Hola everyone! Sorry I haven't updated in literally forever...buts it's okay right? School has been so so stressful but luckily summer will be here before I know it :)

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Colton offered to pick me up for school on Monday. At first I didn't know what I was going to say, but soon decided that a car ride with him seemed perfect, even if it was to go to school. I texted Ben.

Me; Colton's driving me to school today :)

Ben; so I'm guessing the date went well?

Me; yeah!! It was perfect!

I was starting to worry that I was getting too girly, but Ben didn't seem to mind all that much. Instead he texted back his usual reply.

Ben; ok

I'm not sure if anyone feels me here, but are guys the most dry-texters ever? It's like they don't know how to have a conversation over text messaging without an ok added into the conversation.  Sometimes it drives me insane, but over the years I've grown to ignore it.  I wore my normal attire, a black flannel and leggings with a plain white shirt underneath. It looked kind of lazy, but I thought I looked cute after I put some effort into my wild hair.  I went down stairs and waited for Colton to pull into my driveway, just as Ben was taking off down the road.

      "Hey cutie" Colton said as I resumed my spot in the passenger side of his car. I blushed and remembered the events of last night which only made me smile wider. 

     "Hey" I said. I was more than tired at the moment for having to get up so early , and I was kind of sad because I didn't get my daily dose of Ben in the morning. Usually his morning comments were how I made it through the day and I could only hope Colton would provide the same assistance.

"How'd you sleep?" He asked. I glanced at him and couldn't help but feel cheery and happy all over again. If I was being completely honest I would say that I slept amazingly, partly because I couldn't stop reliving the night over and over in my dreams. Even when it was a dream I still smiled like I did in real life, it still made me as happy as ever.

But there was no way I was going to tell him that, then he'd think I was obsessed with him and I most definitely didn't need him thinking that.

"I slept good. How about you?" I asked. I looked at him kept my hands rested in my lap, ever move he made sent shivers to my bones.

"Best in a long time" Colton said. Either way, He still looked extremely tired from the messy hair to the wrinkled shirt. I could tell instantly that he wasn't a morning person because sometimes I'd glance over to him twiddling his thumbs and trying to fix his hair as he drove.

I found it attractive the way his hair wasn't perfect and how the part of his hair was a tiny bit messed up. In a way, his hair looked extremely soft.

The car ride grew sort of silent after a while, but I only assumed it was because of the lack of awareness and sleep. But as I rode in the car with him I couldn't help but feel tired even more than when I woke up. Usually I was wide awake by the time I piled my bags into Ben's car, but today was different and I definitely had no motivation to go to school any longer.

•*•*•*•*•*•

Finally lunch rolled around and I joined my friends in the cafeteria. They were serving macaroni and cheese, but I knew Ben would refuse the touch the fake food the school serves us. I always pack a lunch just to be safe, but occasionally I buy when they're serving pizza. Jenna packed a lunch too, so we were the first ones to arrive at our table each day.

As soon as I sat down and Layla and Aubrey had joined us, I launched into my epic story I had yet to inform them about.

"You'll never guess what I did last night" I said, in hopes that none of them would guess correctly. When nobody answered I catapulted into the part of story that would make them go wild.

"I went on a date with Colton" I said. For a moment they seemed really interested, but for the girls sake Jenna decided to joke around.

"Only in your dreams. How long have you be crushing over him?" Jenna teased. I laughed a fake laugh and waited for them to show their excitement- which came soon after.

"Details!" The three of them screamed all at once. I glanced across the lunchroom at Colton who was sitting with his group of friends, they were completely engrossed in their own conversation. Meanwhile, here I was talking mildly about Colton Briggs with a group of friends that couldn't keep their mouths shut.

"Okay. Well he took me to this super amazing restaurant. It was like made of gold!" I emphasized.

"Did he kiss you? And if so was it more than 3 seconds?" Aubrey questioned. I knew she was always the one to assume kissing had taken place, so this type of question didn't surprise me when it came from her.

"No. it was our first date, but he did admit that he's liked me for a while now" I said. Jenna chuckled and took a bite of her peanut butter sandwich that was now almost completely gone.

"I bet not as much as you've liked him" Jenna teased again. I shoved her arm playfully because I didn't want to risk anybody hearing.

"When are you gonna jump his bones?" Aubrey asked. I rolled my eyes because I found the topic turning into something that shouldn't be discussed at lunch in the middle of school.

"Aubrey" I hushed. She only seemed amused.

"You have to sooner than later. He's hot and I'm sure he can help you with all that stress from school. If you know what I mean" Aubrey winked. I rolled my eyes and smacked my palm to my hand. I looked over at Colton again who was still deep in conversation. I was pretty sure my face was turning a shade redder after I couldn't help but imagine all the things you aren't supposed to imagine.

Great.

"Well instead of bugging me maybe you should go after Alex, you've been eyeing him up for a while now" I said, trying to get back at her with her own words. Aubrey glared at me and threw her trash on her tray. She huffed and puffed before standing up.

"Maybe I will" she challenged. She stood up and threw her trash in trash can before marching over to a boy much like her. He was a red head as well, that wore contacts and played soccer. Aubrey was in that stage where she kind of liked him, but at the same time she wasn't sure. After a while of her being over there, I saw her type her number into his phone before handing it back and marching back towards us.

"There, I got his number" Aubrey said easily, like what she just did was easy stuff. Jenna kind of laughed and eased it off, as we continued on eating our lunch. Then, all of a sudden Aubrey got this bizarre idea. I could tell because she inched forward on her chair with the famous light-bulb look.

"I just realized that Libby and I both have talked to the people we like, so I think you two should try and do the same! Imagine, it would be so neat if we all had boyfriends at the same time" Aubrey said. I cringed at her comment, only because Woman shouldn't strive to have a man in their life, it should come as it comes. For some reason I didn't like the way that Aubrey was turning this into a game. She made it seem like my relationship with Colton was a joke.

"Uh... I don't know about that Aubrey..." Jenna said. Usually Jenna and I thought among the same lines, it's just she was the one that actually spoke how she thought. Not I.

"We can call it.... Operation guys before 05" Aubrey announced. "It stands for the month we graduate in May next year." She clarified.

"It sounds kind of silly to me" Layla said, which was the first time she's spoken since we started eating. I completely agreed with her, but Aubrey didn't seem like she wanted to deal with it.

"You're just too scared to even talk to Ben, let alone be in the same room as him" Aubrey snapped. "I guarantee that this will make you more confident. Besides, its senior year! We might as well make the most of it" Aubrey finished. For once I didn't see much harm to form from this, except with Layla. But as I thought about it more, maybe Ben would be interested in Layla if he got to know her. And besides, it would be good for her to actually talk to him for once.

Finally everyone at our table agreed on the Operation. The first step was getting both Layla and Jenna to talk to the people they found attractive or boyfriend worthy. Although Aubrey didn't like Jenna's choice of Tyler Moore, I think she would've allowed anything to get Jenna involved.

"I'll talk to Ben" I said, chipping in my tiny bit of help. Layla smiled and I saw a small glimmer of hope reach her eyes brightly. I could tell that she was excited and nervous all at the same time. 
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At the time I thought this wouldn't be anything horrible, I thought it would just be a silly agreement that we would never leave the lunch table.