Flawed
by Miss Matched
But under
Skinned Knees
and the skid marks.
Past the places where you used to learn...
____________
Chapter 3
____________
Arnold blinked thrice, then stared up at Mr. Simmons as if he expected his teacher to retract that final pairing. The whole class room was alive with chatter and movement as Mr. Simmons tried to quiet the class down.
"Now, class," He smiled, speaking over the top of the excited students. Most ignored him. Harold chased Sid around the room, telling him that he'd better take back whatever he'd just said. Gerald and Phoebe moved their desks next to each other, eager to begin, and Curly was on top of his desk, shouting about how he wanted to be paired up with his sock puppet, Mini Curl.
"Class!" Mr. Simmons tried again, just a bit louder. Dr. Bliss, calm as always, stepped in front of the frustrated teacher.
"If you don't listen to your teacher, I'm afraid you'll all be sent to my office so we can discuss why you treat your teacher so poorly, and perhaps find ways to remedy the situation." She suggested, her voice barely above a whisper. The chaos that had reigned only moments before stopped, everyone seemingly frozen in place, including Curly, who was kissing his sock puppet.
"Awww, you're confusing me!" Harold called out, breaking the silence. Everyone else had gotten the point, as desks straightened out, and people returned to them. Finally, Harold too sat in his seat, muttering something about getting Sid later.
Mr. Simmons blushed, and looked back at Dr. Bliss, "Thanks. Usually they're not so... high strung."
Dr. Bliss laughed, "Well, they're a very special group of kids. I'd like to see more of them."
"Well, you're always welcome to visit, Doctor!" Mr. Simmons assured her. "But fear not, I'll be keeping extra 'special' tabs on them."
Dr. Bliss laughed, then waved at the class, "Until tomorrow, students." she announced as she walked out of the room. Helga, throughout all this, made no sound at all, and remained down in her seat.
"Gawrsh, Helga!" Stinky exclaimed from the seat behind her, "Are you okay?" Helga didn't reply, just stared ahead with a foreign expression on her face. "Hot dang! She musta passed out on accounta she always gets paired up with Arnold and hates him more then chopped liver that's been left out too long!"
"Stinky..." Helga whispered. You could see Stinky's ears perk up, and he bent over his desk to talk to her.
"Yes, Miz Helga?"
"I need.... I need...."
"Yes?" He bent in further.
"FOR YOU TO SHUT UP!" She shouted right into his ear. Mr. Simmons, who had been happily typing away at his computer before this, looked up and away from the screen.
"Helga, that reminds me. You have an appointment with Dr. Bliss. Don't worry about a pass, Mr. Wartz says that you can go down there whenever you 'specially' want to!"
The class began a chorus of "ooohs" as Helga marched angrily out of the room.
____________
Closing her eyes, Dr. Sylvia Bliss inhaled the fragrance of mint tea. It had always been her favorite, ever since childhood, when her mother would make a cup after a cold winter's day at school. It would always be waiting for her on the front table, piping hot, even when her mother wouldn't. Sometimes a little note would be tucked underneath the saucer. "I'll be back at midnight, as will your father. Love, mother." A breeze whipped through her office, causing her to look up from her chipped cup of tea. It had been the door, opened quickly and violently at that. The angry blonde who had entered slammed the door shut, and marched further into Dr. Bliss' janitor's closet turned office.
"You called?" Helga asked, voice biting with sarcasm.
Dr. Bliss turned in her chair to face Helga. "As a matter of fact, I did. Do you want to use the couch this session, or the chair in the corner?"
Helga sighed, knowing that fighting wasn't going to help her situation. "I'll take the couch. I didn't sleep too well last night, but of course, you know that all ready. What were you doing in my house."
"It's your mother's house too, Helga, and she called me. You had been yelling in your sleep for a little bit short of a half an hour, and she was afraid of waking you up."
Helga folded her arms over her chest as she huffed down into the black leather couch. "Okay, but I didn't invite you to mess around with my life today. What was up with that, Doc?"
Dr. Bliss pulled out a notebook. "According to my records, this week you were going to work on getting to know Arnold better. You said that last time we met, didn't you, Helga?"
Helga looked taken aback. "Well, yeah, but..."
"And find flaws in him."
"But..."
"So I figured you should try it for a grade."
Helga crossed her legs and stared at the shrink. "I didn't ask for your help, you know. I can go make a fool out of myself searching for the impossible without your 'guidance'."
"Well, at least the ball's rolling now." Dr. Bliss calmly stated, flipping her notebook open to a new page. "So, Helga, tell me about this dream you had."
Fidgiting, Helga pondered for a moment what to say. "I dreamt that I was home alone and we were out of toilet paper."
"...Helga..."
"You have to admit, it's a pretty scary thought."
Dr. Bliss sighed, tapping her pencil on the side of her notebook, "The sooner you tell the truth, the sooner you'll be out of here."
Helga scoffed, "And face those chuckleheads back in Simmons's class? Forget it, I'm camping out here."
"Well, that's sad, because you're supposed to meet Arnold at his house to start on the project tonight..." The shrink began, "But if you don't tell me what's going on in that busy head of yours, you won't get to start."
"You wouldn't." Helga stated, arching an eyebrow.
"Do you want to try me?" Dr. Bliss countered, pencil poised, knowing she had found her patient's soft spot.
Helga sighed, falling back onto the couch, and told Dr. Bliss the whole story.
"... and after that, I woke up only to see Mirium hanging over me and you fiddling with my radio!"
Dr. Bliss' pencil had long since broken, and she had finished taking her three pages of notes with a stray pen she found on her desk. "Well, Helga, let me give this a try."
"Does it look like I'm stopping you?" Helga spit out, still miffed at the day's happenings.
"Well, I think you wanted a right out answer from Arnold. You admitted these feelings that you've harbored for him so long, and you wanted to know how he felt about this. Instead, in an attempt to salvage your own pride, he swept the whole event under the rug, as your family so often does to their problems. You're used to your family's opinions of you, which you believe are rather unfavorable, and are positioning those feelings on Arnold. Think I just about have it?"
"I... I don't know." Helga admitted.
Dr. Bliss smiled, "Well, there's another thing for you to hash over this week." Just then, the bell rang. "And you're free to leave the school! Have a nice day."
"Thanks, Doc." Helga said, managing to put a half smile on her face as she walked out the door. Inside, she was furious at herself, and yet doubtful."I wouldn't blame my family's faults on Arnold, dear, sweet, innocent Arnold, would I?"
AN: Well, there you go, all of y'all requesting a long chapter. Next chapter will be the same length. I really like using lyrics in the titles, so expect that from now on. I've got some great ones, lol. Chapter three's title is from Everything You Want, by Vertical Horizon, which almost everyone knows I'm semi-obsessed with. Until next weekend, I'm...
Miss Matched
