Author Note: This story begins in the midst of the gang's graduation from P.S. 118. The overall journey of this story will cover the gang's teen years.

BECAUSE THE HEART NEVER LIES – Is a culmination of some of the greatest moments in film and television. As a result, a lot of the plotlines are borrowed from other sources. Good luck, with spotting most of them.

INSPIRATION: For those of you who haven't read: 1) We Were Merely Freshman, and Sophomores – I urge you to do so. Both stories are written by rockyyy and her stories are totally amazing. She's the reason that I am writing this fanfic. So if you like my work – please do check out her stories.

Disclaimer: I own none of the characters (except for Sandrine Mortimer, Mr. Dale Bryan Dimmertry, Maureen Bruiser, Asra Asimah (well to some degree), and Nathan Bruiser) – for they are all from the mind of the genius that is Craig Bartlett, his team, and Nickelodeon.

No copyright infringements intended.

Thoughts are emphasized through the use of italics.

…

Junior Year – The Next Day

…

Olga looked at Martin blankly as he pushed a photograph towards her from her spot across from him.

She flinched at the image in front of her, as she immediately wielded her eyes shut in response - hoping to erase the image of the silvery blonde haired; steely-cold-demonic green-eyed man from her mind.

"I told you," Olga insisted as she opened her eyes and looked at Martin calmly, "I had nothing to do with what happened – I was at home."

"The entire night?" Martin questioned emotionless.

Olga blinked.

Martin did not waver, "Ms. Pataki were you at your house the entire night?"

"Look this guy raped me…and you people refused to do a thing about it," Olga huffed angrily, "but I would not – I repeat - would not ever stoop down to his level and cause harm to another human being!"

"Just- Would you please calm down," Martin stressed, "I just want to know where you were last night?"

"I was at home and then I went to work," Olga replied shortly, "I forgot my purse and I went back to the hospital to pick it up. You can ask my sister I was only gone for a few minutes. You can even ask Doctor Shelly McKesson – she saw me."

…

"Did you get it?" Harold questioned hastily as he ran towards Rhonda, who seemed somewhat distracted as he approached her.

Rhonda looked up at him startled and somewhat confused, before suddenly realizing what he was hinting at.

"This wasn't easy," Rhonda lectured as she handed him two pieces of paper, "I had to beg my father to make this happen!"

Harold glanced through the papers quickly and looked back up at Rhonda incredulously, "Is this for real?"

"That's a bonus," Rhonda informed, "I think it seems more romantic."

"Have I told you how awesome you are lately," Harold stated with a smirk happily.

"A girl can never get tired of hearing it," Rhonda replied with a grin as she slammed her locker door closed.

…

Classes had been postponed indefinitely after the shooting.

The school needed time to recuperate, they also needed to give students time to grieve and heal, but the major reason for the disruption of classes was due to the on-going investigation of what had happened within the school that day: What happened to Brainy? And where was his body?

Today, however; today – being approximately three weeks after the shooting – classes had finally resumed.

…

"Good morning students," Mr. Simmons greeted as he motioned towards the front of the classroom, where a person was standing - dressed in a burqa.

"I would like to introduce you to Asra Asimah," Mr. Simmons introduced as he motioned to the young girl at the front of the room, "she's a new student, and she will be joining us for the remainder of the year."

Asra was covered from head to toe – the only thing visible was her eyes. She however chose to keep them lowered; even when she was addressing the class.

She didn't look up once.

When she spoke – she had no accent, nor did her voice indicate that she had lived in a foreign country before moving to Hilwood.

She stated the reason for this was, because she had previously lived in Aspen before moving to Hilwood. This information perked Rhonda's interests for she loved Aspen. None of her peers had ever had the chance to go there, except for Nadine. Peapod had taken her there on a spur-of-the-moment-romantic-getaway on her birthday last summer.

Nadine looked up at Asra glumly as she spoke. Her voice was ridiculously high pitched.

Harold looked at her thoroughly amused as she spoke. Her voice sounded so strange – so high pitched - so forced – so fake.

Stinky looked at her uncomfortably as she spoke.

Rhonda listened to Asra describe her life in Aspen intently, before she was suddenly graced by an uncertain feeling. She tried to shake it off, but the feeling was all too familiar. She had experienced the same feeling the day Sandrine had introduced herself back in the seventh grade.

Asra was hiding something.

Asra was lying.

…

"Where were you this morning?" Phoebe demanded as Helga wandered into the cafeteria.

"I had to drop Lily off at her daycare," Helga stated quietly as she scanned the cafeteria distractedly.

"Why? … Is Olga sick?" Phoebe questioned as she popped a cucumber slice into her mouth carelessly. She continued to rummage through her salad bowl as she struggled to keep up with Helga's somewhat anxious pace.

"No." Helga stated shortly, "She was in the police station being questioned about Nathan's death."

Phoebe froze as her salad bowl fell to the floor.

…

"Hey," Harold greeted happily as he appeared behind Patty's locker door.

Patty peered at him questioningly from the other side, "What's up?" she greeted.

"Do you want to hang out in the cemetery tonight…and look at the stars?" Harold questioned easily.

Patty looked at him skeptically, "I thought you were afraid of cemeteries?"

"Not when I'm with you," Harold whispered quietly, causing Patty to blush.

…

Helga hurried down the hallway anxiously.

Where the hell was he, she thought hastily as she scanned the halls.

She finally found him heading towards the gym.

"Arnold!" Helga yelled as ran to catch up with him.

Arnold froze in his spot at the sound of her voice.

To Helga's surprise he continued walking away anyway.

She ran quickly towards him, and blocked his path as she beelined in front of him.

He looked at her somewhat mortified, but finally stopped and looked at her expectantly.

"What?" he questioned quickly breaking the uncomfortable silence that had seemed to envelop them as Helga stopped to catch her breath.

"We're okay right?" Helga questioned quickly – to her dismay it sounded more like a frantic demand.

Arnold looked at her somewhat taken a back, "I-I…Uh…wh-Why wouldn't we…be okay…" he sputtered much to his dismay.

Helga looked at him uncomfortably. "I never did thank you," she stated quietly as she averted her gaze to the ground.

Arnold looked back at her baffled.

"For the shooting," Helga stated matter-of-factly, as she caught his confused expression, "You do remember what happened right?"

Her tone sounded somewhat annoyed, and kind of disappoint. However there was a tinge of hope blended within the latter emotions - making it almost seem unnoticed.

Arnold did however notice.

"Of course I remember," he stated with a grin, "You love me right?" he toyed playfully.

Helga looked back at him mortified.

"I bet you just want to kiss me again," he chuckled playfully.

He needed to seriously make the event seem like nothing; because she obviously didn't want there to be something. So he chose to mask his disappointment by down playing the event as nothing.

It would be just like the FTi incident all over again…If that's what she wanted it to be?...

"Dude shut up! that's not fair," Helga replied; her eyes wide with shock at his sudden response, "…Alright I kissed you, but I only did it because …I-I … I thought that I was gonna die…"

She definitely wanted it to be…

"And you took care of me so…I – you know…" Helga continued uncomfortably.

Despite himself, almost as if his brain had suddenly lost contact with his bodily functions, Arnold tentatively grabbed Helga's hand in his.

She looked at him uncomfortably as he searched her face – scanning it – he seemed to be looking for something.

"Yeah," he stated quietly as he let go of her hand just as suddenly as he had grabbed it, "I know… It was just the heat of the moment…" he stated quietly.

Helga looked up at him gratefully, a small smile gracing her lips, "Yeah…" she stated softly.

Arnold looked back at her as he nodded in response.

She could have sworn that for a brief moment he looked almost disappointed.

"We're good Helga," he stated quietly, as he continued towards the gym doors, "I'll see you around okay?"

Helga nodded wordlessly as she watched him disappear into the gym.

…

"Hey Curly," Sandrine greeted as she sauntered towards Curly as seductively as she could.

Curly however didn't even spare her a second glance, "What's up?" he greeted distractedly as he rummaged through books within his locker.

"Well the cheese festival is coming up…" Sandrine stated coyly, as she twirled a lock of hair around her index finger flirtatiously.

Curly's attention however remained glued to the items within his locker.

"And I was wondering…that is – if you don't have a date…" Sandrine continued hopefully, hoping that he would catch on.

Curly grabbed a book and shoved it into his backpack. He slammed his locker shut and looked at her, "that we should go together," he finished.

Sandrine nodded, her green eyes sparkled up at him hopefully.

Curly racked his brain for a polite excuse – something to let her down easily.

He however scraped the idea of rejecting her request as he spotted Rhonda heading down the hall towards them.

"I'd love too," he stated uncertainly as he flashed her a bright smile.

…

"So this is the cafeteria," Nadine stated quietly as Asra looked at her intently, "and this is where our group usually eats lunch," she stated with a meek smile as she motioned to the two tables towards the back of the cafeteria.

"The girls in our class are very welcoming," Nadine informed politely, "and we are considered the top ten popular girls in the Junior class – you're very lucky to have scored Mr. Simmons as your homeroom teacher. Our homeroom is unique for the fact that our class stays together throughout the day – for the course of the entire year with only our class. So I guess you are automatically going to be one of the most popular girls at Hilwood."

Asra continued to look at Nadine intently.

Nadine cleared her throat hesitantly hoping to give the girl a hint that she was making her uncomfortable.

To her dismay Asra's intense stare did not waver.

…

Eugene threw his backpack into his locker somewhat aggressively as Sheena eyed him worriedly.

"Um … Do you want to go to Slausen's after school?" Sheena offered timidly.

"No," Eugene responded shortly.

Sheena looked down at his hand apprehensively, as a gasp escaped her lips.

"Eugene," she stated frantically as she grabbed his hand in hers, "What happened to your hand?"

"I hurt it," he stated somewhat annoyed as he yanked it away from her grasp.

Sheena looked at him hurt. As she continued to eye his hand anxiously.

"Where's the ring I gave you?" Sheena questioned as she motioned to his noticeably bruised hand.

Eugene glanced down at his finger stunned, "I…I must have lost it."

…

"So," Katrinka stated as she approached Rhonda and Helga by their lockers, "Did you hear?"

"Hear what?" Helga droned as she watched Arnold hug Jessica from across the hall.

She found herself fuming despite herself.

"Sandrine asked Curly to the cheese festival," Katrinka gossiped.

"She did what?" Rhonda stated angrily as she turned to look at Katrinka.

"What's got your panties in a knot princess? I thought you hated Curly?" Helga stated offhandedly as she watched Arnold and Jessica walk away.

Rhonda looked at her uneasily, before turning her attention back to Katrinka, "What did he say?"

"He said yes," Katrinka responded timidly.

Rhonda's turned away from Katrinka and hid her head in her locker, as she feigned looking for a book, as her heart broke into a million pieces.

…

"So you asked Jessica to the cheese festival?" Gerald questioned quietly.

"We're only going as friends," Arnold replied easily, "She happens to have a humongous crush on Choco B. I told her I'd introduce her to him."

Gerald laughed involuntarily, "Choco B!...Choco B?... Jessica likes Choco B!"

"Yes," Arnold replied somewhat annoyed, "Why – What's wrong with Choco B?"

"Nothing," Gerald chuckled as he dried his involuntary tears – from laughing so hard, "Just the fact that the dude pays more attention to chocolate than his dates. Why do you think he hasn't had a steady girlfriend! The guy only has one love – and that's chocolate."

…

Sheena yelped in shock as the cop handcuffed Eugene. She watched her friend in defeat; she tried to stop the event that was taking place in front of her eyes, but Lorenzo's strong hold on her arm stopped her.

"You'll only make things worst," he whispered as he pulled her towards the spot where their friends were standing, as they looked on in shock.

The cop had Eugene pinned to the lockers within Hilwood High, as he struggled to pin the handcuffs on him from behind.

"You have the right to remain silent," the officer instructed authoritatively, "anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to have an attorney present during questioning. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you. Do you understand these rights?"

Eugene nodded against the locker meekly.

Rhonda pulled out her cell phone and looked at Sheena nervously.

"Hi Daddy," Rhonda began as she walked away, "I need your help … No I'm fine … can you send your best lawyer to the Hilwood Police Station?..."

The rest of her conversation was lost to the group as she continued further down the hall.

The officer pulled Eugene away from the lockers, as he guided him towards the schools entrance.

"Eugene Horowitz. You are charged with the murder of Nathan Bruiser."

…

A/N – For those of you who didn't catch on … Chocolate Boy = Choco B.

Alright so this will probably be the last of my quick updating for a while since my intense shifts start tomorrow.

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