Chapter 1: I'm Here For You

It was the middle of their eighth grade year. Arnold and Helga had just shared a lovely evening together at his place having dinner with his family. After finishing the meal, Arnold walked his girlfriend home, holding her hand under the stars, wishing they could stay together longer.

As they approached her front porch, Arnold turned to face his girlfriend, taking both her hands in his. Smiling sweetly as he gazed into her sapphire eyes, he said softly "I had a really nice time with you tonight."

Doing her best not to blush, she said "Me too football head. Thanks for dinner. It's nice getting an actual meal without having to listen to a certain someone brag about the amazing job they did making it."

Helga felt him beginning to caress her warm hands, not taking his half-lidded eyes off hers. Knowing he was anxious to kiss her, she was ready to bend down when the two of them heard the door swing open "For crying out loud Miriam! Can't you do anything right?!"

As Arnold anxiously whipped his head in the direction of the door, Helga dropped her shoulders agitated at the idea of her irritating family having ruined a special moment of hers.

"Don't worry daddy, I'm on my way to get some more!"

Arnold watched Olga anxiously approach the two of them, as she headed down the porch steps. "Hello Arnold. Hi baby sister!" Olga said excitedly.

"Oh, hey Olga." Arnold replied, rubbing the back of his neck. Although he knew Olga would never judge them for such a thing, it was still embarrassing having one of their moments together interrupted.

"I'm going to the store to get daddy some coffee Helga. Would you like to come?!" Olga asked hopefully, as Helga leered "Pttss...yeah, I don't think so."

"Okay, bye baby sister!"

After watching Olga head for her car, Arnold turned to look at his irritated girlfriend. Seeing her stand with her arms crossed, looking in the opposite direction, he thought about how close he was with his family. Even after not seeing them in years, he began to bond with them right away. Helga on the other hand, just couldn't connect with hers."

Arnold's eyes then lit as he said to his girlfriend "Why don't we have our families get together for dinner?"

Turning to cock her brow at him, she quickly dismissed the idea as she asked "What makes you think I would want to do something like that?"

"You're always complaining about how much better you think they treat Olga than you…"

Interrupting her beloved, Helga said "Umm...that's because they do treat her better, DOI!"

"Well, if we have our families get together, that could change. Your parents could learn more about what's going on in your life, because it wouldn't just be you trying to get their attention."

Smiling at his optimism, trying to ignore the idea of all the terrible things that could occur, Helga replied "Alright fine."

"Great! We can go shopping tomorrow!" Arnold said excitedly, seeing his girlfriend laugh at his happiness.

"Whatever floats your boat football head."

Saturday Morning

Arnold awoke the next morning, anxious to meet with his girlfriend. There were many things that needed to be taken care of and the idea of dinner hadn't even been mentioned to his family yet.

After getting dressed, he raced downstairs to see his mom making breakfast with Pookey for Phil and Miles.

"Morning shortman!" Phil said, as he watched his grandson anxiously enter the kitchen.

"Morning everyone."

"We had a lovely time with Helga sweetie." Stella said, approaching her son with the food.

Not wasting any time, Arnold asked "If it's okay with you guys, she and I wanted you to have dinner with her parents. Could we invite them over tonight?"

"That sounds great son." Miles said, before being interrupted by his father.

"Hmm...I don't know. That Bob Pataki's quite a character."

"Will lady Eleanor be joining us again? I'll be sure to make an extra special meal for her!" Pookey said, wearing her usual morning cowgirl get up, making Phil reconsider his words.

"Alright shortman, they can come."

Helga's House

Sitting at the counter with a bowl of cereal, Helga propped her head in her hand, wondering how dinner with Arnold's family would go. She hadn't mentioned a word of it to her family yet. Would they even be willing to set aside time for her?

After letting out a deep sigh, she turned her head towards her family sharing breakfast together in the dining room.

"So when can you start asking those friends of yours to pass out the fliers? If I want this business to keep growing, I've got to keep word about it spreading around." Bob said to Olga, shoveling down the breakfast she had made for him.

"Don't worry daddy! I've already told them all about it."

Knowing it was now or never, Helga stood from the counter to approach her family.

"Well good. Now we just have to…"

"Uhh dad." Helga interrupted.

"What is it Olga?"

"I'm HELGA dad." the young girl sighed, knowing it was pointless to correct him.

"Whatever. What do you want? We're in the middle of something important over here."

Knowing they wouldn't care to join her anyway, Helga's attitude went from nervous to annoyed, as she said "I'm having dinner at Arnold's again tonight, and you're all invited. Come if you want, if not, whatever."

"Oh goody! We get to see Arnold's parents again!" Olga exclaimed, clapping her hands at the idea.

"I don't know. Is this gonna cost me anything?" Bob asked, seeing Helga cock her brow.

"Well you're being invited to another person's house to have food you didn't make yourself placed in front of you. There's really no telling." Helga said wittily.

Before Bob could respond to her sarcastic remark, the family heard a knock on the door.

No longer caring about her dad's lack of interest in her life, Helga went to answer it.

Opening the door to see her boyfriend happily standing there, ready to start their fun day preparing for their eventful night, Helga listened to Arnold ask "Hey Helga! Ready to go shopping?"

Anxious just to see him, she replied "Sure football head. Let's get going."

Walk

As Arnold was about to reach for her hand, he noticed his girlfriend carrying a sheet of paper.

"What's that?"

"Well, at first I figured it would be easier just to have The Golden Child cook everything for us, as much as she enjoys showing off. Then I realized it would just give her one more thing to brag about. So, I decided to spend the night thinking of easy to make dishes for the family."

Smiling at her helpful gesture, Arnold took the list to read…

Spaghetti

Soup

Grilled cheese sandwiches

Fried vegetables

"This sounds like fun!"

"Thanks. We can only hope." she said, thinking about what her family may do to ruin things if they did decide to come.

Anxiously pulling her along, Arnold tripped as they were crossing the street.

"WHOA!" he screamed, losing his balance.

"Arnold!" Helga did her best to keep hers, while not letting him fall. She was unsuccessful however, and watched her boyfriend fall to the ground.

"Are you okay Arnold?!" she asked worriedly, sitting down beside him.

"I think so. My ankle just hurts."

Staring worriedly at him, she said softly "Well, I guess you're in no condition to be carrying heavy groceries. Let's get you home."

"We have to go shopping! I still want to have dinner tonight!" he insisted, holding onto his hurt ankle.

Shaking her head at his worry wart attitude, Helga replied "Look Arnold, the world won't end just because we postpone dinner. Now let's get you out of the street and into a real bed."

The Boarding House

Standing on the porch steps with her boyfriend leaning against her, Helga said "Criminy! How are we supposed to avoid that zoo of yours without you losing your balance?"

"They won't knock me over if I lean against the wall." he insisted, as he watched her open the door.

Impatiently waiting for the flood of animals to exit the building, Helga sneered "You really ought to sell those things."

"Whatever you say Helga."

Arnold's Kitchen

"What do you think the kids are buying at the store?" Stella asked, standing by the sink, washing the dishes.

"Oh I don't know. Candy, sodas, ice cream...normal things someone their age would eat for dinner." Phil suggested, turning his face away from the game of Chinese Checkers he and Miles were playing together.

"I'm looking forward to having dinner with her parents. We didn't get to say much to each other on our way back from San Lorenzo." Miles smiled, as Phil turned his attention back towards the board.

"Yeah, well don't get too excited. They...Hey wait? Did you touch anything?!"

Doing his best to hold back a laugh, Miles' facial expression changed when he saw his son limping into the kitchen with Helga.

"What happened son?"

"I tripped walking across the street." Arnold replied, disappointed with himself. The pain he felt from ruining their plans was more than enough to outweigh the pain his ankle was experiencing.

Seeing the sad look on his face, Stella walked over to place a hand on her son's shoulder and said "Let's get you upstairs sweetie. It shouldn't take too long to heal."

Arnold's Bedroom

Having made it upstairs, Stella and Helga helped Arnold take a seat on his bed. "There you go sweetie. Just try to get some rest."

After watching Stella leave the room, Helga took a seat beside her boyfriend. Taking his hand in hers, she began rubbing it softly and asked "Are you okay Arnold?"

A frown formed on his face as he sighed "I was just looking forward to tonight. Like you said though, we can do it another time."

"Pttss...you were looking forward to Bob teaching your family about business and Olga updating them on her latest accomplishments? Are you sure it wasn't your head you fell on?"

"Well it doesn't matter now." he frowned, while glancing down at his ankle.

Taking notice of the depressing look he was carrying, Helga smiled as she continued rubbing his hand and said "Don't worry football head. I'm here to take care of you."