Let's see what happens. And no, I do not own the past events mentioned – Arnold's party is from "Cool Party" and the embarrassing events are from "Phoebe's Little Problem". Thank you for reviewing, detectivezelda and Sideshow Cellophane 26 (Stephanie says she'll need all the luck she can get).

A week passed, and soon, my information was confirmed – Curly really did have a crush on me. I had been acting the way I normally had around Curly. We'd hung out a few times after school, sat together on the school bus...but it was hard not to notice that Curly was sometimes watching me intently for elongated periods of time. It wasn't easy to ignore the way his whole face lit up when I smiled at him. And it most certainly was impossible not to notice his personality going from energetic to completely hyper when I was around.

I didn't know how to react to this. I wondered if I should bring it up, or wait until he did. Which would be worse? I didn't want to lead Curly on, but I didn't want to completely shoot him down. Besides, he was no fun when he was acting all heartbroken. But I didn't want him to start stalking me, either. Sure, Rhonda had overreacted, but that didn't mean being stalked, even due to romantic interests, wasn't r unnecessarily creepy and weird.

I kept quiet about it, but I occasionally asked Lisa about how Curly was acting when I wasn't around, just in case.

After that one week, Lisa informed me "He's more talkative than usual. Whenever most of us in the class are talking, he's with us. Lila told me that this is exactly how it happened. He took more of an interest in everyone in the class. In this early stage, he's likely to pull some kind of crazy stunt if he's provoked, but he hasn't done anything as of yet."

In the second week, it happened. It was a warm Tuesday night. I was innocently reading my new email from Sunshine (Aw, Steph, a kid has a crush on you? That's so cute! But really, that kid with the glasses looks disturbing, although I think Laura's taking the way he looks too seriously...) when I heard the telltale sound just below my window.

When I looked just below, I could see Curly was up in the usual tree. He mostly climbed the tree outside Lisa's room, then jumped to the pipes to climb the last few inches to my window. He looked especially crazy today, with wisps of dark hair escaping its usual neatly combed style.

I opened the window wide for him. "What did you do?" I asked outright.

"Nothing." Curly climbed through the window and jumped down.

I waited, arms folded.

"Okay, okay, maybe I let the animals from the petting zoo out, but come on, for me, that's pretty tame." Curly said in defence. "Last time I was at the zoo, I let out all the animals I could find and got one of the giraffes to carry me down Vine Street."

I giggled. "Isn't that where Arnold lives? Lisa mentioned that he lives in a boarding house on Vine St. Did he see you?"

Curly shrugged. "The last time I saw him that night was when he came back from Rhonda's so-called 'cool' party. Everyone except him was on Rhonda's 'geek' list and we were all pretty mad at her. Harold wanted to crash her party, but I guess they didn't. Last I heard they all held a different party at Arnold's, but I didn't hear anything about it. Word was that everyone at Rhonda's party, even Rhonda herself, went to that party."

I grinned. "Awesome. So...can you explain why you're here?"

"Just waiting until the staff at the zoo cool down and stop looking for me. I lost them a few blocks ago, but they might still be looking for me. I figured I needed a crash pad for the night, as long as I call my parents and tell them I'm with someone else."

I smiled. "Well, as long as Bart is okay with letting you share his room, Mom will probably let you. You've totally made her think you're a great influence and a perfect kid."

"Am I ever imperfect?" Curly teased. We both burst out laughing.

Sure enough, things worked out just as I predicted, and things went normally. It was only after school, once we'd been dropped off at our stop and Helga had gone into her house that Lisa whispered to me "There's something you should know about last night. I was getting up for a glass of water when I heard a creak. Curly was at your door, and when I got back from the kitchen, he was standing in the doorway of your room, just staring at you. Luckily, he didn't see me."

I shivered in spite of myself. OK, now things were getting a little weird. A kid having a crush on me? Fine! Said kid being a little unstable and a friend of mine? Great! The kid having tendencies to stalk the girl he likes and blackmailed his last crush into pretending to be his girlfriend for some time? That I have come to terms with. But getting up at night to watch me sleeping like some Twilight Saga copycat? That is where I draw the line.

"You should confront him." Lisa suggested. "Maybe he'll tone it down a little bit if you ask him."

"I am NOT asking him about it on the bus in front of all the students." I said. "I'll become the joke of the school. Yes, I heard about what happened last time a student embarrassed herself in front of the whole school." (In fact, Harold had wet himself in front of all the students just as he was teasing Phoebe about an embarrassing event she was trying to face up to, and the teasing he got was only just dying down when we came). "And no way am I asking him one-on-one."

"Well, you're going to have Bart and I with you next time he comes over." Lisa said firmly. "You ask him while we're there."

"Hey!" Bart protested. "Who said I was going to be there? The psycho is your classmate, Lisa. He's your friend, Steph, anyway. Shouldn't you know how to handle him?"

I folded my arms. "There's a word that probably hasn't come into your limited vocabulary, Bart. It's unpredictable, which is an adjective that means no one is able to guess what the subject will do next. Curly is the most unpredictable person I've ever met."

"I know what unpredictable means." Bart muttered. "I try to be it." The last part wasn't meant to be heard, I could tell, but I caught it anyway.

I decided to take matters into my own hands, and I asked Mom the minute I got in. "Hey, Mom? Can I invite Curly over on Friday night?"

"Of course, sweetie." Mom said. "I'm so glad you two are friends, he seems a very good influence."

"Enough with the names, Mom." I muttered. I hated it when she treated me like I was still seven years old. Fourteen-year-olds don't like being called 'sweetie'. Bart hated being treated like a little kid as much as I did, but Lisa humoured Mom. "But thanks."

"Stephanie, did you have to do that?" Lisa complained. She pulled me out of the kitchen, explaining "Did you have to tell Mom you're asking him over? I don't want to hear her gushing over him, and this means he'll be over during dinner and after, as well. You know I hate it!"

"Stop being a wimp." I snapped. "If you can't take one evening with one of your classmates in the house, why don't you just go next door and ask Helga if you can stay over?"

That was low, and I knew it. Lisa was still scared of Curly, but although Helga had been leaving her alone as of late, she wasn't going to give her a chance to resume the bullying.

Lisa gave me a defiant look. "I said I'd stand with you when you ask him, and I will."

"And you wouldn't have the guts to talk to Helga on your own, let's not forget." I goaded. "There is a way to get past that, you know. Just imagine what she's like writing all that poetry. I've seen her in her room, acting all dreamy, kissing that locket that I'd bet on my life has Arnold's photo in it – and really, if you think of her in that way, she doesn't come off as threatening, no matter what she does."

"I'm not scared of her." Lisa insisted. "I don't like her, and she doesn't like me." She sighed. "I'd like to talk to Phoebe, though. I've seen her looking depressed when Helga's telling her what to do, and if I acknowledge her, she'll smile. I think she knows I want to be friends with her, but she's one hundred percent loyal to Helga. Anyway, point is, I'm not scared of Helga, and I'm not scared of Curly. I'm staying with you when you talk to him on Friday."

So, what will Curly do when Stephanie asks him outright? Please review!