Hola my lovely readers! I am SO EXCITED ABOUT THIS STORYYYYYYYYYY!

the idea just kind of CAME to me and i HAD TO work on it and here it is! all 7,433 words of it. haha

Very curious to know what you guys think of this story so PLEASE read and REVIEWWWW with your thoughts on it all.

love you much! can't wait for the feedback and enjoy!

Disclaimmmmmerrrr: i own NOTHING. it is ALL CRAIG'S.

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Polkahotness

"Buenos dias, chicos y chicas!"

My fingers were tapping on the top of the old wooden desk while my other hand was occupied with doodles on the margins of my notebook.

I never enjoyed Spanish. It wasn't like I was bad at it or anything, but if I didn't HAVE to take some foreign language class for two years to get into some good college, I wouldn't be in the class in the first place.

Arnold, however, was extremely good at the language. He had been in my class the year before and Senora Mirado had nothing but good things to say about him and his perfect tests and perfect papers and perfect speeches.

"So football-head, how's the love affair with Senora M been going?"

"Helga, for the fifth time in the last ten minutes, I don't have a crush on Senora Mirado."

"Well there has to be SOME kind of reason you have over 100% in the class. You know how it goes, you scratch her back and she'll scratch yours..."

"Helga, certainly you are not suggesting that Senora would be involved with one of her students in a sexual way..."

"EW, Pheebs. Thank you for THAT mental image. I was just saying it's a bit peculiar... don't you think?"

Gerald turned around and shot me a look.

"So he's good in the class. What's it to you, Pataki?"

"What's it to you what it's to me?"

I pursed my lips and crossed my arms across my chest while leaning against the back of the chair.

"You have a serious problem."

"Doubt it, Geraldo."

Senora clapped her hands in the front of the room.

"Estudiantes! Escuchen! Listen up!"

Our class of seventeen directed our attention forward and instantly stopped talking mid-conversation.

"Today, we are going to work on our vocabulary sheets and if you have extra time, work on your translation pieces, por favor. Remember we have our vocab quiz on Thursday and we'll start to present our translation pieces on Friday. I will be playing some music up front here if you are interested in putting in a request." She smiled and made her way to her desk while turning on the speakers to fill the room with some Spanish Hip-Hop song of some sort.

While the music played on through the chatter-filled classroom, I took out my pink vocabulary sheet that was filled to the brim. Senora M was one of my overly organized teachers and because of this, each worksheet was tables and columns. This worksheet had four boxes for each word. The first box held the english word, bolded. Next to that, was a box for the spanish word and the box next to that was a bit larger so we could write a sentence using the word. The final box was also big, and we were instructed to draw a picture to help us remember the word in spanish. I had finished the worksheet within the second day of getting it, but like the rest of my classmates, I never said so. Most of our class enjoyed the extra time we had to do nothing and took advantage of it.

Even Arnoldo did.

"Last night, Grandma made the hot dog bar again."

"C'mon man, that's the best night at your place!"

"Gerald, we've been eating hot dogs for over a week now. It's gotten to the point where I just won't come downstairs anymore."

"You can always come hang at my house if you want. I think mom is making some casserole tonight though."

"Anything is better than hot dogs, but I'll have to ask them first."

I slid my worksheet over to the corner of my desk and took out my notebook with my poem in it that still had to be translated. My ears however, listened in on the conversation the two best friends were having.

"Y'know Arnold, you are 18. You CAN just go out and do stuff on your own. That's the best part about being legal."

"Not necessarily, Gerald. In fact, once people turn 18, it's shown that they tend to make very irresponsible decisions. I'd hope YOU wouldn't make such choices."

Gerald blushed and shook his head.

"Me? Irresponsible? Mmm mm mm. Ye have little faith."

Phoebe giggled and returned her attention back to her translation that was near complete.

"She's right, Gerald. And besides, I just like keeping them in the loop. I mean you heard of that guy who had to cut his arm off when nobody could find him because he didn't tell anyone where he was. He ended up stuck and helpless."

"Arnold. We live in HILLWOOD. If you got stuck in some canyon and had to cut off your own arm, I'd be impressed as hell that you even FOUND one to get stuck IN."

"You know what I mean." He turned his head away and focused on the outside world of the window and took in a deep breath.

"Hey, I get it, man. You care about them knowing where you are. I was just trying to say that you need to have a little fun once in a while. I never see you anymore."

This peaked my interest.

It was kind of true. Arnold hadn't been around a lot on our weekly movie trips and our occasional baseball games at Gerald Field. Things had changed quite a bit since the beginning of this year, and apparently not even Gerald knew what was up.

All we knew was Arnold had become obsessed with Spanish and as a result, the kid was acing that class like no other.

"I have fun, Gerald." He muttered and looked back down to his paper, already translated and waiting to be handed in.

"Like translating that paper? What's it even about?" Gerald squinted his eyes and stared to the sheet on the desk. "que puede haberse ido, pero tengo la esperanza..."

"Gerald..." he grabbed his paper and shoved it back into the folder beside him labeled, "SPANISH" and shut the folder in haste. "It's... it's really nothing. Just a silly paper."

Gerald's eyes narrowed and he shook his head slowly while turning his attention back to his own empty notebook.

"Whatever you say, Arnold... Whatever you say."

"Arnoldo sure is getting secretive over there." I muttered under my breath to Phoebe.

"Maybe he just isn't done with his paper, Helga."

my eyes spun round in their sockets and I scoffed rather loudly.

"Try again, Pheebs. The spanish master ARNOLD? Not done with his paper? Gimme a break."

"It is possible. Gerald said that he hasn't seen Arnold very much lately, so I suspect he must be up to something either very important, or very time consuming."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Busy schmusy. Something is up."

"If you say so, Helga."

I looked over to the poem staring back at me but the words didn't compute passed the words I had heard Gerald repeat from Arnold's paper.

que puede haberse ido, pero tengo la esperanza

I quickly wrote down the words onto the side margin of my paper and stared at them.

que puede haberse ido, pero tengo la esperanza

Esperanza meant hope... I knew that. But by the time that the bell rang, Esperanza was the only word I was able to make any sense of before I was in danger of being late to my next class.

"So then, I ran down the stairs and fell and broke my brand new Nancy Spumoni ORIGINAL stilettos which only cost me a little more than your life. True story."

"Fascinating, Princess. Now I was wondering, where's the part of the story where I start to give a shit?"

Rhonda's eyes shot me a death glare, to which I only countered with a glare of my very own and a threatening crossing of my arms.

"I swear Helga, you will never get a date with an attitude like that."

my cheeks flushed and I grumbled while adjusting in my seat.

"Who said I wanted a date anyways?"

I flipped open my notebook to the page with my (still untranslated) poem and chewed on the tip of my pencil's eraser as I focused on the words Gerald had read aloud.

que puede haberse ido, pero tengo la esperanza

striking out the 'esperanza,' I began to focus my attention to the next word. Tengo.

Well that's easy. Tengo means I have. So the last part is I have hope.

"This is a SYNCH!"

"A synch?"

I closed my eyes for a moment and took a deep breath.

"Yes. A synch."

"Gosh Helga. I'm ever so certain I don't know what you're talking about."

"Look Lila. I wasn't TALKING to you. So how about you keep YOUR ears on YOUR business and leave me and MY business OUT of it."

Lila's eyes softened and she sighed that wimpy little sigh of hers.

"Well...okay Helga."

"Sheesh!"

a moment of silence settled between the two of us before she just had to keep going.

"Anything I can help you with? I may be in French, but I learned a bit of Spanish when I-"

"Listen. I get that you've been working on this 'Miss Perfect' thing since your horse-drawn carriage stopped on by here in Hillwood to grace us with your presence, but I don't NEED your help. I'm JUST. FINE."

Her eyes dulled and she nodded slowly while turning her attention back to the binder in front of her.

I hate feeling bad for Lila Stinkin' Sawyer. All she does is offer her stupid help and offer her optimistic nothings that I above all don't want to hear. But she looked so sad and so hurt that I...

"Um... Helga?"

...I just figured that maybe...

"Helga?"

...It wasn't entirely necessary that I...

"Hey Helga?"

"WHAT? Criminy! Can't a girl take a single MOMENT to herself to THINK?"

I looked up and felt the color from my face drain to my toes as I swallowed hard.

"A-Ar-Arnold?"

"You're kind of in my spot..."

"I... I am? I mean... yeah, I AM. What's it to ya?"

"Well, class is starting soon and I kind of wanted to sit by my partner for the Social project we have due next week before winter break."

"P-project?" my mind was spinning as I fiddled to close the notebook before Arnold saw exactly what it was I had been focusing on.

"Yeah. The one you're partners with Stinky on. Remember? You're doing something about prohibition in the-"

"I GOT it, Arnoldo."

Stinky was a very thorough partner, surprisingly. I mean the kid wouldn't shut up about our stupid project.

"What about them speakeasies we talked about durin' class the other day? I reckon we could write about that on a counta all the teenage drinking that goes on in our class."

"Sure, Stink-O. But the only raging alcoholic we have in our class is Sid."

"Helga, Helga, Helga. Sid ain't no alcoholic as much as he does that MJ stuff he's always talking about. And I hear that stuff ain't that bad neither."

I rolled my eyes.

"Sure, Stinky. Because DRUGS are apparently MUCH better. Idiot."

"Nah. Sid said nothing about drugs."

"Has anyone ever told you how bright you are, Stinky?"

"Well garsh... I don't think so. Why?"

Scoffing under my breath, I scribbled a little gun held by a stick figured me on my paper.

"I'd have to sock them right back into reality."

"Huh?"

I shook my head and focused my attention back to the remaining words staring back at me. With only four minutes left of class, I figured my attention could momentarily drift to something besides the ramblings of Stinky.

"What are you working on?"

I glanced over to Arnold as he looked my way in curiosity.

"Just the paper for Spanish."

"Not done yet? What's yours on?"

This could be your moment, Helga old girl. This is your TIME. So for God's sake, DON'T SCREW IT UP!

"Nah... I figure we still have a little bit of time for me to procrastinate to my highest capability. At least my poem is written. Translating is the hard part."

He nodded his perfectly oblong shaped head in concentration.

"So you wrote a poem. What about?"

I looked away from him and took a sharp breath.

"A uh..." I swallowed and mumbled "...love poem."

"A love poem? That's really... different."

"Why is it different? You saying I'm not CAPABLE of writing a LOVE poem? I'm not capable of having FEELINGS?"

"No... it's just... different for you."

"For me?" I crossed my arms and I could tell that he was beginning to feel flustered. "Forget about it football-head. I'm not gonna kill you today. So what's yours on?"

his attention shifted to his lap and he chewed on his bottom lip for a brief moment.

"Well Helga... it's kind of personal. So..."

"More personal than a love poem?"

He shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly.

"I doubt you'd let me read yours."

My eyes widened to that of saucers.

"READ it? My LOVE poem? HA. You have a better chance of Big Bob waking up on time just to sing like a Disney princess to the birds outside my window, Bucko."

"That's my point, Helga. Your poem is clearly very personal to you, and my paper is personal to me. So why share that?"

There really isn't much to argue with that... He's right. Why does he always have to be right?

Somewhere lost in thought, the bell rang excusing us from our final period to the real world; which for me meant figuring out the first part of that sentence.

que puede haberse ido, pero tengo la esperanza

que puede haberse ido, but I have hope.

"Helga? What are you still doing here?" Phoebe was standing behind me holding her books, clearly waiting for Gerald to finish his make-up test from when he was sick last week. I thought Pheebs had mentioned that today.

"Still trying to figure out this sentence. I know I should have figured it out by now, but I've been kind of distracted."

"By?"

"What do YOU think, Pheebs?"

"Ice cream?" she whispered; her books held tightly against her chest.

I sighed heavily.

"Am I hopeless?"

"Hopeless?" she pulled a nearby desk beside mine and sat down in it to face me. "What do you mean?"

"I mean with Arn...ice cream. I mean... look at me Pheebs. Really LOOK at me. I've spent my whole life making his miserable and I can't stop. And... and I TRY to be normal but it never works."

"Are you suggesting that you give up on...ice cream?"

I shrugged.

"Helga, it's natural for you to feel this way. When one tries hard to achieve something, it can get discouraging when the outcome isn't exactly what you planned. But with... ice cream... it isn't quite the same situation."

"What do you mean?"

She pushed her books onto the desk's surface and turned all of her attention my way; her eyes connecting with mine in all sincerity.

"I mean that ice cream isn't ice cream."

"You lost me, Pheebs."

"He isn't an object. You simply cannot plan his actions around yours because you are two very different people."

"So... should I give up?"

"Helga, I can't tell you what to do. In the end, it's all your decision on if you truly think it best to let him go yourself." she stood up and smiled the warm smile I had become so accustomed to seeing in good times and bad.

"Thanks, Pheebs."

"Of course, Helga." Picking up her books, she slowly made her way to the door in hunt for Gerald, before stopping in her tracks. "They may be gone."

"Huh?"

"The sentence you're trying to figure out. They may be gone, but I have hope. Think about it Helga. It shouldn't be that difficult to figure out what Arnold is talking about."

Criminy... how stupid can you get, Helga?

When you really think about it, time goes by really quickly. On Monday, Friday seems so far away, but by the time Friday comes, it feels like Tuesday. I tried to explain this to Rhonda the day of our presentation, but as I expected, it bounced right off of that diamond stud earring she wore on it's way to her ear.

"Chicas y chicos, buenos dias! Good afternoon! Are you all ready for your presentations today?"

A unified grown filled the small classroom and Senora Mirado crossed her arms in mock disappointment.

"So I take it I won't be having any volunteers?"

Silence.

"Well... let me introduce to you the 'Sombrero de elegir.' Anybody know what that means?"

Arnold's eyes skimmed the room for a hand to shoot up until he gave in and answered matter of factly, "Hat of choosing."

"Correct, Arnold. Muy bien. Now, all of your beautiful nombres are in this hat and I will randomly pull out three names for our three presentations today. Listo? Ready?"

Without much answering, Senora Mirado put her hand into the sombrero and pulled out three slips of paper and set them on the desk in front of her.

"Okay, we have Senorita Nadine, Senor Sid y Senor Arnold. This means Nadine, you have the floor." she smiled a bright smile between her ruby red lips and walked to sit behind her desk with the grading sheet in hand.

Much to everyone's expectations, the next twenty minutes were full of bugs of every category. While Nadine had grown out of her phase for the most part, her first choice for any project typically surrounded the creatures she grew up obsessing over, which made for an impressive presentation, but a boring thing to see time after time again for the students forced to listen to it time after time.

I was practically squirming in my chair from anticipation for Arnold's paper, which didn't make Sid's presentation any easier to sit through. "Las edades del rock," which essentially meant "Ages of Rock"

only giving Sid the excuse to play music for twenty minutes. Phoebe continued to glance my way throughout all of his presentation in full knowledge that all the time wasted listening to lyrics I wasn't paying any attention to was only putting me more in suspense to what Arnold was about to say- all in Spanish. Pheebs had promised me she'd pay extra attention to what he was saying in case I misinterpreted or completely missed something important.

He looked pretty nervous as he walked up to the front of the classroom with his paper in hand. I squinted my eyes to his hands which were shaking pretty violently for him. I'd never seen him so nervous before.

My sweet, how I long to hold you in my arms and let you know it will all be okay. Despite your clearly nervous actions, deep inside that beautiful football-head of yours is the man I have loved since I was a mere toddler pining for your affections. Deep inside is the man that doesn't care what anyone thinks of him. Deep inside is the most amazing human being I have ever laid eyes-

"Uh... Before I begin, Senora Mirado if I may," she nodded her head with a smile and he took a deep breath before closing his eyes and letting it out. "I would just like to say that if you have any questions once I'm done... just... please ask after class." he offered a small smile to the class and sucked in one more deep breath before lifting his paper to read off of it in near flawless Spanish. My pencil hovered above my paper ready to take as many simple notes as I could.

"Mi mamá y mi papá se fue cuando yo tenía un año de edad."

That wasn't something we hadn't heard before. We all knew that his parents had left when he was one. Despite the knowledge, I scribbled down '1 year old' on my paper as he continued through his speech.

"Ha sido difícil pero yo sabía que un día iba a ver."

Ver, Ver, to see. Dificil is dificult, pero is but... my brain was trying desperately to keep up with his words and I found myself writing down notes of words that I understood, despite if they were in order or not.

"...y que puede haberse ido, pero tengo la esperanzade poder encontrar un día en San Lorenzo."

I smiled to myself. They may be gone, but I have hope... oh god, what was the rest? Dia means day, and isn't San Lorenzo some city or something?

I glanced across the room to see Phoebe's reaction which only reflected a state of shock. I quickly turned my attention back to Arnold at the front of the room, his voice wavering.

"...lo que significa que este semestre será la última aquí en el año."

Ano is year. Aquí is here. Semestre is semester. Ultima means final...I was beginning to understand just why Phoebe had the look on her face that she had. Gerald looked to be struggling in his seat; completely focused on Arnold as if his every move directly influenced Gerald's next one. The room was silent and while Sid was near asleep, Harold was snacking on leftover Bugles from lunch, and Curly was drawing up and elaborate structure of some sort, the room around me began to spin faster than the Dino-Whirl at Dinoland ever had.

"...más fácil de lo que le dice a todos en persona..."

Despite my state of shock, my brain continued to try and keep up with the world that was falling apart around me.

Facil is easy... persona is person. Todos is all. Dice is said. I was shaking my head but I couldn't find it in myself to stop. Keep it together old girl.

"Mi avión sale el fin de semana siguiente a las 7:50 de la mañana. si quieres venir-"

Avion is plane. Fin de semana is weekend. 7:50 in the morning. Quieres we'd venir come... my mouth felt dry despite my attempts to swallow the growing lump in my throat.

He's leaving... He has to be... leaving...

"Tengo que encontrar."

He has to find them... I closed my eyes deep in my own thoughts.

"Gracias." He ended and soon walked back to his seat, the bell ringing just after his butt hit the chair beneath him.

Naturally I was the first one out of the classroom once the bell gave us the okay.

I couldn't see anything anymore.

I couldn't hear anything anymore.

His parents never came back, what makes him think he will?

What if he doesn't come back? Or what if he does but without his parents? He'd be devestated...

I looked at my phone and debated actually going to Social Studies.

It's one day. It isn't like Stinky would have done anything to actually help anyways.

I snuck out of the front doors and sat on the ledge of the science window with the blinds closed. After looking around momentarily, I pulled out the one thing I still had since elementary school: my locket.

"Oh Arnold! How wrong of me to be so selfish as to keep you here for me when your heart is clearly somewhere else. How self-centered of me to expect you to give up your dreams for the girl who teases you every moment of your life like some sick, shit-throwing monkey in a zoo. You don't need me to try and hold you down, my beloved," I trailed my index finger across his picture behind the glass and sighed in defeat. "you need someone to support you through such a hard time in your life the way no one has supported you before- wholeheartedly."

"Helga?" it was that sweet voice I'd heard so many times in both reality and dreams alike.

I set the locket face down in my lap and closed my eyes.

"What?" I answered solemnly.

"Mrs. Selemly is wondering where you are."

"Of course she is."

"Any reason you're outside? It's kind of freezing..."

"What do you care? Soon you'll be off in warm San Lorenzo forgetting all about us."

"Helga..." He started but I wasn't about to let him finish like a smart, sensitive NORMAL person would do. Oh no. I am Helga G. Pataki.

"Don't HELGA me you football-headed freak. Do you SEE how much you mean to everyone here? I mean... I could care LESS but if you go away, you're going to disturb the natural ORDER of things. You go away, and suddenly nobody will know what to do anymore. Harold might go anorexic if you don't keep showing him it's okay to be that fat pig that he is. Rhonda will probably spend all of her future fortunes on handbags and designer alligator boots without your concience-y ways stepping in to tell her how stupid and wasteful that is of her money. If you leave, what will Gerald do? Who will tall hair boy even hang out with? I mean, the kid is practically like your Siamese freakin' twin. I mean, CRIMINY! How can you be so selfish to just leave everyone here alone?"

he sat silent beside me, his eyes focused far ahead of him as if on something nobody else could see.

"Remember that night you almost slept on the street, Helga?"

I turned my head to look at him as he continued to stare into space.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Arnoldo."

"Your dad was yelling again. You said that he called you a 'waste of the Pataki name.' You said it didn't bother you so much but that you were simply sick of it."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. What about it?"

"I offered for you to stay the night at my house instead of sleep on the street."

"So?"

"The next day you went home anyways. Even after all of the pain he put you through, you've never really given up on him as much as you say you will. Same with your mom. You always talk about how she screws up everything but even when she does, you don't give up on her either, even if she gives you every reason to."

"What's your point, hair boy? You're boring me."

He shifted slightly to sit on his hands in an effort to keep them warm in the freezing cold around us. Snow had started to flutter to the dry ground and my eyes focused on the snowflakes as they made their way through the air.

"My point is, Helga, you still love your parents even if they've been distant. And throughout all the distance between you and them, you still have hope somewhere in there that one day they'll treat you the way that you want to be treated. My parents have never been there but it's never stopped me from having hope that they are out there somewhere. And if they are, well... Helga I have to find them."

I nodded slowly to process all he had just said. My eyes drifted over to Arnold as our eyes locked for a split second.

"And if they aren't out there?" I mumbled.

He chewed on his lower lip and sighed deeply.

"Then I'll know that I at least tried to find them and that I did all I could. I can't go on with my life wondering if they were always out there all along."

"I guess I understand that."

The world seemed so quiet outside of the school. The snow falling around us was coating the world in what seemed like an untouchable blanket of white. My thoughts seemed to disappear beneath it all.

"Helga?"

"Hmm?"

"What's that in your lap?"

I glanced down in slight fear at the locket that was laying safely in my lap and fumbled through my thoughts with some sort of excuse.

"Uh... it's uh... well... um..."

Phoebe's voice rang in my head from earlier that week.

In the end, it's all your decision on if you truly think it best to let him go yourself.

"It's uh... It's-"

"None of my business. I'm sorry." he shrugged slightly and looked at me with a small smile.

"Y-yeah BUCKO, you SHOULD be sorry! It sure as hell ISN'T your business. Sheesh!"

A small chuckle escaped him and he stood up brushing off the fallen snow from his pants, shoulders and hair.

"Whatever you say, Helga."

Within a few footsteps he was gone which left me with my locket, my thoughts, and the freshly fallen snow.

"I'm not sure about this, Helga."

"We have to beat him here."

"But waiting in the airport when we don't even have a flight? It's so early..." Phoebe let out a long yawn and curled up in her coat a little further as we sat on a nearby bench.

"His plane leaves at 7:50 which, knowing Arnoldo, means he'll show up around 6 just in case it's early. Tall Hair Boy, Pink Boy, Sid, Stink-O, and all the rest of the gang will probably show up around 7:30 which means that we need to be here around 5:45."

"You seemed to have put a lot of thought into this."

"DUH. If I'm going to do this... which I don't WANT to... then I'd better do it so it isn't the last thing he remembers when he runs off to San Lorenzo and..." I took a breath. "could possibly not come back."

Phoebe's small hand rubbed my back for a moment.

"Are you sure you want to go through with this, Helga?"

"Not at all, Pheebs. But I have to."

"You don't have to do anything you don't want to."

"Phoebe, I HAVE to. I can't let him go off and... and..." I felt my eyelids grow heavy and I sat down beside Phoebe as her attention drifted. "I mean if something were to happen to that football-shaped-head of his... to that beautiful oblong head. I'd... I'd..." My thoughts segwayed to what I would in fact do if such a thing were to happen. Wasn't long, however; for my thoughts to become a sick nightmare.

"Helga? Helga, what are you doing here?" a familiar voice called out.

"Hmm?" I grumbled and turned over to try and give my throbbing neck a new angle.

"Helga. Helga GET UP."

"To be perfectly honest Rhonda, maybe you should be a bit more gentle when waking her up. I'm ever so certain nobody would want to wake up like that."

"Can we go to the Cinnabon stand already? I'm hungry!"

"Garsh, I can't believe Helga went to the wrong gate. She's gonna be awfully mad when she misses Arnold on a counta she overslept."

"Boy howdy! He leaves in five minutes, too."

My eyes shot open.

"WHAT did you say?"

Phoebe stirred beside me at my now booming voice.

"Well, gosh Helga. Arnold is boarding his plane now."

Jumping to my feet, Phoebe sat up with a panicked look on her face; the color draining at a pace almost as fast as mine.

"How far is he?"

"Gate 53. Why were you at gate 35?"

"Because CLEARLY Pink Boy, I screwed up my numbers. That's on the other side of the damn airport! How much time do I have?"

Rhonda glanced down at her ruby-encrusted watch she had boasted about receiving last Christmas.

"Looks like you have about 3 minutes, now."

Exchanging a look with Phoebe, she nodded once giving me the go ahead to chase after all I'd been waiting for in the first place.

I could hear their footsteps trailing behind me, but I was blocking it out.

I heard the loudspeaker boom over any noise around the crowded airport.

"Gate 53 boarding for San Lorenzo now. I repeat, gate 53 boarding for San Lorenzo now."

I ignored that too.

All that mattered was how fast my legs could take me. I saw the gate up ahead, I saw his Grandpa and Grandma in each other's arms as they smiled looking to Arnold as he waited in line.

I'm gonna miss him. CRIMINY I'm going to miss my ONE opportunity to tell the boy of my dreams, the boy I've been madly in love with for as long as I can remember just how I feel.

It's funny how time works.

Sometimes it moves in quick bursts the way it had when I was asleep on that bench that made my neck hurt worse than any pulled muscle I'd ever encountered before. Sometimes it moves so quickly, you don't even realize any period of time has passed until you look at your life and see that it isn't where you thought you would be.

And then there were those instances where time crawls like paint dripping down a wall. There are those instances when the whole world moves in slow motion before your eyes and the ticking of the clock lulls to an almost halt.

My last few footfalls to gate 53 went like the latter. The world around me ceased to exist and merely stopped as my feet continued to push to where I had to be at that very moment.

"Arnold! Arnold Shortman!"

I saw his little blue hat turn, indicating he had turned with it to see who had called out his name. The kid must have been blind to have missed a group of sprinting teens shouting his name. The same group of teens who had kept my secret for almost as long as I had.

They had all known.

Everyone that is, except Arnold himself.

Until now.

"Arnold, WAIT!" I shouted as loud as my lungs would allow.

"Hey, Shortman. That blonde friend of yours with the one eyebrow just made it!"

Just then, those green eyes of his met mine and I slowed my feet to a halt. Dropping to my knees, he dropped his bags and rushed to my side, everyone behind me stopping as well. Gerald who had been standing beside Arnold's Grandma, was looking down at me in a state of shock, although his eyes seemed to hint at a feeling of slight hope.

"Helga? Helga, are you alright?"

"I... I need... I need to tell... you something." I panted as he looked between me and the flight attendant waiting for him to board the plane.

"Sir, I need you to board please."

He turned around and flashed one of his smiles.

"One minute. I'll be there in a minute." His attention turned back to me as he bore into my eyes. "Helga, what are you doing?"

"I had to... to come see you... and... and to tell you something."

"I have to board the plane. Why didn't you come any sooner?"

"I DID, criminy. I was... I was here at... at 6."

"Why so early?"

"Sir, please."

"I'll be there in a minute." he bit his lip for a moment. "I... I have to go, Helga. I'm sorry."

Sitting there bewildered, he stood and walked to gather the bags that remained on the floor from where he had dropped them, and my heart fell to lay at his feet.

"Helga..." Phoebe uttered, and Gerald instantly shot me a look.

"I... I was too late."

The flight attendant scanned his ticket and he turned around to look at us all one last time before disappearing in the narrow gate leading him to his flight.

C'mon Helga. For the love of GOD you CAN'T give up. Not when you're so close. Not here. Not now. Get UP!

My legs forced me up, my whole body, mind and heart determined to see through what I had sought to do.

"Ma'am, I'm afraid I can't let you in the gate. Ma'am. Ma'am!"

But she couldn't stop me. She wouldn't.

"Arnold."

He was four people ahead of me. Down the narrow hall he was nearing the entrance to the plane.

"Arnold STOP."

He turned around, his eyes wide as he looked at me one last time.

"Helga? Helga, what is it?"

I felt a firm grasp grip my shoulder and started to pull me back to where I had come from.

"I... I l-lo..."

"Hey buddy, you're holding up the line! Get in the plane!" a man shouted, but Arnold's attention was locked on me.

For once.

"Helga?"

"I..." I sighed as the guard held me in place from moving any further."I... I hope you find your parents, Arnold. And... And I really hope you come back soon."

I'd never seen a smile as big light up his face before. And then he was gone.

"I could have you taken out of this airport, young lady."

The man pulled me back in the waiting area, all eyes suddenly on me.

I found my feet carrying me to the window to look out as Arnold's plane rolled itself to the appropriate place for take-off.

"So? What did he say?" Rhonda bursted out with saying.

"What did he say? What did YOU say?" Nadine countered.

"Do you think he will write to you? Gosh, that would be just ever so romantic." Lila interjected.

"Can we go to the Cinnabon stand now? All that running made me even HUNGRIER." Harold whined.

But Phoebe and Gerald knew. They saw the way my eyes were welling up and knew that Arnold was flying off to San Lorenzo without the knowledge of what was waiting here for him when he returns- IF he returns.

"Helga..." Phoebe warmly said as she approached me from behind, my face nearly glued to the window as I watched his plane fly off into the distance, soon vanishing beneath the clouds dusting the early morning sky. "He'll come back," she whispered.

I turned to face her, a tear slipping down my cheek.

"And if he doesn't?"

She turned to look at Gerald who had his hands dug deeply in his pockets.

For the first time in my life, Phoebe didn't have an answer.

"I... I don't know, Helga. I'm sorry."

"You don't know? You DON'T know?" I wiped my cheek free of the tear that had made its home there and turned around to face everyone who was anxiously awaiting my response to their questions. "HE doesn't know. He'll NEVER know. And I'LL never know why I couldn't TELL HIM." His grandparents looked between one another in silent understanding before returning their eyes to watch me. "He is flying off to make all his dreams come true, and... and here I am; Helga G. Pataki stuck HERE in HILLWOOD." The ever-familiar security guard who had dealt with me previously eyed me suspiciously; completely ready to assist me off of the premises. "And... And all you can say is you DON'T. KNOW." the guard started to make his way to me, his hand reaching for my shoulder once again before I stuck my hand out to him. "I can leave without your help, thank you very much."

And I left. Just like that.

The first snowfall that hit Hillwood since Arnold had left was on December 14th, only a few weeks after the semester ended and he had taken off to find his parents. Needless to say, I changed significantly in that first week. My grades had started to slip drastically, especially my Spanish grade, and I couldn't remember the last thing Phoebe and I had done together. For the most part, we didn't speak since my blow-up. However, it wasn't in anger that we didn't talk. Phoebe was always by my side. Everyone could tell how desperately she was trying to help, but I wasn't very responsive.

Which was my own damn fault, to be honest.

The thing was I couldn't comprehend what stopped me at the gate. I replayed those moments day after day in my head trying to make sense of the decision I had made. Or rather, of the decision I refused TO make.

And then, well, then came December 21st which just so happened to be the last day before winter break.

"Hola clase! I have a muy especial surprise for you all today!" Senora Mirado pulled down the screen for the projector and pulled over her laptop to sit on a deserted desk in the front row, the screen facing us. "We have a special guest with us today. So everybody, say hola!"

On that screen in front of the classroom was him. The one I had thought strictly about for day after day.

"I thought since we have an assembly after this class, a small change in pace would be nice. Especially with one of our classmates who is currently in, where are you again Arnold?"

He smiled as he looked directly at us through the camera.

"San Lorenzo."

I felt my body tense at his voice. Phoebe and Gerald, who sat by each other now, glanced my way and whispered something amongst themselves before returning their eyes to the front of the classroom.

"How is it there?'

"Is it warm?"

"Find your parents yet?"

"Anything scary happen?"

"What kind of food have you had?"

The questions were being thrown around like a bunch of monkeys throwing their own shit at the people who passed by in a zoo. I found myself staring in silence at the wonderful man before my eyes who felt like worlds away. I couldn't help but find myself staring at his eyes as he casually scanned the picture of us in the room; his eyes always seeming to gravitate towards my side of the room.

Or at least I thought.

It wasn't long until the bell rang, which left us to saying goodbye and crowding to the door to make our way to the assembly.

"Everyone seemed so anxious to get out of the room." Arnold chuckled as he talked to Senora Mirado as she gathered some of her things from her cluttered desk. I waited just out of the camera's view.

"Well, the student council found it a fun idea to have a Christmas-type pep rally."

"Wow. Sounds fun." He smiled warmly.

"Senora Mirado?" I spoke up, Arnold's facial expression changing as he looked at the picture on his screen in search of the other person in the room he wasn't seeing.

"Si, Helga?" his eyes softened as a smile graced his lips.

"Mind if I talk to Arnold here for a sec before we go to the assembly?"

She thought for a moment and smiled brightly.

"Not a problem. Just head to the assembly when you're done."

Much to my surprise, she left the room, leaving me alone with Arnold live and in color on the white screen.

"So... how ya doing football-head?"

He smirked and adjusted his sitting position.

"It's going okay. We haven't made much progress, but Eduardo, who I met once I got here, says that we might be onto something. And it's still early, so we have time."

Early. You've been gone for weeks.

"I'm... I"m happy for ya Hair Boy."

"How are things with you?"

I shrugged and jumped to sit on top of a nearby desk.

"Same old, same old. Although, your oddly shaped head has been replaced for spitball target I'm afraid. And Eugene isn't quite as good a sport as you are."

He laughed loudly and shook his head for a moment.

"Good old Eugene." something called out behind him and he turned around to listen. Though I couldn't hear what the other person was saying, I did get to hear what Arnold replied with. "Si. Lo se." Yes. I know. "De inmediato, de inmediato. Gracias." right away, right away. Thank you. "Helga, I'm sorry but I have to go. We just had some dinner and we need to get some good sleep for tomorrow's hike."

I swallowed the lump in my throat.

"Uh... Arnold."

He nodded once.

"Yea, Helga?"

"There's... well there's something I need to tell you. I kind of wasn't completely honest with what I told you before you left."

His eyebrows scrunched together in confusion.

"I mean... not the part about you finding your parents, because I DO hope you find them and I DO hope you come home soon..."

"Then what do you mean Helga?"

I took a deep breath and let it out in preparation for what I was about to say.

"Uh... well... what I MEANT to say is..."

His eyes seemed to look passed the screen in front of him and at me directly as if he were standing right in front of me the way I had hoped he would be when I spilled my most inner secrets.

The perfect moment.

And that, well, that was that.

So I ended this for a good reason in this manor. I want you guys to decide what happens. If she tells him, if she doesn't, what all happens in that last moment of video chatting. let me know what you imagine happened when you review! hope you like it!