Murder At PS 118

CHAPTER 1 - THE ASSIGNMENT

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Hey Arnold characters, symbols, etc.

"I have a very special surprise for all of you today," Mr. Simmons exclaimed, "aren't you excited?" The class didn't even bother grunting. It seemed as if everyday had a "special surprise" at the end of class. "Yes," Mr. Simmons continued, "tonight, at 5 o'clock, we will all meet in this room for some fun learning activities. It will be so much fun and so enriching for all of us. I just can't wait. So, who wants to go?"
As usual, Phoebe's hand was like a rocket in space, shooting up before Mr. Simmons finished his sentence. Also as usual, nobody else's hand was raised. Mr. Simmons's happy face quickly turned into a frown.
"Well, I wanted this to be an extra special bonus to the fun, but I think it may interest you that whoever does this little outing gets 100 points of extra credit."
Like fireworks exploding, everyone held their hands in the air. Although Mr. Simmons was disappointed that he had to bribe his students to come, he was happy that they would be able to participate in what he promised Mr. Wartz would be an "experience they'd never forget."
Unfortunately, not all the kids were so optimistic about their night.

"Man, Phoebes, now I have to miss the wrestling match tonight. Pixie sticks." Helga ranted.
"Actually, Helga, I'm looking forward to tonight. We're studding forensic science now, so maybe we'll play a murder mystery game!" Helga just rolled her eyes to this comment, and continued walking home with Phoebe. Bob and Merriam went on a second honeymoon, one that they won for being on a TV show, so Helga was staying at Phoebe's for the remainder of the month.
As they approached Phoebe's stoop, Phoebe still wasn't able to convince Helga that the activity would be fun, so she decided to tempt her.
"You know, if you solved the mystery, Arnold would be pretty impressed. I mean, nobody really thinks of you as being intelligent." Phoebe let out the line and was ready to reel her in.
"Yeah, and he'll suddenly fall in love with me because I solved a stupid little school puzzle. Please. Just face it, we weren't meant to be, we're star crossed, we were never meant to be together, so just deal with it, okay?" Helga went inside the house, and gently flew her backpack onto the couch, leaving the perplexed Phoebe. Recently, Helga had been more and more doubtful of Arnold ever returning her affection, and had been growing more sarcastic. Similarly, Lila had been growing more and more close to Arnold, which Arnold didn't mind. It seemed as if any day now, the two of them would be going out, and it seemed that any day now, Helga was just going to break down and cry. She stopped picking on Arnold, and she stopped fighting people. It seemed that all she had time to do was walk around, say something sarcastic, go home, and write poetry. Lila was killing Phoebe's friend, and she wanted to do something about it.
"Hey, Arnold," Gerald yelled to his friend. "Apparently, Phoebe said that Mr. Simmons was planning a murder mystery session, and we have to use our forensic knowledge to solve the case. Isn't that awesome?"
"Yeah, I guess that's pretty cool," Arnold said in his monotone voice. Gerald noticed that he looked distracted, like he was daydreaming about something. About Lila, probably, Gerald thought. Ever since Lila started to like like Arnold, he started to hang out with her more and more often, and kept on breaking off plans with Gerald, which wasn't Gerald's cup of tea.
"Hey, man, how 'bout we go in groups to solve the mystery. You know, make it a game or whatever."
"That would be fun wouldn't it? So it's just you and me-" Arnold was cut off by Gerald's grunt of approval, "AND Lila."
"Oh, yeah, can't forget Lila, can we? It's just never a party until Lila comes?" Gerald said sardonically.
"You know it," Arnold said, dense as ever. It was bothering Gerald that he was losing his best friend, and he thought of how Lila was going to pay the ultimate price for ruining their friendship.