Time for a brand new chapter of the story! Anyway, enjoy!


As Rhonda's father were taking Arnold and Rhonda to school directly, around the same time, Helga had just arrived at the bus stop, giving out a small yawn. "Ugh, so much for a good night's sleep..."

Helga looked down to see the new black shoes that she was wearing as she sighed. "At least I have a spare pair of shoes."

"Ahem..."

Helga paused as she turned to see a certain frowning glasses wearing Japanese girl crossing her arms, seemingly angry about something. "Oh, morning, Pheebs. Got the bus fare all ready?"

"Yes, I made sure I had enough for both of us." Phoebe said coldly, which made Helga uncomfortable.

"Pheebs, you seem a little... upset with me." Helga said, raising part of her unibrow. "What did I do to you this time and what apology do I have to do to make it up to you?"

"Oh, it's not what you did to me... but... what you did to Rhonda!" Phoebe said as she pulled out from her backpack today's newspaper. "Have you read the front page of the news?"

"Honestly, no. Bob never lets me touch the paper." Helga rolled her eyes. "Not that I want the stupid thing, criminy!"

"Well, maybe this news ought to interest you." Phoebe said as she pointed to the front page of the news. Helga quickly looked it over, nonchalantly at first... before her eyes widened in shock upon looking back at something.

"Wait, THIS made national news? Was it, like a slow news day or something?" Helga started to say... before yelping, realizing she said it in front of Phoebe. "Er, forget you heard that."

"It's going to be pretty hard to "forget" it. I'm sorry, Helga, but there are times where I have to put my foot down on something." Phoebe sighed as she took the newspaper. "So you WERE over at Rhonda's house last night!"

Helga groaned as she held her head. "Nothing gets by you, does it? All right, yes, I was at Rhonda's place last night, but you have to understand, Pheebs. I am a girl desperately in love. Sometimes, you have to make sure to get rid of the competition to get closer to the love interest. It's the circle of life."

"Well, the circle of life sucks." Phoebe rolled her eyes. "Look, I get it, Helga. You have it bad for Ice Cream. But why break into Rhonda's place? You should have known better than to break into her place and capture her."

Helga groaned, shaking her head. "I wasn't trying to kidnap her! I was sneaking into her room and trying to send a message to her to break up with A- Ice Cream, but then a vase shattered in the other room and I let my guard down. When she screamed, I had to scramble out of there."

"Leaving behind a shoe..." Phoebe groaned, then sighed. "So, I guess another person entered the house around the same time as you."

Helga nodded. "But I never saw anybody else while I was hiding outside the mansion, pondering a plan."

"Helga, this isn't the boarding house where you can attempt to sneak in almost undetected! This is a mansion, owned by rich people! If people linked this break-in to you, you will be serving a-jail time!" Phoebe sighed. "Look, I'm not going to turn you in, but that little stunt is just uncalled for. Just because Ice Cream and Rhonda are going out together now doesn't mean you should start overreacting at the sight of someone you like going out with another person who isn't you!"

Helga held her head as she said, "You think I don't know that, Pheebs? Because I do! I ju-"

"Just what? Can't control your urges? Like you did when you tried to make sure Ice Cream and Lila didn't have a good time at the Cheese Festival?" Phoebe pointed out.

Helga paused as she sighed, "Okay, so I have a few issues. But this isn't Lila we're talking about. This is Rhonda, the rich girl and Ice Cream's... new... girlfriend..."

Helga looked down sadly as Phoebe looked over a bit in sympathy. She sighed a bit as she said, "Look, I know it's tough right now, but if you really want to get in good terms with Ice Cream, you have to support the relationship, whether you want to or not."

The pink bow wearing blonde just held her head in frustration. "I guess I have no choice."

"Thank you. That's all I ask." Phoebe gave a sigh of relief. "If I were you Helga, you may want to lay a little low for a while. With police on the trail, you might not want to plan unwanted attacks over towards Rhonda."

"I wasn't attacking her! I was just trying to-" Helga started.

"The way I see it, Helga, unless you're willing to confess everything, if you refuse to cooperate, you might end up in jail or worse!" Phoebe said as the bus came up. "Like I said, lay low!"

Helga had no choice but to nod towards her best friend as she followed Phoebe into the bus as she paid the bus fare. As the two sat down, Helga couldn't help but overhear the gossip going on.

"Boy howdy, did you read the article this morning?"

"I sure did! Poor Rhonda, I hope she and her family are okay..."

"At least she's not hurt..."

"I haven't seen her on the bus today... come to think of it, I'm not seeing Arnold either..."

"Maybe they rode together and Arnold's giving her some comfort?"

"Hmmm... maybe. They ARE together, after all..."

Helga groaned as she held her head in frustration. Phoebe turned to Helga with a stern look on her face as she whispered, "Remember, don't screw things up... again!"

Helga sighed as she nodded towards Phoebe. As Helga looked around, she couldn't help but notice Curly was the only one who hadn't spoke at all, but was in fact, seething from something. This caused the pink bow wearing blonde girl to wonder, if Curly may have broken in the house at the same time she did.

"It does make logical sense... I mean, I know Curly has a huge crush on her... and if I know Curly, he would try to..." Helga's eyes widened in shock as she looked back towards Curly. Her eyes quickly narrowed at the bowl haircut kid with the crazy grin on his face. "Something tells me I better keep an eye on this kid..."


Around the same time all the kids got off the bus, Arnold and Rhonda's ride arrived as Buckley dropped the two kids off. "I'll be back to pick you two up after school. Remember, keep the plan a secret."

"Right." Arnold and Rhonda nodded.

"See you kids later." Buckley gave a warm smile, knowing his daughter was safe around the boy and at school as he rolled up the windows.

As Arnold and Rhonda turned, they noticed everybody had gathered around Rhonda as Sid said, "We just read the newspaper article."

"Are you okay, miss Rhonda?" Stinky asked what was on most of everybody's minds.

"Er, yes, I'm okay." Rhonda nodded. "You wouldn't believe what happened last night, though."

"Don't leave out any details!" Gerald said as Helga backed away towards the back of the kids a bit. "We still have time before our first class, maybe you can fill us all in on the way."

"Arnold, would it be okay if you stuck with me?" Rhonda asked as Arnold gave a nod.

"Awww..." Most of the girls swooned as they saw Arnold and Rhonda clutching hands.

The football headed kid, hearing the swoons, rolled his eyes as he said, "Okay, I know, we make a cute couple. No need to dote over us..."

"Well, it all began last night as I was going to bed." Rhonda started her story as everyone followed the couple into the school building, getting themselves prepared for the school day ahead in the process.

And as the day went on, things went a little smoothly for Arnold and Rhonda. So far, aside from a little teasing, they seemed to be treated pretty well, even some of their friends were making sure Rhonda was okay a couple of times before assuring themselves that Arnold was probably the consolence she needed. They haven't told anyone about Rhonda and her family's temporary move, and probably wouldn't for quite a while... which was probably for the better. As for Helga, as much as she didn't enjoy seeing Arnold and Rhonda acting so lovey-dovey towards each other, she was forced to bite her tongue. She almost got in trouble once, there was no way she was going to attempt the trick again...

But either way, Helga's mind, when not focusing on the new couple, was more focused on Curly, who seemed to be shuffling his hands every second, as if thinking up something original. Something in her mind told her that she didn't like what Curly was doing, but she didn't want to make a jump on him too soon... at least, not until she knew for sure that Curly had indeed been the one to break into Rhonda's mansion at the same time she did.

Helga groaned as she held her head. Either way, she did not feel like she was having fun with these new scenarios...


And with that, chapter twelve has come to a close! How did you guys like it? Next time, we'll see how Arnold and Rhonda adjusts to being a fake couple when they go out on a date... but will the date turn out to be all too real when they find themselves enjoying each other's company? Anyway, read, review, criticize and suggest, folks!