A/N: So, I have about 3 summer projects this year, two that are completely my choice, and another for school that I should really be working on, but instead, I'm working on one that I actually feel like doing. Ever since I finished "The Love Note," I've pretty much been killing myself trying to think of a new plot line for a fresh, new story…one that's even better than my first one. Will it work out? We'll see, but that's for you guys to tell me. So read and review, or not. The first choice would be the good choice, though. Oh, and as a side note, this story has nothing to do with High School Musical. The lyrics fit the summary though, so why not?

Disclaimer: I think it's pretty obvious that I don't own HA!, because if I did, Helga and Arnold would be dating already, duh.

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"Good morning, Hillwood High," a friendly voice came on the intercom, "I trust that you all had a very fun and safe summer. For those who don't know me, I'm your principal Mr. Harris. This is just a brief announcement for everyone before the bell rings and a new, exciting school year begins. All freshmen please report to the cafeteria for the deliverance of your schedules. All other students, please report to your designated homeroom that you received in your mail. Thank you, and have a great first day."

Although the hallway was quite wide, it wasn't easy to push your way through the crowd. The seniors who now believed they owned the school stood in the very middle, doing most of the traffic blocking, while the juniors and sophomores weren't much nicer. It was most of the freshmen, however, who did most of the bumping into everyone.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me," a tall, slender blonde muttered as she stoof by the entrance. "What, these nimrods think they can just block the whole damn hallway?" She scoffed, beginning to make her way through the crowd. "Not if I can do anything to stop it."

"Hey watch it, you little freshman!" a sophomore shouted in her direction.

"Who does she think she is?" a senior boy said amongst his friends.

The girl stopped in her tracks, causing another girl behind her to stumble a bit. She made her way back to the boy, hovering over him by just an inch or two. "You wanna know who I am?" The boy remained silent. "I'm Helga G. Pataki, vice president of the student council back in middle school, one of the few eighth graders in the school to make the honor roll, and one of the most valuable players on the baseball team. And one more important thing. I may be a freshman, but I'm willing to pound you if you give me any reason to. Any other questions?"

The boy's friends stood there looking dumbfounded, surprised by her attitude. "Yeah, uh…what's the G stand for?"

Letting a hollow chuckle escape from her mouth, Helga inched just a little closer to him. "It stands for Get the heck outta my face before you're the first person I make cry today, got it?" With a slight shove, the girl walked away from him and continued pushing past everyone in the hallway who was blocking her path until she heard a voice calling her name. "Helga!"

Turning around, a smile finally appeared on her face. "Hey Pheebs, what's up?"

The petite, Asian girl smiled back, happy to have finally caught up with her best friend. "Nothing out of the ordinary. I spent most of my summer preparing for all of the AP classes that I'm taking this year. Gosh, there's AP English, AP Biology, AP U.S. History, Math…"

"Did you take AP Lunch, too?" Helga interrupted as she rolled her eyes slightly.

Despite Helga's sarcasm, Phoebe giggled in response. "I'm quite excited to see my schedule, aren't you? I mean, I've heard that freshmen rarely get the classes they choose, but I figured I'm unfortunately one of the very few students who decided to take all AP courses."

"As long as they don't try to put me in some bogus class, I don't care. Law and Society is the only class I really wanted to take."

"Wow, Helga. I never knew you would be interested in that. However, if my calculations were correct, more than fifty percent of the student body want to take that class, as well."

"Well, those poor people will have to wait and take it next year, now won't they?" she replied, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Well um, yes…but most of that percentage is seniors, and the administration has made it perfectly clear that the seniors always get their first choice."

"Good for them," the blonde muttered losing interest in the topic.

Suddenly, Phoebe's face lit up as she looked over Helga's shoulder. "Look, Gerald and Arnold are coming."

"Arnold?" Helga practically shrieked, refusing to turn around.

"Hello Gerald, Arnold," Phoebe pleasantly greeted, blushing after Gerald grinned at her flirtatiously.

"Hey, Phoebe," Arnold replied smiling. His smile quickly faded, though, when he noticed that Helga was being surprisingly quiet. "You okay, Helga?"

Helga swung around swiftly to face the two boys, causing Arnold to jump a bit in surprise. "Of course I'm okay, you stupid Football Head! Why wouldn't I be?"

"I don't know…you just seemed a little quiet, that's all."

"Gee, maybe that's because I'd rather not talk to you two losers, if that's alright with you?"

Gerald frowned now, and a look of annoyance spread across his face. "Hey, don't you…"

"Gerald, leave it alone," Arnold whispered, then sighed as he turned his attention back to Helga. "How was your summer?"

"Eh, okay. Same as any other summer, Hair Boy."

"Oh. Well, mine was really fun. The boarders and I tried to do a lot of summer projects, like home movies and a scrapbook. My grandpa tried to install an indoor pool, too…but…it didn't work out…"

"Did I ask you how your summer was, Arnold-o? No. So don't stand here and try to act like we're suddenly friends."

"But Helga, we're in high school now. We only have 4 more years until we graduate. Shouldn't you try to make friends with as many people as possible?" Phoebe offered.

"Uh, Phoebe. I'm not tryin' to be a downer, but this is Helga we're talking about here." Gerald said bluntly. "She'd rather make a whole new bunch of enemies."

"Hey, watch it pal! I'm assuming that you don't want a black eye on your first day back at school?"

Arnold sighed, interrupting the conversation. "Whatever. Gerald, you wanna go try and find the cafeteria before the bell rings?"

"Please, anything to get me away from this girl," Gerald pleaded as he began to walk away with his best friend. "See ya later, Phoebe."

"Bye, Gerald," Phoebe answered while flashing him a timid smile. Looking back at Helga, she asked, "want to try and find the cafeteria, as well? I'm not sure how much longer we have…"

"It's this way, Pheebs," Helga pointed in the opposite direction. "Those dorks don't know how to use a map, I tell ya. Feel free to nudge me if I start laughing when they walk in 5 minutes late. Let's go." With that, the blonde girl walked swiftly away from Phoebe.

"Coming!" she called after her, running in order to catch up.

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"Line up single file at the table in the back to get your schedule!" an older teacher ordered.

"Single file?" Helga scoffed, "please. It'll be a cold day in Hell before I wait in this long of a line with these losers." Walking without a care in the world to the front of the line, she slammed her hand on the table and looked at the young, naïve looking teacher sitting behind the table.

"Miss, you can't just cut like that. You have to go to the back of the…"

"Save it, lady. I'm not waiting for God knows how long to get a stupid piece of paper."

Sighing in defeat, the woman picked up the stack of papers. "Name, please?"

"Helga Pataki."

Pulling out one of the schedules, she handed it to her. "Have a good day…"

"Yeah, yeah…" Walking away from the table, Helga found a place against the wall to stand where she could read her schedule. "Let's see. Block one Algebra…Block 2 Bio…Block 3 Lunch…Block 4...DANCE…?"

"Oh, you've gotten dance, too?" Phoebe asked happily. "It certainly wasn't my first choice, but the art of dance is beautiful, and…Helga?" She quickly scanned the cafeteria, only to see her best friend making her way towards the principal. "Oh, no…"

"Hello, young lady. Are you having any trouble?" Mr. Harris asked politely.

"You could say that again." Helga laughed, trying to make light of the situation. "When I made my schedule for this year, I clearly wrote down Law and Society. The funny thing is, Law and Society isn't on here for either semester. But Dance is. Honestly, can you picture me as a dancer?"

Pondering for a second, the elderly man smiled brightly at Helga. "I remember you! My daughter used to take ballet when she was in grade school, and I always saw you at her recitals…"

"Shut up!" Helga whispered harshly, then forced out a laugh when she saw the shocked look on the principal's face. "What I'm saying is, there's no way I can take this class. I'll fail the moment I walk in!"

"I'm sorry, but I know how full Law and Society is. Dance wasn't a very popular choice, surprisingly enough, so therefore we had to place a lot of students into the class. However, I do know that French was also a very unpopular choice, so if you'd like we can see if that'll fit into your schedule."

She shuddered at the memory of trying to learn French and the French ways when she pretended to be Cecile back in fourth grade. "No, there's no way I'm taking French. I wanted Law and Society, and that's what I'm gonna take!"

Mr. Harris's smile faded and was replaced with a stern look. "Well I'm sorry, but there's no way we can fit you into that class. Maybe you can get into it next year if you're lucky. But for now, you must settle with Dance. And don't try to tell me that you have no experience in it, either. If you have anymore serious problems, let me know." And with that, he walked away to help another student, leaving Helga alone.

"Look on the bright side, Helga," Arnold's voice came from beside her, "Phoebe's in the class, and so are Gerald and I, and a bunch of our other friends. I'm sure it'll be fun."

"Oh great, now I'm gonna be stuck with you and Tall Hair Boy? What can possibly go wrong next?"

"Just try not to be so negative about it. Besides, most of us already know about your ballet training…"

Holding her fist just inches away from Arnold's face, the girl's harsh tone turned into a shout. "If you say one more word about…you…you know what…I'll make sure you regret it, Football Head!"

Arnold rolled his eyes and smiled a bit flirtatiously. "Whatever you say, Helga. I just don't think you're as bad as you say you are." Before she could say anything else, he walked away to find Gerald.

Helga, who now stood there holding her fist up to no one, sighed deeply, putting her fist down slowly. "Maybe with a little bit of luck they'll teach us the Tango or something…" Smirking at the memory, Helga shoved her schedule into her pocket and went to find Phoebe to complain some more.

'But with my angel in the class,' she thought to herself, 'maybe it really won't be so bad. Maybe the teacher will partner us together, and once again I'll be lucky enough to have him hold me close, cheek to cheek, and I'll be able to see if he's still using that same shampoo, and…' Swooning at the thought, Helga smiled to herself, only to have her thoughts interrupted by the familiar, annoying sound of heavy breathing behind her. As if on cue, she threw her fist back, causing Brainy to fall backwards onto the floor. "First punch of the school year, Brainy. Maybe we'll be able to beat last years' record."

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A/N: Ah, okay…so this first chapter probably moved painfully slow for a lot of you. But obviously things will get more interesting as the chapters go on, so please don't lose interest yet! I'm curious myself to see where my imagination will go this time, haha. As for chapter 2, I will most definitely have it posted before I leave for vacation next Monday. (So, next Friday or Saturday, perhaps?) Until then, I hope everyone enjoyed the first chapter. Please review!