A/N: Hello my fan fiction friends! Sorry that I took a sudden absence. School was really taking a hold on all my free time! Now that the semester is finally finishing, I am finally able to post this chapter that I wrote like two months ago. I've already written the rest of this chapter so you can expect to see another chapter up this week. I feel awful for waiting so long to post it, especially since you all have been so patient. It's been a year since I've started posting this story, and I think it's time to finally wrap this up by the new year so I can start working on some new material! Anyways, enjoy this chapter. An old friend of Helga's returns in this chapter, and we get a little glimpse into Helga's past as the night of the dance continues on. Thanks for reading! xx
Right Here, Right Now
"Baby sister!" Helga G. Pataki froze while walking down the sidewalk at the call of a voice, and the voice belonged to only one individual that Helga knew.
"Baby sister!" The nickname echoed through her eardrums once more, and Helga groaned as she realized that she was alive and awake. This was no dream, and certainly not another letter she could just shove into her desk drawer.
The last time she had seen Olga Pataki was the summer after her sophomore year. After being rejected by Arnold at Rhonda's party, Helga had locked herself into her bedroom for the following few weeks to try to cope with the catastrophe. She had honestly believed that Arnold and her would finally have a chance and that he was beginning to see her the way she had always seen him. It turned out that the only opportunity Arnold was interested in was a forever-long friendship, and that was the last chance she was going to give him. The look he had given her when he realized she was the girl he was making out with was the reassurance she needed to realize that Arnold would only ever see her as Helga Pataki, childhood bully and lifelong friend.
How could he understand the humiliation of hurrying out of the Lloyd mansion after coming down from the staircase alone those countless couples had encountered at the past parties? The giggles and whispers of her classmates were enough to give Helga a reason to remove herself from the society of her school for the rest of the summer until school started.
It was Olga Pataki, the estranged and erratic sister, who watched over Helga during her depression. Olga was home from Alaska for the summer, and thought it would be an opportunity to rebuild the crumbling relationship between her sister and her. It was not until the blonde busted through the front door late one evening that she was supposed to be at a party that Olga Pataki discovered that she would be spending her summer alone. Helga had hidden herself in her childhood bedroom for the next three weeks. Day and night, she would cook her meals and bring them to her door, only to hear Helga sobbing behind the barricaded barrier. She would answer her baby sister's phone calls from Phoebe, Lila, even Arnold, and distract them from her disappearance. She even left fresh towels for Helga when she would sneak outside of her bedroom to shower in the early hours of the morning. No progress was made however until Phoebe Heyedral invited herself to the Pataki home and insisted that she see Helga one afternoon after three weeks of not hearing from her best friend since the event of the summer.
That night, the three women sat together in front of the Pataki's huge television in the living room watching romantic comedies, digging into a pepperoni pizza, and painting their toenails was when Olga able to finally find out what happened that night three weeks ago.
After being unable to assist her baby sister for three weeks, Olga Pataki decided that this was enough. For the next month, Olga, Phoebe, and even Lila coached Helga through the hell of her heartbreak, training her in every aspect a woman should know when moving on from the man of her dreams. A new makeover and wardrobe were invested in, books of poetry and shrines were stored away, and pushing pep talks like "you don't need him" were encouraged. Helga G. Pataki became a new woman over the summer, and was ready to face the new school year with her two best girl friends.
Olga returned back home to start her school year in Alaska with her students, and wrote to Helga to track her progress. However, no letters ever were written back. Once she had access to a telephone, Olga attempted to call her sister, only to hear her family's answering machine. Now that Helga had recovered from her heartbreak, she no longer was interested in keeping a relationship with her sister, and returned to the way it was before. It was then that Olga Pataki became the one with a broken heart.
After receiving a letter from her baby sister's best friend however about a homecoming dance and a chance for Helga to restart her relationship with the love of her life, Olga Pataki did not hesitate another moment in booking a plane ticket back to her hometown of Hillwood to help her sister once more, and hopefully, receive one more chance at their relationship.
Olga's classic car coated with flowers followed Helga as she stomped away from the approaching vehicle. Another honk of the horn led Helga to cover her ears and moan once more.
"Baby sister!" Olga Pataki chanted, giggling at her sister's act of anger. She smiled at the fact that her sister and her father were identical, leading to the many memories that she had annoyed her dad in the same styles.
Helga stood still suddenly after speeding away from the surprise, convinced now that she could not outrun a moving automobile. She folded her arms and turned to face the fiend. "What do you want, Olga?"
Olga Pataki grinned and rolled down the window to the back seat of her car, only to reveal Helga's friend, Phoebe.
"Hi, Helga!" Phoebe waved, trying to test Helga's anger of her sister's unplanned visit.
"Phoebe? What the hell?" Helga glanced back and forth at the two women riding in the vehicle before her. "Are you being kidnapped?"
Phoebe laughed, knowing that only Helga would assume that Olga Pataki was kidnapping her. "Of course not! We have a surprise for you."
Helga rolled her eyes at the suggestion of a surprise. "I think I've had enough surprises for one day. First Olga is back in town, and now you're in a car with her voluntarily." She resumes stomping to her home.
Olga restarts the engine to slowly step on the gas to keep the conversation with Helga intact. "Just please come with us, baby sister. You'll like this surprise."
"I doubt that." Helga stops again. "Come on, Phoebe. We have to get ready for the dance."
"Well you can't get ready for the dance without this." Helga's best friend holds up the gown bag of Helga's homecoming dress, which Helga recognizes immediately.
"Where. Did. You. Get. That." She seethes through her teeth, and growls at the girls.
"Come and find out." Olga brakes, and places the car back into park. The back car door next to Phoebe opens, and Phoebe continues to wiggle the garment in front of the blonde, hoping she will bite on this bait.
The last time Helga G. Pataki was spotted before the homecoming dance was climbing in the back of a white vehicle covered with pink daisies with two unidentified people.
