Eight Hours Away

By: Serap-89

Prelude

A/N: I decided to write another fan-fic. Yes, I know, I know, I have too many but, oh well, I love this fan-fic so far. It's my best so far, according to me. It's written the best out of all of mine. And I used info I myself know from going to Friday Harbor with my parents, cousins, grandma, and uncle so many times (my uncle has a boat there).

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the original Hey Arnold! characters, but I do own Helga's new friends, and... two other new characters, but I won't give it away who they are, you'll have to find out on your own by reading this.

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Helga shook out her blonde hair, as she stood on the dock, staring out at the incoming boats. She had only been living there for a short time, but already, she was adjusting to the new way of life she had. She had to admit, it was better than her old life, back in Hillwood, Washington. Sure, she was still in Washington, but now, she lived on an Island, surrounded by people who hadn't known her to be the Elementary School bully that her old 'friends' knew her as before.

You see, about 4 years ago she moved away from Hillwood, and her old life. Now, she lived happier than she had ever been, and her parents paid more attention to her. In fact, she was practically a center of attention, but not for the reason she wanted. When they moved, the reason was because her mother was going to have a baby again, and Bob needed more money. He decided he was going to place a new Beeper emporium on a place that he figured would need more stores, the San Juan Island, Friday Harbor.

Helga sighed as she stood there, remembering about her old friends, and how they took to the news that she was going to move away. She laughed, brushing a lock of hair away from her face, a smile planting itself in the middle of her face.

Flashback, 4 Years Ago

Helga woke to the sound of her perfect sister squealing for joy about something. She sighed an exasperated sigh, rolled over, and grabbed her watch off the night stand. As she looked at the watch, her face contorted into a scowl, then a sneer.

"Olga, why couldn't it have waited 30 more minutes??" she asked, sitting up from her lying down position, and stretching out. She yawned, then placed her watch back in it's rightful spot, right next to her new pink leather covered diary and her trusty purple pen. She then grabbed her trusty purple pen off her night stand, and jumped out from under the covers. She heard more happy shouts from downstairs, and snarled. Perfect Olga and her stupid perfect happiness. Bleh, makes me feel sick.

After she had gotten dressed into her normal attire, got all her school supplies ready, brushed her teeth, tied on her shoes, and brushed her golden-rod hair, she quickly descended down the stairs, at full speed. It was the first day of 5th grade, and she didn't want to be late, making her new teacher think she was always tardy. When she got to the bottom of the stairs, suddenly Olga appeared out of nowhere, in front of her, making her gasp and try her best to skid to a stop. All her attempts ended in nothing, as she ended up being smothered by her older sister's embrace.

"Olga... can't... breathe..." she gasped, as her face began to turn blue. Olga gasped, and placed her 'baby sister' back down on the floor, dusting her off. Helga brushed Olga's hands away from her, and looked up into her sister's face, scowling. "Olga, why on earth did you have to go and squeal this morning?"

Olga was just her normal chipper self, Helga figured. Little did she know this was more chipper than her sister usually was, and if she had figured this out, she would be heading for the hills. "Baby Sis, guess what?!" she asked happily, and Helga just rolled her eyes, in an annoyed manner. This was making her later by the minute, and she really didn't need her teacher thinking she always was tardy.

"What is it, Ol-ga?" she asked, and Olga smiled wider, not noticing the extension of the L in her name.

"You're going to be a big sister!" she exclaimed, and Helga's eyes widened. Then, she laughed, thinking it was a terrible joke being played on her.

"Ha ha ha ha! Very funny Olga, now, what was it you really were going to say?" she asked, and Olga gave her a strange look that made Helga's laughter subside. "Wh-what?? You mean... you weren't joking!?" she asked, one of her eyes practically twitching. Olga smiled, and shook her head, clasping her hands together.

"Isn't it wonderful?? Now, you will get to feel the love a big sister has for her little sibling!" she said, with a ecstatic sigh. Helga didn't hear anything after that. Her world became a large blur, then she met the floor, and instead of a blur, the world was now nothingness.

Helga opened her eyes, to see nothing but blurry images, golden color, grey color, purple color, and white color. As her vision began to clear up, she began to realize these colors were people. Finally, she recognized these people as Miriam, Bob, and Olga, and she scowled, wanting to know the reason why she was being stared down at like a parrot eating Chatuea Brione with a knife and fork.

Then she remembered something, and shot up, hitting her head against Olga's. She grabbed her head, and Olga did likewise, but she didn't lose the worried look that covered her petite face. Helga looked at Miriam, and examined her up and down. "I'm going to be a what!?" she asked, grabbing at the sides of her face.

Miriam smiled, and patted her stomach, as if to confirm Helga's question. "Yes, Helga, honey, I'm having another baby. And that's not all."

Helga's face drooped, her eyes widened. "What else could there be?" she asked with a aggravated sigh, burying her face in her hands. This was horrible enough as it was, but now, there was more?

Bob nodded his head, and smiled. "I'm moving the whole family, including Olga, to the San Juan Island, Friday Harbor, because we're going to need more money, and they don't have a Big Bob's Beeper's there yet." Helga looked up, her face mirroring her feelings.

"What...?" she inquired, her voice just barely above a whisper. Tears stung her eyes, and she could feel their threat. It was horrible. First, a new baby in her family, that will take even more attention than perfect Olga. Second, they were moving away from Hillwood... away from Arnold and Phoebe. How could this happen? She knew she was unlucky, but now, she began to think she must be related to Eugene or something, because she didn't know how her life could get any worse. The tears consumed her eyes, and she closed them, trying to not think about the horrible truth.

Olga looked to Miriam, who looked to Bob, who just shrugged, stood up, and left the room. Miriam looked back to Olga, sighed, and left the room, also. Soon Olga followed, after giving her younger sister a comforting hug. Helga just stayed in the same position, holding her hands in front of her eyes, while her eyes leaked out all of the tears she couldn't shed in front of others., besides her family.

The day before, Helga had called her school, and disguised her voice as Miriam's, so she could stay home and sulk. Plus, she missed the first hour and a half. Today, she didn't bother doing her hair into her pigtails, wore a pink t-shirt that Olga bought her the day before to make her feel better that had a kitten in a food bowl and said 'Vicious' (even though she wanted to stay home and sulk, Olga made her go shopping with her so she could 'feel better'), and jeans with a flowery design on both pant legs. And she didn't put on her pink bow, shocking her family members.

She sulkily walked down the stairs, out the door, and onto the bus, not speaking a word to anyone. She placed her change into the box, and began walking down the aisle towards her and Phoebe's seat. All the kids her age, in her class, watched her as she walked by them, with widened eyes.

When she passed Arnold and Gerald, Arnold didn't notice, but Gerald did, and nudged his best friend in the ribs. Arnold looked to Gerald, frowning. "What is it?" he asked, then noticed Gerald pointing at Helga, and his jaw dropped. The frown was replaced by shock. The day before she was sick, and now, she had an entire new outfit. What did that summer do to her? He wondered in shock, as she sat in the seat behind them.

Helga looked up, her face not changing. "Oh, hey Football Head, how's it goin'?" she asked, lack of emotion. Arnold noticed this, and gave her a concerned look.

"Are you all right, Helga? You seem to not be yourself." he stated, and Helga just sighed and shrugged, like it was no big deal.

"I'm fine, Arnold," she stated simply, turning her head to the open aisle.

Arnold wasn't convinced. "Are you sure? You almost never call me by my first name only, something has to be wrong." he said, and Helga sighed, closing her eyes.

"It's none of your business."

"You're my friend, of course it's my business."

"You actually think of me as a friend?"

"Helga, don't change the subject. I know something is wrong, you just aren't telling me."

"I told you, everything's hunkey dory with me and my stinkin' life."

"All right, something is definitely wrong."

"Arnold, just back off, this is the wrong subject right now."

"I'm sorry..."

"It's all right."

There was a long silence, as Helga stared off to the side and Arnold stared at her. This annoyed Helga, and she could barely keep herself from lashing out and telling him to back away and meddle in other people's affairs. But, another part of told her that she needed to tell him what was the matter.

"All right, Arnold, fine..."

"What?" Arnold asked, his face contorting into a confused and clueless look.

Helga sighed, and shook her head, her eyes closing. "All right, I'll tell you my problem." Arnold smiled, as Helga began to tell her story.

When she finished the story, she finally looked to Arnold to see a shocked look on his oddly-shaped face. She figured he would react something like that, but... he also looked... disappointed about something? Why would he be disappointed about something?

"Wow..." he said, blinking only once. Helga stared at him for a few minutes, as he absorbed the news slowly. He then blinked again, and looked directly into her eyes. "Whoa... You're going to be a big sister and you're moving?" he asked, and Helga nodded her head slowly, looking down at her lap. Arnold scratched his head, trying to grasp everything that was rushing into his head at that minute. He could help but feel horrible that Helga was leaving. Why? He didn't know, and he never would, he figured.

"Yep, that's the deal, Arnoldo." she said with a heavy sigh, and looked out the window. Phoebe had been sick that day, so she didn't get to say goodbye to Phoebe's face. This upset her more than the fact that she had to leave town.

Most of her friends reacted with joy, except for Arnold and Phoebe. She called Phoebe when she was on the way to Marysville, where they would stop for lunch, then head out to the ferry landing to take off to Friday harbor. She was soon going to be 8 hours away from her old life.

End Flashback

Helga sighed, and smiled sadly. She missed all her old friends, but her life was better now. She was happier, and that would do. She slowly walked down dock E to her family's boat, and walked on, to be greeted by her younger brother, Thomas Ewert Pataki.

Little did she know, that someone else was thinking about that very same day at that very same time. Someone, who had thoughts about her night and day, and had a football shaped head.

End of Prelude