A/N: In this chapter you will see some more of the fourth graders from P.S. 118, along with a big gory fight! You can call me lazy all you want but I'm not going to give much of an intro to each one because most of the readers should probably know who they are already right? And besides, breaking down each classmate would take forever!

Did I get ya there? Haha! Gotcha! Nope, no gory fights. Sorry! (disappointed groans in the background)

Anyways…

Must we do this again?

Ok, fine! (*sigh*)

"HA!" NOT MINE. STORY MINE. NOT SHOW. I GO MAKE FIRE NOW. (*giggles*)

Chapter 4 – A Whole New Side to Her

It is now a brand new school day in Hillwood. The city bus slowed to yet another stop to pick up yet another student. Rhonda Wellington Lloyd gracefully glided up the steps and into the bus with her usual look of disdain for public transportation painted plainly across her. She put her money in the slot and then tilted her chin upward, acting as if she was above all this, as she made the brief journey to the front of the bus. This was basically part of her morning routine.

Rhonda had not forgotten the day before. On the contrary, or as Rhonda would say it, au contrare, she was currently contemplating on which would be the best way to get the ball rolling regarding the reveal of Helga's secret to the whole school. Rhonda continued this contemplation throughout the remainder of the bus's journey to the school, the dark smirk on her face and devilish gleam in her eyes becoming more and more noticeable with each passing minute. Some of the students that were sitting close enough to see Rhonda's facial expression briefly wondered what was going on in her mind but then shrugged it off, knowing that it wouldn't be long until she would tell the whole school what she was grinning madly about. Everyone knew how Rhonda could never keep a secret even if she wanted to.

Seated a few rows behind Rhonda was Helga G. Pataki. She was several rows ahead of her usual seat that was located near the back of the bus. Today, Helga specifically chose a seat in the front/middle because she knew Rhonda would sit in the front and so she strategically sat herself closer in order for her to be able to catch up to Rhonda as soon as they got off the bus, but of course not too close for Rhonda to notice her. In fact, while Rhonda was getting on the bus, Helga had her head down behind the seat the whole time. She made sure that she would not be able to look Rhonda in the eye because Helga had no idea what she would do if she saw a sneer or a smirk, or something else of the like, on Rhonda's face. Helga needed this confrontation to be as private as possible and therefore she knew that she had to keep it together until she had her chance to carry out her plan. After all, a hasty decision is what got her into this mess in the first place!

Helga wasn't the only fourth grader with a plan up her sleeve. Seated a couple of rows ahead of Helga, but on the opposite side of her and on the same side as Rhonda, was Lila Sawyer. Like Helga, Lila had a strategy regarding her chosen bus seat for this morning's ride. Lila wanted to be behind Rhonda but in front of Helga in case she needed to intervene for some reason. After all, right before Rhonda got on the bus, Lila noticed Helga peering out from the side around the seat in front of her. Lila recalled Helga having a knowing look on her face, like one of slight rage and determination, along with a hint of something else that Lila could've sworn resembled closely to fearful.

'So Helga knows. But how? Oh, I'm sure she had her ways. She is just ever so smart like that,' Lila thought to herself, now more sure than ever that both Helga and Rhonda were planning to do something. Though different, both plans were probably evil and they were both going to occur as soon as the bus dropped everyone off in front of the school. Lila had to figure out, and quickly, just which plan she needed to get in the middle of first. After some brief consideration on both sides, Lila reasoned that Helga's plan was the most pressing, for it seemed that she was about to execute it as soon as everyone was off the bus while Rhonda seemed to be still figuring out the right moment.

'She's probably going to wait until we're all in the classroom first. Knowing her, she'll start with telling our fourth grade class and then let it spread like wildfire. This means that I still have some time before that happens. Helga it is,' Lila slightly nodded to herself as she set her brand new plan in stone. Lila's timing couldn't have been more perfect because as soon as she confirmed her plan to herself, the bus suddenly made a screeching halt in front of P.S. 118, with the door opening barely a second later. The driver really hated being stuck with the school shift and wanted to be rid of those annoying kids!

'Ok, this is it, Helga 'ol girl. It's go time! Better turn bully mode on!' Helga thought to herself with a hidden chuckle, but quickly composed herself. She had to focus.

"One side, morons! Out of my way!" Helga's tough and booming voice sounded throughout the bus. All the students stopped from trying to get off the bus and gave Helga a clear berth of the bus aisle, much like Helga had anticipated.

'Man, I am good!' Helga thought, wanting to smile at that but knew she had to keep that scowl on her face for appearances sake.

Helga charged forward and she was off the bus in no time at all.

'Now where is Princess Rhondaloid?' Helga asked herself as her eyes scanned the front of the school. They soon spotted Rhonda just a few seconds after she started her little search.

'Ah, there she is,' Helga confirmed to herself as her eyes narrowed and her lips curled into a dark grin.

'I think it's time we had a little chat,' Helga thought, rather evilly as she pushed her way through the crowd to make her way to Rhonda.

"Helga! I'm ever so glad I found you! I need to talk to you just ever so much!"

"Not now, Mary Sunshine. I have business to attend to,"

"I know and I'm afraid I can't let you do that,"

"Wha – " Before Helga could finish asking Lila what in the heck she was going to do, Lila grabbed ahold of Helga's arm and dragged her over to the little area by one of the sides of the school steps because of it being slightly more private and all.

As Helga was being dragged against her will, she looked around, suddenly noticing that Phoebe was now not too far behind her. Helga looked at Phoebe as she pointed her head in Rhonda's direction and then looked back at Phoebe with a look of expectation. Yesterday, Helga called Phoebe to tell her about the backup plan she devised in case Rhonda needed to be distracted for some reason. Phoebe immediately got the message from Helga's signals. Phoebe sighed deeply and then nodded at Helga. She didn't want to do this but she knew it was for Helga and this was a desperate time. Phoebe walked to a small crowd of students walking not far behind Rhonda and pretended to trip behind one of them, causing them to fall on top of Rhonda, who then fell over in the process. Rhonda and the other kid groaned as they both got up. Rhonda gasped as she inspected the damage.

"My Caprini slacks! They're ripped! They're ruined! You're going to pay for this!" Rhonda turned to the kid in question and scowled at him.

"Uh, it wasn't my fault. I was tripped?" the kid said rather timidly.

"Oh you'd like me to think that wouldn't you?!" Rhonda practically exploded at the trembling kid. At this point she was shrouded in a red-hot rage.

…

'I must admit that that was genius. I guess being bad has the occasional advantages,' Phoebe thought to herself as she quickly caught back up to Lila and Helga. When Phoebe approached the two girls, she figured that she didn't miss much. Lila had stopped dragging Helga and Helga seized the opportunity to fight her way out of Lila's hold, though it was not much of a fight to begin with since Lila was just about to let go of Helga anyways when Helga broke free.

"Let go of me! What's the big idea, Lila?! You have a lot of nerve to do that to me! That's something I would expect from…well, me! Not you!" Helga boomed at Lila furiously, madly waving her arms up in the air with a hard scowl on her face.

Lila's eyes went wide as she gulped in fright. She leaned back and cowered a little bit. This all was short lived, though. It was mainly just a reflex. After all, Lila pretty much expected that Helga would react like this. Therefore, it wasn't long until her confidence returned. Lila straightened herself before she replied.

"I am ever so sorry, Helga. You don't know how much I hated doing that. You're right. That was so not like me. But this couldn't wait and you wouldn't listen to me before so basically I knew that I had to act like…well, you, just so you would listen to what I had to say," Lila finished her little appeal with a hopeful look. She hoped that Helga would believe her and would in turn let her say what she wanted. She just patiently waited for Helga to think it over.

A few seconds later, Helga's scowl softened as she took in a deep sigh. Her look now appeared to be one of thoughtfulness and only mild annoyance.

"Hmm…yeah, I suppose you're right. And it did work so I guess I understand," Helga conceded after she had a chance to think it over. Lila sighed in relief, but it was short-lived because Helga was not finished. She suddenly got back in Lila's face as she pointed a finger at her.

"But don't you ever try that again!" Helga ordered.

Lila was unfazed. She was kind of expecting this to happen too. Lila nodded calmly. It was an easy thing to promise considering the fact that she never had plans to try that again anyways!

In response to Lila's nod, Helga immediately backed off and composed herself. She brushed off her hands as if it was an action done to represent self-affirmation in a job well done. She did that while smirking slightly.

"Good. I'm glad we got that settled," Helga stated as she started to cross her arms, like she was changing the subject and suddenly needed a new position to portray that. If someone was to assume that, they'd be pretty spot-on.

"Aren't you worried about your reputation? You're supposed to be the sweet and perfect one. I mean, it'd be one thing if no saw but I'm afraid that little stunt you pulled has attracted quite the audience," Helga motioned to the small crowd of students standing several feet away with a glance. She couldn't bear to scan the crowd in case a certain someone was part of it. Helga needed to be as focused as possible.

Lila briefly turned her head to see for herself and sure enough Helga was right. Lila shrugged her shoulders in response.

"Oh, I'm not the least bit worried. That will resolve itself with time and I don't mind if they are curious. It's not like they can hear us anyways," Lila reasoned as she brushed the whole thing off.

'I'm glad Lila said that because I wasn't aware how worried I was about them hearing us until now,' Helga thought to herself in realization.

'Now back to this,' Helga thought as she brought her attention back to what was truly important.

"Ok, you said you had something to tell me, though I already know what it's about, but now you have my attention so go ahead. But make it quick. Like I said earlier, I have business to attend to and I don't have much time to do it," Helga ordered. The last part of what she said triggered a memory, causing her to look briefly at Phoebe, who she noticed in her peripheral vision had caught up to her and Lila not too long ago. She gave her best friend a look that clearly had some kind of unspoken question attached to it. Phoebe immediately caught on to Helga's telepathic message as she quickly nodded in response. Helga sighed in relief at that.

'Good. I have some more time, but not much. Lila better make this snappy or my life will be over,' Helga silently groaned to herself in response to the way that thought ended. Her thoughts nearly caused her to miss out on what Lila was starting to say. Almost.

Lila was planning to tell Helga all she knew from yesterday. However, there was something that Helga said that confused Lila. She just had to know what Helga was getting at.

"Oh, so you do know, but how?" Lila asked in curiosity.

"Phoebe was walking to my house when she overheard the conversation between Rhonda, Nadine, and you, about a certain brick wall yesterday," Helga answered knowingly, a hint of accusation was in her voice. Even though out of all three girls Rhonda was the most likely to blab Helga's secret to the whole school, because Phoebe told her everything that she witnessed, Helga knew that Rhonda would have never believed that chalk message had Lila not helped Rhonda come to that realization. Yes, Helga knew that Lila probably didn't do that on purpose but she was still a part of the reason why this whole mess was happening. Then again, Lila seemed to be full of surprises. After all, she did grab Helga and then proceeded to drag her just to get her to listen to her. At this point, it's hard to know which of her actions were intentional and which ones were not. With all that in mind, Helga just wasn't going to take any chances. And definitely not in the present circumstances. Helga took all this into consideration as she continued.

"Phoebe also told me that if it wasn't for you putting the idea into Rhonda's head, there would not even be the possibility of her divulging my secret to the whole school," Helga stated.

"Wait…so it's true?! Oh my gosh! That is ever so sweet. I think you and Arnold would be a cute couple and – ," Lila was starting to get carried away. Helga had no choice but to cut in.

"Get on with it..." Helga warned, as she let what she said drag on into a low growl.

"Oh, sorry," Lila apologized, looking slightly guilty but still excited for the most part. But Lila took a deep in order to help compose herself before Helga got too angry.

"So…you heard this from Phoebe, meaning you didn't write the message?" Lila inquired. Helga shook her head in response. Helga decided to omit the part about the original chalk message and how she was the author of it barely a minute prior to the time the second message was written in its place.

"And I am terribly sorry about Rhonda. I was just trying to get Rhonda to see the good in you, that you are capable of loving. I had no idea that Rhonda would use this information against you," Lila explained as she apologized once more but for another action, one she was not aware that she had a hand in until it was too late.

"So, it's true? Rhonda is going to tell the whole school?" Phoebe piped up. Lila moved her gaze to Phoebe's face so she could answer her properly.

"I'm afraid that I am not entirely sure about that, but I have a hunch that she might be leaning towards such an action. In fact, I went over the conversation in my mind as soon as I got home yesterday and after some consideration I finally noticed the look on Rhonda's face. It was gleeful but just ever so dark at the same time. That's why I'm talking to you now," Lila turned her focus to Helga as she said that last sentence before she continued.

"I wanted to warn you of what you might be up against, as well as to advise you to not result to hurting Rhonda just yet. We need to first confront her together and see if she's actually planning to tell the school. If she is, then we'll just have to persuade her not to," Lila explained as she concluded the gist of what she wanted to tell Helga.

Helga appeared to be processing Lila's plan, a pensive look on her face. She then looked to Phoebe, who seemed to be agreeing with Lila.

"I would have to concur with Lila on this one, Helga. There is strength in numbers after all," Phoebe reasoned. Now that broke Helga's stoic expression. She suddenly looked stunned and slightly amused. It looked like the two girls were ganging up on her.

"Did I look that menacing earlier?" Helga asked, slightly shocked. The other two girls both looked away from Helga's gaze and nodded sheepishly. Helga gave a low chuckle at that.

"Wow, I'm better than I thought," Helga gave a small smirk before she continued.

"Oh, alright. I didn't really want to hurt her anyways. Like Phoebe and I planned yesterday, I was only going to talk to her but I guess I let my emotions get the better of me," Helga sighed at that revelation she just made about herself in that moment.

'I can't keep it together for one minute can I?! Criminy!' Helga thought in annoyance at herself. Before she went any further with her little moment of self-loathing, she decided to put those thoughts away for the time being. She had plenty of time to mentally beat herself up later but first she had to get this whole mess resolved so with a shake of her head, Helga brought herself back to the present. She was ready to get this plan started.

"Alright, so what are we waiting for? Let's go find Rhonda before it's too late," Helga ordered. The order was more of a determined one, like that of a true leader, than a harsh one that would likely come from a brutal enforcer.

The other two girls nodded in agreement and then the three of them began to walk towards the entrance of the school.

...

About a few minutes earlier, there was a small group of P.S. 118 students that stayed rooted in the same standing positions they were in when they got off the bus. The group was mostly comprised of the fourth grade class. At first, they were watching the little meltdown Rhonda had when she fell and ripped one of the knees of her pants in the process. Since Rhonda was a fourth grader, it makes sense that the other fourth graders who rode the bus would be mesmerized enough to stay behind and watch instead of going into the school, like most of the other students had. Or so it would seem but in actuality, that's not what those students were looking at. Rhonda freaking out about her clothes was nothing new to her classmates. Sure, it was amusing for a second but then again the whole thing was barely noticed by those fourth graders that stayed behind. This was because there was something even more interesting playing out right in front of them at about the same time as Rhonda's meltdown. The fourth graders knew the individuals involved and therefore knew that what they witnessed was so out of character that they couldn't help but watch, except Rhonda of course because she was too enraged and determined to even notice what was going on behind her, since she was already on her way to the school steps when she fell over.

"Willickers! I had no idea Ms. Lila had that in her!" Stinky Peterson exclaimed in disbelief.

"Yeah, boy howdy! You'd expect that sort of thing from Helga but not Lila!" Stinky's buddy Sid agreed.

"Wow, she's gotta be tougher than Helga!" Harold Berman, the sort-of leader of Stinky and Sid's little group, excitedly stated. Suddenly a noise could be heard from Harold's stomach, who immediately changed his expression and rubbed his belly in response.

"Aw, this excitement is making me hungry!" Harold whined.

Meanwhile, two other fourth grade boys were approaching the three.

"What's going on, Gerald?" Arnold asked his best friend curiously.

"I don't know but I'm gonna find out," Gerald Johansen answered as he approached Harold because he was the closest of the three boys.

"What's the hubbub, Bubba?" Gerald asked Harold.

"Helga is being dragged by Lila! Look!" Harold answered as he nodded his head to signal that the two boys should be looking out in front of them. Harold's hunger was briefly put on hold as soon as he was presented with that question. The excited feelings returned to him once more.

Sure enough, when Arnold and Gerald looked in front of them, they saw Lila have a strong hold on Helga's arm as she was dragging a shocked looking Helga to the area by the right side of the school steps, well their right that is.

"Mmm-mmm-mmm!" Gerald exclaimed as he crossed his arms and shook his head with his eyes closed. That was all part of that expression, which was one of his signature moves in and of itself. "Just when I think I've seen it all! I know what I'm seeing but I just don't believe it!" He declared.

Arnold's reaction on the other hand was to just silently contemplate what he was seeing.

'I didn't know Lila could be like that! It's like seeing a whole new side to her! Who knew that under all that sweetness is a hidden tough girl? But it seems that she can control it. She just chooses to be sweet, really sweet. And funny. She's also so smart and that red hair…wait, what? Oh no…oh no…,' Arnold couldn't believe the direction that his thoughts were suddenly going in. He also couldn't believe that it was only yesterday when he swore he did not think of Lila in that way but now it was like he was suddenly a liar. For about a minute, Arnold was trying to convince himself that he was being crazy and he only thought of Lila as a friend. Unfortunately, that was not working out so well for him. It's a good thing everyone else was too engrossed in the scene before them because Arnold's frustrated look would have made anyone want to question him immediately.

'Ok, ok. I admit it. I like Lila. No, wait, I like-like her. And if my last big crush has taught me anything it's that I need to be up front with Lila about this as soon as possible,' Arnold was of course referencing the crush he had on sixth-grader Ruth P. McDougal. Arnold knew that if he had just summoned the courage to talk to Ruth sooner, he would not have wasted so much time on all those plans and schemes the way he did. Plus, Lila was in his class so they already knew each other. It made the situation far less intimidating.

After thinking it over one last time, Arnold was sure about a few things: he suddenly developed a crush on Lila and that he should tell her as soon as he had the chance to. There was just one important thing that Arnold did not know for sure and that was how Lila would react when he told her.

A/N: Hey guess what? In the next chapter, the identity of the 'mystery writer' finally gets revealed! Woohoo!

Hey, what if Lila was the inverse of Helga? Like a hidden tough girl. Ya know like Helga is a hidden romantic? Hey, it could happen!