Hey guys. As always, stubborn me is just here to complete for my own vanity. I have a disclaimer about some things at the end, so I ask you take time to read it so things make more sense- should you choose.

This chapter is mainly building some Helga/Arnold relationship so we can get to our last few chapters. Enjoy.

Arnold's playlist for this chapter: Just The Way You Are -Billy Joel

Friday – 4 weeks out

To say I was anxious for the school day to end was a gross understatement, and I'd be lying if I hadn't been spending most of the day jotting show notes down as opposed to class notes. After our typical Friday rehearsal, Mr. Simmons's was allowing those who chose to do so stay late to help me finish building set and collecting set pieces and whatnot so we could hopefully be prepped for basic dress rehearsal and props by next week. We were offbook coming Monday, so everyone would need props ready to go. The promise of Pizza and cupcakes was a bonus incentive should anyone take up on the offer, and I was praying to the sweet theatre gods that a large group did. Our collected bake-sale money for the past two days wasn't horribly shabby, so there was a little buffer should we need anything else to be purchased before Monday.

"So overall we're at a whopping $375 for our total budget padding," Helga sighed as she flipped the lid shut on the cashbox as the final lunch block cleared out. We'd gotten special permission to stay through late lunch for the past three days to host the bake-sale. I'm pretty sure some of the other cast members would have been happy to participate, but Helga had been dead set on running everything herself. I felt as Stage Manager, I had to be the helper.

"That's not too bad, considering the supply," I responded, looking at the sad remnants of the last days leftovers. Most all of the good pickings had gone earlier in the week. Helga shrugged, tossing the leftover smooshed cookies and brownies into the big Tupperware container we had sitting on the floor between our chairs.

"A smooshed cookie is still a good cookie," she retorted, sealing the lid. "Plus extra snacks for tonight's workfest. I'll be glad to see it all finally up."

"Sorry for taking so long," I apologized sheepishly, collecting the locked box and waiting for her to lead the way to Simmons's room.

"Oh criminey, lay off it. I'm not upset with you over it. It's you first show, and you've…well, you've done a lot, so just shove off." She tossed her loose hair back over her shoulders, still in the same habit she'd always had with her pigtails. She alternated between the styles, but I noted it was normally loose on days when there were rehearsals. Or as Gerald liked to tease, days she knew she'd see me. As if I didn't see her every day.

"Was that a compliment?" I joked, smiling as she shot me a dark look.

"I take it back," she said with a roll of her eyes. We paused outside Simmons's door, where I help up the box to the window and Helga pointed at it aggressively until he opened the door for us. She placed the keys in one of his outstretched hands as I slid the handle onto his other. He thanked us, and we closed the door as continued teaching without a stutter.

"See you for practice," was her tossed aside way of goodbye as she took long striding steps down the hall toward her last classes of the day. I felt a small bubble of excitement for the night as I made my way to my own.

Friday – After rehearsal, 5:30 p.m.

"Alright guys, you all were great today. We want to keep up the good work, and keep things going on schedule for the coming weeks. Remember, no books on stage Monday, so get those lines memorized. For those of you that are staying, Pizza should be on the way around 6:30, so make good use of our hour until then. I'll be in the Box office working on paperwork to log the Bake Sale funds, but I'll have the door open if you need me. Arnold should have lists of what we need to get done, so check in to find something to work on. Have fun guys!" Simmons clapped his hands together to signal he was done for the day, and surprisingly almost no one collected anything to walk out. He made his way down the stairs and down toward the box office on the other side of the theatre.

"Alright, listen up!" Helga barked out, already assuming her rightful place back on center stage. "Skeletons are up, so what we've got to get done is painting and setting up the props on the prop table. If you aren't a lead, there are basic costumes on racks in the rooms, go try and label, hang up, yadda yadda. We've also gotta spike where furniture lives backstage and on it with glow tape. Any questions? Nadda? Let's get to it!"

I had just finished laying out drop cloths and the paint cans as Helga finished up, and people began crawling up on the stage. I had gone around and left sticky notes on the flats to help anyone painting know what needed to go where, and luckily the kids who'd been doing it before got straight to it. The freshmen where a little more hesitant, but once I specifically told them where they could start, they got straight to it. We had four different backdrops to get done, so most everyone was manning a paintbrush at one spot or another. I took on the task of using spike tape to mark the furniture that was already out. Someone (I assume Sid) decided to play music from the light booth, so it was a pretty pleasant experience. I stepped back, and for a brief moment felt a little saddened I would only have this one year to do this.

"Getting all sentimental on us, Arnold?" I stumbled as Helga slung an arm around my shoulder as she peered around at the work getting down.

"Maybe a little," I admitted, grinning. "It's been pretty fun, actually."

"It's always. I think theatre gets overlooked because we aren't sports, but it's a tighter team. At least in my opinion. Everyone really works well together. You make friends. Sort of." She was smiling, a wide and bright one as she watched. Her arm remained draped around me, and for a brief moment I was aware of just how close I was to her, and that brief nervousness that I had yet to become accustomed to bubbled up in my stomach. My immediate instinct was to change the sudden tension I felt, and because I'm apparently an idiot, my body's response to fix this was to dramatically respond by flinging my arm around her and saying in a voice much too loud, "Always good to make friends!" Then I gave the widest and most awkward grin I'm sure has even been seen on God's green earth.

She laughed at me. Not like a small laugh, but one of those laughs that just echoes, so of course everyone stopped to peer at Helga and I with our arms around each other's shoulders while I'm smiling while trying to show every tooth and I have.

My body immediately wanted just to implode on itself as she withdrew her arm from me, wiping a tear away from her eye. "What the hell, Arnoldo? What was that?"

"Friendship," I muttered, removing my arm and awkwardly standing there with my arms dangling at my side.

"Is it time for pizza?" Eugene asked loudly, putting his brush down on the top of the can. Everyone immediately began chattering over the prospect of food, and I mouthed a 'thank-you' to Eugene. He gave me a thumbs up while simultaneously mouthing 'so?' while looking over at Helga.

I could only shrug.

Luckily it turned out it was time for food, and after the stage was cleared a bit for everyone to sit (since it was very clear that we were to not touch anything with our greasy fingers), pizza was doled out along with leftover snacks from the bake sale. We'd pulled over an extra drop cloth and spread it out, and the leftover pizza was put in the middle with the bottles of drinks. We formed a semi-circle with no real instruction, happily talking and eating. To my left was Eugene, and to my right was Helga. Across from us sat Rhonda (whom I was honestly surprised stayed, but we all know she can't resist any sort of gathering.)

"So," she began as she pressed a wadded-up napkin against her pizza, "What do you all say we play a game?"

"A game?" Sheena responded. "Like what? We can't touch anything until we're done eating."

"A game like 'Truth-or-Dare', Sheena," Rhonda responded as if were the most obvious thing in the world. She grabbed another napkin and set about rubbing any remnants of grease from her fingers. "Rules being the dares can't have us go off the stage or touch props."

"I'm in!" Eugene said enthusiastically, raising his hand up.

"Anyone else?" Rhonda asked, and hands began to shoot up around the circle, and I raised mine a little half-heartedly. I wasn't a big fan of this game.

"Yay, me first!" Rhoda giggle, looking around the circle. "Arnold, truth or dare?"

I inwardly groaned as I swallowed my pizza. "Um, truth?" I was like an open book anyway, but Rhonda always knew everyone's weak spot.

"What's one of your guilty pleasures?"

A soft oooo went up, but I rolled my eyes. I could answer these if I was careful. "Old music."

"That's boring. Your turn."

"Eugene, truth or dare."

"Ohh, Dare! Dare!"

"I dare you to crow like a chicken."

And with that I survived my turn and ate my pizza, listening at the typical questions that went around. Who is your crush, guilty pleasure, would you kiss so and so? Basic stuff the girls were loving.

Then it was Helga's turn, and from Rhonda.

"Dare, princess."

"Fine. I dare you to take a truth."

"You can't do that!" Helga snapped, frowning.

"Yes I can, it's a dare," Rhonda said with a sugary sweet grin. "Of course, if you don't do it, we'll vote on your penalty."

"What's the penalty?" Helga asked cautiously as Rhonda whispered with the two girls beside her.

"Penalty is having to sit in your neighbor's lap for the next 5 turns of the game."

"I only have one neighbor," Helga exclaimed, gesturing to me, as no one was on her right in our semi-circle. She said she picked the seat so she could up and down without hitting people, not that I'd asked.

"Well then that's settled. Either take the truth or sit on Arnold for the next five turns."

"Why am I a penalty?" I asked, raising my hand. "What did I do?"

A smattering of laughter went around, but Rhonda wasn't having it.

"Pick one Helga. What's so bad about picking truth? Everyone else has done theirs!"

"Fine!" Helga finally snapped, her hand shaking just ever so slightly on the cup she was holding. "Just ask me the damn truth."

"Helga, do you have a crush on someone in this room?"

There was a chorus of yelps as Helga's hand involuntarily tightened around the cup she was holding, showering her with darkly colored soda as she gasped in surprise.

"Paper towels!" Sheena yelped, scrambling forward and pressing the paper towels on the liquid as it pooled on the drop cloth.

"I have to go clean up," Helga muttered, scrambling up from beside me and power walking backstage. Rhonda had a smug look on her face as I stood up to head after her.

"Finish eating guys, and clean up. We have a lot left to do," I said in my most authoritative tone, signaling the game was over. Eugene began collecting mine and Helga's plates to go with his, and the others began following suit. Once again, I mouthed a thank you to Eugene before running off backstage. I could see the light coming from the actor's bathroom, and I could see the door was open.

"Helga?" I called, giving her warning before I poked my head around the corner. "You okay?" I asked, trying to keep my voice gentle. She splashed water on her face, running her hands under the water before smoothing bits of hair through them.

"I'm fine, Football Head," she snapped, aggressively pumping soap onto her hands.

"Haven't heard that one in a while," I tried to joke, leaning against the door frame.

She sighed deeply. "Sorry. I mean Arnold. I'm fine. Forget it."

I crossed my arms, looking down at the floor. I wished I had something comforting to say without giving it away that I already knew she had a crush on me, so she didn't need to panic, but it still seemed such a surreal idea. Beside me she was muttering curses, wringing out her wet pink t-shirt in the sink. "For fuck's sake, now I'm going to be wet and sticky."

"Here," I muttered, sliding out of my overshirt and extending it out.

"What's that for?"

"It's for you, stupid," I teased, sticking my tongue out. "Just switch it for yours. I'm dry."

"Yeah, sorry about that."

"Don't be. Rhonda can be a bit much."

"That's the understatement of the year," she muttered, eyeing the shirt as I held it out.

"Don't worry about things like that."

"She wouldn't have asked me that if she didn't already know something," she hissed, snatching the shirt from me.

"And so what, Helga? So. What."

"You don't get it."

"What don't I get?"

"I don't like being embarrassed like that! And because I panicked, it obviously looks like I have a crush on someone in the room."

"Well do you?" I whispered, causing her to glare at me for a moment before her face melted into pure fear. "I knew it was Eugene," I muttered, trying to keep my face serious.

"Oh shut up, dork," she yelped as she pushed my arm. "But honestly, whose business is it but mine. Would you tell someone you had a crush on them?"

"How else are they gonna know – hey!" I yelped as she pushed me out of the door, the click signaling a lock. "I was just being honest."

"I can't change shirts with you in here, you doofus."

"You know I'm just messing with you. I don't want you getting worked up over it." I signed, leaning against wall as I waited for her to finish.

"Too late," she sighed, swinging open the door. Another hitch to my lungs as she stood with my shirt draped loosely around her, a ponytail holder in her teeth as she pulled her half damp ponytail up high on her head. The sleeves were too wide for her arms and slid down as she held them up. "What're you staring out?" she murmured around the elastic before pulling it from her mouth with one hand and looping it on. She fiddled with her bangs, then tugged the sleeves down as she dropped her arms.

I smiled, "You," popping out despite me intending to just say it in my brain.

"Well stop, it's weird," she said quietly, her cheeks brightening as she turned and stomped down the hall.

In the same words Henry used when he really realized he loved Eliza. Damn, Damn, Damn.

Disclaimer: The majority of the way I'm writing any of the theatre things is largely based on my 10+ years of summer youth programs, which I did from ages 10-18 for the YOUTH programs. I did adult and regular shows for a lot of high school and up until early college years. I realized (a little too late, as I'm already many chapters in) that there is no chance that a school would be as lenient (I speculate) with leaving unattended high school age children loosely supervised in a building after hours, though our director knew all of us from our wee entry age of 10 and worked with us for many years. So on days where rehearsal ran long or sets ran long, we were allowed to pretty much roam and do what needed to be done without an adult breathing over our neck if the director had certain things to do. So we often played stupid games and were as bold as we thought we could be about invading the dressing rooms of the opposite sex and sitting in laps because we just knew each other well enough, and lots of small crushes were not uncommon from teens cooped together for 6+ hours a day, 5 days a week, 1 month of every summer solely focused on theatre. Some experiences are based on personal ones (I was allowed to take the theatre credit card to go buy props – schools cannot do that…oops). I remember doing "My Fair Lady" in 9th grade specifically, but I digress. Suspend disbelief Simmon's won't get fired for kids being stupid, although public schools work different with these sorts of things.)