Hey guys! How was the first chapter I hope you all liked it i wanted to review all of Arnold's life after the journal, so well this chapter will have a few surprises in it so enjoy it!

DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own Hey Arnold! It belongs to Craig Barlett.

Chapter 2: And so it begins

Arnold was hiking through the jungle; he couldn't actually believe that he had really made it to San Lorenzo, right now he was following a jungle trail and was wearing a pair of hiking boots and a explorer belt around his waist, the trail he was following was hopefully the one that would lead him straight to the green eyes' hidden city, Arnold was too excited in a matter of seconds he would complete his mission and he would have his parents back with him, suddenly Arnold realized he had stopped walking and just shook his head and continued.

After several minutes of walking Arnold came to the end of the trail to find what seemed to be a stone shrine, the shrine had several butterflies flying around it, the table of it covered by flowers and some green smoke coming out of it and at the top of the shine engraved in rock was a drawing of an eye.

Arnold gazed at the shrine shocked not only by its beauty but also shocked that he had found it.

-"This must be it" Arnold said.

Arnold pulled out of his shirt a golden medallion he had hanging around his neck which had engraved in it the drawing of an eye just like the one on the stone shrine and in the middle of the medallion was a little green emerald to make the drawing of it resemble a green eye.

Arnold took the medallion in his hands and showed it to the shrine, suddenly the medallion started glowing and a beam of green energy got shoot out of it and into the stone eye of the shrine, the shrine started shaking and opened itself as if it was a door and from the inside of it came a bright and almost blinding white light.

Arnold for a moment covered his eyes unable to see the light but when he got adjusted to it his emerald green eyes widened and he started taking steps forward to the light.

-"Whoa" Arnold said closing his eyes.

Suddenly all of the world around him started going white until it was completely white but then it started to become dark until it was complete darkness…

HEY ARNOLD! HEY ARNOLD! HEY ARNOLD!

Arnold awoke at the sound of his potato alarm clock gasping and looked at his surroundings to realize that he was in his room, he closed his eyes and let out a sigh disappointed that it all had been a dream like almost every time but he didn't give it too much thought now, it was Tuesday and today he would be helping in the YMAA gym for the Halloween costume party that PS. 118 was organizing.

Today the whole class of the 5th grade was going to be taking the day off to organize the gym and get it fixed up for the party.

Arnold & Gerald were going to be helping with the decorations for the dance along with all the other kids of their class while Rhonda was the one that was put in charge of overseeing their work, the kids thought this was unfair since Rhonda was always the one who got the easiest job but they could do nothing against Mr. Simmons' decision.

Looking at his clock Arnold widened his eyes he realized that he was late since he and Gerald had promised each other that they were going to be at the gym early today so they could start sooner and likewise finish the job sooner.

-"Oh great, I better hurry" Arnold thought.

He climbed out of his bed and slipped out of his PJ's and into his new usual clothes that he started to use since beginning the 5th grade, he finished his morning routine by adjusting his hat right on his head, after doing this Arnold headed down to the kitchen for a quick breakfast before heading off to the gym, as he entered the kitchen he saw his grandparents, his grandfather reading the newspaper while his grandmother was acting as "Gwana" again.

-"Good morning grandpa, good morning grandma" Arnold said entering the kitchen.

-"Hey short man" Phil said

-"Good morning Kimba" Gertie said.

-"So have you already picked a costume for your Halloween party short man" Phil asked.

-"I´m not sure yet grandpa, it is just I want something creative you know, something unique that nobody has seen but I just haven't figured out anything yet" Arnold answered.

"Oh well I´m sure you'll figure it out eventually short man but just in case you don't you know I'm always available for a fast trip to the costume store, except today cause I have to watch my soap and I can't miss it" Phil said as his wife settled down a plate of pancakes in front of him and other in front of Arnold.

-Arnold chuckled "Okay grandpa" Arnold said taking a bite of his pancakes.

-"Say weren't you supposed to be helping in the decorations for the party today?" Phil asked.

-"Yeah, actually I should be on my way right now" Arnold said taking a glance at the door.

-"Really and why is that, isn't it to early still Arnold?" Phil said.

-"Yeah I think so, but I promised Gerald I was going to be there earlier with him so we could finish sooner" Arnold answered.

-"Well you better hurry and finish your breakfast if you want to get there in time short man" Phil said smiling.

Arnold nodded and started eating his pancakes as fast as he could and in what seemed to be just like 9 minutes Arnold had already finished, Phil widened his eyes at this impressed by Arnold's eating.

-"Whoa-ho short man I guess that training for that eating contest did paid off huh" Phil said smirking.

-"Ugh, don´t even remind me about it, it still revolves my stomach just to think of it" Arnold said.

-"Well you know the saying, never eat raspberries!" Phil said.

-"I know grandpa" Arnold said smiling "anyways I have to get going"

-"Alright short man see ya after school" Phil said.

-"Goodbye kimba, have a fun day in the jungle and remember to bring an exciting specimen for good ol' Gwana to examine" Gertie said causing Arnold to giggle.

- Phil chuckled "you crazy old bird" he mumbled rolling his eyes.

-"Goodbye grandpa! Goodbye grandma!" Arnold said walking out the door.

Arnold was walking in a fast pace since he had to be fast but couldn't run since he knew that it would revolve his stomach since he had eaten too fast and he knew that if ran it was either throw up right there on the sidewalk or help in the school with his stomach made a complete mess, of course he probably looked dumb walking so fast but once he saw the YMAA gym he started walking in his normal smooth pace.

Just as Arnold was about to start ascending the steps he felt a sensation like someone was watching him, he narrowed his eyes and turned around to see that on the other side of the street was a boy gazing at him, the boy looked to be about the same age as Arnold, he had curly brown hair and his skin was lightly tanned and his eyes were light brown, he was wearing a buttoned green shirt, white pants and black cowboy boots. The boy was gazing at Arnold wide-eyed and with his mouth slightly opened as if he was shocked to see him.

Arnold didn't knew why but he had a feeling that he had seen that boy somewhere before, just as he was about to cross the street and walk over to the boy to ask him who he was Arnold heard someone calling him.

-"Hey Arnold!"

-"Huh" Arnold turned around to see that the one who had called him was his best friend Gerald who was standing in front of the gym's entrance and on the top of the stairs.

-"What took you so long man?" Gerald said as he descended the stairs and he and Arnold did their "secret" handshake.

-"Sorry Gerald it's just that there was a boy watching me and-" Arnold didn't finish his sentence cause when he turned around the boy wasn't there anymore.

-"What boy man, I don´t see anyone there" Gerald said.

-"But, I could swear I-" Arnold shook his head and sighed "I guess I'm just seeing things".

-"Mmm, mm, mm, first you arrive late and now you're seeing imaginary guys, Arnold my man I can swear you're going to lose your mind someday" Gerald said smiling and shaking his head slowly.

-Arnold chuckled "maybe".

-"Anyways what took you so long man, I thought we agreed we were gonna meet here early" Gerald said putting his hands on his hips.

-"Sorry Gerald I think I didn't set my alarm clock at the right hour has someone gotten here already" Arnold said.

-"Luckily no man just Rhonda and Nadine but aside from them it's just the two of us" Gerald confirmed.

-"Alright then let's go in and get started" Arnold said.

-"Alright man" Gerald said.

Just as they were ascending the steps Arnold turned around once more and looked at the spot where the boy was and look at it suspiciously.

-"Who was he… and why did I felt like I knew him from somewhere"Arnold thought.

-"Hey Arnold! You coming or what man" Gerald called.

Arnold pushed his thoughts aside and looked at Gerald.

-"Yeah, yeah I'm there" Arnold said ascending the stairs and walking into the gym with Gerald.

…

Once Arnold and Gerald entered the gym they got right down to business, Rhonda told them they were gonna be decorating and setting up the scenario along with Harold, Stinky and Sid but since they hadn't got there yet Arnold and Gerald started working alone.

Right now they were hanging up just above the scenario a big black placard that said "HAPPY HALLOWEEN" in bright orange letters. Gerald was on the top of the ladder putting tape to the placard to paste it to the wall while Arnold was holding the ladder from the bottom of it so it wouldn't fall.

-"Arnold! Pass me more duct tape will ya!" Gerald said from the top of the ladder.

-"Alright" Arnold grabbed the tape and got up in the ladder a little to hand it to Gerald.

Back on the floor Arnold was still thinking about that boy that he saw earlier, he couldn't help but ask himself why he kept feeling that he knew that boy and why was the boy looking at him as if he was shocked to see him, Arnold shook his head and decided to leave those thoughts alone for the day.

Later that day, more students of the class started arriving, soon almost all of the class was in the gym and they were all doing their respective jobs, Arnold and Gerald along with Harold, Stinky and Sid were setting up the lights on the scenario, they were almost finished with their job since Arnold and Gerald had started early, Lorenzo and Park were setting up a Disco ball, Eugene and Sheena were putting decorations of skeletons, little haunted houses, fake tombstones and the such and Curly and Lila were hanging little fake bats on the walls (with Curly sometimes using them to hang from one to other as if he was some kind of monkey), but Arnold felt like there was still something missing so he looked around, to him everything was good until it popped up in his head. He hadn't seen Helga or Phoebe in the gym all day.

As he was finished setting up a spotlight Arnold walked up to Gerald passing Harold and Sid who were struggling desperately trying to keep one of the spotlights steady, and he could hear them arguing over it.

-"JUST GIVE IT UP HAROLD, YOU KNOW WE NEED THE OTHERS' HELP" Sid said through gritted teeth.

-Harold just continued struggling with the spotlight and said "NO, I WON'T BE DEFEATED BY A STUPID SPOTLIGHT"

-Sid grumbled "C'MON HAROLD, WE CAN'T DO THIS ALONE" he said, sweat trickling down his face

-Harold glared at him "YES WE CAN AND IF YOU LEAVE ME I'LL POUND YOU AFTER WERE DONE" Harold shouted.

Sid just grumbled again and continued struggling against the spotlight.

Arnold chuckled to himself after hearing this and just continued walking on the platform until he reached Gerald.

-"Hey Gerald, have you seen Helga and Phoebe" Arnold asked.

-"Hmm, now that you mention it I haven't" Gerald answered looking around the gym.

-"Weird don't you think?" Arnold said.

-"Yeah, even more weird cause Phoebe told me over the phone last night that she and Helga were going to be here 'punctually'" Gerald said.

-"Oh well then- wait… since when do you and Phoebe call eachother?" Arnold asked with a knowing smile.

-Gerald heard the question and blushed a little "Umm… well… She called me to ask me if I was gonna be here" he said rubbing the back of his neck.

-"Suuuure" Arnold said smiling and looking away.

-"What?" Gerald asked after hearing Arnold's tone of voice.

-"Oh nothing" Arnold said and looked away.

-"Hey man, I know what you're thinking and you know it's not true, she and I are just friends" Gerald said.

-"Gerald I am your best friend and you may think it, but you can't fool me, I know you 'like her like her'" Arnold said smiling.

-"Hey c'mon man w-what makes you think that" Gerald said with a nervous smile.

-"C'mon Gerald it's pretty much obvious that you two like each other and besides I've seen signs" Arnold said.

-"What ´signs´? " Gerald asked.

-"Gerald I've seen the way you two act towards each other, I saw she had ´that look 'after your solo at the spring recital and I also saw you two walking out of the cheese festival last year together and grabbing each other's hands" Arnold stated.

-"Alright man listen, about the spring recital I guess she was just impressed an about the cheese festival well we were holding hands but just as friends okay" Gerald answered

-"C'mon Gerald since when do boys and girls hold hands 'just as friends' and in the recital everyone was impressed by your solo but I didn't see anyone giving you that look that Phoebe gave you" Arnold stated.

-"Well…" Gerald said looking away

-"It´s okay you can tell it to me, It's not like I'm gonna laugh at you or anything" Arnold assured him.

-"Really?" Gerald said looking at him.

-"Really" Arnold assured.

-Gerald sighed and closed his eyes "Okay, fine I like-like Phoebe you happy now Arnold?" he threw his hands in the air "I said it".

-Arnold gave him a half-lidded smile and put his hand on Gerald's shoulder "See, was that so hard?" Arnold said.

-"Well at least I feel better, like a weigh was lifted off my shoulders" Gerald breathed a sigh of relief "thanks man".

-"Hey anytime Gerald" Arnold said smiling "But why haven't you told her yet?".

-"Well… I'm nervous you know" Gerald said.

-"I understand Gerald, asking a girl to be your girlfriend is always a hard thing to do for a boy, but you know what they say 'you never know till you try'" Arnold said.

-Gerald sighed "Yeah I guess so".

-"But hey who said you have to tell her now?" Arnold said.

-"Huh?" Gerald asked in confusion.

-"You don't have to tell her now if you don't want to, you can still wait I mean you've got plenty of time for it" Arnold stated.

-Gerald smiled at him "you're right man, but I'll still keep on trying you know ´the sooner the better'" Gerald said "thanks, man".

-"Anytime, Gerald" Arnold said twiddling thumbs with his best friend.

-"Seriously man, sometimes I think you have some sort of psychologist power or something" Gerald said sarcastically.

-Arnold laughed "really?"

-"Yeah, maybe you should go and get a part-time job with that other psychologist that went to visit us a while ago, what was her name again? hmm… Dr. Bliss?" Gerald said scratching his chin.

-"Well, maybe I will" Arnold replied sarcastically.

-"Arnold! Could you come down here for a minute?"

The one who had called him was his teacher Mr. Simmons who was now teaching the 5th grade class by petition of the school. Arnold nodded with his head and went down the stairs of the platform and was greeted by Mr. Simmons.

-"What can I help you with Mr. Simmons?" Arnold asked.

-"Well you see Arnold, Rhonda has been getting a little worried about the posters for the dance since Helga and Phoebe were supposed to bring them but they haven't arrived so I was wondering if you could go over to Helga's or Phoebe's house to see if they are on their way" Mr. Simmons asked.

-"Uhh… well I guess I could Mr. Simmons but I still gotta help on the scenario because we're not done yet" Arnold said.

-"Don't worry Arnold I decided to give you and Gerald the rest of the day off" Mr. Simmons said.

-"Really? Why?" Arnold asked

-"Cause Rhonda told me that you two have been working all morning so I think you deserve some rest because tomorrow we're going to continue and I don't want you two pressuring yourselves" Mr. Simmons said

-"Thanks Mr. Simmons but it's okay we're not tired yet" Arnold answered.

-"No, really Arnold I really think you and Gerald should go home and rest , you have been working really hard and you deserve it, besides…" Mr. Simmons said

Arnold just stood there waiting for the sentence.

-"How can I treat the two special heroes the saved the neighborhood like that!" Mr. Simmons exclaimed.

Arnold just smiled and rolled his eyes.

-"So you go home and rest now, you're gonna need all your strength tomorrow and don't worry about Gerald I'll tell him in a minute" Mr. Simmons said

-Arnold sighed "Okay Mr. Simmons"

-"Oh and Arnold please don't forget about passing through Helga's or Phoebe's house before Rhonda goes hysterical" Mr. Simmons said.

-"Alright Mr. Simmons" Arnold said.

-"See you tomorrow Arnold", "Gerald! Could you come down here for a minute?!" Mr. Simmons called.

Arnold walked out of the gym and started his way over to Helga's house, it wasn't too late yet, it was around 4:20 p.m. and the sky was clear and the sun was bright, the wind sending a cool and relaxing breeze through Arnold's body, right now Arnold was gonna start thinking about that boy he saw earlier but just shook those thoughts aside and started thinking about what kind of costume he was going to be wearing at the party when suddenly just as he turned around the corner he bumped into someone and fell back to the ground, when Arnold lifted his head he saw the person he had bumped into… or more like the girl he had bumped into.

None other than Helga G. Pataki.

He saw that beside her was Phoebe who was holding 2 rolls of paper of what seemed to be posters under her arms. He also saw that lying beside Helga were two other posters that had probably fallen when they bumped into each other.

-"Sorry Helga, Phoebe" Arnold said standing up and offering Helga his hand.

-"Arnold!" Helga shook her head "I-I mean, watch we're you're going football head, look at the mess you caused" Helga said scowling.

-"Sorry Helga, Hi Phoebe" Arnold said.

-"Good afternoon Arnold" Phoebe said.

-"Anyways, What has been taking you two so long, we haven't seen you in the gym all day and we we're all supposed to be there by morning to help" Arnold said.

-"We know Arnoldo, we we're just working on these dumb posters the princess asked us to do! And shouldn't you be there too?" Helga said.

-"Yeah but Mr. Simmons gave me and Gerald the rest of the day off and sent me to look for you two" Arnold said.

-"Oh really, well we don't need a guide to take us there, we're fast" Helga affirmed.

-"Well you better get there fast, Rhonda is really worried for the posters and is probably going hysterical right now" Arnold told them.

-"Yeesh everyone seems to be in a hurry nowadays, anyway c'mon Pheebs let's bring this to the princess and get it over with" Helga said.

-"Coming!" Phoebe said.

-"Do you want me to walk you two?" Arnold offered.

-"We know our way hair boy! We're not stupid!" Helga scowled at him.

-Phoebe rolled her eyes "it's okay Arnold we'll be fine on our own" Phoebe assured.

-Arnold shrugged "okay then see ya later".

Arnold took one last glance at the girls walking away and gave an internal sigh.

-"I hope I can get to meet the real Helga someday… someday" Arnold thought.

And with this Arnold went on his way back to the boarding house…

Once he reached the boarding house Arnold went up to his room and turned on his computer to start an audio lesson of Spanish language, ever since he found his father's journal Arnold had been improving his Spanish, he knew quite a lot of it but he wouldn't call himself an expert, also he had been learning a bit of French ever since that date on Valentine's day with the mysterious girl that had pretended to be his French pen-pal Cecile, he sometimes wondered if he would see her again but that's what inspired him to start learning French although his skills in that language aren't as good as his Spanish ones he knew the basics.

Once he was finished with his Spanish lesson Arnold opened a designing program he had downloaded to design himself a costume for Halloween, Arnold started thinking hard on it, it had to be something original, something nobody has seen but, what could it be?

-"There's got to be something" Arnold thought.

Just as he was thinking this Arnold took a glance at the corner of his desk and saw the journal, suddenly he started grinning as an idea came to his mind but just as he was about to start designing he heard a tap but it didn't hear as tap on a door but more like a tap on a window he turned around and looked through his skylight and he could swear he saw a glimpse of a person there, he narrowed his eyes.

-"Better go check it out" Arnold thought to himself.

He got up from his chair and ascended the stairs on his wall that lead to his roof, Arnold remembered his karate skills just in case he needed them, he had been training karate once again, he had learned that martial arts are used only for self-defense and not only for selfish purposes and now he only used his karate skills when it was really necessary.

Arnold exited his skylight and walked onto the roof, his emerald green eyes scanning through it to find any suspicious thing or any trace of strangers being there, suddenly he felt a sensation on his back, like the sensation of someone approaching, this was confirmed by the light sound of quiet footsteps that couldn't pass unadverted from Arnold.

-"And you are?" Arnold said quickly turning around to see the stranger which he discovered to be a woman.

Arnold took a step away from her and studied her for a minute; she looked to be around her late 30´s, her long brown hair in a soft wave reached her lower back, she had light brown eyes that if someone looked closely at them they looked to be golden, her skin was tanned and her feminine curves were too noticable under her clothes.

She was wearing a yellow tank top with a white skirt that made it to her knees and on her feet were a pair of black high-heels.

She was looking at Arnold in what seemed to be a shocked expression and for a moment he could've sworn he saw a tear form in the corner of her right eye, and then a smile started to form on her lips, and for some odd reason Arnold felt like he had seen her somewhere before just like with the boy from earlier.

-"Por Dios" the woman said in a really quite voice "You're so grown" She said in the same quite voice and her accent sounded Spanish.

-"Um, excuse me?" Arnold said not really knowing what to say.

This seemed to have snapped the woman out of it as she shook her head and looked at Arnold.

-"Sorry for that, you probably have lots of questions right?" the woman said.

-"Well, yeah, like for starters who are-"

-"And I´ll answer them" She interrupted him "but first I need to know something, ¿Are you Arnold Crystal? The woman asked him.

But of course she knew it was him, that oblong-shaped head, his wacky long golden hair, those beautiful shining emerald eyes, of course it would be him, but she needed to be sure.

-"Uhh… yeah that's me, why do you ask" Arnold said in confusion.

-"I need you to come with me" the woman said all of sudden.

-"What?!" Arnold asked not sure if he heard right.

-"You have to come with me, it's of great importance" the woman told him.

-"Whoa, whoa, whoa, look I understand you saying it's important but I don't feel exactly safe getting on a car with a stranger" Arnold protested.

-"Listen Arnold I know you don't know me but you can trust me, I'm not here to harm you, I'm here because I need to tell you something really important but you have to come with me" the woman insisted.

-"Look lady I don't know what you want to tell me but if I have learned something important from life is that strangers are not always what they seem so I'm not going anywhere until you tell me where we are going" Arnold protested again.

-"Please Arnold you need to come with me, what do I have to do for you to believe me?" the woman asked.

-"Well, you said I could trust you, right? Arnold asked.

-"Right" the woman confirmed

-"Then trust me and tell me who are you and where do you come from cause judging by your accent you certainly aren't from around here are you?" Arnold said.

-The woman sighed "okay I'll tell you what you want to know".

-"Then I'm all ears" Arnold said.

-"My name is Mariana Galvan" the woman now known as ´Mariana´ answered.

-"I'm 38 years old" Mariana said.

Arnold nodded

-"And…" she sighed "I came from San Lorenzo".

Oooh! Cliffhanger, who is Mariana? And why is she looking for Arnold? And who is the boy that Arnold saw in the morning? And what does Mariana want to tell Arnold? Lots of questions that will be on the next chapter! Stay tuned! See ya!