This chapter is pretty long, but I hope everyone likes it. Please let me know what you think.
It was Monday and Helga was on her way to school. She got there and got her books from her locker when the bell rang. Everyone headed to class while Mr. Simmons instructed everyone to take their seats.
"Class, settle down. Everyone take their seats. Today is an exciting day because we have a new student joining our class. Please welcome your new classmate, Dean Maverick," Mr. Simmons said while starting to clap. The class joined in while they watched the new kid walk in.
He was a little taller than Helga, he dressed as cool as Sid, he was as polite as Arnold was, he was very smart, and all the girls instantly had crushes on him. He was like Lila, before she changed, only a boy. On Lila's first day, the girls hated her because she was as stylish as Rhonda, she was as smart as Phoebe, and all the boys liked her, all of that is still true, but she isn't so perfect anymore. Dean had short, dark brown hair that was neatly brushed into place across his forehead and straight down the back of his head. He was tan, he had blue eyes, and he wore a plain white shirt and black pants with black shoes. All the boys envied how cool he was. Mr. Simmons told him to take Arnold's old seat; right in front of Helga. She was mesmerized by him. He even smelled good. He turned around to face Helga and immediately Helga straightened up. Her face heated up as he studied her features. Suddenly she realized he was talking to her.
She shook her head and said, "What?"
"I said, hi," Dean said with a handsome voice. Helga almost melted as he spoke. She couldn't believe herself, normally she was a lot more kept together and now, she was falling all over herself.
"Oh, uh, hi," Helga said shyly.
"I'm Dean, as you probably know," he said calmly.
"I'm Helga," she replied trying to sound calm.
"That's an interesting name," Dean said with a smile.
"Thanks," Helga replied.
"Dean, I know you're new and anxious to get to know the rest of the class, but you must pay attention because you have a lot to catch up on. Why don't you help him Helga?" Mr. Simmons asked.
"Um, okay, I guess I could do that," Helga answered nervously.
Dean looked back and smiled. Helga gave him a really big smile.
At lunch, Helga sat with Lila and they talked about Dean. Phoebe was back to spending all her time with Gerald. Helga told Lila all about how she felt when he talked to her and how nervous he made her. Lila expressed how happy she was for Helga when Dean walked up with his lunch tray.
"Hi, I'm Dean," he said to Lila, "Do you girls mind if I sit with you?"
"No go ahead," Helga said a little too fast.
Dean smiled and laughed a small chuckle before taking a seat.
"So what is your name?" Dean asked Lila.
"Oh, I'm sorry, where are my manners, I'm Lila," she said.
"So, Lila, what are you so happy for Helga about, if you don't mind my asking?" Dean said while eating his turkey sandwich.
"Oh just some, uh, some girl things," Lila replied.
"Oh, gotcha. Uh, Helga, since you're supposed to help me catch up on the work I have to do, would you like to meet after school?" Dean asked.
"Sure that would be fine," Helga replied.
"Okay, where should we meet?" he asked.
"We could meet at the park if you want," she replied.
"Actually, I don't really know my way around so how about we walk there together after school?" Dean asked while drinking his carton of milk.
"Okay, that, uh, that sounds great," Helga said with a smile.
Lunch ended and everyone went back to class. Helga couldn't wait for the day to end. She was extremely excited about spending time with Dean. Lila was especially happy that Helga found someone to distract her from Arnold. School could not end soon enough. Helga sat in her desk and stared at the clock. Occasionally she stole glances at the back of Dean's head. She didn't know why she had to steal glances since he wouldn't even know she was staring at him. After what seemed like nine hours, school finally ended. Helga ran to her locker and practically threw her books in it and shut it. She didn't want it to seem like she was too eager to hangout with Dean so she went to the bathroom for a few minutes. She didn't want to recite a poem about Dean since she didn't know what to expect of their relationship and she didn't want to jinx it. Instead, she paced the floor thinking about what might happen at the park. She was only expecting for them to do homework together and afterwards he might walk her home. She wished that they would go for ice cream afterwards and he would walk her home and hold her hand, but she didn't want to rush it, after all, they just met. Finally, Helga decided to leave the bathroom. She didn't see Dean anywhere so she walked out the doors of the school to wait for him. She opened the doors and he was standing there on the sidewalk waiting for her.
"Look who decided to show up. I thought you were gonna ditch me," Dean said jokingly.
Helga smiled then said, "Maybe it wasn't me being slow, maybe it was you being impatient," Helga joked back.
"Well, we have a lot of work to do so we better get going," Dean said while waiting for Helga to lead him to the park.
"Okay, the park is this way," Helga said while starting to walk in the direction of the park.
They got to the park and sat on a bench. Dean pulled out an overstuffed folder of his homework he has to catch up on. Helga stared wide eyed as he pulled out paper after paper. She didn't think it would end, but finally it did.
"How are we supposed to get all of that done in one afternoon?" Helga asked.
"I guess we'll have to work together every afternoon until it's all finished," Dean replied with a smile.
He sat down and pulled out a pencil.
"What should we work on first?" Dean asked.
"Maybe we should organize them by class and do the subject with the most worksheets," Helga suggested.
"Sounds good to me," he said while grabbing a pile of papers.
As soon as they sorted all of the papers, they noticed that each subject had almost an equal amount of papers.
"Okay, new idea, how about we start with your least favorite subject," Helga suggested.
"That would be math," Dean said slightly embarrassed.
He and Helga began working on math. After two hours, they finally finished with math, unfortunately, they still had spelling, language arts, science, and history left. The two were tired of school work and Helga had homework of her own to do so they decided to stop and continue tomorrow. Dean offered to walk Helga home, but since he was new, he didn't know how to get to his house from hers so instead, she offered to walk with him to his house. They took their time getting to his house. They spent the whole time talking about who everyone at school is. They had a lot of time since Dean lives far from the park.
"So tell me about the kids at school," Dean said.
"Okay. Well there's Phoebe and Lila, which you've met, they're my best friends, you should really get to know them. Or at least Lila since Phoebe is always with Gerald. Gerald is her boyfriend, he's the guy with the tall hair, he's pretty cool. If there is ever a legend in this town, Gerald knows it. Then there's Sid, he's the kid with the backwards hat and the beetle boots. He can be overdramatic sometimes. Stinky is the really tall kid with the big nose and the green shirt. He's not a bad guy he's just…simple. Then there's Harold, he wears a backwards hat too, but his shirt doesn't fit him. He can be really annoying sometimes. Nadine is the girl with blonde hair and she always wears it in braids. She is obsessed with bugs. She hangs out with Sheena, the tallest girl in our class, she's like Stinky, simple. Then there's their leader, Rhonda. I never used to get along with her and I hated her, but now I know her a little better and I don't know, she's not bad. Rhonda is the girl with the black hair and the red sweater and black pants. She's the most popular girl in the fourth grade. Those are the people I usually talk to," Helga said.
Suddenly Dean stopped walking.
"Is something wrong?" Helga asked casually.
"No, were just at my house," Dean said with a chuckle.
"Oh, right," Helga said slightly embarrassed, "I guess I'll see you later then."
"Okay, bye Helga," he said while walking inside.
Helga watched Dean enter his house until he shut the door, then she smiled a crooked smile and headed home. Once she got home, she immediately called Lila and asked her to come over. She called Phoebe too, but she was busy with homework and told Helga to call her later. Lila got to Helga's house and they talked about Dean and about Helga's afternoon with Dean. She couldn't tell if he liked her or if he was only being nice because she was helping him.
"Do you like him, Helga?" Lila asked.
"He's alright. I don't know if I like him, but he's not bad," Helga replied. She thought he was adorable, but she wasn't lying when she said this. She really wasn't sure how she was feeling.
She wouldn't mind liking him because at least if she liked him, she might be able to tell him and avoid a repeat of her and Arnold. Lila was at Helga's house until seven o' clock, when she decided it was time for her to go home. Helga took this opportunity to call Phoebe. She told Phoebe pretty much exactly what she told Lila. Phoebe also wanted to know if she liked him and she told her what she told Lila. After a while of talking, they hung up and Helga finally did her homework.
The next day was just as long as the first. Helga was anxious to spend more time with Dean even if they were only doing homework. She began staring at the clock until it was lunchtime. Dean sat with her and Lila at lunch again.
"So, Helga, I was thinking today we could work on history," Dean said.
"Fine with me," she replied casually.
"How long have you live here, Lila?" he asked.
"Oh, I just moved here this year, a while ago," Lila said.
"What about you, Helga?" he asked.
"I've been here my whole life," she replied.
"Oh, that's cool," he replied while eating his mashed potatoes.
The group chatted for a while then the bell rang. The three walked together back to class, Lila on the right, Helga in the middle, and Dean next to Helga. Helga began daydreaming once they got into class. This time class went by quickly and before she knew it, Helga was putting her books into her locking and heading outside to meet Dean. She waited for a moment before realizing he was standing right behind her.
"Were you standing there the whole time?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.
"I wanted to see if you would ever notice," he replied with a smile. Helga smiled back and looked down.
"So you ready to go?" Dean asked while taking a few steps towards the park as he waited for her to answer.
"Yeah, sure," she replied while following him.
They talked about school while they walked to the park. They reached the park and sat on the same bench as yesterday, and Dean pulled out his history worksheets and a pencil. They began working and every once in a while Helga would stare at Dean for a few seconds. Once, Dean caught her and he smiled to himself. After they finished working on history, they decided to finish for the day.
"Helga?" Dean asked.
"Yeah?" Helga replied.
"Would you mind showing me where I can get some ice cream?" Dean asked.
"Sure," she said while standing up.
They walked over to Slausen's. On the way there they talked about their favorite and least favorite ice cream flavors. By the time they reached Slausen's, they figured out that they both loved chocolate the best.
"I'll have two scoops of chocolate in a cone, please," Dean told the lady at the counter.
"Um, I guess I'll see you later then," Helga said while turning to leave.
"Wait, don't you want to join me?" Dean asked while paying for his treat.
"Uh, sure, but I thought you just wanted me to show you where it was," she said.
"I did, but that doesn't mean I don't wanna hangout with you, Helga," he replied.
Helga decided she might as well get an ice cream while she was there. Once she got her ice cream, the two sat down and talked. They asked each other questions, talked about school, and joked with each other. Eventually Dean asked Helga about her family. Helga decided she should just be upfront with him.
"My parents are both neglectful and they don't care about me. My sister Olga is the only one they care about. She's in Alaska right now," Helga replied.
"Why do you say your parents don't care about you?" Dean asked curiously.
"Because they don't. They ignore me every day. My dad is always calling me Olga and yelling at me when he does pay attention to me and my mom is always drinking her "smoothies" so she's usually passed out by the time I get home," she replied casually.
"I'm sorry, Helga," Dean said meaningfully.
"It's no big deal. So what's your home life like?" she asked.
"Well, my mom left my dad when I was little and my dad passed away two years ago so I've been living with my aunt," Dean replied casually.
"Oh, that must be tough," she stated.
"I do wish I could've gotten to know my mom and I wish things could've changed with my dad, but there's no reason to be upset about something I couldn't control. I love my aunt and I'm happy," he said with a smile.
"Man, I wish I could say the same. I mean I'm happy, but sometimes I feel like no one cares about me," she said.
"I'm a caring person, I care about you," he assured her.
Helga felt awkward at this point.
"Uh, maybe we should head home now," she said.
"Okay. I'll walk you home today since you walked me home yesterday, and plus, I can find my way home today," he said while looking down, embarrassed.
"Um, okay," she said awkwardly, with a smile, while getting up.
They started walking towards Helga's house. Helga had asked him what subject he was planning for them to work on tomorrow and he told her he wanted to work on science.
"You know, Helga, after I catch up on all this work, I'm gonna have to catch up on my work for the week. Would you want to help me?" he asked.
"Yeah, sure. We can this weekend if you want, you know, so your caught up in time for school next week," Helga replied.
"That's what I planned," he agreed with a smile.
"Well, this is my house. See you tomorrow," she said while turning to walk up the few steps up to her door.
"See ya, Helga," he said while heading to his own house.
Helga went up to her room and decided not to call Lila yet. She worked on her homework instead and tried to get her head on straight. It wasn't easy to tell what Dean was feeling or thinking. She wondered what he thought of her, even as just a friend. She thought about him for a while and suddenly realized she had butterflies in her stomach and a smile glued on her face. She was starting to like him after all. She decided to call Lila and tell her everything. She called Phoebe as well. Phoebe had told her that Dean and Gerald hung out yesterday and today after he and Helga were through hanging out. She told Helga that they had gotten along great and Gerald had asked Dean what he thought of Helga.
"What did Dean say?" Helga asked casually as if it didn't even matter to her.
"He said he thought you were a really cool person and he thinks you are pretty," Phoebe said excitedly.
"Oh, that's cool, Pheebs," she said not trying to sound too excited.
"Does this mean you guys are going to date?" Phoebe blurted out. She couldn't control her excitement for Helga.
"What? No! I mean not that the idea disgusts me or anything, but we aren't. At least, as far as I know," she replied.
"Do you want to, Helga?" Phoebe asked.
"I haven't really thought about it," Helga looked at her clock which read nine thirty, "Listen, Pheebs, I gotta get to bed, I'll talk to ya tomorrow."
"Okay, bye, Helga," Phoebe said before the two hung up the phone. Helga went to bed right after she hung up with Phoebe.
The next day was basically the same as the first and second, school was long, Dean sat with Helga and Lila at lunch, school took a while to end and when it did, Helga went to her locker and put her books away. This time when she went to meet up outside with Dean she checked behind her to make sure he wasn't trying to trick her again. After everything was clear she walked outside and sat on the stairs waiting. It only took a minute for Dean to come outside. The two walked to the park like usual, sat on the same bench as always, and Dean pulled out all his science worksheets.
"Why do you always want to come to the park to work?" she asked.
"But we always sit on the same bench every day," she stated.
"I guess I just like the view from this bench," he said while surveying the park and taking in its natural beauty.
"Oh. Well, let's get started," Helga said while he turned his attention back to his work.
They worked on science for about an hour, then they were finished.
"Should we move on to the next subject or should we save that for tomorrow?" he asked her.
"I don't know, I mean, it is your homework so, if you want to keep working that's fine with me," she said.
"I think we've done enough for today. We can just hangout, if that's okay with you, of course," he asked confidently as if he already knew the answer.
"Sure, that's fine with me," she replied.
They sat for a while and talked, then they walked around town and talked, then they got burgers and talked. They talked until six, when Dean decided he should get dinner for his aunt. He walked Helga home first and then he left. Helga didn't feel like calling Phoebe and Lila tonight. Instead, she went to her room, did her homework, and went to bed. The next day, Lila and Phoebe were nonstop with her questions about Helga's meeting with Dean. Helga didn't feel much like talking about it, since she'd been doing so all week and telling them almost the same things. She told them the same thing happened yesterday that has happened every time. The girls felt as though something bad happened that was causing Helga to be that way. Helga informed them that nothing happened, she just didn't have anything to say about it. She told them they simply went to the park and after they were done working on homework they talked, ate, and went home. Before anything else could be mentioned, the bell rang and everyone slowly made their way to class. They had begun a routine that was already becoming boring to Helga. She enjoyed Dean's company, she just wished something interesting would happen to get them out of the rut they were getting into. They would go to school, Helga, Lila, and Dean would eat lunch together, and after school Helga and Dean would walk to the park and work on homework. Today at lunch, Dean noticed Helga wasn't acting as excitable as she normally would. He didn't want her to feel bored of him so he decided to change things up. After school he told her they weren't going to the park today.
"Where are we going then?" Helga asked regaining her excitement.
Dean felt her excitement and he smiled.
"We're going to stop by my house," Dean replied with a coy smile.
"What for?" Helga asked nervously. She wasn't afraid to go to his house or meet his aunt, she just didn't know what to expect.
"You'll see," he said leading her to his house.
"What about your homework?" she asked.
She didn't really care about getting his homework done, she didn't want him to fall behind, she was just happy that they weren't doing the same thing again.
"I was planning to do spelling today. I don't think I'll need any help. I'm pretty good at spelling," he informed her.
They reached his house and he opened the door for Helga. She stepped inside and he followed right behind her. She stood inside the entryway of his house and looked around, amazed. His house was huge and decorated with beautiful paintings. His house was two stories high. The living room is to the right and the kitchen to the left. It reminded her of her own house. In fact, the design was exactly like her house, only larger and decorated very extravagantly. There were paintings everywhere, statues too, and the colors of the walls and carpet complimented the decorations wonderfully. Helga was absorbed in thought, taking in all the surroundings.
"I'm guessing you like everything?" he said questioningly.
"Yeah, it's really cool," Helga exaggerated.
Dean walked up the stairs and motioned for Helga to follow. He stopped a couple steps up and showed her the first painting on that wall. It was a mother cheetah and her baby. It was so realistic that Helga almost thought it was a painting. The second painting he showed her was a park with a few families having picnics in the grass under the shade of several trees. They made their way up the stairs and into his room.
"So, who painted all of those?" Helga asked while looking around his room.
His room was painted sky blue. There were a ton of pictures all over the wall in front of her. The other three walls were bare. His bed was up against the wall to the left and he had a desk on the right wall. His room wasn't what Helga expected after seeing the rest of his house.
"Actually, I painted them," he said trying not to sound too proud.
Helga's eyes widened and her mouth fell opened.
"Y-you painted those? They're amazing!" she said.
"Thanks. I love painting. I also took all of these pictures," he said while motioning towards the pictures.
After looking at the pictures for a minute, Helga said, "So, why did we come here?"
"I wanted to grab a few things. Then we can go to Slausen's if that's okay with you," he asked while grabbing something out of his desk.
"Fine with me," she said casually.
The two left his house and headed to Slausen's. She had no idea what he was planning. Once they got there, Dean asked Helga to sit in a booth. She walked over to a booth and got comfortable. Dean came over holding an easel, a blank canvas, paint brushes, paint, and a palette. Helga immediately knew what was happening.
"Are you gonna paint a portrait of me?" Helga asked in a disgusted way. She didn't mean to sound so disgusted by the idea, it was just nothing anyone would ever have done and not at all what she had expected.
"Yeah, is that okay with you? Cause if not, we can just eat and go home," he said slightly upset.
"No it's fine, go ahead," Helga said.
He sat down and set everything up. He began painting and after three hours, he was finished painting. He painted her in the booth. Helga loved the painting. He offered to give it to her.
"Sure, that'd be great," she said.
"Sorry if this seems weird, but I felt like you were getting bored with our routine so I thought I'd mix it up. I hope you don't feel weird about me painting you," he asked.
"No it's cool, I like it. Well, we should probably get going," she said.
They stood up and left. He walked her home again and gave her the painting before he left. This time Helga was very excited to tell Lila and Phoebe. They were very excited for her.
The next day, Dean and Helga decided to go back to their old routine. The two and Lila ate lunch together then after school he and Helga went to the park and worked on language arts. He was very good at writing which intrigued Helga because she was also great at writing.
"You're really good at this," Helga said while looking over his work.
"At what? Writing?" he asked.
"Yeah."
"Yet another of my many talents. Well my only talents are writing and art," he said.
"Those are pretty good talents," she said.
"What kind of talents do you have, Helga?" he asked.
"I'm good at writing. Mostly poetry," she replied casually.
"Really? I'd love to see what you've written," he said excitedly.
"I don't know, maybe someday," she replied.
"Come on, you can show me," he said.
"I might, just not now," she replied.
"Okay, Helga," he said smiling.
They worked on language arts for a while. It didn't take long because Dean and Helga were both very good at it. After they finished, Dean told Helga he didn't have time to hang out with her today. She was a little disappointed since they had been spending so much time together. He couldn't walk her home either so she walked home alone, sad. She got home and did all of her homework. It was only five when she was finished, so she called Lila to come over. She came over and the two talked, got some dinner, and returned to their own houses. Once Helga got home, she called Phoebe. She answered, for once, and told Helga that Dean couldn't hang out with her because he was hanging out with Gerald. Helga questioned why he didn't tell her that, but she figured it was because it wasn't any of her business. Suddenly Helga realized she and Dean hadn't made plans to work on his homework tomorrow. She didn't have his number and since he wasn't at home, she couldn't go to his house and ask. She hoped he would just show up at her house tomorrow, ready to work. After Helga hung up with Phoebe, she noticed it was after ten and she was tired so she went to sleep.
The next day, Helga was excited to spend the whole day with Dean, that is if he shows up. She really enjoyed spending time with him. She woke up around nine thirty and had breakfast. She ate really slow thinking that time might go faster. She finished eating at ten fifty. She went up to her room and texted Phoebe to see if Dean had mentioned to Gerald anything about hanging out with her today. Phoebe said she hadn't talked to Gerald yet. Helga decided to head to the park and see if he was there. She walked outside and saw Dean coming up the sidewalk.
"Were you waiting for me?" he asked with a laugh.
"No, I was just going for a walk," Helga said defensively.
"I forgot to ask you about hanging out today. Do you want to? We don't have to do homework, I can do that myself, but if you want to just hangout we can," he suggested.
"Yeah, I'm kind of sick of homework," she informed him.
"So you wanna just hangout then?" he asked.
"Sure. What do you wanna do?" she asked.
"We could see a movie, or get some lunch, or we could see a movie and get some lunch," he suggested.
"Or we could get lunch at the movie," Helga replied jokingly. Dean laughed as did Helga.
"What do you want to do?" he asked.
"Lunch and a movie is fine with me. What do you want to see?" she asked.
"I don't know. What movies are out?" he asked.
"I think the new Evil Twin movie is out," she suggested.
"Cool, you like scary movies? I pegged you for a romantic. No offense it's just, you wear pink, you look very girly, and you write poetry," he said.
"I guess you shouldn't assume anymore," she said with a smile.
"I guess not," he replied with a smile.
She began walking towards the movie theater and he followed. They talked about other kinds of movies they like and what they would eat at the movie and after the movie. They got to the theater, got two tickets, got a bunch of candy and popcorn, and found seats. They shared all their candy and popcorn since they liked the same candy and both loved popcorn.
"If you get scared, don't worry, I'll protect you," Dean said sarcastically.
"You'll probably be the one who needs protecting," Helga replied laughing.
He threw a couple pieces of popcorn at her. Two ladies walked in and noticed Dean and Helga. She smiled and as she walked by she told Helga and Dean they made an adorable couple.
"Oh we're not "together." We're just friends," Helga said.
"Oh, I'm sorry. You guys should really think about it though, you'd make a cute couple," she suggested while taking a seat.
"Gwen, stop meddling in these kids' lives. I'm sorry about her kids, she loves to play matchmaker for everyone," the lady said while sitting by her friend.
The movie started just then. The movie had been out for a while, so Dean, Helga, and the other two ladies were the only ones in the theater. At one thirty, the movie was over. The two walked out of the theater and threw away their trash.
"What'd you think of the movie?" Dean asked.
"It was alright. It wasn't scary enough though," she replied.
"Yeah, no kidding," he said.
They began walking to get food. They decided to get tacos since they've had everything else. They finished eating at two thirty. They weren't sure what else to do so they just walked around town and talked. Helga was surprised that they still had things to talk about. Dean was very talkative, he never ran out of things to say. When he wasn't talking, Helga was. It was seven o' clock when they decided to go home. They were closest to Dean's house so they walked to his house and then Helga went home. When she got there, she had to tell Lila and Phoebe about her day. She texted them and they both said they were very happy she had a new friend. Helga went to bed after a while and had a tough time falling asleep. She kept thinking about Dean. She was really starting to like him. She finally fell asleep around midnight and didn't wake up until almost eleven in the morning. Since Dean said he would work on his homework by himself, Helga wasn't sure if they were going to hang out today. She wasn't tired of him, but she kind of wanted to spend today by herself. She'd been spending every day with him and she felt like having alone time. When her doorbell rang, she was a little upset. If it was him, wanting to hangout, she would just tell him she didn't feel like hanging out today. She opened the door and it was him.
"Hey, what are you doing here?" she asked him.
"I just wanted to say hey and I wasn't sure if we were gonna hangout today," he said.
"Actually, I sort of don't feel like hanging out today, no offense," she said.
"Oh, that's cool. I really only came to ask you if you might wanna maybe…go out with me on Friday, like on a date?" he asked nervously. He was normally so calm and confident, but right then he seemed afraid and insecure. He immediately perked back up while waiting for Helga's answer.
"Umm, I-I well-"
"If you don't want to, that's fine," he said while looking down then looking back to her.
"No it's not that, it's just I wasn't expecting this," she replied quickly.
"Oh, so would you want to?" he asked again.
Helga took a deep breath and said, "Sure, sounds good."
He smiled at her and said, "Cool. We can work out the details later. See ya, Helga."
"Yeah, see ya," she replied while watching him walk away then gently shutting the door. She stood with her back up against the door and smiled to herself.
"Who was at the door?" Miriam asked.
"Nobody, just a friend," she said while hurrying up the stairs.
She walked into her room and immediately texted Phoebe and Lila, of course, and told them what happened. They were so excited they ran over to her house. The three talked all about her date with Dean on Friday. They decided to come over an hour before the date and help Helga get ready. They talked about where the date should be and went over different scenarios of how the date might go. The three talked for hours until Phoebe and Lila finally went home and Helga went to bed. She couldn't wait to get to sleep and see Dean tomorrow. She wondered if this meant he was her boyfriend or if they were just going on one date or if they were now "dating" but not in a serious way. She figured she would know somehow, either she could ask him or he would say something that gave her a hint as to their relationship status. All she knew right now is she had a date with a very nice and very cute boy.