A Second Try at a First Love

reveal: [ri-veel]; verb; to make known; disclose; divulge.

"Lindsey, are you ready?"

Felix was so incredibly sick of calling for his sister to get downstairs for school that he was beginning to wonder if he should just let her skip every day.

"Are you kidding?" Lindsey's voice, instead of coming from the upstairs balcony, was coming from right behind Felix, in the kitchen. "Jessica Anastos is driving me to school. I was ready an hour ago."

Felix turned around to see his sister emerging from the garage, where she had left her shoes the night before to dry out. She was dressed in some sort of romper that Felix was appalled to see his younger sister wearing, and her sandals displayed freshly painted toenails.

"What are you wearing?" Felix asked.

Lindsey rolled her eyes.

"I can't believe Jessica Anastos is dating your fashion-senseless excuse for a human being. It's the latest style, and I have to look amazing if I'm going to be seen getting out of Jessica Anastos' silver 2016 Lexus CT Hybrid."

Ignoring the creepy and stalker-like fact that his sister knew his girlfriend's exact car, Felix grabbed a granola bar for breakfast and looked down to see a text from Jessica.

"She's here, let's go."

"I'm ready!" Nova came running down the stairs. "It's so cute that you two are dating now, we can totally double date!"

"Yeah, that would be super fun." Felix responded, attempting to make himself sound as non-sarcastic as possible.

The three of them walked outside and towards the curb, where Jessica was waiting for them.

"Hey babe." Jessica grinned as Felix slid into the passenger's seat, giving him a quick kiss before putting the car into drive. "And hey Nova! Have you even started the US History reading yet?"

"No way." Nova rolled her eyes, "Thirty pages due by fifth period today? I'll do it at lunch."

"I'll totally join you." Jessica nodded. "I haven't even caught up on the reading from last class, so you'll have to give me the watered-down version."

"Of course." Nova nodded. As Felix listened to his cousin and girlfriend talk, he couldn't help but notice that one person had been very quiet thus far.

Jessica seemed to notice it as well.

"And you must be Lindsey!" She addressed Felix's sister, "Felix has told me all about you. And I absolutely love your romper, it's so in right now! I think Sash has the same one."

Lindsey looked like she might faint.

"Thank you so much. But I can totally burn it if Sasha doesn't want me copying her, I would completely understand, it's like your guys' thing."

Jessica laughed.

"I think she'll survive." She replied.

<><><>

Jessica pulled into her regular parking space just a few minutes later, directly in front of the school office for easy access when she was running late and right next to Sasha, to present the perfect opportunity to walk into school together every morning. Sasha was already there, finishing up her makeup in the driver's seat while some freshman that she had been roped into driving to school sat in the passenger seat, gawking.

"Hey love." Jessica rolled down her window as her best friend did the same. "I picked up some trash today." She winked at Felix, "Do you care that Lindsey Brannon is wearing your romper?"

Sasha looked at where Lindsey sat in the backseat and laughed.

"The only problem is that she looks hotter than I do in it. I'll just burn mine." Jessica could see Lindsey's face lighting up at the compliment. "Ready to go?"

"Of course." Jessica turned off the car and stepped out, waiting for the other three in her car to get out before locking it.

Sasha came around to join her best friend, on the side that wasn't occupied by Felix holding his girlfriend's hand.

"I'm glad that you're back together." Sasha whispered to Jessica. "I'm pretty sure you're glowing with happiness."

Jessica blushed.

"I'm pretty sure that's just my highlight stunting on yours."

Sasha rolled her eyes.

"Whatever, Anastos."

The five walked into school together, leaving Sasha, Nova, and Lindsey at their respective lockers as they went. Jessica and Felix made their way to Felix's locker first, their hands intertwined as they walked through the school.

"Are you sure you're okay with this?" Felix asked for the eighth time as he got his books out of his locker. "The looks that you're getting from everyone could freeze Hawaii."

"I'm wonderful, Felix." Jessica assured him, giving him a quick kiss as he shut his locker. "I love you, and I want everyone to know it."

"Sasha knew before, didn't she?" Felix asked as they walked towards Jessica's homeroom. "She didn't seem surprised enough in the car."

"Yeah, she figured it out." Jessica laughed. "But she's incredibly supportive."

Felix nodded.

"That's good. And you're going to talk to Mr. Dermont and Coach Ruth about regaining your positions?"

Jessica nodded.

"Yeah. Sasha is going to go with me and help me with my story, and also encourage them to take me back. I think that having Sasha's support is going to be the thing that gets me back on track with them."

"That's good." Felix grinned. "I'm happy for you, babe."

"And I'm happy to have you, babe." Jessica couldn't keep the smile off of her face as she sat down in her homeroom. "And hey, I think we have it pretty good."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, our relationship. It had a rocky start, but we're in a good place."

Felix nodded, smiling.

"I whole-heartedly agree."

"And hey, our beginning was better than other people's. It's not like we had another woman in the way, or like we had to break up another couple to get together."

"You're right." Felix nodded. "But didn't other people?"  

You bet they did.

Start a journey onto Part Two, Nova & Ethan's story, on Monday, March 27!

-Katherine