Please be patient. I am trying to write Mom instead of Mum. It's not so bad in this fandom, but in a few others I have been hassled about that, and my "spelling mistakes", which aren't spelling mistakes to me. I'm aware that a majority of readers are American, but I'm not, so some words will be spelt different out of habit, not lack of editing.
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Helga was resisting a orgasm. She loved Torvald's car. It was a 1967 Chevrolet Impala. Getting in she noted that the doors didn't even make a noise. Inside the only modifications she could see was the stereo, which had been updated to take an ipod.
"Wow," Helga said, sliding in, shivers going through her body. "Where'd you get this?"
"I work part time at a garage," he explained. "Fixed this up for some old guy. He carked it a week later, but left it to me in his will."
"Just like that?" Helga asked, shocked.
Torvald shrugged.
"Do you know why?" she asked.
"Did a lot of work to her," he said, running his hand over the dashboard lovingly. "And I also helped him around his house a bit. He was old, you know? He didn't have anyone else."
Helga stared at this big bear of a guy, sitting there lovingly caressing his cars dashboard, talking about helping out some old guy. What the heck? This wasn't the same guy everyone saw at school. Helga looked at her hands and smiled. She wasn't a sentimental person, but she thought that it was so sweet what he had been doing.
"So this is my baby," he said, smiling to her.
"Well, she's beautiful," she told him, smiling. "But she's not going to help you get your grades up, so let's get going."
He sighed, and started the car. Helga couldn't stop smiling like an idiot. What was going on with her?
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Helga shifted a little nervously on the couch. Torvald was sitting next to her, going over some notes she had written for him. But Torvald wasn't the one making her nervous.
It was his mother.
"Are you sure you wouldn't like a drink dear?" she asked for the millionth time.
"You know what? That would be nice," Helga said, smiling. "I'm starting to feel a bit parched." That part was true. She was getting thirsty, though she felt it was nerves more than anything else. She watched as his mother excitedly left the room to get her a drink.
"I'll have one too, Mom!" Torvald called out.
"You have arms and legs," she told him, setting a drink down in front of Helga.
Helga snorted while trying not to laugh.
"It's not often Torvald brings friends home," she told Helga, smiling. "He usually goes places with them."
Torvald got up and went in the kitchen to get himself a Yahoo, leaving Helga and his mom too it. He sighed as he took the top off the bottle. Talk about luck. Helga was much sought after by guys, even amongst the seniors. In the locker room the guys were asking how he'd done it. She had the label "Iron Maiden", due to her love of metal and lack of interest in boys. And that strong, steely attitude she held. Though he was finding out she wasn't all that hard. She laughed when she thought something was funny, and she was patient, something he would never have guessed about her.
He found he was actually enjoying her company.
'How would you know?' his brain demanded. 'You've only spent a few hours together! And she's four years younger! Jailbait! Remember that!'
He choked on his drink at that last thought.
"What the hell?" he asked out loud.
"You alright?" his mom asked, coming in and staring at him oddly.
"Yeah, mom, fine," he said. "Just remembered something I wanted to ask Helga."
"She's a lovely young lady," his mother said, smiling. "A little young though."
He could hear the concern in his mother's voice and see it on her face.
"Don't worry, Mom," he told her.
She stared at him for a long moment, then looked away.
"You better not go giving me a reason, too."
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"Seriously, Pheeb's!" Helga squealed through the phone. "He's an absolute teddy bear!"
"I would never have guessed," Phoebe said. "He sounds like a sweetheart!"
"I know," Helga sighed, falling back on her pillows.
"Um, Helga?" Phoebe asked. "Are you doing this to make Arnold jealous?"
"Arnold?" Helga asked. "What's he got to do with this?"
"Oh, nothing, I just wondered . . ."
"Geez, Phoebe! I'm not nine," she snapped. "First Arnold, then you. What? I'm not allowed to like someone else? Me hanging out with Torvald has absolutely nothing to do with Arnold. Too be honest, after talking to him alone today, he's actually kind of a dick."
After that Helga heard a click.
"Phoebe are you still there?" she asked.
"Oh, yeah, why?" Phoebe asked, sounding nervous all of a sudden.
"Because I heard a click," Helga said. "Was someone else listening in on our conversation?"
"What? Um, no of course-"
"Oh my God! Who was it?" Helga demanded.
Phoebe was quiet, but Helga heard her gulp.
"Phoebe," she said threateningly.
"Arnold and Gerald!" Phoebe blurted.
Helga was quiet a moment, before she just hung up. She didn't say anything, not even good-bye. She just hung up.
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"She heard you guys hang up," Phoebe told Gerald and Arnold as they walked in.
"I can't believe she called Arnold a dick!" Annie shouted. "Considering her attitude? Geez, pot kettle black. Has she ever heard of that?"
Phoebe didn't say anything, just looked down at her floor. She hadn't wanted to let them listen in, but as soon as Arnold and Gerald knew who was on the line, they had gone to the phone in the kitchen, and Annie to the one in the hallway, to listen in on what she was being told. Annie had been that one to ask the question of whether Helga was just trying to make Arnold jealous.
Annie wasn't stupid. There was a weird tension between Helga and Arnold, and she knew they shared a history. What kind of history, no one would say. Arnold would shrug and say "she was the playground bully," and everyone else would kind of look everywhere but at her.
"You okay, Pheebs?" Arnold asked.
"Of course not! We just spied on her private conversation with her best friend," Gerald said, glaring at Arnold and Annie. "Now Helga's going to think Phoebe was spying on her for you or something."
"I'm sorry, Phoebe," Annie said.
"It's getting late," Phoebe said quietly. "I need to get to bed."
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Helga was on time, but was scowling anyway. Nothing new of course, but her reason was. She couldn't believe Phoebe had betrayed her that way. Getting to her locker she saw Arnold and Annie making out, blocking her way.
"Move," she snapped, finally getting to it.
"Oh, hey Hell-girl," Annie said sweetly.
"Fuck off," she replied, getting out what she needed for her class.
"There was no need-"
"Get fucked Arnold," Helga said, slamming her locker closed, locking it, then walking away without another word or even looking back.
In Economics he gave her a smile, but she didn't smile back.
"Let's be civil at least," he said to her.
"Oh, trust me," she smirked. "I am."
"Alright class, we have a special assignment coming up that I would like you all to take part in," their teacher said.
Everyone watched as the teacher pulled out these big fake pregnant bellies.
"Each female student will receive one of these," the teacher said. "This is going to be done over ten weeks. Each week another "month" will be given to you. You will be given hand outs on care, health and wellbeing of both the foetus and pregnant woman, and on the changes in the body. And boys, don't think you've escaped!"
Helga and Arnold looked at each other uneasily. Whenever it came to dumb assignments like these they always got paired together.
"You will be dealing with the Economic's side of things," she told them all smiling. A groan rose up from the class. "Look, I know this isn't going to be fun, but it's a recent addition."
"Recent addition? You mean the principal is freaking out about all the teen pregnancies!" Rhonda quipped.
"Yeah, pretty much," their teacher said, sighing. Everyone went quiet. "It's a problem. He thinks this will stop the problem. Good heavens, if it did we'd be extinct in no time."
After her little speech she went around with a hat which had boys names in it. Helga felt sick. 'I won't get Arnold, I won't get Arnold, I wont get Arnold.' She reached in when it was her turn.
"Fuck I got Arnold," she said out loud. Her hand flew to her mouth, while the rest of the class laughed at her outburst. Arnold went pink and frowned.
"Gee, thanks Helga," he said. "Didn't realise I was so undesirable."
"Whatever," Helga muttered, flicking the paper on the floor.
"Ms. Pataki, please don't do that," the teacher said. She handed her a weird looking belly belt. "Here you go. Congratulations, your 3 months along!"
Helga rolled her eyes.
"Girls. Please put your baby bellies on," she said told them all, when she got back to the class. The girls did as they were told, and then the teacher came around again with a hat and required every student to take one. Helga reached in and looked. Housewife.
"Housewife?" she asked aloud.
"Doctor," Arnold said, looking at his slip of paper.
"Score!" Helga yelled, pumping her fist in the air.
Arnold rolled his eyes.
"Yeah, yeah, kitchen for you though," he joked.
Helga stared at him a moment, then asked all serious.
"Can I keep my shoes?"
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"So your gonna be pretty busy with him, huh?" Torvald asked.
"Pffft, nothing that can't be done during school hours," Helga said. "More important we get your grades up."
"Not at your expense though," he said, frowning.
"Look, I can handle it, okay?" Helga said. "Now quit worrying about me, and concentrate on yourself."
Beep beep. Beep beep.
Helga picked up her phone to see it was Arnold.
-I worked out our budget -
Helga, read it, then put it away.
"What was that about?" Torvald asked.
"He's worked out our budget," she told him. "Okay, let's start with basic algebra. You okay with that, right?"
Helga's phone went off again, and she growled. Not even bothering to read the message she switched her phone off.
After an hour, Torvald's mother came in to let them know dinner was ready. She had already invited Helga to stay. Getting up, they stretched then went into the kitchen and ate. His mom made basic meals of veges and meat, though it seemed heavier on the veges, while the meat seemed like more of a side dish. Not that Helga minded, she was just used to it being the other way around in her household. She also only served water with dinner.
"Soda is a treat, not a regular drink," she said. Helga just smiled and continued eating, then thanked her. Torvald went back into the lounge to go over the notes he and had Helga had gotten together. She had the neatest handwriting he had ever seen. It was loopy which make him smile. Instead of just a plain dot, she would put a circle. After a few moments he realised that she hadn't followed him in. going back to the kitchen he saw that she was helping his mom with the dishes. He knew his mom had always wanted a daughter, and he wondered sometimes if that was why she hassled him so much about getting a girlfriend. His mother was telling Helga a story about she met his dad.
Torvald smiled and went back to trying to study. But all he could think about was how well Helga got on with his mom. He had heard stories from the other guys about how hostile things could get between their girlfriends and their moms. How the girlfriend was convinced their mom didn't like her.
He was glad he wasn't going to have to deal with that.
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Getting home, Helga dropped her bag on her bedroom floor, then pulled out her phone and turned it on. The text messages had been getting to her. She was still annoyed at Phoebe, though had gotten past the initial hurt and anger. She knew Phoebe wouldn't have done it on purpose or willingly, even Gerald had told her that in a text. He explained how Arnold and Annie were behind it all. She didn't answer the text, hadn't answered any, not even Arnold's. speaking of Arnold, he had sent her six more texts after the budget one.
-Where are you?-
-Did you get my text?-
-We need to go over the budget together-
-Are you home yet?-
-Can you text me?-
-Helloooooooo? You do realise we're sposed to be working on this together, right?-
She sighed.
-I was with Torvald- she text him, then put her phone on her bedside cabinet and left to have a shower. Last week she would have been delighted about being paired up with him. But for some reason she just wasn't excited. Was it because of the encounter on the bleachers? She didn't know. She took her time in the shower, then waxed her legs, underarms and bikini line. Going back to her room she looked at her phone to see she had missed two calls and had three messages.
"Hey, Helga, sorry, but do you think you can come over tomorrow after school?"
"Uh, hey, um, I meant for the project. About you coming over I mean."
-Tried calling but you didn't pick up-
-So are you going to come over tomorrow?-
-Have you gone to sleep? You've turned your phone off again, haven't you?-
She sighed, and answered.
-No. I was having a shower. Yes I can come over tomorrow, but Torvald will be with me-
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Arnold frowned at the last message she sent him. Why was Torvald needing to come? He had nothing to do with the assignment!
-Sure, that's cool- he text back, lying. It wasn't cool!
Not. At. All.