(A/N: Seems like I'm on a roll with pumping out chapters like they don't take 10+ straight hours to make! I'm honestly proud of myself though. I'm happy to have my groove back and I'm also happy to see that so many of you are still coming back for it. I'd love to hear what everyone thinks so far and if they have any predictions! I'm pretty sure I'm only about half way into this series so feel free to let me know how I'm doing so far with pacing n whatnot!)
"Willikers! It's Sunday!" Stinky's voice was heard throughout his old wooden house. Quickly the boy jumped out of his bed and ran to his bathroom in order to shower and get ready, almost knocking his dad over in the process.
"Where's the fire?" His father asked before his boy shut the bathroom door.
"No fire, Pa! Jus gotta be looking my best for later!" He replied quickly before shutting the door, leaving his dad to scratch his head in wonder.
The bathroom was quickly fogged up with the young man's shower as he cleaned himself as throughout as possible. After jumping out and wrapping a towel around his skinny waist, he went to the mirror and used his hand to wipe away the condensation in a circular motion to reveal his face. He looked at his appearance for a moment before deciding he would do something with the little amount of facial hair that started growing in. Arming himself with a small disposable razor, shaving cream and his father's aftershave, he got to work. Once done, he nodded in approval, spiked up his hair and headed on back to his room to get dressed. Upon opening up his closet, Stinky closely looked around to find something he thought would be suitable for today. He pulled out his nicest and least worn clothes to wear for just the occasion, as well as got out the ironing board and iron. With a hiss of steam, he began ironing out any wrinkles his clothes may have had until 100% to his liking. He knew it wasn't an actual date, but it was probably the closest thing there might ever be to one anytime soon and especially with the girl he sought after
Once he was all set and dressed, Stinky slipped on his shoes, laced them and headed on out the door. It didn't take long for him to reach the park. It was damp and muddy from the rain storm the night prior so no one was really paying it much mind, besides a few joggers and dog walkers. People had their daily routines and usually didn't let a little rain or dampness get in the way of that.
Clouds were still looming over him but every so often, a ray of sunshine would peek through and cause the boy to shield his eyes in order to see. Silently he hoped he wasn't too early or too late for his big day.
"Good afternoon Stinky." A pleasant voice said, causing him to look over his shoulder. There Lila stood in the distance, as radiant as ever with a charismatic smile. She walked up to him and did a small curtsy. "Might I say that you look ever so handsome."
The compliment made the boys ears turn red in embarrassment and he softly kicked a nearby pebble. "Why thank you, Miss Lila. You look mighty fine yourself." He considered this to be a great start to a great day. "How did you and your Pa fair last night? I reckon the whole block lost power for a few hours. I hope you weren't in the mix."
"Our house was affected as well but my dad and I decided it was an oh so great idea to pull out our candles and play some board games. It was ever so fun!" She explained optimistically. "What did you do?"
With a motion of his hand, Stinky lead in the direction of his house and caused his companion to follow. "Well it wasn't much of a big deal for us on account a we have many lanterns already. Saves on the electric bill in all so we were plenty prepared." Stinky boasted. "Can't say I did anything of much fun though. Went out back and made sure I dug trenches around my harvest to prevent drowning. Once I finished laboring, I just hit the hay easily. Not much else to do."
Once they arrived at Stinky's house, he ushered her inside. She looked around and found the cottage like house quite charming. "Oh you're house is lovely." Lila said as she walked closer to the mounted animal heads on the wall. Holding back her disgust, she turned to him with her usual smile, "And your decorations are ever so… unique."
Stinky scratched his head. "They ain't my decorations. One of my Pa's hobbies is taxidermy." He replied casually, leading her deeper into the house towards the back door. "I dabbled in it for a little. Found I didn't have much of a knack for it and gave up."
His answer gave her little relief but she didn't let her expression change. "I'm certain you must have done a fine job. Don't be so hard on yourself, Stinky."
Stinky smiled. "You wanna see it?" He offered with a spark of a new found idea as to possibly woo her with his stuffed goat.
"N-no, thank you." She politely said with a wave of her hands. "I'm ever so interested in your garden though!" She finished, noticing the disappointment on his long face.
With a shrug, the boy continued passed his kitchen and out to the back porch. With arms wide open and a proud grin, he presented his back yard. "This is it."
Lila clasped her hands and her eyes sparkled at the sight. "Wow Stinky!" She said in amazement. "This is oh so impressive!" She looked it over and noticed that there were many different plots. "How many different vegetables are you growing?"
Having to think for a moment, "Pumpkins, onions, leeks, cabbage, peppers, tomatoes…" He said as he counted on his fingers. "Started growing melons this year as well as eggplant but those didn't turn out so well."
"That's a great variety!" She said in awe. "Are you planning on expanding it even more?"
Stinky shook his head. "This is it for now. Reckon I got my hands full as it is."
He walked her down into the garden so she could get a closer look. She paid attention to each individual plant and looked each over carefully, causing Stinky to feel a sorta connection with her. He could see that her smiles were genuine as were her interests. Once he was done giving her the tour, he walked her back to his porch and led her to one of the rocking chairs.
"You fancy some lemon fish juice, Miss Lila?" Stinky asked pleasantly. When he saw her reaction to the name, he laughed. "There's no real fish in it, just lemons. I promise."
"O-oh…" She replied with a queer look. "Then I'm quite certain I'd love to try it."
Stinky headed on back into the kitchen, leaving Lila to sit nicely on the porch. Slowly she rocked back and forth and found that she was enjoying their time a little more than she had expected. It was painfully obvious that Stinky like-liked her, but that wasn't a problem. She was charming, after all. Many boys were interested in her but sadly she had to turn them all away, all except for one, and that relationship ended just as quick as it started. With a frown, Lila thought back to her oh so enjoyable time with Arnold's ever so interesting cousin Arnie. The way he counted things, listed ingredients off of the back of packages and collected various useless things just stirred her heart in a very specific way that no other boy could do. Sure, her time with Arnold was enjoyable but after a while, she noticed that the only reason she thought he could be her special someone was because of how she was certain he was interested in her. Liking someone because they like-liked you, was not real love and it was plainly obvious after he let her down. The fun times were real, but the feelings were just feelings of having a fun time, not love.
Lila heard the screen door open up and tucked a stray hair around her ear and looked to her host. He was carrying a large pitcher of lemonade with one hand, and two cups in the other. "Would you like some help?" She offered.
"I got it." Stinky said confidently. "Us Petersons have lots of strength in our arms and fingers. This ain't nothing." He placed them all on a table in between the two rocking chairs and poured them both a glass. "It's called lemon fish juice on account a you gotta fish the little piece of lemon out of them! It's my Aunts recipe."
"Oh, I see." Lila said; picking up the class and eyeing the yellow liquid a little. "This is your Aunt's recipe?" She asked.
"That's right." He said with a little sip. "My Aunt Stinky."
"What a peculiar name…" Lila couldn't help but chuckle a little. "Are many people in your family named that?"
Stinky nodded. "Sure are. It's been a family tradition for a long time. Don't know how it started but it just kept on going."
Lila smiled, finding everything oddly comfortable and took her own sip. The juice was sweeter than she expected and a piece of lemon bumped up against her lips. "Are these pieces of lemon candied?"
The southern boy gave the girl a look of shock. "How did ya know?"
"I could just tell." She shrugged before taking another sip. "So do you have any other hobbies?"
Thinking for a moment, Stinky gave her a shy look. "Well… I don't know if I should tell you…"
Now intrigued, Lila sat forward and had all of her attention on him. "I'm ever so certain I won't tell anyone, if it's a secret or something." She finished as she placed a kind hand on his leg.
After hesitating for a moment, Stinky decided to come clean. "Remember how I said that I'm particularly good with my hands and fingers? Well I decided to try my hand at playing the guitar." He blushed, hoping to keep this a secret for a while and only letting people know once he got better at it. "I ain't very good yet but I've always liked how the guitar sounds."
Lila gave him a kind look and withdrew her hand once he was finished. "Do you think I could hear you play? Once you're comfortable, of course."
Stinky blushed redder and fiddled with his drink for a moment in thought. "I- I suppose it would be okay…" He said, not looking up at her in fear of seeing her expression. Part of him regretted admitting it to her but the other part was hopeful that if she was impressed, he could woo her a little. With the last swig of his drink, Stinky set his drinking cup back down on the small table and got up. "I'll be right back."
With a tilt of her head, Lila was a little confused. She hadn't meant right now but also was still interested. "Alright." She said with a curious smile.
Briskly he walked inside his house and up to his room. He stared at his guitar sitting in the corner and gulped at the thought of playing in front of someone. He also needed something to play as well. That's when he remembered that he had started writing a small tune and figured it was good enough to show off for now. He grabbed both and headed downstairs. His father was at the foot of the steps and looked at him curiously.
"Whatcha got there, son?" He asked, slowly moving out of his boy's way. "Is that my old guitar?"
Truthfully, Stinky had found it hidden in the basement one day after helping him clean it out and he had never told his dad that he took it back upstairs with him. "That's right. I reckon I'd try my hand at it as a pastime."
A warm smile spread across the old man's face. "I see. I don't suppose it has anything to do with the young lady sitting on the porch?"
"Pa…" Stinky whined as he passed him and headed back outside, causing his dad to just stand there and watch.
"Boy's growing up…" The man said, a tear lingering in his eye at the touching thought of his one and only son trying to win a girl over with music.
Stinky ran onto the deck, a little breathless. He looked to his companion with an embarrassed smile and cleared his throat in an attempt to save face. "Sorry I kept ya waiting."
"Not at all." Lila replied, placing her empty cup on the table next to his.
Fumbling a moment with his words and actions, the lanky boy sat on the stairs of his porch to get better positioned for his private concert. He took out the piece of paper with sloppy written notes on it and placed it to his side. Nervously, he got the instrument properly in his hands and began to adjust the strings. "I'm still learning…" He said, plucking at the strings as to make sure it was in the right tune. When she didn't respond, he swallowed his emotions down and cleared his head. "Okay…"
He strummed his guitar a few times in order to get his jitters to stop. Once he heard the notes, he started to feel calmer and began to play the notes on his paper. He thought of the time they had spent together so far today with each note, and thought of possible good times yet to come. The melody sounded better and better as he continued to play and soon he was fully confident in himself. When he finished, he took in a deep breath and looked up to her. Lila stood there with her hands to her lips with an expression he couldn't quite make out. Was she happy or sad? "Miss Lila…?" He called out to her; placing down his guitar. "You okay?"
She lowered down her hands off her face and down to her chest. "That was most beautiful, Stinky." She said in a surprisingly longing voice. "How come you think that you're no good?"
Despite her words, he couldn't help but notice her expression didn't seem to match. "Never played in front of nobody before," He replied as he got up to go back to their chairs. "I know I need more practice but I reckon I'm my biggest critic. You really think it was beautiful?"
"I'm certain that it was." She gave him a grateful smile and sat back down with him. "Just ever so certain. You shouldn't doubt yourself so much."
"Garsh…" Stinky said, another blush overcoming him and shying away. "If you really think so." He wondered if she was just flattering him or if it really was true. She had no reason to lie unless trying to not make him feel bad but she seemed sincere. Once he found himself putting feeling into his music, it did seem to sound a little better, even to him.
He heard Lila pour them both another glass and sat back down. "Do you have any other hobbies that you're hiding?" He heard her ask.
"Nah, that's it." He replied. "How about you? What are your hobbies?"
Lila thought about it for a moment and took a sip of her drink. She looked down at it and stirred the beverage around a little. "I suppose I've always really liked operas and plays. I find theater ever so enchanting and sometimes find myself singing the tunes to myself." She admitted, as she stared down at the floating bits of lemon that she couldn't quite fish out.
"I heard you sing in the auditions for Eugene, Eugene and found your voice very captivating." Stinky was shocked when he saw her blush a little at his statement. "Found myself jealous that I wasn't up there in Eugene's roll but I reckon I wouldn't have been very good anyway. That boy just has the flair for dramatics and the like."
"Yes! Eugene is ever so wonderful when it comes to musicals!" Lila agreed, "He upstaged even me!"
That's when Stinky had an idea. "Hey…" He started a little apprehensively. "You ever wanna do a song with me? I mean, my singing really bites but with me practicing enough to become real good, I reckon with your voice and my strings we could make a capable pair."
Lila slapped her hands together in delight and her face glowed. "That sounds like a marvelous idea, Stinky! I would be oh so honored to accompany you with a song."
"Really?" He said, genuinely surprised. "You don't think it would be weird?"
"Oh no, I'm most certain that I would find it ever so enjoyable." She reinforced.
He looked at the girl in admiration, completely taken aback by her enthusiasm for the idea. The idea was just a shot in the dark to spend more time with her but the more and more he imagined it, the more he saw that it was a pretty good idea. "Alright, I'll start working on a song."
The two enjoyed their time together, finishing their drink and finding that they had a little more in common then they knew. Stinky now had a little more confidence in himself and decided he would give it a go and really try his hand at winning her over enough to make her his girl.
The day concluded with him walking her back to her place. They waved goodbye to each other and the moment she disappeared into her house, Stinky couldn't help but jump for joy. Although it wasn't a date, it sure felt way better than just throwing rocks at a dumpster with his classmates or eating ice cream with Sid and Harold. Now it was time to really think about what he was planning on doing next.
Lila looked around her house and noticed that her Dad was still at work. With a lonely sigh, she walked into her kitchen and opened the cupboards and found there still wasn't much she wanted. She grabbed a can of already prepared pasta in meatballs and looked at it solemnly.
"Daddy doesn't get paid till Thursday so this will have to do for tonight." She told herself as she grabbed a pot and placed it over the stove to warm up her meal. As she stirred the pot to evenly distribute the heat to her food, she recalled the small song that Stinky had played and found herself smiling. He may not be Arnie, but he had his own merits. He was simple and kind with a certain boyish charm to him. It makes no sense to hold on to someone who has already broken up with me… She told herself as she played with the food. Pining for someone who loves another is foolish, just ever so foolish… Maybe it's time to move on…
Lila finished preparing her food and brought it to her kitchen table to eat. She could feel herself becoming a little depressed, something she typically didn't let anyone see. She had to be perfect, after all and it wasn't easy. Always holding in her true feelings and keeping face. This was something she had learned to do once her mother had passed when she was very little. Her father became a broken mess and she was his only anchor.
"Don't cry Daddy, it will be okay…" She remembered telling him as he wept day after day. What do you do when your only parent can't even take care of himself? Parents aren't supposed to show their weakness but what could anyone expect after something like this. "Mommy will always be with us…" After a while, she decided the only way to make things better was to put herself in her mother's absence and take care of him. She wore her best clothes, put on her best smile and always did her best to care for their very grim situation. It was hard but she had to do it and soon it just became another part of her… even when truthfully, she had her own demons.
Lila finished her dinner and placed the bowl in the empty sink with a loud clank. She turned on the water and apathetically washed the bowl, spoon and pot she had used. Nothing was to be left in the sink. Nothing was to be left dirty if she could help it. Her dad needed to come home to a clean house to keep his spirits up because it's what her mom would want.
With a sigh, she brought herself to her bedroom and opened up her journal. She kept one to make sure to log every happy event that happened in her life so she could reference back to it whenever she needed cheering up. Flipping through the pages, she recalled each and every event with a painful smile. She had so much to be grateful for; so many pages of happy memories with her friends. That's when she got to her second to last entry. It was the last week before all the students in her class were preparing to go to the jungle… without her. She had helped everyone set up for the video that Helga, Gerald and Phoebe had made in order to get Arnold's project to win. She loved helping them all out. Arnold looked so happy when he won. The very next day, however, was when she had to leave to South Carolina with her dad. There were no entries from that point on until her first day back from school.
She took her pen and tapped the paper a few times until she was lost in thought about the day once again. I had an ever so wonderful time today… She wrote slowly and delicately, Stinky has a very inviting presence and I feel like I could tell him almost anything… almost. With a frown, Lila put down her pen and stared off into the distance. Everyone in her class had someone as their best friend; someone to open up to but who did she have? The closest person she had was Arnold but that turned sour when he wouldn't give up his chase on her. Dark thoughts crept into her mind and caused her to doodle a little in the margins of the paper. Swirls upon swirls marked her pages whenever she got into this deafening trance of loneliness. One day… maybe things will change.
The next morning, all the children crammed into the classroom with various tales of the weekend that had passed. A few of them got into their respective groups and gossiped as well as others sat in their usual spots and chatted with the person next to them.
It was another day which gave Arnold another chance at talking to Brainy. He watched as the silent mysterious boy walked into the class and sat down in the back next to the bookshelves. He wasn't going to let anyone get in his way and today was finally going to be the day he got some answers.
"Where you going, man?" Gerald asked as he saw his best friend get up. When he looked in Arnold's direction, he saw and rolled his eyes. "You still on about that?"
With no reply, Arnold just gave his companion a friendly smile and headed towards the kid. Once there, he realized he had no idea what he was going to say but he knew he had a few minutes to figure it out. "Hey Brainy." He said in his usual friendly tone. He noticed that Stinky wasn't in his seat and found it convenient as he sat right next to Brainy. "Mind if I sit next to you?"
Brainy looked at him and gave no indication that he was opposed to it. "Okay." He breathed out nosily.
Arnold sat down and looked to the boy wearing an unusually happy smile. "How's your morning been?" He asked just to start the conversation.
"Fine." Brainy answered, his expression not changing.
"Do you have any plans after school?" The blond boy inquired inconspicuously.
Brainy looked between the boy speaking to him and his Goddess from across the room as she spoke to her best friend with a really uncomfortable look. He wondered what she was talking about then looked back to Arnold. "Not really." He replied.
"Would you like to hang out with me?" Arnold asked warmly, "I've been thinking lately that we haven't ever really hung out before, you know, just the two of us."
Brainy looked from him and again back at Helga. He wondered if she had finally replied to his email yet. He would have to check during lunch again. Looking back to Arnold, he noticed that he was still waiting for an answer. "Sure." He replied, deeply hoping she had replied by now.
His answer seemed to give Arnold some joy and he stood up smiling. "Okay! Want to meet me in front of the school after the last class? I don't know exactly what you like doing but I'm sure we can find some things to do." The loud breathing boy nodded his head and then turned his head to face the front of the class. He found it sort of odd but let it go. "Okay, see you then!"
Arnold stood up and noticed Stinky approaching him. He moved out of his way and let the boy sit down in his designated seat.
"Hey Arnold!" He said happily.
"Hey Stinky, sorry for sitting in your seat, I was just having a conversation with Brainy." He explained, as he got ready to leave.
The southern boy gave him a queer look. "Why'd you wanna do a thing like that?" He asked, almost shocked.
Arnold looked immediately at Brainy who he assumed would have been offended, but noticed that Brainy seemed completely unchanged and cocked an eyebrow. "No reason."
As Arnold started to leave, Stinky caught him by the arm. "Hold on real quick, Arnold. I could use your help with something!" He started as he let the boys arm go and pulled out a paper and pencil from his bag. "I was just wondering…" He said with a hushed tone as he looked around to the other students who were still very much engaged in their conversations with their peers. "When you were trying to court Miss Lila, what did you do with her?"
The question seemed odd but Arnold found no reason to keep the information to himself. "Well we went to the cheese festival, I took her to the movies, we went to Dino land once… Why do you ask?" He noticed that Stinky was writing the answers down.
"Oh I was just asking on account of I wanna make sure I don't make the same mistakes you did." Stinky replied plainly as he finished his writing.
The comment was insensitive but Arnold kept his annoyance to himself. "Okay."
"Anything else I should know?" Stinky asked, finally looking up.
"She is allergic to stuffed animals, doesn't like rides or scary movies and can't swim." Arnold said in a dull tone, wanting nothing more than to leave immediately and go back to his seat.
Stinky wrote those things down as well then gave Arnold a thumbs up. "Okiedokie Arnold, thanks!"
"Don't mention it..." Arnold replied as he left back to his seat.
As he approached, he noticed Gerald eyeing him with interest. "What was that about?" He asked, noticing Arnold look of annoyance.
"Don't ask." He replied as he sat back down in his seat.
Moments later, Mr. Simmons came walking into the class full of pep and enthusiasm and placed his materials down on his podium.
"Good morning class!" He started as he did every day. "I'm pleased to let everyone know that every single one of you did a fantastic job on Friday's pop quiz!" He said as he shuffled through his papers looking for the quiz in question to hand back to the students.
"Even me?!" Harold yelled in surprise.
"Yes, Harold. Even you!" Mr. Simmons cheered as he handed the large young man his paper. "This just shows how much you can do when you apply yourself!" As he reached Lila, he remembered that she still needed to hand in the permission slip for their new class. "Oh Lila, did you ever get your dad to sign the permission slip for Health class?"
With a frown, Lila shook her head. "I'm very sorry, Mr. Simmons. I completely forgot to get it back from my Dad this morning but I'm ever so certain that I'll bring it back tomorrow." She said as she took her quiz paper from the man.
Mr. Simmons mimicked her frown. "Well, alright Lila but this means you'll have to excuse yourself again during last period."
"I understand, Mr. Simmons. I'm ever so sorry." She said apologetically.
Helga had overheard their conversation and looked at Arnold to see if he would rise to the occasion again. When he didn't, she felt better but decided she had to do something to make sure it wouldn't happen again. "I'll join her in the library, Mr. Simmons."
The balding teacher looked curiously at the young lady. "That's… oddly helpful of you, Helga." He mentioned as he handed Curly his quiz and made his rounds to the last line of students.
"Yeah well I'm in a good mood today, so sue me." She shrugged. It wasn't a lie. She had woken up in a very good mood. "I want to make sure she's as caught up with class as the next person. After all, she is my special classmate" She finished in a sarcastically innocent tone.
Lila smiled at the offer. "That sounds lovely, Helga. Thank you ever so much."
Mr. Simmons thought for moment as he finished handing the last quiz to the girl who was talking to him. He looked between the girls, "Are you sure, Helga? You could fall behind in class."
"Are you kidding? I'll take Phoebe's notes home with me. Right, Pheebs?" She asked her best friend with expecting eyes.
"That's right. It's no problem at all." She smiled to the teacher with assurance.
Mr. Simmons smiled and sighed in approval. "I have to say, I am blessed with very special and caring students. I have to say…" He wiped a small tear from his eye and stood back up at his podium. "I'm just so happy that you all reach out to each other in need."
Helga smirked at herself. Her plan worked just like it should have.
Gerald looked confused between the two girls who clearly didn't get along very well, then back at his best friend who just had a smile on his face. It was suspicious. Very suspicious.
"What the heck was that about?" Gerald asked his best friend as they got into the cafeteria line. "Helga offering to help Lila? Is this some alternate dimension or something? Are we in a movie?" He looked around, "Are there cameras I'm not seeing?"
Arnold laughed a little as he grabbed his lunch tray. "No, she's just in a good mood today I guess." He shrugged.
Gerald eyed him and slowly grabbed himself a chocolate milk. "You're also in a pretty strange mood, man. You've been all smiles all morning and its weirding me out."
"What are you talking about? I'm always in a good mood." Arnold asked with a raised eyebrow but he had to admit, his morning was also pretty good. He just woke up on the right side of the bed; literally.
"Uh huh…" Gerald said, not really wanting to go further into the discussion as it was clear he was missing something but had a feeling he didn't really want to know. "All I'm saying is it's weird." He decided it was time to change the subject. "So what did you say to Brainy?"
Arnold finished gathering his lunch and followed Gerald to a lunch table. "I just asked if he wanted to hang out after school and he said okay." He explained; placing down his tray and sitting. "Not much else."
"What do you plan on doing?" Gerald asked as he speared a couple of baked ziti. "You have no idea what he even likes to do."
It was true, Arnold had absolutely no idea what he planned on doing with the boy but he wasn't going to let that stop him. "Could just walk to his house…" He suggested out loud. "I've never been there before so that should be interesting."
"You could ask Stinky what his house looks like. I'm pretty sure I overheard him talking about them doing their project there." Gerald said as he pointed his fork in Stinky's direction.
Arnold thought of their conversation earlier and shook his head. "No thanks, Gerald."
With a loud and exaggerated sigh, Gerald shook his head. "Whatever you say, man. I just hope you don't expect me to hang out with you guys. The kids weird and besides, I promised Timberly I'd take her to get ice cream today."
"Oh?" Arnold was surprised to hear that, since Gerald often did his best to avoid his sister at all costs. "Did something happen?"
Gerald stirred his pasta around a little bit. "Yeah… Saturday night when the blackout happened, she tripped on a bunch of her own toys and got hurt. I mean, she should have picked them up like we told her to so it was her own fault but she was pretty shaken up about the whole thing. I felt bad so I told her I'd take her out."
Arnold smiled at his best friend's generosity. "That's pretty nice of you."
"I'm her brother. I gotta be nice sometimes." Gerald smiled with a shrug. "Speaking of blackout, you never did tell me if anything happened at your house. Did the boarders get crazy again and your grandma hog tie them together like last time?" The boy laughed at his memory of it. "That was hilarious. Mr. Potts was so mad!"
"I wasn't apart of taking care of the boarders this time." Arnold explained, doing his best to avoid the real answer. "My parents took care of it."
"Oh?" Gerald said; taking a piece of his garlic bread. "What did you do?" but before he could let his best friend answer, an even better question popped up. "What did Helga do? I bet she freaked out."
Arnold closed his eyes and swallowed the food he had just put in his mouth, almost causing himself to choke. "Not much. We talked and played cards." He said after a hard cough to clear his airway.
With a skeptical look, Gerald finished his food and pushed his tray away. He watched as Arnold composed himself and knew there was something up. "Uh huh…"
Feeling his friends eye's on him, Arnold drank some of his milk to finish getting the last of the food debri away from his trachea. "What?" He asked, willing himself to not remember the rest of the events and make himself obvious.
Gerald continued to eye him then shook his head. "Nothing man. If you wanna keep it to yourself, I'll respect it. After all, a cool dude doesn't kiss and tell, right"
The statement caused Arnolds face to turn red and he knew there was no way to hide it. He silently cursed himself for wearing his emotions so carelessly.
"Yeah, that's what I thought." Gerald laughed as he watched Arnold scowl and push the rest of his food away. "You're the worst at lying." He felt bad as he watched him struggle and patted Arnold on the shoulder. "Don't worry man. You don't gotta tell me anything."
Arnold wiped his mouth with a napkin and leaned back in his chair. It's not that he didn't want to talk about it; he just felt it was incredibly personal and rude to the other party involved. "Thanks." He replied with a forced smile. It was part of the reason he was having such a good day, almost as if residual feelings were still affecting him. Their conversation had ended a lot better than he had expected it to do as well, despite how hard it was and it was clear she felt the same way. Arnold looked over at the girl in mind chatting with her own best friend.
"I have to say, you're in a very good mood today." Phoebe laughed as she carried on her casual conversation with her best friend.
Helga shrugged. "I guess even I can't be angry all the time"
"I suppose you're planning on talking to Lila during Health period to clear up any misunderstandings?" She asked confidently.
"That's part of it." Helga said as she happily took a bite of her food. It was nice to be a part of the normal kids who ate lunch regularly. "But mostly I just didn't want to cause anymore misunderstandings. Figured I'd offer my help before a certain someone did and cause more problems."
"Very astute." Phoebe commended. "Just be sure to grab my notes before you go… 'home'." The last word made her giggle.
Helga scowled knowing full well she was being mocked and was honestly just happy that none of the other kids caught that slip earlier. "Yeah, yeah whatever. I won't forget." It was true though. She was learning to call that place home for more reasons than one. It was warm, welcoming, people didn't seem to mind her there, she was treated well and above all, her love was there. She thought back to their important discussion and decided she needed to figure out how to make him confident in his love for her. Helga wanted badly to tell Phoebe all about it but school wasn't the place to do this, nor was over Arnold's house phone where anyone could intercept. There was also the possibility of Arnold finding out and getting annoyed but at the same time, it was just as much her business as his.
Lunch concluded and all of the sixth grade students made it back to their classrooms with ease. Classes picked up once again until it was finally the last period. Helga gathered her things and headed to the door, waiting for Lila to get her things together. "Come on, Miss Perfect." She huffed as she opened the classroom door and waited.
"Coming." Lila smiled back as she followed.
They walked to the library without saying a word. Helga threw her backpack at the first open table and sat down without grace. She watched as Lila smiled at her and sat down opposite side.
"And before you get anything confused," Helga started, "I only offered my help to get out of that stupid class. You're not missing anything. I'd rather pound nails through my skull than listen and watch movies about saying no to drugs."
"I'm very thankful for your help, regardless of your motives Helga." Lila smiled, in complete understanding. She pulled out her work books and began to study without much thought.
She doesn't want to talk about it? She thought as she watched Lila work with interest. Does she expect me to just up and apologize? Because fat chance of that. Helga crossed her legs and looked around the Library. Arnold was right; it was particularly empty during this period. She got up and decided to grab a book to read. She filed up and down the rows of books, looking for specific authors she knew she enjoyed. One title ended up catching her eye and she grabbed it. As she walked back to her table, she noticed Lila watching her. "What?" She asked with much attitude. "Got a problem with me reading?"
"Not at all, Helga." Lila smiled as she watched her hostile companion sit back down and prop her foot on the table.
Helga noticed that the girl was still watching her and did her best to ignore it but eventually she gave in. "What?!" She demanded, slamming the book down. "Do you have something to say to me? Spit it out!"
"Shhhh!" The librarian said from across the room, causing both the girls to pay attention.
"It's not like there's even anyone else here." Helga whined but the Librarian just shook his head and went back to his computer. She turned back to Lila, "Well?"
"I was just ever so interested in what happened with you and Arnold over the summer." Lila replied heedlessly.
"A-arnold?!" Helga yelped, earning another hush from the librarian. "I- I have no idea what you're talking about. Nothing happened between us over the summer. Nothing at all." She stammered nervously, as she reopened her book.
"I don't know…" Lila replied slyly, "Doesn't seem that way to me…"
"Yeah well what do you know?!" Helga replied angrily. "You weren't even there."
"Well that's sort of my point, Helga. I wasn't there even when I wished I could have been." Lila said with a forlorn look about her. When she noticed that Helga wasn't giving in, she decided to use their argument to her advantage. "I don't think you would have came at me like you did the other day, if nothing has happened." When she saw Helga look up over her book, she continued. "It's not like I mind or anything," She said with a stretch. "You know I've always been ever so supportive of you two. You make a cute couple."
With the girl's last words, Helga found herself a little less anxious. It was true that Lila had known about her feelings for Arnold for a while, and even sort of helped her out after she had found out by purposely reminding him that she only liked him as a friend, and not as a romantic interest. "Fine." Helga gave in. "What do you want to know?"
With a happy few claps from her hands, Lila put her workbook aside and gave Helga her full attention. "Why, just about everything, I suppose."
"Look, little miss smarty pants, I'm not about to spill my whole life story to you. Got it? And everything I DO tell you stays between us or I'll snap that pretty little neck of yours." Helga started and when she saw that the girl wasn't budging from her interest, she continued. "There isn't much to tell. We went into the jungle, I helped him find his parents, we shared a m-moment and that was that. Happy?" Lila gave her a glance that expressed she knew there was more. "No I'm not going to go into much detail than that. He knows of my feelings, I know of his… somewhat and that's that. End of story." She finished with a wipe of her hands.
"Somewhat?" Lila asked, with much concern. "Whatever do you mean, Helga?"
Helga slumped back in her chair. She really didn't want to have this discussion, especially before she had it with Phoebe but there really was no getting away from it now. Lila was supportive so was it really so bad to divulge a little more? "Somewhat as in… we know what we are to each other but he's still not certain about the extent." As she said her final words, she was unable to keep from frowning. It still hurt a little, even if it was understandable. "He's sure that he like-likes me now but maybe not in the crazy way that I feel for him."
Lila's eyes saddened as she heard the tale. "Whatever will you do?"
"What can I do?" Helga admitted. "All I can do is wait for him to fully figure it out and go from there. No crazy scheme is going to be able to make him decipher his feelings, no amount of pestering will make everything become clear… there is nothing I can do but continue with what we do have an be happy about it and, trust me, there's plenty to be happy about and before you even ask, I will absolutely not tell you any of that. It's private so you can go kick rocks."
"I respect that Helga." Lila smiled. "I'm satisfied that I know even this much."
Despite not wanting to continue the subject at all, she was grateful for the girls words. "Yeah thanks now get back to studying so it looks like I actually helped you with something." She said with a small smile.
"And I have to admit, your optimism is very admirable."Lila explained as she picked her book back up and realigned her papers. "It seems like maybe he's rubbing off on you a little." When she noticed Helga's alarmed look, she waved her hands dismissively. "In… the most innocent way possible, I'm sure."
"You have anything interesting happen to you while you were gone?" Helga asked without much care as she turned the page of her book. "I'm surprised you're not tantalizing everyone in class with your stupid barnyard tales."
Lila bit her lip and stared down at her papers. "Well…" She knew it was a moment she was able to be open and honest, and decided that she would honor her companion with similar news. "I decided yesterday that I would give up my feelings for Arnie in hopes of a new suitor." She explained. "As much as I find him ever so perfect and want nothing more than for him to see me as I see him, I find it painful to just hold on to something without any… well any real reason to."
Helga heard her words but flipped through the book some more. "So what you're saying is, you don't want to hopelessly pine for someone who has no interest in you with hopes that one day he'll change his mind?" Knowing a little something about that herself, Helga looked over at the girl who clearly looked like she'd seen better days. "Look, honey. The way I know it, you have two options. One: Keep your hopes up high, do your best to get through to him and maybe one day he'll change his mind, or two: Give up the chase and move on. The first option is very unhealthy and I don't recommend it, and the second it seems like you've already chosen and I can't say I blame you."
"Yeah…" Lila sighed. "I wrote him a few letters since he was last here and he hasn't returned any of them. I don't see any reason to continue so… here we are." She finished with a painful smile.
Knowing full well the pain that Lila was going through, Helga wanted to reach out and comfort her but knew she couldn't. Nothing she could say or do would make the situation any better, nor was she in that much of a good mood that she would willingly do something as disgusting as hug the girl. Instead, she nodded her head and continued on with her reading. "You'll get through it. I'm sure there are still plenty of saps throwing themselves at you. Just pick one."
The thought made Lila smile a little. It was a prospect she was already considering even though she wasn't quite sure she was ready for it. Even still, she knew she had plenty of time to figure it out since she was still so young and had her whole life ahead of her. "Thanks, Helga." She beamed with gratitude.
After school, Arnold followed Brainy on his walk to his house, trying to keep up conversation but not getting much in return. This is hopeless… Arnold thought as he looked over at the quiet kid. He's only giving me one word answers…
"So what do you usually do after school?" Arnold asked tiredly, hoping to get something more.
"Not much…" Brainy replied, still hot on his idea of getting home and turning on his computer to see if there was an awaiting message. He wondered if Helga had told him anything about their exchanges but figured probably not or Arnold might have other things to say to him.
"You just usually go home?" Arnold wondered if he ever really hung out with anyone anymore. Sometimes he would be hanging around in the background but not much since the beginning of summer. What changed?
"Yeah." Brainy said as he turned the corner.
It looked to Arnold like they were going to a part of town that he wasn't really used to. Had Brainy always lived this far from school? He recalled that Brainy was typically on the bus so maybe he was only walking for Arnolds sake?
About 5 more minutes had passed and eventually Brainy walked up to a pretty plain brown house. Its structures looked very similar to that of Stoop Kids and made Arnold wonder if maybe they were close by but had just taken a roundabout sort of way. "Is this where you live?"
"Yeah." Brainy said as he pulled out his keys and unlocked the door. He held the door open to his follower and smile. "Come on."
Arnold nodded and headed on in. Everything looked very clean and in its place, almost as if the place was on display. He felt very out of place and scratched the back of his head. "Nice house…"
"Thanks." Brainy replied as he took off his backpack and hung it in the closet. Without a word, he headed up the stairs and Arnold followed. They turned a corner and passed a few more rooms, each with the door closed until they reached the end of a hallway. Brainy opened it up and walked inside.
"Is this your room?" Arnold asked, feeling really oddly nervous as if he was walking into some sort of trap.
"Yeah." Brainy said as he took off his shoes and neatly tucked them under his bed.
Looking around, Arnold could see that his room was very clean. There was the usual, a bed, dresser, computer desk and a door to probably a closet. Odd thing was, there were no posters on his wall or any sort of indication of what the boy was into. "So what do you usually do?"
"Here." Brainy answered as he sat down in his computer chair with a smile. He pressed the power button and the screen started to boot up. Weird mechanical noises and fans were heard coming from the machine and Arnold walked over to see if maybe Brainy would show him something there. Strangely enough, the machine looked almost new and it had completely started up in the fastest amount of time Arnold had ever seen.
"Wow." Arnold said as he looked around the computer. "It's pretty fast. Do you like computers?"
"Yeah." Brainy said, his voice beginning to get raspy. He opened his web page and went to the schools message board. He could feel his anxiety got worse the moment he noticed there was no new message icon to be scene. With silent panic, Brainy pulled out his inhaler and gave it a quick puff.
Arnold looked on as Brainy seemingly opened the webpage just to close it again. With a frown, he hoped more would happen. He noticed there were many icons on his desktop and assumed that they were probably games. "Do you like to play computer games?"
At the mention of games, Brainy pulled up solitaire and offered the computer to his nosy companion. "Wanna play?"
"No thanks." Arnold said as he took in a deep breath. He was doing his best to seem interested but Brainy wasn't giving him much. "What do you usually do at your computer?"
The question seemed innocent and Brainy knew Arnold to be a trusting guy. Knowing that he was definitely not going to show him the extent of his intellectual prowess, he at least was going to show him something in hopes of satiating whatever the odd shaped headed kid was looking for. Brainy opened up another web browser and opened up a forum. "Look." He said before getting out of his chair and offering it to Arnold.
Arnold took the seat and looked over at the screen. The threads seemed simple enough and he scrolled on through. After a while, he noticed that all the discussions seemed to be about hacking, coding and questions about special programs. "Do you make programs?"
"Sometimes." Brainy replied without emotion.
"That's pretty impressive." Arnold admitted. "I have a computer at home but it's very old and slow. It can do the bare minimum when I need it to, but that's about it." He continued to scroll through the forum and read titles. "Is it hard to learn?"
"Not really." He replied with a shrug.
When Arnold opened up one of the threads, he attempted to read but was lost in lingo. "And you understand all of this?" He asked in surprise and Brainy nodded. "Can you show me some of the programs you've made?" Arnold asked, not thinking much about it.
Brainy paused and thought for a moment. Many of the programs he had made were specifically for the people looking for them and once they received it, he deleted it from existence as to not get an electronic trail back to him. He thought back to earlier times when he was first messing around with coding and decided to show him. He went into a folder that lead into many other folders until he double clicked on an executable file with unknown characters. A screen popped up and in big sparkling letters, read "Web Genie."
"What's this?" Arnold asked, turning his chair around to see Brainy.
"Watch." Brainy said as he took the mouse and pressed Start. Immediately a genie came on the screen and informed them that he could read anyone's mind and all they had to do was think of a person, place or thing and after answering a few questions, the genie would instantly be able to tell them what they were thinking.
"You made this?" Arnold asked, astonished. "I've seen things like this before but this looks older. Did you create the base of this game?"
"Yeah." Brainy replied with a smile.
They both went back and forth with playing the game, the genie winning each and every time. Arnold was actually having some fun and it was pretty interesting to know what Brainy was capable of but aside from that, he still couldn't figure out why Helga was interested. The boy seemed plain despite his computer smarts.
"Thanks for showing me this." Arnold said with a smile. "It's really pretty cool. Why don't you share things like this with everyone else?"
Brainy's usual dimwitted smile faded and he shook his head. "Nah."
"Why not?" He asked, knowing he clearly struck some sort of mine.
With a sigh, Brainy sat down on his bed. "No reason."
With concern welling up, Arnold turned the computer chair around and faced him. "Come on, Brainy. There has to be some sort of reason. You know you can tell me."
It was true that Arnold was a very understanding guy, and Brainy knew that but there was no real way he could explain himself. This was just something he learned out of curiosity and decided to continue with it in hopes of helping other people. He had the proper technology for it, so why not? No one else in his class really had interests in computers as most of them would rather be playing baseball or go to the movies. Brainy wasn't physically built to be able to compete with them so found solace with technology… and a certain someone whom he couldn't name. His thoughts then went to her. Where was she right now? Normally he would be following her and making sure she was okay. Had she ever read his message? Did she ever plan on replying? Or was this silence meant to get him to stop everything he was doing. Brainy shook the thoughts out of his head and remembered that he was asked a question. "It's just… not for them."
"So you think they won't understand?" He asked, knowing that even he wasn't fully sure of any of this himself.
Brainy shrugged. "Maybe."
Arnold thought of his friend not feeling like anyone else could understand his interests and it made him sad. Had Brainy always been this lonely? "I'm sorry, Brainy. I can't say I understand much of it either but hey if you ever want to teach me any of it, I'm willing to learn."
With a smile, Brainy nodded. "Okay."
Looking at the time and knowing he wasn't going to get much else out of his host, Arnold decided to call it quits. He said goodbye to his strange friend and headed on home.
Feeling relieved. Brainy went back to his computer to look at his emails. He clicked his last exchange with Helga and noticed that it was at least seen. Why wasn't she replying? How was he supposed to keep this scheme going when he had no idea what it was actually doing on the other end? The thought was maddening and Brainy took in another puff of his inhaler. Deep inside, he hoped that even if he was to fail in his endeavor, Arnold would at least succeed.