9-year old Helga G. Pataki was more confused than ever before.
Did Arnold, the football-headed boy that she had adored from afar since preschool, like her, or did he like Cecile, the girl that she had pretended to be that night?
It's got to be Cecile, Helga thought to herself as she let herself in the house. Arnold wouldn't go for her in a million years, especially after all those years tormenting him at P.S. 118.
Nobody noticed as Helga went up the stairs. Big Bob was sitting in front of the TV eating nachos and watching another one of his football games, while Miriam slept on the couch as usual after drinking another one of her "smoothies".
If they had noticed their daughter, they would have noticed that she looked quite different than she usually did. Gone were the big blond ponytails that stood up, replaced by long curly blond hair that went straight past her shoulders. Her eyelashes stood out more, and she wore her pink and red-stripped long sleeve shirt and a red skirt instead of the pink overalls she usually wore.
Helga shut the door and jumped on her bed, wishing that this night could last forever. Instead, the reality was that she would have to go back to P.S. 118 the next morning pretending to hate Arnold.
It would be harder now to be mean to him given what a wonderful time she had dining with him at Chez Paris for Valentine's Day (the best Valentine's Day I ever had, Helga thought as she went to her makeup table to remove her eyeliner).
Yet she had dinner with Arnold not as Helga Pataki, but as Cecile, Arnold's pen pal from France. Surprisingly the real Cecile did come all the way from France to surprise Arnold, destroying Helga's "brilliant plan". Luckily Gerald (or "tall-haired boy" as Helga liked to call him because of his unusually tall black hair), Arnold's best friend, stepped in pretending to be Arnold, saving Helga from the utter embarrassment of having her deepest, darkest secret being revealed, especially to the person she loved the most in the whole wide world.
"There's just one thing I don't understand", said Arnold as Gerald and the real Cecile left. "Who are you?"
Helga declined to answer that question, not ready to admit all the feelings she had for him.
But what if she had told him the truth? He said he had a great time having dinner with her. And he kissed her hand! So she had to have liked him! If she did reveal who she really was, maybe she and Arnold would now be boyfriend and girlfriend.
Get real, Helga thought as she got in her P.J.'s and climbed into bed. Arnold has never loved you, and he never will.
"Hey Arnold! Hey Arnold! Hey Ar"-
Arnold shut off his alarm clock and rubbed his eyes as he slowly got out of bed. He went through his usual morning routine of taking a shower and brushing his teeth, not bothering to take his tiny blue hat off except when blow drying his hair.
Who was that girl he had dinner with last night? He thought to himself as he got dressed and headed downstairs for breakfast. What was her real name? And how did she know who he was?
Arnold was pretty certain that they had never met before, yet for some strange reason, Cecile, or whoever her real name was, seemed somewhat familiar, almost as if he had always known her. It was as if he had known this girl for years.
After chowing down a bunch of pancakes and gulping down a big glass of orange juice, Arnold headed out the door, catching the bus and finding the seat next to his best friend Gerald.
"Hey Gerald, how did it go with Cecile last night?" asked Arnold after the two did their usual thumb ritual.
"Man it was tough, I got to tell you, those French sure do ask a lot of questions".
"Well, thanks for covering for me Gerald. I couldn't have done it without you".
"Hey man, no sweat. By the way, did you ever find out who Cecile really was? Not the real Cecile, but you know what I mean".
"I wish I could have, but when I asked her who she was, she said she couldn't tell me".
"Couldn't tell you?" said Gerald bewildered. "Now that is strange".
The two boys were interrupted by the sound of their classmate Helga Pataki pushing her way onto the bus.
"Move it! Move it! Out of my way!" She said as she made her way through. Arnold and Gerald had witnessed Helga's belligerent behavior so much that they were used to it.
"Well, well, well, if it isn't football head and tall-haired boy" said Helga as he came to Arnold and Gerald.
"Oh, hey Helga", said Arnold not bothering to look up at her. She was the last person in the world he wanted to speak to. If only that girl he had dinner with the night before came on the bus that morning instead of Helga, who had bullied him as long as he could remember.
"So, how did your Valentines Day go football head?" asked Helga. "Did you spend it all by yourself?"
"Actually, I did go on a date with someone last night", replied Arnold unenthusiastically.
"Oh really? I find that hard to believe", said Helga. "Nobody would want to go out with a stupid football-headed geek like you!"
Helga stormed to the back of the bus, where she met up with her best friend Phoebe.
Usually after Helga started bullying him, Arnold could easily put it out of his mind and go about his business.
And yet this morning felt different. This time he couldn't put it out of his mind. It was nothing to do with what Helga said-he was used to being called a "football head" and "geek bait". It was the way she acted, and for some reason he couldn't quite put his finger on it.
Arnold couldn't help noticing Helga as he had lunch in the cafeteria with Gerald. There was something different about her, something that kept puzzling him about her.
"Hey Gerald, do you notice anything different about Helga?" he asked.
"Nope, looks the same to me" said Gerald after taking a quick glance.
"I know it sounds strange, but there's something different about her that I can't quite figure out".
Meanwhile Helga had lunch a few tables away with Phoebe, the only person in the entire school who would even consider having lunch with her. Helga wasn't particularly popular at P.S. 118, unlike her older sister Olga, who was voted class president and whom every teacher on campus remembered and adored.
Helga was eating her chocolate pudding (which she of course had to pack herself since Miriam was of course too lazy to pack it for her) while Phoebe talked about her upcoming birthday, which she was planning on having that Saturday.
"I'm thinking about having it at Chez Paris", said Phoebe. "I heard they have really good food there".
"Yeah, but the waiters can be real snobs", said Helga, her mouth covered in chocolate.
"You've been to Chez Paris?" Phoebe asked.
Helga accidentally flipped her spoon in response to Phoebe's question. The spoon flew through the air and hit a red-headed kid named Eugene, causing him to fall to the floor with his lunch spilled all over him.
"I'm ok".
"I, I…" Helga was completely unprepared for this. She did not want anyone to know where she had been the night before.
"I know people who go there all the time", said Helga finally recovering herself.
"Really? What do they say about it?" asked Phoebe.
"Criminy!" shouted Helga in exasperation. "Am I supposed to know everything about a restaurant that I've never been to?"
Meanwhile, a few tables down, Arnold finally realized why he couldn't keep his mind off Helga that day.
Two pieces of a difficult puzzle suddenly snapped together in his mind, creating the whole picture, a picture that was so obvious he wondered why he hadn't noticed it before.
The way Helga flipped her spoon automatically reminded him of the way Cecile had flipped her fork the night before. Suddenly everything seemed to click. Helga looked just like Cecile. In fact, they were completely identical.
How is this possible? Arnold thought to himself as he came back to class. How can Helga Pataki and Cecile from last night look exactly the same?
He found himself glancing sideways more often at Helga, finding even more similarities between her and Cecile-the pink shaped bow on her head, the shape of her nose, even the dark color of her eyebrow.
"Quit starring at me geekbait!"
Arnold quickly turned his head, trying to focus on Ms. Slovak's lesson on science and human biology
It wasn't until she spoke about how everyone human being on Earth-even identical twins-have a different set of thumbprints, the puzzle in Arnold's mind suddenly clicked once again.
Could it be possible? Arnold thought to himself as he took a peak at Helga out of the corner of his eye. Could Helga Pataki have a twin sister? If so, why hadn't he ever seen her before? He decided he was going to find out after class, but he was going to have to do it the hard way: talking to the girl who had always tormented him relentlessly.
The bell rang before Ms. Slovak had a chance to talk about that night's homework assignment. She couldn't have spoken fast enough as her students flooded out of the classroom eager to be free.
Arnold rushed past the swarm of other students to get to Helga. If there was a slight chance of seeing Cecile again (or whoever her name was), then Helga G. Pataki was his only hope.
"Hey Helga! Wait up!"
"What do you want, football head?" Helga said as she turned to him with her usual look of disgust. "And quit starring at me in class! You give me the creeps!"
"Sorry about that", said Arnold. "Listen, I know this might sound strange, but, I was just wondering, if…"
"What? What is it?"
"Do you by any chance…have a twin sister?"
"Twin sister?" said Helga, annoyed as she looked down at him.
"Well, I had dinner with this very beautiful girl last night, and I realized that she looks just like you, so I was just wondering if you two might be related", said Arnold.
Helga was immediately taken aback. Nobody had ever called her beautiful before. Not her mother, not her father, nobody. He was the first person to ever call him that, just as he was the first person to ever really notice her.
"Are you talking about Cecile?" asked Helga, who suddenly didn't seem so belligerent.
"Yeah! Exactly!" said Arnold excitedly. "So, how come I never met her?"
"She goes to a private school," said Helga nonchalantly. "It's a private school on the other side of town for very gifted people. She's the smartest in our family".
"Even smarter than Olga?"
"Are you kidding? She makes Olga seem like an amateur".
There was a moment's silence, and then Arnold found in himself to have the guts to ask Helga a very important question.
"Did she say anything about last night?" he asked her.
Helga suddenly became a bit nervous at the question.
"Oh, um, yeah, she did" she said. "She said it was the best night of her entire life".
The best moment of my entire life….
"Really, she said that?"
"Yeah, she did, but then she also told me you were trying to date another girl at the same time", said Helga, regaining her confidence.
"Yeah, I feel really bad about that".
"Well you should be".
"You couldn't, by any chance, apologize to her for me could you?"
"And why should I do a thing like that?"
"Well, I know it sounds strange, but, I felt a real connection to her last night, and it would be great if I could see her again".
Helga became silent, trying to contain the joy building up insider her.
"Oh, yeah, I'll pass the message along. But don't think I'll do you any more favors in the future, football head!"
She turned around and stormed down the hallway, pushing aside other students angrily. She was on the front steps of P.S. 118 when Arnold ran up to her again.
"Hey Helga!"
"What now?" shouted Helga angrily.
"There's something else I don't understand", said Arnold. "How did Cecile know who I was if we never met?"
Helga suddenly became very nervous.
"Oh, um"…..
How was she going to get out of this? Finally, she came up with a solution.
"Actually, you did".
"I did?"
"Yeah, it was a long time ago, you probably don't even remember".
Arnold kept starring at her, so she felt the need to continue.
"On the first day of preschool, I, I mean my sister of course, was walking to school all by herself. It was raining outside, but she didn't have an umbrella, because her stupid parents forget to give her one cause they were too busy paying attention to OLGA".
She said the name of her older sister in disgust, but decided she needed to get back to her story.
"Anyway, right outside the preschool you showed up and shielded her from the rain, and then you commented on how nice her pink bow looked. And, that's when she fell in love with you".
"We went to preschool together?"
"For a few days" said Helga quickly. "My parents found out she was a genius, put her in a private school for gifted kids, and that's why you never met her".
Helga's heart was beating so fast she felt she was going to explode. But she felt she had to keep going so Arnold wouldn't keep asking her questions.
"And then when I told her about this certain football-headed kid in my class-who I absolutely despise by the way-she immediately remembered you, and decided she wanted to have dinner with you for Valentine's Day".
"But how did she know I would be at Chez Paris?"
"Criminy! Am I supposed to know every single thing about my sister?!" yelled Helga exasperated. "Now get out of my way before I pound that football head of yours flat!"
She pushed him out of the way and angrily stormed down the steps of the school, pushing aside Eugene, who ended up in a trashcan.
"I'm ok!"
Out of the corner of his eye Arnold spotted 6th grader Ruth McDougal holding hands with who he was pretty sure was the busboy from the night before. Just a day ago, seeing this would have crushed Arnold's spirits, but now it didn't seem to bother him at all.
"A twin sister? Man that's crazy" said Gerald, as he and Arnold approached the boarding house Arnold lived at with his grandparents.
"I can't believe I didn't see it before", said Arnold reflectively. "I guess it's because I never saw Helga with her hair down like that".
"Now that you mention it, Cecile did look a lot like Helga last night…wait a minute?"
"What Gerald?"
"It might be a coincidence, but, don't you thing it's strange that Helga's twin sister and your pen pal from France are both named Cecile?"
Arnold thought for a moment.
"Must be a pretty common name", shrugged Arnold.
"And here's something else I don't get", said Gerald. "How did Helga's sister know you would be meeting with the other Cecile last night?"
"That's a good question", said Arnold. "I never really thought about it. I mean the only way she could have known is if"-
As he opened the door to the boarding house a swarm of dogs and cats rushed outside. A thought entered into Arnold's mind. It all made perfect sense now.
"Of course!"
He ran inside and quickly headed up the stairs.
"Hey! Wait up!" cried Gerald.
Once inside his bedroom, Arnold rummaged through his desk, until he found the letter that was sent to him from his pen pal Cecile from France. The handwriting of the letter looked exactly the same except for the very end.
"P.S. I am flying out to visit you this Valentine's Day for one night only. Yes, that's right, for one night only! I've got something very important to tell you. Please come alone and don't make any other plans. Meet me at Chez Paris…"
The entire letter was written in cursive, but he could tell that after the P.S. part the letters looked completely different.
He didn't know who added to the letter. But he had an idea.
Taking out last year's yearbook, Arnold and Gerald flipped through it, until they came across the handwriting of Helga Pataki. Sure enough, her handwriting perfectly matched that of the end of the letter.
"Well call me Lucy", said Gerald amazed.
"She must have snuck in and changed it during recess before I had a chance to open it", reflected Arnold.
"So, what are you gonna do now, loverboy?" said Gerald as he nudged Arnold in the shoulder.
"I don't know", said Arnold. "Helga said she would apologize to Cecile for me, you know, for trying to date her and Ruth at the same time."
"You honestly expect Helga Pataki to apologize for you?" asked Gerald.
Arnold starred at him blankly.
"Come on Arnold", said Gerald. "Cecile's probably waiting for you to come all the way to her house and sweep her off her feet. I mean it's not like you don't know where she lives".
"You no what? You're right Gerald", said Arnold as he jumped off the bed and rushed out the door.
A few seconds later he ran back inside, went through his closet, until he found a single red high-heeled strap on shoe.
"Almost forget", said Arnold as he ran out carrying the shoe with him.
Helga was lying on her stomach on her bed halfway through a love poem for Arnold when the doorbell rang.
"Criminy!" cried Helga, upset that she now lost her train of thought.
Helga reluctantly went downstairs. It was probably one of those charity groups always begging for money.
But when she opened the front door her heart jumped, for right outside her doorstep was none other than Arnold, holding the red shoe that he had accidentally taken from her the night before.
"Arnold!" yelled Helga in excited nervousness, but then regained herself. "What are you doing at my house, football head?"
"Um, hey Helga, I was just wondering…is Cecile around?"
At that moment, Helga wondered if she should tell Arnold the truth-that Cecile didn't really exist, that it was really Helga G. Pataki who had dinner with Arnold the previous night. But she wouldn't be able to do so without revealing her deepest, darkest secret, a secret nobody knew.
She had a better idea.
"Oh, yeah she's upstairs", said Helga as Arnold entered the house. "I'll go get her for you".
Helga was near the stairs when Arnold spoke.
"By the way Helga, there's something I wanted to ask you".
Helga turned around.
"Yeah, what?"
"I was just wondering, did you change the letter from my pen pal Cecile from France yesterday?"
So much for her "brilliant plan".
"Oh, um, hey look there's a plane!" yelled Helga as she pointed to the window. As he turned Helga ran up the stairs as fast as she could, talking to herself, trying to keep up the illusion.
"Cecile!"
"What?!"
"Arnold's downstairs waiting for you!"
"Arnold?! You mean from last night?!"
"Who do you think?!"
"Tell him I'll be down in a few minutes!"
"You can't have him waiting around all day!"
"Take a chill pill! I'm doing my hair!"
Helga ran into her room and slammed the door shut. She had to think fast.
She rushed to her closet and put on the exact wardrobe she wore the night before. Then she went to her makeup table, straightened her hair, put on some eyeliner, and bingo! Cecile was back in business.
Before leaving her bedroom, however, Helga felt there was something that she was forgetting. She took another glance in the mirror, and, shocked that she would forget such a minor yet important detail of her disguise, quickly used her hand to cover her left eye, and the unibrow that had plagued her since the day she was born.
Helga had tried many times to shave the unibrow off, but it always grew back so quickly that she decided to give up. It was perhaps this once facial feature that Helga felt prevented Arnold from ever seeing her for who she truly was. Without her one eyebrow, she wouldn't have to pretend to be someone else.
Arnold had not been inside Helga Pataki's house in years. The last time it was here it was for her birthday, back when he was seven. It was a very unmemorable birthday, save for when Helga, after receiving Arnold's card, shoved his face into the punch bowl.
Arnold sat in the living room and looked around. There were several pictures of Helga and her family, most of them stand-alone photos of her older sister Olga-but none of Cecile.
"Arnold!"
Arnold turned and there was Cecile, looking just as gorgeous as she was the night before, smiling at him that beautiful smile of hers.
Arnold ran to her and, quite unexpectedly, gave her a hug.
Helga melted inside his arms.
This was heaven.
"Oh", said Arnold as he pulled away. "I almost forget".
He showed her the red shoe.
"Oh, silly me", said Helga taking it from him. "I can't believe I left Chez Paris with only one of those".
"Say, where is your sister?" asked Arnold looking around.
"Oh, she's probably upstairs doing whatever", said Helga trying her best to change the subject. She looked toward the window and got an idea.
"Say, Arnold, would you like to take a walk with me?"
"Absolutely".
YES!
She put on her shoes and they both headed outside
They were close to a nearby park when Arnold reached out to hold Cecile's hand.
This day was getting better and better.
Neither of them knew what to say on the way over. Finally, Arnold found the courage to be the first one to speak.
"By the way, I just wanted to apologize about last night", said Arnold. "You know, about me trying to date you and that other girl at the same time".
There was a pause.
"Are you still in love with Ruth McDouga?" Helga asked nonchalantly.
Coincidentally Arnold spotted Ruth and that busboy having a tickle fight in the park, which didn't bother him one bit, because he was holding hands with a girl that was a million times better than Ruth.
"I have to say I used to be, but not anymore".
"Then I'm not mad".
Arnold turned to her with a quizzical look on his face.
"How did you know her name?"
"Everyone knows about Ruth P. McDougal".
"They do?"
"Of course, she has a pretty bad reputation. Trust me, it's a good thing you've gotten over her".
"So", said Arnold trying to keep the conversation going, "what's it like having Helga for a sister?"
"Why do you ask?"
They had both come across an empty park bench. The sun was setting before them, creating an absolutely gorgeous atmosphere.
"Well", said Arnold, "I just thought it might be kind of rough, you know, the way she is and all".
Helga was silent for a moment as she starred at the sunset. Arnold thought she looked very gorgeous with the setting sun shinning down on her.
"You don't know her like I do, Arnold".
Arnold didn't know how to respond.
"I mean, yeah, she can be pretty mean and tough", continued Helga, "but deep down she's a very sensitive person with a lot of really deep feelings. She just has trouble expressing them, sometimes".
"Yeah, I kind of figured", said Arnold. "It's strange, even though she's been bullying me for as long as I can remember, calling me football head and all, I kind of feel that the whole thing is just a charade to pull off".
Everything he said was true, Helga thought as she starred at him.
"Besides", continued Arnold, "she must be a really great sister to get the two of us to celebrate Valentine's Day together, so I guess she's like cupid in a way".
"Yeah", said Helga smiling, "I never really thought of it like that".
"By the way", said Arnold, "why did you try to pretend to be Cecile last night?"
"But I am Cecile!" answered Helga excitedly.
"I mean my pen pal Cecile from France".
"Oh, that Cecile", said Helga very much relieved.
She hesitated as she tried to figure out what to say to him.
"I guess, because, I thought you would like me if you thought I was from France".
"But I do like you".
How could this day get even better?
"Did we really meet when we were in preschool?" asked Arnold.
"Oh, I guess Helga told you about that, huh? That's my sister all right, always spilling the beans about everything", said Helga as she laughed nervously.
"She told me you came to school in the rain without an umbrella and that I told you how nice your bow looked".
"I'll never forget it", said Helga. "You told me you liked it because it was pink like my pants".
"I really said that?"
"Of course. How could anyone forget a compliment like that?"
"And that's the reason you fell in love with me?"
Arnold looked down in embarrassment. He forgot to think before he spoke.
"It wasn't just that you complimented my bow Arnold", said Helga as she gazed at the sunset. "That was the first time anyone ever complimented me".
"Really?"
"Yes Arnold", said Helga as she turned to him, squeezing his hand. "It was the first time anybody really noticed me before. All my parents ever do is focus on Olga, it's always Olga this and Olga that! That's all they ever think about!"
"What about Helga?"
"Oh, Helga, that's right I forgot about her".
Helga laughed nervously again.
"I was born two minutes before, so technically I'm the middle child", she continued. "You know how it works".
"Actually, I kind of wish I did have a brother and sister. I think it would be pretty cool".
"Not if you're overshadowed, it doesn't".
Arnold couldn't help noticing how beautiful she looked with the sunset shinning down on her. And then, he did something he never did before, and kissed her on the cheek.
Both of them blushed as they looked away from one another.
The day just got even better.
"I would really appreciate it if you could make it to my birthday party this Saturday Arnold", said Phoebe as she came to Arnold's desk and gave him a white envelope with the word Invitation on it.
"Yeah, count me in", he said as he took the envelope from her. "Where's it at?"
"I'm having it at Chez Paris", said Pheobe. "It's a French restaurant I've never been to before".
Chez Paris, thought Arnold. Where I met Cecile.
He suddenly had an idea.
"Say Phoebe", he said, "you don't think it would be a problem if I brought a date to your party, would it?"
"Well", said Phoebe thinking, "I guess if it's just one more person it wouldn't hurt. Who were you thinking of bringing?"
"I was thinking of bringing Cecile", said Arnold, "you know, Helga's sister?"
A book dropped on the floor right next to him. Helga picked it up and pretended to be reading it.
"Helga's sister?" said Phoebe confused, "But, wait, isn't she in college?"
"Oh no, not Olga", said Arnold. "I'm talking about her-wait a minute, are you saying you never met Helga's twin before?"
"I'm afraid I haven't Arnold".
"All right!" Helga screamed as she shut the book and turned to Phoebe. "The cat's out of the bag! I have a twin sister! Happy now!"
Everyone in the classroom gasped.
"Helga has a twin sister?!" yelled Harold. "Oh man, I think my head's gonna explode?"
Helga found herself being fired questions from all the other students.
"What's her name?"
"Does she have a unibrow to?"
"How come we never met her before?"
"WILL YOU ALL SHUT UP!" screamed Helga angrily. "Her name's Cecile, no she doesn't have a unibrow, and the reason you people have never met her before is because she goes to a private school for very, very, very, very smart people!"
The bell rang before they could ask her any more questions.
"Better bring your A-Game if you want to bring my sister to Phoebe's party, football head", said Helga as she pushed Arnold out of the way.
Several questions went through Arnold's mind as he picked up the phone in his room.
Why had Helga not told anyone about her twin sister, least of all Phoebe, her best friend? She of all people should have known about Cecile. It wasn't as if Cecile was someone to be ashamed of. She was smart, beautiful, and a very kind and loving person. Arnold wished that she went to P.S. 118 so they could be a couple, but the fact that she went to a private school for smart kids made him like her even more.
A gruff male voice answered the phone on the other line, a football game being played on the TV in the background.
"Hello?"
"Hi, I was wondering if I could talk to Cecile?"
"You've got the wrong number", said the male voice. "There's no one here by that name".
Click.
Arnold starred at the receiver in bewilderment.
"I still can't decide what to wear for my party", said Phoebe, who was sitting next to Helga on the bus on their way to school.
"Can't go wrong with Nancy Spumoni", said Helga.
"Hey Helga?"
Helga turned to find Arnold starring down at her.
"What do you want, geekbait? Can't you see we're having a conversation?"
"I'm sorry", said Arnold shyly. "Um, I called your house last night"-
"What are you doing calling my house, football head?!"
She raised a threatening fist up at him.
"I was calling your sister", said Arnold, taken aback. "But when I did, your dad said there was no one there named Cecile".
Helga withdrew her fist immediately. She began to sweat profusely.
"Oh, um" she was silent for a moment. "That's because…Cecile is not her real name".
"It's not?"
"No, it's uh, Cecil…ara…nam…rana".
That's the strangest name I ever heard, thought Arnold.
"It's a French name so you wouldn't understand it", said Helga. "What did you want to call and talk to her for?"
"Well, I was actually thinking of taking her to Phoebe's party".
Helga was silent for a moment.
"Yes", said Helga, blushing.
"Yes?" asked Arnold.
"I mean, I'm sure she'll say yes", said Helga nervously. "I'll tell her when I get home, but I'm sure she'll be pretty excited".
"I've got all my seating arrangements figured for the party on Saturday", said Phoebe as she and Helga had lunch in the cafeteria. "Of course I'll be at the very front, and then you could sit next to me right on the left"-
Helga spit out her chocolate milk.
She had not thought this through.
"Are you allright, Helga?"
"I'm fine, I'm fine", said Helga wiping her mouth. "It's just, I won't be able to make it your party".
"Why not?"
"Because, I, have…a dentist appointment".
"On a Saturday?"
"It's the only time I have for it, so yeah, I'm sorry".
"But you have to come", said Phoebe sadly. "You're my best friend".
Helga could see the tears welling up in her eyes. She sighed. This was going to take a lot of courage.
"You doing anything after school?" Helga asked.
"No, why?"
"Meet me at your house right after", said Helga. "And make sure you're not followed!"
Phoebe was in the middle of doing her homework when she heard a series of loud bangs on her bedroom door.
Helga rushed in immediately after Phoebe opened it, almost knocking her out of the way. Her best friend was wearing a large coat and hat, which she threw onto the ground as soon as she came in. She looked out the window and immediately shut it, and even went as far as going into the closet to make sure no one was hiding.
If she was going to reveal her biggest, deepest, darkest, secret, the secret she had held onto so dearly for the past five years, she wanted to make sure that Phoebe, and only Phoebe, the only person she trusted in this entire world, would know it.
"Is everything all right, Helga?" Phoebe asked.
"I'm fine, "I'm fine", said Helga, catching her breath.
"You seem kind of worried".
"Worried, what are you talking about?" said Helga as she began sweating.
"I've never seen you like this before".
"That's because I…"
She had thought she was ready to tell her everything, but now that she was there, in Phoebe's room, she found it was going to be a lot harder than she thought.
"Um, Phoebe, remember when I told you and everyone in class that I had a twin sister?"
"I was quite surprised when you did Helga", said Phoebe. "I never knew you had a twin".
"Well", said Helga, gulping, before going on. "The thing is, there is no twin".
Helga looked down when she said it, embarrassed that she had lied to Phoebe, the only person she could trust.
It took a few more hours for Phoebe to get the whole story-how Helga disguised herself as Arnold's pen pal from France, how she lied to him about having a twin when Arnold realized that they both looked exactly the same, and how Helga had to keep pretending to be someone she wasn't and talk about someone that only existed in her imagination.
But none of their conversation was as hard for Helga as for telling Phoebe the reason why she did all this.
"I kind of knew you liked him", said Phoebe after Helga confessed her love for Arnold.
"You did?" asked Helga. How in the world would she know?
"I remember the way you looked at him when he gave you a cookie on the first day of preschool", said Phoebe. "And since then you've been trying to be near him whenever he's around. I've read about this before, I think it's called pulling pigtails".
"Pulling pigtails?"
"It's when you harass someone that you're attracted to"-
"Ok! Ok! I get it!"
Helga laid down on Phoebe's bed, pillow over her face, more worried than she had ever been before.
"What am I going to do?" she said, squeezing the pillow with her crossed arms.
"Well, if you ask me", said Phoebe, "I think you should tell Arnold the truth".
"Are you crazy!?" screamed Helga, who threw the pillow on the floor and sat back up.
"I know for a fact Arnold's a very forgiving person", said Phoebe. "And from what you told me, it sounds like he really likes you".
"He doesn't like me!" said Helga, jumping off the bed and pacing around the room. "He likes Cecile! Arnold would never go for me in a million years!"
"Why would you say that Helga?"
"Because this", said Helga, pointing to herself, "is not the kind of girl Arnold wants. He wants someone smart, funny, and beautiful, someone like Cecile".
"Let me ask you something Helga", said Phoebe. "When you had dinner with Arnold the other night, were you yourself, or were you pretending to be someone you're not?"
"What are you talking about?!" yelled Helga in exasperation. "I already told you, I was pretending to be his pen pal from France!".
"What I'm asking is, when you told Arnold you really liked him, was that you saying it, or someone you were pretending to be saying it?"
Helga finally got what Phoebe was asking.
"Well, if you put it that way", said Helga, calming down quite a bit, "I guess, it was me that told him I liked him".
She sat back on the side of the bed. Her friend joined her.
"It's funny", said Helga, "during our dinner I had to pretend to be this fancy schmancy French girl. But then I decided it was best just to be myself. And you know what he told me? He told me it was the best Valentine's Day he ever had".
She wiped away a tear.
"It was the first time I was ever able to express my true feelings for Arnold", said Helga chocking up. "Better yet, it was the first time I was ever able to express my feelings with anyone. Nobody in my family knows I even exist. If I died tomorrow, nobody would care".
"Don't say that Helga!" cried Phoebe. "I would care! And I'm sure Arnold would to!"
"You really think he would miss me after all the years I bullied him?" asked Helga. "I mean I shoved his face into a bowl of punch right when he was there in my own home!"
"Yeah, I remember that party pretty well", said Phoebe, who giggled a little bit. "Remember when Eugene got locked in the garage?"
"And my dad thought he was a thief and chased him down the street in the Hummer? That was pretty funny".
There was a small silence save for a few cars that passed by.
"You're probably right, Phoebe", said Helga. "Maybe someday I will have to tell Arnold the truth. But the thing is, I'm just not ready yet, and I don't know if I ever will be".
"So does this mean, you're not coming?"
"Oh I'll be there, you can count on that", said Helga as she put a hand on Phoebe's shoulder. "No chance I'm going to miss my best friends 10th birthday party. But Helga G. Pataki's not going to be there".
It was starting to rain by the time Helga came home.
It actually felt very liberating telling her best friend her deepest, darkest secret, no longer carrying it all by herself. It felt like a giant weight had been lifted off her shoulders.
"Olga! Miriam! Come in here!" bellowed Big Bob from the living room.
Helga didn't exist in this house. Only Olga.
"It's Helga, dad", said Helga as she and her mom entered the living room.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah", said Big Bob waving her off. "So anyway, I just talked to my accountant, and it turns out Big Bob's Beepers just had its best year ever!"
"That's great B", said Miriam, though she didn't sound very enthused. She was always like that whenever she made one of her homemade smoothies.
This news didn't really matter to Helga. Having more money wouldn't make her parents pay more attention to her.
"And to celebrate", continued Big Bob, "we're all going to Chez Pierre this Saturday night!"
"This Saturday?!" cried Helga.
Saturday night. The night of Phoebe's party. The party that Arnold is taking Cecile to…
Helga's scream was overshadowed by the sound of lightning. She rushed upstairs and slammed the door shut.
"Huh", said Big Bob as he flipped on the TV. "Must be pretty excited".
Helga's hands were wet and shaking as she punched in her cellphone. No way her parents were going to accidentally overhear this conversation.
"Phoebe! It's me, Helga!" she said when her best friend answered. "Listen, something just came up".
"I really think you should tell Arnold the truth Helga".
"Are you kidding? This plan is brilliant! Nothing could go wrong".
The two girls were standing between Chez Paris and Chez Pierre. Both restaurants looked pretty empty since people didn't really come when the sun was still up.
"So, you remember our plan, right?" asked Helga. "All you got to do is remind me to go back to my parents every five minutes. That way they won't get suspicious".
"But how will you be able to go to the other restaurant without them seeing you?"
Helga saw that her best friend had a point. The entrances to both restaurants were right across from each other. Suddenly she had an idea.
"There must be a back entrance somewhere", she said as she went toward the back of the restaurant, Phoebe following her.
"Aha!" cried Helga as she reached the back of the Chez Pierre. There was a small door with a sign on it that read "employees only". It was clear from looking inside the window that this was where the kitchen was.
There was another door with the exact same words in the back of Chez Paris. Everything seemed to fit perfectly.
"So, don't forget, every five minutes", said Helga.
"Whatever you say Helga", sighed Phoebe.
"Did you move your piece when I was in the bathroom, Kakoshka?"
"What are you talking about? My piece was here the whole time".
Arnold's grandfather Phil, and Oscar, one of the tenets at the boarding house Arnold lived at, were busily playing a game of Monopoly when the doorbell rang.
"Who could be here at this time of day?" cried Phil as he got up from his chair in the living room and went to the front door, Oscar moving up a space as soon as Phil's back was turned.
There was a girl standing on the front porch with long blond hair and a pink and red shirt. She looked oddly familiar.
"Hi, is Arnold here?" asked Helga.
"Aren't you Arnold's little friend, the one with the one eyebrow?" asked Phillip.
"Oh, you're probably thinking of my sister Helga. I'm her twin, Cecile. Is Arnold around?"
"Yeah, he's upstairs".
Cecile felt a bit nervous as she went up the stairs of the boarding house, bypassing Arnold's grandmother, who was doing her best to swat a fly that was in the hallway. It was just a few months ago that she had sneaked into Arnold's bedroom to retrieve a little pink book full of poems detailing her adoring love for the boy with the oval shaped head.
Meanwhile, Arnold was concentrating hard on a computer game in his room, Gerald guiding him.
"Over there! Over there!" shouted Gerald, but Arnold was too late. The words GAME OVER in big red letters flashed on the computer screen.
"My turn", said Gerald excitedly as Arnold got up.
There was a knock on the door.
Arnold opened it to find himself starring at Cecile, looking as beautiful as she always did.
"Cecile!" said Arnold surprised.
"Oh, hi Arnold" said Helga shyly.
"Hey Gerald", said Arnold, turning to his best friend, "could you…"
Gerald got the message.
"Aw, man", said Gerald, sulking as he left Arnold's room.
Arnold's room hadn't changed since she was last here. Yet this time she could actually talk to him face to face.
"How did you know where I live?" asked Arnold.
"Oh", said Helga, who had not prepared herself for this. "Helga told me".
Helga must have a pretty good memory to remember Arnold's 5th birthday party, which was the last and only time Helga G. Pataki had ever been to the boarding house.
The two of them were speechless. Arnold decided to make the first move.
"You want to check out the roof?" he asked.
"Absolutely" said Helga as Arnold took her hand and led her to the ladder that led to a top window.
The sun was beginning to set by the time they got to the roof.
"You must come here every night, huh?" asked Helga.
"As long as I can remember", said Arnold. He couldn't remember ever not living at the boarding house.
Helga wished that she could enjoy this moment forever and not have to break the disappointing news. But she felt it was best just to get it over with.
"Um, Arnold, unfortunately I won't be able to come with you to Phoebe's birthday party".
Arnold turned to her.
"I'll be there at the party", said Helga. "It's just that I won't be able to come with you to the party".
"Why not?"
Again she was unprepared.
"Oh, um, Helga has this date Saturday night".
You idiot! But it was too late now.
"And that's why you can't come with me to the party?"
"Well, you know how girls are", said Helga. "She wants me to help her get ready, but I promise as soon as I'm done I'll totally be there".
"Oh, ok," said Arnold understandingly. "Who is she going out with?"
"Brainy", said Helga, thinking of the first name that popped into her head.
Arnold started laughing.
"What's so funny?" asked Helga.
"Are you serious?" asked Arnold not able to control himself. "Brainy? Helga's been punching him as long as I can remember".
"You saw me punch him?!" yelled Helga surprised.
Arnold looked at her quizzically
"Oh, I meant to ask if you saw HER punch him" she said nervously, hoping she wasn't blowing her cover.
The only times she had ever punched him was when he snuck up on her while she spoke privately about her adoring love for Arnold. Thankfully he never said anything after all these years.
"I hear about it all the time", said Arnold.
"Oh", said Helga breathing a sigh of relief. "Yeah I was a bit surprised to".
"By the way", said Arnold, "Helga told me your real name isn't Cecile".
"Yeah, it's a long French name", said Helga. "My parents went to France just before I was born, so that's why they named me Cec…."
She could not even remember the name she told Arnold.
"It's hard to pronounce even for me", said Helga shrugging it off.
A pigeon had flown right above them, straight towards the sun that was now almost gone. In the distance was the sound of impatient automobiles making their way home after a long day's work.
"I wish you were here during Sally's comet", said Arnold.
Just as Helga was about to respond there was the sudden noise of a piano playing. They turned and saw Arnold's grandmother, sitting at a grand piano up on the roof, singing as her fingers danced gracefully across the keys.
A borrowed love can never last
Arnold held out his hand.
A borrowed love will fill your heart with pain
"May I have this dance?"
A borrowed love is like a storm
The stars were beginning to appear as Arnold and Helga swayed to and fro to the rhythm of the music.
It leaves you standing all alone in the rain
To her sudden surprise Helga found herself being twirled around.
"You're pretty good", she said.
"Thanks, I've had lots of practice".
Fools who make love with bad kisses
His hand was now resting on her hip
Are living on a borrowed love
He was now on his tiptoes, reaching up to kiss her…
"Can I get you something to drink?" said the busboy.
The dreaded night had finally arrived. Helga sat nervously at the table with her parents right outside Chez Pierre, watching as her best friend celebrate her birthday across the street at Chez Paris. But mostly her attention was on Arnold, who was chatting animatedly with Gerald.
"I'll have an Arnold Palmer", said Big Bob, not even bothering to look up from his menu. "And move it on the breadsticks, we don't got all day".
As the owner of his own beeper emporium he was used to giving out orders and expecting his wishes to be fulfilled immediately.
"I'll have what he's having", said Miriam solemnly, who had already had a few drinks before coming over.
Helga was wearing the pink and red-stripped dress she had worn the previous week, when she and Arnold dined together at Chez Paris.
She had brought her purse with her to help her with her disguise. All she needed was the right moment.
As Big Bob kept looking at her menu and Miriam starred lazily into space, Helga decided to take her chance.
"Oops! Silly me!" she cried after she purposefully spilled water all over her shirt.
She jumped out of her chair and ran inside.
It took only a few moments to take her hair down and turn "back" into Cecile. Turning back into Helga would be the harder part.
Once outside the girls bathroom she snuck right past a waiter who was carrying a dinner tray and ducked right into the chef's kitchen, crawling until she came to the back door.
She sprinted towards the back door of the other restaurant, and found herself coming towards the table for Phoebe's party, which in addition to Phoebe, Arnold, and Gerald also included Rhonda, the most stuck up kid in all of P.S. 118.
"I'd say you've made an excellent choice Phoebe", said Rhonda, who had visited even more exquisite dinning establishments in foreign nations.
"Cecile!" cried Arnold happily as he saw her coming. He ran to her, took her by the hand, and led her to the table.
"Everyone, this is Cecile, the girl I was telling you all about".
Helga's heart gave an enormous excited leap.
Arnold was actually talking about me? She thought as she sat down right next to him. She daydreamed about some of the wonderful things he might have said when Rhonda spoke to her.
"Oh my gosh, Cecile! Your dress is amazing!"
This was the first time Rhonda had ever complimented her, or even said anything remotely nice to her. She and Rhonda were in completely different social circles. Rhonda Wellington-Lloyd, of course, was widely considered to be the "Queen B" of the 4th grade at P.S. 118. Helga Pataki, on the other hand, was the school bully whom everyone feared. Phoebe was her only fan.
"Oh, thanks", said Helga. "It's Dino Spumoni, I've had it for a while".
"Where did you get it?" asked Rhonda, eyes wide in wonder. Despite being filthy rich, anything remotely expensive fascinated Rhonda, especially when it came to clothes.
"Hey Cecile", interrupted Arnold, "isn't that your parents?"
Her heart gave a giant leap as she turned to the window. There was Big Bob, munching on breadsticks and talking endlessly about something-probably about how great Big Bob's Beepers was doing-while Miriam was nodding non-energetically.
"Oh, gee, what do you know?" said Helga, her heart pumping madly, sweat flowing down her neck. She felt a huge sigh of relief when the waiter came to take their order, interrupting an awkward moment. It was the same waiter from a week ago, when she and Arnold dined alone.
"Are you ok Cecile?" asked Arnold as the waiter took Phoebe's order first.
"I'm fine, I'm fine", she said.
"Ah, if it isn't mademosille" said the waiter when he came to Helga, who still didn't know what to order.
"Oh, um, do you have anything without cat brains and eggs?"
She did not want a repeat of what happened last week.
The waiter gave a slight laugh and recommended something to Helga, and then turned to Arnold. Before he could ask for anything else, the waiter once again took his menu saying that he was "finished with his order".
"So Cecile", said Gerald, "what's it like having Helga Pataki for a sister?"
"Oh, um, it's ok I guess". She did not prepare for someone at Phoebe's party to ask her this question.
"She never picks on you or bosses you around?" asked Gerald.
"Helga? Don't be silly of course not, we get along all the time".
"Still, it must be pretty embarrassing", said Rhonda.
"What do you mean?" asked Helga, her ears starting to ring.
"Oh come on Cecile!" said Rhonda. "You've known Helga longer than we have. I would die of shame if I had a sister like that".
Noticing the look of anger on Helga's face, Phoebe quickly interrupted.
"Well, I guess it would be a good time to open my gifts", she said nervously.
"Here, open mine first", said Rhonda, pushing a large present towards Phoebe, no doubt something extravagant and expensive to show off her wealth.
As soon as Phoebe said the word "time", Cecile quickly glanced at the clock at the far corner of the room.
Oh my gosh! Could it have really been more than half an hour since she left her parents table? They must be wondering where she was.
"Excuse me", she said, jumping from the table and running toward the ladies room.
Becoming Cecile was simple. Going back to being Helga G. Pataki was the hard part, since it took a few tries to put her long curly hair back into pigtails, while at the same time checking the front door to make sure that nobody came in (least of all snooty Rhonda, who would surely babble to everyone at the table, not to mention every kid at P.S. 118 first thing Monday morning).
Peaking through the bathroom door to make sure they wouldn't see her, Helga dashed to the chef's kitchen, wiping the sweat off her brow, sighing in relief, as the big double doors closed.
"And what, may I ask, are you doing here?"
Her relief came to an abrupt end.
She turned around, heart pounding, and looked up to see the waiter towering above her, a stern look of disapproval on his face.
"Oh!" said Helga as she began to sweat nervously. "I, uh…was, going to the ladies room".
She smiled a great big, huge smile, hoping it would help. It didn't.
"Madam, the ladies room is that a way", he said, pointing beyond the double doors.
"Oh, silly me!" said Helga as she left the Chef's Kitchen.
Criminy! Helga thought to herself as the double doors once again closed behind her. Now I'm going to have to go through the front, without them seeing me.
She glanced at the table. Everyone was laughing at some joke somebody just made, enjoying themselves, with not a care in the world.
The front door the Chez Paris was in eyesight of where Arnold was sitting.
She had no other choice.
Getting on her hands and knees, Helga crawled towards the front door, hoping that nobody at Phoebe's table would drop a quarter, spill something, or have any other reason to look down at the floor.
As soon as she reached the front of the restaurant, she ran through it, running towards her parents at Chez Pierre.
"Man, the line to the bathroom was like a mile long!"
But neither of them cared to look at her. Big Bob went on and on about some golf game he won, while Miriam groggily tried her best to listen, clearly having drunk her second glass.
Meanwhile, back at Chez Paris, Gerald gave Phoebe his gift when something outside the front window caught his eye.
"Hey Arnold", he said nudging his best friend. "Is it me, or is that Helga with her parents at Chez Pierre?"
Arnold looked out the window to.
"It can't be", he said. "Cecile said she was going on a date tonight with Brainy. What's she doing with her parents at Chez Pierre?"
The food finally arrived at the Pataki's table. Big Bob wolfed it all down like he always did, while Miriam was on her third glass of wine.
Helga was also hungry, but she needed to find a way to get back to Chez Paris, back to Arnold.
Finally she thought up a solution.
"Oh gee, this order is all wrong!" she said getting up from the table. "I'm going to go find a waiter".
She rushed back to the ladies room, let her hair down, and Cecile was back.
Knowing that Arnold, Phoebe, and everyone else would see her if she came through the front door, Cecile had no choice but to go through the back where the Chef's Kitchen was, hoping that the waiter wouldn't see her again.
Luckily nobody noticed as she crawled through the chef's kitchen. She panted as she came back to Phoebe's table, catching her breath as she sat right next to Arnold.
"Man the line to the bathroom was like a mile long!" she said, repeating what she told her parents since she couldn't think of anything else to say.
"Hey Cecile", said Arnold. "Didn't you say Helga was going on a date with Brainy tonight?"
"Yeah why?" said Helga as she munched on bread.
"We just saw her across the street at Chez Pierre with her parents".
She spit out the bread that was in her mouth as her heart started pounding faster and faster.
"Oh, um", she said nervously, sweat starting to pour down her face again as everyone at the table looked at her. "She's…on…a…double date…with my parents I mean".
"She's on a double date with her parents?" asked Rhonda.
"Oh, well, Helga wanted to introduce Brainy to my parents, so they all decided to go on a double date at Chez Pierre", she said regaining her confidence.
"That's like the last thing I would have expected Helga to do," said Rhonda as her plate arrived.
"What do you mean?" asked Helga.
"Don't take this the wrong way", said Rhonda, "but I never saw Helga as, you know, dateable".
Helga's fists began to clench.
"She's not very feminine, if you know what I mean", said Rhonda as she began to eat her food.
Before Helga could punch her in the face, her food arrived. She chowed down, not believing how delicious it was.
"Many of our younger customers do not appreciate the cow brains and eggs", said the waiter.
Not again!
"Cow brains and eggs!" she screamed as she rushed to the ladies room, barfing loudly once she reached the toilet.
"Talk about déjà vu" Arnold said to Gerald.
I am never, ever, ever eating French food ever again! Helga thought as she wiped some of the barf off her dress. She came out of the ladies room hoping there wouldn't be any more hiccups for the rest of the evening.
Her heart froze when she saw Big Bob standing right next to Phoebe's table.
"Helga!" he bellowed. "What the heck is going on here?!"
Everyone in the restaurant turned to stare at her, including the waiter, who was in the middle of taking someone's order.
"Oh dad", said Helga, her face blushing with embarrassment, "don't tell me you've mistaken me for Helga again".
She began to laugh nervously.
"What are you talking about?!" asked Big Bob, growing more impatient.
"It's me, Cecile….your daughter", she said, looking at the floor. Her cover was now blown. Cecile Pataki was no more.
"I don't have a daughter named Cecile!" yelled Big Bob.
Arnold turned to him, then looked at the girl standing in the middle of the room. Everything now seemed to click.
"Helga?"
She went towards him.
"Arnold, I"-
"I should have known", he said as he turned his face away from her, a face that she saw was filled with anger.
"You're coming home with us right now young lady!", said Big Bob as he came to the door.
Before leaving with her tyrant of a father, Helga came over the Phoebe, digging into her purse, and handing her a small wrapped present, smaller than any of the other gifts Phoebe got.
"Happy birthday Phoebe", she said softly, barely above a whisper.
A few minutes later when getting into the Lincoln, Helga spotted Arnold walking by himself.
"Arnold!" she yelled as she ran after him. She didn't know what she was going to say, but in this moment she knew she needed to be brave.
"What Helga?!" he shouted as he turned to face her.
"Um, what a crazy night huh?" she said, saying the first thing that popped in her head.
Arnold didn't respond. There was an eerie silence between them.
Finally he spoke.
"You know, even when you pick on me and call me football head, it really bugs me, but I've always thought, deep down, you were a nice sensitive person".
"Why thank you Ar"-
"I was wrong", he said, glaring at her. "You're not nice, and you're not sensitive. In fact you're evil".
This last word struck a blow inside her heart. It shattered into a million little pieces, and she found herself unable to move.
"You're an evil, cruel person that nobody likes", he said, the words like bullets shooting at her.
He turned away, but Helga couldn't move. It was like she couldn't do anything. She wanted to cry, but she couldn't. It was as if her soul had been completely sucked out of her.
"Helga!" shouted Big Bob.
Helga came to her senses and ran towards the Lincoln. It wasn't until they got home, after she was scolded by Big Bob and was grounded for a month, when she was in her room all by herself, that she finally burst into tears.
It wasn't until she got home that Phoebe finally opened her gift from Helga.
It was a small friendship bracelet, with the words P and H on it, along with a card.
"Dear Phoebe", the card read, "please, please, please, please never ever ever show this card to anyone! OK, now that we got that out of the way, I wanted to give you this bracelet to show you how much your friendship means to me. I know it's small, but someone once told me that the most beautiful gift can come in the plainest box. Your friendship is the best gift I could ever have. You are the only person in the world who I can tell my deepest darkest secrets, and you are the only person in the world who sees me for who I really am. With you I don't have to pretend, I can just be myself, and that makes all the difference in the world.
"You have no idea what it felt like when I found someone I could tell about my true feelings for Arnold. It was like a giant weight had been lifted off of me, that I don't have to go through this world alone.
"I hope you have a wonderful birthday Phoebe. You deserve more than you'll ever know. Love, Helga".
"Did you take my slice Kakoshka?!"
"What are you talking about? I didn't take anything".
Phil, Oscar, and the rest of the residents of the Sunset Aims boarding house were sitting around the living room eating pizza and watching a scary movie.
"I can't watch! It is too scary!" cried Mr. Huynh as he covered his eyes.
Arnold was the only one whose eyes were not glued to the TV. He had seen the movie countless times-it was one of his favorites in fact-but his mind was now somewhere else.
Helga G. Pataki had bugged him as long as he could remember, but it wasn't until tonight that he really, truly hated her. She had pretended to be Cecile, pretended to be in love with him, pretended to give him more joy than he had ever felt, no doubt, Arnold thought as everyone jumped when a character on the TV screen screamed in terror, as a way of humiliating him. He thought of her at home, in her room, laughing to herself how she fooled him, how she had pretended to love him and how he fell for it.
But what did it matter if Helga didn't love him? Arnold thought as he left the room, deciding he was going to call it a night. He didn't love Helga. He loved Cecile, but Cecile didn't exist. She was just a figment in his imagination. The whole entire week he spent with her, the night they met in Chez Paris, the moment he kissed her hand, the moment they danced together to his grandmother singing "Borrowed Love" on the rooftop, the moment they kissed, these were all lies, and nothing more.
Arnold didn't even set one foot on the stairwell when the doorbell rang.
"Arnold, get the door!" shouted his grandfather.
Better not be Helga, Arnold thought as he strode through the hallway.
When he opened, there was Phoebe, a look of sympathy on her face. But she also had a look of someone who had to tell him something very important.
"Hey Arnold, can I come in?"
"Yeah, sure", he said without any emotion.
"Um, can we talk in your room perhaps?" Phoebe said as Arnold closed the door. She had noticed Arnold's grandparents and the other residents of the boarding house sitting around the TV. What she was about to tell Arnold was something that she did not want overheard.
"Why, what's up?" Arnold thought. Now he was curious. Why did Phoebe want to talk to him in his room? What was so secretive and so important that it had to be discussed in private?
"Nothing, it's just", said Phoebe, who glanced again at everyone sitting in the living room, their eyes still glued to the screen, "I don't want anyone to overhear us".
They went up the stairs, up the ladder to Arnold's room.
"Sorry about your party", he said as he shut the door.
"Oh, don't worry about it Arnold I had a great time", she said before gathering up the courage to tell him why she had come. "Um, I guess you're pretty mad at Helga right now?"
"You have no idea", he said. "You know, I never thought I would say this, but I now hate her more than she hates me".
"What if I told you that she didn't hate you?", said Phoebe hesitantly. "Quite the opposite, in fact".
"What do you mean?" asked Arnold.
And then she explained everything.
It didn't take very long for Helga to pack up her suitcase. She was going away, where she didn't know, but she needed to get away from here-away from her family, away from Hillwood, but most of all, she needed to get away from Arnold, from the thought of him was just too painful.
She tiptoed down the hall past her parent's bedroom, not bothering to check in on them. It didn't matter to her if Miriam and Big Bob woke up to find their daughter missing. It wouldn't even bother them anyway. After all, as long as they had Olga, they didn't need any other child.
She came out the front door and looked up her bedroom window, thinking it would be the last time she would ever see it.
"Helga?"
It couldn't be!
She turned. He was there, in the flesh, holding a huge boutique of flowers, a look not of anger and hatred on his face, but a look of nervousness.
"What are you doing at my house, football head?"
"I just wanted to apologize", he said stepping closer to her. "I'm sorry for what I said earlier, it was pretty mean".
He handed her the flowers. For a while she just starred at them, running through what just happened in her mind. He wasn't giving these flowers to Cecile. He was giving the flowers to her, Helga G. Pataki, the ugly girl with the unibrow that had tormented him for many years.
She had to be dreaming.
Arnold didn't know what to say either. They both stood in front of each other, looking the other way. It was as if a wall that had existed between them was starting to come down slowly, piece by piece.
"Mind if I sit down?" he finally asked.
"Not at all", she replied.
They both sat on the front steps. There was a full moon out.
"Um, Phoebe told me everything", Arnold finally said hesitantly after what seemed like forever.
Helga jumped at these words, grabbing her suitcase and rushing down the steps. Now she really needed to get out of here.
"Helga, wait!"
He grabbed her arm before she could step onto the sidewalk.
"Let go of me football head!" she shouted as she pulled away from him.
"Where are you going?"
"What does it matter?!" she replied, walking straight ahead without looking back at him. "Besides, it's not like you care or anything!".
"You're wrong, Helga", he said firmly. "I do care. A lot, actually".
She froze, not knowing whether to keep moving or go back to him. Turning around, she saw him walking towards her, with a look of someone who wanted to get something very important off his chest.
"You don't have to pretend anymore, Helga", he said as he came towards her. "You don't have to be afraid".
As he stepped closer towards her, Helga found her heartbeat bating faster and faster.
"You know, if someone told me last week that I would find myself starting to fall in love with Helga Pataki, I would have thought they were nuts".
Helga looked down at the sidewalk.
"You don't love me", she said shyly. "You love Cecile. Loved her, I mean".
"No Helga, it's you", he said as he gently took her hand in his. "I got mad tonight because I thought everything that happened between us was a lie. Being with you this past week has brought me feelings of joy I never thought existed, so when I found that you were pretending the whole time, I thought you were trying to hurt me. But when Phoebe told me why you did what you did, and that the Cecile I knew was in fact the real Helga, the one that she wouldn't show to the world, it was then that I realized, I actually kind of have feelings for you".
"Still, I bet you thought Cecile was a lot more beautiful", said Helga, still refusing to look up at him.
"I never said I didn't think you were beautiful", he said as his face grew very red.
"You think I'm beautiful?" she asked as she finally gathered up the courage to look down at his face, into his eyes. "But then, how come you never asked me out?"
"Cause you were always picking on me all the time", said Arnold laughing. "It wasn't the way you looked I didn't like about you but the way you treated me. I mean, if you acted the way you did when you were pretending to be Cecile, I don't know, I might have considered going out with you".
"But what about the unibrow?" asked Helga, reffering to what she considered her ugliest feature.
"I actually kind of like it", said Arnold. "And your bow to"-
"Because it's pink like my pants".
They both starred into each other's eyes. No other words needed to be said. The wall between them had finally come down, and there was now an unbreakable connection.
"Say, would you maybe like to see a movie?" asked Arnold. "I heard the theatre is having a late night showing of 'Zombie Apocalypse IV"'.
"Oh please, they're making another one?" she asked laughing as she threw the suitcase to the ground and the two started walking together. She knew she would be grounded for another month if Big Bob and Miriam found that she was not in her room, but if they did, it would be well worth it.
They weren't even three feet near the stoplight when Arnold reached out and held Helga's hand, holding it tightly.
She smiled as she crossed the street with him, no longer confused.