DISCLAIMER: Hey Arnold-not mine, never will be.
I was the one to break the kiss and I back up. What was I doing? He did the same, taking a few steps back. He had a worried expression on his face. Like I would beat the living daylights out of him, or something. My eyes darted all over the room, I was confused.
"Uh, Helga?" he asked, slightly out of breath.
"Yeah?" I took a deep breath to calm my own breathing. He walked back to his bed and rubbed his eyes as he sat down.
"What was… we…" he looked expectantly at me.
"I… well, we…" I looked down and nervously scratched the back of my head.
"Just… got…. caught up in the heat of the moment?" I know I've heard that before somewhere…
"Yeah," I gladly said with relief. The last thing I needed was to explain myself to him. Things when silent again.
"Helga, do you remember the first time we met?" he smiled timidly.
"Yeah, I think so," I frowned.
"I remember I offered my umbrella to you because it was raining and you'd gotten mud slashed all over you…" he said more to himself than to me.
"Why do you bring it up?" I asked, keeping the frown on my face.
He looked down, "I was just thinking… you and I were the first to meet out of our class and you did give me my first kiss… I guess it seems only natural that you were my first… you know." he slightly laughed at this. So that's where he was going with the trip down memory lane…
I walked over to sit next to him on the bed. Our hands brushed against one another. The old familiar tension was between us again. "So, what IS the deal with you and Lila, anyway?" I knew I was bringing the subject back to something awkward.
"What do you mean?" he asked, moving his hand from mine and placing his hands in his lap, staring down at them.
"I dunno, I was just asking…" I lied.
"Well, we're not going out or anything,-"
"I know, I know, because I got you into I.S.S. right?" I wearily asked, throwing a little sarcasm into it.
"Sort of." he replied. Things were quiet again. Damn, if I had a dime for every time an awkward silence fell between us I'd be a VERY rich girl…
We turned to look at one another, studying each other's face, then suddenly, and totally unlike him, he grabbed onto the sides of my face and brought me into a kiss. I was completely surprised.
When I was finally able to get enough air I practically, yelled, "What are you doing, football head?!" he stopped and leaned away from me, slightly out of breath. I wore an expression of utter surprise.
He looked down then back at me.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean… I just…" he struggled for an explanation. As my breathing began to return to normal my features softened and I smiled.
"Got caught up in the moment?" I asked, innocently, finishing his sentence. I raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah…" I guess I gave him a way out. Just as he gave me a way out when we "saved" the neighborhood. He looked down again, fidgeting with his fingers. I leaned over to him, scooting closer. It was time. It was time to be nicer to him. It was time to show him my good side… the side he KNOWS I have… I placed my hands on his and he looked up. We stared at one another again and slowly inched out faces closer and closer.
I stopped. We were only about a centimeter from each other and I could feel his breath on my lips. "What do you say we get caught up in the heat of the moment again?" I asked and he smiled. I leaned in a bit closer and locked lips with him. I let go of his hands and placed mine around his neck. The kiss was sensual and didn't hold a lot of urgency like the two we'd shared before. After a while my hands fell from their place at his neck and glided down his back. He shuttered. All that time his hands remained in his lap. I knew he was afraid to touch me… probably afraid I'd threaten him with Old Betsy if he did so. I smiled against his mouth; it was kind of sweet in a way.
He finally reached out and grabbed a hold of my waist, keeping his hands firmly there. I moved my hands about his back then moved them around to his chest. I smiled wickedly and pushed him down to his bed. He gasped as I did so and tried to reach for me. I grabbed his hands and intertwined my fingers with his, pushing them too down to the bed above his head. I then move to straddle him looked down at him. He was still surprised at my bold move and looked up at me slightly confused. I smirked and moved my head down to kiss him again. I let his hands go free but kept my own above his head to keep myself up. He felt around more, now. I broke the kiss yet again and started to unbutton the plaid, red shirt he wore. He smiled up at me as I did so, eyes half-lidded. He hands reached for the bottom of my dress and I lifted my rear a little so he could pull it over my head.
Soon enough my dress was on the floor closely followed by his shirt. I leaned down to kiss him again but before I could he grabbed a hold of my thighs and flipped us over so that he was now on top of me. I liked it when he took control…
Breathlessly he looked me in the eyes. I looked up at those beautiful green orbs. They allowed you to practically see right through to his soul. They held so much honesty. They were nothing like me. Here I was, a girl who constantly bullied him around yet loved him. I was the one who caused him the most pain yet I was the one who cared the most about him. The irony… I couldn't even be honest with him about the way I felt about him. I didn't deserve him. He deserved someone honest; someone good; someone not like me.
"I can't do this." I said, pushing him off of me. I sat up and reached by the bed for my dress.
"What, why? Did I do something wrong?" he asked, troubled.
"No, you did nothing wrong…" I slipped the torn dress back on and stood up. "I don't know what I'm doing here, I should be home. You don't need this, you need Lila, after all you asked her to the cheese festival, you must want her, you do." I rushed all in one breath, frantically. I looked around the room and he stood up from the bed.
"Where did THAT come from?" he raised an eyebrow.
"I got you into I.S.S. and ruined your record, and ruined your chances with Lila. You don't want this, believe me, you don't." I looked for an escape. I glanced at his open window then at his door and figured leaving through the door would a lot safer for me. I ran for the door handle but he stepped in front, blocking my exit.
"What's wrong?" he asked again, squinting his eyes, as if searching mine for the answer.
"Nothing, nothing's wrong. I just have to go. I'm sorry, I'll fix everything I promise." he raised an eyebrow again. I knew he wouldn't understand what I meant. I pushed him out of my way and threw open his door. I ran down the hall and he chased after me down his stairs to his room, then stopped.
"Wait!" he yelled, probably forgetting that it might wake up the tenants. I ran to his front door, threw it open and ran off into the night. All I wanted was to get home.
----
Doors started opening in the boarding house and people walked out into the hall, all of them wanting to know what the commotion was about. Arnold stood, bare-chested, in the middle of the hallway looking confused.
"Arnold, are you ok?" asked Ernie, taking a step forward to him. "I heard footsteps, running… is everything ok?"
Arnold sighed and nodded. "Everything's fine, you can go back to bed."
"Are you sure?" Susie asked further.
"Yeah." Arnold hung his head and turned to walk away.
"Hey, short man, what was all the noise about?" his grandpa asked, walking to him and putting a hand on his shoulder. Arnold didn't understand why his grandpa still called him 'short man' when in fact he was practically taller than he was. He sighed again.
"It's ok, grandpa, I'm going back to bed." his grandpa gave him a knowing grin and patted his grandson on the back.
"Ok, short man, see you in the morning, then."
As his grandfather left the rest of the tenants followed back into their rooms, talking amongst themselves and speculating what had happened.
What HAD happed? Arnold couldn't help but wonder…
-----
"How was The Cheese Festival?" I asked as Pheebs and I boarded the bus to school that rainy Monday morning.
"It was wonderful, Helga, you should have been there," she replied with a sparkle in her eye.
"I WAS there," I said with a sigh, "Stinky called and invited me to go… I didn't tell you 'cuz I didn't want to look like a chump. You know, cuz I made such a big deal with you about how I didn't wanna go." I slouched in the seat.
"Oh, that's ok, Helga," she said in a sweet voice, "Are you ok? You don't sound like yourself this morning."
"I don't feel too good." I said, "Pheebs, if I tell you something you promise not to freak out?"
"Why would I freak out, Helga?" she innocently asked.
"Well," I took a deep breath before continuing, "When I got to The Cheese Festival Stinky sorta ditched me for cheese. He spent the whole time at the cheese stands."
"Oh, that's terrible, so you didn't have a good time?"
"I did… but not with Stinky. I saw," I paused to look both ways, "ice cream there and he'd just gotten ditched by Lila. She said that she couldn't go with a," I paused again, "flavor like him. Someone who was in alternative, that is. Well, WE ended up spending the whole time together."
"That's great, Helga!" she said, excitedly.
"No, you see… we went back to his house and he snuck me into his room. We talked a little and kissed, and then…" I paused again at the surprised look on her face.
"And then…?" she pushed.
"And we were about to *ahem* but I couldn't do it, Pheebs…"
"Wait, so you and," she paused," ice cream were going to…? And you kissed him too? Whoa… don't you think you're moving too fast? Maybe that's why you couldn't do it. You probably wanted your first time to be special and planned out more."
"That's just it… it wasn't going to be my first time." I paused, as I heard her gasp.
"Helga, you didn't?!" she squealed.
"Yep, I sure did… and guess with who…"
Meanwhile---
"So you were going to fuck Helga G. Pataki?"
"Yeah, that's right," Arnold sighed. The two of them sat on the same bus as Helga and Phoebe, but in the back where there weren't many people.
"You're a bold kid, Arnold, a bold kid…" Gerald said, shaking his head, "How did Helga let you get that far anyway, man? I would have figured if you'd even touched her she'd have castrated you!! He laughed.
"It's not funny, Gerald," Arnold looked sadly at his best friend.
"Ok, ok, I'm sorry," he held up his hands in defense, "Whatever happened to Lila? I mean, you were supposed to go with her, why'd she ditch you?"
"She said that she didn't want to ruin her rep and go with someone in an alternative class."
"So she basically said she was too good for you." Gerald finished.
"Right again."
"Well, no offence man, but with an attitude like that I'm not surprised you'd rather spend the time with Helga. Like you always used to say, she may act mean but she's got a good heart." Gerald said, leaning in his seat, "With Lila, though, what you see is what you get. A snotty 'miss perfect' girl, who thinks she's better than everyone."
-----
"I take it you three went to The Cheese Festival?" Mrs. Vega asked as me, Patty, and Arnold walked into the I.S.S. room. We all walked to the back of the room to sit in our usual seats; Patty on my left, Arnold on my right.
"Yeah, we did." Arnold spoke for all of us.
"Was it fun?" Vega asked, sitting on the edge of her desk.
"Yeah, it was," he replied, looking at me. I looked away.
"So, Patty, did you go?" I asked, focusing my attention to her.
"Yeah, I went with Harold." she said, getting a dreamy look her eye.
"Yeah, I know," I said, then covered my mouth.
"You do?" she raised an eyebrow.
"Uh, yeah, Arnold told me you were probably gonna go with him." I nervously said. I'd forgotten that I was supposed to be asleep when the information was given.
"Uh huh," she said leaning in her desk, "You wouldn't perhaps he lying to me, would you?"
"Why no, of course not!" I said, putting my hands up in defense. I smiled weakly.
Suddenly I remembered something I had to do, "Mrs. Vega!" I yelled, waving my hand.
"What is it, Pataki?" she irritably asked.
I stood from my desk and practically ran to hers. "May I use the pass?"
"I thought I told you that you couldn't use it ever again." she stated, getting up from her sitting position on the desk and waking back to her seat.
"Please, it's important."
I stood there looking at her. She looked at me. It seemed like forever had passed when she finally nodded. Yes!
"Thank you," I said, running out of the classroom to my destination.
"NO RUNNING, PATAKI!" I heard her scream from the classroom.
"What's her hurry?" Patty asked, turning to Arnold.
"I don't know, maybe she really had to pee."
-----
"Principal Wartz?" I asked, peaking my head into his office.
"Oh, Pataki, it's you. Come in," he said, looking up from his paper work.
"I came to talk to you about something important," I started, taking a seat in front of his desk.
"Well, what is it?"
"Remember how you gave BOTH Arnold and I I.S.S. for that fight we got into?"
"Yes, keep going..."
"Well, I came here to tell you that you've made a huge mistake."
"Come again?"
"Well, I was the one who started and ended the fight. I was messing with him. He has no reason to be in I.S.S. unless being a victim is punishable." I said, folding my arms. I was actually doing the right thing.
"That's very noble of you to do. Sticking up for your fellow student like that. Even more so, a student you were about to beat up. I'm afraid you're right, there's had been a terrible mistake. I'll talk to Mrs. Vega as soon as possible, he'll be out of that class ASAP." he said.
I was so relieved. I stuck up for Arnold. "Thank you," I said, and stood up from the chair.
"As for you," he started, and I sat back down in the chair, "I believe there's the little matter of you lying to me when I put you guys in there in the first place."
"I didn't lie to you." I said, incredulously.
"Well, you certainly didn't say anything about this then, you didn't stand up for him when it counted. The poor boy has lost out on grades for a full week! No, no, that won't due. I'll talk to his teachers about that, but you're not going to get away with it."
"I'm standing up for him now, that has to count for something!" I said, pleadingly.
"Well, I'm afraid I'm going to have to add on another week to your time."
"What?!" I stood up, "You can't do that! Just because I didn't come to you earlier and tell you this?! That's stupid! You should be happy I came at all and saved his butt!"
"Well, I'm afraid you can't save your own. Another week, no more, no less." he said, unfeelingly, without looking at me.
I dropped my hands to my sides, "Come on, I'll fail if you do that. I'll get so many zeros I'll probably have to take every class over again." he didn't say anything. For what seemed like minutes he remained silent, probably knowingly making me suffer more.
"Hmm…" he thought for a second, "I guess you DID do a very noble thing coming in here and telling me this… I still have to punish you, but I guess only two more days will suffice." he sighed, "Now, go back to class, I have work to be done."
"Thank you," I said one last time. I nearly skipped out of his office I was so happy. I did the right thing! His record won't be ruined and Lila will like him now. Everything will be back to normal.
On the way back to class I shared my good news with Pheebs, getting her out of class once again. She was proud of me too. She asked me, though, why in the world did I want Lila to like him again… I guess I just wanted him to be happy and have a perfect girlfriend… an honest one.
-------
This is totally off the subject of my story and everything but… I was watching Hey Arnold today and the show was primarily about Sid. Suddenly it occurred to me, excuse my vulgarity, but why does his nose look like a penis in the middle of his face? Well, it doesn't literally look like a penis, but you know what I mean… so I thought, 'jeeze, you know, I thought Arnold had it bad with his football shaped head, but poor Sid!'
