Wazzap, peeps! Hanna Cabrodi here! WELL, it's almost 3 AM and I am EXHAUSTED, but of course, a little push from Miss Ashley AKA MuffinLove03 has caused me to write a new chapter! Things are gonna start to get interesting real soon. Nothing MAJOR has happened yet but it's gettin' there! I am SO THANKFUL to ALL of you who are reading and reviewing this story. It's being SO well received and I am humbled and eternally grateful to you all!
So I leave you with chapter 5: Revelame (Reveal [it] to Me)
DISCLAIMER: HA! - no mio. Fic - SI mio xD
The rest of the week had gone by slowly, what with all of the hubbub of waiting for prospective colleges to either accept or decline applications, extracurriculars, various quizzes and tests, and, of course, the World Language Department's trip preparations.
When Friday finally took its rightful place in the week, all 25 of Ms. Rodriguez' AP Spanish students had handed in their permission slips. Some had even handed in the money to pay for their trip in just one installment, which was quite impressive considering that last year's students had to have THREE EXTENSIONS on their installment payments for the trip which almost postponed its scheduled departure.
As Ms. Rodriguez finished the last exercise for the day, which she had prepared to work on quickly in order to have the last 10 minutes of class dedicated to discussing the much anticipated trip to the Dominican Republic, one of the school's secretaries stopped by her classroom and handed her envelope containing the trip's flight itinerary.
"Yes, thank you, Marie", she said kindly to the secretary while she received the envelope and opened.
[1] Chicos, su atención, por favor," exclaimed Ms. Rodriguez as she clapped to get her class' attention. "You can close your workbooks. Any other problems on the exercise that you haven't completed you may finish for homework. I WILL be counting it as a grade. Now, I've been handed the flight itinerary for the trip from the office and ask that you HOLD ONTO IT. Your seats have NOT been assigned yet but it is important that you keep this for reference. Gerald, can you pass them out to you classmates, por favor?"
Gerald obliged and handed out the itineraries. When he'd reached Arnold's desk, he noticed Arnold staring at Helga, who was very into her conversation with Ashley, Harold and Sid, on the other side of the classroom. We've lost him, ladies and gentlemen... Mmm-mmm-MMM!
He stuck the itinerary in Arnold's face in an attempt to get him to snap out of it and succeeded. He looked up and smiled sheepishly at his life long best friend as he took the paper from his hands.
"Sorry, Gerald. My mind's just in outer space today," was Arnold's defense.
Outer space my left foot, thought Gerald.
Arnold cleared his throat in order to shift the conversation quickly while his best friend continued to hand out the itinerary. "So, uh, you talk to Phoebe about how you're gonna keep in touch while she's in France and we're in the Dominican?"
Gerald had finished passing the itineraries out and sat down in his usual spot next to Arnold as his expression softened. He sighed deeply. "Yeah, man. I can't believe I'm going to a tropical paradise at the heart of the Caribbean and my kirei won't be there. She just HAD to have taken French!"
Arnold empathized with his friend. He and Phoebe had been going strong since elementary school. They'd even been labeled the "Cory and Topanga" of Hillwood High but they've had a lot of low blows in their relationship in the past few months. Phoebe'd been so busy with her student council presidency, her fencing meets, her AP courses and her college preparation that she barely had time to dedicate to Gerald except for the gang's usual meet up at Slausen's on Friday afternoons, to which she often had to take a rain check. To make matters worse, a more than friendly make out session with a foreign exchange student at one of Rhonda's outrageous holiday parties while in a drunken stupor almost cost Gerald his relationship. Phoebe, nevertheless, was an understanding heart. She knew Gerald would never get drunk on a whim, much less intentionally hurt her. He had just lost his grandmother at the time and he coped in the wrong ways but she was always there to support him and love him at his worst which was why their relationship was so strong. He constantly worked to defend her honor and her respect from people who have underestimated her because of her petite stature and soft spoken nature. They were THE match.
Arnold smiled at his friend and pat him on the shoulder. "Come on, Gerald, it's only one week. It'll go by like THAT! Just get on Spykenger when you can and keep in touch there. You guys have made it through crazy curveballs. Trust me, you'll be fine."
Gerald rolled his eyes at his ever optimistic best friend. "Oh, brother. Why do you ALWAYS have to look on the BRIGHT SIDE?"
"Somebody has to," replied Arnold, slightly amused at the signature question.
...
Meanwhile on the other side of the class, Helga, sitting with Ashley, Harold and Sid were skimming through the itinerary.
EASYFLY TRAVEL ITINERARY
FLIGHT: SKYVIEW AIRLINES 315- HILLWOOD INT'L AIRPORT TO NEWARK LIBERTY INT'L AIRPORT (HWO - EWR)
CONCOURSE/TERMINAL: D
GATE: D29
DATE: MAY 19
DEPARTURE: 10:25 AM
ARRIVAL: 3:45 PM
SEATS: 5A - 8F
MEAL: BREAKFAST
*CONNECTION THROUGH EWR*
FLIGHT: SKYVIEW AIRLINES 831 - NEWARK LIBERTY INT'L AIRPORT TO AEROPUERTO INTERNACIONAL GREGORIO LUPERON (EWR - POP)
CONCOURSE/TERMINAL: B
GATE: B7
DATE: MAY 19
DEPARTURE: 5:30 PM
ARRIVAL: 8:50 PM
SEATS: 6A - 9F
MEAL: SNACK
*NOTE: PASSENGERS FOR FLIGHT 315 MUST ARRIVE TO HWO TWO HOURS BEFORE DEPARTURE. IT IS HIGHLY RECOMMENDED TO GO STRAIGHT TO CHECK IN AT NEWARK FOR FLIGHT 831 TO PUERTO PLATA PROMPTLY AFTER YOU HAVE OBTAINED YOUR CARRY-ON LUGGAGE AT THE BAGGAGE CLAIM DUE TO THE SHORT TIME INTERVAL BETWEEN THESE FLIGHTS*
**RETURN **
FLIGHT: SKYVIEW AIRLINES 129 - AEROPUERTO INTERNACIONAL DEL CIBAO TO NEWARK LIBERTY INT'L AIRPORT (STI - POP)
CONCOURSE/TERMINAL: MAIN TERMINAL
GATE: B1
DATE: MAY 27
DEPARTURE: 1:05 PM
ARRIVAL: 4:25 PM
SEATS: 7A - 10F
MEAL: SNACK
FLIGHT: SKYVIEW AIRLINES 707- NEWARK LIBERTY INT'L AIRPORT TO HILLWOOD INT'L AIRPORT (EWR - HWO)
CONCOURSE/TERMINAL: A
GATE: A17
DATE: MAY 27
DEPARTURE: 7:05 PM
ARRIVAL: 12:20 AM
SEATS: 6A - 9F
MEAL: DINNER
*FLIGHT GOES INTO FOLLOWING DAY. PLAN ACCORDINGLY*
*INDIVIDUAL SEATS WILL BE ASSIGNED TO EACH PASSENGER IN THE GROUP UPON CHECK IN*
*SKYVIEW AIRLINES ALLOWS A WEIGHT LIMIT OF 50 lbs. FOR CARGO LUGGAGE AT NO COST. BAGGAGE THAT EXCEEDS 50 lbs. WILL RESULT IN AN ADDITIONAL $25 FEE.*
*FIRST BAG CHECKS IN FOR FREE. ADDITIONAL BAGGAGE IS CHECKED AT A FEE OF $25*
THANK YOU FOR CHOOSING SKYVIEW AIRLINES, THE RIGHT WAY TO FLY!
THANK YOU FOR PURCHASING ON EASYFLY , SKYVIEW AIRLINES' OFFICIAL ONLINE BOOKING PARTNER.
"I still can't believe this deadbeat town doesn't have a direct flight to the Dominican Republic. It's gonna be EXHAUSTING! And they're only gonna give us a SNACK from Newark to the Dominican? What are we gonna EAT? I'M GONNA STARVE!" complained an outraged Harold Berman.
"Oh, PIPE DOWN, Pink Boy! FIRST of all, we get BREAKFAST from here to New Jersey and SECOND of all, did you happen to FORGET that airports have FOOD COURTS!? Just STUFF YOUR FACE before you hop on the plane, you hopeless heart attack waiting to happen!," exclaimed Helga, annoyed at Harold's complaining.
"Boy, howdy, but how are we gonna have time to do ANYTHING? As soon as we land in Newark we gotta head to baggage claim, get our stuff and go STRAIGHT to check in again!" cried Sid.
"Oh, will you guys SHUT UP!? Is this your first time FLYING or something? This ISN'T that big a deal! One time, I had to fly to Switzerland and we did FIVE connections in 48 hours. This is NOTHING," said Ashley.
The group continued to look at their itineraries, discussing and complaining when the bell rang.
"FREEDOOOOOOOOOOM!," shouted Harold as he ran through the door.
Helga rolled her eyes as she grabbed her things and headed towards the door. "Oh, brother, he's just excited about heading out to Slausen's to scarf down THREE hamburgers and TWO plates of fries." Ashley and Sid laughed at her comment.
As she absent mindedly stepped out the door, she accidentally bumped into Arnold. Their faces became sheepish and they each gave each other a bashful smirk before Helga assumed her role of a bully.
"Watch where you're going, Football Head. CRIMINY, Helen Keller can make her way around a busy hallway better than YOU!"
"Sorry, Helga," was all Arnold could muster as she stormed off. The rest of the group continued towards the school exit and their bus. Ashley and Gerald observed their respective friends' behavior and rolled their eyes. Oh, brother, they thought simultaneously.
...
The gang sat at their usual table (which was really just multiple tables pushed together.) They started this weekly tradition when they first entered Hillwood High to keep their friendships together, what with the differences in schedules and extra-curricular activities taking up their time.
While Harold stuffed his face with his usual multiple meal, Rhonda bragged about how "superior Italian is to other romance languages."
"I mean, it TRULY embraces its roots in Latin. No other language, not even Spanish can compare. French sounds like a phlegm producer and Portuguese sounds like a deaf person trying to speak Spanish. There's REALLY no way they can measure up to Italiano."
"[2] Y esta TONTA que se cree? El Español es el idioma romantico MÁS HABLADO del MUNDO y es uno de los más importantes," whispered Ashley to Arnold in Spanish, so as not to cause a direct confrontation with Rhonda.
Helga slightly heard her friend's statement as she was sitting next to her at the table and chuckled. They others simply ignored Rhonda's condescending statement.
"So, Pheebs, how's your phlegm producing class prepping for the trip to France," asked Helga.
"It's going quite well. I was rather disappointed, I was truly looking forward to going to Belgium but the majority wanted to go to France so we had to oblige. I'll be taking my new Kikon camera to take pictures of the sights."
"Oh, I'm ever so excited about going to France. I'm oh too certain it must be just ever so romantic and lively," added an ever pleasant Lila Sawyer.
While the gang continued on about their conversations, Ashley took advantage of her sitting between Arnold and Helga and tried to spark up SOMETHING! Her face slowly contorted into a scheming smile and proceeded to her mental idea.
She turned towards Helga and began to speak to her at a low voice level but JUST audible enough for Arnold to hear. "So, Helga, how are those tutoring sessions going?"
Helga, who was slurping a vanilla bean milkshake slightly choked and had some of the consistency spill out of her nose while Arnold's fry slightly went into the wrong hole and he began to cough.
"What the HELL do you think you're doing?" Helga hissed between her teeth so that only Ashley could hear her.
Ashley simply winked at her and kept going. "You know, I could REALLY use your help, Helga, since you're improving so much. My 'R's' could use a bit of work."
Both Arnold's and Helga's faces became IMMEDIATELY flushed but Ashley really only wanted to see Arnold's reaction to confirm her suspicion.
He likes her alright. And I'm gonna make SURE they end up together or my name's not Ashley Bird!
TRANSLATION
[1] - Guys, your attention, please.
[2] - Who does this BROAD think she is? Spanish is THE MOST spoken romance language in the WORLD and it's one of the most important languages, at that.
WELLLLLLLL!? Wadja THIIIIIIIIIIINK!? R&R PWETTY PWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEZE!?
Thanks for READING! GBY!
-Hanna Cabrodi :D