Hey Arnold: I Promise You That

William Hart

A week had passed since the visit to the Botanical Gardens. Sarah had grew to trust her new friends and in return, they started to have a strong relationship with her. Even Arnold's family and the residents of the Boarding House grew to like her too.

It felt wonderful for Sarah; for the first time, she knew what real friendship was. And what trust can bring to people when others.

For a while, she thought that making friends was a dream. It reminded Sarah of her trip to Wish-land Park near Orlando when she spent two weeks there during the Easter holidays. It was like a dream that she never woke up from. Sure, meeting and greeting your favourite characters was one thing but making friends in the real world was another.

But when there is a dream, there was reality - and to insecurity. Sarah was worried about being picked on again by certain people but she needn't had worried. The issue with Rhonda was sorted. And with Ms Space's help, she could do whatever she wanted without being judged. However, Rhonda was in a foul mood after Ms Space had a word with her.

For Sarah, the second week at PS18 had begun to worry her. She still hadn't got used to a change of routine and this was becoming an issue. However, she had another thing to worry about - how to tell the others about her Autism. Only Arnold knew and he was fine with it. Helga, Gerald or Phoebe? Hmm... she was still uncomfortable.

Another change for Sarah was a change of teachers. It turned out that Ms Space was a substitute teacher for her class. Her real teacher was Mr Simmons, who had taught her class before Sarah came to PS18. But she was prepared as Arnold told her about Mr Simmons, so it was less of a worry. Sarah also discovered that Ms Space was a learning support teacher and she would assistant Sarah during lessons. However, Sarah would be unable to participate in language lessons because of her language difficulties. Instead, she would have to have one-to-one support with Ms Space, so she could have extra tuition during school hours.

The rest of the class thought it was odd for Sarah to be out during French and German, but Arnold knew what was happening. He had asked Sarah following her first session and she told him all about it.

"Do you find it difficult?"

"I'm used to it, Arnold. I've had the same support at my Primary school".

Arnold smiled in return. He knew she was happy, despite all the changes around her. Who could ask for more?

-----

After school, Gerald had an idea. He hated being stuck indoors and he wanted to have some freedom. "Man, I dunno know about you but I'm ready for some soccer".

"Soccer?" Sarah asked confusingly.

"Yeah, soccer. You know, kicking the ball in the field? Scoring goals?"

"Oh, you mean football".

"What?"

"Football, Gerald. Football is very exciting".

"No, no, no. Football is where you toss a hard ball and pass it along to your team players and to score -" 

"You mean rugby?"

"Rug what now?"

"Rugby. Rugby is very different from football".

"Criminy, Britannia", Helga said to Sarah. "Why are confusing everybody with these terms?"

Sarah released what she had said. "Oh, I was saying British words rather than American. Sorry", she replied embarrassingly, "I still haven't got used them".