Helga entered her room and wondered to the closet. She wanted to take another relaxing shower, like the one she had yesterday. She grabbed a long sleeve pink and black striped sweater that once was almost too small for her, but now was too big, and a pair of baggy jeans. She walked to the dresser and grabbed a pair of panties and a new bra, which she knew would be a huge pain in the ass to put on. She put the bra back and opted for a tank top with a built in bra. That wouldn't hurt so much. She walked out of her room and headed for the bathroom. It wasn't occupied by the boarders like it was earlier that day. Kokoschka had lost one of his wife's earrings down the drain and he, and Ernie were trying to find it. What Kokoschka was doing with his wife's earrings Helga did not want to know.

She started the shower and slowly got out of Arnold's sweater and jeans. She smiled and hugged the sweater letting out a slight sigh of content. Then she looked at herself in the mirror. Her black eye looked slightly better than it did yesterday, she could see a tad more than she did.

"Man… Bob really did a crack up job…" Helga thought sarcastically. She twisted and saw her back, which endured the most of the damage. The twisting hurt, but Helga dealt with it. She was tough, despite her exterior at this point in time and for the past six months.

When the water was warm, Helga climbed in, shivered and relaxed. At once she forgot about the pain and remembered what comfort was before all this shit started.

It started… Helga's eyes unfocused and she went back to when it started. Gradually Miriam's drinking got worse. It started with just a few smoothies, and then turned into a few giant bottles of Vodka a day. She just laid on the couch and slept. It was Helga's duty to clean up the house. Bob was gone until late. Helga cleaned from the time she got home from school until the time she went to sleep. She tried to get her homework done before she fell asleep, but didn't. When she didn't get done cleaning by the time her father got home, she got screamed at and if she talked back she got smacked across the face. She tried to fight back but that resulted in two black eyes and a sprained wrist.

She snapped out of it when someone knocked on the door. It was Susie. Helga hurried as much as she could and got out. She got dressed slowly, and finally left the bathroom. Susie, who at first looked annoyed when the door opened, shifted to an apologetic gaze.

"Sorry dear, if I knew it was you, I would've gone downstairs. How are you today?" She asked.

"Fine…" Helga muttered and gave her a smile before heading back towards her room. Susie looked at the girl concerned and entered the bathroom.

Helga sat on the bed carefully. She saw her backpack and dumped it on her bed. Her pink poetry book rested on the top of the little pile, as well as her locket. She smiled, picked it up and cradled it as if it were her child. She put on the locket and let the metal cool her now warm skin. She looked at the scattered pile of papers and books. Picking them up one by one, she placed them in the corner of her room near the dresser, not really needing them at this point in time. She crumpled up the papers (most of them containing A's) and tossed them into the little trash bin near a little desk Arnold set up. Finally she threw her backpack into the closet and shut the door. She looked at the poetry book. She hadn't written a poem in over six months, she felt an odd since of renewed inspiration and looked around for a pen. She opened all the desk drawers and found nothing, so she shifted her focus on her bedside table. Opening the top drawer, her face instantly went red. The box of tampons she never got to use. Most of the girls her age had already gotten their periods. Helga got one, and that was over 7 months ago. She never got it after that. That first time she was stuck with some pads Olga bought her, they bunched up and made Helga miserable. So before Olga left again for Alaska, she bought Helga tampons and showed her how to use them.

A knock came upon her door and she quickly shoved the box of tampons back in the top drawer and opened the door. Suddenly a mess of straight black hair came flying at her and embraced her in a gentle hug.

"Helga… I'm so happy your alright, well… you're not alright, but your alive. I've been so worried, I've missed you." Phoebe began to cry. Helga comforted her best friend and sat her down on her bed. Arnold and Gerald walked in soon after. Helga gave Gerald scowl, and was greeted with a hug from hair boy himself.

"I'm glad you're okay too Helga." He said. Helga sat there stunned.

"Thanks…" Helga said softly. She could talk slightly, but not enough for a conversation, yet. She noticed Phoebe looking her up and down.

"What is it Pheebs?"

"You're so thin… I bought you that sweater for your birthday and it fit you perfectly then, now it's too big." Phoebe looked as though she was going to cry as she kept looking at her friend.

"Yeah, that is what weeks without a proper meal will do to you." Arnold said bitterly, standing next to Gerald, who nodded.

"I hope your dad is put away for good." Phoebe said angrily, she started to shake. Helga embraced her Japanese friend.

"Me too… " Helga said softly.

An hour passed of just sitting and letting Phoebe fill her in on school and their friends. Finally it was time for both Gerald and Phoebe to leave. There was a big history test tomorrow that needed studying for. Once they were gone, Helga just sat there looking the door sleepily. Arnold sat next to her on her bed.

"I got some of the homework you missed. Mr. Simmons said that I can help you catch up so you don't fail 8th grade." Helga looked at him and smiled slightly, "What do you want to work on first?" Arnold asked grabbing his backpack and opening it. He pulled out a folder with the assignments and gave it to Helga. She sat there staring at the papers. These were easy. She waved Arnold away.

"I can do this myself." She said giving Arnold an apologetic gaze, "If I need help, I'll ask you." Arnold nodded and got up.

"In that case, I'll go see what we're having for dinner. Do you want me to bring it up here to eat or do you want to come down to eat?" He smiled slightly, and crossed his arms waiting for an answer.

"Up here, please." Helga answered. Arnold nodded and left the room.

Grandma made chicken stew again, making sure it was thick and warm to soothe Helga's throat while giving her something to put some meat on her bones.

"That girl is possibly 20 pounds underweight, that's not healthy for a growing girl her age." Grandma said handing Arnold the tray with all the food. The tray held several dinner rolls, two cups of warm milk, a big bowl of fruit as well as the 2 giant bowls of stew. Arnold's grandma made sure they were well fed.

He watched as Helga munched on her third dinner roll. By herself, she ate most of the food on the tray. She ate nearly all the fruit, except the strawberries that Grandma put separate at Arnold's request. She helped herself to the rest of Arnolds stew.

"Hungry… are we?" He smirked as Helga gave him a scowl. Her black eye was looking significantly better and the bruises on her throat were fading slightly. His eyes lingered on the cut on her lip. It would be healed by the time she went back to school.

"What are you staring at?" she asked giving him an even deeper glare. He shook his head and resumed eating the strawberries in his hand.

"Nothing…" He lied, noticing that the neck of the sweater fell off her right shoulder, revealing a scabbed over belt impression. It would leave a scar, and that angered him.

"Are you okay?" Helga asked bringing him out of his head again. He shook his head.

"I'm so sorry this happened to you. I should've known what was going on sooner, I mean all the signs were there." He said giving Helga a gentle hug.

"Do not apologize Arnold, you weren't the one hurting me. It's okay, He's gone, he can't hurt me anymore." She hugged him softly. Arnold pulled away and looked into her eyes.

"Do you want to watch a movie with me? Grandpa went to the video store and got the latest Evil Twin movie." Helga thought about it for a second and nodded. Arnold helped her up , then grabbed the empty dinner tray and brought it downstairs.

Helga did not manage to stay awake for the whole movie. Arnold listened to her soft snoring on his shoulder while the credits rolled. He looked at the clock. It was not even seven, but he decided that it was best to let her sleep. He slowly laid her down on the couch and then picked her up. He figured that she would be more comfortable in her bed, rather than the couch. When she was in bed, he wrapped the comforter around her thin body and turned on the lamp that was across the room. He knew Helga was going to be restless again tonight, and thought better of leaving.

He tidied up the sleeping bag and his pillow and laid down to read for awhile.