A Night to Remember

While Helga was fascinating herself with the idea of touching Arnold's hair, Arnold was actually thinking about Helga as well, and their accident today.

'Helga and I are just friends. That's all we've ever been, and that's all we'll ever be...' Arnold assured to himself as he stood in front of the mirror in his bedroom. One by one, he buttoned the red, plaid shirt that he wore daily.

Arnold's appearance, like mostly everyone else, had stayed generally the same since elementary school; his sweater and his shirt that everyone had ridiculed him for because it looked like he was wearing a skirt. Now that he was 6'2 though, the shirt that once had been mistaken as a skirt fit right at his waist, underneath his sweater. He slipped on the usual green sweater over his shirt, and breathed in the fresh cotton.

"Arnold! You up here?" Gerald Johansson, Arnold's best friend, called from behind the bedroom door. Gerald and Arnold were planning on meeting up with the other boys from the elementary school gang at the arcade, since all the girls were at their weekly sleepover.

"Yeah! Come in, Gerald!" Arnold quickly adjusted the small, blue hat he always wore on top of his blonde stacks of hair and jumped onto his childhood bed. He reached for a book off his bookshelf, and pretended to be reading it as Gerald opened the door and walked in.

"Mmm, mmm, mmm. Are you seriously reading that pink book of poems that we found in elementary school?"

Arnold gasped and looked down at the book cradled in his hands. He forgot about this book, and remembered back to when Gerald and him had found it on the bus, filled with love poems about him.

"Uh, well, uh, I uh… No. I was just um…" 'This looks really bad…' He could feel his face burn as he slammed the book shut. Arnold scrambled to find English words to describe his actions.

"You do remember who wrote that book, right?" Gerald asked, giving him a look. 'Why is he reading that?'

"You did this for me?"

"That's right, hair-boy! I mean, criminey, what else are you supposed to do when someone who love is in trouble?"

"Love?"

"You heard me, pal! I love you! Love you! Who else do you think has been stalking you night and day, building shrines to you in a closet, filling volumes of books with poems about you? I love you! Arnold, I've always loved you ever since I first laid eyes on your stupid football head. And from that moment- every moment since- I've lived and dreamed for you- Dreamed of the moment I could finally tell you of my sacred feelings so I could grab you and kiss you and- oh, come here, you big lug!"

Cue dramatic, movie style kiss.

Arnold remembered exactly who wrote this book of poems. Helga G. Pataki. Who else could it have been? After all, she ripped a page out of the book to prevent him from reading it, and she stated in her confession that she wrote books of poems about him. It couldn't have been anyone else but her.

'It was just the heat of the moment. She doesn't love me. At least not anymore… And I don't love her… Right?' Arnold skimmed the pages of the book while pondering.

"Arnold? Arnold!" Gerald shook Arnold's shoulders to attempt to bring him back to reality.

"Huh? Oh, sorry, Gerald. Yeah, I remember who wrote them."

"Then why are you reading this? I thought you didn't like Helga. Even as a friend." He snatched the memoir away from Arnold to take a look for himself.

"I do like Helga. She's a good friend of mine. But that's all we are. Friends." Arnold grabbed the book back from Gerald, and slowly slipped it back onto the shelf.

"Okay… Then why do you still have that book? And what about what happened today in the hallway?"

"I didn't know I still had the book. I thought she took it back, and I guess she didn't. And how do you know about that?" His fingers trailed the spine of the novel.

Gerald curiously watched as Arnold wouldn't remove his eyes from the bookshelf. "Arnold, everyone knows about it. Lila saw you two in the hallway, she texted Rhonda, and Rhonda told everyone."

Rhonda. He should have guessed. As soon as Rhonda finds anything private out, she releases the treasure out to the entire high school on that stupid blog she owned. That gossip blog was read more by the student body than the school newspaper.

"Why did Lila tell Rhonda?" Arnold questioned as he adjusted his seat on the bed.

"Arnold, I have no idea. Look, I know you're crushing on Lila, but it seems you also got a thing for Miss Helga G. Pataki." Gerald snickered. 'It's so obvious they're into each other…'

'Lila…' Arnold grinned as he remembered seeing Lila in the cafeteria during lunch today. Her red braids, her green sweatshirt, her blue eyes…

"Arnold! Man, what is up with you?" Gerald rolled his eyes as Arnold snapped back out of his daydreams.

"Sorry, Gerald. I have a lot on my mind. But no, I'm not into Helga. We are just friends!"

"Whatever you say, buddy. Whatever you say." Gerald just sighed and shook his head.

"Hey, that's my line." Arnold smiled at him and finally sat up and left the bed. "So are you ready to go to the arcade or what?"

"I'd thought you'd never ask." Gerald headed toward Arnold's bedroom door and looked back toward Arnold. He was once again staring at the little pink book on his bookshelf.

'I like Lila. I don't like Helga. Helga doesn't like me. We're just friends, we're just friends…' Arnold repeated the phrase over and over to himself in his head.

Maybe one day he'd actually believe it.

'When is he going to realize that he actually likes Helga G. Pataki and that Lila will never be into him? I have the densest best friend in the whole world.' Gerald thought to himself as he watched Arnold get lost in his daze.

"Hey, Arnold?" Gerald asked his lovey dovey friend.

"We're just friends!" Arnold shouted, turning and facing one shocked Gerald.

"I know! You and Helga are just friends, just like Phoebe and I are just friends, right?" Gerald smirked at his comment.

"Gerald… I'm being serious. Helga and I are friends, and I like Lila. I've always liked Lila. There is nothing going on between Helga G. Pataki and I." Arnold folded his arms into his chest and pouted.

"You just keep telling yourself that, Lover Boy." Gerald walked to his best friend and put his arm around his shoulder. "But one day, you are going to realize that Lila has always and never will like you, and you have an undeniable attraction to Helga. For some strange reason…"

Arnold shrugged out of Gerald's gesture. "Yeah, right! Lila's the girl for me, like she always will be. She just… She just… She just hasn't realized it yet!"

By this point, Gerald was sick of Arnold spitting out excuses after excuse about his feelings for Helga and Lila. Arnold's denseness was getting worse the older he turned, not getting better. Everyone in the entire elementary school gang knew that Arnold and Helga had a thing for each other ever since the fourth grade, and maybe even before that. The way those two were around each other was bizarre, but unique. They had a connection that no one except them could understand. Besides, Arnold was always the one who insisted that Helga was a nice, caring girl underneath, and that's why he remained being friends with her and helping her out like he assisted everyone else. Gerald never understood Arnold's relationship with Helga, and he probably never would. He just couldn't see why Arnold couldn't see what he could; that those two were perfect for each other. Complete opposites with an automatic attraction and connection.

"Arnold, I have a full pocket of change just waiting to be spent. Can we please put aside your love triangle with Helga and Lila for a while so we can have some fun?" Gerald pleaded to his best friend.

Arnold glared at Gerald, but sighed. 'Maybe Lila never will like me… And maybe… Just maybe… There is something between Helga and I…'

"Okay, okay. Let's go." Grabbing Gerald's arm, he led him out the bedroom door and downstairs of Arnold's boarding house.

'Wow. I really need a guys' night…' Arnold realized as Gerald and him strolled through the hallways of his childhood home.