Chapter Text
It was another night in the city of Hillwood… and yes, normally, the night life in the city would be a bit quiet at times, but in the case of one Arnold Shortman, who had just recently shown up at the door of a mansion, he felt relatively safe as he approached the door.
He gave a slight pause as he looked up at the Lloyd mansion, a bit nervous, but still excited nevertheless. He knew what happened the last time he attended one of Rhonda’s parties, but from what he heard, thanks to his influence, his friend who set up the party decided to include basically her classmates and everybody she personally knew, not just cool kids and whatnot. So, suffice it to say, it did seem like everything seemed to be in order. Nonetheless, Arnold knew he would have to judge for himself.
He knocked on the door and patiently waited for quite a while, before someone answered the door. To his curiosity, it was his blonde haired friend with six pigtails to resemble a spider, Nadine, answering as she gave a smile.
“Hi, Arnold. I see you came for the party today!” Nadine giggled as she let him in.
“Hi, Nadine. You’re the door woman today?” Arnold asked as he walked in and took a brief look around the living room, seeing a few kids had already gathered, a few of them he recognized (Harold, Stinky and Sid were drinking punch and talking with a few other boys were the ones that stood out to him the most).
“Not for too long. But Rhonda needed to attend to something else, so she asked me to greet the next few people coming in… actually, I might be here for a little while until all the guests come in.” Nadine chuckled sheepishly.
“Who are you still waiting on?” Arnold raised an eyebrow.
“Just Phoebe and Helga. You know those two… a little bit late.” Nadine explained.
“Gee, I wonder why they would be…” Arnold rolled his eyes, somehow not surprised that Helga herself would try to delay coming to Rhonda’s party. He knew the blonde haired girl was never a fan of Rhonda’s fancy parties unless it benefitted her in some way. Well, if Phoebe was late as well, she was probably persuading her to come attend the party in another fashion. He understood that the smart girl, in her own way, had her ways with someone like Helga.
“Anyway, Rhonda should be out back if you want to see her. She shouldn’t be TOO far away…” Nadine smiled.
Arnold gave a nod as he thanked his bug-loving friend before walking further inside as he looked around Rhonda’s place, taking in the area as he looked to see some of the kids talking. He saw Gerald talking with Eugene as the orange haired jinx yelped, almost slipping and spilling his drink as he fell down over a chair he just tripped on. Arnold shook his head and chuckled a bit before going forward, seeing a few other kids amongst the mix. He was personally surprised to see other characters like Connie, Maria and Ruth, the sixth grade girls, amongst the others, but Arnold figured he shouldn’t be too surprised, knowing Rhonda always likes to dress to impress the older girls of her grade. She didn’t notice any fifth graders amongst the party-goers, but then again, considering the fifth graders’ personal animosity towards the fourth graders (no thanks to Wolfgang), Arnold figured it was probably for the best.
After going forward, he finally spotted Rhonda sitting down on the balcony outside. She was looking out the backyard and just drumming her fingers, taking a deep breath. Seeing the beautiful rich girl sitting down, he gave a smile as he approached her, putting a hand on her shoulder.
“Hey, Rhonda. Are you busy right now?” Arnold said with a smile.
Rhonda looked up and smiled. “Arnold, doll! Glad to see you made it to the party! Forgive me for not being there at the door, but you know how hard it is to make sure the party is maintained and all.”
“That’s all right, Rhonda. I guess you just needed a short break. We all need them.” Arnold smiled as he sat down next to her. “You certainly have quite a turn out for this party.”
“Thank you!” Rhonda giggled. “I’ll admit, all of my parties that I hold are usually good, but I think this one may be the best party yet!”
“Oh? Because you’re including all kids and not just the ‘cool’ ones?” Arnold smirked as he put his hand on hers.
Rhonda lowered her eyelids a bit as she sarcastically laughed. “Ha ha. Ha ha ha ha. Good one, buddy.”
Arnold chuckled nervously. “I don’t mean to offend you, of course.”
“Well, you don’t have to worry about it, doll.” Rhonda smiled as she crossed her legs. “Besides, I already learned my lesson about how to invite people at parties and how to judge them. I’m not the type to repeat a lesson twice.”
The football-headed boy immediately fell silent as he gave Rhonda an incredulous look. Noting the look, Rhonda gave a sigh. “Well, a refresher course didn’t hurt every now and again. Still, it’s nice to just hang out with the kids and make sure all the guests are tended to in more ways than one.”
“I see.” Arnold smiled as he settled himself comfortably next to Rhonda. “Listen, Rhonda, I couldn’t help but notice you’ve been working yourself trying to prepare this party to perfection.”
“How can you tell?” Rhonda asked as she rubbed her eyes, as Arnold noticed a couple bags underneath them.
“Have you been sleeping well?” Arnold asked in concern.
The young girl paused a bit as she gave a sigh. “I guess I was too involved in planning for this party and thinking up good ideas… I try to get some sleep, but every time I do, a new idea for the party comes up, and I just can’t help but try to write it down, and make some plans around it.”
“Ahhh…” Arnold paused as he looked back at the balcony to notice some various games some of the kids are playing. “I guess that would explain why you have quite a lot of games, some good ones for all ages to enjoy.”
“Well, I wanted to also invite some of the older kids, I’m hoping to get in good with them.” Rhonda explained as she gave a sigh. “Oh, I know Phoebe told me how some of the girls in sixth grade when she went up to that grade were massive jerks to her, but I can’t help it. I see an opportunity to impress the older kids, I HAVE to make a go for it.”
“Well, not ALL of the older kids are bad… just a little… egocentric and only caring for themselves.” Arnold lowered his eyelids. “And finding out you literally had nothing in common with one you’re crushing on and finally getting to talk to her and realizing that you went in over your head certainly helped out…”
Rhonda blinked twice as she turned to Arnold in confusion, before her eyes lit up. “Oh, right! I did hear you used to have a crush on Ruth.”
The football-headed boy turned his head in shock. “You knew?”
Rhonda scoffed. “Oh, please, Arnold, EVERYBODY knew! I mean, it wasn’t really a well-kept secret.”
“Oh…” Arnold blushed furiously as he gave a nervous chuckle, before giving a cough. “But yeah, I learned my lesson on that.”
“Have you ever tried again in trying to find love?” Rhonda asked, cocking her head out of curiosity.
The young football headed boy paused as he scratched his head. “Well… I suppose there was Lila, but after a while, I just learned to accept that she was never going to like me, like me. All of the other girls I try to meet up with either never cared for me OR were just using me for their own scheme, so… I guess I just didn’t find good luck in the romance department.”
“You? Oh come on, Arnold, surely, you jest!” Rhonda gasped as she stood up straight and turned to the short boy. “You know, don’t tell anybody I said this, but the fourth graders did a poll on who they would go out with when they’re older out of our class, and you were voted most likely to be the date-able type!”
Arnold shook his head as he looked up, his eyes wide as saucers. “Really?”
“Really really.” Rhonda gave a giggle. “Look, nothing wrong with the other boys, but it’s clear Gerald has a thing for Phoebe, Stinky’s nice, but a little too country and naive, Harold and Sid are mainly gross, Lorenzo is a nice rich guy, but he only came second in comparison to you…” She then lowered her eyelids. “And I DON’T think I need to bring up what I personally think of Curly… in fact, everybody’s opinions were the same as mine.”
“Wow… me, the most date-able guy in our grade…” Arnold held his head in shock. “I had no idea.”
Rhonda giggled. “And why not? You’re basically nice to everyone, you always go out of your way to help people… you’re smart for your age, and even though we do some stupid things, you were always the voice of reason. I just wish we realized that at the time…”
“Rhonda, don’t worry about it, really.” Arnold said as he gave a smile, putting his arm around her. “But this isn’t about me, this is about YOU. You have bags in your eyes, and it’s clear you got a little stress going…”
Rhonda wanted to argue, but as soon as she opened her mouth, a small yawn came out of it. Rhonda’s eyes slightly widened at the sound she made, before giving a slight giggle and blushed.
Arnold crossed his arms with a small smirk. “That just proves my point. Well, I suppose I have no choice. You definitely need all the help in hosting this party to be the best as possible… especially with it already in progress.”
“I know that, BUT…” Rhonda bit her lip as she looked up at the party-goers. “How do I manage to keep up with the festivities AND have fun at the same time?”
The young football headed boy looked over to Rhonda with a small smile before putting his hand onto hers. Rhonda could only look at him in surprise as he said, “I’ve ran my fair share of parties before… lest not forget the geek party where EVERYBODY, not just geeks, were invited.”
“You’d really help?” Rhonda asked in pure astonishment.
“Of course, why wouldn’t I?” Arnold asked.
The red wearing girl just smiled as she put her arms around Arnold in a big hug as she shut her eyes. “Oh, Arnold, how did I ever get lucky to have a guy like you?!”
“Oh, you know me…” Arnold blushed a bit as he looked over towards his girlfriend. “Always happy to help. Soooo… what do you want to do?”
Rhonda paused as she got up and turned around as she saw a few of the others playing some party games. Rhonda grinned as she noticed some kids settling around as they seemed to be pointing to Curly as he seemed to be trying to stand on his head using his own feet (which was not as easy as it looked, as he kept falling over). She laughed a bit before turning to Arnold. “Do you want to play ‘Spin the Bottle, Do A Dare’? It’s sort of like ‘Truth or Dare’ and ‘Spin the Bottle’, with some unique twists…”
Arnold cocked his head in curiosity, before giving a smile. “Uhhhhh… sure.”
Rhonda grinned before the two got up and started to head over to join in the game as Rhonda said, “And after we’re done with the game, I’ll treat you to some finger sandwiches… on me, of course.”
“Oh, you don’t need to-” Arnold smiled.
“Hey, you’re helping me run the party here, so it wouldn’t hurt for you to suggest some fair shares!” Rhonda giggled.
“Really? Well, how about some dancing afterwards? We’re both pretty good dancers when it comes down to it.” Arnold laughed.
“Already, I love it!” Rhonda giggled as the two shared a laugh together as they walked back inside to join the party in progress. And as the two started to hang out together, they could feel their hearts beating faster AND getting a bit more closer together. Rhonda had to admit, she was a bit worried that the party wouldn’t go so well, but maybe she didn’t need to worry. As long as Arnold was making sure she did her best, nothing could go wrong for her…
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About a few minutes later, Helga and Phoebe had finally arrived at the party, the blonde giving a small sigh as the glasses wearing girl seemed to be smiling to herself.
“I don’t know why you managed to convince me to come here.” Helga grumbled to herself as she gave a nod towards Nadine, who had let the two in.
“Now, Helga, be nice.” Phoebe said with a small frown, before turning to Nadine. “Hi, Nadine. Is everybody here?”
“Yep, you’re all accounted for. I’ll go look for Rhonda and let her know you guys finally arrived. And I think I’ll be able to relax a bit with Tucker.” Nadine sighed in relief as she started to run off.
Helga gave a small shake of her head as she looked around, hopefully to find a certain football head in the crowd. As the two headed further down the hall, the pink wearing girl figured maybe he was at the punch bowl, drinking punch while holding idle conversation with Gerald. However, as that thought was processing through her head, she had bumped straight into Phoebe, who stopped short in her tracks and looked in worry.
“Whoa, Pheebs, what on earth did you stop- for…?” Helga asked as she turned her head… only for her eyes to widen completely at the sight she was seeing.
In her eyes, she saw Arnold holding Rhonda up in the air as if impersonating some sort of dancing couple in a movie, with the two looking like they were having fun as Arnold gently put her down. Arnold and Rhonda completely laughed a bit as some of the kids near the bottle clapped for them. Phoebe, who had observed everything and just now noticed the bottle, gave a sigh of relief.
“It’s okay, Helga. Looks like they’re just playing ‘Spin the Bottle, Do A Dare’.” The bespectacled girl smiled a bit before noting Helga’s demeanor had not changed. “Helga?”
Helga could only watch as she saw her ‘beloved’ football head and the rich ‘princess’ getting close to each other, conversing with each other, before sitting down together as Arnold began to spin the bottle on the floor.
“Oh no…” Phoebe held her head in frustration. “Helga, we’ve been over this! Just because Arnold may be seeing other girls doesn’t necessarily mean he might be going out with them.”
“I can’t help it… it just frustrates me to no end!” Helga grumbled angrily as she held her head. “Ugh, why do I have a feeling this is going to be a lousy week…”
Curly, who had overheard Helga from afar, approached and gave a groan. “Believe you me, Pataki, I’m not as big of a fan of this as you are… but I think we’re just going to have to tolerate it for Comfort Week!”
Helga paused as she turned to the crazy boy in confusion. “What…?”
“If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to start a punch fight.” Curly snickered before running off.
Helga could only look at the departed Curly with a confused look on her face, before looking at Phoebe, who was sharing the same incredulous look as her. “Phoebe, do you have any clue what Curly was talking about?”
“I’m pretty sure I haven’t the slightest clue…” Phoebe sighed before turning towards Arnold and Rhonda, who were holding hands and laughing together. “I think, for now, let’s just wait and see what happens. It could just be nothing.”
Helga WANTED to believe her friend, but something in the pit of her stomach just had a strange feeling otherwise.