Helga still couldn't get over how ridiculously lame Olga's car was. She felt like it was a monstrosity that somehow found its way to the present from the 60's, and needed to be sent back there as quickly as possible. The music Olga was playing (a girly, sissy love song) didn't help the atmosphere either. What really annoyed Helga the most was when Olga would sing along with the song, like she was doing now.
"Oh, kiss mebeneath the milky twilight
Lead me out on the moonlit floor
Lift your open hand
Strike up the band and make the fireflies dance
Silver moon's sparkling
So kiss me!"
Helga wanted to throttle her sister. She growled lowly, and Olga was blissfully unaware, still chiming along as she drove. Well, at least they weren't stopped at a red light, she thought. Still, Helga began to think, it was kind of her sister to offer to drive her to school. This was still superior to having Harold constantly belch behind her on the bus.
"Alright here we are!" Olga squealed in delight. "Have a good day at school Helga! I'll be back to pick you up!"
Helga smiled lightly at her sister and waved her goodbye.
"Konichiwa Helga!" Helga turned around to look at a smiling Phoebe.
"Easy on the Japanese, Phoebs. We just got back."
"Easing!" Phoebe replied. "Helga, I noticed that you drove here today with your sister. Has your relationship with Olga improved?"
"W...w...well..." She began to babble. "Sort of..." She breathed.
"That's wonderful!" Phoebe chimed. "Perhaps with an improvement in your relationship with your sister your...home situation might not be..."
Helga crossed her arms, and Phoebe knew it was time to shut up.
"So, what do you say we put something gross in Arnold's desk?" Helga said as they walked towards the building.
"Class, since you're all back, it's time I give you your newest project."
"Ohhh..." A collective sigh went up as Mr. Packenham began to talk.
"Now now, that isn't the spirit I want you to have! This is a project I want you to pour your creativity and heart into! I want you all to reflect on something you did over the break - something that was of extreme importance to you!
"Ohhh..." The sigh resounded again.
"How lame can you get?" Rhonda asked haughtily.
"That plan really bites." Stinky quipped.
"That isn't true! Times of leisure are often the best for your own personal self-reflection and development!" Mr. Packenham continued. "I'm sure that you all did something memorable or exciting with one of your family members this break, for example!"
Helga's subconscious reaction was to bite her lip nervously.
"And so, I want you all to put those thinking caps on and show your feelings! Be creative!"
Helga put her chin in her hands and began to think.
"Hey football head how's it goin'?" Helga asked as the two stood next to each other in the lunch line.
"You seem happier today." Arnold observed with a smile, almost knowing the reason.
"What's it to you, Arnoldo?" Helga retorted with a frown.
"Nothing." His smile didn't fade. "I just think it looks good on you, that's all." He replied as he moved away to get his food.
Helga's face swooned. "Oh..." She whispered huskily. That's it. She thought. She would indulge this.
Helga got into Olga's car.
"Gosh baby sister, you look so happy! Did something interesting happen that I should know about?" She gushed.
"No, nothing." She dismissed with a light, knowing tone.
"Olga, where've you been?" Bob asked as she and Helga returned home.
"I was picking Helga up from school, daddy!" She answered happily.
"Oh yeah great." Bob dismissed. "Anyway, your mother and I were talkin' a bit." Olga's eyes widened.
"It's been a few days since you played the piano for us, and we missed hearing that!" Bob continued.
"We just started talking about how you used to play when you were a little girl...and then...we remembered how you just got better and better before our eyes and...oh, those are great memories!" Miriam gushed.
"So we were just wondering if you could..."
"Mommy, daddy, I'd like to, but I have to fix dinner and I know you don't want to miss that! But was there something you needed Helga?" She asked.
"It's OK, I need to do some homework anyway." Helga said to Olga.
"OK then, I'll see you at dinner Helga." Olga replied and walked into the kitchen. Bob and Miriam were gushing with each step she took.
Helga began to contemplate what she would write for her assignment as she walked up to her room.
"Well class, I've finished grading your assignments." Mr. Packenham stated a few days later. "I must say that all of them were quite good, but I wanted to take this time to share with you the one that I thought was the best. This one was actually a poem that one of you wrote."
Helga swallowed hard.
"Though you and I have in past parted ways,
And I thought I'd end my days,
Feeling contempt for you and all your airs,
Fate has decreed,
That on this break you would show me that you have your cares
For me!
The fact that you care,
May lift my despair,
That for years has left me,
With a soul in gloom.
Though the future's uncertain,
I'll pull up the curtain,
And welcome your caring,
Compassionate gestures,
And try to understand you,
As you try for me,
Sister."
"I found this very feeling and raw, compassionate." Mr. Packenham continued, but the class only laughed at it, particularly Harold.
"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" He laughed. "I'm just glad that it wasn't me who wrote that or I might be a big fat loser! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" The class laughed along with him, catching the contagion. Helga sat perfectly still, her fearful instincts to freeze taking over her body.
"Now now now class!" Mr. Packenham interrupted. "This was by far the best and most creative assignment I've gotten! You all could stand to learn a thing or two from it!"
The bell mercifully rang.
"OK, we'll continue our discussion on human biology after recess!"
The class slowly began to file out of the room. Harold however put his arms out to stop Stinky and Sid.
"What's up Harold?" Sid asked. "Why aren't you of all people rushing to eat?"
"Yeah Harold, it's pizza day today and I want to go, on the count of I really like pizza!"
"Let's go look at that poem and see who wrote it!" Harold laughed sinisterly.
"Why? If we get caught we'll be in trouble!" Stinky objected.
"Yeah Harold, is it worth not eating pizza?" Sid asked.
"I'm the boss and we're doing it!" He growled.
Harold looked around. Mr. Packenham left last, not noticing the three and turning off the lights, closing the door. Harold, Stinky, and Sid snuck quietly to his desk. Stinky looked out the window to make sure nobody else was coming. Harold and Sid lifted the cover of his manila folder.
"Heheheheheh." Harold laughed quietly as he rummaged through it. His eyes darted to and fro, scanning for any relevant text. Within a minute, he found what he was looking for. "Here it is!" He said excitedly.
"Oh wow it's by...!" Sid began.
Helga was talking to Phoebe. The two of them grabbed a couple of four cheese pizzas. Just as Helga was about to tell a joke, she heard a loud, unwelcome voice, directed straight at her.
"LOOK EVERYBODY! IT'S HELGA, THE GLOOMY SOUL!" Helga's blood went cold and her eyes widened. The entire room was staring at her but she didn't even begin to compute this. The only thing that she could contemplate was how fast her heart was beating.
"WHAT'S THE MATTER HELGA?! DO YOU NEED TO GO HOME AND GIVE YOUR SISTER A BIG SMOOCH SO YOU'LL KNOW SHE CARES ABOUT YOU?! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
The entire cafeteria started to laugh. Helga suddenly felt very small and vulnerable, and also as if a bandage had been painfully ripped from a still raw wound, causing the bleeding to commence again.
"YOU BETTER NOT COME NEAR ME, OR I MIGHT JUST HAVE TO BARF!"
The cafeteria still laughed louder. Helga's eyes buckled for a moment, and she could just barely see Phoebe and Arnold looking at her in concern. Helga's instincts took over and she growled lowly. She turned her head to view the laughing Harold and began to march in his direction as if she were going to war. Harold continued to laugh until Helga came up to him, grabbed his collar, and punched him straight on the nose. She'd hit him harder than she had ever hit anyone in her entire life. The cafeteria let out a collective gasp as Harold thudded onto the floor.
"OW! OWEY!" Harold winced in pain and collapsed to the ground as he felt the blood beginning to spurt.
Helga wasn't finished yet. She grabbed the nearest tray and slammed it down on his face, aggravating his nose even further.
"OH OW! THAT HURTS!" Harold cried.
"LISTEN YOU BEACHED WHALE! IF YOU EVER TALK TO ME LIKE THAT AGAIN, THE NEXT TIME I'LL!-
"Miss Pataki!"
Helga gasped along with the entire cafeteria to see Principal Wartz staring at her with his arms crossed.
"My office, now!" He demanded, as Harold was helped up and inevitably led away to the school nurse.
"Do you realize that you've broken Mister Berman's nose?" He asked sternly.
"But, but, he..."
"That was a rhetorical question, Miss Pataki. You could be in a lot of trouble for this you know, you could even be sent to juvenile hall!"
Helga's blood went cold, once again.
"However, Mister Berman has convinced his family not to press any charges. Still, you're going to be suspended from school for three days. And you will be responsible for the repairs to Mister Berman's nose." Helga looked downward and didn't say anything. "Yes, you can come and take her home now."
Helga turned to see Olga' concerned face looking at her through the threshold of Principal Wartz's door. Helga didn't say a word as she walked outside. Olga signed a few papers and took Helga out to her car. It was raining lightly.
"What happened Helga?" Olga asked as she began to drive home.
Helga looked out the window with her arms crossed.
"Helga, why don't you tell me...?"
Helga sighed. "We had to do an assignment for class relating an experience we had over the break." She began blankly. "Mine was a poem I wrote to express how I felt about you but it wasn't meant for anyone else to see. Somehow Harold got a hold of it and he started making fun of me in the cafeteria and I...just..."
Olga looked touched.
"Oh Helga, it'll all turn out OK." She tried to reassure, but Helga wasn't so convinced. She knew what would be coming next.
The two pulled into their driveway. Olga parked her car and they got out, going up to the front door. As soon as they opened it, they heard:
"AW WHAT DO YOU MEAN IT'S GONNA COST ME 100 BUCKS?!" Big Bob growled. "PUNCHED HIM?! AWWW THIS NEVER WOULD'VE HAPPENED TO OLGA!" He peered at the front door opening and saw Helga come in. His frown deepened, and he showed some teeth.
Helga and Olga looked up at him with widened eyes. Miriam stood behind him, drinking a smoothie.
"Yeah yeah yeah, alright." He growled and slammed the phone down. "Report to the Trophy Room right now, Missy!"
Helga frowned and stomped inside.
"So why am I told you hit that brat and now I have to pay his deductible to fix his broken nose?!" Bob growled.
Helga crossed her arms, not answering, only glaring.
"WHY CAN'T YOU LEARN HOW TO BEHAVE YOURSELF LITTLE LADY?! FIRST YOU GO TO THERAPY AND NOW THIS!"
Her arms tightened and her glare narrowed even further.
"WHY CAN'T YOU BE MORE LIKE YOUR SISTER?!"
"Daddy..." Olga trailed with a smile.
"What is it, Olga?"
"I was actually planning to show you and mommy something today." She began. "I learned how to play the Minute Waltz in my record time - blindfolded! Do you want to see? I need to show somebody!"
"Mhmmm!" Miriam hummed gleefully. "Now that sounds exciting!"
"Alright Olga..." Bob breathed, beginning to calm down. "That actually sounds pretty astounding!" He turned to frown at Helga. "Get your fanny in your room, Missy!" He ordered. "You don't get to see this!"
Helga got off the chair and moved toward the foyer. She exchanged a knowing look with Olga as Bob and Miriam moved toward the piano.
"Don't worry, I'll protect you, baby sister." She whispered.
Helga looked as Olga moved toward the piano, while she moved toward the foyer. She saw Olga put a cloth over her eyes and begin to play. She sounded like she always did - sublime, but Helga could see that Olga was working very hard as her fingers moved as fast as usual. She knew she must be putting every ounce of effort in her consciousness to make this perfect, and while Helga greatly appreciated this gesture on her behalf, a single thought began to permeate her mind as she made her way up the stairs.
"But who's going to protect you, Olga?" She sighed sadly.