Disclaimer: I do not own Hey Arnold.
Saturday, April 4
I drove to Arnold's house. Even though we used to live in this neighborhood, I feel really new here. I passed by our old house. I missed that place so much. I wonder who lived there now. I arrived in front of Arnold's apartment building. I knocked on the door. After my second knock, the door opened and it revealed a petite, middle-aged lady with brown hair.
"Yes? Can I help you?"- she asked. She resembles someone really well. But I can't quite put my finger on it.
"Ahh yes. Is Arnold around?"
"Yes he's here. I'll just call him. Would you like to come in?"
"No, its okay. I just have something to ask him."- she smiled and walked away. A minute later, Arnold opened the door.
"Helga?"
"Arnoldo."
"What're you doing here?"
"I just came by to talk to you about the favor you asked me yesterday." – he closed the door behind him.
"Let's talk about it somewhere else."- then he led me to the diamond where we used to play baseball. I looked at the place that used to be filled with kids playing baseball, all the running and laughing. Good times.
"So, about yesterday."- I started.
"Oh yeah. So you'll help me?"- I smiled devilishly.
"What's in it for me?"- he looked confused.
"What do you mean?"
"Since I'm helping you, what's in it for me?"- he thought about it.
"Well, what do you want?"
"D'ya still know how to play the guitar?"
"Yeah?"
"Then teach me."- he thought about it then agreed.
"Okay. But first, I have to tell you all my conditions."- conditions?
"Okay, lay it on me."
"No more calling me football-head. No more physical abuse."
"Woah woah woah.. Okay. So you have your conditions. But what about mine?"
"Okay. You can have your conditions too."
"Okay. First, no ratting out of practice. No excuses."
"Hmmm.. Seems fair. So do we have a deal?"- he held out his hand gesturing a hand shake. I shook his hand.
"Deal." – he looked skeptical.
"What are you looking at me like that? You can trust me."- he still wasn't convinced. He took out a piece of paper and a pen from his pocket. He wrote something on it. He handed me the pen and paper gesturing me to sign it.
"Contract? You sure take things seriously foo- I mean Arnoldo."- I signed the contract and handed it back to him.
"Oh and I forgot to mention. If anyone of us could miss practice or break any of the rules, punishment will be given by the other person. Do you understand?"
"Yeah. I'm not stupid." He put the contract in his pocket.
"Good. Our first practice will be tomorrow. Where do you want to do it?"- the first thing that popped in my head was our old house.
"Is anyone living in our old house?"
"I don't think so. Why?"
"Let's have it there."
"What? Why there?"
"Because it quiet and nobody could see us. We'll just be on the roof." – then we made our way to our old house.
"I don't think this is a good idea."
"Why? You scared we'll get caught? What are you, chicken?"- I climbed up the steps and tried the door knob. Its locked. I went to the alley and looked for the ladder.
"No….Yes…. I mean yes I'm scared and no I'm not a chicken. And you're breaking the contract."- I managed to get the ladder down. I started to climb up.
I thought chicken-boy wouldn't follow me but he did.
"Relax Arnoldo. That was more of a compliment than an insult."- we continued to climb up until we reached the roof.
"Psshh. Whatever."- we stepped foot on the roof and I looked over the edge.
"I miss climbing here and just watch the sky."- Arnold looked at me.
"So tomorrow? 4pm?."- he asked. I nodded and continued to stare at the view.
"Let's go Helga."- Arnold said. I pretended that I didn't hear him.
"We have to go."- out of my surprise, he grabbed my wrist. It made me scream in pain.
"Aaaaaahhhhh!" – he immediately let go of my arm.
"What's wrong?!"
"N-nothing.."- I massaged my hand.
"Okay. If we're going to do this deal, we have to be completely honest with each other. Tell me what's wrong."- for a minute there, Arnold didn't sound like Arnold.
"I told you. Nothing's wrong."- he looked at me firmly.
"Helga."
"Okay, okay. I sprained my wrist. You happy now?"- he went near me and massaged my wrist.
"You could've told me sooner. This would've never happened if you told me."- he was carefully massaging my wrist. I used to like Arnold, heck, I used to LOVE him. But after that incident with me helping him with Lila. I kinda didn't want to be involved with him anymore. I got hurt but eventually, I managed to ignore my feelings for him until I couldn't feel anything for him anymore. Our family moving to another neighborhood made it easy for me to forget my feelings for him.
"I'm okay now."- I pulled my hand. He kept looking at me.
"What happened to your wrist? Why is it sprained?"- he asked.
"I….I fell out of bed last night and I put too much weight on my wrist. That's why."
"Oh okay, just be careful next time. Well, I have to get going. See you tomorrow."
"Whatever."- he then went down the ladder. He looked back one last time and waved me goodbye. I waved back. I suddenly feel that this is gonna be bad.
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"Hey short-man. Where've you been?" Dad asked while I sat down on the couch.
"I had to take care of something."- I thought about Helga's wrist.
"Hey dad, you know a lot about injuries right?"
"Yeah, what about it?"
"Well, I was just wondering, could you sprain your wrist by falling off a bed?"
"Hmmmm, possible if the bed is high enough and you happened to land on your hands. But you also have to exert force for it to be painful. Why do you ask?"
"My friend said she sprained her hand that way."
"Oh okay."
"What are you guys talking about?"- mom came in the living room with a tray filled with chips and juice.
"Arnold was asking me about injuries because his lady friend had a sprained wrist."-dad took a chip and popped it into his mouth.
"Was that the same girl who came here earlier?"- I nodded and took a sip of my juice.
"I noticed her wrist. It was badly sprained. What happened to it?" – dad told everything to mom.
"It looked pretty bad for just falling off the bed. It looked like someone twisted it on purpose. Like the one I got when we were fighting off those goons in the jungle, do you remember that Myles?"- she asked dad.
"Was it that bad?"- he asked mom. Mom nodded.
"Maybe she got into a fight."- dad suggested. Its Helga. She probably got it from a fight. I brushed the thought aside. I asked mom and dad to tell me stories from their adventures even though I heard every single one of them. After talking with my parents, I went to my room. I was thinking of devising a plan to get Gerald and Phoebe back together. I took my guitar and started strumming. I remembered that I have to teach Helga how to play. I looked up some simple songs to teach her but I guess I should start with the basics. I thought about what mom said about Helga's wrist. Wait… What is going on with me? I keep thinking about Helga. Weird, since this never happened before. I decided to put the thought at the back of my head.
Sunday, April 5
It was near 4 pm. I spent most of my morning playing Parcheesi with my family. Around 3:45 pm I decided to head to our meeting place. When I climbed up to the roof, Helga was already there holding a guitar and listening to her iPod. She's humming the same song when we were on the roof of the school. She was wearing a light orange shirt and skinny jeans. Her hair was done in a ponytail. She looks nice. I walked towards her to let her know that I'm here. She looked at me and then she turned her iPod off and put it in her bag.
"Let's get started."- she said. I looked at her wrist and it was covered in a bandage.
"Is your wrist okay? Will you be able to hold the guitar?"- she looked at her wrist and shrugged.
"I guess so. Never mind my wrist. Let's just get started."- I nodded and showed her how to properly hold the guitar. I taught her all the chords one by one and she managed to get it all right. She was a bit stubborn but she was bearable. After teaching her all the chords, we decided to take a break. She was practicing when I thought about playing the Only Exception. I started to strum the intro. She immediately turned her head to my direction.
"Sing it." – she looked at me with a confused look on her face. I stopped strumming and said,
"Sing it. I keep hearing you hum this song. Why not sing it?"- she nodded.
"Don't laugh at me. I don't have the most beautiful voice."- she said. I started strumming again.
"The Only Exception"
When I was younger I saw my daddy cry And curse at the wind He broke his own heart And I watched As he tried to reassemble it – I could not believe what I'm hearing. Helga 's voice is beautiful. I wonder why she never likes to sing in public.
And my momma swore That she would never let herself forget And that was the day that I promised I'd never sing of love If it does not exist, but darlin'
You are, the only exception You are, the only exception You are, the only exception You are, the only exception
You are, the only exception You are, the only exception You are, the only exception You are, the only exception
You are, the only exception You are, the only exception You are, the only exception You are, the only exception
And I'm on my way to believing Oh, and I'm on my way to believing.
After that, I was awestruck. I looked at her.
"What're you looking at?"- she asked, somewhat annoyed.
"Helga, your voice is beautiful."- she blushed.
"No its not. Well, we're done. I better get going. When's the next practice?"
"Uhh right. Tuesday, same time, same place."
"Okay. Then I better get going."- she picked up her bag and left. I noticed something shiny on the floor. Its her iPod.
"Helga. Wait! You forgot something."- I called out to her but she already left. I put it in my pocket then I went down and headed home. I'll just give it back to her tomorrow at school.
A/N: Hey guys. I hope you're enjoying this story. I'd appreciate it if you did. Thank you :)
