Chapter number two... Y'know that I use the word Grannie instead of Granny? Well, let's just say that it was late when I started this thing so shut up! ;) Plus, sometimes it's hard, because I always type English, but I speak Afrikaans. Trust me; it gets annoying. So when I have an essay to write (in Afrikaans) I usually use everyday English words. 'a' in English is ''n' in Afrikaans. Ugh! But anyway, I think it gives a ring to it, don't you? Like granite or something. So, it's GrannIE Ciarah, okay?

I'll stop babbling now...

"GRANNIE!!!!" The neighbourhood and all that was in it practically winced at the blonde's voice.

"Yes, my child?" Ciarah asked calmly, not at all affected by the blonde's high voice.

Phoebe winced as she saw her best friend about to scream again. It was just past eight and Helga got red as Phoebe and her grandmother (hesitantly) informed her about the boys coming over. Rhonda had weaselled herself out of it and instead went to the kitchen to start making snacks.

The three girls were already in their night wear and Helga got the impression that it was a 'Girls night in', as Phoebe and she nicknamed it.

And now Helga heard that Arnold and Gerald were coming over any second.

Saying that she was furious and embarrassed was an understatement.

They all heard a knock on the door.

"Eep!" Helga yelped and ran for her room in a girlish manner.

Phoebe sighed, "I'll get it," She opened the door and sourly looked at them. She said nothing, but sighed through her nostrils and stepped aside for them to enter. Gerald eyed her suspiciously while giving her a kiss on her cheek and entered first, with Arnold close behind him.

"Hey beautiful; what's wrong?" Gerald asked; genuine concern noticeable in his deep voice.

Phoebe only sighed again, shaking her head, "do you really want to know?"

"Well…" Gerald contemplated, "do you want me to really want to know?"

"No, you-, …what?" Phoebe asked, dumbfounded that her own boyfriend was so poorly educated in English grammar (A/N; I feel like a hypocrite...0.o).

"…What?" Gerald asked, completely and utterly oblivious.

Arnold rolled his eyes, making his way to the kitchen. This was not the first time he had been here; he and Helga had become good friends over the summer, and she invited him over numerous times before, as did he to his place. Sometimes he even forgot this was her house; not his own. They would spend the time watching movies, listening to music and just talk. He was probably cocky, but he was almost positive that he now knew more about Helga than even Phoebe. Gerald and Phoebe had stopped talking and stared at him in awe, not able to register exactly what he had just done.

Arnold smirked. Of course they'd know nothing; Helga had forced him to keep quiet about their 'friend affair' as Helga liked to call it. He continued smirking as he grabbed an apple while Rhonda stared at him.

"What?" He dared to ask just as Phoebe and Gerald walked into the room, completely silent.

"You… And this… and Helga… house…" Rhonda had to grab onto the table's edge to keep her self standing.

"Speak properly," Arnold urged; the smile on his face which was begging to become a smirk.

"Oh you know what I mean!" Rhonda found her voice again and glared at her blond friend, "What has this world come to? I think I'm going to faint…"

"Don't be such a drama mama, please," Gerald rolled his eyes directed at Rhonda.

"But," Rhonda tried again, only to fail with Gerald's voice stopping her. It was a good thing too, because she couldn't find the right words to describe the question that was burning a hole through her head.

"Why are you looking so cosy in Helga G. Pataki's house?" Gerald filled in for her, but with more boldness than she expected.

Arnold shrugged, but said nothing, taking a casual bite out of the already half-eaten apple.

"Hey, do any'a ya know where Grannie C is?" Gerald asked, ignoring the faces he got from the girls. Hey, his brother was in trouble, and he was there to help him… by changing the subject.

Rhonda groaned, "She's upstairs. Said something about a call she had to make. I wouldn't go check if I were you," she warned, glaring at him as if her life depended on it.

Gerald shrugged, knowing well that it wasn't a polite Grannie C-didn't-want-to-be-disturbed warning, it was more of a dangerous I'm-the-only-one-who-can-be-close-to-her-besides-Helga-in-this-house warning.

"Honey, would you go get the movies ready? They're on the table next to the couches," Phoebe asked sweetly, grabbing his hand and squeezing it gently with a soft smile. He wanted to say something, but shrugged and did as he was told instead; he wasn't up for her mind games to avoid answering his questions tonight.

"And uh… Arnold, would you go check up on Helga, the poor dear is in her room." Rhonda chimed in with a ridiculously large smile; one that Arnold already knew was a fake.

He also just shrugged, and headed for her room. Just before he could exit the kitchen, he threw the naked apple into the trash can.

"Now how would you know where her room is?" Rhonda almost sneered, and he froze.

Turning slowly around, he contemplated on what he would use as an excuse. Shrugging, he said, "Now why would you care?"

Ouch. Rhonda fumed, but calmed down. "Touché, Arnold."

When he turned around again and actually exited the place, Rhonda turned to Phoebe and giggled. "They already have something!!!"

"I wouldn't want to jinx it… but how would he know?" Phoebe asked, smiling.

"Okay, so we have to put the plan into action," Rhonda said, a determined expression etched on her face, "and I think Arnold just made it easier for us…"

"Did you drink those Red bulls I gave you?" Phoebe asked as they continued organizing the chips into different coloured bowls.

"Yip, it's a wonder I'm not jumping up and down right now," Rhonda smiled wickedly, but her smile slightly disappeared as she asked, "Hey Phoebe, how do you know we had enough Red bulls to help us stay awake all night?"

"Well, if my calculations are correct, the caffeine in all seven Red Bulls we each had to drink will give our brains more negative oxygen to work quicker. We will unknowingly have more adrenaline than we need and our bodies will divert that unused energy into anything and everything that needs the said fluid of energy, thus keeping us awake until all the energy is used."

Rhonda stared at her in utter speechlessness, before smirking, "English human version, please?"

Phoebe sighed, wishing that somewhere out there was someone who could understand her complex brain, "Even if we want to sleep, our bodies won't allow it," Rhonda nodded and Phoebe proceeded, "I've calculated that the seven needed adrenaline boosters that we drank will last us through the entire night. I brought extras just in case, though," She grinned, pulling two more drinks out of her olive green bag.

"Just in case? Girl, if we miss this, we'll be done. Done, I say!" Rhonda said and grabbed one Red Bull. She downed it furiously and Phoebe followed suite.

Helga looked into the bathroom mirror, and noticed that she was hyper. She quickly let pouring water cool off her facial features as she splashed her face in cold water with a little more force than necessary. At last almost all of her blond hair was damp.

She snapped out of it and headed for the door. She slammed it open with again a little too much force, marching right into a body; the (sexy) body that she desperately wanted to stay clear of till tomorrow.

She slowly looked up into his face with a contorted glare. His eyes switched and Helga could've sworn that his pupils had gotten bigger. She squealed inwardly, remembering that she read somewhere that your pupils will expand up to 45% when you see something pleasing. He was dressed into black Nike pants with a matching Nike long-sleeved dark blue shirt.

Helga looked so good.

She had a really tight short on with a white long-sleeved shirt. Her hair was extremely wet and some of the water dripped down to her shirt, making her bra slightly visible. When Arnold noticed this, he almost choked on his words, trying escape from her. Luckily she was trying to do the same thing. Unfortunately they both kept on blocking each other. When Arnold went his right, she went her left. When she tried right, he tried left.

Finally Helga groaned and pushed him aside, walking over to the T.V. She eyed him strangely and smirked, "What're you looking at?"

Arnold snapped out of his daydream and stuttered out an excuse, "W-well, I was done getting ready if you were wondering."

At his statement, Gerald and Phoebe, who were both cuddling in the corner waiting for them to return and get ready, and Grannie and Rhonda, who just entered the room with popcorn and junk food, and Helga especially all looked at him as if he just laid an egg.

"O…kay." Helga shrugged.

"Brother, I think you meant it the other way 'round." Gerald chuckled, getting up. Everyone was helping at getting the beds on the floor just right. Rhonda and Phoebe had made sure that Arnold and Helga were squeezed into each other. Phoebe had Gerald rest next to Arnold, and Rhonda was snuggling against Helga, unbeknown to Helga, forcing them into each other. Ciarah was lying behind them all, on the couch. She could see everything.

Arnold tensed up as he felt Helga's whole body pushed up into his body. The worse part was that her wet blond locks were sprawled across his now bare chest, as she was eventually forced to lay half on top of him. He was frantically searching for a way out, to distract him. He was trying to get away from her to stop him from doing something stupid that would totally and ultimately destroy their friendship. And even if he didn't want to think about it, he was still going out with Lila, so this was clearly breaking a relationship law, wasn't it?

He failed miserably every time and at every attempt. He failed so miserably, that he ended up closer to her than in the beginning. Now her legs were tucked into his, and one of her hands were laying softly on his chest next to her head.

Unbeknown to him, Phoebe and Rhonda were smiling like Cheshire cats.

Unbeknownst to them, Grannie was also smiling from ear to ear; looking at her grandchild snuggling closely to Arnold.

Unbeknown to her, Gerald became irritated, because he also knew something was going on. He was racking his brain for explanations as to what was going on. So he was irritated, because he knew something was going on, but he couldn't place a finger on what it was.

Unbeknown to everyone, Helga was aware of how close she and Arnold were and tried her best to shrug it off, but she was wondering why she felt so hyperactive. The only thing that held her still was the thought of the closeness between the two blonds. She knew if she was about to jump up and run around, that there was a good chance that they wouldn't be so close again.

"Take that you bee-otch," Helga thought deviously with a smirk, thinking about the guy Lila drove off with.

After the movie almost everybody gave into slumber. Helga was the first (well, second if you count Grannie in, but she was old, so she didn't count) to doze off. Gerald had made jokes about her being the baby of the group, but Arnold stopped their (Rhonda had chimed in) joking, unconsciously pulling her closer in defence.

Secondly it was Rhonda, who snored, surprisingly. Gerald had made jokes again, and swore that he was never gonna let her live it down.

Thirdly was Phoebe, who tried her utmost best to stay awake and see what would happen, but her eyelids wouldn't allow it.

Gerald finally gave in to the sleeping façade and dropped down too.

Arnold was the only one who stayed awake 'till after one.

His eyes were groggy, but he was instantly awoken. When he got his eyesight functioning correctly he saw Helga standing over him in a zombie position. She had a weird half-lidded expression, and her arms were out, looking like she was reaching for something.

She was making her way to the front door, muttering incoherent sentences. Arnold immediately shot up as she opened the door and let the cold windy breeze lift the ends of her locks. He then noticed that it was still dark, and estimated the time to be around three o'clock. Arnold sat straight up in complete shock, following her movements with his eyes. When she made a move to continue outside, Arnold stood up and stopped her before she neared the end of the stoop.

He saw her eyes, not once blinking, and he shook her a bit. She stared blankly at him and he felt almost intimidated.

Finally she broke free from his grasp and headed towards the kitchen muttering words more quickly. He followed her somewhat amused and somewhat confused. To his horror, she opened the window while standing on the kitchen table, and made a move to climb out of it. Arnold was now sure that she was determined to get out of that house and to someplace else.

He tried calling her name softly, but that didn't work. He couldn't yell at her, because he was afraid that he would wake the others. Finally he took a drastic step. He tripped her with his hand and let her slip (fall) into his already positioned arms. He set her down, but made sure to corner her so that she wouldn't escape.

"Is this a game to you?" he asked her somewhat stiffly.

"…don't you see? I care about your being as well as your being…" Helga droned on in a low and weak voice. (A/N; it was intended to sound like that)

Arnold got a confused expression on his face and shook her a bit again. "What are you talking about?"

"…volumes and volumes of poems… But you were always so dense… Maybe I should move on but I don't want to… you have to understaaand…" Helga did not stop babbling through the entire time that she had gotten up.

"Helga, you're not making any sense at all." Arnold said frustrated, trying to make her look into his eyes. He was startled to find that she looked like a ghost; seeing past him or something. He noticed her mouth did not once stop moving and her eyelids were still as solid as ever. He shook her 'couple of times and stopped, realization dawning on him.

"… Can't you see…?"

She was sleepwalking.

"… I'm as mad as a hatter gaga in love with you…" Helga's voice finally stopped her and she looked up to him, blank face still etched upon her sleepy yet spooky facial features. Arnold stared down at her in horror.

"Who could she be talking about?" Arnold wondered suspiciously, a tinge of… jealousy coming along. When he snapped out of his thoughts he resisted the urge to yell and yank away from her.

"She was trying to kiss me!" ran though his head a couple of times, "she must've thought I was the guy," he gulped, "that she was in love with."

"…Arnold?" Helga asked with a confused tone, "Why aren't we in bed?" Before Arnold could reply and try to explain, Helga interrupted him. "Look at the damn time! I'll look like a moron tomorrow when I go to see him! Gah!" Helga yelped as she shot to the beds again. He stood stiffly as he thought the guy she was talking about was the guy she was in love with.

Arnold wanted to laugh at the irony.

He wanted to scream of jealousy.

He wanted to cry of confusion.

He wanted to groan of frustration.

Most of all, he wanted to sleep. That's what he did as he followed her to the beds. He got into their bed and noticed Helga was already snugly asleep.

"I hope she doesn't remember this night…" He thought as he too softly fell asleep.

Hehe... What's gonna happen next? I have no clue. Haven't written that part yet... :p

Please understand that there are no mistakes that I'm not aware of. If something seemed odd, it was meant to be that way. I know you're confused abotu the whole Phoebe/Rhonda thing... Who said Phoebe's calculations are always correct? Maybe it backfired...? You, my oddly weird friend, will just have to wait and see.

Oh! ...And, be a Good Golly Miss Dolly Doll and.... REVIEW!!!

Phantom
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