A/N: Woo, another update! I'm glad that people seem to like it so far. I'm actually getting more excited as things progress here in Hillwood. :)

Here's a bit of trivia for you: Lucky wasn't actually created for this story. If you look on my profile, you can see that she was actually created for a Criminal Minds fanfiction, but there were a few crucial details that I could never figure out. I figure that her quirky personality (you'll get to see more of that later) would fit in nicely for this story, so here she is! :P Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy chapter four of Lucky Shot!

Disclaimer: I, regrettably, do not own Hey Arnold! For that, I am eternally grateful to Craig Bartlett, who does. If Nick wants my respect, they should make the Jungle Movie. ;)

Lucky spent the next two weeks getting settled into her new home. It was odd being on her own for the first time in her life, but she figured that she'd be on her own in college anyway, so what did the rest of it matter?

Her days were either spent with Pookie in the kitchen, learning a few new recipes, or with Helga and Phoebe trying to get a better hold on Cecile's character. After all, this charade wouldn't be a simple meet and greet. They were going to try to keep it up as long as possible.

While she was getting used to the boarding house and its occupants, however, the boarders were getting used to her as well. The men of the house had no clue what to do with a teenage girl around. Suzie and Pookie on the other hand adored her. It was apparent that they had missed out on all of the heartfelt mother-daughter moments life had to offer as neither of them had a daughter. Of course, more often than not the two women tried to spoil her.

In truth, despite the infrequent bouts of homesickness the girl had, she was really starting to like it at the Sunset Arms. Sure, she didn't have too much privacy, but she was accustomed to that. Actually, she had more privacy here than she had had at her parent's house; at least here she had her own room.

Lucky's thoughts crowded around her as she entered the bathroom carrying her toiletry bag, her towel, and her pajamas to change into. It was getting to be later at night and she knew that the other boarders were probably going to watch television or something. Then again, even if they had been planning on using the bathroom, they would have let her go first anyway. It was odd and somewhat sexist, but most of the males figured that teenage girls took up most of the bathroom time, and they often tried to be chivalrous towards the young lady.

After getting undressed, the young lady stepped under the steamy water flowing from the shower head and immersed herself in carelessness and relaxation.

H3AA3H

Arnold looked with gratitude upon the boarding house that he had lived in his entire life. The past couple of weeks had been strenuous upon the poor boy. It was all Arnie's fault. The football-head's cousin was definitely some kind of weird, so having to spend an extended period of time with the freak was grating to say the least.

He entered the boarding house, careful to sidestep the usual barrage of animals that fled the scene as soon as he opened the door.

"Grandpa, I'm home!" he called.

"Oh, wonderful, Shortman!" The boy's elder appeared in the doorway to the living room. "How'd the visit to your freakish little cousin go?"

Arnold shivered visibly. "It was… interesting. Honestly I just want to go and get cleaned up. I still feel like I'm covered in 'good ol' country dirt,'" he explained. He waved to everyone in the next room. "Goodnight guys!"

There were a few mumbled "goodnight, Arnold" sentiments here and there, but everyone's eyes remained on the television screen for the most part.

Arnold quickly deposited his suitcase on top of his bed and rummaged through to find his showering items. Anything to get the feel of Arnie's farm off of me, he mused before heading towards the bathroom.

Huh, that's strange, he thought as he heard some humming coming from within the restroom, I thought everyone was downstairs. Wait, is that a girl's voice? I know that Grandma and Suzie were down there. Arnold was still puzzling over the mysterious voice when the bathroom door was suddenly flung open. The poor boy merely gasped, unable to really take in what he saw. Before him was an average height, beautiful female wearing a purple nightgown, a white towel adorning her head. Upon seeing his face, the girl stopped humming and whipped the towel off of her head, allowing her long red hair to flow down her back.

"Um, hi," She said, giving him a small wave.

"Hi…" Arnold was dumbfounded. Who was this girl? Where did she come from? Did Grandpa know she was here?

"I'm Lucky Stevenson, the new tenant," the mysterious girl explained, sticking out her hand. He shook it.

"Arnold. I live here, too."

"Oh, you must be Phil's grandson," she commented as a slightly mischievous smile formed on her face. Time to implement my plan of action, she thought. "You know, it's kind of funny. I have a friend, Cecile, and she is completely obsessed with this guy named Arnold."

"Oh, really?" To say Arnold was curious would be an understatement. He never had been able to get that night in the fourth grade out of his head. He remembered Cecile, his Cecile, so shy and sweet, yet still fiery and temperamental. A blonde girl who seemingly appeared out of thin air had stolen his heart away that night. Sure, he had gone through crushes since then, but it was her memory that was burned into his mind forever. Is it possible that this Lucky girl had some connection with the mysterious Cecile?

"Yep, it's really funny, actually. Now that I think about it, at least," she informed him, a few giggles slipping through, "In fact, once she dressed up like some French chick and pretended to be the kid's pen pal who had the same name as her, just so she could go on a date with him!" At this the girl was outright laughing. Arnold had to smile at least a little bit, especially since Lucky's laugh seemed to be so infectious.

"Funny," he said between chuckles, "I seem to recall a date with a French girl named Cecile quite a few years ago. On a Valentine's Day, right?" He sent a hopeful glance at the redhead, who eyes had widened in surprise.

"That was really you?" she gasped, "Oh, Cecile is going to freak!" Once again her infectious laugh took over. Arnold, however, tried to remain on topic by simply smiling.

"So, uh, you know this Cecile girl, right? I've kind of been trying to find her." The poor boy rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. It was odd really, because he had just met this girl and he hadn't even told Gerald that before. She probably thought that he was a creep, but it was worth it to finally find Cecile, right? Right?

"Why? Do you have a little thing for her or something?" Lucky teased. Arnold winced. He knew that that was coming, and yet he still hadn't managed to come up with a response.

"Well, I-uh, I m-maybe, p-probably not, but I-I mean weirder things have h-happened, right?" Now he was wishing for that laugh again. Anything would be better than the thick awkwardness permeating the air around them.

"Relax, dude, I guess I could have her stop by. After all, she is my best friend."

"Really?"

"Yes, really. But she won't be back until school starts, so you'll have to wait a bit before she's available to come over."

"Well, uh, okay then, I guess. Thanks, Lucky."

"Eh, don't mention it. There's just one stipulation."

"What's that?"

Lucky leaned really close to Arnold by grabbing his shirt, giving him a good view of her brown eyes that seemed to sparkle with mischief and ferocity.

"You break her heart," she began, leaving a dramatic pause punctuated with an intimidating smirk. Arnold swallowed. "Then I'll break your face."

With that she released her iron grip, causing the poor boy to stumble backwards. She gave him a quick little wave before skipping, skipping, off to her room.

That poor football-head had no clue what he was in for.

A/N: Yay, we're finally getting somewhere! Special shout-out to StarvingWriterMaeve and babysgirl2 who reviewed! Thanks so much, and I'm glad you like it so far! Again, if you didn't like it, send me a review so I can improve! And if you did like it, you can let me know that, too. ;) Thanks!

-NerdilyNi