Hey guys! Sorry this is a bit late, but with school work and everything else, I got a little behind, but don't worry, I'm here now! So, let's begin.
Arnold's Bad Day!
A spot light suddenly lit up on a dark, lonely stage. Out stepped Arnold, wearing his tux with tails, and top hat.
"Helga, my dear, now that we're alone, I have something I want you to see." Arnold said, in an uncharacteristic deep voice.
"Oh, my lovely football-headed prince, whatever could it be?" Helga said, in an equally uncharacteristic sweet, soft voice.
Arnold smiled at her, and pulled back a red curtain to reveal a large sailing boat, with the name, 'Arga' written on the side.
"Oh, Arnold! It's wonderful!" Helga said as she walked towards the boat, and put her hand on the hull. "Is it ours to sail across the world?"
"That's right Helga, no more school, no more troubles. Just you, me, and the open sea for three months." Arnold said as he put his arms around Helga.
"That sounds amazing Arnold. Just one thing is bothering me." Helga began.
"What's that, my dearest?" Arnold inquired.
Helga opened her mouth, and out came the monotone sound of…
"HEY ARNOLD HEY ARNOLD HEY ARNOLD"
Arnold's eyes reluctantly opened, not wanting the dream to end, but knowing he had to see Helga for real, he relented.
"Uh, I feel like I didn't sleep at all." Arnold said to himself.
Arnold sluggishly got out of bed, and went down to the bathroom he shared with the boarders.
Arnold frowned at the line that was standing in front of the bathroom door.
"Hurry up in there Hyunh! Some of us don't have all day!" Ernie shouted through the door.
"I am sorry Ernie, but I need time to measure the soap just right!" Mr. Hyunh yelled from the other side.
"Measure the soap?! That's the most ridicules thing I've ever heard that didn't come out of Oskar!" Ernie pointed his thumb at the brown-haired figure behind him.
"That's right!" Oskar contributed.
"You better finish up in the next ten seconds, or I'm carrying you out, and I don't care what state you're in!" Ernie threatened.
By this time, Arnold had joined the line behind Oskar.
"Come on Mr. Potts, it's Mr. Hyuhn's time in the shower. I'm sure he'll be done soon. We can wait." Arnold tried to calm the temperamental construction worker.
"Yeah, but you can't Arnold, you have to be at school soon." Ernie said.
"Oh, I'm not worried, I have an hour before the first bell." Arnold informed him.
"Arnold, it's almost eight thirty now." Ernie told the young blonde.
Arnold's eyes widened. "What?!" Arnold looked at the grandfather clock in the hall, and it was indeed 8:25. "Oh shoot."
Arnold ran like a shot up to his room. "How could that have happened?!"
"That's daylight savings time for ya." Ernie called.
Arnold threw on his usual outfit, gathered his school stuff, and ran down his steps, and ran right into Mr. Hyuhn. Arnold held his head, reeling from the sudden impact.
"Oh, Arnold, are you alright?" Mr. Hyuhn asked.
"Yeah, I'm fin… AH!" Arnold covered his eyes. "Mr. Hyuhn, please put your towel back on."
"Oh, sorry." Mr. Hyuhn tied the article back around his waist.
Arnold rose again, and ran down stairs, passing Miles and Stella on the way down.
"Moring Mom, Dad, can't talk, glad you're still here, love you, bye!" Arnold called out quickly as he ran out the front door.
"Wait, Arnold, grab an umbrella it's…" Stella called, but it was too late, Arnold was already out the door, and down the other end of the street, completely drenched. "pouring."
Arnold ran as best he could, trying to keep his balance on the slippery wet concrete.
"Okay, class doesn't start till 8:45 because Mr. Simmons will just keep talking about how 'special' we are, so that gives me time." Arnold said as he looked at his watch, which said 8:35.
While he was looking, he didn't notice the stopped crowd waiting for the lights to turn at the crosswalk, and ran right into a gentleman's rear end.
"Uh!" Arnold said, as he was knocked back.
The man turned around to look at Arnold with an angry face. "Hey kid, watch where you're going!"
Arnold nursed his bruised forehead, before looking up at the man apologetically.
"I'm sorry." He said simply.
"Hmph." The man turned back around.
Arnold stood back up, his clothes now even more soaked then they already were.
The light turned, and the crowd went across, Arnold following last. When he got to the other side, an overzealous car, turned right, splashing water right on Arnold's backside.
"Ugg!" Arnold was now drenched. His clothes were now more water than wool and cotton. Arnold felt his anger begin to rise, but he took a deep breath to keep it down. "It's okay, it's okay. It can only get better from here."
Arnold continued to PS 118 without incident, and walked into the front hall, dripping wet. Arnold checked his watch, but it was no longer ticking.
"Well, now I can get a better one for Easter." Arnold thought optimistically.
Arnold walked towards Mr. Simmons room, and sure enough, he was still talking.
Arnold opened the door, but a breeze from an open window in the hall caused the door to open much quicker than Arnold intended.
The whole class's gazed went straight to Arnold. Dripping wet, hair flat, and a big welt with an accompanying bruise in the middle of his forehead.
"Arnold!" Helga said instinctively.
Arnold gave her a face of reassurance, and also a face of reminder that their relationship was 'covert'.
Helga recovered, "Oh, glad you finally made it football-head!"
"Now Helga, that's enough. Arnold, why don't you go to the locker room and try to dry off." Mr. Simmons suggested.
"Sure, I'll be back." Arnold said, as he left the room to a few snickers.
Arnold entered the boy's locker room, and grabbed one of the towels. He took off his clothes, except his boxers and his little blue hat, and rung them out over the shower drain so they could dry a little. In all the excitement of the morning, Arnold completely forgot about answering nature's call, so he went off to the bathroom to do just that.
"Sweet Caroline, bah, bah ,bah…" The janitor hummed to himself as he saw Arnold's clothes drying on one of the racks. "Dang couches, always leaving their uniforms lying around without putting them in the dryer. Small guy though, must be Mr. Fillian." The janitor picked up Arnold's clothes, and put them in his basket, then left the locker room.
Arnold came back from the bathroom, and his eyes went wide when his clothes were gone.
"Oh no. No, no, no, no, no, no. This can't be happening." Arnold looked frantically everywhere, but could not find his clothes. "Okay, okay, it's fine. It's okay. It can only get better from here. You're just standing, in the middle of the school, wearing nothing but your boxers, where all your friends are going to see you and laugh at you. It's fine, it's fine." Arnold let out a little crazy chuckle.
His eye then caught the couch's office. All the gym teachers were busy with classes right now, so no one was in there, but if he could get to the telephone.
Arnold walked up to the office door and found it was unlocked. "Oh great, something goes right for a change."
Arnold walked up to the phone and dialed the boarding house, before an automated voice answered.
"Hello, all calls must be in the building only, no external calls."
"You've got to be kidding." Arnold said simply. Arnold then thought very hard, and dialed Mr. Simmons' room, remembering the number from when Principle Wartz called it when Arnold was being questioned in there.
"Hello, Mr. Simmons' room." Mr. Simmons answered.
Arnold cleared his throat and gave his best Principal Wartz, "Hello Simmons, could you send Gerald Johanssen to the phone please.
"Oh, yes of course. Gerald," Arnold could hear Mr. Simmons call for him on the other side, "Principal Wartz needs to talk to you." Arnold then heard the 'ooh's' and 'what did you do's' that were customarily with that sentence.
"Hello?" Arnold heard Gerald's voice.
"Gerald, it's me, don't react." Arnold said.
"Okay." Gerald said quietly.
"I need you to tell Mr. Simmons that you and I are being sent home for the morning due to family needs. Then I need you to come to the boy's locker room, I need your help." Arnold said.
"Alright sir, thanks for letting me know." Gerald then hung up the receiver, and went over to Mr. Simmons. "Umm, there was a robbery at the bank that Arnold and I's family's go to, and we need to go to testify on the bank's security."
"Really, they're having ten year-olds do that?" Mr. Simmons asked.
"They want an unbiased opinion." Gerald told as straight faced as he could.
"Hmm, alright. Get the notes from someone tomorrow, alright?" Mr. Simmons asked.
"Alright." Gerald then grabbed his backpack and ran to the locker room.
He ran inside, and looked around.
"Arnold? You in here?" Gerald asked.
"Yeah, I'm back here." Gerald moved towards Arnold's voice. When he found him, he stopped cold.
"Umm, dude, where are your…"
"I don't know."
"Then what are we…"
"I don't know."
"Do you think we…"
"I don't know!" Arnold stood up, feeling his anger bubble again, mixed with the embarrassment he felt. He took another deep breath. "I'm sorry Gerald, I didn't mean to yell."
"Hey man, you've had a rough day. It's cool, but we need to get you out of here, and into some clothes." Gerald said.
"Yeah, but there are none in here. There aren't even towels, they're all locked up in that cabinet." Arnold pointed out the locked cabinet.
"Well, I would give you my hoodie, but…"
"Let me guess, you're not wearing anything underneath."
"Bingo."
Arnold sighed. "Alright, let's just try to sneak out of here. What's the best way?"
"The side entrance by the east stairs. No one's there right now, and it's the closest to the boarding house." Gerald suggested.
"Alright, let's go." Arnold quickly moved, along with Gerald. They carefully walked through the halls, Gerald keeping a lookout.
When Gerald went down one hall, he saw Principal Wartz walking towards him. Gerald gasped, and quickly reached around the corner, and stopped Arnold. When he did that, Arnold hit his right arm against the lockers, snagging a bit of sharp metal, and giving himself a cut.
Arnold squeezed his eyes tight to the sudden pain.
"Oh, hello Principal Wartz, lovely day isn't it?"
"Lovely? I suppose the rain finally did stop. Wait, do you have a hall pass young man?" Wartz said.
"Umm, I did sir, but I dropped it. I don't know where it went." Gerald faked a smile.
"Hmm, you're lucky I have a fight among some very rebellious first graders to brake up, otherwise you would get detention. Carry on." Wartz then walked back down the other hall towards the first grade, leaving Arnold and Gerald.
"Ugh." Arnold let out a soft groan.
"Arnold, you okay?" Gerald asked, concerned,
"I cut my arm. It's fine though. I got bigger ones in that game where Wolfgang coached." Arnold said.
"Alright, we're almost there." Gerald pointed at the door just passed the staircase. "We just need to pass Mr. Simmons room, and then we'll get out of here.
"Alright. Ready?" Arnold turned to Gerald who nodded.
They both sprinted down the hall, Arnold on the left, Gerald to the right.
They were about to pass Mr. Simmons room when…
Arnold ran into the open door, bounced off of Harold's stomach, and slide across the wet floor from everyone's wet shoes, and hit against the art's and crafts bench. When he did that, a jar of yellow paint tipped over and coated Arnold all over him.
Arnold opened his eyes. All of his classmates were looking at him. He closed his eyes again, expecting laughter.
"Arnold! Are you okay!?" He heard Eugene's voice first.
Then Sid's, Harold's, Nadine's, Rhonda's, and the rest of them. They were not voices of ridicule, but concern.
They helped him up, and the boys brought him back to the locker room to get washed up. Mr. Simmons straightened things out with the janitor and got Arnold's clothes back.
When he was all dressed, the nurse took a look at Arnold's cut, which was not infected.
Arnold went back to class, deciding to stay for the rest of the day. He sat back down at his desk, next to Gerald and Helga. Arnold looked at his other classmates.
"You know, they really do surprise me." Arnold said.
"How?" Gerald asked.
"They didn't laugh." Arnold said.
"Well, of course not Arnold, they all care about you very much. The moment they saw how broken down you were, they couldn't laugh. They can be mean, but they're not cruel." Gerald told him.
"Yeah, you're right. I guess I forgot that." Arnold said.
"Just don't keep getting hurt, otherwise we'll have to change your name to Eugene." Helga told him.
"Don't worry Helga, I'll try not to." Arnold laughed.
Helga smiled at her football-head.
There we go! Episode two done and done. Sorry again if this felt a little mean to Arnold. I just wanted to see how far his optimism would go before it would break. It was really my character study. Anyway, read, review, and tune in next week for another episode of Hey Arnold! Season Six!