Curly is vaguely listening to Brendan as he is shoved him against the locker because he spots someone hiding in an empty classroom doorway holding what appears to be some kind of camcorder. He is happy, but also deeply surprised to discover the person hiding in the shadows is in fact, Lila Sawyer.
Once he was long gone, Curly rushed so fast over to Lila, he was so excited that someone had recorded it, and for a split second, he didn't question the fact that the person was Lila. "Did you get all of that?" He asks her with panic like enthusiasm in his voice.
She wordlessly switches the camera into playback mode and hands it over to him. He watched for a few seconds and looked at her. "Wow, that's pretty vivid in picture and sound." He watches the remaining footage and once it was over he ran a hand through his hair looking at the red haired girl. "Um…why – what made you – do this…?"
Lila Sawyer is trying to help Helga… I thought she had turned into a jealous ... backstabber? I suppose - I was wrong?
Then he notices that she is wearing black shades and could see a hint of a bruise on her left cheek even from a distance.
Lila's eyes fell down, her smiling fading completely. "Well at first I was jealous of Helga. That she's with Arnold…because some old feelings for him came back and when Brendan presented me with this plan to hook up with Helga and simultaneously win Arnold back – I couldn't pass up on the opportunity." She runs her fingers through her hair which was surprising loose from her usual braids. "But – I learned too late that Brendan is a horrible person… not that I'm anywhere near perfect, I can't change what I've done in the past, but I can do something to stop him..." She sighed and handed over her camera to Curly.
He raises his finger up to her face but flinches. "Did he do that to you?"
She nods. "Yes, he's an ever so awful person who deserves to be punished for his actions."
She shakes her head and points to the device in his hand. "It's not about me…" Her smile was small and shy. "Make sure that gets into the right hands. Arnold and Helga… they can keep it. There isn't anything on there; except for that video of Brendan... it's a new camera. I know you're a good friend of Helga so I figured you are the best person to hand this over to. The authorities need to see this before this thug wearing a basketball uniform and a cocky grin harms her or any girl..." She starts to trample off but turns around to face Curly. "Let them know I said I was ever so sorry – to Helga for even agreeing to that silly plan and to Arnold for just behaving foolishly. Thank you ever so much Curly." Before Curly could say anything she scurries off.
But Curly dashes off quickly as well.
XOXOXO
Arnold finally is able to leave Coach Wittenberg's office; the halls are pretty empty except he hears the loud thumping for feet pounding the floor. He turns his neck to see Gerald running up to him panting a little.
He puts a hand on Arnold's shoulder. "I heard - you got into a fight or almost got into a fight rather with Sanders again. Tell me what happened. I hear it evolved Pataki some kind of way."
Arnold felt anger washing over him again. "Helga was attacked last night and I know it Sanders that was involved."
Gerald's jaw drops practically to the floor. "I-Is... she okay?"
Arnold finally looks directly at his best friend and answers him with a head nod at first. "Helga stayed at the boarding house last night - my parents, the police think it's best that she stays there - until this person ... Brendan is locked up or at least until her father gets home." his brow furrowed. "It's weird that Mr. Pataki has been gone days at a time and apparently that's been the case lots of time in the past, I mean I know Helga's independent and stuff, but she shouldn't be in that house by herself." He shakes his head. "Anyway, I don't know if I can contain myself if I have to see Sanders again. I know he was the person that broke into her house and the fact that he's here enjoying his day, enrages me."
Gerald puts his other hand on Arnold's other shoulder. "I'm sure - something's going to -"
He stops speaking mid-sentence due to seeing a crazed looking Curly hauling ass towards them with something in his hand. His face split into a huge smile once he sees Arnold in particular standing at the end of the hallway.
"Arnold, Arnold, stay there!" He sprints up to a startled blonde guy. "I-I... no Lila... recorded some evidence of what I think Brendan attempted or is going to attempt on video..." He shoves it into Arnold's palms and looked up to see Arnold frowning, obviously processing all the information being thrown at him from a high sprung Curly. Hearing the name Lila, threw him off.
"Um... this is Lila's camera?"
"Yep, Lila Sawyer, after your little shout match with Brendan, I confronted him. I was gonna kick his ass, but then I saw her in the doorway hiding with a camera recording everything so I tried to just get him to talk rather than right."
"And she recorded somewhat? Incriminating footage of Brendan to help us..." He says as more of a statement than as a question.
Curly repeats his gestation. Arnold had a look of disbelief. "That's - I can't believe it."
Curly nods his head in agreement. "Yeah I couldn't either. But it doesn't matter, who, what, when, where and why's - what freaking matters is that I think - I can't promise - but I think we got this asshole pretty much confessing to his crime. I don't know the details of exactly what happened to make you want to kill him earlier because I haven't seen or spoken to Helga since we were all at the club, but it is obvious that he has sinister intentions and we have to stop him before he acts on it. So please get this to the police." The bell rang and Curly hauls off.
Gerald stares at Arnold with a look of awe. He relaxes his expression quickly. "Now that's a miracle working in your favor buddy." He points to the camera in his hand. "You need to get that to the cops as soon as you can, the guy needs to be behind bars."
Arnold nods and his features tensed up. He would honestly do anything to ensure Helga is safe and to make sure that this monster of a person is taken down. "Oh trust me I will."
XOXOXOXO
Stella and Miles suggested that Helga stays home for the day; which initially she was against, but his parents convinced her to take a day off. Helga thought about, she didn't want to have to see anyone and being asked what's wrong fifty million times, she also didn't want to see Brendan. As a result, Miles and Stella called the school to inform them that Helga wouldn't be in.
She actually had perfect attendance; therefore her absence will be apparent. Arnold still needed to go, for one thing, he is going to obtain any assignments she has in her classes, but also he wanted to confront Brendan and for him to realized that he was aware of his actions. He also didn't want any other strikes against him, since his fight the first day of school.
Arnold picks up her assignments and left as soon as his last period was over with. He sped all the way home and ran into the boarding house and up to his bedroom at high speed. He says her name behind the door at first and when she responded he came in. She's sitting at his desk on his computer.
He smiles at her although she could clearly see tension all throughout his face and upper body. "Hey." He rushes over to kiss her on the forehead. "So - here are your assignments from school and ..." He pulls out the camera. "Most importantly, here is a camera which contains video footage of Brendan in some way admitting to what he did or what he intends to do. Curly gave it to me but apparently it's Lila's camera."
Helga's eye widen once he pressed play and she watched the video of Curly in heated communication with Brendan. She sees as he shoves him against the locker and said some specific things about her. "Whoa, alright so..." She stands up. "We have to get this to the police, like now, like right now..." She picks up her phone, "Pheebs was gonna come over, but I'll text her that we're going to the police station..." She finishes and looks at Arnold. "Okay, let's go."
XOXOXOXO
Arnold walks slightly ahead of her with his hand wrapped firmly around hers as he approaches the long counter. There is only one officer who was available at that moment so he approaches. "Hello Sir, we're here regarding the case of Helga Pataki." He gestures slightly to her. "There was a recent attempted assault committed against her in her home and we have actual evidence to hopefully warrant an arrest."
The office puts up a single finger, indicating to give him a second to pull up the information, which seems to take longer than expected to confuse both Arnold and Helga. "Can miss and sir, please have a seat and I'll be with you momentarily."
Arnold and Helga do as instructed and reluctantly go to sit down in the small chairs; which were far away from the counter and up against the wall. The place is much crummy and had an old foul odor which was bothering Helga in particular. After waiting for some time, she grew tired of just sitting there and started to place.
Arnold watches her do this for as long as he could, but then he wraps his hands around her waist. "Please sit down, you're going to–"
I need to get out of here..."No, I can't sit, if I sit, and have to smell that disgusting odor or in that corner I'll keep up vomiting all over this nice clean establishment..." She definitely raises her voice to be heard by others. She glances at Arnold. "Sorry but I'm just..."
He still had both his hands on her waist and he was gently pulling her towards him, but Helga got a look at the officer who was supposed to be helping them laughing on the phone and she yanked out of his hold.
A ticked off and impatient Helga steps back up to his desk, putting both her hands flat on his desk. She clears her throat dramatically. "Excuse me Sir; are you going to help us at some point in this century?"
He continues his conversation and was chuckling a little. "No just some bratty little girl - okay speak with you soon, bye." He hangs up the phone and resumes his work and doesn't look up at Helga standing right over him.
Helga clears her throat once more. This is why I hate 90% of humanity sometimes... "Did you hear what I said, or were you too busy being incompetent?"
"Please, young lady, lower your voice and fix your tone and watch your choice of words. Like I said before I will be with you in one soon."
Helga groans and glances at her watch. "You keep saying that but we're been sitting here for an hour and a half ... " Arnold got up and came beside her immediately putting his hands on her shoulders, moving his hands gently in circular motions to be comforting towards her. "I know you look at me and my boyfriend as just another pair of teenagers, who shouldn't be taken seriously, but we're human like you, we're not just some dumb kids you can just treat like we don't exist."
She hits the counter with one of her balled up fists and continues. "This isn't some petty case, we're talking about attempted rape here; which might not be serious to you at the moment but it damn sure is very serious to me and billions of other people out there who been through it. It's not just about me," Arnold lightly buries his face into her hair and then kisses her. "It's about someone else he could do this too. This maniac could be assaulting someone at this moment and won't you feel horrible for your negligence if that someone..." She glanced at the family picture right next to his keyboard. "Happen to be your own daughter." That gains his attention and he finally looks at her and her eyes; which were full of anger, soften, along with her voice. "She looks close my age ... I don't want that to happen...so put off whatever it is that you're doing and let me help you get this monster off the streets before he hurts some innocent girl." She reads his name tag. "Please, Officer Smith."
He stares at her for second and then at Arnold who was still just rubbing her shoulders with a great deal of tension in his face and he sighs. He then gets up while picking up some paperwork. The large size man begins to walk around the counter and motions from them to follow him into a more intimidate office.
When they sit down he looks at Arnold. "Is it necessary for your boyfriend to be in this room, Ms. Pataki?"
Arnold jaw visibly tightened even more. You're gonna have to get back up, to get me out of this room - you lazy, unsympathetic moron. He bit down hard on his lip to stop himself from saying anything because he knew it would nothing professional.
Helga frowns. "Yes, he was there when the crime occurred."
Officer Smith faintly nods and Helga glanced at Arnold who was just sitting looking straight ahead with his arms folded. He looked as if he had no plans of leaving Helga's side even if he were asked to. He was more than peeved that Helga had to beg him to actually take what they were speaking about seriously and he wanted to make sure this guy actually does his job and does it correctly.
"Very well then -" He turns his computer screen around. "I have your information on my screen." He moves it back to face him. "So this was a crime of attempted rape Saturday night in Ms. Pataki home. The masked suspect also committed a breaking and entering and was in Ms. Pataki's bedroom when she walked in. Boyfriend Arnold Shortman is the only one aside from Helga Pataki herself who witnessed the crime. Is that correct?"
"Yes sir, that is correct."
"And you have evidence that proves that a particular individual is, in fact, the perpetrator? Is that accurate?"
Arnold reaches into to hand over the camera; which he already had the specific video up for him to watch. "Yes, it's a video on that camera sir, all you have to do is press play and you will be able to watch."
After reviewing the whole thing, Officer Smith takes out a form. "Could you please give me as much information about this particular individual as you possibly can?"
Arnold sat up slightly and gave him detailed info including; full name, age, address, and school of attendance and any other random details he wanted to include.
He finishes writing, and then transfers and saves the video onto a flash drive. "Very good," He actually looked impressed and his attitude gradually improved since the couple entered his office. "Well I will get my men right on his case and we will give you a call once we have the suspect in our custody."
He stands up and shakes both of their hands after giving them his direct information.
XOXOXOXO
Helga and Arnold were walking back to his vehicle when an uncharacteristically emotional Arnold stops her once everything that just happened sank in and he brings her into a tight hug. He pulls away slightly and kisses her forehead and then he cups her face with both of his hands. "You were great in there, how you stood up for yourself and advocated for better service. You never hesitate to speak up when things aren't being handled properly. You've always been that way, I admire that about you, quite a bit." His fingers were lightly brushing against her face. "You're so strong and amazing Helga, I love you and I'm very proud to have you here in my life."
She stares at him for a second, her eyes slightly watery. She giggles a little, out of feeling shy as the result of the strong conviction behind his words; which her heart in a smile. "Um... ha..." She shook her head, grinning. "I'm not good at saying this kind of stuff, it's not really a Pataki strength... but..." She locks eyes with him. "Thank you for being here for me Arnold, you're wonderful, kindhearted... everything good in the world and I love you too."
He leans in and tenderly kisses her, slowly moving his hands along her back in the most genial affectionate matter she ever felt. He pulls away and flashes the widest smile; she could nearly see every tooth in his mouth with his hands on her waist. "So...we should get home and let my parents know everything and try to get contact again with your father." He frowned a bit but that faded and was quickly replaced with a more hopeful look as he went to open her door and get inside himself to then drive off.
Later on, that evening, after everyone ate dinner, Miles and Stella drove Helga to her house. She looked around to see any signs of anyone being in there, nothing had been moved or stolen. She goes into her father's bedroom, looking at how the bed was just as neat as the last time she made it up several dates prior. Her eyes tear up slightly, but none fell out, she nodded a few times, biting down on her bottom lip and then exited his room. Helga enters into her own bedroom, goes into her closet and grabs her suitcase and begins to pack. Stella comes into her bedroom, stares at her for a moment thoughtfully and then she moves beside her and begins to help her pack her clothes. Arnold comes into the doorway and watches his mom and his girlfriend; once they were done he picks up the bags. The three of them didn't say much of anything as they placed her things into Miles trunk and he drives them back to the boarding house.
XOXOXOXO
The very next day, at school, Arnold was sitting eating lunch outside in the courtyard with Helga, doing everything to make her laugh, one thing because he loved her laugh, but also because he wanted to keep her in a positive mood.
Suddenly, Helga heard the sound of sirens; which seem to be heading closer, very close. Her eyes followed as the officers entered the building and Helga jumped to her feet and dashed inside the school as fast as she could with Arnold trailing directly behind her.
As she searched through the halls, she was determined to see it, to see the guy who tried to steal her pride and self-respect being arrested. She wanted to see him in handcuffs. Two security guards have rounded the corner at the opposite end of the hall behind them. Seeing the two blonde students running "Hey you two! Stop running in the building if you want to run, wait until you are outside the school grounds." Both of them ignoring the demands turned another corner when both of them were halted in their steps by officers. Eighteen-year-old Brendan Sanders is being put into handcuffed on charges of attempted rape and breaking and entering.
"I'm Helga Pataki, I'm the reason this person is being arrested!" She said looking directly at the officers who said nothing to make her quiet down, but in fact seem to be holding him still so that she could continue. She narrows her eyes at him. "I hope you catch hell in there, you tried to break me, you tried to take my pride, but look." She stretched her arms out. "you failed, you filthy swine, you're not a man! You're nothing!" She grimaces and lifted a finger pointed at him. "I don't usually wish this on anyone, but I hope in jail, they do to you - what you attempted to do to me!" She shouted loud enough for Brendan to clearly hear. And he did, loud and clear and turned his head, to bounce his eyes back and forth between Helga and Arnold as he was being escorted out. His dark eyes lingered on Helga for what felt like the longest moment and right as he before his face was out of sight he winked at her. Helga felt her a sharp chill go through her entire body at that and Arnold pulled her face into his chest.
School staff was trying to get both Arnold and Helga out of the hallway, but they were just caught up in their own embrace.
He kissed the top of her head and nuzzles his chin into her hair as he watched him being driven off. He moves his mouth close to her ear and whispers, "He's gone..." He tightens his hold on her for a second, as he could feel her trembling very slightly and shuts his eyes. "You're safe Helga."
Hey, once again I didn't get to edit this too much if you see anything that doesn't make sense let me know. I appreciate the reviews you guys are great!