A/N: Hi guys, I'm back from the dead! What has it been, only two weeks? I'm not sure, it just feels like it's been FOREVER since I updated. I missed it :( but I honestly did have a busy Thanksgiving break followed up by yummy AP Calculus homework... yay :(
Anyway, by popular vote Sid will be led to believe that Lucky is a leprechaun as a little side humor, but that won't come into play just yet. We actually have a lot of ground left to cover before the story ends, and I can't wait! It's going to be a fun ride, and I hope you'll join me!
*Cue heartfelt-journey-breakthrough music*
Yeah, that probably didn't make any sense to anyone else, but in my brain it worked... :P
Thank you to everyone who has reviewed, and I'm really glad that you seem to be enjoying the story. Let me know if you have any issue with grammar, timing, OOCness, etc. Thanks for everything you guys have done so far. YOU ROCK! :D
Oh! And if you haven't already, you should really check out my songfic Just What Arnold's Looking For as well as my oneshot (that I'll most likely be expanding due to popular request) Two Hopeless Romantics. Thing is, I'm just "starting out" on this site, so I'm trying to get as much feedback as possible, so that's what's up with the shameless advertising. :P (Just kidding. There's some shame involved. :P)
Also, I'm still accepting name ideas! I've gotten some pretty creative one's so far. Special thanks to for coming up with the name for this chapter: Not So Lucky.
Disclaimer: I, NerdilyNi, do so solemnly swear that I do not own Hey Arnold!, no matter how much I wish I did. Craig Bartlett is the genius behind it all, and I am a mere drop in the great ocean that is this fandom... Sadly. :'(
"I got here as quickly as I could," Lucky announced as Helga opened the front door to her. The redhead's face looked anything but amused.
The blonde bully smiled softly at her friend. "Thanks. What'd you tell Arnold?"
"Well, he thinks that I'm staying over at one of my friends from the Academy's house, but I told Pookie the truth."
Helga's eyes widened with anger as the odd girl entered the Pataki household.
"Hey! Don't give me that look," the redhead scolded, "Pookie already knows that you're Cecile anyways, and that we know each other. My parents kind of left her and Phil in charge of me, and I don't want to risk getting sent back and leaving the Academy because of your drama, okay?"
The Pink Thunder sighed as she closed the door.
"Fine," she consented, "Just don't make a habit of it, okay?"
"Duh," the other girl responded, accompanying the statement with the roll of her eyes as the two made their way up to Helga's room.
After Lila had overheard Helga at the party, the blonde girl figured that a damage control sleepover was definitely the only way to explain the entire fiasco so that Lila was less likely to spill the beans. After hushing Little Miss Perfect and promise a full debriefing once they were in a not-so-public event, she had managed to pull Phoebe away from Tall Hair Boy long enough to inform her of the present circumstances and ask her to get in touch with their camp friend so that they could all meet up at Helga's house later that night. Helga and Lila had left the party almost immediately, while Phoebe feigned feeling ill and Lucky explained that she had gotten a phone call from a friend requesting her to spend the night so that they could get started on a very important science project that was due on Monday and couldn't wait. Sid had pouted, but agreed that her grades were important while Gerald had offered to stay with Phoebe and take care of her. Such an offer was declined, of course.
"Lucky?" Lila asked upon the visitor's entrance, "Oh, now I'm just ever so confused!"
"Oh, save it, Miss Perfect!" Helga barked, "Criminy, do you not even remember overhearing the part about Lucky? Yeesh, maybe you're the paste-for-brains."
"Helga, that's quite enough," Phoebe scolded her, then addressed the group as a whole, "I guess there's a lot of explaining to be done, correct?" Lila nodded, Lucky shrugged, and Helga rolled her eyes. "Alright then. Helga, would you like to proceed?"
"Criminy! Why do I have to?"
"Because you ruined not only Phoebe's date, but mine as well just because you can't keep your swooning to shrines you build in closets, Pataki," Lucky snapped.
"Lucky!"
"Can it, Helga. I was having a pretty good time, so yeah, I'm a bit miffed."
"Well for your information, Clover Girl, Miss Mary Sunshine over here was the one who was snooping around," Helga defended herself.
"Oh please," Lucky scoffed, "If you weren't so lousy at keeping you're undying adoration for the Football Head a secret-"
"Hey! I'll have you know that she already knew about the whole Arnold situation-"
"You're only proving my point, Pataki-"
"Would you both quit it!" Phoebe bellowed, interrupting their argument. Both girls immediately disengaged, mumbling to themselves. "Thank you. Now Helga, would you kindly explain this… interesting… situation to Lila?"
"Alright already! Yeesh, don't have to get your panties in a twist," Helga snarled before beginning, "Okay, so you already know about me loving Arnold, right?" She winced as the words left her mouth, somewhat unwilling to admit it even to people she had already told. Lila simply nodded, encouraging her to go on. She sighed as she continued, "Well, Phoebe and I have been going to this one camp, Camp Oakledge, every summer since about the summer after sixth grade. That's where we met Lucky, here. She seemed like an okay person, so all three of us decided to bunk together rather than being stuck with a couple of losers, and by the end of the summer we all became pretty good friends and decided to keep in touch and meet up again at the same place the next year. It became sort of a yearly tradition, I guess.
"Anyways, Lucky, Phoebe, and I got pretty close, and we started sharing secrets. One of the ones that Clover Girl really got a kick out of was the one about Arnold…. or really almost everything about Arnold. Her favorite story of my schemes was the one about the fourth grade Valentine's day date with Arnold."
"Wait, I'm ever so certain that I've never heard that story. You and Arnold had an oh too real date?" Lila interjected, shocked at this new piece of information. Helga rubbed the back of her neck nervously.
"Yeah… Long story short I masqueraded as Arnold's pen pal Cecile and got him to go on a date with me. Then the real Cecile showed up, so he found out that I was a fake, but not who I really was. Anyways, the past summer at camp, Lucky told us that she was accepted into Hillwood Academy For the Gifted, but she probably wouldn't be able to go because she lived too far away.
"Well apparently her parents found a place for her to stay, and that was by renting a room in the Sunset Arms. The little runt decided to inform Pheebs and me of this after she had already moved in, so I decided to lay some ground rules. Then she came up with this harebrained scheme of having me pretend to be Cecile again in order to try and win over Arnold. Everyone satisfied?" she asked as she finished up her tale.
"I'm oh so certain that I understand," Lila began, "But how does Sid fit into the picture?"
"I don't know! Ask Clover Girl," Helga told her, pointing towards the girl in question. The girls all turned to face her.
"What?" Lucky asked, "I kinda like him, okay?" Her face began to match the color of her hair.
Lila and Phoebe shared a knowing smile as Helga rolled her eyes playfully. The sweet redhead from the farm then got back to the task at hand.
"So let me make sure I'm ever so certain about this: Helga's oh so special someone is Arnold, and Lucky is one of your ever so special friends, so Lucky is dating Sid, Phoebe is dating Gerald, and Helga is dating Arnold under the oh too clever guise of someone Arnold went on a date with years ago, who was also really Helga, with ever so much help from Lucky and Phoebe, correct?"
"Sort of. You pretty much got the gist of it," Lucky agreed.
"Great," Helga announced, "Now that that's settled, who wants to watch a horror movie?"
"Helga!" Phoebe scolded as her face, along with Lila's, went a shade paler than normal. Lucky looked toward the two of them and smiled with an evil glint in her eye. Helga caught that look and imitated it.
"Looks like we're in for an interesting night," she told her fellow miscreant. Lucky's smile widened and became more sinister.
"Es muy interesante," she concurred. Phoebe and Lila turned to her with questioning looks. "What?" she asked innocently.
"Yeah," the blonde of the group piped up, "You guys should Lucky's a totally weird and eccentric nerd by now."
"Hey! I represent that remark!"
Helga smirked. "We know."
The girls continued giggling as they decided upon a movie that they all were willing to watch, thus beginning the "sleepover" phase of the meeting.
H3AA3H
A few weeks passed as the school year picked up, and many dates had been made an gone on. Arnold always jumped at the chance to go out with Cecile, and they often doubled with either Phoebe and Gerald or Sid and Lucky. Other times, however, they went by themselves. This usually happened with Sid and Lucky were doubling with Gerald and Phoebe themselves.
Sometimes, however, Cecile came over to the boarding house just to hang out with Lucky or Lucky and Phoebe. Arnold tried to stay away from the girls at times like these, but always failed miserably. That was part of his whole dilemma. He really liked Helga, but he also really liked Cecile, and wanted to get to know her better.
"Hey Arnold!" Lucky greeted her friend after school one Friday afternoon.
"Hi, Lucky," he replied with a smile, "How was your day?"
"Eh, pretty good. Had a test in AP Latin today that was a total breeze, but it was still a test, which I despise." She shrugged. "Anywho, Cecile's spending the night tonight."
"That's ni- Wait, Cecile is spending the night? Here?"
"Yeah, is that a problem?" She looked at him questionably, as if he had gone crazy or something.
"Oh, uh, yeah. That's fine, heh heh…"
Inwardly however, he was freaking out.
What am I supposed to do? he thought, Am I supposed to stay away from them all night and hide up in my room? Will Cecile expect to see me? Will she want to see me? What if I accidentally see her in her pajamas? What if I start thinking aloud again about Helga? Do I join them for breakfast? Do I tell them goodnight? Does she even want to talk to me? I'm not prepared for this!
The time had come, however, for Cecile to arrive at the Sunset Arms, and Arnold still hadn't figured out what to do with himself as he stupidly sat in the living room, watching some mind numbing program he couldn't quite follow. He was too distracted by the nervous feeling in his stomach.
"Hey Shortman! Cecile and I are going to order pizza. Do you have any specific order you want? You're welcome to join us, you know," Lucky explained to him as she appeared in the doorway, the girl of his thoughts trailing behind.
"O-oh!" he stuttered, clearly flustered and unsure of how to respond, "Um, s-sure. Pepperoni for me, p-please."
"Cool. After we order, we're actually gonna head up to my room to watch a movie or something. Care to join us?"
"Oh, um…" He really wasn't sure what to say. After all, it sounded kind of like he was crashing their sleepover. One look at Cecile's warm smile, however, and he was a goner. "Sure. What movie?"
He was too busy gazing at Cecile with his stupid half-lidded eyes to notice Lucky's eye roll. She couldn't believe how dense this boy could be. Why was he still mooning after Cecile when he already admitted that he liked Helga?
Honestly, the twisted love story between Arnold and Helga got to her sometimes. It was obvious to her and Phoebe that the two belonged together, so why couldn't they see it? Apparently Arnold wasn't the only dense one.
She refrained from saying anything, however, due to the fact that it really was their job to admit their feelings to one another. Of course, she also liked having an excuse to make up crazy schemes. Having to keep on your toes in order to not reveal something certainly kept life interesting, even though it was occasionally tiresome. Still, the charade had to end sometime. It was only a matter of who ended it, why he or she did, and how.
Lucky's eyes twinkled as an idea came to her.
Cecile smiled at Arnold. "We were planning on watch-"
"Actually, Arnold, I wanted to watch Evil Twin VII," the redhead interrupted, "But Cecile here thought it would be too scary, so we thought we'd watch The Happy Little Elf."
She was rewarded with an offset look from her housemate and a menacing glare from her best friend.
"On second thought," Arnold told the girls, "I probably shouldn't crash on your sleepover."
Lucky shrugged. "Suit yourself. Come on Cecile."
Helga's growl was audible as the two climbed the stairs.
H3AA3H
"Criminy, what'd you do that for?" Helga demanded as soon as Lucky's door was closed.
"What?" the girl asked innocently, "I thought you wanted Arnold to think you were a nice girl."
"Yeah, nice! Not a stinking throw pillow!"
"Calm down, would you? You are so melodramatic."
"That's kind of my thing, in case you haven't noticed. I mean, yeesh, have I not told you about my closet shrine?"
"That still doesn't mean you can yell at me all you want, Pataki. I'm trying to do you a favor here."
"How was that a favor? Arnold probably thinks I'm some weirdo freak who can't grow up or something!"
"Eh. I'm a weirdo freak who can't really grow up, and he likes me just fine." Lucky shrugged.
"Yeah, he likes you 'just fine,' but I'm kind of hoping that he'll, you know, like me like me…"
The redhead just stared at her friend blankly for a few moments before responding.
"You know, if you're still using the term 'like-like,' then maybe you are a weirdo freak who can't grow up."
"Very funny, Clover Girl," Helga growled. She was answered with a smug smile.
"I try."
The blonde girl sighed. Lucky took the hint that she should stop joking for the time being.
"You know, Helga, there's one thing you forgot to remember about our little masquerade here," she said quietly.
"Oh yeah? Enlighten me."
"Someday, Arnold is going to have to find out the truth."
"And how are you so sure about that?" Helga snapped.
"Seriously? You should know by now that Arnold can't very well get married to someone who doesn't exist if things wind up the way you want it to. Our scheme has been fun, but don't you think enough is enough?"
"Lucky, I just can't. He can never know that I'm Cecile."
"Why not? Don't you think he'll just be hurt if he ever does figure it out before you tell him? Really Helga, if he likes Cecile as much as he should after dating her for this long, then you really shouldn't be afraid of his reaction."
"Don't you get it? Criminy! You think you can come here for a few months and get all chummy with the Football Head and understand what his reaction will be to me telling him that I am the girl he's been searching for? Me, Helga G. Pataki? The girl who has taunted him throughout his life? He'd think it was a cruel practical joke or something!"
"Or maybe he's not as dense as you thought and knows that there's goodness in you, Helga! Man up and take the plunge already!"
"And have him laugh in my face or hate me forever? I don't think so, sister!"
Lucky had to bite her tongue from yelling out a response she would regret. She knew that Arnold had to be the one to tell Helga that he had a crush on her. The two of them had to learn to either communicate or understand each other sometime. She could only help them along to these confessions and realizations.
Instead, she opted for a change of subject.
"Look, are we gonna watch the movie or what?"
Judging from Helga's glare, that subject wasn't much better.
Lucky sighed in exasperation. "Fine then. What do you wanna do, Pataki?"
The blonde's face brightened with a mischievous smile. "Well…"
A/N: I was going to continue on, but I felt like you all deserved an update. :) I'm actually pretty psyched about the next chapters, so stick with me if you're interested!
Also, I can't improve unless you leave constructive criticism in a
REVIEW!
It'd be well appreciated! :D
-NerdilyNi
