For Her
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A sequel to "My Muse", written by Miss Matched
Dedicated to Starry Nights, for being so encouraging.
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All standard disclaimers apply. Characters from "Hey Arnold" are copyright Craig Barlett and to whomever else they're copyrighted to. Original characters are original, and the author would like sole use of them, unless contacted for permission. All poetry/music in this fanfiction are also original, and once again, may only be used with permission. Thus ends this huge disclaimer.
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Chapter Nineteen: Revealed
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The walls gleamed a bright, painted white that nearly blinded my eyes. Had they always been like that? So spotless? I guess I'd never taken time to actually examine them. What was I thinking?! I slapped my forehead. I wasn't back here in this God-forsaken timeline to admire the blasted walls. To prove it, I kicked it and it's pathetic, white glory, leaving a crack like a spider's web through the drywall and bits of plaster in the air. I backed up slowly to admire my handiwork. It's was a relief to not have that annoying, goodie goodie past self in the back of my head, telling me to calm down, be rational, or shut up. I looked around my small house. Had anything changed? Had I done it?
Two black leather armchairs were seated in front of the small TV set. The bright, white walls were covered in the black and white pictures that I remembered all too well. Yelling out in frustration, I punched a hole in the wall behind me.
"HOW COULD NOTHING HAVE CHANGED?!?!!?" I screamed. In anger, I pulled those delicate black and white photographs off the walls and smashed the frames. Finding that creating that much wreckage had a calming effect on me, I slumped down in a chair in front of the TV. Sighing and rubbing my temples, I flipped the TV on. A man with a ridiculous toupee was on the news, fidigiting with his papers.
"No new news over the Hyerdaul-Johanson Lab pilfering. In case you're just turning in, or have been living under a rock, a prototype, one of a kind, first ever time machine was stolen from Hyerdaul-Johanson Labs a few weeks ago. Some religious groups are taking this as a sign that the end of the world is happening soon. Disappearance rates have been on the rise, and reports of people disappearing after having heart-attack like symptoms have been made. While these reports have not been confirmed, there's enough of them for all of us to be worried." The news anchor was sweating like a pig, causing his toupee to slip and slide around his bald, ugly head. I laughed at this. Well, at least it had made the news. That was a small triumph for me, I still had done something. Yet, it made me thirsty and yet drunk with anger at the same time. How close had I been to winning back my life? I groaned holding my head in my hands. My head throbbed back in response. I sighed, fingering the time machine dial, and thinking back to the first time I had pressed it.
Deciding on what time to go back to had been the easy part. I decided to go back to where my "friendship" with Arnold had started. Seventh grade, the very year that we had met. We had been fairly close friends... and I had trusted him. He betrayed my trust the moment his snagged that cushy basketball scholarship from under me. It was war from then on.
So, it was simple. All I had to do was get Arnold onto the basketball team. You see, he hadn't tried out in 7th grade, but in 8th grade, he tried out and made it. I talked to the school basketball coach, some fat wimp named Coach Wittenburg, and he agreed to give me a starting position if I got Arnold onto the team. Seems he knew the Football head from a basketball team he had coached years before.
Getting Arnold to join the team was a pain in the rear, though. He simply refused, because he needed buddy buddy time with Gerald. Long story short, cutting him off from his friends, and Gerald off from reality was all I really needed to get him to agree.
It felt like someone was stomping on my head, hard. Groaning, I blindly got out of my chair and made my way to the medicine cabinet in the bathroom. I muttered to myself as I searched for the Advil. Groping for the bottle at the back of the cabinet, I glanced at my reflection in the mirror. Dark, bloodshot eyes, greasy brown hair, face creased with bitter anger. I paid no mind, and clenched the Advil bottle tightly. After downing two, I fell back into the wall.
"All I need is a little sleep" I assured myself. "Just a little break. Then, back to the old grind again. Back to changing the world."
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An: Ladies and gentlemen! It is my pleasure to announce the 2002 Hey Arnold Fanfiction Awards!!!
Random person: What is she talking about?!
Okay, here's the skinny. Below all this information will be a form. You must, and I repeat, must fill out the form in it's entirity, and email it to miss_matched@hotmail.com
Random person: Psshaw. So, what you're saying is that the only people who can vote are the ones who read your stories?
Nonsense! I encourage everyone to plug this in their authors notes. No, not my stories, just the contest. Include my email address so they can email their favorites to me. Heck, even post the form and my email address at the bottom of your story. I would appreciate very much!
Random person: Can I vote more then once?
I would rather you only vote once for every section. Once the ballot comes out, all votes before hand are null and void, and you may vote again.
Random person: I love a fanfic that was written prior to 2002. May I please nominate it?
Well, only if it has been updated in 2002. Next year, the awards will be only for 2003 stories, and so on and so forth.
Random Person: Well, I like a story that's Action/Adventure and Drama, so I wanna submit that for Action/Adventure. Can I submit it for Drama too?
Sure can. If it has two genres, then it's eligible for both awards.
Random person: Well, what are you gonna do with the winners?
Well, first off, I'll have some sort of award for them. It'll depend on the winner... I'm hoping to depict a scene from their story on the award. Second, I'll be writing the award ceremony in fanfiction form. I'll have "snippets" from the nominated stories, and it'll just be cuter than anything.
Send those nominations on in, and please, don't review with them! But do review, lol.
The 2002 Hey Arnold Fanfiction Awards!
Best Over All Author: This is the one author that you love the most. You don't just love one or two Hey Arnold stories by them, but all of them.
Best General Story: Best story from the "General" section.
Best Humor Story: Best story from the "Humor" section.
Best Action/Adventure story: Best story from the Action/Adventure section
Best Mystery story: Best story from the Mystery section
Best Si Fi, Fantasy or Supernatural story: Best story from the Science Fiction or Fantasy or Supernatural (Only 8 stories in this category. Wow, eh?)
Best Angst story: Best story from the angst section
Best Romance does not exist. Why? Too many stories!
So, we have...
Best Gerald/ Phoebe Romance
Best Helga/Arnold Romance
Best Unlikely Romance (Helga/Gerald, Arnold/Phoebe, Helga/Made up Character, Brainy and Miss Matched (Joking, Joking... :-D) so on and so forth)
Best Minor Character Romance: (PeaPod Kid and Nadine, stuff of that sort!)
Other Awards...
Best Soliloquy: Best story featuring mostly one character talking to his or her self, and revealing their thoughts without addressing a listener.
Saddest Story: Story that made you cry and think at the same time
Most Meaningful: A story who's lesson can also be used in real life.
Best Short Story: A one shot that left you saying "Woah"
Best Song Fic: A story who's song is woven in perfectly with the story.
Daydreamer's Award: This one has special meaning to me, so there will be three, yes, three Daydream award winners. These three coveted awards will be given to the stories that you stayed up late at night thinking about. Yes, you may nominate three stories.
Note: Horror is disqualified because the one story submitted is two words long.
Suspense is disqualified because no stories are from this year.
Remember, send in your lists to miss_matched@hotmail.com
Oh, and review for this story, too?
Peace,
Miss Matched