This episode is a long needed humanizing take on Lila, who for too long throughout the series kind of devolved from a genuinely likable and sympathetic character into kind of a parody of herself. After becoming a new love interest for Arnold, she basically got relegated to playing a foil to Helga in the Arnold/Helga love saga, and sadly became less and less likable, but not out of being intentionally malicious or leading Arnold on, but rather by being kind of mysterious in her motives, which just led people to believe that she was a manipulative person with a hidden dark side. While I don't think she's as perfect nor happy as she leads people to think, I don't think she's a bad person at all, so I wanted to reconcile Lila the nice innocent girl we first met, and the slightly mental case she later turned into.

Also, my imagined sixth season is turning out way more serialized than I originally planned as this episode directly ties in with the ongoing drama with the Pataki family. This follows the episode Miriam Under the Table, so be sure to read that one first.

Having just finished her lunch, Lila Sawyer sashayed down the hallways of PS118 with her normal air of sunshine and rainbows trailing behind her. Wearing a dreamily contented face, she ignored the usual turning heads of boys who eyed her as she passed them by on her way to her locker. She wasn't one to relish that kind of attention, but she was still self aware about being the object of affection to many boys.

One such boy stepped out to greet her as she passed him by.

"Afternoon, Miss. Lila," came the voice of Stinky who fixed her with a broad grin.

"Hello Stinky," she said politely, but continued past him on her merry way.

"Garsh, she really is an image of pure loveliness…" Stinky sighed as she passed by.

"She barely even noticed you." his friend Sid pointed out.

"Oh, I guess she must have a lot on her mind or somethin." Stinky said, "A girl like that has too much going on to be bothered by us groundlings all the time."

As Lila continued down the hallway she passed by the class queen bee Rhonda, who looked at her and cocked an eyebrow. She and her friend Nadine murmured amongst themselves as she passed by them.

"She hasn't said much to anyone this year." Rhonda huffed, "If you ask me she's turned into a grade A snob…"

The typically quiet Nadine looked at her strangely and asked, "Lila? Really?"

"Look at her, she used to be so friendly but now she just acts like she's too big a deal to talk to anyone." Rhonda said disdainfully.

Nadine considered, then nodded.

"Now that you mention it, she hasn't really talked to us since the school year started." she agreed, "Suppose it has something to do with the class trip? Maybe she's jealous she didn't get to go with."

"More like she thinks she's above everyone now," Rhonda suggested, "Which makes it so much harder for those of us who actually are."

Rhonda turned her head and watched Lila walking away without even a turn of her head in the direction of their gossip.

"I mean, she didn't even notice us." Rhonda said, then restated, "Snob."

Lila had in fact heard every word out of Rhonda, and while refusing to respond she was most certainly not ignoring her. Many people suspected that Lila simply didn't notice them while off in her own daydreamy world, but the truth couldn't be more different. Lila really could absorb information all around her like a sponge even if she didn't let it show on her apparently guileless face. She and Rhonda generally got along, or at least they had in previous years, and Lila was used to hearing far worse things out of Rhonda than what she'd just heard.

Lila's face suggested the lights were on but no one was home, but she was in fact so deep in thought, while also aware of her surroundings it nearly gave her a headache at times. She considered what Nadine had said, and in fact her words did hold some truth. She had been visiting her hometown in the country while her classmates had journeyed to Central America over the summer, and apparently she had missed out on some pretty major events to put it mildly. When the school year started she didn't really mind having missed out, but as time marched on she felt more and more isolated.

This wasn't a new feeling. Among her fellow sixth graders, Lila had always been something of an anomaly. Most of them had lived in the big city and known one another since preschool, but she had only joined their ranks two years ago after moving from the countryside. Nonetheless, she had quickly and effortlessly asserted herself into the fold by simple virtue of her pleasant disposition and multiple talents. She wasn't the type to feel overtly prideful, but she often distinguished herself as exceptional in many areas, from her schoolwork to her good naturedness, to her natural stylishness that never failed to turn heads. In spite of having found her place among friends in past years, she had never fully shaken the feeling of being a country mouse amongst the city mice. Even amongst the likes of Stinky, a country boy himself she never felt she could completely relate to as he had lived in the city much longer than she had.

This year she felt a very palpable wedge between herself and many of her friends and peers. She had only heard bits and pieces about what had happened on their Central American journey, and she wasn't sure she could fully separate the fact from the fiction, and suspected many of their stories to be embellished at varying degrees.

She at last reached her locker and unlocked it to get her books for her afternoon classes. She could hear the voice of Helga and Arnold conversing just a few lockers down from hers, and despite her attempt at being discrete she apparently garnered Helga's attention.

"Hey there, Anne of Green Gables," Helga said in a wry but not unfriendly tone.

Lila looked over at her. The girl was smiling with a rather smug look on her face as she stood leaning quite close to Arnold. It had been a few weeks since Helga had finally apparently gotten over her embarrassment at being in a relationship, and now felt fully comfortable not only being openly affectionate with Arnold, but also now constantly flaunted him like some kind of human diamond ring.

"Hello Helga," Lila said with a forced giggle, "Anne of Green Gables… oh you're just ever so witty." she commented on Helga's apparent new nickname for her.

"And you're just ever so flattering," Helga said slightly mockingly, causing Arnold to frown.

"I hope I didn't interrupt anything." Lila said.

"Oh we were just reminiscing about this and that," Helga sighed. "Mostly about our whole… summer adventure."

Lila groaned internally as she continued to smile pleasantly, looking at them through glassy eyes.

"Gosh, that sounds ever so exciting." she said.

"Yep, sure was." Helga said, "Don't worry, some day I'll put it all to paper, then sell the movie rights and that should have you all caught up."

"Too bad you didn't get to come," Arnold said, sensing Helga was ostracizing Lila slightly, "It was a lot of fun. Well, mostly…" He added, somewhat darkly.

"Oh, yes." Lila said, "I'm sure I would have had just an oh so wonderful time with you both."

"Yeah, too bad," Helga said unconvincingly, as she grabbed Arnold's hand very purposefully, "What were you up to all summer, again?"

Lila almost narrowed her eyes as she looked at Helga, but stopped herself as an uncomfortable feeling rose in her.

"I was just back in my ever so quaint and charming home town for a visit," she said, "Just… visiting my mother."

"Oh." Arnold said, with a strange look on his face, "That's great. How was she?"

A shadow seemed to pass over Lila's normally sunny face.

"Oh, just the same as ever," Lila said with a slight sigh, but then went back to smiling. "Anyway, I'll just leave you two to your 'reminiscing.' I don't want to feel like a third wheel."

She waved at them, then grabbed her books and headed off without another word.

When the school day at last ended, Lila boarded the bus that would take her back home. She walked past several of her friends and classmates, and then spotted Sheena sitting towards the back. She smiled and walked over to her.

"Hello Sheena," she said, "Can I sit with you?"

Sheena smiled, then spoke in her flutey voice, "Why of course, Lila."

Lila sat down next to her. Similar to herself, Sheena had not been able to attend the class trip and had no chronicles of misadventures to gab on about like so many others. Lila hadn't given it much thought before, but now felt a certain camaraderie with the girl based purely on the lack of an experience they both shared. Otherwise she and Sheena had never run in the same circles.

"I don't think we've talked in a very long time." Sheena said.

"I suppose not," Lila affirmed, "Well, let's catch up. I'm sure we could find ever so much to talk about."

"Oh certainly," Sheena said, "As a matter of fact I was just waiting on Eugene."

"Ta da!" said boy announced himself as he appeared in the seat before them, "Hello, ladies!"

Sheena smiled at Lila, "He was going to tell me more about his adventures in San Lorenzo!"

Lila's heart instantly sank.

"Oh… gosh, I'm sure that would be just be oh so… enthralling." she sighed.

"Did I tell you about the time I ate pitaya, then ballooned up to the size of a boulder and ironically saved the day with my horrible deformity?" Eugene asked.

"Oh dozens of times," Sheena said while clapping, "But it gets better with every retelling. Start from the beginning!"

"Very well, we arrived in sunny San Lorenzo by commercial airline, all of our spirits were sky high despite reaching ground level once again, unaware of the terrible trials that awaited us in the dark foreboding jungles…"

Lila feigned interest on the surface, but as her mind wandered Eugene's retelling turned to a faint buzz in her ears before she tuned him out entirely. She wasn't accustomed to feeling genuinely put off just by the happiness of others, but for some inscrutable reason this entire jungle saga she kept hearing about had started to bother her.

That evening, Lila sat at the dinner table across from her father. Neither of them had said much since sitting down to eat, but Lila could sense something amiss by her father's general demeanor.

"Uh, how was work today, daddy?" she asked.

"Oh it's the usual old grind, but it keeps food on the table." he said casually. As Lila looked at him however a guilty look crossed his face.

"Is everything all right, daddy?" she asked.

"Oh yeah, sure, everything's great it's um… well I uh…" he stumbled a bit, clearly trying to think of the right words to break whatever news he had. Finally he fixed her with a sincere smile and said, "Aw, Lila, I gotta be honest with ya. Truth is, well…"

Lila braced herself, fearing the worst; that being sudden unemployment.

"The truth is, well, you deserve to know I uh… I met someone."

That revelation should have relieved Lila's anxiety, but instead just replaced it with an entirely different sort of worry.

"Met someone?" she asked.

"Yeah," he said, looking somewhat embarrassed but also happy, "I mean, I've known her for a while, she's a co-worker and all I just haven't really gotten to know her well until just recently."

"Gosh," Lila said, struggling to keep her happy face on, "Just… how well?"

Mr. Sawyer could see her clear discomfort with the idea, and tried to reassure her.

"Oh, we've just gotten to be real good friends but… well, the truth is I really… I like her a lot." he said.

"Like her?" Lila asked coyly, "Like you… like her like her?"

Her father chuckled, "Is that how you kids put it these days? Well, yeah I guess you could say that. In fact, I uh, I invited her to dinner here this weekend. I thought it was only fair that you should meet her."

Lila went numb. She loved her father dearly, and she knew that he loved her equally. She had only ever wanted him to be happy ever since the complications that drove them from their small hometown to Hillwood in the first place, years ago, but in all that time he had been so preoccupied with securing gainful employment and putting a roof over their heads, he seemingly didn't have time for dating. She had never really considered what would it would be like if he ever did move on from her mother after all this time.

"Oh, why that sounds just… ever so…" Lila tried to fake happiness but found she just couldn't. Always in tuned with his daughter and her feelings, Mr. Sawyer stepped over to her chair and knelt down to her.

"Aw, Lila," he said, "I know it's not easy. It hasn't been for me either, but… we have to keep moving forward. It's been hard for me too without your mom, but I haven't forgotten her. And I don't want you to either. That's why I want you to meet Becky. It's important to me that you like her too before… well before anything else happens."

Lila nodded. She knew he was right, even if it was a bitter pill to swallow she didn't want her father to go on feeling lonely. She wasn't even worried this potential girlfriend of his would come between the two of them, rather after visiting her mother this past summer she had slowly started to realize she had some unresolved feelings about how things had ended two years ago.