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Chapter 4 – The Future
"Arnold, wake up! It's time for school!" Stella yelled up towards Arnold's room.
"I'm coming Mom. I'm almost done getting dressed." Arnold yelled back. He ran down to the dining room as fast as he could.
"There you are, son. What took you so long?" Arnold's dad (aka Miles Shortman) asked him.
"I kind of overslept. But, I'm here now and fully ready to devour Mom's pancakes."
Arnold's parents have been with him when he saved them in the fifth grade on his trip to San Lorenzo. That was arguably the best day of his life.
"We have to save some for Helga too; she loves my pancakes more than you do." Helga had been eating breakfast with them when Arnold noticed that Helga had been fainting from exhaustion of the lack of breakfast she received at home. So, even before they started dating, he would invite her to his house for breakfast and Arnold's mom would make her lunch.
Helga started feeling bad about Arnold's mom packing her lunch, so she eventually got a job to pay for lunch money. But due to a mother's wrath, Stella commanded Helga to eat breakfast with them. Miles would joke on how much they were so alike. 'They're both so beautifully aggressive' he would say. Thus began the daily routine of having breakfast with Helga.
"That reminds me. We need to use the boarding house kitchen after school to make a hundred cupcakes."
"Why do you need to do that?" Grandpa asked as he walked into the kitchen with Grandma.
"Well, Helga got into trouble the other day."
"Understood." Arnold's parents and grandparents knew that Helga was not one for being a 'perfect' student.
"And, now she has to make a hundred cupcakes for the bake sale on Monday."
"Of course."
"So, Gerald, Phoebe, and I wanted to help her out."
"Correction, you wanted to her out." His grandpa teased. "That's my boy, helping out his little girlfriend."
"I guess it's alright, most of the boarders are going to the beach today and your father and I are going to visit Aunt Mitzi with your grandparents." Stella reasoned.
"Why did she get punished in the first place?" His dad asked. He knew that Helga would come up with the greatest pranks and he respected her for it.
"She got someone to hack the fire alarm system and it sprayed blue goo on these girls, who she didn't like. Bottom line, she got ratted out."
That was the moment Helga walked in through the doorway.
"Trust me, I will get my revenge. No one rats out Hel—"
"Helga G. Pataki, we know, you only say like a million times. You need to spice that up." Suddenly, Grandpa had a light bulb. "I have an idea, how about you make it: Helga G. Shortman. Now, that's a name to be afraid of." Grandpa ranted and only laughed as both Helga and Arnold's faces blushed redder than tomatoes.
"Grandpa!" Arnold yelled.
"What? I'm not getting any younger here. I want grandchildren!"
"Grandpa, I'm your grandson."
"Oh, I knew that." Helga and Stella started giggling, while Miles was crying tears of laughter at Arnold's expense.
"Anyways we need to get to school. We're going to be late." Helga interjected.
"My, Eleanor, since when do you care on getting to school on time." Grandma asked, still using the nickname she gave her.
"I don't, but Football-Head here, looks like he's about to explode, so I'm getting him out of range for you." They finished their breakfast and they walked the bus stop.
"Helga G. Shortman. I like it." Helga simply said as she entered the conveniently placed bus. Arnold just grinned like a love-sick fool.
"Let me tell you Pheebs, I am so glad that it's Friday." It was after 3rd period and Helga was halfway exhausted.
"Don't forget, Helga, we're all meeting at Arnold's house after school."
"I know, but come on, Pheebs. What could be more boring than making cupcakes all day, I rather have a root canal."
"Actually, Helga, I've been meaning to tell you, I was reading your horoscope this morning and—"
"Since when do you read horoscopes? Aren't you the one who believes in scientific explanations?"
"I do, but Timberly, Gerald's sister, showed me a magazine she was reading while we were at Gerald's house and asked to read my horoscope. It told me that I would 'find myself today'."
"Cool, what did mine say?"
"That's the strange thing. It said the same thing."
"But, we have completely different birthdays. How's that possible?"
"I don't know, but then I read Arnold's and Gerald's and theirs said the same thing."
"Figures, it's a good thing we don't believe in that stuff."
"I agree, Helga. But, I don't understand, what does it mean by 'finding ourselves' anyways?"
"Not sure, I think that's the type of trash a rip-off artist feeds to unsuspecting civilians."
"Or just a typo."
"Yes, Pheebs, it's maybe just a typo." Helga agreed and reluctantly trudged to her 4th period. I'm just glad that Arnold and I have to this period together. Helga finally found herself a bit perkier until she realized her 4th period was Biology. Just lunch and three more periods. I can do this. By 6th period, she was already passed out on her desk, fast asleep.
"Ugh, what hit me?" Helga groaned as she fluttered open her eyes only to find herself laying on the floor of an unfamiliar place and Arnold staring back at her, very closely. Not knowing what to do in this pleasing and yet harmful situation, she screamed.
"Helga, Helga, calm down, I think we're in the boarding house." Arnold reached for her shoulder trying to soothe her, it worked. For a while.
Helga finally got a grasp of the situation and gave Arnold a warning about touching her again, even though she privately swooned about her being in Arnold's arms.
"We need to wake up Gerald and Phoebe, so we can get them home." Gerald and Phoebe were conveniently on the couch of the living room. Great, I get the floor while Pheebs and Geraldo are cuddling on the couch. Perfect. Helga complained until she realized on how she had no idea how they all got here.
"Hey, Football Head, do you know how we got here or what?"
"Honestly, Helga, I really don't know. I think it had something to with the Psych Kid. I remember talking about him, for some reason." Arnold really didn't like this situation. First of all, he felt something strange was going to happen. "Can you check if my grandpa is here, while I finished waking Gerald?"
"Whatever floats you boat, Football Head." She checked around the hallways and the kitchen, which wasn't hard because she's been here before (without Arnold's knowledge) and concluded checking the inner workings of the house and proceeded looking outside.
As she was about the open the front door, when the door opened on its own and introduced Arnold, but a few years older and a girl who looked a lot like herself. It took them a moment to realize she was there, but when they did they stood wide-eyed at the young, soon-to-be traumatized girl.
The only reason the girl didn't faint was because she was too mesmerized by this older guy, probably in his teens, who looked so much like Arnold, but (dare she say it!) more handsome than the Arnold she knew. If anyone else was there, she didn't notice.
"Um, who are you?" Arnold asked. Oh, he speaks. Please speak again my handsome angel. Then, she went back to reality.
"Who am I?" Helga yelled, "I'm the one and only Helga G. Pataki."
"What are you talking about? I'm Helga Pataki." Helga's older self stepped in and that's when she realized that she wasn't in Hillwood anymore. She promptly fainted backwards but didn't hit the floor because the older Arnold had caught her on his arms. If Helga was awake, she would've fainted again.
"Helga, I woke Gerald and Phoebe. Did you find any—" The younger Arnold did a double take and then a triple take and closed his eyes and opened them again. But, what he saw was the same thing. He saw a guy who had the same football head that he had carrying Helga princess-style and a girl that looked just like Helga, but replaced the bow with a beanie. She's looks so pretty. Arnold was just as awestruck with the older Helga, as Helga was with the older Arnold.
"There's another one! Let me guess, Geraldo and Phoebe are there too. Crimeny, since when did I enter the Twilight Zone." Yup, that's definitely Helga. Arnold thought, but he stayed quiet and frozen. He couldn't make sense of this situation.
How did we end up here? How did we get here? That's when he started getting flashbacks of his creepy encounter with the Psych Kid.
"Look, what's your name?" The future Helga asked.
"I'm, I'm Arnold." Truthfully, he didn't know who he was. I guess that's how you feel when you have a future version of yourself staring back at you.
"Are you sure?" Helga asked again, but looked anxious this time. Maybe, she's just as confused as I am. Arnold only nodded.
"How is this possible? I mean, this isn't possible, right?" The future Arnold asked to no one in particular. Yet, there he was, face-to-face with his younger self and holding the younger version of his girlfriend. I wonder how he'll react when I tell him that Helga's my girlfriend. He quickly decided against this, as he remembered how much they 'hated' each other when they were younger. "Anyways, I'm going to put Helga on the living room couch and then we're figuring this out."
Arnold finally remembered that Gerald and Phoebe were in the living room. "Wait! Don't go—" It was too late because his Gerald and Phoebe already saw the future Arnold. And let me tell you, Phoebe took it better than he expected. It was Gerald who passed out.
"Okay, so let me get this straight." The future Helga got everyone together, with the younger Helga awake and Gerald still passed out on the couch. "You wanted to know about the future?"
"Yup." Arnold answered.
"Then, you met with this Psych Kid, who neither Arnold nor I even remember meeting, and sent you guys here."
"Exactly." Arnold hesitated, not because he didn't remember about today's recent event's, it was because she called him Arnold, or at least she called the future Arnold, Arnold, which was still weird.
"And you have no idea, how to get back?" The future Helga asked again, as she prodded the three kids.
"What? Are you trying to get rid of us already?" Both Helgas stared at one another, which followed in an uncomfortable silence.
"I have an idea." The future Arnold piped up, obviously trying to get rid of the tension, "Let's ask each other a series of questions that only we know so that we can know for sure if we're going crazy."
"Whatever floats your boat, Football Head. I'll take my younger self and Phoebe to the kitchen while you take—" Honestly, the whole name thing was really confusing her. "You know what, if we live in our time, we get to keep our names. You guys are the ones who came here, so I'm calling you young Helga, young Arnold or Football Head, young Pheebs, and young Geraldo." Helga said as she pointed towards the time travelers respectively, "Got it?" They only nodded, except for Gerald. "Good." Satisfied, she left the living room with both young Helga and young Phoebe.
"Okay, first question goes to Phoebe. What was then name of the singer that we met who later turned out to be a fake?"
"Ronnie Matthews. I remember he kept calling me and Helga, Phoobe and Holga."
"Correct. Now, my young Helga, who is your crush?"
The young Helga first looked around; making sure that no one could hear her answer. "Ice cream." She whispered just audibly for Helga to hear it.
"Correct and extra points for the nickname."
"Whatever, how do I know that you're my future self?"
"You're allergic to strawberries, hate your sister but care about her enough to make sure she didn't marry that horrible guy, you've been in love with ice cream ever since the pre-school when he shared your umbrella with you, and the only people you've told about this crush was Dr. Bliss, Lila, and Phoebe, and Arn—" Helga would've continued but her emotionally challenged younger self stopped her
"Crimeny, I believe you! Now be quiet, we both know that I don't anyone to know about that."
"It's okay no one can hear you. So, Pheebs, do you believe that this is happening?"
"I must say I do. Also, I would very much like to know what we're like in the future." Phoebe couldn't have been more curious about this situation.
"I guess I can entertain you guys, but once Phoebe and Gerald come by, we have to get started making our cupcakes."
"Please don't tell me you're doing that for fun." Helga groaned. The day Helga G. Pataki would start doing girly activities without a gun to her head, will be the day that pigs fly.
"Yeah right, I wanted to go to the movies, but I pulled this ingenious prank and apparently the principal didn't see it that way."
"My, Helga, you haven't changed a bit."
"What do you mean by that?" Both Helgas said simultaneously, while Phoebe was left satisfied because she just proved her point.
"Anyways, Phoebe has been dating Geraldo for a couple years now and is currently the smartest girl in the class, which is not surprising. We hang a lot and talk about school, life, our boyfriends, and—"
"Did you say 'our boyfriends'?" Young Helga quickly questioned, attracted to this lovely piece of information."
Helga smirked deviously. "Didn't I tell you? Arnold is my boyfriend."
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