Arnold lightly pushed Rhonda away from him. "You care to explain what was that all about?!"

"I had no choice on how to get your attention so I guess my instinct with you kicked in…!" Rhonda replied, frantically. "And that's your instinct? Yanking my arm and kissing me? What is this?! Just so you can catch your lover's attention?!" Arnold freed himself.

"Arnold, stop already! I'm not seeing anyone and will you stop freaking out over it! That stuffed bear was supposed to be a surprise for you after school! I didn't realize you-"

"Sure… I don't even know why I came here…!" Arnold turned around. Rhonda yanked his arm again. "I love you!"

"What?"

"I love you, Arnold! Will you please listen to me?! I know it's sudden but- I just can't keep this a secret! Who the hell am I supposed to trick into thinking I don't have a crush on you?! I'm tired of playing these nonsense games, I…"

"Somehow I feel like that's just a bunch of lies… Walking out on me with all these minor inconveniences I had lately when I needed you the most? Just stop with this already! I wish I could believe you, but I don't think I can find myself being around you in the meantime. The only reason you're saying all this is just to use me for the secret person you're seeing who you probably want to call your boyf-"

"Arnold, enough! Just stop! You want to know? Fine. It's you! It's you for Pete's sake! I'm telling the truth! I love you! I'm in love with you! Stop with all these games and nonsense!"

"I don't think I can love someone if all they did was abandon me like a pet owner forgetting their dog or cat when they're moving out. What do they do with their pet? They simply don't care about that poor bastard, and that's what I am to you… some poor bastard you walked out on…"

"Arnold, please!"

"Don't. I can't love you back like this. I don't even want to say another word to you until I think it's right. Goodbye." Arnold looked at her head-to-toe and soon walked out.

Tears had built up in Rhonda's eyes as her crush basically rejected her. While she had strong feelings for Arnold, she felt like it was best to give him the space he needed. Rhonda went to her bed and let the tears pour down her face.

The Next Day

It was Monday, which meant it was back to another day of school, for most people.

Arnold slept through his alarm clock and straight up didn't care for anything since yesterday. Nobody saw where he was, nobody knew anything.

"Shortman? Shortman, get up! You slept five minutes past your clock!" His Grandpa came into his room shortly after. Arnold slowly sat up. "I'll be downstairs…"

"Oh, boy… You don't look too good. You ok, Shortman?" Grandpa noticed the sadness on his face. "I'm fine… I just had a bit of a bad dream…"

"Ok, then. If you need anything, just talk to me about it." Grandpa soon headed downstairs.

Arnold felt a little guilty for shaming Rhonda's attitude lately, yet he felt like he was in the right. Arnold had feelings for her, but his feelings may have gone down ever since she walked out on him twice.

Arnold soon got out of bed as he had no other option.

Later at School

"C'mon, man! Get rid of that long face. What's up with you this morning?" Gerald tried trying his best friend up.

"It's more of a personal matter, and I prefer not to say a word about it." Arnold shut his locker. "Yeesh, it's that bad?"

"Like you wouldn't believe…" Arnold took a deep sigh. Rhonda would then walk by the two, but had an extremely sad look on her face.

"Don't you two always say something to… Wait…" Gerald realized what went down. "You're not meaning to tell me…"

"Keep your mouth closed and don't tell anyone! Nobody can know a word!" Arnold soon walked away to class.

In class, it was loud and talkative as always. Arnold and Gerald sat beside each other like usual. There were still four minutes before class started.

"Talk to me, man. What the hell happened?! You two were so close to each other! And now you're gonna let that love spark be extinguished? Man, you can't let that happen!"

"But what the hell am I supposed to do?! Arnold's right! I've been nothing but a pampered think-I-Know-best moron!" Rhonda replied to Nadine as she laid her head down.

"She literally repaid my friendship with money when she got her wealth back! Which I'm still a little upset about. What kind of friend is that?! And then walking out on me when I needed someone the most! I literally met someone who feels like a big sister to me. Only after a day of knowing her, she's a whole lot more attentive than she could ever be!"

"It's not that he hates you, he just needs some space away from you, I guess? What I'm saying here is, just take some time apart, and I know he'll soon come to accept you back despite the flaws that happened. I'm sure he loves you, no?" Nadine comforted her best friend.

"Gerald… I have to admit one thing here…"

"What's that?" Gerald looked over. "I think I may still love her…. I know I sound stupid but look… I still love her. I may have blamed her for something that may have been out of one's control, but I still love her, Gerald, I really do!"

"You really think Arnold has feelings for me despite me not being there for him?" Rhonda looked at Nadine. "I guarantee it.". She smiled.

"Arnold man, you gotta make up with each other eventually. You can't spend the rest of your life with this guilt, and with you still in love with her, I see no other choice."

"Alright. I guess it's worth a try. Though, I don't know whether he'll want to speak to me since he made it clear he doesn't want to see me…" Rhonda then looked at where Arnold was sitting.

"I guess it's worth a shot, I just don't know whether she'll want to talk or not…" Arnold wanted to look back but didn't. "I'm wishing all the best of luck, man." Gerald replied as he patted his shoulder. "Thanks, man."

Soon, Mr. Simmons came into the classroom.

"Good morning, class!"

"Morning, Mr. Simmons."

Later

The bell had just rung for recess, and most of the class rushed out, except for four people.

"C'mon, man! This is your chance! Just go up to her and ask her to talk!" Gerald whispered to Arnold. He was only being stubborn.

"He's right behind! This is your chance!" Nadine encouraged Rhonda. "I just can't!"

"Fine. Talk to her at lunch then. How 'bout I get your mind off this? How about that new movie and tv series coming out? I heard so many good things about it!" Gerald soon started. "Now that I can definitely talk about. Any idea when it comes out? I haven't been able to watch the trailer."

"Coming out within a few days actually…"

"What? That much time passed by? Sheesh, I'm getting that confused now." Arnold chuckled a little.

Rhonda couldn't help but release a little laughter after hearing Arnold.

"I think there should be two sneak peeks later on in the movie. I already saw it and let me tell you, Arnold… that was the most intense twenty minutes I've seen! Left me on two cliffhangers! You gotta come over to my place so we can watch it!"

"I seriously gotta see it before the movie comes out!"

"And you know something? Some characters remind me of us, I don't know why though…" Gerald had a hand on his chin, wondering. "I gotta see for myself now."

Later

It was around lunchtime, Arnold and Gerald were still discussing the new movie and tv series coming out.

"Crazy how the series comes out after the movie, don't you think?" Arnold asked. "Maybe but… I don't know how things like that work." Gerald replied.

"EW! GET AWAY FROM ME, YOU FREAK!"

Yelling was heard in the background. It was Rhonda telling off Curly as usual. Arnold looked over immediately.

"Just one quick one!"

"GET YOUR MUSTY HANDS OFF ME!" Rhonda aggressively pushed Curly off. "Just let me smell your hair!"

"Arnold, don't you get involved- And he's going…" Gerald tried to stop Arnold, but he already ran off.

"Didn't you… HEAR HER?!" Arnold shoved Curly off.

"Who the hell are you to defend her?!" Curly growled. Arnold didn't say a word, Rhonda would only wrap her arms around Arnold as she stood behind him.

"Please make it stop…" Rhonda whispered to Arnold.

Quite a lot here, hm?