She rose her ocean of crashing cerulean irises to encounter those of our golden, green eyed football headed hero. Inside the tides of tears, Arnold Shortman could acknowledge that her love lingered in that gaze, but the pain is what pushed her deeper into the sea. The wetness of her tears dropped along the beach of her beauty and stung into the saltiness of her soul. As he witnessed Helga G. Pataki begin to collapse in front of him, the only act he wanted to act on was to sweep her away from the shore and rescue her from the drowning that was inevitable.

"Helga?" Arnold started to come closer to the magnificent mermaid and absorbed her appearance at last. The pop pink of her dress was unable to direct his attention. Its poofiness did not stick out, but instead poured itself into wonderful waves that gently glided along her slender, silky skin. The glitter and the sparkles twinkled against the brightness of the disco ball and blinded the dullness of the dresses around her. As the dress swirled around the shoes of our other primary protagonist, it seemed to spread a glimmering glow. The gown was only to be described by Arnold as perfect. It was a perfect pink homecoming for a perfect pink princess.

As Helga understood that Arnold was approaching her, and quicker than she would have preferred, she gripped on tighter to Stinky Peterson's arm and began to swim away back to the gymnasium doors. She was expecting that he would not recognize her through the bedazzled, beautiful mask that she had hidden over her ocean eyes. However, Helga continued to remind herself that Arnold surprised her multiple moments last week, and maybe, just maybe, she could give him the one more chance that he desired.

"Helga! Please don't go!" He finally breached her beach, and found her hand. As his touch tickled the soft skin of Helga's, she could sense the waves that were rising inside of her calm and still. The breeze of the salty sea disappeared for the first time in days. Her ocean was settling, and the only lifeguard that she would be interesting in rescuing her had found her. "Can we please just talk?"

Helga, still startled at Arnold surprising her and at the effect his touch had on her, considered Stinky, searching for some confirmation that this was happening. Stinky nodded and untangled his arm from her grasp. She still locked onto his look, and to his arm. Stinky tilted his head, confused why Helga would not want to talk to Arnold.

"Helga? It's okay." Stinky took her hand, as Arnold dropped the other one. "Why don't you just go talk to him really quick? I reckon I'll be waiting right here."

She nodded, waiting for the confirmation from her date that it was okay to walk away, and realized that she had to talk to Arnold, for she could not avoid him any longer. She could at least give him one more chance to speak if anything, considering he recognized her through her mask and sent shivers down her spine.

"Okay, Arnoldo. Let's go." Helga straightened herself and reached back to take Arnold's hand one more time. Stinky smiled sadly and turned to look at amongst the crowd to see if he could spot someone else.

"Arnold! Haven't you heard me calling out for you?!" Lila Sawyer stalked along the crowd of the students toward the blonde duo. Helga turned back to Arnold, who frowned in fear and frustration.

"You dropped me in front of everyone! You ruined my dress!" She screeched out in a curdling cry and continued to shove student after student in an attempt to approach Arnold and Helga. "You will pay!"

"Dance with me?" Arnold asked Helga and began to lead the pink princess in the other direction that the snake Sawyer was slithering toward. "Now?!" He urged on, hoping that the DJ would play a song in the next few minutes. The silence in the gymnasium sat, and everyone could point out the pursuit of Lila pushing through the piles.

"Yeah, sure…" Helga whimpered as Arnold picked up the pace of his pursuit, even though luckily some of the students discovered that Lila was after them and began to step aside to create a path for the falling in love fugitives. Arnold could only focus on getting to the center, right under the disco ball, so that way if Lila caught up, it would be exposed to everyone, and Lila would no longer be able to hide her crimes. It was time for everyone to know the truth.

When the two star crossed lovers finally found the center of the homecoming dance, Arnold leaned over to put his hands on his knees, just trying to catch his breath. Helga exhaled herself and was thankful that she decided last minute to not wear high heels. She could hear the snarl and sob of Lila along the edges of the crowd but could not physically locate her. They had lost the red-haired rebel, for now.

The DJ, distracted by the commotion caused by the secret criminal, at last dropped a disc into the cd player to play the next tune. Phoebe Heyedral giggled next to him, eager to see the blondes' reaction to her song request.

"What song did you choose, babe?" Gerald Johansson asked his girlfriend, who chuckled at his question.

"One I haven't heard in a long time." Phoebe smiled at the memory melting in her mind, and pulled Gerald toward the center. "Come on! We're not going to want to miss this."

Gerald struggling to comprehend the suggestion, just shrugged and let his girlfriend pull him into pit of the action.

An updated, upbeat version of the tango started in the speakers, and Arnold and Helga immediately froze and followed each other's glance. The shock of the song startled them both, and their eyes locked onto each other as both of their memories and their thoughts matched up for the first time since the fourth grade.

"Is this…" Helga stuttered, already acknowledging the song, but knowing that asking was still irrelevant.

"The tango." Arnold whispered, and the two seniors in high school suddenly felt as if they flashed back to the fourth grade April Fool's Day dance. They were nine years old again.

"Arnold!" Lila's scream was in range once again, and Arnold quickly swooped Helga into his embrace, before putting his right hand on her back, right below her ribcage. She gasped and leaned into the hand that now had hooked onto the beach of her back.

"Dance with me." He held his left hand up for her to take, and she studied his hand to the desperate glance of his green eyes that called to her. Was this giving him one more chance? Was she willing to give it to him?

"Helga! I need you." Arnold pleaded, and waved his left hand again. It did not matter at that moment. She had to save him. She bobbed yes and took his left hand with her right hand. Placing her left hand on his right shoulder, she sighed as she began to prepare herself to dance steps, she thought she would never have to again after being humiliated years ago.

"Follow my lead." She nodded once again, and the tempo of the tango began to tower. Arnold stepped forward with his left food, while Helga stepped back with her right. The two alternated stepping with their feet with the tune of the tango and were gliding like grade school students.

The other couples crowding them suddenly stopped as they noticed Arnold and Helga dancing the tango next to them and gathered to gander. Gerald and Phoebe pushed people aside on their way to the center, just in time to watch their best friends entangle and lose themselves to the twisting tango.

Helga, concentrating on her steps at first, finally dropped her fight, and started to just move her muscles. "What happened with Lila?"

Arnold, sensing that Helga was loosening and letting herself enjoy the dance, joined her in letting go of his anxiety and fears. "Why are you here with Stinky?"

"How did you know it was me in the mask?" She insisted, ignoring the question. Arnold, angered at her lack of response, twirled her out of his embrace and into a dip.

Helga gasped once more, and Arnold got into her face, just like he did almost ten years ago. "Don't worry. You're in good hands."

Hearing him echo the same words he told her in the past, Helga started to lose control of her thoughts. She could not concentrate, but instead the ocean that she had control of began to tumble through once more.

Arnold pulled her back up to his arms, only this time to wrap both his arms around her waist. "How could I not recognize you? With your pink bow or not, you're still the same girl I threw into that pool when were kids."

Helga blushed at his banter, draping her arms around his shoulders. "There isn't a pool opening around us now is there, Football Head?"

Arnold laughed. "Not that I can see." The prince and the princess, reunited in rhythm again, swung to the sounds of the tango ending.

Gerald and Phoebe kissed, beaming at the pair and at each other. The moment stood still as the students of P.S. 121 cheered on and crowded Arnold and Helga as they finished their dance together at their last homecoming dance.

"Hello, everyone? Can I have your attention, please?" The tango turned off as the voice of Rhonda Lloyd entered the magical moment that everyone had been sucked in. She smirked in her short and simple black dress yet managed to marvel anyone.

"It's time to announce the Homecoming King and Queen!" Rhonda cheered, and the student body of the entire senior class of the high school clapped. Arnold and Helga, holding onto each other, glanced up at the Princess as she announced her news, and grinned as she began to rip open the tiny envelope open.

"So are you going to give me one more chance?" Arnold whispered into Helga's ear, who giggled at his warm breath tickling her eardrums.

"And the winners are… Arnold and Lila!" Rhonda began to applaud, and the two strobes of light locked onto Arnold and Lila.

"YES!" Lila shouted, and skipped toward the stage to accept her Homecoming Queen crown from Rhonda.

Arnold, shocked that he won, stared at Helga, who simply smiled. He was about to assure her that he was not going to accept the throne. He would have already won if she gave him one more chance.

Before he opened his mouth, the disco ball cracked into a disturbing click, and started to open. Hearing the crack, Arnold pushed Helga out of the center, and stepped back in seconds to witness as a huge pile of paper pour out of the disco ball.

"What? What is this?" Arnold asked, bending over to pick up one of the pieces of paper.

"Mmm, mmm, mmm. These are not the party favors anyone was asking for." Gerald sighed, and started to kick the bundles of paper out of the way of the circle.

Arnold recognized the material of the paper right away when he picked it up. It was paper that was used for the school newspaper. As each of the pieces were in a bundle, he knew it must be issues of the school newspaper. Why would someone put issues of the school newspaper in the disco ball?

As he was about to ask, he saw the shock of Helga as she was reading the front of the newspaper, apparently the cover story the issue.

He flipped over the paper to read the story that had Helga G. Pataki shaking, and stopped as he read the headline.

"Helga G. Pataki Seeks Shrink!" The headline that read was the same one that Lila Sawyer had blackmailed him with days before the homecoming dance.

"No, no, no!" Arnold choked, in disbelief. He dropped the issue he had his hand and started to search through the issues in the mountain on the gymnasium floor. They were all the same issue. Helga G. Pataki sought a shrink.

As the other students picked up the newspapers to read what was causing the reaction out of Arnold and Helga, the waves of whoas worked the walls of the gymnasium. Arnold cringed as their facial expressions froze, before he realized that he forgotten about the subject of the article herself.

The slam of the double doors of the gymnasium was the last sound of Masquerade Madness before the madness of the moment launched.