Author's Note: Wow, it has been a while since the last update. This episode concerns about Lila, and the story is more-or-less inspired from a certain Mandy Moore movie. And Lila haters stay back! There's no Lila bashing here. And hey, there are some Peanuts references too!
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.
Episode 8: Lila's Return
I
"So, I'll see you later then." Helga said as she waved at the red-haired girl.
"Yes, thank you ever so much!" the girl replied back giddily and left Helga in front of her porch. As the red-haired girl walked away and to a corner, Helga looked at her and smiled softly with a not-so-obvious evil grin on it.
"Moron." She said to herself, entertaining her ever burning jealousy for the 'little' red-haired girl, for she used to be the object of Arnold desire. She shook her head, and went inside of her house. After putting her jacket away, Helga made her way into her room and switched on the laptop that she had conveniently placed on her desk. Within minutes, her laptop was ready to use and the first thing she did was open her word processor program and began writing to her object of desire, Arnold.
Hey there Charlie Brown,
Remember the Little Red-Haired Girl you used to be so fond of when you were in the fourth grade? Aw, c'mon Arnold. You know her. The farm girl? Whose dad had to move to the city? The one with the pigtails? The one that you used to like her, like her so much but she didn't like you, like you back? All right, I'll stop with the hints and subtleties. Remember Lila? Of course you do.
She got transferred to my school a few weeks ago, after a long stint in Catholic school. I still don't know why she wanted to leave her old school for this dump, since I never really asked her, or asked anyone else for that matter. It just so happened one day she just appeared out of nowhere, and poof! There she is! You'd best ask Stinky and/or Phoebe about this, since they're the ones who know the reason why she's here. In my school. Doing her Lila-ness around. Driving us girls nuts, for some reason.
"Hmm…" Helga said, drumming her fingers on the keyboard as she contemplated thoroughly, "Yeah, why not? I have to keep you away from her." she said with a grin.
If you plan to like her, like her again (I really should stop writing like a fourth grader), suffice to say that she's going out with Stinky now. You know, religious folks tend to stick together and all that, regardless the differences between their sects. Just for the sake of youth groups maybe?
"Heh. That should keep your mind off her." Helga said, smiling to herself.
It's kinda freaky to see her not changing at all ever since we parted ways after middle school. She dresses pretty much the same, very polite, humble, which I would go as far as saying that she's a prude. You don't see that kind of person often these days in this part of the country, so it's kind of a shock to us. Oh yeah, some things happened to her after a few days in our school, which kinda made me feel sorry for her.
II
School lunch break…
"Guys! Guys!" Eugene said as he ran to his friends, relaxing as they got nothing to do other than talking and generally wasting time at the school's cafeteria.
"Running away from Sheena again, Eugene?" Sid said teasingly as Gerald gave him a high-five. "You know she's going to kill you after she reads the stuff you wrote on her Mys—"
"No, it's not that! And for the record, I didn't write that! Somebody must've gotten my password—" Eugene then stop, and put his hand on hid forehead rubbing it, "Oh, why do I even bother explaining it? Look guys, listen to me. I was at the principal's office repairing his secretary's computer when all of the sudden I saw a girl."
"What, you've never seen a gal before, Eugene?" Stinky interjected, and the table erupted with laughter.
"What the? Shut up and listen to me, guys! This is serious!" Eugene raised his voice, "You guys remember that girl from grade school? You know, the one with the red hair," he flailed his hand around his head as if he tried to reconstruct the image of the girl, "and the pigtails, and she'd always wear a green dress to school?" that got the gang to shut up and reminisce back to their old grade school days.
"Hmm… redhead…" Gerald said, stroking his chin. "Sounds familiar. Is she be the one that Arnold used to like?"
"The one who says 'ever so' in every sentence she says?" Harold asked.
"Lila." Stinky said, nodding. "Definitely Lila." And all of the gang looked at him, stunned. And they then looked back at Eugene.
"Get out of here!" Sid said, laughing disbelievingly. "You're saying that the Lila we all know is here in this sorry excuse for a school?"
"I call shenanigans!" Iggy shouted.
"You're pulling our leg, aren't you Eugene?" Robert said, smiling in disbelief, although the probability of accepting the truth is rising significantly.
"Never knew the guy was such a great joker." Park replied.
"Man Eugene. I have to admit, that was a great joke." Gerald said to him. "You must've mistaken for someone else. To think that the ever so sweet, lovely, likable Lila," the comment drew soft laughter from the gang, "is joining this pathetic excuse for an education institute is absolute lunacy."
At a different table, "Hey, girls. Wanna hear something shocking today?" Rhonda said as she walked over to where Nadine and Sheena were sitting.
"You bought new clothes, again?" Nadine replied in a bored tone. "Shocking, indeed." She said sarcastically.
"No, no. Nothing like that unfortunately." Rhonda said as she took a seat next to Sheena, "Have you heard the news? Word on the street – or rather, hallway in this context, there's a new girl in school."
"So?" Sheena replied, "People come and go. It's not like she's anything special. In time she'll be another faceless person in a sea of degenerates attending this school."
"Ah, see that's where you're wrong, Sheena." Rhonda replied back, as she pointed her finger to her, "You two do know I'm one of the high council members of the Student Body, right?"
"Yes." Nadine intoned, "We've heard it, many times. So, is there a point to this?"
"Lo and behold, girls. This is not just any girl. We've known this person since grade school, and she's coming here!" Rhonda replied back, as if she was giving them a bad omen.
Nadine and Sheena's interest suddenly grew upon hearing Rhonda's words. "Who's she?" Nadine asked. At this time, Helga and Phoebe were walking past them, going to some empty seats away from the three.
"I just got the newly transferred student manifest from the office, and get this – I saw Lila's name on it." Helga then came to a screeching halt, turned around, looking murderously at Rhonda.
"What about Lila?" Helga said, greatly stressing Lila's name as if she wanted to do something bad to her. Helga then motioned her head to Phoebe to ask her to join with Nadine, Sheena and Rhonda.
"Why the sudden interest in the school's affairs, Monobrow?" Rhonda mocked her.
"Nothing of your concern, Princess." She replied back, rather hostilely. "I'm here to know more about the girl you just said. So if you'd just be so kind to inform me I'll gladly spare the degrading insults and snide remarks. Tell us then, is she the Lila from PS 118?" Helga asked back.
"I'm really not sure, since her last name is smudged with coffee stain." Rhonda replied back. "But, consider this, what if it really is her?"
"I think the answer has already showed herself at the door." Phoebe said, as she pointed to the cafeteria double doors. Both guys and girls were in shock.
III
It was like as if a shockwave spread through the whole cafeteria as Lila walked into the cafeteria doors. Almost everyone (mostly guys) looked at her in stun, shock and awe, yet Lila was still oblivious at the attention given to her, or she just ignoring them, since this had happened plenty of times in her life. Her short, shoulder length red colored hair blew majestically through the air, frolicking beautifully as the shine glitter on her soft, gorgeous hair. It seemed that her pigtails no longer graced her petite, cute-ish head. Her face looked absolutely divine, with a trace of her old freckles still dotted her puffy cheeks. Her eyes were gorgeous, so gorgeous that any guy who looked directly into her eyes would instantly fell in love with her. Her nose was small, button nose and her lips were simply elegant. And this was without makeup. Still, she wore a modest green dress with a plaid green knee length skirt. Quite possibly a trademark of hers.
As she made her way to the counter, many people (mostly guys) couldn't let their eyes off her. To most girls, Lila gave them many reasons for them to be jealous of her. Guys, on the other hand… well, it was obvious why. As she walked past a couple, the guy just looked at her with a twinkle in his eyes. Noticing her guy was distracted, the girl turned around and saw Lila walking away from them, and presumed her guy got distracted by Lila. Angered, she immediately got up and slapped her guy. "I HATE YOU!" and promptly left him while the guy made no effort at all to calm his girl. As she walked pass through the tables, the member of the opposite sex who sat there felt like time stopped completely. Another guy walked by her, and was too distracted by her appearance that he accidentally stepped on a wayward ice cube on the floor and fell down violently. The same thing happened to two other guys as well.
"I'd tap that… hard." Sid said, absolutely stunned and awe of Lila's presence in the cafeteria. The comment couldn't be described on Sid alone, since the rest of the guys were in the same state of trance as Sid was. Their eyes were as wide as ping pong balls with their mouths wide agape. They couldn't say anything at all, as hormones completely took over their body. Stinky on the other hand, his reaction wasn't like the others. He looked at Lila with warm smile with an admiring gaze.
The girls' table on the other hand, treated the somewhat expected reaction from the people with uneasiness and discomfort. "Oh great, the ever 'Ms. Perfect' is back, with a vengeance." Helga said, not happy with her return.
"She fills me with terrible rage." Rhonda said through her clenched teeth.
"I am… indifferent." Sheena continued.
"Hmmph." Nadine scoffed, crossing her arms.
"Well I for one, will not immediately judge her based upon first impression." Phoebe said. Then there was a slight pause, "Oh, who am I fooling? I am judging her based on my first impression." She looked at Lila with her eyes narrowed.
Upon reaching the counter, she accidentally brushed a guy on his shoulder, nearly making his soup fell down. "Hey, watch where you're going." He said, not looking at her.
"Oh, I'm ever so sorry!" she said apologetically. Upon hearing her voice and looking at her face, the guy was absolutely stunned, and he just gazed at her in awe. He wanted to move his lips to say something to her, but he just couldn't. To him, his voice would defile the beauty of this girl.
"Are you okay?" Lila asked. The guy couldn't reply back as he was too stunned by her appearance. After a long, long silent gaze, with his lips visibly quivering, Lila chuckled softly and a sweet smile began to carve across her face. "Okay." She giggled softly, "I'll be careful next time." And then she left him.
After the shellshock was over, the guy put his bowl of soup on his heart unintentionally, with the hot soup oozes out from the bowl, and still he didn't feel anything. He then placed his arm on his forehead and began to soliloquize, "O behold that the angel hath descended from the heavens and graced her lovely illustrious beauty on a poor peasant such as me. Her heavenly voice lights the hearts of men and soothes the ghastly beast."
Helga shook her head, couldn't bear seeing all the idiot men in front of her instantly falling for her rival. "I can't take this…" she then got up.
"Helga, where are you going?" Phoebe asked.
"You know, it's kind of amusing to see all these pathetic morons looking at her like that." Rhonda interjected.
"I'm going to the bathroom for awhile." Helga said, pointing to the doors with her thumb. After seeing Helga running away rather hastily to the door, Phoebe then looked at the girls and asked. "So girls, what is our plan of action?"
"Spread malicious rumors about her on the internet?" Rhonda replied back, smiling maliciously.
"Blackmail her with evil threats?" Nadine said.
"Somehow, stuffing her locker with Jell-O is kinda temping right now." Sheena said. Phoebe, Nadine and Rhonda all looked at her with an eyebrow lowered.
"Girl, that trick didn't work in the forth grade before, and it ain't going to work now." Nadine replied.
"Oh come, girls." Phoebe interjected. "We are not fourth graders! We are matured, civilized women that hold no scorn and no envy towards our formal rival. I say the best thing we should do right now is to act civilized and greeted our old friend with open arms." And with that suggestion, everyone at the table agreed. "If all else fails, we hit her head with a fire extinguisher and bury her body in the woods where nobody can't find her." the suggestion also met with resounding agreement by Phoebe's friends. By now Lila was ready to find a seat. She scanned around, and saw four girls that looked a lot like her grade school friends.
"Oh crud, she sees us!" Rhonda said.
"Smile girls, smileeeeeeeeeeee…" Phoebe said while forcing herself a smile. The other girls followed suit. "And waveeeee…" Phoebe lifted a hand, and waved at Lila. The other three again, followed suit. Lila was elated. It was her old friends from grade school.
"Aw nuts, she's heading over to the girls." Park said, disappointed.
"Told you guys we should've used a megaphone." Iggy replied.
"What? And do something like this?" Gerald then put his fist near his mouth and said as if he was using a megaphone, "ATTENTION LILA SAWYER. WE ARE HERE. WE ARE HERE." The humor was greeted with laughter from the guys.
"I wonder if she still remembers me…" Rhonda, Sheena, Phoebe and Nadine thought to themselves as they still had that fake smile on their face.
"Oh my gosh! Rhonda! Sheena! Phoebe! Nadine! It's ever so wonderful to see all of you again!" she said upon arriving at the table. After putting her food on the table, she gave each and everyone a hug.
"Get away from me, you touchy-feely freak!" Rhonda thought to herself when being hugged by Lila, even though she still retained her smile. The same sentiment was shared by the others. "Oh, where is Helga? It would be ever so great to see her again!"Elsewhere in the girls' bathroom, Helga was pacing around, muttering to herself nervously.
"Calm down, Helga ol' girl. She's just here to study and not doing anything else. Yeah… She's not going to ruin my life, steal Arnold away from me and annoy me with her SWEET SUGARY MASSACRING VOICE WHICH BRUTALLY AND MERCILESSLY MURDERS MY FREAKIN' EARS EACH AND EVERY TIME THAT STUPID MALEVOLENT EVIL GIRL OPEN HER ENORMOUS BEHEMOTH OF A MOUTH THAT OFFENDS EVERY SINGLE LIVING THING IN EXISTANCE!"
IV
"So, that is why I quit Catholic school." Lila explained her reason for transfer to the girls.
"Ah… I've always thought your former school was like one of those preppy ones." Rhonda nodded very slowly, and yes, she understood Lila's explanation, "And you're religious person, right? To tell you the truth, it's hard to find someone else like you here. Well, at this part of the school, anyway."
"Well, it doesn't matter." Lila replied, beaming. "I pray that I'll find someone who shares the same mindset as I do eventually."
"Indeed." Sheena replied. "So why are you still wearing that skirt uniform?"
"I just like it." she replied back, shrugging, "It's very comfortable to wear, and furthermore it's not revealing." Rhonda chuckled a bit.
"How very modest of you." Phoebe thought to herself. "So what have you done basically these past few years? Care to share us some stories?"
"Oh, nothing much." Lila replied back, "I'm basically active in a lot of religious affairs, and helping the community and all that. I dated this guy once but we broke up since he asked me to fornicate." She said shyly with her face lowering down.
"Heh, really now? Anything else?" Nadine asked, smiling.
"I went to Rome a few months back with my class." Lila answered back.
The subject matter grabbed Rhonda's interest. "Vacation in Rome, huh? Went to any boutiques? Sightseeing and stuff?"
Lila chuckled giddily, "You silly, I went to the Vatican!"
"Oh…" Rhonda replied back, somewhat dissatisfied with the answer. She then turned around, and saw Helga at the door, with her eyes twitching and a creepy grin, and her upper half of her shirt was all wet. She then walked up to the girls and sit directly in front of Lila.
"Oh, hi Helga! I'm ever so glad to see you again!" She got up and hugged her. Helga's eye twitch increased tenfold.
"Yes. Glad. See. You. Liiiiii—leeeeeeeeaaahhhhhhhh…" Helga found it was hard to pronounce Lila's name properly. "How. You?"
"Oh, I am ever so wonderful right now!" Lila exclaimed. "It's even more wonderful that I finally got to see my old friends from grade school again! Speaking of my old friends, where are our male counterparts?"
"Over there," Nadine pointed to a table a faraway distance from them, "Gawking at this table, watching our every move and guessing our every conversation ever since the start of this period,"
"Did Nadine just point to us?" Sid asked.
"I think so…" Harold replied. And then they saw Lila waving at them. "Holy poo! She's waving at us!"
"My word, ever since she came here everyone is acting like they're in grade school!" Park replied back, shaking his head. "So, what are you guys waiting for? Show her our hospitality!" and the guys waved back.
"You girls don't mind if I go over there and get reacquainted with them for a while?" Lila asked. The people around the table didn't mind, and let her go. And as she walked away from them and to the guys, Helga, Rhonda, Nadine, Phoebe and Sheena looked at her with their hearts contempt.
"She's very nice." Phoebe said.
"Yeah, and polite too." Nadine agreed.
"And she's great to be around with." Sheena concurred.
"A bit prude, but still it was a pleasant encounter…" Rhonda said.
"I don't like her." Helga concluded. The sentiment was shared by everyone.
V
"You know, she's not going to like it." Rhonda said to Nadine as they walked through their school hallway. "I want to watch that new Tom Cruise movie, but nooo, you want a thought provoking, intelligent movie, which I doubt that movie is like what you've said. Besides, the book is not even that good anyway. Do you happen to read the papers? The movie is totally bashed by the critics."
"One of my reasons why I still enjoy going to the movies is not reading the critics' review, Rhonda. It kinda makes the movie going experience better." Nadine replied, "Besides Rhonda, I believe that she's very open-minded towards the movie. Furthermore, she's new here; ergo she needs some companionship to familiarize with the surroundings. And speaking of her, there she is. Hey, Lila." Nadine saw Lila talking to a guy near the door to the janitor's closet. It seemed like she was declining a proposal politely to that person. The guy was disappointed, but accepted her refusal. But he wouldn't give up on her though. As the guy walked away from her, Lila looked at him with a soft smile as she hugged her books.
"What did you do to him?" Rhonda asked.
"He asked me to go out on a date." She replied back politely, "Is it just me, or is almost every guy I've met in this school have some sort of affection towards me? To be ever so honest, I don't think I am that good looking…"
Lila's self-criticism made Nadine and Rhonda rolled their eyes in disgust and they felt like wanting to punch her in the mouth. Oh, how they envied her, liked her and loathed her at the same time… just like in grade school. It was déjà vu all over again. But despite all that, they remained calm, "It's just you." Rhonda replied back, with an annoyed, intoning tone. "So… Nadine and I are going to watch a movie after this. Wanna join us?"
"Oh, is it the movie about the cute little animals?" she replied back enthusiastically.
Nadine and Rhonda looked at each other in disbelief. She really didn't change much at all. "Uh… no…" Rhonda replied, "Since Nadine here isn't a big of a fan about mindless entertainment about people blowing stuff up, we want to go watch that new Tom Hanks movie about Da Vinci… something-or-other."
Lila's enthusiastic face changed drastically to an uninterested frown. "Oh… I'm ever so sorry, but I have to refuse. I'm just not interested in watching that… blasphemy."
"They call it fiction for a reason, Lila." Nadine replied, trying to persuade her.
"I'm sorry, I just can't. Perhaps another day with a different movie, maybe?" Lila said back weakly, trying to smile back.
"Yeah sure." Rhonda nodded, "Another day, then. See you." After they exchanged waves and parted, Rhonda then said to Nadine, "Told you she doesn't want to watch it. Now can we please go and watch Tom Cruise?"
Nadine rolled her eyes, but still insists to her movie of choice.
Meanwhile in the school library, Park and Robert were there searching for a book when all of the sudden this pale poser thuggish gangsta guy that the both of them barely knew walked up to them and asked, "Y0, y0 Robert and… his homie." He had forgotten Park's name, "What up dawg?"
"Who is this guy?" Robert asked himself with an eyebrow lowered, "Kinda looks like the dude from English class…" "Uh… yeah, whassup?"
"I saw that new chica walked up to your table yesterday. What be up with that, dawg? She knows you two?"
"Uh… yeah, kinda." Park replied back.
"Aw yeah, that's what I'm talking about. Listen homies, I be needin' to know more 'bout that fine piece." He replied back, "Yeah, baby."
"Uh, why don't you ask her yourself?" Park asked back.
Robert was aware about his intention, and replied, "And besides, you won't be getting 'any' from her man, she's… well, 'waiting', if you know what I mean."
Sorely disappointed due to the lack of cooperation, he shook his head and said, "Psssh. S'kay, fine, whateva." And he promptly left the library, as Park and Robert looked at him back with incredulous disbelief.
"Never saw him in the library before." Park said to Robert. "And what the heck, Robert? Lila's 'waiting'? As in, after marriage? Does she even tell you something like that?"
"Hey, someone has to keep… him away from her. And besides, given our conversation with her at the cafeteria a few days back, do you think that she's that kind of a person? You know what else? I kinda… feel the need to protect her for some reason. I just don't know why."
"You know, I'm not the kind of person who indiscriminately judges people like that, but you do have a point there. It's probably because we've know her for so long… and given the fact that she's so hopelessly naïve and innocent…" Park sighed. "Do you realize that ever since she came here, it has been both a curse and a blessing at the same time?"
"I know what you feel, man." Robert replied, "People can't stop pestering me asking about her. Day after day after day after day! It's driving me nuts!"
"Tell me about it." a female voice said as she made her way to the table where Park and Robert sat. "Everyone else can't seem to stop talking about her." it was Helga, with Phoebe next to her.
"Indeed." Phoebe replied back, "And it's unfortunate that most of the girls circle talks negatively about her."
"Derived from jealousy, I assume." Park chuckled softly. "Jeez, you girls really need to bury the hatchet and really need to see her in a different angle. She's not all that bad."
"For you guys, maybe." Helga replied, "It's all different on this side of the fence where only the strong survives."
"Doesn't look any different from this side of the fence, Helga." Robert replied back.
"All right then, be honest with me." Helga wagered, "Between Lila and me, which one would you pick? I don't care the reason is, just pick. Me, or Lila?"
Both boys were stunned, as they put their guard up to the highest degree, while Helga had already had her gun up in sight. Both Robert and Park were contemplating thoroughly about this… trick question, as beads of sweat was noticeable on their foreheads and they were stuttering nervously. "Whoa, hey, look at time!" Park pointed to his imaginary wristwatch.
"Yeah!" Robert continued as he hastily picked his books up, "We have to go… somewhere! So see you girls later! Run, Park! Run like the wind!" and they ran off like a horse being whipped.
"You know, somehow I expected that kind of reaction from them." Helga said to Phoebe.
Phoebe shook her head and said, "Typical men."
"You said it, sister." Helga replied back.
And yet in a different place in the school, a guy that Stinky didn't like since he had no respect for Lila at all couldn't stop pestering him as he continuously asked him about Lila, "She's religious, eh?" he asked. "Then there's only one thing I be needin' to do: corrupt her." The statement greatly infuriated Stinky so much that he couldn't control his anger. He immediately grabbed the guy on his shirt collar and violently pinned him on someone's locker.
"Listen to me, ya trash! Lay one finger on her and I sweah I'll finish ya off!" he then banged a fist next to his face, and left him in disgust. The guy scoffed and said to himself, "We'll see."
VI
So in every passing week Lila's popularity in the school had grown significantly by both students and members of the school faculty due to her friendliness to all, her helpfulness and outgoing personality, nice and caring, and cute too. But, despite of her ever so growing popularity and the warm welcome she received, there were some who greatly dislike this girl with passion. These were the people who felt that they were really threatened by her and the only thing to do to keep her silent was to degrade her with cruel words. They got their act together by doctoring a picture of her with evil words pasted on it and photocopied for all to see. Shows how matured they were.
"What the heck is this?" Eugene said loudly as he picked up the flier containing a badly doctored image of Lila with degrading words written on it. "Whoa, this is really retarded. Anyone with a half a brain knows that all of these aren't true." Just then, a couple walked by him, laughing and giggling at the picture, "I weep for the future of the youth of this generation…" Wasting no time, he took the flyer along with him to Sid. He'd sort these things out. And just so suddenly, he accidentally slipped on one of the flyers and fell. "Ow! I'm okay." And he continued on his journey. His best bet was in the cafeteria, but along the way he bumped into Sid, Gerald and Harold.
"Guys. Read this flyer lately?" Eugene asked as he handed over the paper to Sid. He declined it and replied:
"Yeah, it's all over the place. Whoever did this is absolutely stupid." Sid replied back. "As much as I want to help her, heck even Nadine asked me to do it, I don't have any evidence yet, so I can't do anything." Sid said with a sigh, as he patted Eugene's shoulder softly. "C'mon, let's head over to the cafeteria and have some lunch." Eugene nodded to the suggestion, and followed them.
"Where's Stinky?" Eugene asked.
"I dunno, somewhere." Gerald shrugged.
"C'mon guys, double-time." Harold said, "I'm really hungry right now." And as they entered the cafeteria they saw some guys (which one of them pestered Robert and Park on the other day) and girls laughing and talking loudly while looking at the doctored picture of Lila. Upon seeing that, Sid became suspicious, but he didn't do anything yet.
"Maybe it's them." Sid said, as he motioned his head at the obnoxious group whilst holding the flyer.
"You sure, man?" Gerald asked.
"No, I'm not." Sid shook his head. "We wait up, and see what's going to happen next."
"Oh, for the love of crimeny, you guys read that crud too?" Helga said as she made her way to the table. "You know, even as a 'rival', so-called, to Lila," she tried to make it subtle, "I think I have enough brain cells to know the difference between a nasty rumor that is made up and the truth."
"Hey now, don't make accusation like that, girl. We don't believe it ourselves." Gerald replied.
"MY WORD!" a female voice yelled unexpectedly as she picked up one of those flyers, "Even I have a higher standard of humiliating people than to conjure this crap!"
"Hey Rhonda." Harold called, "over here!"
"Have you guys read this already?" Rhonda asked them as she crumpled the flyer, "what a load of crock!" And as soon as she said that, Lila walked into the cafeteria holding the nasty flyer about her while looking at it with great discomfort and sadness. The gang could see brim of tears on her eyes.
"D-does…" she asked timidly, "anyone know who did this?" the question was replied with a roaring laughter from people inside the cafeteria (well, the stupid ones anyway). "Please… please do tell…" but her plea was engulfed with laughter, and poor Lila just stood there, about to break down.
"I can't help to feel sorry for her…" Rhonda said, which kinda surprised the gang since Rhonda was well-known for her hurtful insults.
Helga shook her head in disbelief, "I can't believe I'm saying this, but Rhonda, let's get her out before it gets worse for her."
"Wait." Harold said, holding his palm up, "Stinky just came in." Stinky was shocked and enraged to see Lila being laughed at. He then walked up to her and gave her a hug to console her. Noticing Rhonda and Helga in the room, he asked them to bring Lila out as he looked at the guy whom he knew was the mastermind behind all this. It was the guy who pestered him about Lila and degraded her too. As Helga and Rhonda walked Lila out from the cafeteria, Stinky confronted the guy with anger in his stare. The confrontation is being watched by Gerald, Harold and Sid from afar.
"Stinky looks pretty steamed." Harold said, "You think the guy he's throwing a fit at is responsible for this?"
"Possibly." Sid replied back. "I think I know that guy. Wannabe thug, stupid, you know, the usual." He explained.
"Seems like he has his chicks to back him up too." Gerald said. As time went on, the confrontation between Stinky and the guy became more and more furious, as they began to shout insults at each other.
"Relax, Stinky. Relax… calm down…" Eugene said to himself.
"C'mon homeboy, you know he's talking trash. Just walk away." Gerald said.
"C'mon Stinky. Don't waste your breath on that guy, man." Sid said, "No need to use violence."
"Aw come on! The guy's stupid, Stinky!" Harold yelled softly. After a few minutes of tense, nerve-wrecking moment, Stinky felt that he had enough with this guy, and decided to walk away, but not after he threw some final insults to him.
"You're the man." Eugene said in relief.
"Way to go. That's my boy." Gerald said, smiling.
"Good, now just walk away, hombre." Sid said, almost wanting to give him a clap.
Harold chuckled softly at his friend. As Stinky was about to exit the cafeteria, the guy shouted incredibly cruel words about Lila to Stinky and he just snapped. He turned around, looking at him with a murderous gaze.
"Oh no, oh no." Sid said worriedly, "Turn back, turn back." But Stinky didn't. He gave the guy a hard punch on the face, throwing the bad guy on the ground. The guy got up again, and wiped the blood off his nose. He gazed at Stinky angrily, and yelled, "You're dead, man! DEAD!"
"Intervention time guys! Let's go!" Gerald said to his friends, and quickly they got up from their seats and ran to the scuffle. As Stinky and the guy were about to trade punches, Gerald and the gang successfully intervenes the fight and put them away from each other.
"Don't mess around with my friends." Sid said to the guy threateningly while pointing a finger to him. "Let's be civilized here: Stinky," Sid said, "why didja want to stomp this guy up?"
"He's the one who's behind all dem stupid flyers, Sid!" Stinky said back angrily as Eugene and Gerald held him up.
"Okay." Sid said back calmly, "Do you have any proof?" he asked again.
"I asked the school newspaper editor, and he and a few fellas said he saw those idiots-" he pointed to the guy and his friends behind him, "-used the copier to make 'em."
Sid nodded, thoroughly satisfied with the explanation, he then walked up to the poser guy and said, "Now we're going to leave. But remember, if you do something like this again to my friends, I swear I'm going to mess you up real good that from that moment on, your every breath is a gift from me." Sid said threateningly to him as he gazed deeply into his nervous eyes. "Let's go guys, and leave these posers and their dirty wenches alone." Everyone else agreed, and calmly walked towards the exit. Still unsatisfied, the guy scoffed back and yelled at Stinky:
"You're lucky to have Sid on your side, dawg! You'd be dead if it wasn't for him!" but Stinky ignored the remark and walked away with his friends, with their hearts still burning with anger. Along the way, they met Phoebe, looking tired.
"Oh thank goodness!" Phoebe said in relief, "Was there a fight?"
"It was all avoided, Phoebe. Rest easy now." Gerald replied.
"Good, I was worried that you got yourself into a brawl, Gerald." Phoebe said back. "Come on, the rest of us are outside." They then followed Phoebe outside and saw Helga, Rhonda and Sheena comforting Lila on a bench underneath a large tree. Lila was in tears, and it broke Stinky's heart so much to see her in a state like that. He then sat next to Lila after Helga moved away for him. He then put his arm across her shoulder and Lila immediately began to cry on his shoulder as Stinky rubbed her back.
"Hey, it's okay now. You're among friends." Stinky said to cheer her up.
"You can rest assured that something like that will never happen again." Phoebe said.
"Yeah, but if it does happen again, just call me up and I'll find the guy." Sid said, and the gang laughed softly.
"Oh…" Lila sobbed, wiping her tears away and began to smile, "thank you ever so much everyone."
"Come on Lila." Helga said, smiling, "Us PS118 guys need to stick together right?" she couldn't believe she just said that.
Lila chuckled a bit, as she rubbed her eyes, "I suppose…"
"Of course we do!" Rhonda exclaimed, "Unless of course, they annoy each other…" and the gang laughed once more.
"Hey," Harold said, "We never really did give you a proper welcome ever since you came here Lila. So, how about we celebrate it after school at Slausen's, huh?" the whole gang laughed again.
"Aw man." Gerald said, chucking, "Always thinking with your stomach, huh, Harold?"
"Hey, I'm hungry!" Harold smiled back.
"Yeah, why not?" Nadine replied, "I think it's a good idea to welcome our newcomer." The decision was agreed unanimously by everyone. They then exchanged a few jokes and nostalgia around as they planned their celebration together. After the bell rang, they walked back into the building and talked to each other. Lila and Stinky was seen holding hands.
"Thank you ever so much Stinky for helping me back there." Lila said, sniffling softly as she smiled at him.
"It's not that big of a problem, Miss Lila." Stinky replied back, smiling. "Always glad to help a gal when she's in trouble."
Lila giggled softly at his remark, and then they both tighten their grasp on each other as they walked hand-to-hand into the school building. "I heard you're religious, Stinky."
VII
Then after school we all went to the place where Harold suggested and we eat, drink, and talk. I couldn't believe it myself since I actually celebrated Lila's return. It was so surreal. She was my rival from way back in grade school and now I'm friends with the little red haired girl. I guess things do change after all. Hey, I contradicted myself. I hate it when I do that. Even so, with the newly formed friendship, I think I still do envy her… kinda… sorta… well, really.
I know you're kinda lonely out there in San Lorenzo Arnold, (HA!) so here's a picture of Lila that Eugene recently took when we were at Slausen's so you can… I don't know, print it and laminate it. So it won't get wet and, keep it… ah, clean. Ew, what am I saying? Look just forget it you blockhead.
Deliberately ignoring copyright laws,
Peppermint Patty.
Helga smiled as she read the letter, and said to herself, "Hmm, I wonder if I can get Phoebe to call me 'Sir'? Heh. She'll probably scoffed at it and smack me around." Helga then saved her letter in a file, and opened her IM program.
No afterthoughts here since I'm completely blank. Thanks for reading and please leave review.