A/N: Thanks for reading and reviewing. I'm glad you guys are enjoying it. So, sadly, this story is coming to an end soon… I think. But I have other ideas for other stories or possibly some kind of continuation of this. So I hope that when I'm finished this that you'll stick around and check out the new stuff I work on. Thanks again for reading, reviewing, favorite-ing… it really means a lot and helps me to stay motivated to keep writing =)

::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Helga quickly turned around and put her back against the door. She was trying to come up with a plan, but her brain couldn't work fast enough. There were footsteps on the stairs; a sign that Bob was coming to investigate her room.

"Uhhhh… Arnold! Closet! Now!" she yelled in a whisper as she hurried to her closet door, which she swung open.

Arnold jumped off of her bed and sat in her closet.

"Don't make any noise," Helga said to him, "I'll let you know when it's safe to come back out."

Arnold just nodded and shut the door, leaving it open just a crack so that he could tell what was going on. He watched as Helga pounced onto her bed and grabbed a nearby magazine to pretend she had been reading it. It was only seconds later that her father bounded into the room. He looked around angrily; Arnold wasn't sure for what.

"Where have you been, missy?" he yelled.

Helga, who was surprisingly keeping her composure pretty well, simply looked up nonchalantly before giving her reply, "You should know where I've been. Aren't you parent-people supposed to know where your children are all the time? Isn't that part of your job?"

Arnold could guess where their conversation was going to go. Big Bob was going to continue to be angry and Helga was going to lie her way out of the situation. He imagined a door slamming when the conversation (or sparring match) was over. So he focused his attention on other things.

Still keeping quiet, he took in his surroundings. Helga's clothes were hung neatly on hangers and her shoes were in a box on the floor. Arnold wondered why Helga always wore the same pink dress and never any of the other outfits she had. Then he noticed the back of the closet was much further back behind the one row of clothes. There seemed to be more space back there and he figured the closet must actually be bigger than he thought. Pushing the hangers gently out of the way, he walked past them toward the back wall.

Meanwhile, Helga and her father were still yelling at each other.

"You had your mother so worried!" Bob screamed, "What if she had an anxiety attack?"

"Worried?" Helga said, "When I came home she was sleeping and didn't even realize that I just walked through the front door! How is that worried? If you didn't think I was here then why didn't you call the police or something? You and Miriam suck at being parents!"

Bob couldn't even reply, he just made a sort of angry growl and left the room (slamming the door behind him just as Arnold had predicted). She made a fist and almost slammed it into the wall, but stopped herself. She slid down behind the door and yelled out as loud as she could to get our her frustration.

Arnold wasn't sure what to think when he saw what was behind that row of clothes. He had come face to face with a sort of shrine that looked just like him. He didn't understand it; he thought that Helga had hated him all these years. Suddenly, memories came flooding back to him.

He remembered finding a pink book with poems about him in it. The last poem spelled out Helga's name with the first letter of every line! He remembered Helga saving him from that girl at the beach that just wanted to use him to win the sand castle competition. There were so many little incidents where Helga had helped him out in some way, even if she had acted like a jerk for most of the time. He never really thought anything of those moments, probably because she would always treat him like crap afterwards. Then Arnold thought about all the stupid things he'd ever done when he 'liked' someone. He realized that Helga didn't hate him, she just had a weird way of showing that she liked him.

"A-Arnold…" Helga said, heading over toward the closet. "You can come out. It's safe. My dad left."

She didn't get any reply, which she thought was strange. Then she had a thought of horror. Rushing to the door now, she swung it open. She could see Arnold's feet just beyond the dresses that were hanging there. Oh no! She thought. How do I explain that?

"Arnold, I can explain." She said and then thought Doh! Why did I say that?

It was still quiet, but then she heard Arnold laughing. She shoved her dresses aside and saw Arnold standing there laughing.

"Hey!" Helga shouted angrily.

"Sorry," he said, still chuckling, "I couldn't help it. Helga, all this time I thought you hated me. But you just like me!"

"Soo…. You don't think I'm a creep for that?" Helga asked cautiously, pointing to the shrine she had built over the years.

Arnold looked at her and thought for a moment. He came to realize that with a family that never really cared for her and always forgot her name, it probably made sense that she would keep her emotions hidden and bottled up. This was her way of expressing herself and he could understand that.

Then he had another memory. He remembered the first time he had ever met Helga. It was the first day of preschool and his Grandpa drove him to the school. It was pouring rain outside, and he had worn his favorite boots and raincoat. They pulled up to the building and he got out, opening up his umbrella. It was then that he noticed a girl, the same age as him, headed toward the building. She was soaking wet and muddy up to her knees; Arnold found it odd that the girl's parents didn't drive her to school like his Grandpa had driven him. Underneath all the mud, Arnold thought she was cute. He remembered she was even wearing the same pink bow she wore even now.

He stopped to think about that and realized that it was no wonder that Helga liked him. Her parents must have treated her horribly even back then and he had been someone who seemed to care. He wondered what Helga would have turned out like if he hadn't shared his umbrella with her that day.

Arnold looked up at Helga, "No… well, to be honest, it did freak me out a bit at first…"

He had paused, but before he had a chance to say the rest of what he wanted to say they both heard someone say something from downstairs.

"Helga?" it was Olga, "Baby sister, where have you been?"

Helga sighed, "Great… she's home."

She heard her sister rushing up the stairs and braced herself. About three seconds later, Olga had bounded into the room and wrapped her around Helga (Helga had kept her own arms down at her sides). Then Olga looked up.

"Oh, I'm sorry Little Sister. I didn't realize you had friends over," she said when she noticed Arnold standing there a bit awkwardly.

"No, it's fine. I can leave if you want," Arnold said, thinking that maybe Helga should spend time with her family.

However, Helga gave him a look that was definitely telling him not to leave.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

A/N: gahh! So I'm not sure yet. The next chapter may be the end but I'm not sure yet. I'm thinking maybe I'll do some sort of continuation fic that's kind of separate and with a new sort of plot. I'm totally open to ideas/suggestions!

A/N 2: I've had this done for like a week, but I've been letting it sit so I can think it over a bit. But I'm just going to upload it now before I feel like I should completely redo it again. Hope it's not terrible =P