As the last day of school approached, Helga found herself growing more and more anxious for her chance to escape Hillwood for the Summer. While the opportunity to stay with Olga may not have been her first choice for a vacation away from home, it was the chance she needed to escape from her family, her familiar hangouts as well as her fellow classmates.

Especially Arnold.

In fact, more than anything, Helga was anticipating being away from Arnold.

Despite having been the cause behind her broken heart, he was still somehow the boy who continued to hold her heart delicately in the palms of his hands. And yet, even though she remained hurt and desperately wanted to be far away from any chance of bumping into him, she was also fearful of the distance at the same time.

What if he forgets about me?

What if he meets someone new?

What if? What if? What if?

Countless concerns spiraled around Helga's brain and she found herself growing dizzy at the constant parade of worries clouding her thoughts. It took all she had to focus on the final week of her seventh grade year; something she figured she should be enjoying but found that she couldn't.

With the many relationships blossoming from the new terrain of Middle School, Helga had decided that it was just too difficult. As she had found out, it was nearly impossible to walk the halls without running into at least one of the infamous 'happy couples' that her class had to offer.

Each time she entered the hallway, Helga Pataki couldn't seem to stop being reminded that she was no longer a part of that category. No matter how she distanced herself from the crowds that filled the seventh grade wing, she could still rattle off every popular couple that had come out of their first year in middle school.

There was:

-Nadine and Peapod Kid

-Gerald and Phoebe (of course)

and, even though she wanted to, she couldn't forget the third party which made up the couples hierarchy:

-Stinky and Lila

While maneuvering the hallways it was almost as though the power couples were never out of sight for too long. Clusters of students always seemed to be congregating around them and seeing them only reminded Helga of what she had started the beginning of the school year with.

Or rather, who she had started it with.

And with Gerald being Arnold's best friend, it was hard to say the least to avoid the football-headed boy. Helga knew that it was only a matter of time before they had to share more than a few sentences with one another.

It wasn't until yearbooks were distributed just a few days prior to the end of the school year that Helga feared she might not be able to make a clean break from Arnold after all. She knew that their time to speak to each other once more was quickly approaching with each minute that ticked by during the school day.

Not only was the conversation nearing, but Helga would have to think of what she would inscribe when he ultimately asked her to sign his yearbook. Throughout all her years of never running out of words to compose, the 13-year-old soon realized that she had no idea what she would write or what even her message would be to him.

What did she have to say? What could she say?

These questions filled Helga's thoughts with each day that grew closer to the beginning of Summer vacation. And though she tried to hide her Arnold-related-anxieties from Phoebe, on the penultimate day of the school year her fears finally spewed from her mouth while waiting for the almost-last-day-of-school to begin.

"I can't just write something like H.A.G.S... can I?" Helga asked while standing beside Phoebe's locker as she dug through it for a textbook. "Is that socially acceptable you think?"

The small dark-haired teen continued to rummage through her locker while absentmindedly replying to her friend. "Hags?" She repeated quizzically.

"You know, H-A-G-S? Have a good summer? Hags?" Thinking through what she'd just said, Helga sighed and leaned her back against the lockers beside Phoebe's; her eyes watching the endless pool of students ebb and flow through the hallway she stood in. "No, no... that's not personal enough. It has to be something personal, you know?"

As Helga pursed her lips while losing herself to her own thoughts, Phoebe secured the book she'd been searching for in her grip before at last shutting the locker door and turning to face her distressed best friend. "Why must it be something personal? I would assume that most people our age won't take the time to write anything of particular value in a yearbook."

"But that's what yearbooks are for, Pheebs," Helga implored. "People write a bunch of sappy stuff with a few inside jokes that we can look back on and laugh at in 30 years."

Phoebe walked her way into the stream of students as Helga pushed herself off of the lockers she had been leaning against to follow her.

"I'm not entirely sure that middle school yearbooks are the yearbooks that we will be paying particular attention to 30 years from now, Helga."

This surprised the young blonde and she raised her brow before speaking again. "How do you figure?"

Phoebe shrugged her shoulders as they continued to walk together towards their individual classes which just so happened to on the same route in which they walked. "I suppose that high school is remembered more fondly than middle school in terms of what I've heard from various adults. With all of the clubs and extracurricular activities, peers can bond on a more personal level with each other; thus the more personal yearbook entries."

"Really?"

Standing just outside of her first hour class, Phoebe shrugged her shoulders once more. "It's just a theory, Helga. If you wish to write something personal in his yearbook, then you should."

"But I don't know if I want to or not, Pheebs, that's the problem." Helga frowned while sighing before giving her friend a serious look. "I don't want to go writing something personal in his yearbook while he writes for me to, 'never change' or something super impersonal in mine. Or vice versa."

The friends looked at one another for a moment; Helga silently pleading with Phoebe to point her in the direction of what she should do. With a purse of her lips, Phoebe let out a small huff and nodded her head.

"Maybe you should worry about this dilemma when he actually asks you," she suggested as Helga eyed her curiously.

"Phoebe. The last day of school is tomorrow and the kid still hasn't asked me. Do you think he will? Maybe he isn't going to. Should I ask him?" Helga paused and thought on this before answering her own question. "I can't ask to sign his yearbook, then I'll have to sign something personal and sappy, won't I?"

Pondering what her friend said, Phoebe took a breath to steady herself before adding on to her piece of advice. "Whether he asks you or you ask him, I believe that you should handle this dilemma as it comes. Perhaps when you are presented with the situation you'll be more apt to know what it is you wish to say."

With a few thoughtful nods of her head, she seemed to agree which gave Phoebe a sense of relief.

"I guess that makes sense," Helga mused. "Being in the moment isn't exactly my strong suit though..."

"It might be something you want to look into," Phoebe said with a small smile. "I know that meditation has helped me insurmountably in terms of living moment to moment rather than thought to thought."

"Eh," Helga waved her off, "I don't know if that meditation mumbo-jumbo is for me. Olga's big into it but I've just never... got it. Sitting in a room silently while you think about nothing? Sounds like a waste of time to me."

"On the contrary, Helga," the shorter of the pair disagreed, "Meditation and being mindful has been proven to be very beneficial in correlation with a great variety of things such as anxiety and depression. In fact, it can even be linked to pain relief."

"Uh-huh," the blonde replied without much care, "like those Buddhist monks who get set on fire or whatever and they don't even flinch? That kind of pain relief?"

"Helga..."

She flinched at the sound of her name which presented itself in the same tone that had frequented Arnold's when he was unconvinced with her arguments. Taking this as a sign to move on from the conversation, Helga offered her friend a raise of her brows before turning around to at last part from her friend in pursuit of her first class of the day: Gym.

"I'll see ya later, Phoebe," she said with a wave before pivoting on her heel to face her friend while walking backwards towards where the gym was located. As she walked, she called out, "Slausen's after school today?"

A sigh emitted from the dark-haired girl and Helga frowned knowing exactly what was coming next.

Deciding she didn't want to be reminded of their happy relationship again, Helga answered for her. "Yeah, yeah. I forgot. Geraldo and you are doing stuff..." With a dramatic sigh, Helga at last turned the corner which led to where the locker rooms were located. As she disappeared from Phoebe's sight, she made sure to holler out her half-hearted sentiment: "Have fun I guess."

"So then I said, 'Cancun? In the Summertime? Please. Have you not heard of tourist traffic? That place is positively flooded with tourists in the Summer!'" Rhonda told the group of loyal disciples that surrounded her where she stood in the corner of the gymnasium. "So I suggested that she might as well come to my family's private island. It would be much more relaxing not to mention far less crowded, am I right? And do you know what she had the nerve to say to me?"

Helga found herself half-listening to the absurd story Rhonda was telling just behind her. As she eavesdropped without much interest, she kept most of her focus on tying her tennis shoes while sitting on the slick glossed floor. It's only a matter of time before Rhonda will have to shut up, Helga thought as she pulled her shoelaces into a tight double knot.

After the initial bell rang, students in gym and swimming classes were given an additional 5 minutes before gym class officially began. The school figured that was ample enough time for teenagers to change their clothes in preparation for whatever sweaty activity was planned for the day and make their way to the gym.

A little too much if you ask me, Helga silently considered, seeing how much extra time Rhonda apparently has left to gossip to all her little minions.

Helga's eyes caught sight of Arnold as he entered the gym with a smile on his face; her eyes gravitating to the familiar football-shaped-head that clouded her every dream and fantasy.

After she finished tying her other shoe, Helga pulled her gaze away from her once-boyfriend and instead opted to twist her body around minimally. She found that she couldn't help herself from focusing her attention over her shoulder at the group of girls hanging on Rhonda's every word. Quietly, she looked on as Rhonda continued speaking to the greedy sets of ears around her. Each of the wannabes appeared to be listening intently; a deep desire within them waiting to gobble up the rest of the tale that the Queen Bee was spinning before them.

"She said, and I quote," Rhonda was approaching the punch-line of her story and Helga narrowed her eyes and watched the prissy girl intently. "'If I wanted to stay on a tiny beach front like your private island, I'd just have my father move our yacht.' Can you believe that? Comparing our entire island to her tiny little yacht? Well, I never."

"Never what, Rhonda?" Helga suddenly called out from where she sat; the chattering girls surrounding the popular dark-haired beauty seemingly impressed by her little story and taking no notice to the blonde's words. "Never heard an interesting and relatable story in your life? Because I'll tell you right now, that wasn't it."

At least a dozen pairs of eyes shot over in Helga's direction at her outburst, though Rhonda's glare was particularly acidic.

"Excuse me, Helga G. Pataki, but I don't remember asking for your opinion on the matter, now did I?" She retorted back; her words slick as a snake.

"God no," Helga said while pushing herself up to stand. "Besides, I don't think you'd take too fondly to my opinion anyway."

This piqued Rhonda's curiosity and she raised a perfectly plucked brow towards her somewhat-nemesis. "And just why is that?"

Helga smirked to herself and shook her head but a few times. "Ahh, asking for my opinion now, are we, Princess? And here I thought you weren't interested."

An almost snarl emitted from the snobby teen and Helga grinned in response.

Her work here was done, and just in time too as her gym teacher approached the first hour class that had been patiently waiting for class to begin.

"Alright, alright," they yelled loud enough to be heard over the teenagers' talking and laughter. "Settle down now. I know that tomorrow's the last day of school and you're all eager to start your Summer vacation, but listen up. Seeing as you all have choir tomorrow, in honor of your last day of gym class, I have a pretty fun activity planned for today."

Helga turned to break her eye contact with Miss Lloyd and focused up on their teacher who had an excited grin plastered on their face.

"Today you'll all be roller skating!" The teacher announced and at the news, the students began talking to one another excitedly.

"So, when I say so," they emphasized as though it would stop the itching seventh-graders from mass hysteria at getting their skates, "you can all head over to the gym closet and pick out your skates. I'm going to turn up the radio so you can skate to some music as well. We need to be careful as we do this though, folks. I don't want anybody getting hurt because one of you wasn't paying attention and you ram into another student... or a wall or something. I'm looking at you, Eugene." The teacher's eyes fell on the smiling red-haired boy who seemed not to care about the many pairs of eyes looking his way.

"Don't you worry about me. I'll be a-okay!" He said in a chipper manor. "When I was a kid, my mother used to take me to the local roller rink. I even know tons of tricks!"

"Which we won't be trying today, now will we?" The teacher said in an threatening tone.

Eugene slumped slightly at the warning but still nodded his head. "No..."

"Good." With a clap, the teacher gestured towards the student in front of them. "Okay, now go and get your skates-"

Anxious preteens began making their way loudly to the closet; their voices filled to the brim with fervor at the unexpected activity they were to do. The gym teacher called out over their chatter in an effort to finish their instructions.

"-and try not to make a mess in there, will you?"

Helga stood up slowly and waited a moment for the crowd to settle before sauntering over towards the closet. As she walked she watched Arnold out of the corner of her eye as he did the same thing; though he was talking to another classmate. Her attention focused on the pair of her peers as they laughed about something Arnold said that she hadn't been close enough to overhear.

Even though she knew it didn't matter, she still couldn't help but wonder what it was that had been so funny.

Once outside the closet, Helga crossed her arms as she waited for her turn to enter and pick out her skates. She stood just behind Arnold and she could smell the sweet scent of his shampoo wafting up to tickle her nostrils.

For a moment she closed her eyes to succumb to memories, thoughts and feelings the scent evoked within her. She lost herself in the memory, though brief, and it was the subject of her daydreaming that winded up waking her from her thoughts.

"Helga?"

She blinked her eyes open to see Arnold holding out a pair of skates for her. Eyeing them for a moment, she furrowed her brow in confusion. "What?"

Arnold shrugged with a smile while outstretching the skates further towards her. "You're a size 9 still, right?"

Realizing that he'd thought of her despite not even speaking yet for the day, Helga's lips upturning against her will. Fighting back the swoon that was creeping up her body with the hopes of escaping her lips, Helga pressed her lips together tightly and nodded her head silently.

Depositing the skates into her arms, he smiled warmly up at her before walking passed entirely to leave her with his thoughtfulness and a dopey grin on her face.

A loud noise overtook the gym then as the gym teacher struggled with the volume of the music they'd began playing. After a moment of adjusting, the song settled itself to a comfortable volume. Helga's happiness was soon clouded by the familiarity of the repetitious popular song she'd heard many times on the radio.

"Criminy, this stupid song?" She quietly asked the universe before she heard a squeal rang out from a group of her classmates who were obviously much more excited about the song than she had been. "Oh brother," Helga muttered to herself as she looked over to the group of happy and jabbering girls. With a roll of her eyes and skates in tow, she wandered over to an open spot where she could sit down to safely put the heavy boots on her feet.

She hadn't roller skated in years. While Helga had once been fairly decent on both skates and blades, lack of practice had made her self-concious to try skating again- especially in front of Arnold.

Helga wobbled as she stood up once the skates were tightly laced and weighing down her feet. She held her hand out to the wall beside her in an effort to stand somewhat straight. Setting her hands on her hips, she smirked with a smug look on her face. "Ha. Piece. Of. Cake."

The blow of a whistle rang out above the music making all the students wince at it's high-pitched shriek. "Let's get going!" The gym teacher hollered above the music, and just like that, the students were off to coast around the perimeter of the slick gymnasium floors.

While most of the students around her fumbled and struggled to get their barings, Helga skated with ease considering she had been frightened to try just moments before. Apparently skating was just like riding a bike for her and she easily surpassed her peers with each round she made of the gym.

As she glided, her mind wandered to once again focus on the football-headed boy who'd cared enough about her and remembered enough about her to hand her the pair of skates she now wore. He'd done it all by himself without her demanding he do so first. It seemed that despite their now-complicated relationship, Arnold Shortman definitely still had some semblence of feelings for one Helga G. Pataki. After all, they had kissed at Rhonda's stupid party and even though it confused Arnold to the nth degree, it still meant that the love they shared had not yet died.

Which meant there was still a chance. And if there was still a chance, then there was still hope- hope that Arnold and Helga could once again be together the way that Helga always knew they should and would be. The love they shared was a sure-thing, in her mind. An absolute fact that one day everything would work itself out.

You know, if that weird-headed-dingus could just get his stupid feelings figured out once and for all, Helga thought quietly to herself. I know I certainly have. Her snide remark resounded in her head as she rounded the corner of the gym to gracefully continue skating without so much as a care about who she sped passed.

That is, until it was Arnold who was coasting beside her.

"Hey," He said over to her as they rolled across the gymnasium floor side by side.

"Uh... Hi?" Helga responded with mild confusion. "You're talking to me?"

"Helga, I never stopped talking to you." There was a miniscule smile tugging at his lips as he spoke; Helga unable to pull her attention away from where the smile rested.

"Did you want something, or...?" She quickly redirected the conversation as the pair made their way around the next corner of the gym.

Arnold shrugged his shoulders in response. "Are you excited for Summer vacation? Have any plans?"

Helga rolled her eyes and scoffed. "What, like you need to know what I'm up to for the next 3 months? Why do you care?" The words came out far harsher than she'd hoped but as they settled between the two, Arnold didn't take much, if any offense.

Arnold Shortman was used to Helga's quips by now and these days, there was almost nothing she could say that would phase him in even the slightest.

"My mom and dad are going to be helping out at the botanical gardens this summer," Arnold said without skipping a beat; Helga eyeing him skeptically without a clue as to where he was headed with his story. "Honestly though I think that dad will probably skip out seeing as plants aren't 100% his thing. At least not like it is mom's."

He was hinting at something though Helga couldn't decipher just what it was. She watched him for a long while before growing frustrated and demanding more. "And your point is...?"

Arnold turned to look at Helga with a warm smile. "If you aren't doing anything this Summer, maybe you could join my mom? I'm sure she'd like the company."

An ache filled Helga's chest as she remembered the surrogate family she'd felt so close to. Between Stella and Miles, Helga had found a home that she'd never expected to be a part of. She only wished that things were different so she could see them again without it feeling totally uncomfortable and weird.

So she dismissed Arnold's suggestion with a roll of her eyes and a humorless laugh. "Please. Like I want to spend my whole summer around some stupid old plants."

"What will you do then?" He was pushing for more information and though Helga didn't know why, she indulged in his inquiry.

"As a matter of fact, Hair Boy, I will spending the summer far, far away from this stink-hole of a town." Looking away from him just then, she fixated her gaze ahead on Eugene as he showed off his roller-skating moves the way the gym teacher had warned him not to.

"Oh really? Where are you going? The beach house again?"

"Ha, yeah right," she remarked, "after that sunburn of Bob's ruining the entire vacation, I can pretty much guarentee we won't be going there ever again." Pausing for a moment as if to weigh the pros and cons of giving the details behind her summer plans, she sighed gave in anyway. "I'm uh- I'm going to Olga's for the summer, actually."

Naturally, this surprised Arnold and his eyes widened at the admission he'd definitely just heard Helga make. "Olga's? Really? I thought you hated her."

"Yeah, well things change, bucko," she snapped before calming her tone to continue as she had before. "After the whole, well, you know, that happened between us," the words were hesitant as she tested the waters, "she kinda was really helpful and stuff. I guess. I mean whatever."

"Wow," was his only response- his shock still evident as he digested what Helga was telling him.

She sighed heavily then and resumed her usual sarcastic and confident tone as though what she'd previously just said had never occurred. "Plus she bought me my whole new wardrobe so I figured I owed her some 'quality sister bonding time' or whatever it is that she calls spending months on end at her stupid fancy house in the city."

Arnold nodded his head a few times as though waiting to see if she was done with her story. "Sounds like it could be fun. A chance to get to know your sister better."

"Oh I know Olga just fine, thank you very much. I'm only doing it so she'll shut up about never seeing me."

Reading between the lines of Helga's words, Arnold smirked to himself. "Whatever you say, Helga. I just think it's nice of you to want to spend some time with her. Even if you say you don't."

Turning her head to look directly at Arnold as they continued skating, she narrowed her eyes his way. "You know what I think, Arnoldo? I think that you're just happy to be getting rid of me for 3 stinkin' months." She was hiding her desire to learn his true feelings about her future absence and Arnold played right in to what she'd been hoping her accusation would achieve.

"Helga, you know that's not true."

"Oh, do I? What, like you're gonna miss me or something?"

Arnold's eyes lowered to that of a half-lidded gaze as he looked at the girl beside him who tried so desperately to mask the true reasoning behind her questions. "Of course I'll miss you. Why wouldn't I?"

"Well you don't seem to think about me too much in your off time already so why would you when I'm out of sight and out of that freakishly shaped mind of yours?"

She hadn't meant for that thought to come out. Somehow, the words had escaped her mouth and flew into the air at a speed which she couldn't control and a thick heat began swimming up her body to pool in her cheeks from the embarrassment.

"You don't know how much I think about you," Arnold responded after a beat and as badly as Helga wanted to look at him, she averted her eyes from his emerald pools that were sure to suck her in.

"Yeah, well..." she muttered under her breath before sucking in some air and deciding to just come out with the other thought she'd been focusing on nearly all week. "We date for however long and after all of our history and junk you-you-you-" she stumbled on the word; her tongue tripping over it repeatedly like a skip on a record.

"And I...?" Arnold coaxed before Helga was finally able to spit out what she'd been trying to say.

"You haven't even asked me to sign your yearbook or anything." The statement sounded petty and foolish- completely insignificant once the thought had left her lips and Helga found that she was suddenly even more embarrassed than she'd been previously.

Who makes a big deal out of a freakin' yearbook? Helga's mind asked itself and she shook the thought away while staring down at her two skate-clad feet that continued to roll her forward with each glide she took.

"You... you want to sign my-my yearbook?" The concept seemed foreign to Arnold as he repeated what he'd gotten out of Helga's statement and she glared in his direction at the accurate insinuation.

"Well I would if you'd wise up and ask me already!"

For a while the two skated side-by-side in silence; the only sound between them being that of the booming stereo playing the latest pop hits at an alarmingly loud volume. Arnold focused on what he should say next as Helga kept her thoughts at bay by mindlessly watching Eugene attempt to skate backwards while doing some kind of weird robotic-arm-dance-thing.

What a dork, Helga found herself thinking, though her inner dialogue was soon halted by Arnold's next words.

"You'll sign it then?"

Helga's eyes shot over to her football-headed companion. "What?"

"My yearbook. If I give it to you after gym will you sign it? I just..." he reached his hand up to rub at the back of his neck awkwardly. "I guess I thought that after the other day, well- after everything, you might not-not... want to."

He was nervous which threw Helga entirely off-guard. Why was he the nervous one? It was him who broke up with me... twice! What could he possibly have to be nervous about?

The concept that the football-headed boy whom she loved wholeheartedly could still hold such strong feelings for her was a foreign one and Helga remained aloof to the clear signs of affection that Arnold inadvertantly gave her ever since their time in San Lorenzo.

He may have been confused and afraid for the feelings he felt, however, his hesitation didn't make them any less real.

Chewing on Arnold's messy sentence, Helga took a sharp breath and nodded her head in agreement. "S-Sure. Yeah, I mean, obviously I'll sign your yearbook. It's just... just a yearbook anyway."

The moment the words left her lips a loud shriek followed by a muffled SLAM echoed in the gym and both Arnold and Helga's eyes direction their attention to the source.

"Eugene!" The gym teacher hollered clear from the other side of the gym. "What did I say about doing fancy moves? C'mon, now!"

"Oh, don't worry!" He cheerfully replied as Sheena helped him stand up from where he'd fallen. "I'm okay!"

And of course he was okay. After all, if it was one thing that Helga and Arnold could count on in their young and complicated lives, it was that Eugene Horowitz would somehow always be okay.

Helga stared down at the yearbook Arnold had placed into her open hands as they stood just outside the locker rooms in the bustling hallway.

"Well, here it is. There should be plenty of room in there," he shook his head sheepishly as though ashamed of the reasoning why. "I kind of haven't been on top of the whole, 'asking people to sign it' thing."

As Helga flipped through the added blank pages in the back for signatures, she smirked while nodding her head in agreement. "I'll say. You have like... six signatures. You don't even have Tall Hair Boy's," she remarked and Arnold shrugged his shoulders.

"It's Gerald," he said in a flat tone. "I don't need him to leave me something in my yearbook. I know what he thinks enough to not need the sentiment written down somewhere."

At his point, Helga couldn't help but wonder if that was why he hadn't asked her to sign his yearbook- he already knew how it was she felt. After all, she'd only been telling him since elementary school about just what her feelings all entailed.

With all of that in mind, she soon realized that it was her who didn't know how the other felt. Thousands of mixed signals clouded Helga's ability to comprehend the relationship they held with each other. As she looked down at the book he had given her, the few signatures he had acquired staring up at her, Helga took a deep breath and made a leap into faith.

"Hey Arnold," she intoned his name nervously as though she wasn't sure if she was making the greatest decision in what she was about to say. "You think maybe, you'd uh... you'd sign my yearbook? Too?" The words fell out of her mouth disjointed as though she'd strung them together haphazardly from inside her mind.

Despite the somewhat-awkward delivery, Arnold smiled a toothy grin and nodded his head. "I'd love to, sure."

Nodding her head rapidly, partially due to excitement and partially due to nerves, Helga closed the yearbook she was holding and placed it between her thighs to hold in place. Keeping the yearbook safely locked between her legs, she swung her backpack off of her shoulder and set it on the floor to unzip it. As she dug around the miscellaneous books, pens, notebooks, and other slew of items in the bag, she at last located the hardcover of her yearbook and pulled it out.

"Here," she stated while handing the book to Arnold who happily took it into his grip. "I, like you, don't exactly have tons of signatures, but that's probably because I'm not some stupid-popular football-headed weirdo like you."

Smirking at her retort, Arnold nodded his head without so much as a peek at the pages in curiosity. "How am I popular if I don't have signatures either? Wouldn't that both make us unpopular?"

Zipping up her backpack, she picked it up from the floor to toss one strap around her shoulder and shrugged in one fluid motion. "You don't have signatures because you're Arnold Shortman."

Raising one of his brows, he eyed her oddly. "And what does that have to do with anything?"

Taking Arnold's yearbook from her legs to once again hold it tightly in her grip, Helga merely shrugged. "You're too cool for that kind of stuff. In that stupid sort of ironic-cool. It's the same reason why Rhonda thinks you're the 'bees knees.'"

With a slight roll of his eyes, Arnold dismissed her observation. "Ironic cool, huh?" He repeated before giving a minimal shake of his head. "I wouldn't label myself as that at all."

"Eh," Helga offered the noise as a lackluster answer only to add, "You may not, but I'm pretty sure everyone else does."

The warning bell resounded through the hallways; Helga and Arnold looking to one another sheepishly as the tone hit their eardrums.

"Guess we should get to class, huh?" Arnold noted while Helga scoffed at his observation.

"Well, doi," she responded before swallowing hard and gesturing towards her yearbook that Arnold held precariously in his hands. "You'll uh... you want to just take that to class and I'll take yours. We can give them back at lunch or something."

"Sure, Helga," Arnold agreed with an upturn of his lips and a nod. "I'll get it back to you at lunch, then."

"I mean, it doesn't have to be lunch," she quickly tacked on, "if you need more time, or whatever. To uh... to write whatever it is you're going to write."

"Okay."

"It's not like I'm waiting for it, or anything," she continued talking as Arnold watched her with a half-lidded gaze. "Nobody is lining up to sign my yearbook, or anything, so you've got time."

The two began walking down the hallway that led to the next hour they shared together- Algebra. As they hurried along their way so as not to be late for class, Arnold replied to the last thought Helga had voiced.

"I don't really think anybody is lining up to sign anyone's yearbook," he chuckled out and Helga merely shrugged her shoulders in response as they kept walking down the hall.

"Yeah, well, tell that to Miss Rhonda Wellington Lloyd," she spat out in obvious irritation. "As if she needs more people to stroke her ego." Helga offered a point in the general direction of Rhonda as they passed her in the hallway. Surrounding her was a slew of boys; all of them with outstretched yearbooks and wide grins on their faces.

"You'd think she was the freakin' Queen of England, or something," Helga added on with a small shake of her head.

Arnold at last gave an uplift of his shoulders in result of her words. "I guess I just try not to worry about everyone else."

"Pfft," Helga scoffed with a shake of her head. "Please. If it's anyone who indulges in worrying about the vast population around them, it's you, football-head."

He laughed at this; thoughts rolling through his mind of just how correct Helga had been about her observation. Despite it all, Arnold and Helga reached the door of their classroom. Holding the door open for her, he gestured for her to lead the way, to which she did.

Once they'd taken their seats, Helga eyed Arnold as he took her yearbook that he held and set it aside. She wondered if he would work on it during this class, or the next one, even. Piggy-backing off of that, Helga glanced over at his yearbook she'd set on her desk.

As she stared at it before taking her seat, she wondered what she could possibly write in the blank pages that would express her innermost feelings. She wondered if this was the time to write them all out, seeing as he didn't plan to get more signatures from what he'd inferred.

Helga spent the remainder of her Algebra class staring at this yearbook and daydreaming about the things she could pen on his blank pages. Stealing glances in Arnold's direction, he never opened the book once to begin his entry.

Was he thinking about what to write, too? She silently asked the powers that be. Did he even care? Did he see the importance behind what he wrote and our future? That is, if we even had a future?

These questions flurried through her mind until they departed from the class to the next. All Helga could hope was that, come lunchtime, she'd have written at least one word or phrase in the love-of-her-life's yearbook.

One word. One phrase.

Just one.

Thank you for sticking with this story- Sorry i had to take an extra week to finish this puppy. I didn't intend it to be a part 1-part2 situation, but it got to be too long so I figured I'd break it up and coming up with a good ending took some time.

my IRL has gotten to be a little hectic lately, but i promise to continue working on this story and update as soon as i can and will continue to update at LEAST once (hopefully twice) a month. I hope you all don't hate me for that and continue to keep reading. I promise good things will happen. I appreciate and love you all greatly.

please leave me a review! your words are what helps encourage me most. thank you so much for reading and I can't wait to see you at the next chapter!

xo Polka