The Pink Ribbon That He Untied

a Hey Arnold fanfic by Pyrex Shards

A/N: I'm doing something a tad different with this chapter. Up to this point I've been focusing on Arnold's point of view. This chapter mixes that up just a bit, and revisits a character that hasn't had much "point of view" time in this story.

H A H A H A H A H A H A

For Arnold Shortman, fame wasn't really part of his worldview. He knew he was somewhat popular. Having knowledge of one's popularity isn't a bad thing. Arnold realized that as he walked down one of HS 119's crowded hallways, Rhonda's arm linked comfortably in his as she pulled him along and showed him off like a new decoration. While Arnold was well liked, and didn't make enemies easily, not taking advantage of that popularity also meant that he just stayed a few inches away from any social circle. Not that he cared. Polite smiles and the occasional "hey Arnold" was just enough for him. Rhonda, on the other hand, was ultra-popular. She knew it, and she used it to full effect. This is why Arnold found the results of Asking Rhonda Lloyd to be his girlfriend all the more confusing.

He hadn't really expected her to say yes, had he? He was expecting this to be an elaborate lie by Helga to teach him a lesson. Had he known that Helga was telling him the truth… What gain would it have been for Helga to hurt him by lying to him? Why did she tell him about Rhonda? He closed his eyes as the chaos of the students around him. He didn't want her to do that, yet at the same time something in his gut felt relief. He had of course thrown caution to the wind and asked the most popular girl in school to be his.

"Arnold darling?" The sound of Rhonda's unusually sweet voice as she let go of his arm snapped Arnold out of his thoughts and he focused his attention sharply at the world around him. He had to admit, Rhonda took to the entire dating thing like a fish to water. "Something the matter?"

Arnold looked around to take in the situation. They were standing in an intersection of two hallways, with classmates milling about their lockers or clustered into small groups, laughing and whispering about the day ahead and the classes they were obligated to attend, and sometimes which ones they would skip.

He smiled and shook his head as he looked at his Girlfriend of less than an entire day. "It's nothing. I'm just thinking."

"Oh? About what?"

Ah yes. Dilemmas. He couldn't tell Rhonda that he was thinking of Helga. That wouldn't be fair to Rhonda, whom as far as he knew had no idea that Helga had even dated him a year ago let alone tell him that Rhonda wanted to date him. The get out of awkward situation free card came to his mind at just the right moment. "We haven't talked about our date on Friday."

"Hmmm." Rhonda looked around and then pulled Arnold's collar to get him closer to the wall, where, to Arnold's surprise she leaned in and whispered in his ear, her warm breath played wondrously seductive games against the skin of his earlobe and she whispered. "I have an idea, but it has to be tonight, and it isn't a movie."

While Rhonda continued whispering into Arnold's ear, several classrooms down the hallway one lone blonde stood, almost on her tiptoes against the wall. Helga's height advantage worked pretty well, but sometimes she wished it hadn't, like right then, when she spotted the love of her life against a wall while Rhonda whispered what could only have been sweet nothings into that very boy's ear.

She could almost imagine the words coming out of Rhonda's perfectly formed lips, glazed with lip gloss like a sweetener for a boy's eyes, seducing Arnold with her siren song. The way Arnold closed his eyes as the most popular girl in school surrounded him with her presence and enveloped him in her aura, would have caused Helga to seethe with range, had it not been for one simple fact.

When Rhonda stood back and her eyes met Arnold, she could see the smile on his face plain as day. It met her eyes along with the realization that Helga had caused this. Arnold said a few things to Rhonda and they started scanning the crowd. Helga immediately flattened out her feet and leaned against the brick wall, staring forward into nothingness as she examined her thoughts.

"Criminey, I caused this." She formed the words with her tongue, whispering them to the back of her teeth so that passersby wouldn't wonder what she was yammering to herself about. She put some fingers to her forehead and then ran them trough her hair, roughing up the blue bow that sat atop her hair.

She had been trying on different colors since Arnold cut up the original. She would never forgive him for that despite the fact that she felt he had a right to. She belonged to him after all. It didn't make the fact any better that in hindsight, Arnold had acted like a total clueless ass that night. Did he realize what the bow meant to her?

The blue bow matched her blue jeans, and stood wonderfully against the black sweater she wore. It was an odd ensemble, but she found slowly of the course of a year that she had been losing her affinity for pink. It just didn't matter anymore.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Phoebe's voice immediately to her left made Helga's eyes snap open. She looked down at her Asian American campadre. Phoebe's new boyfriend, Gerald Johansen, had her hand in his. The tall black basketball player and more than likely future contender for prom king didn't make eye contact with Helga, she noticed. He seemed distracted, much like her.

"How much did you see?" She asked, looking around while her brain immediately went into damage control mode. How long had the two of them been standing there?

Phoebe closed her eyes and shook her head with a small concerned smile gracing her lips. "I saw enough."

Helga sighed, muttered "Then pretend like it didn't happen" and then stepped away from the wall.

"What did you do Helga?" The deep masculine voice reverberated in her ear and stopped her movement. She turned around to face Phoebe, and her accuser. No. That wasn't quite right. As Helga looked into Gerald's face, she saw concern.

H A H A H A H A H A H A

"So let me make sure I get this straight." Gerald started after finishing another bite of his burger. To his left sat Phoebe, and in front of them, sitting in the middle of the seat and looking defiantly out the window with her arms crossed, sat Helga. They were sitting at Big Al's, which happened to be a few blocks down from the school. It was lunch time and Phoebe insisted that Helga tag along with them to talk.

"Get what straight?" Helga looked at Gerald. She grabbed her chocolate shake from the table and started sipping on it as she again looked out the window.

"You told my man Arnold that Rhonda Lloyd's been crushing on him."

Helga didn't look at them. She just sat the shake down on the table with a clank and continued her stare. She was trying to spot her reflection in the glass against the daylight outside, and failing miserably. "So what." She whispered.

"Helga…" Phoebe began to talk but then her voice trailed off, unsure of what to say. An awkward feeling had settled on the table in front of them.

Just how did one approach a situation like this? The three of them had no idea, and as Helga reached for her chocolate shake, she knew that Gerald and Phoebe had no right to bring it up. Helga started having second thoughts about the time she had told Gerald about her crush on Arnold. That had been a gesture of trust towards Arnold, but that same act of trust was followed up by dumping her poor football head in the confines of a service elevator.

Gerald laughed quietly. "Do you realize how bad Arnold's been crushing on you lately?"

"Was he crushing on me enough to ask Lila out on a date the other day at the mall?"

"I don't know anything about that, but what Arnold told me on the phone last night. Man Helga, this just isn't good."

"Are you suggesting that I made a mistake?" Helga looked Gerald into the eyes, wanting him to just be out with it.

"Yes." Gerald's reply was flat and straightforward.

Helga's eyes burned holes into Gerald's forehead. She could feel rage and blood pressure building up. She had Ol' Betsy clenched against her thigh and pressing down into the cushion of the booth seat. Lucky for Gerald, he just happened to be Phoebe's boyfriend, or all bets would be off. "How do you know that? For all you know I just did the little blockhead a favor. We should all be happy for him, you most of all." She pointed at Gerald.

She watched as Gerald and Phoebe exchanged glances, and the worried look in her eyes immediately told her that something was up. "So spill it."

Gerald sighed and massaged his temples. "Fuzzy Slippers says that words been goin' around about Rhonda. Something's not right with her. He doesn't know what, but he's been sayin' her name's getting whispered around a lot at the other schools."

Helga folded her arms on the table and arched her eyebrow. "I thought Flamingo Slippers knew everything."

Gerald smiled. "He's getting rusty."

"Doesn't this violate one of those stupid, what are they, man rules? The ones that allow you to talk about a girl behind her back, and avoid penis envy?"

"Say what?" Gerald asked.

Phoebe looked at Gerald. "It's…" Then as Gerald looked at her in curiosity she blushed at the possible explanation and the fact that she was even well versed in Sigmund Freud. "Never mind. I'll explain later." She shook her head and looked away.

"I'm concerned about Arnold." Gerald admitted.

"Oh that's nice."

"Please don't be sarcastic." Gerald raised his voice only slightly, but enough that Helga could tell how serious he was. "And as hard as it may be for you to accept this. I guess…" Gerald looked at Phoebe to gather his wits about him. This wasn't easy. "I'm concerned about you too, Helga."

Helga's ears perked up and she looked at Gerald with an arched eyebrow. "Why little ol' me?"

"Well. It took a lot of guts to tell me of all people that you've had just about the biggest crush on the kid you bully mercilessly." Helga smirked and looked away, trying to hide her expression at that painful truth. She was a bully of course. "And." Gerald continued, "That earned my respect. You're a bold girl, Helga." He shook his head and smiled. "A bold girl."

Helga knew enough about Arnold's best friend to know when he was kidding and when he was serious, and when she looked at him out of the corner of her eye she knew he was being completely honest with her. There was some thrill in that. To make peace with Gerald would go a long way. But, she already had Arnold, once. What point was there now? She sighed again. She *had* ruined everything. And yet, she was not about to back down. Arnold had to learn his lesson about her. And, and this was Gerald, and she had appearances to keep up. "Sarcasm aside. I'm not really concerned about Arnoldo. As far as I'm concerned he can have any girl he wants."

"Oh goddamnit." Phoebe stated with a frustrated breath. She turned to her boyfriend. "Gerald, I want to talk to Helga, alone."

"But Phoebs, I'm" He was silenced when Phoebe pressed a slim finger against his lips.

"Trust me. This is the best way to help." She spoke sweetly to him. "C'mon Gerald." And at that she had Gerald both standing up apologizing to Helga at the same time with a polite smile and nod. He took his wallet out and withdrew a five dollar bill, then plopped it on the table in front of his plate.

"You owe me one." Gerald said to his girlfriend as he leaned down. Phoebe offered him her cheek where he planted a brief kiss.

Phoebe smiled and placed her fingers over the spot on her cheek where his lips touched. "Sorry, sister code."

Gerald smirked at that as he walked out of the restaurant while muttering something under his breath.

Helga hadn't seen the light public display of affection. She had her head down beside the chocolate shake, her eyes focusing on the moisture that clung to the cold glass. The sound of the bell on the door signaled Gerald's departure. For all intents and purposes it was a lazy day, so aside from the sound of a radio in the kitchen blaring rock-n-roll music, the silence that settled in to the restaurant allowed Helga's mind to wander. An untold number of minutes seemed to pass. She could do nothing but concentrate on her plan turned possible mistake, and the thought of Rhonda and Arnold, together, forever, and ever.

Her thoughts paused when she felt Phoebe's fingers against her head and along the bow in her hair. She could feel Phoebe tugging on it as if straightening it out for her. "Nice bow."

"Thanks."

"Do you remember when we used to have sleepovers and we'd comb each other's hair."

"Yeah. What about it?"

"Nothing." Phoebe shrugged. "Something I remembered just now." There was a pause as she could feel Phoebe's calming hand resting above her ear. "Everything seems so much more complex now. But you know I'm still your best friend. You're the sister I never had, Helga."

"You too Phoebs…" Helga whispered. "You too."

"So, if I promise not to tell anyone, from one sister to another, can you tell me why you set Arnold up with Rhonda."

"When I was at the mall, I saw what happened with Arnold and Lila. I guess Lila thought Arnold just wanted to hang out with her, but he has to go and ruin it, ask her out."

"And she rejected him of course." Phoebe took a sip of her Yahoo soda.

"As if Lila would do anything different." Helga finally lifted her head. She muttered, "Little miss ever so perfect." She picked up her shake and took a sip. "When I saw that, I guess, I just figured that he can't handle being obsessed. So I, remembered that rumor about Rhonda at her homecoming party being real drunk and letting slip that she had a crush on Arnoldo, and… And so I." Helga's voice caught and Phoebe could see the moisture in her eyes. "I." She slowly clenched and released her fist several times against the surface of the table. "I screwed up."

She felt Phoebe's hand cup over her own. It was enough of a comforting gesture to let the floodgates loose. Helga lowered her voice. "I didn't think that Arnold would do it okay, I… I thought, well, he's obsessed with me right, I just-"

"You wanted him to learn a lesson." Phoebe offered.

"I want him back." Helga breathed, and a tear fell to her cheek.

"You can still get him back you know. All you have to do is-"

"Oh come off it Phoebe." Helga pulled her hand away and leaned back in her seat. She took a long and tear filled breath of air. "Criminey! Can't you see this is how it'll have to be."

Phoebe shook her head. "Now you hear me Helga!" Phoebe panicked at the level of her voice, then looked around then spotted the waitress on duty looking in her direction. She blushed and lowered her voice. "A year ago you had something going on with Arnold. Something wonderful. You cannot sit here and tell me that Arnold belongs with Rhonda. I don't believe you."

"Well, believe it."

"Why did you even break up? I thought you two were having a rough time, but I didn't think you'd split apart. Helga… Arnold told me once that he's in love with you. I don't know about you, but I believe him. He's never lied to me before."

"You expect a teenager to know what love is?" Helga snapped back. "Arnold's just trying to cope with his testosterone high."

"And you're a real Saint Agnes of Rome yourself." Phoebe muttered in frustration. "Look. It's possible. You and Arnold are two of the most mature people I know, and I just have to believe that you two are perfect for each other. Love doesn't have an age bracket."

"Who taught you that?" Helga whispered.

"You did. Helga, look how far you got with him. You've been on a date with Arnold, of all people. Your first real date, and it's with him."

Helga smiled. If only you knew, Phoebe. She thought to herself as she recalled her first date with Arnold, in the fourth grade. But Phoebe unknowingly had a point. It was indeed Helga's first real date with Arnold, not hiding behind an assumed name like Cecile. She had achieved that moment; one of the few precious moments that she had yearned for. Obsession can pay off. But it could also hurt so much. "He doesn't know what obsession is. He doesn't understand me on that level. He never will."

"Or you didn't give him a chance, you just decided to teach him a lesson?" Phoebe asked, her kind voice playing out the role of the devil's advocate.

Helga tightened her grip around her chocolate shake, feeling as if one more pound of pressure was all she needed to break the glass.

"Has the last year proven anything to you about him?"

"That he can't handle it…" Helga's voice came out low and dark.

"How do you know that?"

"You wanna know what obsession is?" Helga laughed through the stray tears on her cheeks. "Try to imagine all those times looking at the one you love, wondering, hoping, praying that one day he'll see past all that you've become and love you for who you are. Imagine that making your heart hurt, in ways that you can only express through poetry, because otherwise it would tear you up, and eat at your soul until there was nothing left."

She took a sip of her shake and continued. "Try to imagine longing for that long. Imagine your entire youth devoted to something that seemed a Shakespearean tragedy. Imagine feeling like you know something no one else would, even him. Imagine him, your strength and your weakness. And imagine he's completely oblivious to it all, even though he very likely saved your life years before you had a chance to even realize your coil was mortal, and that you could unwind it with pills or a rope. Imagine that he was your light and your strength, and that you could only watch this incredible but dense, creature that you belonged to, from a distance. Look, but not touch that which you know is your salvation, even though it doesn't make sense, even though it confuses you. Because you know deep down, even though it makes you wacky, a basketcase, that it just feels right, and you've convinced yourself to just hold out, because…" Helga sighed. "Because it's all you have. And you hate him for it, but, you love him so much more."

Phoebe's eyes dropped to the table top and she looked away sadly. She knew this story. She'd been a witness to it for longer than she cared to remember. What made it painful was that she was hearing it, verbose, from the one whom lived out that story on a daily basis.

"And because you're self-destructive, you push him away. Or. You try to find other people for yourself, or for him, because you think he'll never, ever get it. But you try so hard that it backfires, and you end up right back to square one. And it never goes away, this obsession. Like right now."

Phoebe sat there after Helga finished her monologue. She looked down at her plate of food and realized she hadn't even touched her turkey sandwich on white bread. Despite the protestations of her empty stomach, she shook her head and looked back up at Helga. "You didn't do this to teach him a lesson. You did this to push him away."

Normally Helga would snap back and tell her accuser off. But as she looked at her accuser, and spiritual sister, Phoebe Heyerdahl, she knew that she couldn't be mad or defensive, because Phoebe could read Helga like a book. Helga let her. "I told him once that he's like strawberries to me. Yet he still persisted. I told Arnold that I will always love him, but that I can't have him if he doesn't understand what I mean to him. Yet he still persisted." Helga sniffled and her voice wavered. "Even now. And I gave him away."

Helga looked into Phoebe's dark eyes. Deep, analytical, yet compassionate eyes. Those of her closest most trusted friend. She knew that Phoebe would never lead her down the wrong path, or stab her in the back. They had their trials and spats through the years, but they always came out stronger. Helga knew she could always depend on Phoebe, and had a sneaking suspicion Phoebe knew that she could do the same in a pinch. They were sisters by soul, and they had brushed each other's hair.

"What do I do?" Helga asked of her friend. This was her confirmation of what she knew from that moment she mentioned Rhonda's name to Arnold at the Gallery Mall, and then inwardly regretted it later while hiding her regrets with a mouthful of pretzel.

Phoebe smiled sadly and then finally picked at the crust of her sandwich. "You do nothing."

H A H A H A H A H A H A

Authors Corner

This was originally supposed to be a much longer chapter. However I have some work related things coming up and my next good writing day may not be for another two weeks. There's also the fact that Pink Ribbon has been simmering on the burner for way too long, and I want to give everyone another taste.

That being said, chapter 10 will virtually write itself because I know exactly what is going to happen. In fact I have the next several chapters mapped out. As far as where we are at in the story itself, I would have to say that right now we are already over the half-way mark. Yay! ^_^

So just what exactly is this rumor about Rhonda? Can Helga really sit idly by and do nothing, while hoping that she hasn't pushed Arnold away for good? Will Curly enter the story somewhere? Will the writer get next weekend's work related project done in enough time to salvage next Sunday to be able to pound out chapter 10?

Stay tuned and find out… Oh, and review!