She was sitting on the bus, chewing on a wad of bubblicous chewing gum and twirling her finger around her some strands of blonde hair on one of her pigtails, patiently waiting for the compound-bus to take off.
"I can't believe I'm on this dumb trip", she grumbled to herself.
"Helga", Mr. Simmons eyed Helga suspiciously.
"What", she quizzed innocently looking around.
"What am I doing now", she stated annoyed, still loudly chewing her gum.
"You know what you're doing. Spit out the gum, Helga", Simmons stated annoyed. He had been dealing with unresponsive, irresponsible and hyperactive 5th graders all day.
"Ok, fine!", she said reluctantly spitting out her favorite cherry flavored gum into the garbage bin Mr. Simmons was holding. They had moved Mr. Simmons up from teaching the 4th grade to the 5th grade of which much of the class, even their new classmates, was upset with. As Helga said, "Criminey, I can't believe they have that cream-puff teaching us again. This school year is going to suck more than I thought it would".
"Oh, Helga. We'll be off soon", Phoebe gasped happily continuing their previous conversation. "Soon we'll be off to Central American jungles. We're the –".
"Phoebe, please", Helga exclaimed. Phoebe frowned.
"Hey Harold. Don't eat that. Sid, Stinky sit down. Nadine, put those bugs away", Mr. Simmons yelled annoyed over the sound of loud chatting students.
"I said I was bored! Big deal. No reason to 'nerd it up'", she ignored Phoebe looking forward.
"Ok, Helga", Phoebe said disappointed in her friend's unenthusiastic approach to their 2-week trip.
Just then she saw an excited Lila talking to Gerald and Arnold, who were just getting on the bus. "Oh Arnold, it'll be fun. Just ever so fun", she said almost jumping with her words. "I'm glad you're excited for this Lila", Arnold responded smiling. "I just want to know where the food is on this bus. We're going to be on here for over 5 hour's right", Gerald asks hungrily.
She smirked, "Besides there are enough geeks on here to begin with", she said loud enough for them to hear her!
So many emotions were going through her body at that exact moment. She hated Arnold. He was always so nice, caring, kind, and helpful – "to everyone else but me! He barely even notices I freaking exist!", she said cracking her knuckles in anger. Yet she loved him – everything about him! His eyes, his hair, and the way he dressed, the way walked, the way he smelled, his football-shaped head! And those moments where he would notice her and talk to her, be kind, and help her. Those moments were few and far in-between suffering and waiting but they were worth the wait. After all they did get a bit closer in the past few months and maybe the last year-and-a-half as a whole as well. She loved him but he didn't love her … just like with her parents. Maybe – Maybe … just maybe he liked her. Even if it was just a tiny bit. "Tsk, like get real! Like perfect, nice little Arnold Philip Shortman would EVER like someone like me", She pondered. She honestly wasn't expecting much after she tormented, belittled and harassed him for about 7 years – practically most of their young lives. The whole thing was just painful and just plain-ole aggravating to her now. She often pondered, more recently, the thought of just forgetting about Arnold. I mean, he is just a boy after-all. WHO IS SHE KIDDING? Arnold wasn't just some boy! He was the love of her life. Her soul-mate. He was the only reason worth waking up in the morning. She couldn't just forget about him. If only Arnold knew just how much she really did love him. If there was only some way she could truly show him. But every time she thought about it these negative thoughts would creep back into her head. She looked up jealously at Lila Sawyer once more, her eyes filled with envy and hatred. She loved him but he didn't love her, he "like-liked" Lila – "Little Miss Perfect" – that much was certain, that was reality … at least it was to her. She just couldn't figure out exactly why he never out-right said it. Ever since the … "FTi Incident" things went on as usual – Helga pretended she hated him again and picked on him to get his attention and Arnold was patient at most times and tried to ignore her, like he always did. But there were the increasing amount of times he would get fed up/ "smart" and exchange insults/swearing. She had to admit she was enticed by this – it almost felt like he was flirting with her. It was like a game to see who would win, she grinned to herself remembering.
Her smile quickly disappeared as she saw Arnold and Gerald approaching the back-seats. "Hey, Phoebe. Hey, Helga", he said with a small smile on his face as he looked down at her. She almost caught herself smiling but then grunted and grimaced. "Phoebe, do you hear something? I keep hearing this annoying little sound. Like there's an annoying little football-headed shrimp – I mean fly buzzing around me", she said dramatically and sarcastically. Arnold eyebrows narrowed with a slight malice and sighed.
"Whatever you say Helga", he said softly stepping over her feet which were "conveniently" placed in front of his path. His warm smile and bright eyes returned as he sat down in a seat behind them to the left and opened up as comic book as he listened to Jazz on his new head-phones his Grandpa brought him.
"Tsk, what a nerd", she said turning forward now. "Right Phoebe", she asked as Phoebe nervously chuckled along.
Arnold sighed once more, this time more harshly, as he turned his music up louder trying to ignore her once again and slouched downward, closing his eyes. Every few minutes he would open his eyes only to see her gaze upon him. She would quickly turn around as if he didn't see her. Other times she would even grimace at him – as if he was doing something wrong by opening his eyes … other times he saw her smiling! He couldn't figure out if he found all of this annoying … or cute. He couldn't figure out the exact nature of his feelings towards her … and THAT annoyed him more than anything else. Sure she did "bug" him at times, other times she could be funny, thoughtful and heck, nice (But this rarely occurred around their classmates he noted) And he like it. A lot. His feelings towards her felt like a mix of any and everything at times and it confused him more, more … well more than Helga Geraldine Pataki did herself. Unbeknownst to himself, he had been sending her some pretty mixed messages the past few months … may be much more than Helga did herself – which is unusual for anyone! He sighed and let his mind drift off once more to other thoughts. But feeling her eyes on him once again he opened them in annoyance. Helga was actually now facing-forward getting something out of her pink backpack. She turned her head around in a grimace, "Hey, Arneldo, take a picture. It'll last longer!" He couldn't believe her. She was now making it seem like he was the one staring at her! "What the –", he brushed those thoughts to the back of his mind.
He had bigger things to think about. His parents. He had written a letter explaining his situation and exactly why he wanted to go to San Lorenzo to an organization connected to the school and he actually won. Though he did not explain to his classmates and other 5th graders why exactly they could go on this trip. He was excited but nervous. What if after they got off the bus, onto the boat, to San Lorenzo … and they were not there? What if he couldn't find them? What if … What if? He couldn't let those thoughts get at him. Eat him up like they had been doing for the past 10 years. He had to be strong. He had to be brave. He flipped open his father's journal to the last page. He had to maintain that his parents were out there waiting for him like he was waiting for them. He had to maintain that they wanted him to find them just like he wanted to find them … if they are out there. As he looked at his father's artistic drawings of San Lorenzo as he had to maintain that he would find them alive! He had to … He had to – (Slap!). A spitball hitting his upper forehead. "Cut it out!" he snapped back between clenched teeth as he could her Helga snickering.
"Wait! Wait", a voice exclaimed as their bus began to take off. Helga sat back in her chair. She knew who that voice was, "Oh, boy".
"Bojaw, baby sister!" Olga exclaimed breathlessly. "You almost forgot me! Why didn't you stop the bus?"
"I was having too much fun to remember Olga! I'll remember next time", Helga said sarcastically, grinning phony. "Oh, it's OK, baby sister. I'm here now", Olga giggled delightfully, trying to hug her.
"I know", she stated miserably slacked into her seat almost beating herself on the forehead with her notebook repeatingly.
She couldn't believe her parents agreed to have Olga come on this 2-week trip. She grimaced as she saw Olga then rush to sit next to Lila. As she could hear Brainy wheezing in the seat behind her and Phoebe's seat, she looked to Lila who Olga was now talking to now, then once more at Arnold who this time was also staring at Lila – distantly, not smiling, with a suspiciously blank, not lovesick, expression on his face – and thought, "This is going to be a freaking long annoying trip"!