Disclaimer: I own nothing. Just like last week and the week before, lucky me.

Author's notes: So here we go! Another chapter ready for print! Thanks for all the great reviews, I'm really happy you all like it!

Sugar and Cheese High

Helga just stared at the floor, 'What now? Think of something, I have to break this tension!' Helga looked around for something that could distract her from the events that had just transpired.

"Hey, pass me a Twinkies and the cheese wiz would, yeah? I'm starving over here!" Arnold gave Helga a hesitant look before asking, "You want what?"

"Doi, haven't you ever eaten your Twinkies with cheese wiz on the top of them? Where have you been living, under a rock?"

"No, but…you do like chocolate ice cream and bubblegum don't you?" Helga knew it was a question but it certainly sounded like a statement. How did he know that? Oh, well…

"Yeah, what of it football head? Just pass it over will ya, I'm dying over here!" Arnold picked up a Twinkie and the bottle of cheese wiz and handed them to Helga. She proceeded to rip open the package, take the cap off the cheese wiz bottle with her teeth, spit the cap into her lap and cover the Twinkie in processed cheese. Arnold couldn't help but flinch a bit at the sight of a perfectly good Twinkie going to ruin like it was, but after the initial shock it was starting to look pretty good.

Helga practically ate the Twinkie in one bite. It had been meant as a distraction but once she saw the Twinkie she realized just how hunger she was. Absentmindedly Helga said, "Your Grandmother must make some weird stuff for dinner right?" Seeing the irritated look of Arnold's face she quickly added, "Not there's anything wrong with that. I mean geez, Football head at least you get dinner! Half the time Bob and Miriam forget I exist and don't even make me a portion and then they make me do the dishes. I mean I remember the time when I sleep walked everywhere because the only thing I had to eat for dinner was pork rinds!"

Arnold just kind of looked at her for a second before saying, "Spaghetti and Skittles, Hamburgers and Gummy worms, Cereal with chocolate, the list really goes on." After a moment of hesitation, he added, "...and lots and lots of watermelon." Arnold took a deep breath.

"I'm surprised when I was younger that I didn't go into a sugar coma. Grandma always said 'Why wait for dessert when you can kill two birds with one stone?' I don't mind that much but it can be a little awkward if company is over." He said all this while ripping open a Twinkie and putting cheese wiz on it just as Helga had. Arnold took a bit of it and with a nod of the head said "Not bad."

Helga just stared at the freeway above and listened to the cars passing overhead. It may have been the early hours of the morning but there was always something happening. That was one of the things that Helga loved most about the city, the fact that it never seemed to sleep. Arnold followed suite and stared up at the sky lost in thought before asking, "Why do you call your parents by their real names? Don't they get irritated?"

If it had been ten minutes earlier Helga would have yelled at him to mind his own business but she felt that Arnold had shared something private with her so why shouldn't she. Without moving Helga simply stated, "At first they did hate it. Miriam cried a little and Bob yelled at me to never to do it again but they had paid attention to me. It had been negative attention but if I had just called them Mom and Dad they would have ignored me like they always do. I've been calling them by their real names for so long now they don't even care anymore." Helga let out a bitter laugh. "Hell, I could go back to calling them Mom and Dad again for the shock value, but now it just sounds so...empty."

Helga finished with a sigh and turned her eyes to look at Arnold. 'He really is so sweet so kind! How I wish you could take all this pain away.' She almost reached for her locket but at the last second common sense took over.

Arnold met her gaze "You don't have to been so mean all the time. If you want attention everyone would probably give you more if you were nicer, I know I would." Helga's eyebrows bunched up in a confused look. What could she say to that? Had it been an off-handed confession? No, Arnold was just being Arnold and that entailed that he be nice to everyone.

Helga jumped to her feet and started to pace. "Be nice to everyone? Nice to everyone, huh? Great advise Football head! Then we can have one more Lila running around making the world 'ever so' nice. Well you know what? This is who I am and I don't care to pretend to be someone else. I'm not a girly girl! I'm Helga G. Pataki and that involves some balls. Balls that I am sure not many people have! Life might be roses for you Arnoldo but not me. I'm the bully and that is the persona I am going to keep." And with a huff Helga plopped herself back down.

Arnold then proceeded to his feet and started to shout "Well you know what? My life isn't roses either! Everyone thinks my grandma is loony! She's not you know! She's the sweetest person I have ever met and she cares about everyone! My parents abandoned me! I haven't seen or spoken to them in years, you have any idea how that feels? I may always 'look on the bright side' but for Christ sake does everything have to be doom and gloom in the world?"

With a huff Arnold finished his rant. They both stared at each other for a few moments before Helga broke the silence with "Um, want to play Life?"

Arnold snorted out a half laugh, half grunt and went to go grab the game. 'What had all that been about? Were they bonding? Wasn't this what friends did? Tell each other secrets and things about themselves that no one else knew?' Helga had a feeling that with the correct prodding even more information would come from Arnold. She just had to play her cards right.

And she would.

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