Thanks so much to all of you for the prompt reviews, I feel so special!
Okay, so I'm not that special, but many thanks to you all the same! Hope
this chapter is a little longer for you all, as I am going to need a short
break to write the next chapter. We are getting to the end and I want to
finish it off properly! On with the show!
Chapter 21 Realizations
Helga dropped the customary 75 cents into the coin accepter at the front of the rickety old bus, her eyes focused on the lone back seat.
"Rough day, Helga?" Murray questioned, his tone unconcerned, yet strangely pleasant.
"Don't ask," Helga mustered up a response, her eyes never straying from her forward glare.
What the halibut was Lila showing up for all unannounced like that? She thought Lila wanted her little knight in shining armor back, not Arnold, and what was he muttering about a poem and how she was wrong when she left? She hadn't hung around long enough to hear what was really going on.
She folded her hands in her lap as the bus jerked to a start, and grabbed the seat involuntarily to prevent lurching forward. She felt the crumpled cloth under her fingers in that instance.
The blue hanky.
Helga sighed wistfully, examining the smoky black smudges against the baby blue fabric. Why oh why did Little Miss—
"Perfect, just perfect," the highly irritated voice of her fellow classmate broke her train of thought abruptly.
Helga turned her glance sideways towards the agitated ramblings of Rhonda Wellington-Llyod. Helga smirked, despite her foul mood. Whatever was plaguing Rhonda was bound to be entertaining.
"I don't know why I let him tutor me," Rhonda lamented, flinging a piece of notebook paper at her best friend and sidekick, Nadine Morgan.
"It looks like you still got a good grade, Rhonda," Nadine examined the paper momentarily, and then handed it back to Rhonda. "What's there to complain about?"
"What's there to complain about? I'll tell you," Rhonda shot back, her patience growing thin. Helga snickered despite her self at the situation unfolding in front of her.
"I would NEVER write a poem about someone not loving ME," she retorted. "When I wrote my poem for the assignment, all I did was asked Mr. Straight A's to edit it for me, not re-write the entire thing! Can you imagine if Mr. Simmons would have read this aloud? What would people think of me, Rhonda Wellington-Lloyd writing a tome about unrequited love? Me, of all people?"
"Well you should have re-read it when he gave it back to you," Nadine replied simply, her arms crossed in reproach "You know, BEFORE you turned it in?" She was more of a straight arrow than her counterpart and openly expressed her feelings when it came to special "tutoring."
"He's done my-uh, I mean, EDITED my work in the past, after all, he DOES help with the grading during study hall for extra credit. I just can't believe he'd stoop so low,"
Helga was quickly going pale in the back seat, her ears burning like any proverbial eavesdropper would. Could she be talking about..
"Barney? I can't imagine him stooping to anything," Nadine replied, fidgeting with her black widow keychain as the bus rumbled to yet another stop.
"Well he did with this pathetic poem. I mean just listen to this line. My angel with the bright green eyes, please be mine today, and give to me a second chance, from you I'll never stray. How PATHETIC!" Rhonda shoved the offensive literature into her knapsack, exiting the bus with Nadine as she did so.
Helga's eyes narrowed in an all consuming rage. THAT'S where her poem went off to...but why would Barney be using it? She knew what she had to do, and despite the fact that Lila may very well decide to rat out her secret to Arnold as a result, she had no other choice if she wanted to keep her dignity.
She flipped her cell phone open, dialing numbers swiftly.
"Pheebs, glad I caught you...yeah, yeah, I know I lost you...what do you mean someone swiped the watermelon? Wait, I'm getting side tracked here, just meet me at my house pronto, we have a whole other venue to deal with,"
On the other side of town, Arnold was coming to very real conclusions of his own. He wheeled around at the last comment he heard escape Barney's lips.
"Who told you that I loved Helga?" he replied slowly and evenly, fighting desperately to keep his composure. His trembling hands weren't obvious to anyone but him for the moment.
"Anyone with eyes can see that," Barney spat, his eyes averted at his reply.
"I told him you mostly certainly did NOT love Helga," Lila interjected, her face angry and flushed. "Or am I ever so wrong?" Lila whispered, making a gesture at the keychain he had worn around his neck just a day before hand.
Arnold gulped, but continued. "I never told anyone that I loved her," he began
"See?" Lila shot a look of satisfaction in Barney's direction
"But I didn't say that I DIDN'T, either," he finished tentatively.
Both Barney and Lila's mouths gaped at that revelation, but none were probably more shocked than Arnold himself.
He DID love her. Saying it aloud made what he had suspected over the past few years a startling reality.
"The question is," he continued, remembering his focus, "Why do either of you care so much?"
"Well I for one don't," Barney sniffed, regaining his aloof composure. "I simply thought I saw something in her momentarily, but I can see she's still third class white trash," he spat in disgust.
His hand shot out before he had even a split second to think, leaving a white imprint across Barney's freckled cheek. He gasped at the same time as his victim, appalled at his own actions.
"Don't ever talk like that about Helga again, EVER," he managed to squeak out.
"Forget this crap, Lila. It isn't worth it!" Barney bellowed, running like a man on fire in the opposite direction.
Arnold's eyes turned slowly in her direction. She stood stock still like her feet were bolted to the sidewalk. Her face was devoid of color or animation.
He took a deep breath, trying to calm his racing heart.
"Lila, what is he talking about? What's not worth it anymore?"
But Lila's eyes were already clouded with huge, sparkling tears, her lower lip trembling in the process. She just shook her head in response, turning and running in very much the same manner that her ex-boyfriend had seconds before.
"I have to find Helga" Arnold murmured to himself, frustrated and angered at whatever plot Lila and Barney had been playing on over the past few days. "I'll deal with them later,"
"Where have you been, Shortman?" Grandpa opened the door to the boarding house, letting loose about 11 cats and one grubby pink pig as he did so.
"I was trying to find this kid I know, but I couldn't," Arnold replied in a small voice. He had forgotten his thwarted attempts at finding the missing link in all this mess. Fresh disappointment washed over him as he was reminded of his wasted afternoon, wasted all except for those amazing 30 seconds with Helga right here on this spot just 15 minutes earlier.
"Hmmm, well that's alright, Arnold. You know what they say, if at first you don't succeed..."
"I know, try, try again," Arnold answered, completing the old adage.
"I was going to say, find something else to do, but that works too," Grandpa smiled, scratching his chin in thought.
"Grandpa," Arnold sighed.
"Look, whatever's eatin' at ya, it'll have to wait," the elderly man chuckled. "It's dinner time and General Custer waits for no man,"
"General Custer? I thought Grandma was George Washington today," Arnold replied, forgetting momentarily the conflicts that ruled his 12 year old existence.
"Just roll with it, Shortman. I'm hoping she's Heddy Lamar by lights out, if you catch my drift," Grandpa winked wickedly, his eyes twinkling.
"What's for dinner anyway?" Arnold asked, wisely letting the last remark go in one ear and out the other.
"Dinner, you sorry excuse for an regime," Grandma announced from the door way.
A tray of pink fleshed fruit cut into the shape of teepees, horses, soldiers and Indians were clutched in her aged hands.
"Ohhh, not watermelon AGAIN, Pookie!" Grandpa wailed.
*******************Decided not to leave you all in a cliffie this time. More to come very soon! R/R and let me know what you think!***************
Chapter 21 Realizations
Helga dropped the customary 75 cents into the coin accepter at the front of the rickety old bus, her eyes focused on the lone back seat.
"Rough day, Helga?" Murray questioned, his tone unconcerned, yet strangely pleasant.
"Don't ask," Helga mustered up a response, her eyes never straying from her forward glare.
What the halibut was Lila showing up for all unannounced like that? She thought Lila wanted her little knight in shining armor back, not Arnold, and what was he muttering about a poem and how she was wrong when she left? She hadn't hung around long enough to hear what was really going on.
She folded her hands in her lap as the bus jerked to a start, and grabbed the seat involuntarily to prevent lurching forward. She felt the crumpled cloth under her fingers in that instance.
The blue hanky.
Helga sighed wistfully, examining the smoky black smudges against the baby blue fabric. Why oh why did Little Miss—
"Perfect, just perfect," the highly irritated voice of her fellow classmate broke her train of thought abruptly.
Helga turned her glance sideways towards the agitated ramblings of Rhonda Wellington-Llyod. Helga smirked, despite her foul mood. Whatever was plaguing Rhonda was bound to be entertaining.
"I don't know why I let him tutor me," Rhonda lamented, flinging a piece of notebook paper at her best friend and sidekick, Nadine Morgan.
"It looks like you still got a good grade, Rhonda," Nadine examined the paper momentarily, and then handed it back to Rhonda. "What's there to complain about?"
"What's there to complain about? I'll tell you," Rhonda shot back, her patience growing thin. Helga snickered despite her self at the situation unfolding in front of her.
"I would NEVER write a poem about someone not loving ME," she retorted. "When I wrote my poem for the assignment, all I did was asked Mr. Straight A's to edit it for me, not re-write the entire thing! Can you imagine if Mr. Simmons would have read this aloud? What would people think of me, Rhonda Wellington-Lloyd writing a tome about unrequited love? Me, of all people?"
"Well you should have re-read it when he gave it back to you," Nadine replied simply, her arms crossed in reproach "You know, BEFORE you turned it in?" She was more of a straight arrow than her counterpart and openly expressed her feelings when it came to special "tutoring."
"He's done my-uh, I mean, EDITED my work in the past, after all, he DOES help with the grading during study hall for extra credit. I just can't believe he'd stoop so low,"
Helga was quickly going pale in the back seat, her ears burning like any proverbial eavesdropper would. Could she be talking about..
"Barney? I can't imagine him stooping to anything," Nadine replied, fidgeting with her black widow keychain as the bus rumbled to yet another stop.
"Well he did with this pathetic poem. I mean just listen to this line. My angel with the bright green eyes, please be mine today, and give to me a second chance, from you I'll never stray. How PATHETIC!" Rhonda shoved the offensive literature into her knapsack, exiting the bus with Nadine as she did so.
Helga's eyes narrowed in an all consuming rage. THAT'S where her poem went off to...but why would Barney be using it? She knew what she had to do, and despite the fact that Lila may very well decide to rat out her secret to Arnold as a result, she had no other choice if she wanted to keep her dignity.
She flipped her cell phone open, dialing numbers swiftly.
"Pheebs, glad I caught you...yeah, yeah, I know I lost you...what do you mean someone swiped the watermelon? Wait, I'm getting side tracked here, just meet me at my house pronto, we have a whole other venue to deal with,"
On the other side of town, Arnold was coming to very real conclusions of his own. He wheeled around at the last comment he heard escape Barney's lips.
"Who told you that I loved Helga?" he replied slowly and evenly, fighting desperately to keep his composure. His trembling hands weren't obvious to anyone but him for the moment.
"Anyone with eyes can see that," Barney spat, his eyes averted at his reply.
"I told him you mostly certainly did NOT love Helga," Lila interjected, her face angry and flushed. "Or am I ever so wrong?" Lila whispered, making a gesture at the keychain he had worn around his neck just a day before hand.
Arnold gulped, but continued. "I never told anyone that I loved her," he began
"See?" Lila shot a look of satisfaction in Barney's direction
"But I didn't say that I DIDN'T, either," he finished tentatively.
Both Barney and Lila's mouths gaped at that revelation, but none were probably more shocked than Arnold himself.
He DID love her. Saying it aloud made what he had suspected over the past few years a startling reality.
"The question is," he continued, remembering his focus, "Why do either of you care so much?"
"Well I for one don't," Barney sniffed, regaining his aloof composure. "I simply thought I saw something in her momentarily, but I can see she's still third class white trash," he spat in disgust.
His hand shot out before he had even a split second to think, leaving a white imprint across Barney's freckled cheek. He gasped at the same time as his victim, appalled at his own actions.
"Don't ever talk like that about Helga again, EVER," he managed to squeak out.
"Forget this crap, Lila. It isn't worth it!" Barney bellowed, running like a man on fire in the opposite direction.
Arnold's eyes turned slowly in her direction. She stood stock still like her feet were bolted to the sidewalk. Her face was devoid of color or animation.
He took a deep breath, trying to calm his racing heart.
"Lila, what is he talking about? What's not worth it anymore?"
But Lila's eyes were already clouded with huge, sparkling tears, her lower lip trembling in the process. She just shook her head in response, turning and running in very much the same manner that her ex-boyfriend had seconds before.
"I have to find Helga" Arnold murmured to himself, frustrated and angered at whatever plot Lila and Barney had been playing on over the past few days. "I'll deal with them later,"
"Where have you been, Shortman?" Grandpa opened the door to the boarding house, letting loose about 11 cats and one grubby pink pig as he did so.
"I was trying to find this kid I know, but I couldn't," Arnold replied in a small voice. He had forgotten his thwarted attempts at finding the missing link in all this mess. Fresh disappointment washed over him as he was reminded of his wasted afternoon, wasted all except for those amazing 30 seconds with Helga right here on this spot just 15 minutes earlier.
"Hmmm, well that's alright, Arnold. You know what they say, if at first you don't succeed..."
"I know, try, try again," Arnold answered, completing the old adage.
"I was going to say, find something else to do, but that works too," Grandpa smiled, scratching his chin in thought.
"Grandpa," Arnold sighed.
"Look, whatever's eatin' at ya, it'll have to wait," the elderly man chuckled. "It's dinner time and General Custer waits for no man,"
"General Custer? I thought Grandma was George Washington today," Arnold replied, forgetting momentarily the conflicts that ruled his 12 year old existence.
"Just roll with it, Shortman. I'm hoping she's Heddy Lamar by lights out, if you catch my drift," Grandpa winked wickedly, his eyes twinkling.
"What's for dinner anyway?" Arnold asked, wisely letting the last remark go in one ear and out the other.
"Dinner, you sorry excuse for an regime," Grandma announced from the door way.
A tray of pink fleshed fruit cut into the shape of teepees, horses, soldiers and Indians were clutched in her aged hands.
"Ohhh, not watermelon AGAIN, Pookie!" Grandpa wailed.
*******************Decided not to leave you all in a cliffie this time. More to come very soon! R/R and let me know what you think!***************