A/N: Hiya. Thanks for the wonderful reviews. I don't think I've ever gotten that many reviews on one chapter for any of my other fanfics. I feel all special now! Lol Anyway, here's chapter two!!
Disclaimer: It's on chapter one.
Chapter 2 – "It's a Wonderful Life"
"Hey Arnold! Hey Arnold! Hey Arnold!"
Arnold's alarm clock rang out above his head, causing him to wake up from his peaceful sleep. He squinted his eyes through the bright sunlight of his sunroof of his room. But then he noticed something different. The sunroof was almost ten times bigger than normal!
He blinked and looked around his room. It was different too! It was the size of three of his rooms put together and his carpet was now a dark blue. The walls were painted a lighter blue than the carpet and there were about three closets on each wall. In one corner of the room stood a desk with a computer, video game consol, cordless phone, and a virtual reality game. In another corner there was the biggest stereo system that he could ever wish for, and next to that was a five foot tall rack full of the latest jazz CD's.
Arnold blinked again.
Then he slapped himself on the forehead.
"Oh, god. That's the third time this month! I've got to get used to this new surrounding. I mean, how long has it been now? Two months? How stupid am I?" he said to himself.
Ever since he moved in with his parents two and a half months ago, he would wake up and forget where he was-expecting to still be in the boardinghouse. But then he would get frustrated with himself every time he realized where he was.
Getting out of his light blue, four-poster bed, he slipped into his slippers and put on his silk robe. He walked down the huge hallway and down the spiral staircase to the entrance hall. He looked around, still in awe at how extravagant it was.
The ceiling had to have been at least twenty feet high and a beautiful chandelier hung from it. The floor was all marble, and the wall was a lush red. You probably wouldn't have guessed that the place was even from this time period. It was pretty old-fashioned. The man that Arnold's parents bought it from said his father built it in the early 1800's.
But Arnold didn't care. He like old-fashioned, actually, so he loved this house and everything in it. His favorite room had to be the library. It was a circular room with books covering the whole room. There were all kinds of books from kid's picture books, to novels and coffee table books. And his favorite thing about that room was the window. The window took up one space of the wall and the whole wall, from floor to ceiling. The first time he had seen it, it made him a bit nervous because it was so big and looked like he could fall right through it. But over time, he got used to it and grew to love it.
Arnold continued down the entrance hall to the kitchen. There, he found his plate of eggs, toast, and bacon sitting on the counter. Grabbing it, along with his glass of milk, he walked into the dining room where he found his parents sitting at the long, narrow table.
"Good morning, Arnold," his mom said cheerfully. Miles looked up. "Hey there, Arnold. Sleep well?" he asked his son as he sat down.
"Fine, thanks," Arnold replied. He started into his eggs.
"Is Master Arnold enjoying his meal?" Arnold looked up to see his butler standing over him.
"Oh, hi, Joe. Yeah, it's fine," Arnold said. "Is there anything I can get you?" Joe asked. "No, Joe. Thanks."
Joe left the room and Arnold sighed. Sometimes Joe breathing over his shoulders all the time got a bit annoying. Stella noticed this so she said, "Oh, Arnold. I wish you could learn to like Joe."
"It's not that I don't like him, mom. He just gets on the annoying side once in awhile. That's all," he told her. She was going to say something else, but Miles kept her from doing so. He knew that it wasn't going to do any good. She sighed and took a sip from her coffee.
An hour later, Arnold was dressed and out the door heading for school. Despite him being rich, he refused to wear anything flashy or fancy. He remained in his usual outfit, as always. On his first day of fifth grade, some of the kids asked him if he was really wearing a skirt. He didn't mind, though. Those same kids actually turned out being his best of friends.
It was a short walk from his house to the school, so he walked most of the time. But if it was raining, he would either get a ride from Joe, or just take the bus (the bus stop was practically right in front of his house). Though, he didn't like getting a ride from Joe. He hated showing up at school in a huge limo and make it look like he thought he was better than everyone else was. Everyone knew he was rich, of course, but he still tried to seem like he wasn't. But it showed one way or another.
Half way to the school, he spotted one of his friends, Jeremy, up ahead.
"Jeremy!" he called out. "Jeremy, wait up!" Jeremy had stopped and waited for Arnold to catch up to him. Once Arnold was next to him, they started walking again.
"I forgot to do my homework again," Jeremy said. Arnold looked at him. "Again? Jeremy, you're gonna fail if you keep this up," Arnold told him. Jeremy shook his head. "I know. It's not like I don't care…I do. I just keep getting sidetracked. That's all. I just wish I could stop that from happening," he said, looking at the sidewalk.
Jeremy, like Arnold, was considered popular and good-looking. He had short, sandy-blonde hair and always dressed in jeans and a white t-shirt.
They reached the school building five minutes later. Arnold really liked this school. It was a stone building that had carpeting in every room-even the hallways! The food in the cafeteria was great (plus, there weren't any 'mystery' specials), and all the teachers were nice and hardly gave out detentions or suspensions. A decent amount of homework was given out every night except Fridays and holidays, and about ninety percent of the kids were nice and friendly. Even though Arnold hated to admit it, he really liked this school a lot better than P.S. 118.
Looking up at the tall, stone building, Arnold read the sign above the double doors. "Sharlen Elementary School." He read this sign only about a million times before, but he read it again just for the heck of it. He heard the bell ring, so he went into the building along side of Jeremy.
At his locker, e put his backpack in and took out the books he needed. He was walking in the hallway when he stopped abruptly. He was looking at the girl in front of her locker a few feet away. Her name was Melora Sanchez. She was also popular and good-looking. She was tall, thin, had long black hair, and always dressed in a pink skirt and black top. Arnold liked her, but he didn't know weather she liked him at all or not.
He never asked her. He tried many times, but he always ended up with a knot in his throat that he couldn't get rid of. She closed her locker and was walking towards him. And, as always, she went right past him without even a passing glance. Arnold sometimes wondered if she even knew who he was. And when he though about that, he would remember Ruth and hoped she wouldn't turn out the same way.
Arnold got to class just as the bell rang. He sat with his friends (who was practically everyone in the classroom) and continued through the day like it was nothing different.
When the bell rang for lunch, he sat at his usual table with the usual people. Nine people could sit at a table. He sat with his friends, Tim, Lori, Cameron, Nick, Michelle, Ben, Rachel, and Marshal. And they talked about the usual things. Life, money, trends, and upcoming events (if there were any).
"So are you going to the dance this Friday, Arnold?" Ben asked. The table had been talking about the dance for the past ten minutes, but Arnold was too busy looking over at Melora to pay attention to what they were saying.
Arnold shrugged. "I dunno. I don't have anyone to go with," he said. "Well…who would you want to go with you?" Lori asked. Arnold blushed.
"Oh, I don't know. Maybe…Melora Sanchez?" he answered. Everyone chuckled. "Melora?" Michelle asked. Arnold shrugged again.
"I guess," he said. "Well why don't you go over and ask her right now?" Cameron asked. Arnold blushed even more. Then when he saw that everyone was giving him a 'go on. I dare ya' look, he snickered. "Fine," he said calmly.
He took a deep breath and stood up. He tried to look as calm as possible, but he was really very nervous. Walking over to Melora's table, he noticed a lot of people looking at him. He hated when just getting up and walking caused so much attention grabbing.
When he was only a few yards away from her table, some of the girls sitting there started to notice him and began to point and giggle. Arnold tried to keep from blushing, but it was no use. Then Melora turned and looked at him. He almost fell over.
He was right in front of her and again, he lost his voice. "Yes?" she said. Arnold tried desperately to find his voice again, and to his relief, he did.
"Uhh…Melora. Would you, um, like to…go to the dance with me this Friday?" He said that last part a bit fast, which made her laugh. She flipped her hair back over her shoulder and smiled at him.
"Sure…Arnold, isn't it?" Arnold nodded. "Okay, Arnold. I'll go to the dance with you. Here's my address," she took out a pen and wrote it on his hand. "And pick me up around 7:00, okay?" Arnold almost lost his voice again.
"S,sure. See you then," he said as he left. He walked back to his table, shaking from the nervousness. His friends all looked at him.
"She said yes. I'm taking Melora Sanchez to the dance."
A/N: Well that's it for now. Sorry it took a little while to post. And incase you're wondering if the library layout is a bit familiar, then don't be surprised. If you're a fan of "A Series of Unfortunate Events" and have read book three (The Wide Window), then that's where I got the idea from. And fo course, that belongs to Lemony Snicket, ok?