The Cheesy Plan

Alayna was having a bad day. She was not in a good mood and when she wasn't, all of her friends knew not to mess with her. She was usually nice and complacent but when struck with one of her darker moods, she could be mean and vicious.

As she was walking to her locker to get her books for her next class, she noticed a group of guys pushing one of their friends to her direction. Ignoring them, she reached for her locker and took out her books.

"Excuse me."

Alayna turned to the direction of the voice. The guy, who was being pushed by his friends just a while ago, was standing behind her looking sheepish. She raised a brow at him.

"Can I have directions?"

"To where?" she asked promptly, balancing her books in her arms.

He stared at her for a full minute before answering, "To your heart."

Alayna's jaw dropped. She gaped at him for a moment. She heard his friends laugh and that's what took her out of her shocked trance. Anger welled up inside her.

"If my hands weren't full right now," she began slowly, trying not to let her temper show.

"You would hug me?" he asked, the sheepish look gone, replaced by arrogance.

"No," she hissed. "I would smack you so many times, you'll think you're surrounded. I don't know what you and you're friends are playing at," she paused to give his snickering friends a glare, "but don't make a game out of me, you creeps."

After saying that, she turned on her heels and marched away, leaving them speechless and rooted on the spot.


Alayna drummed her fingers on the table as she waited for her friend to meet her in the cafeteria. Still in a bad mood, she took deep breaths to calm herself. Recalling what happened earlier, she felt anger stirring up inside her again. How dare they make a sport out of her? Were they so bored with their life that they had nothing better to do? And why her?

She was so deep in her thoughts that she didn't notice somebody standing in front of her until he spoke.

"So there you are! I've been looking all over for YOU, the woman of my dreams!" he exclaimed.

It was the guy from earlier. The students who heard his outburst stared at them, wondering what was happening. Some guys behind her even cheered.

"Is this seat empty?" he went on, as if he did nothing embarrassing.

"Yes," she answered coolly. She was fuming inside and it was tough trying to maintain her composure. When the guy made a move to sit beside her, she continued, "And this one will be if you sit down."

He didn't look fazed by her coldness. Instead, he looked a little confused. He scratched his head and glanced behind her. She turned her head and saw his gawking friends standing not so far off. Alayna scowled at them and turned her contemptuous stare at the guy in front of her. She was about to bite his head off when her friend arrived. Taking one look at her face, she grabbed Alayna's arm, shot an apologetic look at the guy and dragged her away before she could cause a scene and regret it later.


Nico sighed as he watched his vision of beauty and perfection walk away with her friend. His friends, Sam, Carl and Terrence moved to stand beside him and they too watched her leave.

He had fallen for her when he first met her. They had accidentally bumped into each other by the school entrance, Alayna's things falling in the process. Nico had profusely apologized while he picked up her things, making her burst out laughing. His mind went blank, then. He thought she was so lovely with the way her green eyes sparkled with amusement, the way she flipped her long, chocolate hair over her shoulder, the way she smiled happily and the way she looked at him with genuine friendliness. Cupid had struck his heart. He was in love.

And had been for 3 months, now. It was 3 months of stolen glances, troubled thoughts, endless dreaming and pining. It drove his friends crazy, his cowardice to confess. So they all formed a plan to make Alayna notice Nico for him to win her love.

"I don't think it's working," he told them dejectedly. "I'm just embarrassing myself with these stupid lines you researched online. They're just making her mad at me."

"Dude, you're doing okay," Sam argued. "She noticed you. Finally. And I'm pretty sure she's thinking about you already. At least you're not nonexistent in her life anymore."

"It's not because I'm a jock, right?" he asked, fearful of the answer. "And I'm even using cheesy pick-up lines! Could I get even more my stereotype?"

Carl, the smartest one in their group, scoffed at him. "Of course not. Alayna's not judgmental according to my research. She's friends with some of the jocks and cheerleaders, you know. She's one of the few people who could have been popular if she chose to. And as for the pick-up lines," he narrowed his eyes at Nico, "we all agreed to use them, remember? To make her notice you and think you're funny, which is one of the traits she's looking for in a guy?"

"But I think I'm doing it all wrong," Nico grumbled.

"I don't think so," Terrence sighed. Their heads slowly turned to look at him. Terrence was the prankster of the group and was known to get into trouble all the time. "I forgot to tell you about this but when she's in a bad mood, she could be very unaccommodating. That must have caused the epic fail."

"Why didn't you say so earlier?" Nico threw a punch at Terrence, which Terrence dodged swiftly. "I could have saved myself some embarrassment!"

"Dude, chill!" Terrence put his hands up in defense while he laughed. "I just forgot. Her friend told me that yesterday. And everything was just so funny that it slipped off my mind."

Nico glared at his friends who were grinning from ear to ear. "That's it. I'm just going to ask her out straight away and get this over and done with."

"No!" his friends shouted, earning them looks from the other students in the cafeteria.

"It's a perfect plan," Carl defended. "It's just Terrence here," he shot him an irritated look, "conveniently forgot to tell us that one very important information. Seriously, Terrence. Can't you try to be serious with this?"

Terrence didn't look insulted at all. He just continued grinning at Nico which annoyed him even more. Sam, the pacifier and the sensible one of the group, smacked Terrence on the back of his head to stop him from aggravating Nico.

"One last try, and I'll call it quits," Nico muttered.

His friends nodded in unison.


"Everything's set. I've fully secured the area. Nobody else will be coming in for the next couple of hours," Sam said as they peeked inside the library.

"Are you sure, Sam?" Nico nervously asked. "What about the librarian?"

"All taken care of by yours truly," Terrence said proudly. The others groaned, knowing that he did something terrible. "I locked her in one of the classrooms."

"We'll take care of that later," Sam rushed on, trying to resist the urge to tackle Terrence to the ground. "But what about the working student?"

"She's cool," Nico replied. "I talked to her."

"Good." Carl pushed his glasses up his nose. "Now remember, Nico. This is the best chance you will get. She's in a perfectly good mood. And," Carl suddenly grabbed Nico and looked at him straight in the eyes for him to know that he was really serious, "failure is not an option here, buddy. Now, go out there!"

Nico gulped and nodded. He slowly twisted the doorknob and motioned for his friends to go ahead.

"Good luck, Nico," Sam whispered as they scurried in the library and got to their positions.

Terrence clapped his hands together in glee. "This is going to be so hilarious. I should have brought my camera along, darn it."

"Shut up, Terrence," Carl snapped.

The working student looked at them as they hid behind the shelf next to her. Carl nodded at her and she smiled as she went back to her work, all the while glancing at the drama unfolding in front of her. Carl, Sam and Terrence did the same.

"Excuse me."

Alayna glanced up from her book and saw Nico standing in front of her. He was holding a notebook on one hand and a pen on the other. He was also wearing a serious look on his face as if he was trying to solve a very difficult problem.

"What?" she asked cautiously. She hadn't seen him in days and she kind of wondered why he was annoying her days ago. She had asked around about him and learned that he wasn't the type to annoy someone out of whim. She was also told that among his group of friends, he was the most approachable and the friendliest. So why was he messing with her?

"Hi," he greeted. "I'm writing a term paper on the finer things in life and I was wondering," he paused to poise his pen high over his notebook, "if I could interview you."

She looked at him, bewildered. Not another stupid pick-up line! She heard snickers behind her and she whipped her head around. The school library was fairly quiet today and there was no one else around, save for the working student arranging books on the table behind her. The working student kept stealing glances at them as she worked.

"Hey, how did you do that?" Nico asked suddenly.

"What?" she asked dumbly as she turned back to him, not believing that this was all happening to her.

"Look so good?"

Her eyebrows drew together in confusion. "Are you drunk?"

"I'm not drunk," he denied, looking indignant that made her feel sorry. But then, his expression softened and he gave her a breath-taking grin that made her heart flutter. "I'm just intoxicated by you."

She heard loud guffaws and looked behind again. She saw movement behind the bookshelf beside the working student and immediately figured that he brought his friends along and they were having tons of fun in her expense. Again.

She got up her seat in a flash, startling Nico into dropping his things, and turned to leave. She just wanted peace and quiet and if she wasn't getting it here in the library, she was going to find another place to get it. But she felt him grabbed her hand and so she reluctantly turned to look at him.

"Where are you going?"

"Somewhere without you!" she said through gritted teeth.

"But I can't be without you!" he declared passionately that shocked her speechless. "Me without you is like a nerd without braces! A shoe without laces! A sentence without spaces!"

The laughter started up again. Alayna looked at the working student and saw that she was trying to stifle her giggles. She immediately felt angry. This was a library, for crying out loud! They shouldn't even be making a peep! And where the heck was the librarian? She should be here and kick this jerk and the guffawing morons out!

"You are so fine," Nico began again, ignoring his friends. "I wish I could plant you and grow a whole field of you."

"Do I look like I sell fertilizer?" she shot at him, getting extremely annoyed.

He smiled lazily and gave her a slow once-over that made her blush. "No. Why?"

"Because you obviously think I give a crap," she said, sighing.

He grinned widely and she realized that she liked his smile. She fought the urge to brush his black bangs away from his grey eyes because it was irritating her. Damn, if he wasn't handsome. His thumb began drawing circles in her palm that made her heart beat faster. He was confusing her. Why was he going through all this trouble? Why was he trying to get her riled up when it was not even in his nature to annoy the life out of people?

"You see my friends over there?" He pointed to his friends who were now visibly peeking at them behind the shelf. "They want to know if you think I'm cute."

She tried to hide her grin but she couldn't. His cheesy pick-up lines were just so outrageous that she was beginning to be amused.

"Did the sun come out?" he whispered in an awed voice. "Or did you just smile at me?"

Alayna heard the working student burst into giggles. She was about to shout at him for embarrassing her but thought better of it. Instead, she decided to go along with him.

"You are like a candy bar," she commented, trying to take her hand back but failing. He wouldn't let her and she found it cute.

He gave her a smile again. "Why?"

"Because I think you're half sweet and half nuts," she muttered, looking at his chest instead because she knew she was turning red.

He laughed and she couldn't help but smile again. This time, she heard whoops coming from his friends. She raised her brows at them and they grinned unabashed at her.

Nico tapped her cheek to get her attention again. "If you were a basketball hoop, I wouldn't be able to make a shot."

"Because you would miss me?" she teased, laughing lightly.

He nodded and said, "I'm Nico, by the way, in case you didn't know and you're…" he squeezed her hand tightly, making her blush harder, "beautiful."

Her lips curved into a smile again. "Are you saying that because you don't know my name?"

"No," he answered smugly. "You're name is Alayna which means beautiful. And you are beautiful."

"Oh, for crying out loud!" she whispered to the heavens above in an exasperated tone. "Just what do you want from me?"

"How about you go out with me?" he asked in a hopeful tone.

Alayna gazed at him, dumbstruck.

"Say yes!" yelled the working student.

"Yeah!" Carl shouted in agreement while the Sam and Terrence gave vigorous nods at her.

"Rejection can lead to emotional stress for both parties involved and emotional stress can lead to physical complications such as headaches, ulcers, cancerous tumors, and even death!" Nico told her in a no-nonsense tone. "So for my health and yours, JUST SAY YES!"

She couldn't help it, she started laughing. Nico looked dejected as he dropped her hand. Alayna grabbed the table to steady herself as she laughed at the ridiculousness of it all. "If I say yes, will you drop the stupid pick-up lines?"

His face lit up like a lamp and his sigh of relief was audible. His friends cheered in the background but he didn't seem to notice . All he could see and hear was this beautiful girl in front of him and he knew that she was his. At last. After all those months of stolen glances, the pining and the depression, she was finally his.

"My friends would probably be devastated as they looked them up for me," Nico laughed freely as he pulled her into his arms, "But anything for you, Alayna."

Alayna liked the way he was holding her, like he wouldn't let her go ever again. She also liked the way he said her name, his voice deep and husky. She gazed into his eyes, soft with sincerity and liked the way he was looking at her with all the love in the world.

"Then, yes." Alayna said, biting her lip to stop herself from smiling at the delighted look on his face. "I will go out with you."

He looked both relieved and happy that it tugged her heart. His friends and the working student gave shouts of approval and she laughed, feeling ecstatic. Nico favoured her one of his breath-taking smiles again that made her feel pleased and contented.

"I think I'm going to have to call the police," she told him as they walked out of the library together hand in hand. His friends were still inside, celebrating the success of their hard work.

Nico smiled and he knew where his girlfriend was going with this. "And why is that?"

"Because you have just stolen my heart."


Author's Note:

Hello, hello! Haha! I just needed to get this out of my system, you know. A Filipino movie is forthcoming and they were using cute pick-up lines at each other on the trailer and I got inspired. The movie is not, in any way, like my story, and I've yet to watch it. Haha!

And about my other stories, I'll finish them. Don't you guys worry. Reviews, please? I had a hard time picking a title and if someone can suggest a new one, be my guest! Save me from myself! XD

Guess what? I'm going to write stories about Terrence, Sam and Carl, too! So, I'll be doing some changes but not with this story since it's complete. Thanks for reading!