DISCLAIMER: Hey Arnold-not mine, never will be.
"Great." I said, realizing I'd missed the bus. "You know this is your fault, right?" I said, turning to face Arnold behind me.
"With you, isn't it always?" he asked in return. The sun was going down and seemed to give the sky, and everything else for that matter, an orangeish hue. "I guess I'll be walking home today…" he put his hands in his pockets and started walking away.
"Arnold, wait…" he stopped and looked back at me, "What was all that you said back there? About someone else?" I prompted.
He looked down then back at me, "It's nothing Helga." he turned again, "I'll see you around…"
"Hey, wait, football head, I asked you something!" I demanded, stomping my foot. He kept walking away from me. "Stop! Don't walk away from me!" I called out to him. He didn't turn around. What happened to the nice guy who offered me the umbrella at the movies? "Come back!" I screamed, my voice breaking. NO! You can't cry, now, I scolded myself. He stopped and turned to me. He was surprised. Maybe it made it harder for him to walk away from someone more human. Someone who could cry. What was happening to me? What happened to my tough girl façade? I tried so hard for people to see me as just that all my life and now… now it was crumbling all around me. My arms fell limp to my sides. What was I turning into? I was becoming soft… I didn't feel like Helga anymore…
"Helga…" he'd walked to me and was standing in front of me. He had this stupid grin on his face that I just wanted to POUND out of him… was he enjoying my bully-breakdown? He put his hand on my shoulder. I looked at it, then back at him. HE was doing this to me… I just knew it. My emotional wall was being broken down by this football headed do-gooder…
I looked back down.
"I don't care what you say," he started and I looked up at him, "I'm walking you home." he grinned again.
"But I-"
"I said I didn't care." he said, still grinning, "Come on…" he still held onto my shoulder and turned me around with him to walk back to my house.
-------
"Hey, class, everyone good to go this morning?" Vega cheerily said, walking into the classroom. She stopped and glanced at her watch, "Hey, would ya' look at that," she smacked her forehead, "I'm late. I guess I should be the one to spend a few days in alternative." she nervously laughed looking at the bored faces of Patty, Lorenzo, and myself. "Hey, who let you guys in here, anyway?"
"The janitor." Patty said, flatly, "Where were you? It's already well into 2nd period."
"Yes, I was becoming worried," Lorenzo stuck in, folding his arms in disappointment. I knew he was putting on a show. Who would ACTUALLY be WORRIED if a teacher didn't show? HA!
"Well, not that it's any of YOUR business, son, but… I was dropping my grandson off at school. He just started there and needed some help with registration."
"Hey, you're grandson's like 15, he doesn't need help, lady." I scoffed.
"Hmm, well, shows how much YOU know." she said in return, "Hopefully you'll all get to meet him. He's coming here after school to help me out with some paper work. He's a nice kid… just not the brightest in the world…" she started mumbling off. What was he, retarded? Hey, if he was, I sure as hell wouldn't want him handling any of the IMPORTANT paper work…
"Yeah, well, if he looks as cute as he does in that picture you gave me, I just might have to corrupt the poor boy," I said with an evil sort of laugh, "and I won't practice SAFE SEX either! HA!" I started laughing, getting a kick out of myself while getting confused stares from Patty and Lorenzo. Ah, the heck with them, that was funny! At least I thought so…
"You lay a FINGER on that innocent boy's head and I'll make it so you spend the entire SEMESTER with me in here!" She glared at me.
"Hey, hey! What do you take me for, Vega!?" I shouted back, "I mean, I know better than to mess with a special ed student. That's disgusting…" I grimaced.
"He's not in Special Ed., and that's MRS. VEGA, Pataki, show some respect." she sat down at her desk. "I can't believe you said that…" she mumbled and I felt a pain in my chest. It was guilt, I knew it. I sighed. My heart hurt. I shouldn't have said something like that, I know, it was incredibly inappropriate. Why didn't she write me up or anything? I mean, if I, God forbid, was a teacher, I wouldn't let some snot-nosed kid talk to me like that.
"That WAS kind of out of line, Helga," Patty said. I felt bad. WHAT?! Why would I feel bad just because Big P… oh, who am I kidding. She was slowly becoming an important… friend… to me. I valued what she said, even if could never have told her that.
------
"Hello, Helga, did you have a good day in I.S.S., today?" Phoebe asked, popping up behind me at my locker. For some reason I didn't want to see her.
"Yeah, fine, Pheebs." I said, dismissively.
"Helga, something wrong?" she inquired. I closed my locker and turned to face her.
"No, nothing at all." I walked passed her.
"Hey, wait a minute," she said more directly pulling on my shirt sleeve.
"What?!" I said, angrily.
"N-never mind. I have to go, Helga… meeting Gerald and all…" she looked sad. I had done that to her. I felt guilty again. I opened my mouth to speak an apology but couldn't find the right words.
"Ok, Pheebs… see you around…" I said, softly as she walked away with her head hanging low. Dammit! How could I have thought that getting Arnold out of I.S.S. would rid me of all my guilt?! It brought so much more with it! SO much more!
I walked out of the building, sadly, and over to my usual "love ranting" spot. I sat down behind the dumpster and rested my arms on my knees. "I'm sorry, Pheebs… why am I treating you this way? Is it because I've found a new best friend in Patty? Is it because I'm jealous of you and Gerald? Yes! That's right! Jealous! Now I've said it… I hate you always hanging out with him instead of me! In a way, it's like he's replaced me! I hate feeling this-" I heard the hard breathing of someone behind me. Of course I knew who it was.
BAM!
"Wait," I looked both ways, "I wasn't even talking about Arnold this time," I thought out loud. I turned my head somewhat and said, "Uh, sorry about that, guy,"
He walked out from where ever he'd been hiding, holding his bloody nose, "Eh," he said with a shrug, walking away to tend to his broken nose. For some reason THAT made me think. Sure, I'd been punching Brainy like that since… as long as I can remember, but… I really had no reason to punch him and he still accepted it. Like it was no biggie. Like 'that's just Helga, for ya'. I guess I deserved to feel bad about it, but… I don't know, it still didn't seem right for him to believe that it was OK that I punched him. Here I go again, being soft…
"Oh yeah!" I was suddenly thrown out of my train of thought. I got up and proceeded to walk back to Mrs. Vega's room. I still had that picture of her grandson. I really wanted to get it back to her, today.
I knocked on the door.
"Yeah, what is it?!" a harsh, male voice shouted.
"Hey, who said you could talk to me like that?!" I said, throwing open the door without a second thought. It was him. The boy from the picture.
"Well, what do you want?! Mrs. Vega's out right now, you can come back later." he folded his arms and glared at me.
"So, what, are you that retarded grandson she was talking about?" I placed my hands on my hips. "You know, the one who couldn't even get himself registered?" I mocked.
"Yeah, that's me." he said, proudly.
I raised an eyebrow, "Ok, look" I said, dramatizing my words with my hands, "I called you retarded, guy, you're supposed to, oh, I don't know… get mad!"
"Hmm, I could… but that just takes the fun out of it."
"What?"
"Yeah, when grandma helps me out like I'm stupid she feels sorry for my mom and gives her a whole bunch of money to baby me with. Genius, huh?" he nodded his head.
"Let me get this straight… you act like a retard and you think it makes you a genius?"
"Yep."
"Isn't that an oxymoron?"
"Hey, you're the moron!" he said.
"Oh, ok, I stand corrected." I laughed to myself. What an idiot.
"So, what do you want, anyway?" he asked after an awkward silence.
"I need to talk to your grandma, sonny-boy," I said, walking toward him at her desk. I sat down at the edge of it.
"You know," he started, "You're kinda cute."
"Look, I don't mess with freshmen, kid." I said. I didn't believe him anyway.
"Hey, what's wrong with freshmen?!" he leaned in his chair, putting his hands behind his head.
"Well, if they all act like you, I'd say a hell of a lot."
"Huh?"
God it was easy to mess with this kid. "I t must be hard being so smart." I mocked.
"You're just a bitch, aren't you?" he asked, leaning forward.
"Eh," I shrugged, "so I've been told…"
He smiled, "You're a cute bitch."
"Stop saying that!" I scolded, standing up.
"Why?" he seemed confused.
"Stop saying I'm cute!" I said, sighing, "Why do you insist on saying that?"
"Because it's true?" he questioned slightly. "Come on, you know you're beautiful…" he said, complimenting me.
"Yeah, just about as much as YOU know you're an idiot." I turned to walk away but he got up from his chair quickly and got between me and the doorway. "Look, kid, you don't know my reputation so I'm warning you now… I wouldn't stand in the way of Helga G. Pataki if I were you."
"Who?"
"Me! I'm Helga!" I said, frustrated, pointing to myself, "God, I could hit you just for your stupidity!" I rolled my eyes.
"Hey, jeeze, come on, do you have to be so mean about it?" he looked slightly hurt.
I sighed. "Sorry, kid, I don't even know you and-"
He perked right up again, "That's ok! Say… do you think you'd wanna go… you know… on a date with me?"
"Oh, yeah… you're JUST my type… short, pale, and stupid…" I rolled my eyes.
"Please?" he smiled sweetly.
"No." I said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"Come on! I'll buy you dinner!" he pleaded.
"With what? Grandma's money?!" I shouted at him. There it was again… guilt. I saw that I'd hurt him.
"No." I said again, this time more nicely, "I can't now…"
"But… there's still a chance then?"
"Uh, sure, kid." I walked past him through the doorway and out into the hall. "Just don't be expecting anything." I added. Then I left. Still carrying Vega's picture. Damn her, if only she'd been there.
-----
"Hey, Short man," Arnold's grandfather said, greeting him as he came through the door.
"Hey, Grandpa."
"Hello, Kimba!"
"Hey, Grandma."
"I have a message for you from your little girlfriend," Grandma said, walking over to the phone to retrieve the message. "I didn't catch the name, but she said that you knew who she was. She asked you to meet her at Geraldfield because she had something important to talk to you about."
"Ok, Grandma, did she say when?"
"She said after school. I'm assuming she means today."
"Ok, thanks Grandma." Arnold said, excitedly. "Gotta run!" he dropped his backpack to the floor and left through the front door. He knew who it was. It had to be her. He walked quickly over to Geraldfield and looked around. What did she want with him, though? He thought about it. Suddenly someone caught his eye.
"Lila? What are you doing here?" he asked, walking toward her, sitting in the grass.
"Hello, Arnold."
"Hey. Are you waiting for someone, or just out here to think?" he sat down next to her.
"Mmmm, the first one," She giggled.
"Who are you waiting for?"
"Arnold, you're acting ever so silly."
"What?"
"Didn't you're grandma give you the message? Funny, she said she would…" Lila trailed off. It was… LILA WATING FOR HIM?
"Oh." he seemed disappointed, "What did you want to talk about?"
"Oh, I'm just ever so sorry about the way I treated you the other day. I'm sorry I left you, I didn't mean to make you have such a terrible time." she said, dramatically.
"Oh, it's ok… I managed."
"Really?" she said, disbelievingly.
"Yeah, Helga was there… and we spent the time together." He blushed, remembering that night.
"Helga?" she asked, flatly.
"Yeah… so… it was ok that you ditched me."
"Oh Arnold, you don't understand! I'm not a bad person! I would never leave you for a stupid reason like you being in I.S.S.! I made a mistake! Please, accept my apology!" she looked pleadingly at him.
"I said it was ok…" he repeated.
"Arnold, you don't understand…" she threw her arms around him. "I've missed you ever so much…" she buried her head in his chest.
"Lila, what are you-"
"Please Arnold, can't it go back to the way it was…" she snuggled closer to him.
"I don't-"
"Please, Arnold… don't… reject me…" she hugged him tighter, "I care for you ever so much… don't hurt me…"
------
Things happened pretty quickly in this chapter, but it'll get more interesting in the next one. So, can you see Helga changing? Is she finally letting her good side come through? Well, that's all I have to say right now. Oh, and the reviews are great, keep 'em coming!
