Weeks passed by as Helga watched Arnold and Rhonda's romance from afar. She glared daggers as Rhonda paraded around with him in the hallways, she'd scowl at the back of their heads when she sat behind them on the bus, she would double over with nausea at the sound of Rhonda's pet names for him and grimaced at any physical touch shared between the couple. The only silver lining Helga could try and grasp at in her observations was that Arnold seemed to be in a continual state of disinterest whenever he was around Rhonda.
Then why is that sucker with her? Helga thought as she groaned to herself and slammed her locker shut.
"Meet me right here after class, pooh bear." Rhonda landed a kiss onto Arnold's cheek and sashayed down the hall.
Please stop calling me that. Arnold wiped his cheek where her lips had just been and scanned the inside of his locker. There was a couple baseball stickers, some poster from a concert him and Gerald had went to over summer and a picture of Rhonda that Rhonda had hung over those other things. Arnold stared at the photo and frowned. Something inside him made him want to rip it up and throw it away, but instead he just sighed and closed his locker. Ever since school began, he had slowly realized that he enjoyed being around Rhonda less and less. The fact that she tried to consume every waking moment of his freetime and the more he was around her, the more he realized how little they had in common. He tried to rationalize her over affection, controlling nature, superficial tendencies and selfish demeanor and look deeper, but he was having trouble finding something he really liked about her other than her looks.
Maybe things could change? I'll give it some more time. Arnold thought as he slung his backpack over his shoulder. He looked up and saw Helga walking into a classroom, at the sudden sight of her, air got stuck in his throat and he choked. She glanced over at him and gave him a weird look then continued into her class. Even though it had been over a month since school started, he was still thrown off whenever he saw her. In the hallways, in the cafeteria, on the bus, anywhere really. Arnold remembered all the times he had wondered what happened to her, how hard it was to push those questions out of his head. Now all of a sudden she was right there in front of him almost everyday and he was realizing he thought of her more than he wanted to admit to himself. Arnold shook his head as he moved towards his next class, trying to think of something other than the old memories now loitering in his mind.
