"I can't believe it, I simply can't believe it!" Rhonda complained loudly as she walked back and forth as Arnold lay on his bed, staring at the white washed ceiling of above him. Rhonda groaned and grabbed her purse, throwing it across the room as she kicked Arnold's leg quickly.

"I'm the IT girl damn it Arnold, how could SHE get the lead and not me? Pft…to think, you have to fall in love with a beast like her. It's simple preposterous, I mean, honestly!" Rhonda went to grab her hair in a fit of anger, but at the last second dropped her hand, as if realizing what she was doing. She let out a loud shriek before sitting down on the bed quickly.

"I know, she's totally gross inside and out." Phoebe piped in as she finished placing nail polish onto her long fingernails. Her phone sat beside her, vibrating nearly every five minutes with a picture of Curly's twisted face. Eventually Phoebe just threw it into her back pack out of annoyance. Harold sat against the door, chewing on some food from Arnold's kitchen as he looked around the room.

"Hey" He stated slowly "Where's Sid at?"

Arnold took a deep gulp of his soda.

Rhonda finally seemed to take notice of his absence at Harold's quandary. She squinted her face together before crossing her arms angrily, tapping her finger against her skinny forearm.

"Yea, he has been missing a lot lately hasn't he…?" Rhonda whispered. Phoebe nodded without much thought before holding up her other hand, half painted now. She looked them over a bit before filing one down as she talked.

"You know I saw him before school talking with that Helga girl, he seemed pretty distraught, maybe something happened to his family?" Phoebe asked reasonably. Rhonda's eyes lit up with fire as she suddenly growled, hitting the bed harshly.

"Damn it she probably told him about Stinko's appendix bursting." Rhonda muttered. Harold and Rhonda looked up rather quickly at that with fear in their eyes as they suddenly turned to each other and then back at Rhonda.

"Wait Stinky's sick? Is he going to be ok?" Harold asked quickly. Rhonda sent him a death glare as she flipped her bangs off of her face angrily.

"Who cares? Maybe you don't remember but he was the one who left us. " Rhonda snuffed. Arnold could see a moment of genuine hurt in her eyes before she snapped back to her false persona. With a grunt of annoyance she moved her hands roughly through Arnold's long hair before shaking her head.

"This Helga girl is really starting to become a pain in the ass…" Rhonda whispered. Arnold shrugged as he sat up a bit taller with a sheepish grin.

"She doesn't sound like a bad girl…she's just a little different Rhonda." With a low glare she clapped her hands together in a decision like fashion.

"Alright everyone, it's time to come up with a plan to remove this little thorn from our side…"

Arnold rolled his eyes as Rhonda grabbed a notebook from her backpack, she was always so over dramatic when it came to someone she saw as a threat. Arnold looked away from her as she started to scribble things down quickly, her mouth flying even faster while Harold and Phoebe listened with interest. Out of all the people he knew Rhonda was the cruelest. Arnold looked at her in a small side glance.

Maybe that's why he was with her.

If Rhonda couldn't surprise him then the world wouldn't be able to hurt him anymore. He closed his blue eyes gently and cracked his knuckles as her words started to float into his ears. She was getting creative on how she was going to take this one down; she must have really had it in for her.

Arnold twisted a bit before closing his eyes as the three schemed.

"I'll be your ray huh…?" He whispered to himself with a gentle smirk.

"Lila I've noticed something." Helga suddenly burst out. Lila looked up from her station in the kitchen and wiped her hands over her apron quickly. With a gentle laugh she walked to Helga's side, checking on her own progress before grabbing a few other ingredients from the refrigerator.

"Oh? What have you noticed Helga?" She asked with a soft giggle. Helga raised a brow, her hair, now in a high ponytail, flipped and hit Lila's cheek as the young girl passed. Lila giggled and rubbed where the wisp of hair had fallen.

Lila was the most beautiful girl in this entire town, and Helga knew it. Whether it was her contagious smile or soft and gentle face Helga knew no matter what Lila did to hide it men and women alike would be drawn to her, it was simply the kind of person she was.

"You lied to me before." Helga stated as she moved her finger slowly down the golden chain around her neck.

"You told me that you weren't popular at school, but I've seen at least five boys ask you out in just the short time that I've been here. The girl's all seem to want to interact with you too- well, besides Rhonda, but I think she's just angry you've befriended me more than anything." Helga muttered. Lila froze for a moment before laughing.

"I suppose you're right. I didn't purposefully lie to you Helga…I really don't have any friends in Hillswood besides you. The only person that ever truly cared for me was Arnold and well…as you can see that didn't end so well…" Lila whispered. Helga saw the woman standing on her tip toes to grab something from the cupboard and effortlessly passed it down to her.

"What did happen between you three? It seems like Gerald hates you, though he must know that it's not your fault Arnold turned out the way he did, I mean, he's smarter than that." Helga mumbled. Lila sighed before shaking some salt into a pot of boiling water.

"We had different ideas of how to help Arnold…he thought he needed tough love, I thought he needed to be coddled. Neither worked as you can see…I ended up fighting with Gerald about how he was treating Arnold during his times of trouble, and he in turn began to hate me for as he put it 'not letting him heal himself'." Lila paused. Helga scoffed as she started to play with some of the flour Lila had set out.

"That's a stupid reason to hate someone." Helga muttered. Lila's lip twitched as she sighed and hung her head.

"No, he has plenty of reason to be angry at me Helga…we fought sure, but we were both on the same team you know…we were close, all three of us…" She paused and looked down upon her arms as if recalling some horrid memory.

"I found Arnold cutting himself. From that moment on it just kept playing in my head over and over and over, he was top priority all the time, even before my own needs. It was if ever interaction with him could result in one less suicide. I started getting sickly and stopped eating, I was always consumed by fear, always watching what I did and what I said. I was immersed in a glass house and if I made the wrong move his death would be on my hands. I….I couldn't handle it, so I cut ties with him….Gerald had to deal with a lot after that, all because I was too selfish to stay with him through the pain."

"….you can't blame yourself you know…." Helga whispered as she started to chop up some salad. Lila moved her pupils to look at the girl from the corner of her eye. Helga sighed before pushing her hair back a bit as it fell out of her ponytail.

"That's no way to live life you know. It would have been selfish of him to ask you to stay when he was hurting you….to see you sacrificing so much for him, that's what should have made him want to stop, not tough love or words of encouragement." Helga whispered.

Lila took a deep breath before turning her head to Helga.

"…you wouldn't have left him."

"No I wouldn't have, but that's because Arnold is my heart and soul, and if he dies then so do I…all my intellect goes out the window when it comes to that boy." Helga whispered.

"…where is your Arnold?" Lila asked quietly, it was something that had been on her mind for quite some time now but she knew the question to be taboo and stayed silent. Helga froze for a moment before hanging her head, placing the salad to the side.

"…I don'tknow."

The two girls sat in silence for a moment as they continued to go about their own individual jobs, their bodies working on auto-pilot while their minds mused over the workings of the past.

"Um Helga…"

Helga glanced over her shoulder as Lila slowly placed down the bowl of sauce she had been mixing. Helga placed a layer of lasagna down before clapping her hands, flour lifting into the air. She coughed for a moment before leaning back against the tile counter.

"Yea what is it Lila?" Helga asked without much thought. Lila seemed deep in thought as she poured the sauce over the third layer of their dinner. Helga pushed the bowl up quickly as sauce started to drip over the side; it was obvious that Lila's head wasn't on her shoulders that day.

"…I've been thinking about what you said…you know…about having a sister and all." Lila whispered placing the bowl down. It clunked against the tile counter heavily as Helga looked at Lila with a sense of caution. Lila sighed and looked away, her lids half closed and filled with denial.

"…and there's someone I think you should meet."