Author's Note: Yes, I am well aware that I'm treading through dangerous waters here since this concerns a sensitive issue and all, but I won't go too far, I have my limits. In an unrelated rant, as a FireFox user, I find that the 2.0 version of Quickedit is very buggy and I have to result using the intolerable garbage that is Internet Explorer.

 Legal junk: I don't own Hey Arnold, but Nickelodeon does and Mr. Craig Bartlett created it. But this fic belongs to me. Clear? Good.

Chapter 6: The Confrontation.

It was dead silent inside the hallway, just as dead as Curly's sanity. But the silence was broken by a loud bang. Curly had emptied a trash can and threw it at the lockers on the opposite side. The floor was littered with garbage and filth. He was thrashing the hallway frantically in search of his gun. "I know you can't run that far away with those legs of yours my love!" he shouted maniacally. "Besides, you left your blood trail, so it will be easy for me to track you down just as soon as I find my gun! AS SOON AS I FIND MY GUN! AHAHAHAHA!!" he laughed madly. Rhonda could heard the echoes of Curly's words clearly inside a locked classroom, trembling in fear, whimpering. Thankfully it was the art class. After she got in, she locked the door and searched for a strong cloth, such as canvas, to wrap it around her legs to make the bleeding stop. Back to Curly, he looked behind another trash can, and finally he found what he was searching for. "Ah, here it is! I'm coming at you!" he said as he grabbed the gun. Back to Rhonda again, she gripped her lips, inhaling and exhaling heavily, fearful of the deranged madman.

"Curly!" Somebody shouted from afar. Curly turned around, it was Arnold. "It's me, Arnold. I'm unarmed, and I want to help you." He said as he stepped over ever closer to him slowly, with his hands up in the air. He knew that Rhonda was safe for the time being, for he saw the trail of blood too (meaning that she was still alive) but he did not know for how long; she could be bleeding to death. He must act quickly. Curly was too deranged for him to launch anything sudden, so he tried to cool him down by doing whatever Curly asked him to do.

"Stop right there, Arnold." Curly ordered dryly. Arnold obliged, stopping about three yards away from him. "I wasn't expecting you come here and interrupt me since, this is between me and Rhonda. I find it funny Arnold. You're risking your life to save her from me, and yet you didn't save me from her when we were at the library? What do you want to do? Give me advice? Hoping for me to come back to my senses? Heh." He scoffed. "I don't think so."

Too late for him to pull Arnold back, Gerald hid at the nearby corner leaning against the wall, completely unseen to Arnold and Curly. He was breathing heavily, beads of sweat started to form on his forehead and praying that Arnold wouldn't say something stupid. Arnold's reasoning talk begun, as Gerald and Rhonda listened to each and every word of it. "Arnold, I really hope you know what you're doing…"

"Curly, you're not being rational. What drives you to this madness? Why do you want to kill her? She never did anything to you to deserve a fate like this…" he tried to ease his way in.

"HAH! That's what you think! You just don't know how I felt when she said all that in the library. It was not just my heart she broke, but also my soul itself. You wanna know why I loved her so much Arnold? It was more than skin deep. I love her for what she is. She is the girl of my dreams man; she's smart, she's beautiful, chic, sharp and intelligent…"

"And that's the sole reason to justify it?" Arnold spat back, quizzically.

"I'm not finished damnit, there's more. When I was in kindergarten, all of the kids ridiculed and shunned me because they thought that I was insane, a freak, a loon. And then when I was in the first grade, I saw her; she was the first girl who greeted me in school, and she saw me as a person, an individual, and not a freak. Rhonda thought I was cute. It was love at first sight Arnold. Every recess she and I would sit together and have lunch together. I don't know, maybe she was the only one who saw the real person behind this screwed up, crazy demeanor that all of you are grown to know. She was the first person to see the real me behind the mask. I thought we were meant for each other."

But then his voice became harsh, "And then came that one day, one UNFORTUNATE day: The day when she found a group of people that had the same traits with her. A group of wealthy, rich people. At first, I didn't care, it's okay as long as she's happy, but she then spent more time with them than me, and she began to distant herself from me. But I fought back, I tried to be nice by being by her side and talk nice things about her, but she did not appreciate it and then she started to ignore me. She abandoned me. She betrayed me. I just didn't know why, but I did keep being nice, but she always answered with a scoff, a scowl and a scorn. It was so abrupt, that I thought to myself, maybe by hanging out with those scumbags, they manipulated her into hating me. And I was right, but the damage had already been done. But, I never gave up on her. I never gave up on her because I love her so much."

Rhonda couldn't believe her ears when heard the confession.

"Then what she did to me last week was totally unacceptable. She shot me with her venomous words, and I felt heartbroken, empty, sad, miserable, and depressed. I'm practically dead inside, Arnold… Nevertheless, she will pay back. It's an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth. I will shoot her back, but not with words, but with this here gun." He said spitefully, slowly lifting the gun up.

"Come on man, be reasonable! Are you crazy?! You're smarter than this! You want to kill her just because she yelled a few things at you? You could just talk to her about it!"

"Always the diplomat aren't you, Arnold? But then again, yes, I am crazy. Crazy enough to do it."

"Then what happens after she dies, Curly? Huh? What will people think of you? What about your parents? Her parents? Do you want Rhonda to curse your name in her afterlife?"

"DON'T give me that afterlife junk Arnold."

"If you love her so much, you shouldn't be doing this. No…"

"After all the things she had done to me? Do you think I am still in love with her!?" Curly spat back viciously.

"Think about it, Curly. Think about it. Please don't do this."

Enough was enough. Curly couldn't bear listening to him any longer, and he pointed his gun at him. "This shot is not meant for you, Arnold." Arnold's eyes widened, he felt the colors flushed from his face. He feared the worst.

WHACK!

Curly fell down to the ground, instantly unconscious.

"Helga?!" Arnold shouted in disbelief. She came from out of nowhere.

Indeed it was Helga, barely holding a large, thick, heavy hardcover book, smiling at it, "Heh, I always knew this book about tax laws would come in handy someday. I mean, you could kill an elephant with it." She then looked at Arnold as she dropped the book on Curly's head. "You're okay, Arnold?" she asked.

Still stunned, it took awhile for Arnold to reply back, "Yeah… yeah. I'm okay," He replied finally as he slowly lowered his hands down. "What are you doing here?"

Helga chose not to answer that, "where's Rhonda?" she asked, dodging Arnold's question.

"I dunno. Let us hope that she's safe…" he turned his head at the unconscious Curly. "What should we do with him?"

"Leave him there," she said, as she kicked the gun away. "He should be peachy here until the cops come."

"I hope so… come on, let's go find Rhonda." Arnold said. Helga nodded, as they walked away from the unconscious Curly. Gerald was contemplating whether he should get out from hiding. Rhonda on the other hand, felt like she wanted to shout for help.

Suddenly, a cocking noise was heard, and Arnold instantly turned around.

Curly got back up!

"NO!!" Arnold shouted, and he pushed Helga behind him. Curly pulled the trigger and the bullet struck Arnold's left shoulder, piercing him through and scraped Helga's left arm a bit. Arnold groaned in pain and had his other hand pressed against the wound to avoid more blood to rush out. Helga quickly pressed the wounded arm with her other hand.

"He… he saved me…"

Gerald was shocked. Rhonda cried more upon hearing the shot.

"Hmm… how 'bout that. Two birds with one stone." Curly said emotionlessly. Helga caught Arnold just in time before he feel completely down to the floor. Curly decided not to waste any more bullets on them. "Shame, truly. If only I had more bullets…"

Helga said through her clenching teeth, "Why you son of a—"

"Tut-tut toots," Curly cut her off, "You wouldn't want to get shot again, would you? What, you think that little book of yours would stop me?"

"Curly… Please… don't do this…!" Arnold said weakly while coughing blood out as Helga tried to pull him to the wall.

Fearing for her life and wasn't thinking clearly, Rhonda crawled her way out from the room hurriedly. Curly heard the echoed sound of the shutting door, and he abruptly turned his face to Arnold and said, "Sorry Arnold, I wish we could continue this conversation, but I have a damsel to shoot." He then left Arnold and Helga with their wounds.

Still skeptical whether Curly had left, Gerald stuck his head out a little to have a peek at the hallway where Arnold and Curly had the confrontation. Curly had indeed left, leaving Arnold leaning against the wall moaning in pain and Helga was sitting on the floor pressing her arm so no blood would come out.

"Oh shit! Oh shit! Oh shit!" Gerald panicked as he looked at them. He had to act fast. Without any choice, he removed his sweater (the one that Phoebe liked) and ripped it into two. He then applied the sweater on their wounds.

"No, Gerald, no! Arrgh…" Arnold groaned from the pain, "We'll be all right, just go and save Rhonda first!"

"But what about you and Helga? Look at you guys, you're bleeding heavily!"

"Never mind us! It'll be all over for Rhonda if Curly finds her first!"

"Yeah, just go Gerald!" Helga agreed.

Gerald nodded. Just as he was about to get up, a SWAT team member fully clad in black outfit, face mask, and a Kevlar vest pointed his submachine gun at the teens. Gerald held up his hands.

"Hey, whoa, whoa, hey, don't shoot man, I'm just helping my friends out. They got shot." Gerald clarified his presence.

The SWAT member stared at them for a moment, and relayed information to his teammates through his communicator, "Hub, this is Alpha Three; two students are down at the East Wing, second floor near the stairs. Requesting immediate assistance, over." He looked at them again, "you kids know where the shooter gone to?"

Arnold and Helga were too preoccupied with the wound when Curly had left them, so they didn't know, and shook their head. Gerald had no clue since he was behind the wall at all the time.

"Damn it," he muttered under his breath, but then he saw the blood trail, "help your friends out, and get out of here. We'll take it from here." he ordered Gerald, and walked away from them, one footstep at a time, so he wouldn't make a sound.

The echoes of the footsteps were getting louder and nearer. Ronda couldn't bear any longer the excruciating pain coming from her legs, now sat helplessly on the floor leaning against a row of lockers. She was cursing to herself; she shouldn't have come out from the safeness of the classroom she was in earlier. Across the hallway, there was Curly, walking towards her slowly.

"Curly?" Rhonda called, softly and shaken. He stopped in his tracks, only in a few steps away from her.

"Curly… please… I beg you… stop it. Stop… this madness…" she pleaded for her life. Terrified, shaken as she clutched her bleeding legs with her arms, she hoped that Curly would come back to his senses. She must be mad herself to think she would make Curly stop this insanity. A perfect portrait of a psychotic freak. He stared at her terrified face impassively. She was crying, shaken, sweating, had her teeth gripped her lips, her eyes darted in every direction in searching for a miracle, and she had her hands pressed against the bullet wounds to fight the agony of the pain. "Please… please f-forgive me, Curly…" she pleaded and wept for an apology, hoping the rather futile attempt would knock Curly back to his senses.

He had already used a bullet at Arnold and Helga, two for Rhonda's legs, and the final three will be targeted at her right arm, her guts and finally, her heart. He gazed at her for a while, and lifts the gun to point at her, cocking the gun. She braced herself for the inevitable, and finally she tightly closed both her eyes and had her head facing away from the gun.

"Then what happens after she dies, Curly? Huh? What will people think of you? What about your parents? Her parents? Do you want Rhonda to curse your name in her afterlife?"

The first gunshot was released.

"If you love her so much, you shouldn't be doing this. No."

Then the second shot.

Think about it, Curly. Think about it. Please don't do this."

Finally, the third.

Another cliffhanger from me, and I won't tell you what happened to Rhonda. You'll just have to wait for the next chapter.Oh, if you found an error please point it out and leave a review. Until then, adieu.