"So do you think that, possibly in the future, Gerald would see me in the way that I see him?" Phoebe asks me.
"Phoeb's. I will tell him for you if you want to know that bad." I say through gritted teeth. The little 'thing' they have going on is really irking me to no end. Don't get me wrong, I think that they would be great together. The thing that gets under my skin is how everyone else seems to turn a blind eye to it.
"Now Helga" I can hear the nervous quiver in her voice, "you wouldn't do that. Remember our agreement?"
Phoebe and I were having a sleepover at her house since my parents went out to a business banquet. Right now, I was commenting on the movie we had just watched.
"I mean seriously Phoeb's! How to people find this junk romantic?"
"I find it rather emotionally deterring as a classic movie has always been." She argues back, dabbing her moist eyes with some tissues.
"I don't see how. I mean, if Rose had just moved her fat ass over than-"
"Helga!"
"I'm just sayin'." I shrug. "It could've ended happier. There was plenty of room on that safety raft, he didn't need to drown. And the band! Don't even get me started on the band!" I babble on.
"Oh Helga." Phoebe says shaking her head. "It's amazing how a hopeless romantic like yourself can actually not like an all-time classic romance tragedy that is Titanic." Then she turns to me and asks, "Isn't there anything you liked about it? Anything at all?"
"Well," I have to seriously think because that band messed me up! Who cares about the music that plays while the ship goes down? "I did like how even though eh was poor, she still preferred him over the guy she was intended to marry," I say, "although that gives her no right to spit in his face. That was just plain rude, nasty, and disrespectful."
"Well I think it was the right thing to do. "she defends. I don't know what's got her so riled up, I mean she's never like this at any of the other sleepovers we've had. There must've been some reason for inviting me unexpectedly for a sleepover.
"Alright Phoebe, spill it. Why did you invite me to see one of the sappiest films in human history?" I ask, placing my hands on my hips for emphasis.
"W-hat do you mean?" she stutters.
"You know what I mean." I retort, "What's got you so jumpy all of a sudden?"
"Well…" she trailed off.
"Well… what?"
I…"
"Is someone messing with you?" I ask. "Is it that skunk Aileen?! Because I thought we had a 'discussion' about this already!" By now I was scowling with two clenched fists while swinging my arms back and forth and pouncing on the balls of my feet. Aileen was this extremely mean, bonefied skank who had her and her crew of witches treat Phoebe badly. They knocked down her books, called her names, vandalized her locker, all of the petty stuff. They even spread a crude rumor about
Phoebe and Curly… let's just say by then I had new faces for my therapeutic punching dummies. Phoebe came crying to me about how bad they are to her, explaining how they did this stuff for no reason at all She asked me what I was going to do, and I told her to be just a little stronger until my plan kicks in. On the stroke of 10:35pm on October 31, exactly two days after Phoebe confessed, they decided to show up at her house, all five girls with a carton of eggs. Before they could even had the chance to open the carton, I bounded through the door and the battle was on. Eggs were thrown carelessly throughout the yard, screams were heard, cracks echoed throughout the air and eventually all five girls were beaten down and lying on the grass. It was pretty easy considering their leader had the strength of a newborn. The police came Phoebe and I fessed up (my exact words)"
"Officer, these five young females trespassed onto Hyerdahl property and vandalized the area as you see. It was dork out and we are the only ones home, so to protect ourselves I had to fight each of them off. I'm sorry if we disturbed anyone."
Ever since, they have walked at least five arms length away from us at all times. Turned out, she had a crush on Gerald and wanted to scare her away. Too bad.
"N-No Helga! She's left me alone since your… speech."
"Then what is it Phoebe?" I said jokingly
"B-because…m-my father decided t-to move us c-closer to the f-family I'm afraid I-Im moving?" Man she is bad at lying, but if she thinks ill believe it, I'll give her my best. So I drop my strong front and have a blank look on my face.
Ever since the fourth grade play and with all of the pranks I play on some of the class, I've been practicing my acting skills in front of people. If I can trick principle Warts out of giving me detention, I might just be able to fool Phoebe.
"What?" I say, making sure my voice was gentle and soft with maybe a hint of astonishment. I see her eyes grow wide and I have to resist the great urge to smirk.
"Your moving?"
"Umm.."
"This is terrible!" I exclaim, moving my hand sin the conspicuous(overdramatic) manner. "How could your parents decide to move at such a crucial time in our lives? We'll be starting middle school soon and I can't handle that on my own. I don't want you to go Phoebe!" I plead. Then I give her 'the look'. The only other time I have ever used this look, the look of utter sadness and hurt was when I asked her not to say anything to her parents or anyone about my secret once she found out about it. I heard her gasp at the look. "You are my best and only friend Phoebe."
Right now she's trembling in herself. I feel guilty for having to use this on her in order to get her to spill, but sometimes you need to give people like her a little push.
"I won't let them take you from me!" I say and she snaps her head on me once more. "I know it sounds selfish, but I need you here with me throughout adolescence." Then I grab her trembling hand and make a beeline for the door. "I know! We can convince your parents to let you stay!"
"Helga wait!" she squeaks and lets go of my hand. For just a second, I let myself smirk before getting back into character and turning around to face her.
"Yes dear, honest Phoebe?"
"I-I…." she mumbles with her head down.
"You what?" I ask. Here it comes….
"I'm not moving!" she shouts before running to me and giving me a big hug. "I was just embarrassed to tell you the real reasoning as to why I called you here tonight! I'm sorry for worrying you!"
"Phoeb's, calm down. I knew you were lying the whole time." I said bluntly. Her head shot towards me so fast, I though she would've had some serious whiplash.
"You did?" she questioned astonished.
"Yeah. Stuttering doesn't help your case. "
"Then why'd you follow along?" She asked irritated, which is actually happening a little frequently recently. "To teach you how much lying can hurt. I felt guilty having to lead you on like that to get you to tell me." I said. "Do you fear my reaction?" She put her head down in shame.
"I'm so sorry Helga. It won't happen again." She said with a reassuring nod.
"Great.." I replied with a smile before it turned into a smirk. "Now what is it you wanted to tell me?"
"I-I may have…" again with the stuttering.
"You may have to skip a grade?" I guess
"No, I-"
"Have a tumor?!" waiting for her to get mad.
"No, I-"
An acceptance letter to a col-" I say before I get cut off by her.
"I have a crush on Gerald! There I said it!" she yells (or at least yelling for Phoebe) before closing her mouth with her hands while I laughed.
"Is that it? I've known that for years now!" I laugh before calming down once more.
"So your not mad?" She asks hesitantly
"Of course not! Sure me and old Tall Hair Boy aren't two peas in a pod but I can tolerate 'em." I say in Reba's, Phoebe's mom from Kentucky, accent, making her giggle at my impression. "Yup, we'll tell him two weeks after school starts."
"WHAT?!" I jump so high I almost hit her ceiling fan. That is the loudest I have ever heard her yell. So loud in fact that we can hear someone coming up the stairs this moment.
"Is everything alright in here?" Reba asks behind the door.
"We're fine Reba!" I answer back because Phoebe's still in shock.
"Well alright. I'll call you when the cookies are done!" Then we heard her leave.
"Helga," Phoebe starts shakily, "please say you were joking."
"Well why not? It's obvious he likes you." I retort, but it's just not getting to her.
"No Helga, you can't! You…you…" she said, clutching her shaking head and walking back and forth beside me until she suddenly stopped and looked me straight in the eye. "You have to promise me you won't tell."
I won't lie. This frantic side of Phoebe is scaring me a bit, but of course I show it or admit it out loud. " Phoebe, I-"
"Promise me or…I'll tell Arnold about your love of him!" She says frantically. At this both of our eyes go wide, she has never threatened me at that. Could she really do such a thing, knowing that it would kill me of embarrassment if my secret got out? I look in her eyes and shudder at her seriousness.
"A-Alright, calm down now Phoebe." I retreat, "Think of what you're doing now."
"I'm already keeping your love a secret, all I ask is that you keep mine." She pleaded. I stay silent for a while thinking how she could think of such a thing. As I kept thinking, I realized it was only fair.
"Phoeb's if it means this much to you, I won't tell anyone." I said.
"Promise?"
"Promise."
"Of course I remember, Phoebe. I'm just saying that it's obvious that he-" I was cut off by the sight at the table across the cafeteria. Gerald and Arnold were sitting at the table, talking, until a brown haired girl came up to him. We don't know what she's saying, but whatever it was made him smile and nod his head. The girl smiled back and nodded her head before going back to her table and celebrating her victory with her friends.
Phoebe got up and walked out of the cafeteria invisible form everyone's eyes, and I slipped away with her. "Phoebe!" I called out as she ran inside of the girl's restroom. A few lingering girls came out while I entered. There I found her clutching her knees to her protruding chest underneath one of the sinks. "Phoebe, it'll be alright." I tried to soothe.
"I knew he didn't like me like that! I knew he would never see me like that!" she cried. I sat down, albeit uncomfortably, next to her and wrapped her fetal form into a welcoming hug. She muffled her face into my shoulder as she continued crying. During her soft sobbing, I heard more foreign sniffles emanating from one of the room's corners. I shook Phoebe to get her attention from my wet shoulder and collarbone. "Huh?" she sniffled and I pointed to the back of the last stall. We helped each other up and followed the noise. At the sound of our footsteps the crying ceased, but we still traced it to the darkest corner of the bathroom.
In the corner was a young girl, curled up in a tight fetal position. Her tan arms were feebly protecting her black beanie atop her head, her black skinny jeans underneath a ripped purple t-shirt over what looked like a black camisole.
"Please don't hurt me!" she whimpered. "I swore I'd leave him alone, so stop hurting me already!"
"I-It's alright," Phoebe stuttered over her own sniffles. "We wo-won't bring you any harm."
"Yeah, " I jump in "no need to fear old Phoebe here, and people just straight don't like me but I don't care."
The girl looked up at us and shocked us with what we saw. She had to be one of the most beautiful girls in the school- scratch that- the town. Her face was just as tan as the rest of her, but in a creamy sort of way. Sure she had some acne here and there, but otherwise it was flawless. She moved her arms lower on her head to reveal smooth, sleek, short jet-black hair. The styled rectangular glasses with light purple rims framed the very thing that shocked us: her eyes. A deep, dark violet her eyes where, but that only made her look all the more unique.
"Here, let us help you up" Phoebe said as she offered the girl her hand. She accepted it and stood up, standing right in between Phoebe and I's height.
"Thanks." She said and wiped away her tears. "I'm sorry you had to see me like that."
"It's alright. I was in here too." Phoebe conforted.
"Phoeb's, you got a little something." I said, motioning to my moist cheeks. She wiped away her tears before turning back to this new girl.
"So, are you new here?" Phoebe asked.
"No."
"Okay… them how come we've never heard of you?" I asked.
"No one really knows about me." She said quietly.
"Well do you have any friends?"
"Helga!" Phoebe scolded.
"What? I'm just curious."
"So you're the famous Helga everyone is afraid of." The girl said in astonishment with wide eyes.
"Yeah, what about it?
"Oh nothing." She said quickly at me defensive tone. "But to answer your question, no. " We stayed quiet for a long time. I noticed that she kept playing with and moving her hands like she's washing them and she's a little jumpy. Although she sounds animated, she seems pretty quiet. Suddenly, we heard the bell ring and the hallway already filling up with voices.
"I have to go now." She said and nearly jetted out of the bathroom.
"Wait! We never got your name!" Phoebe said as she opened the door. She stopped and stiffened before shaking her head down and leaving anyway. Who does that?
"Hey! She asked you a-" I yelled and was about to stomp over to the door until a hand stopped me.
"Let her go Helga, it's alright. I have a feeling, she just needs to warm up to us." She said, staring longingly at the door.
Once we packed up our cold lunches and threw them away, we went our separate paths. I entered my math class just before the bell rang and sat in my seat in the middle left side of the room. The teacher, Mr. Richard s, than entered the room and began to teach.
"Alright class. Take out last nights homework after you do the daily worm-up."
While everyone else did the daily warm up, I thought about my mission. Taking put a piece of paper, I wrote a message on the front:
Meet me on the corner of Vine Street after school.
and on the front:
Wrong side stupid!
Balling it up, I get ready for the delivery. Almost every Tuesday, Amon and Jazzier start a paper ball fight behind the teacher's back or when he leaves the room and forgets to ask one of the closer teachers to watch over us. It's about time, and I can see their ammo already made and lined up in their desks, so I take out a Sharpe marker and write 'Hey Arnold' on the ball.
The second he leaves the hallway, the battle begins. All the boys (excluding Arnold) and even some of the girls (Nadine had a strong throw) begin pummeling the opposing side of the rom with paper balls. I get up and throw mine to Arnold, who just looks at it in mild interest. I sit down and watch him look around the room before sneaking it into his folder pocket.
"Success!"
The rest of the day bore on without a hitch. Mr. Richards came back to find the floor nice a clean, us knowing that the last time he found out about the class' 'escapades' earned us a three day in-lunch detention. Science ended and everyone rode the bus home. Yadda yadda yadda…
I meet the football head where I said I would and wait in an alleyway for him to turn the corner.
"Hello?" I hear and before he knows anything, I snatch him into the alleyway. "HEY!"
"Shut up," I harshly whispered. "Do you want people to know you're here?!"
"Sorry Helga, but I'm meeting someone in a little while." He says and gets up, but I pull him down.
"Idiot, I am the one who sent you the message!"
"Oh." He stated, blushing in embarrassment. "So what is it you want to talk about."
"It's about something…that I think only you can help me with." I see his eyes widen at my answer but lets me continue anyway. "It's about a dream."
"Oh. Well what was the dream about?"
"Hold on, I'm getting there." I snap. I don't want to tell him all of it but I really can't take another chance or else that might be it. You know what they say about how when you die in your dreams that you die in real life, and I'm not ready yet! There are so many things I haven't done so many things-Alright Helga ole girl, calm down.
"You know Helga, I'm really glad you feel comfortable enough to come to me for some advice. Especially on something as personal as dreams." He looks at me and smiled warmly.
"Don't get sappy on me Football Head. All I want is some suggestions." I say simply, although inside I feel quiet proud.
"Well, what did Phoebe say when you told her?" he asked. I bi my lip and looked away, kinda ashamed that I didn't tell my best friend. In the corner of my eye I can see that surprised look on his face. "You didn't tell Phoebe?"
"Well I would have but I don't want to trouble her with this. She has enough things to worry about." He stays silent for a while, as if thinking about something. "Maybe he doesn't want to know. "If you don't want to know that's fine, I mean-"
"NO!" he shouts.
"I understand-" I say, not even hiding the fact that I'm sad before he interrupts me (what's up with people interrupting me?)
"I mean, yes. I do want to know."
