(I don't own Hey Arnold! Or the characters)

Helga lay awake, staring at the ceiling. Arnold had fallen asleep beside her. Her head still had that dazed feeling from drinking way too much, then having followed that up with sex. Dumb.

She looked over at Arnold sleeping next to her, then back at the ceiling. Slowly she sat up, got out of the bed. Looking around, she located her clothing and got dressed. She could still hear the music from the party playing downstairs, and people shouting and laughing and talking, so it was still in full swing at . . . she looked at her watch. Three thirty a.m. She shook her head, and left the room, quietly closing the door behind her. She had no idea why she was sneaking off. This should have been a dream come true. She had had a great night with Arnold, just hanging out, and then it progressed to more. And ended in bed.

But she didn't feel elated or happy. She felt . . . well, she couldn't exactly figure it out. But it wasn't happy and wasn't elated.

"Helga!" she heard someone call out. She turned to see Phoebe and Lila waving her over to them. Running her hand through her hair, hoping it at least looked just a little tousled, she made her way over.

"Hey," she said, feeling awkward. Could they tell what she had done?

"So where did you and Arnold sneak off to?" Lila asked, giving her a cheeky I-know-what-you've-been-up-to smile.

"Oh, you know, around," she said, adding a forced little laugh. "Well, I should probably go. Now. Bye."

She turned around and practically flew, she moved so fast. Phoebe and Lila looked at each other, confused.

…

…

Sneaking upstairs to her room, Helga tried to be as quiet as possible. The T.V was going in the lounge and her father was asleep in his favourite chair. She decided not to turn the T.V off in case it woke him, and instead chose to sneak up to the bathroom and have a shower. Then she'd go to bed and try to put the night down to some weird, bizarre dream. Her phone vibrated in her pocket for the umpteenth time, and she still ignored it. Going upstairs to the bathroom she stripped off and took her shower, brushed her teeth, grabbed a towel then went to her room to write. She had to sort out how she felt. Instead all she did was stare at the blank page, tapping her pen.

She'd never gotten writers block before when it came to writing about Arnold.

Looking out the window she could see the first signs of dawn. She sighed, flopped back on her bed and went to sleep. Maybe with some sleep she would be able to think better.

…

…

"She's still not answering," Lila told Phoebe, ending the call. "I wonder what happened?"

"Maybe nothing," Phoebe suggested. "Maybe, I don't know, one of them passed out or something."

"They were gone for an hour and a half, Pheebs," Lila pointed out. "And you saw her hair and lipstick. It's so obvious something happened!"

…

…

Helga continued to ignore their calls and text messages, to their frustration, then worry. Monday morning came around and they waited outside the school doors for her. They finally saw her, looking down, frowning.

"Hey, Helga," Lila called out. Helga looked up and gave her and Phoebe a smile.

"Are you feeling okay?" Phoebe asked. "You look like you just got some bad news or something."

"Or something," Helga muttered. "Can we talk after school, at my place? I don't want to talk about it here at school. Sorry."

"No, no, that's fine, after school then," Lila said in a rush.

The three girls entered into the school building, making their way to their lockers, getting what they would need for their classes, then going their separate ways. Helga felt her heart beating, and like she was going to be sick. She had Science first, a class Arnold was also in. She should know it was the whole reason she even chose Science to begin with. Though she did find that she enjoyed the class. But that was beside the point right now.

She'd ignored all texts and two calls from him, too.

Entering the room, she didn't look his way at all. She made a beeline for her seat, sat down, opened her book, and quietly waited. It took every ounce of self-control she had to not look his way to see if he was looking at her. She had never been so relieved to see a teacher walk into the classroom. She had never focused on her lesson so hard. She was surprised when class finished. She jumped up and fled, feeling her phone buzz in her pocket again. She pulled it out in the hallway and looked down.

Arnold.

She frowned and then put it in her pocket.

"So you are ignoring me," she heard him say behind her. She jumped, thankful that skin was as strong as it was, because she swore she could feel her skeleton strain against it!

"Cripes, don't do that!" she yelled at him. "What are you trying to do? Kill me?"

Arnold raised his brows and looked at her a bit shocked. "No".

Without a word, Helga spun around and took off down the hallway to her next class. Lila had witnessed the whole exchange, and noted the confused and slightly hurt look on Arnold's face, and frowned.

What had happened?

…

…

Helga dropped herself onto the ground. "Ouch."

"What's going on Helga?" Lila asked, sitting beside her. Phoebe was just behind her. "You went postal at Arnold, and then flew away!"

"I didn't fly away," Helga snapped. "I walked away. Fast."

"Fine, whatever," Lila said, rolling her eyes.

"Helga can you just-"

"I regret it!" she shouted at them. "I don't . . . ugh, I just wish I'd never had sex with him."

"Was it bad?" Phoebe asked, looking at Lila, who looked at her.

"I don't think so," Helga said. "How would I know? It's the first time I've ever done it!"

"Did it hurt?" Lila asked. She'd heard it hurt.

"It was uncomfortable, but not painful," Helga told them.

"So what was it?" they both asked.

"I just realised I don't actually love Arnold."

There was a stunned silence from the two girls in front of her. Phoebe was the first to speak.

"What? When did you realize this?" Phoebe asked.

"About half way through it," Helga admitted. "I just . . . wasn't that into it, you know?"

Again a long silence followed. This time Lila spoke first.

"Well, maybe it was because it was your first time or something?" she suggested. Helga looked thoughtful.

"Maybe," she admitted. "Or maybe I just thought I loved him. I actually do wish I hadn't had sex with him though."

"It must just be because it was the first time you've ever slept with-"

"But I didn't sleep with him. We had sex, he drifted off, I stayed awake, then snuck off feeling ashamed of myself," she informed them. "I just kept asking myself, why? Why did I have sex with him? Then I was trying to reason with myself. I love him, blah, blah, blah, but it didn't work."

"So what now?" Phoebe asked. "Gerald asked me out on a date, and we were going to invite you to come along, like a triple date, because Lila was asked out by Stinky."

"We planned it all that night," Lila told her. "Not saying you have to go, just saying, you know, that you're kind of expected."

Helga buried her face in her hands. They had to be kidding!

"Look, just give it a go," Lila said. "I'm sure everything will work out just fine. Just ever so . . . I mean fine."

Helga looked up at Lila who had bit her lip. Helga had brought the whole "Ever So" to Lila's attention. She'd never even noticed she was doing it. She tried her hardest not to say it around Helga, because she knew it was like nails on a chalkboard to her.

"Please?" Phoebe begged. "Just come along."

Helga sighed and nodded.

…

TBC

…

Authors Note: Yep, been away a while. Will try to catch up on my stories. I had a horrific time, which landed me on a ventilator in the ICU ward of a hospital on the other side of the city from my new-born baby. Lesson learned: if you're pregnant, get your flu shot, or you might just not live to meet your baby L I was very, very lucky. Lost a week of my life though. Weird closing your eyes on a Monday in one hospital then waking up on a Saturday, with the tube down your throat, hooked up to a machine breathing for you, in a completely different hospital. Then on Tuesday I found out my ex-stepfather had died from the flu. Been a really bad year and can't wait for it to be over! Upside, my baby girl is fine. Very small at 3 lb 14 oz and 42cm, but fine.)