Hola mis amigos, I am updating, hazzah. I describe a lot of things in this chapter, so I have links to images that will help you with visuals at the end. If you haven't noticed, I like descriptions. I hope they aren't that jumbled.

All characters belong to Cassandra Clare.


You didn't see buildings like the Institute in New York City. You didn't see building like the Institute in all of New York; maybe not even all of New England, or the United States. The Institute dwarfed the Branwell home. It looked like a medieval castle. You had to drive over a stone bridge to get to the parking lot. The parking lot seemed to be the only slightly modern thing about the whole building. The Institute was entirely made of stone, some parts of the building had moss and ivy growing on the sides. There were two stone monstrosities of buildings, one in front of the other. The front was right in front of the parking lot, to the left of a huge grassy plain and to the right of an enormous pond. It was a large rectangular prism with two rook-like front corners and square divots on the tops edges.

The front building seemed to lead to the main campus, which was encased in a stone, rectangular barrier. There were four towers marking each corner of the square fortress. The square was both a building and barricade. It housed classrooms and such, but there was also area inside the square, occupied by a quad, cafeteria, large gym and more classrooms. There were probably more things that Charlotte just didn't show me, or that I couldn't remember. The sports field was outside of the square. It took up too much space to be in the main campus.

Although the outside of the Institute made you believe that you accidentally walked into a TARDIS and were transported back in time, the inside was a different story. The walls and floors were stone, and there were a lot of (what appeared to be) original decorations, there was electricity and WIFI. The classrooms had the most modern technology and desks. Some of the halls had been gutted for locker space. I had done research on English high schools before moving here, and they appeared to be a lot like American schools. They were all modern or fairly modern. The institute was under no circumstances normal. I suppose it is because it was run by Charlotte. She is a freaking pioneer. We need more Charlottes in American, or everywhere. Charlotte should be in charge of the whole world.

Charlotte walked in front of me in the outside part of the main campus, inside the square, towards the back right corner. Instead of being a normal tower, there was a protruding rectangular building that was at least five stories high. With a flourish of her arms, Charlotte turned to me.

"This is housing for students. You see, we have a lot of foreign exchange students, or pupils that come from far away and don't have family near by, so they live on campus. A couple hundred students don't live on campus because their family is nearby, like Jem, Will, Jessamine, Sophie, Cecily, and you. Of course, everyone has the option to have boarding, but that is the only thing that you have to pay for."

"Wait, you don't have to pay for tuition or admittance?" Certainly a place like this would be thousands be year.

"No, I wanted dedicated students to have free, exemplary education. Henry and I are almost the soul funders of the school. We have plenty of donations and also we get some funds from live-in students. It would be well after I retire that the Institute won't be able to support itself. When that time comes, I suppose we'll start charging tuition, but that's far off."

"Are there any entrance exams?"

"No, sweetie, don't worry about that. There is the student survey, though. Basically it asks you about your interests in school so that we can determine what classes we should put you in, plus mandatory classes. We decided if you'd be a good fit for the institute through your performance here. We look at your marks in past classes, and sometimes we contact previous teachers. We try to cater to your likings so that you will do well here."

The institute sounded like the heaven of all schools.

Charlotte explained the daily schedule. It was blocked, so on mondays, wednesdays, and fridays, you had periods one though five, and on tuesdays and thursdays you have six through ten. This rotates, so every other week you have six through ten on mondays, wednesdays, and fridays, and one through five on tuesdays and thursdays. Lunch was an hour long, and it was after the third class every day. There is a short break after the first class and and eight minute passing period to get to different lessons. Required classes are physical education, maths, sciences, foreign language, and english. The other five periods are all electives, studying things that you might want for your career. You can change these every semester if you decide they are not for you. She told me that the course list is in the packet that I never read fully. Charlotte liked the idea of American lockers, so they have medium sized ones for students. The textbooks are rentals from the school, but students get work books in certain classes that you can write in. There are finals at the end of each semester, mostly because they're necessary for reports. The vice principal is Benedict Lightwood. Charlotte said his name with a tone i'd never heard her speak with before. It made me nervous to meet the man.


By the time the bell for lunch rang, I was thoroughly exhausted. Walking back and forth around that huge campus was tiring. Charlotte told me she would show me to the cafeteria, where I would get lunch. She would then bring me to the other kids' table.

At this point, I wasn't surprised that this was the most amazing and out of the ordinary cafeteria I had ever seen. It was a huge building, but one wall came up, like a garage door, opening up to the quad which was filled with lunch tables and shaded trees. I had passed the cafeteria from outside, but only noticed that the wall facing me had been metal, not stone. The tables were all round and had attached swivel seats. There were enough tables for the entire population both indoors and outdoors.

There were different stations depending on what food you wanted, not just one lunch line with one selection. Lunch was not free, Charlotte told me. She handed me a ten dollar bill and then said she would wait for me by the open wall. I looked at the choices. There was Mexican and Italian food. There was sushi and then Chinese food. There was Indian and Mediterranean food. There was a normal lunch line, which I assumed was normal English food. There was a line with burgers and salads and sandwiches. There was a desert line. There was a drinks bar.

In the end, I went for the regular food. I got a burger and fries, paid five dollars, then got a water for one dollar. I met Charlotte and gave her the change. She walked out the door and into the sun. There were hundreds of students outside. They were laughing and talking. Some were playing games and a few were dancing and singing. People were standing and throwing around a ball, or playing soccer- er, I mean football. Charlotte and I weaved through the tables and she eventually halted in front of one. There sat Will, Jem, Sophie, and Cecily. Charlotte motioned for met to sit, so I did. I smiled at the people.

"Hi."

"Hey, Tessa, how was the tour?" I looked up to Jem's friendly smile. He made me feel more comfortable.

"Well, this place is huge,'" I laughed, "It is certainly different than I expected. My old high school was like a prison. We definitely didn't have all of this modern equipment. I'm excited to start next week."

I looked around and saw one person missing, "Um, where is Jessamine?"

Without looking up Will answered, "She's sitting as far away from us as possible, with some sluts."

I turned my head, making sure Charlotte was gone. She was.

"Why doesn't she sit here with you guys?"

"She thinks she's too good for us. She doesn't want to be classified as a "filthy orphan' as she puts it."

"What? How could she think that? You guys aren't orphans, you have lovely parents that are taking great care of you!"

Will looked up and scowled at me, "We, Tessa. We have Charlotte and Henry who adopted us, but they aren't our real parents. Our real parents don't care enough about us to bother taking care of us, or they're dead. We are the same now, Tess."

Something was wrong with Will. He had tried to hurt me with the dead parents comment. But I had come to terms with my parents' death long ago, so it didn't have a big affect. Sadly, it led me to think of Aunt Harriet. That was painful. I looked down to hide how much her death still hurt me. I didn't want Will to have the satisfaction of seeing how he hurt me.

I hadn't seen him like this before. He was always either rude and condescending, or sweet. But right now he seemed disturbed and irritable. When he said we it looked like it hurt him.

I picked up my burger and took a bite, focusing on my food for the rest of lunch.


After the bell rang, Charlotte appeared and led me to the main office, where she gave me the student survey. It took about 15 minutes to complete.

What was your favorite course you took last semester?

My elective, literature.

Has this course always been of interest to you, or did you come to like it over the semester?

I have always loved literature.

What other course did you enjoy?

I enjoyed Honors English 10.

Other questions asked me about my grades and cooperation. They asked me if I thought my grades were fair and if not, why? They asked if I liked my teachers. They asked how I thought my teachers affect my learning. They asked if I liked math, science, english, history, and foreign language. I answered all of the questions truthfully and then handed the survey back to Charlotte. She said to wait where I was. I sat there for ten minutes with nothing to do. I would normally pull out a book or my phone, but I had neither.

Charlotte walked in and handed me a paper. It was my schedule. It had no course names on it, only room numbers. She gave me a map, too.

"All of your materials and textbooks will be given to you when you go to your classes. Since school only just started yesterday, it will be very easy for you to catch up when you start on monday."

We started walking out the offices toward the exit of the front building of the school.

"You will be taking an english, math, science, physical education, and foreign language course. Those classes were decided on what you took last semester in America. The survey was to determine what electives you should be put in. I already knew this based on your tremendous collection of books, but you appear to be very fond of english and english literature."

I smiled and nodded at her, "I truly do. It's a way of escaping for me. Books are… well the only way i'm able to describe it is that they're like my family. Some are friends."

Charlotte looked questioningly at me, "Why do you need to escape?"

We were back at the car now. I opened the door and sat down, as did Charlotte.

"Well, there are many reasons, really."

I didn't know how to talk about this. I had only just met this woman, even though she had this maternal comfort radiating off of her. I was scared that she wouldn't understand. I didn't want her pity. I just told the truth, "My parents died when I was three. I was left with my aunt and my brother, whom had become a severe alcoholic in his mid teens. My aunt got sick when we were both young, and I had to become the leader of the house. My brother would become angry with me for and small thing. He would tell me not to worry about him when he was out all night getting drunk." I didn't want to say thins much, but I couldn't stop.

"I didn't want to think about my childhood being forever gone. I didn't want to think about my dead parents or my aunt's slowly approaching passing. I didn't want to think about my brother, drinking himself into a stupor. I didn't want to think about all of our debt, so I just picked up a book and was transported to another place. I wasn't Tessa anymore, the girl with dead parents and a horrible brother or a dying aunt; I was Elizabeth Bennet, being pursued by Mr. Darcy. I was Victor Frankenstein, having my life terrorized by my creation. The possibilities were endless." My eyes were stinging with unshed tears. I really needed to stop the whole crying fiasco. I pinched my hand.

I looked up at Charlotte. I could tell she was pitying me. She opened her mouth and said something surprising.

"If you're trying not to cry, I find it is best to fixate your gaze on something bright." The look on her face dissolved into a gentle smile and caring eyes. She reached over to me and laid her hand on my shoulder.

"Tessa, I hope that we can be your new family, and that you won't feel the need to not be yourself as often, or at all. There is nothing wrong with your love for words, but you're using it in the wrong way." Charlotte turned the car on and drove.

I didn't know what she meant by using my love for reading in the wrong way.


Charlotte had told me that there would be a surprise when we got back to the Branwells'. Charlotte also told me to not call their home "the Branwells'," but instead, "home." This was too large of a step, so I didn't respond.

Charlotte opened the large front door and led me up the stairs and to my room. When we entered the room, it was entirely empty. I had a brief moment of panic.

Were they throwing me out? Did they need to disinfect the furniture to completely rid me from their memory? I thought it was going well…

Charlotte quickly stepped in, "No. No. No. No, Tessa, don't worry. This is nothing bad, dear."

Charlotte walked in front of me and put both her arms on my shoulders. I had to look down to meet her eyes, "You see, all of the other children have their rooms, and when they moved in, the decor didn't completely suit them, so we let them completely redecorate."

"Wh-what?"

"Yes, Tessa, everything is okay."

Relief washed over me, and then some jealousy. Back when I lived with my aunt, I couldn't redecorate anything, for lack of money. I couldn't even replace my broken desk. All of the other people living here didn't seem to appreciate it one bit.

But, now I am one of those people. I'm no longer that girl in New York. I am Charlotte Branwell's foster child. I will hopefully stay this person.

"Thank you so much, Charlotte. You have no idea how much I am grateful to you and your husband."

Charlotte looked slightly taken aback, but she smiled, "Don't worry about it, Tessa. You are now under my care. My job is to make you have a good life, and I will try to make up for lost time."

Every time Charlotte spoke I was amazed at how selfless she was. Now, she stepped into the empty room and sat on the floor. She took out a pen, computer, and notepad from her bag.

"Sit with me, Tessa."

I walked over and sat next to her, "Now, this will be your room for the next two years, or longer if you go to uni near by. It will always be here for you if you wish to return when you are older. Of course, you can always redo it later, but for now it should be everything you've ever dreamed of, therefore it's more likely to satisfy you for years to come. Of course, it should also be age appropriate. And don't worry about limits. If you want to construct something in here, we will have no problem with that. While the room is being done, you'll sleep in a different one."

"O-okay." This was far too surreal to be real.

"We have a designer we use for every room we've ever done. So, I just want you to write down some things you've always loved, and wanted in your room. If you can, look it up specifically on the web." Charlotte handed me the laptop that was in her bag. It was so new and modern.

When I turned 14, Aunt Harriet had bought me a used desktop from 2005. I had to leave it in New York. I opened the silver laptop with care, like it was a precious artifact. It was beautiful when the screen lit up. It was pristine. The screen saver was of an ocean. It looked real. I didn't know how to work this thing. My friends had had Apple products, but I had never used them.

"Uh, Charlotte, how do I get onto the internet?"

"Oh dear, have you never had a computer?"

"Well, ha, nothing as new as this… or from this decade."

"We will fix that right after we finish this."

Fix? I didn't know it was that big of a problem. I suppose it was a handicap in the world we live in now. My flip phone barely functioned.

"Tessa, what have you always loved?"

Of course, the first answer to come to my mind was, "Books."

"You want your decor to encompass books?"

"Er, no. I just love books. Really, I have always wanted two things. And I think the way this room is shaped would, well, fit what i've always pictured well," I felt kind of rude being so straightforward with what I wanted, "Oh, but, um. I don't know. I'm sorry for being close minded."

"Tessa, you don't have to be embarrassed by what you want. If there is a certain way that you have pictured your room, then we will definitely incorporate it."

"But the two things I pictured are both pretty big and involve construction."

"That is perfectly fine."

"Oh, okay. Well the high ceilings and that little divot in the wall would be great," I waved my arms and gestured at the ceiling, "Do you mind opening the internet?"

Charlotte nodded and put her finger on the square in front of the keyboard. On the screen, the mouse moved to the line of icons. She clicked on a compass and a tab opened. It seemed so easy. Wow, technology. I knew what to do from there. I clicked on the URL bar thing and looked up "full wall bookshelves."

I scrolled down until I found the one I was searching for. The room I was given had one main space and then a little extended part. The main part had three walls, but the first wall was shaped how children draw houses, it had a rectangle, but continued to the ceiling in a triangle and ended in a point. That wall was flat.

The second wall was a flat rectangle, but where the first wall became a triangle, this wall had a slanted rectangle. It slanted inward to where it met the point of the triangle. The third wall was the same as the first. The fourth side wasn't completed, but the rectangle part of the walls extended. Since the forth wall would've had a slanted rectangle toward the ceiling, it is only partly there until it splits up and opens for the extended part the ceiling of the extended part was tap and open, and it was big enough to build a loft, which is what I have always wanted, with all of my heart. I noticed that it wouldn't interfere with the door to the balcony that was in my room or the windows that are under where the loft would be.

The book case would be on the first wall of the main space, Built around the main door. Nothing would happen to the second and third walls. The second wall had a closet and the door to my bathroom. The third wall had beautiful arched windows, but nothing else. I guess I would just leave the rest of the space to the designer and charlotte.

I explained to charlotte what I wanted. I found one image on the web that closely resembled the loft bed. A ladder leading up to a small place. It was just a bed. There was no walking room, but the place where the loft would be, the ceiling all met in a line and the wall was a triangle, and it was a window. There were indents in the sloping walls that were shelves.

Charlotte seemed to be happy that I was so into the decorating. She said she agreed to everything, but she wanted to extend the closet. I was apparently the first child there that didn't ask for a larger closet. Next, Charlotte asked for my favorite colors, or what I wanted the color theme to be. I said I would like the walls to be white. The rest of the colors would be light blues and greens and tans, treys and blacks; maybe a tad bit of purple. All very natural. I also liked art deco furniture. I said I liked flowers and nature and such things. I said I was very flexible when it came to the furniture and colors and such. All I really cared about was the book case and loft.

Charlotte quickly sent and email to her designer and then said that we were going to the store.


We drove for about ten minutes before we pulled up in front of a huge shopping complex.

"Tessa, right now we are just going to buy some necessities. Cecily and I have already agreed that she would do the clothing shopping." Oh great, clothing shopping. Just what I needed.

"So, we will first go to the Apple store. You'll need a few products from there. Then we will go to staples to get school items." I nodded and we went in.

When Charlotte said "a few items," she was lying. She pretty much bought out the store. Not really, but she bought almost every single item they sold. First, she bought a silver 5S phone and added me onto her family plan. Then she bought a life proof phone case and a portable charger. Since we were there, she decided that I needed a pair of Beats headphones, a Beats speaker, and the Beats Pill. She then moved onto computers. She bought the new OSX computer and the 27 inch iMac desktop monitor. She bought the 13 inch Macbook Air. She bought a blue iPod touch. She talked to the Apple Geniuses and ordered an Apple TV. She bought a black iPad Air. She bought cases for the iPad and the iPod. She bought a grey and green Herschel sleeve for the iPad and a matching Macbook Air sleeve and backpack. She bought a teal Macbook Air shell. She bought dozens of charging accessories and cases and extra things. She got my opinion on everything, which was usually a nod, but was actually "what the hell this isn't real this is way too much she is going to go bankrupt."

Miraculously, she stopped. I didn't even want to look at the receipt.

We quickly rushed to staples and bought lots of notebooks, sharpies, pencils and pens, folders, binders, cases, highlighters, various papers, tape, glue, scissors, post its, a printer, erasers, index cards, organizations trays, flash drives, and many other things. We checked out.

She said that she would organize my desk and backpack, because she knew what I needed for school.


When we got back to the Branwells', (sorry, home) I was very tired. I was not a shopper. School hadn't gotten out yet. I helped Charlotte carry in the hundreds of bags and we put them in a storage closet. I wasn't tired enough not to thank Charlotte, though.

"Tessa, it's my duty to make you happy and to make you comfortable in your new life here. I know that this change has been sudden for you, but I will try to get you to like it here."

With that she smiled and went into the kitchen.

I learned this trip that Charlotte was many different things. She was strict and orderly; she was intelligent and strong; she was caring and loving.

...

The others occupants of the house hold, save for Henry, returned at 20 past three. I was in the new room Charlotte showed me after we returned form shopping. I heard a room slam down the hall from me. I peaked out my door to see Jem walking down the hall, followed by Cecily.

"What happened to him?" Cecily asked in a hushed voice.

"Honestly, Cecily, it's hard for me to tell nowadays. He was fine until lunch. His mood did a total 180 and I don't know what to do except give him some space, for now. Maybe by dinner he will be bad to himself." Jem shrugged half-heartedly and then turned. Cecily headed back downstairs and Jem went into his own room.

I returned to my bed and picked up the Institute information packet, not paying attention to the words, but trying to decipher the code that was Will.


OH MY GOD I KNOW WHAT TO DO NEXT CHAPTER OH MY GOD I LOVE ME SORT OF. ALL YOU WESSA SHIPPERS BETTER LOVE ME TOO.

Here is the link to the tumblr I made to share information about this ff.

Located on this blog is

What the Institute is modeled after and looks like.

The loft Tessa wants.

The bookcase Tessa wants.

Her room construction, (modeled after the disastrous room I am currently residing in for the summer, excuse the mess)

THE LINK IS ON MY PROFILE KAY?

Anyway I think this was pretty long but idk. It was probably boring and there are most likely millions of typos but I did it... Yayyyy! Go Lucy! My betaer is at camp and will be for a month and yeah. So what you see is what you get. ACTUALLY THIS IS THE LONGEST CHAPTER YET SO BE PROUD.