Chapter 2: Another Possibility
A/N: I rewrote a little bit of this chapter and added a few more lines and added to my bottom author's note below due to some displeasure of some of my readers.
We start back to Arthur's short-lived good morning.
Arthur wakes up in a good mood, saying how beautiful the morning is, how it's a perfect spring day and that life just couldn't get any better. But when he goes and sits down at the breakfast table, his good mood fades when his mother tells him and his father that DW's Spring Pageant is coming up this Friday.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Arthur screams, but not without the notice of his parents.
Arthur's idea of a perfect day goes out the window after he hears what his mother says.
"So much for my perfect day!" Arthur says to himself.
So later upstairs in the Read home:
"But Muffy's Pool Party is this Friday," Arthur says to his mother. "Why do I always have to do EVERYTHING DW wants? EVERYTHING, mom!"
But DW comes out and says to her brother, "That's not fair, I do things for you all the time!"
"Like what?" asks Arthur.
DW tells Arthur "I give you free advice, I let your silly dog lick my feet, I defend you when the Tibbles say you look like a banana..."
"DW those don't count!" says Arthur, "I don't ask you to do those things for me, you choose to do them!"
"Well you still have to go to my Spring Pageant," says DW.
"And I wasn't even talking to you," Arthur said sternly, "and you're NOT mom!"
Turning away from his sister, Arthur begs his mother to let him skip the pageant but Jane tells him he's going and that's final and tells him not to try to get out of it.
Later Arthur is playing basketball with Francine, Binky, and Buster.
"Arthur's going to a pageant," says Binky, who laughs it off and then chants "Pageant face, pageant face!"
"Pageant face?" asks Arthur. "That doesn't even make any sense!"
"It's all I could think of," Binky then says, "don't pick on me!"
"I'm picking on you?" says Arthur, "you're the one who's making fun of me for going to a pageant that MY parents are making me go to, I tried to get of it but you know how parents are!"
Arthur goes on to say, "And I thought you gave up bullying?"
"Maybe I did," says Binky, "maybe I didn't."
"Okay you two," says Francine, "that's enough!"
Arthur then passes the ball to Francine, who then says "Arthur, it's just a preschool pageant, how bad can it be?"
"You wouldn't say that if you'd been through what I had been through last year," says Arthur, "like last fall."
Arthur then thinks back on the Fall Pageant that he was forced to go to.
"We are autumn's pretty leaves," sings the chorus of DW and the preschoolers and Ms. Morgan, "Red and yellow, orange and brown. See us falling from the trees, falling, falling, falling down."
Then there's clapping from everyone except the bored aardvark in glasses.
In the present, Arthur says "I would have given anything for a giant leaf blower."
Francine tells Arthur what she'd do if it was boring: count the ceiling tiles.
But Arthur answers, "Four hundred and sixty eight, I checked twice."
"Ooh that is bad," says Francine. "Maybe it'll be better this time."
"I doubt it!" says Arthur.
"Come on Arthur," says Francine, "try to have an open mind. And be nice to your sister. Besides they had all year to practice."
At the preschool Ms. Morgan's class, containing DW, Emily, Cheikh, Timmy and Tommy Tibble, James, Amanda, and Bud, are practice singing "Springtime Flowers" for the Spring Pageant. After they finish, as some of the kids are yawning and stretching, DW looks around at her classmates.
"Arthur's right," she says, "this really is boring."
But then…
"What was that, D.W.?" asks Ms. Morgan, who heard her speaking.
DW knows she has to cover up what she said with something and quick.
"What if we tried something exciting?" she asks, raising her hand.
"What did you have in mind?" asks Ms. Morgan.
Then DW talks about her idea of spider appearing in the middle of the song. She even runs around screaming about the "spider." The other kids, however, are not open to this idea and Emily shrugs DW.
DW then goes, "Come on people! That's good!"
Emily, showing her high disapproval for this, quickly raises her hand to Ms. Morgan and asks her, "There really isn't going to be a spider, is there?"
Ms. Morgan says, "No, of course not."
Then DW looks at Emily and says to her, "Unless we use the one…."
Next thing DW does is turn her head behind where her's and Emily's backs are facing and shouts "...BEHIND YOU!"
Subsequently, Emily, tricked into thinking there really was a spider, lets out a loud scream! And then the other kids start reacting as if there really was a spider.
Later at the Read House, the entire Read family is at dinner.
"DW," says David, "you shouldn't do things that scare the other kids."
DW replies, "It's not my fault everyone wants the pageant to be boring."
With that, Arthur quickly gets up and says to his parents, "See? She admits it!"
"Arthur," says Jane in an almost stern tone.
"I'm sure it's not boring," David says. "You should have seen my preschool pageant. *chuckles* We sung this old song called "Spring Time Flowers."
Knowing what her husband is doing, Jane puts her hands up and shakes them sideways trying to get him to stop but he doesn't notice her and continues talking.
"Everyone dressed like flowers, it was awful! Heh."
Jane puts her hand over her closed eyes.
David continues, "Boring, unbearable, awful!"
"Uh," says DW, "that's what we're doing."
Jane shakes her head and thereafter David volunteers to do the dishes.
DW then says, "If they won't fix it, I will!"
"What are you going to do?" asks Arthur.
"Hmph!" says DW, "wouldn't you like to know!"
Arthur is worried. Then he thinks he's talking under his breath when he says to himself, "I've got to get out of going to that pageant!"
"What was that, Arthur?" Jane hears, causing Arthur to gasp.
"Uh," Arthur says. Playing with his glasses he says, "I said I wonder what she's going to do in that pageant."
"That's not what it sounded like to me," says Jane.
Arthur looks at his mother without saying anything.
"Arthur," she says, "you better not be trying to get out of going to that pageant! I mean it!"
When the day comes, Arthur starts to leave the house.
"Arthur," says Jane, "where do you think you're going? You better not be trying to sneak our of going to the pageant and going to Muffy's pool party!"
"No, mom," says Arthur. "I'm just going out for a walk. I'll meet you guys at the pageant, I thought I'd get there early."
Jane isn't buying it.
"Arthur, you're up to something, I know you're trying to get out of going to the Spring Pageant." she says. "You are not walking out that door!"
Arthur sighs, "You're right, Mom. I'll go to the pageant."
Arthur walks upstairs but after he climbs all the steps, he stops and listens to hear if his mother left. Then he walks back downstairs and nobody is there. Then he walks slowly toward the back door. When there, he slowly opens the door, and then slips out and closes it quietly. He then grabs his backpack, which he left outside the night before. He packed his bag with his swimwear and a towel and anything else he needed. Then he ducks, hides, and tries to sneak away. He thinks he's not being noticed, but then hears barking, which startles him.
It's Pal, at a window! He sees Arthur, who looks up at the window. Then he waves his hands sideways at him.
"No Pal," he says quietly, "Shhhhh, quiet!"
Inside the Read house, Mr. and Mrs. Read go where Pal is.
"Pal," says Jane, "what on earth are you barking at?"
Pal turns his head toward the window and he continues barking.
"Is something out there?" asks David.
Then David goes to the window and opens it and looks around. Outside the house walls, Arthur has ducked into a bush and hid himself.
Back inside, David says to Pal, "I don't see anything, boy."
And he closes the window.
"What do you think you were barking at," he asks the dog as he walks away from the window.
"That dog just keeps getting weirder!" DW comments.
Arthur comes out of hiding and quickly runs to the street and runs toward Muffy's pool party, taking whatever shortcut he can to get there quickly and inconspicuously.
Arthur then makes it to Muffy's and Arthur's friends are there having fun. When Francine, Muffy, Binky, and Buster see Arthur, they approach him.
"Arthur," says Muffy, "what are you doing here?"
"Yeah, shouldn't you be at your sister's pageant?" asks Francine
"Uh," says Arthur, fiddling with his glasses, "Mom and Dad changed their minds and said I could come."
"Really?" asks Binky. "Your parent's actually let you off?"
"Yeah," Arthur says, "for once they decided to let me out of having to do something DW wanted!"
"How is DW taking it?" asks Buster.
"You won't believe this," Arthur says, "but DW said she didn't really want me to go!"
"DW said that?" asks Francine.
"Yeah," says Arthur, "she told Mom and Dad she didn't really want me there and insisted I come to the pool party. And she even told me in front of Mom and Dad who said it was okay."
"DW actually didn't want you at the pageant?" asks Francine.
"And your parents actually let you come here?" asks Binky.
Arthur says, "Yeah."
"You're right," says Francine, "I don't believe it."
"I can't either," says Buster.
"Yeah," says Arthur, "neither can I!"
"Well, now that you're here," says Muffy, "why don't you go enjoy yourself."
"I'll try to," says Arthur.
"What?" asks Francine, "what do you mean 'you'll try?'"
Arthur stops and thinks about what he just said.
"Did I say 'I'll try?'" says Arthur. "I meant, 'I will.'"
Arthur chuckles a little nervously and then continues his way to the pool.
At first Arthur does enjoy himself but isn't having as much fun as he thinks he should be having. He sits at the pool with his feet in the water.
"Come on Arthur," says Francine, "get in!"
Buster, Muffy, and Binky, to name a few are in the pool with Francine and want Arthur to come in too.
Arthur hesitates at first.
"Are you feeling okay?" asks Binky.
"Huh?" Arthur answers. "Uh sure, never better!"
Arthur then stands up, says "Man overboard!" and jumps into the water and comes out head first.
Some time passes but Arthur is not enjoying himself as much as his friends are. He knows what he's done is wrong and it's bothering him. He tries to play it off but it just keeps coming back to him and he feels increasingly guilty. A few times his friends keep asking him if he's okay or what's wrong with him and he keeps trying to cover over it with acts of feeling fine.
Finally, Arthur's guilt gets the best of him and he's had enough. Arthur gets out of the pool, dries himself up, puts his shirt back on and tries to leave. He however does not leave unnoticed.
"Arthur," asks Muffy, who is approaching him as are Francine, Binky, and Buster, "where are you going? Aren't you enjoying yourself?"
"Yeah," says Buster, "don't you want to stay and have fun?"
Arthur hesitates to say anything and also hesitates to move.
"Arthur," asks Francine, "is something bothering you?"
"Guys," Arthur says, "I'm not enjoying myself."
Buster, Binky, Francine, and Muffy gasp?
"What?" asks Binky.
"Why aren't you enjoying yourself?" asks Muffy.
"There's something I have to tell you," says Arthur.
His friends are listening.
"I snuck out of going to DW's Spring Pageant," Arthur finally admits.
"What?" asks Francine, Muffy, Binky, and Buster in unison.
"I lied," says Arthur. "My parents never really let me out of going to DW's Spring Pageant. And my sister didn't really say she didn't want me there."
"Arthur," says Francine, "that wasn't a nice thing to do!"
"Yeah, Arthur," says Buster, who's also disappointed in his best friend.
"But I really didn't want to go," says Arthur, "I thought it was going to be boring and I was sick of always doing what DW wanted. So I refused to go and insisted on coming here instead and I snuck out and got here without my parents knowing."
"But Arthur," says Binky, "that's no way to treat your sister!"
"Yeah, Arthur," says Buster, "even I'm not impressed at this!"
"That was very selfish of you!" says Francine.
"And there's no excuse for what you did," says Binky.
"Yeah, Arthur," says Muffy, "that was rude!""I know guys," says Arthur. "What I did was wrong."
"What's also wrong," says Buster, "is that you lied to us. I know I've done it but it's not nice to lie to your friends."
"Buster's right," says Francine. "I'm not at all happy about this."
"Neither am I," says Muffy.
"I know," says Arthur with his head bowed down in shame. "And I'm sorry."
Arthur looks up and faces his disappointed to almost angry friends and continues, "I was wrong to get out of going to my sister's pageant, to disobey my parents, and to lie to you. I don't deserve to be here."
"No you don't," says Muffy.
"So I'm going to go to my sister's Spring Pageant, where I belong," says Arthur. And as he walks away, he says, "please try to enjoy yourselves."
Arthur leaves the pool party in shame and guilt and he goes to DW's preschool and attends the Spring Pageant in his swimwear. He finds his parents and sits near them and watches what's left of the Spring Pageant.
After the Spring Pageant is over, both of Arthur's parents deal with him.
"Arthur," says Jane, "you went off to the pool party didn't you?"
"Yes, Mom," Arthur admits, "I did."
"Arthur Timothy Read," says Jane, "I am angry and very disappointed at you!"
"As am I!" says David.
"Me too!" says a hurt DW. "How could you do this to me, your loving little sister?"
"Arthur," says Jane, "what you did was selfish!"
"Not to mention very inconsiderate!" says David.
"You knew you were supposed to come to the Spring Pageant and I told you specifically that you were to come and I did not change my mind about this!"
"I know I was wrong to do what I did," says Arthur, "and I'm really sorry."
"You can say sorry all you want," says DW, "but it doesn't change what you did to me!"
"DW's right, Arthur," says David.
"I really wanted you here to see my Spring Pageant," says DW. "Was that too much to ask?"
"Okay DW," says Jane, "that's enough. We'll take it from here."
"At least I didn't enjoy myself when I was at Muffy's pool party," says Arthur. "I thought I would but the guilt got to me and I just couldn't take it and decided to come."
"What you did, Arthur," says David, "was still wrong. You shouldn't have disobeyed us and snuck out of coming to this Spring Pageant in the first place."
"Arthur we would have let you go to the pool party after the Spring Pageant was done," says Jane."You would have?" asks Arthur.
"Yes," says Jane. "You would have been able to go once this was done."
"I wish I knew that now," says Arthur. "Well, maybe I might have known that. And why didn't you come after me, find me, and bring me to the Spring Pageant?"
"We would have," says Jane, "but we couldn't make DW late."
"But we would have came and got you after the Spring Pageant!" says David
Arthur says, "I'm really sorry, Mom and Dad."
"It's not just us you should be apologizing to," says Jane. "There's one more person you should be apologizing to!"
Arthur then lowers himself to DW's level, puts his hand on his shoulder and says "DW, I'm really sorry I ditched your Spring Pageant."
DW has tears in her eyes after the hurt her brother inflicted on her.
"You are bad and selfish!" says DW.
"DW," says Jane, "I know you're upset but please let us be the parents."
"I really am sorry, DW" Arthur tries to say more convincingly. "I'll never do this to you again."
"No you won't," says David. "You most certainly won't!"
Jane sternly tells Arthur, "For what you did to us and to your sister, you're grounded for a week!"
David, also stern, says," That means no TV, no dessert, no comic books, and no hanging out with your friends outside of school!"
"Okay, Mom and Dad," Arthur says.
Jane then tells Arthur, "Look sweetie, I know it's a drag constantly having to sacrifice what you want to do to do what DW and others want you to do, and we understand you don't always like doing what we tell you to do and we don't expect you to."
"But you have to understand, son," David chimes in, "and as we told you this before, sometimes we all have to do things we don't want to do. We can't always do what we want to do, that's just the way it is. And disobeying us and going off and doing what you want to do instead of what we specifically tell you to do is not the way."
"And you have to understand," says Jane, "that we're your parents and we have the right and authority to tell you what to do and what not to do and it is your utmost and your responsibility to obey us even if it's not what you want to do. It is very disrespectful to disobey us and do what you want anyway after we tell you not to do it."
"I know, Mom and Dad," says Arthur, "I don't always like doing what DW wants or what you want me to do, but I do feel bad about what I did and it did keep me from enjoying myself when I went to Muffy's pool party. I've learned my lesson and I will try not to do this again. And I will serve my punishment."
"Good," says Jane.
"Now let's go," says David.
The ashamed Arthur and his family go home after this and Arthur serves his grounding and other consequences for his disobedience and selfishness.
A/N If any of you have better ideas as to how I could have written this chapter or have any suggestions, please firmly but kindly let me know. I'm sure I could have done this better but don't really know how.
Though I understand Arthur didn't want to go to DW's Spring Pageant, and I probably wouldn't have wanted to go either, it was still wrong and selfish of Arthur to do what he did, and now he has to pay for his actions, being selfish, sneaky, disobedient.
Please understand, I did not write this chapter to offend anybody. I mean I did mean to write this chapter the way I did but I wasn't aware, at least not fully that I was making Arthur seem like a bad guy. I was just writing what could have happened in the episode, or at least what I think could have happened in the episode but did not. But it was not my intent to offend anyone with this chapter and I'm sorry if I did, I really am. And I know some of you are annoyed with my apologies, and perhaps I do apologize excessively or unnecessarily, but I don't want to give people the impression that I don't care about anybody and that I'm inconsiderate and have no regard for other people, I do care for other people.
But please understand that as caring as I am and though I hate upsetting people, it is wrong to do, I cannot please everyone, it's just impossible to do. I am going to upset some of you, but not on purpose. And I had someone tell me on Arthur Wikia that I cannot please everyone and he's right. But that doesn't mean I'm going to, or should anyway, displease people on purpose and I have to remind myself of that sometimes.
Plus, try to remember that this is just fanfiction. I guess I am not saying all this right but I'm doing the best I can and saying this the best I can and know how. But I don't write to offend people, although I do try to make some of my fanfics tear-jerkers but only some of them, and I make sure I cry too. But I don't write my fanfics or do anything to offend or anger anyone on purpose. And I cannot expect everyone to like everything I do. I mean I will not be swayed by opinions, at least not all of them, but please try not to think that I don't care about anyone, but I refuse to let other people dictate what I do and how I do things. I respect opinions and I would like mine respected, and there are stories, artwork, and fanfics I don't like, but I try to stay away from it, although I admit I fall short of that and so some of it is on me.
But if I upset any of you with this chapter, I didn't mean to, it wasn't my intent to do so. I cannot and won't expect all of you to believe me but I hope at least some of you will.
And hopefully the next chapter will be good and better to, at least some of you. I will not promise you it will be better but I will try to make it readable.
Thank you.
And again, I'm sorry for the delay in updating this. I kind of have writer's block and I'm having trouble coming up with stories. Plus I'm busy with other things, and admittedly side-tracked and I've been spending my time on Deviant Art and I'm also dealing with some poor health. So I won't be writing and posting very many stories though I'd like to and I still have some stories planned and one story, the one about George, to update so I'm running behind. Please bare with me everyone. Things are not going to be moving very fast with me and FFN right now.
