I'm SO sorry it's taken me like, 8 years to keep this story going...school is insane right now. But Christmas Break is lovely. :] I'll try to keep the chapters coming in pretty even time.

I'm not in love with this, but it's kind of filler anyway. lol Sorry if it's a little long. I hope you guys like it, regardless.
& I LOVED everyone's reviews. :) Keep them coming!

P.S.
You probably could have guessed on your own, but I do NOT own Jonas. :]

Can you please assure me that I'm not a huge jerk? Let me go ahead and answer that one for you: No. No, you can't. I am. I'm the jerk who strings one girl along, all the while pining in secret for her best friend. But I wasn't trying to do that, I just accidentally was.

I've never been in love, so naturally I've never had any experience trying to convince myself to fall out of love. Regardless, I devised a seemingly fool-proof plan: I stuck to Stella like glue and avoided Macy like the plague. Sounds simple enough, right? Of course it does. So I did it.

I went back to smiles in the hallways and casual lunch line conversations. I stopped answering her texts. I pretended like I was doing fine in chemistry and didn't need her help anymore, (Keyword there is pretended. In actuality, I was about 3 points away from failing). I ignored her when she sat with us at lunch, or next to me in class. I never took my Stella problems to her anymore, which ended up doing Stella and I more harm than good. Still, some demented part of my brain assured me that the 'plan' was working, so I kept it up; attempting not to lose it over my chemistry grade and the load of arguing and stress that was Stella & I's relationship. Somehow, I was positive that if I told myself nothing was happening, then whatever "feelings" I was developing for Macy would just go away.

I know, I know; I sound like a complete and total genius, but, and I know this is shocking, my brilliant plan wasn't working out too well. You see, every time I blew her off at lunch, or in the hallway, or after school, or in class, I had to see her face. And that's when I knew. The horrible wrenching feeling I got in the pit of my stomach when I saw her face, all hurt and confused, only confirmed that I felt what I was trying to convince myself that I didn't. And the icing on this crap cake? She didn't treat me like the total douche I was being. She still smiled at me in the hallways and tried her best to talk to me at lunch while I tried my best to ignore her. She thought she was making things better but she wasn't; she was killing me. I was determined to stick to my genius plan, which meant I had to see that face every day.

"Hey Joe!" she smiled at me as she took the seat next to me in chemistry. "How are you?"

I glanced at her then looked back to the front of the room. "I'm fine."

She tucked half of her hair behind her ear and then let it fall again. She was nervous. She always did that when she was nervous. "Um, how do you think you did on the test?"

We were scheduled to get the grades from our last test back today. I was sick to my stomach. Without Macy's help I was sucking chemistry up like it was my job. I knew I had probably answered 5 or 6 out of the 70 questions correctly. "Pretty well." I lied.

"Really? That's great! I mean…not that I'm surprised you did well, or anything…" she stumbled through the sentence. "Chemistry's just…hard. You know."

Gah, Mace, just stop. PLEASE. She turned to face the front and crossed her arms in front of her. Mr. Herndon came around, dropping our tests face down on the tables in front of us. All across the classroom there were muffled groans from those who shared my fate, and celebratory hisses from those fortunate enough to have done well. I glanced at Macy's test as she turned it over. A giant red 87 was circled with "Nice work!" written under it. She was one of the fortunate ones. I glanced at her face out of the corner of my eye. She smiled at her grade, proud of herself, and then began to put the test into her folder. I smiled for her, in spite of my plan. Sometimes she was just too adorable and, only for a minute, the plan went out the window.

It was time. I slowly reached for my test and, even more slowly, lifted up one corner so that only I could see whatever horrendous grade was written on it. I took a deep breath and looked. My grade was also giant and red, but it was most certainly not an 87…it was a 44. And it was most certainly not accompanied by a "nice work"…I got a "Need some extra help?" I sighed and rolled my eyes, cursing myself, my plan, and Mr. Herndon under my breath. I kept my test face down and put it into my folder.

The bell rang and I was halfway out the door when I heard my name.

"Joseph?"

"Yeah, Mr. Herndon?" I turned slowly to face him, sitting at his desk. He leaned back and flicked a finger toward him, signaling me to come. I sighed and took the walk of shame.

"Did you enjoy your test grade?"

I shoved my hands in my pockets and looked at my feet like they were the most interesting things I'd ever seen. "You're failing my class, Mr. Lucas. And I have to say, I'm rather confused; you were doing so well…"

I closed my eyes but kept my face down. "I've got it under control." I looked up at him, raising his eyebrows. "The next test will be better, I swear." I was this close to home-free, when I heard what sounded like someone bumping into a desk behind me.

"Ah, just leave it on the front table please, Miss Misa."

NO. I whirled around to see her setting a book on a table, but her eyes were on me. I turned back to Mr. Herndon and closed my eyes. So much for the lies I'd been feeding her about how well I was doing in chemistry.

"Sorry," she began, "I forgot to turn this book in."

"That's perfectly fine, Macy. Actually, maybe you could help Joseph here out a little." I silently began to pray that the building would suddenly catch fire or Mr. Herndon would simply drop dead so I could get out of this room, where I could feel her eyes burning holes in the back of my head. The jig was up. "Macy is doing exceedingly well, Joseph, and I'm sure she would be more than glad to help you. The two of you are friends, right?"

I didn't answer of course, per my plan, but to my surprise, neither did she. I heard her shift on her feet behind me, but she kept silent. I knew I had no right to be, but I was sort of hurt. I don't know why she would have, but I had expected her to say yes.

I couldn't stand to stand there any longer. "I've got it under control, Mr. Herndon." I repeated myself quietly.

"See you tomorrow, Miss Misa." I heard the door slam shut behind me then I turned to leave myself. "Joseph," he called after me. "Get it under control, okay? Our next test is in 2 weeks."

I've never been good at confrontation. So when I walked out of the classroom and saw Macy standing at her locker, shoving her books in with such force that, inanimate objects or not, they had to be feeling some pain, I couldn't face her. I stood and stared for a second, but turned and started to walk the other way.

"Joe?" I heard her locker slam shut behind me.

I stopped but didn't turn around. The plan was telling me to leave, RUN! Whatever conversation was about to be had wasn't going to fit into the plan. But I stayed put. I stood with my back to her and listened.

"Are you…" I could hear the nerves in her voice, and the anger. I knew she was tucking her hair behind her ear and letting it fall. I knew her. "Are you…mad at me, or…something?"

This is your last chance, you idiot. If you leave now, maybe she'll just take it as a yes and leave you alone! You don't have to face this.

I was about to answer but she went on. "I mean, if you don't want to be my friend anymore then fine, okay? I don't wanna be yours either." Um, ouch? "But at least have the decency to tell me, okay? Don't just let me stand there like an idiot, thinking I did something horribly wrong to make you hate me!" Her voice had gotten loud as she talked, but suddenly it got small. "Did I?"

I faced her and suddenly I felt like the biggest jerk alive. Suddenly my "plan" seemed stupid, and horrible, and pointless, but most of all horrible. I didn't want to hurt her; I just wanted to not love her. But I did. Even after 3 weeks of trying to fix my relationship with Stella and destroy my relationship with Macy, everything was still exactly the same. I hadn't changed anything that I was trying to change, but I might have ruined our friendship for good. I didn't love her any less than 3 weeks ago. And standing there in the hallway, I think I loved her more.

"I don't…hate you, Macy." I closed my eyes and ran a hand through my hair in frustration. "And I do want to be your friend, I love being your friend, I just…" I just what? What was I planning on saying? I just love you? I just don't want to cheat on my girlfriend…but then again I kind of do when I'm with you?
"I'm just a jerk." Yes, going with the simpler option was always a good plan.

"Yeah," she swung her bag over her shoulder and started to turn and leave, "you are."

"Mace, wait." I grabbed her arm and whirled her around to face me. This wasn't my best idea as of late because now we were much closer than we should have been. I took a startled step backward. She narrowed her eyes at me. I looked around in desperation, trying to think of something to say. I wasn't sure why I had stopped her, but she was walking away and it scared me. I don't know why exactly, but I needed her to stay. My eyes landed on the window sill. "Can we sit?"

"No." She crossed her arms, but I grabbed one again and brought her to the window sill beside me. When we sat, she scooted as far away from me as possible, smushing herself against the wall. I didn't blame her.

"So, why are we sitting?" She spoke first. "Are you going to explain all this to me?"

I thought for a second. The plan told me that I was in way over my head and I had to agree. How was I supposed to explain it without just saying what I knew I wouldn't? It was getting harder to breathe by the second when I shifted to face her. "I wish I could." She shook her head, signaling she didn't understand. "I wish I could because you really deserve an explanation, but…I don't have one."

She sighed, exasperated. "You can tell me, Joe. You can be honest with me…if you want to." She tucked her hair then let it fall. "I've never told any of the stuff you told me to anyone else. I never told Stella anything you said…"

"I don't think you did…" I interrupted her and rummaged through my bag, but she continued. She only stopped talking when I thrust my test into her hands.

She looked down at my miserable grade and then looked back at me. "Jooeee…" she groaned.

I leaned back against the window and closed my eyes. "I suck."

It was quiet for a few seconds and I wondered what she was thinking. I wasn't prepared for what it was. "So you'd rather fail chemistry than get help from me? I'm that horrible?"

My eyes shot open. I sat forward and grabbed her hand. "No! You're not horrible, I am!"

She rolled her eyes.

"I just-" I stopped, caught off guard.
It fit, her hand. It fit in mine like it was made for the oddly specific purpose of being there. I know I sound like a total girl here, but cut me some slack for a second, okay?

I grabbed her other hand and pulled her up. "Let's go." I said, starting to walk and dragging her with me.

"Where?!" She sounded confused. "I'm still mad at you!" I could hear her smiling.

"That's where we're going," I said as I pulled her into the parking lot and toward my car, "to make you not mad at me!"

New plan: ignore the old plan and do whatever I want.
…within boundaries, of course…

Well, there it is. Be brutal, if you'd like...or you could sugar-coat it...I enjoy that, too. ;] lol