One week into the sixth grade and Helga was already making my life miserable.

In fact, the more I thought about it- which was a lot -Helga was making life significantly worse than she ever had before… and I couldn't figure out why.

Well, maybe I didn't want to figure out why, but Gerald seemed to think he knew.

"She's crushin' on you, man," he told me as we sat doing our Current Events homework for the night. "You're just too stubborn to SEEIN' it."

"I am not, Gerald. Helga doesn't… feel that way." I took a breath and managed to cough out, "Anymore."

"Anymore?" Gerald repeated while sitting up and twisting his body to look at me with a raised eyebrow. "What do you MEAN, 'anymore?'"

Shrugging my shoulders as I began to internally panic at what I had just admitted, I repeated, "Not-not anymore. That's all."

Gerald sat and stared at me for a moment as if inspecting my expression for any cracks. Pursing his lips he hummed out, "Mm mm MM," and shook his head. "Spill, my friend."

"Spill?" I played dumb, but Gerald was too smart for me- he knew when I was lying and I was lying BAD.

"You heard me, man. You've got some kind of secret you're hiding up in there… why don't you let a brother know already?" He narrowed his eyes on me and said just above a whisper, "You and Pataki got a secret THING going on or something?"

Instantly my cheeks flushed a bright shade of red though I frowned and shook my head rapidly. "No! No we don't, Gerald. Don't be crazy."

"Hey now- nobody said crazy, alright?" he said while holding his hands up in surrender to my outburst. "I just think that if you got a secret, you should feel comfortable enough around ME- your BEST FRIEND -to TELL me about it, okay?"

I nodded my head while calming myself down, "Ri-right. You're right, Gerald."

"Of course I'm right, now, WHAT'S all this about Helga G. Pataki not liking you anyMORE?"

The next day, we had a plan. Gerald figured that if Helga really DID like me, there was only one way to prove it- by flirting.

The only problem? I'm not very good at it; at least not like Gerald is. Ever since I can remember Gerald has been the ladies man out of the two of us, but as much as I begged and pleaded, he said it wouldn't quite be the same coming from him like it would from me.

Despite my nerves, I walked into PS 118 confidently and (mostly) completely ready to disprove Gerald's theory; that everything Helga had told me was old news and sixth grade had only brought about a more spiteful Helga and that was all there was to it.

"Psst, lover boy," Gerald whispered from the corner of his mouth as we walked in the hallway, "Pataki at two o'clock."

Sure enough, standing by her locker with Phoebe at her side was Helga- wearing a dress I'd never seen her wear before though it bore similarities with the one she'd usually wore. It was a lighter shade of pink and fit her less-boxy than her old dress had. Atop her head among seemingly blonder hair still sat her bow; it's pink brighter than ever.

There was something about Helga… something I couldn't quite put my finger on. But… it almost… MADE me want to compliment her.

So, per Gerald's idea and slightly my own, I walked up to Helga with a smile lining my lips and my heart racing in my chest.

Her eyes shot over to me and narrowed as I approached her. "Arnoldo? What business do YOU have coming over here in MY hallway?" She demanded as if the entire hall had suddenly been gifted to her.

Ignoring her attitude, I instead focused on what Gerald had told me. I shrugged my shoulders and offered her a small smile. "I just thought I'd come over here..." I said slowly before swallowing and spitting out the rest of my sentence, "…and tell you that I think you look nice today."

Her eyes widened slightly and her expression softened. "You-you think I look…nice?" Red slowly filled in her cheeks and I nodded my head.

"Yeah." I nodded in her direction as I shoved my hands deep into the pockets of my jacket. "Your dress. It's-it's new. It looks nice."

She stood dumbfounded before me as Phoebe quickly darted her eyes between us.

"Th-th-thanks…?" Helga sputtered out questioningly and I let out the breath I'd been holding to smile wider.

"You're welcome, Helga. I'll see you in class," I finished before boldly offering her a wink and turning around to follow Gerald down the hall to our classroom.

"Well Gerald," I asked, my body somehow filling with adrenaline that made me feel stronger than I had ten minutes ago. "You think it worked? You think we'll find out if she was telling the truth?"

A loud SLAM of someone falling into a locker echoed behind me and Gerald turned to look over his shoulder with a slight smirk. "Mmmmhm," He hummed with a chuckle, "looks like you got yourself a not-so-secret-admirer, my man. And it's Helga." He shook his head. "Helga G. Pataki."

"Yeah," I repeated while turning over my own shoulder to see Helga being helped up from the ground by Phoebe. A smile overpowered my face and it wasn't long before my cheeks burned from smiling as what our little test had just seemed to reveal.

Maybe a few more tests wouldn't hurt.

Okay, okay, this might be my last little sixth grade ficlet for now. I just couldn't help myself with this idea- which might turn into something bigger, but i wanna focus on my story "The Club" before i go starting any new stories again haha.

Either way, hope you enjoyed and be sure to review! I'll keep this not-completed for now in case inspiration moves me again!

xox

Polka