The disclaimer can be found on chapter one.

The Cruise: Chapter Two

"Arnold," Helga muttered before falling to sleep.

Dream Vision: On>

Helga stood alone, at the front of the ship. She felt the wind blowing gently at her face, as it stroked her hair. She slowly put her arms out and stood at the front of the ship, as if she was flying.

Suddenly she felt some hands on her arms, which sent a thrilling tingling sensation throughout her. She turned around. Arnold stood there, smiling warmly. Helga grinned, feeling her face grow a bit warm. She turned to face out to the water again.

"I can fly!" she said happily. She flapped her arms up and down in a flying motion. "I can fly!" she repeated enthusiastically. Arnold smiled at her warmly, and she turned around just in time for them to both come face to face. Arnold looked into her sparkling blue eyes, and leaned forward. She didn't object, as she leaned forward. They both pulled into a kiss.

Dream Vision: Off>

"I can fly," Helga sighed happily as she continued to dream.

**

"Wow man, thanks," Gerald said the next day on the bus, as he accepted his ticket from Arnold. "This is gonna be great!"

"Yeah, I know!" Arnold smiled. He turned around to face Helga. She was sitting with Phoebe, behind Arnold and Gerald. "Thanks so much, Helga!"

"Well… I-I," Helga began to stutter as she twisted her hands together shyly. "I-I mean…" she snapped out of it. "You better not get used to me being nice! That was a one time only kinda thing!" she insisted.

Arnold smiled and then turned around to face the front of the bus. "Whatever you say, Helga, whatever you say."

"Yeah that's right football-head! Whatever I say!" Helga countered, crossing her arms over her chest. Phoebe raised an eyebrow at her, but she decided to ignore it.

The rest of the day proceeded as normal…

"And now I'll be coming around to collect your poems," Mr. Simmons announced. Helga scribbled one last line, before turning her paper in. Mr. Simmons scanned it through, "Good work, Helga! In fact, I'm going to read this one to the class," he said before collecting a few more.

"Class, I want you to direct your attention to a poem I'm about to read. It's signed…" he scanned the page and smirked. "Anonymous," he said before beginning. Helga slouched down in her seat, nervously.

"He's on my mind,

Morning, noon and night.

I wonder if I should tell him,

Would everything be all right?

I know I love him,

I love him, I said!

I'm over the moon, head over heels,

For a sweet little football--"

Ring!

Helga let out a breath she hadn't realized she had been holding. Her secret had almost been revealed! But the bell had rang just in time.

"Heh, time for lunch!" she said nervously, running to the Cafeteria with Phoebe and the rest of the kids.

Mr. Simmons sighed. "I guess we'll have to finish this later," he mumbled, putting the poem in his desk drawer.

Meanwhile, Helga shoved passed a number of people to get her lunch tray filled. The cafeteria lady slopped some brown gushy stuff all over her tray. "Gee, thanks, you're too kind," Helga mumbled to herself sarcastically, eyeing the unknown food. Arnold came up beside her.

"Hey Helga," he said. "That was some poem, huh? I wonder who wrote it?"

Helga resisted the urge to tell him, although her mind was screaming 'I did! It was me!' "Hah," she said aloud. "Yeah, that was some pretty deep stuff! Sounded like the author had a little crush on somebody," she said and then immediately regretted saying that.

"Yeah," Arnold agreed. "I wonder who?" he asked innocently, grabbing a green pudding.

"Well don't look at me! How am I supposed to know?" Helga snapped as the cafeteria lady slopped some brown stuff all over Arnold's tray. Arnold cringed at it, and stared at it for a while.

"Why don't you take a picture, Arnoldo? It'll last longer," she commented sarcastically, grabbing a green pudding and placing it on the side of the brown mess on her tray.

"You know Helga, I know you're not as bad as you seem. You probably have a nice normal, kind, giving personality, but for some reason, you don't want to show it," Arnold expressed. "You didn't give Gerald and I those tickets because you felt like it."

Helga nervously thought of some sort of comeback. "You must be crazy, football-head!" she said, marching off towards a table.

"Whatever you say, Helga," Arnold mumbled, leaving to go to a table, too.

A few days later…

Arnold, Gerald, Phoebe and Helga all stood in front of the Sunset Cruise with suitcases.

"Well, I guess this is it," Arnold said, looking up at the ship.

"Yeah, I guess so," Gerald added.

All four kids walked up the ship and boarded. A man stood at the front of the ship, and they all approached him.

"Hi," Arnold started. "Do you have-"

"Hey bucko, d'ya have four spare rooms?" Helga interrupted, shoving the four tickets in the ticket master's face.

"Um, actually," the ticket master started uneasily. "We only have two available rooms…"

Helga opened her mouth to protest, when Phoebe shyly stepped forward. "Well, I'll share a room with Gerald," she offered.

Gerald smiled shyly. "Yeah," he said. Arnold glared at Gerald, knowing who he was going to get stuck with.

"You will have room 8," the ticket master informed, giving them the key to their room. They walked down the hall, hand in hand.

Helga looked at Arnold. "Well I guess I'm gonna be stuck with ol' football head, here," Helga said disapprovingly. 'I get to spend even more time with Arnold now!' her mind screamed in delight.

"Yeah," Arnold replied. "That's what I was afraid of…"

Helga frowned and snatched the room key out of the ticket master's hand. "Room 180?" she questioned, raising half of her unibrow.

The ticket master put a hand behind his head nervously. "Heh…that's the only other room available," he started. "I'm sure you'll both enjoy it though," he said with a wide smile.

"Fine," Arnold answered, walking down the hall. Helga frowned. "This is going to be the worst cruise EVER," Helga commented coldly, wandering down the hall behind Arnold.

**

"Wow," Arnold breathed, eyeing the gorgeous room. Helga dropped her suitcase beside her, and walked to her bed. She sat down on it, and smiled, feeling as though she was in paradise.

The room was the size of a normal house. It was huge, and had two floors to it. The bottom floor had two queen-sized beds, a night table with a lamp, a mini kitchen, a walk-in closet, and a marble bathroom. The second floor had a big screen television, two laptop computers, a telephone, a marble bathroom, a cupboard of cookies, ice cream, etc and a laundry room.

"We sure lucked out," Arnold said to no one in particular, as he wandered to his bed.

"Yeah, football-head, I might just survive through the week, now!" Helga commented teasingly.

Arnold decided not to comment, and then got up off his bed, and walked up the stairs to the second floor. It was all so breathtaking, all so overwhelmingly beautiful!

Ring!

Arnold picked up the phone, not knowing who to expect. "Hello?" he answered cautiously.

"Hey man, it's me."

"Oh hey Gerald," Arnold relaxed. "How'd you know our phone number?"

"Your room number is in our phone book…we knew you were 180."

"Oh. So, how's your room?"

"Pretty nice. Two beds, mini kitchen, big screen TV," he explained.

"Huh? No laundry room, second floor, walk-in closet?" Arnold asked.

"What are you talking about, man?"

"Uh," Arnold decided to keep his and Helga's room a secret. "Nothing."

"Okay…so, how's sharing a room with Helga?"

"Well we just walked in the door, so we haven't really done much of anything yet."

"Ha! This is going to be some vacation for you! Sharing a room with Helga. Helga G. Pataki!" Gerald laughed on the other end.

"Yeah, well, I didn't get much of a say in the whole room decision, did I?"

"Heh…sorry man," Gerald said guiltily.

"It's okay."

"Hey, why don't we come over and check your room out?"

"Actually Gerald, I don't know if this is such a good time – "

"Okay. Be over in five!"

Arnold realized Gerald had hung up by the monotone sound that filled his ears. He clicked the phone back in its receiver. Oh well, Gerald and Phoebe were bound to find out about their suite room, sooner or later.

He walked down the stairs, to find Helga watching TV. She was flipping through the channels lazily, when a knock came at the door. "Wha? Who could that be?" she said turning to Arnold. "Gerald and Phoebe," he replied as he walked to the door and opened it.

Gerald and Phoebe gasped. "Wow man, this is one amazing room!" Helga perked up.

"Yeah, isn't your room just like it, tall hair boy?"

"Actually, it's nothing near this. Nice, but nothing like this," he said, walking into the room to get a better look. Phoebe followed.

"Wow," Helga said in surprise, looking at Arnold. "We did luck out!"

"Your room is so ravishing, and inspiring!" Phoebe said, smiling.

"Uh, right Pheebs. Ravishing," Helga commented.

Phoebe ignored Helga's comment. "It's vast, full of timely utensils, and is just so cordial!" she clasped her hands together in admiration. "Don't you think so, Gerald?"

Gerald scratched his head. "Uh…" he turned to Arnold. "I think your room's really cool man!"

"Yeah," Phoebe nodded. "Anyway, we're going to go back to the room now. See you guys later, at dinner."

"Dinner?" Arnold questioned.

"Yeah, you know, the last meal of the day," Helga said sarcastically, with her hands on her hips.

"I know what dinner is," Arnold told her, with a raised eyebrow. "But when and where are we going to have dinner?" he asked Phoebe.

"The Coffee Garden, of course," Phoebe said. "At 6:00 sharp."

"Coffee Garden?" Arnold asked.

"Did she stutter?" Helga said, standing up. "Yeah, the Coffee Garden. It's down the hall and to your left. You can't miss it!"

"So see you guys there! Don't be late!" Phoebe said, closing the door behind her and Gerald.

"6:00?" Arnold questioned, looking at his watch. "It's already 5:00!"

"What?" Helga said, jumping a bit.

Ha! Get ready for chapter three! I admit it, I like where this is going! Until next time,

Lotsa Luv and Helga and Arnold forever,

~ Satokasu Suki