And now, we will be focused on the next chapter! Anyway, enjoy!
Later that afternoon, straight after school, over at the Sunset Arms boarding house, both Arnold and Phoebe had arrived at the kitchen with their papers and assorted supplies as the glasses wearing girl looked towards the football headed kid.
"I'm glad your grandparents were kind enough to let us use the kitchen for our project." Phoebe gave a smile.
"Well, you know my grandpa and grandma. Always eager to let me have creative freedom in other places." Arnold laughed. "Heaven knows that he does that when he let me and Helga use the greenhouse for that 24 hour project we did."
Phoebe couldn't help but note the way Arnold looked displeased at the way he said the last sentence. But, she knew what he was talking about. "Still sore about that, huh?"
Arnold sighed. "I was the only one who wanted to work on the project and took it pretty seriously. And you know Helga, she can be..."
"...a bit lazy and not want to do any work, not caring about the projects whatsoever." Phoebe rolled her eyes. "Don't worry, I know the feeling. And I won't be like Helga."
"Oh, I know you won't..." Arnold smiled as he ran his hand through her hair, making the girl giggle a bit. "You are the partner I can hope for right now!"
"Of course I am." Phoebe gave a small grin before looking over Arnold's papers. "Okay, so it seems we got the history of lipstick and the scientific properties of how to make it..."
"I see you did some research on that, too..." Arnold noted the assortment of ingredients next to the girl.
"Well... along with buying some samples, I was thinking we can make our own version of lipstick..." Phoebe said as she pointed to the ingredients. "If you like, we can get ourselves started right away."
Arnold gave a nod as he got up and put on some goggles. "What do we do?"
"Well, first we need to put the beeswax, cocoa butter and coconut oil in a glass jar over a pot of simmering water." Phoebe noted. "I already got the glass jar and the three ingredients mixed in. We just need the pot of simmering water."
"Just a moment..." Arnold nodded as he got up and went over to the cabinets as he got out a pot and started to fill it with water. After putting the pot on the stove, he set the heat up as the two waited patiently for a few minutes.
After the water was starting to simmer, Phoebe put on an oven mitt and carefully put the glass jar in the pot as they waited for the contents in the jar to melt inside. As they were waiting, Arnold couldn't help but put on a devilish smile. Immediately, he pulled Phoebe over to his side and started to feel the blue sweater, starting to drum his fingers on her side. Phoebe couldn't help but giggle.
"Arnold! I'm ticklish there!" Phoebe giggled.
"Oh, are you now?" Arnold smirked as he put a finger on the girl's chin. "Would you prefer it if I rub your face instead..."
"With what?" Phoebe raised an eyebrow, honestly not sure where this is going.
"With one little finger..." Arnold smirked as he started putting his finger under Phoebe's chin and tickled it. Phoebe laughed a little as she put her arms around the football headed kid and cuddled close to him, happily sighing.
"Oh Arnold, I bet you've been wanting to do that with any girl you wanted to meet..." Phoebe gave a small grin.
The football headed kid couldn't help but blush a little. "Er, well... I suppose I always was curious to see if..."
Phoebe put a finger in front of his mouth as she silently shushed him. Phoebe giggled as she nuzzled her head next to his chest. "It's okay, Arnold. We are a couple now, are we not?"
"Well..." Arnold blushed even more as he patted the girl on the head. "Yeah, we are... you really don't mind if I tickle you a little?"
"Of course not..." Phoebe said with a big smirk on her face before drumming her fingers on his back. Arnold's eyes widened in surprise as he laughed.
"Phoebe! What are y-" Arnold looked over at the smirking girl.
"Payback. It's certainly one that can be a pain, doesn't it?" Phoebe said.
"Wow, Phoebe. I have to admit, you've been gaining quite a lot of confidence lately since you and I got together..." Arnold noted.
"Have I?" Phoebe said in surprise.
Arnold smiled towards the blue wearing girl. "You're amazing! You're coming out of the shell, slowly but surely. Almost like a..."
"...a turtle?" Phoebe raised an eyebrow.
"Something like that." Arnold shrugged as he looked towards the pot and noticed the main ingredients have melted down. "Looks like the batch is ready."
"Oh!" Phoebe grinned as she put her oven mitts back on and began to take the jar out and put it on a hot plate. "Okay, Arnold, hand me the beet powder, cocoa powder, bentonite clay and cinnamon."
"Okay, sure." Arnold smiled as he handed each of these items to Phoebe. "Getting the color and the scent mixed in."
"You might say that." Phoebe smiled as she pulled out some teaspoons and started putting each ingredient in them, before putting it in the mixture. "And finally, one drop of peppermint essential oil."
The football headed boy gave a nod as he handed Phoebe a small beaker filled with that particular oil. Phoebe then carefully put a drop of the oil into the mixture before carefully mixing the ingredients in. "Now, hand me that glass dropper."
Arnold nodded as he handed the glass dropper to Phoebe as she carefully picked up the glass jar and put the mixture into the dropper, before putting it aside and getting into a cool place. "Now to leave it to cool for a half hour. That should leave us enough time to make another batch. Are you ready, Arnold?"
"I'm ready whenever you are, sweetheart." Arnold grinned towards his girlfriend as he put another glass jar of a similar mixture into the same pot of simmering water.
As the two were doing so, they were unaware that they were being watched by two familiar old people, who just happened to walk past the kitchen and watch them.
"Ah, look at them, Pookie. Working together, trying to make sure their little girly science project works... I'm amazed Arnold would even go along with it." Phil noted.
"Well, you can clearly tell... those two have it bad." Gertrude said. "Bad like a coyote with an obsession!"
Phil chose to ignore his wife's slight coyote metaphor, knowing she was talking a little crazy, but he knew she was making sense. "Hmmm... I suppose you're right. And Arnold sure does have the googly eyes for the brainy one."
Gertrude laughed a little as she said, "Hey, you know what they say about the brainy ones. They can be VERY naughty!"
"Pookie!" Phil said in offense.
"Give it a few years." Gertrude could only smirk. "Oh! I see a little prairie dog popping out! Hold up there, prairie dog! I'm about to rope ya!" Gertrude gave a laugh as she pulled out a lasso and began swinging it around before leaving.
"Pookie! That's not a prairie dog! That's my expensive vase!" Phil said as he started to follow Gertrude around the house. Fortunately for Arnold and Phoebe, they just ignored the commotion going on outside the kitchen.
Eventually, after about a couple hours or so, Arnold and Phoebe had a few glass droppers filled with lipstick, each of a different color as Arnold gave a nod. "Well, it wasn't easy, but I think we got at least a good start on this project."
"Agreed. We also have quite the assortment of lipstick as well..." Phoebe said as she was smiling in glee. "Oh, this is so exciting!"
"Okay, simmer it down, sweetheart. We'll have to let the science fair judge it for themselves." Arnold said, patting the girl on the back as she calmed down a little.
"Sorry, I'm just a little excited!" Phoebe said. "Having a good project can do that..."
Arnold gave a smile as he looked over at the project. "Well, I would say the lipstick project is a bit of a success... but how do we know that the lipstick is good..."
"I suppose we could... test it..." Phoebe smirked, getting an idea as she grabbed one of the glass droppers.
Arnold raised an eyebrow in confusion. "On who? I suppose I could go up to Mrs. Kokoshka, and see if she could..."
"Well, actually Arnold... I think I have a better way of testing it out..." Phoebe said as she started to apply the lipstick on her lips, much to Arnold's notice.
"Uh... Phoebe?" Arnold asked, raising an eyebrow as Phoebe started to smack her lips and lick them to apply the lipstick. She put the lipstick aside as the brainy girl turned towards Arnold, a devilish look on her face.
"Arnold... give me a chance to test this out, will you?" Phoebe smirked as she puckered her lips, with Arnold staring at the girl in surprise.
About a few minutes later, as Phil was getting out of the downstairs bathroom and checking up on the kids, he noticed Phoebe coming out of the kitchen, her backpack already packed as she gave a nod towards the old man. "Thanks for letting us use your kitchen for the project, Mr. Shortman. I have to get going for now. I don't want to miss dinner."
"Well, okay. See you later." Phil nodded as he watched the girl leave. Phil raised an eyebrow as he peeked into the kitchen... before his eyebrows jumped and a smile formed on his face. "Well, well, Shortman, how did the project go?"
Arnold Shortman was sitting down near the kitchen table, with a big smile on his face, red lipstick marks surrounding every aspect of his face, including his lips. He gave a happy sigh before saying, "I think the project went... successfully. I think we're more than prepared..."
Phil laughed as he looked down towards the football headed boy. "I guess it's true what your grandma said... the brainy ones are always willing to take risks..."
Arnold couldn't quite argue with that statement, as his head was currently in the clouds at the moment.
And that's this chapter done! How did you guys like it? Next time, the science fair and the other projects that are going to be competing against Arnold and Phoebe's lipstick project! Anyway, read, review, criticize and suggest, folks!