Awww man. Asking her what she's up to is instant murder. She's used to hearing that from pretty much everybody. You wanna make yourself stand out. If you want to ask questions, try forming those into assumptions instead.
Ex 1:
You: Wow, you look really pretty today!
Her: Thanks!
*Cricket cricket*
You: *smile. Make let a little chuckle out.*
Her: What? Don't you just love these awkward silences?
Then continue the conversation.
Ex 2:
You: Wow, you look really pretty today!
Her: Thanks!
*Cricket cricket*
(You notice she has vans on)
You: How was the skating park today?
Her: WHat?
You: I noticed to wearing Vans so logic would assume that you skate.
Her: No, I don't.
You: Really? Well, I'm just saying. You would look really nice on a board.
Then continue.
In Ex 2, you could have easily asked her, "So do you skateboard?". The problem with that is that it's really common and won't make you stand out. So try making assumptions. I mean, go ahead and ask questions. Just throw some assumptions in there as well.
Another thing is a story. I would NOT suggest a planned story because I don't like those. Tell her a story about something you did that day or the day before if you can. Why? I find it easier to put a lot of energy in a story that just happened to you rather than a made up story/story that happen a year ago. If you plan a story, the mind will try to perfect how you tell the story and you will be more conscious about how your body language is and shit; this will use up some energy that you could be using for the story.
I suck at explaining things, so here's an example:
You: So today I put on some polerized glasses and I was like, WOAH! On my side window I saw a rainbow on it. It was so mesmorizing that I thought I was going to crash. I almost did; good thing I looked away when I did.

Her: Blah blah blah
Ok, so if you put a lot of energy into telling her how you saw rainbows when you were driving, she's going to think that since you are so excited about this, how excited would you be about more interesting topics later in the conversation. Then she's interested.
I gonna give you some advice that helped me a shitload. Put down the books. You don't need them. Sure, it's good to read RIGHT when you start, but after you get an idea of the game, put down the books. Go out and talk to girls. If you find yourself in a situation where you have no girls at all to talk to, then you can open up the books, but as soon as you see some more girl, put 'em down. xD
Experience will help you MUCH more than these books. In my opinion, 10 rejections are much more beneficial than 10 books written by "guru"s. If you don't know what went wrong, write up a field report and post it here. We'll help you out. Plus, it's free.
If you want to ask a day game expert, get some help from Sasha. He's a day game expert. Just type in "sasha pua" into google. He answers my questions every time I email him.
Btw, I'm not an mpua or anything. I'm just a normal guy.

_________________
Thinhman
thinhman@hotmail.com
"When I get sad, I stop being sad and be awesome!. True Story." - One of the greatest PUAs ever!