Disclaimer: I do not own Hey Arnold or any of the characters. Hey Arnold is the property of Nickelodeon and Craig Bartlett.
Helga's Makeover II
Chapter 1: Not Girl Enough
It was Friday afternoon at P.S. 118, school has already let out, and the only students who would be remaining are the one's who are taking after school activities or those who wound up getting detention.
One such girl was the latter, and it was none other than Helga G. Pataki who had just finished serving detention today.
Helga kicked open the door and stomped down the stairs as Arnold followed closely. He didn't have detention but stayed by to wait for Helga, who was still in a bad mood over what happened that resulted in her getting an hour detention on a Friday afternoon.
"Stupid Connie! Stupid Maria! Those idiots don't know what they're talking about!..." Helga huffed out loud.
"Any girl can look 'girly.' I don't need anything!..."She grumbled.
"Of course you don't! That's what I like about you..."Arnold said next to her.
Helga looked at her boyfriend.
While he was being sweet, the girl couldn't help wondering how things would work in the long run. Sure Arnold was a nice guy, but wouldn't he like a girl with some...femininity?
"Criminy! What's wrong with me?.."Helga thought as she brushed the thoughts out of her mind as the two walked.
Arnold sighed as he watched his girlfriend angrily marching down the street, still mad over what had happened that caused her to get detention in the first place.
A not so friendly bathroom encounter with a group of snobby eighth graders, Connie and Maria to be more exact.
FLASHBACK
Helga was in the girls' bathroom, washing her hands when Connie and Maria burst in, laughing. Helga didn't like them for three reasons.
1) Maria used Arnold back in the fourth grade to make her moron boyfriend jealous and nearly got him clobbered as a result, 2)the time they took advantage of Phoebe when she had skipped ahead and wound up in their classand 3) because they are a pair of shallow, snobby eighth graders who thought they were above everyone else here at PS. 118.
At first, Helga ignored them and was about to leave when Connie suddenly stood in her way, preventing her from leaving.
"Move..." Helga said with a serious warning tone.
"Excuse me, but I'm afraid to stepped into the wrong bathroom. This is the girls bathroom. The boy's is on the right side..."Connie began to taunt Helga with a smirk.
Helga just gritted her teeth and gave Connie a deadly glared.
"I'll give you this one chance to take that back..." Helga warned her as she leaned in close to Connie and brought her fist right next to her face.
"I would...if I wasn't lying..." Connie said while giggling as Helga got angrier and angrier.
"Aw, look Connie, I think you hurt the little sixth graders feelings..."Maria mocked.
"Hey, it's not my fault that the truth hurts, Pataki..."Connie said snobbishly.
"I think my boyfriend, Arnold Shortman, would disagree with you two..."Helga said, trying hard not to lose her temper.
It's Friday and she didn't want to risk getting detention this afternoon
"Oh, please...Arnold might be a sixth grader but he could do better than someone who doesn't even act like a real girl..."Maria said in her snobby voice
"I mean seriously, there's nothing pretty, or even feminine about you...you're not girl enough, so what does he see you,anyway?..." Maria then interjected while scanning her from head to toe.
"Not to mention having grotesque mannerisms, only befitting for a guy, not even a gentleman..." Connie added with an almost disgusted tone.
Helga was by now within inches of losing any forms of restrains, but Connie and Maria continued with their taunting.
"Has he even kissed you, yet?" Maria asked.
"I hope not, not with those unfeminine lips you have. Ew..."Connie mocked before she and Maria started laughing, unaware that Helga just lost any and all of her restraint.
Those were the last words Connie or Maria said, before they got an unwanted introduction to Old Betsy.
End of Flashback
That's how it went down and Helga has been in a bad mood ever since.
Arnold tried his best to cheer her up, though.
"Look on the bright side Helga, it's Friday and the weekend just started, we even have the art show to look forward to tomorrow..."Arnold said.
Helga heard that and sighed.
Tomorrow was the annual P.S. 118 art show where some students compete and show off their projects. Attendance is optional but Arnold wanted to go and just like always, it's a formal event.
Which means dressing up..and going to a room filled with snooty girls, all dolled up and silently judging the other with their eyes.
It didn't sound all that fun to her right now.
"If it's alright, Arnold. I think I'd rather be alone tonight and I don't feel like going to some stupid art show..."Helga said and Arnold frowned.
"Come on, Helga! You can't let them get to you like that..."Her boyfriend protested.
"They already did..."Helga thought.
"Helga, Connie and Maria don't know what they are saying. You are a wonderful, cute girl with so much to offer..."Arnold said as he looked into her eyes.
"If you don't go, you are letting them win..." He continued.
Helga knew that she should listen, but right now, she is still ticked and she wanted to be alone.
"I said, I don't want to go to any stupid art show!..." Helga angrily exclaimed.
"And for your information, football head, I might not want to go for other reasons, ya know!...'Helga said.
As angry as she was over this whole issue, she calmed down a bit in order to not take it out on Arnold. He had nothing to do with this has been nothing but supportive of her. He doesn't deserve her taking her anger out on him...like she did before they started dating.
"I'm going to be fine Arnold..I just need to be by myself right now..."Helga said in a calmer voice.
"Are you sure?..."Arnold asked.
"I am sure...have fun at that art show tomorrow Arnold...I'll see ya later..."Helga muttered.
Arnold sighed as he watched his girlfriend walk into her apartment, still mad over what had happened.
He was mad too, to be honest
He wasn't there when it happened, he only heard about it when one of the teachers saw the girl's fighting in the bathroom and Helga got detention due to being the first one to throw a punch. She told him the whole story and he was pretty upset.
"How dare they say that Helga isn't girl enough?...'Arnold thought, not agreeing at all.
Just because she doesn't like wearing make up or typical girly stuff, that doesn't make her any less of a woman than the rest of the girls at their school.
Even though Helga tried to be tough, he knew that she was a lot more sensitive than she wants people to believe.
"I better call and check on her later..."Arnold thought as he went in the direction of the boarding house.
Even if he would check on her, he knew that Helga is a tough girl and she is not the type of let someone's criticism get the better of her...for the most part, anyway.
Inside Helga's apartment
The Football headed boy had no way of knowing just how upset his girlfriend still was over what happened. Angrily grumbling within her "room", still upset over what Connie and Maria said.
"Not girl enough...Ugh! I ought to deck those two again for saying that..."Helga grumbled as she used her pillow as a punching bag.
"I am so a real girl, I am pretty! I'm feminine! I am delicate!..."Helga grumbled as she kept punching into her pillow.
"Hey buddy, keep it down!..."One of her neighbors shouted and Helga gritted her teeth.
"I'M A GIRL!..."Helga shouted, before throwing her pillow against the wall.
The pigtail pre teen girl then flopped onto her sofa, still boiling over what those snobby eighth grade girl's said.
It's just like the time she didn't get invited to Rhonda's slumber party and everyone at school made fun of her for "not being a girl". That's infuriating enough but what they said next made her even angrier.
"Hey, it's not my fault that the truth hurts, Pataki..."Connie said snobbishly.
"I think my boyfriend, Arnold Shortman, would disagree with you two..."Helga said, trying hard not to lose her temper.
"Oh, please...Arnold might be a sixth grader but he could do better than someone who doesn't even act like a real girl..."Maria said in her snobby voice
That was when Helga decked them, breaking her four month streak of not hitting anyone and landing her in detention in the first place.
"Stupid Connie! Stupid Maria! I am so a real girl! What do they know?..."Helga thought in anger.
Still, she couldn't help but think about what she said.
They are in sixth grade now and even if she already has Arnold as her boyfriend, there are still a lot of prettier and more feminine girl's out there.
What if Arnold grows tired of her unfeminine ways and goes for someone else?!
"No...Arnold loves me, he's not that kind of guy who would do something like that..."Helga thought, feeling a little calmer.
However, the doubt wouldn't leave her mind yet.
Arnold has been so wonderful, loving and patient with her and yet she is still the same loud, rough and aggressive tomboy that she has always been.
Sure, she has toned down a bit and hasn't beaten up any of her classmates this year but...maybe she could do a little more than that.
She has already dressed up for dates in the past...maybe she could do it more often at school gatherings she attends with Arnold.
"Maybe it wouldn't hurt, just dolling up every once in a while..."Helga considered.
Tomorrow is Saturday, the day of the school art show. A lot of girls were dolling up for the thing. She remember that she had told Arnold that she didn't want to go...but maybe it would be a good chance to go and show she can be just as feminine as the next girl.
Besides, Connie and Maria would be there and there is no way that she is going to leave her boyfriend alone with those two she-snake's slithering around...besides, Arnold did look upset when she said that she didn't want to go.
Maybe this could both cheer him up and show him that she is all the girl he will ever need.
She decided that tomorrow, at the school art show, she'd dress herself up and surprise Arnold at the art show.
It was just a simple thing really and she has already dolled herself in the presence of her classmates before, so it's not like she is unfamiliar with this.
So that is her plan, tomorrow she will wear her best dress, style her hair nicely and wear some make up and surprise her wonderful, loving, patient boyfriend by attending the art show as a feminine, girly, nicely dressed young lady and they could admire the work like they originally planned to.
It's so simple, what could go wrong?
-To be continued-
Next time on Helga's Makeover II
Who's that girl?
A/N: I hope you all enjoyed the first chapter of my new HA story. :)
A/N(2): I would like to thank BeConfuzzled Writer and Anonymous Latino for assisting me in this chapter. Thanks again ;)
:) Till next time beautiful people, remember to read and review :)