AN: So there's some swearing in this story, just as a warning. It's Helga Pataki as a teenager; I just don't think it would be realistic otherwise.
"...What?" said Helga. She knew perfectly well what Phoebe had said, but her brain wasn't working properly.
"Arnold. Called by." The look of sympathy in her eyes was almost frightening.
Helga's legs carried her to the bed and deposited her onto it. "What? Why! How is he here! What does he want!"
Phoebe met her eyes steadily. "He wanted to invite us to his house tonight. He says... He says he's back for good."
What? That couldn't be true... A vortex opened at Helga's core, sucking away confidence, sanity, and the last two years without him. "No," she said quietly. "Phoebe, no! What am I going to do!" she begged.
She looked pained. "I don't know... You could try, Helga, to maintain the attitude you've had in his absence. You've really grown and come out of your shell. Arnold doesn't have to change everything."
"But he will! He will! He always does! You remember what it was like, Phoebe."
"I do."
"I can't... I'm so happy he's back! I've dreamt about this, wrote him so many letters I never sent." She wrote one every week, in fact, but she wasn't about to share that with Phoebe. She had done a great job pretending to be sane these last few years. "But I'm so scared..."
Memories of their relationship swirled in her head. The fights, the passion, the happiness and utter despair.
When she'd finally gotten Arnold, it had been nothing like she'd imagined in her silly girlish dreams. Oh, sometimes it was. Sometimes it was so much better. But... She was still her. And he wasn't perfect, either. Such a storm they had created between them, when they were so young. What would it be like now they were almost grown up? Would it be better, now they had matured? Or would this be the end? The true end?
She remembered their last break up. The one that stuck. The one that, she was pretty sure, made him decide to leave the fucking continent.
"I can't do this anymore, Helga," Arnold said, his voice thick and hoarse. He sat at his desk with his back to her, his head in his hands.
"Oh, here we go again!"
"I mean it. She means nothing to me! And neither did Lila, or Rhonda, or whoever."
"Well what am I supposed to think, Arnoldo? Every week, someone new has your attention, and you forget I exist!"
"I'm sorry I have friends, Helga," he said scathingly.
She stood as if struck. He turned to glance at her. "Ohh, fuck you!" she spat, turning to grab her coat and leave.
He was up from his chair. "Helga, I'm sorry."
"Sorry about what? Sorry that you're dating such a hopeless charity case with no friends? The last thing I need is your pity!"
"No. I'm sorry." He had grasped both of her arms to prevent her from leaving, and suddenly had the sort of humble calmness that only guilt brought him. With her, at least. Humble and calm was the face he always wore with everyone else.
She exhaled in anger, wanting to storm out, but also wanting to kiss him and hear him say he'd never leave her. What he said was the opposite.
"Helga. I meant what I said. I can't do this anymore. I love you so much, but... I don't understand why this isn't working. Maybe we need some time apart. Or maybe...we aren't really meant for each other."
Helga felt the core of herself tear at those words. Some vital part of her was bleeding. This was different to all the other fights and 'break-ups'. She could tell he'd been thinking about this. Thinking about leaving her. She felt like she was in a nightmare she would surely awake from. Nothing this painful could be real.
Arnold took a deep, shaky breath, as if his own words had hurt him. "I'm sorry," he said again. "I'm so sorry."
That had been the second-last time she'd seen him. The last time had been a week later, on the 28th of December. He had shown up on her doorstep, told her he was leaving the next day, and pulled her into a conflicted kiss. A kiss goodbye. Helga had been too distraught at the time to tell him to shove it up his ass.
AN: This interpretation of Arnold and Helga's previous relationship comes from Craig Bartlett's comments (he's the creator of HA), who said that Arnold and Helga would go out in their early teens but have a tempestuous relationship, and finally break up before Arnold leaves for San Lorenzo and the planned series 'The Patakis' takes place.