The rest of the week progressed as Arnold and Helga continued on their journey together of holding hands on their way to school; Arnold determined not to let the others get to them when it came to their newfound relationship. Sure, they might just be in the sixth grade, but a relationship was a relationship and he took it seriously knowing that it could one day lead to something more if he played his cards right. Feelings were important to him, and he certainly had plenty for Helga, despite her rough exterior.
And while he knew the inside of Helga G. Pataki wasn't as rough as the outside, unfortunately for the others of PS118, they weren't aware of this tidbit, and as the week continued on, so did Helga's wrath against others that weren't Arnold P. Shortman.
Helga seemed determined to take her rage out on anyone else who was listening. Her outbursts were uncalled for, unworthy, and undesired. She took them out on everyone, and nobody was safe, not even the sweetest of people. She mocked and scowled and glared at anyone she came in contact with who wasn't Arnold or Phoebe, (even Gerald at times fell victim to her charades) and her class was becoming less tolerant and more frustrated with her by the second.
"What is with that Helga lately?" Rhonda asked on the playground one day and Stinky shrugged his shoulders while handing upside down from the monkey bars.
"I reckon she's just in one of them moods 'er somethin'." He drolled and Rhonda shook her head while crossing her arms over her chest.
"I've had moods, Stinky. They hardly last a week." She muttered before taking a seat on the picnic table and crossing her legs. "Ever since her and Arnold got together, she's been hardly tolerable. I mean, she's been practically on a warpath for blood."
"Maybe she's just having an off week," Eugene said optimistically but Rhonda furrowed her brows and shook her head again at his idea.
"No," she stated, "being with Arnold should have enlightened her I'd think. The poor girl has been in love with the boy for practically forever. I mean, remember that Romeo and Juliet play? It has to have been since at least then. That kiss..." She shook her head at the thought of it and tried to focus her thoughts on what could be making Helga act so out of turn all the time as of recently.
"I'm sure Helga's just oh so happy to be with Arnold," Lila murmured from where she sat on the swingset nearby, "Perhaps she's just taking out her aggression that she'd usually take out on him, on us."
"Well that's preposterous." Rhonda said with a tilt of her head to the sky. "What could we have done to deserve this?"
"Maybe by acknowledging their ever so new relationship?" Lila continued. "Maybe Helga isn't ready for everyone to notice the two of them."
"Well then maybe they shouldn't go around holding hands all the time," Rhonda sneered back at Lila while gesturing towards the two of them from across the playground where they played foursquare with Phoebe and Gerald.
"It isn't their fault, Rhonda. Maybe they're in love." Lila swooned with a clasp of her hands as Rhonda scoffed.
"Love? Ha! They're 11! We hardly know what love is!" She exclaimed though Lila remained certain of her words.
"Even so, maybe if we didn't bring up their relationship to them so often, like rub it in their face or treated them differently or whatnot, Helga might back off from treating us so poorly. It's just an idea."
But as hard as the kids would try, it didn't stop Helga from her warpath, even if Lila was right about why she was acting out in the first place.
/
"You ready to walk to the boarding house?" Helga asked after school and Arnold looked around at everyone as they ran out of the school doors and down the steps to the appropriate directions of their homes.
"I thought we could take the bus today," Arnold said and Helga shrugged her shoulders.
"Alright, suit yourself," She said, following him to the bus stop and loading onto the vehicle while paying the driver and finding a seat next to him. Once they were seated and the bus started moving, Arnold knew it was time to say the words he'd been thinking about all day long.
"Helga, I wanted to talk to you about something." Arnold started and Helga turned to face him and raised a brow.
"Okay... and what's that?" She asked.
"What's with the bullying lately?" Arnold questioned, him turning to face her as the bus drove down the streets of Hillwood, bumping along the road with each mile they went.
"Huh?" She breathed out, completely surprised that he'd noticed her sudden animosity towards everyone... something she'd hardly even noticed herself.
"You've been... really... horrible towards everyone lately. Even more so than usual. Except me." He noted and Helga frowned while turning away from him.
"I don't know what you're talking about," She stated, her head still facing away from him.
"I think you do. I mean, just today, Rhonda was telling me-" But Helga cut him off before he could continue his sentence.
"Rhonda? Really? You're going to go off something Princess said?" Helga snapped back at him and Arnold leaned back a bit from Helga at her sudden change of tone.
"Helga, I'm just trying to talk to you about something the others have brought up to me because it's a little alarming to them. You've been treating them really rough lately. Is there a reason why?" He asked and Helga chewed on her lip for a moment, deciding whether or not she should spill her guts and tell him all the reasons she does what she does when it comes to bullying the other kids around the schoolyard.
Helga turned to stare out the window of the bus and saw the boarding house come into view and quickly reached up to pull on the pully to signal to the bus driver for him to stop the vehicle.
"C'mon Arnold, we'd better go before we miss our stop or we'll be walking after all," she said while standing up quickly and sliding passed him to walk down the aisle and off the bus, Arnold remaining behind startled but slowly rising and following after her, his thoughts still focused on getting an answer out of her one way or another.
But Arnold had little success, no matter how hard he tried. It seemed that no matter how many times he brought up the subject of Helga's newfound bullying, she found a way to avoid it and turn the subject around completely. Whether it was back on the topic of their history assignment, off the topic entirely or escaping altogether in the kitchen to help Stella and Gertie prepare dinner, Helga managed to avoid the topic all night and by the time Helga left for the evening, Arnold still had no more answers than he had when he'd brought it up in the first place.
The whole thing was very frustrating to him, but very satisfying to Helga. She'd managed to avoid Arnold's interrogation at least for one more day and that was enough for her. At least it gave her 24 more hours to think of a suitable answer for the next time he questioned her which, knowing Arnold, would be by tomorrow at the very least.
So after Helga's detour around the city, she returned late that night to her home, or at least to the beeper empire, where she could rest up for the next day in preparation to deal with her annoying classmates while she swooned at the idea of spending yet another day in bliss holding hands with Arnold through the halls and as they walked to school. That was until she got a slap-in-the-face-of-a-greeting from Big Bob himself the moment she walked in the door.
"Nice to see you finally showed up," Bob sneered as Helga closed the door behind her, Bob standing in front of her with his arms crossed and a glare on his face.
"What, like I was supposed to be here or something? Like you even noticed I was gone?" She responded and Bob continued his glare as she set her bookbag down on the ground beside where she stood.
"You've been gone this whole week, little lady! And tonight is the latest yet! I think..." Bob exclaimed while throwing his arms up in the air before pointing a fat finger in her face. "Who's supposed to set up the dang displays if I have to do all the work around here? I mean Miriam certainly isn't any help..." He muttered and Miriam raised from the couch for a brief moment at the sound of her name and looked around confused.
"I'm... I'm up." She stuttered and both Bob and Helga rolled their eyes.
"Look," Bob said, "You gotta stop going over to that orphan boy friend of yours house, you got that? I need help around the emporium and that's an order."
Helga raised her brow and crossed her arms over her chest. "And just what makes you think I'll do THAT?" She asked. "I've felt more welcome over there than I've EVER felt in my own HOUSE, dad, doesn't that SAY something to you?"
"As a matter of fact, it DOES say something- it says that you've lost sight of your place here at the beeper emporium and where you fit in this empire I've built single-handedly from the ground up." But Helga laughed in his face and quickly cut him off.
"Oh, you're wrong, Bob, you are SO wrong because for YOUR information, I HAVE found something and I've found it not in your lame beeper store but in that not-so-orphan-boy Arnold that I'm always seeing. He's my pretty much my BOYFRIEND now and I'm not even afraid to say so anymore."
Bob shook his head. "And how long is THAT gonna last you think, huh? What are you, 7?"
"I'm 11, dad! 11!" Helga shouted, her voice breaking as she hollered; her voice echoing in the empty emporium building that surrounded them. "Can you ever get that through your thick skull or do you just not care about me THAT MUCH to never remember my actual birthday? Or my birthyear? Or my actual BIRTH? Do I really matter that LITTLE to you?"
"Of course you matter to me, Olga," he said and Helga threw her arms up in the air.
"See THAT'S what I'm talking about, dad. It's HELGA. Helga. H-E-L-G-A, HEL-GA. Not your precious Olga, but Helga. Criminy! You know, I don't have to take this," she said while grabbing her backpack off the floor and reaching for a coat from off of a box nearby.
"And just where do you think you're off to NOW?" Bob demanded as Helga opened the door to the world outside.
"I'm going somewhere where I KNOW people care about me. Where people know my name and know more about me than the fact that I can set up a stinkin' beeper display in a god-forsaken window," She explained and Bob raised a brow.
"And just where's that?" He asked and Helga just smirked while shaking her head.
"You haven't listened to a word I've said, have you dad?" She asked calmly, her words soft and still like the night itself.
And with that, Helga walked out the doors of the beeper emporium for the destination she knew she belonged at before she'd even left its safe doors. Her safe haven.
A soft knock came from the top of Arnold's skylight window and he opened his eyes to see Helga just above him looking down at him from the glass above.
"Helga?" He asked himself before getting out of bed and climbing up the ladder to open the window for her. "Helga," He asked once he'd let her in, "What are you doing here? It's so late..."
"Criminy, it's only 10 o'clock, what are you 90?" She snapped back at him before sighing and following him down the ladder steps. "Sorry it's just been... it's been a rough night."
Once they were down the steps and safely onto the bed, Arnold turned to look at her, still in her clothes from this afternoon and raised a brow. "You wanna talk about it?"
She let out a deep breath and turned away from him before frowning and pursing her lips as she did so. "Not really," She muttered before doing so anyway. "It's just my dad," she blurted out after a minute of silence. "I got home after taking a walk around town and he just EXPLODED at me for not showing up to help him with his STUPID beeper display. I mean, nobody is BUYING the dang things, it isn't like some new fancy display is gonna DO anything, but NO, he doesn't LISTEN to me." She huffed out a breath before pulling her legs up to sit cross legged and stared down at her lap before continuing.
"So then we start fighting about how I'm always here, and how I'm never there which honestly bothered me because when has he EVER noticed my existence except for when he needs me for something, right? Like he doesn't CARE about me, not like any OTHER father cares about his daughter... not like he cares about Olga. Anyway, one thing led to another and soon I was out on the street walking to your place. And here I am." She finished, Arnold nodding his head as he listened to her every word, taking it all in like a sponge.
"I'm sorry to hear that, Helga," he said sympathetically while reaching up to place a hand on her shoulder. "It isn't right for him to treat you like that. But..." he said while dropping his hand, "won't you get in trouble for being here? If he doesn't like you here in the first place, won't it make him more angry that you're here?"
"Who cares?" Helga said while leaning back on her hands, "He'll get over it. He usually does. I'll just tell him I went to spend the night at Phoebe's. She'll cover for me. He'll be none the wiser."
"Well alright," Arnold said unconvinced while standing up from the bed and Helga pushed herself up to sit straight and looked at him curiously.
"What are you doing?" She asked and Arnold turned around to face her.
"Going to tell my parents you're here." He said and Helga frowned.
"You can't just hide me for a night and let me escape in the morning?" She asked and Arnold chuckled while shaking his head.
"I'm sure they'd rather you have somewhere nice to sleep than just on my couch. Besides, wouldn't you like breakfast in the morning?" He asked and Helga shrugged her shoulders.
"I almost NEVER have breakfast in the morning," she replied and Arnold smiled.
"All the more reason for you to have it tomorrow when you wake up. I'll be right back," And with that, he left Helga in his room to wander downstairs to his parents room to let them know of her existence as she waited to be separated yet again from the one person who understood her like the back of their hand... the true savior of her safe haven that she was at last in. Safe from home. Safe from Bob. Safe from the world that had it out for her.
There hadn't been any extra rooms left in the boarding house since Stella and Miles moved back in, so Helga was forced to sleep on the couch in the living room which was still a step up from her sleeping bag back at the emporium. Either way, the couch was still old, and the springs dug into her back no matter which way she moved and she was starting to grow frustrated with the couch with each toss and turn she made.
"Stinkin' couch," she grumbled as she fluffed the pillow under her head and turned to face the kitchen who's light went on the moment she flipped and her eyes adjusted to the sudden brightness as the light switched. "What the...?" She asked allowed as a dark figure peeked in to where she was laying.
"You still awake?" Miles whispered and Helga pushed herself up to sit sideways on the couch and looked at him with tired eyes.
"Still awake," she sighed and Miles nodded while holding up a finger.
"One sec," he said before disappearing into the light and then reappearing with a plate and two glasses in hand. "I brought some reinforcements," he announced before turning on the lamp on the nearest table and sitting down beside her on the couch.
"What are those?" Helga asked while rubbing her eyes as her pupils tried to adjust to even more brightness in the small living room.
"The cookies Stella and I made this afternoon while you and Arnold were at school," he said proudly. "And so far, I've only had six of them."
Helga chuckled while shaking her head. "Sounds like you're pretty stoked about that."
"Takes a lot of self-control, I know."
"Well you sound to be pretty in control there with you and your six cookies," Helga noted before reaching over and taking a glass of milk from his hand as he nodded his head.
"You got that right," he said before offering her the plate of cookies. "Cookie?"
Helga thought about this, "Honestly? I prefer pork rinds for a midnight snack, but after discovering they cause sleepwalking... I guess a cookie will have to do." She decided before reaching over and taking a lone cookie off of the plate and dipping it into her glass of milk before tossing it into her mouth. "So what brings you up so late?"
"Can't sleep," he said in between bites of his own cookie. "You?" He asked and Helga shrugged her shoulders.
"Same. Plus, this couch sucks. No offense."
Miles shrugged back at her. "None taken. It's been here since I was a kid. It really should be replaced."
"Tell that to my back," Helga said while stealing another cookie off of the plate.
"So what's on your mind? Family troubles?" Miles pressed and Helga eyed him suspiciously.
"How'd you know?" She asked and he sighed before setting the plate of cookies on his lap.
"Stella told me a bit about your home life." He admitted and Helga dropped her head back and rolled her eyes.
"Criminy! What's with you Shortmans and your having to fix everything, huh?" Helga asked and Miles chuckled while sending a half-smile her way.
"I'm not trying to fix anything, honestly. Just trying to help." He said earnestly and Helga pursed her lips.
"Same difference."
Miles shook his head, "There's quite a big difference between helping and fixing things, honestly. I can't fix your home life, no matter how much I want to. However, I certainly could help, if you'd let me try."
Helga watched him for a moment before shrugging her shoulders. "I'm not sure how you could help more than you already have, Miles."
"Well at least I'm getting somewhere though, right?" He asked and Helga thought about this for a moment before nodding her head.
"Yeah, you and Stella have helped quite a bit, actually. Just being here helps. Anything to get away from that dump of the beeper empire." Helga said, Miles nodding his head before thinking through his next words carefully.
"Look, Helga, if there's something that's going on at your house that makes you leave in the middle of the night to go somewhere else that makes you feel safer, then there's something seriously wrong going on. Are you safe there?" He asked seriously and Helga nodded her head.
"I'm safe in the physical sense, yes," she said before looking down at her glass of milk and sighing. "But I guess I just wish my family cared about me more or something."
"What do you mean? You don't think they care?" Miles asked and Helga continued staring down at her milk, getting lost in the white of the liquid.
"It isn't that I THINK they don't care, I KNOW they don't care." Helga insisted and Miles nodded his head while taking another cookie and chewing on it quietly.
"Well if that's true," Miles said, "then I think they're missing out on a pretty great daughter that they've raised."
"Hardly," Helga retorted but Miles disagreed.
"No, Helga, they really are."
"Not that part," Helga explained, "just the part about them raising me. By all accounts, I've pretty much raised myself."
"Then in my opinion? If it matters?" Miles started before Helga turned to look over at him, "I think you've done an excellent job."
"You really think so?" She asked and Miles nodded his head sincerely with a smile on his face.
Miles reached out to set a hand on Helga's shoulder and squeezed it for a moment. "I know so, Helga. And maybe if you looked inside yourself and saw yourself the way others see you, the way my Arnold sees you, you might see that too."
"Seriously?" Helga questioned and Miles stood up from the couch, cookies and milk still in hand and made his way to the kitchen before stopping to turn around and look at her once more.
"Try the journaling thing, just once," he encouraged,
"Journaling? Really? You're on that again?" She asked with a smirk and he nodded his head.
"You'd be surprised what journaling does for you and your psyche. Heck, it's even just fun to journal about your day. And even more fun to look at it years down the road and see what you were going through and how far you've come- the road you've traveled."
Helga rolled her eyes. "Well you find me the right journal then, bucko," she told him and he chuckled.
"I might just take you up on that offer if it gets you to try it," he said from the doorway, "who knows? You might learn something about yourself."
"And if I don't?" She challenged.
"Then you might learn something about the world."
And with that, he left into the kitchen, the light soon turning off to leave Helga under the light of the lamp beside her and the questions he'd given her to think about.
This was a bit of a tricky chapter to write, but i really enjoyed the final scene here with miles because i love miles so that was fun. what did you like the most? are you enjoying the story so far? Let me know what you think by leaving a REVIEW and telling me!
-Polka