Chapter 2: What Do You Know?

The next morning Helga awoke to the sound of her alarm clock, rather than her screaming sister. She sat up to stretch, sitting on her bed, thinking about the emotional support Arnold had given her the previous day to make up for the void between her and her family.

After getting dressed and ready, Helga was surprised to find she hadn't been bombarded by her sister's screaming antics.

As she made it to the kitchen, she pulled out a bowl to pour herself some cereal into. A moment after sitting at the counter enjoying a quiet meal, she heard the front door opening.

Oh crimity!

Helga thought to herself, knowing who it must be.

Olga walked in carrying two grocery bags filled with food she needed to make her famous lemon souffle for later that night.

"Morning baby sister! How did you sleep?!" Olga screeched, as she placed the groceries on the counter.

"Just peachy." Helga mumbled to herself.

"I was sad you didn't join us for dinner last night! Will you be here tonight? I'm baking my famous lemon souffle!"

"Everything's famous if you make it, is it not?" Helga replied, knowing her sister wouldn't catch the sarcasm.

"Perhaps we could do something special tonight. Oh, you could help me bake!" Olga exclaimed while seeing Helga roll her eyes.

"I don't think so."

"Why not? What's wrong? If you're afraid you won't do a good job, I can help you! I won a cooking award for many improvements on it!" Olga exclaimed as Helga held her face in her hands.

"I have to get to school."

"Bye baby sister." Olga grabbed Helga and gave her a suffocating hug that made Helga clench her fists in anger as tightly as Olga wrapped her arms around her sister.

"Alright! Get off me! Sheesh!" Helga exclaimed, grabbing her bag as she exited the house.

Helga began her march to the bus stop, wondering if the extra hour of sleep she had gotten was worth dealing with that extra tight squeeze from her sister. As she was rounding the corner to the bus stop, another painful incident occurred. THUMP!

Helga looked up to see she had once again bumped into her beloved. "Sorry Arnold."

As Arnold held out a hand for her, he lifted an eyebrow at her apology. "Uhh are you okay?"

After rolling her eyes at the question, she replied "Well Olga's not here. Then again, we're about to watch a documentary that will try to persuade me to want to be around her."

After seeing the annoyed look on her face, Arnold wrapped his arms around her. Feeling his warm arms gently wrapped around her as he gently rubbed her back did make up for the overwhelming act Olga always seemed to be capable of causing.

Arnold kissed Helga on the cheek as he said "Just try not to think about her."

Before she could respond, their two best friends came walking over.

"Hey Arnold!" Gerald said.

"Hey Gerald."

"Ready for another fun family film Pataki?" Gerald couldn't help but tease her as Arnold watched the angry look forming in her eyes.

"Uhh Gerald, how about you and I sit together on the bus. Helga and Phoebe can sit together." Arnold suggested, looking at Helga for an approval.

"Eh, works for me."

When the bus pulled up, the boys headed towards the back while the girls kept towards the front.

"I take it something's up, or you wouldn't have missed a chance to be with your lady?" Gerald said wittingly.

"Listen, Olga's really been giving Helga a hard time lately."

"Like how? Offering to cook dinner for her?" Gerald replied.

"You know Helga can't stand the way she shows off. All it does is make her parents ignore her even more."

"I don't see how that's possible, but okay." Gerald said, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm really worried about her. I don't know what to do though. I don't know anything about this type of relationship?" Arnold sighed.

"Calm down man it's no big deal. It's natural for siblings to fight. They're not going to agree on everything. You've seen the way Jamio treats me!" Gerald pointed out.

"Yeah, but your parents don't love him more than they do you. Helga's parents give Olga special attention. They don't give Helga any attention." Arnold said sadly, staring at the floor.

"Well, at least she has you." Gerald pointed out, while the girls were up front having their own conversation.

"How was your evening Helga?"

"Fine. That is, the parts where I was able to pretend I was an only child were." she smirked.

"You know Helga, these documentaries Mr. Simmons has picked out for the class do pertain well to the situation you're in." Phoebe began to explain, as she watched her friend roll her eyes.

"Pttss...how do you figure?"

"Well, the films we'll be seeing indicate that family is what gets us through the difficult times we face in life. Perhaps all you need is to speak with your sister about the way she's been making you feel." Phoebe suggested as Helga nearly jumped out of her seat.

"Phoebe are you ill? You of all people know how screwed up my home life is! What makes you think for even a second that whatever I said to her would sink into that thick headed, self absorbed skull of hers? Sheesh!" Helga scowled, amazed at the idea of her best friend thinking her family problem was fixable.

When the bus pulled up at PS 118, the kids got off and headed for the door. Rather than heading straight for class, Arnold watched Helga stop by her locker.

Helga leaned her head against the cold metal with her eyes shut, taking a deep breath as she thought to herself Crimity! Why can't I just die?

As she was wishing this, she felt a set of warm arms being wrapped around her and someone whispering in her ear "Everything's going to be okay."

Helga turned to face her beloved, giving him a weak smile. As he held her hand, watching the weak smile form on her face, he said "Let's get to class."

The two walked in together as they listened to their friends rambling about the previous movie they had been forced to watch.

"Can you believe the names they gave to those actors in that film? They were worse than their outfits! Laser? I mean seriously!" Rhonda exclaimed, flipping her hair back.

"Who cares about the names. What about the WAY they had a kid?" Sid reminded them.

"I don't reckon I recall learnin' about that in our sexual education class." Stinky began scratching his head, while the other students rolled their eyes at his ignorance.

While the kids were commenting on the movie, Arnold was beginning to turn in his seat to check on Helga when he heard "Hello class! Today is going to be a very special day!"

Based on the previous movie (and the person who chose it) the class was beginning to believe him about the movie being special, although Helga had yet to believe it would have any influence whatsoever on her connection with Olga.

"Class, today we will be watching 'August: Osage County.' The death of a father brings three sisters home to their mother. This movie teaches us no matter how bad things get, they can always get worse. A wonderful reason to be grateful for the lives you currently possess."

Crimity! Please just kill me now! Helga thought to herself as she listened to these words. Why should she be grateful for being ignored by everyone other than her show off sibling?

Arnold sat in his desk, watching the depressing situations which took place between the actors as he thought to himself I don't think this is encouraging Helga to think positively of her relationship with Olga.

Once the movie ended, it was time for lunch. Arnold turned to see the depressing look remaining on his girlfriend's face.

"Ready to eat?" he asked, holding out his hand for her.

"I guess." she sighed, taking it in hers.

Arnold wasn't sure what he could do to snap her out of this phase, Olga wasn't going anywhere and it wasn't likely she'd be changing her annoying, show off ways.

When the two of them entered the cafeteria, Arnold walked Helga over to sit with Gerald and Phoebe. "I'll be back. I'm going to get us something to eat."

As Phoebe watched her friend lean over the table, drumming her fingers against it, she asked "What did you think of the documentary Helga?"

Rolling her eyes at what she considered to be a ridiculous question, Helga replied "Those actors don't know how lucky they were."

Moments later, Arnold came back with his and Helga's lunch. Handing her some tapioca pudding, he asked "Is there anything special you'd like to do after school?"

"Special? Who are you, Simmons?" Gerald asked wittingly as Arnold rolled his eyes at the remark.

Helga shrugged her shoulders, staring down at the dessert cup. "I don't know. I'll probably just go home and work on my homework. It's not like I won't end up seeing Olga eventually." Helga sighed, not bothering to make eye contact with her boyfriend.

Arnold's eyes widened at her response as Gerald shook his head. "Mm, mm, mmm! Talk about surrendering."

When the bell rang for class, the four of them cleared their trays as Arnold watched Helga carry a defeated look down the hallway. He hadn't seen her looking that down since the day she drank Madam Blanch's love potion.

Once the day ended, Arnold turned to his girlfriend and asked "Are you sure you don't want to do anything?"

Staring at the ground, she replied "No, I need to get my homework done before Olga gets home and starts bugging me in between every five minutes of it."

"Can I at least walk you home?" Arnold asked, looking at her with pleading eyes.

"Sure."

The two of them held hands out the school as Arnold heard a deep sigh release from her. "Helga, you can't keep letting her get to you like this. You used to really annoy me, but I didn't let it ruin my life."

Helga began to grit her teeth, annoyed by the fact that someone without any siblings would have the audacity to tell her how she should feel about hers. Especially if they didn't have any that were perfect.

"What do you know football head?!"

"I want you to be happy Helga. I think you may be overreacting a bit." Arnold sighed.

Making it to her house, Helga snatched her hand away and marched up her porch steps.

"Helga wait!"

Rather than responding, she slammed the door in his face. As she went upstairs to her room, she plopped down on her bed, throwing a pillow over her face. Crimity! Why do I have to have such a crappy home life that always manages to get in the way of my love life?

As Helga continued to lay there in that position, she nearly fell asleep when she heard a loud knock at the door.

"Baby sister!"

Crimity! Helga thought to herself as she tossed the pillow aside.

"WHAT?!"

"Would you like to come downstairs and bake my lemon souffle with me now?"

Clenching her fists, digging her nails into her skin, she groaned "NO!"

Helga then sat up to pull out her homework. As boring as a sheet of math problems was, it was nice having something to take her mind off her sister.

After a few hours had past, Helga was getting ready for bed. As she was getting under the covers in her purple nightgown, thankful she hadn't heard from Olga within the past hour, she heard her phone beep.

"I'm sorry about what happened earlier. I hope your night wasn't too bad. I love you."

Helga smiled at the idea of Arnold always wanting to do the right thing. He just couldn't go a day without trying to make things right between everyone.