I slapped my alarm clock when it buzzed at five o'clock Saturday. I groaned and rolled over, falling out of bed.
"Oof!" I cried as I hit the ground. My mutter woke up Phoebe, who had spent the night. She yawned and smiled.
"Good morning, Helga!" she said stretching. I rubbed my head.
"Sure as heck started good…" I moaned. I suddenly snapped my head to the clock, remembering why I woke up so early to begin with. Without warning I pushed myself of the ground and ran to my closet. I dragged out my suitcase, filling it with some last minute clothes and toiletries. I shoved everything into the case and jumped on it to fit it all in there, while Phoebe neatly packed the rest of her things. I wiped the sweat from my head and headed into my closet to change. I pulled my usual collared, half sleeved white shirt with the pink overtop with a red stripe from the hangar. I grabbed my favorite pair of jeans and pulled on my white converses. When I walked out of the closet, Phoebe was already dressed in a blue sweater and black leggings. I grabbed a jacket and headed for my nightstand with my pink headband on it. I went to reach for it when I stopped. I remembered the box under my bed and pulled that out instead. I dug into it, with Phoebe looking over my shoulder.
"What are you doing Helga?"
I didn't answer her, but instead pushed the box back under the bed and coming off the ground wearing my old pink bow. Phoebe didn't say anything, just smiled. We walked out the bedroom door, lugging our things when I stopped us by the hallway closet. I opened it and pulled out what looked like a suitcase.
"What's that?" Phoebe asked. I smiled deviously.
"This is gonna help us pull off my plan! It's a gas tank! My dad uses it for smuggling free gas he gets from one of his beeper suppliers. We use this to siphon the gas from the plane and then we sneak it aboard as a suitcase, that way when we are ready to leave San Lorenzo to Panama, we have the gas we need! Brilliant, right?" I smiled, dragging with our stuff out the door. Phoebe giggled. We packed the stuff in the Olga's old car, which she had given me and I hopped in the driver's seat. Bob had taught me to drive , but I only had my permit, however no cops were out this early, in this part of town, so I figured what the hey. I slammed my foot to the petal, trying to get us there as fast as I could. We finally got there, thirty minutes before the plane was supposed to leave! I rushed out of the car and grabbed the gas tank and a hose I had taken.
"Phoebe get the bags!" I yelled as I rushed off to the airfield. I looked around…no one. They must not of let them board yet. I had to hurry. I snuck off to the plane…private one. Hmph! Figures only Miss Rhonda Wellington Lloyd! I opened the gas tank to the plane and stuck the hose inside. I then opened the suitcase gas tank and put the other end in my mouth. Cringing, I sucked until I felt the gas hit my lips. I spit and let the gas flow into the suitcase tank. Phoebe had showed me a diagram of an airplane gas tank and how to know when just under a third was emptied, which was the amount we needed. I listened and at the cue, removed the hose. I made it looked as if nothing had happened, then made my way to the terminal. It took my a good ten minutes, carrying the gas tank and trying to make it seem like there was no gas in it, but I finally arrived and took a seat next to Phoebe. Suddenly I noticed something…where was Arnold?!!
"Phoebe where's Arno-"I stopped when he walked in. I was amazed at what he was wearing. Usually he wore a plaid red button down shirt with jeans and black converse and he was still wearing all that, but this time he had on a blue sweater…the same blue sweater he had worn in the forth grade all the way to seventh grade, at least it looked like the same one. The subtle difference was the sleeves were rolled up and undershirt sleeves were as well, however lower than that of the sweater. I grinned and felt my eyelids lower in admiration. Suddenly Phoebe jabbed me in the arm and motioned it was time to get on the plane. I yanked at the gas tank and made my way slowly to the plane. Suddenly I felt the heaviness of the tank lift. I looked and Arnold had the other end.
"Need some help?" he smiled. I looked around and then shrugged. We carried it onto the plane, to my seat near the exit hatch. "What you got in there?" he asked, eyeing it. I moved it next to the escape door.
"Nothing…" I said quickly. I turned around, away from him.
"Um, Helga…" I heard him say, suddenly interrupted.
"Hey Arnold, I call the seat by the window!" Gerald yelled, pushing Arnold toward their seat. I turned back to him, his eyes fixed on me. Luckily, Gerald pushed him to the back more of the plane. I turned back around and sighed, sinking in my seat next to Phoebe who had whipped out a book on the plant life of San Lorenzo. I pulled out my iPod and tried to block out the flight attendant yelling at everyone to stop being idiots and sit down because the plane was about to take off. Not necessarily in those words. As the plane took off, a tickling sensation filled me. I didn't know if it was from the plane or from the fact that soon I would be trying to find my beloveds parents. Until now it seemed simple, but what if I didn't find them? No one had heard from them in fourteen years…great, what have you gotten yourself into now Helga?! I finally dozed off until Harold's yelling woke me up.
"Oh! I'm hungry!" he complained.
"Now don't worry, Harold, I'm sure there will be plenty off food in Panama!" I heard a familiar voice say softly. I snapped up and saw Mr. Simmons! He was in a seat next to Miss Slovak. Uck! I guess I had been to busy trying to avoid Arnold's gaze, I had missed this. I chuckled and shook my head.
"Yeah well I bet there's gonna be a starvation problem there, after Harold finishes with them!" I scoffed. I couldn't help it, the guy asks for it.
"Boy howdy, I'm hungry too. I didn't eat breakfast this morning."Sid moaned.
"I'm not hungry, on accounta I ate some lemon pudding this morning!" Stinky announced, proudly. I rolled my eyes.
"Stinky, you're an idiot…" I said annoyed. I had just realized I hadn't eaten either.
"Hey Helga, what's with the bow?" Rhonda asked smirking. I absently mindedly touched the bow.
"Well, not that it's any of your business, princess, but I just felt like wearing it today that's all." I snapped.
"Why Helga, ain't that the same pink bow you use to wear in the fourth grade?" Stinky asked. I crossed my arms.
"Are we there yet?" I asked angrily. Suddenly I heard Arnold say something to Gerald.
"Oh, no I forgot my journal!" he cried, slapping a hand to his forehead. "I really needed it." I placed my hand on the bag next to me, containing the journal.
"Well I need it more…" I muttered under my breath. Suddenly the plane jerked. This must have been it. The pilot realizes we are out of gas and we are forced to land, safely in San Lorenzo. Phoebe looked out the window and then gave me a thumbs up. Suddenly the plane jerked again, this time, violently. I grabbed my chair. "Huh?" I muttered.
"Uh, what's going on?" Gerald said in a shaky voice. Just then a voice came on over the speaker.
"Uh, students this is your captain speaking, I have just suddenly realized we are out of gas." The pilot said, calmly at first, but then began to get hysteric. "This has never happened to me before! We're all going to crash!" he cried.
"Oh my God! We're all going to die!" Sid yelled frantically.
"Don't worry guys, I'm sure we'll be okay, we just got to believe!" Eugene said in a sing-song voice and began to hum.
"Ah, shut up with that Eugene, or I'm gonna pound you!" Harold yelled, squeezing his seat.
"I bet Eugene jinxed the plane." Gerald whispered to Arnold.
"Well my grandpa did say to never get on a plane with him…" Arnold replied. Suddenly the plane made a dive and a few of us fell out of our seats. I did as well tumbling down the aisle and I suddenly felt someone land on top of me. Arnold. I looked up and his face was in mine. Oh-hoh! What I wouldn't give if this moment didn't include us hanging on for our lives. For a minute it almost seemed like he lowered his face into mine, but then suddenly we were thrown again. All at once I saw Harold brace himself on the escape door near the gas tank. Oh no!
"Harold, get off of that!" I yelled but it was too late. As the plane turned Harold tumbled toward me, while the force opened the door for a moment. A split moment, which was enough for the fuel tank to fly out of the plane.
"NO!!!" I shouted. Suddenly everything stopped. We felt the planes wheels hit the ground. Everything was quiet for a minute and then everyone began to freak out. The plane was messy on the inside, but no severe damage.
"Oh no! We're stuck in the middle of nowhere! With no food! We'll have to eat each other!" Sid panicked.
"Ah shut up you big sissies! Be thankful you're not injured or maimed!" I shouted. Then I turned and whispered to Phoebe, "What the heck happened?"
"Apparently, due the pilot's lack of observation to his fuel gauge, we had to emergency or rather crash land here." She observed. I slapped my forehead. "But on the positive side, we're right where we need to be. And the pilot was able to dive the plane before we absolutely ran out of gas, otherwise we all could have been seriously injured. Helga you must have taken out a little more fuel than needed. Otherwise we would have been able to land at the San Lorenzo airport. " She added. I crossed my arms and looked around, noticing Eugene with his head stuck in his backpack.
"I'm okay…" he muttered. I grabbed my bag.
"Well c'mon Phoebes, let's have a look around…"