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The J.A.M. a.k.a. Numbuh i: Yup!
Rodrigo spent the rest of their lunchtime, as well as some time after school on that day with Rhonda, Nadine and Sheena and personally, got to know them quite well.
He learned that Nadine and Rhonda were best friends, despite having really different personalities and interests. Rodrigo was intrigued with how they managed to stay so close and how they integrated their various interests together.
Yet, out of the three girls, it was Rhonda that proved to be an enigma, almost on par with Helga, that he really wanted to get to know more. Not to his own surprise, he initially found her highly annoying as she talked mostly about herself and of topics or subjects that he personally had no interest in, or just did not care. Yet, that was precisely the very reason why he wanted to get to know her. He felt there was more to her than just the superficial, fashion crazed preteen she tries to hard to show. As he did so, Rhonda, quite surprisingly, began to open up. She revealed to him that she was highly proficient in sewing and in combining various fabrics of different colors to make something new and beautiful. Rodrigo quickly realized this skill and was impressed with her. He was also told of her matchmaking skills. When he asked her why she held her matchmaking skill in high regard, Rhonda replied that it was her way of trying to make the world just a little bit better. She firmly believes in happy endings for everyone, including someone like Helga. She reveals to him that she was the one who organized a couples' only party specifically so Helga and Arnold can feel comfortable in coming out as a couple to everyone.
Rodrigo was impressed with Rhonda's good heart, but he then asked here why she would impose and follow such a rigid social hierarchy between the 'cool' kids and the 'geeks'. Why not let people just be what they want to be? Rhonda sighed and said that although that is a good idea, she explained that everyone has their place in society for a reason and no one should question it. She further explained that if they abolished the segregation of people and allow them to mingle with each other, then that would mean she would be equal to others and if that were to happen, there would be nothing special about her, a rationale that Rodrigo found to be bitterly disappointed with. The Latino kid then realized that Rhonda, despite having some good intentions, was just way to self-absorbed and selfish to ever try change, at least for now. Rodrigo suspected that just like everyone else, she has her own insecurities that she was battling with. Although he felt sympathetic, that didn't justify on making other people feel bad about something just so she can feel better.
While Rodrigo opted to be on Rhonda's good side, he felt they wouldn't really be able to be good friends. Regardless, he accomplished what he set out to do; make new friends and neutralize Helga. He hoped that after making her friends switch sides, perhaps that would deter her from trying anything else.
What's her problem with me, anyways? He asked himself in thought.
The next day…early in the morning...
Helga and Phoebe arrived at school really early and quickly made their way to the library. After signing up to use two of the school's computers, they quickly went to them, sat down and got to work.
"Alright, let's see what dirt we can dig up about this guy." Helga said as she cracked her knuckles and with a smile, got to work.
Both preteens quickly typed away as they searched the internet. They had to track carefully, as they realized there were a lot of Rodrigo Castiles out there and they needed to know if they found the correct person they were looking for.
After almost forty minutes of internet searching, Helga finally came across a digital newspaper from the Los Angeles times. It was dated last year, but the deadline caught Helga's attention. With great interest, she quickly read through the story and scanned the picture of what looked like to be Rodrigo.
"Rodrigo Castile..." she softly muttered to herself, "was trespassing on government property...arrested? Ah ha!" She loudly exclaimed.
"Ssshhhh!" Librarian said, forcing Helga to lower her voice.
"Phoebe, I found something!" She whispered to her.
"What is it, Helga?" She asked as she got closer.
Helga printed a copy of the digital newspaper and once it was out, handed it to Phoebe.
"Read'em and weep." She triumphantly said. "I told you this kid was bad news."
Phoebe took the printed paper and began reading it.
"Oh my!" She softly exclaimed. "Arrested for trespassing?"
"We got'em now, Pheebs." Helga said. "Now all we need to do is tell everyone about this so that they will all know what a fraud he really is." She continued.
"Oh!" Phoebe exclaimed, startled when Helga instantly snatched the printed paper away from her hands, got up and then run out of the library.
Phoebe turned both computers off and after signing them out, ran outside to catch up to her.
During lunchtime...
No sooner when everyone had finished their lunch and were out in the playing area when Helga suddenly burst out of the building, confidently looking for the new kid whom she knew had just caught him red handed, although he didn't know it yet.
She soon saw him with everyone else talking by the bench. With a mischievous, but triumphant smile on her face, she then began walking towards them, with Phoebe tagging close behind.
"Helga, I understand why you feel you need to do this," Phoebe then began to say to her, "but are you sure this is the way you want to go?"
"Positive Pheebs." Helga said. "People need to know what sort of a person this kid really is and after what we've discovered, this is no laughing matter."
Helga arrived at the group, just as Gerald was finishing telling his story.
"So anyways, that's how scared I was when I, Arnold and Helga went to the old train station to see if the train engine #25 was really haunted." Gerald told the story, with a bit a of a laugh.
"Turns out, the whole story was a dud, but we had a good laugh over it after." Arnold then said.
"Alright alright, now it's your turn, Rodrigo." Gerald then said to him. "What secret do you have that you can tell us?"
"Yes, please do tell us." Helga sarcastically remarked with a smirk, prompting everyone to briefly look at her, but then reverted back to facing Rodrigo.
Rodrigo was about to speak when Helga instantly cut him off.
"Oh wait, I know!" She exclaimed, even letting out a chuckle. "You don't need to say anything. I already know your dirty little secret."
"What are you talking about, Helga?" Arnold asked.
"Turns out that our newest member here has been hiding from us." Helga then tauntingly responded. "Something so diabolical, something so nefarious that it proves just how much of a fraud he is behind that smile."
"nefa-what?" Harold confusingly asked.
"Nefarious." Helga annoyingly said. "You know, something evil or wicked."
"Ohh, I see." Harold said, which Helga only rolled her eyes.
Intrigued, everyone then began to gather around her, waiting to see what piece of information she had uncovered. Rodrigo meanwhile just stood there and calmly waited for her.
"Well, what is it, Helga?" Sid asked.
"Yeah, tell us." Iggy said.
"Well, it just so happens that Rodrigo here is a criminal!" She then loudly declared.
*GASP* Everyone gasped in shock at the news.
"What?!" Rodrigo exclaimed in utter shock. "That's ridiculous! You're making stuff up. I don't have a criminal record."
"Lying am I?" Helga merely said with a taunting voice. "Well, what do you call this?!" As she then revealed to everyone the printed paper from the L.A. Times that clearly shows Rodrigo being escorted away by the police in handcuffs.
Helga then passed the paper around so that everyone was able to get a chance to see it and read the headlines. Eventually, it made its way to Rodrigo and when he sees it, he is utterly shocked.
What the-?! He thought in utter shock. How did Helga manage to get this?! No wait, why would she go out of her way to find any dirty on me?!
Everyone then began to mutter and whisper as they now began to look at Rodrigo with suspicious eyes.
"Well Latino boy," Helga asked him with a smirk, "what do you have to say for yourself?"
"Rodrigo, this is true?" Arnold asked him. "Did you really trespass into government property and got arrest for vandalizing it, as the paper says?"
Despite the amount of eyes that were now worryingly look at him, and with his newfound reputation seemingly falling to pieces, Rodrigo was unfazed by it. If anything, he let out a highly annoyed sigh, a gesture that Helga noticed.
"No, I didn't vandalize anything." Rodrigo began to explain. "Did any of you guys even read the entire article?" He irritatingly asked them and looked around for any nods.
Nobody, not even Arnold, said or did anything.
"Look again." He said as he then passed the paper on to everyone for them to read it.
"It's true, I was arrested," Rodrigo began to explain, "but in not the way you think. As the article says, I was arrested for illegally barricading myself into my school so as to force the School Board to give my school the necessary funding to buy books and to prevent some of our programs from getting cut."
"What?" Gerald confusingly asked.
"What are you talking about?" Helga asked.
Rodrigo just let out another frustrated sigh, but nevertheless proceeded to tell everyone the whole story.
"For while, my previous school was only getting old, worn out and outdated book for many of our courses. It was already bad enough that the School Board cut some of our programs, like art and music class, but the final straw came when we never received the amount of books that everyone there needed for many of their classes. Many of us tried several times to write and send in complaints to the School Board, but all we got was dead silence from them. Not matter what we did, nothing changed. So, out of desperation, I and some of my friends went inside the school after hours, barricaded ourselves, kicked everyone else out and held the building as bargaining chip. The plan was to force the School Board to get them to listen to us."
"Did they?" Arnold asked.
"Pff, are you kidding me? No!" Rodrigo angrily exclaimed as he remembered those times. "Instead, they called the police on us, telling them that there just a bunch of delinquent kids. The police tried to get inside, but each time, we kicked them out. We had to come up with creative ways to force them back out without hurting them, or us. This stand off went on for several days, and we tried many times to get a hold of the School Board to get them to negotiate, but they refused to talk to us! Finally, they called in the SWAP team and unfortunately we weren't able to hold them. They burst inside and overwhelmed and arrested us, charging us for trespassing and vandalizing school property."
"Oh gee, I"m sorry to hear that, Rodrigo." Arnold sympathetically said. But, Rodrigo wasn't done.
"But, after we got arrested, we immediately began to receive a lot of support from many people about what we did and after a seriously strong public pressure, the police dropped all charged and released us. The pressure was also on the School Board, who finally provided my school with new textbooks and library books in large quantities."
"Oh well um, I guess it all worked out for the best, huh?" Gerald commented.
"yeah, I guess." Rodrigo calmly agreed. "But, I guess Helga must have missed that part." He then said as he looked at her with a serious glare.
Growing uneasy at the serious possibly that she made a serious mistake, Helga frantically snatched the printed paper and immediately began to quickly read the entire article.
Oh...my… Helga thought with absolute dismay and shock as she began to read the rest of the article.
In some fairness, the way article was written gave an initial bad impression unless the reader read through the whole thing. The first half of the article essentially tells the readers that Rodrigo and a group of preteens were arrested and charged while giving some details about their serious standoff with the police. While the first half of the article doesn't explicitly portray Rodrigo in a negative light, the mere fact the that group of preteens were arrested for hijacking an entire building and supposedly 'vandalizing it', along with the picture that explicitly shows Rodrigo and some of his friends walking away handcuffed was enough to convince the readers that these kids were nothing more than delinquents. It is only in the second half of the article that fully explains the reasons why this incident ever happened. Everything Rodrigo had just said about that event was in the second half of that article.
"Ffff-" *church bells ringing**ambulance siren**cars honking* were heard when Helga instantly and angrily yelled out a serious curse word, stunning everyone who heard it, including Arnold and Rodrigo.
"Wow, never heard that curse word before." Gerald remarked.
"Phoebe!" Helga then turned around and addressed her best friend. "You also read the article. Why didn't you say anything about this second part?"
"I'm sorry Helga, but I didn't get a chance to read all of it." Phoebe calmly explained. "you snatched it away from my hands before I had an opportunity to read it all, remember?" She then frowned at her.
"Crimeny!" Helga angrily shouted as she slapped the palm of her hand on her face.
In her haste to prove her own hunch about Rodrigo being right, Helga had inadvertently dug her own grave. She now reeled at the thought of what everyone, Rodrigo and Arnold especially must now think of her and was seriously detesting of now having to confront everyone about this with their disappointed and disapproving faces and comments. But most irritatingly, or most anxiously, she was hating at the thought of Arnold now having to give her yet another moral lecture. But knowing she did this to herself, Helga then with a heavy heart began to turn around and braced for the oncoming onslaught from her peers.
Alright, might as well get this over this. She thought as she turned around to face them.
Only, instead of their friends looking at her, must less glaring at her, they were all instead focusing their attention on Rodrigo.
"You held the police at bay for days with no weapons?" Sid excitedly asked Rodrigo. "How did you manage to do that?"
"I uh, umm…" Rodrigo nervously tried to respond, but other kids soon began to ask their questions.
"You did all of that just so your school can give the kids the necessary education for them to have a future?" Nadine excitedly asked him.
"Golly Rodrigo, you are a hero." Stinky remarked.
"A real hero." Rhonda said with an almost romantic sigh.
"Fighting for the little guy; that takes guts and boldness." Gerald also remarked.
Helga said nothing and just stood there with dumbfounded face at what was occurring right in front of her. She went there to expose Rodrigo and discredit him. Instead, she ended up doing the exact opposite, elevating him to the status of a hero. Even Phoebe, now intrigued, if not also excited on hearing the full story of his heroic stance, walked toward the crowd to hear what Rodrigo had to say, leaving Helga alone.
"Oh well, I guess it all worked out for the best." Helga then shrugged as she quietly stepped away from the crowd and proceeded to head back inside before anyone attempted to interrogate her.
Arnold meanwhile also took a few steps back from the crowd and upon seeing Helga leaving, he quickly ran up to her and called her.
"Helga, wait up!" He called out as he ran over to her.
Helga immediately stopped upon Arnold calling her name and just groaned at what was about to occur. "Ah, crud." She groaned.
"What do you want, football head?" She dryly asked him.
"Helga, what you did to Rodrigo, that was beyond not being very nice to him." He said to him with a serious tone. "Why did you go out of your way to expose him like that? What were you hoping to gain?" He asked her with a frown.
Helga just sighed and relented on telling Arnold the truth. There was no point in hiding it from him and after everything they had gone through, she didn't want to start lying to him.
"Look, I think there is something very fishy with Rodrigo." Helga began to calmly explain to him. "He comes here acting all nice and considerate, almost annoyingly on the same level as you, and then he says that he likes me and doesn't find me intimidating like the rest of these losers. I don't buy any of that. I think he is hiding something and it is not something good."
"I thought it was him getting arrested, but clearly I now know I screwed up on that one." She irritatingly continued. "But I'm still convinced that he is hiding something and despite what everyone thinks of him, I don't think he is a nice and descent person."
"But Helga," Arnold then began to counter her arguments, "did you ever stop to think that there could be someone other than me that may like you?"
"Hhhmmm, no." Helga said to him.
"Oh come on Helga," Arnold protested, "after everything we've been through, after everything you have done, no one should be afraid of you anymore. I gotta be honest Helga, it's one of the things that I like about Rodrigo. Instead of him being afraid or intimidated by your toughness and direct personality, he actually likes that about you. He is able to see what I see in you."
"Pff! Ya right." Helga just scoffed at him. "Reality check for you Arnoldo, no one likes me. Not even you liked me, let alone like 'liked' me up until recently."
"That's not true, Helga!" Arnold firmly protested.
"Oh come on Arnold, just admit it!" Helga firmly countered back. "You never gave me even a second thought unless I either insulted you or bullied you."
"Helga," Arnold began to protest again while choosing his words carefully, "I'll admit that you were often not on my mind, but that's because it's hard to get close to you when you try so hard to keep everyone, myself included, away. It wasn't because I didn't like you. You just wouldn't let me get close to you." He continued, now with a rather sad, if not hurtful look.
Helga just sadly sighed at what Arnold had just said, but then groaned in anger. She really, really did not want to get into this right now and preferred to just stick to the topic.
"Look, I just don't think Rodrigo is a good person." She then said.
"Helga, everyone deserves a chance; to be the person they were always meant to be, including you and him." Arnold then said. "While I don't think he did anything bad in the past, even if he did, I think we should give him a chance. Everyone has the capacity to do good, including him. Who knows, I mean, if he did do something bad, perhaps giving him a second chance is all what is really needed to turn him around."
"Arnold, Arnold, Arnold," Helga then said with a condescending tone, "always looking at the bright side of things and seeing the good in people while blinding yourself to the reality of things."
Despite her criticism, Helga knew she just fell down into the hole she herself dug, logically speaking, but felt Arnold needed to be reminded of it his shortcomings.
"We gave you a chance." Arnold, quite predictably, then said to her.
"Whose 'we'?" Helga asked him.
"Gerald and me." Arnold answered him. "After everything you did for me;"
Oh boy, here we go. Helga thought as she rolled her eyes.
"organizing that contest to go to San Lorenzo," Arnold continued, "encouraging me not to give up when Lasombra imprisoned us, and how your heart was the one that helped the Green-Eyed people, including my parents. All of that revealed to us just what type of a person you really are; a sweet, kind and very caring one. I just wish you would have shown that side of you sooner." He said with a disappointed look.
"What did you say?" Helga asked him, the last statement getting her attention.
"I said I just wish you would have shown that side of you sooner." Arnold said again.
Helga said nothing and just sadly looked away, feeling the guilt and pain of him having to put with so much of her antics, all because of her insecurities and fears.
Oh Arnold, Helga began to monologue in thought, if I only can brush aside my weak walls and show you just what I am capable of, if only I have the strength to tear down these walls and open myself to the world and allow its bustling light to shine upon me! I hope one day that can be so while you, my beloved, can hold my hand strong and proud to call me yours, without shame or guilt.
"Anyway Helga," Arnold then said, getting her attention, "Despite your hunch, I think you need to go over there and apologize to him."
"Excuse me?" Helga said with an irritated tone.
"I said, I think you need to go over there and apo-" Arnold began to say again.
"Ya, I heard you the first time, football head." Before Helga interrupted him. "What I meant to say was, 'no', I will not apologize to him. If anything, he should be thanking me."
"Thanking you? For what?" Arnold asked her, now starting to get irritated.
"For elevating him to the status of a hero." Helga pointed out, both verbally and literally. "I meant to do the opposite of that, but who's counting?" She just shrugged.
"Helga, this is serious now! Do you realize the severity of what you did to him?!" Arnold exclaimed, now reaching the limit of his patience. "You just outed something personal in front of everyone that was not yours to tell. I saw him glaring at you before you left; he's furious with you! You're really lucky that none of our friends didn't say anything to you and I'm afraid of what Rodrigo might think of you."
"I don't care what those losers and especially that new kid thinks of me." Helga quickly replied back.
"You should, Helga." Arnold countered. "By not apologizing to him, you are wasting a golden opportunity to be friends with someone who likes you."
"He doesn't like me, weren't you listening?!" Helga irritatingly exclaimed.
"I was, Helga." Arnold calmly responded. "But even if you are right about him, what you did to him was wrong and you had no right to expose something personal about him without at least talking to him first."
Although not showing it, Helga began to heed to Arnold's words and second thoughts began to circulate around in her mind about her hunch about Rodrigo and what she did to him. With only herself knowing why she was doing all of this in the first place, she made no attempt to show her hesitation and instead began to frown and release her anger in order to hide her true feelings again. Not to mention that she was growing highly agitated that Arnold was siding with Rodrigo and not her.
"Listen football head and listen well," she then angrily said to him, "I am only sweet and kind and caring to you and Phoebe only and to no one else! Not even to tall hair boy. As far as I am concerned, no one deserves to see that side of me, got it?!" As she then turned around and began to stomp away.
"Helga, wait!" Arnold shouted, but Helga just ignored him and continued to march back inside the school.
Arnold looked on helplessly and very frustratingly as he watched his girlfriend stomp away. He let out a rather disappointed, sad sigh as he was not able to get through to her. To make matters worse, he now had the burden of trying to explain this to Rodrigo and apologize to him on her behalf...again.
After watching her leave, Arnold turned around and headed back toward the crowd and hoped that Rodrigo would not be too angry with Helga. He then made his way through the crowd, but as he got to its center, he realized that Rodrigo was no longer there.
"Hey, where did Rodrigo go?" Arnold asked Stinky.
"Rod? Oh, he said he needed to use the bathroom and then headed inside." Stinky replied back. "He said he will be back soon."
Arnold said nothing else and with the crowd now dispersing, went over with his friends and waited for Rodrigo to come back to make his apology.