Lee and May were in the kitchen, enjoying breakfast, when Marie came down the stairs. Lee took one look at her sister and, from the way she was smiling and the fact that she was humming some unknown tune, she could tell that Marie was in a really good mood. Lee had only seen Marie this happy twice. The first time was when she and Double Dee first started dating, the second was when their parents got married and they moved in right across the street from him. She watched as Marie went straight for the cupboard, pulled out a package of pop tarts, and put them into the toaster. "Well don't you seem chipper this morning?" Lee said with a smirk on her face.
"Huh?" Marie asked as her attention was turned towards her sisters.
"Yeah, Marie." May said with a smile. "You look like you just became the luckiest girl on the Earth." Marie just smiled.
"Hm," she brought her hand to her chin, "I wonder why?" As she did this, Lee thought she saw a glint coming off of her ring finger. Now, Lee prides herself on being observant, but to be perfectly honest, she didn't know what to make of that glint. Not yet at least.
"What's that?" Lee asked.
"What?" May stared in wonder.
"That!" Lee got up and walked over to Marie and took her hand. When she finally got a good look, her eyes grew wide and her jaw dropped. "No freaking way." Causing Marie to giggle slightly.
"What is it, Lee?" May said as she got up from her seat. Lee slowly moved out of the way and showed her little sister Marie's hand, which sparkled with a ring set with a huge diamond on top. May's eyes instantly grew as well. "Shut up, shut up, shut up!" May ran over to Marie to get a better the ring. She looked up at Marie as everything began to click into place. "Are you saying that Double Dee proposed?" Marie simply nodded. "Wow!"
"Would you look at the size of that rock?" Lee said, gasping at the stone. "Man, he must of spent a fortune on it."
"He told me that he had been saving up since he got that summer job." Marie stated. "He said he had been planning this since high school."
"Damn, Marie!" Lee said in surprise. "I've said this once, I'll say it again. That Double Dee is a real catch." The sisters all laughed. Just then, Double Dee entered the kitchen as the toaster popped up.
"Good morning, ladies," Double Dee greeted them as he walked up to Marie.
"There he is," Lee said with a big old grin on her face. "Mr. Perfect!" Double Dee knew she was being sincere with her comment.
"Good morning, my Angel," he said, wrapping his arms around Marie. "I see you have shared the good news with your sisters?"
"They kinda figured it out on their own." Marie smiled as she kissed him. Soon, Helga came into the kitchen with Phoebe close on her heals.
"Are all my books in my bag?" Helga asked.
"Yes, Helga," Phoebe replied in an official tone, "I have made sure that the books you need for today's classes are all there."
"Thanks, Pheebs," Helga said, looking at her Asian friend with a smile, "you're really a big help."
"Not at all, Helga," she replied. "I enjoy helping you."
"Look," Helga continued, "Arnold said that he wanted to take me out to dinner tonight. Somewhere fancy. So, I want you to enjoy yourself." Helga smiled as she let out a small laugh. "I just hope to God it isn't some stupid French restaurant. I hate those places."
"What's wrong with French restaurants?" Double Dee asked curiously, earning him a glare from Helga.
"You see," Phoebe explained, "ever since Helga's mother, Miriam, and father divorced, Helga's been living with her mother. Once in a while, Miriam would go on a couple of dates. Once or twice, she would take Helga with her and her boyfriend to a French Restaurant, where she could show off Helga's fluency with the French language."
"You speak French?" Edd asked in surprise.
"Ce est ça, connard." Helga said sarcastically.
"Helga." Phoebe tutted. Double Dee just stared at her blankly.
"Pardon me," he said, trying to get a grasp on what she just said, "but what was it you said?" Helga just shrugged as Arnold enter the room.
"Helga," he said in a strict, but loving tone, "that wasn't nice." Helga wrapped her arms around his neck.
"Ouais, mais vous aimez ça de moi." She continued in French, kissing him lightly on the lips. She looked at her watch, and her eyes shot open. "Criminy! I gotta get going or I'll be late for class." Marie looked at her watch.
"Same here," she said as she grabbed her pop tarts. Giving Double Dee a kiss on the cheek, Marie was out the door, following closely behind Helga.
"Well," Phoebe said, being the first to speak after a moment of silence, "Seeing as they both had to leave so quickly, my guess is that Marie is in the school's art program."
"And your assumption would be correct," Double Dee replied, "for you see, Marie is a very talented artist." He let out a sigh, remembering the picture she drew him.
"Alright, Lover Boy," Lee said with a smirk as she reached for the back of his shirt, "knock it off. Or we're gonna be late for class." Phoebe looked at her watch, and followed them out the door.
"Wait for me please." She said on her way out. Just as she left, Gerald and the other two Eds enter the kitchen.
"Yo, my man," Gerald said to his blond friend. "I've been doing some research, and it seems that the five of us all have the same first period class together."
"Yeah," Arnold replied. "And we better get going or we'll be late." With that May got up from her seat and went over to Big Ed.
"Wanna sit next to me in class, Ed?" She asked him with a doey-eyed expression.
"Skip to my Lou, my darling." Ed said as a response, making May giggle and Gerald look at Eddy.
"There something wrong with your boy?" He asked.
"Don't really know," Eddy replied. "He's always been like that." On the other side of the campus, Marie was setting up for her first art class, when some girl spoke to her.
"Pardon me," she said, "I'm ever so sorry, but may I sit here?" Marie looked up at the girl. She had light ginger hair, tied up into twin ponytails. She wore a simple blue dress with a white undershirt, white socks, and red shoes. She kinda reminded Marie of Dorothy Gale from the Wizard of Oz.
"Sure," Marie said, a little apprehensive, "go ahead." Marie continued getting ready for class, when the girl spoke again.
"I'm Lila by the way," she said introducing herself, "Lila Sawyer." Before Marie had a chance to introduce herself as well, a large book was slammed down right in front of Lila. They both looked up to see Helga standing in front of her. "Helga?"
"You're in my seat, Lila." Helga seemed to growl at her. Before Helga said anything else, Lila got up and moved to find another seat.
"Okay," Marie remarked as Helga sat down, "rude much?" Helga snorted.
"Trust me," Helga replied, "she deserves it."
"Why do you say that?" Marie began to question her new-found friendship with the girl sitting next to her. "She seems like a nice girl."
"Haven't you ever heard the phrase, looks can be deceiving?" Helga explained. "Lila and I go way back. When I first met her, back when we were in the fourth grade, she had been stringing Arnold along with that whole 'I like you, but I don't like you – like you' bit. It was so freaking annoying and it kept breaking Arnold's heart. Yet when he and I started dating, she started acting like he was all interesting now, and kept trying to break us up." Helga smirked as she began to remember something funny. "She even went as far as to claim that Arnold raped her. Sad part about her whole plan was that almost everyone believed it until Rhonda, who happened to be the last to hear this, said that Arnold was too nice of a guy to do that."
"Wait," Marie said, "if she was the Princess of Hillwood High, wouldn't she have gotten the news first?"
"Yep," Helga continued, "Lila's plan was to make everyone believe her, though it didn't account for the fact that Rhonda and Arnold actually have like a brother-sister relationship. So when she heard, she didn't believe it, and began to spread a little counter rumor herself. With the help of yours truly, of course." Helga gave a little laugh. "Who knew that Rhonda and I would work together? Anyway, best you stay away from Lila. Don't want you to lose your man to that bitch." As soon as she said that, the teacher walked in and class had begun.