Sorry if this is too snotty or too short. I just write things as something says me to, and it takes pretty much time to actually figure out what the next chapter should be like. They are short because I believe this is how little chapters in character's lives should begin and end. But there's going to be some ending, you shouldn't think I don't know where I am going!)

They did really go their ways apart.

Helga ran, ran and ran, ran from everything without a thought, ran until she found herself inside of her room.

Arnold stood for a while on a playground, before returning to the lesson. The whole thing about Helga was a mess. He tried, just like Helga said, to throw her away from his mind, and would have succeeded if he hadn't felt so guilty. Arnold tried to convince himself there's nothing to worry about and that the girl had always been unbearable, but still he felt strange aching in his heart. He didn't tell Carla all about his conversation with Helga - actually Carla didn't care much. she even didn't notice that Helga wasn't in the class.

For an hour Helga lied on the floor, where she collapsed just as she reached her house. She didn't cry this time - she just stared at the sealing, feeling empty and numb. But then, as if something exploded downstairs, she jumped up. She was still shaking, her eyes couldn't focus on anything. She said to herself, trying to concentrate "I told him there would be no more Helga. I did..So I guess that's it! I can't live in this town anymore, I've got to go, got to leave, I can't go to school to see him anytime again! Yes, this is it, I'll run away from them, from him, from everything...It's not going to be easy, but..I just can't! Can't stay here any longer! I..have..nothing left here!"
Immediately, she jumped to her closet, took an old suitcase where she kept her worn-out clothes, threw them away and began packing.

Arnold was getting more and more confused, as he noticed that Carla didn't care about Helga's disappearance. She was cute with him as usual, and everything was perfectly fine, but still he felt uneasy. Her kisses today didn't turn him on, and Carla noticed that. She was offended by his petrification, bored because there was no one to adore her today, but still he didn't pay attention. He felt like a murderer whose hands were all soaked in blood.

Already holding a door knob Helga froze. "It's better to have some place to go", she thought. "I can't just hang around waiting for some maniac to pull my guts out! Think, girl, where has to be a way".

A bell rung and the crowd finally set off home. Guys and girls flirting, as usual, chatting about the party they were going to throw at someone's place today. There was youth, and fun, and the Sun, and hormones, and everything - just like every other day. And there was a tall guy with a strange head who suddenly became uninterested in all those fancy things. He spotted a huge gap, an error, a failure which stuck in his opinions about life. He could feel it, finally, but wasn't able to figure things out yet. He knew one thing - something was wrong about his world. Something wasn't right in his head. He slipped on something. And this something was Helga.

A girl all alone in a train compartment. The girl, who stole all the money she could found at her parents house, knowing that her father keeps most of his savings in a bank. The girl looking out of the window while the train leaves the platform; the girl who's crying while the carriage gathers speed. The girl running away from everything she used to know before, whose suitcase is stuffed with the little pieces of her past. That girl is leaving right now, while no one knows, no one says goodbye, no one watches her go.
Does anyone hear her saying her name over and over again in order to calm herself down?

Arnold somehow found himself standing near the front door of Helga's house.
"I'm not guilty, this is ridiculous!" he mentally kicked himself. "Still, I don't feel well about it...This isn't like me anyway. I have to do it, have to apologize, so the things would go as they used to".
He knocked. But no one responded. He waited a little. Then, thinking that Helga's parents might not be at home, and she herself might not want to see anyone, he pushed the door, which was unlocked for some reason, and entered the house. A little piece of paper had fallen beneath his feet.
"Bob, Miriam! I'm off to Phoebe's, don't know when I'll return, maybe never. Have a nice day!"
The paper seemed really old, written many years ago by the hand of little Helga. Arnold took it and put into his pocket. Then he went upstairs. Helga's room. No one was there. The whole house was empty. Strange feeling crept into guy's heart. He looked at the note once little piece of Helga gave him the understanding that she isn't anywhere near this walls.

He sat onto Helga's bed. It shocked him how much did this room change since he was here the last time. Helga must have thrown all her toys and other romantic rubbish away someday. At some extremely sad day of hers. How many sad days have she had? Arnold stood up. He felt very uncomfortable. It would be much better if she could just apologize and go away to his own happy life. Being in this room gave him creeps, as if he was sitting in the same room with a dying person. But he couldn't go away. He had to explore this new world of Helga, which he never seemed to notice. "Why couldn't she just be like me? Why couldn't she just look on a bright side?.. She never could. As long as I can remember her"- he kept wondering. Lost in his thoughts, he opened the door to Helga's closet. He didn't even think what he was doing, but then he saw all the mess Helga had left there. Clothes and pieces of paper with Helga's hand-writing on it. He picked up the old pink dress and couldn't help but laugh. "Gosh, she used to be so little, but seemed to be a mountain!" And then, under all the pile he noticed an old shoe box. He opened it. There was a red shoe without a pair, a little pink book and and old worn-out bow.
Those things seemed very familiar and the sight of them shocked Arnold very hard. He took the box, went out of the closet, and settled on the floor near the bed.
He felt like 9 year old boy again.

The note Arnold found was indeed an old note Helga wrote 7 years ago. Helga spotted it then she tried to figure out where to go. Phoebe! Sure.
"No matter what was between us, Phoebe won't refuse to help me.I know her. At least she won't just throw me away. We can figure out our troubles later, I just ..need her now".
Phoebe was surprised to hear Helga's , as usually, Phoebe was quick to get into the situation. Helga knew that Phoebe was now finishing her second year at California Institute of Technology while her peers where only graduating from school,and she was currently living in a little flat she bought on the prize money for some remarkable discovery she'd made while studying in her specialized school. The word "Quick" could definitely Phoebe's middle name.
Good old Phoebe, now the successful young scientist, provided Helga her hand immediately. Helga's muffled voice erased years and years of the two being apart. This was the most wonderful solution Helga could think of. Relieved, she thrust the old note into the slit between the front door and a wall and left home.