Arnold's Leg 4

"Say what?! Are you crazy!?" Gerald cried. "You're taking Helga G. Pataki with us to the movies?! Why her?! Couldn't you invite Lila or someone?"

"Well, she's a little adamant about taking care of me because of my leg." Arnold said with a light shrug. "Besides, I really wanted to do something nice for her since she's stuck at my house for who-knows-how-long and taking care of me left and right."

"Wow, man. You sure have gone soft on her." Gerald said, blinking.

"Hey, come on, she's not so bad." Arnold reasoned. "She just needs time and confidence to come out of her shell and expose who she really is."

"Wow. And here I was sure you would be cryin' to me after having her in your house for the past few days!" Gerald remarked. "You sure it ain't a nightmare?"

Arnold shook his head. "It actually hasn't been that bad, Gerald. We...we....well, we actually went out for dinner last night."

"WHAT?!" Gerald yelled, and then saw everyone in the library looking at him weirdly. He lowered his voice. "You went on a DATE with her?!"

"No no!" Arnold blushed, shaking his head. "Grandpa took all of us in the house out for dinner last night at Chez Paris, and they gave Helga and I our own table. And it was a little awkward at first, but I actually had fun with her. We talked and shared stories, and we were laughing a lot. I know it sounds really weird, but I actually enjoyed spending time with her. She's not that bad when you get her comfortable and showing her real side, Gerald." He smiled a little. "It was fun, it really was. I felt I could really be myself with her."

Gerald stared at his best friend wide-eyed, unable to believe what he was saying. Sure, he was almost used to Arnold defending Helga and her behaviour, but never like this!

"Okay, who are you, and what did you do with the real Arnold?"

"Gerald!"

"I'm serious! Arnold, I don't know what's happened to you, but you're acting like you're in love with her or somethin'!"

"Love?!" Arnold cried, his cheeks bright pink. "N-No! It's not like that, it's not! I mean...I do care about Helga, I really do, but I-I don't love her! She's...she's my friend!"

"And just who are you trying to convince? Me, or yourself?"

"Gerald, I'm serious!"

"Trust me man, I wish I was joking." Gerald said, shaking his head. "But you really sound like you got a crush on her."

"But I don't! And even if I did, I...I..."

"You what, football head?"

"Helga!" Arnold nearly jumped out of his wheelchair. "N-Nothing...it's nothing."

Helga just gave him a scowl. "Riiiiight, like I'm supposed to believe that. Well anyway, here's that book ya needed." She tossed it onto his lap.

"But I didn't ask you to-"

"Just take it! You need it anyway. By the way, Pheebs agreed to go to the movie too." Helga then went to go rejoin Phoebe at another table.

Arnold and Gerald stared after her, and then exchanged glances.

"...Well, at least she gave you the book you needed for your book report." Gerald finally said.

--

The next day, the Saturday of the dubious "double date", Arnold and Helga met up with Phoebe and Gerald at the movie theatre as planned.

"All right, pick a movie, but don't make it stupid." Helga warned.

"Wouldn't dream of it." Gerald said, rolling his eyes.

"Why don't we see Sleepless In Chicago? It sounds really good." Phoebe said.

"I want to see Dawn Of The Zombies!" Gerald said.

"Me too." Arnold agreed.

"Suck up." Helga muttered. "Sorry Pheebs, three against one. You lose."

"Losing." Phoebe sighed. She looked at Gerald and blushed a little, to which of course Helga and Arnold both noticed, exchanging a wink.

Arnold handed the ticket girl their movie passes, and they went inside, heading to the concession stand to get some drinks and a few tubs of popcorn. By the time they got into the theatre that their movie was playing in, it was quite crowded. But there was still a few seats left. Unfortunately, from where they needed to sit, there was only five. An aisle seat and at the one next to it were free, and one row up, a guy was sitting on the aisle seat with two other seats next to him.

"Um, Gerald...would you mind if we sat together?" Phoebe bravely asked. "I mean, Helga does need to kind of be near Arnold anyway..."

"Sure, Phoebe!" Gerald grinned. "You guys don't mind, do you?"

"Go ahead, Gerald." Arnold smiled.

"Like I care." Helga muttered.

Gerald and Phoebe went to go sit down in the two free seats down below, and Helga confronted the one guy sitting in the aisle seat. "Hey bub, you mind moving to the next seat? He's got a bad leg and needs to sit next to the aisle seat." Helga said to the older boy sitting there.

"Tough luck, girly." The guy sneered. "I got here first."

Helga's eyes narrowed and she grabbed him by his collar. "Listen you, if you don't move seats, then you're going to have to answer to ME! Now MOVE IT!"

"Gaaah!!" The guy got up and ran out of the theatre.

"Sheesh, some people." Helga muttered, sitting down in the seat the guy had given up while Arnold wheeled his chair over next to her seat in the aisle.

"You didn't have to do that, Helga." Arnold said. "You...didn't even want to sit next to me, remember?"

"And you think I'd sit next to a stranger who smells like mud? Forget it!" Helga scowled. "Now be quiet and watch the movie, paste-for-brains!"

Arnold just smiled and nodded in agreement, turning his attention to the movie. He ate some popcorn, and then held it out to Helga in case she wanted some. She wordlessly accepted it and ate some, setting it on her lap. She glanced at him at the corner of her eye, watching him take a sip of his Yahoo soda through the straw of his cup. She smiled at him, feeling her heart skip at how they were actually watching a movie together.

Noticing her looking at the corner of his eye, Arnold glanced at her and she immediately looked away. He shook his head, still smiling, and looked back up at the big screen.

"I bet you my packet of gummy worms that the one who dies first will be the cheerleader." Helga whispered to Arnold.

Arnold laughed softly. "You cheater. You already saw this movie! I saw you and Phoebe here last weekend."

Helga raised a brow at how Arnold actually called her that. Of course, he'd said it in a matter of laughing about it and not some kind of cruel accusation. Heck, it was even laced with affection.

"A cheater, am I? Well...we did want to see Evil Twin 5 like we are here, but the theatre was sold out, and we had to wait about two hours for the next showing." Helga retorted. "Why else did we agree to this? If we'd seen it, we wouldn't have."

"Oh. I guess that makes sense." Arnold looked a bit embarrassed but he shook it off for now. "What did you guys end up seeing?"

"Friday The 13th, of course." Helga said nonchalantly. "They were showing one of them at the time. Mm...I forget which one by now. It was...let's see, you were there, right? I remember that it had that weirdo little boy who made masks and played video games...then he killed Jason in the end by pretending to be like him. What a freak."

"Oh, it was Part Four: The Final Chapter." Arnold recalled.

"Final Chapter...HA! Crimeny, didn't they make a bunch of sequels after that one?"

"Yeah." Arnold said. "You actually like those movies?"

"Nah, the killing's a little much. But Jason's awesome. I don't know why, but his mask, that machete he likes to use and his silent way of going at things are so boss."

Arnold snickered. "Whatever you say, Helga. I saw the third movie when I was five by accident. I couldn't sleep for days."

Helga stared at him and laughed, it was a "Haha! Teasing you!" laugh, and just plain laughing all at once. "Gosh football head, I didn't think you were a scaredy cat!"

"Hey, I was five. And seeing a movie like that really wasn't fun." Arnold gave her a half-lidded gaze of slight annoyance. But he smiled anyway.

"Hey, I saw A Nightmare On Elm Street one and two when I was six!" Helga held up two fingers. "One two, Freddy's coming for you..."

"Helga..."

"Three four, better lock your door..."

"Helga..."

"Five six, grab your crucifix..."

"Helga! Quit it!"

"Seven eight, gonna stay up late..."

"Helga!"

"Nine ten, you'll never sleep again..."

"Cut it out!"

"What?" Helga smirked. "You getting scared, monkey face?"

"...Let's just watch the movie."

"Oh, fine. So, aren't you going to wager against me on who dies first, football head?"

"Um...okay. I'll bet you it'll be that other guy, the one with the hat."

"Heh, you're on, Arnoldo."

They continued to watch the movie, often casting glances down at Gerald and Phoebe, who were sitting quietly in their seats. Every now and then, Phoebe would jump lightly and lean close to Gerald, who would then bring his arm around her and pat her on the shoulder in a comforting way.

Arnold smiled to himself. This little set up double date was going well.

Wait, double date?

No way. It was a set up date and...a friendly outing between two sort-of friends.

Actually, he had no idea what to think.

Ever since their evening at Chez Paris, although Arnold and Helga did maintain their usual status quo, especially in front of their classmates at school, they did get along a little better and seemed to actually be able to talk to one another without Helga lashing out somehow or stomping away. Not that she had much choice. In fact, Arnold was feeling more and more comfortable with her, like how he felt when she was actually being nice to him for whatever reason. Sure, she was still as unpredictable as ever, but none the less, he was getting used to having her around all the time, because of his leg now. It wasn't so bad anymore. He had at first been a little bit against the idea of being in such close proximities with Helga for who knows how long, but as it went along over the past few days, he found himself really not so repulsed by it anymore.

It wasn't so bad, now. When they were alone, heck, even since the whole FTI situation, Helga wasn't as torturous to him as before. In front of classmates, she was, but alone, although she did maintain her image, she was sometimes a little less brutal. In fact, sometimes more and more she was more casual and talked about things as opposed to teasing him mercilessly. When her emotional barriers were down, she was actually interesting to talk to. She had opinions about things, she liked to talk about reality and things going on in the world, Arnold was surprised at how articulate she was, for a nine-year-old girl. When asked, she just says it's because she sometimes glances at the newspaper in the morning or just even the news.

"I never took you as that kind of girl, Helga." Arnold had said.

"There's a lot you don't know about me, football head." Helga had replied. "So don't you go thinking too much on it!"

Arnold smiled a little more. Helga wasn't all that bad once you got to know her. Like some rare occasions, he was enjoying her company.

But then another thought crossed his mind. What would happen when his leg was all healed? Would they go back to their regular status quo? Would Helga refuse to ever go near him again? Would things turn out badly? His inside lightly wrenched at the idea of that. But why? Helga was just another girl, right? If he didn't succeed in making friends with her, he could just move on, right?

Now that he thought about it, he wasn't so sure.

Despite all she had put him through, he always felt a strange connection to her that even he didn't understand. He had plenty of opportunities to just turn away from her and not at all care about her problems or giving her advice when he had. He had the right to turn around and walk away all those times. He had the right to just not be there for her at times.

But he wasn't like that. No matter how badly Helga treated him, he always knew deep down that she was a human being and he never wished anything bad on her. After all, they were just kids, and she was being a bit of a bully, to protect herself. It wasn't appealing, and it wasn't fun to those who received her brutish shield, but it wasn't as if she deserved terrible comings. He never felt good about making her feel bad or doing something bad to her. The April Fool's Day prank was one thing, since it was meant to be harmless fun and just a way of getting back at her. Plus, she never hurt him physically. Other than being shoved a couple of times, and elbowed in the side, but those were nothing. His leg accident didn't count since it was indeed a complete accident and he never once blamed Helga for it. Somehow, deep down, he knew she just couldn't hurt him. And he couldn't, either. Violence just wasn't right to him, and he never, ever would hit a girl. In self defense, as told by his grandmother, maybe, but never unprovoked.

Arnold sighed to himself, shaking his head. He wasn't sure if he didn't want to give up on not having Helga as a friend. Something inside him just told him not to give up.

Maybe that was it. He didn't have to. Even after it was all over, he could still try. He had nothing to lose, right?

Hopefully not.

Reaching for some popcorn, he didn't notice Helga doing the same, which ended up in their hands brushing together. They both stared at each other for a moment before looking away.

"S-Sorry."

"Forget it."

And let's just say that wasn't the first time their hands met.

After the movie was over, the four of them came out of the theatre, it was pretty cloudy and promised rain by then.

"That was...certainly...um...interesting." Phoebe said softly.

"That movie was brutal, man!" Gerald exclaimed.

"Oh please, that movie was a DISNEY movie compared to what Pheebs and I saw last weekend!" Helga smirked.

"Say what? You guys went to see the fourth Friday The 13th?!" Gerald uttered in surprise. "Th-that movie is on a whole new level of scary!"

"I-It wasn't...so bad...Gerald..." Phoebe said.

"It was intense." Helga said, popping some gum into her mouth.

"I saw previews for it." Arnold chimed in. "It sure looked...well, as Helga said, intense."

"You're crazy, man." Gerald laughed, and did his secret handshake with Arnold. "Hey, I'm gonna walk Phoebe home. That okay with you?" Phoebe beamed up at him and blushed a little.

"No problem, Gerald." Arnold smiled. "See you at school Monday."

"Go ahead Pheebs, if that's what you want." Helga said coolyl.

"Going ahead!" Phoebe gave her a thumbs up and then walked off with Gerald.

Helga watched them go for a few moments before taking the wheelchair's handlebars. "Okay Arnoldo, you want to go back to your place or what?"

"Um...actually Helga...I was wondering if maybe, um...you'd like to go get a milk shake with me." Arnold said, looking at her over his shoulder.

The girl's blue eyes widened with surprise as her heart raced frantically. Was Arnold, her beloved by secret...or rather, not-so-secret, asking her on a DATE? Was he?!

Is he really asking me out?! Helga thought, beyond shocked. I...I never would have thought he would! I can't believe it... Okay Helga, you will NOT mess this up! Be kind, be happy, and say YES. You want this!

"Depends. You're not trying to ask me out, are you, football head?" Helga raised her brow.

You idiot!!!!! How dare you say that!

She expected Arnold to falter, or even to get annoyed. But instead, he did her one better.

"Well, if I say yes, will you refuse?"

".....No." Helga finally said.

"Then, yes. I am asking you out." Arnold blushed a bit. "I mean, that is...unless you would rather go just as friends."

"Let's just go get the shake, Arnoldo." Helga pushed his wheelchair down the sidewalk as they headed to Slausen's.

YES YES YES YES YES!!!! ARNOLD ASKED ME OUT!!!! Oh my little angel! How I have dreamed of this moment for so long!

~~--~~

It was quite strange the way it turned out indeed.

They both had very little money on them, since they had only brought about ten bucks each and left their wallets at the house, not having counted on going out after the movie. They had enough money for one milkshake, which they saw they now had to either share, or give to the other.

"I don't mind sharing it, Helga." Arnold said. "I mean, we have before...right?"

Helga blushed at the memory. "...Well, whatever floats your boat, football head. I just want some shake."

Without another word, the two of them sipped the milkshake through the bendy straws placed inside the tall glass cup. Helga shifted in her seat to move closer, which then caused her hand to brush up against Arnold's, AGAIN. Jeez, did their hands have internal magnets or something?!

They both stared at each other and looked away again.

"S-Sorry." Arnold said.

"Oh quit apologizing." Helga rolled her eyes. "Sheesh."

Little did Helga even realize that Arnold had done that on purpose. For the most part.

"Um, listen, Helga..."

"What, football head?" The blonde girl looked at him with an irritated stare.

"I know this might sound weird, but...you know, after all this is over, when my leg is better and all, I'm wondering if maybe we could still...you know, be...friends?" He finally said, rubbing the back of his neck.

"...Friends?"

"Well, yeah. I mean, I really don't mind hanging out with you, Helga. And I know this also sounds weird, but I'd really like it a lot if we could be friends."

Helga's eyes widened at this. She couldn't believe what he was saying. Then again, that happened a lot. He wanted them to be friends! Friends! That was one stop closer to hopefully obtaining him as her boyfriend! Finally!

Unfortunately, her ego struck her before her true feelings could emerge.

"Friends? Friends?! Please...you must be dreaming! Arnoldo, you listen and you listen good. The only reason I ever even THINK to tolerate our little close proximity arrangement is because I am darn well responsible for your leg! That's why I'm here! I'm not here to be some soft little pincushion for you to lie back on! Forget it, football head! What makes you even think I want that?! I can't stand you, you stupid little football-headed, paste for brains, monkey face...you get the picture! So shut up!"

Although he was used to this treatment from her on a daily basis, it was no different. But this, for the first time, or one of them at least, he was hurt. Really hurt. Nearly as hurt as he'd been when Lila rejected him. He couldn't believe how hostile she was about it, he just couldn't. Somehow, he expected it, and yet, on another level, he hoped she would warm up a bit to the idea, even with a "Whatever floats your boat, football head".

But no. He was greeted once again by her usual demeanor of earning her hatred.

A tiny corner of his mind told him to cry. He wanted to, he felt like it, but he didn't. Instead, Arnold glared at her with hurt, and contempt.

"Fine then. If that's how you feel, then I guess maybe I was wrong about you. You really are just a bully, aren't you? If you really loved me like you said you did back on the roof of the FTI building, I would have figured you liked the idea of us being friends, even if you didn't admit it completely. But I should've known. Frankly Helga, I don't want to be your friend either. If you're going to behave like that, then I guess that's just the way things are." He ground out.

Now THAT, was harsh. Even he now realized that he should not have said that. He couldn't believe he had actually stooped down to her level and made her feel like garbage. And for what? Even now, he didn't know why he said that. It seemed right for a fleeting moment, but now, he instantly regretted it.

Helga stared at him, her eyes widened with shock. As much as she somewhat agreed with him, she couldn't believe he had actually stepped up and said such a harsh thing to her. At times yes, he stood up to her and put her in her place, but never like this. It was shocking, and above all, it hurt. Nothing hurt more than seeing the one you love express hatred toward you. Her heart broke, but she knew that deep down, she deserved it.

"....Let's go back to your house, yutz. This conversation is over." Helga said in a low tone.

"Fine by me." Arnold muttered, wishing for once that his leg wasn't broken and that he could walk away. Alas, such a fortune was not upon him.

The two of them didn't speak a word to each other the entire way back to the Sunset Arms. If anyone had been walking with them, they would have definitely seen the tension in the air between them.

"Hey Arnold, what happened? You look pretty upset." Mr. Green commented as they passed Green's Meats.

"It's nothing, Mr. Green." Arnold replied.

"Hey Arnold, did you get into a fight or something?" Ms. Vitello asked as the two passed the shop.

Arnold just sighed in reply, before telling her that nothing was wrong. But indeed, something was wrong. He felt terrible, everything in him wanted to apologize to Helga for what he'd said. But strange as it sounded, he was almost afraid to talk to her. He felt guilty, very guilty. Sure, in some respects, she deserved it, but he still didn't feel right about biting her head off like that.

Helga was feeling the same way. She was kicking herself over and over for what she'd said, her harsh rejection being what started it all. It was times like this she really hated herself, and her ego. It was even a time that she was questioning why she even had such an ego. No one deserved this treatment from her, and she knew that very well. Why? Was she really that much of a bully?

She sighed to herself, shaking her head, unsure of what to think anymore.

I'm so sorry, Arnold...I wish I hadn't said that to you. I want nothing more than to be your friend...

I'm sorry, Helga...I didn't mean to get mad at you like that. I still want to be your friend...