By the time Helga arrived at the recess yard, Arnold and Destiny were on opposite sides of it. Arnold was playing foursquare with some friends, looking sadder then he usually did, and Destiny was reading her book at the picnic table.

"Stay back, Phoebe," Helga said. "This could get ugly."

Helga loudly stomped over to the fourth-grader. "You know what, Destiny? I'm done playing games. I'm done doing your stupid chores and letting you treat me like some pushover! You wanna tell Wolfgang what I did to you? Fine! Tell Wolfgang! I'm proud to say that I threw you in the trash!"

Destiny's expression was a mixture of shock and joy. "Did you know your boyfriend tried to talk to me?"

"HE'S NOT MY BOYFRIEND!" Helga roared.

Destiny stood up and grabbed her chapter book. "Well, it's settled. I'll tell Wolfgang everything."

The gravity of what she was doing came over Helga like a storm cloud. "Why don't you try and fight me yourself, coward?"

Destiny laughed mockingly. "I don't do violence. It's not my style."

Helga shoved her, but only lightly. "Why not, coward? Don't you want to? Wouldn't you like to?"

That's when Destiny shoved her back. Harder.

"Destiny! What are you doing?"

The voice was Wolfgang's. Oh no, Helga thought. NO!

"Wolfgang!" Destiny ran over to him. "This little freak is ruining my life!"

"Your study partner?" Wolfgang looked amused.

Remembering Phoebe's piece of advice, Helga decided to tell him first. "I threw her out on Trash Can Day, and now she's making me do her chores."

Wolfgang grinned. "You trash-canned her? Ha!" He laughed.

Helga blinked. What?

"I can't believe it," Wolfgang said. "My bratty sister was in a garbage can!" He laughed harder, which made Destiny mad.

"Aren't you going to beat her up?"

"I should've been there!" Wolfgang said. "I would've paid cash to see that happen!"

Helga was in disbelief. She'd been living in fear for the last two days, only to find out that she hadn't been in danger. Wolfgang wouldn't give her a black eye.

She smiled. I won.

"Blackmailing you?" Dr. Bliss looked concerned. "Would you like to explain?"

"There's this event called Trash Can Day," Helga said, "and I trash-canned this girl named Des-tin-nee. Turns out her brother is the meanest guy in school, and I thought he'd beat me up if she told him what I did."

"But he didn't?" Dr. Bliss asked.

"He thought it was hilarious!" Helga explained. "Though I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Wolfgang never came off as protective."

Dr. Bliss wrote something on her notepad. "Did you tell him, or did Destiny?"

"I told him," Helga said. "I hadn't planned to, but then she bullied Arnold. I guess I wanted to...stand up for him."

Dr. Bliss smiled. Helga smiled.

"In the future," Dr. Bliss said, "I hope you tell an adult much sooner."

"But what could they do? Punish Destiny?" Helga shook her head. "They couldn't punish Wolfgang in advance!"

"I suppose not," Dr. Bliss said. "But a teacher could've kept an eye on you."

Helga shrugged. "Too late now."

"Is there anything else you want to talk about?"

Helga looked out of the office window. The sky was light blue and full of white clouds, and in the distance, she saw birds flying.

"I can't believe it's already June," Helga said. "I wonder what summer's gonna be like."

A/N: Thanks for all the reviews!