Chapter 3: The Search
Antonio's Pizza
"Hey, have you seen a girl in here?" Harold asked the hostess as he entered Antonio's Pizza.
Giving a perplexed look, the hostess asked "What kind of girl?"
"She's mean and ugly and...and makes fun of people." Harold went on trying to think of ways to describe Helga.
The hostess expected a more decisive description. After not being given one, she said "I'm sorry, I haven't. Would you like to eat with us? Maybe you'll eventually see her here."
As Harold watched the menu being held out to him, he said "Oohhh I shouldn't, but okay."
Walk
As Arnold was heading down the street towards the park, he past 'Pet Love.' Arnold stopped to look in the window, thinking about his parrot. A memory then began to come back to him…
Oh hey Helga… what are you doing here? Buying a pet?
Arnold had seen her sneaking up behind him, as if she was ready to grab the parrot.
"I guess she really was following me! Wow!" Arnold thought to himself before continuing his walk to the park.
City Lake
"Oh it's so beautiful!" Nadine said to herself, looking at a spider egg sack she had found. As she was continuing to become more fascinated by the insects surrounding the lake than the thought of finding Helga, she heard…
"Out of the way! I own this park!"
Nadine looked over to see Rex Smythe-higgins and his grandfather.
"Thy Hydro-flame 6000 should sail much more efficiently than the 5000." Rex said, setting his boat for sail. As he was about to turn on the remote, he heard…
"Hey there!"
"Aren't you friends with that kid with the weird shaped head?" Rex asked.
"Uh yeah. I was just wondering if you've seen our friend Helga?"
"I am unfamiliar with that name." Rex said in a snobbish voice.
"She has blonde hair and wears a pink dress. She was also with us when we faced you guys during the Pig War." Nadine continued thinking of ways to job his memory until Rex finally said…
"Oh yes. I have not seen her."
Walk
Arnold continued making his way to the park, thinking about how unbelievable it was that everything Helga said to him that night actually was true. As he came closer towards the park, he rounded the corner of J.J. Sausages. Before crossing the street, Arnold stood a moment and thought to himself…
This is the spot I ran into Helga when she handed my hat back to me. Did she know I would be here?
Aquarium
"Hi Angel! Remember me? Eugene! He waved at me!" Eugene said excitedly before turning to miss his fish being pinched by a crab.
"Excuse me Mr. Guard, Sir!" Eugene asked politely.
"What is it kid?"
"I'm looking for my friend, Helga."
"What do I look like, a chaperone? Now let's go, beat it! We're closing in ten minutes!" The guard shouted, as Eugene gave one last wave goodbye to his fish.
Walk
Nearly making it to the park, Arnold looked over to see they were setting up for the Cheese Fair. That brought back a few memories. Not just hoping to enjoy his nights attempting to win over Lila and Ruth, but the reasons everything went wrong…
Helga bumped into me when I was walking over to say hi to Ruth. She wouldn't stop ramming into my bumper car on either of those nights. She was right behind me in the house of mirrors. I heard her shoving her way through the tunnel of love line to match the spot I was in.
Arcade
"Ooohh… Whack-a-mole is up and runnin'!" Stinky said excitedly, as he entered the arcade.
Racing towards the game, Stinky said out loud to himself "Now what in the heck did I come here for again?"
Bopping the moles one by one, Stinky felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around to see a familiar face…
"Oh hey there Ms. Gloria. How have you been?"
"Just fine Stinky. How's your friend Helga I met at the movies?" she asked politely.
"Helga! That's what I forgot. You haven't seen her have you?"
"No, I'm afraid not."
"Aww gee!"
Park
Arnold at last made it to the park. As anxious as he was to find Helga, he was happy to be alone with his thoughts. So much information had been put into his mind recently. He needed to be able to process these thoughts.
Slausens
Phoebe had been anxiously searching the streets for her best friend. How could Helga just bail on Arnold? This was the day she had always dreamed of. Helga had finally gotten the courage to reveal her feelings to Arnold, and now it appeared as though he maybe (just maybe) returning them.
Entering the ice cream parlor, Phoebe came to find the place was full, but her best friend was nowhere in site.
Approaching the counter, Phoebe asked the cashier "Umm excuse me…"
"Yes Ma'am." Wyatt, the cashier asked.
"I'm looking for my friend Helga. She had blonde hair she wears in pigtails, a unibrow, and wears a pink jumper."
After hearing the detailed description Phoebe gave of her best friend, Wyatt asked "Does she always order an extra large triple chocolate shake with two cherries and extra whipped cream?"
Phoebe's eyes widened with hope, thinking this may mean she had been there recently.
"Yes sir, she does!"
"She hasn't been here today." Wyatt said bluntly, while a frown began to form on Phoebe's face.
Where could her best friend be?
Park
As Arnold circled the park, he past the spot he and Gerald often played catch in. Passing by here brought back yet another memory of Helga maybe stalking him.
As he and his best friend were tossing their baseball towards one another that day, Helga flew right past them as she was being chased by a swarm of bees.
Hey, wasn't that Helga? Uh huh…
Roller Rink
Entering the roller rink, hoping to find Helga, Sid began looking around only to hear…
"For crying out loud! Can't you do anything right?!"
Sid turned to see a familiar face as he walked over to ask "Coach Wittenburg? What are you doing here?"
"Huh? Oh hey kid. I'm trying to get my team in shape for the skating competition next weekend."
"Skating competition? Boy howdy! That sounds cool."
"Yeah. If these kids could just get their act together!" Coach Wittenburg shouted, making Sid rethink what he had just said.
"Uhh anyway. Have you seen Helga?"
"Helga?"
"Yeah, you know, the mean girl who was in your wedding." Sid reminded him.
"Oh yeah! No, sorry kid."
The Park
After circling the park four or five times, Arnold had a good idea by that point Helga wasn't there. He decided to take a seat on the bench Lila had dumped him at. As the memory of the spot was coming back to him, he remembered Helga lurking behind him that day…
Hey football head how's it going?
Helga, what are you doing here?
Oh nothing, just climbing trees
Gerald Field
"Well, that was easy." Gerald said to himself, as he stood in front of the empty field. "Guess I could go check on Arnold."
The Park
Arnold leaned back on the bench admitting to himself it had been made clear Helga wasn't lying when she said she had been stalking him. What about the other things she said. Did she really fill volumes of books with poems about him?
That pink book of poems I found on the bus could have been hers...which would explain why she ripped out the last page before I could read it.
All those anonymous poems Mr. Simmons reads in class are about somebody. Maybe she wrote them about me?
I do remember her speaking to me in sort of a poetic way when we were on the golf course together.
Chez Paris
"Mademoiselle?"
"Hi, I'm looking for a girl who's dress attire is way out of this league. I don't know what made my friend's think she'd be worthy of dining here, but I was told to check." Rhonda explained, receiving a puzzled look from the host.
"I see. Tell me madam, what exactly does this friend of yours look like?"
"Well, despite the poor outfit, she has blonde hair she wears in horrendous pigtails, an eyesore unibrow, and…"
"Unibrow? Is she by any chance friends with a young boy with a football shaped head?"
"Why yes. How did you know?"
"She is no longer welcome here. Not after the terrible cockroach infestation she and her friends placed upon this beautiful restaurant." The host explained.
The Park
Leaning forward on the bench with his head in his heads, Arnold thought to himself…
I guess the poetry thing's not so shocking. I did wonder who those poems were about every day in class. What about the shrines? When has she ever….
Arnold then thought back to the day Helga had found his hat. Did she find it or was she returning it? He began to feel a bit lightheaded at the thought of her stealing something so simple just to go through the trouble of making an actual figure of him.
The Corner Store
Shortly after entering the store, Lila saw Mrs. Johannson working at the register.
"Hello Mrs. Johannson!"
"Hello Lila, how are you?"
"I'm ever so certain I'm doing just fine. Have you seen my friend Helga recently?"
"No? She normally stops by to pick up a few sports magazines. I haven't seen her today though." Mrs. Johannson explained.
"Well thank you just ever so much for telling me." Lila waved goodbye as she left the story.
The Park
With his head buried in his hands, leaning over the bench in exhaustion, Arnold heard someone take a seat beside him. He lifted his head to hear his best friend say "Hey man, any luck?"
Shaking his head, Arnold replied "No Gerald. I don't know what to do. All day I've been thinking about everything she said to me that night. The more time I've had to put the pieces together, the more I've realized it's all true. She really does love me. That doesn't explain why she ran away though?"
"Maybe she was afraid you'd reject her again? Girls don't take that kind of thing easy you know. That is, unless they're the one doing it to you."
As Arnold went through all the information about him and Helga in his mind again, he realized there was one thing he had forgotten about.
When Gerald saw his friend's eyes lit up, he asked "What is it man?"
"No time to talk Gerald. I'll see you later."
"He's a bold kid."
Avon Theater
"How many tickets ya need?" The ticket master said in a monotone voice.
"Oh, I'm not looking to see a movie sir." Sheena said politely
"I'm going to have to ask you to step out of line then...next!"
"Actually, I was wondering if you've seen my friend Helga."
"Girl this is a movie theater. Do you have any idea how many kids I see every day? I don't know what your friend looks like!"
"Oh well, she has lovely blonde hair and sweet blue eyes and…"
"Next!"