A/N: This is my first Hey Arnold fic. I'm using Nadine as the main character, because she is hardly used at all.
Feeling the pain in her whole body set in, she tried not to complain about the fact that Arnold had not only lost Geraldfield to the fifth graders, but also gained the fourth graders two bullies in the process. Nadine was tired and just sat on the soft carpet floor, listening to Rhonda go on and on about Ludwig and Wolfgang.
"I swear, those two barbarians need a more subtle hobby."
The raven haired four grader was sprawled out on her expensive sheets, her outfit was totaled and she probably had just as many bruises on her body as her best friend. Nadine shrugged her shoulders in response.
"They did…it involved us being played against one another. I wasn't even going to play today; I wanted to find more insect specimens for my little experiment…"
Rolling on her side Rhonda let out a sigh that border annoyance.
" Nadine!" I don't want to hear about your gross insect adventures. I'm trying to have a conversation about our horrible day, and maybe get some friendly comfort, but no! All you want to talk about are 'insect specimens'."
Nadine's dark blonde eyebrows lifted in amusement.
"I wouldn't say we had a horrible day…now when the fifth graders ran around the city dumping every fourth grader they could find in trash cans, that I can call horrible. Plus in my opinion out of the two evils, Wolfgang wasn't all that bad, I mean come on you and I was on Ludwig's team and the guy was pretty demanding."
Rhonda thought back to a few hours ago, and chuckled a little when she pictured Curly maneuvering his way through the field using ballet only to run off with the ball. Letting that memory past, she blue eyes darted towards her friend.
"As true as that may be, we are now dealing with two bullies…and I simply can not deal with that."
Nadine smirked.
"So what you going to do Rhonda? Go up to them and ask them to be friends and share the vacant lot with us?"
The yuppie's eyes narrowed with distaste at Nadine's answer. Tilting her head back on her pillow she grunted.
"No! Like I'm going to end up with a black-eye like Arnold, Gerald, Stinky and Helga…not with this face. We Lloyd's do not do black-eyes."
Nadine shifted a bit on the floor.
"So that's why you grabbed my hand and ran off?"
Rhonda jolted up with an expression of shock.
"Of course Nadine, what! You wanted us to get hit along with the others?"
Furrowing her brows, Nadine shook her head. Her back length braids set high up in their usual style rocked back and forth. In situations like this she would just give up and let Rhonda think she's right but right now, Nadine was feeling pretty talkative.
" That's not it, If Wolfgang and Ludwig wanted to hit us, they would've…we were there complaining in the group too, Rhonda. Anyways I don't want to argue about this, what happened on the field can not be undone."
Feeling the room getting less tense, Nadine felt it was right to tell her friend what she had been keeping to herself.
"I'm going on the class trip with the Science Club tomorrow morning."
She didn't have to look up from where she was sitting. The heavy footsteps and loud 'ouches' from Rhonda, indicated that the news had caught her on a surprised level. Not that it didn't startle Nadine, but it was more likely to be expected of the high class girl to be dramatic about it.
"Ugh, Rhonda, I'll be back around four in the afternoon…"
"That's just it…tomorrow is the first of June."
The little note didn't phase the environmentalist one bit.
"So."
Grabbing her shoulders, Rhonda shook her slightly.
"Its garbage day, Nadine…GARBAGE DAY…you know the day all the fifth graders like so much!"
The blonde realized what her friend was saying, but she stayed calm.
"I'll be fine…and I'm sure you will, since you always find a way out of getting dumped."
Glancing at her wristwatch, Nadine gave Rhonda a warm smile.
"Look it's almost six, I better get home…"
Rhonda slowly got up from the floor.
"I can get my dad to drop you off…"
Waving her hand dismissively, Nadine grinned.
"Nah, I know what bus to take…and it's only ten minutes away."
'I really need to make sure the 'other's' are okay'
Nadine made a mental note to check up on her fourth grade buddies that ended up staying in the lot.
"Fine Nadine, but call me once you get home."
Nodding at her, Nadine made her way out the Lloyd's household. The warm air breezed past her, taking slow steps down the stoop; she had to be careful as the bruises from the game started in sink in.
Nadine looked down at her legs and saw all the different colors of dark blue and purple forming all over. During this time of the day it was flooding with people from all over the streets; feeling different pair of eyes lock on her figure, she couldn't help but blush in embarrassment. Seeing a nine year old girl walking down the streets of Hillwood with bruises and slightly torn clothes did not bring the most innocent thoughts to people's imagination.
'Note to self, never play football in a dress…unless wearing leggings.'
Picking up the pace, she could see Geraldfield…but no bullies in sight or her friends. They were tied to the post last time she had saw them.
'Maybe they got down.'
Well there was nothing left for Nadine to do but go home. She was about to turn back, but a faint nose off to the side caught her attention.
"Dude…dude…dude…dude…dude."
Nadine had spotted Ludwig and Wolfgang play punching while calling each other 'dude'. Seeing how the two friends were preoccupied, Nadine walked passed the lot without making eye contact with the two large boys.
'I just want to go home, I don't want any trouble…if I don't make a sound, they won't see me.'
She had made it passed the lot in one piece and just in time, the city bus was pulling up. Limping towards the bench, she sat down and let out a sigh of relief…or at least she had hoped.
"Hey fourth grader!"
'No-no-no-no-no-no'
She recognized Wolfgang's voice all too well. Nadine didn't want to see if it was just him or both, but she knew one thing her patience or better yet…fear, was wearing thin. Stress lines were forming around her eyes.
Using all the strength in her body that she could manage, she darted towards the bus that was coming her way.
"Get back here, pigtails!"
'Get on the bus, get on the bus…get on or get caught!'
She kept chanting those words.
It felt as if the bus was driving slowly, because now she was running. Ignoring the aching pain in her ribs and legs, she could practically feel them getting closer. Shooting a glance at a random store window, she could see both Wolfgang's and Ludwig's reflections.
"Dude stop, we can cut her off this way."
Nadine had come to a halt, something was wrong; there wasn't any hideouts around this neighborhood. So, she decided to do the next best thing…take the subway. Turning around, she went the direction she had came from…which was a good choice, because a few yards down, the two boy's were hiding near a fish market.
The bus that Nadine had been waiting for had come to its stop. Wolfgang smirked as he waited for the small fourth grader to pass by. After waiting several minutes later the bus departed but no Nadine in sight.
Ludwig chuckled at his friend's mistake.
"You got hoodwinked by a fourth grade girl."
Wolfgang snarled under his breath.
"She was just here, there's no where to go…the next bus is further down the street. She would've been spotted…unless, crap! Back to the lot…I think I know what she's going to do."
Following behind, Ludwig just rolled his eyes.
Stepping onto the subway, the doors finally closed. Nadine had been panicking the whole time; she figured sooner or later Wolfgang would have found out where she ran off to. Glancing down at her watch it read 6:25, she was suppose to be home before the streetlights came on, now she was sure she'll be in a lot of trouble.
'I should have taken up on Rhonda's offer.'
Feeling the subway travel through the tunnels, Nadine could relax without discomfort. Fiddling her fingers through her unruly curls, she rebraided each strand. She knew that she had been running on adrenaline the whole time, if Wolfgang was going to strike this was the perfect moment to do so.
Ludwig was laughing hard, as Wolfgang's face turned red, she had done just what the fifth grader had suspected…he had completely forgot about the subway transportation in the opposite direction.
"And here I thought you had your fourth graders under control."
'Come Monday afternoon, I'm going to dump her personally.'
The blonde made sure, she'll have nowhere to go.
Wolfgang always kept the wussies in line, not once had he been outsmarted by them. He remembers her face, as she is always seen with that yuppie fourth grader on the football field.
" Gaw, it's not funny Ludwig…if this gets out that I…"
" Got tricked by an underclassman."
Ludwig finished the sentence, still keeping a snarky expression.
There was nothing the two boys could do for the day, for now Nadine was safe.
Getting off the subway, she made her way out of the station. Carrying her tired legs up the long stairs, she traveled down her familiar neighborhood; the bright streetlights helped her a lot. To tire to use her house keys, Nadine just pressed her index finger on the doorbell.
When the door opened she was met with the concerns of both her parents.
" Nadine! What happened to you?"
Her father had picked her up, as her mother closed the front door. Nadine could tell that this was going to be one long night of explaining.
A/N: Alright chapter one is finished, I hope you enjoyed it so far :)