Disclaimer: I do not own Hey Arnold.
Monday, April 6
I decided to give Helga her iPod after class. I'm also planning to ask her about the whole Phoebe and Gerald thing. Helga usually sits at the back of the class.
"Where were you yesterday man? Harold and the guys went to that new bar & grill downtown. You should've been there."
"I had to take care of something really important."- he looked at me as if not believing what I was saying. He was about to talk when the teacher came in. Class started. After class, I headed to Helga's locker. I didn't get a chance to give her the iPod when class was dismissed because Gerald might become suspicious.
"Where you goin' Arnold?"- Gerald asked.
"I have to put my stuff in my locker. I'll see you later."- I ran off. I saw Helga putting her stuff in her locker.
"Hey Helga."- I called. She looked at me.
"What?"- she looked kinda tired.
"Are you okay?"- she raised an eyebrow.
"Why do you keep asking that?"- she continued to shove her stuff in her locker.
"You look tired."
"That's because I am. Wait, why are you here exactly?"- I took the iPod out of my bag and gave it to her.
"Here. You kinda left it yesterday. I wanted to give it back."- she took the iPod out of my hand.
"T-thanks…"- I'm guessing she's not used to saying thank you.
"Oh and by the way. What are you planning to do about them?"- she closed her locker and faced me.
" well, the first thing I think we should do is to get Phoebe to come here. Let them talk. I can do that. But I don't know if Phoebe would want to talk to him."
"What if they didn't know they would see each other." She smiled.
"I like what you're thinking. Let's continue this conversation later. Meet me at the park later. Around 4 pm."- then she left. I guess she has something to do. I went to the cafeteria to look for Gerald and the guys. They weren't there. I texted Gerald and asked where they were. He replied saying they're at that new bar&grill downtown and they're skipping class. I didn't reply. Gerald's been really a pain now. I hope what we're planning to do will help him. Since I don't have anything better to do, I went to the roof. When I was there, I heard guitar strums. I looked around and I saw Helga practicing with her guitar. She was trying to strum the first verse of Only Exception. She keeps making mistakes. She was at the back of the vents, where I saw her here last time, so she couldn't see me. She still can't move from one chord to another. But I could see she really wants to learn the song.
"Its G, Dm, and Cmaj7."- she looked around until she saw me.
"Huh?" – I sat beside her and held her hand to form the chord G.
"That's the first chord. The next one is Dm." Then I moved her fingers to form the chord Dm.
"And lastly, Cmaj7."- again, I moved her fingers to form the chord.
"Do you get it?"- I asked. She remained silent but she practice moving from one chord to the other.
"I think so."
"And when you strum, it goes like this."- I sat beside her my left hand guiding y right hand on her right hand. It looked like we were hugging. Instead of freaking out, I kinda enjoyed our position. I held her right hand and taught her how to strum. Amazingly, Helga's been quiet. She hasn't insulted nor punched me. Maybe because of the contract but still, this is weird even for Helga.
"Helga? Do you understand?" She didn't answer. I looked at her and saw that she fell asleep. She was leaning on my chest so I decided not to move. She did look really tired a while ago. I put the guitar down and leaned on the vents. She looks really peaceful. I wonder why she was tired. She looked like she didn't even get at least a minute of sleep. I kept looking at her face. I brushed a stray strand of hair away from her face. She's beautiful. We stayed there for an hour. I knew I still had a class to go to but I didn't want to wake her up so we stayed like that. After a few minutes of thinking, I also fell asleep.
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
I woke up to the smell of a familiar perfume. I looked around and I saw that I was sleeping on Arnold's chest. He was asleep. The last thing I remember was him teaching me the chords of Only Exception. I guess I fell asleep after that. I hadn't had even a second of sleep last night. Bob decided to throw a party in behalf of Olga's successful broadway musical. There were a hundred guests last night. I stayed in my room. I knew Bob would be too occupied to even notice that I'm not there. The party lasted for hours. A lot of singing and clapping and all those sh*t kept me awake. Around 3 am, I thought the party was done. I heard the guests were leaving. I thought I had some peace and quiet. Bob, apparently drank too much. He wanted to sing karaoke. He plugged the machine and sang his heart off. He was finally done around 5 am and passed out in the entertainment room. I decided to take a cold shower to keep me awake for my first class. In the midst of the class, I was feeling really drowsy but I kept my eyes opened. After, I went to my locker and put all my stuff in there. I already put my guitar on the roof of the school so all I had to do was put my books in my locker. That's when Arnold approached me and gave me my iPod. I hadn't even noticed that I didn't have it in my bag. I was too tired to think of it. I left to go to the roof. I was planning on sleeping there but once I was there, I was tempted to play the guitar. I started to strum the intro of Only Exception but I kept hearing it wrong. Maybe I'm not using the right chords. Then Arnold arrived. He taught me the correct chords. I was growing more sleepy than I was before. I didn't even notice that I fell asleep on Arnold's chest. I distanced myself. I looked at his face. He's cute when he's asleep. (*dug dug dug dug) I could feel the beating of my heart. It was the same feeling I used to feel before. No… Not again. I don't want to feel this anymore. I stood up and arranged all my stuff. While I was putting my things in my bag, Arnold woke up.
"Oh Helga. You're awake."- he smiled. Keep it together Helga. You're doing this for Phoebe.
"Ah yeah, listen, I have to go. Let's just talk later."- I didn't wait for him to answer, I just picked up my bag and my guitar and left. I went straight home and threw my bag on the floor. I looked at the clock and showed 3:16 pm. We were supposed to meet at the park at 4 pm. I really regret this decision already. It took me years to get over him and now, its starting again. I don't want it to happen again. Around 3:50 pm, I went to the park. I sat on a bench and waited for Arnold. Minutes passed by and he arrived. He sat next to me.
"So?"- he asked.
"So what?"
"What about the plan?"
"Oh right. How about we asked them to hang out with us. You and Gerald, me and Phoebe. We both take them to a place where we could leave them alone and let them talk. But it has to be someplace where neither of them could leave."
"What about Hillwood arboretum? We make a trap, say a hole. And we lead them to it. That way, they could talk and nobody could leave."
"Sounds good. When are we going to do it?"-
"How about this Saturday? We could set the trap by Friday."
"Ok. That would work. I just hope this plan doesn't backfire."- there was awkward silence between us. He suddenly looked at me.
"Can I see your hand?"- he asked. I was surprised by his question.
"Why?"
"Just let me see it."- he grabbed my hand slowly. It was the one where my wrist was sprained.
"Did you get into a fight?"- I was taken aback by his question.
"No."
"Really?"
"Yes. What's with all the stupid questions?"- he studied my wrist carefully.
"This doesn't look like a simple falling-out-of-bed sprain. This looks more like it was twisted on purpose. Are you sure you didn't get into a fight?"- I was shocked. How did he even notice that now.
"No, I didn't. Would you stop asking about it? Why do you care anyway?"-I looked away. He stopped talking,
"I'm sorry for asking those stupid questions. I was just worried."- from what he said, it made me blush.
"You better be sorry."- I answered.
"Sorry about what?"- Gerald's voice followed.
"Gerald, what are you doing here?"- Arnold asked, we were both surprised.
"This is a public park, I have a right to be here. Now do you mind answering my question? Why are you two here? Together?"- I was speechless. I was standing behind Arnold, suddenly he grabbed my hand and squeezed it tight.
"We're going out."- my eyes nearly popped out of its socket. I was about to say something when Arnold squeezed my hand. He was trying to tell me something.
"WHAT?!"- Gerald shouted. He looked at me then at Arnold.
"Arnold, are you serious? You…and…..her?!"- Arnold kept squeezing my hand, I feel his trying to say to follow his lead.
"Yeah. What about it Johanssen?"- I answered. I'm really getting nervous.
"Seriously? You know what? I don't care. I'll see you later Arnold."- he then walked away. I felt like all of my blood has rushed into my face. I feel that my face looks like a tomato. Arnold finally let go of my hand. We sat back on the bench.
"What was that all about?"- I looked at him. I noticed that he was blushing too.
"I'm sorry. I didn't want Gerald to find out about our plan and that was the first thing that came to my mind."
"What are we going to do now?"-I asked.
"I guess were gonna have to pretend that we're going out with each other. Just until we're successful in bringing Gerald and Phoebe back together. What do you say?"- this is bad. This is really bad. But I have no choice in this.
"Okay. Well, I better go."- I was about to leave when Arnold grabbed my hand.
"I guess I'll see you tomorrow?"- I nodded and he let go of my hand. I ran to my car. When I was in, I banged my head on the steering wheel. This is really really bad.
