Falling | Wessa

Three | Him.

word count: 1039

"Do you want to be my partner?" Will had asked, though it meant to be more of a 'I don't mind being your partner' since he had the conception that no one—especially not a girl—would refuse being his partner, since it was usually them asking him instead of the other way round, because it's simply against the law of the way things work on earth for someone to reject him.

"Partner? For what? Why?" Tessa snapped out of her trance and started to bombard Will with a never ending string of questions.

"You didn't listen during class, did you? You little rebel, huh?" Will smirked, once he realised that maybe she wasn't as obedient as people claimed her to be after all.

"Being the great, amazing person I am, I will now explain to you the basic summary of what happened. Basically, there's a project where we're supposed to have a debate on a particular concept or action in our literature book, you know, the one you told me that you've read, and then we do this in pairs. So here I am, I'm allowing you to be my partner, feel honoured," Will flashed a crooked smile at Tessa, earning an eyeroll from her after saying the last part aloud.

"And how can you be so sure I'd want to partner you?" Tessa asked, raising an eyebrow and yet laughing at his assumptions.

"Because who wouldn't?" the smirk on Will's face never faded as he continued speaking, and it stayed, much to Tessa's slight dismay, "I'm Will Herondale, after all."

"Me, apparently. I might not be like those who can stand you. I actually wonder how they do such miraculous things...that should be one of the mysteries of the world," she chuckled, earning a "death glare" from Will.

"C'mon, Tess, who are you lying to? As good as you are in faking that you're paying attention during class, you can't lie, at least, not to me, about me," Will leant down, looking at her intently in her grey eyes, Tessa feeling like her heart was flying out of her chest and hoped that Will couldn't hear how fast and loudly her heart was thumping in her chest, feeling like it was practically flying out of her ribcage.

Just to spite Will, Tessa turned towards the boy beside her. "Would you like to be partners?" she asked politely, peeping from the corner of her eye to see Will's amused expression.

"As much as I'd like to, I'm sorry but I already have one," the guy said, pointing to another girl who looked like she wanted to bite Tessa's head off. She guessed that they were probably in a relationship. Still standing in front of her table, Will burst out into a loud laughter. "Oh god, Tessa, good job...good job," he wheezed, laughing so much that his stomach started to hurt.

Tessa's cheeks flared a really, really obvious and bright red, the pale colour of her natural skin which did not help in concealing of her embarrassment. "Ugh. I hate you, William. Kinda," she couldn't help but grin, "But fine, I'll be your partner. Don't think that I'd do all the work, though."

"I knew you'd choose me," he smirked back at her, earning a glare.

———————

"And you're telling me...you made a fool of yourself by asking the person beside you to be your partner?" Clary laughed as Tessa told her what happened earlier on, during the small break before the next class.

"Yeah. I haven't laughed as hard as I did since...ages ago," Will piped in with one of his usual grins whilst holding his studying materials, stuffing everything into his locker, earning a shake of the head from Tessa.

The rest walked in from their other class on Clary laughing as if she were mad, giving Tessa expressions that seemed to ask 'what happened?' and she then retold a recollection of events, causing all of them to burst out in laughter as well.

Tessa sighed, whilst Will laughed again, remembering exactly what happened, not missing a detail out, tears of laughing too hard seemed to spring out from his eyes and him clutching his stomach like it was the time of the month and he had a cramp. "Are you crying, Will?" Tessa chuckled.

"No...I'm just laughing so hard I'm sweating from my eyes," he said sarcastically, before calming himself from the laughter down by taking in deep breaths and exhaling then slowly.

"I don't even find it that funny," Tessa muttered, though, she did let out a slight laugh.

"Riiiiing!" the bell sounded, and a groaning sound from most of the students could be heard. It was P.E. (Physical Education) next. Sigh. P.E., or rather, gym class, was quite a struggle. It wasn't that she couldn't do what they were required to do, it was just that...nothing. It was nothing. She didn't want to think of her past in front of the rest. They couldn't know, not now at least, she thought.

Everyone went to their different pathways they took to class while Tessa quickly gathered the last of her things, noticing that three people gathered around her. "Walk you to class?" the three people—Clary, Izzy and Cecily—offered. Clary explained how she realised that Tessa had P.E. which somehow clashed with Clary, Izzy and Cecily having a class nearby too. Tessa nodded her head and walked alongside the three of them, making small talk with them as they walked for P.E.

Damn, if she knew what was coming in P.E. , she probably would've rather thought of an excuse to skip the class, knowing how it might've cost her perfect attendance, instead of face what was about to come.

Tessa's jaw dropped to the ground when she saw who was in her P.E. class. It was him. How was he even here? Of all the unexpected things that happened that very day, this one was definitely on the top of the list. The thing was, this wasn't a good thing. She was screwed. Goodbye, highschool, she thought, silently praying to the gods.

Please have mercy on me, she thought, moving to the back of the class so that he wouldn't notice her.

But he did.

apparently, i surprised myself slightly with the PE class' shenanigans. i also wasn't sure if y'all knew what PE was so i added it in. sorry if it makes the paragraph seem a little...choppy.

THANKS FOR READING! 💕