The next day Phoebe, Patty and I had a girl's day. Harold, Gerald, Arnold, Stinky and Sid went paintballing five towns over. Apparently it was an awesome location, a lot of other people and low prices. I really wanted to go but in the morning Patty called and said she felt so bad about canceling that she wanted to hang out today.

So the three of us met up with Sheena and we all went to the mall. I bought a cute black halter top, five short sleeve shirts, two cami's (One black, one pink), a pair of designer jeans and a new bathing suit I found at Victoria Secret. It was a pink bikini with white spots all over, it was very overpriced but so worth it. Phoebe bought a red one piece bathing suit and a new CD from a no named group that wanted to be famous. They were passing out CD's and Pheebs (being the kind person she is) gave them ten bucks. It wasn't a lot but hell it's better than nothing.

After three hours of shopping we decided to get something to eat at the Apple Pie Factory. They have the best apple pie out of this world. As we sat down we started talking about men.

"So Gertie." Sheena asked me. "You've been here a couple days and have checked out the men in the neighborhood. You interested in any of them?"

Phoebe tried not to smirk as the other two leaned in to hear the answer. I sighed and tried to play it cool.

"No…not really I don't really know any of them."

Sheena nodded. "But are you interested in any of them. I mean do you think any of them are cute?" Patty pried.

"Well, I don't know maybe a couple. But I'm really not interest-"I tried to say but was cut off.

"Who are they?" Sheena asked.

I sighed again. " Ladies, I just went through a terrible break up. I'm really not looking for anyone right now."

As if on cue, the food came. I got chicken broccoli alfredo. It looked really good. I ate two bites when I was interrupted.

Someone cleared their throat and I looked up to see Rhonda, Nadine and worst of all, their leader. Lila. ' You have got to be kidding me.' Patty hated the girls which was an advantage in case I have to kick the shit out of them.

" Hello Gertie." Lila said " I'm ever so sure that I need to speak with you."

I shrugged "Ok." I sipped my soda as she looked at me like I was some sort of alien. She looked around at the table of my new friends and asked

" I meant in private."

I sighed for what seemed like the tenth time today.

" Listen, Lola…that is your name right? Lola, Lulu..I'm sorry hun what is it again?"

Her face turned beat red. " It's Lila." She stated.

" Oh sorry. Lila." I started to say. " Anything you want to say to me, you can say to the group." I motioned to my table." I'm more than willing to answer any question you have."

She took a deep breath. " Answer me this. What happened between you and Arnold while I was gone?"

I sat there shocked for a moment, almost losing my character but quickly retorted. " Nothing happened. We would all hang out but it wasn't anything."

She raised an eyebrow. " Are you telling me that you didn't do anything with my boyfriend while I was gone."

I shook my head." Nothing at all. We talked but that was it. I had a lot of issues with my ex-boyfriend Mike. He stopped buy the other day at Phoebe's and practically tried to rape me in front of them. When we were dating he cheating on me with some slut, so I guess the answer to your question is no. I did not do anything with your boyfriend because it hurts too much to be on the other side." I said taking a breath. The girls around me stare in amazement.

" Wow Gertie that really sucks."Rhonda said. Lila looked at her and gave her a dirty look.

"Yeah, I'm sorry." Patty added.

I shrugged " What's done is done. I don't think I'll be dating any time soon." I took another sip of my soda, turning my attention back to Lila.

" Was there anything else?" She shook her head.

" Can I ask you a question?" She again gave me a questionable look but said nothing. I took it as a yes.

" Why do you care so much?" I asked.

" What are you talking about?" She asked defensively.

" Ever since I got here you've been giving me dirty looks and acting all snobby. What the hell did I do to you?"

Lila thought for a second. "Nothing. I haven't been doing anything to you. It much be all in your head you weirdo. Maybe you should get professional help." Rhonda and Nadine laughed.

" At least I don't act like a bitch."

Everyone gasped at my comment.

" Excuse me? Do you know who you are talking to?"

I stood up and slowly started walking around the table. " No but why don't you tell me. Help me understand what makes you 'ever so' special."

She raised her nose in the air. " I was class president and prom queen both junior and senior year. One of the most popular girls in school" She said as a matter-of- factly.

I let out a laugh. " News flash for you hun, High school is over. Anything that happened is over. No one really cares. In college it's like starting from scratch. What college are you going to again?"

She was fuming. " Actually I'm taking a year off."

" Well that's just..Super." I said sarcastically.

She rolled her eyes. " Listen you prude you could never be as cool as I am. You couldn't even try. So how about you just shut up before we have to take this outside."

I laughed again " Yeah you're right I could never been like you because I don't want to. I'd rather not have any STD's. Who knows how many you've had."

That's when she slapped me. I gave her a right hook right across the face. She immediately fell over in pain. I punched her two more times when two policemen pulled me off of her. 'Damn.'

They were on their lunch break and saw everything. The two of us were forced to go to the police station and they wrote an incident report. Lila was at fault for assaulting me and I was only defending myself. She was pissed about that. It not only created a file on her but she also had to go to court. Nadine's parents didn't want them to be associated with a criminal, even if it was a minor offense.

An hour after the incident occurred at the restaurant , Patty, Phoebe and I went back to the house. Sheena had left when Lila and I got into the police car but she said she'd call later. The three guys sat in the living room. Gerald ran over and gave Phoebe a hug.

" What the hell happened?"

I coughed " Relax Mom one of us got in a fight and got caught."

Patty walked over and sat next to Harold on the sofa and Pheebs joined the seat next to Gerald. I on the other hand leaned against the wall.

Patty laughed. " Yeah one of us got caught but it was necessary."

I sighed asking. " So anyways, how was paintball?"

Arnold gave me a look and said " Don't change the subject. What happened? How was the one to get caught."

Phoebe smiled. " We should all go out. How about the three of us get ready and we can figure something out?"

The two jumped up and we took five steps before we heard " Freeze."

As if in unison we all stopped and turned around.

" What happened?"Arnold asked.

I nodded to Pheebs to start heading upstairs. She did the same motion to Patty as they walked past me and started going up the stairs and I slowly walked backwards.

" Well…We all went shopping and then out to the Apple Pie Factory."

" Ohh, I love that place." Harold chimed in.

I smiled. " Yeah. Well we bumped into someone and I had a few words with her and get got in a fight. Two pigs showed up and we ended up going to the station."

Gerald was speechless. I was at the bottom step and reached for the railing.

" Who was the girl?" Arnold asked.

I took another step up the stairs. As I turned I said " Lila." And quickly ran up the stairs before any more questions could follow.

The three of us were in Phoebe's room and searched through our bags. I pulled out the halter top and put it on. Pheebs took out a dark blue strapless dress. Patty pulled out a very cute red tight fitted tee. I straighten my hair, shaped my eyebrows and put on makeup; mostly eyeliner, eye shadow and mascara. Pheebs had her hair in a bun and wore eyeliner, mascara, eye shadow and this light pink lip gloss. Patty also wore her hair up in a bun with the same eye makeup and red lipstick. After we all put heels on, we walked downstairs to meet the boys. Their mouths dropped. After seeing us the boys immediately tried to get ready ASAP. Before we knew it we in Harold's car on the way to a 18+ club called "Seekos". It was a couple towns over but very popular. After going inside the place was packed.

As we were walking through the crowd to "the bar" we bumped into Steve, Mandy's boyfriend/hookup/whatever he is. I tapped him on the shoulder.

" Hey Steve."

He turned " Hey, Mandy's friend right?"

I nodded " Gertie."

He smiled. " Nice name."

" Uh- thanks?"

He looked me up and down. Smiling, he leaned in and asked

"do you guys want to go to the VIP room?"

I shrugged and turned to my friends. I had to yell because the music was so loud. Phoebe and Patty and Harold agreed but Gerald and Arnold were a little cautious. Before I could answer Arnold cut in front of me, telling Steve

" Maybe some other time."

There were no hard feelings but I was a little pissed that Arnold spoke for the group when we didn't even make a decision.

I felt someone tap me on the shoulder and I turned to see a six foot, dark brown hair and brown eyed man standing next to me. As he looked me up and down he smiled. I followed suit.

"Hey baby. Can I buy you a drink?" He asked.

I decided to be playful, hopping on the bar stool next to his and said.

" Sure."

"Barkeep." The guy behind the bar came over.

" Can you get this lovely lady.." He looked at me to fill in the blanks.

I yelled " A Shirley Temple."

The guy smiled. " You know what? Make it three., two more for this beautiful woman's friends."

I blushed, turning around to let the girls know. They were ear to ear smiles as they took the two bar stools next to me. The three boys were pissed off as they stared at the man buying the drinks.

Gerald tapped the guy on the shoulder. "

Listen man, they are with us." He said pointing to the three girls. T

he man asked. " Dude, I'm only concerned about this angel." 'He is spreading it on kinda thick eh?'

" What is your name?" he asked.

"Gertie." Arnold grabbed my arm but I ignored it.

" What's your name?" I asked.

"Robert Seeko. My brother owns this club. Did you want to go to the VIP section? It might be more entertaining."

I looked at my friends." Can they come too?" He smiled "Of course." We grabbed our drinks as we followed Robert to the VIP room.

When we walked up the stairs and through the large double doors, all you could hear was more techno music. The VIP area was four times larger than the club below. There were people dancing on the dance floor, pool tables, a restaurant with waitresses, and two small bowling lanes. Each section was separated but had a bar in every area. We walked into the restaurant area where we were seated in a round booth.

Robert leaned in close. " In this section some drinks are alcoholic, but we can't let anyone else know. Well it was very nice meeting you all. Hopefully I will see you all later and Gertie, save a dance for me on the dance floor." He said winking. I blushed and nodded.

As he left I saw Arnold give me a dirty look. I heard Harold say.

" Guy's I'm getting a beer, you want any. Arnold and Gerald nodded.

" Let me help you man." Both men got up and went to the bar.

Patty pulled out a compact from her purse." Oh my god. I looked like shit." She said looking at herself in the mirror. " I'm going to the bathroom."

Phoebe said. " Yeah, I have to go too." She looked at me. " How about you Gertie?"

I shook my head. " I'm ok." They smiled and went off to find a bathroom.

After they were out of sight Arnold asked me. " Helga, what the hell are you doing?"

I raised an eyebrow. " What are you talking about football head?"

" This." He motioned up and down.

" The flirting."

I internally laughed but didn't let it show. Apparently I'm not allowed to flirt. Let's see how he likes it. Ha Ha Ha. I looked around and no one was to be seen. I took his hand in mine, turning his hand over, I gently stroked my fingers back and forth against the palm of his hand.

" What's wrong?" I asked softly.

" I don't know." He replied.

" What's wrong with a little flirting?" I said.

I saw a fire in his eyes when he looked deep into mine.

" Nothing."

I slid closer to him and whispered. "What's wrong?" I asked again.

He put his arm around my waist and whispered in my ear. " I don't know. I feel like something is but I don't know." The vibrations of his voice sent chills down my spine.

I moved away from him. " I don't know why either. We are friends. It's not like we're dating."

"Well maybe I wanna be." He blurted out quickly.

Gerald and Harold came back to the table. " Sorry we are back so late. The line was so long."

Harold handed a beer to Arnold and I slid out of the booth.

" I'm going to get a drink." The boys looked at me."

I thought you had a drink here." Gerald asked pointing to my pink drink on the table.

"Nah, it's not strong enough." I stated before turning my back to them and walked to the bar. Halfway there I bumped into the girls.

" Let's get a drink." They agreed and we all went to the bar. Seeko was behind the bar and smiled when he saw us.

"Hey ladies, having fun?" We all nodded.

" That's good, what can I get ya?" He asked.

" A Blue Hawaiian." Patty said smiling.

"Um.…a Mai-Tai." Phoebe said.

"I'll have Sex on the beach." I said.

He raised an eyebrow and asked " Do you like what you drink?" Knowing he meant, I smirked. "Don't know…maybe one day I'll find out." I said jokingly.

I think he didn't realize it though because it looked like he really wanted to find out. He handed us our drinks and we walked back to the table.

When we joined the boys Patty said. " You'll never guess what happened. Gertie here started flirting with the guy that owned the place and we get everything for free tonight."

I rolled my eyes. "I didn't flirt with him. He attempted to flirt with me, I just played back."

A new techno song came on and a really attractive looking guy came over to the table and asked if I wanted to dance. I glanced at Phoebe, who just smiled. A waitress cut in front of him and said

" I'm sorry but this is from a guy at the bar." She was holding three shots and three beers. I looked over to see Seeko smiling.

After taking the shot, I told the guy maybe later. He looked a little upset but left. One drink and four shots later, we left a generous tip, got out of the booth and went towards the pool room. It had six tables which were all occupied. So we decided to go bowling. It was weird, I wasn't drunk I was feeling good but because of the heels I kept stumbling. Another waitress came over and asked if we wanted drinks. The girls and I ordered the same drinks and the boys had more beers.

As the drinks came Arnold, who happened to be sitting next to me, asked. "Are you sure that's a good idea?"

I laughed. " What are you my aunt?"

I took a big gulp of my drink and went towards the bowling lane. Deciding that I was going first I walked to the lane, neglecting to put on bowling shoes. I picked up a pink bowling ball and threw it down the lane, getting a strike. I laughed, jumped up in excitement and walked back to my seat.

Passing Gerald I had a smirk on my face. " Beat that hair boy."

He smirked back " Gladly."

He bowled a strike as well. He turned and gave me a look like ' Told ya'. Then Patty was up. She bowled a five with the first ball and took downthree more pins with the second.

The waitress came over with more drinks. I took two big gulps of the drink I had, and it switch places with the full one. It was Phoebe's turn. She went to throw the first ball but tripped on one of her heels. She totally wiped out.

"Oh my god!" I yelled as I went running besides her she started to laugh uncontrollably.

"I'm...ok." She said in between laughing. I took a deep breath and helped her up.

"Maybe it's time to leave." Gerald said and I saw Patty and Harold nod in agreement. I walked over and gulped down the rest of my drink. When I was finished I looked around. Everyone was looking at me.

"What? It's good." They laughed and we all were on our way out when we bumped into Seeko. He asked where we were going.

"Were gonna leave. But thank you for everything." I smiled at him, but he didn't smile back. "Um…no problem. Any way I can get your number?"

"Well I don't normally give my number out, because my aunt owns the phone. But can I get your number? We can have lunch or something."

He shrugged. "I guess." He wrote his number on a napkin and handed it to me, with that we left.

Outside the club Harold turned towards us. " Listen guys, this night was awesome but I have to get up early and take my love home."

He said grabbing Patty's waist and holding her close. Her head rested in his shoulder.

" Yeah, this was so much fun! Ladies, we gotta do this again really soon."

Pheebs and I smiled. " Absolutely!" Pheebs said.

Patty walked toward the two of us, gave us hugs and left. The four of us started walking towards Phoebe's house.

" Hey, do you think we can make a pit stop to my house? My parents are out of town and I had to pick up a few things."

We nodded and walked to the boarding house.

The boarding house hadn't changed at all. There weren't boarders as there use to be. Ernie got married to a beautiful woman he met on a job, Mr. Hynn moved to live with his daughter. Oscar and Susie got divorced and live on other sides of the country. Once Arnold's parent's moved back, the renovated the inside to make a library, a walk in closet, guest rooms and a slightly larger family room on the second floor. When we walked inside the house was very quiet with only one maybe two lights on. We went up to Arnold's room, which also didn't change very much. It was a little bigger, light blue walls with a white trim and a queen sized bed.

Arnold picked up a remote and a couch appeared from the wall. Gerald and Phoebe sat down. I saw a vacant chair in the corner that I quickly sat in. Arnold rummaged around in a dresser drawer and pulled out a bottle of rum and a deck of cards.

" You guys wanna play cards?"

" Sure." I replied. Gerald and Pheebs nodded in agreement.

Arnold smiled. " Cool."

The boys pulled out a card table. The four of us sat and started to play Rummy, then we played poker using Oreo's as chips. We played cards and drank for about two hours. Phoebe started to fall asleep.

She looked to Arnold. " Would…would it be ok…if we stayed here tonight?" She asked, trying not to slur her words. He looked to Gerald.

" I don't care. It's up to you man." Arnold said to Gerald who shrugged and nodded his head.

" You guys can go and pick which room you want."

After looking at three room, they decided to stay in a light purple room that had a white King sized bed, small dresser and television that sat on top. Phoebe walked over and passed out on the bed. Gerald looked to us and said.

" Ok then, good night you guys." He shut the door, leaving me alone with Arnold.