"Well Helga," she turned to the boy in front of her, surprised that he was answering Phoebe's question. He kept rubbing the back of his neck as he always did when he was nervous. Helga scrunched her eyebrow. What was there to be scared about anyway? She fell asleep, big deal. It's not like she fell down a well and was stuck in it for a week.

But she did have a headache. And a major one at that. Her head felt like a bowling ball that hit a seven-ten split – like the ones Tish would make when she competed against her husband's team or something like that. Either way, it sucked. No doubt about that. She rubbed her head harder as she stared into those green –

Wait a minute. She wasn't supposed to do this to herself. Not again. Helga lowered her face back to the blankets, making it seem as though it was just her head bothering her, but enough to make it seem like she was still listening to the Football Head.

He sighed, lowering his hand down and scooted closer. It was a little discomforting because she could still smell that shampoo of his. "Gerald, Eugene, Curly and I were upstairs when we heard you scream. So we came down here to find out what was wrong and Sheena told us that you had a nightmare."

And then he patted her knee again. And every muscle in her leg tensed. Not good. Hopefully he didn't notice.

It was obvious that he could still affect her like this. But they hadn't talked since the day at the auditorium, so it was no brainer that this would happen, but still…it was not fair. He was perfect, no matter what in her eyes at least. And knowing what he did to her, with every right considering how she treated him, it was still painful. Between him and her, Helga knew in her mind that it was her fault. Arnold would never want to hurt her. But he had spoken the truth, even if it was meant to get out of an awkward conversation at the time.

Her decision to get over him was for the best, but it was getting harder to go through with her plans at this rate. There was so much she could say to him, but none of it would make a difference in how he felt about her. For once, she was doing something completely fair and right.

No lies, no tricks, nothing. It was genuine, but it was choking her at the same time.

Deciding that it was a good idea to ignore him, Helga turned to Sheena who was sitting on the bed beside Eugene on his right. She kept tugging on her sweatshirt around her waist. Putting her arms behind her, Helga sat up further on the bed before finally speaking again. Her throat felt dry, but at least she could talk. She coughed a bit.

"What makes you think that I had a nightmare? I'm not an idiot when I say that everyone has them, but I never scream when they happen to me." She coughed a bit more, and she could feel her sister on the right stand up. Olga looked concerned as she touched her shoulder, which probably meant that she took care of her. Great. Now her sister was going to play nurse for who knows how long.

"Do you need a glass of water baby sister?" But Helga, feeling her throat all scratchy, couldn't say no actually. She felt like she had just gotten through the Sahara. She nodded. "Yeah, sure whatever. Just make it snappy, and cold too." Helga shooed her hand off while Olga nodded. Walking up to the dressers, she grabbed a wet glass and went passed Gerald, Lila, and Curly into the bathroom.

Helga turned to Sheena again. "Now, talk because I don't know what is going on around here. But someone better start explaining more of this -"

"Helga!" Phoebe said with a stern expression. "Don't say that word." She could feel her best friend tighten her grip on her left shoulder. But the blonde just shrugged and faced her for a second. "Well, it's the truth Pheebs. I mean one minute I'm asleep and the next I'm surrounded by a million people. Can you blame me for being confused here?"

Sheena shook her head. "No, we don't blame you Helga. In fact, it's perfectly natural given the circumstances that you would feel this way." She smiled slightly. And Helga nodded again.

"What circumstances?" she asked slowly, toying with the soft fabric beneath her fingers a bit. Her muscles started to feel sore, but at least the bedding felt nice and comfortable. The brunette across from her continued.

"Well, you see Helga, Nadine came in here to ask you something when you were already asleep. But she said you looked sick when she got back so we came in to check up on you and you were moving and crying and basically, well, we couldn't get you to wake up." Sheena kept breathing in and out calmly, but it was hard for her because she was becoming hysterical.

Eugene rubbed her back. "It's ok Sheena. Helga's fine now. Why don't you let Phoebe finish? You don't mind, do you Phoebe?" He looked at her sadly, and Phoebe nodded. "Most certainly."

She let go of Helga and moved in front of her, calm and relaxed. But she had tears in her eyes, which Helga took immediate notice of. She cringed on the inside. Did she worry her best friend so much that she cried for her? That wasn't good.

"I, I first want to apologize to you Helga, because I believe I was the one that made you scream in the first place." Luckily, Helga stayed silent, tilting her head to the side as a way to show her confusion to Phoebe. They always had a quiet language sometimes, and her friend understood it well, so she continued. "I was trying to get you to wake up by telling you fun things that we could do together if you woke up and be fine. But I may have said something accidently that probably caused you to shout."

Helga reached out her hand to grab Phoebe's. It was just natural given how much she seemed to care about her. It was just the right thing to do at the moment. But she had to ask. "What did you say that was so bad? Because I know you wouldn't do that intentionally given those things called tears on your face Pheebs."

Her best friend frowned a bit more, and came closer to her hesitantly. "If you don't mind, Helga, is it alright if I whisper it to you? I think it is more of a private thing between us." She gestured to both of them. Ok, what would be so private between them that no one else in the room could know about anyway? But since she seemed desperate enough to save her some face it probably was important. After all, she still had some ego left in her.

Turning to the rest of the people in the room, including Olga who was standing by the door probably waiting for them to finish, she almost glared but not quite. "Ok, so long as no one, and I repeat, no one asks about this or even mentions it to anyone else. Because apparently this means a lot to Phoebe if you respect both of us." She tried to finish it off nicely, and not use the threat of Old-Betsy or the Five Avengers on anybody.

And it seemed to work too because Gerald nodded who had his arms crossed while leaning against the dressers. "We won't tell anyone so long as you can make Phoebe stop crying, and yes we won't ask you guys about this secret or whatever unless you tell us." Good. At least Geraldo got some sense about this. It was probably because he liked Phoebe so much. He made it way obvious a long time ago about that one. But that situation between them could be figured out later.

Right now there was the matter of what could be so important that it had to be whispered in her ear. Was it really that bad? Nothing much else could be said besides nods coming from everyone else as the black haired girl got closer to her, leaned by her left ear and spoke softly.

"Now Helga, please don't overreact because keep in mind of who is in the room." Alright, so it had to deal with someone that was in here. Man that meant that she couldn't say anything in shock, which it seemed to be going in that direction. She nodded nervously. "I think I accidently said the words 'ice cream' to you when I was trying to get you to wake up." She spoke it rather quickly, but it still was clear to her.

It all stopped for Helga…and she remembered what probably happened while she thought she was asleep.

"Come on. Helga if you wake up, we'll do anything you want when we get to the market. Buy some cool things, laugh at other people if you want," she sobbed, "Anything you want. I promise. And if we can bring down your temperature, maybe we can get some ice cream or something like that. How does that -"

"No!" Helga shot up.

No wonder why Phoebe was so upset. She knew of Helga's plans to get over Arnold for a long time now. And she knew that her best friend didn't want her to do this. But she tried to support Helga given how serious she had been the past few weeks. She hadn't spoken to the blonde boy in front of her that much, but she was still having a hard time not thinking about him. So having her shout really must have scared her.

"Helga, are you ok?" The girl leaned back a bit, probably worried about her reaction as to what she did. Almost like Helga would say that their friendship was over because of this.

As if that would ever happen.

She nodded for what seemed to be the millionth time that day. But she smiled a bit. "Yeah, I'm fine Pheebs. I'm a little surprised, but I know that was definitely an accident, and," she took a deep breath. She had never said this in front of so many people before, but her "sister" was indeed an exception for this. "I'm sorry that I scared you. I didn't think that could have such a strong reaction for me I guess. We can't predict these things can we huh?"

Helga rubbed her right arm. And Phoebe giggled a bit. "It's quite alright Helga. And no, we can't predict, so I'll try to be more careful about these things in the future. You know, in case if it happens again like Sheena said it could."

Her eyebrow scrunched in confusion. "What do you mean it could happen again? Why would she say that?" Sheena took a deep breath, still slightly overwhelmed by what she said earlier apparently because Eugene was still rubbing her back.

"It wasn't just a nightmare Helga. From what I learned with my Aunt Shelley, I think that you actually had a sleep terror from the stress."

That was random. And stupid. But luckily she didn't say that. She was too tired to care at this point about being mean anyway. "What stresses are you talking about? I'm not stressed." She shrugged herself and moved a bit closer to the other girl. It was difficult, but at least that was a sign that she was going to be fine later when she regained her strength a bit.

Sheena struggled to answer her question. "You know, from getting ready for this trip, to being in new surroundings. Plus you probably didn't get enough sleep on the flight here like the rest of us so it only makes sense." She gestured toward the rest of the people in the room who all nodded in agreement. They all were still tired and exhausted, and probably more so than she was because she had gotten some rest unlike them.

But for some reason, the Football Head was the only one that didn't. He looked at the two of them back and forth. And to be honest, it was kind of weird. "But Sheena, what about what we are were talking about right before Helga woke up? I mean Curly, weren't you trying to say something? Did something happen between you and Helga?"

What on earth was that supposed to mean? She hadn't seen Curly since…oh yeah…

However maybe she laughed too long as she thought of this because looking at the guys now; well they weren't thrilled by her reaction. They all stood up now and were inching closer to her with strong disgusted looks on their faces. Her laughter died down as they seemed to be ganging up on her, causing her to back up into the wall. Harold's face was turning red, Sid stuck his nose up, Stinky did the opposite, and Curly gave another maniacal look. She could feel the sweat on her face and was actually a little fearful. She didn't know why either. Whenever she was acting like a bully, they would just yell and walk away, not crowd around her like this. "Hey, come on you guys," Helga stuttered, "You know that I, uh, thought that it was a funny… story. Yeah that's it!" She rubbed her right arm nervously. "I wasn't making fun of you guys…really! I swear!" Man, not being the bully anymore was making her a wimp.

She started to shut her eyes in fear that they might actually hurt her. But actually, she did deserve it. All she ever did was laugh at them, boss them around, and punched a guy every now and then. And now she knew where that got her in life – a lousy family, classmates who hate her, and the one person that Helga though was an exception couldn't even….

The girl ducked under one of the boy's arms as they ended up punching the wall with their fist. For a brief second she thought that a tear slid down her cheek. She deserved to be punished, to be hurt. The boy didn't scream or shout in pain. Nobody said a thing. And so Helga just kept her mouth and eyes shut, waiting for that second blow.

That probably had a lot to do with the sleep terror now that she thought about it. It was a stressful situation that she had put herself through.

She did that to herself, and she deserved it for sure. And Curly was a part of it no less.

Turning her eyes to the right, Curly was just in front of Olga. He had come a bit closer to her bed, but still far enough away to be closer to Rhonda-loid on the bed closest to the door. He shuffled his feet side to side, looking down with his hands in his pockets. Surely he remembered it. But it was as if he wasn't going to say anything.

Looking away, she could almost feel tears well up in her eyes. Right at that moment, he was the symbol of the fear that she had in that hallway probably less than two hours ago. And that just wasn't fair. But life wasn't fair to her either. So really, what difference did it make? For all she knew he was just a witness. She didn't know if he was the one that actually took a swing at her face. So really there was no point in blaming him.

She needed facts. She needed answers. She needed…the truth. But she was too afraid to go get it. Helga wasn't going to admit that out loud to anyone, especially Ar-Ar-Arnold. But it didn't seem like he was going to give up either. He never did. That was just who he was after all – determined, smart, help-

"Stop it!" she shouted in her mind. She didn't know who she was more scared of – the boy who hurt her emotionally or the boys who almost hurt her physically. Either way, it was painful.

"Ok", Arnold said crossing his arms, "something obviously happened between the two of you because you won't look at each other. And honestly, I'm not leaving until this is fixed." And she knew that was true. He'd done it before by trying to get people to work out their differences in the past. But there was nothing he could do to fix this.

And Gerald's voice spoke her thoughts exactly. He walked up to him and shook his head. "Hmm, hmm, hmm. Man you have got to stop it. We all know you want to help. But look at them, they clearly don't want it. So it's probably best for all of us if you would just-"

"Um, actually, there is something I want to say." Curly said. He looked up, and his expression was almost blank. However there was some sadness in the way his face was so tense. Helga knew that look from knowing her classmates all of those years. He was going to confess what happened out in the hallway. But he never felt guilty about anything. Well, unless it hurt the Princess' feelings. Since when would he care about the likes of her? Of a bully? Everyone looked at him, but he just stared at her. It was as if he knew something that she didn't know. And it was unnerving because this wasn't like him.

Lila spoke for the first time in a while. "What do you ever so want to say Curly?" She turned her back to Helga in front of the boy, but Helga could still see him.

"Well you see, me and some of the guys were just dragging our things up the hallway because Eugene and I broke the elevator at the other end of the hotel."

"And that sucked," mumbled Gerald. Helga almost laughed at that. It was still kind of funny thinking about it, but she refrained herself.

Curly continued pacing back and forth between the dressers and the bed closest to the door. "And I guess we were making some noise or whatever because Helga heard us and asked what happened. So we told her the story and she laughed."

Phoebe stared at her. "Helga…you know you shouldn't laugh at things like this." And Helga shrugged her shoulders, smiling a little bit. "Aw come on Pheebs, you would've laughed too. Besides, that's all that happened anyway. The guys said a few things. I said a few things back. And it was resolved before the Football Head called to them from the stairs."

The blonde stared at her in shock. "That's what was holding the guys up down the hall? You were arguing with them?" It was no surprise that he didn't sound pleased. And she didn't want to disappoint him. But it was better than him having to think that she needed saving. That was why she didn't say anything about getting punched in the face, or almost anyway. He had already done enough. It was better to separate themselves…for both of their sakes. She swallowed that sadness down her throat quietly.

However, it seemed as though the geek had other plans. He stopped his stupid pacing and faced Arnold by walking toward him. Helga could feel herself panic on the inside. What was he going to do? Tell him what really happened? No, that can't be…

"But really, it was-"

Then they heard a knock at the door; and the Princess groaned loudly lying her back on the bed she was on covering her eyes. "Who on earth would want to come in this room? We already had the guys come in."

Olga smiled. "I'm sure it is probably some of the other boys. Maybe they woke up and had nothing else to do but come and see us. I'll get the door." Walking up to it, she opened it but Helga couldn't make out who it was.

"Hola, como está?" It was a boy that was for sure; and definitely with a Spanish accent no less. But she still couldn't see behind Olga from where she was at. But her sister giggled. "Estoy bien."

"May I come in?" He sounded innocent enough, almost as if he was unsure if he were at the right door or not. They didn't know this kid! For all they knew he could be a spy or something. Helga wasn't sure how to feel about it. And knowing Olga, she would invite anybody in as long as they seemed like a good person. She even invited that liar and thought he loved her when they suddenly got engaged after a few weeks! That's not even love! If anyone knows what love takes and what it means to have it…well Helga didn't know other than what it feels like because she never had it to begin with.

"Well, we are quite crowded in here trying to help my baby sister. So I'm not sure-"

"Was she the one who screamed?" he asked suddenly.

Olga stammered a bit. "Yes. But how did you hear her though? Were you in a nearby room? If you were I am so sorry for the problem."

"No, I was not. However, miss, your sister screamed loud enough that I could hear her from the pool and I wanted to help. I think that the sliding doors were left open. Do you mind if I come in? I brought a first aid kit."

Helga could see Olga nod. "Of course, so long as it is a short visit because we all need our rest."

"Of course."

Passing her sister, the boy stepped into the room. He was their age by the look of it, and probably like a lot of locals, had a deep tan, black short and shaggy hair, a thinner frame but with some muscle, a pair of black sunglasses on his head, a purple t shirt with black shorts and white sandals. But his eyes were a deep brown, and a weird smile on his face. It was not that bad if a person really thought about it long enough. But he still had that geekish thing about him though. Helga just couldn't place it.

He waved his left hand as he went by Curly, Lila, and Gerald as he sat by Phoebe, pulling out a few things – bandages, aspirin, etc. Looking at everyone, he spoke. "So, are you all from the class that won the contest?" It sort of surprised Helga how well he spoke English. Maybe he took English classes while they took their own foreign language classes. Of course Helga chose to take French, but still.

Arnold nodded with a smile. "Yeah, I won actually. How did you find out anyway? Do you work here?" The boy grinned, closing the kit for the moment. "Yeah, but just part time. My uncle works for the hotel from time to time giving guests tours around the city. Because it is a nice place to be at, I thought I could be a, how you call it, a 'pool boy' I guess. Plus I heard from my uncle that he is going to give you all a tour tomorrow to learn about the culture. So that's how I know."

Gerald nodded. "That's cool man, but you still haven't told us your name."

Helga smirked a bit, feeling a bit better. Whether it was because she was more awake now or because they all had a new topic she didn't know – but at least it was a good distraction for the time being. "Yeah, you don't want us to have to call you 'pool boy' while we're here. Do you?" She crossed her legs. Hey, if she couldn't be sarcastic or mean to her classmates anymore, then the least she could do is get it off of her system with a guy she's not going to speak to very long.

But instead of flinching by her tone, he laughed a bit as he reached out his hand to shake hers. "I'm must apologize. My name is Montego Linares," he smirked back which shocked her with half lidded eyes, "and you must be the one whom I shall call 'screamer'." He pulled out her right arm to greet her, but she huffed at that while some of her classmates chuckled.

"The name's Helga G. Pataki bucko. So don't you forget it." But the creep just kept on smiling at her.

"Yes, of course. I promise I won't forget it either." He stared at her a moment longer before looking around the room. Leaning back he said, "Well, it seems like you have a lot of people here to take care of you. But maybe it would help if I knew all of your names."

And then the list began…

Looking behind her shoulder, her friend smiled. "I'm Phoebe." But luckily, she was good enough to know that Helga didn't like repeated greetings, so she took it over for everyone. "This is Arnold right next to you, Gerald right behind him, Lila with the red hair, Curly with the red glasses, Sheena and Eugene are on the bed in the middle, Rhonda in the red shirt, Nadine in the teal shirt, and you met Helga's sister Olga at the door. We also have Harold, Sid, Brainy, Stinky, Lorenzo, Mr. Simmons our teacher, and Principal Wartz. But if you see us all again later you'll meet them."

It was kind of funny to see Montego's eyes bug out. He really must not have been expecting that big of a class. "Wow, so there must be a lot of you all then. I'm not used to a big class."

Arnold looked at him, "You're not?"

Montego shook his head. "No. At most we have about five to ten students each year. So we all are really close," he looked around, "Are you all the same way?" The blonde nodded. "Yeah, I always thought so. We don't always get along, but the problems are typically worked out."

The black haired boy smiled again…ugh…he was just too happy for her taste. What was with this guy anyway? He reminded her of –

"Well that is good. Now let's see here," he looked through the stuff he put out on the bed a few minutes ago. "Helga, are you injured at all or have a headache? Because I have band aids, aspirin-"

She put out her hand to stop him and shook her head with her eyes closed. "I don't need the wraps, but the aspirin I'll take." Handing her the bottle, she pulled out a couple of pills. Looking around, Helga couldn't see any water until Olga walked up.

"Here you are Helga. Sorry it took a while, but I didn't want to interrupt you and your friends." Smiling her typical way, she handed the glass. It wasn't as cold as she wanted it, but she wanted the headache gone even more. Taking it from Olga, she gulped down her medicine and then some as her throat was still parched like sand paper.

Wiping her mouth off, she stared at her sister. She was only trying to help, but at least it showed improvement in that she was backing off. "Thanks Olga. I needed it almost as much as I needed that aspirin, so," she turned to Montego, "I guess I'll owe you one later for the medicine."

He nodded as he stood up. "Sure, no problem. I'll hold you to it." Picking up the remnants of the kit and putting them away, he continued. "Anyway, I have to get back to the pool. I only came by to help out and now that I've done my job, I need to get going. But I'll probably see you all later, probably tomorrow for the tour or maybe even later today if we're lucky."

Taking the first aid kit, he shuffled past the bed before stopping by Arnold holding out his hand, which he gladly took. "Congratulations Arnold. I hope you find this trip to be fulfilling." And Helga knew he meant it. There was no doubt about that. They shared the same truthfulness apparently. It was nice, but also, well, there were no words to describe what was happening.

"Thanks. We'll see you later I guess." Montego nodded. "Yeah. If you guys are all going to the festivities tonight at the pool I'll be there, or even for the food later today." He turned to everyone. "It was great to meet all of you."

Then they all waved him off and said goodbye as he left. And Helga was about to do the same, in fact she could feel it come up into her mouth.

But that was before she saw that scar on the back of Montego's right arm. It was jagged, and a lot lighter than the rest of his skin. And he never said a word…why that little creep…

Helga stared in shock. Everything might as well have been frozen to her in that moment. But it wasn't cold as it was probably at least eighty or ninety degrees outside.

If anything…that twerp was a liar…a little no good liar.

Once Montego had left, she could feel multiple eyes on her. Helga blinked a few times as everyone stared at her, including him.

"Um, Helga," Arnold asked cautiously, "I know that we've asked you this multiple times already, but are you ok?" He scooted closer again. And they were only about two feet apart at this point. It was almost too comforting that he asked that, because they both knew that he caused her some pain in the past. But his dense head wasn't thinking about it. He never focused on the past. He was a here-and-now and a future thinking guy. He only thought about the past when it was called for.

Now was not the time though as Helga was still thinking about Montego's scar. That was enough for her. Fortunately, her body reacted for her by nodding her head. "Um, yeah," she faked a yawn, "I guess I'm still tired after all of this. I think I'm ready to sleep for the next, um, what time is it Phoebe?"

Before Phoebe could answer, Eugene did. "My watch says it's about ten o'clock. We only have an hour until breakfast, or was it lunch?" He was confused.

Nadine shrugged. "I don't know, but I think that we all should rest for the next forty minutes at least and then meet up in the lobby." Rhonda nodded too. "Yes. I think we all should. In speaking of which," she stood up straightening her blouse, "Helga, earlier today Nadine came in here to ask you if you wanted to switch rooms with me because -"

"Because I saw you banging your head against the wall in the hallway upset that you didn't get Nadine and Ms. Perfect as your roommates?" A smirked formed on her lips as she crossed her arms. And it was worth saying that too when a few giggled at the idea of her doing that and staring at the look on her face. It was priceless.

"And," Helga dragged on, "while I would like to have Phoebe as a roommate-"

"So you understand-" she tried to interrupt, but the blonde beat her to it.

"While I would like to do that for my sanity's sake by having Phoebe with me," she looked at Olga, "isn't that against the rules? Because according to Principal Wartz, he said that wasn't allowed." Rhonda's fish-like mouth at this point dropped further, and Helga could practically hear her thoughts running the lines of "Why you little…"

Then the most expected thing happened that Helga felt stupid for not expecting it. Olga interrupted. Well wasn't that a surprise.

Her older sister went by the door and opened it. "Now, now. I only said that it was a possibility and that you two could discuss it Baby Sister. And since you are open to the idea, I will discuss it with Principal Wartz when we all go to eat. But for now," she turned to the Princess, "Rhonda, considering that Helga has had the roughest morning out of all of us, I believe that she shouldn't be moved that much until later. She needs some rest, and if she doesn't feel like getting up, then I'll bring some food here. Is that ok Helga?"

Wow. Now Helga's mouth almost dropped to match Rhonda-loid's. This was just too perfect. Never in her wildest dreams did she imagine that Olga would be the one to talk back to her classmate like that. Maybe there was something that being a Pataki was good for. They were good negotiators.

So instead of snapping back, Helga replied, "Yeah. That sounds like a good idea." She sounded as innocent as possible, but not enough to sound fake and have people see through her inner surprise.

Rhonda grumbled as she marched out the door, but not before turning back. "I will see you Nadine, and you Lila in an hour. And if you want to escape from the likes of her," she pointed at Helga, "then I'll gladly open the door for you both." And with that she left.

Curly straightened up next. "Yeah, well, I got to go see Rhonda one final time before a quick nap." He puffed out his chest, or whatever there was of one to begin with, and walked out the door. "Oh my dear lovely Rhonda!" He shouted as he ran down the hall. Twisted little freak.

Eugene and Sheena stood up next, with Eugene tripping of course. But at least Sheena caught him. "I'm ok." He mumbled as he always did. Sometimes that kid wouldn't change. Did he ever? He was always the jinx since preschool after all. And Sheena probably wouldn't change either. She was always taking of him. Then again, she did in a way take care of her through this "mini" crisis in the grand scheme of things.

As they were walking out, Helga felt it come out of her mouth before she could even shut the thing up. "Sheena?" The brown haired girl turned around near the bathroom door. "Yes Helga?" Boy, this was awkward. Well in her eyes at least.

"I don't, you know, exactly understand what you did for me. But I appreciate it. So thanks." It was hard to say that, especially given how Geraldo would react to it. But the football head would probably tell him that she "was a good person". And she was going to prove that to them, and to herself. It would take a while, but it could've been worth it.

Sheena nodded with a small grin. "You're welcome Helga. I'll see you all later." And with that she and Eugene left.

Then standing straight, Tall Hair Boy stretched his arms behind his head and moved his neck a bit. "Yeah, I think we should go Arnold," he yawned a bit, "these past few days have been crazy enough for me. Especially this." He waved his hands a bit at the last attempt to get that feeling of being relaxed. "You know, I'm glad you are better and all Helga because apparently what happened to you was a lot. But I got to get at least a half hour of sleep because I've been able to run on that amount since I sold those stupid Wacko watches." He yawned again. "Point is I'm beat. I'm heading up. Hey Arnold, do you have the keys or something?"

The boy searched his jean pockets while still sitting on the bed. "Oh yeah, here they are," he tossed them to Gerald, "just leave the door unlocked for me ok?" His friend nodded. "Will do man. See you girls later." He winked, but it was definitely meant for Phoebe, who blushed at the gesture. It was a secret thing between them. And then he went down the hall.

Lila stood up and walked to the bathroom. "Um, Nadine, Olga?" The two girls looked at her. "Yes Lila? What is it?" The red haired girl pulled at her braids "struggling" apparently. Helga and Phoebe of course knew what she was doing. And they were both grateful for it too.

"Could you two help me in the bathroom? I want to take the braids out of my hair before I take a quick nap myself. However, I need to untangle it and I usually use water to help comb it out. And because it takes forever sometimes, I was ever so hoping you two could help." She looked at the two of them "pleading". It was almost as good as Olga back talking Rhonda. Nadine stood up from the bed. "Yeah of course I'll help you." And of course Olga went over and patted her shoulder. "Same here 'little sis'". They giggled at that. It made Helga want to gag, but at least it wasn't overkill. With that, the three of them shuffled into the bathroom.

Which left her with Phoebe, her best friend, and Arnold. Great. Having Pheebs in the room wasn't bad, but having him was. Helga prayed that Arnold would just say his goodbyes, well wishes, and leave like any other person.

But unfortunately, he was anything but ordinary.

Because he scooted closer, now making it less than a foot between them. Because he smiled at her face. Because she knew he was worried and she knew he was going to ask her if she was –

"Helga?" he asked carefully. And she looked at those green eyes again. And it almost made her collapse on the inside. She could feel something in her throat but she wasn't sure what it was. Her voice really wasn't working for her that day.

"Yeah, what is it?" She didn't want to say his name, or any nickname that she used on him in the past. It was painful, watching him like this. Knowing that he will never be hers to care for or doing anything with – eat with, have fun with, really just about anything that she could think of.

Arnold reached out his hand, and before she knew it, he picked up a piece of her hair put it behind her back. Her hair. Oh…did that mean that he knew about… "I like your hair down. It seems to suit you," he rested his hand for a second on her shoulder, "and I hope you'll get better soon." He stood up in his plaid shirt, green t shirt…

"No, no stop it now!" her mind said. But she knew her heart wasn't listening entirely just yet with the way he stared at her.

And the boy continued, "Just let me know if you need anything, ok?" He didn't say anything else as he left the room.

Phoebe looked at her, and Helga could feel it. They both understood that it was difficult, what was going on. But she never had an encounter like this before, not ever. And that was the truth.

In speaking of the truth, Helga turned to Phoebe while pulling her legs up back to her body like she did when she woke up. "Um, Phoebe?" her voice was a whisper. Her best friend blinked at her. "Yes Helga, what is it?" she asked carefully. She probably thought that she was going to talk about her plan to get over Arnold after what just happened. But it wasn't going to be that.

"Remind me to sit nearby Montego when we eat if he is there, or ask him to come see me as soon as possible in case if I don't see him before you do." She could feel that grin come back to her face. It was probably a little creepy considering how Phoebe leaned back nervously. "Sure Helga, but why do you want to speak with him? What about Arnold?"

"Right now, Arnold is not my priority. Montego is."

"Why?" asked her best friend.

"Because that little liar has a lot of explaining to do." And that was all she said.