Chapter 8: Something Exciting!
P.S.118
It was the day before the play. Everyone had finished learning their lines, along with one other thing…
"Man, I can't wait to hand this thing in. The sooner I do, the sooner I can forget about it!" Gerald said, looking at his English paper.
Arnold smiled weakly at his annoyed friend and asked "What'd you end up doing your paper on?"
Gerald looked at his paper and replied "Since it was supposed to be about something exciting that happened this summer, I figured I might as well write about saving the neighborhood. He can't flunk us for saving his job."
Classroom
While the boys were heading towards the classroom, the girls were sitting in their seats. Phoebe looked over at her friend who had her head propped in her hand, smiling at the picture she was drawing of the boy with the corn flowered hair.
"Will your family be attending the performance tomorrow Helga?"
It was as if one of her monologues had just been interrupted by Brainy in an alley. When Helga heard this question, her dreamy expression turned to an annoyed one. The blonde girl lifted her head from her hand to turn and leer and her friend…
Previous Night
The Beeper Emporium
Helga was sitting at the break room table working on her math assignment, when she looked up and scowled "Criminy Miriam! How the heck am I supposed to concentrate with your constant snoring?!"
Olga then came into the room, as if her sister's complaint was an invitation for some quality time together.
"Hello baby sister! Are you excited about the play tomorrow?!"
Helga rolled her eyes as she sat with her sister's arms wrapped around her neck and sighed "Oh yeah...I can't wait."
"Oh goody! I'll make sure to get a good seat up front. That way I can wave to you whenever I want!" the enthusiastic girl said before skipping out of the room.
End of Flashback
Phoebe stared at her upset friend after listening to the story and replied "Well, I suppose you could look at it as they're being considerate enough to take an interest in your current activities."
While she appreciated her friend's constant attempt to have her see the positives in her life, Helga sometimes felt Phoebe was wasting her time trying. Rather than having someone to show her the positives of her negative situations, it would be nice to simply have someone to vent to. Someone who would agree with her about the unfairness she faced in her life. Perhaps that was because, she already had someone in her life who was always looking on the bright side…
"So do you have all your lines memorized?" Arnold asked his best friend, whom he was entering the room with.
"Yeah man. Timberly wouldn't stop asking to help, and Jamie O kept stealing my script, but I eventually got it done." Gerald sighed with relief.
Helga smiled as she watched her optimistic classmate take a seat in front of her. What had started out as target practice who just happened to be included in all her after school activities was now being seen as her actual friend.
Arnold turned to smile at the pigtailed girl behind him and said "Morning Helga. Ready to hand in our papers?"
The nervous girl began to blush as if the class knew what she had written about. Technically, a few people did. Arnold obviously, seeing as how he had given it back to her. Gerald, after seeing Helga with Arnold's notebook. Phoebe after hearing about the mix up with the notebooks.
"Uhhh yeah. What about you?"
The oblong headed boy kept a sweet smile on his face as he replied "Yeah. It should go well."
It should go well?
Helga cocked her brow, wondering if this meant there was a chance of them being read aloud. If so, why did he seem so happy (dare she say anxious) about it?
Before turning to face the front of the room, Arnold added "I really did enjoy our night at the opera house. I think you do a much better job of performing the part of Carmen though."
Helga's heart began to flutter after hearing these sweet words. She fell back against her seat with her hands held over her heart and half lidded eyes that remained on the kind boy in front of her.
This dazed expression remained on her until the class heard…
"Good morning everyone! It's another special day!"
The giddy teacher's repetitive performance was more than enough to kill Helga's romantic state.
After watching the perky man enter the room to set his things down on his desk, Helga leaned forward in hers to once again prop her head in her hand and begin doodling in her notebook.
"Class, I want to tell you how proud I am of you all for the work you've put into the play the past two weeks!"
"Well some of us at least. Others weren't required to contribute as much as the rest of us." Rhonda sneered, as she leaned back in her seat, thinking of how much bigger her role was than a few of her other classmates.
Scratching his head at the remark, Mr. Simmons replied "Yes, well anyway. Because I'm so proud of the effort you put into making this play work, you will all be getting A's on this assignment!"
Harold then stood from his seat, and excitedly yelled "Alright! We don't have to perform!"
"No Harold, you still have to perform. It's a participation grade." Mr. Simmons explained, as he watched his no longer excited student retake his seat.
"Aww gee."
"Today will be our last rehearsal, then tomorrow is the play! I'm sure your families are all very excited about seeing you perform!"
Helga sighed at the remark, wishing there was a way to prevent hers from coming. While it would be nice to see her parents take an interest in her life, Olga hogging the spotlight wasn't worth it.
A Few Hours Later
Once practice had been taken care of, that left the students with one major task to fulfill for the day. They returned to their seats to hear Mr. Simmons say..
"Okay everyone! You may pass in your English papers!"
Helga sighed with relief at the sound of not having to worry about reading them. That is, until she heard "May we read them out loud Mr. Simmons. I'm sure everyone would love to hear about the exciting things we've all experienced the past few months."
"What a wonderful idea Rhonda!"
The wealthy girl looked over at Helga with an evil grin, knowing how uncomfortable it would make her. Having seen her reactions from the anonymous poems read in class, it wasn't hard to figure out who's they were. The only question was, who were they about?
"We'll start with you, Eugene."
"Gosh, okay!" the cheerful boy said, as if he had been looking forward to it all week. All the students watched him take his place in front of the class and listened to him start.
"An exciting thing that happened to me this summer was moving in with my grandma when we thought the neighborhood would be torn down. My grandma's the best! She makes cookies, lets me watch the Abdicator, and takes me to the aquarium."
Oh brother! What an idiot!
Helga thought to herself. Hearing such boring papers wasn't giving her confidence about reading her overwhelmingly emotional one out loud.
"That was wonderful Eugene! Sheena, you can go next."
The polite girl then made her way towards the front, happy to share her information with the group.
"This summer was very special. After the neighborhood was saved, my family and I enjoyed participating in the cleaning of Vine Street. It was a lovely activity we shared together."
"How in the heck can cleaning be exciting?" Stinky scratched his head in confusion.
"Yeah. That sounds like more of a punishment." Sid agreed.
Ignoring their remarks, Mr. Simmons took Sheena's paper and said "Thank you Sheena. That was very special. Harold, you can go next."
The uninterested boy stood from his desk with his paper, ready to have the day over with. "Okayyy...let's see. I thought it was exciting when we blew up the street. Even though I had to get up at seven am on a Saturday. That wasn't so cool."
"Oh my word! You blew up the street?" Mr. Simmons asked in concern.
"Yeah. It was so cool!" Sid assured him.
"Well then, thank you Harold. Rhonda, would you like to go next?"
The modish girl stood to head for the front of the class. Standing there with her paper, she grinned and said "An exciting event would have been to see the new mall Scheck was talking about, being put up. Can you imagine living so close to something so amazing?"
"Kind of hard not to when it's being built where you live." Gerald said wittily.
After finishing what she considered to be an A report, Rhonda handed over her paper. Mr. Simmons then called Sid to the front.
The anxious boy stood before the class, ready to read his exciting event. "Okay, so an exciting thing that happened was watching Harold sit on the dynamite box that Arnold's grandpa had set up to blow up the street!"
"For crying out loud. It's like you morons wanted to lose your homes!" Helga scowled, as she leaned back in her seat with her arms crossed.
After feeling embarrassed for picking the activity, Sid handed his paper over to take his seat. Nadine then approached the front to share her exciting activity.
"Arnold came up with all sorts of activities to save the neighborhood we participated in this summer. Fliers, a hot dog stand, protesting. There was never a dull moment!"
"Thank you Nadine. I'm sure you all had fun." Mr. Simmons smiled, while the class sighed at his cluelessness. While the activities may have kept everyone's attention, having fun wasn't the point of them.
Lila then approached the front with her paper, ready to give her information. "Thank you all just ever so much for taking the time to listen. Seeing Mayor Dixie arrive at Vine Street the morning the neighborhood was declared a national landmark was oh too exciting!"
"I reckon it didn't bother her too much, what happened to the street." Stinky pointed out.
"There was a criminal on tv, burning a notarized document. What the heck makes you think she cared about a stupid hole in the street?" Helga scowled at her classmate's assumption.
"Alright that's enough. Stinky, you can come up now."
"Okie dokie!" the country boy replied happily.
"I reckon the most exciting thing that happened to me was seeing me and Sid getting to keep our 'Sid and Stink' handprints on the sidewalk."
"Stink?" Mr. Simmons asked.
"The cement guys caught us before I could finish my name. I always thought that made it even more special though."
After seeing the unamused looks his classmates were carrying, Stinky handed his paper to Mr. Simmons, and watched Gerald head for the board.
"Alright man. Aside from saving the neighborhood with my main man, the most exciting part was all the new spy equipment he and I got for occasion. Plus, it was my first time getting to drive a vehicle that wasn't an arcade game." The cool boy said with a proud look on his face.
"You actually drove a car Gerald?" Mr. Simmons asked in concern.
"It was a bus!"
"Wow! You really are the master of Runaway Bus Driver." Sid exclaimed, never having heard the story.
Gerald then took his seat, as Phoebe approached the front of the room.
"I believe the most amusing event to have taken place for me this summer was simply learning about the importance of this neighborhood. After seeing it being declared a landmark, I spent the summer doing some research on this town's history."
"How in the heck is studying exciting?" Stinky asked, not understanding Phoebe's amusement with the activity.
Mr. Simmons took the intelligent girl's paper, then watched one of his last two students approach the front. "Okay Arnold, would you like to come up?"
Helga gulped as she watched her beloved approach the front of the room. This was it. Maybe he wouldn't mention her name, but suspicions would continue rising about why he was acting so strange, and who maybe the cause of it.
"Okay. Well, like Gerald said, a pretty exciting thing that we did was actually save the neighborhood. Something else exciting happened to me though….
Gerald and I saved the neighborhood from Scheck and Future Tech industries this summer. I lost hope that it was possible until someone named Deep Voice gave us all the clues we needed. Every time I saw some hope that things could work out, I knew I would never experience anything more thrilling. That is, until I found out who Deep Voice was…
When I lost hope for saving the neighborhood, Deep Voice came to my rescue again. Not knowing who it was was becoming more frustrating than trying to save the neighborhood. When I finally caught them, I cornered what turned out to be a mysterious figure in a trench coat.
After they tripped and the coat fell off, I saw the person helping me the entire time was the last person I would have ever expected help from...Helga!
The blonde girl sunk lower in her seat as all eyes in the class turned towards her. "Helga? What were you doing helping Arnold?" Sid asked.
"Yeah. I don't reckon it makes much sense for you to help someone you hate." Stinky pointed out.
Clenching her fists in fury, Helga scowled "Ahh shut up you bunch of wusses! Sheesh!"
After motioning for the class to settle down, Mr. Simmons gestured for Arnold to continue with his paper.
"Please continue Arnold."
"Ummm right. Anyway...
As if that wasn't enough of a surprise, I had to know the reason why she was helping me. I don't know if I made the right decision doing that or not. When I made her admit why she helped me, she gave me news even scarier than the neighborhood being torn down...she loves me!
As crazy as it sounded when she told me, it started to make sense the more I thought about it. She might be mean sometimes, but she's always stood by my side. Why would she waste her time with someone she claimed to hate as much as me?
I've seen her be kind before. Maybe she really was just afraid to let me know how she felt. I'm only ten and I have someone that smart, dramatic, brave, and loyal completely obsessed with me. I can't think of anything more overwhelming that's happened in my life!
Dead silence occurred until Mr. Simmons clapped and said "Oh that was beautiful Arnold! Thank you for sharing that with us!"
The blonde boy then took a seat, not worried about the class' opinion of him. Only one person was left to give their speech. The question was, did she still care what everyone thought of her?
"Okay Helga. You're the last one."
Helga approached the front with her paper, wanting to strangle Rhonda for mentioning the idea to Simmons. Before being tempted to agree with the boys about how great it was to see the street being blown up, she looked to see Arnold's smiling face. The way he was leaned forward in his desk with his bright eyes focused on her; it was as if he was anxious to listen to her announce her feelings to the class.
Helga then took a deep breath and read her paper out loud, doing her best to picture herself alone in the room. No one there to judge her. Just her there reading out loud to herself...
I sit behind you here each day
Wishing that there was a way
A way to tell you how I feel
My love for you is all too real
Waiting for the day you would say
You've always loved me the same way
The day I would at last admit
You were right about my benignant
Phoebe smiled at her poetic friend's courage to not only reveal her feelings to her beloved, but to do it in front of their entire class.
Gerald shook his head in amazement, thinking to himself…
Mm, mm, mmm! Now I've seen everything!
Mr. Simmons then collected Helga's paper as they listened to someone say "Haha! Helga likes poetry!"
The blonde girl looked to see the husky boy pointing a finger, laughing at her sweet words.
Not caring she was still in class, she marched towards the back to grab him by the shirt and say "Listen you big tub of lard! If you EVER make fun of me like that again...I'll pound you so hard you won't know what poetry is. Got it?!"
"Okay...Madam Fortress Mommy!"
Mr. Simmons then watched his agitated students take their seats and said "Well, thank you class. Tomorrow's our big presentation! I can't imagine how excited your families must be!"
While Helga wasn't concerned about who would show up to see her, it was now nice knowing Arnold not only had feelings for her, but had the courage to announce it to the class. It showed if he did one day ask her to be his girlfriend, he wouldn't be ashamed to be seen with her in front of others.
