A/N: Thanks for reading. Sorry for some grammatical errors. Trust me, I know my grammar, but I typed up that chapter really fast and most of it late at night so I wasn't thinking about grammar or typos. Haha. But I'm glad you still enjoyed it. So, here's chapter 10! : )
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Lunch went by quickly. They made it to the cafeteria just after everyone had left for recess, but the lunchroom aides let them stay inside to eat. It was just Helga and Arnold, which, on any other day, would have been awkward and would have had a lot of tension in the air. Somehow, though, the situation seemed so relaxed. Helga felt so unlike herself, and yet she felt exactly like who she really was. It was like Arnold had said, this was the girl she should be all the time. This was the real Helga, and even she knew that she needed to grow up and stop acting like a jerk all the time.
It was about five minutes before the bell was going to ring to end recess. Phoebe, who had been standing outside by the door with Sheena looked into the cafeteria (although not purposefully) and was surprised to see Helga. She made sure the teacher wasn't looking and quickly opened the cafeteria door and entered.
"Uhh, Helga?" she asked, walking over to the table that Arnold and Helga were sitting at.
"Hi Phoebe," Arnold greeted her.
"Hello Arnold. If you don't mind me asking, what are you doing inside?" she asked. Under normal circumstances Arnold would have never sat at the lunch table with Helga and he certainly wouldn't dine alone with her. Phoebe knew something had to be going on.
Arnold swallowed the bit of his sandwich that he had just taken a bite of and then replied, "Just eating a late lunch… Helga and I stayed in with Mr. Simmons to catch up on assignments." He paused, "Yeah, that's all."
Phoebe eyed him suspiciously, "Okay. Well, mind if I talk with Helga?"
Arnold got up and picked up his trash from the table, "Go right ahead. I'm going to go see what Gerald's up to. See you later."
Helga gave a just barely detectable smile and watched him leave. Then she turned to Phoebe.
"Helga! What are you doing eating lunch in here with "ice cream?" Phoebe asked.
Helga tried to play it cool and act like she didn't know what Phoebe was talking about and that there was nothing going on. But Helga knew Phoebe was never just going to let it go and so she finally gave in and told her best friend everything.
"You what?" Phoebe said, astonished. Phoebe didn't know whether to be happy for Helga or to be upset that Helga lied about where she had been the past couple of days.
"I'm sorry, Pheebs," Helga replied. "You know I didn't mean to worry you, and I honestly didn't mean for any of it to happen. Sometimes I just need to be on my own to figure things out. But I was also kind of lucky that Arnold found me."
"So, what's going on between the two of you?" Phoebe inquired.
"It's… It's complicated," she said. "It's hard to explain, but I feel like I can show him who I really am or I at least want to try to."
The bell rang and the girls had to hurry back to class. Helga was glad that she had spoken with Phoebe. She wondered what Arnold and Gerald talked about. She pictured Gerald's reaction:
"Say what?" Gerald said, "Are you making this up, Arnold? Did I just hear you say Helga stayed at your house last night… Helga G. Pataki?"
No, she thought, there was no way that Arnold told Gerald about the previous evening. Still, it made her a bit upset knowing that Arnold would always be too embarrassed to admit he knew her.
The rest of the day went on like any normal day at P.S. 118. Helga was a bit more quiet than usual, but nobody seemed to notice. There were only a few hours of school left and everyone was getting antsy. Mr. Simmons, as always, was having a hard time controlling the class and getting everyone to focus on whatever subject they were supposed to be trying to learn.
Phoebe was intently taking notes, and Gerald was doodling in his notebook. Helga had her head down on her desk; she wasn't paying attention to Mr. Simmons, but was instead half drifted off and half watching the rest of the class from her sideways view. Arnold was trying to pay attention to their teacher, but he was distracted, not only by the rest of the class, but by Helga and her going to see her family after school.
He couldn't imagine her family acting the way that Helga said they would. How could they not be worried? And then he thought of when he ran into Big Bob at the flea market; he had seemed more angry than he was concerned. How could he just let Helga go back there and live there like nothing had ever happened? There had to be something he could do.
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A/N: sorry this chapter is so short. I just really wanted to get something up for you guys. I'm going to start working on the next chapter now.. haha so hopefully it won't be too long before I get that up as well. : )