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As soon as Arnold woke up the realization of what he had done the night before hit him like a sledgehammer. Did I really kiss Helga last night? He tried to figure out what made him do it. He remembered something that his father had once told him In order to break down the most complicated situation, you must look past your own emotions and find the simple facts. When his father had said it, Arnold had thought that he had needed to cut down on the marshall arts movies. Now, though, he decided to take his advice.
OK, simplest terms. Arnold decided to look at the situation objectively. Well, he thought, I'm a guy and I was flirting with a beautiful girl. Arnold surprised himself. At least I can admit that I'd been flirting with her.
Then, he thought, the situation caused said girl to be inches from my face. So me being a guy kissed her. I kissed Helga because I was flirting with her and I wanted to kiss her.
Now the only question is..why? I've already said that she's beautiful but I'm not THAT superficial. I enjoyed spending time with her, but then again I've enjoyed spending time with lots of girls who were only friends. Maybe I-
"Hey man, why are you sitting there staring at your wall? Don't you have a class in twenty minutes?" asked Mike, formerly known as Cooney the Looney. Mike waved his hand in front of Arnold's head. "You look like you're going to go catatonic or something."
Arnold looked up towards Mike. Did he know him well enough to tell him what had happened? No, he thought, I have a feeling that Helga wouldn't appreciate that.
"I'm fine. I guess I'm just worried about my Psych exam." Arnold said as he found a pair of jeans. He searched through a pile of clothes looking for a shirt to wear. "By the way, do you have that Medieval Literature class today?" Arnold found a decent shirt and pulled it over his head. I need to do laundry
"Yeah. It's at 9:30. Why?" Mike turned to Arnold who was frantically threading a belt through the loops on his jeans. "By the way you can borrow my belt."
"Oh, um thanks. Anyways, Helga's in your class right?" Arnold opened up his backpack and started pulling papers out causing a pile to form on his desk. After emptying his bag he began to put other papers in it that he had had on his desk the night before. "Can you give her the money for the Microwave tickets?"
"Sure, as long as one of those tickets are for me." Mike looked at his watch. "You better hurry Arnold. You have five minutes to get across campus."
"Damn." Arnold looked at the pile of papers on his desk and started to head out the door. "The envelope with the money is under all that stuff. I gotta go." With that Arnold started running down the hall of his dorm.
"Gee, thanks Arnold." Mike muttered under his breath. He started sifting through the papers, found the envelope, and, after throwing it into his backpack, started out of the dorm room to have some breakfast before his 9:30 class.
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"Now the Canterbury tales offers the reader a look at some medieval occupations. Among these characters was the knight who..."
"Psst. Helga" Helga turned to her left.
"What do you want Looney."
"It's Mike now Helga. Anyways, Arnold wanted me to give this to you." Mike said as he passed the envelope to Helga.
"Thanks," she said as she stuck the envelope into her purse. "Tell him that I'll give him the tickets as soon as possible."
Helga, now facing forward, tried to concentrate on Chaucer but realized she was fighting a losing battle. For the hundreth time that she was reliving the kiss from the night before. She also realized that Pheobe may have been right about her relationships. None of her boyfriends had ever kissed her so softly, wanting to be sweet. The guys she had gone out with in high school were always so forceful. Sometimes they became so impassioned that she had had to slap them or knee them in the groin.
Before Helga knew it, her professeur announced the date of the next exam. Class ended and Helga began walking towards her dorm. Then, remembering the Microwave tickets, she changed her mind and began heading for the student parking lot.
As she walked down the long line of cars, Helga thought about the next step she should take regarding Arnold. Right now I'm a part of his life. If we start a relationship and then break up... She couldn't deal with the thought of losing him entirely. At least now we're friends. I don't think I can go from being his girlfriend to being nothing with him. But Helga knew something else. If I don't let myself love him for the fear of being hurt then I'll always regret it.
Helga located her red '88 Ford Pickup. It was big, old, and dirty but she couldn't help loving the car she had had since her junior year in high school. Not that she could afford anything else. She opened the door and hopped up into the seat. She looked down to see that the Arnold's envelope had fallen out of her purse, landing on the concrete. Sighing, Helga climbed out of her car to pick it up. Before she stuffed it back in her purse she noticed some writing on the front:
To Arnold, to be opened upon his arrival in Peru