"Come on, Arnold. You might even get Helga..."

Arnold chuckled and shook his head. "No, thanks. I already know I'm going to get her. I don't need some silly marriage predictor to tell me that."

"Are you sure?" Rhonda asked, looking at Gerald with a conspiratorial wink. "Because... I don't know, Helga's been cozying up to Brainy quite a lot lately -"

The football-headed boy frowned at that, turning back to the tall girl with a raised eyebrow. "What are you talking about? They're just friends. Helga loves me."

"Oh, sure, maybe she does now," Rhonda said, rolling her eyes and folding her arms over her chest. "But what about in ten years? Can you honestly say for sure that Helga's still going to love you in ten years? And can you honestly say that you'll love Helga in ten years?"

"Yes," Arnold said immediately, looking at her with less-than-amused eyes. "I can honestly say that Helga and I will still love each other just as much in ten years as we do now. Maybe even more."

"But so many things could happen between now and then..." Rhonda continued, 'thoughtfully.' "Wouldn't you like to know for sure?"

Arnold looked at her with half-lidded eyes and a flat-lined mouth. "You're not going to let me leave without doing it, are you?" he asked, his voice low, and slightly annoyed.

"No," the girl answered maturely, "No, I will not."

He rolled his eyes. "Fine. I'll take your marriage predictor test. But I'm telling you, it's just going to say Helga."

"Let the marriage predictor be the judge of that," Rhonda said, readying her fingers in the slots. "Okay... what's your favorite color?"

"Blue," Arnold said, his voice monotone, as he folded his arms over his chest.

"Okay... B-L-U-E... What day were you born?"

"The fifth..."

"1-2-3-4-5... And your favorite number between 1 and 10?"

"Seven."

"1-2-3-4-5-6-7... Okay, and now for the result..." Rhonda made a grand showing of opening up the flap of the marriage predictor. She read the name, and she gasped, as if shocked by the result, before she glanced up again, holding the sheet of notebook paper to her chest and muttering under her breath, "Oh my gosh."

Arnold looked at her in surprise, not having expected such a spontaneous reaction. "What?"

"Oh... my gosh..."

The poor football-headed boy began to look unbearably anxious. "What? What?" he asked, slightly panicked as he awaited the dark-haired-girl's response.

"You're going to marry..."

...Rhonda held up the marriage predictor for Arnold to see...

"...Helga."

Arnold let out a deep breath, dropping his head into his hands and forcing his heart to slow down. He groaned, feeling slightly irritated that Rhonda had goaded him into such a strange bout of anxiety. "Rhonda..." he mumbled into his palms. "That wasn't funny."

Rhonda was nearly rolling on the sidewalk, (her outfit was new, no way would she let it get dirty), tears of laughter prickling at the corners of her eyes. "O-oh, yes it was, Arnold!" she managed out, holding her stomach as it began to ache.

The poor fourth grade boy lifted his head, glaring slightly at her as she still chuckled merrily in amusement. He glanced out of the side of his eye at his best friend, and stifled another groan of irritation when he saw that even Gerald was holding back his laughter.

"Gerald!" he scolded, putting his hands on his hips and settling an unimpressed stare at the tall-haired-boy. "It wasn't funny!"

Just at that moment, Helga came bounding down the front steps of the school, a look of mild annoyance on her face, as she mumbled under her breath about her no-good, stinkin' locker that kept sticking. She glanced up, just noticing the stares of her beloved, who was looking rather miffed, but also a little pleased to see her, and Gerald, who had a stifled smirk on his face, and Rhonda, who was not even remotely trying to hide her amusement. Helga raised one side of her eyebrow, settling at the bottom of the steps and folding her arms over her chest. "Okay, who died, and why are Princess and Geraldo happy about it?" she asked, addressing her question to her favorite football head.

As an answer, Arnold's face hardened, and he marched straight over to her. He grabbed her by the waist, dipped her back, and planted a deep, passionate kiss right on her unsuspecting lips. Helga, of course, was momentarily surprised, but she quickly overcame her new, more horizontal position, and wrapped her arms around his neck, returning his kiss wholeheartedly. They kept it more or less light, but not lacking emotion, and held it for only a few, (or ten), seconds before they pulled away with a soft smack.

"A-Arnold..." Helga said dreamily, gazing up at him with lovesick eyes. "Wh-what... what was that for?"

Arnold's eyes were in the same airy state, and he gave her a follow-up kiss on the nose. "I'm going to marry you some day."

The pigtailed girl swooned, her arms tightening around Arnold's neck and she tugged him down onto her lips again. Arnold was all-too-eager to comply. When she pulled back, they were both too lost in each other to notice the disgusted grimaces on Gerald and Rhonda's faces. Helga giggled, feeling extremely lovesick, up at the goofy grin on her beloved's face. "I'll hold you to that, my love."

At those final words, Gerald finally fake-gagged loud enough to catch both blondes' attention, and when they looked over to the people they forgot they were with, Rhonda folded her arms over her chest and gave them a quick once-over.

"Okay, so, maybe I was wrong. Maybe you two really will love each other in ten years."