Oh yeah, I sorta forgot to put a disclaimer on the first two chapters, so here it is…
DISCLAIMER: Hey Arnold-not mine, never will be.
'What a day,' I thought walking up the stoop to my house. I paused before opening the door. I knew Wartz had called Arnold and I's parents, in his case his grandparents, and I wasn't quite sure how to take that. If my parents DID yell at me, wouldn't that be a blessing in disguise? I mean, at least they'd be paying attention to me, not the good type of attention, but none the less, attention. I slowly turned the doorknob and walked into my house. "BOB! MIRIAM! I'm home!" I yelled, quickly walking up to my room.
"Hey, Olga!" Bob yelled, stopping me in my tracks.
"It's Helga, dad, H-E-L-G-A." I said, turning to sit down on the stairs.
"Yeah, that's what I said… ANYWAY, what's this I heard from your principal about you getting into a fight with that Alfred kid?" he asked, placing his hands on his hips and talking impatiently.
"It's Arnold, dad, and yeah, so? What's it to you?" I asked, folding my arms over my chest.
"And now you're in I.S.S. for 2 weeks?" he said, disregarding my last statement, "What's gotten into you?!"
"How would you know 'something's gotten into me', anyway, BOB?! You never even get my name right, how can you know anything about me?!"
He snorted, "Olga never got into I.S.S., AND she never failed Math either! Yeah, I also got a call from your Math teacher." he rubbed his eyes, "Come on, why can't you just be more like Olga? Olga never failed anything. Olga never got into fights with anyone. Olga was a GOOD student…" all I heard was Olga, Olga, OLGA!! Kind of like a personal interpretation of the Brady Bunch's 'Marcia, Marcia, Marcia!'. That poor Jan Brady, I could relate to that kid.
"Well, I'm not OLGA!" I shouted, turning to walk upstairs when Miriam walked out of the kitchen.
"Oh, hi Olga," she said, in her same slow, drunken voice, "How was your day at school?"
I was so angry. My eye twitched slightly as I ignored her and walked upstairs to my room. I slammed the door and as Miriam turned on the blender to make a smoothie and Bob turned on the T.V. I let out a frustrated, glass-shattering, scream.
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Meanwhile-
"Did you hear something?" Arnold asked Gerald, as they were blocks away from Helga's house. The two had just gotten off the bus and were walking back to Arnold's boarding house.
"Hey, Man, I heard what happened between you and Helga this morning," he said, laughing at his friend who merely blushed.
"Yeah, well…"
"I LOVED that you threw her things on the floor, Arnold, man, you're finally fighting back!" shouted Gerald laughing at his own comment.
"I thought you two were friends now, Gerald, how can you say that?" Arnold asked.
Gerald whipped away a tear of laughter and said, "Sorry, man, I just find it hilarious that you finally stood up against her when she threw that week argument that it's all YOUR fault in your face. I'm proud of ya', man," he said, patting Arnold on the back, "and about that friends thing with Helga… hmm… I guess we are, she doesn't call me 'tall hair boy' anymore and she doesn't pick on me… you were right Arnold, she CAN be nice… sometimes…"
Arnold smirked at his last statement.
"Holy shit!" Gerald shouted out, his sudden profanity taking Arnold by surprise, "Jamie O's coming to visit tonight! I gotta get home, sorry man." Arnold nodded and they did the handshake thing.
"See ya' tomorrow Gerald!" Arnold called after his best friend, running home.
"Good luck with Helga, man!" he shouted back and started laughing again, hearing it echo in the neighborhood. With a shrug Arnold turned to walk home. Why had Helga deliberately gotten him in trouble then tried to defend him against the teacher? Was she changing after all? He had to laugh at the thought. He suddenly remembered back to when the neighborhood nearly was destroyed. She had said that she cared about him, that he didn't doubt. He knew she was a good person and really didn't hate him like she said she did, but hearing it FROM her surprised him still. Then she said she loved him. He was slowly becoming more confused. Then she kissed him. That's what nearly sent him over the edge… what was going on?! In the end, though, he gave her a way out, a way for her to pretend she hated him again. He knew full well what he was doing. He knew how embarrassed she was, so why not? After that, though, is when all the bad stuff happened. Her bullying him increased ten-fold, and she never wanted to be alone with him. Maybe she did actually love him. Sure she confessed, but maybe it WAS just in the heat of the moment. Maybe she thought that the neighborhood WOULD be taken down and she wanted to do her best to prove she didn't hate him. Even going as far as saying that she loved him when she really didn't. He still didn't understand. He doubted he ever would.
He reached the "Sunset Arms" boarding house and opened the door. He stood there for a second, waiting for all the animals to rush from the door, then he walked in.
"Hey, short man," said his grandfather, stepping out from the bathroom.
"Hi grandpa," Arnold said with a sigh.
"Something wrong?"
"Yeah. I got 'in school suspension' today for getting into a fight… with Helga." he stated slouching a bit.
"No kiddin'?" said his grandpa, scratching his head, "You mean that kid with the one eyebrow?"
"Yeah, but she's older now, remember, grandpa? She has two eyebrows now… But yep, she's the one. Did you get call from Principal Wartz today?"
"Hmm… Pookie!? Did Arnold's school call today?!" he called to his wife in the kitchen.
"Don't tell me grandma answered it?" Arnold asked, almost begging.
"Why Howdy Tex! Why the long face?" asked his grandma, galloping into the room on an imaginary horse.
"Hi grandma," Arnold answered, sighing. "Did princi-never mind. What's for dinner?"
Later that evening Arnold found himself in his room looking through his old yearbook. He laid on his bed and watched as the clouds moved by for a few minutes, then looked back down to the yearbook and saw her. The awkward-looking blond girl with the one eyebrow. He sighed again. Today had been such a long day and he was tired. He studied her picture for a few minutes, then said to himself, "Well, you sure got prettier since then, too bad your attitude couldn't change with appearance." he didn't mean to sound shallow, though. Sure, Helga wasn't exactly the prettiest girl his in class in 4th grade, but she wasn't ugly. In fact, in those few times she WAS nice to him he found himself actually… LIKING her… it didn't last very long though. Soon enough she'd realize she was being nice to him and snap back to her usual self. Now though, it seemed worse. Sure she was prettier, beautiful even, now, but her attitude seemed to just get uglier. It's no wonder they stopped talking after freshman year. It seemed so long ago…
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Ok, kind of a useless chapter, but oh well, I'm still trying this fan fiction thing out, seeing as though this is my first one. Feedback is appreciated, thanks!
