In this chapter, Helga is feeling a bit down, so Rodrigo entices her to renew her interest in playing sports again, while also probing on her intellectual capacity...

During Lunchtime...

Rodrigo walked in and found Helga sitting at their usual table, reading something. As he approached the table, he noticed that she just finished eating an apple and was about to eat some baby carrots. She was sitting alone; everyone else was at the gym playing sports, so Helga and Rodrigo were on their own.

"Hey." he said to her with a smile.

"Hey" she replied back, although she made no attempt to smile. Quite the contrary, she was frowning, which Rodrigo noticed.

Uh oh, what now? He thought.

He sat down beside her and then took out his lunch.

"You must have been starving. You already ate your lunch and your just eating the leftovers." he commented.

At any other time, Helga would have appreciated the irony of his comment. But alas, she was in no mood to hear any ironic twist to her usual, but sad life.

"I didn't bring my lunch today." she said sadly.

"Why? Did you forget it?" he asked her.

"No. Miriam didn't cook last night and forgot to pack any food as a substitute; not even a peanut butter sandwich, despite promising that she would. She has been really occupied in making an impression at her new full-time job at the local TV station and with her AA meetings, it hasn't been easy for her to remember things." she explained. "Although, I shouldn't be surprised by this. Years back, when I was around eleven to twelve years old, this same scenario happened."

"How so?" Rodrigo asked her.

"Big Bob got injured, so he was unable to work." she began to explain with a sad tone. "To help out, Miriam took on the role as the head of the business, calling herself the 'Beeper Queen' and she got pretty good at it. New investors came in and the business flourished. But during that time, she essentially ignored me, more so than before. She would come late, go straight to bed, then get up in the morning to go back to work, while never even acknowledged that I was even in the house. No lunches were made, so I had to scavenge for food at my own home. It got up to a point where I had to speak to her and told her that I missed her and I wanted her to come home. Thankfully, she realized what she was doing and came back to being a stay-at-home mom, while Big Bob went back to work, although she reverted back to drinking again, so that really didn't make much of a difference."

Helga then just became sadder as she remembered these memories.

"Today, I only realized at the last minute that Miriam didn't make me any lunch, so I had no time to make any for myself. What's more, Olga has been busy with interviews and with her night shift, part-time job, so she hasn't been able to help out in the kitchen."

"Is that all you got from your house, then? Just the apple and baby carrots?" he asked her.

"Nope, not even that. Phoebe gave them to me when she realized that I had no lunch." she explained as she continued to frown.

Rodrigo just continued look at her as he became consumed by guilt. While Helga was practically starving, he had a full bowl of food that his own mom made for him; steak, with beans and rice, plus some salad in another container. Feeling completely sympathetic, Rodrigo instantly got up and went to the school kitchen. After a few minutes, he came back with a plastic plate. He then dumped half of his food on it and gave it to Helga.

"Here." he said.

Helga simply frowned ever more at the kind gesture. She despised having people feel sorry for her. That was the main reason why she reframed from telling people about her home life; she didn't want their pity. As much she wanted to refuse Rodrigo's offer, she couldn't. Because she woke up late today, she didn't eat any breakfast, so she had been essentially starving throughout the day and this was probably the only time she will eat a good meal, so she accepted it, albeit reluctantly.

"Thanks Latino boy." she said nonchalantly.

As Helga ate away, Rodrigo took a peek at the book that she was reading; The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka.

Hm, interesting. he thought.

Rodrigo had noticed that ever since she finally joined the school's poetry club, she had been devouring every literature, novel or poetry book she could get her hands on. Almost every day, he would see Helga wondering the hallways with a book or two on her arms. And whenever they took the bus, she would be reading something, and they weren't for class. Rodrigo had attempted to discuss with her what she was reading, but either there was no time, or Helga was too busy reading, or, as was often the case, she didn't seem willing to discuss what she was reading. It was as if she was hiding something, something about herself.

Rodrigo became determined to debate with her on the book that she was currently reading and see just how much smart she really was. He knew from personal experience that you do not devour books and not learn anything from them, unless you were an idiot and Helga was definitely not that. He reasoned that she is more intelligent then she lets on; the fact that she learned Spanish within a short amount of time was enough proof, but he wanted to push the curtains and see more.

During the next few days, Rodrigo noticed that Helga had been acting moody lately. When he asked her about it, she refused to answer him, which didn't surprise him. He assumed that it must be her mom's continued negligence and she must be feeling more ignored now than ever.

This proved to the case when Rodrigo often saw Helga eating only a snack, a fast-made sandwich, or sometimes none at all during those few days. Clearly her mom kept on 'forgetting' on packing her any decent food, or at least giving her money!

Even their dancing lessons were no longer a source to alleviate her mood and stress. Helga performed her moves, but with little enthusiasm. One day, Rodrigo tried to entice her to participate more by getting her to dance faster and performing more robust moves, but that only succeeded in irritating her.

"Rodrigo, stop dancing so fast. You are not line with the beat!" she snapped at him.

"Sorry Helga. Just wanted to have a little fun." he said.

"You can have fun by dancing properly." she replied back with a frown.

Rodrigo knew that he wasn't out of line with the beat, but not wanting to upset her further, he slowed down.

As Rodrigo walked into his house after their dancing lessons, he started getting worried. He knew that if Helga didn't let out what was bothering her, she would eventually explode.

Oh man, I have to do something, but what? He thought.

the next day during lunch...

Rodrigo and the gang had finished playing soccer inside one of the big gyms.

Because the weather was still very cold and just downright depressing, the school allowed its gyms to be used by the students for any sport or games that they wanted to play. Due to the limited space, some sports, such as baseball and football, was forbidden. However, soccer was allowed.

Due to having played the sport practically his whole life, Rodrigo soon proved to be an extremely valuable player to have on your team. While the gang had rarely played the sport, Rodrigo's initiation into the group practically popularized it and they quickly took the sport as one of their own.

On this day, Rodrigo's team had just won, right in the nick of time as the bell was about to bring. The gang went inside their respective gender change rooms. Once inside, Rodrigo wanted to inquire about something.

"Hey guys, how come Helga doesn't play with us?"

"Beats us, Rodrigo." Gerald responded as he was changing his shirt. "We've invited her repeatedly in the past but she refused to play with us."

"Was she always like this?" Rodrigo asked him.

"No. This happened when Arnold left." He responded back. "She did come a few times to play with us, but we had to literally beg her or get Phoebe to convince her to come and play with us. Not surprisingly, that got tiresome so we left her alone. But we told her that if ever wanted to come play with us again, she is always welcome."

"How was she when you guys were kids?" Rodrigo asked.

"Oh man, she was one the most aggressive and talented players we had. " Gerald said, smiling while remembering the moments. "That's one of the reasons why we sometimes begged her to come play on our team; she so good that we knew that if she came, we would win."

"You should have seen her during that time, Rodrigo. She sometimes scared the opposing players just by looking at them, demoralizing them from winning." Sid interjected.

"Yeah, but she sometimes scared us. She would often say mean things or threaten us if we didn't do what she told us to do. She can be a tough player with her own team, sheesh!" exclaimed Harold.

Everyone nodded in agreement.

"Oh ya, she can be pretty brutal with you if you don't shape up." Gerald commented. "But that was sometimes good motivation for us. Arnold would also encourage us, but sometimes his words were too shy from getting us to where we needed to be. That's when Helga would step in and give us this 'inspirational' speech to shape up and get a move on it. She wanted to win and she was not going to tolerate anyone from holding her and the team back."

Rodrigo smiled at how positive, at least to some extent, his friends were talking about Helga when she played.

Finally, some positive feedback. He thought.

"So, you guys wouldn't mind if I convince her to play with us again tomorrow?" he asked.

"No, not really. But good luck convincing her." said Gerald while snickering.

*rrriinnnngggg*

"Uh oh, we'd better get a move on it or else we'll be late, fellars." said Stinky.

The gang quickly got dressed, grabbed their bags and made their way to their next class.

The same day after school...

When school ended, Helga took an early bus home whilst deep in thought. Her mom's negligence was still bothering her; she had forgotten to make her lunch again. This time Helga was prepared and ended up making her own lunch, so at least she didn't starve today. Yet, it hurt knowing that even her own mom didn't make her a priority.

Crimeny, would it kill her to at least let me know that she wasn't going to make any food?! She thought bitterly.

To make matters worse, her methods to alleviate stress and her anger were not working. She had attempted to write some poetry during her spare time, but that made little difference in alleviating the anger that she was feeling about her mom. Her dancing lessons with Rodrigo have also not been helping.

Frustrated, she then came up with another possible solution. However, she hesitated if she was going to go through with it. It had been years since she last participated, with only rare exceptions. She knew that she would not be in the best shape, so she would have a difficult time in performing well. But with no other option, she felt it was necessary for her to at least try. Besides, there was another reason why she wanted to do it; she missed it. She missed the thrill of it, the excitement of winning and the confidence that came with it. Every time she won, she felt she was on top of the world. Heck, she even missed bossing her friends around.

Helga smiled at that last thought.

By the time bus the approached her stop and Helga got off, she made her decision; she was going to play sports again.

The next day at lunchtime...

Rodrigo entered the gym and prepared to get ready for the game. He was a bit late, so he wasn't surprised when he saw that everyone else was already there: Gerald, Stinky, Sid, Harold, Rhonda, Nadine, Sheena, Lila and even Phoebe were also ready to play. As Rodrigo got closer, he noticed that to his surprise, Helga was also there, ready to play.

"Helga? What are doing here?" he asked her.

"What does it look like, Latino boy?" she retorted back. "I'm here to play. Got a problem with that?"

"No, just surprised that you came." He replied back.

"Ya man, we were all surprised when Helga came here asking to play with us." said Gerald. "I don't know what you said to her to convince her to come out, but much respect to you."

"Convince?" she interjected with a confused look on her face. "Rodrigo didn't convince me to come here. I came here on my own."

"Really?" Gerald asked with his own confused look. "You never spoke to her?"

Rodrigo simply shook his head.

"No, I never got the chance to talk to her about it. She left school early yesterday and today, I didn't see her at our lunch table. I'd figured she wanted to be alone today. That's why I came a bit late." He explained.

"And why were you going to convince me to play?" she asked him while having her arms crossed.

I'm not sure why she is asking me this. She knows why. He thought to himself.

"Well, you haven't been yourself lately so I thought if you played with us, it would help you. Playing sports helps with stress and in letting things go." he explained. "Besides," he continued with an almost evil smirk. "I have been told you that you used to be one of the best players back in your day and I wanted to see just how good you really are."

Helga merely look at him and said nothing back. She then went back to look at Gerald.

"So, who is on whose team?" she asked him.

"Well, it'll be Rodrigo, Lila, Sheena, Eugene, Nadine, you versus myself, Sid, Stinky, Phoebe, Rhonda, Harold."

"No!" she exclaimed.

"What?"

"Put me on the opposite team. I want to face against Latino boy here." She said as she pointed at Rodrigo.

"Oh come on, Helga!" Gerald protested. "The teams were made since yesterday."

"Give the girl what she wants, Gerald." Rodrigo interjected. "She doesn't bite...much." he said with a smirk on his face. He was also intrigued in facing against Helga.

Helga didn't bother to even look at him and just continued to stared at Gerald with a serious look on her face.

*sigh* "Fine." he relented. "You're on my team, Helga. Sid, you're on Rodrigo's team."

Both Lila and Nadine sighed in relief, knowing they wouldn't have to endure any of Helga's famous 'motivational speeches'.

The team then got their positions. Eugene then put the ball in the middle.

Gerald was in the forward player in the middle. Facing him was Sid. Both Rodrigo and Helga were also forward but on Rodrigo's right side, facing each other. Stinky was also forward, while Harold was midfielder. Rhonda and Phoebe were defence. Eugene was midfielder, while Nadine and Lila were defence. Seconds before Eugene blew the whistle, as Rodrigo was looking at Helga, she then gave him her own evil grin, indicating to him what she was going to give him his money's worth.

Finally, a worthy opponent. he thought to himself amusingly.

Eugene got to his position and then blew the whistle and the game started.

During the first twenty minutes, Helga did not play well. Apart from rarely having played soccer in the past, which she struggled to find her game, she was also not in tip-top shape. She found it hard to contain the ball long enough to pass it to Gerald or anyone else on her team. Rodrigo or someone else were easily able to get the ball away from her. Thankfully, they haven't yet been able make a goal.

However, from the beginning Helga expected this. What's more, she was planning on using it to her advantage; to make it look like she was her team's weak link and draw the ball to her.

Falling into her trap, Rodrigo realized this, and when Nadine passed him the ball, he started running and was able to get around Helga without much trouble, scoring his team's first goal.

"Oh man." Groaned Gerald as he put his hand on his face.

"Relax, tall-hair boy." Helga said to him confidently. "We still have time."

As they continued to play, Helga began to pick up the pace and slowly found her game, but still reframed from giving it her all. She was waiting for the right moment.

After a few more minutes, Rhonda got the ball, then passed it on to Stinky, who attempted to run with it, but was blocked by Sid. He then passed the ball to Gerald, who intentionally skipped it and allowed it to go to Helga. She got it and ran towards the opposite team's net but had to slow down due to Lila blocking her away.

Suddenly, Rodrigo came out of nowhere and took the ball from behind Helga and ran against the other team's net, startling Helga who almost fell. He then passed the ball to Nadine, who passed it to Sid, who then passed it back to Rodrigo again and scored again, 2-0.

Getting frustrated, Helga thought that now was the time to give it all she got. Rhonda again got the ball and then passed it on to Gerald, who tried to run but was blocked. Helga was in the open and waved at him to pass it to her, but for a second, he hesitated, knowing that Helga was not playing well. He looked at Stinky and saw that he was also blocked. With no other options, he reluctantly passed the ball to Helga.

Once she got it, she continued her usual pace, waiting for Rodrigo to come to her. As soon as he was within reach, Helga suddenly led out a serious sprint that came out of nowhere, passing him instantly and then quickly passing Lila, kicking it and scoring 2-1.

This came as a surprise to both Gerald and Rodrigo, whom they just started at her, completely dumbfounded at how quickly she ran. But Helga quickly got tall-hair boy out of his trance.

"Don't just stand there, Gerald. Move it!" she yelled at him.

"Oh right." he said and started running to get the ball away from Nadine.

As the game continued, Helga started getting tired but she continued to play fiercely. She was not holding anything back now. Rodrigo, realizing this, was no longer going be easy on her and started to aggressively take the ball away from her.

After another few minutes, Helga saw Rodrigo with the ball, running towards her net. She instantly started sprinting to get to him, but made a semi circle from behind him, hoping to get into his blind spot and take the ball without him noticing, just like he did to her. Unfortunately, he already saw her approaching him and just when Helga was within reach, he kicked the ball to Nadine who tried to score.

Helga was running so fast that she had to quickly redirect herself to avoid running into Rodrigo, but he was also running, even after he kicked it, right into her direction. In an instant, about a second after Rodrigo kicked the ball, and with no way to stop, Helga collided with him hard, prompting both teens to fall down to the floor.

Rodrigo fell on his back, but luckily did not hit his head, while Helga fell right on top of him. Whilst still reeling from the collision, both teens then inadvertently looked at each other and for the second time, had their eyes locked onto each other while breathing heavily for air. Then, just as in the first time, all sense of time and space instantly disappeared again, as they completely ignored their surroundings and became mesmerized with each other. The game, their friends, the gym, all disappeared. It was just them...alone. Helga looked in Rodrigo's dark brown eyes and felt a sense of mysterious but calmness and certitude in him. Rodrigo for his part looked deep into Helga's blue eyes and felt her emotional and physical strength and endurance. For six seconds, both teens remained motionless on the floor and quiet, just staring at each other.

Then they both began to have this strong urge to feel each other's cheeks and perhaps get...closer. With each passing second the urge became stronger. Both teens attempted to fought it off, but to no avail. Then, their heads started getting a bit closer to each other...and closer...and closer, until...

"Um, are you guys alright?" Sid asked them with a confused look. Indeed, the game stopped when both teens collided with each other and remained on the floor for a while. Their friends looked at them confusingly as to why they hadn't yet gotten up.

That prompted both teens to finally get out of their trance. While trying not to panic, Helga instantly got up, followed by Rodrigo.

"Ya, ya I'm fine. I just needed to catch some air because Latino boy here ran into me." she replied back confidently, while frowning at him.

"Me?! You need glasses because you're the one that was running towards me and collided with me." Rodrigo snapped back at her.

"Then you should have moved away if you saw me running towards you, Rodrigo!" she barked back at him.

"How was I supposed to know that you were going to ran into me? Be careful next time." He retorted back at her.

Helga, irritated that Rodrigo was still arguing with her and the fact that they had that 'moment' again, instantly grabbed him by his shirt and snarled at him.

"Listen you, you're the one that ran into me so YOU be careful next time, got it?!"

Rodrigo however, said nothing back to her and just continued to stare at her. He seemed to have fallen into a type of love trance because he started smiling at her.

"Hello?! Earth to Rodrigo! Anyone home?!" she exclaimed at him annoyingly as she waved her hand in front of his face.

"Sorry Helga but I started looking into your beautiful, ocean like eyes and I got lost in them. They are radiant jewels that must have come only from the heavens." he said flirtatiously.

That shocked everyone, including Helga, who was dumbfoundedly looking at him with wide eyes and her mouth hanging open.

"Well, I...uh..ummm...What?" she attempted to say something, but found herself mumbling her words. She also tried really hard not to blush, which she failed and her cheeks became red.

Seeing as how he successfully got her off balance, he then added with a more serious tone, "Now you either kiss me or let me go, cara linda." (Beautiful face) this time he gave her a smirk.

After some further hesitation, Helga finally let Rodrigo go and then said, "Whatever, let's just get back into the game so I can win this." as she started walking away from him with a frown, all awhile still blushing.

As she walked away, everyone continued to stare at Rodrigo, who simply shrugged his shoulders.

"You heard her. Let's get back into the game." he said to them and then started walking back to his side of the field.

Not amused that Rodrigo had just flirted with her in front of everyone and caused her to blush, as soon as the game started, Helga unleashed her fury onto the game. The game continued with Phoebe having the ball, who passed it on to Gerald, who quickly passed it on Helga. Then, like a lightning strike, she quickly bypassed Rodrigo, almost knocking him off his feet again, and then Lila easily and scored again, 2-2, all within a span of less than a minute.

Sheesh, that was fast! Rodrigo thought.

As Helga walked back to her position, she gave Rodrigo a serious scowling face. Rodrigo remained unfazed and just looked at her while she passed him.

Oh ya, she definitely wants to win this. He thought.

During the next several minutes there was no decisive moment. The only change was Helga, who quickly regained her old bossy, confidence back and started yelling orders at her team.

"Pheebs, Princess, unless there is something romantically going on between you two, give yourself some space and don't get to close to each other in order to cover more ground for defense!"

Even her best friend wasn't exempt from her aggressive leadership style.

Five minutes later...

Rodrigo's team tried several times to score, but having to pass Harold and then Phoebe and Rhonda was too much for them. Phoebe and Rhonda repeatedly stole the ball from them as soon as Rodrigo's team passed Harold. Helga's instruction to be more separate from each other was proving its worth.

"Pink boy, I swear by all the Norse Gods that don't exist that if you let them pass you again, I will make mince meat out of you!" she yelled at him.

Harold said nothing and merely gulped in fear as he gave her a salute.

Three minutes later...

A time-out was called as both teams coordinated a strategy in order to break the deadlock.

"Stinky, you need to be more aggressive, so unless you want to meet old Betsy here, get a move on it!" Helga yelled. "Gerald you're a guy, why are you so scared of Nadine?!"

"Hey, I resent that Helga!" Nadine called out to her from afar, feeling offended.

However, both Gerald and Helga ignored her.

"I-I'm not!" Gerald replied back.

"Then you need to run faster so I can pass you the ball!" she continued to 'coach' her team.

Helga had an ample reason to be bossy. They were still tied and she was by now exhausted and since her team was more physically fit than her, she had to rely on them in order make that one last push in order to win.

As Helga 'coordinated' with her team, Rodrigo looked on with amusement and admiration.

"Boy howdy, I sure am glad I'm not on her team." Sid commented.

"Was she always like this?" Rodrigo asked him.

"Oh ya." He replied back.

"She's got that spice, for real." said Rodrigo with a smile on his face. "I like her..."

"What?" Sid asked him.

"Um...I mean I like her style of leadership." Rodrigo attempted to correct himself nervously. He realized that instead of thinking it, he ended up saying it out loud.

Realizing that there was only a minute left before the bell rang, Rodrigo quickly made a plan with his team. He gathered his team in a huddle.

"Alright, Helga is exhausted but they are going to try for one last push. It's our ball now so Sid, pass it to me and I will try and score." He said.

"But Helga and Gerald will no doubt try and get it away from you." Nadine interjected.

"Exactly!" Rodrigo said to her. "That is exactly what I want them to do. If I can draw Helga and Gerald, that will create a gap in their line, so you Nadine, Sid and Eugene can go through it and try to score."

Everyone nodded in agreement. Once completed, they got into positions and readied themselves.

As soon as the game started, Sid, with the ball, started running with it. He then passed the ball to Rodrigo, which as predicted, drew Helga and Gerald to go after him. When the timing was right, Nadine ran straight into that gap and when the opposing team to close to Rodrigo, he then kicked the ball straight at Nadine. She ran with it along with Sid by her side with Eugene right behind them.

Helga and Gerald quickly turned around and started running at after them.

Harold was ready for them, but having to deal with three people, he was easily overwhelmed as Nadine passed the ball to Sid, who then passed it to Eugene, who then passed it back to Nadine, just as she passed Harold. Nadine than passed Rhonda and then kicked it to Sid who had to jump to get it with his head. He then kicked the ball back to Nadine, who then kicked it right into the net, scoring 3-2. Just then, the bell rang.

"Ugh, damn it!" growled Helga.

Rodrigo's team celebrated their win and high-fived each other.

"Gerald, nice game man." Rodrigo said to him as he shook this hand.

"Well played, Rodrigo." he said.

As Rodrigo congratulated the opposing team, he approached Helga, how was pouting over her loss.

"Hey Helga, nice game." he said as he extended his hand and waited for her to shake it.

Helga continued to frown at him, but then let it go and replaced it with a smile.

"Same to you Latino boy." As she shook his hand.

"So can I count on you showing up for the next game?" he asked her.

"Wouldn't have it any other way." She replied back.

Gerald then approached Helga.

"Hey Pataki, good to have you back. We missed your 'motivational speeches'" he said.

Helga simply smiled at him.

While on the bus...

As the gang was riding home after school, both Rodrigo and Helga were sitting behind the rest of their friends, next to each other, but remained quiet.

Despite ending their game on good terms, Helga was still upset with Rodrigo for having flirted with her in front of everyone like that. She didn't speak to him throughout the rest of the day after their game, not even during their history school. Rodrigo didn't mind the silence.

"You have some nerve to have flirted with me like that in front of everyone." She suddenly said to him with a serious tone.

Oh ya, you bet I do. He thought to himself amusingly.

"And you have some nerve to grab me by my shirt again after I told you that I do not like being handled like that." He replied back calmly.

Rodrigo knew she was upset with him over this but was unfazed. After their fight last year, he had made it clear to her to never grab him like that again and was surprised that she did it again in front of their friends.

"It's not the same Rodrigo!" she exclaimed. "Don't flirt with me like that again." She warned him.

"It is the same Helga. Just as how you asked me to respect the boundary of your relationship between you and Arnold, you have to respect mine. Violate mine and I'll violate yours; an eye for an eye. I believe that was one of your favorite sayings when you were a kid." he countered back.

"Every time you grab me like that, I'm going to just flirt with you. It is either that, or we will end up fighting, and I'm sure you don't want the latter." He continued.

Helga just sighed in frustration. As much as she hated to admit it, he was right.

"Whatever Latino boy." she said while frowning. She was in no mood to argue with him.

As they continued riding the bus quietly, Helga thought about Rodrigo's last comment and couldn't help but feel...disappointed, if not sad. She thought he had actually meant what he said about her eyes. Now she sadly realized that he only said that just to get her off his back.

"But I meant what I said, about your eyes. They are beautiful and jewels that must have only come from above." He suddenly said to her while relaxing in his seat.

Helga looked back at him with wide open eyes, surprised that he had actually meant it.

"Um...thanks." she said bashfully. She then turned her head towards the buns window, smiled a bit and let out a quiet romantic sighed.

Remembering about her book, Rodrigo then started inquiring on it.

"So, that book that you are reading, how do you like it?" he asked her.

Helga looked at him curiously.

"Why are you interested?" she asked him.

"I'm always interested in a book, especially a historically significant one such as that." He replied back.

"How would you interpret Gregor's transformation?" he asked her.

Helga said nothing as she hesitated if she should even respond. Although once a viciously outspoken person, her years of isolation, as well as her sharp tongue often getting her into trouble, had rendered her mostly silent, if not somewhat introverted.

Yet for months she had been trying to revert the damage that she caused to herself. She wanted to be that outspoken person again, but she felt her usual habit kept on preventing her. After some thought and more hesitation, Helga finally pulled herself through and answered.

"Well...I would interpret Gregor's transformation exactly how his family saw it and him; as a burden. As cruel as it may sound, Gregor's family were right in getting rid of him."

Rodrigo was a bit surprised by Helga's rather morbid answer.

"Why do you think that way?" he asked her.

"I see Gregor's transformation as something out of his control. He woke up one day to find himself be a cockroach. That much is obvious. I would interpret the transformation as the unfairness and cruelty that life often throws at us and hinders our ability to live in this world. With Gregor, instead of adapting to his circumstance and be a cockroach, he was not able to let go of his past, aka his family, and so became depressed and later starved himself. He deserved his fate not because of his transformation or because his family's cruelty was right, but because he was not able to adapt. He chose to kill himself because he saw himself as a burden." she explained.

"Interesting." Rodrigo commented. "But wouldn't that same argument also go to his family? Shouldn't his family have also adapted to his circumstance? Isn't that what families are supposed to do?"

"Exactly, that is what family should do; help each other." Helga responded back. "But Kafka makes it clear that even family often fail to do that. It is really a sad and tragic story where there are no winners and only losers. The horror of Gregor's transformation is not that he turned into a vermin or a cockroach, but the way in which his family saw and treated him, AS a cockroach."

"Do you find any relation between the book's characters with yours?" he asked cautiously.

"Yes. I feel that I am Gregor's sister, Grete." she replied.

Rodrigo was again surprised by her answer. He had expected her to say that she related to Gregor, as a cockroach to her family who treat her in the same way as Gregor's family treated him; with contempt.

"I consider Gregor's transformation as an allegory to my family's situation. Gregor being something disgusting and deserving to be treated with contempt is allegorical with my neglect, my sister's upbringing, and whatever issues my parents had to deal with in the past. It is all of that trauma wrapped up into one. If you look at it my from perspective, I am Grete while my parents are Mr. and Mrs Samsa. Olga isn't there. As far I am concerned, she doesn't exist. But the very fact that she doesn't exist is allegorical to Gregor's 'disappearance'. Before Gregor's transformation, there were four people; after, there were now only three. And all three of us are trying to get rid of all the baggage that life threw at us."

"So you are saying that if your sister was not there, or never existed, things would have been worse for you and your family?" he asked her.

"No. I'm saying that her not being there would have been as much troubling for me and my parents as if she was there. It would have made no difference. Just because something is not there doesn't mean that it doesn't affect you. If anything, the very fact that something is not there affects you." she responded back.

"How so? Your parents have always compared your success with your sister's. If she never existed, your parents would have nothing to compare you with. And with the story, everything was ok before Gregor's transformation. It was only after the fact that things took a downturn." he remarked.

"That's just it, Latino boy; it's all an illusion!" Helga replied. "Gregor's transformation didn't take anything away from his family; it merely revealed their inability to deal with the loss and the unfairness of life. My parents merely projected all of their hopes and dreams onto Olga; all of their praises, attention and loved that they gave here were merely to enhance their own deflated ego, for their sake, not Olga's. As I said before, they failed to adapt. With Olga, had she never existed, my parents would have either still neglected me, or even if they showered all of their attention and love towards me, they would only do it if I performed in the exact way as they wanted me to, like they did with Olga. Olga's upbringing has been just as detrimental to her as their neglect of me has been. Either way, I still would have been miserable. Years back, I would have killed to have gotten at least a fraction of the amount of attention that Olga was getting. Now I realized that it is just as harmful as being neglected."

"And I guess that is why Olga decided to become an actress." she continued. " She soon realized my parents' folly and as a way to 'rebel' she wanted to become an actress, although I'm not sure if this was something conscious or unconscious. That decision, like Gregor, essentially made Olga 'disappear' in front of my parents' eyes and was replaced with something to look with contempt and undeserving. Miriam wasn't happy with the news, but Big Bob especially took it hard and he is still reeling over it. Heck, even I wasn't happy with the news at first. I felt that all the years of not being noticed and not feeling of deserving of their attention amounted to nothing because in the end, neither of us are getting the love and attention."

"Anyway, that's what Gregor's transformation means to me; a life of eternal struggle, or never even coming close to any sort of happiness or fulfillment." She concluded.

"So what do you propose should be done?" he asked her.

"As what you told me last year; take back control of your life and yourself and not allow the depravities of life get to you; change, adapt, make your own print onto life instead of constantly being a print of it." she replied back.

"And what do you think of the book?" he asked her.

"I like it, and I can understand why it is a masterpiece, but I think it's garbage." she responded back. "It is far too depressing and it sucks the life out of you. Like philosophy, I see no point in demonstrating the depravities of life, or even criticizing it unless you are also able to provide an alternative, if not at least provide a sense of hope to the reader. There is no hope without fear and no fear without hope. They work together, in perfect union. They feed off each other. You take out one of them, the other becomes meaningless."

As Rodrigo sat back and listened, he was rather pleased that not only Helga took to heart that he has been saying all this time, but that her intellect, at least with literature was superb. She did not disappoint him at all. Rather, he was impressed.

Wow that's deep. He thought.

"That saying, 'there is no hope without fear and no fear without hope', you got that from Spinoza, didn't you?" he asked her while smiling at her.

Helga didn't say anything, but merely smiled back in return.

"Well, I never would have interpreted Kafka's book that way. I'm impressed Helga." he said.

"Thanks." she casually responded back.

"Helga, whenever you get your first book published, I would like to be the first to buy it and get your autograph. You will no doubt rock the literature world." he complimented her.

"Thanks but I think you think too much of me." she said.

"No I don't. I think you really have a lot of talent and I know that you know too. That's why I asked you about the book; because I wanted to see it. You rarely show it. You should show it more often, it's really beautiful and I know that it is something people will truly appreciate it and if they don't, then they are morons." he said back.

Helga stayed quiet for a while as she pondered about Rodrigo had just said of her. No one other than Arnold and Phoebe had appreciated her talent and intellect. Yet here was this guy, an outsider who only just joined her group, amazed at her analysis of Franz Kafka's work, The Metamorphosis. What's more, despite Arnold and Phoebe's appreciation of her talent, literature and critical analysis of many artistic works were never their strongest forte. Phoebe was more mathematically and rationally analytical, as was Arnold, but was also a keen observer of human behaviour. Rodrigo on the other hand, was more in tune with analyzing literature works from various social, psychological and philosophical levels and thus had a greater understanding, albeit not as high as Helga, of them. Yet, he had proven to her on many occasions, not just today that he can rival her in critically analyzing artistic works.

"Thanks, Rodrigo." she finally said something to him. "That means a lot."

"No worries." he replied back casually.

For a short while, both teens remained quiet.

"Hey, what did the proton say to the electron?" he suddenly asked her.

"What?"

"Man, why do you always have to be so damn negative?!" he replied back with a smile.

After two seconds of silence, Rodrigo started hearing a bit of laughter beside him. Helga was actually laughing for once.

"Hahaha, you are hahaha, such a hahaha, loser, Rodrigo!" she said while laughing.

"Glad you liked it." He said while still relaxing on his seat.

In case some of you may not know, a proton is a positively charged particle inside an atom while an electron is a negatively charged particle that orbits outside an atom.

Just a response to some reviews:

Ezza: Thank you!