"Unrequited love," whispered Flinch.

"It's tragic really," Matilda responded

Jackson arrived at school early the next morning for three reasons. One) he had to get away from his dad as soon as possible, two) he needed to talk to Duncan about the EMP device and help \in any way he could and three)… Mindy.

No one could believe it when they walked in to see Jackson in the training arena, practicing with the training dummies.

"Jackson?" asked Mindy when she came in.

"Hi," he smiled, running a hand through his un-gelled hair. It was strange to see him without his hair spiked up. His blonde and auburn bangs hung just above his eyebrows and low on his neck bone making him look older than he was—eighteen at least.

"Why are you here so early?" Ruby asked.

Jackson shrugged, but blushed slightly as he looked at Mindy. She looked away awkwardly and everyone smiled with a glint in their eyes.

"Hey, um Ruby, Duncan, Matilda can I talk to you?" Flinch said slowly. "It's about my… harness."

Jackson's eyes widened at them as if silently begging 'wait what?'

Ruby grinned as they walked away and gestured with the back of her hand.

"So what is it?" asked Matilda once they had reached the far corner of the room.

"You said something about your harness," Duncan was panicking slightly. "What's wrong with it, has it been acting funny?"

"You're clueless," Ruby rolled her eyes. "He brought us over here to talk about Jackson and Mindy."

Flinch nodded emphatically.

"Is something wrong with them?" Duncan asked.

Matilda rolled her eyes. "You are clueless."

"We need to help them," said Flinch.

"Why?" asked Ruby. "They were doing a fantastic job yesterday."

"Well, look now," Matilda gestured over to the two awkward teens.

"So," Mindy tried to smile. It was so easy to flirt with boys when she was undercover, so why was it so difficult with Jackson. Her heart fluttered like a bird and her cheeks felt sunburned.

"Did you sleep ok?" Jackson said, rubbing the back of his neck. Where was his flirting energy from yesterday? He had been doing so great. What had happened to him?

"Um, yea. You?"

"Yea." They paused for a moment searching for a new subject.

"I like your hair," she smiled and ran a hand through his messy hair.

"What about yours?' Jackson ran one of his hands through her long angel blonde hair that had been pulled up in a messy bun. "But, why is it up?"

She smiled mischievously, "so I can see you."

For the other side of the room the team mates smiled. "you think they need our help?" Duncan asked incredulously.

"Maybe they don't," Flinch admitted.

"Boys," Ruby moaned to Matilda. The smaller girl nodded.

"What?" Flinch tilted his head.

"Jackson is a clueless boy to, he needs help."

"Look at them," Duncan pointed as Jackson said something to make Mindy laugh.

"Alright," Ruby backed off. "But i'm watching. We don't want him to give up the only thing that makes him happy."

The rest looked over and saw she was right. Jackson never smiled like that. It was a full blown happy smile as if he never wanted that moment to end. That was something they only saw when he was on missions and when he was with Mindy.

Mindy had been gone a long time and the smile only for her was back.

"Want to get breakfast?" Jackson asked her.

"You mean the school's food?" she asked wincing. "I'd rather starve."

Both laughed… and then groaned as the bell rang for classes.

Breakline….

First period was English. Mindy followed them in with a brilliant smile.

"Class," said their teacher. "This is Mindy Beauchamp. She is a foreign exchange student from France. She will be attending classes here for a few weeks."

"Bon jure," Mindy smiled. She sat down next to Jackson and he smiled.

"You didn't tell me that you were actually enrolling in the classes," he whispered.

"I didn't know," she whispered back. "Miss Holiday sprung it on me this morning."

"Well," he grinned. "Let's make the best of it shall we?"

"Miss Beauchamp! Mr. Jones!" cried their teacher. "Did you hear me?"

"Sorry ma'am I was just greeting the new student," Jackson smiled flashing those bright white teeth.

"Th- that's alright Mr. Jones." The teacher seemed slightly shocked to see his metal free teeth. "just pay attention next time." And with that she went back to the lesson.

The rest of the lesson passé easily, but by lunch time everyone was buzzing about two things. One) the foreign exchange student form France and two) how Jackson had transformed over night into the schools number one heart throb.

Sitting down with his tray Jackson looked around. "What's everyone staring at?" he asked.

"You don't know?" Matilda cocked her head.

"No, what is it?"

Ruby laughed into her pudding.

"What is it?" Jackson was completely lost.

"Look in the mirror sometime," Mindy smiled, taking a swig of her soda.

Jackson hadn't looked in a mirror since he'd gotten his braces off. Honestly it hadn't mattered to him. Braces had been a part of him for a very long time. He wasn't used to what he would look like without them.

"Would you excuse me a moment," he said standing. He walked down the hall ignoring th stares that seemed to come from all sides. He stood in front of the mirror in the bathroom and wondered what had happened. Sure he had been a good looking kid. But he hadn't cared about that for so long. He had gelled his hair everyday to show off his well cared for skin and strong jaw line. But once he had gotten his braces he had slowly lost interest in what he looked like. He had kept gelling his hair out of habit more than anything. But he had no lost interest in that.

Now he looked at his face, the long strong jaw high cheek bones, the blonde and auburn hair frame his face with a highlight, bright sky blue eyes shining from his face no filled with shock. When had he become more than a sweet little kid? When had he grown up?

He came back and sat down. Flinch gasped "oh no he has seen hi s face has seen his refection!"

"He's been put under the curse!" Matilda sniggered.

"We have reincarnated narccius!" Ruby chuckled.

"Braceface is no longer!" Duncan joined in and Jackson laughed.

"Yea, Braceface is no longer," Jackson said. "I need a new name."

"But what could you use?" asked Mindy. "Cyborg?"

"No way, that's what that evil nut Ivan has been calling me." Jackson shook his head.

"Morph man," Flinch presented and Jackson winced.

"Gadget guy?" Duncan asked.

"Um no, thanks bud."

"What about Hephaestus?" asked Mindy.

"Who?" flinch asked.

"He was the Greek god of the forge, eh created things out of metal. Legend say he even created automatons, like living magic animals out of metal." Mindy said looking lost in thought as she tried to remember.

"Good idea but…" Jackson trialed off. "What about Mercury? It's a metal and he was a roman god, a 'jack of all trades.'"

"I think that suits you," Mindy smiled. And then she had enough courage to grip his hand. But only for a moment.

Thank you to The Queen of Valencia Torgue and legolasorbraceface for the name ideas metioned above hope you enjoy the chapter

R&R!