Sixth Grade Beginnings

Chapter 27

With a hard swallow, Helga stared up at the door beyond the pull down stairs. Just what was Arnold doing, that very moment? The thoughts willed her legs to move and she found herself ascending to the portal to her love. Once at the top, she stopped and listened for a moment. She could hear soft music playing beyond it and could only imagine that he was relaxing on his bed or possibly at his desk.

Softly, the girl rapped at the door. Was she disturbing him? Helga closed her eyes and waited. What if he was getting dressed? What if he was doing something private? The thought made her want to run away but her feet stood planted.

"Come in." She could hear him call.

Well this is it... I'm just gonna walk on in there, ask how he's doing and be nice to him. I've been nice to him before, I can do it again. It's not that hard... I just make it hard. She thought before touching the shiny door knob. Hesitating for a second, knowing full well that she wasn't actually ready to face him, Helga forced herself to enter. This was the second time today that she had made this trip to his room so surely it was okay.

Upon entering, the girl looked left and right until she noticed he was lying on his bed with a paperback book in his hands. It was plain to see that he had probably spent the majority of his day there due to the evidence around his bed: A cup, plate and a few candy wrappers.

The moment he noticed it was her, his eyes lit up and he smiled. "Helga." He called out to her, dog earring his page and placing the book aside. "I was wondering when you were gonna come back."

She could see that he seemed to be doing better and this put her worry at ease. With some courage, Helga stepped into his room and shut the door behind her. "H-hey Football head..." She said, sounding a little unsure of herself. "How's it hanging?"

The casual air about her was refreshing to the boy. After seeing her reaction to his show of affection earlier, as well as his grandpa saying she literally ran out of the boarding house, Arnold wasn't too sure exactly how she was going to act next time he saw her. Looking down at his book, he pulled it back up and showed the cover to her. "I've just been catching up on this book I started a while ago." He replied, "I figured I'd take your advice and rest for today."

He took my advice?! Helga swooned in her mind. No! Stop it right there, Helga! We are not going to swoon! We are going to act like a normal person and have a normal conversation between normal people. Got it?! Helga squinted her eyes at the cover from a distance and noticed it wasn't one she was familiar with. "Oh ya? How's that been going for you?" She asked; slowly walking towards him but stopping about a foot from his bed.

Arnold shrugged and placed the book back down again. "Truthfully I was a little bored at first..." He said, with a nervous laugh. "Originally I had plans of going out and doing some investigating but by the time I started feeling better, I noticed the rain clouds coming and... well, here I am."

"Investigating?" Helga knew that Arnold and Gerald would sometimes go out on adventures, exploring the unknown, but usually there was some urban tale behind it or ghost story and she wasn't aware of anything new circulating around.

Knowing he had said too much, Arnold coughed and scratched the back of his hand. "Y-yeah. Nothing big." He started, unsure of what to say. He couldn't very well tell Helga that he had plans on trying to find more out about Brainy as this would probably only cause her to become annoyed. "Gerald was telling me the other day that a new record store was opening up by his house and I figured I'd go check it out." He lied. He seemed to be covering up a lot of things lately and it didn't sit well with him.

Helga crossed her arms at his response. "News to me but I suppose a chuckle head like you would be interested in those things." She looked over at his stereo system, "Smooth Jazz, huh? Personally I enjoy a more louder and angrier genre but to each their own." Although she had to admit, it was quite soothing, especially paired with the rain that was coming down above them and tapping up against his glass windowed ceiling.