"So what do you think, Doc?" Helga asked as she paced Doctor Bliss's office. She could have sat in her therapist's chair, or she could have laid down on the chaise, gone in the window sill, or even perched behind Doctor Bliss's desk. Helga had sat at all of these places, and more, but she couldn't sit right now. She'd finally worked up the nerve to tell Doctor Bliss about what had happened on top of the FTi building. It had been the entire summer since then and Arnold still hadn't mention the incident to her at all. Despite everything, even Arnold wasn't so dense that he believed that her confession was nothing more than a 'heat of the moment' incident. Helga was fully aware that Arnold had just given her a way out of her embarrassment. He was too kind hearted to tell her that she was crazy and that he could never love her back.
Doctor Bliss frowned as she finished scratching down her notes. "Well, Helga, the next step is up to you."
"But what IS the next step?" Helga exclaimed. "I mean, I already told him that I love him. That was so unthinkable I just...never really considered what came next." Helga unleashed a long sigh before sinking onto the chaise.
Doctor Bliss set aside her notebook and moved to sit next to Helga, "Well, Helga, it's possible that Arnold just...isn't ready. I mean, love is a big step for anyone. Even adults have trouble with it."
"That's not too surprising." Helga muttered, thinking about Bob and Miriam. "But what do you think?"
"I'm not sure what you mean, Helga." Doctor Bliss answered.
"What do I do next?" Helga asked, almost shouting.
Doctor Bliss frowned, "Do you want my honest opinion?" Helga nodded earnestly and the therapist sighed, knowing that the ten-year-old girl wouldn't like what she had to say, "I think it may be a good idea to try and...move on."
"Move on?" Helga repeated.
Doctor Bliss nodded, "You love Arnold so much, and now that you've told him and he hasn't returned your feelings, you're making yourself sick over it. Maybe it would be best if you stopped focusing so much on Arnold and tried to busy yourself with other things, like your studies, perhaps."
Helga blinked slowly, allowing Doctor Bliss's words to sink in. "So...no more poetry?"
"I wouldn't say that." Doctor Bliss answered. "Your poetry is a form of expression for you. A form of expression that you really need. I actually recommend that you continue to write poetry."
"No more shrines?" Helga asked.
Doctor Bliss nodded, "That would be a good idea. Just remember, this is only a suggestion. What you do is up to you." There was a buzz and Doctor Bliss looked up at the clock. "I'm afraid that's all the time we have for today. Feel free to call me if you ever need to talk."
Helga nodded. She didn't need her therapist's number, as she already had it memorized. She bid Doctor Bliss farewell, promising that she would consider it. Though, it didn't take long for Helga to decide that Doctor Bliss was right.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
'I like your bow because it's pink like your pants.'
Helga growled at the memory before yanking her bow off the top of her head and shoving it into her backpack. She had done what Doctor Bliss recommended. She read through the piles and piles and piles of pick books filled with poetry she had in her a fresh set of eyes, she supposed they weren't bad considering her age, but now she couldn't help but feel that the poems were horrible. She had burned them all before she could talk herself out of it. She'd gotten rid of her current shrine, and everything she'd collected for her next one. She was turning over a new leaf, but she saw Arnold everywhere, now more than ever.
With a scowl, she stepped out of the girl's bathroom and back into the hall to head to class. She still scowled, she was still mean, she still stomped around, and she still yelled at everyone. Everyone but Arnold. She didn't even hardly ever look at him anymore, let alone speak to him. She was sure that Arnold was relieved by this, but she'd been forcing herself to ignore him so she wouldn't know.
She stomped into her class and took her seat, one in the front row to assure herself that she couldn't stare longingly at the back of Arnold's stupid football head during class. She was among the first to class. Lila, Rhonda, and Nadine were already gathered and giggling amongst each other while Sid listened to Stinky ramble on about how 'lemon puddin' is my favorite kinda puddin''. Some things never changed.
Phoebe entered with Arnold and Gerald, though the girl's attention was more focused on Gerald. Phoebe said goodbye to the boys as they went to their seats farther back as Phoebe slide into the desk on Helga's left. "Ohayō, Helga." Phoebe said brightly.
Helga replied, "Guten Morgen, mein Freund."
Phoebe blinked and looked taken aback, "I didn't know you knew German, Helga."
In turn, Helga shrugged, "I have a cousin who lives in Düsseldorf. He practices English with me and I practice German on him once or twice a week. It's not that big a deal."
"I actually think it's rather impressive, Helga." Phoebe countered, knowing that Helga knew a fair amount of Japanese as well, thanks to her father's lessons when Helga had dinner at the Heyerdahl's, which was more often than not anymore. Not that Phoebe could blame Helga. Phoebe knew better than anyone how Helga's home life was.
Helga replied, "Sore wa taishita kotode wa arimasen, Phoebe."
Phoebe nodded, "Alright, Helga, if you're sure."
From a few rows back, Arnold couldn't help but overhear Helga and Phoebe's conversation. He didn't understand half of it, but he still heard it. "I didn't know Helga spoke other languages."
Gerald glanced up at Arnold from his book of math notes, "With as much as she hangs out with Phoebe it isn't surprising that she knows a bit of Japanese. "
Arnold was about to mention the German, but he was cut short when Mr. Simmons entered the classroom with his usual bright smile, greeting everyone and assuring the class that they were going to have a very 'special' day in class today. Not that that was anything new. According to Mr. Simmons every day was a special day. Arnold didn't mind though. He was actually happy that Mr. Simmons had been promoted to their fifth grade teacher. Mr. Simmons requested that the class take out their notebooks and get started on a new poetry assignment. Arnold had always struggled with poetry. He knew that in some ways he was artistic. Words had never been one of those ways. As he tried to string a mess together that could count as poetry, his eyes wandered around the room. Gerald was bobbing his head as he wrote, like he were writing to some rhythm in his head. Brainy was staring at the front of the class with his usual dazed smile, writing slowly and deliberately. Phoebe seemed more frustrated than anyone, scratching down line after line before angrily crossing it out. He was about to look away from Phoebe when he noticed that she had ripped the page from her notebook, crumpled the paper into a ball, and discarded it. Now that Arnold looked, he was aware that that paper wasn't the first that Phoebe had angrily tossed away. The first person to get up and turn in their poem was Helga, who had finished long before the rest of the class. Usually when Helga finished a class assignment early she would resign herself to throw spitballs at the back of Arnold's head. She sat in front of him now so she couldn't do that anymore. Instead, she pulled out a large book and started reading. Something was different about her.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
"Helga!" Arnold called after her as he rushed after her, leaving a confused Gerald in his wake.
Helga stopped in her tracks and her grip on her backpack straps tightened, turning her knuckles white. "What do you want, Arnold?"
Arnold came to a stop and answered, "I was just wondering if you were ok."
"I'm fine." She answered shortly, "Is that all?"
"No, actually." Arnold admitted, shoving his hand in his pocket and pulling out Helga's pink ribbon. "You dropped this."
Helga glanced at Arnold's extended hand and then back up at him before rolling her eyes, "So what?"
Arnold blinked at her response, "Well don't you want it back?"
"I really don't care, Arnold." Helga retorted, "Throw it out, burn it, feed it to your pig, do whatever the heck you want with it."
Helga stormed off before Arnold could stop her. He didn't know how to react to Helga's response. She'd worn her bow every day since they were three. Why would she care so little about it now? Gerald shouted for Arnold to hurry up so that they could get on the bus and Arnold shoved the pink ribbon in his pocket before running to catch up with his friend.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
"Hey Shortman." Steely Phil exclaimed as he entered his grandson's room.
"Hi grandpa." Arnold replied from his desk.
"Dinner's almost ready. Your grandma made waffles and salmon!" Phil exclaimed excitedly.
Arnold nodded, "Ok, I'll be down in a minute."
Phil's brow wrinkled in confusion, "Is something wrong, Arnold?"
"No." Arnold answered. Then, he thought about it for a minute and said, "Yes."
"Well lay it on me, boy!" Phil said as he sat down on Arnold's sofa.
Arnold glanced at his grandpa before unleashing a sigh and saying, "It's kind of stupid, grandpa."
"I'm sure it's not stupid, Arnold." Phil pressed.
Arnold heaved a sigh before turning in his chair and rolling closer to his grandfather, "It's about Helga." he started.
"You're little friend with the one eyebrow?" Phil asked.
Suppressing a sigh, Arnold answered, "Yeah, right. Anyway, she's been acting sort of...weird lately."
"What do you mean?"
"Well...she's not torturing me anymore. She isn't even talking to me anymore." Arnold explained.
"But that's a good thing, isn't it?" Phil asked, unable to see the problem Arnold did. "You said she used to drive you loony."
"Well I've always wanted her to be nicer, but I never wanted her to cut herself off from everyone else." Arnold stated. "I mean she's suddenly acting so weird. Usually whenever PHoebe talks to Helga in Japanese Helga claims she has a headache and brushes it off. Today, she answered her in some other weird language I didn't recognise and then talked to Phoebe in Japanese. She's just...never done anything like that before."
Phil smiled, "You sound impressed with her, Shortman."
Arnold glared at his grandpa, "It's not like that."
Phil shrugged, "Whatever you say, Shortman. You probably just need to get used to it."
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
Arnold tried to take his grandpa's advice, but it wasn't as easy as he had expected. All the time Helga used to dedicate to tormenting, it seemed was now spent on her homework. She didn't always volunteer to answer questions like Phoebe did, but her grades had gone up a considerable amount. He knew because Mr. Simmons couldn't stop musing about her improvement, despite how many times Helga told him to 'stop fawning over her, already'.
Despite how much Arnold wanted to get to the root of Helga's sudden changes, he kept his distance and tried to not pry. He caught himself observing her during a math quiz and decided that he REALLY needed to make it a point to follow his grandpa's advice and just leave it alone. Maybe Helga's changes would run their course and then she'd be back to the old Helga he knew. He didn't even know how long it had been since she had called him football head. He never thought he'd miss that name.
He was zoning out again when Mr. Simmons announced that he had 'special' news and needed everyone's attention. Arnold sat down his pencil and forced himself to pay attention to Mr. Simmons.
"Class, I'd like to announce that our school is participating in a district-wide essay contest!" Mr. Simmons exclaimed. His announcement was met by a chorus of bored groans and Mr. Simmons began to remedy himself, "Now class, I know it may sound boring, but it's really a very exciting contest. The winner's class gets to take an international trip to a location of their choice!"
"Did you say international?" Rhonda asked, her interested piqued.
Mr. Simmons smiled, "Yes, Rhonda, I did."
"So if I were to win we could all go to Milan?" Rhonda squealed.
Mr. Simmons frowned and glanced down at the sheet of paper in his hand pertaining to the contest, "Um, no, Rhonda. I'm sorry, Milan isn't one of the locations."
Phoebe raised her hand, "What the the locations?" she asked after Mr. Simmons called on her.
"Excellent question, Phoebe!" Mr. Simmons exclaimed before turning to the chalkboard to write down the twenty location choices.
Athens, Greece
Berlin, Germany
Budapest, Hungary
Cairo, Egypt
Cancun, Mexico (Mayan Ruins)
Denpasar, Bali
Dublin, Ireland
Gobi Desert, Mongolia
Istanbul, Turkey
Kilimanjaro National Park, Tanzania
London, England
Madrid, Spain
New Delhi, India
New York, New York City, USA
Paris, France
San Francisco, California, USA
San Lorenzo, Argentina
Sydney, Australia
Tokyo, Japan
Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, USA
After Mr. Simmons wrote down the names of the places they could possibly go, the class suddenly became a zealous hive. Rhonda was dead set on winning the contest so that she could go shopping in Paris. Sheena was thrilled by the possibility that she could go on a safari in Killamanjaro. Eugene was hopeful that they could go to Broadway at least a day while they were in New York. Phoebe expressed her excitement about how she could visit her aunt and uncle while she was in Tokyo if she won and if Helga won then perhaps her family in Germany could visit her in Berlin. Stinky had always wanted to go to Yellowstone. Curly wanted to see where the Mayans had performed human sacrifices. Nadine wanted to go to Mongolia in the hopes of seeing the Desert Tarantula in person. Sid wanted to see the running of the bulls in Spain. The only ones who didn't voice their excitement for the contest were Brainy and Arnold. Arnold was too focused on what he'd need to do to win the contest. He needed to get to San Lorenzo, no matter what it took.
