Continuing on, it may take a bit after this chapter before I submit another but there will be more. I cannot leave a story unfinished.
Disclaimer: I do not own Hey Arnold!
Those butterflies she had before didn't have shit on the ones she had now. She could feel a rush of emotions coming over her, praying that they wouldn't surface on her face. She did her absolute best to remain cool, calm, and collected. She took a deep mental sigh as she prepared herself for whatever was to follow.
She quickly looked back down at her phone again, hoping for a message of some type to give her a reason to be so distracted. To keep eye contact to a minimum, for as long as she deemed necessary. To no surprise, nothing, she was left staring at her phone like an idiot. All she could hope for was that he did not recognize her, Phoebe had yet to actually say her name in the presents of anyone. Maybe she was still good then, perhaps her true identity was still hidden.
"So you know Chance?" he asked, trying to form some kind of conversation to break the awkward silence.
The sound of his voice made her melt instantly, all the feelings she had suppressed for so long came flooding back with a single word spoken. Now being forced to at least acknowledge his present to avoid being rude, she shifted her gaze over to him. His features had change, his head was not so "football shaped" as before. Taking on a few sharper facial features, filling out his face so nicely. He was even more gorgeous than she remembered, but those green eyes never changed.
"Um, yeah. Well kind of. I just met him today on my way here." She responded, looking back at her phone. "Actually, I guess you can say we 'ran' into one another." She chuckled a bit.
"Do tell." He said. Noting the curiosity that had befallen his expression she decided to give him what he wanted.
"Well I was walking to the front door not paying attention, which is something I seem to do a lot, and out of nowhere I ran into him….literally. Hit pretty hard too, my butt is still feeling gravity's cruelty." She said, now kind of thinking how funny it had been.
He chuckled a bit and said, "Well that'll teach ya." She gave him a little smirk and raised a brow at his comment.
"Well you better watch out, you could be next. You just never know when I might not be paying attention." She said, enjoying their little conversation, all that it was.
He smirked at her playful comment, "So you really don't dance?" he asked, breaking the silence once more.
"Absolutely not, unless it's in my living room with the shades closed as tight as they can." She said, looking over at the others and then burst out laughing at the sight. There in front of nature and everyone was Stinky, totally doing his best to break it down without breaking it. It looked something like a mix of the electric slide while getting electrocuted. She laughed so hard tears started to roll down her cheeks. By this time Arnold had followed her line of sight and spotted what she had found so funny. At this sight he too started laughing hysterically.
After a few minutes the song changed kind of forcing Stinky to stop totally embarrassing himself. Giving Helga and Arnold both a chance to catch their breath and wipe the tears from their faces. At this point Helga was glad that she had come to the party, she hadn't laughed like that in so long.
"You know you are going to lose right?" Arnold's voice broke her attention from the others.
She looked over at him with a puzzled look on her face, he just stared at her with a smirk. As if he couldn't look anymore freaking cute he makes that face. She quickly snapped herself out of his hypnotic stare.
"Lose what?" she finally responded.
"The bet with Chance, he is a serious ladies man. You are going to lose." He said again.
"HA," Helga shot back, "and what makes you so sure? Just because he is a 'ladies' man', pa-lease." She rolled her eyes and chuckled a bit. "You obviously don't know me very well, Arnold." He shot a look of confusion and shock at her response for a half a second. What the...did I say something wrong? she thought to herself noticing his reaction.
"We will see." He said as he turned to face the others. He then turned his attention back to her, "And you are right."
"Right about what?" she said, her attention now focused on her phone again.
"I obviously don't know you very well, and I don't think I ever caught your name." He said looking at her, "Mind if I ask?"
She felt chills run down her spine at that question, she didn't want to tell him that she was, Helga Pataki, his childhood bully. She didn't want him to look at her different because of their past. She was having such a good time she had completely forgotten about not telling him who she was. Dang it.
Without looking up she weakly responded, "Ask what?" she damn well knew what, but she was doing her best to avoid the question.
"Your name?" he asked again, "I think it's only fair since somehow you know mine."
She looked over at him, his curiosity was definitely showing. Crap I said his name? I didn't even realize...when did I say it? Oh man I am so busted now, she thought. She swallowed the lump in her throat, trying to come up with a quick way to dodge his question, but she had nothing. Might as well just get it over with and let him know who he was really talking to.
"Well umm….my name…is," before she had the opportunity to finish she heard a voice call from across the yard. "Hey Helga!" Her head shot up in surprise, it was Chance. She shot a quick glance over at Arnold, his expression said it all. He was so confused, she could hear him mumble "Helga?" in a questioning way. He looked over at her, still confused, all she could say at this point was, "Hi." Giving him a shy smile and a little wave of her hand.
"Helga? Helga Pataki?!" he said, still looking as confused as a person could.
Helga stood up from her chair giving him a quick smile before heading over to where the others were standing. Some of their expressions were about as confused as Arnolds, no one had actually paid attention to her when she walked out earlier. Which in a way she kind of wished it would go back to that, but the cat was out of the bag now. There were no shadows to hide in on this bright sunny day, she was busted!
"Holy crap, Helga! You're back?" Harold said, his voice muffled by the hotdog he had just stuffed in his mouth. Spitting and sputtering on whoever stood near him, earning him a scoff from Rhonda.
"Wait, when did you get back?" Rhonda asked, now a safe distance from Harold.
"Are you sure you are Helga?" asked Sid from the back.
"Wait Helga? As in Helga G. Pataki? Why I'll be darn." Stinky said with his draw as thick as ever.
"Criminy, what is this an interrogation?" Helga said throwing her hands in the air, "Look I will answer questions in due time, but for now I just want to hang out and have fun. Is that ok?"
That must have done the trick, with that everyone went back to doing what they were doing, a few coming up to talk to Helga. By this time Arnold had made his way over to where everyone was standing, making a B line for Helga. She looked up as she noticed him approaching her, the look on his face could have melted diamonds.
"It really took you hearing my name to figure out who I was?" Helga said, smiling slightly looking up at the incredible blue sky, "Still as dense as ever."
Arnold just stood there shaking his head for a moment, probably still trying to get a grip on this. With that he motioned for her to follow him, which she hesitated at first, but followed. They both went back to the table they were sitting at previously.
"So you weren't going to tell me that you were Helga?" he asked, a little confusion and frustration in his voice, "What did you think I was going to do?"
"Well to be honest I figured that if you knew who I was you would stop talking to me." She said back shyly, trying to not make eye contact, "You really didn't know who I was?"
"Well I thought you looked kind of familiar, but I wasn't really sure." Arnold said, not looking away from her.
"To be honest I didn't know who you were at first." She said as she looked away.
"Well how did you figure it was me?" his question demanding an answer.
"Your eyes," she said, "your eyes are still the same."
She could see a faint pink hue starting to form across his face. They sat in silence for what felt like an eternity.
"Are you mad?" she finally asked.
She heard him take in a deep breath and let it go slowly, "No," he replied, "but it would have been good to know who I was talking to. I kind of feel bad for not recognizing you, but then again I wasn't the only one. You have changed so much so really who could have known?"
"I didn't realize just how much I had changed. Sorry, I'll try to keep from doing that again." She said, hearing him chuckle at her response.
"Well, now that, that is out of the way, how are you Ms. Helga Pataki?" he said, a smile forming as he waited for her response.
Before she had time to answer she felt someone grab her hand, pulling her towards the others across the yard. She could hear Arnold laughing behind her as he said, "I told you, you were going to lose!" She shot him a quick smirk as she noticed it was Chance who had her hand.
"Oh well let's get this embarrassment over with." She said, as Gerald put on an upbeat tune.
After a few songs, and a lot of embarrassment later Helga was able to sit again. Everyone was starting to wind down a little, some had started making their way out. It wasn't super late, but some had other plans later in the day. Rhonda and Nadine were the first to leave, shopping was always the excuse, but no one really made an argument for them to stay.
It was still pretty warm, so Phoebe and Helga decided to go for a dip in the pool. A few of the others were already in enjoying the cool water, Helga and Phoebe walked over, both dipping a toe in first. It was pretty cold so the best way to get in was to just go for it, but before either one had time to Helga suddenly felt arms sweep her up. Next thing she knew she was in the pool, trying to catch the breath that the cold water took away.
She heard Phoebe laughing from the pool side, what the hell just happened? She wiped her eyes, and tried to focus cause someone was about to get it. It didn't take long for her to figure out who the culprit was, Arnold. By this time he had swam to the other end of the pool, with the biggest shit eating grin on his face, like he had just won a contest or something.
"Well that is payback!" he said voice cracking as he laughed at the sight of Helga being totally waterlogged. He pulled himself out of the pool before she had the chance to get to him. Well at least I'm cooled off now, she thought. She swam over to the ladder to climb out of the pool, just before hearing another loud splash. She turned around laughing immediately upon noticing what caused it, Gerald had gotten Phoebe.
Helga walked over to the table where she, Phoebe, Gerald, Chance, and Arnold had been sitting. Arnold was waiting with a towel, still sporting the grin. She couldn't help but to ask him, curiosity had gotten the better of her.
"So payback huh? For what exactly?" She waited for his answer.
"Well, that would be for failing to tell me who you were, making feel like a total idiot." He said smiling.
Helga nodded her head, "Fair enough." Sitting down next to him, Arnold leaned over and whispered something in her ear that made her blush. So much for the cooling effects of the pool. She thought.
Like always, and something she came to know very well, all good things must come to an end. Phoebe had asked Helga to stay over for the night, and knowing that nothing would be set up in her room she accepted. By 7 P.M. the pool party was over and everyone had gone their separate ways. Helga said her goodbyes to everyone as they walked out, getting numbers from a few to hang out again.
Dinner was devoured to say the least, showers were taken, and now the two girls sat in Phoebe's bedroom catching up on events. A question rolled around in Helga's head thinking about everyone at the party, where was Lila? Isn't she dating Arnold? At this point Helga couldn't contain her curiosity, "Sooo….I noticed that Lila wasn't here with Arnold."
Phoebe looked up from the message she had been in the process of writing to Gerald, "Yeah. They broke up about a month or so ago. Lila is dating some guy she met out of town." This news definitely didn't fall onto deaf ears, Helga perked up a bit at this new found information. Even with her feelings being more mellowed out, she still really liked Arnold. Maybe this was her chance.
Feedback? How does everyone think it is going so far, reviews? Also, does anyone thing I should revise chapter 1. Thanks for reading!