Chapter 2, Surprise.

Previously...

Arnold and Gerald had moved their way through the crowd so they could see for themselves upfront what had happened.

Gerald blushed at finding out he was wrong then he blushed again seeing Phoebe.

"Um. H-Hi Phoebe."

Phoebe blushed as well. "Hello Gerald..."

Gerald looked over to his best friend Arnold Shortman, who was as still as a statue.

Helga's eyes grew wide and couldn't help but blush at him.

"H-Hey...Arnold." She said trying to keep her composure.

Before he could stop himself, he spit out his yahoo soda onto her face.

Helga stood there not saying anything. Arnold had spit out his yahoo soda without thinking all over her face. Arnold covered his mouth, fearing how she was going to react about having yahoo soda all over her face.

"H-Helga, I-I'm so sorry I wasn't thinking-"

She sighed, cutting him off before he could curse what he did any longer.

"Don't worry about it Arnold, it's alright."

Her response had confused him and he raised an eyebrow.

"Huh?"

She then kneeled down and picked up his school books that he dropped on the floor, handing them to him.

"I said it's alright. Don't worry about it. I can wash this Yahoo soda off in no time. But I do have a question I was hoping you and Geraldo might have the answer to."

Gerald looked at her. "What is it?"

Helga smirked and crossed her arms. "Why is everyone staring at us?"

All of the students walked away while blushing and began to act normal again.

Phoebe chuckled and looked over to Helga. "Helga, do you want me to help you wash the yahoo soda off your face?"

Helga just shook her head. "No I can do it myself. You can go on to class. I'll catch up with you Pheebs."

Before she walked off to wash off the yahoo soda that was on her face, she looked back to Arnold and Gerald.

"See ya around Geraldo..."

Arnold looked over at her with a blank expression. When she saw he was looking at her she gave him a small smile in return.

"See ya Arnold."

He watched her walk off very calm down the hallway. After she was out of sight, he had a perplexed expression across his face. Gerald had noticed this and sighed.

"C'mon Arnold, let's get to class. We don't want to be late."

Arnold could only nod and walk off to class with him.

In class...

Arnold was trying to focus on what Mr. Simmons was saying but it had been difficult for him. He couldn't deprive his mind from the memories of that morning. He had just spit soda in Helga's face in front of the whole school practically! What had been confusing him though was how Helga didn't try to fight him or insult him for it. Instead she just said that he didn't need to apologize and she gave him his books. With all of these thoughts sinking in, he turned around to look over at Helga, who was busy listening to the teacher and writing in her notebook. He turned back around in slight confusion, wondering why she didn't seem to be mad or annoyed right now.

Halfway through class, he flinched in his seat, thinking that she was going to shoot a spitball at the back of his head.

Nothing. Absolutely nothing. He looked around his desk to see if she might've just missed and was about to aim again. He turned around to look at her again and saw that she was reading a book.

'She's not harassing me or calling me names? That's a little weird. Guess she must be distracted. Maybe after class I will talk to her.'

He sighed and continued to do his work, trying his best not to think about it.

After what seemed like hours, the class had ended and everyone left to go to their lockers. Arnold took a deep breath and went over to Helga, who was busy getting her things out of her locker for her next class.

"Um. Hey Helga..."

She closed her locker and turned to see him standing there.

"Oh, hey Arnold, what's up?" She said normally.

"Uh, don't mind me asking this but...are you...feeling alright?"

Helga blinked. "Yeah, why do you ask?"

He tugged a little at his collar. "No reason...it's just...well I noticed that you'd usually call me names or pick on me all the time while we were in school."

Helga shrugged and looked down at her feet.

"Yeah...I know."

He gulped. "Not that I enjoy it, but how come you haven't done that to me, or well anybody yet?"

She sighed and looked at him.

"I don't know, I guess I just don't see things the same way anymore."

He raised his eyebrows. "What do you mean?-"

The warning bell had rang and Phoebe grabbed Helga's arm.

"C'mon Helga! We don't want to be late for class!"

As Helga rushed off with her, she yelled back to Arnold.

"I'll explain it later! You should hurry to your class!"

"Okay! Bye Helga!" He yelled back out to her and ran to his own next class.

It was lunchtime and all the students were crowded around the lunch table where Helga and Phoebe sat at. All of the students were constantly asking her about why she suddenly changed her appearance and were giving her nonstop compliments. Even Rhonda had given her a compliment, which surprised Helga. Phoebe eventually got fed up with them and shooed them away.

Helga sighed in relief as she continued eating her Mr Fudgy bar.

"Ugh, thanks Pheebs. I appreciate all of the compliments but who knew so many of them would make me want to throw up my lunch."

Phoebe chuckled. "I know."

From across the lunch room, Arnold had his eyes on Helga. For some reason he was dying to know what Helga was about to say. He felt a little guilty asking her the question because it was a bit personal, but he couldn't help it. His friend Gerald wondered what he was staring at and he looked over in the same direction.

He rolled his eyes. "Arnold, why are you staring at Helga?"

Arnold jerked his head around to him.

"W-What are you talking about? I'm not staring at her."

He smirked. "You're a terrible liar man, fess up."

The football headed boy sighed and decided to be honest with him. "Fine. I was looking at her. What's the big deal?"

Gerald looked at him incredulously. "What's the big deal? Arnold you're staring at the girl who has bullied you for almost your entire life. Why?"

Arnold sighed again and picked at his food.

"It's complicated Gerald. And also she was never THAT bad before. Even though she was kinda mean and picked on me a lot, I never hated her. I could never hate her. I'm just a little worried, that's all."

Gerald raised an eyebrow, "Worried about what?"

"Worried that something has been bothering her and I don't know for sure if it's true or not. I mean, she's been nice and has came around a few times. But this time, she's been significantly more off to me."

"How do you know that Arnold?"

"Well for one she's changed her appearance completely, but I'm not complaining, she looks great, except she hasn't been mean to anybody all day long so far at school or me! Remember when we were in class this morning? She didn't hurl me with any spitballs or didn't throw anything at me. She didn't seem annoyed or mad once at anybody. When I spit out my yahoo soda on her, she wasn't even mad about it and she handed me my books! Why? Why is she acting so weird Gerald?! I want to know!"

At this point, Arnold had been shaking Gerald half the time while he was ranting.

"Stop shaking me and cool out Arnold! If you shake me anymore I am going to throw up my lunch on you!"

Arnold let go of him and dropped his head down on the table.

"What am I going to do Gerald?"

"Why don't you just talk to her after school or something I don't know? I can't believe I'm saying this but try asking her to hang out with you."

Arnold lifted up his head and grinned. "You know Gerald, that's not such a bad idea."

Gerald rolled his eyes. "When have I ever had a bad idea?"

Arnold looked at him incredulously.

*Flashback*

Gerald : Wanna go throw rocks at Helga throwing rocks at a dumpster?

Arnold: Sure.

*End of Flashback*

Gerald gave a nervous laugh and rubbed the back of his head.

"Okay. We don't talk about that."

Arnold rolled his eyes and continued to eat his lunch.

"Whatever you say Gerald."

Later...

The bell had rang for dismissal. All of the students raced to their lockers to grab their things. Arnold gathered his backpack and raced to find Helga. He wasn't paying attention whenever he turned a corner really fast and he fell down onto the floor. Whenever he fell, he could hear a female voice saying 'ouch!' simultaneously.

Arnold rubbed his head while in a little bit of pain. Once the pain had lessened he opened his eyes to see who he bumped into.

"Helga?"

She was also rubbing her head while sitting on the floor in front of him. When she heard his voice her eyes opened wide.

"Arnold?"

He stood up and offered her his hand, which she took without a word.

"Helga! I've been looking all over for you!" Arnold exclaimed while grinning.

His words had made her heart skip a beat on the inside.

'I can't believe it...he was actually looking for me?'

Helga although hid her excitement and stayed calm. "What is it? Is there something wrong?"

He shook his head. "No, I kinda needed to talk to you. Are you busy by any chance? I-I mean, if you are then I can talk to you when you aren't. Also you don't have to. I'm not forcing you or anything it's just-oh...who am I kidding? I understand if I'm wasting your time-"

Helga waved both of her hands.

"Whoa! Slow down there Arnold! I never said anything yet. I'm not busy, we can talk."

Arnold raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Seriously? You're okay it?

Helga smirked. "As long as you don't spit yahoo soda at me, then yeah I don't see it as a problem."

Principal Wartz then came out of his office dancing and playing the maracas with a fake mustache on him. He stopped when he saw that Arnold and Helga were staring at him with a blank expression.

"Are you two going to keep failing leaving the school grounds on time this year Mr. Shortman and Miss Pataki?"

Helga crossed her arms. "Are you going to keep on attempting dancing the flamenco Principal Wartz? Oh and this time with a fake mustache-"

*Flashback.*

Principal Wartz: "Are you attempting to leave the school grounds without permission, Ms. Pataki?"

Helga: "Are you attempting to dance the flamenco, Principal Wartz?"

Principal Wartz: "This moment never happened."

Helga: "Gotcha."

*End of Flashback*

Principal Wartz sighed heavily.

"Once again Ms. Pataki, this moment never happened."

As he walked away, Helga chuckled.

"Roger that Principal Wartz!"

She looked over to Arnold who was cackling behind his hand.

She smiled with curiosity at him. "What's so funny Arnold?"

He smiled with half lidded eyes at her.

"You are Helga."

Blushing madly, she changed the subject to prevent herself from swooning out loud at his reaction.

"Anyways, where should we go?"

Arnold thought for a moment.

"How about the boarding house? We can talk there."

Helga nodded. "Sure, let's go Arnold."

And with that, they both started walking their way out of the school over to the boarding house.

Stay tuned for Chapter 3: Bonding.

I don't own Hey Arnold! And P.S, in this story, The Jungle Movie takes place in 7th grade. That will come later! See you all soon.