Disclaimer: I do not own Hey Arnold! This story is based on the TV show rather than the film so, just for the purpose of this story, pretend the film never happened.

It was a Friday night. Arnold was back in town for his University holidays. He had planned on spending the evening with his old best friend, Gerald, but he had ditched him for a date. Arnold was now twenty years old. He no longer lived with his grandparents; he lived on campus in a dorm room. He hadn't seen most of his old friends since middle school, having attended a selective high school only for very smart kids. When he had returned for school holidays he spent most of his time studying or playing the occasional video game with Gerald, at least he did, until Gerald went and got himself a girlfriend.

So Arnold walked the streets of his childhood alone. He wondered whether any of his other old friends would be back for the holidays, it seemed unlikely. Sid was married with a baby on the way and living on Long Island. Eugene had moved to North Dakota, with his parents, years ago and no one had heard from him since, Stinky was working as a bus driver in New York, Rhonda had all kinds of problems and last he heard she was dancing in a night club and Phoebe was at Harvard. There was only one person who he had no idea about and that was Helga. Helga's parents had shipped her off to boarding school and her letters home had been few and far between, and only ever to Phoebe.

Arnold crossed the street and bought a burger from the kiosk for his dinner. He continued to walk and eat, kicking a can along as he went and dribbling sweet chilli sauce down his chin. He turned the corner and approached the restaurant where he knew Gerald and his girlfriend were probably staring into each other's eyes lovingly when all he had to stare at was a half-eaten burger and the sidewalk.

It was then that he saw her.

She had changed. Oh god she had changed. The pig tails were gone, the pink dress was gone, the white trainers were gone, the pink bow was gone, the mono-brow was gone and in their place was a sad looking young lady with long, straight blond hair, red high heels, a black cocktail dress and a lot of eye makeup.

"Helga?"

She was sitting on the stairs typing on her mobile phone. She looked up at him.

"Football head?"

Her face was impossible to read, was she pleased to see him? Or had he just interrupted some kind of crises situation. In his experience girls didn't often sit, by themselves, on the stairs, outside restaurants, at night time, unless something was wrong.

"The very same," he said, standing awkwardly beside her.

"Wow, long time," she said, dropping the phone into her clutch.

"Yeah," he said, moving from one foot to the other, "so, what have you been up to then?"

"Oh, you know," she said, "not much, you?"

"Yeah same, you know, Uni and all that."

"Oh right, you're doing law or something right?"

"Yeah, pre-law"

"Awesome."

Arnold sat down on the stair next to Helga.

"So, are you waiting for someone then?" He said.

"No, I umm, I was supposed to be getting dinner with someone but they cancelled, again."

"Want the rest of my burger?"

"Sure," she said, taking it from him and devouring the remainder in less than a minute. She laughed, wiping her face with the back of her hand, "sorry, I was pretty hungry."

Arnold smiled; it was nice to know she hadn't completely changed.

"So what are you doing tonight anyway?" she asked.

"Hanging out with you of course," he said, standing up and offering her his hand, "come on, let's get a drink."

"She gave him her hand, "you read my mind," she said.

Minutes later they were sitting at a bar with a glass of beer each and nothing but a bowl of peanuts between them.

"So tell me honestly Arnold," said Helga, taking a huge sip from her beer and hiding a burp behind her hand, "how's life?"

"I'm not going to lie, it's pretty shit," he said, taking an even larger sip from his beer.

"Oh, I know right? I was supposed to be on a date tonight with my so-called boyfriend and once again he has texted at the last minute to let me know that he had a better offer, probably getting drunk with his stupid friends as we speak."

"Ouch," said Arnold, signalling the barman for a refill, "well, if you think that's sad, I came back to town for one weekend to see my best friend and he'd rather get laid."

"Typical," said Helga as her phone buzzed on the counter top, she looked at it for half a second and then threw it across the room, hitting the dartboard with a perfect bullseye, and nearly missing an old man's nose, "bastard."

"Most guys are," said Arnold, "but you'll meet the right one someday Helga."

"Ah, but you see, maybe I have met him, maybe I met him years and years ago!"

Arnold finished his second glass.

"Drink up," he said, signally the bartender again, "round three is on its way."

"You didn't know that did you football head?"

"Know what?"

"That I spent a good chunk of my life in love with you."

Helga hiccupped and Arnold choked on the beer he was drinking, spilling a lot down his shirt front.

"I know, seems pretty stupid now hey? But there you go."

"You were in love with me?"

"Well, I don't think love is quite the right word, it was more of an obsession," said Helga, finishing her third drink.

"But you hated me, you made fun of me all the time you…"

"All part of the guise Arnold! I couldn't ever tell you so I had to make you think I hated you so you would never suspect my true feelings!"

She was laughing now and quite unable to stop, until she snorted, then they both laughed for a good eight and half minutes.

"Helga Pataki was in love with me! That's it, I've heard it all! Can you imagine? What were you thinking?!"

"Well, I wasn't thinking, I was in love! You know what I used to do? I used to carry a picture of you around in a little love heart picture frame and I wrote you poetry…"

"Oh stop, I can't handle anymore," said Arnold, he was laughing so hard now that he had to hold onto the bench for support.

"It's not that funny," said Helga, suddenly very serious, "I loved you, and it tortured me every single day of my life."

Arnold started to laugh even harder until Helga stood up, stormed across the room to retrieve her phone and stomped out the door, but not before yelling, "you men are all the bloody same!"

Arnold stopped laughing, he realised that perhaps he hadn't been exactly tactful so he paid the barman their huge bill and followed Helga outside.