Greetings Readers! Here is a new HelgaxArnold story. It'll be short, but I hope you like it!
Disclaimer: I do not own Hey Arnold! or any of its characters. Please don't rub it in. :)
The first day of their senior year was the next day, but the world of academia was the last thing on either of the two teens' minds as they lay on the blanket on the boarding house roof, looking up at the stars. Helga yawned and stretched her arms above her head before sitting up and grinning down at her boyfriend. He gazed up at her and smirked. "Enjoying the view, Football Head?" She asked.
Arnold grinned at her as he sat up and put an arm across her shoulders. "Of course," he arched an eyebrow as he pulled her closer, "and the stars weren't half-bad, either."
Helga rolled her eyes, but smiled as she leaned in towards him. "Such a charmer," she whispered. Arnold's eyes lit up as he realized what she was about to do and he too began to lean in. Helga's eyes slid closed and Arnold's became half-lidded as the two moved closer together, their lips mere centimeters apart –
"Hey, short man!" Grandpa bellowed from the stairwell after unceremoniously banging the door open. "I got a quick question for ya."
The two jumped apart, Helga hiding her face by staring into the picnic basket that Arnold had brought up with them and Arnold turned bright red. "Grandpa!"
"Slim!" Arnold's grandma's voice was heard echoing up the stairwell, "Leave the kids alone – they're on a date!"
The two teenagers turned, if possible, an even brighter red and Grandpa whined, "But Pookie…"
"Slim! Get down here!"
"Fine. I'll ask you later, short man." And then Grandpa exited, closing the door much more quietly behind him.
Arnold smiled apologetically as he looked over at Helga. "Sorry about that."
She grinned back, fighting back her blush, and handed him the basket. "That's okay, Arnold, it's not your fault. Sandwich?"
"Don't mind if I do." Arnold reached into the basket and pulled out a sandwich. "What would you like? A sandwich? Fruit?"
"Just a sandwich for now, thanks." She accepted the wrapped sandwich and leaned against his shoulder as she unwrapped it. She swallowed her bite and sighed blissfully. "This has been the best summer of my life."
Arnold gently pressed her head onto his shoulder and began running his fingers through her hair, which she was wearing loosely down her back. "Mine, too."
It had been a big summer for the both of them – they had confessed their feelings for each other, after being set up by their friends, and had begun dating. The two had been nearly inseparable all summer, and both were disappointed that the start of school would mean a limit on their free time together. That made them all the more determined to enjoy the rest of their time together, a task that was increasingly difficult as the boarders kept coming up to wish the two luck on their final year of high school. At least, that was what they said. The two were suspicious that the others were just trying to catch them kissing.
They enjoyed the silence and the feel of each other as they leaned onto their shoulders and ate their dinner. Arnold turned and brushed her lips across her forehead. "Do we have any more dessert, Helga?"
Helga peeked inside the basket, and rubbed the cookie crumbs from her lips in an apologetic fashion. "Sorry, I just ate the last cookie."
"Hmm," he smirked as he tilted her chin up towards his face, "then you owe me some dessert." Realization dawned on her somewhat perplexed face as she reached up to let him touch her lips with his. She wound her arms around Arnold's neck and he pulled her closer against him. They were beginning to lose self-consciousness in the bliss of their only uninterrupted kiss of the evening when…
"Hey there, man!" Gerald's voice boomed into the night as he opened the door and strode onto the roof, grinning as he approached the two. "Ready for tomorrow?"
His girlfriend Phoebe followed him at a brisk clip, grimacing apologetically at their two friends who looked both embarrassed and affronted. Arnold looked merely irritated, but Phoebe could see the thunderclouds building in her best friend's eyes, and she began backing up to get out of her friend's path.
"Tall Hair Boy…" Helga muttered menacingly, as she rose to her feet, "you better start running. Now."
Gerald simply grinned at Arnold and sent a wink at his girlfriend before turning and sprinting down the stairwell, Helga in hot pursuit. "I'm going to kill you, Gerald!"
Arnold got up and chuckled after the two runners as Phoebe shook her head beside him. "I'm sorry about that, Arnold. I thought you two would want to be alone, but you know Gerald…"
He chuckled again, hugging the girl he looked upon as a sister as well as a friend, "It's okay, Phoebe. They'll be back soon enough."
"If Helga doesn't kill him first." Phoebe sighed.
···
"I can't believe that he managed to get two blocks away before I caught him, Phebes," Helga said as she pulled out her books for her morning classes and closed her locker door, "maybe he should try for the track team instead of the baseball team this year."
Phoebe grinned at her. "Thanks for not killing him, by the way, when you caught him."
Helga shrugged, "We were getting interrupted all night, anyway. Besides," she added, "it's thanks to him and you that we got together in the first place. Well, you and Gerald and – "
"Hey, girls." A new voice said, and both girls turned to face the newcomer. Both smiled.
"Hey Brainy! How was your vacation?" Phoebe asked.
"It was fine," Brainy replied, "and how goes the dating, Helga?"
Not too long ago, it would have been unusual to see Brainy talking that much in public, let alone having a conversation with Helga that lasted longer than ten seconds or didn't end with a forceful backhand to his face. But their relationship had changed from borderline stalker/stalked interactions to a genuine friendship their freshman year when Brainy had come to her aid. An upperclassman had begun harassing her and tried to steal her backpack; normally, she would have been able to take the idiot down without breaking a sweat, but in the process of grabbing her backpack he'd ripped her ribbon into several pieces. Brainy, who'd been standing nearby as usual, had seen her state of dull shock at the ripping of the ribbon and had sprung to her defense. Not being a fighter himself, he was quickly pummeled to the ground but gave her enough time to strike back at the bully. And just like that, they'd become friends.
After a while of hanging out with Phoebe and Helga, Brainy had become more confident – holding himself higher, speaking out more often, and in general becoming much more self-assured. The once-silent wheezer had become one of the more popular, outgoing members of their old gang of friends, and was fun to be around – even if he did have a slight obsession with puns. And, he'd been the third friend who'd helped get Arnold and Helga together.
"It goes fine," Helga replied, "and how about yours?"
"Well," Brainy began, a faint red dusting the bridge of his nose.
"Ooh!" Phoebe clapped excitedly, "Our Brainy's got a crush. Details, details!"
The warning bell rang, and Brainy heaved a quick sigh of relief. "I'll tell you later. Come on, we only have ten minutes to get to class – and I don't want to get detention on the very first day."
"You guys go ahead," Helga waved them on, "Arnold said he'd walk me to my first class – I'll see you in a few minutes."
"Okay," Brainy shrugged, and then began walking down the hall, "but hurry okay? This teacher's no Mr. Simmons."
···
Arnold was rushing through the hallway, mentally groaning at whoever had set up the locker assignments that year – he was about as far from Helga's locker in the seniors' hallway as he possibly could be. He was in such a hurry to get to her so they could make it to class on time that he paid no attention to where he was going. So when a girl ran out into the middle of the hallway, also not paying attention to where she was going, the collision was inevitable.
"Oof!" Arnold grunted as he fell backwards from the crash. Rubbing his sore back, he looked up to see a very flustered girl he'd never met before scrambling around to pick up the papers she'd sent flying everywhere. Being himself, he immediately helped pick the papers up and handed them over to her. "There you are. You okay?"
"Oh!" She flushed an ever brighter red. "I'm so sorry – I didn't mean to run into you. It's just I'm new here, and I don't know where I'm going, and I'm –"
"It's okay." He said reassuringly, "First days are always weird, especially when everything's new." He got up and held a hand out to her. "I'm Arnold."
The brown-haired girl took his hand and pulled herself up. "Brooke."
"Nice to meet you, Brooke. Anything I can help you with?"
"Well," Brooke got a better look at the guy and was briefly distracted by how cute he was, "If you could tell me where I could find my homeroom, I'd be really grateful…"
"No problem." He smiled, and looked at the schedule she held out to him. "Oh, that's easy. Go to the second hallway and make a left. It'll be the first classroom on the right." A bell rang above their heads, and Arnold glanced at his watch before groaning. "I'm sorry, but I have to run – we only have ten minutes before class." He smiled apologetically, "But I should see you around probably – and if you need any help just ask."
"Okay," Brooke said shyly. "Bye!"
Arnold waved goodbye and then tore off down the hallway to where a blond girl was impatiently tapping her foot, only to smile broadly when he kissed her on the cheek.
"You're late, Football Head."
But Brooke barely registered any of that as she floated off to her next class, too busy thinking about the dreamy boy she had just met…
A/N: Uh-oh. New girl's got a thing for Arnold. But that shouldn't bother Helga at ALL, right? (*cough*) I hope you enjoyed this chapter.
I have a question: If you've read any of my other stories, you'll notice that I put BrainyxLila in a lot of them. Should this story include any of that? Vote and let me know what you think!
Thanks for reading, and please review! They make me happy (and speed up updates!)