You Don't Know Me, Arnold

Chapter 1: Transformation

My first Hey Arnold fanfiction! A tribute to The Jungle Movie coming up this November! I mean I did a crossover back in 2015 but when I heard Craig Bartlett had decided to go through with the movie, I discontinued it, heh...

The entire thing is written in Arnold's perspective.

Story takes place during Arnold and his friend's 5th grade year, before they head off to San Lorenzo.

I've had it.

No, seriously, my patience is gone.

I know this is unlike me but I... I just snapped today.

The day had started out normally, I woke up to my alarm clock repetitively exclaiming 'Hey Arnold' 'Hey Arnold."

I put on my usual outfit and put a blue jacket over it, feeling content.

Grandma thought it was Groundhogs Day which made no sense since we're within the beginning of September and the holiday closest to now is Labor Day.

Speaking of which, Labor Day weekend starts today, no school Monday.

But that's beside the point, Grandpa drove me to school and I had run into Gerald at the entrance.

After our typical handshake...

Wait, was it even a handshake? We're not really using our hands... we're just pumping our fists and wiggling our fingers...

I'm getting side tracked again.

Anyway, it was when Gerald and I had walked into the halls of PS 118 that my day started taking a turn for the worst.

I opened the door just to come face to face with a Key Lime Pie, courtesy of hers truly, Helga G. Pataki.

Her rather obnoxious laugh clouded the halls as Gerald shook his head, grabbing my shoulders and leading me to the restroom.

It was like being in a circus, with everyone laughing at me while I made a fool out of myself.

I tripped on my own shoes twice, but didn't fall thanks to Gerald.

I owe the guy a big one.

The second time I faced Helga's wrath was during class while Mr. Simmons was going over the States and Capitals.

"Arnold, can you tell me what the Capital of Alaska is?"

I nodded, elated because I knew the answer, "Juneau."

I heard Helga scoff behind me, "Way to go Football Head, that's not the Capital!"

"Yes, it is!" I retorted as I turned to look at her.

"No, it isn't."

"Then what is the Capital, Helga?" I challenged as I narrowed my eyes.

"The Capital of Alaska is Juneau nothin' Football Head!"

The class burst into laughter as Simmons tried to calm everybody down.

"Man," Helga laughed as she clung onto her stomach. "You walked right into THAT one Arnoldo!"

I took a deep breath as I turned and doodled in my notebook.

The third time was in the cafeteria when we were in line to get food.

Gerald had gone to choose a table for us while I was in line getting both our lunches.

I had grabbed the last tapioca pudding - for once - and I put it on my tray. Normal, right? Nope. Because that's when Helga arrived.

"Hey Arnold, did you drop that?" Helga asked as she pointed to the floor with her index finger.

I looked down, only to have her index finger flick me on my nose... hard.

As I cried an 'ow' and rubbed it, she stole the tapioca pudding I had on my tray and put it on her own.

"Hey that's mine!"

"Too late, finders keepers, Arnold," she chuckled as she walked away, causing me to narrow my eyes at her.

"Mm, mm, mmm," Gerald said as he approached me. "I leave you alone for two seconds and you enter a war zone."

"I just don't know why she keeps picking on me Gerald... I thought she supposedly lov..." I stopped myself before I blurted anything out.

Helga and I swore never to speak of that incident on the roof.

I excused it as a 'Heat of the Moment' type of thing, but deep inside I knew she wasn't lying.

I'm not an idiot.

"What was that Arnold?" Gerald asked as he raised an eyebrow, but I shook my head and dismissed it and headed toward our table.

The fourth and final time I dealt with Adolf Helga was during our afternoon class.

She was once again throwing spitballs at me and I dismissed it for the majority of the period, but I think she must've ran out of paper, because the last little ball I felt was much more stickier and messier.

I touched my hair and noticed that there was a piece of gum stuck on the right side of my hair.

I think the bell ringing was a dramatic sentiment to how I felt during that time because I stood up and turned to her, an angry but rare look plasted on my face.

This is where I snapped.

"Seriously Helga!? GUM!?" I started as I grabbed my hair, yep, I was definitely going to have to cut that part off.

"Sorry! I accidentally spit my..."

"I DON'T CARE ABOUT YOUR EXCUSES HELGA! I've had it! We're in fifth grade! GROW UP! I don't know why you're always picking on me, I never do anything bad to you. You know what? I'm done! I'm through with this treatment!" I yelled as I headed for the door. "Do me a favor Helga, Don't ever talk to me again unless you've learned to stop being a bully! You're irritating and mean, which is probably why you don't have very many friends!"

Helga stared at me with her mouth agape and wait... were those tears forming in her eyes?

Who cares, I was mad, and I stomped home, no regrets!

Hours Later

Okay so maybe I was a little mean.

But the girl had it coming... right?

Why do I always wind up feeling like the bad guy... Helga has done so many rotten things in her life and I'm sure she doesn't feel the slightest guilty about anything.

I talked to Grandpa about it and he scolded me for lashing out and told me to call her to apologize.

But I just couldn't... I'm usually not one to be prideful but this time she had gone too far. Grandma had to chop off a big portion of my hair and now I look like the top of Spongebob's pineapple.

She probably didn't even take it to heart though, there have been a few times already where I had lashed out on her and called her to apologize, only to have her yell at me and tell me to never call her again.

She'll probably be back to her old self by tomorrow when we play our Saturday morning baseball session.

Yeah, I'm just not going to call her.

With that conclusion in mind, I dressed myself into my pajamas and went to bed, knowing everything would be okay by tomorrow.

Next Morning

Gerald had come over early to pick me up so that we can walk to Gerald's field.

Everyone was there, as usual, except for Helga.

For a split second I was concerned, until I shrugged it off and figured - or hoped - she just couldn't make it.

As the game moved along, I couldn't really ignore the guilt, it was eating me up.

What if I made her sad?

I couldn't take it anymore as I approached Phoebe, "Hey Phoebe?"

"Yes Arnold?" Phoebe asked.

"Where's Helga?"

"I don't know, I haven't spoken to her since yesterday," she said as she shrugged.

I nodded and thanked her as I headed back to second base.

Maybe I'm just overthinking, I'm sure she's okay.

I turned and noticed Brainy was up to bat.

Wait. Since when does Brainy play with us?

Gerald seemed to have read my mind as he responded, "We were one man short since Pataki decided to be a no show, so Sid and Stinky asked Brainy to join."

I nodded in understanding and raised an eyebrow.

Strange... Brainy was usually following Helga around.

Sunday was pick up the rent day so I pretty much spent it walking around the Boarding House and asking the boarders for their pitch, and as usual, it took all day.

"What is wrong Arnold? You seem out of it," Mr. Hyunh asked as I helped him clean up his closet.

Ernie, Mr. Kokoschka, and Suzie were sitting on Hyunh's table playing Go Fish and turned to look at me when Mr. Hyunh had asked me that question.

"Guess it's been a slow day," I responded as Ernie shook his head.

"Slow day? Sundays are always slow and you never usually look this glum."

I sighed, "I snapped at this girl from school on Friday... and I feel really bad about it..."

"Oh dear," Suzie commented. "Have you apologized?"

I looked down to the floor, "No..."

"That's why your guilt is eatin you up Arnold, you need to apologize," Ernie suggested as the boarders all nodded and agreed.

I noticed Oskar taking Suzie's and Ernie's distraction as an advantage to look at their cards.

He giggled as he swapped one of Ernie's cards for his. I shook my head at this exchange.

"Alright, I'll call her tomorrow to apologize," I smiled as I got the rent from Mr. Hyunh and left the room.

"Hey! Who took my cards!?" I heard Ernie exclaim as Oskar giggled.

I shook my head as I smiled, I truly do have a very interesting family.

It was Monday and due to the fact that it was Labor Day weekend, we didn't have school.

So there I was, hovering over the phone, waiting for the perfect opportunity to call Helga.

I don't know why I was so nervous... it wasn't the first time I apologized for something.

With a deep breathe I grabbed the phone and dialed the Pataki household.

"Speak!" I heard as I jumped a little in my spot, I had forgotten about Bob's deep voice.

"U-Um... Can I speak with Helga?"

"Who is this?"

"Arnold..."

"HEY OLGA! SOMEONE NAMED ALFRED IS ON THE PHONE!" I heard him yell as I extended the phone away from my ear. "What do you mean you want me to hang up?"

Hang up? Wait... what? Helga always took my calls.

Just as I was about to respond, I heard a slam and then the line went dead.

Did Helga... just hang up on me?

.

.

I couldn't sleep that night; my guilt was eating me up.

Why didn't Helga respond?

Was she really mad at me?

Or worse... was she plotting a way to break me in half tomorrow?

I woke up feeling like I got hit by a bus.

I probably will get hit by a bus considering the fact that I have to face Helga today.

Well, at least now I'll have her face to face so that I can apologize.

Today was Lab Day, so instead of being in our classroom like usual, Simmons took us to the Lab to set up our Science Fair projects for January.

Every week, Simmons assigns a Student Assistant to help him keep the room in order since there are many hazardous products in the Lab and many of us are a bit... scandalous...

Today was Helga's day, which usually meant disaster since she's always pushing everyone around and putting many students in danger. Last time, she almost made Harold eat an experiment that looked a lot like a Mr. Nutty Bar, Simmons luckily caught her in the act.

But that was the last thing on my mind right now, my priority was to make sure I apologized to Helga.

"Man, I wonder how today is gonna go. Things always go nuts when Helga is Student Assistant," Gerald said as we walked to school.

I nodded, not really paying attention to him.

"Alright Arnold, fess up, you've been out of it since Saturday. Is this about what you told Helga?"

"I was really mean Gerald..."

"But you apologized, right? You always do."

I stayed silent as Gerald raised an eyebrow, "You didn't apologize? That's bold Arnold, very bold and very out of character."

"I was going to apologize but she didn't go to Gerald's field on Saturday and she didn't pick up the phone yesterday."

"Just apologize today man, no biggie."

I sighed, I just hope I leave school alive.

As Gerald and I approached the Lab, we both automatically noticed Helga holding the door open for everybody – wait - she wasn't wearing her usual outfit.

She wore a pink dress with short, white sleeves. The dress had a darker pink stripe on the bottom and a red orange stripe below the dark pink stripe. She wore red sneakers and her hair was up in a high ponytail. On top of it all, she was wearing a lab coat. But the weirdest part was that she wasn't wearing her usual scowl, she was... smiling?

She looked... nice.

"Hello Helga," Rhonda greeted as she walked into the room.

"Hello Rhonda, I like your watch," Helga complimented as Rhonda smiled and looked down at her wrist.

"Thank you Helga! Lovin' the hair-do!"

This can't be happening.

Gerald and I arrived at the door and Helga smiled at both of us.

"Hi Gerald and Arnold, you two will be seated in Table 5. It's the table behind Phoebe," she said as she pointed towards Phoebe.

"An organized table arrangement, who abducted you Helga?" Gerald asked as Helga smiled.

"Well I guess today is just one of those days," she shrugged as I stood there gaping at her.

"I like it!" Gerald said as he headed towards out table.

Helga looked down at her clipboard and I found myself standing there like an idiot and staring at her.

"Um... Helga..." I said as Helga looked up at me.

"Yes Arnold?"

"I... I wanted to apologize for Friday. I shouldn't have let my temper get out of hand... I tried calling you yesterday but..."

Helga smiled and shook her head, "It's alright Arnold. You were right, I have been acting a bit immature. I gave it a bit of thought and figured it was definitely time for me to act more... sophisticated I guess you could say. Oh, and I didn't answer yesterday because I was busy coordinating Lab Day, I hope you don't mind."

I froze in my spot, I just couldn't believe it.

When Helga realized I had nothing more to say she lightly guided me toward my table, "Now if you excuse me I need to greet Eugene, he helped with coordinating this and I wanted to thank him."

HELGA PATAKI? THANKING EUGENE? Or worse... TALKING TO EUGENE?

I just couldn't believe it.

I sat down with Gerald as Mr. Simmons and Helga stood in front of the class.

"Alright class! Thank you so much for the smooth entrance, and thank you Helga for coordinating the seating arrangement."

Helga nodded as I heard Harold shout, "HELGA IS A TEACHER'S PET!"

The class laughed and I knew this was going to be the end for Harold so I flinched as I noticed Helga look over at Harold, "Can I at least be a flattering pet like, oh I don't know, a flamingo?" she asked as the class froze.

Harold had his mouth completely open as he began stuttering, "U-Uh... sure, Helga..."

I'm dreaming, aren't I? I'm convinced that this is all just some sick dream.

I pinched myself, nope, not a dream.

"So class, today we will be choosing our partners for the Science Fair in January, you are required to have two partners. Helga, since you did such a great job coordinating this, you can choose first."

"Thank you, Mr. Simmons," Helga said as she looked at us. "I would like to work with Phoebe, and..." she said as she looked around.

Part of me wants her to choose me so that I can figure out what in the world is going on with her but the other part of me wants her to not choose me because I'm legitimately afraid to find out why she's acting this way.

"Eugene," she stated as Eugene blinked in surprise.

"Wow, thank you Helga! I'd love to work with you and Phoebe!"

The whole class gasped and started muttering whispers towards each other.

"Well, okay, good choices Helga."

I ended up working with Gerald and Lila since Lila had chosen us as partners.

I didn't mind but... I kind of wanted to work with Helga.

"Now that we have all of our special groups chosen, you are all going to form a hypothesis for your experiment. You all remember the Scientific Method, right?" Simmons asked as we all nodded.

"Good, get working then!"

Lila walked over to our table and brought a chair over to sit with us. I turned in front of us and noticed Eugene had done the same with Helga and Phoebe.

Why Eugene?

"I am ever so excited to be working with you two! We're going to be ever so great!" Lila excitedly commented as she took out a piece of paper.

Gerald nodded, "I actually already kind of have an idea! What if we..."

Eugene looked nervous, but seemed to ease up a bit after five minutes of sitting with Helga and Phoebe - wait - were they all laughing?

"Arnold? ARNOLD!"

I turned to look at Gerald who had his arms crossed, "Man are you even payin' attention? Lila and I are wondering which idea you like best?"

"Oh... um... what were the ideas again?" I asked sheepishly.

Gerald narrowed his eyes suspiciously as Lila started, "Gerald wanted to do a volcano but I thought that was ever so overrated. I thought we should do something ever so sweet and hatch baby chicks from eggs."

"And I told Lila that her idea was cool and all but we already did something similar last year when Mr. Simmons gave us that egg assignment."

The egg assignment... that was one of the few times where I had unfairly snapped at Helga.

"What do you think Arnold?"

"I like both ideas but... let's do something different. Why don't we calculate the baby chick's sensitivity to loud noises such as a volcano eruption? That way we can incorporate both ideas."

"I like that!"

"I ever so agree!"

"EUREKA!"

The three of us looked in front of us and noticed Eugene had his hands held high, "Ladies we have come up with a wonderful idea! Something tells me we're going to be a great team! Thank you for choosing me Helga, when should I go to your house?"

"Can you guys come by tomorrow? I'll tell Miriam to make us sandwiches."

"I'm sorry Helga I can't, I promised to help my mom clean out our garage tomorrow..." Phoebe said.

"That's okay Pheebs, you can come by on Friday, I guess it's just you and me Eugene," she responded as she turned to look at Eugene, who looked strangely excited.

Why did that excitement... irritate me?

Well what do you guys think so far?

For those of you who didn't catch it, Helga was wearing the dress that Craig Bartlett drew for her for The Jungle Movie.

Whether or not I continue this will be up to you guys, this was kind of an experiment ;)

SO, REVIEW! REVIEW! LET'S GET THIS UP TO 10 AT LEAST?