Light began to flood the light blue wallpapered room as a loud, blaring beeping emitted from the clock on the table by the bed. A hand drowsily appeared from under the soft pink duvet and slammed down on the clock, narrowly missing the snooze button. Frustratingly, the hand slammed down again, this time achieving its goal. Helga peeked out from underneath the sanctuary of her covers and peered at the clock, groaning as she saw the bright red 6:30 staring back at her. Time to get ready for another bland day of high school. She managed to pull herself out of bed and stumble across her room where she sleepily opened the closet door. The closet was fairly bare compared to her childhood years when it had held elaborate shrines to Arnold, the boy whose love she had for him constantly tormented her young heart and soul. All that remained of this former worship was a dusty box filled with volumes one through thirty-seven and a half of her poetry regarding him.

She cast a quick glance at the box before yanking down her usual pink tank and white shirt. As she slid her boot cut dark wash jeans on, Helga silently contemplated where she was in her life. For the past two years, she had mostly felt numb to the world and that she was simply passing through life. No one really seemed to pay much mind to her, let alone her parents, and she had simply disappeared into the crowd once she had stopped her obstinate and bullying ways. Of course, that part of her had died when…she bit her lip and winced at the memory. It was still too painful to call back up. Phoebe was still there, her ever faithful and trusty best friend, but it just wasn't enough. The final blow had occurred right after she and Arnold had stopped talking.

In a panic to make things right she had dashed to Dr. Bliss in order to seek some much needed advice to solve her current predicament. Upon arriving though she had found nothing but an empty office and a few loose papers strewn about the carpet. She had collapsed on to the floor and cried her heart out, her last source of caring hope having seemingly abandoned her. She did receive a call later that evening from Dr. Bliss and was informed by her that her services had been deemed no longer necessary for the Hillwood school district and that she had been promptly been transferred over to a county several hours away. Dr. Bliss had expressed her sincerest sympathies in not telling Helga earlier, but Helga had just hung up the phone before she could get anything else out. It was that night that Helga had decided to stop caring, to stop loving, to stop living.

She yanked on her grey beanie and quickly swiped up her deep black backpack as she opened her bedroom door, only to trip over her mother passed out on the floor. Helga grumbled, turned Miriam over, and lightly slapped her across the face. "Huh wha? Ohhh heeey Helgaaa," slurred Miriam before closing her eyes and letting out a loud snore. Helga rolled her eyes and hoisted Miriam over her shoulder, dragging her into her parent's room. There she rolled her mother onto the king bed which caused her father to awaken.

"What the hell do you think you're doing little lady?" He yelled as he bolted into an upright position.

Helga shot him an annoyed look before replying, "Putting Miriam to bed because you certainly won't." With that Helga dashed out of the room as Bob yelled out that other name that she despised so much. He could never get her name right, and she had given up hoping that he ever would. She reached the front door and entered out into the cold, unforgiving world, ready to just keep on passing through.

Phoebe sat on the city bus to school nervously wringing her hands at the thought of what she was going to ask Helga. She had decided to propose the blind date to her first thing in the morning just to get it over with. Knowing Helga she would be quite opposed to the idea and would take some persuasion in order to convince her that she deserved to have some fun and love in her life. As the bus pulled up to Helga's stop, Phoebe glanced out the window and waved to her friend. Helga weakly returned the wave before hopping on to the bus and sitting next to her best friend.

"Konichiwa Helga!" Phoebe cheerily piped.

Helga peered over at Phoebe and went, "No Japanese today, Pheebs."

Phoebe nodded. "English! Good morning! How are you?" She patted Helga's hand good naturedly as she said this.

"I'm all right. Pretty much the same as always. You?"

"I'm doing fairly good, thanks." Phoebe turned away from Helga and glanced at her own reflection in the window. She could easily see the fear building in her eyes at what she was going to ask. "I have to be assertive. You are strong and confident! Just, be the old Helga if you have to," she thought to herself. Phoebe took a deep breath and closed her eyes, building up her courage before she turned to face Helga again.

"So Helga, I actually came up with a wonderful idea for how you can spend tomorrow night!"

Helga frowned and quietly went, "Phoebe, I already told you. I'm watching Wrestlemania in my room and enjoying the peace that my home so rarely offers. That's it, so whatever idea you have just forget it."

"Look, I know you don't think that I notice, but I do." At this Helga perked up a little. "I just hate feeling that nothing I do helps. So this is me trying to make you happy again, at least for a little bit. Can you please let me do this for you?" Tears welled up in Phoebe's eyes as she turned to face Helga.

Helga was slightly taken aback. She had been fairly certain that Phoebe knew that she was dejected, but she didn't realize how much of a toll that her depression was taking on her best friend. Certainly she could see where Phoebe felt powerless to help her, she felt that she was pretty far from saving anyways. However she could at least humor her in thinking that she was helping her. At least that would make Phoebe feel less ineffective in her friend's life. After what seemed like an eternity, Helga whispered, "Okay Phoebe, let's hear your brilliant idea."

Phoebe inhaled sharply before she saying her idea. "A blind date. At Chez Paris. With a boy that Gerald and I believe that you will get along with very well." She recoiled on reflex, waiting for Helga to launch into a tirade about how ridiculous the very thought of her on a blind date in a frilly dress on the worst holiday of the year was and that there was no way in a million years that she would go along with it. However, her response stunned Phoebe.

"What time? And would you help me get ready for it? You know how terrible I am with girlish things like this." Helga meekly smiled at Phoebe. Once she had gotten over her shock, the small girl attacked Helga with a tight hug.

"Oh Helga! Are you serious? You'll actually do it? Oh I'm so happy! Thank you! I know you'll have such a great time!" She positively beamed over the fact that so far, her plan was a success. Now all she had to do was wait to find out if Gerald had been able to get Arnold to go along with the date. Stealthily she whipped out her phone and texted, "She's gonna do it. Will he? Really convince him Gerald! Do whatever it takes!"

As Phoebe texted, Helga placed her arms behind her head and silently mused, "At least she's happier now, and who knows. Maybe this blind date won't be the worst experience of my life."

A/N: Thanks for the feedback so far guys! I really appreciate it and am astounded that I'm just not sending out text into dead internet space. Dead space. NECROMORPHS! *twitch* Yeaaa, I've been watching too many walkthroughs of the sequel of that game lately. Please forgive me. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter! Thanks again for all your feedback and I look forward to your further comments! :)