Arnold Loves Helga 4

"Well Arnold, looks like you dug your own grave, man." Gerald said sympathetically.

"I can't believe she did that! Now thanks to whoever wrote that message on the wall, I have to go on a date with Helga!" Arnold groaned.

It was after school that day, and Arnold and Gerald were walking to the boarding house together. Of course, it had been a long and tiring day full of merciless teasing based on the very subject Arnold now dreaded. Whoever had written the message on the wall was going to pay for it if they ever stepped up and admitted it. Once more he pushed the violent thoughts aside and focused on the dreaded fact that he had to go on his first real date, aside from back on Valentine's Day, with Helga of all people. This was not going to go well.

"It's a real shame, man." Gerald agreed, shaking his head. "Mmm mmm mmm. Well, looks like you got no choice. It's either that or Helga beats you to a pulp!"

"That actually sounds like a better idea." Arnold sighed. "I don't know what to do, Gerald, this is going to be the worst night of my life."

"Just go through with it, that's all you can do."

"I guess you're right, Gerald."

They finally reached the boarding house, where Arnold opened the door, with the barrage of animals coming out the door all led by Abner. The boys went inside and shut the door as Phil came to greet them.

"Well hey there, short man! How was school today?"

"Terrible, Grandpa." Arnold sighed miserably.

"My man Arnold here has a date tonight!" Gerald announced.

"Oh ho ho! Well I'll be darned! Who is she, Arnold? Is she cute?"

"Well...actually Grandpa, it was all a huge mistake and misunderstanding."

"Oooh, well now! Come into the living room and tell me all about it boys, Pookie made cookies!" Phil said, leading them to the living room. "So what happened, Arnold?"

"Well, someone wrote 'Arnold Loves Helga' in chalk on a wall, and everyone thought that I wrote it, including Helga. Everyone at school made fun of me about it all day, and I didn't do it! I tried explaining to Helga that I didn't do it, but she didn't believe me either."

"Helga, eh? The girl in the dress and pigtails and one eyebrow?"

"That's Helga G.Pataki all right." Gerald said.

"Yeah, her. Then at lunch today, apparently everyone's been teasing her about it too, so she came to our table and said that I had one chance with her, and I have to take her out on a date tonight at seven, and I can't be late. What should I do, Grandpa? I don't want to go on a date with her, and I don't know what to do." Arnold looked pleadingly to his Grandfather.

"You can always skip town! Heck, you can leave right now! I'll get your bag packed." Phil stood up from his favourite chair.

"Grandpa!" Arnold cried. "This is serious!"

"Well Arnold, you can always call her up and try to explain everything." Phil told him, sitting back down.

"I guess I could do that." Arnold got up and went over to the phone.

"Ohhhhh! I have a DATE with ARNOLD!" Helga squealed as she jumped up and down on her bed excitedly.

The phone suddenly rang, and she plopped down onto the bed, picking it up. "Hello?"

"Hey Helga? It's Arnold."

"Arnold!" She cried out in shock, and then shook her head, and automatically set a scowl on her face. "I mean, what do YOU want, Football Head? You better not be getting cold feet or anything."

"Well, actually, Helga... I wanted to talk to you about our, um... date." He said awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck in discomfort.

Helga's eyes widened a bit, but then she smirked, already knowing what he was trying to do. "Oh, yes, yes. That's seven o'clock, Arnold. Be here or shed a tear, because this is the only chance you've got, Head boy." She was about to hang up, but heard him cry out.

"NO!"

She huffed, and put the phone back to her ear. "What?" She asked irritably.

"Helga, I don't-It's not-and this is all just-..." He took a deep breath to help regain his composure, before continuing, "Look, I think we should both just forget this whole da-"

"Ugh, I get that you're nervous, Hair Boy, but trust me, it'll be fine. Now stop wasting my time! I have to get ready. Be here at seven, and if you even THINK about backing out of this, I swear I'll pound that football head of yours FLAT!" And with that, she hung up the phone, quicker this time so he wouldn't be able to get a word in. She then laughed evilly, falling back onto her bed.

"NO!" The line then went dead, and Arnold gawked at the phone, before hanging it up, and breaking out in the most horrified expression imaginable.

Gerald walked over beside him. "Looks like your stuck, man. Tough break."

"...I have a date with Helga..." Arnold moaned.

"Listen man, you can still get outta this! I can get my man Fuzzy Slippers to dig up some things and then you can-"

"No, Gerald. That'll only make it worse." Arnold cut him off, shaking his head. "Well, it's just one date...right? It's not like she's trying to get me to marry her."

"Marry?!!?" Gerald exclaimed, his eyes wide, before he burst into laughter. "You and Helga?! Oh MAN!"

"Gerald!" Arnold cried. "It's not funny!"

"No, you're right, it's hilarious! I mean, you and Helga...we're NINE!" Gerald laughed, holding his stomach. He laughed it out a couple of seconds and then took a deep breath. "Okay, okay, no more teasing. Seriously man, we gotta get you ready and going, you got 3 hours before you gotta go pick her up. And listen man, here's what you gotta do. Take her out somewhere to eat, then go see a movie. And that's ALL you gotta do."

Arnold looked at his best friend with a thoughtful look. "Really? That's all?"

"Man, never doubt the master. Dinner and a movie, most basic and traditional date, ain't no two ways about it." Gerald said, leading Arnold upstairs to his room. "Trust me man, keep it cool and simple, and you may just get outta this alive. I'd follow after you to make sure you're okay, but um...'fraid that Phoebe's got tickets to Dino Land and she invited me along...heh heh heh..."

"Wait, what?" Arnold stopped in his tracks. "You have a date with Phoebe? Why didn't you tell me?"

"Come on Arnold, you were hung up and scared about this date!" Gerald told him. "Besides, it's not a date! We're just two buddies chilling at Dino Land!" But the blush that came to his dark cheeks were betraying his claim.

Despite the situation, Arnold smiled. "Well, still, that's great, Gerald. I know how much you like doing things with Phoebe."

"It's not a date!" Gerald protested, still blushing. "We're just two buddies goin' out!"

Arnold laughed heartily as they made it to his room, but of course reality set in and he realized what was to come. He sighed and shut his bedroom door. This was going to be a long evening.

Later on, at the Pataki household, it was 6:15 and Helga was just getting ready for the date.

"Okay, so Pheebs is gonna keep Gerald busy at Dino Land...so no one's gonna interfere with this date!" Helga said to herself as she applied some eyeshadow on. "I'll win Arnold over with my utmost pretty get-up, and make sure this date goes just swimmingly!"

She already had her outfit picked out, which was laying on her bed. It was a dark blue, knee-length spaghetti strap dress that went to her knees, and had light sparkle sequins along it, and was silkily soft and smooth. It had a pink sash tied around the waist, and had matching dark blue ballet flats. For her makeup, she had applied wink (pink-white) eyeshadow, some mascara, and pinky-red lipstick to accentuate her lips, and even a tint of blush on her cheeks. For her hair, she smoothed and brushed it out, letting it free from its pigtails, and was going to wear it down tonight, along with her bow set on top of her head, as usual.

Helga was doing everything in her power to make herself look beautiful. It had worked when she was disguised as Cecile, didn't it? Surprisingly, she'd been able to turn heads! Who's to say she couldn't do it again?

"Oh yes, I'm so going to knock him out when he sees me..."

Arnold looked at himself in the mirror miserably.

He was wearing a simple dark blue jacket over a white button up shirt, and some simple dark black jeans, along with his usual black sneakers. Gerald had picked it out for him before he left, telling him that it was a date worthy outfit. He supposed that he looked pretty good, but he really didn't care all that much. What did he care if he looked good or not for HELGA.

He straightened up his hair a little, and smoothed some wrinkles out of his jacket. Eh, it was his first ever date with a girl, even if it was Helga, it couldn't hurt to look clean.

He took one last look in the mirror, and placed his little blue hat atop his oblong head, setting it straight, and then smiling a little in the mirror. He couldn't help it, he thought he looked pretty good. Helga would be shocked... no way she could make any comments about him looking bad tonight. At least that was a plus.

"Knock, knock, Shortman." His grandpa sounded from outside the door.

Arnold turned around to face the door. "Come in!"

The door opened, revealing the old man, who smiled at him widely and whistled. "Wow! Now don't you look snazzy!"

Arnold simply nodded. "Thanks, Grandpa." He said quietly.

Phil sensed his dismay, and frowned a little. "Is this about how this date is with... Helen?"

"Helga."

"Right, Helga."

Arnold sighed, and sat down on his couch. "I just really don't want to have to go through with this. Helga's my bully... she's always shooting spitballs at me, calling me names, and just being really mean. I don't want to be her date."

Grandpa smiled a little secret smile right then, and sat down on the couch next to him, closing the door. "So this little girl picks on you a lot?"

Arnold looked at him curiously, and nodded. "Yeah. Which is why I don't want to go out with her. It's not fair."

Grandpa continued to smile at that, but luckily Arnold didn't notice as he was looking away now.

"Why would she want to go on a date with me anyway? She hates me!" Arnold continued, feeling frustrated. "She said that I only have one chance with her. But I don't want a chance with her! All she ever does is pick on me!" He groaned.

Phil forced down a snicker, and offered a small smile of support. "Hey now, I'm sure things won't be so bad. Who knows? She might surprise ya."

Before Arnold could ask what he meant by that, Phil stood, and patted him on the shoulder, before walking out the door, but not before telling him, still with a secret smile. "You better hurry, Shortman. It's already 6:50, and you don't wanna be late!"

"WHAT?!" Arnold yelled, jumping up from the couch. "Oh no! I'm going to be late! Helga is going to kill me!" He yelled in a panic, before rushing out the door of his room, down the stairs, and out the door as he yelled to his grandma who was in the kitchen, and Grandpa who was grinning at him from the stairs, "I'll be back later! Bye!"

Racing against time, Arnold had run most of not all the way to Helga's house in a panic. Being late was the last thing he wanted to do, for fearing Old Betsy and the Five Avengers pummeling him into next week. He had to make it, he just had to, for the sake of this to go well and get it over with, as well as avoiding being killed. So he ran, ran, ran, walked, ran, ran, walked, and ran, all the way to Helga's place.

Finally, upon reaching the front stoop of her house, he stopped to catch his breath and checked the time on his Grandfather's pocket watch. 6:58. He just made it with two minutes to spare. Thank goodness! That was a good sign.

Still, he wondered what his Grandfather meant when he said Helga might surprise him. Weird.

Arnold took another breath and marched up the steps, ringing the doorbell, and waiting patiently. A few moments passed and the door opened, revealing Miriam, who looked half out of it.

"Mm? Yes...can I...help you?" She asked tiredly.

"Um...I'm here to pick up Helga. My name's Arnold, we have a...date tonight." Arnold said politely, though he was wondering why she seemed so out of it.

"Uh...? Oh...oh...right...yes...Helga..." Miriam murmured and nodded, going back into the house.

"Who is it, Miriam? It better be good!" Came Big Bob Pataki's voice from the living room.

"Oh, Helga's boyfriend...or something...yeah..." Miriam responded.

"Oh...right, that kid, Alfred." Big Bob lumbered into the foyer and called upstairs. "Olga! Get yourself down here, that boy Alfred is here to pick you up!"

Arnold frowned slightly in confusion. Why was her father addressing her by her older sister's name?

"It's Helga, Dad!" Helga called indignantly from upstairs. "I'm coming, I'm coming! Sheesh! Hold your horses!"

Footsteps were heard as Arnold waited nervously, and then looked up at the top of the stairs and felt his eyes widen and his jaw drop as Helga came downstairs.

She looked so beautiful. He couldn't believe it. Her hair was down, in a light wave, cascading down her shoulders and her back, with her pink bow resting on top of her head. She wore light but noticeable makeup, including light but not too dark lipstick on her pouty lips. Her dress looked amazing, and especially accentuated her blue eyes, her bow matched the pink sash around her waist really well, and the shoes matched the dress too. The colours were really pretty together, and set off by her blonde hair.

Arnold stared, mouth slack and eyes wide, even when Helga made it down the stairs. He couldn't take his eyes off her, and couldn't believe she could actually look so beautiful. If she wore makeup and let her hair down like this more often, she'd be turning heads!

His surprise wasn't lost on Helga, who smirked at him as she waved dismissively to her parents and went outside, shutting the door behind her.

"Yes, I know I look good, football head, but close your mouth! A fly might fly into it." She told him.

All the while, she admired him as well. He always looked handsome and cute in formal wear, and tonight was no different. She admired him from head to toe, though seeming to be as if she was merely looking at him.

"S-Sorry..." Arnold apologized. "Um...you look...you look really nice."

Helga blushed, and was about to comment and say that she didn't care about what he thought of her, but she bit her tongue before it could fly from her lips, and simply smiled a little at him. "Yeah, thanks. You don't look half-bad yourself, Footb-... I mean, Arnold." She blushed a little more, and then walked down the steps of her stoop to the sidewalk. She stopped at the bottom, and it was then that she realized he wasn't following.

She turned her head curiously to him, and raised one side of her eyebrow.

He was standing there, looking at her very strangely.

She blinked at him. "What?"

He opened his mouth, like he was about to say something, but then closed it and shook his head. "Nothing... um, thanks." He walked down the steps of the house finally, and stood by her side.

She blinked at him, but shrugged it off. "Yeah, okay, fine. You don't wanna tell me, I won't make ya. So where to first?" She finished casually, crossing her arms over her chest and staring at him through lowered eyelashes.

He blinked a couple times at her, and then answered slowly. "Um, I thought we'd have dinner first, and then catch a movie. The reservations are at Chez Paris." He explained.

She hid a smile behind her neutral look. "Yeah, okay, Arnold. Let's go." She began walking down the sidewalk in the direction of the restaurant, as Arnold fell into step beside her.

Arnold stared at her in perplexity as they walked. She was being awfully... okay. Huh...

Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all.