Introduction: When I began this story, I wasn't intending to include anything in "The Jungle Movie" timeline. I originally began the story five years after. At one point I did a flashback scene, which eventually turned into chapter 4. As I was writing later chapters, I would get ideas for small scenes in San Lorenzo and in school before the trip, and would end up writing them, usually as one-shots. Some I incorporated into flashbacks, but that was getting cumbersome. I ended up putting them into the story chronologically and began bridging the scenes together with more content. I realize that come November 2017, when "The Jungle Movie" is released, most of this story will be completely off canon and I'm ok with that. I like the way most of the scenes turned out.

Author Note: I tend to write a little sappy, but I am, so it's only natural. I am not the best at writing action, so I realize that there are later scenes in here that are not particularly strong. I'm working on that!

Character Notes: I enjoy fan fiction that stays in canon with the original, so in turn I write strictly in canon. Hinted at relationships, or relationships that Craig Bartlett has confirmed (Helga/Arnold) are what I stick with. I tried hard to stay in character with the established characters and have tried to introduce OC's that make sense in the HA universe. It will be noticed that Helga, however, is written a little differently. My head canon has her very affected by her confession at FTi (and I try to explain that throughout the story). According to what I've seen on the show and from what the creator has said, Helga's whole persona is built around hiding her love for Arnold. Once he knows how she feels, I imagine her easing off quite a bit. In fact, I move her to a defense mechanism of total avoidance. Other things about Helga I based off myself, since I have always identified with her!

Storyline Note: Because from what I understand as Hey Arnold the movie being set approximately in March (both Helga and Arnold are 9) and April Fool's Day is chronologically after HAtM a week after Helga's birthday, she would be 10 years old. The Journal takes place in October, two days before Arnold's determined birthday, where he would presumably turn 10 as well. Therefore, I have started my story the September after HAtM and April Fool's Day, and a month before the Journal. To me, that means the class is now in 5th grade. In my timeline, the trip to San Lorenzo occurs at the beginning of May of their 5th grade year – Helga would be 11 (and I think many of the kids as well) and Arnold would be 10 for the trip.

Also: PLEASE give feedback! Good and bad…just please make it constructive! I truly do appreciate it! I'm practicing writing with Fan Fiction and hope to someday publish an original work, so any help/advice/suggestions are greatly appreciated! I hope you enjoy! I actually have the story complete, so I will post all chapters fairly quickly, especially after reading feedback and going over them each with a fine tooth comb!

All HA characters belong to Craig Bartlett!

Chapter 1 - "I Asked If You Had a Crush on Anyone"

"Hey Arnold-Hey Arnold-Hey Arnold"

Arnold reached up and unplugged his alarm clock and the room became silent. He rolled over and lay on his back for a minute staring up at his glass ceiling as he waited to completely wake up. He then jumped up, excited. This was not normally the way one woke up for school, but it was when it was the first day of fifth grade. Arnold was one of those kids that loved going to school. He liked his teacher and his classmates and loved to learn.

He found the bathroom empty and was glad that he didn't have to wait his turn. He took a shower and spent a long time trying to tame his hair and make it look nice. It didn't quite work and he sighed, positioning his little blue hat on his head and he was done. With a towel tied around his waist he left the bathroom carrying his pajamas and went back up to his room to dress.

He picked his clothes with a little more care than he used to. He was in fifth grade now and he thought he should pay more attention to how he looked. He wanted to look nice. His Grandmother had taken him shopping for new clothes, but to him his wardrobe looked pretty much the same as always. Arnold sighed, pulling out a shirt and sweater. 'Same old same old, 'he thought. Just a bigger size. He should have at least gotten some different things and upped his outfit game.

'I never cared about clothes before,' he thought, shaking his head. 'I guess that's growing up?'

Once dressed he grabbed his backpack, which he had packed the night before with his school supplies and went down to the kitchen to see if there was anything for breakfast. Sometimes one of his grandparents would have something waiting for him, sometimes he got his own. Today, his Grandfather was at the stove making pancakes.

"Good morning Grandpa."

"Heya Short Man," Phil said, turning and smiling over his shoulder at his grandson. "Pancakes ok?"

"Of course!" Arnold said, grinning. He tossed his book bag on an empty chair and sat down. Phil put a plate in front of Arnold stacked high with pancakes.

"Excited for the first day, Fifth Grader?"

"I am Grandpa!" he answered, covering his pancakes with syrup.

"Seeing all your classmates again, but I guess you see them all summer, so it's not like you had a chance to miss them," Phil chuckled, but looked slyly at his grandson out of the corner of his eye.

"Yeah pretty much," Arnold said, between bites. "Except Helga. I didn't see her all summer."

"Oh yeah, I think I remember you mentioning that," Phil said, seeming to recall that fact. Phil was actually laughing to himself on the inside, because Arnold had mentioned it almost every day the entire summer.

Arnold nodded. "She went to her grandmother's in June and stayed all summer," he said to Phil. "I'm not really sure why. She's never done that before. I mean, she does visit her grandmother every summer, but she never has for the whole time."

Phil hmm'd, glad that his back was turned to Arnold and that the boy couldn't see his expression. He busied himself at the stove as he listened to Arnold ramble on, again, about Helga missing from the usual gang antics for the summer. He had noticed after the April Fool's Dance that Arnold had been mentioning the girls' name a lot more than usual. Something had happened. Phil didn't know what, but something. He didn't think the kids were 'dating', or whatever the equivalent of dating was to nine- and ten-year-olds, but something had changed.

When Arnold fell silent and kept eating, Phil brought the pans over to the sink to wash them. He thought about the girl Arnold was talking about and smiled; she was a tough little girl and reminded him a lot of his wife as a child. Gertie had the same attitude and behavior that Helga displayed. He knew Gertie acted that way toward him to hide the fact that she was, in fact, in love with him. Phil and Gertie were pretty sure it was the same thing for Helga. She paid their grandson much more attention – even though it was mostly negative – than anyone else. They even looked aside at all the times they had seen the girl in the house uninvited. They were not oblivious to her escapades, whatever her reasons for 'breaking in'.

Phil shook his head and chuckled quietly. He had been half-amused, half-frustrated with Arnold's denseness about Helga's obvious feelings about him, until Gertie very pointedly reminded Phil that he was 18 when he finally figured out how things stood between the two of them. Now he was mostly amused at Arnold's denseness and hoped that his grandson would figure out he was meant to be with the girl much sooner than Phil had figured out Gertie. To Phil's view, it looked as if Arnold was finally moving in the right direction. The boy certainly was talking about Helga much more than ever before. And, Phil noted to himself, even if Arnold hadn't talked about Helga much before this summer, the boy had noticed that Helga had done something unusual, so Arnold obviously had paid the girl enough attention to know when things changed.

"Kimba! Ready for adventure today? Off to the jungles once again?" Gertie said, jumping into the room wearing a pith helmet and carrying her fly swatter.

"You bet Bwana!" Arnold returned enthusiastically, grinning at the older woman.

"Make sure you tell that Eleanor hi for me. I miss that girl."

"Ok I will," Arnold agreed, wondering once again to himself who his Grandmother was talking about. The name 'Eleanor' came up every once in a while and his Grandmother seemed to think Arnold knew her. Grandma had said it was Eleanor Roosevelt, who Grandma seemed to think was still alive and part of Arnold's life. He had learned long ago to just roll along with whatever his Grandmother said.

Arnold missed the look between his Grandparents. She raised her eyebrow at Phil and he nodded to her.

"You look nice today Kimba."

Arnold looked down at himself a little confused. He looked like he always does. He was grateful that his Grandmother thought he looked nice, but he didn't know why she thought that. He had taken more care in getting ready than he usually did. Maybe that was it. Maybe that showed. Arnold smiled with satisfaction.

"Thanks Grandma! I tried to look a little nicer."

"Oh? Any reason, great hunter?"

He chuckled. "I guess the first day of school, of fifth grade."

"Yes yes, that makes sense. I'm sure your little friend will appreciate it," Gertie agreed before walking out of the kitchen yelling something about stalking fresh meat.

Arnold had finished his breakfast and stood up to bring his plate over to the sink. He wondered what his grandmother meant by what she said. "What did Grandma mean by that?" he asked.

"What's that Short Man?"

"My friend appreciating it? I don't get it."

"Oh, who knows with Pookie," Phil said, shrugging as he took the plate from his grandson and slid it into the water-filled sink. Phil took in the confused expression on the boys' face and decided to give Arnold a slight push more in the direction he was headed. Over the past seven years of this strange relationship, Phil had kept his mouth shut on his theories – at least to Arnold himself. In his opinion, Arnold needed to figure things out, and Arnold was still a kid, so there was no hurry. But sometimes a push, a small one, was something that was called for.

"Maybe she meant Helga," Phil said.

Phil's attention was on the dishes he was washing, but he was watching Arnold out of the corner of his eye. Arnold's eyes had popped wide open.

"Helga? Why would she mean Helga?"

"Oh I don't know Arnold. Maybe because you've mentioned it a few times that you haven't seen her all summer."

"I have?"

Phil allowed himself a chuckle. "Oh a couple times…" he paused for a few seconds. "… a day."

Arnold stared at the sink, watching Phil scrubbing at one of the cooking pans. "I have?" he asked again.

"Mmm hmm. I'm sure that's what Pookie meant. She must think you miss the girl."

He could see that Arnold was thinking that over. His grandson was a serious young man. A fun kid, but serious all the same. "Well I suppose I have," he said slowly, almost to himself. "I mean, she does make things a lot of fun, when she's not picking on me anyway. Have I really talked about it that much?"

"You have Short Man."

"I didn't realize," he said, frowning.

Phil finally looked at him with a smile. "Nothing wrong with missing a friend Arnold," Phil assured him.

Arnold turned and went back to the table to grab his backpack. His thoughts were muddled in his head. "No you're right Grandpa, nothing wrong with that," he agreed, smiling at Phil. "I should get going to catch the bus."

"Have a good first day, Arnold," Phil wished him.

Arnold went out the front door, automatically standing aside as a small horde of animals rushed into the boarding house. He barely noticed his surroundings, however, as he walked to the bus stop. He was thinking about what each of his grandparents had said. Had he been talking about Helga that much? He honestly didn't realize he had. Had he said that sort of stuff to anyone else? Gerald? And why did his grandmother think Helga was his friend? Was she? Sure they hung out together in their group of friends and he guessed he had hung out with her a few times just the two of them, but friend?

The bus pulled up and Arnold climbed up, smiling and returning greetings from the classmates that already were on the bus. Gerald had saved him a seat and he slid into it, putting out his hand so he and Gerald could do their handshake.

"Fifth grade!" Gerald said. "And Mr. Simmons again!"

"I'm actually excited about that. Mr. Simmons was a great teacher last year."

"Aw no doubt man, no doubt. I'm happy too. At least I learned a lot."

"Me too, and he was fun."

"I still wonder why the school did that."

Arnold shrugged. "I'm not complaining."

"Me neither, brother."

The bus stopped again and Phoebe got on, sliding into a seat three rows up from the boys. Arnold smiled as Gerald's attention immediately went to the small girl. "Do you want to go sit with Phoebe?" Arnold asked him.

Gerald turned his head to look blankly at Arnold.

"What?"

Arnold shrugged. "Maybe you can finally tell her you have a crush on her."

Gerald's mouth dropped open. "Dude I am NOT you. I may have game, but I am not bold enough to go do that. YOU are the bold one."

"So you finally admit you have a crush on her?"

Gerald looked flustered. "Wait, what?" he spluttered while Arnold just smiled. "Look," he finally was able to say. "You can't say ANYTHING!"

"Would I do that Gerald? Come on, you know me better than that. I've known for a long time and never said anything."

"You have? Am I that obvious?"

"To me you are, but I know you so well," Arnold said. "To be honest, though, I don't think she would…object…if you were to want to hang out more."

Gerald's expression changed from panic to something slightly more lovesick, which Arnold found very hard not to laugh at. "You think so?"

"I do. She's always looking at you and smiling."

That seemed to satisfy Gerald. "Well, maybe. I'll think about it. I mean, I want to, but still, it's not easy. I don't know how you do it."

Arnold rolled his eyes. "Don't use me as a role model. I'm terrible at girls."

Gerald laughed sympathetically. "I hate to say it, but that's true. You still gonna try for Lila?" he asked, looking over at where the red head was sitting talking over the back of her seat to Phoebe.

Arnold shook his head. "Oh no I'm done with that. She isn't interested, and I realized that I don't really like her that much anyway. Sure she's pretty and nice but I don't know. There's not much else to her."

"So no one for Arnold to crush on this year, huh?" Gerald teased.

The bus had stopped and Arnold noticed Helga climb on the bus and walk down the aisle to sit down next to Phoebe. Something was different, he couldn't quite put his finger on it. She looked the same - blond pigtails, the ever-present bow, a pink and white dress – and while the style of the dress was slightly different than she normally wore, he couldn't see anything really different. Wait. She wasn't scowling, nor did she push anyone out of the way or insult anyone as she made her way to her seat. The genuine smile at her best friend was all he saw before she turned around to sit down.

"Uh, Arnold?"

He turned his attention back to Gerald. "Huh?"

"I asked if you had a crush on anyone."

Helga's name popped into his head and he almost said it. He blinked a few times before shaking his head. "Uh no, no-one Gerald."

He tried not to think of that, and what his grandparents had said earlier, the rest of the short ride to PS118.

Though they had all advanced to fifth grade, their classroom was in the same room they had the year before. Mr. Simmons, their fourth grade teacher, had been assigned to them for fifth grade. When they heard the news last year, they had all cheered, which made their beloved teacher nearly cry. The fourth and fifth grade classes were held in the same wing of the school, so Principal Wartz let Mr. Simmons stay in the classroom without having to move all of his teaching things.

The class automatically took their seats from the previous year when they came in after the first bell rang. Arnold had come in and sat in his old seat next to Gerald. He saw Helga and Phoebe come in and knew that Helga had to walk past his desk to get to hers, which was in the row next to him on the other side of where Gerald sat, only one seat back. He braced himself for some sort of insult or her brushing past him roughly, but she passed him silently and seemed to glide past him and everyone else without her normal belligerent roughness.

Surprised, his eyes followed her as she passed him and took her seat. When she looked up and noticed that Arnold was turned and staring at her, she stared back, her eyes wide. He expected her exasperated and angry "What?" she said every time he looked at her like that, but it never came. If he didn't know better, he would swear that she looked both scared and sad. Those were the first words that came to his mind. He leaned more toward her and said in his most friendly tone. "Welcome back Helga. Did you have a good summer?"

She just kept staring at him for a moment, then blinked a few times. She nodded slowly and finally said, looking slightly to the side. "It was ok." Then after another pause asked without quite meeting his eyes again. "You?"

"It was good. We had fun, but it wasn't the same without you."

Her eyes narrowed and she looked confused. She finally snorted and muttered something that to him sounded like "I'm surprised anyone noticed I was gone." The final bell rang before he could question what she said, and if he had heard her correctly. He hoped she didn't think that no-one would have noticed she wasn't around. He frowned and turned in his seat to give his attention to Mr. Simmons.

"How was the first day, Short Man?" Phil asked as Arnold came in at the end of his school day.

"It was good Grandpa," Arnold answered, kicking off his shoes and putting his backpack near the bottom of the stairs so he could take it up to his room after his snack. He followed his grandfather into the kitchen so they both could find something to eat. "I'm looking forward to some of the projects Mr. Simmons told us about, and it sounds like we're going to learn a lot of cool things this year."

"That's good. I always liked that teacher of yours. I'm really glad that you get to have him again."

"Oh I am too. I think all of us are. He's so much fun."

Phil had dragged out the makings for sandwiches and threw them on the kitchen table before seating himself across Arnold. Arnold opened the bread sack and Phil opened the deli bags containing the salami and cheese. "So anything interesting happen today?"

"Not so much interesting. We didn't do much schoolwork. Just sort of reviewed some things from last year and talked about things for this year."

"No homework?"

Arnold shook his head. "Not really. We have to write a small essay about our summer is all. Just a few paragraphs. That shouldn't be too hard and shouldn't take me long," he answered as he built his sandwich.

"Ok good, I was hoping you would help me outside for a little while after we eat."

"Of course Grandpa."

"Anything else from school?" the old man said after swallowing a bite of his sandwich.

Arnold chewed thoughtfully and also swallowed. "No…yeah…I don't know…"

"What's that mean?"

"I saw Helga. She…acted weird all day."

"Oh she did? In what way?" Phil's attention sharpened at this, though he kept his expression vaguely interested.

Arnold grimaced. "I know this will sound strange to complain about, but she wasn't mean to me at all."

"Mmm," Phil murmured. Arnold had told him many stories about Helga's bullying and the ways she treated him. Arnold had complained often about how she treated him - the names, the insults. "Not mean to you eh? Is that bad?"

"It's not normal."

"Well Arnold, people can change, you know, and all of you are getting older."

"I guess," Arnold agreed, though he sounded unconvinced.

"Tell me about it."

Arnold related to his grandfather all the small things that had bothered him that day, even though most of them shouldn't have in the first place. Helga didn't come on the bus yelling and shoving people. She didn't insult him the entire day. She sat quietly in the lunchroom with just Phoebe, and didn't pull any pranks or anything. "It was just odd Grandpa. It was almost as if she didn't want anyone to even know she was there. I've never seen her so quiet."

"Something might be bothering her Arnold. If you're so worried about it, ask the girl," Phil suggested in a nonchalant tone, though he watched his grandson closely.

Arnold thought about that. The thought of trying to talk to Helga about anything personal seemed to him to be a death wish, but there had been a few times that the two of them had good personal talks he remembered. Then he frowned, realizing what had been bothering him most of the day. She had ignored him - actually avoided him. He had tried to talk to her three times and she slipped away from him so cleverly that he didn't even see she was gone until it was too late.

"What's that frown for, Short Man?"

"Before class started, I asked Helga how her summer was and she just looked away and answered that it was ok," he started to explain. Phil just nodded. "She asked about mine and I said it was fun. We all had fun hanging out, but that it would have been more fun if she was there."

"Well that was a nice thing to say, Arnold," his grandfather approved.

"But it looked like it upset her. And I think she said something like she was surprised anyone would even notice she was gone." The boys' frown deepened. "Why would she think that? It wasn't as much fun. She always has fun ideas of things to do."

"I'm not sure Arnold."

"So I wanted to ask her about that, and assure her that we all noticed and that we all missed her," he said, not actually knowing if it were true. There had been a few jokes about Helga not being around to boss them around or push them around or insult everyone. Yet, there had been a few comments he could think of where it was mentioned that she was missed. Phoebe seemed lost the whole summer without Helga around her. "But every time I tried to talk to her, she, I guess, just got away. I think she was avoiding me."

"Why would you think that?" Phil asked, taking Arnold's empty plate from him before starting to wrap up the deli packages.

"Normally, if she doesn't want to talk to me, she'll shove me away or insult me. She didn't do anything like that. She just," he paused, spreading his hands in a helpless gesture, "seemed to disappear. I never even saw her go. She was there, then not. I almost felt like I was losing my mind and seeing things."

Phil sat back in his chair and crossed his arms, regarding his beloved grandson through narrowed eyes. He thought over what Arnold had related to him about his day, and also read between the lines. The girls' indifference and apparently changed personality had really rattled the boy. Phil had no idea why Helga acted differently today. He knew she was a little older than Arnold and that girls matured faster than boys and Helga was at that age. She may have been hitting puberty, but Phil thought it might be more than that. Whatever it was, her lack of attention to Arnold really bothered his grandson.

He leaned forward, his elbows on the tabletop and his fingers steepled in front of him. "Can I ask you something Arnold?"

"Of course Grandpa!"

"Did something happen between you two? I know you went to that dance together when you thought you blinded her."

"Something happen?" Arnold squeaked a little guiltily. "What do you mean?"

"I don't know, that's what I'm trying to find out. Did something happen at the dance?"

"No-ooo. Not anything that I haven't already told you."

Phil had been amused at the description of the April Fool's dance. He was proud of the boy for getting his revenge on the girl. Not that he wished Helga any ill at all. He loved that she was so spunky and clever. The blind prank she pulled on Arnold was brilliant after all. But Helga also needed to know that Arnold wasn't just a limp rug that could be walked all over, so him getting his revenge on her was brilliant and encouraging in and of itself.

"But," and here, he noticed, Arnold blushed a deep red color and looked down at the table.

This was interesting. Phil's eyebrows shot up as he looked at Arnold. Did Arnold not tell him about something that happened at the dance?

"But?"

Arnold answered in a very small voice, still not looking up at his grandfather. "There was something a couple weeks before the dance."

Phil rubbed his chin. "That was about the time of the whole FTi thing, isn't it? You told me the girl was the one to help you and Gerald figure everything out."

Even Arnold's ears were red now. He didn't look up yet, but did reach up and rub the back of his neck nervously. "She was, but I didn't tell you everything Grandpa."

"What did you leave out Arnold? You can tell me."

It took a few minutes for him to answer his grandfather. He finally drew in a deep breath and said, still in that small voice. "When I found out it was her we were up on the roof there. She wouldn't tell me why she helped us. And, I don't know," he shrugged. "I just kept pushing her to tell me."

"Mmm hmm."

"She…she…said it was…because…"

"Because what, Arnold?" Phil asked when Arnold stopped.

"Because she loved me."

That floored Phil. He knew the girl had guts, but this? He hadn't expected she would do that yet. "She said that, did she?"

Arnold nodded, his eyes still down. "Then, I don't know. It was like, almost like a dam had burst. She started saying all this stuff. I don't even remember. I was so overwhelmed at what she had already said, I barely heard her."

Inside, Phil was gleefully dancing a little jig. Outwardly, he just hmm'd. "I can imagine."

Arnold hesitated. "Then she kissed me."

And with that, Phil almost got up and danced that little jig for real, but Arnold looked embarrassed and Phil wasn't sure yet how Arnold felt about it. "That must have been a surprise, Short Man."

"It was. I just…I didn't know what to do. I didn't know what to think, and we had to get back to the neighborhood with that tape. I had no time to think."

"What did you do, then?"

Arnold sighed. "I told her we had to go and we left and got back to the neighborhood in time, you know the whole story."

"Did you talk to her at all about it?"

Arnold nodded. "I did, but I don't think I handled it right," he admitted. "But Grandpa, I didn't know HOW to handle it. I thought she hated me."

"What did you say to her?"

"The only thing I could think of. I asked her if she really meant it and she seemed upset. So I said something like 'you don't love me, right? You really hate me, right?' and she agreed and got mad and insulted me. It seemed everything went back to normal."

Inwardly Phil groaned. His grandson was SO dense. He reminded himself, though, the boy was only nine years old and hearing something like that from Helga had to have been unnerving.

Arnold continued, however. "Two weeks later was that dance, and everything definitely seemed back to normal. But," he paused.

"But?"

"I just realized, the way she acted today, she was kind of like that the last two months of school. I just, I guess didn't really notice it. But I don't remember talking to her much before school was done."

"Well, Short Man, if I had to hazard a guess, I'd say the poor girl is embarrassed. Whether or not she meant it, that's a pretty big thing to say."

Arnold thought about that. "I guess you're right Grandpa."

"Of course I'm right. Think of it this way, if you said that to a girl and she brushed you off, how would you feel?"

"I didn't brush her off!" Arnold protested.

"It amounts to the same thing," Phil said, shrugging.

"No! I told you Grandpa, I didn't know what to think of it! I didn't completely disregard her feelings!"

Phil was secretly pleased at Arnold's response and asked, "So what do you think of it now, Short Man? What the girl said to you and about kissing you."

Arnold stared at his grandfather, his mouth hanging slightly open. "I don't know," he said slowly, and, Phil could tell, honestly. "I guess I haven't really actually thought about it at all."

Phil chuckled and stood up, gathering their sandwich things and turning to the fridge to put them away. "Maybe you should," he suggested. He added thoughtfully, "I mean, it was your first kiss, wasn't it?"

The boy sat at the table, watching his grandfather with a blank look and the blush that had been fading returned. "It was," he said faintly. "At least unscripted kiss," he added, realizing with a shock that Helga was also the one to give him those scripted kisses.

"That's a pretty big milestone, Arnold," the old man turned, shut the fridge door and smiled at his grandson.

Arnold nodded. "I guess, Grandpa," he said vaguely. "And it was…nice…now that I think about it. I liked it. But I was kind of, well, really surprised when it happened."

Phil laughed. "I would be surprised if you hadn't been, Short Man. I remember the first time your Grandma planted one on me. I had no idea she even liked me. And there it was."

"When was that Grandpa?"

"We were 18. Graduation I think. I didn't graduate of course, but I was there with my parents to watch Mitzi graduate. You know she and Pookie were in the same class. I had enlisted in the army and would be leaving soon. She came to me and told me she would miss me and planted one on me. Out of the blue. I tell you it 'bout knocked me over. I thought she couldn't stand me, picking on me all those years."

"Picking on you?" Arnold asked.

"Yeah, I told you about that, Arnold. Pookie was always pulling pranks on me." The old man looked at Arnold's confused expression. "Don't tell me you didn't realize all those stories I told you were about your Grandma? I told you the little girls' name was Gertie." His grandson really was dense.

"I just…I know…just never put it together," he said, looking embarrassed. His mind was racing. Grandma had been Grandpa's bully? Why hadn't he realized that? So Gertie had liked Grandpa all along? And picked on him to hide it? Was that what Helga was doing to him?

"You need to pay more attention to things, Arnold. I have a feeling you miss quite a bit." Phil teased, patting the boy on the head. "Why don't you run up and do your homework before dinner?" he suggested, completely ignoring the fact that he had asked Arnold for help in the yard. He wanted to give the boy some time alone to think.

Arnold nodded and stood up from the table. He grabbed his backpack and sighed. "Thanks for listening Grandpa," he said quietly and little subdued.

"I'm always here for you Short Man, don't forget that."

Up in his room, Arnold sat at his desk with an open notebook in front of him. His elbow was on the desktop next to the paper and his chin was resting on his upraised hand. His other hand held his pen, which was tapping a random rhythm which was loud in the otherwise quiet room. Arnold sat there intending to start in on his essay, but his thoughts were tied up with his conversation with his grandfather.

Arnold was disgusted with himself for not realizing all of those stories of Grandpa's bully were actually about his grandmother. 'Duh Arnold, they had the same name,' he thought to himself, wincing. Everyone was right when they teased him about being dense. He knew he was a smart kid, but for some reason he did miss things. For all that he was good at helping people, when it came to the obvious, he was apparently lost.

He couldn't really picture his grandmother as being so mean. Some of the tricks she had pulled on his grandfather were really bad. He didn't even think Helga had been that mean to him. Sure his grandmother now was…eccentric…but he could not picture her being deliberately mean, especially to someone she really cared about.

Was the situation the same? Helga and himself and his grandparents. It seemed like it. He thought he really should talk to his grandmother and ask her why she acted that way. Why she picked on Grandpa when she really liked him. Or did she like him when they were kids? Maybe she did hate him and eventually changed her mind?

Did that mean that he and Helga would one day get married? Like in his dream? Or rather dreams. Ever since that marriage predictor thing, he'd dreamed about being married to her a few times. The first time started as a nightmare, but ending up being alright. After he put his foot down in the dream. The other dreams were pleasant. Nothing specific, just dreams of being together in the same house. Not dreams of the actual wedding, but being in the same house-sometimes with kids, sometimes not. Or dreams of them doing things together.

But they were still just kids. Why was he thinking of marrying her? Did he even like her? Like her-like her? He should figure that out first before he even thought of marrying her.

He shook his head. 'I'm thinking of stuff I shouldn't be. I should be doing this essay. I don't need to think of marriage. I should figure out why Helga avoided me today, but I guess the only way to do that is talk to her.' He sighed, positioning his pen to begin writing.

Arnold wandered into the kitchen to see if his grandmother needed help putting dinner on the table. He leaned down to scratch Abner on the head, getting a satisfied grunt from the little pig. "Homework done, Kimba?"

"Yeah Grandma. I just had an essay to write on our summer. Just a short one, so it didn't take long."

"Good good," she murmured as she stirred whatever she had simmering in the pot. Arnold had no idea what she was concocting, but it did smell good.

"Grandma, can I ask you something?"

"Of course, Kimba. You can always ask me anything."

He straightened up and leaned his arms against the counter next to the stove and his grandmother. "Grandpa told me stories about this little girl that picked on him a lot when he was little." He heard his Grandma chuckle. "I just figured out today that it was you."

"Oh yes, he was so much fun to pick on, Arnold," she replied in a soft voice. She sighed happily. "Oh the things I used to do to him."

"But why, Grandma?" Arnold asked. "Didn't you like Grandpa when you were kids?"

"Oh my yes! He was such a cute little thing, and my best friends brother. Such a funny boy and so nice."

"Then why do mean things to him?"

She pulled the spoon out of the pot and tapped it against the side of the pot. She reached for her spice jars and shook a couple of them into the pot and stirred it again. "Oh, I don't know. I guess I didn't want him to know I loved him so much. It was easier to pick on him than to tell him that."

"I don't understand. I thought you both always told me to be honest?"

"And you should be, Kimba. Always be honest. But for me? I don't know. I was such a tomboy and I didn't think I was very pretty."

Arnold interrupted her, "I've seen pictures of you Grandma. You were pretty!"

"Aw Kimba, you are a sweet boy, but I didn't think that. Maybe I thought it was the only way to get Phil's attention, and I was very insecure. It would have been impossible for me to say to him how much I cared about him."

Arnold turned that over in his thoughts. He didn't quite understand it. When he liked someone, he wanted them to know, like with Ruth and with Lila. Sure it was scary to do that, but he still wanted to be honest.

"Why all these questions, young explorer?"

"I was just curious is all."

"Is it because of that girl at school who picks on you?"

He was surprised. Arnold thought that his grandmother didn't pay much attention, or if she did, she didn't remember much of what she was told. "Yeah. She…she told me she loved me last spring, but she hasn't really talked to me since."

"She did?" his grandmother looked at him with surprise.

"I don't know if she meant it. She said later that she didn't. Or I guess I suggested that. It's complicated."

"Love usually is, Kimba, it usually is."

He was a little startled at that. "I tried to talk to her today, but she avoided me. I was just wondering why she did that, and why she picks on me in the first place."

"Eleanor reminds me of me when I was little. That's why I miss the girl. I haven't seen her in a long time."

She turned from the stove and went to the fridge to dig through it, leaving her grandson at the counter in shock. That's who his grandmother meant when she spoke of Eleanor? She thought Helga's name was Eleanor? He put his face in his hands and groaned softly. His thoughts were so confused, he had no idea how he was going to figure out everything he had heard today.