Episode 8: The Game

Part 1

Arnold walked home that night feeling a hopeless confusion. He wasn't angry at Gerald for acting the way he had, he was more surprised at himself because he knew his friend was right. They were not 9 anymore, the things he did DID affect others, whether he intended to or not.

Arnold walked up the steps of Sunset Arms, the streetlights buzzing on and a few cats and dogs ran out of the building as he opened the door.

"I'm Home!" He yelled to no one in particular.

"Oh, there you are!" came his mother's voice, "I'm making borsch for dinner!"

"Is that you Arnold?" he heard his father from the lounge. Arnold peeked his head inside and saw his father and grandfather sitting on the couch- one reading the newspaper the other a book.

"Hey dad, hey grandpa." Arnold said in a monotonous voice, sinking down right in the center.

"What's eating ya, short man?" his grandfather asked.

"Girls." Arnold sighed out.

"Girls? Do we need to have...the talk." His father asked, feeling uncomfortable as he looked down at his son.

Arnold shook his head profusly. "Grandpa beat you to that."

Miles looked at his father skeptically, Phil shrugged his shoulders and was biting back laughter.

"It didn't start with the 'Birds and the Seas?' did it?" Miles asked.

"Actually, yeah it did..."

"Yeah, remind me to give you the correct version of that explanation." his father said, putting his book down.

"So, what about girls?" Miles asked.

"I like one, and I used to like the other, the old crush came back and I felt like things would go back to the way it was. Me liking the old crush again, and then I wouldn't have to worry about anything changing with the other girl. And it's ruined my friendship with Gerald and now it seems like I may lose my friendship with both of them as well..."

"That's some afternoon soap opera you got there, short man." his grandfather said, shaking his head.

"Well, it seems that the real problem isn't your old childhood crush, but you are scared of the feelings you are developing with the other girl." His father said, as he spoke his thoughts aloud.

"You should be honest with yourself, don't force yourself to like her for the sake of trying to get rid of liking another person. That's a pretty outlandish thing to do. You can't help who you fall in love with, trying to take control of that is fruitless!" said Miles.

"Dinner is ready!" came his mother as she popped into view around the corner, "You boys come eat."

Thursday Night

Arnold stared at the cloudless sky from his bed, the moon above giving the only light through his windowed roof. He sat and thought about what his father said, about what Gerald had said earlier, and about his own feelings.

When Lila had come over to apologize yet again and tell him of her school switching, Arnold had wanted to help her but the whole kissing thing made things...awkward.

Flashback

"I'm so, so very sorry, Arnold." Lila said, nearly pleaded. It was obvious she had been crying.

"It's alright, you didn't know that the punch was spiked." Arnold reassured her, "I've been trying to tell people that it was all an accident."

"Oh! I'm so embarrassed!" She covered her face with her hands. "I can't face the entire school, I've heard what the 11th graders have been saying..." she lifted her face and looked at him, eyes watering.

"I think I'm going to switch schools, Arnold."

"Really!? I mean you can just explain what happened yourself, Sid and Harold didn't say anything...well Harold didn't say anything." Arnold corrected.

"I just wanted to come and apologize again..."

End Flashback

He had called Gerald after that, desperate to unload his burdens- now he knew it was unfair to push his problem onto his friend while trying to take care of someone else's. If Lila wanted to switch schools because of rumors, it was her right, he didn't have any say in the matter. But to give up so easily after one mistake and perhaps the biggest fear Arnold felt, was the breaking of his deluded version of Lila Sawyer, and seeing the real person she was- and realizing that she was not the girl he used to know despite the mask she seemed to wear, or perhaps he never knew her at all.

Then there was Helga, she had changed so much since he had went away. She was coping with her family issues, seeing a therapist, working through her problems and correcting her bad behavior, will most of it- while still trying to find herself in the process through her own hobbies. Arnold had flinched when Gerald had thrown 'denial' in his face, because in truth, he was. He was forcing himself in denial so that he could stop any start of liking Helga.

But did she like him still? She wasn't the easiest girl to get to know, she never had been. She saved her affections, laughs, and true kindness to those who really mattered to her. This was something he semi-saw when he was 9, but at 15 it was obvious when he looked back.

It was time to let the idealism and stubbornness of the unchanging symbolism of Lila Sawyer go, and accept the change that he, Arnold Shortman- did in fact like Helga G. Pataki and tomorrow he would start to act on it.

Homeroom Friday- Lacrosse Game Day

"Good morning Arnold!" greeted Mr. Simmons as Arnold walked in, he noticed that Gerald hadn't arrived yet. He walked over to his desk and said hello to Sid and Stinky, who were excited to see the new Evil Twin III movie.

"So Arnold, ya coming tonight?" Stinky asked. Arnold shook his head.

"Nah, I'll make it up to you, I have plans." he answered as he sat down.

"What could be better than a guys night?" Sid asked, bummed that he wasn't joining them.

"The same thing that you seem to find better, girls." Gerald stated as he walked up and sat on the other end, far away from Arnold.

Mr. Simmons called Homeroom, Lila Sawyer's name was left off the roster.

GYM

For once, Arnold had managed to speak with Harold during gym class. He hadn't spoken to his hefty classmate since the Labor Day Party.

"Yeah, as soon as I realized she was kissing me- I had to shove her away as soon as I could." Harold explained, also a recipient of Lila's lack of discretion that night.

Arnold shook his head, "Well at least you weren't bragging about it like Sid was." said Arnold.

"Patty would kill me! I had to convince her that it was all a misunderstanding to save the other poor girl from a serious pounding." Harold explained, eating a Mr. Fudgey bar.

"Oh well, I heard she transferred again so I guess it's a blessing- Patty's still mad about it."

"So you and Patty are dating?" Arnold asked, looking across the field as the Lacrosse team practiced ruthlessly before their first game. He could see Helga running around like a Spartan, more aggressive than ever.

"Yeah, we started dating two years ago. It's nice, she's nice." said Harold.

"How did you handle being friends and then being more than friends?" Arnold asked.

Harold, bless his poor soul, had to sit for a minute to think about the question, he wasn't used to being asked such serious questions.

"Hmm..Well it was weird at first, but the more I hung out with her...the more..natural it was." He tried to articulate.

Arnold nodded while looking at the field, he was usually the one giving advice to Harold not taking it, but Harold probably didn't realize that's the reason Arnold asked.

They both winced when they observed how intense some of the offensive players were being to their own B players, it was a wonder how they would be against their opponents. The Girl's Lacrosse Team were not frail little girls, they could- run, jump, tackle, and hit with the best of them.

Arnold could see how a game like this, could mellow out a girl like Helga.

Lunch

When lunch came, Arnold noticed Gerald get up and bid the guys bye when Arnold came and walk past Arnold, out of the cafeteria.

"Are you n' Gerald fighting?" Stinky asked, "I got curious on account of him ignoring you all day."

"It's nothing, Gerald's just busy." Sid said.

Arnold at least was happy that Gerald would keep their business from Sid and Stinky, he was truly grateful. It let Arnold know that despite their fight, Gerald still considered Arnold a friend.

"Have you seen Eugene?" interjected Rhonda Wellington Lloyd, she sounded less snobbish and more of the old Rhonda they knew. "I need to discuss the play with him."

The boys shook their heads.

"Hmph! I told him to meet me here at lunch, Helga can't meet because of extra practice and we need to finalize the costumes!" Rhonda rattled off, clearly exasperated, she turned toward the boys and it seemed an idea had gone through her mind as she said "aha".

"You guys can help me with the costumes! I need male models to help with the fittings." She said as she looked over all three of them, like a mad scientist staring down upon her experiments. Anyone except the three boys, would have found the scene comical.

"Oh no! Don't look at me!" Sid said, "I can't get girls while were those ridiculous costumes!"

"Sid, you couldn't get 'girls' if you were carrying kittens." Rhonda deadpanned.

"I'm alright with it, I reckon I'll look snazzy in some fancy clothes." said Stinky.

"Uh, gee I don't think I have the time Rhonda." Arnold said, "I'm on the baseball team, and practice starts up soon."

"Well, Stinky meet me in the Fashion club room for the next three lunch period starting tomorrow." Rhonda said, as if assigning an assistant a chore- and she walked off.

At that moment, the door burst open and a freshman yelled excitedly into the cafeteria,

"Oh man! There's a kid that got hit by a dodgeball, stumbled in the road, nearly got hit by a car- only to land straight into the fountain! It was Awesome!"

"There's Eugene." All three said unanimously.

Phoebe side stepped through the door, past the handful of people who were running to see the scene.

"Oh Hey Arnold!" She waved happily, "May I sit with you? Helga's at practice and I'm not sure where Gerald is."

"Of course, you can sit with us." Arnold answered, moving his bag for her to take the seat next to him.

"Oh such a busy day, with a Physics test, a band meet, and Helga's game tonight- I'm already overwhelmed!" Phoebe said with a cheery voice, that showed that she actually enjoyed it.

"I forgot the first Lacrosse game was tonight." Stinky asked, "Is that where you're going Arnold?"

Phoebe looked at Arnold with surprise, "Oh? Are you coming to Helga's game, too?" she asked.

"Uh, yeah. I hope she doesn't mind." Arnold said.

"Of course not! I'm sure Helga would be happy if you came." said Phoebe. "In fact, you can sit with me and we can cheer her on together."

Calculus

Arnold knew that he needed to make apologizing to his best friend his next priority, but Gerald was now moved on the opposite side of the room when he arrive to Olga's class.

He sat down and stole glances towards Gerald's direction, his friend gazing steadily ahead.

The bell nearly finished ringing when Rhonda and Helga made a mad dash through the door. Each girl taking their seat in front and behind him, but this time Helga sat in the front and Rhonda sat behind him.

The sight of Helga sitting front row in her own sister's class was a strange site. Olga looked at her sister and smiled delightfully, believing that her sister was finally taking her class seriously.

"Well class, for today's lesson we'll be learning about the..." Arnold drowned out Olga's voice as he stared at the girl in front of him. He noticed she was wearing her hair in two braids today, her hair parted the same way she used to when she wore her high pigtails in elementary school.

He then was alarmed when Helga raised her hand politely to answer a question, it boggled everyone- including Olga.

"Y..YYes..Helga!" Olga called.

"It's 34.4" she said, without attitude or complaint.

"That's correct." said Olga, and she shook her head from her own shock and continued to the next problem.

"Wow, Helga you seem to be in a good mood today." Arnold said. "You've been awake the entire class period."

"Don't get too excited Arnoldo, I'm on probation from the principal- if I act out anymore they'll keep me off tonight's game, and every game after it." Helga said without looking behind her.

Arnold had to laugh at that, go figure Helga would need to be bribed in order to behave. He laughed a little too hard when a few classmates looked his way.

Arnold ducked his head down. He could feel Gerald staring at him from across the room.

"So you're coming to the game?" Helga asked, not looking back but leaning her head back a bit so he could hear.

"Y..yeah, I wanted to see your first game." Arnold said, trying to express how sincere he was toward her.

"You can do whatever you want, Football head." She said, no longer caring to use his old nickname, she appeared mad now.

"Well, I want to see your Lacrosse game." He said again, he couldn't see her face but he could see the tips of her ears were flushed.

He looked over and saw Gerald staring at him, he noticed his friend didn't look mad at him but rather impatient- like he was waiting for Arnold to do something.

The Game

Arnold made his way towards the lacrosse field, about a third of the school seemed to be present, not a bad turnout for the first game. He looked along the bleachers and after five minutes found Phoebe waving toward him.

"Arnold! Good, you came!" She said as she greeted him. Phoebe was still the same cheery friend that was loyal to her moody counterpart. It would often baffle Arnold how Phoebe could stand Helga the entire time they were 9, but he saw that Helga was rather different when it was just her and Phoebe. Arnold couldn't help but feel a little alienated that Helga was not as cordial with everyone EXCEPT him.

He sat next to her and looked around, trying to spot any other Pataki in attendance.

"Helga was so nervous today, she's been under a lot of duress lately and if tonight's game goes smoothly she can finally relax." explained Phoebe for no particular reason.

"Harold said she'd been playing since Junior High." Arnold commented, attempting to learn more from the best friend herself.

Phoebe nodded, "Yes, she's been trying to work on her aggression for a while now, she keeps herself busy with this sport, poetry, and her own side projects that I worry for her sometimes." she gave off a matronly aura whenever she referred to Helga.

"Well you're pretty busy yourself, I hear." said Arnold, Phoebe shrugged, she never minded all the work.

"I'll have much more responsibilities when I become a surgeon, so why worry?" She said, and to Arnold it wouldn't surprise him that this would be a sure thing.

"I still don't know what I want to pursue." Arnold confided.

"Oh, we have plenty of time! I just like to have a plan, Helga seems to have one- but she doesn't seem to trust me with it just yet." Phoebe said, sightly sad.

Arnold recalled the time Helga had told him she had been accepted into a college already. He nearly forgot! The weight of that accomplishment washed over him, it made him really curious to see her writing work that earned her so much praise. He could vaguely remember catching the young Helga spouting off some form of poem, but he could never truly make out what she was saying or doing.

"Um, the games about to start, where are Helga's parents?" Arnold asked. Phoebe got quiet, and seemed a bit uncomfortable in answering such an innocent question, that held a lot of weight to it.

"Helga...doesn't tell her parent's when her games are." Phoebe explained, slowly. "Her father's very competitive, and Lacrosse is something she sees as truly hers, and not..."

"Olga's." Arnold finished.

"Right." Phoebe said, back to her cheery nature.

They looked on as the players were taking the field, P.S 210 had a very good turn out as well. The field lights gave a loud "schoom" as they kicked on to illuminate the grass.

The whistle blew, and the game began.

END OF PART 1