Disclaimer: I do not own Hey Arnold!

The Day You Will

By Moonlight

The Plan

Pacing around the empty music room, Helga thought aloud to herself. Her mind racing through possible paths she could take in order to help her friend with the newly presented problem. Her path made circles around the large grand piano in the room. Her arms swinging back and forth in sync with her steps. Her brow furrowed in a deep scowl.

"What is that guy THINKING?!" she said to herself, "Playing with Phoebe like that… how COULD he?!"

She paused for a moment to angrily kick one of the music stands over, watching it fall with a muffled clatter onto the carpeted floor. A part of her wished the stand had been Gerald, for all the anguish she could imagine Phoebe going through if she knew about his actions. She couldn't believe any of it. Gerald was very flirty, she knew for a fact, but for him to betray her best friend like this… It was just not something Helga could really wrap her head around. Though, this wasn't the only thing messing with her head. What's more is the memory that continues to play on repeat in her mind. The memory of that morning. Sitting so close to Arnold. Holding his hand. Inexplicably kissing his cheek...

"AUGH!" She groaned to herself as blood rushed to her cheeks, lighting them up in the dimly-lit room. "What was I thinking?! CRIMINY!" She did her best to inhale calmly. Her legs seemed to have a mind of their own, however, and continued to kick over the remaining music stands.

Lost in her own thoughts, she didn't hear the door open behind her.

"There you are!"

Startled out of her thoughts, Helga tripped over one of the fallen music stands, landing on her hands and knees.

"Goodness! Are you alright?"

Helga looked up to see Phoebe with a look of genuine concern on her face. The small girl was carrying a couple of books, cradled tightly in her arms. Her hair was a bit messy, and her sweater was so long, it almost looked like a nightgown.

Getting back on her feet, Helga dusted herself off. "Hey Phoebe. Uh, what you reading today?" She asked, trying to sound normal, though she tried hard to press her nervousness into the back of her mind.

The girl smiled, "Just some textbooks on civil procedures and Tort law. Oh! And I was looking through this magazine here," she set the books down and pulled out a lonely magazine which featured a very dolled up woman in a fancy dress. "It has a lot of ideas for dates and how to put up my hair."

Helga swallowed hard, "S-since when have you been worried about things like that, Phoebs?"

Phoebe's smile widened, "Well, you see… I'm going on a date this saturday with Gerald, so I th-"

"Ah!" pretending to have suddenly remembered important information, Helga slapped herself in the forehead.

"What is it, Helga?" Phoebe asked curiously.

"Uh, well...Gerald…" the blonde debated with herself if telling herself Phoebe was worth the risk of hurting her. "Gerald said… he told me to tell you he wouldn't… be able to see you on saturday-dentist appointment, he said…" Helga bit her tongue.

The small girl's smile quickly dissolved into a frown. She stared down at the magazine in her hands. "I see. Well, I guess it can't be helped…"

"Huh?"

Phoebe let out a sad chuckle, "Well, I had purchased two tickets for a movie, so now I'm just stuck with them."

Helga inhaled deeply and folded her arms across her chest. Her face forcing a typical Helga G Pataki smile. "I GUESS I could go with you."

"Thank you, but you don't have to, Helga. It's probably not a movie you'd want to see."

"Nonsense! I'll see any movie, as long as you buy the popcorn." Helga said, wrapping and arm around the girl and walking with her out of the music room.

Phoebe giggled and nodded, "Buying!"

The bell signaling the end of the school day rang, and all of the students happily left the building. Conversations about what the weekend holds, and what kinds of shenanigans they were going to get into, filled the hallways. Arnold walked alongside Gerald, who had his phone out and was ignoring him yet again. His fingers tapped away quickly on the screen as he sent text after text to the one person Arnold knew he would be THAT anxious to respond to. Macy.

"Gerald." Arnold started as they stopped to gather items from their lockers. However, Gerald payed no mind to him as he continued to tap away at his phone. Arnold sighed deeply and closed his locker. "Are you seriously going to meet with her tomorrow?"

"What?" Gerald's eyes were still on his phone screen.

Taking the phone away, Arnold held it behind his back to keep it away from his friend. "For just ONE second, could you look at me? Please." His eyes were filled with determination, and brough Gerald to defeat.

"Yes, Arnold."

"Yes what? Yes, you'll actually listen to me?"

Gerald rolled his eyes in annoyance, "YES. I'm GOING to meet with her, Arnold. I don't understand why you're so insistent in trying to tell me what I can and can't do."

Feeling very take aback, Arnold dropped his arms to his sides, leaving the phone open for Gerald to take back from him. He was filled with disbelief. Disbelief at his friend's oddly defiant behaviour. He didn't expect this from Gerald at all.

"Phoebe-"

Turning away from Arnold, Gerald began to walk towards the front door. "This DOESN'T concern her, Arnold. Stay out of it."

Arnold watched as his friend walked out of the building without him. Repressing the urge to chase after him, he swung his backpack on and closed his own locker. He shoved his hand into his pocket to fish out his own phone. His mind went back and forth on whether he should text him or not. "It might just be best to leave him for now…" he said to himself.

A voice from behind him spoke, and made him nearly drop his phone.

"That went well, football head."

He turned to see Helga, casually leaning on the lockers with her hands folded across her chest. A disappointed look on her face. She sighed and looked down at her feet.

"Well… I guess I can't say MY talk with PHOEBE went well either."

Arnold relaxed and sighed once again, "Is she okay?"

She shook her head in response, "I ended up offering myself up to replace Gerald-o at the movies tomorrow."

"I guess that's a good thing…?"

Helga raised a brow at him.

"I mean, you can at least make sure she has fun." He stopped to think for a moment before a thought made his eyes light up.

"What?" She asked, mildly annoyed at his sudden silence.

"I was thinking…"

"OUT with it!"

"This is kind of...wrong, but maybe-"

"WHAT?!" she all but yelled. Her arms flung into the air.

"I could follow Gerald tomorrow. I mean, he might be telling the truth about meeting for school work, but…"

Helga nodded, but kept a slightly confused look on her face, "That's an odd proposal coming from you."

"I know, but it's the least I could do."

"I guess." she began to walk to the exit with Arnold trailing behind her.

Ping~!

The chime of her phone startled her briefly before she remembered that she kept the darned thing in her pocket.

"Olga." she said to herself as she saw the flashing "new message" notification.

"3:41pm

Baby sister. I just wanted to check in. Is everything well up in Hillwood?"

"I didn't know you had a phone." Arnold said to her as he walked up to stand at her side. He fumbled with his own device for a moment before handing it to her. "It might be smart to exchange numbers. You know… since we live together now." His cheeks turned a bit pink at his own boldness.

Helga looked at him, a bit surprised, "I...don't actually know my number. Olga just gave this to me before she left, so-"

He shoved his phone back into his pocket and held out his hand, asking for hers instead. Typing something quickly into her phone, they heard a soft ping from his pocket.

"There. Now you have mine. And I messaged myself to have yours." He paused to look at her "...If you want it, that is."

She shook her head. "Thanks…"

He smiled.

"I-I mean I GUESS I'll have your number, since you pretty much TOOK my phone from me. Stupid football head." She did her best to scowl only to see him try to hold back a laugh. "What?"

"It's just funny, because-"

"Because WHAT?"

His smile relaxed as he looked straight into her eyes, "Because you don't actually mean it."

She felt the heat creep up to her cheeks and decided to head down the street towards the boarding house. Arnold caught up with her once more, and the two walked in a comfortable silence.

"7:53pm

Hey Olga. Things are fine up here. I guess."

"7:55pm

It's great to hear from you, Helga! You guess? Is something wrong?"

"8:01pm

Long story."

"8:04pm

I have all the time in the world for you, baby sister."

"8:13pm

Well… what would you do if you knew something that could hurt someone important to you?"

"8:14pm

What do you mean? Is someone in trouble?"

"8:18pm

I mean. I know something that can hurt Phoebe, but I don't want to tell her, because I just KNOW it will devastate her and I don't want to DO that to her."

"8:19pm

I'm going downstairs for a glass of water. Would you like anything?"

Helga looked up from her phone and stared across the room at Arnold, who was sitting comfortably on his bed.

"You do know we're literally 10 feet away from each other… In the SAME ROOM. Right?!" she said to him with a scowl.

He chuckled, "I know, but you were so focused on your phone that I didn't want to startle you by saying anything."

"And how is this any different?" She asked before adding, "I'll take a glass of milk and cookies, if you have any."

Sliding off the bed, he turned towards the door, "Coming right up."

Helga smiled as he left the room. She definitely enjoyed his company, and felt like the gap between them was closing at a nice pace. She loved his presence, even though they didn't interact much. He still kept himself within reach for her, and that alone was comforting.

Ping~!

"8:21pm

I would tell her, Helga. A friend would protect a friend from being hurt. However, a best friend would be honest and be there from them WHEN they get hurt at an outcome of the honesty."

Helga thought hard at her sister's words before finally responding.

"8:28pm

Thanks, Olga. Goodnight."

Moonlight: I know I've been busy, and this chapter is kind of short, but I have a lot planned for the next segment!