Hey Arnold: Highschool Years

Prologue

H.S 119

The familiar sounds of bus breaks along with it's exhaust fumes spreading throughout the air around the high school. The chatter of over thousands of students echoed throughout the large campus. Groups of friends reacquainting themselves since the summer break. A boy teases a girl with a worm he found as she shrieks in disgust, another group of students are rehearsing for the theatre club tryouts that were posted all over. The heat from the summer still clinging for one more week or two till the fall weather rolled in.

This is what greeted Arnold as he stepped off the city bus and took in the site before him. He breathed in the inner city air, heard the laughter and chatter, and felt home.

Spending the last five years in San Lorenzo with his parents had been a dream. It had been hard to leave his friends and his grandparents, the latter who would visit him seldomly. After his 14th birthday in a small village with not many kids his own age, he expressed to his parents his wish to return to Hillwood, so that he may experience High School with his friends and graduate.

It did not take much convincing. It seemed that they were eager for the change.

"We want you to experience your teenage years the way you want to, we've taken away so much from you, and in return you've been a very good son to follow your parent's selfishness." Stella said to him when he had made the request.

"I agree, it's time we've moved back and settled." His father agreed.

Three days ago he moved back to Hillwood, just in time for the first day of his Sophmore year.

It was slightly intimidating.

He grew considerably, now 5'6 and still growing with a deeper voice since he reached puberty. Would anyone recognize him? Would he recognize anyone?

As he was caught up in his thoughts, someone bumped into him.

"Hey watch it!" cried the boy, looking down on Arnold with an attitude. Arnold realize that he had been standing in the middle of the sidewalk, blocking the path.

"Oh! Sorry!" He apologized and dipped out of the way. The other boy just grumbled and carried on mumbling about his schedule.

Arnold stepped up the looming stairs of the high school and made his way towards the front office.

He went to the front desk and waited for a short be speckled woman to notice his presence. When she finally looked up, Arnold spoke:

"Excuse me, I'm Arnold Shortman, I'm new and need my schedule?" Arnold asked.

"Take a seat over there, the guidance counselor shall see you in a minute, dear." the woman pointed to a group of chairs behind him, filled with several waiting students.

Arnold nodded, "Thank you." and took a seat in the nearest empty chair. He looked at the five other students near him. One was a redheaded freckled boy holding his left eye in pain, obviously waiting for the nurse. Another were two girls giggling and chatting about what boys they liked and rumors. At the opposite was a hefty boy in a football jersey, eating a Mr. Fudgy Bar, and to the left of him was a blonde girl whose face was obscured with a book and large headphones around her ears. He focused on the book cover, "The Age of Innocence" by Edith Wharton.

The nurse's office opened and a large woman with bright red hair looked at the bunch, "So, what hit you this time, Mr. Horowitz?" she seemed to be addressing. Horowitz?

But the boy was up and walking towards the nurses office, "I fell into a can of soda..." with that the door closed.

Two minutes later the counselor door opened, 'Dr. Bliss' written across it. "Thank you, Mrs. Bliss!" said a teenage girl as she walked out of the office. A woman appeared right after her, middle aged and well dressed. "Oh Mr. Shortman, you're here for your schedule? Step in, I have it here on my desk."

The hefty boy with the Mr. Fudgy bar gave him a strange look as he walked past. Arnold shook Dr. Bliss's hand, "Hello! I'm Dr. Bliss, I'm your guidance counselor. You can come to me if you have any problems, need any advice, or any changes to your schedule." She went to her desk and shuffled through some papers before exclaiming "aha!" when she found the right one.

"This is your schedule, your homeroom is with Mr. Simmons in room 425. You take a left out the door and it's the fourth hall on your right." Arnold glanced his schedule and nodded before being rushed out the door. "I hope you have a good first semester, Mr. Shortman."

"Yes, thank you!" Arnold responded. He did as instructed and took a left out into the hall.

Back in the front office.

"Hmm..I could have sworn that guy looked familiar." The hefty boy said to himself, crumbling the wrapper of his Mr. Fudgey bar.

"Mr. Berman? What can I do for you?" Dr. Bliss asked, Harold Berman got up from his chair.

"Yes, Mrs. Bliss. I was wondering if you could move my lunch schedule from 1:00 to 11?" Harold asked, "I've got practice at noon and I can't play on an empty stomach!" He whined.

Dr. Bliss shook her head, "You know that schedule swap is in two weeks, come back then."

"Ow man!" Harold exclaimed, swung his bag over his shoulder and was about to leave. "Um, Mr. Berman?" Dr. Bliss asked, Harold whipped around, hopeful. She shook her head in reassurance, "Could you please get Ms. Pataki's attention?" she pointed to the blonde girl with her headphones in her ear and her nose still trapped in a book.

Room 425

True to Dr. Bliss's words, he found his homeroom with much ease. He walked in and saw that fourteen or fifteen students were already there, they barely looked up when he walked in. All chatting amongst themselves. It was then that he looked at the board, and looked down at his schedule, Mr. Simmons.

It couldn't be the same...

"Oh my goodness! ARNOLD!" Claimed the chipper voice of the teacher, there stood his old teacher, Mr. Simmons himself. He had a huge grin on his face, and walked over to envelope him in a large hug.

"Wow! That is you Mr. Simmons!" Arnold happily exclaimed, glad to see a familiar face once and for all.

"Oh goodness you've grown! I'm so happy you're back, you were such a special student to me and seeing you back here is just...just... great!" Mr. Simmons said, still beaming.

At this the attention of the entire class was caught, and two other people jumped up with equal enthusiasm.

"Arnold!" They both exclaimed, a tall thin boy in a green rock shirt and pants, and a shorter black haired boy in blue cap came running up to him... they barely changed except for their height and some scruff of hair along their chins.

"Sid! Stinky!" They too enveloped him in a hug.

"You're back!? Why couldn't you have told us sooner!?" asked Sid.

"Gee willickers! Yer taller than Sid now, Arnold!" said Stinky.

"It was a last minute trip, I figured I'd surprise you." Arnold answered, scratching the back of his head.

"Well it's a most delightful surprise indeed, Arnold." said Mr. Simmons.

"Where is he? Where is my main man? My buddy and best friend from thousands of miles away?" came a tenor voice from just outside the door. In walked Gerald Martin Johanssen, tall, built and just as cool and suave now as he was in elementary.

"Gerald!" Arnold and "It really is you!" after five years their secret handshake was still their most natural form of greeting.

"Gerald? I don't believe you're in my homeroom..." Mr. Simmons said as he looked at his roster.

At this Gerald presented a slip of paper and handed it to Mr. Simmons, "Switched this morning. I found out from Dr. Bliss what your schedule was and pleaded for us to have the same homeroom."

"That's awesome Gerald!" Arnold exclaimed, truly happy to have his best friend back in his life. The four boys made their way to their seats, each couldn't wait to tell the other everything that had been going on since Arnold left, or inquiring how Arnold had been.

"Alright, alright...the bell's about to..."

RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGG

Several more students shuffled into class just as the bell called the school to attention.

Mr. Simmon's homeroom had about twenty five students within it, Arnold could recognize some other students as former elementary students that he remembered seeing in passing.

"Welcome to the 10th grade, Students." Mr. Simmons said, "I'm Mr. Simmons and I'll be your homeroom teacher." ...

The boys huddled together in whispered conversation.

"So Arnold, how was San Lorenzo?" Stinky asked.

"It was great, like living in paradise. Living with my parents and getting to know them was amazing." Arnold answered. Looking up and seeing Simmons carry on about his summer.

"Let me see your schedule," Gerald whispered, Arnold handed over.

Gerald scanned over it with interest, and had to contain his excitement, "Looks like we got 4 classes together! I can show you around!" He stated, not asked.

"That'd be great, the school looks so much bigger than our last one.." Arnold commented.

"So have you met anyone else since you've gotten in today?" Sid asked eagerly.

Arnold thought for a minute, " I think I saw Eugene in Nurse's office this morning, but I didn't have time to say hi to him."

"I don't mean Eugene," Sid said, "I mean any of the girls from our old class?" Arnold shook his head in response. "Boy howdy! We've come a long way from cooties, and puberty does magic!" Sid said snickering.

"Sid here, thinks he's a modern Romeo." Stinky said.

"Didn't Rhonda pour her punch on you at Peapod Kid's Summer party?" Gerald asked.

"I'm too intense for her, she'll come around." Sid said, wrapping his arms and leaning back.

"Telling her you'll marry her and whisk her away, to her face, is a bit much." said Stinky.

Arnold just laughed.

"Alright, next if anyone wants to sign up for sports clubs, the meetings will be posted on the gym door..." Said Mr. Simmons.

The door slammed open and hit the back of the wall with a loud "THUD"

Mr. Simmons and the rest of the class made their attention to the door, there the hefty boy from the office stood, panting heavily.

"Sorry Mr. Simmons! I got stuck carrying..." Harold paused, his attention towards Arnold, "THAT REALLY IS YOU!" he exclaimed.

"Harold, calm down, you can greet Arnold after homeroom." Mr. Simmons said..

And the second bell rang.

RIIIIINNNNGGGGG

"Awe man! my first class is on the other side of the school!" Harold whined, "I'll catch you later Arnold!"

The hallway

"Okay my man! Let me tell you what has been going for the last five years." Gerald said as they walked down the hallway. "This is a lot of information, so try to keep up."

"Nadine and Rhonda are not best friends anymore." Gerald started,

"Really? That's too bad, what happened?" Arnold asked as he hunted down for his locker.

"Time happened. Once Junior high came around, Nadine stuck with the microbiology and bug stuff while Rhonda went on to become queen of her own clique." Gerald explained. "Sid and Stinky are still close, and we see Harold from time to time but he's on the Football team."

Arnold nodded as he tried to keep up. Locker 34B, 34C, 35A...

"Eugene is still as unlucky as ever, as you seen. He's the president of the Theatre club now." Gerald waved a cute girl that passed by, "Curly is...Curly."

"Oh wait here's my locker. Locker 37C." Arnold signaled for Gerald to stop.

"Sheena's the resident Civil rights, animal rights, vegetarianism advocate at the school, you can always see her out protesting something with her group at lunch." Gerald explained as he helped Arnold open his locker.

"Ahh thanks." Arnold said as he put his books inside.

"No problem." Gerald continued. "Pheobe's in a band, does the triatholon for the school, will probably run for president, save the world, or invent something amazing. And I guess that's about it for now." he finished.

"Seems like a lot has changed since I left. I hope we can all still hang out like we used too..." Arnold mused.

"Don't bet on that, but with you around, you never know." Gerald said. "So we've got English Literature first thing, how lame."

And with that...the two boys went to their first class together in five years.