A/N: Hi peoples! Welcome to my first official fanfic! If you are reading this that means that I finished the first chapter. Woohoo! Yay me! Of course, I'll be excited if I actually finish it! I couldn't finish my first fic but this one is a lot shorter so there's a better chance of me completing it! Anyways, this fanfic is part of a little series I came up with called "What if…fics" haha. It won't be an actual series, well not really. It's more so a series in my own mind. Haha. Anyways, my idea for these "What if…" stories is actually what a lot of other fanfiction writers did. But anyways, I'm going to take some of the HA! episodes and write them as if I'm answering my own question: "What if blah blah blah happened?" You get the idea. Sometimes I'll be writing a change I thought of that would take place within the episode and other times I'll be writing about a "behind the scenes" idea lol.

This particular fanfic started out as a one-shot but I decided to drag it out, mainly because I will only be able to do a little bit at a time and so breaking it down will be easier for me! My first story might be a little weird to some people but I have had this idea for a while and really wanted to write it! This is my creation of the aftermath of the second half of the 4th episode in season 3 – "Helga vs. Big Patty". I won't divulge all the details now but basically Arnold goes to check on Helga after Patty supposedly "beat her up" even though he knows that it was all a ploy that Helga went along with so Patty could uphold her bully reputation, because let's be honest Helga knows a thing or 2 about trying to maintain that! Now when I thought of this, I wondered why I would think of Arnold doing such a thing and then it hit me: "Maybe he has a small crush on Helga". Now don't call me out and say I don't know what I'm talking about because it could happen, especially in this particular season, which I explain during this story but I will say that the timing is also right. Even though this is before FTi, this is also before "Arnold & Lila", which didn't happen until the 13th episode of the same season. Look peoples, these kids may be mature and stuff for their age but they are still kids! They're going to have crushes and then change their minds, except for Helga but she has her reasons which I will not go into because that can take a while! Anyways, sorry for this long tirade! Hope you enjoy! :D

UPDATE: I'm so sorry I forgot..."HEY ARNOLD!" IS NOT MINE BECAUSE I'M NOT CRAIG BARTLETT, VIACOM, NICKELODEON, OR ANYBODY ELSE FOR THAT MATTER BUT MYSELF!

After the Fight

Chapter 1: At War with His Thoughts

'Man, what a day!' Arnold pondered thoughtfully to himself as he was lying on his bed with both of his arms resting comfortably behind his football-shaped head.

'First, I can't believe I got Helga to apologize to Patty!' He then chuckled lightly to himself as that thought came into his mind, but then it quickly went away as an eye roll suddenly appeared.

'Nah, it's really not that much of a surprise. I know she's a nice person. She just doesn't want to show it to anybody,' a sigh soon followed that thought, because Arnold knew why Helga was so guarded.

'She's that way so she won't get hurt. It's bad enough that her family doesn't care, which probably hurts her every day so she must have figured that acting so tough will keep everyone at school from hurting her too,'. This thought brought on another sigh. To Arnold, that idea made perfect sense. It actually worked quite well for Helga but the plan had one huge flaw.

Arnold clamped his eyes shut as the next thought threatened to come into his mind. He pushed it back for a little while, at least a few weeks now, but this time it came out without warning.

'She's also shutting out those who care about her in the process…like me,' As soon as that thought escaped, Arnold's eyes flew open, widening like dinner plates. He then shook his head a little and shrugged his shoulders, in realization that until he let himself trail off like that he was thinking mostly about Phoebe, Helga's best friend and how she was always so rude to the small and studious girl. But even if Arnold didn't finish that thought like he did, he knew that that was only half of the truth. He knew he cared about her too. He sighed yet again when he actually admitted it.

'Yeah, but what good does that do? She doesn't really care. And I won't know unless she opens up,' He had to stop thinking about this. 'What good would it do anyways?' He was beginning to sound more hopeless and he didn't like it.

Once again, Arnold brought his daydreams to a halt and redirected his thoughts back to the day's events. He had to keep doing that if he was ever going to continue thinking about the bright side of things. After all, it was much better alternative compared to letting his negative thoughts take over, in which he would just be in a constant state of depression and he definitely did not want that to happen!

'And then Patty was still going to beat her up…her apology probably was half-hearted at the most. Why can't she ever be herself? Ugg…I'm getting off topic again…Even if I didn't like her, I would have still convinced Patty that the fact that she was still planning on beating Helga up was wrong,'

Arnold then thought about the alleged "fight" and shook his head slightly as a small grin appeared on his face. 'And when Patty dragged Helga into the gym like that, I thought that was it for Helga. I thought Patty didn't even listen to me…but then that wink she gave me afterwards was what made me realize that it was all an act. Looking back, I wonder what Patty did to get all those sound effects that created the illusion that she was beating Helga up. It was all pretty convincing! Especially when Helga limped outside while clutching her gut and groaning like she did. She was actually a pretty good actress!' he ended that thought with a dreamy sigh and then stopped himself.

'I have to stop doing that! Why can't I see that maybe she's not that good as I think she is deep dow-' Arnold tried to finish that thought but he couldn't. It would be a lie and he knew it. At that moment, Arnold wondered if there was someone out there who was an even bigger basket case than him right now. 'Probably not,' he thought with another sigh.

A/N: Well, chapter 1 is done! Stay tuned for chapter 2, which I'm going to be honest it will take a little while! You probably guessed that chapter 2 will feature Helga's thoughts and that means I got to summon my lovesick monologue skills, which I'm not even sure if I have any! But stay tuned. I'll get this done as soon as I can!