A/N: Here we are, upon the precipice! Thanks for being so patient about the delay between chapters 6 and 7 (too much work and so little time for fun), and I'm glad to be back with what is going to be the second to last chapter! Thanks again to all my reviewers: anglhededhpster, Poet on the Run, DiBye, DarkSmile, Lady Paine, .Cool. And Beth, thanks for the feedback; I'm taking it all under consideration and hopefully you'll like the way the next few chapters go.

Remember, reviews feed the muse, and that's good for all parties!

~Breaking Up~

She needed to stop crying at school.

This enlightening train of thought snuck up on her during first period, when she was hiding out in the girls' washroom instead of being in class. She had barricaded herself in the last stall, put down the seat, pulled up her legs, and hid out from the world as she cried. She had heard a few other girls out by the sinks before the first bell. She could tell they were wondering who was in the last stall and why she was crying. But luckily no one had thought to go alert a teacher or administrator to the fact that someone was weeping in the girls' washroom.

The tears had come quickly at first, and come combined with all the usual grossness that accompanies a good cry (running nose, bloodshot eyes, and those long, stringy bits of saliva that clung to your lips as you took in one gasping breath after the next). They had petered off about fifteen minutes after the first bell, but hadn't disappeared altogether. She had regained some calm, wiped off most of the mess on her face, and was now just rocking back and forth while the occasional tear leaked out.

She used to dream about getting together with a member of JONAS. It never used to matter which one, the boys were pretty interchangeable in her imagination. But the way she got together with one of them was always the same. There would be small, secretive smiles. They would stare at each other all the time, blushing furiously whenever their eyes met. He would approach her by her locker one day, shyness evident in every move he made. Just being in her presence would make him tongue-tied, and she would be the same. After a few awkward attempts at conversation, they would both realize what was happening and share a good laugh. Sometime during that laugh, he would calm, look at her with soulful eyes, and politely ask her to dinner that night. She would blush and stutter, but agree. Stella would come over before the date, make her impossibly beautiful, and when he came to pick her up, he would be speechless. During their date, he would charming and attentive. He would hold her chair out for her, ask her things about her day or her sports, and then show her the new song he had written for her. It would be beautiful and heart-warming (and usually it would be "Love Bug"), and she would sigh and proclaim it to be the most amazing thing she ever heard. And then, he would kiss her. It would be soft and sweet, and he would cup her face gently before pouring all his desire into that kiss. She would be left breathless, her heart almost bursting, and then-well, then she would usually wake up.

Today had been just like that, only a far more rude awakening than she could have imagined. Today she had gotten to live her dream. A JONAS had kissed her and she had kissed him back. But it wasn't sweet, it wasn't soft, and though it felt good at the time, it didn't make her heart feel like it would burst from emotion. Rather, it had made her heart crack and splinter until it felt like the whole organ would disintegrate and fall into a small pile of rubbish in the bottom of her stomach. The kiss she had gotten (and participated in) had been rough, intense, and curiously empty, because the second they pulled away, Nick grabbed his things and took off again. She had let him go (because seriously, what could she say now?) and sat in the seat he had previously vacated. It occurred to her the last time she had been alone with a boy in the gym was when Van Dyke asked her out. The memory of that day (and of Van Dyke's smiling face) combined with her unhappiness over the kiss and suddenly Macy Misa wasn't angry; she was heartbroken.

It wasn't just that her dreams didn't match reality. It was also that she had kissed a boy while she was technically involved with another boy. A sweeter boy who didn't deserve to have mushy feelings about a girl who kissed other boys behind his back. And to make matters worse, that beautiful dream sequence about the perfect kiss, she could have had that. Van Dyke wasn't a member of JONAS, but he could have given her that amazing moment (minus the song, of course). He was obviously the better choice of boyfriend. He tried to make her feel better when she was down, he listened when she had things on her mind, and when he realized he liked her, Van Dyke told her to her face. He didn't have a problem showing people that he liked Macy Misa. He didn't have a problem with giving her flowers, giving her hugs, and, if it hadn't been for Nick, he would have had no problem with kissing her in the cafeteria, in front of the whole school. Van Dyke didn't see anything wrong with liking Macy Misa. And he certainly never referred to his feelings as a THING that needed to be overcome.

She heard the telltale sounds of the door opening. Macy pulled her legs closer to her chest and closed her eyes. She tried being as silent as possible so hopefully the person on the other side would be quick and leave Macy alone with her misery once again.

"Macy Misa, I know you're in here."

It would have to be Stella. Macy's eyes snapped open and she listened to the sounds of her friend tapping on every stall to try and discover her hiding spot. She didn't have to bother. As soon as Macy recovered from her shock, she was jumping to her feet and throwing open the stall door. Stella barely had time to turn around to face her when Macy launched herself into her friend's arms. Stella squeaked and stumbled for a second, but then realized that Macy was practically shaking from the tears. The blonde recovered, put her arms around her friend, and just held her close.

Without any prompting from Stella, the words poured out of Macy's mouth. The whole story, from when Kevin called her to the horrible moments after the kiss. It all came tumbling out and Macy was berating herself for being a horrible person with dated one boy while secretly kissing another boy. And then about how unfair the whole situation was. Van Dyke was sweet, Nick was angry. Van Dyke was gentle, Nick was rough and sometimes scary. Van Dyke thought she was awesome, Nick equated her with a sort of nasty illness that he just needed to get past before feeling okay again. Van Dyke liked her, she suspected that Nick was embarrassed to even be thinking about her. And Van Dyke was there, Nick always left.

"Oh Macy," Stella had no words of comfort. Macy only responded with more tears and she tightened her embrace on her friend. Stella returned the gesture, resting her hand on Macy's back and patted it soothingly.

When the tears finally stopped, both girls pulled back from each other. Macy was well aware that she must look a mess. The pity on Stella's face showed her how bad her state must be. She used both hands to wipe away the tears on her cheeks. Stella wordlessly dug a pack of tissues out of her purse and handed them over. Soon both girls were over by the sinks, Macy wiping her face clean while Stella tried her hand at fixing her friend's hair. They worked in silence for a few minutes. Once she had done what she could for Macy's hair, Stella began to pull makeup out of her purse. Macy wordlessly grabbed items as they appeared and started work on making her appearance less of a total disaster.

"Macy," Stella stopped herself before she could say anything further. She looked to the ground and then finally back up at her friend. "Macy, are you sure that Nick meant what you think he meant?"

Macy gave a hollow chuckle. "He said he would be fine once this THING passes. That's exactly what he said. This supposed crush where he has true feelings for me? He calls it the THING. Gotta tell you Stella, not exactly the words I was expecting to hear."

"Mace, maybe we should-"

"No!" Macy slammed her hands down on the counter. "No more Stella! You keep saying that because he's different that must mean it's for real. But how can it be? With that Penny girl, he wrote her a love song! And he was practically dancing in the halls after he talked to her. He can be sweet-I've seen him be sweet with lots of other people. So why, if he's got this big old crush on me, why is he being so hard? Am I really such an undesirable choice for a girlfriend that he would rather run off after he kisses me than to actually talk about this whole situation? Maybe you're the one misreading him this time. Maybe he does have a crush on me, but he's not happy about it. He's disgusted by it."

"Macy, that is not true," Stella had steel in her voice. She grabbed her friend by the shoulders and turned her around so Macy would have to look Stella in the eyes. "I agree he's not being cool about this. And I agree that if he really feels so deeply that he should find a way of saying it. And I understand that calling his feelings a 'THING' was a horribly stupid thing to say. But Nick is not disgusted by his feelings for you. You may not want to believe me, but I'm telling you this: I've known that boy since we were little kids. I know how his freakishly complicated mind works. He's lashing out because this thing with you and Van Dyke hurt him far deeper than he thought it could. Macy, you are a wonderful girl and Nick knows that. Why do you think he even started liking you in the first place?"

"But-"

"No more buts Macy!" Stella gave her a little shake this time. "Listen to me-I am your best friend and I would not lie to you about this. Nick likes you and he would be darn lucky and unbelievably happy if he was with you. But he's not with you, because he thinks you're with Van Dyke, and so he's miserable."

"But I kissed him back," Macy reminded her, blinking back a new batch of tears. "I kissed him back and he still left!"

Stella shook her head. "Macy, you said his intensity was scaring you, right?" Stella waited for her nod before continuing. "Maybe you should consider that it's scaring him a little too. Please Macy, don't write him off because he's not emotionally mature enough to handle being in love. Just, give him some time, give yourself some time. Believe me, I wouldn't ask you for this if I thought this was a bad idea. You two obviously have deep feelings for each other; it's just been tangled up with all this other drama. He's a good guy Macy, and I really think you two could work. But you need to step back and clean up some of this other mess before you approach this again."

Macy closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She trusted Stella, she did. Her heart was just too bruised to try for hope just now. And not just because of Nick Lucas. But because of what she had to do now.

She opened her eyes and gave Stella a sad look. "He would have been a great boyfriend," she whispered softly. "But it's not fair to him, is it?"

Stella sighed and gave a small nod. "He will be a great boyfriend. Just not yours."

Macy sniffled and felt her heart dip once more. "Just not mine."

~*~

It was after school and Macy was waiting patiently by her locker. Most of her fellow students had vacated the school about an hour ago. Macy had volleyball practice and so she stayed later. Her mind had been as clouded as ever, but she was tired of letting her problems tie her down. For that one hour of practice, Macy just pushed everything back and focused on her game. It was a far better practice than the ones that had come before. Coach (and quite a few of her teammates) was ecstatic to see her back in top form. A few begrudging smiles escaped her as the numerous shouts of 'good to see Macy back' and 'about time girl' came at her from all sides. It felt good to have just a little bit of her old self back. She actually got to thinking that this whole thing might not be so hard after all.

And then practice ended and she remembered that Van Dyke was meeting her after. Her good mood flew out the window and by the time he wandered up to her locker, she felt the tears threatening to return.

God, he was just too sweet! She didn't deserve his kindness. She was a horrible girl; she was a cheater. What kind of girl would willingly ruin her chances with a guy like this?

"Hey," he gave her a small smile, one that dropped when she didn't return the sentiment. "Everything okay?"

The concern in his voice was too much. She was crying again and he was trying to comfort her and then the whole, horrible truth came out. She felt him stiffen when she finally blurted out her confession and she dared to look up. He should have looked angry; she could have handled him looking angry. But he didn't. He just looked sad. And that made her feel like dirt.

"Macy, it's okay," he murmured over her never-ending string of apologies. "It's okay, I get it. I kind of knew from before I asked you out that this might happen. Just kind of hoped it wouldn't, but you can't fight fate, right?"

Huh? She pulled back from him, a confused look on her face. He smiled softly, wiping at her left cheek before continuing. "Well, it was a rebound, right? I know you never actually dated any of them, but that whole thing was JONAS was a pretty intense relationship, wasn't it? You know Macy, I don't think you ever stop to think about what the rest of the world thought of you. I mean, it's cute and half of the reason why so many people like you, but you never realized how awesome people think you are. You were always too modest to notice it, I guess. But while you had your head full of JONAS, you had quite a group of admirers as well. None of us ever thought we would get a chance, especially when those guys showed up here. But hey, there was a lull in the Macy-JONAS saga, and though I always knew it wouldn't last, I couldn't help but swoop in for my chance. But it really was fate after all. You and JONAS, the two things always went hand-in-hand. And having known you for so long, I just got to say, it was only a matter time before this happened. Even without the whole singing thing, eventually one of those rock stars would have realized the greatness that is Macy Misa."

Macy felt like someone had smacked her in the face with a shovel. "I kissed Nick behind your back, and you're still talking about how awesome I am?" she shook her head as more tears came forward. "Do you even realize how amazing you are?"

"Sure, but I don't want to seem cocky," he gave her a wide grin. "Macy, don't be ashamed of what happened with Nick. If you really like the guy, then you're doing both of us a favour by admitting it."

She shook her head again. "Seriously! What are you, some sort of saint?"

He laughed loudly at that and pulled her into a hug. "Saint Van Dyke? Nah, sounds horrible."

She squeezed him tightly for a second before pulling back to give him a watery smile. "Maybe we could come up with something better. Van Dyke the Amazing?"

"Sounds like a magician."

"Van Dyke the Sweet."

"You know, I do play football. Leave me some manly pride."

"Van Dyke, the Walking Personification of Awesomeness."

He perked up at that one. "Think we could find someone to put that on my jersey?"

Macy laughed and hugged him again. "I've a got a girl."

~*~