Chapter 2: Let's Talk

While Arnold was approaching the fountain, he came to find Helga already waiting there. I guess Phoebe was right about her not wanting to stick around her place.

Seeing her standing there impatiently with her hands on her hips, he tapped her on the shoulder from behind.

"Aright Pheebs, let's...ARNOLD!" she exclaimed, not having expected to see him.

"Hey Helga." he blushed, hoping she wouldn't be too upset about everything that had happened that day.

"I mean, what are you doing here football head?!" she scowled, crossing her arms at him.

"I just wanted to make sure you were okay." he said softly.

"Pttss...just peachy. Now move it along. I'm waiting for Pheebs." she scoffed, turning away from him.

"Actually, I also came because I told Phoebe I wanted to talk to you...alone." Arnold said hesitantly.

Helga's eyes widened, while she whipped her head back around to ask "Why? Just so you can have another chance to look over my shoulder headboy?!"

Staring at the ground with guilt, he replied "I'm really sorry about that. Gerald said you were looking at me, so I turned around to see, and…"

"Oh so, Geraldo was spying on me too? Perfect!" she scoffed with her arms still crossed.

"We weren't spying on you Helga. I just…"

"Just what?!" she scowled, placing her hands on her hips, leaning towards his face.

"I just wanted to talk to you." Arnold said defensively, not wanting to be blunt about the real reason he was there.

"Well if you're not here to mess with me, what'd you come to talk about?" she insisted on knowing.

Arnold took a seat on the bench by the fountain. He couldn't just say about taking our relationship to the next level. She would go running in the opposite direction.

Helga was growing impatient with him, but took notice of the sad look forming on his face. She then took a seat beside him and asked "Are YOU okay? Because you look sadder than Pinkboy when he finishes his lunch."

A slight grin formed on his face as he looked over at his secret admirer. She was so complexing. They both knew the truth about one another's feelings. Why did they have to hide it?

"Speaking of lunch, I saw you didn't exactly have the best one made today." Arnold said, hoping she wouldn't take offense to it.

Helga leaned back against the bench with her arms crossed as she huffed "Yeah well, Miriam's no Martha Stewart! Sheesh!"

Placing a hand on her shoulder, Arnold suggested "Why don't you and I go get something to eat?"

Helga glanced down at Arnold's hand still resting on her shoulder. The simple touch of his hand against her made her entire body tense up. "Uhh eat...with you? I mean, I don't need your charity!"

While giving her his half lidded eyes that she always became so easily lost in, he replied "It's not charity Helga. I just want to spend time with you."

Helga gulped at the sound of this, as she began to feel him start to rub her shoulder. "Well I...guess that would be okay. But nothing cheap! Got it!" she scoffed, as the two of them stood up from the bench.

"Whatever you say Helga." he sighed, just happy she was spending time with him.

The two of them then began leaving the park, trying to think of a place that would be affordable on such short notice. Helga wasn't going to go back to her place for money and Arnold didn't have enough money in his pockets for Chez Paris.

"How about we grab a corndog by the docks?" he suggested.

"Pttss...whatever floats your boat football head." Helga scoffed, while doing her best not to swoon at the idea of her beloved wanting to spend the afternoon with her. Not to mention, alone.

Along the way, Arnold thought to himself I'm lucky she didn't freak out when I brought up lunch. Maybe that means she won't be too secretive if I go ahead and ask about our relationship.

"Hey Helga." Arnold asked, while watching her turn her face towards him.

"Yeah football head?"

"I was just wondering…" Before Arnold could finish his thoughts, the two turned their heads to hear…

"AHHH! WHY!"

Arnold's head immediately turned towards the screaming while Helga covered her ears to shout "Crimity! What the heck was that?!"

The two then saw Harold and Big Patty standing across the street with the Jolly Olly Man.

"You can't be out of Mr. Fudgeys! You just can't be!" Harold cried, falling to the ground, leaning against the truck.

Helga rolled her eyes with her hands on her hips after seeing what the commotion was about.

"Harold, get up. Stop crying, it's pathetic." Patty insisted, while holding her vanilla ice cream cone.

Arnold and Helga continued watching them from across the street, until Helga finally said "Oh brother! What a dweeb! The guy already has enough Mr. Fudgeys inside him to last until winter!"

Rolling his eyes, Arnold replied "That's not very nice Helga."

"News flash Arnoldo! The truth hurts!" Helga scowled, pointing a finger in his face.

A smile then formed as Arnold listened to these words. Taking her hand, he said "You're right. It's not always easy to hear...or talk about, is it?"

"Doi! Thanks for mindlessly parroting back that information!" she scowled, not realizing where he was going with this.

"If one of your friends needed to talk about something, would you listen to them?" he asked, anxious to see where this would lead.

"If I felt it would be worth my time, then yes." she scoffed.

"What if you needed to talk about something? Would you tell someone what it was about?" Arnold asked hesitantly, while Helga just turned to cock her brow at him.

Before Arnold could push it any further, they made it to the docks. "I'll go grab us some corn dogs."

"Take your time football head." Helga insisted, while she went to take a seat on the edge of the pier.

Sitting on the edge of the pier, she thought to herself What would make him ask me something like that?

While Helga was pondering this, she didn't notice the person taking a seat beside her.

"Here's your corndog Helga."

"Sheesh football head! Don't scare me like that!" she jumped.

"Sorry. I thought you heard me coming." Arnold replied, not caring about her anger.

After taking the corndog from him, Helga wasted no time getting started on it. Arnold felt terrible thinking about all the lunch periods she had gone without eating anything. He couldn't imagine how messed up her home life must be at that time.

As she was approaching the end of her stick, Helga turned to hear Arnold say "Hey Helga."

"What is it football head?" she replied with a mouthful.

"You know you can talk to me about anything right?" he assured her, while not having touched his corndog.

"What do you think I'm doing right now?" Helga smirked, throwing her stick into the water.

Rolling his eyes at her witty remark, he replied "I mean about your feelings."

Helga's eyes widened at the sound of this, as she quickly whipped her head towards him. "Feelings? What feelings?"

Before responding, Arnold stopped to think a moment about what he had intended to do. He told Gerald he realized if he wanted Helga to open up, he was going to have to be a bit more aggressive. Since the moment he made it to the park however, he had been nothing but sensitive and defensive. He couldn't continue on like that.

"Helga, enough is enough. I know you have feelings for me, I think I made it clear I have feelings for you. It's a little late to hide the fact that your family doesn't take the best care of you. You don't have to put on the tough girl act for me." Arnold said bluntly, surprised he had found the strength to do so.

Helga on the other hand sat there wide-eyed. She wasn't used to such near demanding words coming from her sweet and sensitive beloved.

After seeing that was all he had, she crossed her arms at him "So what if you know all that stuff about me? Big deal."

"It is a big deal." Arnold insisted, almost glaring at her.

"Pttss...why is that?" she smirked.

Now that Arnold knew approaching her level of aggressiveness was the only chance of reaching her, he wasn't thinking about controlling his patience. That being said, he didn't think twice about his next words.

"Because if you're going to be my girlfriend, you have to be willing to share those types of things with me!"

Dead silence occured between the two of them. Helga's eyes grew wide yet again as she dropped her arms. Arnold began to look away, while rubbing his neck. Eventually, the only sound being heard was the rushing water below them.

"Uhhh I'm sorry. I mean, I don't know if you want that or not. I just assumed…" Arnold began, having a hard time looking at Helga.

Did he just call me his girlfriend? Arnold called ME his GIRLFRIEND! Oh my beloved! First a kiss and now this! You're always able to see the good in people...even those who possess as little light as I do!

"Helga? Are you okay?" he asked, seeing the dazed look on her face. After waving a hand in front of her, she eventually snapped out of her fantasy land.

"Huh? Oh I'm fine." she insisted, hoping to hide her rosy cheeks.

Arnold set aside his corndog, no longer feeling hungry. Seeing the vulnerable state she appeared to be in, he wrapped his arm around her and said "I didn't mean to scare you like that. I just couldn't continue on with this act if we really do care about each other."

Leaning forward, looking down at the water, she sighed "Yeah, yeah, I hear ya."

"So, does that mean you want to be my girlfriend?" Arnold asked anxiously, while feeling Helga's shoulders tense.

"Oh what do you think football head." she scoffed.

Knowing he wasn't going to get a much better response than that, Arnold turned her face towards his. Looking into her sapphire eyes he said "You know you can always tell me anything, Helga."

Arnold could feel her shaking in his arms. The sound of these words made her eyes widen. She didn't like going to anyone just to be pitied. While she was willing to vent her feelings to Phoebe every now and then, that didn't mean she was proud of it.

"Arnold, I..I.." Before she could finish her thoughts, Arnold's soft lips met her quivering ones. He was filled with content about having finally gotten her to open up to him. As he sat there holding her close, feeling her soft face in his hands, mixed feelings were going through Helga's mind…

What am I going to do? This means everyone is going to see us together at school! Heck someone maybe watching us right now! Oh my beloved, why must the price for our happiness be so steep?

After letting go of each other's lips, Arnold could see the petrified look that remained on Helga's face. Picking up her hand, he asked "Is telling everyone about us really that big of a deal?"

Helga gripped him tighter than she meant to, while closing her eyes to reply "It's just...It's..just…"

"What? Tell me?" Arnold insisted, leaning closer.

"You don't have a reputation to protect like I do! No one will make fun of you for being with me! They expect YOU to be nice! If they see me walking into school acting like Little Miss Perfect, we'll never hear the end of it!" Helga scowled, jumping to her feet.

Standing up beside her, Arnold held her hand as he replied "Helga, I won't let anyone treat you that way."

Taking her arm back to cross them, Helga scoffed "Pttss..what can YOU do?"

A wide smile formed on Arnold's face. The whole reason Helga didn't want this secret exposed was her fear of being publicly humiliated. What if there was a way to level the playing field? A way to make sure all their friends had the same chance of being equally humiliated.

"Just leave everything to me." Arnold said eagerly, taking back her hand. Helga didn't know what he could have possibly meant by that. It had been a long day for the two of them however. For the time being, she was just going to take his word for it.