A/n: I'm glad so many people reviewed! Thanks! ^_^ Oh, and
Helgagurl46, yes, she's 14. And Arnold's still 13, because his birthday is
in October and Helga's is in March! ^_^
Disclaimer: How many times do I have to do this? I own Hey Arnold! just as much as I own a cotton candy factory.
Arnold sighed, as he stared at the crystal blue water below the bridge. It had been 4 years ago, that two events happened right in a row that changed his life dramatically. One for the better, one for the worse. The one for the worse was the one he thought about most often. It still plagued his mind after all that time, and at some points, it drove him mad. But today, he was thinking about it differently. Helga, his elementary school tormentor, had moved away, to one of the San Juan Islands, called Friday Harbor. Now, he was thinking about something he hadn't ever thought of before, and he almost felt excited.
He smiled, as he heard footsteps coming up behind him. "Hello Arnold," he heard a feminine voice say behind him, then saw the girl's reflection in the water below them.
"Hey Phoebe," he replied, with another sigh. When he looked up, he saw a look of concern etched on her face. At this, he had to chuckle. "Don't worry, Pheebs, I'm fine. I was just thinking..." he around, and leaned back against the rail, looking up.
"Thinking about what?" Phoebe asked, and Arnold just sighed, yet again. This told Phoebe exactly what he was thinking about, and she nodded her head, looking down at her sneaker clad feet. "Thinking about... Helga, correct?" she asked cautiously, giving Arnold a cautious look to fit her voice. Arnold closed his eyes, and slowly nodded his head, one corner of his mouth curling up in a half smile. Phoebe knew that look, from hanging around him and Gerald for 4 years. She smirked, and poked his side. "What are you thinking up, Arnold?"
He just laughed, and shook his head, opening his eyes once again. He looked at Phoebe, now with the half smile turning into a full one. The thoughts in his head were showing on his face, and Phoebe thought she might just know what he was cooking up. "Phoebe, tonight, I'm going to ask my parents if I can go to Friday Harbor and visit Helga's family." he stated, and Phoebe nodded her head, slightly chuckling. She knew that's what he was going to say.
"Yes, I figured you'd say that by the look on your face."
The two friends laughed together, until, suddenly, they heard another voice join their's. They both recognized it instantly. "Hey you two, what's so funny and why didn't you invite me to the fun?"
The two just smiled, and turned to face Gerald, who stood, smirking at them. Phoebe walked over to him, and wrapped her arms around him, in a tight embrace. Arnold watched as Gerald hugged her back, then they let go, and Phoebe gave Gerald a peck on the cheek, making him blush. Arnold laughed at the two, and scratched the back of his football shaped head, looking down at the cement.
"So, Pheebs, what were you two talking about?" Gerald asked his girlfriend, who just smiled a smiled that Gerald would do anything to see every waking minute of every single day.
"He was just telling me this idea he had." she said, looking back to Arnold, who was now looking back up at the two, with another smile. Gerald raised an eyebrow, that showed that he would like to hear more about this idea his best friend had come up with. "Tonight, Arnold is planning on asking his parents if he can go to Friday Harbor to visit Helga and her family."
Gerald smirked, and looked to his best friend, who was looking over the rail of the bridge, down at that crystal clear blue water below. "So, you couldn't stand it any longer, ay' buddy? Had to go and see your dream girl?"
Before Gerald even finished what he was saying, Arnold had shook his vision from the icy blue water, to Gerald, his eyes wide and his cheeks with a slight pink tinge to them. "What are you talking about!?" he asked, and Gerald laughed out loud, while Phoebe slightly giggled. "I just want to visit her! I don't know her email address, her normal mail address, or her telephone number! All I know is that she lives on a boat called Beeper Kingdom." Gerald raised an eyebrow at him, and he just shrugged, knowing the question which was on Gerald's mind.
"Uh huh, sure buddy. I still say you want to visit her because you suddenly are feeling emotions for her." Gerald said, patting his best friend on the shoulder. Arnold frowned, and shook his head, sighing an exasperated sigh.
"Whatever you say, Gerald, but it's not the truth." And with that, they left towards the closet house, Gerald laughing loudly, Phoebe slightly giggling, and Arnold shaking his head about it.
_______________________
Miles, Stella, Arnold, and Lorelei (Arnold has a younger sibling too, in this fic... Thomas and Lorelei are the same age, except Thomas is a month older... kind of like how Helga is 7 months older than Arnold ^_^) all sat at their dining room table, silence filling the room. It was unusual, because normally all of them would talk about something. But the thing was, the conversation usually started with Arnold, and he hadn't spoken a word since he had gotten home. It was like he was afraid to say anything, and as if he did say something, he would be in trouble. His parents noticed this, but hadn't mentioned anything yet, and they figured now would be a good time.
"Arnold, honey, are you all right?" Stella asked worriedly, making her son glance up at her, slightly shocked at the sudden break in the silence. Especially since it was directed at him. He sighed, and looked down at his plate, tapping his fork against the plate. It looked as if he hadn't touched his food even.
"Yeah, I'm fine, mom..." he said, looking back up with a fake smile. She gave him a look that showed that she didn't believe him. "Well..." he sighed, and then laughed, slightly startling his parents. "I really am fine, but I have a question." he said, scratching his head, his eyes looking down to his plate. Then he looked back up, to see that his parents were obviously waiting to hear what the question was. "I was wondering... um... you see... this old friend of mine moved away 4 years ago, and I want to visit her." he said, and as he did, his parents looked to each other, with knowing looks. Then they looked back to Arnold, who was just staring at them, waiting for the answer.
Stella nodded her head, a normal smile spreading across her face. "Well, I think that could be possible. What do you think?" she questioned her husband, looking to him. He nodded his head, and looked to Arnold.
"Yeah, that's fine. We got nothing planned this week, so, how about we leave tomorrow?" he mentioned, and Arnold's eyes lit up.
"Really!? Ok! Sounds great!" he exclaimed, then noticed Lorelei look up from her plate, to him, with a questioning look.
"Is your fwiend's name Hewga?" she asked, and Arnold raised an eyebrow at her.
"Yeah. How did you know?" he asked, narrowing his eyes at his younger sibling. She smiled innocently, blinking her large brown eyes at him.
"You talk in your sweep, and I heawd you say the name Hewga before." she said, slightly giggling at the deep red blush creeping across her brother's face. "Your face ith tuwning wed." she stated the obvious, and Arnold frowned at her.
As he was about to yell out that he didn't talk in his sleep or if he did he never would say Helga's name, because he never dreamt about her, he heard his dad laugh. He turned around, to glare in his dad's direction. Miles stopped his laughter as soon as he felt Stella hit him lightly on the shoulder. "Don't laugh at your son's embarrassment." she chided her husband.
"Sorry," Miles laughed, and nodded his head at Arnold. "All right then, we'll get packed tonight, and leave first thing in the morning." he stated, and before he had even finished his sentence, Arnold was up and gone out of the room, up to his room.
________________________
As Arnold packed, he continued thinking about tomorrow. What was he going to say when he saw her again? 'Oh, hi Helga! I was missing you, so I talked my parents into bringing me here.' He shook his head, clearing that thought out of his head. He knew what the first thing Helga would say would be. It would be something like, 'Hey, are ya' following me or something, Football Head?! I thought I got away from you 4 years ago!' Well, ok, maybe not that specific, but something to that effect. He laughed at himself as he glanced to a shelf. He furrowed his eyebrows as his eyes caught sight of something pink. He didn't remember having something pink.
He reached up to the shelf, grabbing for whatever the pink thing was. When he got hold of it, his eyes widened. The little pink book! Now he remembered! That annoying little pink book that he and Gerald tried figuring out who wrote. They never found out who. He brought it down, and dusted it off, blowing across the top of it. He smiled as he opened it, and turned to the second to last page. Well, last page, since Helga had torn the last page out. He laughed at the memory, feeling the exact part of his head where that spitball had hit him. He had been pretty ticked at the time, but now, it seemed quite funny.
"What's so funny?" he suddenly heard a voice ask him from the doorway of his room. He jumped up off the chair, and spun around, to see his dad in the doorway. Unfortunately, when he jumped up, the pink book fell off his lap, right onto his foot. He yelped in pain, and fell backwards when he tried holding his foot to stop it from hurting. When he fell backwards, he hit his head on the edge of the bookshelf, making him yelp in pain again.
"Ahh..." he groaned, rubbing the back of his head. "Man, sometimes I wonder if I might be distantly related to Eugene..." he muttered, cringing at the headache he was beginning to get. He looked up to his dad, to see him shaking his head. "What?" he asked, frowning.
"Oh, just thinking about how you got my clumsiness. Too bad. I always hoped you'd end up being more like your mother." he chuckled, walking into the room. He sat down on the bed, watching Arnold stand up from the floor, rubbing his head. "You all right?"
"Yeah, fine, dad." he said, with a slight smile. Then, he grabbed the little pink book off the floor, staring at it. "This book is heavier than I thought it was." he laughed, placing it back up on the bookshelf. He looked back to his dad, who was sitting on the bed, staring at him, and then sat down on his desk chair. "So, what did you want?" he asked, and Miles nodded his head, remembering what he had came into the room before.
"Before I go into why I came in, what was that little pink book you were reading? I don't think I ever saw you reading it before." he said, and Arnold looked up to the pink book, sighing.
"Oh, it was just something I found when I was nine, with a bunch of poems, all about me... And how obsessed someone was with me." he said, with a laugh, and looked back down to his dad, who was nodding his head.
"Ah, I see." he said, also with a laugh. Then he stopped laughing, and looked to Arnold, with a smile. "So, Arnold, this Helga that you want to visit..." he started, and right away, Arnold looked down at the blue carpeting, trying hide his slightly reddening face. He knew where this conversation was going. Miles slightly chuckled at his son's reaction to the start of his question. "From the way you are acting at dinner, it seems like she must have been someone special..."
"No!" Arnold said, snapping his head upwards, and looking directly at his dad, who was still smiling. "She wasn't! All she was was a good friend. That's it. Oh, and my elementary school tormentor." he added, chuckling yet again. He began to drift off into a flashback, when his dad chuckled, and he snapped out of his.
"It's all right Arnold, I understand. You don't want to admit your feelings for this girl yet. I know when I had this large crush when I was your age I never told my parents." Miles said, standing up and heading towards the door. "Well I better be going, your mother is waiting for me." Arnold watched his dad until he got to the door and turned back around. "You better get to hurrying on your packing, we'll be staying for a week and a half, and you only have a weekends worth clothes in your suitcase." Arnold's jaw dropped, and his eyes widened. Miles nodded his head at his son's shocked expression. "Your mom and I decided that we would stay longer than originally planned after you left the table." Arnold nodded his head, smiling.
"Well, g'night dad. See you tomorrow." he said, stuffing some more clothes into his suitcase, and not being neat about it. Then remembered something, and before his dad was totally out of hearing range, he called out, "Dad! What should I set my alarm for??"
"6:00 A.M.!" he heard his dad called back, and his eyes widen. 'So early? Why!?' he thought, as he set his alarm, then resumed packing, untidily.
Disclaimer: How many times do I have to do this? I own Hey Arnold! just as much as I own a cotton candy factory.
Arnold sighed, as he stared at the crystal blue water below the bridge. It had been 4 years ago, that two events happened right in a row that changed his life dramatically. One for the better, one for the worse. The one for the worse was the one he thought about most often. It still plagued his mind after all that time, and at some points, it drove him mad. But today, he was thinking about it differently. Helga, his elementary school tormentor, had moved away, to one of the San Juan Islands, called Friday Harbor. Now, he was thinking about something he hadn't ever thought of before, and he almost felt excited.
He smiled, as he heard footsteps coming up behind him. "Hello Arnold," he heard a feminine voice say behind him, then saw the girl's reflection in the water below them.
"Hey Phoebe," he replied, with another sigh. When he looked up, he saw a look of concern etched on her face. At this, he had to chuckle. "Don't worry, Pheebs, I'm fine. I was just thinking..." he around, and leaned back against the rail, looking up.
"Thinking about what?" Phoebe asked, and Arnold just sighed, yet again. This told Phoebe exactly what he was thinking about, and she nodded her head, looking down at her sneaker clad feet. "Thinking about... Helga, correct?" she asked cautiously, giving Arnold a cautious look to fit her voice. Arnold closed his eyes, and slowly nodded his head, one corner of his mouth curling up in a half smile. Phoebe knew that look, from hanging around him and Gerald for 4 years. She smirked, and poked his side. "What are you thinking up, Arnold?"
He just laughed, and shook his head, opening his eyes once again. He looked at Phoebe, now with the half smile turning into a full one. The thoughts in his head were showing on his face, and Phoebe thought she might just know what he was cooking up. "Phoebe, tonight, I'm going to ask my parents if I can go to Friday Harbor and visit Helga's family." he stated, and Phoebe nodded her head, slightly chuckling. She knew that's what he was going to say.
"Yes, I figured you'd say that by the look on your face."
The two friends laughed together, until, suddenly, they heard another voice join their's. They both recognized it instantly. "Hey you two, what's so funny and why didn't you invite me to the fun?"
The two just smiled, and turned to face Gerald, who stood, smirking at them. Phoebe walked over to him, and wrapped her arms around him, in a tight embrace. Arnold watched as Gerald hugged her back, then they let go, and Phoebe gave Gerald a peck on the cheek, making him blush. Arnold laughed at the two, and scratched the back of his football shaped head, looking down at the cement.
"So, Pheebs, what were you two talking about?" Gerald asked his girlfriend, who just smiled a smiled that Gerald would do anything to see every waking minute of every single day.
"He was just telling me this idea he had." she said, looking back to Arnold, who was now looking back up at the two, with another smile. Gerald raised an eyebrow, that showed that he would like to hear more about this idea his best friend had come up with. "Tonight, Arnold is planning on asking his parents if he can go to Friday Harbor to visit Helga and her family."
Gerald smirked, and looked to his best friend, who was looking over the rail of the bridge, down at that crystal clear blue water below. "So, you couldn't stand it any longer, ay' buddy? Had to go and see your dream girl?"
Before Gerald even finished what he was saying, Arnold had shook his vision from the icy blue water, to Gerald, his eyes wide and his cheeks with a slight pink tinge to them. "What are you talking about!?" he asked, and Gerald laughed out loud, while Phoebe slightly giggled. "I just want to visit her! I don't know her email address, her normal mail address, or her telephone number! All I know is that she lives on a boat called Beeper Kingdom." Gerald raised an eyebrow at him, and he just shrugged, knowing the question which was on Gerald's mind.
"Uh huh, sure buddy. I still say you want to visit her because you suddenly are feeling emotions for her." Gerald said, patting his best friend on the shoulder. Arnold frowned, and shook his head, sighing an exasperated sigh.
"Whatever you say, Gerald, but it's not the truth." And with that, they left towards the closet house, Gerald laughing loudly, Phoebe slightly giggling, and Arnold shaking his head about it.
_______________________
Miles, Stella, Arnold, and Lorelei (Arnold has a younger sibling too, in this fic... Thomas and Lorelei are the same age, except Thomas is a month older... kind of like how Helga is 7 months older than Arnold ^_^) all sat at their dining room table, silence filling the room. It was unusual, because normally all of them would talk about something. But the thing was, the conversation usually started with Arnold, and he hadn't spoken a word since he had gotten home. It was like he was afraid to say anything, and as if he did say something, he would be in trouble. His parents noticed this, but hadn't mentioned anything yet, and they figured now would be a good time.
"Arnold, honey, are you all right?" Stella asked worriedly, making her son glance up at her, slightly shocked at the sudden break in the silence. Especially since it was directed at him. He sighed, and looked down at his plate, tapping his fork against the plate. It looked as if he hadn't touched his food even.
"Yeah, I'm fine, mom..." he said, looking back up with a fake smile. She gave him a look that showed that she didn't believe him. "Well..." he sighed, and then laughed, slightly startling his parents. "I really am fine, but I have a question." he said, scratching his head, his eyes looking down to his plate. Then he looked back up, to see that his parents were obviously waiting to hear what the question was. "I was wondering... um... you see... this old friend of mine moved away 4 years ago, and I want to visit her." he said, and as he did, his parents looked to each other, with knowing looks. Then they looked back to Arnold, who was just staring at them, waiting for the answer.
Stella nodded her head, a normal smile spreading across her face. "Well, I think that could be possible. What do you think?" she questioned her husband, looking to him. He nodded his head, and looked to Arnold.
"Yeah, that's fine. We got nothing planned this week, so, how about we leave tomorrow?" he mentioned, and Arnold's eyes lit up.
"Really!? Ok! Sounds great!" he exclaimed, then noticed Lorelei look up from her plate, to him, with a questioning look.
"Is your fwiend's name Hewga?" she asked, and Arnold raised an eyebrow at her.
"Yeah. How did you know?" he asked, narrowing his eyes at his younger sibling. She smiled innocently, blinking her large brown eyes at him.
"You talk in your sweep, and I heawd you say the name Hewga before." she said, slightly giggling at the deep red blush creeping across her brother's face. "Your face ith tuwning wed." she stated the obvious, and Arnold frowned at her.
As he was about to yell out that he didn't talk in his sleep or if he did he never would say Helga's name, because he never dreamt about her, he heard his dad laugh. He turned around, to glare in his dad's direction. Miles stopped his laughter as soon as he felt Stella hit him lightly on the shoulder. "Don't laugh at your son's embarrassment." she chided her husband.
"Sorry," Miles laughed, and nodded his head at Arnold. "All right then, we'll get packed tonight, and leave first thing in the morning." he stated, and before he had even finished his sentence, Arnold was up and gone out of the room, up to his room.
________________________
As Arnold packed, he continued thinking about tomorrow. What was he going to say when he saw her again? 'Oh, hi Helga! I was missing you, so I talked my parents into bringing me here.' He shook his head, clearing that thought out of his head. He knew what the first thing Helga would say would be. It would be something like, 'Hey, are ya' following me or something, Football Head?! I thought I got away from you 4 years ago!' Well, ok, maybe not that specific, but something to that effect. He laughed at himself as he glanced to a shelf. He furrowed his eyebrows as his eyes caught sight of something pink. He didn't remember having something pink.
He reached up to the shelf, grabbing for whatever the pink thing was. When he got hold of it, his eyes widened. The little pink book! Now he remembered! That annoying little pink book that he and Gerald tried figuring out who wrote. They never found out who. He brought it down, and dusted it off, blowing across the top of it. He smiled as he opened it, and turned to the second to last page. Well, last page, since Helga had torn the last page out. He laughed at the memory, feeling the exact part of his head where that spitball had hit him. He had been pretty ticked at the time, but now, it seemed quite funny.
"What's so funny?" he suddenly heard a voice ask him from the doorway of his room. He jumped up off the chair, and spun around, to see his dad in the doorway. Unfortunately, when he jumped up, the pink book fell off his lap, right onto his foot. He yelped in pain, and fell backwards when he tried holding his foot to stop it from hurting. When he fell backwards, he hit his head on the edge of the bookshelf, making him yelp in pain again.
"Ahh..." he groaned, rubbing the back of his head. "Man, sometimes I wonder if I might be distantly related to Eugene..." he muttered, cringing at the headache he was beginning to get. He looked up to his dad, to see him shaking his head. "What?" he asked, frowning.
"Oh, just thinking about how you got my clumsiness. Too bad. I always hoped you'd end up being more like your mother." he chuckled, walking into the room. He sat down on the bed, watching Arnold stand up from the floor, rubbing his head. "You all right?"
"Yeah, fine, dad." he said, with a slight smile. Then, he grabbed the little pink book off the floor, staring at it. "This book is heavier than I thought it was." he laughed, placing it back up on the bookshelf. He looked back to his dad, who was sitting on the bed, staring at him, and then sat down on his desk chair. "So, what did you want?" he asked, and Miles nodded his head, remembering what he had came into the room before.
"Before I go into why I came in, what was that little pink book you were reading? I don't think I ever saw you reading it before." he said, and Arnold looked up to the pink book, sighing.
"Oh, it was just something I found when I was nine, with a bunch of poems, all about me... And how obsessed someone was with me." he said, with a laugh, and looked back down to his dad, who was nodding his head.
"Ah, I see." he said, also with a laugh. Then he stopped laughing, and looked to Arnold, with a smile. "So, Arnold, this Helga that you want to visit..." he started, and right away, Arnold looked down at the blue carpeting, trying hide his slightly reddening face. He knew where this conversation was going. Miles slightly chuckled at his son's reaction to the start of his question. "From the way you are acting at dinner, it seems like she must have been someone special..."
"No!" Arnold said, snapping his head upwards, and looking directly at his dad, who was still smiling. "She wasn't! All she was was a good friend. That's it. Oh, and my elementary school tormentor." he added, chuckling yet again. He began to drift off into a flashback, when his dad chuckled, and he snapped out of his.
"It's all right Arnold, I understand. You don't want to admit your feelings for this girl yet. I know when I had this large crush when I was your age I never told my parents." Miles said, standing up and heading towards the door. "Well I better be going, your mother is waiting for me." Arnold watched his dad until he got to the door and turned back around. "You better get to hurrying on your packing, we'll be staying for a week and a half, and you only have a weekends worth clothes in your suitcase." Arnold's jaw dropped, and his eyes widened. Miles nodded his head at his son's shocked expression. "Your mom and I decided that we would stay longer than originally planned after you left the table." Arnold nodded his head, smiling.
"Well, g'night dad. See you tomorrow." he said, stuffing some more clothes into his suitcase, and not being neat about it. Then remembered something, and before his dad was totally out of hearing range, he called out, "Dad! What should I set my alarm for??"
"6:00 A.M.!" he heard his dad called back, and his eyes widen. 'So early? Why!?' he thought, as he set his alarm, then resumed packing, untidily.