Opening Statement: Yay, Chapter Two's up! Sorry if it took long for me to update. But, anyways, enjoy~!


Chapter 2

Home Ecenomics

The bell rung as everyone picked up their bags and headed out the door.

"Hey Pinky," said Bryan, nudging her arm with his elbow. "Show me where my next class is."

"I have a name, you know," she replied, elbowing him back, but harder. "And it's Helga G. Pataki."

He simply smiled. "Well then, Helga Gorgeous Pataki. Will you please show me where my class is?"

Helga paused at her locker, unsure of what to say. It's obvious he's flirting with me, she thought. But why? And me, of all people? ...Unless... This is a trick. Then, I'll just have to ignore it so I don't fall for his trap.

"Sure. Just show me your schedule." She leaned her back against the wall and watched as he pulled out a few notebooks out of his bag. Arnold came up next to her and opened his locker.

"Hey, Helga," he greeted her, taking out some books.

"What's up, Football Head?"

"Just getting ready for Home Ec. What about you?" She cocked her head towards Bryan's direction. "Oh. So you decided to help him, then?" He smiled, glad to see her doing something nice for a change.

"How could I not? This guy's hopeless."

Bryan frowned, slipping his backpack onto his shoulder again. "You think I'm deaf or something? I am right here."

Helga let out a small laugh and tugged on the sleeve of his jacket, making him stagger forward. "Schedule."

"All right, all right. No need to be hasty, now." He stood next to her side and held up his notebook so that both of them could look.

"Let's see... Oh, wow, looks like you have Home Ec, too. That means your class is over- Hey! What the hell are you doing?" Helga shrieked, ducking and taking a step away from him. She subconciously grabbed onto Arnold's collar, pulling him down.

"H-Helga! Let go! You-You're choking me!"

"I - Oh! Oops," Helga said, grinning sheepishly. Arnold sighed a breath of relief. "Sorry. B-But Bryan! Who do you think you are? I never said you could put your arm around me."

And there was that smirk again.

"Sorry, Pinky," he apologized. "I thought you would like it." He stared at her for a couple of seconds as she raised an eyebrow. Playfully rolling his eyes, he added, "I mean, Helga. Yes, I know you have a name."

"Good," she said, finally. "Also, why would you even think I would like that? I just met you this morning, for criminy's sake."

"Most girls would like it, don't you think?"

"Maybe in chick flicks. This is real life. Get used to it, will you?"

Sighing, Arnold stepped in between them. "Helga, just cut the guy a break. He's new." Then he turned to Bryan. "And you... Just don't overdo it. She'll pummel you."

"Got that right, Football Head."

"Who says I need to listen to-"

"Come on," Arnold said, grabbing both of their wrists. He started speed-walking down the hall, pulling both of them with him. "If we don't hurry, we'll be late for class."

~Middle School Jealousy~

At their Home Ecenomics class, everyone had a partner. Arnold and Rhonda shared a table, and to the left of them was Bryan and Helga. Their teacher, Mrs. Johnson had been teaching them how to bake cookies.

"Helga," Bryan said politely, trying not to get her mad again. "You're supposed to mix those gently, not so hard and fast. Here..." He took her hand and began circling the ingredients together with the mixer. "...Better, right?" He took a step away.

"I-I could've done that myself," Helga stammered, though she couldn't hide the small smile forming on her lips. "But thanks." Bryan smiled back, and they moved on to the next step of baking.

"Okay, step two," said Arnold, reading a cook book. "It looks like we have to mix the butter and sugars together, using that bigger bowl."

"Got it," Rhonda replied, putting the bowl in front of them. She poured the ingridients in and started beating them together.

"Now, add the eggs and vanilla and mix them." Rhonda did as she was told, and Arnold put down the book to see how she was doing. "R-Rhonda!" He stared down at the bowl, looking at the eggs his partner had just dropped in. "Geez, you're supposed to crack the eggs first, then put in the yolk."

"Oh. You should've said so, then." Arnold sighed and showed her the right way to do it.

"Step three. Add the ingridients from the first bowl to the larger one, then add chocolate chips."

"Sounds pretty easy," said Helga. "Just dump it in, huh?"

"Not exactly. You have to put it in slowly." He picked up the bowl and started pouring it into the second one. "Here - You add the chocolate chips."

"Hmph," she replied, snatching the bag from his hands. "I was going to, anyways."

"Come on, don't start acting tough again." He moved in closer. "We're supposed to be enjoying this aren't we? Why don't we just make the best of things?"

This suggestion actually got to her.

He's right... If anyone, I should be nice to him, Helga thought. After all, we have a clean slate - And he doesn't know a thing about my history.

When she didn't answer for a while, he just decided to ignore it for the time being and continue with project. "Nevermind that," he said with a slight smile. "Just go ahead and put the chocolate chips in, all right? I'll be at the oven to pre-heat it."

"Oh. O-Okay." She watched as he walked away, leaving her alone to do the work. After letting out a breath and fixing her chef's hat, she told herself, "All right, Helga, ol' girl, let's do this." Picking up the wooden spoon, she began stirring.

~Middle School Jealousy~

"Finally." Helga finally finished the mixing, and had even seperated the cookie dough pieces onto the baking tray. "I am so proud of myself." She triumphantly put a hand on her hip, admiring her work for a few seconds. Then, she put on her mittens and picked up the tray, carrying it over to the ovens, where her partner was waiting.

"Here ya go," she said, putting down the tray on a nearby table. "Thanks for nothing." Helga smirked, folding her arms in front of her chest.

Glad to see her finally lightening up, Bryan replied, "Sorry. I'll work harder next time, promise." He reached for the tray and put it into the oven, his eyes only leaving hers for a mere second. "Now we just wait for nine to eleven minutes until it's done."

"Yeah," said Helga, not knowing what else to say. She rubbed the back of her neck. Arnold came up next to them and crouched down, putting a baking sheet of cookies into the oven next to theirs.

"Hey, guys. Doing good?"

"Mind your own business, Football Head," Helga said with a slight smirk. "What about you? I'm guessing Princess already messed something up."

Arnold sighed, standing up. "Yeah, Rhonda made a few mistakes. She put in the eggs without cracking them, didn't mix the ingridents together enough - Things like that. It's all right, though, we fixed most of them."

Helga snickered, covering her mouth with one hand. She put the other down on the place behind her.

"Typical. She may be a fashion diva, but- Eeeek!"

"Helga!"

"Owww!" Helga frantically shook her hand, trying to shake the pain away.

"No, Helga, don't do that! You'll just make it worse," Arnold said. She had accidentally placed her hand on the stove behind her, burning herself. The teacher was nowhere in sight - Mrs. Johnson had informed the class that she was going to the restroom.

Meanwhile, Bryan grabbed an empty bowl and ran over to the sink, filling it with ice-cold water. He went back to her, took her hand, and dipped it in.

"...Ah..." Helga sighed with relief, feeling much better. "Thanks, Bryan. This really helps - A lot." He set the bowl down on a table. After a few seconds, she caught a glimpse of Arnold, who seemed to be a little... Down. She looked at him sympathetically.

"Something biting you, Arnoldo?" She would've folded her arms, but didn't want to take her hand out of the water.

"N-No, I... Err... I-It's nothing. Stupid, really..."

I bet it's not. Not when you're making that kind of face, at least.

"Hey, Bryan? Can you get me a paper towel or something? You know, for when I get my hand out of the water?"

"Yeah, sure thing," he said, then turned around and left.

"Okay, now nobody's listening," said Helga, looking back at Arnold. "You can tell me."

Arnold lowered his head slightly, almost like he was embarassed. "You didn't have to do that. I already told you it's stupid."

"Nothing's stupid to a girl who just put her hand right on top of a stove," she said with a small laugh, trying to cheer him up a bit.

He thought about it for a while, his eyes drifting here and there. Then, he let out a sigh and made up his mind. "Do you promise not to laugh?"

"I will make no such promises." But when she saw that look on his face that just completely broke her heart, she immediately changed her mind. "I-I will try not to, though. Ninety-nine percent chance I won't."

Once she saw Arnold's face light up at least a little, she smiled, her guilty conscience wiped away.

"Okay, well... It's just that I felt kind of bad when I wasn't able to help you at all when you burnt your hand... And Bryan... He healed it completely, without a second thought."

At this, Helga's lips curved into a smile.

My precious love, you never fail to amaze me. Could it be? That you were actually jealous over the new boy? Oh, be still, my thumping heart, I must not let my guard down just yet!

"Hey, please don't laugh. You promised you wouldn't."

"I'm not, Arnold," she said, putting her free hand on his shoulder. "I just can't believe you would get upset about something so... Unnecessary."

"It's not unnecessary, Helga. I mean, who knows what would've happened if Bryan wasn't there? You could've seriously hurt yourself!" He let out another sigh. "...And it was my fault, anyways. If I hadn't distracted you, this never would've happened..."

"Arnold," Helga began, still not exactly sure how to put it. "You're being too hard on yourself. There's no need to make such a big deal about this. Look - When Mrs. Johnson comes back, we'll just tell her that I burnt my hand because of my clumsiness."

"But, Helga, I already told you, it was my-"

"We don't have to mention all those... Extra things to her. Besides, let's just cut her a break." Arnold frowned, but didn't protest nonetheless. Then they saw the door creak open, showing Bryan, with a few paper towels in his hands, and their teacher following closely behind him. Helga smiled as they went over to her.

"Oh, Helga, how did this happen?" Mrs. Johnson asked, concerned.

"Just put my hand right on top of it. Clumsy me, I know."

"Oh, dear... Please, be more careful next time! We can't have accidents like this happening again!"

"All right, I get it," said Helga, her patience being tested once again. "Don't have to tell me twice."

"We must have the nurse come here at once."

Helga almost jumped a little at the mention of their school nurse. She didn't like the sound of that.

"Wh-What is she going to do?"

"Don't worry, she's just going to give you some relief cream and gauze your hand. It won't hurt... Then again, it never really happened to me."

Helga shot her a death glare. "She better not mess up like the last times I visited her. When I had a stomach ache, she gave me the wrong pills!"

"That was last year, sweetie. This year, she's going to make a much better nurse."

She scowled in reply as she watched her teacher pick up the phone and started dialing some numbers.

"It's going to be all right," said Bryan, trying to comfort her, holding her free hand. "If it's just a small burn, it won't be that bad." She nodded, with a half-hearted smile. Arnold just stood there, staring down at the floor, not being able to do anything else.

~Middle School Jealousy~

A few minutes passed, and the nurse finally came. Once she told Helga to get her hand out of the water, which she did, Helga let out a cry of pain that made Arnold wince. She put on some kind of cream, then the nurse wrapped her hand with gauze. Helga was then sent home, letting her recover for the rest of the day.

For Arnold, the rest of his day just droned on and on, for, strangely, the only thought in his mind being Helga.

~Middle School Jealousy~

Riiing! Riiing! Rii- "Yes, what do you want?" Helga fumed, picking up her telephone from her bed. "This better be good, bucko, because I have an injury that needs healing - Now speak up!"

"...Um, Helga? It's me - Arnold."

Arnold! Helga's eyes went wide as she sat up straight on her mattress.

"O-Oh! Hey, Football Head. What're you calling me for?"

"Well, you see," said Arnold, his voice crackling from the other end, "I still feel bad for what happened today, and I want to make it up to you. So, I was thinking... W-Would you like to... Come with me to Slausen's tomorrow? Maybe after school?"

...Oh. My. Gosh. Did he just ask me out... On a date?

"Uh, hold on, let me think about it first," she said, then covered the phone with her hand. Helga let out a loud, happy squeal, slumping on the side of her bed. She picked up the phone again and answered, "Sure, why not?"

"Great! So, what time would work for you?"

And then something hit her. She just remembered the other phone call she recieved just minutes earlier.

"...Four o' clock. Sharp," she said, suddenly in a serious tone. "And we leave at five. Not too late, not too early. All right?"

"Okay, I guess. See you tomorrow, Helga."

"Right. Later."

She hung up the phone and quickly dialed in another number.

"Hello," came the small voice from the other side.

"Hey, Pheebs. Listen - I need some advice. Apparently, I have two dates at Slausen's tomorrow after school."