I present to you, Chapter 10! :D Thank you to everyone who's still leaving reviews on this story! It really motivates me to put out chapters more quickly, knowing that it's so well liked! :) I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Disclaimer: I do not own Hey Arnold, nor the characters. I also do not own the poetry that will be mentioned in this chapter. Poetry belongs to Earl Sherman Braggs!

Arnold walked to his locker with Gerald, when all of a sudden, he heard gasps and hushed tones spread throughout the hallway. Gerald looked behind Arnold and his eyes were wide as saucers.

"What in the world happened to her?" Gerald asked with a slight quiver in his voice. Arnold furrowed his eyebrows in confusion until he turned around to see what the commotion was about. When he saw what everyone else was seeing, the air quickly escaped his lungs.

Elena was walking down the hallway, sporting a black eye with matching bruises and welts to her forehead and face. She kept her eyes on the ground, not daring to meet anyone in the eye.

Arnold couldn't help but think about last night, when she appeared out of nowhere at his house, warning him of some kind of danger that was directed at him and his friends. After she ran off and he went upstairs to his room, he simply brushed it off as her trying to get his attention in some weird way.

Now he wasn't so sure.

Arnold slammed his locker and rushed over to Elena. She stopped when she recognized Arnold's shoes that were standing in front of her, blocking her way to her classroom. She really didn't want to see the pity in his eyes, but she knew she couldn't just stand there and stare at his shoelaces. She didn't move her head, but she looked up at him, brown eyes meeting green eyes. Arnold gently reached out and put a hand on her shoulder. He noticed that she slightly winced from the contact.

"Elena, what happened to you?" Elena opened her mouth slightly, which gave Arnold the chance to notice that her bottom lip was split badly. Everyone in the hallway at this point was watching this interaction unfold, but none were brave enough to speak a word.

"Nothing, I, I fell." She looked to the side and shrugged off Arnold's hand. She hated not feeling his comfort, but she couldn't play the victim here.

"Elena, you clearly didn't fall," Arnold said sternly, letting her know that he was indeed too smart to be fooled by such a blatant lie. She sighed.

"Arnold, it's really nothing. Please just drop it." She folded her arms, which had tiny scratches all over them. They were red from lack of medical attention. Arnold leaned in closer and replied in a low enough voice to where no one else could hear him.

"Is this about what you told me at my house last night?" Elena's eyes darted up in panic. Arnold knew right then and there that her warnings last night were all too real.

"What do you mean, what she said last night, Football head?" Arnold turned quickly and noticed that Helga had been standing behind him the entire time. How she was able to hear what he told Elena, he didn't know. Everyone else in the hallway heard Helga though, so now all of the girls brought out their cell phones and were texting like the wind, spreading the news like wildfire that there was obviously about to be a showdown.

"Helga, I can explain, but not here." he spread his hands out, gesturing to their nosy peers. Helga had her hands on her hips, a clear indicator that she was upset.

"You don't have to." Helga walked up to Arnold, getting so close to his face that if it wasn't for the current conversation, people would probably think they were about to kiss. Arnold never in his life ever worried that Helga would physically hurt him.

That changed quickly when he saw how her whole body was shaking ever so slightly.

"Helga, please. Look at Elena! She, she's clearly been beat! I'm trying to figure out what happened to her." Helga replied quickly, and without blinking, Arnold noticed.

"What does her shiner have to do with her being at your house past 8 last night?" Helga didn't so much phrase it as a question but as an accusation. Arnold couldn't help but feel hurt by her tone. Did she really think that he would give another girl romantic attention? Especially after what he had shared with her? After what she had shared with him? Arnold's shoulders dropped.

"Please don't do this here." Arnold whispered. Helga's eyes suddenly switched from pure anger, to complete devastation. She looked behind Arnold, making eye contact with Elena, then back at him. Arnold knew what she was thinking, and he didn't know how to soothe her without letting other people hear what they didn't need to hear.

"Alright, break it up, break it up! What's all the hubbub about?" Principal Wartz approached Elena, Arnold, and Helga. The tension was so thick in the air, you could've cut it with a dull butter knife.

"That's what I'd like to know too." Rhonda stepped forward and asked with a sly smile on her lips. Helga looked over at her with such a menacing look, Rhonda immediately took a step back.

"Do you have a staring problem, Pataki?" Rhonda said in a not so convincing brave voice.

"No, I'm just trying to make you spontaneously combust." Helga said in a monotone voice. Rhonda gulped as she stepped back beside Nadine.

"Alright, no need for threats Miss Pataki." Principal Wartz commented. He looked over at Elena and his eyebrows shot to the roof.

"My goodness Elena, what happened to you?" the older man couldn't help but make a side glance at Helga. Arnold piped up, not wanting anyone to accuse her.

"She just came to school like this. I was trying to figure out what happened." Elena's face became red, clearly not wanting all of this attention on her.

"I fell into my dresser this morning. I'm fine." Elena said a bit more loudly. It was clear that no one was buying it.

"Come to my office with me, Elena."

The two made their way to the office, leaving Helga and Arnold staring at each other. Gerald, having been by the lockers throughout this entire conundrum, stepped forward.

"You heard the big man! Nothing to see here, go on, get out of here!" Gerald pushed everyone away, and slowly but surely, the crowd dispersed. Arnold shot him an appreciative glance.

"What. Was she doing. At your house. Arnold." Helga paused in between every few words, letting Arnold know that it was her final time asking him.

"Helga, she showed up at my house last night. Right after I walked you home. She said that me and all of my friends and family are in danger. She was warning me. I told her to leave me alone, but she insisted for me to take her seriously. Then today, she shows up looking like a boxers punching bag! I don't think that's a coincidence." Arnold could tell that Helga was starting to believe him, but she was still wary.

"Danger? What kind of danger?" Gerald came up and asked, privacy between the two blondes going out the window.

"She didn't really say. She said for me to meet her in the park today after school for us to talk. But now..." Arnold left the sentence hanging in the air. With her injuries, would she really be bold enough to meet up with him? Helga rolled her eyes and unfolded her arms.

"Ok, so let's just say that what you're saying is true, Bucko. Clearly, she isn't going to tell you anything now that she's been knocked around." Arnold nodded slowly. Before he could reply, they heard the one-minute warning bell for class.

"We'll have to talk after class, guys. Oh, don't forget that today is the presentation for our poetry analysis!" Gerald called out as he booked it down the hall. Helga and Arnold both stopped and looked at each other.

"Oh my god." they both said in unison. Neither of them were one hundred percent prepared for this presentation. They both knew what poem they had chosen, but the analysis part was far from being finished.

"You didn't finish?" Arnold whispered as they both fast walked into the classroom. Helga shook her head quickly. Both of them opened their poetry book up to their respective poem that they had chosen.

Here goes nothing Helga and Arnold thought simultaneously.

Mr. Simmons walked into the classroom, clearly not his usual peachy self.

"Goodmorning class! I have some rather unfortunate news to share this morning. Elena has been taken to the hospital, regarding some injuries that she had acquired last night. I was told that she has a mild concussion, but is expected to make a full recovery. Until then though, she will not be with us for the time being. After the poetry presentations today, if you'd like to make some "Get Well" cards for her, I'm sure it'd really lift her spirits!"

Murmurs filled the air as Helga and Arnold shared a look with each other. Arnold couldn't help but feel slightly guilty about what happened to Elena. Could he have done something to maybe prevent this from happening to her? Helga noticed how miserable Arnold looked, so while no one else was paying attention, she quickly grabbed her books and moved from the seat behind Phoebe, to the seat behind her beloved. He was so racked with guilt and "what if" thoughts that he hadn't noticed her relocation until Helga put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. He turned around and saw that Helga was looking at him with a comforting grin. Without thinking, he grabbed Helga's hand and gave it a quick chaste kiss. She blushed from her neck to her hairline, gently pulling her hand back. She honestly didn't even care if anyone else saw.

"Ok, who would like to go first?" Of course, no one volunteered. Arnold had a distinct feeling that hardly anyone was ready to present their report.

"Alright, how about you Arnold?"

Arnold gulped as he grabbed his book and his paper, which only had about a paragraph on it.

Look's like I'll be winging this.

Arnold got up to the front of the class, setting his book and paper on a podium of sorts. He looked up at the classroom and took a deep breath.

"I chose the poem, 'In Which Language Do I Keep Silent' because as Mr. Simmons said before, it kind of spoke to me in a way." he cleared his throat and continued.

"Um, on page 155, the third stanza reads, 'It's a funny thing how books can be read upside down and maps get us most lost. I know this much from experience.' This is a premise to what I took from this poem. He clearly states that he's been feeling lost, even when he's tried things that have been known to specifically help people who needed to find their own way." Arnold gained confidence as he continued speaking. The majority of the class appeared to be somewhat interested, but Arnold couldn't help but notice that Helga's eyes were glued to him as if he were the only living thing in the room. He couldn't help but feel butterflies in his stomach caused by her gaze.

"He goes on to say, a few stanzas down, 'I know the shortest distance between us is a straight line. I want to leap with you but not tonight because when I divide the time of day into the time I've known you,'" Arnold couldn't help his eyes that flickered to Helga, "'multiplied by the number of times you've crossed my mind lately, the answer is way too early to tell what I'm feeling.' Clearly, he's expressing that someone has come into his life that has made him confused about his feelings. He can't stop thinking about her and he says how he wants to dance with her. But towards the end, he tries to rationalize his feelings. He compares his mental process to an equation. In Math, there is always a clear answer. If you work an equation out correctly, you will always get the one and only correct answer. So perhaps he's trying to work his feelings out like an equation, hoping that he will get a true answer to how he feels about this woman."

By this point, most of his classmates had their full attention on Arnold and what he was saying. Helga could feel her heart beat so loud that she was sure everyone else in the class could hear it. She knew who he was referencing, and all she wanted to do was run up front and embrace him.

"He continues to explain that soon, this woman is all he thinks about. While he eats, while he sleeps, while he breaths, she is always there." Arnold closed the book because the next part he had memorized by heart.

"'Would you teach me to dance to the unexplained, deliberate as the unexplored dances to the patterns of treasure maps? Would you teach me to close my eyes when I kiss?'" Arnold versed, verbatim what the poem read. By the end of the stanza, he took another glancing sweep of the room, just so he could look at Helga without anyone being the wiser. Helga was looking at him with so much passion in her eyes that he thought he would melt on the spot.

"It's to my understanding that..." Arnold let the fractured sentence fall off his lips. He knew that the rest of the classroom simply saw this as a poetry analysis. But Helga was seeing this as something so much more.

It was a confession of his feelings.

He looked to his paper, avoiding eye contact with anyone. He suddenly felt so nervous that he could've thrown up. Did he really know what he felt? He looked up at Helga's look of pure unrequited love, and it was like he was hit by a truck.

"What else are you supposed to do when someone you love is in trouble?"

"Wait, don't touch him!"

"Helga! Are you ok? Say something!"

"Oh, Arnold, I'm fine as long as you're near me! Your honest eyes, so full of concern, and love-"

"I guess you could say I love, I love..."

"I think you're... okay. I mean, you're a real okay, guy, and I think you're okay."

"Thanks, Helga, you're okay, too."

"Then why'd you kiss me for so long?"

"Happy Thanksgiving, Helga."

"Sorry I didn't listen to you Helga, I guess you were really just trying to be my friend."

"And well I figured it was the right thing to do; I mean she was taking advantage of you and I couldn't just-"

"I think your hearts more pure than you know."

Arnold suddenly had the feeling that his legs wouldn't be able to support him much longer. Helga had been giving him signs that she was in love with him his entire life, and he never noticed.

You noticed, you just refused to acknowledge it, his subconsious corrected him.

He thought back to when Helga protected him from Harold when he was sure that he was about to have the snot beat out of him. She was there for him when Summer used him to try and win a contest. She was absolutely there all the time, and he never put two and two together. With that, he also realized his own feelings. Sure, Helga's passionate love for Arnold was a bit too heavy for him right now. But he knew, without a doubt, as he stood in front of his class that his feelings for Helga were stronger than a crush. His heart about fell out of his chest when she fell into the water during the flood they had while rescuing Mr. Simmons. He remembered them spending Thanksgiving together that one year that they both were having family problems.

He never wanted any harm to come to Helga, even though she always teased him. If anything, he was always oddly protective of her. When Big Patty was planning on beating Helga up, Arnold did everything in his power to convince her not to hurt Helga. At the time, he chalked it up to him not wanting to see another person getting hurt. Now he realized that the thought of someone hurting Helga not only terrified him but also made him a bit angry.

"Helga's in danger, too."

He thought back to Elena's warning, and now all he wanted to do was follow her to the hospital and get all the information he could from her. He needed to know how to protect everyone he loved. Including Helga.

He had feelings for her long before now. It wasn't because she helped rescue his parents or because she revealed her secret of loving him. He loved her because of who she was. Sure, she was rough around the edges, but he had witnessed firsthand how Helga was not only a nice person deep down, but she was thoughtful and brave when needed. She took no gripe from anyone. She was extremely independent, unlike the other girls he knew. She was her own form of beast and Arnold secretly admired that about her.

Arnold knew what he wanted to say. He felt his tongue try to shape the words, but they got stuck in his teeth, refusing to come out. He gripped the podium and brought up every ounce of bravery he had in him.

"...It's my understanding that he loved this woman. He loved her and it took him a bit of time to realize that." Arnold spoke barely above a whisper, but he knew the class heard him. Sheena was wiping some fallen tears that had escaped. Rhonda looked completely flabbergasted at what her classmate just expressed. Gerald gave him a knowing look, a smirk was hiding on his face. Sid, Stinky, and Harold all looked like they were about to throw up from how 'hokey' the poem was.

Helga had a hand over her mouth, while in complete shock.

Arnold's attention was broken when the class erupted in loud applause. Mr. Simmons stood up from his desk, dotting at the corners of his eyes with his handkerchief.

"Oh, Arnold! That was so beautiful! And such a deep understanding of this poem!" Arnold, suddenly feeling bashful, walked back to his desk. Next, it was Sid's turn, and as he began to stutter his way through his presentation, Arnold felt a tap on his shoulder. He looked over and saw that Helga was handing him a note. He took it and quickly unfolded it.

If I didn't know any better Football head, I would think you just told me you've fallen for me lol ;)

Arnold smiled as he wrote back. He turned around to hand it to her and didn't expect to see that Helga looked absolutely terrified. What did she have to be afraid of? Maybe he shouldn't have expressed his feelings in such a public place. Sure, no one else in class really knew his double meaning, but none the less it was still risky.

Helga held onto the note firmly as she took in a shaky breath. Did Arnold just tell her that he loved her? Of course, no one else in class noticed his underlying meaning, but Helga sure did. Or was it her imagination? Was she trying to see something that wasn't there? If Arnold indirectly told her that he loved her, all she wanted to do was leave the classroom and scream happily somewhere. She knew that whatever he wrote back to her, would confirm if she was correct or not. She had to ask him in a joking way, as to be able to laugh it off if he rejected her. She felt her muscles go tense as she daintily unfolded the note as if it would evaporate if she did it any quicker. Arnold's neat handwriting stood out against the paper, and as she read his reply, she couldn't help but let out a small cry. Everyone in the classroom looked at her.

"Helga? Is everything ok?" Mr. Simmons asked. Sid looked relieved that something had interrupted his trainwreck of a presentation. Helga's whole body felt like the sensation her leg had when it fell asleep on her. It felt like tv static, but all over her body. Was she having a stroke? She knew she had to get out of the classroom, pronto.

"Um, actually Mr. Simmons, I'm not feeling too well. Can someone take me to the nurse?" Helga took a glance at Arnold and he knew what she wanted. Arnold raised his hand.

"I'll take her, Mr. Simmons!" Before their teacher could give permission, both students stood up and made their way to the door.

"O-Ok Helga! You can just do your presentation tomorrow! I hope you get to feeling better!" Mr. Simmons waved her off as the students left the room in a hurry.

Phoebe was pretty sure she knew what rattled Helga, but she couldn't help but notice that whatever note was being passed between the two of them had dropped to the ground. She inconspicuously leaned down and grabbed the note. She couldn't help but smile as she read the few sentences that were there.

If I didn't know any better Football head, I would think you just told me you've fallen for me lol ;)

Helga, I actually fell for you before I even realized I did.

Ahhh! :D So much fluff, so much angst! I seriously had so much fun writing this chapter. Arnold finally realized that deep down, he truly does love Helga. No, it's not at the "obsessive" level that Helga's at, but it's still love all the same :) I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! It shouldn't be too much longer of a wait for the next chapter, so don't be too bummed at the cliffhanger ;) The next chapter begins with Arnold and Helga having a conversation in the hallway as soon as they leave the classroom, so it'll pick up right where this one left off! Until next time, my fellow Football heads! xx