You Never Know

You Never Know...
Chapter 7
by Serena

~ Thanks for all the great reviews! Only one more chapter to go...

Disclaimer: Please don't sue me.

She's avoiding me, Arnold realized as she quickly walked past him towards the back of the bus. It had been a week since Helga had gotten out of the hospital, and there had still been no spit-wads, no tripping, no name-callingHelga had barely even acknowledged his existence in the past week. Arnold thought maybe she was embarrassed over having saved his life, but none of the kids had been teasing her about it, not even Harold. Maybe he would ask her about it later. And he'd also ask her how she resolved that boarding school thing with her sister. Olga must have been pretty disappointed.
"What's up, man?" His best friend said as he plopped down on the bus seat next to him. They did their handshake, or more appropriately, their thumbshake.
"Hey Gerald. How's it going?"
"I just got the latest news from Fuzzy Slippers"
"Really? What'd he say?" Arnold asked, his curiosity piqued.
"You're not going to believe what I heard." Gerald lowered his voice. "Helga Pataki is LEAVING!"
"She's what?!" Arnold looked at his friend in disbelief.
"You heard me right! No one knows, except probably Phoebe. She leaves this Friday for another school."
"It can't beHelga wouldn't let her parents just ship her off to another school. She would have found a way to convince her parents to let her stayIt can't be true."
"But it is! Fuzzy Slippers tells no lies."
Arnold fell silent. After a couple of blocks, the bus stopped and Helga got off. All of a sudden, Arnold grabbed his bookbag and stood up. "See ya later, Gerald!" He called as he quickly darted off after her. Gerald shook his head and muttered to himself.

"Helga, wait up!" Arnold yelled as he ran up to her.
"Arnold?" Helga seemed surprised, but quickly recovered. "What do you want, football head?"
"I heard that you're going to boarding school," he said softly.
Helga scowled. "Word gets around fast. So what if I am?"
Arnold looked bewildered. "Why?"
Helga's expression softened for a moment, but quickly reverted back. "It's none of your beeswax, football head."
Arnold became flustered. "I guess not. See you later, Helga." He turned and began to walk away.
Helga sighed. "There's nothing keeping me here," she called after him.
Arnold turned back around and looked at her incredulously. "You mean you're choosing to leave? Your whole life is here! Your family, your friends"
"Please, Arnoldo. My family barely notices when I'm around, let alone when I'm gone. They won't miss me. As for my friends, what friends? Phoebe's the only one who's stuck by me, and I'll write and call her all the time."
"We're all your friends, Helga."
Helga laughed derisively. "Don't be so naïve, Arnold. Nobody will care whether I go or stay."
"Well, like you said, Phoebe cares. Brainy cares. And" Arnold paused to think for a moment. "I care," he said finally.
Helga looked at the floor, not knowing what to say. She felt his gaze on her but dared not look at him. She wanted to get away from him as soon as possible because he had already made her resolve crumble by just saying two little words. She raised her eyes to the door of her house and said in an unemotional voice, "I have to go."
Before Arnold could protest, Helga dashed into her house and closed the door. Well, Arnold thought to himself, I gave it my best shot.
The week went by, and Friday afternoon came very quickly. Helga surveyed her room one last time, making sure not to forget anything. Certain she had everything, she walked over to the trashcan and remembered the previous night.

"I'll really miss you, Helga," Phoebe said as she handed Helga a pile of clothes.
Helga stuffed the pile into the open suitcase on her bed. "Thanks Phoebs. You know I'll miss you too. I'll tell ya though, I'm kind of excited about this."
"Yes, how exhilarating this experience will be! By any chance, have you said goodbye to Arnold?"
Helga stopped packing and all excitement vanished from her face. "I spoke to him on Monday and we've ignored each other ever since."
"What happened on Monday?"
Helga told her the conversation she and Arnold had had. "And I left before he could say anything else." She looked down.
"Oh my. Are you having doubts, Helga?"
"Doubts? No, not reallyI mean, he said he cared, Phoebes. That's the key word. He only thinks of me as a friend, and nothing more."
Phoebe looked at her best friend in sympathy. "I'm sorry things didn't work out, Helga."
"It's okay. It just wasn't meant to be." Helga gave a small sigh and resumed packing.

"Helga, honey! The taxi's here!" she heard her mother call from downstairs.
"Alright! Be right down!" There was still one thing she had to do. She'd been stalling, but it had to be done. She walked into her closet and turned on the lights. With a deep breath, she took everything out. The shrine, the books, the lights and everything Arnold-related. She carried them into her room and dumped them in the trash. She checked back to see if she had missed anything and noticed one brown poetry book on the floor. She flipped through it and glanced through some of the poems. This was one of the books that she had written after she had accidentally dropped one of her poem books and Arnold had found it. After that traumatic experience, she stopped writing his name in poems and her poetry no longer described him. They were simply love poems. She figured there was no harm in keeping one book, and slipped it into her coat pocket. Grabbing her things and taking one last look around her, she walked downstairs.
She saw her mother trying to comfort her sister, who was crying. Her father was on the couch, watching TV. She put on her backpack and lugged her suitcase down the stairs.
"Have you got everything, dear?" Her mother said as she handed Olga another tissue.
"Yes, Miriam."
Olga stopped crying and enveloped her sister in a big hug. "Oh baby sister, I really really REALLY hope you like the school I picked for you! You'll be nice and safe there"
Helga rolled her eyes. "I can take care of myself, Olga. There are other reasons why I'm leaving."
Miriam frowned. "It's not becauseyou're trying to get away from us, is it Helga? I know we haven't always been the best family but we do love you"
Helga looked at her mother and suddenly felt guilty. She knew her parents cared about her even if they didn't know how to show it, and she wished she'd been more grateful. "No mom," she said as she hugged her mother, "It's not that. I love you guys too." She looked at her father on the couch. Wasn't he at least going to say goodbye? "Do me a favortake care of Dad for me, okay?"
Her mother smiled. "I will honey."
She said goodbye to the both of them and carried her suitcase outside. She put it in the trunk of the taxi and was about to get in when she heard a voice behind her.
"Hey, um, Helga"
She turned around and saw her father looking awkwardly at the ground. "Bob?"
"I just wanted to saydon't blow it. We're spending a lot of money on this school, okay?" he said gruffly.
Helga scowled. "I'll try, Dad. Goodness knows I'm not like Olga." She proceeded to get into the car.
"Helga?"
Helga scowled. "What?" she said tiredly, not even bothering to look at him.
He coughed. "You'renot that bad of a daughter. We'll, um, miss you and stuff"
Helga looked up at her father in confusion and then gave a small smile. "Thanks. Bye, Dad." Her father helped her into the car and closed the door. He then watched as the taxi slowly drove away.