Arnold looked across the room to see his one time tormentor Helga G. Pataki. No one really knows why but a couple of years after they saved the neighborhood she stopped bullying every one. It wasn't instant but slowly she stopped she didn't threaten any one or even call him football head anymore.

As weird as it may sound he sort of missed it. Arnold Short-man missed being bullied by Helga. He knew why she bullied him in the past thanks to her confession on top of the FTI building, even if she did deny it later on. He just couldn't get it out of his head.

After that things went mostly back to normal up until they reached there first year of middle school and looking back at that year he should have noticed that her bullying had lessened somewhat then, and as the years went by it was less and less until she stopped completely.

Arnold was shocked when one day he said hi to her and instead of her usual yell of "Beat it foot ball head" all she did was calmly look at him gather her things and whisper "Hi Arnold" before walking away

He tried to talk to her a few times after that silently hoping to find some of the old Helga, but every attempt ended in failure. As middle school continued she stopped wearing her large pink bow, a fact that sort of saddened Arnold at least until he saw the ribbon tied around her wrist.

Other than the ribbon she stopped wearing her trademark color pink all together now the only thing she wore now a days was gray and the occasional black it was always a long sleeved turtle neck shirt and jeans on top of her head with all of her hair tucked into it was a gray beanie, and gone was her uni-brow no one knows when she decided to get rid of her uni-brow but then again no one really cared why she did it

Like all people do Helga G. Pataki grew up, and wither she knew it or not she grew up to be rather pretty. Sadly no one really noticed and over the years she simply faded into the background. No one took notice of her any more even him. That was something he felt guilty for and his lack of notice would have continued if it wasn't for there sophomore English teacher putting them together to work on a poetry project together.

After class Arnold walks over to Helga's desk "hi Helga" he smiles silent hoping that she will call him football head or something that would let him know the old Helga is still in her some were

She doesn't look at him but continues to place her things into her bag "Hello Arnold"

Slightly disappointed but not deterred he holds out his hand to help her out of her seat at this she looks at his hand silently and gets up on her own. Expecting that Arnold follows Helga out of the class room into the hall way "so since we got paired up for this project how about we meet after school and start to figure things out"

Helga pauses almost causing Arnold to run into her back" I can't"She whispers

Arnold's smile fades " I know I might not be your ideal partner but..."

Helga shakes her head lightly interrupting him "no its not that... I cant meet any time after school I have to work"she whispers

Arnold nods nothing unusual there a lot of kids were getting after school jobs now "then how about the weekend?"

Helga sighs still not looking Arnold in the eye "okay Arnold I should be able to get off work by noon on Saturday"

Arnold smiles again "great so how about we meet at your house?

"NO!"Helga yells catching the attention of everyone in the halls. As if realizing what she did she quickly walks away from the stunned Arnold who wasn't expecting her to scream

Suddenly realizing he was alone in the hall way Arnold chases after her but she was long gone. He sighs and runs a hand through his hair and adjusting his hat he heads towards his locker to find his best friend leaning up against it "hey Arnold my man"

The two do there thumb hand shake "hey Gerald how was classes?"

Gerald groans scratching at the few hairs that had started to grow on his chin "not half bad but it does look like I need to find a science tutor"

Arnold shakes his head "don't look at me science is not my forte. Need help in history math or any other class but Science and I'm your man"

Gerald smirks "speaking of other classes who did you get paired up with for English"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you"

"Try me"

Arnold look Gerald dead in the eyes "Helga G. Pataki"

Gerald's eyes narrow in confusion "you mean the girl that used to pick on us in elementary school?"

Arnold shuts his locker after gathering his homework for the day "the one and the same"

Gerald frowns " I didn't even know she still went to school with us I thought she had moved away sometime in middle school"

"Nope she's still here"

Gerald smirks "so what's it like being called Football head again?"

Arnold shrugs " I wouldn't know she hasn't called me that in years"

"Wait, wait, wait your telling me that she actually calls you by your name?"Arnold nods and Gerald's eyes widen "I guess she had to grow out of her bulling sometime"

"Arnold?"A small but strong voice calls out from behind him. Both Gerald and Arnold turn to see a very pretty Japanese girl with oval glasses

"Yes?"

"I case you forgotten my name is Phoebe I Have a note for you from Helga"she says handing Arnold a folded piece of paper

Arnold grabs the paper from her "Thank you Phoebe"

"No Problem" Phoebe bows slightly "I'll see you later Arnold" She turns her eyes to Gerald and smiles "later Gerald"She then walks away not noticing Gerald's drooling gaze following her

Arnold elbows Gerald in the ribs to snap him out of his faze. The slightly taller African American boy grins "Arnold my man I think I'm in love"

A laugh erupts out of Arnold's mouth "bout time to noticed you've been in love with her for years"

Gerald shrugs "details, details now what did Miss Pataki have to say to you?"

Arnold opens the folded piece of paper it reads :

Arnold,

I can meet you Saturday at 1 o' clock at the public library to work on our project don't be late.

Helga

"Well that was short and to the point? Why can't she just meet with you after school like every one else?"Gerald asks scratching his chin again

"She has to work"

"Really? Were does she work?"

"I really don't know I haven't asked her and no one has mentioned Helga working any were"

Gerald shrugs "honestly Arnold do you really think if they did see her working anywhere they would have noticed her?"Arnold looks up at Gerald waiting on him to continue "think about it she has faded into the background barely anyone remembers Helga G. Pataki. Hell I forgot about her until you brought her name up."

Arnold runs his fingers through his hair and frowns the guilt he felt earlier for not remembering her eating at his heart "your right Gerald I'm not happy about it bur your right"The school bell rings letting every one know its time to leave "I'm gonna head on home ill see you later"

They do there thumb shake "alright good luck with Helga tomorrow"

With Helga

Helga walks through the door of her home trying to be a quiet as possible it was 12:30 am and she had just gotten off of work. But sadly it didn't matter how quiet she was the one person she was trying to avoid was sitting right there waiting on her to get home.

That person was Big Bob Pataki. He looks at his youngest daughter or as he liked to say the slime of the Pataki line and holds out his hands. Helga sighs and pulls out a small wad of bills leaving the coins I her pocket knowing he doesn't want them and places them in his hands.

Big Bob scowls and faster than Helga could blink had her pinned to the wall by her throat "IS THIS IT!?"

Helga brings her hands up to try to get some air in her lungs "it was a slow night" she gasps

Big Bob smacks Helga with his other hand busting her lip "SLOW NIGHT MY ASS! DON'T FORGET YOU OWE ME! AND YOUR GONNA PAY ME EVERY SINGLE PENNY YOU LOST ME WHEN YOU DECIDED TO STOP THE FUTURE TECH. INDUSTRY FROM TEARING DOWN THIS FUCKING TOWN!"

Helga can see her vision going dark from the lack of oxygen and silently prays that he actually kills her this time. This has been going on for the last 8 years. Sometimes she wonders if the neighborhood was really worth what was happening to her.

Tears silently leak out of Helga's eyes and she knows even if she knew this was gonna happen she would help Arnold save the neighborhood all over again. The darkness starts to grow around her eyes and she welcomes it. Unfortunately it was stopped when Big Bob dropped her to the floor allowing her to breath.

He stares at her silently taking in her bloody lip and listening to her gasping for air. Seeing her like that made him feel guilty and that was a feeling he hated. It filled him with rage. Rage towards the one he's feeling it for so he did what he always did when he sees her on the ground .. he swung back his leg and kicked her right in the stomach.

She coughs up a bit of blood but doesn't move or even make a sound. Big bob grumbles and heads off to bed leaving Helga crumpled on the floor. Once shes sure hes gone Helga pulls her body up and heads off to the basement which is now her room.

She honestly doesn't mind having her room in the basement. Yea its dark and has no windows and it basically ices over in the winter, but its very spacious. The one good thing about her room is that it is the safest place in the whole house for her. Big Bob is terrified to enter her room, and its all thanks to her old friend and pet The monitor lizard. Who is really just a Komodo dragon

After that whole episode were Big Bob's parrot got lose and was running its mouth in class and this big guy ate him Helga grew attached to the giant reptile and she called him Toby. Why Toby? She doesn't know but he seemed to like it.

Toby as Bob quickly found out was very protective of Helga and there room no one was allowed to enter. If they tried they were put face to face with a six foot lizard weighing a bit over a hundred pounds.

A lot of Helga's money goes towards taking care off Toby she bought him a plastic pool an filled it with water and mud and she bought a small heater so that the cold wouldn't get to him in the winter and she was constantly at the pet store buying him birds and rats and various other live animals for him to hunt and eat.

Big Bob tried to get rid of Toby but because of his species he was protected under Indonesian law and because of this and the fact that Toby has claimed Helga as his territory there was nothing that Big Bob could do.

Helga was grateful for that because she doesn't have to worry about spending money on taking him to the doctors the Indonesians takes care of those expenses and they give him a few months worth of food every visit and for caring for him they give Helga money so that she can continue to take care of him.

Thankfully Big Bob doesn't know about her monthly checks or he would try to take that money away from her as well. Helga had set up a student bank account so that she could put her money in with out Bob's knowledge shes been putting all of the money she manages to save up in the last eight years in that account and needless to say she had more than enough to finally move out when she turns 18 and take her loving Toby with her.

Helga was instantly greeted by the happy lizard when she limped into her room that night. He twisted and turned around her legs making her giggle softly the sound hurting her bruised throat. She lets a bird out and Toby gives chase

While Toby is eating Helga starts to remove her clothes . Looking at her self in the mirror Helga frowns her body is covered in new and old bruises and a few scars, Thankfully Bob never wants to leave a permanent scar so hes never cut her just left big bruises. Helga quickly turns away from the mirror after examining Bob's Hand print on her neck and lays down on her bed

Helga grabs a thick black book and begins to write :

June 25, 2010

Day by Day

Each day I live, the pain consumes

What little sanity I have bloomed

Like walking in a cloud of fog

Falling down, sinking into smog

Life just seems grim

I think on a whim

Interest lost in everything I do

But what a life, who really knew?

Depressed to a fault, that all I see

Death just seems like the only way for me

A waste of time, I feel I am

But that's its nature, a full mind jam

I try and try to ease the pain

A fallen effort with no gain

Thoughts begin to eat away

Makes me want to end it today

Uncomfortable around others for the way I feel

I pray and wish this all wasn't real

Life just seems more like a prison

Caged, alone, an abomination risen

No one could ever understand

Why I would want my death sooner than planned

Its not something I want for me

But to end my suffering this is what has to be

So I write this all as I fall from grace

Down to this place, some barren waste

I know not how much longer I will last

But all I can do, is pray that this will just pass.

(AN I do not own this poem I found it online please review and tell me what you think)