The night passed on and it was once again time for school. While Arthur & D.W. were more or less looking forward to their classes, young Kate was extremely nervous.

It's okay Kate, he might not be here today she thought maybe he's out sick or something, yeah, that's it. Just relax, you can do this.

She opened the door to the 1st grade class and stepped inside. So far, so good.

"Hey Kate."

She recognized the voice of her friend Meilin. She and Binky's adopted sister had become good friends in the last 5 years. The Chinese girl was Kate's best friend, seeing as how Pal couldn't talk to her anymore and Nadine was imaginary.

"Hi Meilin. Is 'you know who' here?"

"I haven't seen him" Meilin replied.

Kate breathed a sigh of relief "okay, then I'm going to play with the blocks. Want to help me build a fort?"

"Okay."

But as both girls made their way to the play area, they were stopped by a large leg, belonging to someone Kate hoped she'd never see again.

"Where do you two think you're going?"

It was Donnie Perkins, a mean alligator kid and fellow classmate. He wore a yellow shirt with a red circle on it, brown shorts and black shoes with white socks.

"If you two want to use the blocks, you have to pay the toll" he said nastily.

"There's no toll" Kate replied.

"Yes there is, ten cents for each of ya" Donnie told her "now pay up, or I'll take it from you."

Kate stood there, wondering what to do. Then she balled up her hand…and stuck it into the pocket of his pants, producing her milk money.

"Here you go, I didn't want milk today anyway" she said.

"Thanks a lot" Donnie said "enjoy your blocks, ladies" he said as he walked away.

"Something has to be done about him" Meilin said "we cannot let him continue to push us around."

"Have you seen him? He's as big as my brother!" Kate said "we can't possibly fight him!"

"Maybe we should tell the teacher?" Meilin suggested.

"No, he'd just deny everything" Kate said "she wouldn't believe us without proof. Why don't you talk to your brother about it, I'm sure he'd straighten Donnie out."

"Donnie may be mean, but even he does not deserve that" Meilin said.

"Well we have to do something" Kate said "or I won't be getting any milk for the rest of the year."

Elsewhere in the school, Arthur and crew were in class, waiting for the lesson to begin.

"So Arthur, there's an important event coming up this Saturday" Sue Ellen told him "do you remember?"

"Let's see, I know it's not your birthday" Arthur said "and there's no school dance as far as I can recall…"

"It's our anniversary" Sue Ellen told him "or rather, the anniversary of the first time I told you my true feelings."

"Oh yeah" Arthur said "hard to believe it's been five years since then."

"I still remember that day" Sue Ellen replied wistfully, "I came to your door, and kissed you, and you fainted."

"It was a lot for me to take in" Arthur explained "and didn't I make it up to you on our first date?"

"Good point. It's funny, we had 'dates' when we were younger, but we really didn't understand just how important they were. Now that we're older, we can appreciate them more."

"Yeah, things have gotten way better for us since then" Arthur replied.

"They sure have" Sue Ellen replied "anyway, we need to come up with something to commemorate this special occasion."

"If you want, we can meet later at my house and discuss it."

"Okay."

"Welcome class, sorry I took so long, but Mr. Haney was talking my ear off with a story of his" Mr. Johanson said, shortly after entering the classroom, "now then, open your history books and let's get started."

School came to a close yet again, and not too soon for Arthur and pals. Arthur joined up with Buster & Binky as both made their way home.

"Hey guys."

"Hey Arthur" Buster said.

"So, I heard through the grapevine that you and Sue Ellen have some kind of big event planned for this Saturday" Binky told him.

"Oh yeah, it's the anniversary of when Sue Ellen confessed her feelings to me" Arthur explained "it's been five years since then."

"So, rather than celebrate something really important, like your first kiss, or your first date, she wants to celebrate that?" Binky wondered "man, you are so whipped!"

"I am not! Buster, tell Binky he's wrong."

"Actually Arthur, Sue Ellen does seem to pick most of your activities."

"No she doesn't, we have an equal say in things" Arthur said.

"Oh yeah? When you went to the movies last week, what movie did you want to see?" Binky asked.

"Well Max Hurting of course, but…"

"And what movie did you end up seeing?"

"Mamma Mia, but Sue Ellen assured me it was good."

"Face it Arthur, your girlfriend controls you like a puppet" Binky said "I'm lucky that I'm unattached, or I'd have to suffer the same problems you have."

"Sue Ellen doesn't control me, all right!" Arthur yelled, as Binky walked off "we have an equal partnership in our relationship." He turned to Buster "what's wrong with him, huh? Thinking that Sue Ellen controls me, man that's funny."

"Heh, yeah funny" Buster replied uneasily

Arthur soon arrived home, still thinking about what his friends had said.

Those guys are crazy he thought Sue Ellen doesn't control me, does she?

He imagined himself and Sue Ellen in his living room, although the girl had her back turned to him.

"Excuse me Sue Ellen" Arthur said nervously "but I was wondering if I could go out with the guys today."

"Umm, no" Sue Ellen replied "you're coming antiquing with me in Crown City."

"But you're too young to buy antiques" Arthur pointed out.

Sue Ellen suddenly faced him, an angry look on her face.

"It doesn't matter!" she shouted "you're my slave and you do what I say! And I say we're going antiquing!"

Arthur suddenly realized he was wearing a dog collar, with a long chain attached to it. Sue Ellen yanked the chain and forced him to ground.

"Sit, good boyfriend!" she said, then cackled evilly, as flames rose up behind her for some reason.

Arthur was awakened from his fantasy by a knock at the door. He opened it and found Sue Ellen standing there, her face a picture of kindness, as opposed to the hellish vision of her he'd just imagined.

"Hi sweetums" Sue Ellen greeted him "I didn't have work today, so I thought we could plan our little celebration for Saturday."

"Sounds good. Come on, we'll go to my room" Arthur said.

The two made their way up to Arthur's room. Most of his toys were gone, and a TV had been added, but it still resembled the old room from long ago.

"I couldn't stop thinking about our anniversary all during school" Sue Ellen told him "so if I fail a quiz, you'll know why. Anyway, I thought first we'd have a special dinner. And not at Mill Creek Munch, you take me there almost all the time, and I want to go someplace nice. Then I thought we could go dancing, I heard about this new club that's downtown. We'd have to get our parents to drive us, but…"

"Whoa, easy Sue Ellen" Arthur interrupted "I need to check and make sure I have enough money for this."

"Money's not a problem" Sue Ellen said "I'm sure our parents are willing to lend us some. And I know you have a little stashed up from your job."

"I might be saving that for something."

"What could be more important than our anniversary?"

"Oh man, Binky was right, you do control me."

"What?"

"Earlier today, Binky told me you have all the say in our relationship" Arthur told her.

"That's crazy, I don't control you" Sue Ellen protested "we both have an equal say in all our decisions."

"Okay, so if I don't want to go to dinner or dancing, you'd be fine with that?" Arthur asked.

"It's an anniversary, you're supposed to do something you don't normally do!" Sue Ellen replied "okay, I'm willing to give up the dancing. Maybe we could see a movie instead."

"Oh, so you can make me see another musical, like last time?" Arthur asked.

"You had a good time" Sue Ellen replied "you were bopping along with the music, as I recall."

"You promised never to talk about that."

"You know what Arthur, if you think that I control your life, maybe I should just go!"

"Fine" Arthur replied "any maybe we should just forget about this whole anniversary thing."

"Fine with me!" Sue Ellen said "heaven forbid you should do something romantic for me on an important day in our history!"

"I do lots of romantic things" Arthur shouted "why should this be any different?"

"Because it's a milestone" Sue Ellen said "it was when you and I connected on an emotional level. But if it's going to become a chore for you, then just forget it!"

The girl ran from Arthur's room, tears in her eyes and headed down the stairs. Arthur watched his girlfriend go and quickly regretted what he had said.

I'm going to have to do something really big to get Sue Ellen to forgive me for this one he thought okay brain, time to start thinking.

In the next chapter, Kate finally decides what to do about her bully problem. Also, do Arthur & Sue Ellen patch things up? What do you think?