A/N: I thought to post this second chapter just in case. I don't have much else written at this present moment, but I thank the reviews so far. SexyChief you are more than entitled to your opinion about Lila since even I share it too. :)
Everclear I love you girl but of course I wanted you to just go ahead and find this lol.
Phoebe felt as if she was approaching a caged tiger as it laid in wait. Helga's voice was nearly forgotten in her head due to her lack of communication at all. It had been more than a month and the way her eyes went to Phoebe almost frightened her. She examined how her legs seemed to grow taunt as if ready to pounce. She saw how Helga's hand moved to the fence to grip it. It was slow and deliberate. There was no anger written in her face, only caution. Phoebe approached nonetheless. This was her friend.
"Hello Helga. Can I sit here with you?" Phoebe wondered hopefully. Helga didn't loosen up her stance for some time before she just indicated with her hand that she can. "Thank you." Sitting down with her back to the fence, Phoebe had no idea where to begin.
Helga's eyes flitted around the school grounds. Spotted Lila after she approached Arnold where they spoke for a long length of time. His fantasies have come true with her always being by his side.
"I miss you." Phoebe told her. "I understand why you haven't spoken to me."
"I don't know how to talk right now." Her tone was gravelly right now from lack of use. Clearing it she averted her eyes to a safe haven after seeing Arnold take Lila's hand. Her eyes went to Phoebe. "I don't know what to say except that I saw it happen."
Phoebe's eyes widened at the horror that must of caused. "Oh Helga."
"I close my eyes and I hear her screaming. I hear that car smashing against that stoop. Against my sister. I may of not of gotten along with my family, but even she didn't deserve that." Bringing her knees up, Helga rested her chin on her knee cap. "My parents act like I could of stopped it. How could I when I didn't even see that car until it was too late? I'm blamed for her death more than the driver itself."
She wanted to hold her friend, but knew how Helga didn't care for that attention. She wanted to dash away those thoughts in her mind. "I didn't know you saw it happen. That's horrible."
Helga looked to see the pain written in her face prompting her to reach out to take her hand. "There are some things you never want to witness, Pheebs." Glancing over to see Lila kissing Arnold's cheek, she looked down. "Some things you wish to erase from your mind."
Phoebe looked over to Arnold to see Lila leaning against him. They looked like a couple. Putting her arm around her best friend, Phoebe rested her head against her. "You can always come over if you want to escape the boarding house. You know you are always welcomed."
It felt good to actually feel this comfort from her. Helga thanked her not even minding her resting her head on her back. Love looked to be a foreign concept in her mind.
Heading inside the boarding house, Helga was instantly saluted by Gertie. Smiling just a bit at the eccentric old woman, she approached her.
"Greetings Eleanor! How goes it with the troops?" Her voice almost bellowed out throughout the entire house.
Helga could never keep a stern facial expression around this woman. "They are out of sorts. Same as usual."
Placing herself at ease, Gertie examined the troubled young woman. "And the Colonel? He hasn't bothered to align them?"
"Colonel Mustard is entertaining Miss Scarlet at the moment." Helga answered referring to Arnold and Lila.
Gertie frowned for a millisecond understanding to whom she was referring to. "Well no matter. Would you care to help me bake some goodies?"
Grateful to get her mind off of anything right now, Helga quickly agreed to help her out.
Lila straightened up her dress as they sat on the bench in the park. Their ice cream eaten, Lila sighed. Her skin was itching, but it wasn't due to environment, it was due to her. She could never speak of what was going on in her brain. What was really going on behind the scenes. She just knew she had to remain quiet and act sweet.
"Oh Arnold, with the way you have been so attentive to me since Olga's death, I have been finding myself like-liking you more." Turning her head towards him she gave him a sparkling gaze. "What about you?"
Arnold had no idea how to feel. His constant conflict inside his head was tiring. Every day he sees Helga at home, and all he wants to do is hold her. When he knows she is in the bathroom showering, his mind wanders to areas he only explored in his mind with her. The thing with her still was her lack of not wishing to talk. It continued to drive him crazy. He wanted to hear her speak. Wanted to hear anything she wished to share just so he can hear her voice.
Now with Lila it felt like he was slowly reverting back to himself when he was nine. His crush for her was becoming alive again. Gerald warned him not to do it. Not to fall for her games like she pulled last time. Now here she was giving him this hopeful expression on her face. He had to answer her.
"I'm unsure how I feel right now. I've been conflicted lately." He answered her honestly.
"Well then I guess I'll have to be ever so assertive for once." Lila leaned over to kiss his lips. She felt his startled body near her before he relaxed.
It wasn't at all as passionate as those kisses Helga blessed him with in the past. It was just a sweet kiss. Mostly innocent. His eyes were still so big not sure in how he felt for her at all. Watching her pull back with a seductive look in her eyes, Arnold thought he was looking at a stranger.
"How was that? Want to see a movie with me this friday?" Lila continued to lean near him. Her skin was still itching. "I'll make you ever so happy, Arnold."
He had to find out how he felt for her. Right? "Sure. Friday sounds good to me too."
Standing up, Lila continued her seductive smile. "Then will you walk me home?"
Nodding his head, Arnold stood up without a word to escort her home. He felt alien right now. He felt like he was watching himself walk along with a stranger, but had no clue why.
Arnold thought, that as he ate in the noisy room across from a quiet Helga, that she still managed to look pretty without much effort. Helga barely afforded him a glance, which made him quite forlorn himself. His past tormentor, friend, and now under the legal guardianship of his parents. He missed the spitfire within her. Missed those piercing blues that buried themselves constantly into his head.
"So Arnold I saw you out with some red headed little dame." Ernie blurted out while waving his fork around. "She seems like quite a looker."
His eyes went to gage Helga, but she turned her head to say something to his grandma. It left him lonely without her attention. "That's Lila. She's just a friend from school." Arnold informed him as he lifted his potatoes up to take a bite.
Ernie shook his head. "Some friend. You were holding her hand. The way she was looking at you told me she was very interested in you."
Helga chose to tune out the conversation about, Lila. It was bad enough she always had to constantly hear about her at home and at school. Can't she just have a break from this? Pushing her plate away she excused herself to head upstairs. Let them talk all they want about little Ms Perfect all they want when she wasn't there.
Seeing her son appearing dejected had Stella speaking up. "Let's just table this discussion and be done with it." Scanning the room to see everyone quiet down with questioning, Arnold she continued. "This is a really good meal, Gertie."
"Why of course it is. I had Eleanor help me. She is quite a talent." Gertie told her happily. "She even made the cookies."
Hearing that Helga made the cookies, Arnold wanted to grab some to hoard them all. Somehow he imagined her kissing each individual cookie in approval and with that, he will be kissing her by proxy. It was a long shot, but he did enjoy thinking about it.
Helga practically ran on to the bus to find Phoebe waving at her to come sit with her so they can chat on the way to school. As for Arnold he came aboard the bus to sit by Gerald. Thankfully there was no Lila on the bus. Thankfully he could see Helga diagonally from himself. Her long flowing blonde hair was swept over to one shoulder. Her beanie was a sapphire color that brought out her eyes even more. The thing he hated was how she just grunted to him in greeting. The thing he both loved and hated was seeing her wander back to her bedroom this morning with a robe on. His imagination went wild inside his young mind.
"Earth to Arnold. Come in Arnold."
Shaking his head from his thoughts, Arnold apologized to him. "Sorry Gerald. My mind was off somewheres else."
Seeing where his attention was diverted, Gerald almost hit him. "Yeah I see your mind is on, Pataki. Just give it up since she is not speaking to you."
"She's still unhappy about her sister's death. People have different ways of dealing with it." Fidgeting in his seat, Arnold sighed. "I was with Lila yesterday after school and she asked me out on a date this friday. When Ernie pointed out that he saw me with her, well Helga seemed even more unhappy. Maybe I shouldn't go out on this date."
"Mmm mmm mmm mmm. As much as I want to say that Lila is just toying with you, just go and do it." Gerald threw his hand up in the air as he looked out the window. "You'll do what you want anyhow."
Making a face at his best friend, Arnold then turned his attention to Helga.
As for Helga, she was leaning her head back against the seat. She was listening to Phoebe going on about her fencing practice. Giving off a chuckle at the part where Kyo actually broke a vase, Helga heard her even giggling at her father.
"Can I trade places with you?"
Phoebe frowned. "Still not great where you are?"
Helga opened up her eyes to look at her friend evenly. "I love his family. The boarders are a hoot. It is just him. He was with Li-la, after school spending time. Ernie even witnessed them holding hands and her giving the love look to him." Feeling the bus stop, she groaned. "Oh it is the ever so morning ray of stupid sunshine coming on board."
Phoebe poked her head up to see Lila standing there demurely. There she was wearing a green dress, her hair in pigtails, and her waving at Arnold. "Oh Arnold. Isn't it an ever so lovely day? The sun is out. The birds are chirping, and we are here just.."
Standing up quickly from her seat, Helga interrupted her. Memories of her sister saying the same mantra to her all the time had her practically screaming at, Lila. "Will you just be quiet. Every day is the same damn thing with you. Did you purposefully say that just to drive a nail into the coffin?"
Standing up himself, Arnold had to stop her from yelling at, Lila. "What has Lila done to you? She's just being nice and sweet. What the hell is your problem?"
Releasing a huff of breath, Helga reached over to grab the cord to get the bus to stop. Grabbing her book bag she felt the world closing in on her. She was having a hard time breathing. "Of course you would stand up for, Ms Perfect. You both belong together."
Feeling the bus stop she rushed over to the door to push herself out through the narrow opening. She didn't want to wait for the doors to open fully, she needed out of there now. The moment she hit the sidewalk, Helga ran off in the opposite direction of school.
Standing up herself, Phoebe leveled Arnold with a hateful expression. "You never tried hard enough with Helga to get to her. You have no idea what is happening to her. Here you are being with the girl that you've crushed on for so long, and your friend is dangling by a thread. Don't you have any shame?"
Reaching to grab the rope to pull it, Arnold took his stuff as he was lucky enough they were close to another stop. Running down the aisle he jumped all the way to the sidewalk. He had to find Helga. He just had to.
Unable to run anymore, Helga cleared her vision to find her in some horrible spot. She felt chilled as she examined her surroundings to find her old house standing near. She was frightened to look down. Frightened to see her body here. Forcing her eyes down she whimpered at the candle. Her own candle she placed down herself.
Arnold stopped in front of her old home. Past it was Helga just standing there as if looking at a ghost. Was that where it happened? Bringing his head up he saw her old bedroom window. Helga must of seen it or at least heard it. He felt horrible by how he shouted at her. Approaching her, Arnold reached her to find she was staring at a burnt out candle in a flower glass jar.
"I saw the whole thing. I popped my head out of the window and there she was walking back home. That guy was driving so fast that I didn't see him until it happened. I can't close my eyes without hearing her scream. My parents blamed me for her death. Thought if I seen that driver sooner she would still be here." Her voice sounded so lifeless. "Olga always greeted me the same way. The same exact way that Lila did on the bus. Something she never said before and there she is saying it in front of me." Helga couldn't even look at him. "Intentional or not, I didn't need to hear it."
He had no clue. The article never mentioned anything about Helga witnessing it. No wonder why she was so quiet and so distant. He felt so guilty in not trying any harder. Felt bad for devoting more time with Lila. Bad for how he made her feel in general. "Helga, they are wrong. Completely. I would say they didn't mean it, but now I know what type of people they are by how they gave you up. As for Lila, I will talk to her about what happened on the bus."
She snorted. "Of course you will. Anything to talk to Ms Perfect." Turning to face him, Helga gave him a haunting stare. "At least Olga wasn't fake." She should probably get to school anyhow. Perhaps it will get her mind off things. Walking past him, she didn't bother to address him any further. She just needed to get to her destination.
Arnold had no clue what she meant by her last sentence. Does she mean that Lila is fake?