Another Hey Arnold request for both this site AND Deviantart? Why, yes! Actually, this request was made to me by GDog90, who specifically wanted to have Arnold and Rhonda being involved with a surprise guest. If you've read the little summary blurb, you probably already know who it is! But otherwise, I just knew this story was going to be a little fun when he suggested to me! So, I hope you all enjoy this little one shot! Anyway, enjoy!
It was another evening in the city of Hillwood as a young girl wearing a red shirt (though she would tell people that it's actually a vermillion shirt), black pants and red shoes was walking alongside the sidewalk, holding up her bag as she looked pretty excited. Of course, any day for Rhonda Wellington Lloyd was often seen as a busy day for herself, but in this case, she actually DID have some work today, especially when it came to her boyfriend, one Arnold Shortman.
So far, things have been going pretty steady between the two ever since they had laid eyes on each other. Even Rhonda was surprised on how they ended up together, as she knew that one thing lead to another. Of course, she had no reason to complain, and she was pretty sure Arnold didn't complain either, since Arnold found the young girl cute in her own right. But the fact of the matter was that the two were currently dating, and while it was the topic of the kids's discussions, it wasn't really a news fest. Either way, the two kids were pretty happy together.
Rhonda took a deep breath as she looked at her watch, giving a nod as she knew she was getting close to the time. She couldn't believe that she was late for her daily hangout with Arnold, which, for today, it was just doing homework together as a team. As per usual, Rhonda had a little bit of a poor job in social studies, and figured, maybe Arnold's wisdom and social skills could help her with things she didn't understand. Plus, she was hoping for her kiss reward system for every answer she got right, so she studied hard for that reason.
Pretty soon, she had arrived at the boarding house as she looked up. She couldn't help but give a sigh of relief as she knocked on the door. She then climbed up the steps as if expecting the door to open any moment, because if she was correct...
Rhonda watched the door open as sure enough, a lot of dogs and cats, alongside Arnold's pig, came running out of the door. Rhonda just watched the animals roam around as she always wondered where they'd go. She then gave a shrug as she thought to herself, "Eh, they always find a way home."
The girl then hopped off as the familiar face of the football head greeted her with a gentle smile. "Hi, Rhonda. You're a little early!"
"Indeed, I am." Rhonda giggled as she ensnared Arnold into a deep hug. Arnold blushed before hugging her back. "I know you said come by at six in the evening, but I finished with my parents earlier than expected, and I decided to drop by. I hope I didn't interrupt dinner time."
"No, no, I was about finished with supper anyway." Arnold sighed in relief as the two separated. "Actually, we were sort of entertaining a guest... well, more like a family visitor who decided to drop by for a while..."
"Family visitor?" Rhonda raised an eyebrow.
"Come on, Mitzi! It was one little flick of the wrist!"
"Heh, I'm surprised you'd even MOVE your wrists at YOUR age, Philip!"
Rhonda raised an eyebrow at the new voice that seemed to be arguing with Arnold's grandfather's voice. Both of the kid's heads turned towards the sound of the voices as Arnold couldn't help but roll his eyes. At that moment, an old woman that Rhonda had never met before came walking out of the room, a little bit miffed, but smirking a bit as if she knew the jab was all in good fun. And judging from Phil's groans of frustration, it seemed to be working. Rhonda took a closer look at said woman in curiosity, taking in the fashionable purple coat with a red fuzzy collar surrounding the neck that she was wearing, alongside her small, fashionable yellow cap decorated with purple flowers atop her white haired head.
"Phyllis Diller?" Rhonda asked in confusion.
The woman stopped short as she turned to Rhonda in confusion, before giving a laugh. "Goodness, no! Though I can understand the confusion. So, Arnold, is this the little friend that you've been telling me so much about?"
Arnold gave a nervous chuckle before tugging on his collar. "Uh, yes. Aunt Mitzi, this is my girlfriend from school, Rhonda. Rhonda, this is my Aunt Mitzi, my grandpa's sister, if you will. She's visiting for a couple of days."
"Oh, well, pleased to meet you!" Rhonda smiled as she clasped the old woman's hand and shook it. "I never knew that Arnold's grandfather had a sister."
"Believe me, I never mentioned her for a LOT of reasons." Phil said as he poked out, narrowing his eyes towards the old woman.
Arnold shook his head. "Grandpa, we already went over your little problems, remember?"
"Give me a break, Shortman, I'm old. Sometimes, you remember a few lessons, sometimes, you forget a few." Phil shrugged, before walking out and patting Mitzi on the back. "And believe me, ever since the two of us have patched things up, I allowed her to visit any time she wished... though what with the surprise visits she gave, it's a little TOO often."
"Don't tell me you already have plans to get rid of me. Nice try, Phil, but it'll take MORE than your words and a little death trap to get me away from this place." Mitzi smirked.
Rhonda just blinked twice as she turned to Arnold, who could only give a sigh as he said, "It's a rather long story."
The red wearing girl shrugged a bit before turning to Mitzi as she examined the old woman further. "I like your sense of fashion! Tell me, how do you pull off that wonderful look?"
Mitzi's eyes lit up before giving a slight giggle. "Oh, it takes quite a few years of experience, sweetheart. But looking at you, I can tell you're something of a fashionista yourself?"
"Fashionista, gossiper... you say something, I might get a chance to spread it around!" Rhonda giggled as she followed Mitzi inside the other room, leaving both Arnold and Phil watching them with rather different looks, Arnold a flabbergasted look, and Phil a small smile.
"Well, I'll be. It would seem your little girlfriend found something in common with Mitzi, Shortman." Phil smiled.
Arnold gave a silent nod as he couldn't help but give a small sigh. "Why do I have a feeling I'm going to regret this?"
Sure enough, for the next couple of days, it was like this whenever Rhonda came over, and met up with Mitzi as she and the old woman started to exchange fashion tips and stories. The other people in the boarding house couldn't help but give slight chuckles as they looked over to the two, Gertie is just happy her old friend Mitzi and her grandson's girlfriend, whom she nicknamed 'Jacqueline', as she would always do whenever Arnold brought home one of his female friends for a project, naming them after First Ladies. And then, of course, there WAS Phil, who seemed to be more amused at Rhonda and Mitzi's conversations whenever the two were having a proper time... but the one a little more embarrassed than he would like to say was Arnold himself, who seemed to be blushing in embarrassment as Mitzi had just shared a tale.
"You're kidding?" Rhonda smirked as she turned to Arnold, who was blushing furiously. "Arnold actually FLUBBED on a bowling strike?"
"I was just as surprised as you! Guess he gets that accidental 'other lane' mix up from his grandfather." Mitzi said in a non-casual voice, causing both girls to giggle.
Phil frowned as he turned his head. "I'm sitting right here, you know!"
"Oh, give it a rest, Phil. Let the girls talk." Ernie Potts said as he gave a chuckle.
Rhonda laughed a bit as she turned towards Arnold. "Wow, Arnold, and I thought you were supposed to be the sub-leader of our little bowling team! Got lessons from Coach Wittenberg?"
"You know he coached you, too." Arnold said as he took another bite from his dinner.
"Yeah, maybe so, and he does have the makings of a good coach, don't get me wrong, sweetie, but he's always acting like a drill sergeant at times." Rhonda pointed out... before giving a smirk. "But don't feel bad, why, you're a wonderful bowler... it's just funny that you accidentally bowled into the wrong lane for the other team playing against you."
"Someone threw a banana peel in my path and I slipped and fell." Arnold sighed. "I think there was some dirty playing going on with the other team."
Rhonda paused in concern as she looked him over, before smiling. "Well... are you feeling okay now?"
"Yeah, I... suppose so, now. This happened a year or so ago." Arnold explained.
"And what a year THAT was." Mitzi chuckled, before Rhonda turned back to her.
"You think that's an embarrassing story about Arnold, I have to tell you about the time when Arnold accidentally locked me and him in the greenhouse, and the key was outside?" Rhonda giggled a bit, causing Arnold's eyes to widen in shock.
"Oh?" Mitzi asked, raising an eyebrow in curiosity.
"Rhonda, please..." Arnold blushed in embarrassment.
"It's okay, Arnold, time has passed, and I can laugh about it now." Rhonda giggled, before turning back to the old woman. "You see, it was for this project we were teaming up to do, about examining photosynthesis and how it can affect certain plants and vegetables. We were trying to compare how a sunflower and a tomato plant can survive just through photosynthesis alone. Turns out, there's a lot of mathematics involved, but anyway, Arnold forgot the key to the greenhouse, so we were stuck in there for a couple of hours. We had Arnold's healthy snacks to go through, some of them were actually good..."
"So what happened?" Mitzi asked, causing Phil and the others to listen in, recognizing this story.
"Oh, this'll be good..." Mr. Hyunh chuckled to himself as he crossed his arms.
"Well, Arnold had to get his grandfather's attention so that he could unlock the door. Well, at the time, the greenhouse didn't exactly have the best climbing structure, but Arnold tried to make it work by clinging onto both sides of the steel rods that were jutted between the long windows of the green house and tried to tap on the glass hard, getting the attention of someone. Of course, he only got the attention of his pet pig, but Arnold tried to communicate to him as best as he could to fetch someone in the house. However, I think his pig misunderstood something so..."
"Please don't..." Arnold covered his face in embarrassment.
"His pig jumped towards the glass, causing Arnold to fall off the glass. Fortunately, he wasn't hurt. Unfortunately, at the time, we were watering the plants as well, and I might have accidentally left the hose running at one point as I laid it on the ground and made some mud on the floor. Well, Arnold splashed in that mud puddle and while I did get a little mud on my shoes... which weren't really ones I was attached with, thank goodness for that... Arnold had mud all over his shirt. He sort of had to take it off, but it did grab attention." Rhonda giggled.
Mitzi chuckled a bit. "Wow, that IS embarrassing. Heh, I'm surprised you were still able to tolerate this boy!"
"Maybe so, but hey, I still like him all the same." Rhonda smiled a bit as Arnold looked up, listening to her. She turned towards Arnold as she continued, "Despite every small obstacle against us, at least we have all the memories we can look back on, and we can still laugh."
Arnold, though still looking embarrassed, couldn't help but weedle out a small smile as he said, "I guess the mud story WAS a little funny."
Rhonda gave a smile. "Hey, it's errors like these that make us all human after all. No matter which way you put it, it just makes us stronger. Plus, I think you're cute when you're shirtless."
Arnold blushed a bit as the men of the boarding house gave light chuckles to themselves, with Phil and Gertie giving small smiles. Mitzi couldn't help but smile herself upon seeing Arnold smiling and giving Rhonda a small kiss.
"Heh, young love." Mitzi chuckled. "You know, Rhonda, Arnold, you are both lucky to have each other. My advice, never go out of style."
"I don't think we ever intend to, Aunt Mitzi." Arnold smiled as he squeezed Rhonda's hand as the two looked at each other fondly.
After a little while, Rhonda and Arnold excused themselves to do homework as they were now in their room, with the door open, upstairs in Arnold's room as Rhonda was looking over her geography homework, with Arnold looking over his work. As they were working, Rhonda looked up as she turned to Arnold, "You know, Arnold, I've always said it before, but your family is pretty eccentric."
"Yeah, they can be." Arnold nodded.
"But your Aunt Mitzi... she's nice, and pretty cool and fashionable." Rhonda smiled. "It's a shame she's only here for the week, otherwise, I'd love to have more conversations with her."
"Well, I'm sure there'll be more than enough time for that whenever she comes over." Arnold said with a smile. "Heck, I think Aunt Mitzi's taking quite the shine to you as well."
Rhonda giggled a bit before crossing her legs. "Then I'm a very lucky girl, and you are a lucky boy, to have known this amazing woman."
"Indeed, Rhonda, indeed..." Arnold smiled as he put his book down. "Sooo... what do you say I help you with your social studies work, hm?"
"It would be my pleasure." Rhonda said in a prim and proper voice before Arnold moved close to help out.
As the two were talking heavily about their work, they didn't notice that Mitzi had been walking down the hall and listened in, before giving a small smile on her face. Giving a nod to herself, she decided to walk off and leave the two kids to their studies. One thing was for sure on Aunt Mitzi's mind, that Rhonda girl certainly knew her fashion, and her grandnephew certainly KNEW how to pick his girls.
And that is THIS one shot done! How did you guys like it? Yeah, it's a little request short with Arnold and Rhonda, and meeting a member of Arnold's family, like Aunt Mitzi, but I think it gets the job done. After all, the only time I ever wrote for Aunt Mitzi was in Oh Rhonda, and I don't think I utilized the character a lot in that story. At least with this one shot, I tried my best to have Rhonda and Aunt Mitzi have some conversations together, and hey, a little more Arnda goodness never hurt anyone! Either way, I hope you guys enjoyed this one shot! It'll be a while before the next Arnda chapter on both Rhonda's Beau 2 and Oh Rhonda!: The New Adventures, but hopefully, this'll tide you guys over!
Oh, and by the way, I did make a reference to another Arnda story universe, specifically JayDogg187's Arnda stories. It may not be quite as obvious at first, but it's slightly subtle, if you look in the right area. Let me know if you find it! Anyway, thank you all for reading, and have a very wonderful day!