Arnold and Kelly had slept in the same bed again, just like they had the night before when Annie had been there. Kelly had started out in the other bed, then for some reason felt that it was wrong, somehow. She migrated to Arnold's bed and they had slept side by side all night. Neither of them had tried to do anything to each other and only slept.

For Kelly, it was a solid confirmation that Arnold wasn't going to try and push her or goad her into sex. For Arnold, it was just another night of sleep and having Kelly there didn't bother him at all, just like it hadn't the night before.

Just like the previous day, they both woke up early and it was Kelly's turn to make breakfast for them. She went the easy route and made waffles and syrup. It was their first day alone together as well, so she was a little nervous about trying to make a proper breakfast, even though she knew that Arnold didn't really care about such things. He ate whatever she put in front of him and that was that. They had just sat down to eat when Arnold's phone beeped at him and he picked it up.

“Hello?” Arnold said and was silent for quite some time. “Okay.” He said and handed the phone to Kelly. “It's my mom.”

Kelly took the phone. “Annie?” She asked, then she listened for just as long. “Oh, my god.” She said. “Those... insufferable... pig-headed... skeevy... bastards!” She said. “Annie, I'm so sorry!” She paused for a few moments. “No, I'm pretty sure it was my fault. I posted that video.” She said. “The cops didn't say anything about it? Really?”

Kelly sighed and listened for another minute or so.

“Okay. Arnold won't come until the weekend.” Kelly said. “I know you don't need someone else there to take care of when you're trying to take care of yourself; but, I'll be on the bus and will be there in a few hours.” She said. “No, you're not going to convince me otherwise. I need to be there, especially if my parents get wind of this.”

Kelly sat there and listened for a few minutes.

“Yes, I know. This is going to mess up our plans a little.” Kelly said. “I'm going to kill Brad and his friends for this! They are taking me away from Arnold!” She paused for a moment. “You're lucky the bus doesn't run for another hour or I would already be on it. Yes, really.” She listened for another minute. “I have a better idea. We're going to stay with my parents.”

The phone went silent and Kelly sat there and waited for a response. It took a few minutes.

“It's the most logical choice. It's got to be there or this whole thing will be blown out of the water.” Kelly said. “Yes, I know Arnold will be left alone. We don't have a choice.” She paused. “I don't have a choice, so it's either that or we tell the truth and ruin everything we planned.”

It took Kelly another few minutes to convince Annie that she needed to be there and then she hung up the phone.

“Arnold, I need to go. Your mom needs me.”

“Okay.” Arnold said.

Kelly quickly changed into a normal outfit, grabbed an overnight bag with some things in it, then went to the door. “Get dressed for work when it's time and head over to the biology building.” She said. “I'll call you every day to update you on what's happening and I'll wait for you to come and visit on the weekend. Hopefully, this will be all sorted out by then.”

“Okay.” Arnold said and gave her a four second kiss. “Goodbye.”

“Goodbye, Arnold.” Kelly said and stood there and didn't move. “I... I really don't want to go.”

“Help my mom.” Arnold said and gave her a hug and a kiss. “I love you, Kelly.”

“A-A-Arnold!” Kelly exclaimed, dropped her bag and kissed him passionately. “I love you, too!”

“Mom needs you.” Arnold said.

Kelly nodded, grabbed her bag, then left the dorm room at a run.

Arnold had a shower and changed for work by putting on one of the suits he and his mother bought for him to wear. With no one else around, he had to check himself to see if he had it on right and everything was straight, and he did his best in the bathroom mirror. He did not have eyes in the back of his head though, so he didn't see the slightly miss-folded shirt collar and put on the suit coat. He checked to see that he had his keys on his belt loop and stepped out of the dorm room and locked the door.

“Well, hellloooo handsome!” A female voice said and Arnold turned around to see nearly the entire hallway was full of women in various states of being dressed. “That's a great suit for off the rack.” The closest woman said. She was a short brunette with a ponytail and she looked at him from head to foot. “Where are you headed?”

“Building F.” Arnold said.

“Huh? I thought new students didn't start until the fall.” She said. “What are you doing there?”

“I'm working.” Arnold said to her surprise and he started to walk down the hallway.

Women in just towels were talking to others wearing just underwear and bras. A few of them were fully dressed and leaned against the wall in the hallway and were talking in a group. If you talk to anyone at all that had seen or watched a movie about college life, then this was a typical 'female dorm' scene.

If Arnold cared about such things, it was almost laughable how many half-naked women were between him and the elevator. He had to walk around and by all of them, since his dorm room was at the very end of the hallway and the elevator was on the other end.

As he passed each one, some gasped and tried to cover themselves, some gave him surprised looks and were too shocked to bother trying to cover themselves, and most of them just stared at him as if he was intruding on them. Arnold ignored them all and made it to the elevator and pushed the button. He stood there and waited for three minutes, then it dinged at him and the doors opened.

“Ooo, late night hottie leaving!” One of the six young women in the elevator said and the others with her laughed. “Who did you sleep with last night, sweetie?” She asked as she stepped out of the elevator.

“My girlfriend.” Arnold said and stepped into the now empty elevator.

“What's her name?” The one who spoke asked.

“Kelly.” Arnold pushed the button for the ground floor.

The young woman turned around and spoke loudly. “Which one of you is Kelly? We need to talk!”

Her friends laughed uproariously at her and the elevator doors closed. It stopped at each floor on the way down and Arnold was soon crowded into the back of the elevator as more and more women piled inside.

“You're a tall one.” A woman said from beside him and he looked down at her. “How tall are you?”

“I'm five foot ten inches.” Arnold said.

“Were you visiting someone here?” She asked, hope in her voice.

“I live here on the top floor.” Arnold responded and every conversation in the elevator stopped and all the women turned and looked at him in surprise. The elevator dinged for the ground floor and none of them made a move to leave, so when the doors opened, he weaved through them and stepped out.

“Arnold! Have fun at work!” Doris said loudly from behind her desk and waved.

“I'm not allowed.” Arnold said and waved back.

Doris laughed. “Give me a hug when you come back here this afternoon!”

“Okay.” Arnold said and walked out of the lobby just as Doris was swarmed by the girls that had been in the elevator and they bombarded her with questions. Arnold walked for the eight minutes to get to Building F and went inside, walked up the stairs, and went to the professor's office and knocked on the open door.

“Ah, Arnold. Come in.” Professor Hamil Crenslav said and waved him in. “Another suit. Excellent.” He said. “You are already representing this department well.”

“What do I need to do this morning, sir?” Arnold asked.

“Observation. These new specimens are going to take most of the morning to dissect with all the students here to observe as well.” Hamil said. “More people slow the work; but, it's worth it if they learn from it.”

Arnold nodded.

“Amy will be here in a moment, so go over to the lab and wait for her.”

“Yes, sir.” Arnold said and left the office and went to the lab to wait.

*

Kelly arrived at the bus stop near the motel Annie was staying at and walked over to the right room and knocked. “It's Kelly.”

A moment later, the door opened and Kelly saw that Annie still wore the same outfit from yesterday.

“You didn't have to come all this way, Kelly.” Annie said.

“Of course I did.” Kelly said and stepped into the room with her suitcase and saw the shower curtain on the bed. “Oh, wow.”

Annie sighed. “Yeah, this is a great place to stay.”

“Any word from the insurance company?” Kelly asked and put her suitcase on top of Annie's that was on the chair. “If checkout times are the same, we have to be out in an hour.”

Annie sighed again and sat down on the bed. “Nothing yet, and if I go anywhere, I'll have to call again and leave the new number.” She said. “Kelly, we can't go to your parents to stay. That's too much of an imposition.”

Kelly sat down beside her and took her hand. “Once I tell them what happened, and where you slept last night, mom is going to drag you into the house to stay in the spare room and won't let you leave.”

Annie opened her mouth to refuse, then the image popped into her head and she smiled.

“There! See! You can still smile!” Kelly said and let her hand go, then put an arm over her shoulder. “I'm here now, so you have my permission to cry.”

“Kelly, that... I don't want...” Annie's eyes teared up against her will and she started to cry. She covered her face with her hands and Kelly hugged her.

“That's it. Let it out.” Kelly said and Annie balled her eyes out and sobbed.

Unlike the night before, Annie didn't force herself to calm down after only ten minutes. She let everything out. Her husband's death, her son being suspended for fighting, her son being manipulated sexually by Heather, Arnold having to shoulder the responsibility for supporting the household, Arnold moving away for years and possibly permanently, and now losing her home after just paying it off.

It had been a long and trying time for Annie the last little while and she had repressed almost everything until now. Kelly held her and let Annie cry herself out. It took a while. They went through a lot of tissues and they were both thankful that Annie didn't wear a lot of make-up, because it would have been thoroughly ruined a long time ago.

Annie eventually calmed down and wiped her face once more. “Kelly, thank you.”

“You see? I told you I needed to be here.” Kelly said and looked at the alarm clock. “It's almost check out time.”

Annie took a deep breath and let it out. “All right. Let's head over to your parents and see what...” She stopped talking when the phone rang and picked it up. “Hello?” She listened for a minute. “Thank god.” She said. “Yes. Okay. I'll be right there.”

“Insurance company?” Kelly asked and Annie nodded. The both of them put the shower curtain back in the bathroom and grabbed their suitcases, put them in the trunk of the car, and went to the office to check out and to get a receipt.

Once that was done, they hopped in the car and drove back over to Annie's house. When Kelly saw what had been done to it, it was her turn to cry. She did it silently and took out her cell phone and took pictures, video, and described the sickeningly pervasive smell while they waited for the insurance agent.

“It's a lot worse inside.” Annie said. “Even with a mask on, the enclosed space concentrated it and I gagged.” She didn't admit that she almost threw up, though. She was saving that part of the story for the insurance agent.

“Brad is such an asshole!” Kelly said. “Is he twelve? Adults aren't supposed to do things like this!”

“They hadn't said why they did it last night, so maybe they admitted what set them off by now.” Annie said. “You think it's the video?”

“It has to be.” Kelly said. “They were pretty pissed that they couldn't get Arnold back, so they must have come here looking for him.” She said. “But, Brad shouldn't have known where...”

Annie stood there and waited for Kelly to make the same logic leap that Officer Hallman did.

“Oh, that BITCH!” Kelly yelled when she realized he must have gotten the address from Heather.