A/N: Ok, I know I'm supposed to be writing "They Found Love" and I am! Chapter 3 is about halfway done now. But anyways, this idea randomly came to me and I was inspired so here it is! This started as a one-shot idea but I decided to make it about a 5-chapter story.
My inspiration for this was the songs "Never Knew I Needed" by Ne-Yo and "Let Her Go" by Passenger. The title of this is sort of a combo of the two song titles! Also, I had a similar, but far less severe, experience a few weeks ago and I'm still trying to get over it so I guess this is my way of expressing my feelings about it…yeah, I'll go with that!
Oh and there will be some verb tense shifting in this chapter and the next one because both are going through earlier events until getting caught up back to the present so fair warning!
I have absolutely nothing ownership-wise to do with "Hey Arnold!". That is all.
Never Knew I Needed You Till I Let You Go
Chapter 1: His Last Straw
I can't believe the day I'm having, probably the worst ever…well so far I guess. This is probably worse than that one Friday the thirteenth when Wolfgang and Edmund decided to mess with Gerald and I to make it look like we were cursed for breaking all those superstitions…Ugh, first my alarm didn't go off so I was last in line for the bathroom, which caused me to barely have time for breakfast or so I thought because I missed the bus, which I wouldn't have had to take if the Packard hadn't of broken down…again. Then, after sprinting the eight blocks to the high school, just barely making it right before first bell. That was the good only thing that happened today. I then stepped in gum on my way to class. Then, for the first time ever, I failed a quiz, in English. English! My favorite subject…no, not even close! But I'm usually decent in it, though I guess not today! Then at lunch, I accidentally flipped my tray which landed on my lap. I then got laughed at by a group of freshman after I reappeared from the bathroom after having to get cleaned up, since apparently to them it looked like I wet myself…grr…Then later in class, the jokes still didn't quite cease. Guess who was leading the whole thing…the same one who kept pelting me with spitballs. Somehow, I still had the patience to just keep pressing on through my day. Then when that final bell rang, I all but bolted out of that classroom, relieved to be done with today and this week since thankfully it's Friday. I just got to my locker and that's when I saw her. I mustered up my courage to go talk to her again. I was thinking that she'll probably shut me down for the millionth time but I didn't care. We're meant to be together. It has to be true.
"Hey, Lila-oof!" Suddenly my line of vision and my balance have changed drastically and I find myself on the ground. I barely had enough time to stop my face from hitting the hard, tile floor. I just had to be the butt of some prankster's joke, and not just any prankster but her. It's always her! Helga G. Pataki, the thorn in my side since day one practically.
I don't understand her. I really don't. I try to be nice to her or ignore her. Heck, I've done that for as long as I can remember. Ok, ok, she actually hasn't been so bad when I came back from San Lorenzo two years ago, well in general at least. On her good days, which are what I call them, we get along great. Sometimes we meet up to work on homework, whether we've been partnered up together or not. She even lets me play my jazz music from time to time, something nobody else seems to tolerate but she seems to like it. And I strangely have found myself actually liking some of her favorite hard rock tracks, and then there's her blunt jokes, the way everything she does is done with such passion and conviction, her intense, deep blue eyes…wait, how did I get here?
Anyways, the point is, that I don't get Helga G. Pataki. I never have and I never will, especially recently. We have the occasional nice moment where I believe that maybe she's letting me in and will let me be her friend. And then the next day, it's as if she forgot all about what happened the day before and I find myself back on square one yet again. Well, no more. The fact that she tripped me was just the cherry on top of my horrible day and I truly believe I have reached my limit. And it's all thanks to her. And that brings me back to now…
"Whoops, how clumsy of you!" Helga says with her signature smirk. Somehow, though I expected it, her go-to response she uses after tripping me is enough to push away any doubtful feelings I had about letting her have it.
"Helga, don't give me that. I'm not in the mood. I know it was you. Your foot's still out for one thing," I respond dryly as I get up. Now facing her, I give her a look that just screams that I am anything but amused. Her eyes widen a bit at that but then her smirk just grows wider. She's not only unfazed but she seems to be enjoying the fact that she pushed me over the edge.
"Ok, ok, you caught me, Einstein!" she replies with a dramatic exasperated tone as she throws her hands up in mock surrender, "What, do ya wanna medal or something, yeesh!" she sarcastically adds as she crosses her arms and feigns an annoyed expression.
"No, I don't, Helga," I spit back at her, just mentally done with this, whatever this odd routine is that we go through day in and day out. I am just done. I get closer to her and that makes her smirk disappear as she starts to retreat a bit, obviously getting uncomfortable.
"What I want is for you to stop this, this juvenile way you have been treating me. Through all these years, you still pull these stupid stunts and mess with me when I have done nothing to deserve this! We're seventeen now, Helga, so grow up! I know you have issues and that you're not actually this way and so for that I have tried to be understanding and patient but there's only so much that even I can take. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe all you are is just a bully. I realized that I don't need this. I don't need you in my life if you're going to keep acting like this. And since you only respond to threats..," Trailing off, I find myself barely a few inches away from her face, just staring her down. I'm nearly panting at that last bit since all that just tumbled out of my mouth so fast and without warning, but they all felt like the right things to say. They felt like they were long overdue. Before I continued, just looking at her slightly panicked but still quite stubborn expression, I knew that she wasn't going to change, that nothing was going to get through to her. And with that, I shake my head and completely revise what I'm going to say next.
"No, you know what? I'm just wasting my time. I know you'll never change your immature and mean ways and I'm tired of giving you chance after chance so I'm putting an end to them myself. Since I know you won't stop treating me this way, you can just stay out. Stay out of my way. Stay out of my business. And stay out of my life! There's no place for you in it," I conclude simply with a final glare in her direction, my anger clouding my vision so I never really noticed her reaction to my final declaration of basically me washing my hands of her once and for all. I don't even want to stick around to see how she reacts. I don't care anymore. And so I just leave her standing there as I just walk out of the school without a second thought or a look back at her. I meant what I said. I am done with her.
Once on the school steps, I close my eyes and give a deep sigh as I lean my head back to welcome the feeling of the sun's rays on my skin. The sunshine seemed to be congratulating me for finally doing what I should've done forever ago. Relief washes over me as I feel I have just accomplished a huge victory…and yet, there's something else. There's this gnawing feeling deep down telling me that maybe I need to go back in there and…I scratch my head, trying to figure out what to do, the hard demeanor gets replaced with guilt. But then, just as I fully make the decision to go back in there and try to fix things, my hand hits something round and slightly still damp. I pull the spitball from my hair and after rolling it around in my hand a few times, the hardness returns. Instead, I fully exit the school and begin the walk to my house as if it was any other day. I feel I made the right choice.
A/N: Yes, Helga is sticking to what she knows. Something is sort of developing but Arnold is as dense as ever! I guess I'm evil for ending the first chapter this way but I swear this has a happy ending!