Hey guys! Sorry for taking longer than normal to upload, life has just been crazy these last couple of weeks. And to be honest, writer's block was real with this one lol. I hope you all have been staying healthy and safe. Hopefully a longer chapter makes up for it. Fingers crossed that everyone enjoyed the last one! So much has happened and to think Helga has only been back in Hillwood for a weekend. This chapter will start setting the scene of school and won't be as dialogue heavy in some parts like the last couple. Some references to drug use present, just fyi. I'll go ahead and jump right into it, happy reading! All cast and characters of Hey Arnold! belong to creator Craig Bartlett.
Chapter 5: That kid is trouble
Helga woke to nagging sunlight piercing the outside of her eyelids. Her eyes fluttered open and she looked around suddenly before realizing, Oh yeah, I'm at the boarding house. She felt a bit of a chill and saw the goosebumps kissing the skin of her naked torso. She quickly found the shirt she had been wearing of Arnold's from the night previous and pulled it over her head. Her movement had awakened the blonde boy next to her and she saw two emerald orbs peering up at her.
"Morning Football Head," she grumbled as she rubbed her tired eyes and exuded a yawn.
He didn't respond to her right away, just kept staring hard into her making her eyebrows knit together in annoyance. She just sighed and shook her head before flopping the comforter off of her and hoisting herself up out of bed. But she felt a hand clasp abruptly around her wrist before she could make it very far. She whipped her head around to glare at Arnold, whose eyes had narrowed a bit, examining her.
"Um, can I please go to the bathroom Arnold?" She asked with an exaggerated eye roll.
Arnold's eyes widened and he immediately pulled away wordlessly as if his hand was suddenly burning from the contact. His cheeks flushed with a tint of pink and he averted his gaze. Helga still didn't understand this strange quirk of his, as well as some of his other odd behaviors, but she decided not to question him at that moment. They had given each other plenty of explanations, among other things, in the time they had spent that weekend.
Helga noticed that when he would grasp at her so suddenly and somewhat desperately it didn't even seem like he was aware, almost as if it was a reaction. The strange stares he so often gave her had a felt that way as well. His eyes would lock onto her like they were boring holes into her, and tended to have a somewhat glazed over appearance. It always gave her the feeling that he was studying the deepest recesses of her, and while this gaze was always intense, she struggled to determine his exact expressions. She couldn't figure out if she was doing something to trigger him and was really struggling to figure out exactly what happened each time that led to his peculiar behaviors. Unfortunately she was no closer to an answer.
As she made her way across his room to open the door she glanced over and saw Arnold was now looking at the bright, overcast atmosphere outside the skylight. His gaze was a bit foreign and she found herself unable to read him, not that she wasn't used to that by now. She could tell he seemed a bit off, perhaps he was recounting the happenings of the night before but it was hard to say. She could certainly surmise that he seemed a bit melancholic as she grabbed her phone, closed the door to his room behind her and made her way to the bathroom.
Arnold gazed into the cloudy sky above him. The rain had slowed to a barely noticeable drizzle and the sun was trying to peek its way between the swirling masses of light gray above. Everything was so surreal to him and he felt dazed as he peered out into the veiled but bright sky.
What was that dream, anyway? He wasn't so dense that he didn't know that Helga's sudden presence was significant, and remembered her transforming into the ever elusive pink blur he was always pursuing. He still felt a tinge of anger and sadness from the way she acted, real or not. He knew he couldn't rationalize himself being angry at her in the real world, but the dream had always been something that felt powerful and profound, and it was hard for him to compartmentalize his emotions. Why now was she somehow tangled in this unconscious dreamscape? Of course he wasn't a stranger to nightmares, he had been plagued with them his whole life. Though usually they involved plane crashes, his parents and the dense South American jungle, not his blue-eyed childhood crush.
The fleeting and helpless feelings gnawed at him from within. While he felt relief knowing that Helga was still there and had never left his side all night, he was battling himself. Was this actually reality he was experiencing? He couldn't believe how quickly things had taken off, passion exploding between the two of them in haste like the aftermath of taking a match to a Roman candle. He had never touched or been touched like that, not really anyway. Every part of him that her hands felt had imprinted on him and still tingled on his skin.
Arnold forced his eyes to break sight from the gray hanging above him and grabbed his phone from the bedside table. He realized he hadn't even checked his phone since looking at the weather report the day before. He had two text messages, the first one was from Gerald which he opened right away.
"Hey man Phoebe told me you got Helga staying the night?! Dude what the hell are you thinking?!"
Arnold groaned and let his face fall into his hands, his eyes squeezed shut. What was he thinking? He hadn't seen her in five years and they're already messing around? He was quickly realizing that somewhere along the line the two of them made a mistake. She shouldn't have stayed over, that much he was certain of, but on the other hand he couldn't turn her out into flash flood conditions. He was just being kind Arnold, sweet Arnold. He chose to ignore everything that was the antithesis of those things: The greedy part of him that wanted to relive every intimate moment they shared over the last couple of days on repeat, and the carnal part of him that wanted to skip all that and throw her onto his bed like a ragdoll and feel himself inside of her.
"Ya she's here. I'll explain more later," he typed before hitting Send.
He went back into his inbox and frowned at the name of the sender of the unread message - Sid. He hesitated for a minute before pulling the text up.
"Yo I know u probably don't wanna talk to me rn but I really wanna talk about what happened at the party. Plz text me back so we can meet up."
Arnold hadn't yet really fully processed that he had punched Sid in the face. He remembered the stench of whiskey and the thousand yard, lustful stare Sid gave Helga, followed by the noxious utterances that came from his mouth. There was nothing she could have done to warrant such blatant disrespect, Arnold was still cognizant of himself enough to recognize that. He felt the anger welling up inside him again, but this time it had evolved into something much more - possessiveness. He chose to leave the message alone for now and placed his phone back on the bedside table.
Meanwhile in the bathroom, Helga did her business and looked at her reflection in the mirror as she washed her hands. She leaned over the sink and rubbed water over her face to freshen up. She was very glad she had chosen to wear braids the day before as her hair was relatively clean and tidy, all things considered. She decided to pull her hair out of the braids and let her waves frame her face like a golden mane. She saw a text from Phoebe sent that morning inquiring about the night, she replied saying she was fine and assured her friend that Arnold's precious innocence was still intact. She sighed after pushing Send, he was still very much a riddle to her, especially since she glimpses of his old self just as often as she did his new, brooding characteristics.
Helga could imagine being with him in more ways than one, but wondered how that would even begin to pan out. Despite her wishes, she couldn't help but feel it may be selfish of her to continue advancing any sort of relationship with him so quickly. Though that wasn't the only thing that was bothering her as she watched herself in the bathroom mirror.
She had replayed Gertie's warning to her several times in her head, The fuck does she mean "be careful," is Football Head some kind of nut or something?
She shook her head at the thought. Even though Arnold may be different in a lot of ways he still stuck up for her when it came down to it. A punch to the face wasn't something she ever would have expected out of eleven year old Arnold, however the nobility he displayed at the party was refreshingly familiar. From what Phoebe told her her first night back in town, he was growing to be self destructive and unpredictable. But how much has he truly lost of himself over the years? The thought worried her a little bit, certainly she didn't want to give more cause to these tendencies. If there was one thing she cared about over everything else in this world, it was Arnold's happiness.
She felt a bit of guilt sink in and decided right then that she was going to slow things down a bit between them. Helga hadn't tried to abandon her love for him five years ago in an attempt to pacify his feelings just for all of this to happen in her absence. It was very clear that they had gone overboard that weekend and she was scared things could become more messy than they already were. Afterall, how much could she really know about him after being absent from his life for five years?
Helga made her way back to his room, and noticed the distinct smell of bacon wafting up the stairs as she did. When she reentered the bedroom she saw Arnold laying in bed with his fingers laced under his head, watching the cloudy sky above him. She noticed that the rain had essentially stopped, giving her some relief that she may be able to go home today.
She felt awkward as her eyes fell back to him, What's his deal, anyway? Is he...mad at me?
Arnold felt Helga looking at him and turned to return her gaze, "You sleep okay?" he asked.
"Oh, yeah I did, thanks. How about you?"
He chuckled softly before replying, "Sure thing."
Helga could tell by the bags under his eyes that this was probably a lie, but his off behavior made her decide not to press it. Instead she took her phone out to look for any weather updates. The water level had only accumulated about six inches, and the worst damage done was some broken branches and mail boxes that were littered around the city, flooded basements and some power outages. The buses and subway services still appeared to be suspended for the day, along with the closures of several schools and businesses, but everything would resume as normal tomorrow. She remembered one flash flood that was particularly devastating and had left her along with several classmates stuck at school. Arnold being among them.
The memory caused a small smile to turn her lips, when Phil's voice and a knock at the door interrupted her reminiscing, "Hey you two! Up and at 'em, it's time for breakfast!"
"Coming grandpa!" Arnold called back before getting out of bed and moving past Helga to the door. He held it open and she exited the room with him behind her.
"I'm just gonna use the bathroom really quick, you go on ahead," he said with a weary smile to which Helga nodded before descending the staircase.
Upon entering the dining room, she noticed most of the tenants around the table talking and laughing over breakfast and coffee, as well as two empty place settings presumably for herself and Arnold. She sat at the table and was greeted with several "good mornings" from everyone. Gertie emerged from the kitchen with a glass of orange juice and a cup of coffee for Helga.
"Helen, how lovely of you to meet with the troops this morning! Do you care for any cream?" She asked, motioning to the mug she placed in front of Helga.
"I take it black, but thanks Gertie."
"I should have expected as much from a tough gal like yourself. Say, where'd ol' Kimba run off to?" She asked.
"Bathroom, he said he would be right down," Helga replied and took a sip from her mug.
There were several plates of various breakfast foods that Gertie told Helga to help herself to. She opted for a slice of cantaloupe, a small portion of scrambled eggs and a couple strips of bacon. Arnold had soon joined the table in the seat next to her and she noticed how exhausted he really looked now that they were in better lighting.
She elbowed him sharply in the ribs before whispering to him, "Christ bucko, what the hell happened? You look like shit."
Arnold frowned and lightly sighed, "Look I just had a few nightmares, but I'm fine. I can nap later so just don't worry about it.
Helga wasn't convinced but his face told her that he was not planning on elaborating. He had night terrors for as long as she could remember and it didn't feel right pressing him for more information. Suddenly Oskar appeared from the staircase looking very sluggish and speaking in a sickenly whiny tone.
"Susie what happened? Why didn't you wake me up? I'm hungry and now all the food is gone," he complained in a thick eastern European accent.
"Oskar I tried to wake you up but you wouldn't budge. Your alarm never went off because the power outage last night reset the clock," a thin woman with curly blonde hair responded.
"Oh yeah, the storm. Everything was tip-top this mornin', someone crank on the generator?" A short man named Ernie asked.
"I did, the storm must have tripped the power," Arnold explained.
Phil smiled and laughed, "Thanks for that, Short man. You really saved our bacon. Literally! But I didn't notice a power outage, must've happened pretty late. What were you doing at that hour?"
Everyone around the table laughed and the two blondes blushed at the suggestive line of questioning.
"Y-yeah really Arnold, I didn't even know the power went out," Helga replied and Phil frowned in defeat upon hearing her words. Even though she knew that this was the truth, she somehow still felt like they had been caught.
Everyone quickly finished their breakfast and Helga and Arnold along with the tenants, minus Oskar who was apparently suffering from back problems, stayed behind to help clean up. The two blondes traipsed up the stairs after they finished. They decided to assess the streets before Helga headed home at her request and climbed the ladder to the rooftop.
Small amounts of rainwater had collected in some spots on the roof, but several downspouts had diverted any massive amounts of water into grates below. The streets were littered with papers, broken tree limbs and other various debris. Certainly the ground below was wet with several large puddles, but the majority of the rain that had fallen had flowed into the sewers. There were people working to clean up the roads and sidewalks, and a few cars drove carefully to avoid any obstacles from the storm's fury. Arnold looked over at Helga, her long untamed hair was curly from the braids she had slept in and she looked breathtakingly beautiful against the gray skies.
He knew their weekend alone was coming to an end shortly and he couldn't help feeling a little pensive about it. He remembered touching every part of her last night and found himself hungry for more contact. He walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her, showering her neck with kisses.
Helga sighed contentedly, despite promising herself that she would try to slow things down a bit, it was hard for her to say no to the tender gesture. She decided that her promise and resolve to build a structurally sound relationship with Arnold at a reasonable pace could wait until she left the bubble that was the Sunset Arms boarding house. He held her tightly and they watched rays of the sun shine through the clouds of the overcast sky before Arnold drove her home in the green Packard.
Helga had returned home clad in Arnold's clothes which her parents did not seem to notice nor care about. She wouldn't take them off until school the next morning, she had decided. She had made contact with Phoebe that afternoon and they talked at length about the conversation Helga had with Arnold, as well as some of the other events that had taken place.
She chose to confide in Phoebe about the strange conversation that she had had with Gertie. This left her friend as perplexed as she was, she couldn't imagine why Arnold's own grandmother would be giving Helga some sort of ominous warning regarding her own grandson. Helga also made clear her intention to try to slow things down after the very heated weekend they had spent together, and Phoebe gave her overwhelming approval.
Towards the end they discussed Helga's first day of school and what her outfit choice might be. The two teens were excited for Helga to obtain her class schedule to see if they might share any courses together. Helga was most excited about the creative writing class she had taken and was very hopeful with her consistently high marks in English studies that she would get in. As a sophomore she was only allowed two electives, but sometimes with scheduling and starting later in the year classes could very well be full and she may be placed in something else.
She had wrapped up her conversation with Phoebe and was called to dinner by her parents. Deli chicken laid in a box on the counter and she made herself a plate, noting her parents planted in front of the TV to eat, and ascended the stairs back to her room. She pulled a pink notebook from her bookshelf, realizing she hadn't written a single thing since she had returned to Hillwood. She found her purple ink gel pen, something she always wrote with even as a child, and thought to herself as she scrawled words down on the page between bites of dinner.
Helga wanted to put to words exactly what sort of feelings she was having and quickly realized just how emotionally exhausted she truly was. Still, she knew that this was what grounded her and kept her from absolutely losing her fucking mind, so she thoughtfully allowed the words to materialize on the page.
"A girl loved another more than she loved herself, and yet destruction was the ultimate gift she could give, to keep him intact.
Or so she thought.
The fire in their eyes and the smoldering of their hearts died the day she said goodbye.
Or so she thought.
Soon she would be forgotten and his world would spin forward, her memory thrust from him - body and soul.
Or so she thought.
Her return could prove to unravel the threads of fate previously woven together.
Perhaps until now, she thought wrong."
She sighed and closed the book, the poem felt wrong somehow, unfinished. She decided to leave it for now and instead focus on her outfit for the first day of school. Rhonda had texted her earlier already inquiring about her potential outfit choice for her first day of school, much to the annoyance of Helga. She flipped through her closet and her dresser drawers, and after putting several outfits together, finally decided on one.
She pulled out a pair of distressed high-waisted jeans that were a cropped ankle length, an oversized baby pink t-shirt she would wear tucked in, and her black combat boots. She also laid out a black flannel shirt that she could wear in case the weather decided to dick her again. She knew instantly that Rhonda would be less than impressed with her underwhelming outfit, so she coordinated a pair of large hoop earrings with the outfit to soften any tongue lashings she might receive for her plain tastes. Frankly, Helga was hoping to just blend in on her first day of school. She knew that there would be many, many fresh faces in attendance at Hillwood High, and she didn't need to attract any unwanted attention on her first day. At least this time around she had some friends she could rely on.
She prepared her backpack with all of the necessary school supplies and went downstairs to wash her dinner plate. She decided it would be wise to pack a lunch and made herself a sandwich. She added in an apple, some string cheese and crackers and had everything ready to go in a sack in the fridge. Suddenly, standing in the dark of her kitchen and realizing how much of the day had inexplicably escaped her, she felt the excitement of tomorrow overtake her. Sure she would have to wander the halls with a bunch of annoying ass people, but she had always enjoyed school and looked forward to seeing her old classmates. She yawned and went back upstairs where she brushed her teeth and fell onto her bed, slipping quickly into a comfortable sleep.
Tuesday morning Helga stood anxiously outside the doors of Hillwood High. She was thankful that the walk to school was relatively short, but standing here now made her wish her legs moved just a little bit slower. She sucked in a nervous breath and advanced into the foyer of the building. The hallways were still relatively barren at this time, she was told to show up early to receive her schedule. She tried to navigate as best as she could and was glad the main office was relatively easy to find. A small older woman with a big smile presented her with her schedule as well as her assigned locker number, and told her how the numbers for each classroom were laid out.
"That's about everything! You gonna need help finding your locker hon?"
"Eh no it's fine. You explained everything well enough. Thanks for the help, teach."
The woman smiled in reply and Helga found her way to her locker. She was happy to see that she managed to make it into creative writing, her first class after lunch, but would start her day off with Algebra II, Fucking math this early? What a pain in the ass.
She suddenly noticed more and more bodies occupying the space around her as she organized her locker. Years ago she would have imagined herself secretly hanging a photo of a certain golden haired boy in it, and couldn't help but smile thinking that one day she might get one with the two of them instead. She sighed dreamily before feeling the presence of someone behind her. She rolled her eyes to herself before whipping around to see a raven-haired girl wearing a red, ruched bardot top with white capris that flared below the calves.
"Jesus christ princess you scared the shit outta me! Why'd you sneak up on me like that?" Helga asked harshly of her dear friend Rhonda Lloyd.
"Well sorry you're too busy staring at the back of your locker daydreaming to take notice of me, Pataki," she replied with a smirk. "I'm liking the jeans by the way. Our lockers are pretty close together, that's nice. So what's your first class anyway?"
"Uh, yeah thanks. First class is algebra with Mr. Charter."
"Oh I think Gerald is in that class. I'm in biology but they're on the same floor so I'll walk with you. Charter's a decent teacher, not a bad teacher considering that you have math first period."
"Criminy you're telling me. I was hoping to get something easy like English," Helga muttered in agreeance. "You know anyone else in that class?"
"Hm not off the top of my head. Of course Nadine and Phoebe are in honors classes so you can pretty much count them out. And Arnold has math with me, Harold and Sid."
Helga felt herself scoff at the sound of Sid's name coming from Rhonda's mouth.
"Still pretty pissed off, I take it?" Rhonda asked, pulling out a compact and examining her makeup covered face.
"Can you really blame me? He's a fucking slimeball it's too bad Football Head didn't have a better right hook."
Rhonda stopped walking and gave Helga a sly smile. Helga felt heat unwillingly fill her cheeks.
"W-what? What's that look for?"
"What happened after the party, anyway? You guys left together didn't you?"
Suddenly the sound of the warning bell echoed through the halls and Helga breathed a sigh of relief, Saved by the bell, jesus.
She was close enough to her classroom that she could find it on her own so she bade a quick goodbye to Rhonda as she ran towards her class before her friend could protest. Helga made it to her classroom a couple of minutes early, and was happy to see the familiar face of Gerald sitting at a desk, as Rhonda said. She waved sheepishly and suddenly felt very awkward as she wasn't assigned a seat yet nor did she have a textbook to read from.
Her concerns were quickly abated when an older man with a goatee and a ponytail came into the classroom behind her. Stinky wandered in at some point, jabbing her with his elbow and offering a small wave. Mr. Charter happily introduced her to her bored looking peers, assigned her a desk behind Gerald and brought her a text book.
Most of her classes went on this way, the teacher would introduce her to the class and she would awkwardly stand in front of them like some kind of boring new toy before taking a seat. She had orchestra third period with Phoebe which she enjoyed. There wasn't a seating chart so that class quickly topped the list of her favorites so far. She had a few classes with her old P.S. 118 crew, but her question about not knowing anyone was answered as she looked at the unfamiliar faces around her. After the bell rang signalling the end of her music class, she bade Phoebe farewell and took out her schedule, making her way to her fourth period class.
Goddamnit I have gym right before lunch? I'm gonna die of hunger at this rate.
She groaned and shoved her schedule in her backpack, trading it out for the duffel bag of gym clothes she had in her locker. The gym was large enough that it was pretty simple to locate. She found a sign to the girls locker room and entered, seeing the faces of Rhonda Lloyd and Patty Smith. Rhonda was already changing into tight fitting black yoga pants and a gray t-shirt, while Patty wore long blue basketball shorts and an oversized black cut off shirt.
Helga walked over to the two girls with a smile, "Thank god I have both of you in this class, there's so many randos I don't know here."
Patty and Rhonda smiled and chatted with Helga as she changed into her tight black shorts and washed out pink t-shirt. Rhonda suddenly shot Patty a look before turning back to Helga.
"Are you sure you want to wear that?"
"The fuck is that supposed to mean, princess? It's gym class," Helga snapped.
"Okaaay," Rhonda replied in sing-song. "Just a suggestion, you'll figure it out."
Before Helga could ask, their gym teacher (a tall, muscular woman named Mrs. Lumis) appeared in the locker room and ushered the girls up the stairs into the gym. Helga was confused, was that some kind of warning? Rhonda said she would figure it out, so she didn't think it necessary to try asking again.
The teacher instructed the girls to start off with some stretches while they waited for the boys to join the class. Helga was facing the bleachers doing a standing quad stretch when she heard a familiar voice talking behind her.
"And who do we have here? She's got a nice ass, right?"
Helga heard raucous laughter and turned to see Sid and Curly standing behind her. She felt her face go red with fury.
"Ah shit, Pataki? Shoulda known it was you, I pretty much have your body memorized after seeing you in that dress Saturday night," Sid said with a sneer and a smile that, in Helga's opinion, made his face exceptionally punchable. She couldn't help but notice his nose was extremely swollen and had taken on a dark purple color that framed the inside sockets of both eyes.
"Wait Pataki? Helga Pataki?! Since when do you go here? And when did you start looking like that? You're almost hotter than Rhonda," Curly exclaimed, looking over the top of his thick glasses for emphasis. Rhonda rolled her eyes and stuck her nose up in the air at the mention of her name.
"Oh Sid, you do something different to your face? You know purple really is your color, bucko. And Curly Gammelthorpe you're as vapid as ever, I see," she said and a chorus of laughter rang out from Patty and Rhonda.
Curly opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by the teacher calling out for everyone's attention. Sid leaned close to Helga's ear, making her shiver uncomfortably.
"Y'know, I really wouldn't have minded if it was you who slapped me around instead of your little pussy boyfriend. Big fan of those shorts by the way, might make me skip this class a little less often."
"Remind me how much you don't mind it when I knock your fucking teeth out. And please, don't stop being a delinquent piece of shit on my behalf," Helga whispered back fiercely.
The teacher called Sid's name in warning and he jogged to the other side of the gym, turning to wink at Helga as he did. She thought her eyes would pop out of her head at the sight of him. Anger was absolutely boiling over as she felt a strong hand clap her shoulder. She whipped around furiously to face Patty.
"Whoa, easy there Pataki. What did he say to you just now?" Patty asked, cocking her head.
"He's an idiot just forget it. But if he thinks being at school will stop ol' Betsy from knocking him into next week, he's seriously mistaken."
Her eyes fell on him, he caught her gaze and puckered his lips into a kiss. She was gobsmacked at his audacity and flagrant disrespect. It wasn't the first time she was treated like this by guys at school, so it wasn't something totally foreign to her. After word got out that a football player "screwed her" she might as well have had a target on her back and became a frequent recipient of this kind of sleazy behavior. Never would she have thought it would be coming from someone she used to be childhood friends with, however.
Helga and her classmates proceeded with their physical education class, and she forced herself to completely shut out the presence of Sid. They ran circles around the gym floor and up and down the bleachers. Patty and Rhonda flanked her protectively, which she was grateful for, she didn't need to get into any trouble on her first day. Soon they had finished and were changing in the locker room. Helga applied some deodorant and fixed her hair before reapplying her earrings. The bell rang signalling lunch time and she retrieved her lunch from her locker, following Patty and Rhonda to the cafeteria.
She saw the small hand of her friend Phoebe Heyerdahl waving to her from across the cafeteria. Sitting with her was Gerald, but Arnold was nowhere to be seen. She figured maybe he decided to have lunch with some other friends to give Phoebe and Gerald some alone time, but was still slightly disappointed at his absence. Now that she thought about it, she hadn't seen Arnold all day. She took her phone out of her backpack, no new messages from him either. She put her phone into her pocket with a huff and strode across the cafeteria to sit with her friends, Patty and Rhonda joining her.
The five friends talked for a bit, Patty excused herself shortly after sitting down to go find Harold. Rhonda decided to stay and explained that Nadine participated in entomology club during lunch on Tuesdays. As soon as Patty had wandered away the table fell silent as everyone ate. Helga could see Rhonda eyeing her curiously out of the corner of her vision.
"Can I help you?" Helga asked.
"Spill it Pataki. You have a lot to catch me up on. What happened after the party? And what did Sid say to you during gym class?"
Phoebe and Gerald quickly looked up from their lunch and were also staring at Helga now.
Lloyd you fucking rat, she thought before sighing in defeat.
"Sorry to disappoint you but nothing happened after the party. We fought and Gerald took me home, the end."
Phoebe cocked her head and raised an eyebrow, "Well technically Helga, that's not quite accurate. You failed to inform Rhonda that you did in fact spend the following night with Arno-,"
"Phoebe!" Helga hissed and slapped her hand to her forehead. Rhonda's eyes grew wide at the information.
"You spent the night?!" Rhonda practically yelled, earning strange looks from the people around them.
"For crying out loud can you keep it down?" Helga pleaded in a soft, angry voice. "Okay yes I spent the night at his house, but I had no choice thanks to the flood."
"So...what. You two dating now?" Gerald asked.
Helga sighed, "No we are not dating. Just talking I guess, I don't know what we are, alright?"
Gerald mumbled his reply, "Sounded like y'all did a lot more than just talk."
Helga groaned and Rhonda laughed at Gerald's words.
I'm going to kill Arnold.
Phoebe still had an eyebrow raised and had never taken her eyes from her.
"Helga what was Rhonda referring to when she asked you about Sid just now?" Phoebe asked.
Helga could have choked the life out of Rhonda for that. Why the sudden interest in her? Didn't they have anything better to do?
"Ugh literally nothing he was just being a disgusting weasel which is his new M.O., apparently."
Phoebe didn't look convinced but she noticed Helga's eyes motioning to Gerald and decided to leave it at that. Clearly this was something she didn't want him to go running to Arnold about. Phoebe knew Helga well enough to know that this was a conversation for a later time. Helga was relieved when the conversation shifted. Gerald and Rhonda talked about the upcoming football game, they both talked excitedly about it. Likely because Gerald was on the team and Rhonda was in the cheerleading squad. Phoebe and Helga looked over the rest of Helga's schedule, and were disappointed to see that they didn't have any more classes together. In fact, she didn't have classes with any of her friends sitting at the table. Helga mentally crossed her fingers and hoped that a certain black haired little freak was also absent from the rest of her class schedule.
Soon the bell rang, indicating the end of the lunch period. Helga collected her lunch box and the four friends said their goodbyes. Or at least she thought they had, but quickly realized a small girl in a dark blue shirt dress was walking at her side.
"Helga I trust you are getting around the school okay. What's your next class?" Phoebe asked.
"Yeah it hasn't been too bad, the numbers on each floor make enough sense. And I have creative writing, thank god. What about you?"
"I'm on my way to honors biology, as a matter of fact. Are you going to be able to find your classroom okay?" Phoebe asked.
"Yeah, I should do just fine. Thanks Pheebs, I'll see ya after school," Helga replied.
Phoebe waved goodbye to her friend as she ascended the staircase to the science classrooms upstairs. Helga made a turn towards the arts wing and found her creative writing class as the warning bell rang, she was the first to arrive. The teacher was in the classroom sitting at her desk and greeted her with a small smile. She was a shorter, slender woman - probably in her fifties with shoulder length dark gray hair and introduced herself as Mrs. Dorrant.
The desks we're all arranged in a circle, Helga smiled to herself remembering her fourth grade year when Mr. Simmons had been hired and had insisted on trying to seat the entire class this way. Of course back then they were unruly little children, hell-bent on torturing their new teacher. There were only about ten desks or so, Helga was expecting this to be a pretty full class but was happy to see the opposite. This period was the only time the creative writing class was offered and was a mix of lower and upperclassmen. There was a bit of relief knowing the class would be this low key.
Mrs. Dorrant told Helga to seat herself wherever she was comfortable. She explained that the class had been assigned to write about a memory. There were no structural obligations, only that they were encouraged to use descriptive writing and try to incorporate metaphors and similes to capture anything associated with the memory: sounds, smells, colors, feelings. She apologized, telling Helga that today was actually the day everyone was to present their pieces. Helga just shrugged and smiled, she certainly didn't mind just sitting back and listening to her peers' literary pieces. It took some of the pressure off of her, anyway.
The class room started to slowly fill with students who all bore notebooks, flipping to pages that Helga assumed were all the memories they had chosen to write about. She noticed that most of the students filing in were upperclassmen, and was surprised to see almost as many boys as there were girls. A lot of times with these types of courses, girls tended to dominate for whatever reason. Not that that was a bad thing, but she always liked hearing the differences in writing styles, and certainly little-smiley-Susie wrote much differently than smokes-behind-school-Steven.
One desk still remained open right next to her as the final bell chimed. Helga decided to take out her notebook and have a page ready, just in case she was instructed to take any notes or needed to make note of an assignment. She leaned over the side of a desk and suddenly heard a low voice in her ear that made her jump.
"No one told me the new girl was so beautiful."
She turned her head sharply to see Arnold, who was already sitting in the desk beside her with a devilish grin occupying his face. She rolled her eyes but couldn't help smiling. The teacher still appeared to be getting some papers organized at her desk, so Helga seized the opportunity and whispered back at him.
"Wait, you're in this class? I missed you at lunch, where were you?"
Arnold shrugged his reply, the mischievous grin still plastered on his face, as the teacher strode across the room and sat in a chair in the middle of the circle of desks. He dug a notebook out of his backpack and opened it up. The teacher reminded everyone of the assignment they would be presenting and started with a boy in a red shirt in front of her, and instructed everyone to read in a circle from there.
Helga couldn't help but feel her eyes flitting to Arnold. She wasn't paying attention to any of the students' stories. Arnold didn't appear to notice until after about the fiftieth time he finally caught her eyes on him. He held her gaze for a bit and then looked away. Helga noticed something seemed off, and not in the usual Arnold way she had grown accustomed to.
Is he fucking high right now?
She couldn't be completely sure, but his glossy, half-lidded eyes weren't typical by any means. It made sense though, since he didn't make an appearance during lunch and had arrived late to class. She was wondering who he could have been with, there were plenty of people who smoked, lots of people their age did. Sure, she smoked at parties or on the weekends from time to time but she couldn't help being annoyed by it, they were in school after all.
Finally the time came for Arnold to read his memory out loud. The students did not have to elaborate on what the memory they had written about was. Some students were fairly straightforward in what they were describing, others used more abstract descriptors in their pieces. His eyes fell to the page, and Helga thought she saw him look at her briefly from his peripheral before he cleared his throat to speak.
"The smell of foreign fauna clung to the inside of my nostrils as I traversed the spongy floor of green under my feet. Sweat poured from my skin, creating salty creeks that streamed down my face, my neck, my back. Exotic chirrups echoed from my ears down to my brain, their strange sounds creating an ever growing mountain of fear in my chest. Darkness was quickly setting in, and threatened to completely cloak the orange glow of the setting sun,"
Helga was completely enamored by Arnold's story. She had no idea that he could write anything, let alone something halfway decent. She continued listening as he recalled feeling thick air and her heart skipped a beat at the mention of "eerie green eyes shining in the dark."
San Lorenzo? Christ way to pick the most obvious cliché memory ever, Football Head.
She couldn't help smiling to herself. Of course it made total sense, it was probably one of the most precious memories he had.
"A golden haired girl with fierce blue eyes and a heart of gold unlocked the most precious treasure imaginable. She helped me find the most elusive part of myself," he paused before finishing. "She helped me find love, but it wasn't long before that too eluded me."
A small round of applause went around the room. Helga's eyes were wide as Arnold closed his notebook, placing it into his backpack. There were only a couple students left, but Helga didn't hear a word they said. She kept her eyes glued anywhere but on Arnold. Guilt once again built up inside of her, but hearing his heartfelt memory that he had penned made it ten times worse than before. Tears threatened her eyes and she suddenly raised her hand. The teacher nodded at her in acknowledgement.
"M-may I use the restroom p-please?"
Mrs. Dorrant looked at her thoughtfully for a moment before giving her approval and instructing her to take the hall pass by the door. Helga quickly walked out of the classroom and ran to the nearest bathroom she could find as soon as her feet hit the hallway floor. She quickly took refuge in a nearby girls restroom and locked herself in a stall. She could no longer hold back the tears, and they started pouring out of her.
I'm a horrible person. I'm a horrible, shitty human being. I fucked him up, I fucked him up, I fucked him up.
Helga sobbed for a few minutes before the tears finally started to stop. She felt a little bit better, she hated crying like a giant baby but listening to that from him was just too much. Writing for her was always so emotional, she literally poured her feelings into the pages of notebooks. Just that one sentence hit her harder than anything he had said to her thus far. However she knew she needed to pull herself together, she didn't want to get in trouble for being gone too long. She exited the stall and looked at herself in the mirror. Her eyes were a bit puffy, so she splashed some cold water on her face to diminish her swollen appearance.
Thank god for waterproof mascara, she thought and took a deep breath before exiting the bathroom and walking back to the classroom. She made it there relatively quickly, hung the hall pass back up beside the door and retreated to her desk. Arnold stared at her as she slumped in her seat. Mrs. Dorrant welcomed Helga back and told the class that for their next assignment they were to write three haikus. The haikus could be about anything, and they were to be read aloud to the class Friday afternoon. Helga made a note of the assignment in her notebook, all the while ignoring the feeling of a pair of eyes examining her. When the bell rang signalling them to leave, Helga scooped up her backpack and left as quickly as possible.
Helga hurried down the hallway not knowing where she was going. She opened her backpack to retrieve her notebook where she had stuck her schedule and froze. It wasn't there. Criminy can't I ever catch a break?!
She turned around to gather her notebook from her creative writing classroom and found herself face-to-face with Arnold. They stared at each other and he held up the notebook Helga was about to go back for.
"Hey you uh, you left your notebook," he handed it to her and then continued. "I don't want to press you or anything but are you okay? You look like you've been crying or something."
"Me, crying? That's ridiculous Football Head. I mean come on, what would I be crying for?"
"Well I don't really know I guess," Arnold lied.
Suddenly Helga thought of something and abruptly pulled him into a corner with her beside some lockers. Her voice was quiet as she spoke.
"Listen, Arnold. I don't want you to lie to me right now, are you stoned?"
His eyes grew wide for a minute and then he started laughing uncontrollably. That certainly wasn't the reaction she expected but she was getting used to him surprising her.
"How the fuck did you know?" He asked, still laughing.
"Come on, I'm not an idiot Arnoldo. But…why? Is it really such a good idea to sit through all your classes like that?" She asked.
He still had a smile on his face, clearly not bothered by her questions, "I mean, probably not. It's not really a big deal though, I do it all the time."
"All the time? What do you mean?"
"Okay so not all the time, sometimes I don't bother going to class. But I mean, you know. Might as well enjoy myself if I'm going to be here," he answered matter-of-factly.
"But aren't you scared of getting caught? Or doing shitty in class? What if someone finds out and tells?" She almost couldn't believe how casual he was being about this.
"I mean, I guess I don't really think about all that. Why, are you gonna tell?" Now he was starting to get annoyed, but Helga wasn't one to back down.
"I'm not a snitch, Arnold. But you're gonna get caught if you keep it up. And you shouldn't be cutting class, you're being an idiot."
Arnold rolled his eyes in response.
"Did you just roll your fuc-"
"Yeah. Yeah I did. Now you know how the rest of us feel," he muttered, but a small smile cracked his face. "I get it, okay? Sometimes this is just my way of getting through the day. I promise it's not a big deal."
Helga wasn't convinced but the lopsided smile he was giving her made her heart beat so wildly she couldn't bring herself to continue scolding him.
"A-alright. Just try to tone it down, would ya? You can't afford to space out anymore than you already do," she said with a smirk.
"Deal. Now are we going to talk about why you were crying?"
Helga shook her head at him.
"Well can I walk you to class, then?" He asked, his face hopeful.
"Yeah fine, whatever. Looks like I have bio next in room 308."
"After you," he replied with a goofy grin, and motioned her to the side. She laughed and they walked wordlessly to her next class, only breaking the silence to say goodbye.
Arnold had no intention of attending his last two classes. He could feel himself growing tired from his come-down and knew he'd be lucky to stay awake through Mr. Clooney droning on and on about U.S. History. And god forbid biology seventh period keep him awake even when he was stone cold sober. Not only that but he had a prior engagement he was obligated to. He passed by his locker to grab his blue hoodie before nonchalantly leaving through the rear doors of the school.
He had a very strong inkling that his creative writing piece may have been what triggered Helga's sadness. He felt bad about that, and he probably should have known she would take that class. But the truth was that he had written most of that story Friday during work time in class. He had no idea that barely four days later she would be sitting next to him, hearing every word. As bad as he felt for upsetting her, a part of him was sort of glad she was made to listen. Even though he couldn't exactly fault her for something she did as an eleven year old child, resentment still clung to him. It felt necessary that she be his audience.
He would have to table these thoughts for another day, however. He walked at a steady pace and took his phone out to check the time: 2:14 p.m. This wasn't a meetup he was exactly thrilled about. He was annoyed that he was even doing this, especially after his talk with Helga. She might not be so thrilled about him cutting class for this, but he was if nothing else a man of his word. He saw the skatepark come into view along with a kid in a black denim vest with patches and a backwards hat sitting on a bench smoking a cigarette.
Arnold calmly strolled up to him. He could barely stand the sight of Sid now and it made him replay the night of Rhonda's party on a loop in his mind. Walking up to him and wanting to choke the life out of him was quite the contrast to the two of them snorting pills and drinking beer just barely a week ago. Sid noticed him and gave a small nod, scooting over to allow the blonde boy to sit next to him.
Arnold plopped down on the bench, Sid offered him a cigarette and lighter. He wasn't one to usually smoke a cigarette, generally he would only do so if he had been drinking and had a decent buzz going. But he had a feeling he might need one to take the edge off and lit it wordlessly before handing the lighter back. The two sat like that for a while, not exchanging any words as they puffed on their tobacco. Finally a sigh broke the silence and Sid was the first to speak.
"Guess we should talk now that you're here."
Arnold didn't respond, he simply stared forward, only moving to put the orange filter to his lips.
"Look man, I don't wanna fight with you. But I will say this, punching me in the face? I mean, c'mon that's pretty fucked up to do to your boy. Especially over some pain-in-the-ass chick," Sid took a long drag of his cigarette and flicked the butt away. He immediately took out another one and sparked it up. "You didn't even get this upset when I slept with Lila. I don't get it."
Arnold cringed. Lila. Their whole relationship had been nothing short of a joke. He still didn't understand why he even started going out with her to begin with, she was pretty enough sure, but she may have been one of the most boring people on the planet. Their relationship was one that happened out of loneliness and need, nothing more. They both were dealing with fucked up parents at the time, so it was something that they used to relate to one another.
Lila's mom, who had been absent most of her life, had suddenly taken her father to court to battle over custody. Her mother had a gambling problem and was extremely unstable emotionally, so thankfully nothing came of it in the end. The court battle was still arduous and nasty, and Lila was extremely distraught over the whole thing. She was always the quiet, almost submissive type, no doubt due to the constant barrage of insults she endured from her mother growing up.
It was around this time Arnold's parents had started dealing with their own issues. They had become increasingly paranoid as their time in the city progressed. They even grew suspicious of everyone living in the boarding house, including Arnold and his grandparents. The day he accidentally startled his mother and she pulled a knife on him was the day they agreed to go to in-patient at a psychiatric facility to get help.
Arnold and Lila had started dating at the beginning of the school year in eighth grade, and it only took a couple of months for things to turn sour. Arnold was still mending a broken heart when his parents had completely spiralled. Where he had once taken a step forward he had suddenly taken several back and he struggled to cope with the abandonment and anger he felt. He couldn't say the exact moment when he started drinking himself into oblivion, but he did so almost always with Harold, Sid and Stinky.
Lila was less than impressed. She had always been a pretty good kid, the occasional drink didn't bother her so much but she couldn't take Arnold when he was binge drinking. He was about as emotionally unavailable as one could expect at the time. Where at first they were able to empathize and build each other up in their relationship, that had soon crumbled completely. Lila had grown very disdainful having to constantly babysit a drunk teenager rambling on about his ex-girlfriend and crazy parents. She was completely drained from trying to care for someone who only acknowledged her when he needed something, while she too was suffering at the hands of her parents' issues.
The night Lila hooked up with Sid was not a good one. Friday nights for Harold, Sid, Stinky and Arnold almost always meant trying to find a party or a bonfire to attend. Sid's parents weren't exactly the most attentive or encouraging growing up, and neither one of them seemed to have any qualms about buying beer for a bunch of middle schoolers. That night, the boys managed to find a party at their old friend Lorenzo's house, whose parents were out of town on business. Arnold had managed to convince Lila to come with, assuring her that it would be a good time. The five boys decided they wanted to get an early start, and already had a decent buzz going by the time the other guests had arrived.
Most of the party-goers were their childhood friends from P.S. 118, minus Gerald who was out of town for his sister's ballet recital, with a few unfamiliar faces from middle school scattered in the crowd. Lila was among one of the last ones to show up, and Arnold had clearly been drinking beyond what anyone else around him was. Harold, Stinky and Sid were having fun spinning him around and encouraging his drunken behavior. Eventually though, he was very far gone and was becoming a nuisance. He vaguely could remember having a fight with Lila, who scolded him for having drank too much again. He knew later someone had said something to him about his girlfriend, which confused him in his stupor, thinking he was being asked about Helga. He didn't remember leaving the party, but he remembered stumbling down the street inconsolably upset.
At some point in his blacked out state, he had decided to call Lila. All he could remember was breaking down, sobbing and struggling to breathe, but somehow still managing to yell into the phone. He recalled at one point Helga's name was the only thing his mouth would allow him to say. He was told the next morning that Stinky had gone out to find him and walked him home, and that he appeared to be having some sort of fit or panic attack. Sid had convinced Lila to stay behind, saying she should be around friends after having such a rough night. Somehow he charmed her into bed with him, maybe because she was yearning for the affection that Arnold would never be able to give her. He never bothered asking her the reason.
The day after the party the two had met up and Lila told him what happened with Sid. They both decided it was best that they go their separate ways. Arnold couldn't really blame her for what she did. She told him ultimately she couldn't be with someone who was so broken and who couldn't offer her even a shred of what she needed in return. He was relieved more than anything, he knew he was a lousy boyfriend and he couldn't honestly be bothered to give a shit about her. He was surprised the breakup didn't happen sooner, and quite frankly it wasn't anything that shocked or surprised him.
Sid's participation on the other hand was another story. Arnold was upset that his friend would do something so shady behind his back, but at the time just chalked it up to alcohol, Lila's hurt feelings and teenage lust. Now he was really starting to get it though. Sid did whatever he wanted to without any regard or respect to those around him. Arnold already forgave him once, but he wasn't so keen on doing so a second time.
There was another part of him that wondered if maybe he was judging Sid a bit too harshly. He never actually tried anything with her, not anything that Arnold was aware of anyway. So why was he so angry over a drunken comment? He remembered the day he first saw Helga at Slausen's with Sid, Arnold reacted just as fiercely then, but it didn't seem right to fault him for that either. Sure he was being pretty creepy, but it wasn't like he was stopping himself from ogling her in that low-cut dress, either.
Despite the fact that he could have pummeled Sid several times over, at this point how justified would it be? His brain told him to keep an eye on him, his heart said to beat the life out of him, and his instincts said not to trust him. However there was another problem that would weigh into the equation as well: Sid had dirt on him. He would have to err on the side of caution, some of this was stuff that not even Gerald knew about.
Arnold realized he still hadn't spoken yet, his cigarette had burnt down almost to the filter. He snubbed it out on the sidewalk and looked at Sid. His green eyes swirled with primal rage, but his expression and voice remained level and calm.
"It's just...it's her ya know? Helga. She might be a pain-in-the-ass but…"
But what? He asked himself as his voice trailed off. Sid cocked his head to the side and lifted a brow at Arnold.
"Arnold, man it makes sense if she's your girlfriend or whatever-"
"She's not my girlfriend. I dunno what she is but it's not that," Arnold muttered and looked away. Sid smiled internally.
"Oh shit, really? I'll be honest, what I said was kinda messed up. But I was just trying to cheer you on man, I swear! I should have known better than to say that in front of Pataki though," Sid lied, clapping a hand on Arnold's shoulder in feigned reassurance.
Arnold was tempted to break every single finger that was touching him. He couldn't though, Sid seemed sorry enough. It wouldn't be right. He also couldn't afford to have this kid as an enemy right now, this was not the time to be impulsive. He squeezed his eyes shut to compose himself.
"It's fine Sid, really. Thank you for saying that. I'm sorry too. I don't know what it is about her that makes me act so...weird."
"Let's be honest, if you didn't hit me she would have anyway," he rubbed his nose absentmindedly. "She really does get you fucked up though, doesn't she? Probably a good thing you're not dating."
"What d'you mean?"
"C'mon Arnold. It's been five years of you acting like a psycho over Pataki. And don't take this the wrong way but if she didn't want you in all that time, why would she now? And even if she does, once she finds out about a lot of the shit you've been doing-"
"You planning on telling her?" Arnold's eyes shot daggers into Sid, You goddamn weasel.
"Dude what the hell? Of course not. But you can't keep all this shit to yourself forever. She's a smart girl, eventually she is going to find out."
Arnold was seething with anger. Who did this little prick think he was? He had a lot of nerve calling him a psycho and implying that he and Helga couldn't be together. He wasn't completely ignorant to the possibilities, but he hadn't exactly fully played out how things would happen in his head.
"Relax. It's not the end of the world, there's still plenty of girls out there. She's not anything special, not really anyway. If this stuff really is a deal breaker, find someone else. Broads here are a dime a dozen."
Sid had a point. Arnold could feel his anger fade from a raging inferno to a tiny lick of flame. It felt like someone put a weight on his chest, smothering his fury. He had been questioning how viable a relationship would be with Helga before. He thought about how angry she was with him for implying that he only wanted to sleep with her, surely she was hoping for something more meaningful...right?
But now sitting here thinking about it, even if by chance after five years she still loved him, could she still feel that way about him knowing he isn't that person anymore? Their weekend rendezvous told him that it was a possibility, but what if she does find out everything? What would happen then? Say she never did find out, would it be wrong to keep these things from her? He didn't even know if he wanted things to progress at all, has he just been holding onto the happy memories he had, most of which revolved around her?
Arnold wasn't so sure Sid would stick by his word, either. But he couldn't threaten him, that would only give him more incentive to talk. He couldn't help silently wondering why Sid was concerned with their relationship anyway. He knew the boy was a master manipulator, but maybe he was just genuinely trying to be a good friend. The best Arnold could do was to try and trust him now. The situation was frustrating, but he was at a standstill. He could be honest with her now, that would eliminate a lot of his anxiety, but he wasn't sure if it was worth discussing so early on. He wasn't completely convinced they could be an item but he also didn't want to derail the potential. He still had feelings for her after all.
"Oh she's definitely special," Arnold finally said. "The problem is that I'm not."