Chapter 9

Egg Story

"Okay,class! Time to turn in your projects"

Everyone stood up and turned in their work.

"Oh, Arnold!" Helga whispered quietly to herself. "Why must I always be so cruel? Again I have the perfect chance to be nice to you, to show you that I'm not just a mean bully out to get you, and again I blow it! What on earth is wrong with me? Why can't I just reveal my tender side instead of being so nasty all the time? If I had only been a little nicer, this could have ended up like that egg project almost was!" She thought back to the last project they did.


She and Arnold were partners, and they were supposed to care for an egg whose symbolic meaning was a baby. She had told herself then that she was going to be nice, and she was going to be true to her word, when Arnold decided that he had to 'lay down the line'. Before she knew what was happening, he was practically screaming at her, and she had no choice but to lash back.

Because they were arguing so much, they both lost the egg and had to go on a crazy search all over the city to attempt to find it. She finally blamed Arnold for losing the egg, and he said that all she had done was argue, so it was her fault. That was when she kind of lost it.

"Oh, don't put this on me, football head. When we started out on the bus all I was trying to do was be nice and get along with you!"

"That's not true."

"Yes, it is! But you didn't even give me a chance! You jumped all over me. You said, 'I'd rather work with anybody else on the planet but you', and ever since all we've done is argue! You started it Arnold, not me." At this she crossed her arms and turned away, preparing herself for whatever excuse he would throw at her next.

"Well, can you blame me? I mean, most of the time you're just…mean. Anyway, arguing hasn't gotten us anywhere, and…to tell you the truth, I'm just sick of it. I'm willing to apologize if you are. Truce?"

She stopped, stunned by his words. He was sorry? And he wanted her to be sorry too? What did this mean? Did he want to be…friends or something? Maybe even more than friends? Okay, maybe that was going too far. But there always was the slight chance.

"Okay, on the one hand, I can just say no and tell him that I would never be sorry and stuff…the usual," she thought to herself. "On the other hand, I can risk everything, say I'm sorry, and just…see what happens. Awe, what the heck?"

She turned around. "O-okay, I'm sorry too," she sighed, as she sat down next to him on the bench in the park where he sat, her head almost resting on his shoulder.

They sat that way for a moment, neither one of them saying anything; both of them at perfect contentment. It was like they both realized that even though the other one could sometimes be mean, neither one of them really meant it. In the long run, they were both just trying to make their way in the world without other people giving them a hard time. In a word, it was perfect. Helga wouldn't have traded that moment for anything in the world. She loved to imagine what could have happened, if they hadn't been so rudely interrupted…

"Wait a minute, do you hear something?"

"No," Helga thought, too wrapped up in the moment to notice anything else. But sure enough, if she listened hard enough, she could hear a small cracking sound coming from under their bench. They both got off and stuck their heads under the bench.

"Our egg!" Helga gasped.

"Helga, it's…it's hatching."

They both watched in amazement as a little chick slowly pecked itself out of the egg. They both looked at each other as if to say, "Well…that was weird."

Because of the lack of room, after all, they were under a bench, they were very close to each other. They were so close that Helga could actually feel Arnold's breath on her face. She was almost dying of excitement, but it all ended too soon.

"Come on, we better take it someplace warm," Arnold said, scooping the chick up in his hand and standing up.

"Drat," Helga whispered before she stood up too.


The loud ringing of the bell brought her back to her senses.

"Okay, class! You're dismissed! Have a 'special' rest of the afternoon!"

"I wonder what we talked about for the last hour," Helga thought, as she walked out of the school. "Oh, well."