Hey, I'm Rusty, aka YAHOOsoda, and this is my first contribution here! I love reading stories, preferably HA, and I decided to create an account here.
"Helga Rising" is a story about our favorite pigtailed blondie, trapped into a new life, yearning for escape. Starting 5th grade at an upscale private school, Cresten Academy, Helga will encounter shock, discovery, and backstabbing among friends- literally. All poor Helga wants is to return to her old life at P.S. 118 and play sports, hang out with her old friends, and obsess over a certain little football head... (H&A)
HILLWOOD HEIGHTS
Helga stared at the huge stone letters cautiously, as if they would jump out and attack her at any moment. She closed her eyes tightly and imagined a small blue town house and a broken smoothie machine. There. Home. But when she opened her eyes, all she saw were the rows and rows of beautiful Italian style homes, perfectly manicured lawns, and patches of profesionally planted hedges and flowers. Helga groaned.
Helga's older sister, Olga, looked over at her and tilted her head to the side. "Something wrong sweetie?"
Helga screwed her eyes shut and sunk lower in her seat. "Tell me why we're moving again?"
Olga giggled and pulled her creamy white Range Rover into a cobble stone drive way of an elaborant khaki colored house. The house had a wooden door, wooden garage door, and wooden shutters. All the windows had wrought iron bars below them filled with yellow and red flowers. The grass was perfectly green and cared for, and red tulips were planted near the door. All of it made Helga sick.
"Welcome to your new home in Hillwood Heights!" Olga squeeled, and pulled two large Louis Vuitton suitcases out of the Range Rover with some difficulty. "Mommy and daddy are already inside!"
Helga sighed and pushed her feathery blonde bangs behind her ear. She grabbed her North Face backpack and Nike duffel bag and trudged out of the vehicle, following Olga into the house. As Helga stepped inside, she gasped. The house was much more beautiful than she imagined. Dark hardwood floors, huge windows, and an elegant staircase greeted her. She began walking around in the living room, running her fingers along the different textures in the room, but quickly stopped and scowled.
"Don't you just love it?" Olga asked, and began closing the wooden door behind her.
Yes, Helga thought. But she wouldn't admit it. She couldn't! It would be like betraying her childhood home, the home she had finally come to love. The home that she thought had finally welcomed her. But then Big Bob Pataki had come up with some new business ideas. Big Bob's Beepers had expanded to cell phones, then Sidekicks, then to cameras, and computers, and games, until it was finally a huge electronic appliance madhouse. Big Bob had partnered up with a man called Jimmy Herald, and together they changed Big Bob's Beepers into the H&P Electronics Emporium. The store skyrocketed and soared across the U.S, planting handfuls of Emporiums in every state. This earned the two business partners a multi-million dollar franchise, and thus the Patakis had become millionares. The two-something-million dollar house in Hillwood Heights that lay before Helga was there to prove it, along with a few new cars, two new vacation homes in the mountains and the beach, and a whole new rich and fabulous life. Except everything wasn't fabulous for Helga. In fact, she hated this new life.
"Let's tour the new house!" Olga squeeled, and ran off to the kitchen. Helga took one last look outside behind the swinging wooden door. The outside life that she used to have. The life she would give anything to return to. A normal life.
The Pataki "mansion" had six bedrooms, five bathrooms, dining area, living room, den, office, fully equiped kitchen, laundry room, outdoor pool, and four car garage. The backyard was huge and stretched for a few acres. The hugeness of it all was overwhelming and began swallowing Helga. She seized her bags and ran up to the room she had chosen. It was the smallest bedroom, connected to a "tower". She liked to think of herself as a damsel in distress, waiting for her prince to come rescue her from this nightmare. The room had hardwood floors, brick fireplace, and a bathroom including a toilet, two large sinks, claw-foot tub and seperate shower. The room also had two closets; a walk in that connected to her bathroom, and a smaller one with sliding doors. Helga closed her door and set her bags down on her new furniture. Her old furniture had been donated. Nina, the Patakis' new interior designer, had taken the liberty of painting Helga's room "Laguna Green", a turqouise color, and Helga didn't know if she liked it or not. She decided she would get used to it, and everything else around here, and crashed down into her all-white bed, buried her head into her arms, and cried.
"Arnold..." Helga whispered softly, and clutched her gold locket to her chest. "How can I live without you...?"
Please note that this chapter is a bit short, and it's only purpose it to serve as an introductory chapter.
Helga sure seems depressed over this whole situation. If it were me, I'd be estatic! But something's bothering Helga, and I don't think it's her new paint color. Stay tuned for the next chapter, "Meeting Geoffrey Frumplemeyer"!