Thanks for all of the great reviews! I'm glad to know someone likes it since fanfiction decided to be mean and cruel by putting on an authors account page the number of times someone read the story but never reviewed. So it's like:
FANFICTION: '29 people have reviewed your story.'
YOU: Oh cool.
FANFICTION: '2,589 people have read your story.'
YOU: ….oooookay.
So yeah, reviews are a big thing. Cause it let's an author know if the story is good enough the way it is or if some changes need to made with their writing (like grammar my biggest sin, punctuation, etc) yes there are people who do that! So enough blabbing, here's chapter 3!
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CHAPTER 3: A Resurfacing Grudge
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BANG! BANG! BANG!
Helga woke up startled at the loud noise coming from…gosh where was it coming from? She was so groggy from sleep she just had enough strength to lift up and walk up to the door. From the response she received last night, no one recognized her, so she wasn't exactly expecting company.
Brushing her short hair back with her fingers she unlocked and opened the door after another set of three bangs and saw a middle aged man, probably in his early thirties with a clip board in hand.
"Yes?" she asked tiredly.
"Helga Munizza?" he asked.
"Yeah." She answered.
"We're from the Salvation Army we're here to collect your things."
It took her a while to process everything he just said but suddenly remembered her appointment for 7 am.
"Oh right right, come on in." she responded stepping aside to let him in. "Sorry I completely forgot."
"Oh it's okay," he answered looking her up and down.
She gave him a nervous smile and suggested to show him around to everything that would be taken.
"Wow wee lady, it looks like a robbery hit this place." He commented after looking everything over.
"No, just family with anger management problems, but…umm…yeah, haha, I'll get out of your way now." She said nervously looking down.
"Right no problem Ms. Munizza, we'll have this stuff out of here in a jip." He assured her before whistling loudly to signal the other man to begin work. Helga didn't want to get in the way but she didn't feel like leaving either since it was so early. So she just sat on the ledge of her stairs leaning against the wall of the doorway until she was needed.
"Arnold I'm serious man, Helga is back in town!"
"Sure Gerald that's what you keep telling us."
"Great! First Phoebe now you! When is someone going to believe me around here! That new girl in town is definitely Helga Pataki; she just got a different name!"
"Gerald, don't you think that if Helga was back in town the first person she'd try to communicate with is Phoebe?" Arnold suggested.
"Well….yeah, but I'm going to go to her address after the meeting and prove to you, that that's Helga Pataki!"
"Whatever you say Gerald"
The two friends were riding in Gerald's explorer on their way to school for the student council committee. Why they were meeting at 7:30 in the morning, no one would ever know. But they guessed that the earlier they went the more time they'd have for other things. It was nearing Prom, and since Arnold was the Vice President and Gerald was the Secretary, they had no choice but to be there.
Before Arnold knew it they were already pulling in front of the school and hoping out of the car. Arnold of course still had his signature sized head but was a bit smaller to even out his body frame. He had joined the baseball team, adventure club, and of course student council during his time in high school. He looked across the car to see Gerald give him a serious face and point at him with a 'you gonna believe me when you see her man' look. He couldn't do anything but smile at his best friend as they entered the school doors and proceeded to the meeting.
Somewhere during the course of the meeting Arnold began to wonder back to his old childhood friend/bully. Was she really back? He couldn't help but wonder. He remembered the devastation Phoebe went through when she had learned her friend had left and how weird it felt to not have her around.
Ever since Pre-K he had grown use to the name calling, the spit balls, the shoving and random helping hands Helga had given him all through his time at school. So when school started again for 5th grade, he went through the whole first week thinking that something was missing. He was informed of Helga's absence before school started but never thought he'd actually missed being bullied by her. He remembered the first time he told Gerald that and how Gerald immediately had him rushed to the nurse's office telling her that he was suffering from a case of "He's-starting-to become-a-nut man" syndrome. Just thinking back to it all made him smile.
"So what do think Arnold?"
"What?" he asked, snapping out of trance; he did a double take to realize his girlfriend, Lila, was talking to him. Since she was treasure of the committee she had to be there to let everyone know whether or not their ideas fitted the class budget.
"You silly, I asked if you think we should go with a medieval theme for prom." She asked with a smile.
He thought about what she said for a second before responding.
"No, too many pointy hats and a terrible flashback to wearing tights."
That got a small laugh out of all the members.
"How about we keep the medieval theme in mind but go with a prince and princess theme for Prom?" he suggested. "Because as we all know two lucky people will be crowned King and Queen…why not let everyone get a piece of the royal treatment?"
"Hey yeah that could work." Gerald agreed. "Besides what girl doesn't like feeling like a princess?"
Agreements went all the way around the room and all that was left on the agenda was decorations and advertisements. When all of that was done it was 8:45am and Gerald was dead set on proving his theory to Arnold.
He sighed in defeat and the two walked out to his car before they were stopped by a female voice calling out to Arnold.
"Arnold!"
He turned around to see Lila running up to him and jumped in his arms giving him a peck on the lips.
"You were ever so amazing during the meeting this morning. You're ideas were amazing!" she complimented. "But where are you going?"
"Gerald has a theory he wants to prove to me." He explained putting her down on the ground.
"Can I come?" she asked.
"What?" Arnold asked a bit baffled. He didn't really know how to answer that. If this girl really was Helga then he didn't know how Lila would react around her. Ever since Helga's absence during summer break Lila was starting to spend more time with him. And when they found out she was gone Lila openly admitted she didn't want to start a relationship with Arnold because she was intimidated by Helga. He could help but laugh at her cuteness and they started their official first day as a couple on the first day of their fifth grade year.
"I asked can I come with." She repeated.
"Uhhh…."
"Sure!" Gerald interrupted. "I'm gonna need somebody to help me prove my theory if Arnold doesn't believe me."
"Oh good, I'm more than certain this would be fun!" she cheered, as she went and climbed into the car.
"Come on Arnold hop in!" Gerald called before shutting the door.
What else could he do? He could do nothing but sigh in defeat as his stomach did weird flip flops of what laid ahead.
The Salvation Army was done faster than expected so Helga had time to take a quick shower and get dress before her stuff arrived.
8:45
She saw on her watch. It was way too early for lunch and she couldn't leave for breakfast because Sears would be there in about 15 minutes. So she just settled with some left over pizza and stepped outside to enjoy the after rain air that was welcoming spring.
By the time she finished her pizza her cell phone rang flashing her home phone in Ohio showing somebody already missed her.
"Hello?"
"Eyyy…Salve (Hello) little Hellie."
"Uncle Mario!" she exclaimed in sudden recall of his voice. "Buena, buena, I'm getting some new furniture."
"Ah! You're throwing away old things and I'm not there to destroy them into tiny microns!" he asked with a deep accent.
She couldn't help but to laugh. Uncle Mario was always violent when it came to family affairs, just like Joey. Mario is Joey's younger brother and kind of became Helga's big brother since she became part of the family. He always added violence to the littlest of things but made it in a way were it was humorous. So she had fun throughout all of their shenanigans, even when he snuck and taught a few "bad" words behind her parents back.
"Sorry maybe next time." she apologized. By then the Sears truck had already arrived and she waved to cue them that she was the one they were delivering to.
She continued to talk with her uncle about various things as the movers moved everything in to the places she had pointed out. Unknown to her though, a green explorer had pulled up on the other side of the street of her home watching her intently as she spoke on the phone.
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"So you believe that this girl is Helga Pataki?" Arnold inquired to Gerald.
"Well there's only one ay to find out." Lila remarked as she climbed out the explorer, much to Arnold's calling dismay, and walked toward Helga.
"Hmmm…and here I thought you were the bold kid Arnold." Gerald casually commented.
"I'm just having a hard time believing that that girl could be Helga Pataki!" Arnold argued. He felt his heart beat million times per nano-second and wasn't sure if it was from adrenaline, fear, embarrassment, or…excitement. All he knew was that he was perfectly fine until they had pulled up to see a beautiful blonde talking on her cell phone happily while occasionally laughing standing in front of Helga's old house. Her short blonde hair framed her face perfectly, making all of her facial features seem golden. With her pink ribbon tied in her hair it matched her pink layered skirt and the pink lace that the filled the boundary of the shirt sleeves on her white t-shirt.
Arnold hadn't noticed but it had been awhile since either him or Gerald spoke and Gerald was putting all of his attention on his friend.
"You know, Arnold. If my theory is correct, then Helga is gonna beat the crap outta Lila." Gerald remarked, bringing Arnold back to reality in fear.
"Oh shit!" he exclaimed as he hurriedly tried to climb out of the car to rush to girlfriend's aid.
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"Si…si…no nothing's better then nani's cooking."
(Pause)
"You mean the one time when Ellie pushed Leon onto the window ledge where the Thanksgiving turkey was sitting and it went flying onto the window. And grand-p was coming up the driveway when the turkey landed in his arms, so he took it in as a miracle turkey and didn't get to eat it so we all had to go out to eat?"
(Pause)
"Hahahahaha, oh yeah, gosh I'm gonna miss those things while I'm here." Helga complained.
At that time Lila had taken the opportunity to walk up to Helga in an angle to get her attention without speaking to her, giving her a friendly smile. Helga in turn noticed this and finished the rest of her phone conversation her uncle telling him that in Italian that there was leech in front of her and she'd talk to him later.
Helga closed her phone and decided to put on the act as the new girl in town.
"Hi…" Helga began, "Can I help you?"
"Oh umm…I was just wondering were you got that ever so beautiful skirt from? I simply love it!"
"Oh well…I'm new in town so I brought it from home." She explained.
"Oh really? Well if you'd like I can show you around town me and my-"
"Lila!" Arnold called interrupting their conversation, jogging up to the two.
"Oh Arnold." Lila started leaning against her boyfriend.
"Arnold?"
"Arnold I was just admiring this girls skirt, don't you think it's simply precious?" she cooed.
"Precious!" Helga thought angrily.
"Oh where are my manners?" Lila asked to no one in particular. "How rude of me not to introduce myself!" she reached out her hand to shake Helga's, baffles her for a second.
"My name is Lila." She introduced.
"Hi Lila, nice to meet you." Helga greeted, shaking her hand.
"This is my boyfriend, Arnold." She introduced as well.
For some reason, Helga felt like crying right then and there. It's been nearly a decade since she had seen her old love and the last memory she had of him would be of Lila.
She cringed a bit before quickly covering it with a smile and extended her hand to him as well.
"Hi Arnold it's nice to meet you too." Helga greeted, reaching for his hand, but as soon as she touched his hand the two of the quickly reflexes back from each other from a strong shock emitted from their finger tips.
"That's strange…" Helga wondered. "I don't remember rubbing against anything today."
"Weird…" Arnold thought. "That shock almost felt…nice."
"Oww…a little bit of static there huh?" Helga joked.
"Yeah." Arnold laughed, before an awkward silence fell upon them for a second.
"Oh well." Helga laughed nervously cueing somebody to start speaking.
"Oh well…we were just riding by and saw someone moving into our old friend's house so decided to see if it was her or not." Arnold explained.
"Oh well…"
"But you're ever so beautiful!" Lila chirped in feeling left out.
Her sudden outburst caused Helga and Arnold's eyes to meet for the first time in 7 years. Helga mumbled a thank you but was too wrapped up in the sudden rush of new and lost emotions that flowed through her body making her insides burn. All of this just from looking into his eyes only made her imagine what kissing his lips would be like. A chill ran through her spine before snapped back to reality from Arnold whelping in pain from Lila stomping on his foot for his attention.
"Oh by the way, excuse me for my manners!" Helga began, getting confused looks from the couple.
"I haven't properly introduced myself. My name is-"
When we fell in love des-tiny,
My heart will always race,
Our nights will never end..
(a/n: that's the ending theme to Record of Lodoss War the first season. I have it for a ringtone its pretty cool.)
Helga was interrupted by her cell phone ringing flashing another number from home.
"Salve."
(Pause)
"Oh nani! I uh…"
(Pause)
"Si…si."
"Umm, come on Lila she seems busy." Arnold said guiding her away from Helga.
They got back to Gerald and drove off to begin their weekend wondering if the new girl for sure was Helga Pataki. Of course now that Lila knows the rumors are gonna spread like wild fire so they'll just have to wait to see how things go on Monday at school. The last semester was beginning so who knew what would happen?
On Helga's side she really didn't care if people knew she was back or not. She was here for one reason and one reason only, and that was so she could fight her old ghost she can completely close this chapter of her life!
She lay in her brand new bed sinking into the softness that seemed to swallow her whole. She felt so rejuvenated after that horrid night on the couch that she slowly closed her eyes rethinking the things that had happened a little while ago.
Lila must be so pissed! Helga could tell from the way she acted when she and Arnold began staring at each other. Lila was a cool girl but annoying as hell! And Lila was just standing in the way of her goal.
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TBC
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That concludes another chapter!
-Ura out
