A/N: Erm, here's my second chapter. Hope you'll read and review. Positive comments are great, but so is constructive criticism ;0) Anyway, I don't own Hey Arnold. If I did, do you think I'd be sitting up in cold Canada? I'd be in Hawaii, partying like I was Craig Bartlett. heheh
Chapter Two: Gerald's News
Exams passed quickly. Almost too quickly, really – Helga realized as she sat at the exam desk that she probably hadn't studied enough, but really, there just hadn't been enough time. Unfortunately for Gerald, the Calculus notes that he had spent the last day of school ruining would have probably come in handy when studying. Instead, he had to wing it. (Logarithms are inverse exponential equations, no wait, aren't they anti-derivatives?) Phoebe, as was expected, unsurprisingly aced every single exam she wrote, leaving the rest of her friends either cursing her existence, or secretly plotting to steal her brain. Stinky slept in on one of his exam dates and showed up ten minutes late. Luckily he was let in anyway. Lila showed up to her Biology exam and spent most of the time doodling unicorns and dragons. She was already signed up to take the course in summer school, though desperately she was trying to think up excuses to skip out on it. After all, she rationalized, she didn't need to pass Biology to graduate. It was only on her father's insistence that she agreed to make up the course. Nadine had unexpectedly failed Lit. It turned out that her teacher docked marks for skipping, and Nadine had sadly missed a lot of classes. (There was a major bug convention in town!)
That said, a group of the PS 118 students (plus Simon) had converged on a small diner, exulted in their somewhat victorious end to high school.
"So," Phoebe began, glancing about expectedly from her perch on Simon's lap, "what's the plan? What crazy things are we going to do before parting?"
Helga looked up from the sundae she and Lila were attacking. "Crimany, Pheebs, you sound like some sort of cheesy tv voice over. 'What crazy things will our heroes get into next time,'" she intoned, "'stay tuned next time to find out.'"
Lila laughed through a mouthful of ice cream. "Well, I'll be spending some quality time back at Franky D.'s. You're all welcome to join me." She looked hopefully about the table, everyone averted their eyes. "Fine, whatever. Me and Mr. Bradford will have fun."
"Not Busy-Hands-Bradford?" Nadine frowned. "You heard what happened with him and that sophomore? I'm glad the only class I'm making up this summer is Lit with Ms Hunter. I like her."
"And that's why I want someone else to be there with me." Lila pouted.
"They'll be other students." Simon gave his input from underneath the little Asian.
"Yeah, but still, it's yucky." Lila sighed, "but enough of my bring down, the rest of you must have some exciting plans."
"Well, if you call working at Big Bob's Beeper Emporium exciting, my summer is going to be a major roller coaster ride." Helga reflected bitterly on how her father had roped her into working for him (at the family member discount). He was paying fully for her tuition and in return she agreed to work for Big Bob at rates that would make child labourers look overpaid.
"Well, I'm going to be spending my summer trying to wade through the expected reading my Philosophy course next year requires. I've read through Plato's, The Republican, before, but I think I better review it. That, coupled with Homer's Iliad should keep me occupied for the most part of the summer." Phoebe contributed her exciting plans to the mix.
"Ah, but babe, I thought we could spend the summer at the beach." Simon whined, making the plaintive "I'm an abused boyfriend" face. "I want to see a lot of you before you leave."
Phoebe twisted around to look him in the face. She planted a kiss on his nose. "Well, I could probably do some reading at the beach."
Simon laughed, shaking his head. "Great, that'll be fun. Me, my girlfriend, and Plato, just chillin' on the beach."
Phoebe answered with a shrug. "Hey, I read somewhere that Plato was a real ladies man."
"So, you saying you might leave me for him?"
"Yea, so you better be nice to me." Looking offended, Simon caught Phoebe's chin, kissing her.
Helga rolled her eyes. "Get a room, you two. I'm trying to eat here."
"Okay," Simon made as though to stand up, but a soft punch in the shoulder from Phoebe seated him once more. "I'm sorry, I was just trying to do as Helga so politely requested." He shot a puppy-dog look of confusion at Phoebe. She giggled.
"That leaves you Stinky." Helga looked about the table, taking account of who was present. "What are your great plans?"
"Well, on account of my uncle's farmhand quitting, I'm gonna work on my uncle's homestead. Riding on back of horses, tending to the garden, going down to the waterin hole with my cousins, it'll be a great summer for me." Stinky took a sip on his Yahoo. "I'm leavin in two days on account of my uncle needing me a lot."
"So," Lila sigh, "Stinky is the only one with summer that sound remotely fun – that is, if you like playing in dirt, and all. Does anyone else find that ever so depressing?"
Around the table a communal sigh was issued. Everyone sat there, looking down at the table cloth (studying the intricate checked design). It was an odd sight to see. Six high school graduates, their textbooks barely cold, sitting around a table giving each other pitiful looks. A glob of ice cream dropped, hitting the saucer with a resounding "clump", symbolic of something…but unfortunately no one got a chance to contemplate the meaning as just at that moment, the door burst open and in ran a sweating, grinning Gerald.
"Guess what, guys!" He looked excitedly from one face to another. Helga shot him a look that said something to the effect of "Drop dead. We don't need any kill-sorrows around here." Gerald missed it. "Fine, then, if no where will guess," he trailed off, acting hurt. But only acting. A second later he was grinning again. "Guess which college just sent me a letter?"
Again, he looked hopefully around the table. Again, dead silence met his words, so he went on. "Denver State!" paused for effect, "yes, you heard right my quiet friends. Denver State wants me, Gerald, to play for the Denver Pioneers." Another pause. "Their hockey team. Top in the league." He sighed, seeing that no news short of the Pope was right outside the diner would cause anyone to even bat an eyelash (and even the Pope, Gerald wasn't to sure, would cause them to move). "Fine then," he pushed into the booth, placing both elbows on the table, cradling his chin in his palms, "what are we being depressed about?"
Finally a response was given. "This summer's going to suck." Helga let Gerald in on the secret.
"Majorly." Lila added from beside Helga.
"Oh." Gerald fell silent, giving this new news some thought. He looked up, grinning. "Well, that brings me to the next bit of news I have." He glanced around the table at the eyes that had suddenly glazed over once more. (Evidently talking about their depressing summers was the only source of little joy in this small group.) "Anyone up for a road trip?" He grinned at the astonished faces.
A smile cracked onto Helga face. She chuckled. "Ooh, we could have our own Crossroads. I'll be the Britney character, a repressed virgin. And Lila, you could be the snooty black one."
Lila clapped her hands together in mock excitement. "Oh, could I?"
Gerald rolled his eyes, but Helga just continued. "And Gerald, you'll have to be the guy who we found on the street corner who I fall in love with and give my 'flower' to." Everyone was laughing at this point, momentarily forgetting their troubles.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Laugh all you want. I have to be down in Denver by August 19th, and I just thought it might be fun. But if you'd all rather hang around here doing nothing, be my guests. I'll find some people who like to have fun."
"Wait, wait, wait." Helga grabbed a hold of Gerald's arm as he started to stand up. "I'm sorry, Geraldo. Don't go. I'll come along. Sounds like fun."
"Really?" Gerald grinned. "Terrific. So, who else can I sign up?"
A variety of no's came from around the table. Lila had biology. Phoebe had reading to do. Stinky had that dirt farm to help out on. Simon was volunteering at the hospital. Nadine was retaking Lit.
"Beside," added Phoebe, "don't you have to work for Big Bob this summer, Helga?"
Helga shrugged. "He'll get over it. I'm not turning down a road trip in order to sell pointless, little, black boxes that beep annoyingly when some irritating person wants to get a hold of you." She turned to Gerald, standing up. "C'mon, let's go find some people who are fun. I bet Eugene or Sid'll come along."
Gerald followed suit. Standing, he turned back to the rest of them who had descended back into their original funk. "If any of you change your mind, you know where to find me. We're going to fill up the van pretty quickly though, so don't wait to long."