Chapter 10: Difficult Realization

(Arnold's POV)

On the next day Helga announced that I'm her new sidekick, everyone was shocked except Phoebe. That surprised me. I was worried that she might get mad or something. But I guess she's not like that.

As the days passed, Helga and I became closer and closer. We'd do a lot of stuffs together. I'd help her organize the play. I'd spend more time with her than with my other friends or even with my girlfriend Lila. Lila would hang around more with the gang of the Phantom of the Opera and we could barely meet during the days or even talk over the phone. But that doesn't bother me much for I knew that she's just busy with their musical.

At school, I'm always being seen with Helga. In the hallways, in the auditorium, in the cafeteria, wherever she is, I'm there. I figured that's part of my being her sidekick. We always eat together at lunch, sometimes with our best friends, Phoebe and Gerald, but most of the time just the two of us. And since this is high school, of course, gossip is inescapable. Whenever we walk down the hallway together, some girls would stare at us with cynical eyes, and then would murmur something to each other. Of course we knew what that was about. I couldn't help but feel discomfort and I knew Helga felt the same as I heard her gritted her teeth and glanced at the girls despicably. I already told Lila about this and just like what she would always say, she trusted me and no rumors would ever break that trust.

As her sidekick, I would pick Helga up with my Packard every morning and together we go to school. Okay, I already mentioned that Lila and I could hardly see each other and that includes picking her up or driving her to school. Anyway, Helga and I would sometimes prefer to just walk and make stop-overs and eat ice cream in Slausen's or eat corn dogs in the board walk while we watch the sunset, usually after every rehearsal. There, we talk about a lot of things. One time, I asked her why she changed her looks.

"I'm growing up too, you know." She just answered. To be honest, I like her 'growing up'. Don't get me wrong, she's really attractive.

I'm actually having a lot of fun being with her. She would still tease me and call me names but that doesn't really bugs me now. I guess I'm already used to them. We're really good friends now. I realized, it wasn't really that hard to get along with Helga G. Pataki. I just wished we've been like this even ever since.

I realized that there's a lot about her that most of us are not aware of. I was finally getting to witness that belief of mine about Helga, that there's more to her than what meets the eye. I knew for a fact that Helga has a rotten relationship with her family, especially with her parents. But as I hang around with her more and more, I had noticed that she actually cares for them. For instance, when I pick her up every morning, she would help her mom first prepare her dad a nutritious meal for lunch before heading to school. Big Bob had already three severe heart attacks for the past years so Helga is doing her best to keep her dad healthy. And to be sure that he eats right, she would call her dad's office and ask the secretary to check if her dad is eating his healthy lunch. There's one time when she forgot her cell phone and had no way to check on her dad, she sneaked out of the school and went to her dad's office despite of the consequence. I knew this because I caught her.

"Helga, where are you going?" I asked as I saw her sneaking out of the main door. "We're not allowed to leave the school premises even at lunch time."

"Of course I know that. I just wanna make sure if Bob's eating healthy today. I forgot my cell phone so I'll check it myself." She was making her way out the door when she stopped and faced me once again. "I would really appreciate it if you would keep your mouth shut, Arnold-o." she said then walked away.

"Wait up." I've tried to catch her up to come with her. "I'm going with you."

She gave me that confused look so I've decided to answer her right away. "If ever the Principal finds out, at least we're in this together. After all I'm your sidekick."

She looked at me for a while then smiled. "Okay, let's go." I'm glad she let me come.

We didn't use my car to prevent any noise so we ride on a bus. I couldn't help to see Helga woory too much for her dad so I comforted her. "Don't worry, I don't think your dad would do something stupid to himself."

"You don't know Big Bob. He's a real pain in the butt sometimes. Just like last Saturday, I caught him eating a Big Mac and large french fries during his lunch in the office. Not only that, his secretary would report to me that instead of eating the food we prepared for him, he would order fast food!" she paused then went on. "So when he gets home, instead of Miriam, I do all the scolding. I don't care if he gets mad, I just want to keep my dad away from those cholesterols and fats. And besides, I'm tired seeing my mom and Olga cry every time dad gets a heart attack. It breaks me."

"I understand." That's all I could say. I was worried about her dad too.

When we got into her dad's beeper empire, Helga quickly walked her way to Big Bob's office. She peeked on the door. As I saw her expression, relieved that is, my tension sinks. And together we went back to school without him noticing we've been there. Unfortunately for us, the school principal caught us the instant we enter the main door. We both got in detention that afternoon, so it means no practice for that day. That wasn't really a bad luck because at least, we're in it together. We actually had good time during detention. There were only two of us in detention that day and the teacher who was looking after us was sound asleep the whole time so we decided to sneak out of the room and went to the roof top. So basically, that's where we spent our whole afternoon, talking and all, and before the teacher wakes up, we went back to the detention room as if nothing had happened. Being with Helga makes me want to be a bad boy sometimes.

Since I'm her sidekick, Helga would ask me to do things for her. Well, aside from picking her up for school, she would ask me to go to the mall with her and buy stuffs. I would come over her house to hit the books or join force if we have homework. Like today, I called her up to see if I could come over her place to study with regards to the long quiz in Calculus, she's really good at it. Sometimes, we do it in my house but I like it best to study with her their house because I feel much closer to her. You see, that's how close we are now. I will just call her up just like with Gerald.

I sat on the edge of Helga's bed as I waited for her. She's downstairs preparing some snacks. As I sat there, I saw the drawer of her side table slightly open. My eyes caught a shiny object inside as a little light from the fluorescent lamp strikes on it. A part of me, the curious side, told me to go check it out. But another part, the goody-two-shoes part, said not to even think about it. It's wrong to go look up at other people's drawer, right? But it's within my reach and no trace of Helga climbing up the stairs. So I chose to listen to my curious side and took a glimpse of it. I don't know. There's this strong impulse forcing me to do so. I opened the drawer and saw a golden, heart-shaped object. I realized that it was being upset so I took it to take a look what's in front. But as fate would have it, Helga breaks open the door.

"What are you doing?" she asked while holding a tray full of snacks.

"Nothing." I replied, almost jumping out of my feet, then quickly closed the drawer. I stood up to help her with the tray. I still have that urge to find out what it is. I have this feeling that I've already seen that golden object before.

Well, I'm not really having troubles with Math, but of all the branches of Mathematics, this one is my least favorite. Good thing Helga was my study partner. She solved every problem with a breeze. That's how good she is. As I solve one of the problems given in our book, I didn't notice Helga fell asleep on her desk until I saw her. We were sitting side by side. I watched her sleep like a baby. Some of the strands of her blonde hair were on her face so I brushed it off with my hand, unconsciously. I stared at her face for quite a while. She's so pretty. She looked so innocent and fragile. Who would have thought that this girl in front of me is a total bully when awake? I kept on looking at her delicate feature, and as I do, I recall all our bonding moments. Our scenes in the play. The times we were laughing, having fun, or just plain talking. All the good times and the bad, all the troubles. Even the times she was picking on me and calling me football head. Thinking of those memories gives a different feeling in my heart. I was right when I said that she's more than just a mean, tough-as-nail bully who bosses other kids around. I was right when I said that deep down, she has a kind and caring heart. I always believe that Helga is such a nice girl, she may not show it, but somehow it surfaced. All I know is I loved spending time with her. I wanna know her even more. I wanna see her everyday. I wanna be beside her to protect her and comfort her. I want her…I like… wait up…

I like Helga G. Pataki. No. I like her like her or even…

Love her.

My eyes grew wide open as I had this realization. I kept on staring at her as she sleeps, wanting to kiss her.

I love her. I couldn't deny that. But another realization hits me. Lila. I have a girlfriend right now, and she's Lila.

Man, this is difficult!

Okay, he admits it. It took me quite a long time to finish this because I had different ideas on how he would do it. I thought of making a song fic, but I just couldn't find a song that would fit. Finally, I've decided to make it as a monologue. After all, this is Arnold's page.

So how was it?