Next episode on this list... 'Arnold's Room'! Figure we should probably get a little more Lorenzo character out of the way! Anyway, enjoy!

Thursday, at school, having my secret confided in all four of my girl friends, I felt safer with them as I was talking to them at lunch.

"So, how long has the crush on Arnold went on?" Lila asked, out of curiosity.

"She didn't EXACTLY fall for him at first, she just thought of him as a nice boy that was willing to help others, and she liked him enough to be friends with him." Phoebe explained.

"First friend I made in pre-school, actually." I said. "Even though Nadine was my first best friend at four years old, Arnold came in as my second best friend. Or, as I like to call him, 'my buddy'."

"She really likes calling him buddy." Nadine nodded.

"Wow..." Lila said. "Well, I still think it's ever so sweet. When did you two get told?"

"We didn't." Phoebe sighed. "On a Valentine's Day in preschool, I noticed she inserted two Valentine's in Arnold's little bag, and I put two and two together."

"And I was just nearby with Rhonda when Phoebe just out of the blue asked if she had a crush on Arnold." Nadine said. "I was pretty shocked when I noticed Rhonda blushing. Look, she's even doing it again."

I blinked as I looked into my mirror and... yipe, I was blushing a little bit. "Okay, okay, girls, no more of that."

"You get where we stand, though." Nadine said.

"Yeah." I nodded. "And I'm glad that you girls are doing the best you can to keep my secret... well, secret."

"Hey, any time, Rhonda." Phoebe smiled.

"We're happy to help you out." Nadine said.

"Anything you need, we're always here." Lila smiled.

I smiled to my girls. "Thanks, girls."

I nodded as I munched on a bit of my sandwich. "Okay, so moving on, Nadine, since you're my partner for the history project, what are you thinking about doing?"

"Ah..." Nadine smiled as she pulled out some books as Phoebe and Lila nodded, doing the same as they started to talk about their history project. "I was thinking about the 1849 Gold Rush and how it impacted the likes of America."

"Oh... the Gold Rush... man, I would LOVE to live in that year!" I nodded. "Times were simpler back then..."

"Yeah, but you wouldn't stand the mosquitos and freak out a bit over the sweltering sun." Nadine smirked.

"That may partially be true, but I'd still love to hang out at the gold mines!" I smiled.

"Rhonda, aren't you already rich?" Lila asked as she overheard what I said.

"Yeah, me and my family are. I'm talking hypothetically." I said as we kept talking about the possibilities of our projects. "Best part is, it's due next week, so we have plenty of time to do this!"

"True." Phoebe nodded. "True."

And so, we had a pretty good time for the rest of the school day as we were discussing our projects and what we were going to do.

Later that day, me and the girls were seen walking out with Arnold as we were starting to discuss strategies in our football game.

"So, you hookshot it over to the left, I catch and run and throw right to Gerald, he'll score the touchdown?" I asked.

"That's right." Arnold said as we came out and joined Harold, Stinky, Gerald and Tucker. "Hey, guys."

"Okay, that's almost everybody." Tucker nodded as he checked a few people off the list. "All we're missing now is..."

We all looked up to see Sid coming out of the school as Stinky called out, "Hey, Sid! We're going to be tossing the old pigskin around! Want to join!"

"No thanks, fellas! I'm going over to Lorenzo's giant mansion to work on our project together." Sid explained.

"Willikers!" Stinky smiled. "You're lucky you're Lorenzo's partner. I reckon you're the first kid he's ever invited over!"

"Ahem!" I frowned towards Stinky. "Stinky, I've actually BEEN to Lorenzo's mansion! Even before you guys knew about him!"

"Well, yeah, but I was talkin' about poor kids. Kids that aren't rich." Stinky explained.

"In that case, I guess that's different." I shrugged. "Well, Sid, just to prepare you for what's to come, Lorenzo's mansion is pretty big on the inside. I think his mom will lead you over to his room easily enough. She doesn't seem to trust some of the middle-class people for some reason... and me for some reason... but I think she already likes Arnold and Phoebe... for some reason. It's like they speak the same language."

Arnold and Phoebe glared at me as they rolled their eyes. I shrugged. "Anyway, Lorenzo isn't that bad once you get to know him personally. Trust me, I have a little bit."

"Well, all right." Sid smiled. "I guess in a way, we may even be friends if we get this far."

"You can count on that." I said as Sid went on his way. I then turned back to the others as I nodded, "Okay, so where are we playing our game? Gerald Field? The park?"

A couple of days later, on the weekend, I was busy reading one of my James Bond books when I heard my cell phone ring. When I saw it was Arnold, I picked it up and answered. "Hi, buddy!"

"Hey, Rhonda. I was wondering if you'd like to hang out today." I heard Arnold's voice say. "For a movie or something, if that's okay."

I smiled. "Sure, buddy. I have a free schedule. I can totally hang out."

"Great! See you in about an hour!" Arnold said.

I nodded as I hung up my phone and started walking out of my room. "Bye Mom, bye Dad! I'll be over with Arnold!"

"Have a good time, sweetheart!" I heard my dad say as I walked outside.

Just as I headed out the door, I saw Lorenzo passing by my house as he saw me sail down the stairs. Lorenzo raised an eyebrow as he said, "If this is how you get ready for a weekend outside, I don't want to know HOW you get ready for a school week."

"Sorry, Lorenzo." I said as I shook myself a little. "I was just on my way to Arnold's place." I raised an eyebrow as I noticed a backpack on him. "On your way to Sid's?"

"Si." Lorenzo nodded. "I'm working on the history project with him today. We usually alternate every other day, but there was something big I needed to download, I needed Sid's room to do it."

"Well, both Arnold and Sid's places are on the way, want to walk together for a bit and catch up, rich person to rich person?" I asked as we started to walk.

"Okay." Lorenzo nodded as we started to walk.

"So, Lorenzo, how does it feel being in public school and being out in the world?" I asked, out of curiosity.

"At first, I was a little nervous, but as time passed, I actually felt not so nervous." Lorenzo smiled. "I felt... like I was with people I understood, people that even if I was higher than them in terms of the classes, I feel like they are all equals."

I nodded. "That's how I felt when I made my first few friends in terms of the middle class. I also see you're actually walking around the neighborhood instead of... I don't know, taking one of your limosines."

"Well, even if we have car-phones to communicate and computers to use, sometimes, just walking is good enough for exercise." Lorenzo explained. "My mother is actually letting me do some walking every once in a while, good for the lungs, as she says."

"Does your mom still trust me around you?" I asked, out of curiosity.

"Well, yes and no. I'm not sure. My mother can be a very confusing person." Lorenzo shrugged.

It was by this time I just noticed me and Lorenzo had just passed the street where Sid lives... and Lorenzo wasn't walking towards that direction. I blinked. "Uh, Lorenzo, where exactly did you say you were meeting Sid?"

"Over at his place." Lorenzo said, simply.

I stopped as I stared blankly at Lorenzo. Lorenzo blinked. "What?"

I pointed towards the street where Sid's place is. "This is the street where Sid lives. Why are you going that way?"

"What? No, I'm going the right way." Lorenzo explained. "Sunset Arms Apartments."

I groaned. "That's where Arnold li-"

I started to put two and two together. "Oh... I think I know what happened... Lorenzo, I need to tell you something about Sid, the real Sid..."

"So, Sid does not live on this street?" Lorenzo said in shock.

"Yep." I nodded. "Sid actually lives on that street... in an apartment building... it's a little messy, the windows are a bit boarded up and there's a few cracks on the walls, but I've been there with a couple of my friends a couple of times. It holds up pretty well, though."

"And this street is... you say, where Arnold's place is." Lorenzo said, pointing towards the direction we were BOTH heading.

"Yes." I nodded.

Lorenzo sighed. "I should have guessed from the way Sid confused the remote's controls trying to find some way to work it yesterday... and I observed some pictures before I came to Sid's... or, as you're telling me, ARNOLD'S room, and saw Arnold in most of these pictures before I came up."

"Oh thank God, you ARE observant." I sighed.

"I mean, Sid didn't even KNOW how to work his OWN computer, I mean, Arnold's computer. It was a pretty dead giveaway, but I didn't want to say anything." Lorenzo explained.

"Yeah, I was wondering what you meant by 'download'. I didn't even think Sid or his family had the money for dial-up!" I said.

"But why would Sid lie by using somebody else's room?" Lorenzo asked.

"Maybe he got too scared to see what you'd think of his real room, and asked Arnold if he could use his room for a couple of hours?" I shrugged.

Lorenzo paused. "Maybe that was it."

"Still, maybe you should talk with him, tell him you don't care about what the room is like... but just be honest." I said as we continued walking.

"Si." Lorenzo nodded. "I think I'll do that."

"Sid's probably already over at Arnold's, trying to get him out. Let's go and talk with him." I said as we started to walk towards Arnold's.

I went up the stairs as I walked up and leaned my ears towards the door, hearing a bit of the conversation.

"No! You're out of the room, that's the plan!" I heard Sid say.

I turned to Lorenzo and nodded. "You ready to talk to him?"

"Honesty, yes." Lorenzo said. "I don't like that he lied to me, but it has to be done."

I nodded as I knocked on the door.

"Oh, I'll get it." Arnold said as I heard some footsteps.

"No, no, I'll get it!" I heard Sid say as he started to run fast.

"I was expecti-" Arnold started as I motioned to Lorenzo to stand near the crack of the door.

Sure enough, Sid peeked through the door as he yelped, "Lorenzo, you're early!"

Sid then smiled calmly as he said, "I just need a little more time to set up the computer. Why don't you..."

I heard a grunt from behind the door, I was assuming, Sid was pushing Arnold away with his feet. "...wait a bit outside?"

It was then I decided to push the door open to reveal myself, with a not-pleased look, surprising Sid. Sid yelped. "Oh Rhonda! Uh, what are you doing here?"

"I'm here to visit my buddy! AKA Arnold. Who LIVES in this house." I started.

Sid was trying to look for an excuse as he said, "Uh, you must be mistaken, all rich people don't know their own way around, Lorenzo..."

Lorenzo glared at Sid as Sid yelped, "Oh, right... you ARE rich..."

Sid then smiled as he saw Arnold coming over. "Oh, but Arnold is here!"

Sid then pushed Arnold over to my arms as we both yelped, falling over. Sid smiled. "Actually, he was just here for a short visit, I'm glad you came over to get him! You two have a good time!"

"Sid, I know this isn't your house." Lorenzo frowned. "RHONDA told me."

Sid yelped. "Uh..."

I was blushing a bit as I noticed Arnold was right on top of me. I said, "Hey, buddy. This is awkward."

"But it actually feels nice." I thought to myself.

"You said it." Arnold said as he got off of me, blushing a bit. I got up as we were brushing ourselves off, staring at each other with awkward faces.

Sid groaned. "Okay, okay, Lorenzo, I'm sorry. You're right, this isn't where I live. I live in a crummy apartment building with a messy room! This is Arnold's place, I just wanted to borrow his room and I only said it was my room so that I could impress you! I don't have all those fancy tech devices you saw up there, I don't even have a computer in my room! I'm sorry, Lorenzo."

Lorenzo looked towards me as I nodded. Lorenzo turned to Sid as he took a deep breath. "Sid, although I'm not happy you lied to me..."

Sid groaned.

"...you could have just said something to me before." Lorenzo said. "If you just said you didn't have a computer, or that your room is too messy, I would have been fine with it. We could have worked something out."

Sid looked up. "So... you're not mad?"

"No, not really." Lorenzo shook his head. "Just muy, MUY disappointed that you didn't say something earlier."

"I'm sorry..." Sid sighed.

Lorenzo smiled. "It's fine."

Sid then turned to Arnold. "Arnold, I'm sorry I kept begging to use your room..."

"I figured from the way you were trying to get me out that was what was going on." Arnold sighed. "But still, Sid, I'm glad you told the truth to Lorenzo. It would have been way better than Lorenzo forgetting something over at my room and you two catch me and/or one of my friends doing something."

Sid laughed. "Yeah, how embarrassing would THAT be? Anyway, Lorenzo, I'm glad you're not too mad."

"No worries, but next time, just tell me where you'll be really going before you do it, okay?" Lorenzo asked.

"You have my word." Sid said.

Arnold nodded as he turned to Sid. "Sid, do you and Lorenzo STILL want to borrow my room? I know you have a history report to do."

"If it's okay with you, Lorenzo?" Sid said.

Lorenzo nodded. "It is fine with me... as long as you learn the basics on how to control the room."

"Oh, it's really simple." Arnold said. "I can give you both a little tutorial on the room before me and Rhonda leave, if that's okay."

Sid and Lorenzo nodded. "Okay."

"Great." Arnold said. "Follow me and I'll show you how to work everything. Rhonda, you want to come along?"

"I'll wait for you outside, buddy." I said as I sat down on the steps.

"Okay." Arnold said as he went inside with Lorenzo and Sid to explore his room.

I hummed a little bit as I was now blushing, by the fact on what had happened earlier.

"...Lucky."

"Who asked you, Deep Voice!" I thought in my head as I took out my mirror and a brush as I looked towards the mirror and started brushing my hair a little bit.

After a minute or so, I saw Arnold coming out as I asked, "So... ready to go, buddy?"

Arnold nodded. "I gave Sid and Lorenzo instructions on how to work my room if they ever needed anything. They're all set."

"Awesome." I said as we started to go off together. "So, what movie did you have in mind?"

And thus, as friends, me and Arnold hung out for a while for the rest of day as we talked and had fun at the movies together. Needless to say, it was a pretty good day... although I didn't confess to him when we both left for home. I CAN'T BELIEVE I FORGOT THAT AGAIN!

Oh well. At least it was a great day.

And there is episode eighty-eight! How do you like it? Anyway, read, review, criticize and suggest, folks!