*Knock, Knock, Knock*

"Hello?" Phil greeted the girl at the door.

"Hi… Uh, is Arnold home?" Helga shifted uncomfortably on her feet.

"You're Arnold's little friend with the one eyebrow! Yes! Shortman is upstairs, but he seems upset. Maybe you can go cheer him up!" Phil let Helga in the house and led her up the stairs into Arnold's room. "Good luck with him." Phil nudged Helga, before leaving downstairs.

Helga took a deep breath and entered Arnold's bedroom. She noticed Arnold laying down on his bed with his face in the pillow. He looked defeated, and angry. Helga hated herself. 'Why do I always have to screw things up? They weren't intentional… So why is it always me screwing it up?'

"What do you want grandpa?" Arnold lifted his head, but only enough so he could speak clearly, and he didn't open his eyes.

"Uh… It's Helga… Cecile… Whatever you want to call me."

"Go Away."

"No. I didn't come all this way just to be told to go away."

"It wasn't a request."

"I don't care if it was a law on the declaration of independence. Talk to me football head."

"No. Just go away. You've caused enough damage."

Helga took a deep breath and spoke sincerely "Arnold… look, I'm sorry I always torment you. I don't know why, it's just how I am. I don't mean to do it, honestly-" Arnold lifted his head and faced her to argue but Helga cut him off "-and before you go yelling at me, No. This wasn't intentional. This was Phoebe's work." Helga motioned to her new look. "I forgot I did this as Cecile, and I honestly hoped you forgotten all about it." Suddenly Helga slapped her mouth closed… 'Good going bone-head! Now he knows you faked being Cecile! Criminey Helga! Can't you do anything right?!'

Arnold sat up, with his mouth open staring at Helga… 'So she was Cecile… but… that meant… Cecile wasn't real… She was Helga…'

"You're…" Arnold couldn't even finish his sentence… and suddenly his whole world felt upside down… 'but this didn't make any sense… Why would Helga dress up as Cecile in 4th grade?' Now Arnold was extremely confused….

Arnold and Helga both took a moment to register and analyze their thoughts. Finally Arnold spoke.

"Why?"

"Why What?"

"Why… Everything Helga! Why? Why are you so mean to me? Why did you pretend to be Cecile? Why…?"

"… Arnold… I can't…"

"YES YOU CAN, Helga! You know why you do all these things! Why to me!? What have I ever done to you, Helga? I've always been kind and tolerant of your behavior towards me until yesterday, and today you literally went all out just to show it! Why!?" Arnold was fuming, and it was hard to tell if he was mad or hurt…

"I just can't Arnold! Okay?! I can't!" Helga folded her arms against her chest and looked down…

"Helga, I know you're not this mean and horrible like everybody thinks you are! Tell me the truth!"

Helga continued to look down, nearly to the point of tears.

"Helga, either you tell me the truth, or you get out of my house and leave me alone for good. Your choice." Part of him hoped she would leave, but most of him truly wanted her to stay and tell him the truth, so maybe they could even become friends someday and leave this all behind them…

"Okay! So I'm not this mean, nasty, horrible person people think I am… You've seen past it all this time… I just…never wanted people to know…"

"Know what Helga?"

"Know that… that…"

"C'mon Helga, you can tell me…"

"I never wanted them knowing my secret…"

"Your secret? What Secret?" Arnold was curious now.

"My secret… I've kept it since I was 3 years old… The first time people almost found out…they started laughing…"

"Who? And when did they find out?"

"Harold, Sid, Rhonda… Some other kids… When we were in preschool…the day we met…"

"Well… what did they almost find out, and why would they laugh?"

"My secret, and because they thought it was funny… and I was just so tired of being laughed at, and put down… So I snapped, and this is me now… or at least what people see. I'm never truly like that… Ask Phoebe… I'm not as horrible as people think…" Helga kept her head down, but her voice was audible.

"So you're mean… to hide your secret? " Arnold scooted beside Helga, intrigued that she was finally opening up to him.

"Exactly…"

"But Helga, what is your secret that you're so desperately trying to protect?"

"You wont believe me if I told you…"

"Try me."

"I can't Arnold… I just can't."

"Yes, you can, Helga."

"No I can't Arnold… You'll just laugh at me, and hate me."

"Helga, I've never laughed at you, and I could never hate you."

"You did the other day…" Helga said sadly.

"No I didn't Helga… I'm just tired of you treating me so badly… It's gone on since we were kids… and I just want to know why… and I have a strong feeling that it's because of your secret… It makes you mean to everyone… So if you told me, and we fixed it, it might fix things between us…"

"…"Helga sat silently debating on finally telling Arnold the truth.

"Helga, deep down, I have always wanted to be your friend. You're smart, funny, and interesting. But I can't be friends with someone who always acts like they hate me." Arnold stared at Helga, hoping that he finally broke through her walls.

Helga sighed deeply before speaking "…I…lke…ou…." Helga held her head down and covered her face

"What Helga?"

"I…lke…ou…"

"You're mumbling and I can't understand you." Arnold scooted closer to Helga, until he was right beside her…

Helga looked at Arnold honestly, and he finally saw Helga's perfect blue eyes. They captured him in a trance until Helga spoke to him. "Arnold, what I'm about to tell you is not a joke, a prank or some idiotic thing… It's not the slightest bit laughable, and if you laugh at me, I swear I will walk out of here…"

"Okay Helga, I Promise. Now Tell Me."

Helga took a calming deep breath and closed her eyes for a moment before looking at Arnold to convey to him that she was not joking… "I Like You… Like You… as in… I always have… since we were three… like… since our first day at urban tots preschool… "Helga's head was down and if Arnold could see her face, he would know that there was a deep blush growing, and small tears beginning to form in her eyes.

Arnold's eyes almost grew out of his sockets… "Did you just say…?"

"…yes…"

"…and you have always..."

"…yes…"

"…but you bully me because…"

"…yes…"

"…and you didn't want anybody finding…?"

"…yes…"

"…and you were Cecile because…"

"…yes…"

There was full silence. Helga felt as though Arnold was going to kick her out laughing at her feelings… Arnold didn't know how to handle what she felt towards him…

Finally Arnold Spoke "But Helga, why didn't you just tell me…?"

"Weren't you listening?" She wasn't hostile when she spoke "They laughed at me, and I was tired of being pushed around… I don't want anybody knowing what I'm truly like, or how I truly feel because they'll laugh at me." Arnold noticed the crack in Helga's voice as she spoke, and knelt down in front of her. Arnold lifted her chin up and saw the silent tears falling from Helga's eyes, those perfect baby blue eyes that automatically captured Arnold in a trance… and Arnold finally saw how beautiful the real Helga was.

Helga sat staring into Arnold's jungle, jelly bean eyes. Arnold finally noticed all the hurt behind Helga's eyes… It was hard not to… Once you got past her looks, it was hard to NOT see Helga for who she truly was, and finally, the cryptic young Pataki wasn't so mysterious after all.

"Helga… You really like me?" Arnold wanted to be sure this was no joke. Helga looked at him with her tear stained eyes, and Arnold knew Helga wouldn't be crying like this if she was joking. "Okay Helga… I believe you… But… If I may ask… Why do you like me?"

"The same reasons everyone else does…"

"But I thought you hated all that stuff about me?"

"No Arnold… I actually like all that stuff about you… I just made fun of you for it because I never wanted people to see how much I like you… I'm not a mean person… I… I just don't know how to express emotion…"

"What? Everybody knows how to express emotions, Helga."

"Not me."

"Of course you do-"

"Not when you have a family like mine…"

"You're family loves you Helga. They show you they care all the time."

"No Arnold… They don't. My dad is a big blowhard who only cares about Beeper Sales and His Image. My mother is obsessed with smoothies, which I'm not supposed to tell anybody, but there's a lot of alcohol in them. And Olga is a star child. Everybody loves her, and because she gets all the attention, she unknowingly hogs it all. My parents rarely ever notice me, and if I do something great, Bob wants to exploit me for it. The Spelling Bee, Saving The Neighborhood… It's all business to him… That's not love, That's control… You're the only person I know who doesn't manipulate others for your own selfish needs and desires… and I admire you for that… but that day in the rain when we were three… you were the first person to show me genuine true kindness… and I've always had a crush on you… Since the day we met…"

Arnold thought over Helga's words, and the more he thought about it, the more he began to like this side of her. "But why dress up as Cecile?"

"…because I'm pathetic and wanted a date with you so badly… I wanted to see what you truly thought of me, and I thought I would be safe since I would be disguised as someone else… It worked too because you told me I bugged you, a lot… but you ended up falling for me… well not me, but Cecile me…"

"Okay… So… " Arnold didn't know where to carry on. This was honestly too much to think about.

"So, you hate me now right?" Helga concluded

"No Helga. I don't hate you… I'm just trying to figure out everything, especially how you hid it so well."

"Well football head, it wasn't really too hard. Just switch mean and nice. Whatever I wanted to do, I just did the opposite."

"So, you really do like me…?"

"Yep. And as expected, you don't like me back." Outside Helga was calm and collected, but inside Helga's heart was breaking slowly, and all that was left were his words to confirm it.

"Well Helga, that's not true. I know I don't feel as strongly for you as you do me right now, but I just found out, and we're only 13… You're years ahead of me with feelings, and I don't know how much I could like-like you."

"So how do you feel about me…?"

"Honestly, I know I DON'T hate you, but I don't love you either…" Arnold said "BUT, I do want to get to know you better… I really like this side of you Helga, and honestly, I don't think it would take much for me to like the real you, but I've never seen the real you before… I can't promise a relationship or anything like that… but I would like to be close friends with you… If that's okay with you…"

"So… you actually want to be my friend?"

"Of course Helga. I've always wanted to, but you just never let me see the real you."

"Well, that's the thing. I am bossy and clumsy. Im loud and shy… Honestly Arnold… I don't think you could ever feel the same way about me… We can be friends, but I know we wont evolve past that… The real me isn't as likable either…"

"Well Helga, I like the side of you that you're showing me…and I think I could like you, but I want it to be the REAL you… I'm tired of girls pretending to be someone else around me just to date me… and knowing that you have an entirely different personality than what you show people, makes me want to know everything about you."

"…really?"

"Yes, really." Arnold assured her.

"Okay… we'll what do you want to know?"

"Hm… Well… Why do you always call me Football Head?"

"Honestly, I don't know… It wasn't supposed to be an insult when I said it, but I was 3 when I called you that… Honestly I thought of it more as a pet name."

"So it wasn't intentionally mean?"

"Nope. I never meant for it to be."

"I'm not sure if I'm flattered or insulted."

"Well you spent the last 10 years being insulted by it."

"haha true. But now that I know, I kinda like it. Especially since you came up with it and nobody else calls me that. Every girl calls me 'Baby' or something ridiculous like that… I kinda like yours much better."

"Doi football head. It's not genuine if it isn't from me."

"Whatever you say Helga."

"Anything else you'd like to know?"

And with that, Arnold and Helga talked into the rest of the evening. Helga stayed for Dinner, and so began the official start of their summer before 8th grade.