Cherry and Atticus Save the Neighborhood

chapter 8

They were walking down the street, looking cool, until the bus rode up and Helga had crashed into them again.

"Helga?" Gerald said out of confusion.

"What are you doing here?" Arnold asked her.

"I was walking..." Helga replied, innocent at first, but then glared angrily to them. "Walking, until you and your dumb new friends knocked me down, Football Head!"

"Sorry, Helga, we were just--" Arnold started to explain.

"Yeah, yeah, just out playing your dumb secret agent game," Helga scoffed with an eye roll. "Aren't you a little old for that, especially you two? Yeesh!"

"Come on, guys, we've got things to do." Gerald said.

"HA!" Helga scoffed. "What, some new plan to save the neighborhood?"

"That's the plan." the others told her as they got on the bus.

"Let's roll." Arnold told them.

"Try taking off those lame shades so you can see where you're walking next time!" Helga mocked them as soon as they got on the bus together. "Good luck, Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, and Sherlock Bones. You're gonna need it!"

"This girl is getting annoying." Patch said.

"If we see her again, you can bite her." Atticus allowed.

"With pleasure..." Patch growled as they rode off.

The bus was driving them by a neighborhood as a man with a ponytail was leaving his house, that was their target: Nick Vermicelli.

"There he is." Atticus said.

"Uhm, Mr. Driver?" Arnold spoke up. "Could you open the door? We need to get out really bad."

"We gotta follow him," Gerald added. "He's got a key."

"The bus stops at the corner of 43rd." the driver told them in dull monotone.

"We're making our own stop." Patch said.

The driver kept driving, but then glared as they made an unscheduled stop and let themselves out. "Juvenile delinquents..." he mumbled, then went to his next stop.

The five of them were then quickly and quietly following Nick as he was on his way into a club only for customers 21 and over.

"Alright, let's keep following him." Patch said.

"There's a problem with that," Cherry said, gesturing to the door. "You have to be 21 or over to go through those doors."

"And we're way under than 21." Gerald said.

"Maybe we can get in around back?" Arnold suggested.

"Oh, this is gonna end badly..." Cherry sighed.

Inside the club, there was a singer known as Ray Doppel singing to the people who were there to have a good time while Nick was meeting a lady friend of his. The boys and Cherry came in disguised as waiters. Patch was under a catering tray that wouldn't be delivered to any table.

"Alright, so where is he?" Patch whispered.

"There..." Cherry saw as she held a platter in one hand, balancing it, like a skilled waitress.

Atticus put Bridget and Teresa's microphone on a table so they could listen in on them.

"Hope this doesn't end in a disaster." Patch whispered.

Gerald was trying to make the microphone pick up Nick and the lady's conversation, but could only make out a few words.

"What's going on?" Cherry asked.