I sighed deeply, already bored out of my mind. Was standing up to Principal Wartz REALLY worth spending two weeks in this hellhole? I sat in the back row, Arnold, surprisingly, in the desk next to me. I looked at him for a while, watching him groan with his head on his desk. "I would have taken you to be a 'front row' type of guy, why sit back here?" I asked.
He looked at me in silence for a second then said, "I'd rather not let people know I'm in here."
"What?"
He pointed towards the door, "See, when people walk by the door they can see inside and with me sitting back here they can't see me." I nodded. I GUESS it made sense. "Look, Helga I'm sorry about this morning. I didn't mean to over react like that. I shouldn't have thrown your things on the floor." he looked down.
I raised an eyebrow. After I tackled him to the ground, after I screamed at him and treated him like crap… he was still nice to me. I should have said thank you, but I couldn't form the words. I couldn't handle him being nice to me. Part of me almost WISHED that he DID hate me. "Yeah, well, maybe you should start looking where you're going. Then that little incident back there wouldn't happen." I scoffed.
He put his head back down on his desk. From that position he continued to talk to me, "What happened between us, I mean, maybe we weren't "conventional" friends, but we didn't act like this… I always thought of you as my friend." I raised my eyebrows. Was he trying to make me feel guilty?
"Look, Arnoldo, we weren't FRIENDS, I picked on you. If that's what you call a friend, then-"
He sighed. "Whatever you say, Helga…" he said, cutting me off. "I'm just sorry I reacted that way to you, I should have done what you said. I should have just left you alone; it's my fault…" he trailed off.
"Arnold…" I started with a defeated sigh, "I didn't mean to…" his head bolted up. I turned red. "I didn't mean to…" he looked at me expectantly, "I didn't mean to… NOT HIT YOU!" I said, changing my tone of voice dramatically to complete the last part of the sentence. Dammit, dammit, dammit! He shook his head, then stopped.
"Why didn't you hit me?" he asked, a hint of a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. I was stuck. I didn't know what to say.
"Look you two, you're in here for a reason, to be punished. This isn't the place to carry on your little social conversations. That is, unless you both want another few days in here." said a slightly heavy older woman. "By the way, I'm Mrs. Vega." she stood from her desk and walked to the middle of the classroom. With a loud, booming voice she began, "this class is simple if you DON'T get into more trouble. We sit here all day, you're allowed to do work from your classes, but under no circumstances will you be allowed to make up class work missed while in here. Hence the term, in school suspension." she paused for a second.
"Do you have to yell like that, there's 4 people in here!" said a girl in the front row. She had a big build and light brown hair… hey, wait a second.
"Big Patty?" I asked, and she turned around.
"Well, well, well, if it isn't Helga G. Pataki?" she said, "What terrible thing did YOU do to get in here?" it seemed I was about to have a conversation with my one time enemy but was cut off. Clearing her throat and totally disregarding the conversation between the students, Mrs. Vega continued.
"You get lunch breaks, but not with the rest of the students. I walk you down to the cafeteria, you get the lunch and we walk back here. Get it? Any questions?" she glared at all of us then stopped on Arnold. He still sat there with his head on his desk, seemingly oblivious to what the teacher had just said.
"This isn't nap time, son, so put your head up!" she shouted, and Arnold shot upright, blinking his eyes quickly. "You'd better not sleep in my class, boy-"
"Look, lady, he's tired and it's still technically morning, lay off!" I said, regretting it the moment it left my mouth. Instead of reprimanding me, or giving me another week of I.S.S. she smiled and walked back to her desk. I didn't get it.
"While I do respect kids who stand up for their fellow student, I WON'T take it from YOU, Pataki!" she gave one last stern look, then went back to the work on her desk.
I nodded, not wanting to get myself into more trouble today. I looked over at Arnold who smiled at me. Maybe there was hope for me… I mean I CAN stand up for him…
A few hours into the class, I suspected it was around third period, I asked to use the pass and left to walk around the building for a while. Who cared if I couldn't ever use the pass again, at least I was getting some much needed exorcize from sitting in that desk for so long. On my way back to class I passed by Mr. Fletcher's class. I knew Phoebe had him for U.S. History 3rd period to I crept up to the door and searched through the students. There she was, paying attention intently to the teacher's lectures, copying notes, ect… I gagged inwardly.
"Pst, Pheebs!" I whispered. "Yo Pheebs…" many students noticed my presence and I backed away from the door. I heard Phoebe from inside asking to go to the restroom and I waited outside for her. As soon as she walked out I grabbed her by the arm and pulled her from the doorway.
"Helga, what did you need me for?" she asked, fixing her glasses, "Ronda told me you were at the door calling me, is this true?"
"Yeah," I said, slowly, "Why else would I be here waiting for you?" for a smart person, she sure acted dumb sometimes.
"What is it?" she asked, as I sighed. I grabbed her hand and led her down the hall to the girl's restroom.
After safely inside I took a deep breath and started, "This morning when I left you and Gerald… I accidentally walked right into," I paused, "Ice-cream."
"Oh my," she said and waited for me to finish.
"Yeah, well, we argued, HE actually argued with me… and when I sort of, uh, well…"
"Yes?" she asked, somewhat impatiently.
"Tackled him to the floor," I said quickly, maybe hoping she hadn't heard it, "and then Wartz came out and dragged us both up to I.S.S… Then, thanks to MY bad attitude got us two weeks in it!" I said, sighing and resting up against the door.
"Helga?"
"Yeah, Pheebs?" I asked, in a defeated voice.
"You tackled him to the… ground?" she perked an eyebrow at this. I put my head in my hands.
"It was an impulse! I didn't have time to react! You don't understand, he was actually standing up to me! I didn't know what to do!" I said with an exaggerated dramatic voice, flailing my arms in the air.
"Helga?"
"Yeah, Pheebs?" I answered again, dropping my hands to my side.
"You tackled him to the ground?" she said again, more as a confirmation than a question this time.
"YES!" I said, sliding down the door.
"Oh, dear, is that anyway to treat," she paused, "Ice-cream?"
"What am I going to do?!" I asked, jumping up. "You gotta help me, Pheebs! Get him out of that class somehow! Please!" I pleaded, taking her by the shoulders and shaking her.
"HELGA!" she yelled, slapping me, "Get a hold of yourself!"
"Thanks, Pheebs…" I said, composing myself.
"Hmm… Helga, I'm not sure what exactly you want ME to do. I don't think I can get him out of that class. It was the principal himself that put him in there. Principal Wartz isn't going to like me, a student, telling him to release a student from a alternative class." she walked over to me, "I'm sorry, Helga."
I sighed again, "It's ok, Pheebs. I was the one who got him in there, maybe I can get him out… I can talk to Principal Wartz… tell him that it was my fault, something…"
I walked back to the I.S.S. room and realized I'd been gone for 20 minutes. "So, Pataki, have a little trouble in the lady's room? Did you fall in the toilet or something?" Mrs. Vega asked, calmly. I rolled my eyes.
"Look, I'm not obligated to tell you about my FEMALE problems!" I said, handing her the pass again. I looked at Patty, who gave me a smile, and walked to my desk.
"What took you so long?" Arnold asked as I approached my desk.
"Nothing, football head, just took a short troll around the school that's all." I said, taking out my Math book.
"I see," he said, giving a smirk and looking down at his English book. I opened my Math book and flipped to the right page and looked horrified down at the problems. How do they expect me to know this stuff? I saw him look just as confused as I was and I inwardly smiled.
"Having trouble?" I whispered with a slight mocking smile. He scratched his head then looked up at me.
"Uh, yeah… I don't get this at all. What do they want me to write about?" he questioned. I leaned over and glanced at his book.
"All they're asking you to do is map out the dynamic character's transformation from what they once were to how they are at the end of the story." I stated, recognizing the assignment as the one I did last night.
He looked up at me, not understanding, "Um, what?" I laughed a little. "Oh, that's right, you always were good at English, no wonder I don't understand you…"
"How about this, football head, you do my homework and I do yours?" I stated, shoving my Math book to the edge of my desk. "Yeah?" I jokingly smiled.
He glanced at my book and shook his head, "That's so easy, Helga, I can't believe you don't understand that."
"Well? Are you gonna help me or not?" I asked further. He took my book and wrote some notes for me. I just looked at him and wondered why we couldn't be this cooperative all the time. Oh, that's right, because I'm a bitch. I smiled inwardly again. He was right, we weren't always the best of friends be we were SOME kind of friends; the kind that helped each other out when they were in trouble. Where HAD our friendship gone? It seemed like talking to him this morning was the first in a long time…
