Chapter 5: Consiguiendo a Te Se (accent) (getting to know you)

That afternoon as kids sat around the school yard waiting to board their respective busses, Curly had climbed up a tree and was sitting silently, watching the other students lumbering around and doing their own things. He noted with a smirk that Rhonda, once the object of his affections, was standing at the head of a line waiting for the bus with five or six other girls around her, all dressed in the latest style and chattering about something in their high-and-mighty, bleach blond voices. Curly knew that Rhonda was the only one in that group who actually had half their brain in tact.

He saw some other people too, like Arnold and Gerald talking by the entrance of the school. Harold, Stinky, and Sid were over by the flag pole with a couple other kids, no doubt trying to devise a way to steal someone's underwear and string it up in place of the American flag. Curly had done it only a couple weeks ago with one of the seniors' pairs of boxers that was covered with cute little chicks and bunny rabbits in shades of pink and yellow. He'd gotten away with it without getting caught, too, which got on the others' nerves because twice when they had tried, they'd been caught either in the act of stealing, which earned them all quite a beating, or after they already had it on the flagpole and all evidence pointed to them.

No matter, they'd never pull it off like Curly had. He'd learned from past experience how to go about pulling the perfect prank, and was now quite the pro, though few people knew. He hoped to share some of his stories with one particular person...

Curly's eyes lit up at the sight of her, and he watched from his perch as she made her way toward the sidewalk.

Isabel swung her worn backpack onto one shoulder as she started down the sidewalk, her eyes on the pavement and her steps slow but determined, as though she knew her destination and wanted to reach it as quickly as possible without any delays.

Curly jumped down from the tree and started after her, but then stopped. It was the newest and strangest feeling he'd experienced, but something told him not to follow her. It was sudden, almost like a nervous fear. He watched her quickly retreating form and frowned deeply.

What is up with me, he thought. He'd never felt hesitation before when he wanted to get a girls attention. But somehow, this time, leaving her alone felt right. For now.

It was almost a week before Gerald mentioned anything about the conversation they'd had during lunch the other day. They met at the bus stop.

"Hey Arnold, got some news for ya." Gerald said in greeting as they stood waiting, slightly separated from the other kids.

"Fuzzy Slippers came through, I got some hot info."

"I don't want to go into anything really personal, Gerald-"

"Hey, no problem there.Turns out there wasn't much to find.She's not a foster kid, but she is living with her uncle here in the city. Her folks got killed in a house fire a couple months ago, but her uncle got custody over her and brought her down here to live with him."

"That's got to be hard." Arnold said sadly.

"It gets worse."

"Ugh..."

"The word is that she barely got out of the house fire herself, kind of traumatized her or something. Fuzzy Slippers thinks she may have had some siblings or something, but he couldn't find anything on them." Gerald went on.

"That's terrible..." Arnold said as they both boarded the bus behind the last of the other kids.

"I figured that was why Izzy is the way she is, and was gonna thank Fuzzy Slippers, but then he told me more about some friend she had back in Michigan. Some guy she'd known".

Arnold looked a little confused. "Boyfriend?"

"Nah, but very close. Fuzzy Slippers couldn't find alot of detail about him, just that he was around alot when her grandparents were trying to win the custody battle over her".

"Why didn't they?"

"Her grandma's got some type of somethin', Parkinson's I think he said. But majority ruled and she was sent here with her Uncle, the debate was pretty bad".

"And long, apparently."

"That's sad." Arnold said, scuffing his shoes on the floor of the bus as they walked down the isle to get off and head for class.

"Tell me about it, not to mention the new friends she's been making!"

"New friends?"

"Yeah, Ted and his cronies over there." Gerald pointed over to the steps leading to the main entrance of the school, where a Senior named Ted and his three buddies were talking and laughing, obviously at somebody else's expense.

"What'd they do?"

"Principal Andrews caught them messing with her in the hall a couple days ago, not to mention a couple other people who told me they saw her getting harassed by 'em".

Arnold sensed a smoldering sensation in the pit of his stomach as he glared in Ted's direction. Gerald glanced at his friend, worried.

"Hey man, this is really shakin' you up, isn't it?"

Arnold snapped out of his thoughts and looked over at Gerald, then sighed slightly. "I don't know, Gerald, I just haven't been able to get her off of my mind, not since day one".

"But why? You like her that much?"

Arnold frowned at him. "No, that's what's so strange. She's just kind of caught my attention, I guess. But not in that way."

"Whatever you say, man."

The bell chose that time to ring, and they headed for class. Arnold couldn't take his eyes off of Ted, he'd always disliked him for his haughty persona and the way he treated anybody who he thought to be lower than himself, which was pretty much everyone. Thank God he was graduating that year, and they wouldn't have to deal with him anymore.

That afternoon in class, Arnold had an easier time concentrating on his work, but his mind still dwelt on Isabel quite a bit. Every once in a while he glanced in her direction, noting for the hundredth time how her hands shook and that she always bent over her desk when she was writing or reading.

He wondered about the relationship she'd had with that friend back in Michigan, what he'd done that had made him such a good friend. He wondered if he could be that kind of friend, or any kind of friend. She sure seemed like she needed one.

Meanwhile in the back of the classroom, two other minds were on this Isabel McKinley.

Helga nearly cracked her pen between her teeth with irritation. How in the world had this weird little shrimp managed to attract Arnold's attention like this? She was the complete opposite of everything Arnold seemed to like in a girl, and the complete opposite of everything Helga was!

She's just plain weird, Helga thought, too distraught and confused to even frown. She knew she'd have plenty of time to be mad and come up with evil plots of destruction later. Right now she was just trying to get over the confusion and shock.

Curly doodled furiously around the edges of his notebook paper, long finished copying off the blackboard. He often got in trouble for doodling, but he didn't care.

Arnold sure seems to be paying a lot of attention to her, his mind's voice said once again. Maybe a plan of action should be put into motion.

No Curly reasoned with himself, I can't yet

Why the heck not! What's wrong with you lately?

It just doesn't feel right yet. It's like I'd be treading on her personal space. I don't want to do that

You never had a problem with it before, the voice mocked.

This is different. She seems really scared Curly paused for a second, I don't want to scare her away. I don't want anyone to scare her away

He thought about what he'd overheard Harold saying the other day about Ted and his friends harassing her.

I want her to feel safe

Well she's definitely not going to get that from you.

"Shut up." Curly muttered to himself, unaware that he'd spoken out loud.

Helga, who sat one desk across from him, looked over at him.

Feeling her stare, he looked up, and she scowled at him before turning her attention back toward the desk toward the front.

Curly ignored her for a moment, and then looked back at her. A slightly confused look crossed his face when he noticed her intense stare and the strange conflict of expressions playing on her face. Following her gaze easily enough, he saw right away what, or who, she was staring at.

Man, she is so weird, his mind's voice spoke. He turned back to his doodling, not giving it another thought.

So what are you going to do? His mind demanded, reverting back to the former topic of discussion.

I don't know Curly thought for a little while. I have to gain her trust somehow

Trust? Whoa, man. Are you going for the long haul or what?

Curly scowled again. This was definitely not like him at all. But he was willing to try a new tactic for this girl. More than willing.