She hit her alarm and woke with a start when she realized the time. Groaning, she lifted the covers over her head in a lame attempt to block out the world. It was only the first day and she was dreading the next four years. She swung her legs over the bed, achingly slow. Her body ached but she knew she had to get ready for her first day of work in the English department. As a part of her work-study this semester she had to work for three hours after her classes on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Luckily her classes on that day ended at 1, so she always had a half hour between work and class. Since she got back early from disappointment lunch with Arnold and Casey, she decided to take a nap before work—that proved to be a mistake as she rushed to make it across campus on time, fearful of making a bad first impression. Splashing water on her face and grabbing her things, she was able to make it across campus from her dorm to her campus job with a moment to spare.

She stilled her movements, caught her breath and stood awkwardly in front of the department's secretary, Mrs. Pinelli, reporting for duty. The shrewd but kind older woman regarded Helga from her big glasses, which made her big blue eyes look even more massive. "Helga Pataki I presume?" She gave the nervous girl a warm smile. "Yes, Ma'am, Helga choked out." Looking around the blond freshman, Mrs. Pinelli scanned the office for another student. Sighing she sat back down. "I guess Mr. Reyes will be showing up when he decides to. I'm glad you've decided to take your commitment to this job more seriously than he has." Shaking her head she turned her attention back to Helga. "Since you seem more responsible than your counterpart I am entrusting you with locking up the office." She handed Helga a key. "The office closes at 4:30, not 4:15, not 4:29…4:30. In addition to that, your duties will include filing, answering phones, and other miscellaneous duties such as watering Dr. Abernathy's plants every Monday." Pointing to an empty desk she continued. "You can sit there for the time being." Helga nodded and jotted down her list of responsibilities. She literally couldn't afford to mess this up since her weekend job barely covered her book costs. "Honey," Mrs. Pinelli started and placed a sympathetic hand on Helga's trembling one. "I know that you will be a good worker and I want you to know there's a lot of down time so you can study and get work done." She smiled warmly and Helga felt herself relax.

She smiled back at the woman and she felt something, or rather someone slam into her back jutting her slightly forward. Old Helga would have punched the disruption, but new Helga understood she didn't have to hide behind hostility. New Helga was rational and compassionate. Her eyes widened when she felt two large hands grip her hips to steady her. The deep voice that followed made her melt a little. "I'm sorry beautiful, are you okay?" Helga looked up in bewilderment at two beautiful brown eyes smiling down at her. She felt strange sensations where his hands touched; her shirt riding up a little caused his pinky and ring fingers access to her exposed skin. Gasping silently she tugged her shirt down and folded her arms. She could feel his eyes on her and instead of being angry she felt self-conscious. Stepping from his embrace she nodded and moved to the side of Mrs. Pinelli's desk. The older woman arched an eyebrow at the interaction, tickled by the boy's lecherous smirk. "You must be Mr. Zachary Reyes."

He looked up at her apologetically and handed her some wilting flowers from his bag. "I'm so sorry for being late Mrs. Pinelli, I'm promise it will never happen again." Helga looked at the fanfare he made by the gesture and rolled his eyes. He honestly didn't think handing someone dying flowers and laying on the charm would excuse being late the first day of work, right? Helga's face dropped once she heard Mrs. Pinelli giggle. A few compliments and some raggedy flowers turned this strong woman into mush? What the hell? The older woman stood closer to the boy and whispered, "well let's say we keep this between us. I understand that everyone makes mistakes. Just don't let it happen again." The boy smiled and held his hand to his chest. "Scout's honor." He then turned to Helga and winked. She rolled her eyes again and opened her book. The cocky boy was making her sick. She sat at the desk while Mrs. Pinelli rattled on about Zachary's responsibilities. Before long she felt a gust of air as he sat beside her. "What are you reading?" Without bothering to look at him she held up her book so he could read the title. "Wuthering Heights, huh?" She turned back around and focused on the book, already bored by the conversation. He leaned closer and whispered, although where they were was already secluded. "So…are you reading for business or pleasure?"

Helga huffed and put down the book. "Both. I have to write a paper for class, but I love this book anyway."

He smiled a little and regarded her. There was something about her that made him want to learn more. She was mysterious, guarded. She hid behind everything—her clothes, her books, her walls. He could tell she was the loner type and she probably didn't know how beautiful she was. He had a good feeling about her, and his instincts were usually spot-on. They continued that way, her diligently reading and him sneaking glances as he finished his calculus work. Every so often Mrs. Pinelli would call on them to do some menial task and then it was back to the desk. Mrs. Pinelli, or Nancy as she asked Zachary to call her, left at 4pm, so for thirty minutes it was Helga and the curly haired boy in complete silence. He tried to strike up a conversation, but she remained focused on her book, only offering one word answers until it was time to close the office. She was about to head to her dorm when she heard Zachary call her. "Hey, Helga?"

"Yeah?"

He smiled in that annoyingly charming way. "I think I'm going to like working with you." He walked down the hallway backwards, never losing eye contact until he turned towards the door and went down the stairs. She smiled and shook her head. Maybe working with Zack wouldn't be so bad after all.

The week progressed pretty normally with Helga actually enjoying most of her classes. Most because she had one class she was dreading—biology. The reason behind the fear had little to do with the material or professor. It had everything to do with the bubbly brunette Casey. The girl was so excited to see her too. The whole thing made Helga feel guilty. She was so sweet and all Helga wanted to do was punch her. It didn't help matters that the girl talked about Arnold like she knew him her whole life. Speaking of Arnold, she rarely interacted with him at all this week, and she hoped that pattern would continue. By the time Friday rolled around she was grateful to have the whole weekend relatively to herself. She had to work Sunday morning but other than that she was going to study and hit the gym.

Dropping her bag she changed into her sweats, pulled her long blonde hair into a messy ponytail and headed to the gym. She vowed once she got to college she would try to be healthier. She was never going to be a health food nut like Olga, she just wanted to incorporate veggies when she ate a double bacon cheeseburger and drink more water. She was young and thankfully had Miriam's fast metabolism on her side. She was also told exercise was a great stress reliever so she decided to head to the campus gym. She was paying for the use as a part of her tuition, might as well use it right? She figured it was the perfect time to go since most people were studying or getting ready to go out. She was wrong. Although it wasn't packed, there were about 5 or six students in the small area either weight lifting or on the elliptical. Hopping on the second to last empty treadmill, she slipped on her headphones and got lost in her music. A tap on her shoulder turned her attention to her left where a smiling Arnold greeted her. "Hey Helga. How have you been?" He stepped on the treadmill beside her and kept talking.

She wanted to hate him. She wanted to freeze him out, push him away, but she couldn't He was so kind, so considerate, so Arnold. She could never hurt him purposely. "I'm good."

"I haven't seen you around. How are your classes? Casey told me she has a class with you. Biology, right?"

She nodded, all the while dying inside. Not even five minutes into the conversation and he was bringing up another girl. "Yeah."

He waited a minute for her to continue before realizing she had no plans to. "So…"

She looked at him and slipped her headphones off. "Yeah?"

"How are your other classes? Geez Helga, are you sure everything's okay?"

She hated making small talk. She hated that a conversation with Arnold had been reduced to small talk. "Yeah, everything's fine Arnold. I'm just a little tired. Classes are good. How about yours?"

He frowned when he heard her answer. Where was her fire? She seemed hollow, broken somehow. He cringed every time she called him Arnold. She'd never know how much he missed her calling him 'Football Head'.

"Helga, you know if something was wrong you could talk to me, right? You know why I was so excited when I found out we were going to the same school? I thought this could be our time to start fresh, we can be friends again." He sighed and carded a hand through his thick blonde locks. "I miss you."

Helga knew he'd only want her as his friend and no matter how much she dreamed of being more it would never happen. It hurt at first, but now she felt desensitized to the pain. She kept hitting her head against the wall. Now the spot was callous and everything was numb. "You know Arnold? I'd like that." Stepping off the treadmill she watched as he followed suit. She held out her hand for him to shake. "Friends?"

He grabbed it quickly and shook back, grinning. "Friends"

She made her way out of the room back to her dorm, with Arnold walking beside her. She felt good about this new arrangement. She could be friends with her old obsession. It was a sign of maturity that she wasn't going to ignore him completely. Besides what's the worst that could happen?

"Hey," Arnold began, fidgeting nervously. "I know you're busy and have work and everything, but there's a party tonight and I was wondering if you wanted to check it out." He looked at her with bright, hopeful eyes.

She already promised to be his friend, she decided going to a party couldn't make things worse. "What the hey."

He bounced on his heels. "Great. I can meet you here at 10."

"See you then Arnold." She waved at his retreating figure and ran up to room.

An hour later she was laying on her bed, pools of clothing sprawled out beside her. She was nervous. All that false optimism from this afternoon was gone and she couldn't for the life of her understand why she accepted his offer. What if he meant it as something more than a friendly outing? She had to dress to impress while looking like she didn't care. She had zero experience in this and it showed in the outfits she was pulling together. Finally decided to just be herself she pulled out a pair of her dressier black skinny jeans, a silky one shoulder blue blouse. Focusing on comfort she wore a pair of broken in black peep toe pumps and accessorized with a sleek high ponytail, gold bangle and black clutch. She then added minimal makeup, and took a second to preen in the mirror before she heard a knock at the door.

"Hey Helga, it's me." She knew Arnold's voice anywhere.

She took a deep breath and tried to shake her jitters away. Hand on the doorknob she closed her eyes slightly. Here goes nothing.