It was another day at PS.118, and the bell for recess had just rung. All of the kids eagerly left their classrooms to head outside and play in the sun. It was a fairly warm day, and the air was inviting. While normally, everyone would group up to hang out with their respective 'groups', this time, all the boys had agreed to hang out by the merry go round, while all the girls had planned to hang out by the monkey bars.

"Okay," Gerald spoke up, in a hushed tone, while looking at the group around him- Arnold, Harold, Eugene, Sid, Stinky, Brainy, Peapod Kid, Lorenzo, Park, Robert and Iggy- "we all know why we're here. The dance is in two weeks and-"

He was cut off as they all groaned. Since it was the end of term in just over two weeks, the school had organised a dance as a celebration. To most, this was not favourable, as they either didn't want to ask anyone out, hated dancing, or both.

"Why are we even having a stupid dance, anyway?" Harold blurted out, a little too loudly. "None of us want it, but still they decide to have it happen."

"Keep your voice down, man!" Gerald hissed. "If the girls hear us, they'll know what we're up to." He cleared his throat. "Now, let's all agree on one thing- we are all now sixth graders, so it's pretty much expected of us to try and be mature, so what we are here to do is make sure that no one asks out another girl that anyone else likes, and no matter what, this stays between us. That's guy code, you understand?" Everyone muttered their agreements. "Thank you. Since I organised this, I'll start. I plan to ask out Phoebe-"

"Because you like her," Arnold butted in, smirking at his friend, "even if you won't admit it."

Gerald frowned as he blushed, everyone else snickering. "Anyway, if anyone else wants to ask her out, say so now." When no one responded, he mentally sighed, while pulling out a list. "Alright. I'm gonna go down the list, and if anyone wants to ask that girl out, raise your hand. So, first on the list is Helga, just to get her out of the way."

They all turned towards the heavy-breathing Brainy, who just shrugged, before going, "uh, okay."

"Right. Anyway, we have Lila. Any takers?" No one raised their hand. "Be warned now. If no one speaks up, they are open to anyone, so speak up if you have any intentions whatsoever of asking her out." Again, no one put up their hand. "Alright, don't say I didn't warn you. Alright, next we have Sheena." Eugene hesitantly raised his hand, smiling meekly. Some of the others laughed, but Gerald and Arnold gave him a reassuring smile. "Alright, Eugene. No one else can ask out Sheena, agreed?" No one spoke up, so Gerald cleared his throat. "Agreed?!" The others groaned as they gave their word in agreement. "There we go. Next, we have Nadine." Lorenzo and Peapod Kid both raised their hands, before looking at each other in shock. "Oh, this oughta be good!"

"Wait, you want to ask her out?" Lorenzo asked.

"Of course!" Peapod Kid responded. "I didn't think you would want to as well."

"Well, of course I do!"

"Hey, I put my hand up first!"

"Okay, hold it there, you two!" Gerald interrupted. "It's clear that this will get uncomfortable if we let things get out of hand, and that is bond to happen quick, so you two need to make an agreement some other time, because this list goes on for a bit." Lorenzo and Peapod Kid looked at each other, both nodding before turning back to Gerald. "Okay, so we now have Rhonda." No one answered, which struck Gerald as odd. "You not asking her out, Curly?" He looked around and noticed Curly wasn't there. "Hey, where's Curly?!"

"Oh, he got suspended again," Sid explained. "Something to do with releasing animals into the Principal's office."

"Oh. Well, then, since no one's gonna ask her out-"

"I'll do it." They all gasped as they turned towards the person that spoke up, who turned out to be Arnold. He blinked before looking towards Gerald. "What?"

"Arnold, are you seriously saying that you're going to attempt to ask out Rhonda Wellington Lloyd, the richest and coolest girl in school?"

"Yeah? I mean, why not?" Gerald then stared into Arnold's eyes, squinting as if he was looking for something. He took a couple of steps around the football-head, who just watched in confusion. "What are you doing?"

"I'm trying to figure you out, Arnold," he explained, hushed so just he and Arnold could hear. "The way I look at things, there are three reasons why you would even think of asking out Rhonda- either one, you lost a bet with someone, two, you're doing it as a favour for her, or three, you like her, and I mean, LIKE like her." When he said the last one, he noticed a very minor detail that the others hadn't noticed- Arnold twiddled his thumbs together. "Hmm… well, whatever that reason is, no one will ask her before you try." Arnold gave a small smile at this, which just added to Gerald's idea, even though he kept it to himself for the time being. "Anyway, next up…"

While the boys were having their discussion, the girls- Helga, Phoebe, Rhonda, Lila, Sheena and Nadine- were having their own discussion on the same topic.

"So," Helga spoke up, "we all know that the stupid dance is coming up, so who's going with who?"

The girls looked around at each other uncertainly, before Sheena spoke up. "None of us really thought about that yet. We wouldn't know how to go about it." She then looked towards Rhonda. "You're helping to organise this event, aren't you?"

Helga scoffed. "This had better not be like your quote-unquote 'cool party'. We all heard how that went."

Rhonda sighed. "I know, and no, it won't be like that. The teachers have final say, anyway, so I'm just giving suggestions, and helping with decorating. Besides, that was nearly two years ago- every party I've held since has been tres bien!"

"Well, since none of us knows who to ask, why don't we go through all of the boys there are, and we each raise our hand if we think that they're cute?" Phoebe suggested. The girls all agreed with her suggestion. She then pulled out a notepad and pencil, and began to right things down. "Okay. So, let's start with the obviously non-cute ones. Does anyone think that Harold, Brainy, Curly, Robert or Iggy is cute?" They all laughed at the notion. "I know, that's just silly. Okay, moving on. Gerald." Phoebe raised her hand, and was thankful that no one else raised their hand. "Okay. What about Eugene?"

Sheena looked around a moment, before raising her hand. "I think he's okay."

"Okay, so if you want, you could ask out Eugene, and because we don't feel the same, we wouldn't get in the way. Anyway, what about Lorenzo?" Everyone but Rhonda and Helga raised their hands, giggling. "Okay. What about Peapod Kid?" Nadine raised her hand. "And what about Tucker?"

"I don't know who I prefer out of them," she admitted.

"That's okay, you have time. Anyway, who here thinks Arnold is cute?"

Rhonda raised her hand. At first, she smiled confidently, but it faded when no one else raised their hand, and they all stared at her. "Wait. Is it just me?" She then looked towards Lila. "Not even you, Lila?"

"I mean, I ever so did at one time," Lila responded, "but now I don't."

"No way. I cannot believe no one else finds him cute."

"Looks like it," Phoebe told her, nodding. "I wouldn't have expected you to think Arnold is cute. I would have expected you to find one of the 'cooler' kids cute, but Arnold?"

"What? Arnold IS cool!" She then blushed when she realised what she had said, while everyone giggled. "I-I mean that, in the sense that he is such a nice, sweet, caring guy, and he has such good fashion sense. I don't think asking him out would be… t-the WORST thing in the world."

"Ha!" Helga retorted. "Yeah, right! He's a total geek, I can't believe you find him cute." Inside, however, she was screaming the exact opposite. "Whatever, it's your funeral."

The bell that signalled the end of recess soon rang. "Okay," Gerald told the boys, "that pretty much covers it, but remember- nobody says a word."

Everyone agreed as they made their way inside. Before Arnold could do that, however, Gerald pulled him back. "What are you doing, Gerald?"

"I just need to speak to you, man. That's all." He waited for the others to be out of earshot before he continued. "Okay. Now, tell me something- since WHEN did you like like Rhonda?"

Arnold's eyes widened. "Wait, what?! You think I like like Rhonda?"

"Don't you lie to me! I could see in your eyes that you like her! Plus, when I brought it up, you got all nervous, twiddling your thumbs. You can't hide it from me, man!"

Arnold blushed, rubbing behind his neck. "I mean, she's really nice, and she's fun to hang out with, but LIKE like? I wouldn't go that far."

"Oh, really? Then why are you so intent on asking her out?"

"Well… I don't know, I just… do…" Looking at Gerald, he knew that his friend didn't believe him. "What? I'm telling you the truth!"

Gerald just scoffed. "Whatever, man. Anyway, we better hurry, or we'll be late."