Monday, October 30th 12:15 PM
"Phoebes, you feel like working out later?" Helga asked as she caught up with her best friend entering the cafeteria to begin her lunch. Phoebe looked up at her friend perplexed. "I don't really work out Helga, as I think you know. I prefer to read," Phoebe responded. "Well so do I, but there's this gym that I need to check out," Helga continued. "Is this for your dance club?" Phoebe asked. "It is. We need a spot to practice outside of school. I want to check it out, get in a quick workout, and maybe a talk with the owner," Helga said. "What do you say? You can do some squats and just make that skinny ass be like POW!" Helga gestured largely with her hands. Phoebe began laughing as they got their food. "Well I do need to start working out," Phoebe thought out loud.
They got their food, and made their way to one of the corner tables. Helga started eating her salad when Gerald came over sitting next to his girlfriend kissing her on the cheek and starting to speak to Phoebe. "Do you eat food, or is it just grass with you Helga?" Gerald asked. "There's chicken in here, moron," Helga said without looking at him. "Dumbass," she thought to herself. She noticed Phoebe and Gerald starting to talk. "I'm gonna head to the library, will you come with me later?" Helga asked Phoebe. "Yes, I will. Can we meet up in the parking lot?" Phoebe asked. "Sounds good. Later Phoebes, later moron," she said to Phoebe and Gerald. "She needs to get laid," Gerald said to Phoebe. "That's not fair Gerald. You don't need to be misogynistic about it. She just needs to be close to someone, which is tough for her. Her and I are close and she doesn't really have anyone else like that. She hates the third wheel thing. Anyone would," Gerald conceded to her lecture. "I'm sorry sweetheart, " Gerald said. "It's alright," a moment passed while they were both eating. "If anything, Arnold needs to get laid. What does he even do after school?" Phoebe asked. Gerald shrugged his shoulders and laughed. "Not sure, last couple years he's been busier and busier. I know he's probably just watching movies no one's ever heard of," Gerald said.
Helga sat in the library with her laptop, typing away. Helga loved the library. No one went there and it was nice and quiet. Helga worked on her latest paper. "What are you working on, Helga?" She heard behind her. She looked over her shoulder, and saw a tall, muscular, blond Arnold Shortman looking at her. Arnold sat down on the couch next to her. "There is no Helga, only Zuul," Helga said, ignoring his question. "My, what a lovely singing voice you must have," Arnold said smiling at her. "Come on, I want to talk to Helga," Arnold said still wearing his big toothy grin. Helga smiled for a second and turned back to her laptop. "Maybe if I keep quoting movies at him, he'll go away," she thought to herself. "So what are you working on," Arnold asked again. "None of your business Football Head," she said. "I don' think I've ever seen you wear glasses," Arnold said. "I only wear them when my eyes start to hurt, like when I'm staring at a screen. Or looking at idiots for too long," she said as she looked at him over her glasses. Helga went back to her essay. She typed for a little while when she realized Arnold was staring at her. She exhaled loudly and said, "what? Why are you looking at me like that?" Arnold paused for a second. "I'm just still looking at you with glasses. You look really cute," he said. Helga scowled at him, Arnold just smiled back at her. She turned a slight pink and turned back to her screen. "You have a very punchable face, you know that?" Helga said to him. Arnold started to laugh.
"Come one," Arnold nudged her with his elbow. "What are you working on, is it for school or for something else?" Arnold asked. Helga turned to look at him, trying and failing not to look into his eyes. "He's so annoying, why doesn't he just mind his own damn business? His eyes seem like he's interested though. Maybe if I tell him it's school he'll go away. I fucking hate the way he makes me feel when he looks at me like that," she thought all at once. "Come on, Helga. You can trust me," Arnold said smiling at her again. Helga exhaled loudly again. "It's an opinion piece for a magazine I read," Helga answered. "What's the piece about?" Arnold asked. "It's about the portrayal of women in comic book movies. How the people who make the decisions have an fiduciary responsibility to include and create around women and female stories. Since they leave tons of money on the table by creating purely from a male perspective," Helga said. "That makes tons of sense. Wonder Woman was great, and I think telling stories about women can make for a crazy good movie. The comics are always great when it's diverse and features female and female of color stories. Why can't the movies?" Arnold said. "Wow Arnold does it hurt to think that much? Ironic how the King of the Cavemen has a better opinion about women in comic books than the guys that make the movies," Helga said focusing again on her paper. She was acutely aware of Arnold still staring at her. "You think I could read what you have so far?" Arnold asked Helga. "What? No, you don't want to read any of it," Helga quickly said. "Come on Helga, I bet it's great. Please?" Arnold said. "He's such a pain in the ass," she thought. "I don't think so," Helga said. "It's not great," She started saying. "I bet it's fine, I know you're still working on it. No judgments, I just want to read it," Arnold said. Helga looked at him for a while, then handed him her laptop.
A few minutes passed as Arnold read her essay. "I know the essay isn't crazy long, he's either really dumb or he's rereading it," she thought to herself. Helga looked at him reading, she began to bite her thumb nail. She looked at the floor, and then back at him. "Why do I feel nervous, it's just Arnold. We've been texting back and forth non stop since we started hanging out. I mean, I hope he likes it. If he doesn't, who cares, right?" She thought to herself. "Well, what do you think?" She asked. "Sorry, I was just rereading it, I just want to make sure I have all the arguments down. I really like it. You do a great job of outlining why women have such a small role in the entire genre. I like how you approach it from a purely economical standpoint but you have no issue sharing your passion for your opinion. The last part is really thought provoking, I'm really impressed Helga!" Arnold said handing her the computer. Helga's chest felt lighter all of a sudden.
"Thanks Arnold, that…" she stopped. "Thank god he likes it," she thought to herself. "Th-That means a lot," Helga said, trying to hide her excitement. "You're going to submit that right?" Arnold asked. "I kind of already did, the editor sent it back with some notes. She said if I took another pass after reading her notes she'd run it in their next issue," Helga admitted. "That's amazing Helga! Congratulations, you're writing is so good. Now everyone will get to see it," Arnold said. His excitement made her smile. "I'm really glad you didn't stop submitting your writing. I'm proud of you Helga," Arnold said smiling at her. "Thank you, Arnold," Helga said, smiling back at him. Helga had put her feet up on his lap stretching out on the couch with her laptop back in her lap. "Why won't he rub my leg? Is he scared? I kind of am that he will," Helga thought. Arnold put his hand on her leg and smiled again at her. Arnold took out a book and started reading as he rubbed her leg. Both of them sharing the couch. "I like this," Helga thought to herself.