It's finally here. If I told you how much homework I do for AP Lit you'd be just as frustrated as I am. This quarter I read The Turn of The Screw, Othello, Oliver Twist, Emma, Frankenstein, and now Oedipus. My life sucks. So please enjoy. (I'm on break so I'll be posting sooner).

Chapter 7

"Thanks." Arnold turned his head back to the floor and waited for Helga to step in front of him to take him out.

She did just that, only she held her head up high and her hopes down low. This was all her fault. She tried to blame this on other people: Arnold, Janet, Cecile, but it all came back to her.

Once they made it to the back door, Helga noticed it was locked with Bob's key. "Criminy," she muttered.

"Is everything okay?" Arnold asked.

"I'm gonna have to unlock the front door. This one's locked."

Helga took a quick jog back to the front door. Alec had locked the place up and now the alarm system was activated. On the tiny screen next to the master lock Helga punched in the pass code: 100025569.

"Access denied," the annoying voice barked at her.

"No," Helga rolled her eyes and tried again: 100022559.

"Access denied."

Helga began to panic now, punching in random combinations in hope of it opening. The first thing Bob told her, and the first thing she does. Again she tried to open it, but there was no use. They were locked in.

"What wrong?" Arnold asked.

"Nothing!" Just then Helga felt Arnold's warm palm on her shoulder. "We're stuck."

"What?"

"We're stuck in here! I don't know the stupid password."

"Can't you call anyone to open the door?"

Helga walked back over to her counter. Right next to her book was her cellphone. She quickly dialed her father's number. At the third ring his voicemail came on. "This is Bob Pataki. Leave a message."

Helga sighed. "Hey Dad, it's Helga. Look I ugh. Never mind."

"Why didn't you leave a message?" Arnold asked.

"Because he's going to kill me if he finds out I forgot the code." And right then, the lights went completely out. "Criminy!"

"What just happened?"

"Automatic lights go out once the place gets locked up. I can't turn them on."

Arnold pulled out his cellphone to light their way to the chairs. Once they sat down next to each other Helga felt the urge to just burst into tears. "This isn't so bad Helga."

"Why do you have to do that?" Helga asked at the blurry image in front of her.

"What?"

"That! Why do you always have to be so optimistic about everything? We are stuck in this store for who knows how long, and there you go trying to see the bright side in everything."

"If I don't do it, who will?"

"How about we just stay silent for the rest of the unfortunate minutes we spend together?"

Arnold chuckled. "What ever you say, Helga."

"That's right, what ever I say."

They sat in silence for a while, awkwardly glancing at each other from time to time. Helga tried her best to stay mad at Arnold, but it was too hard for her. In the darkness, only a single patch of light hit his face, making him look mysteriously good looking. She held it in, this was not the time or place to be thinking about her love for Arnold.

In a few minutes her phone began to ring. On the screen Phoebe's name popped up. Helga quickly clicked the green button. "Hello?" Helga didn't hear a response from Phoebe, just some mumbling on the other side. She must have dialed by mistake. "Criminy."

"I like your ringtone."

Helga looked over to Arnold, where she could subtly see him smile. "Yeah?"

"She is the sunlight?"

"Right."

"It's nice."

"I suppose so. I've had it for years."

"Mind sending it to me?"

"Whatever floats your boat."

He smiled again. "See, you and Janet have more in common than you think."

Helga shook her head. "Just shut up before I really get mad."

"What did I do?"

"And you're still asking! Just shut your face."

Arnold looked down at the floor then in silence. Soon he began to hum the lyrics of the song. Eventually he sang. "She lives in a day dream, that I don't belong. She is the sunlight, the sun is gone."

"Just stop it. Please."

"Why are you so angry?"

She shook her head. "I wish you knew."

"Explain."

"Just...Do you really think Janet is the girl for you?"

"Since when do you care?"

"I don't."

"Then why ask?"

"I just want to know."

He took a moment to reply with a sigh. "I don't know. I have all the proof I need, but I guess it still doesn't feel right. It's like, it doesn't feel like it's her. I always thought that if Cecile was in front of me, I would know."

"Obviously not."

"What do you know?"

"Far more than you think."

"Care to share?"

"Not particularly."

"Well," he said as he reacher over to his bag. "Care to finish up this cake while we wait?" He took out the cake again and handed Helga her fork.

Helga took it again and picked at it around the strawberries. She didn't know exactly how long she would be waiting with him, but for now eating was a better thing to do than fighting. She didn't want to fight with him, but being mean to Arnold was like an addiction to her. She looked at him eating, even while he chewed he looked stunning. Arnold always had a way of looking like the only boy in the world.

"What are you looking at?" Arnold asked, breaking that trance Helga was on.

"Your ugly face, Football-Head."

"I should have seen that coming."

"Yeah, you should have."

"Does it kill you to say something nice to me for once?"

"No, something nice to me for once."

He gazed at her, trying to look angry, but soon fell into a fit of chuckling. With him, Helga began to laugh. They held each other's gaze as they laughed, as much as Helga wanted to, she just couldn't look away. As she looked into his eyes, she remembered that night years ago when she met Arnold as Cecile. Right then, it was as if she was wearing her Cecile disguise, she could feel herself being more comfortable around Arnold by the second. It was weird, it was like she couldn't find it in herself to be mad at him. "You have pretty eyes."

"What?" Arnold asked in surprise.

"You have pretty eyes. I'm being nice to you."

He smiled. "Thanks." He stared at her again, still smiling. "You know you look really beautiful when you smile."

Helga's jaw dropped slightly, she took in a breath, and closed her eyes for a second. From the outside she could heard soft patting of rain on the sidewalk. It must have just started when they were inside. She looked back over at Arnold, he was still smiling at her. "Why did you just call me that?"

"Call you what?" He asked.

"Beautiful."

"Because you are. I'm not going to lie just because we don't get along half the time."

Helga stood up from her seat and headed toward the back room. "I'm sorry, I need to step out for a second." Helga hurried out to that back. It was colder than she remembered, but felt none of it. She found a corner over by the lockers and sat down. Her head felt like ti was spinning. Arnold had just called her beautiful and all she wanted to do was cry. It was strange feeling that she couldn't explain, she was happy but she was torn. She felt a hot tear run down her cheek, it sicked her that she was doing this.

In a couple of minutes Arnold was standing in front of her. "Helga? What's going on?"

"Nothing."

"Are you crying."

"No, I'm fine."

"Helga, what's wrong with you?"

"Nothing is wrong, I am fine."

He looked at her closer. "You are crying. Why are you crying? Did I say something to offend you? Its seems like I do that a lot."

"Please, I'm fine."

Arnold walked over to her, standing only a few steps away from her. "You are crying. Helga, if I said anything, I am so sorry. Please don't cry."

Helga looked up at him, his hand was extended out to her. She took it, and he helped her up. Helga was almost up when she suddenly tripped on her own feet. Arnold caught her in his arms. Helga brought herself up again, this time she was inches away from him. She brought her eyes up to him and noticed the gentle curve of his lips in front of him.

Arnold looked down to see Helga bringing herself up to him. She was closer now, the tip on her nose, so close to his chin. She looked beautiful, even after she had cried. Arnold felt something he couldn't really explain, an urge of some sort. She was closer to him now, so close that her rosy lips brushed his as she stood up. But as they brushed on his, Arnold's lips took hold of Helga's. Arnold brought his hand to Helga's silky blonde hair, and pulled her closer. They closed their eyes letting their body take over them. Arnold kissed her gently, but Helga wrapped her arms around his neck to kiss him more passionately. They were even closer now: legs, stomachs, chests, and shoulders together. Yet that wasn't close enough for them. Arnold felt Helga's hands come down to his back, where her soft fingers brushed his tingling skin. She made her way back up his back, caressing his skin. They both reached over to the hem of his shirt and together, pulled it over his head. They took that time to catch some air, but Helga quickly pulled Arnold back to him, and he began to kiss her again. Arnold kept kissing her, even when it felt so wrong. This was Helga Pataki, she hated him, but here she was kissing him like none of that was true. He thought of janet for a moment, how they had something going on, but couldn't care less about it. It was true, kissing Helga was wrong, but it just felt so right. The way their lips moved together, like they were meant to be together.

Suddenly they jumped from the sound of thunder in the distance. Arnold looked at Helga, ready to hold her in his arms again, but she backed away in horror.

"What are you doing?" she asked in disgust. "What am I doing? What are we doing? This isn't happening. You're, you're suppose to be with Janet."

"You were the one that said Janet's not for me. I'm sorry if I offended you, but you got to admit you kissed me back."

"Don't ever repeat that in your life. That was nothing, just forget about it."

"You can't just forget something like that. You can't tell me you're going to forget this."

"I can tell you anything I want. This never happened." Helga headed out to the door, but half way there Arnold stopped her.

"So you're telling you didn't feel anything by that? Anything at all?"

Helga stopped, turned to look at him and said nothing. She just felt as if she was holding back more tears. "I'm out of here." She ran off then, and Arnold followed after her.

She was at the main door, trying to unlock it. The voice kept telling her the password was incorrect, but every time Helga tried over and over again.

"100222659," Helga mumbled, and again she was denied. "100025569."

"Access denied."

Helga grunted. "Let me out of here! Let me out! 100025560."

"Access denied."

As Helga continued to mumble the numbers, Arnold felt like he had heard them before. That patterns was more and more familiar. He ran back to the back room where he had left his shirt. He picked it up and ran back to Helga. Inside his shirt pocket he found a folded piece of paper that he had found in his room the night of his party. He opened it and looked at the number inside, and said, "100022569."

And the machine answered, "Access granted."

Helga looked at him in surprise. Arnold stated at her back, thinking that the only way he could have this number, was if Helga was in his room that night.

"So you're the real Cecile?" Arnold asked.

"What's it to you?"