Author's Appreciation*****Okay! Overwhelming response to my begging and
groveling! Thanks SO much to the following reader/reviewers: WillyD as
always, with great advice and encouragement,CrystalTear(just read your
update, it's phenomonal!) MidnightOasis (you are TOO kind!!) and
AphineLeonsoul( I love your story, too! UPDATE PLEASE!!) Now that I got
that out of my system, I already have an idea for a quite amusing story
that I might start after this one. It's so sad to finish a story. In a way,
it's like a child leaving home. (SAPPY I KNOW!)Anyways, On with the show!
Chapter 12 Cat Fights and the Big Night
Arnold nibbled absentmindedly on his toast, his pancakes untouched on his plate. It was the morning of the prom, and there was no school for the seniors. He could barely eat at all, thinking over and over again about the call he had received only the night before.
"Arnold? This is Mrs. Vitello. The young lady who received your flowers called, asking if we knew whom they were from. Of course, I was the soul of discretion, but she said that if I happened to run into the gentleman that sent them, that the answer was yes. She'll meet you by the fountain in the Reflection Garden, behind the Galleria."
He couldn't believe it! He was sure she would of crumpled up the note and chucked it, but she must not suspect they were from him! He couldn't believe his plan was falling into place so neatly, it wasn't like he had a lot of experience in the plotting and scheming department. He was always known for being straightforward. That had been too much for Helga though, so maybe this would be more her speed.
" Are you going to finish your bacon, Arnold? Heh, heh, heh!" Oskar reached a tentative hand towards the cold breakfast in front of him.
" Help yourself, Mr. Kokoshka," he smiled, pushing the plate in the older man's direction. " I can't eat anyways, too nervous,"
" Oh that's right, your big dance is tonight, isn't it? Did you ask your leetle girlfriend who used to have one eyebrow?" He wiggled his own to embellish his point.
Arnold spat the orange juice he'd been sipping on the carpet instantly. " How do you know anything about Helga and my plans?" He sputtered eyes wide with fear.
" I am not supposed to say, her fists have names you know," Oskar rolled the bacon between two pancakes, dipped them in syrup, and shoved the concoction in his gaping mouth. " She threatened to disembowel me if I talk, and that's putting it nicely,"
"Threatened you? When did you talk to her? What did she ask you? Why are you STILL EATING??" Arnold stood, grasped Oskar by the shoulders and shook him in frustration.
" Arnold, get a hold of yourself! I will tell you everything, just let me chew my food!" Oskar gulped down the rest of the pancakes, taking a swig of his own juice as well. " Okay, a week ago, I get this call. This girl says she knows you, and she needs to ask a question. I told her I would never betray your trust like that, so-"
"How much did she pay you?" Arnold rolled his eyes, knowing where this was going already.
" !0 dollars, but it was supposed to be twenty! She changed her mind! Anyways, all she wanted to know was if you really liked Gerald's leetle sister or not, so I told her,"
" Told her what?" Arnold hissed through gritted teeth, his face losing color rapidly.
" I told her not really, that you were in love with her, only she didn't take it too well. She got mad and pushed me out the door, with only 10 dollars, not 20!" Oskar rambled, his eyes wide.
" You told her WHAT??!" Arnold spat, his hands clenching at his sides. " Mr. Kokoshka, where ever would you get that idea?"
"The way you mope around here now, the way I have never seen you happier than you were 4 years ago, when she was your leetle girlfriend. It is destiny, like me and Suzie," Oskar winked his eye in approval.
"Okay tell me exactly what you said to her," Arnold continued, choosing to ignore Oskar's blatant but truthful comments.
" I told her you didn't love Teemberly, that you loved some other girl. One that she had known quite well and for a long time? Hint HINT? You get the idea; I winked at her and everything. I said I have never seen you as goofy over anyone as much as this "girl". Wait....do you think maybe she didn't know I meant her?" A light seemed to dawn in the cobwebs of his mind.
" Uh, PROBABLY!" he shouted, stating the obvious.
No wonder she was acting so elusive, she thought he loved someone else! He smiled in spite of the situation, flattered that Helga would go so far as to talk to Oskar about him and Timberly. Suddenly, his thoughts returned to reality. She thought he was in love with someone they had both known a long time, someone he acted goofy over?
"Lila!" Arnold whispered, not believing what he was thinking. Helga must of been crushed! He knew she had been extremely jealous of her before they had dated, but she had softened towards her since she'd been dating Stinky. What was going through her mind now?
Well, she HAD accepted the invite. Maybe in a quest to forget about him! He could only hope that she wouldn't sock him when it turned out that her mystery man was him.
" Where are you off to, Arnold?" Oskar asked between bites of cold toast.
" To pick up my tux," Arnold replied lightly. " And check on my dental insurance," he finished, softly clicking the door shut behind him.
Helga, Phoebe, Rhonda, and Nadine were sitting in the exclusive hair salon that Rhonda's mother had booked their appointments at, " Walking On Air" hair boutique. The place was reminiscent of the day spa Helga had been dragged to 5 years ago with Olga, where she had experienced her first and only date with electrolysis. The death of her unibrow, she lovingly called it.
"I still can't believe you got a one of a kind Caprini!" Rhonda whined, her dark hair being doused with aromatic shampoos as a tall, angular woman with fuschia lipstick worked on her.
" It's all in who you know, Princess, and in my case, he knew Olga," Helga laughed, her own hair wrapped in layers of foil. Since she was going all out with the dress, Rhonda thought she should go for the gusto and get some highlights. Rhonda's were still fresh, so she didn't need touch ups right this minute.
" I feel like an evil satellite dish, " Helga commented. Her long blond hair was indeed invisible under the several layers of aluminum.
" It'll be gorgeous, trust me," Rhonda smiled, giving the thumbs up sign from the sink.
" Mine turned out quite lovely, Helga," Phoebe called from the dryers, her own raven hair freshly streaked with copper. She waited patiently with rollers the size of soup cans pinned all over her head like an oversized rag doll.
" I just can't wait 'til we put this all together with the dresses!" Nadine smiled, looking at a picture in her hands. She kissed the portrait of Park, then shoved it back in her purse.
" I know, Curly's going to DIE," Rhonda shrieked, her face coloring in delight. " Good call on the vintage Versace, Miss Pataki."
The girls continued to laugh and pal around, while Phoebe's hair was transformed into an elegant upsweep, simple like her, but beautiful nonetheless. Nadine's golden hair was done in a reverse french braid, with her natural curly tendrils teased and coifed to perfection. Rhonda was having an intricate, cinderella-type bun put in her hair, the type of style that fit her nickname of princess. It was all in preparation for her inevitable crowning as prom queen.
Helga was having her hair rinsed, the honey colored low lights and white blonde high lights glinting against her natural golden hair. She was just about to sit under the dryers when the door tinkled overhead.
Lila and Timberly entered the door, each smiling and looking radiant. Lila approached the front desk first. Helga grimaced, but ducked quickly under the nearest dryer, dropping the helmet down over her head.
"Appointment for Miss Sawyer, Please," Lila told the receptionist sweetly. Timberly followed suit, requesting her own scheduled appointment.
The two girls were lead to the back to have their hair washed, and Helga smiled a truly menacing grin. " Arnold's little play thing and the love of his life, together. How truly sickening. Oh well, wait til they see the hunk of man Helga G. Patacki's gonna have on her arm!" she muttered under her breath.
Old lady Vitello had told her the guy was a real looker, and that's all that mattered to Helga. I mean, if she didn't even know this guy, she wanted to make sure she wasn't going to be approached by some desperate toad. Still, her heart skipped a beat as she thought of Arnold, how dapper he would look in his tux, how gorgeous his green eyes looked against his recent tan. She smiled sappily, then shook it off. No thinking of the football head right now, she told herself. Wait til tonight
The dryer clicked off and Helga was lead to the rear of the boutique once more, the other girls waited patiently for her as the last of the hair spray was applied to their own hair do's.
A lady with black hair with hot pink streaks fingered the layers of golden, freshly streaked hair. "What kinda threads you wearin, cookie?" She shot at Helga, twisting her hair into a huge mass with her hand.
" Low back, halter top, pale blush color, but CLASSY, toots," she shot back, slightly impressed with the stylist.
The lady smiled. " Not your usual foray, huh? I know, that's me too. Let's glam you up, buttercup," She grinned as she grabbed the flat iron and curling iron, spritzing and curling rapidly.
Timberly plopped in a chair just 2 feet away from Helga, her eyes darted sideway at her, but snapped back in an instant. As Helga's chair turned momentarily, Timberly winked at Lila, who smirked and nodded her shiny red head.
" I don't care HOW much you like Stinky, I KNOW you been looking at my man," Timberly hissed, narrowing her hazel eyes in anger.
" I am EVER so sure you were looking at my STINKY!" Lila shot back, her green eyes glittering with rage.
All eyes in the salon were on them, but none more than Helga's. She strained against the stylist's expert hands, trying to see more of the argument. "Hold still, chic, or you're gonna look like big bird!" the lady laughed, firmly directing her back towards the opposite wall.
"Well, from what I hear, you redheaded harpy, Mr. Peterson says that Arnold had eyes for only ONE woman, and that it isn't ME!" Timberly yanked her head from the startled looking young man behind her.
" Well it isn't ME!" Lila replied, her face turning 3 shades of pink. " It's that blonde bimbo, if you must know!" she retorted, a smile playing at the corners of her lips.
" What blonde bimbo? I'll put her lights out!" Timberely was now on her feet, her face inches from Lila's.
This is gettin' pretty good, Helga thought with a sneer, her hair being pulled into an updo of some sort. She couldn't even tell what it looked like, she was too engulfed in the conversation.
" I think you know, " Lila smiled, her face returning to normal.
" Well if it's who I think it is, then I don't have any problem." Timberly laughed, sitting back in her chair. " We'll see what he thinks."
Blonde bimbo? Who did Helga know that was blonde, and that Arnold had once had it bad for? Her mind raced, thinking back to all the girls she had known Arnold to go ga-ga over. Ruth McDougall, Cecile, Summer, Lila, ....Suddenly the answer was clear !
" He still likes..CECILE?" Helga whispered to herself. " But he doesn't know that she was ME! Oh Crimeny, how could she be jealous of herself??
Helga didn't have time to dwell on her dilemma long, however, as the stylist turned her around in her chair. "You clean up pretty good, chic," she replied dryly, waiting for her response.
Helga's hair was pulled up in a half updo, the sides swept up and away from her face, the hilights glinting against her natural hair color. The rest was curled in long, loose tendrils that flowed down her back. The clasp at that held the sides pinned back was adorned with austrian crystals, the same as the brooch on her dress and the clasps on her shoes. It was simple but breathtaking all at once.
" Thought you wouldn't want to hide it in some crappy bun with a mane like that," smiled the stylist, her satisfaction apparent on her face.
"It's wonderful," Helga smiled, turning her head side to side to examine the soft waves of hair cascading over her shoulders.
" And that masterpiece of a dress will look fab with that 'do," Rhonda agreed, whipping her gold card out to the receptionist. "My treat, 20 percent tip for all," Rhonda replied briskly, with a sly wink to someone behind her.
The girls gathered their things and left the salon, with two young ladies laughing hysterically as the door shut.
****Sorry I didn't get to the actual prom, Next Chap I PROMISE !! I know this one was crappy, but I wanted to tie all the loose ends up for the big H/A moment!! NEXT : PROM NITE!!!!!!
Chapter 12 Cat Fights and the Big Night
Arnold nibbled absentmindedly on his toast, his pancakes untouched on his plate. It was the morning of the prom, and there was no school for the seniors. He could barely eat at all, thinking over and over again about the call he had received only the night before.
"Arnold? This is Mrs. Vitello. The young lady who received your flowers called, asking if we knew whom they were from. Of course, I was the soul of discretion, but she said that if I happened to run into the gentleman that sent them, that the answer was yes. She'll meet you by the fountain in the Reflection Garden, behind the Galleria."
He couldn't believe it! He was sure she would of crumpled up the note and chucked it, but she must not suspect they were from him! He couldn't believe his plan was falling into place so neatly, it wasn't like he had a lot of experience in the plotting and scheming department. He was always known for being straightforward. That had been too much for Helga though, so maybe this would be more her speed.
" Are you going to finish your bacon, Arnold? Heh, heh, heh!" Oskar reached a tentative hand towards the cold breakfast in front of him.
" Help yourself, Mr. Kokoshka," he smiled, pushing the plate in the older man's direction. " I can't eat anyways, too nervous,"
" Oh that's right, your big dance is tonight, isn't it? Did you ask your leetle girlfriend who used to have one eyebrow?" He wiggled his own to embellish his point.
Arnold spat the orange juice he'd been sipping on the carpet instantly. " How do you know anything about Helga and my plans?" He sputtered eyes wide with fear.
" I am not supposed to say, her fists have names you know," Oskar rolled the bacon between two pancakes, dipped them in syrup, and shoved the concoction in his gaping mouth. " She threatened to disembowel me if I talk, and that's putting it nicely,"
"Threatened you? When did you talk to her? What did she ask you? Why are you STILL EATING??" Arnold stood, grasped Oskar by the shoulders and shook him in frustration.
" Arnold, get a hold of yourself! I will tell you everything, just let me chew my food!" Oskar gulped down the rest of the pancakes, taking a swig of his own juice as well. " Okay, a week ago, I get this call. This girl says she knows you, and she needs to ask a question. I told her I would never betray your trust like that, so-"
"How much did she pay you?" Arnold rolled his eyes, knowing where this was going already.
" !0 dollars, but it was supposed to be twenty! She changed her mind! Anyways, all she wanted to know was if you really liked Gerald's leetle sister or not, so I told her,"
" Told her what?" Arnold hissed through gritted teeth, his face losing color rapidly.
" I told her not really, that you were in love with her, only she didn't take it too well. She got mad and pushed me out the door, with only 10 dollars, not 20!" Oskar rambled, his eyes wide.
" You told her WHAT??!" Arnold spat, his hands clenching at his sides. " Mr. Kokoshka, where ever would you get that idea?"
"The way you mope around here now, the way I have never seen you happier than you were 4 years ago, when she was your leetle girlfriend. It is destiny, like me and Suzie," Oskar winked his eye in approval.
"Okay tell me exactly what you said to her," Arnold continued, choosing to ignore Oskar's blatant but truthful comments.
" I told her you didn't love Teemberly, that you loved some other girl. One that she had known quite well and for a long time? Hint HINT? You get the idea; I winked at her and everything. I said I have never seen you as goofy over anyone as much as this "girl". Wait....do you think maybe she didn't know I meant her?" A light seemed to dawn in the cobwebs of his mind.
" Uh, PROBABLY!" he shouted, stating the obvious.
No wonder she was acting so elusive, she thought he loved someone else! He smiled in spite of the situation, flattered that Helga would go so far as to talk to Oskar about him and Timberly. Suddenly, his thoughts returned to reality. She thought he was in love with someone they had both known a long time, someone he acted goofy over?
"Lila!" Arnold whispered, not believing what he was thinking. Helga must of been crushed! He knew she had been extremely jealous of her before they had dated, but she had softened towards her since she'd been dating Stinky. What was going through her mind now?
Well, she HAD accepted the invite. Maybe in a quest to forget about him! He could only hope that she wouldn't sock him when it turned out that her mystery man was him.
" Where are you off to, Arnold?" Oskar asked between bites of cold toast.
" To pick up my tux," Arnold replied lightly. " And check on my dental insurance," he finished, softly clicking the door shut behind him.
Helga, Phoebe, Rhonda, and Nadine were sitting in the exclusive hair salon that Rhonda's mother had booked their appointments at, " Walking On Air" hair boutique. The place was reminiscent of the day spa Helga had been dragged to 5 years ago with Olga, where she had experienced her first and only date with electrolysis. The death of her unibrow, she lovingly called it.
"I still can't believe you got a one of a kind Caprini!" Rhonda whined, her dark hair being doused with aromatic shampoos as a tall, angular woman with fuschia lipstick worked on her.
" It's all in who you know, Princess, and in my case, he knew Olga," Helga laughed, her own hair wrapped in layers of foil. Since she was going all out with the dress, Rhonda thought she should go for the gusto and get some highlights. Rhonda's were still fresh, so she didn't need touch ups right this minute.
" I feel like an evil satellite dish, " Helga commented. Her long blond hair was indeed invisible under the several layers of aluminum.
" It'll be gorgeous, trust me," Rhonda smiled, giving the thumbs up sign from the sink.
" Mine turned out quite lovely, Helga," Phoebe called from the dryers, her own raven hair freshly streaked with copper. She waited patiently with rollers the size of soup cans pinned all over her head like an oversized rag doll.
" I just can't wait 'til we put this all together with the dresses!" Nadine smiled, looking at a picture in her hands. She kissed the portrait of Park, then shoved it back in her purse.
" I know, Curly's going to DIE," Rhonda shrieked, her face coloring in delight. " Good call on the vintage Versace, Miss Pataki."
The girls continued to laugh and pal around, while Phoebe's hair was transformed into an elegant upsweep, simple like her, but beautiful nonetheless. Nadine's golden hair was done in a reverse french braid, with her natural curly tendrils teased and coifed to perfection. Rhonda was having an intricate, cinderella-type bun put in her hair, the type of style that fit her nickname of princess. It was all in preparation for her inevitable crowning as prom queen.
Helga was having her hair rinsed, the honey colored low lights and white blonde high lights glinting against her natural golden hair. She was just about to sit under the dryers when the door tinkled overhead.
Lila and Timberly entered the door, each smiling and looking radiant. Lila approached the front desk first. Helga grimaced, but ducked quickly under the nearest dryer, dropping the helmet down over her head.
"Appointment for Miss Sawyer, Please," Lila told the receptionist sweetly. Timberly followed suit, requesting her own scheduled appointment.
The two girls were lead to the back to have their hair washed, and Helga smiled a truly menacing grin. " Arnold's little play thing and the love of his life, together. How truly sickening. Oh well, wait til they see the hunk of man Helga G. Patacki's gonna have on her arm!" she muttered under her breath.
Old lady Vitello had told her the guy was a real looker, and that's all that mattered to Helga. I mean, if she didn't even know this guy, she wanted to make sure she wasn't going to be approached by some desperate toad. Still, her heart skipped a beat as she thought of Arnold, how dapper he would look in his tux, how gorgeous his green eyes looked against his recent tan. She smiled sappily, then shook it off. No thinking of the football head right now, she told herself. Wait til tonight
The dryer clicked off and Helga was lead to the rear of the boutique once more, the other girls waited patiently for her as the last of the hair spray was applied to their own hair do's.
A lady with black hair with hot pink streaks fingered the layers of golden, freshly streaked hair. "What kinda threads you wearin, cookie?" She shot at Helga, twisting her hair into a huge mass with her hand.
" Low back, halter top, pale blush color, but CLASSY, toots," she shot back, slightly impressed with the stylist.
The lady smiled. " Not your usual foray, huh? I know, that's me too. Let's glam you up, buttercup," She grinned as she grabbed the flat iron and curling iron, spritzing and curling rapidly.
Timberly plopped in a chair just 2 feet away from Helga, her eyes darted sideway at her, but snapped back in an instant. As Helga's chair turned momentarily, Timberly winked at Lila, who smirked and nodded her shiny red head.
" I don't care HOW much you like Stinky, I KNOW you been looking at my man," Timberly hissed, narrowing her hazel eyes in anger.
" I am EVER so sure you were looking at my STINKY!" Lila shot back, her green eyes glittering with rage.
All eyes in the salon were on them, but none more than Helga's. She strained against the stylist's expert hands, trying to see more of the argument. "Hold still, chic, or you're gonna look like big bird!" the lady laughed, firmly directing her back towards the opposite wall.
"Well, from what I hear, you redheaded harpy, Mr. Peterson says that Arnold had eyes for only ONE woman, and that it isn't ME!" Timberly yanked her head from the startled looking young man behind her.
" Well it isn't ME!" Lila replied, her face turning 3 shades of pink. " It's that blonde bimbo, if you must know!" she retorted, a smile playing at the corners of her lips.
" What blonde bimbo? I'll put her lights out!" Timberely was now on her feet, her face inches from Lila's.
This is gettin' pretty good, Helga thought with a sneer, her hair being pulled into an updo of some sort. She couldn't even tell what it looked like, she was too engulfed in the conversation.
" I think you know, " Lila smiled, her face returning to normal.
" Well if it's who I think it is, then I don't have any problem." Timberly laughed, sitting back in her chair. " We'll see what he thinks."
Blonde bimbo? Who did Helga know that was blonde, and that Arnold had once had it bad for? Her mind raced, thinking back to all the girls she had known Arnold to go ga-ga over. Ruth McDougall, Cecile, Summer, Lila, ....Suddenly the answer was clear !
" He still likes..CECILE?" Helga whispered to herself. " But he doesn't know that she was ME! Oh Crimeny, how could she be jealous of herself??
Helga didn't have time to dwell on her dilemma long, however, as the stylist turned her around in her chair. "You clean up pretty good, chic," she replied dryly, waiting for her response.
Helga's hair was pulled up in a half updo, the sides swept up and away from her face, the hilights glinting against her natural hair color. The rest was curled in long, loose tendrils that flowed down her back. The clasp at that held the sides pinned back was adorned with austrian crystals, the same as the brooch on her dress and the clasps on her shoes. It was simple but breathtaking all at once.
" Thought you wouldn't want to hide it in some crappy bun with a mane like that," smiled the stylist, her satisfaction apparent on her face.
"It's wonderful," Helga smiled, turning her head side to side to examine the soft waves of hair cascading over her shoulders.
" And that masterpiece of a dress will look fab with that 'do," Rhonda agreed, whipping her gold card out to the receptionist. "My treat, 20 percent tip for all," Rhonda replied briskly, with a sly wink to someone behind her.
The girls gathered their things and left the salon, with two young ladies laughing hysterically as the door shut.
****Sorry I didn't get to the actual prom, Next Chap I PROMISE !! I know this one was crappy, but I wanted to tie all the loose ends up for the big H/A moment!! NEXT : PROM NITE!!!!!!