Disclaimer's on first chapter! Please don't sue me, Mr. Big Bad Lawyer Man! ::cowers and rolls into a ball::

A/N: So it's been a LONG, LONG time since I've updated this and I am truly (well, kinda) sorry about it. I am now 14 as of November 22nd! Woohoo! Go me!! LOL Well, anyway… It's Christmas vacay right now and so I have lots of free time and no homework on my hands so I can probably finish this baby without making it sound dumb! Hehe! Well, hope you enjoy!

Marshmallows and Irony

Chapter Four:

Helga ran out of Arnold's boarding house angry, sad and confused. She threw her skateboard down on the ground, hopped on it and was gone into the night without Arnold's affections… without happiness… without a sweater to weather the cold, lonely night.

I hate him, she thought. I really, really hate him.

No you don't, a voice inside her said. You know you love him… and maybe he loves you too. You can't give up. Not on love…

As Helga struggled with her feelings on her way home, Arnold plotted in his room. He wondered with all his might how he could hate a girl so much… She made him feel like scum. Something burned inside of him because of her; he didn't know what it was. He wanted so much to destroy her, to tear her down cell by cell until their was nothing left of her but a soul… but he couldn't. He cared. He cared a whole hell of a lot, but he would never admit to himself how he knew he really felt about Helga.

Like children, hours later… the two were laying on their beds later that night crying to themselves about their stupid, confused lives… Neither one knowing how to fix it all.

A few days passed and soon it was Tuesday afternoon, the day before their "date." The two had taken every measure to avoid each other at school, but eventually their attempts failed and they were paired together for an English project involving researching a poet of each pair's choice.

The groups were told to work on their projects for the rest of the class period. Helga and Arnold's desks were joined together at the front so they were facing each other, but their heads were down. They were both deep in thought, but not about the project. Helga and Arnold both had Edgar Allen Poe in consideration, of course, because of how shit they felt at the moment, so they didn't worry about their subject. They knew Mr. Poe's works could sympathize with them. After all, his life was even shittier than both of theirs.

Arnold knew he had to break the silence. "So… tomorrow at the pier, right?"

"Right… yeah…" Helga said, trying not to come back from deep-space thought.

The three o'clock bell rang and Helga rushed out the door and to her locker. Coincidently, Arnold's locker was close to Helga's so she knew they would inevitably have some sort of conversation.

As she gathered her books into her bag, she glanced up at Arnold only a mere seven feet from her, talking to Gerald. She tried to look away, but their talk intrigued her.

"So tomorrow's the big day, huh?" Gerald asked and nudged Arnold in the side.

"Yeah… I guess." Arnold shrugged. "What the hell is so big about it?"

"The dare! You know what I'm talking about!"

"Quiet, Gerald! Do you want her to hear about it?" It was too late, Helga had heard. How dare he do that to me??? A dare, she thought. I wonder what kind of dare…

"So you're definitely going to get it done with at the pier??" Gerald asked again, trying to be sure of where and when he and the other guys would have to be with their camcorder.

Arnold stuffed a geography book in his bag. "Well I'm going to try."

Helga tried to sneak away from beside her locker as quickly as she could, but when she spun around, she crashed into Eugene, sending his books all over the hall and making him fall backwards onto the floor.

"I'm okay…" Eugene called and raised his hand weakly into the air from his position in the middle of the hall.

"Yeah, well watch were you're going, dumbass!" Helga yelled back angrily as she pushed her way through the high school crowd and out the exit.

A/N: Short chapter? Yeah… I know. I'm writing another right after I upload this, I could've run it all into one chapter, but I just wanted to keep you guys suspended for the time while your computer loads. Hehe Review if you like!