IX

Goody-two-shoes to the rescue

It wasn't as if she wanted it to happen. She already knew they would kick her out of home when she would be adult enough. And when she meant 'they', she would mean both parents. Because Miriam was drunk enough to protest, she assumed her mother was consenting. She gritted her teeth as tears ran freely, as she curled in a ball in the cold, hard floor, thinking about what happened and mourning over all those years of neglectful parents and lack of support. Sure her old friend, psychologyst Dr. Bliss would hear about this, not that she cared enough to hear because now she's only treating scholars and not adults, not that she would give it a try. She reached for her cellphone and dialed the numbers, only to find out she was out of battery.

"Great! I can't even call Phoebe!", she cursed. She remembered she left the battery charger in her room.

She groaned, and stood up, again dragging her now heavy bag. The only thing she could do was to get help from someone she knew he had an old phone in a counter. Arnold. But why would she even go to his house to use his phone, when last night she ditched him and told him to fuck off? She sighed, thinking of poor Arnold, being alone, without any company at all, his grandfather died two weeks ago and she behaved like such a shit to him. As always, she wouldn't care about him, so why would he care? She shrugged her thoughts, swallowed her dignity and dragged her bag and herself to the only place she knew she would use a phone, call Phoebe, call Dr. Bliss, kiss… errr… talk Arnold goodbye and leave.

"I could use that as a good excuse…", she muttered.

She reached Arnold's front door, and knocked. The door opened to reveal two pigs squealing running past her, a duck following scared, a chicken leaving feathers everywhere, and a dog chasing and barking. The figure of Arnold with a black eye on his face stood face to face with her.

"Helga?", he asked, surprised to see her.

Helga looked more worried at Arnold than of herself. "Oh my God, football head! What the heck happened to you?", she asked all of the sudden.

Arnold pointed to his black eye. "What? This? I ran into Wolfgang last night when they asked me about Gerald's weed. I told them I didn't have any and that I was throwing myself into rehab, so they mocked me and punched the shit out of me", he explained, as he showed her an improvised cast over his left arm.

Helga's heart skipped a beat. "You… you actually… I mean, are you really going to rehab?".

Arnold shrugged. "I always knew you cared".

Helga shrugged also. "I thought you were joking…".

"I thought it was a good joke, but because I was nervous and in denial, and I didn't take it seriously at first. Then when Gerald's fight with you happened last night…", he explained.

She felt uneasy. "Yeah… about last night… sorry for being so tough to you, Arnoldo, I just… after all you've been through, I didn't want another issue in my life. I was…", she sighed heavily. "…selfish", she explained, as tears rolled her eyes.

Arnold gasped. "Helga! Are you crying?!".

"No, it's allergies, football head! Of course I am! I nearly lost the most precious thing to me in the world and now that I've been—", she clam her mouth shut, thinking carefully about her situation. She didn't need him to pity her. "I… can I come in and use your phone? I'll explain later, alright?".

Arnold raised an eyebrown, looking puzzled, but opened the door for her. "Sure, come on in".

"Thanks", she said, as she dragged her bag, and placed it carelessly inside. She went over to the old phone at the counter and dialed a number. Arnold watched her as she put the receiver on her ear. "Hello? Dr. Bliss?! Yeah, this is Helga. Helga G. Pataki?! You remember me, don't you? No, not Telma Salami, Helga Pataki! Argh… damn car accident!". She groaned and cursed as she hung up the phone. Arnold wondered seriously about who was Helga talking to. He stopped wondering when she dialed another number, and put the receiver on her ear, while looking at him now. "Phoebe?! Oh, thank God you're there! Listen, I need your help!". She waited the answer. She frowned. "What do you mean you're not available?", she yelled to the phone, as she looked at it imagining choking her best friend. "Look, I don't care if you have AIDS, I'm…!". She sighed. Arnold jumped at this comment. But Helga dismissed her comment off at him with a wave of her hand, and he sighed of relief. "Ok, fine! Just get better, ok? Yeah, yeah. Bye!". She hung up the phone, cursing again, and looked back at Arnold. "What?!", she demanded.

Arnold rolled his eyes, and sighed. "Nothing…".

"Oh…", that's all she could reply, still holding the phone receiver in her hand.

"Listen, if you… need something, just tell me, I'm still available", he said, as he rubbed his neck.

"Well… actually, I was hoping—errr…", she stammered. "—no, no, this is too embarrassing…", she dismissed it.

"What? You can tell me...", he asked, curious.

His eyes looked genuine to her. She thought to herself if maybe, just maybe, things were going to be fine this time. After all, taking the risk wouldn't hurt. She looked nervous, and started pacing around the room in circles. She waved her arms up, like complaining.

"Geez! This is too much! My folks kicked me out of home! I don't have a place to go!", she explained. She stoped pacing for a second and rubbed her neck, feeling uneasy. "But I just- I wanted to use your phone, not your help, because I'm actually moving to Virginia on two weeks straight for college!", she blurted out, tired of crying and embarrassing herself. "There, I said it. Stupid football head, always helping people….", she muttered under her breath.

He stood there, his mouth open. "Oh… that's… so hard to swallow…", he finally spoke, with a sad face. He walked over to Helga and gave her a hug, which she accepted. She smelled his hair, and a lovestruck look formed in her face. A minute or so later, he pulled the hug apart to find her eyes, blushing furiously. "Uhm, feeling better already?".

Helga gulped, embarrassed, blushing. "Yeah…. kinda…".

A grin formed in his face. "I'll tell you what… you can use a room here, and stay whenever you want. Then you go to Virginia as I have to go to rehab. You can be my… guest of honor! Just like you said the other day! How's that sound?", he offered.

Helga smiled happily. "That's… that's great, football head!", she said, as she nodded. But suddenly, she stopped, and her smile faded. She glared at him. "Wait a minute!".

"What?", he asked, confused.

She scanned the whole house with a look. "It's too darn quiet in here! Where the hell are the boarders?!".

Arnold blinked for a second. "Oh! That!", he pointed out, remembering. He sighed. "Well, after my grandpa was history, the boarders started getting uncomfortable around me. They asked me if everything was alright every single effing day, and even they gave me pitiful looks at dinner time. Oskar Kokoshka started getting weird, and paranoid, thinking I was hating him for being a bum, so he started asking me when I could get rid of him. And Mr. Hyunn and Ernie started making bets. But at the same time, Oskar was trying to help in the kitchen. It turned out so bad, he even burned the kitchen table by just putting milk and cereal in a bowl!", he explained.

Helga raised an eyebrown, surprised at the last part. "You can't burn a house with milk and cereal!", she chuckled slightly.

Arnold shook his head in understanding. "But that's Oskar we're talking about", he laughed. She did, too. "Eventually, after that incident, Oskar somehow started convincing everyone I was just THE bad guy and that they had to protest and just take the house for themselves. Because of the damage caused, I finally snapped and broke my contract with Mrs. Kokoshka and kicked her and Oskar goodbye. And as for the rest of the boarders, I had to kick them out too as well because of the bum's influence. I broke their contracts also, and called the police because they've been protesting around my house a whole week, but finally, as they realized I wouldn't budge, and because of Oskar's poor management of the situation, they agreed to separate and left to look at other places to live. I've never heard of them anymore, and honestly, I couldn't care less. The idea of having such ungrateful boarders, still freaks me out at nights", he explained more as he shook his head, and sighed heavily.

She was surprised Kokoshka had such potential, even when he was a bum. She raised an eyebrown, questioningly. "That Oskar was always a weirdo. I've never understood why Phil never kicked him out of the place", she asked.

"Well, her wife was hardworking and was paying the rent on time", Arnold explained.

"I still don't get one thing. If they're no boarders in here, how come the house has electricity and phone?", she asked, suddenly.

Arnold shook his head yes. "That's because of my grandparent's will and testament. I'm owning the house officially in 3 years. Meanwhile my lawyer and my accountant are taking care of all the papers".

She raised an eyebrown, putting her arms in jars. "So? That doesn't answer my question, buck-o!".

"Life insurance over both of them gives me the right to get five thousand dollars of income per month for 2 years, and I still can preserve my college fund", he explained.

She smiled now. "Oh, that's awesome, football head!".

"Yeah…", he sighed heavily as lowered down his head a bit. "But I'm gonna miss them so much…". He sniffed.

Helga's heart broke, and her smile faded. She touched her chest, as her sad eyes grew wide and her lips quivered, feeling the exact same thing as her beloved. She approached Arnold and gave him a hug, which felt appropriate and rightful to do. She knew all about his grandparents. She practically wished there were people like them in her own house, who would care, would be nice and even had useful wisdom and answers. And a crazy old lady like his grandma Gertie, of course! Tears rolled her eyes as she pressed Arnold to her chest, remembering the few moments she had with them, and the dark secrets they kept for her. They knew about her and Arnold all this time, but within the years, they thought he would have to figure it out by himself what was on her mind. And that was simply the reason they had earned her full respect. But when she saw the coffin with Gertie first, then Phil in it, each of it was a blow to the face.

"I know the feeling. I'm gonna miss them too, football head", she said, raspy voice coming out of her lips.

R&R people! More coming soon! Cheers!