Chapter 1: You've Got To Fix This
It was the middle of their eighth grade year. While Arnold and Helga were learning to set their differences aside, there was another couple that had yet to bite the bullet…
"You ready to hand in that poetry assignment buddy?" Gerald asked his best friend, leaning against the locker.
"I guess so. Helga came over to help me with it last night." Arnold explained, while grabbing the last of his books.
"I still can't believe she's your 'go to girl' for something like that. That's like going to Harold for diet advice." Gerald shook his head.
While he was happy his friend had found himself a girl, the idea of the love of his life being the class bully was still a bit overwhelming. Arnold was the sweet, sensitive type. Two qualities his best friend had a hard time believing Helga even possessed.
"You know she's a nice person Gerald." Arnold insisted. Before he could continue, a familiar performance took place in the hallway…
"One side moron I'm walkin' here! Out of my way geek bait! Shove over toots!" Helga scowled, pushing anyone in her path out of the center of the hallway. After marching past her boyfriend and his best friend to get to class, Gerald lifted an eyebrow and asked. "I do?"
At times, it was just as frustrating for Arnold to deal with Gerald's inability to see the good in Helga as it was for him to make Helga show her good side to people.
When the boys made it to class, Arnold took a seat in front of his girlfriend, who appeared to be making googly eyes at a sheet of paper. Leaning with her head in her hand, gazing at her written work, she didn't bother to take notice of the blonde boy in the seat in front of her.
"Hey Helga!" Arnold greeted her, wondering what she was giving her full attention to.
"ARNOLD!" she exclaimed, not having noticed him enter the room.
"What are you looking at?" he asked curiously.
"Well…" Before deciding to admit to reviewing the poem she had written the previous night at his place, she turned to see Gerald staring at her.
"What are you looking at Hair boy?" she scowled, deciding to forget about Arnold's question.
"Mm, mm, mmm. I don't know who you're trying to impress Pataki? No one's afraid of you anymore." Gerald turned to face the front of the room, while Arnold noticed Helga begin to glare.
Placing a hand on her clenched fist, Arnold said "Maybe we could do something after school?"
"Pttss...like what?" she scoffed, knowing there was a chance Gerald would be involved.
"How about we…" Arnold began before hearing the teacher enter the room.
"Hello class! I'm assuming you all have your poems ready to turn in!" Mr. Simmons asked anxiously.
"You said this was an ABC poem, so I wrote out the alphabet as my poem." Stinky informed him.
"Uhh well the wonderful thing about poetry is the special way we choose to express our feelings. I guess that would be a creative way to do that type of poem." Mr. Simmons replied, unsure of what to do.
"Would we get extra credit if we read them to the class?" Sid asked, before being interrupted.
"I'm sure Pataki would love that." Gerald smirked, glancing back at Helga, as she began to clench her fists tightly around her pencil.
Arnold rolled his eyes at Helga's easy ability to get so worked up and Gerald's little concern for her sensitive side (let alone belief she even had one).
"Class please settle down. Now, if you'd like to pass your poems up to me, I'd be happy to go ahead and collect them."
Helga anxiously handed hers over, relieved Mr. Simmons hadn't taken an interest in Sid's idea to read them out loud.
After the teacher had collected them, Gerald glanced back to see Helga with her head propped in her hand, a soft smile on her face, and sparkling eyes that cried out for her beloved's attention.
Mm, mm, mmm! That girl screams therapy! He thought to himself, tempted to speak with Arnold at lunch. What would there be to tell him though? Arnold already believed she had a sensitive side. It was more than obvious she had an aggressive side. The only problem standing in the way was getting her to become more comfortable showing her sensitive side.
As the boys were sitting quietly during their Science lecture, Arnold felt a spitball hit him. Gerald noticed Arnold running his fingers through his hair, already well aware of what had happened.
When he saw his best friend turning around to confront his girlfriend, Gerald thought to himself Why does he even bother? He knows she'll just do it another fifty times.
After shaking his head in disbelief, Gerald couldn't help but give his best friend his full attention when he saw the lovesick look in his eyes, reading the note that had been passed to him.
He's not even letting the idea of his girlfriend shooting him with spit wads have an effect on that lovesick mood of his.
Once class was over, Arnold turned to his girlfriend to ask "Ready to eat?"
As he began to place his hand on hers, a warm smile came to her face, until she turned to see Gerald waiting for them to hurry it up.
Snatching her hand away from her boyfriend's she scoffed "What do you think, headboy?"
"Come on Pheebs!" Helga turned to her best friend, no longer feeling in the mood to sit with her boyfriend, now that she knew his best friend would just be giving them a hard time.
"Coming!" Phoebe chirped, following behind her angry friend as Gerald shook his head with his hand on his waist.
"Mm, mm, mmm! Arnold, what do you intend to do about this?"
"What do you mean?" he shrugged his shoulders, heading out of the classroom.
"I mean, every time she shows the slightest sign of opening up to you, she decides to act as though you've got some strange disease crawling all over you!"
Meanwhile, Helga was standing in the lunchline with Phoebe. "If I may ask, why aren't you eating with Arnold today?"
"Because tall hair boy can't seem to mind his own business! Sheesh!" Helga scowled.
"What do you mean?"
"I MEAN every time I get a spec...I mean a moment with Arnold, I catch him glancing at me, like he thinks I'm HIS girlfriend? Crimity!" Helga scowled, grabbing the last of the tapioca.
After finding themselves a table to sit at, they didn't bother to take notice of the boys walking past them to get to the lunch line. Even after grabbing their trays, Gerald still hadn't dropped the idea of complaining to his best friend about the mistakes in his relationship.
"I'm telling you man, she needs to shoot spit wads to get your attention in class, she's careful about how often people see you two holding hands, and she won't let you kiss her unless it's at home."
Gerald began to raise his voice while Arnold couldn't help but blush. Yes it was frustrating getting Helga to open up. Was it really any of Gerald's business however?
As they exited the lunch line to head for their own table, Arnold rolled his eyes and said "Alright Gerald, enough! I know you can't see it, but she means a lot to me, and I mean a lot to her."
"Which is exactly why she shouldn't be treating you like this!" he insisted, while the two sat down together. Gerald took a bite of his sandwich, while Arnold turned to glance at his girlfriend. Helga seemed to have an angry expression on her face, which he could only assume meant she was still angry about the way they were interrupted in class.
I've talked to her before. All I can do is wait for her to come around when she is ready. Maybe she's just afraid because she doesn't feel she has enough support.
When the bell to end lunch came, Arnold didn't even take notice of the fact he hadn't touched his food, while Gerald was just happy to have gotten his complaints off his chest. It was just a matter of seeing if his friend would take them into consideration.
As Arnold was slowly dragging his feet into the classroom, he looked to see Helga already sitting at her desk. Leaning with her head propped in her hand with a sad facial expression, writing in her notebook.
After letting out a deep sigh, Arnold looked over to see Phoebe also taking notice of Helga's depressing state. An idea then popped into Arnold's head. If he was going to pull it off before school ended, it had to be quick…
The bell then rang before he could approach Phoebe and a frown formed on his face. As Arnold took his seat, he thought to himself How can I talk to her before class ends?
While Mr. Simmons stood up front, lecturing the class on their new math chapter about fractions, Helga wasn't in the mood to open her book. It had become well aware to her that while everyone already knew about her feelings for Arnold, they weren't all supportive of it.
Why should she make it obvious to people as often as possible if everyone still considered it to be strange?
While thinking this, she looked up to see her beloved scribbling quickly on a sheet of paper. She cocked her brow, thinking to herself What is he so anxious about?
After finishing his note, Arnold sat there, tapping his feet, hoping he'd have an opportunity to confront Phoebe. He held it thinking to himself I guess I'll have a moment to hand it to her before our next class starts. Helga will find it weird, but I have to do it.
Arnold held the note in his hand, with his elbow propped on the table, not taking into consideration it was beside his pencil. When he began to shift his position, his pencil went sliding across the floor in Phoebe's direction.
A smile formed on his face, thinking this would be the perfect opportunity to give her the note. Phoebe bent over to reach for the pencil, while instead of allowing her to, Arnold rushed to get it, placing the note on her desk.
"Is there a reason you're out of your seat Arnold?" Mr. Simmons asked, not having noticed his pencil falling.
"Oh, I just dropped my pencil." he said happily, hoping Phoebe would read his note.
Mr. Simmons never seemed to question the students answers too far. Perhaps it was because he believed in sensitivity.
Arnold then looked back to see the confused look on his friend's face, while she opened the not that said…
Will you please ask Helga to meet you at Slaucens after school? I'm going to ask Gerald to meet me there. Gerald can't seem to let Helga's aggressiveness go, so if we could let them sit alone and talk, that would be great.
After reading the note, Phoebe looked up to see Arnold glancing back. As she politely nodded, Helga cocked her brow, wondering what was going on between the two of them.