As kids filtered into the familiar building, those from each grade could be distinguished by their attitudes and, on occasion, boisterous laughter. While the younger generation of frightened twelve-year-olds bombarded the halls of Hanson Middle School, newly-turned-teenagers flaunted their past-year's experience with a superiority that even 9th graders couldn't match.

Part of Helga felt nervous; frightened for what the new school year would bring after the disastrous year before. And yet, despite the events that separated last fall from today, she was starting yet again with Arnold Shortman at her side.

Even without a label stringing them together, this small sense of security wrapped Helga like a blanket. Armed with her ridiculous notion of safety, she proceeded through the doors with newfound courage in pursuit of the 8th grade block that was to be her home for the duration of the year.

Located downstairs, their wing was separated from the 7th graders by a long and empty hallway. Directly above their area were the 9th graders who were rarely seen unless going to the woodshop classroom which lived at the end of the 8th grader's main hallway. Tucked away from the other grades, Helga and her class felt invincible in their corner of the middle school.

So invincible in fact, that the many teenagers crowded in clumps according to cliques paid no attention to those around them. For Helga, a migraine was already manifesting itself due to the loud nature of her peers; their idle chatter and laughter near decibels louder than she had remembered.

"Can you believe them?" Helga asked Phoebe as she unlocked her new locker and began placing items inside the small space. "You'd think they'd never even been here before, or something. It's just a lousy school for cripes sake."

"I'm rather surprised at you, Helga," her best friend Phoebe noted while opening her adjacent locker. "Surely you too are excited for the new school year?"

"Not really," she muttered while pulling a water bottle from the side pocket of her backpack and quickly taking a swig before continuing. "School is school, you know? You go from class to class and listen to teachers drone on and on while making a crappy joke or two. I mean, criminy, the best parts of the day are lunch and the five minutes we get between classes. Same old same old."

"That's an awfully pessimistic view of things," Phoebe responded sadly, though Helga seemed unphased.

"It isn't pessimistic, Pheebs, it's realistic," she emphasized before taking another drink from her bottle and replacing it in the side pocket. "I just don't see how this year is going to be any different or better than last year or even next year and every other year after that."

A small smile began to twitch at Phoebe's lips just then as her eyes looked beyond Helga to that of two familiar figures approaching their way. "I don't know, Helga," she said with a hint of mystery, "there are plenty of things to be excited for regarding our eighth-grade year… if you look hard enough, that is."

Confused at her friend's sudden change in tone, Helga turned her head to look at Phoebe. "What are you—" although, she was soon interrupted.

"Hey there ladies," Gerald said in a smooth and almost sultry voice. "Talking about anything good?"

"Just the upcoming school year," Phoebe quickly responded before shutting her locker and walking to his side where they promptly took each other's hand. "Helga isn't proving to be as optimistic as I am about what the year holds."

"Like that's a surprise," Gerald muttered and was quickly mock-hit by Phoebe, though she smiled in his direction as he shrugged.

Completely ignoring the two, Helga focused on the inside of her locker—rearranging the magnets on the metal door mindlessly while waiting for the other figure she knew was there to address her.

"You don't think it'll be a good school year?" Arnold finally asked, and Helga swallowed hard before closing her locker and spinning around to face him in one fluid motion.

"I never said that" she insisted with a slight smile that grew as her eyes met with his green irises. "I just don't want to get my hopes up, is all. Less chance of being disappointed if something goes wrong."

"Is something supposed to go wrong?" Arnold countered with a small smirk that Helga returned with a narrow of her eyes and a cross of her arms.

"If I knew something was going to go wrong, don't you think I'd stop it?" She said before rolling her eyes. "Criminy, Arnoldo. New year, same old football-head."

Shrugging his shoulders without much care, Arnold simply let out a small laugh. "Well, you picked me."

"Debatable," she immediately responded; a glimmer in her azure eyes that told Arnold all he needed to know about her feelings.

"You two are weird," Gerald broke into the conversation with a mild shake of his head. "Did you know that? Has anyone told you that? I do not know a single couple that acts the way you two do. It's bizarre."

"We're not a couple," both Helga and Arnold said in unison, though their tones held anything but animosity.

Phoebe arched her brow in confusion at their statement. "But I thought after Rhonda's party that—"

"We're not doing that whole 'labels' thing that every other teenager in the class apparently needs to do," Helga specified as she took Arnold's hand in hers; his fingers instantaneously locking together in the embrace.

"Yeah," Arnold agreed with a shrug. "It's easier to just… be casual, you know? No pressure."

"Mm mm MM," Gerald hummed with a shake of his head as the four began to walk away from the lockers in pursuit of the small corner a few feet away. Technically a landing for the steps that led to the 9th grade wing, students often gathered in the small space to talk before class begun which is exactly what the foursome intended to do; Gerald continuing the conversation as they walked. "That is absolute nonsense, my friend. You do know that the entire class already labeledyou a couple after your little closet coitus."

"Excellent usage of the word 'coitus,' Gerald," Phoebe praised her boyfriend who winked in her direction. "However, they only kissed, right?"

"Yeah, so?" Helga countered with mild ferocity in her tone. "Why does everyone else get a say in our not-so-relationship? It's our not-so-relationship, isn't it?"

"Well…" both Gerald and Phoebe mumbled, though Arnold was quick to support Helga's thoughts on the matter.

"Whatever people say about us is just middle school talk," he said plainly. "We get to define our relationship and, as of now, there's no label. We're just enjoying the journey, right Helga?"

"Enjoying the journey?" She repeated with a smirk. "Criminy, you sound like a freakin' greeting card, but… I guess you're right. Let them think what they wanna think. See if I care."

"That's the spirit," Arnold replied with a twinge of sarcasm laced in his voice. Taking a beat to solidify their spots in the corner, Arnold glanced up to look at the digital clock beaming red numbers from its home on the brick wall. "Looks like we still have about seven minutes before the warning bell."

"It's a good thing neither of us have gym or swimming first hour," Phoebe noted with a grin.

"Yeah, you get to have it last hour, you lucky duck," Helga added with a roll of her eyes. "Us lucky few get it right before lunch which is just a hoot."

"At least you can go right from the locker room to the cafeteria," Arnold surmised with a casual shrug of his shoulders; his hand still locked to Helga's from where they stood. "Gerald and I have to go right from the cafeteria to the locker room—"

"Which is pretty lucky if you think about it," Gerald continued for his friend, "because teach will give us extra time to get ready. I had gym and swimming after lunch last year and it was awesome."

"Running around with a full stomach?" Helga asked, followed by a dramatic scoff. "No thanks, Geraldo. That sounds like cruel and unusual punishment if you ask me—"

"Well, I didn't, Pataki, now did I?"

Just as Helga was to respond with another facetious comment of her own to verbally jab Gerald for this morning's amusing repartee, a sharp voice cut in and all four pairs of eyes turned to look at the girl addressing them.

"Wow," Rhonda said with an upturn of her lips that neither resembled a smile or a sneer, "It's certainly nice to see two of the eighth grade's hottest couples canoodling together in the 'couples' corner'. And so early in the school year, too…"

Behind Rhonda stood a collection of girls, the two at the front being that of Nadine and Addie who watched on apologetic expressions resting on their faces.

Both Phoebe and Gerald immediately directing their thumbs towards Arnold and Helga, all four friends replied in cohesive sentiment, "Not a couple."

"Riiiiiight," Rhonda elongated the singular word as though it held a myriad of interpretations. "Do we believe that girls?" She asked the posse behind her, though both Addie and Nadine exchanged a look before opting to respond to the Queen Bee's question.

"I mean, why wouldn't we, Rhonda?" Nadine asked innocently. "Two people can be friends and not be a couple."

"Friends who hold hands?" She replied while gesturing towards Arnold and Helga's unbreakable grips.

"Plenty of people hold hands without being couples," Addie chimed in carefully. "Back in my hometown, it wasn't uncommon for close friends to—"

"Enough, Addison," Rhonda halted the girl who grumbled to herself before dropping the subject and looking to Nadine who merely shrugged her shoulders as an answer.

Continuing without missing a beat, Rhonda declared, "Hand holding or not, the entire class has deemed you to be the grade's hottest couple according to the latest poll." Pausing in her sentence, she took a sharp intake of breath before correcting herself. "Sorry, did I say the hottest? My apologies. Second hottest."

"Why would we care what the school thinks?" Arnold countered.

"What do you mean by second hottest couple?" Helga questioned.

Both Arnold and Helga turned to look at one another in response to the questions they had asked directly over each other—the only answer received being that of a familiar digital 'chime' known as the warning bell.

DING. DING. DING. DING.

"Well," Rhonda breathed out with a smile, "that's my cue, I suppose. Good to see you all again. Should be an interesting year." Pivoting to turn around effortlessly, her long black hair practically slapped the faces of her underlings who frowned in response. "Ladies, let's get to class."

As the three more committed disciples followed blindly in her wedge-heeled steps, Nadine and Addie lingered for a moment.

"Sorry about Rhonda," Nadine apologized on her best friend's behalf. "I don't know what happened over the summer when her family went to Cabo, but…" she glanced in the direction of the new girl who stood quietly at her side.

"It sure was different when she wasn't around," Addie muttered before sighing and offering a sad smile to the four who looked on with a sense of confusion. "I just hope she isn't like this all year. It's not very fun feeling like I'm under somebody's thumb."

"Rhonda's really cool, Ads," Nadine encouraged before turning to her classmates for help. "Right, guys? She just… you just have to… you have to get to know her, that's all."

"Definitely," Arnold agreed, though Phoebe, Gerald and Helga's silence spoke volumes to Addie.

"I don't know how you handle it, Nadine," she replied with a sigh as the two took their leave to follow where Rhonda had strutted off to. "Best friends shouldn't treat the other like an underling. You deserve better."

"That's sweet, but Rhonda's been my friend ever since I can remember," Nadine's voice could be heard as they disappeared into the milling crowd of students on their way to first period.

After a beat of silence among the four, Gerald was the first to speak. "So, it's pretty safe to say that Rhonda is still… Rhonda."

"I'd say she's more Rhonda than she's ever been," Helga noted. "That new chick is right about one thing and it's that Nadine deserves a better 'best friend.'"

"C'mon, Helga, you know Rhonda," Arnold tried, though she wasn't buying it. "Deep down she's a good person."

"Right," she deadpanned, "and I'm freakin' Mother Teresa."

"Well, you're a lot nicer than you used to be, don't you think?" The blonde boy inquired; his best friend immediately shaking his head knowing full well what his question was about to set off in Helga G. Pataki.

"And just what is that supposed to mean, Hair Boy?" She immediately spat at him while defensively crossing her arms.

"Nothing bad," he quickly backtracked while holding his hands up in surrender, "all I'm saying is that people can change to accurately reflect the person on the inside. Like you are. Did. Like we all are. We're growing up."

Dropping her arms to her sides, Helga's physique softened as she rolled her eyes with the hint of a smile tugging at her lips. "Kinda what happens over the years, you know. Basic science, right Pheebs?"

"Biology and psychology mostly," she answered before realizing the question wasn't in need of an actual answer. "But in a matter of speaking, yes."

"Change can be tough, sure," Arnold said with an optimistic lilt of his voice, "but it can also be fun."

"What you call fun I call a nightmare, but you do you, Arnold." Helga commented before gesturing for the four to begin making their way to their first classes. "I just wish that Rhonda would mind her own business and keep that contoured nose of hers out of our…well… whatever we are."

Waving a 'goodbye' to their friends, Phoebe and Gerald left in the opposite direction for their classrooms as Helga and Arnold continued walking together to their shared first hour—English.

"Just try to remember that we define our… whatever," Arnold repeated with a similar emphasis before turning to look up at her and smile. "Okay, Helga?"

Not looking in his direction, Helga continued to gaze outward at the hoards of students as they scurried like ants to make their first class on time. Absentmindedly, she asked aloud, "But like… what do you think she meant about us being the second best couple? Who could be beating us? Criminy, you don't think it's our own best friends, do you? Or worse—"

"Helga…" Arnold deadpanned while stopping mid-step which hung Helga back due to their hands still fiercely interwoven with each other.

Shaking her head of the thought, she let out a dramatic breath of air. "Alright, alright, you win, okay?" She gave in. "It doesn't matter what anyone else thinks but us."

"That's right," he confirmed before picking up his pace once again. "It is our relationship after all."

"You mean our 'whatever?'"

Both teenagers paused outside the door of their English room while sharing a look that held both flirtation and a challenge. It was a look that Arnold was all-too-familiar with—one that sent shivers up his spine each and every time he invoked it.

The good kind of shivers, that is.

"Sure Helga," he replied before she broke their stare and entered first into the room. "Whatever you say…"

Despite her verbal defeat at lingering on what Rhonda had attempted to taunt them with, Helga spent the entirety of first period thinking about what the girl could have been referencing. The thoughts followed her into Social Studies the next hour, and all throughout gym as she ran around the track in the brisk fall air. Her mind circled the altercation with the Queen Bee with each lap she completed and every breath she huffed. No amount of physical or mental activity allowed the young girl to let go of whatever had happened before school began.

This irked Helga.

There were plenty of other things that she felt she should be consumed over. There was Olga finishing the moving in process this weekend, not to mention the divorce that was hard to ignore any longer. While she had finally broke the news to Arnold just a few days ago, Helga was still having a hard time processing the big change in the fact that she felt nothing toward it whatsoever. No matter how much she tried to be angry or sad that her parents were separating, she couldn't find a crumb of emotion towards it.

Am I some kind of psychopath? She often wondered before changing her thoughts altogether. Maybe that's why it was easier instead to focus on what it was Rhonda had been referring to. Those were emotions she felt and understood.

Come lunchtime, the teen was anxious to try and learn more about the melodramatic issue she had been fixated on since the morning. It was a welcome distraction to whatever else could potentially cloud her mind with untamed thoughts.

"So, real talk," Helga greeted Phoebe as she sat beside her at their self-assigned lunch table while awaiting their male counterparts, "what do you think that whole Rhonda thing was about this morning?"

"What Rhonda thing?" her best friend asked with a slight tilt of her head; Helga groaning in irritation before leaning in across the table to clue Phoebe in.

"Oh c'mon, Pheebs," she said in exhaustion. "You know. That whole—" Helga then changed her voice to a high pitch for a poor imitation of Rhonda, "'—hottest couple in the grade, oh, excuse me, second hottest couple' routine she pulled. What was that?"

"I'm not entirely sure, Helga," the dark-haired girl responded earnestly. "However, whatever it was that she was referring to, I wouldn't let it bother you."

"Yeah?" Helga deadpanned before leaning back and crossing her arms over her chest with an unimpressed expression. "And why's that?"

"Perhaps it's best not to let outside forces, paranoia, and fear dictate your relationship again," Phoebe stated bluntly. "After all, it was those many reasons that you and Arnold parted the first time, correct?"

Rolling her eyes, Helga knew her friend had spoken the truth. There really was no reason to worry about something as stupid as some kind of poll that people were taking about couples at school. In fact, the more Helga thought about it, it wasn't the poll itself that she was so curious about. If it were one thing that Helga really wanted to know was where this mysterious poll was located and what other kinds of things were on it that she could learn?

What potential information lay dormant on the interweb somewhere that Helga G. Pataki could use as intel about her fellow classmates?

"I'm surprised you beat us here," Arnold pulled Helga from her thoughts and she turned to look over at the football-headed boy and his dark-skinned friend who were approaching their cafeteria table. "Don't you have gym right before lunch?"

"Yeah," she confirmed as he took a seat at her side; Gerald sitting next to Phoebe just across the way. "I just hustled. It's really not that hard considering that locker room is just an excuse for girls to bitch about each other behind closed doors."

"Helga!" Phoebe exclaimed as Gerald smirked and Arnold sighed.

"Criminy, Pheebs, when are you gonna get over this whole anti-swearing campaign you've been on, huh?" Helga asked in exasperation. "I mean we're practically adults. If I want to swear, then I should be able to swear all the damn time if I want."

"Well, now you're just forcing it," Arnold chuckled with a shake of his head that Helga returned with a playful nudge of her shoulder against his.

"Anyway…" Gerald cut in to change the direction of their conversation. "How's the first day going for you guys? I tell ya, if I have to sit through one more syllabus talking about goals and the open-door policy, I'm gonna lose it."

"Then do I have some bad news for you, Tall Hair Boy," Helga laughed out, "because you still have four more hours to go."

"Having an earlier lunch period certainly makes the remainder of the day feel much longer," Phoebe noted with a soft sigh. "However, our previous year at the school makes for navigation easier. Particularly when it comes to our exploration classes."

"Exploration classes?" Gerald repeated; Arnold soon answering the question that hadn't been fully asked.

"They're like teaser classes for electives that we choose next year," he explained. "I had my first one just last hour."

"And?" Helga wondered impatiently. "Which class are you testing out first?"

"Spanish," he said flatly. "6 weeks of it and then I think I'm headed for Theatre."

"Oooooh," Helga sang while leaning in Arnold's direction. "Got anybody fun in your class come theatre time?"

"I mean… I have Eugene?" He admitted with a shrug that made the group chuckle in unison.

"Sounds like you'll have a good time then, man," Gerald said with a smirk. "He'll make it entertaining, that's for sure."

"Least you don't have Curly," Helga chimed in with a twisted expression. "I bet he'll turn into one of those, 'method actors' you hear about who go all wacko on you."

"Helga…"

"What?" She replied with amusement. "You gonna tell me I'm wrong?"

The four continued to discuss their day and plans for the evening as lunch hour progressed—the familiar routine of a lone teacher dismissing table after table making the first day feel as though they had never left for the Summer. One by one, students rose from their tables to go through the long lunch line and bring back their trayful of lukewarm, tasteless food. Today's entrée? Mac and cheese with a side salad, a bag of chips, a cup of fruit, and a bread roll with butter.

"This is absurd," Rhonda could be heard from her table just a few feet away at the head of the cafeteria where the popular kids sat. "Do you realize how many carbs they are stuffing us with? It's like they're trying to give us early onset diabetes."

"So, just eat your salad and fruit," Nadine offered to which Rhonda scoffed as though she were offended by the very notion.

"You aren't serious, Nadine, are you?" She asked, though her friend didn't respond. "It's practically drenched in dressing."

"Well, why did you put so much on it, then?" Addie wondered from where she sat beside Nadine. "You controlled the amount, not the lunch ladies."

A death glare slithered towards Addie who refused to shrivel in its wake; Nadine attempting to hide her amusement at the girl with the courage to stand up against a Wellington-Lloyd. And a new girl at that.

Realizing she had no argument against the point that had been made, Rhonda sighed dramatically and pushed her tray a few inches ahead of her while tilting her chin up in the air. "I think I'll just get something from the snack bar when it opens."

"So, you're not gonna eat that?" Harold Berman, who had been sitting with his other jock friends at the other end of her table, leaned over to ask. "Cause if you aren't, I'll eat it."

"Of course, you will, Harold," Rhonda sneered as she relinquished her tray to him which he took with glee and began to dig into; his football friends continuing their conversation without missing a beat.

Looking behind at the discourse happening at the popular table, Helga turned back towards her tray of food with widened eyes and a shake of her head. "Sure glad we're not popular," she noted before scooping up a bite of her mac and cheese. "Seems complicated."

"It's only complicated because they don't stand up for themselves against Rhonda," Arnold said while popping a cherry tomato from his salad into his mouth. "Bowing down to anyone like that just asks for drama."

"Now, wait a second there, football-head," Helga halted her lunch table neighbor with an outstretch of her hand like a stop sign. "Do you mean to say that you too think Princess is just as conceited if not more so than she's ever been before? Like a tyrannical dictator?"

"When did I say any of that?" Arnold couldn't help but laugh out before reaching for his chocolate milk carton and swishing it around prior to taking a sip. "All I'm saying is that it would probably help her… friends if they stood up for themselves when she acts like that."

"That new girl did," Gerald added with a shrug. "Maybe she won't become another one of Rhonda's mindless minions after all."

"I doubt she'll last two weeks in that group," Helga argued with a smug look on her face.

"Nah," Gerald countered before taking a swig of his milk, "She'll last at least a month. Being on Rhonda's side does come with its perks. Especially when you're the new kid in town."

"Do I smell a bet, Geraldo?"

Reaching his hand out in Helga's direction, Gerald nodded his head. "Twenty bucks, Pataki. You in?"

"Oh, I'm definitely in," she agreed while shaking his hand. "That's easy money."

"We'll see…" he muttered under a grin, despite Phoebe's disapproving look.

"Are you sure it's wise to gamble on our classmates' lives and happiness?" She posed in a stern tone.

"May not be wise, but it's fun," Helga answered with a half-smile and Arnold shook his head with a smirk.

"There's no sense in stopping them, Phoebe," he told her in a defeated, yet tickled tenor. "You know Gerald and Helga."

"Yeah," the blonde girl agreed, "and we know Rhonda Wellington-Lloyd."

"Well, if my ears aren't just ringing," Rhonda's voice interrupted the humor that was being exchanged between the friends around their table. "What could possibly be so knowledgeable about me?"

"For starters," Helga easily transitioned without a single care, "you aren't going to eat lunch and are now opting out for the snack shop." Leaning over towards her, she then narrowed her eyes with a knowing smile. "Getting a flavored sparkling water and a protein bar. Am I right?"

Frowning, Rhonda placed her hands on her hips. "We shouldn't be forced to eat garbage like…" her eyes shifted down to glance at the emptied trays sitting in front of the group, "that."

"You're just picky," Gerald commented before scooping up the last bite of his macaroni and cheese.

"Yeah, and she has a fat wallet," Helga muttered just loud enough for Rhonda to hear and adjust accordingly.

"I take it you all haven't been keeping up with my latest CamGram posts, have you?" She stated with a raise of her sculpted brow.

"You mean the selfie of you looking like a duck next to Nadine and Addie what's-her-face?" Helga was enjoying the bickering she was able to participate in today. If it was one thing that could give her some much-needed relief, it was indulging in witty banter with the Princess.

"No," Rhonda's voice was harsh, though pointed in a way that told Helga there was a direction this conversation was headed. "I meant my other CamGram account."

"Is this the part where I ask 'What CamGram account, Miss Rhonda' and you respond with something I really couldn't care less about?" Helga seemed thoroughly pleased with her retort though Arnold frowned from where he sat beside her. Awkwardly he shifted his gaze downward to rest on his lap while waiting for the girls' small feud to be over.

"I'm just surprised you didn't do some digging after our little convo this morning," Rhonda tried to say casually, despite its rehearsed sound.

"C'mon, Rhonda," Arnold finally interjected while looking up from his lap. "We already told you that we weren't interested in whatever everyone is saying about us. Right, Helga?"

"R-Right," she repeated; an almost unnoticeable twitch of her upper lip giving her away.

"To each their own, I suppose," Rhonda finalized with a shrug of her shoulders. "Should you be interested, though, search the username 'ship_or_dip_HMS'. It's all in good fun, anyway. Even if you aren't a couple, it should provide some… entertainment in the least."

As the black-haired beauty confidently turned to finish walk to the snack shop that had just opened, Helga glanced over at Arnold who gave her a blank look.

"You're going to look, aren't you?" He asked, though he didn't have to in order to know what she was thinking.

"Like she said, it's all in good fun," Helga argued. "Besides, it's just some stupid CamGram account. What's the worst that could be on there?"

"Fine, Helga. If you want to look, then look. But don't get angry if you see something you don't like," Arnold warned with a disapproving cross of his arms. "I told you not to worry—"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm not worried about what anyone thinks about us, okay?" She quickly tried to diffuse the football-headed boy's concern as she whipped out her cellphone to navigate to her CamGram account. "What's a 'ship or dip' account anyway?" she muttered to herself; Phoebe quick to answer.

"I believe I heard some of our peers talking about it in my AP Bio class," she began thoughtfully. "Simply put, the account holder posts images of different potential or already established couples and users can comment either 'ship' or 'dip' on whether or not they like the pair."

"Yeah," Gerald nodded his head while pointing a thumb in Phoebe's direction. "People can message requests too, I think."

"These are a thing?" Arnold asked while looking between both Phoebe and Gerald who simply shrugged their shoulders.

Absentmindedly while typing in the username Rhonda had told her into the 'search' bar of CamGram, Helga said, "These days, Arnold, everything is a thing."

Finally finding what she believed to be the proper account, Helga exclaimed a victorious, "Ah ha!" before tapping on it to see what kind of posts lay on the profile. Scrolling through the thumbnails of images, the blonde smirked at what she saw as Arnold leaned over in curiosity.

"So?" he wondered aloud.

"Some of these pairings are ridiculous," Helga noted before tapping on one to enlarge the post and showing it to her three friends. "Like, Sheena and Eugene? I mean come on. The kid is gay. We've all known it and he's known it since like… the first grade."

Inspecting the screen Helga held in front of her, Phoebe adjusted the glasses on her face before saying, "It appears as though the caption reads 'Friendship Friday,' which I assume is not deeming them a couple rather than gratifying their friendship."

"Lemme see that," Helga grumbled while taking her phone back to look at the caption herself.

In honor of #FriendshipFriday let's take a sec to shoutout Hanson's own Eugene_Eugene and Sheena_na_na. They've only been friends since the beginning of time and, while they're HUGE theater nerds, they're theater nerds 2gether. Comment 'Ship' if you think they're a great dynamic duo or 'Dip' if you think they should find NEW nerds to duet with!

Reading over the text a few times, Helga rolled her eyes before exiting out of the enlarged picture to see what else was on the CamGram profile. "Friendship Friday is just another excuse for Rhonda to try and make waves in our delicate middle school ecosystem," she commented before her eyes widened as she saw a picture of her and Arnold together in thumbnail form. "There you are!" She exclaimed, before enlarging the picture to see the pair looking back at her.

"Check it out," she said proudly before turning the screen around to show her fellow classmates. "107 comments."

"Yeah?" Gerald replied, unimpressed. "And do they all say 'ship?' Or are you about to crazy for the one person who wrote 'dip?'"

"Hardy har har, Geraldo," Helga answered with a narrowing of her eyes while she took her phone back to scroll through the comments. "I'll bet you the three imbeciles who wrote 'dip' are trolls, or something, like… Curly? Really?" She scoffed. "Who cares about his opinion, anyway?"

"Kinda sounds like you do, Helga," Arnold murmured, though she shrugged his comment off and continued her search through the profile. "What are you looking for now? You found us already, didn't you?"

"Well, doi," she snapped as though the answer to Arnold's question should be obvious. "I'm looking to see who's beating us in the best couple department."

"Is that a particularly wise decision, Helga?" Phoebe wondered aloud with caution in her voice.

"Criminy, what is it with you guys today?" Helga exclaimed in frustration. "It's just a stupid game, okay? Jeez. I'm just curious for cripes sake."

"Whatever you say, Helga," Arnold muttered before taking the final swig from his carton of milk. As he grabbed his now-empty tray, he glanced over in Helga's direction before gesturing her way. "You want me to take yours?"

"Oh yeah, sure, sure," Helga muttered while scrolling through couple after couple on the account. "Thanks, Arnold."

As he left their table to dump his and her trays, Helga's eyes lit up as she found the culprit couple she'd been looking for. "There you are!" She shouted victoriously. "They don't even have as many likes as us, anyway."

"Who is it?" Phoebe asked in genuine curiosity while Gerald rolled his eyes at the drama the two girls were decidedly engaged in.

"Who do you think?" Helga responded before flipping her phone over to show her best friend the picture on the screen. "Stinky and Lila. Figures. But I don't know why Rhonda acted like they were pummeling us in the lead."

Somewhat disappointed, Phoebe reached out to take Helga's phone from her hand and do some digging herself. "It looks as though there isn't a single comment reading 'dip' on their picture," she noted with a soft sigh. "All 100 comments say 'ship' which isn't true for yours which has—

"Three, yeah," Helga said sharply while swiping her phone out of Phoebe's small hands. "I know."

Once the phone was safely back in Helga's grip, Arnold returned to the table and took his seat across the way from Gerald who gave him a bored look. The girls were fixated on the phone—even Phoebe.

"Do you see Gerald and I on there, perchance?" She asked, and her boyfriend turned to give her an incredulous look.

"Pheebs. You can not tell me you're feeding into this crap? It's just some stupid trend." he asked her as a light blush began to fill in her pale cheeks.

"I'm aware of that, Gerald," She countered before shrugging her shoulders. "I am merely intrigued by what the class body has to say regarding our relationship, that's all. It's for… for scientific purposes."

"Scientific purposes, huh?" Gerald repeated with an arch of his brow. "Mm mm MM, Phoebe, I never pegged you to be suckered into Helga's dramatics."

"Hey now, Tall Hair Boy," Helga defended herself, "I didn't make the account, okay? We are just interested parties and honestly, the fact that you two dimwits aren't wondering what everyone is saying about us is frankly a little weird."

"Weird?" Arnold reiterated while turning to look at her. "Weird how?"

Maintaining her gaze downward as she searched for Gerald or Phoebe's face in the various thumbnails on the profile, Helga smirked before answering. "Just because you're teenage boys doesn't mean you're immune to the fears accompanied with what everyone thinks about you."

"It's not that we don't care," Gerald interrupted as Helga spotted his face next to Phoebe's and she clicked on the image to enlarge it. "It's that it doesn't matter as much, that's all."

"Oh, I highly doubt that Geraldo," she returned before her mouth closed tightly as she began to read the comments beneath the couple's picture.

Gerald should stick to the looks while Phoebe sticks to her books. DIPPPPPP

Hottie with a smartie? Seems fake #dip

WAIT THEY'RE DATING? I thought this was a shitpost

One by one the teenager read comment after comment that declared her best friend and Gerald to be a couple worth 'dipping.' While the reasons changed from person to person, the theme of the comment section was clear and Helga began to clench her jaw from anger at what she read.

"Well, Helga?" Phoebe pressed with a small smile on her lips. "Did you find our post yet? Surely, we must be on there. After all, our relationship has been well-established for quite some time."

Sensing the sudden tension in his girlfriend, Arnold leaned over to look at what it was that had given her such a stark reaction. As he too read the comments that stared up at him, his gaze shifted upward to meet Helga's eyes.

"Helga?" Phoebe murmured as her best friend continued staring at her football-headed beau.

It was clear that she didn't know what to say or how to respond. The look she gave Arnold screamed for his help; begged for some kind of intervention that would distract their friend from the topic altogether.

"It's just a stupid online thing, there's no stock to it," Arnold insisted, which immediately set off alarm bells in Gerald's head.

Raising his brow, Gerald eyed his friend with a knowing expression. "Mmhm," he hummed skeptically, fully aware that he was hiding something. "If there's no stock to it, then let us see it."

"There's really nothing to see," Helga countered with a shrug as she shut her phone off and slid it into her back pocket. "You know teenagers. Drama, drama, drama—"

"Total drama," Arnold tried to help, though their friends were anything but clueless to their ruse.

"Fine," Gerald stated before pulling out his own phone. "Not like I don't have a phone I can look at too."

"Gerald—" Arnold urged, but he was silenced with a lone finger that was held up to stop him from continuing.

"If you two think that we can't handle some stupid online trend, then you're both crazy." Once his phone was unlocked, he fixated his attention on it while mumbling more to himself than the others. "What was the name of the account again? Ship or dip H-M-S something…?" His fingers typed away on the screen as he navigated through the app to find the post in question.

Sitting across from the pair, Arnold and Helga awkwardly waited in silence as their friends' read what lay behind the screen of Gerald's phone. At the sight of both Phoebe and Gerald's expressions faltering, Arnold sighed with a shake of his head.

"Don't read into it, okay?" He implored. "It's just a stupid trend, right?"

"A stupid trend," Gerald repeated before turning his phone off and hiding it in the front pocket of his hoodie. "Right. What do they know anyway. Right Phoebe?" He turned to look at her sympathetically, though she remained silent.

"Phoebe…" Helga tried; her small companion desperately attempting to maintain a brave face and quell the tears that threatened to spill over her smooth cheeks. "Pheebs, if you think that those knuckleheads can bully my best friend from the supposed safety of the internet, then they have another thing coming—"

"Helga," Phoebe murmured, though Helga was a freight train of anger and she wasn't about to let up any time soon.

"—I mean, really? There is no such thing as anonymity these days and I will hunt those morons down—"

"Helga—"

"—and they can have a fun little get together with Betsy and the fi—"

"Helga!" Phoebe shouted above the roar of the mindless cafeteria chatter; eyes from nearby tables straying to find the source of commotion.

After a beat of prolonged silence, Helga let out the breath she had unknowingly been holding and softened her tone. "Phoebe, all I'm trying to say is that you shouldn't worry about—"

"I'm fine, Helga," she insisted with a firm voice and a purse of her lips. "As previously stated, it is just a fruitless popularity contest and, while Gerald may be the more popular of the two of us due to his extracurricular athletics—"

"C'mon, Phoebe," Gerald cut in as Phoebe continued to talk over him.

"—the opinions of our fellow classmates regarding our relationship is of no consequence to me." Clearing her throat, she stood from the table with her tray in hand. "That's why I didn't even want to indulge in it."

Standing up from her seat, Helga tried once again to stop her friend from the internal thought process she knew was inadvertently paralyzing her. Just as she opened her mouth to speak, Phoebe took the words from her and spoke first.

"Now if you'll excuse me," she addressed her friends, "I'm getting a head start on my Algebra 1 class next period."

"Algebra 1?" Helga repeated as she slowly resumed her seat at the table. "Isn't that like a 9th grade class? I'm only in Pre-Algebra."

"Phoebe's the smartest girl in the grade," Gerald immediately shot back. "I'd think her best friend wouldn't be so surprised about it."

"I can fight my own battles, Gerald," Phoebe said harshly before huffing in a deep breath in an effort to calm herself. "I'll see you in our explorations class, Helga."

Quickly rising to his feet, Gerald tried to catch up with her as she flitted away, "Wait, Pheebs, I'll walk with you—"

"I'd rather walk by myself today," she murmured, almost ashamed. "Besides, the boy's locker room is clear across the school." Sighing sadly, she quietly offered a 'goodbye' before turning to take her tray to the cluster of garbage cans for dumping and then exiting the cafeteria in a rush.

"Wow," Gerald muttered as he too resumed sitting. "I'm not crazy in assuming that something's wrong… right?"

Smirking humorlessly, Helga bluntly agreed. "That would be an astute observation, Geraldo, yeah."

"Just give her some time," Arnold suggested. "Phoebe's a smart girl. She knows that those kinds of things aren't important in a relationship."

"In a middle school relationship, they are," Helga argued as Gerald's eyes shot over to her direction in a panic; silently begging for more information. Taking a breath, she explained herself further. "Look. You're right that Phoebe is a smart girl, but she's also a teenage girl going to a middle school where people are obviously threatened by her intelligence and label her accordingly. That's all teenagehood is after all—useless labeling and cliques."

"But Phoebe doesn't care about all of that—" Gerald tried to defend, though Helga was quick to shut him down.

"She does, okay? We all do." Glancing between the two boys who looked at her quizzically, she gestured towards both of them. "Even you two dimwits care, even if you say that you don't. And that's fine, right? We're teenagers. We're supposed to care about that stupid stuff. It's like our job to be all angsty and broody about it."

The boys thought on her words for a long moment before Gerald spoke up once again. "So… what do I do?"

"Nothing," she answered matter-of-factly. "You stand by her and support her and screw everyone else. Like football-face is always trying to tell me, you define your relationship. And if Phoebe's ultra-smart nerd status doesn't bother you and your athletic popularity—"

"It doesn't!" He practically shouted which Helga merely smirked at.

"Then who cares?" She finalized with a shrug. "Just be a good boyfriend and listen and be there for her and support her and all that junk. That's all anyone really wants in a relationship. Support."

Just as she finished her sentence, the familiar digital ring resounded as a warning to the students still lingering in the cafeteria. As the remaining three stood from their lunch table to take their leave in pursuit of their fifth-period classes, Gerald jogged up to Helga's side.

"Hey, you uh, you got explorations with Phoebe?" He asked and Helga stopped mid-stride to turn and look at him with her arms crossed and a raise of her brow.

"Yeah. Why?"

"Do you think you could," he began before closing his eyes and taking another breath to propel him forward in finishing his question. "Do you think you could just make sure she knows that I don't care about all that stuff?"

"You want me to tell her that?" Helga asked; Gerald immediately shaking his head.

"No, I mean, I'll obviously tell her that myself, it's just… I don't have a class with her again until 7th hour and I don't want her stewing on this until I can see her."

Helga eyed the suddenly nervous boy for a long moment before dropping her arms to her sides. "Yeah, sure. I'll talk to her."

"Thanks, Helga," He said with a smile before turning around to begin jogging in the direction of the locker rooms. "You coming or what, Arnold?" he called out as he ran, though Arnold merely waved his answer and then faced Helga with a knowing smile.

"What?" she asked the boy blankly as he watched her.

"That was really nice of you," he told her point blank.

"Well, I can be a pretty nice person, you know," she replied with a grin all her own.

"I know," Arnold agreed. "It's just—"

"It's just what?" she impatiently repeated before he could finish his sentence.

"Everything you said about relationships and middle school… it was really wise." A faint blush began to rise into the boy's cheeks as he spoke. "Just makes me happy to see how much you've… changed."

"Is that a compliment or should I be offended?" She asked with a furrow of her brow. "Because I'm kind of taking it as an insult, but I think you're trying to be nice—"

"I am. It is." His words shot out from his mouth so fast that they tumbled over one another almost clumsily and over-excited. "I'm trying to compliment you, I mean."

"Then thanks," Helga said with a wink. "Maturity looks good on me, huh?"

Reaching out to take her hand in his, Arnold nodded his head. "It does, yeah."

"Whattya doin' there, football-head?" Helga teased while glancing down at his grip on her hand. "You wouldn't want us to get in trouble for PDA so early in the school year—"

"Helga…"

"I mean, we aren't even a couple and here you are," she continued, her words now a ramble then anything of importance. "You're just grabbing my hand and leaning in and—"

"I'm going to kiss you, yeah," he told her before leaning up to lightly peck her lips with his own. As he pulled away, their fingers lingered with one another's before parting with the steps he took towards the locker rooms. "I'll see you later?"

"It's a small school," Helga replied, a bright red painting her face from the overwhelming joy she felt at his unexpected kiss. "Have fun running laps."

"Have fun listening to Mr. Stein talk about science."

With a roll of her eyes, she flashed him a grin and turned around to head in the opposite direction of the boy. Just before she was about to descend the stairs leading to the 8th grade wing, she heard her name called out from behind.

"Helga, hold on!"

Spinning around, she watched as Arnold ran towards her in a frenzy. "What, you couldn't wait to start running in the gymnasium?"

"No, no, I uh," he stuttered while slowing down to stop in front of her. "I forgot to ask you something."

Silence settled between the pair as she waited for the question.

"Well, are you gonna ask me or what?" She urged. "We don't have all day, you know."

"This weekend," he began to blurt out, "you said Olga is finishing moving in and stuff? At your house?"

Intrigued, Helga shifted her weight to one hip while holding a poker face. "Yeah. And?"

"You see, I was uh, I was wondering," he managed while reaching up to rub at the back of his neck; his eyes cast down toward his feet, "do you think you'd be able to go to the Fall Cheese Festival with me this weekend? Would you want to, I mean?"

Slowly an upturn of Helga's lips gave way to her answer. "Consider it a not-so-kind-of date."

Songs that inspired this chapter:

"Paralized" by: John & the Volta (Yes, the title is spelled that way)

"Golden Age" by: Beat Radio

Really, the lyrics hold no significance this time around… the music is just like the whole vibe of this chapter. ALSO! This chapter features a scene that the wonderful MonyArtz commissioned for me! It is the CamGram picture of Rhonda, Nadine and Addie, so go check out this piece (and ALL of their amazing work) on their twitter, and Instagram!

I hope you like the start of this season! This was such a fun chapter to write—I love writing mindless dialogue because it really makes me, at least, remember the simplicities of Middle School and what it's like to be in school with your friends chatting whenever you can. It's a mood I never thought I would be nostalgic for, but hey, guess I am.

Please leave me a REVIEW and let me know what you though of this chapter and the start of this season! Next posting date will be: SATURDAY, MARCH 5TH so I'll see you then!

-Polka