Bets

Helga wasn't really known for being a party animal, but when she wanted to let off steam. She was a locomotive engine at full speed. She would've felt bad for Rhonda if she didn't hire maids to do the clean-up of her home.

With this in mind. Helga went hard.

She was pretty sure she downed a bottle of Absolut vodka within the first half hour, which really set the tone for her night. She was careful not mix too much liquor and stayed away from the tequila shots that Curly had set up a line of. She beat Harold and Stinky at beer pong and snickered herself nearly to death as the forked over bet money.

She arm wrestled Sid for a joint, pranked Eugene with plopping Mentos in his diet coke, kicked the door in for Rhonda when she found out two love birds had occupied her room and had even stolen the shoes right off Peabody as he was passed out on the couch and hid them in the dish washer.

Helga was able to convince Phoebe and Lila to help "decorate" a sleeping Gerald who passed out on the couch by accident. The fool. She ended up dancing with the two girls for most of the night before slipping away to raid Rhonda's parents high end Liquor stash that was in her father's study. She giggled when the Princess saw her father's very expensive Bourbon and her mother vineyard wine being passed around like a bottle of Smirnoff.

Helga narrowly avoided any embarrassing dares or truths in a game and almost sat down for spin the bottle until she saw Arnold sit down as well. Suddenly her legs went straight as sticks and walked her into the kitchen to devour whatever was in the fridge. She ended up going through the cupboards and filling her bag with Rhonda's tasty expensive snacks. Not like the family would even notice. They don't do their own shopping. Unless it was clothes.

All and all Helga could say she was satisfied with the night but could agree that the last few shots she had were maybe too much as she was currently lying behind the living room couch. The party had settled down and she just wanted to lie down without someone trying to mess with her while she napped. She wasn't dumb and she knew she had a lot of enemies. So she rolled behind the couch and hadn't been disturbed until a group of her friends had settled down in the living room. Helga was going to jump and scare them until she heard her name.

"So did you think they will ever get around to it? I mean tonight they wouldn't even look at each other. Maybe we are wrong about this" She picked up Nadine's voice as she peered around the corner of the couch. Rhonda was next to her and leaning her head on her best friends' shoulder.

"Oh please!" Rhonda pulled herself up. Her half-lidded gaze was set on a knocked over centerpiece. "I'm surprised it's taken this long but trust me they have to at some point soon"

"Who?" Harold scratched his chin as he stretched his legs out and accidentally bumped Curly with his toe. The skinny teen scowled at the other swatted his foot.

"Who do you think you dope? Helga and Arnold! We have been trying to guess when they will get together for like the past 3 months now." He crossed his arms before scooting closer to Rhonda who narrowed her eyes. "I still say it'll be a one-night stand that haunts one of them forever. Probably happens in their mid-twenties during a night out at the bar" Nadine scrunched her mouth to one side while side eying Curly.

"That's oddly specific you know"

"I think you mean oddly creative"

"No, no I don't" Nadine chuckled.

Sid pulled his hat off for a moment and smoothed his hair back, his face flushed from the alcohol in his system as something of a half drunken smirk hung on his lips. "Hey, what if like, they get together during prom or something cliché like that?" He snickered.

"Naw I reckon they won't doing anything for a while with the way they are going" Stinky leaned back into plush loveseat. The group laughed as Helga grit her teeth and suppressed a growl. Her cheeks were red and her fists were balled. She muttered under her breath about getting back at each of them. She was about to stand up until someone said something that stopped her in her tracks. "But I do imagine them being all sweet like and such when they do get to it"

"Let's bet on it" Rhonda grinned. She pulled out a notebook and a pen. She wrote down her name and her bet along with how much she was betting. She passed it along around the small group. "I bet that Arnold and Helga in six months" She stated firmly.

Nadine giggled and scribbled down her own estimates. Helga sat behind the couch silently fuming that her sex life (or lack there-of) was apparently a common topic for their friends. Half of her was tempted to stand up and give them a vicious tongue lashing. But the other half was too curious about…well…. how were they even under the assumption that Arnold even liked her like that. She could give the excuse of one of them picked up on her romantic subtilty towards her football headed muse. But Arnold couldn't like her like that.

Helga crouched down low to the floor and hoped this would just end soon. She was horrified that her classmates had picked up on her secret and worst fear. But what was worse was that they were deluded! Either that or she had fallen asleep behind the couch and was having a weird and terrifying out of body experience. Harold coughed before frowning "How do we even know Arnold likes Madame fortress mommy"

Rhonda scoffed "Are you kidding me? We all heard his drunk tirade during my last party. Not to mention the fact that he refuses to leave her alone after all she does to him. Plus, I'm pretty sure Gerald let slip about all of his 'Helga doodles' during him and Sid's last smoke session" She crossed her legs and held her chin high "Honestly Harold, Sid, Stinky, pay attention"

"Wha..? But we didn't say any-"

"Anyway, is everyone done with their bets? I say, this will be the best bet since elementary" Rhonda cut him off as she squinted at the paper. Not admitting it out loud but she was beginning to regret the last drink she had. Curly was looking handsome and that was already disturbing her. "Okay! I'll go over the results tomorrow and mark everyone down. But for now, I say we order a pizza and check to see if anyone is still here. I don't want a repeat of last time where I found Wolfgang and his friends in my parents' hot tub well after the party ended. That was…. Scary for lack of a better term" She glanced at Curly again.

"I mean do we have to?" Harold asked before he was elbowed by Stinky and Sid at the same time.

"We'd be happy to help Miss Rhonda" Stinky smiled and got up slowly, dusting off his pants. "Ain't we Harold?" He looked down at his friend while offering a hand to stand. Harold rolled his eyes but smiled as he took the hand and stood.

"Yeah okay…sorry. Let's go check okay?"

…

Helga waited until her classmates filed out of the room and she peaked over the couch to make sure the coast was clear. She spotted a piece of paper on the coffee table in front of her and climbed over the couch to reach it.

"Alright, other than the fact that my classmates have suddenly gone insane this night was good" She read the list down.

Stinky, Nadine, Sheena and Lorenzo all apparently bet that her and Arnold would get together in a year.

Harold and Peabody apparently think it's never gonna happen. Wow. Rude.

Rhonda and Sid think it'll happen in prom like some sort of high school movie trope. Helga inwardly gagged.

A few spaces for other classmates were left like Gerald and Phoebe and Eugene.

Helga would never in a billion year admit it. But she felt relieved that her classmates had wizened up to her antics and somewhat supported it in a weird way. As she was about to set down the paper and just forget about the whole thing…but then she saw the pen laying on the table. Looking so innocent and just begging her to involve it in some kind of shenanigans. Slowly the wheels started to turn inside Helga's head and a wicked grin grew on her face.

A plan was putting itself piece by piece together inside her head. She might be able to get her cake and eat it too. Or more appropriately. Get her ice cream and eat it too.

She scribbled down on the paper

"Geraldine- One Week"

She set both down and snickered as she collected her jacket and bag stuffed with snacks. She plucked a few half or mostly full bottles of liquor she found and stashed them under her coat as she slipped on her shoes. Helga was so caught up in her own half-drunk euphoria of scheming she didn't even realize someone had approached her from behind.

"Helga? You're still here?" A very familiar voice caught her off guard. She whipped around and was faced with Arnold.

"Oh uh...Hi Arnold…yeah I'm just heading out now. Party looks like it died down s that's when I go heheh" She awkwardly laughed. The conversation that her friends had in the other room suddenly slapped her in the face. Same with her scheme. Her halfcocked plan she was formulating would only work if a certain someone knew some things she had been putting off for a while. A wonderful and horrible idea popped in her head and out her mouth before she could stop it. "You wouldn't mind walking me home, would you?"

Arnold looked surprised and before she could open her mouth to retract what she said. "yeah sure I would love to" He smiled at her with that half-lidded gaze. She swallowed thickly felt the blood rush to her cheeks and swore it was just the alcohol.

Arnold grabbed his jacket from the closet and opened the door, holding it open to let her go first. She smiled and gave him a coy "Such a gentleman" line as she sauntered out.

What had they said about Arnold before? Something about a Tirade last party and doodling. She was fuzzy on the details but she tonight she felt a little bit confident. At least with this new plan. It was a full block until Helga finally piped up.

"So, uh... thanks for walking me home. Coulda been lonely. Normally I walk home with Phoeb's but I think she made a break for it when Gerald woke up. They aren't that subtle" She readjusted and cursed herself for not putting on her jacket. She stopped walking and shifted the jacket to her other arm and set the two bottles down that she had been hiding on the ground. She heard Arnold chuckle.

"Well that explains why I couldn't find him and why he won't answer his texts…..and I see great minds think alike" Helga's eyes widened as he pulled out a bottle of what looked like a nice rum from The Lloyd's personal stash "Thanks for showing me where the good stuff is" He winked at her as he took the two bottles she collected and unzipped her bag to stash them. He only briefly looked between her and the snacks.

"What…. They won't notice…and I didn't show you anything! I was alone-you followed me, didn't you?"

"Guilty"

"So, I guess that makes you a stalker then huh?" Helga smirked. Arnold was suddenly flustered.

"Wha? No! Come on I followed you for like a minute at a party because I was curious about what you were gonna do?" He opened the rum and took a sip. Helga smiled. "I mean you were everywhere tonight. I saw you steal Peabody's shoes and kick a door in. Then there was the Mentos and if I do remember you nicked a five from Eugene's pocket when you thought no one was looking at you"

"So, you were stalking me"

"No, you're just the best source of mayhem at a party"

"And the Helga doodles?"

Arnold spat out the drink with such ferocity it was just a mist of spiced rum in front of him. His face was instantly red as he looked at her with horror. She waggled her brow at him. "How did you-"

"Never mind that Shortman, you should be more concerned that the rest of the class knows" She was relishing in this. Never in a million years did she think she would get this kind of reaction from her football headed love god. Flustered, red faced and nervous. Maybe a bit tongue tied. She was living right now. She watched as he had a sort of out of body experience for a small moment before he was slung back into reality.

"They WHAT?" He yelled. Arnold looked like he was panicking hardcore now. "I-Look Helga those drawing I uh-they are just practice? Yeah you are just an interesting model because you beau-" He seemed to almost bite off his own tongue. He stared at her with wide eyes for a moment before he bolted down the street. Helga was confused for a moment before her feet carried after him, long strides and her breath huffing puffs in the cold night air as she called after him.

He abruptly stopped around the fourth or sixth time she called after him, causing her to crash into him. He spun on his heel as she was rubbing her head.

"Who told you?" He asked quietly. He seemed genuinely very afraid and very angry. Helga looked up at Arnold. She was about to open her mouth and give him a smart-ass retort but something in his eyes told her not to play around this time.

"I uh…I was behind a couch trying to make the world less dizzy when our classmates came in. Talking about us…and things," She could tell that answer did not satisfy him "Alright look, our classmates seemed to think that we have this thing going on-and we kinda do, but I guess Miss Princess Rhonda thought it would be a good idea to start a betting pool on when we get together. They made some pretty compelling arguments for it and... I overheard...them"

Arnold was quiet as they neared her house, or rather, the beeper emporium. "You know…I uh…I really shoulda asked beforehand but I kinda wanted to get back at them for it. You know um, a little payback for gossiping and being nosy and such," She fumbled with her keys for the back door. "I was gonna rig the betting pool with a fake name and grab the cash pot at the end ….. Do you want in? It would be more convincing if you were in on it" She looked at Arnold as they approached the back door and he gave her a very hard look. Trying to convey a million words her intoxicated brain couldn't decipher.

"I'll have to think about it…Good night Helga" He gave her a small shoulder squeeze before she turned the key in the lock and opened the door.

"Thanks football head. I'll see you tomorrow at school, I guess? Also, don't tell Rhonda it was me who got into her parents' liquor…that dies with us" She gave him a smile before slipping in the door.

"Whatever you say Helga... Whatever you say" Arnold turned around and started to head back home.

…

When Helga woke up the next morning her head felt like it was being split in two by a dull rusty axe. She rubbed her eyes before checking her phone to see the time. Instead she was a text from Arnold. It was sent only an hour after he had walked her home the night before.

"I'll do it"