Chapter 12 – A Classroom Divided

After lunch the class shuffled back to their desks, still buzzing with rumours and gossip. Mr. Simmons, however, was missing his usual cheery demeanour and that seemed to affect everyone.

"Ok class, I have a very special assignment for you. It's not really homework, and it most definitely isn't compulsory, but I would like it very much if we could all get together to make a leaving gift for Helga," he said in a simpering tone. Though he wasn't meant to discriminate, Helga was one of his favourite students. In class she seemed just like any other pushy nine year old, but when she handed in her English assignments he was always pleasantly surprised. Her talents always kept him amused when he was forced to stay behind very late, marking papers well into the night. Her creative writing enchanted him, and he always hoped to see her in her older years, an accomplished writer, signing her novels at Waterstones.

"Phoebe, I wonder if you have any ideas on what Helga would particularly enjoy." Phoebe looked to the sky, thinking.

"Um, well, she is very… uh," Phoebe was a little more than hesitant about revealing anything about Helga's sensitive side to the whole class, especially when Helga wasn't there. "She likes, um, music?" she chanced. There was no way she was going to betray Helga's reputation behind her back.

"Excellent!" Mr. Simmons exclaimed. His eyes darted to Arnold, who had many an idea planted in his head as to what they could do for Helga, but he wasn't going to volunteer any of them. No one needed to think that she was on his mind any more than she should have been.

"How about a mixed tape?" Phoebe said, wanting to get it out of the way and get Helga as far from everyone's heads as possible.

"A tape…" Rhonda said quietly, almost to herself.

"Splendid!" Mr. Simmons said, his cheerfulness seeming to have made a full recovery. "Everyone, if you bring in one song that reminds you of Helga in the coming weeks, I will be more than pleased to combine them all on one special CD for Helga!" That out of the way, the class settled down to work, grumbling about Helga, or thinking about what song they could find. Arnold's mind raced, he really had no clue.

-

Helga was feeling decidedly better as the day drew to a close, and this was improved even further by Phoebe checking in to see her after school, bringing with her the gift of the latest issue of Wrestlemania Magazine. The thought of Bob's orders still tormented her in the back of her mind, but as it was she was choosing not to think about it. Phoebe sat at the edge of her bed, smiling sweetly.

"Ok Phoebes, spill it," Helga said, finally setting the magazine aside.

"What? I have no idea what you're talking about!" Phoebe began, sweating with anxiety. Helga raised her eyebrows. "Honestly, I don't know what you mean…" Helga didn't drop her gaze. "Ok, everyone thinks you and Arnold are an item!" she confessed, the relief obvious in her expression. "Everyone's been talking about it all day at school."

"Talking about it?" Helga shrieked. This was her worst nightmare realised, and it had happened so quickly she hadn't even seen it coming.

"Well… mocking it."

"Mocking it!" she screeched, climbing out of her bed. Phoebe watched as she pranced up and down her room.

"It's not really that big a deal is it?" she said slyly. "I mean, it's just a silly rumour." Helga's eye narrowed.

"Yeah… but… well, I don't need that kind of attention!" she said, scowling. Her mind was doing laps, this was all wrong. It inspired horrible feelings in her; this was cheapening her love for Arnold surely, if everyone could treat it as a schoolhouse joke. Add to that the amount of mockery she was going to have to smile sweetly through and her last few weeks in Hillwood were going to be torture.

"Well, what are you going to do about it Helga?" Phoebe asked, admitting defeat for now in getting Helga to open up to her. Helga thought for a moment.

"Well, I don't see why I have to do anything about it. Didn't Football Head tell everyone how very wrong they were?"

"Well, he did try, but you know what Rhonda's like…" Phoebe said, biting her tongue in attempt to not speak ill of her classmate.

"Rhonda," Helga growled, balling her fists. "That interfering little co-"

"Now now Helga, let's not say anything too drastic," Phoebe said sweetly. Helga took a few deep breaths and sat down on the bed next to Phoebe, not wanting to explode her temper in front of her best friend. Helga was meant to be the epitome of 'thick-skinned', she couldn't let Phoebe see how much this was getting to her.

"I'll just ignore here Phoebes, I don't really have time to worry about what Princess is up to." Phoebe smiled at her friend, even if it was just to stop herself crying. Every time Helga mentioned how long she had left in Hillwood, Phoebe felt totally miserable "Look, never mind all that. What do you say we get some popcorn from downstairs and watch us some movies?" Helga continued, determined to make her friend feel better. Phoebe nodded happily, and accompanied Helga downstairs to fetch the snacks.

-

Helga reluctantly went to school the next morning, fearful of what awaited her when she arrived. As she expected, snide comments and hushed whispers pursued her through the halls, and Helga found time to scoff at how riled up such a small thing was getting everyone, despite feeling thoroughly miserable about it herself at the same time.

She took up her usual seat behind Arnold as class began, the remarks temporarily silenced by lessons. Spit balls seemed to be the call of the day, she didn't want to be seen as placing Arnold on any kind of newly revealed pedestal, but as she looked down at the stitches in her hand for the hundredth time that day, it just didn't seem fair.

Helga may have had the temperament of a scowling bully on the outside, but on the inside she was very emotionally mature, something she suspected was a result of how independent she had made herself from an early age. She knew that children in groups would always fall into their respective places. The bullies, the jocks, the princesses and the taunted. To make the transition from one to the other could be mentally scarring, or, on the other hand, a tremendous ego boost. However, it was not usual for one to rise up the social ladder once your place had been defined, and it was very uncommon for a bully to lose that place at all.

Helga was at a crossroads in her mind. She was being forced to make the decision she had so well avoided all her life. Would she be a bully, a poet, or a stupid girl with a stupid crush? The strips of paper remained untouched on Helga's desk, as she realised that not only would her conscience not allow her to pepper Arnold with the sticky mush, but she was certain the rules of the bet wouldn't be too wild about it either. Glancing to her side she saw Phoebe attempt to give her a supportive smile, but there was so much pity in it that Helga just groaned and dropped her head down onto her desk.

As soon as Mr. Simmons had set his fourth grade class enough work to last them for the rest of the lesson, the kids found themselves free to talk amongst themselves, and everyone's mind was still on a particular subject. Arnold, however, saw it as a great opportunity to finally get around to speaking with Helga, his determination not dented by his best friend's look of abject terror upon hearing his plans. "Hey, Helga," he whispered, turning around in his seat and well aware of the fact that everyone was desperate to eaves drop on his conversation with his 'girlfriend'. Helga didn't look up from her paper.

"Hey Helga, can we talk?" he urged. Helga maintained her silence. "Helga?" he chanced again. Her head shot up.

"Look football head," she hissed, so quietly that although people knew she was talking to Arnold they couldn't make out the words, "I'm not supposed to talk to you, remember?"

"Even at school!" Arnold shrieked, dumbfounded.

"Even at school," Helga replied, and put her head back down. Arnold realised it was useless and turned back to his work.

Neither of them noticed Curly giving Rhonda a small thumbs up across the classroom.

-

At recess Helga was forced to sit out of the game of kickball for the first time since she could remember. Her sporting prowess was one of the few things her classmates admired her for, and now she wasn't even getting to show that off. Arnold was the one calling all the shots, and Helga was doing her best to avoid him. Her paranoia that her father would somehow find out reigned supreme, and even her desire for Arnold couldn't make her cross that line.

It seemed that Arnold, however, held absolutely no weight with Big Bob's threat.

"Hey Helga," he called, coming to sit next to her on the wooden bench and shaking Helga from her thoughts. She glanced around wildly, hoping that no one was watching.

"What do you want?" she hissed through clenched teeth.

"I want to talk to you," Arnold said simply.

"Yeah, well, you can't bucko!" she said as loud as she dared to, and was more than relieved when Arnold was called back to the game. She closed her eyes and sighed. Why was she so afraid of something so stupid? Why was she letting Bob interfere in her last few months with her precious Arnold? Because you're scared, a voice said in the back of her mind. Bob's given you a perfectly good reason to not have to tell him. She shook her head angrily. She hated the way her conscience was right all the time.

She was distracted from her thoughts by a faint clicking sound coming from behind a dumpster. She got to her feet to investigate, glad of something to take her mind off of things. The clicking turned into a slight mechanical whining as she neared, and she saw the feet of someone sitting against the dumpster. She recognised the stripy red and white socks at once.

"Curly?" she asked the hunched figure as she stepped behind the dumpster. Curly jumped, almost dropping the small black box he had concealed in his hands. "What are you doing?"

"What? Nothing! Go away!" he yelled, and Helga stepped back a little.

"Right…" Helga said slowly, glancing at his hands. Curly followed her line of sight and pulled the box closer into his chest, bending over it and obscuring it from view. "Don't worry Curly, I'm not going to touch your Walkman," she said reassuringly. Curly had always been a source of amusement for Helga, she was going to miss his special brand of craziness. "I'm not allowed to be mean, remember?"

"Uh, yeah, right…" Curly said with a small laugh as he got to his feet. "Anyway, gotta go!" he said, and he bolted for the entrance to the school.

"That is one messed up kid," Helga said to herself, scratching her head and returning to the bench to wait out the rest of recess.

-

For the next lesson Mr. Simmons decided to go against his lesson plan and get them all together to do a music project. The class shuffled into small groups, groaning and already sensing their oncoming headaches. Helga rolled her eyes as Mr. Simmons typically put her in a group with Arnold, his attempt at trying to get them talking again, not aware of what it was causing the friction. For good measure he also added Sheena and Curly to their little quartet, something which seemed to please Rhonda no end.

"I guess she's just glad the shrimp's off her tail for an hour or so," Helga muttered under her breath.

"What was that Helga?" Arnold asked, but Helga just turned her back to him and kept her mouth shut. Arnold sighed heavily.

"Oh, Sheena, would your group mind going down to the resource room and picking up the instruments?" Mr. Simmons said sweetly.

"Not at all," Sheena replied in an equally sugary voice. Arnold and Curly got their feet at once, but Helga groaned and flopped her head down on her desk, before pushing her chair out with a slow, screeching sound.

"What's the matter Helga?" Sheena asked.

"Oh, I'm just not in the mood," Helga said quietly, with a horrible forced smile. The small group walked down the halls in a line, Helga and Arnold on opposite ends. Curly was running about like a little boy, shrieking and laughing and disturbing all the other classes. Helga noticed how he never took his beady eyes off of her.

The room where the school kept all its musical instruments, art supplies and drama props was small, dark and cramped. And to many it was a safe haven, a place to get away from class for a little while and play with the sequins and glitter, making even more mess that no one would notice. On any other day Helga would have loved to be in this room with Arnold. Everything in there tingled with the ghosts of days gone by; plays that would never again be acted, xylophones that would never again play that tune, pictures that would never again be painted.

It inspired a romance in Helga that she couldn't explain. Some magic that awakened deep within her, opening the gateway to all that creativity she held inside. She had fantasised on many an occasion that she would find herself in this dark room with Arnold one day, and it would be here that she would confess her love to him. Maybe, just maybe, the magic that affected her here would get to him too.

She slammed the door behind her and a layer of dust fell down from the ceiling. She snorted. "Welcome to reality, Helga ol' girl."

"Here Helga, you take this box of cymbals," Arnold said, handing it to her.

"Sure," she said without thinking.

"See, you can talk to me," Arnold replied with a small laugh. Helga gasped.

"Yeah, well, I didn't mean to," she snapped, making sure Sheena wasn't listening. Curly had long since disappeared into a rail of eighteenth century costumes and no one had seen him since.

"Look, Helga, your dad isn't going to find out if we just talk, is he?" Arnold said pointedly.

"Why do you even want to talk to me anyway, football head?" Helga had long since given up being nice to Arnold when she was only in his company. She knew he wasn't about to tell anyone what happened between them.

"I want to make things better for you… for when you, you know, when you go."

"Better for me?" Helga said, genuinely confused.

"Yeah, between you and your dad… you know…" Arnold was treading lightly. This was a very emotional subject to be touching upon with a girl famous for her lack of feelings and love of punching.

"That's none of your business Arnold-o!" she hissed, just like Arnold had expected her to.

"Jeez Helga, I was just trying to help," Arnold said simply.

"Oh, you're always just trying to help!" Helga snapped back, and immediately regretted it. Something clicked in her mind.

"He's taking you to England, isn't he?" Arnold reminded her sweetly. She gritted her teeth.

"He has to football head!" she shouted at him. "He's got no choice!" Arnold recoiled. She wanted to apologise but she didn't see the point.

"Jeez Helga, I was just trying to help!" he yelled at her. Helga was shocked. She'd never seen Arnold get mad before.

"Oh you're always just trying to help!" she roared, and then immediately covered her mouth. That was a little too below the belt, even for her.

Helga never believed before that dreams could come true. Arnold looked down at his hands. This is where he tells me he's glad I'm going, Helga thought sadly. But he did no such thing. It looked as though he was searching through his mind for something to say but he kept coming up empty.

"I'm sorry Arnold," she whispered. "It's just Bob and me, we're never gonna get along. Not until he can be more like a father and I can be more like Olga. I can try my hardest to be perfect like her but I'm never going to be her. I can only be me, and Bob just isn't proud of Helga G. Pataki." Arnold's heart felt like breaking. It was one thing not to know your parents at all, but quite another to have them ignore you like you were the one who wasn't there.

"I just can't believe he could be like that to you, you're his daughter," Arnold whispered.

"Yeah, well here's a newsflash bucko. Life isn't all sunshine and rainbows. Bad things happen to good people, and in my case they happen to bad people too."

"You're not a bad person," Arnold said genuinely.

"Guys, we should be getting back before Mr. Simmons sends out a search party," Sheena reminded them gently. Helga and Arnold begrudgingly agreed, and Curly did reappear after some calling of his name. He emerged from the dresses looking sheepish.

"Let's go," he said quickly, leading the way.

-

The class soon got busy making a hideous racket. There were only three students in the fourth grade class of PS118 who had any musical talent, and while Phoebe, Eugene and Lila made beautiful sounds, the rest of the class drowned them out with their din. Helga had retreated back into herself when they had got back to class, folding her arms as soon as she sat down and not looking up even once. Arnold and Sheena quickly became totally absorbed in writing their piece of music, both wanting to improve in something they were quite shaky at. None of them noticed that Curly had snuck away to join Rhonda's group.

"Alright class," Mr. Simmons shouted over the noise, "that's enough! Please go back to your regular seats now, thank you." A great shuffling ensued as instruments were put back in boxes and chairs were scraped along the floor. Helga sat at the back of the class as usual, Phoebe trying to give her a cheerful smile as she sat in the seat next to her.

"Are you ok Helga?" Phoebe asked, but Helga couldn't even lift her head off her arms to respond.

"Oh, she won't be!" Rhonda cackled suddenly, grabbing everyone's attention. "Not when her daddy hears this!" In her hand she was holding a cassette tape. Helga raised her eyebrow at it.

"What's that?" she asked.

"Oh, just a little tape Curly made for me documenting all the naughty conversations you had with Arnold today. But oh my, I thought you were banned Helga? Whatever will your father say when Curly delivers this to him after school?" She laughed in a high pitched voice as Helga got to her feet.

"Actually Rhonda I-" began Curly, but Helga cut him off.

"What? No! You can't!" she yelled, tears flooding her eyes.

"I think you'll find I can," Rhonda said in a sing-song voice. She looked over at Gerald, who, even though he didn't agree with what Rhonda was doing was forced to nod. "Ha!"

"Please Rhonda," Helga begged, feeling foolish. The class was astounded; they'd never seen Helga looking so small.

"Come on Rhonda that's really unfair," Arnold said, hoping she would listen to him. Rhonda just stuck her nose in the air.

"Ha ha ha! Helga's finally going to get what she deserves!" Harold butted in, laughing in a moronic way. Rhonda smiled at him.

"I gotta say Rhonda, don't you think maybe you're going too far?" Stinky drawled. "Y'know, getting parents involved and everything?"

"No. I do not," Rhonda said, rolling her eyes.

"Yes, Rhonda should be allowed to do whatever she wants," Lila said suddenly, taking everyone by surprise and looking a little surprised herself. Rhonda positively beamed. She loved hearing people say she should be allowed to get away with murder.

It wasn't long before the classroom was in uproar, people taking sides and shouting at each other. Some, like Stinky, were thinking of how nice they had known Helga to be, and how sad she was looking now. Sid was thinking of how she had threatened Big Gino that very morning on his behalf, despite the fact that everyone knew threatening Big Gino was not a thing you could ever do safely. Unless, of course, you were leaving the country some time soon. And Eugene was thinking about how she had helped him improve his baseball swing recently, coaching him after games. She said it was for the sake of the team, but now Eugene was starting to think otherwise.

Others were, however, decidedly sided with Rhonda. Nadine was regretfully stuck to her best friend's side and Harold had never really warmed to Helga. Lila was also on Rhonda's side rather fiercely, she was acting very out of character in everyone's opinion.

"Face it Helga," Rhonda said smoothly. "You're going down!" Helga felt her blood boiling.

"Look, Rhonda, I will tell you one last time," she said through gritted teeth. "My dad never hears that tape, you got it?"

"Ha!" Rhonda said, examining her nails. "You can't do anything to stop me."

"Oh I can!" Helga screamed, and before anyone knew what had happened she had lunged forward and grabbed Rhonda by her shirt, Old Betsy pressed up against the Princess' chin.

"Helga no!" Arnold yelled, but was well aware of the fact that he wasn't making any real attempt to stop her. Phoebe ran to Helga's side.

"Helga you really shouldn't-" but she recognised the fire in Helga's eyes. She looked at Gerald, who was looking right back at her, his stare wild as if to say; do something. Phoebe had to break the tension somehow…

SLAP!

Rhonda staggered back from Helga now that Helga had let go of her shirt in astonishment. A pink patch was appearing on Rhonda's cheek where Phoebe had hit her, and Phoebe herself was now looking down at her hand as though it wasn't her own.

"Phoebe!" Rhonda shrieked. "Oh, I demand justice!" she cried. Gerald shrugged.

"Strike two," he muttered, feeling defeated. For a supposedly unbiased judge he was very much on Helga's side. At that moment the bell rang to signal lunchtime and the class ran outside, glad to get away from each other for an hour.

"Way to go Phoebes," Helga said, smirking at her friend, who allowed herself a guilty smile.

-

As Helga and Phoebe sat at their table steadily eating their way through their lunches, the reality of what that tape could do was finally hitting Helga. She doubted that just because Rhonda had managed to get her on her last chance she would be changing her mind about delivering that cassette to her father. Helga needed to get that tape back, but she was going to need help. There were things that needed to be done that she couldn't do, or that would be her last chance out of the window. She would have enlisted Phoebe, but at that present moment her friend was falling to pieces over what she had just done. She looked across the cafeteria.

"Back in a minute Phoebes," she said, getting to her feet. Arnold and Gerald were, like everyone else, deep in conversation about what had just happened. She coughed to announce her presence.

"Hey Arnold, can I talk to you for a moment please?" she said politely.

"Sure thing Helga," Arnold said getting to his feet. She led him outside of the cafeteria to the drinking fountain. "What's up?"

"Let me get straight to the point," she said, grabbing his arm. "You said you wanted to help me right?" Arnold nodded.

"So help me tonight then."