This was supposed to be the scene right before Arnold & Co. arrived to San Lorenzo. It's supposed to be my set-up for ArnoldxHelga/The Green-Eyed People, but as I was working on it, I realized it didn't really work for me because there was so much and after three rewrites, I decided to scrape my original idea and recycle parts of it for "The Saturdays" chapter. However, I kept the section I was planning in its original form and here it is just for you. Enjoy~
Arnold and Helga's Plane Ride/The Creation of The Green-Eyes
Arnold was the only one in his class awake on the plane, reading the book of world mythology he'd brought with him when a stirring on his left interrupted his thoughts. Helga, curled up in her seat and cocooned in one of the airplane's blankets, had shifted in her sleep again. She had arrived at school little after he'd been dropped off, telling her dad to feed her lizard on time before it escaped and roamed the house again. Aside from snapping at Eugene to stop singing, she'd been asleep before takeoff.
He had been hearing things about Helga since the school year started. Good things. Mainly that she, in Sid's words, had gotten "mind-blowingly hot" over the summer. That was the general consensus amongst the school's male population, but he only overheard these conversations about her; he himself never said anything for or against them.
She did look a little different. Anybody who saw her knew that she looked a lot like her dad, her nose and her ears and the little cleft in her chin and stuff (although there was that one time he remembered Grandpa saying that it looked like she had finally "grown into them" or something). Not to mention that time when everybody had freaked out in seventh grade when she came to class without her unibrow. But there wasn't anything exact Arnold could or would point out—if anything, he was just happier that she was generally acting nicer than before.
Although her eyes were this cool shade of blue, like, royal blue or something, and her eyelashes were kinda long.
...He suddenly realized that the reason why he had noticed those things were because she was looking at him and he hadn't stopped looking at her.
For a second, he thought he had seen her panic, like she was trying to remember something she had forgotten, but the moment passed. The skin between her eyebrows puckered and her hand, the one with her ribbon wrapped around the wrist, brushed away her bangs from her eyes. "Can I help you?" She wiped her mouth and grimaced at the streak of scummy lip balm on the back of her hand before craning her neck to see their sleeping classmates. "Are we there yet?"
"No, we still have a few hours." He sat in silence as she stretched; she was wearing a pretty cool t-shirt today.
"How are you still awake? Didn't you get up at three like the rest of us, Football Head?"
He glanced at his book. "Yeah...I was, um, reading."
"Really? Let me see." He handed her the book and watched as she made herself comfortable in her chair once more. Her hair slipped over her shoulder and fell over her eye before she brushed it away. A tiny voice in his head wondered if her hair always did that...fall over her shoulders like that.
"What're the Green-Eyes?"
He was happy for the distraction. "They're an ancient people of San Lorenzo. I heard about them once and started reading some of their mythology." He didn't say anything more, just looked around as she went back to the page, a lock of hair wrapped around her index finger in concentration.
"The Creation Myth of the Green-Eyes"
"It isn't hard to understand why most scholars who believe that they know something about the Green-Eyed People, better recognized as "The Green-Eyes," believe the theory that their descent from the Mayans is true. After all, Alom and Anka, respectively the parent deities of fertility/childbirth and creation originate from Mayan mythology, not to mention the last Green-Eyed temple, discovered in 1996, bears their name and supposed imagines on the walls. However, the similarities end there and based on what has been deciphered from that temple's weathered walls, the opposite belief is beginning to hold true. The following is another version of the creation myth, one more likely for the Green-Eyes to believe in.
"In the past before today, there were no people and there was no world. Only Alom and Anka, in their loneliness, existed standing with their backs facing each other; there was no reason for them to turn to the other and they stood as if they were statues, wholly unaware of the other.
"One day in his loneliness, Alom, dark and beautiful, decided to create a companion for himself. He lifted his hand and began to beat his head, hitting himself harder and harder until it is said that he wept from the pain. However, he did not stop his toils until the very shape of his head became an oblong shape. The process, while imperfect and the cause of great pain, was beneficial as the lumps that remained became mountains; his scalp became land; his hair became 'black vegetation'; and when he touched the blood with his wet fingers, he created the rivers and the red clay found in their banks. It was in that moment that the world was formed and Alom became The King-Father Creator.
"However, as his efforts brought forth no companion, he continued striking his head and pulling away at the black vegetation until pieces of his skull began to stick out. The black vegetation, now matted and knotted, became the dark jungle and the lumps and clotted blood became San Lorenzo's volcanoes. His cries began to fill in the space he had been in, emitting a haze so black and terrible that it thickened and became the night sky.
"His emotion somehow began to attract the attention of Anka, green-eyed and beautiful, and she finally turned around to see Alom. Even in his pain and sadness, Anka was struck by the beauty and sadness found within Alom. It is believed that the sight of him and his torment moved her so badly and sympathetically that she too struck her chest until she producing her very heart, stuffing it into his very mind. For the Green-Eyes, it is believed that this was the first gesture of love in the universe and the birth of Anka as The Queen-Mother Creator.
"This act of love involving Anka's heart was the greatest thing to happen for the world, for Alom forgot his torment and made Anka his. They created the first of their children, the first , gold and beautiful, and the second pale and beautiful. These children were called 'The Sun,' the one responsible for 'day rain' and the clouds, and 'The Moon,' the one responsible for 'night rain' and the Milky Way.
"And Anka's heart, placed within Alom's mind, was the greatest thing for creation: 'green vegetation,' became green and Animals and Man and Woman were created and functioned much in the same way they do today. The Green-Eyes believe that while Alom and Anka looked upon all with love, Man and Woman were the better of the gifts as their offspring held Anka's eyes and Alom's intellect, and so, were awarded with Anka's heart and told to keep it safe as it was the most sacred of all things placed on this planet...
"This piece is only one part of the puzzle about the Green-Eyes, but if it does nothing else, it shows that the they are an innovative and creative people. Only time will tell if efforts will produce more windows into the life of this mysterious race."
Helga handed Arnold back his book. "Impressive. Is this why you entered into that contest?"
"Yeah."
"Only you, Football Head." She looked up to see the flight attendant coming down their aisle with soda. "Are you actually going to sleep now?"
"No, not yet."
"Well, will you wake me when she actually gets here?"
"Uh, sure."
"Thanks." She flashed him a smile, close-lipped one, before turning her back to him once more.
And missing the look that crossed his face.
"Her mouth? You think she's hot because of her mouth?" Gerald's face didn't hide the fact he thought Sid was crazy.
"Not just her mouth—her smile. It was like one of those smiles—I don't know...models have or something..." Sid gave a rough exhale at the skeptical glances being thrown at him. "You guys, I swear, Helga's, like, mind-blowingly hot. If you saw the smile I saw her flash, you'd understand; my brain leaked from my ears..."
