Hey, guys, I wanted to write something light and fun, not as dark and severe as my previous one. No big drama or anything here, just teens being teens rated T for language.
Early June - morning, the last day of school of Hillwood for Arnold, Helga and the rest of the kids, the last official day of their junior year.
Sid pulled up in his car into the school's parking lot with his beautiful but mysterious girlfriend Natalie along his side. With a calm, quiet confidence and a tad bit of a cool air about him, he walks towards the school grounds. Sid is one of the few guys who's managed to be well-known among all crowds, mainly for his taste in cars, girlfriend and his endless supply of a particular natural herb that lots of kids come to buy off him.
He immediately spotted a friend before getting to the stairwell and went over to give him an enthusiastic handshake; that friend is Arnold Shortman. Arnold is about average height for a teenage male, slender but muscular build from years of playing the quarterback position on the school's football team. His style of dress is modest and low-key, much like his personality. He and Sid exchange a few words, once Sid's out of sight, he goes back to leaning thoughtfully against the side of an old schoolhouse near the school's parking lot. A lot has happened approaching the end of the school year, and as a result, he's had many sleepless nights. He's beginning to question his current activities on the field and off.
Arnold randomly looked to his right and saw his girlfriend of one year approaching; she's a redhead, petite, bouncy, sweet, cute. Lila Sawyer, a girl with a huge smile on her face; she's a morning person. Instead of getting equal enthusiasm in response, she is met with a yawn followed with a half-smile by her sociable but laid back boyfriend. She's like a red-head version of Sandra Dee, the school's biggest 'goody two shoes' priss. A certain blonde would give that description of her, but that Spitfire is one of the few people who knew all along for a fact; up until a year ago, that although she isn't evil, there is a darker side underneath all that pep.
A darker side that Arnold himself is slowly becoming aware of. He tried his best to be attentive of Lila's enthusiastic conversation about the cheerleading squad, but he got easily distracted by a statuesque blonde with wild hair blowing in the wind walking nearby. She's with her super brainy best friend Phoebe Heyerdahl and an unexpected comrade, cheerleader and self-titled fashion guru Rhonda Wellington Lloyd.
Helga Geraldine Pataki is that blonde. Star athlete in her right and is good enough for a student to land in some honor's and college prep courses, but she's not too braggy about that, well in sports she is, but not about her grades. Although for her it feels good ... in spite of the fact that she's never been able to make straight A's, but with her athletics combined with her book smarts and street smarts makes Helga G. Pataki and pretty impressive overall student. She's tall, taller than most girls, but she isn't lanky like some girls who stand at 5'10, in fact, she has soft curves along with muscle tone from being an athlete and all her tomboy years.
She could feel someone staring and peeked one eye at him, and after holding contact she offered a tiny nod, he nodded back. With Helga still in his direct vision, he couldn't resist eyeing her midriff; since she was wearing a cut off baseball style tee shirt and took notice of the small tattoo near her navel.
Out of nowhere, he felt a small pitch to his upper arm and turned his attention back to his girlfriend who smiled, in a slight cunning way. She peeked one eye at Helga and company on the sneak then proceeds to make out with Arnold; who looked startled by the sudden embrace.
"Did you see that? Ugh, how distasteful..." Rhonda whispered to Helga; who in response just pressed her lips firmly together to hold in a laugh as she continues her path inside with her girlfriends in tow.
Because he heard the bell, Arnold walked with his girlfriend hand in hand to go inside. She pulled from him. "I'm going that way." She pointed to the right. "I don't have a 1st period."
"Okay." He kissed her on the lips once she leaned in. Lila started to leave, but then doubled back. "What are we doing for tonight? I'm ever so excited." She asked.
He shrugged one of his shoulders and rubbed his neck. "Um ... well you know Sid's party is tonight, I am planning just to hang with him and some of the other guys until then so if it's alright with you, we can just meet up at the party."
She smiled albeit lopsidedly and bounced away. Arnold watched her for a moment; his expression easing slowly into a more thoughtful one. Once she was out of his sight, he turned to go inside the school. As he's walking up the stairs, he almost most bumped into Curly; who has grown his hair long and is more chill yet can still be unpredictable at times. "Hey Curly, how are things?"
Curly reached out to shake Arnold's hand. "It's gonna be better in a few hours after we get out of this dump." He looked at him with confusion. "What time is Sid's party again?"
"About 9:00 is what he told me it's supposed to start. But realistically, most people will probably start getting there at around 10:00 and after..."
Curly froze in place, seemed to be in thought, once he came to a conclusion he nodded a few times and gave a thumb up. "Alright ... um... yeah, so I'll be there."
"Cool... then I guess I'll see you then." He watched at Curly practically sprinted down the stairs while shaking his head amusingly, wondering what kind antics he's up to now.
Now at his first class of the day, Arnold is approaching the doorway and Lorenzo, Eugene and Brainy are standing there talking "Hey guys..." He greeted them.
Eugene suddenly started sniffing the air with a face of disgust. "Hey, Arnold have you been smoking?"
Arnold frowned and laughed some. "No, I don't smoke... but some people I know to do so it could have rubbed off on me."
Lorenzo leaned against the door. "Are you up to playing chess or maybe a game of poker tonight?"
With the smallest smile, Arnold shook his head. "Sorry, not this time, I'm going to Sid's party this evening." He studied all three of them. "You guys should come by the way since it's the last big party of the school year and all."
Lorenzo grinned because he rarely has time in his long schedule to attend casual hangouts. But luckily, his schedule was clear for tonight. "Yeah..." He looked excitedly towards his other two friends Eugene and Brainy.
"We'll be there!" Eugene answers cheerfully.
Once Arnold had entered the classroom and was out of sight, Brainy pulled Eugene to the side. "Oh... uh, we're going to a party?"
"Yeah, Brainy we're finally going to a party, right Lorenzo? Could you give us a ride?" Lorenzo gave an okay sign and went inside and sat down. Eugene tapped Brainy's shoulder. "See, I'll be fun."
He just breathed slowly for a few seconds and mulled over things in his mind and then grinned. "Uhh. Okay, Eugene. I'll go."
Arnold nonchalantly entered the room and sat down at an empty spot at a table next to Helga; who is talking to Rhonda and Nadine. He leaned back into the chair and listened to them.
"Pataki, you say I can be a fashion snob, but you're a music snob. I cannot believe you would say something so atrocious like One Direction music sucks. They have good songs and most importantly, they're cute and dress well."
She quirked her head to one side lazily and stared at Rhonda. "Hey, you are the one that goes on and on about them. Everyone has a breaking point. Anyway... just like fashion, music is debatable. You say they're cute, but I can't hear that or well dressed. What I hear with my ears is that One Direction songs lack, quality in the vocals, lyrical, arrangement or lack of real use to instruments... I can go on and on, but I'll spare you.."
Helga rolled her head around to the opposite direction to acknowledge the person next to her. "What do you say Shortman... you got an opinion?" He opened his mouth to reply, but she snickered after she nonchalantly looked him over. "Never mind," She scuffed a little. "with the company you keep ... you probably jam to Justin Beiber." She cackled and stood up and nudged his shoulder. Arnold should have been more offended by that or at least more irked, but for some reason, he wasn't, mostly because he knew she was only joking. He had long become accustomed to her insults.
Rhonda pointed out to the hallway and Helga turned to face Arnold. "Tell Mrs. Galloway we went to the bathroom if she comes before we get back. Okay?" Her tone was more demanding than kindly requesting, but he nodded anyway, and she leaves the classroom with Rhonda and Nadine. Arnold's eyes followed her until she was out the door and Brainy noticed.
Brainy, Eugene, and Lorenzo practically hopped up to come over to sit in the girls' seats next to Arnold; temporarily. Brainy purposely brushed up against Arnold. "Uh... Helga... I like her... She has spirit. Huh?"
Arnold peeked over at Brainy with raised brows he hummed in agreement.
Lorenzo poked his arm. "Arnold, are you going to play football next year?"
He frowned. "I guess... Why?"
"Then it's not true that you are protesting against the football coaches?"
Arnold's lips formed into a thin line, and he slumped lower in his chair. "Oh. Right. Word gets around fast I forgot." He paused just staring straight and sighed. "Protesting is a bit of a stretch. But I refuse to sign that contract their parading around. I'm hoping that I have enough clout to encourage change treatment and the board's plans to cut down on funding for female athletic teams." He rests on his elbows. "But I'm not so confident anyone else on the team cares, and if they did, they were too scared to say anything."
"That's why I never got into sports. Too many rules." Eugene chimed. Helga's voice popped into Arnold's head. Because of that he felt tempted to say something humorous and probably a bit mean in response to Eugene's comment, but instead he bit his tongue.
Rhonda was taking her time apparently wanting to stay longer in the bathroom to gossip. "Can you believe Sawyer? God, she's such a clingy mess. The guy can't even look at another girl ... even it's you without her resorting to sucking his face to get his attention back." Rhonda and Lila were once good friends, but at some point a while back they fall out and the only time they communicate is for the sack of the cheerleading team; while Rhonda's best friend Nadine was a neutral person.
"That relationship ain't none of my business." Helga was laughing but then glowered at Rhonda. "Wait, what do you mean even if it's you? Are You trying to throw stones? Stomp with the big dogs?"
Her eyed flickered up. "You and your colorful phrases." Giggling softly. "Helga, I didn't mean that offensively or anything."
Helga's glare softened, and she leaned against the jammed bathroom stall door. "Better not have."
Rhonda looked at her through the mirror. "It's just that you and Arnold use to always been odds. Anyway ... speaking of him did you hear about what he's doing?"
She shrugged and shook her head. "I don't keep tabs on hair boy." She wasn't lying, she had put her obsessive stalking long behind her.
"I hear he's refusing to sign the behavior of conduct contract they released for the new school year because...it'll take away from the girls' athletic teams."
Helga opened her mouth with some emotion in her eyes. "Oh is that so... " A delicate smile appears but vanishes fast as soon as Rhonda glances at her. "What does he want a cookie?"
Rhonda files her nails and holds her hand out to eye them. "I think it's kind of pointless to risk his place on the team. But it must have taken some guts to stand up against those in charge and his fellow teammates." She closed draws her attention to her friend who looked like she was holding back a smile. "I know you're impressed since you're a lady jock and everything."
Helga snorted at that. "Pfft. Me? Impressed with football head? You gotta be shitting me, Lloyd."
Rhonda twirled her school ID. "I shit you not, Pataki."
Nadine came out of a stall after washing her hands; she took out her makeup kit. "Rhonda. You promised you were going to loan me some stuff for tonight. I want to look less... natural tonight."
The two started rambling about makeup and beauty treatments.
Helga groaned loudly, which got their attention. "C'mon, just because we're of the female sex doesn't mean all we talk about is makeup and beauty. Do you think boys get together to talk about their looks and how much they want to impress us?" She asked rhetorically. "Fuck no!"
"That's because they have testosterone," Rhonda stated with a laugh, and Nadine laughed with her.
She snorted. "Whatever you skirts are boring me." She holds up two fingers, "Peace." cackled and kicked the door open to go absent-mindedly wander into the hallway. Rhonda and Nadine stayed in the bathroom to fix their makeup and nails.
Gerald swoops by, standing in the doorway, he beckons to Arnold, who immediately gets up to converse with him. "What's up man?" The two shake hands.
"So." Gerald began. "Your daddy... uh... Ha I mean your coach practically cornered me in the hall since he knows I'm your best friend and demanded that I give this to you. The dude has some anger issues I swear."
Arnold glared a bit taking it from him and unfolds the typed letter addressed to him and read it over. His jaw clenched while he was staring down at the paper. "Ugh... This is just perfect."
Gerald placed his arm around his shoulder. "Are you alright? What's it say?"
"It's a threat to kick me off... ugh... I saw this coming, but just give me a second." Arnold walked off in a huff. Since his attention was set down on the floor and not ahead, he runs smack into someone. "Fuck," Arnold exclaimed.
Helga's eyes rounded as she sees who she ran into; which is no surprise, but she's surprised at what came out of his mouth. "Did you just curse?"
Arnold opened his mouth and hesitated. "I wasn't directing it at you or anything. And sorry about running into you. I wasn't looking at where I was going."
"Yeah, yeah. You running into me, that's nothing new. And I know you weren't cursing at me, you're not suicidal. What's new is you using a profane word, what... did the vending machine run out of gummy bears?"
He was unbothered or at least doesn't acknowledge her mocking and just went on to explain what was bugging him. He gestured to the letter in his hand. "Coach is threatening to kick me off the team if I don't comply with this new code of conduct."
He leaned against the wall and slid down to sit on the floor. Helga for a moment is unsure of what to do. She knew that consoling people under distress aren't one of her strong suits.
But Arnold continued. "We could be on our way to play state ... I don't want to let the coaches and the team down... " He lowered his head to rest on his knees.
Since his eyes were down, concern poured from Helga's face more bluntly at how frustrated he seemed. She crouched down next to him and took the letter from him and reads it over. She just stared at the side of his face hanging down and patted his back briefly. "Hey ... then you stop your grandstanding and go along with your team. End of story." Helga shoved the letter back into his hands.
Arnold straightened up to look at her. He looked offended. "What? I'm not grandstanding, and you know it. But Helga, how can you of all people say I should just go along with it? Did you read the apathetic tone in the part of about my issue with budget cuts for girl sports?"
She shrugged. "What's that got to do with you?" He frowned at that. She lightened up, her expression. "Look ..." She sighed. "Alright, I know you're not grandstanding. And it's commendable, but it's also careless and just plain dumb as hell to give up everything you've worked hard for all these years and ruin your spot because you don't want to see others get hurt or miss out, while you excel. Nearly in every aspect of society, there is competition... when someone wins, there's billion people who lose and that's just how it is, and there's little you can do about it, except take your prize and be grateful."
He held eye contact with her and he seemed to be in thought over what she said. He turned away with a frown and shook his head. "I don't know ... I ...it's not only about the girls' funds, there's other stuff that I don't agree with. It's like the coaches want football to become the center of our lives ... they're trying to check your friends and after school habits. I understand them being strict, but their standards for what or who is decent is out of date and based on superficial things. I just don't want anyone having that much control over my life other than my parents. I like playing football, but it's not at all what I want to do after high school. I have so many other goals and hobbies I'd like to focus on. You know it's bigger than just football... it's more than that contract. It's about my personal beliefs and morals; which are extremely important to me, too important for me to sacrifice for something so minuscule in the long run. But hey, don't think I'm acting irrationally and completely throw away everything without thinking about it long and hard... I have and I still don't ultimately know what my decision will be when I'm approached by the coach but..." He rested his head against the wall and turned to her. "I just know that I don't want to give in so easy."
Helga just blinked a few times and then gave him the smallest grin. She raised her fist to lazily punch him in the arm. "Well... now that you put it that way...I can respect that, a lot." She mumbled and looked at him. "It's been like a million years since I've seen you go against authority, but you're still doing it for football headed reasons... and that's cool." He made contact with her and his mouth curled up. Although she no longer tormented him like she did in the past and they got along better, a positive or encouraging remark from her directed at him still wasn't a regularly reoccurring thing.
She pushed up straight and got on her heels to head back to the classroom but looked at her now less sullen male peer again. "Don't get any ideas and think I'm saying you are cool or something."
His eyes softened. "I wouldn't even dream to think such a thing." She smirked and continued walking. He rubbed his arm and stared at her. "Hey, wait up, Helga. Let me walk you back."
She halted instantly, and once she was facing him, she rolled her eyes while sighing. "You are so lame. Dude, we're in school only walking back to class so cut the chivalry bull, football head."
Arnold was going to argue back that he merely wanted to walk with her since they were going to the same place, but instead, he just chuckled and stood up to catch up with her. "So are you coming to Sid's party?"
She raised one of her brows and glimpsed at him walking alongside her. "Why?"
He shrugged. "I'm just curious."
She shrugged. "I don't know yet." She peeked at eye at him. "I might bless you losers with my glorious presence. Typically I prefer something more...spontaneous and hate stuffy, stiff parties, but because everyone seems to be going... some funny shit might go down so maybe... we shall see."
Arnold rubbed the back of his neck and peeked at her with a squint. "Spontaneous, huh." His tone was light and upbeat.
Helga turned to him with a glare. "Yeah. You wanna make something of it?"
He shook his head. "No. Helga. I was just... Never mind."
She looked at him out of the corner of her eye. "Okay... Anyway, are you going to the party?"
He frowned. "Of course." He replied incredulously.
Helga frowned back. "Hey, what gives? As if you're known for being a huge rebellious party animal or something. I'm surprised you won't be spending the evening folding your kilts and knitting."
"Well no I wouldn't describe myself as a rebel party animal... Um, but you know I go to my share of parties." He glowered at her a little. "And I don't wear, nor have I ever even owned a..." An amused grin filled his face, and he sighed as they reentered their classroom, went back to their table. "Forget it... whatever you say, Helga."
It's been a long time since I've written anything. I just wrote this chapter, this morning and wanted to post it before I chickened out lol, ... But anyway for those of viewing this, I hope it was a good or at least decent read;)