(AN: I'm sorry. Again. Don't hate me.)
…………
"I must say, Helga, I find your hair ever so… interesting."
Helga smirked. "What's so interesting about it? It's just blue. I've had blue hair before. Arnold suggested getting a mohawk, but I wanted to dye my hair for homecoming next week."
Lila gave Helga a confused look. "But Helga, our school colors are black and gold."
Helga rolled her eyes. "Doi, Lila. I know that. That's why I wanted to dye my hair blue. I'm still trying to get Arnold to dye his hair green or something, but he won't do it." She looked up thoughtfully. "I suppose that's alright, though. How I love those unruly blonde locks of his."
It was the next Friday, a day that every student had been looking forward to—due to teacher inservice, classes ended at noon. With an entire free afternoon at their fingertips, Arnold, Gerald, Helga, and Lila were going to go to the arcade, the park, any and every fast-food place they could think of… anywhere but school.
Lila and Helga were waiting by the doors on the south side of the school, where the four of them had agreed to meet after school. Helga wore an air of confidence about her that day, probably brought on by her new hair color and the stares she had received all day because of it. Lila, whose auburn hair was in its usual braids, still didn't seem completely accustomed to the change.
"Well, gosh, Helga," she said uncertainly, "I suppose that if you want to dye your hair blue, that's entirely your own choice…"
"Damn straight it is," said Helga with a smirk. "But after homecoming I might go back to being blonde for awhile. No, really. I want to shock people, and I think at this point in the game my natural hair color would be more of a shock than purple hair or whatever."
"That would be nice," smiled Lila. "Your natural hair color is very pretty."
Helga rolled her eyes. "Alright, never mind then. The last thing I want to do is look pretty."
Gerald came running up to the two girls. "I think we might have a problem, ladies," he said in lieu of a greeting.
"You mean besides the fact that you're here?" Helga asked, only half-jokingly. As wonderful as dating Arnold was, it was still a bit of a struggle to hang out with his other friends, especially Gerald, with whom she still butted heads.
Gerald frowned at her. "Seriously, Helga. Arnold got pulled out of class eighth period."
"Psychology?" Lila asked.
"What for?" Helga demanded.
"I have no idea," said Gerald. "All I know is that right as class started, Mrs. Haskell came in and said she needed to see him, and he never came back. And I just checked by his locker, and he wasn't there, either."
"Mrs. Haskell? That's the secretary from the main office, right?" Helga asked.
"Perhaps, if we want to know where Arnold went to, we should ask her," Lila offered.
"Brilliant plan, Sherlock," Helga muttered.
"I certainly hope that it isn't anything serious… hey, wait!" Lila called out, for both Gerald and Helga had already started quickly making their way to the office.
"I'm thinking it was all part of an elaborate plan of his," said Gerald, giving Helga a jab in the side with his elbow. "When he saw your hair this morning, he decided he had to come up with some way to get out of being seen with you this afternoon."
"Har-dee-har-har. I'll have you know that Arnold likes my hair no matter what color it is. He told me so himself."
"His stupefied stare and inability to say anything positive about it for a good minute told me how he really feels about your amazing Technicolor dream hair."
"My hair shocks and mesmerizes! It was a perfectly natural reaction, Geraldo!"
"I do wish you two would stop fighting," Lila said helplessly, having finally managed to catch up to them.
"Considering we have nothing in common…" Gerald mumbled.
"You have plenty in common," Lila countered sternly. "Arnold, for one thing."
"That's different," Gerald snapped. "I'm his best friend. Helga's just his psycho girlfriend with cotton candy hair."
"Just his girlfriend?!" Helga yelped angrily. "What, so a dating relationship doesn't include getting close and knowing and considering your significant other as a friend as much as a romantic interest? I shudder to think of what the ex-girlfriends in your wake had to put up with!"
"Now listen here—" Gerald began harshly.
Lila, in a rare show of physical force, pushed ahead of both of them and opened the door to the office. "Mrs. Haskell?" she called out politely to the secretary. "We were wondering if you could help us."
Mrs. Haskell looked at the three students questioningly. "Well, I'll see what I can do. What's the trouble?"
"We need to know where Arnold went," said Gerald.
Mrs. Haskell cocked an eyebrow. "Arnold?"
"Don't give us that," Helga snapped. "You know. Arnold Short. The football head. The only Arnold in this school."
"Helga, please," chided Lila. Turning back to Mrs. Haskell, she said, "We were supposed to meet him after school today, so we'd like to know where he is."
"Oh," said Mrs. Haskell. "Well, he had a family emergency and had to leave."
"Family emergency?" asked Lila.
"What kind of family emergency?" Gerald demanded.
"What happened?" Helga asked frantically.
"I'm not at liberty to—"
"Oh, don't give us that song and dance!" Helga cried in exasperation.
"We don't care about breeches of privacy," Gerald said angrily. "We're his best friends. Whatever kind of family emergency he's having, we'll be the first to know regardless."
"And it would be ever so helpful if we knew where he was so we could offer him our support for whatever it is," Lila added.
Mrs. Haskell sighed in resignation. "Look, I don't really know much more about it myself. All I know is that his grandmother had a stroke and is in the hospital."
"His grandma?" cried Gerald.
"A stroke?" cried Helga.
"The hospital?" cried Lila.
"I don't even know which hospital," Mrs. Haskell admitted. "His grandpa called the school and talked to him, and we allowed Arnold to leave class and take the bus."
"They're probably at Mercy Hospital," said Gerald quickly, heading for the door. "That's the one closest to the boarding house."
"But will they let us in to see them?" Lila asked. "I mean, we're not family."
"We'll make them let us in," Helga growled.
…………
The residents of Sunset Arms were uncharacteristically quiet sitting in the hospital, almost all of them looking intently at the closed door, where the muffled sounds of the doctors and nurses treating Gertie only just barely filtered through and reached their ears.
Only Arnold wasn't looking at the door, instead staring forlornly at his feet, his hands resting on his knees… and yet not feeling them. He wasn't feeling much of anything, actually, his entire body still numb from shock. He felt no nervousness, no sadness, no worry, no anger… some defense mechanism in his body had decided to completely shut off all feelings.
It was not silent in that wing of the hospital, but the boarders could still hear the ticking of the clock.
"It's over!" Oskar Kokoshka finally cried out. "They've been in there too long! She's a goner!"
"Oskar!" Suzie Kokoshka hissed to her husband. "There's still a chance she'll pull through! There's always a chance!"
"Yeah, she's a tough ol' bird!" Ernie Potts said optimistically.
"Bird?" Mr. Hyunh asked in confusion. "She is not a bird! She doesn't have wings!"
"Oh, would you people just shut up?" Phil snapped at them in irritation.
It became silent again for a few moments.
The silence was broken when two nurses made their way down the hallway. "I've never seen anything like that," the first said to the second.
"Imagine three kids trying to get into this area without clearance!" the second said.
"Especially one with blue hair," said the first.
Of all the things to shake Arnold out of his numbness, it was the phrase "blue hair" that did it. "Wait," he said, lifting his head up.
The two nurses looked at him.
"Let them in. They're my friends."
"You have a friend with blue hair?" Suzie asked in surprise.
"That's Helga. And I'm guessing the other two with her are Gerald and Lila."
"I thought Helga had black hair," said Phil, giving Arnold a questioning look.
"She dyed it. Just last night, I guess. It's…" Arnold tried to find a diplomatic way of describing Helga's new shade. "It's different," he finally said with a helpless shrug.
"I know I said I like her better than your past girlfriends, but now…" Phil actually smiled for a second or so. "Now I like her ten times better than your past girlfriends."
The two nurses looked at each other, shrugged, and went back down the hallway.
"Are you sure letting them in is a good idea?" Ernie asked.
Arnold sighed. "If they want in, they'll find a way in with permission or not. Helga and Gerald will, at least. We might as well let them in peacefully, right?"
It wasn't long before footsteps could be heard coming down the hallway again, except this time they were running… and sure enough, Helga, Gerald, and Lila rounded the corner, Lila looking as though she was struggling to keep up.
"Stupid security! Of COURSE we're his friends! Why would we want to see some sick person in the hospital if we didn't even know them?!"
"Gerald, I'm ever so certain that security must be an important issue at hospitals—"
"Screw the security! Arnold, darling, are you alright?"
"Yeah, how's your grandma?"
"Is it serious?"
"Is she okay?"
"Where is she?"
"GUYS!" Arnold shouted forcefully. Helga, Gerald, and Lila all immediately shut their mouths.
"She's in there," sighed Arnold listlessly, pointing at the door. "Now could you please be quiet?"
"But is she…" Lila started.
"I don't know, okay?" Arnold muttered. "Look, I'm sorry… I'm sorry for snapping at you, but please…"
"Do you want us to leave?" Lila asked gently.
Arnold looked at them, the same thought that Gerald had vocalized earlier hitting him like a ton of bricks. They were all so different from each other. And yet there they were, all three of them, together, with the same expression of worry and concern on each of their faces. There was something freaky and yet at the same time comforting that these three completely different people, his three best friends, had banded together for him.
He shook his head. "No, I want you to stay, but please… just don't say anything. Don't say much of anything." He looked back down at the ground.
And thus, he didn't see them look at each other… or rather, Gerald and Lila look at Helga and, without moving, motion her with their eyes towards him.
He felt her before he saw her, as her hand hesitantly touched his as she sat down next to him. He looked up at her in surprise, and she returned his look with a sympathetic gaze, bringing her free hand up to stroke his hair.
Somehow, it became easier for him to breathe. He gave her hand a light squeeze. "Thanks," he murmured.
Gerald and Lila quietly sat on the other side of Arnold, and the four kids were silent for a few moments.
"Thank you… all of you, for being here," Arnold finally said, looking back at Helga, then to Gerald and Lila on his other side, and then back at the ground… that is, attempting to look back at the ground. The shocking blue of Helga's hair, however, was still a sight he was not accustomed to, and he found his eyes were drawn more to her hair than to the ground.
"You really hate my hair, don't you?" Helga said.
"No, I don't…" Arnold felt himself try to smile, although he wasn't sure how successful the end result looked to her. "Actually… I love it."
"You love… it." Her voice was light, soft, and yet he heard her clearly. "Well," she said, her voice a little louder, "if you want some time alone with my hair, I'm not about to stand between a beautiful relationship…"
Arnold smiled for real that time, and actually let out a small laugh. "I like your hair because it's your hair," he said, squeezing her hand again.
The sound of an opening door brought everyone's eyes off the ground or Helga's hair and towards the doctor softly stepping out into the waiting area. "Mr. Short?" he said.
Phil stood up.
The doctor's face looked professional, yet apologetic. "I'm sorry. We did everything we could."
And suddenly, Arnold's body grew rigid again.
"Oh my… I'm sorry, Arnold," said Gerald softly.
"Me too, ever so much," murmured Lila.
Helga said nothing, merely stroking his hand again.
Arnold hardly heard or felt any of it, however.