Hey Arnold! Gerald Speaks
AN: This is a one shot I've had on my mind to do since a week before The Jungle Movie came out. Does anybody remember that spoiler that was released? Here's what happened: Helga panicked when Gerald fell through a hole, and then grabbed his shoe when she reached the bottom of the hole that Arnold, Gerald and Helga fell in. All three walked in to see a statue of Arnold. Helga and Gerald were saying the weirdest stuff to each other. I'm sure you guys remember this dialogue:
"Mmm, mmm, mmm, Arnold, that statue sure looks a lot like you."
"Hmm, I've got to say, it's not half bad," looks at Gerald, "I've seen better."
While everybody was surprised that Helga was bragging, I was surprised that she was even telling Gerald that to begin with. She's not supposed to be okay with Gerald knowing her secret or that she has a shrine to Arnold. And how would Gerald even know she had a shrine? With that preview and those words (along with Helga calling Gerald by his name, worrying about his life, grabbing Gerald's arm when Arnold thought his parents were dead, it's all over the place in this movie...) this story was inspired. It takes place during the movie time. You can call it... a cut scene.
Also, this story is rough. I've edited this through Microsoft Word five times, but I didn't send it to my editor to do the final edit. I wanted to give him a break lol. Let's see how good or bad I've done by myself. *crosses fingers * (My editor: This is going to be the first time your reading it too. I bet that feels weird…)
Disclaimer: I've got to say this because after reading my authors note, you might think I'm the creator and I came up with the series. Yeah, right. I came up with the cut scene, not the characters, the series or the movie. That belongs to Nick and Craig Bartlett :) And yes, part of this will sound familiar because it came from the Jungle movie.
One Shot: Gerald Speaks
Gerald was sitting on his stoop, waiting for his girlfriend and constantly looking at his wacko watch. It was June fifteenth, his second week of summer vacation.
He had a difficult week, trying to help Arnold put together a video to enter for the Helpers for Humanity sponsored trip to San Lorenzo. In the end, it all fell to pieces when people tore apart the habitat for Monkey-man the two built. It was the last chance they had to get to San Lorenzo. After trying to cheer his best friend up, but having no success, he gave up and headed home to call his new girlfriend, Phoebe. Where was she? It was 6 p.m. and they had agreed to meet that night for movie night a half an hour ago. She wasn't the type of person to be late, especially since this was their first official date. They had started their relationship when fifth grade ended.
Gerald sighed as he looked at his watch for the millionth time, "Where is that girl? My first date with her, and even that's going down the drain. Where could she be?" It was then his eyes widened as he saw his girlfriend walking with her best friend down the street corner, towards his house. He narrowed his eyes at the sight, what was going on? Wouldn't she call if something else came up? Sure, Helga was her best friend, but she still should let him know if she was going to be late. As they got closer, he said, "Alright, what's going on, Phoebe? Did you forget we have a movie night tonight?"
Phoebe sighed, trying to be loyal to her best friend but also needing to be loyal to her new boyfriend. She said, "Of course not, Gerald. My best friend needed help with a project she was working on and I was just offering my time. I'm sorry I'm late, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to cancel our movie night tonight. Do you think that you could make a video out of the footage that Helga and I put together?"
He raised an eyebrow as Phoebe sat down to the left of him, he turned to her, "What kind of footage? What's going on Phoebe?"
Phoebe turned to Helga, who was sitting on the ledge of Gerald stoop, to his right.
Helga offered a shrug, "If you think he's the guy for the job, it's not like we can keep this a secret, Phoebs? Go ahead and tell him."
Gerald turned to Helga, "Secret, what secret?"
Phoebe said to Gerald, "I remember that you and Arnold were working on a project to win the trip to San Lorenzo later this summer."
He said, "You might as well forget about that. The downtown population completely destroyed Monkey-man's habitat before I could film anything."
Helga took a deep breath before saying to Gerald in a soft voice, "What if I could offer you and Arnold another chance?"
Gerald seemed to take that into consideration a moment, "That would be very noble of you, Helga, but the likelihood another video is going to come around to get the class to San Lorenzo is close to nothing."
Phoebe nodded at Helga as Helga hesitantly gave Gerald her laptop.
He took it and looked at Helga suspiciously the whole time. He said, "Okay, when I open this thing it's not going to explode or shoot something at me, right? I mean, this isn't like that April Fool's Day prank Arnold played on you a couple months back, is it?"
Helga rolled her eyes, "I just said I'm doing something for you and Arnold, Gerald-o? It would be nice if you'd stop with the stupid questions and just open the laptop."
His expression at Helga softened a bit as he turned to look at Phoebe curiously.
Phoebe said softly, "Open it," Gerald opened the laptop cautiously as Phoebe added, "Helga has the icons for you to select on her desktop on the computer, just click on the Movie Maker icon. You should see over three hundred files in it."
He clicked on it and was surprised at what he saw. The thumb-tabs for the videos had pictures of Arnold on it, along with their neighborhood. He said to them breathlessly, "Wow, this is-"
Phoebe smiled, "Amazing, isn't it? It's enough footage of Arnold's miraculous deeds to get our foots in the door to San Lorenzo."
Gerald continued to watch the videos, completely fascinated with all the footage. It was then he realized maybe Arnold was right, maybe there was more to Helga than what meets the eye, he said, "Mmm, mm, mm, this is an epic story you're asking for, Helga. Where did you get this footage?
Since she was being accused, Helga quickly put her guards up and crossed her arms. She turned away, "Security cameras, okay?!"
Clicking on another video of his best friend, he said skeptically, "Uh-huh, all labeled and organized in perfect sequence." He looked down at the laptop to see Arnold in his bedroom taking his clothes off, he said, "Whoa, that's Arnold's bedroom! Helga...!"
Not missing a beat, Helga sat up and grabbed her laptop from Gerald's hands and put it in her left arms, closing it quickly, "Never mind." I should have known this would be a bad idea. The only reason Phoebe wanted Gerald to work on it is because he's her boyfriend.
He said, "Major creep factor aside, you know this footage is what we need to win the contest." He chanced a smile at Helga as he closed his eyes, "I thought you hated Arnold, why are you suddenly helping him?"
Helga twirled her hands, trying to come up with some sort of explanation as Gerald and Phoebe looked at each other. Phoebe was giggling as Gerald smiled knowingly, "Be-cause, otherwise, I've got to watch that stupid Football Head mope all summer. We've got to make this video work, so Arnold can get to stupid San Lorenzo. It really matters to him, Doi!" She whispered, worried she was revealing too much, "You in?"
He smiled at Phoebe before standing up to say, "Yeah, I'm in, but only if you get everybody to help." He smirked.
Helga answered him before thinking about what he said, "No problem. They can just talk to Old Betsy here." She held up her right fist and Gerald had to hold back a laugh when he shook it.
He said, "Alright, let's do this."
With those words, Helga let go of his hand and said, "Wait a minute, I can't get everyone to help. I thought we were just going to use the footage. You and Phoebe have to say that you guys came up with the idea and just work with what we have!"
Phoebe agreed with her boyfriend's idea, and said to Helga, reassuringly, "Helga, I think this would be a wonderful opportunity for you to reveal your true colors to the class, and to Arnold. I think we should work on this at your place with the classes contributions."
Helga turned away. She was upset and muttering, "Traitor."
He put his left arm around Helga's shoulders, "Hey, my girlfriend's true blue. If she says there's another side to you that you're afraid to reveal, then I know there is."
Helga removed his arm from her shoulders and started to walk away, "Hey, who asked you, anyway? There's no other side to me. I'm Helga the bully, Helga the tormentor, Helga the impossible! And if we're going to go through all this trouble just to get the class to your house, forget about it. I'm taking my laptop and I'm leaving."
Gerald said, "And I'm going with you."
It was with those words and Gerald's footsteps toward her, that Helga turned around and said, "What?"
He yelled out to his girlfriend, "Phoebe, do me a favor and let my family know I'm headed to Helga's house. Also, pick up some hot chocolate and call our fifth-grade class to meet us there. I have all their numbers in my yearbook."
Helga said, "What gives? I said I was leaving, I didn't say 'hey I want company'."
Phoebe chirped, "Letting know, getting and doing. Anything else?"
He said, "Yeah, give us an hour to talk before you and the class come over."
Helga was more frustrated with Gerald, "He-LLO, I just said we're not doing this!"
Gerald said, "You can't possibly think that Phoebe and I have all the equipment to do this, right?"
"But I...!" as Helga turned around to his house and saw Phoebe shut the door, she growled. Remind me to give Phoebe a piece of my mind later. This new boyfriend of hers has done nothing but influence her in bad ways!
He began to talk casually to Helga as they walked together, "Look, I know we haven't gotten along in the past, but Phoebe is my girlfriend now, so I would like us to try."
Helga was getting sick and tired of him bringing up Phoebe as his girlfriend. It reminded her of her lack of a boyfriend and it made her frustrated. She said, "I think we've already established you two are dating right now, okay?"
He continued to talk and walk with her, "But that's not the only reason I want to get to know you. Arnold has always said there's more to you than what meets the eye. I didn't believe him, until you came over my house with a laptop full of footage of him. Either you're kind-hearted, or you're obsessed. I would like to believe it's the first one."
"I already told you I'm not doing this project anymore, so you and your precious girlfriend can stop your stupid beliefs about me. I should have known getting your help was useless."
"It doesn't have to be. Maybe my help doesn't come by putting the footage together but helping you to open up to the class."
She groaned as she realized that Arnold's stubborn ways were finally starting to rub off on his best friend. She changed the subject, "I still don't get why we couldn't have done the project at your house with our resources. It's not like you have anything to hide. We've got enough footage of Arnold to work with here."
"What's so bad about your house and the class coming over? So, you have some more footage of Arnold, big deal."
She grabbed his arm to stop him from walking the wrong way. She said, angrily, "I don't live at my own house anymore, Gerald-o. I live at the Beeper Emporium with Bob and Miriam."
He blinked, "You live in the Beeper Emporium with your parents? Wait a minute, why are you living there? That's not a house, that's a store."
She said, "Let me put it this way, Hair-boy, what do you think happens to the stock market after it goes all the way up?"
He said, "You make money?"
She said, "No, it goes down, that's what happens! It's exactly what happened to Bob's business. He had a huge beeper sale and then his business plummeted down-hill at warp speed. We lost everything, we had to sell the house to make ends meet!"
She started to stomp away as he ran across the street after her. He was more curious about Helga's home life then making the video now, "Wait a minute, how did you get all that high-tech equipment then if your parents are poor as dirt?"
"Bob went on a crazy spending spree after he got a millionaire's business. He was buying things for everybody. Miriam and I got tons of new stuff out of the deal. Don't you think I took advantage of it? He usually gets everything for only Ol-ga. It was about time I got stuff out of the deal for a change." It was the only time I got anything besides the time I changed Olga's grade on her report card. Sad, really.
He thought a moment and said, "Okay, I see what you mean."
It wasn't long before they were standing in front of the Beeper Emporium.
Gerald stood to look at the place in shock as Helga walked in like she owned it. She held the door behind her and hollered to him, "Well, are you coming in, or aren't you? You didn't just follow me for no reason, did you?"
Gerald stepped in as she held the door open for him, "Does that really make you feel so good Helga?"
Helga said, "What, living here? No, it makes me feel awful. How do you think I feel living at a Beeper Emporium instead of a house? It's a wonder Child Protective Services hasn't investigated this place!"
He sighed as he followed Helga up a ladder to her room, he said, "No, I wasn't talking about the Beeper Emporium; I was talking about your attitude towards everybody."
She admitted, "Of course I feel awful about it, but there's no sense in trying to change it now. I've been like this my whole life!"
He said, "You know there's a better way, right Pataki? I mean, if you're kind enough to offer the videos to get Arnold to San Lorenzo after picking on him for eight years, there must be a compassionate bone in your body."
As soon as they got up the ladder, Helga held her right fist up in Gerald's face, "If you call me Pataki one more time, you'll get to know the Five Avengers and Old Betsy personally," She walked over to her small night stand to lay her laptop down.
Gerald decided to ignore Helga's insult as he looked around her room in shock. All he saw was her small night stand by her bed, her bed and a small television on what looked to be an old cabinet, "Man, you sure weren't kidding when you said you had nothing. I'm guessing those videos on that laptop of yours are the only things you have high-tech around here."
"Doi! Like I said, when he had money, I decided to milk him for all he's worth. I knew it would be the only time I would get anything," she sat on the right of her bed, waiting for Phoebe to call the class over to her house, and for her nightmare to become reality.
"Why is that? If your parents had all that money all these years, why wouldn't they spend it on you? Your Dad was loaded with cash."
"Because he's too busy looking at my older sister Olga and how perfect she is to even know I exist!"
Gerald sat beside her on her left, "What about your Mom? Doesn't she buy you stuff?"
Helga said, "She's a stay-at-home Mom, and before you ask, no, she's too passed out on smoothies or coffee to notice me, let alone make my lunch or buy groceries. I've raised myself half of the time, why do you think I never had lunch when I started Elementary School?"
Gerald blinked in surprise, "That's sad. I had no clue your home life was like that."
"Well, now you know, don't you?" Thinking about the class finding out her secrets, she stood up and grabbed Gerald's right hand with her left, leading him towards the ladder. She whispered, softly, "Now, let's hurry up and get you out of here so that I can call Phoebs to cancel everything."
Gerald sighed. He was feeling bad enough about her home situation to not push her into helping Arnold, "Well, I guess if you don't want to make the video, I can't make you do it."
Helga was happy he was finally starting to see the point, "Exactly!"
Gerald didn't know his way around, and after getting down the ladder first, he started to walk in a room to the right, thinking it was the way out, "This is the way out, right?"
For the first time in her life, Helga heard herself call Arnold's best friend by his actual name, "Gerald, don't go in there!"
He walked in curiously, "Huh, why not? What are you hiding in here?" And that's when Gerald saw it in front of him, a big statue of Arnold with candles lit all around it. Turning to his right, he saw Helga's huge video room of VHS tapes. He didn't even get the chance to see all of Helga's poetry books before he saw black and fainted.
...
He felt a hand putting a cold rag on his head. He opened his eyes weekly to look around him. He saw he was on a bed inside a plain-looking room that wasn't his. His eyes met Helga's in a bit of confusion, "Helga, am I in your bedroom?"
Since he fainted ten minutes ago and was just starting to wake up, Helga continued to pat his head with a wet rag, cautiously, "Please, Gerald, please tell me you don't remember anything you saw in that room."
Gerald remembered right away, "Was that a statue of Arnold? I didn't know you were so good at putting things together, Helga. That's got to be the best duplicate I've ever seen in my life!"
Helga was shocked, "What, really?! I... I mean... you think it's, you think it's good?!"
"It's not half bad. What I'm more confused by is that you would hide this side of you from everyone."
"Your confused I would hide my shrine of Arnold to everyone, including my volumes of poetry and my feelings? Why wouldn't I?! If I don't call Phoebe soon to cancel, the whole class is going to see this room because it's attached to my video room. Why else did you think I told you we should work on it at your house?"
Gerald started to piece everything together, "Oh! So, that's why you didn't want everybody to come up here. You're afraid that you're going to lose their respect, and their friendship."
"I could care less about their stupid friendship! They're not going to see me as a bully after all of this!"
Gerald sat up on the bed to his right and looked at Helga confused, "So? Why would you need them to see you as a bully?"
Helga yelled out, "Because at least if they feared me they wouldn't...!" She stopped herself from speaking, wondering why she was admitting everything to Gerald. Just because he saw her shrine attached to her Arnold video room and probably most of her books of poetry, that didn't mean he needed to know about everything, did it?
Gerald thought a moment before saying, "Make fun of you? Is that what you were going to say, that they would make fun of you if they didn't fear you? Helga, I never pictured you as the type of person to be afraid of rejection. Why now?"
Helga sighed, sitting next to him on the left, "Well, cats out of the bag, might as well admit it to you. Yes, I'm in love with your best friend. Yes, I have a shrine dedicated to him in that room you fainted in, and yes, I have thousands of videos of him from the past few years in that room attached to it. How else would I have gotten the chance to watch him, besides stalk him and tape him?"
"Maybe just go over his house? He doesn't hate you. Quite the contrary, I think he cares for you more than he realizes. I mean, anybody that gets along with you after being bullied by you most of their lives must have some positive feelings for you. If Phoebe did that to me, we wouldn't be in a relationship right now. We probably wouldn't be talking. Arnold has the patience of a saint."
Helga tried to get him to understand, "Exactly! If you wouldn't have patience with Phoebe picking on you for all those years, what makes you think Arnold would have patience with me?"
Gerald had to smirk and shake his head at everything he was learning for the first time, "Your completely obsessed with him. I still can't believe it."
"And did you think I wanted everybody else to know that? You just think I would be completely fine sending our fifth-grade class up into my shrine room and my video closet, don't you? How would you feel if you had all of that stuff for Phoebe and the class was going to go see it?"
Gerald said, "They wouldn't be coming to your video closet to see your videos of Arnold or that statue you made of him, they would be coming to work on the project to get the class to San Lorenzo. Just tell the class the truth, tell the class you care a lot about him and want to do something for all the things he's done for you. What's the worst that could happen? If they can't handle that you're in love with him, then they don't deserve to even associate with you."
Helga took a moment to process what Gerald said before turning to him, surprised, "I'm sorry, what?" she raised an eyebrow.
"You say you're worried about rejection, but I'm not rejecting you."
Helga said, softly, "You're not? Even after all the things I've done to you and your best friend? You could use this against me for years."
Gerald said, "Technically, I could, but I'm not going to do that. You can cancel this whole thing if you want to."
"But why aren't you using this against me?! I mean,I've mocked you, ridiculed you, called you names. Heck, I've treated you almost as bad as the Football Head to steer you away from discovering my feelings!"
Gerald said, "Yeah, and I'm willing to put all of that behind us. Aren't you willing to take a step forward?" Helga blinked and stared at Gerald as he continued, "You can call Phoebe right now and cancel the class coming over to work on this video, but I'm telling you Helga, you will regret not doing this for Arnold while having these resources. You will regret it for the rest of your life. To know that you had the chance to bring his parents back or for him to at least see if they were alive or dead. It will destroy you inside to know you didn't take it."
Helga admitted, "I hate it when you're right."
Gerald said, "You don't have to take this big step alone, you know." Helga looked at Gerald confused as he grabbed her left hand and looked into her eyes. He continued to speak, "I'm not holding it against you that you love Arnold. I'm not holding it against you that you're obsessed with him, and if the class has a problem with that, just know that you'll always have a friend in me, even if Phoebe, Arnold and I are your only friends."
Helga's face softened as she looked at him. She said softly and cautiously, "Your willing to put everything behind us, and be… be my friend?"
"Of course, Helga. All I've ever wanted to do was get along with you, and all I've ever wanted to know is why you've picked on Arnold all these years. Now that I know it's a fear of rejection, I'm willing to put your past behavior behind me. I can tell you don't get much support from your own family, but you can let your friends be there for you. You can't keep living with this fear your whole life, otherwise it's going to destroy you. You can't get the guy when you're afraid to take the risks to have him."
Helga admitted, "Treating him like crap hasn't done much for me, has it?"
He nodded, "So, what do you say Helga, friends?" He held out his left hand.
Helga smirked as she shook Gerald's hand with her right hand, "Friends. Now, let's get that video started while we're waiting on the others. Call that girlfriend of yours and make sure she doesn't forget the hot chocolate, got it?"
"You've got it."
THE END.
AN: Now, Gerald and Helga's interaction in the Jungle Movie should make perfect sense when you watch it over again. Go ahead, try it, I dare you. * wink * Your welcome. Review please, and I'll respond by PM. Thanks for reading!