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"Don't worry! By the end of this course, you'll all be dancers!" Helga rambled in a mocking tone, slamming her locker shut. "Apparently that lady doesn't know half of the kids in our class."
"I'm sure everyone has potential, Helga," Phoebe simply stated. "I mean, nobody's going to be perfect. But I'm positive that after a few lessons or so, everyone will be pretty decent."
"Decent?" The blonde looked down at her friend quizzically. "Decent my ass."
Shaking her head slightly, Phoebe smiled. "Well, perhaps if no one else understands the material, you can help."
"Please. Even if these dorks worked with Mia Michaels, they'd still all be hopeless. Besides, the day I help anyone in that class is the day that Hell will freeze over."
"I'm sorry…who did you say?"
"Mia Michaels? Famous choreographer? She creates all these weird yet oddly good contemporary routines?" Helga said, as if everyone in the world knew exactly who Mia Michaels was.
"Hm," the Asian girl pondered, "I'm not sure who that is. I'm not surprised that you do, though."
Helga scoffed. "It's not like I watch those reality dance competitions or anything. I just…did a paper on her one time. That's all."
"A paper?"
"Yeah, that's right. A paper." She threw her backpack over her shoulder hurriedly. "Come on, Pheebs. Let's go to your house or something."
"Oh, um…actually, Gerald asked me before if I wanted to walk home with him. And then I have a ton of homework to do," Phoebe replied apologetically.
"It's the first day of school! What kind of monster gives that much homework on the first day of school?"
"I'm sorry, Helga. Maybe I'll call you later tonight, if I finish early enough."
"Yeah, sure. Ditch me for Tall Hair Boy…"
"Helga…"
"Pheebs," she smirked, "I know. It's no big deal…I can use the walk by myself anyway, I have a headache."
She squealed quietly, and hugged her best friend tightly. "Thank you so much! I was hoping you wouldn't get mad." She pulled back, and began to walk towards the exit. "Goodbye, Helga. Oh, and feel better!"
"See ya." Helga headed in the opposite direction, pushing the door with force and walking hastily outside. There was perfect weather outside…not a cloud in the sky, and completely sunny. She squinted due to the sun being directly in her eyes, and she immediately felt the bit of humidity. Sighing in discontentment, she started walking the long walk to her house.
"Helga?" a voice called from behind her.
She shrieked, since she was in a deep trance and was startled out of it. Spinning around on her heel, she saw the face that belonged to the voice that she always wanted to hear. "What did I tell you about creeping up on me like that?"
"Sorry…I just saw you walking by yourself."
"Yeah, I was. You got a problem with that?"
"N-no," Arnold stammered nervously. "I was just saying…I thought maybe you'd want someone to walk with."
"Well, Phoebe told me that Gerald-o was walking her home. Who else was I gonna walk with? Rhondaloid?"
"Well…I'll walk with you. That is, if you want me to."
She subconsciously began to smile goofily, and she spoke in a voice a little higher than her normal tone. "Um…s-sure, I guess." 'Stop it, you Neanderthal!' "I mean, whatever. Let's just walk fast so I don't have to put up with you for too long."
An awkward silence came between the two of them, and Arnold decided to break it. "So, how was your first day of high school?"
"Pathetic. Yours?"
"It was better than I expected it to be, I guess."
Helga let out a hollow chuckle. "What did you expect it to be like, Football Head?"
Arnold shrugged, struggling to keep up with her as she kept changing the speed of her walking. "I don't know…I guess when you watch all of those movies that deal with high school, you kind of get the wrong impression, you know?"
"Not really."
He sighed slightly. "Like…I walked into the school today expecting to not find anyone I know, and I expected the seniors to pummel me as soon as they saw me. But, it turns out that most of them are nice and were willing to help."
"Don't tell me you thought there was a swimming pool on the fourth floor."
Arnold hesitated, and looked at Helga with a bit of confusion. "There is no fourth floor."
"Good job, Arnold-o. At least you aren't as naïve as most of the freshmen. And I can't believe the other grades think we're all that dumb. I mean, if someone came up to you and offered you an elevator pass for ten dollars, would you take it?"
"…There's an elevator?"
"Doi! But it's off limits to everyone unless you have a good reason for using it. Anyone else caught using it would get detention for however many days."
He laughed, looking down at the sidewalk as he kicked a fairly large pebble. "Wow, I didn't know that. It's a good thing you told me…otherwise I probably would've bought a pass."
Helga rolled her eyes, but smiled slightly. "That's me…saving the world one stupid Football Head at a time."
Arnold smirked at her, shaking his head a bit. "You couldn't have left out the 'stupid Football Head' part?"
"Would you have rather Paste For Brains? Or maybe doofus?"
He sighed, stopping in front of her house. "You know, Helga…maybe one day you'll come up with some different insults."
Helga stopped at the top of her stoop, and looked back at him. "Huh?"
"You've been using the same exact insults since we were kids. I'd say it's time for some new material," he said in a normal tone, but the flirtatious smile was back on his face.
"Yeah, okay. Like I'm gonna take your advice about which insults I should use. In your dreams."
"I'm just saying." He smiled at her, and then waved. "I'll see you at school tomorrow."
"Yup, see ya, yutz." She opened the door to her house, and immediately ran to the window to watch him walk away until he was out of her sight. Sighing dreamily, she closed the curtain and turned around, only to come face to face with her dad. "A little personal space, Bob?"
"You're five minutes late! I told you to be home early because we have to leave soon!"
"Unless we're going to see Wrestlemania, or maybe a concert, I could care less."
"It's better! Olga's coming home for the weekend and we have to be at the airport at 5:30!"
"And you need me home in order to do that?"
"Well, someone has to make dinner for when we come home! Olga's a busy girl…she's probably exhausted from all of her work. We're not about to make her cook for us, although I have to say, I'm hungry for her apple pie…"
"And what do you expect me to make, Bob? Miriam forgot to do the grocery shopping again."
"Oh, that's right…" The man pondered for a moment, but then just shrugged. "Whatever, just make it good." He walked away from her, and proceeded to walk into the kitchen.
"Whatever you want, Bob."
"Oh, Helga!" Her mother's voice called out from upstairs. She spoke each word very slowly, and Helga began to wonder if she'd ever get to the point. "How was your first day of eighth grade?"
"I'm in ninth grade…"
Miriam looked surprised. "Really?" Helga nodded with annoyance. "Oh, well! How was it?"
"It was okay, until I got stuck with Dance class."
"Dance class? Man, Olga loved dancing. Still does. Half of her trophies in the trophy room are from her dance competitions. She took first place in all of them," Bob said proudly.
"I know, Bob. And her lyrical routine at the age of 14 brought the audience and judges to tears. I know. I've heard this story about a million times."
"All I'm saying, is that you better do good in this class. It's bad enough you insisted on quitting ballet, Olga…"
"It's Helga."
"…so you better work your ass off in the class, you hear me? If Olga can win every competition she entered, you can at least get an A in one class."
"Sure thing, dad. Even if I break both of my legs, I'll be sure to continue working hard!" Helga replied, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
"Good. Come on, Miriam! We might hit traffic on the way to the airport!"
Her mom and dad opened the door, and slammed it shut without even muttering a goodbye. She yanked the door open, and slammed it as hard as she could, just to get all of her frustration out. "Just what I need…a visit from Olga."
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A/N: So, the trip was fun, but I missed this story, haha. I know nothing that earth-shattering has happened yet, but I'm trying not to move it that fast. Don't worry, things will get more intense. (: As for chapter 4, there's a good chance that I might have it typed up and ready to go by the end of this week. If not, definitely the beginning of next week. I just want to make sure I don't have any sudden changes of plotlines going on in my head, haha. Oh, and also, I just wanted to thank DarthRoden for helping me out when I needed a bit of advice on how to go about a few things. It really helped a ton. Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Please review!
