Part I
The people at the table all looked vaguely familiar to Helga, though she didn't know why. They looked up when the boy approached, smiling their daily overture. Only a few of those smiles faded when their eyes drifted to the girl walking beside him.
"Hey guys. I want you to meet," he stopped, shocked for a moment, before laughing uncomfortably. "I completely forgot to ask what your name is. Shit, I'm sorry."
The girl shook her head. "That's alright. I didn't ask yours either." She shifted her books against her chest and put out her hand. "Helga Pataki."
A tray clattered noisily to the ground.
"Helga? You mean... Wait a minute, did you go to P.S. 118?"
She didn't understand the baffled looks she was getting from the table and kept her eyes nervously locked onto the boy's, just in case she saw something she would regret.
"Yes. Until fifth grade."
"I don't believe it. This is great! I'm Arnold."
Helga shifted under the expectant gaze. "I'm sorry, but...it doesn't ring a bell."
"Oh." His face fell, but he tried valiantly to recover his smile. "Well, that's okay. I mean, that was a long time ago." He looked down at his feet for a moment before turning suddenly to his friends, who watched closely. "Anyway, these guys pretty much all went to elementary with us. You might remember them. We weren't all that close."
She nodded, feeling silly. She tightened her grip on Kafka.
"Um, that's Gerald, with the hair. And the tall ugly one's Stinky."
The boy, who was indeed much taller than Arnold, did not look up from his food as he gave Helga's escort the finger. The table laughed politely.
"Sid's in the black, and that's Phoebe." He offered her the empty chair beside his own.
Helga sat down quickly, hoping to escape the gazes of her long forgotten childhood friends. Phoebe was the only one who seemed to bring up some watery memories, but none were clear enough to warrant her starting a conversation with the petite Japanese girl.
Arnold, sensing the sudden discomfort, put his arm on the back of her chair. "You gonna get something to eat? I'll walk you through the line, if you want. It's kinda a circus in there."
She wanted to go with him, if only to escape these strange people who should have flooded her with happy memories, but the thought of food made her stomach lurch, and if she accompanied him she would be obligated to buy something. She politely shook her head.
"No thanks. I don't have much of an appetite."
He nodded. "Okay. Well, I'm gonna go on ahead. Starving." He forced a lop-sided smile. "Sorry."
Helga shrugged. "I don't mind." Her own forced smile was more firm than she thought she could manage, but felt tight on her face. "I'll take a rain check on the tour, though, if you don't mind."
Arnold shook his head. "My pleasure." He joined Gerald at the head of the table and Helga forced her attention back to her lap. She wanted desperately to return to the safety of her book, but if she was unreachable to these people they would probably give her the cold shoulder, or even worse, ask her to leave. So far Arnold was the only person she had been able to find the least bit of comfort around. She couldn't risk losing that yet.
The silence that descended was not the quick and painless kind that had claimed her in the classroom. Each moment was filled with worry that one of them would ask why she had returned at long last to the city that she had been away from for so long. She could have told them with a straight face, could have even probably managed to make it sound casual, but she was too tired to attempt it, so she studied her lap irresolutely.
Gerald was the first to break the silence. "I don't believe it."
Arnold glanced at him as he pulled a plate down onto his tray. "What?"
"It's Helga." He shook his head. "I mean, I never expected to see her again in a million years."
"Yeah, I know...it's kinda weird that she doesn't remember us." He shrugged awkwardly. "But I guess it has been a long time."
"You know why she's back?"
Arnold looked up at his best friend. "Didn't think to ask. You think I should? I mean, she left on kinda bad terms, remember?"
Gerald remembered. The divorce had seemed to truly shake the blonde, who had walked around in a sort of daze until the final papers were drawn up and she was withdrawn from school, only to move away a few days later with her mother and half of Big Bob's Beeper Emporium profit. In the beginning Phoebe would occasionally come to school with a short letter telling her best friend how great it was to be away, but eventually the letters stopped. They had all assumed that it was great enough to make her forget all about P.S. 118. Now their suspicions seemed to be confirmed, but Arnold had the feeling there was more to it than that.
"You don't have to, man. I was just curious."
Arnold nodded. He would ask.
The final bell let loose a pandemonium that Helga hadn't seen in ages. Her school in Denver was private and had been paid for with the hard-earned wages of Big Bob, who had requested an occasional visit with his youngest daughter, but never bothered to do anything more about it. The strict Catholic school was a sort of bubble in which the cacophony of the outside world did not reach. Her teachers, all men and women of the cloth, were not the strict ruler-wielding dictators she had expected, but rather soft-spoken young men and women who created such an atmosphere of calm that none of the students felt compelled to break it. Even the short breaks taken in the quad had been peaceful.
The bustling inner-city high school took her by surprise.
Arnold flagged her down from across the crowded hall.
"You doing anything tonight?"
Helga shrugged. "Not that I know of."
He expected more, but after a few moments of silence he realized that he wasn't going to get anything. "Well, I was thinking that I could show you around the city. I mean, I know your dad's probably given you the tour, but..."
She shook her head. "No." He had wanted to, but she had turned him down. She feel like telling Arnold that.
"So you want to?"
Helga shut her locker. "Do you mind stopping at my house first? Bob's gotten really protective since I came back, and if I just go... He wouldn't have a fit, but I don't want to do anything he's prepared a speech for, just in case I happen to fly off the handle."
Arnold shrugged. "I don't mind." He shifted uncomfortably. "So, when?"
"Oh, you mean you didn't want to do it this afternoon?"
"I did, I just wasn't sure you wanted to." He rubbed the back of his neck, embarrassed.
"I want to." She took his arm. "You need to check in at home, or are you good to go?"
Arnold looked down at her, surprised somehow. "I'm good."
Helga smiled. "Good."
tbc...
