(Original Authors Notes)

One and a half pages of notes: Wow, do I ever feel like a jerk. Sorry for the delay folks, everything around me has just been chaos. I had a car accident that left with me no money and a heavy load of depression that I am still going through. My place of work was floored with customers during the holiday season (I worked over 13 hours on New Years, I didn't get out till 1:15am). This story was the last thing on my mind – I was so busy. Plus I have a lot of computer related shit to do. My Windows '98 has really been acting up and I haven't re-installed since November 2002. I hate my computer, it is such a piece of crap!

Another reason for the delay – I wanted to stick in another couple of chapters. I looked in to other people's ideas, but just had NO TIME to expand on them at all. I looked over everyone's quite carefully; some worked for this story and some would be the good basis for another fic. All I can say is I am sorry it took so long to get back, and I hope I haven't lost my audience, because I REALLY hope I can push at least 100 reviews – that's my goal, because I probably won't write another chapter story like this for a while. Ten reviews a chapter would do it. Getting back to old comments…

Jae: You had me LMAO at the baseball scene! There's just one thing I'd like to ask. If the gang's in school, how can it be a "summer day"?
Wow, I never thought of that. Well, I guess the story could be set in late June I suppose.

Demile: I do indeed draw. In fact here is a few samples of my Hey Arnold! drawings.
How is it going with those drawings for this story? I will be shooting you a mail soon.

Comments concerning my "Welcome To My Life" one-shot…
Will: Well, technical stuff out of the way, this was very well-written. You had a few misspellings with the use of "meet" and "meat," and "self-suicide" is a redundancy, but nothing to complain about.
By the way, thanks for the kudos. Yes, I notice my story does have some stuff that really would never happen in real life, but hey – its fiction. I never noticed I overused "self-suicide" – in fact, I only used it once in the story.

Benji's Riot Girl: BTW, I love the song too, by Simple Plan. I recommend the new CD, if you don't already have it. There are songs I turn to in rough times, they could help you too. Simple Plan is one of my favorites, even though I perfer Good Charlotte
It's funny; every time I hear "Welcome To My Life" on the radio it reminds me of my fic. I have Simple Plan's old album, I like it – but it's almost too much teenage angst – but I still like it. I was almost gonna pick up Good Charlotte's 2002 release, but I found it was far too redundant and whiny about drunken fathers beating up wives and leaving the family. They do have some good singles though.

MDT: Do something, man! Enter a writing contest or something!
Wow, I'm getting praise from the person who I think is one of the greatest fic writers out there? That's crazy, but I thank you for your words of praise. And Shaun…FOR THE LOVE OF CHEESE, ANSWER MY MAIL! I WANNA GET THAT NEW FIC UP! OYE!

Now, I would like to highlight an idea that was good, but just wouldn't fit into my fic…
You could talk Helga into going out with you... threaten to tell her secrets if she doesn't... Make Arnold really jealous... brag to him after some dates... "she is so sweet deep down" "I knew that was a really good person underneath it all... I knew I would be able to get her to come out from hiding behind her bully-ish personality" Arnold has always wanted to tear down her rough exterior and see the sweet Helga within, him thinking that someone beat him too it would make him totally flip out and probably attempt to get in the way of your and Helga's "relationship"
This is a good idea, because I like her character. Her spunk, her flare, her "in your face" attitude. She can look good when she cleans herself up. Yet I am so pro A&H I wouldn't want to fuck with the relationship dynamics that much. I don't know if I would want to tell Arnold how sweet she is – it could leak out to other peers – plus he already knows that, or at least he should. This is a good idea and I'll see if I can re-tool it for another story.

I worked all day on January 7th to get this chapter out. Mainly an idea I expanded on from someone at my site's message board (sorry, I can't remember who). I think it veers off the main story a little, but I am mainly pleased on how it turned out. Just a wacky little chapter. If there are spelling errors, tell me! Then on January 8th – I was like WTF is this! Second time in a row I go to upload my story – I'm eager and want to get my stuff out there because I work so hard, and fanfiction dot net is having more problems! I can't log in! Of all the rotten GD luck!

o----o

The next day was the same old grind. Got up, got dressed, ate, and Phil drove us. Even though Arnold and I got a good sleep, we still didn't feel fully rested. As we entered the halls of PS 118 you could still hear about the game that happened the day before lingering on in people's conversations.

The whole fourth grade class was even more inattentive as usual. Everyone pretty much had their heads on their desks. Guess everyone didn't sleep that well either. Helga was too tired to even torment the ol' football head. Rather she fell asleep, and through her 'oohs' and 'aahs' she was probably dreaming about Arnold.

Recess finally came. All the kids slowly made their way to the playground. Everyone pretty much went looking for a bench to sleep on. Even though everyone else was worn-out, my thoughts about this place were still as brisk as ever. I still had so many unanswered questions about Hillwood; about the places, the urban tales, the people…

It was then when I noticed Gerald in a far off corner of the playground near the school building. He was talking to someone, but the person in question could not be seen because they were standing out of view just around the corner of the brick wall. My eye caught something on the ground and I squinted to see what it was. Peeking out from behind that corner wall looked to be the tip of a…

"…fuzzy slipper…?" I said to myself.

Could it be? The fabled all knowing Fuzzy Slippers of Hillwood City was right here at the school talking to Gerald, probably filling him in on the latest news and info from across the tri-city area. But who was this person? Where did he come from?

"Strike one question off the list." I said as I ran over to Gerald. "Hey big G, wazzup?"

"Steve!" He was caught off guard. The puzzling slipper ducked from the corner and into the shadows. "Uh…hey, man. Nothing is up, same ol' thing, you know what I'm sayin?"

"Really, because it doesn't look like nothing." I said inquisitively, looking over his shoulder inspecting the area where the phantom-like figure had just been standing. "Seems odd you are here all the way on this side of the playground all alone," I peered at him strangely, "talking to someone?" I asked as I walked around him.

"No, no," he said, but you could tell he had something to hide. "Just…uh, rehearsing some lines for the next school play. Yeah, I come over here to rehearse my lines in peace, away from all the schoolyard racquet."

"Funny, I don't recall any school productions coming up." I was now circling him, "It's news to me, what is it called?"

"Uh…it's called…"

It was then that I noticed Gerald had his hands behind his back, and it looked as if he was signalling something…or someone. I instantly looked to where the signal was being broadcast too. The shadowy figure was running off…he wasn't going to get away that easily. I took off running.

"Hey, Steve! Get back here, man! You ain't allowed to be off school property during recess!"

I didn't care, not all the rules applied to me in this world, I wasn't really a student there anyway. "Talking to yourself, eh! We'll see about that!" I yelled back to him as I continued to run.

"Don't do this Steve, some things are better left unknown!" he hollered in the distance.

It was too late, I was catching up to the running body, which I could start to see now. They wore pink fuzzy slippers and a long hooded black robe. I chased them for blocks, through abandoned stores and alleyways. Soon, to my luck, the eerie individual hit a dead end in an alleyway with a wooden fence too high to jump over. I had the victim cornered. They had their back to me.

"Ha…ha…I finally…caught…you now, Fuzzy Slippers." I panted, "Now, who are you?"

The person said nothing, did nothing. Their fists were tight and firm, almost ready to fight.

"I got you cornered, man…just give it up, who are you?"

The fists became un-clenched, and the individual gradually turned around. I couldn't see a face within the dark black hood.

"Reveal yourself at once!" I commanded, although I'll admit I had no idea what I was doing.

The person in question, without saying a word brought his hands up to his hood, and slowly pulled it down to expose their face. I couldn't believe it.

"ROBERT!" I shouted loud enough for the whole town to hear. "You're…you're Fuzzy Slippers?"

"Indeed I am."

"But why Robert, why?"

"Why not Steve, it's the perfect cover up. I barely get noticed at that school. I am a geek, an outcast that refuses to conform to the mainstream society. You've seen Hey Arnold!, I only got ONE speaking line throughout the entire series. 'Is this chair occupied?' Ha, not anymore it isn't!" he said with an evil cackle.

"But why would you…wait a minute, Hey Arnold!? What the fuck are you talking about?"

"Oh come now, Stephen," he said as he circled around me, "I am Fuzzy Slippers, I know all. I know there is another world out there Steve, the fourth wall that divided our two worlds. You somehow broke down that one wall and you have ended up here, in Hillwood City."

"But…wha…uhm." I couldn't say a thing, I was speechless.

"I know all about you Stephen, I know about your website, about you really being a teenager – I know where you really came from. I know in your world, our world is nothing but a 2-D flat screen animated fictional wonder-world. If you ask me, you are really the animated character and we are the ones who are real!" he pointed.

"You're crazy!" is all I could blurt out.

"Am I?" he coyly said. "Maybe you just think that because you are now the mouse and I am the cat. I have seen you on the school grounds Steve, using what you know to harass the students at PS 118. There can only be one person who is the Fuzzy Slippers in this town, and that's me! I have worked too hard, studied too long, and built too high my knowledge to become who I am now! Nobody will ever suspect Robert, one of the many 'extras' of the series and the quietest geek of the school to be the all knowing Fuzzy Slippers. You know too much Steve, and now you have solved one of the greatest mysteries of the town and series.

"Whaddya going to do? You can't kill me or anything."

"True…" he said as he tapped his chin, "Nickelodeon wouldn't like that sort of thing on a kids show. But hear this Steve," as he approached me face to face, "don't go trying to figure out anymore of Hillwood's little secrets. The fourth wall is far too fragile and anymore disturbance could cause a cataclysmic eruption of forces that you know nothing of."

"But? What?…"

He jumped onto some nearby garbage bins by the fence and put his hood back on. "All I can say to you is that you were sent here for a reason, and you will return to your world once you have finished your quest here." With that, he jumped over the fence and out of slight.

"Hey, get back here! What's my quest!"

I slowly walked out of the alley into the sunny and busy street. I was nothing but bewildered. Was what he said about everything true? What about that 'fourth wall being unstable' garbage? A part of me believed him, but a lot of me thought he was just spitting out total bullshit to cover up the fact he actually didn't know all. But one thing was for sure, I was not alone in knowing about my world, and hopefully no one else would find out either.

I then looked at my watch to find recess ended ten minutes ago.

"Crap!" I said as I huffed it back to the school. Just as I thought, the playground was as desolate as a desert. I crept back into the school, making sure not to get caught by Wartz about being in the halls during class. I made my way back to room 206 thinking about what exactly I was going to say to make up for my lateness back from recess. I knocked and slowly opened the door.

"Oh Stephen, there you are," Mr. Simmons greeted, "Gerald told me you had to go to the nurse's office because you weren't feeling well."

I looked over at Gerald who gave an obscured wink and nod. "Yeah, I'm feeling okay now, it must have been something I ate."

"Well take a seat, you are just in time as we start our math unit."

"Great." I said to myself bitterly as I took my seat.