Page 105 of Drama Queens Don't Fall For Charming Boys

“Positive. Before rehearsal today, I started talking to her about how much boys suck. Sorry, no offense.”

I hold up my hands. “None taken.”

“Some boys are awesome, though. Anyway, since she’s currently not seeing anyone, we’re clear to start Operation Love Birds. But how do we get them together?”

My eyebrows furrow as I think. “We can’t make it obvious or else they’ll get suspicious. If only the four of us could randomly end up in the same place and then you and I slip away…leaving them together.”

She twists her nose. Then her eyes brighten. “Wait a second. Tomorrow’s Friday, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Miss Lane goes to Mikey’s Diner every Friday night. She orders their most popular burger and fries and a large cup of soda.”

“Are you sure?”

“Believe me, I’ve been living in this town all my life. It’s her Friday night ritual. I think she started it as a celebration for landing her job at Edenbury High and she’s been doing it ever since. So…we get Chase to come to Mikey’s with us, ‘randomly’ see Miss Lane there, and then we make ourselves disappear. Then bam, those two hit it off.”

I play around with the idea in my head. “Sounds pretty solid. We just need to make sure not to be so obvious. Chase already knows I’m trying to push them together. He warned me to stay out of his love life, but who really listens to their older sibling, anyway?”

She laughs. “I definitely didn’t listen to Willow all the time. It annoyed the heck out of her, especially when I stole her tech. Do you know I broke WillowBot a few times? Poor thing.”

“You and that robot have been through a lot,” I say.

“That, we have.”

“Okay, so back to Operation Love Birds. I think we should come here after school tomorrow. Pretend to work on our project again. Then we’ll tell Chase we’re going to Mikey’s and convince him to join us. Chase loves fast food, so it shouldn’t be too hard. Then we’ll hopefully see Tori there and like you said, bam.”

“Yep. They’ll see each other and fall madly in love again.” She taps the plan into her notes app.

I twist my mouth. “Hopefully. My brother can be a big bonehead sometimes.”

She laughs. “So mean.”

I hold up my hands, laughing, too. “Sorry. But it’s the truth.”

We continue working out the details, getting more excited as we come up with more ideas. I hope Chase doesn’t see right through us. Well, I hope he agrees to join us when we go to Mikey’s tomorrow. There’s so much riding on his participation.

A short while later, Chase enters the room with a pizza box and a few cans of Coke. “Enjoy.”

“Thanks, man.”

“Thanks so much,” Mia says.

He nods with a smile and walks out.

As Mia and I eat, we go over the plan another time, just to make sure we don’t mess it up. Something tells me we only have one shot because if Chase finds out I’m messing with his love life, I think he really might kill me.

“Look at us playing matchmaker,” Mia says with a chuckle. “Never thought I’d be doing that. They’d make a cute couple, you know.”

I swallow my bite of pizza and nod. “Yeah, they would.”

“Well, let’s toast.” She lifts her Coke can and says. “To the success of Operation Love Birds.”

I lift my can as well. “May Cupid shoot love arrows at them.”

She playfully shoves my shoulder. “No! No love arrows. They need to want to be together or it’s all fake.”

I hold up my hands. “You’re right. May the awesome Mia Park help my brother realize he’s still in love with Tori and may they end up together happily ever after.”

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