As soon as Helga and Arnold entered the recess yard, Sid approached Helga with a coupon and a paper bag. "I'm out of muffins," Sid said.
"Whatever," Helga said. She took today's gifts and glanced at the coupon. "Toaster pastries? My mom stopped buying them." She handed him the coupon. "Give that to Lila."
"Lila stopped eating them too," Sid said. "Sheena showed her this list of unhealthy snacks, and now Lila won't eat any of them. Toaster pastries were on the list."
Helga looked inside the bag. "So shortbread cookies are another no-no?"
"Actually, she likes them, but I already gave her some."
Helga took a bite of a shortbread cookie. "Well, thanks. You want one, Arnold?" There were two more in in the bag, and Helga wasn't hungry.
Arnold shook his head.
Sid ran off, and Helga and Arnold started roaming the yard. They passed by Curly, who was standing in the middle of the four square court. "Hey guys! Wanna play four square?" Curly smiled with his teeth.
"Not today," Helga said, knowing that Curly was reckless during games. When she and Arnold were out of Curly's earshot, she said quietly, "You'd think he'd be in recess detention. Forever."
Arnold smothered a laugh with his hand.
Phoebe was sitting at the picnic table, reading a historical fiction novel. Eugene was sitting backwards across from her, reading a poetry book while nursing a broken foot. The swings were occupied by a pair of twin girls, and Sheena and Lila were hula-hooping nearby.
Helga glanced at a crate full of jump ropes. "Do you jump?"
"Huh?" Apparently Arnold had been daydreaming.
Helga giggled. "We should jump rope! And we better start before Rhonda gets here."
Too late—Rhonda was already waltzing over to the crate, along with two girls from the other sixth grade class. "What do you want?" Rhonda asked Helga.
"I didn't know you owned the jump ropes," Helga quipped. "Were they a gift from Daddy?"
Rhonda rolled her eyes. "I will never understand why Arnold likes you. I guess he's changing for the worse."
As Rhonda and her minions left with a jump rope, Helga checked Arnold's reaction. He looked hurt.
"I hope you're aware that Rhonda's nobody," Helga said.
"I know," Arnold said.
"She just loves to get into drama. We need to start ignoring her."
Someone tapped Helga on the shoulder. She turned around and saw two of the protesters, Crystal and Kelsey. The latter was holding a pink clipboard.
"We started a petition," Crystal said, "about the school not giving us tapioca. You and Arnold wanna sign, right?"
Arnold made that face he always made when he didn't catch what someone said.
"They wrote a petition for our cause," Helga said. "Why didn't I think of that?"
Helga and Arnold both signed the petition, and Crystal and Kelsey ran off towards Brainy.
Helga turned to Arnold. "Too bad Wartz won't care about a petition," she said.
Arnold shrugged. "Maybe they'll get some teachers' signatures."
"So what?" Helga asked. "It's a piece of paper! Wartz can just ignore it!"
Arnold looked at the ground.
"The only way to win is to make the school lose money," Helga said. "Or make his punishment threats seem pointless."
"Pointless?" Arnold repeated.
"We can't let him think we hate detention. That would be too convenient for him."
"It might be too late for that," Arnold said.
Helga recalled what she said to Principal Wartz a day earlier. "Yeah, it is. Do you have any other plans?"
"Not yet," Arnold said.
Helga bit another shortbread cookie. Maybe I'll ask my therapist today.
"That's tough," Dr. Bliss said. "Maybe you can find out where they buy the pudding mix. Then all you kids can create a pudding fund, and use the money to order from the source."
The idea bounced in Helga's head. "Hey, yeah! Why do we need the school?"
"But," Dr. Bliss said, "you won't be able to eat it at lunch, since you can't get it shipped to the school. You'll also need to crowdfund milk, eggs and sugar, assuming the lunch ladies use those ingredients..."
Helga groaned. "I might as well bribe the superintendent."