His Crazy, Cheerleader Side-kick

Operation Redirect

The last person on earth I'd ever want near me. Gross. Hoping his weirdness did not rub off on me, I attempted to ignore him. But when he tugged on the binoculars, I had to complain.

"Stop it. What are you doing?" 

He continued until I relinquished them, letting him stare at my targets intently. 

"Spying on Kyle? Or spying on Natalie? I never knew you were a lesbian"

How dare he!  What was he, the great Inquisitor or something? I decided to ignore his very offensive and rude comment and said;

"None of your biz. Give them back!"

He did, finally, relinquishing them to me, but I was too flustered to continue.

I eyed Will warily, wondering if it was dangerous to be alone with him. But then I decided probably not - his family was wealthier than my own. His father owned "Watson's", which was one of the most common convenience store chains on the West Coast. I turned to him, hands on my hips, and glared.

"What do you want, Watson?" And then I saw it: his eyes held the same glow as mine did. He was a man on a mission to win someone's heart.

I felt odd standing beside the creep who had a purpose almost identical to my own.

I wanted Kyle. He wanted Natalie. Hmm... 

"You know, as much as I hate to say this, I could use your help in winning Natalie. I have no chance against muscle head." Will shocked me by thinking the same thing I was thinking. "Perhaps we should join forces."

"So, with my brains and your brawn, maybe we can get our heart's desires if we worked together?" I tapped my chin, thinking furiously about working with such a scumball. But the idea had merit. Very much so.

And so "Operation Redirect" began.

I knew that it would be more difficult for Will to help me get Kyle, so I opted to try and see if I couldn't redirect Natalie to my co-conspirator first. Then with her out of the picture, Teague would fall into my arms naturally. Despite my misgivings, I invited goth-boy over to work on our plan further. I made sure he avoided my family at all costs - no reason to start rumours within the Sunday-Morris household. He was ten minutes late to my door, which did not surprise me one bit.

"Your room is exactly how I pictured it to be." I couldn't tell if Will was being his normal sarcastic self, but of course I took offense. I was nervous already - boys were NOT allowed in my room so I was breaking rules. However, since he was who he was - a loser goth emo-head - would that rule even apply? Shrugging, I pushed him to the long mirror and took stock of the situation. Ugh. I did not have much to work with!

I tried to touch his hair, but he grasped my wrist tightly, glaring at me.

"Don't touch me." When Will snapped at me, I snapped right back.

"How am I supposed to get Natalie to like you if you won't let me do any work on your appearance? You can't walk around in all black all of the time! She's going to think you are a creep, which is not much of a stretch." I crossed my arms angrily after he released my wrist. The guy had to learn to be a little flexible!

"Fine." When he relented, I sighed in relief and began to get to work. He allowed me to trim his long, nappy hair - a good start. Then I borrowed my younger brother's clothes and had him change in the bathroom. When he stepped out, he looked better. I nodded my approval.

"That'll do." And so we began to scheme.

Whenever we could, we made sure the other was hanging out with their intended.

I tried to stick close to Kyle, but he was slippery. 

It seemed to be a little easier for Will, although his incredible shy streak hurt him.

Natalie was sweet and tolerated his silence or stuttering when he was near her. He was blowing it from him being a pure klutz.

Clearly it was up to me to show him how to flirt. Once more, I had goth-guy over at my house. 

"Lean in and smile, touch lightly." I instructed, showing him how. Of course, the action grossed us both out, but for the sake of the Operation, we put up with it.

He finally began to loosen up and feel more confident. And that's when it hit me why Natalie was making friends and had Kyle hanging around her... the girl practically oozed with confidence. It was almost as if she did not care what others thought about her. Ridiculous!

And two weeks before the dance, the thing we had dreaded happened: Kyle asked Natalie out on a date. I found out the time and place by using one of Kyle's jock friends and so Will and I made plans to make certain their little 'date' crashed and burned.