The rest of the year went by pretty quickly, and everything went back to normal. I was happy with my life. I had a wonderful boyfriend, great friends and even Nate seemed to step up a little. I was even planning on going back home soon, hopefully in the beginning of the next year. It wasn't that I didn't like living with Will's family – they were always very nice – but Nate was my brother, after all, and I missed him.

Christmas was on its way, and I planned on spending it in London with my friends, and then visit New York for a while. Everything seemed great.

"Tessa!" yelled Sophie. The Christmas break had just started, and I was on my way home.

"Hey", I said and smiled. Everyone was starting to get in a Christmas mood now.

"I want to talk to you about something before we meet with the others, is that alright?"

"Uh." I had plans with Will actually, but whatever. My friend needed me. "Alright", I said. "Just give me five seconds to tell Will."

Will wasn't happy about it, but what could he do? Force me to come with him? Right. That was so not happening.

"Okay, I'm all yours until 5:40. What did you want to talk about?"

We were sitting in Sophie's room with hot chocolate and cookies. It was really cozy in there, with the snow falling outside. Everything looked white and glowing.

"So, you know that Charlotte and Henry always have this Christmas party every year, right?" Sophie said.

I nodded. "Yes. Will invited me to it almost two months ago."

It had been a very romantic invitation, like he was inviting me to the graduation prom or something. And it was two months before the party, which I thought was unnecessary, but apparently Will didn't.

"Right. So, you know I've started seeing Gideon a little. Anyway, he asked me if I wanted to go, and I don't know … What should I say?"

"You should definitely say yes!" I said excitedly. "Why are you hesitating?"

Sophie shrugged. "I don't know. I mean, I'm not sure what he wants, or why he want me to come. I mean, why would he care about someone like me?"

I was quiet for a moment, carefully deciding what to say next. "I don't see why he – or anyone, really – couldn't care about you. You're a wonderful person, Sophie, so really. If you're unsure, you could try to talk to him about it. And about the party – if you don't want to go, then don't. It's your decision, and it really shouldn't matter what I say."

Sophie hugged me. "You're a great friend, you know that?"

I hugged her back. "I try", I mumbled.

We talked a bit more, until we had to go to Magnus. We were having an early Christmas together, since everyone were doing different things for Christmas

XXX

"I know what we can do!" exclaimed Magnus with a smug grin.

"No make-up, Magnus", said Clary immediately.

Magnus shook his head. "No. We are going to do something even more fun than that. We are going to scare the Herondale boys half to death."

Sophie frowned. "But how are we going to do that? They're not afraid of anything …"

"But they are", I interrupted. "They're deathly scared of ducks."

Simon choked on his tea. "Ducks?"

Clary giggled. "Yes, ducks. I have no idea why, they just are. But how are we going to do it, Magnus?"

"Well, for starters, Tessa lives in the same house as Will, and I'm sure she could get Jem to help us out …" He wiggled his eyebrows. Magnus was the only one who noticed the one thing I wasn't happy about – the thing about me and Jem not being friends anymore. I don't know why, but ever since I started dating Will, he'd stayed away from me. He was still nice, but he didn't talk to me unless necessary.

"And Jace?"

"We'll go there and convince them to let us in, and then place them in his room."

"And where will we get them?" said Simon.

"Let me worry about that", said Magnus.

"Sounds like a plan", said Sophie.

I went back home to convince Jem to help with our masterplan, while Clary went with Simon to talk to Isabelle and Alec, and Magnus and Sophie fixed the ducks.

I knocked softly on Jem's door, nervous for some reason. We hadn't really talked in months, so it felt weird knocking on his door.

He opened the door, and my heart started racing. Why, oh, why did he have to have that effect on me? I already had a boyfriend, for God's sake!

"Tessa", he said. "Can I help you with something?"

I had to take several deep breaths before I could tell him about the plan. When I was finished, he seemed to think it was a great idea, and promised to keep Will from his room for the rest of the day.

I went to call Magnus and Sophie to check if they managed to get some ducks. They needed twenty more minutes. Then I called Clary and Simon. They managed to convince Isabelle and Alec to help, and now they had access to Jace's room and Alec promised to keep him from his room.

I waited impatiently for news from Magnus and Sophie. While I sat there, with nothing to do, I couldn't help but start thinking about everything. My life had gone from easy to very complicated to better in less than a year. But better didn't mean great, and except for missing Nate and my friends from New York, I missed having Jem as a friend. Sure, I couldn't handle being friends with him back then, it was very painful, but I cared about Jem, I had to admit that, and even though what I felt for him wasn't just feelings of friendship, I realized now that it was a thousand times better to be friends, than this cold politeness. Anything was better than this.

But the fact that I still cared for Jem the way I did freaked me out, because I was dating Will, and we were doing great, and I was in love with him.

It also scared me that the last time we'd talked – really talked – I'd ended up crying in the guest room, after him telling me he was there as my friend. God, that felt like years ago. So much had happened since then, but I still was hurt by Jem, and he didn't even know it.

What he'd said that night on the bridge, that had been a lie. I believe he really meant it when he said it, but only days later, he'd started being cold toward me. He hadn't been there as a friend.

And I shouldn't care this much about how Jem treated me. I had a boyfriend – a great, sweet, romantic boyfriend who I loved – but why did I feel so torn between the two?

My phone broke me out of my thoughts. I hadn't even realized it was twenty minutes later. "Hello?" I said.

"We're coming over now with the ducks", said Sophie. "We just left some with Clary and Simon, so they should be putting them in Jace's room right now. Oh, and make sure your phone's on, because you have to film it."

"Okay, I'll be ready", I said.

A minute later, I opened the door for them. Jem and Will were off somewhere, so we could fix everything without Will finding us.

We stuffed the ducks everywhere – in the bathroom, in the closet, in the bed, everywhere. There were even one hanging from the ceiling, so when you walked into the room, if you were looking straight ahead, it was the first thing you saw.

And then we waited. Clary and Simon waited at the Lightwood's for Jace to arrive, and I, Sophie and Magnus waited in Will's room. When we heard the door open downstairs, Magnus went to hide under the bed, and Sophie behind the door. I just sat in his bed with my phone ready.

The door opened, and Will saw me on his bed, and frowned. Then he saw the duck, and started screaming things that shouldn't be mentioned.

The yelling continued until Jem burst in. "What's going on, William?" he said.

Will pointed at the duck, and then at me, and started muttering things to Jem, who barely could contain his laughter.

"This is not funny, James", Will said and pointed at him. "I know you had something to do with this. I won't forget this." Then he went to open his closet, and there were more yelling and cursing. "I will make you regret this", he muttered.

XXX

Later that night, Will decided that I had stay with him that night because I'd 1) ditched him after school, and 2) put ducks in his room. When he pulled up the covers, he was seconds away from waking up the neighborhood, but then he remembered me, and recovered. "You have to pay me back for this", he said. "Tonight."

My heart did funny things in my chest, but I played it cool – or, I tried. "Oh?" I said.

Will wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me closer, and my heart started pounding. He leaned in, until our lips were almost touching. "Yes", he said, and I shivered all the way to my toes. And I kissed him.

The intensity of the kiss made my knees feel weak, and I was thankful of Will's arms around my waist, keeping me upright. I wrapped my arms around his neck, and played with his hair with one hand.

We somehow managed to get to the bed, Will on top of me. My hands wandered down his stomach, and then under the hem of his shirt. He broke away from me only long enough to take his shirt off, and my hands explored his stomach. He trailed kisses down my jaw, to my neck and collarbone, and I gasped. Then his lips found mine again, as he started pulling off my shirt. It got stuck in my hair, and he struggled for a moment to get the shirt out of my hair. I giggled, but stopped abruptly when he got rid of the shirt and could go back to kissing me.

His kisses did funny things with my heart, and I had to remind myself to breath. It didn't seem to come as easily anymore.

I managed to break free from the kisses long enough to whisper, "Is this enough payback?" before he interrupted me with his kisses again.

"I love you", he whispered against my lips, and I gasped, my eyes wide.

"I love you, too", I murmured.

Chapter 10, everyone! I know that was short and everything, but I'm saving it all for the next couple chapters. I have some great ideas I just have to share with you guys!

Okay, next chapter will be Christmas. Tell me what you think will happen/want to happen, and I'll be back next weekend.

- MHC