Will crossed his arms. He was at the Halloween dance: Alone.
ALONE. William Herondale at a dance: without a date. Admittedly, he was the one that turned down… thirty-nine girls, not that he was counting. Well, he was counting how many girls would ask him before Tessa would.
But nope. Tessa didn't show at all.
"Would you like to dance?" a short blonde asked him. Will didn't even know her name.
"What's your name?" he asked.
"Claudia. I'm in your homeroom class. And your Math, Science and History class… and your English Literature class…" Claudia said.
Ooh. Awkward. But William Herondale was never awkward.
"Sorry, I'm waiting for someone," Will said tersely. Did Will just apologize? Will shook his head, clearing his head as Claudia walked away.
Will scanned the Institute ballroom once again. Girls in cat woman clothes and masks – no, Tessa wouldn't be in that. Girls in Wonder Woman… nope. No way. Girls in princess gowns… maybe, but unlikely. Girls in a bed sheet pretending to be ghosts… Will stifled a laugh as he imagined Tessa with a bed sheet over her head. Definitely not.
"Will, have some fun, will you?" Cecily asked, coming over with a champagne glass. At the Institute, they don't allow alcohol of course. Probably just punch. But usually, drinks would be spiked. Will narrowed his eyes.
"That's not spiked, is it?" Will asked. Cecily rolled her eyes. Will snatched the glass out of her hands and downed it. The familiar burn of the alcohol slid down his throat. "Cecily!" Will complained.
"You drunk the rest!" Cecily defended. The twins scowled at each other.
"You know, for Halloween, you should go as each other," Gabriel said, coming over with more champagne glasses. Cecily happily took one.
"Gabriel Lightwood! Are you giving my lightweight of a sister alcohol!?" Will asked angrily.
"No!" Gabriel defended. He snatched Cecily's glass away from her. "Try it."
Will took a sip. Nope. Just fruit punch.
"You guys are no fun," Cecily complained.
"Good," Will retorted. Will once again looked around the ballroom.
"Tessa's not here," Cecily interrupted. "She's at some party with Sophie and Jem. I bet they would have alcohol there," Cecily frowned.
"What?" Will asked sharply. Jealousy stirred in Will. Odd. Will never felt jealousy. It was always the other way around. Immediately, Will decided he hated the feeling.
Sighing, he took out his hip flask and downed it. "Hey!" Cecily exclaimed. "You brought some but you didn't share?"
"Nope," Will said, walking away. Now people would say it is unethical or wrong to drink alcohol at seventeen, but whatever. His parents wouldn't care anyways.
Will sighed, taking a red plastic cup off a table. Usually, most of the plastic cups were peach schnapps. Often, you could catch teachers sneaking these cups as well.
Walking out the ballroom's wide double doors and sighing as he went through the hallways, he took several shortcuts to the front entrance. No one but the Shadowhunters knew all the ins and outs of the Institute – the shortcuts, the pathways – even the hidden dumbwaiter that led to the kitchens from the fourth floor.
Will took a deep breath of fresh air then frowning, he tossed his red plastic cup into the bushes angrily. Tessa wasn't there with him. There was this possessiveness he held over Tessa. Will smirked thinking if Tessa knew. She hated being caught or trapped. She was just that type of person.
Will cussed. Tessa again.
"Someone's angry, isn't he?"
Will turned to see a lithe man, leaning against the bike racks with a cigarette between his two fingers. With a puff of smoke, he exhaled, laughing while doing so.
"Magnus Bane," Will said elatedly.
"So happy to see me, William?" Magnus smirked, stomping his cigarette under his bare feet. Magnus was always there, hidden in the shadows, though his clothes were clearly exuberant. He was wearing a sequined, lime green blazer, complete with silver skinny jeans. For him, it was dressing down.
It wasn't surprising to find Magnus with no shoes at all. Will would rather see him barefoot than those atrocious cowboy boots the last time they met.
"Yes," Will said simply. "You're much better company than the people inside."
Magnus took out another cigarette, lighting it without a match or lighter.
Will learned not to ask already. You asked, you get a cryptic reply that makes you wonder what have you done with your life.
"Want one?" Magnus asked, extending his cigarette. Will shook his head.
"Bad habit," he replied. Magnus shrugged.
"It's not a habit for me. I'm just good at everything I do. This is my second smoke," Magnus grinned.
"And you're not coughing your guts out?" Will said, raising an eyebrow.
Magnus shrugged. "I told you. I'm good at everything I do. I can stop right now. Stop smoking, I mean."
"Do it," Will challenged. Magnus gave another one of his careless shrugs and threw the rest of his cigarettes into the bushes where Will had tossed his half-full cup of peach schnapps.
"Why so glum, chum?" Magnus asked then. "I could sense your sadness a mile away."
"So now you're onto reading emotions?" Will asked.
"Don't evade the question," Magnus said cheerily.
"Girl I like is with my best friend," Will sighed.
Then Magnus began laughing. He even slapped his knee for good measure. Will only stared at his friend, one where he had met at a club he had snuck into. Now that he thought back on it, Magnus hadn't changed at all. Not in the four years since Will met him. Magnus was a mysterious person, one that Will knew nothing about. Yet he was one of Will's good friends.
"Why are you laughing?" Will asked.
"Oh, the show! William, don't you get it?" Magnus asked, those cat green eyes staring back at Will. Will shot him a questioning look. "The two best friends. Practically a dream team," Magnus said, waiting for Will to catch on. He didn't. "This is probably the biggest test for you yet!" Magnus said, clapping his hands.
"What do you mean?" Will asked, still oblivious.
Magnus rolled his eyes. "The challenges, William. How will this affect your relationship with Jem? You're fighting over a girl. Those wars are always the bloodiest," Magnus winked. Magnus began to walk away then, his retreating figure almost mocking Will.
How will it affect Jem and Will…?
No one is worth Jem. No one.
But then Will thought to Tessa's bright smile… those gray eyes and that tinkle of laughter.
Will cussed.
Damn.
…
Sophie leaned drunkenly on Tessa. "Angel," Sophie blubbered, pointing at Tessa.
"Angel, Sophie. You're such a lightweight," Tessa muttered, trying to get her friend into her house. Thankfully, her house was merely a block away.
"Let me help," Jem offered and easily, as if he was carrying a sack of flour, he swooped Sophie into his arms. Sophie giggled and giggled and then… she fell asleep. Tessa laughed.
"My arms must be comfortable, eh?" Jem smiled.
It was always a smile for Jem. A sarcastic smirk at worst. His smirks were never mocking. Not like Will's… Tessa face palmed inwardly. Not again. The entire night, Tessa had been pestered with that aching smirk, that little gap between his teeth that just made him more endearing and those blue eyes.
No one could ever forget William Herondale's blue eyes… Not even if they tried. The colour of violets would be stuck in your mind forever. Drawn to them like black holes…
"Tessa?" Jem said, interrupting her train of thought. And Tessa was thankful.
"Yeah?" she asked.
"We're here," Jem said, gesturing to Sophie's house. It was a rather small house, small but cozy, Tessa would like to say. Tessa opened the white picket fence that encircled Sophie's house, opening it for Jem, who walked through with Sophie. Even with a girl in his arms, Jem managed to look graceful.
Tessa would like to live in one of these houses some day. With the white picket fence, the small porch and the screened doors. Those cozy, little cookie-cutter houses that people would find in fairy tales. Tessa's arms would go around her husband's waist and they would sit there, watching their grandchildren as they played in the green grass of the backyard.
Her dreams were always perfect like that, except lately, they had become strange.
When her dream occurred, usually the faces of the people would have been blurry. Tessa could never see the faces of the people she dreamt up. But recently, the faces of her husband would have had Jem's face, ethereal and silver, as he smiled down at her.
Then the silver hair would turn into messy, black hair and the silver eyes turning into the deepest shade of blue.
And Tessa smile at him in the dream, leaning up to kiss those soft lips and…
Tessa slapped herself.
"Did you just slap yourself?" Jem asked, half-amused and half concerned for Tessa's sanity.
"Horrible thought," Tessa said, shuddering slightly.
After they dropped off Sophie, Jem and Tessa slowly walked back to Jem's car, enjoying the cool, night breeze on their face.
But everywhere Tessa turned, blue eyes seemed to be staring back at her.
When Jem and Tessa arrived at his car, Tessa finally realized – his car was blue too.
Tessa cussed under her breath.
"What was that?" Jem asked.
"Nothing," Tessa said easily. "Just didn't want to go back home yet."
"Do you want to go to the Institute then? The parties aren't that amazing, but there's peach schnapps," Jem said.
Tessa contemplated it, before shaking her head.
"There's someone I would like you to meet actually…"
Tessa dialed on her phone quickly, putting her cheap and old Nokia to her ear. Her friend that she had only met maybe a week ago…
Tessa was just in the library, a fairly large one too, scanning for her favourite books. Vathek was there, Tessa observed, but it was just out of her reach. It was on the top shelf and Tessa could barely reach it. She was tall compared to other girls maybe, but she was still merely five feet six inches.
Actually, she was really short.
Even if she stretched her hand, she could only touch the top shelf. Tessa jumped, trying to snag the book. No dice. She couldn't get it.
Then a slim hand reached up for the book behind Tessa, grabbing Vathek successfully. Tessa looked up at the man who helpfully gotten her book for her.
"Thank you," Tessa said.
Eyes that kept changing colour stared back at her, amusedly. A swirl of yellow and green, eyes that looked eerily like those of a cat's.
"I'm Magnus Bane," Magnus said, offering the book to her and a hand.
"Tessa Gray," Tessa replied, slightly wary.
"Would you like me to help you carry your books?" Magnus asked, gesturing to the several other books in Tessa's arms.
Tessa shook her head shyly. "Sorry… I don't really converse with strangers."
"Come on," Magnus said. "I've given you my name, you've given me yours. I know that you like the classics and you're probably…in high school still. Correct me if I'm wrong but you're born in the fall, aren't you?"
"How did you know that?" Tessa asked.
"How do I know that? How do scientists know that the world spins round? Perhaps it's just them spinning? Or how do we know that the earth is tilted on an axis? How do we know that the sun is actually a star? How do we know that Romeo and Juliet both die in the end without even reading the book?" Magnus asked.
Tessa crossed her arms, still waiting for an answer.
"You just look like an autumn person," Magnus said simply.
Tessa pursed her lips.
"So. Isn't this the part where we exchange numbers and you introduce me to your cute guy friends?"
"Guy friends?" Tessa asked.
"Bisexual and proud of it," Magnus announced. Tessa smiled at Magnus. At his easygoing attitude and his smile that seemed to be infectious. Deciding on a whim, Tessa handed Magnus her old phone.
"Punch your number in," Tessa said. Grinning, Magnus did so, handing his own sleek hot pink phone to her. Unperturbed by the phone case, Tessa added her name and number into the contacts.
Magnus shot her a quick wink after taking his phone and handing Tessa back hers. "I'll see you later, darling!" Magnus waved. "I need to show you around London. Angel knows you're a newbie around here."
Tessa waved back to him. Only later did she question how did he know she was knew to London?
…
"You rang, Tessa dearest?" Magnus said on the other end.
"Hey Magnus… I have a friend I want you to meet," Tessa greeted.
…
Unbeknownst to her, on the other end, Magnus was stifling his chuckles. From where he stood, he could see Will still standing there alone, gazing at the moon above.
"I have a friend I'd like you to meet too, Tessie," Magnus grinned before he hung up, promising to meet at the nearby McDonald's.
I'm so sorry I haven't updated in so long. I mean like: Final projects and tests, end of the year trip to CULTUS LAKE and after that fieldtrip, i slept for fourteen hours into the next morning and then tonight i had my brother's graduation. AND SOOO i forced this chapter down.
WE'RE SO CLOSE TO 200! AAH.