Title: Helga's Most Brilliant, Ingenious, Stupendous, Plan EVER!
Author: TheyCallMeHelga
Genre: This story has everything! It's got romance! It will make you laugh, make you cry. There's adventure and drama! Even a little mystery…. Maybe even MORE than a little…This story is so super duper genius it will make your head spin!
Summary: Helga comes up with an ingenious plan to get Arnold to fall in love with her. What is it and how will it all work out?
Disclaimer: Yeah, Arnold and Helga aren't mine. Damn it:P
A/N: Just to clear a few things up, this story is based after the Hey Arnold! Movie. Arnold and Helga have decided to pretend that their little 'episode' on the FTI roof top didn't happen, but that might catch up with them in later chapters ;) hehehe… Thanks again to those who reviewed! ON WITH THE STORY:D
Chapter Three: Sneaky Smithy
… "So Arnold, I was thinking of inviting Phoebe to a baseball game. You know, as friends." Gerald and Arnold were in Arnold's bedroom on a cloudy Saturday afternoon and Gerald was discussing his plans for asking Phoebe out… as friends, of course.
"Uhuh," Arnold replied, absent-mindedly, staring at the ceiling as he lay on his bed.
"Well, what do you think?" Gerald asked from his position on the couch. "Do you think she'd go with me?"
"Mhmm…" Arnold was still staring blankly at the ceiling, his eyes half closed.
Gerald gazed at him curiously. He could tell there was something up with his best friend, so he tried asking him again.
"Do you think maybe afterwards we should break into the zoo and free all the monkeys?"
"I guess so – uh, wait! What?" Arnold sat up, finally paying attention to his friend. He looked at Gerald with confusion. What had he been talking about?
"Arnold, you haven't been listening to a word I was saying!" Gerald crossed the room and looked at his friend with concern.
"Uh, yeah I have…" Arnold lied.
"No you haven't. I caught you out, man."
Arnold sighed. He knew he couldn't lie to his best friend. "You're right, Gerald."
"Arnold, my man, where is your brain today? You've been acting totally spaced out."
"I've just been thinking a lot," He explained to him truthfully.
Gerald rolled his eyes. "What's new," he joked. "So, are you going to tell me why your brain is twisted into a complicated knot?"
Arnold squirmed in his seat; debating with himself whether it was something he could explain to Gerald.
He is my best friend after all, he thought to himself. If he doesn't understand then who would?
At that thought his debate ended and he decided he would tell him.
"Well, I've been thinking a lot lately," Arnold started apprehensively, "about Helga."
Gerald looked stunned.
"Oh boy," Gerald replied, sitting himself down onto the couch, preparing himself for what Arnold would tell him next. "That's not a good start, but keep going."
Arnold stood up and began pacing around the room. "It's just that for years Helga has been portrayed as this tough, mean bully."
Gerald raised an eyebrow, "So?"
Arnold looked at him, "What do you mean 'So'? Gerald, she helped us save the neighbourhood! Helga has done countless acts of kindness which has always been overlooked! Remember when she helped reunite Mr Hyunn with his long lost daughter?"
Gerald's blank expression didn't falter. "Arnold, I think you're losing me, because once again I must ask, 'So'?"
Arnold rolled his eyes. "So, what I'm saying is, I think there's more to Helga than what meets the eye. Much more."
"Well Arnold, how do you know?" Gerald asked.
"Know?" He stared at his best friend in confusion, "Know what?"
"Aside from those few acts of selflessness, how do you know that there's more to her?"
"I know because on the FTI building she told me that –" Arnold quickly stopped himself before saying she told me that she loved me. That was something definitely meant to be kept secret. Even from Gerald. He, quite simply, wouldn't understand. And there was no doubt that Helga would be furious if he ever told anyone.
"Uh, I mean" Arnold recomposed himself, "Well, I know this might sound a little strange, but I've been noticing… things."
"Things?" Gerald cocked his head to one side.
"For instance, in class the other day she was behaving completely distant." Arnold explained to Gerald his observations, "Like, it was as if her mind was detached from reality. She just kept sighing and staring out the window."
"Maybe she was just bored with the class" Gerald replied with a shrug, "You know how Mr. Simmons can get."
"No Gerald," Arnold disagreed, shaking his head. "It was different from mere boredom. She looked… well… kind of lost."
Gerald gave him a confused look. "What do you mean by lost?"
Arnold tried to search his mind for the best way to describe the look he saw on her face the day before. "I don't know," he replied, "It's kind of hard to explain… I just hope she's okay."
"I'm sure she will be," Gerald assured him quickly. "Now, back to the matter at hand, do you think Phoebe would prefer a baseball match or a movie?"
Helga looked up at her next location. A large red-brick building; Sunset Arms Boarding House. Arnold's house. She had been here many, many times whenever she happened to follow Arnold home (without his knowledge, of course). And there was that time she camped in his closet when he had gotten a hold of her little pink book. How horrible that was!
But this time she didn't have to sneak in. Helga held up a finger and pressed the doorbell. A moment later the door opened and she quickly darted aside as a stampede of cats, dogs and a pig came running out. When they had disappeared Helga looked up into the eyes of her beloved.
"Helga!" Arnold could barely contain a look of surprise on his face when he realised who was at his door. "What are you doing here?"
Helga attached a scowl to her face.
"Move aside, Moron," she said, stepping forwards and pushing Arnold out of the doorway. "Don't flatter yourself, I'm not here to see you."
Arnold shot her a frustrated look and led her inside.
"So, where can I find Mr. Smith?" She asked Arnold, airily.
"Mr. – Smith?" Arnold asked, surprised, thinking he heard incorrectly. "You – you want to see Mr. Smith?"
"Did you not hear me the first time?" Helga snapped impatiently. "Crimeny, Arnold. Open your ears! Where. Is. Mr. Smith? Yeesh…" She rolled her eyes at his denseness.
"Well, it's just that Mr. Smith doesn't –" Only Helga didn't find out exactly what Mr. Smith doesn't do as she quickly interrupted him.
"I have an appointment, Football-Head, so if you don't mind," she stepped around him and set herself up the stairs.
"Last door to the right," Arnold said, catching up to her on the stairwell. "So Helga, what's all this about?" He asked curiously, throwing her a sideways glance.
"It's none of your business," she lied, looking ahead pointedly avoiding his gaze. It made her feel uncomfortable the way he was looking at her, as if he was studying her.
She followed Arnold through the hall in silence until finally they reached Mr. Smith's door. Arnold shot her a 'good luck' look, which Helga returned with a scowl. She watched him turn around and head towards his own room.
Standing alone Helga returned her gaze to the door. Taking a deep breath she raised her fist and knocked.
The door did not open. However, a soft, mysterious voice through an intercom in the wall, she had only just noticed, asked, "Who is it? What do you want?"
Helga smirked to herself, straightened her back and replaced her voice with the ever-so-sweet-Lila voice again. "I'm Helga Pataki, sir, and I need to speak to you about something. It's ever so important."
"Pataki, eh?" The mysterious voice queried. "State your business."
Helga drew in a deep breath, glanced around to make sure no one was around to over-hear her, responded, "It's about Miles and Stella, Arnold's parents."
Helga expected the door to open. To see Mr. Smith gesture for her to come inside and insist that they talk. Instead she heard his voice ring through the intercom yet again.
In a very firm tone the voice said, "I'm busy. You may now leave. Goodbye."
However, Helga wasn't going to be dismissed so easily. Who did he think he was messing with? I'll show him! She knocked on the door yet again, harder this time, and she yelled in her meanest, most intimidating voice.
"Listen BUCKO, you're gonna let me in RIGHT NOW! Do you have ANY idea who I am? Do you know who my father is? I demand that you open the door and tell me what I need to know!"
The door did not open. Nor a voice could be heard. Mr. Smith had dismissed her and that was that. Helga was used to getting her own way, especially with the combined forces of "Ol' Betsy" and "The Five Avengers", but she could not fight a man she couldn't see.
She sighed and left the boarding house with a new plan already formulating in her brain. She wasn't giving up. Oh no, Mr. Smith had his chance to take the easy road. Helga was going to get that information from him, no matter what!
Helga shivered against the cold wind. She hadn't thought to bring a jacket with her. She didn't intend dark clouds to roll above the city, blanketing the usually blue sky. A cold breeze whipped through her body and played with her hair. She shrugged it off, she was tough. A little wind wasn't going to make her abandon this mission.
She looked down from her waiting post, on the roof of the building next to the boarding house, and spied, for what felt like the thousandth time, Mr. Smith's bedroom window. It was dimly lit so all she could make out was a form in what appeared to be a trench coat. Helga rolled her eyes.
"This guy MUST be hiding something." The intercom, the creepy, mysterious voice, the trench coat, his behaviour is just so… shifty! "It's so obvious!"
As she waited she looked over the papers she received from Mr. Bailey. They were only basic records such as copies of birth certificates, marriage certificate, schooling records, a brief summery of family history. Nothing that really helped especially as their last name was suspiciously blanked out on every document, which confused Helga to no end. Her best bet was this Mr. Smith character. And she was definitely going to get the information.
Her plan was to sit around and wait for Mr. Smith to leave the boarding house and once he was gone she would sneak in and snoop around. Yes, with Mr. Smith out of the way she would be able to find whatever she needed to know.
So she waited for a few minutes…
Then minutes turned into hours…
It was almost dark now.
Tired, Helga looked through the window again. Yep, he was still there. What she needed was an excuse for him to leave the house, for at that moment it didn't seem as if he had any reason to leave any time soon. Struck with an idea, Helga whipped out her mobile phone Bob had given her and dialled.
"Hello? Who may I ask is calling?" asked the soft, mysterious voice.
Helga held up her trusty voice disguiser to the phone and replied, "Hello, Mr. Smith? This is Harvey from the postal office. A rather important package has just arrived for you and it is requested that you pick it up immediately."
"Ah, yes. Thank you Harvey," replied the mysterious voice. "I'll be right over." A moment later Helga watched the light go out and a cloaked man exit the boarding house.
Helga smirked. "Helga you are a genius!" And let out an evil laugh.
She climbed down from her hiding spot on the roof and crossed the alley over to the boarding house. Glancing around to make sure no one was on the street watching her, raised both hands and gripped a pipe that ran down the side of the house. She mustered up all her strength and hauled herself up the pipe. Slowly, but steadily. She dared not look down, instead kept her eyes focused on her target: Mr. Smith's window.
She climbed higher and higher until finally she was level with the window sill. Wrapping her legs around the pipe, she leaned her upper body over, reached an arm out, praying that the window was left unlocked.
Helga tugged at the window pane. "Come on! She pleaded. She tugged again. Nothing. Urgh! Frustrated, she released her other arm and tried again. "Please, please, PLEASE open!"
And slowly it slid open…YES! Helga's heart leapt excitedly, thumping hard against her ribcage. She gripped her hands onto the window ledge and carefully let her legs free from the pipe.
Helga gulped, immediately regretting this decision. She had now placed herself in a rather dangerous position. With just her hands grasping the window ledge the rest of her body was left dangling in the wind. Her legs had no support. And as if matters couldn't get any worse, Helga heard a low grumble as the sky darkened. Suddenly a drop of water hit the end of her nose. Then another. And another. Soon, rain was pouring down upon her, drenching her through to her skin. Perfect! Helga scowled fiercely up at the dark menacing clouds. She couldn't believe her luck! She shivered. Her arms were beginning to ache. Her grip tightened. She glanced down nervously. She wished she hadn't. Her heart leapt into her throat. The ground was way too far below her for her liking.
Helga tore her eyes away from the heart-wrenching sight. She wasn't going to let it end here. Not when she had so much to look forward to. An image of Arnold's face appeared in her mind, and she felt a smile tug on her lips. Gaining strength and courage, Helga daringly swayed her body. She swung her legs up…up…up and over the window ledge!
Helga let out a huge sigh of relief as she came tumbling into the room.
Lying on the floor, Helga seized the opportunity to catch her breath and take in her surroundings. The room was dark but she could tell it was a large room, probably larger than all the other boarders living here, excluding Arnold and his grandparents. One thing Helga noticed about the room was that it was quite bare. This Mr. Smith guy sure didn't seem to own much. There were no photographs hanging on the walls or fancy lamps, not even a pot-plant to decorate the room a little! A large bookcase stood at one end of the room, an antique cupboard at the other, and in the middle was Mr. Smith's bed with a chest at the end of it. There was also a desk sitting next to the large bookcase. Helga jumped up and headed straight for the desk.
It was reasonably clean and well organised. There wasn't much to look at on top, just a tin of pencils, a calculator and a blank notepad. She then checked the drawers. There were only two. The first one contained sheets of diagrams and blueprints, which Helga could not understand nor cared for. The second drawer held a thick pile of envelopes held together by an elastic band. They all seemed to be addressed to a Mr. Armstrong. She sighed and closed the drawer, turning her attention to the bookcase sitting beside the desk.
It was large and made from rich mahogany. On its shelves sat many leather bound books. Hands on her hips, Helga studied the spines. Most appeared to be books of non-fiction, focusing primarily on different countries around the world. Some were on different religions. Helga couldn't see how these books would help her. She dropped her hands from her hips, turned around and headed for the cupboard.
She opened the door. It was the sort of thing you'd expect to find in Superman's wardrobe. Except instead of rows and rows of capes she was faced with many, many trench coats, all thick and long but ranged in different colours and patterns. Helga snickered and closed the door.
Looking around the room she remembered the chest. Dropping to her knees she lifted the lid back and gazed inside. There was a lot of junk packed inside the chest which Helga pulled out one by one. There were old, smelly boots; a broken clock; towels and other linens; a radio; a set of keys; an army knife; more diagrams and blueprints; a sack of coins; a cracked mirror; and photographs of people with their faces blocked out. However, Helga was sure even if the faces were exposed she wouldn't be able to identify the people in the photographs as they appeared to be quite old and taken in tropical and exotic places, which she had never been to before.
Helga frowned, realising she had emptied the entire contents of the chest; there was nothing else left inside it. She shoved everything back in and closed the lid, aggravated. After all that she STILL didn't find anything. Helga gave an exasperated sigh and lay back on the floor. Closing her eyes she allowed herself to relax a little. She needed to think. But what else was there to do? She had checked everywhere in Mr. Smith's room! Helga sighed in frustration. She wiped her matted fringe from her eyes and thought hard.
"Where would I hide something I don't want anyone to find?" Suddenly it clicked. "Of course!" She rushed to the cupboard, swung the door open, pushed the coats aside and came face-to-face with a small door. Helga felt her heart skip a few beats and her stomach tighten. She grinned. "This MUST be it. Any information on Arnold's parents MUST be behind this door."
All of a sudden she heard the front door downstairs open. Helga froze. Mr. Smith was home. Already?
Helga fumbled with the door knob.
She could hear footsteps on the stairs.
THUMP! THUMP!
As quickly as she could, Helga opened the little door.
THUMP! THUMP!
She grabbed everything in it, shoved them into her pockets, and shut the door.
THUMP! THUMP!
Mr. Smith was now walking down the hall, nearing the bedroom with every step.
Helga's face paled. Her pulse quickened. Beads of sweat trickled down her face. She turned sharply towards the bedroom door. She could hear, SENSE, Mr. Smith standing behind it. She was trapped. There was only one other way out.
With complete dread Helga took the only option. She dashed towards the window, threw one leg over the sill then the other. She grabbed onto the pipe and slid down to safety. Without glancing back Helga made a run for it. She ran all the way back home through the rain. She ignored Bob's questions of where she had been and why she was so wet. She had only one thing on her mind.
Locking her bedroom door behind her, Helga pulled out what she found at the back of Mr. Smith's cupboard, from her pockets. There were some papers containing more diagrams and blueprints, which she chucked over her shoulder, carelessly; receipts – "hmm…only $1 for 'Yahoo Sodas' at Rite-Way"; a list of names Helga did not recognise – "A hit-list maybe?" she wondered with amusement. Lastly there was a small leather-bound notebook. "Ooh, nice!"
Helga flipped through the book and opened it on a random page. Her eyes grew wide at her new discovery…
A/N: Ooooh! What could she have found? Wouldn't YOU like to know, hehehe :P
And a note to my WONDERFUL reviewers:D
acosta pèrez josè Ramiro – thanks for the info, though as being a huge Hey Arnold! fan I already knew that and if ( I hope :D) you continue to read my story in later chapters that information will come up. I'm glad you're on the ball:D See Helga, although is obsessed with Arnold, knows nothing about his parents or their whereabouts which is why she is on this mission. But yeah, readers (and maybe even Helga) may find out exactly what Miles and Stella are up to… Thanks for the review dude:D:D
The J.A.M. a.k.a. Numbuh i – not as easy as you might think ;) hehehe… I hope you continue to read :D
To count-lucifer, BabyLou and Monkey Magic – thank you SO MUCH for your VERY kind words :D All you guys have made my day and inspire me to continue posting chapters :D WOO!