Arnold stood next to Helga with a look of confusion plastered onto his face. They had just completed their mission of rescuing the neighborhood from ruins, and they were both mentally reminded of what took place earlier that day on the FTI rooftop. He shifted nervously towards Helga while his left foot traced the sand on the ground. Arnold was aware that he was slowly catching on to her acts; and he was determined to solve the mystery that was 'her'. He rubbed his arms in uncertainty of how he really felt about the scowl-wearing, fist punching girl that had just performed an amazing deed.
"So... Pretty crazy day. Huh?" He managed to say. Helga turned to Arnold after hearing him speak, there was something else her blue eyes weren't revealing to him. "Uhh yeah... Umm about all that stuff I said Arnold. I was... I was just, I mean it was crazy back there!" Why did she look so nervous? She appeared as though she was trying to push down something that she really had intended to say. "Yeah with all the excitement, I guess we just... We just..." He rubbed his neck in an anxious matter, while trying to hold his composure. Helga's eyes lit up while she held her hands together behind her back, "Got carried away!"
He finally felt himself raise up the slightest as he looked her in the eyes, "You don't actually, uh, love me right?" Her eyes really were pleading something completely different. He was close enough to notice her pupils minimize. "Right!" If he could have possibly gotten any closer, then he would have... "You were just caught up in the heat of the moment... Right?" At this point he was just pressing for her answers. He really had no other option in the first place.
"Right!" Helga spoke once more; her eyes becoming immensely larger by the second. She wore an expression of hope on herself, but yet... She remained nervous just as she was before. Arnold felt himself getting quite flirty, but it was his way of testing Helga. A deviously daring smirk played around on his mouth, "You actually HATE me, don't you?" He felt himself gravitating closer to Helga, but she took a step back to avoid collision. She turned her back to him for a few seconds while his smirk was still present.
Helga lightly snapped her finger while plotting a great idea in her mind. She turned around quite fast and he took note that her sweet smile was replaced with her signature scowl. "OF COURSE I HATE YOU, YOU STUPID FOOTBALL HEAD. AND DON'T YOU FORGET IT! EVER!" Helga frantically waved her fists around in the air and stormed off as her usual, she eventually disappeared around a building corner. All the while Arnold had remained with his smirk, he could almost see right through her as clear as water. He wanted to continue pressing her for reasonable answers, but she was caught, and had simply left the scene to avoid such revelations about what her best kept secret was.
Arnold shook his head in amazement, "when will she ever break down and admit that she has feelings for me? Maybe if she would just actually confess without taking it back, then she would hear what I have to say about it too."
Helga frolicked away, thinking that she had just got away with murder. She started humming an upbeat tune as she skipped down the city road. She pulled her heart-shaped locket with Arnold's picture out of her pink jumper and began to recite one of her monologues about her so desired love, "Oh Arnold, how I love you so. What I would give to have you see through my blustery exterior and my warm, good-hearted center…" her facial expression turned from happy to annoyed, "… although if you ever WERE to see through my tough act, then all of our fellow classmates would begin to ridicule me for actually having any other feelings than being mean and selfish…" Her eyes softened yet again, "But perhaps I'll be prepared to tell you one day, and although you may be revolted by those certain words spilling from my mouth, just know that I will always love you my dear, even if you don't reciprocate such strong emotions for m-…"
Helga got cut off by heavy breathing coming from a garbage can behind her. She didn't even have to do a double take to know exactly who the annoying wheezing belonged to. Her original scowl slipped back onto her face as the lid slowly began to rise up, she lifted her right fist up and socked Brainy in the face as he tumbled over with the garbage can onto a hidden alleyway. A crash could be heard, but Helga ignored the commotion and continued on her way. -
As Arnold remained in the same spot he was before, his best friend Gerald strode his way over to him. "So, how about a game of basketball?" Gerald slowly spoke. "Well that ball is most definitely flat, wouldn't you say?" exclaimed Arnold. "No, no. it- it's just a little on the off side…" he was trying to find the right words to say. "Wait, wasn't it you telling me earlier to 'stop looking on the bright side'? Arnold playfully fought back. "Well someone has to." Arnold said nothing back, but rather shook his head in agreement to Gerald's statement.
The two boys proceeded to walk along the sidewalk, deciding to head to the Sunset Arms Boardinghouse, where Arnold lives. "So tell me, my man. What was it that you and Helga G. Pataki were talking about back there?" Arnold played around with the hem of his plaid shirt as he spoke, "Well I'd say that it was the normal. It ended with her being her usual self; calling me a football head. So on." "That girl will never change, I'm telling you. There is NO good side to her like you claim there to be." Arnold looked defensively up at his friend, "Well you can't really find out for sure unless you get close enough to really see if it's true… I just know it is, Gerald. I can sense it." Gerald rolled his eyes in annoyance, "whatever you say, Arnold. You're ONE bold kid."