'Everything has been going just great here tall hair boy.'

Arnold was re-reading the last letter he had received from Helga while living in San Lorenzo with his parents. He had been living there for the past 6 years, ever since he won that essay contest that allowed him and his classmates to travel to San Lorenzo.

'I mean, it's going really great! Big Bob has been taking anger management classes since my last letter and he has learned how to chill out pretty well. And Mariam just got done with her AA classes, and I have never seen her happier.'

Arnold smiled; he was excited to meet the new Mr. and Mrs. Pataki, considering Helga's parents were still keeping up with this routine. As excited as he was to be going home today, he was also extremely nervous. Helga had not written Arnold a letter in the last year and a half of him being gone. They used to write letters back and forth every other week, and then ever since the last letter he had mailed, she just stopped writing. He was nervous sending that letter in the first place, and now he regretted sending it to her more than anything. He couldn't help but feel like he was too forward in his last letter, that maybe he had scared her away. The last lines of that letter often haunted him at night when he laid awake at night, thinking. He had told her she was that one, and that he loved her. It wasn't a lie of course, he had wanted to tell her so badly. He knew he should have waited to tell her in person, because now she wasn't writing him back.

It broke his heart.

Most of the time, he tried to convince himself that she was busy. After all, he knew Gerald was getting ready to start thinking about college and the years to come so maybe Helga was becoming busy with that as well. After all, she had mentioned college in her letter. He glanced back down:

'As for me? Well I'm starting junior year tomorrow. Can you believe it? Well, I guess you can because technically you're a junior now too, even if you're still doing that weird homeschooling thing with your parents. I know I've said it before, but it's been weird going through high school without you Arnold. There have been lots and lots of lessons to learn without the Buddha wisdom of Arnoldo himself. I know I'm lucky enough to still get all your advice, but it still doesn't make up for you not being here. I really miss you . . . I hope your parents are serious about letting you come back soon so you can graduate with us, I know I wanna see you before I start college.'

Yeah, that had to be it. She was just busy wit getting ready for college! For 18 months . . .it was no use. He just couldn't convince himself that the reason Helga Pataki wasn't writing him back was because she was busy. He sighed, looking out the bus window. He has been traveling the past 7 hours, and finally he could see the outline of the city coming into his view. He tried to cheer himself up by thinking of his grandparents, he had missed them so much, and he was excited to see the boarding house and his old room again. It had been such a spontaneous decision to stay with his parents after finding and rescuing them in San Lorenzo, that he didn't even get to say goodbye to his grandparents in person. His grandparents completely understood why Arnold wanted to be with his parents, but he wished he could have said goodbye nonetheless. He glanced back down at the letter to read the last paragraph before he put it away:

'Anyway, Phoebe is coming over to hangout soon so I should wrap it up. I hope all is still going well with you and your parents, and that you guys are clearing a lot of stuff up. I don't know if I can let them hog you for too much longer though . . .this whole long distance thing is starting to kill me. I miss you Arnold, a lot. Write soon?

Always,

Helga'

Arnold folded up the letter and put it back in its envelope, putting it back in his backpack. He wasn't sure what he was going to say to Helga when he saw her; all her knew was that he had to see her. He had to see if she had moved on, and forgot about him completely. He knew that the truth was going to hurt him but it would also give him closure, and maybe just maybe, he would be allowed to move on himself.