Hello peoples!

Summer vacation is definately on for me (finaly!). Thank goodness I'm done with su-, su-, sum-, S.S. Man, it's over with, and I still can't say it! Grr! Try and guess what it is I'm struggling to say, cause I'm not gonna say it any time soon on my own. Come on, guess!

The random word of the chapter is...Flying Pencil Mouth!

That was awkward. Anywho, I don't have much else to say.

Disclaimer: Again? Ugh. This is becoming one of those warning labels you see at the beginning of rented movies. I DO NOT OWN HEY ARNOLD!

Enjoy!

By the time he finished reading the note, his eyes were brimming with tears. He ran out the door and all the way home, note tightly clenched in one hand, tears streaming down his face. He ran inside, passing Phil without stopping.

"Hey, shortman! What are you doing home so..."

"...early?"

Arnold ran so fast, Phil couldn't even finish his sentence in time.

Arnold ran all the way up to his room and practically slammed his door. Then he curled up in a ball as he sat sat on his bed and hung his head above his knees, wiping the tears from his face with his free arm. More tears fell. Then Phil walked in.

"Hey Arnold. Are you okay? You ran past me pretty fast."

Then he saw the tears on Arnold's cheeks as he lifted his head up. "What's wrong Arnold? What happened?"

Arnold dried his tears ith his arm again and said, "She's gone. She left."

Phil was confused. "Who's gone? What are you talking about, Arnold?" He said suddenly.

"Helga's gone. Helga left." Arnold said with a little more desperation than before.

Phil sat down on a stool. "Now, where does it say that?" He said.

Arnold handed him the note. "Her sister found this on her nightstand." He sobbed.

Phil took the note and read it silently, repeating a few of the words here and there. "...ran away...never seemed to care...pork rinds, saltines, and shaving cream? Holy canoly!"

"Grandpa!"

"What? I'm simply stating how impressed I am at the fact that she's survived on just pork rinds, saltines, and shaving cream her whole life. Shaving cream isn't even a food! I tell ya Arnold; this is probably the second toughest girl you'll ever know. The first being your grandma, of course."

"Finish the note!"

Phil briefly put up his hand in defense. "Okay, okay. ...not even a dad...too perfect...coming back...Helga. Hmm...wait a minute! Helga? The girl with the one eyebrow? Why would you care about her? I mean, she's been teasing you for how long now?"

"Grandpa, she's changed. She's been nice to everyone at school for the past few weeks, and she apologized to everyone, including me."

"And what's this? 'Please tell Arnold that I still love him.' She loves you? I thought you said she hated you!"

"I thought she did at first, but then I started to look back, and something didn't seem to add up. So I talked to her about it, and she said she loved me. She said she loved me since we were three."

"Three? Well, now. That's a pretty young age to fall in love, don't you think Arnold?" Then Phil started laughing. "Ah, just kidding." Phil then noticed the sad look on Arnold's face again. "So, you really care about this girl, huh?" He said in his genuine tone.

"Yeah." Arnold said, looking down at his knees.

"You should give her family a call. See if you can help with putting up lookout posters."

Arnold looked back up. "Yeah. Thanks grandpa."

"Anytime, shortman."

Then Phil got up and left the room. Then Arnold stood from his bed, picked up his phone, and dialed for Helga's house. It gave three rings, then it picked up.

"Hello?" Said a woman's voice on the other end.

"Mrs. Pataki? It's Arnold."

"Arnold! We were so worried! We thought you ran away! Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Hey, can I help with those flyers?"

"Sure. Come on over. We'll give you a stack to put up."

"Thanks Mrs. Pataki. I'll be right over. See you in a few. Bye." Then he hung up his phone.

Gerald and Phoebe sat next to each other on the bus ride home, since neither Arnold nor Helga were there to sit next to.

"Man, I sure hope Arnold's okay. He's been worried about Helga til' lunch. Then he was dismissed early."

"I hope so too. I am a bit worried about Helga too, actually."

"Oh, I'm sure she's just fine. She's tough. She can take care of herself, wherever she is."

Phoebe gave a small sigh. "I sure hope you're right, Gerald."

The bus stopped at their stop and they got off. "So, you wanna do something later?" Gerald said.

Phoebe giggled. "Sure." She said with a slight blush.

Her blush dissappeared as she noticed something. "But, I think you need to stop by Arnold's place first." She pointed to the wall behind him. "Look."

Gerald turned around and saw a flyer taped up on the wall with a picture of Helga in the center. Below the picture, it read:

Have you seen me?

Name: Helga G. Pataki

Last seen wearing a pink dress, a pink bow in her hair, and pigtails (what she's wearing in the picture)

If found, please call the following number.

Then a phone number followed. Gerald turned and saw them posted in front of every store and building he could see. On light posts, on walls with graffitti, on chain link fences, and more.

"Uh oh. This can't be good. I'll go see how Arnold is doing."

"I'd go with you, but, I gotta be home as soon as possible."

"Okay. See ya."

"Bye."

Gerald headed to Arnold's house while Phoebe headed to her own place.

Gerald knocked on the door.

"Yes? Oh, uh, Arnold is a bit, preoccupied right now. Can you come back later?" Phil was at the door.

"I saw the flyers. I came over to check on Arnold. Is he home?" Gerald said.

Phil scratched his head. "Oh, that's right. You're his friend. Yeah, he's home. Go on up."

Gerald headed to the stairs.

"Oh, but, he's really upset, so be careful." Phil added.

"Sure thing."

Then he continued up the stairs. He opened Arnold's door slowly. "Hey Arnold." he said.

Arnold sniffled. "Oh, hey Gerald."

He causiously stepped inside. "How are you? Are you okay?"

Arnold suddenly burst out. "No! I'm not okay, Gerald! Helga is missing!"

"I know. I know. I saw the fliers."

"But the worst part is, she ran away."

Gerald was taken by surprise. "What? She ran away? How would you know that?"

Arnold handed him the note. "Olga found it on her nightstand."

Gerald took the note from his hand and read it silently. Then his eyes widened. "Whoa. I had no idea how hard her life was. No wonder she ran away."

"But Gerald! She's lived through neglect for years. Why would she decide to leave now? It makes no sense."

"Maybe she just finally snapped."

"No. She's too strong for that."

"Maybe she and her family had a big fight?"

"That's it, Gerald! It must be it!"

"I don't know, Arnold."

"But you just said-"

"I was just giving a suggestion! Just something off the top of my head. Maybe you should call her parents, ask if anything happened. There's not much I can tell you, Arnold. Helga's strong. You said it yourself. She'll be okay." He turned back to the door. "I gotta go, Arnold."

"Bye Gerald."

"Bye Arnold."

Gerald opened the door.

"Oh, and Gerald?"

He paused and turned his head.

"Thanks."

Gerald smiled. "No problem, Arnold." Then he closed the door behind him.

Okay. So that made Arnold feel a little better. Helga's strong. Helga's smart. Wherever she is right now, she can take care of herself. But today was the day he was going to tell her. Why did she have to leave now? He was going to think about her nonstop until she comes back. He won't stop searching for her until she is found. He couldn't stand the thought of living without her. He had to find her. But where to look? He had no idea where to start. He just had to hope that someone would call saying that they found her and he could come rushing to her side, wherever she was.

But what can he do til' then? He's not gonna lay around all day waiting for a call to tell him 'Hey! I found her! Come quick!'. He already helped with putting up posters. What else could he do? Then he got an idea.

He got up and picked up the phone. Three rings.

"Hello?"

"Mrs. Pataki? It's Arnold. Has anyone formed a search party yet?"

"We're working on it. Why? Would you like to help?"

"Yes, I would. I want to help search for Helga."

"Okay. Bob is out searching for more helpers. In the mean time, you can go out searching by yourself."

"Where should I start looking?"

"Let me think..."

Yay! Arnold is going to search for Helga! Will he find her though? OoOoOoOoh! You know. Like how a ghost would do it. That makes me laugh! I don't like the fact that I fell down the stairs today though. Not from the top, but I landed on my butt and hurt my tailbone. I was in pain for three hours. No doctor needed. I slipped. New socks are always slippery on the carpeted staircase. I'm fine now, though. Yay for pain only! No detectable damage! Okay, that's enough talk about me falling down; I'm starting to laugh a bit too long about it.

Thanks to all who reviewed for my last chapter!

-acosta perez jose ramiro

-Anonymous Latina

Thanks guys! You have been really faithful throughout this story.

Not much else to say, so...

REVIEW!