Author's Note: Sorry for taking soo long again. I just finished the summer term of school so that was kind of hectic. But here is chapter eight… finally! : )
I wrote this and then I rewrote it… so that's probably why it took so long to get up. But anyway, hope you all enjoy!

Helga began to stir. She could see light streaming through her eyelids and knew that it was morning. She wished it could have stayed nighttime for just a bit longer; she was dreading today and whatever events it was going to bring with it.

She sat up and ran her fingers through her hair, trying to rid her head of the bed-hair she knew she had. Next she looked over at Arnold. He was still sleeping since his alarm clock still had a few minutes before it went off. Helga got up and headed to the bathroom to fix herself up for school.

As she walked into the tiny washroom, she looked at herself in the mirror. Her messy hair hung down around her shoulders. Her pink dress was slightly wrinkled and needed washing. She didn't look like the Helga she was a few days ago… but then again, she didn't feel like the same Helga she was a few days ago either. She had told Arnold things that she never really told anyone. Sure, Phoebe sort of knew how her family was, but not because Helga spilled her feelings to her. Phoebe just sort of had a knack for seeing reality. Arnold did too, but sometimes his 'look on the bright side' attitude got in the way.

She grabbed a comb that was sitting on the edge of the sink and brushed out her hair. It was too messy to get into her usual pigtails so she made it into a braid that hung over one of her shoulders. Hopefully the kids at school wouldn't say anything about it, she thought. After she got some of the dirt off of her dress, she headed downstairs to the kitchen. She thought it would be best if she let Arnold wake up and get ready and then he could just meet her down there. It was probably late enough that someone in the boarding house would be awake and downstairs by now anyway.

Arnold woke up to the sound of his alarm. Still tired, he hit the snooze button on top and flopped back into his pillow. A few seconds later, however, he popped back up. He looked around the room, but Helga was nowhere to be found. For a minute he wondered if all that had happened last night had been a dream; he was prone to having strange dreams involving his classmates. When he saw the blanket lying on his sofa, he realized that Helga had been there. So he quickly got up, got changed, grabbed his school things and took off down the stairs to the kitchen. He hoped that Helga didn't sneak off in the middle of the night.

As he rounded the doorway into the kitchen, he was surprised to find Helga sitting at the table. His grandma had provided her with some orange juice and scrambled eggs.

"Morning Grandma," Arnold said, "Morning Helga."

"Good morning," Helga replied.

Arnold grabbed his own breakfast off the counter and made his way to the kitchen table. He watched Helga as she moved the last bit of her scrambled eggs around her plate with the fork she was holding. She didn't look grumpy or mean like she usually did. But Arnold didn't like seeing her look like this. Helga looked almost worried and like her mind was preoccupied with some troublesome thought. Arnold knew she was probably imagining what school was going to be like today and what was going to happen when she went home.

"Errm, if you want," Arnold started, "We could hang out again after school."

He watched as the worry left her face, "Uhh sure Football head, it's a… sounds like fun…"

Arnold chuckled. He knew that Helga had caught herself before she said, "It's a date."

They ate the rest of their breakfast in a relative silence. It wasn't that kind of awkward silence, but more of content and peaceful silence. Even Grandma was barely making any noise, which was quite unusual. Soon enough, however, Arnold and Helga could hear the loud chatter of their classmates walking down the street to catch the bus. They figured they should probably head out as well and so they grabbed their things and left.

The bus pulled up to the corner and Arnold and Helga along with some of the other PS 118 kids got on. Phoebe was already sitting towards the back and Helga decided it would probably be best to go explain what had happened to her. She turned around and looked at Arnold, "Guess I'll see you later then."

"Sure," he replied.

Helga went and took a seat next to Phoebe.

"Helga! Are you okay? Where have you been?" Phoebe asked her.

Helga didn't know where to start; a lot had happened over the past day, let alone the past few days. And there were things that she didn't even want to tell Phoebe. Some things were better kept to one's self instead of spread around as gossip.

"I sort of ran away and then I got lost. It was no big deal; I am still alive after all. I just couldn't take anymore 'Olga this' and 'Olga that.' Bob and Miriam drive me up the wall and I'm tired of having to take care of myself when I'm only a kid," Helga said, her voice gradually getting louder as she continued to speak. She caught herself though.

"But Helga, you shouldn't have run away. You could have gotten into trouble. If you ever need to, you can talk to me if you want… about whatever."

"I know, Phoebes. I guess I just get so fed up that I just need to escape for a while. I only meant to go out for a few hours, but I got stuck downtown and couldn't get back. That's why I was gone so long."

It was a while before Phoebe said anything else. They were just arriving at school and everyone was getting off the bus when Phoebe replied. "So, Helga, how did you get back?"

As Helga was walking down the aisle of the bus she looked out the window. Arnold was walking up to the school with Gerald; he looked back at her and smiled.

"Uhh… it's kind of a long story," Helga replied.

Phoebe gave her a quizzical look as the two of them stepped off of the bus.