Next up...planning, planning, planning! Thanks for reviewing, Beth.

I definitely wanted to get back at Curly now. But a simple rumour wasn't fitting. All I wanted to do was do something little that would annoy him without letting him know it was me. Simple, right? Well, revenge in a sneaky way was not my strong point. Luckily, I had some people I knew who could sabotage sneakily.

That Friday lunchtime, I invited myself to sit at the same table as Helga. The only other person at the table was Phoebe, as per usual. While Helga was being a bit more open about the her-and-Arnold situation, she'd only shared a cafeteria table with him once within the last five days.

"Hi." I said pleasantly as I pulled out a chair for myself.

Luckily, Helga seemed to be in an OK mood. She didn't say anything, but she didn't scowl fiercely or tell me to get lost.

"I need some help." I said, getting straight to the point. "Hells, I figured you'd be the best at this kind of thing, so I came here."

"What kind of help?" Helga asked, looking a bit surprised. "And why are you asking me, anyway?"

I lowered my voice. "Well...you know the stuff you pulled at the Cheese Festival twice with Ruth and then Lila? Not to mention the pranks you pulled on Olga. I know some of them didn't work, but no one ever seemed to work out it was you. I've got a certain person that's been annoying me recently and I want to get back at him without letting him know it's me...I'd be forever looking over my shoulder if he knew I did it. How come you never get caught?"

Helga shrugged. "I just don't get caught. It happens. When you're a Pataki, you're invisible by default. Either that or total perfection and brilliance." she added bitterly. She kept her voice low, not wanting anyone else to hear. "Bob doesn't care as long as I don't annoy him, and Miriam's usually slumped on the counter. Olga usually pays more attention to me, but she's blind to the real me. As for the other stuff...well, I've had six years practicing hanging around without getting caught. You know that."

"I'm not hiding in trashcans, that's all I can say." I said with a giggle.

"May I ask who this person is?" Phoebe asked softly.

"Yeah, who is it you want to get back at?" Helga asked with interest.

I sighed. "Forget it. I'll have to think about how to get back at him in my own way." And I quickly left so they didn't keep asking. And sure enough, they forgot about it within a few minutes.

I needed some advice. Unfortunately, I already knew what reaction I'd get if I was going to ask the advice-giver of the school – for anyone who hasn't been reading this properly, I'm talking about Arnold. He'd probably most likely tell me to forget about it. I could talk to Arnold about almost anything (except boy troubles – I had Lila for that), but revenge was not one of those things.

On the other hand, I hadn't yet talked to him about the trouble I'd been having. I did want to do something to get back at Curly, but it wouldn't necessarily get him to shut up about my secret and being all confident that he'd get to the truth.

So on Friday night, I asked him. "I really don't know whether I should just tell him so that he'll leave it alone, or whether I should keep quiet."

Arnold looked thoughtful. "That's a tough one, Nicole. I'd usually say that you should tell the truth, but I can see why that might not be a good idea. I can't imagine that Curly would let it slip, but I'm sure he'll keep asking questions. He'll definitely keep asking if you won't give him an answer, but I can't see a cover-up working out. Trust me, Curly wasn't kidding when he said he can tell if someone's lying. Back in third grade, he made that claim and most of us didn't believe him, so he just said to test him, and everyone told him one lie and one truth. He could tell which was which easily." He paused, and then said, "Maybe it would be better to tell him. I think you may be underestimating Curly in some ways. He's an okay guy, deep down. He's just a little different to the crowd."

I paused before I answered. Finally..."Arnold, are you insane? 'A little different'? That's putting it nicely. I honestly don't trust him! Maybe he wouldn't tell people, but I don't want him to keep asking questions."

Arnold shrugged. "He'll keep asking questions, no matter what you choose. What have you got to lose?"

As usual, he was absolutely right. I loved Arnold like a sibling, but it always ticked me off how he could come out of nearly any situation calm and correct. And reasonable. Every point he made was legit, so even if I didn't like it, he was always right.

"My dignity." I replied, still trying to find some reason to not tell. "He was all 'you'll tell me sometime' and I was like 'not likely'. Can you imagine what it'll be like once I do explain things?"

Arnold shrugged. "You're making a bigger deal out of this than it needs to be. Isn't it worth letting Curly think he's got one over on you if it means he won't annoy you the way he seems to be doing so now."

So I did end up telling an eighth person my secret the next Monday, in a secluded corner of the park after school. Curly listened to my story without interrupting, and to his credit, took it pretty well.

"So," he asked curiously, "How much was I in the show?"

"Not much." I admitted. "Most characters had spotlight episodes, and you were no exception. As an everyday character, you were there, but you never said much. I remember this one episode when Brainy said more than you. You were around for all of it, but didn't say anything."

"But what do you remember about my scenes? What episodes was I in?"

I thought about it, kind of enjoying revisiting the episodes. "Well," I said carefully, "The two everyone remembers were title character ones. Curly Snaps was the one when you got skipped as ball monitor and locked yourself in Principal Wartz' office. Then the other one was Curly's Girl, when you blackmailed Rhonda into being your girlfriend for a week. You also had a long speech at the end of False Alarm, some good lines in Deconstructing Arnold, and had two particularly good cameo scenes in Cool Party and New Bully On The Block. Oh, and am I wrong or did you and Rhonda end up partners for the tango during the April Fools' Day dance?"

Curly nodded, his manic smile widening. "I think her slapping me earlier that day brought me luck. So let's see...the first one...that must have been when you heard about me framing Eugene for pulling the fire alarm. Tell me about the other ones."

I couldn't help a grin. "Well, for Cool Party...do you remember this bit," I gave him my best impression. "I say we paint ourselves with tiger stripes, and go free all the animals at the zoo!"

"Oh yes, I remember that." Curly said. "That must have been the first time I did that. What about that other episode you mentioned?"

"The football game with Wolfgang and Ludwig." I answered. "You kept telling Ludwig to give you the ball. When he finally told your team to, you scored a touchdown, then ran off with the ball. Where did you go, anyway?"

"Nowhere." Curly shrugged. "Just home. I was bored of the game, and no one stopped me."

"And Helga getting a black eye for trying to refuse didn't stop you?" I said. "Oh well...you know, a bumper for the show was on YouTube. It was about wanting to be a character, and one person said they wanted to be you because they wanted to know what goes on in your head."

"What can I say?" Curly laughed. "I'm unique. What about the other characters? Was Rhonda an important character?"

I knew he'd ask about her. "Pretty important." I said. "Her first major episode was Best Friends which was the only time Nadine played a big role too. Then she had Rhonda's Glasses, Cool Party sort of, Polishing Rhonda, Rhonda Goes Broke...a few others I've probably forgotten...and I'd argue that you and her shared the spotlight in Curly's Girl."

Curly didn't let up with the questions for a second, but he sincerely promised to keep everything quiet. After our conversation about tropes, he wanted to know about other characters and their tropes. I took quite a bit of pleasure in noting that Rhonda fitted the trope Alpha Bitch (rich and popular, but not very nice mostly), although I noted that she could also occasionally be nice enough to be noted as Spoiled Sweet (popular, rich, but actually deserves her good fortune). I also had to mention that yes, I had known about the situation with Helga, and I'd even helped to get her and Arnold together. "Her tropes reflected that. Like Clingy Jealous Girl, and In Love With Love. Not to mention Stalker Shrine." I muttered the last bit, but Curly was onto it quickly.

"What was that? I couldn't hear you. Did you say something about a shrine? Does Helga have one to Arnold? I don't think it's weird, I had one to Rhonda when we were younger, but I ditched it once I got the courage to confess to the real thing. I guess I could imagine Helga making a proclaimation of love to a likeness of Arnold."

I shook my head. "Seriously, you are weird."

I was glad to get away at the end. I may have seemed only relieved on the outside, but on the inside, my mind was working furiously, trying to think of plans. And it involved a computer and a few messages.

So what do you think Nicole will do? Please review!