A/N: I was having trouble deciding where part 1 would end and part 2 would begin. The way I split it up seemed like the least awkward and left a little bit of cliffhanger in a way. And speaking of which, here's part 2…right after these messages!

Ugh…must I really do this again? We all know by now that "Hey Arnold!" is not mine but ok, fine: WHAT I SAID EARLIER IS TRUE, THAT "HEY ARNOLD!" IS NOT MINE THOUGH THE STORY IDEA IS.

Breaking Point

Part 2: Confrontation

"Who do you think you are suddenly talking to me like that?" Helga spat.

"Who do you think you are always treating me like this?" Arnold countered right back.

"What?!" Helga exclaimed both out of shock and anger. She was now staring down Arnold with her clenched fists at her side. In the past she only clenched her fists like that just for show but after all that has happened in the last 3 years, Helga actually had been entertaining the idea of just knocking him into the next century. And as if Arnold could sort of sense that, this little confrontational attitude of his suddenly collapsed and he seemed like he was back to his old self.

"Uh…I mean…Helga, everyone's gone so you don't have to pretend now…?" Arnold answered unsurely, struggling to articulate something that would perfectly excuse his actions but deep down he knew that there was nothing he could do to get him out of the mess he just got himself into.

"Nice try. You can't take that back and now I know how ya really feel. And who said I was pretending?" Helga replied dryly while crossing her arms and giving him a dark smirk. Her expression clearly showed that she was not amused. For some reason, Helga's response caused Arnold to find the strength to confront her and pick up where he left off.

"Yeah, you do and now that I think about it, that's probably not a bad thing because I'm sick of this act of yours. It has been going on for too long!" Arnold answered rather accusingly. He was basically fed up with Helga's routine and just wanted the two of them to talk like human beings, though he knew that would not be easy but he also knew he let this go on for long enough. It's true that Arnold was not the most perceptive individuals but the fact that Helga had been more verbally combative towards him the last couple of years was not lost towards him. He also had this suspicion that he was the reason for this but he wanted to be sure first.

"How do you know it's not an act anymore?" Helga retorted back with her arms still crossed.

"Helga, come on! It's been 4 years since you confessed your love to me when we were 9 and you've been pretending to hate me ever since we met when we were 3, and you have kept up this charade even after I told you I felt the same 3 years ago,"

"Wow you remembered something Arnoldo. Good for you…that all may be true and all but there's one thing you seemed to have conveniently forgotten about and it's a pretty important detail if you ask me!"

"What have I- oh…yeah…" Arnold was drawing a blank for a moment but then quickly realized what Helga was talking about. He wasn't sure why he forgot about that for a split second but now he was sure Helga would think of him as some forgetful jerk. Then again, he was sure that she already saw him as something along those lines. 'So I was right. That is what this is all about,' he thought to himself in confirmation.

"Yeah, you nearly forgot the fact that 3 years ago you basically took your confession back when you dumped me not even a week after you confessed to me because you were just surprised that I could actually be nice or whatever happened that caused you to blurt out 'I love you' to me, whether it was jungle heat or that we were stuck together for nearly 2 days in that hideout the Green Eyes made for us, or maybe it was-," Helga's response further confirmed Arnold's suspicions, in which her response began to turn into a rant when Arnold interrupted her.

"No, no I was not surprised about that. I already knew that you could be nice. I just realized then how much you cared since pretty much every nice thing you have done was done for- wait, that's not the point. The point is that I know this is an act. Have you forgotten that I know everything? You must have since you still treat me like this. Now, I'm not talking about when we're around our classmates because I understand you are very protective of your 'tough' reputation and though I do not really believe you should keep that reputation, I will still respect your wishes. No, I'm referring to when we're alone, when it's just you and me. Why you not only still lash out at me when we're alone but you are now even worse is beyond me. Would it be so bad if we were both at least civil around each other?" Arnold asked genuinely after concluding a little rant of his own.

"Yes, yes it would," Helga answered. She pretended to think about it for a second or two but her mind had been made up on that subject years ago. 'It would be pure agony, even worse than before because I now know there's no chance for us…' she added in her head. On the outside, Helga appeared tough, unfazed, and rock-solid but inside her heart was breaking. Again. She felt she was moments away from dissolving into a puddle and she really didn't want Arnold to see that.

'It also doesn't help that I'm exhausted,' she thought. 'And that is why I gotta wrap this up any way I can before I do something I really regret…like forgive him,' Helga internally shuddered at that part before deciding that she should just try to leave now.

"Helga, I'm trying here," Arnold reason in response to the fact that Helga started to walk away from him. His voice even had a slight pleading tone to it. At that, Helga spun around to face Arnold.

"I don't really care," she replied indifferently.

"Helga, stop it with the act already," Arnold argued as he started to become annoyed again.

"Again with this 'act' nonsense," Helga stated, acting all nonchalant.

"It's not nonsense! Now, knock it off," Arnold argued, his confrontational attitude coming back in full-swing again.

"Arnold, you're the only one that said this was an act while I neither confirmed nor denied it," Helga reasoned and was surprisingly rational about it.

"You haven't confirmed it," Arnold accused stubbornly.

"Well, I haven't denied it either. And I definitely can't deny it," Helga vaguely announced, to which she was doing that on purpose as a way to sort of torture him with the reminder that he was so dense. She really hated that teasing with him like this still felt so natural.

"Wait, now I'm confused…" Arnold replied honestly. That response really caught him off guard.

"Ugh…must I spell it out for you? Wait, don't answer that. Of course I have to!"

"Helga…" an annoyed Arnold replied.

"Ok, ok. You're still as dense as ever, Arnoldo!"

"Helga!" Arnold exclaimed. He had enough of this and his patience was wearing thin.

'She's going to do everything she can to avoid talking to me about this, isn't she? Well, it's not like this is anything new. And besides, I'm going to do everything I can to get some answers so…I guess the most stubborn one will get what they want,' Arnold thought, his inner voice having a tint of dark humor to it.

"Ugh…fine. This is not an act, ok? I'm still mean to you but not because it is just some old habit that is really hard to break. I have a new reason now: I actually wanna be mean to ya!"

"You actually want to…? Why?" Arnold was stunned. Now that really threw him for a loop.

"You broke my heart, disregarded my feelings, and didn't do anything when your plans to move to San Lorenzo fell through because your parents decided to move back to Hillwood to be with you instead of making you leave your hometown. You didn't try to make it right – no apology, no explanation, nothing. You just acted like nothing happened – that you didn't tell me you loved me, then took it back and dumped me without at least talking to me about it. And you expect everything to go back to the way it was, back to when I was hopelessly in love with you. But it can't. It will never be like that again," Helga concluded her lengthy response with a blank look in Arnold's direction.

'No, blank is not the right word,' Arnold thought as he racked his brain for a better word. 'Her expression is hollow, as if she's not feeling anything. This is probably one of the worst things I've ever seen. What happened to that spark she had? Her passion? It's gone. And I'm pretty sure I did this to her…but wait, that must mean that…'

"Wait, so you don't…you don't love me anymore?" Arnold asked, deciding that that last part of his thoughts would be better if he thought them out loud.

'Why does the thought of that make me kind of sad, almost heartbroken?' Arnold asked himself. 'Wait, no, the thought of that would break my heart and I know why. Ugh…I love Helga but thanks to me she may hate my guts…wait, there's still a part of her that loves me…I remember when she was asleep she was smiling and…she said my name,'

"Nope," she answered without any hesitation.

"Then what was that dreamy look on your face all about?" Arnold accused, remembering what he just thought about and decided to use what he witnessed earlier to his advantage.

"What dreamy look?" Helga asked out of pure confusion. She honestly did not know what Arnold was talking about.

"That look you had on your face before I woke you up," Arnold replied, his soft but strong gaze stayed glued to Helga's the whole time. With that, Helga's confusion quickly ended and she was trying to not let her panic show. 'Ok, Helga 'ol girl, don't give anything way or he's gonna get the wrong idea,' she reasoned with herself as she tried to calm down so she could figure out the best way to handle this. In no time at all, she realized that her best bet would be to deflect the situation onto him somehow to distract him and get her off the hook. It was another go-to action of hers.

"Wow, when did you start getting observant all of a sudden? Who are you and what have you done to the dense Arnold we all know?" Helga asked and crossed her arms in mock accusation. She really hoped this tactic would work. She had no other card to play.

"Helga…I'm not falling for that. I know you're trying to distract me so you can avoid talking about this. I may be dense but I've known you long enough to know your usual behaviors by now. And besides, I've let this go on long enough. I want answers, Helga. Now," with his arms crossed, Arnold demanded in a really out-of-character way. But he was fed up and knew that he had to try to undo the horrible mistake he made now or he would never get the chance to again. He had to at least try.

'If she still feels something for me, then there's still hope,' Arnold reminded himself to help him stay strong, all in preparation for whatever Helga would dish out next.

Meanwhile, Helga was lost in some trance. Her eyes were wide and her jaw had dropped slightly. Suddenly, Helga slapped herself in the face and then shook her head rather violently as a way to snap herself out of it.

'Where is all this coming from? This is really not like him…but come to think of it, he's been avoiding me like the plague since San Lorenzo but then a few weeks ago he's been different, more in my face, more annoying, and more like this. What is his deal? Why act differently now? Oh, I don't really care. All I know is that I seriously am done with him and just want to go home and take a nap…but at the same time I don't want to leave. Ugh…it's all your fault, Arnold. You made me so conflicted. I am this way now because of you, actually it's because of me. I'm letting you have this effect on me and I am so sick of it…' Helga thought as she tried to figure out the best answer that would help her make her escape.

"Holy crap…Ok, ok calm down. So I was dreaming about something that made me smile. Big deal! What makes you think I was dreaming about you, football head?" Helga countered but before Arnold could respond she decided to do it for him.

"That's right, you don't so since we're all done here, so am I," Helga added and with that she turned around and tried to leave again.

"You said my name," he answered simply as she was walking away. After hearing this, Helga stopped dead in her tracks. Her eyes also bugged out but thankfully she still had her back to Arnold so he couldn't see her face right now. However, he could tell that she was pretty surprised with his response.

'Dangit! Curse me and my big mouth,' Helga scolded herself, 'Great, now there's no talking my way out of this one. Guess I better get this inevitable talk over with but quickly so I can finally end this torture,' she thought as she turned around and began to carry out her plan.

"Ok, ok…criminy, can't take a joke can ya? Ok, yes I still think about you and unfortunately you have never really left my dreams. You basically turned me into an even bigger basket case now and I didn't know that was possible. But anyways, I'm trying to stop them but ya know, old habits and all that. And technically speaking, I don't hate you. When you dumped me like that and then didn't try to make it right when I found out you were going to stay here after all, I realized that I put you on a pedestal for all those years and it needed to end because that moment taught me something: that you're not perfect, nobody is and therefore nobody needs to be on a pedestal, not even you. But as to whether or not I still love you, yes I think I still do and I hate myself for that everyday…" Helga let her mind wander and she trailed off, which was the result of her having to open up like this. However, Helga's alone-time with her thoughts was short-lived.

"Why do you hate yourself?" Arnold asked quietly. Helga's response left him with as many questions as there were answers. He decided to lead off with that question, which he felt was the most important. However, Helga was done with opening up and just wanted to get out of this horrible situation.

"Why do you care all of a sudden?" Helga accused while averting Arnold's gaze.

"…Helga…I…," Arnold stammered, struggling to find the right words. To be honest, he wasn't completely sure. Well actually, he was sure more or less but he wasn't sure if he wanted to tell her now. But it wasn't like it mattered anyways because Helga had reached her own breaking point, for like the tenth time today.

"I'm done with this," Helga stated resolutely and headed for the door for the third time. Arnold did not have the courage to confess to everything, at least not on his own. Luckily for him, the thought of Helga leaving him there, of her being done with him once and for all, was enough to ignite something in him. Therefore, without much of a thought to it, he rushed after her and grabbed hold of one of her arms.

"Helga, wait!"

Because of Arnold's firm hold on her arm, Helga had no choice but to stop but she was not giving up, not by any means. She turned around and stared him down.

"What?! I've endured enough torture for one day. Maybe I would be more open to talk to you if you confronted me earlier but you didn't. And we'll never know how things would turn out differently but the truth of the matter is that you're too late, Arnold. It's 3 years too late and-aw, screw it! Ya wanna know why I hate myself for loving you? It's because all this time I've been madly in love with someone who I found out 3 years ago does not love me, has never loved me, and will never love me. And I've been trying so hard to forget you, to be done with you once and for all but all I've managed to do so far is waste more time and break my heart even more. Ok, so now you know. Tell me, does it make you feel all good inside that you did this to me? Oh, I don't care and I can't take this anymore. I'm leaving now and-"

Before Helga could finish her response and try to make a break for it again, she suddenly found herself in the middle of a warm embrace. She realized that Arnold had wrapped his arms around her, which was a good thing because at that moment Arnold's arms were the only thing keeping Helga up. All it took was Arnold's embrace and now Helga felt like she was nothing more than a rag doll. She stayed frozen in that state as Arnold continued to hold her.

'I can't believe I had the courage to do this. I guess because I didn't give much thought to it and just put my arms around her. I think…I think I missed this. I forgot how natural this felt. If everything works out, I'm never letting her go,' Arnold ended his silent musings with a solemn vow he just made to himself. And he knew he meant it.

"I'm sorry, Helga…I'm so very sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you. I can't believe I didn't think of that. I lied to protect you, well that was my intention but I guess I only made things worse and for that I am sorry. I swear if I had known that this was what all that had put you through, I wouldn't have done it like that," Arnold apologized as he held Helga tight. He patiently waited for a reply. Meanwhile, Helga was still frozen because of Arnold's embrace. She was trying to make her thoughts connect with her voice but it was a struggle.

"What do you mean 'lied to protect me'?" Helga finally managed to squeak out after several quiet moments had passed, to which Arnold didn't mind if he was being honest with himself.

"I thought by telling you I wanted to pretend nothing happened, like basically asking for a do-over, then that would be the best thing but that time I was only thinking of myself. At the time, when you told me you never wanted to speak to me again, I figured I should just do what you said. I thought that I should give you space because I didn't want to make things worse but honestly I was scared to face you. I knew I had to apologize for a lot of things but I never did because to my dumb 10-year-old self, if I believed you hated me there was nothing I could really do to fix anything so there was no need to try. I actually was unsure about what I felt and didn't want to hurt you more until I sorted out my feelings. But then a few months later I realized something, something that became the reason why I kept things like this, my way of lying to protect you…and I didn't want to hide it but I figured it was for the best…I mean, I hurt you enough without even trying. You don't deserve that. You deserve way better but then about a few weeks ago it started getting harder and harder to go through my whole day without talking to you and-"

Arnold had started out strong with his explanation but as he got further into talking about his feelings, especially those that he knew existed for some time but could no longer contain them, he found himself just babbling with no end in sight. Therefore, Arnold was actually quite grateful when Helga had interrupted him when she did.

"I'm not following any of this…What did you lie about?" Helga interrupted as she leaned back to look in Arnold's eyes, her two eyebrows furrowing in confusion (she separated her unibrow when she started junior high the previous year).

As Helga waited for an answer, Arnold was trying to figure out the best way to explain but he knew that words were obviously not going to help him out this time and he was better off just showing her. After realizing this, Arnold tried summoning up the courage to do just that.

"This," Arnold answered. And as Helga started to ask him what he was talking about, he silenced her by crushing his lips against hers.

A/N: I guess ending this here makes me kind of evil, huh? (Mwahaha!) Seriously though, that was not my intention. Separating parts 2 and 3 here made the most sense to me because both parts will still flow ok. I think part 3 will be the last part. Fair warning, it's the part I couldn't finish before my break ended so that means that I don't have an official timeframe regarding when I'll get it done, but do I ever? Haha. Anyways, hope you enjoyed this!

Update: Forgot to mention that there was a song reference in this part. Did you find it? There may be 2 in this chapter but I can't remember!