Wow! Thanks a lot to all those who reviewed - it sure helped speed me up when I wrote this chapter!
NintendoGal55: Thanks for the defense - got to love the fluff! Unfortunately the suspense will be lasting for a bit longer...bwahahaha...but you will see what he has to tell her soon enough.
Thundercatroar: Yeah, pyromania is a LOT more fun than it should be - especially when you have a giant campfire in which you can fling many things. I'm glad that Curly is still in character for you - I didn't realize how much fun he was to write for until I started. Huzzah! And hot chocolate and ice cream make a very good combination...yum. Thanks for reviewing!
Kpfan72941: Thanks! I am glad you are enjoying the fluffiness!
Flintphone: Merci! The interactions are making me laugh, and I am pleased that you are finding it satisfying...I really need some hot chocolate now, though.
Jilly: I agree; they are way too cute!
loonytunecrazy: Writing for Curly is a lot of fun, and it's good that you are also enjoying his antics - I sure am!
Annemarie22: Aw, shucks. *blushes* Here is the next part!
SuprSingr: Thanks for taking the time to review! I know that people are very busy - I still can't believe I started haranguing people for reviews...although now that it's worked...bwahaha. I'd love to hear what you think he's going to tell her - unfortunately, you still have to wait to find that out. Yeah, I love Curly but I am very glad I am not near him and fire at the same time! Lila is definitely not a villain, and you're going to be seeing more of her sweet side in this chapter and ESPECIALLY in the next! I've got plans for her. Helga has pretty much gotten over her jealousy, but she will have a brief relapse in this chapter. I wanted the major conflict between her and Arnold to be the unknown important thing, so I didn't want to throw much Lila-jealousy in there.
acosta perez jose ramiro: Embrace your nerdiness, my friend! I originally intended for a lot more latin to be in her explanation, but then couldn't find any appropriate words besides the scientific names...ah well. I speak Spanish and English, but Latin continues to elude me.
evilbeckles: Thanks! Here's the next part!
Disclaimer: I do not own Hey Arnold! or any of its characters. I also do not own the musicals "Oklahoma!" or "Singin' in the Rain." Sigh.
Eugene felt the warm sun on his face that was streaming through the flaps of the tent. He stretched and sat up in his sleeping bag, feeling a contented smile spread itself across his mouth. He loved mornings, and this was a particularly glorious one. He could feel a song brimming in his heart, and before long it poured from his lips.
"Oh, what a beautiful morning, oh, what a beautiful day. I've got a beautiful feeling, everything's going my – oof!"
Unfortunately, Eugene learned an important lesson: just because there's a song in your heart doesn't mean that you should sing it. He rubbed the spot where the shoe had hit him ruefully and glared at Stinky, who was suddenly missed a shoe. "What was that for?"
"Knock it off, Eugene. We're trying to sleep." Another shoe made its way towards him for emphasis, but Eugene managed to duck – and then promptly fell out of the tent. He cried out in shock, but the only response he received was a deafening snore; all the occupants were asleep. He rubbed his shoulder again and stretched his arms and legs as he stood in front of the tent. Suddenly, he heard the voice of an angel.
"Good morning, good morning - we've talked the whole night through. Good morning, good morning, to you and you and – hey!" His girlfriend stumbled out of the girls' tent, bringing the pillow that had interrupted her singing with her.
"Sorry, Sheena. But it's way too early for music." A sleep-heavy voice carried through the tent.
Sheena sighed as she put the pillow down, but brightened a little when she saw Eugene. She walked over to him, and sadly said, "They don't like my singing."
Eugene took her hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. "It's okay, honey. It's not that they don't like it – they're just not morning people."
"Really?"
He steered her over to one of the picnic tables and they sat down. "Of course. And for the record, I thought you sounded absolutely wonderful."
Sheena blushed and leaned her head contentedly on his shoulder. Eugene turned his head softly towards her and kissed her on the forehead. His frustration at Stinky and the pain in his shoulder faded away – it was totally worth it to have this moment.
Phoebe, alert and ever competent, walked out of the pup tent she and Helga were sharing and rolled her shoulders to get the sore spots out. It was wake-up time, and she had to be the one to get everyone moving. She sighed; she liked planning things but she did not relish the feeling of being a den mother. "It's time to wake up, everybody!" Her voice rang crisp and clear in the air, but was not loud enough to penetrate anyone's sleep if the continued snoring was any indication. Wishing she'd brought the bullhorn Helga had offered her, she yelled louder, "Wake up! We have to get going!"
This time, there was a half-hearted stirring within the tents. "C'mon Mom, just five more minutes," a drowsy voice called out, and several sleepy chuckles responded.
Helga walked up beside her and punched one fist into her palm, grinning at Phoebe. Phoebe looked back at her and smirked. "You better be out and dressed in fifteen minutes or, so help me, I will send Helga in there to make you." The tents grew suddenly still, as though frozen in shock. Phoebe grinned as she delivered the killing blow. "And she hasn't had any coffee yet."
It was as though the tents themselves had come to life as the occupants began jumping around in their haste to get ready – the sound and bustle emitting from the tents was incredible. Helga folded her arms and watched the proceedings with amusement before turning to Phoebe. "You know, I'm not sure that I like being used as a weapon."
Phoebe shrugged. "If it works…"
"Just be glad that I have had coffee this morning. Otherwise, me having to wake them up would not have been pretty."
"Indeed. So be glad that I brewed her some this morning." Arnold walked up, grinning. "Sleep well, Phoebe?"
"Very well. How about you and Gerald?"
"Just fine," a new voice said from behind her, and Phoebe turned to see her boyfriend smiling at her. He offered her a tin cup. "I thought you might like some coffee yourself."
Phoebe took the cup in both hands and then stood on her toes to give him a kiss on the cheek. "That's so sweet. Thank you, Gerald." She took a sip and sighed appreciatively as she felt the jolt of energy racing through her body. Now she could handle being a den mother – she just hoped that the others weren't going to collapse the tents in their rush to escape Helga's wrath.
···
Brainy rubbed the sore spot on his cheek that he was sure was going to bruise. Why did Sid still to wear beetle boots? It didn't matter to him most of the time, but the heels of those things were hard – Sid had accidentally sent one of them flying in his hurry to get dressed, smacking him in the face. At least, Eugene hadn't been in the tent at the time – that would have been chaotic.
They were all walking down to the bend of the river where they would rent the canoes for the day before going out onto the river. He was looking forward to it – he hadn't gone canoeing for a while and he relished the feeling of moving smoothly with the water, listening to the melody of the water. It was a soothing sensation, and his mind sorely needed to be put at ease.
"You okay, Brainy?" Helga walked over to him.
A brief shock of panic jolted through his body. She can't possibly know! By some miracle, he managed to keep his voice level as he answered, "What do you mean?"
She pointed at his cheek, which he was still rubbing. "Your face. Does it hurt?"
A wave of relief swept away the panic, and Brainy brought his hand away from his face. "Are you about to say 'because it's killing me?' That's a low blow, Helga."
"No!" Her mouth dropped open, "I just meant about your cheek – " she then noticed his shoulders shaking in silent laughter, "Hey! You knew what I meant! Jerk!" She punched him in the shoulder.
His laughter continued unabated for a minute, and then he turned towards her. "Sorry, couldn't resist. Yes, I'm fine – although I'd be better if Sid stopped wearing those boots."
They both watched Phoebe directing the canoe partners and Gerald tying the food baskets into the back of the lead canoe. Arnold was standing at the water's edge, and, being the gentleman he was, was helping the girls into their canoes. Lila slipped a little getting in, and Arnold quickly steadied her with a hand on her shoulder. Beautiful even in her baggy clothes and her hair bound in a checkered handkerchief, she smiled gratefully up at him. Unbidden and unwanted, a spurt of jealousy pooled in Helga's heart. She mentally shook herself in disgust; she had no reason to be jealous – Lila would never encourage Arnold in that way, and even if she did, he wouldn't respond. Lila had been too good to Helga for her to be resentful towards her, and she'd never exacted revenge for all the torment Helga had inflicted on her. And it had been a lot. No, she had no cause to be jealous, but she continued to stare at them in a daze.
"You do realize you have nothing to worry about, right?" Helga broke out of the daze, and looked over at Brainy who was giving her a sympathetic smile.
She took a deep breath. "Yeah, I know. Old habits, I guess – I'm not usually like this about her anymore. And I'm really nervous, so all my rational thinking is just down the drain."
"What are you nervous about?"
"Well," Helga bit her lip, "apparently Arnold has something important he has to tell me. But he hasn't told me yet, and I'm getting really nervous about what it could be." She looked at the man she loved helping the others, and a bittersweet pang overcame her heart. "What if he wants to end it? What if he can't stand me? What if - ?"
"Helga!" He gripped both of her shoulders and turned her to face him. "Stop. He loves you, and you love him – those are facts. Whatever he has to tell you, I'm sure it is something important that you will be glad to hear."
Helga sniffed heavily, and then gave him a small smile. "That's what Phoebe said."
"Well, there you are," he said heartily, "if the smartest person we know agrees with me, we're both bound to be right! So don't ruin your day by worrying – enjoy it! Speaking of which," he looked towards the river, "it looks like everyone's loaded up. You're in Phoebe's canoe, right?"
"Naturally."
"And who's my canoe buddy?"
"Eugene."
"Ah. Good thing I wore my swimsuit then."
"How's that?"
He gave her a grin. "Helga, it's Eugene. We're going to capsize, guaranteed."
Helga laughed, "You've got a point. Should we join them now?"
"Go on ahead, I'll catch up. I need some time to steel myself for the imminent dunking in my future."
She laughed and cuffed him on the shoulder, then ran down to the water's edge and hugged Arnold before getting into her canoe. He maintained his composed stance as he watched her go, but his shoulders sagged as Helga jumped into Arnold's arms, laughing gleefully as he spun her around. Brainy quickly walked down towards the canoes, grateful that neither Arnold nor Helga had noticed his reaction. But another pair of eyes had.
···
The top of the river shimmered with the captured light of the sun, and Phoebe let her paddle glide through the water. Everything was going so smoothly that she could take a minute to relax and watch the others enjoying themselves. Nadine and Rhonda were chattering to each other over their shoulders, Nadine attempting to catch some of the dragonflies darting in front of her with their jeweled wings. Stinky and Sid were congratulating themselves on the 'excellent' prank they'd pulled on Harold the night before, although not loudly enough so that Harold could hear them, Phoebe noted with amusement. Sheena was animatedly describing a college dance program she'd helped choreograph while Lila listened with a fascinated expression, effortlessly steering their canoe. Eugene and Brainy weren't saying much to each other, but both seemed to be enjoying themselves – Eugene mesmerized by the birds flying overhead and Brainy staring into the water ahead with a pensive smile. The pairs had been selected so that everyone complemented with each other. Well, not everyone…
"Stand and fight, you cur!"
Phoebe groaned. She had no idea what had possessed her to pair Harold with Curly. It defied all logic and reason, and was just asking for trouble. Curly kept challenging Harold, who was ignoring him or passing the challenges off with increasing irritation. She brought her mind back to the night she'd been planning the partners – had she been ill or tired at the time? Let's see – that was the night that Arnold and Helga had gone to see a movie before coming to my house to plan. That's right, they got caught in traffic and the pizza we ordered got cold because they were late. It was just me and Gerald, waiting for them – wait! It was just us, so the one who came up with the pairs was –
Gerald was not even trying to contain his laughter, and it rolled over the river to his girlfriend's ears. Normally, the sound of his laughter made her so giddy she giggled herself, but now she was too busy being nervous with him to notice. The two of them were going to have a long talk about this. Phoebe did not get frustrated easily, but when she did, she was a frustrated girl who was also an expert in nine kinds of martial arts and swordsmanship – crossing her was not a good idea. Not that any of that will help us right now, Phoebe thought to herself, as she watched the disaster unfolding before her in Harold and Curly's canoe.
"Come and do battle with me, you fiend!" Curly cried, brandishing his paddle.
Harold rolled his eyes in irritation. "I don't think so."
"What, are you a coward? Then how do you deserve the affection of my beloved!"
Rhonda nearly dropped the jar with the butterfly Nadine had just handed her. Somehow, she'd remained oblivious to the escalating situation about her, but the word 'beloved' had gotten her attention. She placed the jar in the bottom of the canoe, and covered her face with both of her hands. Why does he keep doing this?
"No, I just don't see the point of it." There didn't seem to be a point at all to Harold. He didn't feel threatened by Curly, neither physically or in Rhonda's affections. He didn't want to hurt Curly, he just wanted him to shut up already.
Curly appeared briefly dejected, but a wild smile leapt upon his mouth. "Then, I must find another way to prove my love! RHONDA, MY DARLING!"
Without taking her hands from her face, Rhonda called back, "I'm sorry, Curly, but there is no way that this is going to happen!"
He remained undeterred. "But look, my darling, at the stunts I pull for you!"
Rhonda's stalwart decision to not look up didn't last long – she heard Harold cry out in shock, "Curly, what the heck – " and then looked up. She immediately wished that she hadn't.
Curly had somehow managed to stand up in the canoe and was now walking the length of the canoe, with one foot on either side. Sufficiently difficult at the tip where the sides were close, Curly was nearly doing the splits as he stood at the center of the canoe. He saw the expression of shock on Rhonda's face and grinned. "Impressive, isn't it? And that's not all I can do!" And then he jumped.
Somehow, he landed back in the canoe, which began to tilt dangerously to either side. Harold scrambled around trying to stabilize the canoe, but his efforts were fruitless. He yelled as the canoe began to flip, "Curly, you idiot!"
Curly was grinning jubilantly as he was sent plunging into the water, his only response an ecstatic, "Huzzah!"
The collisions only began from there. Stinky and Sid were so busy laughing about their prank that they didn't see the overturned canoe or the boys in the water. Their canoe crashed headlong into the overturned one and both were flung into the water.
"We should help them," Eugene told Brainy, and he began to lean over the side of the canoe, offering a hand to Sid.
Brainy's eyes widened. "Uh, Eugene, I don't think that's such a good id-" The rest of the sentence was lost underwater as the canoe lost its center of balance and also capsized. He flung his head above the surface and started laughing, "Well, looks like I was right – I'm just surprised we weren't the first."
Gerald looked up inquisitively at Arnold, who met his gaze and then shrugged, grinning. In one simultaneous motion, they flipped their canoe over. If you can't beat 'em…
The girls looked over the sides of the canoes at the boys splashing and laughing in the water, acting like little kids. No irritation or stress, and no worrying that their unattended canoes might decide to float downstream without them. Fortunately, they were at the clearing where they were planning to stop for lunch, and the current was so slow as to be negligible. Phoebe was very grateful that they had decided to put the food in watertight containers as she watched it bob besides the canoes.
Rhonda looked over at the yelling boys, and rolled her eyes in disdain. "Oh yeah, guys – that's very mature."
The sound of her voice turned Harold towards her, and he began slowly moving towards her canoe. Nadine saw the gleam in his eyes for what it was and began storing her jars so that they wouldn't float away, very glad that she hadn't captured any bugs yet. Rhonda, on the other hand, completely missed the gleam until it was too late. Her eyes widened as he put his hand on the side of the canoe. "Harold, don't you dare…"
And then he flipped them over.
Rhonda flung her head above the water and took a deep gulp of air, sweeping her wet, bedraggled hair out of her face. She turned, treading water, towards Harold and dealt with her frustration in a very mature way.
"Harold Berman, I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!"
Apply sarcasm as desired.
She immediately flung herself at him while Nadine brought up the rear, lending a hand by splashing as much water in Harold's face as humanly possible. Arnold seemed to like Harold's thinking and began making his way towards Helga and Phoebe. His intentions were immediately realized by the two girls, who brandishing their paddles to keep him at bay. Laughing, he managed to expertly dodge the blows – until Helga accidentally whacked him on the head and he sank below the water.
"Gotcha, Football Head!" Helga triumphantly called, and waited for his response. She got none. She looked over the side, "Arnold?" All she saw was ripples, and she began to panic. "Arnold! Are you okay?"
Arnold popped up a good distance away from the canoe. "I'm fine," he gave a mischievous grin, "but you two are about to get very wet."
Gerald surfaced on the other side, Arnold having distracted the girls long enough for him to get there without detection. Chuckling so hard that his entire body shook, he flipped the canoe and sent the surprised girls squealing into the water.
"Jerk!" Helga launched herself at Arnold, dunking him under the water, "I thought you were really hurt!"
He grabbed her shoulders and spun her away from him. "That's what you get for trying to hit me!" He laughed, "And aren't you having fun now?"
"No." She folded her arms.
Arnold began tickling her, "How about now?"
"Fine!" she giggled, "Yes, I am – now stop it!" As soon as he stopped, she splashed him full in the face, "I'm going to get you for this!"
"You can try!"
Now the girls' squeals and giggles blended with the boys' yells and laughter to make one great cacophonous sound of jubilation. Eugene swam over to the only canoe still upright and looked up into Sheena's eyes. "Come on in, Sheena. It's fun!"
"Oh…" Sheena turned to Lila, her eyes shining. "May we, Lila?"
Lila shrugged and smiled, "I don't see why not." With one quick motion, she shook the canoe and then they both fell out into the water.
The water bottle escalated into a frenzy of battle cries and splashes. They all forgot that they were grown up, with cars and jobs and responsibilities, and lost themselves in the childlike joy of the moment. By an unspoken decision, it became a battle of the sexes as the boys attacked the girls and the girls struck back mercilessly. Neither side was above taking advantage of the other – Gerald picked Phoebe up and tossed her into the water, and Rhonda kissed Harold on the forehead, distracting him long enough for Lila to throw a handkerchief-full of water into his face.
Brainy was resurfacing after Lila had jumped him swinging her soaking handkerchief, and was laughing and trying to keep his contacts from falling out when he suddenly froze. Giggling, Lila rounded towards him, about to douse him again when she stopped, taken aback by the look of raw pain on his face. She followed the path of his gaze, and saw Arnold holding Helga cradled in his arms, both their faces alight with happiness. Lila turned back to look at Brainy – and saw that he'd left the river completely, dragging his canoe behind him to the shore. He then continued on up the hill, dripping and his shoulders hunched.
Subconsciously, Lila heard Phoebe rallying the others together for lunch as she quietly followed Brainy out of the river. Wringing her sodden handkerchief out, she thought about what she'd seen. She'd thought she'd seen his shoulder sag earlier, but had passed it off as a trick of her eyes – however, the expression she'd just seen had confirmed the suspicion she'd had for a while. Carefully, Lila made her way up the hill after Brainy and found him sitting on a rock overlooking the water. A suspicious wetness clung to his eyes.
"Hey, Brainy."
He nodded in acknowledgement of her greeting but remained silently staring at the river before him. Lila sat down near him and looked down to the water, giving him time to dispel the tears. She wrung out her wet handkerchief, shook out her hair, and glanced up at Brainy's face. He looked like he had composed himself for the most part and looked like he would be more willing to talk. Lila searched within her mind for some medicinal words that would fix everything – but she found none. Finally, she spoke.
"Brainy, I know."
A/N: Lila knows? Knows what? You'll just have to keep reading this story to see!
Anyone who has ever gone canoeing probably knows that your choice of partner can make or break you - you're both depending that the other will do their part properly and that they won't make you capsize. So...putting Curly and Harold was not the best idea...but it was really funny - and it gave me the chance to have Curly say, "Huzzah!"
Anyway, thank you for reading and I hope that you enjoyed it! Please press that button at the bottom and review. Let me know what you think! (And remember, the speed at which I update increases exponentially with the number of reviews that I get...)
Thanks for reading!