Okay guys. This is an EXPERIMENT. I'm a little shaky on this, I've never added a character to Hey Arnold! world before, so I'm a little shaky. Depending on what you guys think, I may delete this story. haha. Anyways, Here is the companion to "What We Left in the Hallway."

Lemme know what you think and if you think I should continue, or try and start over, or even just let bygones be bygones and leave it with only two parts to the story.

So R&R and remember, i don't own HA!, Craig does. :)

here we go!

Polkahotness.

***NOTE: There are TWO POV's in this first chapter. Regular font is Arnold and plain bold font is Helga. Should be pretty easy to figure out. :)

The plane ride was full of excitement. Despite our many fears and hesitations, since our Christmas Break Helga and I had kept in contact with the best of them, talking nearly every day for at least an hour or two.

Maybe it was puppy love. That's what Gerald had said, but I didn't believe that.

And neither did Ray.

After explaining Helga and mine's complicated relationship, he wouldn't quite keep quiet about how anxious he was to meet the girl that had made such an impact on my life. I told him it was just some weird twist of fate that she had chosen me all the way back in pre-school, but maybe it wasn't.

Helga and I, despite what our friends may have told us, thought that maybe it was always supposed to work out that way.

Bringing Ray home to Hillwood with me was a hard decision, for him at least. His family wasn't particularly close, and he had told them he wanted to do something fun for his spring break this year, considering he went and saw them the year before.

So, sitting beside me on the plane, we laughed and listened to each other's various jazz tunes until the plane reached it's stop in the terminal and we unloaded.

We had arranged it so some of us could carpool with Gerald, seeing as he was the first person to arrive back in Hillwood that Sunday afternoon. As the few of us met in the main area of the Airport, we smiled and laughed and hugged at the mini-reunion before the 'actual reunion' that would take place at Sunset Arms on the roof as we had always had it.

"Hey Arnold!"

"Gerald!" I said, us reuniting to do the handshake we hadn't done for what felt like ages.

"How are you man?"

"Pretty great, Gerald. You?" I said while he gave me a thumbs up. Phoebe stood quietly behind him, waving her fingers at me with a wide smile.

"Hello Arnold." she said quietly.

"Have you guys seen Helga at all?"

"Helga? I don't believe she's here." Phoebe said with a small smile.

"Yeah man, None of us have seen her." Gerald chuckled.

"What is so funny?" Ray asked quietly beside me, clearly feeling out of place.

"I'm not exactly su-"

"Hey there football-head. How was the flight?"

"Helga?"

From across the way, I watched as Helga approached, bags in hand with a smile spread across her face.

Ray stood awkwardly watching as she ran to me and I spun her in the air, her soon protesting and us laughing, the gang watching. Some were in shock, while some were merely happy, and as usual, Rhonda was boasting about how she always knew it would happen one day.

Same old Rhonda.

The seven of us headed for Gerald's parents mini-van and loaded in, Helga and Phoebe behind me in the shotgun spot, Ray, Rhonda and Curly sitting behind them in the back.

"So Ray," Rhonda said with a grin, crossing her legs and showing off a bit more thigh than most people needed to see in their life, "what made you want to come all the way here to Hillwood with Arnold?"

She was batting her perfectly eye-shadowed eyes and licked some of the cherry lip balm on her lips.

"Princess is already putting on the moves back there, you better watch out, Ray." Helga mumbled with a grin and I turned around to shoot Rhonda a look.

"Go easy on him, Rhonda. He doesn't know anyone."

"Well maybe if you'd introduce the poor boy, he would know who we are... or rather, know who I am."

"You know, Rhonda," Phoebe said, twisting in her seat to look back at her, "throwing yourself at someone has proven in a study that men are less likely to want to date you."

"Meaning the saying playing hard to get is a pretty true statement..." Curly said while winking in her direction.

"Ew, Curly. Still gross, no matter HOW much older you are. I'm still far too out of your league." She said with a 'hmph' and a toss of her shiny black hair.

"In case you haven't figure it out yet, Ray, that is Rhonda." He nodded her way, his dark brown hair falling into his eyes before he brushed it out of his line of vision and offered his hand.

"Nice to meet you, Rhonda-"

"Wellington Lloyd. You may not know this, but my name is a bit of a big deal." She smiled and shook his hand daintily and I rolled my eyes.

"Next to her," I said, looking at him in the mirror, "is Curly, we call him."

"Stay away from my woman, got it, Ray? I've been working on this for YEARS."

"For the last time, Thaddeus, I am NOT your woman." Rhonda stated smugly and Ray's eyebrows scrunched together.

"I thought you said his name was Curly..."

"It's just a nickname. I'm Phoebe by the way. Nice to make your acquaintance."

"And that's MY woman," Gerald said, eyeing Ray from his rear view mirror with a smile. "Since you're with my man Arnold, I'm sure you're a cool guy and all. But I just want the water clear between us, you got that?"

"Gerald, Ray wouldn't do anything like that." I said surely and laughed, resting my feet on the dashboard and leaning back, Helga sitting behind me and poking my head.

The rest of the ride home wasn't too bad. Curly was, as usual, all over Rhonda while Rhonda was, as expected, all over Ray.

I felt bad that I hadn't been next to him to protect him from the ways of Rhonda Wellington Lloyd's lustful eyes. But Ray was a big boy, as Gerald had said while he helped me bring in my bags up to my room. "He can carry his own bags and everything, man."

It was true. But I still couldn't help feeling like I was being a bad friend to him; bringing him here and not introducing him to too many people.

He didn't seem to mind, however. Which according to Helga, meant not to worry about it.

So I didn't.

Or at least I tried.

"Don't worry about it, Arnold. He'll be fine. The gang has always been really open. I mean... when Lila showed up they let her in just fine."

"Do you still really have a problem with her?"

"You DO realize she was out to get me."

"And you DO realize that sounds ridiculous."

I rolled my eyes and pushed him to sit on his bed.

"The only thing that's ridiculous is that head of yours."

"What's your problem with my head?" he laughed and I smirked, touching his cheeks.

"It makes you different. That and how you're always so damn nice to everyone."

"And I notice you."

I grinned and kissed him quickly.

"That you did, Hair Boy."

"You guys coming up here or what?" Gerald called from the roof as the window was wide open.

"Better go protect your roommate from Rhonda. She seemed pretty... ready for him, if you know what I mean."

He rolled his eyes and took my hand.

"C'mon already."

"Who said I wanna go, hmm?"

"I did."

So he pulled me up to the roof where the usual gang was waiting under the pink hued sky.

Ray was a quiet guy. Arnold had described him as a lot like himself, but from what I was getting out of it, he wasn't quite the life of the party the way Arnold sometimes proved to be.

Granted, the guy had just gotten here and hadn't really met anyone, I decided to take one for the team and go make some form of conversation before Rhonda found away to steal him away and work her creepy witchcraft on him the way she became a little too known for our senior year.

"Ray, right?"

He nodded his head, and his dark brown locks fell in his line of vision as I had noticed happened quite often.

"Can you even see, or what?"

"I'm fine." He smiled this oddly perfect smile and I sat next to him on the bench, crossing my arms.

"So what's your deal?"

"What do you mean?"

"You don't want to talk to anyone or what?"

"Arnold seems busy, so I figured I'd watch."

"Has Arnoldo even introduced anyone to you?"

He shrugged and straightened his posture a little, clearing his throat.

"I've seen pictures." He said quietly, smiling. "That guy over there, the one with the orange hair, He is Eugene, right?"

"Klutzo Eugene, that's right. He's hopelessly optimistic, so don't try and get on his bad side. He doesn't have one."

He smiled and nodded, making mental note of it.

"The girl he's with is Sheena."

"Her voice will break your ear buds."

"Do you not like them?"

"Nah, they're alright." I said, leaning back against the bench and crossing my legs, adjusting the hat on my head. "How about that guy?" I said while nodding my head towards Sid.

"Uh... he's best friends with the tall guy he's standing with. I don't remember their names."

"Sid is the one in the obnoxious boots, be careful nto scuff 'em by the way. He'll flip. The tall one is Stinky. He's not too, bright in the head, but hey- he's got a decent heart." I said while reaching over to grab a Yahoo soda from Brainy.

"Who's that?"

I took a large gulp and smirked.

"That's Brainy. He doesn't talk."

"Is he... a mute?"

His eyes were mildly concerned and I shook my head.

"Nah. He's just a weirdo." I leaned over, motioning for him to lean in too. "He kind of stalks me." I nodded and took another sip of my Yahoo.

"The one with Rhonda, that's Nadine, correct?"

I nodded my head.

"She's kind of in love with bugs. Weird hobby, but at least it helped her figure out her major. Her boyfriend is the guy at the food table with the red shirt. It's Pea-Pod Kid. Once again, another weird nickname, but it's stuck since fourth grade."

"Is that how long you've known everyone?" He asked, seeming to get a little more comfortable and I nodded.

"That's when most of us got really close. Now, where was I? Oh yeah, the tubby kid over there? That's Harold. He SEEMS really big, but he's kind of a big baby. And boy does he love his fudgy bars. The guy will do anything for them. Now that should be about everyone, anyone who is important anyways. They're a pretty good group, and we've been THE group since-"

"Who's that girl over there?"

"Hmm?"

He outstretched his arm and pointed to her.

Lila.

Of COURSE he would invite HER.

"Oh. She's not important."

"Then why would she be here?"

I sighed and dropped my head back, groaning.

"Her name is Lila. She's little miss Perfect. Everyone likes her, don't try because she's the winner at 'playing hard to get.' She puts Princess over there to shame." I said, pointing with my thumb in Rhonda's direction.

"Oh." He said quietly, still quite fixated on her and her stupid spring-y dress.

"So Arnold tells me you guys play at the jazz club. What's that like? You guys any good?" I said, trying to continue making conversation with the poor guy.

"It's a lot of fun. There's this thing about being creative, even through music, that kind of makes problems disappear. I kind of have a cruddy family, so it helps take my mind off of the whole thing."

Slightly intrigued, I pried just a little further.

"Cruddy like how? Broken? Divorced?"

"Divorced, yeah. Pretty messy. It started happening freshman year in college. Arnold really helped a lot and was probably the only person who listened to my side of the story, even though he wasn't in my family, of course."

"Yeah... that's how he is. Always has been."

"So do you write your own songs and stuff?"

"Arnold does the instrumentals for it all. I mainly write all the words."

"The words? You guys sing?"

"I do. Arnold is a little shy about that kind of stuff."

"Yeah, no kidding. I've only heard him sing a handful of times."

He shrugged and turned to face me.

"Arnold says you're a writer. What do you write?"

"Uh... nothing."

"Really?"

"Well, I WRITE, but it's just a hobby."

He laughed I found his laugh to have a contagious quality to it. It wasn't obnoxious like Gerald's tended to get, it actually reminded me a lot of Arnold's.

"What's so funny, bucko?" I said, slight edge laced in my voice.

"Nothing. Just from the way Arnold talked about it, you seem pretty passionate about it."

"And what if I am, hmm? Would that make me lame or something?"

He shook his head instantly and his face soon turned serious.

"Nah. Just being a bit of a writer myself, I'd be interested to read some of your stuff."

"Hey now, just cause I'm your roommate's girlfriend, doesn't mean that I'm gonna get all chummy with you and let you read my stuff. Even HAIR BOY doesn't get to read my stuff."

"Helga?"

"And speaking of the devil..." I said, Arnold moving to sit beside me. "Your bud over here seems to think he can read my stuff."

Arnold shook his head.

"Good luck, Ray. She won't even show me."

"Told ya." I said, standing up to stretch slightly and make my rounds.

The guy definitely fit in with Arnold. They were essentially one in the same person.

But as the night went on, and Eugene fullfilled his destiny or whatever by tap dancing into the fire and screaming on his way out, it was nice to be with the old gang again, new member or not. And from what I could tell, Ray was really enjoying himself.

He was a pretty cool guy. I could get used to him hanging around Arnold and I.

That is, as long as he stayed away from Lila. No matter WHO you are or how COOL you may seem, that is an unforgivable choice.

Unless you're Arnold of course.

Even after dating the girl, that football-head of his still graced my dreams and inspired many a poem. His shampoo still sent my senses wacky and the scent of his presence took home in my nostrils.

You could say I was still obsessed, but all of my dreams had come true, and he at last knew of my love and adoration for him and that funny shaped head of his, even if he hadn't told me he felt the same.

I knew he must not be ready. And, oddly enough I was okay with that. Nothing could shake that feeling I'd had since he first shared his umbrella with me those many, many years ago and shown me my first taste of love.

From then on, it had always been him. It had always been my flaxen haired angel and I (hypothetically) traveling the world together, drinking tea in England and stealing kisses on the tip top of the Eiffel tower as I had always (secretly) planned. I mean, criminy! Since that day, I'd never even looked at another guy.

I watched as Ray slowly made his way through the crowd of kids I'd known my entire life, and smiled as Arnold held my hand the entire night, commenting on how well his roommate seemed to be fitting in.

\Even I couldn't deny that he really did.

And for some reason, it left a bad taste in my mouth.

Glancing over at Geraldo who was also oddly fixated on Ray instead of poor Pheebs watching on nervously, I found that I may not be the only one to be scared about that fact.

Verdict? Lemme know what you guys would like!