And now, for this second chapter!


SUNDAY NIGHT

"What the heck have I gotten myself into?" Arnold groaned as he held his head, his grandfather Phil sitting beside him.

Phil gave a chuckle. "You should be the luckiest man alive, Shortman! I mean, five dates, with five different girls, on five different days!"

"I know, I know, but... I don't even know how I said yes to all of them!" Arnold said, groaning. "I just... I just never thought I'd be in this situation..."

"You know, you should consider yourself lucky, Arnold. If I was in your age in your position, I wouldn't mind having all this attention from the girls!" Phil laughed.

"Grandpa, this is serious! What do I do?" Arnold said in worry.

"Oh, Shortman, you're just going to have to take the punches!" Phil explained. "Still, my grandson, a perfect ladies-man. I never thought I'd see the day..."

"Grandpa, I only like... well, maybe..." Arnold paused... then sighed. "I don't know..."

"Just take it as you go, Shortman. After all, what harm can it do? It's just five harmless dates on different days." Phil explained.

Arnold paused as he looked up, realizing maybe his grandfather was right. "I suppose I can try to keep up..."

"That's great, Shortman. Well, you better get yourself ready for that first date tomorrow!" Phil said as he got up and left Arnold's room. "I'll leave you to it..."

Arnold sighed as he looked down, wondering just how much of a fine mess he had got into...


DAY 1: A DATE WITH LILA

Inside Lila's apartment, Lila hummed to herself as she was combing out her hair and twisting it into braids. She still couldn't believe that she was willingly going along on a date with Arnold... then again, it was part of the game deal she, Rhonda, Nadine, Phoebe and Helga. Even though she knew Helga had a slight crush on Arnold (who was she kidding, she knew she had a creepy, yet undevoted love for him), all the girls agreed that Arnold was cute.

She couldn't quite explain where the feelings for Arnold started, though. Maybe there was still some untapped feelings she ignored during a time where she had to break it off after the whole 'chalk message' fiasco. Sure, she had some slight crushes since then... Arnold's cousin came to mind, and she did like him, but... Arnie only came around during his spring vacation or a couple weeks in summer... and from what she heard, Arnie actually had another girlfriend at his hometown, which disappointed her, but she understood. She was a bit creeped out on how similar Arnie's girlfriend was to herself, but she just accepted it.

Lila took a deep breath as her braids were braided pretty good. She then heard the phone ringing as she picked it up. She noticed that it was Helga's number on there. She sighed as she picked it up. "Hello?"

"Hey, Lila. Helga here. So, I was wondering... how are you going to approach Arnold?" Helga asked.

Lila sighed. "Helga, you ever so know that this is part of the contest, right? I'm supposed to be impressing Arnold in my own way... and I don't think we should copy off one another..."

"I know, I know, but... I feel like I got a little forceful, getting him to go on my Friday date..." Helga sighed.

"I know, Helga. All five of us were at Rhonda's using her phone to get Arnold on a date with each of us!" Lila sighed.

"It's just... I really want to approach him, but I don't know how I can do this... it's... I need something to get me going, you know?" Helga said.

Lila sighed. "Look, Helga, you're you, and no matter what happens, I'm sure Arnold wouldn't mind who you are. Yes, you have a tendency to go a little crazy when on the subject on Arnold, but... my point is, you just need to tone it down a little... relax a bit. Just go with the flow of things."

"Do you really think that can work?" Helga asked.

"You never know... until you give it a try. I'm afraid that's all the advice I can give you, Helga..." Lila said.

"I understand. Well, I better get going, Bob's going to be mad I'm on the phone this long as it is. Have fun on your date, Lila!" Helga said as she hung up.

"Bye Helga." Lila smiled as she hung up. Lila gave a smile, feeling accomplished with herself. She sighed as she looked at her watch as her thoughts went back to Arnold.

Lila knew that Arnold had tried multiple times since their first break-up to get back together with her... but she always rejected him with a no, no matter how adorable he was trying to be. At least Arnold was a bit of a gentleman about how he wanted to approach her... but no matter how many times the untapped feelings begged for her to give him another chance, she knew she couldn't do it... mainly because she knew Helga had a crush on him...

But now that Helga and she were part of the contest, she figured... maybe for once... she'll give those untapped feelings a listen. After all, Arnold is always a fun person to hang out with...

It was then she heard the doorbell ringing as Lila jumped up and walked over. She opened the door and noticed Arnold coming in with a bag of board games in his hand. "Oh, hello, Arnold. I'm ever so glad you can come over. I really needed the company."

"It's all right, Lila. I appreciate you inviting me over." Arnold said as Lila took Arnold by the hand and took him inside.

"Come on in, Arnold. Sorry about the small mess. Daddy and I are cleaning it a bit." Lila explained.

"That's all right, Lila." Arnold said as he pulled out some board games. "I know it's not much, but... I brought along a few board games if you want to play some."

"Sure! That sounds like fun!" Lila smiled as Arnold was looking them over.

"Do you know how to play some of these? Because if you don't, I can gladly teach you as we go along?" Arnold asked.

Lila examined a couple of the games as she said, "I have seen them, but never played them. I would be oh so glad to learn them."

"All right, Lila! I'll start off with a simple game..." Arnold said as he pulled out a Yahtzee game.


Helga sighed as she was walking around by herself, looking up in the sky. How did she manage to rope herself into this deal? She personally thought this bet was stupid... but at the same time, who was she to say no to a date with Arnold?

Worst yet, she was going to go last on Friday, which was okay, since she had wrestling tickets (one for herself, and a spare one she intended to give to Phoebe, but the bet made her brought Arnold instead), but now she was starting to get concerned. Sure, she asked Arnold out in her own Helga-way, and he did say yes... but now she got concerned. Arnold was going with Lila today, Nadine Tuesday, Rhonda Wednesday and Phoebe Thursday. She was starting to worry that by the time Arnold got to Helga... he would have already made his choice.

But she was determined. She was going to prove that she can be a good person to Arnold... and she had ALL the time in the world to think about what to do...

For now, though, she was just going to relax a bit... she still had some time, after all. She'll prove that she can be the best girl out of all of them!

Pretty soon, Arnold will know who the true Helga G. Pataki is!


Second chapter is out of the way! We'll get to the second part of the Arnold-Lila date next chapter! Well, read and review!