Helga cooks a pot roast with potatoes and prepares a salad for dinner after being ordered to by her father. She was use to it; it was almost a daily routine in this household. Sometimes Miriam had good days where she fixed all the meals and gave Helga good advice, but then she would switch so quickly into a darker person the next day; so Helga never let herself get attached to her mom. And her dad didn't seem to view her as a whole person, just another mouth to feed and someone to dump his frustrations on.
After eating she finally was able to get some alone time up in her room, she always made sure to lock the door for privacy purposes. She pulled out a journal she bought herself at the school's small store. Her mind went back to Arnold, it had been ages since she had seen him. She began thinking about how his embrace, eyes, and smile carried so much warmth. And to her, he matured in all the right ways and she felt herself beaming with excitement as his face appeared inside her mind.
"Oh Arnold, you've just come back into my life, but already you've brought so much joy without much effort. Why do you have this effect on me?" She said softly to herself as she tried to tune out Bob's voice blasting from downstairs.
'Your eyes have become my favorite color
Your touch is soothing like a lullaby
Your words are pure as the brightest stars in the sky
Your smile is evidence of heaven above
I've fallen so hard, that for just a precious moment, my world stopped.'
A part of Helga felt happy about rediscovering these thoughts about Arnold, but she also is terrified; because she didn't want to get a taste of his affection and then have it taken away somehow. Because somehow, Helga never seems to truly get what she wants and she thought why should Arnold be any different?
Suddenly she's forced to put her thoughts on hold because she hears her phone ringing. She gets up and smiles because she realizes its Phoebe.
She readjusts her seating position before answering. "Hey, Pheebs."
"Hello Helga, how are you, how was your first day?" She smiles at the always cheerful sound of her best friends voice. It always had a way of uplifting her.
Helga shrugs slightly. "I'm fine; my first day was alright, no drama. How was yours?"
"Oh that's great Helga, I'm happy to hear that. Mine was just great."
She bites down on her lip. "But..." She mumbles out and then pauses.
"But what? You can tell me." She says because Helga went silent. Her voice softened even more with concern.
"I saw Arnold," Helga whispers out.
She can hear Phoebe giggling a bit on the other end. "That should be expected, I'm sure you saw lots of our old classmates."
"Yeah, true, but…" She sighs.
"What is it?" Phoebe knew she just wanted to hear Helga admit it for a change.
"He approached me, helped me with my things, he walked me the class and he even walked me home." She says all this more dryly, trying to hide the absolute thrill she feels inside of her.
"That was very nice of him. Was that a problem for you?"
Helga raises her eyebrows and stands up to start pacing around her bed stretching out her arms defensively. "Huh? Problem? What makes you think I have a problem?"
"I think that because you sound sort of nervous and irritable."
Helga lowers her arm and her posture slacks. She sighs into the phone, still not wanting to admit that Phoebe is right. Still being a little stubborn.
"Helga just tell me, it might make you feel better to say whatever it is you're thinking of someone else instead of holding it in."
There was some silence, but Phoebe just waits patiently.
With a roll of her eyes, she sits down on he bed. "Alright...I'll say it, Phoebe..."
"I'm listening."
Helga eyes her journal where she writes all her poetry and her fingers begin to trace the words of the open page she just finished. "I mean he was always special, but now my God, he's just irresistible, he's just so beautiful." She practically bellowed out, her face turned completely red but then she remembers that she's talking to her best friend here.
"Okay, so you like him." Phoebe made it sound so simple and less complicated than how Helga viewed things.
Helga exhales loudly. "Yeah, but I mean there's no point in getting all excited because this is Arnold we're talking about here, he's never really shown interest in me like that."
"You never know, it took Gerald a while to ask me out even though he had a crush on me for years."
"Gerald and Arnold are not the same people."
"Exactly, Gerald has always been more assertive when it comes to girls and yet he was still shy, so Arnold could be the same."
"Yeah…well…I guess." Helga stretches out on her bed to relax, resting her head on her pillow. "So do you know…I mean does he-"
"No…" Phoebe says flatly but firmly.
Helga's brows etched together at her response. "No what?"
She hears Phoebe sigh a little bit. "You were going to ask me if Arnold had a girlfriend right? Well, the answer is no."
"Oh." She said softly. "You mean, he's never dated, Lila?" Her voice was full of disbelief, she had been certain that they would have ended up together eventually.
"Let's see... I think she did finally agree to go out with him back in 9th, but after that one date they agreed to be friends."
She felt relief wash over her a little at the news that the two of them only went out on one date and that was it. "And you're telling me he hasn't had any other girlfriends?"
Phoebe laughs mildly. "I didn't say that I'll just say that he's popular, but he hasn't had anything that has lasted and I think that's what he's looking for now."
Helga snorts and she sits up on her elbows. "So basically you're telling me he's been a male whore and now he wants a real relationship?"
Phoebe giggles. "Arnold's not like that, he's still one of the good guys, I'm just saying… he's might not be as innocent as you might remember." For some reason, that bit of information had Helga's mind going to inappropriate places.
That warm feeling in her cheeks made a comeback, she knew her face was red. She lightly laughs. "Oh well, he's what an 18-year-old guy, I didn't expect him to be."
Phoebe hums a little. "You know what Helga?"
"What?"
"I'm really happy you feel so comfortable talking to me about this." She says with complete sincerely, she as genuinely happy that Helga is opening up about her thoughts of Arnold because she had really in the past.
"Yeah... well..." She staggers out while grinning. "Phoebe?" She smiles genuinely into the phone. "You don't have to forget this conversation…just don't tell Geraldo."
"Deal." Phoebe answers with amused enthusiasm.
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Gerald was over in Arnold's room; he had his basketball and was currently twirling it on one finger and then throwing it up in the air.
After catching the ball yet again, he takes a glimpse over at Arnold who is at his desk, but he can tell he still has a mini smile on his face even with his back slightly turned away.
He puts his ball down on his lap and with a half smile he looks to his best friend. "Say Arnold."
"Yeah?" Arnold response without turning fully around.
Gerald rubs his chin, the corners of his mouth move outwardly. "When are you gonna tell me why you have that goofy smile on your face?"
"What goofy smile?"
Gerald smirks when Arnold turns around. Arnold looks like he wants to laugh, but simply shakes his head and turns back around. "I don't know what you're talking about."
There was a brief silence between the two but Arnold knew Gerald was still studying him. After pondering it over very quickly he snaps his fingers. "Ah I see, you met some girl didn't you?"
"Huh?"
He nods a few times because he's certain he's gotten this right. "Yeah that's it, you always get all goofy and weird acting when you meet a pretty girl and develop a crush."
Arnold shakes his head. "Well you're wrong, I didn't meet anyone."
Gerald stands up with his ball in hand, shaking his head in mocking disappointment. "MM M Mm I'm surprised at you Arnold; lying to your best friend."
His eyebrows knitted together once he made eye contact with Gerald. "I'm not lying I didn't meet anyone."
He sat back down with eye roll, resting his slightly on his basketball. "Yeah well something's up, you can't hide things from me, I can smell it a mile away homey."
Arnold sighs and leans back in his chair. He eventually turns his body full around to face him. "Okay well, maybe I am kind of thinking about someone." He says softly bringing a finger to his mouth to cover up his eagerness.
"Who?"
Arnold rests his chin against the back of the seat and stares at his friend for a moment; thoughtfully. "Well, she's someone we already know from PS 118."
Gerald groans and rolls his eyes. "Oh no, not Lila again. Arnold the girl doesn't like you. "
Arnold shakes his head. "I don't like her either...well not in a romantic way at least." He explains and Gerald sighs with relief.
His eyes fly up to the ceiling as he's thinking about who this girl could be. But just decides to list the girls and watch and listen for Arnold's reaction. "Rhonda?"
Arnold makes a face. "No not Rhonda."
"Nadine?"
"No." He says plainly.
"Sheena?"
"No." His reply flat.
"Big Patty?"
Arnold blinks a few times at him, in surprise that he would even ask that. "Harold's girlfriend? No Gerald."
Gerald sighs heavily and grimaces a little bit with impatience. "Then who are you talking about because I'm tired of playing this guessing game."
The corners of his mouth turn up slightly and he lifts his chin off the back of the chair. "Well you didn't even say all the names in our class…"
"Well there's only two names I purposefully didn't mention because I know you wouldn't never have a crush on Phoebe and Helga well she's doesn't even go to our school…" Gerald paused and had a light bulb moment. "Wait a second, Phoebe did tell me that Helga was transferring here." He stares at Arnold for a second and his eyes got huge. "You have a crush on Helga Pataki!" He yells out and faintly hops up just a little bit.
Arnold frowns but also grins. He brings a single finger to his mouth. "Shh Gerald keep it down gees."
He shrugs at him. "So it's true, I don't see you denying it."
Arnold shakes his head subtly while looking down at the ground his face sobering. "I don't really know yet, but I saw her today and some old feelings for her came back and-"
Gerald looks at him incredulously. "Hold up old feelings?" His eyes are wide and full of interest.
Arnold blushes a little. "Yeah"
Gerald frowns. "You never told me you had feelings for Helga in the past?"
Arnold stands up and stretches for second before sitting back down and eyeing his pal. "Well, now I am."
His frown deepens even more at the fact that he didn't know this information. He had been sure he knew of all Arnold's crushes. "When was this?"
He hesitated his gaze on the floor, his fingers tracing the back of his chair. "I guess I started thinking of her differently around 8th grade."
Gerald looks puzzled at all of this. "But you two never spoke."
"I know, but I realized I was attracted to her around that time." His eyes finally lifted to meet Gerald's.
He could see Arnold's honestly, he knew this was more than just a little crush. "So you're attracted to her now?" He asks to make things clear and plain.
Arnold shook his head, but not to indicate that he was disagreeing. "Let's just say, she puts all of those so called hot girls at our school to shame."
"Okay..." He scratches his head trying to let all of this sink in. "Um...uh...that's cool I guess. So if you feel that way...are you gonna like ask her out, on a date or something?"
His gaze falls back down to the carpet beneath him as does his chin to rest again on his chair. "I kind of want to get to know her, feel her a little bit…" He mumbles.
Gerald raises each of his eyebrows individual at him. "Arnold you already know her, you've known her since preschool."
He releases a low sigh. "Yeah but people change, you and I aren't the exact same people we were in junior high…"
He nods and relaxes his brows. "I guess that is true, well you better not wait too long, because if she's looking as good as you say, one of those horn dogs at our school might snatch her up." He starts laughing. "Like Sid for example."
Arnold lifts his head and straightens up his posture. He frowns at him and then shakes his head. "There's no way Helga would be interested in Sid."
Gerald raises his eyebrows. "And how do you know that?" He narrows his eyes in a mocking way. "People do change remember?"
Arnold sighs. "Well...I did offer to give her ride to school tomorrow and she accepted."
Gerald nods his head a few times. "That's a good start brother, but you better not move too slowly. I mean I know lots of girls like you at school, but Pataki's always been kind of different so-"
His mouth twisted. "Hold on, first of all, didn't it take you something like two years to ask Phoebe out."
His expression went kind of blank. "Yeah well-"
Arnold kept narrows his eyes not letting him finish. "And since when did you start knowing so much about Helga Pataki? You use to hate her."
Gerald groans, he hated to admit that he doesn't hate her. In fact he never fully hated her, he just only hated how she treated his best friend. "She's Phoebe best friend and besides I hadn't really actively disliked her since 6th grade or so. I have no problem with the girl." He shrugs and tosses up his ball.
Arnold presses his lips together in thought. "Then why didn't you tell me she was attending the same school as us again?"
"First of all, I forgot okay, I have a lot of things on my mind and second of all I wouldn't have thought you would be so interested."
Arnold frowned and lifted his hands up. "Why not, Helga and I became good friends in 6th and 7th."
"Yeah and then you two stopped talking so I figured you weren't friends anymore." He said with a nonchalant shrug.
He shakes his head. "No, she stopped talking to me…I still don't know why, but that doesn't mean I stopped…you know wanting to be her friend."
"Well all I know is that you like the girl, I can see it, I know you, so you better make your move or be prepared to lose." Gerald chuckled a little bit and dribbled his ball twice causing some of the boarders to yell up for him to stop bouncing that ball.
"Oh sorry!" He shouts back to them. He shakes his head at Arnold. "Gees they're so touchy…"
Arnold laughs lightly and then zones out seemingly concentrating on his own thoughts.