Just then, a relatively tall, scruffy-brown-haired boy entered the room and stood next to the teacher. His piercing dark brown eyes, strangely resembling that of a fox's, studied all the unfamiliar faces lined in rows before him, staring back. There were a few dropped jaws from the girls in the crowd, although Helga could certainly be excluded from that bunch as she snorted sarcastically and plopped her feet onto her desk.
One might think that the kissy faces Rhonda made might attract a boy's attention, but it almost seemed as if Ian's glance shifted over to the gum-slathered soles of Helga's shoes.
"Pfft! What a goofy lookin' kid! I'll bet his parents brought him home from the pet store!" Helga muttered aloud, almost spitting her words in contempt.
"Hi, Ian," Rhonda said dreamily as she led everyone else in greeting the new student.
"Now, Ian, there's an empty desk in the back there, next to Helga," Mr. Simmons pointed out. "You can sit there." Ian slowly made his way through the desks to the back row and slid into the seat. He turned his head and looked over at Helga.
"Whadda YOU lookin' at, Cat Boy," she snapped. Ian smirked.
"Helga, huh?" he said thoughtfully. Helga narrowed her eyes.
"Yyyah." She rolled her eyes and turned her head away, twitching her propped foot irritably. Mr. Simmon's lesson sounded like mere white noise in the background of her mind as she looked back at Ian. He was still smiling mischievously at her. Helga's face became emotionless as she put her feet down and shifted uneasily in her seat. This kid was creepy.
Time passed and it didn't take much staring at the back of Arnold's head before Helga forgot about the boy next to her. She crumbled up bits of paper and stuck them in her mouth. Then she put a straw to her mouth and shot spitballs at that football shaped head that she admired so often. Each wad bounced off the back of his head. Arnold grimaced but didn't turn around as he tried to ignore the twinge of anger building up inside of him.
But soon, after Helga crumbled the rest of the paper she was ripping from and blatantly chucked the ball at his head he quickly turned around.
"Helga!" Arnold whispered hoarsely. "Cut it out!" He slumped back around angrily. Helga laughed at a couple pieces that stuck in his hair.
"Stupid football head! What a total goof! And yet..." But before Helga could reach for her locket, she became aware of Ian still watching her. She could see it from the corner of her eye. She closed her eyes, curled her upper lip, and growled quietly to herself. "Why that stupid, bug-eyed, no good..." Helga whipped her head to face his direction. She glared at him for a moment before slouching down in her seat, reaching her leg over and giving his chair a good solid kick. But instead of falling over like anyone else, Ian caught himself and turned his head back to look at her. He spit his tongue out. Helga scowled and leapt out of her seat like a wild animal that just snapped its own collar off. She flew at Ian and knocked him from his seat.
"Helga!!!" Mr. Simmons shrieked in panic. The room suddenly filled with the echoed scraping of chairs as the class quickly scrambled out from their seats and huddled around the fight. Everyone talked at once. There were cheers for Helga and cheers for Ian. Helga sat on Ian and repeatedly threw punches at his face, but each blow only bounced off of his wrists shielding his face. It didn't take much for Ian to defend himself against the otherwise feared bully, but he didn't hit back. Helga yelled as she punched harder.
"Arghh! You stupid jerk, just leave me alone!!" she shouted in anger. Everyone thought she had perhaps lost her mind; not only was Ian silent, but he hadn't been at the school for more than 20 minutes. Mr. Simmons got Stinky and Harold to pry Helga off of the composed boy. Before she knew it, she was sitting in front of the principal's desk.