The sky was an inky black as Will took an empty lemonade glass from the girl beside him, gently out of her cold, curved hands. Hands that were too petite and blond curls that were a falsehood but he saw through it all. Even in the eyes that had been blue, the awkward humility as they'd pushed through the crowd, none of the pride the face she wore usually contained. He saw through, as though she were a light shining, burning, to be seen even from underneath the cloth that hid her. He saw her. Tessa.

Time seemed to flop, skipping several beats of moments, minutes, maybe hours, and suddenly he was holding her. Not her the hidden figment, but Tessa as he knew her. As he dreamed of her. Brown hair breaking loose and falling around her shoulders, eyes the simple grey overcast that reminded him of the sky of home- He slid off her glove, felt her gasp, and felt the world flip once more as he began to kiss her.

"Will," a whisper, sounding from somewhere beyond his own mind.

"Will-"

"William Herondale, is my class so very boring you think you have the right to sleep through it?"

Will rose from sleep with the absolute, horrifying certainty of the familiar burn of 32 eyes on the back of his skull. The forth dream had hit him harder than the others. His lips even felt hot, as though he'd really been kissing. . . He cut off this train of thought rather quickly, slowly sitting up, and rubbing the slight edge of drool from the corner of his mouth in the most casual way possible. His eyes looked up to meet those of a burning Mrs. Cox.

Will let out a long silent sigh, glancing to the scantily clad smirking cheerleader on his left, to the freckled student beside him who was sleeping as well.

"Well," he began slowly, folding his hands across his desk, stifling a yawn. "To be completely fair, it clearly isn't an entirely unpopular opinion," he said, holding her gaze as he gestured to the snoring boy next to him.

He knew when the class simultaneously whistled that he was dead meat. But then, he had known that when he made the comment.

"You didn't have to come here with me," Will groused sulkily, later that day as he sat in the not-so-silent detention hall.

"Oh, yes I did," James Carstairs replied, tracing lightly with his finger on the chipped wooden surface of the old desk. "I knew I wouldn't get the full story you promised me earlier if you sat here all afternoon. Besides, maybe I've been tired of actually leaving school at a decent hour," he said, without a hint of the grin Will knew, with annoyance, he was stifling.

They were whispering to each other across the crowded detention hall, with the skill of two students who knew how to avoid a monitor's attention.

"Yeah, well you're wasting your time," he said sulkily, twirling a pencil between each of his fingers in turn. "I don't exactly feel like talking."

Jem shrugged, expression plan and emotionless as he continued to trace swirling designs onto his desk. He was pale and thin, especially for a person of his height, lithe and yet, not breakable looking. He wore a button up with a red jumper pull over, his jeans the same dark as Will's. Will didn't exactly know why Jem's hair was white and, as his best friend and unlike every other person in the school, he politely refrained from asking.

Suddenly something occurred to him.

Will leaned forward, squinting at his friend. "Wait. How did you get yourself here? Aren't you the perfect student?"

A smile flitted across Jem's face and he shrugged. "Well, Cecily came and found me after English and told me where you were. She's not pleased, by the way," Will let out a slight noise of annoyance. "Anyway, I went to Mrs. Cerniglia and told her in very clear terms that I hated her class and would henceforth refuse to do the work, but she just told me I was under too much stress and gave me a lozenge. So then I knocked down a vase in her office, and here I am."

Will gaped. "How on earth did you escape getting a detention the first time?"

Jem's face darkened slightly with a grim smile. "Cancer perks," he said simply, his tone clipped.

Will waved this away with a hand. "More like honor-roll, teacher's pet perks," he said with a snort, watching carefully, out of the corner of his eye, Jem's expression.

Jem grinned slightly at him, the darkness in his eyes falling away slightly. "You are the only person on earth who would say that to me."

"Well, it's not my fault my best friend is a suck up."

Jem rolled his eyes. "Applying yourself to work does not make you a suck up. Besides, your grades are nearly as good as mine."

Will shot him a look. "Except I don't do 'in-class participation'," he did air quotes. "And I don't care about Teacher's Appreciation Day. Do you realize how much underpaid high school teachers care about Teacher's Appreciation Day? I thought they would mob me when I walked into the teacher's lounge to ask a maths question without a bag of toffees or a 'I LOVE LEARNING' hallmark card. Like a vicious pack of hyenas that's what it turns them into-"

"Will," Jem interrupted calmly. "As your friend who dutifully bought us tickets to see a random, very expensive," Will sensed there was emphasis on this word. "-pop concert this evening, I would love to know the reason why we'll be trekking out to Manchester immediately after school."

"That reminds me," Will perked up. "Are we stealing my parents' car or yours?"

Jem's face didn't change. "My 'parents' would only let me borrow their car if I promised I'd pay it ten times over and then leave and never come back. So, yours. Now, don't change the subject."

Will sighed, looked thoughtful for a moment, and then met Jem's eyes forcefully. "If I tell you you have to swear not to think I'm absolutely insane."

Jem simply stared back. "That ship has pretty much sailed. I've thought you were insane from the day we met, this won't change anything. Now, continue."

Ten minutes and some fast talking by Will later, Jem was frowning slightly. "I'm confused. Why Tessa Gray?"

"I don't know," Will said cooly, slumping in his chair. "If I did, maybe I wouldn't feel so disgusted with myself."

"Well," Jem mused. "Disgusted is a rather harsh word. I mean if your mind chooses to be obsessed with a random teen pop star that's not exactly disgusting-"

"No," Will interrupted sharply. "You don't understand. It isn't- It isn't obsession. I feel like," his voice upped a notch, desperately. "Something happened to me. Like. . . I remember her. Like we knew each other, in some kind of. . . past life."

They sat in silence for a moment under the weight of this revelation.

Will braced himself for impact. "Do you think I'm insane?" he asked tersely.

Will didn't look to him but he imagined Jem looked thoughtful. "Well," he said thoughtfully. "You know I believe in life being a circle. I suppose it's possible you knew her somewhere before."

"Yes," breathed Will quietly, barely hearing him. "It's possible."

They were silent for another moment.

"Well," Jem said slowly, interrupting the strange quiet, a strange sheen of sweat covering his face. "I guess we need to go to Manchester then."

"Yes," Will said, turning forward again, jaw tight. "We do."

Will looked out of the corner of his eye for Jem and saw him staring at the black board, appearing to be concentrating hard. Somewhere deep down, Jem had to feel the change he had, he thought, his insides beginning to squirm with panic, didn't he?

"What," Jem asked suddenly, his voice slow and cautious, making Will jump. "About Tatiana?"

Will stared at him blankly. "Tatiana?" he asked blankly. Out of all of the questions he'd been expecting, this was not one of them.

Jem turned to him, eyes vaguely concerned. "Tatiana Lightwood. Your," he looked rather awkward. "Girlfriend?"

Will sat completely still in his chair for a moment, staring at the wall in deep concentration. He scanned his mind. He. . hadn't remembered her. He hadn't remembered a girlfriend. He suddenly felt himself crashing back to reality. His brain flashed back to brief memories, brightly colored, almost, almost a fake feeling surrounding them. A girl with long, perfectly straight brown hair, smirking at him across a car seat. Dancing with him in a long black, backless dress at some. . some dance. Kissing him in the school courtyard while the rest of the party drank and danced through the night. He stared at the wall, in deep concentration, and felt nothing but horror.

"I mean, I understand that you aren't controlling these dreams," Jem said carefully. "Or that you don't know why there happening. I just had the feeling- Or I got the sense- That you considered yourself in love with her?" he ended, his voice tempered and worried.

He heard himself as if from a distance, talking back to Jem, saying something. "Let's not talk about Tatiana," Will said, feigning sanity for a moment, feeling as though the world was crushing itself to his chest.

Jem seemed to have gotten the vibe Will had been intentionally giving off, begging for silence, and remained quiet for the rest of the period, giving Will time to think.

Halfway through the period, a phone's ring resounded cheerfully through the detention hall, making the monitor glance up in disdain. Jem, looking horrified, quickly tugged it from his pocket looking at it in utter bewilderment for a moment before catching Will's eye, flushing, and tapping its screen rapidly, the sound cutting off abruptly.

They continued their silent reprieve.

The period ended with a loud bell and a bored monitor released them with warnings not to return, though Will knew he would. He slumped out of the room, backpack hanging from his shoulder, teeth ground together in his mouth, not seeing that behind him, James Carstairs was staring at his friend, a look of pain upon his pale, thin face, and one of complete and utter understanding.

Hey guys thanks for reading this chapter of A Leap in Time! :) If you like what you've seen stay tuned for more as I'll be updating regularly! And (just a tip) pay attention to every expression and note about a character's face. They might be hiding something. . .