Summary: A new girl comes to Arnold's school

Hi y'all! I came up with this new Hey Arnold fic while I was watching that episode where Patty and Harold get to know each other better. This is going to be one of those many-chapter-type stories and I apologize if maybe you already came up with this idea. I don't really visit Hey Arnold fanfiction all that much (except for the first three pages of fanfiction that I read. Very cool stories you guys! Keep up with the chapters! There are many Helga/Arnold stories out there that I want to see updated because I love them so much! I'm a big fan of H/A. That's the only reason I like Hey Arnold is because of the romance between them.) Anyways, I'll tell all of you ahead of time that this is a Helga/Arnold pairing (of course). I hope you enjoy this. And please, feel free to flame me, tell me what I need to improve on, etc. Give me reviews! One more thing, can anyone give me any good websites with Helga/Arnold fanfiction? Or with a complete episode guide? There's this one character I want to know about. Her name's Summer and I want to know what the deal was with her and Arnold. And I want to know what happened in that episode. Thanks a bunch! Enjoy chapter one!

Summary: A new girl comes to Arnold's school. She's like the defender of the teased. Everyone thinks she strange but some people think she's nice and heroic, like a super hero. Who is she really?

Who is that girl?

The day started like any other at P.S. 118. The sun shone bright in the sky as clouds passed by, blocking it for only a moment. Birds chirped as the students of P.S. 118 went into their school; ready for another day in the prison they called school. They weren't very happy with school but they were happy with the thought that summer was coming in about a month or so.

The day started out like any other for Arnold. He went into class and almost immediately, Helga was picking on him and calling him 'Football Head'. He always ignored her so it didn't bother him all that much.

Mr. Simmons, the class' cheerful teacher, came into the room and set his bag on his table. With the usual happy-go-lucky smile of his, he proceeded to the chalkboard and began writing an English assignment on the board. It read 'Book report. Due next week. Worth ¼ of your entire grade. Pick any book and write a 5-paragraph essay about the book, its conflicts, the main characters, etc.' The children groaned as they read the assignment.

Mr. Wartz, the principal of P.S. 118, suddenly came into the room. Mr. Simmons stopped writing on the board in order to hear what the principal had to say. He turned to face the entire class. "Students," he began in his deep croaky voice, "I have some good news to tell you. It seems you will have a new student joining you. She's only an exchange student who will be staying with us for the rest of this year plus the next school year. I want you all to be nice to her."

All the students were quiet while a girl of long black hair came in the room. Her hair reached all the way to her knees while she wore a pink mini-skirt. She wore a white tank top with a pink over shirt that had one of those knot ties on the belly. Her eyes were black and large and her lips were rosy pink. Many boys began to fall at her feet.

"Hi," the girl said in a soft voice. "My name is Ashley Rose and I came from California." She put on some pink sunglasses that Rhonda recognized as the famous Nancy Spumoni glasses that she herself had wanted for months. "I hope I get to know all of you before I have to go next year."

Mr. Simmons placed a hand on her shoulder. "Why don't you go on and have a seat anywhere."

Ashley nodded as she chose a seat near Arnold. Helga saw this and she began to tear a recent poem that she had been writing. Her eyes blazed up in jealousy.

Mr. Simmons continued the lecture as the boys stared at Ashley with star-glazed eyes. She, on the other hand, only listened to the teacher and grew excited when it turned out that she was going to do a book report. She loved books so she knew she would love this assignment.

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During break, Ashley was already getting started on the report, reading a book Mr. Simmons had approved when the boys all came over to her. She closed the book and looked up at them with a smile. "Gosh," commented Stinky, "you sure ar' perty."

Ashley giggled. "Why thank you Stinky. But I must tell all of you now that I already have a boyfriend. He's back in Cali and I don't think he would want all of you trying to ask me out."

The boys groaned in disappointment as they walked away. They should have known that such a pretty girl would already have a boyfriend. Arnold, however, stayed behind. "Hi," he greeted.

"Hi. What's your name?"

"I'm Arnold," he answered, sitting down a little bit of distance from her. "I'm pleased to meet you."

"Same here." She sat upright. "Aren't you Arnold from the Sunset boarding house?"

"Yeah. How did you know?"

Ashley giggled. "That's where I'm staying. Your grandpa told me that there was a young man around my age living there and I grew excited because I couldn't wait to make a new friend."

Arnold's eyes widened at the first sentence. "You're staying at the boarding house?"

Ashley nodded. "My dad told me that your grandpa had agreed to being my host. I'm very grateful to him."

"Well, it's nice that you'll be staying at one of the top places in New York."

Ashley smiled nervously. "Not to be rude or anything Arnold, but you've got some strange people living there."

Arnold laughed. "Yeah. You're right about that. But they're harmless. You don't have to worry about them."

Ashley was about to say something else when all of a sudden, she heard the bell ring. "Well then," Ashley said as she swung her backpack on her back, "I guess we'd better get to class."

Arnold nodded as he followed her.

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The class went by fast, with Ashley doing nothing but paying attention. She didn't want the kids to think she was some kind of smart kid so she kept quiet when there was a question she knew the answer to. All she wanted was for lunch to come.

Ashley headed over to the cafeteria, and with her plate of pizza and a Dr. Pepper, she searched around for a seat. She brightened when she saw one next to a lonely girl who seemed to be eating alone. The girl looked like a sixth grader but Ashley knew that she was only a fourth grader. She had one eyebrow, short brown hair, and she looked like the bully type. Ashley headed over to her table and stood in front of it. "Can I sit here?" Ashley asked.

The girl looked up at Ashley with widened eyes. "You want to sit with me?"

Ashley smiled. "Sure, why not?"

"O-okay."

Ashley sat down as everyone in the cafeteria began whispering amongst themselves. "I'm Ashley," she introduced. "What's your name?"

"I'm Patty. I'm pleased to meet you."

"Same here," Ashley answered as she took a bite out of her pizza. "Where are your friends? Are they sick?"

Patty talked low so that nobody would hear her. "I don't have any friends."

"What?!" Ashley whispered. "A nice girl like you? Why?"

"I don't know. I guess it's because of my rep."

"Well then, we're going to have to change that. If you want to have friends, you have to be nicer around other people. You know, show them your good side."

"I try but they make fun of me because I'm bigger than them so I just beat them up instead."

"Well you shouldn't," Ashley answered softly as she took a drink of her soda. Patty didn't even touch her food. "What you should have done is when people make fun of you, you should just laugh it off. That's what the principal at my old school used to tell me. That I should ignore them or pretend like it's a joke and joke back. They'll eventually get sick of picking on you and go away. And it worked for me."

"You used to get picked on too?"

"All the time. I used to be a fat kid but I lost the weight and started to make fun of them. My revenge wasn't too sweet because then I started feeling really bad about it. No I go around and help people who were like me or people who are like those boys used to be."

"Wow," Patty answered, taking a bite from her sandwich. "But what you say makes a lot of sense. I'll just joke back with them. I'll fight the urge to clobber them until I'm out of that habit."

"That a girl!" Ashley decided to change the subject as they started to talk about other things. All the while, the other kids were watching them.

"Man Arnold," Gerald complained as usual when he saw something strange. "Why is the new girl sitting next to Big Patty?"

"I don't know Gerald," Arnold answered in his clueless way. "I guess she just wants to make friends."

"Well she must be desperate to be making friends with Big Patty."

Lunch ended and Ashley was about to head back to class when she saw a pencil neck kid with red hair being picked up by a sixth grader. The bigger kid was about to dump the smaller kid into the dumpster.

"Hey!" Ashley yelled as she ran over to the kid. "What do you think you're doing? Let him down!"

The blond sixth grader smiled. "What are you going to do about it fourth grader?" he mocked.

Ashley smiled. She had a little trick up her sleeve. "IfyoudontleavehimaloneIllhavetousemykarateonyou." She talked so fast that the sixth grader freaked out. He placed the kid down and ran away, thinking she was crazy. Ashley walked up to the kid. "Are you okay?"

"Y-yeah, thanks." He ran over to class as kids clapped.

"Wow," Sid said. "No one's ever been able to stand up to Wolf gang. And what you did was really cool!"

"Don't worry about it. It's just that I don't like it when people get picked on." She continued onward to class as the kids followed her, thinking she was some sort of super hero. Arnold smiled.

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Ashley did the same thing as she did before until school ended. She was walking home when the one they called 'Wolf gang' approached her. He had some more of his buddies with him which Ashley didn't see as a problem. "Well well," Wolf gang said, "Lookey what we've got here. It's the little fourth grader who thinks she's so smart."

Ashley laughed. "I don't think I'm smart, I am smart. Compared to you, I'd say I was the smartest person in the world."

All the boys 'oohhh'ed at what Ashley had said. Wolf gang shut them up as he cracked his knuckles. "Well, we'll just have to see how smart you are. Nobody makes fun of Wolf gang."

Ashley shook her head as she placed one hand on her hip. "Do all of the brainless bullies have to say their own name? It's so immature and stupid."

Wolf gang had had enough. He was going to approach the little maggot when he suddenly felt like he couldn't move. "Hey! What's going on? Why aren't I moving?"

Ashley only stood there, looking at Wolf gang as his buddies freaked out. They ran away, leaving their 'friend' with the girl. "Not so tough now, are you?"

"Who are you?" Wolf gang asked with a slight tome of fear.

"It all depends on who you want me to be. I can be your friend or I can be your enemy. All you have to do is choose. If you choose to beat up another kid just because he's younger than you, then you're my enemy. But if you choose the opposite, then you're my friend. All you have to do is choose."

"Are you the one who's holding me with some sort of magic or something?"

"Maybe you're not so dumb after all. You were able to figure that out." Ashley began circling around him. "So, what are you going to choose?"

Wolf gang hesitated, thinking about the right thing to say. "I'll choose the second." He was suddenly able to move as Ashley stopped in front of him. He was on his hands and knees. "Good choice. Now I don't want to see you bothering another kid again."

"R-right," he answered as he stood up and ran away.

Ashley smiled as she tossed some hair behind her and walked to Arnold's boarding house.

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Ashley was walking to Arnold's and when she was almost there, she saw some girl with red, braided hair who was saying goodbye to Arnold. 'I wonder who she is' Ashley thought as she walked over to them. "Hi," Ashley greeted.

"Hi," both said in union. The girl smiled at her. "You must be Ashley. I'm Lila and I'm ever-so-happy to see you."

'[Ever-so-happy]?'Ashley asked herself. 'What kid of language is that?' Ashley tried to smile. "Same here." She brushed past them and walked into her room, which was next to Mr. Whins (Sp?). She dropped her books down on her bed as she went over to take a nap. As she was falling asleep, she decided that Lila would probably be the only one who Ashley wouldn't like.

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A knock woke Ashley up. She checked her watch to see what time it was. 'It's only 4. I only got to sleep for half and hour.' She got up from her bed and went over to open the door. It was Arnold.

"Sorry if I woke you. I was sent here to tell you that dinner's ready." Arnold lowered his voice to a whisper. "Although you may want to avoid my grandmother's cooking."

"That's okay. I'll just have to eat what she makes." Ashley brushed passed Arnold and walked downstairs to where all the boarders were. All were sitting around the table and already eating. Ashley sat down as well. Arnold's grandma handed Ashley a plate filled with brown stuff and rice. Ashley knew right away what it was. "Is this Japanese beef curry?"

"Hai (translation: Yes)," Arnold's grandma said as she bowed. Ashley grew excited as she took a bite and let the yummy flavor explode in her mouth. It tasted wonderful. "This is great!"

Arnold's grandpa raised an eyebrow at her as Arnold joined the dinner table.

"So Ashley," Arnie (Sp?) began, "what part of California are you from?"

Ashley swallowed the mouth full she had in order to answer. "L.A."

"Los Angeles huh?" Arnie said, as if pleased with the location. "Any good buildin's there?"

Arnold spoke up. "Arnie works with in demolition."

"Ah," Ashley answered, nodding. She turned back to Arnie. "No. There aren't any that I know of that need to be knocked down."

Arnie looked disappointed as he continued eating.

No one else asked any questions about Ashley.

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That night, Ashley had a dream. In it, she was at some girl's house. Funny thing was, she was standing in a huge ballroom with beautiful light orange lighting and wonderful paintings of gardens. All around Ashley, people were dancing, laughing, eating; just having a good time. Ashley was standing off to the side while she checked herself over. Ashley was dressed in an elegant gown of pure silk in a beautiful shade of midnight blue. Around her waist was a gold chain that had a locket on it. Curious, Ashley opened the heart-shaped locket and saw two pictures. One was of Arnold, who strangely enough had a crown on his head, and the other was of a girl that Ashley had only seen. She had one eyebrow, blond hair, big blue eyes that were quite lovely, and a nice smile. Arnold was dressed like royalty while the other girl had on a lovely pink dress that commoners used.

Ashley scanned the room and saw Arnold in the same clothes as in the locket and he was dancing with Lila, who also had a crown on her head. Ashley guessed that the two were a prince and a princess and that the other girl was a commoner. Arnold had a huge smile on his face as he danced with Lila.

A movement caught Ashley's eye. It was the girl in the locket. She was standing behind a plant, watching Arnold with tear-stricken eyes. She looked hurt. Ashley was going to go over and talk to her but that's when she chose to wake up from the dream. Ashley sat upright in bed and thought about the dream as sunlight streamed through her window, casting the room aglow. 'What did that dream mean? Does that girl like Arnold? I have to find out.' Ashley got out of bed and got ready for school.

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At school, Ashley waited until the girl from her dream came into the classroom. All the children were gathering in the room and taking their seats and Ashley even saw Arnold walk in with a black boy.

Finally, Ashley saw the girl. She looked just like in the dream, only she wasn't smiling and she didn't have a hurt look. Instead, she had an enraged look that didn't suit her. She looked better when she smiled.

The girl noticed Ashley's stare and she was surprised when the girl glared at her. Being the smart girl that she was, she picked up on the meaning right away. 'I guess I won't have to ask. 'She does like Arnold. She's probably mad at me because I talked to him yesterday. Why else would she glare at me like that?' Ashley's suspicions were confirmed when she saw the girl look at Arnold, sigh, and bring out a little pink book, jotting something down, most likely about him.

'Okay' Ashley thought as she turned her attention back to the board. 'So she does like him. But what can I do about it? I need to come up with something fast before Arnold falls even more for that "Lila", Ms. Goody-two-shoes (sp?).' Ashley didn't know what it was about Lila that she didn't like but there was something.

Suddenly, the idea came to Ashley as she smiled broadly.

To be continued…

Did you like it? I hope so. I'll try to get the next chapter out ASAP but I'm not promising anything because I'm working on a fanfiction for "The Vision of Escaflowne", two for "Flint the time detective", and one for "Pokemon". I'll try though. But did you like it? Please review! I accept flames. They're crucial in order for me to improve. And, if you have any information on the websites for fanfictions and an episode guide, please tell me in your reviews. Thank you so much! A kiss to all of you ^_^!!!! See you later! Stay tuned for the next chapter!