Upsetting 'Mrs. Gammelthorpe'
16 Years Old

Arnold Shortman slowly meandered his way through the Boarding House, his full attention focussed on the mind-boggling maths assignment currently clutched in his hands. On pure instinct, his hand pushed forward as he reached the doorway of his bedroom, and the teenage boy moved inside, intending to slump onto his bed.

"Arnold!" shouted a shrill high-pitched voice, immediately jolting him from his thoughts about logarithms and exponentials, and forcing him to whip his head toward the direction of his couch.

Rhonda Wellington Lloyd sat on the plush red sofa, a desperate look in her dark eyes, holding a small folded piece of paper.

Arnold stared at her for a moment, attempting to regain his bearings, "Rhonda?"

"Arnold." she began levelly, thrusting the piece of paper into his line of sight, "It's haunting me!"

Arnold, though still rather unsure how Rhonda had even managed to enter his bedroom, calmly stepped forward to peer at the small folded object. It looked oddly familiar, and was covered in names of their classmates, but Arnold couldn't quite place where he had seen it before.

Rhonda wasted no time in waiting for his response, "Arnold, we're the only ones left!" she cried out helplessly, now standing to pace backward and forward.

"Only ones of what, Rhonda?" he asked, settling himself down onto his comfortable mattress and watching the raven-haired 'Queen of Gossip' continue her frenzied movements.

"First, it was Phoebe and Gerald..." she began, shooting him a concerned look, "I mean, marriage predictor or not – we all saw that coming."

Arnold suddenly realised what the small folded paper object Rhonda had clutched in her perfectly manicured hands actually was – her fourth grade origami marriage predictor.

"But then..." Rhonda continued, the pitch of her voice raising higher by the second, "... last year Nadine and Peapod started dating and I started to get worried!"

Arnold sighed, he wasn't even sure what she was getting so stressed over, "Rhonda, whatever you're worried about – I'm sure it's nothing." he assured her in his usual helpful tone of voice.

"Nothing?" she practically screamed, "Oh no, it's not nothing... because do you know what I found out today?"

Arnold gulped, surely she couldn't possibly be here about...

"Eugene and Sheena!" Rhonda exclaimed, continuing her tirade without bothering to notice Arnold's suspicious reaction to her previous enquiry.

Arnold let out a quick breath, happy that she was simply referring to Eugene and Sheena's new found relationship.

Rhonda, however, seemed utterly horrified by this union, "Eugene!" she stated again, moving closer to Arnold's location, "I thought for sure that would never happen, I mean, surely the boy is gay, right?" she huffed, "Apparently not! And that only leaves two couples!"

Rubbing his fingertips over his temples lightly, mainly to ease the increasing headache from Rhonda's constant shouting, Arnold shot her a quizzical look, "Two?" as far as he knew the only remaining couple from Rhonda's fourth grade marriage predictor was, well, him and Helga...

Rhonda, who now practically stood over him, her arms crossed firmly over her chest, rolled her eyes, "Arnold, honestly, stay with me here." she whined, "Yes, two. Your result and... my result!"

"I didn't know you even did the test on yourself Rhonda..." Arnold commented honestly, he clearly remembered her practically forcing others to take the test but never her taking it herself.

"Yes, well there's a good reason nobody knew!" she informed him, taking his shirt collar in her hands and grasping it tightly, "I got Curly, Arnold... Curly!" she hissed, "All two hundred and forty times."

Arnold bit back a chuckle, "That's... ah, interesting?" he offered.

Surprisingly, she didn't rip his eyes for the comment, and she even dropped her hold on his collar, "Arnold, we need to stick together." she urged him, as she resumed her frantic pacing, "This thing is some kind of voodoo!"

Feeling a little curious, Arnold asked, "Rhonda, is that why you told everyone it wasn't accurate... because it said you were going to marry Curly?"

Rhonda looked up at him for a moment, "Yes!" she frowned, as though he should have already known, "Of course, I mean, it's completely ridiculous to think I would ever love that creep... so it must have been wrong!"

Arnold sighed a little, he really did need to get back to that mathematics homework, "If you know it's wrong, then why are you so worried?" he asked her calmly.

"Because, look at everyone else Arnold!" she bellowed, throwing her hands into the air, "You're my last hope!" taking a few deep breaths, she continued, "At least I know that you and Helga absolutely hate each other and would never ever..."

Rhonda's train of thought dwindled down to nothing as a flash of pink and blonde dropped from the skylight entrance to Arnold's room and down onto his bed. Helga, taking no note of the fact that Arnold currently had company, wrapped her arms around him from behind as she landed.

"Heya Football head, I wa-" she began, but was suddenly distracted by the sound of a small gasp across the room, "Princess?" she asked, raising an eyebrow at the sight of their long-time friend.

Unfortunately, Rhonda was in no state of mind to currently handle the devastating reality that had just been revealed to her and promptly passed out on Arnold's bedroom floor.

Helga glanced from Rhonda and back over to her now not-so-secret-boyfriend a few times before finally asking, "What's up with her?"

Arnold laughed, "Oh, I think she just realised she's going to marry Curly."