All We Are

On the morning of my first day of school, I was a nervous wreck. I burned myself on my straightener, dropped a contact lens down the sink, and stubbed my toe on the bed-post while putting on my mandatory navy uniform skirt . To top it all off, I still had the faint yellowish purple smear of a fading bruise around my eye from where Kurt had hit me.

It had been two weeks since Kurt went to rehab. I hadn't heard any news regarding him. The instructors told us that the first few weeks were the hardest, and it was better to have no outside contact at all. Including family. The center assured us that if anything was to go wrong, we would be notified immediately. Until that time, though, no news was good news.

After stuffing our faces with food and practically giving us a small fortune for lunch money, Katie sent Jude and I out the door and off to school.

"Be careful on the road, dear," she reminded Jude as we walked out the front door.

"I will, Mom," he groaned.

"Alright you two, have a nice day! Good luck Willow," she said, giving me a tight hug as Jude and I made our way out the door.

I thanked her and we left, hopping into Jude's black Jeep Wrangler.

After we'd pulled out of the driveway, I grew more and more nervous. Butterflies were going crazy in my stomach, and I felt light headed and dizzy. I didn't hear a word of Jude's incessant chatter.

"Willow?" I heard him asking my name.

"What? Sorry," I mumbled, blushing. I turned to see him looking at me. I blushed again.

"I asked if you minded stopping to pick up Felicity. Her car's in the shop and she just texted me and asked for a ride. I don't want to make you feel awkward or anything, so if you don't want to..." he said.

"Oh, no that's fine. I don't mind," I said. Internally, I felt my nerves growing worse. Meeting Jude's most likely super gorgeous girlfriend would only make me more nervous, but I didn't want to say no and make them both hate me.

"Great, we'll go get her now," Jude said, turning at the next street we came to.

Of course Felicity's house was huge. Not as huge as Jude's, but huge nonetheless. When we got there, Jude got out of the car and walked up to the house, telling me he’d be back in a few minutes.

I saw a dark-haired girl come out the front door, but her features were disguised behind Jude’s head. Embarrassed, I blushed and looked away when Jude wrapped his arms around the girl’s tiny waist and leaned down to kiss her. I pretended to pick at the dirt under my fingernails while I waited for them to finish greeting each other and get back to the car. As they turned, hand in hand, back to the car, I suddenly caught a glimpse of Felicity.

Felicity, or Fee as she had introduced herself to me, was the same girl that I had met at the soccer field a few weeks earlier. The boy she had pointed out as her boyfriend was Jude, not the guy next to him. I was suddenly aware of all the signs I had previously missed. Sheepishly, I put together what I should have known all along. Now I understood why Jude wanted me to get along with Fee, and I felt bad for the disdainful way I had put her down when Jude asked how I thought of her.

Once they got back inside the car, Felicity sitting in the back seat, Jude turned to look back at her. “You remember Willow, right Fee? She said you two met at the soccer field the other day,” he said cheerfully, seemingly oblivious to my embarrassment.

I turned around to face her, and gave her an abashed half smile. “Hi,” I mumbled, feeling the heat radiating from my face.

Felicity nodded and flashed me a, obviously, fake smile. “I remember,” she told Jude. She set her oversized purse on the seat and pulled her seatbelt over her lap.

Jude started talking in that easy, carefree way of his as he drove the rest of the way to school. Felicity joined in, seemingly just as lighthearted as he was. I stayed mostly silent, speaking up only when Jude asked me a question―Felicity didn’t acknowledge me at all. I could tell it was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.