This chapter is just under 2000 words. It's a bit of a filler, but there is a bit of Kevedd in here! Hope you like!
Just as Helga thought she got away with it, and just as she thought the fight was over, a rough hand grabbed her forearm. The other hand grabbed Lee.
Oh, yeah. We're at school.
"Come on, ladies. We're going to the dean's office."
The person started walking out the cafeteria doors. Both girls struggled against the grip, but the figure would not let up. Double D followed right behind them, still muttering his "oh dear oh dear oh dear". When Edd approached the group, he cleared his throat.
"Sir, excuse my insubordination, but I believe—" he started, but Helga interrupted him (which he was secretly grateful for).
"Hey, bucko, I can walk myself. I'm not gonna run away or anything, I'm fine."
"Yeah, blondie's right! I don't need a man telling me where to go."
The man (presumably a teacher or a counselor or something) looked at Double D questionably. The boy nodded, indicating that the girls could be trusted. He released his grip, but still walked a little too closely behind the girls.
The man led them to an office on the other side of the first floor. He knocked on the door, and a "come in" was said behind it.
"These girls got into a little fight in the cafeteria."
The woman looked up from her desk. Her eyes grazed over Lee and settled on Helga. "Aren't you the new transfer student?" the woman questioned. Helga rubbed her arm and looked down at the floor. "Y-yeah…" she said, sheepish.
"I'm surprised at you, miss. I would have thought that with your transcript and everything, you would have been more… civilized."
Civilized?! Helga fumed, but tried to calm down. She was already in trouble for fighting, she didn't want to be expelled for punching this chick.
"I was…reacting…in self defense, ma'am. She… was the one…who…started the fight." Helga said through gritted teeth.
"Is this true, Eddward?" the woman turned to look at the boy.
"Yes! It is quite true. There was a misunderstanding between the girls. Helga tried to walk away from the fight, but Lee was the one who instigated the attack."
"Thank you, Eddward. And might I ask, what are you doing here?"
"Ah, I was…assigned to…help Miss Pataki in navigating the school and to…k-keep her out of trouble." Double D started to blush faintly.
"And what a fine job you did. Well, Miss Kanker, I will deal with you shortly. I will deal with you in a moment, after I review the security tapes." The man escorted Lee out the door, leaving only the three of them.
"As for you, Miss Pataki, I will need you to call your parents."
Shit, I'm not calling my parents. Who can I call? Olga? No, I can't be certain that she wouldn't tell our parents. She either could or couldn't, and I don't wanna take that risk. The next name that popped in her head was Arnold; and she refused to even consider it. She thought of Phoebe next—and she thought it was the greatest idea, ever.
She hadn't had any time to talk to Phoebe since last week, and with her talking in Japanese, she could talk to her and no one would know what they were saying. She looked at the clock—lunchtime is just beginning at her old school. It wouldn't matter anyway, as she was sure Phoebe would excuse herself in class if she saw Helga's name on the caller ID. If she called Phoebe, her parents wouldn't ever have to know what went down at school today.
She stood up and walked toward the phone that was resting on the wall. Picking up the phone, she dialed the cellular phone number she memorized.
"Moshi moshi?" She started the conversation in Japanese, hoping Phoebe would take the hint and respond to her in the same language. The others in the room looked at her questionably, and she turned away from the phone to address their concerns.
"Uh, I was adopted. My parents speak primarily Japanese at home. I can speak English if you want, but uh, I can't guarantee they'll understand what I mean." The dean waved her hand, giving her permission to continue.
Phoebe didn't seem to catch the hint. "Helga?"
(bold is in japanese)
"Hey Phoebe. I got in a fight, and they want me to call my parents, but I'm calling you instead."
"Oh, Helga! I've missed you so much! It's Helga, everyone! We all miss you. How are things going in your new suburban community?"
"It's…well, did you even hear what I said? I got into a fight, Phoebe."
"A fight?" Phoebe switched over to Japanese. "Helga… a fight? Ar—ice cream would be so disappointed in you."
"Arnold?! Why do you think I care about Arnold?"
(Double D's POV)
Now, Double D wasn't one to eavesdrop, or pry into people's personal business. But he knew for a fact that she wasn't adopted (as his observations indicated that she bore an uncanny resemblance to both her parents), nor did her parents speak exclusively Japanese (although their grasp on the English language was certainly questionable). So, as his inquisitive mind wondered, what was she hiding?
She wasn't faking her knowledge of the language—she was speaking almost fluent Japanese. Her pronunciation was a little off and she stumbled over a few words, but it was close to perfect. He understood her, as Japanese was one of the few languages he knew (he also knew Mandarin, French, and Spanish, but his mother insisted upon learning Japanese because of family ties to the country)
His ears perked up as he heard Helga utter a male name. Arnold? He knew eavesdropping was wrong, but, he could be bad every once in a while.
"I don't want to talk to Arnold. We're not..." she was getting angrier. "I don't care what he… did you tell him I was on the phone with you?! I don't want to talk to him! Don't you remember what happened when I left? I don't care if he's been trying to contact me non-stop! I will see him in three months, and he can deal. Don't you dare put him on the phone! You know I'm trying to… not…remember him?" She was struggling, trying to think of a word. Unable to stop his habit of helpfulness, the words came out before he could stop himself.
"Forget. I believe the word you are trying to think of is forget."
Double D hurriedly slapped his hand to his mouth and at the same time, Helga dropped the phone due to shock (thank goodness the phones still had cords here). The look on her face was pure horror; and he imagined that his face was full of shame. He didn't mean to pry, oh, curse his gentlemanly ways!
After Helga recovered from the initial shock; she reacted in the only ways she knew how—lashing out;
"Did you get a good earful, sockhead? Do you enjoy listening in on private conversations, bucko?"
and running away.
She tore away from the office and sped down towards the girl's bathroom.
After excusing himself from the dean's office, he followed after Helga. "M-Miss Pataki, please! I apologize! It was simply a misunderstanding, and this whole event has been blown out of proportion!" and really, how was he supposed to know that Helga was going to converse in Japanese? How was she expected to know that he knew Japanese? And really, how was he supposed to avoid the conflict in the first place? "Excuse me, but I understand the Japanese language quite well. Would you mind switching to a language I am not fluent in so I cannot eavesdrop?"
He sighed, panting, as he reached the door to the girl's bathroom.
"Miss—Helga, please. I'm deeply sorry. All of this has been a huge misunderstanding. Please accept my sincerest apologies. It might help you to know that I couldn't make any sense of your conversation." He hoped she could hear him through the door and he hoped he didn't look like a crazy person, trying to talk to a door.
"You got some girl trouble, dork?" a familiar voice said behind him. Not now, please. He would have killed for the chance for Kevin to approach him in any other context, but he was right in the middle of a crisis and he was not going to fall for his good looks and bad boy charm. Not today, gay thoughts! Not today.
"I am in no mood for your games today, Kevin, as I am preoccupied with another matter. Besides, shouldn't you be in class?"
Kevin shrugged. "I needed to use the can." Classy. "And then I saw you trying to talk your girlfriend into coming out of the bathroom—"
"She—she's not my girlfriend!" Double D said a little too quickly. Kevin raised an eyebrow over his outburst, but he disregarded it. "Whatever." He took two lollipops out of his back pocket and offered one to Double D. Edd happily took it from him, What a gentleman, he swooned.
"T-thank you, Kevin."
"Don't read too much into it, d-dork. I noticed you didn't eat anything while you were fretting over Eyebrows in her little catfight."
"You...you noticed me?" Edd looked up at Kevin with a questioning expression on his face.
"N-no! Not like that, dorky. I just… I dunno, it's kinda hard not to notice you sometimes, I guess. Whatever." Kevin shrugged. "Don't think too much about it. And… feel free to sit with me if Eddy's making you guys feel weird or something, I don't know."
"Thank you for the gracious offer, Kevin." It was at that moment that he noticed the girl's bathroom door was slightly ajar… it appeared that someone was watching them. Kevin noticed, too.
"Hey, your girlfriend's watching us."
"I'm not his girlfriend!" Helga said from behind the bathroom. She emerged, eyes slightly red.
Kevin gave her a suspicious look. "You blazin' it up in there, eyebrows?"
Helga scoffed. "No, you ass. I was upset. But I'm over it now." She sighed. "Sorry I got mad at you, sockhead."
Double D offered her a smile. "It's perfectly alright, Helga. Now, I suggest that we all three head back to class. Kevin? Will you be joining us?" Double D asked.
"Uh, thanks, but no thanks. I still haven't used the restroom. I'll catch you two dorks later, though." He winked at both of them, and walked in the opposite direction. When he was out of earshot, Helga spoke up.
"Soooo…" She grinned. "You two were talking."
Double D rolled his eyes and tried to fight a smile. "Oh, we didn't really talk about anything… you know…just…things." He sighed. "Are you alright?"
"I'm just peachy. Now, remember how Kevin told us that we could sit at his table? And yesterday he said, and I quote, 'If you ever want to hang with the cool kids, you know where to find me'?"
"I do recall, yes."
"Then…let's sit with him tomorrow at lunch." Helga suggested.
Double D started to protest. "Oh, no, Kevin was only being polite, I highly doubt he was serious."
"He offered twice in two days, sockhead. He's serious. I heard him talking to Goat-boy in—"
"Goat-boy? Pardon my interruption."
"Rolf. I heard them talking and apparently they're throwing a party this weekend. So my plan is, we sit at their table, we get you invited to the party, and then… things escalate from there, if you know what I mean." She winked.
Double D seemed to think it over. "Oh but, I couldn't possibly abandon Eddy and Ed."
"They'll be fine for one day. Blame your absence on me, if you have to. Point is, just sit with them tomorrow and see where it goes."
Double D sighed. "Well…I suppose it couldn't hurt."
uh oh! plot development! next chapter will be better...more kevedd (if things go according to plan, lol.) please review if you liked it! : )