Disclaimer: I don't own Hey Arnold.

Warning: Future chapters will contain depictions of purging and anorexia. Just a heads up.

It's crazy (that someone could change me)

So far in the last few days, Olga had been relatively lenient with Helga and her eating habits. She didn't pressure the girl outright but that didn't mean she didn't let a passive-aggressive comment or two out about the girl's "lack of appetite".

Helga sat in deep thought in her language arts class contemplating just how she was going to navigate the next few days ahead during Olga's visit and deal with the meddling at school.

It beat having a football-headed boy constantly ask her what she ate and how much she ate of something. His meddling was getting on her nerves. He proved himself to be relentless and didn't give up easily.

If she had to stomach one more day with Arnold asking about her eating, she would go insane. She loved the blonde boy but there was only so much meddling she could take on top of already dealing with her stomach burning and her hunger increasing, she felt like she was going insane.

She already conceded twice and ate what the boy put in front of her, so why couldn't he just back off?

Phoebe seemed to have gotten the point after Helga snapped the last time a few days ago. The girl hadn't been prodding or picking at her. Maybe she took Gerald's advice finally and left the girl alone.

Now if only Arnold could stop the ridiculous idea of "helping" her. She didn't need help. She was fine as she was.

She raised her hand at Mr. Simmons asking to be excused to use the restroom.

"Of course Helga." She got out of her chair ignoring the eyes on her as she walked out of the room. 'When is Arnold going to give me a break? I'm just going to use the bathroom, not crawl into a hole and die.'

If two years ago you had told her she'd be working overtime to get out from under her boyfriend's meddling eyes, she would have scoffed and threatened you with Old Betsy and the five Avengers. But this was her life right now and she had to find a way to get Arnold completely off her back. It seemed her tactic of yelling at him only served to push him further into her life, even more so determined to help her with her 'undisclosed' problem.

But the thing was Helga didn't have a problem and she didn't need help with her nonexistent problem. No matter how much she tried to tell the boy. He didn't take no for an answer and he certainly didn't take her not being hungry as a legitimate reason.

She walked to the bathroom in relative solitude, deep in her thoughts. She wrapped her jacket around her tighter as she walked into one of the stalls and sat on the toilet seat.

Was not eating such a bad thing? It wasn't like she was hurting anyone or bullying anyone so everyone could be at least relieved to know that.

She hadn't bullied anyone in a few weeks which was a new record for her. Just around the time she had stopped eating consistently. "Ow." She leaned over the seat, hunched over clutching her stomach. "Criminy, lousy stomach." She muttered.

The pain erupted and she nearly fell over the seat. Grunting she counted to 10 focusing on taking deep breaths to give herself a chance to focus on something other than the pain. 'It just needs to pass and then I can get up and go back to class'

"..Helga?"

Crap.

"Helga, are you in here?" Phoebe called out.

Helga groaned. "What is it, Pheebs?"

"You've been in here for 20 minutes. Mr. Simmons wanted me to come and check on you before class ends."

"I'm fine just ..go back," Helga grunted. She sat up and almost screamed at the pain shooting in her stomach.

"Are you okay?"

"Yes!" Helga took a breath, ignoring the pain to stand up long enough to exit the stall. "I'm fine, see? I was sitting down. I needed a minute to myself."

"Oh. Okay. Well, do you want to head back now?" Helga nodded her head and took a step forward, Her stomach lurched again and she cried out, falling on her knees, groaning.

"Helga?" Helga looked at the brunette.

"You didn't see anything, got it?" Helga bit out. The last thing she needed was darn stomach issues.

"You look under the weather. Why don't I get the nurse and -"

"NO!" Helga screamed out. "No. You don't need to get the nurse because there's nothing wrong with me."

Phoebe bit her lip. "I won't get the nurse then."

"Great. Now give me a few minutes and we can leave." Helga huffed out. She sat up after a few minutes of waiting for the pain to leave and got up slowly.

Phoebe just watched in silence the scene before her. She didn't want Helga to bite her head off again.

"Let's go Pheebs." Helga stood up straight and began walking out. Tightening her coat around her thin waist. The two made the uneasy trek back to the classroom.

Helga grunted again as the pain in her stomach started again.

"Are you sure you don't need the nurse?"Pheobe murmured, quietly watching her friend in anguish and feeling completely useless.

"CRIMINY! WILL YOU GET OFF MY BACK PHOEBE? I DON'T NEED YOU ON TOP OF ME EVERY TIME I SO MUCH AS TAKE A STEP. WILL YOU AND EVERYONE ELSE JUST GET OFF MY BACK? I DON'T NEED THIS CRAP, OKAY?" Helga screamed. She huffed and opened the door to the classroom, ignoring the taken aback expression on Mr. Simmon's face and the looks of shock from her classmates.

Helga rolled her eyes and walked to her desk, tightening her jacket around herself again. She stared at her desk for the rest of the class period.

The bell rang and she got up to get her books when Mr. Simmons called out her name, "Helga, can I see you please?"

Helga bit back another scowl as she walked up to the man ignoring Arnold's glance toward them.

When the class had filed out, Mr. Simmons closed the door and turned around to the girl.

"Thanks for seeing me. I'll write you a pass for your next class."

"Sure."

"I wanted to make sure everything was okay. I noticed you haven't quite frankly been acting like yourself and I know you weren't feeling well yesterday. Are you sure everything is okay?"

"Yeah, everything's fine. I'm fine."

"It sounded like something happened between you and Phoebe and I know how close you are. Did you want to talk about it?"

"No, Mr. Simmons. Nothing's wrong between us. She was just nosing into something and I asked her to stop."

"Well Helga, that's also what I wanted to talk to you about. The yelling. Can we find a way to talk to one another respectfully? I don't think you would appreciate being yelled at the way you had yelled at Phoebe. I'm sure she was just trying to help when she was "nosing" in."

"Okay. I'll try." Helga shrugged. The pain in her stomach started up again and she grunted softly. She didn't need Simmon's on her case as well.

"Everything alright? Is it your stomach?"

Helga looked at the man and shook her head. "It's nothing I'm fine."

"It's okay, you can tell me, Helga. Is there something going on at home?"

She sighed, "Really I am okay. No, nothing is going on at home. Thank you for asking. Can I go now, please?" She stared at the man.

The girl looked like she'd been through the wringer. She held her face in a pained expression and it was obvious something was bothering her. Mr. Simmons guessed if he listened well enough to the rumors around the class that it had to do with Helga and Pheobe's fight. This was alarming to him as while the girl fought with almost everyone, she never fought with Phoebe. Never.

It was clear the girl wasn't feeling well and he wasn't going to get anywhere with Helga. She was Bob Pataki's daughter, the king of emotional unavailability so he had guessed it only made sense that Helga wouldn't be as open to him as any other student in his class. She was a tough one but that didn't make her any less deserving of a listening ear. It was true she never went to him but that didn't mean one day she wouldn't. He looked at the intelligent girl and nodded. "Yes, let me write you a pass for your next class and you can be on your way."

"Thank you."

He wrote out the pass and risking one more look at the girl he noticed how washed out she look, and cold. She was practically shaking in her pink jacket. Maybe she was coming down with a cold. Nevertheless, Mr. Simmons decided he'd make a home call to the Pataki's and hopefully get through to them to check on their daughter. He had hoped the girl was right that she wasn't experiencing any family issues.

Helga took the pass out of his outstretched hand and nodded her head. "Thanks. See you tomorrow."

Helga raced into the empty hall and to her locker and opened it. She had to rush to her next class because of all of this. 'Thanks Pheebs.' She thought bitterly.

Great. Now she had Mr. Simmons of all people on her case too. Why did the universe hate her so much?

She groaned again as she felt the bottom of her stomach burn again. Closing her locker she walked right to her next class, gritting her teeth to avoid crying out. She couldn't have another repeat like in the bathroom earlier. That would not end well for her.

"Helga. Thank you for joining us." Mrs. Sprelly greeted the girl unimpressed with her lateness.

Helga rolled her eyes and held out her late pass. "I got held up in my last class, my apologies." She muttered the last part sarcastically. Not even a minute in the class, and Helga's awful attitude was making another appearance.

"You don't sound sincere." Mrs. Sprelly crossed her arms across her chest.

"Well, I'm not." 'Just calm down old girl, You can still apologize and all will be well, mostly.', Helga tried to calm herself down. She could see the shocked look on her classmates' faces as she once again lashed out.

She couldn't help it she felt like everyone was on her back and the burning in her stomach just wouldn't stop.

"Well, you can go on down to the principal's office until you find some manners."

"Pfft and that still wouldn't be enough to keep me interested in your boring class." Helga turned around and slammed the classroom door. She could hear her classmates' laughter fill the room.

'Criminy, what is wrong with me?' She thought.

She had no choice but to go down to the principal's office. She gritted her teeth as she entered Principal Wartz's office preparing for the tongue-lashing of her life.

She knocked once and was told to enter.

"Young Lady, I hear you were disruptive in Mrs. Sprelly's class. Would you like to tell me why?"

"Not really."

"Well, you can have detention for four days to think about your disrespect towards your teacher. Although, I should be surprised you've never had a detention before, Ms. Pataki. There is a first for everything." She tuned out Wartz's tirade about the lackluster pursuits of kids these days and tried to calm the rollercoaster that was her stomach. One second it was burning and then it wasn't. Then it was. It was too much to keep track of.

"Okay."

Principal Wartz blinked. "You've never had a detention before and you're not at all remorseful for getting your first one?"

Helga shrugged, "I guess."

"I see. Well take this slip with you to the detention room and be there immediately after school. Not a second later or you will be liable for another one."

"How many of these do I have again?" She asked again, begging her stomach silently to stop burning. She almost wanted to see a doctor for how much her stomach had been hurting. She was half worried she'd have another episode like in the bathroom in front of Wartz.

"Four for the rest of the week."

"Okay."

"Okay?"

"Okay, Principal Wartz."

He nodded, "You are dismissed." 'Finally'.

Helga sprang out of her seat and walked out of the door, going to the secretary's to get a pass.

The secretary looked up from her screen. "A pass?"

"Yes, so I can go to my class?"

'Honey, you won't need one. Class is over."

Helga blinked. Completely taken aback by how much time she spent in the principal's office.

"Oh."

She walked out of the secretary's office and to her locker and groaned, this time out of dread. Her next period was lunch.

She watched as students fled the halls and swarmed around her going to their next period. For a second she was lost in the sea of kids. Clothes and backpacks swirled into one big glob of color. She looked around her, seemingly frozen in time.

Sometimes she wished she could disappear.

She walked into the cafeteria and spotted Phoebe with Gerald. Looking around she couldn't find where Arnold went since he wasn't in line or sitting in their usual space.

"Helga. Were you waiting on me?" She blinked and looked to her left, seeing her boyfriend.

"Yeah."

"I went to the bathroom. Are you ready to eat?" He reached out his hand asking her silently to take his. She complied and they made their way to the lunch line.

He grabbed a tray for her hesitantly and she took it. She took chocolate milk for herself and him and gave him the last tapioca. He looked over at her, raising an eyebrow. "What? I can be nice when I want to."

He smiled, squeezing her hand. ' Her hand feels so cold.' Arnold thought to himself.

She grabbed herself a plate of today's mystery meat and looked over at the blonde seeing his questioning gaze," Going to need to fuel up for today's detention."

Arnold blinked, fighting with himself to ask why she had taken the liberty of arguing with one of their teachers out of the blue. "Why did you talk to Mrs. Sprelly like that, Helga?"

The girl shrugged, "I could ask the same thing about her."

"She's our teacher." He reminded her.

"And I'm the student who walked in with a late pass because I got held up by another teacher." She replied.

"I wanted to ask about that too. Do you think it was okay to yell at Phoebe like that?"

"She wouldn't mind her own business. Besides, what did she tell you?" Helga whipped her head at the boy's mention of Phoebe's name. Her heart pounded at the thought of Phoebe blabbering to Arnold about what happened in the bathroom.

"Nothing. She hasn't said anything to me. She barely said anything to Gerald. What happened in the bathroom?"

"I-I just wanted her to leave me alone, okay? You two have been on my back for the last few days. There's only so much I can take before I lose it! I was in the bathroom just trying to get a few minutes to myself and she just barged in - interrupting it."

"You were gone for 20 minutes. Do you blame us for thinking something happened to you?"

"No, I- I just want some space, okay? Not from you but from you both asking me about stuff like that."

Arnold, clearly hurt by this, nodded. "Space. Okay. I can give you space."

"Football head, I just meant in asking me about food and eating and stuff. I still very much want to —want to be around you, alright" She blushed mumbling the last part.

Arnold blushed and smiled at her. "Whatever you say, Helga."

By the time Helga left the school she was already done with the day. She had what felt like one of the worst days in quite a while. She marched up the stairs and into the front door of the house.

"Baby Sister?" 'Oh Criminy, I forgot about her.'

"What?"

"Oh, your home, finally. Get in the living room," Bob ordered. 'Well hello to you too, Bob.', she thought to herself.

Helga walked into the living room, backpack in hand.

"We got a call from your teacher today. Something about you yelling in class?"

"Yeah, and?"

"Hey! Do not take that tone with me."

"Yeah, I was yelling. I said I'd stop and I did. Anything else?"

"Well, that's not all baby sister. Daddy? Don't you remember what else Mr. Simmons said?

"What's this about you not feeling well? You look fine to me, girl."

"I am fine. Mr. Simmons was just worried. It must have been the pork rinds I had last night after dinner. Sometimes I have indigestion the next day." She lied.

Bob rubbed his neck, he wasn't good at talking much. "Okay, then get upstairs and do your homework."

"Okay." She got up and walked up the stairs to her room. She didn't tell them about the detention or the nurse's office from yesterday. It would be more of a headache than anything else for her. She couldn't talk to her family the way other kids could talk to theirs.

They frankly wouldn't understand.

Olga watched her sister walk up the stairs. Something was off about Helga and Olga wasn't sure what it was. She had guessed it had something to do with school, but it seemed like whatever it was Helga was more willing to keep it to herself than express whatever it was.

She wanted to speak to someone who knew her little sister well. She took out the phone book and found the name she was looking for. Taking a breath, she wrote down the number and pulled out her phone.

"Hi, Arnold? This is Olga Pataki, you're dating my baby sister, Helga?"

"Hi, Olga. What can I do for you?"

"I noticed my baby sister's been different lately. She's not been eating as much and she's moodier than usual. Did you two fight?"

Arnold rubbed the back of his neck. He was afraid of this. "No, Olga. We didn't fight. I've noticed she's not eaten much lately too. Sometimes I can get her to take a few bites of something but other than that, I haven't been able to get her to eat much like today. And If I am being honest with you, I think she's lying about how much she eats at home."

"Oh no," Olga sniffed. "How long has she been like this?"

"I only noticed a week ago but I don't know how long she hasn't been eating at all."

"Well, I'll just have to get her to eat more."

"If I can ask: why don't you and Mr. and Mrs. Pataki try talking to her?"

Olga wrinkled her nose, "Daddy isn't the most emotionally sensitive. But Mommy might be able to help. OH!" Arnold moved the phone out of his ear at the shrill voice ringing out. "That's perfect, we'll have a girl's day this weekend and try to talk to her. This will be perfect. I'll make my award-winning finger sandwiches and Mommy can make some punch."

"No offense Olga but are you sure that's the best approach? Wouldn't sitting together and talking about this work better?"

"I'm sure! Besides it'll be nice to give baby sister a makeover."

Arnold had to hold back a sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Olga I don't think that's a good idea. Helga hates makeovers. If you want to get her to open up, what about trying to do things she likes? Like watching a Wrestlemania match or maybe asking her about how she's doing? I'm sure she wouldn't mind you asking her about her life and what she's been up to since you went back to college."

"You know Arnold, that's not a bad idea. Do you think she might get hostile if I ask about her?"

"As long as you focus on Helga and how she feels, I don't think you can go wrong."

"Oh thank you so much, Arnold! You are such a good little boyfriend to my sister. I'll plan a nice dinner with her favorite foods and Mommy and Daddy are there. Would you like to come, Arnold?"

"I don't know if that would be a good idea. I think the best way to get through to Helga is to solve this as a family."

Olga smiled, "Okay well if you change your mind, you're always invited over for dinner. Bye Arnold," She set the phone down ready to prepare for tonight.

A/N: I know Helga likely has received detention but in this one, she hasn't before. I can't speak for it things are getting worse or better but I will say it's progressing. It's kind of interesting cross-posting on two sites. I'm about XX chapters deep on AO3, but on here I'm just getting started. I've been trying to pace chapters as I put them out but realized if I did it that way I'd be posting weekly for a year. Which I'm not going to do, I'm sorry. So, you can expect updates here to be more frequent until I'm on par with where I am on AO3. I hope that makes sense. Thanks for all the support and attention! It doesn't go unnoticed. :) Engagement is nice but not expected. I know there are different strokes for different folks.

Anywho, thanks for hanging in there and being on this journey with me! I did add on a TW for the story summary that I will be adding into chapters as needed.