The Pink Book Predicament
Hey peeps! Thanks for all the reviews for my prologue, sorry this chapter took so long to come out. I do promise I'll try my hardest to update faster from here on in. :)
-xxSer
1
Unnerved
"You don't take crap from anybody. Over the years, you've remained, consistently, the stoic, unfeeling stone of a girl turned into a woman. The fact that no one seems to have shaken you..I respect that..I respect you."
Helga stared unblinking, and unmoving at the carpet of her room while Rhonda droned on about the positives of her personality, trying desperately to not put too much value into it. Why was she here again? Oh right..She was taking applications for a new best friend.
Nadine's family, finally caving to the financial pressures of living in Hillwood, were eventually forced to vacate to a place with more manageable rent. Naturally this wasn't, nor ever would be a problem for Rhonda, or Helga for that matter either.
But now the pretty popular princess was left inherently alone, with other teens too intimidated to bask in her presence, so she had to give herself the daunting task of finding a new lackey; She set her sights on Helga.
At first, the blond told her to piss off, that she could see what Rhonda was doing, how lost she was without Nadine, and how the likes of her made her skin crawl. But with Helga's own demons closing in, the constant loneliness given her inattentive family, and Phoebe's immersion into her AP classes, she was sad to say that she was on the same end of the spectrum as her enemy.
That was around the end of 8th grade. For the duration of the summer to follow, the two spent lazy summer afternoons at Slaucen's, or the mall, actually getting to know each other. While never 100 percent okay with it, Helga would even dare to say that having another friend who seemingly understood her, at points, was nice.
The walls were beginning to crack…
So fast forward to that night; They were in Helga's room, and Rhonda was pouring her heart out, genuinely, even if she had the tone of a pretentious politician trying to win a debate.
But the truth was, she did respect her. And when her speech was over, and she turned to face the girl sitting on her bed, hands on her hips, those cold dark eyes glowered down at her, expecting her audience to ooh and ahh at her honesty, her rare, truthful compliments.
"Well? Aren't you going to say something?" Rhonda barked, no longer accepting the silence which she got in response.
Helga trailed her finger lazily over the cover of her diary, it had entries in it of this new found friendship, including her decision that she was going to reveal the secret that had been haunting her for years.
"I like Arnold"
It was a simple statement, a seemingly out of place response to Rhonda's declaration. The the truth was, the declaration came in addition to inquiries about why she was so withdrawn now versus when they were younger, "when she was an absolute bitch to everyone.." So truthfully, Helga's statement made sense, and Rhonda absorbed it with a stunned, silent blink of her eyes.
"Really?"
Helga scowled, and shot her a glare that told her she wasn't going to repeat it, but that was reiteration enough for Rhonda, who crossed her arms over her chest and then looked to the corner lost in thought.
"So just go tell him. Were not in 4th grade anymore" Rhonda shrugged, and Helga was slightly surprised at the lack of mockery that should've followed. But then again, like the other girl just pointed out: they weren't kids anymore..
Still..
Helga sighed and closed her eyes, taking in a moment of silence before the story just came spilling out of her mouth. Word for word the events of that summer night all those years ago, when Scheck had come to buy the neighborhood so he could tear it down to put in a mall..
She relayed every single detail right from her role in the whole thing, to finally admitting her feelings after Arnold discovered she was "Deep Voice". He had backed her into a corner really, and there was no other way out then to fight through it..So she did.
The result was a seemingly horrifically stunned Arnold, and the agreement afterwards that it was all just "Heat of the moment"
Rhonda listened to the tale attentively, a fact which Helga noted, and was actually grateful for. In addition, the fact that she wasn't mocking or laughing as Helga initially thought she would, filled the girl with more confidence about opening up. It felt better, like a massive boulder was falling off her shoulders. Helga moved to her window to look out as the sun dipped behind the horizon, and staring out of the window at the peaceful quiet of her neighborhood filled her with a sense of peace.
Though it was at that peaceful moment, lost in the tranquility, she didn't notice Rhonda move over to her bed, just to take up the diary which she then stuffed into her purse still slung over her shoulder.
The two conversed a while longer after that, Helga made Rhonda take the oath that if she told anyone this secret, she would beat her within an inch of her life, let her heal, and then beat her again, and Rhonda obliged sounding confident, assured.
"But you really should tell him." She still stated, as a matter of factly. Helga 'tch'd'
"Never. I already know how he feels." Came Helga's bitter retort, and she flopped on her bed, face buried into her pillow, defeated. Rhonda took this as her cue to get going.
"Well either way, tomorrow starts a whole new year, in a whole new school. Just think of the range of endless possibilities" She crooned, arms stretched out in positively dramatic splendor. Another trait Helga knew she needed to get used to.
When all she got for her sentiment was a muffled, "Get out" Rhonda hmphed, turned her nose up, and started at the door. But the gears were already turning. At that stage of their friendship, Rhonda deemed Helga lost without her, and she knew if Helga was going to get anywhere with that boy, it was going to be with her help. Rhonda ran her closed fist up and down the strap of her designer purse strung over her shoulder and snickered to herself as she strutted out.
-oOo-
Helga didn't find her book, and she kicked herself for passing out early after Rhonda left; Maybe then she could've realized it was missing and came up with some way to get out of school to find it.
Instead, scowling, she stormed out, without breakfast ( no one made it, nor made sure she was up early enough to make it ) fist balled, and strings of obscenities flowing like water, quietly, under her breath as she boarded the bus.
Where did I put it? Crimeny, how can I be so DUMB?
She passed Arnold, who coincidentally was watching her out of the corner of his eye. As she approached, he quickly maneuvered the book to the seat between his side and the window so that it was out of sight. Helga never noticed this.
Well I never take it outside, so it's just GOT to be somewhere in my room. .. Helga old girl you're going to give yourself a stroke.
She slumped in a seat in the back, and banged her head against the chair again and again in utter defeat, not bothering to look up when Phoebe sat down besides her.
"Ohayo gozaimasu, Helga chan" The girl chimed cheerily, but Helga visibly winced.
"No Japanese today Pheebs, it's been a long day already" came her sullen response.
"Ohh..English then.." She replied, nodding and regarding her friend with concern. "What happened?"
"I can't find my journal." Helga's eyes were half lidded, her voice monotone. She fixed her attention to a dull point on the brown bus seat in front of her.
"Oh my.." Phoebe knew the secrets held within those two pink walls, and just how carefully she guarded them "But you don't take it outside, so it's probably just misplaced in your room somewhere, so no worries.."
Helga looked unconvinced, even if she just had the identical thought two minutes ago, but before she could even bother commenting, they arrived at school, so she scooped up her stuff and ignoring her friend, stalked step by slow, troubled step following Arnold off the bus.
Phoebe hopped after her, but stopped to watch when she noticed the most hateful of glares cross her best friend's previously emotionless face.
Helga's Attention had been drawn to Arnold, and to "little miss perfect" as she bounced up to him, and threw her arms around his neck. She hadn't changed much, besides become head over heels in love with the boy. The thought made Helga's stomach churn, and when the girl planted a big kiss to the boy's lips, Helga scoffed, and stormed forward, pushing past the couple, and bumping the boy as she moved.
Arnold barely even so much as uttered a protest, but he did watch the girl curiously, attention averted from his own girlfriend, as Helga took the steps, two at a time, and angrily busted through the front doors. He made a mental note of her actions, before offering that feigned happiness back to Lila.
The scene had not gone unnoticed by Phoebe nor Rhonda, who stood idly by with her group of useless followers. Arnold caught the popular girl's scowl, and turned away, partially ashamed; it wasn't even as if he could offer her any sort of explanation for his inaction at that moment anyway.
-oOo-
The first morning of 9th grade passed without a hitch for everyone. But nevertheless, Arnold was thankful for the reprieve. The air of September was still delightfully crisp and cool, so the boy took his lunch to the few tables outside and reveled in his solitude; the 9th grade student body was actually divided into two lunch periods. Thankfully, his girlfriend was in the opposite period. Helga was in this one.
As he ate his lunch in silence, for a while, he read passages from her journal.
There was that time when I thought that dressing up like Lila would actually make him fall in love with me, the way he had with that happy go lucky little twit. I didn't learn anything from that experience. It wasn't good to wear a mask, but it wasn't better to be myself either.
The guilt he felt with that entry was palpable. He swallowed the lump forming in his throat and sighed. He remembered that night, out on the balcony of Rhonda's family's swanky apartment, playing pin the tail on the donkey; If only he could've handled that better, not made her feel so worthless, or like she had to compare herself.
"She can't compare to you.." He muttered to no one in particular, and meaning that genuinely. Helga, for all that she was, was still one of a kind in so many ways..
He glanced up, to where the line of a green field started at the end of the blacktop where the lunch tables sat, and far, far down that field, Helga played soccer with a group of girls. Arnold closed the book, and found himself thoughtlessly watching her…intently.
"She's on the team this year" The familiar voice, as if reading his thoughts, interrupted his peaceful observation. Rhonda invited herself to a seat in front of him, drawning an obviously agitated sigh from him. "You know what i'm going to say"
"What do you want me to do, Rhonda? Just go up to her? Sweep her off her feet? Who even says that I like her like that?" Arnold actually winced when he saw the girl's eyes narrow sharply, like a snake sizing up its hypnotized mouse meal. He gulped.
"For someone that I always admired as a "good guy" She accentuated the last part with the widely accepted quotation gesture of bending the index and middle finger of each hand. "You're really just a typical asshole. How can you not notice what's always been there?" She hissed that last part venomously, but Arnold was ready for that one.
"Well if it's always been there, how could you not have noticed it. How could anyone not have? She fooled us all.."
"Hmph" Rhonda laced her fingers and propped her chin atop her hands thoughtfully. "I know I don't need to tell you there's more to her than she's put off all these years."
"I know" Arnold snapped, strangely defensive; it knocked the girl off guard for a moment.
"Eh hem. Well if that's true, find a way to talk to her. You know I'm looking out for you too Arnold. Someone needs to resume the role of good advice giver, since someone has seemed to lose that ability after all these years." She turned her nose up, and Arnold regarded her through disinterested eyes, though he had run out of things to say. She had him at a loss.
In the middle of their discussion, Arnold had stuffed the coveted book into his messenger bag, and it was a good thing he did, because at the last possible second, he was saving the back of Rhonda's head from a soccer ball to the skull. She let out a yell when she saw the boy jump up, and threw her arms up to protect herself, but it was unnecessary, as the ball came to rest safely in his arms rather than upside her head.
At the same time, this also drew Helga over to the duo to retrieve the ball, but before she could bark out her demand to have it back, she'd skid to a stop once she realized just who was holding it; blue met green as their eyes met for the first time in years, and Arnold couldn't help but note that Helga's sudden deer-in-headlights expression was more adorable than he ever thought possible.
Rhonda had slid to one side of the bench, so she wasn't an obstacle between them. But even as she moved, the silent stare went on between the two for another minute or so, before Helga shook her head and her customary scowl returned.
"Gimme the ball, football head." She barked. Arnold's mouth was slightly ajar, as if he had been struck by something powerful, and sudden. And it left him in complete disarray. It would be a moment more before his mouth sealed, and the ball was tossed back to her. She caught it, and turned wordlessly to return back to her own group.
Rhonda watched him go, and then turned her attention to the boy who remained standing there, watching her leave with something akin to complete and utter wonder in his eyes. She caught the slight choke of his voice as he tried to speak, and then his words became more solid, and decipherable.
"You win, I'll find a way.." He muttered, obviously starstruck.
Carefully painted lips upturned in a triumphant smirk.
"Of course. I never had any doubts"
Awh snap, I sure did miss writing HA! fiction. Hah. Reviews make me happy please ^o^