Well, I've successfully wasted a whole day revising these chapters. And I'll probably continue well into the night, because I just LOVE to procrastinate.

By the way—I don't know whether "end-of-day roll call" is a real thing anywhere, but I made it up here to cover some of the changes I've made to certain details that would otherwise take a lot of rewriting, and this roll call that requires them to be at Ms. Frizzle's classroom at the end of the day was a lot more convenient to use. So in this universe, roll call is taken in the morning before class, and very quickly between the end of classes and the buses' departure, but it's not by whoever their last class was with; they go back to their homeroom teacher. And apparently no one cares what students do between first and last period. SO IT IS DECREED.

At lunch, Arnold sat a bit apart from the rest of his friends. Ever since the field trip, he had been feeling guilty about how he'd snapped at Phoebe. She was really upset but he hadn't had a chance to apologize, and now she seemed to be ignoring him.

He deliberately took a long time to eat his lunch, as Phoebe was taking her time too, and he stopped her just before she left.

"Phoebe, hold on a second. About this morning—"

"You don't need to explain. You were right; it was just a baby. Her life wasn't worth saving," Phoebe said coldly. She pushed past Arnold and walked briskly to her locker.

Arnold hadn't given up—he was about to follow Phoebe, but then the bell rang and he had to go to his next class. All through the last two periods he thought about what he would say to Phoebe to tell her how sorry he was.

Finally, when the last bell had gone and the students were leaving from end-of-class roll call, Arnold was able to catch up with Phoebe.

"Look Phoebe, we have to talk. This morning... I'm sorry. I overreacted and shouldn't have gotten so angry with you. Will you forgive me?" Arnold said with pleading eyes.

"Well... You did say some pretty harsh things. I'm not sure if I can forgive you just yet..."

Really, Phoebe was fully ready to forgive him, but she wanted to make sure he understood how much he had hurt her.

"Come on, Pheebs. I was just worried about the fate of the world! Okay... that sounded really cheesy..." Arnold trailed off awkwardly in the middle of his apology and Phoebe couldn't help but giggle.

"All right then, I forgive you," she said.

"There's one other thing, too," Arnold said hesitantly.

Phoebe was puzzled. What else could Arnold want to say...? Unless...

"I like you. I mean, really like you. You know, as more than a friend."

Phoebe was surprised and happy, but apparently only the surprise showed on her face. When Arnold looked up from his shoes and took in her expression, he misread her feelings and immediately tried to back-track.

"Um... sorry. I don't know what I was thinking. I shouldn't have said that. Uh... bye. See you later."

He turned hastily to leave, his face reddening quickly.

"Arnold..."

He paused. Phoebe gently put her hand on his shoulder and he turned around. She couldn't think of anything better to express how she felt—so she kissed him softly on the lips.

"I like you too."

In the principal's office, Wanda and Ralphie sat sullenly, waiting for Mr. Tennet to tell them how they would serve their detentions.

He came in shortly and went right to the point. "You will both spend your hour after school for the next week assisting the secretaries however they need it. If you have any questions or concerns you will most likely find me here in my office. Go now."

Wanda and Ralphie left Mr. Tennet's room and waited in the main office for a secretary to return and boss them around. With no adults around, Ralphie took the opportunity to goof off.

"Did you hear him? 'If you have any questions or concerns...' He sounded like a TV ad!" Ralphie said, jumping up on a chair. "'Yes Mr. Tennet, I'm concerned that you're not strict enough. We shouldn't have detentions, we should be suspended for having fun like any normal teenager!'"

Wanda was amused by his speech, but didn't let it show. "Ralphie, you loser. Come down before you break something."

He jumped off the chair, knocking over a small table (and all its contents) next to the secretary's desk, just as the secretary herself was entering the room.

"What are you doing?" she chastised. "Clean that up right now."

"I tried to stop him," Wanda said casually. The secretary shot her a sharp look and she didn't add anything else.

Once Ralphie was done picking up the table and other things he had knocked over, the secretary officially started detention.

"I am Miss Gail, the head secretary. The other secretary is on sick leave at the moment. What are your names?"

Wanda and Ralphie exchanged mischievous glances.

"Betty."

"George."

Miss Gail looked at 'Betty' and 'George,' thinking of what to get them to help with first.

"I want you to take out the garbage and recycling," she said.

"What!" Wanda exclaimed. "Isn't that a janitor's job?"

"Not today. They're all busy. Hurry up and get a move on, Betty!" She sat at her desk and proceeded to shuffle through a pile of papers.

Grudgingly, Wanda and Ralphie picked up the recycling and trash receptacles and took them to the side of the school to be emptied.

"This is the worst detention ever. Usually it's just sitting in a room and staring a wall until the teacher sends us home. This sucks!" Ralphie complained.

"Well it's not my fault. You're the one who runs over principals. I was just your hostage," Wanda countered.

Ralphie shot her an annoyed glance, which she ignored and ran ahead to the school. He followed and, of course, beat her to the door.

For the rest of their detention, Wanda and Ralphie had to carry out rather strange tasks like washing the office windows and making coffee for the office staff.

Eventually, Miss Gail stood up and announced, "I have to go make some photocopies." She squinted at the clock. "Betty, George—you two can leave now, and don't be late tomorrow." She left the room with a stack of paper in hand.

The pair left the office and walked slowly to their lockers in an awkward silence, until Wanda spoke.

"So... um... hi."

"Yeah... hi."

"This was a weird detention, right George?"

"Yes it was Betty."

When they reached their lockers, Ralphie stopped suddenly, and Wanda bumped into him. Though she was in no danger of being knocked over, Ralphie grabbed her arm to steady her.

"Ralphie, you don't..." She took his hand to remove it from her arm, but paused when she saw him looking at her intently. She let her hand drop. In that awkward silence, they shared their first kiss.

Half a minute later, they hurriedly gathered their backpacks and binders in embarrassment to leave for home without a goodbye.

"That didn't mean anything," Ralphie said as they left the school building.

"Sure didn't," Wanda agreed.

The next day, the six friends met up in the hallways at school.

"How was detention?" Tim asked.

"Yeah, anything exciting happen?" D.A. added.

Wanda and Ralphie exchanged glances then both replied, "Nah."