CHAPTER 2: IS THAT ALL?

"Okay, here it goes," Helga said knowing full and well that once she started to confess to things that she couldn't stop herself.

"I found your hat and wanted to keep it. I tried to stop you from dating Ruth at that Cheese Festival and I sabotaged your date with Lila at the same Cheese Festival. Um…the little pink book…yeah…the one you found…it…uh…it belongs to me so that I could fill it with poems about you. I forfeited the Spelling Bee so that you would win. Uh…I used Stinky to be my pretend boyfriend to make you jealous. Also, after I accidentally recorded a love confession on your answering machine, I snuck into the boarding house to steal the tape. I wrote Arnold Loves Lila on the wall…when really…I…uh…first wrote Arnold Loves Helga.

Arnold tried to hold onto every word of this long list of "Helga's deeds." However, he couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"Let's see…what else? Oh! I did everything I could to be able to play Juliet in the school play so that I could…uh…um…k-k-kiss you. Um…oh yeah that stupid parrot that kept spouting poetry actually belonged to my dad, but once it heard me talking…uh…reciting poetry about you…it um…keep repeating it. That time you found me and Phoebe on your fire escape, r-r-really happened because I kept sleepwalking to your house. Um…at Rhonda's party, I dressed up like Lila to get you to like me. The l-l-locket your grandpa found was really mine, so I had to sneak into the boarding house AGAIN to get it back. You know…the l-l-locket that saved your parents? And I-I-I…um I found Mr Hyunh's daughter for you by turning in my Nancy Spumoni snow boots."

Helga began panting. After rambling on and on about the things she did, she had just now noticed that she had Arnold by the shirt collar.

"Is that all?" Arnold asked a little shook up.

Helga then slapped a hand to her forehead.

"No," she said her forehead still covered.

"Well…what else is there?"

"Look Arnold! The sun's going down!" Helga pointed grateful for the perfect timing.

Arnold turned and looked at the sunset. It was just as beautiful as it always was. However, this time it was even more beautiful because of the person he got to share this beautiful moment with. Lost in his head, Arnold then realized that Helga hadn't answered the question. He looked to the right and noticed that Helga had already taken off. What had just happened? A better question? What had happened all those years ago? What had Helga left out? Arnold didn't know what to do. Everything Helga had just said made sense. There were a lot of moments in his life that didn't make sense until now.

He couldn't believe it! Helga was his Christmas Angel. She gave up her snow boots to find Mai. She let him win the Spelling Bee. She was the owner of the pink book he found. Even though it all made sense now that he knew the depth of her feelings, he just wasn't sure what to do. That was a lot of information Helga had just told him. He felt dizzy, the same way he felt on top of the FTi building. The same way he felt when they were in San Lorenzo together.

As Arnold made his way out of the park, he couldn't find Helga anywhere. But he wasn't sure if he wanted to.