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

They all belong to their rightful owner: Craig Bartlett.

Title: "Roadside girl"

In the last chapter: After having not seen Helga for about seven years, seeing her again had brought mixed feelings to Arnold's heart. The only reason he was seeing her again now was also simply because she was back in Hillwood to act in a play. When the actors started talking about how they were in need to have an actor for Aiden, Gerald had lifted Arnold's hand as a joke, but the joke quickly got out of hand. Helga insisted that Arnold couldn't act even if his life depended on it, which turned into somewhat of a bet between them. Now Arnold is stuck reading a scene in the script to prove that he can indeed act, but is he even aware that this is considered his audition?

Author's 1st note: I was really unsure of how to make the dialogue for the plays easy to understand. I mean, if I say that it's Helga talking then surely you know that, but what if she suddenly improvises or whatever? So I figured that when they are speaking their lines, I am going to write the name of the character they are playing. So it is Helga saying the lines, but I'm going to write: "Yadda-yadda-yadda." Adrasteia said. Hope that makes it easy to understand :3

[Please notify me if you notice any grammar mistakes. This isn't my first language, so there's bound to be mistakes.]

Chapter 2: "Awkward enough"

Stupid Football Head! Helga thought for about the seventh time as she chugged down the glass of water she had in her hand. I haven't seen him in seven years and the first thing we do is fight! I'm such a basket case, but he's not any better! She was groaning heavily when she heard a knock on the door. "Helga, are you ok?" she recognized David's voice asking. With a sigh, she went and opened the door. "No, I'm not!" she answered without censoring herself and let the door open for him to enter. He barely managed to squeeze in before the door closed shut behind him. Helga sat down on the floor; her legs spread and bend so that she could rest her elbows on her knees. "What is it with you and Arnold?" David asked gently before sitting down next to her. "We're… a long story." She answered before drinking from the glass again, this time much slower than before.

"Then summarize." David suggested with a shrug. Helga looked at him and sighed again. "We used to go in the same class and we didn't exactly get along. Basically, I… I bullied him a lot." She admitted and David cocked his head curiously to the side at that before smiling in realization. "You liked him, didn't you?" he asked and Helga basically threw her arms around herself as if that could hide her thoughts. "Am I that see-through?!" she asked in artificial shock and he laughed at the dramatic response. "No, I've just known you for a long time." He explained. "So you liked him… and you punished him for not liking you back?"

"Something like that. Except I never really told him I liked him… until I was nine years old and then took it back, but - - "

"Oh, Helga…"

"Don't 'oh, Helga' me! Only Phoebe is allowed to do that and even then I don't like it. I was… insecure as a child, ok? Not very honest either so… bad attention was better than no attention, I guess."

"What happened after you told him you liked him though?"

"Like I said, I took it back and we never spoke of it again. When I was thirteen, I decided it was time to move on and I took the chance when my sister suggested I'd go and study acting. I haven't heard from him since. He didn't even say goodbye at the airport." Helga explained with a shrug. "Huh… then… after what just happened, what are you feeling now?" David asked with a small, but curious frown. She seemed to think about it for a moment and then shrugged again. "I don't know." She answered. "I almost forgot about him after seven years…"

That's a huge lie, girl, and you know it. Helga's subconscious told her and she sighed inwardly. There hasn't been a day I haven't thought about him. Wondered what he was up to, imagined who he was dating, pondered where he was, what he was doing… but I have changed, dammit. I'm not that lonely, insecure girl anymore. I'm not the same and… he is the same. She thought, unknowing of David watching her worriedly. "Geraldine?" he asked, which caused her to frown at him. "Why do you always use my middle name in situations like these?" she asked and he smiled as he put his arm over her shoulders. "Because I like that I'm the only one who knows it around here." He explained. She shook her head in amusement. "You're weird."

"Indeed I am." David said before grabbing Helga's hand, throwing himself onto his feet and yanking her up with him. "Now, go kick his ass on that stage." He said with a wink. She smirked at his encouragement, flicked his forehead with her index finger for good measurement and then walked away with him following right behind her. "No matter what our past was or wasn't, Arnold is not going to play Aiden. Not over my dead body. This play is really important to me." She said with a bit of scowl and crossed her arms. "Didn't your agent also mention that a talent scout has been having his eye on you for some time?" David asked and she nodded. "Exactly. This is my big shot in the acting world and if Arnold fucks it up for me, I'm gonna hang him by his underwear in Mighty Pete and that would be me being nice."

"Mighty what?"

"Mighty Pete. It's an old tree where we as children used to hang out in the tree house."

"Oh, right. You grew up here. You gotta show me all the good places."

"Sure, if the play won't take up too much of our time." Helga answered before opening the door and walking back into the theatre. She stopped though once they were inside, letting the door close behind her with a loud thud. "Hey." David said and took Helga's hand. Her eyes followed it while he lifted it into a firm grip between them in something resembling what football players did to encourage each other before a game. "Give him hell. You're good at that." he told her. She looked at their hands for a moment before grinning at him. "That I am." She stated and squeezed his hand thankfully before letting go.

"Hey, Football Head. Are you ready to suck?" Helga asked full of confidence. Arnold slowly turned around and she had expected a frown from him, but instead he was smirking. She stopped in her tracks, mostly because she was shocked at his expression, but also because she had reached his seat. "I'm ready to prove you wrong." He corrected and stood up, letting the script fall from his hand and onto the seat. She eyed him for a moment, hoping to find a crack in that confident look of his, but she found nothing. "Then let's get to it. Know your lines?" she asked, but he was already walking past her towards the stage. "I do."

Helga growled for a moment and was about to follow him before she felt someone grab her arm. "Helga." The director said behind her and she turned to look at him. "I don't know what is going on between you two, but no matter the outcome of this little acting challenge, then you will act civil towards him afterwards, understand? There's no room in your schedule to be fighting with some old enemy of yours." He said sternly, but also with a bit of worry in his voice. He had known Helga for a bit of time now and while he knew she could be a hot-tempered young woman then to see her go this far just because of some boy… it was concerning to say the least. She looked at him with a bit of surprise on her face, but she nodded somberly. "Yes, sir. I swear." She told him and then he let go of her arm.

Don't let Arnold get to you again, girl. Helga scolded herself as she walked onto the stage. This isn't about Arnold and it isn't about Helga… It's about Adrasteia… and Aiden. She thought. Arnold was waiting for Helga to say her first line and when she opened her eyes, he could see that she had completely let go of herself. "Why do you insist on continuing this fruitless hunt?!" Adrasteia yelled at the man who had yet again come to see her. Arnold was stunned for a moment; Helga was really putting all of her soul into it. With a sharp inhale, he chose to do the same. "Because I love you. Why can you not see that?!" Aiden yelled in just as much fury as Adrasteia had. "You do not love me! Love is nothing but a pretty way of saying lust! You can have my body if you wish so, but you can never have my heart." Adrasteia said and made a gesture to her chest.

"I will not have your body until I have your heart, Adrasteia. Your body means nothing to me if it is given out of a sense of duty to that… that… rascal who calls you his." Aiden said as he walked closer to Adrasteia, only to see her back away. "Go home, Aiden, wherever that may be and let go of your ideas of pure love. It does not exist in my world and I am only a little sorry to tell you that everlasting love does not exist in yours either." Adrasteia told him before attempting to walk past him. Aiden seemed as if about to let her go, but then grabbed her wrist and forced her to face him again.

While Adrasteia looked at Aiden with defiance, Helga looked at Arnold with expectance. This is the part where Aiden forces a kiss on Adrasteia… but this is also the place where the lines ends. Is he going to finish the scene or stop here where I told him to? Hmph, he probably doesn't have the guts to attempt to kiss me. She thought and couldn't help the slightly gleeful smirk that came upon her features. It was such a small smile that only Arnold who was standing so close to her could see it. She's challenging me. I can see it, but I don't know how she'll react if I actually kiss her… He thought with a small frown. He hated those eyes; they were screaming at him that he was a coward and his stubbornness made him dive at her and lock his lips with hers.

Helga didn't need to act that she was shocked; her eyes popped open on their own. She stared at Arnold's closed eyelids as he kissed her. Well, his lips were pressed against hers, but he wasn't doing anything else but holding her wrist. Helga could feel herself starting to shake, but she wasn't sure if it was in anger or surprise. She was ready to either pass out or slap him when she heard the director declare that it was the end of the scene. Arnold let completely go of Helga, but his lips disappeared long before his hand did. She gawked at him for a moment before the director earned her attention again and she looked at him. "That was actually rather splendid, Arnold. You managed to capture both the desperation and the anger in Aiden's personality just now. If you don't mind, would you like to try to sing a few lines from one of the songs?"

Helga's eyes widened. He's… He's seriously auditioning him. Oh, crap! I didn't think this through at all! She thought in slight panic, but on the outside, she was calm and collected. She jumped off the stage, more elegantly than an average person could and grabbed the script. She offered it to Arnold who was still glued to the stage without looking at him. Once it was out of her hand, she went back to the front row to sit next to Phoebe who was giving her a worried look, but Helga refused to look back at her. She could also feel Gerald's eyes on her, but he was mostly looking at her in shock and nothing else.

"I-I don't know the songs." Arnold muttered absentmindedly as he flipped through the pages. "That is true… Then perhaps you can try and sing something else?" the director suggested. Arnold looked thoughtful. He really didn't know what he should sing. He didn't know many songs that belonged on a stage like this and he looked desperately at Gerald for help. The boy frowned thoughtfully for a moment and then smiled. "What about that Brantley Gilbert song you like so much?" he suggested. While the others looked at little confused, Arnold smiled recognition. "Uh, I could try… I'll just take it from the chorus then." He declared, swallowed a little nervous and then began to sing. "She's my kinda crazy. The little games she plays. Lord, they'll never get old. She's too cute to get on my last nerve."

Helga widened her eyes in recognition. She wasn't sure how she knew the song, only that she knew it. What the hell. Why did he choose a song I know and love? She thought with a frown, but when she closed her eyes, she couldn't help but sing along softly. Her voice was low, but the people around her noticed and so did Arnold. He couldn't help but smile at the way she bopped her head a little bit as if the melody was playing in her head. "The way she throws her little fits, poking out her lip and biting mine when we kiss. There ain't a fight that she can't win. That's my baby… and she's my kinda crazy." He finished and so did Helga. When she opened her eyes, her eyebrows furrowed in disappointment. Damn… that was pretty good.

Before the director could praise Arnold for his singing voice as he had intended, Helga started clapping slowly and sardonically, successfully earning a frown from Arnold. "Very good, Arnold, only one problem." She said. "Oh? And what is that, Helga?" Arnold asked and crossed his arms. Before he had started singing, he put the manuscript on the floor next to him. "This cute little love song doesn't exactly remotely resemble the tone in this musical. What I sang before is how most of the song sounds like. Can you sing like that?" she asked him, knowing full well that his face would turn surprised, which it did. "Uh… well. I-I can try. I don't really know any songs like that though…"

Helga rolled her eyes at that. "Which is one of the reasons why I still don't believe you can act in this particular musical. In something else, sure, but this musical is dark unlike a lot of musicals. You're not a dark person, Arnold." she pointed out with a matter-of-factly shrug. Arnold was about to disagree, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. He did disagree though; if he had still been that thirteen-year-old kid she had known back seven years ago, he wouldn't have though. With a bit of a sigh, he shook his head. "It's called acting, Helga; I don't need to be what I act." He pointed out and she frowned at his logic. "Fair enough. Go ahead; try singing like I did before."

Arnold frowned again. "I don't know the lyrics to your song just yet, Helga." He stated. "Of course not. Adrasteia also has like nine songs while Aiden has three where only one of them is a solo, but who cares about small details like that?" Helga asked sarcastically. "Who indeed…" Arnold muttered, but she ignored him. "Do you know any songs that has the same tone as the musical, Arnold?" she asked challengingly. Arnold closed his eyes, desperately searching through his mental list of songs that he knew, but it was mostly jazz songs that he came across and those were useless right then. A small cough, one that had sounded casual to the rest, Arnold knew was directed at him. He opened his eyes and looked at Gerald who was holding his hand like a gun against his chest, looking as casual as possible. Gun? Gunshot? Shooting? Uh… Bang? Bang… Bang! Arnold thought, at first happy that he had easily guessed what song Gerald had been referring to, but then frowning. Can I really sing that…? He wondered, but he figured he didn't have much other choice. "I remember one." He declared to the director as indifferently as he could, but his insides were churning at the thought of singing that. "Then start when you feel ready." The director responded patiently.

"I'll, uh… start from the chorus again." Arnold said and readjusted himself awkwardly. No one is in here. It's just me… being gloomy, I guess. He thought and took a deep breath. "I go off like a gun, like a loaded weapon. Bang, bang, bang. Grip me in your hands. So here we go again. It echoes in my head. Bang, bang, bang. Grip me in your hands… So I can feel you here with me." He sang with as rough a voice he could muster, his eyes shut tight in embarrassment. "How…" he heard Helga's voice start and he opened his eyes. "How the hell do you know Armchair Cynics, Football Head?" she asked almost suspiciously. "Gerald introduced me to them." Arnold answered nonchalantly, but the obviously impressed look in her eyes made him smile. She was furious too though. She really had been putting all her hope into his lack of rawness and he was obviously capable of doing it.

"Well, Arnold. I'll say that I am very impressed." The director said before clapping, causing the rest of the actors to do the same. Helga looked around her in slight despair and refused to clap. "I would be honored if you would act as Aiden…" the director said, but then turned to look at Helga whom he noticed was looking away glumly. "If it doesn't mean that Helga will leave the play." He then added, causing said girl to look at him in surprise. "Pardon?" she asked, blinking in confusion. He sighed and readjusted his glasses. "Helga, you make a perfect Adrasteia and it's been a dream of mine for some time to have you play her. I am not prepared to lose you even if I do find the chemistry between you and Arnold perfect for Adrasteia and Aiden. If acting with an old… acquaintance of yours is too much to ask, we will simply have to find someone else to act as Aiden."

Helga looked at Arnold who was looking right at her too. "Do you want to be in this play, Arnold? It's not some random high school play where most of the actors are forced to do it for curricular points." She said as she stood up from her seat. "This is for real. We'll need you around almost 24/7 so I don't want to see any half-assed work from you." she said threateningly, but he stood his ground as well. "You won't." he said sternly. "You know, for the most of us here this is our dream. This isn't yours." She pointed out. "I don't care about his intentions. Only that he has proved to be a good Aiden for now." The director pointed out. "For now." Helga repeated for good measure and crossed her arms.

"Please, Helga?" one of the actresses begged as she approached Helga. "He was really good and we are a little desperate." She pointed out with a pleading look in her eyes. Helga was chewing on her lower lip in frustration as several of the actors and dancers approached her with their hands practically folded in begging plead. It was David's hand on her shoulder though that finally made her give in. She gave Arnold a harsh look as she approached him and grabbed his collar to bring him down to her eye level. "You listen to me, Shortman, and listen good because I will not repeat myself." She said and he gulped at the flames in her eyes. "If you fuck this up for any of us, I'll make your life a living hell."

With that, Helga let go of Arnold's collar, causing him to have to put his hands on the stage in order not to fall off it. "Again." she added before looking at the director. "I hope we won't live to regret this, sir." She said and gave a pointed look in Arnold's director. "Me too, Helga and… especially since I am going to beg on my metaphorical knees that you will help him?" he asked and her pointed look turned towards him. "Help him?" she repeated and he nodded. "While Arnold definitely has some talent, he is inexperienced. He is going to need a guiding hand according to voice training, movement on the stage and so on. Since most of his scenes has you in it too, I'm hoping that you will take him under your wing."

Helga felt like strangling the director, but figured that doing so would damage her position in the play. She growled deeply and hissed through her teeth. "Very well. For the sake of the play." She said with a sigh and looked at Arnold again. "Prepare yourself, Football Head, I'm a perfectionist." She told him before she headed towards one of the seats further away. "Speaking of which." She said before sitting down and grabbing a pair of black boots, flat with shoelaces. "Girls, mind if we take Problem one more time before we call it a day?" she asked as she put one of the boots on, grabbed the end of each shoelace and then stretched her leg in order to tighten them. The girls sighed for a moment, but then smiled and nodded in agreement. "Perfectionist is right." One of the girls muttered goodheartedly and Helga smiled at her while she put her other boot on. "Better stay for the show, Arnold." she told him before hopping off the seat elegantly and smoothly sliding her back up the stage and hoisting herself onto it.

Where did she learn to move like that? Arnold wondered briefly, but nodded at her suggestion before jumping off the stage and sitting down next to Gerald. "Man, I'm sorry. What the hell did I get you into?" Gerald muttered in shock, but Arnold simply shook his head. "It's ok… Maybe it'll be fun and… I didn't really get to find a part-time job anyway and the exams are almost over so…" he muttered, but he groaned a little anyway. "Arnold, you are aware that it doesn't take only three months to put on a play like this, right?" Phoebe asked with a frown and he nodded. "Yes, I… I know. I'll… figure out something."

"Problem!" Helga said in the mic on her cheek, which she had just turned on again. The audio technician gave her a thumbs-up and then a loud siren-like sound soared through the room. "Ow!" Arnold, Gerald and Phoebe groaned in surprise. The siren died and the beat of a drum, that sounded an awful lot like We will rock you replaced it. Once Arnold's ears had stopped bleeding, he looked back at the stage to see all the girls, Helga in the middle front standing with their right side to the audience. "Sweat dripping down your chest." Helga sang as she and her dancers let their hands fall down from their chest to their stomachs, and then their hips jerked around so that their left side was now to the audience instead, their hands on their chests jerking to the beat. "Thinking about your tattooed knuckles on my thigh, boy-boy-boy." They connected their hands and swung their arms up and to the side until they fell down to the floor, their left knee on the floor, but the other leg simply bend in a promiscuous position towards the audience. Their right hand gripped their hair as if to pull them back and then they were on both knees, their left hand now in front of their crotch, jerking to the last three words in the line.

"Cold shower. You've got no power to control how I make you my toy-toy-toy." Helga continued as the girls get up on their feet with ease, casting their heads backwards and arching their backs. The girls then jumped to one leg, their arms stretched to their sides before pirouetting around themselves, only to then stop short and pirouette the other way. Their arms went to the air and then they jerked their hips as they went to crouch on the floor. "My hips rocking as we keep lip locking. Got the neighbors screaming even louder-louder." The girls switched between staying in their crouched position to stretching their thighs and a less than decent positon as their arms jerked from one side to the other in a rapid motion. Their hands then went to their heads as they finally got up in a standing positon again, pirouetting for good measure once more as they did so. Their stretched arms went behind their backs and they rolled their waists slowly in complete contrast to the former jerky motions.

Arnold found himself stunned once again this day. He had never seen any human move like that. Not in real life at least. The fact that Helga was the best dancer on that stage just made it all the more impossible to understand. Helga had never been feminine. Pink bow and dress or not! True, this dance was rough and the song did give him some sort of Helga'ish feeling, but to see her hips roll like that and her chest bouncing around was weird in a fantastic way. He gulped as the girls continued to dance and Helga continued singing. "I'm your dream girl. This is real love, but you know what they say about me." What had started out with simply rocking to the words with first the right hip and then the left quickly turned back into the jerky motions. The girls put their hands on their knees and then went back to the crouched positon, this time with their knees spread out to each side and the heels of their feet touching. To Arnold's surprise, it was all the girls singing the next sentence. "That girl is a problem. Girl is a problem. Girl is a problem. Problem." How they could sing that so smoothly without even gasping for air was a mystery.

While the dancers stayed with their legs spread indecently like that, Helga connected her knees first before falling onto them, lifting one of her arms over her head. She then jerked her left leg high, even bumping her head with it. Arnold's chin almost fell to the floor at that and when she put her feet back to the ground and turned around so that she was on all fours, only to then lift the right leg backwards so that the sole of her foot actually touched the back of her head, he gave up on being shocked.

Arnold barely noticed that the dancers had joined Helga once again because his eyes were locked on her. The song and dance continued, but the music seemed to drown in Arnold's ears and he wasn't paying much attention to it anymore. "I've asked before and I'm asking again: Is this really Helga Pataki?" Gerald muttered in absolute shock as his eyes kept following Helga's hips jerking from side to side. Arnold still didn't know what to say to that. She has changed… Well, she's acting right now, technically, but the Helga I knew probably wouldn't have been caught dead doing something like this in an outfit like that, not even for a play. He thought and sighed a bit. She's more confident now, I guess.

The girls now had their back turned to the audience, the echo of their voices singing the word problem repeatedly getting lower and lower. They leaned back and got closer and closer to the floor in perfect synch until they were lying on their backs with their legs twisted backwards and up to their sides. David wolf whistled once the music died and clapped along with the actors that were not on the stage. Arnold and his friends did the same thing while the director nodded approvingly. Helga jumped onto her feet with ease and smiled at her dancers. "Now that's perfect." She said approvingly before turning around and jumping off the stage unlike the rest of the dancers who walked securely down the stairs instead.

"As much as I love your Devil may care attitude, you really should be more careful with your body." David pointed out with a grin. Helga crossed her arms, but she was also smirking at him. "What gave you the right to talk about my body?" she asked challengingly. "I'm your pimp, remember?" he asked as he threw his arms to the side dramatically. Helga clicked repeatedly with her tongue in disapproval, but the smirk never left her face. Arnold frowned at them. "What is David and Helga?" he asked in Phoebe's direction who smiled at him. "They've known each other since Helga went to study acting. It's the first time they're in the same play though."

They have known each other for seven years then? Arnold thought. He wasn't sure what to make of Phoebe's answer, but something made his legs stand up and walk towards Helga and David on their own. "When did you learn to dance like that?" he asked, successfully stopping their conversation. "I don't know when per say, but during one of the more dance-focused plays I've been in, I suppose." She answered with a shrug. "I'd say during Big and loud may be a qualified guess." David chimed in and Helga nodded. "Seems about right. Speaking of which; Arnold, can you still dance?" she asked and Arnold looked slightly surprised at her question. "Uh… well, I haven't been taking lessons or anything, but I still remember what my grandma taught me. Why?"

"What do you mean why? You're gonna dance too, obviously."

"I am?"

"Well, doi! Actually, one of your first scenes are a tango with me."

"Tan…" Arnold repeated, but never got to finish the word before a series of images roamed through his head. The only girl he had ever done the tango with, his grandma being the exception, was in fact Helga. It had been back in fourth grade and it had been to prank her, but they had nevertheless danced close together. "Earth to Football Headed kid." Helga said before flicking her index finger on his forehead. "Ow!" he exclaimed mostly in surprise and held the slightly sore spot. "You can still do the tango, right?" she asked. "Uh… I think so." He replied.

"You think so? How can you not know?"

"Well, it's not like I break out dancing in random places, Helga." Arnold pointed out with a frown, but Helga just rolled her eyes. "Great… so along with acting and singing practice, I'm also gonna make sure that you can in fact dance. I feel like a fucking babysitter." She said with a groan and looked at David. "Sorry. I guess exploring Hillwood will have to wait for a bit." She said, but he just shook his head in understanding. "Exploring Hillwood?" Arnold repeated. "Well, yeah, not for my sake, but for David's. He's never been in Hillwood before." She explained. "What do you wanna see anyway?"

"How am I supposed to know what's here? Show me the places where you hung out as kids. Like that Mighty Pete treehouse you mentioned before." David suggested and both Arnold and Helga grinned that. "Oh, please tell me that Mighty Pete is still standing?" Helga asked Arnold who nodded. "Yeah… but it has kinda been taken over by the next generation." He said with a nostalgic look. Helga groaned in disapproval, but couldn't help but smile as well. "Damn the next generation!" she cursed dramatically and the boys laughed. She lifted her arms above her head and arched her back until she could hear her spine snap gently. "Oh, that was good… It's not healthy, but it feels good. Do you have any plans right now?" she asked and started walking without waiting for an answer.

Arnold and David looked at each other questioningly and then shrugged. "Who are you talking to?" they asked in unison. "Oh, sorry. I'm talking to Arnold." she answered before turning around and looking at him. "I'm going to introduce you to the songs you're part of today and help you practice vocals if you don't have anything else to do. Also we should go through the list of people we are going to work with so you can get to know everyone." She explained and he was a little surprised at the dignified tone in her voice. "Uh… sure. I don't have any plans." He responded. "Then I'll leave him to you, Helga." David said before walking past her, patting her shoulder once. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yup. See ya." Helga said in his direction. "I'm gonna go change, ok? This outfit is getting a little cold." She told Arnold before continuing her way towards the back stage. "Uh, sure." Arnold answered and couldn't help but watch her as she walked away. Can't blame her for feeling cold… He observed and tore his eyes away from her. So… I am now going to act in a play as the second most important character with Helga as the most important… and if I have understood correctly, we are supposed to be lovers or something along those lines… Great. As if meeting her again after seven years hasn't been awkward enough; this is Romeo and Juliet all over again. Just worse.

Author's 2nd note: Like with the outfits I will sometimes use actual dance routines for reference during dance scenes in this story. I have a reference for the Problem scene. You can search for it yourself on YouTube. It's called Natalia Kills – Problem Strip-dance choreography. It's by Lyudmyla Chernova :3

Songs:

Brantley Gilbert – "My kind of crazy"

Armchair Cynics – "Bang"

Natalia Kills – "Problem"