Heartbreaker (Mileven AU)

can't understand

Jane's days were filled with nothing but complete and utter misery. She wanted to spend her time enjoying how she had come to feel about Mike, knowing that it was no use in denying it any further when she felt every usual symptom. Her stomach swarmed with butterflies when Mike smiled at her and her heartbeat steadily increased up to an unnatural rhythm that almost worried her. She knew that it was plain and simple, that she had fallen in love with the sweet and caring Mike Wheeler who could never do a single thing wrong despite how low he thought of himself. She wanted to spend her days being so excited about being with the boy that she had feelings for, but every moment she was with him was only a reminder of the fact that he would eventually find out that it was all meant to be a game. 

It wasn't a game anymore, not to her. 

Jane knew that the moment Mike found out what she had been doing with , he would lose all sense of trust with her and her entire happiness would come crashing down. It was hard to focus on how happy he made her feel and how at ease she felt when she was with his friends, when she knew that it would eventually fade. 

One morning Max stormed up to her, with a deep frown on her face. "You need to stop this, Jane. You need to stop what you are doing and tell Mike the truth."

Jane blinked rapidly before raising her eyebrows. "You know I can't do that."

Max sighed. "Look, Jane...you are my friend, okay? I know that you probably had innocent intentions and didn't want to hurt him, but the damage is done. Mike has been raving all week about how much he likes you and I can't let this continue. It will break his heart."

Jane swallowed heavily, closing her eyes. "Max, I don't have a choice and like you said, the damage is done. Stopping it now would still hurt him and I-"

"Why don't you just leave him alone?" she groaned. 

Jane didn't have an answer.

Max continued on in a small voice. "Mike is planning to ask you to The Snowball dance. Do you know that he has never even gone before? He is planning to go with you and-"

"He is?" Jane couldn't help but ask in a soft tone.

Max watched her for a few moments, and as she looked over Jane's soft eyes and small smile, her eyebrows furrowed. Jane was staring into space with her hands toying gently with the strap of her bag as she daydreamed and Max's eyes widened suddenly. 

"Holy shit, you like him."

Jane snapped out of her daze. "What?"

"You like him" Max insisted with a glare. "Are you kidding me? What happened to 'it won't happen, Max!'...what a load of bullshit" she retorted. 

Jane hissed at the redhead. "Keep your voice down, Jesus!"

"I can't believe this" Max glared at her. "So after you finally feel something for the boy, you are still going to leave him heartbroken? There is no way that Troy won't let this go, he will tell Mike eventually and Mike will never forgive you!"

"Don't you think I know that?" Jane snapped. "Of course he will, but there is nothing I can do about it. I can't help how I feel...t-trust me I am as surprised as you are. I never expected to fall in love with him but now it is all going to get ruined."

Max shook her head. "I still don't understand why you made this stupid deal in the first place, Jane. It was selfish and cruel."

"Exactly!" Jane yelled, looking around to see the hallway clear. "You don't understand and you never will. You have no idea what it was like to be the freak for years. To be labelled and have people move out of your for fear of even touching you! To have Troy tell you every single day that you will end up alone and unloved, did you ever have to hear that? No! But I did...and it hurt like hell..." she trailed off in a whimper.