New Life: A Second Chance

The plan was simple.

LaSelle was an all boys school. The boys that were here were all 17 years old and probably having the time of their lives to have girls for classmates. Kay's role was to get at least one of those boys interested and form contact. From there, they'll start having connections with LaSelle students.

Although the boys would graduate from the school, they would still have a close bond with their former alumni. Thus, Kay would still be able to garner information about the school and use them further when the time came in the future.

Now, you might be thinking it's weird: 17-year-olds with a 13-year-old? That's like cradle snatching, right? Upper secondary school students wouldn't hook up with the lower secondary school students.* It's like the unwritten rule: don't touch the 'babies'. However, it's not always the case. There have been relationships formed and it turned out pretty well.

In Kay's case, though, it wasn't that she was going to try and form any sort of relationship. Rather, it was to get to know them. She wouldn't lead them on in terms of feelings, but she definitely would be using them. The next question you'll probably be asking is ... why Kay? Why not the other guys? Wouldn't they be in a better position to get close to them?

The truth was, no. The exchange students are 17, and would view 13-year-olds as babies. They wouldn't really find much in common, so breaking the ice - let alone getting along well - would be difficult. Operation Honey Trap had a higher chance of success.

Kay was actually looking forward to this VERY much.

Her brother and her knights tended to block out most of the guy's attempts to get to know her. This way, she would be killing two birds with one stone. She can get to have more male friends AND she can see whether she could actively charm the guys. According to Kyle, the movements need to be subtle, as if it was all natural.

First, she would need to investigate their personalities. Different boys have different likes. There would be some basic similarities, but overall, there would be something that would stand out more for each boy. Since she wasn't planning to make them fall in love with her, it made things a bit harder - and easier. Depending on how you look at it. What made it tough was that she had to get their interest to be long-lasting, rather than something that they would stop once they went back to Country M.

She had just one term to set the bait, wait for the bite then reel in the line.

There was only one problem. Kay frowned as she put her chin on her hand, thinking hard. From what happened earlier, Kay could see that these four boys would not make it easy for her to perform and may even be a hindrance. Worse, she suspected that Kyle may not be keen on activating Operation Honey Trap.

She did NOT want that to happen.

Kay felt that she needed to have some contingency plans in case Kyle decided to pull the plug. Could she actually do it without their knowledge? Ali was her so-called bodyguard now and he was taking his 'duties' so seriously due to the last incident. So there would be a need to get him to be held back from performing his 'duties'. Not just Ali, but Kyle as well since he's the one that seems to lead the over-protectiveness.

As she was thinking hard, pursing her lips and tapping the table in consternation, an idea started forming in her mind. The more she thought about it, the more she thought that it was possible. Then she started smiling. How could she be so dense? She didn't need to do this all alone, right? She spent the rest of the day planning her diversion methods.

**--**--**--

That night, as Kay was brushing her hair in front of her mirror, she casually asked Sarah, "Do you know Sophia, from 1E?"

Sarah, who was reading a novel on her bed, replied while flipping a page, "Yeah, kinda. We're not that close though."

"I need your help," Kay said, turning to face Sarah.

Sarah looked up, curious. "Of course, anything. What is it?"

"I need to talk to her, but without Ali knowing. This is of the utmost importance," Kay stressed, "So could you meet up with her during break and tell her that I need to talk to her? To meet me in the girl's toilet on the 1st floor of Wing A at 3pm."

"The ... toilet?" Sarah looked at her strangely.

"It's the ONLY place I can be sure that Ali won't be around. Heck, any of the guys! I seriously need to talk to her, but if I go and approach her, Ali would know," Kay said in seeming distress. She placed her hands together and looked at Sarah with pleading eyes.

"I know this is a very strange request, but it's really important," Kay said.

"O-kay," Sarah replied, putting down her book, "What's it all about though? If I may ask?"

Kay started playing with her hair, her cheeks having a slight blush as she looked at the floor. "Promise you won't tell anyone?"

Sarah gasped, coming over, kneeled down and held Kay's hands in her own. She looked up, feeling that Kay looked so cute blushing like that. A suspicion played in her mind, but she didn't voice it out. Instead, she said, "OF COURSE I wouldn't! You're my good friend! My roommate! I wouldn't betray you! May what you say never pass these lips of mine."

Kay giggled and squeezed Sarah's hands. Then she opened her mouth to say something, then stopped. She cleared her throat and tried again, "You ... know the exchange students, right?"

"Uh-huh," Sarah replied with a smile. Looks like her suspicions were correct.

"And ... well ... there's ... there's this guy from LaSelle that is kinda cute," Kay stammered, blushing even more.

"Uh-huh," Sarah said, her face splitting into a big grin this time.

"But .. but you know how those boys are! My stupid brother and those "brothers" of his," she said, while putting up two fingers up and down, signaling quotation marks in the air.

She sighed deeply, getting up and pacing the room as she said agitatedly, "If they even knew I was interested in any guy, they'd likely either punch him or something."

Kay plopping herself on her bed, placing her hand over her eyes dramatically, "I'll never be able to meet ANYone if they are like this!"

Sarah nodded, agreeing, "But why Sophia? And what has that got to do with Ali?" Sarah came over and sat on the bed, next to Kay who was lying down.

"Well ... you see, the other day, some wanna-be bad boys were hitting on me. So my stupid brother declared that I could never be left alone so one of them would always be with me. It's Ali's "duty" this time. So, I need him to be distracted a bit," she said sheepishly, "And I noticed that Ali hangs out with Sophia quite often, so it's safe to say that they are close friends."

"I see, I see," Sarah said, thinking about it, "Wait wait ... so how does that work? Do you think Ali would really get distracted by Sophia? It's not like they're going out together or something."

"It's not so much a distraction, as it is a diversion. I just need a little bit of breathing space and time by myself so that I can ... get to know him better."

"You really think that will work?" Sarah asked dubiously, "Ali looks like he's taking his role pretty seriously."

"I KNOW!" Kay said in exasperation, banging her hands on the bed, "It's annoying sometimes. I mean, I get their concern but honestly, they've got to loosen the reins a bit, don't you think?

"I agree, but this is going to be tough," Sarah replied, thinking, "Ali is hard enough, but what about your brother? Isn't he worse?"

"Oh, not really," Kay said, shaking her hand in front of her. "Since Ali is the one assigned to me, Kyle would probably be busy with his club activities. You know how he can get."

Sarah tapped her chin, then shook her head, "It's too risky. You never know what or where he can be because of the club activities. Imagine if you manage to get Ali off your back to meet up with the guy, and then you bump into Kyle! How horrible would that be?"

Kay sat up, crossing her arms across her chest, "You know ... that is true. ARGH!" She plopped down on the bed once more, took her, "That's it. You're right. It's too risky. I shouldn't do anything. Thanks anyway."

Sarah turned to look at Kay, who was now hugging Rex, a three foot long husky stuffed toy. Her face looked so sad that Sarah's heart lurched. She then smiled when she got a great idea, "Hey, how about I keep an eye on Kyle? If he gets out of practice or goes near your area, I'll text you."

Kay's face brightened, and she peeked at Sarah through the gap in Rex's neck, then she frowned and shook her head, "No, I can't ask you to do that. But thanks anyway."

Sarah looked at Kay angrily, "You want to ask Sophia to help you, but you won't accept my help? I thought we were friends!"

Kay threw Rex aside and grabbed Sarah's hands, "We are friends! It's not that I don't want your help ... but ... now that I think about it more, it's just asking too much from you guys. I hardly know Sophia, and you're Kyle's friend too. What would happen if Kyle found out?"

Sarah patted Kay's hands and said, "Don't worry! I can hide very well. He won't know anything. You also need my help to convince Sophia, don't you?"

Kay appeared to ponder on it and Sarah pushed further, "If you don't try, then how will you know? Are you going to be under their thumb all the time?"

With a resolute face, Kay nodded and said, "Yes, you are right! Okay! Let's do it!"

Kay hugged Sarah, "Thank you."

Sarah hugged her back, and said, "Anytime, Kay. Anytime. I know you'd do the same for me."

"In a heartbeat!" Kay responded.

Sarah then went to her own bed and switched off the lights. Kay switched off the lights on her side as well and the room fell into darkness. Kay was lying down on her side, facing in the direction of Sarah's bed. Silently, she apologized to Sarah.

While Kay was happy that her plan had worked, she was a little sad. Sad that she had to lie and put on an act, and manipulate Sarah into offering to help with Kyle. Most of all, Kay deeply regrets that she was not able to tell Sarah the whole truth. Although it was true that Kay needed the help, she didn't quite like how she got it.

Then again ... it's what she was trained for, wasn't it?