My first ever Hannah Montana story!

Please read and review. Any critiques/corrections would be greatly appreciated.

Enjoy!

The Best-Laid Plans

Schemes, hijinks, plots, and gimmicks; Jackson's bag of tricks is full of them. Especially when it comes to getting the girls. He'll try anything - anything - to impress them, to woo them, to win them. From offering to tutor a girl in Spanish (even though he himself was hardly passing), to pretending to be a racecar driver (leather jumpsuit - not comfortable), to just plain begging, there's little Jackson hasn't done to get a date.

But a date (just one, sometimes even less than that) is all Jackson ever gets, though not for lack of trying. He just somehow always messes it up. A scheme backfires, lies get jumbled, and before long he finds himself tripping over words trying to sort things out. Every date begins as a first and ends as a last.

"Maybe you should just try being yourself. You know, find a girl who'll like you just for being you, not some guy you pretend to be." Miley remarked one day.

It was a rare insight for Jackson. So much so, it actually gave him pause. But, how did that work? Being yourself. Making himself out to be something he's not was all he knew.

Why did he do that? To be impressive. But who was he trying to impress? Girls. Well, not just any girls. The seemingly unattainable ones. The more gorgeous, glamorous, and popular the girls, the more appealing they were to Jackson. Whenever such a girl came around, he turned into a circus animal - willing to do anything to get their attention.

But what about regular girls? Not the weird or scary ones, but not the fashionistas either. Those girls that Jackson never even really gave a second thought. Like… Breanne.

She sits on the side of the classroom, gets good grades, plays volleyball, and has never worn neon-colored anything. Her dark blonde hair's styled the same way every day, just straight and down past her shoulders, her bangs swept to the side and tucked behind her ear. She doesn't wear nail-polish, or jewelry, except for small earrings. She's not at all what you'd call popular, but she's no social pariah either. She's kinda just… there. Which is why - despite her pretty face and friendly disposition - she'd never before been the object of Jackson's pursuits.

Jackson tapped the eraser of his pencil on the corner of his desk. He barely heard his teacher as she lectured at the front of the classroom. Without much thought, he glanced to his left, and let his eyes rest on Breanne. She was wearing navy blue and grey, blue jeans, and flip flops. Her hair fell across her shoulder and onto her desk when she leaned forward to write in her notebook.

An idea occurred to Jackson as he gazed at Breanne, and that was - if he asked her out, she'd probably say yes. Not because he'd pulled some big stunt to show off, or because he was such a stud no girl could refuse, but simply because… she was nice. Breanne was a nice, regular girl. And a cute girl, in her own modest way.

By the time the bell rang Jackson had made up his mind. He was going to try this "being himself" thing. But he was gonna try it with someone safe, someone over whom he wouldn't be broken up if he ruined things.

"Hey, Breanne."

Breanne looked up from putting her notebook back into her backpack. She blinked at Jackson, then smiled politely.

"Hi, Jackson."

"How 'bout class today, huh?" He offered. Breanne kept her polite smile.

"Not the most entertaining lecture I've heard." She agreed.

"Yeah, you got that right. So… how are you doing in this class?"

At this point, Jackson felt to be grasping at straws. He hadn't thought much about what he'd say beyond "hey, Breanne", and was now seeing that maybe completely abandoning planning wasn't the best idea.

Breanne didn't seem to notice though, she just smiled a little more, "Pretty well. Why, you need a tutor?"

A little light bulb went on in Jackson's brain. A tutor! Yeah! No, wait… He didn't really need a tutor, he was doing okay in English. If he asked Breanne to tutor him, that would a gimmick, and he was trying to work without those.

He shook his head, "No, actually, I'm okay. I was just making small talk."

Breanne lifted an eyebrow, "Small talk? Like, you want to talk about the weather next?"

"No," Jackson almost laughed, "No, more like beating around the bush. I actually wanted to ask you something."

Breanne's other eyebrow raised, but she quickly changed her expression to be neutral.

"Okay, ask away."

"Well, I wanted to know if you'd go out with me this Friday."

Her eyes widened just the tiniest bit, and Jackson actually felt a slight clench in his stomach. Was he wrong? Would she not say yes? Well, it wouldn't matter too much if she did say no, it's not like he was really interested in her. He was just experimenting.

After a moment's hesitation, she nodded.

"Okay." She said. "Sure."

Jackson was surprised to feel a little relieved.

"Great." He grinned. "Well, I was thinking we could - "

"Just one thing," Breanne interrupted, "I have to ask. Why me?"

It was Jackson's turn to baulk. He hadn't expected that one.

"Well," He started, about to tell her 'I like you, of course', but that wasn't the most truthful statement. He liked her, sure, but not like all the other girls he'd asked out. But then, he couldn't tell her that, either. He finally settled with, "I'm curious."

Her nod seemed to indicate she'd take that answer for now. Again a little relieved, Jackson moved on.

"So, I was thinking I'd pick you up around 7?"

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That's all for now; please leave a comment if you want more!