The Good, the Bad, and the Rhonda (Part Two)

There are things a ten-year old should know how to handle. Boiling water, unlocking doors, using a phone. All of these things ten-year old's should have a generally solid knowledge of accomplishing. How to deal with the pressures of a romantic relationship is not one of those things.

It had been two days since Arnold shattered Rhonda's phone, and there had been no announcement of Arnold and Helga's relationship yet. This made Arnold and Helga feel on edge. Arnold's apology to Rhonda received a cold response of, 'it's fine', before he was dismissed.

Arnold laid on his bed, staring up at the purple, sunset sky. He didn't know what to do. He felt lost, out of his depth, and worried. He didn't care what people said about him, but he knew Helga did, and he cared deeply for her.

"What am I supposed to do?" He asked himself.

He let out a deep sigh and pulled out his harmonica. He began playing, making up some random notes he felt fit well together. He then heard a knock at his door. He stopped playing.

"Come in." He said.

The door opened to reveal Stella.

"Hey Arnold, what are you doing up here? Playing depressing music all alone?" She smiled at him.

Arnold let out a soft chuckle, "No, I'm just thinking."

Stella smirked, "Bad habit."

She walked over and sat at the foot of his bed.

"Can I ask you something mom?" Arnold asked.

"Of course." Stella said.

Arnold sighed, "When you were my age, did you have a boyfriend?"

Stella smiled, "No, I wasn't much into dating until I met your dad."

Arnold smiled, "Really? You never had a crush on anyone?"

"Oh, yeah, but I didn't have the courage to act on them." Stella smiled, "I wasn't as brave as you and Helga."

"Yeah, I think I might be having problems on that front." Arnold said.

Stella raised her eyebrow, "Why, what's wrong?"

Arnold opened his mouth, but closed it. He debated whether he should tell her or not.

"It's nothing. I'll handle it." Arnold smiled.

Stella nodded, "Okay, if you need anything, you'll let me know, right?"

Arnold smiled, "Of course."

Stella smiled back, and stood up, "Right, we're going to watch a movie downstairs, come with us."

Arnold nodded, "Yeah, I'll be down in a second."

Stella smiled and went back downstairs.

Arnold shook his head, "I can deal with it. I've dealt with everything else by myself, I can do this."

Arnold stood up, adjusted his sweater, and began to walk downstairs, when he heard his phone ring. Arnold went back into his room and picked up the receiver.

"Hello?" Arnold asked.

"Arnold, it's Rhonda. Look, I know I've been a little cold to you as of late, and I wanted to make it up to you. Can you meet me in the park in half and hour?" Rhonda said.

Arnold smiled, "Yeah, sure Rhonda. I'll see you there. Bye."

Arnold sighed with relief, "I am going to fix this."

He ran out of his room, toward the exit, telling his parents he was heading for the park for a few minutes, and ran that way.

0o0

She knew it was unreasonable. She knew that this fear was holding her back. She couldn't help it. The thought of ridicule made her shudder. But this was Arnold, her Arnold.

Helga sat in the beeper store's abandoned janitor's closet, looking deep into the pop bottle lid eyes of her latest Arnold shrine.

"Arnold, my sweet football-headed love god, dare I let the words of a few simpletons deny me my love for you? Surely, I can rise above it, if you were to help me. Tell me you'll stand by me." Helga lifted the Lego built football-headed sculptor out of it's base and held it close to her heart.

Helga then heard the store phone ring, "Is anyone going to get that?!" She called out to her lounging parents.

There was no response. Helga rose and walked over to pick up the phone.

"Criminy, can I get three minutes of peace and quiet? Got to do everything around here." Helga scowled, "What?" She said into the phone.

"Helga, it's Rhonda." Rhonda's voice caused Helga to almost experience a seizure of panic.

"Rhonda! Hello, how are you doing this lovely evening." Helga said, acting on the advice of Arnold, who recommended being extra courteous to the queen of PS 118.

"I'm fine. Look, I think this conflict between us must be a thing of the past. Why don't you join me in the park, and we can talk about ending it?" Rhonda proposed.

Helga bit the inside of her mouth with nervousness, "Nothing would make me happier."

"Good, see you there in half an hour." Rhonda then hung up.

Helga set her receiver down. She turned to her parents, "I'm heading out. Will be back soon."

0o0

Arnold stood waiting by the bridge under a streetlamp. He checked his watch; he'd been waiting for forty minutes.

"Where is she?" He said under his breath.

"Hello Arnold." He heard a female voice call out.

Arnold jumped when he didn't see Rhonda, "Lila?"

0o0

Helga met Rhonda at the east entrance to the park.

"Hello Helga, how are you?" Rhonda asked kindly.

"I'm fine, how are you?" Helga said trying desperately to appear sincere.

"Let's go on a walk, huh?" Rhonda proposed.

"Lead the way." Helga told her.

0o0

"Lila, what's up? Have you seen Rhonda? I was supposed to meet her…"

Lila stepped toward Arnold, "Don't worry about her, let's talk about us."

Arnold lifted his eyebrow, "Us? What about us?"

"You know, you were so desperate for my attention, I think I'm ready to give you a chance."

0o0

"So why don't you want people to know Helga?" Rhonda asked.

Helga gulped, keeping her anger down, "It's none of their business."

"So what if people know? Unless you're embarrassed." Rhonda smirked.

"I'm not embarrassed. It's just between Arnold and me." Helga looked down.

"So, you're embarrassed of him." Rhonda stated.

0o0

"No, Lila, that's fine. I'm with someone else now." Arnold said.

Lila persisted, "Come on Arnold. You were trying for so long, you're going to give up now?"

Arnold looked confused at Lila, "Lila, you don't sound like yourself. Are you alright?"

"I'm fine Arnold, I just want you." Lila rushed forward and hugged Arnold.

"No, you're not, what are you…" Arnold was interrupted by Lila's kiss.

0o0

"I don't know what you're talking about." Helga stated.

"Well, if you're not embarrassed to have your relationship out there, then you must be embarrassed about who you're with." Rhonda suggested.

Helga blinked at her, "What are you saying?"

"I just think you should really consider if Arnold is right for you." Rhonda stated.

"And I just think you should really consider if you'd like a taste of ole Betsy!" Helga held up her fist.

"Alright, but are you ready for th…" Rhonda pointed toward Arnold and Lila.

They were sitting on a park bench talking at a polite distance.

"I think you know a true friend would never treat you like that." Arnold said.

Lila nodded, "Yeah. I'm sorry Arnold. I just wanted to help my dad."

Arnold smiled, "That's okay. Just tell your dad to give my mom his resume. I don't know what she does, but she did say someone just quit."

Lila chuckled, "You're a good person. Helga's very lucky."

Arnold blushed and let out a chuckle, "I'd say I'm the lucky one."

Lila looked behind her and saw Rhonda and Helga looking very confused. Lila waved. She then stood up.

"Good night Arnold." She held out her hand.

Arnold took it and gave it a solid shake, "Good night."

Arnold turned back around and faced Helga and Rhonda. He walked toward them.

"Hey Rhonda. Glad you made it." Arnold greeted.

Rhonda stood still, dumbfounded.

"Hey Helga." Arnold smiled at her.

Helga smiled back, "Hey football-head."

Rhonda blinked as she returned to reality, "Wait… what…"

"So, Rhonda," Arnold began, "you wanted to talk?"

"About our," Helga joined in, "situation?"

Helga walked over to Helga and rested her elbow on Arnold's shoulder as the smiled at Rhonda.

Rhonda looked at the two of them, "I… just… I think you two should just come clean. If you're serious, you should just admit it."

Arnold and Helga lowered their smiles. Helga stood up straight.

Arnold cleared his throat, "You really do care? Then what was with…"

"I wanted Lila to make Helga jealous to see how she would react. I was going to give father her dad's resume either way." Rhonda folded her arms.

Helga blinked, "But why try to make me jealous?"

Rhonda looked down, "I wanted to see what would happen, because if someone as angry as Helga…"

"Hey!" Helga defended.

"…Could look past the obvious set up and react calmly, maybe someone else isn't as bad as I think." Rhonda looked down.

Arnold and Helga blinked.

"So…" Arnold began, "We're a test run for any mistakes you might…"

Helga put her hand on Arnold's shoulder, "Rhonda's gotta figure this out for herself."

Arnold nodded, "Okay. Good luck Rhonda. We'll think about what you said."

Helga nodded as they walked away. Rhonda was left, rubbing her hands nervously.

0o0

The next day, Arnold woke up early, took a shower, got dressed, ate a chaotic breakfast with the boarders, and left for school.

A few blocks away, Helga woke up late, got dressed quickly, grabbed a piece of bread, and left for school.

She ran and met up with Arnold at the intersection across from the school.

"You ready?" Arnold asked.

Helga took a deep breath, before looking down at her smiling boyfriend.

"Yeah, let's do it hair-boy." Helga said, puffing out her chest.

Arnold chuckled to himself.

Helga held out her hand, and Arnold took it.

They walked in the school building hand-in-hand.

There was some whispers of disbelief, a few snickers, but mostly indifference from their peers in PS118.

Now the real test, their peers in Mr. Simmons' classroom.

They entered and received smiles from Gerald and Phoebe. Harold, Sid, and Stinky just nodded at Arnold. Lila smiled proudly at them. Rhonda sat quietly, thinking how great they looked together.

"Okay class, let's all take our seats, and we'll begin our day." Mr. Simmons announced.

Everyone started settling in for a typical day of classes, as Arnold and Helga smiled at each other.

"Told you it wouldn't be that bad." Arnold smirked at Helga.

"I guess they are more mature than I thought." Helga smiled.

"Eww! Stinky! Why'd you bring a rotting egg to school?!" Nadine cried out.

"I wanted to use it for my science project. Guess it didn't work out." Stinky explained.

The class began evacuating the classroom to escape the smell.

"Class! Class! It's not that ba… Oh yeah, that's horrid. Class outside today!" Mr. Simmons said as he left.

"You sure about that?" Arnold laughed as he and Helga ran out.

0o0

Rhonda walked down one of the city streets after school and walked up the stoop of one of the buildings. Rhonda knocked on the door.

She looked down, thinking of what to say.

She looked up when the door opened.

"Hey Rhonda. What's up?" Harold said.

"Harold, can I talk to you?"

WHOA! Who saw that coming?! Well, I did, I wrote it, but WHOA! Where's this going? What crazy place will I take this story next?

Read and find out! Don't forget to vote on the poll on my profile, and feel free to PM me for any story suggestions and ideas.

Next 'episode': Arnold shook as he looked at the letter. He couldn't believe his eyes.

"We're getting the family together for a reunion party!" Miles bellowed.

Arnold's eyes went wide, "The whole family, here, with the boarders?"

R&R!