Chapter 3: Did That Really Happen?
Arnold and Gerald were standing by their lockers at school the next morning. Gerald was waiting for Arnold to collect his books while Arnold was thinking about what had happened the previous night.
"So, during which sensitive class period do you plan on asking your lady to dinner?" Gerald couldn't help but tease.
After not receiving a response, Gerald continued to ask "Arnold? Arnold? Hey Arnold!"
"Huh? Oh sorry Gerald." Arnold replied, turning to face his best friend.
"Man, would you get your head out of the clouds for one day?" Gerald asked, while seeing Arnold roll his eyes.
"I'm sorry. It's just, something kind of strange happened last night." Arnold admitted.
"Strange? Like what?" Gerald asked, while lifting an eyebrow.
As Arnold was about to explain, they heard a familiar voice coming down the hall…
"Out of my way geek bait! One side moron I'm walking here! Shove over toots!" Helga scowled.
"Uhhh nevermind." Arnold said, knowing Helga wouldn't like the idea of him revealing the information, whether or not it was true.
When the students all made it to class, Arnold took a seat in front of Helga.
While Arnold was busy getting out a sheet of paper to write a note for a certain someone, the rest of the class went about their usual rantings.
"I cannot believe what Pre Teen Miss is showing on the cover for their Valentine's Day magazine! A plaid skirt with a striped top?! Those people will be getting a complaint letter from me!" Rhonda scoffed.
"I reckon I won't be doin' anything special for Valentine's day. On account of I don't have a date." Stinky pointed out.
"Yeah well who cares! It's not like the girl ever gives the guy the candy! Oh I'm so hungry!" Harold whined."
"Class, class settle down. Now we're going to finish our nutrition lecture today." Mr. Simmons began, while Helga muttered to herself "I'll try not to get too excited."
As she began preparing spitballs to throw, she remembered the first suggestion from Phoebe's list Be Polite. Helga then lowered the straw as she thought to herself Crimity! This is going to be a long day!
As she sat in her desk, trying to focus on the lecture, a note was passed back to her. She quickly snatched it, wondering what Arnold would have to say to her. Unless it was Why aren't you shooting spitballs at me?
She opened it to read…
Can I walk you home after school?
Helga sat there nervously thinking to herself about how hard it was going to be to follow through on all of those sensitive traits. Then again, Arnold hadn't asked her out to dinner yet. Technically, she didn't have anything to worry about…
Sure
After passing the note back, Arnold happily read her response and sat through the rest of class with a smile on his face. Helga on the other hand, sat there stressing about what dinner with him later that week would be like.
After school had let out, Arnold stood in the hallway with Gerald, waiting for Helga to grab her things.
"So what was it you were trying to tell me this morning?" Gerald asked suspiciously.
"I just had a weird dream last night. It seemed real, which kind of freaked me out." Arnold began to explain.
"Well, what was it about?" Gerald asked, when Helga then approached them.
"Ready to go football head?" she asked, not thinking about the second gesture Phoebe had recommended… NO INSULTING NICKNAMES.
"Oh sure Helga. See ya later Gerald." Arnold said, walking out the school with his girlfriend.
"Whatever you say Arnold." Gerald sighed, knowing what Arnold had to tell him more than likely had something to do with his girlfriend.
As Arnold was walking towards the boarding house, holding his girlfriend's hand, he wanted desperately to ask her about two things: dinner on Saturday, and what she was doing at his house the previous night.
"What's with you staring at the sidewalk football head?" Helga asked, interrupting his thoughts.
"Huh? Oh sorry. I was just thinking." he replied.
"Thinking about how NOT to keep your eyes on the road. Pttss...sounds like you." she scoffed.
"Right. Anyway, I was wondering if you were doing anything for Valentine's day Saturday? If not, I'd like to take you to Chez Paris for dinner." he said.
Helga's eyes widened, not expecting him to have come out so easily with it.
"Uhh okay. Just make sure you've got money with you this time Arnoldo!" she scowled.
"If I'm remembering correctly, you're the one who had the wrong coupon for the restaurant." he smiled while rubbing her hand with his thumb.
"Pttss...what's your point?" she scoffed.
"My point is, I still enjoyed that night with you, and would like to go there again with you." he smiled, while feeling her hand shake.
It was then they made it to Helga's house. After a moment of silence, Arnold wondered if he should bother bringing up what had happened the previous night. For all he knew, it could have just been a crazy dream. She hadn't said anything about it to him. Then again she was a very secretive person.
"Well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow." Helga said anxiously, while feeling him rub her hand.
Before answering, Arnold pulled her close to kiss her. Holding her face in his hands, enjoying her warm lips pressed against his, he thought to himself What if it wasn't a dream? What if she comes back tonight? Maybe I should tell her?
Once he let go of her face, he saw the giddy smile and dreamy look in her eyes. The facial expression only he could bring to her. As he was about to tell her what had happened, they heard…
"Baby sister!"
"Oh crimity!" Helga scowled, smacking her face.
"Uhh hey Olga." Arnold waved.
"Arnold! Would you like to come in for my famous homemade chocolate chip cookies?" Olga screeched.
Arnold took notice of Helga's disgruntled look and replied "Thanks, but I better be going."
"Okay! Bye!" Olga waved as Helga marched past her furiously.
"Oh baby sister, I'm just so happy you're home!" Olga said happily while Helga replied sarcastically "Yeah, I'm ecstatic."
While Helga was finding solitude in her room, Arnold had invited Gerald over to discuss his dream.
"So will you just tell me already what happened?!" Gerald insisted on knowing.
"Well, I heard a noise when I was asleep last night…" Arnold began
"Oh this sounds promising." Gerald shook his head.
"When I sat up, I saw Helga." Arnold gulped.
"Helga?!" Gerald repeated loudly.
"She was standing with a glass of water to hand to me." he explained.
"Are you trying to tell me your self-absorbed girlfriend marched over here in the middle of the night just to get you something to drink?" Gerald asked in awe.
"Pretty much. I tried convincing myself it was a dream. I woke up and saw the glass of water on my nightstand this morning though." Arnold tried making sense of it all.
"Uh huh...and you're sure it wasn't YOU who was sleepwalking?" Gerald asked wittingly.
"Gerald! What am I going to do?" he replied worriedly.
"Well aside from needing to remember to lock your door at night, what are you so worried about. At least she's not aggressive when she's sleeping." Gerald pointed out.
"Wouldn't you want to know if you were doing something like that though?" Arnold sighed, shrugging his shoulders.
"Not really. It wouldn't be my problem. It would be the person I woke up having to deal with it." Gerald laughed while Arnold rolled his eyes at the unhelpful advice.
Later on that night, after a few hours of reviewing Phoebe's list of sensitive suggestions stressful thinking about how she had managed to blow the 'no insulting nicknames' advice, Helga finally decided to set her paper aside and go to sleep.
Arnold as well was getting into bed. Although his mind wasn't as shooken up as Helga's, he was wondering if it had been such a good idea to tell Gerald about the dream he had.
A few hours later, Helga's bed was again empty. As she marched down the street, being ignored by anyone she may have passed, she grew more and more anxious to see her beloved and politely show she could uphold the second loving gesture.
After climbing the fire escape, making her way through his window, she creeped down on his bed to see him sleeping peacefully. She sat down beside him, placing a hand to his face, stroking it softly with her thumb until she began to see his eyes flutter.
Arnold then shot up from his position, as he felt his heart pounding. "Helga!"
"Yes Arnold?" she asked.
"Helga, I think you're sleepwalking." Arnold did his best to whisper.
"Aren't you happy to see me, Arnold?" she asked, ignoring his remark.
"Yes, I think you should go home though. Come on, I'll..." before Arnold could offer to walk her home, he was cut off by the sweet touch of her lips. Feeling her soft tongue slide against his, as she wrapped her arms around his neck, he thought to himself Okay...this isn't a dream.
While Arnold's mind was on what maybe causing this to happen to her, Helga fell on top of him. As she firmly pressed her lips against his, wrapping their tongues tightly, she couldn't help but let out an intense moan. Arnold laid there resting his arms around her waist, wondering if he should put an end to this. Not that he wasn't enjoying it. He just didn't want to take advantage of her.
The decision was soon made when the two of them heard footsteps in the hallway. Helga's eyes flashed open when she sensed someone heading for the doorway. She then leapt off Arnold to head down his fire escape.
As Arnold watched her climb down through the window, he heard a voice open his bedroom door. "What's going on sweetie?"
"Huh? Oh nothing mom. I just thought I heard something outside." Arnold replied.
"Okay, well good night." Stella said, while Arnold got back into bed. It wasn't going to be easy sleeping the rest of the night.