The following days went by so fast that Arnold couldn't almost believe that the next day he would be walking as senior in the hallways of Hillwood High along with some of his childhood friends. He was excited and nervous at the same time. He didn't know exactly what to or not to expect. True, he had watched in some movies how high school was. But nothing could ever prepare you for the real deal. So it didn't surprise him that he woke up before the alarm made its duty.

Unplugging and checking the hour, it was 6 in the morning. Finding it pointless to fall back asleep he decided better quit the fight and start the day early. As he stood up, he decided it would be best to take a shower. Taking his things and a towel, he headed downstairs. Fortunately there was no line, smirking he locked the door and unstrapped his pajamas. As he waited for the water to warm he started to wonder about the last days.

He had purposely reserved his flight back for two weeks prior the first day of classes, and even if he got the proper paperwork arrangements from San Lorenzo, he was still required to fill some forms and pass some tests before the semester started. Naturally almost all the day he was secluded reviewing the syllabus in his bedroom, so he wouldn't have a problem to prove he had what it took to study the last year. And after a week and a half he was enrolled in Hillwood High.

After testing the water and finding to his liking, he got inside the tub and started his cleaning routine, begging that his grandfather or any of the boarders decided to take an early release on the basement's restroom. Fortunately no one awoke on the mean time, giving him plenty of time to enjoy the hot water relax his muscles. After fifteen minutes he was clean and fresh, checking his reflection one last time he walked back to his room and started to change.

Most of his clothes were discarded, since the weather of San Lorenzo was totally opposite from Hillwood none of the clothes he brought with him was of any use. So naturally he had spent last Saturday shopping for new garments. Gerald tagged along and since Phil announced that he was indisposed due to an incident involving a watermelon and mixed up berries, he opted by passing some cash to the teenager but not before warning him that he had to get a job soon if he wanted to get fancy stuff. It had been a long day but after so many hours he finally managed to get a decent new wardrobe, approved by the sense of style of his picky friend.

After checking for a couple of seconds his closet he opted for his black converse, a black long sleeve shirt, a red button shirt with short sleeves and a pair of jeans. Putting the red shirt over the black he decided to leave the red shirt unbuttoned, apparently that suited him according to Gerald's sense of style. Arnold silently begged that he was right or he would make a fool of himself in his first day of classes.

Once that was settled he took some hair gel and combed his hair, and after some final touches he was ready. Taking the bag next to his couch he walked down the stairs. The place was still silent and after another round of stairs he was in the kitchen, to his surprise someone was in it. Arnold frowned but when he walked closer he smirked. There was his grandmother with her cowboy hat on top of her head and a spatula in her right hand. Apparently she was preparing pancakes.

"Morning Grandma" Arnold said as he put the bag down and took out a chair from the table.

"Morning Tex" she said giving him a smile over her shoulder and returning to the frying pan.

After a minute or so a huge plate of pancakes was placed in front of him, swimming in maple syrup. Arnold thanked his grandmother before taking a fork and start pigging out on the treat. It took two glasses of whole milk to choke down the pancakes. He patted his stomach and after giving his grandmother a kiss on the cheek he exited the boarding house.

Checking his watch once more he noticed he still had an hour and a half to spare, and since Gerald would be probably still asleep he opted to text him and inform him he would rather walk to school that morning. Taking out his cell from his front pocket he passed the message, he waited a minute or so until he got a poorly written response from his friend. Apparently he tried to write 'ok' and 'you woke up just for that?' but instead it ended up into a mixture of symbols and an angry face in the end. Arnold just chuckled and placed the device on his pocket once more.

Once that was out of the list he took out of his backpack his loyal Discman, after placing the headphones on and pushing the play button he started to walk. He checked that most of the stores were closed except for Mr. Green's butchery. He smirked once he spotted him sweeping the sidewalk. He beckoned him to join him and since Arnold hadn't had the time to talk to him on the previous days he felt guilty and decided to oblige.

He ended up by updating him about his years on San Lorenzo and once that was out of the table he started to ask questions about his family and what was new on the shop. Mr. Green proudly showed him the new installments on the place and telling him bits of his family. Before Arnold could realize half hour passed and having a sense of urgency he apologized and left the store. He didn't gave two steps before Mrs. Vitello called him to her store. Arnold gulped and feeling the same pinch in his stomach he accepted. After all he could still make it if he took the bus.

After going on the same routine of updating the old lady, and after she shared about the store and her family, Arnold left the store. Checking his watch he noticed that he had thirty minutes to reach school, cursing mentally he started to sprint to the bus stop. He could still make it. But once he turned on the corner he spotted the bus leaving, engulfing him in a cloud of smog and dust. Coughing he groaned defeated.

Weighing his options he started to analyze what to do, he could still call Gerald to pick him up. True he would probably scold him and laugh at him later, but it was either that or late for the first period. Biting his lower lip he pulled out his cellphone and started to dial his friend's number. Before he could press the call button he heard a honk on his back. Frowning he turned to see why the ruckus and spotted a red convertible and a blonde girl with sunglasses on the front seat.

"Need a ride Football-head?"

Arnold blinked a couple of times before removing his headphones and taking in the image. She was wearing a short-sleeved white shirt, a poorly knotted up navy blue tie around her neck, a matching pleated skirt that reached jut up her knees. Arnold's gaze went down to her legs and shook his head, smacking himself mentally for that slip. He didn't have the time to reprehend himself further before she yelled at him once more.

"I don't have all morning bucko!"

Arnold nodded and opened the passenger's seat, placing his bag between his legs he closed the door and just like that the car sprung to live. Arnold could almost swear the car had reached 60mph in less than 10 seconds, which made him quickly reach for the seatbelt and pray he didn't die before they could reach the school. Apparently Helga noticed this because he heard her chuckle. After a minute or so, and after Helga lowering the speed, Arnold turned to his friend.

"Helga not to be ungrateful or anything but, what were you doing on the neighborhood?" he asked

"Picking up my lunch" she responded calmly, pointing with her thumb to the back seat.

Arnold turned on his seat and spotted on the back seat a huge pink box filled with donuts. There was a label on top of it, it read with huge red letter's Dolly's. Arnold raised an eyebrow and turned to her.

"Don't they have donuts on your school?" he questioned with the brow raised.

"Not the chocolate creamed filled ones with pink frosting and little heart shaped sprinkles on them" she said giving him a smirk before turning her eyes back to the road.

They drove in silence until Arnold noticed he had left his Discman on, pulling the device to his lap he pressed the button to switch it off. Just as he was saving the device back into his backpack he heard a snort next to him.

"What?" he asked looking up.

"The hell is that piece of junk?"

Arnold looked down and back at her "My discman?" he responded, not fully understanding what was so funny about it.

Helga snorted once again before reaching out to the glove compartment. Arnold gulped noticing the proximity and the lack of attention to the road. But it wasn't long before she pulled out something and closed the compartment and went back to driving. She tossed the thing to him, Arnold barely catching it. It was a white rectangular and a little heavy. Arnold frowned but once he turned the device and spotted the logo he blinked surprised.

"You have an iPod?" he exclaimed turning over and over the device.

Helga just chuckled and nodded, still her gaze glued on the road. Arnold continued gazing the device over and over, remembering reading something about it on the net. Once he turned the device on he noticed the screen came to life. After playing with it a couple of minutes and checking what type of music Helga had in it he placed it back on the glove compartment.

It didn't take long before they were turning on the corner of the Highschool, Arnold checked his watch and noticed he still had 15 minutes to spare. Helga parked just in front of the building and as he was opening the door he saw someone approached them.

"Sweet ride Helga" Gerald said ogling the car from front to back.

"Thanks" Helga responded with a satisfied smirk.

Arnold closed the door behind him and smirked at the girl "Thanks for the ride"

"No prob Football-head" she responded before turning the keys and changing the gear "Later chuckleheads"

And with that she speeded and disappeared on the corner. Arnold turned to his friend, already guessing what kind of scold was waiting for him. Instead he found his friend with half lid closed eyes and a knowing smirk on his lips.

Arnold blinked a couple of times before tilting his head "What?"

"Nothin" Gerald responded pronouncing the smirk. "Just for the record, next time say you want some alone time with Pataki, not that crap about walking to school"

Arnold opened his mouth to defend himself but stopped once he noticed a small figure approach them.

"Hey Phoebe" Gerald greeted with a huge grin.

"Morning" she said retuning the smile to him before turning to Arnold "Why was Helga's car doing here?" she asked after giving him a accusatory glare.

Arnold felt a pinch of guiltiness settle in his stomach but after that he felt slightly offended that she asked him that in the same tone she used not long ago. He was about to explain himself when Gerald interrupted him.

"Helga gave my man a ride" he said waggling his eyebrows to Arnold

Arnold felt his cheeks burning after getting the double meaning on his words, he turned to Phoebe and shook his head desperately.

"It's not like that!" he explained with a panic tone "I got carried away with Mr. Green and Mrs. Vitello, I was late and she was at Dolly's so she offered me a ride"

Phoebe x-rayed him, trying to figurate out if he was lying. After a painfully long minute she gave a slight nod before smiling like her usual self. Gerald just snickered before shaking his head and turning to walk to the main entrance. Arnold scratched the back of his head and sighed. Dreading it would be a long day and to his dismiss, it just had started.

A/N: Ok first of all thank you so much for the reviews/alerts/favs :D they surely make my day, honest. Second I am using the 1996 as timeline so since they were in fourth grade in 1996 and now they're seniors that must be 2004 and if I my mind doesn't fail me the iPod 1Gen was realease somewhere in 2001 but until 2004 (the 4th Gen) it was popular. I remember in my school that not many kids had them and the ones who did were really rich, so I am using that as a premise ok? You'll see in further chapters why ;) just be patient. And no, I don't get paid by that.

So thanks for reading see you next chapter and please you know the drill:

Reviews = Love