Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters mentioned in this story.

They all belong to their rightful owner: Craig Bartlett.

Title: "Blackmail toy"

In the last chapter of "Blackmail toy": Since Helga and Arnold were supposed to have detention together, her talk with Aaron would have to wait until Monday. Much to her relief and regret, since that would give him more time to figure out ways to blackmail her.

Arnold and Helga were also forced to clean up the cafeteria after school before detention and had yet another very heartwarming moment, which almost resulted in a kiss between them. Unfortunately for Arnold, the janitor came to interrupt them and Helga didn't even realize, what he was trying to do.

His third attempt at getting closer to Helga was literally thrown into the trash during detention by the teacher, when he was about to ask her out through a paper airplane. He decided right then, that maybe indeed he was a jinx.

Author's 1st note: I don't know what to say, except… There's a bit more time jump in this one. Also, there'll be a bit more time jumping in future chapters too. Come on, we're talking a whole month here. We shouldn't have to dig through a bunch of exposition, right? xD

Chapter 7: "What about an invitation?"

Helga looked forward to her weekend of peace. She always did. It was those two days a week, when she could charge up for the next week and get some homework done. This time, she was particularly excited for it, because it would mean no Aaron and no threats of blackmail.

She spent her weekend as she usually did: Sleeping, eating and writing. To anyone else, such a weekend probably sounded dull, but to Helga it was the perfect way to relax and prepare herself: To a life in Hell with Aaron as the devil.

For once, the weekend seemed to have just flown by in front of her eyes and then it was Monday. She usually hated Mondays, but this Monday in particular was not welcome. She even tried to stall herself as much as possible, before having to go to school.

"Procrastination at its best." Helga mumbled to herself and sighed. "Good morning, Helga." Phoebe greeted from behind her. Helga frowned deeply and turned to look at her over her shoulder. "What's good about it?"

"Well, were alive, we're in good health, we - "

"Ok, ok! Dump the mocking optimism. Sheesh, I should never have taught you about sarcasm." Helga interrupted with a small smile, knowing very well that Phoebe was trying to lift her mood. "Dumping!" she said with a smile. Helga had to try very hard not to laugh. "Thanks, Phoebs, I already feel a little better."

The two girls continued walking for a few seconds, before they could see Arnold and Aaron walking towards the school in the opposite direction. "And I feel horrible again." Helga stated and sighed a little. "It's Aaron and not Ice Creams who's the problem, I presume?" Phoebe asked.

"You presumed correctly, Dr. Livingstone."

"Helga, that doesn't actually - "

"No history lessons, Phoebe."

"But it's not - "

"Phoebs!"

"No history lessons." Phoebe agreed and looked towards Arnold and Aaron again. "Ever going to tell me, what's going on? Also what happened between you two afterwards?"

Helga nodded. "Sure," she answered and sighed a little. "can I call you some hours after school is over? I kinda have a thing I need to do first."

Phoebe just nodded in agreement, knowing very well not to pry into whatever Helga was supposed to do. She usually didn't meddle, but she'd learned through the years when such a thing was ok, and this wasn't one of them.

While Phoebe and Helga talked a bit, Aaron and Arnold were doing the same. "I gotta tell you, Arnold, I'm loving our grandparents more and more." Aaron stated with a big smile. "You seem mostly fond of grandma I've noticed." Arnold answered with a smile as well.

"Well, she's one crazy lady. I'm a New Yorker, we understand crazy. Besides, I think she kinda resembles Helga, don't she?"

"How in the world does she resemble Helga?"

"Well, not right now, but when she was younger."

"Younger? I don't think I've ever heard any stories about her young years. Not any I believed anyways." Arnold answered, while trying to remember all the times Gertie had tried to convince him she'd done all kinds of crazy things. He wasn't sure which to believe because honestly, they could all be true.

"Really? Oh, man, Arnold! You've missed out! Grandma used to bully grandpa just like Helga, well, bullied you." Aaron told and started laughing a little. Arnold stopped dead in his tracks, when an old story his grandpa had once told him came to mind. "Wait… she bullied grandpa?"

"Hell yeah! She always called him names, made fun of his batting, pulled pranks and sometimes, she blamed him for it! I say she sounds an awful lot like Helga."

Arnold could feel his wide head get dizzy all of a sudden. "You ok, man? I'm surprised you haven't heard the story before." Aaron noted and took ahold of Arnold's shoulder to keep him steady. "I… I've heard the story before from grandpa, but he… he never told me it was grandma who was… Gertie." Arnold explained and let his hand hold his head up a bit.

"But you knew grandma's name was Gertie, right?"

"Yeah, I know that now, when I'm older! Back then, I thought her name was Pookie! Grandpa always called her Pookie. It wasn't until I was older I realized, that her name was Gertie. And that was years after he told me about their childhood."

Aaron looked at Arnold in incredulity for a long time, before he started laughing so loudly, that some of the students heard him from inside the schoolyard. "Oh, my god! I'm sorry, Arnold, but the others are right: You're dense as fuck!"

Arnold had been about to try and defend himself, when he noticed Helga and Phoebe not too far away from them. His first thought had been to wave dramatically, while yelling good morning at them, but then he remembered what he and Aaron was talking about.

So… if grandma bullied grandpa when they were children… that meant he started dating and married his bully eventually? Arnold could his insides heat up, when he remembered how Phil had been so gung-ho back then about Helga being in love with Arnold.

Was grandpa right? If Helga really did resemble grandma, then… but she didn't bully him anymore. Not really at least. It was more friendly bickering at this point. Except for when they had a serious fight like yesterday.

Arnold shook this odd feeling he had inside of him off and went back to his original plan: Waving like a goof. "Good morning, Helga! Good morning, Phoebe!" he yelled. Helga and Phoebe looked away from each other and in his direction.

Helga could feel her worries melt away at the mere sight of Arnold. Unfortunately, he was right next to Aaron, so her worries came right back. "G-Good morning." She answered with a small smile, when the two cousins approached them.

"Good morning." Phoebe also quickly said and glanced in Helga's direction. She looked oddly uncomfortable, despite being in Arnold's presence. It must have been because of Aaron. Whatever was going on had a serious impact, and Phoebe was planning to find out one way or another, with or without Helga's consent. She wanted to help her.

"Mornin', ladies." Aaron answered and was about to put his arm over Helga. Her reaction was too quick for him though, so she managed to snake her arm around Phoebe's and thereby stepping away from him. "Well, let's get to class. Come on, boys." She said with her best fake cheerful smile and started pulling a little at the small girl.

Arnold, dense as formerly announced, didn't notice Helga's obvious avoidance maneuver and just walked by their side. "Come on, Aaron." He said with a small smile. Aaron looked a little skeptically at Helga for a second, but then shrugged it off and went after them.

To Helga's surprise the day went quite smoothly. Except for Aaron trying to put his arm around her that morning, then he stayed away. That meant she could pretty much go through her day as usual before this whole blackmailing thing started.

To both Helga and Arnold's luck, Aaron was yet again swarmed by girls at a far, far off table in the cafeteria. That gave them a chance to talk and, in a way, catch up. They both felt like it had been ages, since they could just sit down and talk with their best friends without any negative feelings or Aaron breathing down their necks.

All in all, Helga had been enjoying this day so far. But she still feared the bell, and when it finally rang, she let her forehead plop down onto her desk. Arnold, who was sitting right behind her, bend a little over his desk to get closer to her. "Hey, Helga?"

Helga just gave a muffled sound for an answer. "Uh-huh?" she mumbled. Arnold gulped a little before continuing. "… I know you told me to just trust you, but… Aaron isn't bothering you, is he? He claims he isn't, but - "

"Don't worry about it, football head." Helga answered after sitting up properly again. She started throwing her books into her bag and then pulled it over her shoulder. She turned to look at him. "I'm not in trouble or anything."

"… Well, that's good, but I still don't get what's going on. Also, why are you meeting up with him now?" Arnold asked with a bit of hurt in his voice. Helga's eyes popped open. "You… H-How do you know that we're meeting up?"

Arnold frowned at Helga's almost panicked expression. "Well, yesterday when you two were talking outside the bathroom, I overheard." He answered. "What!?" Helga shrieked, but managed to hold her voice down. She leaned towards him to whisper. "I thought you were gonna dry off your clothes a little more, as you told me. What, you stalking me or something?!"

"Helga, you've been asking me that for years and you already know I'm not, so don't ask stupid questions right now. Could you please just answer me?"

"Why is your question less stupid than mine? I already told you to just trust me. Is that so hard?"

"Well… n-no, it's not… B-But I still - "

"Then it's very easy, Arnoldo," Helga said and stood up from her seat. "just do as I tell you and it'll be fine." With those words she started walking out of the room. Arnold sighed when she went out the door and noticed, that Aaron was following her. Not that he was the only one, the others were of course leaving too, but Arnold couldn't help remembering that those two were going to the same place. Right now.

"So, who is Mighty Pete anyway?" Aaron asked when he and Helga had lost his fan girls and were now walking together. "Mighty Pete is not a who, it's an it. It's this big tree with a treehouse in it. We built it years ago. I think we all go back from time to time, but we haven't all been in there for a long time for obvious reasons." Helga answered.

"Which are?"

"We're all too big now to fit, that's why! Doi!"

"But you and I will fit?"

"There can be a few people, but too many and the treehouse wouldn't be able to carry the weight. It's kindergarten logic." Helga answered with clear annoyance in her voice. Why did she have to explain the laws of gravity to this guy? Were New Yorkers hopelessly behind in school or something?

"Hello, Mary Sunshine." Aaron mumbled under his breath and sighed just a bit. Helga turned to smile at him with the biggest, fakest, toothpaste, Lila'ish smile she could manage. "Oh, I'm ever so sorry. Don't I seem excited enough to begin this wonderful adventure of blackmailing with you?"

Aaron just stared at her for a couple of seconds, before stopping dead in his tracks and started to laugh so loudly, that he made a few heads on the street turn. Helga just looked at him in shock and even looked around her in embarrassment. She felt like screaming: 'I don't know him!' but was to shocked to say anything. "What's so funny?!"

"You! Oh, my god, I can't breathe…"

"Oh, glad I'm to your amusement, yutz!"

"Sorry, sorry, it's just…" Aaron straightened his back and laid a finger under his eye to get a tear away. "You're probably the funniest girl I've ever met."

Helga frowned at his remark. "Just for that comment? You can't have met a lot of funny people." She stated and crossed her arms. Aaron shook his head. "No, it's not just that comment. It was… everything. I knew you were funny, but that Lila impression was just so spot on."

Helga's eyes went big. "You could see it was Lila?" she asked in wonder and started walking again. Aaron nodded while following her. "Oh, yeah, the ever so charming girl with the ever so fake smile. Yeah, you nailed it."

"Huh… I guess my impressions are still as good as ever."

"You do impressions?"

"Yup, I even made a little show back in fourth grade. People didn't like it in the beginning because apparently I hurt their feelings. I tried making up for it, but thanks to Arnold, I kept on doing the impressions rather than faking some dumb poem. After that, it seemed like people didn't mind as much. Especially after I made fun of Arnold. That, they seemed to love even more."

"I thought people loved Arnold?"

"Oh, they do, but that doesn't make them blind to his flaws. He's been the victim of some bullying from others besides just me, you know. I remember back when he stopped giving advice to people, because we all called him a buttinski a few too many times."

"And let me guess: You convinced him to give advice again?"

"Well… they were all trying to kill me for giving bad advice, so… of course I did!"

"Plus, he wasn't being himself anymore, so you started to kinda miss him, even if he also annoyed you a little by butting into your business?" Aaron asked while leaning a little closer to Helga, as if intimidating her into answering. She frowned and looked away. "Can we change the subject?"

Aaron sighed and leaned back again with a small smile. "Helga, I already know you're in love with the guy. What's the point with the defense mechanism?"

"It's what I've been doing for thirteen years. How can you expect me to change that all of a sudden?" Helga asked honestly. No matter how much willpower she had, it seemed that doing something your whole life kinda stuck with you. Big surprise. She couldn't change just because she wanted to. She needed more than just her own will.

"So… you've never talked to anyone about being in love with Arnold?" Aaron asked with a bit of concern in his voice. Helga chewed a little on her lower lip. "Well… Phoebe knows, though I've… never actually said the words."

"Then how does she know?"

"She's smart, and I may have hinted at it from time to time…"

"No one else?"

"… Patty figured it out, I think."

"Patty?"

"Patty was this bully back in elementary who wanted to beat me up one day - "

"Beat you up?! Beat you up? What the hell did you say to her?"

"It wasn't so much what I said to her. More like what I said about her…"

"Oh, you were talking trash behind her back?"

"I guess you can call it that. Anyways, if it hadn't been for Arnold talking to her, I would probably still be limping to this day."

"So, Arnold saved you?" Aaron asked with an obvious smirk. Helga glanced towards him. "Yeah, h-he did, I guess… That's also why she asked if we had some kind of thing for each other, I think. I denied it, of course, but then she just smiled at me, so… yeah, I think she figured that one out on her own."

"A thing for each other? Not just you for him?" Aaron asked. Helga shrugged. "I guess she thought he liked me, just because he saved me. But it wasn't like she knew Arnold all that well, so she didn't know he would've done that for anyone. Besides, she was pretty dumb. Nice, but dumb. Why else would the school have held her back a few years?"

Aaron gave a very pensive sound, which made Helga frown at him. "What?" she asked, but he just brushed off her question. "Anyone else who knew?"

"Uh… oh, I did tell one person. Doc - " Helga snapped her lips shut as if she was an oyster, when she realized what she had been about to admit. "Doug?" Aaron said as if he was repeating her words. "Who's Doug?"

"Uh… n-no one. Never mind. No one else knows."

"… Helga…"

"Nope, no one else. Can't think of a soul." Helga insisted and shook her head a little. Aaron sighed and turned around on his heel. She looked at him over her shoulder. "Where are you going?" she asked. "Back to the boarding house to tell Arnold that you love him." Aaron answered casually.

"Wha - The hell you are!" Helga yelled and yanked him back by his hood. "Ow! You're strangling me!" Aaron shouted and pulled his hood back in place. She just scowled at him with her hands stuck firmly at her sides. "So… who is Doug?" he asked, when he could breathe again.

"… Not Doug, you buffoon. Doc! Doctor Bliss, also from back in elementary." Helga answered while clutching her hands around the strap of her bag. "Dr. Bliss? As in… oh, whoa, you went to a shrink, didn't you?" Aaron asked.

"Not because I wanted to! She… caught me socking Brainy and then told me to come and see her to work out my anger issues. At some point I snapped and… told her why I was picking on Arnold in particular."

"… Brainy?"

"Not his real name, I guess, but I've been socking him since preschool. He's practically stalking me."

"Whoa, whoa, wait! The stalker has a stalker?"

"… Yeah, and though he's been pissing me off too many times to count, I do appreciate the irony. Now, let's get to the treehouse already! We're talking in the middle of the streets, and that was not my plan!"

Aaron was looking around in wonder while sitting with both legs bent and one over the other. "Pretty nicely built, I gotta admit. You don't exactly see many treehouses in New York." He observed with a smile. Helga sat down in front of him in the same position. "Yeah, yeah, this place is so boss. Now, I can't take the suspension anymore. Tell me already. What are you gonna do to me?"

"Nu-uh, Helga, I still have some questions."

"What?! What makes you think I wanna answer your questions?"

"Well, if you won't, then I'll go tell Arnold - "

"that I love him. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's getting old now." Helga interrupted and sighed. "Fine… Ask away."

"First of all, I like that you've finally caught on to how this is going to work."

"Yeah, yeah, I'm a smartass. Come on!"

"Whoa, for a girl who's been crushing on a guy for thirteen years without saying shit, I gotta say, you don't have a lot of patience." Aaron observed and shook his head a little. "Fine, I'll get right to it. Arnold's been telling me a lot of stories about you and I can guess, without much effort, that your version of the stories may be a little different."

"Probably. So?"

"I wanna hear your version." Aaron answered. Helga frowned and let her head pop out, so that her neck seemed ridiculously hunched. "Excuse me? Why would you want to hear that?" she asked in incredulity. He shrugged. "I'm curios, I guess. The more I know, the more blackmail material I've got too, so come on. Tell me a cool story, bro."

"I'm not your bro! But, ugh, fine… Let's start with whatever story you want to hear my version of first." Helga answered and sighed. Aaron lifted his hands and put the tips of the fingers together and made a creepy smile. "Excellent."

"Oh, boy, a Simpsons reference. This is gonna be one long talk." Helga realized and made an even bigger sigh before ravishing her brain for details about her adventures with Arnold.

"So, it was actually your fault that Lila and Arnold even started like-liking each other to begin with? All because you couldn't just have left that damn chalk heart with your names on it, as it was?"

"I panicked!"

"What kind of panic makes you write another girl's name in such a situation?!"

"The Helga Pataki kind! Now, are we done already?!" Helga shouted back at Aaron and leaned back against the wall behind her. He sighed exasperatedly and started leaning on the palm of his hand. "Man, you live a complicated life, Helga Pataki. Ok, that was the stories Arnold had already told me about. Now, let me hear the ones, he doesn't know about."

"What?! So, to you this meeting is just about hearing all the crazy stalker stories?!" Helga asked in terror. Aaron smirked and nodded. "Yeah, pretty much."

"Oh, god! I would have loved to see Arnold's face!"

"Don't say that. I was extremely happy at that moment, but I still feel sorta bad about it. He liked that dumbass parrot." Helga answered and started rubbing her arm in embarrassment. "Yeah, but still. I can just imagine the dumbstruck look on his face." Aaron said and made an overly dramatic shocked facial expression.

Helga rolled her eyes. "Actually, it was more like this." She made a rather normal looking face besides a pair of a bit bigger eyes. "Really? He was in such a state of shock that he could barely comprehend it?" Aaron asked. She shrugged. "Yeah, that seems just about right."

"Well, it was either that thing dying, or him and everyone in your class hearing your poem dedicated to him. Man, you really should be more careful about your monologging."

"I don't wanna hear that from you! Let's just move on already."

"And Arnold still doesn't know how you got his hat to begin with?" Aaron asked with a big smile. "No way! He'd hate me if he ever found out, that I was the one who took it." Helga answered.

"But you were also the one to go fetch it by digging through mountains of trash in order to find it."

"Of course I did! That little shrimp was pathetic without it! Refused to even come outside to get ice cream. That big dope."

"Whoa, then a kid is really messed up, when they don't even want ice cream."

"Tell me about it."

"… Seriously?"

"Seriously."

"So… even after meeting the real Cecile… he still didn't figure out that you were the fake one?"

"How was he supposed to? I look a lot different with my hair down, and before that I had the same hair as a poodle! And I also wasn't scowling at him, and I was being nice. No wonder he didn't realize."

"That may be so, but… still. I wonder if he still has the other shoe?" Aaron wondered out loud. Helga shrugged. "Maybe he just threw it out. All I know is that when I came home, I only had one of them."

"So, a twisted kind of Cinderella?"

"Oh, haw-haw."

"You've sabotaged every single date of that poor guy?" Aaron asked with an impressed grin. "Yeah, I mean, come on, not even Arnold has that much bad luck. I swear if it hadn't been for me, he would've started dating both Ruth, Summer and Lila." Helga asked with an equally big grin.

"Well, by what I've heard about them from you, then the guy didn't miss out."

"He seriously didn't, I swear. Ruth was plainer than his other cousin Arnie – Maybe they'd be a good match actually. Summer was just a two-timing bitch, and Lila… Lila's actually really sweet."

"She may be sweet, but it seems rather fake, don't you think?" Aaron asked. Helga shrugged. "I don't know… Maybe. I mean… maybe it's kinda the same thing with her as it is with me."

"What do you mean?"

"… Back when we met her in fourth grade, the other girls and I went to her home to spy a bit on her. Let's just say that she's been… a bit unfortunate through her life. Maybe she's just putting up a happy face to mask the pain?"

Aaron stared a little blankly at Helga. It made her uncomfortable. "What? What is it?" she asked. He shook his head a little. "N-Nothing. I just… I knew you were good with words, but I didn't think you were deep like that. Maybe you're right. She hides her problems through a happy mask, and you hide yours through - "

"A scowl and a pair of fists. Just so you know, those are actually a part of me too."

"But you still hide all the good stuff."

"… Shut up."

"And now I'm officially out of stories." Helga admitted and made a big sigh. How many hours had it been by now? It was pretty dark outside. She glanced towards Aaron and noticed the very hard-thinking look he had on his face. "… You look like you're constipated or something. What are you thinking so hard about?"

"Nothing really… Mostly that… you're pretty amazing." Aaron answered and showed a small smirk through his teeth. Helga just stared blankly at him for a second. "Uh, thanks, I guess, but I really don't see where that came from."

"It came from all those crazy things you've done to, and for, Arnold through the years. You're really one of a kind, no matter how anyone looks at it. You're unique. I like that." Aaron admitted with no shame whatsoever.

Helga wasn't used to being praised to this extent, so she automatically went back to her roots: Anger and denial. "What makes you think that I care about what you think of me, bucko?! I just wasted a million hours telling you about pointless stuff! Now, tell me, why did you want to know all this anyway?!"

"I already told you, didn't I? Curiosity."

"What does your curiosity have to do with anything?"

"I'm blackmailing you. Just do what I tell you already."

"… Why, you little! When have I not done what you told me to?! I just gave you my whole life story and you're still not satisfied?!"

"Oh, I'm very satisfied, Helga. I think I've finally gotten the grasp of you and Arnold's relationship."

"… Huh? Is that what this is about? Understanding us, as if we were animals for observation or something?"

"That's pretty close, yeah." Aaron admitted with a smile. Helga wanted to rant at him some more, but simply didn't have the will to anymore. "So," she started and let her chin rest in her palm. "what now?"

"Well, I still need a little time to make a plan."

"A plan?"

"A plan. You know those, right?"

"Yeah, I know about plans, you arrogant son of a bitch! What I mean to ask is: Why do you need a plan? And what for?"

"Patience, my dear. Now, could you live up to the meaning of your name and show me the holy way to my holy home?" Aaron asked and started climbing on all fours towards the rope ladder. Helga started following him with big eyes. "What a horrible pun! That made no sense whatsoever!"

"Here you go, you big idiot. The boarding house. Can I go home now?" Helga asked in annoyance and with her arms crossed. He shrugged and knocked at the door. "I guess you can, if you want - "

"Oh, I want to. See you tomorrow." Helga interrupted and started walking. "Are you sure you don't want to come inside?" Aaron asked nonchalantly. She stopped in her tracks and turned around to face him. "What!?"

"Well, this is your chance to come in with an invitation and not because you need to stalk Arnold or retrieve something." Aaron explained and walked up the steps. He could hear footsteps just behind the door and knew, that it was probably Arnold coming to open.

Just as Arnold was opening the door, Helga screamed at Aaron. "I've been in there with an invitation before, you moron!" She then turned around, not noticing that Arnold has just appeared outside and was looking towards her.

Helga just kept stomping through the street, as Arnold and Aaron were watching her. "Did you… have a good time?" Arnold asked while staring pensively at Helga. "Both yes and no. It went up and down, but doesn't it always with Helga?" Aaron asked and walked past Arnold to get inside.

"Wait, why did she storm off like that? And what was that about an invitation?" Arnold asked, while keeping the door open. Aaron just shrugged. "I have no idea what that girl is on about." He answered and turned to walk into the kitchen. "Grandma, I'm hungry. What's for dinner?"

Arnold frowned at Aaron's dismissive answer and looked towards Helga again. Her pace was now slower, but she was still getting further and further away. He cocked his head to the side and tried desperately to make sense of everything. "What about an invitation?" he mumbled, but then just sighed in abandonment and closed the door behind him.

Author's 2nd note: Yes! I did it again! You still don't know what Aaron is gonna do to Helga! Mwuahahaha xD Mehe, it won't take too long now :P At least not with the first thing. Again the first thing is not anything sexual as such, more like embarrassing. For Helga that is. It won't be pure torture or anything, I promise :P

Anyways! Still waiting for you guys to tell me, what you think Aaron is gonna do to her! Have anything crossed your minds? What are your thoughts about this whole thing? Is there something you fear, or something you hope will happen? Please do tell. I'm really curious :3

Oh, and no hate on New Yorkers whatsoever! I'm just trying to stay in Helga's character.