Chapter 2:


The next day was colder than the last as the signs of winter were appearing. The trees, which had been stripped of their leaves, were rattling in the wind. The birds were flying south to keep warm and show began to dance lightly to the ground.

The group of ten kids waited at the Gerald field street corner for a bus that was promised to them, by Ronda, to show up. Ten-o-clock on the dot, the bus pulled up. They sat two to a seat. Arnold and Gerald and behind hem was Helga and Phoebe. The others took their seats as well "Hey, Football head! Who did you draw?" Helga asked in her usual tone.

"I can't say." He said Helga turned to question Phoebe, "How long will this trip take?"

"Approximately five hours and thirty minutes," Phoebe answered, "Plenty of time for you to write something for a curtain someone." She said,

"Write?" Phoebe made a head motion toward Arnold.

Helga nodded and pulled out her purple pen and pink book and moment the tip of the pen touched the paper words began to flow from it. Helga wrote for about ten minutes before she put the book down. She had written a poem that expressed her feelings towards him.

Later when most of her friends were asleep Helga looked around to see if anyone was watching her. She had gotten him a golden key that was about the size of a penny, and it hung from a gold chain. Helga had the other part of it, a heart with a keyhole in it.

She looked around once more and pulled out a silver card and a gold pen, she began to copy the poem onto the card. After that was done she put the chain and the card into a small box and topped it off with a pink Christmas bow, happy that she was going to finally tell Arnold that she loved him, Helga put the gift into her bag and peered out the window at the long winding countryside.

As the trip dragged on the sky began to darken. The bus stopped of at a restaurant/ gas station for a break and a check up. The group exited the bus and headed into the restaurant to eat. Not feeling very hungry, Helga walked into the lounge to wait. "Helga?" She knew that voice

"Arn-." She started then corrected herself,

"Football head? What do you want?" Ignoring her usual attitude he sat next to her on a couch,

"Don't you want to eat anything? We still have two hours left."

"Why do you care so much?" Helga asked

"You are my friend, I'm just worried. And besides, you have not been eating at school. What's going on with you?"

"You don't have to concern yourself with my affairs, Arnold." She said Sadly, got up and walked away.

"Helga." He said and followed slowly after her, she entered the bus and sat in her window seat. Arnold sat down next to her, not allowing her to escape. "You're trapped." He said jokingly.

"I don't want to talk about it. Go away!" she yelled, oh how she hated to yell at him when he was trying to help her.

"No!" Helga had never seen him get angry, she was a little frightened. "If you think I'm going to sit here and listen to your crap, "Oh, it's nothing" "he said in a girly voice, "Then you're wrong! I want you to tell me what is wrong, even if it could make you hate me even more, I want to help you!" he took a deep breath and his temper went down.

"Arnold, I-I don't hate you." she looked down at her trembling hands.

"What's wrong?" he asked once more. "My, family is- is." she started as she tried to fight back her tears. " Is kicking me out, and moving to Mexico." she let the silent tears slide down her face, "Oh, Arnold. I'm only fifteen. What will I do?" she asked.

"Helga." for the first time Arnold was at a loss for words and out of his usual advice. Then it came to him, "you can stay with me." he blushed and cleared his throat," I mean at the boarding house." Arnold wasn't expecting her to say yes, although he was hopping she would, and she did hate him, despite what she said earlier, but she smiled and hugged him tightly.

"Do you really mean that?" she asked.

"You know I do." He said," So now will you come inside with me and eat?"

"Yes," she said, "oh and Football head if you tell anyone that I was crying you'll have to answer to old Betsy." Arnold laughed and said,

"'Okay, Helga." After a big dinner and two desserts, Helga joined the others and headed back to the bus for the two remaining hours of the trip. At about ten-o-clock pm the bus was filled with sleeping teens, well all but Helga who was leaning against the window, watching the world go by. She started to cry softly, so as to not wake anyone, but Arnold could here her, apparently he was awake too. He put the bookmark back in his Harry Potter book and put it away. Through the seats Helga saw a folded piece of paper. She took it, unfolded it and read:

: Hey, Helga. I like your bow: Helga smiled and wrote back. This was the first thing he had ever said to her when she met him in preschool.

It's pink. Like my pants: She heard him let out a small laugh. She loved it when he was happy. She loved the way he made her feel. She loved him. He wrote back once more.

: Goodnight, my Juliet:

Helga felt her heart melt, what was he trying to say? "Good-night, Romeo." She said softly, but he was asleep.
That was chapter 2, I hope you like this. I have sharing issues when it comes to my writing. Be nice