Hi everyone! This my first attempt at fanfiction so please feel free to comment and leave suggestions.

Just a little background: While Hey Arnold! The Movie did occur, TJM did not. Also, italicized sentences are Helga's inner thoughts (in case you needed clarification). Since this story takes place during college, there will be adult language and themes. So consider yourself warned.

Disclaimer: I don't own Hey Arnold, Pinky and the Brain, any of the bands that are mentioned, or any music/TV/movies that I have unknowingly referenced. Just want to make sure I cover all the bases. :)

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP!

I groaned, groggily turning my head towards the alarm clock on other side of my bed. I stared bleary eyed at it, trying to focus on the little red dashes long enough to clearly make out the time. "Ugh. 8:30 already?" I buried my face back into my pillow.

"Shut that thing off, will ya? Some of us don't have class until 11."

"Sorry Sam." I said, sitting up and swinging my legs out of bed. I shut the alarm off and slowly dragged my way over to the other side of the room to my laptop.

"It's alright. I needed to get up and study anyway," she yawned. I plunked down in my desk chair and looked up at the top bunk of the bed frame. Sam looked and probably felt just as half asleep as I was, her eyes bloodshot and her short brown hair sticking straight up in the back.

"That's a great look for you." I laughed as she slowly lowered herself down the ladder to the floor. "Shut up, Pataki." I smiled as she made her way to the mirror hanging on her closet door. "Besides, look who's talking." She smirked.

I joined her at the mirror and laughed again. My long blonde hair looked like I had tried to tease the back of it into the biggest bouffant imaginable. "Well, at least we're the only two that have to see each other like this. Or would you prefer I took a picture for Rodney to keep by his bedside?"

She giggled. "You're such a douche." She said, lightly punching my arm.

"Right back at ya." I said, returning the favor with smile and a jab of my own.

It was hard to believe that only six months earlier I had loathed the idea of having to share a room with her. When I had gotten my rooming assignment during the final week of July, I had been silently praying that I would be one of the few lucky freshmen to get a single to myself. When I opened the letter and read that I would be spending my first year of real freedom crammed into a tiny 12'x19' with a complete stranger from a podunk farm town in Ohio, I was fuming. The first thing I pictured was a girl just like Lila, "ever so" sickeningly sweet and naïve and dumber than a box of rocks. But there was nothing I could do about it now. The university wasn't about to just grant me my own room simply because I was making assumptions about my new roommate. So, I told myself to suck it up for the moment and as soon as classes started, desperately try to find someone to switch with ASAP.

About a week later, I came home to find an email from her in my inbox. It was simple enough. She introduced herself as Samantha 'Sam' Reynolds, exclaimed how excited she was to get to know her "super awesome new roomie", and asking what I planned on bringing. She mentioned that she already had a mini-fridge and a microwave so she was hoping I'd bring the TV. Great… Just what I thought. Well, at least I can call dibs on the remote since it's MY TV. I waited another week before I bothered to email her back. It literally had only 10 words in it: "I'm Helga Pataki. Glad you're excited. I'll bring the TV." I'm pretty sure she had gotten the picture that I wasn't interested in being 'roomies' as we kept our conversations to a minimum after that.

I had gotten there early on move-in day, not only to avoid the crowds but to make sure I staked claim on the best stuff in the room. Hey, if I was going to have to put up with Lila version 2.0, I was at least going to be comfortable. I was bringing the final box of my stuff up the stairs to my new dorm when I saw someone standing in the open doorway. She was short, barely 5 foot 2, petite, with chocolate brown hair cut into a sleek shoulder-length bob and even darker eyes rimmed in black liquid eyeliner. She was dressed in a black tank top, light blue jeans, and a pair of black flip-flops. She was bending down to place a box on the floor when I saw a quick flash of a studded belt and a rose tattoo. This can't be her. She turned around to face me. "Oh hey! You must be Helga. Nice to finally meet you. I'm Sam." We shook hands. "I see you've already staked claim on the bottom bunk. That's cool but I call dibs on the closet that isn't behind the door." Really? She's not even close to what I pictured.

"Hey, babe, where do you want me to put this stuff?" I watched as a lanky brunette boy with a buzzcut walked in cradling a large box.

"Helga, I'd like you to meet my bitch, Rodney."

He rolled his eyes. "Sam, do you really have to say that?"

"Yes I do. Now be a good boy and introduce yourself to the nice lady."

He nodded and shook my hand. "Hiya." He turned back to Sam. "Seriously, how many more trips do we have to make, babe?"

"As many as it takes to clean out the car." She chuckled as Rodney turned and headed out the door. "Dance, puppet, dance!"

I smiled. Maybe this year won't be so bad after all. I set my own junk down and called out as she began to head back out the door.

"Do you guys need any help?"

She smiled. "That'd be awesome. Thanks!"

We didn't say much else as we trekked up and down the stairs, unloading boxes from her Honda Civic. An hour later, I had managed to grab the final box from the front seat. I looked at the contents and found it filled to the brim with CDs. "Led Zepplin, Madonna, The Beatles, Dr. Dre, The Ramones, Adele, Carrie Underwood. Your tastes really run the gamut." I said, as Sam approached with her keys.

"What can I say? I like what I like." She grinned. "You're more than welcome to burn anything you want."

"You got any Metallica?"

"Sure. Which one? I have all of them if you need 'em."

And just like that, I knew we were meant to be friends. I reveled in the fact that I ended up not only someone I got along with but actually liked enough to hang out with. The truth was, I could count the number of friends I had on one hand. I had moved away from Hillwood the summer before eighth grade. By that point, Miriam had finally sobered herself up enough to realize what a complete asshole Bob really was. We didn't move far – about two hours or so from the old neighborhood. However, it was just far enough that I never really saw anyone from the old grade school gang again. Well, besides Phoebe. Phoebe and I made it a point to continue our friendship as best we could, talking on the phone at least once a week and, when she was finally old enough to drive, she'd come visit every couple of months. I ended up going back to the old neighborhood. It wasn't like I didn't want to. It would have been fun to visit everyone and some of the old places we used to hang out at: Slausen's, the playground of PS 118, Gerald Field. But Miriam didn't have the cash to buy me a car and it's not like I could ask Big Bob to pony up the cash (we never heard from him again after the divorce was finalized). I also wasn't willing to subject Phoebe to an extra four hour drive to pick me up, bring me to Hillwood, and then just bring me back less than 48 hours later. Not that she hadn't offered. Anyway, she would keep me up-to-date as best she could on everyone's whereabouts. Herald went on to take over Green's Meats after Mr. Green retired. Rhonda was jet-setting around world, frequenting Paris and Milan. Stinky, Sid, Eugene, Nadine, Brainy, Curly, and the rest were off to college or trade school. Phoebe had managed to get accepted to John Hopkins University for Pre-Med and Gerald, who Phoebe began dating during freshman year of high school, was going to the University of Baltimore to be close by. And him…Phoebs said that he had spent the summer before junior year visiting San Lorenzo. He ended up falling in love with the people and the area and decided to attend the Universidad de San Lorenzo to major in Social Sciences. When she told me, I was crushed. After all these years, I still cared for him, as hard as I tried to forget. I had always secretly hoped that our paths would cross again. I often dreamed that, one day, he would magically show up at my door. I'd open it to see him standing there, propped against the doorframe. He'd look at me with those huge bottle green eyes, his blonde locks slightly hanging in his face. He'd smile a wonderful lopsided little grin before pulling me flush into and then, with his soft, luscious lips, he'd kiss me with such power that my knees would go weak…

"Hello? Anybody in there?"

I snapped out of my thoughts. "Sorry Sam. What did you say?"

"I said, what are you going to do tonight?"

"The same thing I do every night, Pinky. Try to take over the world!"

"Ha ha. Very funny." Sam grinned, rolling her eyes. "But seriously, what are your plans for tonight?"

"I don't know. Stay in. Catch up on some reading. Watch a movie. I haven't really decided."

"I swear, Helga, you are the most anti-social person in the world."

"Bite me." She was right, though. Other than going to class and working on a group project or two, I hadn't really gone out and gotten to know other people. Even a majority of the girls on our floor had no idea I even existed.

"You should come with me to the house tonight."

"Ah, Sam. Not again…" I shook my head and groaned. This had become her favorite topic of conversation as of late. She had been dating Rodney, who sophomore and a brother of the Theta Zeta Chi fraternity, for nearly two years. Ever since school started, she had stuck to the same weekend routine: go to her Friday classes, come back to the dorm for an hour or two to hang out with me, go to dinner, and then head over to the fraternity house for the rest of the weekend until Sunday brunch, at which point she'd make her way back to our room to study. Recently, though, she'd been pushing me to join her for their Friday night get-togethers.

"Come on, Helga. It'll be fun. All they do is watch movies and play video games. That's pretty much what you'd be doing here by yourself anyway."

I sighed. "But won't wittle Rodney-poo be all upset I'm barging in on your alone time?"

"First of all, he'd kill you if he ever heard you call him that. And second, it's not really 'alone time' if you're sitting in a living room surrounded by a dozen other guys. Helga, please come with me. Who knows? You might even really enjoy yourself." She flashed me a mischievous smile and winked.

This girl is seriously not giving up. "Oh yeah. Because pantsing and fart jokes are such a turn-on."

"Oh come on. The guys aren't that bad. Besides, remember the joke I told you the other day? That came from one of the guys."

I chuckled. Thinking back, we had spent a good five minutes rolling on the floor laughing our asses off.

"All right, I'll think about it." I teased.

Sam's smile lit up her face. "Oh please, Pataki. That means you're going."

I grinned. "Fine. I'll come."