Hey Arnold- If The Shoe Fits- Chapter 1

"If The Shoe Fits"

Chapter 1: Welcome To The Planet


The morning sunlight creeps in through the window, shining past the flowing drapes and finally resting upon the face of a sleeping Helga. She stirs as the beam warms her. Awaking with a smile, she turns away from the window to face her beloved Arnold. As her arm reaches around him, his eyes open to meet hers.


"Good morning, my love." she says.


"Its always a perfect morning when I wake up to see your gorgeous face."


"Oh Arnold!"


"Helga my love!"


He takes her hand and draws her near for a sweet tender kiss. Their lips grow closer, her heart is beating wildly, she can barely keep still from the sheer excitement of the moment. Now so close their lips me-BZZT BZZT BZZT BZZT


Helga angrily slams her fist down on the buzzing alarm clock. Groaning as she rolls over in bed, pulling the sheets over her head to block out the sunlight coming in from the window.


"Just a dream...ugh!"


Out of aggravation, she throws the sheets off, gets out of bed and storms to her closet wherein she kneels down beside her Arnold love shrine which she sculpted out of clay with feathers for hair and pebbles for eyes.


"Arnold! Author of my most beautiful nightmares. Weaver for the dreams of my soul. Yet another sad morning I awaken alone, forced to imagine the ecstasy of you by my side. Oh Arnold! Torment of my youth tugging at the strings of my heart. How I long to feel your arms around me every night as my breathe is filled with your scent. Why must I hide my affection from you? Even now, twenty years old and STILL feverishly shying away like a child. Will today be the day I finally gather the nerve to express my innermost desires to you? Will this day be mine to show a true testament of my yearning to tell you those three simple words, 'I love you'? If only I could--"


There is a knock at the door, it's Miriam. "Helga? Are you awake?"


Her monologue interrupted,  Helga stares at the door hoping it will burst into flame from her searing hatred. After realizing she still has yet to harness such telepathic abilities, she sighs drudgingly, "Yes Miriam."


"Okay." she continues talking through the closed door "You're going to be late for work."


"Tell Big Bob to pull the wad out of his panties! I'm coming!" she stands and begins talking to herself, "Figures the only time dad actually pays attention to me is when I'm his beeper slave."


After a quick shower, Helga is dressed in her favorite pink t-shirt, denim capris and pink beanie with her pigtails -that seemingly never have gone out of style in her mind- sticking out from under it and walking to work at her dad's beeper emporium.


The walk is long but anything is better than taking the delapidated buses. She hoped to get a car when she turned 16 four years ago like Olga did. However her parents forgot her birthday...again... When she began working for her dad, she had originally planned to save up for a car but after realizing how long that was going to take on such a limited salary she soon found herself a member of the 'hoofing it comittee'.


What made her walks to and from work enjoyable was the fact that Arnold's house was on the way. Okay well it was actually about six blocks out of her way, but she always made sure to walk past it everyday. To her, it was a justified detour.


Over the past several years, they have developed a friendship. In fact, it wasn't uncommon to see her, Arnold, Phoebe and Gerald hanging out together quite frequently. Although this was mostly due to the fact that Gerald and Phoebe have been dating for the past three years. This has caused her and Arnold to spend alot of time together, and a great friendship has blossomed. While she still has yet to express her hidden love for him, just getting to spend any time with him at all is more than she ever hoped for.


Today though, she feels the need to pause for a moment in front of the boarding house hoping to catch a glimpse of him. Behavior not out of the ordinary for her considering her crush on him, but lately it has been different. She hasn't gotten to see him in nearly three months. He left town and didn't tell any of them where he was going. He finally came back home about two weeks ago but no one has seen or heard from him since. He has isolatdd himself from the world, from his friends, from her.


Standing alone by Gerald Field, she stares up to his window for a few moments. The lights are off and there doesn't seem to be any movement inside.


"Arnold, sweet sweet Arnold! How I wish I could know what is troubling you. Why have you locked yourself away for so long? The thought of you alone, hurting on the inside with no one to comfort you just tears up my heart." So many questions and scenarios play through her mind to the point there is a throbbing pain rippling through her skull. "Oh God!" the almost unbearable pain makes her feel woozy. She presses her hand against her right temple where the pain is the most extreme and breathes in and out in long, deep breathes until it eventually subsides.


"I should just go talk to him. Knock on his door and say 'hi'. It's not that difficult. We've been friends for a long time now so casual conversation isn't an issue...than why is it so hard to make myself just walk over there and do it?"


Finally fed up with her own unfounded fear, she crosses the street, climbs up the stoop, takes a huge breathe, reaches her hand out, gets ready to knock on the door...she pauses.


"Do it Helga. Just knock already!" she mentally yells at herself "Just tap your knuckles to the wood and there ya go. Come on, you can do this."


After barely grazing the door, she high tails it out of there and continues on towards her original destination.


"Good going." she sarcastically remarks under her breathe "Maybe next time try actually making contact with the door! Criminy I'm a basket case!"


Reaching into the front of her shirt, she takes out her ever present yet always hidden locket from her bra. Within its heart shaped frame sits a slightly more recent picture of Arnold taken earlier in the year. Her eyes fixated on the picture and not the path before her, her mind begins to wander.


"Arnold! Bane of my existence! And yet the reason I am happy to exist! Why must I tremble at the mere thought of seeing you face to face again? If you only knew how it pains me so! How I wish I had the fortitude to march to your door so that I may hear your soothing voice once more. If only--OOF!!" she walks straight into an unseen person and falls flat on her butt.


"Hey! Watch where you're going bucko!" she instinctively shouts while quickly hiding the locket away once more.


"Sorry Helga."


She stands "Yeah we'll you're gonna be sorry if...if..." her sentence cuts short when her eyes meet with an all to familiar pair of green beauties. "ARNOLD?!"


Much to her disbelief, there he stands in blue jeans and a red plaid shirt with the same little blue hat which she finds absolutely adorable on him even at this age.


"Hi Helga. I'm sorry again, I wasn't really paying attention."


This is a time when previously in her life she would have thrown some kind of insult at him. But their friendship over the past few years has calmed down her picking on him. Not completely, of course. But it doesn't occur quite as often anymore.


"It's okay Arnold. I wasn't really paying attention either." she rubs the back of her head nervously during the following awkward moment of silence.


He finally breaks it, "So, uh, where are you headed?"


"Oh, um, just, you know, to work."


"Alright."


"How about you?"


"Just heading home."


Their lame attempt at small talk is growing old fast. Fed up, she asks, "Whats your deal?"


His eyes quickly drop to stare at his shoes while he searches for the answer, "I'm sorry. It's just...things came up and  got a little busy, you know?"


"Mm hmm." she retorts with crossed arms "So what's her name?"


Immediately his eyes shoot to hers and widen, "What?"


"You heard me football head. No ones' seen or heard from you in months. Every time we've all tried to hang out since you came back, you always have an exscuse! I mean, geez! Do you know how awkward it feels to be the third wheel? Just sitting there alone while Pheebs and tall hair boy start with all their kissy kissy crap. I figure a girl was what's been keeping you so 'busy' lately." her harsh tone echoes through the empty street.


Arnold stands there for a moment, still believing his shoes have the proper answers written on them.


She throws her hands up into the air, "Fine! Don't tell me!" she angrily storms away. "You still have friends, you know!" As she passes him, he whispers something. The slight utterance of his voice gives her a reason to pause momentarily. Glaring at him over her shoulder, her agitation grows upon seeing him still staring at the ground. "What?" she asks with a frustrated tone. It is now she realizes that his whole body is trembling. He is struggling to get a breathe in to repeat what he said. Her anger now replaced with concern, she turns completely to face him. "Arnold?"


He doesn't respond right away.


"Arnold? Talk to me."


He shakes his head, regains his composure and finally looks her in the eye with a smile. "There's no girl involved. Just family stuff. I'm sorry I've been so distant lately."


Her concern still present as she recognizes a forced smile when she sees one, "It's- it's okay, Arnoldo. I'm sorry I yelled at you."


"May I walk you to work?"


Not believing her ears, she asks, "What did you say?"


"May i walk you to work? You're right. I've got alot of making up to do."


A grin grows on her face, "S-sure." she stammers nervously.


The two turn and walk along the sidewalk together.


Her mind races, "I don't believe it! We're walking together! Alone! No Phoebe and Gerald making out next to us." The feeling of elation takes over her.


"Helga? You okay?"


She snaps back to reality, "Huh...I mean, yeah. I'm fine. Why?"


"Nothing. You were just humming."


"It's a free country hair boy, I can hum if I want to."


"Whatever you say, Helga. So, fill me in on what I've missed."


She thinks for a moment, "Let's see...well Pheebs and Gerald are still together."


He smiles, "That's good."


"I heard Harold and Patty finally hooked up."


"Patty? I thought he was dating Rhonda."


"He was. I don't know the whole story. Just gossip mostly. Oh and Stinky's getting married."


"What?! To who?"


A mischievous smile appears as she prepares to tell him, "Lila."


He stops dead in his tracks, "Lila?"


"Yeah, apparently he knocked her up."


"Oh."


"Don't tell me you're still pining over that freckle faced little goody two shoes. Didn't she dump you when you were like nine anyways?"


They continue walking, "No, it's not...it's not that. I don't know. Just seems so unlike her, I guess."


He stays silent for a bit before she punches his arm. "Yeah well, people aren't always what they seem, buddy boy."


He rubs where she hit him at, smiles and glances at her. "You're right."


Before they know it, they've reached Big Bob's Beeper Emporium.


"Here's my stop." she states. "Now that you're back amongst the living, you should really go see Gerald. I know he's been missing you."


"I'll go see him right now."


"OLGA!" shouts Bob from the store entrance.


Helga grunts in anger, stomps her foot and turns to him, "It's HELGA, dad! H.E.L.G.A!!"


"Whatever, you're an hour late! Say good bye to your little boyfriend and get in here! NOW!"


"Okay! Okay! I'm coming!" she turns back to Arnold, blushes, then quickly shouts back to her dad "He's NOT my boyfriend!" Once again facing Arnold, she chuckles nervously. "Sorry about that. The blow heart doesn't know when to tone it down."


"Yeah, some people never change."


As Helga leaves him there to go inside, she is halted by him grabbing her hand, "Arnold?"


"What time to you get off?"


Caught completely off guard, she stutters before finally answering, "Ten."


"Alright, I'll see you then." he then walks away, practically strutting, leaving her to stand there in awe.


She stares at her hand "What just happened?" she asks herself.


"IN. HERE. NOW!!" barks Bob.


"I'm comin'! I'm comin'!"


*************


"Man, Arnold! It's about time you graced the world with your presence." Gerald jokes as he enters his best friend's room. The bright morning sky shining through the glass roof.


Arnold is sitting on the edge of his bed digging through a large cardboard box. "Hey Gerald!" the two share their sacred handshake as Gerald joins him on the bed.


"Whatcha got there?"


"I found this box up in the attic last night. I thinks it's mostly stuff from when we were kids."


With his hand buried within the box's contents, Arnold eventually retrieves a roll of pictures that he and Lila had taken together at a photo booth during their date following that writing on the wall fiasco. He only looks at it for a brief second before setting it aside to continue digging. This time he finds a couple of spatulas tied together with some yarn.


Gerald raises an eyebrow, "Spatulas? Really?"


Arnold thinks intently for a bit, "Wait, I think these were from that kite you and I built."


"Oh right, the one that wouldn't fly." they laugh before Gerald reaches into the box and pulls out a little pink book. "Wait a second..." he opens it and immediately bursts into hysterical laughter.


"What? What is it?"


"Oh man! I totally forgot about this! All these love poems about you!"


"Gimme that!" he snatches the book away and his face turns red with embarrassment as he reads the first few lines. Slamming the book shut, he quickly tosses it across the room. Gerald is almost in tears at this point. "Moving on..."


Arnold digs some more and finds a single, red high heeled shoe. This causes him to freeze instantly.


Gerald spots the shoe and jokes, "So THIS is what you've been up to, eh? I think my mom's got some stilettos that might fit you!"


"Cecile..."


"Exscuse me?"


"This shoe, it was Cecile's."


"Cecile? Cecile..." he scratches his chin, trying to remember, "That girl from France?"


"Yeah. I mean no. This wasn't the real Cecile's, it was that imposter girl pretending to be Cecile. You remember? From Valentines day back in fourth grade?"


His best friend rolls his eyes at the mention of that night, "Oh I remember. I had to play your lookout for your two dates that night."


"You know, I never found out who that girl was. She said we would see each other again but..." he sighs sadly "...it never happened."


As he sets the shoe down, a folded piece of paper falls out from underneath one of its latched straps. Curious, he opens it to find that its a note. The note he received from Cecile telling him that she was going to be in town that night all those years ago. However, something about the note seems a bit odd to him.


"I've never noticed before but her handwriting changes in this letter."


"Let me see that." he hands Gerald the note who looks it over a couple of times. "You're right, it does change right after the P.S. It not a big change but when you examine it, you can tell. I wonder what that means."


Arnold's eyes widen. He suddenly bolts across the room to retrieve the pink book he just threw. He opens the book to a random page and grabs the note then holds them up side by side. He gasps, "Gerald! Look! They're the same!"


He shows the evidence to him, "So whoever wrote these poems..."


"Also wrote the last part of the letter and THAT'S my mystery girl!" his mind begins racing at the possibilities this presents to him.


Recognizing that overly eager look on his friend's face, Gerald stands up, "Oh no! You're not thinking what I think you're thinking." He nods. "Arnold, you're my best friend, so you know how serious I am when I say this...but you're crazy!"


"I'm not crazy! We have to try and find her!"


"Listen to me man. You're talking about finding a girl you haven't seen in almost eleven years. Not only that but you don't even know her real name. All we know is that she was blonde and wore a size..." he glances at the shoe for a moment, "...a size 7 shoe back then. It would be impossible."


"Nothing is impossible Gerald! I thought no one would ever find my parents-" he stops mid sentence leaving his friend unsure of what to say, or whether he should speak at all. So Gerald places a hand on his shoulder to give his support.


"I'm sorry man. When you told me what happened..."


"It's okay...really. It's alright. I'm alright. But..." he sighs "...you're right. I mean, there's no way we could ever trace her down. Especially after all this time. I guess that's just another one of the great mysteries of my life." With that, he tosses the shoe with its note and the book back into the box from which it all came.


Desperate to break the silence surrounding them, Gerald makes a suggestion, "What say we go grab a burger? You still remember burgers, right?"


He chuckles, "Yeah I remember." Arnold retorts sarcastically, "I haven't been out of the world THAT long."


*************


At work, Helga is emphatically and impatiently waiting for closing time. While performing her mundane job duties, even while helping customers and working the cash register; her eyes have almost stayed fixated on the clock. She endlessly counts the minutes until she can leave. On the outside she maintains her "professional" attitude, but inside she is doing cartwheels, jumping jacks and some kind of crazy dance she hasn't seen anyone do in well over a decade. She looks at the clock, 8:30 pm.


"I can't believe it!" she thinks to herself "Arnold is coming to see me after work! Even after I yelled at him and acted like a complete and total ass. But it was justified. He hasn't spoken to me -or anybody for that matter- in nearly three months. So what if I got a little upset at him? I'm sure Tall-hair boy's been giving him a hard time about it too." she begins pacing back and forth at the checkout counter for what feels like ten minutes. She looks at the clock, 8:31 pm. "OH COME ON!!" she shouts in anger at how father time seems to be enjoying taking it slow today.


**********


To be continued...