Chapter 4

That morning Helga awoke to the sound of Bob's voice booming in the house. It was almost time for her to go to school, so she sluggishly got out of bed, feeling like her whole body was in pain. Helga liked to listen to music in the morning, so she turned her laptop on quickly. While her eyes finally opened entirely, the computer loaded and she had her music playing. She took the liberty of checking her email and facebook while she was at it. There weren't any new emails, and all she had on facebook was a stupid event invitation. If she could she would stay home today, but sadly there was too much to do.

Helga quickly got ready and headed for school. She grabbed a granola bar on her way out and her bag. She had a stupid lecture in government today by a college professor, and she wished she wouldn't fall asleep. The last time Helga dozed off in class she was sent to the principal's office and given detention. It wasn't her fault class was boring.

No one in class looked excited today, but girls looked extra bubbly. Maybe the professor was good looking, Helga hadn't seen him yet. Phoebe dashed in the room panting on her way to her seat next to Helga.

"Pheebs calm down, you still have five minute left."

"Helga! A-Arnold is l-looking for you."

Helga rose an eyebrow. "What the hell are you talking about?"

Phoebe handed Helga her cellphone with facebook on the screen. Phoebe directed her to her latest event invitation. "Find Cinderella?"

"Gerald told me about it. They're sending it to all the girls in school, to find you."

Helga stared at the screen again. There were three hundred girls on the invite list, and already some were commenting. Arnold was a handsome lad, there was no surprise girls were pretending to be Cecile. What was bringing Helga down was the fact that she couldn't see herself telling Arnold now. "I can't believe this is happening."

"But you're the real Cecile, these girls are nothing."

"I can't tell him now. What proof would I have? Three hundred girls know the name Cecile now. This is a disaster."

"Helga, I'm confident you can show Arnold you're Cecile. Just tell him about impersonating her in the fourth grade. No one else knows that."

"You're right Pheeebs. I can do this."

The bell rang just then. Mr. James tried to get the class settled for the lecture, and the professor came in. To the boy's liking she was a tall blonde beauty."Hello class, my name is Dr. Misa. I am a government professor at Brown University. Before I begin, I brought some Brown brochures if anyone would like one."

The first to stand for a brochure was the unbearable, Janet Buttermore. The genius was always trying to flaunt her brains. As she walked up, she flipped her long blonde braid behind her. "Thank you Dr. Misa. My mother went to Brown, and I cannot wait to be enrolled."

Helga rolled her eyes. "Yeah, neither can the rest of the school." The class started to giggle in unison. No one liked Janet, she was just too annoying.

"Would anyone else like one?" Dr. Misa asked.

"I'll take one," Helga said. She walked over to grab the paper. "I was actually thinking about Columbia, but I might give Brown a shot."

Janet shot her nose up in the air as she walked back to her seat behind Helga. "That top is a violation of the school dress code, Helga." Janet was pointing at Helga's navy blue tank top. "I would suggest you wear a sweater."

"I would suggest you fuck off, Four Eyes."

"Language!"

"Bite me!"
"Girls!" Mr. James yelled. "Please settle down."

Janet smiled from her seat, feeling as if she had won. Helga wanted nothing more than to go back there and yank her braid, or punch her face, but Janet wouldn't get the best of Helga. What she had to think about was Arnold and how Helga would tell him she was Cecile. "I'm telling Arnold today, Pheebs," Helga whispered.

"That's amazing, Helga," Phoebe replied.

"No talking ladies," Janet said in her snobby voice.

Helga turned to her. "Thanks Mom. Piss off."

"PATAKI!" Mr. James was looking straight at her now. "Out of my classroom. Now."

Helga didn't fight him, she grabbed her bag and stormed out, slamming the door behind her. Mr. James expected her to go straight to the main office, but Helga headed to the back stairwell of the school. No one used it much, it was mainly a good shortcut. She sat there for a while, she knew she would have detention that afternoon, and she couldn't just tell Arnold in study hall. She would just have to tell him tomorrow.

After school Arnold and Gerald headed to the boarding house to see how the event was going. So far there were fifteen girls saying they were Cecile. It was weird that so many would say that, now it would be harder to find the real one. "What about Kim St Clair?" Gerald asked him.

"Too preppy."

"Anna Henderson?"

"Too boring."

"Iridian Jaramillo?"

"She wears a triple XL gym uniform."

"Alright, well what about this girl, Janet Buttermore."

Arnold thought for a second. "Janet Buttermore?"

"She wrote," Gerald cleared his throat. "Wow, this some way to try to find me."

"Well she is blonde, and super smart..."

"But?"

"I don't think it can be her."

"More like you don't want it to be her."

"It's not that I don't want it to be her, I just..."

"Wanted it to be someone else?"

"No." He was lying, he knew he didn't want Cecile to be Janet, it couldn't be. Suddenly a message appeared on his wall from Janet herself.

"Hey look, read it."

"Arnold, I've been waiting years to be with you. I never believed you would search for me in this fashion. I think this is her man."

Arnold looked at it himself. "Janet Buttermore? It can't be Janet, Cecile is so sweet and funny. Janet is well...Janet."

"I know what you mean, Arnold, but who else would know that besides Cecile herself."

He was right, sadly. Still Arnold wondered if there would be someone else that knew that information. "I need to talk to her."

"Call her man."

Arnold did as he said and dialed the number on Janet's page. On the third ring she picked up.

"Janet Buttermore. How may I help you."

"Hi Janet, it's Arnold."

There was a slight pause. "Arnold, Arnold, Arnold. I was expecting your call. I missed you, that night with you was incredible."

Arnold took in a breath feeling both nervous and angry, both at himself and at the world. "Janet, I need to ask you one question."

"Go for it."

He exhaled. "When did I first meet you?"

"You don't trust me, Arnold?"

"I'm just making sure."

"Fourth grade, when I pretended to be the real Cecile."

Arnold's stomach dropped to the bottom of his body. So this was his Cecile, Janet Buttermore. He took a deep breath and tried to keep his cool. He finally found her, after years. Maybe Janet would end up being more like Cecile than she really was. She was smart, and smart, and well there wasn't much else he knew about Janet. But now he knew she was Cecile, and now he knew she was capable of being a sweet, caring, funny person. His search was finally over.

Helga dashed into the store as quickly as she could. She was already an hour late for work, and now she had to explain her detention to her dad. The only people on floor today were her and Alec, so as soon as she saw him helping five people at a time, she knew she was in trouble. Bob gave Helga a nice yell, but just let her get to work that instant. Once Alec saw her walk in he sent her a few of the customers to assist. In about forty-five minutes people were walking away with what they were looking for, mostly just phone cases or chargers.

"Why so late?" Alec asked once the last customer left the store.

"Detention."

"Fun. Don't ever get it again or I'll go drag you out of there."

"I'll keep that in mind next time."

"So, what's new?"

"I'm going to tell him."

"Arnold?"

"Yup."

"Are you sure?"

"Nope."

"You are really brave Helga."

"I'm actually not, believe it or not. But I know I have to tell him."

"Don't look now, your Casanova's coming."

Alec was right, Arnold was walking into the store right then. That was when Helga realized she wasn't ready for this. She ducked under the counter once more and hid. Alec tried his best to bring her back up, but there was no use. Arnold was already approaching him.

"Welcome to Big Bob's Cellphone Emporium. How may I be of assistance?"

"Hey, is Helga here today?"

Alec looked down. "Actually-" Helga punched him behind the knee. "She's not in. Hey aren't you the Cinderella guy?"

"Yup, that's me. Kinda."

"What do you mean?"

"I think I might have found her."

"Really? Who is it?"

Helga's heart started beating faster and faster. Arnold must have been here to tell her he knew. ARNOLD KNEW. Helga slowly started to stand up form the floor.

"Janet Buttermore."