SCREEEEEECH! The squeal of the brakes jolted Arnold back to reality. He blinked quickly to adjust to the lighting. The sun had set while he was consumed in his reverie but he felt the darkness comfort him. It had been a long day.

"Arnold? You're my last stop of the night. Are you okay?" The bus driver peered at him in the oversized rearview mirror at the front of the bus.

"I'm fine, Patty," he said as he gathered his things. "PS 118 just isn't the same as when we were there," he chuckled. They said their goodbyes as Arnold ascended the steps and disappeared into the boarding house behind the stream of animals on the stoop.

"Sweetheart? Is that you?" Arnold rounded the corner to the kitchen where Lila stood with a smile on her face. "I've missed you."

"I missed you too, babe," he replied through her kisses. "How was your day?"

"It was ever so interesting! You'll never guess who I ran into at Green Meats!" she gushed. "Helga is back in town!"

At the sound of her name, his heart dropped. Memories of spitballs and knuckle sandwiches flooded his brain and then almost instantaneously the memory of their last encounter sent waves of emotions through his body. That moment atop the tower of FTI when she confessed her love for him was overwhelming… and that kiss… man, that kiss.

But after all was said and done, Helga had denied her feelings and he accepted it. Big Bob shipped her out shortly afterwards as a punishment for ruining his business deal with FTI. Bob kept his daughter's whereabouts a secret and no one had seen or heard from Helga G. Pataki for past fifteen years. She's back. "Oh?" he asked attempting to mask his curiosity. "Did you speak to her?"

"Oh heavens no! She was too busy to chat," Lila replied. Arnold slid into a seat at the kitchen table as Lila passed him a newspaper. "It really is sad that she's here under these circumstances but it was ever so nice to see her after so long!"

What's sad? Arnold immediately regretted asking that question as he opened the newspaper. The big bold print at the center of the page caught his attention: Beeper Queen Miriam Pataki Passes Away. Oh no.

Dinner was a blur. Arnold was dimly aware of his surroundings but he felt like his heart was going to beat right out of his chest. He had to devote all of his brain power to keeping his nerves calm. Besides, not much had changed in fifteen years; Oskar and Susie bickered, Ernie chomped loudly, Mr. Hyunh complained, Grandma practiced kung fu, and Grandpa spent half of dinner in the bathroom. At the end of the night, he had somehow found himself in his old bedroom consumed in his thoughts.

Arnold reached up into a hidden compartment above his bed to retrieve the diary. After Big Bob had effectively kiboshed his many attempts to contact Helga, Arnold had snuck into the Pataki residence to snoop and found Helga's diary in the process. He shook his head and brushed the years of caked on dust away from the cover. He hadn't read it since Lila accepted his proposal two years ago. He flipped through pages of poetry and musings, doodles and confessions, tales of love and of heartache. I really thought she hated me back then, he thought as he stashed the book back in its hiding place. He made the climb to the roof and sat on the ledge, dangling his legs off the side as he looked up at the sapphire sky glittering with diamonds.

"Babe?" Lila squeaked. "There you are. Is everything okay?" She wore her concern on her beautifully freckled face. "You've been off since you've been home."

"I'm fine… I just hate when we have to renew our accreditation." He wasn't lying—not completely anyway. The accreditation process really did stress him out but that wasn't the only reason he was withdrawn… but Lila wouldn't understand.

Lila beamed at him, "Oh but you're so good at your job!" She stepped closer to him and pulled his signature blue cap off his head and onto her short red hair. "This looks so much better on me," she teased.

Arnold smiled at her. "It looks much better on our bedroom floor." I must be crazy thinking about Helga G. Pataki when Lila is everything I've ever wanted. Arnold retreated into the boarding house after his fiancé, determined to put all visions of pigtails and pink bows out of his mind.

"I'm telling you, man, she's not Helga! I'm convinced Big Bob killed her or something then hired somebody to play her for Miriam's funeral." Arnold stared in disbelief at his best friend after hearing his theory.

"What do you mean?"

"She's, you know, she's hot. She's got two eyebrows, first of all," Gerald started.

"Maybe she bought tweezers?" Arnold offered.

"Well she doesn't slouch anymore."

"Bob did send her to finishing school somewhere in California, Gerald," Phoebe chimed in.

"Well how do you explain that she isn't loud, obnoxious, bossy, or rude?" Gerald challenged.

"You said yourself that you only talked to her for a minute! How do you know she isn't any of those things anymore?" asked Arnold.

"Man, I don't know... I was focusing on the, um, other attributes she gained while she was away," Gerald replied nervously side glancing Phoebe.

Phoebe rolled her eyes at him. "Of course you were."

Arnold gazed towards the sky, stretching his limbs and taking in all of this information. Gerald was jogging in place beside him while Phoebe stretched her hamstrings on the ground. Saturday morning runs had been a ritual for their group in preparation for Arnold and Lila's upcoming nuptials. Lila was unable to make this session because of work but Arnold was glad he didn't have to stifle his curiosity any longer.

"Loser buys breakfast!" Gerald called as he took off down the sidewalk. Phoebe groaned but sprinted after him. "Remember I like my eggs scrambled, Phoebe!"

Arnold let them have their little head start—after all, it would be unsportsmanlike if he didn't level the playing field since he had been a track star in high school and college. After a few moments, Arnold took off after his friends on an easy jog. Phoebe and Gerald were notorious for exerting too much energy too early during their runs and Arnold knew he would catch up with them in no time.

He loved to take time to appreciate the neighborhood and how much it hadn't changed. He waved to his neighbors and some of his students as he pumped his legs a little harder up a hill. His breathing was even and measured as he felt his muscles tighten slightly. He reached the peak of the hill in no time and picked up momentum on the way down, thinking about what Gerald had said earlier.

I wonder if she really is that different, he mused. He tried to imagine her but all he could envision was the person she had left as. He shook his thoughts away when he saw his friends huffing and puffing at the bottom of the hill and raced a little harder to catch up to them. The end was so close—he could almost taste the pancakes he would gleefully scarf in front of them.

And then he saw her.

Her long blonde hair cascaded past her shoulders as she exited the flower shop. "Thanks, Mrs. Vitello," her soft, angelic voice called out.

Before he could calculate an alternative trajectory, his brain shut down. "Watch out!" he yelled. He had built up too much momentum, though, and crashed into her.

"Criminy!" she screamed. Her coffee toppled out of her hands and her blue eyes went dark for a minute. "I needed that caffeine," she muttered.

Arnold stared at her. She was different… but he sensed that she was the same somehow, too. She had certainly filled out the way that Gerald had described but she was also tan and slightly taller. What was Gerald talking about? I would know those eyes anywhere. He could not bear to tear his gaze away from her even as she scowled at him.

"No, no, I'm okay. I didn't like standing anyway," she chuckled. "I thought Eugene was the accident prone one, Arnoldo."

"Are you okay, Helga?" Phoebe asked.

"Yeah can you help me up, though?"

"Helping!" Phoebe chirped.

"Geez, where's the damn fire anyway? You were running like a madman!" Helga teased Arnold.

"There was—pancakes and um, I was, um, racing," Arnold huffed. He wasn't sure if he was out of breath from running, falling, or seeing her.

Helga blinked her wide eyes at him while the corners of her mouth twitched upwards before she erupted with laughter. She gasped for air and asked, "You were racing for pancakes?!" She wiped the tears from her cheeks.

"Loser buys breakfast," he mumbled back. I sound like an idiot.

Helga nodded. "Well is there coffee at breakfast?"

"Of course!" Phoebe interjected

"Well, let's go then," Helga said. "Loser will also buy me a caffeine replacement!" She and Phoebe sashayed ahead, leaving Gerald to help Arnold up.

"We're not done with our run yet, Helga," Arnold said.

"Yeah, you are," she called out over her shoulders.

"Well, I was wrong," Gerald said sadly.

"About what?"

"She's still bossy," he shrugged.