Here's the next chapter, and the next couple! enjoy!

ON THE THIRD DAY OF CHRISTMAS, YOUR LOVED ONE GAVE TO YOU...

Gerald was humming a little bit at home as he was getting his hair combed up. He was personally a little excited, although he didn't know why. It was just Phoebe coming over... then again, the two of them have been hanging around each other a lot alone, so what difference did it make? After all, the two were just friends in his point of view, Phoebe and him would never last... would it?

Well, whatever the case, his parents, along with his siblings, would often tease Gerald about his so-called crush. It annoyed Gerald a bit to no end, but he knew they were just playing around... but lately, Phoebe had been coming over to Gerald's place quite a lot, mostly to do projects and/or homework together, but all the same, she always came right over to the Johanssen residence, if just to get away from the usual life.

As soon as Gerald put his hair up, he heard his mother calling, "Gerald, Phoebe's here!"

"Come on down, Gerald, your girlfriend's waiting!" Timberly called.

"Timberly!" Gerald sighed, knowing that Timberly was joking around, but nevertheless, came down to see Phoebe sitting down at her chair, with her backpack in hand. "Hey, Phoebe."

"Hello, Gerald." Phoebe smiled as she pulled out her homework. "Do you want to get started on our math homework now?"

"Sure." Gerald said as the two of them went into the kitchen table.

As the two proceeded to sit down together, Gerald's family watched them from nearby as Gerald's mother giggled. "Those two are really sweet together..."

"I can easily tell." Gerald's father laughed. "Even if he doesn't want to reveal it, he knows he likes her."

"I think my bro made a pretty good choice in his taste of girls..." Jamie-O smiled as Timberly was giggling. "Who'd have thought he and Phoebe would be a nice match-up?"

"I wouldn't mind Phoebe being together with Gerald." Timberly giggled. "Then I'd have someone to confide with. I think she likes us too..."

Gerald's mother paused as she gathered the family around. "What do you guys say we treat Gerald's little girlfriend to dinner tonight?"

"I'll give her parents a call." Gerald's father smiled as the four nodded.

"You know, Phoebe, you really are a good helper today. Again, thanks for helping me a bit with my homework." Gerald smiled.

"It's no problem, Gerald." Phoebe smiled. "Anything to get my mind off... other things."

"Helga's not giving you any problems, is she?" Gerald asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, Gerald, you know just as well as I do that Helga hasn't been as demanding as she once was." Phoebe said.

"Still, I just don't want you to be hurt." Gerald said. "Listen, if you want someone to talk to, you know I'm here, right?"

"Of course." Phoebe smiled. "How can nobody not notice you?"

Gerald laughed as he and Phoebe went closer together. "That's what I like about you, Phoebe. You may have a shy side to yourself, but crack open that shell, and I see a really beautiful woman not afraid to speak her mind."

Phoebe giggled. "Oh Gerald, you're too much."

"Hey, kids!" Gerald's father came in as Gerald yelped, getting a little away from Phoebe as he smiled nervously. "How's the study date going?"

"Oh, uh, fine." Gerald smiled nervously.

"It's been going exceedingly well, Mr. Johanssen." Phoebe smiled. "Don't worry, I'm making sure Gerald won't fail in his classes."

"Phoebe!" Gerald groaned as Gerald's father laughed.

"I'm glad to hear that. Anyway, Phoebe, if it's all right with you, we called your parents, and they agreed to this, only if you want to, though, and anyway, we were wondering if you'd like to stay for dinner tonight." Gerald's father smiled.

"Sure. I'd love to." Phoebe smiled as Gerald's eyes widened.

"That's great to hear!" Gerald's father laughed. "Hope you don't mind that we're ordering Chinese food tonight."

"Not at all." Phoebe smiled as Gerald's mouth dropped.

"That's great!" Gerald's father smiled as he left the room. "Anyway, I'll just leave you two to your work."

Pretty soon, Gerald could only say to Phoebe, "Did you just say yes to staying for dinner? Are you sure?"

"Gerald, I've seen your family, and I know your family isn't exactly the 'dream' family, well, what family IS perfect, anyway?" Phoebe smiled. "Besides, I think your family likes me."

"I suppose that's true." Gerald smiled a bit, knowing that the family is pretty calm when Phoebe came over... maybe it's because they would occasionally tease him and Phoebe about the two being together, but they took it in stride. "Well, I'm glad you're staying for dinner."

"Wouldn't miss it." Phoebe giggled.

Pretty soon, every one was sitting down at dinner as some Chinese food was sat down on their plates. After the saying of grace, the Johannssen family were quickly selecting their Chinese food sources as Phoebe started to open up the chopsticks. Timberly noticed as she said, "You use chopsticks to eat?"

"Of course." Phoebe smiled as Timberly was served her portion. "It's not really hard to use them, but I know some people have difficulty. How would you like me to teach you a little secret on how to use them?"

"Yes, please." Timberly smiled.

"Very well." Phoebe said as she was demonstrating her use of chopsticks to the youngest Johannsen family member.

Gerald just rolled his eyes as he thought to himself, if Phoebe can eat with chopsticks, so could he. So, he unwrapped his chopsticks and tried to lift a grain of rice with them, to no avail. He groaned a bit, thinking it was going to be impossibly... until he noticed that Jamie-O was using his silverware to eat... so he sneakily took Jamie-O's chopsticks, since he clearly wasn't going to use them. Gerald unwrapped the chopsticks there as he only took one, getting an idea on how to eat using chopsticks. He took one chopstick, stabbed it in some food to hold it still, then used the other two chopsticks in his hand to lift the broccoli stuck in the third chopstick. Gerald smiled as he popped it in his mouth.

"And of course, Gerald just demonstrated one of the many wrong ways of using chopsticks to eat, thank you for the demonstration, Gerald."

Gerald yelped as he noticed Phoebe and Timberly giggling. Gerald frowned a bit as he said, "Hey, using three chopsticks is easier than two!"

"Oh, I won't deny that." Phoebe giggled as Timberly and the other members of the Johanssen family started to laugh.

Gerald frowned at them... until he gave a smile. "Heh, okay, you try your complicated methods, I think my method is much simpler!"

"Fair enough." Phoebe giggled as the others continued eating. It was, overall, a very good night for Phoebe and the Johanssen family and especially for Gerald. Even after Phoebe left the residence to join her parents to drive off on another cold winter night, they couldn't deny the fact that little Phoebe Heyerdahl brought to them some sunshine in their lives.

...THREE CHOPSTICKS (Gerald x Phoebe),

TWO CHOCOLATE MILKS (Curly x Rhonda),

AND A LETTER DECLARING YOUR LOVE. (Arnold x Helga)

And there is the third chapter! How did you like it? Anyway, read, review, criticize and suggest, folks!