Jeez, what is my deal with long chapters lately? haha!
A LOT going on here, so make sure you pay attention to the italics- there are a lot of flashbacks happening simultaneously with dialogue.
ANYWAY,
Read, Review, and Follow! lots more to come!
xox
Polkahotness
I paced around his room.
"This is a NIGHTMARE. First Sid, now THIS? What are we supposed to do? CRIMINY!"
"Helga. Calm down."
"Calm down?! CALM DOWN?! How can I CALM DOWN when the WHOLE SCHOOL is going to know something I'M NOT READY to tell!"
"No one will find out if you don't want them to, Helga."
"Are you dumb?" I turned to face him and his eyes widened slightly as I yelled in his face. "Are you STUPID? Does your weird-shaped head not comprehend what I'm telling you, Arnold?!" I turned around and continued pacing. "Think Helga, old girl, just think..."
I heard Arnold chuckle slightly from where he was seated on his bed.
"And just what could possibly be funny?" I snapped and he shrugged.
"Just... how you're acting."
"What's that? Scared? Enraged? Panicked?!"
"No. Like the old Helga. The one before me, us."
I stood silent in front of him.
"How do you think we should modernize Romeo and Juliet, Rhonda?" Eugene asked and she rolled her eyes and moved her head to rest on the heel of her hand.
"I really don't care."
"Rhonda, I'm just ever so certain with an attitude like that, we won't get a very good score on our presentation."
"So what? I'm supposed to be the brains of this project or something?" Her beady little eyes moved to glance between Arnold and I. "If you ask ME, I think Arnold and Helga probably have a pretty good idea about the Romeo and Juliet thing. Right? The whole..." she twirled her hands around each other as if trying to churn out her thoughts, "secret lover thing."
I clenched my teeth and scowled in her direction.
"And just WHAT gives you THAT idiotic idea?"
"I am simply trying to do my part of the assignment, Helga. No need to pounce."
"Then what are you getting at, Princess?"
"Simply that you two have played these characters before so I assume you understand the secret lover thing. That's all."
"That's all my ass..." I muttered, feeling hot under Arnold's eyes watching me.
"Well," he started, clearly trying to change the direction of our current conversation, "why not start the modernization thing with phones? I'd say that can really update the story."
"That's a GREAT idea, Arnold!" Eugene sang, writing down his idea on a blank sheet of notebook paper.
"Great idea?" I repeated, "Any idiot could have thought of that one."
"Any idiot, huh?" Arnold asked and I smirked.
"You're that special kind of idiot, Arnoldo."
"So you're calling me special? Thanks, Helga."
I groaned.
This is going to be a lot harder than I thought...I thought to myself, Arnold is basically immune to my banter now... how am I supposed to get everyone to think we hate each other?
"I wouldn't say 'special' is a compliment. More of a... uh... you know. Insult."
Wow. That was all I got?
"Helga, I'm ever so certain there's no reason to start insulting Arnold." Lila chimed in and I shook my head at her, Arnold quickly coming to my rescue.
"It's alright, Lila." He smiled at her and I tightened my hands into fists under the desk. "I can handle a little from Helga."
"You can probably handle a lot."
"By now, I'm sure that's probably true." Rhonda mumbled and I shot her a look.
"So we have cell phones," Eugene tried to push on, though Rhonda and I were caught in a deadlock of looks. "What else?"
"We could use some different words, I'm sure." Lila said, her eyes watching Arnold as he watched me.
This made me furious.
"Can we change the plot at all?" Rhonda asked suddenly and I scrunched my eyebrows together.
"The plot. You just want to go and change the plot to Romeo and Juliet?"
"Well, add to it really."
"Go for it. What would you like to add, Princess?"
A sly grin painted her perfectly made up face.
"Sex."
"E-excuse me?" I stuttered out.
"A lot more sex. And drinking. I mean, c'mon! If we are going to update this dead story, might as well make it accurate to the current teenage condition. And that involves a lot of sex and booze."
"The old Helga is dead, Arnold. And you know that."
"Not entirely. You showed it today with Rhonda."
I walked over to sit next to him on his bed.
"Rhonda is different. You on the other hand... you don't react like you used to."
"Because I understand you now, Helga."
"But you CAN'T. Don't you see? The more you-you DON'T react to me, the more I falter and...and... and I just can't do this, Arnold. Not with Rhonda around. Or Lila."
"What's wrong with Lila?" He questioned and I twisted my body to face him directly.
"You're kidding, right? The girl loves you now."
"But I don't love her." his words were so careless; as if she was never a thought on his mind.
I internally jumped for joy.
"But you know that, Helga. So why is it all bothering you so much?"
"All I'm SAYING Lloyd, is that you are RIDICULOUS if you think we are going to make some kind of gross teen porn."
"That is not AT ALL what I said, Helga. How tasteless do you think I am?"
"Look guys," Eugene cut in nervously, probably in fear of getting attacked which at this moment in time was pretty possible. "The video only needs to be seven minutes long... We don't have to do the whole play..."
"THAT'S a relief." I sighed and leaned my head back, dropping the weight of my head so it pulled at the tense muscles in my neck. "As if I need to repeat all of my fourth grade woes with Hair Boy over here."
"You afraid of kissing me again or something?" he stated calmly and I shot my head up to glare at him.
"Gonna play that card, are we football-head?"
"Can we please just stick to the modernization? We only have a few minutes left in class and-"
"Can it, Eugene. We are having an important conversation over here."
"I'm quite certain that Eugene-"
"LILA." All I had to do was shout her name for her to zip her lips and I continued with Arnold. "You couldn't PAY ME to kiss you again, Bucko."
"Well I find THAT hard to believe." I heard Rhonda say, but I ignored her.
"This is just an assignment, Helga."
"An ASSIGNMENT I didn't want to get paired with YOU to do!"
He blinked a few times and I couldn't read what his eyes were trying to tell me.
"It BOTHERS me because I can't treat you like an insignificant nothing if behind the scenes we're this... we're-"
"Together? Think of it as... as flirting."
I rolled my eyes.
"Flirting. Really, Arnold?"
"You're the one who said before that that was all it was, right? So why can't it be like that now? The only difference is this time, the flirting leads to something besides me being eternally confused about what you want from me."
"I don't want ANYTHING from you, Arnold."
"That's a little harsh."
"Stop playing with me, Hair boy." I could tell I was shaking. This wasn't going well AT ALL. I couldn't keep being mean if he didn't retaliate.
"So cell phones... drinking?" Eugene choked out and Lila patted him on the shoulder.
"It's all okay, Eugene. I'm just ever so certain once they get it out of their systems, we will be able to finish the project."
"I hope so..." He mumbled.
I almost felt bad for the klutz. He didn't know what he was getting himself into.
Hell, I didn't either.
"Dare I ask what scene we want to do?" Eugene tried and Rhonda turned to look at him.
"How about the final scene? Helga, you did SUCH a good job with it last time... I can't imagine how well you would do now that you're older and more... experienced."
"Experienced in WHAT exactly?"
She shrugged.
"Leads to something as in like what? Sexual tension?"
He shrugged.
"I guess so."
I walked over to him and sat straddle on his lap, my face close to his as I combed my fingers through his hair.
"Why? My being mean get YOU all hot and bothered?"
"Sometimes."
I hated when he played the innocent, calm and collected boyfriend.
He was too good at it.
"Fine. Let's do the final scene. Hell- I'll do whatever damn scene you want just to PROVE TO YOU how completely ridiculous you're being."
"What is she being ridiculous about, Helga? All she's done is offer suggestions-"
"Look, Eugene. You're a good kid. And I'd hate for you to get caught in these crossfires between Rhonda and I. So I SUGGEST you stay OUT of it and let us duel it out, got it?"
The bell rang and I stood up as fast as I could, trying to run away from the nightmare that was playing out in front of me.
The only hold up was that my foot got caught on the desk and down I went.
And there was Arnold's hand.
Do I take it? Do I let him help me up? What would the old me do? Think, Helga, think!
I pushed his hand away and pushed myself up.
"I don't need your HELP, hair boy. I can get up just fine by myself."
"Just trying to help, Helga."
"Well STOP. Offer your help to someone else who actually wants it."
"Sure, Helga. I can do that."
"So you want me to ridicule you? To taunt you and make your life miserable? You... WANT that?"
"Maybe not quite as seriously...more...playfully."
"Playfully? And just how am I supposed to do that?"
He grabbed me by my hips and helped me to sit beside him again instead of on top of him.
"You'll figure it out. And I'll take it a bit more offensively next time, okay? You aren't the only one having a hard time with it."
I sighed and plopped back to lay on his bed.
"Doubt it."
"Really, Helga. I am." The bed creaked as he too lay down; his eyes focusing upwards out his window and to the clouds as they danced across the sky. "Just focus on me, okay?"
"What?"
"Don't tempt Rhonda. Don't mess with her." His tone was serious and I found my heart racing slightly at the sudden change in his demeanor. "She'll get you to blurt it out. That's what she's trying to do and you know it. Although... you COULD just tell people, Helga. You're the one who wants to keep it a secret."
I closed my eyes softly and thought back to when we first started dating.
"Why don't you want anybody to know, Helga? If this is all you have always wanted... why don't you want to tell people?"
I shrugged while I mindlessly played with the lines on his hand.
"Because... because I don't want to be made fun of again."
"Helga..."
"No." I dropped his hand from mine, "Don't 'Helga' me. You may be used to being picked on by me, but everyone LOVES YOU Arnold. Even LILA does now, which completely astounds me why you haven't chosen her over me but that's not the point. Everyone LOVES you. And me... well... everyone would be just fine without me around making everybody's lives miserable."
"You don't make everyone's lives miserable, Helga." Arnold tried, but I wasn't having it.
He was wrong.
"Nobody cares about me, Arnold. Not my parents. Not my teachers. Not my 'friends.' Nobody. I've been alone all my life, okay? And... and being mean makes it so they can't hurt me any more than I already am. Don't you see?"
He studied me for a moment, his eyes tracing my face to get every detail of my distressed look.
"I care about you, Helga."
"Arno-"
"I care about you. I notice you. I want you... I want you to be my girlfriend, Helga."
I stared at him, my mind, body and soul completely at a loss for words; at a loss for a reaction.
"Helga."
"Helga?"
"Hmm?" I hummed, blinking my eyes rapidly to wake up up from the memory.
"I would be right by your side. If they all started to tease you, I'd be right there with you. Why can't we just tell people?"
He was pleading, practically begging.
But I just couldn't.
"I just...I can't yet, Arnold. I'm not... I'm not ready yet."
"You've kept this secret so long... liking me and now being with me. Why?"
"Because," I let out a big breath. "Because if you were to reject me...dump me or whatever... it would break my heart. And everyone would see it. I'd be weak. I'd have nothing. I'd just... be Helga again."
"And what's so wrong with Helga?" He reached out to tilt my head back up to face him; I guessed it had been wilting with each word of my confession. "Because I see nothing wrong with Helga."
I felt hot tears well in my eyes and I turned away from him.
"We can keep this a secret. It's okay with me, but we have to tell people eventually. I don't want to keep you as a secret forever."
Slowly I turned my head back to face him and nodded my head slowly. "I know."
He leaned in and kissed me tenderly. "And Helga," my eyes looked directly into his, "I won't reject you. Okay?"
I smiled softly and nodded my head again.
"Okay, Arnold."
I walked into class to see my dweebs of group partners plus Arnold sitting in a pod of desks.
Pods, I thought. I haven't been in a pod since fifth grade. I rolled my eyes and swung my backpack off of my shoulder to toss it under one of the desks before sliding into it to sit beside Eugene. Directly in front of me, was Arnold.
"How's it going, groupies?" I greeted, and Rhonda's perfectly arched eyebrows raised slightly; her arms gently crossed.
"My, my. Somebody's in a significantly better mood today. What ever could have caused that?" her eyes glanced towards Arnold and then shot back to me.
"Just had a...change of heart." I smirked.
"How wonderful!" Eugene sing-songed with a loan clap. "So you're ready to work on our project?"
"Indeedy-do." I replied, copying Rhonda's crossed-arms and leaning back slightly in my desk; my feet just barely touching Arnold's ahead of mine.
"Know what else I've decided?" I continued, Lila smiling my way.
"What ever could that be, Helga?"
"That I am going to put up with you bozos and be on my best behavior so I can help you all get a good grade on this thing."
It was Arnold's turn to talk, and I took a breath to mentally prepare for what ever was about to begin.
Here we go...
"That's great to hear, Helga. Where would you like to start?"
I leaned in to my desk and rested on my forearms, my elbows just hanging off the edge. "Well football-head, I was thinking we make a final decision about what scene we are gonna do."
"And which one do you think we should do? Rhonda's idea?" Eugene perked and I shook my head.
"Nah... I was thinking more... the ever classic balcony scene." I wiggled my eyebrows in Arnold's direction and moved my foot to just barely stroke his under the desk. "How 'bout it, Romeo?"
Arnold's eyes widened slightly as our feet touched and I watched as he swallowed a gulp.
"Fine with me."
"Good. So about that texting thing-"
"You aren't HONESTLY suggesting you text out the whole balcony scene, are you?"
"No, PRINCESS, I was just going to say we should do two scenes for one... the lead up at the party, toss in a little texting blah blah blah, and then cut to the balcony scene. Do a two for one deal, that way you yutzes can be in the video too."
"That sounds logical to me." Lila said with a smile, nodding to Eugene who quickly agreed.
"That's a great idea! And think of all the fun costumes we can wear for that scene too!"
Rhonda's interest was suddenly peaked.
"I think I should be in charge of costuming, seeing as I clearly have the best fashion sense out of all of us."
"That's fine, Rhonda. I'm sure you'll do a great job with that."
I narrowed my eyes slightly in Arnold's direction.
"And what do YOU think about all this, Arnoldo?"
He shrugged, and I felt his foot underneath the table play with mine momentarily. "Sounds like a fun idea, I guess."
"You GUESS? Please. I'm sure you have loads of ideas over there cooking in that freaky head of yours. Let's hear 'em."
"Okay." He cleared his throat slightly and continued. "What if for the party they are at, it's at a house party instead of a formal one?"
"As if YOU know what a party is like." I rolled my eyes, and Arnold smiled.
"Actually, I've been to a few parties before."
"Middle school parties don't count, Hair Boy." I retorted.
"What makes you think I couldn't go to a high school party?"
I shrugged, my foot rubbing against Arnold's as we talked.
"Because you're ARNOLD. You'd stick out like a sore thumb."
"I think I probably already do that."
"Yeah, you're right. That head of yours sticks out plenty on it's own. So I'm curious... just how do you picture this 'house party?'"
He leaned in slightly to our pod, our eyes on him as he spoke.
"Probably pretty crowded. It could be a Halloween party or something so people were dressed up and didn't know who was who. Romeo and Juliet meet and instead of texting they can-"
"OOH!" Rhonda squealed, "They can facebook stalk each other. Oh THAT'S an idea."
"Right... go on." I said, egging Arnold to continue.
"So then there's a house party fight between him and Tybalt and his dad comes home and the party gets broken up."
"That sounds modern to me," Eugene added and looked to the rest of us. "What do you guys think?"
"I think that's alright I guess. But where do we do the balcony scene then?"
"At Juliet's window or something. That's not too hard to adjust."
"You don't think it needs more... umpf?"
Arnold thought for a moment. "No. Not everything needs umpf."
"Maybe for you it doesn't." I countered and his eyebrow raised.
"I have plenty of umpf in my life, Helga."
"Oh no...not again..." I heard Eugene mumble and Lila reached over to pat his back sympathetically.
"Sure Arnoldo, the football-headed weirdo has lots of umpf in his life, I'M SURE."
"Can we focus on the project, guys?" Eugene nagged and I frowned, my arms crossing again over my chest.
This is a piece of cake.
"So football-head and I are Romeo and Juliet, who do you dweebs wanna be?" I asked, looking around our pod of desks.
"I could be Tybalt-"
"Are you sure that's the best idea considering your luck with gravity?" I asked and Eugene wrinkled his nose.
"Maybe not, but who else-"
"Gosh, I guess I could be Tybalt."
"Lila. I'm not fighting you." Arnold said very bluntly and I laughed.
"Why? You afraid little miss perfect will kick your ass?"
"Helga!" Lila's voice was louder than usual and I smirked her direction before returning to look at Arnold.
"I'll just be Tybalt, Helga. It's alright. I'll be okay." Eugene finalized and I sighed, knowing already this was a disaster waiting to happen. "So Rhonda and Lila, who would you guys like to be?"
"Well I for one need to be someone with style and grace-"
"So you can man the camera, Lloyd." I chuckled and she glared my way.
"THIS FACE was MEANT for the camera, Helga. Maybe I should be Juliet instead of you."
"I think Helga will be a great Juliet..." Arnold paused, "Again."
I couldn't stop the blood from rushing to my cheeks and the smile that creeped up on my face.
"Can I get your attention, class?" Mrs. Otten called out from the front of the classroom and our eyes all darted in her direction as silence filled the room. "Thank you. So hopefully by now you all have a concept or two because the next three days will be spent in the computer lab writing up your scripts. Over the weekend, I want you guys to memorize your lines because when Monday comes, we will begin filming!" the bell rang, and everyone quickly grabbed their things to rush out the door for their 5 minutes of socializing before lunch which happened to be next. "See you all tomorrow!" Mrs. Otten called out as the room emptied, but our pod took their time.
"Do you think we'll be ready to start our scripts tomorrow, Eugene?" Lila asked and I casually watched as he shrugged his shoulders with a smile.
"I'm sure we will! With a positive attitude and solid teamwork, I'm sure we'll have one of the best videos in the class!"
I rolled my eyes.
"Sure, Eugene. You just keep telling yourself that." I told him as he and Lila walked out of the room chattering about god knows what kind of positive peppy crap it is they talk about.
Rhonda watched as Arnold and I collected our stuff into our backpacks.
"So when will you two give up the ridiculous charade?" She asked, and Arnold and I exchanged a look.
"What are you talking about, Rhonda?" Arnold questioned, a quizzical look plastered on his face.
"Don't play DUMB, Arnold. You're not very good at it." She turned to face me, "I KNOW your little secret. You can't fool Rhonda Wellington Lloyd. And once this little project is over, I'm sure the whole school will know too."
"Know WHAT, Princess? That you're a nosy gossip-spreading spoiled brat? Because I'm pretty sure everyone already knows that."
She shook her head and I felt my heart begin to race in my chest.
"Keep denying it now, Helga." her eyes glanced to Arnold. "I don't believe for one minute that you two hate each other. It's obvious you two are doing SOMETHING." She wiggled her eyebrows, "Perhaps hiding your secrets under the covers, are we?"
I let out a boisterous laugh and leaned forward to glare at Rhonda.
"Better than the secrets some of us hide in the Janitor's closet in the three hundred wing during period six."
A bright shade of red lit up her face, but her eyes never dropped from mine.
"I may not tattle on your weird little love affair, but it will get out. Mark my words, Pataki." she batted her eyelashes in Arnold's direction. "Sorry you have to be caught in the middle, Arnold. You really are a good guy."
He crossed his arms and shook his head slightly.
"I'll never understand what happened to you Rhonda to make you..." he swallowed and took a breath, his eyes trying to harden as he looked at her, "to make you such a bitch."
My eyes widened.
Arnold? Swearing?
Rhonda must have been as surprised as I was, because her jaw dropped at his words.
"Never thought I'd say this, but you sure got that right, football-head." And with that, I shot a grin to Rhonda, spun around to push my way passed Arnold as rudely as I could manage when all I wanted to do was grab him and plant one right on those beautiful lips of his that so boldly stood up to the Princess herself.
I followed closely behind Arnold as we made our way to the cafeteria, and trailed behind him as he quickly turned to leave the school for our free lunch. Since we were Juniors, we were allowed to ditch for lunch and get decent food elsewhere. Arnold and I made a deal that once a week we would leave together and get food at the diner across from Slausen's that almost nobody went to. It was nice because we didn't have to hold up any sort of reputations, and the food was pretty cheap so that was cool too.
I slid into the booth, it's red upholstery ripped from years of asses sitting on it and a few thick pieces of duck tape covered the hole to try and keep in the yellow foam that was trying to escape.
"So, Arnoldo, what was that cursing back there for? You got a little wild. I was afraid I'd have to reel ya in."
He smirked and reached for the water glass that sat before him and took a large gulp from the glass.
"She didn't need to act like that."
"But you never swear. I totally had her-"
"Maybe it's time I tried to stick up for you for once."
I sighed and dropped my hands to my lap under the table.
"I don't need you to stick up for me, Arnold."
A small smile lit up his face and he reached across the table gesturing to give him my hand. "Doesn't mean I don't still want to."
I placed my hand in his; his thumb stroking mine as I looked down to my remaining hand in my lap. "It's... it's THAT that I wouldn't be able to get over."
"What?"
I looked up to his face, his sweet and beautiful caring face, and shrugged.
"The... you sticking up for me thing. I'm so used... so used to sticking up for myself. If you stood up for me-"
"It's not like I would be doing it all the time, Helga. You aren't one who needs a lot of 'backup.'"
"So why back me up, then? You knew I could take her on. You know I'm not afraid of the bullshit she spews out."
Arnold sighed now, watching me for a moment before our waiter interrupted our conversation.
"Welcome to Desmond's Diner," the bubbly woman started, handing us menus, "Any drinks to start you kids off with?"
I shook my head and handed her the menus back.
"Nah, we just want two cheeseburger baskets, one with bacon and a side of ranch and ketchup."
Arnold's eyes watched me expectantly. I sighed. "Please."
The woman nodded her head and turned around to place our order with the kitchen while we continued to talk.
"Because I don't want you to be hurt. Even though I know you're strong and all... It doesn't mean I don't worry about your well-being."
Arnold continued and I chewed on my lip while I listened.
"I don't have a well-being, Hair Boy."
Arnold smirked.
"Yes you do. Or I wouldn't have ever wised up to you."
"Criminy. You make me sound like I was a regular nut job."
Arnold chuckled, squeezing my hand once and then disappearing under the table as our food arrived.
For 5 bucks on Tuesdays, Desmond's Diner gave you cheeseburger baskets with HUGE helpings of fries and the option of adding a shake or malt for a buck extra. Usually I added the shake, but the run-in with Rhonda had stolen some of my appetite, which Arnold took notice to.
"Rhonda really got to you, huh?" He asked, tossing a fry into his mouth.
I took a big bite of my burger and wiped some excess ketchup from my face with my sleeve. "Nah."
"Helga..."
I set the burger down in the red basket it had come in. "Fine. So she pissed me off. Big whoop." I grabbed three fries, scooped up a big glob of ranch and shoved it in my mouth.
"I know it bothers you that she knows, Helga. We can't keep this a secret forever."
I licked my fingers of the remnants of the burger I had just inhaled and rolled my eyes. "WHY are you SO INSISTANT on telling everyone about our life, football-head?"
"Maybe because I'm not ashamed of you. Because I want people to know?"
"Arnold, Arnold, Arnold. Foolish football-headed Arnoldo." The waitress dropped off a check at our table and I picked it up before Arnold snatched it from my hands.
"My turn, remember?" He reminded, pulling out his wallet to toss a twelve bucks on the table. With one last swig of his water, he stood up, offering his hand to help me up.
"I'm fine, Arnold. I'm just... frustrated." I stood up and brushed off some crumbs from my jeans, making my way out the door to walk to Arnold's car. "I can't believe I DID this to myself."
I sat down in his passenger seat while Arnold shoved the key in the ignition and roared the car to life.
"Did this to yourself? What do you mean?"
I reached over to take his hand, our fingers lacing together as he drove us back to school.
"I made myself into this, Arnold. And next to you and Pheebs... nobody even knows that I'm... I'm not that horrible person everyone thinks I am."
He pulled into his parking spot and shifted the car into park, the car idling as we finished our conversation before having to return inside.
"It doesn't have to be that way, Helga. You know that."
I opened the door as he took the keys out of the car and twirled them around his finger while we walked inside. "Unfortunately, it does."
"No it doesnt."
"YES, it does."
"But why?"
I took a deep breath as we stood in the middle of the hallway, the bell only a few seconds from ringing. There was a sense of quiet calm as we stood alone in that hallway; full knowledge that we would be late to our next class.
We didn't care.
"It just does, Arnold." The loud noise of the bell ringing through the halls and piercing our ears. I reached over to touch his cheek softly, then dropping my hand to my side. "I'll see you after school, okay?"
"But Helga-"
"Okay, Arnold?"
He sighed and nodded his head, defeated. "Sure, Helga. After school is fine."
I took a step toward him and planted a soft kiss on his lips and turned around to leave him watching me trudge my way to my History class.
"Oh Arnold," I mumbled to myself as I walked, "if you only knew. If you could only understand why I'm so afraid to let my guard down- to show the world who Helga G. Pataki REALLY is." I stood outside the door to the classroom and thought for a moment about ditching entirely. "But who am I kidding," I continued, turning around to lean against the cold brick wall. "No matter how much he cares; no matter if Arnold were to even LOVE me the way I love and adore him and his weird-shaped head, he would never understand. He would never see that I'm nothing special... I'm not like Lila or Ruth or any of the other girls his heart has ever settled on. I'm..." I sighed, standing up from the wall and deciding to skip class altogether and wander around town until school let out.
When I started my car and pulled out of the parking lot, I found myself chewing at my nails absentmindedly.
Maybe Arnold WAS right.
Maybe Rhonda WAS getting to me.
Maybe hiding our relationship WAS hopeless.
Maybe this group project WAS doomed.
But I knew one thing was certain- I wasn't about to let my pride get the best of me.
I WAS dating Arnold after all, wasn't I?
So as far as I was concerned, I had won.
But as I looked at the tired face looking back at me in the rear view mirror; the face that was so worn from lying to everyone day in and day out, I wondered just how long this winning streak would last before Helga G. Pataki finally lost it.