Hey Arnold! belongs to Craig Bartlett and Nickelodeon. I own none of these characters.
The past few school days seemed to go by pretty quickly for Helga. She could say that they were normal days, but that would make her a liar. Around the halls and in some of her classes, kids were avoiding her. Usually those kids don't know how to handle real issues such as this, and just try to stay as far away as possible; but some of the kids thought that people who have lost someone close, would need some space away from others for several days.
However, there were also a lot of kids who had the guts to tell her they're sorry for her loss, and even gave her one of their own sob stories to make her feel better. Depending on the person, she either had dismissed them coldly, or just went with a "thanks for sharing, but I don't wanna talk about this." Most of the people that had approached her she didn't even know, so she didn't feel as bad dismissing them.
Even though whenever classmates and kids around her were avoiding her to the point where she felt like she was some sort of freak, she felt she'd rather be ignored than be bombarded with people who only said the same things to her thinking they were making her cheer up. She felt selfish thinking this, as they were just trying to help, but what part did they not understand that she doesn't need or want help from anyone?
One thing she was glad about, was that she and Arnold hadn't discussed her mom's passing since Monday morning. She was glad he understood that she didn't want to talk about it just yet or even ever again. Though, she could tell he wanted her to open up to him more about it, since they're closer than they've ever been before now, but Helga wasn't sure if she was ready yet. If she had opened up to him more, he might laugh in her face and reject her, she would be heartbroken, he would tell all his friends she cried like a baby in front of him, then the whole school would know and then...
"Oh, what am I thinking?" Helga thought to herself, "Arnold wouldn't do that, that's so not like him.. Or is it?" She shook her head, "No, he's nice to all, he would never. Unless he would... I don't know what he's thinking in that football shaped head!"
Helga huffed as she walked through the front door of her home. She dropped her backpack on the floor as she shut and locked the door behind her. Hearing noises, she quieted herself down. It didn't take her long to realize what she was hearing was talking from Bob's room. She could tell it was Bob talking, but she didn't hear any other voices, so he was probably on the phone. Feeling curious, Helga walked up to the closed door that led to her dad's bedroom, and pressed her ear against it.
"No Ronnie, I'm being serious," she heard Bob's muffled voice, "Everyone has been refunding their beepers, and I haven't even had any new customers since my wife died and it was instantly all over the news! Who even let all those morons film outside my private home to talk about my private family loss!?" Helga was intrigued on the conversation her dad was having, and anxiously waited for the person on the other line to stop talking so she could hear his reply. "Well thanks to them, my business isn't very big and great now, is it? Everyone thinks I'm some sort of domestic abuser, and it's all their fault! I swear, if I knew she was drinking so much to get to the point of killing herself, I definitely would've done something to prevent it! People are thinking I wanted this and I'm sick and tired of it!"
Helga thought that would be a very logical reason for Bob to be angry...if he was telling the truth. She remembered almost every day of her life when she was in her room, she would always hear the loudest shouting from Bob, and she knew for a long time that it was all at Miriam. Although he isn't the domestic abuser most think he is, which is physical abuse, verbal abuse can still be just as bad, it could leave emotional scars instead of physical ones.
Helga heard him sigh, "okay, if I can't get you the rent money by Monday, I'll close up the store for good. Deal? Okay. Bye."
This was definitely news to Helga; closing down Big Bob's Beepers? He put his heart and soul into his company, and he probably loves it more than he likes Helga. In fact, he probably loved it so much that it was a part of him, and he was about to have that taken away too, along with his wife. She was really surprised that he sounded so nonchalant over the phone talking about it. She figured he would've at least-
*BAM!*
Bob slammed open the door of his bedroom, the edge of the door hitting an unknowing Helga right in the face. The impact of the door to her face was so hard, she was immediately knocked out. Bob had stopped what he was doing for a moment and looked down at her on the floor.
"Watch where you're goin', girl," was all he said as he stomped past her unconscious body and into another room. He was looking for something to punch..
Helga woke up a few hours later, and she felt awful. Her head was pounding, her face hurt, and she didn't know why.
"Criminy," she thought, "I feel like I got hit by a truck.." She slowly sat up, taking in her surroundings as she looked around. Looking up at her dad's now closed door, she could immediately remember what happened. So much for Bob being nonchalant about anything.. As she stood up, she then realized how much her face hurt, mostly her right eye. She bit back a yelp from the throbbing pain she was experiencing from the specific area, and quickly headed upstairs to her bathroom. "This better not be what I think it is," she thought, feeling a large amount of anger rush through her body. Reaching the bathroom mirror, she didn't have to take a long look at her reflection to see her swollen and puffy black eye.
Helga gasped at the person she saw through that mirror. She had school tomorrow! She can not go to school with a gigantic shiner on her face! Everyone would give her even more pity for this, they would make stories too, loads and loads of hoaxes and rumors! They would call her the new Eugene! One bad situation after another, while even Eugene himself would call her a jinx. Or worse, they would call her weak.
She fought back a sob, "I'm strong," she told her reflection in self motivation, "I'm Helga G. Pataki, the strongest girl you know...the strongest girl you know.." She sniffled as she thought of all her friends staring at her again, but for a whole other unfortunate reason. Like she wasn't already humiliated enough these past few days, then she remembered Arnold.. As much as she liked attention from him, this is not the kind of attention she wants. She's probably stressing him out, she's probably such a burden on him. Oh, if only there was a way she could...
The lump in her throat quickly started to fade as she saw her hair brush resting right next to the sink. Her frown slowly formed into a smile as the bright idea came to her head. With no hesitation, she grabbed her hair brush and started brushing up a new do.
Helga was satisfied with herself when she was done. She couldn't notice anything wrong with her right eye now, since it was all covered with her hair. The hairstyle reminded her of when she pretended to be Arnold's pen pal from Paris, Cecile. That was the first and only time she had ever worn her hair like that. She would have worn it like this again, but she was afraid that Arnold would notice similarities right away and call her out. But, that was years ago, he'd probably forgotten all about Helga-Cecile by now. All her worrying had been for nothing, look at how easily she fixed this problem! Easy-peasy! Although, she wished the problem never happened in the first place..
She felt the anger rise in her once again, "stupid Bob," she muttered to herself. Did he even say he was sorry? Did he even know he gave her a black eye? Did he even acknowledge her presence after hitting her face with the door? Who knows, all that is known is that what's done is done. Helga has a big swollen blemish on her face now, and she has to do her ultimate best to keep it hidden from anyone and anything.
It was Thursday morning, Helga woke up and did her morning routine, and before she knew it, she was heading downstairs for her school bag. She put a hand on the strap of the bag, then paused when she noticed Bob in the kitchen. She was instantly angry; because of him, she now has to go to school pretty much half blind. She could barely see through the still swollen and puffy eye, she had another thing to hide from everyone, and it's all because of him. The anger finally got the best of her, and she marched over to Bob, who was sitting at the kitchen table eating burnt toast, and crossed her arms at him.
"Bob," Helga stated. He didn't even acknowledge her. "Bob," she said in a more stern voice, gaining more bottled anger.
"Busy," was all he replied with, not looking at her and his mouth full of that burnt toast.
Helga quietly growled, "do you realize you hit me in the face with a door yesterday?" she asked, trying to keep calm.
"Yeah, I told you to watch where you were going. You know better than to stand so close around rooms you're not allowed in," he still wasn't looking at her, but he had a look of irritation all over his facial features.
"You think this is my fault? You swung that door open like a maniac!"
"Watch your mouth girl, don't piss me off," he said in an angry tone, finally looking at her and standing up from his chair.
"Look at what you did and tell me it's my fault that this happened!" Helga pulled up her bangs over her right eye and looked at Bob right in the face. "I know you're probably going through a hard time right now, but so am I! Miriam was my mom, not just your wife, so don't think I'm over here skipping in a field of daises!"
Bob glared down at her, "I don't want to hear that name in this house ever again. Go to school."
"I want an apology first," Helga's fear of talking to him was quickly vanishing, "right now."
His fists trembled, "You get lost or else I'll give you another one of those."
"No! I-" Before Helga knew it, she was shoved all the way out the front door.
Bob carelessly threw her backpack at her, "don't even bother coming back here unless you plan on making dinner," he said in a tone she'd never heard before, and shut the door with a loud slam.
Helga grunted in anger and frustration, "I hate you!" She shouted at the closed door. Even though she knew he didn't hear that, it still made her feel a little bit better just saying it out loud.
"Who do you hate, Helga?" She heard a voice behind her. A boy's voice. Arnold... Arnold!
Helga quickly fixed her bangs, making sure her eye felt completely covered through her hair. She turned around and smiled a little too widely at him, "oh, hi Arnold," she said with that same smile, "who do I hate? What a weird topic to start up a conversation with..heh..."
Arnold looked both confused and concerned at her, "well, I just heard you scream 'I hate you' at your door..."
"Yes..I did say that," She started twiddling her thumbs, "I was saying that to, uhh...I..I was.. uhh, acting! Yes, I was acting! I-I'm auditioning for the school play, and I was just practicing my monologue. Th-that's all," everyone in the world could be able to tell that was a big fat lie. She just hoped that Arnold would buy it and move on.
"Oh," he weakly smiled at her, "well in that case, that was really good acting. You'll do amazing in your audition."
"Thanks, let's just hope all my practice pays off!" Helga sheepishly smiled.
"I'll be sure to keep my fingers crossed for you!" He sheepishly smiled back. Arnold did not buy her story for a second, but he didn't want to be too nosy about who she was actually saying that to and why. He guessed she would tell him when she was good and ready, but for now Helga isn't showing any signs of opening up to him any time soon. "Anyways, I was just dropping by to see if you wanted to walk to school with me today."
"Okay football head, vamonos," Helga replied, turning around on her heel and heading towards the direction of school.
(A/N: I finally got the chance to make another chapter yayyy. Dumb school I'm too cool for school. Anyways in this chapter shit just got real. Poor Helga! I'm so sorry for doing this to you! Forgive me fictional cartoon character! As u all can see this is where the downhill part of the fanfic starts. One shit thing after another, who knows what will happen next? Leave ur reviews, fav and follow, I highly appreciate all the support I get and I'm always reading reviews for inspirational and ego boosts XD Stay tuned for the next chapter! )
