Next up is 'Monkey Business'! Anyway, enjoy!

Over the first week of school, all of the students had gotten along quite well with Mr. Simmons. We've learned quite a lot from him, and he knew what each of us were like, even if we were good and bad. Overall, he was a pretty cool guy and a great teacher.

For the final class of the day on Friday, we were watching a slideshow about made-up diseases as Mr. Simmons was teaching us everything about the matter of diseases that may or may not exist, but the one that he taught the most about was...

"Monkey-what?" Tucker blinked as a slide of a monkey was shown.

"Monkeynucleosis." Mr. Simmons said as he flipped to the next slide. "It's when the victim, after coming in contact, whether being scratched or touched by a contaminated monkey, experiences monkey-like characteristics, and most people believe contracting that disease leading to sweating, fever and eventually... expiration."

"Death. You mean death, right?" I said as Mr. Simmons ended his slide show.

"Well, that word you mentioned is a... pretty STRONG word, so I prefer the term 'expiration'. It's much easier that way." Mr. Simmons explained as the bell rang. "Hmmm, is it time to leave already? Well, we had a great first week together, class, I can't wait to teach you all again for the following months. Don't forget about your assignments that are due on Monday."

We all nodded as we started to leave, ready to head for home.

Me, Nadine and Phoebe were walking along as I said, "Say, girls, you ever think about these made-up diseases, and if they were real at one point?"

"I don't know... but they're called 'made up' for a reason." Nadine said.

"Well, Rhonda, Nadine, early scientists often struggle with a bowl of unsubstantiated theories, while seeking to explain man's purpose, during his search for..." Phoebe started.

I started to pretend snore as Phoebe glared at me. Phoebe rolled her eyes. "I'm sorry, am I being TOO boring for you? Do I have to explain it like a baby?"

"Sorry, Phoebe, I can't resist." I said. "Ever since we came back to school, you've been going into your smart mode non-stop."

"Can I help it that I like school so much?" Phoebe said.

"Guess not." I shrugged.

"You sure you can't come with us to the park?" Nadine asked as we were over at Phoebe's house.

"Sorry, girls, but I have to get started early on my assignments. You know my parents, they always want me to finish them up early." Phoebe said as she was getting near the steps. "I'll come over tomorrow on Saturday, we'll hang out then."

"Okay!" I smiled as me and Nadine started to go. "We'll see you later."

As me and Nadine were going off, I smiled, "That Phoebe. She may be a bit of a smart girl, and a bit smug, but she's so adorable."

"You said it." Nadine smiled as I started to walk out towards the sidewalk... I yelped when something collided with me.

I recovered as I saw it was... "Oh, Arnold!"

"Oh, sorry, Rhonda." Arnold said as he was getting up, picking up his skateboard.

"No, no, my fault. I should have looked where I was going." I blushed a little. "Sorry."

"It's all right." Arnold smiled as he got back on his skateboard. "See you around, Rhonda."

As I watched Arnold go off, I smiled a little bit...

"So, how's the little flirt talk?"

I jumped as I realized I forgot Nadine was right there. I glared at Nadine as I said, "Oh, come on, Nadine... I truly didn't see where I was going!"

"I know..." Nadine laughed. "But I swear, you should REALLY tell the guy you really like him!"

"You know I'm scared to!" I frowned.

"Rhonda, if you only had a few days to live, and you haven't told Arnold your feelings yet... WOULD you do that?" Nadine asked me.

I laughed. "What a silly question. Of course I would. If I were to die, I at least let him know my feelings." I smiled at my friend. "But we know that's not going to happen."

"Yeah..." Nadine sighed. "Come on, let's go to the park."

I nodded towards my friend as we continued on.

Over at the park, me and Nadine noticed a crowd of people surrounding something. I got curious as I asked, "Wonder what's going on over there..."

"Let's check it out..." Nadine said as we went over out of curiosity.

As we got in front of the crowd a little bit, we saw an organ grinder playing an organ as a little monkey in a blue suit and red hat was dancing around, holding a cup as he was collecting money.

Nadine's eyes widened as she smiled, "Aw, it's so cute!"

I rolled my eyes. "Nadine, EVERY animal you see is so cute."

The next thing we knew, we saw the monkey coming over as he lifted his cup. Deciding to at least give a tip, I took out two quarters and put it in the cup. "Here you go."

The monkey smiled as he sniffed me and...

"YEOWCH!"

I yelped as I retracted my hand, rubbing it. I frowned as Nadine glared at me. "Rhonda, you are scaring the poor thing."

"That "poor thing" just bit my hand, in case you haven't noticed!" I frowned as I pointed towards the bite marks on my hand.

"I'm-a sorry, little girl. My-a monkey, he's-a very emotional!" The organ grinder said in an Italian accent.

I sighed. "I can tell..."

"She'll be fine." Nadine said as we started to walk off, trying to enjoy the rest of the day.

I looked at my hand as I noticed the teeth marks. "This is pretty bad... I hope my parents don't have to call a doctor..."

"Rhonda, it's going to be fine!" I heard Nadine say. "Don't obsess over your monkey bite like you obsess over Ar-"

Nadine stopped for a moment as she then said, "Let me see that hand."

Nadine then grabbed my hand as she examined it. "Hmmm... hmmm... it doesn't look too bad... Rhonda, how are you feeling?"

"Well, fine, I guess." I said. "Aside from a monkey biting me. Why?"

"Rhonda, don't panic, but... remember Mr. Simmons' slide show about made-up diseases? Remember the one that was mentioned... monkeynucleosis?" Nadine said.

"Yeah?" I asked.

"Maybe it's not as made-up as we think..." Nadine said. "Sure, you say you're fine now... but what if you're not fine when we're out of the park?"

"Are you trying to tell me I contracted the disease?" I rolled my eyes. "Come on, Nadine."

"No, I'm serious. It could be possible." Nadine said. "We should go to the library and look up monkeynucleosis..."

I frowned. "Okay, I'm playing along with your game, but I'm telling you, I don't have that stupid made-up disease!"

Over at the library, I sighed as I sat down, itching my hand a bit as it was puffing up a little. All this from a bite? Sheesh... I was waiting for Nadine to find the book on this made-up disease. Me, having monkeynucleosis? I don't know what she was playing at, but I wasn't falling for it.

Nadine then came over with the book as she shook her head. "This is worse than I thought... I found the symptoms of monkeynucleosis... the first symptom... itching and puffiness... and it seems you have it on your bitten hand..."

I frowned. "That's just a coincidence."

"The next symptom... sweaty palms..." Nadine read.

"Sweaty palms?" I laughed. "Come ON, Nadine. Let me see that book..."

As I took the book from Nadine, it slipped from my hands and landed on the floor. My eyes widened as Nadine smirked. "Sweaty palms?"

"Uh... I'm sure it just slipped." I said as I turned towards Nadine. "But why don't you hold it for a while?"

"Okay." Nadine said as she went to the desk to check out the book.

Somehow, I was beginning to believe Nadine... but not quite all the way...

"So, what's the next symptom of... monkeynucleosis?" I asked.

"Loss of appetite." Nadine read.

I laughed. "That shouldn't be a problem. It's dinner time, anyway."

"Hey, want to have a burger and fries with me?" Nadine asked.

"Oh, no thanks, Nadine. I'm not hungry." I smiled... before I realized what I just said. "Not hungry? Why am I not hungry? WHY AM I NOT HUNGRY?!"

"Monkeynucleosis..." Nadine said in a scary voice.

"Nadine... I think I'm starting to believe you..." I said, scared. "What's the fourth symptom?"

"Well...the fourth symptom is... you start becoming witchy." Nadine said.

"Oh, Nadine..." I shook nervously. "I'm so scared..."

That's when I heard my cell phone ring as I picked it up. I saw it was Phoebe's number. I picked up and tried to put on a smile. "Yello?"

"Rhonda, I'm glad you have your phone on. Do you remember what our math assignment was?" Phoebe's voice asked.

I frowned and said, "You're the smart one, Phoebe! I thought you have ALL your assignments on a little notebook!"

"I forgot to jot it down..." Phoebe looked down. "You didn't have to be witchy about it..."

I yelped as I said, "No, Phoebe, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be witchy, it's just the symptoms speaking out..."

I looked over to see Nadine holding a serious face, but when I turned around, I thought I heard some slight giggling. Maybe Nadine was trying to tell a joke to herself, trying to console herself that she would lose her best friend. I then heard Phoebe speaking, "Symptoms? What symptoms?"

"Phoebe... I have monkeynucleosis. A monkey bit my hand and now I have the disease. Nadine, what's the next symptom?" I asked Nadine, who was holding a serious face.

"Expiration..." Nadine said, seriously.

My eyes blanked out. "And that's that, Phoebe. I only have..."

"Five hours..." Nadine said.

"Five hours left to live before I die." I said. "Phoebe, I just wanted to let you know that you really are a true friend..."

"Wait a minute..." I heard Phoebe say. "Rhonda, you don't have the disease."

"That's okay, Phoebe. You don't have to be brave." I cried. "Feel free to cry it all out... You're really a good friend, Phoebe... Nadine'll take care of you, I promise... Good-bye, Phoebe."

"Rhonda, you do not have monkeynucleosis! Nadine is pran-"

I hung up on her, as I turned off my phone as I turned towards Nadine. "This is a sad day for me..."

Nadine put a hand on my shoulder as I said, "It's okay... Phoebe'll be fine. Although... it's sad you're never going to tell Arnold how you really feel..."

I gasped. "You're right. Arnold. Poor guy... going to lose one of his best friends in the world... me."

"What are you going to do?" Nadine asked, concerned.

I put on a brave face. "I'm going to tell him... I'm going to tell my feelings for him!"

"That's the spirit, Rhonda!" Nadine smiled. "Get out there and admit you like him!"

I nodded in determination as me and Nadine started to go over towards Arnold's boarding house.

At the entrance to Arnold's boarding house, I took a deep breath. "Wish me luck, Nadine. I'm going to do it before I go out..."

Nadine nodded as she gave me a thumbs-up. I turned towards the boarding house as I knocked on the door. Arnold's grandfather answered the door as he smiled, "Oh, hello, little girls."

"Hey, Phil. Is Arnold in?" I asked.

"I'll get him, hang on." Arnold's grandfather said as he started to walk back in.

I took a deep breath as I started to wonder what I was going to say to Arnold. I turned to where Nadine was, only to find she was gone. I blinked in confusion as I stepped off the stairs, looking around until I spotted Nadine near the alleyways, holding a cell phone to her ear. I decided to go in closer to listen in...

"I hated to do that to Rhonda, but I had to get her to confess to Arnold this way!" Nadine chuckled. "Admit it, Phoebe, you would have done the same thing. Of course the symptoms were in the book, but they've been debunked, as in not real! I wanted to play up Rhonda's emotions so that once she finally confessed her feelings, I'll go, 'PSYCHE, you're not sick, and you finally confessed!'"

My eyes widened as they glared right at Nadine's laughing face. I was pranked? Well, I wasn't going to stand for this... I stood behind Nadine as she didn't notice me.

"Oh sure, she'll be angry at first, but it'll be fine... it's not like she's going to be standing right behind me, and she just overheard everything I said and..."

"Hello, Nadine."

Nadine yelped as she looked up to an angry me. "Oh, Rhonda... uh... how much did you hear?"

"All of it..." I said as I started to stare her down. "You, Nadine, are tricky, you thought you could try getting me to confess to him that easily? You had me going, I can give you that, but I'm sorry to say, it didn't work..."

"Uh, darn." I shrugged. "I guess you had me figured."

I glared angrily at her for a minute... before I started laughing. "You are such a sneaky tomboyish girl!"

Nadine laughed too as we hugged. "And you were such a gullible fancy girl!"

"Wasn't I?" I laughed.

"Rhonda?"

I yelped as I realized Arnold was standing out the door. Me and Nadine ran over to the door as I said, "Sorry about that Arnold, we were having girl talk."

"You said you wanted to talk to me about something?" Arnold asked.

"Actually, yes." I paused. "Phoebe called me, and wanted to know what the math assignment was. I didn't have it written down, so I thought you might have had it."

"...And you walked instead of calling me... why?" Arnold asked in curiosity.

"For the exercise." Nadine said.

"So, do you have the math assignment?" I asked.

"Sure. Pages 4 to 5, problems 1 to 10 and 14 and 15." Arnold smiled.

"Okay, got it." I said as I took the phone from Nadine. "Hey, Phoebe, the math assignment is pages 4 to 5, problems 1 to 10 and 14 and 15."

"Oh, okay. Thanks, Rhonda!" Phoebe's cheerful voice said as she hung up.

"Is that it?" Arnold asked.

"That's about it, yeah." I said as Nadine sighed.

"Okay..." Arnold said.

I paused, thinking of something else. "Oh, Arnold, there is one thing I want to say."

Nadine stared in shock as Arnold turned to me. "Yes?"

I paused, wondering what to say. I shrugged. "I think you're a really cool guy to be with. Never forget that."

Arnold smiled. "Thanks. I think you're a really cool girl to be with."

"Aw, thanks buddy." I smiled as me and Nadine started to go off. "Well, see you around, Arnold."

"See you girls later." Arnold said as we started to depart.

"Sorry about pranking you earlier... I was trying to help your love life." Nadine said.

"That's okay... but it still doesn't explain how I wasn't hungry." I said.

"Remember lunch time? You TOOK my sandwich away when I wasn't looking and devoured it before I could have a chance to turn around?" Nadine said.

"Oh yeah!" I smiled. "Tell your parents to add more mustard next time."

Nadine glared at me. "Part of the prank was to get back at you for stealing my sandwich..."

"Well, don't worry. You'll get back at me someday." I smiled. "Well, shall we get home, my friend."

"Let's." Nadine smiled as we went off towards our home, deciding to forget the small adventure we had...

That's the sixty-sixth episode! How do you like it? Anyway, read, review, criticize and suggest, folks!