Disclaimer: I do not own Hey Arnold or any of the characters. Hey Arnold is the property of Nickelodeon and Craig Bartlett.
A Broken Heart
Chapter 67: Helga's Confusion
A few days later
A few days have passed since Drake and Arnold's confrontation and subsequent staring contest began.
Neither boy had spoken directly to each other since the alleyway but the tension between them was getting worse as the days go by.
A tension that did NOT go unnoticed by others.
Even Helga had not been completely oblivious to both Drake's and Arnold's strange behaviour lately.
She just didn't get what it was about.
Always having a keen eye for any abnormal or rowdy behaviour from her fellow students, especially from her...used to be beloved Football Head she had noticed her lack of encounter with Arnold recently.
For her, that was unusual.
Even though for the last months, she had wanted nothing more than to avoid him, she had become accustomed to always having Arnold close to her, either due to her efforts, or Arnold approaching her whenever he saw her down or something was bothering her. Especially after the events in San Lorenzo, Arnold had been almost hounding her, trying to spend time with her and she would make up an excuse to avoid him.
Now, he seemed to have almost completely disappeared from her eyesight. Helga was not sure if that was a good thing or not, but now, she just took it without question.
After all, that was what she wanted
For him to finally leave her alone.
However, she also found to be unusual, if not more so, was that when she did see him, she sometimes saw Arnold staring or sometimes glaring at both her and Drake.
That she found to be puzzling.
Although she knew that he wasn't really happy that she chose to ignore his advice about Drake, she didn't think he would take that rejection to heart.
She did however notice that he wasn't outright ignoring her. He glance at her every now and again.
Its weird.
FLASHBACK
Two days ago
It was now between the 5th and 6th periods.
Helga and Drake headed to their next class. Helga was getting bored with school again when she remembered that there was a new video game being added to the arcade. It was suppose to be Runaway Bus III, a video that Drake was a fan of.
They made a quick stop at his locker, as Drake needed to grab his lucky pencil for a quiz they had next period. Helga found his little antic to be amusing to say the least.
She wanted to talk to him more to see if he wanted to take her to the arcade later, but when she turned to ask him, she noticed something from the corner of her eye.
It's Arnold.
And once again, the boy was staring at them. Drake hadn't noticed and Helga planned to keep it that way. After the...incident, she knew that Arnold was the last person he wanted to talk about for a while.
However, the Football headed boy was still looking at them, at her more specifically and quite frankly it was really getting on her nerves.
"What was Arnold's problem?..."Helga thought, both annoyed and confused.
She knew that he could be a meddlesome busybody who can't keep his nose out of other people's business, but this is ridiculous!
While Drake was busy trying to look for his lucky pencil, Helga turned in Arnold's direction and sent him a look, as if saying "What?".
Arnold responded by looking away from her, as if he had been caught doing something he shouldn't.
It made Helga raise a brow even higher.
"Weird...'She thought.
Before she could question it further, Drake found his pen, just in time for the warning bell to ring, reminding her of that quiz they still have to take.
End of Flashback
Yeah, it went on like that and it wasn't the only time she had caught him staring at her and Drake. And quite frankly, it was getting on her nerves.
"Criminy! What's his problem? I've rejected that football head's advice countless times and he's never even given a disapproving look, much less a word. Now, whenever I see him starting at me and Drake, the look on his eyes is kind of...well...un-Arnold like..." Helga thought.
It wasn't just Arnold's behaviour that she found to be unusual. She also noticed Drake's behavior too.
He has been acting pretty strange and sketchy too.
For one thing, he suddenly has no qualms with being affectionate with her in public.
FLASHBACK
The other day
Helga and Drake were now having lunch together. The were eating at their usual table.
Helga pulled out her PB J that she managed to make for herself, she noticed that Drake sat still with sandwich in hand. He never took a bite.
"What? Your mom made you bacon and mayonnaise again?..." Helga asked in some jest.
But the boy didn't answer and just stared at a distance.
"Drake?...'Helga called, getting his attention.
"Huh?.."He said.
"Everything okay, Drake?" She asked.
"Yeah..." He said with a small smile.
Drake suddenly grabbed her hand and placed soft kiss it. Helga flinched a bit at the sudden bold move..
This... is a nice surprise...' She thought.
Still, she found this out-of-character. Not necessarily bad, but still she was getting used to some things in their relationship and that includes public displays of affection at school.
"What are you doing?..." Helga asked, taken aback by his sudden touch.
She didn't pull away, though.
"Oh nothing. I'm just enjoying my time here with you..."He said with a sweet smile.
Helga blushed deeply at what he said. She was still a little flustered.
Oh...umm...thanks. That's sweet of you..." She said while blushing a bit, but then continued on eating.
Drake wasn't done it seems, he placed his hands on here, getting her attention again.
"You know, anyone ever told you that you have such beautiful eyes?..." He asked in a suave voice that made her face become very hot all of a sudden.
"Oh well, um…thanks Drake, that's very…hey, can you stop making me blush!..." Helga nervously exclaimed while turning red.
"What is with him today?..." Helga thought.
Drake usually on acts like this when they are on their dates, and even then, when they had privacy. At school, he mostly just restricted himself to hand holding and carrying her books on average.
What caused this?
"What? Can't a guy take pride on his girl's cuteness?..." He said, as he started caressing her cheek.
"Drake?..."Helga thought with wide eyes.
Drake had called her cute or pretty before, but he is going the extra mile here. It made her feel strange. And he is touching her cheek now...it's making her feel worse...uh...better...uh...um?
"Y-Yes, but not in front of people!..." She exclaimed while trying to frown at him but Drake just had that flirty look on his face.
He continued to flirted with her for the rest of lunch. And Helga wasn't truly sure how she felt about the whole thing. She didn't truly discourage his behavior though, she just wondered what caused him to turn up the charm and during lunch of all times.
End Of Flashback
Yeah, that was how it went and Drake's sudden flirtatiousness didn't stop there. At random times, he suddenly charmed her, even when they were talking about non romantic school work and junk.
As Helga kept walking to school, she glanced at her boyfriend.
Right now, he is smiling happily as they kept walking and holding hands.
That was normal for them now...but he still acted strange.
Not only strange, but distracted too.
When he wasn't trying to flirt with and charm her, he seemed to have his head in the clouds. She remembered when she first noticed that sort of behavior.
FLASHBACK
The other day
They were in science class, currently working on a chemistry assignment .
Drake was her lab partner again..
Helga did like it, but was upset about one thing. He was distracted, putting more attention to his surroundings.
"So, ready?..." She asked.
"Sure..." He said, not really paying attention.
Helga read the instructions on how to make the chemicals change colors but chemistry has never been her best subject. She did her best though and hoped that Drake would do his share of the work.
"Okay... so. That red stuff, not even gonna bother with the name, I guess you add it to the beaker with blue..."She said, reading from the instructions.
"Sure..."Drake said.
"Okay. Now add in the yellow..."Helga ordered.
She looked up and noticed he wasn't doing as she instructed. She saw he was looking elsewhere.
"Drake.?...Helga repeated but he didn't answer her.
He seemed distracted by something.
That got on her nerves.
"What's so interesting he's ignoring our assignment? Or me for that matter?..."Helga thought, very annoyed right now.
"Drake?..."Helga repeated.
"Yeah..." He said, not looking at her and clearly not paying attention.
She rolled her eyes and poked his shoulder.
"Hey, do you know how to do this?..."She said sharply, finally getting his attention.
"Huh? Oh, let me take a look..." He said as he leaned forward, getting a bit close to her
Helga asked him what he was looking at. He just told him that he was distracted by some pesky insect that was bugging him. Helga raised a brow at that, but Mr. Simmons reminded them to continue with their assignments, so she didn't ask after that.
End Of Flashback
"I do wonder what's up with him. I mean, he's all of a sudden gotten much more lovey-dovey towards me in public. He's never done that before. That and seems to be sometimes distracted by something. Half the time I have to repeat that I had just said only a second ago and he knows full well how much I hate to repeat myself!..."Helga thought, both concern and mildly annoyed.
As the days rolled by, Helga continued to think about these two kid's latest behaviour.
She did notice that Drake's sudden change in demeanor started around the same time as Arnold's.
"Could they be connected?...."She thought.
"Could Drake sudden change be in part to how Arnold has been staring at us? Pfft, nah, that's just a coincidence. Drake is still very much happy that I just helped him in not being such a pariah in school..."Helga thought, shaking the original notion from her mind.
Not to mention, she and Drake have only recently become an official couple, so maybe a little PDA is expected at this point. And to be perfectly honest, she didn't hate the extra attention, she just didn't anticipate it.
Maybe that was just something she had to get used to, since this is, after all, for all intents and purposes, her first relationship, so this is probably something normal.
As for Arnold...well..
"Arnold's probably just still pouty that I ignored his advice, is all. He's just being a busybody, not just to me but for the whole town. Besides, for all I know, he's probably just has a lot on his mind and his weird attitude has nothing to do with me or Drake..." Helga thought.
She was probably over exaggerating the situation anyway. I mean, just because she noticed Arnold looking at them a few times or Drake being a little distracted, it doesn't mean that it is anything major and it is less likely that they are connected.
She is overreacting and nothing is going on with either boy.
Right?
-To be continued-
Next time on A Broken Heart
What's wrong with Arnold?
A/N: Special thanks to Anonymous Latino, BeConfuzzled Writer and NeoMark for their help. You guys are the best ;)
REPLIES to my loyal and totally awesome reviewer:
Invader Johnny:You got that right...
Kryten and Madi Anivar:For Drake's sake, he'd better hope that she doesn't find out.
DanteVirgil09: LOL!
:) Till next time beautiful people, remember to read and review :)
