Here's the next chapter! Anyway, enjoy!
Later on, after school, Arnold waited outside the school steps as Gerald walked by and whispered, "Good luck, lover boy."
"Gerald!" Arnold hissed, but Gerald had already left.
Arnold paused as he waited until Rhonda came down and smiled. "Hi, Arnold. Ready to go down?"
"Sure." Arnold nodded as the two started to walk to the bus together. As the two sat on the bus together, people were starting to note how close the two were together.
"Hey, is Arnold sitting with Rhonda?" Curly said, raising an eyebrow as he turned to Sid.
"Hmmm... so he is. That's odd, normally Rhonda doesn't let anybody sit with her unless she thinks they're quote-unquote cool." Sid said.
"Lucky!" Harold said. "Arnold's sitting with Rhonda. Big deal!"
Arnold had noticed the commotion going around the bus as he turned to Rhonda. "Rhonda, if it bugs you, I can..."
"No, no, you can sit with me." Rhonda smiled as she sighed. "These people just like to spread rumors about the first thing they see. Come on, we'll ride this downtown, then we'll get out and proceed with our walk."
Arnold nodded as he looked out the window, deciding that if the rumors didn't bother Rhonda, it didn't bother him.
Helga, sitting on the bus with Phoebe, on the other hand, was being bugged with the rumors as she was covering her face.
Phoebe noticed and sighed. "I hate to ask."
Helga sighed. "Yes, it's Ice Cream related."
Phoebe nodded. "Thought so. What did you do?"
Helga looked at Phoebe. "Would you believe me if I told you that at the end of one of my monologues, I wrote 'Arnold Loves Helga' on the wall?"
"I'm following you." Phoebe nodded.
"And then I heard laughing, panicked, erased my name, and then wrote the name of the first person I heard talking in scratchy print?" Helga asked.
"So like you, Helga. Always wanted to be secretive." Phoebe sighed. "Let me guess, you're worried that Ice Cream will end up falling for Rhonda?"
"Not exactly, but at the same time, yes." Helga said nervously.
Phoebe sighed. "Look, Helga, nothing personal, but what were you thinking?"
"I'm sorry! I was trying to keep my secret, secret!" Helga whispered.
"You could have just left it as-is. Then people will believe that maybe Ice Cream wrote the message." Phoebe explained.
"That's just the thing. I didn't want to be teased for liking Ice Cream again!" Helga sighed.
"I know, I know..." Phoebe said. "What did Rhonda think when she saw that message?"
"I... I don't think she initially believed Ice Cream wrote it, in fact, she even compared his handwriting to the writing I made. Actually, I think Nadine and Lila were trying to convince her otherwise." Helga sighed.
"Did it work?" Phoebe asked.
Helga paused. "She still doesn't believe Ice Cream wrote the message, but she's not mentioning it, which is a good thing. Actually..." Helga chuckled. "The only time 'writing on the wall' was mentioned was when Lorenzo thought Lila wrote a message saying 'Lila Loves Lorenzo'."
"That would explain Lorenzo and Lila sitting together on the bus, talking with each other." Phoebe said, looking towards the back of the bus as Lorenzo and Lila were talking.
"But now I'm concerned! It's my own stupidity that caused this! Rhonda is going to take a walk with Ice Cream to the docks and... I don't know what's going to happen?" Helga sighed as she looked down. "Have I just doomed any chances of me and Ice Cream?"
"Helga..." Phoebe said as she put a hand on her knee. "Has the expression, 'there's more fish in the sea' ever been uttered to you?"
"Don't think I'm familiar with the term." Helga said.
"Really?" Phoebe said in shock. "Well, I'm just saying... look into other options, just in case."
"Other options?" Helga said.
"For boys you want to date." Phoebe said, pulling out a list. "I made my list in case Chocolate Cake and I don't work out."
Helga paused as she looked at the list. "Whoa, you really took some time in your... why is Arnold on this list? And near the top, no less?"
"Sorry, Helga..." Phoebe squeaked. "Still wanted to keep options open."
Helga sighed. "Ah well, I guess I can't blame you. You two do have some good chemistry."
"Anyway, Helga... maybe it's time you made a list of other boys to date." Phoebe said. "Just in case Ice Cream already gets taken."
Helga paused. "Hmmm... you know... maybe it won't be a bad idea."
"Who knows?" Phoebe smiled. "Maybe this'll be good and healthy for you... anyway, you want to go to my house for dinner tonight?"
Helga smiled. "Sure. Anything to get my mind off recent events."
A little later, at the docks, Arnold and Rhonda were walking around as Arnold gave a warm smile. "You know, it's been quite a while since I've been last down here."
"Tell me about it." Rhonda smiled. "I can't really explain it, but just seeing the water... it's nice and clean in this part."
"I can see that." Arnold gave a smile towards Rhonda as the two sat down on a nearby bench. "You know Rhonda, I think you have pretty hair."
Rhonda giggled. "Thank you. I always liked keeping it pretty short, though I do let it grow for new stylings."
"I also love your new shirt. Is that a currant color?" Arnold asked.
Rhonda squealed. "Oh my gosh, thank you! I always hate it when people refer to my shirts as 'red'."
"What can I say? I know my shades of color." Arnold said. "I know the other day, you wore a very nice ruby sweater."
Rhonda giggled. "You didn't have a bad olive shirt yourself that day..."
"Oh? Can you guess what color my shirt is today?" Arnold asked in curiosity.
"I'd say it's a... sage color." Rhonda said. "Given how you are pretty wise and mature, it fits you..."
"Thanks." Arnold smiled. "You know, Rhonda, I know that you and I are... different in terms of how we're viewed, but I think you and I have plenty in common."
"Like how we have a good friend who always supports us, no matter the outcome..." Rhonda smiled.
"And we both help people... albeit we do it pretty differently..." Arnold said as the two inched closer to each other.
"And our names have almost the same letters... with only one letter difference." Rhonda giggled.
"L and H." Arnold laughed. "Now that's just a silly comparison."
Rhonda laughed. "I know, I guess I was just reaching on that one. Hey, let's go to the end of the docks."
Arnold nodded. "All right... sure."
With that, Rhonda and Arnold started walking together towards the docks... where little did they realize that something surprising was going to happen to the both of them.
That's the fourth chapter done! How'd you like it? Anyway, read, review, criticize and suggest, folks!
