Chapter 2

Not Right At All

Rhonda was standing by the monkey bars, talking to Nadine. "And she was wearing GREY shoes! Can you believe that? Ew!" Rhonda scoffed. Nadine said nothing. She didn't seem to be paying attention, more interested in a passing butterfly than in Rhonda's idle gossip. Why the two of them were friends was anybody's guess. They had very little in common, but Nadine and Rhonda had been best friends since they were very young. Why change something that worked?

Curly silently crept up beside Rhonda and tapped her on the shoulder. Rhonda turned and began to screech when she realized who had touched her. Oh yeah, she digs me. Curly grinned.

"EW, CURLY!!! GET AWAY FROM ME!!!!" Rhonda screamed.

"Oh come on, Rhonda! You know you want me!"

"Get away from me, you little FREAK!"

Nadine nudged him, "I think she DOES like you," she whispered as Rhonda carried on in the background, "But don't tell Rhonda I told you that."

Curly suddenly hugged Rhonda and her eyes became as wide as hubcaps before she struggled to escape from his grasp and flailed around dramatically. "Come, Rhonda! Be my queen! I will give you all that you desire!" Curly announced, "Anything you want will be yours, my dear!"

Normally, Rhonda liked to have whatever she wanted, but Curly was TOUCHING HER. "Go away!!! I HATE YOU!!!" Somehow these words slipped out, and she, upon realizing what she had said, immediately shut her mouth (a first in Rhonda History). Crap.

Curly seemed to deflate instantaneously. He walked away sadly, his head down, his hands inside his pockets. Step two was a failure. He would never take over the school without his queen. All was lost. LIfe-6, Curly-0.

Rhonda suddenly felt extremely guilty. She hadn't meant to say what she said. It wasn't true. She SO did not hate him... why did she have to say that? She watched Curly walk away. He looked so... miserable. Could it be? Did Curly actually have FEELINGS? No way. Ugh, why did she have to say that? And why did she have to care? She felt so bad! No, Rhonda. You will not feel sad for that little psychotic. Still...ugh, her life really WAS over.

Now Harold was bored. Bored, bored, BORED. Recess was almost over and he hadn't done anything! There wasn't anything to do. Today was just boring. Sid was hiding from something or other, Stinky was meditating the whole period. Everyone seemed to busy to notice him. There was no one to make fun of, no one to annoy, no one to talk to. Hmm. Where was Helga? She'd always found some joy in yelling at him. He would have liked to fight with her today. There was nothing better to do. But it seemed she wasn't around. The bell rang and Harold and the others went inside.

Lila sat at her desk near the front of Mr. Simmons' classroom. She watched the door. Harold lumbered in first, followed by Gerald and a very distressed Phoebe. Then Nadine and Rhonda. Stinky and Sid entered shortly afterwards. Last came an unusually normal-seeming Curly. Arnold didn't come in at all. Was he still outside? Without a word to anyone, Lila walked back out of the classroom and headed for the doors to the playground.

"Young lady?" a voice stopped her.

Lila yanked a green bow from one of her pigtails and spun around quickly, "Yes Principal Wartz?"

"Where are you going? Did I not hear the bell ring? Shouldn't you be in class?" Ugh, so many ways to ask the same question! He knew the answers, why couldn't he just say "Get back to class?"

"I'm ever so sorry, sir, but you see..." she gestured towards the bowless reddish braid that was slowly starting to unravel, "I believe I left one of my ribbons on the playground, and I was hoping that I could run outside and get it. It is my very favorite-est one. I don't know what I would do if I ever lost it!"

Principal Wartz, unusually gullible and trusting that day, smiled, "Of course, we wouldn't want you to lose your pretty ribbon--But hurry."

"Thank you ever so much, sir." Lila sort of curtsied and ran out the double doors to the playground.

Arnold still sat alone on the swings. He hadn't noticed that his classmates had gone back inside long ago. He was still lost in his own confusing little world. Lila sat in the swing beside him. "Arnold?" she said softly, not wanting to surprise him or anything.

Arnold didn't look at her. He just kept swinging from side to side, twirling slightly.

"Arnold, I--"

"Lila, don't talk to me," he interrupted, "I don't want to hear about how you don't like-like me."

"That's not what I was going to say."

"What then?"

I wanted to ask if you were alright." Lila said, "Recess ended a while ago."

"Did it?" Arnold muttered absently.

"So... are you feeling okay?"

Arnold shrugged. "I don't know anything."

"I'm sure she's okay." Lila blurted, "She's ever so strong. She can handle anything. I don't think you need to worry."

"Worry about what? I'm not worried about anything." Arnold's voice was flat, toneless. As if he had no feelings.

Liar. "Arnold. She will be okay." Lila insisted.

"What are you talking about? You don't know what my problem is! Where do you get off saying things like that?" Arnold shouted in a very un-Arnold burst of emotion. He glared at her.

"You don't have to be so very mean!" Lila's tone reflected Arnold's frustration. "I'm only trying to make you feel better!"

"Well, DON'T! You don't know anything!"

"I know more than YOU do!" Lila shouted and as she ran, crying, she shoved the swing behind her as hard as she could. It swung over the bar and nearly hit Arnold in the head, but he was too furious to notice. He was too angry to care that Lila was upset with him. And he was alone again. Good riddance. He wanted to be alone. He didn't need anyone.

But he was missing class. Oh, who cared about class? They didn't even notice that he was still outside. He could go home if he wanted to. He could just get up and leave.

So he did.

Arnold opened the door and stepped over his Grandma's stampeding pets as they rushed to freedom. His Grandpa saw him come in. "Arnold! You're home early!" the old man greeted him, more cheerfully than most guardians would in this situation. Arnold ignored him and stomped up to his bedroom in the attic. He slammed the door shut, and flopped onto his bed. What was wrong with him?

Brainy woke up. Where was he? Ugh, his face hurt. He sat up and looked around, but his glasses were just shards of glass, barely held together in the bent frames. Everything looked distorted and he was completely disoriented. He removed his broken glasses and replaced them with the extra pair he kept with him at all times. A trick he learned early on; after so many face beatings from Helga, he had to always be prepared.

His vision restored, he looked around again. It seemed that he was under his desk. What time was it? He checked he clock on the far wall. Both lunch and recess were over already. Of course, no one had noticed him as he had lain on the floor, injured and unconscious for more than an hour. Perhaps it was his own fault? He never went out of his way to try to make even one friend (although he had for a brief period been Harold's sidekick, he found it was too much work for little reward, and it took too much time from his Helga-watching). Maybe his classmates and the teacher simply forgot that he existed? Maybe.

Something seemed different since he had knocked himself out. Something... What was it?

Phoebe still looked very worried. Gerald was still trying to comfort her. Sid was still trying to take a nap, except now he was sleeping with his head on his desk. Stinky was still meditating. So these things were at least the same.

Harold, seemed preoccupied with something. Was he... thinking? This was unusual behavior. It wasn't the only difference. Rhonda was staring at Curly. She looked fidgety, and upset, like there was something she wanted to do but couldn't figure out how to do it. She looked like she might cry. But her behavior wasn't nearly as unusual as Curly's. Which was to say, Curly's behavior wasn't all that unusual at all. He seemed a bit depressed, maybe, but whatever it was, it was certainly more normal behavior than was typical for CURLY. Ignoring Rhonda's gaze, Curly put his head down and stayed still. His arms hung down under his desk. He wasn't plotting, scheming, or doing much at all. Still, it was very hard to tell what exactly was going on in that insane mind of Curly's. You never could see past the thick lenses of his glasses.

This wasn't right. Brainy looked to the front of the room, where Lila sat. She was re-braiding her hair, and glaring at anybody who dared to look at her. Okay, that was VERY wrong. Lila never acted that way. She always smiled. She was always sweet. Now she was acting rather like... Helga.

This wasn't right, not at all.

*This chapter was a bit short. The next one will probably be up soon. Let me know if you liked it? Feedback is always appreciated.*