-flash back-
7th grade Arnold closed his eyes and took a breath. He was at the door of the Pataki's residence holding a pink rose in both hands near his chest. The boy had already stood there for 5 minutes now. Just trying to find his own courage. He knew it was in there somewhere. But it crept into hiding as soon as he reached the last of the steps to the door.
He opened his eyes back up and sucked on his teeth when one of his fingers poked a thorn that stuck out of the stem. He lifted his hand up to take a look at his pricked finger. He spotted a little blood. The rose was pretty. But the thorns under the flower hurt. It was different with Helga though. With her, all he could see was a bush of spiky thorns. Well, From afar. When he looked closer he could detect holes. Giving him a glimpse of pink petals. He wasn't sure if it was all in his head. Because the thorns she showcased, were sharp to the point. He only hoped that underneath it all, there really was a beautiful flower waiting. Waiting for him to get over his stupid fears and knock on the damn door already. He was about ask Helga to the valentines school dance. He didn't really understand why he was going to do such a weird thing. All he knew was that after summer ended and school started up again, the first time he saw Helga he wasn't even sure if it was truly her. He noticed her new body features. He noticed her evil smirk was replaced with a quick witted smirk. He noticed that her blue eyes suddenly sparkled. But most importantly, he noticed her lack of pranks. Her lack of hatred she threw at him. Sure she wasn't the nicest, but at least she wasn't going out of her way to annoy him. She even didn't mind calling him Arnold from time to time. This gave him an opportunity to really understand how he felt about Helga. And somehow he developed a small crush on the girl.
'Okay Arnold, you can do this.' He reluctantly shaped his hand into a fist and slowly reached his arm out for the door. 2 inches away, and he stops himself. 'What am I doing? She's gonna kill me once she finds out how I feel.' He glanced at his fist. It begins to pull back a little. 'I don't even feel... this is... just...' His mind began to race. What would happen when he knocked on the door? Would she even give him a chance to explain himself, or would she see the rose and immediately crinkle her face with disgust? Would she laugh? She'd laugh. There's no way she wouldn't manically laugh. Or yell. Or both. He could feel his sweat drip down the side of his face. He was stupid for thinking this could happen. This was all new. It was all weird. THIS IS HELGA WE ARE TALKING ABOUT. Why would he even sorta like her? She had shown no interest in him. Just some tolerance. They weren't even real friends yet. YET?! As if she'd even agree to being friends let alone a date to the dance. What was he doing here?! He was just going to knock on the door and say what? 'hey I know I'm the last person you'd ever want to breath next to, but apparently I just realized how cute you are when you aren't tormenting me. Wanna go to the dance together?' How crazy is that?! At this point, Arnold was hyperventilating. He was certain he was going to have a heart attack. Before he could pass out, the most horrifying thing happened.
He knocked.
His nerves had unauthorized permission from his brain to do that! His pupils shrunk. His ears heard footsteps. And all he could think was...'RUN'. He felt the rose slip through his hands, before he stumbled off the stoop into a full on sprint in the direction of his home. And when the door opened all that could be seen was a a rose resting on the welcome mat followed by the sound of a nearby trash can being knocked onto the ground.
Helga picked up the the rose then looked around in confusion. Until her eyes wandered back to the flower that had lost a few petals. "Girl! Who's at the door?!" Her dad yelled. Helga rolled her eyes. "I'll tell you if you can get my name right, Bob." She sneered as she headed back inside.
The next morning, Arnold sat at his desk fighting his urge not to throw his letter away. He had wrote a letter for her to find on her desk before English started, deciding that it was the only way he could get the words out without having to look her in the eyes. "You okay, man?" Arnold looked to the side to see a worried Gerald. "Yeah I-I'm good." Though his cracking voice sent out a different message. "You sure?" His friend questioned. "I'm fine, don't worry," Arnold reassured, yet not so reassuringly. Gerald noticed that he kept fiddling with his folded up note. "Mm hmm and whatcha got there?" He smirked. Arnold moved his note to the other side of the desk. "Uhh nothing- it's nothing." "Trying to get a date to the dance?" Gerald asked with knowing eyes. "No, it's not-" "Come on Arnold, I'm not stupid. I can tell when you have a crush. It's like we have a brother connection or something." He explained while waving his hand from his forehead to Arnold's. Before he knew it, the classroom door opened. And out came Helga followed by Lila. "Great, she's already here." Arnold sighed. Gerald looked up. "Ohhh," he smiled as the girls sat down in front of them. Arnold blinked, realizing he had just inadvertently let Gerald know his secret feelings for Helga. But Gerald hadn't even thought of Helga as a possibility. He saw Lila and immediately thought that was the girl Arnold wanted to ask out. "Yeah, y'all would be cute. Go for it man." Arnold looked back at Gerald with a raised eyebrow. "Wait, what? ...you don't think it would be weird?" He whispered back. "Course not, y'all are like perfect for each other." He encouraged. Arnold was not expecting Gerald to act this way given the silent rival Helga and him both had towards each other. But he was too worried to be thinking straight, and decided not to question it any further. "Yeah well it doesn't matter cause, now I can't put the note on her desk." "Uh, yeah you can. Just give it to her." "I can't. She probably wouldn't even accept it from me." It was Gerald's turn to raise his eyebrow. Lila was the nicest girl in their grade. Why wouldn't she take a note from him? "Fine just give it to me then, I'll deliver the message." Gerald offered.
Meanwhile, Helga sat at her desk thinking about the rose that was left at her doorstep. Her exited soul could only hope it was from Arnold. She told herself she was crazy. Deranged. Out of her mind. But she couldn't help but have this strange feeling that it could be true. This year had been different. He seemed more attentive when she spoke around him. He was more kind with his words even if Helga gave him a little bit of a hard time. Not to mention, her heart would swoon every time she caught him staring at her. So there was no way she could hide her small grin when she overheard the boys behind her whisper about some sort of note. Her eyes moved as far back as they could trying to find the boy of her dreams, but her head was determined not to turn around.
"No- Gerald I'm not gonna-" "Arnold, chill. Trust me, I got this. I won't make a big scene or anything. I'm sly, remember?" He complemented his own self while reaching for the letter. Arnold pulled away. But Gerald gave him a comforting 'brother connection' stare. After a few seconds, the stressed boy closed his eyes as he reluctantly handed the piece of paper to his friend. But If Arnold would have opened his eyes, he would have noticed that Gerald was looking at the wrong girl, ready to unknowingly fuck up the situation. Gerald swiftly nudged lila's elbow. "Pssst" This was so fun for Gerald. He felt like a spy on a mission to help out his best friend. If only he knew what he was really doing. Lila turned her head a little to see the note Gerald was trying to hand her. She smiled as she gladly accepted and unfolded the paper.
' Hey. I know this is coming out of no where, and I know I'm not your favorite person in the world, but if you gave me a chance maybe you'd see I'm not so bad. Would you... go to the valentines dance with me? -Arnold.'
Lila frowned. She liked Arnold. But not in that way. She was also surprised that he made it seem as if she wasn't even his friend. So she began to write on the back of the paper.
Helga's heart dropped when she noticed the letter was received by Lila rather than herself. '...Of course. They weren't talking about me. Why would they be?' She felt her body slouch farther into her desk. She just felt like an idiot for not even noticing the model that was just a few feet away from her.
And through it all, Arnold kept his eyes shut. Even if he wanted to, he couldn't manage to open them. He felt like they were glued together. He couldn't even imagine what was going on in Helga's head at that moment. He'd just hope that her rejection wouldn't be too harsh. Suddenly, he felt his friend tap his arm and toss the letter back to him. Arnold finally got his eyes to unlock, and he grabbed the note.
'I'm ever so sorry. I don't like you that in that way, Arnold. But don't worry. We will always be friends. :)'
Arnold stared at that paper for the rest of the period. He couldn't help but feel that something was off. Maybe it was just because she didn't say yes. But... he knew she just wouldn't write something like that. Or at least in that way. It was too nice. He wanted her to show at least a little bit of empathy, but would never have imagined to receive something like this. Or maybe... it was sarcasm? That would make more sense. In which case, it wasn't a very nice reply. Gerald leaned over to Arnold. "So, you gonna tell me what she said or?" "She said no, Gerald." Arnold sighed. Gerald frowned as he heard the bell ring. "Hey, I'm sorry buddy. It's her loss." Arnold just stared at his note. As soon as Gerald got his stuff packed up he flung his backpack over his shoulder and said, "If it makes you feel any better, I'm not going with anyone either. It's a good thing though. It means we can go together." His friend gave Arnold a pat on the back, and walked off. As soon as Arnold decided to look back up so he wouldn't be late for his next class, his eyes met Helga's. The startled boy quickly leaned away, slamming his back into his chair. She stood above him as she readjusted her backpack. "Aw, did someone decline your invitation to suck face at the dance tonight?" She mocked with a condescending tone. He blinked innocently. While she just scowled down at him. She was talking about Lila. He did not know that. "I guess so." He awkwardly responded. "I'm sooo sorry about that." 'So it was sarcasm' He figured. Annoyance rushed into his body causing his eyes to narrow. 'Well two can play at that game.' "Thanks Helga. I really appreciate it. If only everyone were as kind as you." He shot back. Helga growled. "Sure thing, football head." 'Football head' sounded extra insulting to Arnold today. He frowned. ...She really just doesn't care does she? This was the person she was choosing to act like. Right now. They were even alone besides the teacher in the back who wasn't even listening. Could she at least pretend to have a heart for one second? "Ok I get it Helga." He responded with a roll of his eyes and started to gather his things. But when he went to reach for his folder, a familiar hand had knocked it off the desk. Scattering papers onto the ground. When he looked back up she was already stomping her way out the door. And at that moment, his feelings for her vanished. Or so he thought. They were just pushed all the way to the very back of his mind. He was too embarrassed. The boy had just asked out his childhood bully. And in the process... he got bullied. For the rest of the year, they wouldn't even speak to each other unless they had to. And every encounter from then on had been hell for both of them. Each just as clueless as the other. Never understanding they both liked each other.
-end of flashback-
Until now.
"WE'RE HIGH?!" Helga screamed for the whole world to hear. She looked at her hands. They were placed on Arnold's chest. Now knowing this was not 'dream Arnold', she ripped her hands off of him and stood up. Arnold was still in a state of shock and wasn't moving. Helga tried to moved out of the booth quickly but with Arnold blocking her passage, she found herself tripping back onto him. This time in a more 'intimate' position. "A-Are you okay Hel-" "DON'T speak to me," she demanded as she rolled off of him and out of the booth. She ran her way out, and Arnold was right behind her. "Helga, wait!" But he was stopped by the Slausen's employee. "You need to pay for the milkshake's before you can leave sir."
Helga's emotions were all over the place. It was like the brownies had enhanced all her feelings. All she wanted was for this night to end. She couldn't stay there, she couldn't go home, she couldn't do anything but run away. She had just revealed her biggest secret to Arnold. And so casually, too. She cried in front of him. They even HUGGED. The world started to become dizzy. She didn't understand what was happening, but she felt like she was going to throw up. "Helga!" She heard Arnold's voice from behind. She swung around. "WHAT?!" She yelled back. Once he finally caught up with her he took a breath. "Helga, I know you are freaking out, right now but it's not safe to be-" "Don't you tell me what is and isn't safe! You made me eat those stupid brownies, and now... you're making me say things I don't mean!" "I'm sorry, I didn't know-" Helga grabbed the collar of Arnold's shirt and yanked it so hard, you could hear the threads rip. "I don't care if you knew! You made me look ridiculous!" Arnold's eyes narrowed. "Quit grabbing me, Helga! I just told you that I don't like it when you-" "You think I actually care football head?!" She interrupted, pulling even harder. "You know what? Given everything that has happened tonight, yes I do think you care!" He argued fighting for his shirt back. "What are you talking about paste for brains! I didn't mean any of it!" "Oh come on! After all of that you still can't say my fucking name?!" Helga blinked. Her hand dropped his collar. "Get over your stupid pride Helga! You just told me that you liked me!" She actually told him that she loved him. But that part he wouldn't let himself believe just yet. "What more do you have left to say?! That I'm a football head? No wait, you've already said that! In fact you, won't let me forget it will you?! You've been calling me that ever since the day we met!" Helga didn't respond. She had never seen him so angry. His gentle voice had changed into a deep loud version she wasn't even aware existed. She didn't know what to do. Arnold noticed her usually big mouth was as silent as a mouse. Arnold felt big. And honestly, he liked it. So he continued. "That's right, you aren't the only one that can yell Helga! I'm so sick of you thinking you can just insult me when ever things don't go your way! I have feelings too! I've always had feelings! And you never even acknowledged them! Even when I asked you to that dance in 7th grade!" "w-what dance-" "I'm not finished Helga! That's another thing, you're always interrupting me! I can barely ever get a couple words out before you cut me off! You're selfish and rude and enjoy causing me pain!" "NO I DON'T!" Helga cried. Arnold stopped and stared at his tormentor who claimed to have never wanted to torment him. He simply didn't believe her. Arnold took a step closer. They were only a few inches apart. "Prove it." This was Helga's chance. She took a breath and looked up into his eyes. "Ok fine. I used to have a heart shaped locket." "...a locket?" "Yep. With your picture inside." She surprisingly told him this fact proudly. Determined to win this debate about how much she cared for him. Arnold did not know this new information. "I would pull it out, and scold my self every time I ever did something awful to you." She admitted. "Every time I spilled tapioca on you, every spitball, every petty prank. Everything. I'd pull it out, and apologize to the face in my locket." Arnold kept a straight face. But couldn't hide his blush begin to form onto his cheeks. This time, Helga took a step closer. "I'd write you poems." "...poems?" "Books full of poems. All about...you." Their eyes were locked onto each other's. No one dared to look away. "No you didn't," Arnold whispered. Helga couldn't take it anymore. "Shut up, yes I did," She breathed. Her hand gripped his shirt once more as she pressed her lips against his. Helga was finally showing Arnold everything she kept inside. She couldn't hide it any longer. And neither could he. Their nerves had calmed down. And all that was left were their true selfs. Arnold broke the kiss. He only smiled when he noticed Helga smile first.
