Ever wonder what it would be like to see yourself in the future? Helga found that out the hard way.
Disclaimer: I do not own Hey Arnold.
The Last Temptation Of Helga Chapter 1: A Future Reference
The annual Hillwood carnival was in town and it made just about everyone crazy. Decorations had gone up all around the neighborhood. The attractions area was all set up along with the rides. No matter where you looked, kids were playing games, sitting and eating a bunch of outrageous foods or going on the rides provided. Except for one girl in particular.
The ten-year-old with blonde pigtails and a unibrow was walking, passing everything that looked fun in sight, completely lost in thought like she was looking for somebody.
"Where's that football head when you need him? I was really looking forward to hanging out with him." Helga sighed to herself. She and Arnold had gotten along after the whole FTi episode and the heat of the moment thing. They made a deal the week after to not discuss it so it wouldn't be really awkward between the two. And wouldn't you know it? They ended up being really good friends.
She thought if she and Arnold got to hang out together, he'd fall for her in a Detroit minute. 'He's probably hanging out with someone who's mature and pretty like Lila.' Helga thought bitterly.
"I can be mature as the next person. He'll see." She said, kicking a rock ahead of her in frustration. The rock went flying down a path, away from the rush of the carnival, landing against a sign that read 'Have Your Fortune Told Today!' in big letters.
"Huh?" She asked, looking at the sign. She walked up closer to the sign and saw just before her a tent. She figured what was the harm in giving the person some cash for a living. Although, she was a bit curious about what her future would be like with him. Arnold.
She peeked inside the tent covers, noticing that no one was in there. She glanced around at the dolls hanging all around her. 'Voodoo dolls.' She shuddered. Helga sat down at the tiny table in front of her and noticed a book. It looked old. Ancient actually.
It made it difficult for her to read because of the dust surrounding the cover. She noticed that the letters on the book were scrambled. It gave her a headache trying to make out the mysterious title.
Helga took a deep breath in and blew the dust off the book, making thin, white clouds disappear into the atmosphere. She noticed that the letters on the book seemed to be moving on their own. It surprised her as she scratched her eyes, trying to get a better view of what was happening. The letters formed into words and the title became much clearer to cipher.
"The Book of Incantations." Helga read to herself. She didn't know what the story was about, but didn't give herself more time to think about it because she already started flipping through the book.
She stopped on a page that caught her attention. It was decorated with white snowflakes and a winter theme. She saw in the middle of the page there was a poem.
"With these words, your tongue must sew,
For all around you, let there be snow." Helga read the poem out loud before looking at the next page, only to find out that it was empty of words or pictures. Suddenly, a snowflake landed on the page.
Helga perked up in alert. She slowly raised her head from out of the book and saw hundreds of snowflakes falling from the ceiling of the tent. She smiled to herself in amazement. She couldn't believe what she was seeing before her very eyes.
"Wow." She breathed, turning the page. It seemed to have stopped snowing, due to the fact that she had turned the page. A realization crept up on Helga. She realized that this book wasn't filled with poems, but spells. The book was magic.
Eagerly, Helga flipped throughout the pages of the magic book and stopped on one. It had a mirror on it so she could see her reflection. She looked for a spell and found it at the bottom of the page.
She read another one aloud. "An infallible spell to make you she,
The beauty you've always wanted to be." She read curiously, focusing her attention to the next page. She saw the mirror and looked at herself in it. She saw her reflection and stared curiously at it.
She noticed a person taking the place of her reflection and knew right away who it was.
"Olga? What are you doing...?" Helga bit her tongue to keep her from speaking any further. Whenever she moved her lips the person did also. Whenever she blinked, so did the person. Helga realized that the person wasn't Olga. It was herself. "...here?" She finished.
Helga reached her hand up to touch her face, her eyes still glued to her reflection. She tilted her head to the side, getting a better angle of her face. She had the same blue eyes, blonde hair, but no unibrow. Her nose was still G-shaped, but her overbite had softened in some areas around her mouth. Her hair, she was wearing down and it spread all the way past her shoulders. It was no wonder why she thought she was talking to Olga. Helga looked absolutely gorgeous.
"I'm beautiful." Helga breathed, stroking her cheek with her fingertips. Helga couldn't believe how pretty she looked. If only Arnold could see her now.
"Hello, Helga." A voice said, coming out of the folds of the tent.
Helga quickly turned around, closing the book so they wouldn't think she was reading it. She saw the person who called her name. "W-Who are you?" She asked, shakily.
"I am just your average fortune teller - Wait!" She held up her hand, putting the other one on her forehead, closing her eyes. "Don't tell me. You're her to get your fortune told, aren't you? Something about a true love?" She asked, sitting across from Helga.
Helga couldn't bring herself to speak so she merely nodded. How did she know that?
"I can tell you all about the future, Helga. Your future. But I need to look inside my crystal ball to make sure." The fortune teller said.
"Well, I guess it couldn't hurt to be a little curious." Helga shrugged, sitting up closer to get a better view of a crystal ball.
The fortune teller waved her hands cautiously around the crystal ball. Inside of it, clouds began to form, making it too hard to see anything.
"I see, I see," The gypsy tried to picture, closing her eyes.
Helga sat up even closer. "You see what?"
"I see a girl just like you. She's sitting in a classroom." The fortune teller spoke.
"Let me guess. It's me." Helga said, unenthusiastically. 'I thought these fortune things were supposed to make sense. If I wanted to know my future, I would've bought a fortune cookie. Criminy.' She thought.
"Aha!" The gypsy lady gasped. "I see a boy. A handsome boy. You're friends with him now." She told her.
'Arnold?' Helga hoped to herself.
"This boy is older than you, but he's the one. I can just feel it." The fortune teller tensed. Her crystal ball began to get much clearer. To her and to Helga.
"Look, just look." The fortune teller begged, pointing at the crystal ball. "It is, three years into the future."
Helga looked deep into it and noticed she was right. There was a girl who looked older.
She had long, blonde hair that fell past her shoulders and her bangs were covering her eyes all the way. Her nose looked G-shaped and round and her ears were similar to a goat's. She had on a pink polo shirt that looked a little big on her. She was wearing blue jeans that dragged on her black converse and a blank expression on her face. If you could see through to her blue eyes. Puberty didn't do so badly to a thirteen-year-old Helga G. Pataki.
Helga's eyes widened at this. "Is-Is that me?" She asked, hunching her eyebrows. "Look at all that hair." She said.
The thirteen-year-old was sitting in a classroom, daydreaming to herself while the others were talking amongst themselves. Welcome to middle school.
An Asian girl walked up to Helga. She too had her black hair down and glasses on her eyes. She was wearing a blue sweater and a white dress with matching black heels. Helga recognized her immediately. It was Phoebe.
"Ohayo, Helga-chan." Phoebe greeted her, sitting in the seat next to her.
"Hey, Pheebs. I heard we're getting a tutor for this class." Helga said.
"Really? I wonder who it'll be." She said.
The teacher walked in the classroom, forgetting to shut the door. He walked over to the front of the room with an important announcement to make. "Class, I have a very important announcement to make. Now, I know some of you are failing my class so I decided to hire a tutor. He's a little bit older than most of you, but I promise you, after a couple of days, you won't even feel the age difference anymore." He said.
He spread his arms toward the door. "Please welcome our new tutor!" The teacher introduced.
A boy walked into the classroom wearing a black shirt on top of a white one. He had on blue jeans and black sneakers. He was fairly tall and very cute. He had long brown hair that covered the front of his eyes, bright blue eyes and a handsome face.
Helga's jaw dropped in shock and amazement. She had to lift up a few strands of her hair to get a better view of the guy. Her eyes were the size of dinner plates. He looked depressed for some reason. That just made Helga more and more attracted to him.
Phoebe was astonished herself and leaned over to Helga. "Hey, who's that?" She whispered.
"I-I don't know." Helga managed to speak, not taking her eyes off him. She began to bop her head up and down to the music playing in her head.
Why do birds
Suddenly appear?
Every time you are near
"He's beautiful." Helga murmured, holding her head up with her hand and smiling goofily. She couldn't stop staring at him as much as she tried. He was bad poison, but a wonderful poison.
Just like me
They long to be
"Why don't you take that empty seat next to Helga?" The teacher suggested. The boy just sighed and did what he asked him. He walked over to where the desk was, passing Helga. He didn't notice she was still staring at him.
Phoebe broke out of her train of thought much quicker than Helga and stretched out her hand past her. "Hello, I'm-" She stopped, finding Helga covering up her mouth with her hand. "No, he's Mine." She growled, pushing Phoebe away. Helga turned to look at him again with a goofy smile on her face.
Close to you
Uh-oh. Pataki's in love. With another boy! Review what you think will happen next.