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": As Helga's mixed feelings of both pleasure and frustration simply grew and grew, she ended up with popping a painkiller Lila gave her, who believed Helga had cramps due to her period.

During class though, Helga finally collapsed, as she felt something she never quite coped with in a good way: Feeling see-through. Arnold carried her to the nurse and overheard her complaining to herself about Aaron. It ended up with her admitting almost everything to him: The blackmailing, but not what it was about.

To Helga's annoyance – at least mostly annoyance – Aaron overheard them talking and now knows that she told Arnold almost everything. In exchange though, he offered her a proper dinner, since her reason to collapse was also due to lack of food and stress, and he also admitted that there was no aphrodisiac whatsoever in that drink he gave her earlier that day. It had all been in her head.

Author's 1st note: Hey guys! Sorry about the hiatus! But if anyone's interested, then I had fun at my dad's :P We went to a Thai restaurant at his 58th birthday – First time he ever tasted Thai food. He's not a chicken when it comes to food, but he is so very, very Danish (with a lot of German in there xD) so he usually stays away from foreign food, unless I force him into a restaurant which serves that xD He even just ordered the same thing as me. He didn't dare to order anything else -.- Bawk-bawk-bawk! Oh, well! :P

Chapter 28: "I have to do this just once"

As Arnold went outside to let Helga and Aaron talk in peace, he felt his back slam against a locker and his butt crash on the tiles beneath him. He kept looking down, focus on his breath and think about the information he had just been provided. Facts straight: Helga's being blackmail by Aaron, and he's making her do… all sorts of things. She only mentioned the aphrodisiac. A… substance to increase sexual drive… which would mean… that all through this day, with the rest of us thinking she was sick, she was actually h… hor… aroused! Let's call it aroused. That's a fine word. Thanks, Helga, for that two-dollar word.

Arnold felt his insides twinge and his cheeks redden at the second. "Oh…" he muttered lamely and started scratching his skull. That's really… I don't even know what it is… That must have been painful. Feeling like that all day… thinking that, he started remembering the one time he had felt a similar problem.

It had been in 8th grade, just as puberty had truly kicked in and during the summer. It was the very last day and their teacher had decided to take them to the beach. Arnold had discovered his feelings for Helga some years ago and felt mostly giddy about going to the beach with her. He had never realized that hormones would have kicked in and ruined the entire day for him.

Arnold had been sitting with some of the other boys in the sand, just chatting a bit, as they waited for the girls to finish getting undressed so to speak. "I bet Rhonda looks really good in a bikini." Sid had said out of the blue. Not truly out of the blue, though, since every boy was thinking in the same way.

"I think so too, but I think Miss Lila will be the finest of them all." Stinky answered and some of the boys agreed. Arnold kept looking in the direction of the girls' dressing room. He felt a little perverted at being so excited about such a simply thing, though he didn't truly know why he felt so eager about it. He didn't know at that age at least.

"What about you, Arnold?" Curly asked. "Huh?" Arnold muttered absentmindedly, as he turned around to look at the other boys again. "Who do you think will look best in a swimsuit?" Curly asked yet again.

"Uh… I-I don't know. I think… they'll all look good, I guess." Arnold answered lamely, as he scratched his neck in embarrassment. He didn't want to admit that he hadn't given much thought to how the other girls besides Helga would look.

"Ever the gentleman. Not favoring a single one of them." Gerald teased and poked Arnold's arm with his elbow. The boys laughed and Arnold made one last glance over his shoulder, before laughing along with them.

"How do you guys think Helga will look?" Eugene wondered pensively, with the ever-pleasant smile on his face. "Oh, God, don't remind me!" Harold answered and covered his eyes mockingly. "I'm sure the image will bring me nightmares!"

The boys laughed, while Arnold frowned. "I don't know, you guys, she could be an ugly duckling turning into a beautiful swan." Eugene said with absolutely no sarcasm in his voice, yet his sentence brought nothing but laughter. "I think Eugene might be right." Arnold muttered in an almost childish way.

"Yeah! Haven't you noticed how much Helga has, you know, grown?" Gerald asked as he wiggled his eyebrows. The boys stopped laughing and almost looked thoughtful at that statement, while Arnold felt his insides cringe for two reasons: One, he had definitely noticed. Two, he had hoped the other boys hadn't.

"That may not have been exactly what I have meant, but that's definitely a sign! I think she'll be just as beautiful as her big sister." Eugene said with a smile. The other boys seemed skeptical though. "Naw," Harold finally said. "I think Helga will be the same forever."

"Oh, come on, you guys." Arnold said with a small frown. "Oh, man, here we go…" Gerald muttered with a well-knowing smile. The other boys smiled in the same way, knowing that an Arnold preach was on its way.

To everyone's almost instant notice though, the girls were walking in their direction at this point. Some boys were snickering already, while others feared what Helga's reaction might be to whatever Arnold would say in her defense.

"Helga may be a little rough around the edges, but hasn't she done a lot for all of us in the end? She's also a really great quarterback for our team, isn't she? Strong, dependable, and hasn't she sorta mellowed since we came back from San Lorenzo? I personally think that Helga's really - - "

"I'm what, paste for brains?" Arnold heard Helga's voice ask, just before he could see her face turned upside-down in front of him. He yelped a little, as he felt her long, blonde hair tickled his chest and he saw her azure blue eyes so very close to his own. He, unfortunately to himself, also noticed something half in front of Helga's face… or rather two somethings.

"Uh… n-no-nothing." Arnold stuttered and chuckled nervously. "Hmm…" Helga straightened her back and went out of his view. He slowly turned around to see her. She was standing with her arms crossed beneath her chest and was eyeing him sarcastically. "That sounds fishy, but, hey, since it's the last time I have to look at your stupid football head until fall, Arnoldo, I guess I'll let it slide." She added with a smirk.

Arnold didn't really register Helga's usual taunt though, because all he saw was… well, her. A lot of her, or at least more than usual. She was wearing what could only be described as a simple, pink bikini. Nothing more, nothing less, except for a small, black bow in the middle of the chest area, and that was all it took for the poor boy to feel those damn hormones kick in.

Not to Arnold's knowledge, the boys were eyeing every single girl in front of them, and not just Helga like him. He had barely noticed the other girls. The boys did notice Helga in particular though. Maybe it was because it had become so very obvious that she was indeed a girl at this moment or maybe it was because she certainly was the one with the bigger bust already, or maybe it was a mix of both things. Nonetheless, every boy was gawking at her in particular.

Helga, still being new to the whole puberty thing, was just cocking an eyebrow at the boys' staring. She wasn't dense, but she wasn't exactly the type of girl to check out her body as often as possible. In fact, due to her insecurity, she often made sure to not look at it. Therefore, she hadn't noticed the obvious change as much as she should have. She knew she was growing, of course she knew, but she didn't realize quite how much.

"Come on, you guys. Let's go in the water already!" Nadine said excitedly and started pulling at Rhonda who ran along with her instantly. Some of the other girls started giggling and ran along. "Come on, Helga!" Phoebe chimed in giddily and grabbed her hand.

Helga turned around to eye the boys over her shoulder. "You morons coming?" she asked in that usual sassy voice, though to the boys, it sounded a little less harsh than usual. "Yes!" they answered in unison, almost with what sounded like a puppy following its master and stood up from the sand.

Arnold was wearing a very big grin on his face, while he and the other boys ran after Helga and Phoebe out into the ocean. He kept looking at Helga as she jumped into the water, not caring one bit about how much she was splashing or whom she was splashing.

Feeling unusually brave, Arnold dared to try to splash Helga as her back was turned to him. She gasped as the cold water hit her naked back and she slowly turned around to look at her next victim. "Arnold?" she asked in surprise, though he was giving the obvious 'I'm-completely-innocent' whistle.

To Arnold's surprise though, Helga just smirked. He frowned at her casual reaction and turned to look at her. She walked a little closer to him and part of him wanted to turn around and run in fear, while the other one made him stand stiff.

Helga stopped in front of Arnold, wearing that smirk for a couple of seconds, but then she swung around quickly, letting her wet hair hit him in the face. "Ow!" he exclaimed and grabbed his face in shock. He looked up and noticed the gleam in her eyes and her gleeful laughter. "Serves you right!"

Then, despite having felt a little like his pre in love self whenever Helga surprised him by a comeback, Arnold caught himself smiling at that gleeful smirk she was giving him now. With a determined smile, he simply splashed her again. She shrieked with laughter and did the same thing as him.

It had been the most amazing five minutes in Arnold's young life, until Gerald had decided to pull him aside. Helga frowned a bit at the action, but was splashed by Phoebe almost instantly and soon seemed to have forgotten about Arnold. Seemed being the keyword.

"Hey, Gerald, what are you doing?" Arnold asked and wriggled himself out of Gerald's grip. "Ok, I know it's our first time seeing the girls like this, but you need to be more… attentive!" Gerald answered with a pair of eyes, which were telling Arnold, that he should know what he meant by that statement. He didn't though.

"Attentive? What are you talking about?"

"You're having a… boy problem, so to speak."

"What do you mean… 'boy problem'? I'm not following."

"Your… flag is raised."

"… Huh?"

"Oh, for crying out… You have a boner, Arnold!" Gerald whispered as loudly as he could. Arnold blinked a couple of times, before his face went red and he went as far down under the water as physically possible without having to cover his mouth. "You're kidding!"

"Nope. Can't believe the girls haven't noticed yet. Then again, it's not like they'd know what that'd look like yet."

"Oh, God, this is horrible… What do I do?" Arnold asked in a frenzy, and in all truth – at that age – he couldn't do much, since he still didn't truly understand it yet. The poor newly teenaged boy ended up spending the rest of that day on the beach, covering himself with his legs.

The problem would probably have gone down, if he hadn't decided to keep looking at Helga as she splashed around like that, her hair wet and sticking close to her glittering skin and while wearing a very happy smile. He had sighed in happiness, when it was finally time to go home. It hadn't been the ideal day, but he had at least had a chance to gawk at Helga without getting caught. Which he knew probably was creepy, but he couldn't help himself. He really couldn't.

Arnold snickered at the memory, while he opened the door to the schoolyard. He stepped outside and was greeted by the gang. "Hey, Arnold, how's Helga feeling?" Sheena asked with worry in her voice. "Yeah, is she gonna be all right?" Nadine asked.

Arnold couldn't help but smile at the people in front of him. If only Helga could see how worried they are all for her. He wondered what he should answer exactly though. "Well, she's just really, really tired. She's been having trouble sleeping lately, so that's all it really was. That and… she may have a small fever." He decided to answer, in case Helga was still flushed when she got out.

A few people in the gang sighed in relief, but the rest smiled in relief too. "Oh, thank goodness! I was ever so worried." Lila admitted with a huge smile and waved a hand next to her face to calm herself down.

The agreed murmur of relief died down, when someone else stepped out of the building. Arnold and the rest of the gang turned around to see Aaron looking at them with a small smile. "Why are you all gathered outside? What's going on?" he asked.

"They were worried about Helga." Arnold answered as nonchalantly as he could, though he could feel the growing rage inside him build up. Aaron simply smiled, ignoring the edgy tone in Arnold's voice. "Oh, she's just fine. Tired, but fine. She'll be out in a couple of seconds, I think." He answered.

Almost as if on cue, the door behind Aaron opened up with a loud bang, pushing him down to the ground. Some people gasped while others couldn't help but laugh at seeing Aaron lying there on the ground, Arnold being one of them.

"What in the world did I hit?" Helga asked behind the door, snuck her head out and looked down. "Oh, did I hit you, Aaron?" she asked. Aaron sat up and turned around with a smirk. "Yes, you did, Helga." He answered. "Well, that's fine then." She observed and walked out of the building.

"Helga!" Arnold tried to reprimand, but knew as much as she, that he didn't truly mean it. All things considered. "What? It's his own fault for standing right in front of the door." She answered, as she watched him get up on his feet.

"Yeah, Arnold's right; Helga will be just fine." Harold observed while crossing his arms with a small smirk. It wasn't until then Helga realized the whole gang was standing in front of them. "Uh… what are you guys doing here?" she asked with her eyebrows furrowed.

"We wanted to make sure you were all right, Helga." Curly answered honestly. That just made Helga's frown deeper. "Yeah, right. What's the real reason?" she asked. Rhonda rolled her eyes. "Believe it or not, Helga, but we're actually just here to make sure you're ok."

Helga shifted a little on her feet, feeling slightly uncomfortable at the positive attention. "Uh… s-seriously?" she asked, still feeling rather skeptical. The gang nodded in unison, which almost made her blush. "Uh… w-w-well, as you can see, I'm obviously fine, so joke's on you." she answered in her typical manner, refusing to look at them out of embarrassment.

They all rolled their eyes at Helga, but Arnold simply nudged his elbow into her arm. She didn't have to look at him to know what he was trying to say. She started pulling at the hair on the back of her head, trying to distract herself from what she was about to try to do.

"Uh… b-but… I guess that it was… sorta, maybe, in a way… n-nice of you guys to stick around just to… see if I was ok… Thanks." Helga said with an obvious stutter. The gang looked at each other in surprise, while Arnold smiled proudly.

"Well, you're ever so welcome, Helga." Lila answered with a big smile. "Yeah, we're just glad that you're all right." Eugene added. The others nodded and Helga dared to glance at them. They noticed a very faint smile on her lips, which made their own smiles rather big.

"W-Well… anyways, I really wanna go home and, uh… I forced Arnold to walk me home, so bye!" Helga said, as she grabbed Arnold's arm and pulled him with her. "Helga," he said with amusement in his voice. "you and I both know you don't have to force me into - - "

"Shut up, football head and walk me home!" Helga interrupted and kept pulling Arnold with her. He turned around to look at the gang with a shrug of his shoulders, before walking up next to her, struggling to keep up with her pace.

"Did you guys just see that?" Rhonda asked with a gleam in her eyes. "Yeah! Helga just thanked us for checking if she was ok. You guys think Arnold's right and she's taken a turn for the better?" Harold asked with a big smile. A few nodded in agreement, while Rhonda just smacked the back of his head.

"Ow! What gives, Rhonda?" Harold asked sullenly. "Not that! Well, that's a surprise too, but I'm talking about Helga and Arnold!" Rhonda answered and looked in their direction again. The gang followed her movement and looked on, as Arnold and Helga were walking and talking together. "Something's definitely going on between those two."

"You think so?" Gerald asked, while winking at Phoebe, who giggled. "Duh!" Rhonda answered and gestured towards them. "It's obvious! It's practically reeking out of them at this point, but I just don't get it… Arnold and Helga? Does that mean my marriage predictor back in fourth grade was right after all?"

"I think that thing was still wrong, but maybe Arnold and Helga is the exception. I mean, you didn't predict our future marriage, Rhonda dear!" Curly answered and opened his arms to pull Rhonda into a kiss. "Ugh, get away from me, you little freak!" she answered and pushed his face away from her.

Amidst their peers' continuation of the discussion, Gerald caught himself looking in Aaron's direction. He was standing with both his hands in his pockets, and was looking at Arnold and Helga with something that looked like… melancholy?

Gerald looked at Helga and Arnold too, noticing how much they were smiling at each other, and then it hit him: Aaron did actually have feelings for Helga. He sighed deeply and turned to Phoebe, who was obviously thinking the same thing. "This could be a problem." He whispered in her ear and she nodded in agreement.

"You sure you're feeling all right, Helga?" Arnold asked, while Helga walked up the steps to her house. She rolled her eyes and turned around. "I'm fine. For your information, I always feel much better after fainting. It's kinda like a power nap." She answered.

Arnold frowned. "Helga…" he said chastising. Helga just giggled a bit though. "Oh, relax, football head. I'm fine, I swear. I'll mosey my way right up to bed, get myself a nap and then eat till I drop, ok?" she said and opened the door.

"Oh, no, you won't. Eat first, then nap and then eat again."

"All right, all right, you big worrywart. I promise. Thanks for following me home." Helga answered with a smile and waved a bit from inside the hallway. "Anytime, Helga. See you tomorrow." Arnold answered, waved back and started to walk away.

Helga kept looking at Arnold as he walked away, before he finally turned the corner and she closed the door. "Oh, God… Arnold knows… Well, sorta. Ugh, and Aaron knows that he knows…" she muttered before walking towards the stairs. She stopped though and looked towards the kitchen. She shook her head in amusement. Stupid football head. She thought with a smile, before walking into the kitchen instead.

Several hours later, Helga heard the doorbell ring. She looked at herself once more in the mirror. She had put on a simple pair of light blue jeans, a greenish tank top and a short-sleeved cowboy jacket. She didn't feel like looking formal, especially not since she was going with just Aaron. It wasn't like she wanted to impress him, so what was the point?

Helga was wondering though, if the waiter would even let them in with the way she looked, so she quickly put her hair up in a lazy bun, letting a few strands of her hair flow in front of her face and threw a black pearl necklace around her neck. Even just that made her seem more formal. She looked towards her shoes and sighed. I guess I should… Just in case they got a dress code, I don't know about. She thought before putting on a pair of black pumps.

The doorbell rang again. "Yeah, yeah, yeah." Helga muttered, stood up, fixed her shoe a bit and then ran out of the room. I can't believe I'm doing this… Then again, out of all of his blackmails, then I at least gain something from this one. She thought before opening the door.

"Sure took your time." Aaron said, before his eyes went a little wide, not to Helga's notice. "Well, excuse me, but I'm not sure whether Chez Pierre even have a dress code, so I wasn't sure what to wear. Looking at you though, I guess we were thinking the same thing." She answered, but he didn't really hear her.

"What? Do I look really weird or something?" Helga asked as she looked down herself. Aaron shook his head and smiled though. "No, you look good actually." He answered. She quirked an eyebrow at him, before walking down the steps. "I'm not sure how I feel about that surprised look on your face."

"I'm only surprised because you made an effort to look good, rather than just throwing something random on."

"We are going to a restaurant. I'm not that tomboyish."

"I know. I know. So, wanna get going?"

"I'm not standing here all night, that's for sure." Helga answered before walking through the streets. Aaron shook his head in amusement as he walked beside her. This is going to be one interesting night, that's for sure…

Helga almost choked on the soda she was drinking. She held her hand up to her mouth and swallowed quickly, before snickering. "What?! You're kidding me?" she asked in shock and went to grab the napkin in front of her.

"Nope, she actually did that." Aaron answered and chuckled as well. "Whoa, your mom's actually a worse drunk than mine. No offense." Helga muttered and removed a bit of soda around her mouth with the napkin.

"None taken. It's actually nice to talk about with someone who gets it, you know?"

"Yeah, I know what you mean. I mean, it's not like I'm the only teen in the whole world who's got less than perfect parents, and Phoebe and Arnold do their best to understand and help me, but… they never truly will understand, you know?"

"Yeah, I get that too. Let me guess: Your parents are also the kind of people who likes to keep up appearances?"

"You're kidding? Before I went to talk with Dr. Bliss back then, Bob and Miriam told me: 'We Pataki's don't talk about things', 'some things are best swept under the rug' and 'don't blab anything that will give us all a one-way ticket to the funny farm.' Can you believe that?"

"Oh, my God, sounds like your parents and my mom could be best friends."

"Really? But isn't it your mom who's the… you know?" Helga asked and made an obvious gurgling noise, which made Aaron chuckle. "Yeah," he said while nodding. "that's why she wants to keep up appearances. Honestly, I think she feels like she doesn't belong in my dad's family. As if she's not good enough or something."

"I think my mom kinda feels the same way and yet not really. She's told me a lot of amazing stories about herself… about before she married Bob. She was really awesome, did all these great things."

"Whoa, really? What happened?"

"My dad happened…" Helga answered sullenly and sighed. Aaron sighed with her. "Do you know if…" he started unsurely. "Do you know if your parents even love each other?" he asked. She shrugged. "I'm not sure. They have their moments, but… I'm not sure if they ever loved each other. I personally think they should get divorced already. I mean, if two people don't wanna be together, they shouldn't. Maybe they could find happiness with someone else, you know?"

"I kinda know how you feel and yet I don't. I want my parents to stay together, but that's not going to happen."

"But they're unhappy together, aren't they?" Helga asked with her eyebrows furrowed a little. "Well…" Aaron started unsurely and shrugged. "I guess they could be happier, but…"

"Then the answer should be obvious, right? Shouldn't everybody do what makes them the happiest?"

"I guess so, but… they're not even taking me into consideration. Shouldn't parents do what's best for their children?"

"… You're 16 years old. You're way too old to think like that. You sound like a selfish brat to me. Grow up already." Helga answered and took a sip from her glass. She could feel Aaron staring at her in disbelief. She swallowed her soda and apologized in a small whisper.

"Uh, no… I was just surprised, since…" Aaron started, but then smiled as he put his chin in his palm. "I was surprised, since everyone else who knows about this, just says they feel bad for me. You're the first one to ever tell me I'm selfish for thinking like this."

"Well, sorry to burst your bubble." Helga said and gave Aaron an icy stare. He shook his head though. "No, that's not what I meant. In a way, it's refreshing to hear another opinion. An opinion that might just be true even… Thanks."

The corner of Helga's lips went up a bit for second, but it was very brief. There was something odd in the air that she couldn't identify. Maybe it was the way that Aaron was looking at her. With a mix of wonder and adoration. The atmosphere was thick with the anticipation of something, but she had no clue what.

"You know, Helga…" Aaron started, still with a small smile on his lips. Helga dared to look into his chocolate brown eyes and she felt something in her heart tuck at the way he was looking at her. In a way, it was bittersweet, since she could see a tint of hurt in his eyes as he spoke. "If it wasn't because I knew there was no room in your heart for anyone else but Arnold… I think I would have tried to hit on you myself."

There it was. A few very true words and Helga didn't even consider them to be a lie for a second, because she knew Aaron wouldn't gain anything from lying about something like that. In a way, she was surprised and appalled, like she always had been whenever a boy in the past would confess to her.

There was something different about this confession though. Maybe it was because this guy was the first one to ever like Helga despite knowing how much she loved Arnold. Even knowing that fact, Aaron had started liking her and it made her heartstrings ache, because she knew that he knew that there was no chance she'd ever feel the same for him.

Helga's eyes didn't leave Aaron's, until he looked towards a nearby waiter and asked for the check. She quickly averted her eyes, when he looked back. She had no clue what to say and – in a way – she knew there really wasn't much to say. She also knew he didn't expect her to say anything. He had simply vented his feelings and she had listened. She had done her part, so… why did she feel like she should have said something?

Aaron and Helga were quiet on the way home. It wasn't an awkward silence opposed to the simple fact that none of them had anything to say. When they reached Helga's front door though, she decided to cut through the silence. "Well, thanks for dinner, I guess." She muttered lamely.

Aaron chuckled a bit, staying on the ground for now. "You're welcome… especially since your stress, lack of sleep and malnutrition is my fault." He answered. Helga smiled a little at that. "Yeah, you're right; I have absolutely nothing to thank you for actually."

Aaron chuckled a bit and kept looking at Helga for a couple of seconds in what felt like a content silence. When he saw her reach for the door handle, he stepped up on the first step though. "Helga," he said as she turned around to look at him. "I know you're gonna kill me for this tomorrow, but I have to do this just once, ok?"

There was a part of Helga that knew exactly what Aaron was about to do, and yet, her eyes went wide in surprise, when she felt his lips touch her cheek. It was so gentle, brief and almost feathery. A kiss she hadn't experienced before.

The kiss lasted only a couple of seconds, but to both Aaron and Helga, it felt like time stopped. He leaned back with a small smile. "Goodnight." He said with a normal voice and walked down the steps. She kept looking at him as he walked through the sidewalk. When he turned at the same corner Arnold had that very morning, she finally opened her door and walked inside.

Helga closed the front door behind her and let her hand stay on it for a couple of seconds, while the events from this night ran through her mind. Their common families, his confession and lastly his kiss. She banged the back of her head up against the door and then let herself slide down slowly, until she hit the floor beneath her.

Helga sat there for what felt like forever, before she finally grabbed her tied up hair, pulled out the elastic, and let the hair spread over her shoulders. As her locks tickled her neck, she knew far too well, how much more complicated things had just got.

Author's 2nd note: Twist! Again! Sorta… xD Some of you – at least according to the reviews – had already got a clue to the fact that Aaron was developing feelings for Helga, but to others it may come as a huge surprise? Please tell me what you think of it and whether you're surprised or not :P