Sweet Violence
(13 years old)

Gerald leant against the closed door of the Janitor's closet and heaved a heavy sigh of relief whilst his classmates stood around with similar looks of liberation. Gerald winced a little as he heard a distinct clunking sound from within the cramped closet, followed by the unmistakable words, "I'm going to kill you, Football Head!" escaping Helga's lips.

Stinky shook his head sadly, "She's gonna break him inta tiny pieces." he concluded, as another loud thunk echoed into the hallway.

Arnold and Helga had never really seemed to get along, although in initial years most of the 'not getting along' seemed to stem from Helga's side of the relationship. During their younger years Arnold always remained true to his good-natured ways and simply tolerated her continual insults, and any mutual disagreements were often short-lived. That was, until Arnold snapped, nobody could remember quite when it all began for sure, but it was sometime after saving the neighbourhood and possibly started when he threw her into the pool on April Fool's Day. Nonetheless – Arnold had started fighting back.

"I'm backing Arnold." Sid said confidently, motioning toward the 'scene of the crime'.

Harold scoffed, "No way Arnold could beat Helga!"

Ever since then they had developed somewhat of a pattern – at least once or twice a week Helga would push him too far and Arnold would lose his cool with her. Screaming, and sometimes flying objects, often ensued and the only thing people could do was stand back and wait for Arnold's anger to dissipate (because Helga's never seemed to).

"I'm ever so certain they will work it out." Lila said optimistically, a serene smile on her face.

Rhonda looked her up and down in shock, "Lila, I hardly th-" she began, only to be interrupted by the sound of an object shattering inside the closet space.

Lately, maybe for the last four months or so, it had become even worse. In fact, it seemed like they argued for the sake of arguing – it almost felt theatrical. They would fight over anything and everything, it was always loud and something always got broken. Mr Simmons had taken to simply covering his ears and running from the classroom whenever a disagreement erupted. Classmates had taken to drastic measures such as this, locking the two in the Janitor's Closet, simply to drown out a little of the noise.

Arnold and Helga's classmates stood silently in the hallway, waiting for the aftermath of the loud shattering noise they had heard just moments before. Typically, the breakage of items was Helga's doing, and was followed by a stern warning from Arnold about being more careful, which in turn was often met with Helga deliberately breaking something else, just to spite him

Gerald had been particularly intrigued by the recent increase of verbal assault between his best friend and his best friends bully. Their fights were... strange, to say the least, and the few times Gerald cared to pay attention to the actual words they were screaming, he noticed that some things didn't quite add up. For example, just five minutes ago Helga had become irritated by a question Arnold had dared to ask her, and she had said precisely this – "I told you that yesterday, you idiot!". Which wasn't such an interesting fact until Gerald considered that yesterday was Sunday. Why would they have seen each other on Sunday?

Phoebe crept forward a little, placing her ear to the wooden door of the Janitor's Closet, "It's gone quiet..." she almost whispered.

Gerald nodded, his body still slumped against the green door, "I can't hear them fighting anymore."

"I guess that mean she done killed him." Stinky said remorsefully

Rhonda raised her eyebrows slowly, "Open the door?" she suggested, eager to inspect the damage left in the wake of yet another violent Helga vs. Arnold outburst.

Gerald scrunched his face a little, unsure as to whether he truly wanted to seewhat was going on, but reluctantly he reached forward toward the handle and pushed the closet door wide open.

Gerald's face dropped, his entire mind reeling, of all the things he had ever expected to see upon opening that door – this was not one of them. Not at all. Not even a little bit.

Rhonda's hands flew to cover her mouth as she gasped, "Oh my..." she breathed, "...god. Oh my god!"

"Oh no!" Phoebe said softly, her eyes displaying clear panic as she stepped backward a little.

Sid, was standing stock still, his eyes wide in surprise, "I don't think thirteen year olds are supposed to kiss like... that..." he winced, his focus locked on the two blondes currently rolling around on the floor of the Janitor's Closet.

Stinky raised an eyebrow, "I think you're supposed ta be married before you kiss like that." he agreed, scratching his skull in slight confusion over the sight before his eyes.

"Oh... I can't watch this anymore!" Harold whined, his hands hovering near his eyes hesitantly, as though he truly wanted to place them over his eyes and shield his vision, but couldn't bring himself to do it.

Gerald cleared his throat, "They why don't you look away, Harold?" he suggested plainly, despite the fact that he himself was having trouble tearing his eyes from the particularly vivid display.

"Why don't you?" Harold shot back, prompting no further response from Gerald, as he didn't exactly have an answer to that question at the current time.

Rhonda took a deep breath, "It's just so..." she began, cocking her head to the side in concentration as she tried to search for the correct word to describe what she was currently witness to.

"Disgusting?" Sid offered.

"Horrifying..." Gerald cringed.

"Weird." Rhonda finally decided.

Lila tugged nervously at her long braid, "I'm ever so certain I cannot stop staring." she admitted, much to the relief of the six other people around her who felt very much the same way.

Rhonda grimaced a little, "I can't stop either." she confessed.

"I don't think they've noticed we're here..." Phoebe suddenly remarked, quickly bringing her mind and hopefully the other's minds, back onto the most important repercussion of their stunning discovery.

Gerald's eyes shot wide open, immediately understanding Phoebe's subtle hint, "We need to close this door before Helga rips out organs out!" he hissed, as quietly as possible, now increasingly concerned about the level of their voices and, thus, their chances of being caught gawking.

Rhonda nodded, slowly and almost a little hesitantly, "We should, we..." she began, but quickly lost her train of thought as her eyes processed the sudden change in activity within the closet, "Oh! I'm gonna be sick!"

Gerald spluttered for a moment, "I cannot believe she is doing that to my best friend!" he cried out helplessly.

"He doesn't seem to be complaining." Phoebe pointed out as politely as she could.

Lila squinted, "No, actually, I'm ever so certain he's... Oh gosh!" she squealed out, immediately gaining the motivation to cover her poor eyes with her hands.

"Close the door!" Sid yelped desperately, his eyes firmly closed shut.

Needing no more incentive, and certainly not willing to witness anymore of this affectionate display, Gerald grabbed for the door handle and forcefully pulled it shut.

Gerald's eyes wandered over the group of friends before him, some still with their hands, or arms, placed tightly over their eyes, "Are we all in agreement..." he began slowly, "That we don't say a word about this?"

Phoebe stepped forward at this suggestion, "Agreed!" she confirmed, almost forcefully, shooting a look toward her fellow classmates, whether they could see it or not.

Murmurs and whispers erupted between the class mates for a few brief moments before everybody began nodding their heads eagerly, "Agreed!" they chorused, before quickly hurrying off in separate directions down the hallways – most in the direction of the bathrooms, to splash a heap of cold water onto their faces and repeat over and over again into the mirror that this had never ever happened.