Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters mentioned in this story.

They all belong to their rightful owner: Craig Bartlett.

Title: "Boring"

In the last chapter: The day after Helga had gotten hurt at her ballet lesson, she called me in the early morning, asking me if I could take her to school since her own car was still at Les Cygnes Gracieux. I agreed of course and once we reached the school we ran into Eugene and Lorenzo who had clearly become the happy couple Helga had foreseen they would be. She refused to let me help her walk to school though so I decided to take her home and didn't have it in me to leave her home alone.

Helga confessed to me that she, like her mother, sometimes drank in the middle of the day though she wasn't anywhere nearly as addicted as Miriam was. I told Helga that I still didn't believe that Lila was gay, especially because my friends didn't either and she mentioned that she didn't consider sexuality as anything important in a person. After I called her amazing, I realized how hard my heart was beating just from being next to her and I couldn't resist her when she kissed me again.

Author's 1st note: I don't have much to say really… xD Enjoy? Haha Cx

[Please notify me if you notice any grammar mistakes. This isn't my first language, so there's bound to be mistakes.]

Chapter 10: "Ten times more complicated"

I was sitting in Slausen's, fiddling with my cup of coffee. I could feel Gerald's burning eyes on me, waiting impatiently for me to ask why I had called him out here only to sit in awkward silence. I tried opening my mouth to talk, but the words wouldn't come out. I didn't know where I was supposed to start. When I finally collected enough courage though and looked at him, he was drinking from his own coffee that was significantly less sweeter than mine was.

"Ok, talk." Gerald said in confusion after he had finished drinking from his cup of coffee on this cold morning. "Why aren't you talking?"

"I wanted to make sure you didn't spit your coffee on me when I tell you." I admitted and fidgeted with my own cup again which I knew I wasn't going to be able to drink anyway.

"Whoa, this must be really bad…" Gerald declared and let go of his cup dramatically. "It's safe now. Tell me."

Despite his joking manner, I didn't feel less concerned. I didn't know how else to say it than just say it. "I almost had sex with Helga."

Gerald blinked a couple of times before he looked at his coffee. "Good thing you didn't tell me while I was drinking…" he declared casually, but then he got a wild look in his eyes. "How?! When?! Where?! What is going on?!"

"C-Calm down!" I begged and looked around, making sure no one was staring at us. "T-To make a long story short… You noticed I didn't come to school today, right?"

"Everyone noticed. That, and Eugene said he was worried about you because he had just seen you this morning… with Helga." Gerald replied.

I sighed. "Thanks to me Helga has twisted both her ankle and wrist during ballet."

"How was that your fault?"

"We fought just before and that made her distracted."

"… So, it was a sort of pity fuck?"

"No!" I declared loudly and banged my hand on the table, but steadied it when it wobbled. With another sigh and an apologetic look at the other customers, I looked back at Gerald. "I-I just promised her yesterday that if I could help her in any way then she should tell me - - "

"So you helped her scratch an itch?"

"Would you stop?!" I begged and let Gerald finish snickering before I continued. "So she asked me yesterday to drive her to school, but her ankle was just too bad so I drove her back home and then I kinda just… went into her house with her. I didn't feel like leaving her home alone like that. We went to her room, talked for a bit and then… then came those eyes."

"Eyes?"

"Those smoldering, beautiful, completely captivating eyes…" I explained with flushed cheeks. "I don't know what it is, but when Helga looks at me something inside me just crumbles."

"Sounds like you got it bad, dude." Gerald said curiously and I sighed.

"I… I guess I… do." I admitted.

I had finally come to terms with the fact that I was 100% attracted to Helga Pataki. I hated myself for it, for several reasons. One, I was dating someone else. Two, Helga was not the kind of girl you should fall in love with; Matt was proof of that. If not even he stood a chance, how could I? Also, and I know this shouldn't be up for debate for me, but she wasn't a girl you'd bring home to your parents I think. I don't think Helga's the kind of girl who would want to meet your parents. I was captivated by her, but she wasn't my dream girl in any way. Perhaps that was why I was attracted to her, the whole opposites attract thing. It sure was working wonders on me.

"Wow…" Gerald mumbled in awe. "So, if you only almost had sex with Helga… what happened?"

"Well…" I started awkwardly and rolled my shoulders. "We were kissing when we heard a noise from downstairs. Helga declared that it was probably her mom, she had been napping when we got home and she went downstairs to check on her. While I was alone, I had… time to think."

"Time?" Gerald repeated curiously.

"There was nothing distracting me, ok?" I said shyly. "A-Anyway, I realized what I was about to do; sleep with Helga and cheat on Lila. So I… I panicked."

"Panicked?" Gerald asked and leaned forward. "What did you do?"

I closed my eyes in shame. "I jumped out her window…"

When I opened my eyes, Gerald was staring at me through his big, brown eyes. "You bailed on her?" he asked in a monotone voice.

"Yes." I replied without much emotion as well.

"And she hasn't tried calling you?"

"No."

"Texted you?"

"No."

"You think she'll cut your junk off when she sees you?"

"Oh, yeah."

Gerald put his palm over his face and let it fall down, dragging the skin on his face down with him before it plumbed back into place. "You're a bold kid, Arnold."

"Bold? For being a total coward and not owning up to my own feelings or mistakes?"

"No, for jumping out of a window, leaving a girl like Helga behind." Gerald explained. "I'm not sure I'm joking when I asked about her cutting your balls off."

I groaned and hid my face in my hands. "I wouldn't blame her… I'm straining Helga along while cheating on Lila. I'm the worst…"

"This is the most rotten thing you've ever done."

"You're not really helping."

"Arnold," Gerald said sarcastically. "did you really think I would?" he asked. I instantly glared at him and he laughed at my expression. "Ok, ok… Look, it's not the end of the world, but you need to figure out what you want. I mean, what happened to you being so obsessed with Lila?"

"I admit that our relationship was never really what I thought it would be…"

"Yeah, no wonder. She's never even kissed you."

"Huh? Yes, she has."

Gerald shook his head and then stared at me. "Wait. When did she kiss you?"

"At the club when I was out with her and the ballet dancers. It was a couple of days ago." I replied in confusion. Had I really not told him about that?

"How come as soon as Helga kissed you the first time you told me, but when Lila kisses you, I hear nothing for two days?" Gerald asked, but something in his facial expression told me he wasn't expecting an answer. It was more like a statement. "Arnold, I think you need to start considering if you even have any feelings for Lila left."

"But I've always adored Lila!" I insisted stubbornly. There was something inside me that was fighting ferociously against this other part of me that knew that my feelings for Lila had changed. It was hard to accept that a part of you that had been there for 7 years was dying.

"Well, maybe it was the idea of Lila you liked." Gerald suggested.

"What?" I asked in slight disbelief, not because of the suggestion, but because it was coming from Gerald.

"You've always said that you liked Lila because you felt you were perfect together. You got along so well, had the somewhat same personalities and wanted the same things in life… I don't know, maybe you just liked the thought of being with someone like Lila who is kinda perfect in her way. Maybe it was never really her that you liked."

I blinked in confusion before a smile spread on my face. "When did you become so wise?"

Gerald smiled a sheepish smile I had never seen before. "I've met a girl… who's, um, pretty smart actually."

"You met a girl? When?!"

"A couple weeks ago."

"Oh, man! Why didn't you tell me?"

"I just didn't wanna bother you when you were in such a mess of your own." Gerald said with a smile that told me that he wasn't angry with me at all.

"Gerald, no matter how big a mess I'm in, I always want you to tell me stuff like that." I said seriously.

Gerald smirked at me. "Thanks, Arnold."

"So, come on! Tell me about her. What's her name?" I asked excitedly. Gerald wasn't exactly inexperienced when it came to girls, but he was hardly ever serious about them. There was something about his smile that told me this one was different though.

"Well, her name is Phoebe." Gerald started and then continued telling me about her for a while. I listened intensely to every detail, teasing Gerald from time to time when I noticed that he was getting shy. I told him I would love to meet her and he said that he'd like me to meet her as well, but he wanted to wait a bit and see where it was going before he sprung his friends on her. I understood that and agreed to settle with just hearing about her for now.

As I had foreseen, Helga refused to meet my gaze when I came to pick Lila up from Les Cygnes Gracieux. She didn't seem furious with me, more like she just didn't want to look at me. She seemed more distant and cold than anything and I wasn't sure whether that was a good thing in comparison to a more hateful stare. I noticed that she and Matt still weren't talking; their dancing was as perfect as ever, but they didn't seem to have fun while doing it. I wondered if Matt felt as rotten as I did.

Lila seemed distant as well when she came over to me; she was clearly thinking hard about something. "Lila?" I asked gently.

She whipped her head up and looked at me as if she didn't realize I was there waiting for her. "Uh, s-sorry, Arnold. I'm just… There's an ever so lot on my mind." She admitted.

"Is there anything I can help you with?" I asked and put my hand on her shoulder.

She smiled halfheartedly at me. "Th-Thank you, Arnold, but I-I don't think this is something you can help with."

Those words would have hurt a lot more four months ago and I knew the reason why they didn't hurt as much now. The reason came walking towards us in quick steps and I noticed Matt following her. He was clearly apologizing to her, but she ignored him as she ignored me as well when she walked by us. I watched as she went out the door and sighed along with Matt. I looked at him half sympathetically and half accusingly. I didn't blame Helga for being mad at him, but he was clearly begging for her forgiveness. It looked like Helga had a certain talent for this; capable of making others unbelievably mad at her, but if it was the other way around, people would beg for her forgiveness.

"A-Arnold, I need to talk to Helga before we go, ok?" Lila asked and jogged after Helga.

I followed her and held the door open for both her and Justin who came running. Matt stayed behind though, probably not in the mood to be with a lot of people. When I went outside, Helga was leaning against the wall. Lila seemed to be trying to approach her, but Justin stopped her. He whispered something to her, but she shook her head at him and tried to approach Helga again. The whole scene confused me, but when I was about to ask Justin what was going on, I noticed someone familiar inside a car I had never seen before.

"Gerald?" I asked and tilted my head in confusion.

"Hey, Phoebs!" Helga yelled with a smile and I first now noticed the girl driving the car Gerald was in. She was of Asian descent it seemed, a head shorter than him and dressed in blue clothing and blue glasses. I figured she must be the girl Gerald had told me about earlier. Then I realized that Helga had just called her name.

"Wait, how do you know Gerald's girlfriend?" I asked and approached Helga.

"What do you mean how do I know her? She's my best friend." Helga answered without looking at me. But then she seemed to understand my confusion and pointed in their direction as Phoebe parked the car. "Wait, isn't that your friend?"

"Yeah, that's… Gerald, my best friend." I stated.

Helga looked between me and the couple walking towards us before she let the back of her head bang against the wall. "Oh, no…" she said nasally.

"Arnold, what are you doing here?" Gerald asked when they approached us. He looked between me and Helga and then his face took on an expression that resembled the one where you had been struck by lightning. He pointed at Helga as he looked at Phoebe. "W-Wait, your best friend is Helga Pataki?"

"Y-Yes." The girl responded and looked at me curiously. Then she looked at Helga. "Is this - - "

"Yeah." Helga answered curtly without looking at me.

"Oh…" Phoebe mumbled in understanding. Clearly, Helga had talked enough about me for Phoebe to know why this was awkward. She started snickering though which earned her a hateful stare from Helga. "Oh, I-I'm sorry, but it is a rather funny coincidence."

"Sure…" Helga said and looked at me. I felt so small under her glare. "Let's call it funny… Anyways, you came here to introduce me to Gerald, but I already know him. You sure you still want me to do join you for dinner?"

"Please do, Helga. I still want you two to meet more officially." Phoebe begged.

Helga sighed and put on a smile. "Sure, if you say so." She answered. I couldn't help but smile at that; Helga seemed to really care about Phoebe. She was willing to have dinner with her and Gerald, the best friend of the guy whom had recently bailed on her. It was almost impressive really.

"O-Oh, Helga. Please wait." Lila said and grabbed Helga's hand. "Could I please talk to you first?"

"What? But I - - "

"It'll only be a minute! Please." Lila begged and pulled Helga along with her who was completely baffled by the whole thing.

"I'll be right back, Phoebs." She said before she followed Lila.

They were stopped for a second though by Justin who once again hissed at Lila. She ignored him though and continued on. Helga and Lila disappeared around the corner and I stared at them in shock, wondering what it was that was so important that Lila had to pull Helga away like that.

Justin looked at me, biting his lip. "I hate doing this to you…" he said and put his hand on my shoulder. "And I hate doing it to Lila, but it's been going on for too long. Go and listen to them."

"What? B-But I - - "

"No, seriously. You need to hear what Lila has to say." Justin said. He was obviously ashamed of telling me this. He looked like he was betraying a friend and that just made me all the more anxious to actually follow them.

I looked behind me at Gerald, praying he would give a hint to what he thought I should do. He thought for a moment before he nodded at me. Phoebe nodded at me as well even though I hadn't asked for her advice. It was nice to get the acceptance from Helga's best friend though.

I quickly jogged towards the corner where Lila and Helga had disappeared to. They were standing about 16 feet away from me, Lila with her back turned to me and Helga looking at her with an impatient look on her face. Lila seemed to be fiddling with her fingers if the way she was staring at the ground while her arms were up to her hips was any indication. Lila wasn't talking which was probably why Helga looked so annoyed.

"Look, Lila. If you've changed your mind about talking to me then I really need to head back." Helga said, but she didn't move. She clearly just wanted Lila to spill the beans already.

"No, no. I… I need to say this… or else I'll never get over it." Lila declared and took a deep breath. She moved her head up and looked at Helga and I could see the clear resolution in the way her back arched. "I… like you, Helga."

Helga's eyes widened. Mine would have too if I hadn't been to shocked to move even an inch. No one would drag someone away to tell them that they liked them unless it was liked them liked them. Lila was telling Helga that she liked her and that fact kept spinning around in my head. I felt dizzy and the sounds around me seemed to disappear. All I could hear was Helga's sharp inhale of breath.

"I had a feeling…" Helga almost whispered and looked away from Lila. Her eyes caught something near me and she looked up. Our eyes met and she looked at me with pure fear in her eyes. The sympathy was written on her face, but I had no idea what kind of face I was making. She bit on her lower lip for a moment before she looked at Lila again. "What about Arnold?"

The mention of my name caused my chest to jolt. Lila seemed to feel the same way and she looked back up at Helga. "I… I like Arnold… a lot. He's a sweetheart, just ever so much! He's kind, generous, patient and… oh, I would just love it ever so much if I… if I…"

"Felt the same he feels for you?" Helga asked, drawling the words to make sure that I heard them.

Lila nodded. "I thought… I thought if anyone could make me feel that way for them, it would be Arnold. He has loved me for so long and I adore him for his loyalty. I-I thought, if maybe I just gave it a chance, this feeling would change. That… That I would feel for him what I was supposed to feel…" she said sadly.

"Supposed to feel?" Helga asked and quirked an eyebrow. She seemed to have forgotten about me now.

"I don't want to feel this way towards you… to-towards girls… but it seems like not even Arnold can change this. If an amazing boy like that can't change me, I don't think anyone can."

"Hey," Helga said and lifted Lila's face to look at her. "you don't have to change Lila. Not for yourself or for anyone else." she said and then realized that she was touching Lila's face and whipped her hand away. "You don't need to be ashamed of who you are, Lila."

"I know, I know… My head knows, but whenever I try to tell someone, I feel like the ground is falling under my feet!" Lila declared in a sob and hid her face behind her hands.

"Then why did you tell me?" Helga asked gently.

Lila sniffed once and removed her hands. "Because I know what you are like, Helga. You can be ever so crude in your way of talking to people, but you are in fact kind and tolerant… I needed to tell someone, anyone, about this."

"Am I the only one who knows?"

"Yes… but I think my daddy might be catching on. He asks about Arnold just ever so much and I always avoid the conversation… I think he might know that I'm not truly happy with him." Lila confessed and I could hear the sob in her voice again.

Helga put her hand on Lila's shoulder. "The toughest one to tell is always your parent. If he's already got a clue, it would probably be easy for you to tell him. Lila, he might just accept you for who you are. Wouldn't that be just ever so amazing, to put it in your words?" she asked with a small smile.

Lila gave a breathless chuckle. "Yes, it would be… I can't imagine daddy not accepting me… It's everyone else I'm afraid of." She admitted. "Especially Arnold."

"Why Arnold?"

"Because of what I've done to him! He cares for me just ever so much and yet I have done this to him! I could have told him the truth, he would never tell anyone if I asked him. I knew that, but I just hoped ever so desperately that he could change me!"

"You can't change something like this, Lila! Millions have tried and millions have failed. Those who claim they went from gay to straight are in deep denial and too afraid. You can't keep lying to yourself or Arnold. And you're right, what you're doing to him is cruel." Helga said angrily. Lila started sobbing again and Helga sighed. "But I guess I know why you did this… I can't blame you for hoping. But, Lila, the world is a much better place when you can love yourself just as you are."

"I thought you'd understand… Thank you, Helga." Lila said and sniffed. "I-I don't expect you to feel the same for me at all, of course. I just… needed to get it out. To say it. It was the only way I could think of to get the feeling out of my system."

"Do you think it'll disappear because you've said it? I guess you don't like me that much then." Helga joked.

Lila chuckled. "N-No, I do like you a lot… but I think it's also admiration. I always knew there wasn't a chance so I just needed to let go of the feeling. Thank you for being so understanding."

"Sure thing and I won't tell on you…" Helga said somehow awkwardly. "But what are you going to do about Arnold?"

"I-I'll tell him… I promise."

"When?"

"I just… need a little time. I'll tell daddy first. Then Arnold… And I hope he can forgive me someday." Lila promised.

"I… hope so too." Helga said and looked in my direction. "Hey, just out of curiosity… why did you kiss Arnold at the club before you went home?"

Lila lifted her head and hesitated. "I… I wanted to get back at you…" she admitted shamefully. "At the time, I thought maybe you had kissed Arnold because you found out how I felt about you and… wanted to mock me."

Helga frowned deeply. "Excuse me?"

"Oh, of-of course I know that wasn't the case at all!" Lila said and waved her hand. "I was just ever so edgy that night and I felt… like everyone knew somehow. I felt put in the spotlight and I took that out on both you and Arnold… I'm sorry."

Helga seemed like she wanted to say something, but changed her mind. She crossed her arms instead. "Want to head back to the others?"

"No, no. I… I need to be alone right now. This was an ever so big step for me and I need to think for a bit. Maybe if I'm lucky I can collect enough courage to tell daddy tonight." Lila said and with those words, she walked past Helga, not giving her a chance to say goodbye to her.

I could feel my body turn away from the scene to look at the others, but it didn't feel like I was the one controlling my movements. They were all staring at me, completely unaware of what a mental bomb that had just been thrown at me. I felt a hand on my shoulder and without protesting, I let Helga pull me back around the wall. She was staring at me, looking for traces of life in my eyes.

"Hey." Helga said and clapped my cheek. I shook my head and put my hand over hers in surprise at the small slap. "What are you thinking?"

"Nothing and everything." I replied in anything but a humorous voice. My brain didn't seem to have fully understood what I had just found out.

Helga made a small sigh and let her hand fall away from my cheek. It took me a moment before my own hand fell down too though. "I wish I could say that I had no idea, but…"

I sighed in annoyance. "I don't want to hear you telling me I told you so, ok?" I pleaded and ran my fingers through my hair. I could feel the tension rise in me and the anger start. I wasn't sure where the rage was coming from, but I could feel it bobbling strongly inside.

"I wasn't going to." Helga insisted and by the way her eyebrows were knitted together, I could see that she was irritated at my comment. At that moment, I didn't care.

"Oh, please." I hissed and threw my hands down. "I bet you want to. You want to do a little happy dance and gloat about how you were right all along and how stupid I was for not seeing it and trust her so much!"

Helga growled. "Now, wait just a minute, you - - "

"No! I will not wait just a minute! Everything's so messed up! Lila's not what I thought she was, but I can't be angry at her because she can't help it! But at least I can be angry at you!"

"Me?! What did I do?!"

"Because even though I just found out that Lila isn't in love with me, I don't care as much as I should and that's your fault!"

"How is it my fault?!"

"Why do you care, Helga?" I asked, feeling my lungs starting to burn from my yelling. "You never actually told me that, why do you care?! Why did you care if I was bored with Lila, why do you care about me or my parents, why do you care about anything that involves me?!"

"You're right!" Helga screamed and threw her arms out. "Why should I care indeed? It's not like I've started to care about you these last four months we've known each other! It's not like Lila talked about you at the ballet lessons and I got curious about you! It's not like I hadn't seen you in the library with Lila before and started following you around because I was too shy to actually approach you! It's not like when I found out that we played together as children that I was so unbelievably happy to have found you again! It's not like hearing about your parents made me cry when I got home! It's not like all these things meant anything to me, Arnold Shortman!"

Helga was breathing hard from having screamed at the top of her lungs for so long. The sound of her breathing was hoarse, but I didn't notice it too much. I was too shocked by what she had just told me and I felt frozen to the ground as I stared at her. She seemed to slowly realize that she had just told me and her eyes widened until they were as big as mine were. I could hear some footsteps near us, but I didn't look towards the sound. I could hear Phoebe's somewhat panicked voice as she tried holding Gerald back who had just appeared around the corner.

"Gerald, I don't think we should interfere." Phoebe insisted.

"What are you yelling about?" Gerald asked worriedly in my direction. I looked at him, unsure what I was supposed to reply to that. I wasn't sure what the answer was. When I looked back at Helga she was looking away from me.

"Sorry, Phoebs, but I'm going home." Helga declared and walked towards the others, cringing with every step she took with her right foot.

"Are you alright?" Phoebe asked and let go of Gerald's arm to grab at Helga's, but she didn't catch her before she was already past her.

"No." Helga replied simply with no emotion in her voice and continued down the street.

"G-Gerald, my apologies, but I have to…" Phoebe said gently, but didn't finish her sentence before she was already running down the street to catch up with Helga. She put her hands on her shoulders and led her towards the car she had arrived in with Gerald. Helga sat inside on Phoebe's request and Phoebe shot a quick apologetic look in Gerald's direction before she sat next to her. The car eventually disappeared down the street.

Gerald turned to look at me and jogged until he was right next to me. "What just happened?" he asked as Justin approached me as well. Justin seemed less confused than Gerald did though.

I put my hand up to my head as if that could somehow make the spinning stop. "Things just got ten times more complicated…"

Author's 2nd note: Yes! I am evil and cruel for ending this chapter here xD *Evil laugh* Anyways, yes. Lila is gay in this story and has had feelings for Helga all along. I noticed that some the reviews hinted that they weren't sure if Helga was right about this and were actually sure that Lila was in fact in love with Matt. That's not the case, Helga was right; as per usual xD

And, yeah, I thought it was time to have Phoebe finally appear in this story. I've always made sure that she and Gerald were in my stories as well since they are important characters to Arnold and Helga, but I admit that they haven't gotten much attention in this story and that's not gonna change. I don't even know if Phoebe will have another appearance or not. We'll see where this story takes me :P