Your basically asking how to be a conversationalist. Another method is to have a routine or do routine stacking. The question is whether or not you want to go with a more natural technique and use observational/relevant information that pertains to her specifically, or if you want to just come up with random questions and stories and try to pique her interest that way.

Just brainstorming here, but you want to seem interesting right? Like you have something to say. When she asks how your are, don't say "Gud" and then go quiet. Say, "I dunno, life has gotten interesting for me lately." If she inquires why, cool, if not, continue on anyway. "Well, maybe I could actually get your opinion on it since you seem pretty smart." By complimenting her she'll be more willing to engage you. Then you tell a DHV story of some kind, perhaps about how you have an offer from your uncle to go work in California and make good money, but you'd have to drop out of school in order to do it. Girls will eat up something like that and she'll be asking you all kinds of logistical questions and giving you her opinions. It's a lie, yes, but it will help you practice having an involved conversation. Then you can thank her for her feedback and use that as a bonding experience to build off of next time when she asks if you decided yet or not.

I mean the "jealous girlfriend" openers and all that are just lies and farces too, so there's nothing wrong with resorting to something like that imo.

Well, what I realized for myself again today is that what you say doesn't matter at all! Just show confidence, smile (show her that you have a great time) and keep looking in her eyes if you are talking to her.

My todays example was in the supermarked, I was standing beside a beautifull girl in the checkout and I said something like "You look cute. Do you live here around?" I was scared and didn't know what to say like you, but forced myself to jump in the unknown and after spoken out that sentence I thought "God, I screwed up!", but amazingly (however the opening is quite poor I guess) her respond was nothing than happily surprised as if I just gave her a wonderfull present. After that we had a nice conversation, I performed some kino's and finally got her number.

I am still far away from a being a good PUA (actually i am just a beginner), but it's a great help form me already knowing that big rejections are rare as long as you follow these rules.

You made her day. That's what this stuff is all about. Well done man.

Perhaps another helpful story to anyone with approaching anxiety:
(choosing not to approach because of not knowning what to say is also some kind of approaching anxiety I guess)

A beautifull girl who is living in the same house as me, with whom (by the way) I ended up in the friend zone because i discoverend this PUA stuff too late , looked a little sad one day when she came home and told me finaly that she saw a guy in the train that day sitting in front of her who she found very attractive, and she hoped with all her heart that he would approach her. But in stead of that he didn't do anything the whole journey. He just sat there and even her desperate attemps to make him approach by purposefully looking him into the eyes again and again didn't help. I asked her what she hoped he would say to her. And she answered: I don't know! [like "I don't care"] . "Can I get your phone number" maybe? Even days after that day I noticed that she was still sad about it because I heard her talking about it to another friend through the phone.

So, isn't this a wise lesson to all of us guys, telling that approaching a girl isn't just the most beautiful present we can give her, it's even our duty if we don't want to risk that we make the girl sad for days like my roommate.