"Hey Arnold." Wanda said nonchalantly to a shocked Arnold. Ralphie and Tim simply waved.
Arnold was too shocked to say anything at first. However, his mind was racing with so many questions. "What are they doing here?! Why are they so far from Walkerville?! What do they want with me?!" He decided it was best to get his answers now, so he quickly got over his shock and spoke. "What are you guys doing here so far from Walkerville?"
"We need to talk, Arnold?"
"So you came all the way to California to do it?"
"You hung up on me yesterday, remember?"
Arnold thought back to yesterday when he had angrily hung up on Wanda after he accused her of wasting his time with fake news. "You mean when you called to tell me about 'demons' and Ms. Frizzle and all that?"
"Daddy, what are you taking about?" Arnold looked over at Ben, who was now coming down the stairs as he watched the conversation with curiosity. Arnold didn't feel like Ben should be around for the conversation.
"Don't worry about it, Benny. Why don't you go with Mom to the kitchen while she makes dinner?"
"I think we should." Jyoti responded as she got up. "Come on, Ben." Jyoti took Ben into the kitchen while he protested a little that he wanted to see what was going on. Once they were gone, Arnold turned back to his friends.
"So, you called me to tell me about 'demons' and 'Ms. Frizzle' and everything. I hung up because I didn't want my time wasted with fake news."
"That wasn't fake news, Arnold. What I said really happened."
Arnold thought back to the morning when he had seen the news about Walkerville. The story did seem to match what Wanda told him, but he still didn't want to think that it actually happened, especially if it could potentially get Ms. Frizzle involved in his life again, if she was somehow involved with the whole thing as Wanda said. "Yeah, and how am I supposed to believe that?"
Wanda struggled with the question for a minute. "Well... I don't know how to show you right now, but it did happen."
"If you can't show me, then I won't believe it."
"Come on, Arn! Do you really expect me to lie to you?"
"Well, you would if you and everyone else wanted to get back at me for not liking Ms. Frizzle."
"What do you mean?"
"You could be trying to trick me by making this whole thing up to scare me into thinking that Ms. Frizzle or something is out to get me, but it won't work."
"Seriously, Arn?" Ralphie questioned. "Why would we want to do that?"
"Yeah. You know we don't want anything to do with you. Why would we bother pulling off a prank like that?" Tim interjected.
"Like I said, you wanted to get back at me for my feelings toward Ms. Frizzle. I mean, I skipped her funeral and said all those things about her before we left high school." He turned to Wanda. "I rudely rejected your proposal to attend the funeral and hung up pretty quickly on you, so you would have good reason to trick me. And I tried to get Mikey to stay here instead of going to her funeral, so Carlos would also have good reason."
"You're right." Wanda said "We are upset about the way you've acted towards Ms. Frizzle, but that doesn't mean we would take time out of our busy days to try to trick you. Don't you think we have better things to do? Besides, I'm trying to repair my friendship with you. Why would I risk that?"
"Besides, since we don't want anything to do with you, we wouldn't be here talking to you right now if it wasn't really important." Ralphie cut in.
"Still, how am I supposed to know that you're telling the truth?" Arnold asked.
"Well, how about the fact that we are here right now?" Wanda pointed out. "We came all the way here to talk to you. Doesn't that tell you something?"
Arnold thought about it for a minute. "You know what? It does. It tells me that you're all crazy, just like she was!"
Wanda, Ralphie, and Tim all looked at each other. They didn't expect Arnold to start insulting them like that, but then again, maybe they should have. This conversation was going as expected, with Arnold not wanting to listen to them about Ms. Frizzle. They just hoped that they could find a way to get him to believe eventually.
Back in Walkerville, DA, Carlos, and Keesha were back at Phoebe's old house and trying to think of where else she could be. They would've gone out to search for her some more, but it was already dark outside, and it started to rain. There was no way they could easily find Phoebe with those conditions.
"Poor Phoebe. She's probably feeling all cold, wet, and miserable now." Keesha said.
"Don't worry. I'm sure she's fine." DA said. "She probably found some shelter, and then we'll keep looking tomorrow."
"Yeah, you're probably right. I just hope she's okay out there."
"Don't worry. She may look small and meek, but she's really tough once you know her."
"Yeah. I bet she would stop running and confront one of those demons if it came to that." Carlos added.
"You know what? You guys are right. She's probably fine."
Keesha looked out to window to see that it was pouring rain out there. She walked to the window and sighed. "I just wish that it was better out there so we could-" Keesha stopped talking once she noticed something, or rather, someone standing outside.
Carlos and DA hurried over to the window and also froze at what they saw. Standing a few feet from the door was Phoebe, who looked delirious and miserable. The trio wasted no time in running towards the door and bringing her inside. Once she was inside, Keesha ran to the bathroom and brought a towel to put on the chair so Phoebe could sit.
"Phoebe?! What happened? Where were you?" Phoebe didn't answer. She was too tired, delirious, and miserable to answer.
"Maybe we should let her recover first." DA suggested.
Keesha and Carlos agreed that they should. Keesha went to get another towel so she could dry Phoebe while Carlos and DA began trying to comfort Phoebe to get her to calm down. After some time, Phoebe was able to form words again and began trying her best to explain what happened.
"That thing... kept chasing... I ran... for a long... that thing left when... lights from-"
"Okay, I don't think we can understand any of that." Keesha interrupted.
"Well, she might have been chased by those demons for a long time. Maybe she hasn't gotten any sleep and lost so much energy from running." DA said.
"You might have a point. We should probably let her rest."
"That would... be... good." Phoebe began to slowly drift off to sleep. Once she was out, the trio turned off the lights and stepped out of the room. They would hopefully get their explanation tomorrow.
"Thank goodness she's okay! Who knows what could have happened to her out there."
"Yeah. I can't imagine how tiring it must have been for her to constantly have to run away."
"I just hope we get our explanation tomorrow because I did not understand what she said."
"Except... I think she said the demon left and then something about light." DA said.
"Huh, I think I heard that too." Carlos said. "But what could she have meant?"
"Well, maybe the demons hate light."
Carlos and Keesha thought about that idea for a minute. "I guess. I mean, when we were in the woods right after Phoebe disappeared, those things didn't appear until it got dark."
"And when it chased us in the school, it didn't chase us after we ran outside when the sun was up." Carlos added.
"And whenever they first appeared, the sky got dark and the lights to our houses went off."
"So then it must be true. The demons hate light." DA concluded.
"Maybe we could use that to defend ourselves if they ever come back." Keesha said. She looked at her watch. "Well, it's getting pretty late. You guys head home. I'll look after Phoebe."
"Yeah, good idea. Let's go, Carlos." DA and Carlos left, and Keesha sat down in the living room on the chair next to Phoebe. She hoped that Phoebe would be well in the morning, especially after everything she must have been through with the demons.
"We're not crazy, Arnold. I wasn't lying when I said that there were a lot of crazy stuff happening back home."
"Again, it didn't happen!"
"You kept saying that nothing happened. Do you have any proof to back up those claims." Tim challenged.
"I don't need to. Since you can't prove what you're saying, that's all the proof I need."
"Really? You're not even going to try to give any actual proof?"
"Like I said, I don't need to."
"Arnold, can't you at least try to trust us a little bit?" Wanda pleaded. "We're your friends, and yes, we may have been upset about your feelings on Ms. Frizzle, but that doesn't mean we would try to scare you with some big prank."
"Alright, let's say that you are telling the truth. What does any of that have to do with me?"
"Well, I told you that Ms. Frizzle needs help, and we are on a mission to help her. The thing is, we need everyone to go on this mission. We have the bus, but it won't take us until we have everyone. We need you to help us save Ms. Frizzle."
"So, you need me to join you guys to say Ms. Frizzle? How would that be possible? She's dead. What does she need help with?"
"Like we said, she's in Hell. We need to get her out of there." Ralphie said.
"How could you possibly know that?"
"With these." Ralphie reached into his pocket and pulled out the earrings that had appeared days ago. They were still glowing red and had the skull and crossbones from. "These appeared in my bedroom a few days ago."
"That's creepy, and how does that prove that Ms. Frizzle needs help?"
"Remember how Ms. Frizzle had those earrings that changed every day based on the field trip we went on and glowed when we were about to go on a field trip? These are those earrings."
"And how does that show that she needs help?" Arnold repeated.
"The skull and crossbones shape must signify a death-related field trip, and the ominous red glow must mean something bad, like Hell. Therefore, Ms. Frizzle needs us to go to Hell to help her."
"Or maybe they could mean that she died and just that. There's no way it would mean we have to go on some field trip to save her." Arnold retorted.
"Yes, it does. The earrings only glowed when we were going to go on a field trip. That must be why they are still glowing." Ralphie explained. "On top of that, they just appeared in my bedroom, inside of a box of Ms. Frizzles old stuff that I helped move out of the school. Their sudden appearance has to mean something."
"And do you know, for sure, that they just appeared? They could have been in that box the whole time."
"No, they were not. I checked the box before. They were not in there."
"Okay, so how did they just appear? Things don't just appear."
"Well... I don't know."
"And yet you still expect me to believe that they just appeared in the box."
"Arnold, this is Ms. Frizzle we're talking about." Wanda cut in. "Whenever we went on those field trips, we never questioned all the weird stuff that happened. We shrunk down, went back in time, and turned into various animals like mussels, bats, and reptiles, and we even went inside an actual movie once, but we never questioned it. When it came to Ms. Frizzle, we didn't have to question anything. We just let things be magical. Those earrings could be the same as all that."
Arnold opened his mouth to argue, but nothing came. Wanda did have a point. Still, he didn't want to believe that any of what they were saying was happening, especially if Ms. Frizzle was going to get involved in his life again.
"Fine, you're right. I never questioned what went on in that class. But let's say that everything you said is true, and Ms. Frizzle needs our help. Do you really expect me to try and help her?"
"I know that you don't particularly like Ms. Frizzle, but that's why we are here. We were hoping that we would convince you more easily if we came all the way here to talk. We need you to come on this mission."
"Well, you thought wrong."
"But Arn-"
"You all know that I no longer want Ms. Frizzle in my life, and that is never going to change. If what you said is true, then I am not helping!"
"Come on. We need you, Arnold." Ralphie pleaded.
"Why would I want to help the woman that ruined my life?!"
"What do you mean she 'ruined your life'?" Tim asked.
"All those times that she took us on field trips, I always left school traumatized and wanting nothing more than to have stayed home. I still have nightmares about taking my helmet off in outer space or having a run in with a T-rex. And it's all because of her. She put us in all those dangerous situations, and I had to pay for it by living with the memories forever."
"But Arnold, don't you see that we were all very lucky to have gone on all those field trips?"
"How were we lucky in any way? Like I said, we were always in danger."
"Come on, Arnold-"
"And by the way, if everything you said is true, then maybe it's a good thing!"
Wanda, Ralphie, and Tim all looked shocked. Arnold was saying that Ms. Frizzle being in Hell was a good thing? How could he say that?
"Take that back." Ralphie said.
"No."
"Take it back."
"After all the danger she put us through, that witch deserves to be burning in Hell!"
Something inside of Ralphie snapped once those words came out of Arnold's mouth. Next thing he knew, he grabbed Arnold and pushed him to the wall. "TAKE IT BACK!"
"What's going on?" Jyoti and Ben had come out of the kitchen and were watching the scene with shock.
"Nothing! Just go away!" Arnold said.
"Ralphie, just let him go. This is a waste of time. Let's get out of here." Wanda said.
"Where are you going?" Arnold asked.
"I'm going to take chances!" Wanda exclaimed before storming out of the house.
"Make mistakes." Tim said before following Wanda.
"And get messy." Ralphie finished as he let go of Arnold and walked out of the house.
Once everyone was gone, Jyoti walked over to Arnold and tried to question him about what happened between him and his old friends. Arnold just told her that nothing happened and to leave him alone before storming up the stairs and into the bedroom and slamming the door.
Keesha suddenly woke up when she heard her phone ringing. She saw that the time was almost midnight before answering. "Hello?"
"Keesha, have you found Phoebe yet?"
"Oh, hey Ralphie. We found her. Well, more like she came back."
"Oh, that's great!" Ralphie was relieved that Phoebe was found, which meant that at least one of the two final Frizzle kids would be able to go on the mission. "Is she alright?"
"Well, she seems very tired and miserable, but she should be better by tomorrow."
"Good. We should be ready to help Ms. Frizzle by tomorrow."
"Well, how did things go with Arnold?"
"Oh, um... I'd rather not talk about it now."
"That bad, huh?"
"Yeah. It looks like we'll have to go without him."
"But you said the bus will only take us if we have everyone."
"I know, but we're only missing one. Maybe that will be good enough for us to get going?"
"I hope so. Well, I'll see you tomorrow. Good night."
Keesha hung up and looked over at Phoebe. She had managed to sleep through the call. Keesha went back to sleep, but her mind was still racing with thoughts on Arnold. It should have come as no surprise that he would not want to help, but would this affect the mission? If the bus really did mean everyone, then Ms. Frizzle might be lost forever. Hopefully, it wouldn't come to that. Arnold's hatred of Ms. Frizzle could not be the reason that she would suffer the most horrible fate imaginable.