Chapter 3

*Lila's POV*

"Now, Stinky, this will only work if everything goes perfectly, so you must NOT mess anything up!"

He seemed startled by the fact that I was yelling. Sweet, perfect Lila was being a bitch. Well, I'm sure as hell not sweet anymore. After my dad lost his job, I learned to toughen up or you'll never make it in life. Helga actually told me that once.

I'm not saying that it's her fault. But it is her fault that Arnold broke up with me. I can still hear his words, like daggers, "I can't go out with you anymore, Lila. I-I love someone else…"

I know for a fact that it's her. By the way he helped her up after her fight with Ruth. I was rooting for Ruth, by the way. After all, she had won. I could tell that Helga thought she had won by the way she flipped off Ruth in the end. But the only thing she had won was MY Arnold.

"O-okey dokey, Miss Lila, I'll try my best." Stinky was too old to still talk like that. I was about to say something about it when I spotted Arnold coming our way.

"Show time, kid!" I whispered and flung myself into Stinky's arms.

As Arnold came closer, I made sure I talked loud enough for him to hear.

"No, Stinky! I won't kiss you right here! Not now!" I cried melodramatically, sneaking a peek at Arnold's reaction. He was staring at us and Gerald was whispering in his ear.

"But. Miss Lila. I. Love. You. Too. Much. Too. Wait. Till. After. School." Stinky talked as if he was reading off of his hand. And he probably was.

I hid my triumphant grin when I spotted Arnold coming our way. I turned around and tried to look surprised but to my dismay, Arnold was looking at Stinky.

"Wow, Stinky. I didn't know you were going out with Lila." He smiled.

I hate him.

"Yeah, Arnold. We're in looove." Stinky grinned.

What? That was not in the script!

"Well, I'm happy for ya, Stink." He patted Stinky on the shoulder and started to walk away.

"B-bye, Arnold!" I stood on my toes and waved.

He responded by raising his hand but never looked back.

*Helga's POV*

"Test!"

Phoebe nodded solemnly, "Mrs. Reilly told us on Monday that we would have a test over the student handbook, Helga. Weren't you listening?"

I thought back to Monday. Nope, I was thinking about Arnold…like I do every day.

"Will you let me copy, Pheebs?" I smiled my best smile, which, in my opinion, is not very good.

She sighed and nodded.

"Thanks so much, Phoebe!" I ran to my desk, beaming.

"Psst. Helga." Rhonda tapped on my shoulder. I turned around.

"What? And make it quick, Mrs. Reilly is gonna give me PAS for 'disrupting class' or something stupid like that."

"Did you study?"

"No. Did you?"

"No. We're screwed." Rhonda groaned.

"Hah! I'm not! I'm copying off of Phoebe!" I grinned happily.

"You. Bitch." She said through her teeth.

"I get that a lot."

*Arnold's POV*

"Man, I don't know if I was imagining it or not, but I'm pretty sure I saw a hint of jealously in your eyes when we saw Lila with Stinky." Gerald raised his eyebrow at me.

"No way, Gerald. I'm completely over Lila. I have been for a while now. You know that."

"I know…you're 'in love' with someone else." He winked.

I jumped. Did he find out?

"Who do you think it is?" I asked.

"Hah! I knew it!" Gerald slapped my back, "I know it's Helga, Man. And don't you dare deny it. I know my best friend."

"What? No way, Gerald. She's just my friend."

"Heh, but I know you wanna be more than friends." He smiled.

"Not really…" Wow, I'm a good liar.

"Whatever you say, Man, whatever you say." Then Gerald went on to gloat about Phoebe and his first date while I silently suffered.

Damn it.

*Phoebe's POV*

Helga, if I can see you looking at my paper, then so can the teacher. But the jokes on you, I didn't study either. I know I shouldn't have lied to her but I didn't want to disappoint her. That has seems to be my goal in life now. To please her. But I love Helga! She's my best friend!

But I'll probably get her a bad grade because I'm thinking about Gerald…