-Maia POV-

 

After dinner, Marissa handed Tessa a new phone.

“Here you go. I already set it up with cellular. Just tell me if you need anything else, it’s no trouble.”

Tessa stared at her for a moment, then mumbled, “Thank you.”

Marissa turned on the TV. It was a news segment about a 13 year old girl with red, bat-like wings and a lizard’s tail who had somehow caused a large sinkhole, dropping nearly an entire apartment block beneath the ground.

Marissa just sighed, switching the channel until she settled on one showing a women’s swimming tournament.

Meanwhile, we decided to retreat to our room. Tessa ran ahead of me, before stopping with a gasp and turning around to face me.

With her hands on her chest and a face full of wonder, she whispered, “They jiggle.”

I burst out laughing.

Upon reaching our room, we changed into pajamas. Tessa then laid in bed while setting up her phone and logging in to our accounts.

I sat on the beanbag, looking at my phone. There wasn’t really anything interesting online. I leaned back into the beanbag, sighing.

Tessa, finished with her phone, had set it on the bedside table and was now staring at me.

An idea suddenly occurred to me. Beginning to smile mischievously, I approached the bed.

[Revenge!]

I quickly crawled under the covers from the foot of the bed. I climbed towards the middle of the bed, before starting to tickle Tessa relentlessly.

“Ah! Haha, no, stop!”

My hands, previously tickling her sides, slowed to a stop. I pulled myself up until I was face to face with her.

She was flushed red, both from the tickling and our proximity. I smiled playfully, then grabbed her waist.

“Eep!”

She turned an even brighter red, and her breathing sped up. I shifted my hands to her back, pulling her closer. I felt my own face begin to heat up now. Our chests touched, and her eyes began to drift down to my mouth. I gently leaned in, our lips meeting. I closed my eyes, relishing the feeling of her lips against mine. She smelled of fruit and flowers.

Then, her arms wrapped around my back, pulling me against her.

I gasped, suddenly feeling as though all my strength had left me and I could simply melt into her. Her hand had found its way to the back of my head, caressing it gently while also pulling me close. I felt her hot breath tickle my cheek.

We continued like that for a long time, only breaking apart to breathe in short, heavy gasps, before returning to making out.

When we both woke up the next morning, our pajamas were disheveled. My pajama shirt had almost fallen off my shoulder, and Tessa’s had somehow been taken off completely. I was cradling Tessa’s head between my head and chest. Like before, our animal parts had reappeared at some point in the night, and now Tessa’s antennae tickled my chin.

She looked up at me, giving me a quick kiss on the lips, before moving over to check the alarm clock.

She sighed, saying, {Time to get ready, I suppose.}

 

-Tessa POV-

 

“You two seem chipper,” Marissa remarked during breakfast.

I froze, trying to resist the urge to look at Maia.

[What do we do?]

{We should tell her about the twins thing.}

[Are we going to do that?]

{…It would be so awkward.}

[Awkward as hell.]

{Mhm.}

“Did you make new friends at school?”

We both nodded, and Marissa smiled at us.

[Dodged a bullet.]

{…For now.}

After we arrived at school, we found Reese, Jamie, Cass, and David all already standing near Maia’s seat.

“Hey! Sorry for not showing up yesterday, a family thing came up so we both had to leave,” Maia said, taking my hand and guiding me over to the group.

“I got your text, don’t worry about it! Are you guys free today?” Reese asked.

“Yes!” I said, perhaps a bit too excitedly.

Reese laughed, then continued, “I’ll see you after school, then?”

“We’ll be there,” Maia replied.

Before we could talk more, the bell rang.

In the next class, I was in the corner seat once again. It was the only morning class we shared with Tom, so I was waiting to see if he would be there. He walked in right as the bell signaled the beginning of class.

Sitting next to me, he did a double take. The teacher had already begun her lecture, so I just waved at him. He began to gesture and mouth something I couldn’t quite make out.

“Later,” I mouthed.

He sighed, then nodded.

Part of the way through the lecture, he pulled out his phone. It was impressive how he was able to type on his phone while also taking notes for class.

[Hey, Tessa? I’m getting a ton of texts from Tom.]

{Oh, right. You kept our old phone. Do you want to relay texts or give him my number?}

[I’m making a group chat.]

{That works too.}

Moments later, my phone vibrated. I attempted to surreptitiously take it out, but the teacher glared at me when my hand reached into my backpack.

“Tessa, would you please stay on task?” she said sharply, causing multiple people to turn around to stare at me.

I cringed, tears immediately springing to my eyes and my face burning with embarrassment.

[You okay?]

{Mhm.}

[I’ll tell him we can talk more at lunch.]

When she began to text once again, though, the teacher looked at Maia.

“Maia, you too.”

[Darn.]

Tom seemed to only notice Maia then, looking back and forth between us. I smiled nervously at him, and he sighed, before going back to taking notes on the lecture.

After class was over, Maia told him, “We’ll explain at lunch,” before taking my hand and pulling me to the next class.

{Why’d you do that?}

[Better to wait until we have time to answer questions.]

{Right.}

When it came time for lunch, though, I was feeling anxious again.

{Maybe I should go eat with Reese today.}

[It’s gonna be fine.]

{But what will he think?}

[It’s Tom. You know how he is. He might say something, but he means well.]

{I know. I guess I’m just nervous because of yesterday.}

Maia stopped just outside the cafeteria. She looked at me, then smiled sadly, before hugging me.

{Maia?}

[I wish I could have been there sooner yesterday.]

{You still came, though.}

[Mm.]

{You rescued me.}

[…Mm.]

She pulled away. With a much happier smile on her face, she took my hand, and we entered the cafeteria together.

 

-Maia POV-

 

I quickly found where Tom was sitting. He seemed distracted, not eating his food but not looking around for us either.

Tessa and I walked over and sat down, with me across from Tom and Tessa next to me.

At first, he didn’t seem to notice us, simply continuing to stare at his food.

I cleared my throat.

“Oh! Sorry — Erm, my apologies. There is currently quite a lot on my mind,” he said. I raised an eyebrow. I had never heard him slip up like that. Sure, he would sometimes relax and speak a bit more casually, but he usually never corrected himself.

He only then seemed to register who we were.

“Ah, Alexander. Or rather, I suppose it is Theresa and Maia now, yes?”

“Just Tessa, actually. Not short for anything,” Tessa said, just loud enough to hear over the din of the cafeteria.

“I apologize. Tessa and Maia, then?”

“Yes,” I said.

He seemed satisfied with that. He looked between us expectantly, as though he thought we were going to say something.

“…Yes?”

“So how did this happen?”

“…We were Alex, and then the big thing happened, and now we’re us.”

“I see.”

He paused for a moment, seeming to consider something.

“Do you recall our conversation last Friday?”

“The one about the well?”

“Precisely the one. Do you recall the first question I asked?”

“Tom, neither of us have an eidetic memory like you.”

“Hm. Well, I have a related question.”

{Probably gonna be a weird question?}

[Probably.]

“Would either of you be my girlfriend?”

[…What the fuck.]

I stared at him, dumbfounded. He just looked at us with an innocent look on his face. Tessa next to me seemed to have short-circuited, freezing in place.

Pinching the bridge of my nose, I said, “Tom. Thomas. I am aware that you lack the social tact of many of our peers, but with all due respect, what the fuck.”

“You see, I was thinking about girlfriends, and how many boys seem to want them. Thus, I decided to ask a girl to be my girlfriend. And the first day I arrive back at school, I find that my friend is actually two girls. Therefore, will one of you be my girlfriend?”

Oh boy. Well, best to make it clear.

{Please just tell him.}

[Yeah.]

“Tessa and I are dating already.”

{Okay, that was a bit blunt.}

He paused, considering that for a moment.

“My apologies, then, for the inappropriate question.”

I wasn’t sure whether to be surprised or not at the fact that he accepted that so easily.

Just then, I noticed Reese standing there holding a tray of food. At some point, she had come over to our table, and the look on her face made me think she heard the last part of the conversation. Tessa looked at me, then seemed to notice Reese as well.

{…Think it’s okay she knows we’re dating?}

[We’ll find out, I guess.]

“You two are dating?”

“Yes,” I said simply, and Tessa blushed in response.

“That is adorable!” she exclaimed, just as the rest of her group arrived.

“What is?” Jamie asked.

Before I could interrupt, Reese announced, “Tessa and Maia are dating!”

I facepalmed, and Tessa made a small squeak.

“Congrats,” Cass said. “Anyways, what do you think this is made of?” She pointed to an extremely unappetizing-looking burger on her tray.

“It’s cafeteria food, it’s probably leftover processed meat,” David explained, as though he had explained it already many times over.

“And I still say it’s rat meat,” Jamie insisted.

“And I still say this whole conversation is disgusting,” Reese chimed in. “Anyways, can we sit here?”

Tom, who had been silent this whole time, said, “Of course.”

{That went surprisingly well.}

[Yeah. Yeah, it did.]