A/N: Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter. I hope the wait wasn't too long for everyone…I just needed a lot of time to plan out exactly what I wanted to go on in chapter 10. Enjoy. :)

Arnold sighed deeply as he stepped out of his house. The sky was covered with clouds, and although it was only 70 degrees, the humidity certainly made up for that. He sat on the bottom of his stoop, waiting for Gerald to arrive.

However, lost in his deep thoughts, he wasn't aware when his best friend appeared right in front of him. "Hey man, sorry I'm late. I didn't hear my alarm clock--uh…Arnold?"

Arnold suddenly looked up, missing everything Gerald had just said, besides his name. "Oh, sorry…what?"

"Uh…your shirt…just thought I'd let you know that it's on backwards."

Looking down at his shirt, he sighed once again. "Ugh. I guess that's what happens when you get two hours of sleep at night." The blonde boy stood up, hurriedly fixing his shirt.

"Two hours? Man, what kept you up?"

"It was….nothing. Just one of those nights."

"Whatever you say, Arnold." Gerald suddenly remembered about the party two nights ago. "Oh yeah, I'm amazed Helga didn't beat you into pulp yet. Did you give her the letter?" There was a small smirk on his face, which triggered Arnold's annoyance.

"Yeah. She got it, all right." Arnold grumbled, swung his backpack over his shoulder, and started walking towards the bus stop. Gerald quickly ran after him.

"Hey, man…what's eatin' ya? I thought you told me you wouldn't give it to her?"

"I wasn't planning to, until Curly got his hands on it and made me pretend to really love her, because he, and I quote, wants his darling to be happy." A tone of disgust was clear in Arnold's voice as he continued, "so I had no choice but to go on a date with her."

"And that's what's bothering you so bad? Dude, you're the one that said that Helga's not that bad." Gerald rolled his eyes…he never quite understood what made his best friend think that.

"Well, I thought it would bother me. But it turned out to be pretty…nice. Until she told me she loved me."

A look of horror came across Gerald's face. "WHAT? Helga G. Pataki, loves you?" He tried to laugh it off, there was no way it could be true. "Thanks for the laugh, man. Really."



"Gerald, I'm serious. She told me that she loves me. Or…she did. Now she hates my guts. As soon as she told me, Rhonda and Lila came and…well…the rest is pretty obvious."

"So, then she beat you into pulp?"

"NO, Gerald. All she did was scream and me and tell me that she hates me. And how she wishes that she never laid eyes on me…and…ugh." Arnold stopped walking for a moment, and put his hand on his forehead. "I screwed up."

"Why don't you just talk to her?"

"I tried. Multiple times. I actually called her at midnight last night, but nothing I said went through to her."

Gerald raised an eyebrow in amusement. "Whoa, late night phone calls?"

"Shut up! You know it wasn't like that." Arnold continued walking once again.

"All right, all right, calm down. Why is this bothering you so much? It's just Helga…just let it go."

Calming down a bit, Arnold started to talk a little bit softer. "I hurt her, Gerald. I can understand completely why she hates me. Like she said, she let her guard down to me and I just….I broke her heart. Can you imagine how that would feel?"

Gerald placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "I understand, man. Really. I mean, Helga's not my favorite person in the world, but she has feelings. I'm sorry….I should've supported you at the party when everyone else was trying to convince you to go through with the dare."

"It's okay. Everyone makes mistakes. Mine is just the biggest and stupidest one of all."

"This isn't your fault. You tried to find a way around it, but life isn't always fair, you know?"

Arnold nodded, and sighed. "Yeah, I know."

"Can I just ask you one question though?"

"Yeah, sure."

"Were you serious when you said that Helga loves you?" Gerald smiled, finding his comment amusing. However, Arnold found it anything but, and he noticed that by the anger and sorrowful look in his eyes. "…Sorry."

"Don't you think it shocked me too? I wasn't expecting that in a million years." Suddenly, Arnold's whole body froze as a memory came rushing back to him. "Oh God…"

"What is it?"



"…Gerald, remember in 4th grade when we saved the neighborhood…and you were wondering why Helga was with me?"

"Oh yeah…how could I forget? You never told me."

"She was Deep Voice. She was the one helping us all along. And do you know why?" Gerald looked at him, inquiry in his eyes. "She told me it was because she loved me. But then she took it back…and we both agreed that it was just the heat of the moment. But I guess…it wasn't."

Once again, Gerald was shocked. "Wow…this girl has it bad for you."

"Yep."

"Really, really bad."

"Yep."

"….And you broke her heart."

"Yeah, thanks for reminding me." Arnold stopped walking again, this time only to wait for the bus, which seemed to be late, as usual.

"I'm sorry. I just like messing with you, you know that." There was silence, and Gerald sighed. "You'll find a way to get her to trust you again. You always do."

"I tried everything. That's why, I was thinking—"

"You'd ask Phoebe?"

Arnold stopped mid-sentence, and looked at Gerald. "Well , yeah. Do you think it'd work?"

"Maybe. Who knows? Helga's complicated." He saw the bus turning the corner. "I just wish I knew why you're so determined to get Helga to stop hating you."

Before the bus pulled up, Arnold answered his question. "I just want to regain her trust, that's all." But the look on Gerald's face showed Arnold that he wasn't buying it. "Oh no, Gerald. Don't say what I think you're going to say."

"I'm not saying you like her like her or anything. Just…be careful." The two got on the bus, and took their normal seats. Phoebe was sitting right in front of them…it was now or never.

A/N: Ahh, finally. I changed my mind about ten times during this chapter, haha. But I hope I made the right choices, and that you all enjoyed this chapter. Chapter 11 will be posted as soon as possible.