Responses to reviews:

The J.A.M.: Lol

Veganmama: As always, your comments are much appreciated:)

Guest: Hopefully it's not too late.


Arnold woke up that morning feeling uneasy and anxious. He slept well last night, but only just barely. Something had been his mind for some time and it had been increasing in intensity.

It was becoming a routine occurrence. Every day he woke up he couldn't get rid of this unsettling feeling. At first he barely noticed, but the longer Helga continued to hang out with Rodrigo, the more unsettling he became. At first he couldn't understand why. Was he jealous? Of what? He couldn't be. He was actually happy for her. She made a new friend. That was a big deal. Although Helga hanged out with most kids in their class, he couldn't recall a time when she would hang out with either of them alone. It was only when they met up as a group to play ball, or went to the movies did she make any kind of effort to associate herself with people other than himself, Phoebe or even Gerald. So for her to start hanging out with someone, at her own will, was a big step in the right direction, especially given her situation at home. So yes, he knew he was happy for her, at least at first.

That feeling of hope, even pride for her however soon began to erode when she began to dedicate much of her time to him. At first he didn't mind it all, but with Helga turning down every offer he made to hang out with him, well that soon started to bother him. It was all she was doing during and after school.

As Arnold continued to get ready for school, he made no effort to slide away the feelings he was experiencing. It was by now becoming a constant companion, but one he still would have like to go away.

I know she wants to hang out with him and bond, Arnold thought as he went to wash himself. But, she could at least leave some time for us. I don't get it. A few weeks ago she was pleading with me to spend more time with her and now that I actually have some time, she just brushes me away to spend time with...him.

The thought of Rodrigo creeping up in his mind began to cause a series case of anger and resentment within him. But he just poured cold water over his face to cool down, which did the trick. As soon as he was done, he made his way back up to his room to get ready and get his backpack before he headed downstairs.

It just doesn't make any sense. He thought. What does she want? Does she even want to still be with me?

That last thought caused Arnold to freeze and instantly caused his anxiety to reach a whole new level. Although surprised by this, the thought of them breaking up caused this pain in his chest that he hadn't felt in a while.

No, no, no. He thought as he shook his head. That's not going to happen. I know Helga. If she really wanted to break up with me, she would have told me already. He tried to reassure himself.

At least that thought gave some sort of assurance, enough for him to start walking again.

She's not breaking up with me. He said to himself. She is just busy trying to be friends with Rodrigo, that's all. This is a big step for her and I know she knows that.

I'll try again and ask her to hang out with me later. He thought.

Sometime later at school…

Helga had arrived at school and was at her locker. After putting in her combination, she unlocked it and opened it. In it had many photos of her beloved Arnold throughout her locker. And on the door was a mirror. Helga wasn't the one who put it there. It came with it when she was assigned to that locker. And she normally didn't bother to look at herself with it, but today something caused her to eye on her reflection.

"Yikes!" She exclaimed when she said how messy her hair was.

Helga slept well the night prior, but her sleeping bag was becoming annoying, as rubbing her head with it cause electricity to spike through her hair up, causing it to become untangled and messy..

"I cannot walk around looking like this." She said to herself. "We got baseball practice after school and I need to be looking sharp! Can't have my hair get in the way."

She then took out a brush from her backpack, undid her pigtails and even her pink bow and began to brush it. After only doing a few strokes, she saw Arnold's reflection in the mirror.

"Hey Helga." Arnold greeted her with a smile.

"Hey." She just nonchalantly said as she continued to brush her hair.

"You're...brushing your hair?" He asked as soon as he realized what Helga was doing.

"Yeah, you got a problem with that?" She asked him with a suspicious look through the mirror, which Arnold saw her face.

"Not at all." He said. "It's just that, well this is the first time I've seen your hair down. It looks beautiful."

Helga would have appreciated his compliment, but her full attention was at her hair, as it was very tangled, so much so that she had to literally pull it hard, causing her pain. And so, she didn't hear him.

Arnold however misinterpreted her silence to mean that his compliment meant nothing to her, not even a dent, which he took it as a very bad sign…

"Oh um," he nervously went to the point, "I was wondering if you are free to have lunch together?"

"Ouch!" Helga exclaimed as she accidentally pulled some hair out, but she this time heard him. "Sorry, but can't." She grunted. "I got a – ouch! - a date with – dang it! - Latino boy."

"Rodrigo?" A stunned Arnold asked. He couldn't believe what he just heard. And what did she mean by 'date'? "Didn't you hang out with them yesterday? And the day before?"

"Don't you have poor, defenseless souls to save? Ouch! Stupid hair." She just countered with a question of her own. "I'm giving you all the time you want now, so use it."

Arnold however said nothing back and just stood there in utter shock. His face said it all. He felt his heart sink right to his stomach when he realized what Helga was doing; she was prepping herself for Rodrigo!

"Darn this tangled hair!" Helga angrily exclaimed. "I gotta look good tonight! Can't go out into the field looking like a homeless sap!"

That last comment was another heartbreaking blow to Arnold. Thinking she was talking about her date with Rodrigo, he slumped more into sadness and was now feeling sick.

"Anyhoo, you got something else to say?" Helga then turned around and asked him. "I need to head over to the bathroom. This stupid brush isn't working."

"No…" Arnold very sadly replied.

"Great. I'll catch ya later." She said as she hurriedly closed her locker and headed to the bathroom, not realizing the deep sadness that was all over Arnold's face.

Arnold wanted to desperately get her to stop so they could talk things through. Something needed to be done. Helga was quite literally walking away from his life. But something prevented him from uttering anything. It may have been the shock, or that he was feeling so many things simultaneously, but Arnold sensed something else. He couldn't put his finger on it, but it was rendering him silent and still.

Why can't I say anything? He frustratingly thought to himself. I need to talk to her, but I'm getting this funny feeling that I shouldn't…

Feeling sad and now utterly confused, Arnold said nothing and just watched Helga leave. After she was gone, with nothing else left for him, he then sadly turned around and made his way to class.

Later that day...after school…

Once school had ended, Helga met up with everyone else at Gerald Field, as scheduled. Luckily for her, she didn't have to wait long. Knowing Helga despised tardiness, everyone made their way as quickly as possible. Even Rodrigo was there on time.

"Good." Helga addressed everyone as she spit out a spit. "Everyone's here. Now let's get this game started. We don't have a lot of time before the sun goes-"

Helga then stopped talking when she noticed that someone of utter important to the team and to her was not with them.

"Hey! Where's Football Head?" Helga irritatingly asked. "Didn't he remember that we have practice today?"

Everyone looked around to confirm that Arnold, much to everyone's surprise, was indeed not present.

"This is ridiculous!" Helga angrily exclaimed as she threw her baseball mitten to the ground. "Arnold's our best batter. We need him for practice!"

"Didn't Arnold tell you, Helga?" Gerald then stepped forward.

"Tell me what?" Helga asked him, still irritated.

"He won't be practicing with us today." Gerald explained. "He said he wasn't feeling well."

"That's nonsense." Helga countered. "I saw him this morning and he was fine."

"Well something must have happened between the morning and now." Said Gerald. "He told me right after the bell rang that he didn't any energy to come for practice and I believed him. The guy looked like a total wreck, like something hit and broken him into a million pieces."

That explanation made everyone in the group a bit worried. Even Helga was taken aback from this news and let go of her angry facial expression and became a bit worried. She even wondered if she should cancel practice and head straight to the boarding house to find out what's wrong.

"Is Arnold going to be alright?" Sid asked Gerald.

"Yeah, I'm sure he's gonna be fine." Gerald casually responded. "It might be a cold or something that he caught. It is that time of season."

Gerald's casual response gave Helga some confidence in the notion that it was not serious. Although she still found it a bit suspicious, this was their last baseball game of the year. It will be another 7 months before the weather would be warm enough for them to play game. And besides, if Arnold really did catch a cold, it was probably best if she maintained a distance. The last thing she needed was to get sick herself.

"Good to hear." Helga finally said. "Now let's play ball!" She declared.

The rest of the group began to divide themselves into teams and get into position so they could play.

The next day…

Arnold woke up the next day with barely the strength to get out of bed. Since his talk with Helga yesterday, his energy level had been so low that he had a difficult time listening in class. He was confused by what he was feeling, but if he had to describe it, he was feeling really fatigued and sad. Indeed, it was so strong that Arnold barely had the energy to make his way back home. There was no way he would have been able to play baseball, even if he wanted to, which he didn't. All he wanted to do was just go home and crawl into bed.

Despite his inability to describe what he was feeling, he knew where it was coming from.

I'm losing her...He sadly thought as he got out of bed and put his clothes on, not bothering to even shower.

That's all he was able to think about.

Arnold was surprised by how strongly this was affecting her. Although he knew he cared for her, he didn't know it ran that deep. They only got together last summer and even after they returned from San Lorenzo, they didn't immediately hit it off. It was a very gradual process that only became apparent close to the start of school and it even some more time after that for Helga to finally make it publicly known. Given that, he hadn't expected for him to feel this deep about her. He wasn't convinced it was love, but it was definitely something strong, at least enough for him to feel so miserable.

Arnold headed to the bathroom to relieve himself, after which he went to the sink to freshen and clean up.

What am I going to do? He thought as he washed his hand. Is this how this is going to end? We only just started dating. How could she just stop liking me so sudden?

Despite what many people believed, Arnold wasn't as dense as people thought he was. He saw early on that Helga was more emotionally involved in their relationship than he was. In other words, he knew she liked him more than he liked her. But he wasn't sure just how far off that gap was. He reasoned Helga must have liked him for some time, probably only a year or two, and so didn't think it was that big. Whatever the case, he reasoned that in order for this to work, they both needed to take things slowly, one step at a step. Only, he only very recently realized that he had been slagging behind. Yes, Helga did point that out to him, but her vagueness didn't really shed any light on just how far behind he really was in their relationship. Not to mention that he still had no clue what this 'thing that needs to be considered' was all about.

But even if he did fail to move up to speed, he was still dumbfounded at how quickly Helga seemingly lost all interest in him and was already moving on.

What am I going to do? He sadly said to himself in thought. What can I do? She clearly likes Rodrigo now.

Arnold then stopped washing himself and glanced at his own reflection in the mirror.

Doesn't she? He thought. I mean, she was prepping herself to meet him yesterday. But then, how did she so quickly lose interest in me? It was only this month that she was pleading with me to spend more time with her. And when I didn't, she went and found someone else? Can people really fall out of like 'like' that quick and move on?

Arnold had his doubts about that. Based on his own experience, there was no way Helga could have so easily stopped like 'liking' him. Yes, she was a deceive person, but even if she couldn't have simply stopped liking him at her own will. If she did, then she never really liked 'liked' him.

Although that did sound logical, given that she was ignoring him for some time, it didn't bring that much confidence. Just then, he remembered.

Her text! He thought. She sent me a text yesterday asking me how I'm doing. Does that mean she still cares about me? It must be. Why else would she bother to send me one?

All of this going back and forward made him all the more confused and it was starting to give him a headache.

"No!" He declared as he hit the sink with his fist. "I'm not going to give up so easily! If Helga really is starting to like Rodrigo, then I'll just have to win her back!"

*Knock**Knock*

"Hey Arnold!" Oskar called out from the outdoor. "What's taking you so long? Some of us need our hour long shower here."

"Be right out!" Arnold replied as he quickly finished off, dried his face and unlocked the door and headed out to put his plan in motion.

Later that same morning…

Helga was at her locker getting her books and putting her coat away when she heard a familiar voice.

"Good morning Helga." Phoebe greeted her best friend with a smile.

"Hey Pheebs." Helga casually greeted her with an actual small smile. "Hows it going?"

"Very well, thank you." Phoebe said whilst noticing she was in a good mood; a rarity. "Helga," She then said a bit nervously, "I would like apologize to you."

"About what?" Helga asked as she closed her locker and was heading toward class.

"About not dedicating enough of my time in hanging out with you." Phoebe explained. "I want you to know that I have not been ignoring you. It's just that, well being in a boyfriend and girlfriend relationship for the first time, it's a whole new experience and I've been wanting to cement my relationship-"

"Oh pish posh Pheebs." Helga than interjected. "You don't need to apologize about anything."

"I don't?" A somewhat confused Phoebe asked.

Helga just shook her head as she wrapped her arm around her.

"You've been doing what you need to do with Tall-hair boy and I completely understand that. This whole relationship thing is new for the both of us and if you really like him, it needs to be taken seriously and with extreme consideration."

"Well, I would agree so." Phoebe said.

"So you just continue doing what you need to do." Helga said as she gave Phoebe a gentle tap on her back. "I'm fine."

Phoebe felt relieved to hear Helga say that. She initially thought Helga would also be occupied in cementing her relationship with Arnold. But when it became clear that he had his attention elsewhere, she realized Helga would feel left out. However, due to her occupation with Gerald, Phoebe's response had been slow, with even at first not noticing that Helga and Arnold were becoming distant. Thus she feared Helga was becoming resentful, even jealous of her.

"I'm glad to hear you say that, Helga." Phoebe said with a smile. "Thank you for understanding."

"Don't sweat it." She said as she then took her arm off and thinking they were done talking, began to walk away.

"Oh, Helga!" Phoebe called out to her. "I'm actually free today, so I was wondering if we could hang out? It has been a while."

"Oh gee Pheebs, I would love to." Helga said. "But I promised I would meet up with Rodrigo later today."

"Rodrigo?" A dismayed Phoebe remarked. "You've…been becoming very acquainted with him." She remarked with some resentment.

"Hm, now that I think about it, you're right." Helga agreed. "But I shouldn't be surprised. Him and I hit it off like that." As she snapped her fingers.

"You...have?" Phoebe said as she sank further into despair.

"Oh yeah." Helga said, completely oblivious as to how Phoebe was feeling. "We've got a lot of things in common. We even like wrestling. No, scratch that. We like the same wrestler! I can't remember ever getting along this well with anyone. Oh, except you of course."

It was a good thing Helga at least acknowledged Phoebe. But that did little to dissipate the growing anger and resentment.

"So, we'll take a rain-check?" Helga asked.

"Yes..."Phoebe struggled to agree with a smile on her face. "We'll take a rain-check."

"You sure?" Helga asked.

"Yes, not to worry Helga." Phoebe replied with a 'smile' on her face.

"Great, thanks for understanding." Helga said as she then headed off to class, leaving a dismayed and lost Phoebe in the hallway.

Later that same day…

School had finally ended and Helga was at her locker getting her stuff as fast as she could so she could meet up with Rodrigo. She would have been on her way had she not heard a familiar voice calling her name.

"Hi Helga." Arnold greeted her from behind.

"Hey Football Head." Helga warmly greeted her. "What's bobbling? You know, besides your head. Ha ha ha ha!" She laughed.

Arnold was a bit surprised by her joke. It had been a while since she took a crack at him. He realized he must have caught her in a rare good mood.

"Funny, Helga." Arnold sarcastically said before getting to the point. "Listen, I was wondering if we can go to the movies tonight. We never got the chance to watch Space Aliens Part IV."

"Can't. I'm going with Rodrigo." She just replied.

"Again?" An annoyed Arnold remarked with a frown and now losing his patience. "Helga, don't you think you've been hanging out a little bit too much with him?"

"Don't YOU think you haven't been helping enough people lately?" Helga shot back. "What's your problem, anyway? Why are you all of a sudden hassling me about going out? Is it because of Rodrigo?" She asked him.

"What do you mean?" Arnold asked her.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were...jealous." She somewhat taunted him with a smirked.

"I'm not jealous." Arnold countered. "I just think you've been spending too much time with him and not enough time in us."

"What does it matter to you?" She rhetorically said to him. "I'm not going to be sitting around waiting for you to find time for me. Who do you think I am? I am Helga G. Pataki and I don't wait for anyone, not even for you."

That last part didn't sit well with Arnold at all. It just further played into his fears that Helga was really moving on.

"And as I told you before," She continued as she closed her locker. "We need some time apart. So you can go off and doing whatever you want because right now I gotta go and meet up with Rodrigo. Ironically, I'm late."

"But Helga," Arnold wanted to protest, but Helga was having none of it. Not wanting to repeat herself or get into an argument, she put her coat on and headed outside.

Arnold could do nothing except watch her leave through the hallway and then out the door.

This was not looking good. It was becoming clear to him that Helga was more inclined to hang out with Rodrigo than with him. It made him feel not only resentful, but even rejected. Despite his attempts, Helga seem to have no interest in hanging out with him. However, instead of feeling defeated, Arnold was more resolved than ever.

I'm not going to give up. He said in thought. I'm going to keep trying.

As the next few days and weeks rolled by, Arnold attempted to approach Helga to ask her to hang out several times. But each time she declined his offer, citing either being busy at home, or as what got under Arnold's skin, hanging out with Rodrigo. However, Helga did make one exception and accepted his offer to have lunch together.

Arnold was ecstatic by her acceptance and although they had a nice time together, any hopes he had were almost immediately dashed the next day when Helga reverted back to basically ignoring him.

Well, she didn't exactly ignore him. She was willing to talk to him via phone or text message, even sometime when heading to school together. But when it came to actually spending any time together she would often refuse, citing her schedule to be busy.

Helga meanwhile ended up keeping her promise to Phoebe and hanged out with her sometime after meeting up with Rodrigo. This only made the situation worse for Arnold as it further confirmed that she was not at all interested in him. From his perspective, it was looking as if she was pushing him away, but was doing it slowly so as to go easy on him.

Arnold however remained defiant, if not in denial and over the next several days, attempted to ask her to hang out after school. However each time Helga again declined his invitation. This only caused further anger and frustration in Arnold, but instead of making it known to Helga, he instead kept it quiet. He figured that attempting to argue with Helga would only aggravate the situation even more and that was the last thing he wanted.

Helga meanwhile was finding his constant attempts annoying. But, trying to be patient, simply let him down as gently as possible.

This rather awkward standoff and lack of communication between the two didn't actually help their relationship. Quite the opposite in fact. The frequency of how much they texted message each other began to decrease as a result. This almost pushed Arnold over the edge when he would text her, waiting for many agonizing hours, only to hear back from her saying that she had just gotten home after spending time with Rodrigo. At one point, Arnold became so infuriated that he threw his smart phone across the room, almost breaking it.

Finally, after many attempts of trying to get through to Helga, Arnold began to grow into despair. Realizing that his worst fears were coming true, he began to lament as reality finally sinking in.

She broke up with me. Arnold sadly thought. She doesn't like 'like' me anymore…

Arnold had to use every ounce of his strength to find some sort of hope, but he had nothing to back it up, other than the fact that Helga hadn't officially told him that they were through. That really confused him. He had only ever considered her to be a decisive person and so found it dumbfounding that she hadn't broken up with him.

Maybe she just doesn't want to hurt me. He thought. That has to be it. Why bother dragging me around like this, unless she doesn't have the heart to do it?

Arnold just sadly slumped on his chair in class in utter sadness.

I can't keep denying this. He thought. All the signs there are; she clearly likes Rodrigo now.

Desperate for some last resort sense of hope, he sorted to asking the one person who would understand, someone with experience in dealing with women and can understand their behavior.

Later that day...on the bus…

"So what is it that you wanted to talk to me about?" Gerald asked him as he sat beside him.

"I have a question about girls, Gerald." Arnold began to explain. "It's not about me. This is for someone who came to me asking for help." He lied. "But, I'm at a loss on what I can tell him since I'm not really experienced in this. So I was hoping if you could help me."

"You came to the right person, Arnold." Gerald boosted, happy and surprised to hear that Arnold was coming to him for help. "What's the situation this guy is in?" He asked.

"Well, he's dating this girl," Arnold began to explain whilst trying to control his anxiety. "They've been going out for a while. But recently, she's been ignoring him. She'll answer his calls and talk to him, but she refuses to hang out with him."

"Uh huh. Go on." Gerald said as he attentively listened.

"He's not sure what's going on." Arnold continued. "He feels like she is slowly moving away from him. He thinks she is breaking up with him, but she hadn't said anything to him and she still talks to him and very occasionally hangs out."

"Is this girl seeing someone else?" Gerald asked.

"Well, the guy did mention she's been recently hanging out a lot with this other guy." Arnold mentioned."

"There's your guy's problem right there." Gerald quickly concluded the problem

"Do you think she stopped liking him and is moving on with that other guy?" Arnold asked.

"That's what it looks like." Gerald said. "If a girl likes 'likes' a guy, she wouldn't be ignoring him."

Arnold felt his heart not only sink yet again, but break. Yet, he had to do everything in his power not to show it to Gerald.

"Do you really think so?" He asked.

"Well sometimes girls get confused and may not know what they want and end up dragging guys around." Gerald replied. "You know how girls can be. But it could also be that she is just trying to gently let him know that they are over. Personally, in your friend's case, I think it is the latter."

"Right…" Was all Arnold could say as he succumbed to utter despair and sadness.

"You okay man?" Gerald asked him when he noticed his facial expression.

"Yeah, I am." Arnold replied. "I just feel...bad for the guy, that's all."

Arnold spent the next few days trying to cope with what he now concluded to be a loss.

I pushed her away… He sadly finally admitted to himself. It's all my fault. She wanted to spend time with me, but I wouldn't listen and instead focused on others.

Arnold gripped his fist tight as anger suddenly arose. He wasn't angry at Helga, or at Rodrigo. He was furious at himself. He realized he was the one who caused this, he was the one who pushed Helga away. He could have stopped it. He could have listened to her. And while there were various reasons why, the plain simple answer was that, he chose not to.

It's my fault...He angrily thought to himself. How could I have been so blind?

Arnold was no stranger to feeling angry, but this was a whole new level he had never experienced before. It was not only boiling inside him, but he was also deeply resenting himself for allowing things to get this far.

In order to cope before he exploded, Arnold just exhale out and slumped down on his bed, sadly watching the clouds roll pass by, a metaphorical painful reminder of what he now lost.

There's nothing else left for me to do, He sadly thought. Except for one…

The next day…

Arnold walked down the hallway looking more dead than alive. Indeed, having no energy when he woke up that morning, he would have stayed home had it not been one thing he felt he needed to do. He didn't want to do it, but he felt that by this point there was no other option. And if Helga wasn't going to do it, then he would. He at least owed her that much.

"Hey Arnold, you got a second?" A kid approached him, but Arnold didn't bother to even acknowledge him and walked past him.

"Hey Arnold, I could really use some of that wisdom right now man." Another kid said to him, but again Arnold simply walked past him without uttering a word.

As he continued to walk through the hallway, he made no attempt to hide just how upset he was. He had a long sad face and was looking down on the floor, barely looking up just so he didn't bump into anyone. He had bangs under his eyes and his hair was all messy.

Finally, what seemed like an eternity, he approached Helga's locker with her there. Arnold's heart stop for a second and began to hurt, but he was adamant on going through with this. There was just no point in delaying the inevitable.

"Um, Helga?" He softly addressed her.

Helga heard his voice and turned around and saw the state he was in.

"Geez, what happened to you?" Helga asked him. "Looks like you got run over by a make-up truck or something." She smirked, but the joke brought no comfort.

In fact, it only caused more pain in the knowledge that, he was going to miss her sarcastic jokes.

"Can I talk to you for a second?" He softly asked her. "It's important."

"Okay sure." She replied, oblivious to the seriousness of the situation. "But make it snappy, will you? I gotta meet up with Rodrigo." She said.

Arnold just let out a very sad, defeated sigh.

"It's about that." He began. "Look, I know what's been going on and, I just want to say that, I'm not angry. Well, I'm not angry at you. I'm angry at myself. You deserve to be happy. You deserve to be with someone who is there for you. It is clear that I didn't fulfill that role. I made you a promise that I will always be here for you, but I broke that promise. I know now that it is I that bears responsibility for what happened between us. I know I said this many times but, I'm sorry. I'm sorry for failing you, I'm sorry for not being there when you needed me. And...I accept your decision to-"

"Arnold, what the hell are you talking about?" Helga worriedly asked, instantly recognizing what he was about to do and clearly not liking it.

"Helga, it's okay." Arnold tried to reassure her. "I already know."

"Know what?" She interjected.

"Helga, please don't make this any harder than it needs to be." He said. "I know this maybe difficult to hear, but there's no use in dragging this around any longer."

"Arnold, I have no idea what you're talking about." She angrily exclaimed. "And if this is some sick joke, I am NOT laughing. So you better explain just what the hell are you talking about it."

"Fine." Arnold groaned. "I know about you and Rodrigo, okay? I know you two have been seeing each other, aka, dating. I know, Helga. You don't need to hide it anymore."

For a few seconds, Helga just stood there, stunned at what she just heard. Now everything made sense and it explained why Arnold was looking so upset and down. But after getting enough time to process this,

"HA HA HA HA HA HA!" She just suddenly burst out laughing. "HA HA HA!"

Arnold was really taken aback by her laughter and didn't know what to say.

"Oh man, ha ha ha!" Helga continued to laugh, even wiping a tear from her eye. "That was a good one, Football Head, ha ha ha! Oh man, what a nice prank! You had me there for a second. You really did!"

As she then gave him a rather hard, but friendly punch on his shoulder, which he then began to caress.

"For a second, ha ha ha!" She continued to laugh. "I actually thought you were being serious that you thought Rodrigo and...I were…"

Helga then stopped laughing when she saw the look on Arnold's face. He hadn't moved and was now giving her a rather serious frown and his hands were on his waist. Seeing that was Arnold was not at all finding this funny,

"Oh, you're being serious." She said.

"ARE YOU CRAZY?!" She then instantly yelled at the top of her lungs. "We're not dating at all! Where on Earth did you ever get that idea?!"

"Helga," Arnold annoying groaned, "Just stop playing games and tell me the truth-"

"I am telling you the truth!" She interjected. "Rodrigo and I are NOT dating. I made that very clear with him since the beginning. We're just friends!"

Arnold was about to protest at what looked like another case of denial, but when he saw just how serious Helga was about this,

"Really?" He asked.

"YESS!" She yelled at him. "I don't like 'like' him! I just like him!"

Helga stopped for a second when she realized what she just uttered. Even Arnold, despite still reeling from the shocking revelation, was also surprised that Helga not only found someone whom she can tolerate, but actually liked him.

"We're friends and we've just been hanging out!" She continued. "Not dating! Just chilling!"

"B-But, uh." A now even more stunned Arnold tried to say something, "I-I-I mean, what about all the times you kept declining to hang out with me so you can be with Rodrigo?"

"I was trying to get even with you!" She yelled at him. "For all the times you ignored me and ditched me! And to make you jealous."

"Make me jealous?" Arnold asked.

"Yes!" An almost hysterically Helga exclaimed. "I tried to talk to you to get you to stop obsessing over other people's problem so WE can focus on our relationship. But you wouldn't listen to me. And after you shooshed me away at lunch time, that was the last straw!"

"Shooshed you?" A confused Arnold asked. "When did I do that?"

"A few weeks ago when I dragged you into the lunch room early because I needed to talk to you about something, remember?" She said with an angry look.

Arnold spent a few seconds trying to remember. It eventually came and when it did, it was as if a huge bomb exploded inside his head. His face gave way to a highly shocking look. Even his heart stopped when he realized what he did.

"Oh my God…" He said, not daring to even move as guilt began to permeate all over him and began to breathe heavily.. "Helga, I am so, so so-"

"Sorry, yeah I know." She interjected as she rolled her eyes. "Heard that one before. But it's too late! You did what you did and with no other option, I came up with this plan in order to get through to your thick football headed skull!"

"Plan?" Arnold asked, now even more stunned. "You hanging out with Rodrigo, that was just a set-up?"

"Yes!" She exclaimed. "I'm just using him by pretending to be friends with him so I can get back at you for what you did. Well, I was using him. Somewhere along the way I realized he is an okay guy to hang out with and I...grew soft." She muttered. "But he doesn't know that, so it's good."

Any other time, Arnold would have verbally disapproved of Helga's latest dishonest attempt at using like that, but the shocking revelation that she and the Latino Kid were never a thing merely let it slip right through him.

"So all the times when you said no to hang out with me so you can hang out with Rodrigo, that was all a ploy?" Arnold asked.

"Doi!" She exclaimed.

"What about when you were combing your hair?" He asked. "You said you 'had to look good tonight'."

"I was getting ready for our baseball practice." She explained. "I couldn't play with my hair dangling in front of me and blocking my eyesight."

"So, you weren't getting ready for Rodrigo?"

"NO!" She exclaimed.

Arnold could not believe what he was hearing. Although he wasn't condoning Helga's behaviour, her explanation was music to his ears. Almost immediately he felt a huge weight lift off his shoulder and the pain in his chest ceasing. He even began to smile.

"So you did all this...for me?" A stunned Arnold asked. "For us?"

"YES!" She emotionally exclaimed. "I would have gone to the ends of the Earth if it meant getting you to stop obsessing over people and focusing back on what's important; us! Why? Because that's how much you mean to me, you stupid paste for brains, dense Football Head! I don't just like 'like' you , I -"

Helga then immediately stopped herself and covered her mouth when she almost said the word 'love' to him.

"I just really really like you, okay?!" She continued.

"Helga," An emotional but happy Arnold tried to say something. "You have no idea how relieved I am. I honestly thought I lost you!"

Overjoyed, Arnold then went over and gave Helga a sudden, but loving tight huge. Helga felt the tender touch of her beloved and felt her strength diminish as she caved to his affection. So long had she wanted to feel his presence that it felt so surreal that he was devoting all of his attention and affection back to her again. But she then soon snapped out of it.

"Yeah well, don't get your hopes up." Helga said with a frown as she pushed him away. "I'm still mad at you. It's your fault for making me resort to having to use Latino boy in my scheme. You're lucky we became friends after!"

Normally this was the part when Arnold would criticize her for using Rodrigo like that, but he was too happy and relieved that she didn't break up with her from him to say anything.

"I gotta admit," She continued with a smirk. "It wasn't hard convincing Rodrigo to think we're friends. You'd think for someone who hits the books almost as often as Phoebe does, he would have been a slightly suspicious, but nope. He took the bait and I reeled him in! Good thing he'll never knew, or else he would probably let me have it. Phew!"

Helga then glanced over at Arnold and saw that he wasn't moving…at all. In fact, he wasn't even looking at her, but behind her. His eyes were dilated and his face screamed of horror. Helga was confused by his facial expression and was about to ask him what was the matter when it finally hit her.

"Oh crub, he's behind me, isn't me." She whimpered.

Arnold said nothing and just nodded his head.

The sudden shock and fear of realizing that Rodrigo had heard her gripped her so badly that she couldn't even move, not even to run away. Even her heart stopped working, so much so that she felt her blood stop circulating around her body, making her hands ice cold.

With all of her strength, Helga turned around, but still hoped that by some miracle, it was anyone but Rodrigo.

Please let it be Principal Wartz, please let it be Principal Wartz, please let it be Principal Wartz. Helga hoped in thought.

However, much to her horror and disappointment, it wasn't Principal Wartz. It was Rodrigo. He was also just standing there, looking at both the blonde couple with a equally shocking look on his face.

For a few seconds, all three just stood there staring at each other, neither of them daring to move or say anything. Helga in particular was adamant on not initiating anything that would set course of the inevitable ordeal. She was willing to do anything to procrastinate it.

But it was in fact Rodrigo who made the first move. Once absorbing the shock, he then glanced over at Helga, who uncharacteristically coward in front of his stare. There was no way out for her. She felt cornered and given the Latino Kid's temperament, she could only imagine what he will to do her. And although she gave him a run for his money last time they brawled, she knew that this time she not only crossed a line, but he would show her no mercy.

Even after Rodrigo devoted his attention to her, Helga still said and did nothing, other than stare back at him, fearing what he was going to say or do. Then, Rodrigo began to angrily frown at her, which brought a cold chill to go down her spine and began to sweat. She then saw him clench his fist and grind his teeth, which only caused her to grow ever more scared.

Helga, seeing there was no way out, prepared for the inevitable punch Rodrigo looked he was about to give her and closed her eyes. She waited for that painful punch to her chin, and waited and waited. But when she realized that nothing was forthcoming, she gathered whatever courage she had and opened her eyes. As she did so, she saw Rodrigo just standing there, but giving her a deathly glare.

Still unable to say anything, she waited for him to say or do something. But then, much to her surprise, Rodrigo simply turned around the corner and left them.

Both blonde pre-teens stood in utter silence as they saw Rodrigo leave. Surprised, the finally exhaled out after an intense standoff, but then just continued to stand there in silence and remained vigilant. Fearing that Rodrigo might somehow come back, they waited for him for showed up again. But only after some time passed and it become evident that he wasn't going to return did they finally let out a sigh of relief and felt safe...for now.

"Maybe you should go and talk to him." Arnold suggested.

"Are you crazy?!" Helga exclaimed. "Did you see the way he was staring at me?! He's gonna kill me!"

"I know he is upset," Arnold said, reverting back to his old, helpful self. "And he has every right to bre, but it would be best if you can talk to him and assure him of your friendship."

"And how exactly do you expect me to do that?" Helga asked him. "After hearing how I used him, how do you expect me to assure our friendship?"

"Well, you'll first of all have to tell him you're sorry," Arnold suggested, "And then let him know that despite your initial intention, you felt an actual bond with him and you wanted to continue hanging out with him. You could try to make up for it, but it will ultimately be his decision. But at least you'll try to prove to him that your friendship means a lot to you and the best way to do that is to talk to him and try to save your frienship."

Helga just growled on having to risk her safety to try and salvage this new friendship. She would have preferred to just dodge him for the rest of their time in P.S. 118.

"Oh joy." Helga sarcastically remarked. "Easy for you to say. You're not on his hit list."

Yet as much as Helga was dreading it, Arnold was right and simply walked toward the corner to try and talk to him. However to her surprise, she saw that he was no longer in the hallway.

"Hey, where he'd go?" She asked herself as she looked on both sides of the hallway, but didn't see him.

Confused as to where he would have gone, Helga walked a few feet forward, even looking through some of the class' window to see if he might have gone inside, but nothing.

Helga then stopped to think when suddenly,

"Hey-!" She yelled as she felt a pair of hands suddenly grab her from behind, covering her mouth and pulled her inside the janitor's closet.