DISCLAIMER: hey Arnold isn't mine it's © 2 nickelodeon and I have NO connections!

WARNING: DO NOT READ THIS CHAPTER YET IF YOU'VE SUFFERED BEFORE FROM CLIFFHANGERS (EX: NO SLEEP) it's happened 2 me, just lookin out 4 u folk ^^

'Mom? Pop?' a Helga and Arnold fic

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chapter 2

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A week had passed since that dreadful afternoon. Helga couldn't take anymore. Every time she brought up the subject of the picture, Arnold just shrugged it off. *I need to know. I gotta.*

Just then, there was a knock on the door. "Helga dear! Your friend Arnold's here!"

"Let him in Mariam!"

Arnold opened the door and walked in. Helga couldn't help but return his cheerful smile, even if most of it was hidden. "Hey."

"Hey. So where were we Helga?"

"Um. I'm not sure. Why don't you go?"

"Hm." Arnold hesitated. "Have I ever told you the story of my great-grandma who."

"Got run over by her own car with no driver in it?" She interrupted. "3 times."

"Well what about my aunt?"

"You mean the lawyer who invented post-its?" Helga rolled her eyes.

"My great uncle?"

"I don't think so."

"Great!" Arnold sighed with relief. "Now he was a."

"SHOVE IT FOOTBALL HEAD!" Helga yelled. Arnold's mouth shut faster than the newest rocket developed by NASA and UNSF. She sighed and got up.

"Look." She started. "When we started this project, the only color picture in your album was of your parents and you won't talk about them!"

"What made you think that they're my parents?"

"It's easy to tell! Your mother's football head senior and your father's blond! I wasn't born yesterday!"

"I didn't say you were!"

"That's not the point." Helga sighed and sat back down. Her vision borrowed Arnold's. "I wanna know about your parents. But you don't wanna tell me. Why?"

Arnold turned his head. He paused. "I've never told anyone and I don't intend on telling anyone either."

"But Arnold."

"Case closed!" Without him even realizing it, Arnold's arm swung towards Helga, practicly knocking her off her seat. She stopped. Arnold looked at his hand and clenched it into a fist. "I'm sorry. I kinda get mad when someone brings my parents up."

"Then I'm the one who should be sorry."

"It's ok." Arnold looked at Helga. *Maybe she WON'T tell. But what if she does?*

"Ok. I'll make you a deal." Arnold started. "If you promise to tell no one, I'll tell you about my parents."

"I. I guess I promise. Go ahead."

Arnold paused. "A long time ago, my parents met on a African exploration. My pop was a scientist and my mom. well I'm not so sure what she was. Anyhow, they got to know each other really well and I guess. well I guess things just started to click."

"Then what?"

"They moved back here, got married, had me, everything was perfect."

"Then what happened?"

Arnold paused. He looked up at Helga's eager face.

"A bad disease spread through Africa, and they went for a little while, promising they'd come back. Grandpa said they never came back, and their plane was never found." Arnold bowed his head, clutching his small, blue cap to his heart. Helga looked down.

"I. I'm sorry."

"It's ok. I guess I needed to tell someone. It was building up."

"I know all about that. It's happened to me. My parents aren't gone but it's like they are. They're slaves for my sister."

"How's that feel?"

"Are you kidding?! I've raised myself my entire life! I hate my life, I hate my family, I hate my sister."

"Hm. Seems you have a lot more to hate than I do. No wonder you always yell at everyone. I know it seems kinda weird, but since we started this project together, you've been a lot nicer to me."

Helga paused. "I. I feel the same way. Friends?"

"Friends."

Helga and Arnold looked at each other. Their blank looks suddenly changed to smiles and laughter when Arnold started tickling Helga.

"Hey! Quit it!"

"You're alittle ticklish, huh?"

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A few weeks later, Arnold and Helga sat in the attic of the boarding house, engaged in a glue-fight. Laughter shot around the room just like the glue. It finally settled down as Helga stamped a picture of Arnold and his parents on the poster. He wiped a tear as he looked at it.

"Ya know," Helga started. "I'll bet they're still watching you."

"They're probably going 'why the hell is he in a glue fight when he's sopposed to be doing a project?'" Both laughed, but it ceased at the sound of the doorbell.

Arnold slid down the staircase and flung the door open. A young man and a young woman were there. "Excuse me," the woman started, "But are we at the right address?"

Arnold took the paper from her and nodded. "Yeah, you're right. What can I do for ya?"

"Oh wow. It's been so long since we've last been here. Are two old looney folks named Phil and Pooky running this house?"

"Sure they are. Is there anything I can do?"

"Well they probably think we're dead by now." The man replied. "We left our little one here years ago, and we just made it back to America a short while ago."

"I see. What's the name?"

"Well our son's name is Arnold."

Arnold stared at the two adults, who were clueless. Helga rushed down the stairs. "Hey football head!" Arnold didn't answer.

"What's up?" she asked.

"Um. excuse me," Arnold paused. "Helga, can I have a quick word?" Arnold pulled Helga to the side before she could reply. "What's going on?" she asked.

"Helga there's something I need to tell you."

"Like what?"

"Those two people at the door. they're."

"They're what?"

Arnold paused. "They're my parents."

Helga's eyes widened. Arnold looked to the door, wondering what to do.

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I luv cliffhangers, just hate it when it happens to me. I'm glad I disturbed ur sleep tonight!!!! HAHAHA well can't say I didn't warn ya haha

suki