As the two groups approached the boarding house, they noticed someone sitting on the stoop. They probably wouldn't have thought much of it had it not been for a particular popular socialite whom everyone was wondering where she was.
"Rhonda!" Everyone shouted in surprise.
Rhonda said nothing back and just continued to just sit on the stoop, in an almost fetal position, looking miserably distraught and upset. Everyone could instantly tell that something was not right with her. Her face, arms and shoulder looked oily and dirty, her hair was a mess, her eyes were puffy and red, a testament that she had been crying, and had a scowling face that demonstrated both anger, but also shame and guilt was on her face.
"Rhonda, are you OK?" Phoebe asked her, but again the socialite didn't respond, nor even bothered to look up at anyone.
Helga said nothing, but given the state she was in, couldn't help but feel bad for her.
Nadine then limped her way to the front to see her, and it was only then that Rhonda finally looked up to see her former best friend. She wished she hadn't. The second she looked up, her frown quickly give way to a shocking and hurtful stare. Appalled by what she had done, she merely gave Nadine a sad, heartbroken look before then looking back down on the floor.
Nadine herself was also shocked by the state she saw Rhonda in and knew instantly how remorseful she was. She could tell that the guilt was eating her up inside. Previously, she had been confused about what to do. She didn't know if she should forgive Rhonda for what she did, or if she should scoff at her for literally pushing her away like that. Truly, she had been feeling a mixture of anger, hurt and desire to reconcile. Now, all she felt for her former best friend was sympathy and wanted to see if she was alright.
"Rhonda, where have you been?!" Rodrigo then suddenly said to her with a raised and concerned voice. "We've been trying to get a hold of you for hours. We were worried sick about you."
However, his concerned facial expression soon gave way to an annoying frown.
"Where's the bag with the stuff that we bought?" He demanded.
Rhonda looked up to face him, only this time she gave Rodrigo a silent, yet hateful scowling face, one that was devoid of any friendly affection for him. Whilst saying nothing, she merely lifted up the bag to show him that she still had it, but remained firmly seated in her almost fetal position.
"You've got some nerve leaving us hanging like that." Rodrigo scoffed at her while giving her a disappointed face. "We didn't know what happened to you; if you were alright or got hurt. You could have at least send us a message telling us you were OK. And why are you at the boarding house?" He continued to interrogate her.
Despite being worried about her, the simultaneous high level of chastising tone with an insensitive attitude that Rodrigo was giving Rhonda at that moment surprised everyone. It was obvious that Rhonda was extremely upset about today's events. However, Rodrigo either didn't seem to notice, or simply didn't care.
Not surprisingly, his remarks now served as more fuel to the fire to Arnold's already high level of rage for him, a rage which had now reached its boiling point. Seeing two of his friends physically hurt was already almost unbearable. But, on now having to endure seeing a third friend, who already was emotionally and psychologically down, being scoffed at by Rodrigo like that, that...was...the last straw! Arnold felt himself unable to bear him any longer. Consumed with so much rage and resentment that he had been accumulating for months, he was about to explode. He continued to grind his teeth ever harder now and the glare that he was giving Rodrigo looked like he was visually stabbing him multiple times.
"Rodrigo," Arnold said with an angry, snarling voice, "leave her alone."
"Stay out of this Arnold." Rodrigo merely snapped back at him. "This doesn't concern you—hey!"
Arnold finally lost his patience and in a fit of unprecedented rage, he violently ran up to Rodrigo, grabbed him by his shirt and then slammed him against the wall of the boarding house, much to everyone's shock.
"I said leave her alone!" He angrily shouted at him. "You have no right to treat her like that! She's been through enough! And as for your information, this does concern me! These are my friends and unlike you, I care about them!"
Rodrigo was so shocked by Arnold's sudden aggression that for a few seconds he was rendered immobile. Everyone else was too.
"This has gone far enough!" Arnold continued to angrily berate him. "Throughout this whole time you have done nothing but be utterly reckless and put everyone, including the neighbourhood in jeopardy! I can see now that you had never bothered to consider how your so-called 'plans' would affect everyone here. You don't care about these people; you never did! Now because of you, three of my closest friends are hurt."
That finally made Rodrigo snap out of it. His shock quickly dissipated and was replaced by his own fueling rage. Furious that Arnold had the cojones to blame him for what happened to his friends, Rodrigo instantly used the wall to launch himself against Arnold, grabbing his shirt in the process. The force was great enough that it forced Arnold to take a few steps back, but he refused to let Rodrigo go.
"You have a lot of nerve blaming me for what happened today!" Rodrigo furiously growled at him. "Not to mention how much you just contradicted yourself. Who's the one that keeps clinging on to a stupid idea that is going to fail? Who's the one that confronted me back at the alleyway and was willing to fight me, despite several times being asked to move?! Don't you dare put this on me, football head! You're the one that keeps getting in my way and trying to sabotage our attempts to save this place, when you should have instead tried to help us! You're the cause of all of this!"
Arnold then let go of him and then swung his own arms to push Rodrigo's arms away from him, forcing him to let him go as well.
"I am not!" Arnold angrily countered. "All I wanted to do was save this neighbourhood without having any of us go to prison for it. But you seem so hell-bent to outdo me at every turn that you are willing to put all of our friends at risk just so you can win." He accused him.
"I don't need to out-do you! That was done way before you even visited everyone back in March!" Rodrigo yelled back at him, much to Arnold's fury.
As Rodrigo and Arnold continued to berate, yell and accuse each other, Helga initially just watched this spectacle by the sidelines with a sense of calmness and emotional neutrality, although it was not by choice. Completely taken aback that Rodrigo and Arnold were at each other's throats before her own every eyes, it took her a while to finally come to terms with the realization of what she was seeing. The two guys she had grown to be infatuated with, two of the most patient and compassionate people she had ever met, had shown a side of themselves that she didn't know existed. Needless to say this whole experience had brought out the worst in them. That alone was bad enough and already a lot to take, but seeing Rodrigo and Arnold be this aggressive with each other, coupled with all that anger, was absolutely shocking!
With Arnold it was even more astonishing. Of all of the years she had known him, not once had she ever seen him this angry before. Sure, she had seen him mad before, especially at her, but nothing like this. This was a person who was completely different, or a side of Arnold that she had never known; a dark side of Arnold, if you will. At any other time, this would have been a frightening scene for Helga to watch. Indeed, she just stood silently and watched in both awe and horror as Rodrigo and Arnold seemingly got closer and closer to perhaps get themselves involved into into another fist fight.
However, Helga soon snapped out of her shocking and ' emotionally neutral' stance. What she then experienced was the usual; anger. But, it was a type of anger that she had never before felt. Not only did it feel way more intense, but it arose of out a profound yearning, or need to regain control. Throughout the entire summer, she had been emotionally pressed almost into submission by the whims of events outside of her control. She tried everything she could to get out of this 'cage' that she felt she had been thrown into, with the walls slowly closing in, suffocating her. As a result, she slowly crawled back to the same self-isolation that she 'put herself in' all these years since Arnold left Hillwood, hurting not only herself in the process, but also Rodrigo and even...Arnold, a fact that only caused her more pain and guilt and thus, more ample reasons to stay away.
Now, just when things couldn't get any worse; they did. She now had to painfully hear and then later watch in horror as the two boys she liked—well one boy she liked, the other she loved – threaten to rip themselves apart; all for her. Helga was not stupid. She knew deep down this fighting was all about trying to win her hand, even if none of them even mentioned it. It was all unconscious. It was never about trying to save the neighbourhood. And that was why she was feeling that sort of intense anger. Because she was unable to lend a hand, she had expected these two knuckleheads to be able to put their differences aside and work together for a common cause. Helga had always been a control-freak. Given her family background, she had to be; it was the only thing she had. However, with the case of Rodrigo and Arnold, she thought she could trust them with this task. She thought they were mature enough to deal with this threat together. In a rare moment of trust, she was willing to stand aside and allow others to deal with this, while she dealt with her own problems. This was of course Arnold and Rodrigo that we're talking about; why wouldn't she trust them to do the right thing? However instead, they allowed their egoistic desires to get the better of them, causing not only the group to splinter, but also ended up hurting their friends. And even more to her fury, they were too blind and stupid to see that! From that perspective, they had broken something that was very fragile. With Helga, it was even more delicate; her trust, and that was something you just did not do to Helga G. Pataki and expect to get away with it! That was the anger that she was feeling. It arose of out bitter disappointment, hurt and feeling at being lied to!
As the anger started to intensely and quickly rise up, Helga started to breath heavily as she felt her entire body become actively stiff. Her predatory instinct became active, she glanced at the two teens still bickering at one another. Her eyes became narrow and focus, her mind sharping its verbal blade, ready to strike at its victims. As she continued to breath more and more heavily, she was finally reaching her boiling point. Phoebe, who was standing right next to Helga, noticed her best friend's changed demeanor, but before she could say or do anything, Helga finally lost it.
"THAT'S IT!" She angrily screamed with all her fury, prompting everyone to become startled and look towards her.
Even Rodrigo and Arnold were startled by Helga's sudden screaming, and stopped their bickering to look towards her. Helga, with an extremely, deadly glare in her eyes, started to angrily stomp her way towards the two male teens. Both teens were about to say something to her but were stopped when they instantly felt a serious pain on their cheeks.
*SLAP*SLAP*
*SLAP*SLAP*
No sooner had Helga approached then when she rose hand and gave both Rodrigo and Arnold a serious slap on both their cheeks. The strike was so strong that her hand left an imprint on their cheeks and became instantly red.
"Ouch!" Both male teens cried out in pain.
"Helga, that hurts!" Arnold shouted at her as he rubbed his cheeks.
"Ya Helga, what gives?" Rodrigo cried out as he frowned at her.
"Shut up!" Helga angrily yelled at them. "You both deserve it after the way you have been behaving these last few weeks! Look at you both; acting like a bunch of children! I have seen kids act more mature. This is absolutely pathetic! Our homes are about to be torn down in less than two weeks and you two have done nothing but bicker and blame each other. How more stupid and low can you both possible get?!"
"That goes for the rest of you!" Helga yelled as she then turned around to face everyone else. "How can you all get suckered into something so stupid and juvenile? Are you all that blind or just plain morons with no brains?! Instead of trying to break them apart and get them to settle their differences, all of you have made things worse by encouraging these two morons to fight each other! None of you have proven to be any better than your 'glorious leaders' over here. If anything, the only thing you've proven was to be nothing more than a bunch of spineless worms! You all gave Rodrigo a hard time for somethin he shouldn't have done. Well, look at what you just accomplished!" She yelled at them.
Everyone said nothing and just looked at Helga with shocking, horrified, if not also hurtful looks at her. Her words both stung, yet rang true. Her words were also directed at Phoebe, who was mortified. Not even she was spared from what she really thought about everyone's actions. Was Helga right? Were they fooled to get involved like this? However, before any of them had a chance to respond to her, Helga then turned around to face Rodrigo and Arnold again.
"Both of you have a lot of nerve deflecting blame from each other. Not only have you wasted precious time and resources playing the blame game, but neither of you have taken it upon yourself to really see the bigger picture. You must be either utterly blind or just stupid. Well, here's some news flash for you; this is both your fault!"
"What?!" Both Rodrigo and Arnold exclaimed in shock.
"You heard me! Both of you are to blame for what happened to Eugene, Nadine, even Princess over there!" She continued to yell at them. "You're bickering and unwillingness to take responsibility for your actions had led to absolutely nothing getting done to save our neighbourhood. No, worse! Three of our friends are now hurt. No, even worse than that, your feud only served to break this group entirely apart! Look at what you both did to Eugene, look at what you made Rhonda do to Nadine; look at what you forced Gerald and Lorenzo do to each other, look at what you did to the very founders of the Mitigators; you've split them apart! Look what you've been doing to Harold's and Patty's relationship; you have been straining their relationship! This is as much on you as it is on them!"
Rodrigo and Arnold said absolute nothing. Completely taken aback at what Helga had said, both could do nothing but stare at her with shocking looks, wide eyes and dropped jaws.
"Our friends trusted you both to save our homes." She continued. "All the residents here trusted you. Your families trusted you. I trusted you..." She said while still glaring at them with an angry, but also disappointed stare. "Look at what your infighting as done to this place. Look around!" She yelled at them.
Rodrigo and Arnold said nothing and just silently look around the vicinity. Slowly, they began to realized to their absolute horror what had been happening to many people's homes. Many of them that they were able to see had either 'Sold' or 'For Sale' signs on them. Others had wooden boards nailed on the doors and windows, indicating that they had been abandoned. The street that they were on was practically empty, save for them. Indeed, the neighbourhood looked deserted. However, before any of them had a chance to speak, Helga continued her chastising.
"This is what your stupid infighting did." She angrily continued as she pointed to the empty and abandoned homes. "All you have done is betrayed our trust. All you did is just used us for your own stupid feud. You've let us all down!"
That last sentence shook both Rodrigo and Arnold to their very core, but they were still too much in shock to defend themselves.
"And, I'm done." She then said softly and sadly to them.
"Wha-What?" Arnold finally, but shockingly asked.
"I said I'm done!" Helga suddenly and angrily yelled.
"Wh-What do you mean by that?" Rodrigo worryingly asked. A sense of deep fear and anxiety started gripping him, so much so that his knees started buckling and his heart started pounding faster and faster. He instantly became afraid what Helga meant by that. Perhaps she was finally doing it, what he was dreading all summer; she was breaking up with him.
"I am done with everything!" She angrily roared and vented all of her frustration and anger at both teens. "I am done feeling emotionally confused and dazed! I am done feeling completely powerless in my life! I am done with the idiocy of this group, I am done with this neighbourhood, I am done with Von Scheck, I am done with this indecisive, cry-baby of a football head! I am done with a cowardly, childish boyfriend like you, Rodrigo! But, I am especially done feeling trapped between you two!"
Helga than stopped yelling for a bit in order to catch her breath, but she remained firm in giving both male teens a scowling face.
Everyone became even more shocked and stunned at what she blurted out. Rodrigo and Arnold still said nothing and looked at Helga with stunned and hurtful looks.
Helga, after accumulating all of that anger, confusion and stress for months, was no longer able to bear it and ended up letting it all out in one instant; at the two people who were the source of it all. She continued glaring at them while panting for air in silence, but she had one final thing to say.
"I'm done." She softly, but also rather sadly said to them with a defeated tone in her voice "I'm going home to pack." And then began to walk away from the group, leaving everyone still in their stunned state.
Rodrigo, completely reeling from what Helga had said, remained still for a seconds. But upon realizing that she was leaving, snapped out of it.
"Helga, wait!" Rodrigo then yelled, ran up to her and grabbed her arm in order to get her to stop walking.
However, Helga just angrily yanked her arm away from his grasp and then turned around.
"Don't!" She angrily said to him, giving her a warning stare. "Just don't!"
The way she was looking at Rodrigo sent a cold chill down his spine and it even prompted him to take a few steps away from her. He had never seen that type of stare before. Rodrigo had never really been scared of Helga, but this was the first time where he actually felt fear. He could see it in her eyes that Helga was trying to restrain herself from actually hitting him again.
"Helga, wait! Please don't go!" Arnold then immediately intervened and tried to stop her from walking away.
"Stay away, football head!" But Helga just angrily snapped at him, giving him the same stare that frightened Rodrigo, which prompted Arnold to also take a step back.
"Just go back to San Lorenzo. You're more useful there." She then said to him as she turned back around and then started walking away, leaving Rodrigo and Arnold mortified and completely hurt.
The group said and did nothing as they just watched Helga leave, who eventually made a turn around a corner and disappeared. Silence then began to once again grip the group again, with only the chirping of crickets being heard. Everyone was still trying to comprehend what they had just witnessed. No one, not even Arnold, had ever seen Helga this angry before. Even more astonishingly, no one could believe what they just heard; Helga was giving up! She was giving up on trying to save the neighbourhood, on her relationship with Rodrigo, even on, whatever thing she had with Arnold. She was giving up on everything! It was just too much to take, too much to even believe. One of the strongest, more enduring characters of their group was throwing away the towel.
Rhonda, who throughout this whole time remained seated on the stoop and had not bothered to look up at the commotion, nevertheless heard everything Helga had just said. Taking it all to heart, she finally got up, walked down the stoop and approached a still rattled Rodrigo.
"Here." She dryly said to him as she shoved the bag onto his chest. "The bag fell when I tried to get over the fence. The software program is OK, but some of the hardware is damaged."
"What?" Rodrigo said with a bewildered look on his face.
"I'm sure Curly can fix it, or at least do what he can with what he's got." She said with an emotionless voice.
"But as for me, I'm out." She declared, much to everyone else' shock. "I no longer want anything to do with this. Curly, Lorenzo, you have 12 hours to come and get your things from my house or else I'm throwing them away."
Rhonda waited for a bit to see what Rodrigo would say, if at all. Instead, she was met by utter silence from him. Thinking that he had nothing to say, she just sighed and then began to walk off.
Rodrigo for a little while, still shocked by Helga's words and now Rhonda's departure, just stared at the bag, but then began to frown, went up to Curly and gave him the bag, and then walked towards Rhonda.
"So that's it?" He remarked. "You're giving up, just like that?"
"Yes Rodrigo, just like that!" Rhonda angrily yelled back at him. "Helga's right; I never should have gotten myself involved in all of this, especially with a back-stabbing, uncaring person like you!"
"Back-stabbing? What are you talking about?" Rodrigo asked, completely confused by her accusation.
"Oh, you know very well what I'm talking about, Rodrigo." Rhonda angrily said to him. "Arnold's right about one thing; you use people, just like how you used me and everyone else in your little scheme to stop Caesar."
"Again with that?!" Rodrigo cried out utter annoyance. "I thought we were past that."
"We're not past it!" Rhonda angrily yelled at him. "And we're never going to be!"
"That's it!" Rodrigo angrily cried out as he instantly ran up in front of Rhonda and blocked her way.
"For months you have done nothing but whine and complain like a little girl about how I 'used you', when I did no such thing to you!" Rodrigo angrily yelled at her. "Why don't you grow up and move on already?!"
"Don't you dare talk to me that way!" Rhonda screamed at him "It is incredible just how blind you are from the things that you do that hurt others. I thought Arnold was dense, but you are taking it to a whole new level!"
"Well then, why don't you 'enlighten' me?!" Rodrigo angrily shouted back. "What is it about that incident that got you so ticked off that despite it being months, you are still complaining about what I somehow 'did to you'?"
Rhonda's angry facial expression then gave way to a surprised, if not nervous look. Realizing that she now had to tell him about the reason why she was taking this incident so personally, she nervously tried to come up with some sort of excuse, anything that would prevent her from actually telling him the truth.
"Well?" Rodrigo impatiently asked her. "I'm waiting."
"Oh, just forget it Rodrigo." She frustratingly said to him. "You wouldn't understand, nor would you care." As she attempted to move around him and walk away, but Rodrigo quickly moved in right in front of her, blocking her path again.
"You're not going anywhere until you tell me why you are still so angry over this." He firmly said to him.
"I don't need to tell you anything. Now move!" Rhonda angrily shouted and then quickly moved around him to walk way.
"Of course you don't need to tell me anything—because you don't have any good reason other than you liking to whine and complain like the wuss that you really are." He furiously said to her. "I can see why Helga never liked you."
That made Rhonda instantly stop walking, but did not yet turn around. She had never cared what Helga thought about her. But, she wasn't sure why, that last remark really struck her, so much so that her eye began twitching.
"Whoa Rodrigo, just let Rhonda go." Gerald then calmly said to him. "She's been through enough-"
"Save it, Gerald." Before Rodrigo then firmly cut him off. "I've had to take a lot of crap from her these last months and I am sick of it. I don't care what I have to do, but one way or another, I'm going to find out why she won't just leave me alone about this!"
Rhonda found it truly incredible at how blind Rodrigo was. It may not have been that obvious, but she had expected him to at least figure out why his actions caused her to be so angry with him. Whatever the case, his insensitive remarks and denseness finally set her off. She didn't think. She just said it.
"BECAUSE I WANTED TO BE BEST FRIENDS WITH YOU!" She finally and angrily screamed her reason, prompting everyone, including a flabbergasted Rodrigo to turn back around and face her.
"What?" He, to his shock, said to her. "What did you say?"
"What, are you deaf?!" Rhonda angrily screamed at him as she marched towards him, grabbed him by his shirt and began to aggressively shake him. "I said I wanted us to be best friends! That's why I am taking this so personally! You and I have gotten so close this year, that I was going to ask you if we could be best friends! There! You wanted to know what my reason was for being so upset with you? Well here it is; I WANTED US TO BE BEST FRIENDS, BUT YOU THREW THAT ALL AWAY!"
"I uh ehh...w-w-what?" Was all a stunned Rodrigo could say, unable to fully grasp it due to the level of shock Rhonda's reason was having on him. "What do you mean 'best friends'?" He awkwardly asked her.
Realizing that her reason not only stunned Rodrigo, but everyone else, she tried to calm herself down a bit, taking deep breaths, before she could resume her story.
"Ever since," She began to talk calmly, but now with a very sad facial expression, "Nadine and I stopped being best friends, I have been left feeling a bit...I don't know. I guess, alone. For me, it was bad enough that she and I have been drifting apart for some years. But, I always thought that no matter what, so long as we remained quote on quote, 'best friends', we would be OK. But when it became clear that we just drifted too far apart to really be that, and when Nadine first brought it up, I realized that there was no point in keeping up with this charade. So, we decided to call it quits."
"I know that we both promised to remain close and to some extent, we have." She sadly continued. "But...I've felt that losing her as my best friend had only accelerated the distance between us. It wasn't until two years ago when I truly felt that I...was losing someone so dear to me. And since then, I've felt...I guess empty, or alone. Don't get me wrong, I know I have all of you guys and I love you for that. And sure, my vast wealth and high social connections kept me afloat and busy during those times. But, it just wasn't the same. It's just...ugh I don't know how to explain it. There is usually that one special person whom you can always trust to have your back, that one person whom you know will always be there for you. For Arnold, it's Gerald. For Helga, it's Phoebe. I just always thought that person would always be Nadine." She continued, this time with her eyes becoming teary.
Nadine said nothing and just looked on with complete disbelief and sadness. If she had to be honest, them stopping being best friends wasn't an easy decision for her either. But, Nadine knew that she was more likely to bounce back from this faster and not surprisingly, she did. Feeling 'freed' from this supposedly best friend charade, Nadine wasted no time in making new friends with people who had the same interests as her. She did try to remain close to Rhonda, but she could also tell as the years passed, they drifted further and further apart. From the beginning, she knew Rhonda would take this 'break-up' kind of hard, but she never thought she would take it this hard.
"Anyways," Rhonda continued, "that was how I felt for a while...until I met you, Rodrigo." As she looked at him with an initial bashful, but then angry and disappointed look.
Rodrigo said nothing and just continued to look at her. Knowing full well what was coming to him, he was regretting on forcing her to tell him about her reasons, but it was too late now.
"When I first met you, you highly impressed me, and I don't say that often." She said with her arms crossed. "You are very well educated, smart, have great etiquette, a pleasant person to be around with and have a good heart. Well, at least I thought you had a good heart. But also that you and I have a lot of things in common. Even in some areas of interest where it seemed there was no connection; we found a way to make it work. True, we didn't always see eye-to-eye, but I felt, for me at least, there was this deep connection between us. It shouldn't be surprising that you and I clicked, just liked that." As she snapped her finger. "The more we spent time together, the more I felt we understood each other...and the closer I felt we were getting."
"Anyways, to make a long story short, you and I became so close and seemed to have a good connection, that I actually began to consider doing the impossible, what I thought I would never be able to do; I thought that perhaps we could...be best friends." She continued with a nervous chuckle. "This may not mean a lot to you or to most people, but it does to me."
"When did you start to consider this?" Rodrigo softly asked her, now becoming utterly ashamed for the way he had spoken and treated her just a moment ago.
"A few weeks prior to your little stunt with the Mitigators." Rhonda responded with a frown.
Rodrigo now understood quite clearly where Rhonda was coming from. The socialite was not exaggerating on how fast they became friends and he too felt the same way. When he first met her, and after getting to know her a bit, Rodrigo wasn't initially all that impressed with her and quickly came to view her as very shallow and materialistic; two traits he disliked in people. However, like Helga and everyone else, he always gave people a chance and so opted to spend more time with her to get to know her more. Slowly, Rhonda began to reveal something of herself that few people knew little about. With every conversation and time spent, Rodrigo grew more and more impressed with her and realized that he had misjudged her. Since then, they would often spend so much time with each other that at one point, their friends thought that perhaps there was something going on between the two. Even Helga picked up on this suspicion and she too thought they were maybe dating, much to her jealousy. However, she quickly dismissed it. Despite having some things in common, Helga concluded they were too different for them to ever like 'like' each other and did not believe they would take it any further.
And to some extent, she was right. The two dark-haired teens were an odd bunch. Rodrigo was never fond of Rhonda's high status glamour, social media frenzy, and materialistic mentality. Unlike the socialite, Rodrigo had a much more modest view of things. Even his dress attire was simple when compared to hers. However, he often took such a trend to the extreme, so much so that it sometimes annoyed both Rhonda and Helga. Yet, the Latino kid had no qualms when it came to conversing with other people from Rhonda's own high status group, although he preferred to spend time with the adults, as he found them to be more educated, well-mannered, cultured and thus, more tolerable than their off-springs. Rodrigo may have disliked Hillwood's elite's high social glamour and extravagance, but he did have one thing in common with them; a highly cultured mentality. This suited very well with Rhonda's own obsessive stance of her own high status position. Both loved literature and sometimes spent their time conversing about some of history's greatest literature works. They also both loved the arts and sometimes went to the Hillwood Art Gallery to view the latest artwork, with Rhonda even getting special privileges to view some of the more private art works. Rodrigo also soon learned to like the opera and would often accompany Rhonda whenever she had tickets, replacing Nadine as her invited guest.
It was precisely because of their odd mixture of common interests and dislikes that both of them appreciated each other. Rodrigo came to understand the value of social connections and even enjoyed a bit in mingling into the world of Hillwood's elites. Rhonda in turn learned to appreciate if not even come to enjoy some of the simple things in life. They grew to like each other, while also being honest about each other's distaste for the other's trend and social view points.
Because of this, Rodrigo knew exactly what Rhonda was talking about and began to finally realize, to his absolute dismay and guilt, just how badly he had hurt her. However, Rhonda wasn't done talking.
"I wasn't sure if you felt the same way, or if you even wanted to." Rhonda continued. "Which is why I was planning on sitting down with you sometime to talk about it."
"Well, why didn't you?" Rodrigo asked.
"Because I wasn't sure if I was even ready to take that step myself." Rhonda responded. "I wasn't sure if I was ready to 'replace' Nadine. I kept on delaying and delaying, weighting my options, looking to see if I was making the right choice, or if I was perhaps moving things too fast, or if perhaps...I should maybe ask Nadine to be best friends again, to see if we can try again." She continued sadly.
"Did you ever make a decision?" Rodrigo softly asked, to which Rhonda simply shook her head.
"You never gave me the chance to make a decision." Rhonda then angrily snarled at him, causing Rodrigo to gulp and grow nervous.
"When Eugene told me how you essentially hijacked the Mitigators, without even so much consulting anyone, let alone ask for our permission, that in itself was infuriating." She continue to very angrily say to him. "But, even with that stunt, I thought you still had some restraints. Which is why I never, ever expected you to do what you did next. You not only took over what was never yours to begin with, but you had the audacity to expect the rest of us to just follow your orders, as if you have some paramount authority or legitimacy over us! Just who do you think you are? You have none of those. You are new to this group! You never once approached me to ask, TO ASK, for my help, as equals, like a true friend would. Instead, you sent Eugene with specifics instructions to tell me that you needed to use my social connections for your little plan to expose Caesar. You didn't even come to talk to me; you sent Eugene instead. Plus, I wasn't even given the option. You simply expected me to follow your orders, knowing full well that I was not going to say 'no'. How could I, when you were planning on putting yourself in danger by going to that park alone to face him? You used that, our friendship and my concern for you, to your advantage, to coerce me, Sheena and Nadine into following your instructions without question! Do you honestly know what that feels like, to be seen as nothing more than a piece of utility for some grandiose plan, even if that plan was to stop a hateful person as Caesar?! I already deal a lot of that in my everyday life. I do not need it from you!"
"Rhonda, I.. uhh..." Rodrigo attempted to defend himself, but in a rare moment, stumbled on what to actually say.
"You what?" Rhonda angrily retorted back. "Are you trying to say that you did not take advantage of our friendship by blackmailing, because that is what you did, blackmailing me to follow your instruction without question? Are you trying to tell me that you are completely innocent in all of this and you are really the hero that everyone, especially Sid here, makes you out to be, and all of this was just a coincidence?"
Rodrigo initially said nothing and just stared at her with shameful eyes "That wasn't my intention when I went to face him alone. I didn't want anyone else to get hurt. But..." He softly responded to her. "It also wasn't really a coincidence." He then admitted, much to everyone's shock.
Rodrigo's logic for confronting Caesar at the park on that day was a double-edge sword. His primary concern was his friends' safety and so refused anyone other than Curly to go with him to the park. However, knowing his friends' would be concerned for him, he used that to his advantage by getting everyone to follow his instructions down to the letter. Knowing that there was no time for debating or squabbling, he used their friends' worry to his advantage by putting himself at risk and thereby, forcing them, out of concern, to do what he needed them to do. Besides, as friends, he didn't think he really needed to ask them for their help. He thought it was a given.
In addition, he knew some of his friends would not take this manipulation lightly, but given the severity of the situation, as well as the fact that he was actually putting himself at risk, he calculated that they wouldn't get so upset about it, assuming if they even figured out his reasons. Now to his shock, Rhonda was one of the few, if not the only person who was aware of what he was trying to do on that day. Despite everything he was feeling at that moment, he also couldn't help but be a little impressed with her.
"I just never thought you would take it so personally." He then very softly admitted.
"What?" Rhonda asked, not hearing what he said.
"I said I never thought you would take it so personally." He said again with a raised voice. "I thought that as my friend, I didn't think I really needed to ask for your help. I thought it was a given." He shamefully confessed.
"Well, clearly you miscalculated." Rhonda said. "So, you used me. It may have been indirect, if not subtle, but you still did it. As you wanted, I only helped you with your plan because I didn't want to see you get hurt, which in the end, that went out the window when Curly accidentally threw that cell phone towards Caesar's direction. So you gained nothing from this."
"No, I did not." Rodrigo confessed. "But if you were that angry with me, why did you side with me?" He asked.
"I joined your little group because apart from the fact that I agreed with your plan to stop Von Scheck, I was trying to forgive you!" Rhonda angrily snapped at him, but then tried to control her anger. "Despite what you did, I wanted to move past this and salvage whatever was left of our friendship!"
No one said anything, not even Rodrigo, who looked more and more guilty by the second.
"But instead, all it did was drag me down further and further somewhere dark where I never wanted to go to." She continued while now getting emotional and tearful. "And yet, I was still willing to stay, just so at least half of this group can stay together."
"But the last straw came after what I did to...Nadine." She said angrily, but also tearfully. "That's...unforgivable. Nadine has been there for me since I was three. Despite how different we are, she had always been like a sister to me, and look at what I did to her! No amount of friendship, especially ours, was ever worth it enough to come between me and Nadine." Rhonda continued as tears began to develop and flood down from her eyes. "I was just stupid enough to actually allow it."
Nadine said nothing and just looked at Rhonda with a tearfully and emotional look. She had never thought Rhonda would actually consider her to be...well, like family.
"Well, no more!" Rhonda tearfully exclaimed. "Especially after your earlier insensitive and absolutely rude remarks, I can see now that you've never cared about our friendship. You used our friendship, my generosity and my connections for your own personal gain. That's all you really cared about."
"What? No, Rhonda!" Rodrigo exclaimed, finally gaining the courage to defend himself. "That's not true! I do care about our friendship; I always have. That's why I was yelling at you earlier; I didn't know where you were and I was worried about you. I'm really sorry for insulting you like that -"
"I don't believe you!" Rhonda angrily cut him off by yelling at him as a few more angry tears trickled down her cheeks.
"It's the truth, Rhonda!" Rodrigo continued to frantically explain himself. "I have never taken advantage of your generosity. I have always appreciated it when..."
"I don't believe you, so just shut it!" She continued to angrily berate him, but managed to then calm down a bit. "It's too late anyways. I'm done. I'm not willing to keep up with this charade and end up hurting my friends, just so I can save this place. It's not worth it."
"And as for our friendship," Rhonda said to Rodrigo as she looked directly at his eyes with a hateful glare. "it's over! I'm done with you! Don't ever call me, don't ever talk to me again." Before she then attempted to turn around and walk away.
"Rhonda, wait!" Rodrigo shouted, desperately trying to get her to listen to him. "Please!"
"No!" Rhonda then angrily shouted back at him. "I don't care what you have to say! Nothing you say will ever fix what you made me do."
"What do you mean by that?" Rodrigo asked, "I never told you to push Nadine off of that fence. I never would have asked you to do something like that..."
"You don't get it, do you?" Rhonda angrily snapped at him as she instantly turned around to face him. "You didn't need to ask me to push Nadine off of the fence; you put me in that position! Throughout this whole time I thought it was about saving the neighbourhood, saving everyone's homes, but I can now see that you and Arnold only used that as an excuse to best each other out, all awhile never thinking what this was doing to our group! To you, it was about saving those stupid gadgets and outdoing Arnold; never Nadine or anyone else. I was forced to choose either you or my best friend! I just can't believe I was actually stupid enough to choose you over her. I will never forgive myself for making that decision, but especially I'm never going to forgive you for putting me in that position in the first place!"
Rhonda finally managed to stop yelling in order to catch her breath. The level of anger in both her tone and voice frightened everyone, who just stayed quiet and still. After panting for a little while, she spoke again.
"So, I'm done. Our friendship is done. I'll have to think about what my status is with Arnold, but as with ours, it's over." She said.
"What?" Arnold finally spoke with a confused look when he heard Rhonda say his name. "What do you mean by that?"
"Don't think for one second that I'm pining all of this on Rodrigo." Rhonda said to him with a scowling face. "You are just as much to blame for the poor and depressed state that we are all now in as he is. Out of everyone, you are the most mature, wise person we have ever known. Or should I say 'was'. I never would have expected you to behave like this. Just like Rodrigo, you put Nadine into this position, and now look what you did."
"But, Rhonda," Arnold began to protest, "I never got a chance to even ask Nadine or Phoebe to follow you. And I most certainly never would have asked her..."
"If doesn't matter if you asked her to follow me or not!" Rhonda angrily snapped at him, causing Arnold to go quiet. "Weren't you listening?! You put her in that position because she trusted you! She trusted that you would be able to save the neighbourhood, that whatever plan you came up, it was for everyone's sake and for their homes. Your problem or obsession, or whatever it is that you have against Rodrigo made you take advantage of not only Nadine's trust, but everyone else', including Gerald. Just like Rodrigo, you used them for your own personal gain."
"What?!" Arnold shockingly exclaimed. "Rhonda I...I, uh you know me! I would have never have..." Arnold began to say, but as he continued to think about it, he realized that Rhonda was right, forcing himself to go silent.
"Yes, Arnold I do know you." She said to him while giving him a disappointed look. "But not as you knew yourself. You have forgotten yourself, who you really are."
Those words, 'forgetting who he was', just like how Eugene said to him and everyone before he got ran over, started to ring again in his mind, causing him to fall further and further down into despair and self-blame.
"The only reason why I'm not terminating my friendship with you Arnold, is only because we have been friends for many years and you have always been there for us, at our best and worst times. But what you did, especially with the whole spying, was not only low and shady, but just despicable! All your little stunt showed is just how patronizing you are. You don't trust us to think for ourselves, or believe we can come up with actual solutions to problems. Everything has to go through you first! We're not children anymore, Arnold! This is not something I can easily forgive and forget. I'm going to need some time to think about where we stand." Rhonda continued. "I wish you and Rodrigo the best of luck on saving your homes." before finally turning around and walking away, leaving everyone else completely and utterly stunned and shaken up at what they had just heard.
Rodrigo was especially badly shaken by all of this. He not only had just been given two serious lectures, but he now just lost a girlfriend and a good friend. No words could really describe the various level of emotions that he was feeling at that moment. Confusion, embarrassment, shame, anger, remorse, sadness, self-blame. Everything had happened so fast that he wasn't able to register everything that he was feeling. It was so bad that it was making him sick to his stomach.
While Rodrigo was still reeling from what Helga and Rhonda said to him, the rest of the group was not idle. Feeling the wave of pessimism that was sweeping around them, it had now become apparent to everyone that they had taken things too far with their internal conflict. With Helga's and Rhonda's words still clinging in their ears, they realized that she was right; they were just as much to blame for how bad things had turned out.
"Hey Roddy." Curly then suddenly, but gently said to Rodrigo as he tapped his shoulder.
"What?" Rodrigo asked half-attentively.
"We uh, got a bit of a problem." Curly said. "The stuff we bought at Eddie? It's no good."
"What?" Rodrigo said in surprised, this time getting his full attention.
"The software program is intact, but we can't use it if we don't have a functional hardware drive. That got damaged." Curly explained.
"Can't you fix it?" Rodrigo asked, to which Curly simply shook this head.
"The parts are either completely shattered, or cracked. I can't fix them. We'll need to buy another one."
"But, we don't have anymore money." Rodrigo remarked.
"Ya, that's a bit of a downer, really." Curly remarked with a chuckle. "Could really use Rhonda right now."
"What do we do now, Rod?" Stinky asked.
"I...I don't know." Rodrigo responded dishearteningly and merely looked down on the floor in defeat.
Arnold said nothing as he just watched by the sidelines, looking at Rodrigo becoming more and more disheartened by the news. In his eyes, he achieved what he set out of to do, but at what cost? In truth, despite how just a moment ago, he was on the verge of getting into physical alteration with him, Arnold couldn't help but feel a bit sorry for him. His girlfriend had essentially dumped him, at least he think she did, he lost a good friend, and now his plan to stop Von Scheck was in ruins, all in one day. But now, instead of being glad about it, Arnold started having second-thoughts about what he did. After everything Helga had said to him, did he even do the right thing?
Just then, Arnold heard a beep and his cell began to vibrate. Curious to see what it was, he picked up his phone and saw that he received an email. It was from the municipality and it was regarding the status of his second permit that he submitted. He nervously opened the email to read it, hoping it contained the answer that he was looking for.
"What?!" Arnold exclaimed in shock.
"What is it, Arnold?" Gerald asked.
Arnold initially said nothing and just continued to stare at his phone in utter dismay. His eyes were wide open and his jaw was hanging. Finally, he looked up quite ironically, towards Rodrigo who was staring back at him in confusion.
"What?" The Latino kid sternly asked him.
"My permit...was declined." He said softly.
Rodrigo said nothing and simply stared back him with a neutral facial expression. The rest of Arnold's group though, showed anything but emotional neutrality.
"What? Are you sure, Arnold?" Gerald shockingly asked.
"Yes." Arnold somberly responded.
"What did they say? Did they give you any reason why it was declined?" Sheena asked.
"Only that they didn't approve it due to safety concerns." He said.
"What does that mean?!" Harold angrily exclaimed.
"Ya, that sounds rather vague." Gerald said. "I hope they are not blaming us for what happened at City Hall."
"I'm not sure." Arnold said with a serious disheartened tone in his voice. "All I know is that we can't make our voice heard."
"What do we do now?" Lila asked.
"I...I don't know." Arnold said quite dishearteningly.
Those words, 'I don't know', finally made whatever little hope and morale there was left in the two groups to completely disappear. Everything they had attempted to do during the past two-three weeks only led them back to square one. In the eyes of everyone, they had achieved virtually nothing, except sabotage each other's plans. As a result, in just one day, two of their friends have become injured and are now out of action, one is perhaps psychologically scarred, another lost all hope and trust in the two groups' ability to save their homes and left them to their fate, their leaders have lost all credibility and have been rendered powerless to organize any further effective resistance. The burden of defeat and despair now quickly spread throughout the two groups like wildfire. The strive for further resistance and desire to save their homes, their livelihoods, were now quickly dissipating, leaving a demoralized, empty and pathetic void of their former selves.
"Well, I guess that's it." Sid sadly said as he took off his green hat, prompting everyone to look at him.
"Arnold, Rodrigo, thanks for nothing." He softly, but angrily scoffed at them.
"Sid, I uhh..." Arnold attempted to say something, but was at a loss of words. Sid in turn didn't bother to give Arnold any time to respond and just started walking away.
"Sid, where are you doing?" Rodrigo asked him.
"I'm going home to pack." Sid sadly responded. "There is nothing left for us to do, but to accept the reality that we failed; we failed to save our homes."
Both Arnold and Rodrigo wanted to frantically protest against that and try to convince him to stay. But, neither of them really knew what to say to him.
Sid didn't say anything else and just sadly walked away towards his house.
Just then, Sheena started to walk towards both Rodrigo and Arnold.
"Arnold, Rodrigo? We trusted you to save our homes. And now, look at where we are." She said with a seriously disappointed tone and look on her face. "Helga and Eugene were right; we should have never have gone along with this. Sid's right; thanks for nothing." Before she then angrily stomped away from the group, heading home.
Stinky then approached them.
"Well fellars, thanks for trying, I guess." He said to them rather sadly. "I'm not angry at you both. I blame myself for allowing this to go too far. I should have said something instead of being quiet. I guess this is the price I pay for not sticking up to what I believe in. I'm heading home too to pack. I'll see you around." He said before then dispiritedly walked away.
Everyone else then started to also make their way home, but not before passing by Rodrigo and Arnold and giving them either a sad, disappointed and/or angry glances at them, along with a few angry/spiteful remarks. Arnold and Rodrigo said nothing as they just continued to helplessly watch in despair as their friends abandoned them and their cause. By the end of it all, only Brainy, Curly, Gerald and Phoebe remained.
"Well, this was certainly a waste of my time." Curly said out loud. "There goes my summer. Roddy, Arnold, I'll catch you later." Before then walking the other way and headed back to the nearest bus stop to go home.
"Uh, I'm sorry Arnold." Brainy wheezed sadly.
"It's OK, Brainy." Arnold said. "Thanks for all your help."
But, Brainy was not done. He then turned to face Rodrigo.
"You too, Rodrigo. I'm uh, sorry." He wheezed at him.
"It was you, wasn't it? It was you who was spying on us." Rodrigo said with an almost scornful stare.
Brainy said nothing and just timidly nodded.
Anger started gripping Rodrigo again at such a shady move Arnold had made against him. Truly, he never would have expected it from him. He clenched his fists tight and started grinning his teeth. However, he soon just let out a sighed and his anger quickly disappeared. There was no point on getting angry about it. It was too late for that.
"It's OK." Rodrigo finally said with calmness. "I'm...I'm sorry too. For putting you in that position."
Brainy just gave Rodrigo a very small, hopeful smile before then turning around and walking to the nearest bus stop to go home.
Only Gerald and Phoebe were left. Gerald, despite being just as demoralized as everyone else, still retained a small amount of fight in him and wondered if perhaps he should say something encouraging to either of the two 'leaders' and see if perhaps he could still salvage anything. However, when he turned to face Phoebe, his heart sank. Any resilience left in him quickly evaporated. What he saw quickly filled him with a deep sense of worry and hurt. Phoebe, by this point, was visibly shaken by everything that had happened. Feeling utterly upset and disheartened after seeing her friends be sourly divided and hurt, and with Helga's words still clearly ringing in her ears, she was broken and in tears. That alone was enough for Gerald to deter himself from trying anything and to accept the brutal reality that...they lost.
"Hey Arn," Gerald gently and sadly said to his best friend. "I'd better go and take Phoebe phone."
Arnold turned around to look at Phoebe and immediately felt his heart sank upon seeing how upset she was. Feeling utterly bad at what he had essentially put her through, Arnold slumped some more. Rodrigo, still immobile, made no effort to turn around and look at her, but could hear her crying, which caused his own heart to sink.
"That's probably good idea, Gerald." Was all he said to his friend. "I'll talk to you later."
"Ya, for sure." Gerald said, not feeling convinced that they will be talking anytime soon. And even if they did, he doubt it was going to be about any new plan on how to save the neighbourhood.
Gerald then gently placed his hands on Phoebe's shoulders and said,
"C'mon, babe. I'll take you home."
Phoebe said nothing and just nodded as more tears continued to trickle down her cheeks. Then, they started walking.
"Hey Rodrigo?" Gerald then said, as they walked passed him. "Good luck to you." He said as he extended his hand.
Rodrigo, still feeling a sway of emotions and rendered immobile, initially didn't react. However, getting some grip on himself, he then reached for Gerald's hand and shook it. Feeling utterly ashamed and full of self-loathing, he made no attempt to even look at him directly in his eyes.
Gerald and Phoebe then left, leaving only Rodrigo and Arnold alone at the front entrance of the Sunset Arms. Neither made any attempt to say anything to each other, or to even move. Both just stood there, lost in their own train of thoughts and emotions, wondering how they allowed things to get this bad. Entirely focused on trying to outdo one another, they not only lost the bigger picture, but also created unwanted casualties. Now, due to being selfish and egoistic, they not only lost their friends, but their homes.
By now, night had already surrounded the city, blanketing it with a thick layer of darkness. Whereas in other parts of the city, life continued on normally and lively, the neighbourhood experienced a full cessation of all activities and noise, allowing a dispirited sense of hopelessness to permeate throughout. A street light then turned on. At first, it blinked a bit before then permanently brightly lightening the street, right where both Rodrigo and Arnold stood. As they continued to stand there, they looked around and saw nothing but a dark, empty void; the light, fully revealing to them just how alone they now were.
Ok, that's the end of this chapter. I'm assuming some of you were expecting Helga to be more at the forefront of finally knocking some sense on both Rodrigo and Arnold. To her credit, she did. she is what inspired Rhonda to get up and finally say what had been on her mind for months, which in turn prompting everyone else to leave. It all started with her. Plus, I also wanted to give Rhonda more credit about her intelligence and influence in the group than most people give her credit for.
Responses to reviews:
Veganmama: I know right, about Eugene! I hope this chapter answered your questions about Helga and Rhonda, lol.
Guest: So I'll take it that you'll be pretty upset if Helga and Rodrigo stayed together.
Cre8ivelybankrupt87: You would think so, but nnooo! Pft, teenagers. Yeah, I feel sorry for Eugene.
Rhonda? Well, no. I could have just been Phil playing with Oskar, or Gertie talking to a feline – no, no, it was Rhonda, lol.