New Player Help

So I"ve had Guild Wars for about a week now and I'm still fairly lost and quite dissapointed with the game.  Perhaps a veteran player here can clear up a main point though before we decide to just sell the game and move on.  

After being completely confused and getting stuck trying to do Prophecies, my friend and I both created PvP characters, and did all the quests up to the Codex Arena, which we can't do because no one is playing and this area of the game seems 100% dead.  Ok, no big deal, we didn't make PvP characters to quest.  But then we spend hours warping around trying to figure out how do we PvP together?  We can create a party for the Random Arenas, and if we go to the Jade Mine or Fort Something-or-Other, and then create a party, it breaks our party up if we enter.  So, how do I PvP with my buddy, and what are our PvP options?  Or is it not possible to even play with your friends in this game?

Thanks in advance!