Hey guys!

Sorry if the update was a bit late. Rest assured the story is not abandoned, other stuff has just gotten in the way- work, love life, other ideas. But I'm still alive and this story is well on my mind.

This chapter may seem short, but I needed this part to be stand alone for a number of reasons. As always, any feedback is much appreciated:)

Anyway, let's get to those who reviewed

Yali Page- I know it seemed harsh, but I promise there's a good reason for it. It will come soon enough

Guest- Unfortunately for Arnold, he will have to endure, as most people do in life. He can hardly run off at 12 years old :P

Laylion- I'm very glad you liked it to the point of tears, though I never intend to cause my readers emotional turmoil. This story was never designed for Arnold and Helga to come together easy. If it seems harsh, I only ask that you bear with me for the moment. It gets better.

AllegroGiocosco- Thank you, as always for your review. The cesspool is never easy to pull yourself out of and for these two emotionally scarred preteens, such a concept is extremely difficult. But alas, this is only part of the story. There us much more to come.

DeepVoice06- This story was something I always wanted to do on my own terms, even if some parts were unexpected. There are a lot of H/A love stories, but very few have a unique spin. These two getting together isn't going to be easy, but there is light at the end of the tunnel.

starfiction123- You're usually very good at hypothesizing at what comes next and you certainly called this. Helga is stubborn by nature, but the situation is still salvageable...barely.

The Rhombus- Haha, Rhonda is a classic Valley/mean girl but in this case she meant well. Still, that doesn't mean she didn't majorly fuck this up and now both blondes are back at square one, with one enduring a broken heart. I think the female in question has yet to realize how bad it's going to get.

Guest- Thank you! And I know, poor Arnold :(

treasureA2- Thank you, so much! I hope you like this chapter as well

Guest- I'll try and go back to fix some of those errors, but I'm glad you like it ;)

zarethecosta2001- The update is here! Please bear with me as better days are coming for our lovebirds!

Seriously, guys, thank you so much for your reviews and support. The more reviews I get, the more it makes me want to write. I can already promise Chapter 15 is in the works.

Anyway, on with the story!

Chapter 14. Actions Have Consequences

Arnold Shortman didn't get angry very often. Even in his worst moments, he made every attempt to keep his temper, forgive, and move on.

Not so, this time. Not when it came to Helga Pataki. As far as he was concerned, he was done with her.

There was no use in trying or making excuses for her anymore. She had shown her true colors and how she really felt. As far as he was concerned, the latest incident with her was the straw that broke the camel's back.

What made it worse however, was that even after the heartbreak, the horrible incident that left him in tears, is that some part of him still wanted to hope, to believe that Helga wasn't as terrible as her latest actions indicated. But Arnold was determined to ignore that part of himself now.

He would never be duped again.

After showering and getting dressed for the day, the blond made his way downstairs to receive breakfast, where the usual crowd shuffled in and out for the day.

As it so happened, his grandfather was making pancakes.

"Hiya there, short man, how's a flapjack sound on this beautiful Tuesday?"

"Sure, grandpa."

"Coming right up!"

He gave the pan a mighty flip, only to see that he had planted the treat straight onto Arnold's face.

"Whoops, sorry there, Arnold."

"It's fine. I'll just take this one and be on my way."

Oblivious to his grandson's turmoil, Phil kept on with his cheery mood.

"By the way, you never told me how you're date went with your little friend."

Arnold stared at his plate, ignoring Mr. Hyun's complaints about not enough syrup while Oskar hogged all of it.

"What friend?"

"You know, the one with the pink bow and the one eyebrow," his grandpa said, still unaware of Arnold's troubles. "She's pretty smitten with ya, short man. I'm waiting to find out when you're going to call on her again," he added with a wink.

"Sorry, grandpa, I have no idea who you're talking about."

That brought a pair of raised eyebrows from his caregiver.

"Huh? What do you mean? I thought your date was a smash hit. Kind of like Pookie and I when we went to see Frank Sinatra back in the day."

"Did someone say 'smash hit'?" his grandmother announced with a bang, chopping up an antique desk with a giant ax, laughing maniacally.

"Pookie, I didn't mean literally!"

Arnold rolled his eyes, his typical patience for this kind of antics at an all time low.

"And that is my cue to leave."

Before either one of his grandparents could say a word, their grandson had scarfed down a pancake, grabbed his bag and was out the door.

Both couldn't help but share a worried look.

For Helga Pataki, today was just another day. Bob had yelled about the intricacies of cell phones, upselling, and the requirements of "being courteous" to customers. Miriam had taken it in stride, while packing her lunch absentmindedly. Olga was now gone, and so one more pain in the ass in her life was eliminated for the time being.

Yes, she had regained her old routine and though it wasn't perfect, she found a minor amount of contentment in it- her room, her house, actual meals, and not having to walk five blocks just to find Phoebe to go to school every day.

Of course, Helga would be lying if she stated everything was right in her world. She hadn't forgotten the previous day's incident where she had completely humiliated her beloved in another effort to hide her true feelings, and the guilt was so overwhelming, it took a tremendous effort to ignore it.

No, there wasn't a foolproof method of driving those thoughts from her mind. The only real consolation she had was past experiences. Each time a negative event had occurred with Arnold- a beratement, an argument, an all out fight- things returned to normal. He would be either forgiving or accommodating, she would issue a half hearted apology (and a reassertion that she still hated him) and that was the end of that.

Therefore, she had nothing to worry about.

"Hey, Pheebs, what's up?" she greeted her best friend as they met on their familiar street corner of 117th and Main Street.

"I, uh-"

"Anyway, we have business to take care of today. Some fourth grader took Rhonda's lunch money. Normally I wouldn't care but she called me yesterday and I promised her I'd take care of it, even though the princess is hardly short on pocket change. I was also talking with Sid on basketball teams at recess today and-"

"Goodness gracious can you really be so insensible?!"

That stopped Helga in her tracks, rendering her completely bewildered at the remark from her normally meek best friend. Though she had been much more bold as of late.

"Something eating at ya, Pheebs?"

"Yes! Something is eating at me. I want to know what came over you yesterday!"

Helga feigned ignorance, though she knew that wouldn't fly with Phoebe.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Really, Helga? Out of all the attempts to avoid a subject, I've seen Harold perform more adequately. Yet again I ask you, why did you treat Arnold the way you did after he asked you out?"

The blonde girl panicked when her usual evasion attempts failed at getting Phoebe to drop the subject.

"I-uh…I just…look he asked me in front of the entire school where everyone would have laughed at me and ridiculed me afterwards!" she shouted defensively. "How was I supposed to respond?!"

"You could have been humane!" came the infuriated reply. "You sent Arnold running out of the cafeteria while everyone watched. Tell me, after all these years of claiming to care about him as you have, what made you do that?"

The familiar denials issued from her mouth.

"I don't know what you're talking about…"

"Don't play dumb," Phoebe interrupted. "And don't pretend like I haven't known all these years how you feel about Arnold."

Now the familiar defensive walls kicked in.

"What the hell are you getting at? Are you trying to make me feel like crap?"

"So you admit, you feel bad."

Helga tightened her jaw as they crossed the street towards the familiar building of P.S. 118.

"You're too clever for your own good, you know that Phoebe?"

Her friend looked up at her seriously, an unwillingness to back down evident upon her normally, kindly features.

"I just know you, Helga. Or at least I thought I knew you well enough that you wouldn't do something like that to Arnold. Now, our entire class thinks you're the world's biggest equivalent of an ogre…"

"Oh, come on, it can't be that bad."

Phoebe shook her head in disgust.

"Just you wait."

Little did Helga know just how much yesterday's outburst would cost her.

Upon her arrival into homeroom, the blonde girl immediately saw what Phoebe meant by her classmates thinking of her as no better than an ogre.

Sid glared at her with disgust.

"Wench," he spat.

Harold's insults hit home more than they usually did.

"Oooo! Look! It's Helga Pataki! The evil girl who broke Arnold's heart!"

That was new. She was used to a whole assortment of insults from the big preteen- caterpillar eyebrows, ugly forehead, stupid pink dress, among other things. But evil?

At least she could tell Rhonda Lloyd some good news.

"Hey, princess, just wanted to let you know-"

"I'm sorry, but I won't be on speaking terms with the horrid brute who treated Arnold as though he were a common jester. Please see yourself away from my desk."

Helga would have retaliated were it not for the sheer amount of shock, but Rhonda had never snubbed her this blatantly before. Being on her geek list, along with not being invited to her slumber party were one thing, however, this was something else entirely. Despite the personal differences between them, both girls usually enlisted the other's help when required.

Not this time.

Phoebe gave her a 'I told you so' look which the blonde girl growled at, but something else caught her attention, simultaneously alerting her to just how serious the situation was.

Gerald gave her a furious glance, but that was just the tip of the iceberg, for in the next moment, Arnold arrived. Except instead of his usual greeting he didn't even acknowledge her existence.

"What's up, football head?"

No reply.

"You watch the baseball game yesterday. Boy, I thought my dad was going to blow a gasket."

Still nothing from Arnold, who had sat down at his desk without so much as giving her a glance.

"Hello? Earth to Arnold? Are you in there?"

But by this point Mr. Frank had interrupted any idle chatter in favor of his lesson plan for the day and Helga was forced to fall silent. She was tempted to throw a spitball or two to get his attention, but somehow Helga knew such tactics would be fruitless. Not this time anyway. She gave a brief questioning glance to Phoebe, who only shook her head in response.

It was only then that the blonde girl started to realize the consequences of her actions.

Oh, Arnold. What have I done?

Indeed, Helga is only just beginning to grasp what her outburst will reap.

Stay tuned! A longer chapter is in the works as we speak for May!

~The Wasp