I am so sorry I stopped right before the end. I haven't had internet access at home in ages. I normally can do everything from my phone, except apparently not upload chapters...

This is the last full chapter. Epilogue will be posted soon.


Rhonda heard the restroom door open and, when there was no hesitation in the steps immediately knew it was Helga.

"I do not wish to speak to you right now. Go away." Helga never broke stride. She walked right up to Rhonda and leaned up against the wall next to her. Rhonda looked up in irritation.

"Greta, please go stand outside of the bathroom and redirect girls to the bathroom in A hall." Greta looked to Rhonda. "Go." Greta stepped back at Helga's forceful command before she scurried out of the restroom. "I assume you are royally pissed at me."

Rhonda turned to glare at Helga. "That does not even begin to cover it. How could you hide something like that from me? How could all of you hide it? I thought you were my friends."

"You wouldn't have given him a chance."

"Of course not, he's psychotic and dangerous. You were there; you saw the things he did back in elementary school. How could you push me at him when you know perfectly well how terrified of him I was?"

"He isn't the same person."

"What do you mean he isn't the same person? I've just been told and retold multiple times tonight that my date is indeed Curly."

"No, your date is Thad. Curly does not exist."

"Curly does too exist. I didn't just make him up. That boy out there is Curly. I will not let him near me and if you were my friend you would agree with me. He cannot be trusted. He is totally insane!" Helga slapped Rhonda.

"Pull yourself together. Thad is my friend and I will not allow you to talk about him in that way. Yes, Thad was Curly, but he is not the same boy he used to be. You want to know why I didn't tell you? I didn't tell you because Thad is my friend and he deserved a chance to be happy. If you had known his past you would have judged him unfairly." Rhonda started to interrupt Helga.

"Shut up, Rhonda. You will listen to me. Thad is not insane. He might be totally infatuated with you, but he will not harm you. He grew up just the same as I did. Am I a danger to Arnold? Because we all know that I was obsessed with him just like Curly was with you and I was getting worse each year as well. The difference is Thad was sent away to grow up and I had to do it in front of everyone."

"But you changed! You learned to leave Arnold alone." Helga snorted.

"I almost lost him forever, princess. Aside from Arnold and I, know one knows this, but Arnold and I shared almost all of the same classes in eighth grade. And I made his life a living hell. It was worse than just spit wads and gum in his hair. I could find the most embarrassing things about him and I'd tell everyone. I knew the things that would hurt the most and I said them to him. I was totally scared and I took it out on him. In many ways I was worse than Curly ever was."

"But you stopped."

"Only because Arnold threatened to never speak to me again if I didn't shape up. I have no idea how he knew that would work, but he said he would never forgive me, never speak to me, never acknowledge me if I couldn't behave like a decent person around him. I couldn't imagine life without his attention, so I stopped. Thad has had to spend the past five years without your attention. I would have died."

Rhonda turned away from Helga. "Stop being so melodramatic. You would have been fine."

"You have no idea. Maybe you're right, maybe I would have been fine, but that wasn't a given. Geez, Rhonda, do you know how many different medications they put me on before I started high school? Far too many to be totally healthy for a girl going through puberty, but I demanded my parents speak to Dr. Bliss about that possibility because I was scared I would ruin my last chance with Arnold and I would have rather died than do that. So yes, maybe I would have bee fine. But maybe no. And luckily I never had to find out. Thad did have to find out and he can live without you. Is he still enamored with you? Apparently so, but his world does not revolve around you. He has real friends now, and a life that involves constructive hobbies. And if you dump him tonight, he will get over you, but I don't know that you will ever get over him. I think that inside you really do like him, but you're just too scared about what everyone thinks to admit it. Do you really want to live with this regret?"

Before Rhonda could answer Helga walked out of the restroom.

Rhonda finally lost control of her emotions and broke down into tears. When she calmed down enough to think rationally, she pulled out her phone and texted her driver to meet her outside. Then she opened the door to find Greta still hovering nervously.

"Greta, thank you for being here for me. Could I ask you one more favor?" The girl nodded, her short, curly hair bobbed around her face. "I am going to go ahead and leave, but I'll send the car back here once I'm home so everyone can get home. Please don't mention my departure for awhile. Could you tell them I will speak to them next week, but not before then? I need to get my thoughts sorted out. And apologize to Emily for me. I'm sorry to both of you that I've brought this night down in any way for the two of you."

"Oh Rhonda, you aren't to blame. You've had a pretty bad shock tonight and I'm sure things will look better in the morning. I've always admired you and your group of friends. It's rare to see so many different people stay friends like y'all have. Y'all all look out for each other and try to help one another. I'm sure all of this will work out for the best."

Rhonda smiled weakly at the girl before turning to head out to meet her driver.


The next day Rhonda sat on her bed in her most comfortable pair of sweats. She had awoken early to eat breakfast with her parents before they left for a charity event in Chicago. She let them know she was turning off her cell phone for the weekend, but if she left the house (unlikely) she would turn it back on. After they left she returned to her room and put on a movie. Today was a day to forget everything. Tomorrow she could start thinking again.

She made it through early afternoon before her plan failed her. She was watching a show that she and Thad both enjoyed immensely. That single though of him opened the floodgates. All the different things she liked about Thad and despised about Curly came tumbling free. It was time to reconcile the differences between them and decide who she really thought he was.

By early Sunday morning Rhonda had decided upon her course of action. Now she would rest and relax until it was time to announce her decision.

Rather than handling something of this nature at school, Rhonda turned on her phone and, without looking at a single one of the messages her so called friends had sent her, she texted Nadine.

'Gerald Field. 7pm. Do not tell Thad.'

Rhonda knew that Nadine would notify everyone else. But Thad did not need to be there for this particular meeting.

'Frosty's. 9pm.'

After Rhonda sent the second message to Thad, she immediately turned off her phone and set her alarm for 5pm. Then she took a nap.


Rhonda approached Gerald Field at 7pm on the dot. While she normally would show up a few minutes early, this was not a time to have to talk to any one person more than strictly necessary.

All of her friends were waiting. They started to talk and apologize, but Rhonda held up her hand.

"I am extremely upset with all of you. You knew something I should have known, yet you kept it from me. I never want you to withhold information like that from me again. However, you did it for my own good and I see that now. None of us is going to apologize. We are all going to move on and let this be a lesson learned."

Nadine stepped forward and hugged her best friend. "I missed you Rhonda. I will tell you anything and everything you want to know without any hesitation from now on."

"Relax Nadine, I couldn't have been mad at you for too long. We're related." With that, the group laughed.

"So Rhonda, what are you going to do about Thad?" Harold was the first to ask the question on all of their minds, but Rhonda only smiled and shook her head.


Thad looked so dejected when Rhonda saw him across the diner. He had not seen her yet. Rhonda took a deep breath and made her way over to him. This was going to be one of the hardest things she had ever done.

As soon as Thad caught sight of her he stood up and started rambling out apologies. Rhonda kissed him.