Author's notes: Thank you for all the reviews and message board mentions! I have to comment: It seems some people got the impression that I might have ended the story at chapter ten. Let me calm any worries or wonderings right now by giving this story a rough estimate of thirty chapters. That number will vary, depending on the ideas that pop up in my head along the way.

Moving on, I have to say apologize for the long wait on this chapter. It's not that I'm bogged down with schoolwork or anything; I've just been taking a little more time with the writing. I should really start cranking out the chapters when December rolls around. Until then, enjoy as it comes!

Disclaimer: I don't own Hey Arnold!

"Don't look now, but here comes the culprit himself."

Arnold looked up from his lunch at Gerald's remark to spot Ludwig approaching the table, flanked by Wolfgang and the rest of their cronies. Arnold leaned over and lowered his voice to Gerald, "Do you think they ever get tired of bugging us?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I just don't know what kind of enjoyment they get out of harassing us all the time. We never react or get upset by what they pull; I thought that was the only reason they went to all this trouble."

"Maybe they're picking on us because they like us?"

"Come on, Gerald; would you hurl a baseball at the head of someone you liked?"

"I know, I know! I'm just saying."

"Hey, Football Face!" Wolfgang shouted over Ludwig's shoulder, grabbing the two fifth graders' attention. "Looks like you're still worse for wear after that beaning Ludwig gave you yesterday!"

"Yeah, you guys messed me up pretty bad," Arnold replied sarcastically. He turned back to his lunch, ignoring Ludwig's now towering presence at the head of the table.

"Hey! Don't be looking down when we're talking to you!"

Arnold gave Ludwig the half-lidded look, as if to offer half of his attention.

Ludwig looked over the current state of Arnold's head, the lump from the afternoon prior swollen to about the size of a golf ball. He whistled at the sight of it, "Man, I didn't know I had that much in me."

"Yeah, some pitch," Gerald muttered from the other side of the table.

"Excuse me, was I talking to you? Open your mouth again and you'll be wearing that afro as a scarf!"

"Dude, sweet insult!" Wolfgang chimed in.

"Yeah, that was pretty good!" The two bullies gave each other five and started ribbing each other, basking in their co-presence.

"If you guys are through, we'd like to go back to our lunches."

Ludwig and Wolfgang suddenly stopped and glared at Arnold, as if he were the one intruding on them. "You've got a pretty big mouth for a punk who just got his lights dimmed. Why don't we see if we can make you forget a few more things?" Wolfgang asked, brandishing his fist in Arnold's face.

"All right! Let him have it, Wolf…uh, on second thought, maybe we should leave him alone."

Wolfgang spun around and got in Ludwig's face instead. "What are you talking about? I thought we were going to have some fun with them."

"Uh, yeah, that's what I said before, but…you know, maybe we've done enough already?"

"Are you sure you didn't get hit in the head yourself? Come on, let's pound 'em!"

"Nah, let's wait until a little later. I, uh…I'm getting kind of hungry, let's go get something to eat."

Wolfgang looked at him, puzzled, and finally shrugged it off. "Whatever, I guess we can whale on 'em after school." With that, the two of them left, Ludwig leading the way, walking at a brisk pace, almost in flight.

Gerald and Arnold turned to each other with matching looks of confusion on their faces. "Okay, tell me what just happened here, Arnold."

"I don't know. It's like Ludwig wanted to get away for some reason, like he was scared."

"What could have possibly scared off Ludwig at this table?"

A lunch tray smacked down next to Arnold's at that moment, as if to answer Gerald's question. The tray's owner sat down and was joined shortly by her companion. Arnold turned to speak to his new neighbor but was cut off, "Don't start getting any ideas. I'm only sitting here because all the other tables are full. Phoebe wanted to sit over here, anyway."

With that, Helga went silent and ate her lunch in an atypical peace. Gerald took little regard of what she said and started talking to Phoebe. Arnold, however, was puzzled by the relatively calm and subdued tone in which Helga spoke. He was about to interrogate her in his usual, detective-like fashion when someone else drew away his attention. His new subject approached the table, eyeing the one seat left at the five-chair round.

"Is this seat taken, Arnold?"

"No, of course not! Would you like to sit down?"

"Oh, I'm ever-so certain I would."

Lila sat down on Arnold's left, while a glass bottle clanked down on the table to his right. He glanced at Helga, who had dropped her Yahoo at the sight of Ms. Perfect, spilling the chocolate beverage on her lunch tray and pink dress. She quickly darted her eyes from Lila back to Arnold, spouting, "What?" and giving him her patented scowl. Looks like she's back to normal, he thought as he returned his attention to Lila.

"I really like your outfit today, Lila. It looks really nice."

"Thanks, but I'm ever-so sure that it's the same thing I wear everyday."

"I know, but it just looks great today in particular."

The sound of glass again interrupted the conversation, this time by Helga slamming what left of her Yahoo down on the table. The whole group took notice now, prompting Helga to scowl at everyone, barking, "What? Can't I drink a soda without you morons looking at me?"

The four others went back to their own conversations, passing it off as normal Helga behavior. She continued to listen in on Arnold and Lila's conversation, squeezing her soda bottle in an effort to control her spontaneous responses.

"Were you doing anything after school, Lila?"

"Well, to be perfectly honest, no. But…"

"But what? Don't tell me you're still thinking about what happened last week."

"Arnold, that's not it."

"What is it then?"

Helga took a small amount of solace in the fact that Arnold was fair and equal when it came to his rapid-fire questioning. She watched Lila in anticipation, ready to see her try and come up with some clever answer like she always did.

"It's just that…it feels too much like we're going out on a date or something."

Helga watched in delight as Arnold's shoulders seemed to sink all the way to the floor.

Lila continued, "Arnold, as I've told you before, I truly value our friendship and wouldn't want to do anything to ruin that right now. But please don't take it so hard. You know, I meant what I said at the end of the Cheese Festival last year."

Arnold perked up. "You mean, even after last week, you're saying I've still got a chance?"

"I suppose it's still possible. After all, who's to say how we'll feel a few years down the line?"

"Yeah. That sounds—" Arnold was cut off by the sound of breaking glass. Reluctantly, he turned around to discover the Yahoo bottle in pieces on the table and in Helga's hand.

Helga stared at her bleeding hand in amazement as Phoebe stepped over to give her a hand. "Helga, are you okay? How did that happen?"

"I don't know. Guess I got a little careless," she fibbed. In her disgust at hearing Lila offering Arnold another chance, Helga had squeezed her soda so hard her hand went right through it.

"Hey, you might want to get that looked at," Gerald said, staring at Helga's hand with a queasy look on his face.

"I agree. Someone should take her to the nurse's office."

"Nah, that's okay, Pheebs."

"I'll take you, Helga."

"No! I mean…" Helga stuttered for an answer after Arnold offered his assistance. "Just…leave me alone. I can handle it." She took off out the cafeteria door, grabbing a pile of napkins for her hand as she went.

The four others at the table looked at each other for a moment before Gerald began and ended the discussion, "I'll never understand that girl as long as I live."

Alone in the hallway, Helga spoke her thoughts aloud.

"That sure didn't take long! One week after their little fight, and the two of them are already back to the same old bit: Arnold likes her likes her, Lila only likes him, and both of them want the other to feel the same as themselves. Am I the only one on the planet who sees that those two are going absolutely nowhere? Then again, they really deserve each other, the way they play off the other's emotions. Arnold tries to appeal to her by flattery all the time. He throws more compliments at her in a minute than Old Betsy throws punches in a week! Lila eats it all up, and in an effort to keep him around and worshipping the ground she walks on, she continues to lure, holding the bone in front of his nose for him to go fetch.

"And you'd think eventually he'd figure it out, but no! This is Arnold we're talking about here! It doesn't matter how bleak things look; he just keeps pressing on. That's great if it's for a good cause, but this is Lila! Hitler will come back from the dead and take over the world before Arnold even begins to approach first base with that girl!"

Helga stopped at her locker on her way. As she went to grab her "math" book, she took a glance down at her hand, lifting the napkin to watch the blood slowly refill the cut like water rushing down a canal. "This whole thing is Lila's fault. All she needs to do is install some strings in Arnold's limbs and she'll finishing making him into her puppet." Helga's frustration began to force itself out in the form of small tears as she trailed off in her speech. She rested her temple on the locker next to hers, thinking about the strange history Arnold and Lila shared.

As much as she hated to recall the particular event, since she played the sole role in its taking place, her mind went back to the day in fourth grade when she wrote the words on that wall: "Arnold loves Lila." It didn't read that initially, of course; in her cowardice, she bailed on her initial phrase, which placed Arnold's affection in her favor. This, she felt, resulted in the chain of events that followed: Lila read the words and returned Arnold's supposed affection. Arnold went along with it for a few days and then told her he didn't feel the way she did. She accepted his answer and stopped liking him that way; but at the same time, Arnold realized he actually was attracted to her.

"Arnold said he liked her liked her that next day in the park, but Lila had already made up her mind that she didn't. She told him that…and it should have ended there!" Helga slammed her locker shut, bringing her voice to a full yell. "She couldn't have been any clearer about it, Arnold! She doesn't like you like you! Get it through your thick skull!"

Helga turned around and slammed her back up against the closed locker door. "Well, it looks pretty clear to me now. The only way this pointless charade will come to an end is if I do something about it. I've got to be quick; I've got to be effective; I cannot rest until Arnold is over that conniving little—"

"Excuse me, Ms. Pataki?" Principal Wartz stood at the other end of the hall. "What are you doing? You know these halls are off-limits until the lunch period ends."

She held her hand up in his direction. "I was going to the nurse's office. And if the halls are off-limits, what are you doing here?"

"Me? I was just on my way to the nurse's office myself. Got a nasty paper cut, thought I better get it checked."

"I see." Helga stared blankly at the middle-aged, balding man in charge of the school, caring less about why he was roaming the hall at that particular moment.

"As much as I'd like to stand here and chat, Ms. Pataki, the halls remain off-limits, so come along."

Helga followed along behind Wartz, finalizing her thoughts as she went. I don't know how I'll do it yet, but by the time I get through with those two, Lila won't be able to stand Arnold's presence, and Arnold will finally give up and start searching for someone else to shine his love beacon on!

She enjoyed a maniacal laugh in her head, with some of it escaping out through her mouth as mild chuckling. Wartz glanced over his shoulder at the apparent psychotic and decided not to inquire.

"All right, class! I hope you all enjoyed your lunch, because you're going to need all that energy for what I've got planned next!"

The collective groan arose on cue. Harold was particularly vocal, "Mr. Simmons, can we please just have free time until the bell rings?"

"But Harold, I had something special planned."

"I don't care! You've been trying to cram two days' worth of stuff into our brains to make up for the day off yesterday. We can only take so much!"

Mr. Simmons produced a hat from a cabinet in the back of the classroom as Harold lamented the day's lesson plan. "I know I've pushed you guys a bit today, but I promise this isn't going to be something you'll hate," he said as he brought the hat up to his desk and pulled out a bag filled with small pieces of paper.

The classroom then went silent as the door to the room flew open and Helga entered, her hand wrapped in fresh bandages. Even though Old Betsy was now on the injured list, the Five Avengers would have no problem taking its place if necessary. She stomped to her desk in normal fashion. Meanwhile, with Simmons busy setting up the big surprise at his desk, Arnold took the opportunity to spin around and inquire, "How's your hand, Helga?"

"It's upside your temple if you don't turn back around."

"I'm sorry I asked," he muttered as he complied. He turned and faced Gerald instead. "What do you think he's got planned?"

"I think I know, but I'm afraid to say; I might jinx it."

Others around the room, knowing Mr. Simmons as well as they did, began piecing the puzzle together, uttering their thoughts in a collective effort.

"Tall hat with wide brim large enough to fit one's hand through…"

"Several small pieces of paper with names written on each…"

"Oh no, it's—"

"A group project!" Simmons declared.

The room filled with more grouses of protest. The sound quickly approached and surpassed even Mr. Simmons's lax level of tolerance, prompting him to grab a meter stick and slam it down on his desk in a schoolmaster-like fashion. The class fell silent immediately.

"Am I doing something wrong here? What is it about a group project that everyone finds so objectionable?"

"They're boring!"

"And lame!"

"And we never get to pick our own partners!"

Mr. Simmons leaned up against the chalkboard, apparently taking the gripes seriously. "Is that all?"

The classroom went quiet again, with everyone looking around in an attempt to avoid eye contact with the teacher.

"Okay, then to answer your complaints: I disagree, I'm sorry if they are, and maybe next time. Now, who wants to be first?" The increase in perkiness wasn't enough to get even the most enthusiastic of his students involved. "All right, then. We'll start over here at Park and work around the room."

As Mr. Simmons went down the first row having the kids draw names from the hat and recording partners, one person on the other side of the room was actually anticipating the project with great interest. "Another project! And if fate continues to smile down on me as it has over the last year, I will once again be paired up with my beloved! I can't explain it, but it seems we're destined to work together by the looks of the hot streak I've been on getting the two of us hooked up for these things, as it should be!"

"Let me just record that…got it. Okay, now we're going to Arnold."

Helga's breathing went shallow as Mr. Simmons made his stop at the desk in front of her. I have to make sure I catch the look on his face when he pulls my name out! She crept up closer behind him, being sure to get a whiff of his hair while the opportunity was present.

Arnold reached into the hat and felt around. By his count, there were only four slips left. He pulled one out after finally settling on it and glanced down.

Helga leaned back in her chair without even looking to see her name. "Yeah, well, that's how it goes sometimes Football Head; you win some, you lose some!"

Mr. Simmons checked the piece of paper and wrote the pairing down. He then confirmed it, "Okay, so Arnold is working with Lila, then."

Helga fell out of her seat. "What?" It was unfathomable! Only once before had he been placed with Lila, while Helga had a near-perfect record getting paired up with him!

Mr. Simmons stepped over to her cautiously. "Helga, is something wrong?"

She realized that her exclamation might be construed as disappointment in not getting paired with the boy she claimed to hate. "No, I'm fine! Just slipped out of my chair!"

"I understand. Well, if I take Arnold and Lila's names out of the hat, that only leaves us with two."

Helga quickly scanned the room. She now regretted not paying attention to the pairings as they were being made. Who's left? It's bad enough I'm not working with Arnold; who could it be?

Mr. Simmons took the names out one at a time in an effort to build the suspense. "Let's see…Helga…you will be paired with…"

Her eyes came across one person in particular, and she got a feeling that was the one. Please don't tell me it's—

"Gerald! Helga and Gerald, you'll be the last team." Mr. Simmons rushed back to the front of the room, anxious to get the teams started on their work. "Now, everyone listen up and let me explain what you will be doing in these groups! These are your pairings for the annual science fair! Each team will—"

"Put a sock in it, Simmons! We know how the deal goes!"

"Oh, well in that case…" His shoulders sank as he went and quietly sat down to observe.

Arnold got up to go and join Lila. As he passed Helga, he commented, "You know the teachers have feelings, too."

She avoided eye contact as he went by, scoffing at his words. After he was gone, she pulled out a notebook and went back to work on a poem she'd recently started about him.

"Ahem?" Gerald had changed seats and was now sitting in Arnold's seat, facing Helga.

"Hey! Don't sneak up on me like that!"

"What are you doing there?"

"None of your beeswax, Tall Hair Boy!"

"Is it something for our project?"

"No!"

Gerald appeared to literally get blown back by Helga's words. "All right, now look. Whether either of us likes it or not, we're stuck together. My suggestion to you then would be to cool out and try to get along, okay?"

"Whatever floats your boat." She shut her notebook and tapped a finger on the desk. "So what do you want to do this thing on?"

"Wow, Lila, I think we've really got something going here."

"I think so, too. It's just oh so easy to come up with ideas for studying the laws of nature when you live out in the country."

"Yeah, I'll bet." Arnold gazed into Lila's eyes as the bell rang. The stampede rushed out the door, leaving Arnold and Lila alone in the back of the room. The door opened back up momentarily, as Mr. Simmons returned to lock up. He caught sight of the stowaways and almost jumped.

"Oh! I thought everyone had already left."

"We're just about through here. I'll be ever so sure to lock the door on our way out, if that works for you."

"Okay, but don't be too long. You aren't supposed to be in here without supervision."

"We'll be quick. See you tomorrow, Mr. Simmons." With the teacher out the door, Lila turned back to Arnold, whose eyes were still locked on her. "I'm sorry, but I think we should lay down a ground rule, Arnold."

"What is it?" He was completely zoned out.

"It just seems like you're still trying to get me to like you like you, and I don't want things to get weird while we're working on this."

He snapped out of his trance. "Um, okay, Lila. I'll try my best."

"Great! Would you care to walk me home?"

He stumbled a step as they made their way out the door. That's strange, she just told me she didn't want things to get weird, and now she asks me to walk her home. So what, am I just going to say no?

"Arnold, did you hear my question?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah, I did. I was just thinking."

They stopped near the main doors to the school. Lila gave him an inviting look and spoke in her playful schoolgirl tone, "Come on, Arnold, please?"

He took a couple steps back from her. It's not getting weird, it's already there; I'm going to nix it. "I'd like to, but I…" need an excuse! His eyes searched the vicinity for something and came across a flyer on the bulletin board behind Lila.

"You were—"

"I was going to check out the new mentoring program that starts today over at the YMAA, and I'd be going out of my way to your house."

Lila gave him a suspicious smirk. Arnold smiled nervously, Please, just buy it!

"Okay, Arnold. I won't make you walk all the way to my house if it's that much of a problem. I'll see you tomorrow, then!"

He sighed in relief in the back of his mind as she left. "Yeah, see you later." After Lila was out the door, he stepped over to the board and took another look at the flyer, reading some of the selling points, "Are you confused about your life? Do you have problems and don't know who to turn to for answers? Or are you just looking for something to do after school?" He glanced down at the rest, which listed the details and the location.

It suddenly struck him that it might be worth it to go there anyway. Maybe I can talk to someone that knows what's going on with this Lila business, and who won't start lecturing me about proper, raspberry-free diet. Ah, what the heck? He pulled off one of the tabs at the bottom of the flyer and headed out the door.

Upon the click of the door returning to its frame, a locker next to the bulletin board burst open. The occupant climbed out of her hiding place, surveyed the board and found the subject of the recent conversation. "Mentoring, eh? Maybe he's closer to giving up on her than I thought…or he could just be going there to get tips! Either way, I need to get over there and make sure the latter doesn't happen!"

Helga reached up and took one of the tabs Arnold had grabbed prior. As she did so, a familiar sound approached. As strong as her sense of hearing was, it wasn't possible to place the location of the noise. No need to find it, I'll let it come to me. It's only a matter of time. She stood facing the board, pretending to still be reading. The raspy sound grew louder, and eventually she could even feel it. As refreshing as it felt to have a breeze wafting across the back of her neck during the warm afternoon, it was time to bring in the pinch hitter.

The Five Avengers greeted Brainy with a loud smack, leaving him crumpled up in the middle of the hall as Helga walked to the door. As she stepped out, she turned and smiled at him. Even though it had been a particularly callous one, Brainy returned a smile of his own after the door closed.