Tori's POV
The week had flown by, and before Tori knew it, it was Saturday again. Tori was excited to go shopping, and as a result, had gotten up early. By the time Tessa lugged herself out of bed, Tori was already ready, leaning against the pillows and playing a game on her laptop. She was dressed in a white sweater, dark blue jeans and black boots. The girls had gone down to breakfast together, where, for once, the table was already filled with the presence of Sophie, Cecy and the rest of the boys. She slid into an empty seat beside Gabriel, who kissed her on the cheek in greeting. "Good morning, my ray of sunshine."
Tori scowled at him. "Didn't I tell you not to call me that?" "Oh, I remember. I just wanted to see how long it would take before you start swearing like a lorry driver." She shoved a bit of pancake into her mouth to stop herself from screaming. Will looked at them in amusement, and set his napkin down, having already eaten pancakes, bacon and eggs for breakfast. "What's the plan for today guys? It's the last weekend we have before the holiday" he said. Tori spoke up. "Tessa, Sophie, Cecy and I are going dress shopping." Jem leaned forward, a curious expression on his face. "Dress shopping? What for?" "For the winter ball" said Sophie, causing all the boys to simultaneously groan, and then speak in loud voices.
"Why do you have to buy them now?" asked Mark.
"Yeah, the ball isn't for another month!" exclaimed Gabriel.
"Can't you do that over the break?" asked Thomas.
"Because, like Will so clearly mentioned two minutes ago, this is the last weekend we have before the holidays. The ball happens on the first weekend after the break, and we don't have time during the weekdays to shop. And while Cecy may be able to buy her dress over the holiday drive it from the Herondale mansion to Institute and Sophie could bring hers on the train from Yorkshire, Tessa and I have plane rides between here and Paris and New York. It would be inconvenient to bring the dresses back here. So, we have to do the shopping today. You boys are more than welcome to join us" finished Victoria, downing her orange juice.
"It would be one thing if it was just Tessa and Sophie, but with you and Cecy too? Not a chance" said Jem, which caused him to get pegged with a napkin by Cecy. The girls laughed, and rose to leave. "Whatever, we'll be back before dinner, at the latest" Tori said, slinging her arm around Cecily and walking away. Tessa and Sophie shrugged at each other, and after dashing off several hurried goodbyes to the boys, they raced along the main corridor to catch up with Victoria and Cecily.
Cecily had called for another personal driver for the day. He arrived a few minutes late in a smaller limo than the one they rode in to get to Pandemonium. Nonetheless, it was spacious. Each girl took a separate long seat and stretched their legs across it, discussing the plans for the day. "Alright, I was thinking that we could head to Oxford Street first and check out Selfridges. There's this gold gown that I saw in their display a few weeks ago and I've been dying to get my hands on it. And there was a blue dress that might suit you, Tessa. There are a couple of other shops on Oxford street that sells dresses, so we'll look into those too. Regardless of what we find, we'll take a lunch break at 1, and then head over to Westfield shopping center if needed. Between those two areas, we should be able to find something for each of us. Are we in agreement?" concluded Tori, who got understanding nods from the three girls. Tessa was unfamiliar with London, so she took Tori's word on the whole shopping situation.
Back at the breakfast table...
The boys watched the girls leave before they turned back to their own conversation about the ball. There were some mornings that the boys would just sit at the table and chat, long after they'd eaten. "They won't be back before dinner" said Will, leaning back in his chair.
Mark looked at him curiously. "Why do you care if they're out all day? They'll come back eventually, and we can always hang out with them tomorrow."
"I don't think it's all of them Will wants" said Jem, grinning mysteriously at WIll.
"James, shut up."
Gabriel raised an eyebrow at Will. "No, go on Jem. Why would you say that?"
"Well, it all started at the beginning of term, when a certain American joined our group." said Jem.
"James, I'm warning you..." said Will with a dangerous tone in his voice.
"You like Tessa Gray?" asked Gideon.
"He does more than just like her, GIdeon" continued Jem.
Will decided he better speak up before James could cause any damage.
"I am... catastrophically in love with Tessa Gray. We're dating" he blurted out in a rush of words.
Mark, Gabriel, Thomas and Gideon's jaws all dropped open, while Jem howled with laughter beside them. Their expressions were priceless, as were their reactions.
"You're dating Tessa Gray?"
"Since when?"
Will rolled his eyes and said "We've been dating almost a month now. We're going to the ball together too. Speaking of, I wonder who Cecy and Sophie are going. Obviously, Tori's going with you Gabe."
At that, Mark grinned and Gideon flushed. Mark spoke for the two of them. "I'm taking Cecy and Gideon here finally worked up the nerve to ask Sophie" he said, thumping Gideon on the back. Gabriel looked at his brother in shock.
"Why am I just hearing about this?"
"Relax, Gabe. I only asked her a week ago. And besides, you didn't tell me you were dating Tori until two months afterwards, so I don't really see a problem here." replied Gideon.
Will turned to Mark. "You're taking my sister?"
Mark had the grace to look sheepish. "As a friend, which I clearly explained to her. It'll be fun."
Will scowled at him. "Just be careful" He turned to Jem, who was silently smiling. "You know, James, you haven't really said much about the ball. Are you going?"
"I am"
"And with whom, might I ask?"
"Sophia Chang. She asked me last week."
Will gaped at him. "The asian?"
Jem rolled his eyes at him. "Obviously. How many non-asian Sophia Changs do you know?"
"That must've been one hot practice session"
Jem threw a napkin at Will. He laughed and batted it away. Jem looked at Thomas, who was extremely silent, but he knew why.
'Thomas, what about you?" he asked gently. "What are you doing about the ball?"
He gulped, and straightened up in his seat. He may have come out of the closet at the start of term, but only the boys seated at the table knew. He hadn't even told the girls. He wasn't really sure why. He knew that they would accept him and treat him the same. But he didn't want to come out in front of the whole school either. So his options were to either suck it up and ask a girl for the sake of it, or not go. So far, the second option seemed more likely.
"I think I'm going to skip this one. I had fun going with Sophie last year, but I could use a break. I'll find something to do, don't worry about me."
Gabriel shook his head. Being roommates had made the two boys best friends, and Gabe was concerned for Thomas.
"Tom, it's fine if you don't want to come to the ball. We aren't going to pressure you, so you work at your own pace. But I think you should at least tell the girls soon. They care too."
"I know, Gabe. And I will tell them. They have given me no reason to doubt them." He smiled and stood up, not wanting to talk about it anymore. "Are we going to sit here all day? Or are we going to go sledding?" The other boys got up too, and they made their way out into the beautiful London day.
Tessa's POV
They spent the better part of the morning in Selfridges, trying on not only dresses, but also shirts, pants and casual dresses. Tori had tried on the gold gown, but didn't seem to like very much. She came out of the dressing room in a shimmer of gold. Unfortunately, she also left a wake of glitter in her path, and the dress made her look disproportionate. However, she fell in love with a deep purple strapless gown, that was ruched at the chest and had an empire waist. She bought the dress right away, and watched as Tessa tried on the turquoise blue dress that Tori recommended. It was also strapless, but it was simpler than Tori's dress which was shimmery and beaded. When she came out of the dressing room, Tessa twirled once as she showed the dress of. "It's beautiful Tessa, you have to buy it" said Sophie. "You should listen to Sophie, Tessa. Besides, I think Will would like it too."
Sophie and Cecy turned to Tori, who was being glared at by Tessa. "Will? As in my brother? What does he have to do with Tessa?" asked Cecily. Tori grinned gleefully and called out "He's Tessa's boyyyyyyfffffriend" as she pranced around the room. "Of course he's gonna care what she looks like."
"Tori, I'm going to kill you."
"Hey, no harm no foul Tessa."
Cecy stared at her in shock. "You're dating Will?" Tessa nodded meekly, her pale face now very red. "Well, at least he picked a good girl this time" she said, shrugging and sitting back down.
Tori raced over to Cecily's seat, kneeling beside it. "Cecy, who are you going with, for the record?"
"I'm going with Mark. He asked me to accompany him, so I figured ehh, why not."
"And what about you, Sophie?" asked Victoria.
She flushed before she stammered out "Gideon Lightwood".
Cecy and Tori gave each other a knowing look, and Tessa said "Awwwwwww! Sophie! That's so sweet. When did he ask you?"
"Last week, when we were studying together."
"You guys are so cute."
"Tessa, we're not dating!"
"You could, you never know."
Sophie smiled and rolled her eyes, changing the subject. "I think you should buy that dress. It looks really pretty on you." Tessa nodded and slipped back into the changing room to put on her clothes. She came out to hear the girls still discussing dates. "Wait, if we all already have dates, then who on earth is Jem going with? He told me that he had a date, but I figured that he might be going with you, Cecy. But you're going with Mark" said Victoria, a huge dress bag in her lap. "I didn't know he was planning on going. I wonder who he's taking." replied Cecy. Sophie was leaning forward in her chair, elbows on her knees, her hands supporting her head. "And Thomas too. Do any of you guys know whom he's going with? Or if he's going at all, for that matter?" The other three shook their heads no. Tori stood, making her way out of the dressing room. "Well, we'll ask them when we get back. Let's go ring your dress up, Tessa." She nodded. "Well, if it isn't the slut-show and her minions."
All four of the girls whirled around to find Jessamine Lovelace standing in line behind them, a dress in her hand and two girls behind her. Victoria shoved her dress in Cecy's arms and walked right up to Jessie.
"I'm surprised to find you here, Jessie. Haven't you heard? Selfridges is for people with class, not the scum on the bottom of my shoe."
Jessie matched Tori's glare. "Well, how would you know what class is Tori? You have none."
Tori looked at the dress in Jessie's arms, a white number which was extremely short and deeply cut. "You're planning on wearing this to the ball? And I'm the slut-show here with no class."
Tori turned to face her friends, who were anxiously staring at her, having already paid for Tessa's dress. Cecily put her head in her hands and grabbed Tori by the hand, hissing in her ear and dragging her out of Selfridges. Tessa and Sophie scrambled to follow and they launched themselves into the limo, where the other two were already sitting, Victoria fuming.
"I hate that girl with every fiber of my being. Would it be so hard for her leave us alone?" she said. Cecy handed Victoria some hot liquid and told her drink it, trying to calm her down. "Ignore her, Tori. She's not worth your energy or time." Tessa nodded in agreement. "Cecy's right. Don't ruin your good mood with her sour expressions. Besides, it's not like anyone likes her anyways."
Victoria sipped the drink and set it into the cup holder. She looked out the window and leaned her temple against it. "I guess you guys are right. There's no point in ruining a good day. Anyways, let's get going, Sophie and Cecy still need to find dresses."
Sophie and Cecy had found their dress in the next shop. Sophie had picked out an emerald dress that had one strap going across her chest and left shoulder. Cecily had found a dress that was a cobalt blue that matched her eyes and was deeply cut in the back. They found the dresses right before lunch time, and deciding that they didn't want to go back to Institute afterwards, they decided to go Christmas shopping. Tessa had managed to find presents for her family, Will, Chris and her friends. It took up the greater part of the afternoon, and by the time they had loaded all of their purchases into the limo at about six o'clock, the girls were exhausted. They had catnapped on the way back, snoozing in their respective seats.
Lugging the things back into Institute had been a pain. Each girl had about 6 bags in each hand, and luckily for them, their dorm was on the other of campus. It would be quicker to cut across campus, which is exactly what the girls did. Unfortunately, this path took them outside, and by the time they had entered the ground floor of the dorm, they were covered in snowflakes.
They had entered into the common room, where the boys were settled on the sofas and floor, playing video games. They looked up when they heard the door opening.
"Hey, you're back!" cried Will, leaping to his feet. How was your shopping trip?
"Successful. You will be proud to know that the four of you lucky things who are taking us to the ball are going to be escorting the four most beautiful girls in all of Institute" said Cecily with a fake, snotty tone. Her tone caused the other girls to burst into giggles. Will had walked over to Tessa, and was trying to peek into her dress bag. She batted his hand away
"No, William. You can see it on the day of the ball."
His face fell slightly. "I need to see it."
"How come?" asked Tessa.
"Because I want to match my girlfriend."
She flushed at this, but then remembered that the girls knew, and judging by Will's tone, the boys knew too. She shook her head.
"I'll show you the color later. That's all you need. Now if you don't mind, I have about fifty pounds of stuff that I need to unload, so I would appreciate it if I could go to my room"
"Allow me," he said, taking all of the things from Tessa's arms and walking out of the room and up the staircase. She shook her and smiled, hurrying to follow him.
Victoria sat on the arm of Gabriel's chair, who wrapped an arm around her waist. "I swear, she has him wrapped around her little finger" she said.
"He looks at her like she's the only star in the sky" said Jem, frowning at the television screen. "Damn it!" he shouted, tossing his controller onto the floor and looking at Mark. "It looks like you've won, again." Mark jumped up and put his hands out in victory, cheering at the top of his lungs. Everyone laughed, the giddiness of the holidays settling onto them like the snow falling outside.