Title: When the Past Returns
Author: Amothryie
Rating: T
A/N: This is my first Hey Arnold story. My creative juices were flowing and they made me write this. Enjoy!
It was a bright, sunny, September day in Hillwood. There wasn't a cloud in the sky and the birds were chirping. Everyone was happy. Well, everyone except the sleeping Helga G. Pataki, who, even though her persona had changed for the better over the past few years, still scowled in her sleep. She tossed and turned in her sleep. A few minutes later her alarm clock rang, signaling the start of a new day. She launched her pillow at the annoying, repetitive sound which knocked it off her nightstand and onto the ground, effectively silencing it. The blonde girl sat up in bed and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. She swung her legs over to one side of the bed and stood up, walking to the bathroom. She kicked the broken alarm clock with her foot and seethed silently as she stepped on a piece of broken off plastic. She grumbled and groused all the way to the bathroom. Her shower was a quick cold one as she quickly washed and dried herself. She brushed her teeth and quickly evaluated herself in the mirror.
She wasn't ugly anymore. Her hair, which used to be stick straight and in pigtails, now fell in soft curls down to the middle of her back with black highlights streaking it. The infamous unibrow had been attacked with tweezers and now was two shapely eyebrows, often arched when confronted with the idiots she had to deal with on a daily basis. Her figure, she noticed, wasn't too curvy, but not quite the stick shaped it was 6 years ago when she was 9. In each of her ears were five piercings. She also had a tongue ring and a pierced navel. She spat out the toothpaste and rinsed her mouth out. She wrapped a fuzzy pink robe around her and headed back to her room.
She walked into her closet and pulled on the string to turn on the light. Instead of the gum statue of Arnold that used to be there, there was a simple table with his picture on it and candles lit around it. If there was one thing that didn't change about Helga, it was her love for Arnold, although very diminished. There was something hard about letting go your first love.
"Good morning," she said adoringly to the photograph while grabbing her clothes for the day, a pair of black jeans and a light pink baby tee that showed off her toned midriff when she stretched. "Today's the day." She dressed quickly and hurried downstairs after grabbing her backpack and swinging it over her left shoulder. Miriam was sleeping with her head resting on the counter next to a blender. Helga banged her backpack onto the counter next to Miriam's head. She woke with a start.
"Huh? Wha?' she said looking around dazed and confused. Helga gave her a stern look.
"Did you make breakfast today Miriam? Or are you too drunk off your ass to remember to be a mother?" Helga said with contempt.
"There's cereal and milk that you can have," Miriam replied and promptly fell asleep again, letting her head flop rather hard on the green marble countertop. Helga winced slightly at the sound and took out some aspirin and placed it next to her mother. 'She'll need it,' she thought to herself. Two seconds later, a rumbling sound could be heard as Big Bob hurried down the stairs. A flash of green was seen going past the doorway into the kitchen and out the door as he shouted, "Won't be home for dinner, business meeting with a client at Chez Pierre, be home late!" and slammed the front door, hurrying off to his beeper empire.
Helga sighed. It wasn't uncommon for Bob to not come home for dinner. In fact, she wouldn't be surprised if he was having an affair. It wouldn't take her three tries to guess that Miriam was a cold fish in the bedroom.
She quickly finished her breakfast and grabbed her backpack off the counter and headed towards school. She met up with Phoebe, a half Japanese girl who had been her best friend since Preschool. Like Helga, she also had five piercings in each of her ears and a tongue ring, but instead of a navel ring, she sported a black tattoo on her right hip, the Japanese symbol for friendship. Helga had a matching tattoo that only Phoebe knew about, situated on her left hip. She wore dark blue jeans, a black Chinese style top and black combat boots. Her straight hair fell down to her waist and she stood at a modest 5'2".
"Ohayo Gozaimasu, Helga!" Phoebe said, still the cheery girl from when they were younger.
"No Japanese today Phoebe," Helga replied sullenly. She wondered how much sugar Phoebe managed to put in her morning coffee today.
"Right, English!" The two girls walked on the sidewalk to the bus stop, conversing a little.
"Are you excited to be going to Hillwood High? We'll get to see all our old friends that went to Hillwood East instead of Hillwood West for junior high!" Phoebe asked excitedly. Helga rolled her eyes.
"Not particularly Phoebe, if we were still meant to be friends with them, then we would have kept in contact for the past three years, but we haven't." Once the students left P.S. 118 after sixth grade they either went to Hillwood East or Hillwood West depending on what area of the city they lived in, but then rejoined in high school. A lot of friendships had slipped away and ended because of this system, friendships like Phoebe and Gerald, Rhonda and Nadine, and even Sid and Stinky.
Speaking of Stinky, he was waiting for Helga and Phoebe at the bus stop. He was leaning against the bus stop sign, smoking a cigarette. His hair was slicked back and he was wearing black baggy pants, a Rammstein band t-shirt and a black leather jacket. His southern twang had all but disappeared except for a few words now and then. He was one of the tallest guys around, towering over people at 6'5". He caught sight of Helga and Phoebe walking towards him and smiled. He took one last inhale of the cigarette and dropped it on the ground, grinding it with the heel of his left foot. He swiftly wrapped his arms around Helga's slender frame and kissed her deeply. He and Helga had been going out for the better part of a year. He had found one of her more subdued poetry books and fell in love with her through her writing. He had spent almost three years trying to find out who had written such beautiful words and was going to give up when Helga got up the courage to ask for her book back. They didn't break apart until they heard Phoebe clear her voice.
"As much as I would love getting a free show from you guys, I really wouldn't mind if you guys would stop," she said, her voice low and sad.
"Don't worry Pheebs. You said it yourself, we'll get to see all our friends, even Gerald," Helga teased, drawing out the last word. Her best friend blushed deeply.
"Yeah, maybe y'all and Gerald will lock eyes across the hall and fall for each other again and pick up where y'all left off in sixth grade," Stinky added giving his friend a wink. Phoebe blushed an even deeper shade of red. Gerald and Phoebe had gotten a lot closer in sixth grade and even went out a few dates. They tried to continue their relationship through seventh grade, but because of the lack of quality time spent together due to the different schools, they had drifted apart. Now they barely talked to each other.
"And everyone tells me I'm the romantic," Helga laughed. She loved when her boyfriend let his Southern accent slip out sometimes. She thought it sounded out of place with their city slang. It was cute.
The city bus pulled up to the curb where the teens were standing and its doors opened. All three of them boarded the bus and took seats near each other. Phoebe stared at the window, but her hands wringed each other. Helga took note of this and reached over to pat her best friend's shoulder comfortingly. She understood why she was so nervous and Helga was slightly nervous for the same reason. Even though she had Stinky, and liked him a lot, today would be the first time in 3 years that she would see Arnold. 'Well,' she thought to herself. 'Not really the first time in 3 years, but catching a glimpse of him as I walk down the street shouldn't count as seeing him.' She sighed and leaned her head on Stinky's shoulder. She took a deep breath as the bus pulled up in front of Hillwood High School. 'Here goes nothing,' the blonde thought as she stood up, holding Stinky's hand and walking off the bus and into her new school.