1: Educating Kaylee Ch. 01

My "Diary" series is something of a sequel to Operation: Final Fantasy, featuring a new cast, although many familiar faces will return. However, as a result I did have to take some liberties with the timeline in this story. It is written in three very distinct "Books", if you will; each one is drastically different from the next but will feature the same protagonists. They are all written, but in the early stages of being edited, so please bear with me.

Speaking of editing, I'd like to thank Rusty aka Random Librarian for his incredibly helpful editing skills; if you see any errors within, then they are mine, as I've made a few small tweaks here and there after his editing checks. Sex is extremely limited throughout the entire series. Finally, feel free to vote and/or leave constructive feedback. In O:FF, I actually did augment future chapters based on reader inputs and suggestions which I believe made it better and easier to understand the characters. With all of that, I hope you enjoy the story!

BOOK ONE: The Diary of a Loser - Educating Kaylee

"You don't understand, Audrey. They're literally going to kill me."

Audrey laughed as she slammed her locker closed. "Don't be such a drama queen. Your parents are not actually going to kill you."

The halls of the Remmington High School Mustangs were filled with frantic teenagers scrambling to get to their lockers, out of the building, and on with the rest of their lives now that their last school period of the day had ended.

Kaylee shook her head, brushing a few loose strands of blond hair out of her face. "You don't know them like I do. Dad might actually take away my Beamer. And pull me out of cheerleading and choir. It's not like I'm not trying; I just don't understand this shit."

The red-haired girl shrugged. "Then go talk to your teachers after class."

Kaylee looked exasperated as she ungracefully stuffed her books in her locker, attempting to balance them and slam her locker shut quickly before they fell out. "You think I haven't tried that already? Mr. Neil is a math nerd who talks in hieroglyphics. He's so freaking smart he can't dummy himself down to explain it to me. Nevermind the perv-factor I have to deal with. He's a creeper that can't stop staring at my legs and ass."

Audrey giggled. "That's what you get for wearing those short tight skirts. Besides, what male on planet Earth hasn't stared at you like that? It's not just the little high school boys that stare, hun."

A slight smile curved upwards on Kaylee's face. It was widely known throughout their entire school that Kaylee was a blond-haired goddess – and no one realized that more than she did. She even looked over her shoulder to stare at her butt, making sure the skirt was properly emphasizing her curves. As casually as she could, she admitted to Audrey, "That's a good point. I can't think of anyone."

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a scrawny looking kid with glasses a few lockers down. Giving a subtle nod towards him, she told Audrey, "Well, maybe Loser Luke over there. I don't think he'd know what a real woman is even if she placed her rack in his hands."

"Nah, he's been staring too; I've seen him checking out your ass. He's been doing it since freshman year. You just haven't caught him yet," Audrey said with a smirk. "Hey, maybe you should ask him for help. At least he won't deliberately eyeball you. He's getting the highest grade in Mr. Neil's class. You've seen him; it's like him and Mr. Neil speak their own secret geek language with each other that no one else can understand. The rest of us need a decoder ring to figure out what the frick is going on."

"Luke Patton? No way, are you kidding? I'd rather get molested by a monkey."

Luke fumbled with his lock as he tried to get the locker open. He wasn't very coordinated, Kaylee could tell. His pants were too tight, his medium-length hair was straggly and unkempt, and his clothes didn't even come close to matching. Dark shoes with white socks..., really? What was he thinking? And that was just the starting point. He wasn't bad looking per se, once you could get past the 80's style clothing you could only find at a hippies garage sale. But between his mannerisms, lack of coordination, and horrible social skills and status, he was a waste of her time. Or anybody's time, really.

But, she sighed, knowing Audrey was probably right. She needed to get her grades up somehow, even if Luke was the last resort. Which, she hated to admit, he absolutely was.

Audrey snickered and gave Kaylee an arrogant look, knowing just like she did that there wasn't much of a choice if she had any hope passing her classes. Kaylee flipped her off.

The red-haired girl bounded off down the hallway. Looking over her shoulder, she said, "You know I love you, hun. Are we still getting together tonight after cheerleading?"

Kaylee sighed. "Yea, fine. See you at practice."

---

I can't believe I'm doing this,Kaylee thought to herself, walking across the hallway to Luke's locker. Rolling her eyes and adding another sigh, she undid a button on her blouse, tugging it down to show a little cleavage.

Luke had finally opened his locker and was in the process of swapping books out of his worn down bright blue colored backpack; he didn't even notice the beautiful blond girl standing next to him until she cleared her throat.

"Hi, Luke. It's me, Kaylee." When he turned his head, Kaylee made sure that she had the biggest beautiful smile on her face.

Luke was clearly caught off guard. "Uh, h-hi. Of course I know who you are; everyone does. Actually, I'm just surprised you knew who I was."

Kaylee gave him a delightful giggle. "That's so sweet of you to say. So, look, let me get straight to the point. My grades," she said, with a scrunched look on her face, "are not doing so well. At least in algebra. Chemistry, too, but especially algebra."

"I took chemistry freshman year," he injected plainly.

Kaylee blinked.Good for you, nerd. That random fact about your super advanced nerd-skills doesn't help me in the slightest,she thought.

She gritted her teeth, holding back a sarcastic comment. "That's... nice," was the best she could do.

"That was a while ago, but I'm sure I still remember a few things from chem. I can probably help with algebra, too."

Her face brightened, understanding now what his chemistry comment meant. She asked, "So does that mean you'll do it?"

"Well," he asked. "Why are you interested?"

What kind of stupid question is that,she thought to herself, again biting her tongue.

"Because I... I want to pass my classes, Luke," she said slowly and trying unsuccessfully to not be condescending, wondering why he would even ask the obvious. She couldn't make it much clearer than that. If he was supposed to be some kind of genius, why couldn't he understand basic human communication skills?

"Well, I know that. No one wakes up in the morning and thinks to themselves, 'Gee, I hope I fail my class today'. Everyone wants to pass, even if they don't admit it. What I mean is do you want my help because you want good grades so you can get into college? Do you want my help because your parents offered you money for passing grades? Or, do you want it because you're worried your parents will ground you from your cell phone, your car, all of your other electronic devices, and maybe even pull you out of your extracurricular activities so you can focus more on your grades?" Luke said it all so matter-of-factly with hardly any emotion on his face.

Kaylee, however, was stunned. Despite his expressionless face, he seemed to ever so slightly exaggerate the latter example, as if he already knew the answer. Did he know? Up until now, she thought he was simply naïve throughout the entire conversation. Yet in reality, it seemed that he read her like a book.

After a few seconds of silence, Luke shrugged, "Well, it doesn't matter. I normally ask that question when I have a lot of people I'm tutoring, which forces me to decide who I'll take on, but there's only one other person I'm currently tutoring." He pulled a pen and a piece of scrap paper out of his backpack and jotted down his phone number. "I accept. Call me when you like and we'll set something up."

Luke closed his locker, slung his backpack over his shoulder, and walked away.

Kaylee was flabbergasted. He was well out of earshot when she came to her senses. "What the fuck just happened?" Looking down at her blouse, she buttoned it up quickly. "No reaction, nothing! He didn't even look at my tits once," she said to no one in particular. "And 'I accept'?Heshould be grateful to be tutoringme!"

A couple students walked past her, staring at her like she was crazy for talking to herself.

"You heard me! He's the lucky one, not the other way around. Keep walking," Kaylee snapped. She let out an exasperated groan, stomped her foot, turned around and stormed off.

"He's definitely gay," she mumbled.

---

"No way! Kaylee, as in Kaylee Reed? Dude, I can't believe you're going to be tutoring her! Say something for the camera," Aaron told his friend, hoping to get an amazing response on film.

"Aaron, put that thing away," was all Luke gave him. "I'm trying to study."

"Come on, saysomething. Say anything! How was she when she was talking to you?"

Luke shrugged. "She was kind of a snot, actually."

"Dude, we're talking about Kaylee. Everyone knows that; that's not the point. What did shesay? What did shedo? What was she wearing?"

A slight grin came over Luke's face that he couldn't hide. Aaron spotted it right away. "You know something! Tell."

Luke gave in. "Alright, alright. She unbuttoned her blouse a notch. It was buttoned all the way up the entire day. But when she came to me," He couldn't contain his grin any longer, "she had one button undone. I think she was trying to add incentive for me to not say no. You have no idea how hard it was to be polite and not stare. It took everything I had."

"Screw that, man. If she was opening them up to you, no need to be a gentleman. Right, bro?"

Luke ignored him intentionally. "Ok, you want the truth? She's not the same as she was back in elementary school. I guess time changes people. Still, there's something about her I can't put my finger on. She puts on a front like she has it all figured out, but I sense some kind of insecurity in her. That's probably why she comes across as a spoiled brat – she chooses to be one. I feel sorry for her.

"But she's absolutely gorgeous. I've never seen a smile like hers – ever. I mean, when she wants to, she can brighten up a room. I'm telling you, Aaron, she might even be the most beautiful girl in the world. Hey, I said put that thing down. You're not actually filming this, are you?"

"No, of course not," Aaron said as he discreetly pushed the stop button and set the camera down. "It must be nice to have that pornographic memory of yours. I'd pay to see her cleavage, and you get to relive it every night in that crazy head of yours."

"Aaron, it's called a photographic memory. That's how I noticed her button was up in the first place, not just when it was down."

Aaron snickered. "Same thing, bro."

---

"I thought I was going to tear a hamstring," Audrey said as she iced the back of her leg. "What's up with Mrs. Lang today? Practice was like a three ring circus run by Nazis."

"It wasn't that bad, Audrey," Kaylee said, her attention focused elsewhere.

"That's because you were like some kind of Vulcan robot out there. Every cheer you did was mechanical and without a smile, like your head was somewhere else. You weren't pay attention to the suffering the rest of us were going through."

"That, and I'm in better shape and work harder than the rest of you," Kaylee added, taking off her uniform. "What the frick is a Vulcan, anyway? Really, Audrey."

Audrey gave her a dirty look as she readjusted her position on the locker room bench. "PMSing much, are we?"

Kaylee shook her head, looking at Audrey. "I'm sorry, hun. I'm just worried about my stupid grades. Midterms are in three weeks, and I have a long way to go. Besides, I'm meeting Lu..., my tutor tonight."

Audrey snickered. "You're meeting with Luke tonight?"

She looked around the locker room and whispered angrily to Audrey, "Shut up! It's just to study." Kaylee tucked her white and purple cheerleader uniform in her bag, adding, "You better not tell anyone or I will literallykillyou."

Kaylee noticed Audrey didn't even try to stop laughing. Audrey adjusted the icepack and said, "That's the second time today you misused the word 'literally'. You better have him tutor you in English too, while you're at it."

Another glare was directed at Audrey. "Maybe Ididn'tmisuse it. If you keep it up, I justmight." Then she added an exaggerated, "Literally." Kaylee stepped into her miniskirt and wiggled it up her hips.

Audrey wasn't scared at all by her threat; in fact, she kept poking at her. "So if you're studying with Luke tonight, I guess those molesting monkeys didn't molest you good enough?"

Kaylees face turned red, and she gave off a defeated sigh. Carefully she buttoned up her blouse and put on her flip flops. "Alright, I'm off to the school library to meet him. I'm sure we'll find a dingy dark corner where no one can see us. It's not like many people I know actually use it anyway, thanks to Wikipedia."

"Right, like Wiki is oh so accurate. I think you mean 'thanks to laziness.'"

"Whatever. Wish me luck. I'll need it."

"He's not that bad, Kaylee. You'll be fine."

Before leaving the locker room, Kaylee responded, "I wouldn't bet on it. Mark my words; this boy will change my social status forever, and for the worse."

---

"Whatcha reading Luke," Kaylee asked with her best faux smile, setting her backpack down on the library table and pulling up a chair. She took one last look over her shoulder, glad they were tucked away in the back of the library where her friends wouldn't find her.

Luke set the book down. "Glad to see you, Kaylee. It's called Lord of the Flies; it's for my English Lit class over at Mountain View Community College. You ready to get started?"

Kaylee pulled out her algebra book. "Uh huh. Lord of the Flies? Sounds disgusting."

Luke gave her a slight grin. "First lesson. Never judge a book by its cover. I'd call it more disturbing than disgusting."

She smirked, "I'm a girl, Luke. Disturbing and disgusting is basically the same thing to us. I think I've heard of it before. What's it about?"

He thought for a moment. A playful smile crept up on his face, "It's like Willy Wonka with a lot less candy, and when the kids do something like slide down the egg chute or fall in the chocolate river they actually die."

"What?" Kaylee shook her head. "I thinkyou'redisturbing. What kind of anagram is that?"

"It's an analogy, not an anagram. An anagram is...,"

"Whatever." Flipping her book open, she showed Luke the questions she had to deal with. "Ok, so, I'm like so far behind in understanding what's going on, I don't even know where to start. Here's what I have to answer for my homework for tomorrow, and I don't think I can do a single one. Oh, and midterms are three weeks away."

Luke scratched his head. "Ok, Veruca, let's see where you're at then."

"Veruca?"

Luke smiled dryly, ignoring her. "Take me back as far as you have until you reach the last chapter you really understood, and then we'll go from there." His eyes grew big as Kaylee flipped back to almost the beginning of the book.

Kaylee noticed his reaction and threw her head in her hands. "I'm screwed."

"It's not that bad, Kaylee. I can work with this." He grabbed the book and sat back for a few moments, apparently trying to figure out the best approach to take with her.

"First of all, don't beat yourself up. This is a poorly written book. The authors do not provide examples for many of the problems they ask you to solve, leaving the reader in the lurch. I'll just have to teach you the basics and give you the tools you need to solve your problems."

She rolled her eyes. "That sounds easy," she said sarcastically.

"It is. Let's start at the beginning. We'll get the basic definitions down first. In 2x + 5, tell me which is the coefficient, the constant, and the variable."

Kaylee looked like a deer in the headlights. "Um, the... the two is...t-the..."

"Let me help you," Luke interrupted. "No point in guessing. X is the variable. You're good in English, right?"

She nodded reluctantly, "I'm ok at it."

"Variable meansvary, right? Vary by definition means change. This means x is subject to change. Theoretically, x can be anything. Usually in algebra, we are trying to figure out what x is. Since x varies, x is your 'variable'. Make sense so far?"

Kaylee, scribbling down everything he said, looked at her notes intently. "Ohh, ok, that does kinda make sense."

Luke said, "Same thing with the constant. What's the dictionary definition of 'constant'? It means something that will not change, or something that remains the same. So the 5 remains a 5 the entire time. Which is good; one less thing to worry about."

Hesitantly, she said, "Ok, I guess..."

"Ok, so let's say we have 2x + 5 = 17. Now, in this case, because of the equal sign, we know that there is a definitive answer for x. In other words, x has one answer and we want to find it."

Slouching, Kaylee said, "I think my head is going to fucking explode, and we've barely started."

He looked her over and put his hand over his mouth, deep in thought. Kaylee was initially creeped out; in her experience, that look was always followed by elevator eyes moving down to her breasts or ass. She gradually began to realize, though, he was simply thinking about his next approach with her, as if he was doing some kind of nerdy calculations in his head. She breathed a sigh of relief.

He said, "First of all, relax. You're stressing about this too much. If you stick with me, I'm not going to let you fail your final, ok? I promise; all you have to do is trust me. I won't let you down. But you have to listen to me, and more importantly, you have torelax."

She reluctantly nodded.

Luke thought for a moment, "Ok, let's try doing this another way. It's like saying you've ordered 17 dresses."

Kaylee snickered, "Ok, I can speak that kind of language."

It was easy for them both to see that he had her attention. He continued, "FedEx has sent you one package that already has 5 dresses. They have one more package to send you, and you have to find out how many are in there. Are you with me so far?"

"Sure, that's easy. If you have 17 dresses, and I know I already got 5 in the mail then that means I'm expecting 12 dresses in the last package."

"Exactly! We're halfway there. If our first package was 5, then our last package is our 2x. And, as you said, our last package is also 12. So we know 2x = 12. So now it's just simple division. So, what is x?"

"X equals 6," Kaylee said casually. Her bright blue eyes opened wide as it finally sank in that she solved the equation. "X equals 6," she squealed, jumping up and down in her chair and clapping her hands together. "OhmyGodohmyGod!"

Luke slid down in his chair an inch or two, seeing if anyone was staring at them in the library after her outburst.

"Sorry," she giggled.

Luke smiled; despite her outburst and the following period of embarrassment, he seemed to truly be happy for her. "Nothing to be sorry about, you did great, Kaylee! You caught on faster than I thought you would. You didn't even have to use your pencil for this example."