Hey guys! Sorry this is taking forever, but yeah . Anywho, this is a very short installment! Sorry! ^^ I'm writing in on a college computer, so i couldn't actually get muched typed out. I'll try and make the next one longer =) So check my profile for my blog link, btw ;)
Harold let out a snort from his position across the bonfire, shoving another dripping hotdog into his mouth as he glared at Helga.
"Now!" Sid called out from his position on the small platform. "In my hat, I have different sets of number. Send up one member of your party to come draw!" The boy pulled the hat off his thin hair and extended it to Gerald who proceeded to draw in a handful of pieces of paper. Sid then shook it up and extended the hat out over the platform, beckoning the kids to follow.
Helga looked over at Arnold, arms still crossed. "Well?" she goaded, nodding her head in the direction of the boys on the platform. "Aren't you the gentlemen? Get on it, bucko!"
"Fine." Arnold let out his familiar sigh before reluctantly standing up and going to draw his number.
"Okay, okay!" Sid called, shushing the noise with his hands. "This is how it's going to work. If you're holding an odd number, step to the left. Even, make a group to my left."
Helga observed as Arnold made his way to the even number side, laughing as he compared his number with an upper-class boy whose name she didn't care to remember, much less know in the first place. A breathy sigh escaped her mouth as she watched the firelight glistening on his cornflower colored hair. She had to pinch herself to regain composure. "Just cool it, old girl. It's just a couple of hours…in the woods…with Arnold, at night…alone." An immediate smile plastered itself on her face. "What can go wrong?" she said with a hint of sarcasm and casual roll of her eyes.
"We're taking my truck," she heard Arnold say as he stopped in front of her, his expression one of reluctance.
"Geez, don't look so excited football head, the root canal isn't till tomorrow!" she cooed with mock excitement, standing up beside him. The boy had managed to grow a little in the awkward summer between middle and high school, and the rivaled neck and neck with neither gaining an inch on the other.
"No, really, I am pumped!" he said as he threw his fist in the air and let out a fairly pathetic "whoo!" Helga glanced at him, and he dropped his limp arm by his side and hunched over slightly. "Let's just go!"
"We're on foot!" Phoebe said her eyes wide with fear and excitement. "Since we had an odd number, we are taking in the smaller areas of the wood. "
"With our trusty flashlight!" Gerald laughed, twirling the clunky object in his hands. "Have fun bro," he added sympathetically as he slapped Arnold on the shoulder. "We'll meet up in a couple of hours. "
"It's okay guys!" Harold called out from his seat by the bonfire. "I'll just, you know, sit here and, uh, guard…the…hot dogs? Yeah, guard the hot dogs!" He curled his knees up to his chest and edged slightly closer.
"If you want to sit here all alone in the dark lardo, have fun. Be careful though, the goatman might be able to smell the scent of cooking hot dogs," Helga commented nonchalantly. "Well, have fun!" She then shoved her hands in her pockets and marched off toward the tree line.
Harold's eyes grew wide as he scrambled up. "On second thought, I think I'll go guard the tree-line. Uh yeah."
Curly burst forth from the direction of the tree line, adorned in a simple loincloth and beads. "Let us go forth, fair maiden," he said as he swooped in on Rhonda's side and took her hand.
"What are you even wearing?" she commented in horror, recoiling away.
"It's to blend in with the night, and to entice the creature!" he let out a mischievously laugh before jerking her into the woods. His laughter continued until the teens could no longer see the bobbing of his flashlight.
Helga leaned against the battered door of Arnold's truck. She was familiar with old thing, having watched him pass the school and park in it every day while she was forced to walk or hitch a ride. Her car funds were only a drop in the bucket so far.
She moved aside wordlessly as he shoved his key in the lock and wiggled it for a good solid minute before finally getting the door to jerk open. He said nothing as he walked to other side and got in, and the both wordlessly and simultaneously clicked the locks back down before he started the roar of the engine.
"You're never going to find anything in this junk heap. He'll hear it from a mile away!"
"I was more so planning of driving out and shutting it off," he commented quietly.
"Don't try anything frisky," she warned, shining the flashlight on his and causing him to grimace. "I'm not that kind of girl."
"You're not any kind of girl," he muttered as he rolled his eyes and backed out so they could set off on their way.
