It's Just Practice
Chapter One: Good Mood
It was a fateful March afternoon in the town of Hillwood. One wouldn't think it was a fateful day for it seemed to be perfectly ordinary. The sun was shining, the children playing, the birds flying. No, if one was to choose a fateful day for a story to begin you would not choose this one. Alas here we are, watching over without interest, trying to find the smudge of difference in the cities sea of mediocrity. Try as you might however you cannot find it, for all looks peaceful and plain within the cities walls; everything but a carefully wrapped package and the tiny plant that resides within it.
Now if we were to look at that package, to see what was inside of it, to analyze that little plant's leaves or the address from which the plant was sent, we would find nothing. Nothing out of the ordinary- nothing out of the mundane- and that's to be expected for it was a perfectly normal plant. But had they sent a different kind, or left it just a day later than it should have been- well perhaps we would have no story.
And that, that is what makes this little plant so interesting…
"Delivery!"
A barrage of tiny feet running down the hall could be heard even from outside the building. The postman quickly dropped the package onto the used and worn welcome mat, running down the steps in an attempt to avoid being pummeled by the plethora of animals now rushing toward the door. As it swung open the animals rushed out and onto the street, chasing after him while an old man limped out onto the porch.
"Who's there? If this is another prank-" He stopped his mumbling as his eyes fell down onto the small gift left for the household. He picked it up, examining it for a moment before shouting back up the stairs.
"Hey shortman, there's a package for you at the door!" A tall figure ran down the stairway, worryingly throwing his jacket on over his plaid shirt. Arnold hopped down the stairs; jersey and bag slung over his shoulder as he stuffed the papers he was holding into his mouth to quickly zip the duffel bag up.
"Thanks grandpa, can you go put it up in my room? I'm really late for practice." Arnold yelled taking out the papers before shuffling down the cement stairs.
"Well sure Arnold but…what is it?" Grandpa asked, shaking the box like a child. Arnold groaned grabbing onto his grandfather's hands to stop the shaking before shoving the papers into his pack.
"It's a cactus!" Arnold yelled out, taking off towards a convertible parked outside of the house. Grandpa looked down at the package for a moment before shrugging and closing the door behind him, not bothering to ask why the young boy had ordered a cactus in the first place- it wasn't like stranger things hadn't happened in just that morning.
"Arnold man, where the hell have you been?"
"Sorry Gerald, time got away from me I guess" Arnold yelled hopping into the red car parked outside of his home. Gerald shrugged before starting up the engine. Arnold leaned back, throwing his things into the back seat before taking in a breath of relief.
"You seem to be doing that a lot lately." Gerald mumbled taking off into the open street. Arnold quickly slipped off his shoes started to replace them with more active footwear, all the while glancing at the clock for the damage.
"Doing what?" he asked absentmindedly.
"Losing track of time." Gerald clarified with a snip in his voice.
"I mean not that I mind man but if we keep showing up late to practices-"
"I know, I know I'm really sorry Gerald." Arnold apologized. Gerald glanced over at him before coming to a slow stop at a light.
"So you going to tell me what's going on with you?" He asked without too much urgency. Arnold laughed a bit nervously, not knowing how to answer when he himself couldn't figure out what was wrong. He pushed his hair back taking in a small breath.
"Uhh, I don't know really. I guess this final project is just really-" Arnold paused, his eyes drifting along with his mind as the world outside of them passed by. He smiled lowly to himself, resting his head on his wrist as Gerald gave out a heavy groan. The car came to an abrupt halt, sending Arnold's head flying into the dashboard with a dull 'thunk'.
"Ah! What was that for?" Arnold groaned, rubbing a now red spot on his forehead. Gerald shook his head in irritation and handed him the top of his seatbelt. Arnold begrudgingly took it, not even noticing that he had forgotten to put it on.
"Something's wrong with you man." Gerald gripped. Arnold scoffed, clicking himself in as they took off from the streetlight and towards the school.
"Me? You're the one sending me flying into the dashboard for no reason." Arnold mumbled, laying back into the seat. Gerald sent him a glance before turning back to the road.
"It wasn't for no reason Arnold, man look at yourself! Your shirts on backwards, your eyes are all dopey looking- and you've been late for basketball practice all this week!" Gerald explained. He squinted his eyes, giving Arnold a stern look.
"You're not on drugs are you man?" Arnold laughed out, shaking his head in disbelief.
"Gerald you seriously think I'm on drugs because I've been late to a few basketball practices?" Arnold asked, unable to believe what he was hearing. Gerald hit the horn in anger before nodding his head intently.
"BASKETBALL ARNOLD! You've been late to basketball! That's unheard of man!" Gerald protested. Arnold laughed shaking his head before sighing. They were almost at the high school now. It would have been an easy enough walk had he had the motivation. After hearing Gerald's lecturing in the background he almost wished he had.
"Look I'm not on drugs Gerald, trust me- I'm just-happy." Arnold explained with a shrug of his shoulder. Gerald raised a brow as he pulled into the school's parking lot. The engine clicked off, leaving the two in silence.
"Alright I'll bite, why're you so happy?" Gerald asked opening up his door. Arnold smiled to himself, the memory brought back to the front of his mind. The way she smiled, the way she laughed- that cute little way she twirls her hair when she's nervous or how her eyes flutter when she's happy.
"Well…?" Gerald asked again. Resorting back to his droopy state Arnold laughed and opened up the front door to the school.
"Lila and I are going on a date." He answered, laughing to himself as if it couldn't be true. Although not as shocked and excited as Arnold had hoped he would be Gerald responded with a curious 'hm' and continued down the empty hallways toward the gym.
"You and Lila huh? When'd this happen?" Gerald asked lowly, knowing full well that Arnold wanted to talk about it. Arnold laughed some to himself, shrugging before continuing on with his statement.
"I don't know, I don't even know. One minute we were just sitting in class and then she laughed cause I said something so I laughed and that made her laugh more so I laughed cause she was laughing and-" Arnold could feel Gerald's cold glance and took his cue.
"Anyways, we started talking and I just- I asked her if she wanted to go to the movies on Saturday and she said yes- just like that!" Arnold whispered, afraid if he said it too loud someone would come and tell him that in fact wasn't true. Gerald clicked his tongue shaking his head.
"Man you have got it bad, how long have you been crushing on this girl again?" Gerald asked, looking down at the boy. Arnold shook his head, placing his things in the locker before quickly changing into his jersey.
"Look that doesn't matter, what matters is that she wants to go on a date with me- and that makes me happy." Arnold clarified. Gerald rolled his eyes, opening up the door to the gym's auditorium.
"Whatever you say man…"
The familiar opera of squeaking shoes against the gym floor fell upon their ears as they entered the gym's basketball court. Arnold could see the entire team lined up against the back of the gym, impatiently holding their gear.
"It looks like we're off the hook this time…" Gerald muttered, shooting Arnold one last angry glare before hustling toward the group. Arnold peeked over the team mates shoulders to see what the hold up could be. A familiar voice followed the sharp 'trill' of a coaches whistle.
"Come on, come on! Hustle damn it! We're never going to get the championships in this sorry state!" Helga screamed out blowing her whistle as loud as she could in frustration. Harold huffed, panting as sweat dripped down his face.
"Oh who are we kidding? We're not getting into the championships. We haven't won a single game!"
"That's because no one here knows how to make a decent shot!" Helga complained. One of the basketball players coughed rather loudly in irritation making Helga sigh heavily.
"I GET IT! Would it kill ya to give me a minute?" Helga yelped out, she did not get an actual response but merely a barrage of irritated stares. With one final sigh and a drop of her head she waved her hand toward the hockey team.
"Alright all you sissies, hit the showers!" Helga shouted, grabbing her own things off of the floor. The basketball team cheered, waving the boys off of the court. With a shake of her head she headed toward the team's removable goal, pushing it fairly easily toward the back of the gym.
"Wow Helga, I didn't know you were coaching the hockey team." Arnold called out, walking away from the crowd as they all started to put their things away. Helga jumped in surprise and turned on her heel, giving him the stink eye. He laughed a bit nervously but did not back away, nothing was going to ruin his good mood- not even Helga G. Pataki.
When he did not run in fear Helga sighed and answered.
"Yea well baseball seasons over and I don't really have much else to do so…" She shrugged heading towards the other goal. Arnold followed, determined to hold a conversation.
"I can see why they picked you to be their captain, you have a lot of leadership skills." Arnold complimented. Helga groaned, pushing at the second goal easily. Arnold moved beside her, pushing it with one hand as well. Helga glared- he did not remove it.
"The only reason I'm captain is cause I'm the only one around here who can score and they want to know how" Helga mumbled.
"I doubt that." Arnold said with a nod of his head. Helga growled. He felt his happiness start to slip as he held up his hands in defense.
"I meant I doubt that's the only reason, I'm sure you're a great shot." Arnold said quickly. Helga gave the goal one mighty push, sending it crashing into the gym's storage unit.
"As much as I'd like the wipe that stupid grin off your face Arnoldo I just don't have the energy so beat it won't ya!" Arnold felt a frown coming onto his face but fought it- Helga would not ruin his good mood!
"Fine..." he answered walking back toward the group. She shook her head before heading towards the locker room. The small conversation seemed to have sparked Gerald's interest for he piped in.
"I thought you guys placed ice hockey- what are you doing here in the gym?" Gerald asked. Helga mumbled crossing her arms.
"Those twinkle fairies rented out the rink for the whole week for their stupid ice ballet rehearsals, we had to practice somewhere." Helga stated. Arnold thought he could see a tint of embarrassment on Helga's cheeks as she wiped a large amount of sweat off of her face.
"Look, I stink like in a wet dog in a dump site, can I go take a shower now?" Helga asked, her voice having only the slightest undertone of self consciousness. Arnold looked around in confusion before turning back to her.
"I didn't know we had a second shower room in this gym." Arnold stated softly.
"We don't." Helga stated plainly.
There was a pause in the room before Arnold's face suddenly turned a dark red as her meaning dwelled upon him.
"S-so you shower with the boys?" He asked shakily. Helga raised a brow at his response and slowly nodded.
"Yea bucko you got a problem with that?"
"No-no, not if you don't I mean…but I mean- aren't you afraid they'll peek in on you?" Arnold asked, genuine concern in his voice. Helga's eyes softened for a moment as she opened her mouth to answer, but the roar of both the basketball and hockey team's laughter cut her off.
"Y-you're kidding right? Peek in on HELGA?" Harold asked, tears nearly leaking out of his eyes from the joke. Arnold looked back at them in confusion as Helga furrowed her brows together.
"Does THAT answer your question?" Helga asked motioning to the still chuckling men.
Arnold rubbed the back of his head before nodding gently. Helga gave one last groan before pushing her way angrily into the locker room. Arnold turned back to Gerald who was biting back a low laugh. Arnold punched his arm, his eyes showing a tint of actual anger.
"Hey man! What was that for?" Gerald asked, the last of his laugh fading into the gym. Arnold didn't answer but merely bent down and started to unpack his bag. It seemed that somehow Helga had in fact managed to ruin his good mood…