Hey Arnold Quote of the Chapter:

Helga: I'm a super model! I'm a super duper model! I haven't eaten in four weeks!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter 3 - Surprise

"So tell me man. What happened at the bus station?" asks Gerald. "It's obvious she didn't kill you." he tosses the weather-worn baseball up in the air and catches it again. He and Arnold are sitting on Arnold's stoop just talking, passing the time until their practice at Gerald Field.

Arnold frowns at the question, then shakes his head. "I don't want to talk about Helga right now Gerald. I'm still a little frustrated."

Gerald raises an eyebrow in curiosity. "It was that bad huh?"

Arnold pounds his fist into his baseball mitt before answering, "It went worse than you think." He pounds his mitt again. "She is just so… so… confusing! She picks on my everyday, calling me names like football head, yuts, and paste-for-brains, then she can turn around and do something admirable. She just doesn't make sense."

"Wait Arnold. Are you sure you're talking about Helga here? Helga G. Pataki? When was the last time she actually did something nice?"

"She invited us to that French restaurant."

"Which was the wrong restaurant." Gerald counters.

"Anyone could make that mistake."

"Then she tried to order lots of food to get out of paying the bill. And when that didn't work, she planted roaches there and the place was shut down."

"In the end she felt guilty and went back and told them what she did."

"Which lead us to washing dishes." Gerald shakes his head. "Man, and after all that, we still had to wash those stinkin' dishes."

Arnold smirks. "I didn't hear you complaining when you were washing next to Phoebe."

Gerald blushes slightly, "But that's not the point."

Arnold rolls his eyes, a grin on his face, "The point is that Helga did the right thing, even after she had gotten away with it." His eyes turn to his glove again, "I just wish that she could stop being Helga the bully and be herself. The one that went back to the restaurant after all that happened." Arnold sighs heavily. "But she always goes back to the bully Helga that picks on me. I don't even get why she picks on me in the first place."

Gerald rolls the baseball in his hand, "Did you ask her about that?"

Arnold nods, "Yeah, and her answer is just as confusing as she is."

"Well?"

"She said that she can't stop picking on me because I'm me."

Gerald stops the ball in his palm and looks straight at Arnold, "Huh? What is that suppose to mean?'

Arnold shrugs his shoulders, "Don't know, but what happened next was… well…"

"Well what?"

Arnold struggles, grimacing, "…I kinda yelled at her."

Gerald's jaw drops in amazement. "And you're still alive?! I'm calling some newspapers cuz this will make the front page!"

Arnold's eyes narrow at his best friend, "Gerald, please. I'm serious."

"So? What did you say?"

"That I hated her…"

Gerald blinks a few times, "Whoa."

"I feel really bad about it Gerald." He shifts his weight uneasily, "I think I really hurt her." He looks up at the dark, threatening clouds hanging in the sky, then sighs dejectedly. "I think I made her cry."

Gerald looks at Arnold for a long moment, surprised. "Are you for real?"

Arnold slowly nods, "Yeah, I think I really did make her cry."

"Let me guess. You're going to talk to her and straighten this out, right? Because you feel bad for her? Even though this is Helga we're talkin' about here?"

Arnold nods again, "She's catching for Herald's team as usual today. I'm going to try to talk to her after the game."

Gerald shakes his head at Arnold with pity. "Just hope she won't leave you black and blue."

"Hopefully I can her to listen to me before that can happen."

"What you need to do is to ask yourself one question."

Arnold raises an eyebrow in curiosity, "And what's that?"

Gerald grins widely at his best friend, "What you want on your tombstone, cuz you're a dead man."

~~~~~

The game was cut short as kids were called in for dinner, though it didn't stop Herald's team from winning, much to Gerald's dismay. Both boys stayed behind at Gerald Field, not wanting to leave yet.

"That was great game. We did better than last time." Arnold wipes the warm sweat from his forehead as he sits on the field's peeling blue bleachers. The sky above had cleared and now is a rainbow of colors as the sun hovers over the horizon. Gerald sits right next to him, bitter.

"Arnold, we lost 9 to 12!" scowls Gerald.

"And the game before that one was 5 to 14. We've improved."

Gerald's eyes narrow at him, "The only reason it was 9 to 12 this time was because Pataki didn't catch for them!"

"Although that seems to be a logical and sound justification, Gerald, I have to argue the fact that one person can not effect a game that abundantly."

Arnold and Gerald turn to see Phoebe standing in front of them, smiling.

Gerald grins at the sight of her, "And I don't care what you say, if it meant having Eugene catch instead of Helga, it would effect who wins the game! That boy's a jinx!"

Phoebe's smile widens, "Either way it doesn't matter. You lost."

Gerald puts a hand over his heart playfully, "Oh, that hurts."

Arnold shakes his head, a smile on his face. "So why are you still here Phoebe? The game's over."

"Is it because you can't stand being away from me Phoebe?" Gerald teases.

Phoebe shakes her head, "No Gerald, that is not the reason. I can be quite content not being in your vicinity, if needed be."

"If needed be? I don't know if I should be insulted or not."

"Actually I was wondering if either of you have seen Helga lately." Phoebe continues, not skipping a beat.

"No, not recently. I haven't seen her since I talked to her at the bus stop." Arnold answers.

Phoebe frowns a little. "Well that's unusual. I have yet to see her since then also. I hope she is well."

Gerald waves his hand indifferently, "You both worry about that girl too much. She knows how to take care of herself, that's for sure."

"That may be so, but I'm her friend. And I can't help but be concerned."

"I bet there's a reason she hasn't shown up yet, Phoebe. And when she does, can you tell her I want to talk to her?"

"About what Arnold?"

He struggles, "About what happened at the bus stop."

Phoebe nods. "I will Arnold. Just hope she is willing to converse with you."

"Yeah, me too."

~~~~~

Arnold pushes the now empty plate from him, feeling full.

"How's that watermelon casserole tex?" asks Pookie, Arnold's grandma. She was currently dressed as a cowgirl and for some odd reason has a frying pan in her hand and a rubber chicken in the other.

"It was fine grandma."

"Sure, it was fine for you!" says Phil, Arnold's grandpa. "I'll probably be in the 'office' till dooms day if you keep serving watermelon every night like you have been Pookie!"

"Oh Yankee Doodle went to town! Riding on a pony!" sings Pookie

"Grandma, why are you carrying around that chicken and skillet for?"

"The chicken is to lure the rats out and the pan's to knock them out! Our next supper if slim here doesn't want watermelon!" Pookie picks up Arnold's plate and takes it to the sink, washing it along with the other dirty dishes. She keeps singing Yankee Doodle off key.

Grandpa puts his newspaper down on the table and gets up, mumbling something how he's going to be in his "office" all night. Arnold shakes his head amusingly. He loves his grandparents, but they're strange sometimes. Arnold trudges upstairs into his bedroom.

After changing into his pajamas he flops onto his bed as some soft jazz music comes on from his stereo. Grudgingly he opens up his copy of 'Dr. Jekyll, Mr. Hyde', knowing he needs to read his assignment. But Arnold only does it halfheartedly.

To be honest Arnold was distracted. Phoebe had called and said she hasn't reached Helga yet. She sounded worried. And to be honest, Arnold is worried too. It wasn't like Helga to skip baseball and not be home all afternoon. He's afraid that Helga had done something like run away from home, though it was unlikely. What if she was hurt and couldn't get help? And all because of him.

He tried to reassure himself that Helga just went out to do something and accidentally forgot they had a game that day. Even though Helga wouldn't forget about a game. And if someone tried to mug her, she could take care of them without a second thought.

He smiles at that image in his head. He knows Helga could take care of herself. But for some reason that didn't make his worry go away.

Arnold gives up trying to read and rolls over onto his back. Propping his head up on his arms, he stares into the now blue velvet sky, wondering. What was it that made him so concerned about Helga's well being? She certainly didn't show him anything other than teasing, so why should he worried about her?

Maybe it's because she was a riddle, a puzzle that he wanted to solve someday. But no matter how hard he tried to figure Helga out, she just became that much more confusing to him.

In the end he just figures that it's just the thing he does. He helps people when they need him. He cares about people. And in Helga's words, that's what makes him him.

In the corner of his eye a shadow flickers by his roof window, catching Arnold's attention. What was that? Could something be up there? But why would something be on his roof? Maybe it was some pigeons or some other birds. It made since.

A shadow hovers over the window, blocking out the full moon's bright light and falling over Arnold.

It was a person! But why would someone be on Arnold's roof?

Arnold climbs his ladder steadily, opens the window and steps out onto Sunset Arms' rooftop. His curiosity melts into shock at what he sees. His jaw instantly drops.

"Cecile?!"

The girl smiles pleasantly. "Bonjour Arnold."

"What are you doing here?!"

She laughs, "That is a silly question. I am looking at the stars, of course."

"That's not what I meant. I mean, why are you on my rooftop?"

"Arnold, I wanted to see you, okay? And it's so beautiful out here I thought it would be great to met you on the roof." Her smile widens. "Even though you are in you pjs."

Arnold looks down at his light blue pajamas, then back up at Cecile, blushing. "Er… I… uh…"

"Don't worry about it Arnold." Her cheeks blush a light pink and her gaze briefly meets the floor, "You're cute no matter what you wear."

His cheeks turn even brighter and his lips form a dopey grin. "Th-thanks."

"I know I left without explanation last time Arnold, but it was for the best. I am very sorry about that."

"Why are you here now?"

Her smile dazzles, "That's your surprise Arnold. Well, part of it anyway." She slowly walks to him. "Part of it you'll get tomorrow. And the other part." She stops just inches from his face. "I want to give you personally."

As if in slow-motion, the girl that's been haunting Arnold's dreams since Valentines Day slowly inches closer to Arnold. Her lips meet with his cheek, sending an electrifying sensation trough every tip of his body.

And his heart was pumping hard through every second of it.