I, the author, make no claim as to ownership of "Hey Arnold" or any of its characters. For a full disclaimer, see Chapter 1.


VII
So Deep


Helga's face twisted one way, then contorted another. She then sighed in disgust and brought her hands over her eyes, hoping that if she didn't see it, it wouldn't be really happening. It was easy to see that she was in pain, and a glance at Arnold's television could quickly tell one what was hurting her so.

"Kobe Bryant with yet ANOTHER circus shot! He's already got 14, and we've still got three minutes to go in the first quarter!"

"This is ugly," Helga exclaimed as she reached across Arnold's bed for the TV remote. She was denied, however, by Arnold's cat-like reflexes. He quickly grabbed the remote and held it out as his side, opposite his friend.

"Oh, c'mon, Helgs. It's only the first quarter. We've still got plenty of time to come back." Helga, not to be denied, quickly dove at Arnold, trying to snatch the control away. A quick dive by Arnold made sure that she would come up empty.

"Arnold," she sighed after her defeat, "as much as I appreciate your undying optimism and eternal faith in the Sonics... it's 21 to 4. I mean, criminy, even chemistry looks more appealing than this!"

Arnold rolled his eyes. "Aw, it ain't that bad. I mean, we're behind now, but any second..."

"Allen stops. He's looking for someone to pass to. He throws it RIGHT TO BRYANT, and we're going the other way! Bryant stops, pulls up, that's a 3 if it goes... AND IT DOES! Seventeen for..."

"Knock yourself out," said a defeated Arnold as he tossed the remote over to Helga.

"Was that so hard, Arnaldo?" Helga asked with a slight grin. She quickly turned her attention towards the remote just in time to miss Arnold shaking his head in disappointment. "Now, time for something that will be entertaining to watch. I wonder if Punk'd is on yet..."

click
My milkshake brings all the-
click

"On second thought," said Helga, tossing the remote back in Arnold's direction, "there's always hope."

"Now, was that so hard?" asked Arnold. His reflexes were quickly tested again, as he ducked a pillow thrown from Helga's direction. It was a test he failed, as he got hit right in the nose. It wasn't exactly a brick, but the pillow was thrown with enough force and it had hit him at just the right angle to cause his nose some discomfort.

"Sorry," said a remorseful Helga.

"Meh, don't worry 'bout it," replied Arnold, as he scrunched his nose as if it would help it feel better. "It's just been a long day."

"You too, huh?" Helga turned away from the game and towards her friend. "This wouldn't have anything to do with a visitor you had... oh, around noonish?"

"So I'm not the only one who got a prom pep-talk." Arnold turned towards Helga, mirroring her "looking-at-you-but-still-watching-the-game" position. "What happened on your end?"

"Oh, she just said that this was the biggest mistake of my life. No biggie." Helga chose to omit the part about confessing her feelings, thinking that she'd try and avoid an awkward moment if at all possible. "Oh, yeah," she continued. "Bob called Feebs Chinese."

"Does this mean she's no longer 'some Oriental girl'?" Arnold asked in his best Big Bob voice.

"We can only hope. So what happened with you and Gerald?"

"Same thing, pretty much," sighed Arnold. "but my biggest mistake was trying to kiss Gerald."

A look of shock came over Helga's face. "Okay, that's gonna make me raise an eyebrow," she said, and proceded to do just that.

"Oh, don't worry. Gerald dumped me for it."

There was a pause, but Helga's face remained unchanged. "Yeah..." she finally said. "See how my eyebrow is still raised?"

Arnold sighed again. "Don't worry, it was just hypothetically speaking. I'm not gay."

"Get outta here!"

"No, seriously," defended Arnold, "I'm not!"

Helga turned back towards Arnold. "What?... OH! I was talking about the foul on Shaq they just missed."

"Ooooh."

"I wasn't too worried about you, though," Helga replied as she returned to her Arnold-and-TV-watching position, "cause even if you were gay, Gerald could do a helluva lot better than you."

Arnold raised an eyebrow in semi-shock. "Why does everyone keep saying that? I can be attractive to a gay guy!"

"Oh, c'mon!" exclaimed Helga.

"Fine." Arnold threw his hands up. "If you don't believe me, wait 'till next weekend, when we go to GamePalace, and we can ask Eug..."

"Wha?..." Helga turned back to her friend. "Oh... Kobe just got away with travelling."

"Helgs, they never call travelling anymore."

"I know, but still..." Helga trailed off, turning towards the screen. Ray Allen looked like he was about to drive through the lane, but in thruth, the game had only half of her attention. How could she possibly focus on a stupid basketball game? She had to deal with the questions Phoebe had made her ask herself, the doubts she put in her mind, and she couldn't even begin to fathom the questions and doubts Gerald had no doubt put into Arnold's mind... Come to think of it, what was Arnold thinking? What was he feeling? What was he...

"Were you planning on finishing that sentance anytime soon?"

It took a moment for Helga to come back to reality and register what Arnold had asked. "Yeah," she finally said. "It's just that... I was... ya know..."

"What about that one?"

At first, Helga didn't respond. Her posture was slouched; Her gaze distant, staring at some point beyond the walls of Arnold's room. Then, in what seemed to be one furiously fluid motion, she shot up from the bed, grabbed the TV remote, pounded its off button and tossed it aside, all while turning back towards Arnold.

"Sit," she demanded.

"I'm... already sitting," replied a very puzzled Arnold.

"Well..." a flustered Helga replied, "...sit... more!"

"...Sit more?"

"Just shuddup!" Her demand immediately straightened Arnold's posture and grabbed his full attention. Helga wanted to apologize for scaring him. Really, she did. But she couldn't let anything slow her down. Not now. She took one last sigh to gather herself before... well, she didn't want to think about what could folow.

Now or never, Helgs.


I am so very, very disappointed in myself. I can use my recent promotion or my recent drama with my ex as an excuse, but the bottom line is, I made you wait a month... for this. It's inexcusible, I know, but I do have my reasons. Mainly, this chapter took a huge turn from where I thought it would end up, and I think that if I kept it in this chapter, I'd try to compact it to keep the chapter from being too long, so this is where I'll leave you for now. (Plus, since this and 8 are basically 2 parts of one scene, I get to use the cool chapter name gimmick I've been trying to sneak in for a while.)

As it stands right now, prom's gonna be just under half the story, and it's still a couple chapters away, so we're almost at the half-way mark. As for Chapter 8 (specifically, "when the hell will it be done?"), it's on the same schedule as the other chapters; it'll be on here when it's done. Until then, enjoy!