Words I Couldn't Say
Chapter Eleven: "Cash Equivalent"
(Helga's Point-of-View)
I figured that Arnold either had, or was going to ask Sandy at some point in the very near future, so I chose to skip lunch and head to the library to study for my U.S. History project due on Monday. It was on the Dustbowl in the 1930s, which Sandy—who was also in that class—found overly interesting. History, I take it, was her favorite topic. She could ramble off random facts about the Dustbowl or any other history event ever. Two of her most talked about historical interests…Anastasia Romanov and the Titanic.
I, however, did not enjoy history with that kind of passion. I preferred romantic verses about handsome boys and their deep, evergreen eyes. The dustbowl did not interest me. So I chose to skip lunch, the inevitable news of Arnold and Sandy, and the random dustbowl facts that Sandy would spill on me. I stared at the book in hand and looked at the pictures of the black clouds of dust swooping across the prairie.
"History, eh?" I heard a voice say near me ear.
I jumped and nearly yelped waking all of the sleeping droids in the library. I turned to see Cory's Cheshire cat grin plastered on his face and his letterman's jacket sprawling along his broad, broad shoulders.
"Oh, hi." I looked back to my book and suddenly found it very interesting.
"You haven't forgotten our date tomorrow night, have you?" he asked, slyly.
I don't know why these negative words kept coming to my mind, but today he definitely seemed sly. Inwardly I groaned.
"Nope." Wow, ships got residual dust from the dust storms all the way out in the Atlantic Ocean. Pretty crazy.
"Um…what are you planning on having us do, Helga?" Cory asked sitting down at my little table and scooting his chair close to mine.
"Not sure yet." I said, trying to ignore his closeness as I turned a page in my book.
"Why are you being so tough today?" he asked, with one corner of his mouth hinting at a smile.
"Oh, am I being tough?" I asked sarcastically, finally looking at him.
He leaned back in his hair and put his hands behind his blond hair. "Slightly. No worries though, I like it," he stated casually with a slow, self-assured smile.
"Oh, well, I am only attempting to study for my history project," I began, adding as much spice to my voice as possible. "And you are making it very hard."
He didn't say anything just continued to watch me study that self-assured smile still plastered on his face.
"Cut that out," I cried out finally. People nearby, including one of the mean old librarians shushed me angrily. But I ignored them.
He leaned closer to me, still not blinking.
"It's creepy!" I exclaimed again, more shushes sounding off the library walls.
"What is?" he asked, his blue eyes hardly wavering.
"Your staring." I glared at him. "It reminds me of Scully in 'X-Files'…she always stares all creepy and doesn't blink. It's weird." I thought for a moment. "Except it's not as creepy when she stares and it's supposed to be creepy. Then it's like real, cause there's emotion behind it. Otherwise she just doesn't blink and her eyes just kind of glaze over, but not in a I'm not paying attention way, more like a I'm reading into your soul creepily way."
He stared at me again, this time with a strange, surprised expression on his face, but also a slight hint of amusement on his lips.
"See, that's not so creepy," I told him, matter-of-factly. "There's emotion…like surprise or something."
He chuckled softly to himself. "You're funny…and random."
I shrugged and looked back down at my book.
"Do you realize that's like the most you've ever said to me in one sitting?"
I shrugged again, but didn't look up.
"I like it," he said, a slow, controlled smile inching across his face.
The bell rang then. "Oh, I guess you are easily amused." I gathered my things and stood up. "I'll see you tomorrow." Before leaving I turned and looked over my shoulder calling, "I'll pick you up at six sharp, remember."
Once I got to creative writing class I sat down next to Sandy and figured I would have to face it eventually. "Hey, girl!"
"Hi, Helga!" she practically beamed-like the excitement was literally shooting rays off light off her smile. "Where were you at lunch?"
"Studying for that history project," I told her, trying to avoid the obvious announcement she had to make.
"Oh, the one about the dustbowl! Isn't it so interesting? My grandma was born in the middle of Colorado in the dustbowl, they had to move to the mountains so she wouldn't die of dust pneumonia."
That's right, I had read about dust pneumonia. See what did I tell you about Sandy? "Well, that's interesting. Maybe I could interview her or something," I said absently.
Sandy seemed to really like this idea and nodded vigorously before continuing. "Guess what?"
"What?" I asked her, cringing inside, waiting for the coming blow.
"Okay, class, quiet down," Mrs. Hageman interrupted.
Sandy sighed, irritated that someone had interrupted our little conversation. She slumped down in her chair with a pouty face and threw her arms across her chest dramatically.
"Pass up your short stories now and get out a pen and a paper and get ready for the warm up write."
Through the passing of papers Sandy attempting to get my attention, but I managed to avoid eye contact and thereby prolong the inevitable news about homecoming. Not that it would really do me any good…avoiding it and all. But somehow avoiding it even for a few seconds just sounded so much better than having to hear the news.
"Okay, for today's warm up I want you to write a poem—"
Sandy slammed her face into the desk, "what is with me and poetry today?" she groaned loudly.
Mrs. Mee just looked at her curiously before continuing. I stifled a giggle, and smiled. At least there was one thing my little perfect friend wasn't good at. Friend or not, it was nice when the playing field was evened a little.
Finally after our warm-up write Sandy found a moment to tell me her news. "Guess what?"
I wanted to roll my eyes but I didn't. "Just tell me," I told her curtly.
Sandy frowned at my in-exuberance but it was replaced immediately by an excited twinkle in her eyes. "Arnold asked me to homecoming!"
This was the part where I played the excited friend. "That's so awesome! I totally didn't see that coming," I feigned, hopefully sounding sincere instead of sarcastic like I felt. "Now the four of us can go together!"
"Ya! And you will have so much fun with Ben! I am so glad he asked you! We went to Sade Hawkins together last year and he is an absolute gentleman and a fantastic dancer!"
I couldn't help but wonder how good of a dancer Arnold was instead though. I shook my head and focused on the task ahead—getting through Sandy's big announcement and onto my creative writing assignment.
"I am so excited!" Sandy exclaimed with a giggle clasping her hands together and almost dancing in her seat.
"Hey, Sandy," one of the girls in our creative writing class, Antoinette, leaned over. "Who did you say asked you to the dance?"
"Arnold," she beamed.
"Oh, your cute friend?" Antoinette said cheerfully.
Sandy looked like she was about to pop and could only nod vigorously in response.
"Arnold is so handsome! And that husky baritone voice of his is to die for!" Antoinette was saying. "You guys would make such a beautiful couple."
I kind of felt nauseated thinking about that. I gagged slightly. But they didn't seem to notice.
Her face lit up like a Christmas tree once more at Antoinette's words and she nodded, "and he just so fun and sweet! And so handsome!" She smiled softly to herself and her eyes went half-lidded and dreamy.
"So, Antoinette…what are you working on today?" I asked the girl sitting near us trying to distract myself from the whole Sandy and Arnold fiasco.
"Oh, well, don't laugh, okay?" she said quietly, her cheeks slightly glowing red.
Sandy nodded gravely. "Okay. We won't."
"I'm working on a fanfic based on that show 'Yo, Arnist'—"
"Oh, you mean the one with the boy that has the rugby-ball shaped head?" I asked. "I used to love that show."
"Yah, my fanfic is called 'The Negotiation'," Antoinette said. "I hope it's good!"
"Sounds compromising," I laughed.
They didn't get my joke though. I guess you have to be an English genius to understand my wit…
(Arnold's Point of View)
"Can you believe she said yes?" I asked Ben, feeling pretty proud of myself for having finally asked Sandy. Sandy the gorgeous, green-eyed girl that made my heart pound wildly and butterflies spring into my stomach.
"Did you really think she'd say no?" Ben asked, rolling his eyes.
"I don't know. I mean I don't know if she likes me like I like her and maybe she'd rather go with Cash or something."
"Quit worrying about Cash and Sandy," Ben groaned, sounded irritated. "She said yes to you didn't she? Why do you need to worry about whether or not she'd rather go with Cash?"
I stared at him. "Because Cash is like the ladies man and he always has his stinkin' arms around Sandy!"
Ben stopped at looked at me. He breathed deep for a second, almost like he was trying to calm himself. "Why don't you quit whining and put your stinkin' arms around Sandy."
I stared back at him. "Right. How do I know she even likes me like that?"
Ben continued to look at me for a moment and then finally rolled his eyes and continued walking to the auditorium. I rolled my eyes, irritated with Ben for being so sure of everything and always seeming to get mad when we talked about Sandy. It really was getting a bit annoying. How could he be so sure that Sandy liked me too? I wasn't. And I was her best friend. How did he know?
I quickened my pace to catch up with Ben and spotted Cash also heading towards the auditorium. "Crap! There's Cash!" I said in a hushed voice.
"Duh, Arnold. Cash is in the play, where else do you expect to see him going after school?" Ben shook his head and pressed his lips into a hard line.
"Does that mean I have to take pictures of them together?" I didn't really want to do that. I was supposed to attend their play practice in order to get some shots for yearbook, but now I was regretting even volunteering.
"Hello, Mcfly? Are you even home today, man?" Ben asked. "What did you expect to be taking pictures of? He's Raul, Sandy's Christine. I mean seriously. Hurry up; I'm going to be late." A muscle working fiercely in his jaw as he walked in ahead of me.
I heaved a hurried sigh and we walked into the auditorium amongst all the other students. When I entered it was to see Cash talking to Sandy in one corner of the room. She had her back against the wall, and he was leaning against it, leaning over Sandy, probably flirting with her. Figures.
"Alright, students!" Mrs. Stahlberg in her deep voice bellowed throughout the room. "Take your seats! We have some quick announcements before we start practice today."
The room quieted down and as I stood off to the side of the seats I watched Sandy giggle and take a seat next to Cash. Ugh!
"Hey, Arnoldo," a voice said next to me. I was surprised to see Helga standing there with a smirk on her face as usual.
"Hey, Helga, what are you doing here?" I asked, actually grateful for her presence for once. Hopefully she could distract me a little from the whole Cash flirting with Sandy crap going on on the other side of the auditorium.
"Oh, well, if you may recall I was thinking of joining the play crew. And I did." She pulled her blonde hair into a ponytail effortlessly. "What are you doing here?"
I held up my large and very obvious camera. "Yearbook."
She nodded and sat down next to me as Mrs. Stahlberg began to speak again. "Okay, everyone. Today is going to be a run through of the first act. Please do your best. Arnold Shortman will be taking photos for the yearbook, so don't allow yourself to be distracted by the flashes. Okay, places!"
The first scene was rather boring—to me at least. Sandy was of course not in it until scene two. Scene two, Sandy was in the background dancing. I watched her graceful movements and was quite impressed by her dancing. She was one of the most graceful, smooth, dainty girls I had ever known. She reminded me of that princess from that Disney movie "Enchanted" everything she did was like that-happy, optimistic, hopefully, graceful, beautiful...just the all-around ideal girl.
I snapped a few shots of her, Kristi, and the other actors on stage.
Eventually Helga came and stood next to me. "Pretty darn exciting, huh?" she asked sarcastically.
"Yah, I guess. I'm just waiting for Ben or Sandy to have a big part."
She stared straight at the stage, "just wait a bit more."
(Helga's POV)
"So you still going on that date with Cory tomorrow night?" he asked me, flicked an inquisitive glance in my direction.
I looked at him quickly surprised that he even remembered such a minor detail in his otherwise Sandy exclusive life. "Oh, you remember that, huh?" I asked him with a satisfied smirk.
"Well, he did make quite the show of it," Arnold replied his handsome features locked in a frown.
I looked at him again curiously as he fidgeting almost angrily with his camera settings. "I take it you don't like the guy." I already knew this though from his reactions the day Cory asked me out, but man, it really seemed like an intense dislike.
"Nope, nada," he replied shortly, before taking another picture.
"Why's that?" I asked, curiously. I was genuinely curious and I wanted to know what I was getting myself into.
"I don't trust him. He led this girl I know along for a while and pretty much just used her. It was pretty sad." He was watching Sandy carefully as she was now performing her lines.
I wondered if it was Sandy that Cory had led along for a while or just someone else. Arnold was a knight in shining armor type. He'd probably hate for a guy to lead any girl along though-Sandy or no Sandy.
"Be careful, Helga. I don't like him." He snapped another shot of the cute little girl playing Meg.
"You don't like me going out with him?" I asked, hopeful. Maybe he was worried about me? Maybe he cared about me, even just a little.
He looked at me startled and then shook his head. "You can do whatever you want, Helga. I just don't like the guy." With that he stood up and moved to the lip of the stage to take some shots of Sandy as she sang.
I felt bummed out; I was hoping that he was either jealous or at least trying to protect me. But apparently he didn't care at all.
I watched Arnold for the rest of the afternoon and, of course, got a kick out of his obvious jealousy when Cash and Sandy performed their parts. He didn't seem to mind Sandy and Ben's scenes, just Cash's scenes with Sandy. I laughed to myself. For all Arnold knew, Ben could be just as much competition as Cash.
Posted: March 2008
Updated: March 2016
-Arnold's Love