Chapter 4
Oh so Helga has moved into the boarding house, what a lovely turn of events. And Rhonda is up to no good. And the return of Lila!
I still don't own any of the Hey Arnold characters, but most of the teachers mentioned are based on my own crack head teachers, so I don't really own that either.
Note: I live in the San Francisco Bay Area, so any California jokes or insults I use are just my way of showing my love. ^_^
"Helga? You are living here now?" Arnold stammered out. Helga sighed. Sure she loved the idea of being in the same house as Arnold, but she had wanted a place to herself, not another dysfunctional family to get use to. She decided she had to make the best of it considering this is all her mom could afford.
"Yeah Arnold, I live here. I didn't know till we pulled up out front." Helga said and plopped down on her bed. Arnold was a little freaked out how quickly Helga was able to turn the dreary room into a pink wonderland.
"Well this is great I mean, now you got us as your family!" Arnold said. Helga smiled at this.
'Arnold welcoming into his house, oh is this a dream?' Arnold walked over and took a seat next to her and continued to blabber on about everything in the boarding house. Helga wasn't able to listen as she realized how close Arnold was to her on the bed. She felt very uncomfortable laying on her back so she sat up in a jolt. This didn't make the situation any better considering this brought her almost face to face with him and he stopped talking because of the current closeness.
'She is so close I can smell her perfume or shampoo, it's smells like citrus and flowers, I wonder what it is?' Arnold thought to himself as they just sat there face to face. Eyes locked. Arnold could feel his face start to burn with a blush and Helga's was no different.
'OH MY GOD! What the hell do I do?' Helga said. She remained untouched since that kiss in the school play back in 4th grade. She never had any kind of romantic closeness in California, so she was very unaware of the feeling now building in her. ' I feel so dizzy, what should I do?' Helga was starting to feel uncomfortable with the eye lock so she decided maybe if she closed her eyes, the moment would be broken and a solution would present itself. She closed her eyes.
'OH MY GOD! She closed her eyes! Does that mean she wants a kiss? Am I ready to give her a kiss? I mean I think I like her and all, but is it really time for this?' Arnold thought rapidly. 'Come on Arnold, you can't be a sensitive wuss; you have to be a man. Any other guy would so go for it!' Arnold leaned forward and stopped just before their lips touched.
'THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING! HELGA! ARNOLD IS GOING TO KISS YOU!' Helga's joyful voice screamed out inside her head. She could feel is warm breathe on her face and she shuddered with excitement. Arnold leaned in just a bit…..
"SHORTMAN! GET DOWN HERE! TRASH NEEDS TAKING OUT!" Grandpa yelled from downstairs. Arnold jolted from the sudden break in silence and feel off the bed with a thud. Helga and Arnold gave each other a long awkward glance at each other before Arnold scampered out of the room.
'Damn, this close….' Both Helga and Arnold thought. Arnold made his way down the stairs and found his Grandpa waiting there with a bag of trash in his hand.
"Shortman, why is your face all red? You been lifting those weights again?" Grandpa asked as Arnold grabbed the bag and nodded. He dumped the trash in the can out back and then sat down on the back porch. His head was racing.
"Damn it, why did it have to end like that? Now what am I going to do, what if that was my last chance?" Arnold said to himself. He sat in silence till he heard Helga's voice. He looked up to see her window open.
"Phoebe! Oh my gawd, you'll never believe what just happen!" Helga said, she sounded excited. "My mom decided I am going to live at the Sunset Arms." Arnold felt bad on listening in, but he had to know what to do next. He pressed himself to the back wall and stood directly under Helga's window.
"Yeah, I know Phoebe, I couldn't believe it either! But then when he got home, get this, he tries to kiss me? And all I do it sit there like a moron." Helga's voice soft and hard to hear from down hear, so Arnold couldn't tell what tone of voice she was using. "No No No, his grandpa called him down before anything could happen."
"Maybe I shouldn't be listening…." Arnold thought to himself. He was about to go inside when the conversation continued.
"DO I WANT TO WHAT HIM PHOEBE!? When did you learn that word?" Helga shouted. Arnold turned back and went back to listening. This he had to hear. "What do you mean? Oh wait gross Pheebs! You and tall hair boy? I didn't need to know that!"
'Gerald?' Arnold thought to himself, 'Him and Phoebe what?
"Well, I don't know if I feel THAT way about Arnold, that is a little drastic to feel about someone who isn't even my boyfriend." Helga said, she sounded confused. "Oh well yeah, well then I will talk to you later then, bye."
Arnold snuck back into the house. He had a pretty good idea what Helga meant by the end. He wasn't sure about that either. I mean, kissing is one thing, going any further was enough to make him blush again. He made his way up the stairs and saw Helga's door closed and her music was turned way up. Better not disturb her. He made his way up to his loft bedroom and laid down on his bed. He remembered the smell of her and the warmth from her face. He closed his eyes and relived the moment over and over.
Helga turned off her music as she finished her Kung Fu routine. She was covered in sweat and went off to the shower, which wasn't busy, since everyone preferred his or her showers in the mornings. She let the hot steam relax her. Her mind wandered to the near kiss and her conversation with Phoebe. She never pegged Phoebe as the type of girl to do those kinds of things, but she assured her that Gerald had promised his love to her before. She never really thought of herself doing those things, but now that she thought about it, maybe she should, she was going on 17. Every other teenager had given into hormones, why not her. She turned off the shower and wrapped her robe around her.
Arnold heard the shower stop; he assumed it was Helga since no one else took showers at 9 at night. He tried to keep his imagination from wondering what she looked like at that very moment, a hard thing to do. 'Gawd, I never thought about this stuff with Lila, why now? Why all of a sudden!?' His head pounded.
'Okay Helga, you can do this. Prove to yourself you are a normal girl and go up there and kiss him!' Helga said in her head, 'You can't be afraid of male contact all your life! Criminey, you'll be an old maid. ' She dressed in a tank top and pajama pants with little pink dots on them and made her way up the stair to the loft.
Arnold just finished changing into his plaid flannel sleeping pants and a white undershirt he slept in, when he heard a knock at his door. He walked and opened the door, expecting it to be his Grandpa there to give him a list of things to fix, but there stood Helga. Her wet hair pulled back into a ponytail and a smile on her face. Arnold heart began to beat a mile a minute.
"Helga, you look, I mean, what re you, I mean……."Arnold fumbled over words. Helga began to blush again. She seem disappointed in this and tried covering her face.
"Well are you going to let me in or keep me waiting in this drafty stairwell all night?" Helga said, she pushed her way pass Arnold. He smelled the sweet smell of apples, her shampoo. The other scent must have been perfume. "Geex Football head, I thought you were suppose to be Mr. Manners." Helga said in her taunting voice.
"Well yeah, I am sorry. Here sit down, please." He said nervously and looked toward his couch. Crap! It was covered with his schoolbooks and dirty clothes. Helga laughed.
"I think I will take a seat over here if you don't mind, I wouldn't want to disturb the balance of Math homework and dirty gym clothes. " Helga said. She sat down on the bed and leaned back on her elbows. She seen this on TV, apparently guys loved it when girls made themselves comfy in their rooms.
Arnold sat there with a dumb founded look on his face. Her in his room, on his bed, was this sexy, smart, funny girl dressed in only her PJs. THANK YOU LORD! Arnold smiled and walked over to Helga and sat next to her. He suddenly got a boost of self-confidence.
"So what did you want Helga?" Arnold said and leaned in toward her. His face was about five inches away from hers.
'Easy Helga, remember to remain in control and don't let him know you are a sissy girl who has had a crush on him since forever.' Helga thought to herself. She leaned in closer to Arnold and smiled. "Well football head, I just thought maybe I would come to have a nice little chat, I got lonely in my room." She was blushing so hard; it was almost impossible to keep her cool.
"I….I…." Arnold started to stutter at the sudden closeness and remembering they were on a bed. She was still on her elbows and he was leaning over her on one of his. Arnold's closeness started to get to Helga too and she tried readjusting herself. But in the process she accidentally knocked out his arm from under and he fell forward onto her.
'Oh……my…….god…….' they both thought. Arnold lay there on top of Helga. Their noses touching and not an inch between them.
"Arnold, I……" Helga started to say, but then decided that maybe she should just close her eyes like last time. She did. Arnold took this as a sign to go ahead once again and lowered his mouth to hers. It wasn't the first time they kissed. There was the play and the Babewatch thing, but this wasn't little Helga and little Arnold. This was an actual kiss. The tenderness between their lips was unimaginable; kiss like this was one of those things you dream about.
'Oh this has to be why Gerald and Phoebe enjoy each other's company. Just to be this close to a person.' Helga thought, she slow wrapped her arms around Arnold's neck and pulled him in tighter. Arnold made his kisses a little more passionate, and deeper.
'Okay Arnold, you are kissing major babe on your bed. But she is not your girlfriend, and she just moved back. Isn't this wrong?' Arnold asked himself and pulled away genteelly from the kiss. Helga's eyes opened and met his. She had the most peculiar smile on her face. A smile Arnold had never seen on any girls face. In a flash his mind was back to the days of Helga beating him and picking on him everyday. Then the day when she left that sad look on her face from the bus window. What was Helga? She was such a riddle. Why just today she punched him in the eye.
"Helga…" Arnold said while still remaining on top of her. She looked up at him with the most dream like eyes.
"Yes Arnold?" Helga said in a sweet voice, over dramatic a bit, like the tone she used when she played Juliet. Little did Arnold know, this was the voice she used when she would spurt out her poetry to her locket. Helga had slipped into that lovely-dovey mode.
"I hate to ask this now, but how do you feel about me? I mean, I don't know what to make of you. One minute you are joking, next you are punching, then this. I mean, I just don't understand." Arnold said. Helga froze.
'SHIT! Here I got myself kissing Arnold without telling him I love him, and now I am forced to confess since there is obliviously no way to get out from under him without harming him. Shit man, if I lie and say it was just for kicks, he'll think of me as a slut. What am I going to do?' Helga pleaded inside her head. "Arnold, I, well it's not like this was a spur of the moment thing. And it's not like I ever hated you or anything, I just have this problem, you see, I can't express my feelings well."
Arnold rolled to her side, seeing she was so uneasy. "Well understandable being raised in a family where they can't even get your name right."
"Yeah so, I mean, I meant well, but I always didn't do well." Helga stammered. She finally realized listening to herself, that this wasn't her. Helga G Pataki fears nothing!!!! "Arnold! I love you!"
Okay that wraps up this chapter! Cliffhanger huh? REVIEW and I might get it up quicker. Oh and drawing of my teenage versions of Helga and Phoebe will be available as soon as I figure out what the hell is wrong with my scanner!