Right! Time for school again! Thanks for reviewing, The J.A.M a.k.a Numbuh i.

None of our grade was best pleased to have Arnold's cousin visiting again. Most of the girls, specifically Helga, kept away from him. I told Helga he wasn't interested in her anymore (since she was one of the few to know my secret, I could tell her that I knew), but she only responded "So? He's still a creep and the further away he is from me, the better."

"So does that mean you won't hang out with Arnold for as long as Arnie is around?"

Helga scowled. "We're not official or anything, matchmaker. You and Tall Hair Boy are the only ones who know that..."

"You guys kissed in the jungle?" I prompted. "And keep on calling me Matchmaker, it's a good position to have in this grade, seeing as you two aren't the only couple I've been working on. Anyway, just because no one else knows about the jungle kiss, it doesn't mean that you and Arnold are the same as always. People know you don't hate him now – they know that you have more than a tolerance for him. No one is going to make fun of you if you make it official. And if someone does, just do what I did. Or give them the same treatment you always give Brainy."

That made Helga smirk a little, but she covered it up quickly. "Huh. Maybe. Will you leave me alone about making it official if I talk to him about it?"

I gave her my best Lila-style smile. "Of course, Hells. If you take your promised part in it, I'll let it go around you and just make sure our football-headed classmate does the same."

"Hey, only I can call him that!" Helga snapped, switching to aggressive mode.

I shrugged. "Sorry. But tell that to Wolfgang. He does it regularly." I remembered that from the show and from the time I'd been here. If it wasn't "Football Head", it was "Football Face".

As for the boys, they mostly steered clear of Arnie, too. Some of them, like Gerald, made an attempt to be nice to him because he was Arnold's cousin, after all, but no one wanted to be friendly.

Lila usually hovered near Arnie, but was too shy to ask him out directly after he dumped her last time. I stayed with her most of the time, trying to carry on a conversation. It didn't help that Arnie had, a few times, looked directly at us, then didn't bother to say anything.

On Wednesday, Sid positively insisted we sit together in the cafeteria for the rest of the week, and when I started asking, he explained in a whisper "That creepy cousin of Arnold's keeps staring at you. Since I'm right at the back of the classroom, I've noticed. He looks at you the same way Curly looks at Rhonda when he thinks she's unaware."

I started giggling. "Wait a second, you're jealous? Seriously? I don't even like him!"

"I'm not...not jealous, not really." Sid protested. "I just don't like the way he looks at you. And sometimes..." he trailed off, not looking at me.

"Sometimes..?" I prompted him.

"Sometimes...I guess I wonder why you'd even bother to give me the time of day." he admitted in a tiny voice, blushing furiously. "I mean, when you first walked into school looking the way you do now, I could barely talk to you. Me. I've never felt so scared as that day I asked you to hang out with me. I'm...I guess I...I guess I don't really know what a girl like you would want in a guy like me."

"Well, neither did I, at first!" I giggled. "When I said yes, that was your chance to either make it or break it. Fortunately, you exceeded my expectations of you. But, you know something? If you'd acted all shy the way you had when you first asked me, or gone to the other extreme and acted macho the whole time, I would've shot you down in a heartbeat for the rest of our lives. But I kind of like the real you. No logic to it – since when does emotion have logic, anyway? It's simple. I happen to like you, you happen to like me. Simple."

A shy smile blossomed. "Well...uh, thanks, Nicole."

After Sid told me that Arnie kept glancing at me, I watched for signs while we were at home. I knew the one thing that would indicate Arnie taking an interest in anyone – the little windmill on his hat spinning. It happened when he first met Lila, and again when he decided he was in love with Helga. It was true that he did look at me more than he should, but the windmill didn't spin once.

In the end, I decided to confront the guy. On Friday night, I just asked him straight out in the living room when no one else was around. "So why do you keep looking at me?"

Arnie acted completely unsurprised at my question. "I thought you'd noticed." he said, the usual indifference present in his tone.

"Answer the question, creep!" I demanded, surprised at the vehemence in my own voice.

"You don't belong here."

If there was something I expected, that definitely wasn't it. "What?"

"You heard me." Arnie said tonelessly. "You belonged in another dimension, but someone brought you here and didn't know how to get you back."

I folded my arms. "You are aware that without proof, no one will believe that, should you tell anyone. And if you're so smart, does that mean you're going to get me back?"

"I'm not going to tell, and I don't know how to get you back." Arnie answered. "I just knew you weren't one of us. It was pretty obvious. Just the way you act around everyone. You're too mature. And you acted like you thought you knew me already. My cousin knows, doesn't he?" Somehow, throughout this unusually long string of statements, he kept that weird monotone.

I was almost speechless, but I found my voice. "That doesn't explain how you know about me coming from another dimension or knowing why I haven't gone back."

Arnie's expression stayed indifferent, but his eyes held a smirk. "Lucky guesses."

I sighed. "You want to know more, don't you?"

"About why you know me."

I sighed again. "Fine. In my old world, this world is a TV cartoon called Hey Arnold! As you probably can guess, it centers mainly around Arnold and his day-to-day life. There are other characters involved a lot, too. Helga in particular has a lot of episodes. You're in two episodes, called Weird Cousin and Arnold Visits Arnie – although the latter turns out to be a dream Arnold has, and you have a different voice and everyone in your town looks a bit like one of Arnold's friends but slightly different. The first one was when you came over and Lila fell for you."

Arnie made a tiny nod, but nothing else. There was an awkward silence. Finally, I got up and went back to my room. I was glad it was Friday, and Arnie would be leaving early on Monday morning.

TGIF, Nicole. TGIF. So...did anyone peg Arnie for working that out? I thought there was something below the surface of that gum-loving little creep. Please review!