IMPORTANT AUTHOR'S NOTE, PLEASE READ: Once again, folks, this is the second of the two chapters involving puberty. this chapter IS NOT pertinent to read if you feel uncomfortable with the topic of menstruation (it isn't graphic), please just skip if you feel uncomfortable but please, i implore you, come back for the next chapter. HOWEVER if you can manage to make it through the awkwardness of the period part, (DON'T WORRY, IT ISN'T GRAPHIC) which i will say is just a normal part of life that even our dear characters will have to deal with eventually, i promise PROMISE this chapter is worth it so please, give it a shot. Either way, Enjoy!

That's it.

Today was the worst day of my life. And I'm not just being dramatic. It was literally, and by all means LITERALLY the worst day of my ENTIRE life.

I got my first period.

And sure, you might be thinking, 'Gee Helga, it was bound to happen, what could possibly be so bad about a little blood?' Well let me TELL you what's so bad about it, shall I?

It all started with stupid health class. Our teacher let Mr. Simmons take the boys to his classroom while his students were at lunch and us girls stayed in our classroom with the school librarian Mrs. Alibaster. Then began the presentation- a creepy video that was older than the invention of video itself. And of course, the video was as awkward as I imagined it would be. We all squirmed in our seats as the woman onscreen talked about the different hormones and changes our bodies would go through during puberty while Mrs. Alibaster stood gawkily in the corner watching along with a strange smile on her face as if she were reminiscing fondly of her times back in HER days of puberty. As if THAT were a thing people did.

Finally, after 15 minutes of excruciatingly bad acting and grainy film, the movie ended and the lights flipped on so that Mrs. Alibaster could ask us if we had any questions which OF COURSE nobody wanted to admit if we did or didn't. I just had to go to the bathroom. But I didn't dare ask to go. I'm sure she wouldn't let me ANYWAY because she'd just think that I was trying to get out of the class.

So next on the agenda was diagram central, where we got to learn the NEXT horrible section of things... the men's anatomy where everyone was very immature except for Phoebe who kept silent but wide-eyed in almost shock at what she was witnessing. The poor girl. I think they broke her.

But all the while, I couldn't stop squirming in my seat. My abdomen was killing me and I had to go to the bathroom so bad and the longer I held it, I could have sworn I might pee my freakin' pants.

That's when the presentation at last ended and I was relieved to see Mrs. Alibaster begin to hand out our little rumored goodie bags full of tampons, pads, and deodorant which everyone looked into and giggled though I just snatched mine and focused harder on holding my bladder which I could have sworn was going to explode from the pain I was in, and I hoped I could get to the bathroom in time before I wet myself. That is, if I hadn't already. I could tell that it was getting close and if I waited any longer, I'd be in some real trouble and might need that pad for other uses.

At long last, the boys entered the classroom with Mr. Simmons, all of the kids laughing about their goodie bags full of deodorant, and the rumored condoms. Apparently they'd had a much different conversation than we'd had and Arnold came back with rosy cheeks and a shell-shocked expression locked on his face. I felt bad for him. The poor naive kid's giant football-brains had probably exploded. Would he look at me differently now? Now that he knew the truth behind why the girls got to walk around the swimming pool and the guys didn't? Now that he knew why we reacted the way we did around our 'time of the month?' What would our relationship look like now that he knew the truth of what we, what I would be going through?

But I didn't have time to think about that, I could feel something wet soaking in my underwear and I knew that if I didn't leave for the restroom now, it would definitely soak through my skirt and I'd be the laughing stock of the entire grade.

If only I knew.

If only I knew that the moment I shot my hand straight up in the air and asked to go to the bathroom. If only I knew that when I stood up and made my way to head out the door. If only I knew that all my classmates had noticed the bright red splotch on my backside that I would be the laughing stock of the grade ANYWAY, maybe I would have left sooner.

But the fact is I didn't know, and I proceeded anyway only to hear someone call out after me as I tried to make my way to the bathroom.

"Is that blood on Helga's skirt?" The voice asked and I turned around to look at my butt and see bright red soaking through to stare up at me.

The world grew small around me as if I were looking at the butt end of a set of binoculars, my head starting to spin as I stood frozen by the door with my red secret staring out at the classroom.

"Oh my god!" Harold called out. "Helga got her period! That's so gross!"

"Yeah!" Sid chimed in. "What a bloody Mary!"

Soon, the class began their chanting, mostly from the boys who were all too willing to give in. "Bloody Mary! Bloody Mary! Bloody Mary!"

I glanced around the room, searching for anyone to come to my rescue, the only kind eyes looking back at me were that of the fellow girls and Arnold who's eyes were kind, but also terrified and I knew immediately that this was the moment I'd lost him, lost him completely.

My period was the period to our relationship.

But that was the least of my worries right now.

"Bloody Mary! Bloody Mary! Bloody Mary!" The boys continued to chant

I turned around and clenched my fists while shouting, "Shut up, you ignoramuses!" before Mr. Simmons finally stepped in to stand in front of me like a human shield and stop the kids from chanting immediately.

"Kids, kids!" He called out, "This is no way to act, especially after our lesson on the human body. If it's anything that we've learned today, it's that this is a completely normal process for the female body and nothing to be ashamed of." Mr. Simmons turned around to face me with a sad smile on his face. "Helga, why don't you go to my room. In my desk on the bottom drawer is a box of pads just for this occasion."

I raised a brow. "But why-"

"Don't ask questions, just go there and take a few. I'll talk to your classmates."

Tears welled in my eyes though I managed to keep them back. "Thanks Simmons," I said before taking off in the hallway in search of Mr. Simmons' room, quickly finding my old classroom and the said box of pads and then rushing to the bathroom to put the pad on the way the instructions directed me to and then sat on the toilet not knowing what to do next.

I couldn't just go BACK there. Not with my dress covered in blood. I'd be called bloody Mary for the rest of the day for sure if I wasn't going to be already. Criminy! What was I supposed to do? Just sit in there until school was over? Could I even do that? Surely they'd notice at SOME point that I'd been gone the entire day. But then again, given the circumstances, they might be kind and just LET me seeing all I'd been through already. Maybe they'd take pity on me and just let me hang in the bathroom all day with my Aunt Flo.

But after a few minutes of self-loathing and inward conversation, the door opened and the clickety clack of heels entered the room and I found myself holding my breath until a voice called out for me.

"Helga?" A voice I recognized as Rhonda's asked and I raised my brow while answering back.

"Rhonda?" I mumbled through the stall. "What are YOU doing here? Came to throw pads at me or something like in Carrie? Cause I'm in no mood."

"What?" She asked, not understanding my reference, "No, no, I came to uh... to offer help."

"Help?" I repeated, confused. "What makes you want to help me? What's in it for you?"

Rhonda stopped at my stall and leaned against the door, crossing her ankles together and sighing. "Well, much like you, I too just got my period. Maybe not quite as... publicly... as you, but I know what you're going through." She said as I imagined she inspected her nail-bed. "And I came to offer you some assistance. If you're up for it."

"Oh yeah?" I asked, intrigued by her offer, "What's the catch?"

"No catch," she said simply, "Here," she warned before throwing a pair of black jeans over the top of the stall to land in my hands. "These are from last season and I've had them in my locker for FOREVER. I was just going to throw them out, but given the circumstances... I think you need them. You have a shirt to wear?" She asked then and I shrugged my shoulders though she couldn't see.

"I figure I can just wear my undershirt-"

"Oh no," she cut me off, "You simply CAN'T be seen wearing THOSE pants with an UNDERSHIRT, my goodness!" She laughed out loud before tossing over a pink sweater next. "Pink isn't really my color," she stated before clicking and clacking her way out of the bathroom before pausing as she got to the door. "And just so you know," she said before leaving, "us girls? We have your back on all of this. Those boys won't have a word in edgewise when we're through with them."

And with that, she left the bathroom so I could change my clothes and discard them into the trashcan and inspect myself in the bathroom mirror.

I looked okay. It wasn't really my style to wear jeans and a sweatshirt, though I'd never really tried before. Hey, maybe this could be a new look for me. Either way, it would have to be at least for the rest of the day.

Speaking of the rest of the day, it went by slowly but quietly. Nobody said another word and while people mumbled what I thought to be the hints of 'Bloody Mary' all it took was one look from either myself or another girl for them to shut their faces immediately so whatever it is that Princess did or Mr. Simmons said, it must have worked.

The whole thing was pretty traumatic to be honest. I don't know how long it'll take me to get over the whole thing, but to be honest, i don't really feel all that different. I'm just sort of mad that after everything they learned, the boys STILL had to go and call me names. But then again, boys are dumb and that's that. They're still immature and just being...well...immature.

So sure, the end of the day was fine, but that doesn't make what happened earlier any better. And that doesn't change the fact that Arnold didn't talk to me the rest of the day or invite me over for the night at all any less hurtful. I know he knew what happened, how could he not? Everyone saw it and everyone made sure that he heard it. I got my period, big whoop, so why did he have to be so immature as to not want anything to do with me because of it? Hadn't he learned ANYTHING in that stupid class of his?

I just hope either Miles or Stella will talk some sense into him if he brings it up to them tonight or in the upcoming nights if he continues to ignore me. Surely they'll notice at some point and start asking questions.

Ugh. Could life GET any worse?

Cramped and Cranky,

Helga G. Pataki

P.S- I guess this explains why I've been so tearful lately, huh?

I got a personal call from Stella today.

Pretty weird, right? I mean, seeing as Arnold hasn't spoken a WORD to me in nearly two days since the incident and all.

Anyway, she called the beeper store, knowing I'd be there since I have nowhere else to go, and asked for me.

"Hey Helga, that friend Albert of yours mom is on the phone? She wants to talk to you? Did you do something wrong over there or what?" Bob asked me and I frowned while snatching the phone from his hands.

"No, I did not," I snapped at him while taking the cordless phone and walking away with it. "Hello?" I asked into the receiver, Stella quick to answer with a smile in her voice.

"Helga!" She said, "It's so good to hear from you. We've missed you these passed few days."

I smiled sadly and nodded my head while looking down at my feet as I approached the back of the beeper store. "Yeah, I've missed you guys too."

"So why haven't you been over, then?" She asked and I frowned knowing now that Arnold hadn't mentioned a thing to them about my little experience the other day.

Figures.

I scrambled to find an answer before blurting out the real reason why I hadn't been over. "Arnold hasn't invited me," I said before shaking my head and slamming my face into the palm of my hand.

"He hasn't?" She sounded surprised by this. "That's odd, he said he had but you rejected his offer."

Lying, huh? Well THAT'S a new one for Hair Boy... Oh criminy! That means I just ratted him out to his parents!

I cleared my throat trying to salvage my response. "I mean," I tried, "he uh, he DID ask me but I uh... I have some uh... some-"

"It's alright, Helga." Stella cut me off mid-sentence. "I kind of figured that he hadn't asked you. You usually jump at the opportunity to come over. So I figured I'd call and see what's going on, if you know that is."

"Ahh, I see," I said while crossing an arm over my chest. "Going behind your son's back are we?" I asked with a smile and she chuckled over the phone.

"Sort of. But mostly to invite you over to dinner tonight." She surprisingly stated and I raised my brow at her invitation.

"Dinner? But Arnold hasn't been talking to me... Wouldn't it be weird if I just showed up?" I asked and Stella sighed.

"Not at all. Because you'll be our guest, not his." She said and I smirked.

"Found the loophole, didn't ya?"

"So can I count on you to be here?" She asked and I looked to Bob and Miriam before turning around and sighing while nodding my head.

"Sure. I'll come by and give the football-head a good scare. Maybe he'll actually talk to me again."

"That's the plan," Stella said with a grin in her voice and I couldn't help but smile.

Stella is on my side. His PARENTS are on MY side. OUR side. Now I just had to figure out a way to talk to Arnold after dinner was over.

Criminy... what am I in for?

Helga G. Pataki

I got to write this all down before I forget it. Because if I don't, if I forget it, I'm afraid that I'll hate myself forever.

So we had dinner, an awkward tension-filled dinner where Arnold spent the majority of the time staring at me rather than eating. After we finished, his parents urged us to go up to his room where we spent at least ten minutes sitting in silence before I decided to be bold and break the silence that was filling up the room.

"Arnold," I said, "it's time for ME to say those words."

He glanced up at me without making eye contact and mumbled, "What words?"

I sighed, "We need to talk."

"Oh," he breathed out and I patted the spot next to me on the couch as he pushed himself up off of his bed to come and sit beside me where I sat.

"What's UP with you?" I asked before shaking my hands signaling for him not to answer, "No wait, that's not my question, what's up with US?"

"Us?" He repeated and I frowned.

"Did I STUTTER?" I snapped at him and I sighed before looking down at my lap. "Sorry, I'm just really stressed because you've kind of hollowed me out lately."

"Yeah," he said quietly, "I guess I kind of have been, haven't I? I really didn't mean to," he stated quietly.

"Then why HAVE you been? It isn't because of... the... you know..." I managed, unable to speak the truth about the reasoning I suspected him of as to why he hadn't been speaking to me but he shook his head vehemently.

"No, no, no, Helga, no," he quickly said, "that's not the reason why I mean, it's kind of the reason why but not for the reasons that you think."

I raised a brow at him, a frown soon taking over my expression. "Than what could possibly be your reasons, huh? Because right now it just seems like you're on team bloody Mary."

"I'm not," he insisted before reaching out and taking one of my hands, the first of his touch that I'd had in days. "The reason sounds stupid, I'm sure, but honestly, it's because I just... I just didn't know what to do or how to react. I didn't know how to help you and I thought... well I thought that Phoebe would be better help to you than I ever could. At least in this situation."

"But you're my BOYFRIEND," I blurted out before stopping completely, realizing we'd never officially labeled ourselves in front of each other before and sat silently before each other before Arnold finally spoke up.

"You're right," he said, "I am," he confirmed at long last, "and it wasn't right of me to just abandon you when you went through all of that or to not stand up to all the guys when they were... chanting that about you."

"Yeah..." I trailed off while playing with a strand of hair though Arnold was quick to stop me by tucking the strand behind my ear.

"I'm sorry, Helga," he apologized, his tone honest and sincere.

I shrugged my shoulders, looking down at my hands and sighing. "It's fine."

"But it isn't. I shouldn't have just ignored you. Even Gerald told me I should have manned up."

I turned to look at him with a raised brow. "He did? Tall Hair Boy said that?"

Arnold nodded his head a small smile on his lips. "Yeah, he did. He was surprised I didn't stand up for you. Heck, even I was surprised I didn't but the whole thing happened so fast and I didn't know what to say or do and-"

I held a lone hand up and shook my head. "Arnold, it's fine, really. You don't have to explain. I guess. Well.. if the situation had been reversed, I might not have known what to do either."

Arnold looked over to me with sad eyes. "Really?"

I shrugged my shoulders and let out a deep breath. "Yeah, I guess. I mean, what could you do? The whole dang class was practically chanting Bloody Mary."

Arnold cringed at the words as they left my mouth but I hardly reacted and instead sighed while changing the subject slightly. "So how was your crazy class? Did Mr. Simmons go easy on ya?"

He chuckled while shaking his head. "Hardly. He just kept saying how 'special of a process puberty is' and how the 'changes your bodies are going through are something to be celebrated, not ashamed of.'"

I rolled my eyes while leaning back to rest on the back of the couch. "Criminy, the guy is still a sap," I said and Arnold laughed while relaxing slightly as well.

"I mean, it wasn't that bad honestly," he admitted, "the worst part was Stinky, Harold and Sid who kept making comments the whole time and asking stupid questions."

I smirked, "What buffoons,"

Arnold nodded his head, but waited a beat before speaking again. "I guess it's just their way of dealing with the awkward topic. I'm sure they feel just as weird about everything as we do."

"You feel awkward about all of this?" I asked and Arnold looked at me with wide eyes.

"Are you kidding?" He replied, "Of course I feel awkward. More so than everyone else even because they've all had at least SOME kind of conversation with their parents about this kind of stuff." He sighed. "Me? I've only just met my parents. We've hardly had time to get to know each other more or less have these kinds of conversations."

"And your grandparents?" I asked and he shook his head.

"I mean, we've had THE talk, which was horrible might I add, and some stuff about what I'd go through, but not really all that much about what happens with...with... with you guys." he said with a nod of his head toward me and I nodded my head thoughtfully while turning away from him.

"I guess nobody wants to have to go through all this puberty mumbo jumbo," I said. "I bet even our own parents had a hard time with it when they were growing up."

"Oh I don't doubt that. It seems like an awkward topic no matter how old you are. Was Mrs. Alibaster nice about it with you guys?" He asked and I smirked while folding my arms over my chest.

"Sure she was NICE about it, but MAN was she WEIRD about it," I explained.

"How so?" Arnold asked then and I leaned forward on the couch to explain further.

"Well FIRST of all, she kept coughing into her handkerchief the whole time like she does in the library, you know? And it was always at the weirdest moments in conversation, like, halfway through a sentence or whatever. But I guess that isn't as weird as the fact that during the video, she stood in the corner and watched along fondly like she was remembering puberty like it had been some creepy vacation she'd been on or something." I shook my head with a laugh. "It was just weird, I can't think of another word to describe it."

"That's...odd," Arnold said and I nodded my head before adding another thing.

"Oh! Oh!" I laughed, remembering the memory before recalling it to him, "I almost forgot, when we were doing the slide diagrams, and she was on the male one, she walked right in front of it and stood right where all the male parts were supposed to be and they reflected on her and the whole thing was actually hilarious," I said while laughing again. "It sounds kinda lame but the tension was insane in that room and even the smallest of things brightened up the day."

Arnold smirked, "I can only imagine Mr. Simmons doing that with the female diagrams," he said and I pictured it myself before mimicking him.

"'Oh, oh dear,' he'd say and then struggle with the projector which would only zoom in on the whole thing as everyone would probably laugh, gosh, the guy is SUCH a granola boy." I said and Arnold shook his head.

"Helga, you're terrible." He said mid-laugh and I stuck my chin up proudly.

"I sure try, football-head."

Arnold took a deep breath while reaching for my hand and lacing his fingers with mine suddenly. "Helga," he said, "I'm glad that we were able to talk this out after everything that happened. I really value our relationship and don't want something silly or childish to threaten it ever again."

At a loss for words from his sudden seriousness, I simply nodded my head and stuttered out an agreement. "M-me eit-either."

"I promise I'll always talk things out with you. No more of my avoiding topics I'm afraid of. Only if you promise to do the same."

That was one thing I was all too happy to comply with.

I smiled in his direction and nodded my head while squeezing his hand. "Promise, Hair Boy."

So needless to say, Arnold and I are back on track and life is good like it should be. I can't wait to see what the future holds for us as we continue on our backwards journey through adolescence. Even though it may feel weird at times and as awkward as that bogus class we had to go through, but it will all be worth it in the end.

I can feel it.

Because things with Arnold just feel RIGHT, you know? They feel like they should be and they feel like the world is spinning the way it is supposed to be spinning and with me and Arnold at the very tip top like the axis. Like the world is moving just for us.

I've never been happier, journal. I just hope this feeling lasts forever.

On Cloud 9, no, Cloud 10,

Helga G. Pataki

Hope you all enjoyed this chapter! can't wait to post the next one! As reward for getting through the last two chapters, i'll even give you a sneak hint- it might involve a date between arnold and helga!

Please be sure to leave a REVIEW and let me know what you think!

-Polka