Helga and Lila: Locked in a Closet - a Hey Arnold! Fanfic [COMPLETED] ✔︎

Chapter 1

"Happy Birthday, Lil' sis!"

Helga screamed as she stumbled out of bed, inundated with the unexpected sound of noisemakers and confetti.

When she was finally awake enough to make sense of the situation, she realized that the culprit was none other than her older sister, Olga.

Helga narrowed her eyes and glowered.

"Are you INSANE? What are you doing here? And it's not my birthday!"

Olga tittered lightly, totally unaware of Helga fuming. "Silly baby sis – I know that," she turned on one heel and sauntered over to the door. "But as part of my commitment to the Big Sis, Lil Sis program, it's my responsibility to give the best older sibling experience possible. And since my quote-unquote "Lil Sis" is celebrating her birthday tomorrow-"

"Wait a minute," Helga cut her off. "You're using me as the guinea pig for some other skirt's birthday? And isn't your "Lil Sis"—"

"—Your classmate, Lila! I just want this to be the best birthday party ever for her. I'm sure you don't mind?"

Helga's eye twitched. "Get out of my room," Helga said evenly, pointing at the door.

"But, Baby sis..."

"NOW," Helga said, sternly. Olga complied, and closed the door behind her. Helga sat in her confetti-littered bed for a moment and sighed, resigned.

Helga was already in a putrid mood by the time she made it to PS 118. Not only because Olga had acted as her impromptu alarm clock, but Miriam had (once again) forgotten to pack her lunch, and Big Bob spent a good portion of the morning barking at Helga for not being Olga.

Even her best friend Phoebe knew to give her space when she stormed downed the halls without even so much as a "hello".

And for some strange reason, Helga attributed her lousy mood to the existence of Lila.

That was why she was staring daggers into the back of her head until just before lunch, when Lila had unexpectedly placed a sheet of paper in her hands.

Helga glanced at Lila bitterly. "What's this?" she said.

"An invitation to my birthday party tomorrow," said Lila. "I'm inviting all of my classmates to join me on Saturday. Your sister went through a lot of trouble to plan the whole thing, and—"

"Pass," Helga said, handing the sheet of paper back to the redhead.

"Oh," said Lila, flustered. "I just thought...since you and I were friends..."

"Come on, Helga, just take the dumb invitation!" egged on Harold. "Everyone else is going!"

"Yeah Helga, don't be such a wet blanket!" chided Gerald.

As her other classmates razzed her on, Helga became increasingly annoyed.

At last, she snatched the invitation from Lila's hand and stood from her chair.

"I'm not your friend, I'm barely your classmate, and I wouldn't go to your birthday party under penalty of death. So stop treating me like one of your charmed, lovesick saps, Li-la, because your phony-baloney act doesn't work on me, and it never will!"

And with that, Helga crumpled up the invitation and through it squarely in Lila's face, causing the rest of the class to gasp.

Lila said nothing, merely opting to silently return to her seat.

"Helga Pataki!"

All eyes turned to the front of the room to Mr. Simmons, who had also watched the entire drama unfold, and was visibly upset. He folded his arms and tapped his foot, and frowned disapprovingly at Helga.

"I'm so very...very disappointed in you. In this class, we are a family, and we don't treat other members of the family like that. It's about acceptance, it's about caring, it's about having to not explain to your mother why it's perfectly fine for you and your friend Peter to enjoy the opera instead of sitting at home to watch hockey to the incessant caveman jabberings of your toque-wearing brother-in-law and—"

"Mr. Simmons?" interjected Phoebe.

Realizing he was going off on a tangent, Mr. Simmons immediately turned red in the face. "Yes....I mean...what I'm trying to say is, family treats family with respect."

As Mr. Simmons continued on with his tirade, Helga resumed staring hateful daggers in the back of the head of a surprisingly stoic Lila, until he called her name again. "What?"

"I said I think it's best you skip out this recess and use the time to remember the special bond family should have in your life. You're to have lunch detention, Helga,"

While the rest of the class oooohed at the punshiment doled out, Helga merely clenched her fist and gritted her teeth in contempt.