It was Monday. Arnold couldn't finish his assignment. Because he hadn't even started it. It was a writing assignment. He wasn't sure what he was supposed to be writing about. Which was very abnormal for Arnold. He usually gave a lot of effort and focus into his schoolwork. But his mind was all over the place. It had been that way ever since Saturday morning, when he woke up to find himself lying on the floor of Gerald's room.
-Flashback-
"You look so cute when you make that face." Arnold could hear a woman's voice invade his snoozing ears. His eyes fluttered open. And... he immediately felt weird. He wasn't sure why, but something just didn't feel right. "Shhh he's awake," he could hear gerald whisper. Arnold sat up and looked towards the bed. His eyes widened when he noticed a rather familiar and usually 'timid' female basically straddling his best friend. "Morning, Arnold," Gerald sheepishly greeted removing his hands from Pheobe's waist. Arnold just sat there. He knew they were into each other, but didn't realize they were THAT into each other. "Good morning, Arnold," Phoebe nervously smiled as she slowly untangled her legs from Gerald's lap. "Uh, morning... guys," Arnold awkwardly answered. A sudden loud thump could be heard from outside of the bedroom door. Everybody turned towards the noise. Gerald widened his eyes. "What was that?" Unfazed, Pheobe yawned and hopped off the bed. "It's probably just Helga, I'll go check on her," She explained as she made her way out of his room. Arnold felt his stomach tighten when he heard Helga's name. Pieces of last night started to pop back into Arnold's faded memory.
~ 'You're gonna walk around alone?' 'This is a dream.' 'It's pretty obvious why I'm so mean to you.' 'There was weed in the brownies man! Marijuana dude!' 'Helga, wait!'~
Outside of Arnold's head, Gerald was rolling his eyes. "She better not have broken anything! Just cause my parents are out of town doesn't mean we can just start breaking stuff!" He yelled from his bed.
~'you're making me say things I don't mean!' 'you aren't the only one that can yell!' 'Books full of poems.' 'No you didn't.' 'Shut up, yes I did.' That last sentence hit him hard. Because it was what lead to... the kiss. ~
Arnold felt paralyzed. But Gerald was still irritated. "Seriously, I graciously let the devil herself into my home and she's already trying to get me into trouble. Can you believe her Arnold?" Arnold just stared at the floor. "K-kiss?" He whispered. Which got Gerald to raise his eyebrow pretty quickly. "What?" Arnold realized what had just slipped out of his mouth and looked up. "Uh...nothing." "...mkay. So how was your first night stoned?" Gerald grinned. "It was... strange." "You're lucky I found you after you rudely hung up on me. But I gotta ask... why was Helga with you?" Gerald questioned. There it was again. Her name. Making his stomach turn. They kissed. Arnold Immediately stood up. "I gotta go!" And with that, he swung the door open and bolted out of there. Leaving a very puzzled Gerald.
-End of flash back-
And there he was, in his first period with Helga sitting right behind him. She had told him that she... lov-liked him. Helga G. Pataki. It was mind boggling for him. He had never experienced anything like the way he experienced that night. He finally told her off about being treated like a doormat. And yet, instead of pounding him, she kissed him. And he kissed back. He didn't know what that meant though. Part of him feared she would go back to doing what she did best. Which was picking on Him. But after 20 minutes of anxiously waiting, Arnold's hair was still free of spitballs. Which was a good sign... right? He couldn't take it anymore. He had to take a quick glance. He slowly rested his elbow on his chair and looked up at Helga. At first Helga hadn't noticed him, but she saw a shadow and followed it. Once she saw his face staring at her, She almost gasped. She didn't really know what to do. Wether to ...scowl. After Friday night, she didn't really know how she was planning on talking to him. She even gave her bathroom mirror a re-enactment of all the different ways she could approach him. Some were rude. But most were not so bad. When she woke up from the party, she was reminded that she crashed at Gerald's stupid house.
-Flash back-
Helga opened her eyes. She was on a couch. It was stiff. And covered in leather with rips, causing it to be itchy. And it was freezing, due to the lack of blanket. She didn't like it. 'Of course, he had to make me sleep on the most uncomfortable couch known to man' She stretched her arms as she brought herself up. Immediately, Helga didn't have any trouble remembering every single detail of last night. It's Arnold for crying out loud, how could the girl ever forget a night spent with only him? She had told Arnold... how she truly felt about him. By accident. Regardless, she did. But only after he told her... that he once had a crush on her? When did that occur? How could she not have noticed? 'Does he still like me? Is it not too late? Of course it's not he kissed me! Or... I kissed him. But he kissed back. Right? We were high. It wasn't real. As if he felt anything! Come on he even yelled at me... and I let him. I let Arnold stand up to me. I didn't even know he could act like that. I can't believe I let my guard down. I need to show that football head who's boss!' She inwardly growled. But then blinked. 'No, no, no! I'm not going to pretend this didn't happen! And I'm certainly not going to scare him away. Because he's right. I am selfish and rude.' She stood up from the deathbed of a couch and headed for Gerald's room. She wanted to talk to phoebe about this. She needed someone to help her through this. She had to-"Uh, morning... guys." Helga paused. That was Arnold's voice. Arnold is in there?! She quickly backed away and in the process, knocked over a lamp. 'Shit.' The door opened. Helga's heart began to race. "Helga, are you ok?" Phoebe yawned. Helga felt a little relieved that it was only Pheebs who came out. "Why would someone keep this stupid lamp in the middle of a hall way?" Helga quietly complained. "I don't know maybe-" Helga covered the girls mouth. "Shhh Phoebe, forget the lamp! I need talk to you!" Phoebe removed Helga's hand away from her face. "But you just said-" "She better not have broken anything! Just cause my parents are out of town doesn't mean we can just start breaking stuff!" They heard Gerald yell from his room. Helga's eyes narrowed. She bent over and picked the lamp back up. The light bulb wasn't broken, but Gerald's face would be if he kept talking about her as if she was a 2 year old in front of Arnold. But that wasn't important at the moment. She couldn't let Arnold see her right now! She wasn't ready! She might slip up and scream in his face! "Pheebs, please call me later I really need to talk to you." "Ok, but why not-" "Ok gotta go, bye!" She whispered as she fumbled out of the house. Leaving a perplexed phoebe.
-End of flashback-
And so when she found Arnold staring at her, she knew she had to make a choice. Smile, or scowl. She found herself doing neither. Her face was neutral. Her eyes retreated back to her paper. She just continued to write. She didn't know what else to do! 'Just, ignore him.' She told herself. Arnold blinked. And eventually turned himself back around. He was more than confused. Was she mad at him or not? He looked down at his paper. Which was still blank. He needed to start writing. But as soon as he gripped his pencil, The teacher started to speak. "Alright, every one seems to be done," Obviously not noticing his paper, "So I'll assign partners of two and you guys take turns reading them to each other." 'Please don't assign us together.' Arnold inwardly pleaded. 'You better not stick me with him lady.' Helga also inwardly threatened.
...They were assigned together. Helga had somehow managed to move her desk to the other side of his with out making eye contact. Arnold knew this because he wouldn't stop giving her eye contact. The room was loud. All of the students were talking. All except the two blondes. But there minds were running wild. 'She kissed me.' 'I kissed him.' It was really killing Arnold. But Helga was already dead. She picked a spot on the floor and wouldn't dare to look away. Arnold knew she was going to make him speak first. So he did. "I'm gonna be honest," he started. Helga finally looked at him. 'Honest?' "I didn't really write anything," Arnold admitted. Helga just stared. 'That's what he's going to be honest about?! He couldn't think of anything else? Anyone else!' She felt her eyebrows furrow. She opened her mouth. Ready to put him in his place... but she couldn't. She was the one who had been ignoring him and the whole situation. She'd be a hypocrite. How could she get mad at him for doing exactly what she was doing? "Ok. Then I'll read mine." She lifted her paper up, and remembered that all she wrote were... poems about Arnold. "Just kidding. I didn't write anything either," She said, placing it face down on the desk. Arnold noticed ink bleeding through the back. Because Helga likes to use pen. "Well, you... wrote something," he said, curious as to what she wrote. 'There is no way I'm telling you what I wrote.' She scowled in her mind. She wanted to growl at him so he'd leave the subject alone. But she just wouldn't let herself be mean to Arnold anymore. So she just agreed. "Yep. I did." Arnold knew he shouldn't be poking the lion, but he needed something to say other than 'you look really cute right now.' Because that was what he was thinking. But he immediately pretended he hadn't thought that. "...what did you write then?" Helga sighed. 'Can he not see that I don't want to tell him?!' "Ok, we are going to ask questions? Alright, why didn't YOU write something? Let's talk about that." 'Oh god.' She was trying holding her attitude back. She really was. Now it was Arnold's turn to get nervous. "Uhh, because... I-I uh-" "Not so easy is it? Foot-" She caught herself from calling him football head, and immediately looked away. Arnold blinked. But then smiled. 'She's trying.' A warm feeling hit his chest. 'Which means... she cares.' The thought of her being cute popped up again. But this time, he didn't deny it. She was adorable. "Helga." She didn't look at him this time. Her eyes were locked on an empty seat in front of her. Her hand gripped the side of her chair. She was not going to yell. She promised herself she wouldn't. But she really wanted to break her promise. A full on war was happening in her head. 'Why would he like you, Helga you suck! Just call him football head! It's not hard, you've been doing since forever. It is hard though! What he said really got to me. I don't want him to hate me. Well he already does! I don't know that!' Arnold noticed how tense she had became. Her face was turning red. "Helga?" She still didn't respond. "Are you ok?" RINGGGGGGG. The bell had rung. Helga grabbed her backpack, stood up, looked into his eyes, and simply said, "No." before she walked out the classroom door. Arnold stared at the door. Knowing she wasn't come back, but still hoping that she would. After a few seconds, he sighed and grabbed his bag. He was about to turn and leave, when his eyes caught sight of something. It was the paper.
