derry, maine | it imagines ✔️

31. fake self - mike hanlon

Requested?:
Yes: [✔️] ; by @byerstozier
No: []

Song?: No

If there was one word to describe Jade, it would be consistent. She never changed, in a good way. She was always herself, and didn't care what other people thought about her or who she was. She didn't need to follow the trends or fads like other girls, which had left her a loser. Which was fine with her, because she had her own friends who liked her the way she was. The Losers Club.

Jade was fifth member of the group, joining Bill Denbrough, Richie Tozier, Eddie Kaspbrak, and Stan Uris. She was followed by Ben Hanscom and Beverly Marsh. Then, someone else joined. His name was Mike Hanlon.

He was homeschooled and worked on his grandfather's farm, so Jade had never met him before. The first time she saw Mike was when Henry Bowers was beating him up, and the group got in a rock war with the gang. The first time she talked to him was when she offered to get him something to clean the blood off his face. The first time she knew she loved him was when he saved her from It in the Neibolt house, where he grabbed and shielded her from the monster's hands, who was trying to take her right before It fell in the deeper well, disappearing forever.

Jade found herself changing who she was, in hopes for Mike to like her back. She would either become extremely outgoing, laughing at all his jokes and acting super bubbly, or become extremely quiet, not speaking up in the group and being shy around everyone. She was afraid he wouldn't like her for who she really was.

The other boys never really noticed this change. Mike hadn't been in the group long enough to know who Jade truly was. The only person who saw her strange behavior was Beverly, but she moved to go live with her aunt, escaping her terrible father.

Jade hated pretending to be someone she wasn't, but she couldn't help it. She wanted Mike to like her the way she liked him. And she thought it was working. The two of them became closer, hanging out with just each other sometimes, and doing things without the rest of the group. She thought he liked her fake self.

One day in late September, the group decided to meet at the barrens after school to celebrate the weekend. Jade arrived with Bill and Stan, while Eddie and Richie stopped by the Kaspbrak house to steal some snacks. Ben came a few minutes Eddie and Richie, and Mike arrived last, hoping off his bike expertly. His face wasn't as calm as it usually was. It had remnants of annoyance and anger.

Jade immediately tucked a piece of her brown hair behind her ear, a strand of her blonde highlights slipping out. She stood up straighter, and greeted her friend. Mike walked over to talk to Stan, while Richie headed to her. "Hey Jade, wanna hear a joke?" he wiggled his eyebrows.

The girl glanced behind him at the homeschooled boy, but nodded. "Go ahead, Rich," she said with a big smile that hurt her cheeks.

"What is the best part about gardening?" he asked. Jade was expecting something a little cruder from Richie, but shrugged. "Getting down and dirty with your hoes." There it was.

Jade began laughing hard, hoping to grab Mike's attention. "Richie! I can't breathe!" Richie seemed a little put off, considering she didn't usually enjoy his dirty jokes. Mike looked over at her with a strange expression on his face, but shook his head. Jade stopped laughing immediately.

After a few minutes, the whole group sat together, talking about random things, including Richie's arcade score and Eddie's mom. Jade didn't voice her opinion throughout the whole conversation, which had already lasted about an hour.

"What do you think, Jade?" Stan asked, making the girl look up from her feet. She shrugged, not even knowing what the question was.

Mike stood up. "Jade, can I talk to you?" She nodded, pushing herself off the ground. The two ignored some sexual comments coming from Richie, and walked away from the group. His brown eyes connected deeply with her green ones with concern. "Are you okay? You've been acting weird."

Jade tilted her head at his statement, answering quietly. "I don't know what you mean. I'm acting like I always do." She slipped her hands in the pockets of her jeans, looking at the dirt below feet.

Mike huffed, crossing his arms with narrowed eyes. "You know what I'm talking about," his voice lowered to a sterner tone, and he seemed to grow impatient. "One minute, you're laughing your head off, and the next, you're not saying a word. You're not acting like yourself."

"I am not!" she exclaimed, raising her voice. Her outburst caught the attention of the group who silently shuffled forward to listen in on the conversation. "You don't know what you're talking about, Mike!"

"I do, Jade! I do!" his voice went louder as well, matching her own. "You're acting like all the other stuck-up girls in this town! You're acting like some spoiled fake!" he shouted at her, making her shoulders drop unintentionally. She had never seen Mike yell before, let alone say anything rude.

Jade didn't say anything else. She didn't want to in fear of crying. And she knew he was right. Everything he said was right. Turning on her heel, Jade walked off to her bike, picking it up off the ground. Bill and Stan tried to call after her, but she pedaled home, away from them. Away from Mike.

She didn't talk to him for a week. She avoided any sort of event that would've involved him. She made up excuses, telling the Losers Club that she had somewhere else to be or a lot of homework to do. She missed Mike. She didn't want to be mad at him. She wanted to talk to him. But she was too afraid to go see him. What if he didn't want to talk?

After school the following Friday, Jade went home right after school. She sat on the couch, watching cartoons that she hadn't seen in years. Someone knocked on her door, and she wrapped the blanket around herself, answering the door. It was Mike, giving her a small smile, hands in his pockets. She let him in, and he sat on an armchair, while she sat back down on the couch.

The silence surrounded them, until Mike finally spoke up. "I'm sorry for getting so mad at you. I had an argument with my grandfather before coming to the barrens, so I was in a bad mood. I took my anger out on you. I know that's not an excuse, but I really am sorry for what I said. I didn't mean it. I wish I could take it all back."

"Mike, I'm sorry too," she said. His eyes widened, and he was going to speak up, but she didn't let him. "Everything you said was true. I was acting fake. Nothing you've seen is who I really am. I thought you wouldn't like my true self, so I pretended to be something I wasn't. I thought it worked too because you started hanging out with me more, and I couldn't stop because I thought it was the only way to get you to like me back." The words flew out before she could stop them, and her face turned bright red.

Mike chuckled. "I like you too, Jade. For who you are. I have for a long time. I just haven't been brave enough to tell you."

"Why? Why do you like me?" the girl asked. "I've been faking who I am for so long. How can you like someone who hasn't been who they really are?"

The boy smiled at the ground before looking back up at her. "I saw who you really were. Bits and pieces of you when you thought I wasn't looking. When you shifted back into who you actually are. That's the Jade I liked. I never thought you were the fake Jade. I liked the real Jade, for who she was."

Jade blushed again, cheeks heating up immensely. Mike stood up and moved to sit next to her. He met her green eyes with his brown ones, staring into them deeply. His gaze fell from her eyes to her lips for just a moment before raising again. He leaned in, pressing his lips to hers. The kiss was sweet, full of emotion, and Jade knew that Mike was telling the truth. He fell in love with her real self.

When they pulled away, he rested his forehead on hers. They didn't say anything else. They just looked at each other, eyes locked. And that was all that needed to be said.