By the following Monday, all anybody could talk about was Helga and Wolfgang.
"Did you hear about Helga Pataki?"
"Helga's dating a sophomore, can you believe it?!"
"Figures that Pataki would go after someone with their own car. What 14-year-old wouldn't feel cool dating a 16-year-old!?"
"Going from Arnold Shortman to Wolfgang Caudell, that Helga is certifiably nuts!"
It was driving Arnold crazy.
"Do you know she hasn't even talked to me since everything that happened at the Fly Trap?" he mentioned at the lunch table to Addie while waiting for Gerald and Nadine to join them. "And now she's dating Wolfgang of all people. He doesn't even go here!"
The brunette nodded her head sympathetically while chewing on a bite of her coleslaw. "People date other people for tons of different reasons. Maybe she likes him because he's so different from you."
"I can't tell if I should be offended by that or not," Arnold remarked, though Addie simply laughed it off.
"It's not an insult or a compliment," she explained. "Just an observation from an outside party."
"Who's having a party?" Gerald asked as he approached the table with a tray filled with pizza in hand. "Other than my mouth because it's pizza day."
"It's pizza day, and Gerald took three slices," Nadine said as she sat down beside Addie. "Meanwhile, I'm having a salad because I don't hate my digestive system."
"Since when do we talk about digestion at lunch?" Gerald asked with a singular shake of his head. "Never thought I'd say it, but I miss Pataki."
"Gerald..." Arnold almost whined and was quickly shut down by Addie's change in conversation.
"Hey, what do you guys know about the Winter Formal? I heard that as ninth graders, we're technically part of the high school and can go."
"Pretty sure you need a date to go," Gerald mumbled through bites of his pepperoni pizza which he'd folded in half to eat faster. "Like a date actually from the high school."
"Yeah," Nadine agreed. "Did you know you can letter in going to formals? If you go all four years, you get a patch for your letterman jacket and everything."
"Has anyone ever done that before?" Addie wondered with a laugh, but Arnold ceased to find the humor in such a situation.
"Bet that means Helga will be going," he muttered. "Since her new boyfriend is a junior."
"Man, you have got to let her go already!" Gerald piped up in exasperation. "It's not like you can swoop in and change what happened between you two."
"She has her own band now and everything," Nadine added. "She seems a lot happier now that she's spending time with Sid, Stinky, and Iggy."
"And Lila," Arnold chimed in. "Who she hates."
"How anyone could hate that girl is a mystery to me," Addie stated. "But Gerald is right. Instead of worrying about Helga, you need to get out and do something fun! Something different."
"And what is it you suggest?" He asked without much enthusiasm, though Addie pretended not to notice.
"What about a movie night?" She offered while looking between the other three members of the conversation. "Yeah! We could all go to the Cineplex and get one of those Double Feature passes. See two movies for the price of one, get popcorn, heckle a bad movie. You know... teenager stuff."
"Is that what you people from Minnesota do for fun?" Gerald leaned in and asked with mock sincerity.
Leaning in to match his position and attitude, she replied, "That or bowling. There's not much to do when you're stuck in three feet of snow."
"Bowling is an idea," Arnold mused with a shrug. "Haven't done that in a while."
"Oooooh! We could do bowling and a movie!" Addie announced with a slight bounce from where she sat. "Make a whole night of it!"
"What, like… band bonding?" Gerald asked. "Plus, Nadine, I'm sure."
"Because I'm the designated groupie apparently," Nadine mumbled, though the sentiment behind her words had little malice.
"How about this Friday?" Addie suggested next. "That way we can avoid the Fly Trap seeing as Pearls of Witticism is slated to perform…" Her voice trailed off as if fearful what bringing up the name would elicit from Arnold.
Instead of flinching at the name, Arnold merely glanced over to where Helga was laughing with Iggy at what appeared to be Sid's expense. "Sure," he sighed. "Guess it could be a fun distraction before Battle of the Bands."
"That's the spirit," Gerald encouraged with heavy sarcasm. "Guess we're going on a date together this weekend."
"Guess we're going on a date together, huh?" Addie teased with a bump of her shoulder against Arnold's.
As 'luck' would have it, within a matter of days the stomach flu had made its rounds through the halls of the ninth-grade wing, taking both Nadine and Gerald as hostages to their toilets. And since the plans to get together had already been made, Addie was determined to get Arnold out of his house and out of his head when it came to one Helga G. Pataki.
"I still don't know why we had to still do this," Arnold complained against his usual optimistic attitude. "If you really still wanted to hang out, you could have just come by the boarding house and – "
"No way, Arnold," she halted him, her hand raising like a stop sign. "All jokes aside, you and I both know that sitting and moping at home isn't going to do you any good. The only way to move forward is to fake it till you make it."
"Well, faking it at bowling should be pretty easy," Arnold admitted. "Because I suck at it."
"Oh, me too," Addie laughed while holding the door to the bowling alley open for Arnold. "That's why we're getting bumpers."
"Aren't kids only allowed to use those?"
Addie shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly. "Pretty sure they aren't going to kick you out for asking. Besides, we're technically still kids. At least that's what my parents are always telling me."
As they approached the counter, Arnold pulled out the money his grandpa had given him just before leaving the boarding house. Use it in good health, he told him. Or don't. As long as you don't go giving it to Kokoshka! That weasel already owes me and your father from our last poker night. Why we still play with that man is a mystery, Shortman. Almost as mysterious as whatever your grandma puts in that Navy casserole of hers...
Shaking his head as if to stop his grandfather's voice from ringing in his ears, Arnold set the money on the counter. "Just one lane, please," he told the cashier. "I'll take a size ten. Addie?"
The girl crossed her arms. "You're not paying for me, Arnold. I have my own money."
"I'd say the same, but my grandpa gave me this, so it really isn't me paying for anything." A small smile twitched on his lips. "Besides, thought you said this was a date."
"It's also the twenty-first century, smart guy," Addie responded in a lighthearted manner. "You know, my ancestors fought for my rights against a patriarch society."
"Are you two planning to pay, or what?" The cashier asked impatiently with a bored expression plastered on his face. "Cause I got other things I gotta do besides watching two teenagers flirt all night."
"We're not flirting," Arnold immediately insisted. "We're just friends and – "
"Look kid, I really don't care what you two are," the employee said. "I'm just here to do a job and pay back my mom for the operation bills I rang up after feeding her cats my leftovers."
"Wait, what?" Addie asked, though Arnold was already done with the conversation they'd found themselves in.
"I'm paying," He stated firmly; desperate to escape the awkward interaction. "Size ten for me, please."
"Size seven," Addie said, almost completely cutting off Arnold from his own response.
Nodding once, the young man leaned down to grab two pairs of shoes from the shelves below him. "There we are. That'll be 8.50."
Quickly sliding a ten over to the man, Arnold said, "Keep the change You know...for the cats."
In a monotone voice, the man simply replied, "You're too kind. Thunder Alley starts at 8. Have a striking good time."
As they walked away, Addie glanced over to Arnold and chuckled. "I get the feeling that guy really doesn't like his job."
"Or his mom's cats," Arnold added.
At the same time as the unlikely pair were plugging their names into the computer to begin their first round of bowling, Helga looked out at the crowd forming before the Pearls of Witticism took the Venus stage for their set.
"Criminy," she muttered more to herself than anyone else, "Rhonda sure has blown up lately."
"Gosh, Helga," Stinky said, "That's not very nice of you to say, even if it is about Rhonda."
"Well of course it's not nice," Helga retorted with a quick glance over her shoulder at the gangly teen. "When has she ever been nice to anyone? Pretty sure you get what you give out, Stink-O."
"Which one is Rhonda again?" Wolfgang asked while crouching down to plug something in.
"Black hair. Two o'clock." She smirked. "The only one wearing ridiculous heels to show dominance."
"Ahh, that one. She doesn't look fat to me."
"I didn't say fat," Helga insisted. "It was insinuated."
"What makes you say Rhonda got fat?" Sid wondered, though his question only agitated Helga further.
"I didn't say fat," she repeated angrily. "For cripes sake, do you dopes ever listen to me? I just said she's blown up since her stupid fight with Nadine. It was an observation."
"Fat or not," Iggy said with a shrug, "I think she looks hot."
Helga rolled her eyes at the statement. "Right. I forgot that boobs and ass are all that matter to your kind."
"Sheesh Helga. I reckon you're mighty irritable tonight," Stinky commented.
"That's one word for it," Sid muttered, to which Helga shot him an intense glare.
"What was that Bootsy?" She asked before taking a deep breath and closing her eyes. "Sorry. I'm just a little anxious, I guess. I didn't mean to turn into some goblin."
"Again, that's one word for it," Sid said, a toothy grin overtaking his face when Helga glared at him again.
"Is it about the song again?" Wolfgang questioned while standing up from what he had been doing. "Because I already told you – it's awesome."
"No," she answered softly, her eyes shifting to instinctively search the crowd for a certain blonde boy with an oddly shaped head.
"Christ," Wolfgang breathed. "It's not about that dweeby ex-boyfriend of yours, is it?"
Helga's head snapped to meet his narrowed eyes. "What makes you think I give a rat's ass what Hair Boy is up to?"
"That answer," he said blankly. "Look, babe, you gotta realize that he's no good for you, right? I understand you way better than he ever did, and you never have to worry about me hurting you like that."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Helga sighed with a wave of her hand. "Honestly, it's all probably just a little residual stage fright. This is the biggest crowd we've performed for."
"And Battle of the Bands will be even bigger," Wolfgang reminded. "So, you gotta focus up. All of you. Don't make me regret offering to put my good name on your loser band. You can still suck even if you do have killer lyrics."
"Ha ha," Helga said with mock humor. "C'mon. We'd better get up there before everyone gets bored waiting for us and leaves."
Stepping onto the stage to take their positions, miles away Arnold and Addie finished tying their bowling shoes and prepared for their first frame of the evening.
"I'm gonna go ask for them to put up the bumpers," Addie announced to Arnold who seemed to panic at the idea.
"Addie, please don't do that," he begged. "It's so... embarrassing."
"Oh, why don't you live a little, Arnold?" She placed her hands on her hips and shifted her weight to rest on one side of her body. "You don't really think that anyone cares what we're doing, do you?"
Looking around himself, Arnold shrugged. "I... I guess not."
"And what business does anyone have judging what we're doing?" She continued while leaning in slightly as if the change in position strengthened her argument. "We're all here to have fun...aren't we?"
"Yeah, but – "
"So, let's have fun, alright? You pick out your ball and I'll be right back!" Prancing away happily, Arnold let out a long sigh of defeat.
He wasn't in the mood for fun, even if he knew that Addie had the best of intentions. Part of him wondered if he'd ever start to feel better knowing that Helga was somewhere else acting erratically, but happy, with one Wolfgang Caudell.
What does he have that I don't have? He wondered while watching the same bored employee they'd encountered before pull up the bumpers on the sides of lane 23. Why would Helga go so off course all because of some stupid comment Gerald made?
Little did Arnold know that Gerald's comment was the furthest thing from Helga's mind.
"How we doing tonight, Hillwood?" she addressed the crowd from her microphone at the front of the stage. The sea of teenagers greeted Pearls of Witticism with unadulterated excitement and each of the members could feel the electricity of the crowd's energy charging the small, dark room.
"As you all probably know by now, we're Pearls of Witticism and we're planning to be the first winners of Battle of the Bands in a few weeks, what do you guys think?!"
Again, the crowd exploded in whoops and hollers that caused a sense of euphoria to swim through the veins of their bodies.
"So," Helga teased with a slight raise of her brow, "I thought that tonight would be a great night to test out our newest song… unless that is, you don't wanna hear it?"
This elicited a roar of booing intermingled with callouts begging for the new song to be heard. Helga grinned and looked behind herself to meet eyes with Sid, Iggy, and Stinky individually before her gaze found its way to Wolfgang standing just off-stage with his arms crossed.
The pair looked at one another for the briefest of seconds, Helga almost yearning for his consent to continue with the premier of her latest song. Uncrossing his one arm to give her a hearty 'thumbs-up' followed by a wink, Helga swallowed any leftover fear she had and returned her attention to the audience hanging on her every word.
"Then let's do it! "
"Let's do it!" Addie exclaimed when Arnold returned with his bowling ball – an eight-pounder that had hints of white swirled with a teal blue making the ball appear more like a marble than an object used to knock pins onto the ground.
Standing up from his spot beside the computer where they'd typed in their names, Arnold took his place at the front of the lane, ball in hand. He squinted his eyes at the triangle of pins before him, his focus fixed on the one at the very tip. Swinging his arm back, the ball went flying down the lane, crashing loudly into eight of the ten pins.
"Dang," Addie commented from behind him on one of the barstools. "You're better than I was expecting."
Arnold shrugged and twisted around on his heel to make his way towards the bowling ball retriever to prepare for his second half of the frame. "I was on a bowling league for a while in elementary school."
"And you actually liked it?" Addie asked, astounded. "Ma tried to get me on a league growing up, but I was always more pre-occupied with wandering around and watching other people bowl." She laughed in nostalgia at the memories of her long-ago bowling career. "I was always missing my frames."
"Were you any good when you did bowl?" Arnold wondered, his ball popping up at long last and he slid it around to find the three holes for his fingers.
"Are you kidding?" She replied in amusement. "Arnold, there's a reason I only ever use bumpers when I bowl."
"Guess I'll be seeing your skills soon enough?" He wondered on the backswing of his second shot, eliminating one of the remaining pins for a total score of nine.
"Skills is a loaded word," Addie remarked upon standing and walking towards Arnold to take his spot. "I prefer, 'Creative Movements'." Picking up her orange and white six-pound ball which she'd chosen because it reminded her of a dreamsicle, Addie walked with the ball in hand to the line at the front of the lane.
Chuckling at her strange behavior, Arnold called out, "What are you doing?"
She slid her feet on the shiny wooden floor, spreading her legs to a v-position. Once she was comfortable, Addie then dropped the ball down to hang it between her legs and began swinging it forward and backward in a controlled motion. "I'm bowling!" she hollered before letting go of the ball and watching it slowly spin down the lane, curving to run into one of the bumpers and then readjust to roll directly down the middle.
Addie stood still and watched intently as her ball made its way towards the tower of pins. As if it would give her an advantage, her hands motioned to the ball to turn ever so slightly for a guaranteed strike. Colliding with the pins, every last one fell down like they were perfectly positioned dominos waiting to collapse.
"Ha!" She exclaimed with a small hop in the air. "Beat that!"
"Let's see their dinky little band beat that!" Helga beamed once their set was over, and they exited the stage. "Did you hear them out there? I mean, damn, they were living for that new song!"
"Didn't I tell you it was a kickass song?" Wolfgang asked while picking her up in a giant hug and swinging her around once. "You guys are gonna kill that Battle of the Bands in January."
"We'd fucking better," Helga announced when her feet had touched the floor after Wolfgang set her down. "A few more practices of that song, and it'll be the best final song for a set this club has ever seen."
"Not that it's seen all that many," Sid noted, to which Helga faced him and pointed her index finger his way.
"If you practice that riff some more during the instrumental," she instructed, "you're gonna blow people away, Sid. I'm serious."
A large smile spread across his face at her compliment. "Thanks, Helga! Yeah, it's so much fun to play, like a little workout for my fingers. It felt so wicked awesome to hear everyone cheering during that part!"
"And those drums!" Helga continued, turning her attention to Iggy who was quietly leaning on one of the non-working speakers that sat backstage. "The crowd was already hyped before I could even start singing! That intro is bomb."
"The bassline helps," he responded, looking to Stinky with a grin. "The two of us just get started and by the time Sid hops in and then you start singing... I've never felt so excited during a song before."
"I reckon I woulda been dancing if I weren't already on the stage," Stinky added. "It sure was a great way to pre-miere that song."
"Alright, enough sap already," Wolfgang cut in, his arms crossed over his chest inadvertently showing off the strength in his large biceps. "Let's get our shit packed up and go for a celebratory slice at Slausen's."
Agreeing wholeheartedly, the band broke up to begin taking apart their instruments and amps, though Wolfgang stopped Helga before she could get too far. "Hey Pataki," he called out and she turned around at the sound of her name. "Can we talk for a sec?"
"Hey Arnold, do you think we could talk for a second?" Addie asked as the pair worked on sharing the ginormous plate of nachos they had ordered between games.
"Isn't that what we've been doing?" He replied while licking off some excess cheese that had dripped down his hand.
"Yeah, it's just..." her voice trailed off as she searched for the right words to say. "I kind of wanted to talk to you about how you've been feeling. You know. About the whole Helga thing."
Arnold focused his attention on picking off the black olives decorating his side of the nachos. "Thought the reason for getting out tonight was to not think about her."
"I know," Addie admitted, her own gaze shifting to look down at the many rings on her finger which she began to play with nervously. "But after you called me the other day – "
"Addie..."
But she went on without a second's pause. "I couldn't help but feel like maybe you need someone to talk to. Like... genuinely talk to. Besides Gerald, that is."
He thought about this for a moment, shrugging out his response. "I've never been one to open up a lot about my problems."
"That's probably because you're always so busy trying to fix everyone else's," Addie said bluntly, causing Arnold to turn away as if embarrassed someone had caught him. "Listen, I know we haven't known each other for all that long, but I think it could benefit you if you sorta... stopped trying to help everyone else and let someone help you for a change."
"Like you?" Arnold asked, his eyes meeting hers in an intense stare from across the high table.
"I can't really help if you won't let me, Arnold."
He nodded his head and reached out for another chip that was smothered in lukewarm nacho cheese. "I've known Helga my whole life," he started hesitantly. "She's always been kind of... cruel, but she isn't like that deep down. Not really."
Addie nodded while listening without interrupting or becoming distracted by the loud sounds of the bowling alley and its other patrons. Her attention was focused solely on him, and the heat of her gaze made Arnold slightly uncomfortable, though he felt at ease enough to tell her what was on his mind.
"She's this really soft-hearted person, just damaged is all." He glanced up to see if Addie was still paying attention, which she was, and he laughed to himself at what he'd just admitted. "She'd probably kill me if she knew I'd said that about her, but it's true."
"I take it she's the only person you've really opened up to, huh?"
"Not in so many words," he muttered and looked down, thinking about it a little harder before finally saying, "but I guess she's the only one I've really talked about the stuff we talked about with. If that makes any sense..."
"Sure, it makes sense," Addie casually replied. "I mean, you guys were dating. No matter how old you are, there's intimacy to some capacity. And intimacy is waaaaaay different than, say, your friendship with Gerald."
Arnold smirked. "Yeah. When I talk about this stuff with Gerald, it's like there's a gap between us or something. I don't know if it's because we're both guys and we aren't used to talking about feelings, or what. Getting him to talk with me about Phoebe is like pulling teeth sometimes."
"So, who do you talk to when you're hurt? Where do you go?"
He considered the few times in his life when he'd genuinely felt heartbroken or sad. "I don't know, my grandpa maybe. But things have been... different since my parents have been home."
"Different how?"
"I guess... I feel like there's a silent expectation to go to my parents because they're my parents?" The answer came out like a question he didn't know he was asking. "So, I kind of avoid talking to anyone because I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings..."
"Man, Arnold," Addie mused with a sad expression. "You really gotta learn how to be a better friend to yourself."
"Huh?"
"This whole time we've been talking, do you know that you haven't looked at me for longer than a second or two?" She told him. "Or that, everything you said was somehow attached to hurting other people's feelings, no matter how it made you feel? Everyone needs somebody to talk to about the hard stuff. The sad stuff. And if Helga was the only person that you really did that with, well, it's no wonder you're having such a hard time getting over her. You need to find someone to talk to openly. Someone who wants to hear your feelings instead of use it as a segue to talk about their own."
"Helga didn't do that though," Arnold protested, this time looking up to face Addie with confidence. "She always knew when something was wrong, and she genuinely cared about how I was feeling. I could tell. And if it's anybody who would rather listen to someone else's problems instead of talking about their own, it's Helga."
"Arnold," Addie's voice was soft, gentle almost. "I'm not saying that Helga wasn't all of those things. I'm just saying that she also isn't the only person in the entire world who will do that for you. Who wants to. Who cares about you."
For the first time in his young life, Arnold understood the way others felt when he gave them advice or helped them solve a problem. The clouds above him seemed to lift, a warmth beaming down to melt the heavy chunks of ice he imagined he'd been carrying around on his shoulders since the confusing break-up with Helga.
Addie was right. Helga may have been the first to show him that kind of love and support, but she wasn't the last person who would do that either.
Like grandpa had always told him growing up, there were always more fish in the sea. And if there weren't, he'd add with a lighthearted grin, you'd better find a different place to fish, or you'll die from starvation all alone in the woods. Unless there are berries. Or nuts. Oooh! Or those tiny little bugs that live in the ground. Great for protein, that is, if you can get over the fact that you're eating a bug!
Arnold shook his head to stop the voice of his grandfather from going off on an imaginary tangent inside his football-shaped skull.
"Yeah..." Arnold said, his brows furrowed as he thought about it some more. "Yeah, you're right!"
"Course I'm right," she chuckled while popping a cheese-covered chip into her mouth. "I speak from a lifetime of experience in the people-pleasing department and a lot of divorce-related child therapy."
"And that helped?"
"Eh, not really," she sighed. "Most it's done for me is figure out how to avoid arguing with people and write songs about my feelings instead."
Arnold frowned. "That doesn't sound very helpful. Or healthy."
"It is what it is," Addie stated without much inflection. "I've been doing it that way for the majority of my life, you know?"
The frown he once displayed soon flipped upside down into a soft smile. "Kinda sounds like you could use someone to talk openly with too."
Addie swallowed her food hard and inwardly went through the roster of friends and family that she felt she could talk to in such a manner. It was true, that the way she wrote things out instead of dealt with them outright had her feeling somewhat overwhelmed at times.
Out of all the people in her life, the only face that came to mind with whom she could share her innermost thoughts and feelings with was Nadine… but Nadine was a friend. As she'd pointed out with Gerald, friends couldn't reach the same level of love that a romantic relationship could. At least… Addie didn't think so.
What were those feelings like that she saw in the movies? Could it be that sort of bond she felt developing between herself and the football-headed boy in front of her? At the thought, Addie wondered if it was time that she tried to find her own romantic relationship. After all, if Arnold could have already found love at their age, why couldn't she? And why couldn't it be with someone like Arnold?
She could certainly choose worse people to have a crush on, the school was practically filled to the brim with questionable characters.
But as she looked into Arnold's kind, emerald eyes, Addie's heart skipped a beat.
Looking into Wolfgang's azure eyes, Helga's heart skipped a beat. "Sure, Wolfie," she answered, walking towards him where he stood. "What's up?"
"That new song… it's about that Arnold kid, isn't it?"
She crossed her arms and eyed the boy quizzically. "Yeah… Artists pull from personal experience all the time. It's part of the creative process. Write what you know and all that." At his silence, Helga half-laughed in confusion. "Why? You said you liked it…"
"And I do," he said instantly. "It's just – "
"Just what?"
"Well, haven't all of your songs been about him?" He pointed out in what sounded like sincerity. "You don't want people to find the band to be… predictable."
This newfound thought hit Helga hard on the head. While she'd been writing voraciously about her inner pain and emotions, she'd never stopped to think that her lyrics, her themes, were somewhat repetitious.
"You don't really think that people would get… bored of my music, do you?" She asked fearfully, and Wolfgang's face twisted into one that she couldn't read.
"All I'm saying babe, is maybe you should start writing about other stuff," he suggested, winking his eye her way. "You could write about new things going on in your life. You really wanna make the twerp jealous? Show him just how easily you've moved on to someone bigger and better."
"Bigger and better," she repeated thoughtfully. "That's definitely what you are, Wolfie, aren't you?"
"You're having fun, Arnold, aren't you?" Addie asked as she walked back from taking her turn down the lane. "We don't have to finish the game if you don't want to."
"No, I'm having… a great time, actually," he remarked in surprise at the notion. "Besides, we're on the last frame, anyway." Glancing around, his eyes caught sight of the clock, mere minutes from striking 8 o'clock. He looked up to meet Addies gaze and cleared his throat. "You know, thunder alley starts soon and I still have some money left over from grandpa... You wouldn't want to stay for another round, would you?"
Addie's smile grew to one that almost overtook her delicate facial features. "That'd be fun. Maybe I can show you my real talent… if you're lucky, that is."
"Your real talent?" Arnold asked with a laugh. "Is it that you're hiding a secret competitive nature? Am I about to get hustled?"
Her smile turned sour. "No hustling, and definitely no competition. Never been a big fan. I'd rather watch than participate."
"Then how did you ever get into performing?" The football-headed boy impulsively asked. "I mean, Battle of the Bands is coming up and that's a competition. The whole industry is competition."
"That's different," Addie said in a suddenly serious tone of voice. "If I'm playing a sport, the energy from the onlookers is like... like a thousand pounds of pressure. They're rooting for me and if I lose, then, well, everyone is disappointed." A wistful smile took over her face as she considered the alternative. "Playing music and performing, the audience is rooting with you. Their energy has no pressure for success. They're just there to enjoy what you're putting out and what you have to say, what you're trying to tell them. I think that's the beautiful thing about live performance, don't you?"
Arnold was too busy being hypnotized by the sparkle behind Addie's gaze when she talked about her passions for performing. Deep inside, he tried to fight the flutters of the butterflies now calling the pit of his stomach their home.
"Arnold?"
Blood rushed to his cheeks, and he looked down, his arm reaching up to rub nervously at the back of his neck. "So, uh, what's uh… what's your secret talent?"
Right as the question left his lips, the lights began to dim and were replaced with a dark blacklight illuminating designs that were once invisible in the carpet just moments before. Addie and Arnold looked at one another in excitement, the familiar voice of a very bored young man resounding through the speakers. The teenagers tried to hold back their laughter as he began reading his routine weekly announcement.
"It's Friday night, and we're doing what we do best here at the WonderBowl, the one, the only, Thunder Alley." A sound effect of thunder roared at the cue, and he paused for the noise and subsequent cheering to stop before he went on with his schpeel. "We're rolling in the weekend with lights, music, and half-price apps, so grab your ball and let the good times bowl."
Static replaced the man's voice followed by the loud booming of a song straight out of the past. Addie and Arnold both hopped to their feet with a renewed sense of enthusiasm.
I saw, I saw, your face, and WOW!
"No… way!" they said in unison, the two teens raced for their balls in the machine to begin their next round.
"Buckle up, Arnold" Addie said with a grin, ball in hand and multicolored lights dancing over her face. "I'm about to show you how to get a gutter ball with bumpers."
"So we're going to try to do bad?"
"Sure!" Addie exclaimed. "What's more fun than purposefully trying to be bad? I bet you I can bowl worse than you ever could."
This new concept of competition completely took the football-headed boy off-guard. Never in his life had he actively tried to do poorly at something, and the idea was somehow... thrilling.
Without a link of trepidation, Arnold pushed away all of his thoughts and embraced Addie's unique idea. Maybe this backwards competition under this party atmosphere was just what he needed to forget about his complicated feelings for Helga.
For the employees at Slausen's, locking up on time seemed like it may never come with the sudden flood of people to their lobby. At a quarter past ten on a Friday, the small shop bustled with teenagers, and Pearls of Witticism were just a few of the many indulging in a late-night snack before the weekend officially began.
"Hey, you guys," Stinky groaned while leaning back to lightly rub his stomach, "I'm mighty full."
"Then quit eating, already," Wolfgang ordered happily and reached across the table for another slice of pizza. "More for me, since I'm buying and all."
"Nobody said you had to pay, Wolfgang," Helga reminded him, but he waved her off with his slice before taking a large bite.
"I'm the only one with a real job around here," he explained, his mouth full of pizza as he talked.
"That's only on acounta you're older than us," Stinky argued. "Course, I still have loads of money from my Yahoo! Soda days."
"Like hell you do," Sid snapped back in between loud slurps of his chocolate milkshake. After he'd sucked up all the cup had left, he turned to address Wolfgang. "Don't listen to him, he's just jealous that he can't take his girlfriend out on a proper date like you can!"
"Damn right!" Wolfgang agreed, slinging an arm around Helga's shoulders, and pulled her into his chest tightly. "I know how to take care of a lady."
DINGALINGALING
The bell at the top of the front door chimed its familiar ring, and the party of teens turned around to gawk at whoever had entered the small shop.
"Oh no," Addie mumbled and looped an arm around Arnold's to begin dragging him back from where they'd came. "We… we should go."
"Why?" Arnold asked, though it didn't take him long to see why Addie was in a hurry to leave.
Arnold stared at Helga.
Helga stared at Arnold.
Both of them were equally shocked by the other's presence, but the world continued to turn beneath them and a series of fated events were in motion to occur.
"Well, well, well," Wolfgang said slowly, his figure rising from the table to tower over the rest of Pearls of Witticism below. "If it isn't the football-headed weenie and his equally-lame new girlfriend."
Arnold clenched his jaw, and Addie maintained her grip on him as if to silently send the reminder that he wasn't in this alone.
"Nice to see you, too, Wolfgang," Addie addressed the tall teen, her eyes glazing over the rest of the band where they sat around the table. "Pearls."
"Oh god," Iggy breathed out, "don't tell me that's what they're calling us…"
"Hey dude, the name was your idea," Sid reminded him, and the two glared at one another.
Meanwhile, the standoff continued between Helga, Arnold, and their two human shields.
"You guys missed one hell of a show tonight," Wolfgang boasted, and Helga turned away in a mixture of embarrassment and mild anger that her new beau was bragging so outright. "Might have benefited you to see exactly what you're up against for Battle of the Bands."
"We'll be just fine," Addie insisted with a smile, her grip tightening on Arnold even further and he silently questioned whether her arm enveloped around his was a comfort or a constraint. "I know that, at least for me, I'm more excited about performing than winning."
"That's exactly the kind of thing that losers say," Wolfgang chortled, the two victims of his taunting remained stoic without a single twitch from his hurtful comment.
"You can think what you want, Wolfgang," Arnold spoke up in a brave show of self-assuredness. "But frankly, I don't care what you think."
"Oh yeah?" Wolfgang practically growled under his breath, taking a single step towards the short man now sporting an antagonizing glare.
"Yea," Arnold retorted, clenching his fists at his side, and leaning into the small space that separated them. "The only thing I'm concerned about is the well-being of my friend. So... so you'd better play nice."
Helga's eyes widened at the words coming from his mouth.
As for Wolfgang, he merely laughed at the supposed threat. "Ooooooh," he whined in an overly sarcastic sing-song voice. "I'm really scared, fruit cup." Arnold's cheeks reddened and Wolfgang took joy in the embarrassment he'd caused. "Unlike you, football-face, I know how to be a good boyfriend to the girl you threw away. The only one who needs to worry about anything is you."
"Knock it off," Helga called out. "You're both acting ridiculous."
"He's not good for you, Helga," Arnold practically pleaded, and Addie sighed from behind him where she still held onto the football-headed boy's arm. "I know you're smarter than this. You deserve better than someone who – "
"Someone who supports me?" Helga countered, a fire now burning beneath her skin. "Someone who thinks I'm talented and wants me to succeed?"
"I always supported you, Helga –" He tried, but Helga wasn't about to let him get a word in edgewise.
"You know what, Arnold?" Helga began to laugh herself. "I really am over it. I'm over you, you got that? And you can act like you care about my well-being all you want, but I don't care. Go off with your goody-two-shoes girlfriend over there and I'll see you on the stage."
"Arnold, we should go," Addie whispered, pulling Arnold towards the door.
"You're the one who's no good for me, Arnold!" Helga yelled after him as he made his escape with Addie. "I'll show you! I'll show you that I don't need you or your dumb advice!"
Standing in his wake, Helga watched angrily as Addie disappeared from her sight with Arnold in tow.
"Holy shit Helga," Sid uttered with a shake of his head. "That…was… so totally awesome!"
"Really badass, G," Iggy agreed, though Stinky sat quietly, his eyes fixated ahead on the last remaining sips of his milkshake.
"Damn right it was badass," Wolfgang conceded, his arm slinking around her waist and pulling her body into his side. "Nobody fucks around with my girl, do they babe?"
Though Helga's eyes merely focused ahead on the now-empty spot Arnold had stood and so bravely confronted the person who was supposed to be her new love.
The person who, despite her complicated feelings of the past, had ignited something within her that made her feel no longer alone. That even though Arnold had walked out of her life with another girl, she would be alright as long as she had someone in her life.
I guess that someone is Wolfgang, now.
"I guess she really is with Wolfgang now, huh?" Arnold asked aloud as he and Addie walked down the sidewalk in the direction of their homes, just opposite of one another.
"Guess so," Addie replied as they neared her front door. "How do you feel about it?"
Arnold shrugged his shoulders and considered the question she'd posed. "Honestly, I don't know. Part of me is worried about her because she isn't as untouchable as she acts, but…"
"But?"
"But another part of me, especially after… that…. I guess another part of me realizes there's nothing I can do, and I just have to accept it. Move on."
Addie smiled warmly under the streetlamp lighting the surrounding area. "I don't think anyone should ever move on, Arnold. Moving on suggests that you forget. And if you forget, then you don't learn."
"That's true," He agreed, his eyes drifting upward from his feet to match Addie's eyeline. "So, maybe I should move forward then."
"That's a good start," she responded with a thoughtful expression. "I'm here if you need me. Just… promise me something?"
"What's that?"
"Don't backtrack," she said quietly. "If Helga is supposedly moving forward too, then you need to set your eyes on other things and people. Focusing on her and your relationship… it won't help anything. For either of you."
A soft twinkle sparkled behind Arnold's eyes. "How did you get to be… so… I don't know, wise?"
"Oh Arnold," Addie giggled, "you didn't honestly think that you were the only person our age who likes to help other people, did you?"
Yet again, bright red colored in his cheeks. "No, I uh… I guess not."
"Well," Addie sighed and turned around to look at the closed door leading into her home. "I should probably be heading inside. Ma gets worried if I'm not home by eleven."
"Yeah," he mumbled, somehow feeling so nervous that he reached up to rub at the back of his neck. "My parents are probably looking out the window right now… since we uh… since we live across the street from one another and all."
Smirking, Addie nodded her head once before sucking in a deep breath and leaning in to lightly give the boy a peck on his cheek. "Goodnight, Arnold."
Leaving him to ponder her gentle kiss still burning on his cheek, Addie wandered inside her house and Arnold turned around to walk across the street towards his.
It had been quite a night.
Both of the teenagers felt as though their heartstrings had been pulled in a thousand directions and the syncopation of it all left them exhausted and slightly confused. Had they both truly gotten over the other? Or were these new feelings for another simply a distraction in their ever-tumultuous teenage lives?
Ooh boy, I tell you, this was a TOUGH chapter to write! I really wanted it to feel back and forth to give off the illusion of syncopation, so I hope that came across well. Anyway, please review and lemme know what you think! We're almost to Battle of the Bands so get ready for some more lyrics and a LOT of drama, both expected and unexpected.
-Polka