Dear Readers,
There's not much to say other than sorry. I'm sorry I've kept you all waiting so long. So I will spare you an excuses I'm tempted to make and just get on, FINALLY, with Geek. But thank you for digging the story, and I'll try to update more frequently. So without further ado…
CHAPTER EIGHT!
Helga and D walked out of their art class, laughing heartily.
"You're telling me that you sculpted your principal riding naked on an elephant for a project, and all you got was a detention?" Helga clapped D on the back, "You're absolutely out of your gourd, you know that?"
D laughed, "The best part of it was, I got to keep the damned thing. And when I left, Mr. Keebly, my principal, asked for it, and offered me 50 bucks. He said he got a kick out of the thing, and his wife would like it."
Helga cringed. "That's a little weird."
D sighed a little, "Damn, that was a fun school. I'm really going to miss it. My whole life was there."
Helga looked sympathetic. "Hey, well, you may not be able to get away with that kind of stunt here, but it's not so bad. Everyone's a lot less moronic now, believe me." They had reached the exit to the quad, and Helga pushed through the door. She turned to him in the sunlight, walking backwards to face him with her arms raised. "This is where people eat when it's nice outside. In fact, I'll be eating out here today. And seeing as you know NOBODY " she leaned in a whispered "except everyone you grew up with, not that THEY know that, of course- Why don't you come eat with me?"
D contracted his eyebrows, but then smiled. "Thanks, Pataki. That'd be great."
She led him to a cement table beneath a big, shady tree. Already sitting there were Sid, Stinky, a boy D didn't recognize, Phoebe, Gerald, and Arnold…the last of whom wore a very uncomfortable expression- D could sense some hostility…until Arnold swallowed whatever had been in his mouth and chugged a soda to the cheers of the others.
"Damn, Arnold! That's was beastly!"
"Hahaha, look at his eyes!"
As she approached the table, Helga laughed. "Don't tell me the game's still going…Seriously, Arnoldo? What was it this time?"
"Jumbo Jalepeno…He had to chew the seeds and see how long he could resist swallowing." Gerald said, leaning back.
"And?"
"One minute, flat."
Arnold gasped. "Helga, do you have anything to drink? I'm desperate!" He sputtered, as she tauntingly help up a Yahoo. "Please? I'll do anything!"
She tossed it to him, smiling. Arnold sighed in relief, chugged the yahoo, and sighed again. "Thanks, Helga." He looked up with his eyes at her and grinned. "You're amazing."
Helga turned red, hid a grin, and turned to D. "Don't mention, Arnoldo, geez, don't have to go all mushy." Arnold smiled and shrugged, and Helga continued. "Guys, this is D. He's new here, and is gonna sit with us today."
"Sup, man?" Gerald reached across the table and shook his hand. "The name's Gerald Johansson."
"And I'm Phoebe," she blushed as he shook her hand. He turned to Arnold.
"We've met." said Stinky mysteriously, who raised head in what appeared to be a secretive way, his eyes widened.
"Sid, and this is Jimmy." Said Sid matter-of-factly. "He doesn't talk much." Then with a glance to his right, "Uh oh...There's Herald...By now he's gotta know what we did to his sandwich..." He looked at the group at large. "We better dip." At that, the three ran off.
D snorted in amusement, and turned. "You must be Arnold, then." Arnold looked surprised at this, and nodded, mouth full of Yahoo. He swallowed.
"Nice to meet you, but how'd you know my name?" Arnold shook D's hand.
D smiled, half lidded, mischievous. He knew Helga still had it bad for this kid, he saw no harm in letting Arnold wonder about her. "Helga told me all about you."
Helga's jaw dropped. Gerald's eyebrows lifted. Phoebe blanched.
D continued, as if he hadn't stopped at all. "And that must be Rhonda approaching. She told me about all her friends." He half glanced at Helga, eye brow cocked, smiling craftily. She wore a matching expression, which worried him.
"Yup, it IS Rhonda! Well, that's D, everyone. He may seem a little strange now, but I'm sure that once you get to know him, he'll be just like an old friend!" She smacked his back, a little too hard. "I've got to have a word with Rhonda. Excuse me."
As Helga walked to Rhonda, D sat down, smiling over his shoulder at her trickery. He looked back towards the table. The three others watched him closely, Arnold a little TOO closely.
"So, where did you come from, D?" Asked Phoebe politely.
"San-" He stopped. He needed to be more careful. "San Diego."
Phoebe lit up. "Wow! Really? I had an internship at the zoo. It was incredible! I stayed at this beautiful house a few blocks from Balboa Park. It was wonderful! What part of the city are you from?"
D sputtered. "What did you say?" His composure faltered.
"I asked where you are from. There are so many wonderful parts of San Diego, I'm curious as to which you came from, although I hope I'm not being too intrusive." She smiled awkwardly.
Suddenly, D remembered something Billy told him, about spending his spring break at…what was it? Something totally redundant…Ocean Beach! Some little smoker town. Bingo.
"Ocean Beach. Heh, my parents are sort of hippies." He crossed his arms. Judging by Phoebe's widening smile, he could tell she recognized the place.
Suddenly, Arnold spoke up. "I went to San Diego once. Spent a day there, waiting for a connecting flight to San Lorenzo." He paused. "It's a nice place. Why'd you leave?"
"Dad needs medical attention. Best hospital for his ailment is here." D scowled. It was hard to feel too much sympathy for his dad, after having abandoned him…but still, it was his more could he do?
He glanced over at Rhonda and Helga, who seemed to be having a badly covered argument. Nothing big of course, but Helga seemed to be convincing Rhonda of something, who simply would not buy it. Finally, Rhonda huffed crossed her arms, and nodded. They both turned to look at him, noticed he was watching them, and hastily turned away. D smiled...it was just like the way Rhonda used to be. She'd put up this front, act like she didn't like him, and then he'd catch her in the act of straight up staring at him. A tiny part of him almost remembered how loving her felt. But he stopped that thought before it could form, and turned away slightly irritated.
Rhonda walked up to her friends' table, casually, gracefully. There he sat, dripping a cool apathy, his half lidded eyes turned away from her. Her guts froze over, shook, and heated again...it was a sensation she quite liked.
Rhonda walked up to their friends' table, snobbish as ever. Her head was held high, he nose slightly upturned, with a contrived air up superiority. He recognized the familiar behavior instantaneously. Maybe she hadn't changed at all. It was a realization he really did not like.
A thousand questions fluttered through her mind...everything from the state of her hair to his middle name, suddenly she had to know. Her tongue, however, rebelled and she blurted out "What's up?" She shut her mouth quickly. She might as well be wearing a "LOOK HOW NERVOUS I AM!" sign...it was that obvious.
D snorted. He'd expected to get some sort of ridiculous "I'm Rhonda Wellington Lloyd" speech or something...NOT a half-yelled "What's up?"...It seemed little Miss Rhonda had lost her cool a bit, her swagger, her edge. Or maybe he just had that affect on her. He hoped it was the latter...but either way, it was somewhat cute. Way better than her "I'm hot shit" routine.
Gerald raised an eyebrow at her. "Nothing's up...just sitting her with the, uh, new student. Is something wrong? You're acting...off."
Phoebe tried to elbow Gerald discreetly, but failed, which only added to the awkwardness of the situation.
"Acting off?" she laughed oddly, a little too loud and a little too hard. "Why, nothing's wrong at all, Gerald, ol' buddy."
Helga coughed. The table looked at her, hoping to break away from this sudden tension. D reached into his pocket and pulled out a cherry sucker, and tossed it to her softly. "Suck it, that should help. You sound a little sick."
Helga smiled. "Thanks Cur-" she stumbled, barly catching herself. "-T Cobain." Kurt Cobain? How was she gonna explain that? "I am getting a bit sick."
Arnold's eyes narrowed, as did Rhonda's. They both sensed Helga's sudden, badly concealed panic...This D seemed to have an effect on her. And Rhonda did NOT like it...but that was nothing to the mistrust Arnold was suddenly feeling. "Kurt Cobain?" he asked D suspiciously. "Are you a Nirvana fan?"
Helga jumped in. "He was just telling me last class how his friends used to call him that," she improvised wildly.
D followed her lead. "It was like a code name...on like walkie-talkies..."
Helga continued "- that they used when they would pull pranks on people."
Arnold nodded. "Are you a big prankster then?" he paused. He knew he sounded judgmental and slightly unwelcoming. But he got a weird vibe from the new kid. Okay, that wasn't true. He got a mysterious vibe from D...which, if his guesses were correct, Helga was digging it.
D nodded back. Gerald, suddenly interested, began asking lots of questions about it. But D's thoughts were elsewhere. He had noticed Arnold's suspicion about the Kurt Cobain thing...This was a problem. Did Arnold know? Could Helga have let it slip? Nah, impossible, he was with her the whole time, and hadn't even seen her text. Maybe he'd noticed himself? Arnold was no dummy, he wasn't easily fooled...
Rhonda, meanwhile, thought frantically to herself about D and Helga's weirdness. What was this whole "buddy buddy" routine they had going? She seemed TOO comfortable with him. It was odd. And he, likewise, seemed very close with her, as if they'd known each other all their lives. Something didn't fit. And Rhonda would NOT allow the one glimmer of romantic hope she'd had in months be extinguished by Helga G. Pataki. No way was THAT gonna happen. Sure, Helga said NOTHING happened in that broom closet, but she gave no explanation for it, didn't say what they talked about. Rhonda never thought she'd be flat out jealous of Helga...
Arnold stopped listening to Gerald's excited stories of the many great pranks he had, and started to think. Why he was suddenly feeling so protective over Helga, Arnold couldn't explain. All he knew was A) New kid = Weird. B) Helga = intrigued. Not a combination Arnold liked. Why didn't he like it? Brotherly protection, sure. At best, a little crush. Well, medium crush. Frustrated, Arnold exhaled sharply. A big crush, a freaking substantial crush, but Helga was Helga and Arnold was Arnold, and it wouldn't ever happen. It could have happened, maybe, but with D in the way, and Helga going all gooey over him...well, there was nothing Arnold could do.
Of them all, however, Helga was elated. The giddy feeling in her stomach hadn't died down yet, from when Arnold called her amazing. This was definitely a step in the right direction. Finally, after a decade and then some, Arnold thought she was "amazing"...maybe not enough to be romantic about it, but...it was certainly something to think about.