SENIOR, HIGH SCHOOL

"What are you doing with my clothes?"

"We're running away."

She laughed and sat on her bed, watching him dump her shirts and pants in her old pink suitcase. How he knew where she kept it, she had no idea. As far as she could remember, any trips they had taken together had not involved him in any of her packing. "You're absurd."

"You're ridiculous," he countered and headed for her dresser, opening the drawer to her underwear. He wavered for a moment, slightly overwhelmed with what he saw, and it gave Helga enough time to leap from her bed and shove him away, slamming the drawer shut.

"And you're a perv! How do you even know where I keep that stuff?"

He gave her a lop-sided smirk. "I'm a guy. I have eyes in the back of my head." He really had no idea and thought he was just going to find more tops. Or socks. Everyone had a drawer dedicated to just socks. Especially full-sized drawers.

She rolled her eyes and shoved him again, further from her unmentionables just in case he decided to go for it again. "Seriously. We're not going anywhere." There was more eye rolling when he folded his arms over his chest. "The only guy I'll run away with is the one who gives me a ring," she joked. Even then she wouldn't. That was stupid.

"Fine, we'll stop at a jewelry store along the way. I'll pick up some Cracker Jacks in the mean time."

"How romantic. Please. Besides, you can't afford what I would accept. And they don't put toys in the boxes anymore. Only tattoos that don't stick and goofy stickers." Helga went back to her suitcase and started to remove her clothes. For such an organized guy, Arnold sure didn't know how to pack well. Didn't he know that in order to get more in there, you had to roll everything up? Not fold, not thrown in carelessly, but rolled purposefully. As she got older, she had to get creative with her packing. Unfortunately, her suitcase didn't grow like her clothes did. This whole thing being a joke didn't matter. He still didn't know how to pack right. "Stop being a baby. You're only going to be gone for the week."

Arnold groaned and flopped face first down onto her bed. He spoke to her, but she couldn't hear anything he was saying. She threw a shirt at his head. "Turn over if you need a response!"

He groaned again and turned his head only enough so that his lips were free from her comforter, not moving his arms. "You're sentencing me to Hell. You don't care about me at all!"

"God, you sound pathetic. It's not like you're going away for Spring Break. This is Ski Week. It's like an extension of Christmas. By default, you should be with family." Grabbing the shirt off of his head, that he had failed to remove, Helga hung it up. Closing her suitcase, she put it in its spot under her bed. "You can't tell me that you're going to deny your mom from visiting her brother."

"Of course not!" He sat up and crossed his legs underneath him. "But why do I have to go?"

She grinned at him and patted his cheek. She loved patronizing him. "Because you're the loveable nephew and cousin, of course. Maybe you'll meet the one. I'm sure Arnie could introduce you to some of his friends."

Arnold visibly shuddered and rubbed his hands over his unshaven face. Why was he being subjected to this torture of a family visit when he could be doing something with his friends? It was their senior year and many of them were splitting up, going to different colleges and walks of life. Arnie and his family would always be there.

"Oh, come on, Football Head." Helga sat next to him and patted his knee. "You know you're over-reacting. You'll hate the first day, have a great time the next four, and then be over it by the time you need to head back home. You'll go fishing, hiking, you know...all that manly stuff that those country girls like. You'll make out with a few of them, break a couple of hearts, and then back to city life you go."

Arnold gave her a bored look. "It's not a vacation unless you break at least five." It promptly earned him a smack on his arm. He chuckled and rubbed it. Even though Helga was really petite, she had a mean hand and she had only participated in dance this year. As far as he knew, she wasn't lifting anybody in her routines. So how did she always have such a strong arm? Since they found a new softball coach, she wasn't allowed back on the baseball team. Which super sucked. "You should be coming with me."

She snorted. "And deal with your cousin? No thank you. You'd think he'd have moved on by now, ya know?" Whenever Arnie came to visit, he was always following her around and bugging her. It was to the point where she had to almost completely stay away from the Sunset Arms while the guy was in town. Even Stella with her magical persuasion skills could not keep Arnie away from her. "Besides, Romeo, you know that Danielle will flip a gasket over that. She's tolerant, but not that tolerant."

He sighed in annoyance and laid back down on her bed, staring up at the ceiling with his right hand over his chest. Arnold had been dating Danielle for about three months now and she was definitely the most acceptable and approved girlfriend out of everyone he had dated. She wasn't annoying or overbearing. In fact, she was really quiet and was mostly just...there.

It had been mutually agreed long ago that he and Helga were a package deal. If they dated someone, they had to accept that Helga was his best friend. If they were too insecure to deal with that, then they could leave. Helga was non-negotiable. Despite that the whole school knew this, it seemed that every girl in the end thought that she would be the one to split them up, that she would be able to change his mind and make him 'realize' that the only girl in his life was them. Those girls hadn't lasted long. Helga was his sister-in-arms. If she had been blood, it wouldn't have been an issue.

But, then again, Helga always was an intimidating chick. Although he couldn't remember the last time he felt threatened or intimidated by her, she wasn't a bully like she had been as a kid. There was just something about Helga that made people scared or submissive or respectful. No matter what she said or did, just being around people brought out some sort of response from them.

Helga had only dated twice during their high school career, but Arnold had kind of lost count of how many he had been with. Well, dated that is. If he really wanted to know, he knew that he could ask Helga. She always remembered stuff like that. One time, after he broke up with Jenny, Helga had accused him of being a whore.

"You mean a man whore?" He was laughing at her. She glared.

"Screw you. A whore is a whore and it's never a good thing. Putting 'man' in front of it is just stupid because it's still the same damn thing. If you weren't so busy dating the entire junior class, you could be focusing on better things. Seriously."

"Like your bad movie collection, Pinky?" he joked. "Or maybe trying to figure out how to take over the world?" He rubbed his chin in mock thoughtfulness.

She had just given him a look. "No, Arnold." He remembered this conversation well because she only used his name was when she was serious. Sure, she used it every now and then, especially if they were in a big group of friends, but she never, ever used it when it was just the two of them hanging out like this particularly afternoon. She had only said it two times before that night and both situations were defining moments in their friendship. "Like figuring out who you are instead of who you think you should be. You're so caught up in this jock...thing that you have going on that you're losing sight of yourself.

"The Arnold I know is the one who helps people, the annoyingly, fabulously optimistic schmuck who believes in happily ever after, and who most definitely doesn't enjoy seeing people hurt. I know I joke a lot about it, but there are some times that I don't think I recognize you."

Arnold had just shrugged, silent but listening to her intently. Helga never said things to just hear herself talk, and on the rarer occasions of when she did talk about her feelings, she was always sincere. "Maybe this is who I am and didn't know it until now..." he murmured, knowing how weak it sounded.

"Oh come off it. Are you trying to prove something to the team? Because, sheesh... You've dated almost twelve different girls this year alone. Twelve! Have you slept with all of them?" she had often wondered this but tried not to. She really didn't want to know, but she was really concerned for him.

He gave a look, "No, of course not." She out of everyone should know that he would never be like that.

"Some times I think this is all just a game to you, trying to get more notches on your belt than anyone else in the school. Jenny called me crying asking what she did wrong because she doesn't believe you that you didn't give her enough time to get to know her. You know that I didn't really care for her so I could really care less, but she is kind of right. I mean, you guys were together only like two weeks, right? You can't just say that you want to be someone's boyfriend and then peace out because you don't feel like being with them anymore. Relationships don't work that way and it's totally un-classy."

"Do you really think I'm that shallow?" It was a half joke but when she didn't laugh or smack his arm, he winced anyway. Her silence hurt more than her punches ever did.

She was right. He knew it, she knew it and there was no trying to go against it. He was trying to fit into a mold. He hadn't really liked it, but this year was different. Girls were falling at his feet and he didn't want to hurt their feelings by saying no. He didn't realize it made him look so bad or that by saying yes and breaking up with them a couple of weeks later was worse for them than just being upfront and saying no to begin with.

He didn't date anyone again for almost a year.

"She broke up with me yesterday."

"Really?" Helga was genuinely surprised about that. She thought Danielle was genuinely all about Arnold. "Shame. I liked her. So what did you do?"

He scoffed and turned to look at her. She was at her vanity, putting on her makeup for the evening out. They were all going to the movies tonight before Arnold left with his family in the am. Helga had only recently started wearing makeup out, and rarely did at school. In his opinion, which he had voiced to her many times, she didn't need any of it. But he didn't deny that the way she wore it, it definitely enhanced what attractiveness she already had.

Natural beauty, she had called the style. Something about some makeup artist on that new fashion show that Phoebe liked to watch. Carmen? Mindy? He couldn't remember.

"What makes you think I did something?"

"Because you did."

He turned on his side, looking at her in the reflection of the mirror as he held his head up with his hand. "Actually, I didn't this time. She knew that we weren't really that strong together and wouldn't last a long distance relationship next year."

"That's mature of her." Her eyes connected with this in the mirror for a second before focusing back on the mascara. "The first two years of college are supposed to be the party years. It'd do her good to go out and date a bunch of different guys and realize that she messed up leaving you."

He smiled, still watching her. She almost always said that after a breakup. "Yeah. Right."

She turned in her seat to look at him, pulling her hair back in a ponytail. It was always pulled back in some way and she never wore pigtails anymore. "You about ready or do you need to extend this pity party?"

"Ugh," he had momentarily forgotten he was leaving tomorrow. "Eurotrip better be good is all I'm saying. Or it's going to be a really, really bad week."

"Well, doi!" She held out her hand to help him off the bed. "I'm not going to be there so of course it'll suck. But I know you'll make the best of it."

He limply let her pull him up. Hunched over in exaggerated defeat, he followed her out of her room. "California's probably awesome this time of year."

She smiled at him and pushed him gently down the hallway. "Maybe you'll get into UCLA and you'll find out yourself." Arnold had applied to three universities, UCLA being one of them.

Helga herself had only applied to one university: UK. It was what made the most sense. And if she didn't get in, she'd go to community college first and then re-apply.

Phoebe would no doubt be accepted to all the ivy leagues she applied to and Gerald...well, he was kind of being quiet what he was up to and to where he had applied. He was afraid that he would jinx his chances.

They were all going into separate directions; separate lives. Helga knew that they would all stay friends, but they'd have new friends and classes and maybe even jobs. They wouldn't have time for weekly phone calls. There may be an email or two in the beginning, but in the end they'd drift apart. It depressed her to think about it, but it just made sense. Nothing lasted forever. Especially in high school. She refused to think about Arnold not being with her. Phoebe and she had done the separation thing before and survived, and Phoebe had family in Kentucky. There was always the chance that Phoebe would visit her during breaks. But Arnold wouldn't have any reason to visit.

Normally she wouldn't worry about something like that, being how close they were now, but she knew that without her there, he would forget about her. She'd be replaced.

Arnold shut the door to her house behind him and she blinked back the bright sun, jolting her out of her thoughts. "I still say that we should have just ran away."

Helga smiled and shook her head. "You know I would have taken you right to the farm. Even if it was just to see you suffer." She grinned broadly up at him as they walked to the bus stop. He just smirked at her.

No, she wouldn't think about college. Not right now when every minute that passed was one minute closer to their departure. And if there was one thing she knew, every minute counted and she didn't want to take that for granted.

Arnold would be gone for a whole week starting tomorrow. He was probably right. She should have gone with him. So what if Arnie was a pain in the ass? She'd at least be with Arnold. But, no. This was just something she would have to get used to.

"Seriously though, since you're leaving me for a whole freaking week, you get to buy my movie ticket. Since I'm going to be so emotionally distraught and all."

Arnold laughed. "Whatever you say, Helga."