Chapter 9 - Play Ball!

Helga did not join the game that evening. She was in desperate need of a bath and a little reflection. As she lay soaking amongst the sweet smelling oils she realised that the best way to be nice to her classmates was clearly to avoid them. "That's something I can definitely do," she said to herself, sinking below the bubbles.

The rest of the fourth grade class assembled at Gerald field to play baseball, although it was obvious that for some of them baseball was the farthest thing from their minds. Phoebe and Sheena elected to sit out of the game, Phoebe stuck her nose into a poetry book and Sheena cheered on everyone else. Rhonda and Nadine stayed firmly in the outfield, and the rest of the class took up their respective places. Rhonda was eager to get more stirring up done.

Arnold stepped up to the bat. He clutched his bat so firmly his knuckles turned white. Harold wound up the ball and let it go at Arnold, who swung with all his might but still missed. "Strike one!" yelled Gerald, tossing the ball back to the pitcher. Harold threw the ball again and again Arnold hit only air. "Strike two!" Arnold kicked the dirt, gripped his bat firmly and focused. He blocked out everything except the baseball clutched in Harold's pudgy hand. Harold wound the ball up, released it, Arnold closed his eyes and swung his bat... and the ball sailed straight into Gerald's glove. "Strike Three! You're out!" Gerald cried. "Sorry man," he added as Arnold went and sat down on the bench. He slumped himself down heavily on the wood and watched Eugene step up. Sheena leapt to her feet and cheered.

"Not concentrating, Arnold?" came a voice. Arnold looked up. It was Rhonda, speaking out of the corner of her mouth, her eyes still focused on the action.

"Nah," said Arnold with a faint smile, "I guess I'm just not that good at baseball."

"Oh, so you don't feel, say, oh, bad about what you said about Helga?" she said.

"I didn't say anything about Helga!" Arnold protested. Rhonda turned to face him, putting her hands on her hips.

"You said you were 'flattered'!" she shrieked, as though it were some sort of swear word.

"And?"

"And when you say that it basically means you couldn't care less about Helga or her feelings!" Rhonda was in full swing. She was acting like she'd never acted before.

"Well, er, Rhonda, I don't really see how it's any of your business," Arnold said quietly. He knew that if he were the one who was in Helga's position he wouldn't want his feelings bandied around like gossip. Rhonda looked completely uncaring.

"Helga's my friend, Arnold," she said quietly.

"Really?" said Arnold skeptically, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes. Well, no. Alright, so we never really got along that well but seeing as she's going to England I want to try to be her friend." Arnold gave her a tired look.

"You've been elected her tormentor," he said dryly. Rhonda opened her mouth to say something, thought about it, and then closed it again.

"Fine, Arnold," she finally said, "but my, er, friend, is upset now all because of you!" she said, jabbing him in the chest with her finger. Then she turned on her heel and went to talk to Nadine, whispering things in her ear and throwing him occasional glances. Arnold rested his chin on his hands. He knew that Rhonda and Helga didn't really get along, so why would Helga tell Rhonda how she felt? Unless, of course, Rhonda was making it up. Arnold looked over at Phoebe, who was trying very hard to pretend that she hadn't heard anything and was failing spectacularly.

"Um, Phoebe?" Arnold asked quietly. Phoebe's book leapt from her hands and fell into a crumpled heap on the ground.

"Yes?" she squeaked, before clearing her throat.

"Has Helga ever... mentioned anything... about, you know, me?" Arnold asked warily. Phoebe's mind was racing, trying to find a way to get her out of this awkward position. What Helga said about Arnold and what Helga actually meant were two very different things, and Phoebe knew it. She wasn't blind.

"Um, nothing of particular note," she said, which was at least true. Helga had never actually said anything about loving Arnold to her...

"Oh, right," said Arnold, looking at his hands. He had never been so confused in all his life. Helga's speech on top of FTI, Rhonda's gossip, Phoebe's denial, it all made no sense to him. It didn't occur to him how he would deal with the knowledge that Helga was into him, he was more concerned with finding out the truth of her feelings. He sighed. He knew that Phoebe wouldn't lie to him, but was it right to feel disappointed?

"But maybe I'm not the one you should be asking," Phoebe said slowly, pulling Arnold from his thoughts. Arnold looked at her. She was right, of course, but he wasn't sure he wanted to know. He could deal perfectly well with having crushes, but he didn't think he could handle the responsibility of being someone else's unrequited crush. He knew how that felt, and it wasn't fun.

Phoebe smiled at him and picked her book up off the grass. It had been a desperate step for Phoebe to say that last thing to Arnold, she may have just opened an overflowing can of worms, but Phoebe knew Helga better than anyone. In everything else she was a strong, independent young lady, but Phoebe had always known that when it eventually came to Arnold, Helga would have to be pushed.

"Hey Arnold, get on third!" Stinky yelled as the teams changed over. Arnold gave Phoebe one last look before getting off the bench and standing at his appointed base, still lost in his own thoughts. He was hardly aware of Rhonda stepping up to bat.

"I swear Curly, if you throw that ball so hard I break my nail again I am going to kill you," she said dangerously. Curly merely smiled at her. He wound up the ball giving Rhonda a jaunty wink before releasing it perfectly for Rhonda to hit a home run. She gave a him a sweet flirtatious smile as the ball sailed off down the street. Rhonda had always enjoyed playing with Curly; he may be a bowl-haired little shrimp but he had his uses, and keeping him sweet never did any harm.Rhonda strolled past Arnold, deliberately throwing him a filthy look.

"Hey, cut it out Rhonda," he said. She stopped in her tracks.

"Cut what out?" she asked innocently, inspecting her perfectly polished fingernails.

"You know what," he replied in a harsh voice. The game came to a shuddering halt as everyone turned to look at Arnold and Rhonda. "Even if Helga does love me, like you say, what am I supposed to do about it?" He could feel his blood boiling, he hated hurting people, no matter who it was, and this was something he couldn't fix. He didn't like people pointing it out.

"I just think you should tell her you know how she feels and then you should let her down gently," Rhonda said, not even looking at him. She knew that it would cripple Helga more if she heard it straight from Arnold, and she would be sure to blow up at him and deny everything.

"Since when," Arnold said, repeating himself, " is it any of your business?"

"I'm making it my business," she said coldly, fixing him with such a stare he had to back away little bit. "And I think we should come with you, to make sure she keeps to her side of the bet." It was then that it clicked with Arnold. Rhonda was just trying to get Helga mad. At anyone, at him. She just wanted Helga to lose so badly she would do anything to make it happen. Arnold returned to his usual relaxed demeanour.

"Sure," he said quietly, smiling, "I'll go right now."

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A/N: Just a short one. I promise the next one will be action packed! There's still a lot of things to take care of... Thank you to everyone who has reviewed. -Sky.