Previously…

They landed on her front yard, and they said their goodbyes. Cecily had started walking back, but Will stayed for a minute. "Sorry again."

"Stop apologizing. Seriously, it's fine. And you helped wrap it. See? I'm fine." She raised up her hand with a grin. "Now quit it."

"Fine." Suddenly, he looked anxious. Tessa knitted her eyebrows together. He then moved in and kissed her on the cheek for about five seconds. And in those five seconds, Tessa forgot how to breathe, her own name, and where she was.

"Bye, Tess," he said when he pulled away, and wove his hand.

She was restraining herself from screaming in glee. "Goodbye, Will."

And that was that.


Will sort of hated himself at the moment.

This had never happened to him before. He needed to snap out of it. How could a girl like Tessa have this sort of effect on him?

After he took her back to her house, Cecily barged into his room, her face flushed with anger. "Gwilym. What did I tell you? I said specifically to not try anything with her. And look at what you're doing—kissing her after you cut her hand! Are you even listening?"

"It was on the cheek," was all he said.

Cecily sighed and sat down on his bed next to him. "I'm being serious."

"As am I." Cecily rolled her eyes. "Cecily. I'm not interested." Lie.

"I was being gentlemanly." Lie.

"It's not like she cares for me anyway." Truth. At least to him.

Cecily faced her brother, taking his hands in hers. He stared at her, blinking once. She was smiling sadly. "This is what I'm worried about. You said you weren't interested. You never actually are. So many girls' hearts become broken. Tessa is my friend, William. Don't do this to her. Please."

"I won't," he mumbled as if he were a child.

Cecily clasped her hand with his, making a clapping sound. He looked up at her. Even though she was slightly younger than him, she often did have her moments when he felt like he was the younger sibling and she was the older. Things were just complicated after Ella.

Cecily knew, although he noticed that she pretended as if nothing happened, that she was just living with her husband. Will tried to, but it was hard.

"Good," she said with a satisfied smile. "I know you like her. And if you do go for her, be completely, absolutely sure that you are positive about your feelings. I cannot risk seeing another heartbroken girl. Please." She got up and opened the door wider, ready to take a step.

Although that wasn't what Will was focused on. "I do not like her!"

Cecily threw her head back and laughed. "Sure you do." She winked at him. "For what it's worth, I think she likes you too. Just saying." Then she left, the sound of her laughter echoing through the house.

Will was staring out of his door incredulously, his mouth dropping. "Wh…what?"


Tessa was outside her brother's door, raising her bad hand up to knock. She caught herself, and brought it down, hiding it behind her back. She used her other hand and knocked. It took a few seconds for him to open it, but when he did, a small smirk grew on his face.

"Hello, Sister." He brushed a hair out of her face.

She nodded once. "Um, yeah. Hey, look. I'm heading out to the grocery store. You want to come with?"

He shrugged. "Sure. I guess. What're you hiding behind your back?" Tessa gulped. Uh-oh.

"Nothing," Tessa said a bit too quickly. She gulped.

Nate narrowed his eyes in suspicion. He grabbed the hand she was hiding and looked at her, and the hand repeatedly like a metronome. "What happened?" he hissed.

"Nothing," she repeated. "Nothing happened."

Nate scowled at her. "Don't tell me it's nothing. It's in wrapped in gauze. Something happened."

"It was an accident. I cut myself."

"Must be a pretty gnarly cut, then."

Tessa swallowed.

"Shall I have a look at it?"

Tessa looked away in shame.

"Theresa!" he exclaimed when he unwrapped it. "Explain yourself."

Tessa scratched her arm. She hadn't really thought about what to do or say when this situation came. She didn't even expect for it to come. In that very moment, she was speechless. Her brother was looking at her expectantly. She would definitely not say that Will was the one who had caused it, considering Nate would probably never let her see the Herondales again. So instead she made up a lie.

"While I was eating, I accidentally scraped the knife against my hand. It isn't a very deep cut. You don't need to worry. I'll survive." She added a smile to keep him from worrying. He eyed her skeptically, but then dropped her hand. She wrapped the gauze around it once more. He grumbled as they both went down the stairs to the garage, getting ready to leave.

Tessa put on her white pea coat and her usual gray wool boots, leaving her hair down. She grabbed her iPod and headphones and pushed it down into the pocket of her dark jeans. They entered the car and Nate was silent the whole time getting in. When the garage door opened and exposed the blinding light, Tessa spotted Will in his room, leaning against the window with a book. She smiled softly, before turning back to her brother.

"Nothing happened. I'm fine."

He let out a heavy sigh, and turned on the radio. Tessa herself stared out the window the whole time. The clouds were dark and bleak, the water waiting to be squeezed out like a sponge. Raining, Tessa thought. Hm. What a surprise.

She put her headphones in her ears and put it on shuffle. She had some classical music on there. She loved music that incorporated piano and violin. She loved songs with just piano or even piano and violin. She had some regular music on there as well, but classical made her happiest. The rainy atmosphere only added to the mood.

When they finally gotten there, Nate roughly snatched her hand. She tried shaking him off, but he only held tighter. She let out a whimper, and he loosened his grip, but not by much. "Let go, Nathaniel, I'm not a child." He rolled his eyes and she had finally given up, wanting to cross her arms.

"You know, I'm sort of wanting to cross my arms and pout at you, Nathaniel, but I can't. Would you like to know why? Hm! Maybe it's because my brother will not let go of my hand." Tessa scowled.

"Oh my gosh, shut up," he said, grabbing a shopping cart. They entered the store. They went to the aisle filled with cereal boxes and grabbed a few. They bought the necessities and Tessa snuck a couple of snacks.

They ended up spending £32.81.

"Go to the car," Nate told her. "I'll be right back. I just need to get something."

"Fine." She only said it so he could let go of her hand. She had some bags around her left arm and slid half to her right. Tessa nearly ran back to the car, rubbing her arm. She swung the door open and nearly sat down, only to shut the door and go to the left side.

She was never going to get used to this, was she.


A/N: I am tired. I should be working on a project because it's due on Wednesday, and meh. It's stupid to have projects at the end of the school year. WHY.

Now onto working on my other story :)

Disclaimer: I do not own The Infernal Devices or anything else mentioned in this story.