This is dedicated to the super special awesome SuprSingr, who has some awesome fics, and writes one of the best lovesick-towards-Helga Arnold ever! So enjoy your little gift from me, sweetums!

Whoo! Here we go, people. :D This is an idea that literally just popped into my head today.

We all know when Lila came into the show, she was just "ever so" perfect. And Arnold of course later liked her liked her.

So...what if the same situation happened, only this time, it was a with a boy? A boy who is just like Lila. And this time, it's HELGA who actually gets a crush on him! D: Oh NOES!

But fear not! Of course Arnold is still her true love! It's just she's older now, and of course, he reminds her of Arnold in some ways. Plus, she ends up using this to her advantage to make Arnold jealous!!! XD

Oh, but that's not all.

We're going to be dealing with a lovesick, jealous Arnold! :D Yay!

And one last thing. Mr. Simmons will be teaching sixth grade. XD Because I just love Mr. Simmons. I really do. :D

XD

All Characters belong to Craig Bartlett

Lyle Samuel is a creation of mine, though not officially, of course, it's just for this story or any other that may involve him.

--

It was a day like any other, as usual. Not much to say about that. But of course, this was a day where things were undoubtedly going to change. Not that anyone would know, until it happened.

On this fine morning, Arnold and Gerald were walking to school together, chatting along the way. They were in the 6th grade now, and twelve years old, and still the same as they had always been. Including the same usual attire! So on this day, was the day things would change forever.

"I'm telling you Arnold, it was the butler who killed the wife!"

"Gerald, you're crazy, it was the cook. He had the most motivation to kill her anyway." Arnold said, shaking his head.

"Well then, we'll just have to see when the movie comes out on Saturday! We're going, right?" Gerald confirmed.

"You bet, Gerald." Arnold nodded. "It should be really-OOF!"

The football-headed boy was knocked to the ground, hearing the surprised yelp of a female, causing him to look up immediately. A soft look came to his eyes and he smiled, standing back up.

"Watch where you're walking, football head!" Helga said, still the same Helga as ever, though she DID mellow out a little over the past three years, and was a bit more on friendly terms with the boys and the rest of the old fourth grade class, but she was still Helga. The only real difference about her was that she wore her hair down or in a ponytail as opposed to her pigtails.

"Sorry Helga." Arnold said sincerely, holding out a hand to help her up.

"Whatever. Just watch it!" Helga said, and walked off angrily. Once out of sight, she smiled big at how Arnold looked at her.

Arnold stared after her for a moment, a lovesick look on his face. Now at twelve, he had quite a crush on her. When she mellowed out and became nicer a lot more often, he couldn't help but like her a lot more. Now that they were on better terms and had fun together as friends, it grew into a little crush.

"Arnold? Arnold? Hey Arnold!" Gerald said, waving his hand in front of his best friend's face.

"Huh? Oh, sorry. I lost my mind there for a second." Arnold said, shaking his head to get back to reality.

"Please man, you lost your mind a long time ago, on the day you realized you like liked Helga G. Pataki! For crying out loud, will you just ask her out already?" Gerald rolled his eyes and stared at him.

Arnold sighed, shaking his head. "I know I should, Gerald. But there's no way she could ever like me back."

That was only half the truth. The truth was, given her confession to him atop the FTI building when they were nine, he wanted so much to give her what she wanted and needed so badly, but he had no idea how he felt about her. So they moved on, eventually became friends quite a few months ago in the summer, and Arnold developed a crush on her. But it wasn't enough. Especially since her love for him was stronger than he could have ever imagined. He couldn't bear being with her and not truly loving her. So he kept her at arm's length, being friendly with her as always, and would stare at her lovingly in class, at lunch and recess quite often when she wasn't looking. He even had a copy of her school photo that she had given him, and he gave her his, which he kept in a little frame in his room on one of his shelves next to his bed.

Moreover, he really liked her a lot, and while he had a bit of a crush on her, he was sure he just simply liked her as a best friend kind of girl. And on top of that, he thought she was really pretty with her hair down.

"I don't know, man...sometimes I notice Helga makin' those eyes at you if you know what I mean." Gerald told him, winking a bit.

"Nah, couldn't be me." Arnold shook his head. "C'mon Gerald, let's just get to school."

"Whatever you say, Arnold."

--

"Hey Pheebs." Helga greeted her best friend in the hallways of P.S. 118.

"Ohayo, Helga-chan!" Phoebe said.

"No Japanese today, Pheebs, please. My mind's on a reel today."

"Okay, English!" Phoebe smiled and gave a thumbs up.

"Excuse me, do either of you know where I can find Mr. Simmons' sixth grade classroom?" Came a voice.

Helga and Phoebe turned to meet with a boy around their age, fairly tall, and very cute. He had short brown hair, bright green eyes, wore a blue and orange plaid shirt and jeans with tennis shoes.

"What's it to you, bucko?" Helga said, scrunching her nose.

The boy smiled. "I'm new here, actually. My name is Lyle Samuel, I just moved here from the country. I'm supposed to be in Mr. Simmons' sixth grade class."

"Oh, welcome to P.S. 118!" Phoebe said. "My name is Phoebe."

"Hello Phoebe, it's very nice to meet you." Lyle smiled, shaking her hand. He cast a smile at Helga. "And who might you be?"

"The name's Helga G. Pataki, and don't you forget it, bucko!" Helga said nastily.

"Helga G. Pataki, that's an interesting name." Said Lyle. "Can I ask what the G stands for?"

"It stands for get the heck out of my face! And by the way, no one tucks their shirts into their pants, bucko!" Helga shot at him, and then walked off in a huff.

Lyle stared after her for a moment and looked back at Phoebe. "Is she always like this?"

Phoebe nodded. "Yeah, she can be a bit rough around the edges. But she's really nice once you get to know her. Oh! Right, come with me, we'll go to class right now, I can show you there."

"Great, thanks very much!" Lyle grinned. He noticed Arnold and Gerald walking by and waved to them. "Hi!"

"Hey, what's up?" Gerald waved back. "Oh! You're the new guy, right?"

"Yep! I'm Lyle Samuel, you guys?"

"Nice to meet you, I'm Arnold." Arnold greeted and shook his hand. "Where did you move here from?"

"Oh, I moved from the country, actually." Said Lyle. "...By the way, you wouldn't happen to be Arnie's cousin, would you?"

"Ooh! Small world, man!" Gerald hooted.

"Yeah, that's me." Arnold nodded. "Do you know him?"

"Uh-huh, he's a real interesting kid, that's for sure." Lyle said pleasantly.

"Yeah...interesting...." Gerald said shakily. "Um, so! Let's go to class! You're in our class with Mr. Simmons, right?"

"Yep!"

"I was just about to show him there, actually." Said Phoebe. "I guess we can all go together then!"

Gerald grinned and threw his arm around her shoulders, making her blush and giggle. "We sure can, babe."

"If you want we can show you around during recess and lunchtime, so you can get to know the school a little more." Arnold offered as they all headed to class.

"That'd be great, Arnold. Thanks a lot! Wow, you guys are all so nice here!" Lyle exclaimed happily.

"Hey, it's what we do, man." Said Gerald. "It's what we do."

They all soon came to class, just as it was beginning and Mr. Simmons was writing something on the board. Everyone had already taken their seats by the time they got there.

"All right boys and girls, time to get started!" Said Mr. Simmons. "Before we begin with today's lesson, I want to announce that we have an extra special new student joining us today in our very special class! Everyone, this is Lyle Samuel, he just moved here from the country! Let us all give him a very special welcome!"

"FREE THE ANIMALS!" Curly bursted, and then sat back in his seat, all cool and calm as can be.

"I'll get on that!" Lyle joked with him.

Curly grinned and gave him the Peace sign.

"Lyle, why don't you take a seat? ...Ah, there we go! There's an empty seat next to Helga!" Mr. Simmons pointed.

"Oh great." Helga muttered.

Lyle smiled and took the seat next to her. He looked at her and smiled more. "Hello again, Helga! Listen, I'm really sorry if I offended you earlier like that. I really didn't intend for that. We kind of got off on the wrong foot, and I'm sorry. Can I make it up to you by buying you lunch today?"

Helga stared at him, wide-eyed, unable to believe what he'd just said. No one would ever think to apologize to her, especially for such a minimal thing that wasn't even a big deal, despite that she did act like it was. Only Arnold would ever do such a thing. She had to admit, he was quite a guy...so cute, and so sweet. And those eyes... Those green eyes...

What the heck. It was free food.

"Yeah, sure, whatever. I'm over it anyway." Helga said with a shrug. "Whatever floats your boat."

Sitting two seats behind Helga, Arnold overheard their conversation and for some reason, tensed up. He didn't get it, why did this seem to bother him? He had no reason to be bothered, did he? Of course not!

So then why was he feeling this way?

--

"And here's the cafeteria, I hope ever so much that you'll like the food they have here! Sometimes it's just delightful!" Lila said to Lyle sweetly.

Lyle grinned and nodded. "Well I'm sure it will be!"

Now joined by Lila, Arnold, Gerald, Phoebe and Helga were showing Lyle around the school, and were now at the cafeteria during lunch time. For some reason, Helga just couldn't stop staring at Lyle, or keeping away from him. He was so interesting, attractive, and so sweet. Not to mention incredibly smart, and with an interesting fashion sense, despite its simplicity. So when he went off to get food, Helga went with him.

"Helga?" Lyle questioned. "Why aren't you sitting with your friends?"

"Well, doi, you're getting me food, right? So I figure I may as well accompany you so as to make sure you get what I want." She told him matter-of-factly.

Lyle grinned and nodded. "You're absolutely right, Helga! I should've thought of that."

At their usual table, the gang was talking about the new kid.

"Man, I reckon he's taken a likin' to Helga." Stinky mentioned.

"I think you're right, and she seems to like him, too!" Sid agreed. "She's been staring at him all through class and hasn't left his side more than ten feet all day so far!"

"Maybe she's in looooooooooove!" Harold crooned. "Lyle and Helga, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!"

"I think it's just ever so sweet." Lila said, looking to the two of them. "They would make such an oh so sweet couple!"

Arnold nearly choked on his Yahoo soda, unable to believe what they all were saying. Or more likely, unable to believe why it all seemed to bother him so much. He didn't get it. All morning, seeing Helga so close to Lyle for some reason made him feel...weird. Almost the way he felt back when he liked Lila, but Lila really liked Arnie and he didn't like seeing them together.

What's so special about him? Sure he's really smart, attractive, very nice and sensitive... Arnold thought. Wait, why am I thinking like that? That's not like me at all!

"I concur with Lila, they would make a nice couple." Phoebe said as she wiped off her glasses with a cloth and then put them back on. "Helga really seems taken with him indeed."

CRASH!

Everyone's heads shot to Arnold as he accidentally dropped his bottle of Yahoo soda.

"Um, sorry about that, I got a little clumsy there." Arnold said sheepishly, and got down to the floor to pick it up.

Gerald stared at his best friend weirdly, and then got down onto the floor to help him.

"Okay man, what's goin' on? You've been acting weird all morning." Gerald said in a low voice.

"Nothing, Gerald. There's nothing wrong." Arnold replied.

"Nothing wrong? Arnold, you've been staring intently at Lyle and Helga all morning, you can't seem to concentrate, and you always look a little pissed when he makes her laugh or smile."

"That's silly, Gerald. You're imagining things." Arnold scooped the broken glass into a Ziplock bag. "What do I care that Helga seems to really like Mr. Perfect?"

"And there, another thing! You just called someone a nasty name!" Gerald pointed out.

"What? I didn't! Mr. Perfect...that was a compliment!" Arnold protested.

Gerald looked around toward the gang, making sure they weren't listening, and dragged his best friend off to a recycle bin in the corner next to a trash can, where they threw the glass shards away.

"Arnold, if I didn't know any better, I'd say you were jealous." Gerald said.

"What? Jealous?! Why would I be jealous!?" Arnold protested.

Gerald pointed toward the gang's table, seeing Lyle pull out a chair and gesture to Helga to sit on it, which she did, and smiled up at him. He grinned back at her and then sat next to her, where they began to...share their lunch with each other! Seeing this made Arnold's heart sink. He and Helga shared their lunch together a lot, it was a little fun tradition between them that they'd come up with a few months ago, and it was a fun little game between them.

Now seeing her do that with another boy made him feel sad, and a little bit miffed. He couldn't believe it.

"Mmm mmm mmm." Gerald said, shaking his head. "Just as I thought, man. You're jealous!"

"I am not jealous!" Arnold protested. "I just...well, the sharing lunch thing was a silly little thing between Helga and I, and then she just goes and does it with another boy."

"It's a free country, she can if she wants to."

"I know, and I don't want her to think otherwise. Still, it was just kind of fun to have something between just the two of us, you know?"

"I understand, man." Gerald nodded. "Come on, you got a crush on her, it's no wonder you're jealous."

"But Gerald, I'm not jealous. It's just a little puppy love crush I have on Helga, it shouldn't bother me." Arnold sighed, looking back toward the happy couple as they were now sharing a chocolate milk. She was opening up to him fast, and getting really chummy. That was quite rare. He sighed again. "I'm going outside."

"What? But you didn't finish eating!"

"I lost my appetite."

Gerald watched his best friend go, and looked back at Lyle and Helga as they shared a conversation with the gang, still drinking the chocolate milk together. He shrugged and went back to the table and sat with Phoebe.

--

A week passed, and the very strangest thing happened.

Helga realized something very strange and surprising. She actually had a small crush on Lyle.

"I can't believe it...I like him like him!" Helga cried at her shrine. "Oh Arnold my love, please forgive me! I could never dream of letting my heart stray from you! But perhaps...it is best that I follow this, and be happy, as you would want me to be...since alas, we cannot be together..." She sighed sadly at this. "Lyle...sure he's not so bad...but he just isn't you, my darling... Oh!! How fate has dealt me with such a bad hand!"

She sat in her closet, trying to consider her options, but fast, since she had to get to school soon. She looked at her shrine, at her locket, and then at the books of poetry she had sitting in a box.

"Arnold, I will do what is best and move on...but know that I will always love you and long for you! If by chance you one day come to me and confess your love, I will come back to you, my dearest." Helga kissed her locket. "I'll give Lyle a chance and see what happens."

She tucked her locket away into her dress and then left her closet to get going to school.

Come to think of it, she realized also, that Lyle was a lot like Arnold.

"Funny...is it because he's so much like Arnold, that I like him?"

--

Oh noes! D: Helga likes another boy! NOOOOO!!!

XD Well fear not, there's more to come! :D