The Shadowhunters

Meeting the Boys

Jem was leaning against a shelf, watching Tessa amusedly. "I mean, he said those… things," Tessa said, amending for the words she was going to say. "And he… just… ugh!" Tessa

said, throwing her hands in the air in exasperation.

Jem had that all­knowing smirk on his face as he crossed his arms and continued to watch Tessa intently.

"You're not even listening are you," Tessa accused.

"I am. I'm gouging your reaction to me forgiving Will and I'm laughing on the inside," Jem smiled.

Tessa scowled. The bell began to ring then. Tessa groaned. "You know I have to sit next to your idiotic best friend during English Lit, right?" she asked.

"And I'm enjoying every moment," Jem smirked. Tessa scowled again before reaching for Jem and bringing him into a quick hug.

"I'll see you later, Jem," Tessa waved before running out of the library to her class – earning a disapproving look from the school librarian.

Luckily, Tessa made it in time. She found it to be very stupid that the library – which held every English Literature book – was a four minute run from the English Literature class.

Tessa slid into one of the two­seater desks and this time, Will did not ditch class, but he was sitting right beside her.

Miss Trudy was clapping her hands, trying to get the attention of her students – with no success. Finally, Will stood up. "Hey!" he yelled. "Shut up!"

Everybody became silent, staring at Will. Will sat down, crossing his arms and looked at Miss Trudy. Everyone followed his example and as much as Tessa hated to admit it – she

was impressed.

"Thank you, William. Though next time I would prefer it if you refrained from using rough language in my classroom," Miss Trudy said, turning around to face her SMART board.

Will scoffed quietly. "Now, for the next week, we will be doing a project on a certain book. It will be a partner project – the partner next to you. My advice is that you guys get

together and do some work. There isn't enough class time for you to finish it all."

Tessa's heart sunk. Her? Work with William Herondale? Get together? Tessa cursed her teacher silently in her head for placing her with Will in the first place.

"To spice things up a bit, I'm going to come around with a jar of names of books. The one you choose will be the one you study. Read the book and I want you to either act out a

scene from it or write a letter to one of the characters. For both of these, you have to study up on the protagonist and the antagonist and perhaps even another character you like. I

want you to tell me what is your opinion of the story you receive. You must give me a thousand word essay on the themes of the book as well," Miss Trudy explained.

"Stupid and easy. Easy A+, Tess," Will whispered to her. Tess? No one every called her Tess. Tessa shoved her confused feelings in the corner of her mind and watched Miss Trudy

come around.

"Ruby and Daniel has A Tale of Two Cities," Miss Trudy announced. Tessa cursed under her breath.

"What?" Will asked her,

"Favourite book," Tessa explained. She had no idea what compelled her to speak to William Herondale but she found that having civil conversation with him… made him actually

likable.

"I think Sydney Carton is stupid," Will scoffed. And there went the likable.

"I think you're stupid!" Tessa hissed in outrage. "We'll need to talk later about this," Tessa demanded. Will looked taken aback but agreed nonetheless, with a smile on his face.