Author's Drabble:
Hello again, thank you guys so much for the comments, I appreciate them. For every review I get, the sooner I try to get out the second chapter so please continue giving me feedback!
I've read the reviews and so far it looks like everyone approves of my descriptions and characterization, which is awesome. And also, of course I kept Helga's uni-brow! Craig Bartlett has said that at fifteen Helga would have been an awkward teenager proud of her awkwardness and g-dang it I'm going to make that thing grow like the mighty oak until she hits her twenties if I have to! We've all been—or are currently—teenagers and we all know that we don't turn "smokin' hot" at fifteen or seventeen or any other "teen". So why would Helga? Long live Helga's uniqueness!
Okay, rambling is done. Please enjoy the story. 3
"Gerald," Phoebe reached down and passed a hand over his fluffy hair. It had changed little since the time they were children but these days he wore it shorter and favored growing out a goatee more so than his hair. She smiled a little as his lips twitched and a protesting groan escaped his lips but she lightly poked his cheek, persisting in the task of waking him up. "Gerald, you need to wake now. Baskedball practice begins in fifteen minutes and thirty six seconds, you can't be late again."
The teen opened his eyes, frowning at the prospect of being awake but finding his head in Phoebe's lap was more than enough to compensate for the disappointment. Smiling up at her, he took her hand she had been stroking his hair with and kissed her palm. "I love it when you detail time like that. Whisper it to me again."
"Gerald, twenty-two seconds have passed since I stated the previous time. It would be inaccurate at this point to repeat it." Phoebe said, shaking her head at the idea of stating the wrong time.
"A guy can dream, can't he?" he asked, grasping the back of the park bench and hauling himself up into a sitting position and stretching his arms out over his head; arching his back. Relaxing again he slipped his arm around Pheobe's shoulders and pulled her against his side, smiling down at her. "Are you going to be watching the clock until I finish up?"
"As thrilling and possible as that may be to occur, unfortunately, I will be occupied with other matters. I have to study for the physics test approaching this coming Friday." Phoebe patted his hand holding her against him by the shoulder with a few finger strokes over his knuckles. "But I will be available for a phone call when you finish."
"Oh, then I'll have to take what I can get." Gerald shrugged, standing up and pulling her to her feet; wrapping his arms around her waist. "Well then, I'll see you later."
"Yes, until then, Gerald." She confirmed, returning his embrace before they released and Gerald took off at a sprint up the path towards the park gates.
"I swear, every time I see you two it's like some corny romance novel being spit up in front of me."
Phoebe turned, smiling at the sight of Helga leaning against the oak tree looming over the bench where she and Gerald had been sitting just then. Judging by the dark green apron hanging around her neck and a copy of Wrestling For Maniacs under her arm, she had just gotten off of work at the supermarket. Phoebe and Gerald often stopped in the park after school to just be a couple, sometimes resulting in him napping before he had to go to basketball practice and so on. Before Helga got her job she had often followed them for the sake of having company and avoiding her house but recently she has avoided them for the sake of not feeling like a third wheel. It was unfortunate she thought of herself that way but Helga would not take any pity from Phoebe or anyone.
"Have you finished your employment at the market for the day, Helga?" Phoebe asked, joining her hands behind her back.
"Yeah, manager sent me home when Travis showed up needing hours." Helga stated, indicating back the way she came with her thumb then sticking her hands in the pockets of her apron. "So, when I get my paycheck at the end of the week you want me to call the surgeon to separate you and Gerald from where you're joined at the hip and the two of us can catch a movie?"
"That would be wonderful, Helga. I'm certain Gerald will understand if I say I am going to spend time with you."
"Great." Helga sounded less than enthused but Phoebe knew that was how she expressed herself these days. "Lila might be coming along too, though I might revoke my invitation if she mentions bringing Stinky along again."
"Lila has only recently began dating Stinky, has she not?"
"Yeah, do you think that would stop her from trying to spend every waking moment with him? I swear, all you guys are like Siamese Twins when it comes to wanting to hang out with one of you individually." Helga slapped a hand to her forehead. She untied her apron and pulled it over her head, tossing the magazine into the trash before tossing her apron to drape over her left shoulder. "So mark it on your calendar this weekend. Movie with Helga, no Gerald, no lovey-dovey texting while we wait in line, no guys at all Mrs Johanson."
"H-Helga!"
"Well you might as well be since you two have been going out since we were in grade school!" Helga smirked, approaching Phoebe and draping an arm over her shoulders, coaxing her to move forward. "Come on, I'll walk you home. He wouldn't let me hear the end of it if anything happened to you on your way home."
"Thank you, Helga." Phoebe smiled, touched by the concern.
"Do you think that Arnold is swinging off of vines and jumping around trees like Tarzan now?" Sid asked, pulling his baseball hat back on after wiping the sweat from his face. Gerald arched an eyebrow at the question, folding his arms as he leaned back against the bench behind them in the gym bleachers.
"No, Curly's got that covered, Sid." He stated, "Arnold's no different than he was when he was down here, though he's probably speaking some ancient language we can't pronounce at this point."
"Yeah, he's mentioned talking to the natives in his letters." Sid nodded, "When are they going to try and get electricity down there anyway? I'm sure he'd be able to keep up with everybody a lot easier if he had internet out there."
"Sid, this is the jungle we're talking about. Getting power out there is like finding water in the desert. It ain't happening." He picked up his towel from around his shoulders and wiped off his face with a corner. "What brought Arnold up anyway?"
"Stinky wrote to him about how he finally asked Lila out and I guess I got motivated." Sid now shrugged, "But it's easy to think about Arnold. He did a lot of stuff and not just for me, but for everybody."
"Yeah, he was a bold kid." Gerald smiled, peering across the gym at his teammates playing an after-practice game while he and Sid had sat it out. "Still is. Helping out whoever he can find with a problem…too bad he can't fix up Helga though. Not from where he's at."
"Helga?" Sid leaned back to be on the same level as Gerald. "What's the matter with Helga?"
Gerald slung his towel back around his neck, "I don't know, man. Helga's not exactly the type to show what she's feeling these days. But you remember when Arnold tried to date her a few years ago?"
"Boy howdy, do I? The whole school was freaking out over how random it was for them to suddenly be dating like that. It came out of nowhere!"
Gerald nodded, "Yeah, but ever since they tried to date, she's been pretty out of it. I mean, this is Helga G Pataki we are talking about. Apparently it's something to do with Arnold but I'm not sure what."
There was no telling Sid what was really on Gerald's mind when he mentioned Helga. Phoebe had been concerned about her best friend for years now because of her failed attempt at dating Arnold and apparently Helga had been wanting to for some time. Gerald had come across them kissing in the jungle over seven years ago when they were searching for Arnold's parents but figured Arnold knew what he was doing at the time. Gerald decided to be the voice of reason for his friend and remind him that it was Helga but Arnold was resolute that he had begun liking Helga. When Arnold likes a girl, he tries to make something happen. He tried with Ruth, he tried with Lila, and he was going to try with Helga one day. But when that time came, Arnold chose the wrong time to work on it. Even Gerald could admit his timing was off when it came to asking Helga to be his girlfriend.
But he couldn't say anything to Sid. The green cap-wearer couldn't keep a secret even if his life depended on it. So Gerald contemplated on it in his own mind. He would write Arnold about it again, letting his best friend know that he had left a mess of Helga and needed to do something to clean it up so that Phoebe would relax about Helga's distant attitude to those around them. What worried Phoebe worried him and it was very irritating to spend date nights antagonizing over the youngest Pataki. It felt like ages since he had managed to get a kiss out of Phoebe these days because she was self-conscious about her experiences outnumbering Helga's. Of course, Gerald did manage to accomplish something he didn't want to know if the former bully managed to do or not. What happened between him and Phoebe was between them, but he did smile to himself every now and then when he remembered what they did.
"Hey, Sid, Gerald, come on!" one of the guys shouted, tossing the ball at them. Gerald caught it with a casual sweep of his arm and tucked it under his arm; rising up and dropping his towel back onto the bleachers.
I'll write to him when I get home. I need to get Phoebe's mind off of Helga all the time. Gerald thought, dribbling the ball back onto the court. Though she does look cute when she worries…
Helga sat down in the floor of her closet, shutting the door behind her and leaning her back against it while staring across the small space at the empty wall revealed from her clothed being pushed aside. The step stool for the attic access was leaning against the wall but she wasn't interested in looking up there at her boxes of letters, journals, and poem books. Her idolatry of Arnold had been removed two years ago after losing the image of her changing beloved from her mind. For now she sat in the closet, remembering the old shrines depicting the child.
She had spent so long worshipping him that it was no change of pace when she went to San Lorenzo and ran into the Green-eyed people who respected Arnold as a deity just as much. For once she wasn't alone in bowing down to his image but the moment he was in their presence she reverted back to her former bullying glory. It was when the green-eyed people saw her shouting at him that they suddenly respected her as well, though not quite as much as Arnold. Maybe they were impressed that she could challenge their god without batting an eye or something, but the royal treatment had been awesome.
Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out her locket, staring at the old picture within the glass. Her lips trembled as she traced her finger over the shape of his head then pressed it to her heart before she felt the urge to cry at the sight of a lost memory. A month wasn't long enough to burn his image into her mind. He was thirteen or fourteen at the time after all, four years can change a person, right? If she knew this, she would have taken a picture of him while he was in town back then. Too late now, she missed her chance.
Pulling up her knees, she braced her elbows upon them, suspending the locket before her. The gold finish was wearing off from her constant nights of palming it and coddling it and the glass was scratched in several places, one of them from the teeth of Abner, Arnold's pet pig when he had stolen it from her. Inside of it the picture was fading, the photograph wrinkled from the times she had been caught in the rain or fell into bodies of water. It was time to get a new one but she was attached to the old one cradled in her palms. The thought of throwing it out drew a sigh out of her mouth and she tucked it away again, closing her eyes while letting her head thud against her closet door.
"Arnold, why is it that I must suffer the torment of losing sight of your face alone? There you are, thousands of miles away and you probably don't even remember my name! Which if you have I'll buy a ticket over there and beat your face in you jerkwad! And yet, the moment I find you again I'll probably cling to you and never want to let go because I would be too busy snorting up your hair and that unbelieveably shampoo that you use, which I have been reasearching the brand name and now keep a bottle of it in my drawer but that's beside the point. Oh, my love…why must love be such a torturing emotion and yet so wonderful at the same time?" She swooned, resting a hand over her heart.
"Helga" a knocking sounded on her bedroom door, drawing her out of her loving monologue. "Honey, your sister's play starts in an hour."
Groaning, Helga reached over her head and opened up the knob, letting her weight pull her back onto her bedroom floor where she laid, glaring at her bedroom door. "Fine, Miriam. Only you forgot that I'm not going to Olga's play." She said through her teeth.
"Oh, that's right." Miram's rather distracted voice said through the door. "Okay, well then we'll be going."
"Okay," Helga called, hearing her mother's footsteps trail off down the hall.
Miriam may have eased up on her smoothies a bit these days but that didn't stop her from having her lethargic days brought on from some form of stress. With Olga living with them again the meals were good but since she had given up her teaching career and decided to be an actress instead, Big Bob and Miriam have lost favor in their eldest to the point where both she and Helga were almost equals…almost. At least Helga's name was remembered these days. She still didn't want to be in the house whenever Olga was prancing around trying to brighten up everyone's lives and make the parents smile again. It was all peaches and cream until Bob lost his temper.
Two Weeks Later
"Just hold me!" the nine year old cooed, holding out her arms for him and leaning in closer…closer…
Arnold bolted upright in a harsh squeak of springs, his face sheathed in sweat and his hands gripping white-knuckled onto his sheet. God, that had been the most awkward moments of his childhood. Even after realizing he had liked her back in time, he still felt that Helga's rushed declaration of love for him was a bit too much for anyone to handle. But the fact that he even thought about it again was proof he really was thinking about Helga again. After focusing on work and being with his parents, he was able to push his affections into the back of his mind. It was unfair not to think of her, yes, but after their feelings failed to come to fruitation, he couldn't think about her as often as he normally would have. But recently he was certainly making up for it. And now he was dreaming of the night on the FTi building?
Wiping his brow, the teen pushed his blankets away, twisting around and resting his feet upon the floor. Across the hut his parents were still sleeping; undisturbed by his abrupt awakening. All of them were heavy sleepers normally, used to the sounds of the jungle just as Arnold had been used to the sounds of the city once upon a time. Staring at his bare feet, Arnold joined his hands and braced his elbows upon his thighs as he stared at the ground. He thought about the letters accumulating in the box he stored them in resting under his cot, the countless inked words that called him back to Hillwood and to the friends who missed him. But none of them were from Helga herself.
Maybe she didn't think about him either while he was gone…it seemed a little unfair that he would dwell on her memory now while she lived her life without caring if he was alive or dead.
Narrowing his eyes at the floor, he wondered why he assumed she would just forget him like that. Helga had been blindly devoted to him for ten years before he found out about it. Even now when everyone was mentioning her in their letters it sounded like Helga was still thinking about him. Maybe he was just being overly sure of himself, but if she liked him as much as she claimed to back in the day, she would still like him now, right? It was a lot to think about after just waking up but it always required a lot of thought whenever it came to Helga Pataki. She promoted deep thinking because of her desperation to keep herself an enigma to everyone. If she just came out and showed herself as she really was it wouldn't be so bad. Sure, she'd catch everyone off guard but they'd recover. He did in a few seconds after finding out she loved him so he knew it was possible.
Slipping his hand under his pillow, the teen withdrew an envelope, plucking out the letter from inside and unfolding it in the moonlight shining through the screened window. He saw Gerald's handwriting again, the words casually greeting him and asking about his well-being before shifting entirely into a whole new paragraph that was probably the source of his recent dreams. Of all the people he thought he would hear about Helga from, Gerald was one of the last ones. But he was dating Phoebe and she was still friends with Helga…and his letter pointed out that this was the only reason he was showing concern in the letter to begin with. He re-read the contents in the dim light, folding the letter back up soon afterwards and clutching the paper in his hands.
He must have sat there dwelling on the words for several minutes until he suddenly set the letter aside. Reaching underneath his cot he pulled out the metallic box he had been saving his money in and popped open the lid, narrowing his eyes at the accumulation of bills he had harvested over the years thanks to his odd jobs for the people in the nearest villages that resulted in modest payments he often refused but always ended up having to take home. He picked up the bills, shuffling them through his hands while counting up the numbers and converting the amount into American dollars. All the while he didn't notice the eyes watching him silently across the room from his parents who had managed to wake in time to see him in his thoughtful state. Miles glanced towards Stella and saw her smile a little over at him. He nodded carefully before the couple shut their eyes again, feigning sleep again.
"Rhonda, what are you doing here?"
"Nadine?" Rhonda shrank back from the corner she had been peering past. Her hands clung to the strap of her purse while her eyes averted from her friend's questioning stare. After a moment she straightened her shoulders, flipping some of her hair over her shoulder and bracing her once trembling hands upon her hips. "I'm doing nothing. Merely taking a rest on my power-walk home, is there something wrong with that?"
"No, but it's just a little strange that you would be power-walking home this way since you usually head in that direction." Nadine stated, pointing down the street, the opposite direction in which Rhonda had been looking.
"Well, I got a little turned around, that's all." Rhonda said defiantly, turning up her nose.
"Right, Rhonda." Nadine glanced across the street a moment then back to her long-time friend with serious doubt all over her face. "I'll see you at school."
Rhonda heaved a sigh of relief the moment Nadine walked away, slumping herself against the bricks of the old building before pressing her palms against the wall, craning her neck to peer back around the corner at the familiar Green Meats store. She could see the aging butcher pass in front of the windows and then the rounded employee who followed him with a box in his arms, both of them talking with some-what eager faces. The expression on the employee's face made her heart feel a little warmer, something a little unusual for her. Satisfied, the posh princess stepped out onto the sidewalk and headed in the true direction of her home, keeping her stride casual even though she had sprouted off she was "power walking" earlier. She fished bus fare out of her purse, pausing at the stop. No way would she try walking him in these heels.
Author's Drabble:
Well, there's chapter two. I hope someone likes it.
Enjoy the little tid-bit where Rhonda seems to be stalking Harold? xD
