Long Forgotten
By: Kyu/The Sister/Gabriel
Disclaimer: I do not own Hey Arnold! and am making no profit from this work.
Author's notes: [none]
Miriam and Bob's divorce came as a surprise only to Helga, who was shocked that her mother would have the backbone to sever the relationship. Like most divorced women, Miriam took her child, moved away, and tried to start a new life that would go better than the one she had just escaped. And for seven years she did very well. On the anniversary of her divorce from the dreaded Big Bob, while on her way back from a club, Miriam's late-model sedan fish-tailed and sent her over the guardrail of a deserted road. She hit her head on the steering wheel and stayed unconscious until the slit veins of her arm from the shattered glass of the half-open window and the crack in her skull finally killed her approximately half an hour after the crash.
Sixteen-year-old Helga moved back in with her father two weeks after her mother's funeral, returning to the house she had left when she was nine and the life she thought she would never see again.
It was common to get new students mid-year. Public city schools had their fair share of nomads, and so when Miss Weiss lifted her eyes from the memo on her desk to the girl standing in the doorway, she was not surprised. She got to her feet and introduced herself to the blonde, who had the tired look that only teen angst could bring. Patting the girl on the arm, she directed the new student to the back of the room where a recently vacated seat awaited her.
"Alright, kids. Pay attention. Yesterday we started on Kafka's Metamorphosis. I'm going to assume that all of you did your reading and ask for comments. If you didn't do the assignment, for the love of God pay attention, because you have a quiz at the end of the period."
As she spoke she went to the cabinet beside her desk and withdrew a copy of the small book, which she carried back to Helga Pataki listlessly.
"This is our open forum when students ask questions or make statements and other students respond, though most of the kids think it's nap time. In fifteen minutes we go to lunch. The open forum lasts until then. Feel free to start on the book, but don't feel obligated to read the assignment. You'll be exempt from the test."
The girl nodded. "Okay." No hint of smile at the joke, no polite gratitude. Just a shrug of her thin shoulders. Miss Weiss didn't care. She had done her "you can talk to me, I'm a cool teacher" bit. Now it was the students' turn to greet the fresh meat. She didn't think that the quiet girl would have to wait long before getting a few introductions. That quiet bitter look was all the rage these days.
Helga didn't look around the room. She opened the book Weiss had put on her desk and tried desperately to look unapproachable. Bob had been tip-toeing around her since her arrival and had even offered to let her take the rest of the year off and hire a tutor when school was mentioned, but she needed to get out of the house, and so had hopped a bus to sign up for classes only a few days after her plane landed. Anything to get her away from Big Bob, who treated her more like a child now than he ever had before, even when she was still toddling around the house and banging clumsily into walls as she found her feet for the first time. He was trying to get a second chance with her, but Helga wanted nothing to do with it, though she had to admit she appreciated the effort.
Her own effort paid off and the students did not try to speak to her, though she knew that as soon as the bell rang she would probably be swarmed. And since she was at the back of the class there was no quick escape as there had been during her first three classes.
Helga felt the beginning of worry knot up her stomach as she realized that soon they would be abandoning their desks for the cafeteria. She could always go to the office and call Bob, who would come and pick her up without a complaint, but she didn't want to have to talk to him, to explain why she had panicked.
She buried herself in the book and hoped that when she looked up lunch would be over, miraculously skipped over by the gods of time. Kafka was a good escape. His constant trauma took her quickly from her own, so that soon enough she was struggling to right herself on her bed, tiny insect legs flailing impotently in the air.
The bell rang.
Helga blinked stupidly up as the class dissolved into chaos. Only a few students lingered. She rose from her seat and shoved her purse onto her shoulder, hands only slightly shaking as she clutched Kafka. If she could find an empty table at lunch she could fend off the students again with the impenitrable shield of the thin paperback.
A polite cough drew her eyes to where a tall boy stood beside her desk.
"I don't want to bother you on your first day, but...well, I was thinking maybe you'd like someone to sit with at lunch. Unless you already have people waiting for you."
Helga smiled gratefully. "Thanks."
He returned her smile, though his own didn't seem as if it could faulter at any moment and slip away. She was grateful for that. Perhaps his self-assurance would be infectuous.
"No problem. I just hope you can put up with me."
"The feeling is mutual."
He laughed. Her smile became a bit more sure. Perhaps this wouldn't be as bad as she imagined.
