This is my first "Hey, Arnold!" fanfic, so I hope you like it! It's set in High School times where the characters are about 15, 16 years old I guess? I tried to make it accurate to a real high school experience, just so you know.. Based off my experience, lol!
Generic Disclaimer - I do not own Hey Arnold! or it's characters. -_-
P.S. 120. High school. Most of Arnold's classmates still grew up together, however some, like Harold and Stinky unfortunately, were held back a few too many times. The system decided they needed to private tutoring. Their parents outraged, but that's typical high school for you.
Arnold wore out his red plaid shirt, taking out his blue long sleeved layer. His wardrobe didn't change much over the years. American Government class, Junior year. He sat there in the front end corner, careful to write the notes given by the teacher. He was explaining the checks and balances of the system.
Helga sat behind him, despite the arranged seating. She replaced her dress with dark denim jeans and the bow with a dark pink beanie, and her shirt, still, dark pink. A perfect combination of girly and tomboy-ish. Her eyebrow finally thinned out, and with the occasional grooming, she could say to herself she was moderately good-looking. Just the opposite of Arnold, Helga wasn't paying attention at all. She was doodling in her notebook, sketching out the back of Arnold's head. She had been taking art lessons since Freshman year to vent her frustrations out due to the stress at home. Her parent's relationship was getting worse ever since Big Bob finally discovered the vodka bottle in a small wooden chest under her own bed. Her own mother, hiding alcohol in her daughter's bedroom. One could only imagine, other than her, how horrible of a night that was.
The bell rang, and everyone got up at once to rush out the door, besides Arnold, of course, since he hadn't yet packed all his stuff up yet. Helga rushed out the door, making sure to "accidentally" knock over some of his folders and papers off his desk before leaving.
The boy glared at a grinning Helga as she avoided eye contact, swiftly leaving out the classroom door. A few classes later in English, it was all but a similar story, knocking his stuff down just before class. Arnold's frustration grew over the years with Helga. On occasion, he was confused, due to that one incident back when they were kids, trying to save the neighborhood. It was then when Helga confessed her "love" for him. He wasn't sure how to take that at all. It shocked him. It was years since Arnold thought about that one time, and suddenly the thought popped back up into his head, including the one time his own grandfather suggested the idea that Helga liked him.
The next morning, a sleepy Arnold rolled out of bed, got dressed, and went on to the bus for school. He was barely awake sitting next to Gerald, of whom had just recently grown a goatee. When he tried to get Arnold to notice, all he did was shrug and yawn. He didn't care too much, when Helga suddenly gave him a wet Willie, waking him up instantly. She laughed and retreated quickly to one of the other rows further down.
"Quit doing that! Don't you get tired of this crap?" He complained, glaring at the giggling girl as he tried to dry his ear with his shirt.
"Nope, you're too big of a target, footballhead." Helga grinned, arms casually crossed. Arnold turned back around, growling in frustration.
Gerald shook his head. "That's the 4th time this week." He commented, looking out the window. "Yeah.. She'll quit doing that pretty soon then do something else that's annoying.." Arnold sighed, tightly holding to the backpack on his lap.
"Ignoring her isn't helping.. It hasn't for years. I think you really need to sit her down and tell her to stop." Gerald continued.
"Enough is enough, you know?"
"..Enough is enough.." Arnold repeated, staring out at nothing. He was still sleepy.
All the same motions as yesterday continued with Helga's non-stop harassment. What Gerald said to Arnold really got him thinking. Enough is enough. He wanted Helga to leave him in peace for at least a day. That's all he wanted. The rest of the morning, he had trouble studying for once, thinking of ways to take his best friend's advice. He could imagine himself having a civil conversation with Helga, but not lasting long as Helga would make more snobby comments and shove him out of the way, not listening. He frowned at the thought, then glanced at her from behind. She rose her brow wondering what the hell he was looking at her for.
Finally, lunch hour came. Within seconds, a third of the school's student population for the first session rushed down the hallways in loud packs. Some screaming, some laughing, some running. Arnold and Gerald walked together talking about the latest movie, when Helga jumped up and snagged Arnold's hat, running past them and out of the massive crowd of teenagers.
She laughed, waving the hat around. "Hey Football head, ever TRY to not wear this stupid thing for at least 20 minutes?!"
That was the one-act, the one last straw that broke the camel's back. It was now or never.
Arnold glared at the girl in frustration and anger, possibly even hatred. His footsteps abruptly stopped, causing the other kids behind him to bump into him, cuss him out, then move past him. Gerald noticed Arnold wasn't next to him. He paused to turn back and look for him. He saw what was going on, and decided to let it go.
He knew his best friend was going to take care of his own problems, like he always did. He was glad to see Arnold finally standing up for himself against Helga.
Arnold, for once not caring at all about others around him, pushed through the crowd making some kids cuss him out more, give funny looks, etc. Helga noticed Arnold was going straight for her, and she started to back away, grinning, enjoying this little game she was making. When Arnold finally got out of the crowd, he started bolting right towards her. The smirk on Helga's face disappeared quickly, and she ran, Arnold hot on her trail. She made a sharp turn to the left towards an abandoned hallway, her heart racing with adrenaline. Helga was not prepared for this. She looked back, seeing Arnold's face just slightly red and eyes full of determination and bottled up anger. She wonders what the hell she just unleashed.
"So, you're mad, Football head?" Helga laughed nervously, quoting the teenage meme-like statement. That just fueled the fire at the pit of his stomach.
Arnold was starting to catch up to her. She was starting to feel a little scared. Helga stumbled, giving Arnold his opportunity. He grabbed her by the waist as she fell. He adjusted his footing to where he wouldn't fall, but the momentum was too much. They both fell to the ground, Arnold still holding a strong grip to the startled girl, the hat flying out of both their reach. That's not was Arnold was going after.
It was only a brief moment the boy was on the ground. He jumped up, lifted Helga up to her feet, and slammed her to a utility closet room, pinning her. His hands moved up to the collar of her shirt. He held on tight, making sure she wouldn't escape. Arnold was a few inches taller than Helga. He had his growth spurt about a year ago.
"Enough is ENOUGH! If there is something you're trying to say, say it now!" Arnold shouted, catching his breath, nearly in unison as Helga was trying to catch hers as well. He continued as the utility door was opened from the pressure of the two teens. He saw this opportunity, backed her into the closet and slammed the door with his foot. He continued backing her up against an actual wall in the closet.
"Ever since I've known you, you've always been mean to me and picked on me, calling me names, and have humiliated me on all sorts of levels."
She was dumb struck staring at him in the dim light, not daring to say a word.
"What have I ever done to make you treat me like this? Is it because in truth you LIKE me, Helga?! Or is it because you LOVE me? Or you do actually just hate me. Which is it?!" He continued. Helga's throat was dry. "Because you don't treat anybody else as badly as you do me. You've been doing this for YEARS, and I'm sick of it! I'm not going to take much more of your crap for much longer!" He paused in the sudden dead silence of the spacious closet. His eyes didn't leave hers for a second through it all.
Arnold waited for Helga to respond, but instead, he saw tears. That snapped him back into reality. What was he doing? Chasing after Helga and trapping her in a utility closet, screaming at her. She was starting to cry, too.
He released his grip on her clothing, hands sore and took a step back. Regret started to sink in, and he couldn't breathe. His voice softened in a nearly hushed tone.
"..Helga I'm..-" His words were silenced when she leapt forward and kissed him. Now he was the one that was dumb struck. He stared at Helga, arms wide from each other as she prolonged the kiss. He didn't kiss back. He was too shocked to the obvious answer given to him. He could feel the tears he caused reach their lips. His eyes relaxed, then closed, still not quite responding to her yet. That was when he let his shoulders relax, and embraced her.
Helga broke away from her kiss and hugged him in return. She couldn't help but to hide her face in the crook between his neck and shoulder. It fit so well there. Arnold slightly pulled her in closer and sighed heavily. They stood there, holding onto one another in the dark utility room, a million thoughts racing through both their heads at once.
"I think I should go." Helga finally said in a quiet voice. Arnold looked down at her as she started to let go of him. He didn't stop her from leaving the room. All he really could do was watch her go.
The next morning, Arnold hopped on the bus and took his usual seat next to Gerald, noticing Helga wasn't anywhere to be seen.
"She actually kissed you?" Gerald asked in the highest voice possible, holding back a laugh for his best friend's sake.
Arnold blushed, looking down at his feet. "Yeah, I guess I was right.. It was all just a way to hide it I guess."
"And how do you feel about all that?" Gerald was having a blast hearing all of this. He noticed she wasn't on the bus either.
"I don't know. I actually really didn't respond, I froze." He lied, suddenly remembering how he held her longer than he felt was necessary. "I don't know, Gerald. I don't know how to feel about this." Arnold sighed.
"At least it makes sense now. But you know what, she deserved such a huge wake up call! Nobody can do that to someone for so long without reaping the consequences, no matter what the reason." Gerald chuckled, scratching his goatee.
"I guess." Arnold said quietly.
It was clear Helga didn't even show up to school. Her seat was empty, and with every passing class she didn't show, Arnold felt a little worse and worse, feeling like he really did hurt her this time. He finally got the day of peace he wanted, but he wondered at what cost?
He contemplated visiting her after school, but decided against it last minute. The next day, Helga wasn't on the bus again, but did show up to school. That cheered Arnold up just a bit, but something was still off. She arrived late after the bell. Arnold looked over at her as she walked in. She didn't say a word or even give him a funny look when she walked past. He half expected her to continue doing what she usually did, but was still a little shocked when she didn't.
Gerald, sitting on the opposite side of the classroom, looked over at Arnold and gave him a surprised look. Arnold looked at him with a similar expression, and shrugged. It was day two of a harassment free school day. It was still unnerving for him to see Helga behave so... Normal.
The last school bell rang, and everyone crowded towards the door to go home. Arnold and Helga wound up shoulder to shoulder in the swarm of the other kids leaving at the same time. Arnold turned to look at her, and smiled slightly when she looked back.
"..Hey." Arnold greeted.
"Hey." She replied quietly.
Helga was just a bit scared of confronting him after what happened a few days ago. She had no idea how Arnold exactly reacted. What did happen however, repeated in her mind over and over since then.
Once the two finally made it out to the hallway, the noise level wasn't so bad. Just as Helga was turning away to go home on her own route, she felt a gentile hand on her shoulder, and paused. "Helga?" Arnold asked, as she turned to look at him confused.
He rubbed his neck nervously. "Um... Instead of going home on the bus, do you wanna just, walk home.. With me, instead? I need to talk to you."
Both their hearts were beating a mile a minute.
"Okay, sure, foo-" She stopped herself. "...Fine with me." She smiled, happy she caught herself. They walked together out the door. Gerald watched them leave as he sat there on the bus. He grinned and shook his head at the two.
They walked in silence for the first few minutes. The school was no longer in sight. "I'm sorry about the other day, Helga. I just.. Had a lot of frustration bottled up I guess."
"Well that's no surprise, you always being so nice all the time. There have to be times when you wish you could be mad and act on it but.." Helga stopped herself from rambling. "I'm the one that should be sorry.." She said softly, looking down at the ground as they kept walking.
"I pushed things too far with the hat thing.." She admitted.
"It wasn't that, Helga.." He stopped and looked at her again. She looked back, and saw an odd mixture of frustration and guilt. "It was just the several times you've done stuff like that. Ever since we were little you've always been mean and bossy, and it adds up after a while.." He looked down. "I just.. Felt like I had to know why."
"I was scared of how you were going to react... That's why I couldn't say anything.." Helga admitted. "So I.. Said that I hated you and.. I guess being a total Bi-" "It's okay." Arnold cut her off, putting a hand on her shoulder. He didn't want Helga to put herself down so low like that.
"All of us tend to act kinda crazy in one way or another when we uh.. Like someone." He started to blush. Helga smiled, and they continued walking, a bit more relaxed now. They finally made it to their neighborhood, and to the one street that either on one side, led down to Helga's house, and to the other, Arnold's.
"..If you want, I can maybe walk you home?" He offered.
"No thanks. I'm not even gonna go home right now. Big Bob's taken his work home here recently and Maryum's always moving boxes and stuff around where things go missing.." Helga explained, sounding stressed about home.
"Where are you going, then?"
Helga shrugged. "Eh, probably just the arcade."
"Okay.." The boy smiled, looking back at her. "I guess I'll see you later then." Hesitation was in his voice. He had this strange feeling to want to stay there with her.
"Yeah.. I guess so." She smiled weakly, then lightly punched his shoulder. "You can come with so I can kill you at racoon racing."
"Naah. I got some home work to do." Arnold chuckled, starting to turn away.
"You're chosing homework over video games?" Helga laughed, finally, almost all the awkwardness subsided.
"Yep! Maybe in a few hours I'll change my mind."
"Yeah, right!"
I wasn't intending on extending this story to multiple chapters, but what the hey? Two chapters sounds okay, I guess. Chapter 2 will be up shortly.