Author's Notes:

Hope everyone loved the last chapter! Took me a while to figure out the events that led Rhonda to eventually accepting that she wants to be different. The future chapters will deal with how she puts all her desires into action. But there's always gotta be a struggle, so don't expect things to get easier for Rhonda's arc from here on out.

Hope you enjoy this one!

Chapter VI

The next morning...

Rhonda woke up finding herself in her cabin bedroom. She took a deep breath and stretched her arms as she sat up, taking in the pleasant morning. This morning was beginning to feel like the promise of a new journey for her.

She remembered how, in a party full of wealthy kids, a setting she was normally comfortable and thrived in, she reexamined her character and realized just how truly miserable she was. It was a problem that money couldn't buy. It was like someone decided to roll her anguish from first getting glasses, her regret from setting up the Cool Party, and her guilt from initially using Patty Smith to pass polishing school, all into one ball and forced her to swallow it. It took nearly being stupid enough to give herself to some rich hooligan 6th grader to see that she'd already forgotten everything she learned as a poor girl. She made a vow to herself that she'd never stoop so low again.

She opened the door to see her parents. Her loving, accepting and adoring parents. Father was brewing some coffee while mother was flipping pancakes. She greeted them good morning, and they respectively stopped their morning activities to give her the same embrace she received from them last night.

"Rhonda dear, I made your favorite when you're not in your best mood - pancakes, bacon, whipped cream, with poached eggs and some orange juice on the side," Brooke excitedly told her daughter. Rhonda appreciated how her mother, normally too preoccupied to be bothered cooking, not only knew what her go-to breakfast is, but that she herself cooked it. Not to mention, upon sipping the orange juice, it was actually fresh!

"And dear, you'll have to start packing," Buckley told her. Rhonda was surprised, as they still had a weekend before they were to leave.

"But daddy, don't you have some business meetings to attend to? Clients and potential investors to see?" Rhonda said, remembering what this trip also meant to her father.

"I do. But quite frankly princess, I can't seem to give much of a care about those right now. I know how rightfully homesick my daughter is, and how she wants to see her friends and little Arnold, and so why stay here even a minute longer? We leave today!" Buckley exclaimed.

Rhonda was about to cry tears of joy. But she had already done enough crying last night, so she decided to hold it back, although a tear formed in her right eye. "Thank you dad...," Rhonda said as she kissed her father in the cheek.

She then realized exactly what her dad said. "What do you mean by I want to see my friends and little Arnold...?"

Buckley took a sip of coffee, while Brooke giggled.

Buckley answered, "what are you talking about dear? I said nothing of the sort! You sure I said that, or maybe you just happen to hold Arnold in higher regard than your other friends, hmm"

The parents could see Rhonda's cheeks blush. "Wha- what would make you say that?" Rhonda did her best to hide her embarrassment.

Brooke chimed in, saying "well it's just that when you came here last night Rhonda, you specifically said you want to see your friends AND apologize to Arnold."

Rhonda didn't realize how out of it she was last night. It was if being in denial for the whole trip, and having accepted the truth, while walking home miserable and lonely, rendered her in some half asleep and half awake state. Come to think of it, a part of her doesn't even remember how she got home. It's as if she was acting on sheer will to just find her way back to her parents.

"Oh no...Arnold...I need to apologize to him! How stupid was I that I gave him a tip, like what was I thinking?" Rhonda said out loud, forgetting that she wasn't alone. For that, her father gave her an appropriately dry response.

"Obviously princess you weren't thinking, otherwise you'd have just given him a hug or maybe even a kiss." Buckley noticed how Rhonda's blush went from the shade of a peach to the shade of an apple.

"My my Snow White, finish your breakfast before it gets too cold! You'll have your chance to apologize to Arnold soon enough." Brooke said as she noticed Rhonda still had about half her plate of food.

Arriving in Hillwood...

It was about 1:00 in the afternoon, and Rhonda was thrilled to feel the plane's wheels hit the ground as they finally made it to Hillwood's airport. She never knew coming home would be more exciting than the feeling of going to Paris or the Bahamas, yet here she was, getting giddy about telling her friends about how much she missed each of them, and about telling a certain football head how pompous and insensitive she was. She thought long and hard on how to approach Arnold. If she were him, how would he go about this?

Once they were picked up from the airport and arrived in front of their lavish home, Rhonda personally took most of her stuff down and unpacked her things. Her parents quite enjoyed that already it seemed like their daughter was being more self-reliant and responsible. Brooke gave her husband a loving look, expressing how proud she is to have a husband who made the right call to prioritize family over wealth.

By then, it was 2:30 in the afternoon when Rhonda finally decided on what to do. She was going to walk up to the Sunset Arms, ask for Arnold, see if she can sit down inside with him, humbly apologize to him and possibly the other boarders for her past behavior, and hope for the best. It always seemed to work for Arnold, so it should work out for her. Besides, she really did learn her lesson, and was completely sincere about making amends. No way could it go horribly wrong...

At the Sunset Arms...

It had been about 4 days since the "tip incident." Since then, Arnold had been doing his best to just move on from it but to no avail. When he would open up about it to anyone, he didn't feel the empathy he was hoping to find. Most people either said that he should just be glad that Rhonda still gave him something, given how out of touch the Lloyd heiress was, or that he shouldn't make such a big fuss about it since Rhonda didn't mean any harm. Rhonda this, Rhonda that. Arnold was so fed up with how Rhonda would always seem to turn over a new leaf only to revert back. And Arnold was even more sick of trying to believe in her eventually and legitimately breaking from that cycle.

So it came as a shock when at about 3 in the afternoon, he heard his grandfather yell, "Hey short man! Your rich friend who took the shower curtain is here, and she wants to talk to you! Maybe ask her if she can give us one of her fancier shower curtains at home instead and maybe we'll call it even."

Arnold wasn't really in the mood for jokes. He was gonna give Rhonda a proper piece of his mind, and let her know how he wants their "friendship" to proceed...

Arnold opened the door. He saw a smiling but shy Rhonda looking at him with shades of embarrassment and longing. It was like the Cool Party incident all over again, except they were at the boarding house's front door and Rhonda had no sandwiches as a peace offering.

"Hey there Arnold...I came home early from Aspen, it wasn't much of a trip. I just arrived but I wanted to see you and to well...can we go inside please? I think this might take some time."

Although Arnold wanted to be respectful and let her finish, he was still seething in anger, as flashbacks of the tip ran through his head.

"I think we're just fine here," Arnold said as he closed the door.

Rhonda's smile quickly turned into a worried frown. "Oh...then, I just wanted to say-"

"Yes?" Arnold waited for Rhonda to continue.

"...Arnold, I wronged you. I know I've crossed you a good amount in the past, what with the project with Nadine, the Cool Party, not taking your advice with my fake secret admirer prank, and maybe you were even annoyed with me telling you not to have a lame music act for the school dance. But while I was away, I realized how much you really cared for me that even when I was shunning the world away when I was poor, you never gave up on me. And how did I reward your kindness? By giving you a tip."

Arnold decided to keep listening.

"And I felt so horrible about it. I should have learned from my time in the boarding house that as friends, with or without money, a simple handshake or hug would have been more than sufficient. Friendship isn't some service that you pay for and tip if done well. Please, please forgive me Arnold, I was...being pathetic...I'm sorry!" Rhonda, despite panic still abundant on her face, smiled with hope that Arnold heard her out.

"Ok Rhonda, I forgive you for what you did." Arnold muttered.

"Oh thank you Arnold! Thank you so -" Before Rhonda could go up to hug her beloved friend, with the hug she had always meant to give him, Arnold put his palm forward as if to say she needed to stop dead in her tracks.

"Let me finish...I said I forgive you for what you did...but you need to know, we're not friends anymore."

In an instant, it was like Rhonda's heart shattered. HOW? How did it come to this? How can Arnold forgive her but tell her they were no longer friends?

"You see, I always did believe in you Rhonda. I thought that, just like Helga, even though you can have a very unpleasant exterior more often than not, and rub people off the wrong way, I always thought that deep down, you were actually an amazing person who would bring her friends up with her and not put them down. Like when you stood up for yourself and the geeks in the bus, or when you defended Patty from those annoying snooty girls in the cafeteria, or even when you offered me some condolences when I thought Dino Spumoni died."

"I don't get where you're going Arnold. You say all these things, but why don't you want to be my friend anymore?" Rhonda was on the verge of crying again. This was not at all how she thought it would play out. She expected that, at worst Arnold would be mad and upset to see her, which she totally understood. But to see a calm, decisive Arnold telling her that he wanted nothing to do with her anymore is something completely out of left field. She could feel her heart breaking into more tiny pieces as he showed no emotion.

"It's because you always do this Rhonda...you'll turn over a new leaf, only to go back to where you were when you got in trouble in the first place. When was the last time you talked to Nadine like she was your best friend? When was the las time you threw a party for everyone just cause you wanted people to have a good time? When was the last time you checked up on Patty? And trust me, I heard of what happened between you and Curly, and while he's equally guilty, it doesn't excuse your behavior either just to avoid some punishment from your parents..."

Rhonda wanted to tell Arnold to stop because he was hurting her but she could barely even let out a whimper.

"And now, to repay my kindness and sincere belief in you, you reward me with a tip. While I forgive you for that, I know you'll go back to your old ways Rhonda. It's inevitable..." Arnold paused before continuing. "Funny thing about tips Rhonda is, when you give them, that means that you're done with that person's service. Like when you give a waiter a tip, you do so at the end of your meal, telling him that it's done. So I guess, since you gave me a tip, I no longer need to be your friend. It all works out."

Rhonda couldn't hold it back any longer. She went on her knees crying. She was begging Arnold to shut up and tell her it was just some cruel joke, some cruel fake punishment to make her feel bad, as long as it meant they were still friends. Sadly it wasn't the case.

"I'm sorry too Rhonda. But I just can't do it anymore. Don't worry though, I won't be mad or annoyed when we're around other people. I'll just be...indifferent. Kind of like how I am with Iggy."

Rhonda thought it couldn't get any worse. Now she just heard that she was basically in the same group with Iggy as part of Arnold's unwanted former friends. She felt that her whole world just fell apart.

"Anyway, I'll see you in school. I'm sorry...but it's just better this way. Take care, Rhonda." With that, Arnold closed the door, and closed his friendship with Rhonda.

The Lloyd heiress remained idle and kneeling in front of the Sunset Arms, unable to process what just happened. After about 20 minutes, she stood up again, and began walking to some direction not en route to home. Just like her way back to the Aspen cabin, it was as if her subconscious took over, serving as her guide...

Just before sunset...

Rhonda snapped out of whatever trance took hold of her. She realized that she did it again. She was walking aimlessly, this time around town. How she managed to not get hit by traffic or worse was beyond her. She looked at her surroundings, and thought this part of the neighborhood seemed familiar...

"Wait...this is..."

"Rhonda? Is that you?" A voice called from behind.

Rhonda immediately turned around, and saw a familiar face that she honestly did not expect. In fact, she hasn't thought of this person in quite a long time. It added a bit more shame on her plate.

"Hi Patty."