(A/N: Hello Everybody! It is me! Yes! I am back! I know I warned you guys ahead of time that the next update would be longer than usual, but I also didn't expect it to quite this long. Typical, right? Last month was just very busy, and although I had half of this written by the end of it, I started my new job! That meant more delays lol. Hope I didn't keep everyone in suspense for too long! I was surprised to even have some of you reach out to me! Not a bad thing, though 3 Enough of my incoherent babbling though.)
The eyes of Harold Berman shot open many times that Sunday night, and well into the early Monday morning. Each time, he would snatch his alarm clock, whine when it wasn't the time he had wanted, slam it back down on his night stand and roll over in frustration. Needless to say, he did not get very good sleep that night, but despite that, the moment that alarm beeped for him to get ready for school, the bedroom floor was not prepared for him to leap up and out, shaking the house slightly.
"Finally!" He shouted as he dashed to get his clothes on.
It was unusual for him to be excited for school, however it wasn't exactly school he was excited for. In fact, he wasn't excited at all, but rather anxious to finally tell his friends about Wolfgang and Ludwig's dare. He deliberated what he would say to them, while he brushed his teeth. He went back and forth on the details he might share, while he wolfed down his breakfast. He even walked a little faster on his trip to the school, but not so fast as to give himself a belly cramp.
The moment P.S 118 was in his sights, the large boy heaved a sigh of relief and walked on up the steps. He waited in front of the open doors until he could see Sid and Stinky in the distance.
"Guys!" He yelled as he eagerly ran down the steps, waving his arms so that they would see him. "Guys!"
The two stopped and waited for him to approach, both looking very confused as it was very unusual for him to be in a rush at all.
"What's got you running like the devil is hot on your tail?" Asked Stinky, looking mildly amused.
"I need… You guys… To… Sleep over… This weekend…" He managed to get out between breaths. "It's important!"
"This weekend?" Sid looked between the two. "What's so special about this weekend?" The short, stringy haired kid then paused and looked skeptical. "You're not trying to get us to help you with the chores you have backed up like last time, are you? Because I'm definitely not falling for that again!" He began to shake his head from side to side and crossed his arms. "No way, no how! I don't care if you managed to get the new Zombie City 6 game! I am not helping you scrub your shower!"
"Shut up!" Harold bellowed out. "It doesn't have anything to do with chores! Honest!"
"You ain't trying to get us to come watch another one of them dang girly films with your mom again, are you?" Stinky frowned and looked uncomfortable. "I mean, I like your mom in all but I draw the line there. If I need tips on courting a lady, it won't be from some old movie."
Harold let out a loud whine and stomped his foot on the ground, his face turning red with frustration. "No, No! It has nothing to do with that and that only happened one time!" He insisted desperately, causing the two to give each other looks of doubt. "Look, I just need you guys to sleep over my house and help me find something! It's something very important and if I don't find it, my mom will kill me!"
"Have you tried cleaning your room?" Stinky asked, remembering how cluttered it was the last time he'd seen it.
"Maybe it's in your closet?" Suggested Sid. "Either way, I still don't see how we would need an entire weekend to help you look for it. Your house maybe bigger than mine, but it's not THAT big."
"It's not in my house!" Harold cried out, tugging on his shirt. "It's at… some other place!"
Stinky sighed and shook his head. "I'd like to help, Harold, but I promised my cousin Squeaky that I'd help her make something for some assigned school project."
"Yeah, and I just don't feel like it would be a good use of my time." Sid agreed, unsympathetically. "Sorry, Harold."
Harold began to panic as he watched his two friends begin to walk towards the school once more. "Wait!" He shouted as he ran after them. "This is really important and I promise to never ask you to help me with something ever again, if you just help me this one time!"
"Well, if it was so important in the first place, why did you lose it?" Sid asked, walking up the stairs and dodging a line of first graders.
"I didn't lose it!" Harold explained, doing his best not to give them the truth. "Someone else did and I just have to find it!"
"Why don't they find it?" Stinky raised an eyebrow as he tried to follow. "Did your mom lose her wedding ring or somethin and doesn't want your dad to find out?"
They all began to walk around the crowd hallway of fellow students, mingling and opening their lockers. Harold gripped his fists so hard that he felt like they might explode, and followed his friends to Sid's locker. "It's not my mom and it's not my dad!" He knew he was going to have to tell them a little bit, or they weren't going to comply, but the issue was, what would he tell them without fully spilling the beans? He watched as Sid opened his locker threw some things inside and then took a few things out. "Its…" He could feel a pool of sweat beginning to drop out from his hat. "It's… someone else's! They left it in some place for me to find it like… like a scavenger hunt! Yeah!" He felt confident with his answer and forced a smile.
"That's so stupid!" Sid laughed before attempting to shut his locker door. He stopped when he noticed it wasn't fully closed, then rammed his shoulder against it until he heard it click. "I mean, who would make a scavenger hunt just for you? And your birthday was a long time ago."
"It does seem like a pretty tall tale…" Stinky mentioned, scratching his head.
"I'm serious!" Harold pleaded, gripping Stinky's shirt and bringing him down to his level. "You guys are supposed to be my best friends! You gotta believe me!"
Stinky pried the boy's strong hands off his shirt, took a step back, and examined his shirt for any damage done. "I can't very well just tell my cousin that I can't help her now, on account a helping you with some wild goose chase!"
Harold's body began to shake with panic once he saw that they weren't buying it. "It's not a wild goose chase! And… and I know kinda where it's hidden, I just need help finding it!"
"Finding what?"
A familiar voice caused the boys to look over and notice Arnold standing there with his usual upbeat smile.
"Harold is trying to get us to waste our WHOLE weekend, looking for some made up THING, that someone who probably doesn't even EXIST, hid from him!" Sid explained with a roll of his eyes. "Please tell him how ridiculous he sounds, Arnold."
Arnold looked between the boys and could see how desperate Harold looked, and how skeptical the other two boys were of the story. "Someone took something of yours and hid it?" He asked calmly.
At first, Harold grew even more annoyed at the thought of another person joining in on this parade but then, a light flickered in his head when he realized who he was dealing with. Arnold always helps people! Why wouldn't he help me too? If he believes me, maybe Sid and Stinky will also! This is great! He thought happily to himself.
"Nah, it wasn't his, he said." Stinky continued to explain. "Someone hid something for him to find so he needs help finding it or his mom is gonna kill him, or something. He's just talking crazy, Arnold."
The hallway began to clear up as students started to make their way to their classes, making Harold a little more nervous on continuing this conversation, especially if he had to explain more about it. "It's not ridiculous and I'm not crazy." He insisted, with a much calmer demeanor than he was previously showing off. "I don't wanna talk about it anymore. I'll explain more about it at lunch, so you better sit with us, Arnold!"
Taken a little aback by how he was just thrown into this mess, Arnold could only agree as he was the one who overheard and butted in to their conversation. "Alright."
"What was that all about?" Helga's voice rang from behind him.
Without turning around to see her, Arnold simply shrugged. "Who knows?" He replied with a long, drawn out sigh. "But whatever it was, I just unwillingly got dragged into it."
"And this is why I tell you to stick your nose out of peoples business, Football head." Helga chuckled and walked in front of him. "But you just had to ask, so now you get to pay the price."
Arnold watched her walk away and smiled. Although people had been telling him for years to keep his curiosity to himself, it was one thing Arnold always had trouble doing, especially if he knew one of his friends could be in trouble. He always believed in lending a hand whenever he could because it was the right thing to do, even if lending this hand pulled him into trouble as well. Silently, he hoped this wasn't going to be the outcome of whatever he was going to learn at lunch.
Mr. Simmons walked into his sixth grade classroom with his usual sunny personality and large smile. "Good morning Class!" He greeted his class, with open arms. "Or shall I say, Happy Monday!" He listened as most of the class groaned with discontent but this did not make his excitement falter at all.
Setting down his bag of supplies for today's lesson plan, the teacher began filing through papers with his fingers until he spotted the very thing he was looking for. "Ah hah!" He announced as he grabbed the small item and grasped it in his palm, hiding it from the rest of his class before turning around. "I can see that many of you must have stayed up too late or maybe haven't had a chance to eat breakfast yet." He explained as he examined their tired faces and sluggish appearances. "But I assure you that today's lesson will wake you right up!"
"I don't suppose you brought everyone a big box of joe...?" Asked Helga, as she supported the right side of her head with her hand and propped up elbow on the desk.
"No, I haven't brought coffee." He smiled down at the girl. "But I'll give you a hint! What do lack of sleep and lack of food have in common?"
"They both lack?" Stinky replied with a questioning look.
"While that may be true, that is not the answer I was looking for…" Mr. Simmons chuckled. "Let me rephrase the question, what do they both have in common in terms of how they make you feel?"
Lila raised her hand and waited politely for her teacher to signal to her. "They both make you feel tired."
"Ding, ding, ding!" Mr. Simmons sang happily. "That is correct! Now, can anyone tell me why?"
Phoebe raised her hand and stood up when called upon. "Without proper nutrition or rest, the body can't produce the necessary amount of energy that it needs throughout the day, thus making our brains feel foggy and our muscles tired."
"Perfect!" Mr. Simmons cheered. "That's exactly correct! Enough sleep and a balanced diet give our bodies the nutrients and time it needs in order to grow, heal, and function at tip top shape! We eat our meals throughout the day, and that food gets converted into energy, which our bodies use to move around and even stay alert. When we sleep, our bodies conserve whatever energy is left while our bodies perform a type of… maintenance, if you will. Major restorative functions in the body like muscle growth, tissue repair, protein synthesis, and growth hormones release happen mostly, or in some cases only, during sleep."
"I guess that makes sense." Rhonda commented as she looked at her nicely filed nails. "They don't call it 'beauty sleep', for no reason."
The teacher gave a nod to the girl's relevant connection. "Science has showed that without eating the right foods, drinking enough water, and getting enough sleep will cause the body to break down and damage itself slowly over time. As Rhonda has pointed out, this can result in once healthy looking hair, nails and skin to become dull and brittle." He then turned from her and motioned to the rest of the class. "A small cut on your hand may not heal as fast and leave a lasting scar, your immune system can become compromised leaving you susceptible to infections or illness…" He then pointed to the top of his head. "Even cognitive functions: the brain's mechanisms involved with thinking, reasoning, learning, and remembering can become damaged as a result of poor eating and sleeping habits."
Slowly, some of the students were beginning to perk up and become interested in this topic, leaving the man feeling grateful and lucky to be in this line of work. If there was one thing that he was most concerned about, it was what the state of the world could become without proper education given to every youth. People learn through trial and error and as he looked back to histories past: the greed, selfishness, hate, ignorance, and arrogance of man, he could only strive to help create a better future for the next generations. The heart that beat within Mr. Simmons yearned to shape and lead the future adults of tomorrow, teaching kindness, acceptance and understanding, helping them to make better choices than their predecessors, thus making the world a better place for everyone.
"A healthy body needs a healthy mind and that cannot happen without taking care of yourself." He explained as he walked over to a set of small plants that had just began to grow and sprout from the soil. "Much like how we discussed last week that flowers need sun, water and soil to grow and without those three things, they will shrivel up and die." He then motioned over for the class to join him, causing a few of them to get out of their seats. "I made sure to water them over the weekend. Come see the progress that your plants have made!"
"Oh wow!" Eugene cheered as he picked up his small seedling. "Look guys! Its growing!"
Mr. Simmons smiled as he silently humored the comparative idea of his lessons to the children, to that of the seed within their pots of dirt, slowly taking root and growing into something that could be beautiful one day.
"Hey, yeah!" Harold said as he grabbed his own plant. "That's pretty cool!"
After allowing a few moments for each student to take a look at the life they had helped bloom into this world, he ushered them back to their seats and stood at the front of the class once more.
"Now, although plants and animals are very different, they both need nutrients, water and a form of energy in order to live. Plants rely on the energy from sunlight to produce the nutrients they need, just as we eat nutrient rich foods to produce our own energy." He then revealed the object that he had hidden within his grasp and held it out for the students to see. "I'm sure you all know what this id…"
"It's a battery." Nadine called out preemptively. "But Mr. Simmons, what does that have to do with plants or food?"
"That's a wonderful question, Nadine!" He stated before turning back to his bag and pulling out enough for each student. "This is another form of energy! Batteries are devices that store chemical energy and makes it available in an electrical form." He explained as he handed them out. "We all use electricity today, and most of the time we rely on it without even thinking. From heating up our meals in a microwave, to turning on a light to see, watching television or even listening to music from your stereo!"
"It's pretty nifty to think that electricity can be stored in such a tiny object." Stinky mentioned as he turned the small cylindrical object over in his fingers.
"What you have in your hands is an C Battery but there are many different types and sizes. Some super small that power your wrist watch, and some large enough to power cars and even house generators!" Mr. Simmons then pulled out a few different common varieties and placed them on his desk. "Of course, I don't have any of the large ones to show you today but feel free to go home and ask your parents and I'm sure they'd be happy to show you!"
He gave the students some time to look over their specimen and talk amongst themselves before going from behind his desk, pulling out the rest of the equipment needed for their intended project and placing them neatly on top of his table: Aluminum foil, electrical tape, and small flashlight bulbs.
"Please pair yourselves into groups of four while I prepare and divide up the materials needed for each group to conduct their electrifying experiments!" Mr. Simmons announced to the class gleefully, before chuckling at his own pun and getting straight to work.
The classroom became loud with friends beckoning to each other and desks being rearranged to fit the new groups. Some of them highly anticipating the project, while others fooled around or managed to entertain themselves in other ways. The end result was as followed:
Group 1: Lila, Eugene, Brainy and Sheena.
Group 2: Curly, Harold, Stinky and Sid.
Group 3: Iggy, Rhonda, Lorenzo, and Nadine.
Group 4: Phoebe, Arnold, Helga, and Gerald.
It only took about 10 short minutes for Mr. Simmons to finish his preparations and hand each bag out to the groups. "I'm excited to see what some of you might take from this educational experience!" He walked to the chalk board and began to list the instructions in order. "Maybe this will inspire someone to become and engineer! Whether it be making technological advancements for future generations or inventing a new type rocket ship to take us to another galaxy, I'm sure whatever each of you may take from this assignment will be very special!"
Harold looked up at the clock and groaned. "The only thing I want to make is time to move faster…"
"I gotta admit…" Sid said as he picked up the package of materials and battery. "This is pretty cool."
"Give me that!" Shouted Curly as he swiped the items out of Sid's hand unexpectedly.
"Hey!" Sid protested. "What the heck, man?!"
Curly ignored him and began to take everything out of the bag methodically. "I wonder if I could use something like this to make a bomb…"
Stinky looked cautiously between the eccentric boy and Mr. Simmons, who seemed to be drawing a diagram on the board. "I don't think that's the type of advancement Mr. Simmons was hoping for, Curly."
"Who cares?" Harold whined as he grabbed the battery back. "Let's just hurry up and get this over with." He frowned and looked down at his stomach that was gurgling in frustration. "The sooner we do this, the sooner we can get to lunch."
"I don't know what you think you're gonna tell us at lunch that's gonna change our minds, Harold." Sid declared as he leaned back in his seat and balanced on the back legs. "It's obvious that you're just making up this story to help us find something YOU lost! Give it up!"
"I'm not making it up!" Harold growled angrily. "Now stop saying that or I'll pound you!"
"Yeah, Harold doesn't want to be hungry AND mad!" Curly joked before poking Harold's bulging stomach with the eraser end of his pencil. "Though, I think you've stored plenty of energy to get you through decades, let alone lunch time." He cackled.
Harold quickly turned and shoved Curly hard enough to make him stumble out of his chair, causing a loud screech from the chair and a gasp from those who witnessed it. Mr. Simmons turned around to see the commotion and was alarmed to find the boy on the floor.
"What happened?! Are you okay?" He asked Curly, rushing forward to help.
Placing a hand up towards the incoming teacher to halt him, Curly got back up to his feet and brushed himself off. He glared over at Harold, who seemed to ignore him, then turned back to the concerned adult. "I simply dropped my pencil and fell over while trying to reach it, is all." He lied with an odd levelheadedness about him. "I'm fine. Not a scratch on me."
"Well… if you're sure…" Mr. Simmons spoke nervously, casually looking over his student. "Just try to be more careful next time…"
Curly watched Mr. Simmons go back to his task at drawing the visual guide to their project, before sitting back down and making himself comfortable, causing the other 3 boys to look at him in confusion.
"Why didn't you rat me out?" Harold asked in bewilderment.
"Yeah…" Added Sid. "You could have easily gotten him sent to Principal Wartz office."
Curly cracked his knuckles before calmly folding his hands together on the table. "I'm interested in this story you're talking about." He explained, looking at each of them through his thick framed glasses. "Now speak up… it's not polite to keep an honest man waiting."
Letting out another groan of frustration, Harold let his body slide down the chair a little and sighed. Something that could have been simple and easy was now becoming complicated.
"Alright class!" Mr. Simmons called out to his students. "I have written everything up on the board to help step you through this process, along with picture examples. Please let me know if you have any questions!" He then looked up at the clock. "You have about thirty minutes to set up and complete your very own working circuit!"
"Actually, I have a question." Gerald called from his group, standing up. He held out his battery and pointed to each end. "Why does one side always have a plus and one side have a minus?"
"Nice catch, Gerald!" The teacher sang happily. "There is actually a very good reason as to why!" He then turned to his board and pointed to the picture example of the battery that was connected to the foil and bulb. "When you connect the battery to the wires and the bulb, chemical reactions start to happen. One of the reactions generates positive ions and electrons at the negative electrode where the positive ions flow into the electrolyte." He explained while drawing lines to indicate the flow. "While the electrons flow around the outside circuit to the positive electrode, making the bulb light up on the way! There's also a separate chemical reaction happening at the positive electrode, where incoming electrons recombine with ions taken out of the electrolyte, so completing the circuit! This is why when you're putting multiple batteries inside of an appliance, it matters which way the batteries are faced so that the flow can remain uninterrupted!"
Gerald stood there for a moment and blinked, trying to comprehend everything he had just heard before simply agreeing and sitting back down. He looked at his party members in confusion. "Did that man speak English? Because I have no idea what he just said."
"That makes two of us, Geraldo." Helga replied as she took the aluminum foil and rolled it into something that might resemble a wire.
"To put it simply, a conductive material…" Phoebe spoke as she grabbed the finished wire and held it up, "In our case aluminum foil, has to touch the negative end of the battery and the light bulb in order to begin the chemical reaction, however only using one side is not enough..." She then grabbed the rolled up foil that Helga had just finished and placed each at both ends of the battery. "We need to do the same on the positive end as well, since both negative and positive sides complement each other by giving what the other is lacking, in order for the chemical reaction to happen within the battery, giving us an electrical current that can flow from both sides to the light bulb. That energy then powers the bulb to light up."
Placing his hand on his forehead, Gerald silently gave up. "Yeah… sure. Makes sense."
"It's sort of like how Mr. Simmons compared us needing food and sleep in order to survive." Arnold chimed in, hoping to make things a little clearer. "If we only have food but no sleep, our bodies will never have time to rest and eventually burn all of our resources in order to keep our brain functioning until there is nothing left. If we have sleep but no food, our bodies will never be able to replenish the necessary nutrients that keep us functioning, resulting in our muscles and organs not working." He ripped off two pieces of electrical tape and handed it to Phoebe, giving her the go ahead to fully attach everything together. "However, if we have both, we'll live just fine!"
Helga let out a loud snort. "Yeah, we'll be just fine until we grow older and older and all those things shut down by themselves, doi!"
"Even batteries eventually run out of life, Helga." Arnold replied as he took the working circuit from Phoebe and handed it to her. "Just like it uses up everything it has to keep it going, so do we." He finished with a smile, watching her look down at the lit bulb.
"That's pretty deep, man." Gerald said as he placed his hand on his heart, feeling a little moved by the speech.
Phoebe smiled and nodded at Arnold, quietly approving of his decision to take something grim and make it hopeful.
Suddenly, everyone was interrupted by the small sound of glass breaking towards the corner of the room, causing them all to look over to see what had happened.
"Um… Mr. Simmons…" Eugene frowned as he shamefully held up his broken light bulb. "Do you have another bulb we can use? I sort of… dropped this one."
Mr. Simmons shook his head and let out a light sigh before going back to his bag and pulling out another bulb. "Don't worry, Eugene. What kind of teacher would I be if I didn't bring extra's in case an accident happened?"
"And an accident is always bound to happen, with Eugene around." Mentioned Rhonda, causing most of the class to laugh, and Eugene to blush with embarrassment before sitting back down.
Not wanting to let the disrespectful comment to go without positive reaction, Mr. Simmons handed the clumsy boy his light bulb and turned to address the rest of the class. "Accidents are a part of life, Rhonda. They teach us to be careful and to learn what went wrong so you can try and correct yourself in the future. No one is flawless and sometimes, having these flaws can make you special as well, after all, a flawless world would be colorless and boring!"
The trendsetter rolled her eyes and went back to tapping her groups project together. "Whatever."
Mr. Simmons disregarded her remark and looked up at the clock. "Time is closing in for you all to finish up! Make sure to tape everything nice and tight, that way your bulb can shine as bright as it can!"
Today's the day… Thought Mrs. Pataki as she looked over at the clock on her motel night stand, making her pulse beat rapidly throughout the entirety of her thin frame. What she had to do was so simple, yet her nerves were making it out to be incredibly difficult.
The day Bob Pataki had come home after speaking with Nick Vermicelli, had been a rough one. He barely spoke a word to her the rest of that night and just continued to keep his eyes glued to either the television, or his cell phone. Whenever Miriam would ask him something, he would grunt in response or become annoyed with how she wouldn't just leave him alone. Everyone needed their time and space, and after a while, she let it go. He never did tell her where he had gone, who he was expecting a call from or what his plans where, exactly, but she knew he would come around when he was comfortable.
Now was her time, though. Her interview for the tax preparation store had gone very well and they had decided that they would hire her on the spot… even if it wasn't for the position she had applied for.
"Unfortunately, Mrs. Pataki, as much as we would love to hire you as one of our team's advisors… you need to have up to date knowledge on everything tax related and your qualifications are a little back dated… However, we are needing a new secretary and with your past knowledge, I feel you could quickly point a customer to an advisor that would best fit them! What do you say?"
Miriam knew a job was a job and any sort of steady income was welcome, even if it was lower than what she was hoping. Without hesitation, she accepted their offer and as the sun hit her on the way out of the store, she could feel her heart lighten and a small burden lifted off her shoulders. This was something she had decided to do for herself and she had succeeded without needing anyone's help. It was a small reminder that she was a capable human being, despite her short comings.
A few days had passed since her good news, then a week, and now today she would start her new job with her husband none the wiser. At first, she told herself that she would just wait until he was in a better mood, then after time continued to pass and his mood hadn't changed very much, she told herself that she would just wait for a perfect opportunity to bring it up… but that time never came, and now she was fidgeting nervously with her hands, while Bob lay there next to her watching some sort of reality show about teens.
What should she say? How should she say it? Should she just come straight out and tell him everything suddenly, or should she ease into it? These questions had picked at her brain since she had been officially hired and she wasn't any closer to answering them.
How would he react? Would he be angry with her deciding this on her own? Would he be happy for her? Would he… even care? These were the questions that caused her blood pressure to raise to the point of her body wanting to tremble under the amount of pressure.
Miriam got up and walked into the bathroom. She showered and groomed herself silently, taking care make herself as neat as possible. The night before, she had made sure to wash all of their clothes at one of the 24 hour laundry mats nearby, so that way she would be ready for today. She had even snuck a few of the things she had bought for herself within the clean clothes, that way Bob wouldn't notice the sudden wardrobe addition.
The clean clothes felt nice on her clean skin, and her fresh appearance even made her smile at the reflection in the mirror. With or without Bobs support, she would be going today and there was nothing he could really do about it, besides pitch a fit.
"B…?" She spoke confidently to him from the bathroom. Some sort of noise from him was all she got in response, and she took it. "I'll be gone for a while today..." No indication had been made that he had heard her, so Miriam stepped out of the bathroom in her typical clothes but with a few accessories included to make her feel a little more presentable. "Did you hear me?"
"Huh?" He asked as he scratched his leg, not taking his eyes off the hypnotic screen in front of him.
The lack of interest on his part was beginning to make her feel a little bit more confident in her decisions. "I said, I'll be out for a while today." She reiterated, louder than before. "I'll be back around 4pm."
The words he heard her speak didn't quite reach comprehendible until she spoke the time, to which he looked at his watch and then finally, up at her. He noticed her washed appearance and furrowed his brow. "Is there some sort of meeting I forgot about that I should be going to?" He asked in his gruff voice.
The question seemed pretty silly to her, so Miriam gave him a small smile. "Of course not, B. If there was, I would have told you." She explained as she walked towards the door, quickly picking up her new purse that he had failed to even notice was sitting on a chair.
"Then… where are you going?" Bob asked, becoming more alert and sitting straight up.
Her smile turning smug, Miriam placed her hands on her hips and peered at him from across the room. "I… have a job."
"Excuse me?" He asked, raising his eye brow, and wondering if he was actually hearing her correctly.
"You heard me." She stated. "I decided a while ago that I wanted to get a job, so I applied to one and got accepted."
Bob Pataki kicked off the bed sheets and planted his feet on the floor. "Hey, Hey, Hey!" He shouted in frustration. "Don't you think this is something you should have told me sooner?"
Miriam felt something spark inside of her, as she watched her husband move to his feet in surprise. It was a mix of self-pride with a hint of retribution, as he hadn't told her anything about his plans all week, regardless of how many times she asked him. He hadn't explained his sour mood, nor his obsession with staring at his phone, so why should she be expected to announce her decisions or actions? "Well… it seemed like you've had a lot on your mind lately and I didn't want to bother you about it." She spoke calmly, yet firmly. "And besides, I am a grown woman. I can get a job if I want to."
She watched as his eyes turned wide at her statement, so before he could say anything else, she opened up the door and brought herself half way out. "I'll be home around 4!" She declared again before shutting it, leaving the man inside bewildered.
This had been the first time since she took over for him temporarily at the beeper emporium, that she had done anything head strong like this, and it felt good. As Miriam got into the car and adjusted the mirrors to suit her needs, she could feel her husband's eyes on her through the window but didn't bother to acknowledge him until she pulled out; smiling and waving as she drove off, leaving him there to wonder what had just happened.
The bell for lunch rang loudly for all the students at P.S 118, and it only took a matter of seconds for the classroom doors to fly open, causing eager bodies to clutter the hallways as they heading towards the cafeteria. Arguably though, no student's urgency could be compared to that of Harold's.
He pushed and shoved anyone and everyone he could as he made his way to the lunch line. He made sure to get all of his favorite items first, before grabbing anything else and finding a good table to sit at. There, he would patiently wait for his friends to join him so he could finally explain his situation and hopefully get some of them to play along.
If I don't tell them the truth… they probably won't help me and I can't do this by myself! If I do tell them the truth, then they're probably gonna bug me about it! The boy thought as he stirred his mac n cheese. He could feel his brain begin to itch as the dilemma weight back and forth. Ugh! What do I do?!
Sounds of lunch trays hitting his table caused the frustrated boy to look up and see Sid and Stinky pulling up the chairs next to him.
Maybe if I just tell them the truth, it won't be so bad? They may even understand and think it's pretty cool that me and those guys hung out… The thought was compelling as it might make him seem more intimidating to know that he was casually hanging out with Wolfgang and Ludwig's crew. But if I tell them what they'll do to me if I DON'T do this… then they'll laugh at me and call me names!
It wasn't long before he saw Arnold come walking towards him with Gerald at his side.
"Maybe we should push two tables together…" Arnold mentioned as he thought out loud, seeing the lack of space.
It took Harold a moment to realize that Gerald was also joining them, and his mental debate grinded to a halt. "Hey!" He shouted as he watched the two friends begin to bring over a nearby table to join them. "Why is he here too?!"
Gerald gave Harold an odd look. "I didn't know helping you find something had to be a secret."
"I told him I was gonna be sitting with you guys today and Gerald asked if he could come along." Arnold collected the two chairs that had accompanied the table and set them down carefully. He could see that Harold was alarmed, and began to feel a little bad. "I thought maybe he could help too."
A loud screeching sound turned everyone's attention towards Curly, who had also brought his own chair over to their tables, but not as graciously. His head turned back and forth as he noticed everyone's attention was on him, but only sat down.
"And it seems like you also brought along someone else." Gerald's eyes lit up in amusement as he saw the bluster in Harold's face at his remark. "But hey, I can leave if you want. I don't need to lend a hand, you know?"
"FINE!" Harold shouted as he let his fits collide with the top of the old table, causing all of their trays to rattle. "Whatever, it doesn't matter anyway. Everyone just sit down and shut up and I'll explain everything."
"You mean, lie again." Sid corrected, continuing his skeptical outlook.
"Sid…" Arnold's calm voice came through, "How about we just hear what he has to say first, okay?"
"We already did this morning so I don't know what else he has to say but…" Sid looked over at Harold who was still giving him a threatening look. "Sure, whatever." He leaned forward and propped his elbows on the table, before folding his arms nicely on top of each other. "Go ahead, Harold."
"Okay… here it goes…" With a heavy sigh, Harold knew he had no choice but to tell them the truth about the dare and how it had happened in the first place. That was the most important thing, if he was going to get them to help. The problem was, hiding the prize at the end of the hunt and the intention behind it. "I was leaving Mr. Greens shop the other day and was on my way home when I saw Wolfgang, Ludwig and all their friends huddled together and being weird so I went to see what they were doing. And…" His voice trailed off as he considered his next words carefully, as to not draw anymore unwanted ears his way. He leaned in closer and motioned for them all to do the same and waited until they did. "They had this box full of magazines of mostly naked ladies!" He whispered with surprise.
The topic suddenly grabbed the attention of Curly, who's eyes shot open wide. "Woah! Really?" He asked, now fully engaged in this conversation. "Like how many?"
"A lot." Harold clarified.
"And were they hot?!" pushed Sid, loudly. "Did they give them to you?!"
"Settle down, Sid!" Gerald scolded the overly enthusiastic boy. "Can't you see that this is a delicate topic that Harold isn't trying to announce to the whole school? No one needs you getting overly excited..." He waited until his friend took the hint and sat down quietly. "Good…" He said before shaking his head in disappointment, then turning back to the story teller. "Harold, please continue."
"Okay…" Harold focused on recalling all of the events and then continued. "At first, they handed me some and totally didn't mind just hanging out with me."
"That seems really suspicious…" Stinky noted.
"I know! It was really weird but they said it was cool because I'm older than you guys' n stuff!" He boasted, feeling a little proud in his moment of seniority amongst his friends.
"But…" Arnold coaxed, knowing full well that they wouldn't all be sitting there if there wasn't a downside to this story.
Harold's pride subsided as he remembered the events that followed. He still hadn't thought of a good enough lie to cover what really happened, so he knew he had to make something up and fast. "Well… Ludwig said that his dad hid a bunch more… but he couldn't get them because…" The wheels in Harold's brain continued to turn until something clicked. "Because he's too scared!"
"Scared?" Sid asked, unsure of what to make of this.
"Ludwig?" Gerald arched his eyebrow.
"Yeah!" insisted Harold, now very confident in his story. "He said that his dad went to jail and that he hid a bunch of them in the abandon pet food factory, cuz his family used to own it, so that way his mom couldn't throw them out or something!" He had twisted and molded the truths of the story to fit his needs.
Arnold frowned. "I don't see what any of this has to do with you, though…"
"I'm getting to that!" Harold whined, not wanting to be rushed with his masterpiece of an excuse. The table was quiet again as they all awaited his continuation, but it was then that Harold had realized that no matter how he twisted the truth to make him seem kind of cool, he had already admitted to some of them that if he didn't find something, that his mom would kill him. Harold bit his lip. "He said that since I was older, I had to be braver so he told me that I had to go and find them… or he would show my mom the stuff he already had and say they were mine…" The moment he let his folly be heard to the rest of the table, Harold let his head fall into the palms of his large hands and wailed in desperation.
The table of boys looked at one another, unsure of what to say.
"That's… what we need to help you find?" Arnold broke the silence. He was a little shocked at the whole story, and even wished now that he hadn't gotten involved, but he also knew that the group of bully's probably had every intention of sticking to their threat and knew that Harold needed their help.
"You gotta be kidding me…" Gerald moaned in disbelief, before becoming annoyed. "Why did you have to get involved with what they were doing? I hope you realize you brought this upon yourself!"
"I know, I know, okay?!" Harold shouted in dismay. He could see all the disapproving faces of his friends but knew that he still needed their help. "If I could go back and change it, I would! But if they show my mom all that stuff and, and say it's mine… She'll die of a heart attack or something and then my dad will ground me until I'm 47! You guys gotta help me!"
"Putting that oddly specific example aside, how do you seriously expect us to go instead that creepy and haunted factory?!" Sid asked, his voice ending in a shrill. "We're all gonna die if we go in there!"
Curly let out a small giggle. "I heard that every kid that's ever gone in after… you know, the incident, has never been seen again…"
"Oh… they've been seen…" Gerald corrected with a grim look on his face. "They've just didn't come out looking the same way they did when they went in…"
Stinky frowned. "Hey guys… I like gripping mysteries just as much as the next fella but… you aren't all planning on actually jaunting through that place… are you?"
"It'll be easy if we all find it together!" Harold pointed out, hoping it would help some of his friends reconsider their doubts. "We just need… a bunch of flashlights! If we all stick together, we'll be fine!"
"Oh yes… we'll be fine!" Curly let out a maniacal cackle. "Finely minced!"
Everyone began to argue and comment, leaving Arnold to sit there and process everything. Sure, he had heard the rumors about the abandoned factory but he also knew that most of the time, stories like this were created by parents to deter their children from going into uncertain and dangerous places.
"Look…" Arnold suddenly said, causing the chatter to stop. "There is safety in numbers and so long as we're careful and watch out for each other, I'm sure everything will be okay. After all, we all explored the cave on Elk Island and made it out alive, right?" He asked them all, hoping for some support but only got blank stares back. "We also made it through the park at night when you all thought the headless cabby was after us, and made it out of the cemetery alive when everyone thought the ghost bride was coming to chop us into pieces." He could see everyone was beginning to make the connection. "If we can overcome all of that, then there is no reason that we can't get through this old pet food factory, right?"
"Arnold…" Gerald placed his hand on his friend's shoulder. "You aren't seriously suggesting we do this, are you? I mean, I know we're all guys and everything but… this is all a little extreme for just some dirty pictures."
"It's not about the pictures, Gerald." Arnold explained, still wishing that what they were planning on finding was actually a little more important. "If you were stuck in a situation like this, you'd want your friends to help out, right?"
"First of all, I have way more common sense then to get stuck in a situation like this." Gerald noted as he made sure to make eye contact with Harold, to show him yet another disapproving look. "And second of all, the only reason I'm agreeing to help is because I like to brush up on my urban legends and the best way to do that, is to take them on head first."
Arnold smiled and then turned to the rest of them. "Stinky, Sid… Harold has always helped you guys out, right?"
The two boys gave each other awkward glances that oozed an uncomfortable uncertainty.
"Sid, how many times has Harold help sneak you into rides at Dino land that you were too short for?" Arnold asked the stringy haired kid, causing him to scratch his arm and look away. He then turned to the taller of the two. "And Stinky, remember all those times Harold got you something from the Jolly Olly man since you were short on change?" He continued, making the southern boy feel guilty. "I'm not… thrilled to go on this adventure either, but I'm sure we all can agree that the punishment Harold will receive if he doesn't get this task done… is pretty severe." He focused his attentions to every single person of the group and frowned. "As his friends, we gotta help him… or what kind of friends would we be?"
"I reckon you got a point there, Arnold…" Stinky hung his head and sighed.
"Yeah…" Sid agreed, still feeling too awkward to really make eye contact with Arnold or Harold at this point. "I guess… I've been sorta hard on the guy today. He has done a lot for us, over time…"
Hearing their change of hearts caused Arnold to smile warmly at the bunch.
"Hold it!" Curly announced with authority, causing the attention to shift to him. "Harold hasn't done anything for me, so why should I help him?" He crossed his arms and looked as though he was purposely left out of something.
"But Curly…" Sid blinked and looked at the youth with confusion. "You invited yourself to this. No one asked you to come along…"
"That maybe so, however with my help, we could probably find the stash 10 times as fast!" He protested arrogantly. "I have a knack for finding things in dark places." Curly winked at the party, causing them only to feel more uncertain than ever.
"I don't know what that means, and honestly, I don't want to know." Gerald stated, feeling a disgusting taste in his mouth. "But its up to you if you want to come. No one is forcing you."
The table agreed, causing Curly to twist his mouth with discomfort. "That's right, no one is forcing me! I'll help out of my own free will!" He then stood up with his mostly empty lunch tray, carrying an air of importance that only he could feel. "Just know that when your good friend Curly comes a knocking for a favor, you'll owe him one!"
Everyone watched him walk off, then looked back at each other with mixed emotions.
"I'm really glad you guys have my back…" Harold said with a genuine smile of appreciation towards his friends. "It really means a lot…"
Sid placed his small hand on top of Harold's shoulder and smiled back. "No problem, buddy!"
"What do you think those morons are talking about over there?" Helga questioned Phoebe as she peered across the lunch room with interest, twirling and empty fruit cup with her index finger.
Phoebe looked over at the group of their male classmates, all seemingly in a heated discussion. "I have to agree, it is rather odd that they would all eat together… and in such a large group, so suddenly." She watched as Harold's face became red with anger, and frowned. "Whatever they're discussing, it doesn't seem very pleasant." Phoebe let her observation hang in the air for a while until shifting her focus to her preoccupied friend who was still playing with her plastic cup. "Speaking of oddities…" She started with a smile, remembering fondly of how Helga had stood up to her fears the night of Arnold's party, as well as failing to call her after their educational trip to the gardens. "I was rather surprised to not hear from you yesterday…" She waited another minute to see if Helga would catch on, but when it was obvious that her attention was still on the boy of her affections, Phoebe continued on. "I figured you would be jumping to tell me the details concerning the out come of your birthday present to Arnold."
Helga jumped at the mention of his name, and turned to pay attention. "Huh?"
Adjusting her glasses, Phoebe gave her friend a look of unease. "You… did give him the tickets, didn't you?"
"Oh!" Helga snapped her fingers when she finally caught on to the topic. Memories then flooded back to that moment and she felt herself becoming oddly shy at the thought of mentioning the details to Phoebe, feeling her face turn red. "Y-yes! I… I did!" Helga let out a nervous laugh and went back to looking at the group of boys. She had always told her best friend everything, however the thought of mentioning how she teased and toyed with Arnold, in such a daring way, seemed like something maybe she should maybe keep to herself.
Phoebe watched Helga's odd body language, causing her to become even more curious. Had their trip to the gardens become even more eventful than she could have imagined? The likelihood of anything serious happening between them in such a public area, seemed rather low, however she also knew that Helga would take the initiative if pushed far enough and wondered if maybe that had been the case. "What did you think of the main attraction?" Phoebe asked, hoping maybe she could uncover even more without directly asking. "I'm sure the scenery was able to set quite the mood."
"What do you mean?" Helga asked innocently, watching as her beloved seemed to be doing one of his typical speeches about peace and happiness.
Not only was it odd for Helga not to divulge the results of her obvious success, it was even weirder that she was acting so nonchalant about it and this caused Phoebe to question everything even further. "The botanical gardens, Helga." She answered bluntly, hoping to keep her irritation at bay. "We went through the trouble of searching for the tickets so you could take him out on his birthday. You were so excited to give them to him and, I hate to say this, but you seem utterly unaffected by the date!" She waited for Helga to take her concerns seriously, and when she finally turned back around, she could see her expression was suspicious. "Was there really nothing of noteworthy?" Phoebe asked, shocked at the outcome.
Hesitating, Helga repositioned some of the trash on her lunch tray. "I… guess you could say that?" She replied, unsure of her own answer. Helga glanced up at her friend and could clearly see that she wasn't going to get away with leaving things unsaid. "Actually, Phoebe…" She let out a sigh and straightened her posture. "We didn't go to the gardens."
"What?!" Phoebe was now fully alarmed, but lowered her voice the moment she realized how her sudden loud outburst startled some students over at the next table. She could see that Helga looked regretful, but considering how she wasn't in absolute agony over such a missed opportunity, Phoebe could only come to the conclusion that this decision was mutually beneficial somehow. "Helga, please explain!" She whispered demandingly. "Was the exhibit closed for some reason? Did you two end up going someplace else?"
"Well…" Helga thought back to the moment she had offered Arnold the tickets and how happy he had been to receive them. To see him react in such away, caused her heart to melt, especially knowing that it had been from her efforts. "After I stormed into the boarding house, intending to crash that party, I realized that you were right and I had misunderstood his family's intentions." Helga admitted, looking a little embarrassed. "And after I had realized that…" Her voice trailed off as she thought of how she felt in that moment. "I felt… bad."
"Helga…" Phoebe frowned as she looked upon the melancholic face of her best friend. It was unlike Helga to show such a weakness, especially at school, and this only led her to worry even more about what she could possibly say next.
"It was stupid of me to assume that they didn't want me there." Helga continued, forcing a little laugh in spite of herself. "But, I mean, it also seemed stupid of me to think of the possibility that they DID want me there!" She watched as Phoebe continued to frown, and knew she had to just get on with the explanation instead of focusing on her own self-loathing. "Anyway… As I sat there and watched him open up all of his presents, his family at his side, all of their smiling faces… it made me realize how happy he really was." Helga's face lit up into a small, genuine smile. "It's no secret that I can't stand Bob and Miriam, but it also made me really happy to see him having such a good time with his parents. He deserves to be happy with them, now that he finally has them! You know, Phoebe?" Helga watched her friend nod in agreement, but remained silent. Content with letting some of her feelings out, Helga leaned her back against her seat and slouched a little, placing her hands on her lap. "When it came time for me to finally give him his gift, I noticed that we actually had three tickets instead of only two, and took it as a sign. As much as I'd love to enjoy a romantic date with him, holding hands amongst the tropical flowers and letting the atmosphere take us away… I know he hasn't spent a whole lot of time with them since school started and they know way more about all that stuff…" Helga let out a small chuckle, even though her heart still wondered what could have been if they had gone together. "So, I told him to go with them to make up for some more lost time."
"That's… incredibly selfless of you, Helga." Phoebe replied, both touched at her generosity and sympathetic to her struggle. It was obvious that making such a decision couldn't have been easy, even with positive intentions, however to think of Helga giving up such a rare occasion to spend a day with the boy she loved, in a secluded place, where she wouldn't have to worry about classmates seeing them, made the gesture even more meaningful yet sad.
Feeling the sympathy ooze out of Phoebe made Helga's skin crawl, so she bounced right back up and knew it was time she to change the subject. She picked up a french fry and pointed it at her friend's face. "That's right, it was." She stated before taking a bite out of it. "They went yesterday and had a grand ol' time, while I was forced to do whatever the crazy old grandma wanted me to. That's the reward I got." She sneered at the thought before eating the remainder of the fry. "Yay for me."
Phoebe let out a giggle. "It couldn't have been that bad, could it?"
"Are you kidding me? The woman drove me nuts!" Helga spat out angrily, though secretly feeling a lot more comfortable now that the vulnerability had passed into something a lot more manageable. "She made me polish silverware with the guise of teaching me, had me help clean out some of the closets and then finished off the day by forcing me to bake cookies with her!"
Noticing that most of the students were now emptying their lunch trays and getting ready to go back to class, Phoebe followed suit by getting up and giving Helga the notion to do the same. "Despite not enjoying your time, I must comment that spending quality time with his family might actually be in your favor." The two girls threw away their trash and headed towards the mass of egressing students. "The fastest way to winning someone over, is by winning over the people that person cares about most." She looked up at Helga once she could feel the frustrating stare that her friend was emanating. "If you want to become closer with him, getting to know his family and bonding with them could actually help you in reaching your ultimate goal… even if you don't enjoy it very much."
Helga groaned with the anticipation of having to endure more torture in the future, but perked up the moment she noticed Arnold passing by with Gerald, deep in some conversation. She remembered how he felt about her in that apron, and swooned at the thought of their possible future together, married and feeding him her culinary masterpieces. If having to deal with Arnold's lunatic grandma meant a future like this, there was no way she would resist.