A/N:

Hi everyone! Hope you're all doing well! Sorry, I haven't been able to do as many updates as I've wanted so far during my winter off from work, but I hope you've all enjoyed what I've managed to post. Most of my time has been taken up with writing a novel that I've been working on for the past two months. I'm hoping to have it ready enough to send out manuscripts to publishers soon, and I'm very excited ^ w ^ Anyway, this story will have one more chapter, an epilogue, and then finally be all wrapped up :) I hope you enjoy this chapter and please review! Thank you!

Dinner AND a Show!

Chapter 10:

Leftovers

Helga wasn't sure about everybody else, but she herself had decided to take a very 'this past weekend never happened' kind of approach to the events of the weekend. Oh certainly she wasn't going to start screaming at Arnold for no good reason again and only meeting Patty in bathrooms to talk about homework again and only speaking to Harold to insult him and give him the occasional order again, but she also wasn't about to start swapping private jokes with Harold and gal-paling around with Patty and flirting with Arnold in public like none of it was any big deal.

So Helga had settled for the middle road plan of doing nothing and letting others come to her about where to go from here.

She just had a lot to think about, and while the changes in her relationship with Patty and Harold seemed simple enough—they were closer and better friends now—she was still having trouble figuring out what the heck had happened with herself and Arnold exactly.

BRRIIIING!

Helga shut her locker door as a bell rang in the hallway and leaned against the cool aluminum, letting out a sigh.

It just all felt so crazy—what was the depth of her and Arnold's relationship now, what the heck had she been doing actually flirting with him anyway, and what in the world had she gotten herself into with this 'let's be very good friends' agreement? And, most frustrating of all, how the heck after all of this stress and after a good seven years of unrequited love could Arnold suddenly appear even more desirable and compelling to her now than he ever had before?

This last thought on Helga's mind came from the fact that she had just caught sight of Arnold turning a corner and starting to walk down the hallway in her direction.

Helga sighed and turned toward her locker, eyes wide. 'I knew this would be trouble, I just knew this would be trouble…' Maybe it was the fact that he seemed so much closer to her now, or the fact that he had admitted he found her cute or even that he had admitted falling for her Cecile. Or maybe it was the fact that he had sat next to her in the movies last night holding her hand on their shared armrest the entire evening. All she knew was that she was having a lot of trouble handling the idea of him at the moment.

"Um…hello, Helga."

Helga let out such a deep sigh, closing her eyes and keeping herself facing the lockers for a moment. Then she swallowed and turned a little toward the familiar owner of that voice, leaning on her arm against the locker doors and just trying to seem casual and also trying very hard not to make direct eye contact with him. "Uh, heh, yeah, uh, hello, Arnold. H-How's it going?" 'This is awful. Why don't I just wear a big blinking billboard on my head that says I want to make out with Arnold, anytime, anywhere?!' Helga blushed just a little at the thought.

Arnold, meanwhile, was just standing back and watching her with interest, and maybe trying not to smile, and definitely (though unsuccessfully) trying not to blush a little himself. "Oh, I'm okay. I didn't see you on the bus this morning…" He swallowed, not really sure what to do or say next. 'And I really wanted to sit with you.' No, there was no way he was going to add that in. This was going to be so complicated, wasn't it?

"Oh, yeah, well, um, I popped by Phoebe's house for breakfast this morning, and her mom drove us both, so, you know…" Helga shrugged, looking at him a little more but still avoiding his eyes.

Arnold nodded in understanding. "Oh, that's good." He shifted a little and turned to lean back against the lockers too.

They stood there in silence for a moment, totally alone.

"You know, the lunch bell rang, Helga."

"Yeah, I-I know, Football Head."

Arnold swallowed, glancing at her. "You wouldn't want to go to lunch together, would you?"

Helga let out a very deep sigh and put a hand to her head, closing her eyes, her features tinged all the more with blushing. She mumbled to herself. "He wants to take me into a full cafeteria with him like this…" She actually started to smile a little. "Arnold," she spoke up a bit more, "in case you haven't noticed yet, as of today ever since our little talk last night I'm acting like a complete basket case around you—and I mean publically now, not just behind corners and in side alleys. Crimeny, I can't even look at you right now—I feel like I'm going to collapse into a puddle of gooey, loving mush if I do." She let out a breath and turned her face away from him even more.

Arnold frowned at first, looking at her curiously. Then he thought for a second, and then he smiled. "It's okay, Helga." He moved closer to her. "I can understand that." He shrugged. "After all, I am 'gorgeous'." He recalled her word for him from the previous evening.

Helga turned bright red and looked as much away from him as possible. "A-Arnold, stop it…"

"No, no," he insisted though, "like you said—my 'slight stature' and my kindness and my…wonderfully shaped football head, was it?" Arnold smiled more, leaning closer to her, trying not to laugh. "I guess I'm just too good looking for my own good." He crossed his arms over his chest and let out a little fake forlorn sigh.

Helga rolled her eyes. She was losing the battle not to smile. "Oh shut up, you're not funny at all, Arnold."

"Maybe that's why none of the other girls I've ever liked have ever liked me back—I was just too handsome to look at." He blushed in embarrassment and laughed in enjoyment all at the same time. "Hel—oh!"

He was very surprised to find himself suddenly pinned up against the lockers now, Helga holding him by his collar. He looked up into her eyes curiously.

Helga just grinned back at him, smiling and blushing but at least finally making eye contact. "I don't care what this looks like, you are horrible at making me feel better, Football Head. It would really serve you right if I took this moment alone to let down my guard and stop pretending like I've got you pushed up against these lockers to pound you and instead kissed you, you do-gooder little shrimp." She took in a deep breath and let out a deep breath. Then she finally released Arnold. When she opened her eyes now, she was smiling and able to look at him directly without a problem. She crossed her arms over her chest. "Thanks, Football Head. I needed that. I think I'll be okay now."

Arnold smiled happily, straightening his sweater a little. "Good. I'm glad, Helga. I was hoping making you laugh would work."

Helga chuckled a little and shook her head. "Yeah, boy did it ever. Imagine—you actually thinking women were overwhelmed by your good looks and charming features. I mean, really." She laughed more.

Arnold gave her a bit of a look, though he still smiled. "Helga…"

She went on though, of course, sounding as sarcastic and witty as ever. "Seriously, Arnold, last night I know I used the word 'gorgeous' to describe you, but there was a lot going on and my head had been set on fire—I meant something much closer to 'cute.' Like some adorable little guy you just want to hug and pat on the head like he's your kid brother or something."

"Helga…" Arnold's look and tone were becoming a little less amused by now.

Helga just rolled her eyes, still grinning away and still going on. "Like you getting dumped all the time has nothing to do with any of your many flaws like how prim and proper and noble you've always gotta be about everything, for example, you great big wet blanket." She smirked a little.

"Helga." Arnold looked at her firmly now, arms crossed over his chest.

Helga just laughed and shook her head at his defensiveness. "Oh, calm down, good buddy, just trying out a new way of bugging you and trying to break the ice a little more between us." She nudged him in the shoulder. "We all still know you're one of the best looking guys at P.S. 118."

Arnold smiled again, glancing to the side shyly. "Whatever you say, Helga."

Helga laughed a little again and stepped closer to him. "Anyway, did you need something, Football Head, or were you just testing out the waters for our new little experimental very good friendship?"

"Well," Arnold looked to her again and shrugged, still smiling, "I really did want to see if it would be okay if I took you to lunch." He swallowed. "I thought maybe we could sit with Harold and Patty or even Gerald and Phoebe if you want. I know it might look a little strange to some people if we eat together, but I just like talking to you, Helga. And lunchtime seems like one of the only chances we could really get to talk unless we did something together after school again…you know, alone." He shuffled his feet a little.

Helga knew it would have followed in everyone's image of her nature for her to say 'no' right now and scowl at him and storm away. But frankly, even if she had felt a compulsion for behaving that way, the response seemed like too much effort to bother with. Not to mention she just plain didn't feel like telling him no. "I'd love to have lunch with you, Arnold," Helga replied softly and simply instead. Then stepped away from the lockers and added, "But if anyone asks, the word 'love' never came into the situation, all right?" She grinned and winked at him.

Arnold beamed just a little and he nodded, laughing a bit. "Okay, Helga. And thanks. It'll be nice to eat together and not have anything go wrong for once."

Helga grinned a little more. "Yeah, and speaking of eating together…you know, I was doing some deep thinking the other night, and it hit me—the perfect way for you to make it up to me once and for all about the Ruth thing and possibly help us break our bad luck streak at Chez Paris too." She glanced back at him, starting to head up the hall to the cafeteria.

Arnold blinked in interest, following alongside her now. "Oh, um…sure, Helga, what did you have in mind?"

She stopped just before they were going to round a corner, and turned on him, hands on her hips. She leaned in close and gazed firmly down into his eyes. "You and I are going on one of our little 'dates' this weekend—Chez Paris again, Friday night, wear your usual suit, a regular necktie is fine, and I'll be doing the ordering for both of us. You'll see what I mean when we get there."

Arnold blinked a couple of times but then smiled quite eagerly, his eyes even going a little half lidded. "I…okay, sure, Helga. That sounds nice. I could come by your house and we could walk together to the restaurant around seven maybe?"

Helga still smiled but shook her head. "Just meet me there at 7:30. I want time to set some things up anyway. Just look for me at that table we sat at last Valentine's Day."

Arnold smiled back at her in a very intrigued way. His grin even picked up a little on one side. "You know, I'm really starting to like this side of you a lot, Helga. You should really let it out more often. It's…well, usually I think of it as bossy, but now I realize it's just…passionate."

Helga blinked and then blushed a little, stepping back from him. "Don't read too much into it. I'm just a very secretly passionate person in general." She started walking to head around the corner, Arnold following along with her. "It's got barely anything to do with my feelings for you." She winked at him.

Arnold laughed a little in return. "Whatever you say, Helga."

Then they came around the corner and saw Rhonda standing there wide eyed and Patty just behind her just sighing with her head in her hand.

There was much silence for a moment.

Then Patty decided to move things along.

"Rhonda, close your mouth, it's impolite to leave your jaw dropped like that—Madame Parvenu taught us that on day one." She popped Rhonda's lower jaw up. Then Patty looked to Arnold and Helga. "She's not going to say anything, Helga. Don't worry, I promise." She smiled a little. "Now get to lunch already, and if you two see him tell Harold I'll be there in a couple of minutes. And, um, if you two could give Harold and me a little privacy just for today—there's something he and I need to talk about." She added the last part with a clearing of her throat.

Arnold just swallowed and nodded, glancing to the side in a touch of shyness. "Oh, sure, Patty. Um…hi, Rhonda." Arnold smiled a little at his classmate. "Thanks again for taking care of things after we left the restaurant Saturday night. We all really appreciate it."

"Erm…" Rhonda cleared her throat, still looking quite shocked to say the least. "Sure, that's…sure."

"Rhonda," Helga stepped forward, seeming casual enough, "Now, I think this goes without saying, but if I hear anything from anybody about anything you might have just overheard happen here, I will be forced to kill you. Ah," Helga held up a finger, "I know what you're thinking—'Oh, Helga, can't harm me—I have Patty looking out for me!' Well, Miss RhondaLloyd, let me tell you two things—she can't watch your back all the time, and I can be a very patient woman. So please just let this moment go, and please don't make me have to make you sleep with one eye open for the rest of elementary school, huh?" Helga shrugged, smiling pleasantly but sounding and looking quite firm about her threat.

"Heh…" Rhonda swallowed and tugged at her collar nervously, but managed some kind of smile and nod in return, "Yeah, okay, that's…that's fine, Helga. Um, Patty and I have been having a long talk about people's privacy and how sensitive people can be about romantic feelings so anyway, you know…. B-But could I maybe at least just get some details about…I-I mean, so this is real and…but which one of you exactly…and when did you…or is this just how you two are as friends? I really don't—"

Patty sighed and took Rhonda by the sleeve, gently leading her along. "We'll see you guys in the cafeteria," she called over her shoulder to Arnold and Helga with a smile. Then she glanced at Rhonda with a slight frown. "Rhonda, you said no more prying, and you promised me and Harold last night that you wouldn't spread any rumors about Arnold and Helga…"

"But this just fell into my lap! You heard them! They were flirting and she said something about feelings!"

"Rhonda…"

"And this wouldn't even be a rumor, it would be the truth!"

"Rhonda."

"Mmm…" Rhonda moaned a little, "Oh why do I have to be one of those rare 'nice' popular and rich and fashionable girls? The other kind gets to have so much more fun."

Patty just smiled and shook her head. "Come on, Rhonda. I'll let you in on a little piece of 'gossip' in the cafeteria like I told you. I promise."

Rhonda sighed, nodding in acquiescence. "Okay, Patty, okay…"

Back at the corner, Arnold and Helga were just watching them leave.

Helga sighed softly, crossing her arms over her chest. "You and I are going to tank at this 'very good friendship' thing, aren't we, Football Head?"

Arnold, hands behind his back, swallowed but couldn't help a little smile pulling up at the corner of his mouth. "I'm trying to be optimistic…"

Helga glanced at him, raising part of her brow.

Arnold shrugged but then nodded. "But, yeah, we might not be able to keep up with how we've decided to be when we're together now if a lot of people are going to be saying things about us and noticing us."

Helga nodded. She looked forward again and watched Rhonda and Patty finally disappear into the cafeteria. "Just so I know, is your bet on us going back to bugging each other to death or randomly falling madly in love?"

Arnold sighed, glancing away and blushing and rubbing the back of his neck. "Helga…"

Helga scoffed, rolling her eyes and waving him off with a fake cheery grin and a clear amount of sarcasm underlying her bright tone. "Oh, no, you're right, Arnold—somehow, someway us being big sappy friends with you knowing I have the hots for you and with me knowing that you 'like liked' a part of me once is going to work out perfectly okay. I mean, just look at how well that kind of relationship worked out for you and Lila."

Arnold frowned at Helga distinctly now, which she noticed. Helga swallowed and looked down, speaking sincerely and rubbing one of her arms. "Sorry, didn't mean to touch a soft spot." She raised part of her brow. "Incidentally, do you still have a thing for Lila?"

Arnold looked at Helga curiously at the sudden question. "I don't think…" Then he paused and smiled in interest. "Are you jealous?"

Helga blinked. "What? No!" She scoffed and looked away from him. "Please, jealous—of what? First you get a thing for Ruth who can't carry on a conversation without bringing up her barrettes, then there's Lila who can't carry on a conversation without mentioning jokes about cows. Clearly your 'I get crushes on girls just because they're cute' thing played a role in those two doomed relationships. Jealous—yeah right! Seriously, take a picture, it'll last longer, paste for brains. Doi." She started walking toward the cafeteria doors.

"Wow, you're really really jealous," Arnold observed with interest as he started following alongside her.

"Oh, like you wouldn't be jealous of me if I started fawning all over some other boy and took all of my attention away from you," Helga countered with a little smirk.

"Like who?" Arnold asked suddenly with sincere curiosity.

Helga blinked. "I…" She sighed. "Oh brother, here's trouble." She smiled and shook her head. "So just so I have a few more of the ground rules about our 'friendship' down now, I don't want you getting any more crushes on any more girls, and you don't want me thinking about transferring my affection to any other guys. Yeah, uh, all of that just sounds so healthy and stable and not like a problem waiting to implode on itself at all." She laughed a little.

Arnold laughed too, trying not to look too sheepish. "I guess we'll just have to take it one day at a time. For what it's worth though," he moved a little closer alongside her, "I'm not 'seeing anybody' right now. I mean, I don't have a crush or feelings for anybody right now."

Helga smiled a little more. "Okay. And for what it's worth from me, I haven't been writing any poems about any other guys in my spare time."

They had reached the cafeteria doors. They paused for a moment.

Arnold glanced at Helga. "Are you ready, Helga?"

Helga nodded, a defiant smile coming to her lips. "As I'll ever be. Now open the door, Football Head, I'm starved."

Arnold smiled more and shook his head. "Whatever you say, Helga. Ladies first." Then he pushed open the door.

Helga went proudly in the cafeteria, and Arnold followed behind her.

Torvald had taken his sixth grade equivalency test early this morning before school (and after a very thorough and thankfully not at all awkward study session with Patty the previous day), and because the exam was a multiple choice one, easily graded, he was supposed to know the results by lunchtime.

Patty had informed Harold first thing this morning that she would be having lunch with Torvald today in the cafeteria, but that he was welcome to join them after she and Torvald had had a few minutes alone to talk about something. She had made this announcement a bit more palatable by then letting Harold know that after her brief private chat with Torvald, she would be able to make Harold understand once and for all why she had had to spend so much secret time with Torvald lately. She had also let Harold know that Rhonda would probably be joining their table at some point as she had promised to fill in her friend on the details of the situation as well (a peace offering to keep Rhonda from snooping around Arnold and Helga too much, she had explained). Harold, of course, had agreed to all of these plans diplomatically and understandingly enough.

So for now in the cafeteria Patty sat having a smiling conversation alone with Torvald while Harold sat with Arnold and Helga at a table across the room. From his seat, however, Harold couldn't help glancing over his shoulder to watch Patty and Torvald with more than mild interest.

"Harold, quit staring at them so much," Helga advised with a sigh, playing with the bendy straw on her chocolate milk. "You just accidentally dipped that French fry you ate into tapioca pudding. It's not like she's going to elope with him out from under your nose if you turn away for a second. Sheesh."

"Helga…" Arnold chided her with a small smile he couldn't help at the joke. "Maybe he's just a little jealous." He tried not to smile too much more as he casually turned his focus back to his sandwich. "It's perfectly normal."

Harold sighed, still looking over at Patty's table even as he replied to Arnold and Helga. "I'm not jealous, guys. It's just that Patty told me she wanted me to come over and sit with her and Torvald soon, but that I had to wait for a sign from her. So I'm just waiting and—" The sight of Patty suddenly waving a hand over at him instantly caught his eye. "Bye, guys!" Harold quickly stood up, grabbing his tray and still never taking his sights off of Patty's table. "Have a good lunch date." And then he left quite swiftly.

Helga let out a deep sigh and blushed, trying not to smile too much as she sunk a little low in her seat at that comment. "Great. A lunch date. That's probably what this is going to start looking like to everybody now that it's just you and me at this table, Football Head."

"Oh come on, Helga." Arnold smiled at her, trying to be optimistic. "Lots of boys and girls eat alone together. No one has to think anything about it."

Helga just shook her head, sitting up a little and grinning to herself. "Hey, that might be how it is for most other boys and girls, but the two of us are way to conspicuous. We need some cover before I start having to deck people for snickering at us." Helga glanced around and then her eyes lit on Phoebe sitting with Gerald a few tables away. She caught Phoebe's eye and gestured for her to come over.

From her table, Phoebe smiled with interest at the request and then grabbed her tray and turned to Gerald, speaking to him.

Gerald went from smiling to not smiling to looking over at Arnold and Helga to looking back to Phoebe and then finally he shook his head.

Phoebe frowned a little and talked some more. Then Gerald talked. Then Phoebe talked.

Arnold and Helga watched with interest.

"What do you think they're saying?" Arnold asked, raising an eyebrow as he played with his tapioca a little.

"Oh," Helga started with a shrug and a grin, "I'd imagine the conversation is going something along the lines of this: 'Oh Gerald, look, Helga invited us to go sit with her and Arnold,' 'Uh…no, phoebe. Just no.' 'But Gerald they're our friends.' 'But Helga's a psychopath and Arnold's gone off the deep end about her.' 'Please, Gerald. I think they'd really enjoy the company'…" A few tables over Gerald actually finally sighed and nodded to whatever Phoebe said to him now, then took his tray and stood up along with her. Helga smiled more. "Ah, and now we've moved into the 'inevitable defeat' part of the conversation. 'Oh all right, Phoebe, I guess we don't have a choice—they are our friends, after all. If you're going to go sit with them, I might as well go too'.'" Helga laughed a little to herself, shaking her head. "Now, those two are a couple of people we should rope into a double date…" She glanced at Arnold. "I mean, one where everyone agrees it's a date and we all pay for dinner—not another 'dinner for four, gift certificate' fiasco."

Arnold laughed a little, finishing a sip of his milk. "Well, that might be fun for us, but I don't think we should tell Gerald and Phoebe that's what we're doing. After all, you and I understand that a 'date' for us is kind of different from what a date for other people would be, and I wouldn't want to make Phoebe feel uncomfortable by saying it was a date for all of us."

Helga shrugged, grinning as she ate a few French fries off of her tray. "Hmm, see I was thinking that our only problem was possibly making Geraldo feel uncomfortable…"

Arnold smiled with interest while Helga continued to eat.

Then Helga blinked, a thought occurring to her. "Wait…" she looked to Arnold curiously, "Why would you think Phoebe would be the only uncomfortable one with the idea of her and Gerald going out on a date?"

Arnold blinked, his eyes going a little wide. He pushed away his milk carton. "I…" Then a thought occurred to him too and he looked to Helga. "Why would you think Gerald would be the only uncomfortable one with the idea of him and Phoebe going out on a date?"

Arnold and Helga were both quiet for a moment, though they made eye contact, sort of communicating something with each other.

Finally, Helga put words to the whole thing. "We each know something about our best friends…don't we, Arnold?" she started cagily.

"Maybe," Arnold replied, blushing a little at getting close to revealing a friend's secret.

"And," Helga added, "I'm assuming we've both been sworn to secrecy by each of our best friends, haven't we?"

Arnold shrugged. "Sort of. It's just kind of always been kind of a…well, a..."

"A silent agreement between you two?" Helga suggested, her casual smile picking up a little on one side.

Arnold nodded, smiling. "Yeah. Exactly. Is it the same for you and Phoebe about…this?"

Helga laughed a little and shook her head. "Nah, our 'silent agreement' was always about my secret pining for you. The other thing was a little more directly promised. I think girls open up to each other more than guys do, Football Head. Anyway…" she let out a sigh and reclined back in her chair a little, "Let's just put this sensitive topic aside, for the sake of our friends."

Arnold nodded, smiling in relief. "Okay, Helga. I think that's the best thing to do."

Helga grinned more to herself. "Yeah. For now…"

Arnold looked at her with interest but didn't have time to say anything as Gerald and Phoebe sat down together across from them at that moment.

"Okay," Gerald started with a sigh, putting down his tray, "For the record I want to say that I have strong reservations about doing anything involving eating with the two of you ever again, even if it is just lunchtime in the cafeteria. But Arnold is my best friend and Phoebe wanted to come sit over here, so we're over here. And if anything bad is scheduled to happen, I'd just like a little notice please, that's all." He then let out a breath, sat down, and calmly resumed eating his lunch.

"Oh calm down, Geraldo," Helga advised with a grin, playing with some of her food, "Last night was easy on you, believe me. Phoebe knows—tell him, Phoebe," Helga requested, taking a bite of meatloaf.

Phoebe shrugged and politely fulfilled Helga's request. "From what Helga explained to me about the events of last night when she called me up to discuss them after she got home, she and Arnold and Harold and Patty did seem to go through quite a lot before you showed up, Gerald. Though I'm sure what you had to go through had its own difficulties." She smiled a little extra at him. "It was very nice of you to stay after everyone left the restaurant and make sure nobody would be teased by anybody, Gerald."

Gerald blinked at the sudden compliment and cleared his throat, glancing away a little. "Oh, y-yeah, well…you know, babe, always gotta look out for my friends." Then he got himself together enough to smile and lean a little closer to her, elbow resting on the table and chin resting on his hand.

Phoebe giggled a little and glanced shyly down at her food. "It really was very considerate of you, Gerald. I'm sure Arnold and Helga appreciate it."

Helga did her best not to smile too much at how cute they were.

Arnold definitely smiled a little, unable to help it.

"Yeah, we appreciate it, Geraldo," Helga finally let him know with a little firm jab in the shoulder over the table. "You came in, you actually helped the situation, and you didn't ask too many questions. You're all right in my book now." She leaned back and crossed her arms over her chest.

Gerald just gave her a dry look. "Speaking of questions, are you and Arnold dating now or…what? Seriously, I never really got a handle on what the final situation was there, all I got was Arnold doing a really bad job of denying he's got a thing for you now."

Helga and Arnold both went wide-eyed. "Gerald!" They said together.

"Oh boy," Gerald sighed, rolling his eyes. "Here we go, another overly dramatic moment between Arnold and Helga—Phoebe, let's brace ourselves."

Helga rolled her eyes, lowering her voice to a harsh whisper. "Look, hair boy, you want to speculate about the Football Head and me? Fine, have fun, but don't say things like that out loud! People could hear you! And since Arnold had to tell Sid and Stinky that he had a crush on me to get them to lay off of me, if people start hearing it from your mouth too they might actually start thinking it's the…truth…" Then Helga blinked and was quiet. She seemed to be in thought about something.

Arnold was a little embarrassed too, though his tone was calmer. "Gerald, can we talk about that later, and also not in the cafeteria? Helga and I sort of worked out a private arrangement…. We're just working on being better friends now. It's no big deal." He blushed quite a lot though for something that was 'no big deal' as he then glanced down and very deliberately and nervously played with his food (all facts which a preoccupied Helga did not fail to notice).

Gerald watched Arnold and Helga with interest for a moment. Then he sighed and nodded. "Okay, okay, I won't make any comments, I promise." He ate a bite of food and then looked to his best friend. "Hey Arnold, since the movies didn't work out for us last night, do you maybe want to do something this weekend instead? My brother said he'd drive us to that really fancy arcade uptown Friday night—the one that always gets the new games first."

Arnold blinked and tried not to blush too much more at the response he had to give. "Um…maybe some other night, Gerald. I sort of have plans Friday night. Helga and I are going on a…we're, um, going to try dinner again together…alone." He looked down at his tray, very interested in the remainder of his tapioca at the moment.

Gerald just eyed them both; Helga still seeming lost in a touch of thought and almost looking kind of shy, and Arnold just lightly digging around his lunch try with his spoon, a blush continuing to pervade his features.

Gerald felt on the verge of saying something, but then just smiled and shook his head. "Right, okay, yeah…. You're not dating, but you're going out on a date. Got it." He made a clicking sound with his tongue and pointed at them in a sarcastic gesture. "That makes perfect sense." He tried not to laugh too much at the idea.

Helga sighed at the comment, coming back to the present moment and slumping down in her seat. "Oh, shut up, Gerald. And for the future, if you manage to annoy me a little less than you're doing right now, I'll let Arnold fill you in on some details about what's going on eventually…maybe."

Arnold smiled at Helga's secrecy and Gerald's joke. He managed to look back up to everyone at the table again. "One night maybe all four of us could try going out to dinner together again. I promise it'll go all right, Gerald, really," he assured his best friend.

Gerald sighed. "Maybe…" He glanced at Phoebe, smiling a little. "Would you wanna try going out to eat with them again, Phoebe?"

Phoebe nodded, smiling brightly. "Certainly, Gerald. The last time may have been a little chaotic, but it was still very fun. I wouldn't mind going with you."

Gerald smiled more. "Okay then…" he glanced back at their friends, "Guess you've roped us in for another one some time in the future." He lowered his voice to be fair, as he added, unable to help himself, "Just don't start trying to kiss each other or something at the table, all right, you two?"

Arnold and Helga each blushed very much and looked down, stopping their eating entirely.

Gerald noticed the distinct reaction and a little cringe went through him. Forget how weird it was seeing Helga blush like that; Arnold only blushed either when he was lying about something embarrassing or you caught him in something embarrassing.

"Wow," Gerald looked down at his food, "Just forget I said anything—please." He went back to eating, trying not to think about the implications of their reaction.

Phoebe smiled a little more, looking at her best friend and Arnold and just doing her best to move things along from the awkward moment for Helga's sake. "I'm certain we'll all have a very enjoyable dinner together. Maybe the weekend after this weekend we could all go?"

Arnold and Helga just nodded and slowly went back to eating their food.

Then Helga felt like the tension of the awkward moment was going to break her in two, and so she used her fork to flick some mashed potatoes at the side of Arnold's head.

"Hey!" Arnold looked at her, pouting in confusion.

Helga just grinned a little and shrugged. "What, good buddy?"

Arnold tried to remain pouting but then he couldn't help smiling too. "Nothing…nothing at all. I know you only did that to cover up how much you like me…very good friend." He went back to his food.

Helga laughed a little, going back to her food as well. "Yeah, right—take a picture, it'll last longer."

Arnold laughed a little as well. "Whatever you say, Helga."

Now at least the two of them could eat with their biggest problem being trying not to smile too much rather than trying not to blush too much. It was a start.

Gerald and Phoebe just watched their two friends with curiosity but amusement, Gerald shaking his head and Phoebe trying not to smile too much herself.

Even if their relationship could be a little confusing now, Arnold and Helga seemed like a lot more fun together. It was sort of nice.

Meanwhile, a few minutes ago and across the cafeteria…

Patty had just waved Harold over, and she and Torvald awaited his arrival with very big smiles.

"Torvald," Patty looked to the boy seated beside her, "Thank you so much for agreeing to explain to Harold with me about our tutoring sessions together. I'm sure he'll be just as happy as I was to hear that you passed your test and can move up to junior high with our class next year."

Torvald was practically beaming. "Oh, sure, no problem at all, Patty. And thank you so much again," he took her hand, shaking it vigorously, "my mom's gonna be so happy!"

Patty smiled more. "You're welcome, Torvald."

Torvald frowned a little, stopping his shaking of her hand. "But I'm sorry if our tutoring caused some kind of problem with you and Harold. You could have told me that's what was going on and just asked for me to tell him the truth—I would have said yes. I know how close you guys are. That was probably what you were trying to ask me the other night at the restaurant when I came out of the kitchen with your table's cake huh?" He smiled a little, rubbing the back of his neck with his free hand.

"Um…something like that." Patty sighed deeply, doing her best to keep the smile on her face. 'He would have said yes—well, that would have been easier, I guess.' She just cleared her throat a little and replied to him. "I didn't want to ask you to do that, though, Torvald. And besides, it's fine. Harold and I worked everything out. I just wanted to have some closure with the whole thing I guess."

"Sure thing, Patty," Torvald assured, giving her hand a final shake before letting it go now, "Whatever I can do to help."

Harold appeared just then (having all but plowed over half the younger kids in the room to get here as quickly as possible), panting a little, tray in hand. He did his best to get himself together quickly. "Um, hi guys. Can I sit with you?" He shrugged, not really knowing what else to say.

Patty nodded. "Of course, Harold. That's why I asked you to come over here."

Harold smiled and put down his tray, then took his seat.

Patty took a breath and began. "Harold, Torvald wants to let you know something. But you have to promise not to spread it around too much. Torvald really wants to tell people himself if he can. Torvald?" Patty glanced at her friend, waiting for him to begin.

Torvald cleared his throat and smiled at Harold. "Well, over this past year, ever since I first started getting advice from Arnold, I've really been trying to make my life a lot better. You know, no more stealing lunch money, no more cutting school, no more not studying. I've even got a steady girlfriend now and a regular job, but, well…since I slacked off so much in the past I'm fourteen now and still in fourth grade. I know you're thirteen and in fourth grade, Harold, so I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that. It's just getting left back three times felt like way too much for me, especially now that I'm getting older. I should be in high school already, you know? And besides, I don't fit in with our class quite as well as you do. Everyone's really nice, but I'm just into older things now. Anyway, I did some thinking and finally decided that I want to at least be in junior high now. They have these grade-level placement tests you can take to get moved up, so I studied and I passed the fourth grade one easy enough and the fifth grade one wasn't too bad, but the sixth grade one was tough. So for a few weeks now Patty's been tutoring me for it, but I asked her to keep it a secret just in case I ended up failing. But actually I took the test this morning and it turns out I passed! And I'll miss all you guys a lot, but I'm so happy I'll really get to move up to junior high next year! And who knows—maybe after a year, I'll be able to take a couple more placement tests and get into high school to the grade level I'm supposed to be at? And it's all thanks to Patty." Torvald gestured to her with his head. "I'm sorry if I've been taking some time away from your friendship lately, but I promise now she's all yours." He winked. 'Aw, it's so sweet—everyone from the fourth grade is starting to date. I wonder who'll be next?' he couldn't help but wonder to himself in a touch of amusement.

Harold blinked at all of this information, taking it all in. "That's…" he smiled widely, "That's great, Torvald! Congratulations!" He leaned over to take Torvald's hand and shake it heartily. Then he let it go and looked a little sheepish. "And I…I'm sorry if I was kind of a jerk to you at our dinner the other night. I didn't mean to be. I've just been a little jealous is all," he explained with a small shrug.

Torvald just waved him off. "No sweat, man. And anyway I understand—everyone's a little sensitive during the early part of a relationship. I still feel that way about Ruth sometimes. But I'm happy you and Patty worked things out together and that we can all go back to being friends."

Harold just looked so pleasantly relieved. "Yeah, sure. All friends again. Yeah…that's so great," he couldn't help but reiterate. He seemed about as happy as he could get.

Torvald smiled warmly at the sight and then stood up with his tray. "Well, anyway, I promised to go over and finish eating lunch with Ruth today as soon as I was done here. Besides, I want to give her the good news too about getting to go to junior high with her. Have a nice lunch together, guys. See you around." Torvald gave them a little wave and then he was off.

Harold smiled warmly at Patty.

Patty smiled in satisfaction at Harold. "You see, Harold? I told you there was a really good reason I couldn't spend time together lately, and that there was a really good reason I couldn't tell you what it was."

"Yeah, you did…" Harold chuckled a little and then added with a grin, "And meanwhile, see, I told you that you have a soft spot for people—helping Torvald like that and then going through so much not to tell his secret. You're an old softie, Patty Smith."

Patty grinned a little and shook her head, putting her fork in her meatloaf. "This from the boy who visits a little cat named Cupcake at an old lady's house once a week to play with it."

"Aw, fine then, we're both softies," Harold just admitted, laughing and moving his chair a little closer to her. "But I'll be a softie if we can be softies together. We just can't tell anyone or we'll have to pound them." He shrugged.

Patty laughed a little, leaning a bit closer to him on her arm. "I wouldn't have it any other way, Harold."

They shared a small laugh together.

Then Patty sighed. "Harold, I promised after Torvald left that I'd invite Rhonda over here, like I told you, so I think I should just do it now so that we can be finished with it and then get back to eating. She's just been really curious about what I've been up to lately too, and I promised I'd fill her in as a friend and also as part of thanking her for taking care of the dinner bill the other night."

Harold just smiled to himself and sighed. "Sure, Patty, of course. And if it'll make her happy to know then why not tell her about Torvald and junior high next year then why not tell…her…?" A thought suddenly occurred to Harold. His smile fell a little and his gaze grew a bit pensive.

Patty, however, did not notice the strange reaction as she was already turned in her seat and waving Rhonda over now. The fashionable girl, catching sight of her friend's sign, instantly flew across the lunchroom and then popped down at the vacant seat at their table, her tray in hand. "Oh Patty, darling, finally I get to know the mystery of everything! Oh I hope it's juicy!" she clasped her hands together in anticipation.

Patty did her best not to smirk at her friend. "Actually, like I told you, Rhonda, the truth about everything is a little boring. I was just tutoring Torvald this whole time, and I was doing it in secret because Torvald wanted to take a grade-level equivalency test today, but he didn't want anybody knowing about it. And I've also been a little busy because Helga was helping tutor me in some things for class. That's all. I haven't been doing anything else with my spare time," she explained simply.

Rhonda blinked at the explanation. Then she sighed deeply and frowned. "Oh great, another humdrum piece of gossip." Her smile returned a little. "But I guess after a night like we had this weekend I ought to be satisfied for a while—surprise dates, love triangles, romantic and friendly misunderstandings, a dramatic exit, epic conversations…. All of that's really a lot, I suppose." A determined look came to her eyes and a satisfied smile to her mouth. "But I am determined to get the first scoop as soon as anything solid happens between Arnold and Helga. I might have promised not to gossip about them, but people are going to want answers soon, and sooner or later Arnold and Helga are going to say something, and I want to be there front and center when they do."

Patty just smiled and shook her head with a small sigh. "Okay, Rhonda, if that's what you want."

"It's more than that, Patty," Rhonda explained with enthusiasm and pride, "it's my duty—I'm in charge of fourth grade society, and I take it very seriously." She smiled sincerely and added, "But I'll make sure to stand up for them if anyone else tries to tease them. And really," she crossed her arms over her chest and rolled her eyes to the side, "If Arnold and Helga want to be close for whatever strange reason they have, I guess that's not the craziest thing in the world."

Patty tried very hard not to laugh. "That's nice of you, Rhonda. Oh and before I forget, I was wondering if you maybe wanted to spend some time together Friday night? We could go to Slausens for some ice cream or maybe even get some dinner if there's time. Harold will be there too probably."

Rhonda looked unsure for a moment, "Oh Patty, I wouldn't want to be a third wheel—"

Patty just cut her off though with a wave of her hand. "You won't be. Don't worry. It's sort of a group thing."

Rhonda considered and smiled. "Oh well…in that case, if you insist, I'd love to. Thank you both." Rhonda nodded appreciatively and then glanced across the cafeteria. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to rejoin Nadine for lunch. I promised her we would go over some things for a butterfly project we're doing for class this week. Enjoy your little repast, my friends. See you Friday night!" Rhonda stood up, gave them a prime little wave, and then departed.

Harold looked at Patty strangely. "We're going out for ice cream or maybe dinner again this weekend? And it's a group thing? Patty, who else are you inviting?" he asked curiously.

Patty shrugged. "Oh, just one other person. For Rhonda. I have a feeling about something, but I'd rather keep it a surprise, okay, Harold?" She glanced at him meaningfully.

Harold nodded in understanding. "Okay Patty, if that's what you want. It might be nice to go out some place comfortable and just relax." He started to eat a little. Then he frowned slightly, swallowing a bite of food and putting down his fork, his uncomfortable though unvoiced thought from earlier returning to mind. "So, um…you know, I actually almost forgot you were going to junior high next year, Patty."

Patty blinked at the observation. "Oh…" She considered and shrugged. "Yes, I guess I am. But we can still spend a lot of time together, Harold," she assured him.

Harold shrugged, playing with his food a bit. "Yeah, I guess. Except you'll probably get busy pretty quickly and also make lots of new older friends—guys who can drive even."

Patty smiled in understanding and rolled her eyes. "But I won't meet any boy who's closer to me than you, Harold, no matter what." She moved close and lightly kissed him on the cheek, then pulled back and focused in on her own lunch tray, trying not to blush too much.

Harold just sat there with wide eyes. "Oh, um…okay, s-sure." He did his best not to go all goofy.

Patty chuckled. "Besides, like I'd ever find another guy who would get so worked up over arm wrestling with me or show me his scars."

Harold shrugged, blushing a little and smiling. "I'm flattered. And, um…you're my closest friend who's a girl too, you know."

"Thanks, Harold," Patty replied softly.

Harold and Patty continued eating lunch together very pleasantly.

BRRIIIING!

It was later that day now, in a hallway after the final bell had rung.

Arnold was just finishing up taking his books from his locker to put them in his backpack, and looking very content as he did so with his noticeable smile and slightly half lidded look. He seemed very pleased about life in general.

He shut his locker door and blinked in surprise—there stood Helga, leaning back against the locker beside his, holding her backpack and looking thoughtful.

He beamed a little. "Oh. Hi, Helga."

"Can we talk?" she asked very simply in that soft, slightly deep sounding tone of voice not unlike Cecile's, with her blue eyes a little wide and no scowl present on her features.

Arnold looked at her curiously. "Sure. Here?"

Helga shook her head, moving her backpack over her shoulder. "No. Walk and talk, Football Head. Come on." She grinned a little, gesturing forward toward the school doors with her head. "I'll escort you home for once instead of the other way around."

Arnold laughed a little and put his own backpack over his own shoulder. "Okay, Helga. Whatever you say."

He moved forward and came beside her as they headed down the hall, then out of the school, then down the school front steps and then finally started on their way up the street that led in the general direction of both of their houses.

During all this time, Helga still hadn't said a word. But Arnold was patient. 'Besides, maybe she just doesn't want to talk where there are a lot of people we know. Getting away from the school first makes sense.'

As they really became alone, Helga did speak finally. And she clearly chose her words quite carefully as she did so. "Arnold, we've decided that this thing we've agreed to pursue together is a friendship at its core, right? 'Friendship' as in I don't start pinning you against walls and spouting love poetry at you whenever the mood strikes me, and you don't get carried away with the idea of finally having a potential girlfriend ready and waiting for you and go falling for me for all the wrong reasons, right?" She spoke very calmly and straightforwardly, and glanced at him now for his agreement.

Arnold blushed a bit at the way she put things, but took all of that in and nodded just the same. "Yeah, we decided what you just said…to have a friendship together."

"Right," Helga continued carefully and with a nod, " 'Friendship' as in I get to confide in you every once in a while about some things with my feelings if I need it, and you get to enjoy the fact that you finally found the way into my mushy goodhearted center and get to 'bond' with my like you do with all of our other friends…right?"

Arnold nodded again, looking at her kind of curiously. "Right…." He could sense she was leading them somewhere, but was clueless as to where exactly.

Helga just nodded again and added further, "Because I don't want you 'pursuing' me just because of how I feel about you. I'd like to feel a little more special than that."

Arnold nodded in agreement once again, his blushing heating a little more.

"And," Helga continued, "You don't want me randomly filling the last years of your boyhood by taking kisses from you half the time when we end up alone, yes?"

"Um," Arnold's voice cracked just a tiny bit, a fact which made him look down in a little embarrassment. "…R-Right yes…Right."

Helga swallowed and scowled, trying not to blush herself. She went on, establishing groundwork just a little bit more before getting to her point. "Because the alternative is that we go back to me avoiding you at all costs and screaming at you whenever you do get the crazy notion to get near me. So that's why the friendship agreement is best. Right?" She looked at him very distinctly again.

Arnold frowned a little. He remembered the frustration and disappointment of their last week or so together before their weekend dinner adventure. He sighed. "Yeah. Of course, the friendship's best." He looked at her curiously and finally asked, "Helga, are you trying to tell me something?"

"Actually, I'm just building up to my main question, which I'll be happy to ask you right now since we've just gone over our agreement thoroughly," she countered, giving him a bit of a serious look. Then she took a breath and asked very professionally, "Back in the cafeteria today when Gerald decided to tease us a bit about this odd thing we've got going on, why did he specifically say you had a thing for me? And why did you get so flustered by it?"

Arnold blushed quite a bit and glanced forward. "I-I don't know, Helga, he's just not used to us getting along, so he assumed…and I just got embarrassed for the same reason you told him to stop saying things like that—because it would be awkward if other people heard it."

Helga shook her head though at his simple reply of denial. "No. First of all, he could have guessed any number of scenarios between us besides what he said, including that I was the one with a thing for you. In fact, that would have been his most likely guess since he found out I was Cecile and knows I went out with you last Valentine's Day of my own free will and saw me become a big emotional train wreck and run out of that restaurant the other night after Sid and Stinky started teasing me about liking you. And either way, when he said you had a thing for me, you blushed Arnold—and you never blush unless someone finds out a secret about you; a big awkward secret." Her tone held quite a bit of conviction.

"I-I…" Arnold stuttered over his words a little, looking very flushed and uncomfortable, "I-It was probably just a coincidence that he said what he said, Helga, and anyway I'm still getting used to you and I being close, so the blushing—"

Helga sighed deeply. "Arnold," she shook her head and then stopped their progress forward by turning, grabbing his collar, and pinning him up against a building wall, just in the shadow of an alley way. "Do not use excuses with me—you know I'm not a patient woman when it come to you. Tell me the truth." She looked into his eyes quite seriously.

Arnold blinked once. Then he frowned and actually spoke to her with a touch of defiance. "No." 'It's the principal of the thing,' he thought to himself firmly, 'She can't just pin me somewhere anymore to get me to do things,' he thought to himself firmly but maybe also just a little unnecessarily stubbornly.

Helga showed a touch of surprise at his resistance. Then she eyed him closely. "I'd like you to answer me, Arnold. But just so I know, if I have to make you do it, which would you prefer as incentive—a good sock in the nose or a passionate kiss on the mouth?"

Arnold's eyes went a little wide but he maintained. "You won't do either one of those, Helga. You'd never hit me because you love me, and you'd never kiss me because you promised me you'd control yourself," he stated calmly.

Helga just tilted her head to the side a little and shrugged. "Oh, but you know I also said I would have a very difficult time controlling myself about the kissing, especially if you kept letting me trick you into being alone with me in private locations. I've always found alleys very private, by the way, don't you agree?" She smiled just a little. "And as for the 'no hitting' thing, well, quite frankly the rules have changed a little ever since we entered into this intimate friendship arrangement, Football Head. People who end up close to me tend to take a bit of abuse. Usually I kept it restrained to verbal, sometimes emotional, but…with you I might just make an exception for physical. Any excuse to touch you is really okay in my book—though I would hate to mar that beautiful face of yours." She smiled a little more and giggled a touch. "Oh and there I go again, battling against my attraction toward you and losing. Maybe a kiss really will be my decision…though I could just sock you for pushing me toward it. Oh Arnold, I both love and hate you all at once—have I mentioned that as part of my feelings for you? Just a little advice, Football Head, I would really tell me now what I want to know before I have a meltdown and kiss you until you need to lie down again and then punch you right in the face once it's over."

The whole time she had been delivering her little monologue, Arnold had been watching her, his eyes scowling a little and his lips pursed together like he had something he wanted to say, something he desperately wanted to say but there just weren't words, or he couldn't find the words in the face of a genuine Helga G. Pataki monologue. And so he remained silent.

Helga was done now, and she had given him his options.

But if Helga could 'change the rules' now, Arnold didn't see why he couldn't too just a bit. He smiled a little and then made himself look as humble as possible. His half lidded gaze went to her eyes. "Please just let me go, Helga," he said softly, almost dotingly.

Helga blushed a little in surprise at his response but made no move to release him. "Don't try to act cute and sweet, Arnold, it only inflames my passions more…. Oh…" A deep sigh escaped Helga, practically near a swoon.

Arnold had just put a hand to the side of her face. He looked into her eyes. "Let me go, Helga. Please?" He blushed a lot but didn't back down.

His touch did her in entirely. Helga released him and took a step away before turning and leaning back against the far wall, her breaths shallow. "I hate you…I hate you so much…" she said to herself while she blushed and smiled and struggled not to swoon for real. "You are the absolute bane of my existence." She shook her head.

Arnold sighed softly and adjusted his collar. He approached her and then held out a hand. "Helga, if we're all done with all of that now, could we just have a simple talk together? Threatening me like that was interesting in its own way, but talking usually takes less time and I think it could work out a lot better for us."

Helga let out a final deep breath and nodded, taking his hand and pulling herself up and away from the wall. "Oh, fine, we'll do it your way, Mr. Straight and Narrow." She headed back out to the sidewalk and Arnold followed her. They continued walking again. "So is there any chance I get an answer to my question from you if I agree to just 'talk'? Please?" she asked with a little half grin, mimicking his cooing, pleading tone from before on the 'please'.

Arnold grinned a little himself at her request and considered for a moment. Then he let out a sigh. He looked forward as he spoke, giving her the best answer he could for right now. "Gerald's very used to me getting crushes, so whenever I get close to a girl now and start acting funny, he starts to assume it's a crush pretty quickly. That's probably part of why he said I had a thing for you. Another reason I guess could be that he didn't want to make you mad by joking about you because he thinks you'll beat him up. And maybe also he felt kind of bad about how upset you got last night when Sid and Stinky were making fun of you and so he didn't want to make you sad by making fun of you too. And about why I blushed so much when he said I had a thing for you, well…let's face it, Helga, I've been blushing around you a lot ever since our first kiss, not to mention I just get very embarrassed very easily." He glanced at her. "Is that an okay answer to your question, Helga?"

Helga looked back at him with interest, considering. "I guess it's fair. So then you definitely don't have a thing for me?"

Arnold went back to looking forward. "Helga…you know that's complicated…because of the Cecile thing…"

"Arnold," she spoke sincerely in that soft normal tone of hers again, arms behind her back, leaning in just a little closer to him, "I really just need an answer so that I know where we stand."

"Well…you can't have one," Arnold asserted simply with a blush but a determined look nonetheless, facing forward now.

Helga blinked. She frowned and raised part of her brow. "Arnold, I'm serious."

"I'm serious too, Helga." He looked at her. "Maybe you're ready to talk about all your feelings, but maybe I'm not ready to talk about all of mine."

"So you do have feelings for me?" she pushed with interest.

"Helga," Arnold was starting to get a little more than annoyed now, a fact which his frown made apparent as well as the slight attitude creeping into his tone, "Are you sure the problem isn't that you want me to have feelings for you so badly that you're trying as hard as you can to find some in me or to push me into finding some in myself? Maybe this isn't about me not being able to handle us being friends; maybe this is just about you not being able to handle just being friends."

Helga blinked and scowled at the insinuation. "O-Oh, yeah? Please! I can be friends with you and I can maintain my dignity while I'm doing it—not like some people who get desperately hung up on a certain red haired country girl, even after she makes it very clear that she just wants to be friends, and then spend months desperately falling all over themselves to get her to 'like like' them."

Arnold rolled his eyes, frowning more. "Oh, and I'm sure you never did anything silly to try and get me to 'like like' you, Cecile."

Helga blinked, looking at him with wide eyes for a moment. Then she scowled all the more. "Well, I'll tell you one thing, if I did happen to have done anything silly to get you to 'like like' me, I'm starting to regret having done it now, busboy!"

Arnold sighed and shook his head, scowling more deeply. "You know, Helga, you'd think if you really had feelings for me that you'd try to make sure I like you more, not pick fights with me to get me angry with you."

"Hey," Helga shrugged, "I happen to have some self respect. I stand up for myself, Football Head, I don't fall all over myself trying to impress people by being something I'm not and always kissing up to them. And if you want some advice for a change, I'll tell you this much—that was the biggest mistake you've made with any girl you've liked, Arnold. You were always trying to kiss up to them and agree with them and be whatever you thought they wanted instead of telling the truth and just being who you really are. At least I love you for who you are and I'm smart enough to expect you to do the same for me, and there's no shame in that!" And with this final exclamation she turned up her nose and crossed her arms over her chest, pulling ahead of them (they had hit Vine Street by now anyway). "Goodbye, Arnold, and have a great afternoon—don't worry, I won't be trying to walk you home again anytime soon." She stalked away.

Arnold just looked after her with such a scowl of frustration. "Well…I…you…maybe I don't need you to walk me home anyway!" And with that sort of lame comeback, Arnold stomped up his stoop and went into his house, slamming the door behind himself.

Inside now, he just took a deep breath, resting against the back of his front door, eyes closed. "Women…" he mumbled to himself. Then he blushed a little at the reminder that in his mind Helga G. Pataki indeed couldn't help but be a woman, not a girl, and he blushed further as he realized he'd made that 'women' comment in relation to her at least once in his life even before this whole confession fiasco. He shied away from thinking about what that fact might mean about his 'feelings' for her.

"Hey, Shortman, what's—" His grandfather's voice had started to meet his ears coming down the hall, but then the old man paused in speaking.

Arnold opened his eyes, clearly looking not too happy and a little exhausted. He looked up at his grandfather.

Phil just eyed him with concern and interest. Then he crossed his arms over his chest. "What is it this time Arnold—school problems, a wacky boyhood shenanigan with you friends gone awry, or girl trouble?"

Arnold let out a little sigh and glanced to the side and blushed. "Maybe the last one…" he mumbled stubbornly.

Phil tried not to smile too much. "Is it your little friend with the pink bow and the one eyebrow who always tries to hang around with you?"

Arnold just blushed more and finally moved away from the door. "Grandpa, it's too complicated. It's really too complicated. I don't even understand it and I'm part of it—that's how complicated it's gotten." He sighed, heading down the hall.

Phil followed after him. "Things not go to well at school today for you two? I thought you said you'd come to some sort of truce over the weekend during your little surprise dinner."

Arnold nodded. "We did, and things were actually really nice today." He smiled to himself at the memories. "But then she asked to walk home with me, and we were talking and…somehow we got into a really big fight, and then she just stormed off." His face took on a touch of sadness. "Usually I can figure out who's right in a fight or at least how each person is right and how each person is wrong. But I'm not sure with the fight Helga and I had—I'm not even really sure exactly what we fought about…" he realized, raising an eyebrow in thought. "I think it might have been a few things at once. Helga tends to hide deeper things she wants to talk about underneath smaller things that she actually ends up saying." He paused at the end of the hallway, looking back to his grandfather.

Phil nodded, looking down at his grandson. "Yeah, women have a lot of subtext, Arnold. But…" He smiled and put a hand on his grandson's shoulder, "If they like you enough, they'll usually be patient enough to wait until you figure things out, and maybe patient enough to explain things to you better too. And you told me yesterday that she finally told you she like likes you, right, Shortman?" He grinned a little.

Arnold blushed and shrugged. "Um, something like that. I know she has feelings for me. How I found out is kind of a whole other story…"

Phil laughed a little. "Well, either way, she cares about you, and you always care about everyone, Shortman—things'll work out. Just have patience and go with your instincts—the good ones." He winked.

Arnold actually smiled a little. "Okay. Thanks, Grandpa."

Phil smiled more. "Oh and there's just one more thing—"

Arnold smiled more, having a feeling he knew what it was. "Yes, Grandpa?"

Phil looked down at him sincerely and seriously. "Never let a good girl go without a good fight."

Arnold looked at him curiously, smiling more.

Phil smiled down warmly at him. "Now come on, Shortman, let's you and me get some cookies and milk and go sit in the den, and I'll entertain you with a colorful story from my own romantic past, and then if you feel ready you can start to tell me the details of the story about how your pink-bowed friend finally told you she thinks you're a stud."

Arnold blushed a lot more but smiled and nodded nonetheless. "Okay, Grandpa."

They started to head toward the kitchen.

"And," Phil added, "Today your Grandma made some delicious…Ooo…" his stomach grumbled horribly, "Raspberry Cobbler." Phil took his hand from his grandson's shoulder and looked down at him very seriously. "Shortman, you get a head start on those cookies without me, I'll be in the bathroom! Never eat raspberries!" And then the old man dashed off.

Arnold just looked after him with a familiar grin and shook his head. Then he headed into the kitchen and proceeded to set up a tray with cookies and milk for himself and his grandfather to take into the den for one of their talks. "I don't know. Maybe our fight wasn't that bad. Maybe Helga and I just need some time before we'll get used to being close," he mumbled to himself softly. Then, as Arnold slowly prepared everything in the quiet of his kitchen, he started to think about his and Helga's fight calmly and carefully, and he started thinking about his own feelings calmly and carefully as well.

He discovered a lot of interesting things this way. And talking with Phil a little bit later didn't hurt either.

Arnold ended up talking with his grandfather for quite a while downstairs, and he even did his homework in the den too. Then pretty soon it had been time to set the table and eat dinner, another event also occurring on the first story of the boarding house. In short, Arnold didn't end up going up to his room until the evening hours had progressed quite a bit.

When he opened his door, he was surprised to find Helga there, reclining on his bed and looking up at his skylight ceiling, her arms behind her head and her legs crossed casually.

He stood there wide-eyed for a moment. "Helga?"

She didn't look over at him, but let out a sigh clearly acknowledging his presence, and replied, "Hey, Arnold. So…I have this problem, and I need some advice."

Arnold closed the door behind him and walked a little closer to her, still observing her with interest.

Helga went on calmly as ever, still just gazing up at the sky. "So…there's this guy I'm a little nuts about—for the sake of the story let's call him 'Alfred.' Now, Alfred and me, we've been through some wacky times together over the years. And I fell for him hard. But I could never tell him how I felt because…well, a lot of reasons, but that's another story. Anyway, I told him how I felt finally, and he freaked out a little—expected, I guess, especially considering the kiss I gave him to go along with it. At first, we really didn't know what to do about it…then we started really frustrating the heck out of each other because all he wanted to do was talk about it and all I wanted to do was not talk about it. I guess in hindsight that was a little selfish of me—of course he was going to have questions. Mostly I just didn't want to hear him say 'I don't love you back'…because that would break my heart, even if he was just being honest with me."

Helga continued looking up. Arnold had finally moved across the room all the way and now sat on the edge of his bed, still watching her carefully. And he did not fail to notice the subtle look of both sadness and acceptance that came across her features for a moment now.

"Anyway…" Helga went on after a sigh, resuming her usual demeanor, "So we recently ended up in another crazy shenanigan together again, and everything started to come out, secrets got revealed, a ton of forced bonding took place. On the bright side, we started to understand each other better from it all. In the end, he agreed to let me talk to him if I needed it and not to judge me, and I agreed to stop acting like I really did hate him. We even decided to be very close friends—intimate friends, in a way. How could we help it? He was fascinated by me and I…for better or worse, I'll love him until the day I die."

Arnold was completely absorbed in her words, and he blushed so deeply now, though he still maintained his attentive and concerned gaze.

Helga swallowed, going on once more. "S-So we tried being very close friends for a day, and it was sort of fun—complicated but fun. But then we had a fight…one like we never had before because we'd never been so close before. I wanted to know if he had feelings for me because it's important to me to know, but maybe also because I still want him to love me back, just like he said. I yelled at him, threatened to punch him, threatened to kiss him, told him he was the most annoying part of my life all to get an answer. He flirted with me to get out of it, which wasn't very nice…but I guess he didn't know what else to do. Then he told me he wasn't ready to talk about his feelings. I insulted him about some of his past relationships. Then he told me he didn't understand why I still yelled at him and bugged him instead of actually trying to get him to like me since I wanted him to like me so bad. Then I made a speech—a quite good one, I might add—but I stormed off before he could reply."

Helga was quiet now for several moments, still just looking up at the skylight ceiling overhead. Arnold considered prompting her for more. He had already moved a bit closer to her on the bed at this point.

But then Helga spoke up again all on her own to finish her brief story. "So, anyway, my advice question is simple, Arnold—how do I apologize to 'Alfred' for the things I said that were wrong while still making sure he sees that some of the things that he said were also wrong? And how do I also let him know that maybe some of the things he said were right and some of what I said was right too? And…on an unrelated but still important note, how do I not get him to think I'm the biggest weirdo on the planet for breaking into his bedroom after dark on a school night?" Now Helga did glance at Arnold just slightly, a little smile threatening to pull at the corners of her mouth.

Arnold's mouth was up on one side in the beginning of a smile too. Then he swallowed and sighed, realizing it was his turn to speak. "Well…" he started sincerely, "first, if you're attracted to him then he's probably pretty smart since you're really smart, so I think he might already know that neither one of you was entirely right or wrong. He's probably even been thinking of a way to apologize to you too. So I think that the best thing would be for you two to talk together and try to understand each other's situations. After all, you only just started trying to have a close friendship—just because it's a little harder to make it work than you thought it would be doesn't mean you should give up on it. Besides, I thought you two agreed that you could still fight sometimes because it was kind of fun in a way." He laughed a little and then moved just a bit closer to her and gently let his hand rest on hers. He smiled more, his gaze warm as he watched her smile and blush a little. "And, as for the other thing about sneaking into his room…I'm sure he'll be so happy to see you that it won't bother him at all."

Helga smiled a little more. "Ah, I see. And excellent point at how good we are at fighting." She sighed. "Anyway, let's just hope you're right about all of that. I'd hate to lose him in my life. Even if he can't love me, he's…more important to me than I can say. I'd be lost without him."

Arnold glanced down, blushing a little. "I'm sure he feels the same way about you too sometimes, Helga."

Helga sat up a little more to come beside him. She squeezed his hand, that gentle tone returning to her voice. "I'm sorry I put you on the spot like that and tried to coerce your feelings from you, Arnold. I didn't mean to get carried away. And I'm sorry I keep bringing up how you tanked with Lila." A touch of sheepishness came to her smile. "Honestly, when I do that it's much less about hurting you and much more about me enjoying the fact that you're not 'seeing anybody' right now, including her."

Arnold just laughed a little. "It's okay, Helga. I think I understand. And I'm sorry I got a little stubborn about things…and that I flirted with you like that to get out of telling you the truth." He blushed. "It's just going to take me a little while, I think, to get used to opening up to you completely, but I want to. I like being close to you. It's nice." Then he added, looking down, "And I'm really sorry I tried to make you feel like you needed to focus on trying to impress me since you like me and want me to feel the same way about you. You were absolutely right," he looked into her eyes, "that's always what I've done when I've wanted girls to like me, and it's always backfired. And it shows a lot more character and a lot better judgment to just be yourself with someone you care about, even if it means disagreeing with them or having to tell them things they don't want to hear."

Helga smiled very happily. Then… "Aw, come here, you big lug!" She laughed and pounced him down to the bed, wrapping him up in a very big (and nearly bone-crushing) hug.

Arnold blinked, his breaths very shallow. "H-Helga…!" he coughed out, trying to get used to this feeling.

Helga, eyes closed, smiled joyfully and just sighed. "Shh, just give me a few more seconds—you have no idea how good this feels. Besides, you always give me random hugs. I'm just returning the favor, good buddy."

Despite Arnold's continued difficulties with breathing, he managed a small laugh and then just rolled his eyes and sighed and let her continue. "Whatever you say, Helga…"

She lingered for a few more moments, then gave him one final big squeeze before letting him go and sitting up, positively beaming. "Well, that should keep me over the moon and out of any bad moods for at least one or two days." She chuckled to herself.

"Can I get that in writing?" Arnold asked with just a touch of sarcasm, sitting up and trying not to blush and smile too much.

Helga grinned and then rolled her eyes. "Oh shut up, you annoying 'bane of my existence.'" She nudged him a little.

Arnold just laughed. Then he rubbed the back of his neck. "You know, you, um…give good hugs, Helga. From one hugger to another…" he added suddenly, without thinking.

Helga blinked and looked at him with wide-eyed interest for a moment.

Arnold just glanced over at her shyly.

Then they both swallowed and scooched a little bit away from each other, rubbing the back of their necks and clearing their throats.

"Um…thanks, Arnold," Helga managed awkwardly.

"You're welcome," Arnold managed awkwardly in return.

They both let out breaths and swallowed and then looked back at each other, relaxing a little once again.

Helga spoke up, her tone sounding much more casual now. "Football Head, just for the record, if you don't want to spill your guts to me about every little detail about how you feel about me now, it's okay. You're still getting used to our new relationship. Besides, loudly screaming about every passionate thing you've ever felt is much more my style. But you're more subtle and reserved, and I'm going to respect that. I won't say it won't frustrate me a lot to respect it sometimes, but I'll do my best." She gave him an accepting smile and shrugged.

Arnold was quiet for a moment. "Thanks, Helga. But…" he moved closer to her again, "I think I'd like to try and tell you the truth now that I've had some time to think about it."

Helga's eyes went a bit wide and she started to shake her head. "Arnold, you really don't have to—"

"I want to, Helga," he assured her. Then he let out a breath and started. "I told you the truth earlier when I said I wasn't 'seeing' anybody. I don't 'like like' any girl right now…even you. But…out of all the girls I know, Helga, I like you best of all. And maybe I'm a little more than flattered that you love me. It's actually starting to grow on me a lot. And maybe, when you threaten to kiss me…I don't mind too much…" He swallowed and quickly added, "But I'm not sure how much of that is just from knowing how you feel about me, and how much it might be from…anything else." He looked down very shyly. "I can't say that I love you, but I do care a lot about you. And I'll do anything I can to make this friendship work for both of us." He looked up at her hesitantly but hopefully.

Helga smiled softly in appreciation at his 'confession.' She considered for a moment and then leaned a little closer to him. "You'll do anything? Because…I do have a suggestion, but you might not like it."

Arnold blushed a little bit but nodded. "Sure, Helga. Anything. What did you have in mind?" he asked with an undeniable edge of interest and curiosity.

Helga let out a small sigh and shrugged. "I think we should see a little bit less of each other."

Arnold blinked and frowned. "But I thought you still wanted to try and be friends, and—"

Helga held up a hand, cutting him off. "I do, I do. But come one, we can't go from only being alone on the rare occasion we end up on an accidental 'date' to suddenly talking in the halls at school and eating lunch together every day and sharing our deepest, darkest secrets—it's too much and too fast, Arnold. So I say we just tone it down a bit. Maintain our usual distance but talk to each other when necessary. We can still have some private time here and there, like this weekend when we go to dinner. But otherwise let's just give each other some space, and later if we happen to find ourselves needing more time together, we'll work it in gradually. Besides, spending too much time with you takes a lot out of me." She sighed and reclined back a little. "I told you, I get very loopy around you and it's a full time job keeping it in control…and, you know, keeping myself from getting my hopes up about…you and me." She mumbled the last few words before clearing her throat and continuing casually again. "Some more time alone would give me a chance to clear my head and think about things. But whenever I need to talk to someone, it'll be nice to know that you're around for me when I'm ready." She smiled at him. Then she held out her hand. "Do we have a deal, Football head?"

Arnold considered. Honestly, he had to admit she made a lot of sense. And he knew some time to think might even be helpful for himself as well—he had actually considered earlier that afternoon the possible benefits of some more time alone to get used to things. Arnold smiled and nodded to her. "Okay, Helga. I think that makes a lot of sense." He took her hand and shook it. "It's a deal."

"Great." Helga stood up from the bed and released his hand, crossing her arms over her chest. "It's been a pleasure doing business with you, Football Head." She sighed and glanced at his bedside clock. "Well, it's getting a little late, I should probably get going—don't want to bother you any more than I've had to already today."

Arnold frowned a little, unable to help it. "You're not bothering me. You could stay for a little while if you want to."

Helga's grin picked up on one side and she just smiled at him warmly. "Arnold, Arnold, Arnold, why do you constantly tempt fate? I keep telling you not to let yourself end up with me in private spaces, and now you've got me alone in your room at night, nobody knows I'm here, and you want me to stay?" She grinned all the more.

Arnold just shrugged, smiling warmly a little. "Just trying to be polite. Could I at least walk you downstairs?" He stood up.

Helga shook her head at the offer. "No, thanks, I'll just take the same way out as I took in." She climbed onto the bed again. "Fire escape. You really have to start locking that thing at night by the way, Arnold—any psychopath could get in here, and I'm the only psychopath I know who cares about you enough not to kidnap and ransom your sorry butt for a few grand." She sighed and shook her head, putting a hand on his shoulder. "You're too trusting, my beloved Arnold, about other people and especially me."

Arnold could have commented on the 'too trusting' observation easily enough—she was always making jokes about his innocence and optimism and naiveté. Instead, however, he focused on a very different part of her reply, which caused him to blush a lot and look down. "B…" he almost couldn't say the word, it sounded so awkward on his tongue (though it had sounded so poetic on hers). "Beloved?" finally managed to come out of him, and he glanced up just a little.

Helga blinked. Then she took her hand from his shoulder and shrugged and glanced to the side, her cheeks pinkening. "S-Sorry, um…starting to get very, very comfortable around you now, a lot of things are slipping out, heh. I'll try to control myself, Football Head." Then she cleared her throat and added more seriously, "But, Arnold, speaking of my accidental emotional moments around you, you really do know that I'm kidding when I act like there really is a chance I'm going to hit you or kiss you randomly every time we're together, right? You can trust me, Football Head. You have my word." She looked into his eyes.

Arnold looked at her with interest at this sudden (and clearly important to her) assurance. Then he nodded. "I know. I do trust you, Helga." He was still just trying not to smile too much. 'Beloved.' He sort of liked how the word sounded. It was very cute of her to think up.

Helga smiled happily at his reply and then laughed to herself, getting over to the wall ladder and starting her ascent to the skylight. "Yes sir, I'll never spontaneously kiss you like that again…probably," she loudly mumbled the last word as she made her way out onto the top of the fire escape.

Arnold laughed a little too. Then a thought occurred to him and he blinked. "Helga, wait!" He dashed off to his closet.

Helga popped her head back in through the skylight. "Yeah, what is it, Football Head?"

She watched Arnold rummage around in his closet for a moment and then emerge with something small and red in his hands. He went back over to the bed, climbed over it and up the wall ladder and held out the something to her.

He was blushing slightly. "Here, um…it's…well, it's your shoe from last Valentine's Day. I thought you should have it or that you might want it or something. I-I would have returned it to you sooner but I didn't know about, you know, 'Cecile.'"

Helga took the shoe but looked at him curiously. "Okay, but why are you giving this to me now?"

Arnold sighed, looking up at her. "Because it's yours and because I don't need it anymore as a clue to who Cecile was since I know now." He smiled a little.

Helga just looked back at him in a touch of wonder. "I can't believe you saved this all this time. I can't believe you even took it home with you in the first place." She looked down at the shoe in thought."

Arnold swallowed, blushing a bit and smiling sheepishly. "I guess that was kind of weird of me to do, huh?"

A little grin picked up on the side of Helga's mouth. "Oh it's not the weirdest romantic thing I've ever heard of someone doing." She laughed a little, shaking her head to herself. "Thank you, Football Head. It was nice of you. Maybe I'll wear those shoes to our little dinner next weekend."

Arnold smiled a little more, doing his best not to laugh. "I still can't believe how much you went through just to go out with me last Valentine's Day—the French and the cow brains and the outfit…and you even wore high-heeled shoes." He gave her just a touch of a playful smirk. "Being in love must be a…very intense thing," he managed, only blushing slightly.

Helga sighed and blushed herself. "It, um…makes you try a lot of things you never thought you'd try. But as long as you can stay true to yourself through everything, it's sort of a fun adventure." She smirked a little too now, trying to lighten the mood. "But you're only getting heels out of me at formal events. It is impossible to walk in those things, Football Head, let alone storm around like I like to do most of the time."

Arnold laughed warmly a little. "I can imagine. Especially since the first thing you did when you showed up at the restaurant Valentine's Day night was trip. Besides, you just wouldn't be you if you didn't storm around a lot."

Helga laughed a little too and gave him a nudge in the shoulder. "Oh, shut up and quit flirting, Arnold. And let me go already so that I can get home and have plenty of time to revel in my affections for you before I head off to bed." She rolled her eyes and then started to climb down the fire escape, shoe in hand.

Still smiling, Arnold waved to her as he watched her descent. "Good night, Helga. Thanks for visiting."

"Good night, Arnold. And thanks for not calling the police on me for breaking into your house," she added with and wink. Then she was down in the alley and out on the sidewalk, and then Helga went on her way.

Arnold lingered at watching her leave probably a little longer than he needed to…and definitely with a bigger smile and a warmer gaze than he needed to have.

Soon enough, though, he finally did bring his head inside of the house, close the window and come back down to his bed. He used his remote to put on a little jazz music and then lied back and thought about Helga for a while.

He could step around the truth about the details of his feelings a little when talking to Helga, maybe, but not when left alone with himself. He was getting very, very comfortable with accepting the romantic dimension of their relationship now, and very quickly. He just wished, however selfish doing so felt to him, that the intensity of her 'love' didn't complicate things so much. If she had just come to him with a crush, he would have fallen for her by now, and he knew it. But 'love' sort of scared him a little. And he didn't want to hurt her if things didn't work out.

He at least had one plan though. 'She's always had to go through so much to be close to me and to keep me from knowing her secret and to keep other people from knowing. From now on, I'm going to try and make our dates as happy and simple as possible. Things might still go a bit wrong sometimes, but I'm going to make sure she just has fun when that happens—no stress or worry. She deserves that, and it's the least I could do.' And at the back of his mind Arnold also silently admitted to himself that he should probably stop 'accidentally on purpose' getting into situations where Helga was close to kissing him and not exactly trying to stop those situations once they arose. Arnold had meant everything he had said to Helga over the weekend—he liked his first kiss with her and wouldn't have traded it for another one with anybody else. But he wasn't sure yet whether he wouldn't necessarily have minded a potential second kiss just because he happened to like kissing and found her attractive or just because he happened to like her a little more than he already realized.

Still relaxing on his bed, Arnold sighed to himself and laughed a little sometimes as memories from throughout his life so far now occurred to him of laughing with Helga and nearly getting in trouble with Helga and being completely surprised by Helga. Oddly enough, he found himself specifically drawn back to his memory about the second time they had ever eaten at Chez Paris—specifically the end of their 'dinner for four' fiasco when he and Helga had been cleaning dishes together after Gerald and Phoebe had gone home. They'd had that little water fight at the sink together when, for all he had known at the time, she disliked him so much that she really might have hit him for getting her wet. On the bright side, their time alone together in that kitchen had finally allowed Arnold to figure out Helga's motivations for taking him of all people out to dinner—she had wanted to impress him. Why? He hadn't been sure exactly. But he did know that Helga always seemed to want to prove herself to people. And from the time Lila had first moved here Helga had seemed a little jealous of her. And he had been complimenting Lila quite a lot that day on being sophisticated, he had realized. So all of those things put together had led him to conclude that Helga had just wanted some positive attention and recognition from him…and he really had been impressed with her not only for going back to the restaurant and admitting everything about the cockroaches but maybe also for coming up with a plan as creative as the cockroaches in the first place.

He had liked her in a special way that night from the moment he had first squirted her with the water and then winked at her over the sink and she had looked startled and then glanced away with a stubborn and shy scowl. He rarely got a chance to like her in that special way. It was hard for him to find, but whenever he did…it was a good thing and worth waiting for. It satisfied a certain craving he couldn't put his finger on. It reminded him of liking 'Cecile' actually. And the 'Cecile' memory was such a wonderful one too in its own way.

With a full stomach and happy thoughts such as these that might result in interesting conclusions at the back of his mind given a full night to sleep and dream, Arnold fell into an early and peaceful rest for the evening.

Helga slept quite nicely herself. She may not have felt 'loved' in a romantic sense, but she felt genuinely and completely cared for by Arnold, which was more than enough to satiate the concerns of her often emotionally over-wrought heart. She could work with this agreement between herself and Arnold; she could work with it a lot.

Right now, Helga was lying under the covers in the darkness gazing at the full moon just outside of her window, thinking to herself a little. 'Arnold really likes me. And he likes that I love him…. Well, food for thought I guess.' Honestly, she had no idea what process his loopy little football headed brain was going through at the moment regarding herself, but she knew his ideas about their relationship were sincere and not half baked—the product of a mix of as much care and consideration as he could muster. 'I don't know, maybe us just being friends like this really is a recipe for disaster. But I have a good feeling about this in my gut—I think we'll be okay.' Helga sighed, wrapping the blankets around herself more fully and closing her eyes. 'You've officially survived transitioning into 'Arnold knowing', Helga. Well done, well done. And Harold was a pretty good friend about the whole thing—I guess Patty has some decent taste in men too.'

Quite satisfied with herself and her situation, Helga fell asleep, trying not to smile too much and with a warm, sweet, solid feeling in the pit of her heart.

Who knew what course their next dinner together might take?

RING RING

"Hello, this is the Berman residence, Harold speaking, how may I help you?" Harold answered the phone with this phrase, his pronunciation full of enough stops and starts to suggest that it was a sentence more drilled into his memory by rote than his natural way of answering a phone at his house.

Patty smiled a little on her end of the line. His greeting and how he said it were kind of cute. "Hi, Harold. It's Patty."

Harold's tone brightened up a bit. "Oh, hi, Patty. What's up?"

Patty leaned back against a wall in her house. "You know how you and me and Rhonda are going out this weekend? Well, I need you to invite a 'friend' to go with us."

Harold was silent on the end of the line at first, clearly a little confused. "Um…a friend? Like…Torvald?" he fished uncertainly.

Patty sighed a little but shook her head and continued patiently with a smile. "No, someone else. Someone who's Rhonda's age."

"Peapod Kid?"

Patty raised an eyebrow. 'Where do they even get these nicknames for each other?' "No. Someone a bit more unfashionable."

"Oh, Stinky?"

Patty tried not to laugh. "No. Someone who Rhonda doesn't spend a lot of time around."

"Um…Eugene? Rhonda says he's always spilling stuff on her."

Patty could have told him the name, but she was kind of enjoying this guessing game they were somehow playing to be honest.

"No. It's the person Rhonda hates the most."

"Oh, well why didn't you just say to invite Curly?" Harold asked with a laugh. Then he sounded puzzled and very unsure. "Um, Patty, now, look, it was really, really dangerous inviting Arnold and Helga secretly to dinner last weekend—we barely got out of the restaurant without getting arrested. Curly and Rhonda could be even worse. He's insane, Patty. And not like 'Helga' insane. And Rhonda—Patty have you ever seen Rhonda when she gets upset and especially around Curly? We won't survive!"

Patty did her best not to laugh. She just spoke in that calm, clear tone she always used. "Don't worry about it, Harold. It'll be okay. Maybe it's interfering a little, but I have a good feeling about this. Our last dinner helped bring Arnold and Helga closer together…and us too—maybe another group thing can help two more people. Please? I wouldn't ask you, but I can't invite him myself. He doesn't even know me, I don't think he'd come."

"Believe me," Harold replied back in a flat tone, "If you tell him it's about having a blind date with Rhonda, he'd come even if Wheezin' Ed invited him."

Patty laughed a little. "Harold, please?"

Harold sighed. "Oh all right, Patty. But I'm bringing a helmet and some of my mom's tranquilizers just in case."

Patty laughed again and shook her head. "Thanks, Harold. Goodnight."

"Um…Patty?"

Patty paused in being about to hang up the phone and brought the receiver back up to her ear. "Yes, Harold?"

Harold let out a deep sigh. "Um…my Mom and Dad sort of really, really, really want me to have you over for dinner one night. So, um, i-if you wanted to, you could come over one night. But you can just say no if you want to. It might be kind of embarrassing."

Patty was quiet for a moment. Then she took a breath. "Well, um…that could be all right, Harold. I wouldn't mind coming over one night."

Harold sighed deeply on the other end of the line. "It could be really, really, really embarrassing, Patty," he had to warn her just one more time.

Patty swallowed, twirling the phone cord around her fingers. "No more embarrassing probably than if you came over here one night for dinner, Harold." She paused. "Would you want to do that? My parents have been asking me about it too."

Harold was silent for a moment. Then something in his tone relaxed considerably. "How about we both go to each other's houses for dinner, and we both agree that whatever happens there stays there and that we don't have to bring up any embarrassing junk ever again?"

Patty smiled and laughed a little. "It's a deal, Harold. Maybe I can come over to your house the weekend after this one and you can come over mine the weekend after that?"

"Okay, that could work, Patty, " Harold agreed, sounding much more comfortable. "Um…did your parents also want to try having dinner with me and with my parents, because my parents have been wanting to try that with you and your parents."

Patty looked a touch uneasy. "Yeah, my parents have asked me about that."

There was a moment of silence.

"We're not actually going to let that ever happen, right, Harold?" Patty asked in concern.

Harold let out a sigh of relief. "Oh, no way, and I'm glad we're on the same page about that."

They shared a laugh.

Patty smiled warmly. "Goodnight, Harold."

"Goodnight, Patty," replied Harold warmly.

Then their conversation ended.

Patty went upstairs after hanging up the phone, and now she was lying on her bed. She looked up at the ceiling. 'Maybe Harold and I having dinner with our families won't be so bad. But maybe it really isn't the safest thing to do inviting Rhonda and Curly out with us secretly next weekend, but at least it'll be an interesting night. I think disasters really are more fun than perfect dates anyway.' She shook her head to herself and smiled.

"Patty, dear, it's time for dinner!" her mother's voice suddenly called to her from downstairs.

Patty sat up and called downstairs. "Coming, Mom." She hopped off of her bed and headed down to her dining room, ready for a nice, quiet meal with her family (and to make the brief announcement about Harold coming over in a few weeks) before coming back up here and to think more about her next dinner and Harold and all of the other things currently on her mind after her unusual if loveable dinner experience over the weekend.

Besides, it was never a good idea to think about matters of the heart on an empty stomach anyway.

A/N:

I know, I know, I apologize for all of the food puns at the end, I just couldn't help myself XD Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this installment. Stay tuned for the epilogue, I promise fun things! I should have it posted and LTBH updated and hopefully at least one more story updated if not completed before Easter. Thank you all for your patience!

Happy Reading!

~Azure129 aka Jenna