He loved sleep, almost as much as food. But when he dreamed about food, ah, that was the best dream of all! Ice cream, candy, meat, and it was all just for him! In fact, he would do anything for a Yahoo soda and a Mr. Nutty candy bar right now…it would be heaven if he had just one bite.
Harold smiled, slowly waking up from those thoughts, but he decided to sleep more anyway. There was no point in getting up if he wasn't allowed to eat until eleven. It was rough on his stomach, but at least he could imagine all of the tacos that were probably waiting to be eaten downstairs. Oh the cheese, the tomatoes, the…
"Hey Harold! Get up!" Something landed on his head. It wasn't hard like a rock, but it was something else. Opening his eyes, everything looked fuzzy for a minute before he could see that he was staring at dark wood in front of him, and an extra pillow that hadn't been there before. Lifting himself, it turned out to be the headboard. He must have rolled on his stomach while having his left arm under his head. Resting it on top of his hand, he turned over to his right, seeing Sid putting on his beetle boots.
He yawned, covering his mouth. "What's going on?" he asked. The boy looked at him, smiling. "Breakfast is going to be served in fifteen minutes. So Gerald and I are going down to the lobby to find out where we're supposed to eat." Alright! Food!
As he sat up, a door knob turned from the bathroom, but it was just Gerald stepping out rubbing his hands together. Putting them in his pockets, he turned a corner to see him and Sid. "Hey Sid did you – oh," he said looking at Harold, "you already did." The boy raised his eyebrow, "What did Sid do?" But his friend shook his head. "Nothing Harold. I just asked him to wake you up man. You were really asleep because I tried for ten minutes."
At that, he grumbled. "Well, he threw a pillow at my head." Glaring at Sid, he turned his feet to hang off of the bed, and his friend shrugged his shoulders as he smiled – probably feeling guilty for what he did.
And of course instead, he said something stupid.
"I had no choice Harold. Nothing else we did could wake you up." And with that he stood, adjusting that hat of his. Harold crossed his arms.
"That's not true, there were probably a lot of things that you could have done." Gerald sighed as he walked to the door. Was he just going to leave him and Sid alone to argue without food? Following him, Sid and he went after Gerald out of the hotel room. Standing out in the hallway, their friend locked the door with the keys. "Oh yeah, Harold; what did you expect us to do?" Turning back to them, he looked confused.
Sid laughed as they started to walk down the hallway to the stairs. Chances were that the elevator was still broken from earlier. "I bet if we sounded like Patty that would be enough to get him to not only get up, but also shout how much he loves her." He wouldn't stop laughing, and Harold tried holding himself back from pummeling that idiot into the ground. Why did he, and even Stinky, have to keep making fun of him for being friends with her? She was nicer than they were sometimes. So yeah, it kind of hurt knowing that his closest guy friends couldn't get that he was just friends with Patty.
Gerald sighed. "Come on Sid. Leave Harold alone. He can be friends with a girl. I mean, we're friends with most of the girls in our class." That was true. And it was good that Gerald was siding with him on this. Harold was happy about that. Maybe that would stop his friend from being a jerk.
But that didn't happen. Sid snickered. "But those girls aren't as big and ugly as Patty. I mean, come on Gerald, he did go see Patty at the airport." Ok, now his friend was pushing it too far. He didn't want to get caught, but he knew he had when he overheard Sid and Stinky at the gate.
Finally reaching the stair doorway, Gerald opened it still looking confused as the three of them went downstairs. "What are you talking about Sid? Patty's at a different school, so she's not in our class." Harold could feel the sweat under his shirt. Was it always going to be this hot in San Lorenzo, or was it just him?
Anyway, it couldn't hurt saying what happened because Sid and Stinky would probably make up stupid rumors at breakfast. He groaned. "Nothing happened Gerald. Yeah, I did go see Patty. She was sitting somewhere else waiting on another flight. So I went over to say hi. Is that a crime or something?" He asked, knowing he was being a grouch. But Sid was being a moron.
"No it isn't Harold," Sid said as they reached the bottom of the stairs. Wow, it was quicker going down that it was to go up. This time though, he pulled the door open remembering what happened at the auditorium a few weeks ago…
"First of all Hair Boy, the idiot over there needed to learn a lesson he should have known for the past few years," Helga glimpsed at the boy now standing beside her, "It's called Pull and Push." She emphasized her point.
Madame Fortress Mommy. Helga was mean, even though she was right at the time. Either way, she had what was coming to her out in the hallway earlier that day. And he felt no guilt from it either.
But his friend continued as he and Gerald walked in front of him. "It's ok if you want to see your girlfriend." He chuckled some more, which was really getting on his nerves.
"She is not my girlfriend! How many times do I have to tell you that anyway? I feel like interrobated or something like that." Harold knew he was complaining, but he was telling the truth.
Gerald turned his head over his left shoulder. "You mean 'interrogated' Harold; not 'interrobated'." Ughh, he was so stupid! He slapped his head. He didn't have an A in English, especially when it came to learning new words. However, his friend looked at Sid. "Come on man, lighten up on Harold. His friendship with Patty is none of your business. If he likes her-likes her great, if not and they are just friends – then that's not a problem." He shook the kid's shoulder.
By this point they were reaching the lobby and Harold was now in between the two guys. His friend turned to him. "Sorry Harold. I'll lay off." He smiled as they went over to stand by the sitting area, waiting on everyone else to come down. And Harold thought Sid was done with saying stupid things…but he wasn't. "For now," he muttered to himself smirking.
Harold lifted a fist as Sid backed away, "Why you little -"
Raising his hands in defense, Sid asked in a hurry, "Hey, um, Gerald? How'd you sleep?" He was trying to spare himself from a punch. Nobody made fun of him or Patty. Nobody. He could feel himself growl.
But Gerald stepped in, and yawned. He pushed Harold and Sid apart. It hurt a bit but it wasn't that bad. "Come on you guys. You can talk about this later." He sounded annoyed. "Because I only got a half hour of sleep thanks to a lot of things happening."
That was weird. Why would he say that?
"Oh yeah", he thought, "He went over to Arnold's room to help out with Eugene and Curly."
Did Curly kill Eugene? Or did he jump off of the balcony and escaped?
"No Harold. Curly did not kill Eugene. And he didn't jump off a balcony either."
Man, did he say that out loud?
Turning around, the three of them saw Arnold as he walked in. He seemed to be in a good mood, so maybe what happened wasn't that bad. He scratched his head in confusion. Gerald made whatever seemed to have happened badly, while Arnold said things were fine. He was getting a headache. Thinking was too much for him.
Looking at Gerald, he was smiling as he walked up and gave a "handshake" to Arnold. "Hey man, did you fall asleep at all after you left her room?" Her room? Who were they talking about?
Arnold chuckled as he and Gerald stopped their hands. "I got some sleep for about twenty minutes. But I had to calm down Curly because he got rejected by Rhonda -"
"Which is no surprise." Gerald interrupted.
"Yeah, but I still had to calm him down so that Eugene and I could get some sleep. Although," he looked around over their shoulders, "both of them left before I did so that I could straighten up my stuff. Where are they?" He was confused, and so were Harold and the rest as they glanced all over the room.
"I think they all left us," Sid said a little nervous. Harold rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. That kid was scared of just about anything. Scared-y cat. Arnold stared at him. "Sid, I don't think they left us. They are all probably in another room. I'll go ask the -"
"There you all are!" Looking down the hall toward the broken elevator, they could see Mr. Simmons waving his hand. Walking toward them he smiled. "Hello boys! Come on," he said, "because we are a big group, the hotel said we could use a conference room for our breakfasts while we are here."
Oh, breakfast. Harold could feel his stomach growl. Stepping forward while pushing Sid off to the side, his eyes widened. "Where's the conference room at?" He hadn't eaten since the airplane. Mr. Simmons smiled. "Well Harold, it's the first set of double doors on the right," he gestured his hands, "Go help yourselves boys. Everyone else is in there already."
He could feel his mouth water. Running ahead of them, he could hear his teacher shout for him to slow down. But to be honest, he didn't care. If everyone else got to the food before him, then he would be left with nothing but crumbs – crumbs from pancakes or tacos it didn't matter. All that mattered were that they were crumbs. He needed more food than that.
Harold almost ran passed the double doors too, until he felt someone pull him back. He was jerked, but he was happy because that meant that he could get food sooner. So even though his feet dragged the ground for a minute, it was ok…so long as it didn't happen again. Otherwise someone would regret it.
Letting go of his shoulder, Arnold turned him around and opened the door. "Sorry Harold, but I didn't want you to get hurt," he smiled, "You go first." And Harold smiled back, mostly because Arnold was a nice guy. "Thanks Arnold."
Walking inside, it was a lot bigger than he thought. Sure there were no windows, but the walls were light yellow with white stripes, a white ceiling, tan carpet, and two long tables that faced each other. The chairs were facing the inside of the room, the tables having white table cloths and there was one smaller table at the right end of the room facing the left wall.
Everyone was sitting at different places, but there wasn't any food. Harold frowned, and looked back at Mr. Simmons who was the one standing at the door while his friends went to find their places. "Where's the food at?" He scratched his head again. But his teacher smiled as he guided him inside. "It will be here in a moment Harold. Since we are in another country, Principal Wartz wanted us to be exposed to as much culture as possible. So we are having a traditional breakfast here in San Lorenzo, so it takes more time for them to make."
He closed the door behind him. "But it shouldn't take too much longer. Why don't you find a seat?"
Harold grumbled. There was no food yet, but at least it would come soon. And he would get the first bite that was for sure.
But where would he sit? Looking at the smaller table, it seemed that Olga, Mr. Simmons, and Principal Wartz sat there, so that was impossible. And the long table on the far wall had all of the girls and Eugene, who was by Sheena at the far end. Eugene sat by Sheena, who sat by Nadine, who sat by Rhonda, who sat by Lila, who sat by Phoebe, who sat by Helga. Ughh, that was too long for his liking. But at least it was funny because that meant Helga had to put up with her sister. Hah! She always got annoyed by her. More punishment from earlier.
Looking down the table in front of him, there was one seat at the far end facing Eugene. But that would mean he couldn't sit by his best friends (even if Sid was annoying that day). However, Brainy took the spot next to it, followed by Lorenzo, Gerald, Arnold, Curly, Sid, an empty space, and Stinky. That was good because looking at his friends, they turned their heads to see him and patted the seat. Smiling, Harold joined them.
"Thanks guys," he said as he sat down. Stinky nodded his head. "No problem Harold. At least you and Sid made it before the food got here. I heard we are going to have something we never tried before."
Sid shrunk a little in his seat. "What if we don't like it though? What if it's snails or something gross?" Harold scrunched his nose. "That's just being stupid Sid," he looked at him, "It's probably tacos or something." That would be cool – having hot tacos for breakfast. His mouth watered again.
"Hmm, hmm, hmm. Everybody," Principal Wartz stood up and they all looked at him, "The food is about to come in a minute. And because I want you all to know what they have prepared for us, I want you all to show respect for what they made for us today. Now as for the food," he picked up a piece of paper, "We are eating Gallo Pinto, which has white rice, black beans, some spices, sauce, and onions. We will also have eggs, cheese, plantains (which are basically bananas), and tortillas."
He stared at them. "As for drinks, we have pinolillo, avena, and horchata. Pinolillo has cornmeal, chocolate powder, milk or water which will be sweetened because it is rather bitter if I do say so myself. Had some this morning and well," he coughed, "anyway, you can tell them if you would like milk or water. Also, it's a thicker drink with some texture as a fair warning if you want something thinner. Avena, on the other hand,has oatmeal, milk, cinnamon, and sugar. And lastly, horchata has cold milk, sugar, rice, spices, and seeds. The choice is completely up to you all."
Then a couple of creaks were heard coming from the door… and then the smells of the spices and the sauces came into the room. And Harold, being close to the door, could probably smell the most of it. His hand reached for his stomach. "So hungry," he muttered to himself.
Once the door was completely open, a few men and women wearing white outfits came in with a number of carts. Although one man stood out. He was tall and tan with black hair and a moustache, grinning with a pad of paper. "¡Hola clase! How are you all doing?" A few people probably said "good" or something like that. All he wanted was one of those plates on those carts…
The man continued. "So let me take your orders for the drinks and you all have a fantastic day here in San Lorenzo!" This guy was a little too cheerful, but hey as long as Harold got a drink and his food it would be cool. As he was going around taking orders, the other people brought the food. It didn't look like the breakfasts at home, more like dinner. Whatever, as long as he ate something.
When one of the men came up with a tray toward Stinky, him, and Sid, it was as if everything else went blank except for what was on it. It was like a dream. He had to have some!
Setting down the plates carefully, the waiter smiled. "Here you go boys! ¡Disfruta!"
Harold looked between Sid and Stinky, but it seemed that they were are confused. However the man laughed as he tucked the tray under his right arm. "It means 'enjoy'." And with that he walked away to help the others.
Finally! Food!
"Well," Sid started poking at it with his fork that came with the plates, "it doesn't look so bad I guess." He took a bite slowly of the rice and beans, and then he started eating quicker. In fact, Harold had never seen him eat this fast since the eating contest! "You guys," he said in between bites, "this is great!" He took another bite, but from the tortilla.
That was good, because if Sid seemed to like it then he probably could eat more! Taking his first forkful of the same thing, Harold ate a bit…and it was better than any taco he could ever dreamed of having! Looking to his right, Stinky was eating just as fast as Sid was. But Harold decided to slow down a bit. He was hungry and he did want to eat, but when it comes to spicier foods it was probably best.
As he was eating, he couldn't really look at his friends because of the table; so Harold ended up having to look at the girls, and Eugene of course but that really didn't matter. They all seemed to like the food anyway. Eugene and Sheena were talking away, and so were Nadine and Rhonda.
But after that, he didn't know what was going on. Usually Lila would be laughing with the two other girls…but she wasn't talking to them. She was eating more slowly, looking kind of sad too as she looked at Phoebe and Helga. Phoebe was acting the same, but she had a hand on Helga's right shoulder. And to be honest, she looked beat. She wasn't falling asleep or anything, but she just was more quiet... 'no mean comments came out of her mouth' quiet.
And she kept looking at the door behind Stinky's head too, like she was waiting for someone to come in because every time his friend would move his head, she would move hers in the other direction. Also she wasn't eating as much as everyone else.
He turned to both of his friends, "Hey you guys," Harold started taking a bite out of the plantain, "Do you guys know what's with her?" He pointed to Helga.
Then they heard a chair pull out, and looking over his shoulder Arnold walked toward them. "With who Harold?" he asked. Swallowing his food, Harold pointed over to Helga again. When Arnold looked up. "Oh yeah that's right. You guys were asleep." And like that it suddenly felt hot again to him. He could feel the sweat on the back of his neck now.
At that Stinky arched an eyebrow. "What do you mean Arnold? What happened?"
Their friend leaned against the wall, seeing as how it was fairly close to their table. He didn't look to good himself because he was frowning. He sounded fine in the lobby, but now this was giving Harold another headache. Madame Fortress Mommy…he put his left arm around the chair he was sitting in as he placed his fork down.
"I don't know how you guys didn't hear it. But then again neither did Brainy and Lorenzo. Anyway," he started, "Gerald and I were trying to help Curly and Eugene solve their problem when we heard Helga scream from downstairs."
Harold gulped, and he could see that Sid and Stinky did as well. It was a good thing that Arnold didn't notice though because he continued talking. "So when we got there to see what was wrong, Sheena told us that Helga had a sleep terror. It's basically a nightmare but a person can have a bad reaction to it."
"Like what?" Sid asked slowly. They were all thinking the same thing – especially Harold. It was his fault after all. But she got what she deserved for being so mean! So why should he care?
"Well, um," Arnold started, "The girls said that Helga was moving around upset in her sleep until she woke up screaming." His classmate looked at her from across the room. "Then she fell back asleep by the time we got there. Apparently, Sheena believes that it was caused from the stress of the travelling and being in a new place. So I guess it was normal."
Once again, he gulped. "Why do you guess? It, it could've been just that." Great, now he was stuttering. And it was all Helga's fault too. If she hadn't screamed, then he would be finishing his Gallo, gallo, gallo whatever. The point was that she deserved it.
"I only guess because Curly started to say something, but then a guy named Montego who works here heard her and came to help. After that," he looked at Curly, "I don't know because Curly left to go after Rhonda when she went back to her room."
That idiot. Harold glared at the boy beside Sid. Apparently, the moron had heard his name at the same time as Arnold said it because when he was about to say something – the look Harold gave him was enough to make him shrink into his chair. He was going to tell on them! Did he want to get in trouble, or them all in trouble for that matter? Because Harold could cause more trouble for Curly, and it wouldn't be like a football game. It would be much worse than that kind of pounding…
It was already bad enough that Helga could tell on them, otherwise they actually would be in trouble.
Arnold sighed, luckily not noticing that Curly was listening. "I guess I'll never know the whole story. And I know that you guys argued with her before you went upstairs because she told me that much, but could you guys be nicer to her until she feels better?"
Ok, Harold breathed in and out. Arnold still didn't know anything, and it didn't look like he was trying to get answers or something. But as long as he and the guys played it cool for the moment, then maybe he would never find out. "Um, yeah I guess we could," he managed to say something at least. Their friend stood up straight again from the wall. "Thanks you guys. I think it would really help Helga," he started walking away, "Well I got to go to the restroom. See you guys later." He walked passed Stinky's chair before going out the door behind them.
Turning to the left, he tightened his hands into fists. "Sid?" he muttered it so that only his friend could hear him. Lifting his head, the boy looked very nervous. As he should be. "Yeah? What, what is it?" he stuttered. He rolled his eyes. The moron, thinking that he was Harold's target. "Kick Curly's leg would you? I can't do it from here." But he wished he could. His friend seemed scared. What a baby. "But Harold-"
"Just do it!" he shouted a bit, but not enough for the others to notice. And it didn't take long either before he could see the geek lean over the table, rubbing his right leg with one hand. "Hey! What did I do?" He frowned and glared at Harold. It didn't matter though because he was acting stupid!
"You were about to rat us out that's what!" Harold leaned his head over his food so that he could see Curly better from across Sid's seat. Despite the fact that his classmate shook his head, it was a total lie. "No I was-" Harold interrupted him while pointing a finger at him. "Yes you were! We are not going to tell unless you want to go home with a broken arm!"
"Um, fellas?" Stinky tapped Harold's shoulder. He shrugged it to get the hand off before turning his head around. "What?" His was so annoyed that his fists got tighter, and he wanted to punch the lights out of someone. Stinky sounded nervous as he looked around the room. "I don't think it's a good idea to yell. The teachers might look at us and find out."
Oh, man. What if they already got caught? He and the guys kept looking around the room, but it didn't seem like anyone paid attention. But they did come close with Arnold earlier when Curly almost blabbed. He nodded. "Yeah, yeah you're right", he glanced both ways, "Let's make a pack to not tell anyone, including Arnold what we did." And he was going to keep it that way too.
Sid looked at him, now pointing his own finger. "You mean what you did Harold."
He looked down, picking up his fork again and pushing some rice off to the side of his plate. "I know. But you guys were there and could've stopped me. But you didn't did you?" It was a threat, and he knew it too. However, there was no way he was going down by himself.
"¡Hola!" Lifting his head, it turned out to be the man from earlier with the pad. What was he doing here? Harold grumbled. "What is it?" But the man was still too cheerful like he was earlier – probably now more than ever. He held a pen to the paper. "What can I get you boys to drink?"
None of his friends said anything. So Harold was about to ask for the chocolate drink, but he suddenly stopped himself. "Um, nothing. We're good."
And he knew why he stopped too, why they all stopped. The other guys didn't ask for anything because of Helga. She wasn't eating anymore, and she stopped looking at the door. She was shaking her head at Phoebe, who was trying to get her to eat.
"I think we're good." Harold thought as the man left, suddenly not feeling hungry anymore. He pushed his plate away from him, staring at Helga without saying another word for the rest of the breakfast.