Chapter 2

After eating her lunch Cassandra just sat at the table watching everyone in the room. She always found that watching people from a distance helped to know them without talking. For one thing the girl named Helga wasn't always an angry person when she was with the Japanese girl. The boy who's hand she shook back in the class room was a little insane.

He also seemed to be in love with the girl named Rhonda. Somehow it felt like she never left her old school at all. Sure these guys were new people but they were almost exactly the same. Well not exactly the same but Curly's behavior was intriguing.

So in conclusion she was going to definitely love it here even if it wasn't her old school. Cass was about to ask Iggy something when she saw a heavy set kid walk over with a frown. "Hey Iggy." He said and sat down next to him and taking his hat off to sit it on the table. This guy was the number two class bully and it was kind of hard to understand why Iggy was talking to him. "Hey. Oh Cass, this is Harold." He introduced her to him and she nodded. This place was definitely different from her school, there was no way to look around that. "Hi." She said and went back to her people watching.

The bell rang letting the kids know they could put their trays up and go out for recess. It wasn't her favorite time of day but she at least would probably get some alone time. All she needed was the company of her notebook and her creative imagination. This brought back the fact that she was in a new school and didn't have the company of her best friend.

She could definitely use the company of her Chinese friend Shay Ling. "A new school would be a great experience Cassie, new friends Your cousin's there right?" Shay pointed out. confident voice aside Cass could tell Shay hated it as much as her.

Cass took a seat on the bench beside the building and watched the people play on the playground. She was about to write something in her little journal when she saw that Stinky was joining her. "Hey." He said taking a seat next to her as she moved her long hair out of her face. "Stinky, right?" She asked taking her journal and closing it so she could have a conversation. His name was highly unusual and she liked those kind of names. Stinky nodded and deciding not to cover her hand she shook his hand. 'Germ-ex!' her mind screamed after she let go of his hand. "You like lemon pudding?" He asked.

It took her a while to fully understand that it was serious question. Never had she been asked if she liked anything lemon in the first place. To tell the truth she was allergic to them. The first time she had tried anything lemon was indeed a lemon pudding. "I…I'm allergic." She said admitting her one weakness and hoping Stinky wouldn't ask. He just nodded and started another conversation. "What school did you come from again?" He asked as she took her jacket off since it was definitely warming up. "P.S. 117, it's a little different from this school." She said.

"I think I walked past your house one day, that pumpkin was huge…the weather was strange that week." Cassandra said recalling the day her and Shay were walking toward the park. They were on their way when the pumpkin caught her friends eye thus leaving her to get Timothy herself. The curious nature of her friend was always a little annoying. "I reckon it was a little strange." He replied.

She was about to open her journal back up when the boy with the football head appeared. 'What a strange head.' She thought and then grumbled to herself for noticing it, at least he didn't have a conjoined twin.

That thought really made her cringe even though she knew some twins like that. They were only attached at the hand and could easily be separated but they chose not to be. Not yet at least, maybe when hey were older they would think differently about it. Cassandra shook her head getting that thought out of her head so she could talk to him. "You must be Arnold, do you have any germ-ex?" She asked and scolded herself inwardly for asking. She did not want to seem like she thought everyone had dirty hands. She covered her mouth and blushed a deep red. "Never mind that question." She corrected.

'Talk about not thinking before you speak! Geez what the heck is wrong with my mouth today anyway? This was not how I pictured my first day at a new school at all.' She looked up at Arnold to see that he was slightly confused but nodded and said hi. Cassandra motioned for him to sit next to her so she didn't have to look up at him. "Lets start over! I'm Cass, your Arnold. Shake hands." She said and took his hand to shake it quickly. "Nice to meet you Cassandra." Arnold said trying not to laugh at how she introduce herself to him and said to shake hands.

Gerald sat on the top of the picnic table listening to Rhonda go on about her new shoes. She and Nadine were just going around talking to all the fourth graders to show them. He looked around catching the Asian girl on the monkey bars and stared dreamily at her. 'You have to wonder what Curly sees in this girl to go crazy over her all the time.' He thought looking back at the tall girl as she went on and on about something. "Excuse me Rhonda but I think I hear Arnold calling me." Gerald said and left the rich girl to talk to Nadine and Lila about her shoes. He spotted his friend talking to Cassandra.

"Hey Gerald." A voice to his right said catching his attention and he turned to it. Iggy was walking up to him along with Brainy who might of just gotten punched in the nose. Taking a seat on the swings Gerald waited for him to join him while he swung. "Your cousin always that moody?" Gerald asked referring to the incident at lunch. "Yeah, and I know were going to have a problem later." Iggy said pointing to Helga and made an exploding sound.

This caught the tall haired boy's attention and smacked his head with his right hand. He didn't know why he hadn't thought about that and he honestly didn't want to mess with her. "How do you deal with her?" Gerald couldn't help but ask that question. "She's ok once you get to know her." Iggy said watching Brainy go behind the dumpster as Helga was talking all girly like. Sighing Iggy stood up telling Gerald he would be back after he took Brainy to the nurses office. "What happened to him?" Cassandra asked walking away from Arnold as soon as she saw Brainy holding his nose in the air smiling.

Cassandra noticed this little fact and was about to ask Iggy what he was smiling about but he left. Another fact that presented her with the fact that she was in a new school and nothing made sense yet. "Excuse me Arnold, could you explain to me what just happened?" Cassandra asked walking back over to the Football headed boy who she was talking to previously about her old school. "That would be Helga." He said seeing her eyes light up. "Thank you and see you later…Oh, hold this real quick." Cassandra said handing him her journal and her jacket before heading into the direction of Helga Pataki.

"Excuse me, your Helga right?"

"Yeah, what's it to you?"

Cassandra put her hair up and balled up her fists and held them up as if to fight her. Leaning against the monkey bars Helga just started to laugh ignoring the attempt of being tough. "No one beats up my cousin or his friends." She said. Still laughing the Pataki girl just rolled her eyes and wondered where this girl got the idea to stand up to her. "Your kidding right?" Helga asked skeptically as Arnold walked up trying to stop the girls from fighting.

"Guys maybe we can solve this another way, one that doesn't involve fists." Arnold said trying to stop the madness from happening. The two girls just stared at him and rolled their eyes in annoyance. There was a moment of silence but then Cassandra picked up her jacket. She put it on and put her sleeve over her hand before holding her hand out to Helga immediately.

"A truce Pataki! For now…" She said waiting for the other girl to join in. Finally after moments of hesitation Helga G. Pataki held out her hand and shook Cassandra's covered hand. "Whatever floats your boat…whatever your name is." Helga said. "Cassandra Fletcher." Cassandra responded before leaving to go inside the school building. Recess was over now and it was time to get back into the class room where she had to listen to the teacher. Forgetting that her Journal was still in Arnolds hands. "That was close." Gerald's voice came from beside him as they walked in last.

Gerald's eyes focused on the journal in his friends hands and took it from him. "What's this?" He asked and then his eyes rested on the name that was on the journal. "Its Cassandra's, wonder what she writes." Gerald said mainly talking to himself but Arnold took the journal back. "I'm giving it back." He said and sighing Gerald took it back. "Remember when we found that pink book?" The tall haired boy asked his football head shaped friend. "Fine, we'll look at it on the bus if she's not sitting across from us." Arnold said and they went into the school.