Operation True Love Pt. 1

Lorraine’s POV

“HEY!” I yelped when Jayden’s front door was slammed in my face. He gave me the boot. I can’t believe this.

“This isn’t fair!” John was whining on my right side. Unfortunately for him, he was given the dull task of driving me home. Kandy, for some reason, was staying against her will and couldn’t do it herself. Jayden had said that he needed her for something. “He’s definitely playing favorites. How come Beau gets to stay with her and not me?”

I didn’t have the heart to tell him that my best friend wasn’t at all interested in him. In fact, she hated the sight of the poor guy. According to her, any guy that has to write down a girl’s name on his hand in order to remember it is disgusting and not worth her time. I made a feeble attempt to clear his slate by saying that he’s at least showing an effort…but Kandy wasn’t having it. One of the many things she called him was an egotistic pig who believes he’s above women.

“C’mon,” I started walking towards his white Lexus, “I want to go home and take a shower.”

John trudged along, pouting and throwing heated glances back at the double-doors. “Hurry up,” I urged teasingly. I do admire him for his persistence, though.

“Jayden’s being biased,” he resumed his rant as we pulled out of the driveway. “It’s not fair. He should be neutral.”

“Well, John,” I started saying, “how far do you think you would get with Kandy even without Beau’s interference?”

“A lot farther than I am currently.”

I decided I might as well burst his bubble now. “Kandy’s not a bimbo. She’s not just going to sleep with you. She wants substance—a rel-ation-ship, if you will.” I made sure to stress the relationship as if I was teaching him a new word.

“Yeah, I know.”

“Then why are you chasing after her? From what I hear, you’ve never been in an actual relationship. Even Jayden has had girlfriends. Well, kinda. But all you’ve had are one-night stands,” I prompted gently.

“I’ve had girlfriends,” John retorted uneasily. “There was that—that one girl. With the…the hair.”

“…And the eyes, too?”

“Yeah, her! You remember her?”

“With the lips? And the two arms? And the torso? And the two legs?”

“Fine. Fine. You’ve made your point,” he mumbled under his breath.

“If a one-night stand is what you’re looking for in Kandy, I can assure you that you’re not going to get it.”

John flashed me an easy grin. “I think I’m actually serious about her. She’s feisty. I like it.”

I sighed. “If you say so.”

For the rest of the trip, we rode in silence. In my opinion, John is a good guy. He was like a more extreme version of Jayden. Like Jayden, John says what’s on his mind, however, he doesn’t filter it out. If he knows it’s going to hurt some feelings, he doesn’t care. It’s still going to be said. In addition, I’ve also noticed that besides Kandy, I’m the only girl he tolerates. With Penelope, he’s snarky. With Violet, he’s plain malicious. With every other girl in public, he acts as if they didn’t exist—unless it’s a girl he wants to get into bed with. But even after that, he doesn’t treat her any better.

Oh wait, I was supposed to convince you that he’s a good person, right?

Well…he’s funny.

Nah, on a serious note, I love how he always has his friends’ backs, and how he truly doesn’t care what others think of him. That’s a trait only the very few contain.

“Why is it that you’ve never had an official girlfriend before?” I queried as the Lexus smoothly crawled into my driveway.

John changed the gear to Park and shrugged. “Too complicated. Too emotional. Too expensive.”

I laughed. Too expensive is right if he wants Kandy as a girlfriend. She’s absolutely obsessed with shopping. It’s an incurable disease.

“No, it’s more than just that,” he chuckled. “I guess it’s because my mom abandoned me and my dad when I was only three. His job was going down the toilet, and she wanted to be with a real man who can bring home the bacon. Few years later and some smart business deals, he’s now part of a big law firm. She came running back, he brushed her off.”

John traded in his usual smirk for a softer look. “She’s not the only gold-digger. My dad’s been married to a few of them. Poor old man just wants some love.” His quiet laughter filled the car. “Because I grew up around that, that’s probably why I never wanted to get caught up in it all myself. I just haven’t been too trusting.” He paused and haltingly turned towards me. “I have no idea why I just told you that.”

I smiled warmly at him, the first time I’ve done so. “It’s good to let it out once in a while,” I said, thinking of the night when I told Jayden everything.

He scoffed. His usual attitude has returned. “You should be a shrink. Now get outta my car!”

Jayden’s POV

If anyone were to ask me who Lorraine’s best friend is, I wouldn’t answer with “me.” Hell, I wouldn’t even answer with “Kandy.” I would look them straight in the eye and say “Suspicion” because that’s all I’m getting from her lately. Quite frankly, I’m beginning to sweat. I just know I’m going to break down under her blue-eyed stare and tell her everything one of these days.

With any luck, that day would be in the distant future.

Today was the first time I’ve kicked Lorraine out. Not rudely, of course, but I did somewhat shove her out the door. As much as I wanted her to stay, I needed to convince Kandy to go along with our nonexistent plan.

“What the hell is going on?” the secret weapon demanded with a raised eyebrow after I pushed Lorraine and John both onto the porch. Lorraine needed a ride home since Kandy was staying with us. And because Beau and John were arguing nonstop, I randomly grabbed one of them and shoved him outside with her. It turned out to be John.

“Hey!” the two of them had protested in unison when I slammed the door in their faces. I slammed it affectionately…if that means anything.

For the next few minutes, we were busy explaining the whole situation to Kandy. I hoped she would understand because without her, we were screwed. Her facial expression during the explanation process evolved from annoyance to skepticism to “Aw! This has got to be the cutest thing ever!”

Her demeanor suddenly changed again. This time she was somber. “But you’re serious, right? This isn’t some stupid joke?”

“I wore the pink clothing, didn’t I?” I reminded her. “My balls are suffocating in these jeans, aren’t they?”

She eyed my groin area before bobbing her head in agreement. “That’s true. This is so adorable!”

I winced when she squealed. “Please don’t do that.”

“Right,” Kandy nodded solemnly before squealing once again. “I can’t wait until you guys go out!”

“Newsflash,” Ken imitated a flashbulb with his hand. “He supposedly likes dudes.”

Her face fell. “Oh yeah. That’s gotta go.” She abruptly jolted with an “Oh my god!”

“What?”

“She liked you! She used to like you!” shouted Kandy, thrusting her finger in my face. “She actually liked you!”

I slightly leaned away from her. “Who?”

“Lorraine! She told me she used to like you! Then you had to go and be all gay.”

There was absolute stillness for a minute. Kandy was staring at me wide-eyed. Ken, Josh, Adam, and Beau all wore identical masks of surprise. They were watching her, waiting for her to suddenly jump up and say, “Gotcha!” But that moment never came.

“Are you fucking serious?” I shouted at her in disbelief.

She nodded mutely before sitting down on the couch. “Don’t worry. Capturing her heart can’t be that hard. You’re going up against the most boring person on the face of the earth after all.”

Chemistry was never my strong point. There were too many formulas and numbers and shit. It also didn’t help that the teacher hated me. After Josh and I fucked up that lab and completely demolished her eyebrows, she hasn’t let either one of us near the beakers. Mrs. Highplate also separated us as lab partners, so now my new partner is this chick named Carly. I had to observe her, take down notes, and offer some insight, but I was forbidden to touch any of the materials at all.

I watched her carefully measure the fluid in the little glass tube. She squinted and leaned close to it in order to read the meniscus. Well, as close as she possibly could with those jacked-up goggles on.

“Hey Carly?” I said, propping my elbows up on the table.

She jerked as her concentration was broken. There was a sigh of impatience. “Yes, Jayden?”

“Am I…Do you think I’m good-looking?”

Her face quickly turned red. “I don’t think this has anything to do with the assignment.”

“Just, y’know, off the record. Am I at least decent-looking?” I asked tentatively and reached up to straighten my hair as I waited for her answer.

Carly slowly removed her huge goggles to get a good look at me. “Well, you’re sort of more than just decent-looking.”

I chuckled in what I hoped was a humble matter, but I doubted it. “Well, y’know, I try.”

“Sure. Now can you please read me the next line in the te—”

“Would you go out with me?” came rushing out of my mouth. She dropped her goggles with a thud. I had a strong feeling that her entire body would soon follow. “Just…hypothetically. Would a smart girl like you ever go out with me?”

Her hands started shaking. “Oh my god,” she whispered in awe.

“Hypothetically, that is. Hypothetically.”

“Oh. My. God.”

“HYPOTHETICALLY, CARLY.”

“Jayden. Reminson. Just. Asked. Me. Out.”

“HYPOTHETICALLY. I’m gay, remember?”

Carly’s face dropped in a nanosecond. “Oh. Yeah.” She went back to the work at hand, clearly upset. Yet now it seemed like she was ignoring me. It was a significant change from her attitude earlier.

“Let’s just say that I…just happened to be straight,” I avoided looking at her in fear that she might catch on. “And…I just happened to like this girl who’s really smart. Do you think she would go out with me?”

She shrugged absentmindedly, not bothering to even glance at me now. “I don’t know. I guess it depends on who it is.”

“What if it was someone like…I don’t know…Lorraine Summers?”

Carly turned to look at me. I pretended to shrug dismissively. “As an example, I guess.”

“Aren’t you guys friends?”

“Yeah. But I just wondered if someone like her would go out with someone like me. If I was straight.”

She shrugged again and returned to the beaker. “Probably not. She seems like someone who would want her boyfriend to be smart and serious and stuff.”

I frowned. “I’m not smart?”

“No offense, Jayden, but you’re not exactly Frank Portman.”

Well. That sucks.

During lunch, Lorraine was mindlessly poking at her sandwich. I couldn’t help but take in her tiny form—not in a perverted way. She was thin, though not in a terribly anorexic way. She looked like she was naturally small—she was probably around 5’3. Her black hair was long and almost seemed to envelope her tiny body.

“Aren’t you hungry?” I asked her after watching her continuously prod at the wheat bread.

She smiled. “Yeah, but I’m not sure if I’m willing to risk a trip to the hospital for food poisoning.”

I couldn’t help but crack a smile at her little joke. “I can go get you something edible.”

“No, it’s okay. I’ve almost worked up the courage to eat it.”

“Really, I’ll just go out and get something for you,” I insisted. Kandy, who was sitting across from her, snickered before crumbling into a fit of giggles.

Lorraine watched her, amused. “Are you okay? What’s so funny?”

Still laughing, Kandy shook her head. She looked at me out of the corner of her eye. Lorraine chuckled a little at her best friend and announced that she was going to get a drink to down her sandwich with. Once she was out of the hearing range, Kandy turned towards me and mimicked me. “Oh, Lorraine. Let me go and get something for you to eat, my love. It would be an honor. I love you so much. I sleep with a strand of your hair under my pillow every night.”

“Shut the hell up. I don’t do that.” I watched her petite body walk up to the vending machine. Not a second later, Golden Boy rose up from his seat and started towards her way. I tried to ignore it. “I was being nice. She’ll like me again soon enough, whether or not I’m gay.”

Last night wasn’t too productive. I mean, you try to think of ideas when two of your friends are silently arguing with each other over a girl and your little brother’s trying to rap for you. We did come up with a few things, however. A few idiotic things, but that’s all we got. I think the only really productive thing we did last night was coming up with the name for this plan. Operation True Love.

John had been the one to suggest it. I choked on my water and immediately rejected the idea, but Kandy was all for it. “Aww, that’s so cute,” she cooed when he proposed the idea. John winked at her. I knew he only recommended that to try to show her he was romantic. If I had wanted to watch something that sickeningly sweet, I’d watch Disney Movies.

We only kept it because it was either that or “Operation Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It” suggested by, you guessed it, Jack. It didn’t even make sense in our situation, but he thought it sounded cool. It was around eleven at night when were sitting in the garage coming up with both a new song and ideas for the Operation. Jack was restless, so he stayed up later than he usually did to hang out with us. We didn’t mind because he’s always the first to hear all our songs anyway. At first, it was a little annoying with him always tagging along, but we’re used to it now. It’s like he’s one of us; trying to help with the lyrics (even if he does rhyme hat and bat together), trying to help set up (even if he does drop things), and giving feedback on the songs (even if we can’t understand what he says). Besides, he has three girlfriends, so I figured he could help us with that, too.

“Dayum son, you got jacked,” Jack had said. “You got yo gurl taken away from you, mang. Stolen, ya heard? Is chu gonna let dat jus’ happen? Or is chu gonna be a mang and do suttin ‘bout it?”

He told me I needed to get some bling, some grillz, and some swagger in my step. I had politely declined.

Adam slid down next to Kandy at the lunch table once he saw the coast was clear.

“Guys, this is hopeless,” I groaned, cradling my head in my hands. “I don’t even know where to start. Why can’t she just be like every other girl?”

“’Cause then it’ll too easy and she won’t be worth it,” Kandy replied, brushing invisible dirt off her big purse.

“Well, how are we gonna do this?”

The two of them glanced at each other and shrugged. “Hmm, we were too busy looking for a name to really think about how we’re supposed to accomplish this,” said Kandy.

I groaned. These people are who I’m working with? I had a better chance doing this myself. “My lab partner told me that Lorraine was the type of girl who wanted someone smart.”

“Duh?” said Kandy. “Step one, every girl wants someone semi-intelligent at the very least. No one wants a complete dumbass.”

Since we didn’t have control over the gay situation, we decided to just wait it out and thwart any plans Lorraine has with Cody. I nodded. She was walking back now after replying to something Cody had said by the vending machine. The secret weapon followed my gaze and turned around. She hurriedly whipped her head back towards us and started shushing. “Sh! Sh! No more talking about the plan! Sh!”

I rolled my eyes. “That’s not suspicious at all.”

“Hey Adam,” Lorraine greeted him once she sat back down. I tried my best to recall any type of information I learned in my classes. This process would be a lot easier and faster had I ever paid some sort of attention during lessons.

“Princess.”

She was attempting to open her bottle of green tea vitamin water. “Yeah?”

I gently grabbed it out of her hands and twisted the cap off. “I could be your hydrogen and you can be my oxygen. Together, we could form hydrogen monoxide,” I randomly blurted out in a hurry.

Adam snorted loudly. Kandy burst out with a “What the hell?”

Lorraine sent me a questioning look. “What?”

Crap. I must’ve gotten it wrong.

“Hey Lorraine!” someone called out from across the lunchroom. I didn’t bother looking in that direction. I already knew who it was just from his annoying voice.

“Um, I’ll be right back,” she told us before leaving.

“What the hell was that?” Kandy exploded afterwards.

“She wants someone smart; I tried to be smart!” I said in my defense.

“Monoxide? Like carbon monoxide? Isn’t that poisonous and not at all romantic?” asked Adam.

I shrugged, not willing to take his word for it. He wasn’t that great in Chemistry, either. “I don’t know. I don’t think it was that bad. I made it nerdy and sexy at the same time.”

“Just—just listen, okay?” Kandy advised with a shake of her brunette head. “We need to get Frank Portman’s help with this step. No more…stupid lines.”

Erica was walking towards us. She squeaked and waved once she caught my eye. It was funny because I never expected her to be the type of girl to squeak. Her black lipstick, rainbow mess of hair, and dark eye make-up just didn’t go along with it.

“Hi Jayden,” she smiled widely.

“Hey.” It was eighth period. I told my teacher that I needed to use the bathroom when in reality, I wanted to pour glue onto the twisty thing on Cody’s lock. I found out through Danny Thompson exactly what he was telling Lorraine at lunch. He wanted to drive her to work.

Drive her to work? Who the hell does he think he is? Her friggin’ mother? It’s pretty obvious he’s just using that as an excuse to spend some time with her. But once he realizes that he can’t even turn the dial on his lock, Lorraine will have to wait with him. And that’s where I’ll swoop in and offer to take her instead.

All I need now is an evil cackle.

Adam unexpectedly bumped into me on my way there and decided to tag along. He had just come back from his band lesson. Along with the guitar, he also plays the trombone.

“I heard about your new sexuality,” Erica was saying.

I let out a short laugh. “Yeah…Funny how things turn out, huh?” This was the perfect opportunity to get her off my back—I mean, to finally tell her to move on to a better person.

She sighed. “Right? I waited so long. But it’s okay,” her expression cheered up underneath all her make-up. I think. “I gave up on you way before the news.”

“You have?”

“Yeah. Haven’t you noticed that I’m never around you guys anymore?”

Actually, I hadn’t. I glanced at Adam. “Oh yeah. Right. So who’s the lucky guy?”

Erica adopted a dreamy look on her face. I think. “Ken Loryn.”

“KEN?!”

“Yeah,” she confirmed blissfully. “He’s so cute.”

“Well…that’s cool.”

“It’s okay, Jayden,” she patted me on the arm sympathetically. “We can still be friends. Don’t be too heartbroken. You’ll find someone, too. Someday. That someone’s just not me.” Erica gave me one more sympathetic pat before walking away.

I turned to watch her go. “Dude,” I nudged Adam.

“What, man?”

“What—what is this feeling I’m experiencing right now?”

“…Rejection?”

I scowled. “I don’t like it.”

I had written down Cody’s locker number on my hand when Danny Thompson generously gave it to me. We found it quickly and after a swift, sweeping glimpse of the hallway, I twisted opened the cap on the bottle of glue.

“Ready?” I whispered to Adam.

He nodded. “Go for it.”

I dumped as much of the glue as I could all over the lock, taking careful notice of it filling every single crevice. After I was satisfied with my work, Adam ripped off a piece of blank paper from the notebook he was holding. He cautiously wrapped it around the glue-dripping lock. We did a knuckle-touch and then parted ways as we returned to our separate classrooms.

Jayden – 3. Brad Pitt Wannabe – 0.

Frank offered me some pointers on how to be smart. Truthfully, I was a bit insulted by all of this. I mean, I’m smart. Not smart in the straight A sense, but if I applied myself, I would definitely be up there. Getting advice on how to be brainy was a blow to my ego. I’m not sure whether Operation True Love is supposed to help me win Lorraine over or to completely demolished my self-esteem. Only the latter is working.

He presented me with a new deal. If I could show him that this experience has changed me in some way, I could quit. I told him that I didn’t understand what he meant by that.

“You’ve been jeered at because of it, right?”

I nodded in confirmation. Not only has it happened in school, but I’ve also had derogatory terms shouted at me in public places by a few people. At first, I didn’t even realize they were aimed at me because it’s never happened before. Only when Josh barked something back did I finally realize they were directed towards me and my outfit. Early on, I didn’t give a shit, but then it got annoying. You try to keep your cool when a middle-aged lady tells you to burn in hell.

“Yeah. It pissed me off.”

Frank smiled. “Sucks, right? What did you do when that happened?”

“If it was some guy, I…you know,” I replied, remembering what I did to Mike Richards.

“Exactly.”

I didn’t get it, but he didn’t elaborate. My mind zoomed into overload as he began spewing out information on the basic subjects we commonly learn in school. His lips were moving, but all I was getting was, “Rasdgasgashdgadgajsa, right? So then the dsdgashdajfhjdasuda, which means that pfgdfgdio will bhsdfusdfis. It ashdgkafdfadsdin, correct?” I just kept nodding. There wasn’t a single chance in hell that I would be able to memorize any of this.

Compromise. That’s what I needed. Sure I may not be smart, but maybe if I show up with the Einstein of our generation, I’ll look smart.

So after school, I made a beeline towards Lorraine’s locker with Frank at my side—only to find out that she wasn’t there. There would be two other possible choices. In the third wing, I found her leaning by Cody’s locker. He appeared to be bewildered as he looked over his lock. A loud, victorious laugh was dying to be released from my throat.

“Hey Princess,” I said casually as Frank and I walked up to them.

“Hi Jay.”

“You know Frank, right?” I asked, giving him a pat on the back.

Lorraine blinked a couple of times. “Yeah. We have Calculus together. Hi Frank.”

Cody stopped peering at his blob of a lock to mumble a “Hi.”

“Can you believe someone did this to him?” She pointed to it with her index finger.

I feigned an expression of surprise and disgust. “Wow, that really sucks. Who would do such a thing?”

“I have no idea. Some jerk must’ve thought it would be funny.”

Cringe. “Yeah…what a…jerk. Anyways, Frank and I were going to go hang out together.”

There was that stare again. “...Really…?”

“Yeah. We’re close friends, why wouldn’t we?”

“Jayden’s been teaching me some new moves in chess,” Frank helpfully interjected.

Lorraine looked from him to me. “You know how to play chess?”

“Y-Yeah. Of course,” I swallowed and glance upwards at the ceiling. “You can be my queen and mate me with your knight moves.”

“What?”

Crap, that one was bad. You know I’m desperate when I resort to cheesy pick-up lines. “Um. You must be a carbon molecule because cause every part of me wants to bond with you.”

“WHAT?” Surprisingly, she didn’t look like she was digging it. I don’t understand. She wants someone intelligent, right?

“Nevermind.” I proceeded to offer her a ride, to which she denied.

“Cody’s giving me a ride. He has his keys on him. He just needed to get his English homework.”

Shit. “Well, aren’t you gonna be late soon? They’ll have to cut through the lock. Your bus to the mall is going to leave in five minutes, so you might not make it. I’ll just take you.”

Disappointingly, Cody figured out exactly what I was attempting to do. And here I thought all he was ever good for was a Macy’s catalogue. “You know what? I’ll just do it during first period tomorrow once they replace the lock in the morning.”

Lorraine appeared to be uncertain about his choice. “Actually, I’d rather not be a burden. Jayden can take me. This way, you can stay and get your homework.”

“Yeah, education is the key to your future,” Frank immediately added. “Even something as frivolous as a missed homework assignment could easily obscure your teacher’s perspective of you as a diligent student.”

I nodded in agreement even though I’m not sure what diligent means. Using the context clues, it’s most likely something good. God, I can’t even begin to describe how fucking glad I am that I got Frank on my side. Lorraine seemed even more convinced now that Frank put his two cents in. I got this in the bag.

“No, I’m good. I’ll just do it in first period,” said Cody, taking hold of Lorraine’s hand. I watched her flick her eyes from their enclosed hands to him. This little smile soon crossed her lips. I involuntarily did the same as a result. It frustrated me, though, because she looked happy and it wasn’t because of something I did.

I sighed, dug my hands into my pockets, and made a quick mental decision that I knew I was going to regret later. “Yeah. You guys should get going anyway. You’re going to be late, Princess.”

Make that Jayden – 2 Cody – 1. From my peripheral vision, Frank looked at me quizzically. When they were walking away after a goodbye, he asked me if I had inhaled too much of the glue’s fumes.

“She wanted him to take her,” I shrugged like it wasn’t a big deal. “I didn’t want her to be upset.”

“So you’re throwing in the towel this soon?”

“Hell no.” I searched for Kandy’s number on my phone. “I just let him win this one. This is just the beginning, my friend.”

a/n: 5 days since my last update! yay! okay, first, i need to do some disclaimers. the 3 pick-up lines that jayden used are NOT mine. someone had actually used the monoxide one on me & i loved it, so...yeah. lol. as for the last 2, some of my friends had given them to me. they probably heard it from someone else or found it on the internet. i don't know, but they're not mine! (:

quick question: what are some of your fave quotes or fave parts of the story so far?

anon replies:

justine: p!atd isn't that bad. i'm not a devoted fan, but they're okay. i don't what's up jay''s butt. lol. & i'm glad you like those lines, lol. yeah, john may be a jerk & everything, but he's so funny that you have to love him. (: thanks for the review!! xoxo

jaydenx3: well, judging from the name you choose, i can most def. tell whose side you're on, lol! & you should def. go study! ...after you finish reading my chapter & leaving a review. (: i agree with jayden's name. i love it & i would name my kid that but britney spears took it. so now when i think of jayden, i just think of her son for some wierd reason. lol. thanks for the review!! xoxo

lots of love to ALL the readers & everyone who added me/this story to their faves&alerts! (: oh, and everyone who has voted for this in the Most Humorous category of the skow awards, too! voting doesn't end until august, i think, so if you think this is worthy, go vote! (: