Explanations
AN: Sassy Angel, you were right, there is one brewing, but neither know it yet. I'm working next chapter, too, so don't think it'll be big cliffies. Oh, and this is SUPER TIME LONG! With a ho' bunch a stuff. Plus, I totally forget if Arnold told her Gerald knows about Deep Voice, so I'm going with a no. So, with out further a do.
Summary: *Well, basically, they talk more, just this time in the park. I'm going freestyle with this, so there'll be some stuff not in this summary. *
Disclaimer: See Chapter anything before this.
QOC: "I must be in Heaven now. Oh, no! Oscar's here! This must be the other place!" Dan Castella/Grandpa Phil: Uh, duh!
Hey Arnold!
Helga climbed down from her bed. She had missed dinner, but she was too happy to eat. Just the other week she had that dream in which she was married to him. It was like a dream come true: the burden of telling was off! Her love didn't think she was a freak! He obviously liked her; after he was quiet for five minutes you could tell. But the fact remained that she didn't know if he like-liked her, much less loved her. Well, the maximum test, if there was any, was over. He had seen the big shrine and didn't think it was too weird. Well, you knew he thought it strange, but not too weird. In only a few hours Arnold had uncovered her deepest secrets. But there was going to be now way he'd get much out of her today. Nope, this time it was all him and her with invisible duct tape on her mouth. She didn't want too much of her personal life out in 24 hours.
!@#$%^&*()_+{}:"?
Arnold got out of bed, at first not realizing what had happened that night. He was very tired from all of the questions his grandparents had asked upon his arrival at about 9:35 P.M. Why had he been late again? It was at that point that his stomach did a flip on the tight rope, shaking him to his senses. It was at this point that he realized how the, uh, 'situation' would affect him. I mean, he was relatively all right with it. But just the other week he had that dream in which he was married to her. Gerald knew one part of it, but he wasn't sure if he should talk to him about it without Helga's confirmation on it. Well, he was supposed to talk some more with her today. Well, if he was going to do this, then like they say: "There's no time like the present."
He got dressed and went through his hygenic routine. When he was finished he went downstairs to a breakfast of pancakes, which he ate whole-heartedly. Afterward, he called Helga to ask where they should go to talk.
!@#$%^&*()_+{}:"?
"Helga, wake uuuupppp!"
Helga rolled her eyes and groaned. "I already am, Miriam!"
She opened her door and stomped down stairs when she heard a loud voice behind her. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, little missy."
She stopped right in her tracks and turned to see a furious beeper king, who just happened to be her father. "What," she said angrily, "Bob?"
"You didn't come down for dinner, Olga. You stayed up there talking to that Orphan Boy all night."
"Da-ad, it wasn't all night. And I wasn't hungry. And my name is HELGA!"
"Hey, hey, hey, don't you talk to me in that tone! Now, he stopped our big plans for big money!"
Helga raised one end of her eyebrow. "Dad, I heard you say that that Scheck guy would have gotten most of the money."
"That's not the POINT!" He raised his arms up in the air. "I don't want you talking to that boy anymore, ya hear me Olga?"
Helga's mouth dropped open. "Dad, its not like I'm, like I'm, in love with him or anything!" Of course we all know the answer to that True or False question.
Just then the phone rang. Helga could hear a whirring and snoring in the kitchen and figured that Miriam had fallen asleep while making a smoothie. "I'll get!" Any excuse to get away from this. I just hope that it isn't Arnold.
She picked up the phone and said, "Hello, you've reached the Patakis' house, Helga speaking." She had to talk like that ever since Olga had pointed out she wasn't that polite to people on the phone.
"Uh, hey Helga."
Ugh, I hate irony.
!@#$%^&*()_+{}:"?
"Uh, hey Helga."
On the other end of the line he heard Helga whisper something about irony, then say, "Um, uh, hi Pheobe. I was just talking to my Dad." Arnold was confused why she said he was Pheobe.
"Um, this is Arnold."
"I KNOW, Pheobe. Ah, uh, its just that…Okay, hi Arnold."
Arnold raised an eyebrow, knowing Helga couldn't see it. "Why'd you call me Pheobe?"
"Uh, because my dad won't let me talk to you because of the whole FTi thing. And because I talked to you--about that homework assignment, the math one, do you remember what it was? Sorry, Dad again. Anyway, why'd you call me?"
Arnold grabbed the back of his neck. "Um, I was thinking, that maybe we oughta do that talking thing again, and you know, maybe we could go to the park and do it. Nobody would be there because grown-ups are at work and the gang is all probably at Gerald Field. Sooooo…"
Helga answered rather quickly. "Yes, sure, be there in 15 minutes, and, uh, thanks for helping me out Pheobe, I'll be there soon."
Arnold smiled at the attempt Helga was making, but didn't know why her father was acting like that. "Yeah, sure. Um, I'll see you there."
"Bye."
!@#$%^&*()_+{}:"?
Click.
Helga stood there for just a moment. She had mentally told herself to not tell Arnold too much yesterday, but she cracked. Could she survive to day? She didn't know, but she'd try.
Or, possibly, she should tell him everything. Up from the little pink book, to the play, to the dreams. Well, maybe not the dreams. Those were to be kept to herself. But still, he knew most of it; why not tell him that he did like her like her, only just not knowing she was really Helga? The Cecile coincidence might bring something up, maybe even cause him to like like her! Criminy, not another moral dilemma. Should I tell Arnold everything and probably traumatize the boy again, or should I just tell him everything and wait to see what happens. Oh, why'd my session with Bliss have to be tomorrow?
She grabbed her coat, making the decision to wait and see. Big Bob asked where she was going, and she just told him that she was going to Pheobe's house for homework help. It worked, and she was on her way, with ten minutes to get to the park.
!@#$%^&*()_+{}:"?
Arnold grabbed his coat and walked down to the kitchen to talk tell Grandpa where he was going. The park was only three minutes away from where he lived, so he decided to talk to Grandpa about his, uh, would you call it a problem?
Well, its not like he'd hold this up on me, as an embarressment or a grudge, he practically being Helga's dad's mortal enemy. But, hey, right now he'll be all I have. And I really can't stand this alone. He sat down on the table and sighed. "Hey, Grandpa."
Phil looked up. "Uh, oh, Arnold. I sense another one of your boyhood problems. 'Fess up." He had that concerned guardian look, but Arnold had a feeling that it wouldn't change.
He bit his lip and said, "Grandpa, you remember when you told me that Gertie story when you thought that Helga li-"
"Is she the Pataki kid with the one big eyebrow?"
"Uh, yeah. Well, I think you were right about her having a, well…"
Grandpa smirked all knowingly. "A what, short man?"
Arnold looked up guiltily. "A crush on me."
His grandfather's head fell back as he started laughing like a hyena on sugared antelope. Arnold expected this, but he really had to tell somebody, and knew what anybody else would do if he told them.
When he finally caught his breath, he managed to say, "Arnold, there's some advice I'd like to tell you about this situation that my father gave to me when I was a young boy such as yourse-"
Arnold sighed. "If its about rasberries, that really doesn't help me."
"No, no, this one's different. He told me, 'Girls can be confusing at some points, but half of the population is filled with them, so you have to take whatever you have to understand them'. Now, I'd like to tell you who Gertie was, I mean, is."
Arnold looked at his watch. He had time. "Okay, Grandpa," he said, smiling. "Who's Gertie?"
He pointed to the kitchen doorway and said, "Just look." You know who walked through the door.
Arnold's eyes grew wide. "Grandma is Gertie?!?!"
She looked up with her Safari hat on and said, "Yes, yes, but right now I'm Gwana going after the man-eater, Kimba. Sh."
"I figured out that she'd had a big crush on me the whole time!" said Phil.
Arnold furrowed one brow, thinking. If my son meets his wife when he's in San Lorenzo, I'll die. Hey, wait. Oh, man. Grandpa married his fourth grade bully! Uuuuhhhh… "Uh, Grandpa? When did you find out that Grandma like liked you?"
Grandpa placed his hand on his chin and thought. "I'll tell you later, short man. Hey, your coats on, were you going somewhere?"
Then Arnold suddenly remembered. "Oh, yeah. I'm going to the park Grandpa. Bye!" With that he left the boarding house.
This time, Arnold caught the bus to meet with Helga at the park. He'd be about a minute late, but not too much.
The bus dropped him off at the front entrance, where he saw Helga running up to the front gate also. When she saw him, she stopped in her tracks. "Uh," he said, "hi."
She forced on a smile and said, "Hi." There was a small pause. "Uh, so, are we gonna go inside or not?"
Arnold turned back to the gates. "Yes. Come on. Lets go."
They walked a little bit, quietly, but they didn't want to talk yet. There was a feeling of uncomfort in the air around them, but the more they walked, the more it seemed to dim some.
When they passed by the first bench, Arnold stopped, looked at it, and smiled. Helga saw this and asked, "What's so smile worthy about a bench?"
Arnold chuckled just a bit. "Don't you remember? The last time I was by this bench is when we called a weekend-long truse(sp.?)"
Helga tilted her head as she stepped over by him. Now she remembered. It was when they found their egg, the one that posed as a child, while it was hatching into a chick. It was also when she showed him that for once she tried to be nice, yet he was the one who jumped at her. Well, and eye for and eye, even if one is bigger. "Yeah, I do." She sat down on it. She made her decision. "Arnold, speaking of this, there's even more stuff I feel like you ought to know."
Arnold raised and eyebrow. "More? What do you mean, more?"
She grasped her hands together and fiddled with her thumbs. "Yes, but first I have to ask you something."
He sensed something and sat down next to her. "What is it?"
Helga bit her lip. "What do you think this will change. You know, my reputation, everyone eventually realizing that I'm not mean to you anymore. Hey, wait, don't get excited, I might, because I can't control when I'm annoyed, but still…I'm just curious on your point of few on it."
Arnold had been thinking of this too. "I don't know. Gerald knows you were Deep Voice, but-"
"He does!"
"Yeah, I forgot about that, but I guess we'll have to see. Now, what'd you want to say?"
Helga grabbed her pigtails and pulled really hard, trying not to burst from embaressment. "This is really hard to say, but I feel like I have to." She took a deep breath. "Uh, um, you know that little pink book with all of the poems in it?"
Arnold's eyes widened. "No. I mean, it can't be."
She nodded. "Also, I took your hat, lost it, looked for it in the dump, found it, and decided to give it back so you'd come out. Why is it so special to you?"
Arnold looked down. "My parents gave it to me when I was little. That's why it's so small."
That made Helga feel bad about taking it. Oh, yeah. "Uh, sorry. Also, I'm the one who owned the parrot and the locket. I'm the one who wrote Helga Loves Lila on the wall and caused the whole you and Lila thing. I convinced all four Juliets, telling Lila my secret on the way, to get the spot, I was spoiling your dates to the Cheese Fair with Ruth and Lila, also the ones with Summer-"
"Whoa, wait a second," interrupted Arnold. "You did what? And you owned the parrot and the locket and you are the cause for me liking Lila, even though you like me?" He put his head in hands. "Why is my love-life so difficult?"
Helga fiddled with her fingers some more. She really hoped that this time it wouldn't be straight. "There's something else that's even weirder than the rest. Can you believe it?"
He looked up. "No, and what?"
Helga unwrapped her big pink bow and let her hair fall over her shoulders and her eyes. She was glad, in a certain way, that it wasn't straight like it was on occasion. "Who am I?"
A quizzical look came over the boy's face as he tried to remember the familiar face. "You look just like this girl I met from France. But only me and Gerald know what she looked like."
Helga sighed. He was still so completely out of it. "The Cecile you know wasn't the Cecile you thought she was, remember, bone-head? Valentine's Day. Chez Paris. Pen-pal. Not really. Red high-heel shoe. All of that equals ME!"
Arnold could not believe this. He was quiet for a long time, his mind completely void except for one thing: Helga and everything she'd just said. If she was Cecile, then what does that mean for me? I had just decided I wouldn't like Ruth anymore the same hour I started to like her. Wait. The non-dense wheels in his head stated to turn. If I said I liked Cecile, while Cecile was really Helga, than that means I just admitted that I like-like Helga! "Oh, man," he groaned.
This whole time Helga was having her own thoughts. This is it. Either he realizes he likes me or realizes that h doesn't and that he never liked Cecile or something else. Oh well. God in heaven knew this would happen eventually, at least that's what they say in church. Maybe we'll get to be really good friends, if I know what I mean. Or, the alternative.
Arnold grabbed the back of his neck and said, "This has been a weird day, huh?"
Helga cleared her throat. "Uh, yeah, it has." She looked up. It took every ounce of remaining dignity in her body to say this: "So, uh, what do you think about it? Besides it being weird."
Arnold looked out at the bright sunlight, the fresh grass, and the small patches of flowers that summer brought in Hillwood. He stood up. What did he think about it? The more he thought about it, the more he wanted to really get to know the real Helga. Of course, he had gotten a few chances, the biggest ones being now and, well, Valentine's Day. But, did he like her? He had to think about it.
"Uh, Helga. Its getting close to lunchtime, isn't it?"
She looked at her watch, stood, and nodded. "It's twelve fourteen. So I guess that means that you are hungry, huh?"
He nodded. "Yeah, I am. Do you think that we could finish this some other time?"
"I don't really know if we have anything else to talk about. I mean, you know that-"
"Wait."
"What?"
"I thought I saw a hand over there, and some of the bushes moving."
Helga's head immediately turned toward the bushes that Arnold was looking at. If somebody found out her secret, besides Bliss, Lila, Pheebs, and Arnold, she'd punch that person before they could utter a word. She raised her fist and said, "Get out here, right now, or I'll knock your teeth out so hard, it'll wake up your den-"
Arnold put his hands up. "Helga, they're long gone. It's too late, so just stop."
Helga slowly put her hand down, knowing what would happen if this person knew them. The gossip would soon spread, slowly, then more quickly. The one thing she'd feared all her life would happen: ridicule. Rumors. She'd be called soft, a lover girl. Arnold would be tangled in it too. It would be her worst nightmare. She sat back down hard on the bench, still looking at the bushes. Then, she screamed. We all know what that scream is like. Arnold remembered it.
"Now I know what all those things I heard but Gerald didn't were."
Helga looked up with an angry expression on her face. "That really doesn't HELP, Arnold. What am I going to do now!"
Arnold looked down to the dirt path he was on. This was one of those things nine going on ten year old kids shouldn't have to worry about. "Helga, are you okay?"
Hekga looked back up. "Yeah, I'm chewing big bubble gum balls and skipping through Happy Land singing 'Happiness' from that Charlie Brown musical. No, actually, I really am not."
Arnold looked back at her. "There is more I need to talk to you about."
This time Helga's head stayed up. "What do you mean?"
He shrugged. "Just some stuff that I think I should ask, since we're this far. But, it can't be now. My grandpa is probably worried."
Helga stood next to Arnold and looked at the sunlight, the trees, and the flowers. If only life were as easy as looking at God's wonders. "Yeah, and my dad will definitely think I'm as dumb as rocks if I stay here any longer."
Arnold looked at her with his head tilted. She said, "Long story."
"I can tell."
"Well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow then."
Arnold waved his hand. "I'll see you at practice. Bye." He left, and Helga turned soon after to go down the other way.
When they went home, they each ran up to their rooms, jumped on their beds, and screamed into their pillows.
Whoa. This story, the and and the fic, is 3, 195 words long and 3 pages long, which is pretty close to a record for me. *I'm not even you and my fingers hurt. Glad I'm not you.* So, you be the judge. I wanna know if you think they're OOC or IC, okay? *I'm trying to get her to write a Bliss fic!* I'm thinking about it, sheesh! Anyways, I'm about to update, so review!
~~Briana *+ Phebga*~~
