All right, now that you guys know the big twist... you're wondering about how I'm going to handle the Arnold having a crush on Lila subplot like the original? Simple... I'm not going to do it! This is my story, people, so I can easily make a few changes! Anyway, here's 'Arnold & Lila'... or, as I like to call it, 'Lorenzo & Lila'! That's right, folks, the major plot elements are changing now! Anyway, enjoy!
The next day, I was walking with Nadine, Phoebe and Lila near the alleyways as I smiled. "Who knew after all this time, Arnold had a crush on me!"
"It's certainly... surprising." Phoebe smiled as we went into a nearby alleyway.
"I'm just glad both of you have feelings for each other..." Nadine smirked. "Although... I don't know if this means it's going to be easier... or harder for you to confess your secret."
"Probably harder..." I sighed. "But who knows?"
"Rhonda, is there a reason why we're in this alleyway?" Lila asked, out of curiosity.
I knew why, it was mainly because according to Helga, this was where she wrote the message of Arnold loving Lila by accident in her timeline, but since there's no Helga... well, let's just say it's going to be fun!
"Simple... to vent out my feelings in written words!" I smiled as I started writing in cursive.
Nadine, Phoebe and Lila looked in shock as they saw the words. "Arnold Loves Rhonda?"
"But Rhonda, aren't you worried you'll be caught?" Phoebe asked. "Not only in vandalism, but your secret being confessed?"
"Nah! Watch this!" I smiled as I took out a chalkboard eraser from my backpack and erased all the words. "See? I've decided that if I need to vent... I'll write what I feel, then completely erase it. Easy when you're thinking about your crush."
"Cool..." Nadine, Phoebe and Lila smiled in interest.
"You girls want to give it a whirl?" I asked, offering the chalk.
"Let me try it!" Nadine smiled as she took the chalk and started writing 'Tucker Loves Nadine'. "Hey, you're right. I feel a lot calmer..."
Nadine took the eraser and erased the message as Phoebe took the chalk and wrote her message. "Gerald Loves Phoebe. This is actually pretty fun!"
Lila giggled as she took the chalk as Phoebe erased the message. "My turn!"
Lila gave a slight smile as she wrote down her message. "Lorenzo Loves Lila!"
Lila smiled. "This is fun!"
Before Lila could pass the chalk over to me, we suddenly heard voices...
"And you know, that sandwich was just as big... I repeat, JUST as BIG... as my mouth, and yet I ate it all!"
Our eyes widened as I whispered, "It's Harold! He's coming this way! We need to hide!"
Nadine and Phoebe nodded as they ducked down. Lila just stood there. "What about my message?"
"There's no time!" I said as I pulled Lila.
"But it'll only take a couple seconds to..." Lila started.
"No. Time!" I shouted as we joined Nadine and Phoebe as they looked out. We joined them as we saw indeed, Harold was coming this way... along with Sid, Stinky and Lorenzo.
"Willikers, Harold..." Stinky said as they were walking by as Lila was crossing her fingers. "That must have been one tall sandwich..."
Sid looked over and gasped. "Hey, fellas, hold it! Look over there!"
Lila groaned as Nadine and Phoebe looked at each other in worry. I, on the other hand, was smiling. This was going according to my plan.
Sid squinted as he said, "Correct me if I'm wrong, but... does that say 'Lorenzo Loves Lila'?"
"Que?" Lorenzo said as he looked at the message, blushing a bit.
"Gee willikers, do ya think it's true?" Stinky asked.
"Well, it has to be... it's clearly written right there!" Harold frowned.
Harold, Stinky and Sid turned to see Lorenzo blushing a bit. Sid smirked as he said, "Why, Lorenzo, you sly dog! I didn't think you had it in yourself!"
"What?" Lorenzo said in shock. "No, no, my friends, you have it wrong! I didn't write the message on that wall!"
"But do you have a crush on Lila?" Stinky asked.
Lorenzo stammered a bit, wondering how he could answer that.
Harold laughed. "Oh my gosh, you do!"
"Well, I'll be a monkey's uncle." Stinky said. "Who knew you'd hid this for so long!"
"Look, I won't deny it. She is a pretty girl. I think she is very beautiful. She is unique in her own way..." Lorenzo explained.
Lila, hearing this, smiled a bit.
"...Then you did write the message there!" Sid smiled.
"No, I didn't write the message!" Lorenzo frowned. "Besides, what would my mother think if she heard this?"
"Don't deny it, Lorenzo, I've seen you dancing with Lila at the school dance before Christmas break!" Sid said.
"Hey, yeah! You have been hanging around Lila more than the other boys have... and she seems to think you're special!" Harold smirked.
"Gee, I'm a little jealous, but I think I can cope with it." Stinky smiled. "Lorenzo, you and Lila do seem like the golden couple. And to think, writing your feelings and leaving it there to express it."
"I'm telling you, I didn't write it!" Lorenzo said. "That's not even my handwriting! Sid, you've seen my handwriting... multiple times!"
"Oh, come on, you sly dog!" Sid smiled as the four continued on. "Tell me, how does her lips feel?"
"WHERE DID THIS COME FROM?" Lorenzo yelled as they continued.
As soon as they were out of earshot, Lila pulled my ear. "OW!"
"What the heck, Rhonda?" Lila glared. "If you just left me for a couple seconds to erase the message, none of this would have happened! Now the whole school is going to know I have a crush on Lorenzo!"
"Correction... the whole SCHOOL is going to know LORENZO has a crush on you, because they think HE wrote the message." I smiled.
"But he didn't write it, I did!" Lila said.
"BUT... he didn't deny his feelings now, did he?" I smiled.
"You can't deny it, Lila, it's true." Phoebe sighed.
"I don't feel right about this... I'm going over to Lorenzo's place and I'll set things straight!" Lila said as she started to walk off.
"We're coming with!" I called as me, Nadine and Phoebe started to leave.
About a few minutes later, me, Nadine, Phoebe and Lila were over at Lorenzo's place as I knocked on the door.
One of the butlers of the place answered as I said, "Hello, is Mrs. Lopez home?"
One of the butlers spoke a little Spanish, then left for a couple moments before Mrs. Lopez peeked through the door. She smiled. "Oh, hello, Nadine. Phoebe. Lila. Salvaje!"
I frowned, wondering if I should be insulted with the nickname Mrs. Lopez always gives me. Mrs. Lopez smiled as she said, "Come in, come in. Lorenzo is currently upstairs at the moment, but I'm sure he can spare a few minutes."
"We actually need to talk to Lorenzo, actually." Lila said. "There's something I needed to set straight with him."
"Of course, of course..." Mrs. Lopez smiled. Then frowned. "Wait, for what, exactly?"
"Oh, just a little homework reminder." I said, smiling.
"Oh, that's good. I thought you were coming in to confess love or something. I mean, love at age ten? Who's crazy enough to buy into that malarkey?" Mrs. Lopez laughed. She then looked up and called. "LORENZO! YOUR FRIENDS ARE HERE!"
I heard a door closing, then footsteps as Lorenzo was coming down. Lorenzo gave a small smile. "Oh... Rhonda, Rhonda's friends... Lila. So good to see you."
"We just came here to talk to you for a few minutes, if that's okay." I said.
"It is no trouble at all. Come on up." Lorenzo smiled as we followed Lorenzo upstairs.
As we came upstairs, I whispered to Lila, "Okay, just talk with him and set it straight."
Lila nodded as she followed Lorenzo inside as Lila closed the door. Me, Nadine and Phoebe sat down as we decided to overhear the voices from the door.
"Lila, why have you closed the door on your friends?" We heard Lorenzo asked.
"Because I kind of wanted to talk to you alone." Lila sighed. "Listen, there's something you should know... there was a message written on there, saying 'Lorenzo Loves Lila'..."
"Oh no, you saw it! Lila, I swear, I did not write that message..." We heard Lorenzo panicking.
"I know you didn't." Lila started.
"I d- huh?" We heard Lorenzo say in shock.
"That's because I wrote the message." We heard Lila say.
"You wrote it?" Lorenzo asked.
We heard Lila sigh. "Yes, I did... I'm sorry, Lorenzo, I wrote it to vent my feelings... but when I heard Harold came by, I panicked and ran off, I forgot to erase it..."
"Your feelings? Lila... do you like me? I mean... do you like me like me?" We heard Lorenzo ask.
"Well, in a way, I guess... you can say that... well..." We heard Lila stammer for a minute... before complete silence took place.
Nadine blinked. "Why have they stopped talking?"
I decided to peek through the keyhole as best as I could... and smirked. "I think I know why..."
On the other side, Lorenzo and Lila were holding each other, kissing. Phoebe and Nadine took turns peeking through as we giggled.
After a moment of silence, we heard Lila say, "W-wow..."
"I'll take it... as a 'si, I like you like you.'." We heard Lorenzo say.
"Sorry if I put you in the spotlight like that..." We heard Lila say.
"Lila, it is okay. You did not mean to." Lorenzo smiled. "Of course, now the whole school knows we are in love with each other... and if my mother caught word I fell in love with a country girl... well, she'd bar me from ever seeing you... you know how the high class looks down on the low class... I don't know if society would approve of our relationship."
"Maybe it won't be..." Lila smiled. "Only my friends, you know them as Rhonda, Nadine and Phoebe, know of my crush on you..."
"Are they overhearing by the door?" We heard Lorenzo say in worry. "If they know I return my feelings for you, I'm not sure..."
"No, they can't hear us. I told them to wait nearby and listen to music." We heard Lila say.
When we heard that, Phoebe pulled out three CD players from her backpack and three headphones and handed two of each of them to us. We put it on as we started to pretend to jam to the music.
Lorenzo opened the door as he and Lila looked. Lila giggled. "See? Can't hear a thing."
"Good..." Lorenzo smiled as he closed the door. "What do we do, Lila?"
"I'll just have Rhonda say she wrote it to prank me! That way, you won't be seen in a negative light by your mom and the school will still treat you the same way... at most, your mom will just think you and me are just hanging out as friends." Lila explained.
"All the while, we are dating, having a real relationship." Lorenzo smiled. "I like that, Lila. I'm glad I met you..."
"I'm so happy to have met you as well, Lorenzo." We heard Lila say before silence took over for about a minute. I assume Lila and Lorenzo were kissing each other again. "Well, I better get my friends and tell them what's going on."
"Si. Let's make this relationship work." We heard Lorenzo say as they opened the door.
Lila bowed to me and waved her hand over my head. I looked up as I took off my earphones, Nadine and Phoebe did the same. "Oh. You done giving out his homework assignment."
"Uh... yeah. That's it." Lila nodded, although I saw her hidden smirk, winking at Lorenzo.
"Si, thank you for the homework reminder, Lila. I would not have known about it otherwise." Lorenzo smiled.
"It's no trouble at all." Lila said as we started to leave. "See you at school, Lorenzo!"
"Okay, Lila, Rhonda, Rhonda's friends!" Lorenzo said as we started to leave. "See you later!"
"YES!" Lila cheered as soon as we started walking together. "Me and Lorenzo are dating officially!"
"Secretly, of course!" Phoebe said as we continued walking.
"Say, Rhonda, you wouldn't mind if..." Lila started nervously.
"Lila, I'm the queen of rumors. I can easily spread one like wildfire." I smiled. "I think I can easily throw people off the trail of you and Lorenzo dating officially."
"Thank you." Lila sighed in relief.
"You can say one thing... I think you're the second person to show an official relationship!" Nadine said as we started going.
"Who's the first?" Phoebe asked.
Me, Nadine and Lila looked at Phoebe, slyly. Phoebe's eyes widened as she frowned. "Gerald's cute, but... we..."
Phoebe started blushing furiously as we laughed.
In my mind, I smirked to Helga. "Well, what do you think of that?"
"Well, I'm impressed, you did change it around a bit... and I'll be the one to say it, I'm interested to see where this Lila and Lorenzo relationship goes..." Helga said in my mind.
"Don't we all, Helga. Don't we all." I smiled.
And thus, me, Phoebe, Nadine and Lila decided to hang around at the mall for the rest of the day as we started discussing our usual details, and our good love lifes.
There's episode one hundred and nine! How was it? Anyway, read, review, criticize and suggest, folks!