"Y/n..." Jack's eyes softened as he stared at me. He reached a hand towards me but I backed away. Tears filled my eyes as I stared up at the freckled face of the one I love. A sense of anxiety filled my body. I didn't want to know what he had to say. His hand touched my shoulder gently and he tried to make me face him.

"Please don't touch me," my voice cracked. He took his hand away from my shoulder. I hugged myself as I felt tears start to escape. I wanted him to love me but I was scared. If he actually did love me, would he treat me like he treated Ellie? Being loved by him meant trouble at it's finest. He only wanted to hurt girls. He was a heartbreaker, it's what he does.

"Y/n please look at me," Jack started. I felt his eyes on me from behind. Those sweet brown puppy eyes. My heart urged me to look into those beautiful brown eyes. I felt another tear fall down my cheek as I didn't move.

"P-please leave. Leave my room and don't come back until you figure your feelings out. They may not be for me but they're for someone and if she doesn't want me near you I can't take you away from her. I don't know if she loves you back but she doesn't want me near you," I placed my forehead on my wall.

"Y/n please," the desperation in his voice was so strong I wanted to give him a chance to talk. It hurt to hear his pleading voice. He grabbed my hand and pulled me to face him. I instantly saw his desperate eyes that hurt me so much.

"Jack no please just leave," the hurt in his eyes killed me. My lip quivered as tears started pouring out of my eyes. I started to slide down the wall with my eyes closed. "Leave, leave, leave, leave."

"Y/n I lo-"

"LEAVE!" I sobbed out. I saw his wide surprised eyes one last time before he let go of my hands and left.

-·☾·-

I sat in my bed holding my phone. Why was sending something like this so hard? I stared at the black words displayed in front of my eyes.

I didn't send it. I shouldn't have told him I loved him. I shouldn't have told him to leave. But I didn't want him to know that. If there's the slightest chance he loved me I was going to take it. Unless he loved Ellie more.

I laid down on my side looking at my phone. I groaned at my pathetic apology and threw my phone to the side of my bed. I heaved a sigh as I felt the sadness creep up on me again. There was basically a permanent frown on my face.

I hopped up from my bed and threw on Jack's hoodie. I opened my door and called out to my Mom. "I'm walking. I'll be back."

I closed the door before she could answer. I stuffed my hands in my pockets and sighed as I started walking. It was cold outside and looked like it might snow. I hoped for snow to start falling then and there. Snow is so pretty and might calm me if I'm lucky. There would also be no school which means no Ellie.

I stopped to look at the swing set. I had been swinging when Ellie broke up with Jack. That moment was only a month ago. Of course it didn't seem like that long. So much stuff had been happening. Especially the falling in love with my best friend part. I gave a small pathetic laugh at my thoughts.

Someone was already swinging but I didn't give them a second look as I sat down. I pushed off the ground and stared at the sky. I closed my eyes and embraced the cold air that pushed against my face.

"Y/n...?" I heard a small broken voice call out. I glanced at where the voice came from. Ellie was in the swing beside me. She sniffled and looked like she had been crying.

"Are you okay..?" I cautiously asked her.

"Not really. I just cheated on Jack and I feel so bad about it. I wanted him back so bad and then I go and do this. I don't feel good about myself. I even hurt you when you're better for him," tears welled up in her eyes. She looked like a small defenseless kitten. I felt a mix between anger and sympathy.

"I...love Jack," I buried my head in my hands. "I'm mad at you right now and you did hurt me. What I'm getting at is I don't care come over here."

She slowly rose from her swing. I stopped my own swing and stood. She sniffled again and a tear fell down her cheek. I wrapped her in my arms and let her cry into my shoulder. "I'm so bad," her voice cracked.

"You are," I nodded and patted her back. "But you don't have to be. You can change Ellie."

I heard her sniffle. "Do you really think I can?"

"I do. Anyone can change Ellie. You just have to push through your old self," I gently pushed her back by her shoulders.

"How do I do it?" she looked at me desperately.

"How about you come to my house? It's cold out here," I offered.

"O-okay. You won't kill me will you?" she looked hesitant.

"Do I seem like the killing type?" I gave her a soft smile.

"No but you have bitten one of my... groupies," she looked down. "they're mean though."

"It was self defense," I held my hands up. "I promise I don't regularly bite people."

She laughed warmly. She wiped her eyes with the back of her hands. "That's good."

"So do you love Jack?" I put my hands in my pockets as I started leading the way.

"I don't think so. He's amazing but I don't think I love him. Love's a strong word," she replied. "I seem like a horrible person, wow."

"No no. Love is a strong word," I nodded. "A strong word that means so much."

"Thank you in advance. You're so nice to me even though I was so terrible to you. I'm also incredibly sorry by the way," she apologized.

"No problem. You were terrible but we're going to change that. I have high hopes. You want to know why?" I gave her a smile.

"Why?" she seemed very surprised.

"You just completed the first step," I grinned a wide grin. "Anddd Jack chose you over me for some reason."

"What was the first step? And sorry again," she gave me regretful eyes.

"You apologized. You accepted that you did wrong and said sorry for it. And by the way Jack picked you over me so it was his fault," I caught a sniff of his jacket and my heart fluttered. I quietly sighed.

"You really do love him don't you?" Ellie looked forward, her teary eyes glistening in the sunlight.

"Yeah I do. Just told him today actually," I bit my lip. "And then I told him to leave."

"Are you stupid?" I winced at her harsh tone. "Sorry. What happened after that?"

"He wouldn't leave. He grabbed my wrists and turned me towards him although I didn't want to be urged by his puppy dog eyes so I screamed at him to leave. He did after that though," I narrowed my eyes at the ground. I was stupid for doing what I did.

"Did he say anything?" she spoke in a whisper.

"Yeah. Mostly pleads. Like 'please Y/n' but he also said something before I yelled at him," I thought of what he started to say before I cut him off. "Something like 'Y/n I lo-' but of course I cut him off by screaming," something clicked in my head. Was he going to say he loved me back?

"Y/n you made a serious mistake," she looked at me with a concerned face. Her expression quickly lifted and I could practically see the light bulb light up above her head. "I'm going to help you get him. Since you're helping me I want to help back."

"Would you really do that?" I shyly rubbed my arm.

"Yeah. You are helping me be a better person. To me that's worth a lot more than me helping you win Jack over," she spoke gently. I gave her a soft smile, almost forgetting that we were at my house. I abruptly stopped, her following suite. I ran up to my houses door and opened it.

"This is my house," I motioned for her to go inside. "I'm back Mom!"

"Why didn't you let me say goodbye back you little-" my Mom stopped when she saw Ellie. "You're the one who stole my daughter's boyfriend and best friend," she pointed at Ellie with her dirty rag.

"Sorry Mom. But this is Ellie and she's had a change of heart," I motioned towards Ellie. "She just needs help in the process."

My Mom looked at Ellie skeptically. She walked up to Ellie and stopped right in front of her. My Mom almost looked intimidating before she grinned and held her hand out. "Hi I'm Y/n's Mom M/n. Are you staying for dinner?"

"I could ask my Mom. I mean if it wouldn't be any trouble. I just might need a little more help than I think," Ellie shook my Mother's hand. I stood to the side extremely confused.

"Okay. Well I'm glad you had a change of heart. You know it's never too late to change," my Mom smiled warmly at Ellie.

"Yeah. I'm sorry for kissing Jack. It was me and not him but I'm guessing you didn't let him talk for himself. I'm so sorry I caused Y/n pain. I got caught up in my wants and my popularness. I didn't notice I was changing," she gave my Mother regret filled eyes.

"It's fine," she turned away from Ellie. "Now you girls go do your thing."

"Thank you for not going psycho," I said as I dragged Ellie up the stairs.

"Did you think she would actually go psycho on me?" Ellie had worry showing in her voice.

"I mean Jack and I were her OTP so," I shrugged.

"Awe thanks I feel so loved by you and your Mother," Ellie responded sarcastically.

"Awe I'm so glad," I sarcastically chirped back. I pulled her to my bed and motioned for her to sit down. I pulled my rolley chair to the side of the bed and crossed one leg over the other.

"So how do you feel about this whole situation?" I tapped my pen like a therapist.

"I feel exasperated. I only noticed just how bad I was getting. I had been cheating on Jack before but I didn't realize how much I was hurting inside. I feel like he shouldn't have to be on the receiving end of that. I can only hope he doesn't cheat on you again," she gave me a weak smile.

"We were fake dating so he could get you back," I shrugged. "But I did develop feelings for him. That was probably why it hurt so bad for him to be found kissing you in the park."

"I promise I started that. But anyway, my groupies are mean too. They always point out my flaws and I got so mean because of them that they finally found me intimidating enough to stop insulting me. They were one of the main reasons I got popular because of how much they changed me. I really want to drop them and make different friends. That's one of the things I really want. I also don't want to hurt anyone the way I have hurt some people, including you," she looked down and let a loose tear fall.

"I didn't realize they changed you so much. I thought being popular got to your head and you always got what you wanted so you threw hissy fits if you didn't get them," I smiled apologetically at her.

"Being popular was one of the reasons I got mean too. But I don't get everything I want. Maybe everyone I want but not everything. I just want to be back to the person I was before."

"I'm going to do my best to help," I smiled. "Okay so first off, would you like to put everything behind us and be friends?"

"Of course," Ellie stood up from my bed and tackled me in a hug. The chair I was on launched out from under us and we both fell to the ground. We laughed as she let go of me. After we stopped laughing and got up we brushed our clothes off.

There was a knock on my window. I quickly motioned for Ellie to hide in my closet while I checked out why Jack was at my house. I saw the window open behind the curtains that hung in front of it. Jack pushed through the curtains and stood right by the window.

"Why are you back?" I asked him quietly.

"I wanted you to let me finish what I was going to say. I got scared after you screamed at me," he rubbed the back of his neck.

"Very manly," I rolled my eyes at him. "But this really isn't the time Jack."

"Why not? I don't see anyone else around. Were you busy? I don't want to intrude," he turned towards the window.

"Jack wait."