P.S. Sorry this took sooooooooo long to post...but...my computer was having severe problems *sweat drop* and we had to take it in. We're still not sure what we had, but hey, everything's great and running again so sorry, and here goes nothing...
Disclaimer can be found on Chapter One, and Chapter Six.
The Cruise: Chapter Seven
"Hey football-head, you're up!" Helga called from her catcher position. Helga, Gerald, Phoebe and Arnold were all playing baseball in the baseball arena, aboard the Sunset Cruise. Down the hall, there was a football arena, and a tennis court.
Arnold grabbed a bat, and walked to first base. "This guy can't hit – move in, move in!" Helga called sarcastically to Gerald and Phoebe, and they moved in.
Gerald was the pitcher, and wound up the ball in his right hand. "Here it comes, Arnold!" he warned as the ball went straight for Arnold's bat.
Arnold swung, and-
"Strike one!" Helga called dully, as she threw the ball carelessly back to Gerald. Gerald pitched again, this time more lightly to make it easier on Arnold.
Arnold swung and-
Hit the ball very hard, almost out of the arena, but it bounced off a back wall.
Arnold dropped his bat and ran to first base. Phoebe grabbed the ball in her field position, and threw it to Gerald as Arnold ran past second base.
"Throw it, throw it!" Helga yelled to Gerald, reaching for the ball as Arnold ran closer to home. Arnold slid into safety, as Helga caught the ball.
"Arnold's safe!" Gerald called, as he walked to regain his new catcher position. Helga walked up to bat, and Arnold ran to his pitcher position, as Phoebe stayed in the field.
"Give me your worst, Arnoldo," Helga teased.
Arnold threw the ball, and she hit it hard, first try. Helga dropped her bat the minute she hit the ball, and ran to first base.
Arnold looked up, and saw the ball…headed for him. Before he knew it, all he could see was black.
"Hold it!" Gerald called, and Helga stopped dead in her tracks.
"What?" she asked impatiently and then glanced at Arnold.
"Arnold!" she panicked, running to his side. He was lying down, and he looked unconscious. Gerald and Phoebe joined Helga at Arnold's aid.
"How are we gonna get him to…come around?" Gerald asked, shifting his eyes from Arnold to Helga, and then Phoebe.
"One of is going to have to give him the mouth-to-mouth treatment," Phoebe spoke up, stating the obvious.
"No way!" Helga sliced her arms in a 'not gonna happen' motion.
"Well I don't want to…" Gerald frowned, looking up at Phoebe.
Phoebe shook her head silently, looking at Helga.
"Alright, alright, ya bunch of chuckle heads. I'll do it," she said rolling her eyes, "but don't ever say I didn't do you a favour," she said, with a long exaggerated sigh.
She leaned towards Arnold and looked at him strangely for a while. As if she was fighting a war with herself, over giving him mouth-to-mouth or not.
"Today would be good, Helga," Gerald said sarcastically, looking at his watch and then tapping it as if to see if it was still working.
"Hey, don't rush me! I'll take as long as I want…unless you want to do it!" Helga threatened, as Gerald rolled his eyes.
Helga leaned closer to Arnold, and tried to calm her heart down. It was beating so fast she thought for sure that Gerald and Phoebe could hear it. 'Alright Helga, ol' girl…you can do this. You've kissed him before…you've even done mouth-to-mouth on him before, so its not like this is new to you…' she tried to calm herself down. 'I just wish they weren't watching me so closely!'
She took a deep breath before breathing into Arnold. The process repeated a couple of times, before she sat back, to watch Arnold recover.
"I think he's coming around," Gerald stated the obvious as Arnold coughed a bit, and then stood up with the help of Helga's arm for support.
"What happened?" he asked drowzily, touching his head gingerly where the ball had hit him.
"Helga," Gerald frowned and looked up at her as she smiled guiltily, "hit you on the head with a baseball," he said.
"Yes," Phoebe complied. "And I believe she has something to say," she added; nudging Helga and hinting at an apology.
Helga rubbed her arm nervously. 'I gotta get out of this stupid habit,' she told herself, ripping her hand away from her arm.
"Arnold…I uh…" her hand found its way to her arm again, as she rubbed it nervously.
"That one time that you hit me on the head with a baseball," she started again; her voice rising, "and you gave me amnesia, well I guess you could say this is like revenge-" Phoebe coughed on purpose, and nudged her hardly.
"Ow!" Helga yelled in pain, and Phoebe's eyes narrowed as Helga nodded in a 'okay, okay, already!' way. "I'm sorry Arnold," she said flatly, not looking at him, saying the words with…was that guiltiness? Was she ashamed for hurting him? Arnold couldn't really tell.
Arnold smiled warmly, taking his hand off of his head, as he touched Helga's arm gently. A tingling sensation washed through her, as he didn't move his hand. Her eyes widened, and she tried to build another wall inside of her, so she wouldn't cave in and get all mushy on him.
"I forgive you, Helga," he said with a smile, patting her arm. She couldn't help but smile back; even if it was a guilty smile.
"Aww," Gerald and Phoebe said in unison, smiling sweetly at them. Arnold blushed faintly with an embarrassed frown, and Helga snapped out of her lovesick trance.
"Shut up or I'll pound your faces in!" she threatened, and she would've if Arnold hadn't held her back.
"Have fun trying," Gerald said under his breath before clearing his throat, and standing up. He extended a hand for Arnold to get up. Arnold stood up beside him.
"Let's go swimming, guys!" Gerald suddenly said with a smile, shifting his attention from Arnold to Phoebe and then to Helga.
Phoebe stood up and then helped Helga up.
"I guess…since there's nothing else to do," Helga said dully, with a forced yawn.
Gerald and Arnold walked ahead.
"You got it bad," Gerald said to Arnold, as he patted him on the back, sympathetically.
"Huh?" Arnold asked obliviously, "what do you mean?"
"You know what I mean," Gerald said with a wink. "You like like Helga."
"What?" Arnold spat. He had totally been caught off guard. "I do not!" he turned away, trying to hide the annoying blush that kept creeping up on him.
Gerald shook his head. "Mm mm mm!" he said in disapproval. "I wouldn't of picked her, myself, but hey, we're all different," he added with a sly smile.
Arnold rolled his eyes and then sighed. "I do not have a crush on Helga G. Pataki!" he denied strongly, getting a little angry about the whole conversation.
"Oh sure, Arnold, sure," Gerald nodded, pretending to believe him. Arnold shook his head at his sarcasm.
"Whatever, Gerald."
Meanwhile, Helga and Phoebe were talking, too…
"I didn't know they had a pool here," Phoebe said, looking at Helga to see what her reaction would be.
"What don't they have?" Helga said sarcastically. "I mean," she said, holding out a fist to count. "They have grade-A suite rooms," she put up her index finger, "restaurants," she put up another finger, "arcades, movies, theatre productions, pools," she was getting tired of counting, so she stopped with her 6 things. "They have everything!" she threw her arms up dramatically.
Phoebe smiled understandingly, with a nodd. "Yeah, I'd have to concur. And thanks again…on behalf of all of us…for inviting us to come with you on the wonderful cruise," she said with a shy smile. "We're having a great time!"
Helga grinned. "No problem! I figured you do so much for me, it was my chance to do something for you! And Arnold and Gerald were just getting really annoying…" she said with a smirk, "so I had to invite those idiots." She paused as Phoebe chuckled warmly. "Just don't get all mushy on me," she warned, and Phoebe smiled.
"Okay," she sang.
Later, at the pool.
"Nice bathing suit, Arnoldo!" Helga teased from in the water, as Arnold jumped off of the diving board.
He surfaced. "Yeah, yeah," he said with a smile. He was wearing trunks that had the same pattern as his chequered shirt he wore underneath his sweater; and somehow still wore his little blue hat. Helga wore a one-piece pink bathing suit (surprise, surprise, eh?), and Phoebe wore a dark blue one-piece bathing suit, while Gerald sported black trunks.
"Cannonball!" Gerald yelled, jumping into the private pool they had. It was a full-sized pool, just for them!
"Ha!" Helga laughed, pointing at Arnold. "You call that swimming?" she taunted, with a laugh, and then abruptly stopped as she felt some water shower over her. She looked up, after being drenched, to find a guilty looking Arnold.
"Arnold," she hissed with narrow eyes, swimming towards him. Arnold laughed, as he swam away quickly.
Helga splashed water at him, in revenge. Arnold splashed back, and soon a water fight began.
Gerald and Phoebe watched from the sidelines. "And they're off. Arnold versus Helga, in the water fight! Helga is in the lead, but Arnold seems to be climbing to victory," Gerald said in a deep professional voice. Phoebe laughed.
"Arnold splashes Helga back, and oh this is so exciting," Gerald boomed as Phoebe laughed again. "Take it away, Phoebe!" he said with a warm smile.
"Thank you Gerald," she shot a quick smile at him, and went along with his little game. "This is an intriguing event, and I'm honoured to have front row seats!" she grinned, pretending to hold a microphone. "Arnold splashes Helga but then Helga results victoriously," she finished professionally. "Back to you, Gerald."
They chorused in laughter, and by the time they were done, Arnold and Helga were laughing too, splashing carelessly at each other.
Gerald's eyes closed halfway, and he smiled an amused smile, as he looked at the two nine year olds diverse. Phoebe shyly smirked at them.
"They sure are cute," she admitted.
"Yeah," Gerald said with a chuckle. "But denial sure is strong," he added, remembering his talk with Arnold.
Phoebe nodded, before Gerald ruffled her wet hair, playfully. She giggled, and attacked his now-droopy-from-the-water-would-be-a-tall-stack hair. They laughed.
Later, when Helga and Phoebe were changing…
Phoebe was all dressed and waiting for Helga who was changing in a bathroom stall.
"Helga," Phoebe called from outside of the stall.
"Yeah?" Helga said from inside the stall.
"Although it was surprising, and not very in character, you had a lot of fun with Arnold today," she pointed out.
Helga dropped her brush and cleared her throat. "Uh…yeah…so? What's your point?"
"You like him, don't you?" Phoebe asked with a smirk.
Glass shattering, a cat meowing loudly, and dropping objects sounded from inside the stall.
Phoebe looked at the stall sceptically. "Are you alright in there, Helga?"
"Yeah…yeah…just fine," Helga said quickly, picking up her belongings.
"So you like Arnold, don't you?" Phoebe repeated.
Helga opened her mouth to talk, as she combed through her messy wet hair from inside the stall.
"Or should I say, you like icecream?"
Helga gasped. "I-ice cream?" she recovered. "I…I don't know what you're talking about," she lied. "And why would I have a crush on football-head of all people?" she said uncomfortably with a frown, opening the stall and walking to the mirror with her belongings.
"Ice cream…" Phoebe repeated again. "You're obsession…" she hinted, "I know you're obsessed with Arnold," she said knowingly, adjusting her glasses intelligently.
"Y-you do?" Helga's eyes widened, but then she shook it off. "I…I mean, what are you talking about? Me? Obsessed with Arnold?"
"Helga, just admit it. You can't deny it your whole life," Phoebe said firmly. Helga gave in.
"Okay, okay, I love him…" she said as her head drooped, her voice sounding almost ashamed. "I mean, I'm so obsessed!" she threw her hands up in the air dramatically.
"I have a shrine dedicated to him, a locket with his adorable little picture in it," her smile got wavy in admiration, "…and I tease him because I actually love him. Oh Phoebe," she said with a heavy sigh. "I don't know why I torture him. I mean, I love the living day lights outta him, and what do I do? Make fun of his head shape," she said bitterly.
Phoebe placed a hand on Helga's shoulder as Helga put her hair back into its usual pig-tailed fashion.
"I know what you're feeling, Helga," she said with a smile. "You're in love, but you don't want to confess yet because he might not feel the same way."
"Well yeah…" Helga started, examining the tile floor. "But I have confessed…" she said almost inaudibly.
Phoebe blinked. "You have?"
"Yeah…you know when Arnold was saving the neighbourhood?" Phoebe nodded and Helga continued. "Well…I had been helping him out along the way, as a mysterious man in a dark cloak…deep voice," she said with a nervous, forced laugh, as Phoebe nodded and urged Helga to continue. "A-anyway…Arnold's curiosity got the best of him, and he found me on the roof of the Future Tech Industries building. He demanded who I was, and I started sputtering stuff that he obviously didn't believe. And then…" she looked at the ground, "my coat fell off and he found out it was me."
Phoebe gasped. "What happened next?"
"Well…" Helga started sadly, "he demanded why I helped him along the way, and again, I shot all kinds of excuses at him, but he wanted to know the true reason." Phoebe blinked curiously, and Helga got hysterical. "So I told him I dedicated 14 volumes of poems to his presence, I told him I've loved him forever, I told him I've forever dreamed of the day that I could hold him and kiss him," by now Helga had a dreamy expression on, and she was yelling without a care. "And then," she calmed down, "I kissed him."
Phoebe gasped loudly, and then covered her mouth with her hand. "So…you confessed, and kissed him?" Helga nodded, "how did he respond?"
Helga shook her head with a smirk. "Poor football-head…he was pretty confused, because me, of all people, the school bully, had just announced that they loved him. He said something about lying down to think…and then of course, I jumped at him saying dreamily that I'd go lie down with him. He objected strongly, and then calmed down and shook me out of my daze, telling me we had to go save the neighbourhood."
"Yes, go on, Helga…" Phoebe urged.
"Well…after the whole thing," she said, gathering her hair products and her wet bathing suit, "he made up the excuse that it was just the 'heat of the moment'. And he was pretty much spoon-feeding me, so I agreed, saying that the stuff I said was just...the 'heat of the moment' as he put it. And then he asked if I still hated him..." There was a pause, and then she continued, "…and I snapped at him, as usual, and skipped down the street."
Phoebe was now sitting down, and nodding vigorously. "So…everything went back to normal?" Helga nodded.
"So that's great for you then!" she smiled. "That way he thinks that you don't like him, and everything's great!" Phoebe noticed the frown on Helga's face. "What's wrong, Helga?" she asked quietly.
"I-it's just that…even if he doesn't feel the same way…it would be so much better to let him know how I feel, so then I wouldn't have to keep keeping it a big, stupid secret!" she said, in a stressed manner.
"Well maybe one day you'll tell him again," Phoebe patted her on the back. "I mean, what's the worst that could happen?"
Helga nodded slowly. "I guess. I mean, I already know he doesn't like me, like me, but I would feel so much better confessing to him, spilling it all, and NOT taking it back."
Phoebe smiled as Helga and herself left the bathroom to meet up with Gerald and Arnold.
That's the end of Chapter Seven! Didja like it? Hate it? Personally I really enjoyed writing this chapter, its probably one of my favourites…I dunno why though. Lol, anyway, reviews and suggestions are more than welcome! Don't hesitate! Cya next time, in Chapter Eight!
Keep readin',
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And enjoyin'!
Satokasu Suki
