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The J.A.M. a.k.a. Numbuh I: LOL, well the fact that he is new to Hillwood gives the subtle hint of his foreignness being exotic.

Lunch time…

Lunch had arrived and everyone made their way to the lunchroom, including Gerald. But he wasn't after a meal. He was looking for a particular kid with a fedora hat. It wasn't hard to find him. Almost right on cue, as soon as he entered the lunchroom, he heard the familiar sound of Latin music emanating throughout. And as predicted, a crowd began to form.

Upon see the crowd, he made his way toward them, gently pushing his way through.

"Excuse me. Pardon me." He said as he move through the crowded area.

"Love the hair, by the way." He said to a girl whom he past.

Eventually he got to the center, where he saw Rodrigo dancing.

Gerald didn't say anything and stood there and patiently waited for Rodrigo to finish.

After a few rounds, Rodrigo finally stopped just as the last song ended.

"Phew!" He exclaimed and tried to catch his breath.

Most of the crowd clapped and cheered him before eventually dispersing to eat their meal.

Rodrigo thanked everyone and waved as he grabbed his music box and went over to talk to Lorenzo and Peapod Kid. That was when Gerald made his move.

"Sup, Rodrigo?" Gerald said to him.

"Oh, hey Gerald." Rodrigo greeted him back.

"That's some nice dancing you did just now." Gerald said.

"Thanks." Rodrigo said with a smile.

"I was wondering if you'd be done for a...competition." He said.

"Competition?" Rodrigo asked. "What kind of competition?"

"The dancing kind." Gerald responded with a confident smirk. "You and Me. Mano y mano. Right now."

The remaining crowd that was still around but had began dispersing suddenly stopped dead in their tracks and gasped as they all diverted their eyes toward both Gerald and Rodrigo.

The Latino kid was just as surprised. No one in Hillwood had ever challenged him to a dance before. Heck, he wasn't even looking to compete against anyone, least of all against Gerald.

"You want to challenge me to a dancing competition?" Rodrigo asked, looking confused.

"Yup." Gerald said with a smirk. "Unless of course, you are too afraid."

That took Rodrigo a bit back. He was dumbfounded by Gerald's sudden aggression. He had never seen him act like this to either him or anyone else before. So why now?

"Of course not." He said. "Let's do it."

There was now a sudden commotion by all those around. Word quickly began to spread about Gerald's challenge, which only drew more and more kids, eager to watch the match unfold.

Rodrigo noticed the commotion, but he ignored it and got ready.

Throughout the commotion, Arnold and some of their friends soon arrived once they heard about Gerald challenging Rodrigo. He didn't have time to ask Gerald about his match as his best friend was getting ready and the match was about to start.

"Ready?" Rodrigo asked as he stretched out a bit.

"Just a minute." Gerald said and he took out his phone and showed Rodrigo something.

"You want me to play this song?" Rodrigo asked, looking a little nervous.

"Yup." Gerald said with a smirk. "You're this school's greatest dancer. I'm sure you got it all figured out."

Rodrigo however, didn't look so sure.

"Unless of course, you are not up for it." Gerald continued with a smirk.

Despite his reservations, Rodrigo was not going to back down when his reputation was on the line.

"Oh I'm up for it." He said with his own smirk.

What is Gerald up to? Arnold thought as he looked on.

Rodrigo went about finding the song on his phone before playing it and putting the phone down.

"You first." Rodrigo said to him.

Gerald got ready as the music began to play. First came the bass, then the trumpet, then the clarinet. It was a slow song, but it began to pick up the pace. Soon a woman began to sing. Gerald got the cue and without a moment's notice, began to dance to the smooth, mellow out tune. As the trumpet played, Gerald took a few steps before making a few swings.

Rodrigo and everyone else looked on with awe as Gerald took swings, swipes and steps all across the dance floor. It wasn't jazz he was dancing to, nor hip-pop, nor any music Rodrigo was familiar with. No, this was Swing music and it was Gerald's territory. Although dancing alone, Gerald took every opportunity to imitate as if he was dancing with someone, illuminating his dance moves further.

Suddenly, the music tune changed and all went quiet, only for the drums to start making their entrance. The sudden thumps and incoming trumpets completely changed the environment and Gerald, sensing the change in both tune and speed, began to pick up speed and move both his feet and legs side to side or opposite ways from each other. This he changed pace to get in line with the drums when they moved from the background to the front.

Rodrigo just stood there quietly and looked on.

Everyone else was mesmerized by Gerald's movement. It was bold, yet in line with the music. It was quick, yet at pace. It was wild, yet his body were in sync with both the music and with each other. Even Arnold was surprised.

"Whoa! Have you ever seen Gerald dance like that before?" An impressed Sid asked Arnold.

"Nah." He responded.

Gerald did not stop, nor did he pause to give himself a bit of a breather. If anything, he doubled down as the music gained even more speed. The trumpet and drums moved in conjunction with each other and increased in intensity. Gerald tapped his feet and swung from side to side, and then sensed the music's upcoming end. His body made no attempt to indicate, but he got ready.

Then, right on cue, the music began to drastically stop and Gerald made his final, dramatic move, culminating in him jumping as high as he could before landing on the ground, just as the music came to an end.

"Wohooo!" the crowd thundered in uproar and cheers. Everyone got together and clapped Gerald on his spectacular performance.

Yup. Still got it. Gerald thought to himself, feeling proud.

"Thank you, thank you." He said as he took a bow.

Rodrigo meanwhile continued to stand in place in silence. He neither participated in the cheering, nor did he even applaud.

Gerald took a glance at Rodrigo and saw him looking back at him, seemingly frozen. He smiled.

I got this in the bag. He triumphantly thought.

"Yo! Rodrigo!" He called out to him. "I believe it's your turn now. Let's see what you got."

"Oh. Right." He somewhat nervously said as he picked up his phone to pick another song from the same genre.

He scanned through the list a bit before finding one, pressing the 'Play' button and putting it down.

Gerald confidently watched Rodrigo seemingly nervously put the phone down and made his way to his spot. It was plainly obvious to him that he practically won his contest. He had beaten him at his own game. The only thing he now had to worry was if he didn't take things too far.

While Gerald celebrated his victory, Rodrigo quietly made his way to his spot, still looking seemingly nervous. He waited patiently for a few seconds for the music to start.

Then, the music began. The bass, cello and drums began to softly play. It was a low beat start, but it quickly began to pick up speed. Rodrigo stood there for a while, allowing his body to feel the music, to let it flow through his skin and veins. He even began to tap his foot to the beat.

Gerald patiently waited for him to do something. By this point, it was hard to see how he feeling because his fedora hat was now covering his eyes. But just as when the music now began to quickly sound a quick, lively, party-like tune, the Latino kid looked up at Gerald. This time, the look on the Latino kid's face had drastically changed. Instead of looking nervous and indecisive like before, he now had that confident spark in his eyes. He even smirked at him.

Gerald realized that something was definite up. But he had little time to fully wrap his head around it because Rodrigo began to instantly dance.

Out of nowhere, the Latino kid burst into the dance floor and began to swing his legs and feet to the side, then front and back. He would bent his torso slightly to create the illusion that he was slipping on something and was about to fall. But, he never did. Following to the tune of the music, he flowed his body through the dance floor, even doing a few swings here and there.

Everyone stood there in silence and watched in awe. The whole room got quiet. By this point, almost everyone had gotten around to witness this dance fight. No one had ever seen Rodrigo dance like this before. This was dancing at a whole other level. This kid was able to combine certain dance moves from other genres. Salsa and even break dancing moved were seen in his style.

Even Gerald was left stunt. He realized, much to his shock, that Rodrigo had played him! There he was just seconds ago looking all vulnerable and nervous, wondering how he was ever going to get out of his predicament, only to completely reverse course and reveal what he was really up to. It was all a trick to lower Gerald's guard down and to – once again – just show off.

I can't believe I walked right into his trap! He thought with dismay as he continued to look at his rival dancing.

Rodrigo continued to outperform his rival and even himself. He was able to get a few glimpses and saw how everyone was admiring him. He knew right then that he virtually won this competition. But he had little time to revel in his laurels, for he was not yet done. The song had not yet ended and so he continued to dance.

After a few more agonizing minutes for Gerald, the song finally seemed to be ending. Rodrigo got the cue and performed a last minute spin and jump before concluding his dance.

As soon as it ended…

"YYYAAAAYYY!"

"WOHOOO!"

Everyone let out a thunderous cheering roar and applauds. Even some kids went up to him to personally congratulate him.

Gerald meanwhile stood where he was and felt completely dismayed. He looked around and saw everyone cheering Rodrigo, including his own friends. He saw Sid and Arnold on the other side, clapping. Well, Arnold was clapping while Sid was cheering and applauding. He then looked at Rodrigo who took a few bows and thanked everyone. Pretty soon, everyone left to try and approach and congratulate him, ignoring and leaving Gerald all alone.

That was when he began to feel something. At first it was subtle, but he quickly began to feel it all over his body. It was anger; pure, raw anger. It was bad enough that Rodrigo had pretty much humiliated him in front of everyone, but now he had the audacity to turn his friends against him by impressing them with a few fancy moves!

As Gerald stood there all alone, with both his pride and reputation up in smoke, he began to glare at Rodrigo as soon as got a glimpse of him from the crowd. But he then noticed him trying to leave the new circle of people that had surrounded him and was approaching him.

"Hey Gerald." Rodrigo said with a warm smile and extended his hand. "Good match. You did well."

Gerald hid his glare, but his blood was still boiling so much that he at first hesitated whether to shake Rodrigo's hand.

"Thanks….You did too." Gerald finally said as he tried to pull out a genuine smile and hid his wounded pride.

"How did you managed to dance the way you did?" He asked Rodrigo. "I didn't know you knew Swing music."

"I don't." Rodrigo replied. "But I recognized the instruments they use. They sound very similar to Salsa. So I was able to transfer my moves I use when dancing to Salsa to Swing music. Plus, I watched a few movies from the 1940s and I saw how people dance to it."

"I see." Gerald said, looking not at all too pleased with that response. It only served to further wound him even harder because it made him realize that he had very little chance – if any – in beating him."

Later that day…

With school now ending, Gerald made his way out of the building, but he wasn't looking at all happy. With an annoyed, almost angry look on his face, he stomped out of the building. The only consolidation was the cold breeze that touched his face. He wasn't sure what it was, but something about the cold breeze served to alleviate some of the anger he was still feeling after his dance battle against Rodrigo.

"Hey Gerald!" Arnold softly called out as he ran up to him from the building. "What's going on? I thought we were going to meet up at your locker after the bell rang?"

"Oh, sorry about that, Arnold." Gerald said with a dispassionate, annoyed look on his face. "I needed to be outside for a bit."

"Everything alright?" Arnold asked.

"Hm? Oh yeah, everything's good." Gerald remarked as he tried to act unfazed by what was troubling him. "It was just a bit hot in there and I just need cool down."

Arnold bought it and didn't inquire more as the two continued to make their way home.

"That was some battle you did with Rodrigo, Gerald." Arnold then commented.

Gerald groaned hard internally in annoyance on hearing that. He had hoped his own friend would not bring it up.

"Yeah, it was okay." He said nonchalantly. "I should have known he would be familiar with Swing dancing."

Arnold noticed that Gerald did not look happy with the way things turned out at that dance battle and wanted to give him some encouragement.

"You didn't do too bad all." He said to him. "I was surprised at how well you managed to make all of those moves."

"Ah you're just saying that." Gerald said, not looking impressed at his best friend's attempt to make him feel better.

"No I'm being serious, Gerald." Arnold insisted. "In all the years I've known you, I didn't know you were so capable on making those kinds of moves on the dance floor. I mean I've seen you dance, but nothing like that before. That was a whole new level."

"Thanks Arnold." Gerald said with a small smile and feeling a bit better.

"Hey, Tall-hair boy!" A familiar voice called out to him, stopping both pre-teens dead in their tracks.

"Nice way to lose your mojo back there." Helga teased him with her usual smirk. "Hope the Fall wasn't too hard after that disaster."

"Ha ha. Funny Helga." Gerald annoyingly said with a small frown.

"C'mon Helga." Arnold said to her with a frown. "He wasn't bad at all. He just didn't win. Aren't you exaggerating a bit?"

"Pff! Please! Serves him right." Helga said, looking unsympathetic. "What was he thinking anyway; challenging Rodrigo into a dance battle? Have you not seen what the kid is capable of? It's like me trying to outdo Arnold on being a Football head. You'd think I'd have a chance?"

"Not by a long shot." Gerald softly groaned.

"What was that?" Helga angrily asked.

"Nothing!" Gerald nervously and quickly responded with an innocent smile.

"Hm. Why did you challenge Rodrigo to a dance battle?" Arnold wondered, catching off him guard.

"Oh um…" Gerald nervously said. "No reason at all. Why am I being interrogated here?" He now irritatingly asked.

"I wasn't interrogating you. I just was asking." Arnold calmly responded.

"Well I'm interrogating him." Helga said and moved a bit closer to him. "So what gives? Why did you challenge Latino boy to a dance battle?"

"Why? What's it to you?" Gerald asked with a frown.

"Well," Helga said with a smirk as she cracked her fingers. "My highly astute mind informs me that you maybe, quite possibly...jealous."

For a very brief second, Gerald froze.

"Pfft! Me?! Jealous?!" Gerald scoffed. "What do I have to be jealous about? Looks to me that your 'highly astute' mind is missing a few screws."

Helga was unfazed.

"What makes you think Gerald would be jealous of Rodrigo?" Arnold asked.

Helga wondered if she should respond. She looked at Gerald for a brief second. Gerald in turn looked back at her with seemingly unfazed eyes.

"Eh. Just a hunch that I got." She casually said. "Which by the way, always happens to be right." She smirked.

Gerald did not at all appreciate Helga's intuitiveness and just glared at her.

"Well, as much as I would 'love' to continue this conversation, I got places to be and things to do. Which by the way have got nothing to do with Rodrigo. I'll be seeing y'all later."

And with that he turned around and headed back.

"Great way to tell everyone how Rodrigo's living in your head rent-free, Tall-hair boy!" Helga called out on him with a smirk.

Gerald stopped for a brief second and angrily frowned before walking again.

Arnold said nothing and watched him leave.

"I know that look." Helga then said to him. "You're going to do your thing pretty soon, aren't you?"

"What thing?" Arnold asked.

"You know," Helga explained, "the push, the drive that gets you to unsolicitly intervene in people's lives to make them all warm and toasty on the inside. That thing."

"Oh well," Arnold attempted to explain, but instead just smiled. "You know me too well." He relented.

"More than you would ever want to know." She somewhat flirtatiously said and patted his shoulder.

Arnold continued to smiled, but wondered what she meant by that.

The next day…

All the kids were on the bus heading to school that morning. It was a pretty cold morning, so everyone opted to stay warm by taking the bus. Gerald was with among those on the bus, along with all of his friends, including Arnold.

"How are you feeling today, Gerald?" Arnold asked. "I hoped Helga's comments didn't make you upset."

"Nah, not at all." Gerald casually said. "If she didn't succeed in getting under my skin all those years ago, I doubt she would be able to do it now."

"Well that's good to hear." Arnold said.

In truth, Gerald did feel better that morning. His dance battle against Rodrigo did wound his pride, but other than him wanting to bring that kid down to Earth a bit, he never thought it would ever amount to anything else. He figured everyone would soon forget about it and move on with their lives.

Helga was right. He thought. It was dumb of me to challenge Rodrigo to a dance battle. I guess I'll have to beat him in some place a little closer to home.

As the bus eventually made its way to school and dropped off all the kids, Gerald made his way to the building as quickly as possible. Arnold followed him just as quickly. Both pre-teens made their inside and went toward their respective lockers.

As the two made their through the hallway, Gerald noticed a few stares. He got a glimpse of a few people turning their heads to look at him. He initially just brushed it aside. But it soon became apparent that the stares continued with each student he passed by.

"Hey Arnold," He quietly said, "Do you notice all the stares?"

Arnold glanced at some of the students.

"Now I do." He said. "Why do you suppose that is?"

"Your guess is as good as mine." Gerald responded.

The stares did not contain malicious intent. Rather, they were of concern, even nervousness.

Finally no longer taking it, Gerald stopped and approached the nearest student he caught staring at him.

"Excuse me, but is there a problem?" He asked the student with a serious look on his face.

"Oh um," The kid nervously stuttered. "No problem at all." He let out a smile.

"So then, what's with all the stares?" Gerald asked.

"Oh um," The kid attempted to come up with an answer. "What stares?" He nervously smiled.

Gerald didn't say anything and continued to look back at the kid with a bit of a frown.

"Uh," The increasingly nervous kid stuttered. "I gotta go!" He said before he quickly ran off.

"What was that all about?" Arnold asked.

"Beats me." Said Gerald as he was about to start walking again when Sid approached them.

"Hey Gerald." Sid said. "I heard what happened. My condolences. Take it from me, I know what you are going through."

"What are you talking about, Sid?" Gerald asked, looking confused.

"It's okay Gerald. You don't have to hide it." Sid continued. "There's no shame in it."

"Sid, I literally have no idea what you are talking about." Gerald said.

"Oh boy." Said Sid. "It's worse than I thought. You are in the denial stage."

"No really Sid," Arnold then spoke. "He literally doesn't know what you are talking about. And neither do I."

Sid took a moment and glanced at their faces.

"You really don't know?" Sid asked.

"Know what?!" Gerald exclaimed.

"That you lost your mojo." Helga then spoke as she made her way toward them with Phoebe.

"Word in the hallway says that your little stunt against Latino boy took a real toll on your rep." She explained. "You were not only humiliated, but you seemed to have lost the school's respect for you."

"What!" An outraged Gerald exclaimed. "But-But but how?!"

"Who knows." Helga said as she shrugged her shoulders.

"That can't be true." Arnold said. "How could the whole school lose respect for Gerald after just one lousy battle dance? It was just a dance."

"Hey, don't ask me how these kid's brains are screwed together." Helga replied. "It's just the law of the playground."

Gerald was in a state of utter shock. He could not believe what he just heard. At that moment, he felt his whole world was rupturing and completely collapsing. Everything he had basically worked his entire life to build, at the one place where he felt he was getting the respect he felt he always deserved, it was all crashing down.

Pretty soon, his shock and despair soon gave away to anger as soon as he looked at Helga.

"Helga, what did you do?!" Gerald angrily exclaimed at her.

"What?! I didn't do anything!" Helga exclaimed back, looking surprised.

"Oh come off it!" Gerald angrily yelled back. "I know it was you that started telling everyone around the false lie that me losing that dance fight cost the school to lose respect for me."

"Hey! Just who do you think you are?" Helga now angrily exclaimed back. "You have no right speaking to me that way, bucko!"

The two got closer to each other until they were mere inches away and looked like they were ready to start a brawl.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, cool it, Gerald!" Arnold exclaimed as he got between both of them. "We don't know if it was Helga, or anyone that caused this."

"Oh, so your backing your girlfriend now over your best friend?" Gerald angrily asked him.

"Arnold is right, Gerald." Phoebe then spoke. "I can vouch for Helga. She didn't cause any rumour to spread about you. I was with her the whole morning."

Gerald didn't say anything and for a second, refused to believe Phoebe. But when he looked into her eyes, he realized she was being genuine.

"Fine." Gerald sighed, now calming down. "I'm sorry for accusing you, Helga."

"You damn well better!" Helga angrily exclaimed. "And don't you ever accuse me again!" She warned him.

"Right." He dispassionately said before adjusting his backpack and made his way through the hallway to get to class.

Arnold, Helga and Phoebe looked on as he left, feeling perplexed and confused about his sudden burst of anger.

Later that day…

As all the kids made their way to lunch, Arnold moved through the crowd to quickly catch up to his best friend.

When they got to their classroom that morning, Arnold didn't attempt to speak to Gerald. He could tell he was still upset about the loss of his rep, so he just let him be. But he knew he had to eventually help him.

"Hey Gerald." Arnold said to him when he caught up with him. "How are you doing?"

"Honestly," Gerald sighed as he rubbed his eyes. "I could have handled the news a lot better. I'm sorry for accusing your girlfriend like that."

"It's okay." Arnold said. "But, what did happen back there?"

"Not sure." Gerald said. "But I'm going to find out why I lost respect in this school."

"Oh, right." Arnold said. "But I was mostly referring to the way you reacted this morning. Why did you suddenly get so angry?"

"What do you mean why?" Gerald annoyingly asked. "Cuz I lost my rep! That's why!"

"Gerald c'mon. You didn't lose your rep." Arnold assured. "No single dance battle was going to do away what took you years to build."

"Hm, you'd be surprised." Gerald said. "You remember last year what happened to that kid in the 7th grade?" He asked.

"Yes." Arnold responded.

"It only took a few hits for him to be toppled." Gerald said.

"Okay first off," Arnold countered. "Jeffrey was never really the smartest kid on the block. Secondly, he did A LOT of crazy things that just rubbed people the wrong way."

"Crazy things that he did only in the 7th grade!" Gerald explained. "But before that, he was such a cool kid. Always had the fanciest clothing, was great at every sport. The gals loved him! But did anyone remember all of that? No, they didn't. They only looked at all the things he did – or didn't do – in the 7th grade before this place turned their backs on him."

"I'm telling you Arnold." Gerald continued. "It's hard being a kid. It's a vicious, dog-eat-dog world out there. And if we ain't careful, it could suck the life out of you like that!" As he snapped his fingers.

"Okay. So, what are you going to do then?" Arnold asked.

"First, I need to find out why my dance with Rodrigo cost me pointers." Gerald explained. "So then I'll be able to find a way to get it back."

"How are you going to find out?" Arnold asked.

"Oh I have my ways." Gerald said with a smirk as he continued to make his way through the hallway, bypassing the lunchroom.

After some time in walking through the hallway, both pre-teens turned to a corner that had a dead end. Arnold was about to question Gerald why they were there, but a figure then appeared from a dark corner, getting his attention.

"Hey Sid." Gerald greeted him when he emerged from the darkness

"Hey guys." Sid greeted them.

"So what you got?" Gerald asked.

"Well from what people have said," Sid began, "many felt it was a bit weird that you challenged Rodrigo to a dance battle."

"Why is that?" Gerald asked.

"Well, because you never did anything like that before." Sid explained. "At least not in front of the whole school. Some folks thought it was dumb of you to challenge someone who is the best dancer in the whole school for no reason, while others felt you were up to something and it just rubbed them the wrong way."

"Didn't people think that I may just wanted a challenge?" Gerald asked, looking annoyed.

"I don't think people saw it that way." Sid replied. "It wasn't so long ago that you and Rodrigo were once enemies during the whole Revolution scenario." Replied Sid.

"So?" Gerald asked.

"So people think you still have it out for him." Sid responded. "People took you challenging him as a sign of weakness."

"You gotta be kidding me." Gerald frustratingly groaned. "First off, I'm not out to get him. I maybe keeping my distance, but that doesn't mean I wanna order a hit on the guy. And second, why are people so hooked on this guy?!" Now starting to get angry. "He literally ended up imprisoning half the school and sent the other half to battle half of schools in this city! But now that he is suddenly going out with Rhonda, everyone just forgives and forgets about that?! And I'm the one that loses points on my rep?! Where Sid, is the justice in that?!"

"Whoa, whoa, cool it Gerald." Arnold intervened as he gently put his hand on Gerald's shoulder and gently pulled him away from Sid who by now, was within inches of his face, intimidating him.

Gerald riled himself up and he was angrily breathing heavily. But when he realized what he was doing, he relented and started to calmed down.

"Sorry, Sid." He genuinely said. "I just...I need to get some air."

Gerald then left and headed toward the nearest door to get out of the building. Arnold and Sid stood there, each looking confused and worried.

"He's not actually still sour at Rodrigo, is he?" Sid asked Arnold.

"I didn't think so." Arnold replied with a worried tone.