Chapter 51

It's now or never…

Helga ran until she saw a cave.

"Okay, I'll rest here." She leaned against the side of the cave and tried to catch her breath. "I can't believe he did that!" she exclaimed to no one in particular. "He kissed me! He seriously kissed me! If he's done the one thing I've prayed he would do, how come I'm so scared?" She glanced at her bow, still clutched in her hand. "Oh, yeah. Because now he knows that I'm Cecile. And there's no way he'll let me off the hook this time. How the heck am I gonna keep my secret a secret?" She tied her hair back up in its usual hair style, slowly coming to the most shocking decision of her nine-year-old life. "Maybe…maybe I shouldn't keep it a secret. Maybe I should let him know. I mean, I've been loving him in secret for two thirds of my life! Maybe it's time." She smiled. "Plus, now that he knows I'm Cecile, and he loves Cecile, maybe he'll love me too.

Helga sighed and took out her poetry book. She needed to write one last poem before she spilled everything.

It's now or never.

Come hold me tight.

Kiss me, my darling.

Be mine tonight.

Tomorrow will be too late.

It's now or never,

my love won't wait.

When I first saw you,

with your smile so tender,

my heart was captured;

my soul surrendered.

I've spent a lifetime,

waiting for the right time.

Now that you're near,

the time is here

at last.

Today I'll tell you

of my hidden emotion,

of true love,

and sweet devotion.

Your lips excite me.

Let your arms invite me,

for who know when

we'll meet again

this way.

"Ceci-um…Helga?"

Helga slammed her book shut. "What do you want, football head?"

"Look, I'm really sorry for what I did but…I mean, I just can't believe it…you're Cecile?"

"Um…" She stared at the ground.

"Criminy! How am I supposed to do this?" she thought. "I…I can't! I can't tell him!" She turned around to run into the cave.

"Helga, wait! Can you please stop running away? Can't you at least talk to me?"

Helga looked at him with tears in her eyes. "I can't!" She ran into the cave.

Arnold ran in after her. She was leaning against a wall, staring at a heart shaped locket, mumbling something he couldn't understand.

She looked up and gasped. Then she quickly put the locket in her dress. "Quit following me, will ya?"

"I just don't get it!" Arnold exclaimed. "You're Cecile?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm Cecile. So what?"

"So what?! I've been searching for Cecile for months! I can't believe it!"

"Cecile went back to France…"

"You know what I mean, Helga."

"O-okay, fine, I know what you mean."

"But…why? How come you pretended to be Cecile?"

"I-I don't know. Valentine's Day was a long time ago. I don't remember," she lied.

"Yeah, right. Come on, why'd you do it?"

"No reason…"

"Helga."

"Well…I had nothing better to do…so I just…"

"Is that the best you can come up with?"

"Um…" she thought for any possible answer, other than the truth. "I wanted to make your life miserable be having you chase after a girl who didn't exist?"

"Oh, come on, Helga! I'm serious! Why'd you do it?"

"I…I can't tell you!" she said, her voice breaking. "I'm so sorry…I would, but…" She started advancing toward the entrance of the cave. "…but I'm not ready. I-I'll tell you someday…just not today." She walked to the entrance and then turned to him. She sadly smiled. "Au revoir, Arnold."

Arnold reached out and grabbed her hand. He drew her towards him, against her will.

"Not this time. I lost you once, but I'm not gonna lose you again."

"Arnold, I-"

Suddenly, the ground started to shake with violent tremors. The pieces of rock flew everywhere, and soon the entrance of the cave was completely covered with small boulders.

"Helga, look out!" Arnold pushed her against the side of the cave, away from the falling rocks.

"What the heck's going on?!" Helga screamed.

"An earthquake!"

A boulder flew right past them. Helga fell to the ground to avoid being hit. Arnold dropped to his knees and put his arms over her to protect her.

After a couple minutes, the earthquake subsided. Rocks lay everywhere, and the cave's entrance was entirely blocked.

"Arnold, are we alive?" Helga asked, her eyes still closed.

"I think so."

Helga shakily sat up, and Arnold put his arms around her to steady her.

"You okay?"

She jumped up, taking his helpful gesture the wrong way. "Oh, no. Don't you dare try to kiss me again, bucko!" She backed away nervously.

"I told you I was sorry for that. It was just, I'd been looking for Cecile for so long, and when I saw you…her…I just kind of snapped."

"Yeah, well…just don't try anything on me again." Helga walked over to the entrance. She tried to move one of the rocks, but it wouldn't budge. "This isn't good."

"What?"

"Now I'm trapped in a cave with a football head who wants to kiss me."

"I never said that!" He paused. "But you are a good kisser."

Helga whirled around to face him, blushing fiercely. "I'm what?!"

"Nothing, Cecile. Forget I said anything."

"Quit calling me Cecile! You're as bad as Big Bob! He's constantly calling me Olga, and now you're gonna call me Cecile? Is the world against my name or something? I'm not Olga, and I'm not Cecile! I'm Helga! H-E-L-G-A-!"

"But you are Cecile!" Arnold protested. "I mean, maybe that's not really your name, but you are Cecile."

"Not really. I'm not the real Cecile. I was just pretending to be because…"

"Because why?"

"I can't tell."

"How many times are you going to use that excuse?" Arnold said, getting slightly irritated. "'I can't tell.' First you can't tell me who you are, and now you can't tell me why. Can you tell me anything?"

"I could, but I won't," she said matter-of-factly.

"Why not? What do you think I'm going to do? Tell someone? There's no one to tell!"

"I know, but…"

"But what?! Come on, Helga, what's the big secret?"

"Don't do this to me Arnold," Helga thought. "Don't make me confess."

"Well? I'm not gonna let you get away with it this time, so you might as well tell me."

"Okay, okay. I guess it was just because you were having that date with Ruth, and I didn't want you to," she blurted out.

This wasn't the answer he had been expecting. "Why not? Why should you care if I went on a date with her?"

"I-I don't know. I guess because I was…" She stared at the ground. "Jealous."

"Jealous? Of what?"

She jerked her head back up. "Hey, if it was Valentine's Day, and the one person you had ever loved in your entire life was on a date with a snobby sixth grader, don't you think you'd be jealous too?!"

"Sure, I guess, but…what did you just say?!"
Helga wasn't sure exactly why she was saying all this, and she desperately wanted to stop, but the words wouldn't cease. "You know perfectly well what I said! I said love! Love, love, love, love, love!"

"Huh?"

"Yes, Arnold, yes! I love you, I love you, I love you!"

"You what?!"

The words began to spill out in a rush. "I love you, Arnold! I absolutely adore you! I have for six, long, torturous, amazing years! I have ever since the first time we ever met! It was love at first sight! And from then on, for every blessed day of my cursed existence, I've longed for you in the shadows, filling volumes of books with obsessive love poems about you, building shrines to you, stalking you night and day, waiting for the wondrous day where I could finally confess to you my undying love and affection, and you would at last know the unspoken love I have hidden in my heart!" She paused for breath and looked to see what Arnold's reaction was.

He looked like someone had just told him that World War Three had started.

"Oh, criminy, I scared him!" she thought. "Oh, well. He had better get used to it!"

Arnold started to back away slowly. "Wait…what are you talking about? You love me?"

She marched up to him. "Doi! Do you think I would have said all that if I didn't?!"
He backed into the wall of the cave. "No, but you can't! That's just…not possible! You hate me!"

Helga looked at him with a hurt look in her eyes. "I don't hate you, Arnold! I could never hate you! Please don't think that!"

"But…you're always so mean…"

"But I had to be, Arnold! How else would I have kept you from knowing my secret? I have to boss you around and call you names and…oh, that doesn't matter now! It's all in the past! Now all that matters is that you know, and at last we can be together!"

"What?! No! Helga, I really think this whole 'trapped in a cave' thing has gone to your head. You don't really mean what you're saying. You hate me, remember?" Arnold said, half trying to convince her, half trying to convince himself.

"You don't believe me?! I just poured my guts out to you, and you don't believe me?! What do I have to do, kiss you or something?!"

"You wouldn't," Arnold said nervously, pressing himself flat against the wall.

"To heck I wouldn't!" Helga exclaimed, thrusting herself into his arms. She bent her head and looked into his eyes. "Arnold, my love, kiss me! I want to feel your lips next to mine!"

"Helga, really, I-"

"Oh, just shut up!"

She pulled him towards her and feverishly kissed him. Arnold tried to pull away, but she held him tight and wouldn't let him. She poured all the love she had ever felt for him into that one kiss. She kissed him as long as she possibly could, and only the lack of oxygen made her pull back.

"Wow. That was good," she said breathlessly.

"You mean it's true?!" Arnold exclaimed.

"Of course it's true! What, do you still not believe me?" she said, tightening her grip on him.

"NO! No, I believe you!" Arnold said in a panic, somehow managing to free himself. "It's just…a lot to take in."

"Oh, I know, but you'll get used to it," Helga said comfortingly.

"Not likely. I mean, I always knew I had a secret admirer, and I figured that she was probably Cecile, but you! I never even imagined it was you!"

"Well, you should have! You're the densest person I ever met! I was dropping hints left and right, and you just couldn't catch on that I'm hopelessly, obsessively, passionately, devotedly, madly in love with you!" Helga shouted.

"So…that letter was from you? And those poems were about me? And-"

"Yes! It was me! I did everything! You know Mr. Huynh's daughter? I'm the one who found her for you. And you know how my father lost to your grandfather in that Parent's Day thing? That's cause I helped him. And…anything else that happened that you didn't think was possible, I did! I did everything! Everything!" She threw herself at him once again. "Oh, Arnold, just hold me! Hold me, and never let go!"

"Shh, listen!" Arnold whispered, breaking free from her grasp. "Did you hear something?"

"What?"

"Did you hear something just now?"

"No."

Suddenly, they heard a loud rasping sound, coming from behind the cave.

"See, there it is again! But where's it coming from?" he said, walking over to the back wall of the cave, which was covered by a blanket of hanging vines. He pulled the vines aside and was staring into a dark, narrow passage. "Come on, Helga! It might lead to a way out!"

"But what about the noise?" Helga asked worriedly.

"This is the only chance we have to get out of here, so we're gonna have to take it."

"Oh, Arnold, my valiant hero! How brave you are, setting forth into the depths of danger, so that we may journey together-"

"Okay, you're gonna have to not do that. No poetry. The noise might hear us. We have to keep quiet."

"Oh, right. Sorry, my love," Helga whispered.

Arnold sighed and stepped into the passage. "Come on."