Wolfgang and Nadine [COMPLETED] | a Hey Arnold! Fanfic

Chapter 3

Wolfgang grumbled when he heard the doorbell chime. It was bad enough that his team wound up tying with the fourth graders on Thursday (in his eyes, it was an outcome far worse than even losing), but on top of that he was stuck with a bum ankle. The doctor told him it was sprained and that he should stay off of it for at least a week, meaning that he would basically waste his entire Spring Break in crutches. And now, as he hobbled his way to the front door, he was preparing to unleash his wrath on whatever hapless Campfire Lass was on the other side...

Instead, Wolfgang found himself face to face with a fourth grader. He recognized her; it was the same fourth grader that he ran into which caused his current handicap. He narrowed his eyes and glowered. "What do YOU want?"

Nadine's immediate reaction was to run away, but instead she mustered up all her courage and stood her ground in front of the angry fifth grader. 'Hi, you probably don't remember me...'

"Oh, I remember you – you're that clumsy fourth grader that tripped me and ruined my Spring Break."

Nadine gulped and smiled nervously. "Yeah. That's me."

"So what are you doing here? Came to apologize?"

Nadine nodded eagerly, which was exactly the response Wolfgang expected. "Well, apology NOT accepted!" He was hoping for a satisfying door slam straight in Nadine's face, but she intercepted by sticking her foot inside the door.

"I knew you were going to say that. And you're right , frankly, I don't think an apology is good enough either. But I did a lot of thinking today and – well, you know the butterfly, right? It starts out as a caterpillar. It scours the earth, eating everything in its path..."

(During this exchange, Wolfgang wasn't really listening to Nadine, and was still struggling to close the door, but Nadine was determined to get her point across...)

"...but with a little bit of time, and a lot of a nurturing, the caterpillar emerges from its cocoon and transforms into a beautiful butterfly."

"What are you blathering on about? Never mind, just...get inside already," at last, Wolfgang stepped aside and allowed Nadine to enter. After taking a few steps inside, she turned to Wolfgang and smiled.

"I was just trying to say, right now you're a caterpillar...with a sprained ankle. And it's my fault that you got this way. So...I've decided to use my time off during Spring Break to nurture you back to health. I'll be your cocoon, and by the end of next week, you'll be Wolfgang the Butterfly, ready to take on the world!"

Nadine looked Wolfgang in the face, only to be met with a glazed look of disinterest.

"Wolfgang the Butterfly...right. Hey, how did you find out where I live anyway?"

Nadine followed behind Wolfgang as he hobbled his way back into the living room and to his seat in front of the television. "Well...it actually wasn't that difficult. See, I talked to all of my classmates, and it turned out that Joey takes the same bus route as you. In fact, he lives just one block away from your house, so I just followed him home and – presto! – here I am."

"Uh-huh," Wolfgang plopped himself on the couch and focused on the TV, completely ignoring Nadine's presence. Not sure what to do next, Nadine sat on the loveseat next to the couch. As the two of them sat in silence, Nadine twiddled her thumbs and began to survey her surroundings. It was a veritable bachelor pad: shag carpet, empty cans of various beverages strewn about on the floor, rock posters and sports paraphernalia plastered haphazardly on the wall with no consideration for colour coordination (it was the type of thing that would give her friend Rhonda a conniption fit).

"Interesting...living arrangements," was the best compliment Nadine could muster.

"Suits me," was Wolfgang's response, never taking his eyes off the boob tube.

Eventually, Nadine became bolder and decided to walk around the room a bit. She stopped when she spied a large book jutting out from a pile of old newspapers next to the TV.

"Ooh, what's that?" Nadine walked over to the book, but no sooner had she gotten her hands on it did Wolfgang suddenly appear by her side and snatch it away.

"You do NOT touch my things! EVER!" snapped Wolfgang, taking the book and placing high out of reach from curious hands.

Nadine was crestfallen. "Sorry..." she said timidly, her spider braids almost wilting in response to how she felt.

Wolfgang closed his eyes and took a deep breath, as if Nadine was testing his patience. When he did finally open his eyes again, he gave her a cold, hard look. "Just. Go. Home. You're wasting your time here, Fourth Grader."

Wolfgang hobbled out of the living room, and Nadine followed close behind. "But I haven't even gotten a chance to help you yet!"

"I don't need help,' snapped Wolfgang. "Especially from a good-for-nothing fourth grader that got me into this mess in the first place!"

Wolfgang stopped in front of flight of stairs. He was trying to get to his room on the second floor, and never realized how many steps there were or how steep the stair case was. Nadine stood behind him in silence and watched. First he tried to step up with his left foot first, but that didn't work; he tried propping himself up by the crutches, but that didn't work either. After several false starts, Wolfgang sighed and hung his head in defeat.

---

"Easy now...almost there...careful...there you go..."

With Nadine's assistance, Wolfgang was finally able to make it to the top of the steps. Nadine patted him on the back and smiled. "There. That wasn't so bad, now was it?"

"Yeah well, you didn't let me fall down the stairs at least. Nice work, Fourth Grader."

'It's Nadine, actually,'

"Whatever..." Wolfgang limped past her and stood in front of his bedroom door. He held the doorknob, paused, and stared at Nadine, who looked expectantly at him.

"Well...?"

"Well, what?"

"Well....are you going to let me be your cocoon?"

Wolfgang groaned and slammed his head against the doorway. "If I say yes, will you promise to leave me alone for the rest of the day?"

Nadine nodded.

"And you have to promise not to tell another living soul about this."

Nadine nodded again.

"And you must never, EVER, refer to me as a butterfly again."

"I promise," Nadine declared.

Wolfgang closed his eyes, took another deep breath, then exhaled. "Fourth Grader....you got yourself a deal."

Nadine beamed. "Really? That's great! I promise, Wolfgang, you won't regret it, and I'll make sure that you have the very best Spring Break that you can possibly have, and I—"

"Uh, Fourth Grader? You're still here."

"Oh, right. I'll go now." Nadine ran downstairs and exited the house. As she did this, Wolfgang rolled his eyes and entered his room, slamming his room door the way he wanted to slam out the rest of his miserable day.