I really wanted to add more to the next chapter but was way too tired. I've been on a Hey Arnold binge so I might be updating more often.
Arnold sat on his front porch after school that day. He held the play script, Arnold had unintentionally impressed Mr. Sullin enough for the part of prince charming. Arnold wanted to tell him he wasn't interested in such a big role, but Mr. Sullin convinced Arnold that the play would be a disaster without him. So here he was, sitting on his front stoop, waiting to rehearse with his leading lady. Arnold was reading his lines silently till he saw a shadow cast over him. He looked up to see Kathy.
"Hey lover boy." She bent down to give him a kiss. Arnold kissed her back, almost falling over when she pulled away.
Kathy looked at the script, "What's this?" She snatched the packet of paper out of Arnolds hands. "Snow White?" She looked at Arnold with one eyebrow raised.
"It's for our school play..." Arnold rubbed the back of his neck shyly. "I'm playing the part as prince charming." Arnold's cheeks felt hot as he heard Kathy laugh. He took the script back embarrassed and looked away.
"Are you going to wear tights and the shirt with the puffy sleeve?" Kathy teasingly asked while still laughing.
"No!...I hope not." Arnold looked down at the script, suddenly regretting the whole play.
Down the street was a tall blonde girl wearing baggy jeans, a pink baseball T-shirt and jean jacket, and her signature ribbon that was tied in her hair as a bow. Helga G. Pataki avoided bumping into anyone while she read her lines for Snow White. Henry was ecstatic to hear that Helga got the leading role, he promised to be there to watch her. Helga was amazed also by this, she wasn't sure she would be able to act dainty enough to play Snow White. She remembered taking a deep breath before reading the lines in front of Mr. Sullin and channeling her inner "Lila" Helga still remembered the feminine training Lila gave her in the fourth grade. Helga cringed as she also remembered how Arnold called her Lila by mistake. She lost a lot of hope that night of the two of them becoming something real.
Helga finally made it to Arnold's front door, she stiffened when she saw Kathy there, holding Arnold's face and leaning in close. Helga looked away before clearing her throat loud enough to catch their attention. Arnold looked up from Kathy to finally realize Helga had been standing there. "Oh hey Helga, you remember Kathy don't you."
Kathy stood up from the public display of affection they were currently in. She gave Helga a lazy smile, her eyes not as bright and cheery as Lila's were whenever she greeted someone, but uncaring like Helga's usually were.
"Yeah, hey." Helga greeted Kathy. Kathy just nodded at Helga without any interest. She turned to her boyfriend to say her goodbye and leave the two friends to their rehearsing. "Have fun with your play." She said before walking away from them.
"She seems...nice." Helga said, trying to think of any sort of compliment.
"She really is once you get to know her. Let's go inside, it's getting cold." Arnold lead them inside the warm boarding home. The house was full of chit chatter from the other boarders who lived there. They were all in the kitchen enjoying their lunch. Grandma served hotdogs to each of them, Suzie fed the new baby girl, Pearl, milk, and Earnie slapped Oskar's hands away as he tried snatching one of his hotdogs. It was never boring in this house with the many different people who live here. Arnold lead Helga to his bedroom where they could rehearse in peace.
Helga had never been inside Arnold's room (Not including the time she had to sneak inside to steal her pink poetry book back) so it was understandable how amazed she was with it. Arnold had his bed neatly made with his red covers and comforter, his beloved stereo was polished to look as new as the day he got it, and his walls were now covered with pictures of his friends and grandparents. The two teenagers sat on his bed while they went over the script.
"Let's start with us meeting for the first time." Arnold turned the pages. He read his first line out loud for Helga to hear, Arnold was calm and didn't use any silly voice for the part, exactly how he auditioned. He turned to Helga to hear her line. Arnold had to admit that even he was charmed with how delicate and feminine Helga managed to sound during the audition.
Arnold listened closely to Helga's gentle words, "Oh sweet prince, how I've waited for you to rescue me from the evil queen."
Arnold looked at how Helga's eyes softened when she spoke her lines, the way her lips looked gentle, something Arnold has never really seen from Helga. Usually she put up such a hard shell around her. Arnold found himself staring at Helga so long that she had to snap her fingers to get him out of his trance.
"Hello football head? Anyone there?" Helga waved her hands in front of his face till Arnold finally came back to reality.
"Huh? Oh, I guess I dazed off for a moment." Arnold felt a slight embarrassment for staring at Helga so long. He looked at his script quickly to read the next line. Arnold and Helga practiced each line over and over again, they both wanted to perform a good show for the school. After they were satisfied they finally reached the ending of the play.
"A kiss? We're supposed to kiss?" Helga asked.
"Well this is Snow White Helga, that's how this story always ends." Arnold didn't feel the nervousness Helga felt. They've kissed plenty of times when they were nine, during the Romeo and Juliet play, and during the taping of Babewatch. Though Arnold had to admit that Helga took an oddly long time kissing him those times. Helga felt nervous at the thought of kissing Arnold. If this had been week ago then she would gladly jump at the chance, but now she wanted to move on from Arnold, now she had Henry.
"Well..." Arnold suddenly thought of Kathy. He started feeling guilty of the thought of kissing another girl while she watched as one of the audiences. "Maybe there's a way we can fake the kiss."
"How?" Helga asked.
"Remember the textbooks Mr. Sullin assigned us on the first day of class? I think I remember reading about how some actors fake kissing on stage." Arnold got up and ran to his backpack to rummage through it for the textbook. He felt the thick hardcover book and brought it to Helga to the bed. Helga watched him flip through the pages till they finally saw the pictures of two actors demonstrating how to successfully give the illusion they were actually kissing.
"See? They kind of just tilt their heads a certain way and use their hands to cover their faces." Arnold pointed at the pictures. He felt his neck turn warm when Helga leaned in closer to see the pictures. Helga's worries went away after looking at the pictures, with this technique they would never have to kiss.
"Okay football head let's test this out." Helga laid down on her back on Arnold's bed. She positions her arms over her chest and closed her eyes, she looked peacefully asleep. Arnold took a few steps towards the bed, he kneeled down in front of Helga and used both of his hands to cover her face slightly. With Arnold using his elbows to prop himself up he leaned slowly to Helga's face, he closed his eyes and leaned in more to make the illusion look more real. While leaning in Arnold felt his elbows start slipping down. Before he could prop himself back up his lips leaned all the way down to Helga's. They were now actually kissing. Helga's eyes shot wide open at this realization. Arnold was in shock too, but mainly because of sparks he felt in his lips while he kissed her.
Arnold pulled apart quickly from Helga. Arnold looked down at Helga whose cheeks were now slightly pink. Arnold felt his face go warm also when he looked down at her lips, those lips that gave him an electric feeling from his head to his toes. Arnold quickly missed that feeling, he leaned in slowly this time till he felt Helga's gentle lips. He kissed her a little harder this time, now knowing what he's been missing all these years.
Helga felt her heart beat fast during this kiss. She couldn't help but kiss him back, this was something she's always waited for. Helga had always fantasized about Arnold kissing her for a change, for him to be the one to hold her and kiss her like there was no tomorrow. She let out a pleasuring sigh from their kiss when they finally pulled apart. Helga sat up from his bed with her lips now a slight darker shade of pink from the intense kiss they shared. Helga looked down at the long sleeve from the jean jacket. She felt her heart sting in pain when she remembered it was Henry's jacket. His favorite jacket for his favorite girl is what he told Helga when he first gave it to her.
Helga turned her body around to sit with her legs hanging off the bed, now sitting side by side next to Arnold. The two cleared their throats and looked anywhere around the room besides each other. Arnold touched his lips with his fingertips, the warmth of Helga's lips still there. It was strange, every time they had to kiss or would slightly brush hands together Arnold would feel nothing. But this time, he felt something different, different than what it felt to kiss Kathy.
"We're going to have to really practice that fake kiss. I don't know how Henry would react if it was real." Helga said in a hush tone. Arnold turned his head so fast to look at Helga his head felt dizzy. "Henry? Whose Henry?" Arnold asked.
"Henry is my boyfriend." Helga rubbed her arm nervously, she still avoided looking at Arnold.
"Oh." Arnold felt his heart drop. He looked at the jacket Helga wore, the oversized jean jacket. He had been so distracted with Kathy that he never noticed how it was a guys jacket.
Helga looked over at the Arnold figure alarm clock that was next to his bed. When she saw it said 6:00 p.m. she jumped up from Arnold's bed and rushed to her backpack.
"It's already six! Aw criminy I forgot I was supposed to meet Pheobe at the library for our history report!" Helga put her backpack on and rushed to the door. "See you tomorrow at school!" Helga looked back at Arnold and finally looked in his eyes, she couldn't tell what he was feeling, but she knew she was feeling awkward enough staying there any longer.
Arnold watched her close the door and heard her rushed footsteps down the stairs. He touched his lips one more time before opening his backpack to work on his own homework.