A/N:
Woot! Hey guys, how's it going? Alright, we are exactly one day ahead of the two week mark I set for myself in terms of getting this chapter posted, which I'm super happy about :) It has been a crazy thirteen days but for some reason my finals schedule has been really light at times and I've had some random gaps to work on this, and also…I've got to say, this was one of the more fun chapters for me to write, so it wasn't exactly a chore to work on it, if you know what I mean ;) Anyway, I really hope you guys enjoy it (and, fair warning, we've got another cliffie ending!), and I'm sorry I wasn't really able to do review responses for the last chapter (any free time I had seriously just ended up going into the epic edits for this chapter) but I'll definitely do them for this chapter so please review as always :)
Also, there's a certain something that Helga does in this chapter that has always seemed like a method of, why don't we say 'flirting', that I've always felt she would have been pretty inclined to do just to test it out in any kind of a 'season 6/episodes about her and Arnold's initial courtship' situation, and if you're looking for another fun example of it I'd strongly recommend SuprSingr's fic "Hypnotizing Helga" which gives a fun instance of it around chapter 7 or 8 I believe, lol. I'd rather not go into too much detail right now so that I don't give anything away but I'll be more specific in my closing A/N (where I'll also fill you guys in about when the next chapter's coming).
Oh, and HAPPY BIRTHDAY once again to NintendoGal! I wish I could have gotten this up a few days ago as a present for her, but I hope it's still an acceptable 'gift' even if it's a little belated ;)
Okay, enough of my ramblings!!!
LEARNING TO BE HELGA
Chapter 5:
Thoroughly Enjoying Being a 'Girl'
Momentarily putting aside his conviction to leave (and certainly via the door as opposed to the window), Arnold had to raise an eyebrow at the sight before him and ask with an obvious amount of curiosity, "Helga…why are you brushing your hair?"
And indeed Helga, still kneeling upon her bed only now with her familiar pink ribbon tossed to the side upon one of her pillows, currently had one pigtail undone and a large brush going through it as he spoke. She scowled slightly at his question and did her best to hide, underneath some of her loose strands, the tinge of a blush threatening to come to her face at the idea of what she was planning to do right now, even if it was to prove a very necessary point. Rolling her eyes, she looked to her beloved and replied with just a touch of exasperation, "Well, since you're leaving I figured I might as well head to sleep, Head Boy…Actually, I was just getting ready to change into my pajamas when you showed up here before with all of your randomness…" She gestured with the brush to the purple night shirt still half hanging out of her dresser drawer from two hours ago when Arnold had first pushed those tree branches against the outside of her dark window, practically scaring her to death. She resumed brushing, a slight scowl coming back to her face and a touch more sarcasm to her voice. "Anyway, I'm just brushing my hair out a little before I hit the sack like I do every night, so don't think I'm doing anything special just because you're here, or anything."
Continuing to casually run the brush through her former pigtail, Helga then proceeded to just smile contentedly at Arnold…and even though to the outside observer this situation might have seemed innocent enough, Arnold couldn't help getting the feeling in his gut that there was indeed something suspect about what the girl before him was doing. 'She's not going to let me get out of here without a fight, is she?' He continued watching her cautiously, just wishing that for once he could be as clever at schemes as Helga was so that he could even begin to hazard a guess at what she was concocting right now.
"Actually, though…" Helga suddenly continued speaking, bringing Arnold out of his thoughts and causing him to eye her even more closely, "Now that the whole 'Cecile thing' is out of the bag, I might actually start considering wearing my hair down every once in a while like you suggested earlier, Football Head." She ran her fingers absentmindedly through the part of her hair that was almost brushed out as she continued. "I mean, there's no more chance that you're going to have a spontaneous conniption or something because you suddenly recognize me from that night, and I haven't thought about it in a while but it was pretty comfortable getting it out of those pigtails for once…" Her smile grew a bit, both as part of her plan as well as due to the fact that she couldn't help but feel a happy warmth come over her as she added, "And you did say that it made me look nice, at least to you, so I guess that's an added benefit too." She smiled fully and winked at her beloved, and noticed with satisfaction a slight blush come to his face…and then also a slight smile.
And indeed Arnold, despite experiencing a touch of embarrassment at the reminder of the whole 'attraction' thing, couldn't help the compulsion to smile at what she'd just said: and how happy the simple fact that he liked something about her always seemed to make her. 'Maybe I'm overreacting a little…she's probably just doing this right now to keep me here a few more minutes and get a little more attention and a few more compliments from me.' He almost had to laugh at how convinced he'd been just a second ago that Helga was actually plotting to 'do' something to him before he left. 'And besides why would she have to 'do' anything to me or trick me into anything anymore, anyway? This isn't like the old days when she was spending all of her time trying to keep her secret and trying to keep me from getting too close to it—we don't have any secrets anymore and anything we need to work out, we can talk out together and openly just like we did tonight with the shrines and the kissing.' Arnold's smile grew just a bit and he couldn't help but let out a satisfied sigh at this comforting logic…
…If only he had recalled, though, that there was still at least one thing tonight Helga had been hinting at needing to work out between them...and that it was a topic that Arnold had explicitly and rather stubbornly (though with the best of intentions) refused budge upon or even just discuss when Helga had given him the initial opportunity not too long ago…
Seeing her handiwork paying off in the form of Arnold's smile and the loss of that touch of suspicion and caution that had initially been in his eyes upon her calling him away from her door just now, Helga decided it was safe to move on from the topic of possibly wearing her hair down at school and to get back to the matter at hand. She cleared her throat and scowled at him slightly once more. "Anyway, don't change the subject, Football Head!" Having finished one side of her hair, Helga undid her second pigtail and began brushing out that one now. "You're the one who started this whole 'I have a fetish for sneaking in through people's windows' thing and now you're going to finish it!" She saw Arnold blink and open his mouth as though he was about to protest once again, but she cut him off before he could start. "And besides my parents could be home any minute, Arnold…" Her smile grew just a bit slyer. "Wouldn't look very good to them if you were suddenly strolling down the stairs when they came in through the front door, now would it? And it wouldn't look very good to any of the other adults in the neighborhood either if any of them happened to be passing by when you walked out onto my stoop… They all know Bob and Miriam went to bring Olga to the airport tonight (the two of them have been openly lamenting it enough to anyone who'll listen, believe me)…and even if whoever might be out there isn't aware yet that I've been home alone, I could always just find them and tell them..." She continued staring down Arnold with that suspicious smile as she added, recalling his comment before about his only keeping their relationship a secret because it was important to her as well as fun to do so, "I'm starting not to care too much about keeping this whole thing with us under wraps, myself, Football Head…"
And, in reality, though she wasn't quite ready to start reciting poetry from the rooftops or anything, Helga hadn't been able to help getting the feeling every now and then over the course of the last week that maybe it wouldn't be the MOST horrible thing in the world if the fact that she didn't entirely hate Arnold became public knowledge. 'I mean, Olga found out and it's been helpful…mostly… Gerald found out and he didn't freak too bad…Arnold found out and…well…' She smiled to herself at the conclusion that needed no words, and then sighed in happiness as her thoughts continued. 'It'd almost be nice to be able to go to school or baseball games or for ice cream and not to have to toss a bunch of on the spot insults at old Football Head when all I really want to do is hug the little guy…'
Arnold, meanwhile, upon Helga finishing this little speech she'd just given about actually being serious about him taking the window to leave her house, rolled his eyes at her this time. "Helga…" Meanwhile, though, he couldn't help at least a slight bit of warmth coming to his face and feeling himself swallow nervously at the idea of how it really might look if Helga's parents or anyone else actually caught him leaving her house at this time of night when she was all by herself.
"Arnold…" Having now finished brushing out her second pigtail, Helga flipped her hair forward and began brushing down the underside as she spoke to him. "I gave up the closet shrine to you tonight. The CLOSET SHRINE. I think the least you could do is indulge me a little…" He heard her chuckle to herself as she added, still hidden under her hair, "I mean, with the climbing out of the window thing since you're not allowed to indulge me in any other way right here and now because we're at my house and I'm a 'girl'."
Arnold felt himself blush fully at the sudden reference once again to his continued anxieties about being here with Helga alone...and finally came to accept that she really wasn't going to let him just walk out of there: she was going to get everything she possibly could out of this night and this situation…and considering how smart she was and how experienced she was at tricking him (she'd had almost seven years of practice at it, after all) he couldn't help but be pretty sure that, despite his feelings about the matter, she'd find someway to get around them and succeed at whatever she currently had up her sleeve.
Arnold swallowed hard and took a moment to consider his options. 'If her parents really did walk in—and, like Helga once said, we're irony's best friends—they'd never let her anywhere near me again. And even if they didn't come home before I left and I managed to get outside but one of the other grown-ups—Harvey or Mr. Green or Mrs. Vitello or any of them—saw me leaving here and at this time of night, and mentioned it to Mr. or Mrs. Pataki…' Arnold suddenly recalled Big Bob Pataki and his temper with a gulp. 'Well, it probably wouldn't be good for me or Helga… And anyway….' Arnold hated to admit it but he couldn't deny the truth behind her logic, 'I guess I did kind of start something with always asking her to come to my house using my window, and then going and doing it here tonight myself to get into her room… And on top of that I really am starting to think that if I keep trying to not do what she wants that she's never going to let me get out of here … And, also, if it's a choice between just giving in and sneaking back out of her window right now or getting in a fight with her about it first…' Arnold couldn't help but feel the warmth return to his face and his heart pound just slightly as he recalled how ever since Helga's confession, serious conflicts between the two of them—the April Fools pranks, their shouting match during the poetry tutoring weekend—had been seeming to manage to end in something romantic and physical… And now that he had confessed as well…. 'Well, then…' he sighed to himself mentally, doing his best not to blush at the memories, 'I think agreeing to use the window would be the best thing for now… Besides, it's not that big of a deal or anything for me to climb down her tree…'
And so, finally, set on his course of action, Arnold came out of his thoughts, took a deep breath and glanced down, replying in a complacent and yet patient voice, "Fine, Helga—if it's what you really want I'll take the rope down. I teased you enough about sneaking in and out of my house using it, anyway… I guess it wouldn't kill me to try the full experience." He actually felt himself smile a bit at the irony, some of his nervousness leaving….
It quickly returned, though, as he moved his gaze back up to look at Helga…the site of whom made the smile fall from his face and his eyes go wide and finally her latest pink book drop from his hand to the floor with a firm plop.
Helga, now fully finished with brushing out her hair, had suddenly flipped it back so that it fell down around her shoulders, that small piece that always wanted to cover her eye doing so. She had been kneeling on the bed before but now he watched as she moved back and sat down with her back against the wall to the side of her window. She stretched her legs out before her, and then delicately crossed one over the other. She then smiled at Arnold, proceeded to twirl a small piece of her hair around the index finger of her right hand and, as the 'piece de resistance', slowly grabbed the end of the rope with her left hand and started swinging it casually in circles. 'I cannot believe I am doing this…' was all Helga could think as she finished positioning herself in this fashion…
…The overall effect of which was a little…distracting…to our Football Headed hero, to say the least…
'So far so good…I haven't seen his eyes go that wide since I kissed him on the FTi building.' Helga took a breath and spoke in a warm tone. "Okay, so…come and get it..." Her half smile increased just slightly, and she winked.
Arnold was pretty sure his jaw had just dropped but he couldn't really feel anything at the moment except his heart pounding in his chest.
Helga just sighed with a satisfied grin at his continued silence and at his now agape mouth. 'Like shooting fish in a barrel…' "The rope, I mean, of course, Arnoldo…" she added with a playful giggle.
Arnold remained frozen and silent for a second longer…his jaw still practically on the floor. 'Okay, I admit it: I'm out of my league here…'
"I'm taking the door!" Arnold instantly turned and bolted in the direction of the exit to Helga's hallway, panicked thoughts racing through his mind. 'Ruth, Lila…even Summer wasn't any kind of preparation for this! This is WAY too much! I've got to get out of here and think and regroup and maybe call up Gerald and have one of our Purdy Boys sleepovers and spend the rest of the weekend not thinking about ANYTHING having to do with girls, especially her!!! I just need a day or so to just…just…'
"Arnold, you take that door and, even if you luck out and don't get caught by anyone, when Gerald lays into me about the shrine on Monday I'll make sure to let him know exactly how you ended up over here in the first place—the whole failed tree/rope/shoe/'trying to be romantic' stunt, remember?" This firm threat from Helga interrupted his thoughts and almost caused Arnold to trip mere feet from his goal of her door. He blinked and steadied himself, letting the words she'd just said absorb as she continued with her threat. "Actually, I'll make sure to fill in him, Phoebe, Lila, heck BRAINY, your Grandparents, every boarder who'll listen…" The tone of her voice more than suggested that she was enjoying the serious potential she had here to humiliate him. "And, unless you use this rope to climb down out of here and then take it with you, it'll be all the proof I'll ever need that you, the self-proclaimed poster child of innocence and decency, regardless of you 'pure' intentions, chose to celebrate the one week Anniversary of your first serious relationship by breaking into your girlfriend's bedroom! Now, climb!"
Arnold turned around (and Helga couldn't help but blink and lose her scowl just for a second at the extreme degree of desperation suddenly upon his face) and suddenly said pleadingly, "Helga, why are you doing this to me? You know that I—"
She let out an impatient sigh and cut him off, her scowl now firmly fixed once again, though it was getting harder for her to keep up the joke considering how much worry she was obviously causing her wonderful little beloved with everything she was doing right now just to prove something to him. 'No, don't take pity on him—just stick with the plan!' She mentally yelled at herself, and then turned back to the task at hand. "Trust me, Arnold, there's a point!" She held up the rope end just a bit more…and then did her best to resume her former coy smile as she started slowly swinging it in circles again. "Now, come on…" she began in a warm, sweet, unassuming voice, "It'll take two seconds and it'll make me happy and it's our Anniversary, according to you, so just do it and the quicker you do the quicker you can run back to the boarding house and have a full six days to mentally prepare for our next solo encounter." She let out a much less harsh sigh and added jokingly. "Which is going to be at your house so you won't have to worry about any of the guilt you're feeling now, right, Football Head?" She smiled just a bit more at her beloved, and crossed her legs just a bit more snugly.
Arnold sighed in distress and took a hesitant step or two back toward the bed…and also toward the mischievous looking (though also quite nice looking) Helga before him. He shut his eyes for a second and shook his head to clear it. 'No, don't focus on how she looks—she's just trying to get to you because she knows that you think she's pretty… Just…just calmly, reasonably ask her to stop—whatever this is all about—and she will…Okay…' He took a deep breath and opened his eyes again, and then did his best to address Helga in as rational-sounding a tone as possible. "Helga, I know it's our Anniversary, but it's getting kind of late, so is there any way we could talk about this tomorrow, and for now maybe you could just let me—"
Well, this was interesting…because Arnold had been quite convinced that Helga couldn't possibly be doing another thing right now in an attempt to get him to agree once more to coming onto that bed with her… And yet…
Arnold swallowed hard and his eyes went wide again…and he just looked over at Helga with a mixture of confusion and just a bit of terror on his face. She seemed to be glancing to the side of him at her mirror across the room with a touch of obviously feigned indecision in her eyes….and while doing so she was gently grazing her lips with the tips of one or two of the fingers of her hand that had been formerly twirling a piece of her hair. "Hmm…" she began, trying to sound concerned, "You're right—the hair does look nice like this, Arnold… But do you think I should maybe start throwing in some make up too…maybe a little lip gloss or something? I mean, as long as I'm changing things up a bit and getting used to acting more like a 'girl'…" She glanced away from her reflection and back to Arnold…who couldn't help but feel his eyes pulled towards those lips of hers that she'd just been touching so gently. Those lips that were perfect enough just as they were considering how they'd managed to make him feel all those times she'd pressed them to his own so unimaginably passionately…but that might be even more interesting (if that were even possible, though the thought had never really occurred to him until just now) if they were a slightly different color or…or…
And then Helga giggled and asked a question that succeeded in bringing Arnold's thoughts one step further… and that really almost made him pass out, the pounding of his heart in his ears was so strong. "Do you have any particular flavor you'd like me to try and get or…?"
Arnold suddenly closed his eyes tight and exclaimed in panic and embarrassment before she could keep going or before his thoughts could continue progressing, either of which had the real capacity to make him consider giving in to her desire to have him kiss her just like he'd almost done over at her door before, "Helga, if I promise I'll take the rope down will you stop?! Please?!"
Helga's eyes opened a bit wide at the unexpected exclamation but she quickly recovered herself, resuming her happy smile and replying in a sincere tone, "Well, thank you, Arnold. I'm happy you've decided to do me this one small favor and take the rope to get out of here. What exactly you want me to stop, though, I'm really not sure of…" She shrugged innocently. "I'm just saying that since you'd be tasting whatever lip junk I managed to get my hands on about as often as I would, it'd make sense for me to get something with a flavor that we both li—"
"Helga!" He opened his eyes, scowling at her just slightly this time around. His cheeks were practically bright red.
Helga just sighed and rolled her eyes, still smiling at him (and at how much she was obviously succeeding at getting to him). "Oh, fine, Arnold—if you're still uncomfortable then here…" She held out the rope end in mock defeat. "Just come over here and take the rope from me, like you just promised you'd do, so you can get down to my yard and out to the street to 'safety' from 'helpless little old me…' " She raised part of her brow and almost chuckled as she added in a patronizing tone. "Hmm…pretty funny how you're the one who's worried about the chance of taking advantage of me tonight, meanwhile I'm the one who seems to be freaking you out so badly right now, isn't it, Football Head?" She shrugged. "Eh, well, I guess it's just a funny world…" Finishing this little observation, Helga resumed playing with her hair with her right hand and started slowly twirling the rope end in her left once again, still smiling sweetly at her beloved. 'Wow, he really does have it bad for me…Sheesh, I thought he'd just blush some more but he's practically ready to spazz all over the place and all I did was put down my hair, twirl a rope, and initiate a lip gloss conversation. Hmm…I wonder what his response is going to be in about five minutes...' She felt her smile grow just a bit slyer at the idea and its potentially interesting consequences…
Helga was interrupted from her thoughts on the matter, though, as she noticed that Arnold, seeming too distracted at the moment considering the distressed look on his face to take full notice of the observation she'd just made about her apparent current power over him, had moved away from her door and back to the halfway point of her room…and he was now taking a hesitant step forward and raising his hand and opening his mouth as though about to say something, but then moving back and glancing down with a worried look like he was considering something, and then rubbing the back of his neck and repeating parts of this multifaceted process over again.
And indeed, on the inside, Arnold was feeling a bit torn inside about his desire to get out of here and yet at the same time the fact that it looked like doing so without risking serious consequences (in the form of the Pataki parents) or at least a fairly high degree of public humiliation would require him to get very close to Helga again just like she seemed to want… Finally, though, he swallowed hard and looked up at her, and then did his best to ask in as casual a voice as possible though it was obviously riddled with nervousness, "Okay…okay, so, like I said, I'll use the window, Helga, but…but can you get off the bed first so that…so that I, uh…have…room…?" He cleared his throat and added with a bit more confidence, "Yes, so that I have enough room…to get out of the window, I mean." He fished for some logical supports to back-up this request. "I mean, I'm not as good at it as you'd probably be—I even got caught coming in. Heh, heh…" He laughed nervously, still looking to her and just hoping that somehow what he'd said had sounded like it even half way made sense. 'This isn't me—I don't know how to play games like this. All I know how to do is sit down and openly talk things out with people, but this…' Arnold had to sigh and put a hand to one of his temples for a second…and he almost had to try and not laugh as his thoughts finished. 'I knew when I realized that I cared about her too that the second I told her how I felt things weren't ever going to be the same…but only Helga Pataki would bring torturing me to this level…'
Helga, meanwhile, just shrugged at Arnold's flimsy concern about 'needing enough space' ('Yeah—I'm completely going to buy that one!') and paused in her twirling of the rope end to glance at the area of bed near her window and then back to her beloved. "Oh, it looks like there's plenty of room to me…" She winked. "I think you'll be fine."
Arnold took a deep breath and glanced away from her again, swallowing hard, any trace of a smile leaving his face. He spoke sincerely but with touch of shyness that obviously increased as his words progressed. "Helga, come on—I already told you I'd take the rope down if it'll make you happy but…" He swallowed. "…Like I've been saying I still do feel a little weird about some things with us, and I just need time to think about all that stuff you said to me before and to really accept it…" He could feel the warmth creeping more and more into his face. "Plus, I just don't think it'd be right to…you know…especially in your room and on your bed…" He blushed furiously at this last part and tried to say anything to move on from it. "The whole thing's just making me feel really…really…" Arnold searched for the word, but he was a little too preoccupied and nervous right now to come up with it easily, to say the least...
"Tense?" Helga suggested, biting her lower lip and trying very VERY hard not to laugh.
"Helga!" Arnold instantly looked up at her, blushing furiously and with a slight scowl of indignation.
Helga let out an exasperated sigh, still grinning from her well placed joke, and resumed twirling the rope. She looked at him with a casual half smile. "Arnold, I'm just sitting here holding the rope for you to leave, which is what you seem to think would be best before anything happens between us because you're suddenly stuck on chivalry of all things…which is cute, by the way, but only to a point." She scowled at him slightly again. "So, quit being such a chicken and just get over here so you can get the heck out of my room!" She grinned a bit more and her scowl melted away as she added humorously, "What—do you think I'm going to bite you or something…?"
Arnold took another step or two toward the bed. He felt one of his feet bump into something on the floor and glanced down for just a second only to see it was Helga's pink book that the initial sight of her in her current position had caused him to drop… Arnold felt the heat that had been slowly abating over the course of the last few seconds resurface full force in his face at that particular memory, and did his best to ignore it. His eyes instantly returned to Helga, still just sitting coyly on her bed with her hair down, and he reached down and slowly picked up the pink book in question, still eyeing her warily. "Honestly…" he swallowed, straightening up, his eyes falling specifically to the rope in her hand…still being twirled suggestively… "I'm pretty sure that you're going to do something to me involving your mouth…whether that means talking me into a corner or ki—you know, 'the other thing'—though, I don't know but—"
"The 'other thing'?" She cut him off and looked at him incredulously, the rope spinning stopping instantly as she tried her best not to laugh. 'He's kidding, right?' "The 'other thing'? Seriously, Football Head—you're using a euphemism for kissing now when you practically threw me down on my couch last weekend and threw yourself on top of me, and then asked for round two after I tried to give you a pass on that awkward moment?" 'Perfect—yet another well placed reminder of how much he really enjoys kissing me…'
Arnold stopped his hesitant approach at the comment and instantly dragged a hand down his face, letting out an exasperated sigh at this latest piece of Helga's continued efforts to do her best (and she had been seriously succeeding, so far) to make him feel like this was the most awkward evening of his life. 'Great, she just had to bring that up…'
Getting just a little sick of feeling so very much under Helga's thumb right now, Arnold opened his eyes and took another step toward her, scowling again and momentarily disregarding all of his embarrassment. "Hey, you know, for the record, Helga, like you said, you threw me onto the coffee table first and then you just rolled on top of me so that we could get up when we fell on the floor and, I mean, I'd just realized that I liked you liked you and we'd just practically…practically made out! And I know I'm Arnold and that I'm always supposed to be 'innocent' and 'decent…'" he recalled some of the stereotypes of his personality she'd mentioned before, "But, like you said earlier, I'm also a real person with real flaws, and if you were allowed to go a little crazy on the roof of that building last month just because I asked you what you were doing there, then, with all the stuff that happened between us last week, I think that just once it might have been okay for me to lose it a little bit myse—" And then suddenly Arnold blinked and shut up, realizing that bringing up the details of his actions and thoughts from last Saturday night probably wasn't going to make things here and now any easier for him...in fact everything he'd just said was probably playing right into Helga's plans, now that he thought about it. He glanced away from Helga, feeling that familiar heat trying to return to his cheeks but doing his best to ignore it. "Anyway, Helga, could you just…could you just not try to kiss me or trick me into getting so close to you that I kiss you, right now? Please!" He swallowed hard. "I mean, I felt guilty enough after everything last weekend and I'm only just starting to get over it now because of all that advice you gave me before, but, like I said, at least last week we weren't in your bedroom at night and at least we weren't completely alone! And I'm already really starting to feel guilty again and—"
"Oh, Arnold…" Helga suddenly began innocently, cutting him off and smiling, "Now, when have I ever done anything to 'trick' you? And into kissing me, of all things!" Suddenly, she feigned a guilty look and put her hand not holding the rope to her mouth. "Oh wait…this is me we're talking about, isn't it? Hmm…well, I see your point, Football Head." Letting the rope drop upon her pink blankets once more, Helga leaned over to the right and suddenly picked up her pink ribbon from her pillow. She quickly tied it in her still-down hair, and then glanced at her reflection in the mirror across her room once more. "Hey, not bad—wearing the hair down looked alright but leaving in the bow when it's like this definitely takes it up a notch." She turned to a still flustered looking Arnold. "What do you think, Football Head? Just an overall opinion for if I decide to take this public anytime in the future—is the Cecile look too girly or can 'beautiful' old me really pull it off?" She jokingly batted her eyelashes a few times and pulled her legs closer into her body, slanting them to the side.
Arnold just looked at her in frustration once again that evening, feeling his heart flutter at the sight and idea of her once again actually trying to look attractive…and all for him. In a small way, though, he couldn't help a smile threatening to come to his lips once more that evening at all the effort she was putting in right now and at the fact that it was actually sort of working… 'Okay, really REALLY working…' he had to admit to himself.
Arnold just sighed and crossed his arms over his chest, and then looked to the girl before him, finally cracking the smile that had been threatening to come. "You're not going to make this easy, are you, Helga?"
Helga shrugged, twirling a bit of her hair around one of her fingers again. "When do I ever?" She chuckled. "Besides, hey, you complicate my life with this sudden sexist modesty streak if yours…maybe I complicate your life by saying a few suggestive things and working with what I've got appearance-wise and the fact that you randomly enough find me kind of pretty…especially when I look like I did last Valentine's Day." She winked and did her best to hide any blushing underneath her hair. 'There we go, Arnold…get comfortable and let the guard down and for Pete's sake just get on this bed already…' She continued to smile coyly as she added out loud to her half-true explanations about her behavior right now, "And maybe this is also a little revenge for that weekend of tutoring in your room when you flirted with me more than once to get your way, Arnoldo… I mean, seriously, I know it bugs you and that I said I wouldn't do it anymore but you have no idea how amusing it is to me to watch you squirm right now…" She shook her head back and forth, still smiling. "Seven years of me almost going into cardiac arrest every time you said 'hello' to me, and now I've got you sweating because you think I look kind of cute with my hair down and twirling a rope… It's like karma or something has finally come full circle, you know…" She laughed a little at the idea and then shrugged, wrapping things up. "So yeah, maybe I'm the one holding all the cards here and this is just one great big moment of fun for me…or maybe I'm just completely bluffing about everything and am just as terrified as you are of my parents suddenly coming back early with Olga because her flight got cancelled or delayed or something, and finding us up here..." She let out a sigh and gazed at her beloved. "Only one way to find out, I suppose..."
"Helga…" he tried to say her name in that annoyed tone of voice of his once more, but the second it came out of his mouth Arnold knew it sounded more amused than anything. And he knew that the small smile that was still on his face and only growing probably wasn't helping make her take his protests seriously either. 'I knew it…she might be going a little farther than I thought she would but basically she's just taking advantage of the fact that I admitted I think she's beautiful, and doing everything she's been doing right now just so that I'll stay around and she can savor it all for a few extra minutes…' He was about to shake his head in amusement, when what Helga said next made him stop and look at her with an eyebrow raised in just a bit of surprise at her continuing to add to the joke…
"Oh, I believe that's 'sweet Helga,' Arnold…" she corrected him, her eyes going half lidded, "Because between the poem and the closet and you showing up here in a tree with that precious First Anniversary story, not to mention this whole shyness routine and the fact that you now fully like me in every way I've ever liked you, that's the only Helga you're getting right now, my darling—hands down." She giggled slightly once more, reminding Arnold with a swallow of the girl who'd thrown him on the floor not too long ago cooing his name and trying to kiss him. "You remember…" Helga continued with a wink, almost as though she could read the thoughts currently passing through his mind, "The Helga who called you her 'little angel' when she threw you on the floor before…and the Helga on top of FTi who said 'I'll go with you' after you said 'I need to lie down.'" Here grin grew a bit and the patted the surface of her bed with one of her hands. "Well, now's our chance!"
And suddenly things were getting a little too intense again. The smile fell from Arnold's face and he instantly backtracked several steps. "Helga, I don't know whether you're really gone on me again or—"
"Gone? Or back…?" She winked at him.
Arnold did his best to ignore her and began more firmly, "I don't know whether you're gone on me again…" he swallowed hard and took a breath before continuing, "or…or whether you're just acting, but if you don't stop then I really am just going to go downstairs and leave by the door…" He looked at her, his eyes narrowed slightly in reprimand at how even though he'd agreed to go along with her desire to have him climb out of her window and even though he'd very clearly expressed the current discomfort she was making him feel, she still wasn't letting up on him. "Even if your parents do see me, at least I can make a break for the boarding house. You're the one who'll have to stay here all night dealing with them…and with no Olga to help you." He half smiled as he felt himself gaining at least some ground in this current situation between them. "And as for filling in Gerald and everyone else on everything with the Anniversary, I'll tell them all what happened tonight myself if it means that I can get out of here without doing something I'll regret in the morning." He looked at her seriously. "I promise."
And, indeed, Arnold did seem quite serious with these statements, and that coupled with the fact that Helga had already sufficiently freaked him out more than enough to satisfy her sense of humor (for now, at least) led her to just sigh and roll her eyes once more at the on edge boy before her as she replied in 'defeat', "Oh, fine, Football Head—I'll cut it out. No more flirting." She smiled sincerely at him. "In fact, if I give you my word this ONE time that I won't try anything on you even though it's my own room, will you just crawl onto my bed and over to the window and get out already so that I can get back to getting ready to go to sleep already? I promise—no tricks."
Arnold blinked at her sudden…her sudden…complacency…and the sense of déjà vous that went along with it. It was then, with a blink, that he couldn't help but realize that he was being reminded of not too long ago when they had been trying to talk about her problem with his being worried about kissing her in her room because she was a girl and she'd proceeded to give in to his feelings on the matter unusually easily… Arnold would have taken a moment to consider the significance of the potential connection between these two incidents but the feeling of suspicion he was currently experiencing was being suddenly counterbalanced by the bit of relief he couldn't help but find himself feeling due to the return of Helga's normal tone of voice as well as the sudden absence of that dreamy gaze she could get, and the fact that both of these things meant she indeed wouldn't be tossing him on the floor anytime soon…and throwing herself on top of him…and resting her head against his chest…and holding his head gently in her hands…and gazing lovingly into his eyes…and leaning in to…
Pushing these thoughts away so that he could focus on the matter at hand, Arnold took a step back toward the bed and asked hesitantly in response to the promise she'd just made about at least a temporary ceasefire. "Really…?"
Helga smiled again. "Sure, Football head." She crossed her arms over her chest and shifted just slightly away from the window and rope. "I'll just sit here with my arms crossed and not even look at you. Pataki's honor."
Though the suspicious look was still in his eye and the suspicious tone still in his voice, Arnold took another step toward the bed (much to Helga's delight). "And trying to talk me into feeling completely humiliated?"
Helga just sighed and shrugged at the question, and replied casually, "Hey, you're the moral one, here. I mean, it's understandable that if I just threw you down and started kissing you that you probably wouldn't exactly try and stop me, but I'm certain that with your 'impeccable' moral character and sense of right and wrong that I should be able to say whatever I want without really leaving the chance for anything to happen…right, Arnold?" She eyed him, her grin growing. 'I've got him now…Hmph! Thinks he's so righteous… Well, we'll see how long this gentleman bit lasts the second he's on this bed…'
Arnold, meanwhile, couldn't help but glance away and swallow hard at this argument. He wanted to be able to say something confident—like that he was sure he could handle anything she could dish out… And yet, at the same time… 'Knowing her, she'll come up with the worst thing imaginable to say to me… She's already been doing pretty good so far between bringing up last Saturday and then the hair and the lip gloss…' Arnold mentally weighed the consequences for a few more seconds, but then reminded himself of Helga's determination to not let him leave unless he used the rope like she wanted and the fact that resisting it so far had only led to him spending even more time here and to Helga just getting closer and closer to weakening his resolve to be as much of a gentleman as possible tonight considering where they were and the fact that it was their Anniversary and the fact that she really was the most special person he'd ever met and really deserved to be treated like a real girlfriend…
Finally, Arnold just let out a sigh and looked back up at the girl before him, knowing the only course of action he could really take right now. He replied to her challenge in a determined though at the same time noticeably tinged-with-frustration voice, "Fine, Helga…"
Helga's smile brightened at the response, and she instantly turned her head away from Arnold and the window as part of their deal, looking to the head of her bed. "Great! Besides, it really is better if you take that way down because, personally, I do not want to have to deal with any after effects of my parents or any other grown-ups who could tip them off finding out you were here tonight. And anyway, I really do want to get back to getting ready for bed and finishing up my writing…" She paused and let out a sigh as she heard the shift of the mattress, signaling that Arnold was finally upon the bed with her. "Though, once again, I don't have much to write about thanks to you and this gentleman malarkey you keep spouting in a pathetic attempt to backpedal even though after last weekend it's pretty obvious that you like more than just innocently talking to me even if it is in my house, Arnoldo. A lot." She heard a very annoyed sigh come from Arnold who, from the sound of it, was obviously right beside her. "Sorry—just testing you, Football Head…"
Arnold, meanwhile, now indeed on his hands and knees beside Helga on the bed, just rolled his eyes and did his best to ignore her. 'It's okay…it's just Helga being Helga. It's not like I wasn't expecting this…' Turning back to the task at hand, he crawled towards the open window and used his hand not holding Helga's pink book to reach for the rope end that Helga had let fall to her pink blankets. Meanwhile, he continued to glance at her out of the corner of his eye when he could, expecting her to quit circling at anytime and inevitably strike the final blow that he knew she must have on her mind…
Helga, however, more to Arnold's continued suspicion than relief, just continued sitting there with a mildly content smile on her face, still looking to the side just like she'd promised she'd do and still with her arms crossed in front of herself.
Arnold finally paused for a moment in his exit and just let out a sigh at the seemingly innocent sight of her, and considered. 'I don't know… Maybe she really isn't planning anything…' This doubt crossed his mind as he proceeded to glance out over the window ledge for a moment, working out in his head the best way to get back down. His thoughts continued to wander. 'Maybe she really has just trying to drive me nuts by acting the way she's been acting for the last few minutes—just getting a last laugh before I go about how nervous it's all making me…' He half smiled to himself as an amusing new thought suddenly entered his head. 'I almost have half a mind to actually surprise her and grab her and kiss her out of nowhere like she keeps practically begging me to do—It'd serve her right after everything tonight…' He did his best not to chuckle to himself at the idea of how much something like that would really throw the crafty girl beside him for a loop. With a slightly amused sigh to himself and feeling a bit more relaxed, he temporarily put down the pink book upon the surface of the bed and took a moment to secure the rope end around his body before picking up the small volume once more and finally taking a deep breath as he prepared to begin his descent.
Arnold moved forward and began to try and get one of his legs out onto Helga's windowsill, still smiling to himself about the small joke in his head, when…
He heard Helga sigh to herself, and laugh just slightly. "You know, Arnoldo…this might sound like kind of a random topic for me to bring up but it's just something that's been popping into my head every once in a while over the past week…and I just figured I might as well mention it as long as you're going to be here for a few more seconds…"
Arnold swallowed hard and closed his eyes for a second and took a deep breath at the sudden sound of her voice, trying his best to just ignore her and continue with getting the rest of the way off of her bed. 'The sooner I'm back down in her yard, the sooner there won't be any chance that something could happen between us…'
Helga cleared her throat, still not looking at him and still not moving, just as she'd promised, and continued speaking. "I…I think the first time that I knew I had seriously started something with that confession of mine was when you started grabbing me and spinning me and dipping me at the April Fools Dance and saying I was in 'good hands…' " She couldn't help but feel herself swallow hard at the memory, though she tried not to make the nervous action obvious. She cleared her throat and resumed speaking. "I mean, there's been other stuff since then, of course, but that was the first thing, and I've gotta say good call on your part for trying to distract me because it definitely terrified and confused the heck out of me. Now, of course, I can handle stuff like that better…but that first time…" She half glanced at him out of the corner of her eye and sighed girlishly to herself.
Arnold hesitated for just a second in his journey across the windowsill, and turned his gaze in Helga's direction, giving her a look…and feeling another blush coming on at suddenly being unable to help recalling some of the stuff from that tango together and how…how fun it had been that first time to finally meet Helga on her own level…to see her challenge and raise it in the one way he'd never dreamed of in a million years (at least until her confession)... and to have had it actually work! He shook his head to clear it of these distracting memories and glanced up again, resuming eyeing Helga. She still wasn't looking at him, though, (at least, she didn't seem to be, though her hair was hiding a fair amount of her face and he wasn't at the best angle to tell, to begin with) and so Arnold just took a breath to focus himself once again, and then resumed trying to get over the windowsill as safely and securely as he could.
"I guess the point I'm trying to make is…" Helga continued in a tone so casual it was obviously suspicious, glancing at him just a bit more out of the corner of her eye, though the action continued to be hidden by her hair, "Even if liking the kissing is just another part of who we both are and not some 'horrible stain upon our personalities'…" she did her best not to laugh at the memory of Arnold's dramatics from earlier that evening, "Well, like you said once before, underneath all of the sarcasm and the bullying and the jokes I do actually have a serious sweet, loving, romantic side just waiting to come out: the person who writes the poems and monologues and smiles at every word you say..." She took a breath, still smiling to herself. "But…Arnold…" Something about the way she'd just said his name made him freeze once again in his attempt to exit her room (he now had one leg reaching over the ledge, trying to find a tree branch to begin putting his weight upon)… The way she'd slowly pronounced it and with just a touch of that way of speaking she had whenever she got carried away by her feelings for him…
Helga continued, interrupting his thoughts on the matter and causing Arnold to blink a couple of times as he came back to the situation at hand (and to put aside once more the memories of some of those feelings the more extreme side of her love could provoke in him). "Arnold, my point is, the kissing aside…if there's a secret sweet side to me that I kind of don't mind letting out every once in a while then you've got to admit, especially after everything that's happened between us lately…" He felt his heartbeat starting to pick up at the amount of anticipation her tone was creating. He glanced up at her once more…and finally noticed a touch of scarlet creep up into her face despite her hair trying to cover it. His heart started to pound a bit more. She took a breath and finally finished. "…You have to admit that there's a secret dark side to you, Arnold…and that you like it!"
And with this culminating sentence she turned to wink at Arnold just as her words made him finally spazz in utter mortification and surprise, dropping the pink book upon her bed and falling over the windowsill ledge and into the tree outside. In an instant, Helga was in front of the window and she reached over and outside, grabbing both of her beloved's arms firmly and holding him up. Seeing he was just a little stunned but otherwise okay ('Oh Arnold, if you actually had fallen and hurt you perfect self I would never have forgiven myself! No lesson would be worth that!') she just grinned down at his wide eyes and terrified facial expression. "Hey, you're finally off the forbidden bed, Don Juan. Good for you! I knew you could be stubborn enough to do it if you really tried, Football Head!" She winked again.
Arnold, meanwhile, just felt himself continuing to breathe quickly and deeply in distress, his face burning hot. Helga was continuing to hold onto him and her blue eyes were staring mischievously right down into his green ones in triumph. Nonetheless, he did his best to avoid eye contact with the girl whose face was less than a foot from his own. "HELGA!!!" he yelled in total panic, his voice actually squeaking a bit and his heart beating like crazy! 'I—I don't…I mean…Well…' Arnold could barely manage a coherent thought, he was so flustered, and yet something inside of him couldn't deny that when it came to those few times when he'd done things with Helga that had made him feel guilty later… Well, let's just say that even though he'd felt bad about them he wasn't entirely sure that he would have taken them back even if he could have…
Helga, meanwhile, rolled her eyes and the sound of her voice cut off his thoughts (which he was trying to avoid anyway right now) on the matter. "Oh don't even start with me about what I just said about you, Arnoldo!" She scoffed and gazed down at him in amusement again. "You know it's true, Mr. 'I think I'd like to try it again'!" She chuckled to herself at the memory of her last encounter with Arnold's aggressive side exactly one week ago.
She watched (and found herself very much entertained) as Arnold's wide eyes just proceeded to dart around in desperation at this latest statement from her, his breaths still coming quite quickly. "But you—Well, that's not the—Just because I—I mean, can't we just not talk about this…right now…" His eyes finally came to fall upon hers again, and he finally found it in himself to get his bearings enough to secure his footing a bit on a sturdy limb below him. 'She—I—she…' He couldn't even begin to logically think through what Helga had just said or the point she'd just made about his personality back inside (the validity of which he was starting to feel less and less able to really doubt as more memories of some of the feelings he'd associated with those aspects of his relationship with her continued to resurface), and so he just settled for opening his mouth and repeating desperately some of the things he'd been trying to express to her all evening ever since they'd first talked about the kissing. "Helga, I told you, I still feel a little weird about the living room last weekend, and then the April Fool's tango and all of these feelings I keep having in general lately. And I really wasn't expecting you to be in your room tonight…and then the shrine and the hair and poem and the bed and you—you want me to…" His heart continued to pound and heat continued to flood his face, and he quickly closed his eyes for a second and he shook his head and did his best to move on. "Well, I'm not even sure exactly what you want me to do anymore, but it's just different alone and at night and here like this, okay?" He looked up at her desperately again. "Just trust me Helga, it is! And I—"
He was instantly cut off as Helga, seeing that he was able to stand on his own now, suddenly released her grip on his arms, leaned as far out of her window as she could…and grabbed his shoulders and forced his head toward her own, (finally) kissing him! 'Roof of the FTi building' kissing him he managed to notice before he got lost in her sudden surprise action…pulling him in and pressing her mouth hard against his and turning her head to the side and making that moaning sound…
And along with his heart beating like crazy and the funny, light feeling in his stomach and the sparks of warmth flowing through his body (and the slight draft he was feeling upon his head as it seemed, faithful to the first time she'd kissed him like this, the sudden force and intensity and passion of her action had caused the hat to fly off of his head once more…and it probably hadn't helped that one of her hands had pleasantly started moving through his hair at some point during the beginning of the kiss, though Arnold really couldn't recall when and really didn't care as long as it kept happening), this unexpected kiss suddenly gave Arnold the wonderful feeling of all of the tension and nervousness and embarrassment of the evening starting to flow away… just like those few times he and Helga had kissed over the last few weeks to fix small bits of awkwardness between them but about a million times better considering everything he'd been letting build up inside of himself lately. And so, rather than making any attempt to protest or fight what Helga was doing right now, Arnold instead just melted into the kiss and let her do it and hold him and pull him closer…and eventually along with that feeling of elation and release, he also noticed that none of the fears he'd been having about liking the kissing or getting carried away or doing it in her room suddenly seemed to matter to him all that much right now, or at least not as much as they had before when he'd been trying to avoid things…because he was kissing Helga again, like he'd wanted to do this entire night and actually for this entire WEEK ever since their last date…and it felt right and it felt good and it felt happy, and like nothing he'd ever experienced before. So what else was there? 'Helga…' He felt a contented sigh escape through his nose and he noticed the reaction made Helga shudder slightly and moan again just like she'd done at the closet before, and as usual it made the whole thing just… 'Amazing…'
It seemed like forever, but after a good half a minute or so, Arnold finally felt Helga pull away from him. He opened his eyes and blinked a few times, not aware of much other than the fact that his heart was currently fluttering like mad. After a moment or two he managed to get his vision in focus enough to return his eyes back up to Helga's face, and he almost had to laugh at the sight of her scowling down at him with her hands on her hips while meanwhile she was breathing heavily and blushing just as much as he was. 'How can she be angry about anything in the world after that?' he couldn't help but ask to himself in lovesick amusement.
"No, Arnold!" The sound of her firm voice brought him out of the funny thought (though his goofy smile still more than remained). "The kissing's different alone and at night and back there!" She jerked her thumb back inside of her room, mocking what he'd said before their latest kiss. "But here," she pointed to the tree and the yard below, "It's just the same as always." She crossed her arms over her chest. "According to you, a grand total of three inches of window sill just changed you from the guilty party responsible for what we just did to me—which is a complete load, Football Head, since I just spent the last half hour practically seducing you just to prove this point!" He saw a half smile threaten to come to her stern face as she added, "I mean, and also because doing it was hysterical, but mostly to prove this point." She finally sighed in exasperation and leaned on her elbows out of the window, looking down at him, the expression on her face becoming just a bit more understanding though a slight scowl remained. "Now, listen, Head Boy, like I said, the 'chivalry' thing is cute to a point and if it's really a solid part of who you are and not just the result of too many bad romantic movies then obviously we can work out some kind of compromise that keeps you feeling like a decent person but me from wanting to smack you." She glared at him. "But, either way, don't you ever pull that macho 'oh but you're a 'girl'—what if I'm taking advantage of you, you can't make decisions for yourself when you're in a place as vulnerable as your bedroom' horse hockey on me ever again, or the next time I kiss you like that we'll both be needing dentures! Got it, Football Head?"
As she had spoken, revealing the purpose behind all of the flirting and the smiling and the kiss as proving this point to him, Arnold had just remained standing on the tree limb with a small, dreamy smile on his face and trying his best to catch his breath and to even begin to get over all of the feelings Helga's passionate action had suddenly caused to explode inside of him, though it wasn't easy. At the sound of her familiar name for him, though, his eyes finally blinked and he began to try and muster the strength and capacity for a response, which she seemed to be expecting from him. "I…I…" At the sight of her leaning over just above him, though—looking so angry with her scowl and yet so pretty with her hair still down and the slight blush on her cheeks—Arnold, with a grin, could only come up with, in his dazed and lovesick state, "I…" he let out a happy sigh, "Yes, mam!" 'Well…if she insists!'
Helga smiled brightly at the reply and actually did her best not laugh. ' 'Yes, Mam…'? Oh brother, he's got it bad.' She leaned out of her windowsill just a bit more. "Good! Because, I've gotta say, Arnoldo, if I couldn't kiss you like that for another seventy years or so then I'd be a little upset myself." She straightened herself up, starting to reform one of her pigtails now that her hair being down had served its purpose. "Now, get on back to the boarding house before I really do test your chivalry and pull you back inside now that I've already broken the ice and convinced you of just how okay it is to kiss me in here." She began to reform the other side of her hair. "And be careful getting down the tree! You already botched your entrance with this crazy scheme of yours—the least you could do is pull off the exit strategy!" She winked at her beloved and then shut her window, obviously laughing to herself a bit at her joke and the effect it had had on him, though Arnold could no longer hear her clearly with the pane of glass separating them.
Arnold, meanwhile, just continued to remain standing in surprise and elation on the tree limb below his feet, still waiting for his heartbeat to slow down and for full feeling to return to his limbs instead of that warm tingling sensation he was feeling everywhere (both of which probably needed to happen if he was hoping to have any success in climbing down a tree in the dark using nothing but a piece of rope to guide him).
A few more seconds passed and Arnold could finally feel his senses just starting to thaw out when suddenly the sound of the window sliding up caused his eyes to snap back up in the direction of Helga's room and then to go wide at the sight of the girl in question (her pigtails fully reformed and the classic ribbon back in her hair) suddenly before him once more and smiling with that familiar spark of mischief in her eyes. "Oh, and, Football Head…"
Arnold felt himself swallow hard. She seemed to grab something nearby and then brought one of her hands out of the window clutching a familiar item. "Here, don't forget my poems…" She reached down and placed the pink book in question into one of his hands, and then moved her head and shoulders back inside of her room, just kneeling upon her bed with her arms crossed over her chest and looking at him with a half smile.
Arnold gripped the pink book as firmly as he could considering his current physical state, and then felt himself let out a small breath of relief at the fact that she'd just returned to give him the precious object he'd suddenly remembered he let drop upon her bed before falling into the tree. Not that her opening the window again to give him another kiss would have been a bad thing, but if he was going to have any kind of a chance of getting down to her yard and back to the boarding house, he was pretty sure, once again, that the capacity to walk and breathe and feel something besides sparks and warmth throughout his body would help. "Oh…Uh…" he managed to take in a breath and reply as coherently as he could to the grinning girl above him, "Thanks…Helga…"
She couldn't help but giggle slightly at the intense effect her kiss had seemed to have on him. 'I'm actually starting to consider the possibility that these little intimate moments are making him go even more ga-ga than me sometimes!' "No problem, Football Head… Oh and don't forget to find your hat before you leave my yard." She reached out and quickly tapped the top of his bare head, grinning to herself. "Can't have you going through another 'existential crisis' if you wake up tomorrow morning and realize you don't have it… Besides…you know…it always did make you look just a little bit cuter!" She let out a giggle followed by a happy sigh as the noticed the sudden blush this comment started to make creep up into Arnold's cheeks, and she was about to just shake her head at the sight of him being so in love with her and wish him goodnight when she suddenly recalled, thanks to the daydreamy look still on his face, one final thing she'd wanted to address about the so very 'Arnold' moral dilemma he'd confessed to her tonight. "Oh, and before I forget, Arnoldo…one more thing about that little kissing confession of yours…"
Arnold felt his heart pick up full speed again and warmth fully flood his face as she suddenly leaned all the way out of the window once more, though this time slightly to the side, moving her face right alongside his own... She whispered into his ear. "If you ever do get the sudden urge to pull me into a closet or a classroom while we're in school so that we can 'talk'…don't worry about how you might mess it up or who might see us, and just go for it, Football Head! Because I would be willing to do ANY amount of damage control for that experience…" He heard her giggle slightly once more. "And besides, if you don't do it, now that the idea's in my head, I'll probably do it myself pretty soon. But…somehow I think we'd both enjoy it more if you did it, Arnold…or at least me and your dark side would enjoy it more."
And with these last playfully whispered words Helga pulled away from Arnold's blushing face and once again wide eyes and, with a satisfied smile, closed her window once more.
Arnold just continued to stand upon the tree limb and lean forward against the side of Helga's house, staring up in the direction in which she'd disappeared for a few more seconds though she was no longer at all in sight of the warmly glowing window. Finally, he realized that he had pretty much stopped breathing courtesy of the last five minutes or so he'd just spent with Helga, and took a deep breath which came out of him as a dreamy sigh. 'She's just…' the elation of their kiss and the idea of what she'd just expressed her approval of in terms of a future one possibly at school, and pretty much everything else he'd come to learn about Helga G. Pataki in general over the last month or so still lingered with him, and he was at a loss for words. 'Wow…'
Arnold was finally brought fully out of his reverie by the sound of a clock tower chiming the hour: 9 pm. He blinked. "Uh oh—Grandpa's going to kill me if I don't get home!" He instantly started to climb down the tree using the rope to guide himself and doing his best to keep Helga's pink book as safe as possible from getting scratched by the twigs and branches around him. "I can't believe I was here for two hours…I think this is going to the first time I've ever actually been late for curfew…" He finally reached the bottom of Helga's tree and glanced up at her warm, glowing window once more. "Still…" his dreamy smile returned a bit and another sigh escaped him, "It might be worth getting in a little trouble for her…"
His face took on a full grin as the words he'd just heard himself say made her comment about him having a dark side surface in his head again. "Well…" He recalled in a flash all of the sneaking around and the fun times and near misses and the fights and the apologies and the dramatics and the laughs of their time together over the last two weeks, and couldn't help but almost chuckle to himself as he gave the rope a firm pull out of the tree and coiled it up before throwing it over the shoulder of his arm the hand of which still clutched Helga's pink book. Feeling another slight draft on his head, he recalled Helga's reminder about grabbing his hat and, glancing down, his eyes fell upon the small blue object resting against the base of her tree. With a slight shake of his head at this symbol at just how intense Helga's kisses had the capacity to be, he quickly picked it up and popped it back upon his head. He then, with a smile, walked over to Helga's backyard fence and opened the gate with his free hand, stepping out into the street and continuing his thought. "Well…Helga's sweet side is kind of nice, so maybe…maybe my dark side isn't so bad either…" He couldn't help a touch of a blush coming into his face at this notion...but he also couldn't help smiling just a bit more as well… 'And…' he began to add silently to himself, 'Maybe she's right…maybe I do really like having that part of myself…a little…' And then he recalled with a laugh how much he had already admitted to himself that despite all of that guilt he'd been feeling before he still hadn't wanted to take back any of the stuff his love for Helga had suddenly given him the impulse to do on several occasions so far over the last few weeks. "Okay…maybe I like it a lot…" he mumbled to himself with a smile.
As Arnold closed the gate door behind him he just sighed at his last concept and shook his head in amusement, commencing to walk up the street back in the direction of the front of Helga's house to get to the bus stop nearby. Recalling the pink book in his hands once more, he flipped it open to near the end and tried, in the glow of the streetlights, to locate the most recent poem Helga had written—the realistic one about why, of all people, he was lucky enough to have someone like her care so much about someone like him.
Flipping a few more pages forward, Arnold finally found what he was looking for…and he had to chuckle as he finally understood what Helga had meant when she'd said that this poem was more explicitly about him than his had been about her…
He sighed and started reading to himself as he walked. 'A is for Arnold, who liked my pink bow, R is for—'
"Arnold! Hey, ARNOLD!"
Arnold blinked and looked up, his reading suddenly interrupted by the sound of his best friend's voice unexpectedly calling his name. In the night of the streets he blinked as he saw Gerald as well as Phoebe suddenly run up to him, slightly worried looks on both of their faces.
"Uh, hi guys… Is everything okay?" He raised an eyebrow at both of them, closing the pink book and letting the hand holding it drop to his side.
"Well…Arnold…" Phoebe stopped before him and took a second to catch her breath, and then quickly continued, a very concerned expression on her face. "You see…Helga promised that she would call me as soon as you two had finished discussing the…I mean talking about…um…" She couldn't help but blush and stutter at the awkward and rather personal topic.
Gerald crossed his arms over his chest and looked Arnold in the eye as he bluntly finished Phoebe's sentence. "Helga said she'd call back after you two finished having it out about the fact that she's got a monument to you in her closet, and it's been over an hour and we were a little concerned so we decided to swing by and see what's up?" A half smile came to his face. "By the way, you know I'm never letting you live this down, right? I mean Helga would beat the stuffing out of me if laid into her fully so I'm going to have to curb myself a bit, but we are going to have some huge laughs about this shrine thing tomorrow, man. I mean, me standing in your room pointing at you and just laughing for a VERY long time…with commentary to follow as soon as I get myself calmed down enough." He smirked smugly. "Seriously."
Despite Gerald's teasing tone, rather than getting embarrassed for about the billionth time that night, Arnold just sighed and smiled and rolled his eyes at his best friend. "Sure thing, Gerald. And then we can also laugh about you passing out in the middle of Phoebe's kitchen when you heard about the shrine in the first place."
Arnold looked to Phoebe who was now doing her best not to laugh as she glanced out of the corner of her eye at Gerald (who was currently blushing just a bit and looking down with a sheepish smile thanks to Arnold's comeback). "Heh, heh…uh…yeah…Point well taken, man."
Arnold just chuckled to himself at this reply and at the sight of his usually confident best friend looking so flustered. "Sorry, Gerald." He then turned his attention back to Phoebe. "Anyway, Phoebe, don't worry—everything's fine with me and Helga. We just had a lot of things to talk about with the shrine and then some other stuff after the shrine, and it took a little while but…" he glanced back at her house again, "I think it was really good for us to go over some things we didn't get a chance to get to last weekend or the weekend before that…" He was lost in his thoughts for a second but then just shook his head and looked back at the now smiling young girl before him.
Phoebe let out a relieved sigh. "I'm…very glad to hear that, Arnold. Helga's very fortunate to have you in her life…and I think she's a lot…happier…because of it, Arnold. More than she's ever been ever since I've known her." She looked at him sincerely.
Arnold smiled warmly at her observation, glancing down. "I…think you're right, Phoebe. And…I think I'm happier too."
There was a moment of silence during which Arnold let himself get a bit lost in his contented thoughts about Helga Pataki, and Phoebe just kept watching him with a relieved expression at the fact that things were still okay between her best friend and the boy before her.
After a few seconds (SEVERAL seconds, actually), Arnold recalled that he was indeed with other people and in mid conversation, and quickly blinked and cleared his throat, hoping that neither Gerald nor Phoebe had noticed his sudden bout of daydreaming (though the amused looks he finally noticed they were both giving him right now said otherwise). "Um…" He swallowed hard and then gestured with his head to the Pataki household, trying to move along from the awkward moment. "Anyway…Helga's upstairs getting ready for bed, if you still want to talk to her, Phoebe..." His eyes fell back upon the girl before him.
Phoebe glanced in the direction of Helga's house, considered for a second, and then turned back to Arnold, smiling. "Actually, Arnold, as long as everything's fine between the two of you, I might return to my house and just call her tonight or in the morning, especially if she's already getting ready to go to sleep. Besides, I promised my mother I'd be back as soon as possible considering the hour."
"Yeah…" Gerald nodded his head in agreement, and then sighed and yawned, stretching up. "Hitting the sack sounds pretty good right about now, actually. I think I'll head home too." He rubbed the back of his neck. "Besides…" he smiled to himself, "I've got the entire school day on Monday to have some 'fun' with Helga about this shrine thing after I let out the big stuff on you, Arnold… Aw, man, I'll keep them pretty mild so that she doesn't pound me when no one's looking but still she is not going to be able to turn a corner without seeing me standing there with a grin and ready and waiting to nail her with another joke! "
"Gerald!" Phoebe scowled at him slightly, crossing her arms over her chest. She knew Helga and Gerald, though they were friends now, indeed had a relationship based more in jokes and innocent mocking than anything else…but still this was obviously a pretty sensitive topic to her best friend considering that last phone call they'd had, and if Gerald pushed things even a little too far it seemed like Helga could easily get quite upset.
Gerald instantly held up his hands defensively. "Hey, I'm not going to go public with it or anything, but I think it would freak her out more if I didn't say anything at all—like I had something big planned and was just circling around her and waiting to strike the blow, you know?" He smiled sheepishly. "Besides, like I said, I'll keep it mild—I just want to get her back a little bit for the seven years of torture and for whatever she's going to say about me passing out at your house, not freak her out and send her into the air vents again, you know?"
To Gerald's delight this small joke not only took her scowl away but actually made Phoebe smile and giggle slightly. Arnold, meanwhile, couldn't help but be reminded of the last thought he'd had before exiting the Pataki window mere minutes ago about Helga possibly using the same strategy on him of building up to some kind of argument climax (which he had been right about), and suddenly he found himself laughing warmly at the memory.
Phoebe and Gerald both turned to him, eyebrows raised. "Hey, man, the joke wasn't that funny? Save the laughter for tomorrow when we go over the shrine in your room." Gerald put a hand on his hip and smirked once more at his best friend.
Arnold cleared his throat, getting his laughter under control and glancing away. "Oh, no, Gerald, I was just thinking about…" He took a deep breath and tried to keep his blushing under control as he realized there was really no way to talk about anything from the window experience before without going into the 'entire' experience. He turned back to his friends. "Um…Never mind… Anyway…" searching for a different topic of conversation, Arnold found himself starting to yawn, and then instantly recalled the hour and his friends' recently stated plans to return back to their houses for the night, "I was just going to take the bus home myself but…" he looked up at the shining moon over head and the clear stars in the sky, and felt the warm night spring air around him. "I think I might just walk back to the boarding house and read some poems along the way." He absentmindedly gestured to the pink book still in his hand. "It's only a few minutes away and I don't think Grandpa would mind if I was a little late. Goodnight guys."
Smiling happily to himself, he took a few steps past Gerald and Phoebe and then started to open the pink book again as he commenced his walk…
"Hey…Arnold?"
Arnold stopped and turned around at the sound of his best friend calling his name once again...though this time in a much more hesitant tone than when they'd first encountered each other just moments ago. He blinked as he saw Gerald approach him and then pick up a very large twig from the ground just by Arnold's feet, a very curious look on his face as he glanced back and forth from the bit of tree to his best friend and back again.
And then Gerald blinked as he noticed, in the bright light of the street lamp under which Arnold was currently standing, several more twigs just like the one in his hand clinging to his best friend's sweater and hair…
Gerald was silent for a second like he was processing something, and then he glanced back in the unusual direction from which Arnold had just come for someone leaving Helga's house (the front door of which was NOT in that direction). He looked to Arnold once more…his expression of curiosity instantly replaced by one of almost disbelief. "Arnold…did you…climb Helga's tree to get into her bedroom…using that rope?" Gerald pointed to the rope in question that was still slung over one of Arnold's shoulders, and that he had just now taken the opportunity to fully notice considering the other break-in related evidence currently staring him in the face.
Arnold blinked at the question, swallowing hard as he recalled the coil of rope he still had with him. "Oh…uh…" He felt a blush rising in his cheeks again. His face remained blank. 'I really am bad at this crazy scheme thing, aren't I?' "Well…I, uh…" Arnold really wasn't sure what to say (at least, what to say that WOULDN'T absolutely humiliate him and maybe reveal some of the more intimate stuff from the evening he'd just spent with Helga that she might not want revealed to Gerald regardless of what he already knew about her secret and considering the fact that he'd already accidentally been filled-in on the existence of the closet shrine tonight).
"And…" The sound of Gerald's voice brought Arnold out of his internal deliberation, and he watched as his best friend took another step forward, pointing to the small, square item in his hand, "And do you have another one of those pink book things you mentioned to me with all those poems she writes about you?"
"Um…" Arnold glanced down and swallowed hard, his blushing only growing stronger. He mentally sighed to himself. 'I leave by the window and I still get caught… Helga and I really are irony's best friends, aren't we?' "I…uh…"
"And…" Gerald continued, ignoring Arnold's stutterings and finally walking the remaining distance toward him as he noticed, with a blink, the faint glint of the streetlight just over their head's catching against something on his best friend's twig strewn sweater. Gerald stopped and reached forward… and with his thumb and index fingers proceeded to pull a single long strand of blonde hair off of Arnold's shoulder.
Gerald's eyes went wide and he looked from the hair to his best friend. "And…do you have one of her hairs on your sweater?"
Arnold cleared his throat nervously, blinking several times and putting his hands behind his back and not even attempting to say anything at this point. 'And this is why, no matter what she just said, it'd be better if she was the one to pull me into a closet at school…because I just don't think these things through…' And yet he couldn't help grinning slightly and forgetting for just a second about Gerald's questions or even Gerald's presence, for that matter, as his thought continued... 'But if she really does insist, then maybe I—'
He was broken from this train of thinking by the sound of Gerald suddenly exclaiming in a shocked voice at his friend's continued nervous silence, "You're not talking about it!" And then Gerald couldn't help but recall the last and only Helga related incident Arnold had hesitated talking to him about...one involving a certain FTi building... He suddenly crossed his arms over his chest and raised an eyebrow, giving his best friend a bit of a look. "You made out with her again, didn't you?"
Arnold's eyes went wide at the statement, and he felt his cheeks instantly grow hot. He looked up at Gerald and then blinked once more and swallowed and did his best to half smile. "Heh, heh…" He shrugged innocently, his hands still behind his back, and then said the only thing he could think of that would be honest and yet that wouldn't go into too much detail. "Uh…one week Anniversary…?"
Gerald's jaw instantly dropped at these words and at what Arnold had just confirmed for him about his activities that evening. He raised a hand and a small sound came out of his mouth like he was about to say something, but then he stopped…only to start again. Finally, after a repetition or two of this process, he just let out a sigh and dragged a hand down his face, closing his eyes and shaking his head to himself. "Mmm, mmm, mmm..." He turned back around to Phoebe, who had been watching this little exchange between the boys and trying her best not to smile too much. "Phoebe," he put a hand on one of his hips, "what it wrong with our best friends, exactly?"
Phoebe approached Gerald, shrugging and glancing away. "I believe they're in love, Gerald."
Gerald felt himself blush slightly at the way she'd put it, but rolled his eyes to try and smoothly cover up the reaction. "Yeah, but…" he crossed his arms over his chest, "Like Helga said, people our age get crushes all the time but…" he jerked his thumb back in a very sheepish looking Arnold's direction, "They usually also aren't breaking into each other's rooms for random necking sessions every weekend." Arnold rolled his eyes and gave Gerald a slightly annoyed look from behind him, though Gerald didn't notice as he continued talking to Phoebe. "I mean, I like you a lot but I'm not…" Gerald suddenly realized what he had started saying and closed his mouth, blushing a bit more noticeably this time. He couldn't see it since his best friend was still behind him, but Arnold smiled with just a touch of both satisfaction and sympathy at this little awkward slip. "I-I mean…" Gerald started to try and backpedal.
And then Phoebe, to his surprise, suddenly stepped forward, clearing her throat and saving him the trouble. "Well…" she glanced away, still smiling, "Everyone expresses how they feel differently, I suppose, Gerald. Take Helga and her poetry, for example—she's expressed herself through that for years and I believe she'll continue to do so for the rest of her life." Phoebe swallowed, the small smile still on her face, and managed to continue despite the more than a touch of nervousness that she was currently feeling. "…And sometimes…if certain things progress…people can change their preferred methods of expressing themselves or even add new ones. Like with kissing…for example." She blushed and felt her stomach lightly twist just a bit as she courageously added that last sentence.
Gerald just continued to look blankly at her as she finished speaking, the blush still on his cheeks...and growing stronger. He didn't say anything.
Realizing that a private moment might be in order (he'd needed enough of those with Helga over the last two weeks), a grinning Arnold took a few steps backward away from the unofficial couple. He cleared his throat. "Um, I'm just…going to head home and read a few more of Helga's poems. Have a good night, you guys, and…" he recalled some of the stuff in reference to kissing he and Helga had talked about that evening, "Have fun!" He winked and then departed around the corner in the direction of the bus stop near Helga's door.
At the sound of Arnold's voice interrupting the silence (and that last slightly suggestive piece of advice he'd given), Gerald had turned his head in the direction of his best friend. Now, though, finally left alone in the warm night with Phoebe, he turned back to the girl before him. He cleared his throat and rubbed the back of his neck, trying to laugh off the awkward moment. "Heh, heh…So, uh…you wanna maybe just keep walking and talking and pretend me putting my foot in my mouth didn't just happen?"
Phoebe let out a small sigh and, still smiling, took a quick breath and leaned up…and gave Gerald a quick kiss on the corner of his mouth. She pulled away, blushing and with her smile having grown just a bit wider. "No." And then she quickly turned and proceeded to walk back in the direction from which they'd come, her hands shyly behind her back.
Gerald just remained standing where we was on the sidewalk in complete shock, his eyes wide and his now agape mouth starting to pull into a smile….and his heart suddenly pounding!
Noticing he wasn't following her, Phoebe stopped in her walk and turned back to the slightly in shock boy now several feet behind her, still smiling. "Are you coming, Gerald?"
The sound of her saying his name finally brought Gerald out of his momentary paralysis. He blinked several times and managed to close his mouth, and then swallowed hard. 'Hey, you know what, Arnold and Helga can get married and move into Mighty Pete together and come up with a whole library of poetry for all I care—dealing with their shenanigans is definitely worth it for this!'
"You got it, babe!" He suddenly called out with a smile, running after her. The familiar reply made Phoebe laugh, and, as the boy caught up with her, with the last bit of bravery she had and recalling all Helga had had the courage to do tonight and over the last few weeks…she took his hand in hers.
And so the two walked back home under the moonlight, laughing and talking while Arnold walked away from Helga's house reading her latest love poem for him and while Helga (now that she was certain Arnold was out of her tree and out of eyesight of her bedroom) gave herself a few minutes to squeal and giggle and roll around on her bed and monologue her heart out about everything from Arnold's initial entrance into her room to celebrate their 'Anniversary' to the final passionate kiss she'd gotten the opportunity to give him. And though it was already somewhat late, and although she was starting with a fresh volume since Arnold had taken her most recent one, Helga knew that by the morning the pink book count was certain to have gone up…
"A is for Arnold who liked my pink bow
R is for the right things he helps me know
N is for never hating me no matter what I've done.
O is for opening his window and wanting me to come.
L is for loving me despite (and for) the stalking and shrines and poems, and
D is for driving me nuts, just because we're in my own home.
And since you're name isn't poetic enough to have an odd number of letters like mine,
(Good going Football Head, you really do just love to complicate my life),
I'm adding this stanza to say point blank, my dense little Arnold,
That how anyone could help but love you would be beyond my skill to write."
Arnold paused in his walk for a moment as he finished reading the poem, laughing a bit to himself at the closing lines. He glanced back over his shoulder at Helga's house which was now a few hundred feet away, and he smiled at the fact that could still make out a faint glow coming from one of the windows that let him know that she was still awake.
He turned back to the book of poems in his hands and smiled just a bit more, recalling his most recent one-on-one encounter with its author mere minutes ago that had lasted four times as long as the initial quick delivery of her present that he'd planned for this evening had been supposed to. He sighed to himself. 'Grandpa really isn't going to be happy with me for being so late though…even if I'm pretty sure he knew what I was doing tonight had something to do with Helga...' Arnold recalled the sly smile the old man had given him when he had told the older man that he had to meet a 'friend' about something and wouldn't be out long…and, if that wasn't enough, Phil's final comment to a departing Arnold two hours ago about 'leaving the porch lights on' pretty much assured him that his grandfather had been expecting there to be complications in whatever it was his grandson had been planning.
Arnold sighed to himself once more…and then considered a few of the things that had passed between himself and Helga that evening…and recalled his grandfather's understanding face…and then couldn't help but smile at the memory of Gerald and Phoebe walking off together so happily just now…and finally, with a happy smile, came to a (slightly risky, especially for Arnold) decision.
He turned back in the direction of Helga's house…
A/N:
Yes, yes, I know AGAIN that I am horrible for the cliffies, but in my defense, when I was originally writing this fic I didn't expect it to be long at all, but then I'd get to the end of an 'act' I'd guess you'd call it and suddenly be like 'You know…I could write about what happens next, couldn't I?' and then just tack on a sentence like the last one of this chapter…which would explain why the full rough draft of this story I have takes us through this weekend as well as quite a few weeks ahead in Arnold and Helga's relationship, lol! Oh, and about the Helga thing that's also in SuprSingr's story, it's the wearing her hair down strategy—because, come on, Arnold was practically head over heels for Helga when he saw her like that on Valentine's Day ;)
Okay, so, anyway, as for chapter 6 I'll try for only a week though it might be two, but if it's any consolation the next installment's got just as much awkwardness as this one only with a bunch more chaos thrown in to make it even more of a roller coaster ride, lol ;) What could Arnold be planning? And what could possibly happen to complicate it? Lol, I hope you guys enjoy it when it finally gets up!
And, again, please oh please review!!! They keep me alive and full of energy to do edits! ;)
Happy Reading!!!
~Azure129 aka Jenna
AXH FOREVER!!!!