Here's the next episode of this series, which is 'Teacher's Strike'! And I realize this is a Season 2 episode, but from what I've read on wikis, this was held over from Season 1, so I figure this, along with a few more episodes, would fit. Anyway, enjoy!
Well, today was a little awkward for a Monday... I don't mean 'awkward awkward', I mean, awkward like Principal Wartz is cutting the school budget again awkward. Turns out during the afternoon classes, there were less desks, so a lot of us had to share one desk. Personally, I didn't mind because that meant I had to share a desk with Arnold!
"Do you mind moving a little?" Arnold asked as we tried to reach for our pencils.
"Sorry, sorry." I said as I picked up a pencil. "I think this one's yours."
We turned our attention towards Miss Slovak as she was talking about how the desk budget will probably be good for the school's economy... well, that is, until Principal Wartz started to give an announcement.
"Attention faculty, this is Principal Wartz with an announcement. In order to avoid further budget slippage, all teachers will be rationed one single piece of chalk per week. You must sign out and return your chalk to the office. I'll be coming by each classroom to measure chalk dust output. Thank you, that is all."
Miss Slovak just stared in shock as she was muttering under her breath. I raised an eyebrow as I whispered to Arnold, "Looks like Miss Slovak isn't liking this new rule..."
"Not fair as it is, it is the school budget." Arnold whispered. "I mean, it could be worse."
All of a sudden, the lights suddenly switched off as Principal Wartz made another announcement.
"Sorry to interrupt again, Principal Wartz here with an announcement about our new money-saving light bulb policy. Natural sunlight is healthy and environmentally sound. Teachers, open your windows and light your classroom with natural sunlight."
Miss Slovak proceeded to pull the blinds up the windows, only to reveal that the windows were being blocked off by wood. Miss Slovak growled as she actually said out loud, "This has gone too far! I'm sorry kids, but I can't teach under these conditions. Class dismissed!"
Everyone muttered in surprise as Miss Slovak started to walk off.
"I think it just got worse." I whispered to Arnold.
"You're right. Let's just hope tha-" Arnold paused. "Why are we still whispering?"
"I have no idea." I whispered.
The next day, I arrived with Nadine to the school as I looked over in surprise to see a lot of the teachers were walking around, holding signs, chanting, "No chalk, no teachers! No chalk, no teachers!"
"What the?" I looked in shock as Nadine and I noticed Phoebe talking with Gerald and Arnold. We came over to the two as I asked, "What is with the group of teachers?"
"Didn't you hear the news this morning?" Phoebe asked. "All the teachers are on strike?"
"Strike?" I gasped. "You mean, they're going to make picket signs?"
"Yep." Phoebe nodded.
"And they're going to make protest speeches?" Nadine asked.
"Yes." Phoebe nodded.
"And they're going to demand Principal Wartz respect?" Gerald asked.
"Absolutely." Phoebe said.
"I still can't believe it. Miss Slovak would never go on strike!" Arnold complained.
"Eh, I don't know. She seemed pretty ticked yesterday." I sighed as Principal Wartz made another announcement.
"Attention students, we have a temporary absence of teachers. There is no need for panic, repeat, no need for panic. All students please report to the auditorium for class."
"Looks like Principal Wartz is going to teach us today..." I said as we went in.
"How can you tell?" Phoebe asked.
"Well, if there's no substitute teachers, and only one principal... well, this won't end well... I'm going to wager we'll be dismissed before lunch." I said.
"I'll hold you to that wager." Phoebe said. "Five bucks says he'll dismiss us AFTER lunch."
"Deal." I nodded to my friend.
"Well, pay up." I said as we were all getting out of the auditorium and out of school as everyone was running around, excited that Principal Wartz just gave ALL the students every day off until the teacher's strike was over.
As Phoebe gave me five bucks, she told me, "Well, now we have a half day. What do you want to do?"
"Well, since school's pretty much in a stalemate, how about we do a few bits of research in the library on the disappearance of Tucker... and somebody else?" I asked.
Phoebe raised an eyebrow. "Somebody else?"
"I'll explain more as I get there..." I said as me and Phoebe went out on our way to meet up with Nadine.
"I still can't believe you didn't confess to him!" Nadine frowned. "And you had the perfect opportunity too!"
"It just slipped my mind, plus we were too busy with the package." I said as I opened another book. "Anyway, when we got there, I noticed something similar with Tucker's locker happened in Arnold's boarding house. Room Number 8 just... folded up."
"Folded up?" Phoebe said. "You don't mean to say another person disappeared, do you?"
"I think so. Call me crazy, but I think I'm the only one who remembers another boarding house resident besides the ones currently living in the boarding house." I said.
"You're right. You're crazy." Nadine said. "But if it's like Tucker..."
"Then people are being picked up and dropped off left to right." I sighed. "I hate to say it... but we need to find Curly..."
It was about a couple hours later, nearby the base of Mighty Pete, a large tree in the center of the city, we saw Curly sitting down and meditating as if praying to some unknown god. Me, Nadine and Phoebe ran up as I called, "Curly, we need to talk!"
Curly snapped out of his phase as he turned his head towards us. "Ah, Rhonda and friends. A little surprised you came to see me."
Curly then gave that sick smirk as he leaned towards me. "Rhonda, sweetheart, did you come here to talk?"
"Yes, but not about how you're a creep!" I frowned as I pushed Curly away from me.
"Curly, we came here to tell you that you may have been on to something with your theory!" Phoebe said.
"I knew it! Platypuses and bunny rabbits CAN crossbreed!" Curly smiled in excitement.
"What?" Nadine, Phoebe and I stared.
"No... your OTHER theory... the one from last week... the people disappearing thing, remember?" I sighed. "We need your help on solving the mystery of finding Tucker, a boarding house guest at Arnold's..."
"And your sister." Nadine said.
"Boarding house guest... oh, you must mean Lana Vail." Curly rolled his eyes. "Yeah, most people don't talk about Lana, and trust me, it's better you didn't."
"Lana Vail? What does she do?" I asked as we sat down.
"Well, from what I know of Lana Vail, she had an interest in little kids." Curly said. Then he raised an eyebrow. "A BIG interest in little kids."
My eyes widened. "Oh no, poor Arnold..."
"It's all right. Lana made Arnold do chores a couple of times, but most people kept a close eye on her..." Curly said. "You see, she disappeared into a realm where they are often referred to as a 'mistake'."
"A mistake?" Phoebe asked.
"Yes. You see, Hilliwood City... well, there are many Hilliwood Cities out there, a lot of dimensions out there... many of which have the same characters, same ideas, same concepts... and sometimes, same mistakes." Curly said. "Many other dimensions who make mistakes one time, sends them into an empty world where they are left forgotten."
"But why would Tucker be deemed a mistake?" I asked. "Just because he was a little cocky at sports? I'm sure there's a little more character to exploit in Tucker."
"Well, there's nothing nobody can do." Curly said. "Once a mistake is made, it gets forgotten..."
Nadine looked down sadly, then frowned. "No. Tucker is no mistake! He has potential, he just needs to be exploited. If what you say is true, we need to find this void and get Tucker out of there!"
"And we can probably get my sister out too!" Curly smiled. "Good thinking. Okay, I'll help you girls search for Tucker. First things first, in order to find him, maybe we can track a source where his locker used to be."
"But that's all the way back in school!" I groaned. "And I'm pretty sure Principal Wartz won't let anybody in right now, especially not a student. He may be an okay principal, but he's very petty when it comes to these type of things."
"You just trust me! When we're done here, the five of us will be one step closer to finding Tucker!" Curly smirked.
Nadine, Phoebe and I looked at each in confusion as I said, "You mean, four people. Us and you."
"No, there's five. I know there is." Curly smiled at me as I groaned. Sheesh, does Curly have to be so creepy?
"Well, there's the school." Phoebe said as we came in with Curly and Nadine behind us. "Doesn't look like Principal Wartz is walking around."
"Okay, lead me to where the locker used to be!" Curly nodded.
We walked down a bit until we reached our destination. "There's where the locker used to be."
Curly paused as he examined it. "Hmmm... if you look closer there may be something wedged in between there."
"Where?" I asked.
"Take a closer look." Curly said as I peeked in between the locker. Using my eye, I spotted something. "You're right, I see it. Nadine, I need one of your bobby pins."
Nadine nodded as she took out a bobby pin, letting down one of her hair spires as she gave it to me. I carefully put the bobby pin in as I pulled out what seemed to be a picture. I examined the picture and saw a small basketball court where Tucker used to practice, his father and mother were nearby, cheering as Tucker was about to throw the ball.
"Hmmm... I used to remember that basketball court..." Phoebe said. "I remember seeing Tucker with his mother and father practice a few rounds there."
"Isn't it still there? Maybe we should go there, since that's where his usual hang-out spot is!" I smiled.
"Come on!" Nadine said as we started to sneak out the door.
As we went out, we were about to leave, when I saw something in the corner of my eye. "Stop for a moment, girls, Curly! Take a look."
Phoebe, Nadine and Curly joined me as we just saw Arnold and the other fourth graders talking with Principal Wartz on the playground.
"We better get in closer for a better listen." Phoebe said. We nodded as we went over, as we caught the last bit of the conversation.
"Every day you have off during the teachers' strike, you'll be making up during your summer vacation." Principal Wartz explained to the slack-jawed students (even we were pretty shocked when we overheard that part of the conversation.)
"The days we have off affects our summer vacation?" I whispered to my friends... and Curly. "How long will that strike be?"
"Days, weeks, months, who knows?" Curly shrugged.
As soon as Principal Wartz left, Gerald started to panic, "Wasting our summer vacation with their stupid strike? This is getting serious!"
I went over to Arnold as I asked, "Okay, need some major catching up here."
Arnold sighed as he explained, "Our usual hang-out spots are being occupied by our teachers, who are doing okay at their jobs, but they still want to teach us something, and wherever we go, there's a teacher there! We thought we could escape by hanging out at the school, but... as you can see..."
"We're victims of the system, just kicked around like a mangy old dog in a back alley mud puddle." Stinky used one of his metaphors.
"Man, I knew there would be some type of catch..." I sighed. "I was hoping it wouldn't be that bad..."
"Maybe if we could figure it out, then we could end the strike and go back to school!" Arnold suggested.
"Arnold, we KNOW what the problem is. Principal Wartz is a cheapskate. What other problem is there?" I rolled my eyes, but my statement fell under deaf ears.
"That's it, Arnold! We'll split up, go talk to the teachers and Principal Wartz, find out what's wrong, and what it takes to fix it!" Gerald smiled as everyone cheered.
"The problem is Wartz is a cheapskate! How are you not listening to this?" I yelled, but I was once again, ignored as everyone dispersed.
Phoebe put a consoling hand on my shoulder as she said, "It's all right, Rhonda. Sometimes, people never listen to logical reasoning. I don't even listen to my own logical explanations sometimes."
"Well, regardless of what happens, we better just relax for a bit. It'll suck if we lose some days... or weeks... of summer vacation, but if Arnold could find out something and stop the strike..." I said.
"Rhonda, you know it's Arnold. The guy can do anything in his sleep." Nadine said.
"Right..." I sighed as I turned to Curly. "Sorry, Curly. Looks like we'll have to do this another day."
"I understand. Call me when you're ready to find Tucker!" Curly smiled, putting on his small cross. "Be ready for anything."
I nodded as I looked at my friends. "Well, hopefully Arnold can fix up everything... I'm going to bet tomorrow."
"I'll put in that wager... Thursday." Phoebe smirked.
"Deal. Five bucks?" I smiled.
"Deal." Phoebe and I shook on it.
"Pay up." Phoebe smirked. I grumbled a bit, but I decided to pay the five bucks. It took about a couple of days, but Arnold, along with the rest of the students DID successfully end the teacher's strike.
"Well, at least the strike is all over now." I sighed. "Though I'm going to miss having to share a desk with Arnold..."
"You actually like sitting next to him, huh?" Phoebe smirked.
"What's wrong with that? You sat next to Gerald, and you LOVED it." I smirked.
Phoebe instantly blushed a bit as she turned away a bit.
"At least the teachers and the principal finally made an agreement..." I said as we sat down on our chairs.
"Well, let's just focus on our class for now." Phoebe said.
I nodded as I sat down in my desk. Today's school lesson was going to be interesting!
And there is the fifteenth episode! How do you like it? Anyway, read, review, criticize and suggest, folks!