I own nothing about Hey Arnold, but if I did, things would get a hell of a lot more interesting.

Arnold hit the horn again on his steering wheel. He had been beeping for 5 minutes outside Helga's house. She finally appeared in the doorway. She was looking out of the normal as always. Her hair braided into at least sixty little braids and fastened with little hot pink and black rubber bands. She was wearing a ripped up t shirt that showed off bits of skin here and there and was a midriff. Her pants look like a black shiny plastic material, called Windex pants since that's what it look like you used to clean them. And a pair of combat boots. Of course through all this weirdness, she had the weird appeal to her.

"Hey Helga." Arnold said as she climbed up into the truck. He noticed she was carrying a duffle bag. "That for your practice?"

"Yeah, what of it?" Helga asked in a rude voice as she fastened her seat belt.

"Why don't you just tell me what you do? I mean, it can't be that bad." Arnold said. Helga groaned, it wasn't that what she did was bad, it was just something out of her hardcore image.

"No Arnold, how about I don't, and we say I did." Helga said and went up rolling down the window in the hot late spring heat.

"Okay fine." Arnold said. "So where are we going to get your dress?"

"Like I would know, I never go shopping any place that sells prom dresses. I guess the mall would be the logical answer." Helga said. She knew perfectly well she wouldn't find anything she liked. But if she could trick Arnold in to spending more time wither.

"Okay. Oh and you left this in the truck last night." Arnold said and handed over her necklace. She smiled, she went to Gavin's and he wasn't there, so she was glad Arnold had it.

"Thanks. Where did you find it?" Helga asked, not remembering when it fell off.

"I didn't find it. Gerald did." Arnold said in a monotone voice. This was his way of telling her that someone knew about them.

"Shit, man. That asshole is going to tell the whole school." Helga said and kicked the door of the truck in anger.

"He is not an asshole and he won't. He wouldn't tell anyone if I asked him to." Arnold said. Helga mumbled something and they spent the rest of the ride in silence.

About an hour later, Arnold was sitting in a tacky little chair outside a dressing room in a department store. His job was to bring back any dresses he could find in size 5 for Helga, since she had no idea what she wanted. He wasn't having fun since Helga hated everything and wouldn't even let him see her in the dress before throwing it back over the door of the room.

"Arnold! It's there anything that doesn't have 10 pounds with fluffing under the skirt? I look like a cracked out Barbie doll!" Helga cried from inside the room. Finally getting tired of hearing just vulgar descriptions of what she look she look like, Arnold stood on the chair and peered over the door.

"I think you look cute!" Arnold said. Looking at Helga in a ice blue gown the was simple on the top with a ruffling bottom. Helga must have not seen his head pop over because she screamed and almost fell down as she stumbled in the gown.

"CRIMINEY! Don't sneak up on me like that football head!" Helga said and put her hand to her chest to calm herself down.

"I don't see what is so bad about that dress." Arnold said, he rather liked the color blue on Helga, brought out her eyes.

"I look like I should be walking around Disneyland waving!" Helga said. She turned to Arnold and crossed her arms. "Isn't there anything out there that is at least pink or black?"

Arnold looked out to the dress section and groaned as he climbed down to go search. He had picked out ones he though she would look good in, which apparently weren't good enough.

As Arnold left for another search, Helga removed the blue dress and hung it back on the door. She looked at herself in the mirror. She stood there in a black satin bra and matching panties. She needed a dress that didn't depend on her having curves, she lacked all those. Her practice had given her a slim body. She had to always watch what she ate, she had to stay in the 110 lbs range to be able to go pro.

"Helga? I found some black and pink ones." Arnold said and passed them over the door. She smiled as she saw her familiar colors.

"You did alright this time Arnoldo." Helga said and picked through the dresses. Arnold smiled, if she liked one of those, this whole shopping thing would be over soon.

"Yeah, sorry I couldn't find anything with fishnet." Arnold said tauntingly. Helga growled from behind the door.

"And when did you become a comedian, huh?" Helga said as she removed the hanger from the first dress. "You better shut up or I will come kick your ass."

Arnold laughed at this. "Yeah you are going to come out here and kick my ass in your underwear?"

"Don't make me prove you wrong!" Helga yelled from inside the dressing room. Arnold just kept laughing till he heard the door unlock and swing open. Helga grabbed him and pulled him into the room. She slammed him against the wall and shut the door with her foot since her hands were busy choking Arnold.

"I am not in the mood Arnold. For the last hour I have been trying on nothing but dresses made for girls with huge bobs and a nice shape." Helga uttered through clenched teeth. Arnold was in shock because in fact she was planning to kick his ass in only her underwear. "Now are you going to be nice and keep getting me these dresses and stop with the jokes?"

"Well….I…." Arnold muttered, unable to get over the fact Helga was standing there scantily clad. She slammed him again against the wall. To Arnold's amazement, it didn't hurt. "Hey wait!"

"Huh?" Helga said as Arnold broke her grip and grabbed her by her wrist.

"You are a weak as a kitten!" Arnold laughed. All these years he had been fearing hard core Helga and here she was about as strong as Lila.

"I can still kick your ass Arnold!" Helga growled and tried to get free, but to no avail. Arnold smiled.

"No you can't!" Arnold said proudly. This was a proud day when he realized he no longer had to live in fear of Helga beating the shit out of him. "You are just a girly-girl!"

"I AM NOT!" Helga cried defensively and with Arnold hold her arms, she turned to her true strength, her legs. She brought a quick knee Up into his groin. Her arms might have lost most of their strength, but her legs were stronger then any man's.

"Oooo!" Arnold released her and fell to his knees. His eyes were watering and he was trying not to talk because he knew his voice was going sound like a chipmunk.

Helga gave no notice to him crumbled at the floor and tried on the next dress. It was a slim black one in a Chinese style. It had a golden dragon in it's material and slits up to the hips on both legs. She smiled.

"What do you think Arnold?" Helga said as she turned around to see herself in a different view. Arnold looked up at her with watery eyes. At that moment she looked like Satan to him because he was in so much pain. But he nodded a yes before falling into a little ball on the floor.

"That's what I thought!" Helga said and did a little spin.

Arnold sat there silently as they drove back. He hadn't said a word to her since they left the dressing room. He was half mad she hit him that hard and half scared because he never thought Helga would turn her power to her legs instead of her arms.

"I am sorry I did that Arnold, but you had it coming." Helga said to break the silence. Arnold turned a bit as they waited at a stop light.

"No, I shouldn't have teased you. I don't know what came over me." Arnold said. "I am sorry too."

"Okay then it was stupid on both are parts, blah blah. Enough mushy stuff." Helga said and looked out her window. Arnold looked at her thoughtfully. She was so mysterious.

"Helga, what about last night?" Arnold asked.

"Oh the tattoos are still a little sore but I can deal with it now." Helga said. She knew he was really asking about the kissing, but she was trying to play it off dumb.

"No, what happen in the truck at your house." Arnold said as he started again as the green light shone.

"Well I was just messing with you. I mean come on." Helga said. "I mean, I wanted to show you I wasn't as much as a prude as Lila!"

"Is that all?" Arnold said.

"Well are you only asking me to prom because you want to go with someone smart? I mean would you go with Phoebe if she was here. Or are you after something?" Helga said in a questioning tone.

"I don't know, maybe. I don't know, I just felt like asking you." Arnold said. He felt bad thinking of the real reason he had asked her.

"Well, what about you last night? I mean you kissed me right back and laid me back. I mean a little forward don't ya think? Trying to play me off as the pervert just because I made the first move." Helga said in her annoyed voice she used when she tried hiding what she was really feeling. "I mean, maybe you think you are getting something after prom."

"No I wasn't thinking that at all!" Arnold said. He hadn't even thought about what would happen after prom. But now that she had brought it up, he was pondering. "Well what do you want to do after prom?"

"I am not going to any snotty party to sit there as slowly people get drunk and start crying about how they are going to miss each other when they leave for college." Helga said. She hated the idea of being around people when they were crying, made her very uncomfortable.

"Well then did you want to do something just you and me, or should I just drop you off?" Arnold said. Helga thought about it deeply. She would like nothing more then to end the night sleeping in Arnold's arms, but to say that would get her a strange look.

"We'll do something. I don't want to sit home after prom like some loser." Helga said. She hated spending time at home. It was depressing to see her mom getting drunk and sleeping all the time. Her dad just came in and slept. The maid they had to hire was cranky all the time from cleaning up beer bottles and pizza boxes. She mostly spent time in her room experimenting with stuff from her work.

"Okay, I guess we will cross that bridge when we come to it." Arnold said. Helga looked at her watch.

"Arnold drop me off here next to the subway would ya, I need to get to practice." Helga said and picked her bad off the floor.

"I can just drive you if you want." Arnold said with a smile, if he saw where she went, he would know a clue at least of what she was up to.

"Nah, quicker by subway. Traffic is really bad downtown." Helga said. He pulled over and she climbed out. "Bye!"

She ran off before he could say goodbye in return. He just sighed and watched her disappear into the crowd of people headed down into the underground station. He looked down at her seat and saw something on the floor. He bent over and picked it up. It was a cassette tape.

"Hmm, must have fallen out of her bag." Arnold said and looked at a label on it.

"If found, return to:

Aaron Camwood

342 West Ave, Floor 3"

"HA! I know where she is now!" Arnold said and headed downtown. He wondered what type of cassette it was and cursed himself for switching the tape player in his car for a new CD player. He looked on the tape itself and the only word that was on there was "Tchaikovsky".

To be continued……

BIG OLD FAT CLUE AT THE END! You can find out what Helga is doing n your own or if you aren't smart enough, just wait till the next chapter when Arnold sees Helga in action! Review!