Yay! Thankfully I got this done…it took me a bit to make myself sit down and focus, so I turned this into a chore my beta, Jeni27…. Making her sift through a lot of mess here, and very grateful to all her suggestions and corrections!
I think I'm right in saying Miru(o?)lover suggested this lesson as well =)
I forgot to post the song information...so here it is.
The Cinderella waltz I have in mine is this one: watch?v=d_tiG34Y3lY
And the song Arnold is singing is Lullabye (Goodnight my Angel) which can be found here: watch?v=dcnd55tLCv8
I lay on the bed, the pillow covering my face with my hands crossed over my chest. I had dragged an old fan into my room, adjusting it on a small stool so it can blow over my shirtless chest. The day had progressively gotten warmer as it wore on, and my room, with its skylights, could not block out the sun's fury.
Helga had evaded me after lunch, much to my dismay. I'd waited around by her locker after school only to find out from Phoebe that Helga had left school sick. Call me selfish, but I had a feeling that her sickness might be a new found Arnold allergy. I confirmed this theory by trying to text and call her a few times to ask if our lesson was still on and if she was okay, but I got nothing. Not a single word.
I pushed the pillow back from my face, wiping the sweat that had collected on my brow. Maybe I should just go over there. Maybe we could talk about it. After all, ever since I got home I'd had nothing to do but brood over the things she had said to me at lunch. She was right, after all. If I'd just told people we were friends, maybe things wouldn't have blown up. If I didn't offer up the truth of the matter, people were just going to keep making up their own ideas.
I sat up, fumbling for my phone on the nightstand. I sent Helga a message, telling her I'd be at the park if she wanted to talk to me. Part of me wanted to just go straight to her house and force her to talk, but another, wiser part of me knew that forcing my presence on her when she didn't want to talk was wrong. I would abide by lesson two: Don't be pushy or overbearing.
It was simply too hot to put back on the shirts I'd worn to school, so I settled for a threadbare sleeveless undershirt that I kept for such occasions. I headed out of my room and out of the house, shoving my hands in my pockets as I walked down the sidewalk toward the park. Where had this heat wave come from? The rest of the week had been rather pleasant.
I was lucky when I arrived at the park, the slight breeze near the lake was an instant cooling sensation. I sat down in the grass near the water, removing my shoes and rolling up the cuffs of my pants. I knew I wasn't supposed to put my feet in the water, but I really couldn't care less at the moment. I spent a few minutes in this way, letting the water ripple slowly over my bare feet. I'd almost given up on Helga even showing up when I heard a shuffle in the grass behind me. I turned to find her behind me, swallowing loudly. She glared down at me as though she was going to rip me to shreds.
"I'm sorry," I burst out breathlessly. "You were right, and I was stupid to make things worse by not just telling Rhonda we were friends in the first place. It was my fault, because by not doing that, I wasn't helping you at all. I wasn't helping anyone. And I'm sorry." I held my hand out, palms up in a gesture of surrender.
The anger faded from her face slightly, but she twisted her mouth back into a frown. "Yeah, well, you are still an idiot," she muttered, looking down at the grass.
"I know," I replied, shrugging helplessly. "So, you knew about Lila the whole time?" I inquired, a bit embarrassed. I gave a halfhearted grin.
"Everyone knows, Arnoldo," she replied with a heavy sigh as she plopped down in the grass beside me unceremoniously. I groaned, closing my eyes. This was a bit suck-ish.
"I'd hoped I wasn't that obvious."
"I've seen the way you look at her," she explained twirling the loose hair that had escaped from her high ponytail.
"And you agreed to help me anyway?" I asked curiously.
She shrugged in reply. "Well, yeah. I figured what harm could it do? I got Bob off my back about the banquet, and you got to be happy." She began to undo the laces of her pink high-tops, setting the shoes neatly beside her and putting her socks inside. She slipped her feet into the water next to me, wiggling her painted toes in the water.
"I guess I should have just fessed up in the first place," I sighed, leaning back on my hands.
"You seem to have a problem fessing up to things," she pointed out a bit sharply.
"I know. I'm sorry. I'm sorry a million times over, and I'm sorry about what I said at the beach. I'm sorry for everything I've ever done that needed an apology," I lamented.
"Well, it's certainly a start," she said with a laugh, dealing a soft punch to my arm. "It's not like I really had much of reputation to worry about. It's more so the principle of the thing, ya know?"
I nodded. "What's school without rumors, right?"
"It'd be a lot less annoying, for one," she grumbled. I couldn't help but laugh.
"Did you really mean what you said at lunch?" I asked finally, focusing my attention on pulling up small blades of grass. Next to having Helga mad at me, that had been the biggest thing to gnaw at me today. She was right though, I hated having people upset with me. But did that really make me a bad person to want to please everyone?
"Okay, listen. You don't have to be so 'noble' all the time," Helga explained, turning to look at me. "Yeah, I meant it. Sometimes you're going to have to hurt few people by telling them something they don't want to hear. And by doing that, you find out more about yourself as a person. I learned that a long time ago."
I pondered over this for a moment, pursing out my lips. Take things with a grain of salt. "I don't like to hurt people."
"When you try and please everyone, it hurts you. And it unintentionally hurts others. So figure out which is more important to you. You always want to have friends, I guess, but figure out which friends are worth it. Not everyone is." I watched as she seemed to ponder over her own statement, continually twirling that loose strand of hair.
I nodded, standing up and brushing off my pants. Subject change, it was too hot for serious thinking. "Hey, you wanna go get some ice cream or something? It's way too hot today."
"You buying?"
I pretended to think it over for a moment before defiantly stating, "No. You are."
"Hey, wait a minute. You're supposed to say yes!" she whined, scrambling to put her shoes on.
"No, no. I'm supposed to say no when the situation would hurt me. This would hurt my wallet. So no. Don't be a mooch," I joked, throwing my arms up as she pelted a twig at me.
"This situation is going to hurt either way," she rebutted, "so you need to figure out which hurts less."
"Hmm. No. I don't want to."
"Stop running, and come back here you big baby!"
Two milkshakes later courtesy of me, because I'm a sucker, we found ourselves lounging in the weathered hammock on the roof of the boarding house, my foot hanging over the edge to rock the large two person net back and forth. We'd put it up about four years back, under a little tent like thing. It was great for when the weather was just warm enough to sleep outside. Sort of like camping without the travel and the woods, and grandpa had finally consented to it after I'd bugged him for years.
"You started on any of the writing assignments?" I heard Helga ask from the other side of the hammock. We were laying so our heads where at opposite ends.
"No, not yet," I admitted, chewing my straw thoughtfully.
"Did you give Lila the book?" she asked with a bit of her lecture tone mixed in.
"I kind of forgot," I admitted, giving another push with my foot. I'd been so distracted the rest of the day, I hadn't even thought about it. I'd have to remember to do it tomorrow, and hope she hadn't gone out and bought her own copy by then.
"Do it. I've started on one so far. I think I'm going to like this project."
"Hey, hey, hey. Phoebe told me you went home sick ?" I remembered, struggling to sit up just enough to see her but not disrupt the hammock.
"Cause I was sick, duh."
"You aren't sick now!"
"So maybe I had cramps and blood was shooting out of my vagina in torrents!" I blanched, jumping up from the hammock and stumbling backwards. I was surprised when she started to laugh hysterically.
"Why would you tell me that?!" I cried, shaking my head to clear the image away. I didn't need to see that.
"I was joking, for Pete's sake. Calm down Arnoldo. You're such a baby." I could tell she was rolling her eyes at me, sipping on her straw.
"Then why'd you leave?" I grumbled, refusing to move back to the hammock. I settled in one of the old folding chairs nearby.
"Because I could. Oh, look." She fumbled in her pocket for a bit, producing a shiny new phone with a two toned pink case.
"Where'd you get that?"
"Bob got it for me. He gets me gifts when he feels guilty. It's a pretty sweet phone."
"What, so if he gets you a gift, it's all okay?" I inquired, feeling a knot forming in my stomach. Like he could just buy her off.
"I would like to point out someone who brought me a book and chocolates to make a fight okay," she said in stiff tone. Okay. Touché. But I still didn't like it.
"It's different."
"Not really."
"Helga-"
"Don't push it, Arnold," she snapped, and I closed my mouth. Fighting over it again would be useless. She knew my stance on it by now, and I hoped she'd keep it in mind. That's all I could ask for on the subject, I supposed. No more, no less.
"So do I get a lesson today, or what?" I said, sifting the subject. I pushed my hair back from where it had fallen in my face.
"Oh yeah. I almost forgot. We'll do it up here, your room feels like a sauna," she observed, sitting up. She brought her hand to her lips for a moment to catch the milkshake that had escaped down her chin as she spoke. "I didn't have a whole lot of time to plan this, because I usually do these the night before. But, I was working on one Saturday night, so we're going to expand on it."
"Okay," I agreed, nodding my head. I finished off my milkshake, placing my empty cup by the chair.
"You got a radio up here?" she asked. I shook my head, but knew we could easily get one from my room. I popped the skylight above my bed, taking the ladder down to my bed. I hadn't expected her to follow me, but she did. "Does your radio play from an mp3 player?"
"Um, no, but I have a speaker for that. Hold on." I rummaged in the various shelves around my bed, finally pulling out the portable speaker I'd gotten from Gerald on my last birthday. I held it out to her, and she plugged her phone into it before gesturing for me to follow her back up. My room was still rather toasty, so I took a quick moment to dart around and push open all the windows I could.
"Come on! Criminey, I'm curing cancer up here!" I heard Helga call, and I shook my head as I scrambled back up the ladder. She was crouched, fiddling with the speaker as I emerged.
"Okay, I'm here. So what's this one about?" I strode over, watching as she hit play and adjusted the volume. A melodious sort of waltz began pumping through the speakers, and I looked at her in confusion. I had no idea what this related to.
"This is the waltz from Cinderella," she explained. I shook my head, and she rolled her eyes. "Let me be a bit more blunt. You're jealous of David for whatever God awful reason."
I felt my ears grow warm. "I never said that."
"You don't have to. It's kind of obvious. But that's okay, because this is a learning tool." A mischievous grin was plastered on her face, and I found myself taking a step backwards. Something told me this was not going to be one of our normal lessons. "See, you aren't going to be the only one trying to get on Lila's good side. There are going to be boys with skills you don't have vying for her attention. But that's okay. Do you know why?" I shook my head no, eyes wide. "Because you have the ability to learn new skills. For example, if the guy that is currently in the forerunning for Lila's affections played guitar, you could make the effort to learn. You don't have to be good, you don't have to excel. You just have to try. Because if you make the special effort to learn something new that a girl is interested in, it gets you a whole lot of points. Are we making sense here?"
I mulled it over for a moment, but I think I understood what she was saying. "So if Lila really liked piano, the fact that I made an effort to learn it for her would show that I cared?"
She nodded, grinning. "Exactly. If you show genuine interest in something a girl likes, then she'll start to show genuine interest in you."
"Well darn, why didn't I think of that," I laughed, running my fingers through my hair. I knew a few things Lila liked that I could try to work on. These things seemed so obvious once they were pointed out. "Hey, why are you turning it off?" I inquired as the music ceased playing.
Helga shrugged from her crouched position. "Oh, I was mainly doing that to scare you. You should have seen your face!" She giggled.
"Aww, I thought I was going to get to learn how to dance," I groaned a bit sarcastically.
"Naah, I don't think you have it in you to dance. Besides, David's been dancing for years. I don't think you'd match up."
I bristled at the comment, frowning. "Hey. I think I could be rather decent, if I wanted to be."
She turned to look at me, raising her eyebrows. "Hmm…I dunno…" she mused.
"Show me something, then," I challenged, crossing my arms over my chest. She straightened up and looked at me with an impish grin. It was at that point I knew I'd walked into a trap. Or rather talked my way into it. Crap.
"Alright. How about some stretches, mister fabulous dancer? Follow me."
I'd never wondered what it felt like to be a pretzel, but I was sure that if anyone asked me about it, I'd have great knowledge of it after the series of stretches Helga had put me through. I'd just started laughing halfway through at the absurdity of the entire situation, but she was relentless in her quest to prove her point – though I was still clueless as to what her point might actually be.
If the stretches were hard, trying to do this dance was even harder. What had looked like a rather simple waltz when I had watched them practice, turned out to be rather intricate, and I was finding myself stumbling like an idiot as she tried not to laugh at me.
"Why do you people do this to yourselves?" I wailed after I failed once again to do some weird leg stand thing that more or less made me feel like an awkward flamingo.
"Because it's actually fun. Okay, okay, stop it," she was giggling, waving her arms at me to stop. "I think I've proven my point."
"What point was that?" I muttered, rubbing my calf muscles. Ouch.
"The point of that is this: You've just learned the first ten minutes of a rather difficult dance for an experienced dancer. You may not have done it perfectly, but you learned it. Now tell me, is there anything Lila is interested that it would be harder than that to learn?" I frowned. I couldn't think of one single thing that would prove to be more taxing on my dignity or patience. She smiled triumphantly. "Another successful lesson."
"Very funny," I replied, rolling my eyes.
"I'm a laugh riot. On a serious note though, you do know how to waltz, right?" she asked, brushing her bangs from her face. I shook my head no. "Then you do actually need to learn that. "
"What? Why?" I protested, not looking forward to learning any more dancing today. I had a deep rooted respect for David now. Flexible weirdo.
"If you end up going to the banquet, there is dancing. I don't expect you to know how to really dance to anything upbeat, but I do want to dance. So a waltz, with a bit of modification, is suitable for a slow dance. Plus, you'll use it at prom, your wedding, so on, so on." She waved her hand at me. "So come here."
I consented, taking a few steps forward. I was suddenly really nervous for whatever reason. She crouched down and pressed a button on her phone. Slow piano music began to weave its way out as she stood back up.
"This isn't really a waltz," I pointed out, but she shushed me as she took her place in front of me. I knew from watching people dance before that one of my hands was supposed to go on her waist, so I complied with that a bit nervously. Her hand went to my shoulder, and I was instructed my free hand needed to be on top of hers. So I got us to that point in our stance, and then found myself completely lost as to what to do next. She seemed to notice this and began to move her feet slowly. I found myself watching her feet diligently, and I though this shouldn't be that hard. I began to hum under my breath as I caught onto the gist of this modified slow dance waltz…or whatever she was going to call it. One, two three, one, two, three, then turn. Or something like that.
"You need to take over the leading," she said gently, and I nodded, broken from my thoughts.
"Okay. So do what I was doing, but…backwards?" She nodded and I took a breath, trying to switch what I was doing to match what she had been. I stumbled a moment, but thankfully she was patient enough for me to pick back up on what I was supposed to be doing. Heck, I even got the turning part down. I picked back up my humming to distract my mind from the closeness we had slipped into, continuing our one, two ,three, then turn pattern. I glanced down at Helga to find her with her eyes closed, looking completely content. I couldn't help but smile, shaking my head. I was familiar enough with the next song that played so I sang along lightly as we continued to move across the roof.
"I promised I would never leave you, and you should always know… Wherever you may go, no matter where you are, I never will be far away," I sang in a quiet voice, taken aback as she opened her eyes to peer up at me. Her eyes had a dreamy quality to them again, and I felt something inside of me grow warm at seeing her in such a state. I was startled as she suddenly jerked away from me. "Did I do a wrong step?" I asked, babbling confusedly. My arms where still in the dancing position, so I dropped them to my side awkwardly.
"I just…I have homework," she snapped gruffly as she pushed me sharply, all traces of her former contentment gone. She jerked her phone from the speaker, and disappeared over the fire escape. I was sensing some sort of pattern here, it seemed.