Responses to reviews:

Veganmama: OMG I'm so sorry I didn't respond to your last comment. I completely missed it.

I'm glad you thought that Phoebe's insight is the correct. It's never a simply 'yes' or 'no', but in the end, it's the only thing we can do. Phoebe knew it, Rodrigo knew it, even Arnold knew it, and Helga, as much as it pains her, knew it.

Lol yeah, I wanted to throw something where Rodrigo is getting a 'first class' treatment. The guy deserves it. OMG yes, me too! It would have been a good distraction at the very least.

Thank you! Yeah, I wanted Rodrigo to have some closure in his relationship with his grandmother and I thought it would have been the opportunity for Helga to come and help him out. I also think it's a major step forward, at least it made a good impression.

We will have to wait and see if this moves their relationship forward.


In the few weeks following Rodrigo's grandmother's passing, the Latino kid made great progress in moving on with his life. In large part thanks to Helga's sudden intervention, he was able to finally mourn his loss of her passing and let go of any lingering animosity. It took him some time to get through the mourning stage, but he eventually began to quickly recover, thanks to the support of his family and friends, including Rhonda who remained by his side as much as she could.

Helga didn't remain a stranger and contributed to his recovery by texting him, asking how he was feeling and if he was alright throughout. To her surprise, and relief, he responded to her texts by responded to her with some details other than a simple, 'I'm okay' or 'not good' texts. No longer needing Phoebe to act as her gateway to him, Helga used this to her advantage to slowly, but surely, reestablish a sort of a dialogue with him. The texts were limited, but it was a start. Helga didn't question it, nor did she want to over do it and just went along with it. However, she refrained from seeing him, fearing that it would be too much for him. She remained at a distace during the weeks after their first encounter in months in order to give him space to mourn and recover, refusing to go anywhere near him. It was only after when Rodrigo informed her that he was doing a lot better and felt he was back on his feet that she developed the nerve to take it up a notch.

One morning, she texted him,

Helga: Hey, are you up to have lunch together today?

Helga had to wait a while before she ended up receiving a response back. During her wait, she grew increasingly uneasy, anxious even paranoid at perhaps that it was still too soon and she may have accidentally overstepped a boundary. However, when she finally did receive a text from him, she was relieved and excited to read that he accepted her invitation.

When it was time for them to meet, the second reunion went better than Helga had hoped. It was less awkward and more casual. But the talk was limited. Actually, it was mostly quiet. Rodrigo barely said anything, unless Helga spoke to him first. She wasn't surprised. She expected it. Nevertheless, Helga was determined to make it work, even if she had to do it herself.

"How are your parents?" She asked him before she took a bite from her sandwich.

"They are okay." Rodrigo softly responded. "My dad is feeling a lot better now. He is almost back to his normal self."

"That's good to hear." She commented.

"It is." He just said before getting quiet again.

For a while, the two teens said nothing and just continued to quietly eat their lunch. Helga had run out of things to say to him, so she just opted to quietly sit and eat.

"Listen," Rodrigo then suddenly spoke, "I just wanted to say thank you, Helga. If you hadn't convinced me to read my grandmother's letter, I never would have been able to make peace with her and move on from this. Thank you for being there."

"It was the least I could do." She said to him almost dryly before taking a bite from her sandwich.

The two teens continued to make small conversations before the bell eventually rang, signalling the end of their lunch recess. After saying to each other their goodbyes, Rodrigo left, but not before saying, "I hope to see you soon."

That surprised Helga, even prompting her to stare at him as he headed back to his locker with a surprised look.

"Bye." She said softly

Did he really mean that? She thought.

Helga spent the rest of the day wondering if whether he really meant what he said and if so, if she should push her luck again by asking him to hang out with her more frequently. She felt things were starting to look up and didn't want to lose the momentum. But at the same time, she didn't want to push things too far with him. She wasn't sure just how ready he was and she tried not to get too excited and optimistic about it. It was a back and forward seesaw throughout the day, but eventually she compromised.

Helga waited for a few days before asking him again to hang out with her during lunch. Again, Rodrigo accepted, much to her relief. Again, the encounter was a bit mundane. Rodrigo said little throughout, although he did make more of an effort to talk by asking her questions. Yet, Helga felt there was still this tension between them that was making things awkward, but also knew that it would take some time before he grew comfortable around her. Much to her frustration, she had to remain patient with him, a trait she was never able to really master. Nevertheless, she had to try.

Helga continued with this trend over the next few weeks. She would wait for a bit before asking him to hang out with her. However during that time, it soon became apparent that things weren't really going the way she had intended. She realized that she was the one that would start a conversation with them, or be the first to contact him. Rodrigo made no attempt to be the first to even text her a simple 'hi' or 'morning', unless she texted him first, much to her annoyance.

It's okay, he is still finding it hard to talk to me. She tried to be understanding in thought one day. Just give him some time to come around. At least he is responding to your messages and is willing to hang out with you. Be happy about that. Baby steps, baby steps.

Despite the lack of effort on his part, Helga was still feeling hopeful. In fact, feeling a bit optimistic one school day, she wanted to push her luck again. On a Thursday morning, she texted him a message.

Helga: Hey, wanna hang out this weekend?

Thus far, they had only hanged out during school lunch. Helga eagerly waited for a response from him as she stood right in front of her morning class, feeling really hopeful that he would say 'yes'. She continued wait...and waited...and waited...and-

*Rrrriiinnnggg*

The bell rang, signalling the start of class. Helga had to grudgingly put her phone away and enter her classroom. But she still remained hopeful.

It wasn't until the start of lunch when Helga finally received a message from Rodrigo.

Rodrigo: Sorry I can't. I'm busy this weekend.

Helga's hopes and even her smile were quickly dashed when she read his message. Feeling utterly disappointed at not just the rejection, but also that she felt they hit a roadblock in their progress, she leaned against her locker as soon as she arrived. However, not wanting to make a deal about it, she texted him back.

Helga: No worries. Let's hang out at lunchtime tomorrow.

Helga then attempted to unlock her locker, but quickly received a text message. When she looked at her phone again,

Rodrigo: Sorry I can't tomorrow either. I have an assignment that I need to complete for my last class.

Helga could not believe what she just read. The message shocked her so badly that she remained stiffen where she stood for some time. Her eyes were considerably widen as she stared down at her cell. She instantly regretted on stupidly pushing her luck too far.

*Bang**bang**bang*

"Stupid, stupid, stupid!" She angrily yelled at she hit her own locker with her fist and foot.

She created such a commotion that other students who walked by glanced at her with weird looks, but none dared to stop and talk to her.

After she was done, Helga then put her head on the locker and just sadly stood there, reeling from the fear that Rodrigo maybe back pedalling. However, as suspicious as she was, she couldn't be sure. Perhaps Rodrigo was actually busy on that weekend and perhaps he had an assignment due the next day. It could all just be a coincidence.

Yeah, that's what it is. Helga anxiously tried to reassure herself in thought. It's all just a coincidence. He's busy. I'm sure next week we'll go back to hanging out during lunch.

Helga: No worries. Good luck with your assignment

Rodrigo: Thanks.

Helga let out a frustrated sigh and went back to getting her lunch and other belongings, now feeling moody and in an irritated state.

Okay, just take it easy. She tried to calm herself. He is just busy this week, no big deal. He's not pushing me away. He has other things to do. I'll just ask him to hang out next week.

Helga then proceeded to text Phoebe and to ask her if they were still going to meet up to have lunch together. Thankfully, Phoebe confirmed their appointment and was less than a minute away. Helga just sat down, opened her lunch and began to eat while she waited for Phoebe to arrive.

Despite trying to reassure herself, Helga felt a notch in her gut that told her something different. She was not convinced that Rodrigo was just 'busy' all of a sudden and feared that he was still uncomfortable on being around her and hence, was pushing her away.

Helga violently shook her head as she attempted to shove away such negative thoughts. She had already told herself that was not the case and she was just jumping into paranoid conclusion.

He is NOT pushing me away! Helga told herself in thought. He said he is just busy, that's all. Crimeny, get a hold of yourself, girl. Next week you'll invite him to hang out for lunch that'll be the end of it!

Next week...

Next week did come, and Helga was still settled on inviting Rodrigo to hang out on Tuesday. Before that time, neither had spoken to each other. The last thing she wanted was to suffocate the poor kid. So she opted to stay away, even from communicating with him throughout Friday, the weekend and Monday. This was easier said than done, as Helga very anxiously awaited for Tuesday to arrive. When it finally did came, she immediately grabbed her phone and proceeded to text him that morning. However, she carefully thought about what she was going to write. She didn't want to come off as desperate, but at the same time, she didn't want to come off as inconsiderate or act as if everything was just nice and peachy between them. By the time she arrived at her locker, she sent him a text.

Helga: Hey, how was your weekend, apart from it being busy?

Rodrigo: Hey. It was OK. Couldn't do much. How was yours?

Helga: It was OK. Did you manage to hang in your assignment on Friday?

Rodrigo: Yeah, just barely, but I handed it in on time.

Having established a communication link with him, Helga then proceeded to ask him the million dollar question.

Helga: That's great. Are you free to meet up for lunch today?

Please say yes, please say yes, please say yes, please say yes-

*Bing*

Rodrigo: I can't today, sorry.

"Aaarrgghhh! Again?!" Helga angrily yelled as she slammed her fist against her locker again in a fit of rage.

While still angry and with a snarl on her face, she just quickly responded back to him.

Helga: OK...

"Stupid Rodrigo, won't hang out with me because he is being such a wimp..." Helga annoyingly muttered to herself as she gathered all of her things for that mornings classes.

Helga was at a loss on what to do. She was seeing her worst fears becoming a reality, but couldn't do anything unless she wanted to risk further aggravating him. It also didn't help that she still didn't know what was causing him to start giving her the cold shoulder. Was she being too pushy and inconsiderate, or was there something else happening that she wasn't aware? The only positive thing that she had going for her was him still responding to any calls or text messages she would send him, although that was only if she made first contact. It wasn't enough for her.

"Well too bad!" She continued, now angrily talk to herself. "He's not going to get rid of me that easily. Come hell or high water, we're going to hang out, even if I have make a man out of him again. He's going to be over me, move past this and we will be friends again, just like how we once were before we-"

"Helga?" A high pitch, but soft voice then suddenly said her name, completely startling her.

"Jeez, Phoebe! Don't scare me like that!" Helga exclaimed back.

"I'm sorry, Helga. I didn't mean to startle you." Phoebe just calmly said to her. "Were you on the phone?" She asked her.

"N-N-No, I wasn't." Helga then said. "I was just talking to myself. It's no big deal. It wasn't anything important." She quickly dismissed the topic in order to discourage Phoebe from probing about it any further.

"Well, alright." She said to her.

"C'mon. Let's get to class before we're late." Helga then said and proceeded to quickly start walking, prompting Phoebe to quickly catch up.

"Any news from Rodrigo?" Phoebe then asked her.

Helga sighed when she heard the question. She thought for a second she had dodged Phoebe's incessive curiosity about her strained...friendship with him.

"Yeah." She responded with a discouraged tone. "He said he was too busy to hang out with me today."

"Oh. I'm so sorry, Helga." Phoebe sympathetically said to her. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine." She responded. "But it's okay, I haven't given up yet. I'll keep trying." She then said with some sense of optimism in her voice.

Throughout the remaining month of November, Helga tried a few more times to hang out with him, but each time, the Latino kid declined and gave out his reasons why he couldn't, which ranged from homework, to his parents needing help, to even having arranging to meet up with the boys. Whatever the reasons, it was becoming clear to her that Rodrigo was still not yet ready to see her and she was being convinced that she didn't think he ever will be. However, instead of falling into ever more despair and hopelessness, Helga instead began to grow ever more frustrated and angry over his constant 'pain'.

Crimeny, what is up with this guy?! She angrily thought one day while walking around during lunch time. Why hasn't he yet gotten over me?! It's been more than three months now and he is still acting as if it happened only yesterday! I mean, I knew it really hurt him when he broke up with me, but this is getting ridiculous. He's turning out to be such a wimp.

Despite the Latino kid having ample reasons, Helga had her reasons why she was starting to feel a bit frustrated, if not even resentful.

He has no problem hanging out with everyone else, especially Rhondaloid, but he has a problem hanging out with me?! What gives? He can't be hurting that bad. I'm the one closest to him. We've hanged out more times last year than everyone else combined. We know each other like the back of our hand. Heck, I'm the one who managed to get him to find some sort of peace of mind about his grandmother. Come on, doesn't that count?! And yet he is still pushing me away...just like how everyone else did...

And what is it with him and Rhonda? Lately, those two have been becoming almost inseparable. I know Princess is trying to help him back on his feet, but they have been spending a little too much time with each other. If I didn't know any better, I'd swear they were – what a second?! Are...are they really...

"Bahahahahaha!" Helga then suddenly burst out laughing as she continued walking down the hallway. "Rodrigo and Rhonda?! Now that's a laugh. Those two are polar opposites of each other. It'll never work, hehehehe."

Anyway, she continued to think. This is getting old and I'm not going to put up with him giving me the cold shoulder for much longer. He really needs to just suck it up and move on. I mean really, why is he taking this break up so hard if he only liked 'liked' me?

By the time December rolled around, Helga had still not succeeded on trying to convince Rodrigo to see her. By this point, she had lost her last thread of patience and now resorted to taking drastic actions.

"That's it! I am not taking this anymore!" Helga angrily yelled on day during lunchtime.

"But Helga, you need to be a bit more patient with this." Phoebe attempted to calm her down. "Rodrigo received two serious blows these past few months that he hasn't yet recovered. Maybe he just needs a bit of-"

"No Pheebs." Helga quickly cut her off. "I have given him all the time and space he needed to move past this. But it's clear now that he's not going to do it on his own. Someone needs to push him out of his depressing little hole. And I am not going to stand by and allow him to give me the cold shoulder and ignore me! He was the one who broke up with me. He's the one who ended what we had. By all accounts, I'm the one who should be trying to avoid him, not the other way around."

And with that, Helga stood up and marched down the hall, determined to settle things with the Latino kid once and for all, leaving Phoebe alone. She didn't know where he was and she didn't want to text him to demand his whereabouts for fear of scaring him. So, she went on a hunch and walked toward his locker, hoping if he might be there.

Wasting no time, Helga, with a determined look, continued to march down the hallway. She then reached a corner that she knew led straight to his locker. She continued to march, reached the other corridor, turned, but she then instantly stopped when she saw what was in front of her.

As she predicted, Rodrigo was at his locker, eating his lunch. But, he was not alone. Rhonda was also there, happily conversing with him. Helga was surprised, but not thrilled to find Rhonda there. Instead of heading over to them, rather curiously, she decided that now was her chance to see what was really going on between the two, even though the chances of that were next to none. Plus, she didn't want to make her case while the gossip queen was present. She immediately went back to the corner from where she came. However, the espionage soon proved to be futile because they were talking in French. However, it allowed her to at least study Rodrigo and by the looks of it, she wasn't particularly happy at what she was seeing.

While Rhonda continued to converse with him, Rodrigo looked, not happy, but cheerful. He was kind of smiling throughout and making some sort of an effort to converse back. He was having no problem eating his lunch and looked almost as if he was back to normal. As Helga continued to spy on the two black haired teenagers, she couldn't help but see the stark contrast who how Rodrigo looked and behaved whenever he hanged out with her this new school year. Whenever they did hang out, Rodrigo didn't seem too eager to be around her. He looked very tense, distracted and just plainly looked...sad. Not with Rhonda. He was smiling and even chuckled a few times.

Yes despite his cheerfulness, nothing else seemed to be going on. Rhonda was sitting next to him, but there was a fair amount of distance between them, implying that whatever 'thing' they have was purely platonic in nature. There was no touching between them, at least not anything romantic or serious that caught Helga's attention. Rhonda placed her hand on his shoulder a few times, but nothing else. Just then, it soon occurred to her why she was concentrating on this. Why did she seem worried or concerned that Rodrigo was spending more time with Rhonda?

So what if they are hanging out a lot? She thought. We're not together anymore. Rodrigo can do whatever he wants. It's not like I have a say in the matter. But, why does it bother me seeing them together?

After thinking about it for a second, Helga thought she figured it out and as it came to her, her heart sank and her suspicious, frowning face soon gave way to sadness. Helga realized that Rodrigo was not only sidelining her; he was effectively replacing her. That last feeling caused a serious pain inside her and she had to use a good chunk of her will not show just how hurt she was. Once again, the feeling of rejection and not being 'good enough' was started to permeate throughout her entire mind and body, causing her to tense up and continue to feel a sharp, sour pain in her chest. Seeing how cheerful Rodrigo looked only served to further convince Helga that she was right about this and feeling ever more discouraged than before, sadly sighed, turned around and walked away.

The next day...

Helga goes up the stoop of the boarding house and using the key that Phil had given her, opened the door and went in, but not before allowing a bunch of animals to suddenly run out of the building, including a bat.

"Phil?!" Helga called out when she entered the house.

"Oh hi Helga." Phil greeted her as he came down the stairs as fast and as carefully as he could. "How's school treating ya? Hope you're not wasting too much of your talents there."

"Hm more or less." Helga casually responded with a shrug. "So I'm assuming it's the usual chores for me?" She asked.

"More or less." Phil casually responded with his own shrug and then gave Helga a smirk. Helga in turn smirked back.

"Great. Well, this shouldn't take too long." She said as she began to head upstairs. "I'll be outta of your hair in a flash."

"You're not staying for dinner tonight?" Phil asked her.

"What's Gertie cooking?" Helga asked as she stopped before the stairs.

"Believe or not, just plain old pasta." Phil responded.

"No! Really? Just pasta? Nothing else?" Helga exclaimed with a genuine surprising look on her face. "Well, that's alright with me." She then said. "Same time at 6pm?" To which Phil just nodded.

"Great. I'll see ya then." Helga then said as she began to ascend the stairs. "I'll be in Arnold's room if you need me."

"Oh one more thing." Phil then suddenly called out, prompting Helga to stop and face him.

"Um, Rodrigo is here today." He then nervously told her as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"He is?" Helga asked him, surprised by a news but tried to remain calm, to which Phil just nodded.

"Yes. I needed some help today and he agreed to come over." He quickly explained.

Helga said nothing and for a few seconds stared right back back Phil with paralyzed eyes. However, her stare soon drifted away from her and focused on her surroundings, as if she was thinking about something, a behaviour that Phil noticed. Getting suspicious of what she might be thinking,

"I know that look from anywhere." He remarked with a rather stern tone, getting her attention. "Just what are you thinking missy?" He asked her with a suspicious look.

"Nothing." Helga just calmly replied. "What do you think I'm up to?" She just asked him back.

"Don't play dumb with me." Phil said. "I maybe old and forgetful, but I know well enough to know that look you just gave usually means that you're up to no good."

"Why Phil, I'm offended." Helga sarcastically remarked, she tried to look offended.. "Why would you think of something like that? But since you are all wise and knowing, then you must already know what I'm thinking about, which is wrong." She then teasingly taunted him.

"I'm not wrong. I know exactly that your brewing." Phil said back.

"And I know that you know what I'm thinking about is wrong." Helga said back.

"You can't fool me." Phil confidently shot back. "I know that you know that I know that you know that I know what your thinking about."

"Oh please." Helga dismissed his claims. "I know that you know that I know that you know that I know that what you're thinking about is not true."

"Pft, as if!" Phil dismissed her claim. "I know that you know that I know that you know that I um... wha...er...what were we talking about again?" He then asked.

"Bingo." She triumphantly remarked with a smirk on her face.

"Dagnamit!" Phil annoyingly exclaimed at being bested and then started to grumble as he attempted to remember what they were arguing about.

"Oh I remember now!" He then exclaimed. "Just don't go anywhere near Rodrigo and talk to him."

"Did he tell you this himself?" Helga asked her.

Phil's annoyed and stern face soon gave way to a worried expression.

"Well umm, he uh, I mean, uh..." Phil nervously attempted to explain.

"Just spit it out Phil." Helga just said to him.

"Well yeah, he did." Phil eventually answered her.

Helga didn't show it, but she felt another sudden jolt of pain in her chest again, only this time it was much more profound, as if someone just kicked her right in the chest. She also began to experience a sudden rage that was creeping inside her. That she couldn't hide and she started to seriously frown, clenching her fist and was starting to make a snarling face. However just as quickly, she facial expression did an about turn.

"Parish the thought." She just suddenly said to Phil with an innocent smile.

Phil wasn't amused, as it didn't convince him that Helga wouldn't going to try to talk to him since she rarely ever smiled.

"I have nothing to say to the guy." She then continued, this time bluntly. "Him and I are done."

Phil was surprised by her comment and it even made him worried. But before he had a chance to say anything, Helga immediately turned around and began to walk upstairs to do her chores, leaving Phil worried and pondering about what she said.

Helga seemed to have sounded genuine, for she spent a good portion of her time avoiding him. She went about her daily routine, going to every room, asking for the rent from the tenants as 'politely' (strong emphasis on that word) as she could be, cleaning any of the vacant rooms, as well as the hallway, until all that was left was Arnold's room.

She grabbed the handle the brought down the staircase, went up and as if going to some magical place, a place of calm, assurance, no worries, a sanctuary, opened the door and went inside. She then closed it, but stood right in front of the door as she glanced throughout the entire room, scanning every object, every piece of detail, recounting their stories, memories, both good and bad of their time together.

This was one of the few places where Helga felt she was right at home, allowing her to feel so utterly calm and happy, a place where she can almost truly be whole. A small smile even broke out in her face, a genuine one. She then inhaled deeply, allowing the serene, majestic smell of Arnold's scent to touch her nostrils, allowing her to almost see him, as if he was right there with her. She held her breath in for a few seconds, allowing the scent to flow through her entire body, allow her to feel his presence and him embracing her with both his arms, leaned forward and placed a soft, loving and tender kiss upon her lips. Helga made a small smoothing sound, fully reciprocating until she finally exhaled, releasing all the air and scent from her lungs and thereby, Arnold, who almost just as quickly, disappeared back into the walls, leaving Helga alone again, but fully warm and touched. After scanning around the room for a few more seconds, she then snapped out of her loving fantasy and got work.

After some time, she just about done cleaning up. Feeling a bit stuffy, she went over to the window to open it and get some air.

"Aaaahh!" she softly sighed as she felt the cold breeze burst in and cooled her skin.

Cleaning Arnold's room had made Helga practically forget about Rodrigo. After standing by the window for while, she was about close it when something moved from below. Curiously, she looked down and just as quickly, all of her worries, frustration and anxiety came rushing back. Rodrigo was right below her, taking out black bags that were obviously full and heavy, since he was grunting and having a hard time moving them.

Helga said nothing and just watched him for a bit, but with the cold still bursting inside, as well as her anger rising, quietly put her head back inside and closed the window.

She remained virtually quiet and just stood there, looking right at the window that had revealed the person has been steadily becoming a serious thorn on her side. For a while, she said nothing and just continued to stare at the window, thinking about her options, about what she said to Phil and what Rodrigo said about her to him-

"Screw it!" She exclaimed as she marched right out of the room, descended down the two stairs, went straight to the coat hanger, grabbed her coat, hat and scarf, put them on, put on her boots and marched right outside.

She turned around her corner of the building and headed straight toward the back. Coming from the fence door, she saw Rodrigo still outside, cleaning the garage.

"Rodrigo!" She then called out to him with a highly aggressive tone, almost startling him and prompting the Latino kid to stop what he was doing and turn around to face her.

"Helga?" He asked in surprise when he heard her. Indeed, the mere sight of her shocked him and almost rendered him immobile, all awhile trying to come to grips that she was right there in front of him.

"No it's Santa. Who else do you think it is?" She sarcastically retorted as she approached him. "Alright buster, spit it out. Why have you been avoiding me?" She demanded.

"I haven't." He said back. "I've just been busy with things."

"Been busy huh?" She remarked, not believing him. "You seem to be busy whenever I ask you to hang out with me, but not with others."

"What do you mean?" He genuinely asked.

"Don't play dumb with me." She remarked with a frown, trying not to lose her cool. "I know for a fact you've been hanging out with practically everyone except me. Even Princess has been getting the red carpet treatment from you."

"Rhonda?" He asked, now even more surprised and suspicious at what she was insinuating. "There's no red carpet treatment. She has been trying to help me move on. We're just friends, Helga." He explained. "

"Friends?" Helga rhetorically remarked, not believing a word he just said. "Just how are you two friends?! You two are polar opposites of each other, you have nothing in common, not to mention that two barely hanged out with each other last year."

"We do have a lot of things in common, Helga." Rodrigo firmly countered. "And actually, she is the second person I often saw and hanged out with last year, after you. Granted, I didn't really like her in the beginning, but as time went on, I saw that she is more than what she lets on at school. She is actually quite smart and a highly refined person. You just need to get past all of that materialistic, shallowness of hers."

For some reason, that news shocked Helga. Not the part where Rodrigo spoke about Rhonda's supposedly high quality traits, but the part where how often they saw and hanged out with each other.

"But why didn't you ever say anything?" Helga abruptly asked, trying her to best not to get overly angry and hysterical over this.

"I never said anything because you never asked and there was never really a time to mention it." Rodrigo just calmly explained. "Why is me hanging out with her all of a sudden bothering you so much?" He then asked.

"It-It isn't." Helga now nervously denied it, trying to sound as genuine as possible, but Rodrigo wasn't entirely convinced.

"Have you been spying on me?" He asked with a worried tone.

"No, I haven't." She kind of lied, but now with a more calming and convincing tone. "But that's not the issue right now. The issue is you avoiding me like the plague."

"Even now, you specifically asked Phil to tell me to keep my distance away from you." She continue, quickly losing her cool. "Crimeny Latino boy, you can't keep avoiding me forever. We work in the same run down building, we go to the same school, we have the same group of friends, we live in the same neighbourhood that we both just saved! Sooner or later you're going to have to face me."

"Oh, just like how you so 'bravely' faced Arnold whenever he was here?" Rodrigo retorted back with his own frown.

"Hey, hey hey hey hey hey! Do not use that tone with me!" Helga angrily shot back. "It is different between me and Arnold. I am obsessively in love with him, you're not. Heck, you don't even just regularly love me. You just like 'like' me."

Rodrigo was about to instantly protest against that, but in the nick of time, sadly refrained from correcting her. Instead he said,

"It may not be the same, but every person is different and each has their own way on how to cope with a break up." He countered. "I thought that out of everyone, you would be the most sympathetic and understanding person when it comes to that."

"I am sympathetic and understanding!" Helga angrily yelled at him. "I have been sympathetic for months. I have been keeping my distance, as per your wishes, trying to think twice about where I should go in order to avoid you in the hallway. I can't just go anywhere in the school. I need to constantly and VERY annoyingly work out my route in order to not collide with you. I have been eating my lunch alone, sitting on the dirty floor for months instead of having the right to sit at an actual lunch table with my friends! I have even sucked it up and done my dancing routine without you, pretending like you never existed! But even those efforts aren't enough for you! You're still all mopey and being a wimp. So if I'm no longer being 'sympathetic' and 'understanding', it's because I'm no longer going to allow you to hurt ME by pushing me away!" She finally confessed.

"What?" Rodrigo said, stunned by the last thing Helga said.

On the surface, it may have sounded selfish, but Rodrigo understood what she meant by that. Because he was so busy with his own pain and loss, he hadn't considered what this may been doing to Helga, what she may have been feeling about him avoiding her.

"Helga," he then tried to say with a more sympathetic tone, "I'm sorry, I just need more time-"

"You've had enough time!" Helga angrily yelled at him. "Why don't you just man up already and move on! Go fiddle your fingers with a random chick if that's what you need, or whatever crap a guy does, but just do it and move on!"

That last insensitive statement stung and it only caused to further upset Rodrigo.

"I can't move on with you trying to weasel your way back into my life like it's no big deal!" He angrily shouted back. "But it is a big deal, you hypocrite! We broke up because YOU weren't able to muster the backbone to move on from Arnold! So no, I'm not ready to see you. In fact, I DON'T want to see you. I don't want to hang out with you. I don't even want to talk to you. I want nothing to do with you!"

That made Helga go completely quiet and for a time, allowed her angry to quickly disappear as she stared at him with a mortified and deeply hurt look. But Rodrigo wasn't backing down. He meant every word he said and Helga saw that in the glare he was giving her. Realizing that her words were completely uncalled for and had revealed what Rodrigo was truly feeling, Helga just sadly slumped down in both defeat and regret.

"I'm-I'm sorry." Helga began to say rather tearfully, "I just miss you. I miss us, that's all. I miss hanging out with you. I miss seeing you. I know it's been really hard for you. I know what you did for me and I'll always be grateful, even if I don't show it. I just...I just don't want to lose you. I can't stand losing someone who became so close to me. I already lost you as my boyfriend and believe me, that stung. I just don't want to lose you as a friend. Can I at least have that?"

That question caused Rodrigo to calm down a bit and pondered on it. Helga said nothing and waited patiently for Rodrigo to answer, hopefully a 'yes'. However, Rodrigo soon gave her a rather stern but sad look, confirming to her that he can't even guarantee her that.

"Has it been that hard?" She asked him.

"Yes." He just replied with a tone that was laden with exhaustion and bitterness.

Rodrigo wanted to desperately tell her the reason why it had been so hard. But, he couldn't. It would only cause her more pain and burden, not to mention that it might, just maybe entice her to go back to him, which he was not going to allow. As far as he was concerned, there was no going back from this.

"When I broke up with you," he continued, "I knew it would hard, but I really didn't think it was going to be this bad. At the very least, I thought that after a month or so, I would be okay."

"To be fair, I am feeling a lot better than how I felt back in September." He continued, allowing some sense of optimism to reign in his voice. "It's just that, I'm not quite ready to resume our friendship. And I honestly don't know if I'll ever be ready. I asked a few people if being friends with your ex is a good idea. Pretty much all of them told me that it's not and they even advised me that I should not bother on trying to be friends with you. There's no guarantee I would be able to see you as just a friend and even if I could, it won't be the same, according to them."

"I see." Was all Helga said.

Almost as a self defence mechanism, Helga wanted to scoff at him again for his supposedly 'lack of effort' on at least trying to rekindle their friendship again. However, having already exposed herself to her own hypocrisy, she refrained from doing that.

"There's no hope for us, is there?" Helga asked him.

"I don't know." Rodrigo just softly and sadly replied with a shrug, not wanting to even look at her in the eyes when he said that.

For Helga, she felt this was now the end. She didn't have any further reason to try and continue with this now increasing charade and wanted to officially end things with him. She wanted to extend her hand, wish him all the best and walk away, leaving him behind in the past, forever. Yet, she couldn't bring herself to do it. Having never fostered any strong ties with her own family, the blonde teen had to resort to getting the necessary love, attention and emotional needs from others, namely from Phoebe, Arnold and now Rodrigo. It was precisely why Helga was not willing to accept defeat and simply allow this relationship to end. She just couldn't allow it. This was one of the few relationships she has and was willing to fight to tooth and nail for it. She would have done the same for Phoebe and Arnold. However, she hit a brick wall with this one and was seeing no other way around it. She was now at an impasse.

"I'm sorry I wasted your time." She said with a stern, but hurtful tone and look before turning back around and walked away.

Rodrigo said nothing and just sadly watched her leave as she head out from the fence door and onto the street, around the corner and then disappeared when she headed back onto the main street. As much as he wanted to say something to her that would bring some sort of hope, he couldn't. He didn't want to give her or himself any false sense of hope.

"I'm sorry." He whispered to himself before then mustering up the energy to finish his work at the boarding house.

Later in the evening...

Rodrigo walked into his house looking physically and emotionally exhausted. After putting his coat and boots away, he headed up stairs to try to do his homework.

"Hola, hijo." His mother then said to him as she came out from the kitchen. "¿Como fue tu dia?" (How was your day?)

"Oh. Creo que fue bien." (It went okay, I think.) Rodrigo just barely responded to him.

"¿Como están Phil y Gertie?" (How are Phil and Gertie?) Elisa asked him.

"Estan Bien." (They are good.) Was all Rodrigo said before he then started to make his way up the stairs.

"Oh Rodrigo." His mothers called out to him again. "Recibiste una carta de correo. Esta en la mesa." (You received a mail. It's on the table.)

"¿Una carta? De quien?" (A Letter? From whom?) Rodrigo asked.

"Viene de San Lorenzo." (It came from San Lorenzo) Elisa cautiously said to him with a worried tone, not really sure how Rodrigo would take the news that Arnold had attempted to communicate with him.

Rodrigo initially said nothing and stared back as his mother with wide, shocking eyes. However, he soon snapped out of it.

"Oh okay. Gracias mama." He casually said as he then went over to the table, grabbed the envelope and then quickly proceeded to go to his room.

Thankfully his mother didn't stop him and he succeeded on getting into his room and closed the room. Rodrigo let out a sigh, put his backpack down next to his desk and then stared at the letter that was in his hand.

It was indeed from San Lorenzo and there was no doubt in his mind who sent it. He scanned the envelope for a second, even flipping it over to see if there was anything at the back. Questions then began to appear in his mind as to the reason why Arnold would sent him a letter. He knew their friends had been receiving letters a few weeks after Arnold returned, but this was the first time he had received one himself, for good reason.

But eventually, he stopped wondering about it and made his way toward his chair and sat down. No sooner had he done that when he, without hesitation, then threw the letter inside his trash can. Rodrigo then took out his textbooks and proceeded to do his homework without any further thoughts it.

Meanwhile...

After her talk with Rodrigo, Helga left, but went back inside to inform Phil that she was done her chores. Not mentioning anything about her confrontation with Rodrigo, Phil thanked her and told her that dinner was ready.

Phil wasn't exaggerating about what Gertie had cooked. It was indeed plain old pasta. There was no exotic and questionable entrees or sides to go with it, much to everyone's surprise. Actually, it smelled rather good. Yet despite not having eaten anything since lunch, Helga had lost her appetite and barely touched her plate. Luckily for her, no one inquired about it, since she was usually quiet when she ate, unless she made one of her usual smart alack or sarcastic remarks, so it wasn't anything unusual for her to not even utter a word at the table.

Phil was a bit suspicious about her lack of appetite, but then became too preoccupied with Oskar, who kept trying to swindle his way into getting more pasta from his plate.

Helga tried to eat some of the plate on her plate, given the knowledge that there was most likely not going to be anything for her to eat when she got home. Barely managing to eat most of it, she gave the rest to Oskar, thanked Phil and Gertie for the meal and left to head home.

Helga arrived home looking equally physically and emotionally exhausted. While granted, the emotional level of stress was not as high as it was last year, it was still very bothersome. Without bothering to even acknowledge her family, Helga went straight to her room, closed the door behind her and fell on her bed while making a lough sigh.

She then grabbed her headphones and attempted to listen to some music, but it did her no good. She was still thinking about the talk she had with Rodrigo and it wouldn't leave her mind, no matter how loud the music was. After some time, she frustratingly took her headphones off, let out a grunt and just frowned while still lying on her bed. She then rolled over on to her stomach, grabbed some blank pieces of paper, a textbook and put it under the papers, and began to write.

Dear football,

I received your latest letter and its sad contents. Not coming to visit us this Christmas? Are you already getting bored with us? I am surprised, given how much fun we had this past summer. I guess you indulged yourself a little too much on saving the neighbourhood yet again, football head. Don't you already how fun we are, so why not come and visit us? I kid, I kid. I understand why you can't make it. Sigh. It's okay.

I keep telling myself that it's only one more year. Well, more like half a year now before we are together again. On the one hand, it feels like time had gone by fast. But on the other, it slows to a gruelling crawl. I swear I sometimes feel I'm stuck in a time warp or something. Half the time I do not know where the time goes, or why it didn't go at all. Needless to say, I cannot tell you how much I look forward to our reunion again. I miss you so much that I can hardly stand it.

Just be sure you are hitting those books and getting your marks high up, football head. I don't want to hear that you couldn't get in because of one lousy mark that didn't meet the requirement. No more delays, no more waiting for you to come home. By next year, we will be together again, one way or another. If you can't come to me, then I will come to you. You can take that as a compliment or as a threat.

You know one of the benefits of having all of us write you letters? I don't need to tell you how the rest of these losers that we call 'our friends' are doing. They are doing that for me by writing their own letters and sending them to you. Good, because I'm just not in the mood to be telling how everyone is doing. Too lazy. Don't judge me!

There is one area that I still having trouble grappling and it's with a certain someone who wears a black fedora hat. Yup, it's him. No, I did not cheat on you with him, if that's what your thinking! That ship has sailed and you are stuck with me, whether you like it or not. But in all seriousness, I think my tenuous situation with Rodrigo has reached the end of the line. I had a talk with him today and it doesn't look like we will ever be able to cement our friendship again. I have to confess, I am heartbroken by this.

You are right Arnold; he doesn't deserve this. He didn't deserve to have his heart broken like this. And it pains me to be reminded of it, but not being able to do anything about it makes it all the more worse. All forms of reasons are telling me that I should just heed the signs and let him go, let him drift off into the abyss that is my memory, where he will eventually be nothing but a footnote in my life, if at all. Perhaps I should let him be and stop trying to reestablish any forms of relationship with him. Perhaps it wasn't meant to be. Perhaps he was only meant to be there for a short time before he lost his usefulness.

Yet, something in my gut is telling me that I should hold on and push forward, that I should not give up. I don't know what this feeling this, maybe it's just my stubbornness talking, but it's refusing to admit defeat. Yeah, it's probably my stubbornness talking. Whatever it is, I am not sure if I should listen to it. What good will it do?

And by now, I am starting to consider Rodrigo's incessive mopiness to be highly annoying. I mean really, how much more time does he need to get over me? He only liked me for Pete's sake. He wasn't in love with me. Sheesh. I am starting to agree what Bob said about him; that he's a wimp. Although, I do not wish to go that far, yet. Bob has never had the capacity to analyze people deep down.

Anyways, I don't know what else to do; if I should continue to hope and pursue, or if I should just accept defeat and move on, and just concentrate on preparing for our future together. I guess I'll have to think about it. But in the meantime, there is one thing that I do need to find an answer to. I have my weekly appointment with Dr. Bliss soon and I am hoping she will be able to help me answer this life's little riddle; what was it all for? Once I have my answer, I will let you know.

Your love,

Helga G. Pataki