Finally, after three years and a month, I'm finally posting the first chapter of a sequel to a story I did! Man, I promised I'd do a sequel, and I'm planning on committing to that! Now, for those wondering 'what the heck took me so long to get around to this' or 'do we need this sequel', well, to answer the former, I've been very busy with a lot of work... including doing a big tournament for Archive of our Own called "Tournament of Kikai", which was my main focus for three years. And for the latter, well, considering I left some plot threads to continue the story... yes. Yes, we do need a sequel.

And seeing as how I have a few Arnda fans in the crowd, I've been inspired to continue the story once more! So, here we go with the sequel to Rhonda's Beau! Like I said, it's been a long time coming, but I think the final product will be worth it in the end! Anyway, enjoy this prologue!

Morning arose in Hillwood as most people were getting up and starting their day. Yes, the sun was rising a little high on the horizon as it shone just right towards the upper skylight of one particular home... a boarding house, to be more precise. Deep inside the place was a small boy's bedroom, which seemed a bit fancy to be an average boy's bedroom, but the occupant was satisfied enough with the room.

Speaking of said occupant, he was busy getting comfortable in his own bed, smiling as he was enjoying his time in bed... however, pretty soon, a certain alarm clock was about to ruin that moment of slumber.

"HEY ARNOLD! HEY ARNOLD! HEY ARNOLD! HEY-"

Arnold, a blonde haired boy with a football head wearing teal pajamas, opened his eyes before hearing a small slapping sound, the clock being knocked over. He gave a sigh as he groaned. "I told you not to knock my clock over, it's a homemade clock."

"Don't care. Want to sleep!" A second, grumbly but more feminine voice groaned as she snaked her arms around the boy.

"I know, but we do have to get up sometime." Arnold sighed. "We STILL have to go to school, you know."

"Let's skip it. I want my beauty rest." The second voice sad, giving a slight groan.

Arnold groaned, before giving a slight smirk. "Well, I want to get up, and it would be helpful if you got up too."

"No thank you, I'm happy here." A sleepy voice said, tightening her grip on Arnold's torso.

The boy gave a yelp, before smirking as he snaked one of his arms loose before reaching over under his bed. "Well, I'm sure you'll get up once I persuade you."

"Arnold, please, I don-" The voice tried to say in her sleepy voice before Arnold reached under the sheets and started to tickle the person's belly, causing the female occupant to laugh. "Ha ha ha, he-hey! No fair, you're cheating!"

"Cheating, am I?" Arnold said as he felt the grip on him loosening as he got on his knees and had his other hand join his tickling hand as they were now tickling the belly of the occupant next to him.

"Ha ha ha ha! Okay, okay, I'm up, I'm- ya-AAAAAH!"

Arnold yelped as the person got tangled in the bundle of blankets and fell down on the floor. Arnold went over and looked down. "I-I'm sorry! Are you okay?"

Silence came from the bundle of blankets... before something stirred inside them. A hand quickly appeared from out of the blankets before lifting them up to reveal a raven haired girl, wearing red pajamas with white frills on them, looking rather annoyed, but quickly softening upon looking at her boyfriend's concerned face. She gave a sigh before giving a small laugh. "Okay, okay, you convinced me to get up. Good morning, charming."

"Morning to you, beautiful." Arnold grinned nervously as he gave a slight blush. Rhonda just giggled as she placed her lips on Arnold's cheeks. "You know, I might have to restrict your time in sharing my bed with me."

"Awww, you know you love cuddling!" Rhonda giggled as she hugged him briefly.

Arnold blushed a bit, hugging her back. After that slight hug, he separated from Rhonda and picked up his alarm clock, slowly setting it back on the tabletop next to the bed. "You better get your shower now before Mr. Potts claims the bathroom."

Rhonda scoffs a bit as she winked at her boyfriend. "I heard it all before, sweetie."

Believe it or not, this became somewhat a morning routine for Arnold ever since Rhonda had stayed in his room. Since her parents have been out for quite a while, she's been staying over at Arnold's place. Sure, she could go back to the mansion now that she didn't have to worry about Curly or anybody else harassing her or her family, but that meant she would have to be stuck with one of the maids as a babysitter, and she did prefer Arnold's company more anyway, so that was where she was staying for a while.

As a matter of fact, it had been a month since Curly was arrested and sent over to juvenile for his crimes, not just for breaking in someone's home, but also for a lot of crimes involving releasing the zoo's animals and causing a few ruckuses at the school. Either way, it would seem he was sent there to be straightened out for good. In fact, in a way, both Arnold and Rhonda were thankful for Curly, for if it wasn't for him, they wouldn't have realized their true feelings for each other. Sure, the mink coat and the heat-of-the-moment kiss on the lips may have been the beginning of the story, and the lie about them being boyfriend and girlfriend, alongside the Shoe Sizer and Helga's worries may have been the middle, but the climax of it all was worth it in the end.

And overtime, that month had passed as both Arnold and Rhonda were still getting used to being boyfriend and girlfriend. The fact that they were living in the same place together certainly helped in their growth. Sure, it did take a while to, once again, get used to the boarding house for Rhonda, but thanks to having Arnold by her side this time, she proved to be a bit more helpful... if only to make sure she had clothes that weren't that fashionable she could easily sacrifice to dirty them up whenever the chores came around.

And Arnold was more than appreciative for her help, as thanks to Rhonda's quick thinking and Arnold's helpful mind, they managed to finish any and all chores they had twice as fast as Arnold usually would for the morning. Of course, it did leave Arnold and Rhonda free realm to spend quality time with each other for the rest of the day, although sometimes, they used their moments to talk with their best friends as well. But still, life goes on, and these two kids were now ready to start another day...

As Arnold went into his closet to get some clothes, Rhonda gave a nod towards the closet before going downstairs and heading towards the temporary room her family was using to get her own clothes out so she could get ready for the day. After getting in and gathering her clothes to get dressed, she quickly peeked out and gave a smirk before rushing over to the bathroom, in hopes of getting a shower before Arnold could get downstairs. Fortunately, spending a lot of time in the boarding house gave Rhonda enough foretelling to know when each of the boarders would be using the restrooms for their personal things, and she knew that Mr. Potts would be the first to get up, so she knew she would have to beat him quickly.

Fortunately, she was in as she locked the door, feeling satisfied before looking around, expecting something disgusting nearby. Once she was sure the bathroom was fully secure, she gave a sigh of relief as she waved her hair around.

About twenty to thirty minutes later, Rhonda came out of the bathroom, all cleaned up and dressed up for the day in her candy red shirt, and black pants, with red designer shoes, and her hair all brushed and tidied up for the day, her pajamas under her arm as she noted Arnold waiting in line. She gave a smirk towards him. "Mr. Potts not out yet?"

"He was, although he did seem pretty frustrated." Arnold said as he shook his head. "Thanks for saving the bathroom for me."

"Anytime." Rhonda said as Arnold entered the bathroom and closed the door behind him as Rhonda quickly went towards her parent's temporary room and put the pajamas she was wearing in the hamper. As she did so, she looked around as she was starting to get a bit concerned. So far, it had been at least a month since she last heard from her parents. Oh, they did talk on the phone at least once a week, and wherever they were at, they did seem to be having a good time. But the more she was sitting in the room alone, the more concerned she had become, wondering about her parents. Even she knew this little vacation shouldn't have taken this long. As a matter of fact, she was sure nobody told her where they went.

"I hope they call soon..." Rhonda sighed in worry as she looked out towards the windows. She couldn't help but let loose a sad sigh...

Meanwhile, all the way in Central America, in the heat of San Lorenzo, both Buckley and Brooke were reading from the papers, looking through a lot more information on anything San Lorenzo related as Brooke gave a sigh. "I will admit, this is very much out of our comfort zone."

"I just as much miss the simple vacations, sweetheart, but we have to persevere." Buckley said as he put his arms around his wife. "After all, if we're going to help locate the boy's parents, we have to make sure it counts. After all, Arnold's done so much for us and our daughter, and the least we can do is..."

"Return the favor..." Brooke gave a happy smile. "Yes, of course."

Buckley gave a nod towards his wife as he looked over the journal he had carried with him. Of course, it only made sense to carry it with him as they did provide some context clues on what had happened. After all, he was pretty thankful for finding this book when he did... and learning that it was Arnold's father's journal only piqued the man's curiosity.

Of course, after he and his wife read it through and discovered the very strange map, they knew that they had some interesting insight as to what happened... but they knew that they were going to need more answers, and the only way to do that was to go to San Lorenzo themselves and get more answers... along with maybe spending some quality time together and exploring the towns.

Of course, their first stop was obviously the building where Helpers for Humanity was held, which wasn't easy to find, but with a little help from a local, they found it. It was there that they asked some questions regarding the three people that worked with them, and it turned out, they knew Miles and Stella quite well. However, the answers they gave were a bit vague as they shared the same story that Phil and Gertie had known, that they went on a plane to help the sick Green-Eyes, but mysteriously vanished. Although, one thing that was brought to attention was that any and all communication had been slammed and switched off, the plane having not communicated recently. Some have tried to contact that plane, but they had lost the signal. The last signal was nearly nine years ago.

This was a cause for concern for the Lloyds, but they weren't going to give up as they requested a long search through the jungle, to at least find the plane, to find out anything that happened to it. Some of the people had their doubts, but thanks to the Lloyd's riches (and explaining that their parents had a lone kid waiting for them for nine years, and weren't going to leave until they got a true answer), they decided to pursue a search. And thanks to the Lloyds supplying the information in the form of the map, there were now more people in terms of a search, in hopes that they could at least locate maybe the Green Eyes... if they were still there... or friendly.

In the meantime, as the couple decided to take a look around the town, the Helpers for Humanity also gave directions to their parents' old friend and acquaintance, Eduardo. Of course, it was a bit of a travel as it wasn't easy to find the place, but they managed to find it, only for the place to be empty, much to their concern. But it did make sense, as they knew, Eduardo mostly lived alone, no family contact or anything. But they kept trying and trying until they could find more clues.

And as of current, nothing was appearing on the horizon, no clues, no anything as Brooke gave a sigh. "I really don't want to come to the boy with bad news..."

"Neither do I, but I'm doing all I can. All we can hope for is a sign..." Buckley sighed before he heard a buzz from his expensive phone. Buckley and Brooke immediately turned as they noticed the call was from "Helpers for Humanity". The two looked at each other with hopeful eyes before Buckley picked up the phone and answered. "Yes?"

Pretty soon, after a quick breakfast of cereal and milk (Rhonda was more of a honey flavored cereal herself, with Arnold enjoying a more sugary-like cereal), they were quickly out the door with their backpacks as Rhonda turned to Arnold.

"So, which way should we go today?" Rhonda asked, turning to Arnold. "Walking, or riding the bus? I promise I'll let you sit up front!"

Arnold could tell Rhonda was winking at him. "Let me guess, you want to do a mirror check on me to see if I'm 'worthy' to be your seating friend?"

Rhonda scoffed. "You know perfectly well I stopped doing that a long time ago... even after I traded in the glasses for contacts."

"Okay, okay, but you always did look cute in those glasses." Arnold laughed.

Rhonda smirked. "Really? Well, if you had told me that back then, I probably would have felt a bit better."

"Would you really?" Arnold asked in curiosity. "Even if the glasses made you... 'geeky', as you put it?"

Rhonda paused briefly before giving a smile. "I think it would, yes."

"How about we walk to school? It's a beautiful day out, after all... as beautiful as you, Rhonda." Arnold smirked.

Rhonda giggled as she offered her hand. "I would like that, my fair Arnold."

Arnold happily took it before the two started to walk together, memorizing the paths to take as they headed for PS 118, not realizing that at this particular moment, Rhonda's parents on the other side of the world were receiving what could possibly be the best news they could ever hear...

Well, I know it's mostly exposition and set-up, but I'm happy to at least get the prologue of Rhonda's Beau 2 out of the way! How did you guys like it? There will be a lot more to come, so don't miss out! Just, don't expect updates to be as instantaneous as they were. I still have a lot of other ideas I want to try out, but at the earliest convenience, this is going to be my big project for 2023! Hope I'm leaving you guys and a lot of Arnold x Rhonda fans hyped for this! Anyway, read, review, criticize and suggest, folks!