After a long school day of trying to get my mind off my argument with Helga, and trying to ignore all of the murmers in the halls, I finally got to go home and unwind. I walked home like I normally did since my high school wasn't too far from the boarding house. Strolling through my urban neighborhood gave me a lot of time to think, which is something I seemed to be doing a lot lately. The neighborhood I lived in wasn't perfect, but it was my home where I grew up and I was grateful for the time spent in it.
I reached into my somewhat heavy backpack and pulled out my lightweight, wireless headphones that were just plain black but still with quality that I was satisfied with. I then entered my passcode on my mobile phone and opened up my iTunes playlist as I sauntered down the grainy, unbusy sidewalk. Once I picked a song, I just put slid my cell phone into the right pocket of my blue jeans.
Listening to music helps me get my mind off of things. While not one hundred percent effective in my case, it's a good strategy for me nonetheless. As I let the soothing melody of the artistic tune bless my ears, I thought about glimpses of today's events, but the song I had on processing in my ears and brain helped put my mind at ease.
That feeling did not last too long however, since I was abruptly snapped out of my thoughts by the feeling of being aggressively yanked away from the sidewalk. I looked up and my glance met this guy with a black hood covering his head and a scary look on his face. It seemed like he had pushed me into a dark alleyway, and I couldn't move away from it because one hand of his was gripping firmly on my left arm, and the other hand of his was pressing tightly on my right shoulder. He also pushed my headphones off my head, the wearable device meeting the ground. I took a brief glance at them, and they appeared undamaged, but I had to process the abrupt event that had just occurred. I was stunned in a mixture of fear and shock and I was held in a position where I was unable to break free.
"Give me your goddamn money or I'll hurt you!" The man shouted in my face.
"No, let go of me!" I defyed as pain that was somewhat dizzingly, pulsated through my arm and shoulder.
"So that's how it's gonna be? Well, you've left me no other choice-" The man started to clap back before being interrupted by another voice. I looked to my right and a blonde girl had showed up to the alleyway. It wasn't just any blonde girl, though. It was no other than Helga.
"Hey! What the hell do you think you're doing?!" She yelled fiercely with her arms tightly crossed.
"What's it look like?" The man trying to mug me ignorantly and arrogantly scoffed.
"Get the fuck off of him." Helga demanded, her voice beginning to raise.
"Not until he gives me his money."
"Get your own goddamn money, asshole."
Helga then walked closer to the both of us, and tugged the mugger away from me, allowing me to feel more free and relieved since there wasn't anything pressing on me, despite having a numb feeling remaining on part of my arm.
"Leave." Helga demanded sternly.
After a few seconds going by without any words escaping their mouths, Helga then kicked the mugger in the lower abdomen with her black combat boots, causing him to double over.
"Ow... Ow! You fucking bitch!" He cried out, his voice being a bit weaker than before, but still getting his point across. A few seconds after, he scampered out of the alleyway.
"I'm sorry." Helga said in a genuine tone with slight unease on her face.
"It's okay, the mugger is gone now and he didn't get any of my money." I said.
"No, I mean I'm sorry for lashing out at you earlier." Helga corrected. "Don't make me say it again, it was hard enough to put my pride aside the first time!"
"I accept your apology." I responded genuinely. "But I do wanna know, why did you react like that?"
"I can't tell you... it's too long and complicated. All I can say is that something went on at my house this morning that completely ruined my mood. And you asking me that question kinda put me over the edge. That's the short version. I shouldn't have taken it out on you though."
"I understand. And I shouldn't have accused you of spreading the rumor. I believe you didn't do it. I'm sorry too."
"So, do you wanna hang out?"
"I don't know, do you wanna hang out?"
"I'm asking you! You can't hit me with a reverse card, dumbass."
"Um, sure... but why are you offering to hang out?"
"Two people can't hang out together?"
"Of course we can hang out... it's just that it's a sudden offer."
"I just wanna make it up to you for earlier! I'm really trying here!"
The right side of my lips curled upward into a smirk before saying, "I like your efforts."
"Let's go." Helga said, grabbing my wrist and pulling me over to the sidewalk, allowing me to run behind her.
We both strolled on the sidewalk side by side, neither of us really making efforts to start a conversation. Not very many people walked by us since the neighborhood didn't seem too busy during that particular day, except for that one unfortunate encounter a few minutes prior. Unfortunate was an understatement.
Our little stroll was quite aimless; we didn't really have any plans of where we were headed to. I was hoping that one of us would come up with a conversation topic, or arrive at our unknown destination soon. That was due to the fact that I was not a fan of awkward silences.
The two of us walked in silence, with the exception of a few words uttered to each other. It was quite reminiscent of how I walked her home a few times during our childhood. The azure, tranquil waves of Hillwood Lake started to come into view, allowing our footsteps to cease so we could look at the view.
"I'm tired of walking. You wanna stop here?" Helga asked.
"Okay." I agreed.
"Cool, but I would've forced you to stop here even if you said no." Helga remarked with a little laugh.
"Then I'll say no, we can't go the the lake." I teased.
"Too bad, bitch!" Helga played along, half shouting.
I didn't know why joking around with Helga seemed so easy and natural. We had only started talking again a bit over one day ago. And before that, she made it really hard for people to talk to her, especially me. You'd think that case would be to a greater extent after she put on a so called "bad girl" persona and started igorning me. Maybe I was just thinking too much into this, or maybe there was a side I didn't know of.
But regardless, I enjoyed being with Helga and acting like this with her.