A/N:

Hi again everyone! Here's that second update I promised now that the LTBH update got finished : ) Also, if you also read LTBH I forgot to mention it in that update's A/N but apparently that story has been nominated for a "Hey Arnold Sixth Season (HA6S) Fanwork Awards for the Winter 2014 period". If anyone would like to and could vote for my story, I'd appreciate it very much : ) Here is the link (just take out the spaces). Thank you!

ha6s. weebly ha6s- fanwork- awards. html

I hope you guys enjoy this next installment of DAS. Some crazy stuff here and it maybe doesn't end on the best note, but I promise in the next chapter it'll be okay ; )

Thank you again for reading and for your patience with updates, I appreciate it very much.

Dinner AND a Show!

Chapter 8:

Dessert a la Flambé

While Helga and Arnold had been off trying to fix this Torvald/Patty situation, Rhonda and Harold had been left to their own conversation.

Rhonda had cleared her throat following Arnold and Helga's initial interruption of her talk with Harold, and now she crossed her arms and crossed her legs and looked at Harold, ready to resume things again. "Anyway, I'm serious, Harold, what are we going to do about this? It's a very delicate situation." Rhonda looked at him meaningfully.

Harold sighed and rolled his eyes (again) with a scowl. "Aw, come on, why is everyone suddenly making a big deal out of this? So you, you know…you liked me a little." He blushed but still kept frowning and scowling. "Who cares? It was like a million years ago and I don't get why it's making Patty so angry or why anyone has to explain anything or why anything's so 'delicate'!" Yes, certainly, he and Patty needed to talk a bit just to clear the air and make sure none of this really had hurt her friendship with Rhonda, but Rhonda was making it sound like they all needed to have some epic and emotional full hashing out of every detail of his and Rhonda's unofficial 'thing', and Harold just disagreed with that idea. It sounded annoying and boring and overly dramatic to him, to be honest. Why couldn't they just acknowledge the past and then move on to what was going on right now? (What was going on right now seemed in need of a lot more immediate fixing, in Harold's opinion, anyway.)

Rhonda, meanwhile, just sighed in frustration, looking even more seriously at the boy across from her. 'We would never work out together. I just don't have the patience to explain girls to him. I need someone who understands what women want already.' "Look, Harold," she started, trying to be patient, "I get that to you this is just some silly thing that we should all just move on from, but it is important to Patty—it would be important to any girl." She took a deep breath, trying to keep herself as composed and refined as usual as she explained. "Girls always feel funny about the exes of boys they like, and they can feel so uncomfortable that they almost never try dating boys who their close friends have already liked. It's sort of a…politeness thing, a social code, if you will. So can you imagine how Patty feels when she's in this deep with you and then tonight she suddenly finds out that not only is someone from your past here tonight but that she's one of her best friends? Harold, it's awful for her!" Rhonda looked very, very sincere right now, and very serious. "You have to talk to her, Harold—and I mean talk it out, not just mention it and then move on. And most importantly you can't just talk, you have to listen to her! You have to listen to her feelings and you have to express your own feelings. It's absolutely crucial, Harold!" Rhonda leaned back in her seat and then directed a little scowl at Harold and added, "And you also have to have a talk about this Torvald thing, and a REAL talking it out talk, like I said. No fudging it or getting angry. Got it?"

Harold blinked a few times, not expecting such passion from Rhonda. He considered—she made some interesting points. But he couldn't help but look a little frustrated though for a moment, all things considered. He was sort of getting sick of everybody prying into his feelings and plans regarding all of this romantic stuff and Patty. "You know, Rhonda, I appreciate your help, but also you don't have to tell me how to have a relationship with Patty—I know I'm not the brightest guy around but I'm still four years older than you and I think I can figure it out on my own with her." He blushed a little before adding with a slight pout and a shrug, "I..I care about her a lot and junk, alright?"

Rhonda swallowed, still looking a little firm, though her voice quieted down a bit now as she spoke. "And I care about her too. That's the only reason why I'm interfering so much at this point."

There was kind of a tense silence at the table for a moment. Then the frowns started to fade. Harold looked over at Rhonda. "I know. And I guess I understand that you want to help because she's your friend. And I guess you probably feel a little funny yourself about everything all thing's considered." He looked down a touch uncomfortably and then looked back up at Rhonda. "Why didn't you ever mention it to her, Rhonda?"

Rhonda blinked and then blushed and looked away a tiny bit in embarrassment. "Y-You didn't mention it either…" she mumbled back.

Harold looked a little more curious. "Yeah, but I already told you, I didn't feel like it was a big deal. But you love gossip and stuff, so why didn't you tell her?"

Rhonda sighed and looked at him with a touch of annoyance, crossing her arms over her chest. "Well, gee, Harold, it's not exactly something that would regularly come up in a polite conversation—'How's the weather?' 'Did you enjoy your holiday in Aspen?' 'Did you know I used to have designs on your current boyfriend?'" She rested back in her chair and looked up. 'Men. Ugh, I knew I made the right call waiting on the boyfriend thing,' she couldn't help but think with a touch of frustration.

Harold just sat there, eyes wide and blinking a lot. Then he swallowed and looked down, playing with his chocolate mousse. He mumbled a little as he spoke. "Sh-Sheesh, Rhonda, you too? I'm not Patty's…. Can't I just hang out with her and like her and stuff?" He sighed in annoyance. He didn't like everyone pushing him into all these labels for everything. It was almost as annoying as Rhonda had been when she had been trying to push the two of them together. 'Boyfriend' and 'dating' and even Patty's kiss to his cheek on Friday after school—all of it was so much to deal with, and it made him feel awkward and he hated feeling awkward.

Rhonda gave Harold a touch of a dry look for a moment, thinking he was just avoiding things. But then she really noticed the frustrated, confused look on his features as he looked down and just swirled the spoon in his mousse, not even eating any of it. She frowned and a touch of sympathy came to her features. Could Harold really just not be ready for something as official as the boyfriend and girlfriend thing? Rhonda bit her lip and then decided to take a different approach. She spoke much more kindly and patiently now as she addressed him. "Sorry, Harold, I didn't mean to get carried away or anything." She smiled a little. "Patty says I do that a lot. It's something I have to work on. A-Anyway, um…you know, I think we're taking the wrong approach to this. Harold, I've kind of gotten an idea about the whole you and Patty and Torvald thing, and I think that part of the reason Patty's a little extra angry about the 'you and me' thing is because you're angry at her about the Torvald thing…when she really hasn't done anything wrong." She saw Harold scowl and open his mouth to protest. She held up her hand, stopping him. "Harold, just hear me out. All she did was spend time with him, right? He's her age…" Rhonda saw Harold scowl deeply and open his mouth, but she quickly realized why and corrected herself, "Sorry, he's the same age as both of you." Harold sat back again, listening. Rhonda went on. "He goes to our school, he's a nice guy and a good friend, right?" She waited to see if Harold would go with her on this. Maybe she really could help sort things out tonight and make Patty's evening just a little bit easier in some way to make up for complicating it further in the first place.

Harold still seemed like he wanted to protest a little but he finally nodded to Rhonda, not seeming able to find a way to argue with that. Torvald couldn't help going to their school or being his and Patty's age, and (at this point in the year, at least ever since some escapade with Arnold) he really was a nice guy and a decent friend. "I guess…" he finally conceded with a touch of restrained stubbornness.

Rhonda smiled a little more at this positive (if not enthusiastic) response. "Okay. So all she's been doing is spending some time with another nice person. And Patty still does her best to make time for you, right?"

Harold was about to protest that point but then he considered again, especially since he had some new information about Patty's frequent recent absences to take into account. She hadn't just been spending some time hanging out with Torvald, she had also been spending time being tutored by Helga. And she of course had her usual stuff to do on top of all of that—chores and stuff with Rhonda and stuff with sixth graders. Overall, though, Patty usually did try to make time for him, even if she hadn't been able to too much lately. "I guess…" he finally replied again, his frustrated look softening a little more.

Rhonda smiled more. Definitely some progress here. "And Patty told you there's nothing going on with her and Torvald… And she's never lied to you before, right?" she continued on.

Harold frowned a tiny bit now, feeling a touch guilty. "No… Patty doesn't lie." Patty really was one of the most straightforward people he had ever known. She could take a little time to open up to new people but when she did she was always honest, even if it was about something you didn't wanted to hear. 'Like about not being able to come to my cousin's Bat Mitzvah party tomorrow, and being sorry about it…' he thought to himself, feeling even guiltier now.

Rhonda beamed with hope just a little more. And then she added, eyeing him a little and leaning closer on the table, "So what she's doing is really not all that different from what you usually do—you try to make time for Patty but you also hang out with other people, including other girls, including me. And you're honest with her about it, right?"

Harold blinked and shrugged and nodded, looking over at Rhonda directly. "Yeah, of course. I'm always honest with her." Rhonda…Huh, she was kind of right, wasn't she? Yet it still bothered him, the part about Patty's interactions…Somehow Torvald was more of a threat to their 'relationship' than the people Harold tended to spend time with, though it was difficult and embarrassing for him to articulate aloud. "But it still bothers me a little that she…and he…I don't know…" was all he could manage to get out right now before sighing and looking down in a touch of frustration again.

Rhonda just smiled at this response though, sitting up straight in her seat and crossing her arms over her chest. "And that is why you have to talk to Patty about both of your feelings. Just talk. Trust me, it'll help fix everything."

Harold looked at Rhonda with a touch of nervousness but also resignation. "Are you sure, Rhonda?" he finally had to ask.

Rhonda sighed, folding her hands together on the tabletop now and looking at him and shrugging. "Well, I hope so since I'm going to have to talk to her too to make things alright between us. And besides, Arnold relies on talking a lot and he seems to lead a very calm and easy life." She smiled more and the two of them shared a warm laugh at the same time.

"Yeah," Harold agreed, smiling fully now too, "Arnold's usually pretty calm and happy. Well, except with Helga, but that makes sense since Helga's usually never calm and happy." He rolled his eyes, finally actually eating some of his dessert again.

Rhonda took a sip of her café au lait. She had to pry, just a little… "So…they haven't been getting along this evening? Arnold and Helga, I mean. I really am surprised Patty invited both of them here. They're not exactly the most compatible dinner companions I could think of. Though I did see Helga smiling quite a few times from across the restaurant…" Rhonda wouldn't grill Harold, she wouldn't use any information she got against anyone. But she did want to understand how Helga and Arnold could possibly fit into this Harold/Patty thing. And whatever was going on for Helga tonight, especially, had peaked a great deal of her interest.

Harold just shrugged, eating and seeming a lot better now as he replied, "Well, they were fighting sometimes, but sometimes, yeah, they were laughing and smiling…" He looked confused for a moment. "And then sometimes they would say the weirdest things to each other." He scratched his head and focused his full attention back on Rhonda again. "I asked Arnold about it but he just said that he kind of did something to Helga or didn't do something to Helga sometime and now the two of them are fighting about it, I guess. I just told him to try to talk to her…" Harold paused, in the middle of bringing a bite to his mouth. Then he blinked and smiled and put the spoon down. "You know, it's funny…" he started. "I mean, Arnold's always telling us to talk things out so that's what I told him to do, but he didn't think to do it for himself. And I know that's it's better if two people having a problem like him and Helga are having should talk about it, but I didn't really want to talk about things with Patty." He shrugged, focusing on Rhonda again. "I guess it's harder to think of doing something as easy as talking when you're one of the people caught up in something that has to get talked about, huh?"

Rhonda smiled. Harold could seem a little simple in some ways at first glance but she knew he had insights sometimes that were really interesting. And he really could be a sweet guy when he tried. "Yeah, I guess so." She nodded, sipping her coffee again. Arnold and Helga…Arnold and Helga… She opened her mouth, about to ask something else about Arnold and Helga when…

"Hey, Rhonda?"

Harold's voice cut her off. He was frowning a little. She looked at him with interest. "Yes, Harold?"

Harold still hadn't picked up his spoon again. He looked at Rhonda and spoke very sincerely to her, his arms folded on the table. "Um…I know earlier that you were just joking about Arnold and Helga and…being on a date…" He blushed a little—if Arnold and Helga were on a date it meant he and Patty were too, and he didn't want to think about that. "But, um…can you not make fun of them about that anymore? It's…kind of weird for me and Patty. And also, well…" he frowned a little, "It's really not nice to make fun of people about romantic stuff, Rhonda. It hurts their feelings and makes them embarrassed." He was remembering his little encounter with Sid and Stinky on the bus on Friday afternoon. And Helga had stood up for him then, so he would stand up for her right now even if the situations weren't entirely the same...even if he had been getting fun of for 'like' liking Patty when he wasn't even a hundred percent sure about that yet, but Helga here had been getting teased just because she had been forced to have dinner with Arnold by coincidence, no romance involved at all.

Rhonda blinked, not having expected that request. "I…well, I-I just meant to tease, get a little something for some gossip—really, Harold. I…"

He was looking at her a touch sternly. The remainder of the mousse was forgotten, his arms were crossed over his chest. "Rhonda…"

She sighed, rolling her eyes. "Oh alright, fine." She put a hand over her heart and held up the other one and announced dryly but sincerely, "I solemnly swear on my friendships with you and Patty that I will not tease Arnold and Helga by suggesting the ludicrous idea that they would ever become romantically involved. Alright, Harold?" She put her arms back to normal, looking at him with a touch of annoyance.

Harold just smiled. "Thanks, Rhonda."

Rhonda just sighed but managed a little smile too. "Sure, Harold. Besides, it's the least I can do to help make you and Patty happy again."

Harold nodded, then went back to eating the remainder of his mousse.

Rhonda sipped her coffee again.

Then Rhonda said quickly and quietly, just for good measure, "So, you're aware of the fact that I have no romantic feelings for you at all, correct? And that, except for working things out with Patty, we are never going to talk about this incident between the two of us ever again, right? And I mean really never talk about it again—not like last time when we had that egg babysitting assignment for Mr. Simmons and you started randomly bringing it up in class and almost ruining my reputation, right?" She gave him a bit of stern look, though she couldn't help a touch of a sheepish smile and a light blush threatening to come into her features.

Harold just smiled and then rolled his eyes a little. Rhonda could be so dramatic sometimes. "Sure, Rhonda, no problem."

Rhonda nodded, seeming satisfied. "And, just to check, you did not nor do you have any feelings towards me, right?"

Harold sighed, giving her a bit of a look. "Well, that would explain why I did everything but jump out of the swan boat when you tried to drag me on that Tunnel of Love ride, Rhonda. And that would also explain why I'm jealous about Torvald and Patty a little."

Rhonda blushed a little and pouted a touch at the sarcasm. At the same time though, she knew she kind of deserved it, so she just nodded again in satisfaction. "Yes, yes, very funny, Harold. Alright, so then we can both make it very clear to Patty that there is nothing going on here and that a large part of the reason we never mentioned anything to her is that there never was much going on here to begin with. Okay?" She smiled a little, hoping this was all resolved now.

"Okay, Rhonda." Harold nodded in agreement, putting another spoonful of mousse in his mouth. Then he added just because he was curious sometimes, "But, I still don't get why you went and picked me to go all ga-ga over." He shrugged.

Rhonda just sighed and blushed and rolled her eyes at the random and somewhat awkward observation. But what the heck—she had just been convincing Harold that a thorough talking could be the best thing for two people trying to work out a problem, so why not? Besides, he clearly didn't seem to be malicious in his question so much as just curious. She shrugged and tried to explain, swirling and sipping the remainder of her café au lait a bit as she did so. "Oh…I don't know: convenience, I suppose. Stinky's a little too country for me…Eugene does too many things involving show tunes…. As for Sid, Nadi—uh…erm, well…I-I heard information to suggest he might already have someone who likes him," Rhonda cleared her throat and smiled brightly but awkwardly, mentally thanking herself for catching her tongue before she spilt the beans about Nadine and Sid. "A-Anyway, erm…" she went on, just trying to keep things going. "Peapod kid is too stuck up—and that's me saying that. Brainy's too quiet and Park's never around and Joey's never EVER around…" She was counting on her fingers by now. "Gerald always likes to think he's so smooth and cool, and I have no patience for that. Iggy's even worse! And Torvald's always scared me a bit until tonight. I cannot date any third grader—it would be humiliating. And all of the fifth graders are obnoxious to us, and no sixth grade boy would even look at me." She sighed and stopped counting now, directing her gaze to Harold directly once more. "But you're older yet still in our grade, and also you're uncouth in a way I could handle—I just figured I could work with you easiest…and I really, really wanted to be the first girl in class with a boyfriend…" And then she added with a little kindhearted blush and eye roll, "And, you know…you're nice and you clean up good, okay?" She sighed, giving him a half smile. "Can we move on?"

"Oh…" Harold just looked like he was processing all of that for a moment… And then, rather than smiling back at her and nodding or something to that effect, he looked at her with an eyebrow raised and asked in a touch of confusion, "Wait, what about Arnold?"

"Arnold?" Rhonda looked confused. "What about him?"

"Well," Harold shrugged, "You mentioned almost all the other guys in our class and why you don't like them. But you didn't mention him—why?"

Rhonda blinked at that statement…and then a look came to her face to suggest that…well, to be honest…the idea had simply never crossed her mind. "I…huh…" She had to think about this one. Why not Arnold? She had to admit he was a nice guy, he could be kind of cute sometimes, he might be a little on the short side but time would take care of that and she could always wear flats. And hadn't he even made it onto her cool list that one time? And she even remembered thinking back during the school play that if a girl had to kiss a boy, he wasn't the worst choice. But still, it… "I don't know, Harold," she started sincerely, looking up at him. "Arnold's…just not someone you think about when you think about someone who's available, I guess. I mean, it's kind of like he's already taken or something—every girl's best already monogamous guy friend. He just feels already settled into something. I'm not really sure how else to describe it." That really was the best she could do, though the explanation felt vague even to her.

Harold still looked a little confused, but he considered and then finally nodded. "No, I guess that sort of makes sense." He smiled and almost laughed as he added, "I mean, take Helga for example—me and the other guys never really see her as available. She's just Helga—she seems kind of all together all by herself, at least when you start to spend some time with her." Harold scratched his head. "Is that kind of like what you were talking about?"

Rhonda considered, then shrugged. "Sort of, I guess. Except I think you and the other guys see Helga as someone who doesn't really need anyone else, but the other girls and I see Arnold as someone who's kind of settled in his ways. Plus, Arnold's such a nice guy, it would feel weird a little to think about him romantically—he's like a cousin to all of us, you know?"

Harold seemed to understand and he nodded. "Yeah, I can see that. And I guess with us, Helga just seems like she'd pound all of us if we tried any romantic junk with her."

Rhonda nodded, trying not to laugh at the idea. "I could see that too."

The two sat in silence for a moment, just smiling, Harold taking another bite of his dessert, Rhonda sipping her coffee. Then Harold asked with a half grin of interest, "So, is the reason you also didn't bring up Curly when you were talking about the guys that you're is secret girlfriend now, just like he always says?" He was smiling and nice about it and totally serious about the question.

Rhonda's eyes bugged out and she actually choked on her coffee. "Wh-What?!"

Harold just went on in an explanation like it was the most natural thing in the world. "Yeah, he told all of the guys that. He said it was a secret though, so none of us should bring it up. Something about a fancy coat and you realizing how much you like him and—"

"OH, I am going to kill that pathetic little—" she started, all but yelling at the top of her lungs…until she saw eyes starting to turn to her from other tables in the restaurant. She then cut her self off quickly, smiling sheepishly and sinking a little low in her seat. Looking embarrassed, she looked to Harold and spoke in a loud whisper. "I am NOT Curly's girlfriend and you make sure to let EVERY boy in our grade know that, Harold—got it? I don't care what Curly says!"

Harold blinked, but than shrugged and nodded. "Oh. Sure, Rhonda, I'll try. I don't know if they'll believe me, though—they'll probably all think it's a joke. Curly's got them all pretty convinced."

Rhonda just sighed with a scowl and smacked her hand to her forehead, resting it there for a moment. "Oh, never mind, it'll probably look more suspicious if I try to have someone deny it for me. Better off just leaving it alone and throwing out all of the stupid love notes he keeps leaving me." She glared forward at Harold and added, just for good measure and to make herself feel better, "And for the record, I didn't bring up Curly because he is so not happening that he does not even deserve an explanation about why is he is SO not happening."

Harold did his best not to laugh and replied as sincerely and supportively as he could muster, "Whatever you want to do, Rhonda." Then Harold remembered something and he added, trying not to smile too much at the idea, "Oh but, um, if you're really not his secret girlfriend then I'd stay really far away from the Tunnel of Love ride at next year's Cheese Festival if I were you, Rhonda."

Rhonda looked very nervous and leery about this sudden bit of information. "Why…?" she asked hesitantly.

"Um…well," Harold scratched his head, "Curly never says any details but sometimes he brings up that ride and you and he laughs and it's kind of scary. I don't know if he'd do to you what you tried to do to me or something even worse—but I just thought you should know." He gave her a helpful half smile.

Rhonda, meanwhile, was just blushing brightly and she felt as embarrassed as she looked. She just rubbed one of her temples and let out a deep sigh. "Thank you, Harold," she mumbled. Then she sighed and added to herself, "I need another Aspen trip. Tout suite."

Harold just waved her off though, smiling. "Ah, just take Patty with you to the Cheese Festival. Curly wouldn't try anything on you with her around."

"Yes, provided she's speaking to me again by then…" Rhonda couldn't help but add with a little melancholy downward look, resting her head on her hand and glancing down into her nearly empty coffee cup.

Harold's smile fell at this response. Then he looked at Rhonda with compassion. "It's okay, Rhonda. She won't be upset forever. I promise. The talking'll help." He smiled optimistically again.

Rhonda smiled too, looking back up at him. "I hope so, Harold." She looked to his eyes. "I really do."

While Rhonda and Harold had been just making sure they were both on the same page (and while Helga and Arnold had been flirting with each other in the bathroom alcove to as high a degree as two people could flirt with each other while still managing to remain in denial about the fact that they were indeed flirting with each other), Patty had just been resting against the wall near the kitchen door, arms folded over her chest, scowling and all but boring holes into her table where she watched Harold and Rhonda talk and blush and even laugh a little at some points.

She was angry and she just wanted something to take it out on. She was doing her best to keep herself under control but still it was hard. At least figuring out the Torvald thing would remove one of her sources of frustration this evening though. And if Torvald really did like her like her? Well…well, if Harold was going to be all secretive and flirting with Rhonda, maybe she wouldn't mind a date with Torvald. At least Torvald was mature enough to want to go out on dates! Oh, and not to mention she knew it would just eat Harold up inside to watch her spending time with him! And that was just what she wanted!

She just kept waiting. It occurred to her that Arnold and Helga weren't at the table anymore and she did give a quick glance around the restaurant to look for them but they didn't seem to be in sight. Patty just sighed and rolled her eyes. 'At this point they're probably making out in the coat check area…And then Helga will probably try to punch him and Arnold will insist she doesn't mean anything by it. And I'll have to clean up the mess somehow…again.' Patty felt frustrated once more. 'But when is someone going to come along and clean up the mess for me?' Helga acted like she had it 'so hard' with trying to secretly love Arnold, and, granted, it sounded like she had been through a bit more stuff in terms of volume regarding Arnold than Patty had been through so far in her brief 'relationship' with Harold. But, still, not only had Helga had Patty helping her on occasion recently but Phoebe probably had helped her out quite a bit over the years since she was always taking orders from Helga, and Lila always seemed a bit keen on Arnold and Helga, come to think of it, and even Harold might have inadvertently helped Helga every now and again, and finally even Arnold himself, who had seemed utterly clueless about what was going on with himself and Helga until recently, had always seemed so understanding about anything she did and so quick to calm her down and keep her from losing her temper too much. Arnold and Helga, Arnold and Helga… Maybe Patty had been hanging out with fourth graders too much for the last half of this school year but sometimes it seemed like everything was about Arnold—'perfect, do the right thing, stand up to her, Big Patty, of all people' Arnold—and Helga—'bossy, loud mouthed, center of attention, so fierce about her reputation that she had gone into a gym ready to fight her, Big Patty, for the sake of maintaining her reputation' Helga. Not to mention the 'Arnold and Helga' topic, which had all but consumed this whole night. When was it her turn to get some help with things, or to have her and Harold's relationship take some precedence? Was it so wrong to have wanted one night after a week of breaking up 'Arnold and Helga' stuff that focused on 'Harold and Patty'? And was it so wrong to have wanted it to turn out well?

Patty knew, she really did, that the majority of these thoughts and frustrations going through her head right now weren't really fair. She was just a little angry, a little tired, a little in need of some time to herself. She knew it was just easy to blame 'Arnold and Helga', and she knew she needed to not actually take out any of her problems on them this evening, and she knew that she had sort of gotten herself into the mess of dealing with their problems in the first place by inviting them both here just to help her feel less awkward about going out to a formal dinner with Harold.

Honestly, what Patty wanted most right now more than to be the center of attention or to forget about Arnold and Helga was just for this whole fiasco of a night to be over so she could go home, do some knitting, fall asleep and then spend all of Sunday tomorrow inside not having to deal with anyone or anything. And then a deep sigh escaped her… 'Ugh, I can't even relax tomorrow…I've gotta do my last tutoring session with Torvald, don't I? Perfect…' Maybe she would just ask her parents if she could stay home from school sick on Monday and rest. Patty, despite her capacity for belligerence, really did not like a lot of confrontation—she preferred quiet and peace and privacy. And this restaurant here with five of her peers running around did not present any of those things.

Patty still waited here now outside of the kitchen, but her courage for talking to Torvald was starting to wane. 'Maybe I should just forget about it for now and go back over to the table, finish dessert, leave…I don't want to do anything rash just because I'm upset. And I could always talk to him tomorrow when we meet up for tutoring.' She waited a few seconds more and then moved away from the wall to walk back toward the table.

At that moment the kitchen door opened and Torvald walked out with the large bananas foster cake in hand.

At that moment also Patty suddenly caught sight of Arnold and Helga across the restaurant.

"Oh, Patty, hey! Something up?" Torvald asked nicely as he caught sight of her out of the corner of his eye and paused, turning to her.

Patty glanced away awkwardly. Okay, this had maybe been a dumb idea. This was not the best place to talk to him, with only mere minutes to spare and a crowded restaurant surrounding them and while he was at work and everything and while she was having a different fight with everybody at her table and then some. "Um…no, Torvald—sorry, I was just—"

At that point Helga (then Arnold) burst onto the scene.

"Patty!" Helga all but shouted, a smile plastered on her face as she hooked the sixth grade girl's arm with hers and started (trying) to lead her away. "Um—I need to talk to you. Now. Please. Uh, i-it's a girl thing, heh." She grinned sheepishly at Torvald, hoping he wouldn't recall or bring up herself acting girly in any way to the guys at the next football practice or baseball practice. 'Though honestly my entire image has taken such a torpedo tonight that what the heck would it matter. Rhonda's probably already been on her cell phone informing every student at P.S. 118 about my hair and my outfit and me and Arnold's little date. Oh boy will Monday be fun.' Still, she couldn't worry about all of that now—Patty came first. "Come on, Patty…" Helga urged, trying to pull her a little more (though still really not succeeding much).

Patty had the frustrated, almost angry look on face again. If only Helga hadn't come up to pull her away, Patty really would have left by herself. But now it was the principle of the thing—she was not going to be told what to do, not by Harold, not by Rhonda, and not by Helga. Period. "No, Helga, I have to talk to Torvald," she stated firmly.

"Patty," Helga looked at her seriously, giving up on the tugging for a second, "Look, uh…now is really, really, REALLY not the time. Big, uh…big 'girl thing' emergency. I am begging you. Please." She looked very emphatically into her eyes.

Patty knew she really probably needed to listen to Helga if Helga was talking to her this seriously. But she was still feeling stubborn enough to at least split the difference. "Fine. AFTER I talk to Torvald." She removed her arm from Helga's grasp.

Helga's eyes went wide and she actually gasped a little. She could not let Patty do this. "Patty! You don't understand, it—"

"Um, hi, Torvald, um…" Arnold had finally psyched himself up enough to enter the fray. And even though he seemed very nervous, he was clearly doing his best. "Um…oh is that the cake? It's really nice, heh." 'Come on, you can do this—prove to Helga you know how to lie so you can get Torvald away from here to help Patty.' It probably should have occurred to Arnold that strangely enough he was aspiring to be a good liar to impress Helga G. Pataki, but he was rather overwhelmed at the moment with trying to help Helga make her plan succeed.

Torvald had been about to address Patty again, especially since it sounded like she wanted to speak to him about something, but he turned to Arnold now for a moment and smiled. "Oh, yeah, it is pretty cool." He glanced at the cake in his hand. "But that's not even the best part. It gets lit on fire for a moment at the table—how awesome is that?" He looked back to Arnold and grinned.

Arnold tried to smile more and do this the way Helga would have done it, with a lot of smiling and smoothing things over and making things go her way at all costs. "O-Oh, yeah, um. Great." That was all he could muster though. Clearly, Arnold wasn't quite entirely compatible with Helga's way of doing things.

"Yup, it's a real beauty once it's lit." Torvald nodded back to him. "Hey, you and Helga and Patty better get back to the table though so that you don't miss the flames—Jacques usually lights it the second the waiter serves it to the guests." Then Torvald blinked and glanced back over to the girls. "Oh, but, Patty, sorry, did you say you needed to ask me something first?"

"No, she didn't!" Helga interjected desperately, yanking on Patty's arm again.

But Patty only rolled her eyes and yanked her arm away again, looking at Torvald. "Yes, I did have something to ask you, Torvald." She cleared her throat…but then she wasn't sure how to begin. "Um…well…I…"

Torvald just looked at her with a patient and interested smile.

Helga was losing it. She stepped over and grabbed Arnold and yanked him close and slightly away from their two older friends. "Football Head!" she whispered quickly. "Stop easing into things and get that cake and get him out the door already! Sheesh! I've already got my work cut out for me trying to distract a girl who can bench-press someone my size without breaking a sweat."

Arnold looked at her in concern and whispered back, "I'm trying, Helga. Really."

"Try harder!" she yelled back in a loud whisper.

Arnold couldn't help but scowl a little. "Helga, you don't have to be mean about it," he whispered back.

"Well, it's about…lately…the tutoring thing, actually…" Patty went on to Torvald, meanwhile, rubbing one of her arms and trying not to blush.

Helga heard her and went wide-eyed. "Arnold…" she grabbed his arms and spoke to him as calmly as possible, "I'm…s-sorry. I'm not trying to be mean or bossy or rude or controlling, I just…this is very important, Arnold." She winced a little, she couldn't help it. "You don't know what it's like to tell someone you…how you feel and then…they don't feel…a-and that's what Patty would be doing sort of—making him think she's thought about him that way and then having to endure him telling her that it never even crossed his mind. It's going to hurt her so much, Arnold. You don't know what that's like." She paused…but then she remembered and added softly, the sadness growing clearer in her countenance, "But you do…because of Lila. Don't you remember that, Arnold, when you told her you liked her and she said she didn't like you…and then you walked me home?" A laugh escaped her, though she was looking and sounding pretty emotional now. She couldn't help it. She shook her head a little to herself. "I was just trying to give you someone to talk to, trying to do one selfless thing, but all I could think the whole time was how fantastic it felt to have you walk me home." She sighed. And then just had to try again with Patty. She released Arnold and walked back the few steps to the older and stronger girl and put a hand on her shoulder. "Patty, I…really, I…" However, unfortunately, Helga didn't know what else she could say to try and get the older girl to listen to her. Nothing seemed to make Patty want to budge from talking to Torvald.

But Arnold knew what to do now. He'd had an idea. He was going to follow Helga's plan but he just couldn't do it Helga's way with acting and the nodding and the grinning and the touch of dramatic flair. Not that her way didn't have an appeal when she did it, but in order to make this work he had to do it his own way.

"Um, Torvald?" Arnold came back over stepped directly in front of Torvald now, looking up at him. He spoke sincerely and directly (and made sure to emphasize a few choice words of his delivery for anyone standing directly nearby who might happen to be listening). "I'm sorry. We're really not trying to interrupt anything. And I know you have to go soon to meet your girlfriend, like Rhonda told us," he gestured with his thumb back over to their table where Rhonda still currently sat with Harold, "but could I talk to you for just a minute? It's important." Arnold looked up at him with a hopeful smile.

Torvald shrugged and nodded. "Sure thing, Arnold." He glanced back over his shoulder at the girls. "See you ladies at the table in a sec." He winked at them and then went off with Arnold, who smiled brightly at Helga over his shoulder before heading off to the nearest corner with the older boy.

Helga and Patty just stood there in wide-eyed silence.

Helga spoke first. "Huh…Uh…I guess that works too."

Patty just blinked, still looking ahead with surprise. "Did Arnold just say 'girlfriend'?"

Helga sighed deeply and rolled her eyes, and now was finally able to latch on to a stunned Patty's arm and drag her off to the side from the kitchen doors. "Doi, if you'd listened to me for five seconds just now instead of being stubborn as heck, I could have told you about the girlfriend thing." In private Helga then proceeded to tell Patty about the girlfriend thing.

Meanwhile, Arnold and Torvald were off in the opposite direction from the kitchen doors for just a moment. Arnold turned back and looked up to Torvald appreciatively. "Thanks, Torvald. Really, I know you're in a rush so I appreciate you talking to me."

"No problem." Torvald waved Arnold off with his free hand. "I owe you one anyway, man. My grades would still be in the toilet if you hadn't started tutoring me at the start of the year. And now I've gotten more help and I'm doing really awesome. I even have B's sometimes for my mom to put on the fridge." His eyes lit up with pride.

Arnold smiled genuinely as opposed to nervously now. "That's great, Torvald. Really, I'm so happy to hear it."

"Thanks, Arnold." Torvald smiled at him. Then he got kind of an all-knowing look and a slight playful smirk. "So, what did you want to talk to me about?"

Arnold blinked. Honestly, he hadn't thought things through that far. "Oh! Well, um…" He swallowed. 'Maybe I can just thank him for all the little extra stuff he did as our waiter tonight. That's truthful. And I'm sure he'd be happy to hear it.'

Before Arnold could act on this plan though, Torvald suggested a topic of conversation all his own. "It's okay, Arnold—it's about women, isn't it? Hey, it's nothing to be embarrassed about—you're only ten, after all. And Helga really does seem like a spitfire, so it makes sense if you want some advice on dating her and stuff." Torvald chuckled a little. "I just didn't realize you had it in you to go for someone that sassy—you dog!" And then he gave Arnold and gentle punch in the shoulder.

Arnold felt that he was as embarrassed as he could possibly be in this moment (oh if only he knew what was in store for him very, very soon this evening, he would have realized his current embarrassment could not even compare with the embarrassment to come). "T-T-Torvald…" he felt his face getting hot—he figured that wasn't helping convince Torvald that he and Helga weren't, uh… "N-No, it…really, I…um…Helga's very nice and…o-okay, well, she's not exactly 'nice'—but she can be nice, it's just usually she's kind of loud and passionate…and, um…she's smart and funny and…"

"And she's pretty cute tonight too. Did she do that all for you?" Torvald asked with a grin. "Man, if she did, you do not need my help. Believe me—if she wants to impress you that much, just be yourself and you two'll be fine." He winked.

Arnold was not breathing anymore. He was just blushing and wide-eyed and looking very shy, wringing his hands a little. Out of the corner of his eye he couldn't help catch sight of Helga as she led off Patty. 'Sh-She didn't know I was coming tonight. She didn't dress up like that just for me tonight.' Yes, that was true, and Arnold could use that fact to comfort himself. But then of course he remembered that last Valentine's Day Helga had dressed up just the same and that had absolutely been all for him. And sometimes tonight she could look…. Arnold shook his head and blinked though, abandoning the thought—he didn't want to get distracted by prettiness. He always got distracted by prettiness, and it always turned out badly. Bad with Ruth and with Lila and with Summer and even with that sixth grade girl Maria. It was a bad habit of his that he was coming to recognize. Yet deep down he knew there was more to what made him keep focusing in on Helga again…what made him want to talk to her more…what made him like when he could get her to laugh…what made him want to impress her…And frankly it terrified him a little, it was all so sudden and big, but it was definitely more complicated than the fact that she could turn a certain way or wear a certain thing or do something with her hair and look cute. Big time more. Otherwise, at this point in his romantic escapades, he knew he could have seen through it and disregarded the attraction he had to her quickly.

Arnold almost smacked himself on the forehead. He had just thought of her as attractive. Oh dear.

"Um, Arnold? You okay?" Torvald asked curiously. Arnold really hadn't said anything in quite a few seconds, and he sort of had this blushing look of total panic on his face.

Arnold snapped out of his thoughts. He was still blushing but he at least managed to look up at Torvald and speak relatively normally. "Y-Yeah, um…s-sorry, Torvald—the whole Helga and me thing is, um…a little confusing right now. But I appreciate you offering to help, I really do." He smiled weakly.

"Oh, no problem, Arnold," Torvald replied, his smile resuming. "Anyway…" he shifted the cake on the platter from one hand to the other, "Before I head over to your table with the cake, is that all?"

Arnold was thinking of trying to say some 'real reason' he had called Torvald off to the side, but if Torvald wanted to think it was about women and Helga then Arnold just didn't have the energy to try to make him think anything else. "Yes…" Arnold managed a smile, "That was all. But, uh, everyone at the table agrees that we don't want to keep you any longer tonight than you have to stay here. I can even take the cake back to the table if it would help, Torvald. You've been a really good bus boy to us tonight and you deserve to leave when you're supposed to and to go off with your girlfriend and have a fun night just like all of us have been having." Arnold and Torvald had started walking back to the table now, and Arnold was ready to intercept that cake if it would still help and make Helga's plan succeed.

Torvald smiled brightly. "Thanks, Arnold. Eh, but it's okay—I don't mind popping the cake on the table. I've still got a couple of minutes until my mom's take home dinner is done anyway. But I'm glad you guys had a good night. I was worried things were getting a little tense with the four of you sometimes." He looked at Arnold with a touch of concern.

Arnold swallowed and smiled sheepishly and just…said what he had to say. "Y-Yeah, well, um…double dates, th-they can be tricky sometimes, I guess."

Torvald's grin picked up on one side and he nodded. "Yeah, I could understand that."

Arnold nodded too. Then he glanced up at Torvald. "Torvald, um…listen, I know it might sound a little silly but could you not mention to anyone that Harold and Patty and that Helga and I were out together here tonight? It's important."

Torvald looked a little confused for a moment but then nodded. If Arnold was asking for a favor like that, it had to be for a good reason. "Okay, Arnold. No problem. I understand—privacy."

Arnold managed to smile a little and nodded. "Yeah. Privacy…"

"Hey Arnold? I know you might be a little embarrassed but, for what it's worth. I do think you're doing a good job at making Helga happy. I never see her smile as much as when she's with you, come to think of it." Torvald added with sincere encouragement, giving the ten-year-old beside him a little playful nudge.

Arnold blushed again at these words from Torvald…but his smile remained…and grew. And he had barely even flinched much at Torvald's nudge. He gazed down at the floor as they walked. "That's true. Thanks, Torvald."

"No problem, Arnold, no problem at all." He grinned a little more and added, noticing Arnold's distinct smile. "And, come to think, of it you smile quite a bit more yourself when you're around her."

Arnold wished Torvald hadn't had to end with that last thing. He had felt good inside thinking about Helga smiling. Now he felt so confused again thinking about himself smiling. He sighed and glanced over his shoulder as they finally made it back to the table, hoping that Helga was doing alright trying to talk to Patty.

"…And that is why I was trying to literally rip you away from Torvald just now, and that is why Arnold is off distracting Torvald from you trying to talk to him—because just in case you were planning to get into the whole 'do you like me like me' thing right this very moment, we didn't want you to be embarrassed or for your friendship with him to get ruined because, as we now know, Torvald has a girlfriend." Helga let out a deep breath, her explanation over, and looked at Patty with a quirked smirk and her arms crossed over her chest. "So if you could not pound me or anything for trying to keep you from sharing in the oceans of public humiliation I've been subjected to this evening, that'd be great, Patty." Helga knew she really wouldn't hit her, though Patty had seemed awfully close until things had been explained to her.

Patty, taking all of that in, just remained wide eyed for a moment. Then closed her eyes and let out a very deep sigh. She turned and leaned against the wall and rubbed the bridge of her nose with her fingers. Though Helga had indeed saved her from some extra embarrassment, she still felt embarrassed enough already now at hearing this information, though at least it wasn't public thankfully. "And you're sure Rhonda's not just making something up for fun?" she couldn't help but ask with a half smile, lowering her hand and glancing at Helga. For Pete's sake, this night was getting complicated and ridiculous, wasn't it?

"Oh come off it, Patty," Helga couldn't help but gently coax, leaning against the wall with her in a similar posture. "Rhonda's a princess and a gossip and self-absorbed, but she's not a liar. Okay, she's not an intentional liar." Helga rolled her eyes. "But the point is, the worst she does is exaggerate the truth a little sometimes or spread rumors that she might not be aware yet are untrue. But this is plain fact and on top of it you're her friend—if she says Torvald said he had a girlfriend and he was meeting her outside soon, then we both know Torvald does definitely have a girlfriend and she's probably outside of the restaurant right now." She looked at Patty firmly.

Patty just looked forward and nodded with a sigh. She knew Helga was right. Rhonda wouldn't lie about something like that, she just wasn't that bad of a person. "I know, Helga." Patty glanced back at the younger girl beside her, frowning a little. "I'm sorry if I'm a little hostile right now, Helga. I guess I'm just a little frustrated about everything with Harold and Torvald and now with Rhonda. And it's already been a long evening."

Helga scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Sheesh, you're telling me. Washing dishes with the Football Head at this place back when he was clueless was absolutely easier than dealing with his new good natured teasing and constant near blowing of my entire reputation in one of the most public settings in town tonight." She almost laughed at the memory of the last time they had been here: back when things with her beloved had seemed so simple, so easy—she feigned hatred, he never understood her…and every once in a while she did something half way decent for him and got a hug out from him of it. Yes, the last time they had been here during the gift certificate thing had been so simple and so easy indeed: she could so clearly recall poor, clueless Arnold washing dishes alongside her until so very late in the evening, even after Gerald and Phoebe had gone home…Poor, clueless Arnold just smiling, probably actually really enjoying himself because they were technically doing the right thing right then…Poor, clueless Arnold, every time he saw her frown, squirting her gently with the water hose until finally, in a fluster, she had just splashed him…Poor, clueless…attractive…hunky Arnold with his jacket off and shirtsleeves rolled up and that cute tie, gasping at first at being splashed but then smiling and glancing around, acting like he didn't want to get caught, before spraying her quite a bit more than usual…Oh and that had been it and then she had fought him and they had played and laughed and it had been so weird and so right! Oh, only the most gorgeous of men could still look so boss even in a hairnet, and—

"Helga!"

Patty sharply shouting her name followed by a quick (and very hard) flick to the back of her head finally brought Helga out of it! "What?!" she asked sharply but with a clear amount of surprise, blushing and blinking and breathing heavily for some reason.

Patty was just looking at her with a smirk and an eyebrow raised. "Um, you were starting to look very strange, Helga, and you were blushing and smiling and not responding…then you swooned and said something about hunky Arnold and hairnets?" Patty looked at her with genuine curiosity and almost a touch of amazement. She had never seen Helga get like that, never even imagined her that far gone about a guy. Wow, she did have it bad for him, huh?

At this news, Helga of course turned utterly scarlet. "O-Oh, well, there's…it's been a long night and, um…" she muttered out… But then she just let out a very deep sigh. She could have tried to explain and excuse it all away. She was just too tired to bother at this point though. She glanced at Patty with a half grin, speaking in a dry voice. "I suppose if I asked you to pretend this last little part of our conversation never happened, you wouldn't be inclined to cut me a break like Phoebe always does and say 'forgetting' and then never ever mention the fact that I was just drooling over a daydream/memory of Arnold ever again, right?"

Patty had to crack a smile (and Helga had been hoping for that a little—might as well use her humiliation to do some good, right?). She shrugged. "Well, pretending things that happen never happened isn't really my style. I agree with Arnold more, Helga—I think you should face issues head on if you can. But I would promise not to tell anyone about it and not to bring it up if it would embarrass you at all."

Helga sighed again, though she was smiling more now, relaxing a bit. "Yeah, that'll work." She rubbed the side of her head. "Sorry about drifting off like that—I'm over tired and over exposed to Arnold at the moment. Never a good combination for getting me to focus. Anyway…" she turned to Patty, ready to resume their conversation, "hey, it's okay if you're a little on edge tonight—you've been having a rough time lately yourself. Just try to take it out on me or something, and not on Rhonda and Harold and Torvald. Torvald's clueless in all of this so he doesn't deserve any anger, and you know you want to patch things up with Harold and Rhonda. So if you've got stuff to say, seriously toss it to me, heck give it to Arnold—he LOVES to patiently sit and forgive you while you berate him." She laughed. "Just do your best to keep cool. And hey, to make things better, just remember that this night's almost over and all we have to do for the rest of it is eat dessert. At least you're not washing dishes or finding out your date's been on another date this whole time only to have your cover half blown when the girl you're pretending to be suddenly strolls up to both of you." Helga smiled a lot more now. Yes, at the time, all of those things had seemed humiliating and awful but now…come on, it was kind of funny: right in the middle of ripping Arnold about deceiving her, her own deception gets revealed because by some cosmically improbably odds his French pen pal flies over two continents for a quick visit? It definitely couldn't help being a little funny.

"Wait, what did you say, Helga?" Patty suddenly asked curiously.

Helga was brought out of her memories. She looked at Patty with a touch of confusion. "Uh…it's okay if you're a little on edge tonight and feel free to take it out on me a bit?" Helga really didn't know which part of everything she had just said Patty wanted her to repeat.

Patty shook her head. "No, after that."

Helga thought for a second. "Just do your best to keep your cool, make up with your friends, and enjoy dessert while you're doing it?"

Patty still shook her head though. "No, Helga, after that—the last stuff. The stuff about when you and Arnold were here before. And not the dishes stuff."

Helga blinked. "Oh you mean the 'finding out your date's been on another date' and 'having your cover half blown' stuff?"

Patty nodded, scowling a bit. "Of course, Helga. Arnold did what?"

Helga blinked again and blushed a little, looking down, and said back to her quietly, trying to sound casual, "While I was tricking him into being on a date with me…h-he was also on a date with somebody else at the French restaurant next-door." She shrugged. "I mean, I was 'tricking' him so I guess I deserved it a little. I-It's not a big deal, Patty, I've gotten over it, really."

"Helga," Patty went right up in front of her, making Helga raise her head and make eye contact, "If we found out now that Harold was on a date this whole time with…I don't know, with Rhonda, what would you do?"

Helga blinked and didn't even need to hesitate before she responded simply, though in a tone indicating that she still wasn't sure what the point of this was, "Uh, grab him by the collar and threaten to knock his block off until he apologized and begged for mercy?" Patty was her friend—of course if Harold was two timing her Helga would threaten to beat the stuffing out of him.

Patty still didn't look too happy. "Well, after what you just told me, I feel a little like doing the same thing to Arnold to be honest, Helga."

Helga blinked. And even though she knew Patty probably wouldn't, of course she had to at least add calmly and seriously, "Patty…I appreciate the offer, but you have to know you'd have to get through me to ever lay a finger on him. If you'd been planning to beat him up a couple months ago for mouthing off to you instead of me, I would have thrown myself on top of him to keep him safe if I'd had to, reputation or no reputation. I practically had to do that once already when Harold threatened to beat him up at the beginning of the year."

Patty blinked. Then she raised an eyebrow and almost laughed. "Harold threatened to beat Arnold up?"

Helga sighed and told her the short version. "Football Head tends to bean people when he bats, he clocked Harold one too many times, a bunch of people screamed 'fight, fight' and you know what that does to guys, and I somehow magically bought the Football Head twenty four hours to think of a way to get out of it before he got clobbered." She almost laughed now too. "He came up with a doozy by the way. Feigned insanity."

Both girls just looked at each other. And then they shared a good laugh. Then they started heading back to the table. Everything was okay now, everything would be fine—Patty was calm and she knew the truth and she was ready to start patching things up with Harold and Rhonda, and Helga and Arnold sort of had a truce now, and the crisis with Patty talking to Torvald before she had all the facts had been averted, so everything for the rest of the night would of course wrap up just dandy. "Patty," Helga started, nearly wiping a tear of laughter from her eye, "I swear, without us, the boys wouldn't survive until middle school."

Patty just sighed and nodded, her laughter barely still under control. "I'm starting to think you're right, Helga."

Helga smiled at her. "And so, uh…no more death glares to Rhonda and kicking Harold under the table and pulling Torvald off for dramatic conversations tonight? Oh and no beating up the Football Head, of course?"

Patty smiled back at her and then nodded. "Okay, Helga. But…Helga?" A touch of seriousness came to her features.

"Yeah?" Helga replied.

Patty's seriousness continued. "I don't know if you ever really talked to Arnold about the 'having another date' thing since you said he only just found out how you feel about him. But…do talk to him about it. And get an apology. I don't care what was going on or what you were lying about. That's not right at all, Helga."

Helga looked down a little at the sudden advice, though she did manage a half smile as she added dryly, "Well, if it makes you feel any better a good third of my random hostility toward him tonight has been pretty much a direct response to memories of that little stunt of his that this evening's been bringing up. But, uh…I-I mean, in his only defense his other date was sort of with his girl of his dreams at the time," she rolled her eyes a little, "…but…yeah, when…if…y-you know, assuming some talking happens between us, that issue will definitely be being addressed."

Patty nodded. "I think that's a good idea, Helga."

Helga gave a small nod too. Then she smiled more and nudged Patty a little as they got within close distance of the table. "Alright, alright, enough of the serious stuff. Come on, we've got one more leg of this meal to get through. Ready, Patty?"

Patty smiled and nodded. "Ready, Helga."

And with that the two girls ended their conversation, happening to return to the table just as Arnold and Torvald were finally getting there and just after Rhonda and Harold had had a few pleasant peaceful minutes to psyche themselves up for dealing with everything they would have to deal with soon regarding Patty.

The first thing Helga noticed was that Arnold was blushing a little. The second thing she noticed was Torvald making eye contact with Arnold and giving him a wink and a thumbs up, which only made Arnold sigh and blush all the more. Helga, naturally, was quite interested in this little exchange. She leaned in close to Arnold and talked in a low voice only to him as Torvald set down the cake and pulled out a cake knife and server to lay on the table in preparation for eating after the flambéing occurred. "Hey Football head, great save with Torvald before. But, what, did he actually find a way to embarrass you more than you've already been embarrassed tonight? Sheesh, I'm impressed." She gave him a little nudge in the shoulder across the table…and blinked when Arnold actually shifted away from her quite a bit at that nudge, looking even more nervous and uncomfortable than before. "Uh, Arnold, you okay?" she asked with a touch of genuine concern.

Arnold just nodded, clearing his throat, his blush slowly receding. "Um…yeah, Helga. Sorry, it's just…" he sighed and shook his head, "Never mind, it's a long story." He did his best to smile at her as he asked, changing the subject, "Anyway, everything okay with Patty?"

Helga considered pushing it to find out the details of what was bugging him but then just let it go. Once again, she was getting too tired to deal with things, and again this really didn't seem like the best venue for intimate talks. She just smiled at him and nodded. "Yup. A-Okay."

A touch of happiness and relief came to Arnold's gaze. "I'm glad Helga. Good job."

Helga's grin picked up on one side. "Thanks, paste for brains. You did a good job too."

Arnold laughed and was about to say something else back when…

"Hey you two, no secret whispering and giggling until after dinner," Torvald suddenly interrupted with a grin, leaning between them as he centered the cake on the table.

Helga just looked confused.

Arnold just looked totally embarrassed again.

Helga decided to let it go, chalking up Arnold's weird behavior right now to some of his natural dramatics about social things and possibly to his stress about having to be a little deceptive this evening to work everything out. She looked to her three other dinner companions instead. "Oookay, anyway, thanks for your patience Harold, Rhonda. Hope you two had enough of a chance to chat, make sure everything's cool." She made eye contact with Rhonda now as she spoke, "And Patty's very happy to be back here too even if she didn't get to do that 'thing' she was so gung ho to go and do."

Rhonda smiled, looking relieved. Patty just rolled her eyes to the side, though she couldn't help half smiling at Helga's way of putting things. Harold looked confused and Arnold was still just dealing with the fact that apparently according to a bunch of people he had some massive attraction to Helga G. Pataki that he wasn't aware of but that was the most obvious thing in the world to everyone else. And the worst part was he couldn't stop thinking about that idea now at all! And the idea that Helga was still mere inches away from him…still kind of funny and pretty too…and still sort of a woman who had sort of given him his first kiss…his first date…first love confession. Arnold really just wanted to go home now and rest on his bed and take another one of those 'long hard looks at his life' that he felt like were becoming a more and more frequent necessity as he got older.

"Alright, guys, well there's the cake," said Torvald with a smile, standing up and brushing his hands together proudly. "My boss'll be over here in a sec to do the flambé part. Anyway, if you guys don't need anything else, I've just gotta run back to the kitchen for a sec and then get going. You four aren't the only one with dates tonight." He chuckled a little.

(In his happiness to be getting off of work and seeing his girlfriend, and also due to how much Patty and Arnold and Helga had distracted him on his way to their table from the kitchen, Torvald had forgotten to bring them dessert plates, though he didn't realize that fact.)

Patty and Harold looked down with a touch of shyness and discomfort at the 'date' comment, and coming from Torvald of all people. Helga just rolled her eyes, not letting it phase her anymore, and not wanting to give Rhonda any ammunition by acting panicky about the accusation of being on a date. Rhonda was too focused on smiling at the idea of Harold and Patty on a date, though, to notice Helga and Arnold much. Arnold was just sitting there slouching with his arms crossed over his chest and his face blushing and a light scowl upon his features. He was still brooding. He was starting to be mad at himself for insisting earlier that the things he and Helga did together were dates. But more importantly why was everyone just deciding for him that he had some kind of thing for Helga and wanted to be going on dates with her in the first place? The most annoying part of it all though was that he knew the truth—that Helga was the one with the thing for him! And part of him wanted to just tell that to people as a means of defending himself. After all, shouldn't he be the one to decide if he liked Helga like that? Shouldn't it be up to him to decide if he had a thing for her before other people did? It frustrated him. This was another situation he would have to talk to Helga about, he decided…even if the very thought of doing so made him ready to blush hotly at how awkward it might be. He sighed mentally. This wasn't even about the idea of him having feelings for Helga, honestly. He was just tired of feeling pushed around and put on the spot. He didn't like all these little jokes and suggestions…and now he was starting to understand how they must have made Helga feel when he was the one making them to her. No wonder she had been resistant to the idea of acknowledging her feelings to him at all. But it was nice of her to be willing to try now.

"No, Torvald, everything's great. You go and have fun, and thank you so much for everything tonight," Rhonda decided to answer for the table with a smile and a wave as her other four dinner companions seemed lost in their own reflections and concerns.

"Thanks guys. See ya! Have a good night. Oh and see you tomorrow, Patty!" Torvald gave the table a wave and then dashed off to the kitchen.

Left alone, the table of five sat in silence for a moment.

Then a content Helga sighed and picked up a spoon, eating some of her nearly untouched chocolate mousse. "Well, I don't know about you chuckleheads, but I am certainly looking forward to stuffing myself with dessert, heading home and sleeping til noon tomorrow."

"Well, I'm looking forward to my cousin's Bat Mitzvah party…You can't go to that, right, Patty? Because you have plans…and I guess you're seeing Torvald tomorrow," left Harold in a level and calm enough voice.

Patty scowled. She was about to say something to him.

But then Harold went on with a deep breath, even managing to make eye contact with her, "But, um…th-that's alright of course. You had plans and he's your friend. So if you have to spend some time tomorrow with him for some reason, that's okay." He managed a little bit of a smile and added, "Just…talk to me know sooner next time if you can and have to change our plans…alright, Patty? Please. I'm sorry if I ever made you feel like you couldn't though."

Rhonda smiled, Helga grinned, Arnold looked on with interest. Patty blinked. This was very new. "Um…well, thank you, Harold. And it's alright…and I'll try to mention it sooner next time if it's going to change anything we're already doing." She looked pleasantly surprised.

Harold's eyes brightened and his smile grew. "Thanks, Patty."

Patty smiled a more too. "You're welcome, Harold."

Rhonda practically clapped at the little display. Helga nearly giggled. She couldn't help leaning close to Arnold across the table, though her eyes were still on Harold and Patty, and whispering, "Hey, if only you and I could learn to communicate that easily, right, Football Head? It'd probably make those 'dates' we go on go a lot more smoothly."

She expected a chuckle from Arnold. She was making a joke, after all, and they had sort of agreed that some jokes between them about this stuff could be okay. Instead, though, he didn't really say anything and it caused her to glance at him. He was blushing and looking down with a small frown.

She raised part of her brow, looking at him curiously. "Football Head?"

"I thought you said they weren't dates unless we agreed they were dates, Helga."

Helga blinked at the short and rather chilly reply from her normally warm and helpful beloved, but otherwise just kept looking at him curiously.

Arnold let out a small, frustrated sigh and shrugged.

Helga frowned a touch, she couldn't help it.

And Arnold probably wouldn't have done a thing to help correct that frowning if he hadn't looked up and seen it happening. It was just so soft and small and sincere—a simple gesture and it attracted his eye. He shouldn't take this out on her, should he, just because he was frustrated? She was just being herself. And he had promised to hear her out, to even have fun with this if they could. She trusted him a little, he couldn't risk that trust just because he was starting to be upset with some other people about the situation between them. He smiled softly at her. "Sorry. Um…it was a joke. I guess we really do need to communicate better."

Helga's smile returned and it made Arnold's smile light up quite a bit.

Rhonda did notice this small exchange. And it made her smile almost as much as Harold and Patty getting along just now. She almost wanted to say something to them, but didn't want to interrupt the moment.

"Ah, Miss Wellington-Lloyd, I see your cake is ready. I hope it is to your satisfaction," Jacques, suddenly appearing at her side, asked Rhonda.

Rhonda smiled brightly and nodded up at him. "Oh yes, it's quite breathtaking as usual. My personal compliments to the chef again."

Jacques nodded, looking smug like he had a job well done under his belt. "Oui, mademoiselle. And we shall do the flambéing tout suite. I will return shortly with the torch and—oh, sacre bleu, you need dessert plates, of course. A thousand apologies, Mademoiselle Rhonda, it is so hard to find good help these days. Your clean plates will be here in just a moment." And with that promise Jacques dashed off speedily.

…Just as he did, Torvald happened to be leaving the kitchen with his take home bag for his mother. He gave the table members a little wave again as he reached their area. "Goodnight again, guys." He paused for just a second to check his wristwatch. "Uh oh, I'm definitely late. I hope she's not upset or anything."

It was at that point that Ruth P. McDougal finally walked into Chez Pierre looking for her boyfriend. As soon as though two strange younger guys had passed her by, Ruth had finished texting whomever she had been texting, and then she had gotten bored. And so she had entered the restaurant right after them and walked past them (for some reason they were hanging out behind a potted plant and looking at some younger guy with tall hair who was standing near the entrance and appeared to be looking toward a particular table patiently with his arms crossed over his chest—go figure).

Ruth closed her cell phone, dropping it into her handbag as she glanced around herself a bit. She stopped one of the busboys who was passing by. "Um, excuse me, do you know where Torvald is?"

The guy smiled and gestured toward the center of the restaurant with his head before having to dash off with a tray of food to a nearby table.

Ruth proceeded in that direction, not particularly annoyed or particularly excited, just looking for her boyfriend. Funny, the direction the busboy had sent her in happened to be the direction in which that tall-haired kid being watched by the other two kids behind the plant was looking.

When Ruth's eyes found Torvald finally she smiled a little and adjusted one of the barrettes in her hair.

Done checking his watch, Torvald looked up as his friends all gave him a final wave and a smile (even Harold). He smiled back at them and then turned forward…and then he smiled a lot more. "Oh, hi, Ruth!"

At the sound of that name—it didn't even have to be designating Ruth P. McDougall necessarily, but it was just the sound of the name itself—Arnold spazzed so terribly that his chair nearly fell backward and he knocked over two empty water glasses on the table.

Helga only processed the name by having a half smirk come almost unconsciously to her face. Arnold's reaction really got her attention, though, and made her think for a second.

And then, of course, Ruth P. McDougall walked right over to the table so that the fun could really begin.

Torvald smiled and turned back to the table. "Hey guys, before I go let me introduce you to my girlfriend, Ruth. I think some of you sort of know her—Patty, you've got class with her. And Rhonda, she was at one of your party's once, I think."

Torvald glanced at Rhonda who smiled and nodded. "Yes, of course—I always invite the sixth graders. Very fashionable and such a more mature crowd than those brutish fifth graders." She nodded in satisfaction to herself, then looked to the sixth grade girl whom she did indeed recognize. "Ruth, darling, fabulous to see you—I love what you've done with your hair," Rhonda offered in her debutante way to Ruth.

Ruth smiled and gently touched one of her barrettes again. "Thank you, um…Rhonda…Wellington Lloyd, right?"

Rhonda nodded in confirmation. "Yes, of course. Rhonda Wellington Lloyd at your service."

"Hi Ruth," said Patty politely with a half smile to the girl and a wave. She and Ruth didn't really associate much. It wasn't that Ruth was mean to her or anything, they just didn't seem to share many common interests. Sort of like Rhonda and Helga, a little, come to think of it. But Patty still knew her from sight at least.

Ruth gave a small wave back to her. "Oh, hey, Patty." She smiled in her usual soft, kind of vacant way.

Torvald, still beaming happily, then turned is attention to the three people at the table whom he guessed might be less familiar with his girlfriend. "And Ruth, these are my friends Harold, Arnold and Helga."

Harold gave a very happy friendly wave and smile to the older girl. "Hi." His smile grew. Torvald's…girlfriend. Torvald had a girlfriend, which meant he wasn't looking for a girlfriend. This was the most fantastic thing that had happened all night, in Harold's humble opinion: it completely made up for the hijinks and unfortunate coincidences and exasperating misunderstandings that had seemed to plague him and his friends for two days now. Completely. Harold felt better than he had felt all night.

And now to take a look at the two most interesting people for Torvald to be introducing Ruth P. McDougal to.

For at least another second or two, Helga and Arnold were just…still…well…

Ever since their surprise guest had shown up Arnold had been blushing deeply and hotly, and he had proceeded to bury himself in a stray dessert menu lying on the table until, of course, he had literally been able to feel Helga's eyes boring hot holes into him and had finally looked up at her hesitantly to meet her gaze.

She was just watching him with a terrible deal of interest and a little smirk on her lips that he knew too well.

So, while Torvald had been letting Rhonda and Patty and Ruth get reacquainted and introducing Ruth to Harold, Helga had been in the process of giving Arnold a sort of half lidded look that suggested pure satisfaction and a readiness to strike, and Arnold had been giving her one of his sternest looks of disapproval and refusal which basically suggested that he was not going to be okay with her doing that and that he was absolutely refusing approval for her to do that instead of just gently suggesting the she not do it as was usually the most he implied with one of his looks.

So they had been in a bit of a stalemate for a bit. And Arnold was desperate, though he tried to hide it. Yes, he very desperate, in fact, because…well, fine, if Helga had just wanted to serve him some brief little revenge by making a few sly comments regarding him to Ruth, it honestly didn't matter to him that much. The Ruth ship had sailed with him a long time ago. He was happy that Torvald seemed to be happy with her, but honestly…she was nice but talking to her was just…exhausting. She was just very simple underneath the pretty looks and the occasional good deed. Not that simple was a bad thing—it made her honest and straightforward. But it had been boring to him. He didn't want simple, he wanted something to think about with someone. It had been much more fun imagining who she was—making up this deep, complicated woman—than actually getting to know her, in short. And when the reality had not proved to live up to the fantasy he had lost interest, plain and simple. So, his point was that if Helga had wanted to make him feel a little uncomfortable right now about his Ruth crush, maybe even work in a silent crack about his date with her last Valentine's Day, Arnold would take it, he didn't care.

What he had realized suddenly now, though, was that there was a reason he wanted Helga to stay away from Ruth and Ruth to stay away from Helga: he simply couldn't bear the humiliation of Helga finding out that during his entire date with Ruth last Valentine's Day the sixth grader had never seen him as anything more than a busboy occasionally popping in with breadsticks.

He knew it shouldn't matter to him, or at least it shouldn't matter as desperately to him as it did…and he knew that it especially shouldn't make any difference whether Helga found out or anybody else. But it did, it desperately did…and he really didn't want Helga to know.

He guessed there might be some certain reasons for this strong preference of his, but he really did not want to deal with them right now. All he wanted was for his stern look to win out, and for Helga to be as non-inquisitive about this whole thing as she could be.

But Helga didn't know just how desperate he was, so could she really be blamed for not taking pity on him? Honestly, though, even if she had had an inkling of his desperation, she would have pried anyway, of course, just out of pure curiosity.

And so, after Torvald's introduction, Helga turned to Ruth with a pleasant smile and half lidded eyes, tucking some of her hair behind one of her ears. "Ruth P. McDougall… how nice to see you. Don't know if you remember me but my name is Helga G. Pataki…" 'And I spent the better part of second and third grade trying to trick you into a crate and ship you off to Siberia, you training bra wearing, Football head enticing, barrette loving bimbo…' Helga couldn't help but add mentally to herself as she continued to smile. She gave the quickest glance in Arnold's direction at the sound of him sighing now, and saw him apparently settling on burying his face in the dessert menu again. "Arnold," she addressed him in a friendly way, "Say hi to our visitor—Torvald's girlfriend. Ruth P. McDougall. Sheesh, don't bury yourself in a menu, Football Head. Crimeny, did you lose something in there?" She laughed and then in the lightest mumble so only he would hear she suggested, "Your dignity, perhaps?"

Arnold moved the menu down and gave her such a frustrated look complete with a little frown that he probably thought would be intimidating but that Helga merely found adorable. Indeed, she only grinned all the more.

Arnold managed to just let out a little slow breath to calm himself down a bit. And then he ignored Helga for the moment to glance in Ruth's general direction and say politely, "H-Hi Ruth. It's nice to see you. I'm Arnold. I hope you and Torvald have a good time tonight. He sounds like he's been looking forward to seeing you all evening." Then Arnold looked back to Helga with defiance again. "Helga G. Pataki, can I have a word with you by the bathroom? Now, please." The please was a clear formality. Arnold was very serious. He didn't know what he would say to her, but he needed to say something.

Helga was loving this. Like, loving this as in she would have built a shrine to this moment and composed sonnets about it if she'd had some raw materials and a pen and the time right now. "Oh, we'll have plenty of time for talking later on the walk home, Football Head," she joked, waving him off. She turned back to Ruth eagerly. "Anyway, Ruth," she leaned her head on her hand, "So, you and Torvald are an item, huh? Well I for one think that is superb."

"I agree!" Harold couldn't help but chime in enthusiastically, which made Patty give him a gentle kick under the table. "Ow!" he said quietly, looking at her. That really was about the half dozenth time she had done that tonight and it was starting to bug him a little. Not to mention his leg was starting to hurt.

Patty just sighed and shook her head, though she was smiling a little at least. She looked to Torvald and Ruth. "I…I think that's great too." And in truth she really did. She didn't have romantic feelings for Torvald. Not really. Granted, it had felt nice thinking that maybe another guy had some kind of attraction to her, and there had been a part of her at certain points this evening just dying to use that possibility to make Harold jealous to get back at him for bugging her so much lately. But as for her own, real, sincere feelings, she did not like Torvald like that. And it really was nice to see him with someone special of his own.

"Oh me too! I think you two make just a superb couple," Rhonda chimed in politely now, and also feeling very happy for Patty and for Harold at the moment. So everything really had been a big misunderstanding and nobody was trying to steal anybody from anybody and there was never a love triangle to begin with. It was actually a great denouement to the very juicy story Rhonda had found herself a part of this evening.

"Don't you think that's just swell too, Arnold?" Helga suddenly asked now, leaning close to Arnold over the table. The satisfied smirk on her face was at its peak of pleasure.

Arnold was just giving such a dry look back to Helga G. Pataki. And right now, that compulsion of his for fighting with Helga G. Pataki he had come to recognize was particularly strong with him. He was going to have a lot to say to her when he walked her home, and he wanted her to say a lot back…But he managed to resist for now. He gave a soft sigh and smiled a little and looked up at Ruth and Torvald again. "I do. I really, really do think it's good that you guys are together." His smile grew a little then. It was very genuine. "I'm happy for you guys. Ruth seems really nice, Torvald."

"Thanks, guys," Torvald smiled appreciatively at his friends, taking Ruth's hand with his free one.

Ruth smiled too. "Yeah, thanks. Um…" Then she was looking at Arnold closely. And then she blinked. "Oh hey, I know you from somewhere."

Now, Helga, despite her total satisfaction with putting Arnold on the spot here, was not planning to announce to everyone around them that Arnold had been on a date in this general area with Ruth last Valentine's Day. Besides the obvious reason that she only wanted to bug Arnold and not completely devastate his humble little self with awkwardness, Torvald was standing right there and the last thing she needed was for him to have some kind of jealous outburst and pin her beloved Football Head to a wall and beat the stuffing out of him. But she did want to subtly dangle the whole memory in front of Arnold's nose a bit more if she could. This night had stressed her out so much and it felt so good to have some good old-fashioned 'bugging Arnold' fun. "Oh I don't know about that," Helga announced with a big grin to Ruth's observation that she knew Arnold from somewhere. She gazed even more at Arnold. "Arnold doesn't really go out much. Except for the occasional holiday or something. Right, Arnold?" 'Crimeny, I would love a transcript of this part of the entire evening,' she thought to herself greedily.

Arnold opened his mouth and wanted to speak, but at the same time he felt like anything he might say would snowball the two of them into another little fight that really needed to wait to happen for a bit. Also he figured, no matter what he said, Helga would turn it into something embarrassing.

"Hey, you were my busboy at that Chez Pierre restaurant a few months ago, weren't you?" Ruth asked Arnold then with half a smile of recognition.

Helga blinked and looked at her with part of her brow raised in confusion. "Huh?"

"Huh?" Harold too.

"Huh?" And Patty.

"Huh?" And a super curious and intrigued Rhonda.

Arnold just let out a deep sigh and blushed a little and looked down with a small swallow and shrugged, his hands clasped together on the table. "I-I think that you might be confusing me with someone else."

Ruth just looked at him curiously though. "No, no…I'm pretty sure it was you. You were dressed just the same and everything. And I remember you brought me breadsticks while I waited for that Anonymous guy who never showed up. And then you kept leaving and popping back over to see how I was doing. I told you all about how Jenny Stiletto copied my hairstyle in the third grade, like she thought of it first, and how annoying that was. I remember. It was weird though—the other busboys didn't seem to know you."

Torvald blinked, looking at Arnold curiously. "Arnold, you never told me that you ever worked at Chez Pierre. And aren't you too young to have a job like that anyway?"

Suddenly everyone was looking at Arnold and it felt to him like the whole world was looking at him.

No one else really got, of course, thankfully, what was going on. But unfortunately, Arnold had to watch as it all slowly click with Helga. She blinked and her mouth opened a little, and then she seemed to absorb everything. She still looked almost in disbelief though. "Arnold…"

Arnold just sighed and looked down a lot. He didn't even know what to say. He had half a mind to just get up, walk out, and go home. He felt humiliated. "I…um…" he just started in a mumble. "I-It was a long time ago." It was the only thing he could think of to say. It did feel like ages ago though as a matter of fact come to think of it.

Luckily, at this point Jacques returned, dessert plates in hand. "I apologize again for the delay, Mademoiselle Rhonda." Jacques turned to her as he finished handing out the plates.

Rhonda blinked a few times, coming out of whatever her interest was with what was going on with Arnold and Helga. "Oh, uh, oui, Jacques, merci beaucoup."

"Bon." He bowed. "I'll just get the kitchen torch and then I shall light the cake." He departed quickly again.

"Mmm hmm, that's fine, Jacques." Rhonda managed to give him a quick glance and a nod and a half smile as he dashed off to do her bidding yet again. Then Rhonda looked down pensively and bit her lip in thought. She was trying to understand why she had this intuitive feeling that something about Arnold being a busboy was important even though that seemed to be about the dullest piece of information about anybody she had come across so far this weekend. She just had a feeling though…

Patty got it a little better, though—the truth about what Arnold 'being a busboy' might have meant. It had taken her a few moments longer than Helga and a few more guesses, but she had sort of started to piece together the truth too considering the revelations that Helga had made to her so far this evening. And she couldn't help but frown in a touch of pity at poor Arnold. Sure, it might have been a little jerky of him to keep two dates at once, but no one deserved humiliation like what it seemed had happened to him with Ruth. And no one deserved to have it exposed like this all of a sudden.

Meanwhile, though, it really was getting a bit late. And Torvald had much more interest in going off to hang out with his girlfriend after work than in prying into Arnold's adventures as an underage busboy. "Well, anyway," Torvald glanced at his watch again, and then looked back to the table of his peers and squeezed Ruth's hand, "We really should get going. Enjoy dessert, guys. Bye!"

"Bye, everyone," said Ruth with a wave. Then she turned to Torvald and smiled as they both walked away. "Your friends are nice, Torvald. I like spending time with fourth graders—they're so sweet. They sort of remind me of babysitting my little cousins."

"Yeah," Torvald agreed before they both went out of earshot, "They're pretty cool. Like having a bunch of awesome little brothers and sisters."

Back at the table, Harold and Patty were happy again at least, even if Patty was a little distracted with being worried about Arnold and Helga. Rhonda seemed content and rather happy—she was in the center of a lot of very interesting developments and she liked that—though she still felt like she was missing a piece of the truth of something that had happened just now.

Helga…needed a minute. And understandably so. "U-Um…" she managed before 'accidentally' dropping her napkin on the ground. "O-Oh dear, my napkin. I-I'll get it…" She pushed back her chair and ducked under the table yet again this evening, though this time by herself.

Though Arnold figured the others might not be hearing it as they ate their desserts and focused on other things, his embarrassed ears then picked up every quiet snicker that happened under there over the next thirty seconds as he imagined Helga trying not to break into full bouts of laughter.

Finally she came back up, napkin in hand, face red, tears nearly in her eyes. "Erm…found it," she managed before taking a breath, letting it out and then finally seeming calm again as she resumed her seat.

Poor Arnold had decided he would not be making eye contact with Helga again this evening. He knew it maybe wasn't fair but he was frustrated with her—like she had been the one to reveal the truth of that Valentine's night regarding himself and Ruth instead of Ruth. And even though Ruth really had been the one to say the actual words, he still felt like Helga had compelled them with how she had spoken to Ruth. And besides he just…couldn't look at her. He just couldn't.

After all, look at the difference between their two Valentine evenings: Helga had gone in, flying blind, on a date with the person she liked (loved) and she had managed to make him like her, really, really like her. He had gone in on a date with a person he liked and…she had never even realized they had been on a date at all. He felt just ridiculous. No wonder she wanted to laugh. He couldn't even blame her.

Though Arnold couldn't see it, Helga was really doing her best to be nice again right now. Honestly, her first instinct had been laughter—not cruel or malicious laughter, but a little giggle fit at least that she had not only hidden under the table but done her best to control while she had been under there. But really, the bus boy! The bus boy?! The entire time Ruth had thought…really? Oh it was so wacky, it actually sounded like something that might happen to herself but worse! Talk about having your plans blow up in your face! At least she had convinced Arnold that she was his date! And all of that worrying she'd done over the years about Ruth snatching up Arnold…all of it seemed so silly now! The realization practically made her giddy to think of. She looked at Arnold, hoping to catch his eye, hoping to get a frustrated pout from him or better yet a smile of his own at the silliness of it all. She could laugh about that night now and other nights in their past, certainly her always sensible and mature beloved could as well?

Arnold would not look at her though. At all. It made Helga smile at him curiously for a moment. Then it made her frown a little, and think. She thought… But their truce, hadn't they finally worked out…maybe not everything but at least something? At least some way to have a relationship together and to actually be happy with it? And yet Arnold right now didn't look happy at all. He was just sitting there, staring at his melting chocolate mousse, his mind obviously elsewhere. She sighed and did the first thing she thought of—casually saying something playfully insulting to him. That usually broke the ice between them. "Well, at least if we need anything else tonight, even if Torvald's gone, Arnold's got some bus boy experience." She shrugged, addressing the table but still looking to Arnold. 'Come on, Football Head, don't be a spoiled sport—lighten up!' she thought to herself hopefully…though she still feared something might be wrong.

"And if we need to order anything else, you can do it, Helga, since you speak French so well just like when you accidentally ordered cow brains and eggs and ate almost the whole plate before you finally realized what it was. ," Arnold very suddenly and very simply announced right back to her with a very unhappy look. "I guess that comes from all that time you spent living in the Loire Valley, hmm?"

Helga nearly chocked on her chocolate mousse bite that she was in the middle of taking. Patty blinked. Harold had a smile of realization come to his features. "Oh, so that's what you guys meant when you were talking about eating brains. Okay, I get it now."

Rhonda looked grossed out and also confused. "Helga, you ate brains…and you can speak French? Oooh and when did you live in the Loire valley? Mummy and Daddy and I have a summer house there but I've never heard of you going abroad?"

Arnold finally smiled again this evening.

"Arnold, that's not funny!" Helga announced firmly, clearing her throat. She didn't want other people knowing all of that! It made her feel embarrassed and the brains stuff still made her feel gross.

Arnold looked to her eyes with that smile. "Neither is me being a busboy."

For a moment the two of them just looked at each other very stubbornly.

But then the sides of their mouths twitched. It was so hard not to smile—busboy and brains…and they liked doing this, all of this zaniness, all of this confrontation…Ugh, it was draining and exhausting but they did like it. How could they not smile eventually, even if they were both a little upset with each other? They even started to laugh a little together.

It was then that Gerald finally decided to approach the table. You see, upon first entering the restaurant several minutes ago, it had taken Gerald a while to even visually locate his best friend's table—this task had not been helped by the fact that for quite a few minutes around the time Gerald had entered neither Arnold nor his hostess Patty had been at the table but rather off dealing with the 'Patty trying to talk to Torvald too soon' incident with Helga (whom Gerald still did not know was at this dinner anyway). Then, when Arnold had finally returned to his table (where Rhonda and Harold of all people were sitting too for some reason), Gerald had seen him caught up in talking to Rhonda and Harold as well as Patty and as well as…some blond girl who…Oh. Gerald's eyes had gone wide, he had recognized her, even from behind, in an instant—that Cecile girl, or rather the blond chick who had faked being Arnold's pen pal Cecile last Valentine's Day.

Not only had Gerald felt hesitant about interrupting the last few minutes of Arnold's meal if he could help it, but he absolutely refused to intrude on Arnold finally getting to see 'Cecile' again unless it was absolutely necessary. Arnold had really seemed to like that girl but he had never been able to find her again until tonight. So what luck ending up at a group dinner with her this evening! Maybe she was a cousin or friend of Patty's or something. Anyway, Gerald figured if there was one thing his man needed it was to spend an evening with a nice, normal, sweet young lady for a change…It beat spending the afternoon with a furious Helga G. Pataki holding you up by your collar and threatening to pound you for looking at her wrong, at least.

But now it really was getting late. They had all probably already missed the previews and stuff. Gerald figured maybe Arnold wouldn't still want to go to the movie, of course, if he was really enjoying the end of this group date, but he at least wanted to acknowledge his best friend, remind him about the flick in case he really had forgotten and really did still want to go, and just wish him a good night and good luck either way.

So he went over to the table.

And now that Gerald and moved, Sid and Stinky, who had been hiding behind that large potted plant near the door, as Ruth had noted, followed cautiously after Gerald, both grinning ear to ear. By the time the two of them had snuck in, all the occupants of Arnold's table had been seated again…and guess what thirteen year old fourth grader and what sixth grade female bully they had seen sitting right across from each other and sharing occasional smiles? Oh this was going to be so funny…And hey it looked like Arnold was here with some chick too—maybe they could give him the business a bit as well (they didn't want to be mean to either Harold or Arnold, they just wanted to get one over on them in a joking buddy-buddy kind of way). And…Rhonda was here too? Eh, but Rhonda was everywhere, and she and Patty were friends besides. Not a huge surprise there. Heck, maybe she was on one of those 'double super secret dates' Curly bragged that he would have with her sometimes. Whatever, the point was, Rhonda's presence was small potatoes compared with her other dinner companions for this evening.

They would hang back until it was too late, if Gerald saw them, for him to shoo them out of the restaurant. Then they would pounce.

"Arnold! Hey Arnold!" Gerald called with a smile, approaching the table in a friendly and calm manner. "So, how's your dinner going?"

"Gerald!" Arnold announced in surprise. Arnold had not figured Gerald would go to the trouble of actually coming into the restaurant and looking for him. This…could possibly have negative consequences. "Um…it's great!" Arnold sat up nervously and leaned on his elbow far across the table, trying to block Helga a little. "I'm sorry, I forgot about meeting you for the movie after dinner, heh. Um…we still have dessert to finish and everything so why don't you just go back to the theatre and I-I'll see you later?" Now was not the time for Gerald—the only other person he knew who had ever seen 'Cecile'—to realize Helga was Cecile. That revelation had almost made Arnold pass out from reeling from it, he couldn't imagine what it would do to Gerald.

Gerald blinked, looking at his friend curiously. "Um…" Arnold was acting funny, no question—but why was Arnold acting funny, "Oookay." Maybe better to leave it alone for now, this place was kind of crowded after all. So Gerald figured he'd just say his goodbyes and be on his way, he'd catch the second segment of the Evil Twin triple feature at the duplex, and then give Arnold a call tomorrow to find out the details of his evening. He especially wanted to know about Cecile. Gerald smiled at his best friend. "Well, have a good night then, man." Then he smiled at the other people at the table and addressed them. "And you guys have a good night too, Harold, Patty, Rhonda…" Gerald had taken a step back toward the door, which had caused his angle on the table to shift just slightly…He made eye contact with the blond, ready to wish her a goodnight too…Then Gerald's eyes went wide.

Helga was just looking down and trying mercilessly to pull her hair over one of her eyes and she felt like she was shaking inside. What was Gerald doing here…Gerald…oh for crying out loud… She felt even woozier than when she had stepped into this restaurant only to feel a hand touch her shoulder from behind and Arnold's voice announce 'Cecile!'

Now, Gerald had seen this Cecile girl before of course, and quite up close…but never in such revealing lighting and never with little to none of her hair covering her face at the moment. And so the name about to come from his lips may have been 'Cecile'…but a few moments of observation quickly changed it to… "Uh…H-Helga? Helga G. Pataki?"

Helga let out such a deep sigh and blushed very distinctly, though she scowled and sat up straight and crossed her arms over her chest to seem much more intimidating than she felt. "Take a picture, it'll last longer. Doi." She mumbled angrily. If she was going down right now—really and truly going down—she was at least going to go down clinging to some poise and dignity.

Gerald blinked several times, then turned to his best friend with an eyebrow raised and his mouth quirked to the side. "Arnold, I thought you said tonight wasn't one of those 'Helga has a gift certificate' things? And why does she look like Cecile?"

"Who's Cecile?" asked Harold in a whisper, which caused both Rhonda and Patty to elbow him to keep him silent, Rhonda because she wanted to listen, Patty because she knew who Cecile was and she didn't want Helga to end up embarrassed by having her own entire secret about Valentine's Day revealed.

Arnold just blinked and blushed a tiny bit then smiled sheepishly and was about to open his mouth to speak and try to explain things to Gerald.

It was at that point though that Gerald's mind connected that Cecile and Helga were the same person…and then bunches and bunches of questions and concerns arose in his mind, as his sudden wide eyed look of confusion and awe made apparent. "Wait…" he cut off Arnold and then looked at back Helga very, very closely.

It made Helga swallow and look away from him and lean away from him a little too.

"You…" Gerald paused again in speaking… "the last time…but why would you…Arnold, did you know that she…" There was a glance to his best friend, then he looked back at Helga. "And now you're…" Then another look back to his best friend. "Um, Arnold? Can I talk to you for a second, maybe out by the fountain or by the bathrooms or someth—"

"Oh for Pete's sake, no more asides tonight! Crimeny!" Helga suddenly loudly announced, tossing her napkin down on her plate and breathing heavily with a scowl. "It feels like every six seconds someone at this table has been pulling someone away from this table or whispering something to someone across this table or pulling someone under this table! No one is leaving this table anymore, no more secret conversations—this whole night has been starting to feel more like a bad attempt at a Shakespeare play than a simple dinner out." Then she whipped her head around to Gerald and added, "And Geraldo, whatever the heck I do in my private time with your best friend is none of your business, got it, bucko?! Now stop standing there like a slack-jawed idiot and go off and go to the movies or whatever silly thing you've got planned this evening because I am not in a patient mood right now!" She glared at him defiantly.

Gerald just blinked, still looking overwhelmed with surprise.

Arnold decided to speak up about what he was doing here and to get things moving alone. "Um…sorry, Helga…everyone. I-I was supposed to meet up with Gerald to go to the movies if we got through with dinner early enough tonight, but I sort of forgot about it. Sorry…" he looked at Gerald, really trying to communicate something to him, "Gerald, um…I-I know you're a little confused but if you'll just go now and meet me tomorrow I can explain everything. We just still haven't finished dessert yet and…it's complicated…Ow!" Arnold winced a little—apparently it had been his turn to get a gentle kick in the shin.

"Like heck you'll explain everything, Football Head," Helga suddenly defiantly whispered over to him, still blushing away.

Arnold blinked a few times and then blushed and looked away. Okay, perhaps a poor choice of words. He swallowed and looked over at her. "Helga, I just meant that I'd give him an explanation, not that I'd tell him…you know…" He blushed and glanced to the side. "Come on, Helga, you know I'd never tell about that."

"Tell about what?" Rhonda couldn't help but ask in interest.

She was stopped by a scowl and a firm look from Patty. "None of your business, Rhonda."

Helga, meanwhile, was just blushing and glancing away defiantly as ever. "Fine. Whatever, Arnold." Well, at least she had gotten the assurance that he wouldn't spill his guts to his best friend about her obsessive love for him. That was something.

Gerald still looked a touch disbelieving about all of this and couldn't help opening his mouth, about to protest a little again, when suddenly of course Sid and Stinky finally decided to approach the table.

"Gosh this place is fancy!" Stinky couldn't help but remark with a grin as he looked around. "They've got people playin' violins and fancy chandeliers and everythin'!"

Gerald blinked and went wide eyed and turned around to their friends. "Guys! What did I tell you about staying outside?!"

Sid and Stinky just ignored him though, with Sid remarking as they stopped before the table and finished glancing around at the restaurant and now turned their attention to their friends. "Yeah, sheesh, dinner in this joint must be pricey. No wonder last time you and Arnold only came here because you had that gift certificate from Helga…HELGA!" Sid stopped short, crashing into Stinky and nearly causing both boys to collide with the table. Guess whom they had just set their sights on.

"Mm…" This little near squeak or whimper of something escaped from the back of Helga's throat and she felt like she couldn't breathe now. Rhonda seeing her like this here was bad enough but at least they had a sort of truce at the moment, Harold had been pretty cool about the whole thing so far actually, Patty and Arnold practically knew everything about her feelings and Valentine's escapades already, and as for Geraldo Helga could always just threaten him to make him forget seeing her tonight or she could get Phoebe to sweet talk him a little about the whole thing. And Torvald—Torvald wouldn't care! He had a girlfriend, he had a job, he was thirteen, he had better things to do than care about her shenanigans with Arnold. But now two more…how would she ever keep track of the number of people who knew that she…she…about Arnold…she…she genuinely felt lightheaded to be honest, and put a hand to her forehead for a moment to try and calm herself a little.

From across the table Arnold was watching her with a great deal of concern. "Helga…" Gerald's realization and the sudden appearance of two more of their friends didn't matter to him. The fact that Helga looked like she might be genuinely ill mattered to him.

"Ha ha ha! Look, Helga's all dolled up like a girl again!" Sid pointed and laughed, doubling over a little.

Forget Harold and Patty for the moment—pot shots at Helga were too good to pass up, especially after she had yelled at them on the bus Friday afternoon and made a crack about no girl wanting to date either of them.

"Heh, garsh," Stinky added with a grin, "Sid's right, you do look right girly, Helga. Like you were on a date or something."

"Shut up or I'll shove a high heeled shoe down each of your throats, you dolts," Helga grumbled angrily under her breath, turning red with anger and blushing at once, barely able to look at them. Ugh, it was so hard to feel intimidating in pumps and a skirt and a blouse.

They just kept laughing though. "And speaking of dates," Sid suddenly grinned in Harold's direction, totally ignoring the dark scowl Gerald was giving him and Stinky. "Harold…I guess we were right, you really are dating Big Patty, aren't you?" He elbowed his friend—might as well get in the jokes they had come here for too as long as the opportunity remained available, right?

Patty scowled at them and it took everything she had not to punch a fist into her palm in an intimidating gesture. But it was really, really hard not to.

Harold scowled and blushed a little. "Hey, shut up! What, we can't go out to dinner with some other people? That's why Arnold and Helga are here!"

"Oh and me!" Rhonda chimed in with a smile. "I wasn't invited to the dinner party but my family was here eating before and I decided to pop on over and say hi. And honestly, you two," she started, remembering Harold expressing his discomfort about the 'd' word, "This is more of a small soiree than a date by any standards."

"Wait, now I'm confused," Stinky suddenly started, scratching his head, "If Harold is here with Patty…then Arnold, who are you here with? Because if Rhonda was here with her family then that only leaves…"

"JACQUES!" Helga suddenly all but screamed, standing up, clearly panicking. "Where the heck are you, we want that cake lit and to get out of here now! Please!" She sat back down, practically shaking.

The waiter finally came back over. "Oui, my apologies, Miss Van Bur—er, Mademoiselle." Jacques gave her sort of a snooty look. "I had to refill the kitchen torch with fluid. Thank you for your patience, and especially you, Mademoiselle Rhonda." Jacques then got between Arnold and Harold and prepared to light the cake.

"Um, guys…" Arnold looked at the boys desperately, "Please, maybe you could just go now and let us finish dinner and I'll explain everything later, okay?"

"Arnold, you're blushing." Sid grinned. A lot.

Arnold blinked, realized such was the case, and only blushed more.

"Yup, that means you've got a secret," Stinky added with a grin of his own.

"Uh, fellas, maybe we really should just go…" Gerald could see that there was clearly something complicated going on and he figured Arnold didn't need a ton of teasing on top of it. He need to get the guys out of here. Now.

Sid and Stinky weren't going anywhere though.

"Hey," Sid started, his eyes brightening with an idea, "Harold likes the sixth grade bully…so maybe Arnold…" He was starting to laugh but managing to control himself as he glanced back at his football headed friend. "You starting to dig all the punching and scowling Arnold, or what?"

"So Helga's…Arnold's date?" Stinky asked as he hesitantly pieced together the implication of what was going on here. But then he looked at Arnold in confusion. "But how?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Sid turned to him with a big smile. "Arnold's getting the hots for Helga just like Harold got them for Patty."

Stinky just shook his head though. "But a few months ago when I was talkin' to Arnold about a…uh, 'problem' I was havin' with Helga," Stinky tried not to blush much at the whole temporary 'I think I fancy Helga' thing, "he acted like liking her was the most awful thing in the world. I brought it up and he actually yelled her name and jumped two feet in the air to the top of the swing set."

Helga gave Arnold such a look of anger and unhappiness across the table.

Arnold just swallowed and looked sheepish and then looked guilty.

Sid blinked at this bit of information from his friend. "Really? I…but…" he looked from Helga to Arnold and back, "Well, then the only reason they'd be out together, if it wasn't Arnold's idea…"

"Guys, movie, now!" Gerald yelled, really trying to get them to leave and actually going up behind them and starting to try and push them along.

"Y-Yes, um…don't interrupt dessert!" Even Rhonda felt like helping.

Arnold just looked confused and Patty was looking at Arnold, trying to tell him to do something. It wouldn't be the same coming from her. She couldn't keep fixing things for them and Helga couldn't keep panicking and Arnold couldn't keep avoiding things. Arnold had to at least try. They had to stand on their own two feet about this.

"Hey…Helga's blushing now," Sid observed, looking almost confused and yet very intrigued by the sight.

And in truth Helga's cheeks were such a deep pink and she felt so warm and…

"And voila! The cake is lit!" Jacques suddenly announced as the flaming cake sat on the table before them.

Helga actually jumped, the sight was so surprising to her (she had almost forgotten about Jacques standing right there and ready to do the flambéing she had begged for not moments ago as a distraction), and on some she instinct grabbed Arnold's hand that happened to be on the table.

However distracting a flaming cake was, this gesture on her part was all Sid and Stinky needed.

"Helga's becoming a girly girl—and she's getting lessons on how to put the moves on a guy tonight from Big Patty. And Arnold's the guy!" Sid suddenly announced before he and Stinky collapsed against each other in near laughter. "A-Arnold," he barely choked out, "a-are you in on this or what? S-Seriously!"

"Y-Yeah," Stinky, "Garsh, A-Arnold, you…I-I know you don't have the best luck with girls but….H-Helga'll pound you, Arnold!"

"Ooo u-unless she falls in love with him! Just like Patty and Harold!" Sid suddenly burst out, laughing hysterically again and holding his sides.

"Y-Yeah, then she'd never touch him again, I r-reckon…u-unless it was to kiss him…Also just like Patty and Harold!" Stinky held his sides too.

"Miss Wellington Lloyd," Jacques turned to Rhonda with a slight sneer, "Are these two young…'gentlemen' friends of yours or may I escort them from the restaurant? They are starting to make a scene."

Meanwhile, Helga just couldn't take it anymore! She flung Arnold's hand away from hers and looked at the two boys, hoping to seem intimidating but seeming more panicked than anything else as she leaned over the center of the table towards them and did her best to restrain herself from flying at them, fists swinging. "Shut up, you pathetic jerks! I just finished explaining to Geraldo here that whatever I do in my private time is my business!"

"Helga!" Rhonda, sounding very startled.

Helga ignored her. "And who the heck do you two think you are barging in here and trying to ruin our meal! You're lucky I don't knock both your blocks off!"

"Um, Helga…!" Harold, sounding nervous.

"Helga, really!" Even Patty had to say something because…

She just ignored them. "A-All I want to do is sit here and eat cake and be left alone! It is the weekend, which means I should NOT have to be locked in a small space with a bunch of my pathetic peers for a painful amount of time, and yet here I am and here you are, you great big jerks!

"Mademoiselle Rhonda…" Jacques whispered in Rhonda's ear, not having looked at Helga since her rant had started. "While I am more than happy to give you some leeway, the young lady is making a scene and I really cannot…I really must take action…" Rhonda just sighed in annoyance just waved him off for the moment, her eyes glued on Helga in shock.

Sid and Stinky were just speechless , eyes wide, looking almost shocked and terrified. "H-Helga…" Gerald managed to stutter out.

"And that goes double for you, tall hair boy!" Her enraged gaze flew to him now. "Quit dragging people in here over a stupid movie and get out!"

"Helga! Oh Helga!" It was Arnold's voice this time, sounding more distraught than she had ever heard it.

Helga couldn't help turning to him, though fire still raged in her eyes and whole face. "What, you little Football Headed, do-gooding shrimp?!" she all but screamed.

"Your hair! It's on fire!" he yelled back in panic.

Helga blinked and then looked down and saw smoke and indeed a lock of her hair was currently curling up and blackening under the presence of a small bright flame dancing at the end of it. "Ahhhh!" she screamed, starting to try and hit at it to put it out!

The whole group was practically in an uproar for a moment and then Arnold, barely thinking, turned around and spotted a bus boy passing, upon which he grabbed a pitcher of water off of his tray, turned back around, and doused Helga G. Pataki's hair and head and almost all of her in ice cold water (and the cake as well, as it were).

There was just…silence then. Only Helga's shallow breaths as she tried to calm down were heard.

No one moved at all though.

Then Helga stood up, and she looked and felt torn between a scream and hitting something and just collapsing. Everything just…ruined…everything just…everyone practically knew and no one would ever let her forget and things really never would work out with Arnold, would they, for a truce or anything else, and dessert was ruined and Arnold knew her secret and the waiter hated her and she felt like a drowned rat and it was one bad dinner and one bad Arnold shenanigan and one bad aspect of her life too many in that moment and she just…she couldn't do it. She just couldn't do it anymore.

And then Arnold couldn't tell if it was the water or…if those were tears…but she just threw down her napkin, swallowed hard and stormed out of the restaurant.

By the time she had reached the door he had come out of his shock enough to stand up and go after her. "Helga! Helga, wait, please!" He was out the door now too.

Harold just sat there with is jaw dropped, looking where Helga had been, looking where Arnold had been, then looking a the drowned cake.

He looked at Patty though as she suddenly stood up. She looked so angry…and sad.

She felt pretty angry and sad too. This dinner hadn't gone smoothly—heck, parts of it had been downright chaotic and slapstick. But now there was a crowd of people and dessert was ruined and a huge scene and Helga and Arnold had just bailed and she felt awful thinking about these boys trying to tease her like no boy could ever like her, and she was just tired and pretty ready to just go herself. And that's what she started to do, shaking her head and shoving (harshly) past Sid and Stinky. "I'm out of here," she mumbled under her breath as she went. Doing that seemed like a better idea than physically assaulting Sid and Stinky until they needed a paramedic and she needed bail money, at any rate.

Harold was up now too. Where was Patty going? Had he done something again? Was it Sid and Stinky and getting teased? Or about the cake? Or…maybe Arnold and Helga? "Patty, wait!" Harold went after her.

These actions left Gerald, Sid, Stinky and Rhonda all at the table with Jacques standing over them…and grinning?

Gerald turned to Sid and Stinky with a scowl. "What is wrong with you two?! I told you to stay outside, I told you not to make fun of everybody and then I told you to just go to the movie and leave whatever dinner thing the four of them were trying to have alone and you didn't do any of it and now look—you wrecked the dessert and you really upset Arnold and Big Patty too, it looks like, and Harold doesn't look too happy and Helga's obviously really upset. And you know what, when Arnold stops giving you two advice and when the other three team up to beat the stuffing out of you two, I'm just gonna stand there and watch because frankly if Stinky wasn't half a foot taller than me and if Sid wasn't so wiry I'd like to clock the two of you myself!"

"Ah, what does it matter if it was their fault of not!" Jacques suddenly announced, still with that pleased grin and an eager look in his eye. "After that scene and the four of them running out without paying I can ban that blond girl and her little friend with the strange head once and for all, and furthermore I can probably make it so only sixteen year olds or older may eat here unsupervised!" HE rubbed his hands together, seeming really, really happy about this fact!

"Uh, I think that's our cue to go! See ya!" Sid suddenly bailed in a slight panic. He had just wanted some fun, a good laugh to help balance out all the times others got a good laugh at his expense—he didn't want serious 'grown ups involved' trouble. And restaurant banning sounded like serious 'grown ups involved' trouble so, yeah, he would be leaving now.

Stinky blinked. "Hey, wait, Sid! You still have both our ticket stubs, and I reckon I can't get back into the movies without 'em!" He dashed after his friend (likewise wanting to avoid any serious trouble).

Gerald just rolled his eyes. What the heck, everyone he knew seemed to be leaving and he'd had enough of that snooty French waiter for one lifetime anyway. He just sighed and glanced at the last remaining person at the table. "Goodnight, Rhonda. I can't wait to hear the gossip you spread about whatever the heck happened here at school on Monday—maybe I can piece together enough scraps for a decent urban legend." Gerald gave her a little wave and then departed as well, intent on making sure Sid and Stinky went back to the movies and stayed there, and then, if possible, finding his best friend to make sure he was okay and then, hopefully, figuring out what was going on with him and how he might be able to help fix it.

Jacques just watched them all go with a sneer. "And good riddance. I cannot wait to have such young children banned from this place forever.

"Jacques, you will do no such thing!" Rhonda Wellington Lloyd suddenly stood up and announced, a very firm and determined look upon her features.

Jacques blinked and looked at her in surprise. "Mademoiselle Rhonda? Erm, but, I—"

Rhonda cleared her throat, cutting him off though, looking him right in the eye. "If you want to ban individuals for their poor behavior, fine. I'm sure these two classmates of mine who were just here laughing and teasing the others might deserve something like that, for example. But it would be inexcusable for you to ban someone just because they have been provoked with rudeness and have defied that rudeness, and that's all the Arnold and Patty and Harold and Helga did. And it is simply unfair of you to try to ban younger people when some of us merely want a charming and upscale place to eat, and possibly a date to bring to that place. And as for the bill…" Rhonda pulled out the check her parents had left her, "Whatever it is, the entire tab plus tip, just let me know the amount and I will pay it right now. Do you understand, Jacques?" She smirked a tiny bit and said in a lower voice, "Or should I say 'Jack' ? Daddy says that's your real name, that you only take on the French pronunciation for the restaurant…. Maybe I should just ask Daddy to talk to the restaurant owner at their golf game next week about your rudeness to my friends just because of their ages?" She looked at him with the defiance that only a lifetime of money, privilege and entitlement can bring a young person. She would have her will—the only question was would it be done the easy way or the hard way?

The look on Jacques face told her he was caving in an instant. He could stand up to crazy kids and cockroaches, but not to money and not to a Wellington-Lloyd. "Erm…I…I…"

Rhonda just smiled, pulled a pen out of her purse and filled out the check. "Here, that should cover everything plus a generous tip, and I and my classmates will certainly be dining here again soon." She held out the check to him with a triumphant smile and bright eyes.

And Jacques just had to concede (especially since he could feel eyes turning toward him and the last thing he could do was cause a scene himself.) "I…" The check was slipped into his hand, "Oh…bon, Mademoiselle Rhonda." He sighed in defeat.

Rhonda moved away from the table now and pushed in her chai, dusting off her skirt and adjusting her red Cabrini purse over her shoulder. "Very good, Jacques. Now, then, have pleasant evening—I'm off to find my friends." And with that Rhonda Wellington Lloyd made her exit from the restaurant as well.

Jacques just stood there, check in hand, defeated countenance showing, as he watched Rhonda go. He looked to the table—empty Yahoo soda cans everywhere, silverware and dishes and napkins all a mess, chairs all out of order and not pushed in, four half melted, half eaten chocolate mousses and a big, fancy wet cake…and, as they were preparing to close, all of the busboys had either left already or were busy clearing up the other tables for the remaining customers…which left Jacques with this mess to take care of.

'Sacre bleu…' he couldn't help but think to himself with a sigh as he took out a clean handkerchief from his suit and prepared to begin his long clean up. 'I knew I should have taken the maître d job at Chez Pierre and not Chez Paris…and if I hadn't walked into this restaurant by accident when they were opening both of them side by side I could be next door not dealing with a disaster like this.' He sighed again as he did his best to mop up wet cake, just grateful that this time at least there were no cockroaches or cow brains and eggs to contend with.

A/N:

I hope everyone enjoyed the second update. I know it's gotten complicated and a little nutty, I promise everything's winding down now though : ) Now we'll get to having some people have some very important talks and figuring out what to do next in this food-themed fiasco, lol. I'm not sure when the next chapter will be able to come but I'll try to have it as soon as I can. Thank you all again for your patience and please review if you can!

Happy Reading!

~Azure129 aka Jenna