Chapter 25

When a theater employee burst into the room minutes later, Helga and Arnold made a run for the emergency exit to the right of the screen. When they rounded the building and made it to the car, they got in and sat trying to catch their breath. Helga slowly reached over and locked the doors. They burst into laughter, and Arnold started the car and pulled out of the parking lot.

Helga snuggled up to him, feeling the adrenaline rush from their intimate encounter and almost getting caught mixing in her veins like a pleasant cocktail.

"Well, that was a delicious way to spend the afternoon," she said, snaking her hand around his waist and looking up at him.

Arnold chuckled. "Well, I did promise to take you somewhere you wanted to go."

"Oh, trust me, you did," she said, hugging her arms round herself and thinking of how forceful and passionate he'd been. In all the years she'd known him, she'd witnessed his level-headed kindness and diplomacy, his dreamy, idealistic nature, but never once in her wildest dreams did she think he'd be the dominant one in the bedroom.

"Where did that even come from?" she asked, baffled. "Aren't you supposed to be the moral one?"

Arnold blushed, thinking how he'd been thinking of doing all that and so much more ever since that night they'd first kissed outside the coffee shop. "You inspired me," he said.

"I inspired you?"

He glanced over at her. "The first time you read that poem, at open mic, I imagined us…" He blushed. "...having sex on the stage."

Helga felt her brain explode. "What?!"

"B-but it's not just that poem," he said. "All your writing, it's beautiful, and deep, and kind of, well-"

"Turns you on?" she finished, smirking.

He shrugged sheepishly.

Helga felt herself screaming inside at this admission. She'd suspected as much in the theater, but actually knowing opened up an endless world of possibilities. She had poems, so many volumes of poems dedicated to him and only him. And now he was saying all she had to do was write down exactly what she wanted, and how she wanted it...

She sat back against the seat, staring blankly ahead of her. "This is officially the greatest day of my life."

He laughed. "You know, as kids I always imagined getting the best of you somehow. You used to make me so mad sometimes," he said, shaking his head. "Who would have thought this is the way I'd get the best of you?" He nudged her playfully.

She crossed her arms. "No one gets the best of Helga G. Pataki."

"I mean, it certainly sounded like I got the best of you," he said, remembering her perfect cry of pleasure. They came to a stop in front of her house and he put the car in park.

"Won't happen again," she said with a mischievous glint in her eye. She took his face in her hands and kissed him deeply, slowly, pouring all her desire into it until he felt himself wanting nothing more than to drive back to the theater and repeat their performance.

Suddenly Helga pulled back. "Hey, I think someone is at my house," she said, staring out his window.

"What?" Arnold looked out his window and up at the porch. There was indeed someone at her door, a man whose features he couldn't quite make out.

They got out of the car, and as they got closer they recognized who it was.

"Mr. Lucheck?" she said, wondering what possible reason he could be on her doorstep.

He turned and, at seeing her and Arnold, gave a small wave. "Oh, good, I'm glad I caught you," he said. "I wasn't sure you'd be home."

"What are you doing at my house?" Helga asked. She felt the weird sensation that accompanies the realization that teachers are people who have normal lives outside school, too.

He held up a letter. "I'm here on official business," he said. "Before I get to that though, I should tell you that the office doesn't seem to have an emergency contact on file for you. You should get your parents to update that as soon as you can."

Helga waved this away, knowing her parents would never get around to it and she'd end up putting down someone like Phoebe or Arnold.. "Yeah, yeah, I'll get them to do that. But why are you here?"

He chuckled. "Straight to the point then. After you were suspended, I went to have a talk with the principal."

Helga's eyes widened. "You did?" she asked.

"Yes, she told me what happened at the bonfire," he said.

"She did?" Helga's heart sank. She felt guilty that Mr. Lucheck knew the circumstances surrounding her suspension. Besides being her favorite teacher, she couldn't think of any other adult who seemed to take an active interest in her life or make her feel like she mattered. He listened to her opinions, and encouraged her in all her efforts to write. She felt like she'd let him down.

"Yes, and I told her what a bright and clever young woman you are. Facetious and precocious perhaps," he said, and at this Arnold stifled a laugh, "but that's also what makes you one of my more favorite students." She smiled. "But you didn't hear that from me," he added.

"No one would believe me anyway," she said. "So what did Madame Principal say to your little speech?" She thought back to her conversation with the principal and remembered the way she'd glossed over her file before categorizing Helga as a problem child, just like so many of the adults she knew, including her parents.

Mr. Lucheck frowned. "Not much, unfortunately. She's pretty strict on rulebreakers, especially when it comes to things like this. No, it was actually your friends Rhonda and Nadine who changed her mind."

Helga perked up at this. "What?"

"Apparently they went in to the principal today saying that they had apologized to you and you'd all agreed to put it behind you." Of course, Helga thought glumly. "And the principal agreed that since you all showed such maturity by coming to a civil agreement, she lifted your suspension from the dance."

Arnold and Helga looked at each other. "Really?" they both said.

He smiled. "Really. This letter outlines the requirements of your lifted suspension."

Helga crossed her arms. "Woah, woah, woah. Hold up. Requirements?"

Mr. Lucheck nodded. "Yes, Rhonda said that you'd all agreed that you would help out with class office duties all of next week."

In other words, she thought, I have to be Rhonda's go-fer for a week. I should've known she'd find a way to play the cards in her favor.

Arnold put his hand on her shoulder. "You get to go to the dance," he said, reminding her what was important. She nodded. He was right, and it was more than she could've hoped for. Rhonda and her would never be on the greatest of terms, and if she was being completely honest she still hated her guts. But at least Rhonda had gone through with her plan and it had worked.

"Anyway," Mr. Lucheck said, "the office didn't have a phone number on file. Otherwise they would have called you. I thought I'd just deliver the news myself."

"Thank you, Mr. Lucheck," she said gratefully, "for coming here to tell me...and for going to bat for me."

He crossed his arms. "Just promise me you won't get suspended again. It's exhausting fighting the whole class by myself on the importance of reading Shakespeare and Baudelaire." He rolled his eyes, and Helga smiled.

"So what have you two been up to this afternoon?" he asked.

Before Helga could answer, Arnold chimed in, "I got to see Helga read her poetry on stage. She is an amazing performer."

Helga blushed. "N-no, I'm not-"

"Helga, aren't you always telling me not to be modest?" he said, raising his eyebrows at her. She opened her mouth, too stunned to say anything. He turned back to Mr. Lucheck. "She really is incredible."

Mr. Lucheck beamed. "Well, you'll have to perform in class sometime," he said.

Arnold was having trouble holding back his laughter while Helga squirmed in discomfort beside him.

"Well, I gotta get going," Mr. Lucheck said. He began walking down the steps. "You two have fun at the dance," he said, looking back at them as if he'd played Cupid. Helga had to admit that in a way he had, by letting them partner up for that English assignment. It was just another thing she'd have to thank him for someday.

They watched their teacher walk down the street and climb into his car, then Helga turned to Arnold with her arms crossed. "An amazing performer?"

Arnold held his hands behind his back and looked up innocently. "You really are."

"It's official," she said, shaking her head. "I've corrupted you, ruined you for life."

He stepped closer and nudged her. "Come on. You're secretly proud," he said.

She smirked, unable to argue. "Okay, maybe just a little."

"And now, I get to take you to the dance," he said.

She sighed. "Even if it does mean that I have to be Rhonda Lloyd's personal slave for the next week."

"Come on, it'll be worth it," he said.

Thinking of the beautiful dress hanging in her closet, and how she'd get to spend the entire evening being held in Arnold's arms, she had to admit that he was absolutely right.