Chapter 7 - The Worst Monday
Helga sat on the bus to school on Monday morning feeling cold dread swirl around her insides. She was desperate to catch up with Arnold before he spoke to anyone, and kept her eyes fixed on the front of the bus waiting for him to board. She had kept herself awake until the small hours the previous night, going over and over what she was doing, regretting ever agreeing to this stupid bet.
She was worried that if she was too nice to a particular football headed someone, everyone would be sure to figure out her deepest, darkest secret. She would be mocked, taunted and basically laughed out of town for harbouring these feelings for a boy she claimed to hate. And yet, last night, she had done a completely selfless act for him. She had righted the wrong she had so willfully commited, and now he was sure to be spreading the gospel of her kindness far and wide.
That wouldn't be so bad, if she just thought she had the capacity to be nice to all the other kids. But the truth was she didn't think she could do it. She had spent so long being the bully, getting her own way and pushing people around that she didn't think she could just turn around and be all sunshine and rainbows. She had found in her past that being nice to Arnold was something as natural as oxygen once she got started, whether he knew about it or not, but she knew that was only because of her desire for him. The other kids she did not feel so strongly about, in fact some of them she truly did hate sometimes, and those were the ones who would pick up on her nice ways toward Arnold.
At first she didn't think it would be so bad for everyone to know how she felt about Arnold. Sure, she would be a figure of fun for the few months she had left in Hillwood, but then she would be jetting off to England and she would never have to worry about it again. But that was no good as she knew the most part of her was still dedicated to not going at all, and should that come to pass with everyone knowing her secret... well, it didn't bear thinking about.
So she decided to ask Arnold to not mention her little good deed to anyone, and gloss over it as not wanting to seem too goody-goody. But the whole journey she had worried about Arnold's Sunday. Had he already phoned Gerald and told him what had happened? Admitedly, Gerald would be a little tied up visiting his brother but that didn't mean he wouldn't be able to take a five minute phone call.
The bus came to a halt outside Arnold's stop. Both he and Gerald climbed aboard and Helga sat up straight in her seat, straining to see. He sauntered onto the bus and walked past her, but she grabbed his arm to stop him.
"Hey, foo-" Gerald gave her a look. The bet was officially in motion. "I mean, er, Arnold, can I talk to you for a second?" Arnold looked at Gerald and then sat down beside her. Gerald walked to the back of the bus and sat next to Phoebe, who was still sore about being told to sit somewhere else by her best friend. She didn't mention this to Gerald however, she still wanted Helga to win the bet and she was sure she had her reasons.
"What's up Helga?" Arnold said brightly. He was still feeling very touched from her actions on Saturday night.
"Look, I'm just gonna come out with it. I don't want you telling anyone that I did... that for you.I mean, even though this stupid bet still needs me to be nice, I've got a whole reputation to uphold. So if you could just, well, lie for me, that'd be just peachy." Her voice came out as a scathing whisper, but Arnold wasn't phased. She expected him to say something, but he just gave her that usual smile through half-lidded eyes that both captivated and infuriated her.
"Whatever you say Helga," he said, getting to his feet. Helga stared solidly out of the window, barely aware that Phoebe had taken up Arnold's seat and was now eyeing her with interest.
"What was all that about?" she asked in her sweet voice.
"Nothing, Pheebs," Helga said in a dangerous tone. Phoebe knew better than to press the matter any further. The bus pulled up at another stop and Rhonda and Nadine climbed aboard. Helga looked up, as though sensing imminent peril.
"Well, well, well, if it isn't Little Miss Lovely, been the epitome of joy this morning I hope?" Rhonda drawled at Helga. Gerald sat up in his seat. He had made himself the official judge of whether or not Helga's actions could be deemed 'nice', but he still felt that the bet was a little all over the place. But he could sort that out later, for now he just wanted to make sure that Helga stuck to her end of the bargain. Helga smiled sweetly.
"Well, of course Rhonda, why would I be anything but?" Her voice chimed out of her so sickly-sweet she wasn't all that sure where she had conjoured it from. Rhonda looked a little stumped, but at that moment took it upon herself to ruin this deal for Helga. Maybe she could earn herself a place on that wall instead. After all, she was a Lloyd.
"Then I suppose you wouldn't mind if I sat in your seat? All of the other ones are taken," Rhonda said politely, her eyes glimmering with malice.
"Not at all," said Helga, getting to her feet at once. She may have had a short fuse on her, but Helga wasn't stupid enough to fall for Rhonda's manipulation techniques. She had seen too many people fall fowl of them, and she wasn't ready to become part of that crowd. Once Rhonda had settled herself in Helga's chair without incident, her brain set to figuring out other ways she could drive Helga over the edge and eliminate her from the running, as it were. Rhonda was a master at getting what she wanted, no matter how she had to get it, and she wasn't going to be outsmarted this time. Helga looked over to the back of the bus and saw Gerald watching her with a keen eye.
"I'm going to have to be particularly careful when Tall Hair Boy is about," she muttered under her breath. The bus sped almost dangerously around the corners and the whole classed leaned in unison. Rhonda stuck out her foot on one especially sharp bend and sent Helga flying into Sid's lap. "Oh dear, I'm ever so sorry Sid," Helga said, trying to scrabble herself into a steady position and quickly picking up where she left off from Lila's lessons. Rhonda's loud fake laugh sounded through the bus.
"Oh Helga!" she exclaimed. "You always were a clumsy one. I'm really going to miss that." She helped Helga to her feet still laughing and it was everything Helga could do not to punch her snobbish nose around to the back of her head. Rhonda must have picked up on her quiet rage however, as suddenly she knew just the thing to use against Helga to make her blow her top.
"I suppose we could all write you once you're gone but I don't expect that will last very long. People just move on, don't they? And not to be rude or anything Helga darling, but I think some of us will be quite ready to forget you. I for one will-"
"Well Rhonda, if you don't like me I would never dream of asking you to write me," Helga said through clenched teeth. Rhonda bristled on regardless, thrilled at the fact that she was getting to Helga.
"Even if you did ask I doubt I would agree. Ask anyone on this bus, they'll more than likely say he same." Helga felt like crying. Though she knew Rhonda was just trying to make her angry, what she had just said hit a little too close to home for Helga. It was what she had been thinking all along, but not until Rhonda said it out loud did it really sink in. No one was going to write her, most probably. No one would ever give her a second thought ever again. Well, except maybe Phoebe, which she was glad for but she still counted most of the class as people she actually liked. A pain shot through her as she regretted never taking the chance to show them how much they really meant to her.
Gerald, and his vast knowledge of local urban legends, Eugene and his cheery outlook on his otherwise jinxed life, Nadine, and her extensive bug collection which, though at times very gross, Helga had to admit was still pretty cool. And how could she forget Brainy, a boy who knew her deepest darkest secret and never ever told, no matter how much she socked him in the face. It was strange for her to think that she would never hear him wheezing over her shoulder again.
It was this simple thought that brought tears to her eyes, and she looked away desperately, not wanting Rhonda to see her moment of weakness. Rhonda, on the other hand, felt awful when she saw Helga hide her face. All she had intended to do was make Helga lose her temper. Like most of the other kids Rhonda did not believe that Helga had the capacity to cry and now that she was it was deeply troubling for her to know that she was the one who had caused it. Helga had wiped her eyes furiously behind her back and now felt that her face was presentable enough for her to turn around again.
"Helga, I-" began Rhonda, but Arnold, who had been watching the scene from the back of the bus with a sort of fascinated horror, leapt to the front of the bus and took Rhonda by the arm.
"Don't go near her!" he yelled dramatically. Helga looked at him with a confused look on her face and wasn't suprised to find that a lot of the other kids joined in. Arnold, on the other hand, was looking at her like she had leprosy.
"In fact, don't go near that window at all!" he yelled, pointing above Sid. Sid, whose irratic fear of germs had never quite gone and instead just lay dormant, screamed as it hurried to the surface again. He jumped to his feet and grabbed Rhonda by her shirt, wailing hysterically.
"WHAT'S WRONG WITH THE WINDOW, ARNOLD!" he yelled, his eyes screwed up in fear.
"I er, I saw a lot of dust blow in. You know, it went in Helga's eyes," Arnold said, tripping over his words. He never was a very good liar. Helga, however, was more than adept at it by now and caught up at once.
"Yeah, man it stings," she said, putting her hand to her eye and sitting down in Sid's seat. Rhonda wasn't sure she would have believed Helga, but she believed Arnold and went and sat back down. Helga mouthed a quick thank you at Arnold and he went and sat at the back of the bus again with Gerald. Sid didn't try and contest his seat and instead spent the remainder of the journey wandering up and down the aisle and not touching anything.
As the bus pulled up outside PS118, it was accompanied by the usual groans of Monday morning students. Helga trudged off the bus, her mind elsewhere and Arnold followed close behind her, in very much the same state. Helga could not understand why Arnold would have leapt to her defense like he did but then settled on it being repayment for her copying up his science project. Arnold could not understand why he had leapt to Helga's defense at all.
As they stepped off the bus they managed to get their legs entwined and fell down the steps, landing with a soft thud on the sidewalk. Rhonda, who was next off the bus, stood behind them waiting for them to clear the way. "Come on love birds, move it, some of us have places to be." Arnold merely muttered and got unsteadily to his feet, but all of Helga's alarm systems went off. Love birds? What did Rhonda mean by love birds? She knew this bet was a bad idea. You show one hint of weakness and suddenly you reveal your innermost thoughts and desires. To Rhonda Wellington Lloyd of all people. She didn't know if the place on the wall was worth all that trouble.
Helga got to her feet also, avoiding Rhonda's stare. "Not blushing are we Pataki?" Rhonda said slyly.
"Blushing?" Helga repeated, panicking. She felt as though someone had taken away her stomach and replaced it with a lead weight. "No one's blushing," she said, trying to look at Rhonda but her eyes still slid to Arnold.
"Oh," said Rhonda quietly so only Helga could hear. "I see." And with that she walked into the school building, her nose high in the air and a superior look on her face.
-
Helga spent the first two periods that day steadily chewing through her collection of number two pencils. If the Princess was on to her it would soon spread around the school like wildfire. Sure, she wanted to be remembered, but not for being a pathetic laughing stock. And even if Rhonda wasn't on to her, her silly yet ever so accurate rumours could dent Helga irreparably. As lunch drew ever closer, Helga could feel herself becoming more and more sick in her stomach, and by the time lunch was said and done, and Helga hadn't eaten a thing, she felt just about ready to throw up all over her desk.
Rhonda sat at the front of the class that day, and so she did not notice Helga falling to pieces behind her. She had spent recess staring at the wall outside the boys toilets, at the names that were graffitti tagged on there never to removed gliniting in the sunlight. Rhonda could see it now. the first student to actually see her name on the wall, the first student to be remembered there despite graduating. She would break Helga and then she would take the space that was meant to be hers. And this Arnold angle was just the thing. Helga was renound for being a tomboy and not remotely femenine, so a silly school-girl crush would be just the thing to spread her name around the school and tip her over the edge. Admittedly, Arnold was the innocent in this just like he had been in Helga's prank, but Rhonda did quite like Arnold, and she was certain he would be at least forgiving if this was ever traced back to her, not like the other boys. They would hate the idea of being forever branded as the object of Helga G. Pataki's desires.
"Helga, you're looking a little pale, are you alright?" Mr. Simmons asked worriedly as he observed Helga bending over her desk, clutching her waist.
"Oh, sure Mr. Simmons I'm just-" But Helga didn't get to finish her sentence. Obviously opening her mouth had been a big mistake. She felt the vomit rising in her throat and bolted out of the door before anyone had the chance to see what colour her breakfast had been.
"Ok class, settle down," Mr. Simmons urged as the students all leaned over their desks hoping to see Helga puking in the hallway. As the door slammed shut they all slumped back down in their chairs and continued on with their long division.
"You know what her problem is, don't you?" whispered Rhonda to Nadine, her voice lost under the chatter of the class.
"No, what?" said Nadine, both intrigued and worried.
"Lovesick," Rhonda said simply.
"No way," breathed Nadine. "Really? Helga?" Rhonda nodded. "But, from who?"
"Ok, don't tell anyone," Rhonda said in a way that indicated that Nadine might as well go and get a megaphone and a bell to ring right now, "but it's... Arnold."
"Arnold!" Nadine shrieked, causing everyone to hush. Even Phoebe looked up. Nadine blushed.
"Um, yes?" Arnold asked innocently from the side of the class.
"Er, nothing," said Nadine, staring at the floor.
"Helga's in love with you!" Rhonda blurted. Phoebe blanched but kept quiet. Arnold's eyes were as wide as plates. Something jogged in his mind.
What else are you supposed to do when someone you love is in trouble?
It was funny how he hadn't thought of that night on FTI at all since it had happened, but now with Rhonda's words it was more vivid than ever. "Well say something Arnold," Rhonda urged, "you sort of have at a time like this." She wanted to give the impression she was an expert; she needed a quote. He opened his mouth to speak but he felt someone nudging him in the ribs.
"Be careful what you say Arnold man," Gerald hissed at him, "it'll be all around the school by the end of the day, and that'll be the twisted version." Arnold closed his mouth again and thought for a second.
"What do you mean, say something?" he finally settled for.
"Don't you feel anything?" Rhonda said in a scandalised voice.
"I'm, er, very flattered," he said. Beside him he heard Gerald groan. He saw Phoebe shake her head. Rhonda just turned her head defiantely away from him and stared at the blackboard.
"Poor, poor Helga," Rhonda said, shaking her sleek black hair from side to side.
"Why, what did I do now?" Helga said as she walked back into the classroom wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. As one the class fixed her with looks of either sympathy or faint ammusement and she felt her insides turn cold. Rhonda had been up to something.
"Oh, nothing," Rhonda said, faintly. She was more than satisfied that this was the right way to go about things. She had told her fair share of little white lies in the past and she couldn't see how one more about puppy love could hurt.
Arnold was desperate for something, anything to break the tension as Helga went and sat down in her seat.
"Game of baseball after school?" Gerald announced, granting Arnold's wish.