A/N: I hope you all have enjoyed the story so far! Here is the second chapter!

Disclaimer: I do not own Hey Arnold.

"Apprehensions At Their Finest"

By that Wednesday morning, things had shifted. He was taking Helga Pataki to Prom. A conversation that had not come up yet, but needed to. Arnold thoughtfully mused for a second, maybe he'd be lucky, and he wouldn't have to retell the story. Gerald pulled up to the school parking lot and turned off the engine.

"So," he gathered his stuff from the back seat, "Did you ask your girl yet?"

Arnold grew stiff with nerves.

Apparently, he wasn't that lucky.

"Um, yeah, we talked… kinda…"

"Kinda?" He snickered over his shoulder, getting his bag. "Whaddya mean kinda? You either asked her or you didn't." He said simply.

Arnold faced the front, gazing out the front window, absent-mindedly watching the other kids hurry into the building. "I mean, I did… ask."

"Okay," He slowed down to look at his friend just gazing out the window.

Now what was his problem?

"So, you're going to Prom then; that's cool, right?" He paused as he stared at his friend, waiting for an answer, as he repeated, "Right?"

But Arnold sat in silence, obviously something else was on his friend's mind, since he hadn't spoken much at all that morning. Gerald set his bag down, and folded his arms. "Okay. What's up, Arnold? What's on your mind?"

Arnold sighed. "Gerald… do you think… it's a good idea to take Helga to Prom?" He asked slowly, still avoiding his friend's questioning eyes.

"What… you don't?"

This was a loaded question.

"It's just… I did ask her, and even though she said yes, it just doesn't seem…" he finally had the courage to look at Gerald as he finished, "It doesn't seem right."

Gerald blinked.

"What do you mean? She wanted to go with you, you asked her, she said yes." He counted on his listed fingers. "What could be wrong with that?"

But Gerald wasn't thinking like Arnold was. That morning, he had time to reflect about why she wanted to go to Prom with him, and it got his wheels turning. So she had wanted to go with Arnold. But why, he thought. Why would she want to go with him other than just to go? Sure she liked him.

But a voice from far away reminded him exactly how much she liked him. A forgotten confession that confused him to no end when he was younger, faded into a questionable background and hadn't seen the light of day until that very morning.

And in that reverie that smacked him in the face that very same morning, he couldn't help but just wonder: was it all still true? Was that the reason she was jealous of Lila in the Eighth Grade? Was that the reason she had stopped pretty much picking on him throughout the rest of High School after that? Aside from the fact that she may have calmed down, as Gerald friendly reminded him, she really didn't talk to him… at all. Not unless they were partnered up for a project occasionally, in which then, she had no choice.

Maybe… that's why she asked if it was a prank. Because she just couldn't believe at face value that he would ever ask her to Prom.

The one place she wanted to go.

With him, of all people.

Arnold sighed again, as he prepared himself for the answer he was about to give.

"What if… what if she wants it to be… ya know… like a date?"

Gerald just looked at his friend, with a smirk he smartly said, "Arnold, this is Prom. Of course it's a date."

But Arnold's eyes said everything to Gerald. Suddenly, he understood where he was coming from.

"But… you don't want it to be."

It wasn't a question.

Arnold took a moment, and carefully responded. "It's not that, it's-"

"Then what is it, Arnold? Either you wanna take the girl or not?"

He paused.

"Sooo… do you not want to take her anymore?" Gerald tried to tread lightly.

Arnold bashfully looked down at the car floorboard as he softly said, "I'm not sure what I want, but I just… I think she might have other… expectations and… I don't think I can live up to that. So… maybe it's best I don't go."

Gerald put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Arnold man, this is Helga Pataki we're talkin' about. What 'expectations' could she possibly have?"

"She likes me, Gerald." He said in a tone that was almost foreboding.

Gerald shrugged. "Well, she wouldn't want to go if she didn't like-"

"No, like," he looked up at him once more with a look Gerald hadn't seen in Arnold in a long time, "She likes me. Like, a lot."

The boys stared at each other for a second in silence, Gerald removed his hand, unsure of the information at hand. "You mean, she-"

"Yeah." He simply said.

"So she still-"

"Mhmm.." Arnold groaned.

"But," Gerald thought, "How do you know-"

"I just do, Gerald." Arnold looked away across the way, watching the kids still piling in. The bell rang, signaling the final warning. Gerald didn't know what to say. Neither of them moved for a whole minute in silence, when he finally spoke up.

"Guess we better get to class."

"Yeah." Arnold grabbed his backpack from the backseat and silently left Gerald's car. As the two boys walked up to the school, Arnold spotted Helga from across the parking lot, as she siphoned in with the rest of the class. His thoughts laid on her all morning.

Gerald and Arnold spoke quietly in Biology, until they got shushed by their teacher, who was currently making them watch a video about Photosynthesis. Gerald opted to pass him a note instead.

It read: 'You okay?'

Arnold scribbled back. 'Yeah, just thinking about Helga and this whole Prom thing.' Gerald nodded and wrote, 'So she still crushin' on you. So what? You already said you'd take her.' He tossed it back.

Arnold sighed heavily with guilt, as he jotted, 'I know, I can't exactly take it back, but I still wanna give her a good time.'

'Okay,' wrote Gerald, 'So then show her.'

'I guess I just feel… bad.'

'Bad about what?'

'I don't know… like… she's expecting so much from me or something and I can't… I just can't.'

Gerald looked over at Arnold, who gave him a helpless shrug. He pondered for a moment, before he scribbled quickly, 'Can't or won't?' Arnold looked up with a side eye.

"What?" he whispered. A collective "shhh…" came from around them, making Arnold blush. Gerald pointed to the note as Arnold flipped it over and wrote, 'What do you mean, "won't"?'

Gerald side-eyed Arnold before he carefully scripted, 'All I'm sayin' man, is you already said yes. Just give the girl a chance.'

Arnold's stomach flipped.

'What if… what if I can't? What if it's all just too much… I can't give her the same thing if I don't feel the same way…' He trailed off.

Gerald paused before he wrote his last words. The bell rang, interrupting their note passing. As they walked out of class, Gerald tossed the note and said, "Read it carefully, my brother. I'm headed to Algebra." He waved over his shoulder, leaving a confused Arnold in the hallway, as he glanced down at their folded conversation.

Gerald's words jumped out at him, as he read his quick scrawl that held so much meaning, yet confused Arnold to no end.

His words read, " You don't have to; Just enjoy the night."

His feelings were jumbled all day Thursday and that night, as he had a sudden urge to just call her. That whole day he had acted weird and she knew it. Between being distracted in English class with their assignment, and him barely speaking a word to her since he had asked her to Prom to begin with, something was off. Maybe everything was just starting to get to him. The pressure, the situation, the whole Prom thing in general.

This is why he didn't want to go.

It was too over the top.

And here he was, agonizing over Helga for days, and she didn't even know it, potentially ruining this moment for him just like he envisioned.

But that wasn't fair, he thought.

This wasn't her fault this time. He just didn't know what to do.

And it was driving him crazy.

'Ya know, for someone who doesn't have the same feelings, you sure are talking about her a lot,' Gerald mused one day at lunch.

Well, of course; He was distraught.

She had a lot of feelings.

And he wasn't sure he had many to match.

But the note.

Gerald and Arnold's note spoke to him in the back of his mind, and his words rang with truth to them.

'You don't have to.'

So why did he feel like he needed to? Why did he feel as though her expectations needed to be met, that he had to say 'yes', and he had to say it back.

This was crazy!

Without another thought, he dialed Helga's number and waited.

After two rings, a voice answered nonchalantly. "Yellow?"

Arnold paused. "Hey… Helga?"

She grew silent, as the phone shuffled, she hurriedly spoke, "Uh, Arnold! Hey, what's up? Did you need somethin'?" Arnold took a deep breath, as calmly asked, "Can we talk?"

A/N: Thank you so much for the reviews so far! This is only the beginning of our adventure. Hang on boys and girls! Catch you guys in the next update! I apologize for the shortness, but it will be spread out! Trust me! :)