CHAPTER 34

BRO TALK

Arnold was sitting in his room waiting for a knock from his Best Friend.

The first thing that Arnold did when he came home was to go to the phone and call Gerald, then invite him over, it took some convincing because Gerald would avoid the Boarding House ever since G moved in.

Knock... Knock...Boom

Arnold recognized that knock anywhere, he opened the door and let his friend in

"Hey man how you been, how was your trip" Said Gerald as he thumb greeted Arnold

Arnold poked his head out to see if anyone was out in the hall and closed the door slowly "it was the best trip I have ever had" replied the Football-Headed Boy "well kind of"

"So what's this emergency that can't be talked over the phone about?" asked Gerald as he plopped himself onto Arnold's couch

"it's not really an emergency, but I just needed to talk to someone" said Arnold as he sat next to him

Gerald sat back, by the look on Arnold's face, he knew very well that this was going to be a long afternoon

"and then, she ran off into the woods in the middle of Thanksgiving, I think that she saw the same guy that was standing behind her the other night" paused Arnold

By this time Gerald was on the edge of his seat, as if Arnold was telling him one of his own urban legends

"and then" he asked anxiously

"and then I ran after her, I found her caught upside down in a trap"

Gerald laughed and shook his head disapprovingly "that's embarrassing man" but the boys humor left once he saw Arnold's distressed face, a face Gerald had seen coming from Arnold way too often since fifth grade

Gerald cleared his throat and asked "and then?"

"and then" The Football-Headed boy shut his eyes tightly and took a deep breath "as she was hanging there, her shirt got lifted"

"woa woa WOAH" exclaimed Gerald

"Gerald" said Arnold a bit annoyed

"oh yeah, sorry"

"so then, she saw me and tried to cover her front, so she gave me her back"

"is that it Arnold? Is that what you're worried about" said Gerald as he stood up "that's nothing... One time I was walking to school and ended up seeing Nadine and..."

"No Gerald, when G gave me her back, I saw this huge deep cut across her back with bad stitching, it looks raw and infected... I wanted to ask her what happened but I couldn't, and when she was about to tell me... She just sat there speechless, I could see the pain in her face Gerald"

"Oh" Gerald gave it a big thought and said "so... do you think that, that one guy who follows her around did it?"

"That's exactly what I think, that night I hugged her all night long" Arnold's face began to soften at the memory "her hair is so soft, and her eyes are so..."

"Oh No! No! No! No! No! NO!" gulped Gerald's scratchy voice

Arnold quickly snapped out of it "what?" he asked

"Now that face I haven't seen in ages, but I recognize it anywhere" pointed Gerald "No Arnold, don't do this to me" said Gerald while desperately shaking Arnold

"what face? What are you talking about?"

"Arnold my man, I love you but you have got to be the boy with the worst taste in girls that ever lived"

"What are you trying to say Gerald?" asked the confused boy

"I'm trying to say that G has too many issues, why don't you go find yourself a Normal girl with Normal problems"

Arnold scrunched up his face and started to laugh "are you suggesting that I have a thing for G?"

"I'm not suggesting it, I know" said the boy as he crossed his arms

"No, I don't have a thing for her, I love Helga you know that"

Gerald began to feel a little stressed, he sat himself down and tried to look at the skylight as a distraction but it wasn't enough to let this ball of guilt escape, it was a usual thing that he felt every time his friend would mention the love he has for Helga.

Years ago Arnold begged Gerald to ask Fuzzy Slippers if he could find out how Helga was doing, it was quite a shock for Gerald and Phoebe to find out that Helga ran away from home, both he and Phoebe were so hurt that they couldn't even imagine the pain that it would cause Arnold if he found out that Helga left with no trace behind, so what did he do?

He lied, he told Arnold that she was doing well and that she was having so much fun in California with Olga.

Another person who knew the truth was Lila, she still talked to Olga over the phone and would even write letters to each other. Lila was quite upset herself, she wanted to do the right thing and tell Arnold but at the same time told Gerald that it felt so wrong.

Gerald knew that one day he would have to tell the truth, thinking to do it tomorrow is always easier than doing it today, and that's how it's been all these years... tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow, and never today.

The Tall-Hair Boy thought that if Arnold would look at other girls again that maybe he'll move on, that he probably might not carry this guilt anymore, but truth is... that the guilt would never leave his system, and even if he did tell Arnold, it wouldn't make it any better.

and now here he sat, in front of his football-headed friend, whom is finally starting to notice another girl, another girl who seems wrong for him for every reason in the world.

Gerald looked upon his best friend and noticed his oogglie face "mmm mm mmm" he shook his head disapprovingly.

Arnold threw himself onto his bed a sighed deeply, "Gerald, G is just a friend..."

"just a friend?, I never see that look on your face when you talk about Phoebe or Lila, Arnold, I bet that if I tried to set you up with G, you would have no argument opposed to the argument we went through when I hooked you up with Lila"

"when I hooked you up with Lila" whispered Gerald to himself, The ball of stress on his back began to pound severely, another subject that had him feeling guilty... Forcing Arnold and Lila together was stupid of him, but he was desperate to get his friend moving along, he remembered how badly Arnold would complain that Helga never wrote back all these years, and how come she never called.

All the questions, and all the complaining led him to do something stupid like forcing his best friend to go with a girl who felt nothing for him, a girl who was too nice to fight back and say no to him, it seemed like a good idea back then, but seems that it only made things worse.

"that's not true, and besides... G likes Curly" said Arnold interrupting Gerald's thoughts

"G... G... What?" Asked Gerald with a confused face, "look" pointed Gerald again, "Now that's another face I know, that's the face you were making when Arnie was Lila's Boyfriend... It's... It's the face of Jealousy"

"What? Gerald you've got it all wrong, don't confuse my desire to help someone with a crush" laughed Arnold awkwardly "I just want to help her but I have no idea where to start"

Gerald took a deep breath, he needed a break so got up and made the worst excuse he could ever think of "Well man, I gotta go help Phoebe with her homework so... I'll see you tomorrow"

"huh... Oh yeah, G and I are gonna walk to school together" smiled Arnold in a goofy way completely ignoring Gerald's fake excuse

"boy are you falling" said Gerald as he left the room, with a facepalm and all

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