A/N: So, Lila blackmailed Arnold to go to homecoming with her so he wouldn't go with Helga... What's her motives? Does she have a crush on Arnold? Wait and see... Thanks for reading! xxx
Just Walk Away
Gerald Johansson held the identical copy of the article on the newspaper edition that Lila Sawyer had given Arnold Shortman following his agreement to be her date to the homecoming dance right before his brown eyes to confirm the story Arnold has just confided in him.
He lowered the newspaper below his now empty, emotionless expression and shook his height of a head.
"Mmm, mmm, mmm." As he folded the newspaper back to its original form, he made eye contact with his best friend, waiting for a word of advice.
"You're a bold kid, Arnold. A bold kid." He handed him the stack of paper before whirling around to exit his bedroom and leave the boarding house.
"I hope you're right, Gerald." Arnold whispered, waiting for the click of his bedroom door to finally close.
"I'm so sorry, Helga." Phoebe apologized once more, as she struggled to save her arm's control over the shrinking shoulders of her best friend, Helga G. Pataki. After not only reading the blog post herself, but also receiving a phone call from her boyfriend, she could only wait for a knock on her front door from Helga.
The two practically sisters had ordered Chinese food, with Helga's favorite of orange chicken. Although Helga had begun her meal with Phoebe for a few minutes, it wasn't long before she broke down before her in a storm of sobbing.
Phoebe had now joined Helga alongside her on her mat, trying to only comfort her best friend. It was times like these that no words were needed to create the connection the two young women already had and still do, with Phoebe proving she was loyal to her best friend since she was three years old.
"I'm so stupid. I should have seen this coming." Helga hiccupped, still struggling to stop her sobbing. Her hand wiped away the now running and wet mascara from her bursting blue eyes.
"You're not stupid, Helga. You're smart. He's the stupid one for choosing her over you." Phoebe reached for the handkerchief she had placed in her pocket before Helga came over to prepare for these kinds of visits.
Rubbing the piece of tissue under her black, puffy eyes, Phoebe did her best to remove the remainders of makeup from the ravishing eyes of her best friend.
"He's rejected me so many times though. I was stupid to think this time was different!"
"It was. It is." Phoebe promised, pulling the handkerchief away from Helga's flushing face of frustration at herself.
"And Lila! How dare she do this to me when she knew how I felt about him." Helga cried, crumbling once more just when she was starting to make a progress to recovery.
"She's not a real friend, Helga. She never was. A friend would never do something like this. We all had no idea that Lila changed." Phoebe stretched across the dinner table to grasp the bottle of red wine that her parents had purchased. She poured the alcohol into Helga's wine glass beside her plate of untouched Chinese orange chicken.
"Drink this." Phoebe persisted, pushing the glass of wine toward Helga's direction. "You'll feel better."
Helga couldn't hold back a giggle at Phoebe's suggestion. "You're suggesting I have an alcoholic beverage while I'm underage?" Helga took the wine glass to sip a small portion. "Why, Phoebs. I'm shocked."
Phoebe giggled along with her. "I believe this is one of those moments where one does not need to question the effect of a glass of wine on the human body."
Helga smeared the last trial of tears from her now moist, makeup free face. "You're right as always."
"Then promise me you'll come dress shopping with me this week to prepare for homecoming this weekend."
Helga sighed as she set down her glass of wine. "I don't know if I should go anymore, Phoebs. I don't even have a date. I was so sure Arnold was going to ask me."
Phoebe tucked a stand of a loose, blonde curl from Helga's hair as Helga gazed into her bright, blue Asian eyes. "You, Helga G. Pataki, are going to let Arnold stand in the way of your senior homecoming?" She shook her head of black hair. "That's not the Helga I know."
Helga smirked. "If I agree to go dress shopping and go to homecoming with you, you promise not to make me try on any heels?"
"Now that's a promise I can't actually keep." Phoebe giggled once more, and Helga joined in as the two best friends shared a hug.
"Thanks, Phoebs."
"Anytime, Helga."
The giggly girls were eventually able to finish their meals, compared fortunes from their fortune cookies, and snuggled up on the couch underneath hand woven blankets and holding hot green tea to watch a pay per view movie on Phoebe's television.
After agreeing to watch Mean Girls, Helga couldn't stop from smiling as she saw her best friend at her side.
Everything was going to be okay.
