As French as McDonald Fries!
Love that title, I own it! But I don't own Hey Arnold, so damn me all to hell! But I do own, or at least created some original characters for this story!
Okay, I am adding a whole new messed up spin to the old plot of Arnold and Helga being separated and her becoming a bombshell, this is a slightly different take on it.
"If someone told you my life was normal, if someone told you I wasn't a total nut case, if someone told you I was the smartest most cleaver girl in the world, then someone told you wrong. This is my story of my life. It is not for the close-minded, for I took a path which most would see as immoral. Do you really want to hear? Well like all stories worth hearing, it is about a boy. A football headed boy to be accurate." -Helga
Helga walked along the sidewalk in silence as her thoughts flowed through her head like poetry. She was thinking of the most important thing to her, a person actually. A blond cherub. Herself. She was the only person who cared about her, and the only person she cared about. She sighed and looked in a window as she passed by. Unlike most of the girl's, she gained nothing from puberty. Hardly any bust and still awkward looking as hell. Her blond hair still unruly. Her one eyebrow still there, waxing and plucking the sucker was a pain in the ass. Her body was in great shape, since she was the leader of every single girl's sport at her high school, from baseball to swimming.
"Is there no boy out there who can look past the rough outside to my sweet inside?" Helga whispered to herself, almost a sob.
"Hey Helga!" Harold's voice called out from down the street. "Don't look in that window too long, you'll break it with that ugly mug of yours."
"So much for sweet side." Helga said and turned to face Harold. "I am going to make you eat those words fat boy!"
"Oh yeah?" Harold said mockingly. Helga charged at full speed, she was also track captain. Her speed burst from her legs and she was upon her overweight prey in seconds.
"What were you saying PIG BOY!" Helga snarled at Harld as she pushed him to the ground.
"Oh gawd don't kill me!" Harold cried like a baby. Helga looked down at him with a smug grin on her face. Her work was done here, she walked off laughing. Harold picked himself up and watched her walk off.
"Damnit! Why do I always do that, why can't I just tell her how I feel!" Harold said pulling out a locket with a picture of Helga in it and clutching it to his breast.
Helga looked around, that little chase after Helga sent her up the wrong street. She sighed, she hated that fat ass.
"Oh well. I guess I'll just cross back over at the next street." She said and continued to walk down the current street. She didn't realize it till she was right in front of it. This street, this house, she had been avoiding it for eight years now, ever since the 4th grade.
A rusted sign reading "Sunset Arms" was barely covered up with a weather worn "For Sale" sign. The house was empty and most of the windows were boarded up with cheap wood. The weeds had grown from every crack in the stairway to the front door. Graffiti covered it. Helga's mind flashed back to those final days.
~*~FLASHBACK~*~
"WHAT? Arnold is moving?" Helga exclaimed. Phoebe nodded. "Why, where, when?"
"Because his grandparents can't afford the boarding house because none of the tenets pay. So they are going to close it down and finally move to that nice retirement place in Florida. I think it happens at the end of the week." Phoebe said reading from her note pad that she had made observations. Helga slumped against the frame of her bed.
"What should I do Pheebs? Should I tell him I like ice cream?" Helga asked. Phoebe looked down for a second to gather her thoughts and think.
"Well Helga, it is your personal decision, but I would say go for it. I mean, you never will see him again most likely, so what is the worst that can happen?" Phoebe said with a smile. She knew Helga could be brave when she really wanted to be.
"Thanks Pheebs! I will try that!" Helga said and smiled back at her best friend at the time.
~*~END OF FLASHBACK~*~
"What is the worst that can happen? What is the worst that could happen you say?" Helga muttered to herself as she stood in front of the old Sunset Arms.
~*~ANOTHER FLASHBACK~*~
"Arnold!" Helga yelled as she jogged down the sunny street to him while he was adding the last of his boxes to the moving van.
"Helga? What are you doing here?" Arnold asked as Helga stood there catching her breath. He was leaving that day and Helga had been avoiding him all week, not even spit balling him.
"I have to tell you something before you leave." Helga said. She took a deep breath and reassured herself she was doing the right thing. "Arnold, I know I have been mean to you, calling you football head and shooting spit balls at you."
"Oh Helga, it's okay I accept your apologue. I knew you would come to your senses and come and tell me sorry." Arnold said with a smile. Helga looked at him with confusion.
"Arnold, hold on, I didn't come her to say sorry." Helga said waving her hands in a motion to clear the air of the thoughts that clouded her goal.
"Oh. Ohhhhh." Arnold said and then got a isolated look on his face. "Helga, never mind. I don't want to hear any more last time insults, I am not in the mood."
"What makes you think I came to insult you?" Helga said in a defensive. She crossed her arms and glared at him as she waited for his response.
"Because you always do it. You have made my life miserable since kindergarten and I have never done anything to you but extend sympathy for you and your harsh personality." Arnold said getting defensive as well, this was his last day and Helga was making it even more horrible then it already was.
"Sympathy? I don't need your sympathy!" Helga yelled. "I came here trying to be nice and tell you something important, but you just pissed me off."
"Fine, leave, there is nothing you can tell me that would be important now." Arnold said and turned his back; he had had enough of Helga's abuse through the years. Helga grabbed at her chest, it hurt so badly. Her love wasn't important? Tears build up her eyes and she just turned around and ran. Tears flying from her eyes. Arnold never noticed since his back was to her.
"I hate you Arnold!" Helga muffled cried to herself as she ran.
~*~END OF FLASHBACK~*~
"Of course it wasn't important to you Arnold. You only cared about Lila and her not like-liking you. You felt like crap every time she said it. HOW DO YOU THINK I FELT!?" Helga screamed at the house, which did not answer. She picked up one of the crumbled bricks that littered the near by sidewalk from the decaying building.
"I HATE YOU ARNOLD!" Helga shrieked at the house as she launched the brick into a window. It shattered. Just like Helga. All these years she had thought her feelings unimportant. While she didn't change to the outside world, in her own world the emotions stopped. No more poetry, no more artistic release, no more anything. Just pain, pride, and anger.
"Why couldn't you just listen for ten seconds huh?" Helga yelled again to the dwelling. She hadn't thought about this place or Arnold since that day, just pushed it to the back of her mind where it couldn't hurt her anymore. But it hurt now that she was standing back in front of the place, where Arnold finally broke her heart. "Damn you Arnold, you aren't going to get away with this, someone is going to break your heart! And that person is going to be me! You'll see!"
Helga stormed off and walked home in a heated rage. She burst in the front door and went right up to her room. She didn't even bother saying hell to Bob who was eyeing her as she stomped up the stairs.
"Miriam, is something wrong with Helga? She do bad at practice or something?" Bob asked. Helga quickly became his favorite daughter after she became the sports star of the family. She trophies for sports soon over powered Olga's academic ones. And with her always in the school's athletic limelight, the beeper business got plenty of business for having her picture painted on the front window.
"I don't know, maybe she is mad because she didn't ace that math test." Miriam said lying on the couch with a cool rag on her head, aiding her hangover.
"Math? Who cares about math when she has a jump shot that would put Kobe to shame!" Bob said. Miriam rolled her eyes.
"Because she can't get into her first choice college until she brings up that grade. Gawd, it's like you don't even like, know your own daughter." Miriam said and took a sip from her smoothie.
"Why does she want to go to France anyway?" Bob yelled, Miriam cringed at the large noise.
"To get away from you most likely." Miriam muttered to herself. Bob turned around in his chair and glared at her.
"What did you say?" Bob exclaimed.
"Nothing Dear!" Miriam beamed back and rolled over to take a nap.
Helga was up in her room at the moment looking into her vanity mirror. She wasn't the prettiest girl. She couldn't even pass for cute. She just wasn't like the other girls. She was so gangly. Her face was not smooth like Lila's or Rhonda's.
"Who am I kidding? How can I break Arnold's heart when I am just about ugly enough to break a mirror." Helga said and slided down from her vanity seat to her floor. She sprawled out across the long pink shaggy rug on her room's floor. She closed her eyes as the tears leaked out; soon she had drifted off to slumber.
'Helga…..', a voice cried to her in a eerie manner. She bolted up off her floor. But it was no longer her floor, it was black nothingness. She gasped and looked around. She saw a figure standing in the shadows. "Helga…." It cried again in a seductive tone, it was a girl's voice.
"What or who the hell are you?" Helga asked and tried to squint to get a better look. She could barely make out the figure. It stepped forward for her to get a better look. It was an incredible hot blond girl. She was perfect blue sparkling eyes with a cute little nose. Her flawless lips pouted slightly. Her smooth skin lightly tanned to precision. Her body was in a perfect hour-glass shape. With a huge chest and slender legs. Her long blond hair fell to her mid back, some of it fell over of her eyes, giving her a mysterious quality. Her figure was in a pink tube dress, which look like she was sewed into it.
"Geez, I most have really lost it to be dreaming of bimbos." Helga said sarcastically.
"Figures a monkey like you would say that one hmph." The girl answered back in Helga's voice.
"Wait! Why do you sound just like me?" Helga asked and backed up a few steps. The girl smiled.
"I am you Helga. We are one in the same. I am just, let's say, a part of yourself you put away." The other Helga said. Helga stepped forward and looked her twin up and down.
"And with good reason, you look like a god damn whore." Helga said with a laugh. The other Helga just smugly smiled back at the comment.
"Really now? You forget I live in your mind and know what you think. I know you wish to look like this. I am you Helga. I am just the part of you that you chose to kill off. But I never really went away. I am your love for Arnold and your artistic sprit. Why don't you just call me, let's say, Juliet. That is a fitting name." The girl said and swished her hair. Helga got a puzzled look on her face.
"Okay, Juliet, what the hell do you want?" Helga asked in a flat tone. She didn't like dealing with inner demons, especially those with size C racks.
"Well, Helga, I want to live again. I have been shoved in the back of your head for years now! We need to rejoin. Look what happen to you, since you let all those ugly feelings rule us, you turned out to be an eye sore." Juliet said and walked over to Helga. "Now if you want to win Arnold and make him hurt like he hurt us, then you will do as I say."
"Okay, wait a minute, are you a split personality or something. I am already crazy enough as it is, I don't need you up here tramping around in that get up." Helga said and turned her face away from the girl. Juliet smiled and let of a typical Helga laugh.
"Helga my dear, we are the same person! You just pushed me into the back for so long you forgot what it is like to be one. To be tough and yet sensitive at the same time. Think of me as your inner child with a great body!" Juliet said and wrapped her arms around Helga. "Now let's join together again, and then you'll have Arnold!"
"How?" Helga asked scared as Juliet's arms entangled her. She squirmed a bit uneasy as Juliet's mouth neared her ear.
"Join me and find out." She whispered into Helga ear. Helga shivered. She let her body relax and Juliet let an evil grin spread across her face. The two girls melted together. Helga sat up and screamed.
"Where am I?" Helga gasped as she felt the soft rug under her and recognized this was her room. "Oh I must have fallen asleep." She noticed the room was very dark. "That dream was so weird, I don't think I will ever understand what the hell that meant."
She wiped her brow of some sweat and then raised herself to look back in the vanity. She was same old Helga. Big features and wearing clothes that were unisex. She sighed as she remembered how good Juliet looked. Helga sat down at the vanity and pulled out some paper and pencil. She drew a picture of the dream girl and sighed.
"If only I looked like you, my beloved Arnold would love me at first sight." Helga said and then slapped her hand across her mouth. "Did I just call Arnold 'beloved'? I haven't done that since he left. Did I really join with that girl?"
Helga looked down at the drawing, it seem to smile at her even though she hadn't drawn it that way. She studied it long and hard. She had to look like that. She knew her dad would give her anything she wanted, and right know she wanted a new life for herself, a new beginning.
2 years later….
Phoebe pulled up her rental moped to the parking space in front of the luxurious apartments over looking the grand city of Paris. She was in her freshman year of College at a fancy school in Germany, studying to become a doctor. She had gotten a letter from her best friend from high school, begging her to come visit her. Helga had mysteriously fled to France in the middle of Junior year of high school without much explanation. Miriam had filled her in that Helga was looking for a new life.
"Wow, Helga's parents put her up in a nice place. I wonder how much Helga has changed." Phoebe said and walked up the iron cast spiral staircase to the second floor walkway. She walked till she reached the door with the number '5' on it. "Well here goes nothing!" She knocked. She heard footstep stumbling around to get to the door.
Helga took a large deep breath as she reached for the door knob. She didn't know how Phoebe would deal with her change. She knew Phoebe always liked Helga for who she was and wouldn't haven approved of the surgeries, but it was needed. It was all needed to finalize her plan. She turned the knob and opened the door.
"Allô Phoebe!" Helga greeted as she opened up the door. Phoebe gasped as she looked at the "new" Helga standing in front of her. A beauty like she had never seen was standing there. Perfect eyes, nose, and mouth. Smooth soft skin, crowned with slightly long curled locks of blond hair. A slim body with an almost impossible rack for her body size. She looked like something off the cover of a teen magazine.
"Helga?!" Phoebe choked out of her mouth. The girl smiled and did a small spin.
"You like?" the girl said in a soft French accent. Phoebe stood in disbelief.
"Helga? Is that really you?" Phoebe asked and squinted to make sure she was seeing clearly.
"Of course it's me, who else would it be?" the normal Helga tone asked, still with a tint of French flare. It had come from living there for two years and normally speaking French the entire time.
"What did you do?" Phoebe asked and slowly walked into the apartment as Helga moved aside in the doorway to allow her to pass. The room was done very girly, dolls and stuffed animals everywhere, with pink and lace decorating everywhere. A breathtaking few of the city from her window balcony.
"What do you think I did? I got plastic surgery." Helga said flatly as she walked over to a plush couch. She was dressed in a short silk pink dress with a white lacey see through blouse over it. She flopped down on the couch and took one of the stuff animals into her arms.
"Why Helga, what was wrong with your old look?" Phoebe asked as she made herself comfortable in a cozy pink arm chair. She knew what was wrong with Helga's old look, but she didn't think it was bad enough to actually change it so drastically. She could hardly tell that was Helga, except for the pink bow that adorned her hair.
"Phoebe, I was scared emotionally as a child. My parents were cold, uncaring individuals. I had you as my only friend. And the one person I cared about more then anything, told me I wasn't important. I closed myself off. You are the only person I care about now. I already got my revenge on my parents by running up the bills in Paris sky high. Now I want revenge on that person who broke my heart. And to do that I needed to look my best. What better way to do that then to get surgery and a whole new life style on your asshole father's credit card?" Helga said. Phoebe frowned, Helga had finally truly lost it.
"Yes I see, well I am just surprised. This is so not like you." Phoebe said. She knew Helga had been emotionally killed by a remark Arnold made before he left, leaving her cold to the world and unable to love any other man. But she sadly expected Helga to commit suicide or go criminally insane. It was just the way she acted. But to become a vindictive beauty queen was the last thing that had come to mind.
"And it's time to put that plan into action." Helga said as she smiled.
Later that night, when Helga was blissfully asleep in her exquisite white lace bed, Phoebe laid on the plush couch and looked around at all the stuff animals staring at her. They were all given to Helga by admirers from her college. Phoebe was shocked to learn that Helga had planned to go to Berkley, California and enroll in Cal State, the school Arnold attended. (GO BEARS!) Once there, she would seduce Arnold and make him fall in love with her, then leave him and break his heart. It sounded cruel even for Helga. She was asked if she wanted to come with, but Phoebe decided she wanted not part of it, and told Helga she was busy with exams. She closed her eyes and tried to shake off the weird feelings brewing inside of her.
2 months later…..
"Hey Arnold!" a voice cried out. Arnold snapped out of his dream like state and looked behind him to see his best friend smiling at him.
"What is it Nathan?" Arnold asked his friend. Nathan was his roommate in the dorms and his buddy. Nathan was a slim guy, with semi long brown hair and green eyes. They got along great, even though Arnold often thought back to his former to best friends, Gerald from the old neighborhood and Brian from Florida. He missed them but had fallen out of contact with both of them once he started a new here in California.
Arnold was sitting on a picnic table along the jogging path, his favorite hang out spot. Nathan was jogging up to him.
"You gotta come quick!" Nathan said. He pulled on Arnold wrist to drag him off the table. "They are having a free concert by the basketball arena!"
"Really!" Arnold asked excitedly. Berkley was a hot bed of all different types of music, mostly punk music, hometown to bands like Green Day.
"Yeah, these guys are pretty good!" Nathan said as the two dashed across the lawn heading toward the arena. They stopped at the sound of a female voice.
"Natty! Anry! Where are you going?" a girl's voice chimed through the trees near by. They looked up in a tree to see her sitting there on a branch cheerfully smiling at them. Her name was Brooke. Nathan and Arnold both stopped and got a goofy look on their faces.
"We are going to go see a band on campus." Nathan said as he stared back up at her. "What are you doing up there, terrorizing the squirrels?"
"No, I was looking for a bird's nest to observe for my Zoology project." Brooke said with a giggle and jumped down in front of them. She was short, about 5'4" and had short red hair to the length of her jaw line. She was the object of both boys' affection, and coincidently, their best female friend.
"Well want to come with us?" Arnold asked, she was so cute, she reminded him of Lila, but she was a little less ladylike then that. She liked hiking and nature. She was hoping to major in animal care and get a job at the zoo. Arnold fell in love with that sweet dream of hers.
"Sure, better then chasing squirrels." Brooke said and ran along side them as they neared the arena. They could already hear the punk lyrics blaring through the air. As they neared the saw the crowd of students jumping around and moshing.
"Looks like a good band!" Nathan said as they halted on the out skirts of the crowd. Arnold and Nathan were unsure if the harsh mosh pit was right for a small girl like Brooke, but before they could say anything she ran in.
"Oh god, she is going to get smashed!" Arnold said and wedged in after her, with Nathan behind. They worked their way through till they made it to one of the many mosh pits. They saw Brooke bashing her way around with the boys and actually enjoying herself. "Who would have guessed she had it in her?"
"Yeah, she looks like she can take half of those guys out the way she is going, hah hah!" Nathan said with a laugh and joined in too. Arnold on the other hand wasn't too much into the whole slamming one body into others for fun. He stood back and watched as Nathan and Brooke took on the rest of the crowd.
"Hmph, looks like they are having fun." Arnold said desolately as Brooke and Nathan slammed into each and laughed. Nathan seemed to have been forward with Brooke and flirted her openly. They both knew the other liked Brooke, but agreed not to end the friendship if the other man got her. At this rate, Nathan would end up with her. His train of depressive thinking was cut short as he heard a scream.
"HELP!" Brooke cried as she was lifted off her feet and passed over the crowd. Crowd surfing could be fun, but for a hot girl like Brooke, it could be dangerous since some of these crowds were known for ripping the clothes off of girls or grabbing them sexually as they were passed over head.
"Brooke!" Nathan cried and charged through the crowd after her. Arnold ran through the pit to follow, but was slammed in the opposite direction. He flew to the ground as the mosh pit became more violent as the crowd raged to the next fast pace song. He heard a low feminine cry from a few feet away on the ground.
"Please stop!" he heard the voice plead. 'Brooke?' Arnold asked in his mind as he got up and pushed his way toward the voice. He saw a group of guys crowding around a girl on the ground.
"Come on Honey! Take it off and have fun. Stop being such a prude." A guy called out to the girl and she sobbed.
"Back off damn it!" she yelled and threw a punch blindly at the guy, it struck his chin and he flew back.
"What the hell! Get her!" his friends cried and closed in on her. She couldn't fight them all and she let out a scream. Arnold glared and raced forward to one of the guys, considerably bigger then him.
"Let Her GO!" Arnold yelled and put a chokehold on the guy and pulled him backwards off the girl. She saw the opening and stumbled out of the circle of men. Before the men could react, Arnold released the guy and grabbed the girl's waist and pulled her up and ran her out of the hostile crowd. As he exited the crowd to the outskirt of the grass area, he saw Nathan comforting Brooke whose plaid outer shirt was slightly ripped. Arnold looked down into his arm to see he was not holding Brooke, but was greeted with the sight of blond hair.
Helga sniffled as she escaped the crowd of energy pumped college kids. Her body was shaking. She was peeking around the campus and spotted the crowd and decided to go look around. She got caught up in the mosh pit before she knew what happen, a group of guys singled her out and surrounded her. She was then saved by this mystery man. She looked up to see his face. He was already looking down at her. She gasped.
'Arnold?' she asked herself as Arnold gasped too.
'She, she looks so familiar…' Arnold said. She looked like he saw her somewhere before, but a long time ago. But her appearance wasn't familiar in a weird way.
"Are you okay?" Arnold asked the girl. She was breathtakingly gorgeous, she seem to be gazing at him in amazement.
"I am fine, Arnold." She said softly with a hint of her French accent coming through. Arnold looked at her weirdly. Helga mentally kicked herself in the ass for saying his name; that totally blew her advantage.
"How did you know my name?" Arnold asked as he turned to face her better and released his hold from around her waist. She had a familiar hint to her voice he couldn't place.
"Well you see…" Helga tried to explain. She didn't know why she just couldn't say she was Helga. She came her to ruin his life and suddenly he was saving hers. She turned her eyes away awkwardly and some of her hair flew over one her eyes, like it so often did. And that spanned the image in Arnold's head. The hair over the eye, the French accent, her knowing his name.
"You are her!" Arnold exclaimed and stood back and looked her over. It had to be her. "You are the girl from Chez Paris, when I was in the forth grade. Oh my god, I totally forgot all about that till I just saw you!"
"Huh?" Helga said, searching her memory bank for the records of that night, she kind of forced herself to forget all about Arnold after he left. Now the memories of them together had grown hazy.
"Cecile! Right? Wait, no you were posing as Cecile. Who are you?" Arnold asked as all sorts of questions filled his head.
" I am… am…." Helga stammered and looked around. 'How the hell am I going to get out of this?' She closed her eyes to think for a second, her heart was racing like it use to around Arnold. Maybe this was a bad idea. She got scared and did what came natural around Arnold, she lied. " My name is Juliet."
"Juliet? That's beautiful. But where did you come from I mean, I know nothing about you except that you were posing as Cecile that night." Arnold asked as she gazed over her. She was wearing a pink sundress that was peasant style, loose and thin cotton. It matched perfectly with his relaxed attire of long khaki shorts and a faded out navy blue tank top.
"I come from France." Helga lied pleasantly, figuring she had to go with it. " I was a friend of Cecile's who was also visiting America. I was so jealous of her having you as a penpal, that I thought I could sneak in and have dinner with you before you met up with her."
"Wow, I never knew my letter writing skills were good enough to make a girl lie about who she is." Arnold said jokingly as he took Helga's hand. Helga laughed uneasily as she looked Arnold in the eyes.
'Oh no Helga, don't be a chicken now! You can't fall back in love with him and ruin the plan. Remember this boy messed with your mind beyond recovery and you dreamed up a evil bimbo you plotted this whole revenge and now you are her. You are Juliet.' Helga thought to herself inside her turbulent mind. Arnold just smiled at her, she looked so cute when she was thinking hard.
"So Juliet, you go here now?" Arnold asked as he snapped her off her train of thought. She looked at him with big eyes as if she was dreadfully confused by his question, while she in reality wasn't listening to a word he had said.
"Oh yeah." Helga said and put on a cute smile. She could act with the best of them. In fact that is what she had been doing in France as her major. She was a theater major. What could she say, she was a born actress. And right now she was putting on her life time performance on the stage of Berkley.
"Wow, that's great. I can't believe out of all people, I run into you. I must have the best luck." Arnold said and smiled. He fell for one of his instant head over heels girls, like how he fell for Lila and Summer. He fell for his dear sweet Juliet.
"Well Arnold, I mean, maybe we are just made to meet up again. Of course, my namesake was a star cross lover too!" Helga said as she batted her eyelashes. She couldn't believe she just blurted out that piece of crap, but it was working it's charm over Arnold.
Brooke looked up from Nathan and saw Arnold and some blond girl making at eyes at each other as Arnold held her hand. Brooke's heart crushed. She loved Arnold, but was always afraid to come forward since Nathan seem to be taken with her. She didn't want to break Nathan's heart, that is not something you do to you do to your best friends. She turned her head away from the sight of Arnold and his new girl. But it did no good they were walking over.
"Hey guys!" Arnold said as he walked up to Brooke and Nathan. He seem to switch from Brooke to Juliet in a blink of an eye. "Look, this an old….errr, friend of mine from when I was a kid. Juliet, this is Nathan and Brooke."
"Hello!" Helga said in her cute little French way, at this point she was milking the accent a bit.
"Hey!" Nathan said as his eyes covered Helga's body, she was definitely a fox. "Nice to meet you Juliet."
"Yes very nice!" Brooke said somewhat coldly. She didn't like the look of this new girl at all, she look fake, from body to personality. Helga smiled at Brooke, not noticing the cold chill Brooke was trying to send.
"Well, are you alright Brooke?" Arnold asked and pointed to her ripped over shirt.
"Oh yeah, some guy just got fresh." Brooke said and toughened her muscles. "But I could have taken him if Nathan didn't get in the way!" She said it as a joke and they all had a laugh.
"Yes, the crowd is surely out of control. Arnold here saved me from several violent men, isn't that right?" Helga said and leaned her head on Arnold's shoulder, he blushed a bit.
"Well yeah!" Arnold said sheepishly. Nathan gave him a slap on the back.
"Way to go man! You are her knight in shinning Bears shirt!" Nathan said. Making a joke that Arnold's school spirit went above and beyond, since he was never seen without something that was related to "CAL" or "BEARS".
"Yeah, well if you don't mind I am leaving!" Brooke said and got up and walked off rudely without saying goodbye. It was her own fault for not having Arnold, but he didn't have to prance around with girls of that sort in front of her.
"What's her problem?" Helga asked flatly. Nathan gave a heavy sigh and got up.
"I guess I better investigate. You can give Juliet a tour, and we'll all meet up later in the room okay?" Nathan asked. Arnold nodded and smiled at Helga. She didn't have the heart to tell me she had yet to enroll, she just arrived today. But oh well, it was Friday afternoon, he would never know she didn't have class if her plan worked out before Monday.
"So Juliet, tell me about yourself. I want to know all about you!" Arnold said as they started to take walk down the jogging path. Helga growled at herself mentally for getting herself in this fix.
"Well I am coming her to study theater, I already took some lessons in Paris. I am hoping on one day becoming a great actress. I came here hoping to find a guy to sweep me off my feet, you know the romantic American type." Helga said in her sweet little lying way. Well half lie, most of that was true.
"Well I guess you came to the right place." Arnold said and reached for her hand again. He held it tight. He had got the weirdest feeling when he saw Juliet, like he was getting back part of his life he lost when he moved. A semi-familiar face was better then just some random girl.
"Oh Arnold." Helga said. Her heart was pounding like mad. This couldn't be, was she in love again. She pushed the thought out of her head and continued her performance as Juliet.
"I know this sounds stupid, but you ever see someone and know they are the one?" Arnold said as they stopped at his favorite spot, the picnic table along the road. He lead her to it and they sat there under the shade of the trees.
"Oh Arnold, all the boys say that when they see me!" Helga laughed in a flirtatious manner.
"No I mean it. I don't know, something in your eyes. I mean they are so memorable for me. It's like I have seen them more then just that one time we met." Arnold said looking deep into her eyes. Helga got a bit nervous again.
"Nope, just that impression I guess. We only met once, only once, never again or before!" she said and put on her smile to melt his heart and distract him for her horrible lying.
"Yeah I guess it is a little crazy. I mean for a while I thought you were some girl from my old school." Arnold said with a laugh. Helga just sat there in dead silence. She didn't even find the joke remotely funny, it was horrifying. Arnold wasn't as dense as she hoped.
"Yeah, that is weird!" Helga said and thought she would start working on him. She leaned in close to him and closed her eyes slightly. "You are so funny Arnold."
"Yeah, I guess." Arnold said nervously as she closed in and her arms wrapped around his neck. He wrapped his arms around her back and pulled her to him. Their lips separated just by an inch. She closed her eyes completely and their kiss began.
'No Helga! STOP FALLING BACK IN LOVE WITH HIM!' She screamed to herself in the back of her mind. She felt the urge coming on to let him know everything, but she quickly killed that off once she thought of the pain she had been living in all these years.
'Arnold, you are the luckiest guy in the world. Your mystery woman walks back into your life and it's love at first sight!' Arnold he genteelly pulled away to end the kiss and looking lovingly into her eyes. For some reason her eyes seem so familiar, that shade of blue. But he pushed it out of his head.
"You are amazing, Juliet." Arnold said as he looked at her. A small blush crawled across her face and she darted her glance away.
"Oh Arnold, thank you." Helga said. At this point she wasn't acting, she was actually flattered. She never felt this happy, well since she was with Arnold back in forth grade.
"I just can't believe how I feel about you all of a sudden, it's like the play Romeo and Juliet. We fall in love after one chance meeting." Arnold said as he wrapped his arm around Helga, she quivered with joy.
"Yes, it truly is my love." Helga said. 'Wait!' Helga screamed out in her head. 'My love? Where did that come from, why am I so happy? Are you acting or are you actually happy about this jerk loving you? He only loves you because of your looks.'
"Are you alright Juliet? You keep looking like you have something on your mind." Arnold asked, Helga smiled at him, he was certainly as sharp as a tack.
"Oh yes, I was just getting lost in a daydream of our new found love." Helga said, now that was acting. She would never saw that normally.
"Oh yeah!" Arnold said with a laugh and pulled her close in for a one armed hug. Helga couldn't help herself, she fainted blissfully into dreams. "Juliet?"
Arnold noticed she had passed out. He thought maybe from all the sudden excitement she had been over whelmed. He picked her up and carried her quite a distance to the dorm room. Brooke and Nathan were in there playing 'Street Fighter Alpha' on Arnold's PS2.
"Hey what happen to her?" Nathan asked as Arnold stumbled in carrying Helga in his arms. Brooke rolled her eyes.
"She fainted, I think between the attack and us meeting up again most over worn her out." Arnold said as he laid Helga down on his bed. Brooke was shooting glares over at the two of them as Arnold tenderly brushed strands of hair away from Helga's face.
'Why does she seem so much more familiar then she is. I feel like she is like an old acquaintance that I should know.' Arnold said and leaned over and kissed her lightly on the forehead. A PS2 controller nailed Arnold in the head as Brooke ran from the room crying.
"Ouch! Brooke!" Arnold shouted after her. Nathan sighed and ran after her. He was getting really sick of her doing that. Arnold rubbed his head. "What has gotten into her lately?"
"Oh, where am I?" Helga said as she started to wake up from that lovely dream she use to have oh so often, the one where her and Arnold are marrying each other. She opened her eyes to see Arnold, she must still be dreaming.
"Are you alright Juliet?" Arnold asked as he stroked a strand of her hair from her face.
"What did you just call me?" Helga asked, then she realized where she was and what was going on. 'Damn it! I blew it!'
"What did you just ask?" Arnold asked speciously as he eyed Helga. She choked up a bit.
"I asked what you called me, I mean, you don't have to call me Juliet all the time, you could call me Julie or Mon Cherie! I love nicknames." Helga said, laying on thick with her French accent again. Arnold smiled.
"Oh, okay Julie!" Arnold laughed, "You should come up with a nickname for me!"
'FOOTBALL HEAD!' Helga screamed inside her head and laughed wickedly up in the evil little mind of hers. "Well what were your old nicknames people called you? I can use one of them!"
"Well, my grandpa called me shortman, my grandma called me Kimba, and Brooke calls me Arny. I have had few bad ones like football head or Arnoldo." Arnold listed off as Helga continued to laugh in her head, but kept a straight face.
"Oh my love, who would ever make fun of your perfectly shaped head?" Helga asked as if she already didn't know. Arnold looked thoughtful for a second.
"This girl I use to know, her name was Helga. She made my life a living hell." Arnold said and shuttered. Helga felt a pang of pain in heart.
"Oh, how so?" she asked, trying to dig a bit deeper.
"She picked on me all the time. I was always trying to be nice to her, to be her friend since she seem not to have a lot. But every time I tired to get close to her she pushed me away. It was weird. I kind of missed her a bit after I moved away. But enough about the past." Arnold said, trying to shut off that dark part of his mind where Helga's taunting laugh still lingered.
"Oh yes, well, will you show me to the restroom. I believe I could freshen up a bit!" Helga said as Arnold pointed her to the door slightly to their left. She smiled at him to reassure him and then closed the door between the rooms.
"Oh No!" She whispered to herself. "What have I done!? In all my plans of revenge, I never thought once that I might have been the one who deserves the blame. What am I going to do now? I can't just say, 'Hey Arnold, guess what? It's me, Helga!' and I can't go on being Juliet, it'll drive me crazy. What am I going to do?'
Arnold sat on his bed smiling to himself, he couldn't be happier. For some bizarre reason, Juliet made him feel complete. She had something very inquiring in her character that made him ponder on her. His thoughts of his blond goddess were broken with the sound of a series of small muffled sobs from behind the bathroom door. He walked over slowly and leaned against the door. He heard Juliet speaking softly.
"Why am I so stupid, I should have known I would never be able to do this! I never was able to do anything!" the soft whimper touched Arnold's heart. What was she unable to do? He knocked softly on the door.
"Juliet, what's wrong, please open up." Arnold pleaded, the sound of the lock turning greeted his ears. He turned the knob and saw Juliet sitting there with tears running down her face. "What's wrong?"
"I am sorry Arnold!" Helga busted out crying. She cried like she never cried before. She wept for herself and Arnold. It seems all those therapist were right, all scars are set in childhood and shape our outcome.
"Juliet, please, calm down!" Arnold said as he lifted her from the bathroom floor and led her back to his dorm bed. He laid her down and reached for a sock on the ground. Walking over to the door, he slipped it over the outside of the front doorknob. This was Nathan and his secret symbol for privacy. He then returned to Helga's crying form on his bed.
"I am so sorry Arnold, I should have never came here looking for you!" Helga cried and wrapped her arms around Arnold's torso. He instinctively wrapped his muscular arms around her fragile shaking form. But he was deeply concerned about her last statement.
"You came here looking for me?" Arnold asked as he rubbed her back, trying to hush her from crying.
Helga looked up into Arnold's eyes, her own matted with salty tears. "Arnold, I have loved you since I meet you. I wasn't the same after we parted." And with that she leaned up and began to kiss Arnold passionately. He tried to pull away to ask her what she meant by that, but she had a strong hold on him. He gave up and started to kiss her back. They leaned back onto the bed. Without breaking the kiss, he reached over and pulled the cord for the blinds to close.
Brooke stormed around the campus in a rampage. Here she had loved Arnold for two years and waited for the right moment, and then it was all ruined by some French twinkie!
"Juliet! Who the hell does she think she is all over my Arnold? So what if she some old flame or something of his. I am mean, she is so fake!" Brooke mumbled and walked around the campus. She was coming up on the front part of the campus, she wanted to go see her best friend Zadie, who worked at the front information desk at the college.
Zadie looked up for her homework on the counter as two hands came slamming down on either side.
"THAT JERK!" Brooke screamed into Zadie's face. Zadie calmly closed her book and looked her friend in the eyes. This happen every time Arnold went on a date or was fooling around with some other girl.
"Hello Brooke. Got something you need to get off your chest?" Zadie asked in a cynical voice. Her black hair slicked forward, it was a boy cut, and looked very cute against her ebony sink. She wore a call shirt and a pair of denim shorts.
"Juliet is the one who needs to get something off her chest, the two ton titted witch!" Brooke said and sat up on the counter and grimaced. Her temper was about as red as her ruby hair.
"Arnold is dating a girl with huge boobs named Juliet?" Zadie asked, this choice was a little out of the ordinary for Arnold, he normally went after the smart girls instead of well developed ones.
"Yes with her perfect blond hair and little French accent." Brooke said and made strangling motions with her hands. Zadie's memory snapped.
"Was she wearing a little pink dress? Like a hippie dress?" Zadie asked, Brooke looked over her shoulder questioningly.
"Yeah, what of it?" Brooke asked in her normal defensive tone. Zadie popped out of her seat and reached under the counter to produce a pink gym bag.
"She was here earlier and asked if I could hold her bag whole she walked around campus." Zadie said and showed off the bag to Brooke. Brooke looked weirdly at the bag.
"That's funny, the letters of the bag are 'H.G.P.', wonder what that stands for." Brooke said and snatched the bag from Zadie.
"Hey give that back, I am in charge of bag claim. I can't let you have that!" Zadie said and tried in vain to grab the bag from Brooke, but she was already rummaging through it.
"Oh hush up! Well well, a passport!" Brooke said and opened it up. She gasped. "Oh my god Zadie! The girl is a fake, she isn't Arnold's friend Juliet, she is some girl name Helga!"
"Are you serious!?" Zadie said and popped up on the counter and looked at the passport. "What the hell is she doing? Why would she pose as someone? And how did she know Arnold had a French friend? She must be trying to get something from him."
"Hey guys!" Nathan said as he jogged up out of breath. "I have been looking all over for you young lady. I looked in all the normal spots."
"Nathan, listen to me! That Juliet is a phony! Her real name is Helga and she is tricking Arnold!" Brooke screamed as Nathan looked at her skeptically.
"What the hell are you talking about?" Nathan asked as Brooke shoved the passport in his face. He took a quick look over. "So, what is the big deal? Arnold isn't rich, she ain't a gold digger. What is the problem?"
"The problem is your best friend is being taken in by some con woman for god knows what purposes and you are just standing there!" Brooke screamed at Nathan.
"Oh she is certainly taking him alright, I tried going back to the room and the 'Don Not Disturb' sock as on the door knob." Nathan said with a chuckle, for him to be serious for one moment in his life was asking way too much of him.
"WHAT!?" Brooke yelled and grabbed Nathan's collar. "How long ago was that?"
"Let's see, I been walking around since then for about a hour looking for you." Nathan said as he removed her fist from his shirt.
"Oh gawd!" Brooke said in shock. She took of running across campus with the passport in her hand. She had to tell Arnold as soon as possible.
Arnold dozed off washed-out from him and Juliet's roll in the sack. ( I love that saying!) He was having sweet dreams of her after an hour of lovemaking. He slumbered as Helga rinsed herself off of all the sweat in the shower. She felt so liberated. She was finally back in Arnold's life, this time as his lover. She would stay Juliet forever to relive those tender moments over and over again. She dried herself off and put her clothes back on. She felt weird walking around naked in a dorm, who knows where perverts have peep holes. A knock came to the door, or better yet, a punch.
"ARNOLD OPEN UP!" a girl screamed. Helga sighed, she would deal with who ever since she wanted her angel to continue to sleep. She walked to the door and slid out into the hallway to see a cross Brooke.
"Brooke? What is wrong?" Helga asked.
"Let me see Arnold!" Brook demanded. Helga not liking the tone this girl was taking her decided to get rid of her.
"Sorry Petite, but Arnold is indisposed at the moment. May I take a message?" she said with her sweet French accent in a bitter tone.
"I know who you are, HELGA!" Brooke said and held up the passport. Helga froze in fear.
"Where did you get that?" Helga said as Zadie and Nathan came down the hall carrying her bag.
"It doesn't matter. It's over, now get your trashy little French ass out here." Brooke said to Helga. In a moment the world once again became a cold and harsh place for Helga G. Patacki. Her eyes started to water. Brooke felt a bit bad. "Would you people excuse us for a minute?" she said to Zadie and Nathan, they nodded and walked off to give them some space.
"Look, I am being nice and giving you a chance to escape before Arnold finds out. I love Arnold, I have for two years, and I am not going to let anyone who just met him to take him away after all that." Brooke said with a sullen face, while Helga's had actually grown livid.
"Two years huh? Try your whole life sister!" Helga said and snatched the passport from Brooke's hands. Brooke stood stunned as Helga continued down the hall without a word and snatched her bag from Zadie's hands. She just kept walking and then she was gone.
"A whole life time? What is that suppose to mean?" Nathan asked, couldn't help but overhear.
"I don't know Nat, but I have a feeling we just did something really bad to that poor pink girl." Zadie said and looked sorrowfully at the ground. The door opened with Arnold standing there in a pair of gym shorts.
"What is all this stomping out here?" Arnold asked, everyone looked at each other edgily. "Where did Juliet go?"
"Arnold, Juliet is…." Nathan started but was cut off by Brooke. She looked very dejected about what she had just done, but felt it was the right thing for Arnold's well being.
"Arnold, that girl isn't named Juliet, she was a fake." Brooke said. Arnold looked at her puzzlingly and took a few steps back.
"What are you talking about?" Arnold said. Some how he already knew what Brooke was saying was true, something about Juliet wasn't quite believable.
"She is someone else, I found her passport." Brooke said and was about to hand over the passport when Arnold waved his hand off. "What, don't you want to see who she truly is?"
"I already know." Arnold said holding his head as deep in thought. The blond hair, the pink, and that shade of blue. It all came together. But why? "Why Helga?"
7 months later (time flies) ……
Miriam sipped on her smoothie as she over looked the wonderful California coast line. About a month ago, when she left Bob, she came to live with Helga in her little beach apartment. Helga hadn't come home first, she just said she was going to live in Pacifica, California. Miriam thought it odd for Helga not to visit, she would always blow through town now and then, get spoiled, then leave. But as soon as Helga greeted her at the front door, she knew why she didn't come home.
"So tell me again Helga." Miriam asked to Helga who was laying on the couch just next to the window where Miriam was viewing the scenery. "Why again are you hiding out here in California pregnant?"
Helga put her hands on her stomach to feel the baby's slight kicks. It made her smile a bit. "Because dad would kill me for having a baby in my prime basketball years."
"And tell like why you aren't even telling the father he is going to be a father?" Miriam said and took a swig.
"Because he doesn't know he had sex with me Mom. I was using a different name then. I can't let him know who I really am." Helga said as she looked over at the ultrasound snapshot on the table, she took them yesterday. She sighed slightly as she saw her baby had taken after his father in head shape, labor would be hell.
"Okay Okay now, why were you using a fake name?" Miriam asked, she had already asked there questions a thousand times, but she kept asking, hoping Helga would change her mind and tell the boy.
"Because Miriam, I am a moron and got myself into a mess!" Helga said sarcastically. She has forced herself to wash away that French accent, she tried to rid herself of anything Juliet-ish.
"Okay, I am going to go lay down, you are giving me a headache." Miriam said and walked off into her bedroom. Helga wondered if having a little help around the apartment with the baby coming really worth having to deal with Miriam. She decided it was cheaper and less work then hiring a maid or midwife.
"Hey little girl, would you stop kicking my bladder. Criminey!" Helga laughed and rubbed her stomach. "What are we going to call you? You need a name that strikes fear in all who hear it. Something worthy of the empress of the world. How about Roberta?"
Helga felt a sharp kick on her on hand. She laughed.
"I'll take that as a no! Well fine, how about……Vivian?" Kick. "Quin?" Kick. "Una?" No Kick. "Okay Una it is!" Kick. "You are just kicking at random huh?"
A knock broke Helga from the name game. She genteelly rolled to her side and slid off the couch. Getting around while you have a huge hump on your stomach wasn't easy. She waddled a bit over to the door. She was in pink PJ bottoms and a very large T-shirt, she refuse to buy actual maternity clothes. She looked at the hall clock as she made her way to the door.
"Gee, those pizza guys are serious when they say thirty minutes or less." Helga chuckled to herself and opened the front door, but there was no pizza man to be found.
"Oh my god!" Helga gasped. It was him. "What are you doing here?"
"I came to say I love you Helga!" Arnold said and wrapped his arms around her and pulled her in for a hug. He had closed his eyes to enhance the moment, but the shot open when the felt a soft kick on his stomach. He look down. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING PREGNANT!"
"What do you think football head!" Helga yelled.
The End
Ahhh, one of those use your own imagination endings, don't you hate those? Anyways I just had to write this since I have been kicking around the idea for so long. I really hate making Original Characters, so I am sorry Brooke sucks, I hate her, that bitch! Review!