(Friday, earlier in the day)

[By the DJ booth, Stinky could be seen cutting a rug with Lila. About a foot away from the punch bowl, Sid tried (and failed) to catch some girl's attention. Rhonda took a selfie with Nadine at a photo booth while Wolfgang and Ludwig challenged each other to piggyback races across the gym with Eugene and Chocolate Boy seated on their respective backs. Wolfgang was clearly in the lead before he skidded on his shoelace and fell face first on the floor; sending the jovial jinx of a kid careening face first into a platter of desserts.]

["I'm ok!" He said with muffled assurance while hoisting a thumbs up in the air.]

[Needless to say, the Sixth Grade Sendoff was by all means a mirthful affair; the music, the food, the fellowship…]

[…the perfect distraction.]

*click*

[With the final padlock clasped over the gymnasium door, Curly took one final glance at the scene playing out on the other side; all of his classmates gorging themselves on pizza and dancing about to a medley of popular music from the last half a decade. But of the mass of children in that room, one in particular catches the perturbed preteen's eyes and elicits a malicious grin. A blonde lad with an odd shaped head standing slightly off to the crowd, impervious to the revelry that enveloped him.]

[Though he desired to savor this sight further, Curly knew that time was of the essence were his master plan to either succeed or fail; a point driven all the more home as he watched the door to Principal Wartz's office open and the occupant in question shuffle to the bathroom.

["Fat rat has taken the cheese." He whispers to himself. "Time to go in for the kill."]

(Inside the gym)

[Not since Ms. Slovak's class had the boy with the oblong head exhibited this level of aloofness. Even when angry, sad, vengeful, or any other emotion that strayed far from his default setting of calm, idealistic, and benevolent, Arnold was still an emotive presence in the group. But instead, the Shortman lad conveyed all the expressive range of a shampoo bottle as he took another seemingly robotic sip of his drink.]

[Like the ice he pensively swirled in his soda, Arnold's mind found itself churning rapidly while processing the week's events; here was his peer group partying away as if Monday never happened.]

[As if they didn't begin the week ready to commit everything short of war crimes against the fifth and fourth graders.]

[Deep down, it was occasions like this that Arnold would wonder to himself whether or not it was worth it being the designated moral rudder of his PS 118 peer group; sure, they would do the right thing when the chips were down, but usually it took a period of him being regarded as a Budinski, a wet blanket, and what-have-you in the heat of the moment before they came to their senses. This was nothing new (having had to rescue Sid, Stinky, Harold, and Rhonda, from their respective problems with Lorenzo, Eugene and Curly once in fourth grade after they all told him to buzz off and let them live). But something about this particular episode seemed exceptionally vexing…and the reason all came down to Curly who in this time of finding themselves at a crossroads age wise had begun to gleefully establish himself as the proverbial devil on the shoulder to Arnold's angel.]

["Geez, Football Head, and here I thought my plate was full."]

[Bringing Arnold's train of thought to a merciful derailment was Helga Pataki, who with her usual brand of cynical concern, seated herself next to her boyfriend and gently nudged the generous platter to is direction.]

["Oh, sorry Helga." He replies while gingerly picks from the plate. "It's just…well…it all feels hollow, doesn't it? Here we are partying, dancing, stuffing our faces with pizza…acting like the beginning of the week just…(he makes a poof motion with his hands)…never happened."]

["Like they have the attention span of a goldfish combined with the moral fiber of a yo-yo."]

[As much as Arnold hated himself for it, he found himself cracking up.]

["There we go…" said Helga almost lovingly. "There's the smile I fell for."]

["Still." Arnold said as his laughter subsided. "I've been asking myself what the scariest part of this whole episode was, and the answer is-"]

["Curly?" Helga interjected. "Yeah… You'd think he twisted little freak would have pulled something by now given how hopped up he was hopped up he was on this whole Trashcan Day."]

[Suddenly, the gym goes dark. Lights immediately shut off and the music comes to a grinding halt. Before the sixth graders can ask what was going on, a feedback screech comes from the intercom on the wall followed by a laugh so cold and malicious that would curdle the blood of a hyena. Collectively, they come to realize that as they partied, one member of their group had been absent from the festivities.]

["YOU LITTLE TERMITES!" Boomed the voice of Curly. "You…ALL of you, had absolute power and a legacy all but gift-wrapped by me. And what did you do with it. FLUSHED IT AWAY at the eleventh hour as you always have! For too long you have either mocked or disregarded me, but if that already weren't salt to the wounds, oh…you JUST HAD to go and drag Wolfgang and Ludwig along in your reindeer games! And just as I have had no escape, neither shall you!"]

[It was true. As some students tried to open the doors and text (or in some cases, actually be desperate enough to call) someone for help, they had found the portals padlocked and the Wi-Fi jammed. Yet as fear and hostility gripped the sixth graders, Arnold turns his head and notices a figure clothed in black sneaking into the gym like a weasel. From there this figure crab walked along the walls, cleaving to the shadows all the way to the bleachers. He taps Helga's shoulder who sees the figure duck underneath the stands like some cowardly rodent. As Curly's voice continues to captivate the rest of his peers, the two blondes slowly follow the silhouetted student to his hiding place. While Arnold made a Bee Line to the doorway and began quietly ushering students out, Helga made her way to the seats. As she got close enough, she could feel her stomach plummet upon hearing a menacingly cartoony giggle coming from the figure who has now squatted near a large suitcase. Faint electronic beeping could also be heard as the figure fiddled with a timer crudely taped to the device.]

["Then again…" Came Curly's voice anew. "I Thaddeus Gammelthorpe have a game of my own, and with it one last chance for you to earn freedom. It's simple; from our group there has been one who acts as if he alone is some preordained standard bearer of all that is righteous and true. His name is Arnold Shortman, and he has not only quashed my plans time and time again, but most likely some of yours with a sanctimonious grin! BRING! ME! HIS! HEAD! Or you all shall reek of a stench worse than that of the cuckoldry and weakness he has instilled in you. The choice is yours in two minutes starting…NOW!"]

[With the timers activated, the figure slowly looks around to see some of his intended hostages funneling themselves out. With a frustrated grunt, he begins the process of getting out of his hiding spot…another plan which finds itself foiled as an irate pigtailed girl in pink quickly tackles him to the ground.]

["GOTCHA!"]

[Pinned beneath the full weight of Helga, the mask is pulled off revealing none other than Curly who despite entrapment grins like the proverbial cat that ate the canary. But before he could reply, the regulators attached to the demented boy's box go off, rendering moot whatever could be said on the matter. While Helga bristled in fear and prepared herself for the worst, the Gammelthorpe lad's already demented smile got larger and larger.]