeteria, she found herself beside him, so decided to be bold and ask him what she'd done wrong to bring about this change in him.
"Hi, Will"
He glanced her way briefly. "Tess."
Her heart jumped at the nickname. He surely didn't hate her, then. "So I was wondering why you've been avoiding me lately?" She asked innocently.
She saw something flash across his face that looked like guilt, but that couldn't be right. He had the gift of free will after all, and if he'd wanted to see her he could have.
"What are you talking about, just because we haven't spoken in a few days doesn't mean I'm avoiding you, you know. Talk about paranoid."
Tessa gaped at him. He was being his usual snarky, rude self but without that sarcastic, dry edge that made it witty, rather than simply rude. At that moment Cecily approached them, and although Tessa knew they were siblings, she had not before seen them together, and found the sight of these two acquaintances of hers from different social groups, along with their startling resemblance to each other, very odd indeed. She had been startled at the realisation that the person who, aside from Jem, probably knew Will the best, was among the group she was having lunch with each day. She had tried not to let her eagerness show, but couldn't stop herself from grilling Cecily for information. She worried now that she hadn't been subtle enough in her inquiries.
"Hey, Tessa." She smiled. "Will, can I talk to you for a minute? Alone?" She cast a sideways look at Tessa, seemingly trying to convey an apology. Will looked relieved for a moment, which made Tessa's stomach squeeze, before his expression and focus were overtaken by concern as he followed his sister into the nearest building.
"What's the matter? That Gabriel isn't making advances again, is he?" she heard him ask in an aggressive tone as the duo disappeared.
Tessa felt a pang at how fiercely protective he clearly was of his sister, while he couldn't even spare a smile for her. She immediately shook the thought away. What on earth was she doing; comparing herself, who hadn't known him for two weeks, to his twin, who he had grown up with? Will clearly didn't even like her, anyway. She desperately put her mind onto other things. She had noticed Gabriel watching Cecily very intently, but hadn't realised the advances were unwelcome. Or perhaps that was just Will's perception, as her brother. She saw Sophie's face across the courtyard and began to make her way over to her, when she was intercepted.
"Jem?" She asked, stupidly.
He smiled at her. "Hi, Tessa. I wondered if you wanted to go out for lunch?"
"Oh" She felt herself flush. She didn't know why. She was surprised; Jem hadn't been in contact in a few days, but perhaps he was just busy. She knew he worked in the hotel that Henry's parents owned, and things could get quite chaotic, supposedly.
"Yes, why not. That would be lovely. Though I have a class in 50 minutes so it'll have to be brief, I'm afraid. Is Will coming?"
She saw his smile flicker slightly but he quickly composed himself.
"I haven't seen him, but you're very welcome to invite him if you'd like."
"Oh no, that's alright, I just didn't want to seem rude. Shall we?" She led the way off campus.
Will POV
Cecily drew him through the nearest door and he waited as she closed it and turned to him.
"No, Gabriel isn't anything to do with it" she began.
"Good, that jerk needs to watch himself or he'll have me to answer to."
She sighed impatiently. "First of all, I am just as mature as you are and perfectly capable of handling myself." She ignored his raised eyebrow and hurried on regardless. "And this is about Tessa"
He was immediately alert. "What about her?!" He demanded.
He expected Cecily to smirk at him, he knew he was making his less than indifferent feelings towards the enthralling American evident, and his sister could read him better than anyone, but she just looked anxious, making his palms sweat uncomfortably. She still couldn't seem to get the words out.
"Maybe I'm just paranoid or whatever.." She was mumbling.
"Just spit it out, Cecily. What is wrong with Tessa?" He said the words more harshly than he'd meant to and she flinched. He immediately regretted not being gentler with his sister.
"It's just that she has a lot of bruises and scrapes, she covers them up with make up but.. But they don't look like wounds that could be caused by... You know. Anything inanimate."
Will froze. She didn't have to say the words for him to understand what she meant.
"But she's so private about her personal life, and I thought you might know. Does she have a boyfriend, or is her father inclined to violence..?"
Will shook his head, still in shock from the insinuation. He heard his own voice, raspy as he tried to talk past the lump that had formed in his throat. "She doesn't have anyone here. She doesn't have anyone except-" his voice cracked, and he cleared his throat. "Except her brother."
Cecily stared at him, wide-eyed. "And do you think he would-"
"I don't know. I-. The way she talks about him, no, like he's this great guy, like he lives his life to make hers better, but.." he trailed off. How could he not have noticed this? Right, because he shut her out. He couldn't believe he'd been such an idiot. She knew nobody here, and just because he couldn't have her in that way he'd decided for both of them that they couldn't even be friends. She should hate him. But the way she had spoken to him this morning, not afraid to ask him straight-up, the reasons for his obvious avoidance of her. His feisty angel. A smile came to his lips, and he shook it away. He didn't deserve her, and anyway he had more important things to worry about than their feelings for each other. He racked his brains, but couldn't think of anyone who would know her well enough to be hurting her. It had to be him. But then why did she seem to hold him in such high esteem? It didn't make any sense. He decided to be up-front about it and ask her about her brother. He knew he could get her to open up to him, he knew she'd felt that connection, too.
"I have to go and find her, Cecily, thank you for sharing this with me."
"Will, I don't think asking her about it is the way to-" she protested, but he was already out of the door, scanning for her long brown hair, today in a beautiful disarray.
He spotted her, across the field, and started moving. He stopped, however, immediately on seeing who she was with. Like a punch to the gut, he realised she was leaving campus with Jem. His Jem.
