Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters mentioned in this story.
They all belong to their rightful owner: Craig Bartlett.
Title: "Leave the lights on"
In the last chapter: After discovering that Helga was the girl who was going to be his stepsister, Arnold was more than a little embarrassed at the table. After a roller coaster of a conversation, Helga pulled Arnold out of the restaurant to talk with him. Without much of a warning, she told him to tell his dad to break off his engagement with her mom for their own sake.
Helga's words wouldn't leave Arnold's mind the next day, but Lila managed to calm him down with some soothing words and a bit of advice. That advice was shot down though when Helga came to pick Arnold up after school and told him it was more selfish not to warn his dad against Miriam than the other way around. At a picnic Miriam had planned, she told her daughter she was going to switch school, which Helga was happy about at first, until she found out she was going to start at Arnold's school.
Author's 1st note: TO THE GUEST REVIEWER WHO POINTED OUT THAT A FRENCH RESTAURANT WOULD USUALLY HAVE AN ENGLISH MENU: Yes, I agree with you, but in both of episodes of Hey Arnold! where they visit Chez Paris, it's pointed out both times that this restaurant doesn't have an English menu; if they had, Helga wouldn't have ordered calves' brains and eggs by mistake in Arnold's valentine and she wouldn't have had the chance to "brag" about her French skills in Dinner for four if Arnold hadn't asked for an English menu ;) I would usually write this kind of message privately to people, but since it's a guest reviewer they don't have a profile here so I can't write to them personally. I hope he/she sees this though :3
[Please notify me if you notice any grammar mistakes. This isn't my first language, so there's bound to be mistakes.]
Chapter 3: "Faint scent of vanilla"
At two opposite parts of the town Hillwood, two different blondes were currently getting ready for school; one for yet another day at the same place and the other for a new day at a new school. Both blondes were afraid of how this day would go and how their classmates were going to react to this development.
They arrived at P.S. 218 around the same time and they stared at each other outside the gates. The female blonde sighed. "Don't tell me you've been waiting for me to get here?" she asked.
The male blonde shook his head. "No, this is a coincidence, but… I guess it's a good thing. I can show you where our classroom is." He said and shrugged.
Helga sighed and followed Arnold dutifully, but in annoyance. She looked around as they walked through the school, noticing that they were getting a few odd stares from the other students.
Helga leaned closer to Arnold. "Uh, are people staring at us?"
Arnold looked around and then back at her. "It's a small school and you're new. It is the start of the year, but you missed a week so I guess that's why they're curious?" he suggested.
Helga groaned. "Do me a favor, bro. Keep my close; I get pissed off easily by this kind of attention." She admitted and scowled at a younger girl who shrieked before running off.
"Just… don't beat anyone up, ok?" Arnold joked.
"No promises." Helga stated and Arnold went bug-eyed.
"You're kidding… right?" he hoped. She looked at him for a moment and then shrugged. She is joking, right? Right? Arnold thought with slight panic before they walked into the classroom.
People didn't notice them at first, but soon Gerald noticed Arnold and said hi to him, which Helga noticed created a kind of domino-effect. "Are you really popular or something?" Helga whispered in Arnold's ear.
He shivered in surprise at the way her breath had tickled him. "I wouldn't call it that, but I guess I'm well-liked." He answered with a humble smile. She looked at him curiously and noticed that people were looking at her now.
"Hey, aren't you Arnold's stepsister?" Gerald asked curiously.
"To be." Helga added and she nodded.
"Oh, so you're the new student?" someone said behind Helga and said girl flinched as she turned around and saw an older woman standing behind her.
"Jesus, don't sneak up on me like that!" Helga bellowed in shock.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you." The teacher said in a chuckle.
"You're the one who should be scared; my natural instinct when someone sneaks up on me is to swing my fist at them. Ask a former classmate of mine." Helga said, holding her right wrist as if she had to hold it down.
The teacher looked frightened for a moment, but then chuckled nervously as she walked towards her desk.
Arnold pulled on Helga's arm gently. "That was a joke, right?" he asked in a whisper.
"Hell no. Brainy was my personal stalker through my childhood. I've broken his glasses on more than one occasion." Helga replied louder than what Arnold had in mind and so, the classmates heard her.
"Maybe I should take your example." A girl with black hair said as she looked at a black-haired male who was making goo-goo eyes at her. Arnold knew that was Rhonda and she probably didn't mean it, but part of her probably did.
"Mr. Shortman, please take your seat. Miss Pataki, would you join me up here for a bit?" the teacher asked and readjusted her pencil skirt. Helga was obviously not too keen on the idea of standing in front of everyone like that, but Arnold pushed her softly towards their teacher before he went towards his own desk. "My name is Mrs. Oah." The woman whispered in Helga's ear.
The blonde girl simply nodded. Oah? Where is she from? She wondered, but lost interest quickly.
"Now, everyone. This comes as a bit of a surprise to us all, I was only informed of Helga Pataki's arrival yesterday, but I want you all to welcome her into this class. Would you like to tell them something about yourself?"
Helga looked at the woman in disbelief. "I am of the opinion that if people want to get to know me, they'll ask me themselves." She responded, not as cruelly as Arnold had expected, but still enough to make the teacher go quiet for a bit.
"W-Well, then perhaps I can say something about you?" the teacher suggested, but didn't wait for an answer. "Helga Pataki's old English teacher called me and told me I was so lucky to get her in my class; she said she is really going to miss you." She said to Helga who tried to stop the woman, but she didn't notice. "She told me that Helga has an extraordinary gift when it comes to poetry and even sent me a poem of hers. Oh, Miss Pataki, I absolutely adored it. Any chance you might read it aloud to us?" she asked and pulled out a piece of paper from her pocket.
Helga grabbed the woman's hand tightly, shooting her a warning look. "Mrs. Oah, this is my first day at a new school and I'd prefer not to bring too much attention to myself." She said warningly and gestured for the woman to give her the poem.
"Oh, uh, sure, I understand." Mrs. Oah said as she gave Helga the paper. She watched as the girl curled it into a ball. "I have your poem on my computer. Do you want me to delete it?" she asked in concern.
Helga shook her head as she looked towards the trashcan. "As my English teacher you'll get to read more of my poems anyway so I don't get why you'd want to keep it, but go ahead." She said before she threw the paper ball over her shoulder and used her foot to kick it towards the trashcan. It fell in perfectly and it left everyone stunned.
"Nice." Sid muttered under his breath.
"I just don't want anyone else to read my poems. Is that all right, Mrs. Oah?" Helga asked. The teacher simply nodded, still staring at the trashcan. "Where am I supposed to sit?" Helga asked and looked around, noticing one empty seat in the classroom. Oh, fuck my life. She thought, holding back a groan.
"Well, your mother told me that Arnold is going to be your stepbrother when she marries his dad so she requested to have you two sit together if possible." Mrs. Oah answered nervously.
"What fun." Helga said with an artificial quirky grin before she headed towards the deck Arnold was sitting next to.
"Hey, what was your name again?" a girl asked just as Helga was about to pass her. She stopped to look at her. The girl had short, black and bobbed hair and was wearing an expensive looking red dress. She recognized her as the girl who was the love interest of the creepy looking guy behind her.
"What is your name?" Helga decided to ask with a fake smile.
"Rhonda Wellington Lloyd." The girl introduced herself as, flipping her hair as she did so and smiling as if she was on a catwalk. "Now, what was your name?"
"Helga G. Pataki."
"G? As in gangster?" Rhonda joked, earning a laugh from a mulatto girl with blonde afro.
Helga smirked. "That's for you to find out, isn't it?" she asked sarcastically as she leaned threateningly closer towards Rhonda who was starting to look a little nervous.
"Helga, huh?" she repeated and then chuckled. "You don't hear that too often. It's not a very feminine name, is it?"
"Oh, yes, and Rhonda Wellington Lloyd doesn't at all sound like the name of a pretentious poodle." Helga retorted, earning a chuckle from the girl with the blonde afro.
Rhonda shot the girl a hateful stare. "Nadine." She warned the she stopped chuckling immediately, but her face was still contorted into a grin.
"Girls, girls." Mrs. Oah said and they both looked at her. "Please, you can… get to know each other later. Miss Pataki, please take your seat."
Helga shot Rhonda one final look before sitting next to Arnold. Helga moved her foot up on the chair, half crouching on it as she waited for Mrs. Oah to begin the lesson.
The woman was looking nervously at Helga though. "Miss Pataki, would you be so kind to remove your foot from the chair?" she asked, her fingers twiddling.
Helga looked down at herself and then moved her foot away so quickly that Arnold flinched in surprise. She moved it over her knee, almost sitting with her legs crossed though not really and looked up at Mrs. Oah. "Better?"
The teacher sighed. "As long as your foot isn't on the chair or table…" she answered and turned towards the board, but then remembered something. "Mr. Shortman? Since Helga is your stepsister will you be so kind to take it upon you to teach her the ropes around here and show her around?"
Arnold and Helga looked at each other in disbelief, only to silently groan and look away. This is going to be a long day.
Once the first lesson was over and it was time for recess, Helga noticed that Rhonda grabbed a couple of girls by either their hand or by order and got them out of the room faster than humanly possible. "I'll bet you five bucks that your self-announced queen is talking trash about me right now." She whispered in Arnold's ear.
Arnold wanted to insist that she was wrong, but he knew Rhonda too well to do that. "Rhonda can be a little… uh…" he tried and scratched his neck thoughtfully.
"A pain in the ass?"
"I was going to see moody, but that works too."
"I'm going to go and bust her." Helga stated before he stood up.
"I'm not so sure if that's such a - - and she's gone…" Arnold observed as he watched Helga jog out of the room.
It didn't take the blonde long before she found whom she was looking for; she could hear said girl talking in a high-pitched voice. "Can you believe her?! It's her first day and then she acts like that. Who does she think she is? Trying to act like some dangerous riot girl."
"I seem to have made quite the impression, huh?" Helga asked and started leaning at the corner of the hallway casually.
Rhonda, along with three other girls, flinched when they saw her. "Oh, hi, Helga." The taller brunette said with a smile while the mulatto one, the one named Nadine if Helga remembered correctly, waved awkwardly. Helga looked towards the shorter girl with cheeks that matched her hair. She was staring at Helga curiously and Helga wasn't sure how to react to that.
"Look, Helga." Rhonda said and crossed her arms. Helga copied her action, successfully earning a scowl from the ravenette. "I don't really like your attitude."
"Well then we have something in common, I guess. Remember you were the first one to start this, princess."
"How was I the first one to start this?!"
"Um, do the words not a very feminine name ring a bell in that bloated head of yours?" Helga asked as she knocked on said girl's forehead.
Rhonda swatted her hand away. "Well, it isn't."
"Who cares if it's not feminine? You do, obviously, since you felt the need to point it out. What? Do you have a problem with me because you know I could fuck you up if I wanted to?" Helga asked, stepping closer to the girls. Rhonda reacted by putting her hands up towards her face in defense and Helga snickered. "I'm not going to hit you even if I kinda want to." She said as she pushed Rhonda's hands down and smirked at her. "Wanna start over?"
Rhonda looked at Helga's extended hand in disbelief. She looked at the other girls for guidance, Helga assumed, but one of them simply shrugged while the others didn't react at all. Rhonda turned to look at Helga, her eyes narrowed suspiciously, but then she took her hand.
Helga purposely tightened her hold around Rhonda's fingers, eliciting a pained groan from the girl. "Remember: I can fuck you up if you decide to give me enough reason to." She warned before letting go.
Rhonda gasped as she stretched and bended her fingers painfully. "You're a such a psychopath!" she hissed, but went quiet when she saw the boys approaching them.
"Hey, girls. Wanna join us in the park?" Gerald asked as he gestured with his skateboard.
"Ew, no thanks." Rhonda answered and shot the girls a warning glance before they answered. They all shook their heads like puppets following their master.
"I'll go." Helga answered and stood next to Arnold for effect, smirking at Rhonda who shot her a hateful glance. "I left my board at home though."
"You skate?" Sid asked in disbelief as they started walking. "The girl who writes poetry?"
Helga groaned. "See." She said and pointed at him. "Those kind of comments are the reason I don't tell people about the poetry."
"No kidding. That's really embarrassing when you're this kind of girl." Harold stated.
"This kind of girl?" Helga questioned.
"You know, a cool girl."
Helga hummed and smiled at Arnold. "Mind if I borrow yours, bro?" she asked and eyed his skateboard.
"Sure." Arnold answered with a smile and then looked over his shoulder to look at Rhonda furiously talking to the girls. "Uh, what were you all talking about before?"
Helga looked over her shoulder and snickered. "Oh, just about boys and nails and shopping and hair and, ugh, I can't do it." She said and gestured as if she was puking. "I busted her trash talking me; I think I already made an enemy."
"Don't beat yourself up too much; Rhonda makes enemies really fast." Gerald said.
"And I do too; Shit, we have more in common than I thought." Helga cursed, earning a laugh from the boys around here as they walked out in the school yard.
"So, Helga. You any good?" Gerald asked while Sid stood on his skateboard.
"I don't know; what counts as good?" Helga asked as she watched Sid jump onto a low bench, using the nose of the skateboard as the only thing keeping him from falling back to the concrete and then jumped down.
"Can you do that?" Gerald asked to specify his earlier question.
Helga shrugged. "Sure, but I prefer the BS darkslide over the noseslide." She answered.
Harold stared at her in disbelief. "You cannot do a darkslide." He insisted. Helga rolled her eyes and gestured towards Arnold who gave her his skateboard obediently. As soon as Sid was out of the way, Helga skated towards the bench, flipped the skateboard around so she was sliding on the other side of it, flipped it again and jumped down on the concrete.
She skated back to the boys who were all staring at her in disbelief and flipped the skateboard so it landed in her hand. "Close your mouths, boys. Bugs may find their way in there." She said.
She gestured for Arnold to take his skateboard back, but he shook his head. "No way. I want to see what else you can do." He insisted and pushed it back at her.
"Yeah. Hey, can you do this?" Sid asked challengingly and got back on his skateboard. Helga snickered as she followed him on Arnold's skateboard.
"Dude, you have like the coolest sister ever!" Gerald bellowed in surprise. "Wanna trade?"
"Timberly's a sweet girl; don't be so hard on her."
"Yeah, but would she go and skate with me? I think not." Gerald stated as he watched Helga copy whatever Sid did perfectly.
"I love your sister!" Sid shouted, which caused Helga to laugh loudly. Arnold smiled at her and she smiled back. She really is cool.
"I swear to God, it's like we already live together." Helga said as she walked next to Arnold. He nodded. Right before the day was over, Miles had texted Arnold and told him to bring Helga home with him. Apparently, Miriam wanted to make up for yesterday's lunch failure and now wanted to make them all dinner. That meant spending basically the whole day together as a family since it wasn't even close to dinnertime.
"Step back." Arnold warned when he opened the door into Sunset Arms.
Helga flinched as she watched all the animals run in front of her and out on the street. "Who the fuck owns all those animals?" she asked in disbelief, still staring at them as she followed Arnold inside.
"I don't know." He answered and closed the door behind them. She shot him a confused look, but decided to question him about those animals later. "Hi, dad!"
"Hi, son! Hi there, Helga." Miles said from inside the living room.
"Want to come to my room?" Arnold asked somehow awkwardly. Lila was the only girl he had ever had in his room and that was back in fourth grade due to an assignment and nothing else.
"Uh, sure. I just wanna have a word with Miriam about dinner first." Helga said and walked through the living room. She heard Arnold walk up the stairs, but she was more interested in where her mom was. "Uh, Miles? Where's Miriam?"
"Oh, out in the kitchen." Miles answered, bopping his head to the side towards the kitchen.
"Why is she out there already?"
"She said she wanted to practice first." He explained, his eyes following the words in his newspaper robotically.
Helga hummed before heading towards the kitchen. Like Miles had said, Miriam was indeed practicing cooking. She was studying the oven right then and was experimenting with several pots and pans on each hotplate.
"Miriam, what are you doing?" Helga asked in disbelief.
Miriam turned to look at her and smiled. "Hi, sweetheart. How was your first day in school?"
"Pretty good; the boys seem to like me, the girls not so much. Anyways, that's not why I'm here. I'm here to question your actions."
"What do you mean?"
"I've known you my whole life and the only time I've ever seen you turn on the stove was to light the occasional cigarette."
"Well, Helga…" Miriam said unsurely. "People grow, people change."
"People get drunk while watching the food channel." Helga retorted.
Miriam shot Helga a panicked stare before she gestured for her to approach her. Helga did so a little suspiciously and leaned closer to her mom. "Helga, I haven't had a smoothie since Miles proposed and - - "
"Stop calling them smoothies." Helga said, making air quotes around the last words. "We both know what you actually put in that blender."
Miriam sighed. "Nevertheless… I haven't used my blender since Miles proposed and I plan to keep it that way." She insisted and leaned back up.
Helga crossed her arms. "I give it a week." She decided before turning around to walk out of the kitchen.
"Helga!" Miriam hollered unhappily.
"I'll be in Football Head's room." Helga told both Miriam and Miles as she hurried up the stairs.
"He's in the room at the end!"
"Thanks, Miles!" Helga answered before jogging through the hallway. She looked around and listened to the sounds coming from each room. From one of them, she could hear a woman yelling and a man trying to calm her down. From another she could hear some soft guitar playing and from a third, she heard the sound of a hammer against rocks. She stopped in front of Arnold's small staircase and turned to look at the different rooms. What a nuthouse. She thought before walking up and opening Arnold's door.
The owner of the room was currently sitting on his floor in front of his TV with a console in his hands. "Hi, Helga. Uh, do you mind if I…?" he asked as he gestured towards the game.
"Naw, go ahead. I'll watch." Helga answered and flopped onto his bed to look at the TV. She narrowed her eyes and then snickered when she recognized the game. "Tomb Raider? Isn't that game old as shit by now?"
"It's the new game."
"It's not new anymore. It came out in 2013."
"I was a little slow in getting it." Arnold admitted before Lara Croft screamed in the game as she died. "I can't believe it. I keep dying at this part!"
Helga leaned closer and watched as Arnold went through the same part again and died miserably once more. "Um… you do realize you can just blow them all up with one arrow, right?" she asked and looked at him over his shoulder.
Arnold frowned and looked at her. "What do you mean?" he asked and leaned his head against his bed, close to Helga's stomach though he didn't realize that.
"You see the barrels standing around them?" Helga asked as she pointed at the screen. "If you shoot a fire arrow at one of them, the whole fucking place will blow up like the fourth of July."
Arnold blinked a couple of times in disbelief. "You're kidding." He insisted.
Helga rolled her eyes before she snuck her arms around his neck, taking the controller out of his hands. "The hell I am." She insisted and started moving Lara on the screen. Arnold felt his heart starting to beat quicker at the feeling of her arms almost around him, but he ignored it and tried to focus on what she was doing in the game.
Like Helga had said, as soon as the fire arrow hit one of the barrels, it blew up and killed the enemies on the screen. Arnold stared at the dead men, the same men he had spent about an hour attempting to kill last night and had given up in frustration when he couldn't.
"See?" Helga said as she gave him the controller back and laid on the bed on her back.
Arnold stared at the screen for a bit before turning around and smiling at Helga. "How did you know that?"
"I've played it, bucko." Helga answered as she swung her whole body around until her head was resting on the edge of the bed and she was looking at the ceiling. "I have it on the computer though."
Arnold couldn't help but snicker in disbelief. He knew some girls played video games too, but he had never met one before. Most of the girls in his class were perhaps closer to the stereotype than Helga was. She was anything but stereotypical.
"What other games do you play?" Arnold asked, forgetting all about Tomb Raider.
"Hmm… mostly horror or action games. Like Amnesia, Outlast, Alien: Isolation… Sims 4." Helga listed.
"You play Sims?" Arnold asked in surprise. It wasn't a game that resembled the others after all.
"It's a good way to shut your brain off. Besides…" Helga said and rubbed her hands evilly together. "I like coming up with ways to kill them."
Arnold snickered. "Why doesn't that surprise me…?" he wondered, earning a small whack to his head from the blonde. He couldn't help but smile adoringly at her. He was definitely starting to feel comfortable around her. "Hey, wanna play a game?"
"What kind of game?" Helga asked as she stretched.
"Hmm… What would you do if…" he muttered and thought for a moment. "If your mom colored her hair?"
"Hm." Helga hummed thoughtfully. "Depends on the color, I guess, but I think my first thought would be that it was an accident. Miriam would never have the guts to make that big a change."
"Doesn't getting a divorce and getting re-married count as big changes?"
"That wasn't her changing, it was merely switching one man out with the other. It's not the same thing." Helga insisted, ignoring the frown Arnold shot her. "My turn? Ok, what would you do if… you went bald?"
Arnold readjusted his small blue hat on his head. "I'd probably get a bigger hat."
Helga started laughing hysterically. "Oh, I can't top that!" she acknowledged before sliding down the bed and eventually landing next to Arnold, still on her back and her legs on the bed.
He eyed her position for a bit before he turned around and copied it. "You know, it's a small thing, but I think I've noticed a habit of yours; you sit in weird positions."
Helga snickered. "Yeah, probably. I haven't always done that, but I think since I hit puberty I've changed a lot in general." She looked at him and put her index finger between her eyebrows. "I had a unibrow as a child."
"Really?"
"Yep, but, and I don't know why, one day I just looked at it and went: I don't want to look at that anymore." She shrugged. "Olga did the same thing though she refuses to admit she's ever had a unibrow. We both got it from our dad."
"What was he like anyway?"
"Ok." Helga said. "Imagine the biggest jerk you've ever met and clone him a couple of times before merging them together; that's my dad."
"Is he that bad?" Arnold asked in disbelief, his eyes wide in horror.
"He always called me Olga." Helga told him and that was all the proof he needed.
"Whoa… that's, uh… that's really bad."
Helga looked back at the ceiling, wondering if she really wanted to ask him what she was thinking about. "Football Head? Uh… you never told me about… what happened to your mom." She said softly.
He flinched, but relaxed right after. "Uh… it's not a pleasant story." He said, scratching his neck awkwardly. He wasn't sure if he wanted to go through the pain of telling the story again.
Helga shrugged. "I won't pry if you don't want to talk about it." She said.
He looked at her, noticing how oddly gently she was looking at him and then sighed. "Ok, I'll tell you."
"No pressure."
"No… I want you to know."
Once Arnold had told Helga the story about his parents and the things he experienced in his childhood, Helga also opened up to him. She told him about her feelings about her own family, admitting she did want a better relationship with at least her mom and sister, but didn't believe it could really happen because there was so many bad experiences between them all. The heavy subject was dropped at one point and they started playing whatever games on the PlayStation Helga could get her hands on.
They were in the middle of a game when Miles walked in. "Hey, kids. Dinner's - - "
"Hold on, Miles. I gotta kill your son first." Helga interrupted, her tongue pressed between her lips in concentration.
"No, you're not!" Arnold said as he pushed furiously on his buttons.
Helga groaned loudly when her character died. "No…!" she bellowed unhappily, but then chuckled. "I want a rematch!"
"Later, you two. Dinner's ready." Miles said in a chuckle.
"Ok, dad." Arnold said as he stood up and held his hand out for Helga to take. She took it with a smile and hoisted herself up.
"You two seem to be better friends." Miles said with a smile. The two teenagers looked a little awkwardly at each other, taking their hands back to hide them behind their backs, both shrugging innocently. Miles chuckled kindheartedly as he walked down the stairs, listening to his son and stepdaughter chuckling behind him; it was the most heavenly sound he had heard in years.
Arnold, Helga and Miles sat down at the table while Miriam put the dinner on the table. Helga lifted a curious eyebrow at the sight of the delicious food. "You sure you didn't order take-out?"
"Helga!" Miriam scolded, but chuckled at her daughter's insult disguised as a joke.
Arnold nudged his elbow against Helga and bopped his head towards the food when she looked at him. She frowned, having happily forgotten what she had promised to do if she lost this last match. With a sigh, she scooped up some of the pasta salad. She sent the bowl to Miles and looked suspiciously at the food. She gave Arnold a begging glance, but he shook his head and she groaned before taking some on her fork and putting it in her mouth.
Helga chewed for a moment and leaned closer to Arnold. "They're undercooked." She whispered in a muffled voice. Arnold sighed good-heartedly before scooping up some pasta on his own plate and started eating. Helga waited for his reaction and he nodded at her with a sour look. Miriam really was a bad cook.
"Wait. If you were making pasta salad, what were you doing with the stove earlier?" Helga asked curiously.
"Oh, I, uh, wasn't planning to make pasta salad at first, but the first dish wasn't a success so I figured I couldn't go wrong with pasta salad at least." Miriam admitted with a smile.
Helga couldn't help but snort, earning a reprimanding elbow to her arm from Arnold, which earned him a shove right back.
Miles smiled. "See how good friends they've become already." He observed.
"Oh, that makes me so happy, Helga." Miriam said and put her hand over her daughter's. "Especially since I have some news to share with you."
Helga stopped chewing and swallowed instead. "You're still not knocked up, right?"
Miriam slapped her daughter's hand even though she knew was joking. "You have both realized we will be living together once Miles and I are married, right?" she asked.
"Oh, damn. I had just gotten used to our rundown apartment, it was starting to feel like home." Helga retorted.
Miriam shook her head at Helga's comment, but ignored it. "Well, Miles and I have in fact already found a house and the owners are really eager to get it sold quickly so we have to buy it now if we want it."
"Wait, what are you saying?" Arnold asked in confusion, looking at Miles nervously.
"We already bought the house, my boy." Miles answered gently.
Helga choked on the water she had been in the middle of drinking and Arnold patted her back gently, but his mind was one big mess. "Wait. Already? I-I thought we weren't going to move until you two got married."
"Well, that was our plan too, Arnold, but the owners didn't want to wait so we had to buy it now or never and it's perfect. Helga, you're going to love it. You'll have such a big room." Miriam said, hoping her daughter wouldn't throw a tantrum.
It wasn't Helga Miles was worried about though and he didn't have to be. Helga seemed genuinely happy about moving into a proper house and not having to live with rats. The last time she had been at her old house was the day before yesterday and that was only because Bob had called her and told her she had forgotten something in her room, which he had found while turning her room into a man cave.
Arnold seemed to be in complete shock though. "I thought… I thought It'd take a little longer before we had to move." He said and looked at his dad who looked guiltily back.
"Arnold, there isn't enough room in Sunset Arms for all four of us… Not unless you want to share a room with Helga." Miles said. Both teenagers looked awkwardly at each other, silently agreeing that was definitely not an option.
"But…" Arnold insisted. "W-When are we moving?"
Miles looked across the table towards Miriam who nodded encouragingly at him. "Well, Arnold, um… the house is fully furnished because the previous owners wanted new furniture for their new house so it's technically all ready to move in whenever we want to, so… um…" he muttered uncomfortably. Arnold stared at his plate for a moment before he stood up from his chair slowly and walked out of the dining room without a word.
Helga couldn't help but scowl at Miles. "Miles, this is none of my business and frankly, I'm personally happy to be moving, but he's lived here since he was a baby. His grandparents live here too, the people who raised him." She said almost pleadingly. "Is it really impossible to live here?"
"I want that too, Helga, but there's simply not enough room. It's not the same like when Arnold was a child; there are no empty rooms here anymore." Miles said and put his face in his hands in gloom.
Helga watched as Miriam stood up to walk to Miles and console him; Helga decided to do the same for Arnold so she stood up without a word and ran up the stairs and eventually reached Arnold's room. She knocked before entering and noticed him sitting on his bed, his knees pulled all the way up to his chin.
Arnold smiled halfheartedly. "Sorry. Is my dad angry?"
"More like he's sad because he actually wants to stay here too." Helga answered as she closed the door behind her and sat down next to Arnold on the bed.
He hid his face in his arms. "I'm a bad son."
"Quite the opposite." Helga insisted. "You still want them to get married?" she asked and Arnold nodded. "Seriously? Even if it makes you this miserable?"
"I just want my dad to be happy…"
"Ok, ignoring the fact that I've already told you Miriam isn't going to make him happy, then don't you have things reversed?" Helga asked. Arnold looked at her, blinking a couple of times in wonder. "You're the child; isn't it him who's supposed to want you to be happy?"
Arnold thought Helga's words over, knowing it was probably true, but didn't have it in him to mull it over for too long. He let his head fall and his face eventually landed on Helga's shoulder, which caused her to flinch. She looked at him for a bit before patting his back awkwardly. She sighed as she moved her hand up into his hair, nuzzling it soothingly as she rested her cheek on his head.
"It'll be ok…" Helga whispered as kindly as she could despite feeling her heart beat awkwardly against her ribcage. Arnold's eyes widened at her words and for some reason, as he noticed the faint scent of vanilla on her neck, he felt his worries disappear.
Author's 2nd note: I promise this isn't going to be one of those stories where there is this somewhat devastating news at the end of every freaking chapter xD
I have never understood why we never saw Helga skate in the show; I don't know, it seems so her in my opinion. Even Arnold skates in the show xD