Hey Arnold! Cafeteria Confessions:

AN: Hi, everyone! I hope your day's going well, and if it isn't, I hope this chapter reminds you that someone (despite the fact that it's a cartoon character) is having a worse time than you are. . .lol! Okay, here's the next chapter.

CHAPTER 3: Problems

Helga walked silently to her house after a boring day of listening to Mr. Simmon's lecture. She sighed as she stepped unwillingly onto her stoop, anticipating only the worse behind the wooden door.

It feels like I'm purposely entering misery. . .

Helga opened the door slowly, and blinked. Her parents were sitting on the couch, their attention was intently focused on Olga. Olga was sitting on a chair directly across from her parents. An award winning smile was on her face and her hands were neatly folded across her lap. Helga was surprised that all of her family was sitting together and talking happily. Her surprise was quickly replaced with envy once she realized her family was only addressing themselves differently because Olga was home.

Olga continued.

"—You see. All I want us to do is communicate openly with each other, getting along more intimately. It was only until earlier this year when I went to Alaska to teach and get to know desparate and underprivlaged Inuit students, that I realized how much we need interactions with each other in order to survive. We don't spend enough time together as a family getting to know each other! All of us need to draw closer and become more involved in healthly and productive relationships..."

Helga rolled her eyes, thinking to herself about what could be wrong with her older sister. Why did everything have to be so perfect in Olga's life? Nothing was perfect in the home of the Pataki family. Helga believed that concept was the truth. Why would Olga constantly keep trying to bring the family closer together? Helga often wondered these thoughts to herself when Olga was home, but she knew she would never recieve any appropriate answers.

Helga turned her eyes to stare at the papers that were lying on the table. She noticed that Olga was looking over the sheets every few seconds when talking to her family, as if trying to relay her information. Helga contemplated curiosity why there was a need to keep looking over a few sheets of paper in order to explain ideas for improvement.

Helga sighed to herself

These things should be common sense to. . . Oh, wait, we're Patakis! Our family doesn't talk things out. How could I forget that rule?

Helga didn't see anything wrong with Olga trying to help the family get along better. She was only concerned because she knew it would be a never ending process. She knew the Pataki's to be tough, insensitive people. This month, there was also an exception staring into all of their faces, Olga.

Helga wasn't very close to her older sister, but Olga's giddy personality had been made obvious to her long ago. Olga was the type of person that had the world at it's feet. Anything Olga wanted, Olga received. How could her older sister take an important matter and look at it seriously?

Olga would always see something that was off with her surroundings. She would always prefer things to be different between them. She also had a habit of making things harder simultaneously.

Helga swallowed, hard.

Criminy. I better get out of here before I become a victim of Olga's conniving little spell. . .

Helga shut the front door behind her softly and began to tiptoe across the living room from behind the couch. She stepped quietly onto the steps to retreat up to her room.

Big Bob stood up as Helga was starting to walk up the steps.

"Uh—uh, not so fast little missy. Where do you think you're going?"

Helga put a hand on her hip, staring her father down.

"To my room, dad."

Miriam, who was sitting on the couch, turned to look at Helga. She looked sober.

"You know Olga returned home this morning from her trip at Wellington College, dear."

"Yeah," Bob roared, raising a finger and getting in front of her face. "and all day today, you haven't spend one bit of time with her, Olga!"

Helga rolled her eyes a second time, leaning on the railing of the stairs. She was starting to feel tired from the aggravation at school, and angry that her dad could confuse her name with Olga's name when her older sister was sitting across from them.

"I'm Helga, dad . . . and I was at school!"

"School! Well, what are you doing at school, girl? You know good and well Olga only comes home once in a blue moon!"

Bob grabbed Helga's hand to drag her to the couch. Helga quickly protested, jabbing it away. She didn't want to speak with her older sister.

"BOB," She said, demandingly. "I am going up to my room to do my homework, now. Don't you think that's important for me?"

"Homework? How can you think about homework when your sister just graduated from college?"

He grabbed Helga's hand roughly, feeling even more angry with her, and dragging her over to the couch.

He continued. "This is exactly why you need to spend more time with Olga!"

Helga's eyes widened. First, she was accused for going to school instead of staying home to listen to Olga. After that, she wasn't aloud to go up to her room, and she was forced to have a talk with her sister. Oh, they were walking dead. . .

"What?" Helga pulled her hand out of Bob's grasp, crossing her arms and staring at her father in disbelief. "You've got to be kidding me! I can do what I want! Tell me, since when don't I have my own routines I follow everyday?"

She closed her eyes with a scowl, continuing to speak. "Helga G Pataki isn't being forced into doing anything, bucko."

"Olga, I'm warning you. . ."

Helga narrowed her eyes at her father, who confused her name once again with her older sister's. She directed an arm, gesturing at Olga, continuing her monologue.

"Tell me, Bob. Since when is Mary Sunshine an exception to this family?" Helga narrowed her eyes, raising her voice. "When Olga came home in April to teach, it was complete torture for me! I learned about Olga pretty well, then! Why do I have to relive that nightmare? She doesn't care about me at all! When Olga came home this May, she didn't even want to spend any time with me! It was all about Li-la. Lila's my favorite sister, Lila's the best in the world!"

Her voice was full of hatred as she turned her eyes demandingly at Olga's. Olga blinked, surprised her sister would say such awful things about their relationship.

Helga scowled deeply and continued.

"What makes this time any different than all the other times for you, Sis? What is it this time? Well, don't just sit there and stare, I want an answer from you!"

Olga looked hurt. "I just want us to get along, baby sister! Truthfully and honestly!" Olga walked over to Helga, putting her arms around her sister tightly, hoping to calm Helga down a little. Helga continued to wear a peeved and disturbed expression as Olga held her tighter. "Whenever I come home, I always concentrate on pleasing one person. Mummy, Daddy, and I have all agreed that I need to spend some quantity time with each and everyone of you, togeth—"

"—Olga, stop it, your choking me." Helga gagged as Olga released her strong grip.

Olga reached down to the table to grab the papers she was reading earlier. She recited them excitedly to Helga.

"Don't you see, baby sister! We need to grow and establish firm boundaries. We need to try harder. How can we ever get to know each other as a family without doing things each person wants to do, and sharing common intere—"

"—That doesn't work, either!" Helga shouted, addressing her family's attention once again. She placed her hands on her hips, directing their attention to her dad. "Bob and I went through that same sorry excuse in order to," She held up her fingers, gesturing. "'get along.'"

Helga took the papers in Olga's hands, throwing them all over the floor.

Olga gasped, not believing what her little sister had done. She reached down quickly, trying to gather all of the papers to place them back in order.

Helga sighed, holding out both of her hands and looking closely at each member of her family.

"Just because a person spends time with another person doesn't mean that they can communicate happily and get along. What if they don't want to spend time with that person? What if they don't like that person?"

Helga didn't realize how hurtful those words sounded even after they escaped her lips.

Olga blinked back tears. She remembered for a brief moment Helga telling her on one of her visits that it would be better if she left, for good.

Bob scowled at Helga again, raging with anger at what she said.

"How can you say that? How can you disagree with your award winning sister? Olga has never been wrong, and she isn't wrong doing this!"

"Hel-lo! Olga and me have nothing in common! We have nothing in common, Bob! Don't you remember when we tried to spend quantity time together? It was an absolute disaster! We hate each other!"

Helga was sick of yelling out her opinion and trying to get her family to see the obvious. She was sick of being treated like a puppet, without feelings of her own. She wanted somebody to listen to her. How could they want to spend time together as a family? Bob and Miriam made it a part of their daily schedules to stay away from each other as much as possible. How could things get any better with Olga around?

Big Bob rolled his eyes at his youngest daughter.

"We don't spend enough time together to have anything in common, Helga!" He grabbed Helga shoulders, very angry at his youngest daughter for everything she had said.

Helga looked neutral for a moment about the entire situation. She was silent, acting as if it was a normal thing for her dad to grip her shoulders so roughly.

Miriam yawned, shaking her head. She didn't want to disagree with Bob. She could not understand how a fourth grader like Helga could be more accurate than a college graduate. . .

"That's no excuse, Helga." Miriam drawled, boredly.

Helga sighed sadly. Her family hardly ever saw her point of view on anything. Getting her family to see her own views on Olga's ideas was going to be nearly impossible. Helga hated it, but she knew there would be no competition when batting her older sister. She would never win.

I'm surrounded by a bunch of morons . . . geez. I need to get out of here before I have a complete nerve meltdown. . .

Bob finally let go of Helga's shoulders as she turned to her Mom.

"Miriam, where did you put my jacket when you went to the cleaners? I couldn't find it this morning."

Miriam giggled in surprised. It was news to her that Helga's jacket had been missing.

Helga narrowed her eyes. She didn't like the way her Mom was giggling, not one bit at all. She could see where this conversation was headed already. . .

"Gosh, I could have swarn I brought it home last night with all of the other laundry I did," Helga's eyes widened, "I guess I must have left it on the roof of the car, when I was putting all of the other clothes away, and it must have blew away and...!"

Helga rolled her eyes in aggravation as her Mother giggled in flattery.

And here I was expecting something different from her. . .

"This is fascinating, Miriam. Now what am I going to wear out today?"

Big Bob scowled at Helga. "Today? You're not leaving now! Don't you remember what Olga said earlier?"

Helga raised an eyebrow at him. "How could I hear what she said earlier? I was at school, Bob!"

Her Dad sighed, and Helga couldn't believe him. He was so heartless. Bob didn't even care for her as even an acquaintance when Olga was home. How could he forget she went to school?

Olga unexpectedly ran over to Helga, very cheerful once again. She gave Helga a short hug to show her how much she cared.

She began to talk as she grabbed Helga's shoulders.

"I was telling Mummy and Daddy how we should start the process of getting to know each other better. They agreed for me to bring a friend over so we could bond better. Today, we're going to spend a peaceful evening with my new best friend. We could realize how much we cared about her, and then we'd realize how much all of us have in common with her!"

"Why didn't you tell us about this earlier, Olga?" Helga was in disbelief because she had plans with Phoebe that day. Her eyes widened, thinking about one last thing. "Who is this friend of yours?"

Olga smiled.

"Oh, don't be such a silly. You're going to have a wonderful time with us."

The doorbell rang and Olga jumped up excitedly, almost scaring Helga out of her skin. Helga sighed as Olga ran to answer the door.

Big Bob and Miriam smiled kindly, putting their arms around each other. They were happy that Olga was finally home with them again.

Helga backed away slowly, blinking in disbelief the entire time at the events that were happening around her. She hit the blue wall behind her, sinking down to the floor in petty.

"Ooh, perfect! I've got to find a way out of this. This situation couldn't possibly be any worse."

Olga opened the door and Helga looked up, her eyes sank in envy and rage. Helga couldn't believe it!

"Why that little—" Helga pounded her right fist into her left hand as she watched her sister greet somebody she knew at the door.

"Ooh! There's my little sis! I just love you so much!" Olga hugged Lila tightly as Lila giggled happily, loving every second of being treated so nicely from her new best friend.

"...And I'm oh so certain you must be my big sis, Olga!"

Lila and Olga let go from the tight hug they shared. Lila smiled sweetly at Olga, showing off her disposition for all to see. Olga's parents came over to reintroduce themselves to the kind fifth grader.

"Where have you been, girl?" Bob exclaimed. "Miriam could use the help, and Helga could always use an example like you around the house..."

Helga sat in the corner and watched her family silently. She was feeling enranged, angry, sad and alone all at the same time. She was confused how Bob could care about one of her classmates more than her, and not notice she was listening in on everything he was saying.

Helga looked down at the ground, feeling more empty than ever.

"Criminy, this is a nightmare!"

Gerald and Arnold were walking home and talking about the day's events with one another when they came across a delicate topic.

". . .You still haven't explained to me what went on in the Cafeteria with you and Helga today."

Arnold smiled at the mention of the fifth graders name. "Don't be ridiculous, Gerald. Helga and I are good friends. We were talking about some family problems, and I guess the talk between us had some sentimental value—"

"You were talking to Helga Pataki, sentimentally?" Gerald sniggered at his friend. "Yeah, right! I'll believe that in the next lifetime."

Arnold sighed and stopped walking to turn to his best friend. "Oh, come on, don't look at Helga's personality so negatively. Deep down, Helga's a wonderful person with a caring heart. She's no different than you and me. She just doesn't show her caring side as openly—"

"You're talking about a person who hates you. She wants to see you off the face of the earth! You're talking about a person who would give everything, even place bets just to watch you get killed!"

Arnold was getting angry at his best friend for making Helga sound so awful, even though some of what Gerald was saying about her was true, Arnold knew that deep down, there was more to her than her bullying and pranking.

There was no denying the peeved look on his face as he talked to Gerald.

"Why hasn't she hit me then, Gerald?" Arnold put a hand on his hip. "Why has she only called me names to aggravate me? All she does is get on my nerves once in a while! She's never physically hurt anybody. . . except maybe Brainy and Harold. . ." Arnold said thoughtfully, remembering the one time Helga threw Brainy off the train tracks, and the numorous amount of times she's hit and threatened Harold on occasions.

Arnold sighed again, walking ahead of Gerald to go home by himself. After Helga's confession, Arnold knew his best friend and all of his classmates were wrong about her. Helga wasn't what she seemed to be.

"She has a good heart, Gerald." Arnold commented, continuing to walk away. "I know it's difficult to believe sometimes, but I know it's the truth. I don't blame her for the person she's turned out to be, I only wish she had the ability to change. . ."

Gerald stared with a raised eyebrow at Arnold's final words. He was speechless at what his best friend just addressed to him about a girl who seemed to resent him. Gerald shook his head, walking away to go home. He was very tired of hearing his best friend talk about Helga that day.

Arnold walked in the boarding house, shutting the door behind him. He looked around the vacant living room, and blinked. Nobody was home. "Grandma! Grandpa! I'm home. . ."

Arnold began to feel melancholiness in the air. He could hear the sounds of the ticking clock in the kitchen. He raised an eye, wondering slightly if any of his extended family would be in the kitchen. Arnold made his way over to the entrance and peeked his head inside, not being able to help his curiosity. He blinked when he saw that nobody was inside and only a note was left on the table.

Arnold walked over to the table slowly and gently took the note that was lying there. He glanced over the messy writing a moment before reading it to himself. It looked to be written by his grandpa.

His eyes widened in fear at every word. He was in disbelief. It couldn't be true. It wasn't possible! Arnold felt his leg try and give out, and the note dropped out from his hands. Pure shock overtook him.

I . . . I have to do something. I can't let my grandpa do this; I can't let that happen!

Helga called her best friend before she went with her family. She succeeded to talking to Phoebe. . . for about five minutes. Phoebe couldn't allow Helga to spend the week, even the month over her house. Phoebe was headed to her grandparents for the next few weeks and her grandparents were a little particular about allowing kids to disturb their daughter's studies. Phoebe could only apologize when Helga begged to her. She didn't want to anger any of her elders.

Helga's family was downstairs, waiting for Helga to finish up on the phone. Soon, her family became impatient and Helga was dragged out and into their car, but not before grabbing a few necessary items to keep herself occupied.

Helga brought her Wrestlemania collection with her, but Olga looked over at it when they were in the car. Olga mentioned to her family how bad wrestling was, explaining in great detail to them how it could prevent the esablishment of accurate communication as a family. Helga started to retaliate against Olga, but realized it would be completely hopeless.

Helga brought one CD to listen to. Her favorite heavy metal rock band was earnestly playing into her ears . . . for about thirty seconds. Olga heard the heavy music playing almost immediately. She was so concerned that she blabbed to her parents about heavy music hurting her baby sister's hearing. She also said it would distract Helga from seeing Lila's and her performance that they worked so hard to show off.

Helga had a scowl deep on her face as she sat in the stands beside Miriam. She was wearing Olga's red extra puffy, yet girly jacket. It was only to be worn as a backup. Olga thought it looked so cute on Helga and was tempted to give it to her, but Helga couldn't get the darn thing off. It was so tight it made it near impossible for Helga to breath. It was impossible to concentrate on Olga's performance, even if she had wanted to.

Helga's parents weren't distracted; they were very alert to everything, but they weren't paying any attention to Helga. Helga was surprised her parents were interested in Olga and Lila's performance. She couldn't understand how alert Miriam could be.

It felt to Helga like she was an item to stare at, nothing else. Her parents were interested in Olga's interests, but didn't care about her own. Helga hated to admit it, but there was no denying her feelings about everything. She felt completely hopeless.

As Lila and Olga made their last twirl known to everyone, the small group of people shouted with glee and excitement.

Helga couldn't stop thinking about how stupid the entire thing was. . . how could people care so much about a ballet recital?

Helga's parents sat up from the stands, running up to Olga and Lila to give both 'sisters' a hug, and an appreciative smile.

Olga smiled. She finally noticed her family becoming a part of something special. She forgot about Helga a moment because of all the excitement. . .

Helga was still sitting down across from them in the same place she was in, bundled up tightly with a red puffy jacket on. Helga was staring at her family with an unreadable expression on her face she had never given to them before. . .

Arnold stood in the kitchen, completely silent. He felt like screaming, but no words would escape his mouth. He needed to go up to his room and relax his mind. He needed to do something else other than think about the note.

He walked up the stairs to his room, silently and slowly. As soon as he shut the door, he picked up the phone to dial his best friend's number.

The line was busy. . .

Arnold put a hand over his mouth, his mind was unable to stop working. He couldn't stop thinking about what was written in his grandpa's note. It wasn't possible, it couldn't be possible. . .

He had to get it off his mind somehow.

He laid on his bed, looking up at the clouds in despair. All he could see in the clouds were images of his grandma and his parents. . .

Arnold knew he was dwelling in dangerous territory. He had to do something before it was too late for him!

I'm everywhere and I'm nowhere, but mostly I'm everywhere.

- Deep Voice - 6/16/07 (Edit: 8/18/07, 4/1/12)