Disclaimer: I do not own Hey Arnold!

Time Goes On Without You

The Perfect Journal

The student store was bigger than Helga expected it to be. The décor was similar to that of her dorm room's. The dark-red wallpaper sparkled with its golden designs, delicately printed on it. There were racks near the front of the store, stocked with pencils, notebooks, calculators, and all of the essential back-to-school shopping items. But what left the girl with in awe, was the shelves and shelves of books the store contained. It looked like a library. Yet, as she walked through the aisles and looked around, she noticed they were all textbooks. Every textbook she would ever need was right here, in this room.

She looked down at her supply list and memorized the name of the first textbook she would need.

An Introduction To Poetry... She repeated to herself in her head as she scanned the shelves carefully.

"Here we go!" reaching out to grab the textbook, she remembered how expensive it was to be attending Redwater to begin with. To top it off, it was HARDCOVER. She hesitated to pick it up, as she had only been able to attend the school due to a scholarship which, as far as she knew, only covered tuition.

Dreading to see the price on the back of the book, she sighed and finally gave in. She picked it up and turned it over, her eyes scanning for the sticker.

And there it was.

Two.

Hundred.

Dollars.

Inside, she wanted to scream and slam the blasted thing down onto the floor, but she did her best to contain her emotions. Merely huffing in anger as she stared at the price sticker. She couldn't afford this. And knowing there were more textbooks on her list to purchase, she knew she wouldn't be able to finish school here even WITH the scholarship she was given.

"Poetry?"

Helga jumped at the sudden voice behind her. She turned to find Harvey, with a full basket of books and supplies, staring down at her, happily.

"Geeze!" she exclaimed quietly, "You nearly gave me a heart attack!"

The boy laughed and reached around her to grab a copy of the book she was holding.

"Huh?" she eyed him questioningly. "Are you in-"

"Literary Arts? Yes, I am, actually." he said, beaming her a smile.

"Small world." she responded, before walking around the corner in search of her next book. She didn't really want to be alone with the guy after what he'd said to her. Harvey had come on pretty strong. He seemed to be very confident of himself to act that way, Helga thought. It was odd to her, though, having a guy's attention like that. She wondered if it was because of her make up. Maybe having her hair down? Either way, the idea of dating a guy she'd just met didn't really seem great, so she wanted to steer clear of that possibility.

She hunted down the rest of her books, which thankfully, were about fifty dollars on average. Calculating the total in her head, she walked to the checkout line to find Gerald with his basket in hand. It had looked like he just needed a couple of textbooks and some notebooks.

"Sheesh. What kind of high school forces you to buy your own textbooks? This isn't COLLEGE." she complained quietly, but loud enough for Gerald to hear, "Found what you needed?" she asked, mildly annoyed at the total she had calculated.
Gerald glanced at his basket and nodded, "Yep. Just a few things. I figure it wont be too much. Probably about a hundred or so. You?"
Helga laughed to herself, sarcastically, "Oh, me too!" she nodded back at him, "Ohhhh it'll probably end up coming to abouuuut..." she pretended to think about the total before responding, "...I'd say about four."
"Four DOLLARS?"
"Oh, don't be SILLY, Geraldo." she smiled, "Four HUNDRED."
His eyes grew wide, "Wow. YOU can afford THAT?"

She grew irritated, "Of COURSE NOT."

"Then how do you plan to pay for those?" Gerald asked, pointing to her basket.

"I...I'm going to ask about a...um... payment plan?"

A disappointed look took over his face, "A payment plan? For your textbooks that will probably only be worth anything to you for a semester? Good luck paying for next semester's books while you're still paying for these."

Helga sighed in agitation and gripped the handles of her basket. The plastic edges digging painfully into her palms. Gerald was right. The idea was stupid. But what else was she supposed to do? Drop out of school before the semester even began? Not an option, unless she wanted to look like a failure after being recognized as a recipient of a scholarship at her middle school graduation ceremony. She didn't want to go to Hillwood Highschool. She didn't want to receive, what she felt would be, inferior education... She didn't want to see HIM...

Moving forward in line, she felt determined to make this work. She planned to put her books on hold and call up Olga, hoping she would be kind enough to help her 'baby sister' pay for her textbooks. It felt like a desperate decision, but she needed it in order to stay here.

The line moved slowly, and she constantly found herself looking over at the stand of journals to the side of the checkout counter. One in particular caught her eye. Intricate floral designs engraved into tan leather. A similar colored leather strap, wrapped around the book, holding it closed.. She wanted to get a closer look at the journal, but was afraid of adding on more debt to her already large bill she was expecting.

Finally, Gerald took his receipt and walked towards the front door, leaving Helga to her fears. She slid the basket onto the counter for the man on the other side to scan. He was young. Probably late twenties. Elegant, like the other school staff, the man wore a vest with the school's emblem on the right chest pocket. His blonde hair was neatly styled, and his smile was warm and welcoming.
A small wave of relief washed over her as she smiled in return and waited for him to ring up the items. She watched the small screen next to the register. The numbers adding up until finally reaching her estimated total.

Four hundred and two dollars. Fifty cents.
She sighed as she pulled out her student ID card and slid it across the counter towards the nice man.

He thanked her and quickly scanned the card.

"So...um... I was wondering if there was a way to do multiple payments?" she started, "You see, I don't really...think I can afford it all at once... but I need these for classes tomorrow and-"

BEEP.

The total on the screen changed.

To zeros.

The girl stared at the screen in confusion. "But...I thought...?"

"You don't owe anything, Miss Pataki." the man said politely, "Your award covers your books for you, so you only need to worry about paying for your supplies."
Her confusion quickly turned into joy as she practically wanted to hug the man behind the counter, "Thank you, Mr..." she glanced at his name tag, "...Bauer."

"Call me James. Did you need to get anything else, other than the books?" he asked, now knowing she had skipped out on supplies in order to pay for the more 'important' items.

Helga glanced over at the journal on the rack, "Actually... yes." she quickly slid over to the rack and picked up the leather bound beauty that was the journal she wanted. Eyeing the cover, she ran a finger over the designs. It was perfect.

Walking back to the register, she picked up a couple of pencils and erasers. Placing the items on the counter, she pulled out her wallet. "Thank you so much... James." She handed him the money and took her change and receipt.

"Of course! I hope you enjoy your time here." he waved her goodbye.

Hillwood Highschool wasn't really much to look at. The hallway walls were a boring shade of off-white, with giant bulletin boards covered in colorful paper that advertised the events and afterschool clubs that were offered.

Arnold paused to take a look at the fliers. One in particular caught his eye.

A lavender-colored paper with a clip art of a feather quill at the focus. Poetry Club.

He analyzed the text on the paper and smiled faintly.

"Arnold!"

Turning to face the source of the voice, his phone slipped out of his hands, onto the floor. He quickly picked it up before looking up to see a familiar face. Long, dark hair and brown eyes that sparkled as much as her, always, shining smile.

"Hey Rhonda" he said as he dusted his phone off and checked for any cracks or scratches.

Rhonda looked over at what Arnold had been previously staring at, "Poetry Club?"

Arnold perked up.

"You like poetry, Arnold?"

He paused to think briefly, remembering why it had drawn his attention in the first place. Helga. She had always been scribbling things in her notebooks that had obviously not been notes. There was always an 'anonymous' author in their English classes, who's poetry was always read to the class... And Helga never had a paper posted on the classroom walls with her name on it like the rest of the students... And then there was that pink notebook he had found. It was obviously hers, he had known. It was very clear to him. Her name was even spelled on the last page.

Helga loved to write poetry. Beautiful poetry, he admitted. He loved the work of 'anonymous'. He loved HER work. She wrote so carefully and in detail about her love for him. Some days he would pull out the little pink book and reread passages, which only really left him feeling more guilt towards the girl.

"Arnold. Hello?" Rhonda waved her hand in front of his face, which cause him to snap back to reality.

"What?" he asked, slightly confused.

"I asked if you liked poetry."

"I..." he sighed and turned to continue down the hallway, "...I know someone who likes to write it."
Rhonda walked a bit fast to catch up to the boy, "Good. Cause I was going to say: you would be much better off in the drama club with me."
He laughed as they made their way to their first classes of the day.

Drama club, huh? He though. Not a bad idea...

Moonlight: I'm so sorry it took that long to pull this one out. QwQ Thank you for being so patient! The super cool this about this chapter, is that the day after I wrote the section describing the journal Helga wanted, I ACTUALLY FOUND a journal just like my description. It was so amazing, I just HAD to buy it. How amazing is that?! :)
Please review~