Now, shall we go on? Thank you SO much for reviewing, detectivezelda and Sideshow Cellophane 26 (I assume) Oh, and I agree. Average exists, normal doesn't. Curly isn't either of those.

Lisa reported that Curly had seemed to have completely forgotten that he had ever been obsessed with Rhonda and was now treating her like anyone else.

"He got over her very quickly." she remarked.

I shook my head. "He started to accept it after she dumped him, I think. One quick flash of hope when they started dating again, then he overheard her whining about being stuck in the situation, and it was after that when he dumped her, so he had more time to get over it than you think. Plus, he's still nine years old, right?"

Lisa nodded. "Sure. But on the other hand, I've been studying Helga's behaviour patterns ever since you found out her secret. It's pretty clear that she's not going to get over Arnold any time soon. Judging by that poetry book of hers, she's had that secret for a long time, yet she refuses to tell it. I have actually asked Lila if she knew anything, because I could just tell she knew more than she let on. She admitted that Helga's been in love with Arnold since at least the time of the school play. They were doing Romeo and Juliet and Arnold was Romeo. There were four understudies for Juliet and Helga was the last one. She somehow convinced Rhonda, Sheena and Phoebe to drop out the minute they got to be the official Juliet, then Lila only dropped out when Helga admitted that she wanted to be Juliet because she wanted to kiss Arnold. And it's obvious Arnold is used to her behaviour. Usually he ignores it when she's shooting spitballs at him, but he occasionally looks over at her and she always just says 'what' like she thinks he doesn't know it's her."

"She's just plain nutso." I remarked.

"Who are you to talk?" Lisa challenged teasingly. "Remind me again why you've been hanging out with Curly."

"Cause he's a lot of fun." I answered. I was coming to see Curly as sort of a younger brother/best friend combination. I'd told my friends at home about him, and that day, I got a reply since I'd told them about what happened to Rhonda.

The only reply was from Tasha, my very best friend:

Hey Steph. Sorry, I didn't understand most of that...unless you actually mean that after dumping her, you saw Curly chasing Rhonda down the street because he wanted a lock of her hair. Azure said if a guy asked her for something like that, she'd punch his lights out. But Sunshine actually thinks that someone asking for a lock of hair from a girl to remember her as his first love is actually sweet!

So can you get a picture of some of these people? I really want to be able to see what they're like, especially your neighbour. Yeah, you sent that poetry, but is she really as mean as you say? I can't imagine any girl with a gigantic bow looking threatening. And just how thick are Curly's glasses? Get me a pic of Lisa's friends too, I want to see what Rhonda looks like and if Lila looks as sweet as you say she is. And what are the other girls you hang out with like? Can you get a picture of them, too?

I managed to get hold of a year-old Yearbook to get the pictures, which I scanned into the computer. Well, I only needed Facebook for a few of the sixth-graders I hung out with, but the younger kids all had to be done by yearbook. Lila had been a new girl this year, but I persuaded Lisa to get a photo of her, since there was a specific question about her. Tasha emailed back:

Wow! I can't believe Helga writes poetry. She looks SO mean, like she's about to punch the photographer. And I showed the girls the picture of Curly, and Laura said to tell you to watch out. He does look seriously weird. As for Lila...has that girl got plastic surgery or something? It is impossible for a girl to look that sweet naturally. Come to think of it, I don't believe her hair's natural, either, it's too vivid.

Rhonda looks like a snob. I can't imagine her and Curly together. Did they look really weird when they were dating? And how in the HECK did she get to be friends with Lisa? Let me guess, she dressed like a hippie just like last summer? Oh wait, you said Rhonda insisted on taking her shopping after Lila made friends with Lisa, right? And as for that Nadine girl, are those braids, or spider legs?

So those girls from Facebook are the ones you hang out with, huh? What does Maria do to her hair to make it so curly? And THAT'S what Patty looks like? No wonder she has a reputation, that girl looks like she could murder someone with just her fists.

And so that kid with the spiky hair and the weird head Is Arnold, I assume. I suppose he's pretty cute for a kid, but what exactly does Helga see in him to write stuff like 'you make my girlhood tremble'? As for Phoebe – yep, that's pretty much how I imagined her.

I continued to hang out with the sixth-graders at school, and mostly Curly outside of school. A few times, he came in through my window in spite of me telling him not to. A couple of times, he came through Lisa's window. The first time, she was downstairs, but the second time, she was in there and screamed so loudly that I had to get her to shut up before Mom came up. She was still completely fooled by Curly's act around her.

Lisa had said that she was going to let Helga know that she knew her secret, but it had been three weeks since breaking into her room and she still hadn't done it.

"Why the HELL haven't you done it?" I asked one afternoon after school. "Are you intending to tell her at all?"

"It just never seems like the right time." Lisa protested. "I can't ever get to talk to her alone. Either Phoebe's with her, or Brainy's standing there."

"Brainy?"
"Another kid in our class." Lisa explained. "I don't think I've ever heard him talk. He has heavy asthma."

"Oh, that kid." I remembered the boy. He was one of the geeks. "So why does he hang around her?"

Lisa shrugged. "She punches him in the face when she realizes he's there. Actually, he's the only person I've ever seen her use physical violence on. She keeps threatening to, but the most she does to anyone else is shove them out of her way or just say something mean."

"What about Arnold?" I asked.

"Mostly throwing stuff at him and calling him names."

"Why don't you just go next door and tell her now?" I suggested, kindly adding "I've been meaning to tell her, so I'll come with you if you're too scared to face her alone."

Lisa scowled. "I'm not scared of her, I just...haven't had the time to tell her. But if you want to tell her yourself, than fine, we can both go."

My sister hadn't seen what Helga's home life was like, and she seemed shocked at it. Mrs Pataki was passed out on the kitchen counter again, and Mr Pataki was still at work. It was Helga who answered the door.

She scowled at us. "What do you want?" she demanded harshly.

Well, I could be harsh too. "We know your secret crush and we thought you should know." I said, holding up the book I'd taken from her closet. "We weren't going to tell anyone, but I wanted to know, how the HELL do you, a nine-year-old girl, even know what 'girlhood' means and actually know how it feels when it trembles?"

Helga's expression changed from shock to fury in a snap. "You broke into my room?" she exclaimed in horror. "You-" she looked from me to Lisa, who looked scared. Helga couldn't take me in a fight, but Lisa was another story, and all three of us knew that if Helga decided to use those fists of hers, Lisa would be in a cast for the next month.

"Don't you dare touch my sister!" I said fiercely. "She didn't break into your room, I did. And we don't need any empty threats about what you'll do if we tell, because we're not going to tell. But seriously, Hells? Poetry, shrines? Isn't that just a teeny bit weird?"

"So what?" Helga challenged. "I'm allowed to do what I want in my spare time. You're the girl who's been hanging around Curly, I don't think you have the right to tell me I'm crazy when your new best friend is the fourth-grade psychopath."

I sighed. "Face it, Hells, you're so obsessive it's creepy. Get a will to live, girl! Oh, and next time you're writing stuff about him, you might want to use a code word, should anyone sneak into your room or something..."

Helga shot a glare at me, and muttered something under her breath.

"I'd like to hear what you're saying." I said pleasantly.

"Ice cream." Helga muttered. "The codeword. Phoebe knows it, too."

I smiled brightly. "Thank you." I said. "So from now on, if you want anyone to help you with 'ice cream' problems, I'm sure you can ask Lisa if you want. Oh, and while you're at it, you might want to give her a chance to hang out with your braniac best friend."

Lisa flushed. "Stephanie!" she hissed.

"What?" I said. "You wanted to be friends with Phoebe, didn't you?"

Helga scowled. "Fine, fine, whatever. Now can you two get lost?" She shut the door on us.

OK, so that's OK for Stephanie, but there's still some problems looming...

Hey, guess what they are, then name your virtual prize!