Second A/N:
Hey again guys! For everyone reading this chapter for the first time, totally ignore this XD And for anyone coming to look back at this for a second time, just wanted to mention that I had forgotten to put in something in the Gerald and Phoebe part at the end of this chapter. It's just a quick paragraph explaining about that phone call from the last chapter-you remember, the one Arnold ignored because he and Helga were 'making up' on his bed and playing 'tiger/kitten' and he was like "Eh, don't worry, it's probably just Gerald wanting more girl advice. I can ignore it : 333 " XDXDXD So anywho it's just a quick paragraph towards the beginning of that Gerald/Phoebe stuff at the end ;) Okay, thanks! Love you guys!
A/N:
Hellooooooooo everyone! :D Wow, it feels like ages since I updated this story! Sorry again for the delay, lol ^w^ I was working a lot and also just needed a mini break from this fic after those soul-sucking courtship chapters with their 50 to 100 thousand word wordcounts XDXDXD I hope you guys enjoyed the few one shots and epilogues and stuff that I managed to get done over the last couple of months though! But anyway, I'm back and here's the latest installment of "Learning to be Helga" for your approval ;)
Also, I want to dedicate this chapter to NintendoGal55, KasuKAPL, and BrokenRose! :) They've just been really supportive and loving and kind to me, and I've really needed it over the last few weeks so…from the bottom of my heart, thank you guys! I love you all so much! *Huggles* *Hearts!* :)
Alright, and away we go! :D
LEARNING TO BE HELGA
CHAPTER 20:
Operation UN-garde Commences!
"Helga, are you coming? We're going to be late!"
This was the third time, from his place on the sidewalk before the front of her house, that Arnold Phillip Shortman had called out to Helga Geraldine Pataki, who had finally at least yelled out around ten minutes ago, much to his amusement, that she would be, 'Down in a minute, Football Head! Sheesh, not all of us are bursting with optimism and ready to greet the day at 8:30 in the morning!'
Arnold wasn't as lucky this time around though as his most recent greeting got no response yelled out from Helga's open bedroom window to sarcastically and sassily ensure him once again that she would indeed be coming down soon. He just smiled to himself and sighed though, and then turned around to face Gerald and Phoebe (who were likewise waiting for Helga out here) and shrugged, his own partly amused, partly confused look being reciprocated by his two friends. The four of them had been meeting up to walk to school together (well, at least PART of the way to school) pretty regularly in the mornings for quite a few weeks now actually, but Helga had never been this late with coming down to join them before. And on the last day of fourth grade, too!
CREAK!
The sound of Helga's front door suddenly quietly opening now though caused Arnold to blink and then instantly turn around, a smile of anticipation on his face at first at the idea that the sound might have been caused by his girlfriend finally exiting her house to join them! However, a puzzled look quickly overshadowed Arnold's countenance and he had to raise an eyebrow at the fact that, despite the sound of the handle turning and the lock unclicking, the front door his eyes fell upon still appeared closed and no Helga appeared on the still vacant stoop. And yet…upon a second of closer inspection…Arnold realized that the door was actually just slightly ajar…suggesting that someone behind it had indeed started the process of opening it…and that said person was possibly still there…
Arnold smiled.
And then he took a step forward, an eyebrow still raised. "Helga?" he asked, hopefully.
He heard a familiar exasperated sigh come from behind the door and saw it open slightly more, though still not enough for Helga to finally appear before him. Finally, though, she did at least speak…very firmly and simply and getting directly to the point. "Okay, I'm going to come out now and when I do I just…I don't want to hear it from any of you—GERALD—okay?" She made sure to emphasize her boyfriend's best friend's name, knowing full well how sarcasm really was the language of choice between herself and 'Geraldo' even despite the decent friendship they had cultivated over the last month. "Believe me…" she went on, her voice sounding a little more pouty and defeated, "I'm sure I'm gonna hear enough about it at school from everyone else…"
At this cryptic announcement, Gerald and Phoebe, from their place on the sidewalk beside one another, just looked at each other with their eyebrows raised and then back at the door. Arnold, still in front of them and feeling a little braver, slowly went a step or two up Helga's stoop, looking even more confused and amused than before at these last mysterious words from his girlfriend. What was she hiding? He really wanted to know… "Helga, what are you talking about?" He smiled supportively and spoke in a similar tone. "Come on, we're going to be late if we don't leave soon."
"Yeah, and I don't wanna get detention on the last day, so let's get going, Helga, or we're gonna leave without you!" Gerald piped up sarcastically from the sidewalk, putting a hand on his hip, though of course with a friendly grin still on his face.
Arnold couldn't help but smile a little more at his best friend's comment and add, still looking at the ajar door…only now with a half lidded gaze. He spoke a bit…coaxingly… "Yeah, Helga. And if we get detention, it's going to put you and me off schedule for our date tonight…And…I don't think it's fair that part of my night for celebrating our one month anniversary might have to get cut into just because deep down you're so shy about things sometimes…sweet and shy, really…" His smile went a bit goofier and he blushed a tiny bit…He found her shyness about anything absolutely charming, after all.
That same exasperated sigh from Helga met his ears…though he could tell just from something in the pitch of it (as well as in the tone of her voice now as she replied to him) that he had gotten her to blush a little. "As usual, Football Head, you bring up the most ironic thing imaginable considering why, exactly, I'm seriously considering NOT coming out from behind this door…" 'It all always comes back to the two of us being in love, doesn't it?' "…At least," she qualified with a hesitant voice, "…not without running back upstairs quickly and abandoning this stupid thing I'm actually considering doing today…"
Arnold blinked, and the smile left his face for a moment. He tilted his head a little to the side unconsciously, really genuinely confused now. "Helga, what are you talking about?" he asked seriously and sincerely now. She really wasn't making too much sense…So afraid of being seen by people…And then suddenly for a moment Arnold all but felt his heart stop beating at the idea that maybe something had hurt her since the last time he had seen her yesterday at school during the 'mandatory cafeteria food fight clean up', and she was worried about 'looking silly' walking on crutches or with a bandage over half her face with a big cast on her leg, and possibly from having attempted some 'crazy scheme type thing' or something and possibly all for him! He was ready in an instant to bust through the door and take her in his arms just to look at her and see for himself is she was alright! He wanted to see the pretty, healthy, safe face again of the girl whom he hoped would be his future wife, and to hopefully find her well, upon which he would hold her and smile and…and maybe even… maybe even say… A very small voice in his head kept him back from what might come next though. 'N-Not in the heat of the moment…D-Don't do it in the heat of the moment…Wait for tonight…just like you planned…' Still, though he had it in himself to resist doing this 'final step' for now (whatever it might be), if he had to endure any more silence or mysterious stuff from her side of the door at this point, he felt like he was bound to quite literally knock it from its hinges just to make sure that she was indeed alright!
However…Helga's voice responding to his question about what she was going on about luckily stopped this slightly overkill response of his. "I…" she hesitated, and the door became just a bit more ajar, though still admitting no sight of Helga. "It's kind of part of your…your one month anniversary present…I know we said that you wouldn't give me mine until tonight during your celebration for us and that I wouldn't give you yours until tomorrow night during mycelebration for us, but.…" she sighed again, "What I'm doing for this part of your present is only gonna work if we're in school so…"
"Helga, sweetie, why are you still here? School starts in fifteen minutes. Aren't your friends here yet?" Miriam's voice (obviously coming up the hall behind Helga). Then there was a second of silence. And then a little giggle on the part of the older woman. "Oh Helga, don't you look nice today, honey. Did you and Olga do that all for your little boyfriend?"
The front door was then very suddenly pushed wide open by a smiling Miriam Pataki (wearing a pale purple business jacket and skirt as opposed to her usual pale purple house dress)…only to reveal a VERY wide eyed Helga…and she had her hair not only down but obviously thoroughly brushed and practically styled very tenderly and carefully, and with her familiar pink ribbon tied neatly and artfully at the back of the crown of her head in a full and luscious bow.
"Mom!" She blinked, whipping her head around to look at Miriam, a deep blush growing in little rosy circles on her cheeks.
Miriam just grinned a little to herself and sighed at her younger daughter's overreaction to things. Her eyes then fell first to the little blond boy on her stoop…She smiled more. "Good morning, Arnold. Here to escort our little lady to school again, I see?" She tried not to chuckle.
Arnold smiled up at Miriam (and also blushed slightly to himself, as usual, about the 'boyfriend' comment and also about the idea of himself being Helga's escort…and at the little thought that popped into the back of his mind about being willing to escort her anywhere…e-even down an aisle…). "I-It's nice to see you again, Mrs.…u-um…Miriam…A-And yeah, I thought I'd walk Helga to school again…" he mumbled humbly. Meanwhile, inside of his football shaped little in love brain… 'Yeah…I'll walk her to school…every day for the rest of the years that we have school…then I'll walk her to work when we're grown ups…then walk her up the aisle to get married…then I'll go for walks with her every day just for fun… ( 'and maybe one day with us pushing a little stroller together…' a small something inside of him quietly and slightly subconsciously added.)
(In case it wasn't obvious, even three days after the fact, Arnold was still…quite taken with his new little notion of having actually completely one hundred percent decided to marry Helga G. Pataki…Shortman.)
But meanwhile, back in the present (and not ten or fifteen or twenty years from now or something), Miriam smiled a little more at Arnold, and then her eyes caught sight of the other two of her daughter's classmates currently waiting for her on the sidewalk behind our football headed hero. She smiled at these two children as well now, giving them both a little nod of welcome. "Oh and hello, Phoebe, and, um…" this one took her a second, but… "Gerald, right?" Her smile brightened with hope that she had gotten that final name correct.
"Hello, Mrs. Pataki." Phoebe (finally managing to take her eyes (and an intrigued grin) off the sight of Helga) looked up at the older woman and smiled pleasantly.
"Uh…Hey, Mrs. P…" Gerald managed to give the older woman a glance and a nod, though his eyes quickly went back to the sight of Helga…and his face never once lost the total look of disbelief and curiosity that it had taken on upon seeing her right now. Not that he hadn't seen her with her hair down before but…come on, with the way she was acting and then also having it down NOW when they were about to head for the most public place imaginable…and on top of that not just having it down but having it brushed and styled so neatly and obviously deliberately…. 'Yeah, that girl's cooking up something…But what?' And at the same time, to go along with all of this curiosity, he was also having to fight back a small smirk—hey, after seven years of watching her be a tough as nails bully it was hard after only a month to take in the sight of her looking 'all dolled up.'
Suddenly, the sound of footsteps running down the stairs inside of the Pataki house met the ears of the kids and Miriam, and then instantly the smiling face of Olga Pataki suddenly appeared in the doorway as well, holding a soft brush up high in her hand. "Oh, Helga, I really wish you'd let me try just putting a little makeup on you to go along with what we did with your hair!" She giggled. "You look just so precious, baby sister, but I think at least a little blush and some of that lip gloss would make you look even cuter if that was possible."
Suddenly the older girl's eyes fell upon the other kids, and her beaming smile brightened even more. "Oh hello everyone...and Arnold," he gaze specifically fell on him, her smile growing a little, "It's especially nice to see you again." Olga giggled slightly to herself, glancing back and forth from the young boy to her baby sister.
Helga just growled a little and rolled her eyes in response, scowling to herself. 'Crimeny, I get it—we're adorable! Do we all have to keep bringing it up again and again?' She felt her blush of frustration deepen a little. Normally she didn't mind this cutesy teasing so much but…she had a LOT on her mind right now and so her patience was wearing thin, and quickly!
While Helga tried to look annoyed, Arnold just chuckled a little and nodded up at Olga. "Hi, Olga. It's nice to see you again too. So you're home for the summer now?" Arnold asked politely and kindly.
Olga nodded back at him. "Mmm hmm—three whole months of spending time with the best Mummy and Daddy in the world and of course my wonderful baby sister!" She leaned down and gave Helga a big loving hug.
Helga just sighed and rolled her eyes at suddenly being squeezed almost to death… though it was obvious, at the same time, that she was fighting back a smile. "Okay, okay, Olga—b-bonding time later, please!" she managed to choke out eventually as her lungs remained compressed under her sister's grasp. "Now we have school though and you're messing up my hair!" She wriggled out of Olga's grasp finally and ran her fingers through her hair a few times to undue some of the mussing Olga had caused.
Olga just sighed and laughed, straightening up once more (thought not before adding a little brush stroke through Helga's hair just to make sure it really did look perfect again). "Okay, Helga. You're right—you have school now—we can talk about the makeup tonight… and tomorrow…" she added suggestively with a rather large and obvious wink.
Helga half grinned and blushed, trying to ignore her sister's allusions to her and Arnold's anniversary plans for those two evenings. "Yeah, yeah…whatever you say, sister…" she mumbled out, more humorously than with any annoyance though.
Miriam Pataki, witnessing this whole little exchange between her two girls, couldn't help but laugh slightly as it finally concluded. Remembering though that the kids really must be running late, she let out a sigh and now placed a lunchbox she had been holding onto out of sight for quite some time into her daughter's hands, and then gave her a loving little push out onto the stoop. "Okay, Helga, now you get going, honey, so that you're not late for your last day, and I'll be at the school once I'm done at the Emporium today to pick you up at exactly three—"
"Actually, Miri—uh, Mom…" Helga, finishing shoving the lunchbox in her backpack, cleared throat and now turned her head back around to look at her mother, a little bit of rosiness returning to her cheeks. "It's, uh…you remember, like I told you and like Olga was hinting at…it's, uh…four weeks since Arnold and I started…you know, dating, so I'm just gonna basically hang out at his house all day after school today, heh…" She gave a small grin.
Miriam blinked and then smiled as she remembered, and gave a nod. "Oh yes, of course—your one month anniversary." She tried not to chuckle at how cute it all was but it was really really hard…after all, this whole thing was really really cute!
Helga just sighed and rolled her eyes. She could hear Arnold chuckling slightly to himself behind her. "Sure, Miriam, whatever." She smiled, finally coming out of some of her blushing as she added, "Anyway, yeah, right now I've got school and then right after that is our last fourth grade/fifth grade baseball game. I'll probably stop back here for a few minutes once all that's over just to clean up and change…and to let Olga do whatever it is she wants to do to me besides sprucing up my hair…" she gave a slight humorous glare and smirk at her sister who only giggled in response before going on, "But, yeah, after that, I'm…pretty much Arnold's for the rest of the evening…" She had to blush a little at her wording as she turned back to look at her beloved, who was now blushing likewise…and also looking at her with that same half lidded gaze she was sure she was uncontrollably giving him right now…
"Hey, Miriam!" suddenly came Big Bob Pataki's approaching voice from inside the house, effectively interrupting the moment. "Where's Helga? I know I saw her using the blowtorch last month and now I can't find the head for the darn thing and I need to—" Bob now entered the doorway as well…and then he instantly stopped talking and blinked as his eyes fell on the sight of his youngest daughter. "…Helga?" was all that escaped him as he cocked his head to the side just a little. "Uh…you look…different…"
Helga gave a very exasperated sigh and rolled her eyes as she turned to face forward in between Arnold, Gerald and Phoebe on her right, and her family on her left. As she did so, she shifted her head to get the piece of hair always trying to cover one of her eyes away for a second, revealing her fully annoyed looking scowl. "Yes, everyone, newsflash: tidal wave to strike the city, aliens have landed, and 'oh gosh' my hair's down and I actually put some effort into making it look nice! Now, I know it's probably going to take some time for all of you to absorb this sudden new shift in reality but, as Miriam so kindly pointed out, my friends and I have about thirty seconds to get to class. So, Bob," she looked at him, "the torch head is, uh…" Suddenly, Helga recalled that, if anywhere, she had most likely left the darn thing up in her Arnold shrine when she had dragged the fuel tanks and everything up to her room last month to solder together the glass bottles of her Yahoo soda bottle shrine. She swallowed and glanced away, and couldn't help but feel her stomach twist nervously at the slight snicker she heard come out of Arnold behind her as, she realized, he too probably realized where in all likelihood the thing Bob was looking for was currently located. Still though, she just did her best to play it cool as she took a deep breath and looked at her father. "Well, I'm not a hundred percent sure where it is, Bob…" 'Heh, it could technically be somewhere else after all…even if I'm like ninety nine percent sure it's up in the small attic space dedicated to my beloved…' "B-But, uh, I could…help you look later…" 'Yeah, help you look as in snag it from my shrine, follow behind you while you're looking in the garage or something and then suddenly drop it on the floor and say in a surprised voice 'oh here it is!' .' "But," she tried to resume her scowl (and to keep her voice firm) as she finished, "right now I have school and I'm not going to be home until late tonight so…"
Bob sighed and scowled a tiny bit—not an angry scowl, just an annoyed one really. "Aw, come on, Helga…" he started, "…you're the one who's been griping at me for weeks to finally get around to giving you that third belated birthday present you wanted by replacing that old slide up window in your bedroom with two greenhouse panes that swing open and a love seat set in the wall just under them, and I need the torch to reshape some of the rods so that they'll fit in the—" He blinked, as the last thing his daughter had said suddenly processed with him. "Wait a minute, what do you mean you won't be home until late tonight? Where the heck are you going?"
Olga just laughed and gave her father a small, giddy pat on the back. "Oh Daddy, she's just going to spend a little time at that lovely old boarding house with Arnold—it's their last day of school after all and they just want to celebrate summer starting and of course their charming little friendship still going strong." Olga gave Helga a HUGE wink…and Helga just tried not to die from blushing as she gulped and mentally reminded herself that she really probably needed to get around to explicitly mentioning to Miriam and Olga that Bob…basically knew about the whole 'Arnold in love' situation. What with the last week being so filled up between her and Arnold's fight and then their making up and then their anniversary planning (and Olga only having arrived home a couple of days ago and Miriam spending a couple of afternoons a week at the Emporium) though, Helga hadn't really had time to bring up that awkward topic yet.
Meanwhile, adding to convincing the Pataki patriarch that Helga's plans for tonight were really no big deal, a smiling Miriam put her hand on Bob's shoulder and addressed him now as well to go along with her older daughter's assurances. "Yes, B, Helga's just going to spend the afternoon at Arnold's. She'll have some dinner, see his family, start off her summer with someone she cares about."
Miriam didn't give Helga some kind of big, obvious wink now upon finishing, though she did shoot her daughter a little extra smile and then gaze just a little too adoringly at herself and Arnold, much to Helga's further chagrin. Our young, blond heroine felt herself blush quite warmly and fully. 'Nightmare…this whole 'being open about my secret' thing is just nightmare in its purest form…Oh this is probably boding just freaking fantastically for how the rest of the day and the rest of my LIFE is going to be!' "Uh…yeah," Helga just added to her mother's and sister's arguments, managing to turn her eyes in her father's direction again, though she could not even begin to make full eye contact with him. She held her arms behind her back and dug one of her feet into the ground a little as she spoke more. "I mean, I'm probably gonna come back here between our last baseball game today and Football Head's house to change though, so I can probably help you look for the torch head then if you want…"
"Change?" Bob blinked again, interrupting her, seeming even more perplexed than before. "What do you mean change?"
Helga's eyes went wide and her breath caught in her throat and her blush was deep. 'I have the BIGGEST mouth in the world. Ever.' "Uh…well…we're, uh…and it's…" Yeah, Bob knew she and Arnold were…dating…but…to be honest she had no desire to let him in on the little shopping trip Olga might have taken her on a few days ago just so she could have a more… 'grown up' style date with the little football head tonight…complete with a more 'grown up' style outfit.
Helga was about to make whatever attempt she could make at explaining away her 'I have to change for tonight' comment, when suddenly, to her surprise, Arnold stepped forward to stand alongside her on the top of the stoop. He smiled and looked up at Big Bob…and also lightly took Helga's hand in his. He spoke to the older man. "Actually, Mr. Pata…uh...B-Big Bob, what Helga means about changing for tonight is that I…just thought that she might like to do something a bit more…formal…together this evening…since we've become such good friends and everything…you know, over the last, um…exactly one month as of today…" He blushed a little and half grinned a little sheepishly at his little attempt to kind of fill in Big Bob about the fact that it was his and Helga's one-month anniversary without having to outright announce it and possibly embarrass his 'still shy about openly telling her Dad she loved him' girlfriend. Feeling the need to add a tiny bit of something extra to his explanation though, Arnold cleared his throat and now finished with, "Don't worry, we'll just eat at my house and we'll definitely be done before ten." He smiled up honestly at Big Bob.
Olga, blinking at first at Arnold's way of putting things (and at him taking her sister's hand like that in front of their father) but then smiling in approval of it all, instantly stepped forward before her father could respond and added, looking at him with one of her usual cheerful smiles, "And of course I'll pick her up tonight, Daddy! Just to be sure she gets home on time."
Miriam smiled more too, anticipating any further protest her husband might make about Arnold and Helga's more serious than usual date tonight, and added with a nod, "Mmm hmm, and then we've got our first official weekend family breakfast of the summer tomorrow morning so all the more reason for Helga to be home and in bed on time so that she can rise bright and early tomorrow morning to eat it with us!"
Both mother and older daughter were smiling and on either side of Big Bob and braced for any further questioning he might do, despite their sound arguments and assurances…
Bob, however, just rolled his eyes and almost sighed a little. And then he just laid it on the line for them, getting now that Helga probably hadn't shared with his wife and older daughter yet over the last day and a half that he was in the Arnold loop too now, albeit unofficially. "Okay, okay, I get it, you two—she's got a very special evening planned with Arnold and she's basically not gonna be home tonight until she has to be. Yeesh, I just wanted to make sure." He added in a mumble to himself (though the others around him could sort of hear), "Sheesh, acting like I'm blind or something…"
Olga and Miriam and even Helga couldn't help but blink and look at each other at this sudden random announcement…Olga and Miriam from quite a bit of surprise, and Helga just because…it was still SO weird to her to think that her Dad KNEW about…her and Arnold in love… A little cringe went through her and she was only saved from gagging by the loving feeling of Arnold's hand still in her own. 'Ugh, okay, let's just wrap up this little family/friends lovefest already before I hurl, okay?' she thought to herself with a resigning gulp.
Bob's voice then speaking again broke Helga out of her thoughts and caused her to look back up at him once more. He seemed unphased by her and her sister's and mother's reactions to his comments on her and Arnold just now, and was just smiling down at her normally as he spoke. "Anyway, don't worry about the torch then, Helga, I'll just borrow one from one of the tech guys down at the Emporium and I'll try and have that window finally fixed up for you by tomorrow, okay? And, hey, the timing actually works out perfectly with you not needing to be up there until later tonight so that I can get the job all done in one shot." He smiled more.
Helga just swallowed and blinked again, trying to smile as well, though it was hard (and it wasn't helping that she and Arnold were still holding hands in front of everybody…in front of HIM). "Uh, s-sure… thanks, Dad…" she replied awkwardly. The young blond then quickly turned to her two friends and boyfriend and grinned, ready for all of them to be on their merry way to school now. "Well, come on guys, let's get out of here before we're late…" And with that she quickly started yanking a half grinning and amused Arnold down her stoop to join a now slightly chuckling Gerald and Phoebe on the sidewalk. "Bye, Olga, Mom, Dad!" Helga quickly called over her shoulder!
"Bye, sweetie!" met her ears. Miriam.
"Bye bye, baby sister!" met her ears as well. Olga.
"Yeah, bye Ol-Helga!" Then there was a second of silence…and then… "And, uh, Arnold?"
Helga stopped moving forward, and only mere feet from her stoop. She felt like her heart had stopped and she felt a blush flood her cheeks. She gripped Arnold's hand tightly and just prayed that whatever her father might say to her beloved now wouldn't be TOO horribly humiliating…especially considering all the humiliation she was sure she would be enduring in school today…certain things considered… 'Please don't let this be bad, PLEASE don't let this be bad!'
Arnold, still in her grasp, likewise felt a little nervous as well about suddenly being addressed by Mr. Pataki (after all, this was the first time he had been specifically addressed by him since that whole… 'You're in love with Helga, aren't you, Arnold?' thing the other day…) but the young boy just did his best to turn around and smile politely at the older man (all the while still holding Helga's soft little hand in his for comfort and support). "Yes, Mr. Pataki?" He looked up at him.
Bob just cleared his throat and glanced away, a slightly stern look on his face though there was something soft and sincere about it as well. "Uh…you did a decent job as short stop in last week's game…"
Arnold blinked. "Oh. Uh…thanks, Mr. Pataki…" Arnold's smile grew slightly, though he couldn't help looking with a slight bit of confusion at Bob…After all, it just felt like…Bob had something more to say than that.
And indeed, Bob wasn't done yet….That shortstop thing had been kind of an icebreaker. Still looking a little preoccupied, the older man then added to Arnold, as casually as he could so as not to embarrass anyone further, "Yeah, you're welcome, and, um… look, I…forgot to mention this the other day when we, uh, 'bumped into each other' in the kitchen, but, uh…you just…keep taking care of Helga, alright?" He cleared his throat again and quickly added with a grin to help lighten the mood, "I-I mean, you know, with the taking her places and doing stuff she likes with her and making sure she gets home safe each night and stuff. Heh…"
Arnold blushed extra, and glanced down feeling a little funny…but also a little fluttery inside. After all it sort of felt like he was…being given Helga's hand in marriage or something. He smiled a little and squeezed her pretty hand a little more. He knew he had gotten very sappy ever since his and Helga's whole big rooftop apology to one another the other day but…he couldn't help it. Besides, he liked being sappy. And so with a little sigh he looked back to Big Bob and nodded. "I…I will, Mr. Big Bob. I promise."
He just looked into Bob's eyes and Bob looked into his eyes.
Then Bob let out a deep sigh and rubbed the back of his neck, nodding a little himself. "Yeah, okay…" He swallowed and now glanced over to his younger daughter hesitantly. "And, uh…Helga?"
Helga blinked and managed to slowly turn the rest of the way around to fully face him again, trying to hide her mad blushing underneath her hair. She had stopped breathing fully a while ago. "Uh…yeah?" she just asked with a nervous swallow, trying to keep the blood from rushing to her head and causing her to pass out.
Bob cleared his throat. "You did a good job as catcher last week, girl and…also…just…make sure you get a decent meal out of him tonight, okay?"
"Uh…" Helga just felt SO awkward and on the spot right now…and so she decided to wrap this all up and fast…Preferably BEFORE she blushed herself into a faint. "Thanks, Bob, and you got it! I-I'll do what I can!" she quickly replied, and then with a gulp she gripped Arnold's hand a bit more tightly, turned around again, and now started pulling him up the street even more quickly than the first time, once again though with a still smiling Gerald and Phoebe starting to follow behind them again. "Okay, let's get to school, everyone—not much time left!" she announced brightly as she jumpstarted the start of their little procession in this way.
And with that the four kids (at a pretty decent clip) made it up the block and around the first corner, and finally out of sight of the Pataki household and family.
Finally free from the sight and comments of her family, Helga released Arnold from her grasp now and then stopped walking and leaned over, taking several deep breaths of relief. "I swear," she finally announced in a tired voice with the release of one final deep breath, "my family knowing everything and especially my DAD knowing everything in secret is going to kill me before the fifth grade. No question." She took in another breath and straightened up again, crossing her arms over her chest now (but not before touching her hair a tiny bit again to make sure it was still okay after that little jog just now… ( 'I know it's girly…but for crying out loud, if I'm going to go through with today then I just want to dive in and do it in my own style! No more being what everybody expects me to be just because they expect me to be it! Helga G. Pataki is officially her own woman—hair and all!'). "Oh," and speaking of people who had 'commented' on her hair just now, a new little source of annoyance occurred to Helga, and so she turned her sights to Arnold who was stopped right beside her on the sidewalk (and looking all amused and blushing and smiling), "…and thanks for the random little 'guy talk' with my Dad just now, Football Head—seriously can the two of you save the 'passing the torch' symbolism for times when I'm not around?" She rolled her eyes at her beloved's actions. "It makes me feel like I'm some kind of 'hand me down', and Helga G. Pataki, no matter how loving a daughter or girlfriend she may be, NEVER belongs to any man!" She smirked proudly to herself.
Arnold blushed a tiny bit and shrugged. "Sorry, Helga…I don't think we meant for it to seem like that. I think he was just trying to let me know again that he really trusts me…and I just wanted to be a little honest with him about it being our anniversary…and also to let him know that I'm grateful that he has that much confidence in me to make you happy." He smiled more and looked into her eyes. "But I know the only person you 'belong to' is yourself, Helga…I'm just…the boy lucky enough to love everything there is that's you…" He let out a small sigh and still looked into her eyes sincerely.
Helga blinked several times…then smiled quite a lot…then blushed….Then she reached out and gave him a small playful punch in the shoulder. "Aw, stifle it, Football Head. Always trying to butter me up with that silver tongue of yours…" She crossed her arms over her chest and shook her head with a grin. "And yeah, okay, fine, I forgive for the little public 'guys chat' with my Dad, paste for brains…especially when you explain it in the way you just did." She gave him a little wink and a smirk…and then sighed and faked a little cringe as she had to add, "Still though, speaking of Bob…ugh, he KNOWS…" A genuine little grimace went through her. "Yeah, it's gonna take me a bit of time to get used to that, especially when he goes off making little side comments about our relationship and stuff right along with Olga and Miriam's jokes and giggles…More stuff that'll kill me before my preteen years are out…Fantastic." She sighed and rubbed her temples with the fingers of one hand again, though at least some of the smile of her smirk remained on her lips, showing she wasn't too upset about the whole situation, however annoying it might be.
The sound of Gerald laughing a little now made Helga aware of his and Phoebe's continued presences not too many feet from herself and Arnold. She scowled a little and crossed her arms over her chest again, looking over at him as he grinned widely to himself and said in response to her current 'lamentations'. "Yeah, well, maybe it all WILL take you out, Helga, but," the tall-haired boy smirked a little, "…at least your parents and sister knowing can keep me amused now that the shrines thing is almost out of my system!" He gave a few more 'restrained' chuckles that came out in small snorts and laughs. "Aw man, the giggling and the 'all-knowing' glances and the awkward symbolic exchanges, and you blushing and bailing out of there all 'in a fluster'—perfect way to kick off the last day of school!" He laughed a little more to himself in good-natured amusement.
"Gerald!" Phoebe called out playfully, giving him a slight elbow nudge from beside him…her own laughter not too far away from escaping though actually. "Yamete…" she managed with just a grin.
Gerald just let out a playful sigh and smiled at her, getting his laughter under control and gesturing with his head in Helga's direction. "Aw, demo Helga no kazoku wa—"
Phoebe rolled her eyes. "Gerald wa okashiidesuyo, demo—"
"Oh for the love of—" Helga rubbed her temples again and took a step between the two of them, interrupting in a frustrated tone. "Okay, you two NEED to stop the elementary Japanese conversations before I smack one of you! It is TOO early in the morning and in case you hadn't noticed I am already stressed out enough about my family AND the hair thing since I wouldn't even come out of the house and show you guys until my mom went and 'flung' open the door!" Despite the young blonde's annoyed exclamations right now though, she couldn't help having to try and fight back a smile. 'Gerald and Phoebe having little private lover's talks in Japanese…' To keep herself from full on giggling at the idea she added, shaking her head though she was also still grinning a lot, "Sheesh, I knew letting you two have so many private dates together lately would find some way to annoy me…"
Gerald and Phoebe just blushed a tiny bit and then looked at her and then at each other and then laughed warmly a little. The happy couple then shook their heads and began walking forward again together side by side up the street.
"Tanoshikunaine?" Phoebe grinned.
"Ee, soodesuyo." Gerald nodded.
They both giggled and nodded to each other again.
Helga let out another frustrated sigh and scowled and was about to say something to them again (albeit more playful than chastising…and more really to distract herself from something on her mind right now than because she really minded the Japanese much) when she felt Arnold put a hand on her shoulder and prompt her to walk forward with him behind their friends, hanging back a little though so that they could just talk to one another and let Gerald and Phoebe have their own conversation. "Um…speaking of your hair, Helga…" Arnold began directly, still rather curious about it actually, "why are you…gracing me with the sight of it down and brushed and looking so beautiful…again, exactly?" He finished with a smile and the movement of his hand on her shoulder downward to hold one of her own again as they walked together. He also gave her that look she loved…the half lidded one…and entwined his fingers with hers a little extra. Hey, he really did want to know what was up with he hair…and maybe he also wanted to let her know how really beautiful he really did think it was.
Helga felt her heart beat a bit faster and her eyes go a bit wide as his question made her recall fully her intentions about her hair…On top of that though, she was also reacting this way to Arnold at just…the sight of how he looked right now. Ever since the other day when she had knocked on his door with a few shopping bags to do some anniversary planning only to have him grab her and dip her back and plant a searing spontaneous kiss on her lips followed by playing 'big scary tiger and cute little kitten' complete with IN MOUTH purring all over his room, she had found herself much more constantly aware of that…daring little dark side of his…It felt to her for the first time in her life like he could suddenly 'snap' at any moment and just whisk her away to an existence of unending passion and romance. "O-Oh, well, uh…" she barely managed to get out, trying to put these thoughts at bay for now and stay focused…especially since she really didn't want this to turn into some kind of 'hooky date day'—it was very very VERY important to her that she and her love to attend the last day of school today. "You'll, uh, you'll see what the deal is with my hair when we get to school, Football Head." She cleared her throat and glanced away…holding his hand a little more. "Let's just say I'm going to be trying something…new, today. A, uh…a little experiment…okay?" She glanced at him nervously out of the corner of her eye.
Arnold continued looking at her lovingly but also with an eyebrow raised now, still unsure of what she could be getting at with all of this nervousness…and all over her hair?
Helga just sighed at that clueless, lovesick little look on his face and rolled her eyes. 'He always does need to be walked through everything big…' She smiled at him, feeling a lot calmer and more confident all of a sudden. "Just…don't worry, Arnold," she assured him. "I…I think we'll both like how things turn out. Or at least we'll both not entirely hate it…probably…" She laughed and so did he, which made her even more comfortable with her decision about today. She couldn't help but swallow nervously once more though as she then added (she knew it was better for her to give him a bit more fair warning about what she might have in store, after all), "But, uh, listen…if I act…oh, I don't know…a little strange today or something…just…just go along with it, okay, Arnold?" She looked at him with a touch of something unsure in her eyes, though she was doing her best to maintain her smile. She waved her free arm a little bit in gestures as she resumed speaking, due to the nervousness she was trying to suppress. "I-I mean, go along with it only as long as it all makes you comfortable, of course. If it doesn't though then just say the word and I'll call this whole thing off because even though I'm kind of curious about trying it, it's still partly for you and I'd be more than happy to wait until September to give it a go again if you need time or anything, alright?" She ended with a small, nervous shrug, dropping her free arm to her side once more.
Arnold had just continued to look at her curiously as she had spoken and gestured and grinned, but now he couldn't help smile warmly at this last nervous request of hers. He squeezed her hand a little as they walked on together, still trailing behind their best friends (who, Arnold could faintly hear, were indeed still having some kind of small private conversation, partly in English, partly in Japanese). "You're the boss, Helga." He nodded at his girlfriend supportively. "If you think it's the right time to try something new then I can't see how you couldn't be right." He winked at her.
Helga let out an amused sigh and smirked, rolling her eyes…and swinging their hands a little. "You're such a kiss up, you know that, Football Head?"
He laughed. "Yeah…And…speaking of kissing…" he let his voice go a little lower…watched how doing that made Helga's breath catch in her throat and a blush threaten in her cheeks, and her little feet stumble for just a second…And it was heavenly for him to see that effect of his on her again in their lives… "…what was that about a new double window that opens in and out in your room and a…loveseat, was it, Helga?" he finished with a playful grin and an eyebrow raised at her, VERY interested in this new little piece of information to come his way.
Helga instantly felt her face go bright scarlet as she recalled him now being in the loop about that. 'Aw and darn it, I wanted it to be a surprise for the next time he tried to sneak in…Oh well…' "Oh, uh, well…heh, heh…" she quickly explained, "…that's, uh, that's just part three of that three part belated birthday present from my parents that I mentioned a few weeks ago, Football Head." She swallowed and grinned sheepishly and shyly. "Just thought that old bedroom window of mine could use a little, you know, remodeling...I mean, heck, it's practically a walk in the park getting up to your room secretly but you've almost killed yourself trying to get into minesecretly those few times…So you know, just in case you ever tried again, I figured, uh, why not…? Might as well make your entrance easier and even safer since now you won't have to worry about tumbling in there anymore like last week after, uh, y-you know…the library…" A very hot little blush rose to her cheeks—honestly, she couldn't even say the word 'library' anymore, all things considered, without just trembling and giggling and swooning…Even the mere sight of a book made her blush. It was an interesting new involuntary reaction of hers, to say the least.
A small chuckle from Arnold beside her. "Yeah…library…" Out of the corner of her eye she watched a distinct ruby color creep into his cheeks as well. And then… "And the…loveseat?" her beloved suddenly prompted further about her present, still in that sultry tone of his, his eyes going even more half lidded and his warm laughter getting harder and harder to subdue…
Helga blinked, swallowed again and did her best to scowl a little over at him in a small attempt at playing hard to get toward his charming of her (though said scowl came off as entirely more playful than anything else). "H-Hey, sheesh," she started with an eye roll as she commenced her fake little attempt at saving face, "…can't a girl want a place to park herself with a bit more light to write by every once in a while? Don't think this whole 'loveseat' thing's got anything to do with you and me and, you know, a really close place for two people to sit together or anything. Sheesh, you just plain think you're irresistible or something, don't you, Arnoldo?" She smirked at him a little, letting her hair shift over her shoulder for effect and really starting to like the feeling of the weight of it loose and moving whenever she moved her head. It felt good.
Arnold just laughed at the question…and also at the warm feeling it gave inside of him watching her hair bounce as she walked and shift as she turned her head. "Whatever you say, Helga..." he merely replied with a complacent and adoring smile.
Helga just let out a sigh and then finally smiled at him normally again. "Very good, Arnold—I've trained you well," she joked with a chuckle. "Now," she suddenly went on, all former nervousness seemingly gone for a moment and replaced by eager curiosity, "…moving on to things that YOU owe ME explanations for, are you going to fill me in on what the heck you've got planned for your part of our anniversary celebration tonight at the boarding house? You know I'm just DYING to know…" She leaned a little closer, fluttered her eyelashes, pouted…the whole works. Charming him right back just as he always tried charming her…
And it might have worked a little if Arnold wasn't absolutely bent with ever fiber of his being on this night being…perfect. And a perfect surprise on top of it. And so he just sighed and smiled and shook his head at her. "No, no hints, Helga. I told you, just show up dressed in something nice tonight…and I'll take care of the rest…and make all of your dreams come true…" He added this last part as a whisper into her ear, and then pulled back to watch with joy as she all but melted before him into a smile and a blush.
Eventually Helga regained herself enough to roll her eyes and clear her throat and even speak again, though she was blushing considerably. She sighed then and almost shook her head in amusement at her beloved. "Oh fine, fine, Arnoldo. I'll throw together something half way decent for tonight and show up at your door, I guess…Sheesh you're a demanding little thing, aren't you?" She grinned more and nudged him. "But, hey, you better come up with something decent to put yourself in too, you know! I expect a very handsome, 'grown up' looking Football to let me in later for our big, 'grown up' anniversary date!" She winked and then laughed to herself, recalling several memories of the past at once… "You always did look good in a suit, Football Head. At least to me…" She felt her smile grow and noticed with satisfaction out of the corner of her eye that Arnold was just blushing slightly now and looking ahead as their walk continued.
"Th-Thank you, Helga," he managed to reply finally in an obviously flattered yet nervous voice.
Helga couldn't help but giggle. "You're welcome, Arnold."
Arnold managed to take a deep breath in and out, and then he turned and smiled at her again, and added (their hands still clasped so tightly as their little walk went on), "I hope you're really not too nervous about your hair today, Helga…It looks…It looks really pretty. You look really pretty."
Helga half smiled and glanced shyly at him. "Oh…uh, well, thanks, Arnold. That makes me feel a little better and…and I'm glad you like it so much. Just, uh…doubled up on the conditioner and spent a good hour letting it air dry and slowly brushing it out…and I got that haircut to get rid of the dead ends that I mentioned to you the other day. No big deal." She gave a little shrug and blush.
Her beloved just chuckled and shook his head. "Very big deal…After all, how am I supposed to pay attention for the last day of class or during our last baseball game when I can't take my eyes off of you…?" He winked.
She caught it out of the corner of her eye and blushed fully and rolled her eyes completely. "Arnold!"
He just chuckled a little more and gave his own modest shrug. "It's just the truth, Helga…"
He let out a little sigh and so did she.
They just continued walking and holding hands and glancing at each other lovingly for several seconds more.
And then…
"Hey, guys, if you can call a ceasefire on the flirting, we're about to hit the school's block so we should probably split up!"
It was the sound of Gerald's amused voice that broke Arnold and Helga out of their trance and reminded them that they were indeed walking with two other people and not just each other. They stopped their progress forward now, as had their best friends a second ago.
Arnold blinked and then recalled that he wasn't on some little pre-anniversary date with Helga right now—they were indeed on their way to school (and the last day too! No more six-hour blocks five days a week of pretending not to love Helga! He would only have to keep up the act whenever they hung out with their other friends! It was a definite bonus to go along with no classes for a couple of months!). "Oh, uh, right, right…" he replied to Gerald, clearing his throat and now taking a small step forward and away from Helga towards his best friend. The standard plan of action for these four over the last several weeks whenever they had decided to walk to school together had been to walk together as couples until reaching P.S. 118's street upon which Helga would go off with Phoebe first to enter the building, and then Arnold and Gerald would head there together as well after a brief wait (similar to what the two couples had done that first Monday after Arnold and Helga's one week anniversary).
And so now, as stated, Arnold had just taken a small step forward to commence their traditional separation…
However…
Arnold blinked rather curiously as he felt Helga not only not release his hand like she usually would have at this point but actually…grip it all the more tightly! And then this fact plus the next words out of her mouth couldn't help making him turn and raise a VERY surprised eyebrow at her!
She cleared her throat…and let out a breath, her tone trying to be casual though there was something just a little shaky underneath it. She spoke to their best friends. "Uh, actually…Gerald, Phoebe, if you don't mind…I'd…kind of prefer to just walk with Arnold all the way to the school and class today." She swallowed nervously and quickly tacked on, heat building in her features, "I-I mean, if you two aren't comfortable walking together then we can split up like usual of course, but if you're okay with heading up there together then…well, like I said, I'd like to try actually walking with Arnold…just him and me." She glanced at them hesitantly, awaiting their responses to her request.
Gerald and Phoebe just blinked at Helga's unprecedented suggestion, then glanced at each other and then back to Helga and then back to each other. Phoebe just shrugged her shoulders at her boyfriend. "It's perfectly okay with me if it's alright with you, Gerald…I mean…even if someone said something about us walking together, it wouldn't particularly bother me." She smiled at him.
Gerald reciprocated her smile and gave a small, likewise-approving nod. "Hey, I'm cool with it if you are, babe. Besides, who cares what anyone might say—summer starts in six hours!" He grinned.
Phoebe giggled and then, still smiling, turned back to Helga. For a moment, her smile took on something a little more serious and caring… "Are you certain you're okay with this sudden new arrangement, Helga?"
The young dark-haired girl watched her blond best friend let out a breath…seem to be almost in a small bit of frustrated thought with herself for a moment…but then get a determined look in her eye and give a quick nod. "Uh, yeah…I'm positive," she replied firmly and sincerely.
Phoebe's gaze lingered on her for a second…but then she realized that Helga seemed to really need this for some reason (even if there was an obvious touch of worry in her about doing it) and so the young Asian-American girl just smiled warmly again and nodded once to her best friend and then turned to Gerald. "Ikimashyo!"
"Hai, Babe!" Gerald nodded.
And then the happy couple faced forward again and turned the corner onto P.S. 118's block, smiling and laughing and talking together.
"And no more Japanese!" Helga called out in a bit of mock anger before they were out of earshot, though doing so was mostly to cover up her own heart-pounding nervousness at taking the first step in what she had planned today as part of Arnold's one month anniversary present. She quickly paraphrased in her head a debate and firm resolution she had come to with herself over the course of the last week or so, just to psyche herself up a bit and remind herself of why she was doing this right now: 'Arnold's been so sweet about keeping this whole thing a secret just for me…our whole entire beautiful mutual relationship! He's lied to our friends and put himself through nightmares of nearly getting caught, he's ended up having to do everything from crawling around in rat and mice invested air ducts to getting covered in cafeteria food and nearly being suspended all for the sake of our ruse, he doesn't even make me feel guilty about being too paranoid to walk into school with him for crying out loud, and through it all him and his loving self have just been supportive and patient as heck in general! And how do I compromise with him about my feelings about us as a secret? That's just it: I don't! I give him the occasional handhold on a deserted sidewalk, 'let him' eat next to me at Slausens or the pizza parlor sometimes and tell all our friends that one of us lost a stupid bet, oh and I don't go into nuclear meltdown anymore if a member of his extended family catches us kissing! Yeah, all that's 'fair and equal!' Well, I'm about to make it all REALLY fair and equal! I've just been feeling more and more ridiculous about hiding things and I've finally reached my limit! I finally have good friends and a good family and of course Arnold himself which is all I need to make me happy no matter what anyone else might say about us and our love! Well, no more living in fear…at least not for today… Helga G. Pataki is going to try at least a preliminary run at total honesty today not just for Arnold but for me…and if anyone's got anything to say about it, well…well, who cares? Heck, I've got a date with Arnold tonight and tomorrow—an ANNIVERSARY date! The elementary school jungle could toss me on the four square court and ritually sacrifice me to the fifth graders for all I care so long as I have my beloved's love and my own personal happiness!'
A determined look came to Helga's face as her thoughts concluded and then she turned her sights back to a still somewhat curious looking Arnold, gripping his hand just a bit more firmly. "Well, you coming Football Head—don't want to be late, especially on the last day like you said, right?" She gave him an eager smile and a nod.
Arnold just blinked at her, still a bit in shock about the request he had just heard come out of her mouth a moment ago about walking to class with him…and at the fact that it seemed to be really really REALLY happening! "Helga…" he spoke to her slowly and seriously, not budging from his spot on the sidewalk still, "…are you sure you're okay with us, you know, walking in together…?" he couldn't help but glance down at their joined limbs for a second and then back up at her, "And…holding hands? I-I mean, I know you said you wanted to try something 'new' for today and I really do love the new look with your hair and I'm sure everyone else will too but, um…you're really okay with the hands…together…around school?" Not that he didn't trust her judgment but the only thing bigger than holding hands to announce a relationship in elementary school would be to kiss in front of everyone or something…so he really just had to be sure…that she was asking him to do what she indeed seemed to be asking him to do…
In response to his (expected, actually) questions of concern, Helga just took a breath and looked at him and shrugged, half smiling. "Hey, like I said, I'm trying something new today. Guess I should have gone into more detail when you asked me about my hair, but, well, basically…" she rubbed the back of her neck with her free hand and gave a little sigh, a small full smile coming to her lips as she looked into his eyes and went on, "You don't really want to keep 'us' a secret, no matter how wonderful and supportive you've been about it, I'm getting pretty sick of keeping 'us' a secret at this point, to be honest, so why don't we call today a 'trial run' of NOT keeping 'us' a secret? Don't get me wrong, there's not going to be any making out in the middle of the cafeteria or some big announcement over the PA from me about how 'the mere sight of you sets my soul aflame and makes my lips hunger for yours', or anything but…why don't we just say I'm going to let the guard down a little for once…about a few things about myself…and see what happens…Who knows—if it's a nightmare I'll probably go back to normal tomorrow and blame it on summer vacation fever but, I mean, if it all turns out actually kind of okay then maybe…" she smiled to herself, "I-I just mean, it…it might be nice to start giving you a little hug and a smile every day instead of having to force myself to call you a loser and trip you in the lunch line or something to show my affection for you, you know?" She shrugged a little and looked at him sheepishly, a little bit of her hair falling over one of her eyes, though she shifted her head to the side a little to move it away. "Uh…happy first part of your anniversary present, heh…" she tacked on humorously.
Her love looked at her with continued blank, dense confusion for a moment longer.
He then spoke, his voice quiet and serious. "Are you…sure…that this is what you want to do, Helga? Are you sure that you're…ready…and that you're not just doing this because it's our anniversary or something?"
Helga blinked, surprised at the serious tone…She nodded, not having to give it a second thought. "Yes, Arnold," she replied back, just as seriously and truthfully, "I want to do this with all of my heart…for both of us. Even if it wasn't our anniversary, at this point I still would…I don't want to spend the whole summer going places with our friends and pretending to hate you…I don't want to have to pretend to hate you anymore ever, Arnold. I love you." She was silent…then added. "My only fear is that you will be teased too, my darling….That's the only thing that would hold me back from doing this at this point. If you're afraid of that at all, please tell me…I never want to have to pretend to hate you anymore…but I also never want to cause you pain." Her eyes almost shimmered with love and sincerity and nearly a tear.
The blank, dense look from Arnold continued for exactly one more second… "You…want to tell…really want to tell…" he repeated to himself quietly.
And then he smiled completely from ear to ear as he processed everything she was suggesting…and realized she was serious! One hundred percent, bona fide, fully and completely serious! "That's, that's…" All of a sudden his happiness overtook him, "That's great, Helga!" he yelled as he suddenly lunged toward her and embraced her in a warm, tight hug! 'She wants to tell everyone! She's ready and really wants to and not just for me but for both of us and…she'll never pretend to hate me again…' He felt all warm inside and he let out a little lovesick sigh to himself. 'G-Good….It really would have put a kink in the wedding after all if no one could come because no one knew about us…' He almost chuckled to himself a little at the idea, squeezing her all the more in his love and happiness and appreciation! "And Helga, oh Helga…" her only fear about doing this processed with him as well now and he just had to respond to that too, to clear up the last of her doubts! "I'm not afraid of getting teased! It's so sweet of you to care but…I have YOU! I don't care what anyone says! You're worth everything in the whole world to me!" He squeezed her more tightly, smiled in total joy.
Meanwhile, Helga was just chuckling warmly to herself as she felt herself reel back a bit from her love's sudden, forceful little gesture, though she managed to regain her balance pretty quickly (still locked in his loving embrace, of course). "Hey, hey, take it easy, Football Head…" She laughed a little more. "I'm filling in the last two thirds of the fourth grade about the fact that I don't hate you, not bringing about world peace or anything." She rolled her eyes and grinned.
Arnold just let out a final big happy sigh and pulled away from her, blushing slightly at just everything. "I'm sorry, Helga," he chuckled a little as he said that, smiling all the more, "but it's just…I guess I'm just really happy that you're happy enough with everything to really want to show everyone else just how wonderful of a person you are." His smile went a bit goofier and he blushed a little as he just gazed bashfully at her. "A-And also, I…well…to be honest I really have been kind of dying to have everyone in the world know that I've been lucky enough to have the most fiery woman at P.S. 118 as the love of my life." He chuckled a little more and added with a secret little smile, taking her hand in his again and giving their enjoined hands a tiny swing, "Although…I guess we can still keep the fact that she can be a 'cute, playful little kitten' too when she wants a secret though…just between her and her 'big, scary tiger'…" He winked at her and chuckled warmly.
Helga blushed considerably and her smile went goofy and her eyes went all dreamy. "I-I…y-yeah, um…some little intimate things should definitely probably stay just between you and me…m-my big, scary tiger…" She gave an almost giddy giggle at the very idea of Arnold having more than earned the right to be called that by her at this point.
Despite how cute this thought was to her though, the responsible part of Helga's mind now finally recalled that she and Arnold really were pressed for time in regards to this whole 'getting to school before the bell rang' thing. And so, Helga took in a breath and resumed talking to him in her normal tone, returning their topic of discussion to the main point at hand, "A-And anyway, um, as for me 'being myself' today, well…we'll see if everyone thinks the 'real me' is as wonderful as you do, Arnoldo." She smirked a tiny bit as she added, "Keep in mind that their opinions might be a bit skewed from yours as I won't have been dating and doting on and kissing them for the past month."
Arnold squeezed Helga's hand again, just chuckling at her cute joke and still smiling supportively at her. "They'll love you, Helga, just as much as I do, okay?" he encouraged her. And then he blushed a little and added, "Just, um…when every guy between the ages of eight and twelve starts falling all over themselves for a second chance at scooping you up once they realize what they've been missing out on, don't forget about me, okay?" He winked at her.
Helga blushed and glanced away with a smile and a little laugh. "Ha ha, very funny…and nice job at making me feel less nervous by making me laugh some more, Arnold…my little sultry preteen…" She looked back to him, her eyes half lidded, eyelashes fluttering a little. "And, hey…now that you've got free reign to let that romantic charm of yours out all over the place with me, just promise me you won't go using it to trade up for some training bra wearing sixth grade girl or anything, okay?" She winked at him.
Her love's face turned all rosy and he glanced down bashfully. "H-Helga…I-I…I, um…already told you once…" and then he moved closer and whispered to her, still glancing down, "Wh-Who needs some stupid older woman…? I'd rather have a young, warm, fiery girl goddess any day…" He then raised their hands between them and gave the back of hers a tender kiss. He heard her swoon and then removed his lips from her and looked up into her eyes. "And really, Helga…" he added quietly, "everyone's going to love seeing the real you today…and I think, even if it gets a little hard sometimes, that you'll be a lot happier now that you're doing this…and of course I'll be here to support you every step of the way, my Helga…my precious Helga..." His voice went as low as could be.
Helga just looked back into his eyes, blushing and her heart fluttering. "I…hope you're right, my darling…and I think you will be." And then with a small, shuddery sigh she leaned forward and gave him a small, tender kiss on his warm cheek, pulling back eventually to look into his dreamy eyes…the dreamy eyes of her 'big scary tiger'…and she was his 'little kitten'…and there were so many alleyways within sight…ripe for pulling someone into…or being pulled into by someone…And resistance…seemed futile…It was almost enough to make a person purr really…
For a moment the two of them just let themselves stay like this: hidden from the school's block since they hadn't rounded the last corner yet, the two of them close and blushing and warm…wanting kisses so badly…knowing that a summer of them was just mere hours away…so maybe why fight it right now…?
But of course they could partake of such things as that later at Arnold's house tonight. For now though there was work to do!
And so, in light of this fact, Helga (having a little more self control than Arnold after all those years of developing it by resisting sharing her feelings with him), managed to finally make herself take a small step back from him and to turn facing forward (hand still locked with his of course though.) "W-Well, um…" she stretched up with her free hand and gave a little yawn, just waiting for all of that romantic tension and passion going through her to slowly ebb (for now)… "Sh-Shall we, then? I mean…now or never, r-right, Arnoldo?" she asked rhetorically with a smile, unable to help her continued blushing though…or her still somewhat flustered sounding voice.
Helga was about to finally start their walk forward and around the corner when she felt Arnold (and her hand clasping his) not moving once again this morning though. She blinked and turned around, speaking to him seriously now. "Arnold, come on—we're seriously going to be late if we don't—"
She was cut off by the feeling of him moving forward, taking one of her shoulders with his free hand, (pressing up on his toes a little as usual) and then gently pressing his lips to her own for what must have only been a few seconds but for what felt like forever. She didn't even moan or melt, she just let it happen…let it fill her up with warmth inside…let her heart beat quicken and quicken and quicken…
Eventually her love separated from her and when that happened and the spontaneity of it all final hit the young blond girl in question, it took all a smiling, goofy looking, trembling Helga had to remain standing. It reminded her again of him suddenly dipping her back and planting one on her when she had shown up at his door the day before yesterday. Oh it was just so thrilling never knowing when one of those was coming! "U-Uh, what, uh…was that for…my t-tig…uh, A-Arnold…?" She couldn't say 'tiger' right now without shivering—after all, his last spontaneous kiss had led to him purring into her mouth…Who could keep from all but collapsing in pleasure at the memory of something like that?
She just heard Arnold chuckle to himself and the sound made her eyes come back into focus on the sight of him a step away from her now, smiling and blushing as he replied with a little innocent shrug, "Just…wanted to give you a little confidence boost before you got started on everything…Did it help?" He smiled supportively, giving her hand a little caressing squeeze.
Helga just let out a swoony sigh and nodded. "Mmm hmm…" She giggled a little, and then her voice went a bit back to normal as she added with an appreciative little smile, "Uh, thanks, Arnold."
"No problem, Helga." He smiled back at her…and then his grin picked up a little on one side. "Besides, we…did have to pass over a little 'moment' together just now since we really do have to get to class so…it was nice to get in at least one kiss before it passed away entirely." He winked at her.
She just rolled her eyes and shrugged with a little blush and a grin. "Hey, I'm not complaining." She winked right back at him.
Arnold smiled more and then gave her hand one final squeeze, and then turned to face forward again now. "Well, anyway…like we said we don't want to be late…no fun getting detention on the last day and especially when it's your anniversary with someone…So I guess we'd better get going then…Ladies first…" He bowed a little low and gestured forward for her to start walking first…both as part of his usual chivalry and also because he wanted to make sure that she was taking this big literal and figurative step forward by her own decision and not just from him giving her a little pull along and her figuring that now she couldn't go back on her decision to do this today even if she wanted to.
Helga felt a twist of nerves come to her stomach ( 'It…It's really here, isn't it…Now's the time, heh…') but she did her best to only focus on the elation of Arnold's most recent kiss and her own determination and she summed up her courage and replied with a nod, "Yup, here we go, my chivalrous little gentleman…" and then with a grin, as she started walking forward with him following alongside her and their hands still connected, she added, "…my shining hour or the day I go down in flames…"
They officially rounded corner to the school's block together.
"Helga…" Arnold began playfully at her sarcastic comment, rubbing his fingers against hers a little to give her some comfort.
Helga just half grinned a little more and shrugged, her eyes half glancing at him…and also half glancing at the large red brick building they were approaching…filled with every single one of their peers. "H-Hey, when I'm nervous I deal with things with sarcasm so just let me get it all out of my system now so that I don't bite 'the first person who says good morning to me's' head off or something once we get in there," she replied obviously nervously but also while still walking forward with thorough determination.
Arnold just let out a breath as they crossed the street now to head for the school's stoop (luckily, considering how late it was, the area was completely abandoned, and Arnold was grateful that Helga would at least get a few more seconds to psyche herself up for this…and to receive whatever comfort he could provide for her). "Whatever you need to do, Helga…" he let her know sincerely. "Anything at all…I'm here for you all the way, just like I said. I love you and I'll keep you safe forever, remember?" He recalled his words to her up in the air vents earlier that week after the food fight when she had seen the mouse and been frightened, and he had done his best to make it all better.
Beside him, Helga nodded. "I know, Arnold…A-And please keep that in mind about how 'whatever I need to do' is okay because, um, like I said I might do some strange things today as part of this little 'trial run'…and not even just strange things as part of how I'm going to act around you but also as part of how I'm going to act about a lot of things in general…and…it'd be a big help if you just kind of went with it… O-Of course, I'd rather you didn't start 'swooping in' and 'saving me' or something every time things start to get a little choppy—I know you care about me, Arnold, but…I really do want to try standing up for myself with all of this as much as I can, so like I said just…general support is what would be most appreciated. And also…maybe this goes without saying but please don't feel weird about, you know, acting in public like you can actually stand me instead of your usual act of patient indifference. Trust me, it'll make this easier." She smiled more and focused only on him now for a moment.
"Yes, Mam," he simply replied back, focusing only on her as well, and also obviously trying to stifle a small laugh.
They were walking along the front of the school building now.
Helga did her best not to laugh too much in response (or blush too much for that matter at a few of the memories that the phrase 'Yes, Mam' from him brought to her mind). She just sighed and shook her head. "Arnold, I swear, if you actually try to make me blush and giggle and stuff today you will not live to see the fifth grade, Football Head." Another little giggle couldn't help escaping her now of course though.
"Sorry, Helga," Arnold replied innocently, smiling, "I'll save it all for tonight, okay?" His flirtatious and irresistible little grin picked up on one side.
That response actually got Helga to crack a full-blown smile and completely give in to some giggles. And she knew what he was doing right now was good for her—she had a serious capacity to be taking this whole thing WAY too seriously, which would end up making it a lot more difficult and emotionally draining than it had to be. She needed to loosen up a little…and he really was helping so much. Still, that didn't keep her from continuing to playfully act like he was bugging her. She smirked at him, quirking her mouth to one side. "I hate you—you know that, right?"
Arnold couldn't help but laugh more to himself, and then reply with his own small smirk, "You know, I used to think you did, but with all the stuff that's happened over the past few months I'm starting to second guess myself a little."
"Oh, just shut up," Helga added, almost unable to keep suppressing all the calming laughter and warmth he was building up inside of her.
They were walking up the school stoop steps.
Arnold just sighed and smiled and shrugged and said back, "Hmm…well, usually I like a kiss to do that to me but just this once, since it's almost our anniversary again, I guess I could shut myself up on my own this time." He smiled more…looked at her fully… "You remember, Helga…" an image from their first date flashed into his mind. "How your kisses shut me up and keep me that way…?"
Helga just let out a sigh at this point and shook her head. "You know, I think I preferred Gerald and Phoebe and their Japanese under-the-table mocking to your lame attempts at comedy, Football Head."
She just rolled her eyes as she finished delivering the sarcastic comment, and Arnold couldn't help continuing to smile to himself.
"Good one, Helga."
"Aren't they always, Arnold?"
He laughed a bit more and nodded as she just continued to smile with smug satisfaction at her own comeback.
And now suddenly both ten-year-olds stopped walking and looked up and realized that they had officially reached the top of the steps…and thus the front doors…of P.S. 118.
"Hey, Arnold?" Helga asked him as they just stood for a moment looking at the school doors with kind of wide 'this is it' eyes.
Arnold nodded, looking up at the door as well. "Yeah, Helga?"
She let out a breath. "I'm calling what I'm doing today 'Operation: UN-garde'…Just to fill you in."
Arnold blinked. "Operation: UN-garde?"
She nodded. "Yeah…. It's sort of a play on words. Like the term 'En Garde 'in sword fighting is when you tell someone to get on the defensive and 'put up their guard', except now I'm doing the opposite and I'm 'unguarding' my most intimate guarded secret…and some other stuff about who I am too... So, yeah…Operation: UN-garde."
They were silent for a second.
Then Arnold spoke again (eyes still transfixed on the door). He gave her hand a little squeeze. "Okay. I like it. Operation: UN-garde it is."
Helga smiled and nodded (still staring at the door as well). She gave his little hand a squeeze back. "Okay then…Operation: UN-garde commencing in three…two…one…"
"Helga…are you really sure you want to do this?" asked Arnold with concern as he glanced down at his hand that Helga was still holding…which was currently turning white from how hard she was squeezing (or rather crushing) it in her grasp. They had indeed entered the front doors and now the hallways of P.S. 118 together about a minute ago but, with the bell only a minute or two away from ringing, the halls, much like the front stoop outside, were empty…thus technically still leaving Arnold and Helga the opportunity to release each other's hands, head to class a few seconds apart from each other, and thus go back to their former public relationship of bully/bullied…
Arnold glanced up at Helga for her response to his question and he had to blink at the wide-eyed look of near panic on her face as she managed to speak back to him in a weak, shaky voice. "Of…Of course, I want to do this. It…" she shut her eyes for a second and took a deep breath, "It's going to be fine…" Arnold raised an eyebrow, as all of a sudden she seemed to be whispering to herself…talking herself down… "It's going to be okay, Helga old girl. It's going to be okay…besides, laying your cards out on the table has got to be better than one of these chuckleheads suddenly stumbling across everything one day and parading the news about you and Arnold around the school…r-right?"
Okay, Arnold was really starting to worry about her now…What she was doing wasn't like one of her cute little internal monologues or debates—she seemed like she was just saying whatever she could to herself to prevent a total nervous breakdown or something! He stopped their walking and put his free hand on her shoulder, turning to face her and turning her to face him. The action made Helga's eyes pop open and the whispering to herself cease. Arnold looked up at his pretty, brave little love and gave her a reassuring smile and then said to her as sincerely and softly and kindly as he could, "Helga, I mean it… I know you want to do this today at least partly for me and also because it feels right for you right now, but…if you're not ready…if you need some more time, it really is okay. I understand. I just…want you to be happy, alright?" He looked into her eyes, and then reached up trying to brush back her hair from falling over one of her eyes again so that he could look into both of those perfect, blue orbs he had come to find such peace in in his life.
Helga blinked and at first just stared blankly back at him…just looking at his loving eyes and warm smile…all of him brimming with sincerity…and then all of that before her hit her and it felt like her heart started beating again, full breaths started returning to her lungs, she even felt like she could speak without stuttering and spazzing all over the place. And to top it all off a smile finally returned to her lips. "Arnold…my darling…" she spoke warmly, "Just two things…First of all…thank you so very much for your comfort and support, my beloved. I'm…probably going to be slipping into little nervous states throughout the day and…I can't tell you how grateful I am that you'll be here to help pull me out of them and to remind me that nothing that happens today will be 'the end of the world'…especially since, when all is said and done, I have you in my life and that is what's most important." Her smile grew.
Arnold let out a deep, smiling sigh, feeling so much relief wash over him at seeing her returning to her normal, warm, smiling self. "Like I said, anything you need, Helga…I just want to support you and love you and for you to be happy."
She gave a small giggle. "And thank you for that, my darling…from the bottom of my heart…Oh and second of all…" and now a bit of a smirk came to her face and she put her free hand on her hip and even some sarcasm managed to enter her voice, "For crying out loud, stop finding these perfect things to say to make me feel better when I'm in a jam, Football Head—your accuracy's starting to creep me out a little." And then with an eye roll she started to walk up the hall again, pulling him along a little.
Arnold matched pace with her quickly enough and then just chuckled at her joke as they rounded a corner (the corner that put them now in the hallway of Mr. Simmons' room.)
…But before Arnold could respond to her with some other small piece of confidence-building and nerves-relieving comfort…the two blond children were met with their first real challenge of the day…in the form of Sid and Stinky approaching the classroom door from the opposite end of the hallway.
Helga caught sight of this fresh situation first and instantly felt all color drain from her face again, and it took all she had to keep moving forward at a steady pace. Her reacting this way all of a sudden to something naturally took Arnold's attention off of her and brought it up the hall to where she was looking…and though he had been looking forward to him and Helga becoming public for a very long time, Arnold couldn't help a touch of nervousness going through himself as well at wondering how this first attempt at being open with their classmates might go over.
Arnold and Helga both then watched as suddenly, Sid and Stinky's eyes obviously lit on the two of them…both parties approaching each other still…to meet right in front of Mr. Simmons' closed classroom door.
"Oh, hey, Arnold!" called out Sid with a smile now that they were so close to meeting at this point.
"Yeah, howdy, Arnold!" Stinky added with his own wave and smile. "Did you have a good weekend?"
Helga blinked and utterly froze on the spot (causing Arnold to stop walking too. They were a few feet from Simmons' door). She felt disbelief flood through her. 'Am I suddenly invisible or something? Where's the taunting and the jeering and the dropped jaws and…' She couldn't believe it—after all, certainly she hadn't REALLY expected 'the world to end' now that two random friends of theirs had seen her and Arnold walking together and holding hands but…she had at least expected SOMETHING!
Helga snapped out of her surprise at the feeling of Arnold caressing her hand just slightly and leaning up and over to whisper to her before addressing their friends, "You see…no one's going to hurt you, Helga…" And then with this reassurance delivered, the young football headed boy (who was happy, of course, that things seemed to be going okay…though he also couldn't help but be a touch curious about how genuinely smoothly this incident seemed to be going over) looked back to their two friends as they finished their approach toward the classroom door and gave them a little wave of his own. "Hi guys. My weekend was pretty good…how about yours?"
"Pretty, good I guess," Sid replied with his usual smile, stopping on the other side of the outside of Mr. Simmons' door.
"Yeah, reckon I can't complain," added Stinky with a nod, stopped beside him now.
Helga was in the middle of being torn between thanking her lucky stars that this was all going so freaking smoothly…and a desire to scowl and jump between the boys and ask what the heck was up and if she really was suddenly invisible or something!
This internal debate ended though when suddenly, to her total surprise, Sid's eyes at least finally went to her…and then he slid up near her and smiled in a very 'friendly' way, giving one brief glance back to Arnold before turning his sights totally to her. "So, Arnold…who's your friend? Another cousin of yours or a new student? Hello, there, I'm Sid." Sid held out his hand to her for her to shake it.
Stinky, however, despite the slightly forward efforts of his friend, was still hanging back for a second and just scratching his head, hesitating approaching the girl in question. "I don't know, Sid, are you sure she's new—I reckon there's something familiar about her…"
Well, this was one thing Helga hadn't expected upon trying out this new open relationship with Arnold…her own jaw to end up on the floor!
Arnold, meanwhile, couldn't help but just glance back and forth from their friends to Helga (who's hair was indeed over her one of her eyes and partially covering her face, probably adding to the identity mix up)…and then he felt himself having to try very hard not to laugh…a lot! And maybe also a small prick of jealousy went through him (Sid...had smiled rather nicely at her, after all…though he could be kind of a flirt with most girls he hadn't met, to be honest) but…it was very very fleeting and seriously our football headed hero was mostly just as amused as he could possibly be right now! 'I told her everyone would be all over her the second she started acting like herself…She'll be more popular than Rhonda by lunchtime. No question.' He chuckled more to himself.
Meanwhile, Helga just scoffed several times as she tried to recover her power of speech in the middle of all of this…this…whatever it was! Then she briefly considered faking being some kind of transfer student to get out of the mess she was indeed about to plunge herself into, but then finally (at the sound of the warning bell ringing and bringing her out of her shock) she just scowled, took a breath and removed her hair from her eyes and pushed it firmly behind one of her ears to lodge it there for good. She then finished by giving Sid a more than gentle push away from her with her hand not currently engaged with holding Arnold's hand. "Ha Ha, very funny, you dolts—I get it, my hair's not in pigtails and it looks weird. Now cut it out so we can get to class! Come on, Arnold!" And with that firm, take charge, and most importantly honest reply, she pulled a still smiling Arnold after her and into the classroom before Sid and Stinky could respond to her revelation (hey, she was all over being honest today…but that didn't mean it might not take her a couple of tries to ease into dealing with everyone's full reactions to her new attitude and behavior).
Once inside of the door Helga already could feel herself starting to blush, and the idea of having to be seen like that along with her new hair style and while holding Arnold's hand was enough to just make her want to get through this classroom entrance as quickly and neatly as possible: sort of like just ripping off a band aid instead of slowly and painfully and fearfully peeling it away. And so, with a flustered scowl, the young girl speedily pulled her beloved across the front of the room, then plopped him own in his desk in the first row (all of this much to Arnold's amusement…and he was still pretty amused by the whole 'Hey, is this your cousin or a new student' thing from out in the hall before). Helga then seemed about to walk down one of the aisles back to her usual seat automatically…when she suddenly stopped and hesitated (the reason being that she was suddenly recalling another part of her plan for today that she had already set into motion last night after a certain 'lil sis' had eaten dinner over at her house as part of welcoming home Olga). And so Helga turned around and walked back to the front row of desks, all the while refusing to make eye contact with anyone in the full classroom who might be watching her, and then approached Lila (who's usual desk was next to Arnold's). Helga and Lila shared a brief smile and then Helga bent down and whispered something into the red-haired girl's ear, upon which Lila nodded with an affirming smile at her friend and then grabbed her books and stood up…allowing Helga to have her seat while Lila walked down the aisle and went to the back to take Helga's usual desk.
This exchange over, a very tired at this point Helga just let out a deep sigh and plopped herself down in her new location, slouching and folding her arms over her chest as she continued to scowl. 'Anybody says a word and I swear I'll deck them. Heh…and really, what was I worried about with everyone finding out? I should have known that any amount of teasing or shenanigans would just make me half a second away from blowing my top and punching everyone's lights out!' Still though, Helga knew that she really couldn't just start physically harming people… '…Because that would be wrong and I have a conscience now that I can't avoid thanks to the fact that Arnold's finally made me admit to myself that I really am a good person deep down inside…' She sighed and smiled a little at that, however inconvenient a thing it might have seemed at the moment.
It was then a Helga noticed a movement out of the corner of her eye and looked over to see Sid and Stinky finally entering the classroom…the former looking totally dazed and bewildered and blushing a tiny bit…but also seeming like he was starting to grin about something…and something funny. And as for the latter, he was just scratching his head, seeming confused about lots of things, possibly. Helga turned her head away from the sight and did her best not to notice them. Her change in direction led to her facing her beloved now (really looking at him for the first time since the hallway) and he was just smiling at her…just smiling and smiling and smiling away…and looking about ready to bust from pride.
"New desk?" was the first thing he observed, an eyebrow raised and his grin picking up a little on one side.
Helga blinked and blushed, her thoughts moving away from Sid and Stinky back to her new seat. "Oh! Uh, yeah—I…asked Lila last night at dinner if I could trade with her for the last day." She grinned a little sheepishly and added with a small chuckle, "Not that torturing you from afar to share my feelings hasn't been fun for the last seven years, Football Head, but I thought it might be nice to just plain sit next to you like I've always wanted to do for once, all things considered." Her smile brightened a little for the first time since the hallway before Sid and Stinky had come along. "By the way, along with Lila I also let Brainy know that I'm telling the truth today…I figure the more people in the loop who know, the more support we'll have to look forward to." She winked.
Arnold had to just laugh in amusement and even more happiness and pride at these statements, and the warmth of the sound couldn't help but make Helga feel her nervousness about everything melt away a bit more. She even managed to quickly joke with a grin under her breath, under the cover of the background sounds of murmurs and talking in the classroom that could still be heard since there were still a few more seconds until the final bell rang, "I guess I'm just lucky that delusional you did your best to get a seat next to Lila all those months ago when you were still on that crusade to get her to 'like you like you instead of just like you'…and that, even after all the torture I put her through ever since your little attempt at dating, Lila's been so helpful about everything."
Arnold just sighed in contentment and replied, unable to help himself…and giving her the half lidded gaze she liked and KNOWING he was giving it the whole while he spoke... "I like liked Lila once? Really? Are you sure, Helga, because whenever I think about like liking someone all I can think about is yo—"
Helga sighed and rolled her eyes and blushed, cutting him off. "Stop being a flirt, Arnoldo!" 'Heh, he's certainly taking to this whole 'love each other in public' thing like a duck to water, isn't he?' The idea made her want to giggle…as did the fact that she could finally just sit and chat with her beloved in the morning before class and NOT via risky little love notes thrown back and forth to each other over the course of the day…
"Helga!"
The sound of a new obstacle on this day of honesty cut off Arnold and Helga's private conversation and moment…and also it made Helga's heart stop. She managed to force herself to glance behind them though in the direction from which the voice had come…only to be met with the sight of Rhonda Wellington Lloyd marching up the row of desks right between herself and Arnold…and she…looked both SEVERELY intrigued…and also a little…fierce, was probably the only word to describe it?
Unsure of what she might be in for but as ready as she would ever be, she guessed, Helga just took a breath and braced herself and made direct eye contact with Rhonda (who had now reached herself and Arnold and was standing between them), and replied to the fashionable girl's address with a small, forced smile and in as casual and steady a tone as she could manage, "Oh, hi, Rhonda…how's, uh, how's it going?" 'Just maintain and don't hit and take it in stride…When all is said and done Arnold is here for you and he loves you…' Helga reminded herself quickly.
In response to her casual question Rhonda just blinked at first, then she got an almost indignant look on her face, and then she let out a huff of a sigh and crossed her arms over her chest and spoke very matter-of-factly to Helga G. Pataki. "Oh don't give me that, Helga…you know you're slowly becoming the talk of the entire classroom!" She gestured with her head behind her to their classmates who, Helga now noticed, were indeed not just engaged in their usual pre-class chatter and games…but very obviously whispering busily to one another and throwing glances over at herself and Arnold…and…even a couple in the directions of Lila and possibly Brainy (though Helga's head quickly rationalized that they were probably just looking at Lila while remarking that the red-haired girl was now in Helga's former seat, and as for Brainy, well, his seat was only two back from Lila's new one in the same row so maybe she was just imagining people's eyes every once in a while drifting that far back). Rhonda resumed her focus on Helga and the sound of her voice caused Helga's eyes to snap back to the dark haired girl towering over her. "I mean, first of all you've got this whole new…hair thing going on…! Even I…I have to say that, well…it looks rather stylish…" Rhonda finally admitted (in a rather frustrated and petulant tone, crossing her arms over her chest). "If you wouldn't mind I'd actually like to know the name of whatever salon you got it styled at…" she trailed off with a tiny embarrassed blush.
Helga blinked! She was taken so aback by the slight compliment and request that all she could do was stutter out a perfectly honest and straightforward answer of, "O-Oh, uh…yeah, my hair, heh…" Considering the whole 'holding Arnold's hand and sitting next to him and having a smiling little public chat with him' thing, her hair had long since moved to the bottom of her list of 'things I may have a mental breakdown about today.' "W-Well, actually I didn't get it done anywhere special…I-I mean, I got the dead ends cut a little bit the other day but my sister did most of the styling this morning…Uh, no big deal, heh, heh…" She gave a shrug and a sheepish grin, pushing her hair more thoroughly over her ear again in a touch of self-consciousness.
Rhonda didn't seem to get the whole 'let's lighten the mood' thing Helga was trying to go for though. She just put her hands on her hips and huffed again. "Oh fine, BE 'modest' if you want to…But anyway that's NOT why I'm over here…" She looked back and forth from Arnold to Helga. "What's going on?" she asked firmly. "Everyone knows that ever since they broke up, Arnold's been sitting up here next to Lila in a pathetic attempt to win her back." She glanced at Arnold, her scowl softening a tiny bit. "No offense, Arnold," she quickly tacked on.
Arnold, who had been observing Rhonda's behavior with a mixture of curiosity and interest (and also just more amusement…more and more amusement…He had a feeling he would be amused by a lot of things today…), just sighed and shrugged good-naturedly at her. "None taken, Rhonda."
Rhonda gave a small nod and then turned her sights back to Helga. "Anyway, Helga, everyone sees that you and Lila switched seats…and then ON TOP OF THAT, according to a couple of reliable sources whom I just had the 'pleasure' of hearing from…"
Helga had a pretty good idea where Rhonda was going with this particular comment, and quickly interrupted her with a scoff and a slight eye roll. "I don't know if I'd exactly call Stinkeroo and Frog Boy 'reliable sources'…" She made air quotes around the last two words.
Rhonda just ignored yet another attempt of hers at levity and continued, still going strong and firm. "Anyway, it's been confirmed by several people that you and Arnold were holding hands coming all the way up the hall… Which is a little…unusual…you have to admit Helga…Arnold…" She glanced at Arnold again but then her frustrated eyes went right back to Helga…almost like she was…annoyed with her about something…very specifically annoyed with her about something. "I'll ask the question one more time—what's going on?" she finally finished sharply.
Arnold was aware that Rhonda was acting a little…differently than either he or Helga had imagined she would act on this day…but at this point he just sat looking at the dark haired girl and feeling completely clueless about how to even begin to figure her out right now.
Helga, meanwhile, a bit more astute (especially, as she had noted once long ago, about the romantic subtleties of their class) just looked at Rhonda curiously at first…feeling her mind working on trying to pick up on what had her so peeved right now! The young blond girl was broken from this task for a moment though by the sight of some movement in her peripheral vision, and then she noticed with a blink that behind Rhonda (and obviously having heard some of the fashionable girl's challenging words), Gerald, Phoebe, Lila and even Brainy were all looking over in Arnold and Helga's direction and had all shifted a little from their seats, obviously about to get up and try and throw in some kind of comment to tell Rhonda off and save their friends from whatever social humiliation might be threatening to come. However, Helga quickly gave each of them a meaningful look and a small shake of her head to show her thanks but to let them know to please let her handle this on her own.
Arnold, meanwhile, saw this gesture of Helga's to their friends, but despite it he was thinking that she might not mind at least himself intervening and trying to say something non-confrontational and peace-making to Rhonda in the hopes of saving Helga any trouble or grief…and also in hopes of preventing Helga from maybe having a more 'physical' response to Rhonda's slight attitude (fighting was never the answer and also, after all, if she really did sock Rhonda and then get detention today it would completely throw off all of his plans for their night together, not to mention putting them a player short for their baseball game!)
However, just as he was about to intervene between the ladies, Arnold's eyes had turned to Helga…and how she looked now made him recall her words from their walk to the school about how she didn't want him 'swooping in' and 'saving her' at every turn…She wanted to try dealing with this fear of hers on her own as much as possible. And so between that memory and the look upon her face right now, Arnold decided instead to wait and keep silent and really let her handle this all on her own.
Now as for Helga, at first, of course, she had seemed a little thrown off at Rhonda's final demanding question…but then the sight of something in the far corner of the room seemed to have caught our young blond heroine's eye…and then her attention turned back to the situation at hand and she just smiled to herself at Rhonda's demand for information and an explanation, and then cleared her throat and gave a perfectly innocent shrug, and replied casually to the dark haired girl, "Hey, I'll be happy to respond to this little interrogation of yours, Rhonda, but first just give me a few seconds…" And with that Helga simply proceeded to cross one leg over the other, cross her arms over her chest, and wait in silence, smiling contentedly…
About thirty seconds passed (during which the entire class' attention slowly fell on the standoff between Rhonda and Helga…all whispering dropping away at the sheer tension of it all) and then finally Rhonda, tapping her foot in impatience and scowling much more sternly by now, dropped her arms to her sides with clenched fists and let out a sigh. "Okay, Helga, so—what's the deal already with you and Arnold and this new look?"
Helga glanced once more at something in the corner of the room, waited another second or two, then smiled to herself in satisfaction. "Yup, that should do it." She then turned back to Rhonda, took a deep breath, shut her eyes, and just plain told the truth...and it felt really REALLY good, however small of a truth it was in comparison to some kind of 'full blown confession' about her love for Arnold. "Yes, I was holding Arnold's hand walking up the hall just now. And I was holding it on the way to school. And yeah, I'm sitting next to him now…by special request actually. And as for the new hair, maybe I'm just trying to change things up a bit—I think I might even like it better this way. Arnold likes it like this too, by the way. Any more questions?" She managed to open her eyes now and did her best to maintain a firm face as she looked Rhonda right in the eye…even though inside she felt practically sick… 'Oh for Pete's sake I just…Whew, okay…just did something I never thought I'd do in my life…and…no problem…. We're okay…We're actually okay!' And actually…she really did feel…pretty good considering how she had always thought she would feel after being crazy enough to do something like this. She felt like she had been brought a challenging situation and instead of hiding from it or trying to strangle it with her bare hands she had just…let herself be herself and handle it however it felt right. The whole thing felt…just great, really!
Meanwhile, as for Helga's little planned delay with answering Rhonda until right this moment, the young blonde girl had timed things very perfectly, because just as she finished and Rhonda opened her mouth, obviously bursting with new interrogations…
BRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING!
…The final bell rang and Mr. Simmons instantly entered the classroom with his briefcase in hand and a big, sunny smile on his face.
"Hello, class!"
"Hello, Mr. Simmons…" came everyone's distracted replies as they were still pretty focused on Helga and Rhonda and Arnold.
Mr. Simmons didn't notice the lack of enthusiasm much though and just put down his effects, turned to the board and erased several things to make a clean slate for the rest of the day, and then turned around with a smile. "Alright everyone, I'm sorry I was almost late—I had to see a special visitor in the teacher's lounge for a few minutes. But we're all here now and ready to start another special day! So please take you seats—you can continue talking at lunch and recess and of course after school when summer vacation finally starts! But for now let's have the last day of fourth grade begin! What do you say—doesn't that sound special?" He grinned enthusiastically!
His words were received with eager head nods and smiles from the kids—the latest schoolyard drama was interesting of course, but as their teacher had just pointed out it WAS the last day of school before summer break! (Diving into the Arnold/Helga/ 'whoever else might be involved' thing could wait…it would HAVE to after all, because of class…for a little while at least…though not TOO long…)
But anyway, back with Mr. Simmons…Noticing Rhonda still standing right up front between Arnold and Helga's desk, the young educator turned his sights to her and addressed her specifically, still with a smile though of course. "Rhonda, please take your seat so we can begin."
Rhonda blinked but then just let out a breath and nodded at the request of her teacher, though a touch of frustration still remained in her eyes (she was now totally aware of the mini time scam Helga had just pulled on her). "O-Of course, Mr. Simmons," she managed to reply compliantly though, "Sorry." She smiled and then turned away from him to face in the direction she would have to go to return to her desk.
Before embarking though she managed to lean close to Helga and whisper. "I don't know what's going on here, Helga, but if you're trying to tell everyone something about you and Arnold…a surprising turn of events that I'm still trying to process by the way…all I can say is you sure picked a bold way to do it…Either that or you're playing some kind of game…Either way though I'll get to the bottom of this. See you at lunch." And with a smile that was half devious and half frustrated, Rhonda straightened up and then finally returned to her own desk to sit down.
Mr. Simmons, meanwhile, was now occupied with taking attendance quickly and just glancing at each student's desk to make sure they were filled when he paused and blinked as he noticed Lila in Helga's seat…and then looked to the front of the room to see Helga (albeit looking a bit…different than usual) sitting in Lila's seat. He glanced from Helga to Arnold and then back to Helga…and smiled. "New seat today, Helga?" he asked in a quiet, understanding voice, trying not to let the other students hear.
Helga blinked and blushed a little. "Oh, uh…" she began to reply in an equally low voice, glancing down shyly, "Uh…just thought I'd try something new for the last day. Is that okay?" She glanced up at him with hopeful eyes.
Mr. Simmons just smiled even more down at her and gave a little nod. "Of course, Helga. I think that's a very good, special decision on your part." And with that and after checking off the last of the student names, he stepped away from the front row over to his desk, put away the attendance sheet, and then addressed the whole room of kids, still with his usual beaming smile. "Okay, class—since it's our last day and it's time for math class and we already had our final exam yesterday, I was thinking we could…" he paused to build up dramatic tension and suddenly reached into his briefcase…only to pull out a large, clear grocery bag…filled with a lot of an item that no self-respecting elementary-schooler could ever fail to recognize instantly on sight! "…figure out the areas and volumes of these Fudgy Nut Nut Bars before eating them as a mid-morning snack! Isn't that exciting?"
The entire class burst into cheers as Mr. Simmons starting passing out the chocolate!
In a third grade classroom down the hall, about twenty students were just sitting at their desks, fidgeting and impatiently staring at the clock that still had six hours to countdown until summer break officially began.
Suddenly though one of the students…a familiar messy boy in a blue shirt and red shorts, and who happened to be in mid-yawn, instantly blinked and froze, his eyes going incredibly wide and his jaw snapping shut. Then… "Chocolate…" he whispered under his breath.
He felt that familiar craving enter his system as somewhere in this school someone took out…what was it—chocolate…bars! 'Yes, that's it! Bars—about, oh, eighteen or nineteen, I believe. Quality grade A sixty five percent pure cocoa…Classic Original Fudgy Nut Nut…'
Chocolate boy felt himself drooling but then remembered that he had been avoiding chocolate for weeks ever since breaking the habit the first time.
With a heavy sigh he settled on munching on some of the several dozen radishes currently stored in his desk…which he had maybe come to coat with a thin layer of chocolate over the last few weeks...Not a full relapse of his old ways, mind you...just a little 'take it or leave it' crutch to get him through the days…probably. Okay, fine, he needed Arnold rehab again and not just for the chocolate but probably for his radish addiction too, but for crying out loud it was the last day of school, and he was just going to get through it however he felt like it and THEN get completely back on the wagon! Arnold had given him the confidence!
He smiled to himself and managed to put away his chocolate covered radishes for now and focus on his last day of studies (even though he would doodle a picture of one or two of them in the margins of his notebook paper with a hungry smile as the day would wear on.)
Back in the fourth grade classroom…
Simmons had finished handing out the chocolate bars and now had his back turned to the class again as he wrote something new on the board. Arnold, seeing an opportunity amid the rustling of plastic wrappers and the fact that the educator at the front of the room wasn't watching them right now, finally turned to look at his girlfriend again (whose eyes were wide with a bit of shock…and she was also obviously in thought about something). He placed his chocolate bar to the side for a moment and whispered over to her, "Helga, what did Rhonda say…? Is everything okay?" He hadn't been able to quite make out Rhonda's whispered words to Helga before she had departed.
Helga beside him just took a breath at his question and nodded, and then she whispered back to him, turning her eyes in his direction finally. "Yeah. She's, uh…she's interested in whatever's going on, obviously. At the same time though she's also coming off as a little…annoyed at me and I'm not sure what to do with that. But, uh…so far so good in general, right?" Helga smiled sincerely at her beloved. "I mean, there's been some whispering, I had to make a clever comment or two, but people haven't started 'rioting' or anything so, hey, maybe there really is a chance that this insanity might not turn out to be so bad." She couldn't help but smirk a little and add, actually finding the idea a bit more humorous than unpleasant now that the first step had been taken with all of this 'being herself' stuff, "I'm pretty sure we're going to be dealing was a whirlwind of fun at lunch and recess though, Football Head. Don't worry though, I've got your back." She winked at him. "Oh and thanks for letting me handle that one on my own, Arnold…Bliss said it would be healthy for me to do that when I talked over this plan with her, and to be honest it felt really, really, really good just telling the truth and not caring if anyone had a problem with it." Her smile brightened.
Arnold's look of concern changed over to a smile…He could tell that she wasn't just making jokes right now to avoid stuff—she was genuinely…okay. He was very grateful for that. "You're welcome, Helga…And you did really well with handling that—I'm proud of you." He winked…and then went on…a little more bashfully now. "And, um...hey, Helga? Um…I don't know if it'll hurt or help things today, but…," his voice took on a touch of shyness as he whispered something to her he had been dying to ask her to do for weeks… "I could sit next to you at lunch if you want…? Just to be supportive…and also because I'd really really like to sit next to you at your table finally." He looked to her hopefully.
He watched as Helga just sighed and smiled more at him, and then gave him a nod that he had been longing for in response to a question like that for so long. And then Helga even did him one better, showing that the idea of eating lunch officially together in public in school with him had been on her mind as well. "Actually, I'd already planned to have you and me and Gerald and Phoebe sit at the same table today…with you and me right next to each other…maybe even sharing one chocolate milk with two straws…if you're all okay with that, of course, Arnold." She blushed a little extra and hoped he would be just as thrilled with the idea as she had been figuring he would be.
The bright grin that came to her beloved's face let her know that her prediction had been right on the money. "Absolutely…" Then he sighed airily and just gazed at her in wonder for a moment. "You really do want to be open about everything today, don't you, Helga Geraldine?"
Helga just did her best not to laugh (or giggle much… 'Geraldine'…Him calling her that still made little butterflies keep happening in her stomach) as she responded with a shrug, "Hey, you know me—if I'm going to blow the lid off of something I go for the full monty." She gazed at him a tiny bit too as long as Simmons was still writing on the board and the room was full of kids obviously (probably) distracted by candy at the moment. "Oh but, Geraldine still stays between us and our best friends, okay?" she added, her grin picking up a little extra on one side.
Arnold just laughed to himself a little and gave her a small smirk, resting his head on one of his hands for a moment. "Of course, Helga Geraldine…" He gave her a reassuring wink. "And as for 'blowing the lid off of something' and 'the fully monty'…Huh…you, Helga? Getting carried away with a confession?" He shook his head a little, the smirk still there. "That just seems…so unlike you…"
Helga was really trying not to break into full-blown laughter and to look like she was actually starting to focus on taking some notes about what Simmons was writing on the board more than she was obviously flirting with Arnold. And so…"Don't actually make me lean over and kiss you to shut you up right now, Football Head," she merely quipped back, recalling their chat together during their 'hand in hand' walk up to the school stoop before…. "Otherwise I think our class' heads might explode from the paradox of the sight or something." Along with writing in a note or two on the page before her now, she also lightly traced over one copy of the phrase 'Helga G. Pataki-Shortman' in purple ink (which was etched into every crevice of the margins of every one of her notebooks at this point, actually.)
"Well, maybe not from the sight of us just kissing…Them catching us playing 'a la mode' together or something, though…now that might lead to some head explosions," her love suddenly added quietly from beside her.
"A-…I…Uh…e-excellent point, Football Head…" Helga merely managed to stutter back with a huge grin…and a rather bright blush at the many memories the idea of being 'topped with ice cream' made bubble up in her mind.
Arnold laughed a little at her stuttering and Helga laughed a little at his laughter. And then they both let out sighs and smiled to themselves and went back to writing notes (and also eating chocolate), happy for the small break of class between now and the midday break of eating and recreation when they inevitably would have to deal with quite a few more reactions to their apparent sudden close relationship.
Just some quick notes for all you Gerald/Phoebe fans out there!
Yup, as might be obvious from their sweet little walking and talking this morning, Gerald and Phoebe were still going strong and sweet as ever…
F-For the most part…
That's actually what that phone call Arnold had ignored in his room the other day during the whole 'tiger/kitten game' thing had sort of been about... Rather than asking Arnold for more general girl advice this time, Gerald, on a sudden impulse had been actually considering spilling to his best friend just how, uh...'different'...things had started to feel between himself and Phoebe lately...But Arnold, wrapped up in continuing to make up with Helga that day, had not answered this time, and by the time Gerald had called him later after dinner, the tall haired boy had lost all courage to admit to Arnold how, uh...once again, 'different', some of his more romantically-based feelings had been lately. And so Gerald had just asked his best friend more general girl questions and shared with him about his and Phoebe's latest date instead...Though there had been times over the last day and half that he had regretted chickening out like that... (And Phoebe, in her occasional phone chats and private chats with Helga lately, might have sort of been having a similar problem...and similarly regretting constantly chickening out from mentioning some things that had been on her mind more and more lately...)
Because, well...
...The thing was that…with their friends who knew about them being together (mostly Arnold and Helga), Gerald and Phoebe were fine and okay and great. Group things are always easy and fun, after all!
But…in private lately…there was something there…kind of awkwardly there actually…And it had been making their 'one on one' dates a little…more pressured feeling for the last week or so. Like, they had suddenly been filling them up with everything from fencing to blues records to Japanese lessons to spoken word poetry recitals to taking a quick peek at some fifth grade textbooks to watching Pop Daddy marathons, and basically any other distracting activity they could come up with to fill the time and not have to be left in one of those awkward, silent, 'tense' moments where…something…might be waiting to spring up on them and happen when they least expected it and were least able to control it!
But, when you were a little boy with a crush on a little girl…and both of you prided your relationship on having it be sweet and simple and normal…how were supposed to begin to explain to her that you were thinking about wanting something…not so 'sweet and simple and normal'…s-sometimes…And how would you even begin going about getting to that new stage, even if by some miracle she ended up wanting it too? Which she couldn't POSSIBLY ever want…not his lovely, innocent, modest Phoebe Kyoko Heyerdahl!
And…from another perspective…when you were, let's say…a little girl with a crush on a little boy…and, once again, both of you prided your relationship on having it be sweet and simple and normal…how were you even supposed to begin to explain to him that, w-well…sometimes the idea of 'experimenting' a little with your 'sweet, simple, normalness'…was starting to have a hold on your mind and heart? And even if he would be willing to let you experiment a little…which she was sure would be far too much for him and would gross him out considerably, even though he might go along with it just to please her…how could she even begin to broach such a subject? And with her cool yet shy…confident yet still learning…charming yet still kind of spazzy sometimes Gerald Martin Johannsen?
So, yes, the end result of all these personal doubts coupled with an almost blinding fear of bringing them up to one another was that Phoebe and Gerald had been perfectly fine and comfortable and happy around their friends or family together just doing whatever…But…the alone stuff…unless there was a BIG distraction there to take their minds off of it, the alone stuff had like an instant, hot, unbearable tension to it that mostly made them both about a second away from passing out in a total faint at the slightest sound or peep or move from one another. Heck, they hadn't really even been able to bring themselves to have one of their little kisses (lips or not) in a few days now too…what between that little 'arm kissing' incident that Arnold and Helga had interrupted at Phoebe's house the other week and then all the 'Chloe' stuff the other day leading to that first extended (exactly 5.4 seconds long, to be precise) kiss between them and then also just…starting to find it more and more difficult to avoid the situation of 'do we announce ourselves officially to the class or not' as the weeks had now progressed. It was all too much, all too much pressure…so how could you even hope to have just a little, simple kiss like before…when all the pressure was constantly pushing underneath it.
To sum it up, Gerald and Phoebe were young and confused and inexperienced…and so they were dealing with things by sort of putting them off and avoiding them and just…hoping the situation would work itself out or at least that a solution would present itself soon.
Although, honestly, you think they would have learned from Arnold and Helga what avoiding your feelings for an extended period of time can lead to—the stress, the drama…the kissing…
For now though they just sat comfy and cozy in class on the last day of school, ready to support their best friends and Helga's plan to go public about herself and Arnold! (Another perfect distraction for everyone's other favorite P.S. 118 couple from dealing with the bits of awkwardness from their own relationship right now.)
A/N:
I hope you guys liked this! Please review! And, I'm pretty sure it's obvious but…EPIC AMOUNTS OF SLAPSTICK CHAOS ARE ON THE WAY XDXDXD I hope you guys enjoy it all ^w^ And while updates for this are going on (since the chapters are a lot shorter now) I'll also try updating "April 2nd" and "Dinner AND a Show" ;) Promise! :)
Also, before I go, I'd like to wish SuprSingr a Happy upcoming Birthday. I love her, and I hope she will be well and happy.
Happy Reading, all!
~Azure129 aka Jenna
AXH FOREVER! *Hearts!*
P.S.
Oh and some quick translations for the Japanese (and, for anyone who's like fluent, please be kind-I'm seriously going off of three semesters of elementary Japanese plus my obsessive love of anime XD If you have corrections though please let me know :) ).
"Yamete" (Stop it!), "Aw, demo Helga no kazoku wa-" (Aw, but Helga's family is-), Gerald wa okashiidesuyo, demo- (Gerald, you're funny, but-), "Tanoshikunaine?" (She's no fun, huh?), "Ee, soodesuyo..." (Yeah, you know it!)