A/N: Alright, so this is the third installment of the Football Games fic. I really didn't know if this one was going to come out the way I wanted it to, but I think I really like it. It took a while to get out, but it's here now and that's all that matters right? I've got one (maybe two) more to go…the last one is, by process of elimination going to be concerning Keesha, Carlos and Dorthy Ann. Ooooo a love triangle…I still don't have too many ideas yet, but I will try and finish this entire thing soon. I promise.
As always, I do not own the Magic School Bus, although I sincerely wish I did.
Arnold sighed as he forlornly picked confetti out of his hair in the boy's washroom. He had made sure to pick the furthest washroom from the football field, so he wouldn't have to deal with any pre-drunk high school kids. No one else was even in the room, and he appreciated the silence.
Arnold hated football games. Of that much he was certain. It always reminded him of how painfully scrawny he was. Sure he had muscles, and sure, he worked out (every now and then) but he had nowhere near the...physique of the footballers. And the confetti always got stuck in his hair.
Arnold had developed into a tall, scrawny 17 year old boy. He was in his senior year and had to admit to himself that not a whole lot had changed since his third grade adventures. Keesha, resident shrink, often told him that it was because he was afraid of change. Arnold wasn't too willing to admit that to Keesha, but he certainly never disagreed.
He still had the same curly strawberry blonde hair, stormy grey eyes (although they were now fashionably paired behind a set of black, rectangular glasses) and pale, freckled skin. He wore polo's and khakis, hush puppies and matching socks. For all intents and purposes, Arnold looked the part of the nerdy swimmer, which he figured was a good thing because that made him definable, and being definable meant that you didn't draw unnecessary attention to yourself and by not drawing unnecessary attention to yourself, you could slip under the high school radar and go through the motions of every day monotony. And Arnold loved monotony.
Or at least he said he did.
Ms. Frizzles' field trips had been too adventurous, too nail-biting, too near disasters for Arnold. So he had been happy when he had finally graduated third grade and gone on to have normal teachers, old teachers, bland teachers. He saw the light fade from the others just a little bit every year when met by another obtusely normal teacher, but Arnold felt elated. Well...mostly.
Maybe he missed the rush of flying just a little bit. And trekking along with the dinosaurs really hadn't been that bad after all. And being baked into a cake had been pretty fun...
But that would be his dirty little secret.
"Hey there lova' boy" he heard the seductive voice coo from the doorway. Unfortunately, Arnold hadn't been expecting anyone in the farthest washroom from the school's current event, and had been using the hand dryer to blow the rest of the confetti out of his hair. He jumped at the voice and banged his head on hand dryer with a resulting *THUD*. He groaned, holding his head and sank to the floor, with his back against the wall. He felt the laughter coming before he even heard it and he grew angry with his surprise visitor.
"Be quiet Wanda" he said crossly (he could never tell a girl to shut up, even if he wanted to and even if Wanda sometimes didn't count as one of the girls). Wanda didn't even try to suppress her laughter as she sank down on the floor beside him, playing with the edges of her torn jean shorts (which were much too short – not that Arnold was complaining) and her white tank top underneath a red plaid, long sleeved fleece shirt. They sat in silence for a while and Arnold stared at her brown leather cowboy boots to avoid looking at her face. Gradually Wanda's laughter died down and she put her head on his shoulder. Arnold tensed, as he usually did when she was like this. THIS referred to a completely new aspect to their relationship that had developed a few weeks ago while they were studying for trig at his house. Sure Arnold has always thought Wanda was cute…okay smoking hot actually, but he really never thought anything would come of it. Kind of like the Phoebe situation…He grimaced at that and felt Wanda peering up at him.
"What?" she asked loudly, breaking the nice silence that had descended. Arnold rolled his eyes and scooted away from her.
"Nothing" he replied sullenly and Wanda raised a perfectly manicured eyebrow at him.
"Don't you nothing me, Mister, I think I know you a little too well to be fooled like that" he just rolled his eyes again and looked the other way.
"Nothing" he insisted and suddenly Wanda was standing up, trying to get in his face.
"Whatever Arnold, I know you're upset about something! You didn't sit next to me in the game and then you completely avoided even looking at me after Tim and Janet got there! So you can go on pretending that nothing's wrong, or we can work this out!" she yelled at him, black hair flying around her face, her dark eyes boring into him. He looked away.
"Are you upset about last night? Did I say something wrong? I know I couldn't have done anything wrong, because you were conveying pretty loudly that everything was good…" she trailed off with a lecherous grin on her face and Arnold felt the dam break inside his chest. He staggered to his feet and Wanda took a step back in surprise.
"THIS is what bothers me Wanda! You can talk and talk all this shit about us fooling around, but you never actually acknowledge what is going on here!" Arnold had never yelled at a girl in his entire life (except maybe Janet and she didn't count) and Wanda's wide eyes showed her surprise at his outburst. He deflated slightly. That had not made him feel nearly as good as he had imagined. He slid back down to the floor, putting his head in his hands in defeat.
"I just…don't want to be your dirty little secret Wanda" he mumbled into his hands. There was silence throughout the washroom and Arnold figured Wanda had fled to call the police to tell them her friend had turned into a crazy person. He felt a sudden weight at his side as Wanda slid down the wall and sat next to him.
"Maybe," she whispered softly, "Maybe I wasn't sure what you wanted. I'm not exactly the type of girl someone like you would bring home to your family" she smiled weakly at him and Arnold stared at the vulnerable mess she had become. Wanda didn't get like this often. Only when she was extremely apologetic and scared of losing someone.
"My parents love you" he said incredulously and she gave another sad smile.
"As your friend Arnold. Not as a potential daughter-in-law" Arnold just stared at Wanda for a long, long time. Daughter-in-Law? Wanda was serious about this? Neither spoke for a while, just looked at each other.
"I" Arnold started, then hesitated before looking at Wanda "I really, really enjoyed Ms. Frizzle's field trips" he finally said, and stared at Wanda. She looked at him with big eyes and blinked a few times before smiling at him.
"I have had a crush on you since the 6th grade" Wanda said shyly and Arnold blushed.
"I really, really don't want to take over my parent's company when I'm older, even though it's expected of me as the only child" he admitted
"I want to dance, even though my Mother thinks it's impractical and stupid" she smiled sadly again and he impulsively grabbed her hand.
"I really, really like you Wanda. I don't care what my parents think because the fact that I love you should be enough for them. And if it's not, I don't care. I want this to be something real, I want to give us a chance" he looked at her imploringly and she smiled gently.
"I really, really like you Arnold. I do care what your parents think, but I am going to try really, really hard to show them that I'm serious about you. It's only ever been about you Arnold. All this time, it's only been about you. I will be polite and well-mannered in front of your parents at all costs…we can be dirty and nasty when its just the two of us together" she smirked and winked at him, causing him to blush all over again like a little school girl.
"They love you Wanda, and they will love you because I do too" he leaned down and placed a brief kiss on her lips. She pulled away and looked at him with a concerned look on her face.
"So we're good?" she questioned seriously. Arnold just grinned in response.
"We're good." He repeated and Wanda laughed.
"Good. I was afraid we were going to have to talk some more about our feelings and all that crap" she said with a wink. Arnold just rolled his eyes at the petite Asian girl and put his arm around her shoulders casually.
"No Wanda, I won't make you talk about your feelings anymore" he said with a fond smile and a roll of his eyes. "But you know….I was thinking…we are all alone on the far end of the school…It's not likely anyone's going to leave the party to come looking for us, so I'd say we have a fair amount of time to ourselves…" he trailed off and sent Wanda a lecherous grin, which surprised her for about a second before she grinned mischievously back and got to her feet, dragging a laughing Arnold to one of the stalls.
"Why Mr. Arnold Matthew Perlstein, I do believe that's the best thing I have ever heard come out of your mouth in a long time"
And that was the last thing that came out of Wanda's mouth for a long time.
And Arnold may have hated football games and confetti, but he had never been so happy for an empty washroom in his entire life. Maybe it was a good thing he hadn't stayed home today.