The Jungle Story

chapter 4: The Contest Winner

Mike and Helga made it into school before the final bell would ring and they were going to their lockers. Mike was going to collect some of her books she would need for the day and Helga was probably going to go into one of her delusional rants about Arnold with a hint of sweet poetry and never dare tell him how she feels despite that Mike believes it would make her feel a lot better. Then there would be Brainy behind the bully girl, forcing her to punch him in his glasses and brace face, making him fall to the floor in a comic effect. Mike shrugged it off and made her way to Mr. Simmon's class. 

"Oh, hello, Mike, good to see you," Mr. Simmons smiled down to her in the same way he would smile at all the students, no matter how troubled or different, he felt every boy and girl he met was special. 

"Good morning, Mr. Simmons," Mike greeted as she walked into class, then went to her desk as she was with the boys while the girls talked about gossip. "Gerald, you ever enter the essay contest?"

Gerald scoffed. "No way, I got better things to deal with than with that homework bait."

"Jamie O hogging the bathroom and Timberly tattling on you?" Arnold guessed, having heard how much Gerald hated having his family and once wanted to live at the boarding house. 

Gerald glanced at Arnold. "Whatever, man."

"I thought you'd like to do it, Gerald," Sid spoke up. "I mean, you almost always tell about the urban legends. That'd be a great subject for your essay."

"What'd you write about, Sid?" Mike asked the big-nosed kid.

"Frogs," Sid smiled. "You remember Sidney? He was my inspiration."

"I remember how you were afraid of germs for a while, that was so ridiculous." Arnold chuckled.

"It WAS pretty nanners of ya, Sid..." Stinky spoke up. 

"Yeah, we could've lost to the fifth graders if you didn't snap out of it!" Harold added.

"I know, guys, that was a long time ago, besides, WE'LL be the fifth graders soon, then we can have our ultimate revenge on Wolfgang and the others!" Sid called, cackling manically.

"Sid, they'll be in sixth grade when we're in fifth grade," Mike clarified, narrowing her eyes. "By then, they'll pummel you just for acknowledging their existence."

"Unless they're Maria and Connie..." Arnold looked dreamily, remembering his experience with older women.

"Oh, yeah~" Gerald agreed, remembering as well.

Mike scoffed and rolled her eyes, but smiled as she had fun with the guys before they got started. Whenever she hung out with the girls, it was mostly about her fashion choices and that Rhonda wanted to improve her to make her popular by graduation so she'll have loads of friends in middle and high school. 

Helga was okay though, as was Nadine, Nadine was the tomboy of the girl's group, even more than Mike. While Nadine loved bugs and spiders, Mike was afraid of them, suprisingly enough, even baby spiders scare the living daylights out of her. Phoebe seemed more concerned about her grades and school than having a social life, though she was invited to rituals like slumber parties or going to the mall. 

Sheena could never disappoint, she was always so cheerful and optimistic. Mike always figured she and Eugene would go out together due to how much they love spending time together. Plus, Sheena seemed always healthy, maybe it was due to her aunt being the SCHOOL NURSE. Then there was Lila...

How irritating, how 'classy', how 'ever-so' perfect. Mike had always never been fond of Lila despite coming from a broken down home. Sure, Lila didn't have a mother, her father was poor and had to move them and they barely had any food on the table, but Lila was just always so annoying. It was the only thing Mike and Helga could actually agree on that Lila was a nusiance and needed to be destroyed.