Author's Notes:
Hey guys! Appreciate the reviews for the past couple of chapters. I also appreciate that not all the reviews are flat out stellar or positive, which helps me contemplate how I craft the next few chapters. Thanks again!
And full disclosure...I have absolutely no idea how American Football is played, so bear with me because I'm just gonna run with what the show's presented and what wikipedia says are the positions.
Here we go...
Chapter IX
Most members of Team Arnold came in to the pre-game team huddle with utmost confidence. Why wouldn't they? It was no secret that they had the dynamic duo on their side. Time and time the pair had been tested and time and time again had they prevailed. This shouldn't be any different. That was, until Arnold gave instructions on how they would run their sets...
To the surprise of the team, Arnold chose to exclude Rhonda from virtually all of the offensive strategies. She was still, on paper, in her usual positions to play wide receiver and tight end based on Arnold's set plays. However, Arnold would choose other team members to finish plays and secure touchdowns. While opting for Harold and even Park to catch Arnold's long passes made some sense, despite Harold's bulky frame tiring him out quickly and Park's slight butter fingers, Arnold's alternative options made it clear to Rhonda that he's purposely trying to distance himself from her.
'Really? He'd rather have Mary catch the ball and run with it?' Rhonda mentally complained. She tried to show how irate she was by giving Arnold a glare, the same one she gave him as a threat to get a good music act for the school dance. Much as she had hoped Arnold would notice, the team captain paid no attention to his best player.
Phoebe soon instructed all teams to get into their positions so as to start the kick-off. As Team Arnold was settling into the field, Helga Pataki was observing the body language and distance between the 4th grade's dynamic duo. On the surface, everything seemed to be in order, but sessions with Dr. Bliss have made Helga's mind sharper, more capable of recognizing undertones and hidden truths. She could see the underlying subtext as told by Arnold's and Rhonda's body language. If her assumptions were correct, she could hit 2 birds with 1 stone: (1) she'll finally beat a team comprising of Arnold and Rhonda, and (2) she'll bring the princess's morale even lower, for mocking Arnold with a tip.
"Sorry doctor Bliss, but I need to do some correcting. And besides, this'll be something to talk about on the couch this week...," Helga muttered.
"Did you say something?" Gerald asked, wondering what Helga was blabbering about.
"Nothing Geraldo! Just make sure that whatever you do for Arnold's team, you get it done for me. Got it?" Helga replied, hoping the football head's best friend didn't hear her.
"...whatever you say, captain." With that, Gerald proceeded to the left corner.
After the kickoff...
Thing started out relatively smoothly for Team Arnold. They managed to secure a touchdown with Harold, for the simple fact that in all their years playing football, the only other 4th grader who could stop the Berman behemoth in his tracks even with a full head of steam was Rhonda Lloyd. But sooner or later, fatigue set in and Harold couldn't keep up the offensive load. Upon nearly securing a 2nd touchdown, he suffered cramps. They knew he suffered cramps because he yelled out that he was suffering from cramps and wanted his mommy. While Harold would recover after a few sips of water and some aided stretching, much to the annoyance of Sid and Stinky, he clearly could not be relied upon to score.
None of Arnold's other options were panning out well either. Park would repeatedly fumble the ball, and in the rare instances that he indeed caught it, Stinky or Sid were ready to intercept him. Lorenzo couldn't understand the plays well and would already be in the wrong place at the wrong time before they could set their plays. Sheena was able to catch the balls with ease but because she wasn't particularly fast, it was only a matter of time before Helga or Gerald would catch up and break the touchdown attempt up. It didn't help Sheena either that Helga was stretching the limits of how physical touch football is, thereby intimidating the peace loving girl. Peapod Kid was, for lack of a better word, flat out "terrible." As much as Rhonda tried to get Arnold to set her up for touchdowns for the sake of the game, or to at least use her as a decoy to get other teammates a running start, he continued to ignore her pleas, almost pretending like she didn't exist. He wouldn't even look her way when she tried to get him to listen to her...
And that was only on the offensive end, as Team Arnold was doing no better on defense. Helga took full advantage of her opponent's dwindling morale and made them suffer for it. After taking notes of how they managed to beat the 5th graders last year, she incorporated most of Arnold's offensive schemes and added her own brutal flare to it. She purposely chose Gerald and Nadine to have a sort of "pick your poison" duo - focus too much on stopping one of them, and you're likely to leave the other wide open at your own risk. Needless to say the strategy was doing wonders. Both Gerald and Nadine commanded so much attention that they managed to open up paths for their other teammates. The icing on the cake that was Team Helga's dominant first half was a touchdown courtesy of the Campfire Lass, who proceeded to do some...Campfire Lass celebration dance...as she let adrenaline course through her veins.
By halftime, the score was 49-7 in favor of Team Helga.
Halftime...
Rhonda couldn't take it anymore. As competitive as she was when on the football field, she didn't mind losing to Helga's team. As far as she was concerned, everyone has to lose eventually. But she refused to lose simply because her team captain was letting them down, all because he was allowing his negative feelings towards her get in the way. But that wasn't the only reason...
In similar fashion to how Rhonda's materialism and insensitivity infuriated Arnold, how her team captain was allowing himself to be so petty and unwilling to cooperate disgusted her.
'This...whoever this is, is NOT the Arnold I've grown to know and respect,' Rhonda thought to herself, as she approached the halftime huddle. She was through with playing nice and was hell bent on get Arnold's attention, one way or another. She was gonna get her point across. She pulled Arnold to the side.
"ARNOLD SHORTMAN, YOU LISTEN TO ME AND YOU LISTEN GOOD."
It worked. Arnold looked at Rhonda, slightly bewildered that for the first time in his life, he was truly on the receiving end of what felt like the actual wrath of Rhonda Wellington Lloyd. He did not expect Rhonda to, at the risk of looking worse off as a prima donna, call him out in such public fashion. Even his teammates seemed frightened to interfere, as they saw righteous fury in Rhonda's eyes. But they figured that, given how Arnold has been unlike himself all game long, that this blow up between the team's best players might yield something good. Even Team Helga, having heard Rhonda call out Arnold with his often forgotten surname, was caught off guard and tried to listen in on what the rich girl had to say to their team captain.
"I know that you really can't stand my guts right now, and I don't blame you for it. I don't get to decide on how you feel about me, or whether you'll ever accept me again as a friend, and I accept that. But if you're gonna get in your feelings, you better do it on your own time! We're playing a football game, and we need the football head we all know and admire, the one who comes up with intelligent plays and makes everyone feel like a winner even when we're down! We need the Arnold who uses a clear head, instead of allowing it to get even more pigheaded! But most importantly, I need the Arnold who knows how to put the greater good above everything else! Wake up, or so help me, we're quitting!"
Arnold despised how he was being talked down by Rhonda. Partially because he felt that of all people to address him, Rhonda had the least standing, but mostly because everything Rhonda was demanding from him in the heat of the moment was proper. He may not ever be able to truly see Rhonda as a friend again, cause as far he was concerned Rhonda's still in one of her loops, but that shouldn't mean that he can't work or cooperate with her for the betterment of everyone else. It had been a while, but Arnold was letting his own feelings get the better of him. It was uncharacteristic of him. It wasn't him. While he didn't show it in his face, as he was still cross with Rhonda, he had some appreciation for the fact that of all the people who could snap him out of this petty funk, it was the Lloyd heiress who he admitted was putting more of an effort to prove how sorry and contrite she was since her trip to Aspen.
Arnold took a deep breath to let everything sink in. Rhonda, with a stern face, waited for him to speak up.
"You're right Rhonda...at least for this game, there's no reason why we can't work together. I won't let my personal feelings get in the way when we can still win this game." Arnold answered.
'Finally, our Arnold is back,' Rhonda mentally noted as for a brief moment, she and Arnold locked eyes. It was a gaze of (temporary) mutual respect.
Arnold motioned for the rest of the team to return to the huddle.
"Ok, here's what we're gonna do..."
2nd Half...
Helga took one good look at the incoming Team Arnold and knew something changed. While still not looking like they're on friendly terms, she sensed the air between Rhonda and Arnold to be calmer. The overwhelming tension had relaxed. They weren't looking at each other with smiles, but their mutual stares radiated assurance and understanding. Helga gulped, realizing that her team might be in danger.
Arnold figured that Team Helga would now hone in on Rhonda. Common sense would dictate that desperation would force Arnold to go to his bread and butter plays with Rhonda on every possession. But Arnold knew better. He planned to use Rhonda as a decoy for the first possessions, and once the defensive attention spreads out, she'll have clear lanes to score as many touchdowns as she can catch Arnold's passes.
It worked to perfection. Arnold called out plays to lure Helga into thinking that Rhonda would be the recipient of long passes. Helga, nervous that her strategy would gloriously backfire on her, threw caution to the wind and instructed 2 players to defend and shield Rhonda at all times. Not that anyone could blame Helga, because even just a bit of daylight is all Rhonda needs to outrun, outmaneuver and outmuscle virtually everyone in the game. This allowed for 2 early touchdowns, courtesy of Lorenzo and Sheena.
Their defense tightened up, as Arnold was now playing with a clearer head. Thanks to the morale boost of his teammates and the dwindling confidence of Team Helga, they put the pressure on and managed to set everyone in key spots to potentially intercept Gerald and Nadine. To make matters worse for Team Helga, the possibility of losing the big lead began to get to the captain's head, as she began barking out orders and making her teammates feel inadequate. Eventually, Team Helga's players began openly complaining about the plays being ran and the method of Helga's maddening demands. Someone had to step in...
"Helga, stop being a coach Wittenberg and keep it together! Why not spread out our defense a bit? I doubt Rhonda's still got the legs to complete that many touchdowns for them to even tie," Gerald suggested. He too was getting worried that their team would lose, but he wasn't gonna allow the worries of Helga be the main reason why. Unfortunately for Gerald, that's just what Arnold and Rhonda wanted. It was time for her and her crazy legs to run circles.
And run circles she did. In what seemed like pure poetry in motion, Arnold would call the set, receive the ball from the center, and with barely even gazing, barely giving away the target of his vision, he would throw the ball in whichever direction he pleased, and somehow some way, Rhonda would catch them with ease. To watch them be this in sync felt almost like one was intruding in a very intimate moment between boy and girl. As much as Helga wanted to intrude, it was easier said than done.
With a few seconds to go, Team Arnold managed to bring the score close at 49-48 in favor of Team Helga. The last touchdown was secured by none other than Rhonda Lloyd, who despite being flanked by the trio of Stinky, Nadine and the Campfire Lass, outjumped and outmaneuvered all of them to still somehow catch Arnold's long pass and finish the play. And now, rather than going for a kick to tie, Team Arnold was going for the win.
But Helga noticed something just as Nadine was helping Rhonda up from the previous play. While she couldn't quite make out what words were exchanged between those best friends, judging from Rhonda's movement and incessant blinking, her vision was impaired. Helga theorized that maybe a contact lens or 2 had popped out and Princess couldn't retrieve them. Helga saw opportunity.
Before Arnold could set the play up, Helga hurriedly call time out, much to her opponents' frustration. Helga then broke down their final defensive stand: rather than try to outmuscle the bodies defending Arnold, she instructed Campfire Lass to remember how Arnold (and by extension, Gerald) originally "took advantage of the kindness of the Campfire Lass troupe" when they bought chocolate turtles at member price to resell at retail. It took time however to help her focus and channel that anger strictly to Arnold, as she was ready to rip Gerald's head open upon remembering that moment. She told the deranged imp to slip through the cracks of the defense and pounce on Arnold. 'Thank goodness she doesn't seem to remember when I mugged her...,' Helga thought to herself. Next, she instructed Gerald and Stinky to block out Rhonda, knowing full well that if Team Arnold is gonna pull this miracle off the ball is heading to her. While Stinky and Gerald voiced their concerns that they're either too slow or too small to really block her out, Helga guaranteed them that Rhonda will be stopped.
Final Play...
Arnold noticed most of the changes in Team Helga's defensive scheme. Most. So drawn to what their opponent was doing to counter the impending Rhonda Lloyd blitz, he failed to notice the change of lineup right under his nose. Arnold went at his usual pace, calling for the ball, and surveying the field...that was until he heard the annoying fake Scottish accent layering the yell of "I got ye now, ya two-faced, football-headed jerk!" from none other than the Campfire Lass, who was basically about to pounce Arnold before he was ready to throw a pass. Knowing that he was about to get tackled, hard, he took a slight glance at Rhonda, and that split second they had a mental exchange of "just give me the ball now." Arnold threw it up, very early, hoping that somehow even with his worst pass yet, Rhonda would somehow catch it despite being bogged down by Stinky and Gerald. Rhonda put all her will and crazy leg power into outrunning and outjumping Stinky and Gerald respectively, but because of how early and uncoordinated Arnold's pass was, Rhonda had to turn her back mid-jump in order to use her chest to aid in catching the ball properly. She was lucky she didn't end up getting entangled with Gerald's legs as they landed, avoiding a serious injury. But, she wasn't lucky enough for what came next...
"Sweet dreams, princess!" Those were the last words Rhonda heard, before the blur she saw coming at her revealed a pink bow tied to blond hair that belonged to...
SLAM.
Rhonda woke up a second time that day. This time, she was on a bed of grass and mud, and soon she found herself coughing up for air, trying to recover all the wind knocked right out of her care of Helga Pataki. She looked up, with some tears in her eyes from the pain, seeing Helga stand up and say, "good morning RhondaLloyd."
Rhonda was angry that she got sacked and cost her team the game. But she couldn't do anything about it, Helga really got her good. She checked her watch to see how much time she had before she needed to get home. Her timepiece read "11:44 AM." She would need to somehow get herself back up, walk thru the pain and make it in time for lunch, all the while being essentially blind in one eye.
She overheard Nadine asking Helga what in the world did she need to go overboard and hit Rhonda so hard for, to which Helga just said that she couldn't let the chance to beat an Arnold-Rhonda led team slip by her, and that "given how she'd been acting since going broke, an extra lesson on humility wouldn't hurt."
'Typical Helga...,' Rhonda thought. She saw a hand extended to her, and with her less than stellar vision, figured it was Nadine's, and thanked "her" for it.
"Don't mention it...," a male voice replied.
While Rhonda's vision betrayed her, her sense of hearing remained intact, and she instantly recognized that it was Arnold.
"Listen, you did well today. And, thanks for...snapping me out of it earlier. I needed that...," Arnold stammered.
"Rhonda, let's get you home? You're supposed to meet your parents at 12 sharp!" Nadine said as she ran over to check on her friend after giving Helga a piece of her mind. Just as Nadine was about to wrap Rhonda's left arm around her, the Lloyd heiress was surprised to find her right arm wrapped around...oh...
"If you girls don't mind, I've been a bit of a jerk today. I should help you guys get to Rhonda's house, pronto."
Rhonda, while a bit elated that her best friend and her dear (cute) frie-err, team captain, were assisting her on the way home, she felt that there was still more to unpack if she and Arnold would ever truly become friends off the football field again. But maybe, this was a start...
They soon started making their walk to Rhonda's - the blind rich girl being assisted by her best friend and the friend she wants to reclaim. This was noticed by everyone still on the field, with many sighing a breath of relief that the Arnold they know seems to have come back. Helga, while glad her team managed to avoid the major collapse, took note of the fact that Arnold brushed his pettiness aside and helped bring Princess home. It wasn't supposed to end that way.
"I hope there's nothing more to what I just saw...I already have Lila to worry about...," Helga murmured under her breath as she waited for Phoebe's congratulations and observations of the game.