For pictures to go along with this story, go to youtube
/watch?v=dr1twN-JDog&ebc=ANyPxKqrbGZqX3JL0uy_b_ZUroFfesqLsBV9cWDLIBF-ed1sUPk8WsKtJpev7QZWqDSIbp3QAOJNh5vxHqSpvih1pDpFnBsCyg
Note I had to change the text a bit so the story is not completely the same. The slideshow is a standalone while the story is meant to fit in with my other fanfics. In the fanfics, Arnold is more aware that Helga loves him and vice-versa. To best use the slide-show, pull it up in another tab in your browser and let it play until the next picture. Then read the fanfic. Fun, yes? All of these pictures are drawn by me in pencil so you aren't getting professional animation quality, believe you me. But if you want better pictures, feel free to color them in yourself or something. I did a couple colors but only a few. Thanks.
Hey Arnold- The Jungle Movie
It had been three years since Arnold Shortman had found his missing father's diary. Three, restless years. In them, his legs had grown a little longer but his heart had stretched out each day toward the South American continent. It was within the jungles past San Lorenzo that his mother and father had disappeared into. It was within these intimidating wilds that his long-missed parents, along with an entire civilization of semi-mystical beings, might be found.
Arnold's mother and father had left him when he was only one year old. They had been a medical mission- a gift of mercy to a blighted native tribe. But they, along with the airplane they had taken off in, had vanished within a fog.
Most said that it was almost 100% likely that Arnold's parents had disappeared because there was a fatal crash of their bi-plane. It was only logical because the day had been so heavy with fog and the jungle's high mountains so rugged and unpredictable- a difficult obstacle in even the best of weather. Yet, Arnold Shortman held out hope because he loved the parents he did not know. So he wrote. He wrote of their adventures and the promise his father's journal held, for within it was a map. A map that might, with a lot of daring, someday lead its possessor to the lost civilizations of the Green-eyed people.
"Once upon a time, long ago there were two explorers named Stella and Miles…" Arnold began reading the essay he had submitted to the national essay writing contest four months ago. The top prize was a free field trip to anywhere in the world and Arnold hoped, with a lot of luck, to get to San Lorenzo. There was no chance he could get the opportunity to go otherwise, that was until he turned eighteen! But eighteen, Arnold felt, was way too long for him to know the truth. Was he or was he not an orphan?
With a heavy sigh, Arnold finished reading his essay for the millionth time. He only hoped it was good enough to win the contest. He tucked the plastic spiral ring notebook he had placed it in on a shelf next to his bed. Then, with a soft, sad smile, the blond-haired boy lifted up a photo of his parents from another shelf. It was a picture of his parents smiling and posing in front of an ancient pyramid. Possibly, it was even the same excavation site where his parents had first met. His parents had been explorers- before his parents brought him to live with Grandpa and Grandma.
Arnold loved his Grandpa and Grandpa. He was glad he lived with them. Yet, sorrow soaked through his being just the same. Especially on this morning. Grandpa noticed it at the breakfast table as Arnold at down. "Hi, Grandpa. Good morning."
"You are awake early today, Shortman," Grandpa Phil mumbled. "Something bothering you?"
"No not really," Arnold replied trying to turn his frown into a cheerful smile. "I'm just thinking about my entry for the nationwide essay contest. I know it's unlikely, but I'd be really nice if I won. Then I'd get the top-prize."
"Oo, prizes are nice," said Grandpa. "Let's hope it's a sack of money."
"Grandpa!" Arnold scolded. But Phil ignored his rebuke. He had meant every word.
"Ooh, Arnold don't forget!" Phil recalled with sudden inspiration. "First of the month tomorrow. Don't forget to collect the rent tomorrow! This is a boarding house after all. Utilities don't come free you know."
"I know, Grandpa," said Arnold rolling his eyes. Arnold was annoyed, but it was relaxing to have Grandpa laughing all the same. Arnold was smiling again when his Grandma entered the dining room with a plate of bacon and eggs for breakfast.
"Oh hello there Kimba!" said Grandma Pookie. She was wearing her explorer's hat again, so Arnold knew she would be hunting for flies the rest of the morning. "Today's a big day for the expedition so would you be a dear and go get us some supplies? I left a list on the refrigerator."
"Yes, Grandma," said Arnold. He could hear his pet pig, Abner squealing under the table. So he stopped to reach under it to pet Abner. His favorite pet pig came and and stood up on two feet for a good rub between his ears before dropping down on all fours again and running away. As Arnold watched, Abner found one of the boarding house cats to chase. They two animals pulled down the tablecloth and eggs spilt all over poor Arnold's lap.
But this was a typical morning for Arnold Shortman. He was happy with this life, overall. He only wanted his parents to come home and be part of it, too. Yet Arnold knew that when he stepped out the house, his best friend Gerald and his secret crush, Helga, would be waiting out there in the neighborhood along with a lot of kids who were his friends.
Arnold hummed to himself. It was not an unpleasant task to go to buy groceries on a warm and sunny summer day. Aber was sleeping on the stoop. Helga, the strong-willed blond who had once admitted to adoring him, was skipping rope out on the street. Arnold smiled and waved at her. It was good to know she still adored him. It had been three years since she had last kissed and embraced him. Three years since she had confessed to love him at the top of FTI. Since then, she and Arnold had become the best of friends. But they both changed the conversation when things got mushy.
The local corner store was not far away at all, and within a half hour, Arnold was back again to say good morning to Helga. By now, a few of Arnold's other friends congregated on his street to plan a day. Helga and Harold and even Gerald were there.
"Hey, Arnold!" said Gerald. "You wanna go to the Arcade at one today? I'm going to listen to Phoebe's Cello practice, this morning. So we'll meet you all after lunch!" Arnold lifted his eyebrow. Gerald was sure keen on Phoebe these days.
"Yeah, be there and don't be late!" Helga voiced loudly. She jabbed a finger toward Arnold's chest for emphasis but he was used to such treatment. Arnold shook off Helga's enthusiasm with a smile.
"Sure, Gerald," he replied with a weaker thumb shake than usual. He was trying not to drop his sack of groceries after all! Arnold opened the front door holding his groceries only to get run over by pets (including a fat, white chicken).
There was a lot of time left before Arnold was supposed to meet up with his friends. After a bit of dusting top shelves for Grandma and a brief snack of jam sandwiches, Arnold paused to take a shower. He ran a comb through his brilliantly yellow hair and let it air-dry into unruly corn licks. Then he blow-dried his hat.
When Arnold exited the bathroom from his shower, he saw his Grandma standing in the hall with a notepad and pencil. "Oh Kimba. I took down a message for you! Let's see. Your teacher called about the meaning of hipatamuth. Or was that a country in west Africa? "Oh well, never mind. He has something to tell you when you see him," she says patting his hand.
Arnold Shortman made his way slowly up to his room on the third floor of Sunset Arms Boarding House. Inside, his room was The phone rang again when Arnold got to his room. He jumped for it.
"Hello?" the voice on the end of the line said. "Arnold! Congratulations! You've won the essay contest!" It was his teacher's, Mr. Simmons, voice. "You know what that means! Free airline tickets for our entire class! I just wanted to let you know how very proud I am of you for being uniquely you. I think it's special that you wrote an essay on a topic topic that is special to uniquely you."
"Thank you Mr. Simmons."
"Do you have a place where you especially want to go? The top prize is a field-trip to anywhere for the entire class."
"Definitely," said Arnold. He explained that he had his heart set on going to San Lorenzo. Ecstatic with joy, Arnold ran out of his house and down his front steps to find his nearest friends. None met his eyes. They had probably had gone ahead to the Arcade without him. If he did not hurry, Arnold guessed, they would put their money together to buy pizza, too, and Harold would consume all of it.
Arnold rounded a corner a half block away from the Arcade only to run into something soft and pink. Inevitably, it was Helga. Only now, these days, there was a budding maturity about her. At twelve, Helga was wearing her first bras. Her limbs had grown longer and leaner and her eyes less cruel and more like a vivid ocean. This time, as Arnold lay strewn across her chest from where he he tumbled, his flickering eyes met hers and he found it hard to sit up. Instead, his eyes lingered on Helga's red lips.
"Hey! Get off!" Helga snarled, her dark, black unibrow folding downwards as a scowl spread across her face. Her hand reached out and shoved against Arnold's chest, sending him backward. Arnold caught his ribs. The force of Helga's strength was equal to an Olympian's.
"Oh! Sorry, Helga!" Arnold mumbled rubbing where Helga had struck his chest. He winced a little. But he held out his hand toward Helga all the same to lift her off the ground.
"What were you staring at, Football-Head?" Helga snarled. In return, Arnold blushed and mumbled.
"I'm sorry. It's just that you looked… you looked….so?"
"So what?" Helga demanded with almost quivering in rage. Arnold did not know whether or not it was best to be honest or truthful. Either way, he might get his head beat in.
"Beautiful," his lips said in a quiet whisper, too soft for anyone to hear had they been any more steps away than Helga was from him. It was their secret- shared- that Helga had feelings for him. It was their secret shared that he knew. But for whatever reason, Helga had backed away from her announcement of love for him. In an unspoken truce, Arnold forbade himself from replying, for if they did they might blend the uneasy line between them. The line between lover and friend. Both teetered on the precipice.
With a loud, "humph," Helga righted herself and snatched her hand away from Arnold's. Both of them felt the cold immediately but this was the game they played. They both were drawn to press their fingers toward the fire to test it, but then by pride they snatched it away. It was almost as steady as the rising and waning of the sun. It was driving Arnold crazy. Things became worse for him when with a loud chortle, Harold appeared sipping a large soda from a paper cup.
"Why don't you take a picture?" Sid asked jabbing an elbow into Harold's ribs. "It'll last longer!" At this, Helga gave her pigtail an angry flip. Silently, she stomped away from the direction of the Arcade with its pizza parlor. Arnold's heart sank. Fortunately, his friend Gerald was seated inside to cheer him up a bit.
"You won the essay contest?!" Sid cried with his hand flat against the restaurant table as Arnold smugly told his friends about his most recent achievement. Sid clutched stinky's shirt front out of excitement. "That means… that means!"
"Yep," Arnold said sipping Yahoo soda smugly. "We are going to San Lorenzo!" After all, his friends Gerald, Stinky, Sid, Harold, and even Helga were all in his class.
But when he explained to his Grandparents the next day that he and his fellow schoolmates were able to go on a field trip abroad, they were not very happy about it.
"Hm. I don't know Shortman," said Grandpa. "I'm not too keen on the idea myself."
"Oh come on, Grandpa," said Arnold, shocked. He had wanted his grandparents to be happy for him! "Why not?"
"Well I know it's important to you to go to San Lorenzo and all," said Grandpa. "But personally I'd rather you steered clear of it. I mean that place is a mess of bad memories.
"Oh come on, Grandpa!" Arnold argued, his hands outstretched in a frustrated plea. "It might be my only chance to find out about my parents!"
"Maybe it is, maybe it isn't Arnold," said Grandpa. "But I still can't cotton to you going. The last time someone I really cared about went to San Lorenzo, they went missing. I lost my son there. I would rather I didn't lose a grandson."
"I'll choose a different place then," said Arnold with guilt. But his heart was anguished.
His mind began to plot. Arnold did not call Mr. Simmons back, after all, to change the city of the field trip. He made a fake field trip permission slip instead and forged his Grandpa's name on the real one. Arnold felt badly, so badly that soon, he told his best friend Gerald the secret of what he had done.
The two boys were walking back home from Gerald's field at the time. There had been a brief baseball game between Arnold and all his friends. Arnold carried his bat over his shoulder, while Gerald had his baseball glove on. He practiced catching by hitting his fist into the leather glove over and over to simulate a ball striking it.
"Um, um, hm." Gerald said shaking his head at his friend. "I can't believe you're lying to your grandpa about this. You told him we were going to a resort and not San Lorenzo?"
"Gerald, I have to do this," pleaded Arnold. "I have to find out what happened to my parents."
"Sure thing. Anything you say, Arnold. But ya know there's no guarantee that even if you go there you'll ever find your parents. I hate to say it man, but it could be that their plane just… well crashed. I'm sorry man."
"Even if that's true, I want to know Gerald!" Arnold declared stubbornly. He looked around.
"By the way, Gerald, have you seen Helga?"
"No, man. She didn't show up for the game again. Is there something strange going on between the two of you? You two have been acting funny ever since FTI."
"It's nothing Gerald," said Arnold, his eyes narrowing. "We're just having another little tiff."
"You and her are always having another tiff!" Gerald scoffed. "Well, see you later, man. I'm goin' home." Gerald stalked off toward his house leaving Arnold behind at the stoop to his front door. But Arnold did not go into his house. Instead, he left his bat just inside the door and walked out again.
Helga had become Arnold's biggest problem. As long as Helga wanted to pretend that she was disinterested in him, he couldn't just grab her and kiss her lips, as tempting as that might be- for Helga was rapidly growing up into a beauty. The two were at an impass. Helga followed Arnold around day and night and Arnold looked back over his shoulder every once in while to check that the one whom fate had tied him to so expertly still wanted him. Yet Helga had been away for two whole days, now. The vacancy was making Arnold anxious.
It was a short bus trip over to Helga's neighborhood. Her family owned a multi-storied home along one of the wealthier streets. Arnold walked up to Helga's front door. He rung the familiar doorbell and waited. It was a mild surprise to him that Olga Pataki, Helga's older sister answered. The difference in height between the two sisters had been becoming more indistinguishable with time. Arnold guessed it would be not long before Helga was taller than Olga.
"Hello, is Helga here?" Arnold asked hopefully. Olga Pataki held a finger up to her lips and pursed them in thought. Wile she formulated her reply, she rounded her lips into a loud, "tsk."
"Nope. I haven't, Sweetie. Sorry! Don't you worry now, Arnold. When Helga comes home, I'll tell you to give you a call! Would you like that?"
"Yeah. Sure," replied Arnold. He smiled, although he doubted Helga would listen to his sister.
"If you see Helga, tell her I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make her uncomfortable."
"Well, you just wait and I'll tell her all about it, you big silly!" said Olga pinching one of Arnold's cheeks. Her arbitrating between their little tiffs was almost becoming predictable. Olga gave Arnold a knowing wink.
"Don't you worry, your little head! Olga will take care of everything!" Helga's older sister promised. Arnold unhappily rubbed the cheek Olga had nearly bruised as she had pinched it Then he turned to go home before Olga had the chance to attack him again.
As Arnold walked back down his own street, Helga peeked out from her favorite hiding spot on the roof of Green Meats. It was here that she had her best target practice and here that she had the best view of Arnold's house. Seeing Arnold's face so dejected as he paced by made Helga look at her locket with a picture of Arnold in it sadly.
"Oh, my dearest, onliest, most holiest of beloveds! How it pains me to bear this separation from your noble presence! But, alack! How can I refrain myself from your tender lips? Your rapturous, tumultuous locks of hair? With you so near to me, I can not tear myself away from your delicious body odor and unkempt clothes! I love you, my beloved! So much so I must hide myself away lest my passions take me to wilder places than we dare to go and you, my beloved, hate me for this blasted, bestial, carnal nature of mine!" Helga's hands fisted up into the air and her eyes were large with agony as she spoke. But after a great deal of time, she came to composure. After all, Arnold had gone back into his house. But the next day, Helga could not stand here feeling sorry for herself any longer. She just had to talk to her only other comfort in the world- her best friend Phoebe.
It was bright and sunny summer morning in Hillwood. Lila and Phoebe were walking up the street toward Phoebe's lavish, modern home as Helga got there. Helga's presence was a surprise to them. It was as if the girl lept out of the shadows to encounter them. Both Phoebe and Lila turned to look at one another. Both held the impression in the back of their mind that Helga was acting less and less like a normal girl these days and more like a spy in training.
"Um, Helga. What a surprise!" Phoebe Heyerdahl declared pretending that nothing about Helga's behavior was out of the ordinary.
"Yeah, I'm just full of surprises, Phoebes." Helga rolled her eyes at her long-time friend.
"Ugn, Helga you've been spending a lot of time over at my house lately. Any reason?" Phoebe probed. But Helga was not about to give up any juicy details. Instead she gave a loud sniff.
"No reason," says Helga hastily. "Why would there be a reason? That's ridiculous."
"If you say so Helga," said Phoebe, narrowing avoiding saying what she was thinking. 'There's no need to be so defensive!' After all, they were best friends, weren't they?
It was fortunate for Phoebe that the field trip to San Lorenzo was nearly upon them. It was only a couple days ahead in the future, and to celebrate it, Phoebe's boyfriend Gerald was here with Arnold to chat about it. Phoebe watched Gerald and his best friend Arnold approach with warm anticipation. Helga held her ground on the sidewalk. She did not run, but she did not look pleased to see Arnold, either. She crossed her arms and pouted at the boy instead.
"Hey, ladies," says Gerald. "Are you all packed and ready for our once-in-a-lifetime, all-expenses paid vacation?"
"Oh! Yes I think so," says Phoebe blushing. "And Arnold," she noted after. "I haven't seen you for some time. All is well with you I expect?"
"Yeah, fine," said Arnold exchanging a look with Helga. It was a look of yearning. A plea for forgiveness. Helga blushed and her eyes shifted away.
Arnold's hope that things would go back to normal between him and Helga were crushed. He went home and sat at his kitchen table looking unhappy. Finally, Arnold got up and made a phone call to Helga's house. But she didn't answer. "Helga? Helga? It's me," says Arnold. He makes a deep sigh. "Look, we need to talk. Please?" But there was still no answer. Likely, Helga was listening to the recording but refusing to pick up. Again.
Stubborn, Arnold waited beside the phone with his arms and leg crossed for a call back. When none came in ten minutes, he went to sit down at the kitchen table again. At last something good happened for the blond-haired boy. Arnold's Grandpa came into the kitchen.
"Something wrong, Shortman?" Grandpa asked. Arnold gave a deep sigh before answering.
"Yeah, Grandpa. There is. You know my friend with the one eyebrow? Well it's her. I think she's avoiding me. We had words and well… I don't know if she wants to be friends anymore. She hasn't spoken to me for days."
"Why? What ever did you do to make her so mad?"
"It's not what I said, Grandpa. It's what I can't say. I mean… she likes me, likes me and I can't answer her back. There's a wall between us and I'm still not sure just how I feel. I mean this is a girl who torments me on purpose. She's combative and argumentative but sometimes she acts really nice and I… like her then. She's.. I don't know.. beautiful I guess in her own way."
"Well, then just tell her what you told me," said Grandpa.
"I can't, Grandpa," said Arnold moodily. "She's not talking to me anymore."
"Well then, trick her into meeting you with some her school friends," says Grandpa. "Or we can drive down there right now and throw rocks at her window. It's great fun and a classic. The girl must be asleep by now."
"Grandpa, it's only 6:30."
"Great. Suppertime. Keep trying, Shortman. Call her again. And after summer there's always school. There's no way she'll be able to avoid you then." This brought another sigh from Arnold.
"Okay, Grandpa," he said, sounding defeated.
It wasn't as if Arnold hadn't tried to get Helga to like him openly during the last year. He had written her a poem once- an invitation and a promise. He had just called her beautiful. It was too bad that such things only served to drive Helga further away from Arnold. The time had he had tried to carry her books after he had beaned her in fourth grade came to mind, too, and the Tango they had shared. If it had been any other girl Helga would have just melted. She would have gone along with his suggestions and let him pose her anyway Arnold liked. But no, this was Helga they were talking about. As soon as Arnold seemed to be getting nearer to her, she surprised him by whirling outside of his grasp. It was like the time Helga had played Cecil. Arnold knew it was her from the moment Biosquare had flooded and she had been dripping wet with water from head to toe- her long hair over her face just like his fake French date. But Helga had proven inside of Biosquare also that she was a hellcat, too, and not so sweet as he had presumed. It was his secret that he knew and as Helga had continued being cruel to him over time, Arnold had assumed they would always be just friends and no more.
But then, FTI had happened. Arnold's eyes had been opened. Helga was cruel to hide her lust. That meant that every measure of cruelty matched her longing for him. His slowly kindling feelings of attraction were not a lost cause, and now that he was twelve, his own attraction for the girl were becoming unbearable.
Dismal, Arnold walked upstairs to lay down on his bed and look up at the clouds. It was his habit to do so whenever he was blue. His wandering mind eventually drifted off to sleep.
Two days later, and Arnold's homemade alarm clock rang. Arnold hurried to collect tickets and a suitcase from his desk. He ran downstairs for a quick breakfast of cereal, then ran outside his front door. Gerald was there, waiting for him.
"Hurry up, man!" said Gerald. "The bus is leaving soon! We gotta make our plane!"
"After we all meet up at school first," Arnold corrected Gerald. As he said, the two friends got off at the school where Mr. Simmons was counting hands in a panic.
"Oh, good," Mr. Simmons said scribbling on a list. "Arnold and Gerald. That means everyone but one student is here."
"And me!" said Principal Wartz with a straw hat, flippers, and an animal pool floaty.
"The Principal is going, too?" asked Gerald. "What for?!"
"I guess he just wanted to," Arnold speculated.
"Hm, hm, hm. With principal Wartz here this class trip is going to be a lot less fun than I thought," Gerald declared. Arnold looked around for Helga. He stared at the girl when he found her. When Helga did not bolt or threaten him, he moved forward cautiously.
"Helga, hi." Arnold addressed her nervously.
"What do you want, Arnold?" Helga asked stiffly, her arms crossed.
"Well, this is a really nice field trip we're going on? Isn't it?" Arnold said with a forced smile. He wished they could let this facade of platonic friendship slide. It was wearing both of them. If he stood here any longer he might snap and take Helga into his arms.
"If you say so, Arnoldo," says Helga feigning disinterest. "Now why don't you go and hang out with your friend, Geraldo?" she says waving him off.
"Sheesh man," says Gerald as they walk away. "That girl just does not like you."
"She doesn't hate me, Gerald," Arnold says with certainty. He pulled at his collar to loosen it a little. Being so near to Helga at the moment had done something funny to his breathing. "She.. well… she just has a funny way of hiding things."
Eugene was the last student to show up. He arrived with a clatter of cans from a tipped over trash can. Most of the students gasped. Eugene was a well-known jinx and suddenly the idea of going on field trip was not fun. It was fatal.
"Oh-no. I am not getting on a plane with Eugene!" Said Rhonda. "I'd like to make my graduation party."
"You said it," agreed Helga.
"Um-hum," muttered Gerald giving a searching look to Arnold. "Uh oh. Eugene's here. Didn't we give him the wrong ticket on purpose?"
"You mean you gave him the wrong ticket."
"Arnold, that kid's a jinx," shouted Gerald. "If we board a plane with him, we're going to go down in flames for certain!"
"Oh, come on, Gerald," says Arnold. "That's just plain superstitious. Still, maybe..." His mind wandered back to all the bad things that happened when Eugene was around and Arnold grew nervous. What if Gerald was right?
"Don't worry about it Arnold," says Sid in a not so kind way. "Harold, Stinky, and I have a back-up plan just in case he showed up. Eugene will never know what's coming."
"Um, I don't know if that's such a good idea, Sid!" Arnold disagreed. Whatever it was the trio had planned, it likely meant Eugene would be in a body-cast again.
"Hey Eugene!" shouted Harold as Arnold and Gerald watched. "Hold onto this luggage for me for a moment. You know, while I tie my shoe."
"Oh. Sure, okay guys," Eugene said amiably. But Curly was in on the plot. He backed up into Eugene and bumped him onto the unusually large suitcase with wheels.
"Uh, guys," says Eugene as he coasted out of schoolyard and down across street through obstacles and eventually into an open manhole.
"Harold!" My clothes!" Rhonda shouted the the boys, angrily. Her face scrunched up with rage.
"Sorry Rhonda," Harold, Stinky, and Sid chorused while Curly watched.
"Oh well," said Rhonda. "I still have two other whole suitcases with me. It should be enough to get me through our brief vacation."
"Well, Arnold," said Gerald with hands on hips and the realism look. "Our problem solved. Looks like that kid's going to going to a hospital instead."
Both breathed a sigh of relief. Now that Eugene was gone, it was a pleasure to get on an airplane. Gerald and Arnold were enjoying themselves listening to music when they heard, "Hi guys!" Both boys were startled. It seemed the boy was not in a body-cast after all.
"Eugene, how did you get here?" asked Arnold, pulling the earphones off his head.
"Oh, well, I missed my first flight but the airport was very nice and sent me to meet up at that last stop. I just got on and boy, it's great to meet up with you all again. This is going to be a great field trip, I can tell," said Eugene. At that moment the plane engine bursted into flames. They were forced to land.
"I told you man," said Gerald fanning himself as they stumbled away from the airport runway. They watched as firefighters extinguished the last of the engine's flames. "That kid is a sure-fired jinx. We're lucky we're not all dead!"
"Gerald," Arnold rebuked wearily. But Gerald had been correct to a point. The plane had got them over the ocean but they ended up taking a bus to San Lorenzo.
"I told you Gerald," said Arnold feeling better as they neared their final destination. "Nothing is going to stop me from finding my parents. As long as I have this journal!" he said holding it up. Helga stopped what she was doing (making a cat's cradle) and stared at it.
"His parents?" she blurted out looking at her locket. "Arnold is here to find his parents? Oh, my football-headed love god, if by some weird miracle you actually do manage to be reunited with your parents then you are likely to stay with your parents here in San Lorenzo and you and I are to be parted forever! I must see that journal!" Helga sunk down low into her seat. Meanwhile, Gerald continued talking to Arnold.
"Look man, you've showed me that journal a million times, man. I'm just saying, as your friend, don't get your hopes too up. I'm worried about you, buddy."
"I'm fine Gerald," said Arnold. "Everything is going to turn out great. You'll see." He looked out the bus window. Arnold pointed out San Lorenzo. "There it is!" Arnold shouted, excitedly. "San Lorenzo!"