March 31...

It was now the end of school. The weather was still terrible, although there were glimpses that spring was just around the corner. Yet students of all kinds continued on with their daily lives, braving the weather head on.

For one particular kid, spring could not come earlier. Indeed, ever since they started dating only half a month ago, he had been anxious to go out more with her not just on dates, but even on vacations and fun events. Due to the weather, their dates have usually been restricted to either going to dinner, or just sitting in either of their living rooms and doing homework or just watching a movie; whenever their parents weren't home. Well that, and there was the usual arcade and movie theatres. But now with spring creeping ever so closer, Rodrigo Castile could hardly wait to get out more and spend their first spring and the summer time together.

He had a lot going on in this mind. He had recently planned Helga's special birthday event, which to his relief, wasn't a total disaster. Now he was thinking about what he could possibly do with her when the weather warmed up a bit. Perhaps a nice walk to the park, walking down by the river and lake, perhaps going to the beach with their friends? There was indeed a lot of planning that he wanted and needed to do. However right now, he put all of those ideas and thoughts aside and prioritized. There was now one thing that he felt that he needed to do and that was to get back at Helga for that stunt that she pulled on both Arnold and him when he took the football head to his first club in Hillwood.

Rodrigo had not forgiven her for making him and Arnold run for their lives during the final day of Arnold's stay, not to mention humiliating him by making him faint at the boarding house. Despite it being more than two weeks since the stunt, Rodrigo still felt embittered that she would do something like that. Even while he planned Helga's birthday surprise, he was also planning on how to get back at her. He wasn't joking when he said that he was going to get her back. After some thought, he concluded that he should pull a heinous prank on her on none other, April Fool's Day.

As Rodrigo closed his locker and proceeded to go to the bus lane to go home, he felt a bit contradictive. He was both delighted in coming up with a plan to prank his own girlfriend, but he also shivered at the heinous thought of doing something like that. Rodrigo has never been a fan of April Fool's day. He never liked pulling pranks on his friends or classmates just for the sheer fun of it and it was infuriating when someone pulled a prank on him. He had always thought it was bit cruel, if not downright sadistic. But this year was an exception.

I'm going to make Helga pay for scaring me like that. He thought bitterly.

Yet at the same time, he didn't want to go too far. He just wanted to prank her, but not cross a line where it would cause her to retaliate, or create any lasting harm in their relationship. He just wanted to get even, not break her. That's why he decided to do something a bit...typical. As part of his April Fool's day, he came up with a plan to put a toy rat inside Helga's locker and scare the living lights out of her.

She's a girl and girls are scared of rats. Rodrigo thought and made a mischievous grin. At it's worse, she'll make a big scream and cower at the sight of a vermin, hehehehe.

Rodrigo had planned this out well. He concluded that even if people se Helga become so afraid of a rat, it would not be total humiliation for her, as many other girls would also not find this prank to be funny, nor strange. Rats, in the minds of many people, are the bringers of death and pestilence, so for Rodrigo, it was a natural choice to use one of mankind's nemesis as a prank. Plus, unlike Nadine, Helga had never display any interest in 'unpet' like creatures, such as snakes or tarantulas. Sure, she had that monitor lizard once, but the reptile never really lived in her house. Plus, it was a lizard. This was a rat. Hence, there was no reason to believe that Helga would not be scared of rats. Rodrigo concluded that people would be somewhat sympathetic to Helga if they saw her cower before a rat. If Helga was scared of something that is not generally considered to be repulsive or hideous, ya, that would be humiliating for her.

He had planned everything out, right down to the smallest detail. He wanted to make sure that neither Helga, nor anyone else, would be none the wiser. All he had to do was wait just one more day so he can set his plan into motion.

Sorry love, but this will teach you not to mess with me. He thought as he headed home for the day.

On April Fool's day...

The day could not have started out better for Rodrigo. While going home with his friends yesterday and coming back to school that morning, there was no mention by anyone of April Fool's Day, nor he make any attempt to bring it up. As far as he was aware, Helga was completely obvious to his diabolical plan.

While on the bus, Rodrigo continued acting normally as always. Helga was right beside him and despite his animosity, he was still infatuated with her. He held her hand the entire time they were on the bus and Helga even leaned against him in order to make herself more comfortable. Rodrigo just intimately kissed her head a few times and leaned his head against hers. Rodrigo felt that Helga was in a good mood today and so decided that he would proceed with his plan. Had she been in a foul mood, he would have either delayed it or another day or called it off completely.

Even after they got off the bus and went about their daily routine, Rodrigo still acted normally. Once the bell rang, everyone said their goodbyes and proceeded to start their school day.

While at his first class, Rodrigo excused himself to go to the bathroom. Although his teacher gave him a bit a frown for interrupting his class, he gave Rodrigo his permission to let him go. Wasting no time, Rodrigo immediately went to Helga's locker. Just a week ago, Helga was unlocking her locker. Rodrigo was with her. While pretending to look at his phone, Rodrigo glanced at her lock and managed to see her combination. Memorizing it by memory, he acted none the wiser and simply continued to look at his phone while Helga got her stuff from her locker. Upon approaching her locker, Rodrigo easily opened it, grabbed the rubber rat from his bag, it on the shelve that was directly at her eyesight, closed it and then went back to class.

April Fool's Day, Helga, hehehehehe. Rodrigo mischievously laughed in thought.

During lunch time...

Rodrigo entered the lunchroom and went to their usual lunch table and sat down. While walking, he saw a few teens pulling a few pranks on their fellow classmates. One teen gave his friend some chocolate, only for it to be a black ,sticky substance that prevented him from opening his mouth. Another teen let a female student try on her new perfume, only for a stinky smell to come out, making the female student gag.

Rodrigo just smiled a bit at the pranks, but just continued walking without much of a fuss. He tried not to grin as he approached their lunch table spot.

"Hey guys, what's up?" Rodrigo asked once he had arrived there.

"Hey."

"Yo."

"What's up?"

His friends all nonchalantly said. Rodrigo quickly noticed, much to his delight, that Helga was not at their table. He hoped she would be at her locker. He thought if he should ask Phoebe where she was, but he was afraid that might be an awkward question to ask and he did not want to jeopardize his plan, so he opted out from asking. He just quietly ate his lunch while they all conversed. Again he tried not to grin at just thinking about how much Helga was about to suffer.

"So Phoebe, how was your science class this morning?" Nadine suddenly and very curiously asked.

"Hmm? Oh, it was actually rather interesting." She said. "We had to dissect a frog and a mouse and then make a comparison between the biology of an amphibian and a mammal. It was actually very interesting. You saw a lot of similarities between the two species."

"Oh my god!" Rhonda suddenly exclaimed while squirming and shivering. "I cannot believe you dissected a rat and you find that interesting!" She said while shivering. "I cannot believe how you people would find that entertaining at all!"

"Point of correction; it was a mouse, not a rat." Phoebe said to her. "But granted Rhonda, I understand that mice and rats have never been a well accepted animal in human society, but once you get past your fears of them, their anatomy and the habitats that they call home tend to be very interesting indeed. These rodents are able to live almost virtually anywhere, even in cold environment and their ability to reproduce would put any mammal, even, *giggle* some members of our species to shame."

"Please, spare me the lecture on rodents Phoebe." Rhonda said dismissively. "I'm already regretting in even getting involved in your conversation on dissecting... *gulp* rats." *shudder*.

Rhonda than quickly went back to texting away, allowing Nadine and Phoebe to further discuss the topic at hand.

Rodrigo meanwhile was listening to all of this and he found it intriguing that out of all days, the issue of mice and rats was being discussed. Curious to see how Helga felt about rodents and if his plan to prank was indeed going to work, he opted to intervene in their conversation.

"Both of you girls are not at all creeped out about mice or rats?" He asked. "Correction; you Phoebe are not creeped out all? Nadine, I'll assume that you are not and if you are, I'll be very surprised."

"None at all, Rodrigo." Nadine responded back. "I don't find them in the least bit repulsive. I'm interested in them; that's why I asked Phoebe about it."

"Although I have a bit less enthusiasm than Nadine," Phoebe then answered, "I'm not really frightened by them. I used to find them repulsive when I was younger, like most girls. Then one day, I figured that part of the reason why I was afraid of them ws because I didn't generally know anything about them. That's why I decided to study them and find out what they are really all about. Eventually, that knowledge made all that fear and phobia go away."

"That's interesting." Rodrigo said. "I knew that through knowledge, our fears can be tamed. So I'd take it that after you got rid of your fears of rats and mice, you and Helga didn't mind if you saw one, or even tried to catch one, just out of curiosity?"

"Oh good heavens, no!" Phoebe exclaimed. "Helga would never go anywhere near a rat or mice."

Ah ha! Gotcha, Helga! Rodrigo cheered in his thoughts.

"Really?" Rodrigo asked with a raised eyebrow. "Out of all the things where Helga can be a typical girl, a rat is the one area where she comes one?" As he took a bit out of his lunch.

"Not scared, Rodrigo. She has a phobia of them." Phoebe said.

That sentence made Rodrigo instantly stop eating and forced him to look at Phoebe with wide open eyes. He quickly chewed his food, swallowed it and then began to interrogate this further.

"Phobia?" He asked rather nervously. "W-W-What do you mean by that?"

Phoebe looked at him rather confusingly. "I mean that she an inept, excessive fear for rats or mice. The correction term is musophobia. I'm surprised you don't know what the word, 'phobia' means, Rodrigo. It's a Greek word meaning 'fear'."

"I know what the word means." He said, almost retorting back. "What I meant to ask was, how bad would she react if she ever came across one?" He continued more calmly.

"Well, based on what she told me, the fear would force her to become completely motionless, which could quite possibly trigger a panic attack, not to mention that she could become very hysterical." She explained. "It's not a nice experience at all. Apart from the possible humiliation, a person's phobia starts to completely control them; the person has very little way of being able to re-assert control unless they are either helped or the object that is triggering their phobia is removed from the scene."

Rodrigo initially didn't say anything and just went white. No worse, he felt he was going to faint. He just continued to blindly stare, but not focusing on anything else other than the increasingly huge mistake that he just made.

"Phoebe, where is Helga now?" He finally said, now with a more serious tone in his voice.

"I'm not sure, but the last time I saw her, she said she was going to her locker." She said.

This was one of the few occasions where Rodrigo felt that he saw his life flash right before his eyes. He didn't know why, but he felt like a dead man. He wasn't scared of what Helga would do to him if she fell for his prank. He just all of a sudden felt very guilty and remorseful on putting Helga at risk in exposing her phobia to practically everyone in school. He had never intended to go this far; this was why he didn't like pulling pranks to begin with! Now, all he think of was trying to get to Helga and save her from humiliating herself.

"Excuse me." He said calmly before getting up and then sprinting right out of the lunchroom, much to the confusion of his friends.

What have I done?! He thought to himself, as he bolted towards Helga's locker. I can't believe I would put my own girlfriend's wellbeing at risk like this! If she opens her locker, I would never forgive myself. I gotta stop her!

Rodrigo wasted no time and just continued to spring towards Helga's locker. Eventually, he turned around a corner and saw her right at her locker, attempting to open it, much to his horror.

Rodrigo gain sprinted and prayed he could get to her on time. As he ran, he could saw that she was turning the needle, trying to unlock it. As if he could almost hear it, he could tell that she made it to the first number, then the second and then finally...

"Helga, for God sakes don't open it!" He cried out as he pushed her away.

"What the..hey?!" Helga yelled, as she felt the sudden force, which caused to her completely fall right into the ground on her side, splattering her books around the hallway.

For a brief second time stopped, but Rodrigo thought he had succeed in preventing a horrible mistake from occurring. He could instantly feel a huge sense of relief. Ok sure, he might have physically hurt Helga, but that was nothing when compared to what she could have experienced. However, just as he turned to face her opened locker,

*slush*

a pie hit his face hard, causing him to fall down. He didn't hit his head, but the sudden strike of a pie right into his face, fazed him a bit and for a little while, was not able to comprehend just what happened. Then, he started hearing laughter. At first, it was only a few laughs, but then he could hear other people laughing. Then, he heard, much to his shock, Helga laughing!

"Hahahaha, April Fool's, Latino boy, hahahaha!" She laughed as she got up from the ground. Well, she tried to get up from the ground. She was laughing so hard that she had having trouble getting up.

"What?!" he muffled out.

Rodrigo did nothing and continued to lie on the ground, listening to the laughs around him and still reeling from the shock. He really was unable, or probably unwilling to comprehend what had just happened to him. Eventually, he managed to get his thoughts straightened and get out of his shock to realize that he had been duped, again!

"Hahahaha, oh my god, I wish I could have seen the look on your face when that pie hit you, hahahaha!" Helga continued to laugh hard, trying not to fall down again.

She was quickly joined by the other students who saw the whole thing and started laughing as well.

"Hey!" Helga quickly and angrily called out to everyone who was laughing, prompting everyone to go completely silent. Her laughter had completely disappeared, replacing it with a serious and scowling face.

"That's my boyfriend down here!" She commented as she pointed to Rodrigo down at the floor, indicating to everyone that only she had the privilege of laughing at his expense. Apart from a few additional giggles, none starting laughing again.

My Hero. He thought annoyingly.

After giving everyone a scowling face, Helga turned back and began to giggle a bit, still finding it amusing that she had managed to out beat in his own game.

Suddenly, Rodrigo then lifted an arm and pointed at her with his index and middle finger. Helga didn't understand this ancient gesture and just started at him confusingly.

"What are you pointing at?" She asked him. "Are you trying to give me the middle finger?"

Rodrigo then used his other arm to remove some of the cream that was on top of his mouth and began to talk.

"In Roman times, when a gladiator was defeated in the arena, he would usually point his index and middle finger at his opponent. It was the defeated person's way of asking for mercy and to let him live. The decision was not on the triumphant gladiator, but on the Roman who organized that entire event. Only he had the power to offer mercy and yet even he was sometimes influenced by the mood of the crowd." Rodrigo explained.

"Hmm, interesting." Helga said half-heartedly. "Ok sure." as she grabbed Rodrigo's hand and lifted him up.

Rodrigo had understood the whole message behind Helga's secondary prank; you do not try and out prank someone who is essentially a veteran from orchestrating all kinds of schemes and pranks since she was a kid. He had heard the many stories of Helga's various schemes or pranks that she would come up and attempt to pull on her friends, including on a certain football head. Rodrigo had little experience in this and realized just how arrogant he was in trying to out best her in her own game.

"Wait here." She said as she went to go to the nearest bathroom to get some toilet paper.

By now, the students that initially clambered around Rodrigo and Helga had moved on.

Rodrigo attempted to wipe some of the cream from his face, but it was difficult to get all of it out, especially if it was on his hair and sweater. After a short while, Helga came up with a bunch of wet and dry toilet paper.

Still feeling incredibly annoyed, Rodrigo said nothing and simply gestured her to hand him the toilet paper so he can clean himself up. Instead, Helga approached and began to wipe the cream off of his face. Initially, Rodrigo wanted to pull away and just do it himself. Apart from the fact that he never liked being babied around, he was fuming at her for fooling him a second time, this time in front of other people! Yet, he couldn't help but feel somewhat relaxed from Helga gently and somewhat lovingly, wiping his face clean. It didn't just feel relaxing, it also felt...therapeutic. Whatever anger he was initially feeling towards her was fading away, allowing him to calm down.

"How did you find out?" He asked.

"I took your threat about getting back at me seriously." She said to him. "I had no doubt in my mind that eventually you would try to pull something against me. I just didn't know when and what, but I got the feeling that you would try to pull something on April Fool's Day. You can be predictable sometimes, Latino boy. I know that you are not into pulling pranks, so it was predictable of you to try to do something today."

"For the last few days you acted normally, too normally. I knew then that you were planning something, so I kept my guard up the whole time. Today, I don't know why, but I decided to check my locker, just to see if you put something in there. During second period, I left class and went to check. From someone with a history in breaking into other people's lockers, call it a sixth sense."

Ya, breaking into Arnold's locker to either prank him or steal something from him to remember him by. Rodrigo thought annoyingly.

"How did you react when you saw the rat?" He asked.

During second period...

Helga carefully unlocked her locker and gently opened, waiting to see if her own boyfriend had booby trapped it. As soon as she opened it, she was met by a pair of red eyes staring right back at her.

*gasp* She gasped.

The second she saw that toy rat, her eyes widen, she dropped her book and due to the amount of fear that was not permeating her entire body, she couldn't move. Completely petrified, she wanted to scream at the top of her lungs. However, she barely managed to gather enough of her strength to slowly take a few steps back away from her locker.

Just breathe in, Helga and breathe out. Remember what the doc said; they cannot hurt you. She calmly tried to tell herself in thought.

After a few minutes and using all the techniques she learned, she eventually managed to bring her fear under control, even to the point of almost letting it out of her system.

Once she recovered from her almost hysterical moment, she sighed in relief, but then began to angrily frown.

"Ugh, so this is now he wants to play?" She angrily said to herself as she grabbed the toy rat and squeezed it. "Alright, if that's how you want go, then let's play." She said with a grin.

She then grabbed her cell and began to text message Phoebe.

Helga: Pheebs, can you leave class for a bit? I have a situation...

Phoebe: What is it, Helga?

Helga: Rodrigo tried to prank me, ME Pheebs, on April Fool's Day. I think it's time we show him who he is messing with. PS, he tried to scare me with a toy rat.

Phoebe: Oh dear! Well, that did you have in mind?

Helga: A little taste of his own medicine. Come quick!

Helga only needed to wait for a few minutes before she saw Phoebe running towards her locker.

"I came as fast as I could." She said while panting. "How did he try to prank with a toy rat?"

"By placing it inside my locker." She said as she handed Phoebe the rubber rat. "He must have seen my combination at some time."

"Oh!" Phoebe exclaimed. "But, how does he know that you have a rat phobia? Did you tell him?"

"No. I think it's just a coincidence that he would try to prank me on a typical girl's fear." Helga said.

"Are you ok?" Phoebe asked rather concernedly.

"I'm alright. I managed to control myself before my fears got the best of me." She said.

"Well, that's a relief." Her best friend said. "So did you come up with a plan on how to get back at him?"

"Not yet..." She said while thinking. "He doesn't know that we discovered his prank, so we can use that against him, but how?"

The girls thought about this for a little while.

"Oh!" Phoebe said. "Remember back in the fourth grade, when you stuffed a boxing glove inside Arnold's locker? We use could the same idea."

"Oh ya!" Helga said while smiling mischievously. "We could. Let's go to the gym right now and get one."

"Actually," Phoebe quickly interjected before Helga set off to the nearest gym. "Arnold did complain that his jaw hurt a bit for a while due to that April Fool's prank. I think maybe we should lessen the prank down a bit. You want to get back at him, not hurt him."

"I guess." Helga just shrugged.

"How about a pie?" Phoebe suggested.

"Hmm, that could work." Helga said while rubbing her chin. "Would you know if the school cafeteria still has some of that pie that they served yesterday?"

"I believe so. That pie wasn't particularly good, so I'm sure they have a few leftovers." Phoebe said.

"Perfect. You go get some pie and I'll get a spring to launch it." Said Helga. "Now, there's only the matter of getting him to come here and force him to open my locker instead of me."

"Well, why not use your phobia to your advantage? We can tell him the truth. It could make him feel guilty enough that it could entice him to come here and prevent you from opening your own locker."

"I'm not sure about that, Pheebs." Helga. "I don't think he likes me that much that he will want to sabotage his own prank. If anything, it might delight him into thinking that his prank will scare the living lights out of me."

"That is possible, but I'm confident that Rodrigo will not want to take it that far." Phoebe countered. "He really likes you and he although he wants to get back at you, he doesn't want to humiliate you, or cause you any serious harm. Based on my analysis on his behaviour, I am confident that we can use your phobia to guilt-trip him into sabotaging his own prank; use his concern for your wellbeing to your own advantage."

"Phoebe, you're more diabolical than I am!" Helga said shockingly. "I'm proud of you." She said with a smile.

"Thank you." Phoebe responded with her own smile.

"I'm still not sure if that will be enough, but it's not like we have any other options and time is running out, so let's do that. You can start a conversation with someone during lunch and somehow, bring the subject up." Helga suggested.

"That'll be perfect! We are dissecting frogs and rodents in my science class and comparing their organs; I could use that to strike up a conversation with Nadine, which we can then direct the conversation to talk about mice and rats. It'll be a perfect cover up."

"Perfect. I love it how everything falls into play, hehehehe." Helga with an almost evil grin. "This will show the fool not to make a fool out of me. Let's get everything ready fast before our teachers realize that we ditched class."

And with that, both teens quickly went to bring all the accessories for their little prank.

Back in the present...

"B-but how? I thought you had musophobia?!" He asked her.

"I used to. I went to therapy a few years back to try and control my fear of rats. I still can't stand them, but I'm now able to control my fear." She said while smirking at him triumphantly.

Rodrigo groaned in frustration.

"I hate you so much right now." He bitterly said at her.

"Serves you right for trying to prank me by using my phobia, if even if you didn't know about it." She said to him. "That, and also for being really predictable; I mean you trying to prank the prankster on April Fool's day, the one day where everyone was going to keep their guards up? You have a lot to learn, Latino boy."

Seeing as her gloating was only causing Rodrigo to scowl more at her, Helga eased up a bit.

"If it takes you feel any better, I thought it was very 'brave' and 'sweet' of you pushing me away to make sure that I don't get pranked." She said to him softly. "My hero." She said sarcastically to him.

"That doesn't make me feel any better." He said while pouting.

"There. You're clean now." She said with a smile. "Here, you can clean the few smudges from your sweater."

"Thanks." He said. "I can't believe that Phoebe was in on this."

"Yup. She played her part well." She said with a smile.

Rodrigo said nothing and just frowned.

"Thanks though." She then said.

"For what?" he asked her.

"For coming to make sure that I was ok. Despite Phoebe's calculation in using my phobia to guilt-trip you into sabotaging your own prank, I honestly didn't think you were going to do anything once Phoebe told you about my phobia. But judging with the way you were running towards me to make sure that I was ok...well, thanks for caring." She said with a genuine smile.

"I wanted to pull a prank on you; I didn't want to humiliate you." He said. "But you're welcome."

"No, you did that for me." She said while giggling a bit.

"I still hate you." He grumbled.

"Sure you do. I know you like me." She tauntingly said to him. "C'mon, admit it. It's ok, I already know."

"Nope. Still hate you." He pouted

"And I lov...I mean uh, umm I like you. Like, not the other 'L' word, just like." She said nervously, completing shocking herself that she almost, just almost said the 'L' word!

Crimeny, I can't believe I almost told him that I loved him! Where did that come from?! She thought to herself. Do...do I really love him? So soon? No, it's too soon for me to say that. It was just a slip of the tongue. Yeah, that's what it is. I have to make a mental note to not say that word again until I am ready.

Helga's little, 'slip of the tongue', wasn't lost to Rodrigo and looked at her with surprise.

Did she almost say 'I love you'? He thought. Isn't it too soon?

He decided to not ponder about it. He too thought it was too soon for either of them to say that word.

"Fine. I like you too, Helga." He said to her, heavy emphasis on the word, 'like', reassuring her that right now, that's where they are at; they like 'like' each other.

Helga, taking the hint, smiled and just grabbed his face gave him a kiss on his cheek.

"Hmm, you taste sweet." She flirtatiously said to him.

The two teens then stared at each other, then smiled and then suddenly,

"Hahahahahah! Did you actually believe your own cheesy, sexual joke?" Rodrigo asked while he laughed.

"Hahahaha, no I didn't." Helga responded while also laughing. "Oh man, that was funny! But, you are sweet. Thanks." She said with a smile

Helga then grabbed Rodrigo's hand and held it tightly. Rodrigo just smiled and reciprocated.

After school...while on the bus...

Rodrigo was on the bus, heading home. Despite conceiving defeat and even having a laugh or two earlier today, he was still grumpy that Helga had managed to prank him twice. Helga was not with them on the bus. She had to stay after school due to a meeting for the school's poetry club. It was thus Rodrigo and their friends, Phoebe among them.

One of the things that really bothered Rodrigo about all of this was how Phoebe could have agreed to prank him twice. It was actually a bit shocking for him to accept that Phoebe, out of all people, would willingly want to pull a prank on someone. This was something that he had expected Gerald to do, even Rhonda, but not Phoebe! Wanting some answers, Rodrigo then switched seats and sat behind Phoebe. He then tapped her shoulder to get her attention, prompting her to turn around.

"Yes, Rodrigo?" She asked.

"You diabolical person you." He said to you. "I never would have suspected you ever volunteering to prank someone.

"Oh, that." She said rather sheepishly. "I didn't do it because I think it's fun to prank someone."

"Huh?" Rodrigo asked confusingly.

"To be perfectly honest," She said, "I've never been fond of pulling a prank on any of my fellow students. It just seemed too...mean. Ok, today's prank was a bit funny, but not that funny."

"So then why did you agree to help Helga prank me not once, but twice?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.

"When Helga first came to me about your request to take Arnold to a club and how she was planning on getting back at you for ever making that request, I only agreed to help her because it felt like I was seeing the old Helga again; the one whom she used to be before Arnold left."

Phoebe looked at Rodrigo and noticed that he was giving her a confusing look. He wasn't getting how Helga pulling two pranks on him made Phoebe feel all sensitive about it, so she proceeded to explain herself.

"You shouldn't be taking these pranks as completely negative, Rodrigo. Rather, take them as a good thing."

"Please explain how me fainting after you two wielded two sharp knives at us, and me getting hit with a pie is suppose to be a good thing." He said quite sternly.

"It means that the old Helga that we knew is coming up back to us. She is opening up again." Phoebe said. "When Arnold left, Helga completely shut herself out, showing no enthusiasm, or any passion in anything. There were days that when I saw her, all I saw was a shell of the once strong, no-nonsense, sharp tongued girl that I grew up with." Phoebe then looked down sadly, recalling the sad and often painful memories of those days.

Rodrigo took notice of Phoebe's sad demeanor, but didn't say anything.

"So when she asked me to help her pull a prank on you after you guys came back from the club, I could not help but agree to it. The way she spoke to me about the plan, there was so much passion, so much thought put into it, so much...life. It's as if, the old Helga that I knew when we were kids came back. I heard it! There was no way that I could have said no to her." Phoebe continued, but now smiling.

"It was the same today. I wish you could have seen her. She felt so confident and...happy. Yes, it was a bit cruel to pull that prank on you, but that's what makes Helga, Helga. She had always had this rather callous, but loving side to her. And after three years, I'm seeing that again."

Rodrigo still said nothing but allowed a small smile to develop on his face at the wonderful news.

"That, and I don't think you should have gone to the club, even if Helga gave you permission." She continued with a nervous smile.

Rodrigo's smile than disappeared, almost giving Phoebe a frown. However, he reframed from doing that.

"That's, that's great, Phoebe. Thanks for telling me this." He said. "I'm really glad to hear that Helga is pulling herself out of this...heavy, somber shadow and finally letting us her as the person she was always meant to be."

Phoebe then extended her hand and grabbed Rodrigo's.

"No, thank you." She said with a smile. "I'm slowly getting my best friend back. I don't know where she would have been without you."

Rodrigo said nothing other than holding her hand a bit tight and smiled at her.

Both teens then let go and Phoebe went back to talking to Gerald. Rodrigo sat alone and just thought about everything that Phoebe said. Although still a bit annoyed that he was fooled twice, he nevertheless felt that his humiliation wasn't all in vain. Quite the opposite, he felt...glad that at his expense, something positive came out of it; Helga was finally coming out of her shell.

Later that evening...

...Well, truth be told, he didn't see it coming, not be a long shot. I suppose I could say sorry for pulling an April Fool's prank on him, but that's a bit too un-Helga like of me.

I gotta say, planning that counter prank on him did bring back some old memories of us, or rather, of me pulling a few pranks on you. Hehehe, remember that time when I put that jack in the box inside your locker? Oh man, did it scare the begeezes out of you! God, you can be so gullible sometimes, football head.

Helga than paused a bit to reflect on what else to write.

I miss those times, really. Granted, they may not have been the most fondest memories for you, but to me, they are priceless. Moreover, it just showed how much we had fun, either with each other, or just life in general. When you left, I didn't think I would ever get experience that; fun, joy...happy. It seems that Latino boy is bringing me out again; my callous side. I have to confess, it feels so good to be out in the open again.

I'm not trying to put you down, footaball head. I'm just saying that, I seem to finally be able to do what you always wanted me to find; happiness, to be myself again.

We have a lot of great memories together, you and I. I will always cherish them, no matter who I am with, or how many years will have gone by. Rest assured Arnoldo, you will always have a special place in my life. That will never change.

But enough about me, here is a question; do San Lorenzians have a holiday or Day similar to April Fool's Day as in the States? If they do, I feel sorry for you. You ain't going to have me to protect you from the pranks and stunts that people are probably going to be pulling on you. Buenes fuertes!

Your Prankster,

Helga G. Pataki