A/N:

Hi everyone! Here is a super large update to this fic : ) This story should have one more chapter after this and then an epilogue, so at least it'll be wrapping up soon XD It'll be nice to have it concluded.

It's my birthday today randomly XD Please send me reviews as a present whenever you can because I love looking at them? : D

Small announcement: PLEASE READ.

I've started posting on my fictionpress account. Here's the link (I'm hoping ff dot net and fictionpress links show up-if they don't, please just google Azure129 and Fiction Press, thank you!):

u/845362/Azure129

One of the things up there is just my Masters Thesis on fan fiction—it's definitely dry reading, but it's there for anyone's reference if you ever want to do a school project on the subject and are looking for some good resources (just check the bibliography).

I've also started posting my own sort of original 'series'. Kind of an animation pilot but in story form. It's called On the Cusp. ( s/3174784/1/On-The-Cusp) I have three 'episodes' (I've been calling them 'serials' lol) posted already and none of them are very long (less than 10K words each). If anybody could take the time to check out my new project and leave me some reviews for guidance, I would appreciate it very, very, very much. Even if you just read one of them, that would mean a lot to me. I'm just starting out with my own original writing, and any readership or reviews that any of you could give would be greatly appreciated :) Thank you all so much!

Also, a special thank you to anyone who voted for my story Learning to be Helga in the HA! Season Six Fan Awards—I won! :D Thanks again!

Dinner AND a Show!

Chapter 9:

A Full Conclusion

After a very annoyed Gerald exited Chez Paris, it didn't take him long to spot Sid and Stinky hiding just outside of the restaurant entrance, clearly trying to avoid anybody's sight while they figured out what to do next.

Gerald did not waste time: he moved directly toward his two 'friends'. "Okay," he started as he came upon them, looking very serious, "What do you two have to say for yourselves? And let me tell you, if either one of you laughs or makes a bad joke to answer me, I'll put you both into a half nelson. There's at least one good thing about having an older brother on the wrestling team who practices his moves on you." He crossed his arms over his chest, glaring at both of them darkly.

Sid and Stinky just stood there, looking awkward and embarrassed and nervous.

Stinky spoke up first. "Gerald, I reckon we're really sorry. We just wanted to get in a good guffaw about Harold and Patty tonight, and then since Helga and Arnold were there we thought we'd have a little fun with them too. We didn't realize we'd ruin the whole fancy dinner."

Sid nodded, frowning. "Yeah, really. We didn't mean to break up dessert and send everyone home like that. We were just having a goof."

Despite the apology, Gerald understandably still eyed the two boys quite warily and quite angrily.

Sid sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "Look, we'll apologize to Harold and Arnold and Helga and Big Pat—um, Patty on Monday at school. Promise. And we won't bother anyone else for tonight. We'll just go watch the movie and get out of everyone's hair."

Stinky nodded. "Yup. We don't want to make any more trouble for anybody. And we're really, really, really sorry," he finished sincerely.

Gerald still eyed them hesitantly…but then just sighed, rubbing one of his temples. "Fine, just get out of here, enjoy your movie, leave everyone in peace and, yeah, you will definitely be apologizing," he made sure to add very firmly.

Sid and Stinky smiled a touch sheepishly, but of course nodded affirmatively regarding that intended plan of action of theirs.

Then there was a weird silence, and then both boys cleared their throats and shuffled their feet, still strangely lingering.

Gerald blinked and raised an eyebrow at their continued presence. "Well?" he prompted, waiting for them to get along or explain why they weren't doing so.

Sid stepped forward held up a finger. "Um, you have our ticket stubs, Gerald. Stinky and I need them to get back into the movie."

Stinky nodded. "Yeah, we all gave them to you for safe keepin', remember?"

Gerald rolled his eyes, reaching into his pocket. "Oh, all right, here you…" But then he paused for a moment. He smirked just a little and crossed his arms over his chest. "You know what—it would serve you two right if I kept these stubs and sent you home tonight with nothing to show for what you did tonight but the loss of watching the end of a truly spectacular horror movie marathon."

"That sounds like a fabulous plan to me," a new but familiar (and quite fashionable) voice suddenly chimed in.

All three boys looked to see Rhonda just exiting the restaurant, and she stopped right where they were outside of the doors, frowning at Sid and Stinky. "Look, you two, Patty and I happen to be very good friends, and what you two did in there to her dinner party was unacceptable." She crossed her arms over her chest. "I have half a mind to call Daddy and have him buy the movie theatre just to kick you two out of it for life!"

"No!" Sid cried, eyes wide in panic. "Come on, Rhonda, really, we're sorry, we didn't mean to hurt Big Patty!"

She glared darkly at him and said very firmly, "Her name is Patty. And if either one of you calls her Big Patty again I'll put the word out on the girls network at school about how uncouth and rude you two are, and you will not have dates until college, Sid. Do I make myself clear?"

Sid swallowed and blushed a little, then rubbed the back of his neck and nodded. "Uh…yeah. Crystal. Sorry."

"What I think Sid is tryin' to say," Stinky offered apologetically, "Is that we really are sorry for causing so much trouble, and we hope you can forgive us just like we hope Patty and Harold and Arnold and Helga can forgive us too. We made a mistake, and we're willin' to take the responsibility. Right, Sid?" Stinky glanced at him.

Sid let out a sigh and looked down with a nod. "Right. We are." He looked from Gerald to Rhonda. "Anything you guys say, we'll do it, as long as it'll help make things better."

Gerald smiled in pleasant surprise and Rhonda smiled in total satisfaction.

The two of them looked at each other.

Then Rhonda had an idea. "Gerald—a word, please?"

Gerald nodded. "You read my mind, Rhonda."

The two of them stepped to the side and started whispering a bit while a confused and Stinky and nervous Sid looked on.

Finally Gerald and Rhonda seemed to come to some kind of agreement and separated with a satisfied nod to each other. Then they returned to Sid and Stinky.

Gerald glanced at Rhonda, holding out his arm in a gesture for her to take the lead. "Rhonda, would you like to do the honors?"

Rhonda gave a little curtsey. "It would be my pleasure, Gerald." She then cleared her throat and glanced at the two other boys. "You're both going to give up your theatre tickets so that Patty and Harold can finish their evening together properly by going to the movies."

"Yeah, and you're not gonna make fun of them about it either," Gerald added for good measure.

Sid and Stinky did look a little disappointed at the decision, of course, but they considered and then sighed and nodded.

"Okay…"

"Yeah, I reckon that's fair…"

Then Sid swallowed and asked with some concern, "Um, is there anything we can do for Arnold and Helga?"

Rhonda blinked, having not considered them—her thoughts had been focused on getting some justice for Patty. "Oh, uh…"

"Leave that one to me, Rhonda," Gerald offered, clearing his throat and taking the lead. "I think what Arnold and Helga need most at the moment is to be left alone…about everything…like tonight never happened…got it?" He glared at the two boys, crossing his arms over his chest.

Sid and Stinky nodded, shuffling their feet.

"Sure, Gerald."

"That ain't too much to ask at all."

Gerald sighed in relief and smiled. "Good. Thank you. Now let's all get—oh." He had reached into his pocket to hand off the ticket stubs to Rhonda and now discovered Arnold's ticket still in his pocket along with his own stub. "All right, you two can just head home without me. I have to give Arnold his ticket before I—"

Just then Harold came dashing right past the restaurant doors and directly past the group of his four classmates, though he didn't seem to notice their presences. He went into the courtyard between the two restaurants and paused near the back of the fountain, seemed to catch his breath, and then proceeded to wait there, looking toward the ground for some reason. Meanwhile, now that Gerald and Sid and Stinky and Rhonda were all looking out into the courtyard, some movement across the way became apparent, and Arnold could definitely be seen peering out from behind a tree near the front corner of Chez Pierre toward the fountain, Patty just behind him.

Rhonda looked uneasy. 'All four of them are still hanging out around here, aren't they? Their night's still not over yet,' she thought to herself. She then cleared her throat and looked at her three companions, smiling and clapping her hands together to command some attention. "Boys, I think tonight's situation is still a little delicate. So we're going to march all together to Chez Pierre, I'm going to hand off these stubs to Patty, Gerald will give Arnold his ticket and the two of them can head off to the movies, and you two can catch a ride home in my limo, which should be pulling up at the corner near Chez Paris any minute. Now let's go." She began to lead the way over to Arnold and Patty, with the boys nodding their assent and following right behind her.

As soon as Patty had fled from her table in Chez Paris and gotten outside, she had realized that running away like that had probably only made this dinner end on an even more unnecessarily dramatic note than it already seemed to be doing. Running away…. She wasn't a child, and she wasn't even really that 'devastated' by her ruined evening—just annoyed and tired. Sure, she was ready to head home and not see people for a few days, but really, she was the hostess, technically, and she had left when there had still been people to wrap things up with and a bill to pay.

Patty stopped cold right by the front of Chez Pierre, bringing up a hand to her temple and letting out a deep sigh. "The bill…I have to go back in there and pay the bill." Not that she was sure how exactly she was going to be able to do that—the meal was supposed to be split four ways, after all—but the last thing she wanted to do right now was track down Arnold, Helga and Harold and gather money from them. Yet, still, she had to be responsible.

Patty sighed deeply once more and settled on resting against the wall at the front corner of Chez Pierre for a moment, eyes closed in thought. 'I have to be an adult about this…but that doesn't mean I have to like it…or that I can't have a minute to myself first.'

Out here turned out to be a very peaceful place to rest, Patty quickly realized. There was just quiet except for the courtyard fountain's trickling and just the light sounds of a spring evening in the city, all of which Patty found quite soothing.

"Patty! Have you seen Helga?!"

She couldn't even be mad at Arnold for breaking her small moment of peace only a few seconds into it. This night wasn't over yet, after all, and she knew all Arnold was trying to do was make things better.

Patty opened her eyes and looked to him, shaking her head. "No. I'm sorry, Arnold, I didn't see where she went. I figured the two of you would be together." A touch of concern came to Patty's features now. Helga…had not seemed in the best state upon abandoning the restaurant. Patty sort of wanted to find her too now. But then again…. "Arnold, maybe you shouldn't look for her. She might have just gone home. And she might need a little time. I think she's very embarrassed." Patty frowned a little more. "She just had a bunch of people possibly realize her feelings for you. And then her hair went on fire and you had to dump water all over her. I know she's a strong person, Arnold, but everyone gets overwhelmed sometimes and needs time to themselves."

Arnold just looked back at Patty with an expression that was a mixture of understanding her very logical point and at the same time feeling a touch of desperation that he clearly couldn't quite bring himself to fully embrace. "Patty, I…I really need to talk to her. Really, really, need to…" Then he blinked a few times and looked at the older girl curiously. "You know how she feels about me?"

Patty couldn't help smiling a little. "Arnold, if it makes you feel any better, Helga's secret wasn't going to be able to stay a secret much longer anyway. You guys are getting older, it's going to start becoming a lot more obvious to you how some people really feel about each other and how complicated those relationships can be. I don't think she could have held out keeping it all hidden for more than a couple more years. It would have just become obvious to people that the reason she always treats you a bit differently than anyone else is because she feels differently about you than anyone else." Patty let out a soft sigh and added, "Also, now that you know how she feels and want to spend time around her because you understand her a little bit more, her feelings were going to become obvious anyway. I don't think she can go fifteen minutes alone with you without blushing and smiling. Why do you think she kept being so eager to sneak off under tables and to the bathroom tonight? Breaks from you were the only way she could cope." She did her best not to smile too much, though in her opinion the whole thing was kind of sweet when you thought about it.

Modest Arnold just blushed a little and looked down, eyes wide and feet shuffling, hands behind his back. Then he blinked and glanced up at Patty with a frown. "Helga and I ruined your dinner tonight, didn't we, Patty? I'm sorry," he finished sincerely.

Patty frowned a little bit but then smiled again. "It's okay, Arnold. I had a feeling if I invited you two that tonight might be a bit of a disaster." She noticed Arnold cringe a little and added, smiling more, "But as far as disasters go, it was sort of fun. Actually…I feel a lot better about some things. And speaking of which, I should probably find Harold." She moved away from the wall, glancing out into the courtyard between the two restaurants.

Arnold turned and followed after her. "And I still have to find Helga too…"

Patty glanced back at him, thinking to discourage him from that pursuit again. However, she didn't say anything but just watched as a strange sort of pensive look came into his features and downturned eyes.

He continued speaking. "If I don't talk to her right when things upset her, she never talks about them at all. I know she probably feels like being alone right now, and she probably does need to be alone for a little while. But we have to talk first…because if we don't now, then we probably never will. And I don't want that."

Patty sighed and considered. Arnold did make a valid point. Helga could be very defensive. "Okay, Arnold. I understand." She turned to look back at the courtyard space, and her eyes went wide as her gaze suddenly lit upon Harold dashing past the front door of Chez Paris and looking out into the courtyard, clearly searching for someone.

She couldn't help herself. She ducked behind a tree near the front corner of Chez Pierre a little, pulling Arnold with her.

"Patty?" Arnold looked up at her in confusion.

Patty let out a breath and looked down, blushing lightly. She shrugged. "Helga's not the only one who was a little embarrassed tonight." Patty rubbed one of her temples. "Harold probably thinks I'm so weird for running out of the restaurant. And then Torvald had a girlfriend…Ruth."

Arnold sighed deeply, getting a bit of a dry look and crossing his arms over his chest, blushing too. "Don't remind me…"

Patty glanced back out there, only to observe with interest that Harold had walked toward the fountain, then paused as though listening to something, and was now carefully finishing his approach.

"I think I found Helga, Arnold" Patty observed simply. "I think she's hiding behind the fountain on the ground. And I think Harold found her too."

Arnold blushed more and his eyes went wide and he made a move to head out into the courtyard. "I should go talk to her. Seeing anybody else really would be upsetting to her."

However, rather than wishing him well with his plan, Patty lightly took Arnold by the shoulder, holding him back. "Arnold…wait. Please."

"But why?" Arnold glanced back at her, stopping his approach.

Patty watched as Harold moved closer and closer to the back of the fountain…and then finally took a seat on the ground behind its back ledge. "Because," she explained, "Harold makes mistakes, but he's a good guy. And he likes you and Helga too. So, maybe it wouldn't be so bad for Helga to talk to somebody who isn't you, just for now at least." She looked back to the younger boy, releasing him. "Arnold, trust me. If it's helped you at all talking about this with me like you're doing right now or with any of our other friends, give her a moment." She smiled a little and added, "Besides, it's already a good sign that she stuck around here at all."

Arnold considered her words carefully. Then he nodded. "Maybe you're right." He glanced out toward the fountain, barely able to see the top edge of a pink ribbon from behind it now that he looked closely. "But, when they're done talking, Patty…I don't mean to be rude, but would you and Harold mind giving Helga and I some time and some privacy?" He blushed a little but looked very determined as he continued to observe the fountain. Then he smiled in a special, private way. "We get along better when we're alone."

Patty watched him with interest and nodded. "Okay, Arnold." Then she smiled a little to herself and added, "Most people who have a thing for each other do work better alone anyway."

Arnold blushed quite a bit and cleared his throat and looked down, not saying anything.

When Harold had exited the front door of Chez Paris, his only thought had been finding Patty—but the thought was so consuming that he started to panic a little and just dashed around to the front and then far side of the building, even going around the street corner, just hoping to catch any glimpse of her. Only when those efforts had failed did he return to the front of Chez Paris and head into the courtyard between the two French restaurants looking for her. However, not immediately seeing anybody there as well, his attention had next turned to the fountain, which seemed as good a place as any to rest and collect his thoughts and figure out what to do next. "Aw brother," he mumbled to himself, heading over in the fountain's direction, "what if she went home all ready? She was really upset…" he frowned, "I really need to talk to her."

He finally let out a deep sigh, stopping by the side of the fountain. 'I guess I could just call her if she really did go home, but still it's not the same…'

Then a girl's voice met his ears, coming from the backside of the fountain, it seemed…but that voice was certainly not Patty's.

"Oh Arnold, gee, great, you found me—now get lost and lose me too while you're at it!"

Harold blinked. He had never heard Helga sound so bitter before…or so close to tears.

He didn't move or say anything. He really wasn't sure what to do or say. But he didn't want to leave her alone.

Helga, meanwhile, from her place sitting on the cobblestones behind the fountain, clearly did not hear the sounds of anyone leaving, and so she kept going in her small, defensive tirade. "Arnold, please don't try to fix this. It's too mortifying. I already hate it enough that you know I'm in love with you…. I'll never be able to stand it with all our friends knowing now too."

Harold's eyes went very wide and he blushed just slightly. He almost pulled back a little, clearly considering leaving. But he just couldn't….

"I swear, I don't know how you don't just hate me for half the things I put you through, Arnold. At the very least I'd think you'd want to save yourself the trouble and just avoid me altogether instead of coming back to me like you always do."

Harold especially couldn't leave after hearing that statement. Indeed, he frowned distinctly. Hate her? That was a sad thing to think about. Helga wasn't so bad, not at all. Did she really feel so unlikeable sometimes?

In a small way Harold could relate. He felt unlikeable sometimes too.

"Arnold if you're going to stay, then please just say some uplifting thing to me and get it out of your system already…"

Harold figured he couldn't back out now. And so he just let out a deep sigh and finally moved all the way to the back of the fountain where he sat down on the ground a few feet away from Helga G. Pataki. "Um…Helga…? Don't get mad, but it's actually me, Harold. Sorry." He swallowed, looking at her kind of sheepishly out of the corner of his eye.

Harold frowned more at the sight of her. She didn't look too good. Her outfit was all covered in dampness from the water, her hair was still a little wet and kind of messed up, and, though was trying to hide it, her eyes were a little red and puffy like she had been crying. Harold knew that look. When he had first met Patty at Rhonda's party, she had been crying…later, he had realized, about no one wanting to dance with her. He had been more than happy to fix things by dancing with her, of course, even if he hadn't quite known what he was doing at the time.

But fixing Helga seemed like it might take a lot more than such a simple gesture. And he might not even be the one able to do it…

"Um…Helga?" Harold prompted softly, inching just a tiny bit closer to her.

Helga let out a deep sigh and just pulled her knees in closer to her chest. "Oh that's just spectacular." She actually let out a small laugh of defeated amusement. "Hey, if there's a sniper anywhere around here," she called out, glancing upward, "Now would be the perfect time to shoot me. Right between the eyes, if you can. I'll take a shot through the heart if you have to, but honestly I'd just rather not have the last emotional thing I feel be some deep irony about broken hearts and cupid's arrows. But, hey, beggars can't be choosers, right?" Then Helga let out a deep breath of frustration and just collapsed in a stubborn sulk against her knees again.

Harold didn't smile at her joke. Instead, he moved the tiniest bit closer to her. "Helga, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to overhear, it just happened." He rubbed the back of his neck.

"It doesn't matter," she merely replied back flatly. "My whole cover's blown anyway, and honestly, it's really all my fault. And now I have to accept it."

Harold raised an eyebrow. "What are you talking about, Helga? You didn't do anything tonight." He scratched his head. "I mean, nothing more than you usually do—just teased Arnold and acted kind of bossy. I don't know why you think deserve something bad happening to you." He sighed, frowning a little. "If anything, I'm the one to blame stuff on tonight. I was a jerk to Patty and a jerk to Torvald, and I should have pounded Sid and Stinky when I had the chance." He punched a fist into his palm.

Helga just let out a deep sigh. "Oh, you were fine, you were just jealous. I'm the one who put Arnold on such an emotional roller coaster this time around that I don't think he'll ever be able to look at me again without feeling sick to his stomach." Then Helga paused and blinked. She looked at Harold in utter perplexity. "Harold, what the heck is wrong with you? You just overheard me say I'm in love with Arnold." She blushed but tried to get over it to continue making her point. "Arnold, the Football Head, and me, the ruthless Helga G. Pataki! How are you not…amazed, astounded, laughing yourself to death in disbelief?"

Harold blinked and looked at her fully. He shrugged. "Oh, I-I don't know, Helga…" He looked forward and blushed a bit himself, stretching out his legs. "I'm starting to think that getting all excited over things like that is kids stuff. No offense," he glanced at her a little, "I always think of all of us as kind of the same age, but I am three years older than you guys and a teenager—and actually 'a man', according to my rabbi." He rolled his eyes. "And besides, I-I don't like it when people make fun of me about stuff like that, so I don't think it'd be too nice of me to do it to other people. And especially you." He looked to her. "You're my friend—we hang out together and you even stand up for me sometimes. You're all right, Helga." He smiled.

Helga just scoffed in utter disbelief at his response and rolled her eyes. "Oh, when the heck have I ever stood up for you?" She gave him a bit of a dry, disbelieving look.

Harold shrugged and explained. "Well, like on the bus on Friday. Sid and Stinky were teasing me about liking Patty, and you yelled at them and told them to leave me alone. You didn't have to do that, but you did it anyway. And I appreciate it, Helga. Really." He smiled more.

Helga swallowed and looked forward, blushing a little. "I-I was just…" she mumbled, trying to get past the tender moment, "Well, so I have a soft spot for people getting teased for caring about other people. Big deal."

Harold sighed deeply at her continued stubbornness. And then he couldn't help smiling and even shaking his head a little to himself. "Helga, did you know you're a lot like Patty?" He laughed a little. "She never likes to talk about mushy stuff either. Well, I mean, sometimes she gets close to talking about stuff like that with me, but with other people a lot of the time she always acts like nothing ever matters to her and like she never does anyone any favors." Harold glanced at Helga and scratched his head. "I don't know why you two don't hang out more…or even why you were making fun of her so much a few months ago…. Oh, wait, she beat you up in the gym one time, didn't she?" Harold frowned. "Is that why you two don't seem like friends a lot of the time?"

Helga just sighed deeply. 'Oh why even bother trying to pretend about anything anymore tonight?' "Patty didn't beat me up in the gym, Harold," she announced simply. "She only pretended to. She cut me a break. I apologized to her for making fun of her and explained about my really bad habit of shooting my mouth off for no reason—and then Arnold stepped in and explained how I'm a really 'defensive' " she made air quotes, "person who just insults people to cover up my true feelings—and I guess she thought all of that was cute so she let me go and told me not to tell anyone ever. But I don't think you count because you're one of the only people who doesn't treat her like how much respect she deserves depends on how many people she can deck in one shot."

Harold beamed a little. "Really, she did that? Aw, I always tell her she's got a soft spot." He laughed a little. Then he swallowed and added carefully, "And, um…that was nice of Arnold…to stand up for you."

Helga scowled, looking forward. "Shut up, Harold."

Harold blinked and then looked forward too, getting quiet.

They sat silently for a few seconds, Harold twiddling his fingers and Helga just looking unhappy.

Then Helga let out a sigh and glanced at Harold, figuring he had been pretty 'okay' so far in this odd conversation they had fallen into, so maybe she should cut him some slack. "So…um…you're really not gonna…I don't know, mercilessly rip into me about Arnold, huh?" She swallowed, her eyes wide and still a bit unsure-looking.

Harold looked back at her and shook his head. "No, of course not, Helga."

"Really?" she questioned with a touch of sarcasm, crossing her arms over her chest. "No singing about me and Arnold sitting in a tree? No comments about cooties? No rhythmic chanting that Helga's not a girl?" She glared at him particularly darkly.

Harold looked down with a touch of shame and then glanced back at her again. "No, Helga. I promise. And I'm sorry about the 'Helga's not a girl' thing that one time."

She still gave him a touch of a scrutinizing look, though the suspicion in her gaze was clearly softening now.

Harold rubbed the back of his neck. "I mean," he started to explain, "okay, I guess it's a little funny, the idea of you and Arnold." His smile picked up into a grin he couldn't help, but he stifled the laugh wanting to come out of him and went on. "But I think anyone who finds out could get used to it eventually. Nothing's really gotta change, Helga."

Helga sighed dramatically and rolled her eyes at that comment. "Oh, everything is going to change, Harold." She looked at him with a scowl and frown, gesturing with her hands as she spoke. "Come on, all the girls are gonna be giggling and cooing at me now about me liking a boy, but that's not even the worst part. I'm already on thin enough ice as it is with you and the other guys. You've all already been starting in on me with wanting to do 'guys only' stuff and leaving me out because I'm a girl. Remember? Telling me I wasn't allowed to play in your boys only baseball game that time Rhonda had her all girls slumber party that I wasn't invited to? Or the ghost bride thing you wouldn't let me come on? Or the 'boys only' get-togethers you've been having at Arnold's house sometimes? If you all find out I'm head over heels for the Football Head, that'll be the final nail in my coffin. Done. Game over. I'll be relegated to slumber party makeovers and after school trips to the mall! You'll go from seeing me as one of the guys to seeing me as some cootie-ridden princess or something… " She was clearly getting a little hysterical and dramatic now.

"Aw, Helga, come on," Harold started calmly, trying to rope her in a little, "we're not gonna kick you out of the baseball games and the football games just because you have a crush." Harold smiled. "You're one of the best players we have and you're the coach half the time. Sheesh, if we were gonna kick out everyone who like-liked somebody, half the guys on the team would be gone, including Arnold. Especially Arnold." He rolled his eyes. "Arnold's gotten more crushes than anybody."

"Don't remind me…" Helga mumbled quietly to herself. Then she scoffed and gave the boy beside her a bit of a look. "Oh, come on, Harold, you're telling me if I show up to practice next week at Gerald Field with everyone knowing about me and Arnold thanks to this little fiasco tonight, that every single guy there isn't going to be tiptoeing around me and looking at me like I've got two heads—acting like I've got some kind of 'delicate condition'? Not to mention how much they'd probably all just stare at me and Arnold every time we came near each other, like I'm just waiting to spontaneously combust with sappiness if he gets too close." She crossed her arms over her chest, waiting for any kind of reasonable denial about this scenario.

Harold was quiet for a moment as her rant ended. Then he just raised an eyebrow at her. "You spend a lot of time imagining about how bad it would be if anybody knew you liked Arnold, don't you?"

Helga just put a hand to her temple and shook her head. "Oh, and, what, you never think of how awkward and world-shattering things would be if you just started openly dating Patty?"

Harold blinked and blushed a little, looking down. "I-I don't know, maybe…I guess. But that's not the only reason I don't ask her to…. I mean…" He sighed, frowning a bit. "I'm just not ready for that, Helga, that's why I don't say anything to anyone about it. But if I was ready, yeah, sure, I'd be a little worried about what the other guys would say, but I wouldn't let that stop me. Not after everything Patty and me have been through." Then he crossed his arms over his chest. "And, hey, we're not talking about me right now, we're talking about you. And if me and Patty would find a way to be together and have everything work out and be okay, then you and Arnold could too."

"But there is no 'me and Arnold', Harold, and that is where your grand plan for all of us to come out with our feelings and be accepted by everyone else majorly backfires!" Helga announced dramatically with a sarcastic grin. Then she looked at him quite firmly and stated simply, "Arnold does not have one single scrap of a romantic feeling for me. And who in the world could blame him?"

Harold just blinked in surprise at first.

Then he seemed confused.

Then gave Helga the driest, most disbelieving look possible.

Helga blushed and scowled a little, raising part of her brow. "What?"

Harold just let out a deep sigh and closed his eyes and shook his head. "Nothing, Helga…"

"What?" Helga persisted, looking more confused and annoyed now.

"Nothing!" He opened his eyes, holding up his hands. "I'm not getting involved. Patty's always telling Rhonda not to play matchmaker and get involved in people's relationships, and I agree with her, so I'm not gonna start doing it now and maybe mess things up even worse tonight. I've got my own problems to take care of anyway. You've gotta talk to Arnold." He looked at her firmly. "Don't make me and Patty make you."

Helga just let out a sigh and barely smiled and shook her head to herself. "Yeah, okay, sure, why not? Might as well make my humiliation complete. I'll talk to Arnold ASAP, get right on that. I'll pencil it in somewhere in the middle of walking home tonight with a wet blouse and burnt hair, and dealing with all the social fallout from this whole fiasco of an evening all on my own on Monday. The perfect end to another perfect Helga G. Pataki dinner out at Chez Paris."

"You won't be alone, Helga," Harold, however, assured with a little smile.

Helga sighed deeply. "Harold, I told you already, Arnold doesn't—"

"No, no, I mean," he quickly interjected, "I'll look out for you, and I know Patty will, and I'm sure there are other people. You're not gonna be alone about anything no matter what, Helga."

Helga blinked and was quiet for a moment, looking confused. Then she glanced at him, her blue eyes wide. "Really…Harold?"

Harold nodded, smiling more. "Yeah, definitely. We'll stand up for you as much as you need. And, um…about what you're worried about with the other guys…well, personally, I still wanna hang out with you even though I know you love Arnold…and I think it'd be really stupid of the other guys to start treating you like they don't want you around just because of that and because you're a girl."

Helga absorbed that fresh assurance. Then she actually smiled a little in a sincere way. She looked to the boy beside her, her defensive posture finally relaxing. She even put her hands down to her sides. "Um…thanks, Harold. I-I mean, that's decent of you."

"Ah, don't mention it." Harold waved her off with a grin.

There was silence again then between the two kids—a much less tense and awkward silence than before, but still a silence…. And no one seemed really sure what to say or do, or even if they needed to bother saying or doing anything anymore.

"Um, Helga?" Harold glanced at her unsurely. "I'm not the best at talking to girls and especially about sensitive stuff, so…are you sort of okay now or is there anything else I should be asking about?"

Helga actually smiled sincerely. She took off her ribbon and squeezed some water out of it before running her fingers through her hair once and tying the ribbon back in again, straightening the bow into its normal position. "Ah, don't worry about it. Honestly, for working out anything else, I'm gonna need the Football Head, for better or worse. And, uh…for what it's worth, you're all right at talking to girls about 'sensitive stuff', Harold." She gave him a firm little playful punch in the shoulder.

Harold rubbed the spot but smiled more. "Really? Thanks."

Helga sighed, resting back a bit more comfortably against the edge of the fountain. "And speaking of that, if I'm going to humiliate myself by talking to Arnold, you have to talk to Patty." She looked over at him. "And yes, you were a bit of a jerk tonight, but honestly some of it was understandable and most of it was really not that bad. And for what it's worth, I think you're very special to her, Harold. Believe me, a girl doesn't go through a train wreck of a dinner like tonight for just any guy. If anybody else but Arnold had been sitting across from me tonight, for example, I would have bailed before the appetizers were done." She grinned a little.

Harold looked down with a light blush, though his smile couldn't help persisting. "Oh, uh…okay, Helga. I mean, yeah, I…I wanted to talk to her anyway…" Then he frowned and added, glancing back at her, "But I think she went home. And I won't see her again until Monday. I'm supposed to be out all day tomorrow with my family and she's got plans anyway."

Helga just waved him off casually though. "Not a problem. She's still here, Harold. She and the Football Head have been stealthily hiding near a tree by the front of Chez Pierre. I saw them head over there when they ran out of Chez Paris after I did." She sat up on her knees to turn and glance out over the edge of the fountain. "And surprise, surprise, I'm right, they're still over there waiting. Or at least Arnold is. Huh, and so is tall hair boy. But Patty can't be far. Ooh, and Sid and Stinky are walking away from them. Heh, I'm surprised Patty doesn't have go-go boot boy and the hayseed pinned against a wall for ruining her dinner. Probably let them go and has them scheduled for a public beating on Monday. And I wouldn't mind tag teaming with her, to be honest. Oh, hey, and there's Patty now…. And now it looks like Arnold's saying goodbye to Gerald. Now he's talking to Patty—probably apologizing for 'ruining dinner' tonight even though he didn't have anything to do with ruining anything. Let's see, and now he's—" Then Helga paused and gulped and turned back around, ducking behind the fountain again.

Harold observed that her eyes were wide and she was blushing a lot.

"Um…H-Harold?" She didn't look at him as she spoke, but she did play with her hair mercilessly.

"Yeah?" he asked with interest.

"Um…you know, A-Arnold's, uh, heading over here right now apparently, and…" She sighed and put a hand to her temple. "Look, after a night like this my defenses are shot to heck, and I'll turn into a big emotional basket case the second he gets near me…which might be therapeutic, but it's also embarrassing. S-So, um…w-would you and Patty mind maybe giving Arnold and me a little privacy?" She glanced at Harold out of the corner of her eye. "I would really not like to be seen in the state he's going to put me in by other people. Trust me, no matter how cool you're being right now, you really, really will never be able to look at me the same way again." She swallowed.

Harold looked a little embarrassed but nodded, starting to move away from her stand up. "O-Oh, sure, Helga. Whatever you need. I know what you mean, there are some things that I think would work better for me in privacy too…"

Helga nodded, clearing her throat and glancing up at him shyly. "Thanks. I appreciate it, Harold. I really do."

He smiled sympathetically, starting to back away from the fountain area to head toward the front of the courtyard. "You're welcome, Helga—Oof!"

And, of course, he backed into Arnold.

While Helga and Harold had been having their little talk, Arnold and Patty had been approached, surprisingly enough, by Gerald and Rhonda with Sid and Stinky in tow.

"Uh, hey man," Gerald called out with a touch of hesitation to Arnold, trying to smile. "Hey, Patty." He gave the older girl a wave too.

Patty and Arnold both blinked at being suddenly addressed and turned around to see their friends gathered around them in front of Chez Pierre.

"Hi," Patty said stiffly, still majority not happy with at least half the people standing before her.

"Hey, Gerald," Arnold mumbled, clearing his throat and trying to seem calm and casual (pretty much like he had been trying to seem for the last few days about anything involving Helga.)

Gerald took another step closer to the two of them, smiling more normally. "We just wanted to apologize for any interruptions we all gave to your dinner tonight."

"Yes, of course," Rhonda added very sincerely and with a nod, "We're very sorry for any problems we created. I know you were just trying to have a nice, calm dinner, Patty, and that didn't end up happening, so we really—"

Patty cut them off by holding up her hand. "What happened already happened. The dinner's over. I'd rather not think about it anymore and just focus on taking care of my own problems now. But thank you for the apology," she finished in that quiet, simple, yet sincere way she had.

Gerald nodded, and Rhonda nodded and looked away.

Then Gerald sighed and nudged Sid, causing Sid to nudge into Stinky. "Do you two have anything to say?" he encouraged strongly.

Sid and Stinky came forward, looking down very contritely.

"Arnold, Bi…um, Miss Patty?" Stinky started, shuffling his feet. "I reckon Sid and I are really sorry that we messed up your dinner tonight. We didn't mean to upset anybody."

"Yeah, we were just goofing around," Sid added, hands clasped together in front of himself. "But it still wasn't right. We let ourselves get carried away, and we just hope you can forgive us."

Stinky nodded. "Yeah, we apologize from the bottom of our hearts."

Both boys looked to Patty and Arnold.

Patty looked at them rather firmly for a moment. Then her face softened a little, though it still bore a look of caution. She took a step forward. "Everybody makes mistakes. And it was nice of the two of you to apologize. And I know you've been good friends of Harold's over the years, so I forgive you." Her face darkened a little then as she added, "But stop teasing him and me. Now." She punched a fist into her palm. Hard.

Both boys flinched and gulped and nodded.

"Y-Yes, Miss Patty…"

"Y-Yeah, sure, Patty, whatever you say…"

"And do you have anything else you want to do, especially for Patty, to show her how sorry you are?" Rhonda urged now.

Sid and Stinky nodded, and then Sid took the ticket stubs out of his pocket that Gerald had given to him on the way over here. "Um…" he held them out to Patty, "Here, Patty. Stinky and I were at the Evil Twin movie marathon tonight and…well, it might already be a bit too far into the second movie to bother going to see it, but the third movie's starting in a little while. And we want you and Harold to have our tickets for it." He smiled sincerely.

Stinky nodded. "Yeah, we'd really like to give 'em to you as a peace offering. We ruined the end of your dinner, so we reckon treating you to a movie to help make up for it is the only fair thing to do."

Patty blinked at the offer. "Oh." She looked down at the tickets and then back up at the boys. "But I don't really like…um…" But they seemed so sincere, like they were really trying, and she could tell this was an important thing for them to give up, and she knew Harold liked those kinds of movies even if she wasn't the biggest fan of them…and maybe a trip to the Cineplex to see any kind of movie wouldn't be such a bad way to end things tonight… "Um…sure. Thank you." She took the tickets and put them in her purse. "I appreciate that, and I'm sure Harold will too."

Sid and Stinky's smiles brightened.

"Great. I'm glad, Miss Patty."

"Yeah, we're both glad, Patty."

Then Rhonda cleared her throat and stepped forward. "Um, Patty? Could I talk to you for a second? Over there?" She gestured to the far side of the front of Chez Pierre.

Patty nodded. "Oh. Sure, Rhonda." She glanced at Gerald, Sid, and Stinky. "Goodnight, and thank you again." She glanced at Arnold. "I'll be back in a second, Arnold." Then she went off with Rhonda.

"Um, Patty, dear?" Rhonda started, looking very nervous.

Patty gave a small sigh, arms crossed over her chest. "Yes, Rhonda?"

Rhonda let out a breath, clasping her hands together. "I just wanted you to know again how sorry I am for any problems me and my self-absorbed love of gossip caused tonight. And I'm sorry if I upset Helga at all too." She swallowed and added in a mumble, "And I'm sorry for not mentioning the Harold thing to you sooner, it's just that it was a silly little crush that died months ago and I didn't want to upset you or make things awkward, and it's been so nice seeing you and Harold getting along so well that I just—"

Patty cut off Rhonda by gentle placing a palm over her mouth.

Rhonda stopped trying to speak, and Patty let out a deep sigh. "Rhonda?"

Rhonda's eyes went up to hers curiously.

Patty looked down at her. "It's okay, I forgive you. About all the dinner stuff. And about anything with Harold. And thank you for trying to tell me Torvald had a girlfriend before I talked to him and made a fool of myself, I appreciate it." She took her hand away from Rhonda's mouth.

Rhonda smiled with relief. "Really? Oh Patty darling, thank you!" And then she came forward and gave her friend a quick warm hug, before releasing her and clapping her hands together and adding, "And don't worry, I promise, from now on I'm going to but-out of your and Harold's relationship for good. No more matchmaking and no more interfering." She shook her head and crossed her arms over her chest with a determined grin.

"And you'll stay out of Arnold and Helga's relationship too?" Patty added very specifically.

Rhonda blinked and then glanced to the side sheepishly, waving her friend off. "Don't worry, don't worry, Harold already made me promise about that when we were talking at the dinner table. And I swore I would not tease Arnold and Helga about what tonight looked like between them or spread around the ludicrous suggestion that they would ever be romantically involved." She looked back to Patty.

Patty looked at her curiously. Then she smiled and shook her head. "Rhonda…" she started, almost unable to help herself.

Rhonda blinked curiously. "What?"

Patty almost laughed but then just let out a breath and let it go. 'Does no one in the fourth grade really see how much Arnold and Helga…?' "Never mind. I shouldn't encourage you, and it's not my place to say anything anyway. Thank you for promising not to bother any of us about tonight."

Rhonda looked confused for a moment but then shrugged and nodded with a smile. "Oh, sure, Patty. Oh, and before you start to worry, I took care of the bill for you guys already back at the restaurant. And I told off that waiter—he won't be kicking any more kids out of that restaurant, and that includes all of us." She smiled proudly and then added, "Well, except for Sid and Stinky, of course—they should probably lay low from that place for a while. But that's their own fault, in my opinion." She nodded firmly.

Patty blinked, looking serious for a moment. 'She took care of the whole bill?' "Rhonda, you didn't need to do—"

Rhonda interrupted her though with a determined smile and tone. "Oh, yes, I did. It was the least I could do actually, taking care of the loose ends back there for you. So don't try paying it back to me or anything, like I know you're thinking of doing. Just consider it a favor from one friend to another, and part of my apology for tonight."

Patty smiled appreciatively. "Thanks, Rhonda. That was really considerate of you."

"You're welcome, Patty." Rhonda beamed a little. "So…you and me are cool again now, right?" she asked hopefully.

Patty smiled more. "Mostly." She winked.

Rhonda smiled gratefully. "Thanks, Patty. And really, I know I caused a lot of problems tonight, so anything else I can do to make it up to you, please just let me know. I insist."

Patty sighed and nodded. "Okay, Rhonda." 'It's better not to fight her when she gets in a generous mood—just go with it and let her get the altruism out of her system.'

Rhonda nodded in satisfaction return. "Thanks, Patty. Well, um…that's all I wanted to say, and now I'll just go wait out by Chez Paris and flag down my limo—I'm giving the boys a ride home. Let them know that's where I've gone, okay? I don't want to interrupt their talk with Arnold." She could see out of the corner of her eye that the four boys had indeed started up a private conversation of their own now. "Oh and enjoy your movie with Harold."

"I'll try, Rhonda," Patty assured optimistically. "And I'll let everyone know where you are."

"Thanks, Patty." Rhonda smiled and nodded. "See you on Monday." And then she dashed over to the street corner on the far side of the Chez Paris restaurant to await her ride.

Rhonda going off with Patty had indeed left Gerald, Arnold, Sid and Stinky alone to start a potential conversation of their own.

"Well, I guess all's well that ends well!" Sid announced, clapping his hands together. He glanced at Stinky. "Come on, Stinky, we can still go back to my house and watch the Evil Twin 3 movie on tape."

Stinky nodded with a grin. "I reckon that'll be nice. Rhonda can drop us off, and then we can make some popcorn, and I'll brew up a pitcher of lemon fish juice! Do you wanna come too, Gerald, or are you gonna go back to the theatre to finish watching the movie?" He looked to the boy in question.

Gerald sighed, rubbing one of his temples. "I'll give you guys a call later, maybe catch up with you then. Right now, though, before I go anywhere, Arnold and I need to have a little discussion of our own." He looked very expectantly to his best friend.

"Um…yeah, we do…" Arnold replied with a light blush, his face pensive, then determined, then a bit embarrassed looking. He cleared his throat. "But, actually I think all of us should have a talk." Then Arnold let out a breath and looked at Sid and Stinky and said very simply, "Sid, Stinky, you can't tease Helga about anything you saw tonight. You weren't there long, and you misunderstood a lot of things."

Sid and Stinky had been following Arnold with the 'don't bring this up and tease her' request—it was a very Arnold-like request, after all. But as for the misunderstanding part…

Sid gave Arnold a dry look. "Arnold, we'll lay off her if that's what you and Gerald want but…come on. Dinner together, all dressed up, how much she was blushing—anyone could see what was going on."

"Yeah," Stinky added with a nod. "It was pretty obvious, Arnold, even to us."

Arnold blinked and glanced to the side, feeling even warmer in the face. "But you didn't quite get it right… H-Helga doesn't want anything to do with me. She was actually really mad at Patty tonight when she found out Patty had invited her without telling her I was going to be here—otherwise, she said, she never would have dressed up or even bothered coming." Arnold hated stretching the truth, even a little, but he had a good reason, and so he went on. "Helga just got upset about you bothering her about something that wasn't true."

Sid and Stinky considered for a moment.

"But then, why did you stay when you found out she was your date, Arnold?" Sid asked, scratching his head. "She's been trying to kill you lately."

"Yeah, I would have high-tailed it out of there if I were you," Stinky added with a nod.

Arnold let out a sigh. "Well…I don't mind spending time around Helga…just like I've been trying to spend time with her for a while now…. Heh…you see, really, if anyone should be getting teased it's me, because I…I like her very much. Like her like her." Arnold really, really, really did hate stretching the truth…even if it really was only a little and really was for a good cause.

There was silence…which was then quickly followed by the sounds of Sid and Stinky trying very desperately to hold back a lot of laughter.

Gerald had just been standing beside them, first with a curious look on his features and now with his jaw dropped open. But he quickly came out of it and gave them both a firm nudge. "All right, All right, that's enough, you two, it's very funny—Arnold has another crush."

Arnold shrugged, his smile perking up a bit though his cheeks still seared with scarlet. "Yeah, just another silly crush of mine, just like I always get." He let out a confident sigh and rolled his eyes at himself, arms crossed over his chest. "Honestly, I'll probably be over it in a few weeks—it's just been a little rough ever since, uh… Lila fell through, you know?" He shrugged.

Sid and Stinky were under control again, and Stinky actually nodded sympathetically, "Yeah, I reckon that makes sense—Lila's the prettiest, nicest, funniest girl in class. Gettin' over her would be hard for any guy."

Sid sighed and wiped a tear of laughter from his eye. "Yeah, that's true. And you have always liked having crushes on girls, Arnold. And…Helga can look like a girl sometimes, like tonight." He shrugged.

Arnold frowned a little, and considered saying something about how Helga was a girl all the time, no matter what. But he stopped himself. His plan seemed to be working; he figured it was best not to rock the boat at the moment. "So, anyway, if you guys could just keep any jokes about this between us, I'd appreciate it. If Helga hears stuff about how I feel getting spread around school, she'll definitely pound me…and if she finds out you two are doing it then she'll probably pound you too. I think it'll be easier to just let it pass soon and not make a big deal about it." Arnold looked at them hopefully.

Sid and stinky looked at each other and smiled and turned back to Arnold and nodded.

"Yeah, that makes sense."

"I reckon it does too."

"Besides," Sid added, "We wouldn't even tease you all that much anyway, Arnold—you're a really good friend and always looking out for us."

Stinky nodded. "Yeah, I reckon it'd be real ungrateful and un-neighborly to ruin your life at school or something like that, especially since you're always helping us and stuff."

So much relief flowed through Arnold, and he smiled very happily. "Thank you. I-I mean, thanks, I…I appreciate it guys, really."

"Sure thing, Arnold."

"Not a problem."

"Well," Sid started then with yawn, "Have a good night, Arnold. We'll see you!"

"Yup, goodnight, Arnold!" Stinky offered. "Good luck with Helga!"

And then they both departed in the direction of Chez Paris to catch up with Rhonda and her limo whenever it would come.

Arnold let out a very deep sigh of relief and closed his eyes for a moment, resting against the front wall of Chez Pierre.

"Arnold," Gerald then started, seeing his best friend wasn't about to start explaining things on his own anytime soon, "What the heck was that about?"

Arnold opened his eyes to see Gerald standing before him with his arms crossed over his chest and a challenging look on his features.

Arnold's eyes went wide and he blushed and swallowed. 'Uh oh, I almost forgot about Gerald…' "Um…well…it's kind of a…a really, really…really long story…Um…you see—"

"Do you really 'like like' Helga G. Pataki?" Gerald asked point blank.

Arnold paused. He let out a breath and stepped away from the wall, glancing down and rubbing the back of his neck. "Gerald, I just really needed to tell them something to keep them away from Helga for good. She's been through enough. At least this way they might make a few jokes in private about me and then it'll go away. I can take that—I don't mind." He turned back to his friend with a little grin.

Gerald was still watching him very closely though and still looking confused. "Arnold…um, that's great, but it doesn't really answer my question. What's going on with you and that girl…Helga, Cecile, whatever she wants to call herself?" His features softened. "Arnold…if, you know, you really do 'like' her, it's okay. I'm not gonna judge you or make jokes or anything. I'm a little confused about it, but…I just want you to know that I'm here for you if you need to talk, that's all." He smiled encouragingly.

Arnold smiled back in appreciation. "Thanks, Gerald. I could use that. Um…" he blinked a few times, looking down again, "I'm just a little confused right now though. There's kind of this 'thing' that happened between Helga and I, and that I have to talk about and…I still don't know what to say to her, but I know now that I have to at least try saying something. After that I might understand a little better why I'm very focused on her right now. There's just a lot to think about. We've got a complicated relationship—we always have." He glanced up at his friend.

Gerald took all of that in and then sighed and nodded. "Okay. I understand. You go talk to Helga then. Just make sure she doesn't—"

"She won't beat me up, "Arnold assured quickly, smiling a little more. "Trust me."

Gerald nodded again, smiling a little now too. "Okay. But, um…for what it's worth…" he fished in his pocket for something, "You seem like you could use a better ending to tonight, and I'm a little too worn out to go anywhere else tonight but bed, so…here." And then he handed Arnold both Arnold's ticket and his own ticket stub. "Whatever happens, here's your ticket for the Evil Twin movie tonight, and here's my stub. Patty and Harold are already going together, so you take Helga. Just for fun." He shrugged, smiling supportively.

Arnold blinked at the sight of the tickets and then looked up at his best friend again. "Gerald, you don't have to—"

Gerald held up his hands. "Up bup bup, I want to. Please, for your health and my sanity, accept some help with all the girl trouble you somehow get yourself into at only ten-years-old."

Arnold smiled. He and Gerald shared a small laugh.

Then Arnold took the tickets and put them in his pocket. "Thanks, Gerald."

They held out their hands and did their special handshake.

Then Gerald sighed and shook his head at his best friend. "Now get wherever that girl is and talk to her already—no excuses!" He winked.

Arnold blinked and turned around, glancing out from behind the tree near the corner of the restaurant toward the fountain again. He could definitely still see the top of Harold's head peeking over the fountain ledge along with a bit of pink ribbon next to it—Harold and Helga were still talking. Arnold had wanted to let them take as much time as they needed, but maybe he would interrupt just a little early.

Just then Patty came back over to Arnold and Gerald. "Gerald," she looked at him, "Rhonda says her limo should be here any minute. I'm not sure if she was giving you a ride anywhere too, but if you're looking for her, she went back over to Chez Paris to wait for the car."

Gerald nodded to her. "Thanks, Patty. I might catch a ride with her actually. And goodnight, you two." He gave them both a wave and then departed to the limo and the rest of his friends.

Arnold and Patty just watched him go with smiles.

Then they both sighed and looked to each other.

"I should talk to Harold and you should talk to Helga now, right?" Patty suggested.

Arnold nodded. "Yeah…I'd rather not wait anymore." He glanced in the direction of the fountain again. "I'll go first. I'll send Harold over here to you."

Patty swallowed, blushing slightly. "Okay. Thanks, Arnold."

Arnold nodded with a sympathetic smile. Then he took a deep breath, summed up his courage, and finally walked over to the fountain, his eyes closed a little he was so nerv—"Ow!"

Just as he had gotten to the ledge of the fountain, he seemed to have accidentally bumped into somebody. Harold, as the case turned out to be.

Gerald had reached the street corner near Chez Paris now, and sure enough a limo was parked there. Gerald went up to one of the back doors and opened it. Rhonda, Sid and Stinky were already seated inside. Gerald glanced at Rhonda as he climbed in, shutting the door behind him. "Hey, Rhonda, change of plans—I'm not going back to the Cineplex. Is there any way you could drop me off home too? I'd appreciate it." He plopped himself down in one of the seats and yawned. "I need the rest."

Rhonda smiled at him and nodded. "No problem at all, Gerald. And, certainly, driver can take you home." Rhonda cleared her throat. "Jenkins, we can head off now!" she called up front, and then the long car started up and began to pull away from the curb.

Rhonda let out a relaxed sigh and then picked up a dish from the mini bar. "Peanuts, anyone?" she offered to her friends, feeling so very content that the madness of this night had finally come to a close. She waited like a gracious hostess to see if there would be any takers for her offer of food.

However, she was only met with Sid and Stinky looking very confused.

Gerald saw it too.

Rhonda and Gerald looked at each other curiously, then looked to the two boys and said in unison, "What?"

Sid and Stinky looked at each other and then back at their two friends.

"Well," Stinky started, "Gerald," he glanced at the boy in question, "Sid and I thought you were goin' to the movies with Arnold…so why are you here with us and goin' home instead?"

"Yeah," Sid added, "Patty and Harold got our tickets and Arnold had a ticket of his own, so…what about your ticket?"

Gerald looked at them with a blank stare for two seconds.

Then he let out a deep sigh and slapped his head to his forehead, slumping back in his seat. "Oh…great." He shook his head. "I didn't even actually have dinner at that restaurant this time and I was only there for ten minutes, but somehow tonight's even more stressful than when we all got stuck doing the dishes there to pay the bill." He let out a breath and then just looked at the boys firmly, clearly very tired, clearly in no mood. "Look, when I gave Arnold his ticket I also gave him my stub and told him to give it to Helga. It wouldn't exactly have been nice to have Patty and Harold and Arnold all going to the movies and leaving Helga out, would it? So now they're all going: all of them together. And I don't want to hear a thing about it, just like I don't want to hear a thing about whatever ridiculous thing Arnold might have told you about himself tonight just to make sure you'd let go of the ridiculous idea that Helga has the hots for him. I can't handle any more shenanigan consequences tonight. Does everybody understand?" He held up his hands, looking around to the three other limo occupants

"Seconded," Rhonda added, nodding to Gerald and giving Sid and Stinky a dry yet firm look. "Everybody for letting go of everything we saw and heard tonight, and never bringing up this evening again?"

Sid and Stinky just nodded and held their hands up innocently.

"No, um, it's okay, we're good," Sid assured sincerely.

"Yeah, I reckon we've had our fill of gossip and mayhem for the night too," Stinky added truthfully.

Gerald let out such a sigh of relief. "Thank you!" He glanced at Rhonda. "Now, I know that luck always seems to run completely dry whenever I get involved with that restaurant or Arnold's crazy schemes about girls, but we're driving away and all major disasters seem to have been averted finally, so I'm gonna go out on a limb here and ask this." He took a deep breath and then just went for it. "You don't have a cold Yahoo soda in that mini bar, do you, Rhonda?" A hopeful grin came to his face.

Rhonda's smile brightened, and she actually nodded to the request. "Of course, Gerald. Here you go." She reached into a cooler and handed him a bottle. "And any for you boys now that we're all settled down?" She held up two bottles for them.

Sid and Stinky shrugged and nodded appreciatively, and Rhonda handed them their drinks.

The limo ride continued, and Gerald just enjoyed relaxing peacefully with his ice-cold soda as thoroughly as it was possible for a boy to do.

Meanwhile, back with just our four main characters (finally)…

Harold turned around, blinking a few times at starting to walk away from the fountain only to slam into none other than…. "Hey, who—oh, Arnold!" Harold stepped aside right away.

"Um…hi, Harold." Arnold blushed considerably and swallowed, taking a polite step back. "Sorry. Um…I-I just…need to talk to…you know, Helga." He felt his face getting warmer and warmer. "A-And Patty's waiting for you out near Chez Pierre anyway, so would you mind if, um—"

"Oh, I-I was just leaving," Harold assured eagerly, starting to move away already. "Have a good night, guys, I-I'll see you on Monday at school or whatever. Bye!"

Harold then left Arnold and Helga behind and dashed across the square toward Chez Pierre, though he slowed down a bit once he got near the restaurant. However much he wanted to give Arnold and Helga privacy, he was nervous about talking to Patty.

But there she was, waiting by the corner of the restaurant, looking down in thought.

Now or never.

Harold slowly went up to her, arms behind his back. "Um…h-hey, Patty. I'm glad you didn't go home yet."

Patty blinked and looked back to Harold. "Oh. No, Harold, I didn't go home. I thought we should talk."

"Yeah," Harold nodded, "Me too…a-about feelings and stuff, I guess." He blushed a lot, clearly a little uncomfortable but trying nonetheless.

Patty smiled more. 'Wow, he must really care if he's willing to talk about feelings.' She nodded in return. "Okay, Harold. I'd like that. Um…do you wanna sit down somewhere?"

Harold shrugged. "Um…sure." He glanced around, but their options seemed limited. Yet…well…they were right outside of a restaurant…with outdoor tables. "Come on," he took Patty's hand and led her over to one that was set for two. "Here." He pulled out her chair and then he sat down in his own.

Patty sat too.

They both opened their mouths at the same time to talk.

"Uh, bon-jur. Can I take your order?" a young sixth or seventh grade busboy suddenly asked with a grin, coming up to them.

Harold and Patty both blinked in surprise and then sighed at yet another interruption this evening.

Patty looked up at the young waiter. "We'll just have water and…" then a thought occurred to her and she glanced at her dining partner, "Would you like dessert, Harold? We didn't get any back at the other restaurant."

Harold blinked then shrugged. "Sure."

Patty nodded and looked back up at the waiter. "Just water and two crème brulees and some privacy please. We have a lot to talk about."

"Sure thing." The bus boy nodded and then went off.

Harold and Patty just sat in peace and quiet together for a moment.

"I…I want to talk to you all about how everything with Torvald's been making me feel lately, especially tonight…and how you feel…and what matters to you…and anything from tonight, that bothered you or that you want to talk about," Harold suddenly started again, kind of clumsily, just wanting to begin already.

"And I want to talk to you about the jealousy and about Torvald too, and about how I've been feeling tonight…and how you've been feeling tonight…and other things," Patty added thoughtfully.

And thus, finally alone, they shared.

While Harold and Patty went over certain recent events and misunderstandings, back at the fountain Arnold was finally getting what he had wanted and been fighting to have for weeks now: the chance to talk alone with an open and honest Helga G. Pataki.

Harold having departed, Arnold came around to the back of the fountain only to find Helga sitting upon the ledge there now, just looking forward and running her fingers through her hair a few times. She definitely appeared a bit more unkempt than she had been at the start of the night, but by now at least the water was starting to dry out of her clothes and her hair was a little more presentable, and, though Arnold didn't know about it, the puffiness from her eyes was pretty much gone too.

Helga G. Pataki at least wanted to retain the appearance of dignity if she was going to have to talk to Arnold right here and now.

Speaking of which… "Um…hi, Helga." Arnold stood before her, hands clasped in front of himself. "Can I sit with you?" he asked humbly.

Helga just let out a sigh. "It's a free country," she replied listlessly. Then she moved over just a little bit.

Arnold sighed too and sat down. 'Patience…Just have patience with her.' He swallowed and tried to focus, though he wasn't sure where to begin except to say, "I'd really like to talk to you, Helga. I know you don't want to, and that's why you've been yelling at me all week, but—"

Helga let out a very deep sigh and interrupted him in a very tired but accepting sounding voice. "I told you back in the restaurant, Arnold, when I pulled you off to the side and we were talking just before we helped Torvald and Patty that I'd be okay with sharing with you about some things now. So…" she glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. "Here we are—what do you want to talk about?" She crossed her arms over her chest and patiently waited.

Arnold swallowed and blushed a little at her correction. 'Oh…yeah.' They had come to an agreement about talking already, hadn't they? "I'm sorry," he went on, "I just wasn't sure if you still wanted to after…um…" He cleared his throat, deciding to move right into what he felt the first order of business should be: apologies. "Well, first, I guess I just wanted to say that I'm sorry if you had a hard night tonight…and I'm sorry for fighting with you too much sometimes…and I'm sorry that you got teased, and had water dumped on your hair. And, for what it's worth, your hair still looks nice, even with the water or a little singe." He let out a deep breath and looked at her unsurely.

Helga was quiet at first. "Arnold…." she then started, shaking her head and glancing at him, "It's just hair. And it's just water. It doesn't matter that much. And we always fight…and every meal I've ever had here has been a disaster…. So the only thing I think I deserve an apology for is the fact that Sid and Stinky and Rhonda are going to tell everybody how much I don't hate as soon as we get back to school on Monday if not sooner. But that's not your fault, so that apology shouldn't even come from you." Her tone wasn't bitter or sarcastic—she was just stating simple logical fact. 'No need for him to beat himself up—most of tonight was just my usual bad luck anyway.'

"Oh…" Arnold looked a little confused for a moment, but then he smiled again. "But, you don't have to worry about getting teased by anyone. It's okay, Helga. I think I fixed the problem," he reported with an optimistic smile.

Helga blinked once but then just turned and looked at him completely skeptically. "Yeah right," she replied in a dry voice, "You magically fixed things in the last ten minutes, and I really am from a freaking farm in the Loire Valley."

Arnold tried really hard but he couldn't help himself—he laughed warmly at the joke.

Helga just sighed and rolled her eyes, waiting for him to be done.

He got himself together quickly enough and came back to the situation at hand. "Sorry, um…well, Patty and Rhonda were talking before and Rhonda apologized for any problems she caused with our dinner, so I don't think she'll anything about tonight for Patty's sake, and that includes stuff about you. And as for Sid and Stinky, I…" He blinked—it really hit him all of a sudden what he had done, and then he looked down awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck. "Sorry, Helga. I did something that I probably should have mentioned to you first. There just wasn't time. I hope I didn't mess anything up by doing it." He looked at her unsurely.

"Oh for crying out loud," Helga replied, clearly too tired for any more dramatic build-ups tonight, "Just tell me what you did already, Arnold?"

Arnold nodded and finally cut to the chase. "I told them that they had misunderstood the stuff at the table…. I said you wanted nothing to do with me and that you were really upset when you found out Patty had invited me tonight, and that you wouldn't have come at all if you had known I'd be here." He took a deep breath and said the next part at a rather brisk pace, "And, um…then I told them I 'like liked' you and that's why Patty invited you and that it was just another silly crush of mine, and I asked them to just tease me and leave you alone, otherwise you'd pound all of us." He was blushing very much now and looking away. "I-I'm sorry," he added lamely, "I just wanted to make sure they'd leave you alone and that you could still keep your secret. You've had enough to deal with. And either way, I always get crushes, so no one would care about me getting another one. I hope I didn't embarrass you or anything, Helga." He looked up to her hesitantly.

Helga was just very still for a moment, looking at him with very wide eyes.

He continued to watch her, waiting for her response. She was blushing a little—he took that fact as a good sign that maybe she was actually flattered or something regarding his solution to the problem.

"Arnold…" she started almost incredulously, "That's…so…so…"

Arnold's smile grew a little…

Helga seemed to be trying to find the right word. And then she found it. "…Stupid. That's so stupid, Arnold." She sighed deeply and put her hand to her temple, shaking her head.

Arnold's smile fell into a frown. Then he scowled a little in a touch of frustration, looking downward. "Well, I did the best I could, Helga. I know it wasn't the perfect thing to do, but I was just hoping that it would help you and make you happy a little. I…" He paused.

Helga was starting to laugh.

It really seemed like she was resisting, but then she just couldn't help it and finally just went with it—warm, rich, sweet sounding laughter.

Arnold looked confused now and just a little concerned.

A few more laughs escaped Helga, and she opened her eyes and leaned back on her hands on the fountain ledge. "It's just so stupid, it's…" a few more laughs escaped her, "I'm sorry, Arnold. I mean, it was nice of you to try but…" she sighed and glanced at him, "Arnold, you're now going to be known as the one guy at P.S. 118 ridiculous enough to ever have had a crush on Helga G. Pataki. You just made yourself a running joke for life…all for me, and I make your life miserable." She looked at him with such curiosity and such wonder. "You are truly the most selfless person on the planet, aren't you, Football Head?"

Arnold was just watching her with interest, smiling a little, maybe blushing and pondering, but now he just raised an amused and curious eyebrow at her. "I think you're getting a little carried away, Helga. I don't think anyone'll even remember what I said to Sid and Stinky after a few weeks…. Even if they did though…" he looked into her eyes, "You can't really think you're…that bad of a person to care about. I don't think anyone should be embarrassed to have feelings like that for you."

Helga gave him a bit of a dry look and crossed her arms over her chest, though a smile still pulled at the corner of her mouth. "Arnold, not that I don't appreciate you being polite to a fault as ever and assuring me that I'm just as 'special' as the next girl, but it's okay. You don't have to do that." She looked forward, and though her smile was still sort of there it lost a touch of its sincerity as she went on. "I'm loud…I'm messy…I'm rude…I'm mean…I'm awkward…unsophisticated and unfeminine…I'm a little bit of a joke, Arnold, no matter how afraid other people are to admit it to my face." The smile was gone now. Her look appeared very blank. "And now you'll be part of the joke too for a little while, until people forget."

"Do you like being the way you are, Helga?"

Arnold asked the question very sincerely and carefully, not leading her to an answer in either direction.

Helga considered. She shrugged. "Sometimes yes…. That's part of who I am, like I told you once, Arnold." She smiled just a little and glanced at him again. "That's what makes me special." Then she swallowed and added, trying to chuckle it off as a joke, "But sometimes…I think I'd like being other ways too. It's complicated. So mostly I just stick with the first way—it makes things simpler for everyone, including me. No one messes with the iron-fisted Helga G. Pataki, after all."

Arnold swallowed. He had moved a little closer to her again. "Helga…I don't think that you're a joke when you act, well…how you usually act. I think you're assertive and sort of funny and passionate."

"And that would be what those traits of mine would be called if I was some popular chick with a great figure and perfect features and a good fashion sense. But I'm not, Arnold." Helga let out a breath, scowling just a little as she looked downward. "Things are different when you're an ug…wh-when you're not a pretty girl. Assertive becomes pushy, funny becomes obnoxious and a goof, passionate becomes ridiculous. So you have to fight to be accepted and respected, even if it's not fair." She was quiet for a moment. "I think that's why Patty and I can get along. We both know what that's like." Helga smiled a little. "We're both a little lucky, though too—we each have at least some friends who don't judge us. I've got Phoebe, and somehow Patty found Rhonda. Except Patty's extra lucky, of course—she found Harold too…and if my romantic intuitions are right—and they very, very, very frequently are, Football Head, with all the personal experience I've had—he likes her…a lot." She smiled a little more. It was nice to think of Harold and Patty happy like that. She turned her head to face Arnold completely now.

He was just staring forward with wide eyes. He had a very distinct frown on his mouth. He seemed to be thinking very hard, trying to wrap his head around everything Helga had just said.

She chuckled a little. "Hey, you said you wanted me to share with you, Football Head—I can't help it if I get a little deep sometimes. It's okay if all of that didn't make a lot of sense to you though. That was sort of an abridged version of it all, and besides you don't really know what it's like to be a girl, and even if you did…well…as long as we're being honest, Arnold, frankly, you're gorgeous." She blushed quite a bit, but couldn't help smiling more at admitting that fact.

Arnold instantly blushed quite a bit himself and snapped out of his thoughts. "I-I…" he rubbed the back of his neck, looking down. "I don't know about, um…"

She just rolled her eyes and nudged him a little. "Oh, cut the modesty, paste for brains. And, look, all I really said was that out of the three-ring-circus of preteen boys I'm forced to interact with on a daily basis, you're the most bearable one to look at. Think of it that way—it'll be much easier for that humble little personality of yours to take."

By now, Arnold, though still blushing, couldn't help smiling a little and even letting a laugh escape. "But I thought I was a shrimp and a goodie-two-shoes and had a head you'd like to punt across Gerald Field?" He raised an eyebrow at her, almost smirking a little.

Helga almost smirked a little too. "Well, you seem to think all of my yelling and awkwardness and complete lack of class isn't so bad. Is it really that hard to imagine that I might find a certain place in my heart for your slight stature and unflappable kindness and…that wide, weird, yet wonderfully shaped football head of yours…?" Her eyes were hazed and she was leaning just a little closer to him and her hand had come up now, fingertips reaching to gently graze the curve of that football shaped head of his…

As the poetic words finished leaving her mouth though, Helga snapped out of it just in time to stop her hand and pull the appendage back. She blinked a few times, her eyes going wide. Then she blushed very much and shifted herself several inches away from him. "I-I'm sorry, Arnold. I didn't mean to get carried away like that. I promised you if we tried this 'talking' thing that I wouldn't make you uncomfortable, and I won't." She held her hands clasped in her lap and let out a deep breath. 'I almost started touching him! Helga, cool it, or you'll lose even this much of a relationship with him!'

The two were quiet for a while.

Helga was just a little embarrassed. But Arnold had his own reasons for being quiet. To put it simply (if confusingly) he was feeling a lot of feelings he didn't feel ready to be feeling, if that made any sense. It barely did to him, honestly. All he knew for sure was that he wasn't upset with Helga for almost 'slipping up.' Not in the least. And she thought he was 'gorgeous'? He didn't necessarily not like that fact.

Arnold swallowed and moved just the tiniest bit back closer to her on the fountain ledge. "It's okay, Helga," he said softly. "Like I told you back in the restaurant…you don't make me uncomfortable at all." He smiled just a little, then looked down somewhat shyly.

Helga just sighed and shook her head, looking up towards the sky. "So my love and attraction actually doesn't disgust you, huh? I guess that's a small win for me."

Arnold blinked and frowned now. He moved even closer to her and took her hand very decidedly, causing her to blink and look at him in confusion. "Helga, enough! What's wrong with you?" He looked utterly perplexed. "The Helga G. Pataki I've always known doesn't feel sorry for herself and put herself down all the time. She's independent and doesn't care what anybody thinks and never lets anybody say anything bad about her. And who cares if sometimes you don't look like or act like how girls are 'supposed to' look and act? That shouldn't matter. And…and…of course I wasn't disgusted when you…" the words were harder for him, and as a result Arnold's speech was finally calming down a little, "…I was… flattered." He blushed, realizing that sentiment was the truth only just now as the words escaped him.

Arnold blinked and let out a very deep breath, releasing Helga's hand and moving away from her a little. "What is wrong with me?" he mumbled to himself, putting a hand to his head. The strangest thing was, though, that he felt such a sense of deja vous about what he had just done. Grabbing her and yelling at her to stop acting so…. But he could never have done that to her before, of course, right? Except, maybe… 'Oh.' Now Arnold remembered: that dream, the one about being married and yelling at her that she was a good person. He sighed again. "I'm sorry." He looked down, putting his hands in his lap. "Helga, I've really wanted to talk to you lately and have some time with you, but I also really haven't know what to say to you. At all. Completely. I'm very confused. That's all I know for sure." He glanced at her hesitantly. "And now that I know that you're Cecile too, I…I really don't know what to say. I'm just sorry it took so long for me to say anything to you at all."

Helga had been quite shocked by all of what he had just told her, to say the least. 'Did he just…yell at me and apologize to me at the same time?' She just looked at him for a moment now, eyes wide and curious. "Well…let's see, you just yelled at me that I'm a good person, and you've been reminding me all night that you like me, and apparently you were flattered when I pinned you against a roof ledge and told you I worship you and gave you a kiss that almost got us to first base, and you've strongly implied that I'm dating material—shot in the dark here, but is there any chance the thing you're having trouble figuring out how to say is that you're in love with me too?" She both blushed and smirked at the idea, unsure how serious or sarcastic she was being at the moment.

Arnold blinked. "Helga!" He looked away uncomfortably, his features blushing darkly. "I don't even know what love is, Helga—I'm ten-years-old. I've barely figured out how to stop getting crushes on girls just because they're cute. And I only just found out a ton of things about you. And we only had one real kiss, and we've never even had a date that both of us agreed was a date at the same time." He looked at her with an uncomfortable frown.

Helga scowled at him a little and leaned closer. "Well, what the heck am I supposed to think considering all the evidence, Football Head? You keep being all charming and smiling and supportive, going on and on about me, and you've been practically trying to attach us at the hip for a week now! I may have almost no confidence that you'll ever really return my feelings, Arnold, but even I'm running out of logical explanations for why you're so focused on me!"

Arnold scowled too and crossed his arms over his chest. "I just…have a habit of getting crushes on girls for the wrong reasons, and—"

"Oh TELL me about it!" Helga scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Finally you admit that having some bimbo bat her eyelashes at you and giggle at a joke is not grounds for a serious relationship!"

"I have a habit of getting crushes on girls for the wrong reasons!" Arnold continued firmly, cutting her off. "And I don't want to suddenly start 'like liking' you just because you kissed me or because you love me already or because I 'like liked' Cecile or because you're cute, okay?!" he finally finished, somewhat dramatically (especially for Arnold.)

There was a moment of rather tense silence between the two of them, only the sounds of their heavy breathing filling the air.

Then Helga blinked a few times. A few things started to sink in. "You… 'like liked' Cecile…and you think I'm cute?" she asked curiously.

Arnold blinked a few times at her question and then blushed and looked down. "Yes. I liked Cecile a lot. I liked her even more than Ruth by the end of the night actually." He blushed more, glancing up at her. "And of course I think you're cute," he added softly. "And more than that. There's more to you than a beautiful gift in a plain box, Helga…There's more to you than a beautiful gift in a beautiful box, even."

Helga was very quiet now.

Then she gently let her hand rest atop Arnold's on the ledge beneath them. "Arnold…" she started softly.

Arnold swallowed and nodded. "Yes, Helga." He held her hand a little.

Helga smiled slightly. She looked down, barely glancing in his direction. "You're wrong. And I'm wrong too. You don't get crushes on girls for the wrong reasons. You might get carried away for the wrong reasons, but you care about people for the right reasons. Always. You have a good heart, and some of your crushes might turn out to be superficial or shallow in the end, but when they start for you there's always something sincere there. You care about people slowly and genuinely. And that's how I'd want you to care about me too, if you ever did." She squeezed his hand back a little and was quiet for a moment. Then she looked to him with a small smile. "You know, Arnold, you and I have tried being enemies, and in a weird way somehow tonight we've sort of tried being in love a little. But we haven't tried being friends yet. I mean, friends without all of the shouting matches and the excessive insults and the avoiding each other like the plague except when fate shoves us together just because we don't know any other way to relate to each other yet." She moved her hand from his and held it out in a gesture to shake. "This might be the smoke inhalation talking from my hair getting set on fire, or maybe confessing my love to you finally put my twisted little mind off the deep end but, what the heck—if there's even a chance it'll help somehow, in some way…do you want to try being friends, Football Head? Very good friends, let's say?" She took in a breath and awaited his response.

Arnold blinked at her offer. "You mean, just be nice to each other, spend time together, try to get to know each other a lot better?" he asked curiously.

Helga considered and shrugged, hand still held out. "Yeah, more or less. Like you said back at the restaurant, you know too much about me now so you can't act the same way around me anymore. And honestly, if you can't act the same way around me anymore, it wouldn't even make sense for me to act the same way around you now. At the same time though, you're confused and not in love with me too. But we can't just disappear from each other's lives, and I can't just fall out of love with you—believe me, I've tried. So since half our class basically agreed tonight not to bug me about you no matter what, and since Harold promised he and Patty would stand up for me even if anybody did bother us, then why not? Harold and Patty have pulled off the very good friends thing—why couldn't we?" She smiled more, actually feeling sort of confident in this idea.

Arnold still seemed to be considering though. "If we were friends like that…" he started slowly, "Does that mean we wouldn't fight anymore at all? And that you wouldn't call me any names anymore? And that we couldn't have 'dates' anymore?" He blushed at the last question, naturally.

Helga looked at him in confusion for a moment, her hand lowering a little. "Oh, well, um…that depends on what we both want to do, I guess. Fights might be kind of hard to eliminate considering how we are together, but I could be very careful about not calling you anyth—"

"No, um," Arnold cut her off hesitantly, "That's not what I meant. I sort of like when we fight a little, and I don't mind some of the names that much—I'd miss being called Football Head. And I never minded our 'dates' to begin with." He smiled a little.

Helga blinked and then her smile brightened again. A small laugh escaped her and she held her hand out steady again. "Oh all right, we can still have our 'lively debates' and I'll still call you 'Football Head' and…" she blushed a little, glancing to the side, "Who knows—it might actually be nice for us to have planned and intentional 'dates' for once, you know?" She paused just then.

Arnold had just taken her hand and given it a firm shake.

He looked into her eyes understandingly. "So, very good friends then."

Helga swallowed and nodded, shaking his hand back. "Yeah. Very good friends. For now."

Arnold blushed a little and glanced down. "Are you going to be okay with that, Helga…since you still love me?"

Helga blushed a little then asked him in a quiet, sincere tone, "Are you going to be okay with it since you fell for half of who I am as a person one romantic night last year?"

Arnold blinked at her point and considered. Then finally all he could think to say was, "I think we'll just have to try and see."

Helga nodded. "For once I think you're right, Football Head. We'll try and…we'll see."

They sat quietly together for a moment, looking to each other, still holding hands though their arms had fallen to rest lightly upon the fountain ledge.

Then a strange yet familiar sound became apparent to them. Soft and beautiful and romantic and warm.

"A violin?" observed Arnold curiously.

Helga smiled a little, gazing past him back to the area between the two fronts of the restaurants. "Chez Paris has a guy playing one while the guests eat. I guess Chez Pierre has one too—he must have come outside for someone eating at the outdoor tables." She smiled more, looking down into the fountain. "It's no wonder we couldn't hear the music when we were inside Chez Paris this time, considering everything that was going on. But I remember the first time, Valentine's Day, listening to the violins a lot." She smiled a little more at the memory. "I listened while I waited for you to come back."

Arnold was quiet. Then he squeezed her hand softly, moving a little closer to her, looking down into the fountain water too. "I'm sorry I wasn't there."

"Hey, at least you apparently picked me in the end," she replied warmly. "And I got a kiss on the hand from you. Not such a bad memory. This restaurant may be the bane of my existence even more than you are sometimes, but I still have a soft spot for it. And for our dates here. Even if that waiter finally kicks us out for good now." She laughed softly.

Arnold smiled, moving closer to her. "Yeah. Somehow, we'll always have Chez Paris."

There was quiet and the two of them just looking at their reflection in the water. Then Helga whispered to him, her smile growing, "This is the part where you kiss my hand or something mushy like that, Football Head."

Arnold swallowed. "Oh. Okay." Then he leaned in and gently kissed her cheek instead.

Helga took in a quick breath, sitting up very straight, her eyes going wide. Rosy blushing flooded her features.

Arnold finished quickly and went back to looking into the fountain water. "Sorry. I couldn't help myself." He let his hand hold more closely to hers.

"It's okay," she assured with this funny little smile Arnold couldn't recall ever seeing her get before, but that he liked a lot. "I just never had a very good friend quite as affectionate as you before. Or who was willing to take such a big risk with me…" she lowered her voice and explained, her eyes going half lidded, "I could grab you and kiss your lips so easily right now… You're really taking a horrible chance, Arnold. Who knows what I might say or do if I get carried away again with you like I did the first time on that rooftop?" She giggled a little, unable to help herself, feeling so giddy. 'Control, Helga, regain some control…' she urged herself soothingly, 'Just enjoy the moment and don't mess it up.'

"Don't worry, Helga. I trust you to keep your promise about not surprising me like that. But either way, I'll take my chances. I think I can handle myself."

Maybe it was a trick of his reflection in the water, but Helga swore she saw this strange smile and look come into Arnold's eyes for a moment, though it vanished into shyness quickly enough.

And what in the world to say back to a reply like that?

"Oh Arnold," Helga started with a little smirk, maybe leaning in a little closer to him, "Just shut up and listen to the violins with me and stop trying to flirt your way out of the dog house. I could still just kill you for spending half of last Valentine's Day sneaking off to see Ruth even if you did pick me over her in the end." A touch of satisfaction couldn't help but come to Helga's grin.

Arnold blushed in a touch of embarrassment but then smiled a little too. "Would it help if I told you that when I went over to her table for the last time to explain things to her and apologize, I found her leaving with our actual busboy for the evening? And that she told me I could clear the plates now?"

Helga tried so hard not to laugh. She just smiled and sighed…and leaned her arm against his a little. "Well, it's start."

They sat quietly together as the violin music reached them, thinking about things and just enjoying the momentary peace after so much turbulence together.

Meanwhile, with our other couple for the evening…

Honestly, talking to Patty hadn't been nearly as bad or weird or awkward as Harold had imagined it would be.

In fact, she felt like such an old, dear friend to him despite the little bit of time since they had started hanging out together, that in a way he had really enjoyed sharing with her and was sort of sad that it had taken him until this long in the evening and in their fight about this Torvald thing to have such an open discussion.

Patty felt similarly. And she also felt that there was some real hope for…Harold and her…maybe…. Maybe even more than hope.

The crème brulees had come some time ago but neither Harold nor Patty was finished with their dessert yet. Talking really took up a lot of time once you started doing it, apparently.

"Harold?" Patty started softly, now that the air was a bit cleared and everything about tonight's strange circumstances had been explained (except of course for exactly why Patty had been tutoring Torvald—she had promised Torvald not to tell about his placement test for the sixth grade and she was going to stick to that promise, though she had at least let Harold know for now that she had been helping Torvald with something for school this whole time). "If you wouldn't mind, sometime soon, could we hang out again like this—just you and me? Not that Arnold and Helga weren't fun tonight," she smiled softly, "But…I really like just being alone together, if you wouldn't mind." She blushed lightly.

Harold blushed lightly too and smiled a little and nodded. "Well…yeah, I think we could do that. The group thing was fun, but this seems to be a lot calmer." Then he looked curious and asked hesitantly, "Patty? Are things like this…dates for us, do you think?"

Patty blushed a lot more. "I…think that depends on if you want them to be, Harold." She looked to his eyes curiously. "Do you want them to be?"

Harold turned a bit rosy and glanced down with a shrug. "Well, I…I'm just not sure if…" He looked back up to her and paused. She looked so nice, blushing and looking down, a little uncertain frown on her face. He really did like being with her and feeling close to her. "I'm not sure if I'm ready for dating, Patty. But if I had to pick any girl to date, it would be you." He smiled a touch bashfully. "I like you better than any other girl ever."

Patty's eyes went wide and she looked up at him in interest. "You do?"

Harold swallowed and nodded. "Of course. You're smart and you're funny and you're pretty and really strong, and I like how sometimes when I do something you don't like—or even how sometimes when you do something I don't like and I stand up to you—then you stand right up to me. It's neat. No one ever used to stand up to me before you. Not even Helga, really." His smile grew a little and he looked down at his dessert. "That's sort of what made me like you a lot when we first met at Rhonda's party—I said I'd pound you, and instead of backing down you said 'You and what army.' And then you even let me dance with you. No girl ever did that before, so I liked that too."

Patty was smiling so happily. "That's…That's very sweet, Harold. I was happy when you let me dance with you." She laughed a little. "And yeah, it was kind of cool for me too that you were one of the only people who ever stood up to me. Most of the time I yell and people just get scared and run away…then I'm alone." She swallowed and looked away a little.

Harold caught some meaning right away in that last statement. He pulled in his chair and leaned closer to her across the table. "Aw, hey, I get the same thing, Patty—I just tell people what's gonna happen and that they better like it or go home, and sometimes they go along with it but sometimes they leave. I guess I can be a little scary too." He lowered his voice a little. "But at least both of us know that we're really not scary, so neither one of us'll run away from each other."

Patty smiled again and she even nodded. "Yeah, that's true, I guess." She let out a small sigh, looking into his eyes. "Harold…I actually really wouldn't mind dating and stuff. But if you're not ready yet, I understand. But I just want you to know that if I had to pick any boy to date, it would be you. I like you a lot more than I ever thought I'd like any guy. You're nice and kind of funny and charming and sort of cute. And I hope we can still hang out like this even if we're not dating just yet."

Harold blushed a lot and smiled a lot. "Oh, I…well… Thanks. I like that." He rubbed the back of his neck. "And…I don't know, maybe we could kind of compromise."

"Compromise?" Patty raised an eyebrow.

Harold nodded. "Yeah. Like, well…we could hang out like we've always done but maybe have a 'date' like this sometimes too—just you and me and somewhere fancy—even if we're not really entirely 'dating' yet…just to get used to things. What do you think?"

Patty considered. Then she smiled optimistically. "I think that could work for us, Harold. But what if your friends find out—what if they ask you about us? Are you going to be okay trying to explain to them what we're doing?" A touch of concern came to her features. She knew how distressed he could get about being teased, just like tonight.

Harold just grinned and waved her off casually though. "Eh, if they ask about anything else with us I'll just tell 'em to mind their own business or I'll pound 'em!" He laughed.

Patty laughed too, unable to help herself. "Harold…really…"

Harold shrugged. "That's really what I'll do." He rolled his eyes, his smile picking up on one side. "Of course I won't actually pound them, Patty—they're my friends. But it'll get the message across that what goes on between you and me is our business."

Patty's smile picked up on one side too. "Thanks, Harold. But I don't think you'll even have to threaten anybody—Gerald and Rhonda won't say anything about us, and Sid and Stinky apologized and gave us their movie tickets for the night as a peace offering." She reached into her purse and pulled out the ticket stubs, showing them to Harold.

Harold blinked at the sight and then smiled. "Hey, that's neat! I'll have to thank them. Do you want to go after this?" He gave her an optimistic grin.

Patty smiled and shrugged, putting the tickets back in her purse. "Yeah, I guess. It could be fun."

Harold nodded, taking another bite of his dessert. "Yeah, and I'm just glad I don't have to fit in a pounding to Sid and Stinky or anybody during school on Monday."

"Yeah," Patty agreed with a nod. Then she took a bite of crème brulee, smiled a bit more and added, "I'd threaten to pound anyone who questioned me about us too, but…then again my reputation's so tough that no one ever dares to bother me about things like that. "

Harold blinked and scowled, though there was an undeniable smile still on his mouth. "Oh come on, Patty, not this fight again. My reputation's just as tough as yours is. I just get a lot of people who like to push their luck, that's all. Besides, ten-year-olds are more curious than thirteen-year-olds. I can't help it if they won't shut up about laughing over mushy stuff instead of acting mature about it."

Patty smirked a little, just casually taking another bite of her dessert. "Sure, Harold, whatever you say."

Harold rolled his eyes and grinned. "What, do you want proof? Let's go get Arnold and Helga and ask them who's got the scarier reputation."

Patty blinked and gave a shake of her head, tapping her mouth with a napkin. "Harold, I think we should maybe wait until they come get us. We can ask them then, if you want."

"Why?" Harold shrugged, raising an eyebrow.

Patty hesitated, still smiling a little. "Do you want an honest answer?"

Harold looked even more stumped and nodded. "Yeah, of course."

Patty let out a small sigh and tried not to blush too much. "Because Arnold and Helga are already probably making out together finally, and I think it would be embarrassing for everyone to interrupt them."

Harold turned such a scarlet. "Naw…" He shook his head, trying very hard to focus on his dessert all of a sudden and trying not to focus on the fact that he had never heard Patty be so blunt about romantic stuff before. "Okay, they may have developed some kind of crazy thing for each other, but Arnold does not kiss and Helga absolutely definitely does not kiss."

Patty laughed a little, raising an eyebrow at him. "How would you know? Harold, they're a boy and a girl just like anybody else…and they do like each other a lot…"

"So…?" he blushed a little, playing with his crème brulee again.

"So, I think they could easily kiss soon, Harold. They've probably already done it before, actually." She ate some more of her crème brulee, smiling more to herself.

Harold actually grinned and laughed a little at that assertion, shaking his head and crossing his arms over his chest. "No way, Patty, they have not been kissing. That's a really, really big thing to start doing…" He glanced away, looking a little uncomfortable. He could hardly imagine starting to kiss now in his life, let alone three years ago when he had been ten too.

"Harold," Patty smiled, "What's so scary about kissing? It's not that big of a deal."

"I didn't say kissing was scary!" Harold turned back to her and shrugged, trying not to seem like he was protesting a bit too much. "I'm not scared. I-I mean, it's not scary. Anybody can kiss!"

"Except Arnold and Helga?" Patty asked, an eyebrow raised, trying very hard not to laugh.

Harold looked confused for a second, and then he sighed and scowled at her a little. "Well, that's…I mean…Aw, why are we talking about this anyway?" He frowned, blushing a lot, stabbing at his dessert a little with his spoon now.

"I'm sorry. I didn't realize kissing made you uncomfortable, Harold." Patty still smiled.

"It doesn't make me uncomfortable," Harold asserted right back to her, trying to look confident.

A blushing Patty was doing her best to maintain her own confidence. "Then why don't you want to talk about it?"

"B-Because it's too girly!" he replied back lamely, slouching in his seat a little.

"Boys kiss too, Harold," Patty chose to remind him simply as she blushed even more. "Unless you don't know how…." She couldn't believe she was actually pursuing this here and now as a point of conversation.

Harold blinked and then rolled his eyes stubbornly, leaning over on the table a little. "Oh, of course I know how to kiss, Patty, that's just silly—I'm not a little kid." He smiled just a little bit, trying to turn the tables. "And I-I bet you're the one who doesn't know how to kiss."

Patty blinked at the sudden challenge and scowled a little, leaning a bit closer too. "I can kiss just fine, I'm sure, Harold."

Harold considered and then raised an eyebrow. "So you…never kissed anyone before?"

Patty swallowed, frowning a bit more. "No. Have you?" She glared at him a little.

"Well…no," Harold replied with stubbornness. "But I could, and I'm sure I'd be fine at it too."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah! Watch, see!"

Then he quickly leaned across the table and gave her a neat peck on the lips.

Then he sat back in his seat and blushed a lot. Patty blushed a lot too.

The were both quiet.

Then they both blinked.

"Do you hear a violin or something?" Harold asked curiously.

Patty swallowed and shrugged, mumbling back to him softly, looking down. "I think it's just the restaurant's musician, Harold. Chez Paris had one too."

"Oh," Harold replied in understanding. Then he noticed how her look had changed. He frowned a little. He thought about something for a moment. Then he blushed a lot and leaned closer to her again. "Patty? Um…I'm sorry if I got kind of stubborn just now. I've never been on a real date before. And I'm sorry if…if you didn't like…" He sighed very deeply. "I'm just sorry."

She smiled a little and nodded in understanding. "It's okay, Harold. I'm sorry if I pushed you a little."

Harold swallowed. "Patty? Um…if…if we're gonna be going on dates sometimes now…just so I know…would it be okay if I kissed you sometime? Like, for real? Only if you wanted. If you don't, that's okay, I just…I like you a lot Patty, and if you wanted, I could try." He got a little stubborn looking again and added, "B-But no making fun of me if I don't do it right or something, and no telling anyone else…except maybe, I don't know, Rhonda if you want to talk about girly stuff with her or something…okay?"

Patty did her best not to smile totally uncontrollably. "Harold…?"

"Yeah…?" he asked with a touch of interest.

Patty swallowed and then leaned a little across the table, looking into his eyes meaningfully.

Harold blushed very much. He leaned a bit closer to her too. "Um…"

Patty sighed softly. "It's okay, Harold," she whispered. Then she leaned the rest of they way in and gently let them kiss.

Harold almost pulled away at first. But then again, it wasn't so strange during a first real kiss to be a little unsure before realizing how such a strange action could strangely feel so right. He soon settled in quickly enough.

While Harold and Patty had been finishing their time together, Arnold and Helga had still been just sitting by the fountain, looking into the water, finishing up their own chat.

"It was very stupid of me to try and keep two dates at once…even if I did think for some reason I can't even remember that Ruth and I were meant to be together. And I'm sorry for hurting you that night, Helga. I just wish I could make it up to you." Arnold was looking at her reflection in the water. He squeezed her hand lightly again. "You lied too that night, but at least you had good intentions."

"Good maybe…" Helga countered, looking to Arnold's reflection, "But selfish. I wasn't perfect either, Arnold. But no matter what, I'm still sorry she was so oblivious that she thought you were the bus boy. And I'm sorry if I teased you about it a little too much tonight. That must have hurt you, and I never want to see you hurt." She squeezed his hand gently in return.

"You could have told me that night, the truth…everything," Arnold suggested curiously, looking more towards Helga's actual person now.

Helga just shook her head though. "No. I couldn't have. I wasn't ready to. And no matter how you would have reacted, I would have gone to pieces. I needed my secret too much, Arnold." She let out a breath and looked up. "I'm better about that these days, though. I mean, I know the world's not going to end or something if people know how I feel about you, or if you know how I feel." She smiled a little and looked to him now.

Arnold smiled back at her. "I'm glad you're taking things a lot better, Helga. That's something else I was worried about, I guess, and another reason why I've been wanting to talk to you. At school and at baseball practice and at any other place we both might end up together actually, you've been seeming a little, um…" He cringed a little, trying to consider the politest word for it.

"On a war path of no return?" Helga suggested a touch dryly, her grin picking up on one side a little.

Arnold laughed a little. "I was going to say 'tense', but that works too. Anyway, I figured it was probably because of the confession thing, and I just wanted to help you feel better about it if I could. So I'm really glad you're feeling better now. Even if tonight was a little…um…"

"Nightmarish beyond all reason?" Helga suggested, grinning just a little more.

Arnold laughed again. "I was going to say 'awkward', but that actually probably describes it better."

They shared a small laugh together.

Then Arnold couldn't help himself.

"So…you really write poems about me? And they're good enough that Mr. Simmons lets you tutor sixth graders in poetry?" He glanced at her looking sheepish and modest, yet there was a touch of undeniable pride in his smile.

Helga blushed and looked down, eyes wide. "I, erm…y-yes." She cleared her throat and did her best to speak calmly and confidently. "I do write poetry about you, just like I said during my confession and just like I confirmed for you back in the restaurant. And yes, not to toot my own horn, but it's quite good actually." She smiled more. "Mortifying but good."

"I guess you'd never let me read any sometime, would you?" Arnold knew it was a long shot. But he was curious. It couldn't hurt to ask.

"Hmm…" Helga laughed a little, shaking her head. Then she shrugged. "Why read any yourself, Arnold?" She looked to him, one of those classic smirks of hers coming to her lips, "After all, you can her them often enough whenever I hand them in as homework assignments and Mr. Simmons reads them to the whole class and says they're by 'anonymous'."

Arnold's eyes went wide and he blushed considerably at this information.

Helga grinned fully. "Oh I'm going to enjoy this from now on—watching you squirm every time good old Simmons gets up there and starts reading 'anonymous's 'words all about affection and longing and how your presence sets my soul aflame." She laughed.

Arnold blinked. 'Soul aflame…?' "You wrote that pink book of poems I found that one time!" he accused in quite a bit of surprise.

"Oh, ding, ding, we have a winner!" Helga rolled her eyes. "No offense—you should have figured that one out months ago. Hello—pink book? Pink? Not to mention my signature at the end that you read half of before I got it from you…" she barely mumbled to herself, rolling her eyes.

Arnold let out a deep sigh, closing his eyes and bringing up his hand to his forehead. "This is going to take some getting used to, Helga."

She laughed a little more and waved him off. "Aw, it won't be so bad, Football Head. I'll just keep only describing you vaguely in my poetry and controlling any sudden compulsions I get to kiss you when we're alone, and you get to have a new buddy for a while and a few fun surprises along the way." Helga shrugged. "C'est la vie, Football Head." She gave him a little nudge in the shoulder (and was totally adorably unaware that she had just pronounced that last thing incorrectly as 'Say ley-vi'.)

Arnold opened his eyes and brought his free hand down to the fountain ledge once more. He was smiling again. "Well, at least the most difficult stuff is behind us for now…"

"Oh, not exactly," Helga replied, her tone suddenly sounding a touch grave.

Arnold looked over to her, his smile falling.

Helga was looking back at him very seriously. "There is one more very big, very important, very serious thing we have to discuss."

Arnold looked back at her seriously. "What is it, Helga?" he asked in concern.

She remained staring him down in seriousness. Then she leaned in closer, watching his eyes widen.

"So…Arnold…" Then the corner of Helga's mouth picked up in a smile. "You think I'm cute?"

Arnold blinked, still kind of frozen in shock for a moment, then he let out a deep breath of relief. "Helga, you scared me for a second. I thought you were talking about something serious." Despite his words of apparent relief and admonition, he blushed lightly.

"Stop trying to change the subject," Helga merely replied, smirking just a little more. "You admitted you thought I was cute! So cute, in fact, that you were afraid of getting a crush on me for it." She leaned closer, and purposely let the fingers of their hands still upon the fountain ledge entwine. "So, tell me, is it just the Cecile outfit tonight or is this just a new general thing? I want to know."

"Helga!" Arnold blushed more and glanced again. "Come on…"

"What? I already told you about how I thought you were gorgeous." She rolled her eyes. "Give me something! Come on, it's been a rough night for me, and you had to throw water all over me because my hair got set on fire! I need an ego boost." She shrugged innocently.

Arnold let out a very deep sigh again. Then he glanced up at her. He hesitated for a moment and looked away. But then finally he looked back at her again. "Don't tease me too much, if you can help it…" He requested softly. Then he took a deep breath and began, blushing very warmly, "I think your eyes are a really nice blue. And I like how pink looks on you. And your hair's nice and blond, and I like how long it is. A-And you kind of glow when you're in candlelight. And your smile's pretty. And I thought our first real kiss was nice enough that I wouldn't want to trade it for any other one from any other person, and can I please stop now, Helga? I'm starting to feel a little lightheaded." He brought one hand to his temple.

Helga was just sitting there observing him with wide eyes and slightly blushing cheeks and a very happy small little smile on her lips. She did her best not to laugh at his request. "Uh, y-yeah, sure, Arnold. You're dismissed for now. But thank you for sharing." She shrugged, trying to cover up some of her giddiness with another joke, "I guess there are some perks to being 'very good friends' with you."

Arnold wanted to smile but he still mostly blushed. That had been very awkward for him, to say the least. 'I never told a girl I thought she was cute in my life until tonight… And I just told Helga details.' He swallowed. "Helga, if we're going to spend any more time together tonight, can we do something a little less intimate now?" He gave her a look seeking sympathy. "Tonight hasn't been that easy on me either."

Helga nodded and let out a breath, regaining some of her normal demeanor. "Sure, Football Head. You have anything in mind or did you just want to call it an evening?"

"Oh. Well…" Arnold recalled two very important little pieces of paper in his pocket suddenly. He took them out, showing them to Helga. "Before everyone else left, Sid and Stinky gave Harold and Patty their ticket stubs for this Evil Twin movie marathon they were going to earlier. It's mostly over now, but the third movie won't start for a little while. And Gerald gave me the ticket I was supposed to have for tonight and his ticket stub so that you and I could go together too. Do you want to?" Arnold frowned a little, putting the ticket and stub back in his pocket. "Unless you don't like that kind of movie. I know Evil Twin movies can be sort of scary. I could just walk you home instead if you want."

"Are you kidding?" Helga beamed. "I love Evil Twin movies! Sheesh, Football Head, I know I'm in a skirt and blouse tonight, but I'm not some princess—and who'd pass up a free horror movie anyway? Come on," she stood up, releasing their hands that they had barely realized had been touching this whole time, "Let's get Harold and Patty—they should be done talking now—and we can all make that third movie together. You can always walk me home afterwards." She glanced down at herself quickly, straightening her outfit a little, and then reached up to tie back her hair into a bun with the bow. "Oh but first, if we're gonna go some place public, do I look okay, Football Head? I don't need 'cute' or anything, just presentable—no big water stains, my hair doesn't make me look like a drowned rat anymore, that kind of thing." Finished, she stood before him, hands on her hips.

Arnold blinked at the request for his opinion and then kind of shyly looked her over. "O-Oh, um, you look fine, Helga, really. Very nice. Just as pretty as ever." He cleared his throat and stood up. "Let's go get Harold and Patty before we're late." Then he took her hand and they began heading over together to Chez Pierre.

"Aw, Arnold, you really do say the sweetest things, good buddy," Helga joked with a grin, coming up alongside him and entwining their fingers again.

Arnold's grin picked up on one side and he rolled his eyes, letting their hands comes as close as she wanted. "Whatever you say, Helga…"

The two of them came upon the sight of Harold and Patty now, who were still sitting together at their little table outside of Chez Pierre, blushing and looking down at the moment.

"Uh, hey, you crazy kids," Helga started with a grin and a wave, 'Good, at least I'm not interrupting anything right now.' "Arnold and I finished our big epic talk over by the fountain. Just wanted to see if everything was okay and all wrapped up with you guys too."

Patty, smiling a little, stood up from the table and pushed in her chair. "Hi, Helga. Hi Arnold. I'm glad you guys got to talk and that you seem like you're friends again." Her eyes fell to Arnold and Helga's hands clasped together so snugly, and she smirked just a little.

It took Arnold and Helga a second to realize what she was staring at, but once it became clear to them, Helga took her hand away and put both of her arms behind her back and Arnold took his hand away and rubbed his arm shyly. They both tried hard not to smile.

Patty did her best not to laugh. "Anyway, since we're all done here now, if you want to come too, I think Harold and I were going to go to the movies. Do you still want to go, Harold?" She glanced at him, but only barely, trying very hard not to blush anymore than she already was.

"Huh?!" Harold blinked at suddenly being addressed. Then he quickly pushed out his chair and stood up, rubbing the back of his neck. "Oh, um, sure, Patty. Yeah." He looked to Arnold and Helga. "Do you guys wanna come too?" He seemed particularly hopeful they would, and especially looked to Arnold.

Arnold and Helga nodded at the request of their friends.

"Sure. It'll be a good movie. And Gerald gave me his ticket and my ticket anyway so…" Arnold started.

"Yeah, and Arnold just asked me before we came over here, and I already said yes, so…" Helga added.

Arnold took in and let out a very deep breath. "Um…if we're going to go then we should probably leave now." He took out his pocket watch and glanced at it. "The third movie's going to start pretty soon, I think."

"Yeah, what the Football Head said," Helga added with a small grin, trying to lighten the mood. Then she stepped toward Patty and gestured forward with her head. "Come on, Patty, let's walk and talk—I need a five minute break from the Football Head while we head over to the movies."

Patty laughed a little and nodded. "Sure Helga." She joined alongside her so they could start walking forward together. "Helga, I'm sorry about everything that happened to you back at the table before, and—"

Helga just waved her off with a smile and a sigh though. "Oh, water under the bridge, Patty. Forget about it. And believe me when I say this is not the most insane misadventure I've ever been on, though it does rank pretty high even for me, I'll give it that. Besides, a few fun things did come out of it—I just found out Arnold thinks I'm 'cute' for starters." She couldn't help laughing as the girls continued on their way to the corner. "Speaking of which…" she called out over her shoulder now, "Hey, Football Head, Pink Boy—shake a leg! I don't like to miss previews!"

Arnold was just standing there with his eyes closed and his head in one of his hands, a very deep sigh having escaped him. And he was trying very hard not to smile.

Harold just looked after Helga and Patty in surprise and then looked to Arnold. "Arnold, what exactly—"

Arnold just held up his hand though. "Harold, not now, please. It's been a really, really long night…week…month or so. Let's just go follow after them." He started walking forward and Harold quickly followed. "So, um…" Arnold asked considerately, "Did things go over okay with you and Patty?" He glanced at his friend.

Harold blushed and nodded. "Yeah. We're okay. You know, she's a really neat girl." He blushed a lot more. "Arnold, I'm starting to get very confused about a lot of things. Is that normal after everything that's happened tonight or am I just missing something?"

Arnold just shook his head slowly, looking very tired. "No. Tonight has been very confusing. I'm still not even sure I understand everything that's happened." Arnold considered and then he swallowed and added, "Harold, um…thanks for talking to Helga a little before she was ready to talk to me. I think it helped her feel better."

"Oh. Sure, Arnold," Harold shrugged, "No problem. She's my friend too. I'm glad I helped her feel better a little." He blushed a little and looked down. "I told her if anyone else finds out about…you know, how she feels about you, or tries to tease her at school, that Patty and me'll stand up for her. We'll stand up for you too, Arnold."

Arnold smiled in appreciation. "I know. Helga told me. And thanks, Harold. That's really nice of you and Patty. But, don't worry, no one's going to make fun of Helga. Rhonda won't tease her and I don't think Torvald will either, and as for Sid and Stinky I…well…" he blushed, glancing down. "I sort of told them that Helga hated me and that Patty only invited her here tonight because I've got a crush on her. I-I just figured people would make fun of me less since I'm a little more 'sociable' than Helga and that they'd be less surprised anyway since I get crushes a lot, and either way I also told Sid and Stinky that Helga would probably pound me and them if they teased me about it, so I think we're okay no matter what."

Harold smiled a little. "Hey, that's pretty smart, Arnold." Then he raised an eyebrow at him. "So…you don't have a crush on Helga then?"

"Harold…" Arnold swallowed and glanced down, then looked forward a little toward the two girls, then glanced down again. "I don't really want to talk about that. Like I said, tonight's been really, really confusing."

"Okay…" Harold nodded in understanding. Then he swallowed and asked, "Hey Arnold? Did you ever, um…kiss a girl? Like Helga, maybe?" Arnold glanced at him very hesitantly (and blushed very much). Harold quickly explained, "I-I'm not trying to bug you or anything, I was just wondering some things… I mean, except for Torvald, I'm the oldest one in our grade, and I don't think a lot of the other guys really have any experience with girls. But I think I'll probably need some advice soon, so I just thought I'd ask you as long as there was a chance you might know more than most of our friends considering the Helga thing."

There was quiet for a moment.

Then Arnold swallowed and replied (though he looked forward and down a little while doing it, and still blushed distinctly), "Once…. If you don't count the play or that television show we did, and if you don't count the on the back of the hand…I…Helga and I kissed once. She mostly kissed me. I was a little surprised. A lot was going on at the time. But it was a very memorable experience." He glanced at Harold. "I'm not sure if I'm the best person to give you advice on this kind of stuff, Harold. I'm only just starting to figure it out myself. But I'll do my best. And maybe you could give me some advice too sometimes because I guarantee you, you're doing much better understanding Patty than I am at understanding Helga." He sighed a little and couldn't help a slight smile trying to pull up one side of his mouth.

Harold smiled a little too, feeling just a touch more confident and hopeful in himself at those words. "Thanks, Arnold. I'm really trying." Then he laughed and waved him off. "Aw, and you'll figure out stuff with Helga, don't worry. You already tried to talk to her a little, so that was the first and the hardest step, right?"

Arnold nodded, smiling more. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

Harold smiled too. "So…this was a double date for you guys too?"

Arnold nodded. "Yeah, I think this was a double date for us."

"Next time the four of us hang out, could it just be hanging out and not a date?" Harold suggested with a grin. "This has been exhausting."

Arnold nodded very firmly, smiling more. "Sure, Harold, I'd like that too. And…I'd also like if we went any place but that restaurant…" He glanced behind him in the direction of Chez Paris. "People who go there with me and Helga tend to go through a lot, and Helga and I never seem to have it any easier."

Harold laughed a little and so did Arnold.

And then the two boys ran to catch up with the girls as all of them made it to the front of the theatre just in time for the final Evil Twin film.

While the boys had been talking, the girls had been having their own small chat.

"You kissed Harold, didn't you, Patty?" Helga hadn't been able to help herself. It was too obvious to her, she had to say something about it.

Patty blushed a lot. "Helga…shut up." She glanced away a little.

"Oh come on," Helga prompted anyway, "I know that look of complete awkwardness that you two were sharing when Arnold and I came up. Believe me, I know that look." She smiled encouragingly. "Just wanted to say congratulations. You two are, you know…kind of nice together in a mushy, cute, 'so romantic it's even giving me cavities from it's sweetness' sort of way."

Patty sighed softly, smiling a little more. "You seem to be in a good mood, Helga. Does this mean you finally got Arnold to admit how much he's crazy about you?"

Helga blushed hotly and glanced to the side, rolling her eyes away. "Crimeny, Patty, n-no, of course not…. He doesn't love me."

"Helga…" Patty gave her an incredulous look.

"Patty, I asked him flat out if he loved me and I did not get a 'yes' back from him," Helga replied in a flat though accepting voice.

Patty blinked and considered for a moment. "Well…maybe 'love' was too strong a word, Helga. He only just found out how you feel about him. And he is a ten-year-old boy. Did you try just asking him if he's got a crush on you or any kind of a thing for you at all?"

Helga shrugged, looking down. "Well…things kind of got complicated there. W-We just decided to be very good friends for right now and see what happens…I think."

"Very good friends?" Patty eyed her skeptically. "Helga, I don't mean anything by it, but why are you so afraid of letting him like you?"

Helga blinked and looked down. She responded quietly. "I'm not afraid, Patty. I just refuse to get my hopes up." She shrugged and smiled a little. "Besides, we're just sort of getting to an okay place now. We can actually carry on a conversation without avoiding talking about anything important and without him saying something stupid in public and almost spilling the beans for me and without me trying to pummel him into the ground to keep him from making us confront my feelings. There's even talk of us hanging out together—continuing our tradition of wacky yet amusing 'dates'. I'd say that's progress, or more than I ever hoped for anyway."

Patty just smiled and shook her head. "Okay, Helga. Maybe you're right and you two should take it slowly. At least it's a start. I'm happy for you." Then she let out a sigh and added quietly, "And I did kiss Harold. And don't tell anybody or bring it up again or I'll cream you in front of everyone for real next time."

Helga smirked a little and laughed. "Okay, okay, whatever you say, Patty. And kudos." She gave her a little nudge with her elbow. "At least one of us got a guy to admit he likes us tonight. All I got was Football Head telling Sid and Stinky that he was the one with the hots for me just to get them off the trail and to keep me from being teased. It was sweet of him, but still not quite what I had in mind."

Patty grinned and rolled her eyes. "Okay, Helga: he cares about you so little that he told everyone something that could embarrass him just for the sake of keeping your feelings safe…just like that time he stood up to me to keep your body safe." Her sarcasm was apparent. "Clearly you're not special to him at all." Then she elbowed her back.

"Whoa!"

"Oh, sorry, Helga!"

Patty's elbowing had sort of accidentally flung Helga clear off the sidewalk and down to the ground. Patty instantly helped her up and got them walking again.

"I-I'm fine, don't worry about it," Helga assured sheepishly, dusting herself off. "And ha ha, very funny. Clearly you don't know what a pushover, do-gooder, totally selfless little shrimp Arnold is. He'd do those things for just about everybody." She smirked a little and added, "He even apologized about the date with Ruth last Valentine's Day and offered to make it up to me. Guess we'll have to be doing all of our wacky French dining at Chez Pierre from now on though, huh? There's no way that maître d' is going to let us or any other kids back into Chez Paris again." She shook her head, still smiling. "Hmm, I can't believe I helped get a whole age range of people banned from a five star restaurant in a single night. That's an impressive record even for me."

Patty smiled. "Actually, you don't have to worry about that, Helga, Rhonda took care of it. Once we all left the table she yelled at that waiter we had and made him promise not to ban older kids without chaperones. She said we're all allowed to come there whenever we want to. She even picked up the check."

Helga blinked in quite a bit of surprise. "Wow. I'll have to thank the princess. That was really decent of her. Huh, guess she does come through as a friend in a pinch."

Patty just smiled and rolled her eyes. "You know, I think you'd like her a lot more if you got to know her, Helga."

"Eh, Rhonda and I have our own understanding, Patty—I prefer not to rock the boat with it," Helga replied simply with a shrug.

Patty just sighed, still smiling. "Okay, Helga, if you insist."

"Anyway, we're finally here." Helga gestured forward with her head, and sure enough the familiar façade of the Cineplex was in view. She glanced at her friend. "Come on, Patty, let's just go and peacefully enjoy this violent horror movie—it has to be less stressful than Chez Paris."

The two girls shared a laugh and stopped by the front doors of the theatre. The boys quickly came up behind them.

"Tickets, guys?" Helga looked at her three friends, prompting Patty to give a ticket stub to Harold and Arnold to give a ticket stub to Helga. "Okay, let's go." And, then before she could stop herself, Helga went forward and hooked Arnold's arm with hers. "Football Head, you're sitting with me—you get into too much trouble when I'm not around to keep an eye on you, and I don't want to have to worry about a thing for the rest of the night: we have free movie tickets from our friends and got a free meal courtesy of Rhonda's sense of nobility, I'm not going to let anything mess up that bit of good luck amidst all this chaos." She smiled and then looked to Harold and Patty. "See you two inside. I'll try and get us seats close to each other. At least somehow we're getting dinner and a show tonight!" Helga laughed and then she pulled a slightly smiling Arnold along with her into the theatre.

"Helga…?" he questioned in amusement as they entered and showed the usher their tickets.

Helga just leaned close and whispered to him with a grin and an eye roll. "Oh shut up, you know it's true—you'd be lost without me. Besides, I'm just trying to get Patty and Harold to sit together. Doi! Relax, Football Head, we got dinner and a show tonight. Just enjoy yourself and trust that I know what I'm doing, okay? Sheesh." She laughed warmly.

They disappeared into the lobby, heading for the proper theater.

Patty and Harold just watched them go with smiles and laughs, shaking their heads at their two friends.

Patty turned to Harold. "Wanna go in now, Harold?"

Harold nodded, looking kind of shy but trying to seem okay. "Sure, Patty."

They walked past the usher into the lobby together, following in Arnold and Helga's path to the right theatre.

"Um…after this, can I still walk you home, Patty?" Harold asked hesitantly but hopefully

Patty nodded. "Sure, Harold. I'd like that. Thanks."

"You're welcome." Harold smiled more, though his manner still seemed a bit tense and unsure.

"Harold," Patty glanced at him, "You don't have to be nervous. We can take things very slowly if you want. I'd kind of like that too. Tonight's been sort of a lot for me." She blushed a bit.

Harold blushed too, but smiled. "Yeah, I'd really, really like that, Patty. And, um…double dates are fun, but can we try one sometime with people besides Arnold and Helga? They can be a little intense…plus I'm still trying to figure out after all of this how the two of them are still not together? Arnold's having a really hard time admitting he's got a crush on Helga for some reason." Harold shrugged and raised an eyebrow in confusion.

Patty nodded in understanding, smiling a little. "I think part of it's because they're still only ten, Harold. And Arnold's a little shy and Helga's a little stubborn. But yeah, we could try double dating with somebody else. Actually…I sort of have an idea about that…" she grinned a little, "Come on, I'll think about it a bit and tell you after the movie."

Harold smiled with interest as Patty pushed open the theatre doors, allowing them both to step inside so that they could finally enjoy the show together with each other and with their friends.

A/N:

Wow, I know that was crazy with lots of things going on and also a bit longer than the other chapters, but I hoped you like the conclusion to the dinner! Next chapter will be a brief one about all of them at school on Monday. Then the epilogue. I have some fun plans for that and I hope you all enjoy it : ) I'm hoping to have this story and a few of my other in progress ones done over the next few months. I have some other fandoms to start posting in, a lot of original works to edit and post, and a special project for this fandom. Something I've been wanting to work on for a very long time but promised myself I wouldn't until all of my other HA! stories were all squared away lol. Stay tuned and thank you for reading : )

And again, please, if you can, take the time to check out and review my new series On the Cusp. Any guidance would be epically appreciated! Thank you

s/3174784/1/On-The-Cusp

Happy Reading!

~Azure129 aka Jenna