"Arnold, this is hopeless! We've been walking for hours, and we're probably miles from camp!" Helga said. She and Arnold were lost in the San Lorenzo jungle. They had come on this trip to try and find his parents, but so far no evidence had been found.
"I know we're lost, hungry, and miserable, but you complaining isn't helping! I'm doing the best I can." Arnold was losing his patience with Helga; she had been complaining for hours now, and he really didn't have the strength to put up with it much longer.
"Do you even know how to read that map? What if we're going in the opposite direction of camp? What if we're going in circles? What if-"
"Helga!" she stopped talking. Arnold never raised his voice.
"Helga," he said again more calmly, "I'm trying. I'm sorry I can't do more, but I'm only ten! I don't know what else to do but to try and keep going. We have no means of signaling for help, no food, and very little water. I want to get back to camp as much as you do, but there's not much more we can do than keep walking, and I would really appreciate it if you could stop complaining and picking on me."
"Alright. Sorry Arnold," Helga said quietly. 'Why must I keep acting like this? We're alone, and he already knows my deep, dark secret. Unless he forgot; maybe he was so shocked and terrified by my FTI confession that he just put the whole thing out of his mind. Or maybe he really did buy my "heat of the moment" excuse. Either way, I need to stop acting like such a jerk!' Helga was lost in thought, but she quickly snapped out of it when Arnold yelled her name.
"Helga, look out!"
"Wha-?" Helga's question was cut off as she stepped on the cover of a pit trap. Instantly she fell to the bottom, screaming all the way.
"Helga, Are you okay?" Arnold called down.
"Yeah, I think I'm alright. Ow! No, something's wrong with my ankle. Arnold, what do I do?"
"Hold on, let me get something to pull you out!" he looked around until he found some vines, which he twisted together to make a rope, "Okay, Helga, I'm going to toss you this rope and I'll pull you out."
"Okay." Arnold dropped the end down into the pit. Helga grabbed the end and he started to pull. But then he lost his balance as stumbled forward, right to the edge of the pit. He tried to regain his balance, but it had the opposite effect and he ended up right next to Helga.
"Well that worked well," Helga commented sarcastically.
"Sorry, Helga. Now we're both stuck, and we're going to have to wait for someone to find us."
"Arnold...we walked around the jungle for hours without finding anything or anyone. Now we're stuck in this pit. We...we're going to die down here, and it's all my fault."
"No it's not, Helga!"
"Yes it is! If I had been paying attention to where I was going instead of thinking about useless crap, I wouldn't have fallen down here and you wouldn't have tried to save me and fallen in too."
"Helga, don't blame yourself for this. Besides, if anything it's my fault. I'm the one who brought us all to San Lorenzo."
"Arnold, I refuse to let you take the blame for this. You came here looking for your parents! There's no better reason to have come than that." she tried to move closer to him, but the pain in her ankle made her wince.
"Here, Helga, let me look at your ankle." Arnold gently examined her ankle and determined it wasn't broken. Still, it needed to be wrapped.
"We don't have anything to wrap it with, though. Hmm...maybe I could tear strips from my shirt..." Arnold said thoughtfully.
"Arnold, here. Just use this," Helga untied her bow and handed the ribbon to Arnold. He tightly wrapped it around her ankle.
"There, that should...hold..." Arnold had looked up at Helga, whose hair was falling in her face a little.
"Helga..."
"What? Oh..." Helga noticed the hair across her face, and quickly tried to hide it.
"C-Cecile!" Arnold exclaimed suddenly.
"Um, what? Hehe, Arnold, I, um, I'm Helga, remember?"
"No, Valentines Day! I went on a dinner date with some girl who pretended to be my penpal Cecile. That was you?"
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"I think you do, Helga."
Helga was silent. There had to be a way out of this. There just had to. But before she could come up with anything, the sky opened up and it started to rain. 'Good, a distraction from this nightmare conversation!'
"Oh this is just great! This is just perfect!" she said, looking at the sky.
"Helga, you can't just change the subject and forget about the conversation. It's time to stop avoiding this!"
"Arnold, I really don't want to talk about this. Please," Helga pleaded.
"No, Helga. I'm sorry, but we need to talk about this!"
"No we don't! We can just forget it ever happened!" she said desperately. With that she got up and limped her way to the other side of the pit and sat down facing the wall.
"You mean like you wanted me to forget FTI?" Helga's face turned red and her eyes went wide in shock.
"Helga, I'm tired of avoiding this, and there's something I have to tell you. I've been wanting to tell you for a while, but we never had any time alone."
'No, no, no, this isn't happening!' Helga thought hysterically.
"Helga, please look at me," Arnold asked. Helga stayed where she was at the wall.
"Helga!" Arnold went and knelt in front of her and took both her hands in his to keep her from running away, "Helga, I've thought about FTI every day since it happened, and there's something I need to tell you."
"Arnold, I can't-"
"Helga, I love you!" and with that Arnold kissed Helga so fiercely it made her head spin.
"Wait," she said, breaking the kiss, "did you just say...you love me?"
"What are you, deaf?" Arnold asked jokingly, his voice full of comfort and love.
"I...I...Arnold...what? How?" she stammered.
"Helga, the whole FTI thing got me thinking, and I realized that...over the years I've wasted my time chasing girls who would never go out with me, when the most perfect girl in the world had been right under my nose since preschool."
"Arnold...I...I don't understand. How...how can you possibly love me? I've tormented you for years!"
"People do crazy things when they're in love," he smiled.
"But..."
"Shh," Arnold gently put a finger to her lips, "Helga, don't think so much. Everything's okay. Come here..." he pulled her close and kissed her again.
"Hey, I found 'em! Arnold, Helga! We're—what the heck?" Gerald's voice rang out through the jungle. Helga squeaked and pushed herself away from Arnold, blushing red as a rose.
"Don't worry, we're going to get you out!" called the guide. They lowered down a rope and pulled both kids up, then gave Helga some makeshift crutches made from some branches and vines.
"So man, what's the deal with...whatever it was happened back there?" Gerald asked as they began the trek back to the camp.
"Sorry, Gerald, but I can't really tell you; it's not my story to tell. And I wouldn't advise asking Helga about it, either."
"No kidding. That's girl's crazy!"
"I think I like crazy..." Arnold said quietly, just loud enough for Helga to hear. The blush that bloomed on her cheeks was proof enough that she had heard him.