Helga hung upside down over the edge of her bed with her golden hair cascading all about her as she lost herself completely in her English reading assignment. On the cover of her book it read Pride and Prejudice, one of her all time favorite novels which she was only too happy to read again for her freshman Introduction to English Composition class. The sun shone in through her dorm's small window, reflecting off of the papers that littered the dorm's blue carpeted floor. Outside the faint sound of students walking back after their afternoon classes could be heard. Helga smiled to herself, grateful that her party girl of a roommate had already left for the rest of the day leaving her alone in her reading. Even though they were polar opposites in personality, they had gotten along quite well considering that they didn't spend much time in the room together.
She sighed as she reached the part where Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennett first met. She had always fancied herself as a modern Lizzie Bennett considering her headstrong attitude towards the world and unrelenting stubbornness. A soft knock at the door startled Helga from her reading. With a groan, she yelled, "Come in!" The door swung open to reveal her best friend, Phoebe, standing in the frame with a tiny smile and shining eyes behind a pair of overly large glasses. Helga banged her head on the carpet as she slid off the bed in surprise. "Oof," she said as she got up while rubbing the top of her scalp.
"Oh gosh, Helga! I didn't mean to startle you! Are you all right?" Phoebe frantically asked in a high pitched voice as she rushed over to help. An amused laugh came from Helga as she turned around and enveloped Phoebe in a lung crushing hug.
"I can't believe you came to visit me!" Helga exclaimed as Phoebe wrapped her own arms around Helga.
"Hey!" The two girls turned to see Gerald leaning against the wall beside the entry way. "Don't squeeze her too hard now! I would like my girl to still be breathing." He winked at them as he strode over with a cocky grin and gave Helga a kindly hug as well.
"Good to see you too, tall hair boy," Helga sarcastically shot back with a cheeky smile of her own. "So, what brings you guys here to good ol' Hillwood University? Don't' you guys have class at Princeton right now?"
"We actually just started our Spring Break and wanted to stop by to see you before we went home to our families. It's been much too long!" Helga's raised her eyebrow suspiciously at this as Phoebe grinned nervously. She was much too squeaky and rapid with her speaking for this to be the only reason they had come to see her.
"Uhh, Geraldo? Might want to cool it with the caffeine with Pheebs here, I think she's beginning to go a little nuts."
"Mmm," responded Gerald as he shiftily rubbed the back of his neck. "Actually there's someone else here with us." Helga's blue eyes widened and her body became rigid at these words.
"Who exactly?" she inquired in a stern, deep tone.
"Me," said a voice from the doorway that she recognized all too well. Her eyes immediately connected with his emerald ones and everything from the last ten months that she had worked so hard to forget came rushing back in a swell of emotions and memory. He looked much more toned now after spending a while in the jungles of San Lorenzo working with his parents. His hair seemed to have grown a little wilder, but it still stuck out at odd angles and was as blonde as ever. Even his smile seemed to have gotten better, the one that made her go weak at the knees and melt every time she saw it.
"A-arnold?" she said, barely audible in her shock. "Is that really you?" He meekly nodded as he held open his arms, expecting a hug from the girl. Instead her dumbstruck face quickly took on an enraged look and she sprinted towards him, pushing him forcefully against the wall with a snarl.
"What the-!" Gerald yelled as he attempted to rush to his friend's side, however Phoebe tugged on his shirt and gave him a look that told him to stay out of it for now.
"Helga! What is wrong with you?" Arnold yelped as he struggled against her vice like grasp.
"What's wrong with me? WHAT'S WRONG WITH ME? Gee, Arnold, I don't know let's think on that for a minute now shall we? We break up on graduation because you decide to go with your parents to San Lorenzo. Now that was all fine and dandy because, doi, they're your parents! BUT YOU DON'T WRITE? YOU DON'T CALL? EVERYONE ELSE GOT LETTERS AND CALLS FROM YOU EXCEPT FOR ME! So, Arnoldo, the question isn't what's wrong with me, but WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?"
He stared at her sympathetically after her explosion as he saw the tears well up in her eyes and her chest rise and fall with each panting, angry breath she took. Slowly his eyes shifted over to look at Gerald who looked about ready to rip Helga off of him and Phoebe who was restraining him with all the strength she had. Calmly he said, "Gerald, Phoebe. Think you can give Helga and I some privacy?"
Silently they nodded then shuffled out of the room as Helga released her grip on Arnold. He shut the door closed after them and looked over to see Helga slump down on her bed. "How can you just waltz back into my life like this?" she whispered as her body shook with silent sobs. Arnold sat down next to her and exhaled.
"After I left, I didn't want to keep you on the hook so to say. I wanted you to not wait for me because I didn't even know if I was going to come back!"
"You should have at least called or something though, Arnoldo! All of the updates I got on you had to come from our mutual friends! It would have been nice to know that you still cared about me…"
"Of course I cared about you! I never really stopped thinking about you! Like I said though, I didn't want you to wait for me, just in case." He shrugged his shoulders as he finished.
Helga slowly lifted her head and wiped away the few tears that she had unfortunately allowed to drip from her eyes. She looked over at him and murmured, "I tried to get over you. Over Christmas I decided it was time, especially since I wasn't hearing anything from you."
Arnold furrowed his brow at this as Helga turned away to look out the window. After several minutes of silence, Arnold asked, "Why didn't you try getting in touch with me?"
"Geez Arnoldo, maybe because I didn't have your address or phone number since you always sent your communications from a post!" Helga replied in a mocking tone while waving her arms about.
"Oh…yea. That would make it kind of difficult," he said with a nervous laugh. Arnold fiddled with his fingers as Helga crossed her arms in front her chest and turned her back towards him in a huff.
"Look," Arnold said as he placed his hand on her shoulder. "I'm really sorry that I didn't keep up contact with you. I guess I was wrong in thinking it would be kinder to leave you alone." He gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze, then got up and started to head to the opposite end of the room. What he didn't expect was for her to abruptly grasp on to his hand and pull him back towards her.
She looked up at him with a somber expression and softly whispered, "I'm sorry, too." Arnold gave her a warm smile and rejoined her on the bed, placing his hands in her's. "I understand why you went, and with some time I can understand why you thought it was better to not contact me." She gave him a kind smile that made Arnold's insides light up with joy.
"Can I do anything to help you with understanding?"
"Oh, I can think of a few things," Helga responded mischievously before closing the space between them with a tantalizing kiss.
Once they broke apart, Arnold opened his eyes and said, "Whoa, now I did miss those." Helga giggled and kissed him once more before recoiling back rapidly.
"Wait a minute, before we start anything back up again, how long are you back for?"
Arnold grinned brightly. "We moved back to the boarding house actually! Mom and dad finished up their work and we were able to move back earlier this week. That's why I came over here actually. I have some good news to tell you."
"Well, spit it out!"
"I'll be starting here in the fall!" Helga let out a joyful laugh as she hugged Arnold.
"So you're really back? For good?" She whispered in his ear.
"Yes," he replied as they broke apart. "And I'm never going to leave you again." He then went in and kissed her passionately, holding on to her as though letting go of her would mean never seeing her again. Everything was right again in their world.