A/N Hey guys. So sorry for the LONG wait. HOPEFULLY, The wait won't be quite as long next time, but I really can't make any promises.

Anyway. New chapter, this one pretty Lila focused. Hope you enjoy it (and It contains a special guest star)

Plot borrowed from Helga's Masquerade. Hope you enjoy it.

(Also let me know if the chapter title should be changed to something else.)

Disclaimer: I don't own Hey, Arnold or the 'The Patakis' concept.

Lila's Masquerade

Hey Arnold,

You will never guess who's visiting Hillwood High.

It's Arnie. Guess he's doing some kind of exchange program this week? I don't know.

Have to be honest, Arnoldo, I'm a little worried. The last time he visited he refused to leave me alone until it was time for him to go back home.

I'm REALLY hoping that he leaves me alone and goes after Lila. She's still head over heels in love with him. And it would be SO MUCH BETTER for both of us if he decided to be with the girl who ACTUALLY likes him.

But as I learned from you, that won't happen until they're BOTH ready for that to happen.

Well, here's hoping that they are.

I hope you're doing well

Love, Helga.

"Hi, Helga," Helga froze when she heard that monotone voice and had to stop herself from groaning.

She turned anyway and saw him standing there looking bored and uninterested, with the football-shaped head and the faded yellow hair.

"Hey Arnie," She said. "What are you doing here?" She asked him.

Arnie shrugged, "I'm part of the exchange program," He said.

That was not what Helga meant. She'd meant 'what are you doing near me?' But, clarifying could have been seen as rude, and she did not need Arnold to find out she'd be rude to his cousin. So, instead, she forced a smile. "Well, I've got to go," She said and turned to go.

"I heard that you haven't been in touch with my cousin," Arnie said just as she had turned to leave.

Helga's eyes widened, and she mentally cursed the one person who could have told him.

"I don't see how that is anyone's business, but Arnold's and mine," She retorted to him.

Arnie just shrugged and stepped closer, "I just wondered if this means you're free to date others."

Helga's eyes widened before she shook her head quickly. "No, no, it does not mean that, in any way, at all," Backing away from him slowly.

"Oh," Arnie said emotionlessly and said nothing more.

Helga sighed and put a hand to her neck. "Look, Lila wouldn't mind showing you a good time," She said, "Why don't you contact her?"

Arnie just blinked in that weird one eye at a time way of his. Helga then just waved and headed back to her house, pulling out her cell phone from her pocket, intending on giving 'That one Person' a piece of her mind.

"Criminy Lila!" Helga yelled. "Did you have to tell Arnie that I haven't been contacting Arnold! I thought you wanted him!"

Lila sighed. "I do not like lying Helga," She said. "And I am ever so certain that it's not as bad as you think."

Helga rolled her eyes. "No, of course not, because your not the object of his obsession."

Lila sighed. "I'm ever so certain it is not as bad as you think,"

Helga looked at Lila as though she was insane.

"I would love to be the object of Arnie's affection," Lila said, a little twinkle in her eye.

Helga sighed and shook her head. "I don't understand your taste in boys,"

Lila giggled as Arnie walked by; she waved at him, but Arnie barely acknowledged her in favour of speaking to Helga. "Hey, Helga," He said.

Helga turned to glare at him. "Hi. Arnie." She ground out.

Arnie stood there awkwardly for a few more minutes before he turned and walked away.

Lila turned to Helga; her brow furrowed. She bit her lip for a moment before she stared up at Helga and smiled. "Can you help me with something?"

Uh-oh. Helga thought to herself. "With what?" Helga asked tentatively.

"Just… help me be more assertive," Lila said. "Be a bit more like you."

"That won't end well," Helga argued. "Trust me… it, it won't. I did it before with Arnold; it just left me feeling sad and alone."

"Please?" Lila asked, her hands folded together in front of her. "I've tried everything else, but nothing works."

Helga stared at her for a long moment. Her pleading gaze, the begging stance, the way her eyes looked close to tears.

"It may not work," Helga warned, "It may just get you the exact opposite of what you want."

Lila shook her head. "It won't. Please, Helga,"

Helga had known that she would not have been able to turn Lila off, but it did not hurt to try.

"Alright," Helga sighed. "Let's make you more like me."

Being aggressive did not come easy to Lila. Lila preferred being kind, whereas Helga often preferred resorting to threats and violence to get what she wanted.

So getting Lila to snap back when someone pushed her in the hallway was next to impossible.

"It just seems so rude." Lila would say.

"Yeah," Helga said. "Cause it is, I've never been nice Lila, you know that,"

"You've been nice to Arnold,"

Helga raised half of her unibrow. "Yeah," She tossed out sarcastically, "between the spitballs and the name-calling, I've been a regular saint," Helga said.

"Not all the time," Lila agreed. "But on occasion…"

"On occasion," Helga agreed as someone bumped into Lila.

"Showtime," Helga whispered.

For a moment, Lila looked worried before they look melted into one of forced anger. "Hey!" Lilah shouted. "Who do you think you are bumping into me like that?" She said stalking toward the offender.

"Oh sorry." The guy said. "Didn't see you there."

"Didn't see me?" Lila argued. "What I'm invisible to you? Is that it?"

"Uh…" The boy looked confused. "No. I was just distracted. Wasn't-"

"Too distracted to watch where you're going?" Lila argued her hands fisted. "Why I outta to introduce you to my fists. That'll teach you to be distracted when crossing my path,"

The boy rolled his eyes. "Yeah right. Listen, girl-"

Helga watched as Lila swallowed before she lifted her hand and punched the boy square in the nose.

Helga's eyes widened; she had to cover her mouth to stop the shocked laughter from escaping.

"I think you went too far there," Helga said.

"You?" Lila said. "You were always-"

"Yeah, when I was 10. We're fifteen now," Helga argued.

Lila rolled her eyes. "Arnie liked you at the age of 10."

"Yeah, but-" Helga sighed and shook her head. "Yeah, your right… but I don't think I ever punched anyone in his presence. I never needed to."

"Why not?"

"I had enough presence to get what I needed without – much – violence. Except for Brainy." Helga said. "And Brainy was a special case."

"How so?"

"No matter what I did, he never stopped just randomly appearing behind me." Helga thought about it then chuckled. "I once tossed Brainy out of a moving train while Gerald opened the door for me."

"Why?"

"Made us think he was a ghost. Not pleasant."

"That seems… mean."

"Yep."

Anytime Arnie passed Lila in the hallways, Lila would stop what she was doing and pick a fight with anyone nearby.

She would be snarky and rude. Which left everyone around her confused and hurt by her actions, but it also got Arnie's attention, so Lila refused to stop. (Even if Lila would admit in private that it felt wrong.)

Helga would tell her to stop if it felt wrong, but Lila was even more determined and before long Arnie started talking to Lila. Following Lila around entranced in that odd 'Arnie' way of his.

He agreed to a date not too long afterwards.

Lila hugged Helga's arm "I'm so excited!" She said.

Helga gave a thin smile. "I'm happy for you. Do you think now that he's agreed to a date, you can go back to being yourself?" And stop looking and acting like me? Helga thought internally.

Throughout the week, Lila had taken to dressing a bit more like Helga. Instead of the usual green dress, she wore a green tee-shirt with a white stripe and blue jeans. Her hair was out of its usual, twin braids and instead tied into two low pigtails.

"Come on, Helga," Lila said. "I'm not that different."

Please, the only thing about Lila that was the same (at least on the outside) was the colour scheme. Any time Arnie came into view her personality did a complete 180.

"Just be careful," Helga said. "It might not end well."

Helga sighed as she tossed away her poetry notebook. She was so bored. She had asked Phoebe if she wanted to hang out that night. But it was Phoebe and Gerald's date night, they had invited Helga along, but Helga had declined. She did not feel comfortable intruding on Phoebe and Gerald's Couple Time (Or being a witness to it for that matter).

The phone rang, snapping Helga out of her musing. Helga snapped up her phone, eager for SOMETHING to alleviate the boredom.

"Hey, Lila," Helga said. "How'd the date go?"

The other line was quiet for a moment before Helga heard Lila sniffle on the other end. "Can you come over?"

Helga had a feeling she knew what had happened. "Yeah," Helga said, "I'll be there shortly."

She hung up the phone and immediately hurried downstairs, where she found her mother putting on her coat, "Hey, Helga," Her mother said, "You heading out?"

Helga nodded. "Yeah."

"Where?"

"Lila's"

Miriam nodded and pulled the keys out of her purse, "I have to be at an AA meeting, but I have enough time to drive you if you need me to,"

Helga shook her head. "Nah, Mom, I could do with the fresh air today," She did not want to risk her mother being late for the meeting.

Miriam nodded. "Alright, honey. Be careful out there tonight, alright? And be back home by 9. If you're going to be late, call, alright?"

Helga gave a half-hearted two-fingered salute. "Aye, aye Miri- Mom." She said before walking out the door.

The moment she closed the door, she ran all the way to Lila's house.

It did not take her long to get to the Sawyer's residence. When she got there, Mr. Sawyer let her in and directed her upstairs. When she got to Lila's bedroom door, Helga could hear Lila crying.

Helga sighed when she reached Lila's door, she had warned her this would happen. She carefully opened the door. "Lila?"

Lila looked up from her bed. Her cheeks tearstained and her eyes bloodshot, but even still, she tried to smile. "Hey, Helga," Lila said through her tears. Helga noticed that her shirt was pink with a white stripe at the bottom, and she was wearing blue jeans. Helga wondered if she looked around she would find a blonde wig somewhere.

"Are you ok?"

Lila's smile fell, her eyes watered. "You warned me; this wouldn't end well."

Helga nodded. "I did. What happened?"

"He… He called me Helga." Helga remembered when Arnold had done the same thing to her. Helga looked at Lila sympathetically, "I'm sorry Lila."

"I should have listened," Lila said. "I'm so sorry I didn't,"

Helga shrugged. "It's no skin off my nose." She said. It wasn't until she saw Lila flinch that she realized how her tone sounded. Helga sighed, stepped forward and gave Lila a one-armed hug. "Your sweet, kind, and a good person. Changing yourself to fit someone else's ideal will only make you miserable in the end,"

"But I love him."

Helga sighed. "I know but changing yourself isn't gonna make him fall in love with the real you; he'll just end up falling for a false image. Is that what you want?" She had said similar things all week, but Helga hoped that now, after what had occurred, Lila would be more willing to listen.

Lila thought about it for a moment before she slumped her shoulders and shook her head. "I guess not." She said miserably.

Later that night, when Helga got home, she went straight to her notebook, pulled out a pen and started to write.

Hey Arnold,

So… remember that masquerade party we had? Where I pretended to be Lila,? And it ended with you calling me by her name, and I gave up the whole charade after that?

Guess what Lila tried to do?

Yeah.

It got her a date but outside of that…

He called her 'Helga', Arnold. Which completely shattered her. The sad thing is, I warned her that it might not end well. But she was just so desperate for his attention that she was willing to do anything.

But all it did, was blow up in her face. She's pretty cut up about it, I tried to comfort her, but I don't know if I did a good job.

She did smile when I left, but I don't know if it was genuine or fake.

I do hope she's able to move past this. Unrequited love for so long can really hurt a person. (I should know)

Hope you're doing well.

Love, Helga.

With a sad smile, she carefully ripped the paper out of the notebook; gently folded it before she placed it inside an envelope before licking it closed. With a sigh, she put it on her desk but leaving to change into her pajamas.

The next day Lila arrived at school dressed in her usual green dress with her hair back in its usual braids. In her hands was a basket of chocolate cupcakes.

"Hey, Lila," Helga said.

Lila smiled and handed Helga a cupcake.

"Thanks," Helga said. "What's this for?"

"I'm sorry," Lila said honestly. "You were right. I just didn't want to listen."

Helga shrugged. "No problem. Are you handing cupcakes out to everyone?"

Lila sighed. "Yes. The way I acted was horrible. I don't know if I can be forgiven, but I should at least try to make amends."

Helga took a bite of the cupcake. "I'd already forgiven you, but the cupcake is nice."

A/N Hope you enjoyed this. Please leave a review telling me what worked, what did, and especially if you want more.

Again I'll try not to make you wait so long for the next update but I unfortunately can't make any promises.

On a slightly related note. Anyone want to read some deleted scenes of this chapter? Let me know if you do.