hey you guys! ;) my little Hey Arnold Christmas present for you guys. Hope you enjoy!
Sorry about any typos...
And Merry Christmas! :D
As a sidenote, this takes place where "give it the ol college try" will leave off =)
I do not own Hey Arnold, nor do I own "A Christmas Story"
The girl sighed as she placed the last glass ball on the pathetically drooping excuse for a Christmas tree that graced the corner of her tiny living room. Not that she wasn't exactly pleased, per se, but she most certainly wasn't ecstatic about it. It didn't matter how many decorations or Christmas specials she had sat through with Ben and Jerry. Why, it wasn't even the fact that she really loved Christmas passionately or anything close to that level of affection for the Holidays. She just didn't want to spend the holiday that was all about goodwill and family more than two hours away from anyone she called family.
As bad as her home life was, Christmas itself had never been bad. She'd always gotten what she wanted. She had had her Nancy Spumoni snow boots in fourth grade, her poetry book set in sixth, the violin she had wanted in ninth, and even the new computer her junior year. It was the only time of year she had felt like her parents cared a little something for her, as if these material gifts meant they somehow felt bad for the years of no attention and cheese wiz and cracker lunches.
She sighed. Ever since she'd been in this little apartment these last two years, she'd had Jace to watch her guilty pleasure Christmas specials with and decorate whatever crappy tree that found at the last minute tree sales. They'd even spent time with other dorm mates her first two years.
But this year Jace's father had actually called and invited him home for Christmas, a feat that had never been accomplished in his last ten years. Not since his dad had left him and his attentive mother to fend for themselves. He'd been hesitant to accept, of course. It wasn't like he had anything left to say to the man. But Helga, knowing it probably meant a lot more than he let on to get the call, had went out and bought him the bus ticket that night and placed a bow on it as she declared "Merry Christmas, bucko! Get your ass on the bus tomorrow morning or I will personally drag you by those long tresses of yours to your dad's house!" Jace had laughed pleasantly and given her a kiss on the cheek before sashaying off to pack his ragged suitcase.
And that had been three days ago. But no matter how she tried to muster up the 'spirit', Helga just couldn't find any. There was no good cheer for her this Christmas. She frowned. "I am destined to be a cat lady when I get older," she muttered, stepping back to look at her handy work. The tree had been one of the last (of course) at the local supermarket and she had haggled the price from fifteen dollars down to ten with the help of old Betsy and the Five avengers. She crossed her arms as she peered out from under her perfectly sculpted two eyebrows. It wasn't bad, but definitely not like the trees she remembered back in Hillwood, where everyone got into the spirit. She felt a tiny smile tug at the corner of her chapped lips. On a rare occasion she did find herself missing her hellhole of home.
She shook her sloppy blond pigtails in approval before shuffling her bare feet across the threadbare carpet and flopping down on the even more worn couch as she clicked on the tv to classic twenty five days of Christmas. With a sidelong glance to the big cat clock on the wall she noted she still had at least 4 hours before the first showing of "A Christmas Story" would begin on the other channel and she figured since she had nothing else to do she would definitely catch it.
The girl gave a sigh of mild contentment as she grabbed the throw from the back of the couch and snuggled down into the pillows she'd been sleeping on the last few nights. It was probably sad she was still in her pjs from the previous night, he blue plaid flannel long mens' pants and an overly large pink t-shirt with a white stripe in the middle. Like a Christmasy Powerpuff girls shirt.
She watched Rudolph for a good thirty minutes before she felt herself drifting off to sleep.
She heard the phone ringing faintly as she slowly drifted into consciousness. It was somewhere close, and she grunted as she rolled over and slid her hand across the carpet until she made contact with the vibrating junk heap.
"City Morgue."
"Merry Christmas Hellie baby!"
She sat up and rubbed her eyes with her free hand. "Jace? What time is it?"
"Oh, it just turned twelve."
"And you called me…at midnight."
"It's not like you were doing anything."
"Ow…that stings."
"I'm kidding sweetheart, but you cant miss the tradition of watching A Christmas Story with me! You have it on?"
"One sec," she muttered as she grabbed the remote and scanned channels before finally stopping. "Got it…So how's your dad?"
"Eh, normal," he scoffed. "Trying to tiptoe around my lifestyle."
Helga let out a snort.
"Oh sure, you laugh about it. It's awkward as hell. Mom is here too."
"Did he tell you she would be?" Helga asked in surprise and she once again snuggled under the blanket.
"Well she kind of invited herself once she found out I was here. She didn't like being left out. I love my mom, but you know how she is."
"Totally opposite from my mom."
She heard a grunt of consent. "Totally. Heard from her?"
"Midnight."
"She could be eager."
"yeah, right," the girl scoffed, an edge of sadness painting her voice. "That'll be the day."
"I'm sorry babe. Hey, I'm gonna call you back in the morning okay? I can see dad giving me a look of horror from the kitchen, and as much as I'd like to have him think I'm talking to a buff Rick, it's Christmas."
Helga laughed, brushing back some of her loose hair. "Sure thing Jace. Merry Christmas."
"Merry Christmas!"
The girl wore a sorrowful smile as she snapped the phone shut and let it fall to the carpet. "Yeah, definitely merry," she muttered, pulling the blanket up so it covered everything but her face.
She'd been watching the movie about ten minutes when there came a heavy pounding on the door. Her eyes widened in shock as she listened out for a follow up.
"Probably just some smelly old hobo," she told herself as she stood up and made a cape from her cover. "I guess I could open the window and give him a sandwich." She nodded at the thought as she shuffled her now exposed and cold feet into the kitchen where the door was located. There came another pounding.
"Oh hold on! Criminy!" she snapped loudly as she reached into the cheap fridge and pulled out a deviled egg sandwich. She loped the few short steps to the door and pushed open the window and froze.
"Hey," he muttered with a sheepish grin, using one of his large hands to hold his cap down.
"What the HELL are you doing here?" she squeaked, her blue eyes wide with surprise.
"Can I come inside and discuss it?"
She nodded, fumbling with all the locks on the door. She threw it open and pushed it closed again as soon as he stepped in.
"Midnight snack?" he asked as he shock some of the snow off his jacket as he indicated the sandwich.
"It was for the hobo," she blurted out as she pointed at the door. "You were supposed to be a hobo!" she moaned as she pressed the sandwich into his hand, some of the egg squishing out.
"Um…" he pondered, "No. I'm sorry. I'm no Christmas Hobo. Just a Christmas Arnold. Here to take you to Hillwood on my big red sleigh!" He smiled nervously. "Which is just my old red truck….with some horse power instead of reindeer."
The girl blinked, clutching her blanket around her. "I always knew you were insane," she retorted flatly. "Always!" She threw her hands up in the air, the blanket slipping to the floor as she marched back to the den and sat stiffly on the couch.
Arnold followed, looking around the cluttered room. "I like your tree," he said with a smile.
"Shut up."
"No, it's got character. That whole Charlie Brown tree persona."
She shook her head as he walked over and observed it.
"How'd you know where my apartment was?" she asked after a moment.
"I asked your mom?"
"Miriam remembered?" Helga inquired in shock.
"um…no. But Olga overheard and she gave me directions."
"Wait, why were you even at my house?" the girl demanded, jumping up and stomping the floor. "Not that I don't like to see you," she explained nervously as she tore her eyes away from his handsome figure. "But I don't understand what's going on." She moaned as she massaged her temples.
"Well, simple!" the boy said with a radiant smile. "You were missing."
"I'm not missing!"
"Because I found you," he teased as he came over and tugged her pigtails. "I saw Olga in the mall the other day and I assumed if she was home, you must be! However, I was wrong," he explained, "seeing as how when I went by your house Bob gruffly snapped 'The girl aint here!'"
Helga felt a tiny chuckle escape as Arnold impersonated her father to a T.
"So I felt something was wrong if all your family was coming home for Christmas and you weren't, so I talked to grandpa and grandma about it. Grandpa ended up making me mop." He muttered under his breath a bit. "But grandma told me no one should be alone on Christmas. So I proceeded to call your house and asked if I could come by and Olga said I could and then you know the rest."
"Why didn't you call me? I might not have been alone," she scolded as she crossed her arms.
"Well is it wrong that I kind of hoped you were?" he asked as he sheepishly ran his fingers through his hair. "Besides, calling would've ruined the surprise."
Helga stood with her mouth agape as he grabbed her hands and pulled her back into the bedroom and instructed her to pack a quick suitcase.
It took a few moments for her to shove some mismatched clothing into her duffle bag and she allowed Arnold to go unplug her tree and turn off the tv before running back and once again dragging her somewhere, this time to his old junk heap of a truck.
It roared to life and the clock greeted them with a merry twelve thirty-seven.
"I still don't know why I'm agreeing to this," she said in disbelief as she watched her locked apartment speed away.
"Because it's Christmas," he said seriously. "And no one should be alone."
The two hour trip consisted of the first thirty minutes of awkward silence, mostly on Helga's part, the next thirty minutes of small talk, then the last hour of comfortable singing of Christmas carols as the two slowly fell into a sense of ease.
Helga grinned as she saw the bright Christmas lights of Hillwood come into view, but it was dampened somehow by the darkness of her old home as they pulled up in front.
"I'm really appreciative of what you're trying to do Arnold, but I don't know about this," she admitted. There was only the light of a lonely Christmas tree in the window.
He nodded before pushing his door open and making his way around to hers where he proceeded to pull it open and look up into her face. "No turning back now," he instructed, his green eyes glittering with their own Christmas lights.
She smiled in return, thinking about how amazing it was to have Arnold, her very own Christmas angel. Her handsome, amazing, sweet, thoughtful, and indeed merry little blonde Santa. She took a breath as she jumped down, her familiar boots crunching the snow. She nodded confidently at him as she marched up the stoop and bent to reach for the key, but thought better of it and rang the doorbell twice. The two watched as bedroom lights flickered on slowly and grumbling footsteps were heard close to the door. The listened intently as the locks clicked.
"Who the-!" Bob began, then stopped, mouth agape as Helga gave a sarcastic smile.
"Merry Christmas, Bob."
He blinked, rubbing a nervous hand through his thinning hair as he stepped aside to let Miriam and Olga shuffle up in there nightgowns.
"Baby sister! Ooo! It's a Christmas miracle!" Olga squealed as Miriam gave a lopsided smile and awkwardly hugged her youngest daughter.
"Hey, honey," she said in a surprisingly sober sounding voice. "It's been too long since you've been here for Christmas. Come in, come in!" she ushered, running her shaky fingers through Helga's knotted pigtails.
"Well, don't just stand there boy. Come on," Bob said in a somewhat gruff voice that was accompanied by a slight smile. "It's Christmas."
Arnold chuckled. "'Tis the season," he responded as he put his hands in his jacket pocket.
The two men made their way into the den where Miriam and Olga where talking animatedly to Helga next to the tree.
"We had eggnog yesterday," Bob said, indicating Miriam. "We didn't put alcohol in Miriam's this year, so she seems to be doing a little better. And thanks. For bringing the girl home."
Arnold nodded as they observed from their position in the doorway. "I couldn't think of a better way to spend Christmas."
Bob nodded. He then gave Arnold an awkward pat on the back before making his way in the room with his family.
"Just to make her smile," Arnold mused with a smile of his own as he watched Helga give a large, genuine smile that shined to Arnold the star of Bethlehem must've shined to the wise men. It was definitely worth all the trouble to follow it to the source.
"Merry Christmas, Helga."