Responses to reviews:
Rosali Leon Huamani: Gracias!
Cre8ivelybankrupt87: Yeah, I was thinking of this for a while and then I just decided to write a short story about it. It shouldn't be surprising that Helga would not be really welcoming to a new student, whether it's Rodrigo, Lila or anyone else.
Hmm, the trauma of San Loranzo, instilling in her a deep sense of suspicious? I didn't think about that. That could be interesting, but no, that's not it. I didn't want to make this story long and complicated.
Over the next few days, Rodrigo quickly became integrated into Arnold's and Gerald's group. With each passing time, more and more people found him to be an exciting person. They found out that he was not only an easy going guy, but was a highly intelligent person. Yet, it was still hard to whether he knew more than he let on, or if he was on par with Phoebe, since Rodrigo rarely flaunted his intelligence in the way other kids do to show their superiority. This only served for other kids to be more impressed with him, as he created an aurora of mysterious around him. Despite being a bit reserved and only spoke when spoken to, that didn't really deter people from asking him more questions about himself and his interests.
Rodrigo in turn learned a great deal about everyone else, as well as his new home. He grew to grow more comfortable around Arnold's group as he felt he had a lot of things in common with them. He was also told about the many fun places and activities he could do in Hillwood and began to make plans to visit them. Unlike some of his peers, he opted to befriend as many people as he could, regardless of their popularity or social standing within the school. As far as he was concerned, he cared little for such trivial social boundaries.
Most interestingly, people found out that Rodrigo was an impeccable dancer, which Rodrigo used to his full advantage to impress them further. At one point during lunch, after being pressed by his peers to show some of his moves, he put on a Latin flavor music from his phone and began to dance, demonstrating to everyone his keen ability to combine various dance moves from other genres into his own. At one point, Eugene and Peapod Kid even joined in, trying to copy some of his moves, which Rodrigo slowed down in order allow them to follow him. Had it not been for the bell ringing, the entire school yard would have descended into one big dance party. Needless to say, it worked like a charm and everyone was smitten by his dancing, including the girls.
Well, almost every girl. During those few days, Helga remained by the sidelines, looking on but seemingly unimpressed with this kid's attempt to impress everyone. While privately acknowledging the kid did have certain skills, she remained weary of him. She wasn't sure what to make of him and couldn't help but feel that something was a bit...off about him.
After the bell rang, everyone made their way back inside the school and prepared for the second halves' classes. Helga quickly went to her locker to get her belongings when she realized she needed to use the restroom before going to class.
"Still got some time." She said to herself when she saw the clock up on the wall.
Wasting no time, Helga quickly made her way toward the bathroom and just as she was making a turn,
"Whoa whoa whoa!" She exclaimed when she almost collided with Rodrigo who was heading the opposite direction.
While avoided on colliding with each other, his sudden appearance did startle her enough that she dropped her some of her papers onto the floor.
"Jeez Louis, Latino boy, are you blind?!" Helga exclaimed. "You almost crashed into me. Watch where you are going?!"
"Sorry Helga." Rodrigo apologized. "I didn't see you there. Here, let me help you." He offered to pick up her papers and then offered them back to her.
"Give me those!" She firmly said to him as she yanked them away from his hand and began to walk away. "Get your eyes checked next time."
"You're welcome." Rodrigo then sourly remarked to her when she walked past him.
"Hey, don't give me that attitude!" She snapped back at him when she heard him. "You're the one that almost crashed into me and besides, I didn't ask for you to pick my stuff up."
"True, you didn't." Rodrigo said. "But it is nice to help others. It wouldn't have killed you to at least say 'thank you'." He then retorted a bit.
"Oh, pardon me by good sir," Helga then dramatically and sarcastically began to say to him as she bowed him. "I thank so much for helping this damsel in distress pick her papers up. How noble of you. Surely your actions will reverberate through the ages."
Rodrigo said nothing and just looked on, not looking at all amused by her sarcasm.
"Would you like a medal as well, my good sir? Sheesh." She annoyingly retorted as she rolled her eyes and then continued to make her way toward the bathroom.
Rodrigo just frustratingly sighed and then turned around to head to class.
Did I do something wrong? He thought.
Later the same day...
After school was over, Helga went over to Phoebe's house again to do their homework. Considering that the blonde preteen was still living in Bob's Beeper Emporium, she wanted to spend as much time as possible away from there, away from her parents and the reminders of what just how low her life had stooped.
"Oh Helga," Phoebe then said, "I never got a chance to ask you; what do you think about Rodrigo?"
"Eh, he's OK, I guess." Helga just casually remarked. "I'll admit, he is somewhat, what's the word, entertaining, but I don't think he likes me. I think he was toying with me when he said that."
"What makes you say that?" Phoebe asked her.
"Oh come on Pheebs." Helga said. "Who likes me when they first meet me? Really? Can you name me one person who has liked me the second they met me?"
"Well, I did." Phoebe responded.
"Besides you, Phoebe." Helga said. "And Arnold."
Phoebe tried to think of anyone else who could have liked her the second they met her, but she came up with nothing.
"Exactly!" Helga exclaimed. "And if there is one thing that I will not tolerate from anyone is being toyed around like that! Besides, he has a certain enigma around him that I don't like."
"But Helga, he only started going to our school just last week." Phoebe countered. "It will take some time for any one of us to really get to know him."
"It's not just that." Helga countered back. "Him being all friendly, smiling at everyone and being nice makes me think he is hiding something about himself and that makes me nervous."
"Well, that's not really surprising." Phoebe said as she thought about it. "But I'm sure that whatever he is hiding about himself, it can't be that bad."
"That maybe so," Helga admitted, "but I'm not going to risk it. Whatever he is hiding, I'm going to find out!"
"Why Helga?" Phoebe asked him. "Why are you going out of your way to find things about him?"
"Because I'm positive that whatever he is hiding, it can't be anything good." Helga explained. "It's all very suspicious that some new kid doesn't find me intimidating. No worse, he likes me! Ever since he became best buds with Arnold and Gerald, we have been seeing more and more of him and no matter what I do or say, no matter how many times I threaten him, he remains completely unfazed by my every attempt to inject fear into his very soul. At the very least, all I managed to do was just annoy him."
"Maybe what he said about you is true; that he does find you interesting." Phoebe suggested.
"Or he is hiding something." Helga just stubbornly countered.
"And that bothers you?" Phoebe then asked her. "That there is someone other than Arnold or I that likes you?"
Helga opened her mouth and was about to exclaim a big 'yes', but at the last moment, stopped herself as she didn't wish to reveal her true reasons for being suspicious of Rodrigo. It's not like she needed to. Phoebe probably already knew. Besides, there was another matter that she needed to discuss with her.
"What bothers me is that this new kid thinks he can do whatever he wants, or associates with whomever he wants while not respecting the rules of the school yard!" Helga then firmly said. "Despite his easy going nature and growing popularity, he needs to understand that there are boundaries and rules that he must also follow, just like everyone else has to."
"What makes you think that?" Phoebe asked her.
"Because he is gaining too much power for any one kid to have." Helga said. "He needs to be contained, controlled if you will. We need to re-establish the equilibrium in the school yard and bring back the fragile balance of power, lest we all succumb to our animalistic desires to be on top and allow our petty squabbles and bring about disorder and chaos."
"I see." Phoebe just said with a suspicious raised eyebrow. "And who is going to introduce him to these 'rules'?"
"Me, of course." Helga responded. "What better person is there than moi to initiate and integrate our new peer into our ways?"
Phoebe looked at her best friend with a rather suspicious, if not also confused look. Helga had never been one to follow the school's social rules and boundaries, so she wasn't sure why she would want to introduce Rodrigo to them, unless she was planning something...
"Well, I guess it wouldn't hurt if he is made of aware of the social rules and boundaries that have been set up prior to his arrival." Phoebe thought about it.
"Great!" Helga exclaimed. "Now all we need to do is get Rhondaloid, Little Ms. Perfect, Spider girl and the flower girl onboard with this. Especially Rhonda."
"Do you think they will be onboard with this?" Phoebe asked her. "Rodrigo did made a big impression on them."
"Trust me, after giving them my reasons, they will want to lecture Rodrigo on the social hierarchy of the school yard. Tomorrow during lunch, we'll talk to them and then him."
The next day at lunch...
True to her word, Helga didn't have much trouble convincing Rhonda, Nadine and Sheena into her little scheme. Lila was initially convinced, but after what happened to her in the fourth grade, she was having second thoughts on helping her 'former tormentors', but for now said nothing.
"Well, I suppose you are right about this Helga, for once." Rhonda said as she looked at he fingernails. "As much as I came to find Rodrigo appealing, he does need to learn the rules of the school yard and go through the same rigorous process of judgment before his peers, like everyone else had. There should no exceptions."
"My thoughts exactly, Princess." Helga said, looking happy that her plan was proceeding smoothly.
Sheena and Nadine nodded in agreement, except Lila who just stood there with a skeptical look.
"Right, you guys wait here I while get Latino boy." Helga said as she then made her way to get him.
Helga walked over to Rodrigo, who was playing ball with the guys.
"Hey Rodrigo." Helga greeted him with a rather friendly tone.
"Oh, hey Helga." He greeted her back. "What's up?"
"You got a second?" Helga asked him. "Me and girls need to have a little talk with ya."
"Oh, sure." Rodrigo said.
"Talk about what, Helga?" Arnold asked her as he approached them.
"What's it to you, football head?" Helga retorted. "It's just a little friendly chit-chat, no big deal. You got a problem with that? Or are you jealous?" He asked him with a smirk.
"No, it's not that." Arnold countered. "It's just that, well, I think it's nice that you are wanting to get to know him."
"Sure, let's go with that." Helga sarcastically remarked. "C'mon, Latino boy." She then said to him as she turned around to head back.
Rodrigo said nothing and after giving Arnold and Gerald a quick glance, who only just shrugged their shoulders, began to follow her.
While Helga went over to get Rodrigo, Lila finally felt she couldn't be part of this charade and opted to say something.
"I'm ever so sorry everyone," She then said to everyone. "But, I cannot be part of this."
"How come, Lila?" Sheena asked her.
"Because of what happened to me two years ago." She sadly responded. "It makes no sense on introducing Rodrigo to these social rules. What is the point of this?"
"The point Lila," Rhonda then began to explain, "is that Rodrigo needs to know which side of the school yard is owned by the cool kids and which is owned by the geeks. It's for his own benefit. Hierarchies exist all the time, including in nature. It's as natural as breathing."
"Does the benefit include him being humiliated if he were to break them?" Lila then sternly asked them, reminding them of what they did to her when she 'broke' such rules.
"Lila, we said were sorry when we realized how wrong we were about that and I thought you forgave us." Nadine said.
"I know you did and I have forgiven you," Lila assured them, "but I thought everyone understood the moral of that episode; to just allow people to mingle with whomever they want without the fear of repercussions."
"I'm sorry, but if we're just going to be doing the same thing to Rodrigo as what you guys did to me, then I'm afraid I cannot be part of this." Lila said and then just turned around and went the other way.
Lila's words and departure stunned everyone and made everyone have second thoughts as well, including Rhonda. Should they even bother to go through with this? Unfortunately, they had little time think about it as Helga and Rodrigo soon arrived.
"Hey, where did Little Ms. Perfect go?" Helga asked when she realized Lila was no longer there.
"Lila? She...well, given what happened to her, didn't feel comfortable doing this and left." Phoebe explained.
"What?" Helga exclaimed in shock and grew even more worried when she saw the rest of them having second thoughts.
"Just give us a moment, Rodrigo." Helga said to her, even going to so far as to place her hand on his shoulder before then hustling with everyone else.
"Come on, we can't back out now! We're doing this for everyone's benefit, including this poor guy." She softly said as she pointed at him. "He needs to understand how things work around here so he can find his place."
"And besides," Helga continued, "we did tell Lila beforehand when she arrived as a new student, so technically, it wasn't really 100% our fault that she didn't listen to us. And, we did own up to our mistakes. It's not like Lila never apologized to us."
As twist as her logical was, it did make sense to everyone. Lila was previously warned about what the rules and boundaries were and despite that, she did still choose to go about her business without any regard for them. However one may take it, it was enough to convince everyone to go ahead with it.
Rodrigo meanwhile stood there, looking confused about what all this was about.
"Well, alright." Nadine said, albeit with some hesitation. Everyone else just nodded.
"Good." Helga, feeling relief.
The group session ended and everyone turned around to face Rodrigo. Helga began to speak to him.
"Alright, so we brought you here because there's been a little issue about you trying to fit in here."
"There has?" Rodrigo asked.
Helga just nodded.
"Definitely." She said. "See, you're going about this the wrong way. We get it, you're new here and clueless, but the way you've been doing has been rubbing people the wrong way."
"It has?" Rodrigo asked, now getting concerned.
"Don't interrupt, that's rude." Helga instantly said to him. "You've got a lot to learn, Rodrigo, which is why we're here. We're here to help you out, but there are a few things you need to know."
When Rodrigo said nothing, Helga continued.
"First off, we run things around here. Me, Phoebe, Rhonda and all the other girls. Not the boys, not football head over there. Us, the actual First sex. You with me so far?"
"Yes." Rodrigo confirmed.
"Like in the animal kingdom, each of us has their own place in the school yard. Phoebe is the intellectual one, Rhonda is the gossip queen and fashionista, Sheena is the non-violent, environmentalist, Nadine is the bug expert and yours truly is the brains of this entire operation. I am what keeps this whole thing glued together and prevent it from falling."
"Huh? Wait a minute Helga, no you're-" Rhonda was about to protest.
"Sshhh, Rhonda please, don't interrupt." Before Helga cut her off. "Didn't your parents teach you common courtesy?"
"Hmph!" Rhonda just humphed and frowned at her, but other than that, said nothing.
Rodrigo just quietly looked at Helga with a bit of an irritated face. Fully remembering the amount of times Helga interrupted people, including him, he could appreciate just how oxymoronic Helga sounded.
"So, if you want to fit in, you need to respect these boundaries. Got it?" Helga then continued.
"Yes." Rodrigo said, looking slightly unamused.
"But, it'll take more than just respecting the rules in order to fit in." Helga quickly continued. "Fitting take time, it takes finesse, it takes figuring out the whose, whats, whys and where fors. You gotta crawl before you walk and you gotta walk before you run. You still with me?"
"Yes..." Rodrigo just dryly answered her.
"Following on what Helga said, Rodrigo," Rhonda then spoke up, "there are two groups that you need to be made of aware; cools kids and geeks. People like myself, Peapod Kid, Arnold and perhaps Gerald are the cool kids. People like Eugene, Stinky, Sid, Harold and Curly are the geeks. It'll be up to you how you will want people to see you as."
"Take Sheena for example," Rhonda continued, "she used to be one the geeks, until she was elevated by yours truly to one of the cool kids. So, there are opportunities for social mobility, but they are highly restricted and you will need to prove yourself in order to be elevated."
"I see." Rodrigo just calmly said. "Question." He raised his hand.
"Yes?" Helga responded him.
"Just humour me on this. Suppose if I don't follow these rules. What will happen?" He asked.
"I'm glad you asked." Helga said with a mischievous smirk as she then cracked her knuckles and prepared herself. "As consequences for breaking any of our scared rules," she began with a serious, judging tone, "the whole might of the power structure will come crashing down upon thee!"
Thundering and lightening were then seen and heard around them.
Rodrigo just looked at Helga with wide open eyes. After hearing what they had to say, he wasn't at all amused by this, although he did take Helga's warning seriously. In truth, he didn't think this was at all fair, to him and everyone else. He was especially disappointed at Phoebe.
Why is phoebe in on this? He thought. I thought she was more mature than this.
Despite the patronizing, Rodrigo was no stranger to the type of hierarchy that the girls are trying to indoctrinate him on. He had seen this kind of hierarchy before at his previous school and had seen close hand of its negatives consequences. In essence, he had no intention on following these set of Apartheid-type rules. But, he knew he just couldn't break them without being exposed to its consequences. Rodrigo agreed with Helga in that these girls were the center of power in their grade, which is why he wanted to make a big impression on them, especially Rhonda. Rodrigo was fully aware of Phoebe's intellectual power, Rhonda's connections and tendency to know other people's business and Helga's aggressive, but highly intellectual capacity to look at things deeper than most would do. In his mind, he figured it must have been Helga that enticed the rest of the girls to follow her lead with this. He didn't think people like Rhonda had the necessary 'force' to have pushed everyone to do this. With that, he also figured that Helga was the most dangerous of the bunch and had to track carefully.
For a second, he thought about perhaps leading a revolt against them by gathering allies who were disgruntled at this hierarchy of power, inciting a possible civil war between the grade, between the haves and have-nots.
Nah, that's already been done. He thought.
Instead, he opted to get this group to turn against this notion. To do that, he needed to gain their trust and get them away from Helga.
"Parish the thought." Rodrigo said with a friendly smile. "A humble new student such as myself, I would never want to step on anyone's toes."
Rodrigo sudden agreement caught everyone's attention, including Helga.
"I mean," Rodrigo continued with a chuckle, "who am I to question and disrupt the scared rules and boundaries of P.S. 118, past down from generation to generation?"
"But especially," Rodrigo continued as he then approached Rhonda, held her hand once again and then said, "who am I to question this sweet finesse' intimate vast knowledge of people, as well as her affluent connections? I humble myself before your presence. The only thing that matches your interpersonal skills is your beauty." As he then kissed her hand. "Ni aucune autre personne peut assortir ça." (no other person can match that.)
"Ooohhh..." Rhonda just blushed hard and swooned when she heard him speak to her in French again, even though she still didn't know what he was saying to her.
Before anyone else can say anything, Rodrigo then quickly went over to Phoebe.
"Most wise Phoebe," Rodrigo then said to her, "I bow down to your intellectual superiority, whose vast knowledge of the world and its intricate dimensions far exceed my own. I have heard of how you came up with an escape plan by sending an SOS signal to Helga's parents using nothing but Rhonda's powerless phone and old beepers. I am in awe of your brilliance. You have indeed such wisdom that it even sent Athena, the Goddess of Wisdom recoil in shame and terror. A rare specimen indeed. Gerald is truly a lucky guy."
Phoebe initially said nothing and just stared at Rodrigo with wide eyes, stunned by his word. But soon, she began to blush as well.
"I umm, uh..." She tried to say something but stuttered, a rare sight indeed.. "T-T-Thank you." She shyly said in the end.
Given that Phoebe was in a relationship with Gerald, Rodrigo tracked carefully on not to explicitly flirt with her. He felt he needed to in order to sway everyone to his side rather than Helga's, as well to prevent any internal fighting between the girls and not make anyone feel left out. He just hoped that Gerald would not find out about this.
Rodrigo then quickly made his way to Nadine.
"Most fearful Nadine," Rodrigo then continued with his poetic speech, "You're passion and love for some of Nature's most controversial species are truly profound and inspirational. I feel comforted in knowing that someone with such vast knowledge of Nature's critters goes to this school. You are indeed one of a kind. And I love your hair, by the way. It suits you perfectly. No doubt the Araneae species played a role in your hair's inspiration."
"I uh, umm..." Nadine tried to say something as she also blushed. "...thanks." she finally said with a nervous smile.
Rodrigo then quickly made his way to Sheena.
"Sheena, most noble of all who walks in the halls of P.S. 118," He then began again, "Your determination and dedication for the safety and protection of all life on this planet has no equal. It excels all other heroic deeds and I hope that one day, you receive the Nobel peace prize for your efforts."
"Oh, I umm, uh..." Sheena just nervously laughed and blushed. "Thank you, Rodrigo." She then said.
Helga said nothing and just watched in amazement, as well as in annoyance, as one by one, Rodrigo neutralized their grade's more influential students. She couldn't believe how only a few flirtatious compliments was enough to stumble them down, including Phoebe! However, she soon snapped out of it when she realized she was the only one left and Rodrigo approached him.
She said nothing, but just frowned at him and crossed her arms. Rodrigo for his part, knew that with Helga, it would be different. For the most part, he knew very little of her. The times when he asked Arnold about her, he would either give him vague answers or simply tried to find a way not to answer him, which confused him a bit. However, he eventually got the hint and stopped asking him about her. He wasn't sure if Arnold was hiding information about her, or if he was ashamed of her. Nevertheless, with whatever information he did knew about her, he began to speak to her.
"Helga, your strong, aggressive stance has no bounds." He said to her with a smile. "You are right. From the moment I saw you, I can see that you are the rock that holds this entire group together. You have a creative spirit; a true Dionysian descendant if I ever saw one. You are not just a survivor. You have the keen ability to thrive in the most of challenging circumstances."
Helga still said nothing and looked at him with a highly suspicious look. She noticed that his tone with her had changed a bit. Unlike with the rest of the girls, it sounded a bit dramatic, but she wasn't completely sure.
"Well I suppose we could make an exception." Rhonda then suddenly said, still enthralled by Rodrigo's compliments.
To Helga's shock and dismay, everyone else nodded in agreement.
"Much gratitude to you fine ladies." Rodrigo kindly said as he took a bow.
However, while no one was looking, Rodrigo turned to face Helga and when she turned to face him, he gave her a quick smirk. It was then that Helga realized the underlying message in all of this; he would not submit to these hierarchical rules.
Helga just frowned at him and crossed her arms. She just couldn't believe it. Within just a few single poetic sentences, he managed to turn some of the most influential people in their grade over to his side. However, instead of being furious at this turn of event, she was actually...in awe of him and if she really wanted to admit it, had finally earned her respect.
Well played, Latino boy. Well played. She admitted in thought. But, I learned something about you...
When Helga came up with this idea, she didn't really know how Rodrigo would react to it and that was the whole purpose of it. While she would have liked to contain this kid's growing popularity and influence, the main objective of this plan was to learn something about him by observing how he would react to it. Although she was disappointed that things took this unexpected turn, it also finally confirmed her suspicions of him. He was definitely hiding something from people.
This kid's very bold. She thought to herself. And there is definitely more about him than meet's the eye. That smirk he just gave me confirmed all of this. He is not only hiding something, but he is cunning, smart, very, very smart and manipulative.
Rodrigo then quickly dropped the smirk on his face and then turned towards the other four female preteens.
"I was wondering if you ladies would accompany me as I head back, so we can further discuss all of your benevolent traits?" He offered them.
All four girls mumbled and nodded in agreement and began to walk away with Rodrigo. Even Phoebe began to walk with them, but she then immediately felt someone pull her back to reality.
"Phoebe, snap out of it!" Helga then shouted at her best friend as she shook her. "Focus Phoebe, focus! Remember what we came here to do."
"Huh?" Phoebe said, feeling a bit disoriented. "Oh right, right. Sorry Helga, it's just that Rodrigo has a bit of an attractive aurora around him." She nervously smiled.
Helga just sighed. "I'll have to agree with you on that." She softly said to her. "That's why he must be stopped now! He only said those things to you and everyone else just to get all of you on his side. This guy is nothing but a manipulator!"
"I believe you maybe right, Helga." Phoebe said after she thought about it. "What should we do now?"
"No to worry." Helga calmly assured her. "I'll admit, it underestimated him. But, in order to avoid from doing that again, we'll need to dig up a little bit of his past, hehehehe" She mischievously chuckled.
Alright so that scene where Helga was discussing with Rodrigo his approach was wrong and it was rubbing people the wrong way, that part of her dialogue I got it from the episode, 'New Student' where Lila first comes in and Helga lectures her on the same rules and boundaries of the school.
Also, when Helga said that the first sex (girls) run the school, she is paraphrasing the feminist, Simone De Beauvoir's book The Second Sex.