Not by a long shot

Arnold swiftly walked back towards fence, keeping low in case anyone beyond the privacy of his yard could see him. When he was sure the coast was clear out front, he stood up straight, took a deep breath and headed back toward the girls. He could see that Veronica had the girls in a tight huddle of a circle, mostly with their backs to him. Arnold could hear the girls giggling and whispering to each other, most certainly making jokes at his expenses he thought.

What Arnold didnt know was that the girls weren't joking about him. They weren't discussing him at all. They were deliberately discussing something completely unrelated. Jenna had her phone out and she was showing a picture to her friends. The picture was of three boys in their grade. Each boy in the photo had his shirt off and two looked sweaty from working out. It looked like an unprompted photo taken during a basketball practice at school.

While Jenna's phone was busy showing a picture to her friends, every other phone in the group was being used to film their discussion. The girls only had a few moments to talk, but they acted as though they were deeply engrained in heavy talk about how mature and manly the boys were in their grades and how everyone was so mature now and they were so happy.

Of course, as if on cue, their somewhat mature conversation was abruptly interrupted by the squeaking voice of a different boy from their grade.

"Hey girls, can you look at me for a few seconds", Arnold said unsurely over their shoulders.

Arnold was happy to hear the giggles and chatter stop, as that meant his job was half over. He was here, he had their attention, and he had a stupid smile on his face. He now had only ten seconds left. Unfortunately, his smile was not so easy to maintain as he saw all the girls before him spin around and gasp, cameras rolling.

"Eww, he's doing it again."

"Is that his penis?!"

Arnold carefuly kept his cheeks dutifully clinging to their forged smile as he glared over to Veronica. His eyes screaming that he had been tricked, her eyes responding that he still had eight seconds.

"Why does he want everyone to see his really small baby penis?"

"He calls it a dinky I think."

"He definitely should call it that."

"I think he must like this."

Arnold wanted to correct them, he wanted to scream. He's never called it a dinky and he certainly didn't like any of this, but he couldn't say anything for fear that breaking his dumb smile would quash the deal.

"He must not think it's a bad thing", said Amy.

"Arnold you should get dressed", Veronica said somewhat hushed among the giggling voices.

"I dont think he hit puberty yet", Jenna added.

"Looks like he needs a babysitter", said one girl.

"In more ways than one", said another.

"Arnold you should go inside", Veronica snuck in a sentence again.

"I think its hard", said Jenna.

Arnold knew that none of this would matter if he could just keep his cool and ignore his deflating ego. He was keeping careful count in his head and knew he needed just a few more seconds and this would be all done. All of it. Nobody would see him outside, no further pictures would get to Carter and he could still fix that measurement post.

Unfortunately for Arnold, Veronica was keeping close count on the clock as well, and with exactly one second to go she said, "Arnold Stuart I'm telling mom about this!".

Within an instant of Arnold hearing the unjoking voice of his sister, his momentary self-indused spell that all of this could be contained was broken. Within a half second he envisioned his mom finding out, and his smile dropped from his face....just moments before Veronica dramatically turned her thumb downward. However, despite his sister's victory being sealed, she was not done with her master plan. She continued in her unjoking big sister voice to scold her pathetic brother.

"I know you want everyone to see your little dinky but I told you if you bothered my friends I'd tell mom."

"No, no you didnt. You said...you spanked me and said--"

"You'd rather a spanking?", his sister yelled, feigning outrage.

Arnold finally had enough with the games. He stomped his foot, covered himself and began shouting.

"Enough! I did what you asked."

"But you didn't smile so now Carter gets to--"

This time Arnold didnt let his sister finish her sentence as he shouted on.

"I dont care. Just let me back in like you promised!"

Veronica stood quietly for just a moment, before smirking to her friends and nodding for them to leave.

"Fine. Guys, head out. I'll call you in a few."

The girls all put away their phones, looked Arnold up and down once again and strolled smiling back down towards the gate.

Without any further delay Veronica reached into her inner jacket pocket and pulled out a house key. She then opened the nearby back door and Arnold rushed inside to his room.

Veronica headed for Carters.