"I am not a certified idiot—"
"Lack of certification hardly proves intelligence," Will muttered."

Gabriel Lightwood did not enjoy school more than the next teenager, but he had to admit he was quite good at it. He averaged A-'s mostly, and was generally a good student and thought to be well behaved (if he didn't have a bit of a temper problem). He enjoyed History and English (though he thought some of the interpretations of books his teacher made absolute tripe) and was even a relatively good student at Maths, but the one subject he did not have the patience for and absolutely could not master was A Biology. He had taken it years ago and barely gotten himself through it with a bit more help than he wanted from his older brother, but now Gideon was gone at university, and Gabriel was left to suffer a more advanced version of the class he couldn't stand. He hated it, he loathed it, it made absolutely no sense to him and the idiot arguing with the new girl next to him was not helping his concentration on his lab.

He'd been sort of half listening to them for a while now, not quite eavesdropping (it was their own faults their idiotic conversation was being heard, he couldn't damn well help that he had ears, could he?), but getting the general gist, which made him only more annoyed. Apparently the nitwit harassing the girl, a weasley boy he had sort of 'known' since starting Secondary school named Jeremy, thought she was some sort of star or something and was absolutely intent on having some sort of damn argument with her as he was to annoy the living hell out of Gabriel who was quite literally right next to him and simply trying to finish the damn lab he'd been assigned. The teacher called a warning for 15 minutes. Gabriel looked at the two lines out of eight he'd managed to scratch down and seethed. He leaned in a moment, trying to

"Your music sucks you know," he heard Jeremy say. "I've heard it in elevators and on the tube, disgusting stuff, you know."

There was a pause. "Thanks for the compliment. I do my best to annoy innocent tube travelers," the girl responded, sounding as though she was repressing rage.

"Absolute lovey dovey trash. I don't even understand how you got-"

Gabriel had had just about enough with this. He spun his lab chair a 180 and clapped his hands together loudly, making Jeremy look up and meet his death glare. "Shut up, Jeremy, you worthless piece of snot. Haven't you got enough on your hands with your drug problem to have a harassment report too?"

Jeremy flushed gripping a pair of pliers in his hand tighter. "The hell you butting in for, Lightwood? You listen to her prissy music, gay?"

Gabriel let out an enraged half groan. "I don't know or give a damn about her music, I don't even know who she is. Just shut up so I can concentrate or so help me God I will beat you to death with my calculator." He flashed him a warning look. "Or does getting into arguments with helpless girls fill the hole in your self esteem that you lost when Tara broke up with you?"

Jeremy opened his mouth as if to respond, and flushed darkly before picking up his books and walking away.

"Well, that's a relief," Gabriel said darkly, turning back to his work, pretending not to notice the girl staring at him with the strangest expression.

He managed to scribble something down for every answer, but he still left the room in an absolute state of annoyance. So, it was that he was not the best to receive the first comment Tessa Gray had made to any of her new fellow pupils when she caught up with him after class.

"That really was rude of you to insinuate he was a drug addict," she said, suddenly walking beside him on his way out.

He looked at her. "Excuse me?"

"It was rude. Yes, he was being a jerk but you clearly said something to seriously upset him!"

Gabriel stared at her incredulously, stopping still in the middle of the crowded hall, letting the crowds flow around them. "I sort of got the feeling I was saving you from having to listen to ten minutes more of his moronic ranting," he drawled, feeling a pinch of annoyance.

She looked up at him, grey eyes cold. "If it was bothering me I would've said so. To him not to you."

Gabriel stared at her. She was a fairly pretty girl, though, he couldn't help thinking, not his type. With grey eyes, dark brown hair, and a sort of. . . 'fight me' expression, all he could think that she was ungrateful and. . . familiar?

So it was a bit of a surprise to him when she reciprocated the thought saying thoughtfully, "Do I know you from somewhere? You seem familiar."

"I was just thinking the same about you," he said, baffled, as they continued walking.

She huffed, blowing a strand of hair out of her face. "Oh, that's not surprising. Did you see me on a billboard? Ad before a Youtube video? Little sister's bedroom wall? Because I'm probably any and all of those places."

Maybe she was insane. "What?" he asked blankly.

"I'm famous," she said in a very glum tone.

"Oh," he said, still startled. "That's. . . nice."

"Yeah, well, that's probably where you know me, but where do I know you?" she asked, looking up at him with an expression that set him slightly uneasy.

"I have no clue," he said quickly, beginning to scowl once more as he stopped to take a drink from a water fountain. "And let me tell you, famous or not, I don't exactly usual do charity jobs like showing new girls around school, because, unlike you, I already have friends, and I have better things-"

A hand thrust out from the crowd, shoving his face directly into the fountain. His nose thrust directly into the spout, his lip cutting deeply on the side. Blood and water poured down his face and onto his clothes.

"Hey, Lightwood!" called a jovial, rather large boy with a jersey. "Or should I say, 'Gay, Lightwood'?" He and the rather large group around him burst into laughter.

Gabriel turned a shade of dark purple and began rolling up his sleeves, moving towards them. But he never got the chance to lay a hand on the absolute idiots because before he could say a word or move an inch closer, the little freak was in front of him and already talking as they walked away.

"Apologize, now!" she yelled, looking outraged, arms crossed across her chest.

The large boy, a blockhead Gabriel knew named Jonah Smith, stared at her, expression completely caught off guard. "Excuse me?"

"Apologize to him!" she said firmly, walking up till she was right in front of his face. "What did he ever do to you? And who cares if he's gay? That means you need to shove his head into a water fountain? I think you're just an ass!"

Gabriel hid his burning face in his hands and longed to die in a hole.

Jonah, far from being scared or intimidated, wore an amused smirk. "And who exactly are you, baby? Haven't seen you around."

She stiffened in front of him. "My name is Tessa Gray. And, not to brag but, I have the power to have thousands of twelve and thirteen year olds come and beat you to death. So, not to tell you what you should do, but I would watch your mouth."

Jonah didn't seem to know quite what to say to this and Gabriel couldn't really blame him. He simply laughed and began walking away, hands in his pockets. "Enjoy that outfit, Lightwood," he called tauntingly.

The girl, Tessa apparently, stared after him, arms crossed until the crowd blocked him from sight. Then she turned back to Gabriel, who she met looking at her with a half horrified, half resigned expression.

"Are you. . .?" Tessa began, looking cautious.

"Not gay? Yes, thanks for asking," he said bitingly, pulling his messenger bag over his shoulder roughly and beginning to stride away. Fast.

"Oh my-" she looked horrified as she caught up. "I'm so sorry. I just saw- You're wearing a vest-"

He looked down at his outfit. Slacks, a dress shirt and a sweater vest, all now covered in blood, and sighed, looking darkly at his outfit. "Yeah, this is a fun day and age. Dressing nicely automatically makes you gay."

"I was just trying to help."

"Well you're not," he snapped. "No offense but I don't know if you're really famous and I don't care. I don't want an American tag along and I would love not to get any more confirmations on my apparent gayness today so if you'd leave me alone now I'd be really grateful!"

An hour later they sat at lunch together.

Tessa was explaining him how she'd come to the school.

"I haven't been to school in years," she admitted. "I've just been tutored while I've been on tour."

"Well, it shows," he said bluntly, biting into a sandwich.

"Thanks," she said acidly.

"Hey, it wouldn't be doing you any favors to pull punches," he said, looking at her seriously. "You saw what happened to me, and I'm not even a tween pop-star prancing around singing about love and daisies so what will happen to you, I-"

He glanced at her. She had pulled out a book and was looking at it strangely, completely ignoring him. He read the cover. "'A Tale of Two Cities'. . . Did you hear anything I just said?"

"Oh, yes, it's just- It's so weird." She glanced up at him. "Do you believe in deja vou?"

"No," he responded briskly. "That's just superstition."

"You don't believe in anything supernatural?"

He looked at her with a sardonic expression. "I believe that maybe books are messing with your brain."

"This is historical fiction!"

He waved it off. "Whatever it is, it doesn't really matter. No. I don't believe in the supernatural. And to be completely honest, people who do are nuts. Take my sister's boyfriend for example. Complete idiot! Has weird, swirly tattoos all over him some of the time. I've told her I think they're superstition but she doesn't listen. Anyway, he's a lunatic. Just got arrested from a pop concert from what I've heard-"

"What?" she cut in breathlessly, her face pale.

He stared at her strange expression, bewildered. "What do you mean 'what'? That he's a lunatic?"

"No, the- The pop concert thing."

"That he got arrested at a pop concert? Yeah that was last week, Tat was really messed up about it which the most annoying thing-"

Tessa grabbed his wrist, so tightly it almost hurt, looking pale as death. "Can you tell me about him?"

Hey guys! Sorry I didn't update yesterday; it was a mix of writer's block and traveling across like six states (*shudder*). Anyway, I really wanted to tell anyone who guest commented on this fic: thank you! You guys are the absolute best, I really wish I could respond :) Keep reading! And don't forget to follow to support this fic!