Okay, I've been figuring out an episode order for the episodes to take place during the summer between third and fourth grade, and I figured I start off with this episode! Now, even though the episode I'm doing is not going to happen until next chapter, I'd figured I'd do with a flashback episode, since I'm setting up for next episode. Which episode was I going to do though? Well, I decided to just do 'Part Time Friends' as a flashback episode, just to see how I can fit it in! Anyway, enjoy!

On a Thursday afternoon, inside Phoebe's house, me, Nadine and Phoebe were in Phoebe's room, playing a board game that Phoebe wanted to play. Nadine and Phoebe were getting the game down, but they were sighing in frustration when it came my turn. I just didn't get the game they were playing.

"Do you have any sixes?" I paused.

Nadine frowned. "Rhonda, we're playing Monopoly."

"Oh, right, right..." I paused as I looked over at the dice, then over to my game piece. "Sorry, I'm just nervous."

"How are you so good at some games, yet Monopoly is your weakest one?" Phoebe asked. "You're a rich girl who lives with a rich family!"

"Sometimes, I feel I get cheated out of it." I said. "I mean, I spend like no tomorrow in that game. Besides, all this about mortgages and buying places that are expensive? Don't they have good shopping malls to get to?"

Phoebe sighed. "It's still your turn."

I paused as I took the dice and rolled it. Two fives came up as I gasped. "YAHTZEE!"

Nadine and Phoebe just shook their heads as I moved my thimble over to a Chance card. Phoebe pulled out a Chance card. "Go directly to jail."

My eyes widened as Nadine moved my piece over to the jail space. Nadine and Phoebe took their turns as I was next. I rolled two threes again as I got out of jail. I then rolled a six and five to move eleven spaces to one of those spaces.

Phoebe nodded. "And you're bankrupt, Rhonda."

My eyes widened as Phoebe took the remaining money I had. "Nadine, Phoebe, look over there!"

Nadine and Phoebe looked at each other as if they thought 'Did she think we were stupid?' "No."

"Just... look over there for a moment." I said, pointing towards a direction.

"If we turn around, you're going to swipe money from the bank and say you had it the whole time, just so you can have another chance at the game." Nadine said. "We know you, Rhonda."

I sighed. "Okay, okay, fine. I'll play fair."

"Good girl." Phoebe said.

I sighed as I got up. "I may as well get going anyway. I have to be at my parents by three. They said they need to drive me over to my singing lessons at four."

"Aw, do you have to?" Phoebe said, looking up.

"Yeah, you always go to that singing lesson every second Thursday,every third Wednesday and every fourth Tuesday of the month since March." Nadine said. "You know, I have to ask... isn't your voice tired from the singing lessons?"

"No, not really." I smiled. "Besides, I know my singing voice is pitch perfect... though my parents think I need a little more practice."

"When can we hear your singing?" Phoebe asked.

I paused as I stumbled a bit, "Uh, well, I'm sure you'll hear a little song soon. I promise you. I'll see you girls later!"

Nadine and Phoebe waved as I decided to run out of Phoebe's house.

Truth was, I didn't have singing lessons, I only said that to Nadine and Phoebe because I didn't want to tell them about a second passion I liked... and that was competitive bowling. Best part was, Arnold was always on my team, and when he asked if he'd like to hang out at the bowling alley with a team he set up, I happily agreed. I didn't want Phoebe or Nadine to know I was doing this, so I only told them I was doing singing lessons so they wouldn't interfere. Of course, I'm only doing this as friends for Arnold, so it was fun for me. When asked by Arnold if I was going to take Nadine and Phoebe along for new teammates on one little bowling outing with the team, I didn't want to spoil what I had going, so I told him that Nadine and Phoebe were taking singing lessons as well. Not that I had any doubt in them, I'm sure they'd mean well, but I didn't want them to spoil the moment if I ever did confess. Plus, being in the same team as with the one you love? It's kind of fun!

Pretty soon, I arrived at home as I picked up my bag, with my bowling shoes and socks inside as I changed shirts quickly from my classic red shirt to a blue uniform. I smiled as I looked myself. I looked good.

I then started running downstairs as I saw Arnold and Gerald were waiting for me outside, with their things on. I ran downstairs and out the door as I joined them, smiling. "I'm ready whenever you guys are!"

"It's a shame Nadine or Phoebe can't ever come bowling with us." Gerald sighed.

"Yeah, but they have those darn singing lessons." I said.

"I have to ask, aren't their voices tired from those singing lessons?" Arnold asked as we caught a bus.

"Not really." I said as Arnold paid the fare and we sat down. "Besides, they like their singing. They really want to make it pitch perfect."

"You know, I'd love to hear them sing sometime." Gerald said, smiling as I paused. I was starting to wonder if he was thinking about Phoebe at this point.

"Don't worry, if they finish up, I promise, you'll hear them sing." I smiled.

"Well, it doesn't matter. Today we should be good for a small team!" Arnold said.

"But Arnold, don't you remember... the tournament on Saturday? We still need to find an adult to coach our team! Even if we can do good on our own, we still need a coach!" Gerald frowned.

"Relax. We'll find one while we're at the bowling alley." Arnold said as the bus went on its way.

Pretty soon, me and my team were here as we were setting up. I smiled as I bought a few nachos and sodas, with Harold helping me with the items. "Don't hog it all, Harold. Save a few for the other teammates."

"Ah, come on, I'm hungry!" Harold complained as me and him went over to the team, which consisted of Arnold, Gerald and Eugene.

"We got the snacks, guys!" I smiled as the others cheered.

"Thanks for doing this, Rhonda." Arnold smiled.

"Hey, anything for my team!" I said as I sat down. "Shall I assign our weekly nicknames?"

All four chattered as I smiled.

"Okay, okay..." I paused as I looked over to my friends. "Let me see... me first... I shall be known as the Fashionista. FAS for short."

I typed in 'FAS' to fit the character limit as we nodded. "Next up, Harold, you're known as... the Power Ball! POW for short."

"Oh yeah, that's an awesome nickname!" Harold said as I typed in 'POW'.

"Eugene, you will be..."

"The Fighting Machine?" Eugene asked.

"Actually, I was thinking..." I paused. "You know what, let's go with what you said. Fighting Machine. FIG for short."

I typed in 'FIG' for the character limit. "Gerald, you're a cool cat, how about the Cool Bean? COO for short."

"Sure, that's just fine!" Gerald smiled as I typed in the name.

"And last but not least, since Arnold is our unofficial team captain until we get a coach, Arnold, I'd like to dub you a nickname... a Japanese word that Phoebe taught me... Sukiyaki, the word meaning commander.."

By the time I finished typing the character limit in, Arnold said, "Rhonda, Sukiyaki is a type of sushi. The Japanese word for commander is Taikun."

"It is?" I paused as I looked up at the name. "Whoops. Guess I should brush up on some Japanese words."

"Your name is SUK?" Harold said in surprise as he laughed.

I looked up and... oh. Guess the character limit did say 'SUK'. "...Harold, Arnold, I changed my mind. Arnold, you can be POW, Harold, you're player five."

"Awww..." Harold frowned.

I smiled. "Okay, let's bowl for a bit. Just a round or so, then we can find a coach."

"Okay, but we better hurry. Sign-ups close in about three hours." Gerald said.

"That'll give us some time!" I smiled as I picked up my bowling ball and did a little swing. I did good, only hit five pins my first go around and two my second chance. Doing some bowling was pretty fun. Not only did we use this time to have fun, but it also gave us time to pass around stories, any that we had that were interesting.

"So, who wants to give out their story of the day?" I asked as I looked around, Arnold going to bowl. "Anybody got anything to share?"

"I'll go." Gerald said. "You know how me and Arnold are always best friends?"

"Who doesn't know?" Eugene smiled. "I mean, you and Arnold were pretty much inseparable ever since pre-school. Actually, aside from Rhonda, Nadine and Phoebe, you two are the tightest friendship we've seen."

"Well, thank you for the compliment, Eugene." I smiled to him. "I'll be sure to tell Nadine and Phoebe when I see them again that you think we're good and tight."

"Well, there were times when we did have a falling out." Gerald said as Arnold came back after getting a pin his first time.

"Are you telling the story of the time we worked in Mrs. Vitello's flower shop last summer?" Arnold asked as he grabbed his bowling ball.

"Yeah, man!" Gerald said as Arnold took his ball and swung, getting three pins that time.

"What were you working at Mrs. Vitello's shop for?" I asked curiously.

"Yeah, all it is is just a bunch of flowers there." Harold frowned, rolling his eyes.

"Maybe a lot of flowers, but it's nice to help out around the neighborhood." Arnold said as he arrived. "You're up, Eugene, and this time, try to focus on the pins."

"I'll try." Eugene said as he took his bowling ball and decided to take it slow so as to be careful not to let it slip in his hands.

"Anyway, we were there to make some money to buy some new things." Gerald said. "It was basically a small job, just to get going by. But then came the week that Mrs. Vitello injured herself, and we had to take care of the store for a week."

"It was a little fun at first, me taking care of the flowers, Gerald being in charge of the store..." Arnold sighed. "The problem was, Gerald took the whole thing too seriously."

"Yeah, so seriously, Arnold messed up delivery orders." Gerald frowned.

"It was a mistake, I assure you." Arnold sighed.

"...That would explain why you guys were being surly around each other that week." I said, recalling that Gerald and Arnold seemed irritable around each other.

"Yeah, me and the others figured you had a falling out of some type. Didn't think it would be over who'd be in charge of a flower store, though." Harold said as Eugene came back, just finishing his second time.

As Gerald decided to take his turn, Arnold nodded, "Yeah, it was a bit of a rough week. But then near the end of the week, my grandpa told me a little story about a friend he had named Jimmy Kafka who went through a similar situation as we did."

As Gerald scored seven pins on his second run, he came over to us as Harold went to take his turn. "In the end, I knew how Arnold felt when I realized the work became too much, so we both made up with each other as we immediately got back to work. And when Mrs. Vitello came back to work, we worked for a couple more weeks, then we decided to get off of work, knowing we got enough money to last us."

"Though we do stop by Mrs. Vitello's every once in a while in case she needs help." Arnold explained.

"Wow, that's a good story, fellas." I said as we turned to see Harold, about ready to throw the ball over.

We watched intently as Harold threw the ball... and made his first strike of the game. We cheered as I called, "Great job, Suk!"

I was about ready to take my turn when I heard...

"Rhonda?"

I yelped. Oh no... it can't be them... not here, not now! I turned in shock to see Nadine and Phoebe coming in. "Nadine, Phoebe?"

"What are you doing here?" Phoebe asked.

"We thought you had your singing lesson?" Nadine cocked an eyebrow in confusion.

Yipe. How am I going to explain this? "Uh... my lesson got cancelled today. Teacher got sick."

"Nadine? Phoebe?" Arnold said in surprise upon seeing who I was talking to. Uh-oh. "What are you doing here?"

"Yeah, don't you have your singing less-" Gerald started before I started covering his mouth with my right hand.

"What are you girls doing here?" I whispered hastily.

"Oh, us?" Nadine asked. "Well, me and Phoebe were just sitting around at home, doing nothing, whe-"

I yelped as I covered Nadine's mouth with my left hand. Arnold frowned in suspicion as Phoebe blinked suspiciously. Gerald and Nadine just stared in confusion as Harold and Eugene came up as Eugene asked, "What's going on?"

"Oh, I told them all conflicting lies and now it's all falling apar-" I started telling Eugene, but yelped as I let go of Gerald's mouth and slapped my own hand around my mouth, realizing I just blew my own plan.

"Wait a minute..." Arnold frowned as I looked towards him, him and Gerald turning towards Nadine and Phoebe, who frowned at me. "You mean to tell us you girls aren't taking singing lesso-"

I let go of Nadine's mouth and slapped it over Arnold's mouth as Arnold glared at me.

"No." Phoebe shook her head. "Rhonda told us SHE was taking singing less-" I used my left foot to over Phoebe's mouth.

"So, wait a minute, let me get this straight." Eugene blinked. "This whole time Rhonda said the other two were taking singing lessons, they could have been bowling with u-"

I used my right foot to cover Eugene's mouth as I held this formation, my body was weakening out as Nadine and Gerald shook their heads.

Harold, in his confusion, groaned, "Somebody SING something!"

I just groaned as I fell down towards the ground.

Harold laughed, "I love that song!"

I got up as Arnold tapped his foot. "Rhonda, why did you lie to us?"

"We're waiting." Nadine said as she tapped her foot, Gerald and Phoebe frowning as well.

I paused as I sighed. "Okay, okay... look, I didn't want Nadine and Phoebe to find out I liked bowling."

"Why would you think we wouldn't like to see you bowling?" Phoebe asked as we recovered.

"Well, you girls know me, I'm a girly girl type." I said. "Obsess over the nails, you know, that. Well, bowling was sort of a passion I liked. If you girls found out, I'd probably be embarrassed."

"Rhonda, it's not embarrassing to like bowling. You play baseball and you like it." Arnold said as he and Gerald smiled.

"Yeah." Phoebe said. "We don't think of you differently because you like a certain sport so much."

"We just wish you told us the truth. I mean, we ARE your friends."

"You're right." I said, sighing, knowing Nadine and Phoebe didn't buy the whole 'I like bowling' thing and knew there was a bigger reason. I figured I'd tell them when we had a time-out in gaming. "And I'm sorry. I shouldn't have isolated you guys."

"That's okay, Rhonda." Phoebe smiled. "But just tell us what you're doing..."

"And don't make up excuses." Gerald said. "We'll tolerate it this time, but next time, please, be honest."

"Okay, okay." I said as I turned to Nadine and Phoebe. "Nadine, Phoebe, this is what I do every second Thursday, third Wednesday and fourth Tuesday every month. I participate in a bowling team with these guys. At first, it sounds silly, I mean, being the only girl in a guys team, but hey, every team needs a chick. How'd you girls like to bowl with us? A game or two?"

"Sure." Nadine smiled as she and Phoebe beamed.

"Great!" Gerald smiled. "Come on, we'll add your names."

As Phoebe passed by, she whispered in my ear quickly, "We'd like your real reason as soon as we go to the bathroom!"

I smiled nervously as I decided to sit down, getting comfortable, wondering how the girls will do at our little outing.

There's the thirty-ninth episode! How do you like it? Anyway, read, review, criticize and suggest, folks! And don't forget to add to the TVTropes page, edits are welcome!