OK, so let's continue. And yes, this chapter is mainly an episode from the show. I'm not going to name it, but you can probably guess. Oh, and it's on YouTube. Don't forget, Maggie is two and a half here, so she would be speaking in full sentences.

Thanks for your review, Sideshow Cellophane 26 – well, creepy is Curly's specialty.

As it happened, my pre-meditated thoughts on Curly were right. He was a lot of fun to be around. Also, he didn't really have a particular friend in the fourth grade, so he usually hung out with the geeks (one of which, I discovered, seemed to have an asthmatic problem and a crush on Helga). I felt a bit sorry for him, so I sometimes joined him on the bus. In school itself, I didn't really talk to him, of course. We didn't really cross paths, anyway. The fourth-graders had one classroom, and everyone above fifth grade had several in the second and third storey.

Lisa didn't like my new friendship with Curly. She continued insisting that he was dangerous, and there was a reason he didn't have any real friends. Bart sometimes told her to lay off. He didn't particularly like Curly, but he didn't dislike him and treated him more as a source of amusement than anything. Once I introduced Maggie, though, she had gone all shy and whispered "Steph, I'm scared."

Curly proved surprisingly charismatic around Mom and Dad. Well, Dad didn't seem to care, but Mom approved greatly of my friendship with him, and even tried to encourage Lisa. I just sat back and smiled, knowing that Mom had no clue to what Curly was really capable of. She was less inclined to believe the stories Lisa had heard second-hand (especially the one about the principal's office and the kickballs), and I wasn't about to tell her that even Curly had confirmed to me that they were true.

Anyway, I should probably explain what happened about a month after we'd moved here. One Monday morning, we were on the bus and I was going to sit next to Curly as usual, but he held up a hand. "Sorry, Steph. I'm saving this seat."

I took the seat behind instead, asking "For who?"

"For Rhonda."

I snickered. "Yeah right, like she'd sit next to you if there was any room." Much as I liked Curly, I still thought it was ridiculous that he actually continued to pursue Rhonda, thinking he had a chance with her.

"Wait and see." Curly grinned at me.

He immediately waved when Rhonda got on the bus. "Over here, sweet Rhonda! I saved a seat for you!" Everyone immediately turned their attention to Rhonda as she actually walked over and sat down next to him. I was shocked, not expecting her to actually do that. What had happened between them?

Curly put an arm around her shoulders and said in his most dramatic voice "I've missed you so, my love! Tell me you're my girlfriend!"

"I'm your girlfriend." Rhonda whispered, so quietly only I could hear it – and barely, come to that.

"Sing it out, honey, so all can hear!" Curly told her.

"I'm your girlfriend." Rhonda repeated more loudly.

"That's right, folks!" Curly called out to everyone. "Rhonda's my girlfriend!"

I could see Lisa staring and whispering to Lila. Arnold was staring, too, as were Helga and Phoebe. Rhonda didn't look very much at ease at all. I could tell from the start that there was something strange going on. The only way it could make sense was if Curly had some kind of power over Rhonda that he was using to force her to be his girlfriend.

I begged updates for the relationship off Lisa. She, along with the rest of the class, didn't seem to have seen anything not quite right about it, and told me about the heart-framed picture of Curly staring into the camera on Rhonda's desk and all the little things. She didn't need to tell me about the T-shirt Rhonda was wearing that had "Curly's Girl" written on it, since she'd worn it every day since he gave it to her.

At least, until the end of the week. I had purposely sat near Curly that day, wanting to see if I could deduce what was going on.

"So Curly, how's Miss Rhonda?" asked one of the boys. He was the tallest, with a Southern accent, but Lisa hadn't mentioned his name to me yet.

"She's marvellous, stupendous, the tops!" Curly said with his usual dramatics. "It's been the happiest week of my life!"

"That's great, Curly. " Arnold said. I'd never actually heard him speak before, and I was surprised that, for all his boyish vocal chords, he sounded more like a mini-adult in tone. I wasn't sure what it was, but Arnold just sounded more...mature.

At that moment, Rhonda entered the cafeteria, not wearing the T-shirt for once, but I could see she was holding it. She looked happier than she had for most of that week. Curly turned and said "Hello, my love." She waved her fingers.

"I've saved you half of my sandwich. Wanna sit down?" Curly offered to her. "I'll feed it to you."

"Oh, I don't think that'll be necessary, lover boy," Rhonda said in sweet tones as she led him away from the table, saying something I couldn't hear.

I just about caught Curly's next words. "Oh, come on, Rhonda! You know you've grown to adore me."

But at the next moment, Rhonda's words echoed across the room. "Curly, you're a low-down, despicable creep. It's over between us. I never want to speak to you again. Now crawl back under the rock you came out of, you slug." With that, she handed the T-shirt and the photo Lisa told me about to Curly, and walked out without a second glance.

Lisa was also staring from her table. Even Bart and a few other fifth-graders were looking over. Arnold put his hand on Curly's shoulder. "You OK, Curly?"

I didn't give it a second thought, and I ran after Rhonda, pulling her back. I didn't go back to the cafeteria, but just outside the doors. "I can't believe you, Rhonda! What the hell was that?" I demanded.
"What?" Rhonda said coldly.

"That!" I exclaimed. "You dumping Curly. I could honestly care less about fourth-grade love affairs, but you didn't need to be such a bitch about it, and besides, what had he done?"

Rhonda laughed humourlessly. "What has he done? I'd tell you if I didn't think you'd tell the whole school."

"Oh, I won't." I assured her. "I don't care about you, but Curly's my friend and in case you don't recall, I blocked him from you a couple weeks ago. Not to mention, I'm more than a little interested, since you've been letting my little sister hang out with you and your friends."

Rhonda looked up at me. "Lisa's your sister? Wow, I pity her. But fine, if you can keep a secret, I'll tell you-"

"I can. Now spill it, sister."

Rhonda sighed. "I was never Curly's girlfriend. I was just pretending because he helped me out of a problem and then used blackmail pictures. He had to remind me of them to get me to wear that T-shirt."

I stared. "He WHAT? Blackmailed you?" Maybe Lisa was right about Curly, I reflected. Maybe there was something dangerous.

But then I thought about it. He hadn't really hurt Rhonda or pushed her that far. Lisa reported that they hadn't even kissed or anything. They just went around together. OK, so I had once or twice seen Rhonda with her fingertips in Curly's back pocket, but that was the furthest anything had gotten.

And it still didn't..."Well, Rhonda, that may be so, but did you have to break up with him in front of the whole cafeteria? This isn't going to get you much sympathy, you know. Curly was about to cry after you said that."

"Good." Rhonda said with satisfaction. "Anyway, I don't need sympathy. I'm Rhonda Wellington-Lloyd, and this can't possibly do a thing to me. I'm just going to move on from this completely."

That's what she thought. Over the weekend, I did ask Curly if he wanted to hang out, but he wouldn't. As I'd promised, I didn't tell anyone what Rhonda had told me, not even Lisa. And I wasn't going to tell Curly that Rhonda had told me what he did. He was still my friend, and I still thought Rhonda had been wrong in the way she dumped him. He hadn't even done anything to her, really.

I decided I'd have to split the episode into two parts. Second part coming soon!