Stupid Cupid (Chapter 5)

"Okay, Kyle can know nothing about this day," told Debra.
"I promise if you promise to not tell Jeffrey," said Skye.
"Or DeMarcus," added Lizzie.
"Your secrets are safe with me," said Madeline.
"We're friends," reminded Andrea. "You know we can never tell a soul."
"I just feel so foolish. I was the one who said that we should have a fun time without guys and in the middle of the day, I become a hypocrite."
"It's not the first time," noted Skye.
"But I can't help it. I flirt with so many guys, hoping that one of them could be the one. I'm just a Jamie trying to find my Landon."
"Well, we all know that A Walk to Remember isn't real."
"But I know a guy who looks just like Shane West."
"I think I dated that guy," said Andrea.
The girls stopped walking when they saw the blond guy from earlier stopping in front of them. Actually, he was directly the opposite of Madeline, desiring to speak to her.
"Hi," he said.
"Hi," Madeline responded.
"I guess we'll let you two talk," said Debra with a smile.
  The girls walked past the two, giving them some space.
"Hi," Madeline repeated. "Listen, I'm sorry for scaring you away but I was trying to prove a point to my girlfriends. So what do you want? You trying to sell me roses because I'm not in the mood for them."
"No, no. It's just that-- Well, you don't know me but I'm Homer. I bought you a rose as a Valentine's Day gram at school."
"Oh, so you're Homer?"
"Yeah. I've noticed you around certain areas of the school and eventually learned your name. It didn't take long for me to know your name since you're student body president. But I was dumbfounded with how beautiful you were and I sorta developed a weird crush on you."
"You're not gay, are you?"
"Oh, no. No, I'm straight."
"Just making sure."
Homer laughed, making Madeline blush. "So since I've gotten that out the way, do you want to get to know me a little? As in do you want to go on a date with me sometime?"
Madeline grinned. "Sure, Homer, if I can call you Landon for a little bit."
"Landon? Well, can I call you Lucy Hale?"
"Alright, I'll call you Homer."
Homer laughed again. Madeline laughed as well.

Stupid Cupid (Chapter 4)

Later that day, the girls try to find each other as they were scattered in different places. They all eventually bumped into one another and assembled. Each of them was ready to burst with what they wanted to say.
"Oh, you guys," started Madeline. "You will not believe what happened to me. Now I know I said that I can live without a man, but let's face it: I lied. I met this guy who was so handsome and so kind. It was like he fell from heaven and landed on me."
"Dios mio," uttered Andrea. "I met a guy as well. He was fly. You know how much mami loves dulce. His smile was out of this world and his eyes... Whoo! I almost fell over when I looked into his eyes."
"But my guy's hair was like an oceanic wave of hot chocolate. Man! He kinda looked like Austin Mahone, but way, way sexier."
"Oh, it's so fantastic that you guys have boyfriends now," commented Lizzie. "Maybe one day, since all five of us have men, we could have a quadruple date."
"You mean 'quintuple'," corrected Skye.
"Why?"
"Quintuple means five."
"Oh! That makes sense."
"So who is your guy?" asked Debra to Madeline.
"The guy from the rose stand!" Madeline answered.
Debra made a blank face. "What?"
"That's my guy," said Andrea.
"Your guy?" Madeline inquired. "Uh, he's my guy."
"No, he's mine," Skye jumped in.
"Excuse me? You have a boyfriend."
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Yes, you do. You got Jeffrey."
"I don't even know who that is."
"Listen, I don't care who's single or not," said Andrea. "That boy belongs to me."
"Does it make me a bad person if I like that guy as well?" asked Lizzie.
"You, too?" questioned Madeline.
"I plead the fifth," Debra rose her hand.
"This is insane. Three of you have boyfriends. Don't you think I deserve one?"
"We do," responded Andrea, "but not with the guy from the rose stand."
"He is mine! He likes me."
"What is his name?"
Madeline scoffed. "Like you know."
"His name is Milo."
"And I knew that."
"No, you didn't, you liar."
"Oh, whatever. So what? He told me that I don't deserve to be single because I was too beautiful."
"He said the same thing to me."
"He also called me beautiful," confessed Lizzie. "He said that's why I have a boyfriend."
"He told me that I was sweet and as beautiful as how the world should be," admitted Debra.
"He called me a goddess," Skye conceded, "which I don't believe but when he said it to me, I believed him."
"This is a bunch of nuts," said Madeline. "We are not going to fight over the same guy like we did last year."
"You're right," Andrea agreed. "That's why you should give him to me."
"Ah-ah. Let's not be rash."
Lizzie moaned. "I don't want to cheat on my boyfriend."
"You won't have to," said Andrea, "because Milo is mine."
"I found him first," stated Madeline.
"Yeah? Well, he spoke Spanish to me so qué vas a hacer con eso?"
"Now wait a sec. Let's all simmer down and try to process--"
Madeline didn't finish speaking as she began to run away past Andrea. The rest of the girls ran as well, trying to catch up to her. Madeline zipped through a quarter of the fair, heading for the rose stand. As the girls got closer and closer, they could clearly see Milo at the rose stand. They began to perceive that he was in a lip lock with someone leaning over the table as they stood across the stand. And that someone appeared to be a male. The girls stopped when they were a feet away and made faces of confusion and shock.
"Milo?" inquired Madeline, almost frozen in her stance.
Milo broke the kiss from the guy and looked at the girls. The handsome mystery man stood up and looked at the girls, too.
"Hey, I've seen you before," Milo smiled. "I've seen all five of you."
"You're gay?" asked Andrea, bending her knees a bit.
"How come you didn't tell me this?" Madeline questioned.
"You're cheating on me with a guy?" queried Skye. "So does that mean I look like a guy to you? Because you told me I was a goddess, not a god."
"I am so confused," shared Lizzie.
"You guys, let me explain myself," said Milo. "This is my boyfriend, Rye."
"Hey," Rye said with a lisp, smiling and waving.
"I don't care who you are," said Andrea.
"Look," started Milo, "I assume that you guys got a little crush on me. I only told you all that you were beautiful so you could buy more roses. However, it only worked on two of you."
"Okay, so you're telling me that your sweet talk was sweet nothings?" asked Madeline, stepping closer.
"Practically, yes. But I made you feel good and that's a good thing, right?"
"You're a bag of douche," commented Debra.
Madeline threw her long-stemmed rose at Milo's face, enabling the rest of the girls to throw all of their roses at him. After that, the girls began to walk away together.
"Try to keep those roses fresh," shouted Lizzie.
"Yeah!" uttered Skye.
"Don't forget to put sugar in the water!"
"Lizzie, don't tell him how to keep the roses alive."

Stupid Cupid (Chapter 3)

Debra and Lizzie scattered away from Andrea and Skye, who decided to stick together to find a game to play. Madeline made her way to a stand where a guy was sitting down, taking people's money and handing them pure red roses. Over the stand was a sign that said, "Roses for $5" written in red paint. There was a short line to the stand so Madeline stood in the back of it and waited. It took a few minutes until she was first in line. She was face-to-face with the guy, who had to be in his late teens, early twenties.
"How many roses?" he asked in a silky voice.
"Just one," answered Madeline, crossing her arms.
The guy reached down to one of the baskets of fresh cut roses behind the stand. "Is it for yourself?"
"Yeah. So what?"
"Nothing. I just thought a guy should be buying one for you."
"Well, I don't have a guy to buy me one."
The gentleman revealed the long-stemmed rose. "I'm sorry; I can't paint a picture right now. How could someone as gorgeous as you not have a boyfriend?"
"I ask myself all the time. I just don't know the answer."
"Well, there can't be an answer. There is no excuse for you to be single."
Madeline looked into this guy's eyes. She started to get lost into them. So smoldering and brown; it was like they were hypnotizing her. Then she began to realize how enticing this guy was when he smiled at her, oh so seductively.
"Um... thank you," she almost stuttered.
"Not at all. Here's your rose."
Madeline slowly took the flower from him. "Here's five dollars." She slipped a folded-up five dollar bill out of her pocket.
She protruded the money from in-between her index and middle finger. The guy looked into Madeline's blue eyes as he started to grab the dollar from her, slowly caressing her fingers before sliding the money out of her fingers.
"Thank you," he said.
"T-Thank you," she responded.
The guy held eye contact with Madeline for a while. She couldn't handle how hot he was so she slowly backed up then ran away.

Several minutes later, Lizzie decided to make herself feel less guilty about basically ditching her boyfriend by buying him another gift. So she found the rose stand and decided to wait in line. It didn't take too long for her to be first in line.
"How many roses?" asked the guy.
"One," responded Lizzie with a smile.
"Just one?" The guy reached down to the flowers.
"Well, I only got one boyfriend."
"Oh, this is for your boyfriend?"
"Yep. He loves roses. He likes how they look like that design people make with frosting when they're making a cake."
The guy pulled out the rose. "Very interesting. Also, when I first saw you, I knew you had a boyfriend."
"How? Are you psychic?"
The guy laughed sexily. "No. It's just that you're very beautiful. A girl like you can't be single."
Lizzie blushed; she was flattered. "Oh. Thank you."
"No need to thank me. It's the truth. You are very beautiful."
Lizzie giggled. She started to become aware of how cute and nice that guy was. "Here you go," she grinned, handing him money before taking it out of her small open purse.
"Thanks. Here you go." He gave her the rose.
"You know what? Can I get another rose?"
"You want another one?"
"Yeah, DeMarcus could use two. Or three. Or four! He loves them so... so he doesn't care how many he has... I'm sure."
The guy bent down and tore three more roses out of their basket. He sat up and handed them to Lizzie.
Lizzie gave the guy more money. "Thank you."
"Sure. Four roses for the girl who is four times more beautiful than any other girl here."
"You know what? I'm gotta go but I'm gonna come back if I decide that I want more roses."
"I'll be here waiting."
Lizzie grinned at the guy who grinned right back. As she slowly began to exit, she waved at him goodbye. He waved back but she kept waving as she walked away backwards. When she had gotten far enough, she stopped waving, which prompted the guy to stop waving back.

Later, Andrea realized how much she appreciated Madeline for being so confident about her solitude. So she made a decision to buy a rose for herself to get as much self-assurance as Madeline had. She walked through the fair and found the rose stand which had no line. She sprinted all the way to the front of the table.
"How many roses?" asked the guy.
"One," Andrea answered, holding up her index finger.
The guy reached down to the roses. "May I ask who is this rose for?"
"It's for me."
"For you? Just you?"
"Yeah, I have no one to give it to. That's why there's no one to give me a rose. But I deserve one so I'm buying one for myself."
"Wow." The guy sat up and revealed a red rose. "Well, you do deserve one. That's for sure."
Andrea smiled. "Thank you."
"Of course. What I don't understand is why you have no one to give things to you when you're incredibly beautiful."
"Well, I tend to hurt people... physically and emotionally."
"That just means you're strong. I like that."
Andrea was mesmerized by this guy's smoky eyes. "Ah, dios mio..."
"You speak Spanish? I speak a little. Fuera de todas las lenguas en el mundo, eres la mejor."
"Aw, yeah."
"Here you go." The guy smiled at Andrea as he offered the rose.
Andrea smiled back as she grabbed the flower from him. "What's your name?"
"What's yours?"
"Andrea."
"I'm Milo. It's not as beautiful as 'Andrea' though."
"Listen, I got to split but if you want to look for me later, I'll be here." She handed him a five dollar bill.
"Good to know."
Andrea giggled, almost nervously, before exiting.

A few minutes after that, Debra made her way to the rose stand. She was still thinking about her boyfriend, Kyle, longing to spend time with him. She thought she would be able to take her mind off of him if she bought something that she loved: a flower. There was one person at the front of the stand so when she came up, that person was just leaving. She stepped closer to the stand and faced the gentleman.
"How many roses?" he asked.
"One will do me good," Debra responded.
The guy reached down to grab a rose. "Who is this flower for?"
"Myself. I find serenity with flowers."
"You do?"
"'Yesserina'. The smell usually helps me find a calmer state of mind."
Milos held up a rose. "What's 'yesserina'?"
"It means 'yes'. I'm sorry; I like to make up words to keep myself loose, if that makes sense."
"No, I get it. It makes perfect sense. I think it's cool that you feel calmer when you're around flowers."
"Thank you. I believe that peace is important in everyone's life. It keeps us from destroying what should be loved."
"That's really beautiful. Like you."
Debra grinned. "Thank you."
"I like a girl who's laid-back."
"Back up, Jack. I got a boyfriend."
"Oh. Well, that makes sense. A girl who looks like you and acts like you cannot be single."
Debra giggled, basking in Milo's honeyed words and slowly becoming infatuated with him. "Can I get an extra rose?"
"An extra rose?"
"Maybe a third one."
"Sure thing, sweet thing."
Debra giggled again. She took her money out of the back pocket of her jean shorts and began counting it to get ready to give Milo the right amount.
Milo bent over and picked two more roses from their basket. He sat up, picked up the first red rose and handed all three to her. "There you go."
"Thank you." Debra handed him the money, which he slowly took from her, fondling her fingers.
"No, thank you."
Debra gave him one last smile before walking off.

Next, not much of a surprise, Skye made her way over to the rose stand. She felt bad for getting her boyfriend, Jeffrey, a gift so she wanted to at least give him something. She waited in the short line to the stand. And in almost no time, she was in the presence of Milo.
"How many roses?" he asked.
"The way that my budget looks, one," answered Skye.
Milo reached down to the roses. "You have a budget?"
"Yes, which may seem shocking, but I'm one of those poor white people."
Milo laughed his sexy laugh. "You're funny."
"I get that a lot."
Milo exposed the red rose for Skye. "Is this for yourself?"
"No, it's for my boyfriend, Jeffrey."
"Oh. Does he like roses?"
"I don't know. But that doesn't mean he shouldn't appreciate it."
"I see. Jeffrey's a lucky guy."
"How so?"
"Well, he's with a girl who looks like you."
"And what do I look like?"
"Beautiful. Really beautiful."
"Thanks, man but I ain't all that."
"How can you say that? You look like those goddesses that one would see only from a mythology book."
"Well, me being as beautiful as a goddess is a straight myth."
"Sorry I even mentioned it. I just had to say something because you are the best looking person in this entire fair."
"Do you really believe that?"
"No, I know that. That's why I said your boyfriend is a lucky guy. He probably calls you his princess and stuff like that."
"No, not really. He calls me Skye."
"Is that your name?"
"Yeah."
"Oh, well, there's nothing more gorgeous than the sky. Of course it will get black at night like a deadly disease. But sometimes there are stars and without the black, we can never admire the illumination of the precious stars in the sky. And the sky can also be blue, shining and precious like the hue of your gorgeous eyes."
Right there, Skye fell under his spell. "Um... are you gonna give me my rose or what?"
"Yeah." Milo handed Skye the flower. "Here you go."
"Thanks." Skye pulled a folded up dollar from her jeans' pocket and laid it on the table.
Milo picked the dollar up. "Come again."
"Yeah, we'll see, brother."
Skye turned around and walked away, trying to deny the feelings she was getting.

Stupid Cupid (Chapter 2)

The next day, on Valentine's day, Madeline picked up all of her girls up so they all could go to the fair. She drove them into the heart of Orange Country for half an hour. She parked in a huge lot in front of a festive carnival. When the girls entered, everything was Valentine's Day themed. There were animations of red hearts and pink kisses everywhere. Not to mention the numerous amount of lovey-dovey couples who were doing just about everything together. The girls felt awkward just walking deep into the fair together.
"Now I want DeMarcus here with me," admitted Lizzie.
"Stop with that crazy talk," commanded Madeline. "We are here to have some fun."
"If you mean 'fun' by 'lesbianism'," started Skye, "I'm sorry but I have a boyfriend."
"No, I mean 'fun' as in having fun. We don't need to a guy to enjoy this fair. We have each other and if we love each other, then that's enough, right?"
"Yeah," agreed Debra, "but I feel bad. Kyle would've wanted to come here. We would probably get on the ferris wheel and never get off."
"Debbie, what did I say about the guys? We don't need them right now."
"You're just saying that 'cause you don't have a man."
"That's right. And do you see me complaining about it?"
"No."
"That's right, no. Because I don't need a man."
"But you flirt with guys all the time," mentioned Andrea.
"That's true but I never pursue anything with them."
"Actually, you try to," said Lizzie. "It just never works out."
"Let's not think about that. Let's about us. Our bond, our friendship. Some of us have men but right now, we don't need them. Come on, remember that song we used to sing? By the Pussycat Dolls? Remember it?"
Madeline began singing the song to refresh the girls' memories and prompt them to sing along with they eventually did.

I don't need a man
To make it happen, I get off being free
I don't need a man
To make me feel good, I get off doing my thing
I don't need a ring around my finger
To make me feel complete
So let me break it down
I can't get off when--

"Hey," some guy interrupted them.
He was looking at Madeline, who turned around when she heard him. He wasn't a bad looking fellow. Nice smile. Nice muscles. Nice clothes. Nice blond hair floating above his forehead. He had to be in his late teens.
"I don't believe we've met," he continued.
"Then why are you interrupting me?" queried Madeline like a diva. "Don't you see us singing? Like don't you see us having a moment?"
"I'm sorry."
"Good to hear but I'm with my friends right now so you can be gone."
"But--"
"Be gone!"
The arresting fellow had no choice but to leave. Madeline turned back around to face her girls.
"You see that? He was a guy and told him to be gone. So you can see how serious I am about this trip."
"We appreciate it, Maddie," said Debra, "but we're still going to miss our guys."
"I feel you, Maddie," said Andrea, "but I just want to play some games."
"At least you have the right mindset, Andy," said Madeline. "The rest of you guys are going to see your boyfriends tomorrow so there's no need to mope. You know what? You guys do whatever; I'm gonna go over to that rose stand and buy myself a rose because I am an independent woman. You guys don't have to wait up for me; I'll find you. Now will you excuse me as I buy a rose with money. Money a man didn't give me. Of course my dad still gives me an allowance every time I take his car to the wash but he doesn't count. He's not a man. He's an old man."

Stupid Cupid (Chapter 1)

It was lunchtime and the girls found themselves in the cafeteria. That day, there was an epidemic: the love kind. It was the day before Valentine's day and girls and boys of all grades walked around with fake red roses and small white teddy bears. From their table, the girls were gawking at a couple who were standing a couple yards away. They had to be sophomores; their arms were wrapped around each other while they pecked each other on the lips over and over and over again. After a couple of minutes, they smiled at each other and walked off to their table, hand in hand.
"Thank goodness," said Andrea, re-positioning herself at her seat. "If they kept kissing each other, their lips would've fell off."
"Aw, young love," sighed Lizzie, interlocking her fingers, working together to hold a plastic rose between her palms. "It's just like old love except old people don't really like to touch each other anymore."
Soon, Lizzie's handsome boyfriend, DeMarcus, came by and sat down next to her.
"Hey," he said in his smooth, deep voice.
"Hey," Lizzie grinned.
They pecked each other on the lips.
"I got your flower."
"Good. I paid five dollars for that."
"Did you get my Valentine's Day gram?"
DeMarcus pulled out a plush toy. "You mean my teddy bear?"
"Oh! Good that you have it. I paid five dollars for that."
DeMarcus put his arm around Lizzie; she did the same thing to him.
"Somebody call the love police," quipped Skye. "This couple is way too much in love!"
"Don't make fun of me," demanded Lizzie. "Make fun of yourself. You got a rose."
"Yeah." Skye picked up her flower. "But I'm not all up in Jeffrey's face and butt with, 'Did you get my gram?'"
"So what would you do if he was here?"
"I'd jump on him and give him a big ol' kiss. Mwah!"
Lizzie giggled.
"Kyle is so sweet," commented Debra, holding a rose and a note. "He wrote a little poem to go with my flower. 'You are my pretty princess and I'm your royal sir. I'd ask you to be my Valentine but you always were.' Aw, that's cute!"
Kyle poked his head over Debra's shoulder. He didn't really surprise her. "I'm glad you like it, sweetie," he said.
Debra giggled as Kyle sat next to her.
"You guys are so cute with your boyfriends," remarked Madeline who was holding at least fifteen fake roses. "I wish I had what you had but frankly, I don't know which one to pick."
"I can't believe you received all those roses, Maddie," commented Lizzie.
"Well, believe it. I'm adorbs."
"Who are those from?" asked Debra.
Madeline examined her roses which had notes attached to them. "Let's see: I have one from Allen Bosworth, Allen Cocker, Allen Lemmon, Allen Turner, Richard, Dustin, Calvin, Wade, Darius, three from Sean, Chad -- ew --, Jackson, and Homer. Who's Homer?"
"Someone who apparently likes you," responded Skye.
"Well, I don't know who he is. But I'm thankful for all these roses."
"Come on, guys," said Andrea. "You don't got to rub all your roses in my face."
"Oh, I'm sorry, Andrea," said Debra. "I knew for sure you were going to get one."
"I felt the same way. I thought I was going to get one from Kevin but I guess when I told him it was over, he took it seriously."
"Aw," Madeline uttered. "You know what? I think we deserve a little vacation. Like to the fair."
"That sounds like fun," DeMarcus commented.
"But just us girls should go."
"Now that doesn't sound like fun."
"When?" asked Lizzie.
"This Saturday, on Valentine's Day."
"Aw, but me and DeMarcus were planning something romantic on Valentine's Day."
"Can't you do it on Sunday?"
"Isn't that against law of Valentine's Day dates and stuff?"
"No."
"Oh, okay then. What do you think, DeMarcus?"
"I think you guys deserve the vacation," answered Lizzie's boyfriend. "We can have our super special sentimental picnic on Sunday."
Lizzie grinned then rested her head on his shoulder.
"You had a name for it?" asked Skye.
"Yep," DeMarcus replied. "I call it the 'Three S Date'. Maybe I should call it the 'Four S Date' since it's on Sunday."
"But if you were going to have it on Saturday, wouldn't that have already been the 'Four S Date'?"
"Oh, I didn't think about that."
"It's okay, baby," said Lizzie, rubbing her boyfriend on the arm. "I don't care how many S's are in the name."
"You know what? I should call it the 'Five S Date' because I'm bringing my sweetie."
"Oh, DeMarcus!"
"Maybe it's a good thing I don't have a boyfriend," shared Andrea.