Response to reviews:
The J.A.M. a.k.a. Numbu I: I think that's one of Arnold's weakness; his inability to say 'no'.
Esmeralda: I feel you and I do see an episode where Arnold starts to lose control over his ability to help people and it starts to spill over his private life and relationship.
Later in the evening…
Helga entered her 'home' later that evening after an exhausting journey back to the old beeper store that now houses the Patakis. She had dreaded to come back to this poor excuse of a home, so much so that she even opted to call Phoebe and hang out with her, even though she knew she was with Gerald. But alas, empathy and guilt once again crept up to her and forced her to abandon that idea.
"And...there!" Bob Pataki exclaimed as he finished the latest display of beepers for the customers. He had to climb up onto a chair in order to put the last beeper on top and even that wasn't enough. He ended up going on his tipy toes just to be able to accomplish his display.
"What a beauty!" He exclaimed quite proudly at his work.
Helga passed by and although heard him, all she did was merely roll her eyes at what she saw that latest attempt at self-denial.
"Hey Miriam." Helga dispassionately greeted her mother as she walked by here as she snored on the couch.
"Oh there you are Olga." Bob said once he heard her and climbed down. "Thanks for helping me put these beepers on display." He sarcastically said to her with a disappointed frown. "I had to do it all on my own. Took me freaking hours to get this display set up."
"I told you Bob," Helga annoyingly said to his father. "I went to hang out with Arnold tonight, which I told you in advance!"
"Well I don't remember you telling me anything about it!" Bob exclaimed back. "Was it a date?"
"Of course you don't." She angrily remarked, ignoring his last question and merely walked away from him.
"Hey hey hey hey! Listen here young lady." Bob exclaimed, prompting Helga to stop, roll her eyes and turn around to face him. "Setting up these displays will lure customers back into this store. Once they see the cheap discounts we are offering, they will come crawling back!"
Helga however wasn't impressed and merely glanced at the display of now relic devices that are history.
"You must be either blind or your business skills have deteriorated." Helga remarked. "Don't you see that no one uses beepers anymore, Bob! We have cell phones now. No worse; smart phones!" She exclaimed as she took out her cell now, itself an old model, to show to her father.
"Those phones are just part of a phase that will die out soon!" Bob stubbornly countered. "Like that stupid new computer coin that you can't feel, or even see. It's just a piece of code for Pete's sake! Bit something?"
"coin." Helga said as she rolled her eyes once again.
"Whatever." Bob just shrugged. "Just like crypto, smart phones are just a technological phase that everyone is going through. Once it dies out, people will realize that there is no better way to communicate than through beepers! I can see it already! People are laughing at me now, but I know that it is I who will have the last laugh. Mark my words!"
"No, they are just laughing at you, Bob." Helga said with a strong tone of disappointment, as well as sympathy for her own father.
This was nothing new. They had been arguing about this for months, but Bob remained stubborn and refused to part ways with both the product and his store. Even Arnold attempted to dissuade Bob from continuing to remain so attached with beepers. He and Helga attempted to show him the incredible new features smart phones provided but alas, even with this clear show case, the Football Head's attempts fell on deaf ears. Even when he was forced to sell their jewelry, then their furniture, then their life savings, then their home and moved to the store, Bob remained defiant and refused to give in to the inevitable and adapt to the changing times. It was anybody's guess why he is so hell-bent on remaining so attached to a piece of technology that has made its way to the history books and museums.
Helga didn't bother to wait for her father to respond and merely turned around to head to her room.
"Yeah? You just wait!" Bob yelled back. "I'll show you, I'll show all of you!"
Helga did not wish to continue with this conversation and just silently continued to head to her room, which was the janitor's closest. Once inside, she closed the door.
*Bang*
"Huh?! Wha?" The sudden bang woke Miriam up. "I'm up! I'm up!"
"Great." Bob sarcastically remarked. "Since you're awake, make us a meal would you? After spending so much time with these displays, I'm starving."
"Oh uh um…" The confused and still half-asleep Miriaum muttered. "Sure, B." And got up to head to the kitchen area to see what they had.
Helga meanwhile closed the door in front of her and leaned against it as she turned on the light She then sadly looked around at what had now been her room for some months now. A janitor's closet, a cold, depressing place, devoid of any sunlight, or colour. It was barely big enough to house herself, a sleeping bag, a few boxes that contained some of her clothes, books and a few of her personal belongings.
Only two people knew about her current situation and have seen her 'room'; Phoebe and Arnold. Helga was still not comfortable in letting Gerald know, and so made Phoebe and Arnold promise to not tell him. Even with Arnold she had serious trepidation about telling him. The only reason why she ended up telling him was because of his maturity and good heart.
She detested having to come 'home' to such conditions, but today's fiasco forced her to cut her procrastination short, which now brought her to a now more pressing matter.
"Stupid, Football Head." She angrily grumbled as she stomped around in her room.
"I don't even know if he is being selfish, or too selfless, which makes him selfish!" She continued to talk to herself. "Ugh, either way, he is spending too much being everyone's knight in shining armor when he should be only mine. Our relationship depends on him focusing on us at the moment! I've got to make him understand that and get him to stop with this crusade. He's not even getting paid for it! But how?"
Helga walked around her room, thinking on what she could do to make him see that their relationship requires him to dedicate more time to it.
"Crimeny, there's no other way but to just tell him about that 'thing' that needs to be considered." She spoke to herself again. "Our relationship is in a deep emotional imbalance and in order to make it right, Arnold needs to be emotionally brought up to speed with how he feels about me. AKA, he needs to be as madly in love with me as I am of him. But he can't do that unless he spends time with me! So, I must tell him how I really feel about him, how much I love him. It's the only way for him to realize how important this is, for both me and our relationship."
But then that was when Helga stopped walking.
"But...I can't." She sadly lamented. "I can't just walk up to him and tell how much I love the guy, how I dream about him every single day, not to mention how long I've been in love with him. What if it scares him? What if I make him feel I am pushing him to do something that he isn't ready to yet? What if he thinks I'm crazy and wants to…"
Helga couldn't finish that last sentence. Her stomach turned and her heart ached at the mere thought of having to depart from her beloved. The thought was too much to bear and it was something she was willing to prevent from happening… at all costs.
"I can't let that happen!" She defiantly exclaimed. "There must be another way!"
Helga spent the next several minutes trying to come up with some sort of way to tell Arnold without having to tell him.
"AARGGHH!" She growled in anger and frustration as she pulled her pigtails. "Nothing! I can't even ask Phoebe because she is dealing her own relationship. Plus, I don't want Gerald to know about this."
Helga then just sighed.
"Oh woe is me!" She then began to monologue. "Am I destined to live my life in the periphery of Arnold's shadow, a cast that will ne'er warm me, but dispel its cold cape over me, forever enthralling me to the whims of misery?"
"Say, that was good!" She said and quickly got her pink book so she could write what she just said.
"Nope. That's not gonna happen." She then said as she closed her pink book and threw it back down on the floor to the side.
"Oh well." She sighed. "Guess there is only one thing left to do."
Cringing already, she nevertheless opened her room door, went outside and headed to where Miriam was.
Helga stopped short just behind her mother, but she hesitated to even bother. The woman who was supposed to be her mother has repeatedly failed to help on her many issues. Quite surprisingly, she would have preferred to have asked Olga as she knew her older sister would have at least given her some advice. But she was still in Alaska, so that was not an option.
Helga groaned on having to do this, but having not been able to come up with a plan herself, she opted for this very last resort.
"Hey Miriam?" Helga rather softly called out.
"Oh hey hunny." Miriam said to her with a smile. "Dinner will be ready soon. I'm almost done making something."
"Great!" Helga attempted to give her a compliment without even bothering what she was making. She didn't want to know anyways.
"But I actually came because I need some...advice." She said as she swallowed hard.
"Oh? What about?" Miriam asked.
Helga wasn't sure if her mother was completely sober or not. But the mere fact that she was some how able to function in the kitchen area without breaking something gave her the confidence she needed.
"Well, I sort of have this issue with someone." Helga tried to explain. "You see, I sort of need to tell that someone how I feel about it, but I'm afraid of coming out too strong."
"Oh, oh!" Miriam exclaimed in surprise. "Is it a boy you like?"
Seeing her chance to tell her, Helga struggled to tell her about her and Arnold. Despite it had already been a few months, Helga had still not told her parents. Everyone else knew, including Arnold's family, save for hers. Apart from the fact that she wasn't sure how they would feel about her dating so young, she also didn't expect them to care about what goes on in her private life. And considering the way they have treated her, she didn't want them to.
"Um...no, not really." She lied. "It's with a friend and what I feel I need to say to him, may not be very ...nice." She had to really swallow hard when she said that word. "I'm afraid that what I need to say to him may upset him, but it's important that he knows. What do I do?"
"Oh hunny, it's quite simple, you know" Miriam said as she poured something into a bowl. "It's the 21st Century hunny. You don't need to, you know, hide your true feelings anymore."
Helga began to notice Miriam's disorientation resurfacing in her stature and voice and was beginning to regret ever asking her.
"What you need to do and march over to your friend and tell him what he deserves to hear."
Miriam then suddenly began to wobble a bit, but luckily maintained her stance. Not that it did Helga any good.
"But what if he takes it the wrong way?" Helga asked.
"Oh who cares, hunny." Miriam just shrugged it off. "If he is really your friend, he would take it. And if not, you can always find other friends. You are such a nice girl."
Helga stopped breathing for a second in complete astonishment when she heard her mother say that. It was a bitter reminder that, despite the years passing, she still had no idea who her daughter was, let alone what she was going through. Helga was grateful to even have a best friend, let alone friends, with a plural. But, Miriam wasn't done talking.
"And you know," She continued, "once he stops, uh, whining about it, you two can...you know um, what were we talking about again?"
Helga just let out a disappointed sigh.
"About my friend." She told her. "Thanks Miriam." She said with a disappointed tone, turned around and left.
"Oh, you're welcome hunny." She said a bit disorientatingly and went back to finishing dinner.
As Helga headed back, she glanced at her dad who was still setting up beeper displays. For a split second she thought about perhaps asking Bob for his advice, but she quickly pushed that idea away. Every time Helga attempted to approach him for advice, he would always brush her off. Now with him so preoccupied on trying to revitalize his failing business, Helga assumed he would do the same, now more than ever. And so she headed back to her room and closed the door behind her.
"Well that was a waste." She resentfully said to herself. "At least Miriam was sober enough to give me the advice to just tell Arnold the truth. But the whole point why I even asked her was to actually NOT do that!"
"But what else can I do? How else can I get his attention back towards me?" She lamented and sat down on the floor and began to think.
"Wait a minute!" She exclaimed when an idea popped into her head. "Of course! It's so obvious! To get Arnold's attention, I just need tell him that I have a problem and need his help. He said it himself he will dedicate all of his attention to me whenever I need to talk to him! What a simple, yet brilliant plan! Yaay!" She squealed in happiness.
The next morning…
Arnold was waiting for her at the beeper store. He had text messaged her last night, asking if she was alright and if he can meet up with her early in the morning. Helga responded back, accepting his offer to meet up, while confirming that she was doing alright. Not wanting to worry him too much, she failed to inform him that there was 'something' that was bothering her and she needed to speak to him. She opted to let him know the following morning, a mistake that will come back to haunt her.
By some miracle, her mother had managed to cook a decent dinner last night. Unfortunately, that did not follow suit with breakfast. Helga was barely able to muster any scraps that was eatable that morning, enough to prevent her from literally starving, an episode that only aggravated her already delicate situation. The only comfort she felt was the opportunity to meet up with her beloved, as well as set her plan in motion.
Helga exited the beeper store on that morning, ready to go. Arnold was just in front of the main entrance, waiting for her. As soon as she saw him,
Showtime. She thought.
"Morning Helga." Arnold greeted with a warm smile. However, he remained cautious as he believed Helga may still be upset about last evening.
Helga took a big breath and instantly changed her posture and facial feature to one of sadness, fatigue and resentment. Not surprisingly, Helga had no trouble looking at Arnold with annoyed frown, a fact that Arnold noticed.
"Hey." She just coldly greeted him and began to head to their usual meeting spot for the bus. Arnold followed suit.
"How was your morning?" Arnold asked her. "Got enough sleep?"
"That's a very stupid question,Arnold." She irritatingly replied. "I sleep in a freaking closet, how do you think I slept?! Enough with the small talk and spit out whatever it is you want to talk to me about." She demanded.
"Fair enough." Arnold said with a sigh. "Look Helga, I want to apologize to you over what happened yesterday. What I did was wrong and unfair. It was our date night and I should have committed to that instead of worrying about others. You have every reason to be mad at me-"
"You're right." Helga then quickly interrupted him. "I have every reason and I am still mad at you. I'd tell you that you better make up for it, but I don't want to be disappointed again. So I'm not going to."
Arnold wanted to protest and try and convince her to give him another chance. However, he refrained from doing that, thinking that Helga may see right through it and so perhaps baby steps were needed in order to regain her trust.
"Can I at least give you my tapioca pudding for lunch?" He offered.
"It's a start." She casually replied.
"Look Football Head." Helga then spoke again, proceeding to initiate her plan, just as they made it to the bus stop. "I'm not just mad or irritable about last night. I uh, didn't have a good night because-"
"Hey guys!" Arnold and Helga both heard a familiar enough call out to them, prompting them to stop what they talking.
It was Gerald, who had just arrived with Phoebe.
Ugh, you have got to be kidding me?! Helga angrily thought. You two just have to arrive now? Couldn't you have gone somewhere and made out or something?! Crimeny!
"Morning Gerald, morning Phoebe." Arnold greeted the couple.
"Morning Arnold, morning Helga." Phoebe happily greeted them.
"Morning Pheebs." Helga responded with a disapproving frown. "Hey Tall-hair boy." She greeted Gerald.
"Morning Helga." Gerald greeted her. "Looking beautiful as always." He teased her.
"Shut up." She said to him with an annoyed frown.
"How was your date last night?" Phoebe asked.
"Terrible." Helga flatly responded. "Football Head here ditched me."
"What?!" A shocked Arnold exclaimed. "No I didn't, Helga."
"Hmm hmm hm!" Gerald muttered. "Arnold my man, you got some guts. You not only ditched Helga G. Pataki, but managed to still be alive to tell the tale."
"Yes, you did!" Helga exclaimed back at Arnold, ignoring Gerald. "Just admit it Bucko, it'll ease your conscious AND it's a small step for getting back on my good side."
Arnold just sighed.
"I didn't really leave her in the cold." He then told his friends. "I got carried away again in helping other people and ended up ruining our date. So Helga just left as a result."
"Sounds like you ditched her." Gerald shocking agreed.
"I would concur to the same logic." Phoebe remarked.
"See?" Helga said to him. "Even they see it."
"Okay, fine." Arnold relented. "I ditched her and I"m sorry for that."
Just then, the bus pulled in and stopped right in front of them. The two couples, along with other kids made their way inside, paid their fare, and got underway to head to school.
Much to Helga's irritation, she could not initiate her plan due to Phoebe and Gerald being present, as well as some of their peers beginning to encroach on their space to harass Arnold with another wave of relentless questioning about their mundane problems. And Arnold, ever the good Samaritan, dare not shoosh them away.
I cannot believe this. Helga angrily thought to herself. He tells me he is sorry but once again leaves me hanging while he goes off being everyone's savior! This is getting out of control and really getting under my skin! I have to put a stop to this!
No longer able to take it, Helga gets off from her seat and attempted to approach Arnold. However, her pathway is soon blocked when a few kids got up from their seats to get closer to him.
"What the?!" She exclaimed. "Hey, move it!" She yelled at them, but the kids paid her no attention and even attempted to get in front by pushing other kids.
"Hey, I was here first!" One kid yelled at them. "Get back in line!"
"You snooze it, you lose it!" The kid replied back.
Helga looked around to try and find a way through, but it was no use. Either the pathway was blocked, or those on the sides were blocked by onlookers.
"Arnold." She attempted to get her attention, but the kids in front of her kids were being too noisy for him to hear her. "Arnold!" She attempted again, but again it was no use.
Realizing that it was pointless, she grunted but relented and went back to her seat.
"Oh, this is ridiculous!" She angrily exclaimed.
"Is everything alright, Helga?" Phoebe asked her.
"No, everything is not alright!" Helga snapped back at her. "I'm trying to have a meaningful conversation with that stupid Football Head, but everyone keeps butting in! And what's worse, Arnold is letting them!"
Phoebe instantly realized the seriousness of the situation and glanced at the crowd. Everyone was trying to be the first in line that it became impossible to even see Arnold.
"Do you wish for me and Gerald to have a talk wit h him?" Phoebe asked her.
"No." Helga just softly, but sadly replied. "This is something Arnold and I have to work on. You and Tall-hair boy have already done a lot for us. Thanks Pheebs. Sorry for snapping at you a moment ago."
"It's okay, Helga." Phoebe replied.
Helga made no further attempts to reach Arnold on the bus. She opted to waiting until they got off, but even by that time, the kids at their school became relentless. No sooner when they arrived at school and got off the bus when a new wave of kids that were quite literally waiting soon swarmed around him.
"Gggrrrr!" Helga angrily growled when she saw the new swarm huddling around him.
"Fine. I'll talk to him before class starts." She said to herself.
Helga made her way to her locker, got her things and then went to their classroom, but waited at the entrance for Arnold. Much to her fury, she ended up having to wait for him quite a while. While everyone else met up with their friends or significant others, Helga stood virtually alone. Not even Mr. Simmons was there to greet her. As the minutes went by, Helga began to feel her patient rapidly fading away. The more she was obligated to wait, the angrier she became.
"I swear," She angrily said to herself, "if that Football Head doesn't come here soon I'm going to rip him ap-"
"Hey, Helga." Arnold then suddenly said to her as he approached.
"Finally!" She exclaimed. "Where have you been?!"
"So sorry." Arnold apologized. "I got unexpectedly swamped by all of those kids."
"Unexpectedly, huh?" Helga remarked, not believing that. "And by that, you mean you just let them swarm all over you like locusts, right?"
"That's a pretty mean thing to say, Helga." Arnold countered. "They just need some help."
"Forget it, I don't want to hear about it." Helga interjected. "So, are you free now, or do I need to set up an appointment?"
"I'm all yours." Arnold replied.
"Good," She said. "Because I need to-"
*Rrrinngggg*
"Crimeny, are you kidding me?!" Helga angrily roared. "Can't I get some time alone with my boyfriend?!"
"It's okay, Helga." Arnold said. "You can tell me about it during lunch."
Helga was fuming and growled at the thought of having to wait until lunch in order to get some time alone with Arnold to initiate her plan. But as the kids all began to head to their classroom and on seeing Mr. Simmons, she had no other option.
"Fine!" She exclaimed and marched right into the room.
Lunchtime…
Finally it was lunch time and not a moment too soon. Helga had been waiting with growing impatience for it to begin so she can finally have some alone time with Arnold. But she needed to act fast.
"Let's go, quick!" She told Arnold as she instantly grabbed him the moment Mr. Simmons let the class go for lunch.
"Helga, wait!" Arnold exclaimed as he barely managed to get his belongings before Helga yanked him.
Helga wasted no time and ran straight out of the classroom and to the lunch room. She didn't even bother to wait for Phoebe and Gerald.
"Helga, can you slow down a bit?" Arnold asked as he struggled to keep up with Helga.
"No time!" She said. "We need to get to the lunch room before everyone else does.
"Hey Arnold!" A kid then suddenly called out to him. "I have a problem and I need your advice on-"
"Not to today, buster!" Helga interrupted him and ran past him, preventing Arnold from saying anything to the kid.
"Oh, Arnold!" Another kid called out. "Good thing you are here. What is your advice on-"
"He's on his lunch right now!" Helga yelled at the kid as they ran past her.
Helga made no attempt to slow down and continued to run down the hallway with her beloved. Come Hell or high water, she was determined to sitting down with Arnold to initiate her plan, or at the very least have lunch with him in private!
After a few more twists and turns, the couple finally made it to the lunchroom and went through the doors. They had ran past most of the kids, most of whom were just leaving their classrooms, so the lunchroom was still empty.
"We're early." She said with a smile. "Good."
After a brief pause, Helga saw an empty table on the far side of the room. Thinking that was the perfect place for them to have some privacy, she ran through the room and straight to that table, all awhile dragging Arnold along.
"Here." She said as they approached the table and moved a chair to allow Arnold to sit down, although in reality she pulled him down to it.
"Wait here and I'll get us our lunch." She said to him and immediately ran to the cafeteria where the staff that just brought out the food. Helga grabbed two trays and immediately went down the line to get their lunch meals. It took her only less than a minute.
"Perfect!" She happily exclaimed as the staff gave her their tapioca pudding. "I got our meals, the place is empty, and there's no one to-"
She stopped dead as she turned around. What she saw had shocked her so much that she was rendered motionless, barely managing to hang on to their lunch trays. She couldn't believe what she was seeing and had to blink a few times to see if she wasn't seeing things. But, the more she glanced at it, the more reality sank in. No sooner did she turn around to head back to their table did she see a swarm of kids from all grades, swarming over their table and Arnold.
Helga looked around the lunchroom and saw to her dismay, the room still being practically empty. Whoever entered the room went straight to find Arnold, not even bothering to get their lunch. Even now any kid entering the room headed straight toward the crowd, somehow knowing that Arnold was there, even though they were no longer able to see him.
Helga continued to stand there, stunned in shock at this. However, after finally taking the reality of it, her shock immediately gave way to outright anger. She began to frown hard, even snarl. She put their lunch trays on a table and instantly marched toward the crowd.
"That's it!" She declared. "I've had it with this!"
Readying her hands, as soon as she got there, she immediately began to grab any kid that was in her way and literally threw them to the side.
"Move it!" She yelled at them. "Get out of my way or else you lose something more than your lunch!" She warned another kid.
No longer caring, Helga almost indiscriminately pushed, pulled or shoved any kid that was her way to the side.
"Hey! I was here-" One kid gain to yelled at her.
"GGRR!" But Helga cowed him with her angry growl and stare, prompting the kid to whimper away in fright.
Finally, she managed to make her way through and reached Arnold, who despite the chaos and noise around him, was still calmly sitting on the same chair she left him on, talking to a fellow student.
"Arnold." She called out to him to get his attention.
"Hey Helga-" Arnold greeted her,
"Hey, I was first in line!" But was interrupted when a few students suddenly came in front of Helga and started pushing each other to get to Arnold first.
"Guys, one at a time, please." Arnold told the two students. "I'm already helping someone. You will just have to get in line and wait."
"Aw man!" One of the kids whined, but both went to the back of the line, where ever it was.
Not taking kindly on having been pushed aside like that, Helga aggressively attempted to get in, but was again pushed when other kids got in front.
"Hey!" She angrily called out to the new students that butted in. "Didn't you hear what he said?! Get back in line! Now!"
The students turned to face the person who was yelling at them and when they saw her angry face, conceded and did as they were told and tried to find the line.
"Arnold!" Helga again attempted to get his attention.
Arnold heard her and faced her, but couldn't see her as a few more students got in front of her. "Helga?" He called out to her.
"Um excuse me?" The student asked Arnold, "But I believe it is my turn to get your help."
"Oh right. Sorry." Arnold said and went back to the task at hand.
Now again growing more angry, Helga just went in between the students and pushed them hard to the aside.
"Arnold!" Helga yelled at him. "Get up! We're-" But she was again cut off at the amount of noise ongoing all around.
Students of all grades were pushing and shoving each other to be the first to talk to Arnold before heading off for lunch. Others just wanted to be around to listen to the latest juiciest gossip about their peers.
"What did you say, Helga?" Arnold asked, but again lost sight of her when other students came in front of him.
"Excuse me, but the line is over there." He directed them.
"Oh for Pete's sake!" Helga exclaimed and again got in front of Arnold.
"Arnold look," Helga again attempted to talk to him. "We need to leave here because I have something to tell you."
"What is it?" Arnold asked.
Helga stood there frozen, hesitating for a few seconds on whether or not tell him. Even though this was all part of her ploy to get his attention back to er, she was still conscious on revealing anything, regardless if it was true or not, about herself in front of others. But if she was ever going to get him back, she had to do it.
"I-I-" She again hesitated, but pushed herself to just it. "I have a pro-"
"Move it!" Another student suddenly exclaimed to another kid and moved in front of Helga, cutting her off. But she shoved her to the side again.
"I said I have a-" Helga again attempted to speak,
"Hey! I was here first!" The next kid in line called out to Arnold. "Why are you talking to her? She's not even in line!"
"She's my girlfriend and was trying to tell me something." Arnold calmly, but with a somewhat firm tone, explained to the kid. "Just give me a moment." He said and then directed his attention back to Helga, but somehow, she had vanished.
"Helga?" Arnold called out to her from among the noise.
Helga didn't hear him, but tried to get back in, only this time it was a bit harder to do since a bunch of more kids got in front of her.
Arnold looked around for a few seconds, but eventually relented and went back to listening to the next kid's issue.
"Arrgghh!" Helga then suddenly growled and using all of her strength, pushed right through the crowd.
She got very close to him, but was seeing the gap closing again as more students began to get in front of her.
"I said," Helga then exclaimed in another attempt to get his attention from the chaos, "I need you to come with me have I have a problem that I need your help in!"
"What?" Arnold asked. "You want to probe at something?"
Helga frustratingly slapped her face with her own hand, but then had to quickly shove more students as they attempted to get in front of her.
"I said I have a problem!" She yelled, but the noise only got louder.
"What's what at the bottom?" He asked.
"Problem!" She again yelled at him. "I have a problem that I need your help in!"
"Thanks! You're beautiful!" He called out to her,
"Aarrgghh! Crimeny!" She angrily exclaimed. "I said I have a-"
"Look Helga," Arnold then suddenly spoke with a hint of irritation in his voice. "I can't hear you right now. We'll talk later!" He then shooshed her away.
And without saying another word, redirected his attention back to the kid that was in front of the line.
Helga then instantly froze in utter shock. Even when other kids got in front of her, she was too stunned to attempt in moving them away. It wasn't just her. Her entire world froze! Then, like glass, it began to crack and then shatter into many pieces. It was then when she began to feel pain in her chest, close to her heart. The pain became to apparent that despite being frozen, she put her hand on her chest.
As more and more kids began to crowd around Arnold, Helga was still in a frozen trance, but reality soon began to trickle in; he had shooshed her away. He not only refused to listen to her, but had given his priority to other people other than her, even though he had promised to never do that to her. And to make maters worse, he humiliated her by doing it in front of the whole school!
The more of that reality tricked down, the more painful it became. And as the more pain she felt, the angrier she became. Instead of crying or wailing, her defense mechanism was to get angry. Her facial expression soon revealed that. The shock soon began to change, replacing it with a highly angry face. She began to clench her fists, as if she was readying herself for a fight and began to grind her teeth.
But instead of storming back inside the crowd to confront Arnold, or saying anything to him, Helga simply turned around and walked out of the lunchroom.
Outside the Lunchroom...
Helga angrily stormed out of the lunchroom and headed back to her locker. Instead of her usual huffing and puffing remarks, she remained eerily quiet throughout. Although still shocked, the affects of it had by this time waned and she had become well aware of what Arnold did to her. All she wanted to do right now was to get away from him as far as way possible, not only out of anger, but out of fear of what she might do to him if he was within her grasp.
She was so furious and hurt over what just happened that she had forgotten her lunch. She didn't care about that right now. The pain in her stomach dwarfed in comparison to what she was feeling in her chest.
I cannot believe he just did that. Helga thought to herself. He not only shooshed me away, but did it in front of everyone!
That last thought ignited a level of anger and resentment she hadn't felt in a long time. That prompted her to walk in faster, away from him.
Finally, she made it to her locker. She didn't really have anything inside that she needed. She just needed to go somewhere to get away from both him and others. She wanted to be alone.
Still reeling from the shock, she opened her locker and got some of her books out. However, the anger she was feeling finally reared its ugly head. She couldn't contain it anymore.
"Who in the heck does he think he is?!" She angrily yelled as she slammed her locker door shut. "How dare he shoosh me away like that! Me! His girlfriend!"
Helga then stomped around the hallway close to her locker. By this time, she didn't care if anyone was close by. If they were…
"He promised me he would always put me first before anyone else!" She continued to angrily yell. "He promised he would always be there for me whenever I needed help!" As she angrily stomped her foot on the ground.
"Well, I didn't really any help." She then calmly said. "But that's besides the point! I could have! He wouldn't have known!"
"So was all of that a lie?!" She exclaimed. "Did he just lie to my face?!"
"This is so selfish of him!" As she stomped around again. "Burying himself in other people's problems, not his!"
Then, Helga suddenly stopped as an idea soon got in her head. And then, she mischievously smiled...
"Alright Football Head." She said as cracked her knuckles with a grin. "If that's the way you want to play, two can play at this game, hehehehe."
This was how Helga dealt with these emotional issues. She didn't cry, or complain about it; she plotted.
"So," She then said to herself, "If he wants me to leave him alone, fine. I'll leave him alone."
"The plan is simple." She then spoke to herself as she walked around close to her locker. "If Arnold won't listen to me, then I'll just have to force him to. How? By making him think I am seeing someone else! He he he he he..."
"But," she continued, "I'm only trying to make him a bit jealous and get his attention, not make him think I'm cheating on him and not break his heart, even though that's not a bad idea either. Hm, maybe I should break the guy's heart, just a little bit. That'll teach him! But what's more, I don't want to create another Stinky scenario and make the guy get all googely eyes over me." Helga shuddered at the last time when she used Stinky to make Arnold jealous back in the fourth grade.
"So I just have to do it in a way that may seem to Arnold that I'm seeing someone, but in reality, we're just hanging out." She continued. "It's perfect! I kill two kids with one stone! I get Arnold's attention and get even with him, while make the whole scenario drama free!"
"Now I just need to find the right stooge…" She thought as she rubbed her chin.
Just then, further down the hallway, she saw Sid walking by, heading to his locker.
"Ugh, no!" She said in disgust. "Not Sid! The kid's too paranoid and God knows when was the last time he took a shower. Plus he's Arnold's friend, so that won't go down well."
Just then Stinky arrived to where Sid was and greeted him.
"Hell...no." She said when she saw him. "Tried that once, I'm not going to go do that again."
Just then Harold appeared and greeted both Sid and Stinky.
"Sure." She said. "If I want to get beaten to a pulp by Patty!" She exclaimed. "Plus I can't stand Pink boy."
Then Peapod Kid appeared as he walked down the hallway alone.
"Hm, no." Helga said, not at all impressed with him.
Then Eugene appeared down the hallway.
Helga saw him but didn't say anything and just waited.
"Whoa!" Eugene then suddenly exclaimed as he slipped on something wet on the floor, landed on the ground and slid through the hallway, passing Sid,Stinky and Harold and then Helga, until,
*Crash**Bump*
He crashed straight inside the janitor's closet and the broom and other cleaning products landed on top of him.
"HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!" Sid, Stinky and Harold all laughed at him while Helga just silently stood there and waited.
"I'm okay…" Eugene dazingly said as he appeared from the mess.
"Yup. That's why." She said. "Great, I just scratched off half of the boys in our class!" She worriedly exclaimed. "Who else can I ask?" As she pulled her pigtails.
Just then, she saw Rodrigo appearing down the hallway. Sid, Stinky and Harold had already left to the lunchroom, so the Latino Kid was alone. He went to the water fountain to grab a drink.
The moment Helga saw him, a huge 'eureka' moment happened in her mind.
"Him!" She excitedly exclaimed. "It'll be perfect! Rodrigo and I aren't friends , so I can get him to think that I want to be. And Arnold has already had a few feuds with him, so making him jealous with him wouldn't take too much of an effort and will finally get him pay attention to me! Great, now all I need is to find a way to befriend him."
Helga moved to the side, out of Rodrigo's sight and thought of a way on how to 'bond' with him.
"Wait a minute!" She softly exclaimed. "I know!" She finally thought of something.
She then made a mischievous smile before grabbing her things and quickly making her way towards Rodrigo.
Rodrigo was unaware of Helga and just continued to drink from the fountain. Helga just confidently and quietly made her way to him. When she finally reached him,
"Hey there, Latino boy!" She casually greeted him with a smile. "What's shaking and bacon?"
"Oh. Hey Helga." Rodrigo greeted her back as he finished drinking. "It's all yours." He said as he moved away from the water fountain and began to leave.
"Thanks" She said before quickly realizing what was happening. "Hey, wait a minute!" She called out to him, prompting him to stop and turn back around.
"I didn't come for a drink." She said to him. "I came here to talk to you."
"Oh okay." He casually said. "About what?"
Helga took a deep breath and readjusted her facial expression to one of 'sympathy' and 'regret'.
"Look," She then began. "I feel bad for the way we started out in September. I mean with you moving here from L.A. and all, me accusing you of things didn't really roll out the red carpet for you. So, believe it or not, I've been doing a lot of thinking on how to make it up to you."
"Really?" Rodrigo asked, surprised by this gestured, to which Helga nodded with a sympathetic look.
"That's really nice of you Helga." Said Rodrigo. "But you don't need to that. We already patched things up."
"I know. I just want to." She lied. "Call it a life lesson. Anyways, I heard you are into wrestling, so as a way to make it up you, I bought us two tickets to go Wrestlemania." As she then pulled out to two tickets for the event.
Helga could not believe her good luck. She had no intentions on making it up to Rodrigo, let alone giving me a free ticket to see one of the biggest sporting events. She was just using him.
When she heard that Hillwood was hosting Wrestlemania a few weeks ago, she quickly got on the phone and managed to buy two tickets, with the intention of taking Arnold who, although not a crazy wrestling fan, more or less found the sport entertaining. Coincidentally, one day during lunch she overheard Rodrigo complain to his friends how he didn't manage to get any tickets. This didn't surprise Helga as she herself barely managed to get hers. They sold out fast. But, she didn't care. As far as she was concerned, she got hers and that was all there was to it. With the event date drawing near, she had attempted to tell Arnold about it, but because he had been so preoccupied with his new career (unpaid) lately, Helga never got the chance tell him.
Despite the frustration, this eventually played right into Helga's hands and she was going to take full advantage of it.
Rodrigo meanwhile remained quiet and glanced at the tickets, as if he was trying to making sure if they were indeed real. To his surprise, they were!
"What about Arnold?" He asked her. "Doesn't he want to come with you?"
This caught Helga off guard, but she was prepared.
"Since I want us to start clean again, I'll be honest," She said, "I was originally going to take him. But seeing as how he's been really busy with his new 'career', I took a page from his book and gave it a positive twisting by inviting you. I figured it's the least I could do for all the trouble I caused you. That, and you would be a much better companion than some of the losers in our classroom."
Still surprised by the invitation, Rodrigo was again silent and just stared at the ticket.
"So, what do you say?" She asked him as she gave him an 'innocent' smile.
Despite the question, Rodrigo didn't answer and just continued staring at the ticket, a fact that started making Helga bit nervous.
Okay. She thought. This is getting awkward. He is just standing there. Is he going to answer me?
"Wow, thank you so much Helga!" Rodrigo finally exclaimed in excitement as he took his ticket. "I don't know what to say."
"You don't have to say anything to me." She modestly said to her. "But, there is a catch. You need to pay for any snacks we get there. These tickets weren't cheap, you know. Deal?"
"No problem, Helga." Rodrigo happily accepted. "I'd be happy to."
"Good." She said. "Oh and remember, this is not a date. You're going as my invitee. I'm already spoken for. Got it, bucko?" She warned him.
"Perish the thought." He said with a smile.
"Good." She said, satisfied with how her plan was slowly coming to fruition. "The event is this Saturday at 6pm. We'll meet up at the bus stop close to our homes one hour prior. Don't be late." She warned him.
"I won't." Rodrigo promised. "Thanks again, Helga. This is great!"
"It was my pleasure." She said to him with an almost mischievous smirk.
Later that same day…
It was the end of school and Helga was making her way out of the building and straight toward the bus.
"Helga!" A voice called out to her, prompting her to stop and turned around.
"Wait up!" Arnold said as he ran up to her.
Helga said nothing and just glanced him with a dispassionate look.
"Sorry about lunchtime." He apologized. "I couldn't hear anything you were trying to say to me and everyone was not going to leave us alone unless I help them."
Helga could have gone through the rest of her day without being reminded of that. But instead of letting her anger getting the best of her, she reminded herself of her plan to get even.
"It's okay. It was nothing important." She said to him, which surprised Arnold.
"Are you sure?" He asked. "It sounded like you really wanted to tell me something.
"Nah." She just calmly said. "I figured it out on my own and I was just trying to get you out of there."
"Well, okay." He said. "Anyways, I managed to help everyone and I told them that I will be busy this coming weekend. So, I'm all yours. Want did you want to do?" He asked.
Seeing this as her cue, Helga, with some eagerness to finally get even, responded. "Actually, I'm busy this weekend. I got two tickets to see Wrestlemania and I invited Rodrigo to come with."
"Oh, really?" A surprised Arnold said.
"Yeah." Helga responded. "I figured with you being busy and all you weren't going to be available to come with me and since I didn't want the ticket to go to waste, I invited Rodrigo instead. I figured it was the logical thing to do instead of waiting around for you."
"I guess." Arnold hesitatingly agreed, but wasn't 100% how he felt about that.
"So it's okay." She told him. "You can continue to be everyone's savior. I'll keep myself busy." As she rubbed Arnold's hair a bit hard, knocking his little blue hat, which he managed to grab mid-way.
Helga then turned around and left to head to the bus, leaving Arnold alone on the building's stoop, wondering about this newfound change in her and what did it all mean.
So I think by this point I think we can all agree Arnold definitely crossed a line here, lol.
