Arnold's Wizarding World

Chapter 7: A Change in Perspective

THIS. CHAPTER. IS. SUPER. IMPORTANT. And short. Okay, I actually need the 50 people who I know are reading this to let me know what they think because the story makes a huge shift here :)

This is the one and only chapter where we will not be reading this in Arnold's perspective, hence the name of the chapter.

Let's check back into Hillwood, ladies and gentlemen!

REAL Helga's POV

"Criminy Miriam where did you leave my lunch?" I asked, barging through our kitchen cabinets and staring anxiously at the clock.

I was going to be late for school… again.

Miriam woke up from her pool of drool on the table and eyed me with dazed eyes, "Isn't it in the stove?"

I hopped off the kitchen counter and opened the stove, sure enough, a paper bag filled with crackers and shaving cream was inside.

"Gee Miriam, you actually remembered to put in food this time," I sarcastically spat, holding up a pack of crackers.

"Hooray," she yawned, before going back to sleep.

Well, guess I was going to have to do some trading and put Ol' Betsy to work.

I headed out and winced, massaging the back of my head slowly. The bruise I got on the back of my head the night Arnold and I were looking for his parents was still there, and boy did it still hurt.

"Hi Helga, ready to go?" Phoebe asked, holding onto her backpack confidently.

"Ready as I'll ever be," I answered, heading down the stoop and walking with her to school.

"Have you spoken to ice cream about the thing?"

"What thing?" I asked. "Oh! That thing! Nope."

"But Helga, you have to tell Arnold at some point that you're ready to make your relationship public. I think you're just stalling."

"I'm not stalling! I just haven't been able to get a minute alone with the football head. He's always coming up with some sort of excuse to not be around me. Maybe this relationship wasn't meant to work out after all."

"I don't think that's it Helga," Phoebe answered. "Arnold has been acting rather odd these past few days, everyone else has been noticing his odd behavior too. Gerald wanted me to tell you that we're having a meeting about it at Gerald's Field today after school."

"Criminy, that bad?"

"I'm afraid so."

We headed into school and walked into Mr. Frank's class, where I noticed Arnold sharpening a pencil in the back of the class. That's become a routine of his since last week, I've noticed.

"Hey Arnold," Eugene stated as he slowly approached the football head. "I-I need to sharpen my pencil."

Arnold shifted his eyes towards him and nodded, allowing Eugene to come in and sharpen his own. We all watched with curiosity as Arnold returned to his seat, without uttering a single word to anyone.

We all looked at Gerald, hoping he could somehow, some way, get Arnold to snap out of it.

"Yo Arnold," Gerald called out, causing Arnold to turn to look at him.

I sat next to Gerald, and I took this opportunity to look into the eyes of the bane but life of my existence. They were such a dead shade of green. He almost didn't look like my football head.

"Hey man, you okay?" Gerald asked.

"Yeah, I've just had a long night."

"You want to talk about it?"

"Nah, I'm okay, I just ate too much sugar before sleeping," he answered, turning his head back to the front of the class.

None of us moved. Arnold seemed so dead, so dull, so dry.

What happened?

Mr. Frank walked in and eyed all of us with boredom, "Open your notebooks and copy the sentence on the board, we're going to practice our punctuation."

Sheesh, this guy was drier than Australia during the summer. I can't believe I'm saying this but I actually miss Simmons.

"Psst, Gerald, Helga," Sid whispered, causing our heads to turn to them.

"Did you fellas hear the news over at PS 119?" Stinky asked.

"No, what happened?" Gerald whispered.

"Scheck's nephew, Sean von Scheck, hasn't shown up at school in over a week, and his parents aren't anywhere to be found. It's like he disappeared off the face of the planet," Sid gossiped, causing me to scoff.

"That's your news of the day?"

"Don't you think it's weird?" Sid asked. "Just last week Scheck escaped from prison, and all of a sudden his nephew is no where to be found."

"I think it's fishy, on accountta Scheck is evil."

I pondered, yeah, I guess that was a little weird. Well, Scheck better not show his face at my house, or Bob will have to strangle him with his bear arms.

"Will you guys shut up?" Arnold threatened, causing the four of us to eye him with shock.

Arnold coughed and laughed nervously, "Mr. Frank was looking over at us, I think he was about to punish you. Sorry about that."

Gerald-o narrowed his eyebrows, and so did I, neither of us were buying it. Sid and Stinky did though, and they went back to writing in their notebooks.

"I'll be right back," Mr. Frank announced as he yawned and took his empty coffee mug out of the classroom.

As soon as he left, all chaos ensued.

"Okay Arnold, you've been acting weird all week, spill!" Gerald scolded, catching the attention of everyone in the room.

"I just didn't sleep last night."

"Arnold, you and I have done all nighters many times! And you're never this grumpy in the morning. Something's happening to you, and you're gonna tell me," Gerald demanded.

"Please just let it go Gerald."

"No! I'm worried about you man!"

"Gerald-o is right Arnold, you're acting like a sap," I added.

"I said let it go!" he yelled, completely silencing us.

I opened and closed my mouth like a fish, never in my life have I seen Arnold so… angry!

Gerald turned to look at me, sending me a concerned look.

I shook my head, signaling for him to leave him alone.

Mr. Frank then returned, and we all went along our day, leaving Arnold alone to his mysterious misery.

"I'm telling y'all!" Gerald exclaimed, standing in front us while we all sat on the bleachers of Gerald's Field. "SOMETHING is wrong with Arnold!"

"You think he got abducted by aliens?" Sid asked, pressing his hands on his cheeks in horror.

"Uh, hello!" I exclaimed. "We are NOT going back to 4th grade Halloween, we almost got killed!"

"I reckon he switched bodies with someone."

"Oh plllease Stinky," Rhonda stated as she fixed her hair. "Who would want to switch bodies with Arnold when I'm right here? If anything, they should want to switch bodies and lives with me."

"Maybe he's just having a bad day," Eugene suggested with a shrug.

"No, Arnold doesn't snap as easily as he did today," Gerald noted. "Even if he's having a bad day."

"Or maybe he's just growing up Gerald," Phoebe informed. "Studies show that pre-teens and teenagers tend to have a short temper."

"Yeah guys, maybe Arnold is just growing up," Sid muttered sadly.

"That could also explain why he's hiding things from us," Nadine mumbled. "Maybe it's a part of growing up."

"No!" Gerald denied. "Arnold would never hide things from me!"

"Well, he did hide his true intentions with the fake Eduardo when we went to San Lorenzo," Sid noted. "I wouldn't say he doesn't hide things from you Gerald."

Gerald licked his lips nervously, "But—"

"Big Patty was telling me that you start learning who your real friends are when you enter middle school," Harold mumbled. "That's when you start losing your closest friends…"

Gerald blinked, his eyes shaking with fear. Never have I ever seen Gerald so vulnerable.

"He wouldn't…" I heard him whisper, but it was barely audible. "He can't…"

I looked at Phoebe, who stood and placed a comforting hand on Gerald's shoulder. "I don't think that applies to you and Arnold. Your friendship is too strong."

"Yeah Tall Hair Boy, you and the football head are like Beavis and Butthead, completely inseparable."

Gerald sighed, "I-I think I'm going to go, I'll see you all later."

He walked ahead, placing his hands in his pockets.

"Man, poor Gerald. His friendship is falling apart right before our eyes," Sid muttered.

I scowled, if there's anyone in this stinkin city who knows Arnold, it's me, and I highly doubt his odd behavior has anything to do with age.

With that thought in mind, I ran ahead, ignoring the curious calls behind me.

I approached Gerald and walked behind him, "They're wrong you know, I don't think this has anything to do with your friendship with Arnold and his age."

"Face it Helga, we're growing up, and Arnold clearly doesn't want me in his life anymore," he mumbled, kicking a rock and causing it to hit a trash can.

I stayed silent, and I was surprised he was even letting me walk next to him.

"If it makes you feel better, he hasn't even given me the time of day since the night I fell and hit my head. He treats me like if I'm some sort of burden…" I mumbled.

He snorted, "Join the club."

"Helga! Gerald!"

We turned and noticed Eduardo run up to us. Oh yeah, Eduardo was in town, I overheard Mr. Green talking about it with Mr. Potts yesterday.

"Thank goodness I found you two, you have to come to the boarding house now. I have something very important to tell you all, hurry, before Arnold gets back!"

Gerald and I looked at each other before following Eduardo to the boarding house, where Arnold's grandparents and the boarders were already in the living room.

"Where are Miles and Stella?" Eduardo asked.

"Right here," Miles exclaimed as he and Arnold's mother walked in with a tray of cookies.

"I baked some cookies, I figured we'd need them," she said as she placed them on the coffee table. "I offered some to Arnold before he left but he wouldn't take any."

"I simply don't know what to do with that boy anymore," Miles frowned. "I wasn't this silent during puberty, was I Dad?"

"No, on the contrary, you were unbearable," Phil groaned.

"Arnold's been acting weird ever since he returned from looking for you two that night of his first day of school," Mr. Potts stated.

"Yes! Very very weird!" Mr. Hyunh added.

"But Miles and I were only speaking to Mr. Green and Mrs. Vitello at their shops. We lost track of time," Stella frowned. "We didn't think we took that long."

"Wait a second!" I exclaimed, causing Arnold's parents to turn towards me. "So you weren't lost? You were just talking to Mr. Green!?"

"Yeah," Miles answered. "We returned home a little before Arnold did, weren't you with him that night?"

"Oh yes!" Stella exclaimed. "Do you know what happened to him?"

"Nothing happened!" I exclaimed. "He was acting normal, until I got dizzy, fainted and hit my head on the cement!"

I pointed at my head, causing everyone to think.

Eduardo cleared his throat, "If I may. I know what happened to Arnold."

We all turned to look at him.

"The Arnold currently with us isn't Arnold. The real Arnold is currently trapped in a world called The Hole."

Nobody dared to say anything. We were all too stunned for words. It took everyone a while, and tons of protesting from Mr. Potts, to finally believe Eduardo. And I don't blame us.

So, the freaks of nature of San Lorenzo were wizards huh? I should've known. And OF COURSE La Sombra was still after Arnold, for crying out loud, can't that guy just… give up?

"The Green Eyes want to send two people into The Hole to get Arnold out. They think that the more people from the real world that we put in there, the more chances we have of getting The Hole to glitch, bringing Arnold and his two rescuers back."

"We'll go," Stella and Miles exclaimed.

"No, it is far too dangerous. If La Sombra sees you, he will kill you."

"How do you know this glitch thing will work?" Phil asked. "What if the two people who go in there to save Arnold end up trapped in there too?"

"It works… because a few days ago, as I was arriving at the boarding house, I saw Arnold. He had escaped The Hole, but a man wearing a cloak took him right back inside."

The room was silent again.

"Wait a minute!" Gerald exclaimed. "If the Arnold I saw at school today isn't Arnold… then who is he?"

"That is a mystery I'm currently investigating myself, but be very careful, and don't show him that we know that he isn't Arnold. If that stranger works for La Sombra, he might make it even harder for us to get Arnold back."

"That's all fine and dandy but who's going to bring Arnold back? And how are they even going to get inside this Hole you speak of!" Mr. Potts exclaimed.

"The Green Eyes, as I mentioned before, are wizards. They will transport both volunteers to the Hole with their powers. I'd go myself, but the Green Eyes need me here."

Eduardo turned and looked at Gerald and I, "In fact, the King of the Green Eyed people suggested that you and Gerald get transported in there, Helga."

I widened my eyes, "Us?"

"Huh?"

"It's our safest bet," Eduardo explained. "And the Green Eyes trust you two."

I blinked, glancing over at Gerald, who shrugged.

"I'm in, anything for my main man."

I nodded, Arnold needed my love now more than ever. I'm coming Arnold!

"I'm in too."

Bob and Miriam probably wouldn't notice I'm missing anyway.

"Very well. But please Helga and Gerald, when you find Arnold, do not forget to tell him what I'm about to tell you," Eduardo stated. "Tell him to NOT look for the Corazon."

Chloe: Short chapter! But this is the one and only time we're switching perspectives. It's Arnold's POV from now on, I just needed to show you all what was going on in Hillwood.

Draco: You're out of sugar wafers

Chloe: You ate all of them?

Draco: It's what you deserve after so cruelly trapping me inside this muggle hole of death

Chloe: This is a house

Draco: I've seen better

Arnold: I'm back! *comes in with grocery bags*

Chloe: You went shopping? For what?

Arnold: Draco told me to buy more sugar wafers

Chloe: *glares at Draco*

Draco: Review?

Chloe: Oh, NOW you want them to review!?

Draco: If it means saving myself from imminent doom aka you shoving hot cheetos down my throat, then yes — review until your fingers start snapping.

Chloe: *sighs*