Wow, thank you everyone for the wonderful reviews! I love reading them, and I'm so glad this is so well received! I promise to update as fast as I can :)
Disclaimer: Hey Arnold! is not mine, it belongs to Craig Bartlett. Thanks for creating Hey Arnold, Mr. B!
Chapter 3
Quite out of breath, Helga arrived at her destination: the library. She hadn't been here since the...monkeynucleosis incident. Mentally cringing at how close she came to spilling her secret to Arnold, she pushed open the heavy wooden doors.
She walked over to the card catalogue sitting right in the back corner by her favorite chair. Smiling as she thought of all the poetry books she had read in this chair she turned to the card catalogue.
"Hello old friend. Can you help me find another book?" It took almost an hour of searching, but finally Helga found what she wanted. True, she could have just asked the librarian where she could find the book she was looking for, but she preferred to keep things of this nature private. At least until checkout.
"Ah, 'Potions, Spells, and Charms for Love and Happiness'" She said, pleased with finding the book she had (secretly) read many times, "If this doesn't have what I need than I'm sunk."
Glancing around to make sure no one she knew would see her, Helga hurried over to the checkout desk.
"Hello, Helga. How are you?" said the woman at the desk. She was a small woman, with long blond hair that she kept in a single braid down her back. She and Helga were good friends, and although she did not know the details, she knew that Helga was in what one might call a "rough place" in the love department. Helga didn't like to talk about it too much, but it was helpful having someone who didn't think she was too strange for checking out books about spells.
"Hi Agnes. I'm great, how about you?" Helga asked as she placed the book on the desk along with her library card.
"Oh I'm pretty good, thank you for asking. So, would I be correct in assuming that you have another little plan in the works that requires this book?" She gave Helga a small wink, as if they were co-conspirators.
"Something of that sort" Helga said quietly, "Let's just say that my luck has changed in that department for the better, an I want to make sure it stays that way."
"How lovely Helga! I do hope things keep going well for you!"
"Thanks! I hope things go well, too; I've only got one day to make all the preparations, so I'll need all the help I can get! See you later, Agnes!" Helga called as she made her way out the door. Once on the street, she ran all the way back to her house.
Once Helga was back in her room she close the door tightly behind her, then wedged a chair under the doorknob to make sure that, should either of her parents actually remember her existence, they couldn't just walk in on her.
She tucked the book under her arm and opened her closet. She set up the latter to the trap door that led to her attic (and her current Arnold shine). She gathered her dinner outfit in one arm and made her way up to her secret sanctuary.
Helga laid her outfit on the floor in front of her shrine, then sat down in front of it.
"Ok, let's see...there's got to be some kind of spell or charm or something that will guarantee that everything will be perfect tomorrow." she said while flipping through the book,
"No...not that one...or that one...or that one...this one! '24 hour luck charm' this is perfect!" she ran her finger down the page looking for the list of items she'd need.
"Let's see...lilac flowers, salt, a four-leaf clover, a piece of gold, and seven grains of rice. Well, the salt and rice won't be hard, and I think I saw some lilacs at the park, but how on earth am I going to get a four-leaf clover and GOLD? Oh well, I guess I'll worry about that later; I need to make this charm for tomorrow or who knows what could go wrong!"
Helga closed the book and returned to the main part of her room and pulled a piece of paper out of one of her school notebooks. After writing down the things she needed she tucked it into her pocket, next to her Arnold locket. Walking down the stairs, she almost made it out the front door when she heard her mother call from the living room.
"Helga? Is that you?" she called in a tired voice.
"Yes Miriam"
"Where are you going?"
"I dropped out of school to join a circus as a shark diver, and I have to go to practice."
"That's nice, dear. Have fun."
Helga rolled her eyes and opened the door, muttering "Typical. Nice parenting, Miriam."
Once she was at the park, Helga pulled out her list. Just as she thought, there was a lilac bush right near the north entrance, and it was easy enough to pull off a few flowers.
"Ok, so what do I need next? I think we have salt at home, so I guess that means the next thing I need is a four-leaf clover. Well, this shouldn't be too hard, right?" In reality, it was quite hard; after forty-five minutes of searching, Helga had found nothing. Just as she was about to give up and move to a different part of the park, she hear a very familiar voice behind her.
"Hi Helga. Um...are you looking for something?" Arnold asked behind her.
"Arnold!" Helga yelped and jumped to her feet, "W-what are you doing here?"
"Oh, I was just taking a walk, and when I saw you on the ground like that I thought you might be looking for something, and if you were I was going to offer to help you find it."
Helga quickly tried to think of a reason, any reason, that she was on the ground like that. Coming up empty she decided to just go with the truth.
"Oh, well I was kind of looking for something, but it's not that important."
"What were you looking for, Helga?" Arnold asked.
"Just a four-leaf clover". Seeing Arnold's confused expression she continued "It was kind of a challenge I set for myself. Yeah, that's it! I was trying to find at least one four leaf clover on my walk."
"Oh, well would you like any help?" Arnold asked, thankfully being dense enough to buy her feeble response.
"Um..." 'Should I? Eh, what the hey' "Sure, Arnold. Some help would be nice." 'Hey, if anything I'll find one sooner, right?'
After what seemed like forever, Helga was just about ready to give up when Arnold called to her triumphantly.
"Hey Helga! I found one!"
"Really?" She asked, running over.
"Yeah, see?" And indeed, right in front of them was a perfect four-leaf clover.
"Oh Arnold! Thanks for helping me! I didn't think I'd ever find one." Helga leaned down to pick the small green plant. But, just as she tucked it in her pocket, a very important, very secret locket fell out on the grass.
"Hey what's that?-"
"NO!" Helga dove at Arnold just as he was reaching for her locket, which had thankfully landed face down in the grass, concealing the photo that it held. The two fell over in the very awkward position of Helga on top of Arnold.
"Ow, Helga, what was that for?" Arnold asked, rubbing his head that had hit the ground rather hard when Helga tackled him.
"Sorry Arnold. I just...I mean..." She couldn't think of an excuse for attacking him like that. She quickly jumped off of him and grabbed her locket, careful to hide the picture from his line of vision. She helped him up, then tried again with her excuse.
"Sorry, it's just..." 'come on, brain! think of SOMETHING!' "Um...that's my..." Finally she gave up, "Look Arnold, I can't tell you what that thing is, or why I don't want you to see it. Can we just leave it at that? Please?" 'Please let him just say yes! just go with it, Football Head, please!"
Thankfully, weather because Helga's telepathy worked or he just decided not to push, Arnold did indeed drop the subject.
"Ok, Helga. If it's that important to you than you don't have to tell me; I was just asking."
"Thanks Foo-...um Arnold. That really means a lot to me."
"No problem, Helga. So, was there anything else you were looking for that I could help with?" Arnold asked, clearly hoping that if she indeed was looking for something more she would let him help.
"Um, actually, that's all I was looking for" Helga said, inwardly hating that she didn't need something more just so Arnold could continue helping her like he obviously wanted, "Sorry, Arnold".
"That's ok, Helga. Well, I should probably be getting back to the boarding house anyway. So...I'll, uh, see you tomorrow?"
"That you will, Head Boy, that you will" Helga said, though she gave Arnold a smile to show that she didn't mean it as an insult, just a joke between friends, which he thankfully understood.
The two parted ways, and headed to their respective homes, Arnold slightly confused at Helga actually being nice (even though he always knew she wasn't really as mean as she might have people believe), and Helga happy beyond belief that she and Arnold had been able to have a conversation without her yelling at him or insulting him too much. However, in the back of her mind there was still the little nagging voice telling her that she probably wouldn't be that lucky tomorrow without this charm she had to make, and she still needed gold of all things!