Chapter 5

Party Aftermath

Waking up Tessa had a throbbing headache. She massaged her temples as she silently cursed her former twin captors.

Aspirin. I need aspirin.

She stumbled out of bed as she rushed over to the bathroom for the bottle of pills and dry swallowed two of them. She started to cough as they didn't go down smoothly.

As her coughing subsided she realized that she could smell something cooking…something that smelled delicious.

Placing the aspirin bottle back in the drawer she headed downstairs to the kitchen.

Aunt Harriet had used to do a lot of cooking years ago, when they would visit her back when their parents were still alive and before all of Nate's troubles. Tessa realized she had missed those mornings where she and her brother would sit at the kitchen table playing a word association game as Aunt Harriet would stand, humming, in the kitchen cooking one of her quality home cooked meals. Those meals had been better than any dish she could have gotten at a restaurant. But that was back when Aunt Harriet had been happy and Nate more pleasant.

But maybe it could go back to those times? Tessa hoped as she entered the kitchen expecting to see her aunt at the stove and possibly Nate sitting at the kitchen isle.

But to Tessa's astonishment Meredith turned to her, spatula in hand, and asked, "Are you ready for pancakes?" She started to lift the pancakes out of the pan and placed them on a nearby plate. "I couldn't find any chocolate chips, so we're just going to have to settle for the regular, traditional pancake."

Tessa blinked rapidly at Meredith, waiting to wake up from this lucid dream. But the dream wouldn't go away.

"What…what are you doing here?" Tessa asked as she looked around the room and down the hallway for any sight of a charging Aunt Harriet. "Where's Aunt Harriet?"

"Oh, yes, your aunt," Meredith replied, more grimly as she placed the plate of pancakes onto the isle. Gripping the edge of the counter she said, "Your aunt has left to go deal with your brother. He's currently…having some issues. But they should both be back in a few weeks. Until then, though, I'm here to watch over you until they come back."

Tessa just looked at her in stunned silence. She wasn't surprised that Nate was in trouble, most likely in jail, or that her Aunt Harriet had left to go pull him out of whatever mess he had gotten himself into this time. What surprised her was that her aunt had left her in Meredith's hands that was something Tessa could not imagine her doing. Not willingly, anyway.

"And she asked you to watch me?" Tessa asked in confusion. "Not that I don't want you here, but…Aunt Harriet and you don't exactly see eye to eye on a lot of issues."

Meredith nodded in agreement. "Yes, but your aunt was desperate and since the three of you just moved here only a week ago she didn't exactly have many other options."

I'm more surprised she didn't leave me by myself. It's not like she hasn't done it before.

As the thought crossed her mind Tessa realized that something major had to have occurred and Aunt Harriet would be gone for more than just a week or two. Her brother must have really screwed up this time.

Taking a breath, she smiled back at Meredith, and said, "I guess we'll go shopping for chocolate chips this afternoon?"

"Perfect," Meredith replied with a smile. She motioned towards the pancakes and added, "Now hurry up and eat before they go cold."

"Jem?" Will asked as he came back into the family room after stepping outside to take a call from Amelie.

"Yeah?" Jem replied as Will sat down on the couch looking perplexed. "What's wrong?"

"I think my girlfriend's bipolar." Jem looked over at him as Will sighed and leaned back into the couch. "She just called all chipper and happy asking if I wanted to go see a movie with her tonight as if she had never been angry at me last night." He stared hard up at the ceiling as if there was an equation written on it that he was trying to solve. "Is this a girl thing to be this frustrating?"

"I think this is an Amelie thing," Jem replied as Will looked back over at him.

"So, you agree. You think she's bipolar?"

"I don't know about her being bipolar," Jem replied carefully, "but I think something's up with her. Why don't you invite her here to hang out before you go to the movies?"

"You want to hang out with my girlfriend?"

"Sure. Why not? We could play video games or something," Jem replied trying to be nonchalant.

Will thought about it before shrugging and saying, "I guess." He took out his phone and started to dial. "I'll call her back and see if she wants to come over." There was a pause as Will waited for her to pick up. "Hey, Amelie…Yeah, listen, do you want to hang out before the movies…Over here, with Jem, we could play a game of some sort…Jessamine? Uh, yeah, I think she's going to be here today as well. I don't think she had any plans to leave…Um…okay…sure…well, bye." He hung up looking even more puzzled.

"What is it? Is she coming over?"

"No," Will replied. "I don't think she wanted to come over because of Jessamine."

"I didn't know those two didn't get along."

"I didn't know either," Will said scratching his head. "They seemed to get along great this past summer. I wonder what happened."

"Hmmm," Jem responded as he turned his gaze back to the television. "Maybe you should inquire about it when you guys meet up tonight."

"Oh, no," Will replied automatically, "I'm not going to ask her any questions or bring up any topic that might make her mad at me again. We're going to have a completely neutral, non-argumentative night tonight."

"Non-argumentative?" Jem asked with raised eyebrows. "Do you think you can manage that?"

"For one night, yes," Will answered though he didn't look entirely sure about the answer himself.

Groaning Jessie headed over to the table at the food court in the middle of the mall. She sat down and slumped her head against her arm as Rachel Baylis looked over at her and smiled. "Drank too much at the party Jess. Or is indoor sunglasses back in style, you know I can never keep up with the latest trends as well as you do."

Jessamine stuck her tongue out at her before massaging her temple.

Shaking her head Rachel asked, "How did you get away from the house looking like that. My parents would have flipped out and grounded me." Reaching into her bag she pulled out a water bottle and passed it across the table. "Here, drink some water."

Reaching over for the bottle Jessamine looked at it. She wasn't all that pleased with the brand name, but she was desperate for the pain to go away and drank it anyway. "Easy. My mom hasn't finished with her shift and my dad is too lost in his own world to notice. The only ones who saw that I left were Jem and Will and neither of them are going to rat me out."

"Lucky," Rachel replied with a sigh, "I know my sister Emma would kill to have that kind of dirt on me. Well, that is if she could ever find the strength to pull herself away from the sewing machine. She hasn't been separated from it since she received it for Christmas."

"What twelve-year-old wants a sewing machine for a Christmas present?" Jessamine asked rhetorically as she took another sip of water. "Your siblings are weird Rachel."

"Oh, you don't even know the half of it. Do you know what my eight-year-old brother Travis wanted…" She was cut off as Mindy came over and sat down.

"Hey, Rachel. Hey, Jessie…uh, you're not looking all that well today Jess…Oh, did you hear about the multiple fights Will and Amelie got into last night at the party. She's really pissed at him."

"Hear," Rachel said laughing. "I saw it, at least the first one. They were having the argument in the middle of the party." Rachel shook her head at the memory. "Why they thought that was a good place to argue I don't understand, but honestly I think Amelie's a bit of a drama queen and Will's a bit dense in the head. No offense, Jess, I know he's family."

"Please," Jessamine replied, "I've said worse things about him. But yeah…whatever Will did couldn't have been that bad since they're both going out to the movies later tonight."

"Really?" Rachel asked looking surprised. "With how angry she appeared to be last night I find that hard to believe. Hmmm…" Rachel frowned as she thought about it. "That's it she just has to be a drama queen."

"Well, from what I heard she was only angry with him because of the new girl," Mindy pipped in as Rachel and Jessie looked over at her.

"The new girl?" Rachel asked. "What new girl?"

"You mean…Tessa," Jessamine asked as Rachel looked over at her. "She's from New York. She's in my English class."

"Yeah, I think that's the one. They were hanging out at the party and at some point Will asked her if she wanted to make out and they both went upstairs. And because of this Amelie went and bribed the Dark Sisters to perform the Freshman Tradition on her afterwards. Will found out about this, they argued, and then he untied Tessa and let her go." Both Rachel and Jessie stared at her as Mindy shrugged. "That's what I heard about anyway."

"Okay, if he did that then Will is even more of a moron than I thought. Who asks some girl at a party to go make-out when you know your girlfriend is at that same party. That's just asking to be caught at the point."

Jessamine just shook her head. "No, even Will isn't that stupid. I think someone has just read one too many stories and is a little creative with the truth. Besides wasn't the Freshman Tradition cancelled after what happened to Gallagher."

Rachel shrugged. "It was supposed to be, but you're assuming a bunch of teenagers are going to listen to what the adults tell them." Looking around the food court Rachel added, "Honestly, it's going to take a while before the 'tradition' actually goes away. Either that or for something really bad to happen, like someone dies."

"Yeah, you're right. I do wonder what actually happened though. My memories of the party are a bit faded." She remembered seeing Tessa and talking to her, but she couldn't remember what she had said or what Tessa had responded back. Her memories were few and vague. The only other memory that stood out to her was a pissed off Gabriel Lightwood glaring at her. Why had he been so angry?

"Well, that's what happens when you drink too much. Maybe next party you could lay off a few, and you might have a sharper memory."

"Rachel," Jessamine replied looking as serious as she could, "you're asking too much of me."

Tessa was in her room reading, enjoying the quiet of the house. Meredith was downstairs still sorting through the groceries they had purchased earlier. They had gone a little overboard on the junk food. Tessa was unsure they would be able to get through all the chips and soda they had purchased before Aunt Harriet came home. It was a concern Tessa had told Meredith who had simple laughed and said maybe that required an emergency house party. Tessa must have looked at her slightly alarmed as Meredith had quickly shook her head at her and told her to relax and that there would be no house parties, but that maybe Tessa could invite a few friends over during the coming week.

Tessa had only really gotten to know Sophie and Jessamine so far. She didn't think Jessamine would come over, but maybe Sophie would. Maybe she would ask later in the week. She hadn't spoken to Sophie since the party.

Placing a bookmark within her book she set it to the side and picked up her phone. She sent Sophie a quick text.

How's everything going with you?

She got up from her bed and went over to the window to look out at the sky that was turning dark. It was a few minutes before she received a text.

Hey kiddo, want to eat out tonight? There's a thai place close by that looks pretty good.

It was Meredith. Tessa responded back. Sure. Sounds fine.

Great. We'll leave in ten.

Tessa placed the phone on the windowsill as she looked down at the empty street wondering where her Aunt Harriet and Nate were at the moment. Nothing she could imagine was good.

There was a chirp from her phone and as Tessa looked down she could see that it was from Sophie this time.

I'm doing fine. Still exhausted from the party though, if I'm being honest...everything all right with you?

Yeah, everything's fine except...my brother is... Tessa stared down at her message before deleting it and retyping. Yeah, it's good. Just going to go do a few chores around the house and then eat out with the family. I guess I'll see you at school tomorrow.

Ugh, chores, don't remind me. I still have my own to do when I get back home for the night. But eating out sounds nice. Hey, when's your lunch period?

Third period.

Drats, mines fourth. I guess I'll see you in Spanish class than. Hasta entonces.

Yeah...Buenos Dias?

Buenos noches!

Tessa smiled as she turned off her phone and looked around her room. There wasn't much to do around the house other than unpack a few more boxes and do a load of laundry. She would go put in a load before she and Meredith left to go eat. She stuck her phone in the back pocket of her jeans and headed out of her room and towards the bathroom to grab some of the laundry piled on the bathroom floor.

Maybe she would try to go find the laundry baskets they had packed later tonight.

Sophie stared down at her phone. Her fingers were hovering over the keys as she stared down unsure of what to type. She shook her head and slid her phone back into her jacket pocket. She would talk to Tessa tomorrow about it. They were probably just overblown rumors as usual.

"Who were you texting?" Gabriel asked shifting in his seat to look over at her. They were sitting inside the movie theater waiting for Gideon to finish purchasing the movie tickets. Tatiana was over at the snack bar purchasing what looked like to be half the inventory of snacks the movie theater held.

"A friend," Sophie replied with a shrug. "The ne—" she started to add before Gabriel's eyes widened and then narrowed as he stared over her shoulder.

"Of course, why wouldn't they come tonight? Must be an apology date for the party."

Sophie looked over her shoulder to see where Gabriel was staring daggers. It should have been obvious, but Sophie was surprised to see Will and Amelie in line at the ticket counter.

She narrowed her eyes at them as her fingers itched towards her phone in her jacket, wanting to send Tessa a text. But what would she say? Did Herondale try to make the moves on you at the party? Did you get into a catfight with Amelie over Will that the Dark Twins—of all people—had to come and break it up? The last scenario didn't seem plausible but it was the one Rose had told her earlier. That and Amelie had broken it off with Will, which didn't appear to be true.

She turned back over to Gabriel who was still staring daggers at Will. A sentiment Sophie could share.

Gabriel looked over at the snack bar to see his sister still purchasing items from the menu much to the concession workers dismay. "I'll be back. I'm just going to keep Tatiana far, far away from him."

"She doesn't still have a crush on him, does she?" Sophie asked slightly concerned.

Shaking his head he simply replied, "I wish."

Sophie looked back around to see Gideon standing at the counter purchasing the tickets and Will and Amelie still standing further down in line, completely oblivious and in their own world.

They looked happy, grinning like idiots at one another. Sophie watched them with a frown. They hadn't seemed happy in a while, as if they were constantly fighting and arguing. The scene they had caused at Martin's party hadn't helped that image. And if any of the rumors were true...well, Sophie honestly couldn't understand how Amelie could put up with it all, especially put up with him. The girl had to be a saint. Or delusional.

"Sophie?" Gideon called. She blinked and looked up to see him standing in front of her as if he had transported himself there by magic. He was looking down at her with slight concern.

Sophie shook her head and smiled up at him. "Sorry. Do you have the tickets?" He presented all four in his hand. "Excellent." She stood up and took the one Gideon offered to her.

"Yes, two for Cabin Fever and the other two for Under the Deep." He glanced over at the concession stand. "One action movie for Gabriel and Tatiana and one horror for us."

"Which one's horror again? They both sound disturbing."

"Cabin Fever. Under the Deep should be an action-packed movie under the sea that leaves you gasping for air due to the tension. At least according to advertisement." He looked back over at Sophie with a smile. "Now let's go help Gabriel and stop Tatiana from spending all the family assets on snacks." He reached out his hand as Sophie laced her fingers through his. While they walked over to his siblings Sophie glanced back over at the ticket line.

Will and Amelie were still in line and still blissfully unaware of their surroundings. She was unlikely to see them again knowing that Amelie wasn't into horror films and that they were more than likely going to purchases tickets for a romantic comedy. She wouldn't see them again until school tomorrow and by then the rumors mill would be in full swing. But maybe then she would get a closer version of the true story from Tessa.