Okay so last chapter was a lot of fluff, and I loved it ^_^ hahah. Phoebe and Gerald are my favorite pairing besides Rhonda and Harold hahah. I'm going to try and step it back a little this chapter though. Also I apologize for the wait, the end of this quarter at college was busy busy busy for me. I couldn't find ANY time to work on this. ALSO! Stick around until the bottom where there will be cake!

Chapter 6

A Friend in Need Part 1: Boy Howdy

*Hey Arnold, hey Arnold, hey Arnold, hey Arnold, hey Arnold*

Helga was awakened by the sound of the little alarm clock next to the bed which she quickly unplugged. She sat up and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, confused as to where she was at but she quickly remembered. She looked over at the fold-out couch where she had expected to wake up and saw Arnold asleep there in his boxers, sprawled out with the blanket having fell off of him in the night. Helga saw her shirt and pants neatly folded on the little chair at his desk. She smiled at how he had taken care of her, and even given her his bed for the night. Helga then realized that her top half was only covered by her bra.

"Does that mean Arnold saw…" Helga whispered to herself. There was nothing wrong with it if he had because he was her boyfriend but at the same time she wondered what he might have thought of her, and how she looked. She quickly pushed the thoughts out of her mind and hopped out of the bed, tiptoeing across to her clothes where she put on her shirt and switched the shorts Arnold had given her for her own blue jeans. After a quick check to make sure she hadn't woken up Arnold, she exited the attic room and walked down the hall to the bathroom.

Arnold woke up moments after Helga had left. He got up and stretched looking around the room for her when he saw that the universal remote for his room had been under him while he slept.

"Good thing I didn't press any buttons during the night," Arnold said as he reached out for it. As he grabbed the device he felt a button depress and before he could even think the couch had flipped back, carrying him with it into the wall. He crashed into the old wood and it buckled easily sending him through the ceiling of the second floor bathroom and leaving him sprawled out winded on the floor.

Helga had just closed the bathroom door when she heard the resounding crash from inside. She quickly opened it and saw Arnold's prone form.

"Arnold? Are you okay?" she yelled as she ran to him.

"Yeah I think I'm okay, stupid couch," he said as she helped him up. They both looked up at the sizable hole that he had fallen through.

"It looks like Grampa and I have a project to take care of" Arnold said sheepishly.

Helga just laughed and gave her boyfriend a kiss, "I'm just glad you're okay Football Head." They both laughed as they left the bathroom and went downstairs.

A few hours later, the two were out walking around the neighborhood. It was a pleasant day with the sun shining nice and bright and no clouds to ruin the view. As they were coming around a corner they noticed a group of their classmates all gathered outside the home of Stinky Peterson. Not much had changed about the little house where Stinky lived with his father. The only noticeable difference was the little one car garage they had built next to the house to store tools and his father's truck.

Today the truck was parked out of the garage and the door was wide open. Inside Helga and Arnold could hear someone singing and decided to go check it out. They made their way through the group of kids and stopped next to Harold and Sid. There sat Stinky in the middle of his garage, playing a guitar quickly and skillfully and singing into a microphone.

"Work boots, one blue suit, size too small I won't wear it at all. Unless somebody's kids get hitched well that a bitch cause it makes me itch. Up with the sun, off on the run, makin money money cause I wanna have fun…" sang Stinky. Arnold didn't know much about country music, but he did know that Stinky was doing a great job.

Stinky finished the song with a final strum of his guitar and said, "That there was a song by Trace Adkins called 'Rough n Ready'. I reckon it's one of my favorite songs to play." Everybody clapped and Stinky began to set up for his next song.

"How's it going guys?" Arnold asked Harold and Sid.

"Oh hey Arnold," said Harold, "It's going good man, just showing our support for Stinky."

"Yeah, but boy howdy that country crap can get annoying after a while," said Sid sullenly. Stinky sat back down and began to pluck at the strings of a banjo this time.

"This here's a song I wrote myself a couple days ago," he said and began to play even faster than last time. There didn't appear to be any words to this song, just a really long banjo solo.

"Agh! I gotta get out of here," said Sid. "If there is one thing I hate the most it's the fucking banjo."

"Shut up Sid, we gotta show our friend we support him," said Harold

"No way dude, I'm gone," and just like that, Sid walked away.

"What's up with Sid?" Arnold asked Harold with a puzzled look on his face. He was still getting used to the new, tough, in-your-face Sid.

"Man I dunno, he's been acting weird all week, and whenever I try to talk to him about it he just walks away," said Harold sullenly. Then his eyes lit up, "Wait a minute, Arnold you were always the best with helping people out, could you maybe go talk to him?"

Arnold considered this question. While it was true that he had often helped his friends with their problems in grade school, he worried that he might have lost some of his abilities.

"Oh come on Football Head," Helga said impatiently, "go find Sid and give him one of your therapeutic talks. I'll stick around here and watch Stinky for a bit, damn that skinny guy can play."

Not wanting to disobey Helga, Arnold excused himself and went off in the direction that Sid had. It didn't take him long to catch up as Sid was walking very slowly with his head down.

"Hey Sid, how's it going?"

"Oh, hey Arnold," Sid sighed, "I've been better."

"What's wrong?" Arnold asked.

"It's nothing Arnold, don't worry about it. I can handle my own problems."

"Okay Sid, you can handle your own problems." It was a method Arnold had always used, pretend to be disinterested and eventually they will just spill the beans. Sure enough, it was working

"Well, I mean, I don't know. It's just not something I think people need to worry about."

"Okay Sid, I understand."

"But I mean if you wanted to maybe help me out a bit..."

"Sure Sid, whatever you need," Arnold said, glad he was finally getting somewhere.

"Well it's just, my dad got arrested again and this time it doesn't look like he's getting out."

"What?" Arnold said a bit surprised. He remembered Mr. Gifaldi from when he was a kid; he was one of the nicest, most soft spoken men in town.

"Yeah, he's been selling drugs to keep money coming in since he got laid off. This was his last strike though, they're putting him away. I know I can take care of myself and all but, I mean it's my dad. And now the guys he was selling for are looking for me because they want their cut of the pay, and I don't know where any of the drug money is and…." Sid's speech was getting quicker and more nervous, just like in his younger days and he was starting to hyperventilate.

"Whoa whoa whoa, calm down Sid and just take a breath." Arnold said quickly, sitting his friend down on the nearest stoop. "You just need to think a bit now, have you told the cops about this?

"The cops? Come on Arnold I can take on anyone who comes at me. I beat the shit outta Wolfgang and his posse and they all had knives and chains. I'm sure drug dealers wouldn't be much of a problem.

"No Sid, they will try to kill you to get the money you need to understand that. They will have guns and a really pissed off attit…"

"I KNOW. God dammit Arnold I know. I've been putting on a tough front, and I really worked on my nervousness and I even started working out to be in shape for anyone who tried to fuck with me, but now… I'm actually scared Arnold. I don't want to die." Sid sobbed into his hands.

Arnold was starting to feel a bit panicked. Drug lords after Sid to get the debt that his father owed? This wasn't just some average problem.

"Sid, come on, we're going to go back to Stinky's and you are going to stay there. If they dealt with your dad I'm sure they know where you live." The two boys walked back around the corner and towards the small house where Stinky lived. The only people left were Harold, Stinky and Helga.

Arnold explained the situation and allowed Harold and Stinky to take charge of their friend. He and Helga then started walking home.

"Wow, poor Sid," Helga said sympathetically.

"Tell me about it," Arnold replied, "I don't want anything bad to happen to the guy; he's always been a good friend."

Arnold dropped Helga off at her house with a kiss and a hug and then made his way back to the boarding house. He wondered how this would play out in the end. Drug lords in Hillwood; that could only mean trouble.

So yeah here it is, after a long wait, the first part of my first story arc. I expect at least four more chapters continuing with this adventure/drama/whatever before it is fully resolved. Again I've been busy with finals and such but now I finally have free time again so look forward to more updates. Keep in mind who y'all want for the next "Misadventures". Next update will feature the return of Phoebe and Gerald plus more on Sid's troubles.

Shout outs to all my readers, (hopefully I still have some XD) Please review and such so I can hear your thoughts and input.

P.S. The cake was a lie