Hello All! This chapter is so short only because I have a longer chapter coming up with a special surprise so enjoy this before that is posted!
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Polkahotness
"Fine. We were together. Congratulations, Princess! You figured it all out! But before you go blabbing it to the entire school let me make your story a little jucier for when you tell it later." I looked over to Arnold who was staring at me and shaking his head; his arms tightly crossed. "It's over, Arnold. The jig is up." I spun around to push passed Rhonda who stood frozen.
"Happy now?" I muttered to her, before storming off to get in my car and drive far, far away from the tragedy that is Romeo and Juliet.
My phone buzzed on the passenger seat as I sped away, my foot pressing hard on the gas pedal. I glanced over to see Arnold's face flashing on the caller ID, but I ignored it.
He could come and find me if he wanted me so damn bad.
That football-headed twerp. That freakish little imp. How COULD he? How could he just... do that! To ME? The one he said he loved... when it hadn't been me all along.
"What about LOVE? What about, I'll never reject you? What about THAT, football-head?!" I yelled as I banged the steering wheel in frustration. "And then you just go and do a stupid thing like... like THAT!"
The familiar buzzing began again as Arnold had tried to call me once more. I reached over and held the power button to turn the phone off.
"There. Try calling me NOW, Arnoldo."
It had all started out innocently enough.
We had all been standing around the computer watching the scenes we had shot. THANKFULLY, today had gone a thousand times better than yesterday, so we had finished all the scenes we needed to film.
But the Rhonda babbling didn't stop. It only escalated. And soon, fake fighting somehow turned into real fighting.
"It just looks kinda dumb, that's all I'm saying."
"How does it look dumb, Helga? I spent all night working on it."
Probably why he didn't call me AGAIN last night, I had thought.
"I'm actually quite impressed, considering how realistic it all looks. You two almost have me convinced you two are madly in love."
"That's what acting is, Lloyd. But thanks, I guess."
She leaned on the table we were all leaning around to look at the laptop and batted her eyes a moment.
"It just seemed so... raw. So real. But that's absurd, isn't it? Since you hate each other and all?"
"Hit the head right on the nail there, Rhonda." I said, now becoming bored of her accusations rather than annoyed.
"Unless," She started thoughtfully, although I figured she had known all along what it was she would say to me, "Unless it was all driven by sexual tension or something."
"Tense? HA. No tension here. Yuck."
Lila looked at Eugene for a moment before eyeing Arnold for a prolonged moment.
And if Rhonda hadn't been pissing me off so damn much with all her snobby little questions of hers, maybe I would have shot little miss Lila the glare she deserved for giving Arnold such a look.
"Oh, oh right," Rhonda said. If she kept going, she'd need to pause to reapply that ugly red lipstick that coated her lips day in and day out. "The two of you got all that tension out yesterday during filming. Silly me, I plum forgot!"
My eyes narrowed, but I kept my mouth shut- partially due to the fact that my teeth were grinding so hard they could have worn down an iron bar.
"Rhonda, knock it off." Arnold said, his eyes never looking so serious before as he focused soley on Rhonda who refused to give up.
"What? You can't tell me you all weren't thinking it? They were gone for forever!" Her eyes shifted between Lila and Eugene.
It was Lila who piped up.
"I'm ever so certain it was me who found them yesterday, Rhonda. And I'm just oh so sure they were on the phone is all."
"Yeah, we can trust Lila. C'mon you guys! Let's finish this up..." Eugene tried, but it was useless. Rhonda had dug her designer stiletto heels in and she wasn't about to give up that easily.
"I'm not so sure I would trust Lila."
"What ever do you mean?" She asked, her freckled face scrunching up into a puzzled expression.
"Well, a little birdie told me that you and Arnold have been seeing a lot of each other the passed couple of days... at the nook."
My eyes widened before I shook my head a bit and smirked. "Arnold and Lila? Please."
"No really. During the free period after lunch, right?"
My eyes shot over to look at Arnold and Lila who remained silent at Rhonda's accusatory story.
Why isn't he sticking up for himself? Why isn't he telling her to shut her trap because she's wrong? Unless... I thought with fearful caution, Unless... I dared to think again.
"Pfft." I tried, but my heart was racing in my chest under my bully facade. "Like I care what Arnoldo does with Little Goody-Two-Shoes? He and his weird shaped head can do whatever he pleases."
But I cared a lot.
I cared too much, maybe.
"Well if I were you, maybe I would care a bit more. Seeing as I have other witnesses who have seen Lila leave Arnold's house for the passed two nights."
"He..." My eyes searched Arnold's but he didn't say anything. Why wasn't he SAYING anything?! My thoughts were screaming in my head.
"Rhonda, what you're insinuating... it's not true." Arnold finally responded, but his voice was quiet- almost... guilty.
"But she was there wasn't she?" Rhonda continued.
"Nothing happened-"
"But she WAS there." She repeated, more forcefully. A statement, not an accusation.
Arnold took a deep breath, his shoulders dropping with his exhale of breath. "Yeah."
I shook my head, furious on the inside, but sure that as soon as class let out Arnold would explain everything and it would all make sense. This was ARNOLD after all- perfect, smart, beautiful, nearly perfect Arnold.
And Arnold loved me.
At least he'd said.
"Fine. So Arnold sees Lila after school sometimes. Big woop. What's so interesting about that?"
The next words out of Rhonda Wellington Lloyd's mouth made me want to pound her more than I've ever wanted to pound a living soul in my whole life. It was as if that little snobby slimeball was inside my head taunting me with paranoid thoughts and insecurities I thought I had rid myself of.
The corners of Rhonda's lips tilted up into a wicked smile.
"What's interesting isn't that she's seeing Arnold, is it?" She asked to the two, but neither seemed to want to answer the question Rhonda posed. "What's interesting is that she doesn't just leave through the front door, now does she?"
"Wh-What?" I stuttered out, the hard front I had been putting up since as long as I could remember melting down into a puddle on the floor.
"Yeah, she leaves by way of the fire escape."
"The... the fire escape?" I repeated, in shock.
"Rhonda, why are you doing this?" Arnold was mad. He never got mad.
Rhonda continued to smile, clearly very proud of herself. "Because Helga has the right to know, yes? Because you're DATING?"
"Why does this matter to you so much, Rhonda? Why does Helga and mine's relationship matter to you?" He asked with clear irritation and Rhonda grinned.
"So it's true? I was right?! My, my... then Helga CERTAINLY has the right to know."
To know WHAT, Rhonda? Nothing is even happening! This whole conversation is ridiculous!" Arnold said defensively, but his words didn't give me back any of the confidence I only a few minutes ago had had in our relationship.
Nah, that all went out the door the moment Rhonda mentioned Lila's name.
"The right to know that Lila climbs in your sky window, stays for a few hours, and then leaves through that same window and climbs down the fire escape." she made three 'tsk' sounds with her mouth before continuing. "Seems awfully suspicious if you ask me."
I didn't want to believe it. Maybe it was me they saw, I thought, Maybe it was just me and they THOUGHT it was Lila...
But even from a TOWN away, Lila and I didn't look any more alike than Stinky looked like Geraldo.
The fact of the matter is if it had been Lila... it was Lila.
And Arnold confirmed she had been there.
Suddenly, everything at once made sense; the lack of phone calls, the not talking to me as much thing, being ultra tired because he stayed up all night 'working on the project.'
"I can't believe I was that stupid." I muttered out loud; my thoughts on keeping our little love affair a secret now null and void. "You tricked me, football-head."
"Helga, no I didn't. You don't understand- she's twisting everything around."
"So why was she at your place then, huh?"
"Thought you didn't care, Helga." Rhonda said with a smirk and I snapped my head in her direction with a death glare and one finger pointed directly at her.
"If you knew what was good for you, Princess, you would shut that pretty little mouth of yours. Remember- I still know things that could RUIN you." I nearly spat the words at her, but it got her to zip her lips.
"So why was she there, Arnold? If Rhonda is so wrong about everything and her little disciples are only spreading lies about the two of you... enlighten me. What for?"
He sat quietly, watching me with a level of pain in his eyes I'd never seen before. After a moment, he quietly said, "I can't tell you, Helga."
"And just why the hell not?" my voice was getting louder, but thankfully nobody important was around to hear or care for that matter, it was just us in the living room of Eugene's house.
"Because... because I just can't, but you need to believe me-"
"Why should I?"
"Because you know me, Helga."
"Or do I?" I raised my brow at him, my heart hurting in my chest.
I wanted to believe him. I wanted to trust the words that came out of that beautiful mouth I had kissed so many times- the beautiful mouth that told me Arnold loved me despite our past and our judgmental friends around us.
And maybe I would have believed him if the whole thing hadn't revolved around Lila.
Miss Goody-Two-Shoes Lila.
The same Lila that Arnold was basically in love with for most of our life- the woman who had stood in the way so many times before we finally got together.
How I hated her and that auburn hair of hers. No wonder she had been so freakin' nice to me- the girl was running around with Arnold behind my back.
"You have to believe me, Helga. I would just never do such a thing to you..."
"Right. Like I'm going to believe that you told me you liked Arnold, you'd love to have a second chance with Arnold but you'd just NEVER do such a horrible thing to me. Just NEVER. Well Lila, seems as though you're nothing but a liar."
"Helga-" Arnold tried, but I cut him off.
"And YOU. You said you loved me. You said that you would never reject me- that you would never DREAM of hurting me. I wanted so badly to believe you- I wanted to believe that all that waiting had paid off and we could ride off into the sunset together and live happily ever after, HA! What a pipe dream! What a foolish ridiculous notion! How could I ever trust some football-headed parent-less lying little twerp like you?" I was sobbing now, screaming at him with everything I had in me.
Sure Eugene, Lila and even Rhonda were watching me with shock and staring at the best live show they'd ever seen in all their lives.
Sure I instantly felt horrible for the things I said to the boy... the man I had grown so fond of that it felt like my heart was ripping right out of my chest.
Sure I knew this was officially it and our secret was definitely blown- but I didn't care.
He had cheated on me.
He deserved everything I spat out at him.
And he didn't even flinch.
After I finished my screaming at him, I huffed and puffed- tears free falling down my cheeks as if in a race.
"I...I-" Rhonda was in shock. I didn't realize what I was doing, she'd probably say.
"Save it, Rhonda." I said before turning to face Lila- my most hated enemy who looked at me with tears in her own eyes. "And why the tears, Lila? Sad you got caught? Sad your little scheme is over?"
"Helga..." She sniffled, reaching up to wipe her cheek of her shameful cheating tears. "I'm...I'm just ever so c-certain you don't under-understand..."
"Helga, please, let me explain." Arnold pleaded. Tears were building in his eyes, but they never fell. He was trying so hard to remain calm after all of the hurtful things I had said to him.
"You HAD your chance, Arnoldo. You could have told me any damn time you wanted-"
"It isn't like that, Helga! Why won't you listen to me?" His voice was angry now and only growing louder with each word.
"Because you lied! Because you won't even tell me what it is you were doing-"
"I CAN'T!" He screamed at me.
"WHY NOT?!" I screamed back at him. The hot glares of Eugene, Lila and Rhonda made me feel like I was cooking from the inside out; my insides boiling beneath my skin.
"BECAUSE, Helga. I just can't. If you would just trust me... you'll understand why soon enough-"
I laughed at him.
Right in his face.
A big 'ole head back, full-bellied laugh.
"I'll understand soon enough, huh?" I softened my voice now, a fake smile plastered on my face. "You really think so, huh? Why's that, Hair Boy?"
"Because I love you." He said very boldly, and for a moment- just a moment -I believed him once again.
And then out of the corner of my eye, I saw Lila.
The belief thing quickly spiraled away like a big shit going down a toilet.
"There." I said quietly, my voice even softer than before. "There's your proof, Rhonda."
"Helga, I-" She tried again, her voice almost sounding sympathetic but I didn't give her the chance to finish.
"Does everyone see?" I asked, turning around in a circle of sorts to look at each person individually. "Secrets out."
"Helga..." Arnold's cheeks were glistening- I'd made the kid cry. Inside my chest, my heart ached; wanted to reach out and hug him and apologize for all the wrong I'd done and said. I wanted to apologize for making him cry and for hurting him... and then I remembered.
He'd done this to himself.
I hadn't done shit.
I smiled weakly, tears still flowing down my cheeks as I continued with my big exit. "Fine. We were together. Congratulations, Princess! You figured it all out! But before you go blabbing it to the entire school let me make your story a little jucier for when you tell it later." I looked over to Arnold who was staring at me and shaking his head; his arms tightly crossed. "It's over, Arnold. The jig is up." I spun around to push passed Rhonda who stood frozen.
"Happy now?"
The whole thing replayed over and over in my head as I drove mindlessly to escape the pain I'd left behind with Arnold.
Everything I thought I had, everything I had wanted was still at Eugene's place up in flames. The relationship I'd dreamed about my whole life was kaput.
And the cherry on top of my sundae-of-a-day was the knowledge that by tomorrow, Rhonda will have told every living soul who walked the halls of Hillwood High that Helga G. Pataki completely flipped out on Arnold and like a wuss, spilled her heart and tears right there in front of her and her group. I'd be the laughing stock of the whole damn school before first period even began.
And then I'd have to face Arnold. AND Lila.
There was no escaping it.
I took a deep breath and gripped the steering wheel tightly.
Arnold had broken my heart.
And there was nothing I could do about it.