Chapter 68

Blazing Flames

Mr. Simmons stopped mid-sentence and looked up in surprise at the sound of the fire alarm. "Oh! Oh, my word! A fire drill! Now, everyone, I want you to line up in a straight-"

"Fire!"

"Run for your life!"

"Ahh!"

Everyone jumped up and started running around the classroom. In the confusion, someone knocked Helga's poetry book off her desk and onto the floor. She crawled under her desk and was just about to get it, when Harold ran into her, slamming her into the wall. She felt a sharp pain where she had hit her head, before everything went dark.

"Children, please!" Mr. Simmons shouted. "Get in a line and…oh, why do I even bother?"

Lila struggled to make her way over to Arnold, still determined to put her scheme into action. "I ever so hope that Helga is watching," she thought.

"Arnold!" she cried. "Arnold, I lo-ow!" Lila exclaimed, as she tripped over a textbook, landing hard on her ankle. "Ow! Stupid book! That was ever so mean of you!" She tried to get up but found that she couldn't stand on her foot.

"This is ever so not what I need right now," she thought angrily. "A twisted ankle!"

"Please! Children!" Mr. Simmons tried again. "We have to get outside!"
"FIRE!"

"It's just a drill!" Mr. Simmons shouted.

A few people looked up.

"A drill?"

"It's just a drill?"

"It's not real?"

"Oh."

The class began to calm down as they realized that there was no actual danger.

"What are we standing around in here for?" Curly exclaimed. He ran over to the door and opened it. "Ow! My hand!" he cried, letting go of the doorknob in alarm and jumping back.

Everyone stared in horror at the hallway outside the classroom, filled with blazing flames.

"RUN!" Mr. Simmons shouted.

Nobody needed to be told twice. Within seconds all the children, with the exception of Helga and Lila, were running like crazy, turning over desks and bumping into one another, trying desperately to make it to the door.

"Um…excuse me! Can someone please ever so help-" Lila stopped mid-sentence as someone pushed a desk on top of her. "-me," she muttered. She was about to push the desk off and try to crawl out of the school, when she noticed Helga, still unconscious, across the room. "Hmm…then again, I could use some help," she thought, surveying the room for Arnold.

Meanwhile, Helga had finally come to. She opened her eyes just barley enough to catch what was going on.

Arnold was the last one out of the room. He was about to leave, when he noticed Helga on the other side of the room. Her eyes were wide with fear.

"Why didn't she leave?" he thought in a panic. He watched as she struggled to sit up but fell back down again. And suddenly, he didn't care about everything that had happened between them. He didn't care that she loved him, and he didn't love her back. The only thing that mattered was that she was danger, and he had to help her.

"What the heck's going on?" Helga thought. "Where is everybody? Did they all just leave me here?" She glanced wildly around the room, until she saw Arnold. "Arnold!" she thought happily. "He won't leave me here. He'll save me." Then she saw him look to his right and spot Lila. "Oh, no," she pleaded. "Please, no."

"Wait a minute, Lila too?" Arnold thought. He watched in horror, as the flames began to creep into the classroom. "I'll only have time to save one."