Here's the third chapter/episode, depicting 'The Little Pink Book'... and you know the drill. By the way, I won't be following episode order throughout this. I'm only following the first four or five episodes, then afterwards, I'm going to mix them up a little for the first season. Anyway, enjoy!

Another boring day at school... half of me wants to study, but the other half just wants to get out of school just so I can get home and relax. My eyes kept wandering around, wondering when class would just end already. My eyes somehow wandered over to Arnold, who was writing. I noticed that Harold was getting on Arnold's nerves a bit by using spitballs at him. I don't know how Arnold puts up with it.

I had to stay focused. I kept writing on my notes, trying to pay attention to keep up with class. But I couldn't keep focus... I couldn't stop thinking about Arnold! Dang it, I had to do something... I decided maybe I can draw Arnold once again...

You see, besides doing poetry to express love (which I keep in my pink book), I always do drawings, small doodles, a good project, easy to examine... an artistic approach, if you will. I smiled a bit as I focused on drawing something. I smiled for a few minutes as I finally put the finishing touch after a few minutes. One picture of my crush, the one I always smile at whenever he turned his back. It was very perfect, the design of the head, the blonde hair sticking out, the green shirt and red kilt... again, REALLY have to ask Arnold if that's a kilt... and his jeans. I sighed. If only our two classes could meet. As usual, I put the initials of my name on the drawing. It was just so perfect.

The bell rang as I sighed and all the kids were excited to get home. I smiled a bit as I closed the book and put it on my pile as I got up. As I was about to walk to my locker to get my stuff, I almost bumped into Arnold near the door.

I blushed a bit as I apologized. "Sorry, Arnold, guess I didn't see where I was going."

Arnold gave off one of his smiles that made me a little weak in the knees as he said, "That's all right, Rhonda. I didn't see where I was going. After you."

"Thanks, Arnold. You're always a good one." I smiled as I started to walk off. As I headed towards my locker, I gave a bit of a smile. Another conversation, albeit a small one, successful. Really wish I could say 'Arnold, I have a crush on you' right there, but... it wasn't really that time.

Oh well, maybe I can confide in my friends on my way home.

"Thanks for walking me home, Rhonda." Phoebe smiled as me and her were walking the streets.

"Hey, it's no problem, Phoebe." I smiled. "Hey, listen, I have to show you this amazing picture of Arnold I just drew."

I dug around in my backpack as I pulled out the yellow book. "Here we go... let me see if I can get to the recent page."

I smiled as I started to flip through the book of all the pictures that I've drawn, showing either Arnold or me and Arnold holding hands, watching the sunset... or just me being relaxed around Arnold. "I haven't colored it in yet, but it's a work in progress..."

I flipped through the book, then frowned when I saw I was at the last page, yet I couldn't find the drawing. "That's strange. Where's the drawing I-"

I laughed a bit as I closed it. "Oh, of course! I must have put it my pink book, the one I do my Arnold love poetry in. Okay, let me see if..."

I started digging around for the pink book... but frowned as I looked inside. "This is strange. I know the pink book is in here somewhere, I couldn't have misplaced it. I would never misplace things. I'm a Lloyd, they don't misplace anything!"

"Where did you last put it?" Phoebe asked me.

"Let me see..." I said, trying to recall. "Well, after I did my drawing, class was over, I put the book amongst my things, I bumped into Arnold, we talked a bit, then I walked..."

I stopped myself in shock as I yelped. "I bumped into Arnold. I bumped into Arnold."

"Rhonda, you feeling okay?" Phoebe asked.

I realized what may have happened to the pink book as I reached for my cell phone. "Phoebe. We have to do a Code Orange-46. This is bad, very bad!"

"Code Orange-46?" Phoebe gasped. "You mean 'exposure of a secret of a Lloyd that could humiliate or trouble even the wealthiest family'?

I nodded as I dialed Nadine's number and put it to my ear. She picked up. "Nadine, this is Rhonda. Code Orange-46, Code Orange-46! Meet me at Arnold's boarding house, I'll explain everything there!"

As I hung up the phone, I looked over to Phoebe and nodded. "Okay, you know what we have to do..."

"Right." Phoebe said, seriously as she dug around in her backpack and pulled out a screwdriver. I nodded.

I've been to Arnold's boarding house quite a few times. It's where his grandparents and a few other friends of their grandparents lived. Nobody ever asked where his parents lived, not even myself. I just never found it polite to talk about it, I never do. I thought it would probably bring bad memories, or maybe Arnold doesn't remember his parents. Well, either way, he's raised just fine by his grandparents. Kooky as they may be, they are very well meaning.

Anyway, me and Phoebe waited by the back alley near the boarding house as Nadine arrived, panting. "I got here as quickly as I can! What happened?"

"Rhonda accidentally bumped into Arnold without knowing and her pink book left Rhonda's possession and fell into Arnold's." Phoebe explained.

Nadine sighed in relief. "Is that all? Rhonda, you should be happy that your pink book got accidentally sent to Arnold's. It'll let him know that there's somebody who REALLY cares for him, and there'll be a bit of a mystery to crack."

"Yes, normally, that wouldn't be a big deal." Rhonda said. "If anything, I'm happy that Arnold has the pink book. I could probably be happy if he liked the poems and wants to know who his little secret admirer is... but there's a HUGE thing I have to get from that book, and it's a drawing I accidentally put in the pink book instead of the yellow one! And before you say 'mixing up your books isn't a big deal, Nadine', who else has the initials, RWL?"

Nadine looked over at me in surprise. I sighed. "Yeah. It's that big. Look, let's wait until Arnold and Gerald get inside. Hopefully, they haven't noticed or opened the book, if they have, let's just hope they don't get to that last page."

"They're here, and they opened the book." Phoebe said, peeking out.

"Of course they did." I groaned.

"Gerald looks like he's reading some of the poems, and Arnold's blushing a bit. He must feel pretty honored that he has a secret admirer." Phoebe smiled.

I blushed a bit, but sighed. "Just as long as they're focused on the poems. If they find that painting with my initials..."

I shuddered a bit. "Come on, we better get on the roof and examine them."

Nadine and Phoebe nodded to each other as we started to climb up the ladder up to the roof to get a closer look. We knew about a sunroof that Arnold had in his room (as Arnold's friends, we came to his house a few times. The people that lived in his house were... pretty eccentric, I can say that much).

We got to the roof around the same time Arnold and Gerald came into his room. We carefully walked over to the sunroof as we peered our eyes in, trying to overhear the conversation between Arnold and Gerald. We peered our ears as we listened in.

"There are ways to find out who wrote those poems, Gerald. Just have to be scientific." Arnold said as he put the pink book down. Gerald was about to reach for the book, but Arnold took it with two pencils. "Wait, don't touch that. It's evidence."

Arnold carefully opened the book as he looked down at the handwriting, and a little pencil that I always kept with me in the pink book. "Note the small bite marks on the pencil..."

I noticed that Phoebe and Nadine were looking at me oddly, which I defended/whispered, "Only once, I was stuck on a rhyme."

"Sure..." Phoebe and Nadine rolled their eyes.

"I was!" I said as we continued to watch.

"But first, we make the list of suspects." Arnold said.

"Okay, who was there at the bus stop." Gerald said as he picked up a notepad.

I sighed in relief. So Arnold and Gerald think they got it at the bus. It dropped in the classroom, so I think I was safe there... but not quite there.

"Let's see... Jennifer was there." Gerald shrugged.

"The one who always chews with her mouth open?" Arnold said, uncomfortably. "No way."

I couldn't help but give a silent laugh at that.

"Dodie?" Gerald asked.

"Nah." Arnold shook her head.

Gerald paused to think. "Some older girls were there..."

That stopped Arnold for a moment as he put on a lovesick smile. I just had to groan. "Phoebe, Nadine, hold me, he's thinking of Ruth McDougal again..."

Phoebe and Nadine obeyed as they put a hold of my arms as Phoebe said, "Come on, Rhonda, you know that Ruth doesn't have those feelings for Arnold, besides, what Arnold has at best is a puppy love crush."

"Well, on a sixth grader, but still..." Nadine shrugged.

"I know, but just him THINKING that she had something to do with this... ugh!" I groaned as my friends let go of my arms. "I feel like barfing..."

We decided to focus back on the inside as Arnold picked up the pink book. "Well, there's only one way to find out. We need to collect some evidence from every girl on that list."

"That'll take all day!" Gerald complained.

"Not with Abner." Arnold smiled as he whistled for his pet pig.

I always wondered why Arnold had a pet pig. Well, Abner was loyal, to say the least. Gerald chuckled a bit as Arnold took the book and put it in front of Abner. "Here boy, smell this."

Abner proceeded to sniff the book, then acted as if he had a scent. I worried a bit. I was wearing a little perfume, it might have got in the book. Suppose it lead to the roof? I quickly licked my hand and started rubbing the saliva. Phoebe and Nadine just stared at me with confused looks. I frowned. "What? You can't be too careful."

We heard the doors opening from the outside as Phoebe took a look. "Okay, Arnold and Gerald have just left with Abner."

"And Arnold left the book in the high shelf on the room." Nadine said. "And the best part..."

Nadine smiled as she pushed opened a window. "The windows aren't locked."

"All right, then." I nodded as Phoebe tied a rope to me. "We only have at best, five to ten minutes before they come back, so I'll go in, grab the book, you two pull me up, it'll be in and out, I'll tear the page out and leave the book there."

"I'm still surprised you want to leave the book there." Phoebe said as I started climbing down.

"I can't just take it with me, he'll KNOW somebody was following him." I said, climbing down. "Besides, I just want to get the drawing out of the book. He can have the poems! I can always write more in a newer book. Okay, lower me down."

My friends nodded as Nadine and Phoebe lowered me down into the room. I nodded as I called over, "Okay, Nadine, keep an eye out and let me know when they come back."

"Right." Nadine said as she disappeared from view and I took the rope off.

As I took the rope off, I looked around the room... and I couldn't help but give an inner squeal of excitement. Yeah, I've been in Arnold's room a few times, usually with friends or if I'm with him for a school project, but this is the first time I've actually took the time to explore the room... alone.

I could hardly believe it. My eyes lied around on the surroundings. A few hi-tech players, a perfect size bed, an old-style heater, an alarm clock that's shaped like him... I also couldn't help but note of the books he had as well. I took my time in roaming as I gasped in excitement.

"Get out of town..." I muttered to myself as I peered into the bookshelf. In one section of the bookshelf was almost every James Bond book written by Ian Fleming. I never knew he was a fan of James Bond as much as I was! Oh man, this made my little fantasies EVEN better!

"Rhonda! The book!"

I snapped back into reality as I turned to see Phoebe trying to motion to me. "Oh, right. Sorry. I guess just exploring the room, you can get yourself lost."

I kept my focus back as I turned my attention towards the pink book on the top shelf. I was about to reach for it...

Nadine peered her head back in. "Rhonda, you may want to hurry, Arnold and Gerald came back!"

I yelped as I whispered, "Why didn't you say anything?"

"I didn't want to bring attention." Nadine whispered.

I groaned. I needed a little more time... I looked over at the closet as I whispered, "You guys have your phones with you?"

Phoebe and Nadine pulled out their cell phones, nodding.

I nodded. "Close the window and pull the rope up! I'm hiding in the closet and I'll give you more details on what to do!"

Phoebe and Nadine obeyed as Phoebe quickly pulled the rope up. As I quickly hid in the closet of Arnold's room, I quickly peered out as Arnold and Gerald came in, Arnold holding a pile of mushrooms.

"Abner may be a good truffle-hound, but he's a lousy detective." Gerald said.

"I'll say." Arnold said as he dropped the mushrooms. He then paused. "Hey, wait a minute. Something's wrong here, something's... missing."

I yelped. Did Phoebe and Nadine get noticed? Was I going to be exposed?

Arnold then snapped his fingers. "I know!"

Arnold then pulled out a remote from his back pocket as he turned on his hi-tech stereos. I sighed in relief. Okay, that was a close one.

I silently called Nadine's phone as she picked up. I whispered into the phone, "Nadine, you and Phoebe probably aren't safe on the roof. You two will have to go on home, I'll take care of the rest from here."

"What about you?" Nadine whispered.

"I'll take care of myself. If it means I'll have to hide in the closet all night, so be it." I sighed. "Also, call my parents and tell them I'm at your house for a study sleepover. They'll know what you mean."

"All right. Good luck, Rhonda." Nadine said as a click was heard on the other end.

I nodded as I turned focus back towards Arnold and Gerald, who were now looking at the three pieces of evidence they gathered from their suspects... including... ugh... Ruth McDougal's hair ribbon.

I kept watching, and silently chuckling as they tried to find evidence to match the pink book or the writing... but nothing had turned up. And I don't know HOW Arnold figured Ruth's hair ribbon would be a piece of evidence for the book. Maybe I scratched off a hair or two when thinking up a rhyme, and it landed on the book, but that was nothing important. All of them proved to be negative results (though to my frustration, Arnold acted like he WANTED it to be Ruth. Ugh.)

A few minutes later, Arnold and Gerald were looking towards a machine as Arnold asked, "So Gerald, when these results come out, will we finally know who wrote the poems?"

"No. I was just making hot chocolate." Gerald said as some hot chocolate came pouring out of the nozzle of the machine.

I couldn't help but chuckle silently at that.

Arnold sighed as he went towards the board and said, "Okay, so according to our research, we can safely deduce that our suspect is female, lives in the tri-state area, and is somewhere between the ages of eight and... eighty-seven." Arnold said.

"Try almost ten." I thought to myself.

Gerald rolled his eyes sarcastically. "Oooh, we're doing good."

"Okay, okay, let's narrow the field a little." Arnold said as he went to the bookshelf and pulled out... last year's yearbook for PS 118? I yelped a little bit as I realize that Arnold may find my name and compare handwriting... unless... well, I am ambidextrous, so maybe he won't... would he?

"This yearbook has the autograph of every kid at PS 118. We're going to compare handwriting on each suspect on the list." Arnold explained.

Suddenly, the picture on the last page was considered the least of my problems. As much as Arnold and I are good friends, if he knew I had even the slightest crush on him... oh, I don't know how I could take it. I'd probably be embarrassed or... or worse!

"Let's start with Ruth McDougal!" Arnold gave a lovesick smile.

I just face-palmed. Really?

"Arnold. Face it man, it's not Ruth, it never was Ruth, it's never going to be Ruth! Okay?" Gerald said, as if voicing my complaint.

I nodded, as if saying my thanks to Gerald.

"Or... or maybe she purposely changed her handwriting because she was too shy to let me know how much she cared!" Arnold said.

As much as I wanted to just run out of the closet and just yell at Arnold in frustration, I knew I had to stay down... but he was right about one thing. As an ambidextrous girl, I always wrote the poems in private with my left hand, and I always write in public with my right hand. Arnold was right about a girl being shy to let him know how much she cared... just not WHICH girl...

I sighed as I sat down, listening to the names of every girl that was in PS 118...

It went from six-thirty to approximately eight o'clock, night had just fallen as Arnold and Gerald were now at the Ls. And I was the next girl on the list...

"Hey Arnold. The next name on this list... Rhonda Lloyd." Gerald said, pointing to the name.

"Rhonda?" Arnold paused as he thought about it. "Well, she is a good girl, and she can be nice..."

"Yeah, you think she may be the one who wrote these poems?" Gerald asked as I peered in, a little excited, but at the same time, a little worried.

"I doubt it." Arnold said, with a sigh. "She may be nice, but I think she just prefers style and popularity. As far as she's concerned, she's the top of the popularity chain, in terms of the school stats. She probably wouldn't find time to write poems, and if she fell for anyone, it's probably be somebody REALLY popular. We are good friends, but I don't think I'm on her list of 'popular guys to date'."

"How little you know." I thought to myself. "How little you know..."

Well, at least I'm off the suspect list... for now.

Gerald sighed. "Let's face it Arnold, we're stumped. We aren't any closer to figuring this out and we've been working all night." He yawned. "Let's take a break."

"Yes, yes, take a break, take a break." I hastily whispered.

"Let's go down to Sloshes' and get an ice cream cone." Gerald offered.

"I could go for some ice cream." Arnold smiled as he got up.

"Yes, yes!" I smiled. "Good plan, go for that!"

"But then again..." Arnold paused as I groaned.

"Oh, come on, Arnold!" Gerald begged.

"Well..." Arnold said, looking at the pink book.

"Go, go! Just go!" I thought I whispered.

But... whoops. I guess Gerald must have heard me because he turned around. "What was that?"

I had to keep silent as I took a deep breath and held it.

"You sure you don't hear something?" Gerald asked Arnold.

"Look, we're both tired." Arnold said as I sighed in relief. "I'm just going to go straight to bed."

"Oh, okay." Gerald said as he and Arnold did that little handshake thing they do with their fists and thumbs. Was this their little personal handshake they do? Maybe I should have my own handshake with Nadine and Phoebe, make one up for ourselves... "Good night, Arnold."

I sighed. This is no good. I'm still stuck in the closet, and Arnold's in the room. I could always wait until he goes to sleep, then I can just tear out the page from the book... but ripping it won't do any good...

I quickly pulled out my cellphone and called Phoebe's number. "Buckwheat, this is Red Stallion. Come on, Buckwheat."

"Rhonda?" Phoebe's voice whispered.

"Yes, yes, it's me, but we need to go by codenames. You're Buckwheat, I'm Red Stallion, Nadine is Celestial Lunar." I sighed. "I've... ran into a little complication..."

"You got discovered?" Phoebe gasped on the other end.

"No, no, I'm fine... but Arnold is going to sleep now... and I can't tear the book without waking him up... in fact, he put it under his pillow, so I can't get it... I need you and Nadine to come by here tonight and pull me out of here! I'm forgetting the book for now, I just need to get out of here without alerting him! Can you come back here and get me?"

"We're on it!" Phoebe whispered as she hung up the phone.

I sighed in relief. At least it's good to have friends to back me up. I watched as Arnold just turned himself in for the night, sleeping. I sighed in relief as I waited... until I heard some soft snores. He looked so cute when sleeping.

I must have watched him for... what, a half-hour, when I heard the opening of the window. Phoebe and Nadine were back as I nodded and whispered, "Lower the rope!"

The two nodded as they lowered the rope down. I quickly tied it around my waste and nodded, giving them the okay. They quickly pulled me up as I silently shut the window, without alerting Arnold.

"Okay, we better get to your house, Nadine... I had a long night..." I sighed as Nadine took me to her house to sleep.

The next morning, although I showered and got into some nice clothes (always count on good Nadine to hold on to my back-up clothes), I sighed as me and Nadine walked out. I sighed. "I'm doomed. I didn't get the picture out, and now Arnold will know everything."

"Maybe it isn't too bad..." Nadine said as we walked over to school. "Now may be a perfect time to actually tell him!"

"But I'm so embarrassed!" I groaned. "What if he thinks I become obsessive and creepy? I don't want to make myself look like a creep! If anybody is the creep, it's usually Curly!"

"Well... let's wait and see. If he knows, he knows." Nadine said.

I sighed. I wasn't looking forward to this day...

Outside the school, we arrived to see a crowd gathering around Arnold and Gerald as Arnold seemed to be reading the poems. So he hasn't got to the last page yet. Guess that's all right...

"That's the corniest poem yet!" Gerald laughed.

"Whoever wrote them is pathetic!" A nearby kid shouted.

I had to keep my emotions in check so I wouldn't go out and berate the kid... well, at least Arnold thinks they're cute.

"Read another one!" Another kid called as I overheard Stinky being thrown in the trash by Harold.

"Okay, but we're near the last page." Arnold said as he put his hand on the page and was about to flip it towards where the picture I drew was!

I groaned. Crap. Crap. Crap. I didn't want to get into this right now... I sighed. I may as well just confess everything... in front of a crowd... here goes not-

...I couldn't believe it. I... I just couldn't believe it. A... A miracle just... just occurred! For once, Harold's bullying...

Okay, let me explain what just happened.

I was about to walk towards Arnold, right? And I was all worried that he'd see the drawing with the initials, right?

Well, Harold, being the bully that he is, suddenly just ran out of nowhere, grabbed the page, ripped it from the book and put it in his mouth, and chewed it up.

"Hey!" Arnold frowned. "Harold, what was that for?"

"Just to get the spitball of the day out of the way, Arnold." Harold said as he spat the spitball out and lobbed on Arnold's head.

I sighed in relief as Arnold frowned. "Man, is it me, or has Harold been on the streak lately? Nice on some days, want to be mean on others."

"Well, who knows?" Gerald shrugged.

Arnold sighed. "Sorry, everyone."

Everyone groaned as almost all of them were about to head for class. I just smiled in relief, but kept a neutral expression as I passed by Arnold and Gerald, I turned to Arnold, saying, "Hey, Arnold. Nice book you have."

"Eh, thanks... though one page of it is gone now..." Arnold sighed as he closed the book.

"Aw, don't feel too bad. Harold's just... Harold." I shrugged. "You think you'll ever find your secret admirer?"

"It would be nice to meet her... but I doubt I'll ever see her." Arnold shrugged as we walked in the school.

"I'm sure she'll turn up and admit her feelings eventually..." I said, comforting the guy.

Arnold smiled a bit as he put the pink book in his backpack. "Thanks, Rhonda. You really aren't too bad..."

I blushed a little as Arnold and Gerald went on their way. I turned to Nadine and Phoebe as I sighed in relief. "What a stroke of luck, huh?"

"Yeah..." Phoebe and Nadine paused as Phoebe said, "Rhonda, don't you think that was a little coincidental that Harold just... rushed right there and grabbed the very last page of the book, the one with the drawing?"

"Well, at least I don't have to reveal my secret." I smiled.

"Whatever you say..." Nadine said as we went along our way.

As I kept walking, the more I DID think about what Harold did... why did Harold just... suddenly come along and tear out that last page? It could have just been a coincidence... was it?

And there is the third episode! How do you like it? Anyway, read, review, criticize and suggest, folks!