A month went by, with Helga seemingly growing more and more distant from her. It made her cry at night, and sulk in the day. They had always been and done everything together, and now that she didn't have Helga by her side she felt a bit lost. On Saturday morning, Phoebe hesitated at the door to the Pataki residence, wondering if this was going to end good or bad. But she had to do it, had to know. So taking a deep breath, she knocked the knocker hard against the door. Olga opened it, and seeing her standing there, smiled.
"Phoebe!" she cried out, giving the petite girl a hug. "It's so nice to see you."
"Thankyou, and it's nice to see you again, Olga," she said politely. "But I was wondering if Helga was home?"
"Oh, yes, her and Axel are stripping the wallpaper off her wall," she told her. "Is he a new friend of yours?"
"Nope," Phoebe muttered under her breath. "I can find my way up, thank-you Olga."
Olga stepped aside as Phoebe entered and made her way up the stairs and turned right to Where Helga's room was. She heard music and laughing and knocked on the door.
"Just a minute!" she heard Helga call. There was more laughing and when the door opened she found flushed Helga looking at her with a smile on her face. It was a bit odd.
"Phoebe!" she said, keeping her smile. "I didn't know you were coming over today."
It didn't escape Phoebe that Helga glanced quickly behind her, looking for Gerald no doubt.
"It's just me, Helga," she said.
"Oh, okay, come in," she said, moving aside. In the room she saw Axel sitting on the bed. Wallpaper was all over the floor.
"Wow, what are you doing?" Phoebe asked, looking at the mess before her.
"Stripping the wallpaper," Helga told her. "I'm going to paint the wall black and use it as a giant chalkboard."
"I keep telling her it wont work with carpet, but what do I know, right?" Axel said, leaning back, hands behind his head. "Just a dumb boy here."
Phoebe smiled at him for a moment.
"You want alone time, don't you?" he asked. Phoebe nodded. "Okay, I'm gonna go get some snacks for later."
He got up and waved to Helga, then left, closing the door behind him.
"Did you really want to talk alone?" Helga asked.
"Yes," Phoebe said, taking a seat on Helga's bed. "Why are you being so mean?"
"What do you mean?" Helga asked, sitting on the bed next to her.
"Avoiding me, taking his side over mine, being rude to all your friends," Phoebe said. "The list goes on. I feel like your cutting me out of your life Helga!"
Helga was silent as she stared hard at Phoebe. She twisted her mouth, then looked down.
"We need time apart," Helga said.
"What do you mean?" Phoebe demanded. "Are you saying you want to take a break?"
Helga nodded silently.
"It's not you Phoebe," Helga said, thinking hard about what she was going to say next. "I just realised some things. And one of them was that I lean on you too much. I think it's best if we take a break. Grow a bit without each other."
Phoebe laughed. Then Helga did.
"Oh man," Helga said, leaning back against her pillows. "Did that sound like some cliched break up scene on a movie or what?"
"Yeah, I know," Phoebe said with a giggle. "Of all the people in my life I never thought I'd hear the "It's not you, it's me" break up line from you."
"Yeah, pretty random," Helga admitted, looking down and trying to hold back her tears. She needed to do this.
"Helga, I never felt burdened by you," Phoebe said.
"I ruined your night, remember?" Helga said wryly.
Phoebe opened her mouth to protest, but realised she had said that, and obviously Helga had heard it. She hadn't realised Helga had heard it.
"Oh my," Phoebe said, covering her mouth with her hands. "Oh, Helga, I didn't mean it. I was just so mad with Arnold and Lila and Gerald had just told me . . ."
"It's fine, Pheebs, really," she said. "It's done."
…
Monday came too fast for Helga's liking. She looked down at her wrists. They looked a little puffy, and still red. She sighed, grabbing another long sleeved top from her closet and putting it on. Looking at her calender she saw that it was Arnold's birthday on the weekend. She shook her head. Maybe, maybe, she would get him a card. Finished dressing, she went downstairs to be greeted with a sobbing Miriam, and sad faced Olga and a grim faced Bob.
"What's happened?" she asked, frowning.
"Your grandmother passed away," Bob told her. "Sudden."
"She never even told me she had heart problems," Miriam whined.
"She may not have known, Miriam," Bob told her. "Your ticker goes when your ticker goes, it doesn't always give you a warning when it's ready to stop."
Helga took a seat at the silent table, grabbing the box of cereal and pouring herself a bowl.
"Your mother and I will be heading down for the funeral," Bob told them. "We'll be gone til next Tuesday at least, maybe longer. A lot of things to sort out."
With that he turned and left the kitchen, heading upstairs to get things packed. Olga got up to do the dishes. Helga stood up, gave her mom a hug and kiss and left for school. As she was leaving she heard her mom say "Thank-you, Mom, for taking Helga's place."
…
When she got to her locker she saw Axel leaning against her locker frowning at his phone. He looked up as she said "Hi".
"Hey," he said, giving her a smile. "How's things?"
"My grandmother died during the night," Helga told him.
"No shit," he said. "You alright?"
"Yeah, wasn't that close to her, but it's still sad, ya know?"
He nodded.
Opening her locker she took a step back as a dozen roses fell out of her locker and towards her.
"Whoa!" she said, dropping her books and holding up her hands to keep whatever was coming out of her locker hitting her. The bunch of roses fell to the floor and she bent to pick them up, and smirked at Axel.
"Roses? Really?" she asked, while picking the card out.
"I love you,
I'm sorry
-A"
Her smile left her face as she looked down the hall to see Arnold staring at her intently, waiting to see her reaction. She looked back down at the flowers and shook her head. She put them back in the locker, got out the books she needed, while Axel picked up the ones she dropped and put them in her locker, then closed and locked it, walking away, not looking back at him again.
"Ouch," Axel said, coming up behind her. "That had to hurt, and not just his feelings. Roses aren't exactly in season."
Helga shrugged.
"Come on, you could at least acknowledge him trying," Axel said. "I'm getting some pretty mean looks and it's starting to get a bit distracting."
"I looked at him," she said cooly.
Axel didn't say anything more, just hugged her one armed, kissed her cheek and went off to his class, leaving Helga feeling stunned. Butterflies took flight in her chest.
He'd just kissed her cheek!
She could feel her cheeks warming up. She shook her head.
"Stop it," she told herself sternly, entering her class.
…
"Why you?" Phoebe demanded, bailing Axel up in the hallway. He looked over to see Gerald and Arnold make their way over. Arnold was glaring his way, but Gerald looked more worried than anything.
"Come on, babe," he said, taking Phoebe by the arm. She shrugged it out of his grip.
"Just tell me why," she said, tears coming to her eyes.
He stared at her a moment, before sighing.
"Because I've been where she is," he told her simply, and turned and left.
Phoebe, Gerald and Arnold watched him go, surprised. Then Phoebe took off after him, calling his name. he stopped and turned.
"Then tell me why she's cutting me out of her life!" she screamed at him.
"Look, I have my own problems," he snapped at her. "Sort your own out."
Phoebe glared at his retreating back, watching as he ran a hand through his hair.
"How rude," she heard a uppity voice say behind her. She knew the voice of Rhonda Wellington Lloyd almost as well as she knew her own. "Shame he doesn't have a personality to match his good looks."
Phoebe didn't even bother to turn around and look at her. She just stormed off, Arnold and Gerald watching her go. There was a short awkward silence before Rhonda spoke up again.
"So Arnold, now that your little pet lapdog has fled the kennel, who's going to follow you around, worshipping the ground you walk on now?" she asked, smirking at him.
"Shut up Rhonda," he grumbled. Rhonda laughed.
"You got your just deserts Arnold," she told him, smiling. "Helga was bound to wake up eventually. Shame she had to take the hard road to figure it out though. But she's a tough cookie. And with another tough cookie at her side-"
"Shut up!" he snapped at her, turning around to glare at her. Rhonda smirked.
"Truth hurts, eh?" she asked, tapping his shoulder with her book and walking away, her friends trailing behind her. Arnold glared after her.
"Bitch."
…
Sheena was just finishing her handbag when Phoebe sat down beside her.
"Hey, Sheena," she said, giving her a big smile.
"Hello Phoebe," she said, smiling back shyly. Phoebe and Sheena had never been friends, and once in separate classes never even spoke to each other.
"So, how's the costumes coming along?" Phoebe asked, looking at the bag.
"Oh, they're done," Sheena told her. "I'm just working on my own personal little project." She held up the bag that she had just finished. Phoebe smiled politely. She had no interest in Sheena's bag.
"But your not interested in that, are you?" she asked.
"No. What do you know about Axel?" she demanded.
"Axel?" Sheena asked. "Why would I know anything about him?"
"Because you've been hanging around him and Helga," Phoebe told her.
Sheena was quiet for a moment. She could understand where Phoebe was coming from. It had broken her heart when Eugene had realised he was gay and had found a boyfriend. Sheena and the boyfriend didn't get along though, and Eugene made "The Choice". Sheena had lost her best friend that day. The worst part was that Eugene and his boyfriend hadn't even lasted the smester. Then Eugene had moved away after a particularly bad "accident", and they had never had a chance to repair their friendship. Not that Sheena thought they could. They had different feelings for each other.
"I don't know anything, Phoebe, and if I did I wouldn't go around talking about someone else's business," she told her sternly. "It's very rude to gossip about other people."
"Well, do you know who would know anything about Axel?" Phoebe asked, hoping.
"Yes I do," Sheena said, picking up a needle.
"Who?" Phoebe asked eagerly.
Sheena stared at her, point blank, smiled and answered.
"Axel."
…
"Hey Lila, got a minute?" Phoebe asked. Lila turned and smiled at her.
"Sure," she said. "What's up?"
"Do you know what school Axel went to before he came here?" she asked. Lila shook her head.
"Why?" she asked, curious.
"I was just wondering," Phoebe said. "I'm worried about the influence he has over Helga, you know?"
Again Lila shook her head.
"I'm sorry Phoebe, but I don't understand," Lila said.
"Don't you think it's funny that Helga was fine with us until he came along, and now suddenly she doesn't want to know any of us?" Phoebe asked.
Lila looked at her like she'd grown two heads.
"Phoebe, Helga tried to take her life," Lila said quietly, like it was some kind of secret. "She wasn't okay. Not by any stretch of truth."
"Yeah, but-"
"I think you should respect Helga's wishes for now," Lila said. She covered her mouth with her hand.
"You've been talking to her? She's been talking to you?" Phoebe demanded. Lila shook her head, then turned away and tried to walk off. "Lila!"
Lila ignored her and walked a bit faster, hoping to lose Phoebe in the crowded hallway.
No, Helga hadn't been talking to her. But she had just so happened to overhear a conversation between Helga, Axel and Sheena one afternoon at the park. She was waiting for Stinky. But she didn't feel it was her place to tell Phoebe anything. From what she understood, Helga already had.
She banged into someone and looked up into green eyes set in a football shaped face.
"Oh, shit," she said, taking a step back.
"Sorry Lila," Arnold said.
"Lila!" she heard again. Arnold looked past her to see Phoebe rushing towards them. He frowned and looked down at Lila who was sneaking past him. "Lila stop, please!"
She felt Arnold grab her wrist and squealed.
"What do you know?" Phoebe demanded when she reached them. Some people had stopped to watch what was going to happen, including Rhonda, who wore a knowing smirk.
"Just leave Helga alone!" Lila yelled out. "She's happy, so just leave her alone!"
