Here's the next episode, known as... 'Curly Snaps'! Now, I am aware that while Rhonda WAS in that episode... she was more a background character in that episode, and didn't have any lines, so I figure for this one, she'd be better off... well, you'll see. Anyway, enjoy!

Can I say something to everyone? Yes? Okay.

Being sick is no fun.

I'm serious. The day after my birthday, I somehow managed to get sick. I don't know how I got sick, maybe it was because of the weather, I don't know. Sure, snow is fun to go out and play, but in the end, if you stay out too long, and, well, I heard diseases spread around pretty quick, so I probably got a flu bug.

And catch the flu, I did as my mother was looking at the temperature. "Well, temperature is pretty normal. I guess you must have caught it when hanging around the crowds."

I coughed as I groaned. "Of all the days to get sick, why after my birthday?"

"Aw, cheer up, sweetie." My mom consoled me. "It'll just mean you'll miss another day at school. Your father already called your principal and your friends, to tell you you'll miss out today."

I sneezed a little as I laid down. "Still, to get sick at a time like this..."

"Oh, honey..." My mother looked towards me. "Don't berate yourself for it. Besides, how many kids can say they missed two days of school in a row, hm?"

"Still..." I groaned. "I hate being sick..."

"I know it sucks, but you're just going to have to live with it." My mother said. "Okay, honey, you just stay in bed and rest, okay? I'll come by during lunch to see how you're doing. Will you be okay on your own?"

"I'll... fine some way to entertain myself." I coughed as I laid my head down to rest.

"Okay. I'll tell your father to bring up the ginger ale and juice to drink." My mother said as she got up. "I'll come by during lunch to check up on you."

She kissed me on the forehead as she said, "Just relax and get some rest. I'll see you soon, sweetie."

I nodded as she left the room. I looked up as I groaned. A few moments later, my father came in with a couple bottles of ginger ale and orange juice and a couple of tissue boxes and medicines.

"Here you go, sweetheart. Hopefully this'll be good enough to last you." My father said as he kissed my forehead. "I'm sorry you had to get sick."

"I'm sorry too." I groaned.

"Well, I have to get to work now, but I'll see you later tonight. Get well, honey." My dad said as he went out the door.

As soon as I was sure my dad was gone, I sighed as I looked up at the ceiling as I put in a bit of ginger ale, then mixed it with orange juice as I swirled the glass a little bit, then drank from it. Ginger orange juice ale... not the best name or the best combination, but it works.

I sighed as I laid my head down. Nearby, I noticed quite a few of the gifts I got for my birthday yesterday. I picked up one of them, a Game Boy Advance, and a game, Pokémon Ruby. I was curious about this game. I have heard a lot about the Pokémon phase. Nadine had a Game Boy Color at one point and I remember playing a lot of Pokémon Yellow and Pokémon Crystal. Those were pretty good games, and I was always interested in doing a little collection of my own. Thank God for my parents for buying me one of the Pokémon games for the newer system.

Plus, it gives me a break from my James Bond fantasies. I inserted the game in and turned it on. I smiled as I started to play it. At first, it seemed like fun. Naturally, I selected the girl... though it was a shame you couldn't change the outfit. I hope I get a Pokémon game like that someday that'll change your main character's clothes, but still keep the same mechanics.

Oh well, I naturally started playing the game, and I got to my starters.

Hmmm... which one should I go with... Treecko, Torchic or Mudkip? Hmmm... well, Pokémon Yellow, I had this Pikachu that followed me around, and in Crystal, I selected the green leaf animal Pokémon... Chikorita, I believe? So... no grass starter this time. I think either a fire bird or whatever Mudkip is. I paused. Hmmm... an orange bird... fire... I thought of the Firebird from that one movie 'Fantasia 2000' and decided... I coughed... decided that hey, this may be a good opportunity to nickname this 'Firebird'!

So, I selected the Torchic, and immediately got into a battle with this grey dog, which was called a... Poochyena? Unoriginal name, much?

So, I sent the Torchic out and... why were the colors of my Torchic inverted and it sparkled the minute after coming out of the Poke Ball? Weirdly enough, it felt sort of like that Red Gyarados event from Crystal? I was confused, but I decided to run with it. So, I defeated the Poochyena, nicknamed my Torchic 'Firebird' and started out on my journey.

Needless to say, I was pretty addicted to this game, saving every few minutes to ensure I didn't lose any save data. It was so enjoyable I almost didn't notice my mother coming in.

"Hi, sweetie." My mom said as I looked up, just getting to the third Pokémon gym. "How do you feel?"

"Still a little stuffy, but seeing you here, I feel better." I sighed.

"Well, I got you some chicken soup, sweetheart." My mom said as she handed me a little bowl of chicken soup.

"Oh, thanks mom." I said as I saved my game and turned it off. "You're the best."

My mother smiled as I started to eat my soup. "Okay, sweetheart, I have to go out for a while. You just rest, okay?"

"Okay, mother." I sighed as I sipped a little more of the soup, my mother going out the door. As I sighed, I couldn't help but wonder how my friends were doing without me at school. At least it was actually sick, unlike with Arnold and Gerald who played hooky on Fun Day last school year. My mind was still fresh on that memory.

Pretty soon, I laid down for a short nap, wanting to get some sleep.

I later woke up to the sound of the door opening. I woke up as I saw my mother coming in.

"Mother..." I groaned. "What time is it?"

"About three-thirty. Your friends just arrived with your homework that you missed." My mother said.

"Ah..." I nodded as I laid my head down, taking another glass of orange juice.

Pretty soon, I saw Phoebe and Nadine come in, Nadine's hair looked like a mess, like it just been hit with a couple of dodgeballs. Either way, the clips holding her spider-hair looked like they were damaged a bit as she was holding them in her hands, and her spider-hair was non existent.

"Here you go, Rhonda." Phoebe smiled as she laid down the homework and the notes of what I missed in class next to me. "Sorry if it isn't much... we only had a couple morning classes, and only room for one afternoon class."

"What happened?" I asked as I looked over to Nadine. "And what happened to your hairclips, Nadine? They look like they got hit by a couple dodgeballs."

"They were kickballs, and if you don't mind, I'd rather not talk about it!" Nadine frowned as she put her head down.

"You were fortunate to be sick, Rhonda..." Phoebe sighed. "We had a... not so great day at school, to say the least."

"What happened?" I asked. "Any school bullies bullying you?"

"No, it wasn't that." Phoebe shook her head. "Nadine does a good job at scaring them away. No, no, it actually involves something different. The entire school, ourselves included, were held hostage."

"Oh my God!" I gasped as I started talking, almost forgetting my sickness. "Is everyone okay? Is Arnold okay? Is he-" I started coughing violently.

"Rhonda, calm down, don't get too excited. It wasn't that type of a hostage situation." Phoebe sighed.

"But somebody took you hostage." I said as I blew my nose.

"Yeah..." Nadine frowned as she looked down. "Freaking Curly..."

"Oh..." I said, nodding, understanding once Curly was mentioned... but not entirely. "What happened?"

"It's hard to say. It started out as a regular school day. Then came gym class for the week where Mr. and Mrs. Wittenberg were about to assign ball monitor, you know, how they randomly assign students for a week to pick up all the dodge and kickballs left over... same with recess as well." Phoebe said. "Needless to say, Sid was ball monitor this week, and Curly wasn't pleased to hear it."

"Why wasn't he pleased?" I asked.

"Oh boy, the situations. See, Curly had it in his mind that he was supposed to be ball monitor for that week... well, maybe he was, maybe the snow day threw them off, I don't know. All I know is that the next thing we knew, Curly locked himself in the principal's office with a bag of kickballs and dodgeballs and held us hostage!" Phoebe explained. "Needless to say, it carried on like this through THREE hours." Phoebe twitched her eye on the word 'three'. Then she closed her eyes and yelled up to the sky. "THREE HOURS!"

"...Why didn't you guys just leave the school? Or call the police, for that matter?" I asked as I sneezed. "I mean, you had like, three hours, why didn't you use that to your advantage?"

"For some reason, every door leading to the outside was locked... AND the phone lines were cut, with our cellular phones on the fritz." Phoebe frowned. "I guess it was because of the snow storm that went on outside, but there was nothing we could do about it. All we could do was watch Mr. Simmons, Principal Wartz and the Wittenbergs trying to talk things with Curly, and Curly throwing an assortment of balls every time a student or someone spoke. He tried to throw one at me, but Nadine was there to help me out... unfortunately, the ball he threw was a hard kickball, which hit her head, and cracked both her hair clips."

"My hair clips..." Nadine sniffled as she looked at her pink broken hair clips.

"Please tell me after that whole scenario, Curly is banned from our school." I groaned.

"Unfortunately, all he got was detention up to a week." Phoebe sighed.

"Where is the justice?" I coughed. "Why does Principal Wartz actually do his job for something that should be MAJOR and treats it like something MINOR! Seriously, Curly is a hazard to everyone's health! Seriously, how did Principal Wartz even GET his job as principal?"

"That three hour scenario ended, thanks to Arnold, Mr. Simmons, Principal Wartz, the Wittenbergs and Sid talking out a small deal about ball monitor issues." Phoebe explained.

"Well, I'm glad you all made it out in one piece." I sighed.

"They were only kickballs and dodgeballs." Phoebe said.

"I know... but imagine if Curly actually had a GUN!" I said, before shuddering.

"Oh... yeah, that would be less comforting." Phoebe said as Nadine looked down and sniffled as she was holding her now ruined pink hair clips. "Well, I better get Nadine home. She's a little traumatized, mostly because of her hair clips."

"Okay... you girls get home safe." I said as I laid myself down.

Phoebe started taking Nadine by the arm as she said, "Come on, Nadine, let's go home now."

"All right..." Nadine said, obviously depressed as she was being led by Phoebe out the door.

After a couple moments, out of curiosity, I looked out the window next to my bedroom and saw Phoebe leading Nadine outside, when I noticed Tucker Wittenberg coming over and running into the two.

"Oh, sorry, Tucker." Phoebe said.

"No problem, my fault." Tucker said as he looked over to Nadine. "Hey, Nadine."

Nadine sighed in depression as she looked up. "Hey, Tucker."

"I'm really sorry you lost your hair clips." Tucker said as I watched Tucker fumbled in his pocket. "I know it's not much, but... I hope you use these new hair clips."

Tucker pulled out a couple of blue butterfly hair clips and gave them to Nadine. Nadine gasped as she held up a mirror. "Tucker, would you help me..."

Tucker smiled and nodded as he started to lift her hair up as Nadine grabbed the strands. As soon as the strands were back on with the butterfly clips, she smiled as she looked at her hair. "They're beautiful..."

"I figured you'd like them." Tucker smiled.

"But why, Tucker?" Nadine asked.

"Because... I think you look more beautiful with your hairstyle being like that." Tucker blushed. "Your hair down may look cute, but it's... just not you."

"Thanks, Throw Arm!" Nadine smiled as she hugged Tucker. Phoebe noticed the reaction as she gave a small smile.

"It's no trouble... Butterfly." Tucker smiled and hugged Nadine back. "Well, I better get home. My mom and dad told me they had a bit of a surprise for me. See you girls around."

Nadine blushed as she said, "Bye, Tucker."

I watched from the window as Tucker left. Phoebe giggled as Nadine gave a look towards Phoebe. "Okay, so I have a bit of a crush on Tucker Wittenberg!"

"You just gave each other pet names. It just confirms you like him!" Phoebe smiled. "And I think he likes you back."

"It does seem that way, doesn't it?" Nadine said as the two started to walk off.

I decided to lay back in bed as I relaxed, pulling out my Game Boy Advance to continue playing Pokémon Ruby. Let me see... Firebird the Combuskun, Presador the Makuhita, and Flower the Oddish, which was about to evolve into a Gloom pretty soon. Once I get that Leaf Stone, though, I am evolving it into a Vileplume first chance I get, mostly because even though Gloom's okay, I hated the freaking design! I think I have a well-balanced team so far. Better take on the Gym now.

I continued playing until my parents came in to check on me as they checked everything.

"Looks like you're feeling a little better, sweetheart. Not too sick." My mother smiled. "Looks like the remedies are helping out."

"Think I'll be well for school tomorrow?" I asked.

"I'm sure you probably will, sweetheart." My father smiled. "You better get yourself started on that homework, in the meantime."

I nodded as I took my homework and looked over the notes Phoebe had written down. I smiled as I got started on my homework.

And there's episode ninety-eight! How do you like it? Anyway, read, review, criticize and suggest, folks! And don't forget to check out and/or make edits to the TVTropes page of this story!