As the day seemed to go on forever, it finally ended. As the class rushed out of the classroom,
Arnold walked out and went to his locker, along with Gerald and Henry. They went to get their things,
But something caught Henry's attention.
"Hey, what's this Cheese Festival?" Henry asked as Arnold closed his locker.
"Oh, it's an annual carnival, apparently for cheese." Arnold answered.
"From the looks of the poster, it looks like a Valentines Day thing to me." Henry stated.
"Oh, you don't know the half of it," Gerald snickered. "Remember that time when you tried to get Ruth to like you?"
"Yeah, those were the days," Arnold said unenthusiastically.
"Speaking of that, where's June?"
All of a sudden, a shadow emerged from the corner of the hallway.
"Speak of the devil, Mr. McGee." June remarked, she walked towards the boys,
And then gave Gerald a high five before reaching Henry to start a conversation.
"Hey Henroid, I got a proposition for ya." June announced.
"Sure, what's the deal?" Henry asked.
"Well," June began, "A certain someone wants to get someone here as her date for the festival this Saturday."
"Here's a hint, who's the most optimistic among us all?"
Gerald then smirked then looked at Arnold. "We got Dr. Arnold right here!" He answered as he raised Arnold's hand.
"Real funny, Gerald." Arnold claimed. "But who in particular would want to date ME?"
Although he was astonished, he was also a little sure that it may have been Helga who wanted to date him.
It made sense; they were starting to have the same feelings for each other. Most of all, Arnold remembered that Helga and June were conversing throughout the lunch period.
"Who usually wears a pink bow?" June asked.
All of a sudden, Arnold started to blush hardly.
"Arnold, you OK?" Gerald asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Arnold told. "So, um, where do we meet?"
"Well, this SOMEONE says we meet near the bus stop outside your house," June bargained.
"We got to be there by 8 o' clock."
"We're just about to go to Gerald-Field to play some ball, you want to join us?" Henry wondered.
"If this is supposed to be some sore of date, you DO realize I'd cream you, right?" June replied, being snappy.
"As much as I'd love to, I got invited to Helga's house."
"And, how is the 'invitation' a secret now?" Gerald questioned.
"Look, I tried to be as obvious as I can, OK?" June complained.
"Anyways, see you at dinner!"
June then walked in the opposite direction, where Helga and her best friend/personal consultant, Phoebe was waiting.
"So, you told him?" Helga confronted.
"Sure did. Now, why weren't you so sure about me going to your house?" June giggled.
"Well, Helga's home life isn't how you would say, glamorous." Phoebe added.
"Oh, my name's Phoebe, nice to meet you." She then reached out to shake June's hand.
"June's the name; cartoon-crammin's my game. The pleasure's mine." June laughed.
She then turned her attention back to Helga. "But, what's wrong at home?"
"Well, my dad's a blowhard business man, my mom's a 'smoothie' addict, and my Sister does EVERYTHING right, they barely notice me!" Helga replied.
"It's always OLGUH this, and OLGUH that. Why aren't I noticed for the stuff I can do?" she angered.
"If it weren't for Phoebe and you, I might go crazy!"
"Well, thanks Helga! But isn't there someone you're forgetting?" June joked.
"You're quite the prankster. Let's just get this over with." Helga reluctantly replied. "Pheebs, if Harold tries to be stupid and steal my lunchbox again, tell him I'll beat the Yosh Krishna off of him."
"Protecting!" Phoebe chirped. She then went off in another direction.
"Well, let's get this over with." Helga muttered. The two then went out of the school building and gotten on the bus to the way to her house. Strangely, it was quiet between the two. There was nothing to really say between each other.
After 4-5 minutes of silence, they then got off and were at the door to Helga's house.
"You sure you want to go through with this?" Helga asked for a precautionary reason. "This ain't any soap opera."
"Lady, I encounter aliens, cavemen, and misfit superheroes. I think I can handle this." June assured.
"You're a bold kid, June." Helga remarked.
Meanwhile, Gerald and Henry were sitting on the bench in Geraldfield, waiting for their turn.
It was currently the bottom of the 9th, and the 4th Graders were winning against the 6th Graders.
Suddenly, Gerald looked on both sides, as it seemed something had just occurred.
"Gerald, you OK?" Henry asked.
"I'm ok; I just think I felt... a disturbance." Gerald replied.
Back at the house, Helga opened the door and her and June went in.
All of a sudden, applause was heard. Confetti and streamers were everywhere.
June was completely confused? 'Wow, am I that popular?' she thought.
Helga was just completely annoyed; it was regular stupidity by her parents.
In 2 minutes, the applause turned into disbelief.
"Miriam, you can go back. It's just the girl." June overheard.
It was the gluttonous Big Bob, owner of Big Bob's Beepers, the most successful beeper company in town. June saw that Helga wasn't lying. She saw Miriam immediately going into the kitchen; the sound of various fruits in the blender and who knows what annoyed her ears.
"Hey, aren't you supposed to be studying for that 3rd Grade exam?" Bob questioned.
"I'm in the 5th Grade, Dad." Helga said, sounding annoyed. "Our exam isn't until May."
"Yeah, I know the drill. I know." Bob ignored. Suddenly, he caught June in the corner of his eye. "Well, who's the hippie?"
"What the?" June argued. She had a feeling that she was offended. "I'll have you know Mister, that I'm-"
Before June could finish her sentence, she got slammed by the door and ended up squished behind it, far from the viewing eye. Suddenly, the door opened, and Olga came crashing to the door to give her father a hug.
June, trying to inch out of the uncomfortable spot, was already with a darkened eye.
"You must be one of Helga's friends," Olga greeted. "You're just like her! Silly, get out behind the door!
She gave a look to Helga that said, "Oh, gods please tell me this will all be over..." Helga shrugged, implying that this was only the beginning.
It was complete hell. As it was the same cycle all over again. Miriam kept falling asleep in her food, as her entire face was covered in gravy, rice, and bits of fried fish.
"It was great spending the summer in Switzerland, daddy!" Olga began. "And to think, my flight was originally delayed a whole day!"
"Aren't we lucky," Helga muttered. "Bless this house for your intelligence."
"Hey, you will be quiet when your sister is talking!" Bob demanded.
The conversation went towards Olga again; no person seemed to notice Helga other than June. June tried to stomach down her food, and then walked out with Helga. Nobody said anything to her since she walked in.
"Now you see why I tend to be angry sometimes," Helga said as they walked upstairs to her room. "It's a real sitcom."
"Well, if we got the cameras and stuff, you might be richer than me!" June joked. They both laughed. They then went into the room, turned on the light, and sat on the bed.
"Well, bucko. I've pretty much told you all about me." Helga confronted her as she lay down on the bed. "Spill the beans, or I'll bean you."
"What do you want to know?" June asked.
"Just why are you attracted to a guy who's accident-prone? His head looks like some guy dressed as a Hamburger I saw when I took a road trip to Bluffington." Helga exclaimed.
"Well, I've known him for a while. It went back when we were kids in pre-school. You see, it all started with this really violent comic book." June began.
"There's Violence?" Helga intrigued. "I like."
The story went for what seemed like hours, June told Helga about the time Henry accidentally lunged her across her backyard, the time she gave him a freak haircut, and even the time she got jealous that Dawn arrived.
"She's a tramp! What does Henry see in her?" June shouted.
"Just replace Henry with Arnold and you've got my entire life in a sentence, sister." Helga snickered.
"She's a perfect person, who doesn't even return his feelings, like it's against the law to fall in love. I mean, what the-" A car then blew a horn before June could use profanity.
"I swear, if that pile of garbage comes here and steals MY date, I'll murder her." June threatened.
"Well what do you know, I'm contagious." Helga giggled.
"Well, you're officially a Kablam Sister in my book."
June assured. "Cross my heart, swear to die, stick Stink Diver's spear in my eye."
"You don't really expect me to say that crap, right?" Helga questioned.
"Eh, everybody's a critic." June replied. "Is that an Arnold plush doll?"
Helga then quickly hid it behind her back and laughed nervously.
"Don't be ashamed, there was this time where we got our own toys, but all Henry's could do was wet itself!" June assured.
"You know, you might fit in after all. Took a lot shorter than Lila, I can tell you that." Helga smirked. "So keep your head up,"
"And your ego down, I know. Sheesh, are you my mother?" June completed before one last laugh.
As she let herself out, she wondered, just what cheesy thing Henry was going to do to get her attention?
She then remembered she kept the Band-Aid that Henry had put for her in a frame.