"Why're you helping me and my friends?" Arnold asked as he took his usual seat next to Wells after Riley had gone.
Wells perked up and Arnold assumed he was receiving a quizzical look. "Are you implying that you want me to stop?"
"No no no!" Arnold declared, waving his hands back and forth. "I'm grateful that you're helping them, I really am, I just don't understand why you're doing it. Or why you're helping me. I mean…how many bad things have I been spared because of you?"
"I haven't done any of the actual work. And none."
"None?" Arnold asked skeptically. "Well why not? I mean Sid got spared an STD and getting blamed for getting some girl pregnant, Sheena and Eugene got saved from getting beaten to a pulp, Harold almost got poisoned, Gerald and Phoebe were going to get broken up-"
Wells stood up and cut Arnold off. "I didn't do anything for Gerald and Phoebe. And whoever did wasn't affiliated with me. Instead of asking these stupid questions, why don't you just appreciate what I'm doing and move on with your life."
"Well there must be some reason why you're helping us." Arnold snapped, standing up and stepping towards Wells, who was now staring out the window.
Wells put up his hand, "If you take one more step towards this window you'll regret it."
Arnold sighed and took a step back. "I just want to know why you're helping us."
"I'm helping them because you're the one that screwed them over." Wells answered, his voice icy and dark.
"Me?" Arnold asked, taken aback. "What did I do?"
"You pissed off Stacie. She's retaliating."
"But…why would she go after my friends instead of me?" Arnold questioned. "I mean, they didn't even do anything."
"Oh nothing bad is gonna happen to you. If you didn't have any friends here then she'd beat the living daylights out of you, but you've got plenty of friends. People you care about will get it worse than you will, if you even get it at all. The Plastics are ruthless."
"Not all of them." Arnold said under his breath.
Wells turned around and laughed, "You're talking about Jeanie, aren't you?"
Arnold swallowed a lump in his throat and rubbed the back of his neck, "Well…yeah. She's really not bad at all."
"Don't go digging that hole."
Arnold glared at his tutor, "Why not? Jeanie is a lot smarter than she acts. She could help people see that the Plastics are really horrible and end all of this craziness."
"I said to leave it alone, Arnold." Wells growled, taking a step forward. He wasn't as tall as Arnold was, but that didn't give him any less confidence.
"Well why should I? She deserves a chance just as much as anyone." Arnold declared.
Wells grabbed Arnold's wrist and held it tightly, making Arnold wince. "I said to leave it alone and that's what you're going to do."
"No!" Arnold shouted, yanking his hand free and throwing Wells across the room in the process without meaning to. Wells tripped over something before he fell onto the groud with a loud thud, his hat, glasses, and voice distortor flying away. Arnold stared at what he did, shocked at himself, but even more shocked upon the fact that he was actually looking at Wells. He didn't look like much. He was pale with dark eyes and short black hair. However, he wasn't someone that Arnold had ever seen at school before.
"Get out." Wells growled.
"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to-" Arnold began, moving to help Wells up.
"I SAID GET OUT!"
Arnold jumped back, startled. "I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to-"
"RILEY!" Wells shouted.
Arnold spun around when the door opened and Riley came in. She was always nearby, but Arnold never thought she'd be quite so close. "What's going on b-" She stopped once she took the scene in. She blinked and stared aghast at Arnold and Wells. "I don't…what…" Her face darkened and she turned on Arnold, "What did you do?"
Wells stood up and dusted himself off, "Mister Shortman is done for the day. Get him far away from here…and cancel all of his upcoming appointments."
Arnold tried to stammer an apology, but Riley pulled a sack over his head before he could get the words out.
"Oh and find Shadowcat. Tell her that our latest upcoming plan with his friends is canceled." Wells said coldly.
Arnold's blood went cold.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
"So lemme get this straight." Sagan asked at lunch, "You actually saw Wells?" Arnold nodded, "Was he liked all Phantom of the Opera blood and guts?"
Arnold's nose wrinkled, "No, he looked perfectly normal."
"And you pissed off the guy that was keeping us from getting our butts whipped every day." Gerald challenged.
Arnold frowned. Gerald was right. He'd royally screwed one of his friends over. The worst part was, he didn't know who.
"It's ok, we'll all just be on our guard more than usual." Lila recommended, "I'm ever so certain nothing too bad will happen."
"Ginger snap's right." Desmond said, "Wells isn't a big enough dick to let anything really bad happen to anyone that doesn't deserve it. You however…I'd be careful if I were you."
Arnold swallowed a lump in his throat. "I really just hope he'll accept my apology."
"Maybe he will and maybe he won't. Who is it?" Sagen asked.
"I think that Wells is mad at me enough. I really don't wanna push his buttons anymore." Arnold said.
Sagan shrugged, and the rest of the group dropped the subject.
"I have some news as well." Phoebe piped up, "It's not nearly as pressing or important as Arnold's was, but…it might interest some of you."
"What's up, babe?" Gerald asked through a mouthful of bread.
"I got an email from Helga last night." Phoebe admitted cautiously.
Everyone perked up, save for Sagan and Desmond.
"Helga, really?" Arnold asked. "How is she?"
"She says she's good and wanted to know how everyone was doing. She heard about us having to leave. She also says she's really busy lately, but she's going to make an effort to keep in touch. I don't know if she was implying she'd be keeping in touch with everyone or just me, but that's still what she said."
"Where's she living?" Lila asked sweetly.
"I'm not sure, but the email did arrive at an obscene hour and she's using a United Kingdom email address so I'm sure she's still overseas somewhere."
Everyone began working on messages they wanted Phoebe to give to Helga, some longer and more sincere than others. Arnold frowned as he thought of what to tell Helga G. Pataki. He was happy to hear from her, but he would have been even happier if she was with them. At the end of the message he added his email address and, after a considerable debate, informed her that he missed her.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
Jeanie screamed as she was yanked into the janitor's closet, but a hand over her mouth muffled her. The door shut and she bit hard on her captor's hand and with a shout, he released her. She grabbed his arm and threw him over her hip. She hadn't been lying about the black belt.
:Arnold?" She asked once she saw who it was. "What the hell are you doing?" She snapped, siezing his arm and helping him up.
"You weren't kidding about kicking our asses, were you?" Arnold groaned, twisting his back to pop it back into place.
"Obviously not." She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him. "Now what's the big idea."
"You're one of Wells' people, right?"
Her face became shocked and she clapped a hand over his mouth, "Don't say stuff like that. It could get people thinking that I am with Wells, and I'd rather not die, thank you. I'm not with him. I don't even know who the guy is."
Arnold arched an eyebrow at her, "You won't die."
"Oh you don't know how crazy these bitches are." Jeanie snapped. "I haven't talked to Wells since ninth grade."
Arnold blinked rapidly, "Wait a minute, so you do know Wells?"
She shrugged, "It was a long time ago. He gave me some good advice and we haven't spoken since."
"What advice?"
"It's none of your business, just drop it." She sneered, "Why're you so concerned anyway?"
"I…I need to apologize to him."
"Well then talk to Riley. She's the only person that openly knows jack squat about him. And next time you feel the need to drag me into a closet, don't." She snapped, shutting the door on his face.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
"Hey Shortman. You're up late. Shouldn't you be sleeping?"
Arnold looked up from his computer as his grandpa let himself into his room. "Hey grandpa. I couldn't fall asleep so I figured I'd try and work on my English paper."
"Well you've got school in the morning so you'd better wrap it up pretty quick." Phil recommended.
Arnold smiled, "I will, Grandpa. Goodnight." Arnold sighed once his grandpa left his room and saved his paper before closing the window. He was about to shut off his computer when an alert rang, informing him that he had an email. Curiosity got the better of him and her opened it, smiling upon reading.
Hey Football Head
Sorry to hear about the neighborhood. Bob kind of freaked out. He was so mad that he didn't sell our old place when we had the chance. It must suck to be somewhere new, but at least you've got the gang. Things are fine with me, I guess. Bob's making the move from having a national company to an international one so we're bumming around Europe still. It's not bad. Kind of cold and people look at me like I'm a freak because I sound an American and most people think Americans are idiots or something. Lucky for me I'm still good at doing impressions so I can make fun of all of their accents whenever I want.
Phoebe told me about what's going on at your new school. I'm really sorry to hear about that. Sounds to me like this Wells guy is a jerk. Maybe I'll talk my dad into letting me skip out on family crap this Christmas break and I can teach him a lesson. Old Betsy and the Five Avengers could use a work out.
Don't tell anyone I said it, but I miss you too, Football Head. Don't hesitate to email me whenever. I kinda got grounded from my phone and I don't do letters since we're moving around so much. Hope to hear from you soon. -Helga.
Arnold smiled once he finished reading the email and began typing.
Yep…lots of drama in this chapter. It came out pretty fast cause I had to get it out of my system. Anyway, yep here it be. Hope you guys liked it. Don't forget to review!