Disclaimer: I don't own Hey Arnold.

Warning: Heads up! This chapter includes purging. You've been warned.

It's crazy (that someone could change me)

Helga should have known better than to think that Olga would let her get away with barely eating. In retrospect, she should have known she'd do something like try to make all of Helga's favorite foods and force the entire family together to talk about her.

It all felt so ..weird.

Olgia didn't know Helga's favorite foods, so she made foods she liked. So here Helga was eating Olga's favorite foods as Olga talked about herself with Bob chiming in occasionally, eyes transfixed on the tv to watch The Wheel. Miriam looked like she was in another world as she barely held on to her knife and fork.

"So Helga, what's been going on in your life?" Olga took a bite of her souffle smiling at the younger girl.

Helga blinked, barely touching her food. She almost buckled as she felt her stomach burn again. Criminy. "Same old, same old," She gritted out. She nestled deeper in the jacket she had taken to wearing in the last few days.

"How's your little boyfriend, Arnold?" She giggled looking into Helga's eyes with gentle affection. She seemed genuinely interested to hear how Helga and Arnold were doing.

Still, Helga barely batted an eye and settled for a short statement.

"He's fine. We're doing good."

"Well, what about your friends? Do you have any plans for this weekend?"

"No, Olga not that I'm aware of. I might go out, I might not." She shrugged.

"Okay. Well, how's school going?"

"Criminy, what is with the 20 questions?"

"Answer your sister, Olga." Bob's eyes remained on the TV as he reprimanded (or tried to) Helga.

"Helga, dad. H-E-L-G-A."

"I just wanted to learn more about what's going on in your life, Helga. I think we all could stand to learn more about each other because we're a family." Olga reached over and squeezed Helga's hand. "Besides, I haven't done my big sister duties nearly as much as I'd like to."

Helga rolled her eyes, yanking her hand away from Olga's, "Yeah, well, I'd rather get a root canal."

"Baby sister, -"

"Look can I go, please? I'm not hungry and I want to lie down. I'm not feeling well."

Helga immediately regretted her words. Olga flocked over to her, making such a commotion checking her temperate with the back of her hand and dashing off to the upstairs bathroom for the thermometer. Olga was on some spiel about making sure she followed Mr. SImmon's note and being a terrible big sister for not checking in on her stomach pain.

Miriam and Bob sat at the table eating their slice of souffle, completely uninterested in whatever was going on in front of them. Although Miriam was leaning slightly into her food, having gone a little lighter on the smoothies this morning.

Helga sighed and got up walking up to the bathroom, already thinking of a way to get Olga off her back so she could retreat to her room in peace. While it was true her stomach was giving her trouble and the general feeling of malaise, she knew she should have been grateful someone in the family took time out of their day to ask how she was doing- especially if it was the one person who stole all of the spotlight.

Part of Helga wanted to take a deep breath and talk to Olga honestly about how she was doing as she felt she deserved some truth. The other part of her just wanted this day to end and to ignore the rest of the inhabitants in the house.

She had had a long day and managed to get detention on top of arguing with Phoebe (again) all the while her stomach burned.

She groaned, clutching her stomach. Speak of the devil.

"Baby sister! What's wrong? Is your stomach starting to hurt again?" Helga gritted her teeth. She needed to wait for the pain to go away and for her stomach to settle.

"It's fine. I just want to lie down. okay?"

"Is it your stomach that's hurting?"

"Yes, okay? My stomach hurts and I need to lie down."

"Okay. You go lie down, baby sister and I'll get you some tea."

Helga walked to her bedroom and laid down on her bed, her arm still wrapped around her stomach. She grimaced as she felt her stomach burn more and distantly thought about the souffle she didn't bother to eat or the mystery meat at lunch.

Would she have felt better if she ate or would she still have stomach pain?

"Are you sure you feel okay to go to school?"

"Yes, Criminy. I had a stomach ache, not tetanus. I'll be fine." She lied.

"Okay, but If you change your mind, I'm just a phone call away, Baby Sister." Olga reminded her.

"Fine, fine."

"Here, I packed your lunch so you don't have to buy your own. They're leftovers from last night of your favorite dishes."

"Those are your favorite dishes, not mine. Anyway, thanks, Olga." She paused. "Actually, can I get a ride to school? With my stomach upset, I don't think it's a good idea to walk to school."

"Sure! Let me grab Daddy's car keys. I'm sure he won't mind."

Helga took out her cell phone to send a text to Arnold so the blonde boy wouldn't worry too much about her absence. The last thing she needed was more ammo to fuel his worriedness. 'Hey, Football head, getting a ride to school. See you there.'

"Baby sister! Are you ready to go?"

"Yeah, let's go." Helga looked at her cell, seeing Arnold's reply a few moments later. 'Good morning Helga, okay, see you soon.' She smiled and closed her phone. Even when he wasn't next to her, he could still make her smile.

Olga walked up to her, catching her smile. "Were you texting your little boyfriend?"

Helga's smile fell and she rolled her eyes, beckoning her sister to follow her. "Let's go before I'm late. and yes, I was texting him."

"That's so cute. You two are so adorable together."

Helga blushed but cleared her throat, "Thanks, now let's get going, please. I have a few things I need to do before the first bell."

Helga closed her locker and walked up to the boys and Phoebe walking her way. Still annoyed with Phoebe, she ignored the girl and focused on the blonde approaching her. She smirked and reached out her hand to Arnold - a rare move on her part. Normally it was Arnold who raised his hand or initiated hand-holding.

"See you later, you two." Arnold smiled at the two and grabbed Helga's hand walking the two to his locker. She didn't miss Phoebe's sad look sent her way.

"How was your night, Helga?"

"Meh. Olga's been in town and she's been acting weird. Asking me all of these questions. I'm sure your night was better, football head. How'd the project go?"

"We're still working on it. Almost finished. We had to move it to my house because Tinsley's got in the middle and sort of destroyed a part of it." Helga leaned against the boy as he explained how his night went - complete with how his parents surprised him with a new stereo.

"A new stereo? Wow, bucko. What was the occasion? Don't tell me I missed some super secret anniversary of yours."

"No, they got it for me just because."

"That's wonderful Arnold." Helga smiled sincerely and kissed the boy's cheek. "Out of everyone, you would be the one to deserve something like that."

She watched with sweet eyes as her boyfriend blushed and squeezed her hand back. "You'll have to come by sometime and see it."

Helga sighed. "As soon as I get done with this week's detention, I'm free. I can't believe I have it for the rest of this week.

"That's not so bad. Maybe you can come over this Saturday? You'll finish detention and we'll both be free. We can spend the whole day together?" He smiled at her, ever the optimist.

Her stomach started burning again. "Sure. Let's do Saturday."

"Are you ready to eat?"

"Lead the way, bucko. Olga packed me lunch today."

Arnold found her hand and squeezed it as they walked down to the cafeteria. He had remembered his conversation with the woman last night and secretly hoped the lunch would be eaten since it should be a bunch of Helga's favorites. At least he hoped she took some of his advice. It sounded like she listened to him surprised when he nixed the girls' night idea.

"That's great, right? I know she's not your favorite cook, but it's at least something you like right?"

"Meh, it's a bunch of her favorite dishes. It was so weird last night, she spent most of dinner trying to get to "know" me and asking all of these questions. Compared to the night before it was like day and night. She was almost as bad as you, football head."

"That's good! I mean the part about her wanting to get to know you. It sounds like she was trying to talk to you and take an interest in your life. It's what you wanted, right?"

"Yeah, I guess. It just was weird is all. Maybe she was just trying to learn more about me and I should be "open" to it.."

"Maybe, if you think it would help you two to become closer."

"Yeah." Helga sighed. She found their usual spot in the cafeteria and waited for her boyfriend to join her. She looked down at the container of well-packed lunch. Frowning at the contents she looked up and spotted Phoebe and Gerald also in line with Arnold.

Sighing she looked around and spotted Harold. "Hey, pink boy!" She called out. There was no way she could eat the leftovers. Not with how her stomach was feeling and how she felt, in general, these days.

"Huh? What do you want, Helga?" The fat boy frowned looking at the blonde girl with his mouth and hands covered in food. He was sitting with Sid and Stinky

"Here. It's lunch I don't want. You're always eating everything, might as well eat that too." Harold raised an eyebrow but nodded as he opened the container of food. "You might want to heat it before you scarf it down your throat." She meant for that to come out nicer than how it did. Oh well.

"Thanks, Helga!" i'Maroon,'/i Helga thought to herself as she watched Harold dive into the leftovers. She should have thought to do this sooner. Any food she didn't want, she could easily give it to Harold who wouldn't ask any questions and just eat it.

"Yeah, yeah." i'Don't ever say I wasn't nice to you.',/i she thought to herself. She walked back to her seat and waited for the blonde football head to meet her.

She leaned against the table, bracing herself as her stomach started to burn again.

"Are you okay? Is it your stomach?" She felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked up into Arnold's sweet green eyes. She bit her lip and nodded, reaching down and cradling her stomach as she waited for the pain to disappear before it would eventually come back.

She felt hot and temporarily overheated by the jacket she had taken to wearing recently. "It's fine, I just need to wait for the pain to leave." She groaned.

"Would it help if you ate something?" Arnold asked rubbing her shoulder, at a loss as to how to help her.

"Do you want me to get the nurse, Helga?" Phoebe had asked, placing her tray on the table across from the pair.

Gerald sat his tray down, "What's wrong with Pataki?"

"No, and no. My stomach just burns, it's okay."

"How long has it felt like that?" Arnold asked concerned.

"A couple of hours." Helga grounded out.

"Was it burning when you were in the bathroom yesterday, too?" Phoebe had asked.

Helga was conflicted, she could lie and say it wasn't hurting yesterday but would they believe her?

"N-No. My stomach was fine yesterday, Phoebe."

"You were clutching it in pain yesterday the same way you're doing now. I'll get the nurse, maybe she could-"

"No!" Helga yelled out. "No. Leave it alone, please." She wrapped herself deeper into her jacket as she watched the three in front of her. The last thing she needed was more meddling.

"I know you don't want anyone to meddle, but you're not feeling well," Arnold said worried.

"I feel fine, my stomach just burns." Helga gritted her teeth.

"Who are you kidding, Pataki? You're practically in tears hunched over the seat. You don't look so good. You might want to let Phoebe get the nurse and you can-" Gerald remarked.

"What I need is for you to leave it alone." Helga lowered her voice as she waited for the burning to even out. It'd been burning for a little while so it must be ending soon, she reasoned.

"Let me take you to the nurse to lie down, please." Arnold wrapped his arm around Helga's shoulders, kissing her head.

"No. I'm fine." Helga shook her head, lowering her arm. She took a deep breath and sure enough, the burning had stopped. "Really, it stopped just now. I'm alright."

Arnold looked at Gerald and Phoebe before looking back at Helga. He placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. "I think you should go to the nurse still. Maybe laying down will help. It's worth trying."

She breathed out. "Okay, if you really want me to go. I'll go." She got up slowly, knowing that any quick movements lately made her dizzy. "I can walk myself, Arnold. Really. Eat. I'll be okay." She tried to smile at the blonde boy as convincingly as possible. "Stop worrying Football head. Your hair's going to turn all gray before the seventh grade," She squeezed his hand and walked out of the room carrying her backpack.

Helga made her way reluctantly to the nurse's office. She really didn't want to go but she promised Arnold she'd go if nothing for his peace of mind. Her stomach didn't seem to be cooperating

She distantly thought about her homework and realized detention probably was the only place she'd be able to get it done. Detention, after getting past the lame brains and doofuses, wasn't that bad. It was kind of like a study hall and she could do her homework in peace and have no meddling at all.

"Helga? Is it your head again?"

"No, it's my stomach this time. It won't stop burning."

"Hm, did you eat anything today? Sometimes an empty stomach can make things worse if you have acid reflux or had something the night before that just didn't digest correctly."

"Yeah, I had some toast. I wasn't feeling up for anything heavy."

"I have some ginger ale and crackers. Why don't you try that and see if it helps settle your stomach? If that doesn't work, we might need to call your parents to pick you up."

"Okay. Let's try the ginger ale. If that doesn't work, can I try lying down instead? I have detention later today and I can't miss it."

"Let's see how the ginger ale does. I don't want you to leave here with no way to relieve the burning. I wish I could give you an antacid so we could see how that helps."

Nurse Shelly escorted the girl to sit on a bed. She got out some ginger ale and crackers. "Do you have any other symptoms besides the burning? Any tenderness in the area? Or fever?"

Helga blinked, recalling the last few hours, "Nope. Just my stomach."

Nurse Shelly nodded."Well, let's try these." She sat the crackers in front of the girl, opening a fresh packet. She opened the ginger ale and sat it alongside the crackers.

Helga took one cracker and bit into it, recoiling at the taste of the cracker. Eating was slowly becoming one of her least favorite pastimes. It didn't help that every time she ate she was in front of other people who kept staring at her.

It made it difficult.

"Don't be shy, honey, take a few more." The Nurse smiled at Helga. Helga nodded and took two more crackers, eating them slowly.

She reached for the can of ginger ale and drank some.

The burning died down a little but it just became dull. That was better than nothing. Helga rubbed her stomach and took a deep breath, "I think I'm feeling better."

"Can I lay down and let it digest some? I think it could help."

"Sure, dear. Just take a few more crackers and some more sips of the ginger ale first."

Helga complied, distantly wondering what was in the crackers and why they felt like they were weighing down her stomach. Even though it felt better she could feel her stomach fill up.

Helga sighed as she finally went to lie down. The nurse had her not only finish the entire row of crackers but also the ginger ale. Helga was stuffed and did not expect this much food would be in her stomach.

Moving slowly to get comfortable she closed her eyes and willed herself to take a short nap. Her stomach was feeling better. Stubbornly, she knew she should just eat to save herself from the burning but she refused to believe that would be the answer to her problems. Refused.

She didn't like feeling weighed down. She felt gross. Disgusting. Overwhelmed.

She blinked a few times and stared at the ceiling of the room. She was in the last bed and the curtains around her moved faintly as she heard other kids move around outside of the bed.

Helga rubbed her eyes and tried to still herself to avoid having to get up again. She moved again to her side and took some calming breaths. She should have refused that nurse. Should have told her that she had enough at 10 crackers and left it at that. But Helga not wanting to go back entirely to her old ways, obeyed the reasonable authority figure and did what was asked: eat more. It didn't help the nurse stood right in front of her almost like she knew the girl wouldn't have eaten more if she wasn't being stared down. She should have told that old-

"Helga?" She heard a familiar voice creep up to her curtain.

"Arnold!" Helga looked up and saw her boyfriend poke his head through the curtain.

"How are you feeling?" He closed the curtain behind him and rubbed her hand.

"Better. My stomach's not burning anymore."

"That's great news!" He said excitedly. "Are you feeling well enough to go to the next period? We missed you at lunch."

"Yeah, I think so." Helga smiled when the boy pecked her cheek. He helped her out of the bed. Helga turned around and grabbed her backpack off the chair next to the bed.

"I think I'm feeling better Nurse Shelly. Can I go?"

"Are you sure you're feeling better Helga? Your stomach's stopped burning?"

"Yes."

"Okay, then. Yes, you can go. But make sure you keep something in your stomach throughout the day. I think your stomach felt like it was burning because you didn't have much of anything in it. It's important to eat even when you feel like you're not hungry, Helga."

"Yes, I will. Thanks." Helga almost turned red as she remembered Arnold was right next to her she got practically scolded.

Helga practically pulled Arnold out of the room with her as they walked to their next-period class. "She's right you know. Did she give you anything to help with the burning?"

"She made me eat an entire packet of crackers and a can of ginger ale. I can't eat anything else. I swear I feel like I'm going to swell up like one of those puffer fishes."

"Well, maybe that's not such a bad thing. At least your stomach isn't burning anymore and you have enough in it to function like normal."

"Pfft, if you say so football head."

"I was really worried about you, Helga. You looked like you were going to cry at lunch. I've never seen you look like that before."

"I was fine, my stomach just ached. That's all."

"Whatever you say, Helga," Arnold said, not wanting to argue with his girlfriend. He was just glad she was feeling better.

Helga couldn't take the fullness anymore and caved. She raised her hand in her math class asking to use the bathroom.

She wrapped herself deeper in her pink jacket as she waited for the teacher to sign her pass. She feigned needing to pee and rushed out of the room.

Sighing, she knew what she had to do. For years she made fun of those stupid models in Pre-Teen Miss and Teen Miss magazines and mocked them for starving themselves and not eating. Here she was doing the exact same thing for different reasons.

And even more dramatic irony, here she was heading to her locker to grab some toothpaste and a toothbrush she kept in her locker from a previous dentist appointment, ready to take it to the next level.

She closed her locker and raced to the bathroom, knowing that she could get another detention if a hall monitor or teacher caught her taking a detour.

'I'm really about to do this, huh?' Helga thought to herself. She took a deep breath and left her toothbrush and toothpaste by the faucet.

She went into the stall closest to the sink and locked it. Shoving a finger down her throat, she retched over the white porcelain. She kept going until she saw green bile come up and stopped. 'Criminy' Helga thought to herself as she just purged for the first time, in a school of all places. But, these were grave circumstances and she couldn't walk around the rest of the day with this much food in her stomach. Not when she was already feeling this worthless.

Wiping her mouth on the toilet paper and flushing the toilet Helga promptly turned to the sink and washed her hands first. "Can't believe I'm doing this. At least I feel lighter." She mumbled to herself. She then started brushing her teeth in the sink.

She was just glad no one caught her in the bathroom trying desperately to rid herself of the crackers. She really was worthless.