A/N: Hey football heads! It's me Roses12686 here, I'm entirely new to writing on here and everywhere because I have never shared my stories socially, but hopefully you will like this one. I waited a long time to write a fanfiction about Hey Arnold for a reason, and that reason being that I have to have the characters in character. So it took me awhile because I kept rewatching the show's episodes. I've gathered enough information to write a fanfiction in character enough to be just like the show successfully. My favorite character has got to be Helga, because who doesn't love Helga? Anyway, the problem with her is I can't write poetry so I'm going to try a mini monologue in here. I hope it turns out okay. I'm also going to need tips on how to work this sites gadgets and what not to make my story better. So please review.
So this is a one-shot focused on The Journal Ep. I twisted it around, making it so that Helga would appear more in it than just Arnold and his grandparents. So what would happen if Helga didn't go to Dino Land with the gang and stayed behind to comfort him from the loss of his parents? Well, read to find out.
Disclaimer: I do not own Hey Arnold! Hey Arnold! belongs to Nickelodeon, Craig Bartlett, and Viacom respectively.
He was on a boat, along with his mother and father enjoying each other's company. Suddenly Pirates invade their peace. His father, Miles who was getting ready to fight the Pirates told his son to stay back. His mother, Stella who was also worried for her own child's safety agreed with Miles and grabbed them each a sword to hopefully battle off the Pirates. As soon as they jumped off of the boat, cannons were blasted from the intruders ship crashing into the small families boat. Arnold, all alone, was looking for his Parents. Yelling and screaming, until he shot up from his bed with a cold sweat upon his face. He looked to the calendar which read, October 5th, the most depressing day of the year. After glancing at the Calendar he looked to his Parents' photo. He grabbed it, still trembling from the dream, or more of a nightmare. He stared at it for what seemed like a while until a startling knock came upon the door followed by his Grandpa's voice, "Hey Shortman you up?". Arnold sighed, quickly putting the image back onto his shelf. "Come in Grandpa". Phil came in with a tray full of breakfast that he carefully set on his grandsons bed in front of him. "I, uh, brought you some breakfast", came Phil's voice interrupting Arnold's thoughts, as he was having a flashback of the dream that he had just awoken from. "Thanks" he said. Phil started rubbing the back of his neck nervously. "If you need to talk to your Grandma or me just say so" . He knew that this wasn't going to be a very cheerful day, because of his son's disappearance, Arnold would always remember that fateful day when his parents left him, for what was supposed to be a one week mission only, turned into an 8-year disappearance. "Okay" Arnold replied. Phil got up and walked out of Arnold's room to head back downstairs to his wife. As soon as he left, Arnold sat on his bed looking up to the gloomy skylight, which looked like it was about to rain. He decided to get up and get ready for the day.
Afterwards
After eating his breakfast, he decided to go and sit out on the porch to ponder in his thoughts for awhile. While he was sitting there, in the gloomy atmosphere he kept having flashbacks of the dream. 'Mom, Dad! Come Back, come back!'. He shook his head trying to rid these awful thoughts before he looked up and saw a family. There was a mother, father and a child. They looked happy together. They would've looked just like his family if his parents hadn't left him.
He got tired of thinking about them, so he went to the sunset arms boarding house roof, a place to relax and have peace, staring at the sky. Before heading up the skylight stairs in his room, he grabbed his toy plane along with the remote control and walked to his skylight stairs. He sat on the ledge of the roof flying his toy plane around in the sky to hopefully take his mind off of the dream.
After what seemed like about an hour, making it noon, he made his way back to the porch, passing his grandparents on the way. No matter how hard he tried he couldn't get rid of the thoughts of his parents. So as he sat there, he looked up and saw a small wooden boat drifting in a puddle making its way down the street. This, of course didn't help him at all. Suddenly, a sound of loud, abnoxious laughter was heard coming up the street torward the boarding house. There in front of him stood the gang of P.S 118. "Hey Arnold, we're heading to Dino Land to try out the new roller coaster, wanna come?" Asked Gerald followed by cheers of the crowd. Arnold, being depressed waved it off and said, "No, it's okay, I'm just gonna stay here. You guys go ahead." Helga, of course just had to do her part in bullying, " What are you waiting for? Football Heads get in free day? Hmph. Whatever, see you around loser." She said followed by mean comments as in loser. As the gang walked away, Gerald feeling worried about his best friend stayed behind to see what was the matter. " Are you okay, buddy?". "Yeah." "Are you sure?", Gerald asked again just to make sure." And hey, never mind what those guys said. They don't know what's buggin' you. " He said to reassure his friend. "It's just the anniversary of the day my parents left, and never came back." He said tilting his head down. " Are you sure you don't want any company?" Gerald, feeling bad for his best friend asked. "No it's okay, Gerald. You go ahead and ride one for me, okay?" Said Arnold. "Okay, Arnold. See you later." He said walking away from him, leaving Arnold to ponder in his thoughts some more.
As he sat there thinking, little did he know that there was a girl dressed in pink around the corner in the alleyway of his house staring at him, unoticed. "Oh, Arnold." Helga said as she was beginning one of her rants. "There, you sit, depressed, waiting for something that cannot be." She said as she stared back at him. "And here, I stand in the alleyway, pathetically lurking in the shadows, waiting for the chance that I can finally tell you how I feel and not take it back as 'The Heat of the moment'." She said slumping up against the old brick building's wall. "Oh, how I long for the day that I can comfort you and help you cope with the loss of your parents." Then, something clicked in Helga's mind. "Yeah." She said. "What if I did?...hmm..." She pondered for a moment, looking back to his lonely and depressed form on the porch. ' He is alone...the gang went to Dinoland, so there would be nobody around, besides his grandparents of course. It's wet out so no one would want to be walking along the sidewalks getting soaked. Of course! It's the perfect opportunity to finally show my true self and comfort my beloved!' She thought. "Now, all I have to do is make it look like I wasn't spying on him..." She said quietly aloud.
As Helga was having her thoughts, Arnold was having his. 'I really miss you mom and dad. Please come home.' He was getting fed up with thinking about them and was about to walk inside when Helga came causally walking down the sidewalk. "Hey Football Head." She said.
"Helga? I thought you went to Dino Land with the gang? " he asked. She had to think of something quick enough not to blow her cover. 'Be nice to him, Helga ol' girl, don't flip out. Just say you dropped something. Yeah that's what I'll do.'. " I..uh...dropped something on the way there and I came back to retrace my steps. What's it to ya!? She said her bullying had taken over again. "Nevermind, I was just wondering." He sighed looking to the ground before opening the door to the Boarding House. Helga, not wanting him to go inside just yet, said. "You okay Arnold?" He really didn't want to lie but he also didn't want to vent to his bully about his problems so he just kept them to himself. "Yeah." They stood there in awkward silence for a bit before Arnold broke it. "Well I'm going to head inside now. I hope you find what you're looking for." He said. 'Ohh trust me, I already found it.' She thought. "Wait, uh, Arnold?" She nervously asked. "Yeah?" He replied, sighing, not wanting to deal with her bullying at the moment. "If you need to talk...to someone...I'm here...?" She said cautiously and rather a question than a statement. Arnold standing there, with his hand on the doorknob ready to open it, had his mouth agape. He couldn't believe what he was hearing, Helga being nice? He liked when she showed her true self in front of him and let down the walls for him to come inside, and this rarely ever happened, so he thought back to the FTi tower when it did happen. She had a smile upon her face after she told him that she loved him. "Hello? Earh to Football Head?" She asked waving a hand in front of his face. After what seemed like a while he realized that he was staring particularly in her direction. "Oh, sorry Helga." He said blushing. Helga, on the other hand knew what he was thinking about, it had to be a flashback to the FTi building when they were on the roof and she confessed her deepest darkest secret to him. The blush kept trying to creep to her face so she turned her head in order to keep Arnold from looking at her. So they stood there in awkward silence for another moment looking everywhere but each other. Helga broke the silence by asking, "You seem to have something on your mind Football Head. What gives? Turning down an offer to go to DinoLand with your friends? And for free!? He knew there was no turning back now, so he sat on the top step resting his oblong head in his hands as he sighed. "It's just a depressing type of day for me okay?" "Okay, so why not go to DinoLand to cheer up?" She said. "I'm just not in the mood to." He replied. "Sorry for getting on your case there, Arnoldo." She said. She felt really bad for bullying him, but if she didn't, her secret would have been out by now, publicly. "It's fine." "Do you wanna talk about this so-called problem of yours or not? I haven't got all day. She said. "No, it's okay, I know you won't understand anyway." He said. "And why is that?" She asked. He was getting a little frustrated, and starting to think of his friend's having parents, but not him. "Because at least you have par-" he covered his mouth with his hand quickly before he could say anymore. "Parents?" she asked. Helga was curious to see if he would spill the beans so she didn't have to, knowing about his parents' loss that is. He sighed, knowing that the cat was out of the bag. "Yeah." Helga had a look of sadness on her face feeling bad for her beloved. " Well, I do have parents, but they aren't what you think they are...". " What do you mean? " he asked curiously. "Well... Bob and Miriam lay around the house like they're dead, they never really talk to me or notice me, except when Olga's coming home and Bob will tell me to get downstairs pronto for Olga's 'big entrance'. As long as Olga's home they wouldn't notice me if I walked out of the house never to come home again." She said sadly.
Arnold knew about her dysfunctional family, but he still truly felt sorry for Helga. " I'm sorry Helga." He said. "Eh, you get used to it after a while." " I know but it's still horrible, the way they treat you." They sat in peaceful silence once again for a minute pondering in their thoughts. "It's just I feel so lonely, like I have this emptiness inside of me, when they're aren't here y'know?" Said Arnold breaking the quiet atmosphere once again. "What happened to them? I-if you want to say that is, I'm not forcing you to." She said. " Well, they were explorers. One day they left me when I was one year old and said they would be coming back in a week or so. So that week passed and years after, until now, and they never did. I really hope they're okay." He said on the verge of tears. Helga looked at him, his eyes were brimming with tears. She just wanted to hug him tight and never let go. But, she couldn't, he wasn't hers and she wasn't his. The only thing she could do was put a gentle hand on his shoulder. "It's okay Arnold, you're not alone." She said on the verge of tears herself. Arnold was happy that she was there comforting him and he was also glad that she shared the same problem, so he didn't feel so alone. "Thanks Helga."
He suddenly grabbed her into a quick, tight hug. 'Why does this feel...right?' he asked himself through his thoughts. Helga, of course was caught a little off guard. She looked down at him smiling goofily as she did on the FTi building a few weeks back. But she quickly caught herself and slapped herself in the face. She didn't fight the urge to embrace him back though. Arnold, somehow not noticing her slapping herself, just kept hugging her for another moment. Then they decided that it was long enough, so they let go. They felt a chill afterwards because hugging each other made them feel happy, tingly, and warm inside. She looked at him, his eyes were puffy and red full of tears, but he wasn't the only one crying Helga also had a few tears roll down her cheeks as well. But, neither of them noticed because it was a perfectly logical reason to cry. Knowing that they both didn't get the love that they needed as a child from their parents. "Well, I'd better be going" Helga said sniffling. Arnold wiped away a few stray tears, not wanting her to leave his company just yet he asked her the one question he would have ever expected to ask her. "Would you like to come inside, Helga? I could make us some hot chocolate." "Sure Football Head, whatever floats your boat." Together they walked inside enjoying each other's company as Arnold introduced her to his Grandparents.
Awww! How sweet was that! I hoped I stayed within character. I know, I know, the crying part was definitely not in character because obiously they are both strong kids. But it's perfectly normal to cry over something as logical as that, anyway please R&R. I need tips on how to use this site and organize my writing by splitting the paragraphs so please include that in there to. P.s. Should this have a sequel to it? Answer please! XD