A/N: Hello and welcome back to an incredibly special chapter of, Horshack's Brightspot. My name is Bambi and I'm happy that you're here. This should be a good chapter. Arnold has dinner with Vera and her mom. And our man Horshack is pulling out all the stops. As always, I do not/have not/probably nor will I ever own the rights to Welcome Back, Kotter or any of its characters, themes, plot points, and settings. I do own Amara and Aiko though. Now, onto chapter nine.

Ch. 8 Asking Her/span/p
Arnold's P.O.V

I'm in love with Vera Kimura. That's right, you heard it here first. I. Am. In. Love. I have been since Cassie's Halloween party. We've gone out a lot since then. Movies, bowling, the skating rink, and she's showed me how to play Atari. Tonight, I'm having dinner with her and her ma. She don't know this, but after dinner I'm taking her to the Hayden Planetarium. She's been talking about how she wants to go, but she's scared of the subway. I figured, I take her to Mercury, her favorite planet. That's where I'm gonna ask her to go steady.

I really hope she says yes. The guys won't be too happy with me, but I don't care. This isn't about them. This is about Vera and me. "Ma, I'm headed out." I told her from the front door. "Alright. Don't forget the flowers. Good luck. I love you." Ma tells me front her room. She got me flowers to give to Vera and her Ma. White Daisies for Vera, Roses for Miss. N. I start walking to Vera's. I'm so nervous. I don't want to screw anything up. After a few minutes, I get to her door.

Miss. Nakamura opens it. "Hi Arnold. Come inside. Vera's setting the table." Miss. Nakamura waves me inside. "Hello, Miss. Nakamura. Thank you. These roses are for you." I hand them over. "They're lovely." Miss. N takes them and goes into the kitchen. I turn to the table seeing Vera putting plates down. She was wearing jeans and a t-shirt of the Runaways, they're her favorite band. She looks just as pretty in those as she does in dress she wore to the movies and the Alice dress. "Arnold!" Vera beams at me.

She sets the plates down and hugs me. I hug her back. "Hi. These are for you." I passed her the daisies as we pulled away. "Aw, Arnold. These are so pretty." She smiles. "You're welcome. Need some help?" I ask pointing at the table. "Yeah. I already finished the plates. You can set out the silver ware." She tells me before walking in the kitchen to put her flowers in water. She comes out. "You're sitting here. I'm gonna between you and mom." She showed me.

"Alright. How was your day?" I asked her. "Good. I hung out with Cassie and Raquel. We went crate diving and I found a Genesis record that was given to me half off because Cassie flirted with the cashier. And Raquel tried to fight a girl over a crop top. You and I should go crate diving one time. I bet we could find you something you like." She suggested. "We did. Don't ya remember? I liked Blondie." I reminded her. "Yeah, but you also liked The Captain and Tenille. Luckily, you saved yourself with Creedence." She teased.

"You danced to the Captain." I pointed out. "And Tina Turner and Cher." She shrugged. Last month we went to go look for records. I found one that was The Captain and Tenille. I watched her danced to it. Miss. Nakamura walks back in holding a long plate with three big pieces of rice on it. "Onigiri is ready. You two can eat it." Mrs. Nakamura assured us. I tap Vera on the arm as we go to the table. "What is that?" I asked her. "It's a triangle of rice. Mom puts egg in it. It's good I promise. I told her not to do this, but she wanted to show you a part of our culture." Vera explained before sitting down.

I take a seat next to her while she's passing me the plate. I've never seen anything like this before. "How do I eat this?" I asked her. "Hold and bite," She showed me. I take my first bite and I gotta tell ya, it was tasty. The rest of the dinner is all tasty. Miss. Nakamura made this soup called Miso, she also made her and I Chicken Katsu. Vera got steamed veggies and rice. Cause she's a vegetarian. Miss. Nakamura also made these noodles. I wish I had more.

"Where are you kids gonna go now?" She asked Vera and me. "The kitchen to help you with dishes." Vera told her. "No. Go have fun." Miss. Nakamura shoos us away. "Mommy are you sure?" Vera asked. "Yes, now go do something." Miss. Nakamura told us. We go to the living room. "I have a surprise for you." I tell her. She turns me excited. "Really? You do?" She asks. "Mhm. Go grab a coat." I tell her. I watched her go in her coat closet and grab the coat that I let her wear. I'm never getting that coat back. "Let's go." Vera waves me over to the door.

"You're gonna like where were going." I teased her. "Where are we going?" She asked while we walked. "You'll see." I laugh. "Come on. Just give me a hint." Vera begged. "You'll see soon." I promised. We make it to the subway. She looks ta me scared. "This is the surprise? Arnold, this isn't funny." She raises her voice. "No, V. Listen, to get to your surprise, we have to get on the subway." I pointed out to her. "Do we really have to? There isn't another way?' She asks. I've never heard her sound so worried.

"Car will take too long. And the buses are about to start running." I told her. "I don't know, Bandit." She sighed shaking her head. "I won't let anything happen to you, Brightspot. I promise. Trust me." I promised her, grabbing her hand. "Swear?" She asked. "Swear." I nodded. We walk inside the subway. "See? Not so bad right?" I asked. "Arnold, we just got in here." She sighs as we walk in a subway car. "How about now?" I ask her as she moves closer to me.

"Eh." I shrugged. The subway starts up. This causes Vera to snap up. I put an arm around her waist to calm her down. "Wha- What's happening?" Vera gasps in fear. "Shh. Relax. It's okay. The subway just started." I soothed. "Oh okay." She nervously laughs.

A/N: And that's it for chapter nine. I hope you guys enjoyed that. Thank you so much for reading. I really hoped you liked it. I can't wait for you guys to read next chapter. I'll see you guys next Tuesday. Bye guys!