All the Hillwood's former students of P.S. 118 are now entering our junior year of high school. Helga walks into the school for the first time, Helga had been sent to another school district after her parents divorced. Therefore she hadn't seen much of the old gang with the exception being Phoebe. Helga had lived with her father since the end of her 7th grade year. Now she is moving back in with her mother who is still living at the old residence due to the fact that a social worker found evidence of physical and sexual abuse from Big Bob Pataki; who is now in prison. The sexual abuse started within a year and continued until she was about 14. Helga is now regularly seeing a therapist for the major physical and psychological abuse she experienced from the person who was suppose to protect her. Helga continued to attend her regular high school, but gets tired of the long ride since she is back with her mother in Hillwood. Her mother is now stable enough to work and take care of Helga.
As Helga now 16 years old walks up the stairs to her new school she is filled with a mixture of anxiety and fear, but now she wears that on her sleeve. Helga herself doesn't realize this but she has blossomed into a beautiful young woman, she's tall, long blonde slightly wavy hair, a very slim but perfectly proportionate figure and the most beautiful mysterious sapphire eyes. And because she only has clothes that her sister bought, her nice figure is noticeable in a modest way. For that reason when she walks into the school she has many eyes on her which she doesn't understand why and making her feel very self-conscious and uncomfortable.
Her first period is English literature; Mrs. Townsend greets and introduces her to the class. Helga nervously looks around the room and doesn't recognize anyone. She does sit down and gains the attention of a girl with spiky blonde and purple hair and a lanky slightly effeminate guy with red hair.
They both look at her curiously and the guy was the first one to speak.
"Are those your real eyes?"
Helga looks at him and frowns slightly thinking that was an odd question. "Yes, they are."
"Well, they're beautiful. Then he looks at his female friend. "I wanna get contacts just like that."
The girl laughs and gives Helga a small smile. "I'm Samantha but go by Sam and this is Steven you'll never get used to how pretty he thinks he is."
"Whatever I'm prettier than every girl here…well except Rhonda Wellington Lloyd….and you're very pretty too…"
"Oh, I'm Helga and thank you. She responded shyly."Wait you said, Rhonda Lloyd."
"Yea she's like the queen of the school."
"I went to elementary school with her."
"That sucks for you, which means you've known her evilness even longer."
The teacher Mrs. Townsend finally started her lesson after speaking briefly with a counselor about Helga.
Sam and Steven guide Helga threw the hallway with Steven yelling for people to make way for the blonde bombshell. They told her they were taking her to her gym class but ended up taking her to an abandoned part of the building where no one came.
"Wait where is the classroom?"
"You don't really want to go to the gym do you?" Sam asks.
"Gym class is so ew," Steven adds.
"Well, couldn't I get some kind of violation for skipping?"
"No trust us, we know what we're doing we won't get you into trouble. You seem cool I think we will become good friends."
Sam nods in agreement.
Helga sits down with. "So are you from around here?" Steven inquires.
"Yeah I grew up here, but then my parents divorced and I moved with my dad who they thought was a more stable parent, they were horribly wrong. But now I'm back with mom. It's weird being back because even though it's where I grew up I haven't seen my old classmates in years, so except for Phoebe everyone else is gonna feel like a stranger almost; especially with what you guys implied about Rhonda. I mean she was never the nicest, but I wouldn't describe her as evil."
Phoebe as in Phoebe Heyerdahl?"
"Yes, you know her too?"
"Yes, everyone does, she like an all-star student she gets straight A's and wins like every award known to mankind. And she still manages to have an awesome basketball player boyfriend."
"Gerald Johannsen."
"Right…you do know a lot of people."
"Why do you call Rhonda evil Sam?"
"Because she is and she has these two girls who follow her everywhere. But I will say that Rhonda is very honest about her superficial evil ways, Lila on the other hand...is very sneaky"
"Lila Sawyer and Nadine Jackson are her followers," Steven added.
Helga chuckles and shakes her head. "I know them too."
"Wow, well Rhonda is considered the evil fabulous queen, but Lila is a snake too, I know for a fact. But everyone thinks she's so innocent and sweet especially her basketball player boyfriend Arnold."
"Arnold?" Helga asks in a surprised tone.
"Yea Arnold Shortman he's like the most handsome popular guy in school, but he's really down to earth and doesn't seem to care about popularity."
"I actually like Arnold and feel bad for him that he's stuck with that snake Lila. But they're always on again off again."
Helga shrugs and looks at the clock.
"And Nadine is the nice one, but she is loyal to Rhonda for some reason."
"I always liked Nadine, she had an interesting fascination with bugs," Helga replied.
Then the bell rings and Helga quickly gets up.
"I'm glad I met you guys, you've given me some good information, but I have to get to my next class, its algebra."
"Algebra is so ew," Steven says.
Sam gives her a smile. "Cool, we'll see you around." Steven nods at her and waves her goodbye.
Helga walks into her class to see the person she was dreading to face. Arnold himself and the seat behind him was the only one available. As she walked to the desk she noticed he was staring at her with his mouth slightly opened, but then he shook his head and looks away rather shyly. She sat down and expects him to turn around and talk to her but he didn't. Maybe he doesn't care to see me again… Helga was kind of relieved that Arnold didn't turn around to say anything because she didn't know how to act around him now, but she was still somewhat disappointed. Helga kind of put her feelings for Arnold aside for a while to work on herself in many different ways. But after seeing him some of her old feelings for him have all come back. Not that she felt anywhere near strongly as she did before, but she did feel her heart racing now she was near him and hadn't felt that way around a guy since Arnold.
At her old school Helga was pretty much considered a nerd as she was mostly a straight-A student and good at every subject. She focused all her energy on her studies to get her mind off her problems. Now that she was back in Hillwood, she was hoping that she could make some good friends and after meeting Steven and Sam who seemed genuine she was very hopeful. The bell rang and Arnold turns slightly around and glances at her as if he wanted to speak, but Helga is looking down and she has very long and thick hair that is covering some of her face so she didn't notice.
Now it was her lunch period which was her last period of the day. She walked into the cafeteria filling super nervous but then she saw Sam and Steven and started walking over to their table. Until Sid walks in front of her.
"Wow I haven't seen you around I wouldn't have forgotten a hot bod or a beautiful face like that."
"Hi, Sid."
"You know me? He looks at her closer. "Helga!"
Helga nodded.
"Whoa Helga Pataki, wow I never would have guessed." He states loudly getting the attention of others.
Rhonda, Lila, and Nadine heard. Nadine calls her over.
"Helga Pataki? Is that really you… wow… come here sits with us."
"Yes please sit with us Helga; I would love that ever so much."
Helga sees Sam and Steven giving her a confused look but shrugs and sits down with her old classmates anyway.
"Helga, I would have never been able to recognize you if Sid hadn't said your name," Nadine states simply.
"Yeah you don't look anywhere nearly as boyish as you use to," Rhonda adds.
"You look oh so gorgeous Helga I never thought I would say such a thing to you, but it's true." Lila states in her same sickeningly sweet tone she always did when they were younger.
"Thanks, I guess…"
"So when did you get back?"
"I've been back with my mom for almost two years now, but I've been going to a different school."
"Wait so how come we haven't seen you around?" Nadine asks.
"I don't know I guess I've become kind of a homebody. I spend most of my time reading. When I do go out it's to go jogging or something like that. I actually like being around the house for my mom."
"Your mom is kind of a…lush isn't she?" Rhonda asks and Nadine nudges her roughly. "What Nadine? We're all friends here I'm sure Helga doesn't mind us asking."
"It's okay Nadine, yes Rhonda she likes to drink sometimes, but she has it under control now, I make sure of that."
"That's good to hear, you know Helga you should come sit with us every day if you want," Nadine suggests.
"Well, actually I was –"
"I insist you're pretty enough," Rhonda says with folded arms.
Then shortly after Rhonda walks away to talk to someone.
Lila leans over to her. "Do you still have your little secret crush?"
"What?"
"You know your little crush on Arnold you had back in the 4th grade," Lila says rather loudly.
Nadine gasps. "Helga you use to like Arnold? I would never have guessed that."
Helga blushes and then shrugs. "I-
Lila gives her a devious smile and interrupts Helga. "Why yes Nadine Helga told me she was head over heels in love my now boyfriend Arnold. It was really pathetic, but I'm sure she's over that by now. I mean Arnold would never be into a girl like her, while she is much prettier now she will always be remembered as Helga G. Pataki the obnoxious rude ugly bully with the huge unibrow and no one will ever see her as anything different." She states this loud enough for Nadine to hear but soft enough so that no one else did.
Helga's face turns red and she feels herself getting hot with anger. She stands up and picks up Lila's tray and slams it down in front of her.
"Look you little girl, I don't know what crawled up your ass over the past few years, but I've done nothing to deserve you speaking to me that way. I don't give a shit about your boyfriend; I'm here to get an education so that I can get into a good college and get the hell away from idiots like you. Yes I know idiots are everywhere, but on a big college campus you can avoid them I'm sure. Anyway just so you know if you ever speak to me like that again next time it'll be your face that gets slammed into that table. Sorry but I have to decline your invitation Nadine but thanks for at least acting human, tell Rhonda, I'm getting out of here."
Everyone in the cafeteria gasps and Helga turns and quickly leaves the room. As she was leaving she could hear a few howls and cheers and she saw Sam and Steven giving her the rock on hand gesture. She didn't realize she was speaking loud enough for everyone to hear. Oh great now I'm gonna have the bully reputation all over again while Lila plays the innocent victim.
As Helga was briskly walking in the hallway she runs smack into a something hard. She falls down and looks up.
"Arnold!?" Great now I have to deal with this guy…
He reaches down to pull her up with a shocked expression; now that they are face to face he stares at her intensely.
"Helga?"
