Disclaimer: I do not own Hey Arnold!

The Day You Will

By Moonlight

He Did What?!

The sound of chatter filled the halls of the school. Groups of girls gossiped loudly, their voices carrying down to the furthest corridors. Gerald gave a few of them a fist bumps as he passed by and stopped to chat with one of them, who had waved him down. Arnold, staring down at his own feet, was too busy to notice his friend flirting. His mind was elsewhere. Lost in thoughts of what had occured the day before. It felt like a lot to take in. Helga had left early in the morning without waiting for him. His mother had, once again entrusted him with a lunch for the girl, as she had skipped out of the boarding house too quickly to catch her.

He looked at the bag in his hands before speaking, "Should I wait to give it to her later, Gerald? I'm afraid she might still be…" Arnold slowed his speech, realizing that his friend was no longer at his side. Turning to look over his shoulder, he found Gerald waving goodbye to the group of girls and running to catch up with him.

"Sorry, Arnold. Macy was just asking about, uh, homework and stuff…" Gerald said through a smile, "...did you say something just now?"

Arnold gave his friend a look that said "I know exactly what you were up to, so don't think I'm letting this slide". He'd seen Gerald talking to that girl on several occasions as of late. The nature of their conversations, however, were not exactly the type a casual friend would have. Relaxing his face, he sighed. "It was nothing. Just thinking to myself."

Gerald shrugged and began texting. A small chuckle escaping his lips as he typed out a message.

Stopping in front of the classroom, Arnold took in a deep breath, preparing himself for some backlash from his friend. "You know, Gerald. I don't think what your doing is fair." Arnold said softly.

"What do you mean?" He finished his message and hit send. The goofy-looking smile still plastered on his face.

"It's not fair to Phoebe. You and Macy have been talking an awful lot lately, and I just don't think it's fair to your girlfriend."

Gerald rolled his eyes at his friend in annoyance, "Arnold, you KNOW that Macy and I are lab partners. We've been in contact about our project. Why does this have to be about Phoebe?"

Shaking his head, Arnold reached for the handle to his classroom door, "Because it's one thing to contact someone about schoolwork, and another to ask them to lunch on Saturday… with heart emotes." He finished and opened the door to step in.

Turning pink, Gerald unlocked his phone and deleted the last message he sent to Macy. Of course Arnold was watching his every move with that girl. Who was he kidding? The girl Arnold is completely ga-ga over just HAPPENS to be Phoebe's best friend. Of course Arnold is going to be defensive over Phoebe.

A small "ping" noise shot out from his phone, startling him.

"7:58am

Of course, handsome! See you Saturday."

Gerald let out an exasperated sigh and slid the phone back into his pocket.

Helga watched Arnold walk into the room. His eyes scanning his surroundings until they met with hers, and she watched as those eyes lit up for a short moment. A smile playing on his lips, as he walked towards a seat which was near her, but not close enough to make her uncomfortable.

Arnold remembered the bag he was carrying and proceeded to set it on his desk. Turning it so Helga's name was facing her direction. He turned his body slightly to make eye-contact with her.

She immediately spotted the bag and nodded in his direction, letting him know she's aware of its existence. He watched as she scribbled something on her notebook and held it up for him to read.

"I'll get it from you after class."

He nodded in return, his cheeks flushing slightly as she did her best to smile at him. She still seemed to be upset from the day before, he resolved. Returning his gaze to the front of the room, Arnold caught sight of Gerald taking a front-row seat in front of Mr. Leonel's desk. Was Gerald really that upset at him? All he had said was that Phoebe needed to be kept into consideration. Gerald's actions were hardly innocent, so Arnold felt he was too soft with him, even. Maybe Gerald just needed it to sink in a bit. He stared at the back of his friend's head and sighed to himself.

Splat!

Arnold reach up into his hair and pulled out a fresh spit-ball. Turning to see Helga staring right at him, a part of his mind took him back to his fourth-grade days. How she's constantly sent spit-balls his way in order to annoy him. His eyes glazed over slightly as he stared at her.

She scribbled something on her notebook and held it up.

"Why's tall-hair boy not sitting with you?"

Observant as always. Brought back from his daze, he shook his head quickly and pulled out his own notebook and pen.

"I'll tell you later."

He worried for a bit, thinking she wouldn't want to speak to him later. She was most likely still needing some space from him. After all, that's probably why she left so early in the morning.

Splat!

He fished out another spit-ball from his hair and turned to face her again.

"Meet me at the empty stairwell after class."

A smile crept across his face as she lowered her notebook and made contact with his eyes. He nodded happily returned his focus on the teacher, who now stood in front of the whiteboard, scribbling down some vocabulary words.

"I hope you all have your assignments ready." he said.

Helga looked through her notebook for a specific page and tore it out. She wrote her name at the top and set it on the corner of her desk to be picked up by her teacher. Resting her head in her hands, she stared at Arnold's back, as he pulled out his own assignment. Feeling her heart pound inside her, she buried her face in her hands. She could feel the redness creep onto her cheeks, making them burn. "Baby steps…" she whispered to herself. "Just take baby steps, and it'll be okay…"

She peeked through the cracks between her fingers to see him glancing over his shoulder at her. His own cheeks filled with color as he realized she saw him.

"Baby steps…"

The class finished quickly and everyone began to file out of the room. Helga stood up and gathered her things with the goal of meeting Arnold down the hallway. She slid her bag onto her and headed for the front of the room, only to be stopped by a hand on her wrist.

"Hey!" she squeaked in surprise.

"Hey, uh, Helga. Got a minute?" Gerald smiled sheepishly at the girl.

Helga crossed her arms over her chest and stared him down, "I'm kind of in a hurry."

"Oh! Um, could you just tell Phoebe that this Saturday… I can't go with her to the movies. I have, uh, I'm going to the dentist." He said, stumbling over his words.

She raised a brow at his statement. "Can't...YOU tell her?"

"Well, I left my phone in my locker, and I-"

"Yeah yeah!" she cut him off, "Save it. Fine. I'll tell her." Helga turned to bolt it out of the room.

Finally, she made it to the empty hallway. Turning the corner, she found Arnold waiting for her at the base of the stairs. His face turned red as she stepped towards him.

"So, uh…" Helga started, reaching for the bag he was holding out. "..Stella really wants me to eat, huh?"

Arnold rubbed at the back of his neck. "Well, you ARE currently living with us. So I guess you're kind of our… responsibility?"

She scoffed in response, "Pfft! I'm NO ONE'S responsibility but my OWN." her brow furrowed as she placed her hands on her hips.

"What I meant was-"

"I know what you meant, Arnold." she softened her expression and took a seat on the last step. "I was just messing around." she said as she looked through the bag. Yogurt, a chicken wrap, some crackers, and a bottle of chocolate milk. Interesting combination.

The boy took a seat next to her, staring out in front of them.

"So were you gonna tell me what happened with Gerald?" Helga said through a mouth-full of cracker.

Startled back into reality, Arnold remembered why he was there, "Oh!" he turned to face her, "I'm worried about Phoebe."

"Phoebe? Why Phoe-" Helga started, but stopped abruptly as she turned to face him as well. Their faces were mere inches away from each other as they sat so close together on the narrow step. Frozen in place, she could feel his breath on her as he exhaled. Her heart's face began to quicken as she felt his hand find its way on hers.

"Baby steps…" she reminded herself, and slowly looked down at her hand. The warmth of his hand on it was intoxicating, but she did her best to breathe. "Wh-why Phoebe?" she tried again.

She could hear him inhale before responding, "Because I know… how much she loves Gerald." his fingers slid between hers as he said the word "loved", and it made Helga's heart do a backflip.

"What did he do…?" she managed to keep the conversation going through her feeling of bliss.

Arnold shifted a bit, "He's been… seeing… this other girl, and-"

This snapped Helga back to reality. She pulled her hand away and turned to face him again. This time with determination in her eyes, "Wait, WHAT?!"

Putting his hands in front of him as a form of defense, Arnold shook his head, "Look. He's been talking to and spending a lot of time with this girl. He's seeing her on Saturday. I'm worried that this could hurt Phoebe, if she were to find out."

It dawned on Helga that Gerald had told her to cancel Saturday with Phoebe to meet with this girl. "And you didn't DO something about it? You didn't TELL Phoebe when you first saw this happening? Are you THAT faithful to-" she stood up and began to rage, however she was stopped by the feeling of his hands on her wrists. He has stood up as well and came face to face with her once again. His eyes were gentle, though they pierced through her. She felt stunned under his gaze.

"I did talk to him." he said, trying to stay quiet.

"AND?!"

"And he wouldn't listen, so-"

Helga rolled her eyes in annoyance, "Of COURSE he wouldn't lis-"

"We need to talk to Phoebe. She doesn't deserve this."

Helga shook herself free of him, "No. YOU need to talk to Gerald." she turned to leave, "You're right, she DOESN'T deserve this. But you're his best friend. You can do something about this."

He didn't know what to say. Instead he just stared helplessly at her back.

"I don't want to have to be the one to tell her and break her heart." she looked over her shoulder at him, "That's not fair to me OR her."

"You're right, Helga" he said quietly, "I'm sorry. I'll try talking to him again." he felt like he was blowing things with her all over again. He really did feel hopeless.

They stood in silence for a moment before Helga walked over to him. Placing a hand on his shoulder, she leaned in close "Thank you for telling me." Without thinking, she planted a soft kiss on his cheek.

Arnold's eyes grew wide, and his cheeks reddened as he watched her back away from him. She was obviously surprised by her own actions, and her face became flushed with embarrassment.

"I…" she started, but couldn't find the words to say. Instead, she grabbed her lunch bag and turned to run as far down the hallway as she could, leaving a pleasantly surprised Arnold to his own thoughts.

"Baby steps…"

Moonlight: It's definitely not like Gerald at all, but hear me out! Something's gonna happen~! Let me know what you think!