A/N: Hey, guys! Sorry I have not updated. Turns out I had to go to the doctor and I had a stomach virus! Disgusting, but I am finally feeling better. (For real this time!) I've got my antibiotics, so I should be good! Anyway, with this section, I decided since this is a late update that I should make it up to you guys! I combined the last two sections of this chapter into one big section that will end this chapter! Basically, this chapter is longer than usual. You all have been extremely patient considering we're almost reaching the one year mark that I've been publishing this particular story on ! I've also decided that I should make it up to you guys for all the favorites, follows, and reviews, so I'm thinking of a way to do that... Until then, read this longer end to the chapter. Helga and Phoebe find another clue to the puzzle in this section. The next chapter will take off to the night of the dance, so get ready for that! Also, my PMs were turned off for some reason, so I now turned them back on so you can send me a PM if you have a question or just want to chat! Thanks for reading and enjoy! And yes, I do not own Hey Arnold or its characters, but I do own this fan fiction.

"Why are we in here, Helga? You know you're not allowed in here anymore! You're not the editor in chief. Lila is!" Phoebe reminded Helga G. Pataki as she was pursuing to pick the lock to the door using of her hairpins. The two students were messing with a locked door to the student run newspaper's office, eager to gain entry.

"Relax, Phoebs! I'm just coming to pick up my stuff from my desk. We're not breaking and entering." Helga's attempts to calm down her best friend were not working, but she was hoping to find more than her personal belongings in here. Maybe if they were lucky, Lila would have left a clue or two in here by accident. Neither girl had been in this office in over a week.

"Picking a lock is breaking and entering!" Phoebe groaned in irritation and dragging her fingers through her short, black hair. "We're going to get caught!"

"You didn't seem to have a problem with me putting back a stolen dress!" Helga spat as she jiggled the doorknob once more while shoving the hairpin in the doorknob's hole.

Phoebe sighed at the awareness that her friend was right. "Okay. You're right. I want to help Helga, but I can't risk my clean permanent record."

"But Phoebs, once you get into Harvard, that won't matter anymore!" Frustrated that this bobby pin was not able to open the door, Helga picked another one from her blonde hair to use.

"You could always apply to Harvard too, you know. After we prove you're innocent, of course. It's not too late." Phoebe added, trying to distract herself from the sticky situation they were in by shuffling side to side next to Helga.

Helga's head stuck straight up at her friend's suggestion. "You know I don't have the grades to get in."

"Oh, please. I know you're the one student at P.S. 121 who got a perfect score on the SATs. You beat me!"

A firm hand cupped a certain Asian's girl lips to prevent her from peeping any other secrets. "You can't tell anyone that."

"Why are you ashamed? Anyone else would be announcing it all over the school!" Phoebe placed her hands on her hips as Helga released her.

"You know why." Helga growled, still determined to break open the door in front of her.

"Olga would be proud of you, Helga. It doesn't make you more like her in any way. I'm sure your parents would start treating you nicer if you told them too."

Helga dropped the bobby pin to focus her full attention on Phoebe. "Let me tell you something, Phoebs. I don't want to win anyone over with a perfect score. I want people to like me for me. Not like Olga."

"But you're smart! You're smarter than me! That's who you are, Helga." Phoebe set her hand on Helga's shoulder.

"I just can't, Phoebe. I can't." Helga hid into the security of her palms.

"I know. I'm sorry I brought it up. I just don't understand why someone like you wouldn't want to share such a compliment. Hey, I may never understand!" Helga slowly started to appear from her disappearing act. "But I know one day you will be able to share yourself with the world, Helga. The world needs someone as amazing as you. I can't imagine a day without you in my life."

"Thanks, Phoebe. I don't think I could live without you either. I mean, you risked your permanent record for me. That's a true friend."

Phoebe softly snickered. "I would any day."

Seconds passed as the two best friends shared a hug outside of the student newspaper's office's door. The warning bell rang, signaling that class would start soon.

"There's the warning bell." Helga gently freed the grasp on her friend. "This conversation ever happened."

"Forgetting!" Phoebe cheered. "Let's get this door open!"

Helga giggled and bent over to find the missing hairpin that she had dropped. "Wait a second! I just remembered!"

"Principal Wartz never took my key to the office from me! It's still in my backpack!" Helga hit herself on the head. "I can't believe I forgot!"

"You mean this key?" Phoebe had already located the second key to the office in the top compartment of Helga's pink book bag. She wiggled the piece of metal in front of Helga's awaiting eyes.

Helga smirked at her friend's attempt to impress her and grabbed the key from under her grip.

She struggled to fit the key into the lock, but once it clicked, it only took a simple spin to release the door from its previous position. Helga looked at Phoebe, who nodded to give her permission to move forward in their mission. Gripping the doorknob again, she budged the door out of its hold. It groaned gradually as Helga leaned onto the frame to display the room's contents ahead of the two teenage girls.

P.S. 121's newspaper's office appeared identical to the way Helga last left it last Thursday, even though it was now next Friday. It seemed that no one had even stepped into the office, except for one area. Helga's old desk, the editor in chief's desk, had a completely unfamiliar appearance, and a small cardboard box was placed on top of the desk.

Helga shook her head as she approached the box presented before her. As she checked out the contents, she recognized the pink office supplies stacked inside. Lila had packed up her desk and planted all her belongings in here for her to pick up, like she knew that she would return to the office.

"Well, looks like Little Miss Perfect was more eager to be editor in chief than I thought." Helga shuffled through the items inside the package to assure herself that nothing was missing.

"I'm not surprised that she's already been in here." Phoebe sighed, walking around now Lila's desk. There was nothing on the desk, because Lila did not have clearance to be in this office until next week. Curious to what was inside, Phoebe pulled open drawer after drawer to peek around to find a single, vanilla folder in the bottom drawer.

"Helga, what's this?" Phoebe holds up the folder and contents for her best friend to observe.

Helga shrugs. "I have no idea. I kept all my papers in my pink binder. It's probably Lila's." She goes back to inspecting the objects inside the cardboard box.

Debating, Phoebe decides to open the fillings of the folder, considering it was the only piece of possible evidence that Lila left behind.

'Just a quick peek…' Phoebe reasoned with herself. Inhaling one last breath, she slowly steals a glance at the papers in the folder.

It was an article for the newspaper, however Phoebe noticed the date of the article was for last week's paper. Why would Lila write an article for last week's paper and not publish it?

Reading the words of the unseen article, Phoebe gasped at the facts framed into the story. She suddenly shut the folder. She knew she should have not let her curiosity control her.

"What was in the folder?" Helga casually questioned, finally finished with her investigation of the cardboard box. Everything from Helga's old desk was in there.

"Uh, nothing." Phoebe stuttered, struggling to slip the folder back into the bottom drawer without Helga noticing her hesitations.

"Phoebe… What was in the folder?" Helga leaned over the desk to stare straight into her best friend's eyes, which were blinking rapidly at the fear of being found out.

Phoebe kicked the bottom drawer closed with her white sneaker, and folded her arms behind her back. She took a breath before answering.

"Nothing. Just some old papers." If Helga knew…

Helga pressed her entire body to the desk in front of her so now she was directly facing Phoebe, who now finally returned her glance. One eyebrow of Helga's raised at Phoebe's stammering, while watching Phoebe's chest start to slow.

"Rhonda is cheating on Harold with Sid!" Phoebe blurted. Realizing what she revealed, she covered her mouth with her widened eyes confirming her guilt.

"What?!" Helga could not believe the secret that Phoebe just announced. Rhonda was cheating on her star football player of a boyfriend of four years with a nobody troublemaker?

"There was an article." Phoebe's hands fell to her sides. "Someone wrote an article exposing Rhonda's affair with Sid. It was written last Wednesday."

"Someone wrote an article? For the paper? Who?" Helga pushed on, hoping that Phoebe would release the last gem of the gossip.

"Lila. Lila Sawyer wrote it." Phoebe turned away from the desk to face the chalkboard behind it. She did not desire to witness how the truth would affect her friend.

"She did it." Helga whispered. "She's the one."

"What did you say?" Phoebe murmured. She ultimately ended up rotating back to once again establish eye contact with Helga.

"She went after Rhonda, and now she's after me."

The girls stayed in silence for seconds. Neither of them could say anything after the truth was stated and began to settle in. The silence lingered as both women waited for the other to move or say something.

Helga was at a loss at actions or words at this point in her life. She had suspected Lila for a while now, but could not comprehend how the friend that she was giggling with at her locker a week ago was now her emerging enemy.

Phoebe on the other hand was also at a loss due to she could not figure out a solution on how to comfort her best friend after finally finding the truth about an old friend. Sure she could solve a calculus problem, but no math book could teach you on how to deal with a Benedict Arnold of a friend.

What were they going to do now?

Phoebe's cell phone beeped to signal a new text message. Both girls raised their heads to lock looks before gazing to the gadget.

Phoebe reached for the phone to answer the text message, while Helga sat on the desk to wait, swinging her legs below her.

"Rhonda needs us in the gym. Her dad's crew brought the disco ball we need for the dance and they need us to help them set it up." Phoebe spoke, digging the cell back into her back pocket.

"Okay." Helga agreed, hopping up from her stance on the desk to steal the cardboard box. "You ready?"

"Helga!" Phoebe slammed her hands on the editor in chief's desk. "Are you really going to pretend like what we found just didn't happen?"

Helga sighed as she set the box back onto the surface of the desk. "No. I mean, we know it's Lila and everything. I just don't know what to do now. Now that we know who it is."

Phoebe rounded the area around the desk to reach her best friend's side. "I do."

"And what might that be?" Helga played; pretending as if she was not able to predict what Phoebe was going to say next.

"Get even."