A/N: I've been on a Hey Arnold kick lately. Don't judge me.

ALSO for the purposes of my lame life, I'm going off of the end of the show and not taking into account the plans for TJM and The Patakis. Sooooo...don't judge.

Also, don't own. If I did own, this show would not have ended. Word. Yo.

Title- "Wonderwall" by Oasis

Chapter 1: Return of the Queen

Helga G. Pataki was a a rather brusque girl of sixteen with long blond hair and dark eyebrows. She was prone to wearing pink tank tops and dark sweatshirts and had, on occasion, been known to wear a silk ribbon in her hair and light pink eye-shadow. She had an affinity for school yard fights and kittens and her favorite past time was watching reality TV shows (her current favorites were The Bachelorette and Hell's Kitchen). Her fellow high schoolers from East Side High generally paid her little attention, so as she was sitting in the back of grimy old school bus #12 on a lumpy seat, no one gave her any heed. She simply watched out the window and listened to Teri and Lenny, some rowdy boys in jerseys who were riding in front of her.

"I swear by the Jackie Robinson collectors edition card I carry around my neck that it's true." Lenny, a tall, knobbly boy with droopy brown hair and one foot that was two sizes bigger than the other, said.

"You're B.S.'n me, dude," Teri shook his head and his baby cheeks jiggled. Teri was a dark skinned boy with blue eyes and a shaved head who took up two-thirds of the bus seat. "There's no way they do that."

"Y'see, that's what I said! Until Big Jimmy saw their soccer captain crawlin' around the sidelines, lookin' for 'em."

Teri narrowed his eyes at his friend before swiveling around and looking at Helga. "Pataki, he's full of it. Tell me he's full of it."

Helga, not paying attention to their conversation in the slightest, said, "You know it, Theresa."

Teri smacked Lenny upside the head. "Man, you have a problem. Why're you tryin' to convince me they eat maggots anyway? You're disgusting."

Lenny' snickered. "You should'a seen your face go all white, dude."

"Shut yer trap, stupid, before I make you eat bugs."

"Gladly, my friend. A little bit of protein is just what I need. Maybe on a sandwich with some avocado and fritos."

"Nuh-uh, there's no way I'd let you ruin avocados like that."

"You vegetarian nut job."

Helga glanced up at her two friends before shaking her head and sighing. Next to her, so skinny she could practically slip between the cracks in the seat, Agatha looked at Helga.

"You all right, Helga?"

Helga turned to the white haired, pink eyed girl next to her. "What, me? Yeah, I'm cool. Just...thinkin'."

"Well, you've been a bit...twitchy lately. Are you worried about our new school?"

"What, me? Naaah, I'm not worried. Why should I be worried? Heh heh..." Helga paused when Agatha just stared back. "C'mon, Aggie, quit it. I'm cool, no worries."

"All right." Then the wisp of a girl sat back and stared down the long isle in front of her, unblinking.

Helga turned back to the window. She was fine. It was a long time ago. She was grown up now. She was completely different. She was fine.

Arnold was a man of simplicity. He generally ran a hand through his hair, pulled on the closest shirt that smelled relatively clean, put on a baseball cap, threw his books under an arm, and was out the door with a banana by 7:15A.M. He walked to the end of his block and stood underneath the bus stop sign, watching passersby and being generally well contented with life. The yellow bus rolled up at 7:20A.M. exactly and Arnold made his way through school bus #13 (which had previously been #18, but half the 8 was flaking off) just in time for Gerald to jump from his own seat and grab the blond boy by the front of the shirt.

"Hey, man, you know what I just thought!"

Arnold, eyes wide, looked at him, trying not to fall over as the bus lurched forward.

"Isn't East Side High that school that Helga went to?" Gerald demanded.

"Yeah."

"D'ya think maybe she's comin'?"

Arnold took a seat next to his friend. "She is coming."

"How do you know? Did she already call and pre-threaten you? You know, a 'I'm baaaaaaaaaack!' sort of a way?"

Arnold chuckled at Gerald's reenactment. "No, of course not. If you were paying any attention to Phoebe at all yesterday, you'd know, too."

Gerald 'tskd' and slumped back, crossing his long legs and jamming his hands into his read sweatshirt pockets. "How come we didn't think of it before?"

"Because we were too busy gloating about the East Side basketball team being split up."

"Oh, yeah, good thing, too, huh? I mean, I wanted to play them in the championships in November, 'cause, seriously, you know we could have slaughtered them. But, it's just as well. I mean, they have held the title for ten years, but, honestly, it's about time their reign ended, and what better way than for their school to end? Seems fine by me. But, hey, that's not the point! Helga Pataki's coming back to the neighborhood!"

"What?" Sid cried from across the isle after catching on to the conversation. "Helga Pataki's coming back?"

Stinky, who was sitting in the seat behind him, sandwiched between two freshmen girls, slapped his knee. "Well, how d'ya like that? Helga's comin' back?"

"Who's Helga?" One of the freshman girls asked Stinky with a bat of the eyelashes.

"Well, if she isn't the old elementary school bully, I dunno what she is."

Harold called from two seats up, "Oi, I resent that! I've mended my ways, thank you."

"We're not talkin' about you, Harold," Gerald said dryly.

"Yeah, we're talkin' about Helga Pataki." Sid said.

Rhonda, sitting next to Harold, popped her head over the seat. "Helga Pataki, tyrannical queen of the playground? Wow, we haven't seen her in ages. What about Helga Pataki?"

"Apparently she's comin' back to the ol' homestead." Stinky informed.

"She's moving back?" Rhonda raised a manicured eyebrow. "I thought her family's business made the big times."

"She's not moving back," Gerald corrected, "She's comin' with the kids from East Side."

"Boy howdie, she's an East Sider!" Sid said. "How come I didn't know that?"

"Because you don't know anything, Sid." Rhonda put her nose in the air.

"I know some stuffs, prissy miss!" Sid snapped back.

Harold pointed a finger at Sid. "Hey, watch out who's girlfriend you're talkin' to, or I'll slaughter ya!"

Sid snorted. "Mended your ways my butt..."

"What'd you say?"

"Nothing!"

Gerald looked at Arnold, who had been silently watching. "How do you feel about all this, Arnold?"

"Me?" Arnold looked up, startled, when the area became silent and he saw everyone had turned to him. "I dunno. Why me?"

"Let's think, Arnold," Rhonda said with an annoyed look and began counting on her fingers. "She terrorized you, called you names, stole your stuff, hit you, made fun of you, sabotaged all your relationships, yelled at you on a daily basis, and publicly confessed her undying loathing for you regularly. Need I go on?"

"But that was all a long time ago. And besides, we left on ok terms. Don't you guys think she's probably changed?"

They looked at him before a chorus of, "Nope", "Uh-uh", "Doubt it", "That's a negative, my friend" bounced around.

"Well, it's not like we have a choice, anyway. I mean, their school burnt down. They don't have anywhere else to go."

Gerald shrugged. "For all we know, she's the one who burnt it down." This was agreed to by popular vote.

Arnold shrugged back. "Yeah, maybe." He grinned. "Maybe she hates the East High Eagles as much as we do."

"I hear that." Gerald high-fived him. "If that's true, remind me to throw a party for her."

"We'll invite the rest of the team. Bet they'd love to meet her."

"Yeah, as friendly as a cactus as she is."

"And just as cuddly."

The rest of the ride to school was occupied by conversations along the lines of whether or not Helga had taken over East Side as the queen, or what kind of psycho killers must be friends with her now, and what poor souls' lives she had ruined. Just as they were pulling up to school, Rhonda finally said what had been occupying her mind the whole way, "What I really want to know is whether or not she's finally plucked that hideous eyebrow."

Phoebe Heyerdahl was a small creature who had recently taken to putting all her hair on top of her head in a messy bun and wearing long socks, plaid skirts, and lacy-looking, old fashioned jewelry. When bus #13 pulled up outside the high school, she was waiting by the gate, a sticker on her sweater that said, "Hello, My Name is Phoebe". The kids from bus #13 flooded through the gates along with the kids who were getting off buses from other neighborhoods. Arnold followed as Gerald crossed over to Phoebe.

"Hey," Gerald said, "There you are. You weren't on the bus this morning."

"Yes, I had to get here early. I'm one of the tour guides for the East Siders today."

"Oh, yeah?" He glanced around. "But where are they?"

"I suppose they've been delayed."

Arnold added helpfully, "There's construction on the free way, so maybe they're behind schedule."

"I'm sure you're quite right," Phoebe smiled her quiet smile at him.

"Soooo..." Gerald scratched what he was trying to pass off as 5 o'clock shadow. "Helga's really coming, then?"

Phoebe beamed up at him. "Isn't it exciting? It'll be just like old times, won't it?"

"Yeah, I LOVE old times." Gerald elbowed Arnold. "How come you didn't say so before, though?"

She adjusted her teal rimmed glasses at him. "Hmm? What do you mean? I told you as soon as I found out, three days ago."

"Wha, three days ago?"

"I've been talking about it all the time. Don't you remember?"

Arnold leaned toward Gerald with a, "Told ya."

Gerald shot him a dark look before smiling down at Phoebe. "Yeah, of course I remember. I meant I just can't believe we didn't know sooner. "

"Aren't you excited to see Helga?" Phoebe asked.

"Pfft, of course. Been looking forward to it!"

Arnold rolled his eyes.

"I know!" Phoebe said excitedly. "Perhaps we could all meet up for lunch! Wouldn't that be nice?"

Gerald lit up at the thought. "Hey, yeah, that's a great idea! Don't you think that's a great idea, Arnold?"

Arnold smirked at his friend. "Oh, yeah. And, just 'cause I know you missed her so much, I'll let you sit by her. The whole time."

Phoebe sighed sweetly, "Aww!", and Gerald said through gritted teeth, "Thanks, man, what a...pal."

"Anything for you."

A bell (more of a buzzer that was on its last legs and had gone all static-y) chimed from inside the school and the last stragglers wandered toward the building. Gerald and Arnold said goodbye to Phoebe and left her to herself. Arnold threw an arm around his friend's shoulder as they entered the school.

"Gerald," He began. "I believe I'm correct in saying that you are completely smitten."

"What are you talking about?"

"You know what I'm talking about." Arnold poked him in the chest. "Someone's caught the love bug for a certain be-speckled cutie."

Gerald shrugged Arnold's arm off. "Man, shut up."

"Just sayin'. Ever since she broke up with R.J. White, you've been alternating between bashful and suave."

"R.J. White," Gerald grumbled. "Man, I hate that guy. He's all uptight and a know-it-all, and, seriously, who does he think he is, wearing those little bow ties like he's some kind of genius? He knows he just looks stupid. Stupid."

"I seem to remember you liking him just fine before—"

"Nut-uh, don't you go there, I never liked that prissy wuss!"

"Sure, Gerald. Whatever you say. Smitten."

"Shut up."

The pair made their way through the high school, avoiding expertly flying paper airplanes and text books that had been scattered on the ground and seniors who shoved younger kids aside as they walked. They climbed to level two, ignoring a couple who was making out in the stairwell, and found themselves in their first period class, where kids were sitting on desks, and the teacher seemed to have fallen asleep at her own. Arnold sat behind Gerald right next to the row of windows that looked over the school yard.

The bell rang again and most of the kids got into their seats as the teacher sat up and readjusted her glasses. She taught post colonial American history, a subject that really couldn't have been more boring, until she made it so. She was deaf in one ear and rarely looked up from her book, so, after roll was called, most students who wanted to continue certain conversations or generally just slack off were at perfect liberty to do so.

"So how you going to ask her out?" Arnold asked in a lower tone.

Gerald glanced over his shoulder at him. "What do you mean? Is there more than one way?"

"Well, yeah. Are you gonna do something romantic or are you just gonna ask her?"

"Something romantic?" His voice cracked. "Is she expecting something romantic? I'm not that great at romantic stuff. What's wrong with just asking her? Is that not good enough? Oh, man, I don't need this extra pressure." He rubbed his forehead.

As Arnold was chuckling at Gerald's torment when a movement out the window caught his eye. He looked down on the street as two big yellow buses parked in front of the school gates. The girl behind Arnold gasped and said, "Look! The East Siders are here!"

A murmur rose around the closest students as they leaned to see out the windows. The doors had opened and a steady stream of high school students were filing out. Arnold recognized Phoebe and a few other kids from his own school beginning to rally them up into little groups. The trickle coming from the buses slowed and the first one seemed to run out of kids to expel. The second one spat out its last two guys and a girl with hair that glowed white in the sun, and just when Arnold was about to be very confused, a tall girl with long blond hair hanging straight down her back stepped off the bus. He couldn't make out her face from where he was, but she was unmistakable.

"Man, I don't see her anywhere," Gerald said.

"What? Dude, she's right there."

"Where?"

"There! She's the one hugging your girlfriend."

"Phoebe's not my—ah! That's her!"

The teacher, who had finally realized that the entire class had stood up in order to get a look at the East Side High schoolers, snapped, "Back in your seats, all of you! Pay attention!"

The room quieted to the gentle whispering of excited and curious students as the teacher continued her lecture. Gerald shook his head in wonder and said, "Man, look at that hair. Maybe you're right, Arnold. Maybe she has changed."

"Maybe," Arnold muttered before turning back to the classroom with a half smile.

The East Side High schoolers were considerably underwhelmed by their new school. East Side High was in a, well, more affluent part of Hillwood; 45 city blocks from P.S. 118. East Side High, while not being terribly larger, was noticeably less rundown. These lockers were covered in graffiti, the floors had spots that were suspiciously sticky, and the foundation in the ceiling was seriously questionable. For most of the new students as they followed their tour guides, the school seemed grubby and dingy, but for Helga it had a strange feeling of homeyness to it. She had been so lucky as to end up with Phoebe as a guide, but she had been separated from Agatha and Teri in the process. Lenny, thankfully, loomed next to her, lurping along with a quiet whistle.

"This is the copy center," Phoebe was saying to the group as they paused outside it. Helga usually stopped paying attention after the first five seconds and moved on to more important things.

Currently, she was agitated. She was less careful about hiding it now that Agatha wasn't nearby to watch her with wide eyes, and Lenny rarely knew what was going on around him, which most would suspect to be because he couldn't see with his hair always in his eyes, but Helga knew to be because he was rather air headed. Thus, with Phoebe also busy, she was free to reflect.

It had been a long time since Helga had been in this part of town. The last time had been a year ago, when her family had picked up Phoebe on their way camping. She had always been grateful that Phoebe and she had kept in touch for so long, and loved to hear stories from her about what was going on with all her old school mates. She never said so, but the only reason she ever asked about anyone was to hear about Arnold.

Arnold, Arnold, Arnold.

She sighed and rolled her eyes at herself.

It had been a long time since she had been...well, head over heels for the football head. She hadn't seen him in four years, other than yearbook photos that Phoebe had. The last time she'd seen him in person she had been visiting Phoebe for a day during summer vacation, and, per Phoebe's suggestion, had walked down to the baseball field to say hello to the ol' gang. When they had gotten there, Helga and Phoebe had stopped by the fence and watched Arnold slide into home plate before being hugged and slapped and cheered. Phoebe had asked Helga if she wanted to go say hi, but Helga had shaken her head. They had left.

That was it. She had seen them, seen him, and she was happy to, but then...she wasn't apart of them anymore. She didn't belong there. They were probably happy she was gone. He probably was. No one had called or sent letters, and Phoebe had said they'd stopped asking about her. That he'd stopped asking. He had moved on.

She had removed the locket with his picture from around her neck and put it in the shrine in the back of her closet. The shrine was smaller than it had been—the statue of him she'd had to artfully dispose of before she moved so her parents wouldn't see it. But the candles hadn't been lit in ages, and, in fact, she hadn't even looked at it until the day she'd heard she'd be going to the same school as him again. She had just pushed aside her clothes and looked, and then shut the door. For years she had waited for the day where she'd have to hear about his new girlfriend, Little Miss Perfect, or someone like her. She had wondered if Phoebe hadn't mentioned anything just to spare her feelings, but, well, now Helga was here. Guess I'll find out first hand, she thought.

It made her shutter, and then she scolded herself.

Time and distance had helped ebb the obsession. Switching schools had given her a fresh start, and she found she had discarded the old Helga Geraldine Pataki for a new skin. She had never forgotten him, and still often thought of him fondly. It was just...well, awkward. Such a large majority of her life had been devoted to him that now it was a bit nerve wracking. She was nervous to see him again. What would he think of her now? She wanted to show him, to show all of them, that she was better than they thought she was. Ha, I've done just fine without you. So there.

Helga jumped when someone brushed her elbow.

"You all right, Helga?"

She looked up at Carlos Moze, the tall, dark and handsome East Sider. She snorted. "Sure, thing, el Capitano."

Behind her, Lenny had noticed Moze as well. "Yo, Captain. How's it goin'?"

Moze shrugged. "Cool, I guess. At least the school's not on fire."

"Tsk, ya, no kidding." Helga said. "Although maybe someone should set fire to it, if you ask me."

Moze laughed."Yeah, maybe."

"I dunno, guys." Lenny said. "Looks like good maggot breeding ground to me."

"Maggots?" Moze asked.

"Seriously, Len. You're back on that?" Helga raised an eyebrow.

"When in Rome, right?"

"Romans don't eat maggots, Len."

"Why would anyone?" Moze asked. He was distracted from an answer as they passed an open doorway that led into the gym. "Lady and gentleman, I present to you our new home!"

Helga and Lenny paused to look inside.

"Woot!" Lenny said to hear it echo. "Can't wait to burn some rubber."

"Lacquered floors, hoops...I guess it'll do." Helga said lightly.

"I'm sure the janitor is honored, princess." Moze tilted his head toward her. "But not nearly as honored as the mighty Hedgehogs' basketball team."

"Oh, yeah," Helga snickered. "I bet they're wetting their pants they're so excited to get new players from East Side. This whole integration thing probably has 'em all riled up like a bunch of little girls."

The three hung at the back of the group and talked about basketball and the rest of the team. Since East Side had burnt down, the students had been separated into two groups and sent to schools that could accommodate them. The majority of the team had ended up in the other half of the student body, while only the Team Captain, Lenny, Teri, and Helga, had ended up as Hedgehogs. The rest were Lions.

Phoebe's tour and orientation ended at ten to noon and as she dismissed them for lunch she caught up with Helga just as she was saying goodbye to Moze.

"Hey, Phebes, great guide you are," Helga said with a friendly punch to Phoebe's shoulder.

"Oh, thanks. Listen, um, I was wondering if you'd like to join us for lunch?"

Helga paused. "Who's 'us'?"

"Me, Gerald, and Arnold. Oh, and your friends are welcome, too, of course!"

"Uhhh...you know, I'd love to, but I think we, we definitely have plans. You know, gotta wander the school, get used to it and all. Heh heh."

"Oh, would you like us to go with you? I'm sure we could—"

"NO!" She toned it down when she saw the shock on Phoebe's face. "No, uh, we'd just, you know, like some time to...get...adjusted. Yep. Really, Phebes, go on ahead. Next time, ok?"

"All right, Helga..." Phoebe hesitantly moved away, and Helga smiled and waved every time she turned back to look.

As soon as Phoebe disappeared behind a corner, Helga rounded on the nearest locker and smacked her forehead into it. Several times. Just be cool, Pataki! You're freaking out for no reason, no one else cares this much...

"Excuse me, that's my locker..."

Helga looked down at the freshman darkly. "Come back later, kid."

He left. Quickly.

She rammed her head into the locker again.

"Whenever you're done, Pataki," Lenny said, inspecting his fingernails, "I'm hungry for some spaghetti and maggot-balls."

They did not eat spaghetti and maggot-balls, much to Lenny's disappointment. They did, however, eat some very...interesting tasting tuna fish sandwiches and "raisin" pudding from the cafeteria. They ate outside, behind the school that opened up onto the blacktop, where groups of girls were sitting around on lunch tables, boys were skateboarding back and forth, and various sports were being played.

Helga sat in between Agatha and Teri and picked at her tuna sandwich. She was far more interested, however, in scoping out the students passing them by. Most of them she didn't recognize at all, but when she saw someone she used to know, she'd elbow Agatha (who'd say, "Helga, you know I bruise easy,") and point them out. Nadine passed by, and Helga almost hadn't recognized her since her hair had been let down and straightened. Stinky she finally noticed playing basketball on the court with some other guys, and a gaggle of girls cheered and called out his name whenever he got the ball. Chocolate boy was sitting in the shade, eating a radish salad and reading a very heavy text book with a few other boys. A rather attractive guy wearing Aeropostale and with black hair swooped back in a fifty's style passed by, hand in hand with a cute red headed girl. When he saw Helga he stopped dead, and said, "Hey, Helga, long time no see." It had taken him another ten minutes to convince her he was Curly. "Curly? The geeky little dipwad who used to stalk Rhonda? No way that's you! You're a babe!" "Well, thanks, Helga." and his girlfriend agreed. Helga's mind slightly blown, she left her friends to toss her tray in the trash and process her new information.

"Helga Pataki, is that you?"

Helga turned to find a girl with streaked long black hair, thick make-up, and a red sun dress walking up to her.

"It is you! Well, my goodness, aren't we just so grown up?" The girl eyed her up and down, and the deja vu of it made Helga say, "Rhonda!"

Rhonda winked at her. "One and the fabulous same. So, tell me, Helga, how are you?"

"Uh, can't complain, I guess," She fingered her old sweatshirt self-consciously as Rhonda, with her lip liner and cute platform shoes, smiled up at her.

"I'm so glad," Rhonda gushed before she turned to the side and called out to a boy nearby. "Harold! Harold, come here, come say hello to Helga!" He didn't turn around. "Harold!" Rhonda barked. The guy turned, hiked his pants up, and sauntered over to them.

"What is it?" He said in a deep bass voice.

Helga stared up at him, at his 5 o'clock shadow (and it was only 12:25PM) and well toned biceps as he slung an arm around Rhonda.

"Harold, look, it's Helga Pataki, back in the neighborhood."

"Helga?" Harold raised his eyebrows. "Whoa, didn't even recognize you. What happened to your caterpillar brow, caterpillar brow?" Rhonda smacked his arm playfully.

Helga's eye twitched, but, upon seeing he was completely sincere, she reminded herself that Harold was just an idiot, who had always been an idiot, and would probably always be an idiot.

Rhonda, as if struck by a brilliant idea, grabbed Helga's arm, "Oh, Helga you must, you simply must, let us show you around! I am certain that I can introduce you to all the most important people in school."

"No, thanks, Rhonda, I've already had a tour." Meeting a bunch of Rhonda's prissy friends was the last thing she wanted to do.

"No, no, no! This is completely different. Are those your friends?" Rhonda paused and looked them all up and down as they walked over. Her nose crinkled slightly, but then she said, "Hello! My name is Rhonda Wellington Lloyd, and this is Harold Berman, my boyfriend." She offered Teri her hand, which he took gingerly. "How do you do?"

"Fine," Teri said, dropping her hand. "Name's Teri. This is Lenny and Agatha. You friends of Helga's?"

"We most certainly are! And we were just about to show her around the school, and you must all come as well."

Teri looked at Agatha, who just stared at Rhonda; Lenny, who was admiring the limited edition, signed Jackie Robinson card that he kept in a laminated pouch hanging around his neck; and Helga, who shook her head. Teri shrugged. "Sure, we'll come."

"Wonderful!" Rhonda spun around and led the way back into the school. Helga pinched Teri in the arm and was satisfied to hear an, "Ow! What?"

Rhonda made good on her promise of a completely different tour. They went down all the same hallways, but as they went, Rhonda stopped and introduced Helga to every well dressed, rich looking snob, and it all made Helga very uncomfortable. She only became interested when they ran into a tall, curly haired, red headed kid who was being followed by some thespian girls in berets and tights.

"Eugene!" Rhonda called and he paused.

"Oh, hey, Rhonda," He said.

"Eugene, you remember Helga Pataki. Helga, Eugene is one of the most popular boys in school and he's only a sophomore. He's the lead in all the school plays and he's in a band. Do you remember the, 'Don't sweat it, you'll regret it, try natural musk scent' commercials?" Rhonda gestured to Eugene proudly, as if all his fame were due to her.

Eugene blinked at Helga. "Well, well! It is Helga. Long time no see!"

"Same." She smiled at him, hands in her pockets. "I saw your commercial—it's pretty good. Well, for an odor advertisement. Way to be."

Eugene smiled. "Well, thanks, Helga."

"Sure." She didn't say more, because just then one of his thespian lackeys glared at her before touching Eugene's arm and saying in a deep, arty voice, "Eugene, dahling, you promised to perform Hamlet's soliloquy for the underclassmen before lunch was over."

"Indeed, I did, Roxanne. Well, Helga, good seeing you again. Drop by the drama department sometime and say hi." And then he whisked away, singing "Goodnight, goodnight!", the beatnik girls on his trail.

"Everyone's so different or grown up or somethin'," Helga said as they stopped a little ways from a drinking fountain for Agatha. Agatha could drink like a fish, so currently the boys were all leaning against a wall, saying, "S'up, dude," to anyone Harold knew. Rhonda and Helga stood a little further away.

"Oh, I don't think we've changed that much," Rhonda said, inspecting her manicure. "You've changed a lot, though. I thought it was wonderful what you said to Eugene, about his commercial."

Helga shrugged. "I was just being nice."

"Exactly."

Well. Rhonda thought she was nice. Helga felt pride fill her chest. Ha, that's right, Helga Pataki is a good person. Who's the queen? That's right, it's me. Bet you didn't see that one coming, suckers.

I wonder if Arnold will think—

No, you don't, shut up.

Right.

Agatha finished her drink and took up her place at Helga's left shoulder, where she usually hovered. Rhonda, taking real notice of the little albino, flashed her teeth at her. "So, Agatha, how long have you and Helga been friends?"

Agatha said quietly, "About four years."

"Really? How'd you guys meet? Did Helga steal your lunch money?"

"Hey!" Helga said indignantly.

Agatha looked surprised. "What? No, Helga would never do something like that. She's the kindest person I know."

Oh, Aggie, bless your little heart! Helga thought fondly.

"I used to get picked on a lot by the boys at our school. When Helga came, she told them all to leave me alone or she'd bury them alive."

"Erk! Eh heh..." Spoke too soon.

"They didn't bother me anymore after that." Agatha gave Helga a proud smile.

Rhonda patted Agatha on the head. "Well, isn't that the sweetest?" She gushed.

Helga smiled at her tiny friend. Agatha had that effect on a lot of people. She seemed more like a cute little bunny that needed protecting rather than a human girl. Helga hadn't really meant to be friends with her—she'd just gotten mad when those guys were picking on her—but Agatha had followed her around ever since, and Helga hadn't minded.

The buzzer went off, signaling the end of lunch and Rhonda said, "You East Siders are supposed to go to the second half of the day, right? I'm sure no one would be more fit to help you find your classes than moi."

"Yeah, ok. Wait...ahhhhh...shoot."

"What's wrong?" Rhonda asked.

Agatha looked worried. "You forgot your schedule, didn't you, Helga? I saw you didn't get it from the front office. Should we go get it?"

"Nah, I don't wanna make you guys late. Rhonda, will you get her to class?"

"Sure thing, Helga, leave it to Miss Lloyd. What class do you have?" Rhonda put an arm around Agatha and steered her in the other direction.

Helga passed by Teri and Lenny, who were making Harold laugh by telling him about past sports games that had gone wrong. "Hey, you lugs, the bell rang." She said to them.

"Sure thing, Pataki," Lenny said.

"Where's Agatha?" Teri looked around.

"She went to class, as should you. See ya, Harold."

Harold, who'd evidently been hanging out with Rhonda too long, said, "Caio, Pataki."

Helga shook her head and walked to where she thought Phoebe had said the front office was. The halls slowly emptied of students as she went. It had been a decent day, so far. She'd successfully avoided Arnold, although she wasn't entirely sure why she was trying to. Well, soon she'd see him and then she could stop worrying and get on with life. It was no big deal.

She rounded a corner to where she remembered the office being, and stopped half way down the hall. There was no office, just lockers. "Frak. Now I'm lost."

Arnold made his way downstairs from the library, where he had disappeared to at the beginning of lunch. Phoebe had met up with him and Gerald outside the cafeteria, where Phoebe had told them Helga was otherwise engaged. Arnold had, rather slyly, he thought, told Phoebe that he had some homework to catch up on, and she and Gerald should go on without him. Gerald owed him.

And he told him so, as soon as he saw him again.

"Yeah, yeah," Gerald said. "Thanks."

"So, how was it?"

Gerald looked bashful and smiley and shrugged. "It was, ya know. Lunch. Just talked about...stuff."

"Yeah, stuff, stuff. You ask her out?"

"What? Dude, no! I wasn't gonna ask her out over a tray of tuna fish surprise. I swear, any second it was gonna crawl off my plate and attack me."

Arnold chuckled.

They paused outside his next class and joined the group of Rhonda, Harold, Sid, and Curly who were standing in a circle in the hall.

"Hey, guys, what're you talkin' about?" Arnold asked.

"Helga Pataki," Sid said excitedly.

"Yeah?" Gerald said, "You guys seen her?"

"I haven't," Sid looked disappointed.

"I have," Rhonda answered. "We spent practically all of lunch together."

"Reeaaally..." Gerald looked interested. "And? How'd that go?"

"Quite delightful, I thought. She was very well behaved. Didn't you think so, Harold?"

"Yeah, great," Harold said. "Did you know that East Side took state in three different divisions last year? And their football team won the Golden Arrow."

Gerald made a face. "They won the Golden Arrow? I thought you had to be a Level 5 school to enter for the Golden Arrow."

"Guess not. It's probably because of Ziggy J. Fox. I mean, when he's your coach, you probably get special treatment."

"The Ziggy J. Fox?" Gerald and Arnold said at the same time. Rhonda looked at Curly and he shrugged.

"The football star?" Sid whistled. "Whoa-ho, those East Siders got some mula. How come we didn't hear about them getting Ziggy J. Fox?"

"New this year, apparently. Then, ya know, the school went ka-boom, and he went to California. That's what Teri said, anyway."

"Who's Teri?" Arnold asked.

"One of Helga's friends from East Side. I think he's on the basketball team, with that other tall guy."

"Basketball player?" Sid said, "Man, do you think he knows Ziggy J.—"

"Anyway!" Rhonda interrupted loudly. The boys turned to her and she rolled her eyes. "Yes, thank you Harold. Anyway, we thought Helga was quite nice and her friends from East Side were really quite civil. Didn't you think they were, Curly?"

Gerald put up a hand, "Wait a minute, wait a minute. Did you say Helga was nice?"

"Why, yes, in fact, I did," She widened her eyes at Gerald. "What a good listener you are! Yes, I said she was nice, you dork. She was very polite to me, and Eugene, and Sarah Xanthe, and Timothy Goodwin, and you know how important he is, and her little friend seemed quite attached to her."

"True," Curly said. "I ran into Helga outside, and she was real friendly. Said I looked like a babe." He winked at Rhonda, who smiled, and Harold stepped in between them.

Gerald was in awe. "Helga Pataki, friendly? I'd love to see that. Maybe she has changed, huh, Arnold?" He turned to his friend. "Why do you look so smug? It's not like you had anything to do with it."

Arnold shrugged and gave him a "that's what you think" look as he turned into his classroom. Behind him he heard Gerald ask the others as they broke to go to their own classes, "He didn't have anything to do with it, right?"

He did not, in fact, have anything to do with it. He liked to think to himself that he did, though. He'd always thought she was a decent person, always felt like she was more than she seemed. He made his way to the back row of the classroom and took his seat just as the bell rang, and there was only one word for how he was feeling when class started—triumphant. Hearing that he'd been right made him feel like he'd just won a bet where everyone was against him. He couldn't wait to see her, how she was now, and he would find it very difficult not to rub it in. She used to insist so avidly that she was a horrible person who enjoyed being horrible. He wondered if she even remembered any of that; it had been nearly seven years ago.

Their relationship had always been, at best, rocky. But towards the end, during the few weeks before fifth grade when her family up and moved twenty miles to the furthest reaches of Hillwood, they'd been friends. Well, friendlier. Well, she'd stopped yelling at him. It was a more peaceful co-habitation, at the very least. He'd asked Phoebe now and again how she was doing, and after a while, he didn't even have to ask anymore. Whenever there was a spare chance, Phoebe would tell him about how Helga said this, or Helga did that. He'd suspected how she had changed over the years and when he found she'd be coming back, he'd been, to say the least, very interested. He hadn't tried to convince anyone else of his theory, and had much preferred to just let it pan out. Now that most everyone had seen her, though, he wanted to see her for himself.

Just as he was wondering when exactly he'd get the chance, the door opened, interrupting the teacher in the middle of his sentence about civil wars in Russia. Arnold sat up straighter when a tall blond stepped into the room.

"Uh, hi," Helga said, "Sorry I'm late, I got lost." She crossed over to the teacher and gave him a slip of paper.

"Oh, yes, of course," The teacher looked at the paper, "Ms. Pataki. Everyone, this is Helga, say hello." There was a few reluctant murmurs from the front row as the teacher, overly enthusiastic as he always was, went to his desk to scribble on some papers. "You're from East Side, then, Helga?"

"Yep." Helga shuffled her weight, avoiding the eyes of the thirty-plus students who were looking at her.

Like Arnold. He liked her hair like that. He sort of missed the pig tails, but he liked it this way. It was long and shiny. She was wearing a pink shirt and a gray sweatshirt that she had her hands in the pockets of. She'd grown into a proper girl, now, with curves and everything, and he couldn't tell from the back of the class, but she might have been wearing make-up. She looked a bit tense, but she still had a strong presence that said, "Do I look like I care?" She pushed her hair behind her ear and Arnold thought he saw a pair of red heart earrings. Bottom line, she looked good.

"So, Helga," The teacher leaned against his desk and squinted at Helga, like she was a new species. "Tell us about yourself."

"What?" Now she looked a little panicked.

"What makes Helga Pataki...Helga Pataki?"

"Uhhh...DNA and operant conditioning?"

Arnold smiled and he heard a couple quiet chuckles.

The teacher just nodded seriously. "Indeed. Indeed. And tell me, Helga, why did you choose North Eastern Pre-colonial Civilization and Culture?"

"Excuse me?"

"This class."

Helga looked at the blackboard and a few maps on the walls. "Is that what this class is?"

A few more chuckles from the front row. Arnold felt proud. As if he had anything to do with it.

"Ah, fantastic!" The teacher clapped his hands. "You don't know anything about it! That means you are a perfect mind for molding, a white canvas. Shall we begin to paint you?"

She took a step back and eyed him with distrust. "You throw any paint at me, bub, I swear I'm leaving."

This time the teacher laughed. "Oh, my dear. Now, where shall we seat you?" He scanned the room. "How about the seat behind Arnold. Arnold, raise your hand."

Arnold did and Helga turned straight to him. Their eyes locked before the teacher nudged her forward. "Go, little caterpillar. There is your cocoon."

Arnold put his hand down and watched Helga walk down the isle toward him. She had dropped her eyes to the floor but just as she reached him he said to her, "Hey, Helga."

She didn't even look at him, just walked past and took her seat. He turned around but she was rustling around in her book bag. He turned back to the front as the teacher started animatedly describing the gore of the Russian battle technique. Maybe she hadn't recognized him. Did he look that different? Did she forget him? There was no way she was just shy. No matter how much she had changed, Helga Pataki could not be shy.

Just as he was about to turn around to reintroduce himself, her voice reached him quietly but clearly:

"Hey, Arnold."

A/N: So...yep. What'd you think? Good? Worth it? Terrible? Review if you'd like to read more. ;)