Author's note: Hello everyone! This is my first one-shot that I've written in a while, but since it really is about to be a new year, I thought that I would upload this little something!

Since I'm on my winter break until I return to school on January 9th, I've actually been hoping that I could write more material, and I think that this will be a nice, fresh, start to that! I'd like to get at least two more stories up before I return to school, and this will be my first in a while.

This idea was presented to me by celrock earlier today, so before I go on, I'd just like to thank her for this!

Hope you all enjoy, and a happy New Year's Eve to everyone out there tonight!

Happy New Year

The jungle was deep, wide, and green. Arnold could see this as he circled through and around it, driving in his plane.

"We're very proud of you, son!" he could hear his father, Miles, saying.

"Oh yes Arnold, it's always nice to go on trips to visit the jungle!" Stella said, seemingly happy. Suddenly, however, her tone changed. "Arnold, Arnold…"

Miles started to say the same thing. "Arnold, Arnold…"

Suddenly, Arnold started to feel as though he were in a different place. A normal place. A less… dreamy place.

He could feel himself opening his eyes, having now realized that he had been sleeping.

"Stella, he's waking up," Arnold could hear Miles whisper.

"Huh?" Arnold mumbled, yawning.

As he opened his eyes wider, he could see who sat there in front of him – his parents. Arnold's face lit up immediately; he was always happy to see them.

They were sitting right there on his bed, looking at him as though he was their whole world.

"It's time to wake up, Arnold," Stella said. "We finished setting up for the party."

"And all your friends should be coming over soon," Miles added on.

Arnold yawned again. "Done so soon?" Miles and Stella chuckled.

"Yes Arnold, we finished up pretty fast," Stella assured him.

"Miles, Stella, there's already guests at the door!" Phil shouted from downstairs. "You two should be coming down here soon if you can!"

"And bring that lovely little blonde boy," Gertie added. The three of them had a good laugh when they heard that.

"We'll be right down, Mom, Dad!" Miles responded. He looked back down at Arnold, and took Stella by the hand. "We'll see you at the party, son."

Stella chuckled. "And don't forget to come downstairs."

Arnold stretched his arms and legs out. "I won't, guys!"

After giving himself a bit of time to stretch, Arnold sat up and got out of bed. He had fallen asleep in the clothes that he had picked out for the party, and simply slipped on his shoes. He then headed downstairs, ready for the party.

Arnold had wanted to help out, though Miles and Stella had told him that he should spend some time getting some rest instead.

"You've had a long day of school, son," Miles had reminded him. "I remember how those were when I was a kid, and I would've killed to get some sleep back then. Go ahead, get some rest."

As much as he wanted to help, Arnold couldn't deny that he had been exhausted from his school day. Sixth-grade was longer and harder than fourth or fifth-grade had ever been, and there was twice as much homework. Mr. Simmons was still his teacher, but not even he could lessen the amount of homework that he and all of his peers had. Of course, Arnold tried to keep an optimistic view of it all, but deep down he too knew that school wasn't the easiest place to be.

As he crossed out into the hallway, Arnold was about to go up to the rooftop, though he then thought that he heard a voice.

"Phillip, Gertrude, what a pleasure it is to see you!" he could hear a voice, so soft yet squeaky, saying. Arnold could almost immediately decipher this voice as the voice of one person: Olga Pataki.

Arnold's eyes lit up. If Olga was here, then surely Helga must have been too!

Ever since their kiss in the jungle, Arnold's relationship with Helga had been in a strange spot; he wanted to do the same 'couple' things that Gerald and Phoebe did with each other, though Helga often either seemed hesitant to do them or confused whenever he wanted to do them with her. Arnold had been wanting to make their relationship official, though he had never been able to find the right moment; he had plenty in the past month, he supposed, but he wanted the moment that he asked Helga out to be a special one.

Gerald had told him roughly a month ago about how he had asked Phoebe out; they had been at the roller skating rink, and Gerald, in a fashion that he described as 'incredibly romantic,' had gotten down on one knee, held his hand out, and asked her to be his girlfriend. Arnold would have done it so quickly himself, but Gerald was known for being 'smooth' and Arnold… well, Arnold couldn't quite say that that was a title that belonged to him. Helga really was the first girl that had ever truly returned his feelings, while others had rejected him time and time again. He wanted the first time that he asked her out to be special, to be something incredibly worth it…

Arnold nearly glided across the hall, excited to see her.

There she was, standing at their door. Her parents and sister were right there next to her, but in that moment, Arnold felt as though he could only see her. Her hair, the color of the sun, came down in waves, and her eyes of sapphire blue seemed to almost glow in the night. She was wearing a dress, but it was not her usual pink one from school; this dress was a tad bit more formal, and it was red. He could see that though she was trying to keep up a tough appearance, she had still dressed up like this for him.

Arnold glanced back at her family for a brief moment, wanting to assure that they did not want her for anything. As usual, they didn't seem to – Big Bob stood there, dressed casually, and seemed to be glancing around.

"There any food here?" Bob asked.

As he turned his attention back over to Helga, he could hear her sister Olga begin to ask Phil and Gertie questions.

"Wow Helga, you look… beautiful," Arnold said.

Helga blushed, and he could have sworn that she glanced down nervously. "Yeah, well…" She hesitated with her next words, taking a deep breath. "Thanks I guess, Football Head."

Arnold's eyes widened, but his smile grew. An idea quickly came to his mind. "Do you just wanna walk around for a little bit?"

Helga seemed confused, though she said, "Whatever floats your boat."

They started to walk, though they were stopped by a gruff voice. "Hold up right there, little lady!"

Helga turned around, gritting her teeth while everyone else standing there stared on. "What do you want, Bob?"

"What are you doing right here, walking around with some boy?" Bob asked.

Miriam and Olga, who seemed to sense what was going on, glanced at each other nervously. Phil, on the other hand, rolled his eyes.

"Bob, what in the name of heck do you think you're doing?" Phil asked. '

"I know what I'm doing, Phil," Bob said, his teeth grit.

"Oh, B, please don't start this," Miriam mumbled.

"Hey, hey, I know what I'm doing Miriam, I just said that!" Bob responded. He turned back to Helga and Arnold, both of who were blushing. "So?"

Helga groaned. "All that we're doing is walking around, Bob."

Bob huffed in his breath, preparing for a big lecture. "Oh, did you really expect me to believe that one, girl? I've heard a ton of excuses in my lifetime, but that one, now that is" –

"Ahem," Olga interrupted. As always, Bob immediately turned his attention to her. "I apologize for interrupting you, daddy, but I just wanted to step in and say that I've had Arnold as a student before, and he really is a wonderful little boy and a phenomenal learner. He received straight A's when I came to substitute as a student teacher at PS 118, and I have little to no doubt that he's still receiving straight A's." Though he still seemed irritated, Bob still seemed to be listening to Olga intently. "I actually think that Arnold would be a very positive influence on Helga, and baby sister is going to have to start dating sooner or later, whether any of us like it or not."

As Phil and Gertie glared at Bob, he seemed to consider it for a second. "Well… I guess you're right, Olga." As everyone in the room seemed to breath a sigh of relief, and Arnold prepared to continue walking off with Helga, Bob suddenly said one more thing. "But no funny business!"

"Whatever, Bob," Helga replied as the two began to walk off with each other.

They walked around through the boarding house, hand in hand. Silence was between them, though for some reason, Arnold felt content with the silence; there was no sort of uncomfortable underside to it.

As they walked through the kitchen, Helga spoke. "Sorry about what Bob said earlier, by the way."

"It's fine, Helga. I don't think your dad meant anything by it, he was just worried about it."

Helga scoffed, nearly laughing. "Bob, worried about me? That might be the funniest thing I've heard all day, Arnold." She shook her head, frowning. "Bob really only cares about me when he thinks that I'm doing something that will 'ruin the Pataki name,' like he always says. I'll bet you that he only asked me about it because he thinks that I'm too young to be…" She hesitated for a moment. "Flirting with you or something, I guess. I don't know."

Arnold frowned. He knew that Helga had problems with her parents, but she had never told him that it was this bad. "Well, I'm sure that he loves you Helga. All parents love their kids."

Helga glanced up at him, and then glanced right back down. "I guess so, Arnold, but if Bob loves me, he sure doesn't show it. Sometimes I think that the only person in the world that he really does care about is Olga. She's like his prize trophy or something – it's kind of sick, really, because he and Miriam barely even see her as a person. She told me, once, that she feels like some sort of wind-up doll all the time, in that house… " Helga sighed. "As much as I hate how she gets the special treatment, I think I kinda would feel the same if I were in her situation. Olga's not all bad, really – she did save us earlier from the blowhard, after all - I just… I wish sometimes that I was her, you know? Just so that even for a day, my parents would actually love me."

Arnold could feel his heart breaking with every second that she spoke. It was her last few words that really broke him, though. In a hurry to comfort her, Arnold said the one thing that came to mind: "I love you."

It was only when he looked up and saw a look that expressed hundreds of feelings on her face that he realized what he had said. Arnold nearly wanted to close his eyes from embarrassment. He had imagined saying this for a long time, but he hadn't imagined saying it like this…

Arnold glanced around nervously at all of the lights. He could see them glowing in the night air, each light a different color.

'This is it,' Arnold thought to himself. 'This is where I'm gonna do it.'

Trying his best to calm his nerves, Arnold suddenly stopped. He could see that Helga was still silently thinking about his confession of love from a couple moments ago. "Helga, I-I have to… tell you something."

Helga stopped in her tracks. "Well, what is it?"

Arnold took a deep breath. This was going to be hard, he knew… and yet, he knew that he had to do it. He took her hands in his, walking up to her. "Helga, there's been something I've been meaning to ask you for a really long time… I've been thinking about it almost every day, but I haven't really gotten the right moment to do it, and I just kind of think that this is the perfect moment."

"So, what is it?" Helga asked irritably. Arnold didn't let her tone of annoyance falter his confidence; he knew that she was truly asking him because she was nervous, rather than truly upset.

Trying his best to muster up all of his courage, Arnold tried his best to look as romantic as possible. "Would you like to be my… my…" He could almost hear her words in his head as he tried his hardest to say the next word casually: 'Spit it out, Football Head!' "Girlfriend?" He closed his eyes after saying the last word. While he was fairly certain that she would accept, nothing in that moment could stop his nervousness…

Helga smiled. Arnold didn't think that he had ever seen her express such pure joy. "Yes! Yes! A thousand times yes!" Arnold nearly chuckled nervously at her excitement. Suddenly realizing how ecstatic, she had sounded, Helga settled down, crossed her arms, and instead said, "Yeah, sure Arnoldo. I mean, we have had this weird relationship thing-y going on for a while now, so I guess it was about time, huh?" Arnold was about to respond… but then he saw them right behind Helga.

"Mm, mm, mm," Gerald said, grinning and shaking his head. There beside him stood Phoebe, who was quietly chuckling. "And here I never thought I'd see the day."

Helga let go of Arnold's hands immediately, her face so red that it almost looked as though it were burning. "Hair boy, Phoebe, when the heck did you guys get here?" Though Helga was trying to put her defenses back up, Gerald and Phoebe both saw right through her.

"Well Helga, we were just coming out here to report to you and Arnold that his parents are about to do something very important," Phoebe stated. "They'd like for you to both come up. Well, unless…" Phoebe giggled, exchanging a glance with Gerald. "Unless you two are preoccupied."

Helga grit her teeth from embarrassment as Gerald and Phoebe giggled. "Yeah, yeah, whatever." Trying to fight back a smile, she glanced back at Arnold.

Arnold and Helga walked up to the rooftop with Gerald and Phoebe, smiling. Helga and Arnold each joined off to their respective best friends, discussing what had just happened.

"My man, I can't believe that you finally asked Helga G. Pataki out," Gerald said, smirking. "I barely even knew that you had it in you!"

"Well, I guess I finally did it, Gerald," Arnold said, a goofy smile on his face. "The moment really was perfect…"

Meanwhile, Helga and Phoebe were having a discussion of their own.

"Was it romantic?" Phoebe asked Helga, trying to stop herself from giggling.

Helga rolled her eyes. "Of course it was romantic, Pheebs. Three years ago I wouldn't have even been able to imagine Arnold… well, I don't know, touching my shoulder or something, and now look at us! We're actually dating." Helga smiled, a lovesick look coming to her eyes. "It really is paradise in a way, Phoebe."

"Well, Helga, I'd say that you deserve it," Phoebe said. "I always had a feeling that you two would get together someday."

"Yeah, well Phoebe, looks like you were right about that, just like everything else," Helga responded playfully.

The four of them walked up the staircase to the rooftop together, one after another. Once they had gotten up there, they were all surprised to see not only a projector set up, but that everyone was sitting down.

Oskar, who had been sitting over with the other men and stuffing his face with as much food as he can find, grinned. "Ah, now there the kids are! You didn't have to send one of us down to find them, eh?"

"Criminey, you idiot, they sent two kids down there just to find 'em!" Bob said, scoffing. He glanced over at Helga. "I uh…" He looked hesitant, though continued on. "I hope that whatever you kids did, you had fun."

Helga's eyes widened. "Well, I mean… uh, thanks I guess, Bo – Dad." Helga and Bob exchanged a smile.

As she, Gerald, Phoebe, and Arnold took a seat, Phil spoke up.

"Now Shortman, your mom and dad had an idea in mind," Grandpa told him. "Tell him all about it, you two."

Miles and Stella stood up together, glancing at each other happily.

"Well Arnold, this has been our first year back with you and everyone else," Miles stated.

"And we don't say this enough, but we really are blessed to be back here," Stella added. "This has been the best year of our lives since we came back from San Lorenzo Arnold, and we just wanted you to see that."

"And so, with that being said, we've decided to present a special something not just to you, Arnold, but to everyone who was nice enough to come out here tonight," Miles said, joining hands with Stella.

Before any questions could be asked, Gertie clicked the button on the projector.

The crowd of people on the rooftop cheered in unison.

"You go, Arnold!" he could hear Gerald shout amongst the crowd.

Slowly, the first slide began to play. Arnold recognized the picture immediately. In the photo, he was standing there with his parents, his arms wrapped around them. He was smiling widely.

"This picture was taken the night after we came home from San Lorenzo," Miles stated.

Stella smiled. "We would have taken it on the day that we did return, but we were all a bit tuckered out, you know? I think we all needed a good sleep after everything that happened on that trip."

The audience chuckled.

The next slide appeared. This slide was of a clean Abner… alongside Arnold and Miles, who were drenched in mud.

"Now, this is a day that I remember," Miles said, chuckling. "Stella, you go ahead and tell the story."

Stella smirked. "Well, I had personally grown sick and tired of smelling Abner's foul stench around the house" – Abner, who had somehow made his way into the audience, squealed at this accusation. "Oh, now Abner, I am sorry to insult, but it's true! But anyways, having grown sick and tired of it, I asked Miles and Arnold if they would give Abner a bath while I went out to one of Arnold's school conferences. And, of course, I came home to all three of them muddy… apparently, they had chased Abner out the back of the yard. While Abner managed to turn on some of our new sprinklers and give himself a bath, Arnold and Miles fell into mud…"

The audience of people cracked up.

The third slide came up. It showed Arnold on a day that he remembered; the day that he had went back to school shopping with his parents.

"We were so happy to take Arnold back to school shopping," Miles said. "It reminded me of when I was a boy! Only difference was that back then, we were all watching 'The Twilight Zone' instead of doing school shopping…"

Finally, the fourth and last slide came up. This slide had been taken on Christmas, and showed Arnold happily holding a new video game console.

"Oh, now this one is my favorite!" Stella exclaimed. "This was our first Christmas back home this year, and it was truly amazing. Miles and I had been saving up to buy Arnold this for two months, and we're very happy to say that he was satisfied with his new game console!"

As the projector went off, everyone in the audience clapped. Arnold could feel himself wiping a tear from his eye; he was simply happy to be with his family and friends on this fateful day. Knowing that his parents had returned, especially with the help of Helga, was a true blessing for he and all of his family.

"And right now, everyone, we start our New Year's count down!" Phil said happily, his arms around Gertie.

Ernie had set up the clock on the rooftop earlier, there for everyone to watch the countdown.

"10!" everyone shouted.

Arnold could see out of the corner of his eye that Helga was smiling.

"9…"

He could hear her shout 'woo-hoo!'

"8…"

He smiled, having to stop himself from chuckling.

"7…"

He looked over at her, giving her his full attention….

"6…"

He could see, in this moment, that she was happier than she had ever been.

"5…"

He studied her, thinking that he would keep in mind how her face had lit up…

"4…"

'She's beautiful,' he thought.

"3…"

His eyes became half lidded. 'I think I know what I'm gonna do,' Arnold thought to himself.

"2…"

Arnold leaned in…

"1…"

Right then, Arnold kissed Helga G. Pataki.

And, as the clock struck 12 am, Arnold knew truly and surely that this would be a happy new year.