In her family's kitchen, Girl Jordan was glaring at Christina after the latter told her what she wanted to hear.
"Are you telling me, Christina," Girl Jordan said. "That YOU invited Paige over to MY slumber party as a favor you owed her?!" She can't believe what she heard. She and Christina had been friends since forever and the latter did not think that she would make such a big deal out of inviting Paige over.
"Well," Christina said. "Now that I think about it, yes, it was stupid of me to do that when I should've asked you first if she could come too. Sorry."
Girl Jordan initially wanted to rage out loud but decided to take some breaths on the count of not wanting to act immature and rude. She then looks at Christina straight into the eyes. "Well then, guess I'll have to deal with it now. Am I Right?!"
Christina put her hands up in defense. "Look, I'm sorry I invited her over but what is it that you have against her? She hasn't done anything to you."
"Directly, no. Unintentionally, yes."
Christina gave her a confused look. "What do you mean?"
Girl Jordan looks away groaning as she puts her hands on the kitchen counter. "I'm only going to tell you because I no longer see you as a romantic rival."
"Romantic rival? What are you-" Christina's eyes widened and gasped at what her friend was talking about. "No. Way. You have-"
"A crush on Lincoln Loud." Girl Jordan states as she turns around with a predator face on. "You have a problem with that?"
"No. No. No. No problem at all. It's just that I'm curious as to why you have eyes on him."
Girl Jordan sighs. "It's because he's a kind person at heart and has no ulterior motives in school. Sure he has his flaws, and that Girl Guru moment might have been unforgivable, but I got over that and forgave him as to why he even did that in the first place."
"You actually forgave him?"
"Indeed I did." Girl Jordan states proudly. "When I found out that he did it on the count of his sisters eating he and Clyde's chocolates as those were their original plan for that school event, I understood why they did it. Sure it might have been a poor choice, but they saw it as a last resort."
"Ok," said Christina. "But what about that time he and some of his friends came over to that pool party you had that you told me about?"
Girl Jordan cringed at that moment back then. "First, don't ever remind me of that event again. Second, it's all in the past. What I do the next day is just pretending it never happened."
"Alright, but what about Paige? How is she even in your way even though you two never spoke to each other?"
"Girl, it's called jealousy," Girl Jordan stated. "Back then, Lincoln once had a crush on her after she gave him thumbs up and winked at him because he won a hockey game at the arcade. That, my friend, resulted in him giving a love letter back to her in response." She started to get irritated. "Just thinking about it makes my stomach churn."
Christina rolled her eyes from the drama she was hearing. "Well, you are lucky that Paige didn't reciprocate his feelings. But what happened to being someone who can let bygones be bygones?"
Girl Jordan became flustered and looked away in embarrassment. "Uh . . .some grudges just take longer than others to banish from one's thoughts." She then returns her gaze back to the red-haired girl. "Which has now come to my circumstances that I must ask you, Christina." She took a deep breath and then spoke fast and bluntly. "Will you help me with my secret plan to get advice from the gals on how to approach Lincoln and become an item with him?"
Christina became frozen and was trying to process the request she just heard. Usually she doesn't take requests on the count of them not being interesting to her. However, she does become flexible at times when it's her friends that are in need of help. When it comes to that, she's willing to help at all costs. When she came back to reality, she was taken aback as if a bullet struck her head.
"What?!" she exclaimed. "Are you serious?! I ought to stamp a big red X right on your face right there?!" She pointed right at Girl Jordan's nose in which the latter swatted away and looked at her deadpanned.
"You do that and stamp a bloody nose on yours." Girl Jordan then shook her head and got back on track again. "Look, two years ago, you immediately switched classes to get away from Lincoln after you found out he had a crush on you. This makes you officially off my rival list. I need someone who finds my crush creepy to help me become a thing with him."
"That sounds like a bad way to put it if you're calling your own crush creepy."
Girl Jordan shrugs it off. "I was just thinking about the Loud kid in your own eyes."
"Hold on a sec. What are you even saying right now?"
Girl Jordan signs and decides to come clean. "While I really did want to hang out with you guys, my main motive of inviting you guys over was to ask for advice on how to approach Lincoln."
"For real?!"
Girl Jordan nods feeling a little guilty for her true motive.
"Why not just ask your bestie, Rachel?"
"The last time she saw Lincoln was when he was the tie stock of tug of war between his friends and a stray dog. At that moment, Rachel started recording due to it being entertaining. With that said, I don't want to talk to her about my crush if my crush was the one she was recording out of entertainment. This would lead us back to the beginning. Will you help me become an item with Lincoln Loud."
Christina crosses her arms and looks away feeling uncertain. "I don't know. I vowed to myself since 5th grade that I would never associate myself with that kid or even be in any involvement with him in any scheme ever in my life."
Girl Jordan puts her hands on her hips as she raises an eyebrow at her. "Is that really what you told yourself?" She then thought of a solution that might benefit both their dilemmas. "How about this Christina. Let's make a deal?"
Christina became weary at what Girl Jordan was saying "What kind of deal?"
"You help me secretly get advice from the other gals on how to get together with Lincoln. In exchange, I'll never have to get you involved with Lincoln again. Think of it as a way of me forgiving you for inviting Paige over." Girl Jordan offered a hand while winking at her in hopes of convincing her.
Christina thought of the logic of the deal and stood her ground. "Alright, I'll help you become an item with the loud boy." She was about to shake the girl's hand until she thought of an extension. "But, in addition, you'll have to go shopping with me so I can help you look your best for your future date."
Girl Jordan blushed but decided to accept it. "Fine, but I won't be naive and agree to everything you offer me."
Christina smirked as she shook the other girl's hand. "I'm counting on it."
As the two girls pulled away from the handshake, Christina felt anew now that she's in debt to helping the girl out. "So what's the first step in Operating Seduction?"
Girl Jordan madly blushed at what she said. "Girl! That name is overrated to be called that!"
"I don't know," Christina teased. "It sounds like a good name to me. It kinda has a good ring to it."
Girl Jordan didn't want to argue anymore so she just went along with it as her face remained tomato red. "Alright, Code Red." she said begrudgingly. "We start by going through the activities I thought we could do with the others while asking valuable questions to gather intel without them realizing our motive. Cool?"
Christina gave her a thumbs up. "Cool. So what's the activity we're doing?"
Girl Jordan thought for a moment before snapping her fingers. "Well, it was either we start the sleepover with the Magic 8-Ball or a pillow fight. You know, so we can exert our energy for a little bit. But first we still need to get these tableware upstairs." She points to the cups, plates, and napkins on the table.
Christina nods as they both start collecting the tableware before hearing a loud explosion and eventually, Emma's voice. "Sorry Girl Jordan! Paige didn't know how to play with the magic 8-Ball and accidently broke it!"
Christina's eyes shrunk as she saw Girl Jordan pissed off. When the latter looks at her, Christina tries to act innocent as she laughs with guilt. "Pillow fight it is then, right?"
Lucy, with her pet bat hanging from her right arm, guided Micah to the Loud kitchen which was a standard family kitchen like any other family would have for a lot of children.
Micah smelled the aroma of the place and quietly cringed at what went into his nose. "Sheesh, I am not really used to messy kitchens with a lot of stains and smells."
The two stopped in front of the fridge as Lucy turned to face the older boy. "Behold," she said. "Our family refrigerator." She opens the door with her left arm which displays a lot of cold products that are meant to feed families. "In here, you're permitted to use any of our available foods. Whether it's the condiments, cooked meats, fruits and vegetables, dairy ite-"
"Um . . . is that a container with fresh blood?" Micah asked, pointing to one with red gooey liquid inside.
Lucy looks and immediately snatches it out of the fridge. "No, this is actually fake blood with the addition of fake brain fragments. Sorry about that, me and a friend of mine were creating this as part of our liking for vampire traits. Remember, there's also food you can get from our cabinets that are already open. Take what you want inside here and establish your meal, I'm going to go tend to my pet bats." She then leaves the kitchen leaving Micah there with the open fridge.
Micah decides to look back into the fridge and start taking some items out as well as other ingredients from the cabinets and sets them on the counter to prepare something to eat while closing the fridge after not needing it open anymore.
"Let's see here, lettuce, ketchup, mozzarella cheese, brioche buns, avocado mayonnaise, fresh onions, ice cube-wait I don't need that," He tosses the ice cube in the trash can and focuses back to the laid out ingredients. "salt, pepper, frozen beef patties, and red pepper flake packets. This should be good. But wait, a-am I allowed to use their cooking supplies and utensils though? I know I'm allowed to make something for myself bu-"
"Hey dude." Micah turns around to see an older girl with a pixie-cut hair style. She looked about the age of 16 and was in the attire of a rock star with a guitar strapped over her shoulder. She was looking at Micah while leaning on the kitchen doorway. "It's nice to see the young lad who's helping my little bro in his summer job dilemma. " She walks past him to get a can of soda from the fridge before looking back at the kid and taking a small sip. "Names Luna, mate."
"Micah, Micah Jay Ransom. Are you British?"
"Who? Me?" Luna laughed. "Nah, my British Accent's fake dude. I just use it to imitate a famous rock star I idol for all my life." She takes another sip of soda before closing the fridge and looking at the ingredients the boy placed on the counter. "Whatcha makin?"
"Oh, just a makeshift burger to satisfy my night. I do this often back at my house so my parents won't have to cook for me." That made Luna more curious.
"I see, you have a thing for cooking then. Nice."
"A thing for cooking?" Luna's words flowed into Micah's head. "Well, I don't know about that. I mean, I usually cook burgers. And the last position I held before I trained Lincoln and his friends was handling a grill stove."
Luna shook her head. "Chill dude." She puts a hand on the boy's back. "Look, if your skills at work are half as good as it is in a friend's house, your masterpiece will be to die for."
"What?"
"Never mind what I just said. If you want, I can be your spectator. I just finished tuning my guitar just now." Luna takes another sip from her soda and leans by the doorway that leads to the family dining room. "Try using this as an opportunity to make a new menu item for Burpin' Burger. That way, Burpin' Burger will still be in the game against Stun Burger."
To Micah, Luna's words made total sense in his brain. If he can make a new menu item, Burpin' Burger can stay afloat against its apex competitor. If he had any chance to save the place where he works at, he'll take it. A smirk slowly forms on his face as he turns to face Luna.
"Are your parents still planning to cook dinner for you and your siblings?"
In her now-messy bedroom dressed in her pajamas, all of Girl Jordan's friends were already KO'd from pillow fighting each other. Some of her friends' pillows had feathers in them so that's one of the reasons her room is now a white jungle. Girl Jordan herself was still standing but was extremely tired after letting her rage fume out after a material for her plan exploded. She was breathing heavily as she was still holding a wrinkled pillow ready to swat someone again while her legs were wobbling to keep her body in place.
"Well . . .looks like . . .I'm the . . .champion . . .of this . . .match!" she exclaimed. "Is . . . anyone . . .still got . . .any . . .power left . . .to keep . . . going?!"
On her right side, Paige slowly rose up from her place with her pillow ready to continue. "Bring it on!" she exclaimed.
Both girls rushed at each other, only to collapse after one final whack at each other's faces. When that all finally came to an end, Christina was lying on the floor feeling exhausted that most of her energy was used up with one thing in her mind.
"Bringing Paige over as the favor I owed her was a big mistake!"
A/N: The sleepover and slumber party may have went a little dragged, but I hope you still enjoyed the chapter.
