Chapter#13: Moonshine (II)

"I really hope Sid gets over it soon." Eugene said as he and the boys walked back home that night after the little drama at Mighty Pete.

"I give him a month, tops." Harold shrugged indifferently.

"Don't say that Harold. I'm sure he'll bounce back… 'Least I hope so." Stinky told him.

"Man I feel bad."

"Don't beat yourself up for it Arnold," Gerald placed his hand over Arnold's shoulder "it had to be done."

"I agree with Gerald," Lorenzo said "it's better to have warned him now than for him to be humiliated in front of those older high-schoolers."

"You did the right thing." Park agreed.

"Shucks I'd do the same fer him if I were you Arnold." Stinky added.

"Thanks guys." Arnold gave them a weak smile "You know, maybe we should go check on him."

"Oh no." Gerald stopped him. "I think we better let him figure this out on his own."

"You guys I gotta somewhere, see ya." Curly told the gang and left them.

"Where's he goin' at this time of the night?." Harold asked as he eyed the scrawny little kid suspiciously.

"Beats me." Joey shrugged.

Meanwhile, Sid has already reached home only to be greeted by a tight hug from his mother as soon as he opened the door to their apartment.

"Sid Honey, you got me worried!."

"Sorry I'm late mom." He apologized stoically.

"Where were you young man?." His father asked sternly. "And why are your eyes red? Have you been smoking something?."

"That's all you ever care about don't you!." Sid fired up at his old man and ran to his room.

"Honestly Ray." Sid's mother shook her head at him.

"What? The boy comes back home at 11.30pm, what do you expect me to do?."

Sid's mother just rolls her eyes and heads towards her son's room, Ray followed behind.

"Sid? Sweety?." His mother knocked on the door.

"I don't wanna talk about it mom." He replied.

His mother sighed, "It's alright, but if you change your mind your dad and I will be happy to listen.

Sid sniffed and was only able to mumble a barely audible 'ok' before his parents left.

"Ew look what Christina wore at the music awards, it's like, more trashy than sexy... and that nose ring, so does not compliment her face." Rhonda told Nadine on the phone as she was reading through a magazine. "What's that!." she asked alerted by the sounds of something small hitting her window.

"What's wrong Rhonda?." Nadine asked on the phone.

"I'm gonna go check." Rhonda went over towards her and slowly pulled out the curtains. "Oh..." She said nonchalantly "Nadine I'll get back to you in a minute". She clicked the phone and opened her windows.

"What is it now Curly?." She sighed like she wanted to know.

"You already know the answer Rhonda."

Rhonda rolled her eyes, "Look Curly I'm going to the prom with Trent I can't call it off now, we only got a few days left for the dance."

"Oh come on Rhonda, please give me a chance." Curly begged.

"Sorry Curly, I just can't."

"Rhonda please."

"Curly, just go look for another girl to take to the dance instead of wasting your time with me. Goodnight."

"But R-." before Curly could continue he was cut off by Rhonda closing her windows.

You'll regret that…

Phoebe read the last line of the letter in her hands over and over in her mind, she just couldn't get over the beautiful words that were written.

'Do reply soon, because even the second hand on the clock seems to move slowly as my eagerness for your answer grows.'

It's the second letter she's received from her 'secret admirer'.

"I wonder who it is Helga." Phoebe sighed as she lay in her sleeping bag.

"When's he planning on letting the cat out of the bag?." Helga sat beside her and handed her a glass of warm milk.

"At the dance if I agreed to accept his invitation."

"Wonder who it could be." Helga took the letter from her best friend and re-read it.

"I've analyzed all our male classmates and found no match… well Arnold and Lorenzo have been the closest match, but I struck out Arnold for obvious reasons and Lorenzo doesn't seem to be interested in me as I've found that he has already asked another girl out."

"Planning on going?."

"Gerald would be broken to find out that I lied to him."

"You could pretend like this was all spontaneous, your father's relatives have decided to go out for dinner with your parents at the last minute and you found yourself alone at home so you decided to go to the dance."

"Helga, you're a genius!." Phoebe hugged her best friend.

"I know."

"Remember, nobody else should know about this." Phoebe instructed.

"Oh come on Pheebs, who could I possibly tell?."

"Arnold perhaps."

Helga crossed her arms.

"It's probably going to slip from you Helga, I'm just reminding you to stay on the safe side. After all I wouldn't want to hurt anyone's feelings."

Helga sighed and rolled her eyes. "Fine. It's getting late, let's go to bed. Goodnight Pheebs."

"Goodnight Helga."

(MUSIC:FOO FIGHTERS:EVERLONG)

Author's Note: Ah, this song never gets old.

Well, now we're all left with the questions of What'll poor Sid do? What'll Curly do? (Like we don't know) Who's Phoebe's secret admirer? All that in the chapter, wait for it ;).