A/N: Hey dar'!

Ha-yuck! XD Anyway... please don't hate me... but I'm gonna warn you now that this story is gonna be getting a little hectic. *Smiles nervously* I decided it needed more suspense... so I came up with a new little twist that I think will be interesting. =D

So... Just read. =D

Disclaimer: NO OWN HEY ARNOLD! BOO HOO! BOO HOO!

Hypnotizing Helga

Chapter 10

Arnold had just had to go back outside to the playground to get his books, and was now making his way back to class through the halls. He walked past Principal Warts' office, but stopped dead in his tracks. He slowly turned around to make sure his peripheral vision had seen correctly.

"Mr. Hypno?"

He looked up at the football headed boy from his lap, as he was sitting in a chair outside of the Principal's office, his eyes grew angry. "Oh no! My name is Mr. Mantle! I'm not a real hypnotist, you know." He spat coldly at the boy.

Arnold's eyes grew a bit wide and he backed up a little. "Well, yeah. But I thought you preferred for us to call you Mr. Hypno."

He scoffed. "Oh, I did. But then again... I was a fool to think I could trust you and your little friends. Who ratted me out anyway?! It was that ugly little unibrowed girl WASN'T it?!" He lifted himself up a bit with his hands on the armrests of the chair he resided, leaning in towards the boys face angrily.

Arnold suddenly got defensive, he narrowed his eyes and placed his hands on his hips. "HEY! She's not ugly!" His gaze turned confused. "Wait, ratted you out? What are you talking about?"

Mr. Mantle studied him a moment. He sincerely didn't know what he meant. This just made him angrier. "I knew it! It was that stupid little girl!" He growled.

Arnold glared at him. "She's NOT stupid."

Mr. Mantle was about to reply, when the door opened and out walked Principal Warts. He had his arms crossed and his face was stern. "Mr. Mantle. Please come in now."

Mr. Mantle gulped and slunk into his office. Mr. Warts turned to Arnold and pointed down the hall. "Off to class, young man."

Arnold nodded and began back down the hall to class, wondering what was going on.

Mr. Mantle sat in the seat in front of Principal Warts' desk, awaiting his doom as he thought back to when this whole thing got started.

*Flashback*

Mr. Mantle had gone back to bed the moment he got home... or rather, he went back to his couch.

He stirred.

Ring Ring Ring

He groaned and rolled over. No windows. Too dark to see the time on his old wall clock. And much too lazy to actually answer the phone. But he knew if he didn't they'd just keep calling. This had been going on for hours! Call after call after call! Whatever it was they were calling about, it must have been important.

Ring Ring Ring

"UGH!" He rolled off of his hard, bumpy couch and onto the floor, groaning. He lifted his hand up to grab the phone off the hook. His head was laying face down on the cold, dirty cement known as the floor as he put the phone to his head, not even lifting his head in the slightest.

"Talk." He said, begrudgingly into the floor.

"Yes, Hello. Is Mr. Mantle there?" Spoke a strict sounding man's voice.

"This is he."

"Hello, Mr. Mantle, this is Principal Warts of PS118. I've called to inform you that we know all about your shenanigans."

His head flew up and his eyes went wide. His breath was caught in his throat. He gulped. "Uh... What shenanigans?" He asked innocently, feigning confusion.

"Now Mr. Mantle, we are perfectly aware of your games. We know you're not a real hypnotist. I've called to inform you that we are fully prepared to take legal action in this matter. It's illegal to impersonate a professional hypnotist and to just PLAY AROUND with something as dangerous as hypnotism. And to simply waltz in and perform it on an innocent little girl when you don't even know how to do it... well, we have all rights to sue you. I want you in my office at the stroke of 10:00, and I mean today, Mr. Mantle. PS118 doesn't allow scam artists."

His eyes were wide and panicky. "Now, Principal Warts, you don't honestly believe I would just come to your school and talk about my life as a hypnotist if I wasn't a hypnotist, would you? And all for just a couple of wrinkly little pieces of green paper?" He laughed nervously.

"Nice try, Mr. Mantle. Be here at 10:00 am. My office. And don't try to run away from this because we know where you live and we have the police already prepared to take action if you try to flee. My Office. 10:00 am." The phone went dead.

Mr. Mantle's eyes were wide in disbelief and his jaw was on the ground. What the HECK just happened?! Did he just get caught?! This was definitely a first.

He sat up. Still trying to comprehend what had just happened. He shook his head in disbelief. How could they possibly have found out he was a fake? Some would have had to have told him. He slowly placed the phone back on the receiver. He sat there for a little while, trying to understand what had happened... Once he had, his eyes narrowed dangerously, a scowl apparent on his face. He stood fast and flipped the light switch on to see what the time was.

9:25 am

He growled. It was probably that little blonde girl. She was probably trying to take revenge for hypnotizing her or something! She just put him in some MAJOR trouble! IT WAS HER! IT HAD TO HAVE BEEN. He thought a moment. He supposed it also could have been that football headed boy. What was his name...? Arnie... Alfred... Alex... No... It was something with an A. Like it mattered to him. All he knew was that one of those little brats ratted him out. It had to have been one of them! No one else knew he was a fake but that black boy with the tall hair, that little Asian girl, the football headed boy, and that horribly rude little pigtailed girl who said he smelled like a toilet!

He growled again. He was on the verge of losing everything he owned... everything he knew... all because of ONE or maybe even more of those STUPID LITTLE BRATS! He kicked his mini fridge angrily, but it didn't budge. Instead he ended up yowling in pain and rubbing his foot.

They had better hope everything turns out okay... Because if it didn't and he lost his home.... They were gonna pay...

*Flashback*

Mr. Mantle started shaking in both anger and fear despite himself.

He knew this was going to end up bad for him.

Really bad.

It was lunch time now, and so far Arnold had successfully managed to control himself around Helga during class.

She had thrown a few flirty, sweet notes at him during class... that made him really want to leap over to her and start kissing her passionately, and he nearly did, but Gerald whacked him in the head, effectively making him yelp and attracting the entire class' attention to him. It was so embarrassing. But not nearly as embarrassing as it could have been.

Currently though, he was sitting alone at his and Gerald's usual table. He had packed his lunch, so he didn't have to wait in line with Gerald and everyone.

A hand suddenly came crashing down on the table and he looked up quick, startled, coming face to face with a smirking Helga. He gulped.

She smiled flirtatiously at him. "Hey Arnold, mind if I sit here?" She asked as she batted her eyelashes at him.

He stared at her, his eyes wide. His sandwich fell from his hands in effect, scared of what he might do.

She giggled at his stunned expression and sat down next to him. "I'll take that as an 'Okay'." She said quietly as she scooted her chair closer to him.

He gulped again and scooted his chair a bit further away from her... she was too close.

She smirked and scooted herself closer again, grabbing his arm and pulling herself to him.

He could smell her. Not good. His eye twitched and he struggled to get out of her grasp, although he didn't want to... he knew he REALLY had to. She was entirely TOO close to him.

He gave up after a moment of struggle, concluding that she was too strong. He started breathing a little harder and looking up desperately, in hopes of having Gerald come to his rescue.

No such luck, Gerald was still way in the back of the line. Oh man...

She snuggled close, holding his arm tight, but then she stood up abruptly, and began pulling him to the cafeteria exit. His eyes widened and he shook his head furiously.

She smirked at him. She could easily force him out of here. She continued pulling. "Oh, Arnold, come on. I really need to talk to you about something in private." She smiled at him, evilly.

He looked around desperately for some kind of escape... but it was too late. He was now in the hallway, out of the lunchroom, and away from Gerald with Helga pulling him farther and farther away from his only hope of rescue. This was very bad.

He gulped again. "Helga, I really think we should be getting back to the lunchroom now, don't you?" He smiled nervously.

She shook her head. "No... that's okay. I'm not really hungry." She smirked at him.

He started breathing hard again as she stopped, finally satisfied with the amount of space she had put between him and their peers. She smiled flirtatiously and pulled him into a hug.

"I just wanted to say I was..." Ugh, she had to say it to complete part four of her evil plan, but it was still sohard. "...s-sor-...s-s-sorr-...Soooorrrrry..." She let out a breath, relieved she had managed to get it out. "For... well, I was kinda harsh... so..." She struggled again. "s-s-sorr-... Um... You get it." She pulled back from the hug only slightly, as to nuzzle her cheek with his.

Arnold's eyes grew wide at this. NOT GOOD!

His mind was starting to melt, and he was getting ready to pounce on her when something grabbed him by the back of the collar and pulled him back. He was irritated by this, and struggled to get out of the person's grasp.

"No, Helga. You're just going to have to wait till tonight. Arnold has a lot more self control than you give him credit for." Gerald spoke confidently, frowning at Helga.

Arnold groaned and continued trying to get free. "NO! She's right! I have NO self control! Helga, I'm in-"

Gerald quickly slapped his hand over Arnold mouth as Arnold groaned angrily into his hand. Gerald smiled nervously at Helga. "He's just been eating too much cafeteria food is all. It turns the mind to mush."

Helga huffed, folding her arms. "He packed his lunch, Geraldo!" She said, frowning, unconvinced.

Gerald frowned back. "Yeah, welll..." He held fast to Arnold's collar and bounded down the hall as fast as he could, dragging a very peeved Arnold along with him. "BYE!"

Helga scoffed. "Moron." She murmured as she trudged her way back to the cafeteria. Well, the point of part four was to apologize. She had added that one in shortly after their little fight. And... she had apologized... but he didn't. She frowned.

Gerald sat Arnold back down in his seat and claimed the seat right next to him. "There you go, man. I told you I had your back." He smiled at his friend and took a swig of his chocolate milk to celebrate. He looked back to Arnold and his smile faded to a frown at what he saw.

He was sitting there, glaring at him! UGH!

"What?" He asked as he sat his milk back down on the table.

Arnold crossed his arms. "I wanted to tell her." He pouted, frowning at his sandwich.

Gerald smiled. Oh, so THAT was his problem. "Hey, Arnold?"

Arnold looked to him, still frowning.

"OW!"

Arnold rubbed his cheek tenderly. "What was that for?!" He asked frowning immensely.

Gerald shrugged and took a bite of his own sandwich. "You were in your 'I wanna tell her so I can play kissy face' mood." He shrugged again. "I had to snap you out of it somehow. Slapping you seemed like the best way to go." He grinned.

Arnold blew some air out his nose in mild annoyance. He was grateful Gerald was helping him like this... But that still HURT!

He sighed. "Thanks, Gerald." He smiled weakly and went back to eating his sandwich.

His mind wandered. He had started thinking of Helga at first... but remembering Gerald next to him he decided to try and think of something else. Hmmmm... It was kind of odd how Mr. Hyp-... Mantle had been yelling and scowling at him earlier. He seemed so friendly before... but then again, the man's entire method of attaining money was to convince people that he was a professional, get hired, and then go on doing something he didn't even really know how to do, and all just to get a few bucks. The man was a scam artist. He lied for a living. So maybe it wasn't that weird that he'd suddenly turned on him... he kept saying that Helga had ratted him out. But about what? Being a scam artist? That could be it. But when did Helga find the time to tell on him? She had been hanging around him all day... smelling nice and all that. He sighed happily at the thought.

"OW!"

Gerald snickered. "Sorry. You had the look again." He took another bite of his sandwich, completely disregarding his best friend now, who was currently rubbing the back of his head, glaring at him.

Mr. Mantle burst through the door, yelling angrily at the principal. "Just take the old dump! It's all yours! It'll save you alot of money and me alot of time! Besides... I DON'T EVEN OWN A SUIT THAT I COULD WEAR TO COURT!" He slammed the door shut, screaming angrily into the halls. His loud yells and screams echoed throughout the halls as he stomped his way out of the school.

This was ALL that stupid pig-tailed girls fault! HOW COULD SHE RAT HIM OUT LIKE THAT?! AND AFTER HE SO GRACIOUSLY GOT UP AT LIKE... 6:00 IN THE MORNING JUST TO GET HER STUPID HEAD BACK TO IT'S OLD SCREWED UP CONDITION!

He screamed again in aggravation. He had just handed over everything he owned! Why? Because he knew even if he did go to court and go through all that legal crap it would have just had the same outcome! So why not just hand it all over?! It made PERFECT sense to him!

He kicked the doors open angrily and stomped his way out of the school. Where to now?

His anger evolved to sadness. He had no where to go. No home. No money. No life. He sighed again.

There was only one place to go when you were as bad off as this...

Mr. Mantle turned the corner. He had been walking for at least an hour now. He was tired. He felt stupid. He felt alone. But he had to get there. He had no where else to go.

He walked deeper into the alley, looking around for some sort of door, or window, or... something.

Suddenly a hand grabbed his ankle.

"Oof!"

What happened? He looked around. Was he here? Had he reached his destination? It was very dark.

A light switched on, illuminating the face of a single man. His face was scruffy as he had a long brown beard. He looked like he had never shaved a day in his life, and he wore an old gray beanie over top of his fuzzy head. His eyes were a cold gray that were looking at him seriously. He had his scruffy, dirty looking arms folded across his chest that was covered by a dark green sweater, with holes in it here and there, and underneath he wore an extra large, white, baggy t-shirt that went pretty low, almost to his knees. He had on some ripped up old blue jeans and to finish the look... bare feet.

Mr. Mantle smiled up at him, feeling embarrassed. He looked up, past the man's face and came to notice a door in the ceiling. It was open, but that was quickly corrected as it was thrown closed harshly. He couldn't see by who. The entire room was pitch black, other than the single light illuminating the dirty man's face before him.

He stood and dusted himself off, then extended his hand. "Hello, I'm Mr. Mantle." He smiled slightly.

The man looked at him uncertainly, but slowly unfolded his arms and took his hand. "Max. Just Max."

He nodded and shook the man's hand firmly. "I heard this is where to go when you have nowhere else to." He looked around him, although it was still dark so there wasn't much to look at, and then looked back to the man.

Max nodded. "You heard right. So... what happened to you? How'd you end up here?"

Mr. Mantle frowned. "Long story... but I'd be happy to explain if you could please switch on the rest of the lights." He said, as he gestured at the darkened room.

Max looked at him, bewildered. "Lights? They are on."

Mr. Mantle stiffened a bit at that. "You can't be serious. How do you move around without crashing into others."

"Oh!" Max nodded in understanding. "I getcha. Fire her up Willy!" He called into the dark room.

All of a sudden the light that was illuminating him was cast in a different direction. It reflected off one mirror and onto another and another and so on, until the entire room was lit up... it was very shadowy... but you could see none the less. He looked around and was a bit taken aback by how many of them there were.

There had to have been at least eighty of them. It was a large room, so it wasn't crowded... but there were still so many. It saddened him to see so many homeless people. What had society come to?

He sighed.

And now he was one of them.

A/N: I said I wanted to add more suspense, and that's exactly what I'm going to do! *Salutes* *Trumpets are heard playing the national anthem in the backround*

XD

So... this is going to be getting really interesting. Keep reading! I'm not finished yet! Far from it, my friends! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! *Cough*

Tell me what you think of this new twist and/or chapter by...

REVIEWING!!!!!!!!!!!!!