'Mmm, smells like Arnold...' A slowly awakening Helga snuggled her pillow even closer.
'Waitaminute!' Suddenly her eyes were wide open.
'Blue wall.' She slowly turned onto her back... 'Skylight.' And turned over to her right side: 'Football-headed alarm clock.'
„Oh boy."
Operation: Helga
Chapter 1:
I mustn't run away
„Morning, Helga." Looking like a deer in headlights, Helga watched Arnold just enter the room, 'His room.' walk over to his couch and pick up the blanket and pillow lying there. „Phoebe should be here soon."
„Uh... Huh?" The blond girl blinked uncomprehendingly.
Arnold gave her a look she couldn't quite place. „You... don't remember yesterday afternoon, do you?"
„No...?" 'Great, Helga. Always formulate your answer as a question. Just brilliant!' She scoffed. „I mean... No, I don't." Her brow furrowed. „Last thing I remember is-" All colour draining from her face, Helga quickly turned to face the wall again. 'You dying!' she finished silently, trying to fight back the tears.
„Well, anyway." Arnold's voice pulled her out of this frightening train of thought. „You were suddenly standing on our roof." 'And hugged me.' he tacked on silently. „And then you kind of collapsed." 'After crying yourself to sleep.' he again added mentally. „So, since you arrived here in your pajamas, I called your best friend Phoebe and asked her to bring some of your clothes over."
„Oh." Helga sat up and then spoke in a totally blank tone of voice: „Thanks, Arnold." Then her defensive side kicked in a little and she added: „I-I mean-"
„'Whatever floats your boat, Football Head.'" He gave her a wry grin. „I figured as much." And with that he exited his room, the linens under his arms.
Helga didn't know if to laugh, cry or squeal, she was feeling so many different emotions at the moment. Finally settling for a swoon, she let herself fall back flat against Arnold's bed. 'Arnold's bed...' Quickly coming out of her love-drunk state, though, a pensive look settled onto her features. 'But how did I get h-' Memories from the day before flooding her again, she blushed a dark crimson. 'I... I didn't. Did I? And...' she bit her lower lip. 'Why didn't he tell me?' She quickly shook her head and smiled, his question about the last afternoon coming to her mind again. 'Always the gentleman...' She crossed her arms behind her head and looked up at the skylight. „Well, nothing to do but wait!"
And indeed, twenty minutes later there was a knock on the door and Phoebe poked her head into the room. „Hi, Helga." she said timidly. „Are you... okay?"
„Oh, hi, Pheebs." Helga looked up from the board. „Yeah, well, at least I didn't sleepwalk here." She then moved a piece and chuckled. „Stalemate again. Ha! I might not be able to best you at this, Football Head, but I'm not gonna let you win this again!"
„Oh, come on, Helga!" complained a laughing Arnold. „How do you keep doing that?"
„I just do." Helga smirked. Then her expression softened quite a bit. „Could you... give us a minute?"
„Oh, yeah. Sure! Just tell me when you need me." Arnold stood up and started for the door.
„Oh, and Arnold?"
„Yes, Helga?" He stopped and turned around briefly.
„Thanks." Helga smiled sincerely.
„You're welcome." Arnold smiled right back, then turned back around and left.
„Um..." Phoebe approached her friend cautiously. „What-?"
„Oh, Pheebs, you wouldn't believe the half of it."
„Well, would you mind telling me anyway?"
Helga smiled. „Of course not." She motioned to the couch. „To tell the truth, I think I need your advice on some of those things."
„Oh... Okay." Phoebe sat down, looking as bashful as ever.
„...Yeah, and so then I woke up in Arnold's bed and he told me that he called you." Helga, now fully clothed and sporting her usual pigtails, shrugged her shoulders, but then blushed. „And he totally omitted me practically passing out in his arms."
„Wow, Helga, I..." Phoebe took off her glasses and polished them with the hem of her sweater. „I'd say this was quite an adventure."
„Which one?" Helga gave her a sardonic smile.
Phoebe giggled, but then cleared her throat, pushing her glasses up her nose again. „So..." she asked curiously, „And what did you want my advice on?"
The blonde beside her sighed in defeat. „Well, isn't it obvious? That..." She cringed, „dream... what does it mean?"
„Oh Helga." The black-haired girl smiled warmly at her. „I think you already know what it means; and what you should do." She emphasized this last thing quite a bit.
„B-But I-I can't!" Helga blurted out in a near-panic.
„Helga..."
„NO, Phoebe! I just can't! What if he-" No, she didn't dare finish the sentence, let alone the thought.
Now it was Phoebe's turn to sigh. „Helga, your subconscious is trying to tell you that..." She took a breath, held it, and let it out, „if you don't tell Arnold now, you might never get the courage - or worse yet, the chance. Do you want that? Or is telling and then asking for a free pass to forget it all you want?" She studied her friend's features intently.
All the implications processing with her, a quite pale Helga stared off into space for a while. The she opened her mouth and said in a dull voice: „Well, I guess it's now or never, then."
„I'm afraid so." the Japanese-American girl said. „But Helga..." She looked her shyly in the eye. „I couldn't help but notice your last reaction; have you had similar dreams before?"
Her gaze snapping up and straight ahead, her best friend swallowed hard. „Um... no?" 'Oh, great. Now she won't scrutinize you any further.' She sighed. „Maybe I... kind of did?" she offered.
„Then how come you didn't collapse in Arnold's arms any of those times?" Phoebe raised a curious eyebrow.
„Two things. Firstly, he's usually already in bed when I get here. And secondly: I hadn't been sleeping for two whole days, so I wasn't exactly in the right state of mind to stop climbing the fire escape when I saw him on the roof. Well, anyway..." She let out a breath, putting on a weak grin. „It can't be helped?"
„No, Helga, it would seem that it can't." Her best friend looked up shyly. „Well, since this is a private matter between you and you-know-who, I'll better be going." She stood up and started for the door.
„Oh, Phoebe?"
„I know: 'This whole thing never happened.'" Phoebe grinned. „Forgetti-"
„Actually..." Helga interrupted her, „I'm pretty sure this conversation did happen and maybe will happen again in the future. But anyway..." She shook her head a little to clear it. „I wanted to say 'Thank you', Phoebe."
A warm smile came to her best friend's face. „Dooitashimashite." With that, she left the room.
KNOCK KNOCK
„Helga, can I come in?"
„Gosh, I don't know Head Boy - can you?" Helga rolled her eyes and gave a playful grin. „What do you think?"
„R-right. Sorry..." Arnold opened the door and shuffled in. „Just didn't want to walk in on you changi-"
Helga scoffed. „Oh, please."
„Well, you are a girl. And..." He blushed and dug his foot into the carpet. „You're quite p-p-pr-pretty."
„Huh?" The blond girl gave him an incredulous look. 'Lapse of taste much?' She quickly started smiling a little nervously, though, and motioned for Arnold to take a seat. „M-Maybe we should talk."
Arnold sat down at his desk and turned to face her. „About what?"
„So dense..." Helga shook her head amusedly. Trying to harden her resolve, she then closed her eyes and took a few deep, calming breaths. „I th-think we should talk about this whole F-FTi thing."
Seeing how nervous she was, Arnold quickly forgot his own embarrassment and opted for a quick joke to lighten the mood: „I thought this thing never happened?" But instead of the half-smile coming to her lips... 'These perfect lips... Whoa, where did that come from?' he suddenly saw her turn white as the wall. „Helga?"
„Uh, r-right, right." Just... Just a coincidence. Calm down, Helga, old girl.' She took a breath and then managed a small smile. „Well, I for one am certain it did happen, but thanks for the free pass yesterday." Helga closed her eyes briefly and took another shuddery breath, then plowed on: „I love you, Arnold. That's how it is and that's how it's been for almost seven years." She blushed and averted her eyes.
„S-seven years!?" squeaked Arnold, totally in shock at this new development.
„Well, yeah." came Helga's quite matter of fact statement. „At least that's how far back I remember." She broke into a grin. „Although I do remember something about a sandbox. But that's only a picture, nothing more." She sighed.
„That's... long." Arnold, still trying to grasp all that plus what happened on the FTi rooftop, felt overwhelmed to say the least.
„Look..." Helga crossed her arms over her chest, though she was still smiling. „I know this is a lot to take in and I suppose you need time to think about it." She smirked. „I'm not Lila, I can wait."
„Oh ha ha, very funny." The football-headed boy was grinning, too, knowing now that the Sawyer girl had only been some random crush. Then a pensive look replaced the grin. „But yeah, I will need time to think about all that."
„Thought so." Helga leaned back. „Maybe you could talk to Geraldo about it." she suggested.
„No way!" came Arnold's panicked response. „He's still giving me a hard time about Lila. I can't give him any more ammun-"
„Listen..." Helga silenced him by raising her hand. „He's your best friend, and he's my best friend's boyfriend. He's bound to at least suspect something."
„Right." He still didn't look sold on the concept. „But..."
„Hey, he's your best friend." The blonde girl slapped her knees and stood up. „But let me assure you: he will find out, even if you don't tell him. Whether you risk it or just simply tell him is up to you." She then stretched a little. „Well, I suppose I've already exploited your hospitality enough as it is, my altruistic little love. Oh, but..." She turned to him again, surprisingly unfazed at his sudden blush. 'Heh, at least he doesn't seem to hate me.' „Listen, uh... I'll try to be a bit nicer to you in public, but still... Don't expect me to suddenly drop the whole act or something." Her expression turned apologetic and now it was her turn to dig a foot into the floor. „I'm just learning to handle you of all people knowing my secret; I don't know how much more I could take right now."
„It's alright." Arnold gave her a warm smile. „I practically expected no departure from your 'act' come monday, but thanks."
„Thanks, Arnold." Her smile coming back, Helga nodded. „Well, I better leave you to your thoughts now." She grinned and gave him a wink. „Don't wanna knock you out with one of my spitballs because my confession kept you from going to sleep."
„Right." Arnold grinned now, too. „Bye, Helga."
„See ya, Football Head." With those parting words, she left.
Having stood up at her departure, Arnold all but collapsed on his couch as soon as the door closed. 'She called me love.' His mind was in turmoil. If she loved him, why hadn't he ever noticed? Was he really that dense? Had he been in denial? And if so, why? 'I mean, she is a friend.' But did he like her that way? And anyway: Could he like tough-as-nails Helga G. Pataki the same way she liked him? Granted, she could be sweet at times. 'So sweet...' He felt a goofy grin form on his face, but he just didn't care. Maybe... Maybe he did feel something for her. He sighed. „Boy, girls are complicated."
„Thinkin' 'bout Lila again?"
„Gerald!" Arnold nearly jumped out of his skin. „Wh-... When did you get here? Aren't you a little early?"
„What are you talking about?" The tall-haired boy gave his best friend a look. „It's quarter past twelve. The game starts in half an hour."
„Twelve?" The other boy's jaw dropped. 'I've been lying here for two whole hours?'
„Yeah, twelve." Gerald got a certain gleam in his eyes and crossed his arms. „So... Wanna tell me what this was about?"
„Oh, um..." Arnold nervously scratched the back of his head. „Nothing?"
Gerald gave him a look that said it all. „Yeah, right." Deciding then that there was no time for the razzing he could possibly give Arnold, he gestured with his head for the door. „Come on, we still need to buy snacks."
„Oh, uh, yeah." Not knowing how he got off the hook, Arnold decided to just go with it. „Well, let's go then."
Up on the roof, Helga (Hey, old habits die hard!) slapped a hand to her face. „Lead balloon." was all she said.
Approximately two hours earlier...
Closing the door to Arnold's attic room behind her, Helga let out the biggest swoon ever. 'He doesn't hate me! I told him the truth and he doesn't hate me!' She practically danced down the steps and into the hallway. 'Oh Arno-'
„Oh, hi, young lady."
„Hi, Mister Hyunh!" Not realizing her mistake, our madly grinning blond heroine picked up her pace into a full-blown run down the second flight of stairs and out the door, down Vine Street and three more blocks, up her own stoop, into the house and up the stairway to her room, where she finally collapsed onto her bed, grabbed her pillow close and squealed into it.
„Oh, Arnold!" She sighed in delight. „You perfect little creature. You don't hate plain old me. Even if you decided you didn't love me, my darling, I could still die now and not regre-" She stopped cold, tears welling up in her eyes. 'No! Don't think about it! It was just a stupid dream!' Willing the tears away, Helga looked for something to occupy her mind with. Her eyes fell on her latest pink book, and an idea bloomed. 'Maybe I should...' Deciding that if she was telling Arnold her secret she should bloody tell him everything, the ten-year-old grabbed her ring binder block and her purple pen from the nightstand and started writing, filling page for page with confessions about hats, Cheese Festivals, parrots, dentists, even fake boyfriends (two times!) and certain school plays or Babewatch shootings.
„Helga! Lunch will be ready soon!" came Miriam's voice from downstairs.
„Great, mom! I'll be down in, uh... a few!" Helga sighed. 'Hey, she did stop drinking all those 'smoothies', after all. Can't hurt to be nice to her.' „I just gotta... run an errand."
„Okay!"
Carefully ripping out the letter she had just written, Helga then grabbed a few other things from her desk and left the room.
Back on her way to the boarding house, she was slowly getting second thoughts. 'Come on, Helga, you can do this.' „I can't." 'Yes, you can.' „What if he laughs at me?" 'He won't. Don't be so paranoid.' „I can't just give it to him." 'Then sneak into his room and place it on his desk or something.' „...Yeah, that'll do." Set on her course of action, a grin started forming on her lips.
Arriving on the Sunset Arms rooftop a few minutes later, Helga raised part of her brow. „Did he even move since I left? Crimeny, this'll take forever!" Just as she was turning to go and maybe come back later...
„Gerald!"
Intrigued, she turned back to face the skylight. Down in his room, Arnold was obviously surprised to see his best friend and... frantically waving his arms in front of himself. „Head Boy, just tell him..." Frustration started to settle in. „Hell, for all I know Tall Hair Boy could have figured it out this past Valentine's Day." She blushed at the reminder of that evening, but quickly started scowling at her love's spazzing down below her. „For Pete's sake, Football Head, stop digging this hole and come clean!" It was all she could do to keep herself from screaming this last frustrated sentence.
Finally Arnold, looking surprised, 'So he's let him off the hook, huh?' followed Gerald out of the room. Helga slapped a hand to her face. „Lead balloon." She sighed and proceeded to open the skylight pane over her beloved's bed.
Author's Notes:
UPDATE: Oh, for the love of... I shoulda known the spellcheck not finding a thing was too good to be true.
So, that's all for now. Don't know when I'll get to writing the next chapter, but I hope it's no longer than a week or two.
Regarding the timeline, there's two more things to say. First: This chapter takes place on March 21st, 1998 (a saturday). For convenience I assumed that the school was closed down the week before the bulldozers started to roll. And I am assuming Helga's birthday to be March 26th, just like Francesca's (only that Helga's three years younger than her VA XD).
And second: since there are lots of paradoxes timeline-wise popping up in every other episode (Arnold acting intrigued by Helga in one, but then in the next he's annoyed and in 'Married' he's even absolutely horrified at the idea of her marrying him; and let's not forget Gerald practically swooping in to save Helga just as Cécile asks a stumped Arnold what is going on, because come on, Arnold was already in the clear! And he did just keep watching when Helga chewed him out only one minute earlier) I've decided to see them out of order and just go with what feels natural.
Ja mata,
らん