Author's Notes:

Sorry for the typos, guys. Takes time getting used to proofreading chapters as a new writer I suppose. :D

Secondly, thank you for being patient with the set up. The next chapters will now delve deeper into what the synopsis promised. This chapter will focus on Rhonda's Aspen trip.

Lastly, reminding everyone that I'd appreciate feedback and criticism, as I want to know if you guys are feeling the story, if there are things you wished were approached differently, and the like. As always, just be nice about it.

And without further ado...

Chapter III

The actions of their daughter did not go unnoticed. Seeing their princess give her dear and sweet friend a tip, no doubt a symptom of still buying into the entire rich-poor social hierarchy they themselves indoctrinated her in, felt disgust and regret. They resolved to address the matter in due time. For now, they just wanted to see their daughter's care-free smile again, as she enjoyed the convertible.

Upon arriving home, they told Rhonda that she need only pack a few things, including her new scarf. The flight to Aspen will be in about 3 hours so she had about an hour to pack and just settle at home again before leaving. Brooke and Buckley Lloyd, in their bedroom, decided by coin flip who would be the one to potentially burst Rhonda's newly formed bubble.

"Sweetheart, may I come in?"

Rhonda heard her mother ask permission to step inside her room. At first, Rhonda didn't give an answer, as she was just too enthralled with being in her room again. She thought for several miserable and gloomy days, that this moment would never happen again. As soon as she completely drank it in, she addressed her mother.

"Come in, mother!"

Brooke Lloyd stepped in, an awkward smile on her face. Rhonda noticed it. She knew that her mother either didn't mean for this to be a pleasant conversation, or that it might be something that would upset her.

"Rhonda dear, I noticed you gave Arnold some 'token' of appreciation," Brooke started. " Am I correct, or did you just decide to hold his hand?"

Rhonda found her mother's question hilarious. "Oh mom! Arnold's just a friend, a very good one. And no, I decided to give him a tip."

Brooke sighed. Rhonda knew she did so out of disappointment.

"What's the matter mother?" Rhonda asked, clearly perplexed.

"Rhonda dear, I don't think that was a very good thing to do," Brooke said as she began her potential lecture.

"Really...why's that? I was only giving Arnold what he'd appreciate more." Rhonda said with certainty. Little did she know that sense of certainty would dissipate slowly from here on out.

"Oh, then what was the alternative, pray tell?" Brooke decided to engage, wishing to make a step toward being a real mother.

Rhonda tempered herself slightly. "Well, I thought of giving Arnold a hug, to show him how much I appreciated him being there for me at my lowest. But I remembered that we were in public, and too many people from school and from outside would see us and start talking. So I thought, 'hey, he basically did me a service, and did it really well,' so I gave him a tip instead."

"And why would you think he'd prefer a tip? Didn't you think that perhaps your friend would find that disrespectful?" Brooke followed up with clear disappointment in her voice.

Rhonda at this point was upset. She had just enjoyed being a rich girl again, and as a rich girl, chose to reward her poor friend with what the poor would appreciate from the rich. This had always been the way wasn't it? Why were her parents, all of a sudden, starting to challenge that established practice?

"No mother. After all, isn't that what I was taught? Isn't that how things work?" Rhonda answered back. She was starting to get really annoyed.

"It was...yes, it was what you were taught." Brooke replied. While the hostility in her voice waned, clearly the disappointment only ramped up. "And for that my dear, I'm sorry..."

Rhonda could not comprehend what was going on. What did she do wrong? Before she could call out to her mother, Brooke told her that they were leaving in a half hour, and it would be best that she freshen up, put on something more layered, and wait for her father to be ready.

On the cab ride to the airport, Rhonda thought long and hard on her earlier exchange with her mother. Did she make that big of a mistake with giving Arnold a tip, that even her parents called her out on it? Should she just have given the football head a hug of friendship as she originally intended, going against her basic instincts to not do anything that would be gossip worthy? More importantly, now that she's rich again, is she really happy again as well?

While she was power walking to the Sunset Arms earlier that afternoon, with all the boys' eyes fixed on her, she felt a confidence and security she never knew existed before. Sure, it wasn't potent or as addicting as getting a new scarf or riding in their family's new sportscar, but it felt...Rhonda struggled to find the word. Assuring? Lasting? Real? Whatever it was, it lasted throughout the entire day and slowly peaked as the day went on. Upon finding out of her family's fortunes, she ditched that sensation to what she was always accustomed to. But for some reason, it just didn't satisfy her the same way it used to.

Touchdown in Aspen...

Rhonda Lloyd decided that she just needed to get used to luxury and the high life again. After all, having to adjust to living way below her standards in Arnold's boarding house can really change a person's desires. She just needed time to learn how to enjoy the extravagant things. Upon checking into the country club, she noticed Peapod Kid sipping on hot cocoa. It seemed he too had just arrived from Hillwood a while ago. While she was still upset with the guy for exposing her entire charade to the student body, she decided to approach him and do as the absolute rich do: make small talk without genuine concern for each other.

"Hey Peapod! Didn't think you'd see me here today, did you?" Rhonda said with a bit of a grin to the four-eyed boy, who remained unfazed as he sat on the bench and drank his cocoa.

Peapod replied, "Admittedly, it was a surprise to hear that your father's stocks bounced back Rhonda, but it was a pleasant surprise indeed. If you're giving me a grin as if to say you told me so, then you are terribly, terribly justified."

Rhonda knew there was no point in trying to brag of how her dad managed to recover their family fortune, and simply motioned that she would sit next to Peapod Kid as they saw the mountain view from behind the country club's glass outlook. They sat in silence for what felt like an hour, but in reality it was actually only 2 minutes. Rhonda initially came there to give Peapod Kid a piece of her mind, but as she sat there, looking into the cold dark that the country club's scenic view provided, that petty urge seemed to just vanish.

This wasn't like her...

Before making his leave, Peapod asked, "I say Rhonda, before I go back to my room, I must know: is it true that you gave Arnold a tip as a token of appreciation, for helping you adjust to life as a poor person?"

Rhonda, fazed by the dreaded "p-word" and how it once definitively described her, affirmed his inquiry.

"I see. That is terribly, terribly hilarious. Anyone else would have probably not gotten away with such actions, but seeing as how much of a special case you are Rhonda, particularly on that day, it seems that everyone gave you a pass."

Rhonda's curiosity kicked in. "I'm sorry...a pass?"

Peapod explained the only way Peapod could. "Yes, a pass. If it had been anyone else who gave that tip, say Lorenzo or I, we would have been ostracized completely by our peers in PS 118. We would have been told that we ought to have known better, that giving tips to commoner friends is an insult more painful than some spitball or assault from the fifth graders. But it's you Rhonda, the girl who became rich again, and is so hopelessly lost in her own rich and material world. So it didn't come off as much of a surprise. Everyone just got it."

Rhonda felt something poke, no...stab, her insides. "Oh...I had no idea people really thought of me to THAT extent." Rhonda didn't mind being told that she was snobby, arrogant, self-absorbed and materialistic. Those, in her opinion, just came with the territory. After all, it was something she would hear with disdain in PS 118, but something welcomed and commonplace when she'd rub elbows with her peers in high society. But for some reason, hearing this other side of the truth from Peapod Kid, that people thought she was "hopelessly lost in her own world," so much so that she hopelessly does the wrong things because she could never understand? It hit differently. She never knew such a realization could cut her deeply.

So distracted by the realization was Rhonda, that she didn't even notice Peapod leave and proceed to the elevator. Nor did she particularly care about having company on that sofa anymore. Her parents soon retrieved her, telling her that the cabin was ready, and that they could have a late dinner. Rhonda politely, and with a bit of sadness prevalent, told her parents she wasn't hungry.

The next morning...

"Rhonda princess, are you alright? You have dark circles surrounding your eyes again. Was the mattress not to your liking? Heater not working properly?" Buckley asked his precious daughter as he saw her emerge from her bedroom in the cabin. He knew for a fact, after spending those difficult nights in the Sunset Arms, that his daughter did not sleep at all. But this time it worried him more, because Rhonda last night slept on what was the Rolls Royce equivalent of mattresses.

"It's nothing daddy. I just need to do my skincare regimen, I think I put on a bit too much makeup and didn't wash it off properly last night." Rhonda's obvious lie did not fool her parents. Oh well, she just needed them off her back.

It wasn't the fact that the mattress was not to her liking, although a firmer cushion would have been better given the aches she got from that Murphy bed the past few days. It wasn't that the heater wasn't working, if anything the temperature was just right. It wasn't that there were loud noises or flashing lights from her window, although she could have sworn that her parents sounded like they were having some sort of argument. But there weren't a lot of words exchanged, just weird bumping sounds and the occasional name calling...

No. Rhonda couldn't sleep because she was denied the feeling she craved upon arriving in the country club: satisfaction. Rhonda Wellington Lloyd was with her family for a few days and the weekend in one of the country's most exclusive country clubs, with an assortment of services and parties available to her, with some of the most exquisite cuisine that money could offer. And yet, she felt that she'd rather be in the Sunset Arms, if she was gonna feel miserable regardless...