She left. She had nothing to stick around for, nothing to really wait for even. He was gone, but she was happy for him anyways. He got what he always deserved. He got his family back, how could she ever expect him to not stay with them after them being gone for his entire lifetime? A lifetime of missed birthdays, holidays, parent-student events, his first steps, his first kiss, first heartbreak. Of course he loved his grandparents for always being there, but even they knew it wasn't the same. There was a hole in heart that only those two people could have filled. It made her grateful that she was lucky enough to share that experience with him, helping him find them, seeing them reunited. She broke out in tears at seeing him so fucking happy finding they were still alive. He had thanked her, he had kissed her, and they had asked him to stay in San Lorenzo to share in their work, and of course, she had told him to stay with them when he asked her if he really should. Of course he would ask her how she'd feel, he was Arnold. Fucking goodie-two-shoes, wonderful, kind hearted, amazing, Arnold. He never put himself before anyone else, even when he found what he was always looking for.
The pain she felt was bittersweet. After so many years of wanting, hiding, the secrecy, her feelings were somewhat returned. They didn't talk about the kiss. They didn't talk about how they felt for one another. They just parted ways, and he said he'd write. So she left Hillwood. She was sent of to a boarding school in Europe for young women. She got to have a fresh start. Of course her parents had no problem sending her away, even with the cost. Big Bob and his bullshit business could afford her not to be in his life. And Miriam was too infatuated with drowning her demons in the bitter taste of alcohol to give two solid fucks about her daughter.
Life was decent for once though. She was able to be herself. She had nothing to hide from these girls, she had no shitty home life to keep her up late at night, or a hopeless love to fuck up on. She had no one to keep up a front for. She let all the walls she built crumble away, and made a new life, a new image, a new reputation. She never did write back though. To home, or to Arnold. She was in a new life, and finally had some peace of mind.
But of course, she's Helga. Of course it'd all go to shit. She was devastated, angry, and hated the world all over again. She got the call from Bob, of course. It was particularly strange considering he hardly called her, but he always found some way to shatter anything good going in her life. He didn't give her all the details, but now she was packing all her belongings, no emotion showing on her porcelain face, her long blonde hair tied in a lose ponytail, the black tips curled slightly. She was still wearing her uniform, her grey thigh-high stockings, black pencil skirt that ended just slightly above said stockings, her white button up untucked with the top two buttons open to relieve some of the restriction of the fabric, her tight black half vest neatly ironed, and her black school jacket with the emblem on the left side hung over her desk chair in her shared dorm room. She was about to begin her sophomore year at boarding school, but now she had to return to that stupid little pathetic town with all its bullshit. She was an A student, still did writing, she did theatre, she played guitar, piano, soccer or football as they called it, she spoke French and Italian, and surrounded herself with as many distractions as she could. She had good friends, and thought of Hillwood as little as possible. The last items she packed was a couple of pink books and a box with a small golden locket inside she hadn't touched since she began at the boarding school three years ago. She said her goodbyes, and put her belongings in the cab, not looking back as she was driven to the airport.