Hearts of Ink (a TID fanfiction)

one

It didn't budge. The damn phone didn't budge! I pushed the on button a last time even though I knew that it was useless. The screen stayed black.

I sighed. I couldn't change anything about that now. And I had been so certain that I had charged it. My mom had probably been right and I should have put it on flight mode, then the search for a network wouldn't have used up the whole battery.

"Shortly we will land at the London Hearthrow Airport. Please stay in your seats and put on the seatbelt. We would like to remind you that the use of electronic devices is prohibited during the descent. Thank you for flying with-"

I blended the pilot's voice out. Blah, blah, blah. He only reminded me of the fact that I was currently breaking my promise to call my mom before landing. At least I couldn't help it, it was the stupid battery's fault.

I stuffed my useless phone into my bag and looked out of the window. London was coming closer and with it, the queasy feeling in my stomach only grew. The nervousness almost killed me but I had to be patient. Before I could meet the people who where waiting for me, I had to exit the plane and wait eternities for my suitcase.

When I finally entered the hall of the airport, my bag on my shoulder, a raincoat tied around my waist ( because I had repeatedly heard how rainy London was and I didn't want to risk anything by ignoring this widespread thesis) hauling my heavy suitcase, I saw her immediately. A middle-aged woman with strawberry blond hair and sunglasses stuck in it held up a sign with the inscription "Tessa Gray". Yes, that was my welcoming committee.

I approached the woman and silently prayed that she was at least bearable, after all I had to live with her and her family for the next school year. She smiled at me as soon as she noticed that it was me whom she had awaited. "I suppose you are Tessa Gray?" She lowered the sign and brushed a stray of hair out of her face. I nodded. "Good. My name is Charlotte Fawn, as you certainly already know. Oh, and don't be afraid to just call me Charlotte."

I smiled back. "It's nice to meet you." I noticed that she had faint freckles on her nose and her clothes seemed to be high quality. At least she wasn't stuck-up and conceited.

"Nice to meet you too. I think you will like it with us. This evening I will introduce you to my family." I nodded once more and flashed her another smile. Charlotte instructed me to follow her. We immediately set off. I exhaled. So far so good.

*°*°*

I walked through the corridor of the school, carefully intent on avoiding to run into anyone. That proved to be more difficult than presumed, for the students were scurrying through the hallways, pumped up with the excitement that the first day of school brought along.

On saturday Charlotte had introduced me to her husband Henry and her young daughter Liv. She might have only been three years younger than me, but she was so delicately built that she appeared smallish. They had all made a friendly impression which I reported to my mother once my phone had charged. The nervousness to meet my host family had easily been replaced by the excitement I felt because of school. After all it was the first time I was going to a private school and that had to be worth the excitement.

However I was not so thrilled by the uniforms. The skirt was quite cute but the sweater scratched again at the right shoulderblade. I was standing in front of my classroom and didn't want my classmates to think that I was strange because I twisted my arm to have a scratch on my shoulder. That's why I stayed still in the meantime and underwent the itch.

My schoolmates were spread in front of the classroom in little groups and chatted quietly while waiting for the teacher.

"Hey, you're new here, aren't you? At least I haven't seen you around." A girl with golden curls stood in front of me and stretched out her hand. "I'm Sophie." She flashed me a smile that showed off her pearlwhite teeth.

I shook her hand. "I'm Tessa,nice to meet you. I'm the exchange student from New York." I smiled shyly at her. In private I was glad that she had approached me.

Her eyes widened visibly. "Wow, New York how cool! I think that's so exciting, in my class there's never been an exchange student." Now she beamed at me. "So good that I can experience that in my last year." She leaned towards me and lowered her voice, as if she was about to tell me a secret. "All my friends already had the chance to make foreign friends, except for me. I had already suspected the head office to arrange that. But now you're here and the year is gonna be awesome! Oh, how I have always dreamt of being a guide." She nodded as if to demonstrate her determination.

"What a match! I will need someone to explain everything to me and guide me through school." And for some reason I knew that Sophie would turn out to be a good friend.

*°*°*
At lunch I noticed a dark-haired boy who looked at our table time and time again. If I wasn't mistaken his crystal blue eyes always landed on me.

"Hey Sophie, who is the boy on that table over there?" I tried to discreetly show her who I meant. She followed my gaze and her eyes became admiring. She sighed dreamily but it was her friend Jess who answered.

"Oh, well that is Will Herondale. He's pretty popular with the girls and I think he's well aware of that. Sophie fancies him since forever." She giggled because of the enchanted face her friend made.

Sophie's face visibly reddened and she straightened before she finally averted her eyes from Will and gave me her attention. "He's a bit erratic but that only makes him more fascinating. Besides, he's interested in literature from the late 19th century. How awesome is that?" She flashed Will once again a furtive glance and I followed suit.

Interesting. At my school I had been the only to like that kind of literature. Here I happened to meet a guy with the same interest on the first day already. Will's gaze slid anew back in my direction and this time I intentionaly stared back into his wonderfully blue eyes.