Ok I finally got chapter 6 done. I'm sorry if it's kinda scattered or choppy. I was rushing a bit and I wasn't incredibly focused for some of it.

And now to respond to a few reviews.

alohaiems- I know exactly how you feel! I'm always doing the same things with my friends and finishing books. And (as you probably guessed) I'm also in love with classics like Pride and Prejudice. I'm currently reading A Tale of Two Cities as well as Emma (I'm obsessed with Jane Austen). I'm even weirder because I actually like and enjoy Shakespeare. My friends think I'm crazy :P

cazdinsdale- Thank you for your compliment about the introduction of Will! It really made my night and made me want to write more!

GirlInHerOwnWorld- I'm glad you like it! I also really want to thank you for reading my other story! I'll hopefully update that one soon too.

Guest- I'll try not to keep you waiting so long next time and yes I did have fun on my trip!

Guest- I would really like to finish this one! I actually have plans for a sequel or two, but we'll see where it goes :P

All right now you're probably tired of me. Onto the story!

Chapter 6

"Come on, Tessa!" Rosamund called over her shoulder. "You can't take a picture of everything."

Tessa took one quick photo of the four massive horse statues on the corner where the street they were on turned into Piccadilly Circus. She followed Rosamund across the busy street to what felt like an island in the middle of a busy highway. This part of London reminded Tessa a little bit of Times Square in New York. There were some huge screens showing advertisements of various products. There weren't quite as many lights, but then she had only been in Piccadilly during the day.

Their mission for the day was shopping, and Tessa was dreading it. She didn't have a ton of money, as pounds were worth more than dollars, and she didn't really feel right using the money the Saunders' had given her. Not to mention she hated shopping in general. She felt like trying on clothes was such a waste of time.

They waited for a minute for the others when Rosamund got a text from Jem saying that they were going to be late and that they would meet Tessa and Rosamund in whichever shop they happened to be in. Rosamund then led Tessa up the street at a brisk walk. There were clothing stores lining the both sides of the street as far as Tessa could see, and she groaned internally at the thought of visiting all of them.

Rosamund walked past a few and then pulled Tessa into one. "This one has some great sales," she explained to Tessa as they wove through the racks of clothes.

"That's good," Tessa said half heartedly. She appreciated the fact that Rosamund considered her money situation, but she just really didn't want to go shopping at all.

After a while of browsing, Rosamund had found several items and was ready to try them on. "Come on, Tessa! Just try something," she practically begged of Tessa. "Look there is a sale rack over there. Grab something and come try it on."

Because that was as close to bossy as Rosamund had been with Tessa, she decided to oblige and went over to the rack. She blindly grabbed a dress that looked to be her size and followed Rosamund to the fitting rooms. She tried her dress on, and even Tessa knew it was bad. It made her look very short and hung off in all the wrong places. Plus it was a dirty rust color that wasn't quite orange and wasn't quite brown.

"Tessa come show me!" Rosamund called from outside her door.

"No, I'm not sure you really want to see this one. Even I think it looks bad," Tessa replied.

"Oh, I bet it does't look that bad," Rosamund said and Tessa could imagine her brushing the comment away with a flick of her wrist.

"Well all right," Tessa sighed and pushed open the door. Rosamund made her stand in front of the huge mirrors, and even those didn't make it look any better.

"It's not as bad as you made it sound," Rosamund assured her, looking at Tessa through the mirror. Just then a few familiar faces came around the corner and were reflected at Tessa in the mirror.

"Good Lord, Tessa," Will gaped. "There is a reason that dress is on sale."

"Will!" Jem and Rosamund both exclaimed at the same time, turning to face him.

"What? You weren't going to let her walk out of here with that, were you Rose?" Will demanded, looking rather offended.

Rosamund's cheeks darkened but she shook her head. "No, but I think Tessa can tell for herself when something doesn't work."

"Oh I'm sorry you don't like it, Will," Tessa jumped in. "I was going to give it to you for your birthday. It seemed more your style than mine."

Will opened his mouth to respond when a blonde-haired girl poked her head around the corner. "Are you guys coming? This store has- Oh dear..." she trailed off once her gaze settled on Tessa.

Tessa rolled her eyes and turned to the girl. "Nice to meet you too. I'm Tessa," she said trying not to let her annoyance creep into her voice.

Giving the blonde an exasperated look, Rosamund said, "Tessa, this is Jessamine. Jessamine, Tessa."

Jessamine managed a fake smile and then disappeared out the door again. Tessa booked it to the dressing room so she could change and avoid any more comments on the dress. When she came back out, happily dressed in jeans again, Will and Jem were gone. Rosamund sat looking very worried and biting her nails in a chair near the mirror. As soon as Tessa emerged, Rosamund stood and immediately began apologizing. "Oh Tessa, I'm so sorry! I don't know why Jessie said that, she's usually not like that."

Seeing Rosamund worried over nothing made Tessa crack a smile. Rose always overreacted when Will said something, or in this case Jessamine, and that made Tessa feel like at least someone wanted her there. Holding out a hand to stop Rosamund's apology, Tessa shook her head and said, "it's really all right. It was a horrible dress anyway."

This didn't deter Rosamund and she continued to apologize as they left the fitting room to find the others. When they did find them, Will was sitting, looking very bored, on a bench outside the store. Jessamine sat next to him babbling away about something, using her hands to illustrate what she said. Tessa couldn't help smirking at Will and Jessamine. Even Will, who normally loved attention, was hardly looking at Jessamine.

Jem looked up and smiled at Tessa and Rosamund as they approached. "You look much more comfortable, Tessa," Jem observed teasingly. He had obviously picked up on the fact that Tessa did not like shopping or trying on clothes, much less dresses.

"I am," Tessa replied, returning his smile. Jem's smile was contagious. The way his lips curved up at the corners, it was such a warm and soft smile it just made Tessa want to smile as well.

"Well that's good because we're going to be walking quiet a ways down the street," he told her, some secret twinkling in his silver eyes. His suppressed grin made Tessa curious.

"And where, may I ask, will we be walking to?"

"Oh somewhere around the West End," Jem said with a shrug, but Tessa could tell he was trying very hard to contain his excitement. Jem was much easier to read than Will.

"West End as in the theaters?" Tessa asked, even more curious now. The West End in London was just like Broadway in New York. It was where all the best musicals were shown.

"Yeah, maybe," Jem nodded, glancing at Rosamund who was biting her lower lip in order to prevent herself from laughing.

"Oh just tell her, Jem!" Rosamund said, finally unable to resist anymore.

Jem shrugged and said, "She's not going to be that excited. I mean, we're only going to see The Phantom of the Opera." When he finished he glanced over at Tessa for her reaction. Will also looked at her out of the corner of his eye, but Tessa didn't notice. She hardly knew what her face must have looked like, but after a moment both Jem and Rosamund started laughing so it must have been amusing.

Tessa couldn't help herself. She grabbed Jem and Rosamund by the wrists and began doing little hops up and down. "Are you serious? Which theater? Do you know who is playing Phantom?" she gushed, looking quickly between Rosamund and Jem.

Jem chuckled quietly and shook his head. "Why don't we just wait and see. The show starts in about 45 minutes so we should get going."

Tessa nodded in agreement and then hurried the others along toward the theater. She had been in love with The Phantom of the Opera ever since the 5th grade. One of her friends had shown her the sound track and then the movie and they would occasionally act it out with their dolls. Tessa knew every word to every song and she knew it would take everything in her not to start singing during the performance. She wasn't a bad singer, but no one would want her singing in their ear.

She had gotten ahead of the group in her excitement, so she turned around to hurry them along. When they caught up, she started skipping down the street, humming the overture to the musical. The others chuckled quietly behind her, but she didn't care. Even Will and his horrid arrogance couldn't bring her down now.

Well I hope it wasn't too choppy and whatnot. Let me know what you think!