"Come sit with me and we can all catch up!" Rhonda chimed at Helga.
"Uhm, okay. Cool." Helga obliged, the thought of sitting alone on her first day back didn't seem too appealing. She had a feeling this was the best offer she was going to get for now. So she grabbed her lunch and sat down across from Rhonda, Nadine, and Sheena. A few others joined them, like Peapod kid, Eugene and Harold.
"Where have you been, Helga?"
"Wow, you look so different!"
"What brings you back to Hillwood after so long?"
"You really grew up!"
Helga was bombarded by everyone to her annoyance. She kind of expected some sort of interrogation from her old schoolmates, so she answered them briefly and tried to hurriedly move on to other subjects. Eventually, this worked and the excitement around her dulled. Everyone's attention was shifted back onto Rhonda, much to Helga's relief. While half listening to Rhonda babble on to her friends, she scanned the room for any site of Phoebe or Arnold. Helga hoped if she saw Phoebe maybe she could get a chance to talk to her and set things right, unfortunately there was no sign of either.
"The other night Arnold did the cutest thing girls…." Rhonda went on.
"Wait, Arnold?" Helga stopped her, she felt her insides burst hearing someone else say his name.
"Ha yeah, isn't that funny? Who'd have thought him and I would start dating over the summer." Rhonda smirked. "It's so serendipitous how things work out sometimes. He sure is a fun guy."
"I bet," Helga said flatly. She wanted to sink into the floorboards, anything to try and escape Rhonda and the crowd. Arnold and Rhonda? What twilight zone had she walked into today? As she was looking around to find her exit, she stopped. There he was and he was even more wonderful than Helga had remembered him. He was the same boy she pictured from her childhood, only now he was taller and more matured. Her palms began to sweat at the sight of Arnold and she watched helplessly as he turned and shot Rhonda a perfect smile while he began approaching their table.
Oh God, what do I do!
"There he is! We were just talking about you, hun. Come sit." Rhonda scooted down the bench she was sitting on and motioned for Arnold to sit down. He began to sit, but as he glanced over the table he caught sight of a familiar face and froze.
Helga. It's really her.
He had no clue that she would be at his lunch table, but there she was right in front of him and she looked the same, yet different. He noticed she was more polished and filled out, her face was matured and really quite pretty. Arnold was now gaping and couldn't break his gaze with Helga. Their eyes were locked onto one another, both in awe, seeing the other after such a long time. He noticed how red her cheeks were getting and Arnold couldn't help but feel good that he still made an impression on her.
"Helga?"
"Arnold!" Helga gasped at the sound of her name coming out of his mouth, his husky post pubescent voice was like music to her ears.
Rhonda was now tugging at his arm, trying to pull him down next to her. Arnold shook his head and finally focused his attention onto his girlfriend.
"Look at him ladies, isn't he the cutest?" Rhonda squished his cheeks with her manicured hands. "I was just telling them how the other night-"
"Rhonda stop, please!" Arnold wrestled out of her grasp. "You know I hate it when you squish my face like that."
"Uhm, okay if you're going to be like that than forget it!" Rhonda pushed him away..
"Look, I'm sorry. It just hurts when you do that."
"Whatever, Arnold. Do whatever you want." Rhonda flipped her perfectly styled hair and faced away from her boyfriend.
"It's not a big deal, Rhonda. I said I was sorry-"
Rhonda hesitated for a bit, looked around and then her bottom lip trembled like she was about to cry. "You just cut me off, I was telling a cute story about you! And you're being so ungrateful!" She put her face in her hands for a moment and then looked up at him through narrowed eyes. "You think you can embarrass me in front of our friends? What kind of image of us are you trying to display, Arnold?"
"Could we maybe go somewhere else and talk about this?" Arnold awkwardly put his hand on her back and tried to usher her away from their table of friends.
"Fine!" Rhonda let him lead her out of the cafeteria.