Nine

With slightly bruised knuckles, she clenched his sweater, pulling him closer to her as cheers suddenly out like at the sudden action. Unfortunately, they smashed together in her ears as she caught a whiff of his natural scent, which drove her a bit crazy. It wasn't until he jolted back that she suddenly returned to her senses.

"Fight! Fight! Fight!"

The children around her chanted like a mantra and, for a moment, she indulged in them, felt the need to feed the fire further... Then she looked into those hypnotic eyes.

That's when she truly knew that she couldn't go any further.

Because the way he was looking at her, with such fury that it rivaled an uncontained hurricane, such fear that it reminded her of a child without their parent... it made her stomach churn. She faltered, a momentary lapse in her reign of terror, and followed that was the whispers.

She licked her lips as they erupted, lower than the chants but just as loud, and felt a cold sweat run down her back. She didn't want to hurt him but she didn't want them to know either; she didn't want them to know how infatuated she was with him.

So, rearing up her hand, she felt it form into a fist, one that was soon knocking into the soft skin of his jaw, which she could feel tighten under the impact. She could hear the cheers that followed afterwards but that didn't help clear the disgust that was crawling under her skin.

Letting him slip from her grip, his little ht flying off, she spit down at him, putting her hands on her hips and pushing her chest out for a show of power. "Watch where ya goin' next time, Geek Bait!" Then, she turned on her heel, stomping out of the cafeteria in a way that made everyone split like the Red Sea because, honestly, who wanted to deal with Helga Pataki when she was on a rampage.

As soon as those worn, old wooden doors closed behind her, she couldn't help the tears that were budding at the corner of her eyes, wanting to slip out but all it took was a sniffle and they were rolling back into the duct, hidden from all.

Grabbing her hand, she cradled it with the other, rubbing her thumb over the sore knuckles. Nothing will change with Helga G. Pataki, she told herself, she'll always stay a cowardly brute.


I honestly feel like this is the kind of story that has to be told in small fragments, rather than large chapters. I feel like if I was to make this into a story... there'd be a lot of dead space as Hey Arnold is a show about morals rather than adventures (if that makes sense?). Anyway, I recently got into character development and decided what better way to practice it than with the all-too-complex Helga G. Pataki?

I rewrote this chapter (and the ones following it) simply because I could have delved into the conflict that she faces a bit better. Hopefully, you like it a bit more :)