A/N- Here is my first entry for Shortaki Week! I hope you guys like this, I thought it was a super cute idea. Read amd review please.

"Miriam!" Helga shrieked. "Miraaaam!"

Helga paced in her room, her hands struggling with the buttons of her blouse. Panic was starting to set in making her movements more and more frantic. This was her last decent blouse and just like the other two, it wouldn't button across her chest. Helga only had a precious five minutes before her first, non-casual dinner date with Arnold and she couldn't even look nice for it because none of her blouses would button! Hot, angry tears began to well up in her eyes.

"Mooooooom!"

There was the sound of footsteps on the stairs and Miriam cautiously opened the door with a look of mild worry on her face.

"Wha-huh? Something wrong honey?" She drawled.

"What in criminy's name possessed you to do laundry again!?" Helga demanded angrily gesturing to herself. "You shrunk all three of my decent blouses!"

"What? I didn't-" Miriam's usual look of confusion softened into understanding. "Oh honey, the blouse didn't shrink, you're just growing. Your breasts are coming in and-"

Helga clamped her hands over her ears as she blushed in embarrassment. "Criminy Miriam! I don't want to hear that!"

"But Helga dear, it's all a part of life."

"I don't care about life." Helga's shoulders slumped and she sat down on the bed in defeat. "I care about my date with Arnold. This is our first real date-date and I can't even put on decent clothes!"

Miriam smiled at her thirteen year old daughter. She had heard Helga grumble under her breath a few times about her chest and limbs aching and now she knew the cause. Her little girl was growing up fast and Miriam had a sudden vision of Helga maturing into a beautiful young woman soon.

"Oh honey," Miriam sat next to her daughter and patted her shoulder in a rare moment of motherly comfort. "I think I know just what to do."

A few minutes later Helga sat in the living room, her leg anxiously bouncing up and down. Ever three seconds her eyes strayed to the clock. It was officially four and a half minutes past the time Arnold was supposed to pick her up for their date. Helga shifted uncomfortably and crossed her arms over her chest self-consciously. Miriam's "brilliant" solution was to leave her blouse open and wear a lacy pink camisole underneath. Never in her life had Helga felt so exposed. It wasn't so much the camisole, she had worn plenty of tank tops before, but now there was these two…things sticking out of her chest. Albeit they weren't very big, but on her slight, almost completely curveless frame well… they stuck out!

"On all nights, why did these two have to pop out now?" Helga groaned attempting to button her blouse again and failing. She sighed and glanced at the clock again. "And where the hell is Arnold!?"

Had he bailed on her? Finally realized that she wasn't worth the effort to date? Tears welled up in Helga's eyes but almost the next instant fury raced through her veins.

"If he bailed on me, I'll thrash him!" Helga swore viciously, waving a fist in the air. "I'll teach him what happens to jerks who stand up Helga G. Pataki!"

But suddenly the doorbell rang and as if a switch went off, all of Helga's anger instantly dissolved into nervous butterflies in her stomach. She took a shaky breath, smoothed her hair back and went to open the door. Arnold stood on her porch wearing a pair of black jeans and a dark blue, long sleeve shirt despite it being a warm 73-degree night outside. He was rocking back and forth on his heels, staring at his shoes, so distracted that he didn't even seem to notice Helga had opened the door.

"Ahem!" Helga cleared her throat irritably and placed her hands on her hips. "Yo, football head! I'm standing right in front of you! Are you blind or something?"

Arnold jumped at the sound of her voice and gave her a sheepish smile. "Sorry, I was um…just thinking."

"Well, think later, I'm starving." Helga grumbled. "Can we go now or what?"

"Um… sure. Let's go." He responded starting to look distant again.

Mentally kicking herself for being rude in the first place, Helga back another impatient response and stepped down off her porch to begin walking with him towards the restaurant. Arnold didn't say anything as they walked and neither did she. His silence was making her anxious and when Helga felt anxious it usually translated to being rude. Also, her stupid blouse kept opening up with the slight breeze making her feeling even more self-conscious.

"Um, could you slow down a little?"

Helga glanced behind her and saw Arnold only a few paces behind her but he looked irritated at even the small distance.

"Oh, uh, sorry."

Helga slowed her steps to fall in line with him. But her legs longer than his, and when she tried walking normally again, she easily pulled ahead of him again. Arnold let out a puff of air and began walking faster. Helga noticed and once again tried to slow down, but her longer legs just naturally carried her further.

"Criminy!" Helga yelled in frustration. "I'd have to walk backwards for you to keep up with me!"

As soon as the exclamation left her mouth, Helga froze and immediately began kicking herself again. She expected Arnold in anger, maybe even call off their date and storm off. But instead, and much to her relief, Arnold began chuckling. Helga risked a glance at him and found Arnold giving her an amused smile.

"Aw come on Helga, I'm not that short." He laughed. "Besides, you just showing off."

Helga' shoulders relaxed as she gave him a cocky grin. "What can I say? I got great legs."

"Come on," Arnold laughed again, "stop making me laugh or we'll miss dinner."

He grabbed her hand and a feeling of warm bliss took over Helga's body and a soft smile lifted her lips. Arnold smiled back at her with a soft expression on his face and for a moment she could swear that he was going to kiss her. But then something flickered across Arnold's face and he quickly dropped her hand like it was on fire. His expression became distracted again and he quickly started walking again.

"We should get going," He called over his shoulder, "I'm starving."

Helga bit her lip and followed after him, once again tugging at her blouse. This was going to be a long night.

Arnold had not felt like such an idiot in years. Usually he was able to keep a calm, positive attitude about nearly any situation but lately he felt so… off. No, off wasn't the right word. Absolutely, insanely hectic was more the word. First it started with the sweating. Arnold almost didn't notice when he played basketball with Gerald or took Abner to the park. But when he was sitting in class a few weeks ago taking a particularly difficult test, his arm pits started prickling. By the end of class he had sweat stains in his shirt. He had to wear his jacket the rest of the day to keep anyone from noticing. It kept happening every day after that and it took a strange concoctions of spray on deodorants made by Gerald to keep it at bay.

But today, the day of his big date with Helga, the sweat began to eat through the custom deodorant mix. Just thinking about it this morning had made quarter size sweat stains appear in his shirt within seconds. There was no way Arnold could cancel with Helga, partly because he was afraid of what would happen if he did, but also because he really, really liked Helga and wanted everything to go well. But there was also no way he could let Helga see his disgusting pit problems. As Gerald would put it, that would not be smooth.

So Arnold figured that as long as he focused on staying calm and not think about how much he wanted the date to go well then he would be fine. Unfortunately, though, he so focused on being calm that he didn't even notice he had reached Helga's and rang the doorbell until she was right in front of him.

"Ahem!" Helga cleared her throat irritably and placed her hands on her hips. "Yo, football head! I'm standing right in front of you! Are you blind or something?"

Arnold jumped to attention and his arm pits immediately started prickling. Even with an irritated scowl on her face Helga still looked beautiful. Her hair, which she had cut a few weeks ago, fell neatly over her shoulders. The knee length skirt that she only wore for special showed off her growingly athletic legs. And her top…

Arnold didn't know how he responded to her because he had to shut his brain down completely. Several beads of sweat ran down his back and now he also had to worry about his body spray not wearing off.

"Let's go." He mumbled hoping to get out of the warm night air and into the air conditioned restaurant.

As they began walking together, Arnold not only had to focus on not being nervous, but he also had to walk slowly so he wouldn't sweat more than he was already. He wanted to impress Helga and he couldn't do that smelling like a horse or with large pit stains in his shirt. A small breeze blew, blowing back the scent of whatever shampoo or body wash Helga was wearing. Arnold looked up to compliment her on it and felt his stomach drop when he realized how far ahead of him she was. More sweat started prickling his armpits. Helga's legs were so much longer than his. It wasn't fair. What kind of boyfriend was shorter than his girlfriend?

"Um, could you slow down a little?" He asked, his voice coming out more irritated than he intended.

Helga looked surprised but apologized and deliberately slowed her steps. But Arnold's shorter legs were no match for hers. She kept having to consciously slow down and he could see the frustration growing on her face. It made Arnold feel all kinds of rotten to feel so prideful about his lack of height, but he felt like he couldn't help it.

"Criminy!" Helga suddenly yelled in frustration. "I'd have to walk backwards for you to keep up with me!"

The first emotion that Arnold felt was annoyance. Did Helga really have to rub it in his face? But then the corner of his mouth twitched up and suddenly he was laughing. After a minute Helga was laughing too. In the midst of his laughter, Arnold breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe this date was going to go well after all.

"Come on, stop making me laugh or we'll miss dinner." Feeling a bout of bravery, Arnold reached out and grabbed Helga's hand. A warm tingle ran up his arm and her smile made his heart skip a beat. He started to tighten his grip but now the prickle suddenly started in his palms and instantly became clammy with sweat. Arnold dropped Helga's hand as quickly as possible before she could get grossed out and was rewarded with her frown of disappointment and confusion. He quickly turned away from her, silently berating himself for this stupid phase he was going through.

"We should get going," He called over his shoulder, "I'm starving."

This was going to be a long night.

Of course the restaurant's A/C was on the fritz. It was just as warm inside as it was outside. Within minutes Arnold's

armpits were sticky and uncomfortable. He had to keeps his arms down at all times to hide them. Moving even an inch to get comfortable was a gamble Arnold wasn't willing to make.

Helga didn't fare much better. Every move she made seemed to open her blouse making her feel exposed. Every time Arnold looked at her she was afraid that all he could see was what was protruding under her camisole.

"So," Arnold said hesitantly, "The weather is um, nice today."

"Yeah nice and humid." Helga muttered, toying with her frizzing hair.

Arnold blushed and didn't say anything. He was sure that she was referring to the sweat that was starting to prickle underneath his collar. When he remained silent, Helga sighed and took a sip of her water. Arnold could only eye his in envy. Reaching for his glass meant lifting his arm, which could lead to the possibility of her being grossed out by his pit stains. Helga tapped her fingers on the table and decided to break the silence.

"How was your day?" She asked trying to sound sweet.

Arnold looked at her in surprise but smiled at her, happy for the distraction. "Fine I guess. Helped Grandpa around the house a little. Let Abner run around the backyard a little."

"So his foot is better?" Helga asked. "That's a relief. For a while there I thought we'd have to send him to the great mud pile in the sky."

Arnold rolled his eyes. "I wouldn't put him down for an injured foot, Helga. He isn't a horse."

Helga giggled, glad that the weird awkwardness between them seemed to be over for good now. Arnold couldn't help but smile at the sound of her laugh. While she was distracted by their food finally coming, Arnold quickly drank about half his water, hoping the hydration would stop his sweating for a little while.

As soon as the waiter left, the two of them began silently eating their food, each secretly insecure about themselves.

Arnold glanced up shyly at Helga to see her shyly at her food.

"You um, look beautiful by the way." Arnold said quietly. "Your hair is really pretty that way."

Helga's head came up in surprise. Her hand came up to touch her hair and for the first she forgot about her problem. "Um, th-thanks. I, um, really like the cologne your wearing. It smells really nice."

"Really?" Arnold sat up a little straighter and his smile broadened. "Thanks. I'm glad you like it. I um, wore it for this special occasion."

Helga looked at him from under her eye lashes, her eyes seemed to sparkle under the restaurant lights. "You really think this is a special occasion?"

"Yeah. Of course." Arnold reached across the table and touched her hand. "I'm on a date with you aren't I?"

Helga ducked her head down and quickly snatched her hand away, but not before Arnold saw the heartfelt smile she tried so hard to hide. He didn't make any comment on it though, instead both teens went back to their food, each thinking that maybe this date wouldn't be so bad after all.