Ok, I've realized that I haven't written anything in awhile and I thought of this idea and decided to write it. I don't really like how it turned out. I do't believe that it's bad, but not as good as I imagined it would be.

****happy news and slight spoiler alert**** I was reading a Hey Arnold! site (Tendra91's site) and I read questions that Charles B. has has answered. I don't know if the other authors read this to, but they moight have because they've all been writing that Arnold's last name is shortman and I think it is. Charles said that Arnold's name has been said many times before and mostly by his grandfather. We all know what that means. Uhh...there were a lot of other questions, but the main thing is that, Helga and Arnold confess their feelings to one another and Brainy helps some kind of way. If everyone already knew this then sorry for the over kill, but at least I can die happy now knowing that Helga and Arnodl are meant to be. But I don't think that we're ever going to see a jungle movie. It's been years and Nick hasn't done anything since the journal episode but release it on DVD. I just hope they don't wait until I'm like 30 to release it.

Ok, back to the story.

summary: Irony-when the opposite of what you expect to happen annoyingly slaps you in the face.

"Hey Football Head, Hair Boy, come here," Arnold heard from behind him as he and Gerald walked down the hallway of their high school. Some things would never change, he thought as he turned and gave a smile to Helga, who was walking towards them with her best friend Phoebe.

"Hello Arnold, Gerald," Phoebe told the boys when she reached them. "We were wondering if the two of you would mind helping us."

"Help you how," Gerald asked her.

"We have to do a stupid Psych experiment," Helga told them. "You only have to answer a few questions and you're done."

"Sure," Arnold told her. "What's the examination about?"

"We can only answer that after you have answered the questions," Phoebe told him sweetly.

Giving them a strange look, Gerald said, "Alright, shoot."

Holding up her clipboard, Helga said, "Out of these choices, which one do you prefer the most? Skittles, Sour Patch, M&Ms, or Starburst."

"Sour Patch," Arnold said.

"M&Ms," came from Gerald.

Arnold saw Helga about to write, only to pause. "Why," she asked them. She looked confused, but Arnold couldn't imagine why.

Gerald was the first to reply. "Sour Patch isn't for me. I don't like having to go threw the sour to get to the sweet. Skittles are overrated and Starburst has a million different flavors. Who would want something different every time they eat a candy? But M&Ms stand out from the rest. Aren't they one of the oldest candies out there? You can always depend on it and even after all these years, it's never changed its taste. It's perfect the way it is and that's why everybody loves it.

Looking away from his friend, Arnold glanced at Phoebe to find that she was staring at her feet and it looked like she was uncomfortable. Why would-

"What about you Arnold," Helga asked him.

"Gerald's right about the Starburst," he said. "Having something different all the time gets old fast. And M&Ms are good, just not for me. When Skittles came out, the big pitch was that it was something different from all the chocolate flavored candies but I think that it tries to hard. If it was so good, then the company wouldn't have to go out of its way to show how different and better it was."

"What about the Sour Patch," Helga asked him when he didn't continue.

Smiling at her, he said, "Sour Patch is different. A lot of people don't like it because it starts off as sour. But if you're determined to get to the sweet part, it's not that hard, it just takes a little time. I think it's the best candy out there."

Helga stared at him a moment, not blinking. Then, shaking her head as if to get rid of a thought, she cleared her throat and said, "Next question. If you had to listen to only one type of music genre for the rest of your life, would it be classical, bubblegum pop, heavy metal, or dance?"

"Heavy metal," Arnold answered.

"What," Helga asked. "Who would pick heavy metal?"

"People are turned off by heavy metal because of the loud music, but if you listen past that, a lot of the songs are really thoughtful and it isn't what you would expect."

Arnold looked at the girls, waiting for them to reply, but it didn't come. He saw Phoebe glance at Helga who stared at her clipboard as if her life depended on it. They were really acting-

"What about you Geraldo? What music would you pick? Dance?"

Shaking his head, Gerald said, "Not me. I would pick classical. With all the others would always be set in a certain mind frame constantly. I wouldn't pick dance because who wants to party for the rest of their life? And no way would I pick pop. Everything isn't going to be happy and sweet all the time. And all that heavy metal would give me a headache. With classical, you have good, bad, happy, and sad. You have it all without them ever really changing. It's elegant and tasteful."

"Alright, last one," Helga said. "Coke, iced tea, fruit punch, or energy drinks?'

"Iced tea," Gerald said. "There's just something about it. It doesn't need any fancy labeling or expensive commercials to make it good. Just one sip and you know it's good. I can't see myself ever going without iced tea in my life. "

Nodding his head at Gerald's opinion, Arnold looked at his other two friends to see Helga rolling her eyes and Phoebe's face turning red. What was with them today? He couldn't understand why they were acting so funny

"Coke," he told them before they could ask for his opinion. "Energy drinks are good at first, but the rush doesn't last and after awhile you get used to them and realize that just because it's sweet, it doesn't mean that they're the best. Even though fruit punch is variety, after awhile the different flavors start to get boring. But with Coke, what you see is what you get. The burn may turn people off but I like it. In a weird way it keeps me coming back for more."

"This is just too much," Helga muttered as she moved her hand until her clipboard was at her side. "Pheebs, you're the smart one. Isn't there a weird for this?"

"Yes there is Helga," the petite Asian girl told her friend. "It is called irony."

Without a word, the girls only walked a few steps before Gerald called to them, "Wait. You never told us what the topic of the experiment was. Or why you couldn't tell us before you asked the questions."

"We were unable to tell you the topic of the experiment because the topic was how conscious preferences correlate with subconscious preferences, such as what a person looks for in another. If you had known before hand, the results wouldn't be accurate, you would think of which one fits the best to what you prefer." The whole time Phoebe explained it to them, she didn't make eye contact with either of them.

"What have the results shown," Gerald asked her.

Phoebe sighed. "That there is no correlation."

"So how is that irony," Arnold asked confused.

It was Helga's turn to sigh. "Oh, Arnold," she told him with what sounded like pity and frustration. "If you two have to ask, you'll never know."

Alright, if it was confusing, I'm sorry. But I warned you that this wasn't my best. For tose who didn't understand, the things that Arnold picked represented Helga, same goes for Phoebe and Gerald. The other two were Lila and the bunches of other girls that traipse in and out of Gerald's love life. (Cause let's face it, we all know that Gerald would be a player until he finally realized that Phoebe is the one for him.) And yes I know, the soda metaphor is old and...i can't spell it but it's pronounced chee-shay (yes I know it's sad that I'm 19 and can't spell it)but I really couldn't think of anything else. I can't remember the name, but there's this fic where Arnold is comapring sodas with Helga and of course his favorite represents her. But it's a really good fic and I'm sorry that I can't remember the name of it. For some reason, the word irony stuck with me the whole time I had the idea for this and while I was writing it. It may not fit but I like it. Ok, so review if you would like, I would love to know what you think. But it's after one in the morning and it's finals week at my college. (Don't worry, I don't have one tomorrow...today.) I have an idea for another one...wait no I don't I forgot it. I'll probably remember it when I wake up. As you can tell I'm tired so I'm rambling, but I'll shut up now.

kialajaray

p.s. the last line that helga says is from the rugrats where angelica leaves the window open and gets the babies sick...I think that was that episode. Anyway, for some reason, out of all the rugrats cartoons I've seen, I remember that the most. o_O. Weird huh?