A/N: I finally got past that awful chapter three. Too many new characters, and I have only introduced three of the contestants (Lila, Helga, and Callie). Anyways, I am done with another chapter so here it is.

Disclaimer: I don't own Hey Arnold.

Quote: "Remember, Socrates said that to do is to be and Plato said that to be is to do, but it took Sinatra to say "do be do be do." That just makes me laugh because it reminds me of an old commercial that had a penguin saying "Do be do be do." (I think it was a beer commercial, but I could be wrong.) Anyways, I saw that while I was looking on hey-arnold.com, and it made me laugh so I put it on here. Dumb stuff like that makes me laugh, but oh well.

Where to Begin

Chapter 4 – Just a Little Crush

                "Arnold! For the sixteenth billion, twenty-seventh million, four hundred fifty-three hundredth thousandth time, I don't know what I am going to do!" Helga shouted as she and Arnold walked to their AP Chemistry class. Arnold had been constantly asking her what she was going to do as her talent ever since the meeting the night before. She had been in a relatively good mood until she was bombarded with questions from Arnold on their way home and again by Bob and Miriam when she got home.

                "Can you repeat that number, please?" he asked, rolling his eyes at his over-dramatic friend.

                "Ughr!" Helga half groaned, half growled. Her headache and bad mood had carried over from the night before. "Can we please talk about something else? This isn't exactly my favorite subject."

                "It's not exactly mine, either. Did you see the kinds of people I have to work with?"

                Helga looked at him funny. "Since when are you so quick to judge?"

                "I spent an hour listening to them argue. I think I have an idea of what kind of people they are."

                "At least they have brains and not just hair with enough hairspray to put another hole in the ozone layer."

                Arnold, the eternal optimist, tried to get Helga to say something positive. "They can't all be bad."

                "Newsflash, Arnold! They are!" She paused. "Okay, so I found one that was normal, but still!" Her scowl deepened. She looked at him. "What did we do to deserve this?"

                Arnold shrugged. "We put a laxative in that sub's coffee last month before break. I would like to remind you that I was completely against that idea. You forced me to go along with it."

                Helga laughed. "Oh yeah, I forgot about that. But was it really that bad? I mean, the guy was a jerk and had it coming." She narrowed her eyes. "And I am sorry that poor little old you is too sensitive and can't handle peer pressure. You thought it was funny."

                "I did not. I was just merely—" Arnold started as Jake Richardson passed them on his way to government. Arnold did not like Jake too much. The team co-captain, Jake was too cocky and did not have the talent to back up his attitude. However, Arnold usually tried to be on good terms with the senior because they were teammates. Helga, on the other hand, must have felt differently about Jake.

                "Hey, Jake," she said blushing, seconds before she ran into the chemistry room as someone was opening it from the other side. Helga landed hard on the floor. A short red-haired girl was rambling apologies as Arnold and Jake kneeled over Helga, each on one side.

                "Helga? Helga, wake up," Arnold said as he lightly hit Helga's cheek. Her eyes opened slowly. "Criminey," she whispered. Arnold and Jake both helped her sit up. "Ow," she said, putting a hand up to her head. A large knot was forming. "Ow," she said again.

                "Helga, I'm so sorry," Jake said, helping her stand up. "Here, I'll take you to the nurse."

                Arnold supported her from the other side. "It's alright, Jake. I'll take her."

                "No, Arnold, I'll go. Chem II is more important then government. Don't worry, I'll take care of Helga."

                "Helga's in my class. It would be easier if I just went with her."

                "Yeah, but Helga's a chem genius. You need all the help you can get."

                Arnold's cheeks turned slightly red. "Look, Jake, it's okay. I can take Helga to the nurse."

                "That's okay, Arnold. Jake can take me."

                Arnold looked wide-eyed at Helga. What? He tried to protest again, but something in Helga's eyes stopped him. She seemed to be pleading with him to let Jake take her. He sighed inwardly. "Okay, I'll see you later, Helga. Bye, Jake," he said, but the two had already left and were not paying any attention to him. Arnold growled. Helga had practically begged Arnold to let Jake take her. She doesn't have a crush on him, does she? he thought. And why does it bother me so much?

¤ ~ ¤ ~ ¤

                Arnold did not see Helga again until lunch because she missed all of chemistry. It was difficult to find Helga at lunch because she sat with different people everyday. Today she was sitting with Brainy and his friend Alex, who was a different sort of person, like Brainy, but was a lot more sociable. Actually he never seemed to shut up. Arnold smiled. Who would have thought that Helga would willingly sit with Brainy? There was a story behind all this, but it was long and Helga had never told him the whole thing. In short, Brainy had been a shoulder for Helga to cry on in seventh grade, and she was eternally grateful to him. Arnold walked over to their table. "Can I sit here?"

                Alex answered, "Sure." Arnold sat across from Helga. She was quietly eating her grilled chicken sandwich and was avoiding Arnold's eyes. "So, Arnold, have you heard about how Helga was swept away by her knight in shining armor this morning?"

                "Alex!" Helga screeched. Brainy blushed slightly, but said nothing. Arnold watched as Helga stomped on Alex's foot, causing the boy to yelp in pain. Thankfully the rest of the cafeteria was extremely loud; otherwise their outbursts may have attracted some unwelcome overseers. "Yeah, I was there," Arnold said blandly. Helga locked eyes with him, but quickly averted them.

                "Really?" Alex leaned closer to Arnold. "So, were there singing birds and bells and trumpets and things like that?"

                "Alex!" Helga's face was bright red.

                "Was it like one of those old black and white romantic movies? Like Casablanca? Here's looking at you and that nasty bump on your forehead, kid," he said in his best Humphrey Bogart voice, which was a very good imitation. Arnold and Brainy laughed. Helga, however, looked like she was going to strangle the skinny kid.

                "Actually, Helga just kind of ran into the door. It was not romantic. Just klutzy." Brainy laughed harder and Alex joined in. Arnold swore he saw steam blow out of Helga's ears. Okay, maybe they went to far.

                "C'mon on, Brainy. Let's go before Helga decides to hurt us," Alex said. The two boys left, laughing hysterically. Arnold looked at Helga, who was glaring at him. "I'm glad you can get your jollies from my pain."

                "Hey, I tried to help you, but you didn't want my assistance, remember?"

                "So what. I don't need you to do everything for me, Arnoldo."

                "You'd rather have Jake Richardson, a first class jerk help you then your best friend?"

                "He's not a jerk."

                "Yes, he is, Helga. You don't know him like I do."

                "Because you are such good friends with him. Maybe you don't know him like I do. Maybe you're just jealous."

                "Over you? I doubt it." Arnold regretted these words the minute he said them. Helga's eyes widened, and then she glared even harder at him, and the two sat in uncomfortable silence just staring at each other. "That came out wrong," he finally said.

                "I hope so," she retorted coldly. "You know, it's just a crush. It's not like I'm in love with the guy. You chased Lila for nearly seven years."

                "So?"

                "So just let me run with this for a while. It's really no big deal."

                "I just don't want you to get hurt, that's all. I know what he's like with girls. I've heard him brag about it in the locker room. I don't want you to be just an other girl he throws aside after he gets what he wants from you."

                Helga's expression softened. "I know, Arnold, and I am grateful that you are always looking out for me, but I can handle myself." She sighed, looking mildly depressed. "I don't know why we are even fighting about this. Nothing's going to come of it."

                "You don't know that. Maybe he likes you back."

                She raised an eyebrow at him. "Do you or don't you want me to date him?"

                Arnold realized his own fickleness (though he was doing it to back her feel better) and quickly tried to cover it up. "Well, you said nothing was going to come of it, so I figured I could boost your self confidence without having to worry about you actually getting involved with the guy."

                "No, that's something you don't have to worry about," she said sadly, lowering her eyes to her hands. Arnold hated to see her so downtrodden. "Helga, c'mon, don't be so depressed. It will be okay. Everything will turn out okay, I promise."

                She looked at him. "Why do you always have to look on the bright side?"

                "Somebody has too," they said in unison. Helga laughed. "Same old Football Head." Arnold smiled. Everything was okay, at least for now.

¤ ~ ¤ ~ ¤

                Arnold did not have to go to the Omni that night, which he was very grateful for. He needed a break from his tech crew. He groaned. If he needed a break after just one meeting, he hated to see what the next month would be like when they had to start designing and building the set. Arnold knew that deep down, they probably were not that bad; the problem with that was that he had to dig down to get there, and he was not in the mood. He waited for Gerald by his mustang. Helga had already left to go to the theater.

                "I tell ya, Arnold, that guy gets worse and worse everyday."

                Arnold looked at his friend who was angrily shoving his stuff into the back seat. "Who are you talking about?"

                "Who do you think I am talking about? Richardson!"

                "What did he do this time?"

                "He made us do the gut drill. Twice. Have you forgotten?"

                Arnold's stomach lurched at the memory. The gut drill, named so because it made you want to throw up, was fifteen down and backs long ways across the gym in three minutes. It was a conditioning exercise, but was also used as a punishment. In this case, while the team was scrimmaging, Jake had been lazy getting back on defense after he made a three, and Mark Patterson made an easy lay-up. The team had to run the drill while listening to their coach sermon about how Concordia was too good a team to give easy baskets to and hope to get away with it. He continued by saying that the team was just a bunch of lazy city kids who had never had a day of hard labor in their pampered lives. James Packard, his coach, was from Indiana and had had to drop out of college where he played division-one basketball when he was nineteen because his parents had died in a car accident. He was forced to work in a steel mill to support his three younger brothers. He later went back to school and got his teaching degree, and devoted his life to coaching so that other players could get to live the dream he did not. Unfortunately, the whole experience left him a little bitter (though he was able to marry a very sweet wife), and he seemed to hold a small grudge against so-called pampered rich kids because they had never known the heartache he had. Anyways, Jake had been lackadaisical and had finished about five seconds late, so everyone had to do the drill again. "Yeah, I remember." He said as he got into the car.

                "I really hate that guy. He thinks he is Kobe or something, but really he sucks."

                "Gerald."

                "I'm serious, Arnold. Hopefully you'll be taking his starting spot soon."

                Arnold stared at Gerald. "Are you saying I am getting that good, or that he is so bad that even I am better now?"

                Gerald turned a corner sharp as he tried to get through the intersection before the light turned red. "A little bit of both," he said, smiling at the stoic Arnold. "You are getting better. At least I should hope so. Helga's been kicking your ass for too long. I'm embarrassed for you."

                "Thanks, Gerald," Arnold said blandly. "Besides, I'm a point guard, not a shooting guard."

                "So? You know how to shoot, don't you? And we need a taller point guard than you. Someone who can see the court better." Their starting point guard and another player who could play point were both 6'2''.

                Arnold rolled his eyes. "Gerald, is there anything else you would like to add to lower my self-esteem even more? And does two inches make that much difference?"

                "It does at times." Arnold slouched slightly in his seat. "Man, would you get over it, already? I'm just joking."

                "I know, I know."

                Gerald pulled up in front of Arnold's house. "I am serious. Stop acting like a girl."

                "I am NOT acting like a girl," Arnold said as he grabbed his stuff.

                "Yes, you are. You are acting more like a girl than Helga." Gerald stopped and stared at Arnold, who stared back at him. After a few seconds, they both cracked up. "Helga's never acted like a girl," Gerald said.

                "You said it, not me."

                "That poor girl. I know she's come a long way from elementary school, but still. That girl in a beauty contest is like me in chess club."

                "I know. Anyways, I'll see you later." The two boys did their handshake, the argument long forgotten.

                "Later."

                Arnold looked up into the night sky as Gerald sped off. He wondered how Helga was doing at the moment. Arnold was worried about her. Gerald was right, Helga was a fish out of water in that pageant. He just hoped she would be able to handle it. The last thing he needed at the moment was a very angry and stressed Helga G. Pataki. He sighed and was greeted by Abner and other animals as he went inside. "Kimba! Dinner!" his grandma shouted from the dinning room. Arnold smiled. It was just another day at Sunset Arms.

A/N: So that's chapter four. I don't think I got the "Because somebody has to" thing right from the movie, but you should be able to get the point. Next chapter is called "Let's Make a Deal" (I've actually already planned what is going to happen in it. Yea me). Later days.